Thanks everyone for the extremely positive response to last chapter - I'm immensely pleased that you all enjoyed it so much. You can bet that we will definitely be seeing more of the characters left in Earthland in the future. But for now, its back to focusing on the events of the Potterverse.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 53:- War of the Half-Breeds

To say that Charlie Weasley was dumbstruck was an extremely drastic understatement.

Just as the members of the DA that had not been on Tenroujima during the battle had been informed of what had happened, so to had the other members of the Order. Molly Weasley had almost blown her top when she'd heard about how every single one of her children that were still in school had been there, and had almost gone haring off to Hogwarts to both make sure they were okay and probably yell at them for leaving the safety and security of the school. Only quick assurances from Remus that they were all absolutely fine and Sirius casually pointing out that they'd been under protection when they did it, and it had been assumed that Tenroujima was a safe location, prevented her from doing so.

But when they heard about the sudden interruption by the two dragons, it was Charlie's turn to freak out, expressing rabid disbelief that he had missed out on yet another chance to meet the ancient dragon that had taught Lisanna her new magic… at least until Sirius grinned and added:-

"Actually they're still there. They've both decided to take up residence on the island.

"…They what?"

"You heard me."

"…I'M GOING TO TENROUJIMA!"

And so he had, along with many of the others. And when they'd Apparated into existence a mere few feet away from where Kilgharrah was basking on the beach, their breath had been stolen away. His enormous frame seemed to glitter slightly in the light of the sun. And they could see Aithusa above them, doing circuits around the base of the Tenrou Tree with a mouth full of fire, which was melting the snow away from the turf below to make things easier on the local animals just as she'd promised Lisanna she'd do.

"Good morning, young master Black," Kilgharrah said when they arrived. "I see you brought friends."

Charlie fainted. He literally fainted. And Bill could feel a comment about how he'd never seen his brother act this way for any reason bubbling at the back of his throat, but his jaw had gone too slack to form the words with his mouth. His expression was mirrored by both his parents, Tonks, Kingsley, Fleur… and even Mad-Eye didn't appear to be able to think of anything to say for a while.

But once they'd got over their shock and Aithusa came sweeping down to land neatly on the other side of them, the questions began to flow and they spent some hours just sitting there on the beach and talking with these ancient behemoths with reverent awe.

"You're kidding me, right?" Tonks asked Aithusa - who she discovered she particularly got on well with. "Dragons used to be allies of Trolls? I find that… incredibly hard to believe."

"To be honest, so do I," Aithusa snorted, shuffling her wings lightly. "Most of that kind of thing happened before I hatched, but Trolls used to be very different back then. Now they're mostly just great, lumbering brutes with incredibly low brain function but back then they were the same size as humans, much cleverer and more magically powerful. But they were also absolutely filthy creatures that could only eat flesh or fruit if it was rotting, and had a taste for dung and riches… in one case literally and in the other case metaphorically. But it was that fascination for riches that made them allies of Dragons in times past. While there's a great deal of falsehood about dragons in the myths of Muggles, it is true that some of our kind had a fascination for gold and gems and liked to hoard it. Those that did allowed Trolls access to their hoards in exchange for guarding it when they weren't around."

"Indeed," Kilgharrah rumbled. "Though I never cared for the practice. The Dragons that did that sort of thing were amongst the vainest of our kind and believed that hoarding treasure made them somehow better than others. Which is ludicrous. What good is gold to a dragon anyway? Wealth is only wealth if you can use it and all a dragon can do with a hoard is look at it. Utterly useless."

"So what happened to the Trolls to turn them into what they are now?" Charlie asked eagerly, drinking in every word they said. "Lisanna told us about how wizards experimented with wyverns to make modern day dragons? Did something similar happen to Trolls?"

"No, nothing like that," Aithusa shook her head. "Trolls became the way they are now on their own. They despised most other forms of life and kept to themselves, and after the death of Arthur when magic started to come under threat again, they withdrew even further from the world, bunching together in deep caves in Scandinavia and never coming outside. As I said they were creatures that loved their squallor… and I think it's extremely likely that a fair amount of inbreeding went on over the generations, which minimised both their magic and their brainpower. And eventually they ended up evolving into enormous idiots that wander around Europe today."

"…I kinda feel sorry for them," Sirius muttered. "In a strange way."

"I wouldn't be too sorry for them," Aithusa snorted. "They brought it on themselves really. Especially considering King Arthur briefly had one for a stepmother."

"HE WHAT!?" Tonks cried, just as Kilgharrah belted out laughing. It was a sound that sent deep thrumming vibrations through the chests of everyone present and it lasted quite a while.

"He laughs like that every time I bring that up," Aithusa grinned. "But it's true. There was a troll that used a special potion to give herself the appearance of a human woman and used a little charm magic to make Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, fall in love with her. He became totally besotted, so much so that even after Merlin messed with her potions so she turned back into a troll before the eyes of everyone in the court he didn't seem to notice and threatened anyone who called her a troll. It took quite a lot to break the spell she had over him but I think it's safe to say that if everybody hated trolls before that, they really hated them afterwards."

"I do wish I could have seen it for myself," Kilgharrah laughed. "Of all the bizarre adventures that Merlin and Arthur went through I'm certain that one's my favourite." He cleared his throat and finally managed to keep himself from laughing. "But Trolls aren't the only things to change drastically from Merlin's time. Goblins used to be very different too."

"Really?" Bill asked, instantly intrigued. "What were they like back then?"

"For a start they were a lot more gangly. And they possessed a few magical tricks that they've lost over the years, such as the ability to possess people. But the biggest change is that they were extraordinarily mischievous creatures. The only thing they liked better than playing pranks on people was gold."

"A lot of creatures back then seem to like gold," Remus observed.

"Only a few, but Dragons, Trolls and Goblins are the main ones, alongside humans of course," Kilgharrah added. "But the Goblins changed their ways on their own, becoming far less mischievous when the concept of banking was introduced and they realised humans would let them look after gold for them if they didn't play pranks on them. Which is why they've now become a lot more officious and serious, though their love of gold remains."

Aithusa continued, "But because they've become much more serious, now they want a much more equal relationship with humans than they once did. Most humans think that they're okay being second-class magical citizens and that certainly used to be true as long as they could look after gold. But it's not anymore, yet many wizards refuse to see it."

"This is an absolutely fascinating history lesson," Charlie beamed. "From right out of the mouths of those who've seen history unfolding before their eyes. Is there anything else that's different between now and then?"

"A few things," Kilgharrah nodded. "Unicorn magic has been drastically reduced for one thing. Like we dragons they are creatures of the Old Religion, and their magic has greatly diluted down the generations along with it. In the past whenever one was killed a terrible curse would befall the person who killed it. Nowadays, someone has to drink it's blood to receive a curse, and even then the effects aren't as bad as they once were. The only reason Aithusa and I haven't been weakened by the decline in the Old Religion is because we were born when it was strong."

"Manticores are different too," Aithusa added. "They used to be solely residents of the Spirit World and…"

"Sorry, wait…" blinked Tonks. "The Spirit World? As in… the place where Lucy can summon her Celestial Spirits from?"

"Oh, not that Spirit World." Aithusa shook her head. "Our Spirit World… which is akin to our Underworld, where the souls of the dead go. But there are other inhabitants of the Spirit World and Manticores were one of them. Although rather similarly to Lucy's Spirits, they couldn't remain in our human world for very long since their life force was tied to the Spirit World. Merlin and his mentor Gaius were once able to kill a Manticore by destroying its portal back home while it was still in the human world. It died almost immediately."

"So what changed there?" Molly frowned in confusion. "Why do manticores live in our world now?"

"Another case of human meddling, like the wyverns," Kilgharrah snorted. "Except this time it was just one dark wizard - a man called Herpo the Foul. The same man who created the first Basilisk. He lived in Ancient Greece, and he wanted to use Manticores to his own benefit. He was one of the few people capable of controlling a manticore rather than the other way around, but keeping them in the human world was a hassle given how they couldn't stay there long. So, he magically altered their biology so they no longer needed to live in the Spirit World, as well as making them much larger and more physically powerful than they originally were. And after he died, his manticores escaped to live in the wild."

"Of course there are still manticores that are the same as they used to be living in the Spirit World," Aithusa finished. "But since nobody knows how to summon them anymore, nobody's seen one for thousands of years. And do you know, Herpo the Foul is indirectly responsible for creating hippogriffs too. Griffins used to be creatures that only be created by magic and killed by magic, until Herpo created many griffins and they bred with each other to produce mortal griffins - nobody had ever kept griffins around long enough for them to breed before that. And future generations magically bred those mortal griffins with winged horses to create the first hippogriffs."

"Okay, maybe you guys should come and teach Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts," Charlie said immediately, enraptured by all these amazing facts about magical creatures that he was hearing. "Or at least a History of Magic."

"That's the second job offer we've had," Aithusa laughed raucously. "But again we have to decline. Besides, I wouldn't want to displace that lovely half-giant from his position."

"So much has changed since the time of Merlin," Tonks murmured, her voice glazed in slight awe. "And we've forgotten so much. If you guys weren't still alive, we might never have learned any of this stuff."

"Believe me," Kilgharrah chuckled. "There is much more for all of you to learn about Merlin and the magic of his time. Much… much… more."

Ron's prediction turned out to be right. Harry didn't move from his bed the entire day except for a couple of trips to the bathroom and to get himself a drink of water. But he didn't eat anything, he didn't speak to anyone. He just lay there, semi-catatonic and trying to come to terms with what he'd learned.

But how could he possibly get over this. It was bad enough that Voldemort had used his blood to bring himself back to his real body - Harry was repulsed at the idea that some part of him was currently running its way through the Dark Lord. But it was a billion times worse to find out that there was a significantly larger piece of Voldemort inside him.

Ron and Hermione both made a couple of attempts to talk to him, as did Ginny and even Neville when the latter detected that something was wrong… which wasn't exactly hard to do. But Harry rebuffed them all. There was no way that he could tell them about this… not ever. He didn't deserve to have any of them as friends. He didn't even deserve to be a Gryffindor.

Still, there was one line from Hermione that sunk in just a little:-

"Harry, please… I don't know what's going on right now but you can't just lie here forever. You have to get up and face whatever this is. And you certainly can't miss lessons like this. Whatever's just happened you've still got your OWLs to prepare for. You've still got to secure your own future."

Harry had almost laughed. What future? The only way they were one-hundred percent sure they could get this piece of Voldemort's soul out of him was to kill him. Granted they said they'd try but what if they didn't? Harry had always been at peace with the idea that he might die fighting Voldemort but never before had it felt like such an… inevitability.

Still, she was right. And it was a combination of this and hunger that finally drove him out of the dormitory the following day to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast. But he still refused to make eye contact or talk to anyone, as if he was somehow afraid that if they got a good look at him now, they would see the piece of Voldemort just beneath his skin.

Breakfast was an awkward silence. Ron and Hermione were sitting on either side of him as he stabbed his bacon half-heartedly. Harry could feel them glancing repeatedly at each other, asking the other without words if they had any idea what they were supposed to do. But there was nothing they could do. Not now.

"So… did you hear, Harry?" Ron asked slowly. "Apparently," he looked around and lowered his voice a little. "Fairy Tail managed to find a way of communicating with their friends back in their own world."

"Really?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time in hours. That remark did genuinely interest him though he still sounded like a zombie when he said it.

"Oh yes," Hermione agreed. "I heard that they used Lucy's Celestial Spirits as couriers to transport letters to another Celestial Spirit Mage back in their world. Isn't that fascinating? It's like… the most distant pen pal that its possible to have."

"And they reckon there might be a chance that someone from their world will think of a way to get them back home."

"Cool," Harry said blandly. "Hope something comes of it."

And that was all he said. Ron and Hermione both felt their throats tighten. If not even a topic like that could bring Harry out of this funk that he'd managed to lapse into… what could? Harry had had some pretty violent mood swings over the past few months but this was jut frightening, and neither one of them could think of a reason he'd be like this unless someone had died. But nobody Harry cared about had died recently, or they'd have heard about it. So… what?

They could only watch with increasing frustration and anguish as Harry wandered through the school like he was half-dead to the world, trying to pay attention to his lessons but continuously pausing and staring off into the middle distance.

If any of the teachers picked up on Harry's unusual behaviour that day, they didn't show it… or at least most of them didn't. Because the final lesson they had on Friday's was Defence Against the Dark Arts. And after Harry spent a good five minutes staring at the floor rather than at the pages of Defensive Magical Theory as he was supposed to, a small but incredibly irritating noise broke through his reverie.

"Hem, hem…"

Harry's sour expression instantly became much worse as he looked up at Umbridge with a mask of open fury. He really couldn't be asked to deal with this woman today. Not right now. "What!?" he asked harshly, and instantly everyone in the room went stock-still, not looking up from their pages but quite clearly no longer reading them either.

Umbridge didn't look her previous smarmy self though. Or rather, she did, but it was very obviously a strain to give Harry a condescending smile when she was constantly having to resist the urge to look up and make sure there wasn't something about to jump on her, like an ugly meerkat. But clearly Harry was enough to make her force her ever-increasing paranoia down for a moment because she said, "A more polite tone should be used when speaking with your Professors, Mister Potter. I notice you are not reading your textbook. Do you have something on your mind that you'd like to share with the rest of the class."

"No," Harry said sullenly, flinching slightly as he wondered again what his classmates would think of him if they knew the truth.

"Well clearly you must have because you haven't actually been moving your eyes for a good five minutes," Umbridge said. "I do hope that you're not planning out another tall tale with regards to He Who Must Not Be Named, Mister Potter. You know full well how I feel about those, don't you?"

Harry could feel his fist tightening, beginning to tremble with pent-up rage. Umbridge's claims that he was lying had always stung but now they did so more than ever. He was living proof that Voldemort was still alive and yet he had no way of proving it, and even if he could it was the one piece of proof he had no desire to make public.

"Were you about to tell us all another lie, Mister Potter?" Umbridge asked sweetly.

"They're… not… lies…" Harry growled, all the pent-up fear, anger and frustration beginning to rise up to the surface at once. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Harry," Hermione hissed at him, but Umbridge's tutting overrode her.

"Dear, dear, I thought that you'd moved past this - I really did. I thought you'd learned your lesson about making things up just to be the centre of atten…"

"I'M NOT MAKING IT UP!" Harry exploded, surging to his feet with such explosive force that he knocked his chair straight into Parvati's desk, which made the poor girl yelp in alarm. Despite the fact Harry was far from tall he was still able to look down at Umbridge and he roared straight into her startled face. "YOU DON'T HAVE A DAMN CLUE WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH, YOU OLD HAG! YOU WEREN'T THERE! YOU DIDN'T SEE WHAT I SAW - NOBODY DID! YEAH, I KNOW I DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF BUT AT THE VERY LEAST THE MINISTRY SHOULD BE INVESTIGATING INSTEAD PUTTING THEIR BLOODY FINGERS IN THEIR EARS AND TRYING TO SMEAR IT ALL AWAY!"

"Harry, stop!" Hermione cried, but Harry was on a roll now.

"YOU HAVE US SITTING HERE READING THIS CRAP WHEN VOLDEMORT'S OUT THERE PLOTTING TO KILL US ALL! AND EVEN IF HE WASN'T THIS ISN'T GOING TO PREPARE US FOR ANYTHING! BUT HE IS OUT THERE, YOU FLABBY LITTLE TOAD! I KNOW HE IS! BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU I KNOW IT! I'VE SEEN HIM, I'VE FOUGHT HIM, THE DAMN GUY'S PRACTICALLY A PART OF ME! HE'S A… A DAMN SHADOW OVER ME THAT WON'T GO AWAY! ALL MY LIFE… ALL MY LIFE…"

He trailed off when his throat tightened and he found himself leaning over his desk, gasping for breath as his body tried to cry and seethe at the exact same time. Nobody was looking at their books anymore. Most of the people in this room knew for themselves that Voldemort was back now but they were all staring at him open-mouthed. Even Seamus seemed to be paying attention after that.

Umbridge was still as a statue, mentally reeling and attempting to regain her composure - so taken aback by Harry's outburst that she needed a full half a minute to recuperate. But when she did, she actually bared her teeth, fury at his defiance taking over as she screeched:-

"THAT'S IT, MISTER POTTER! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU LEARN YOUR PLACE! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU LEARN TO STOP SPREADING THESE VILE STORIES! YOU'LL BE RECEIVING A DETENTION NOW FOR EVERY REMAINING SCHOOL DAY THIS YEAR! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!?"

Harry spun around with his fist raised and he was about to hammer it with full force in towards Umbridge's face but he was stopped from doing so when both Ron and Neville surged to their feet and jumped on him, holding him back. Harry and Umbridge glared at each other, wild-eyed, but then the clock chimed five, indicating it was the end of the lesson. Without another word, Harry turned around and stormed out of the room, but not before Umbridge shouted, "Be back here by seven, Mister Potter! Or I will make sure you regret it!"

Harry was halfway back to the Gryffindor Tower before Ron and Hermione caught up with him.

"What the hell was that?!" Ron cried. "You almost punched her! Don't you realise she could have gotten you expelled if you did!?"

"I don't care!" Harry snarled, not looking at him. "I'd sooner be out there hunting Voldemort down than stuck in here anyway!"

"Harry, what is this? What's gotten into you!?" Hermione pleaded. "You haven't been the same since we got back from the island and whatever's going on, it's making you act completely unlike yourself. Please, don't shut us out. Tell us and maybe we can…"

"You can't," Harry said, stopping without warning so Ron and Hermione continued on another couple of steps before they stopped themselves. "You can't help me. Not… not with this."

"How do you know? You can't know until you tell us what it is," Ron protested.

"Just… leave it. Please, just leave it alone," Harry shook his head. "I… I don't want to talk about this with you… I don't want you to know…"

"Why not?" Hermione pressed.

"I… I don't want you… to think of me any differently," Harry whispered.

"Well that's a problem then, Harry, because we are thinking of you differently right now," Hermione pointed out. "You're not acting like yourself. You're letting whatever this is swallow you up and it's not healthy! We promise, we won't view you any differently…"

"Yes, you will," Harry cut her off. "You may promise you won't. But you will. You won't be able to help it. So just… please… let it go."

And he swept between them and away, leaving them both standing their in the corridor and looking helplessly at one another. It truly seemed that if Harry was going to keep acting like this, there was nothing that they could do.

Despite their worry for Harry, both Ron and Hermione had their own things to get on with. All three of them sat doing their homework in the Common Room with Harry facing away from the other two and trying to do it by himself until the time came for his newly allotted detention. When that happened he got up and wandered out of the Common Room as if he was marching to the executioner's stand. It looked like all of his previous anger had drained out of him and he just looked so… empty. He was drawing a lot of attention from the rest of the House, but whenever one of them asked Ron and Hermione what was wrong it only made them feel worse because they couldn't answer.

"His mood just keeps changing…" Ron whispered. "And he looks like he's going through absolute hell."

"Then we have to assume that he is."

"What can we do if he doesn't want our help?"

"We can help him as best we can until he's ready to talking about it… but that's all really," Hermione sighed. "Until he tells us what's going on… there's really not a lot we can do except keep an eye on him."

Neither of them could particularly concentrate on their homework after that, though Hermione certainly tried. After a good half an hour of writing about one sentence she got up and announced she was going to the library, hoping that it would help her concentrate. But it didn't really. She spent another half an hour writing just one paragraph, and spent most of her time fidgeting with the tip of her quill, wracking her brain for a way to get Harry to talk that didn't involve Veritaserum or something else against the school rules.

"Dear lord, Granger. You look like you've eaten Bubotuber Pus."

Hermione jumped violently, looking up to see that Daphne Greengrass had walked into her study area with an Arithmancy book under each arm. So absorbed in her anxiety had she been that she hadn't even heard the Slytherin girl approach.

"Yeah… well… I've got… a lot on my mind."

"What else is new?" Daphne rolled her eyes as she settled down into an armchair and opened one of her books. "I heard that Potter blew his top in your Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson earlier."

"How did you hear about that?"

"You do live in this school, right? Stories about things like that spread like wildfire around here, especially where Potter is concerned. I heard he was practically roaring in Umbridge's face."

"…Well he was, yes," Hermione sighed. "And he's already paying the price. He's in detention right now, probably being subjected to that… amphibian's vile torments all over again. He doesn't deserve this, he really doesn't."

"Yeah well, you'd think he'd learned his lesson about tip-toeing around the Senior Underbitch by now. He must be denser than I thought if he's still willing to mouth off to her."

Hermione couldn't stop a little quirk to the side of her mouth at Daphne's impromptu nickname for Umbridge. She seemed to be one of the few Slytherins who thought of her in such a manner, but then again having yourself thrown in front of a werewolf, even if it wasn't really there, was a very good way to get yourself out of someone's good books. But the rest of her was stung by Daphne's tone.

"It's not his fault! Not really! He's just… just… well, I don't know what happened to him but whatever it was, he's not coping with it well. He's really struggling right now."

That caught Daphne's attention. "What? Something happened to him? When was this?"

Hermione blanched when she realised what she just said, and to a Slytherin of all people. "When was what?" she said weakly, but that just made Daphne raise her brow.

"Oh no, no, Granger, you can't back out of this one. What's going on?"

Hermione hesitated, but she really needed to talk to someone other than Ron and… maybe the fact that Daphne wasn't one of Harry's friends made it easier to speak because she was less likely to be worried after she finished or something.

"Well… like I said I really don't know what's happening. It's just a couple of days ago Dumbledore called him into his office to talk to him about something and when he came out again he was… different. He was despondent… ashen… he looked physically ill. But he was completely normal before that so whatever it is that's tormenting him it happened in Dumbledore's office. And he won't tell us what happened in there. And Ron and I are desperately trying to get him to open up to us so we can help him but he won't… and now… I'm worried that if he keeps on like this he'll end up trapped on a path of self-destruction fuelled by anger, fear and whatever other emotions are rampaging through him right now. And that foul woman Umbridge's smarmy jibes and punishments are only going to make this worse."

"Seriously?" Daphne frowned. "This is Harry Potter we're talking about? The same guy who kept going even though everyone thought he was petrifying people in our second year? The same guy who put up with taunting for being in the Triwizard Tournament without letting it get to him? He's fallen into depression? Doesn't really sound like him."

"It's not like him - that's the point. He's gone through a lot of tough times but he's never had a reaction this severe to any of us. What could be so horrible that he's not even willing to tell me or Ron about it?"

"Beats me," Daphne shrugged. "Least I know why Draco's been depressed and worried these days, though sometimes I feel like I'm the only other Slytherin who notices it. But aside from You-Know-Who being back I dunno why Potter would be like that, but that can't be the reason or he'd have been like that before."

"Exactly," Hermione nodded, and the both of them lapsed into silence, momentarily lost in their own thoughts. But when Hermione looked across at Daphne she could see some very clear worry lines across her face, which took her a little by surprised. Surely she wasn't worried about Harry… no… this was something else…

"Have you heard from your parents lately?" she probed, which made Daphne look up at her sharply.

"No," she said testily. "I haven't."

"But something's happened," Hermione pushed despite the hostile glare Daphne was sending her way. "Since we last talked a couple of days ago, there's been some kind of new development hasn't there?"

"I fail to see how that's any of your business, Granger."

"Well whatever it is that's bothering Harry was hardly any of your business either, Greengrass," Hermione huffed. "And yet I still told you about that, didn't I?"

The two of them stared each other down for a moment, daring the other to look away first. And Daphne certainly knew how to stare - her eyes boring into Hermione's in a manner that slowly made the Gryffindor girl feel extremely uncomfortable the longer the gaze went on.

Daphne would probably be very good at intimidating a prisoner.

But just before Hermione gave up and looked away, Daphne sighed and rubbed at her eyes bitterly. "Fine," she muttered. "I dunno why I'm telling you this but fair's fair I suppose. Yeah, something did happen. Yesterday actually. Draco got a letter from his parents."

"Oh…" Hermione muttered. "And… you got to read it?"

"I saw his face when I read it," Daphne said shortly. "And you I told you before that both of us are worried about our families, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well then naturally I asked if something was up and he showed me. The letter was a little stingy on the details and it was written in code so the casual reader wouldn't really get it… but essentially it said that the Dark Lord had acquired some very powerful new allies recently and that, when preparations were made, even Fairy Tail wouldn't be able to stop them yadda yadda yadda… you get the idea."

Hermione frowned. "Surely that would mean Draco would be less worried, if his father thought they had a chance at victory."

"Clearly your parents aren't soldiers, Granger," Daphne snorted. "Of course that's not what he thought. Draco was holding onto the hope that his parents would try and minimise their involvement in any fight against Fairy Tail after they destroyed his house. And if Mr Malfoy believes they can win, that means he's more likely to be closer to the front lines. And even if they can win against those Fairy Tail people somehow, there's still a very high chance Draco's parents would be killed while doing if they did fight them."

Hermione had to stop herself from pointing out that Fairy Tail tried not to kill their opponents unless absolutely necessary, or so they had told her. "I see," she said slowly. "And… how does that worry you."

"Because the letter also said they still had some pretty major recruiting to do," said Daphne sourly. "And you know where that's going to lead, don't you?"

"Your parents," Hermione stated.

"Duh," Daphne confirmed.

"Are you still worried they'll threaten you and your sister to try and get your parents to cooperate?"

"Of course," Daphne nodded. "I don't want my parents getting mixed up with that lot. And if they came after us… well… it's not like I'd be able to defend myself against them, is it? Cos FrogFeatures Umbridge isn't letting us learn any proper fighting spells, is she?… Ugh, why am I even telling you about this? It's not like you can do anything to help, is it?"

"…Not… really…" Hermione said slowly, her mind working at a million miles an hour. "Not unless we can think of way of getting Umbridge kicked out the school I suppose."

Daphne laughed harshly. "Well if you think of something then for god's sake, do it. Most of my house may love her, but I think Hogwarts is better off without that leech sucking the life out of it."

"I will," Hermione nodded, the inklings of an idea beginning to come to her. "Trust me… I will."

Ron could no longer focus on doing his homework than Hermione could at this moment, but he took a rather different approach - he just gave up and decided to do it later. Instead of heading to the library he made his way down to the Room of Requirement. Fairy Tail were almost always in good spirits after all, so he hoped they could pass a little on to him.

It turned out he wasn't the only one who'd dropped by. Fred and George were both sitting at a nearby table with Cana when he entered, the three of them poring over several pieces of parchment in a way that Ron had only ever seen the twins do when they were working on something for their joke shop. Which would definitely be what he needed.

"I hope you're not doing something that will make Hermione badger me to try and make you stop," he said as he walked over. "Cos I really think I get enough of that."

"Nothing like that, Little Bro," George chuckled. "As a matter of fact we're actually making ourselves useful for a change."

"Oh now hold on Georgie," Fred snorted. "I'd say what we usually do is devastatingly useful… for fellow pranksters and lazy students."

"That it is, that it is."

"They're helping me create some new cards so I can try advancing my new magic," said Cana. "It's all well and good having magic that allows me to summon things from cards but there's no point to it unless I actually have some cards to use it with."

"Oh right," Ron nodded. "You've still got that dinosaur thing though, right? That guy was cool."

"Like I'd give that one up," Cana snorted. "Dennis gave me special permission to keep it - apparently he has about four anyway."

"He should start collecting Chocolate Frog cards if he hasn't already," Ron noted, before he eyes suddenly widened. "Wow, what if you could actually use your magic on some of those!?"

"Okay, I have to admit that would be pretty neat," said Fred.

"Chocolate Frog Cards?" Cana frowned.

"We'll bring back a batch of sweets from Honeydukes next time we visit so you can see for yourself," said George. "But packets of chocolate frogs each come with a card that features a famous witch or wizard throughout the ages. Most of them probably wouldn't be that useful in a fight but you never know, some of them would."

"Yeah. And if you did it right, you could theoretically have two Dumbledores running around on the same battlefield," Fred barked with laughter. "How amazing would that be?"

"Certainly sounds cool," Cana snorted. "But for now let's stick with what we're doing."

"Can I help?" Ron asked.

"Sure," George grinned. "Let me run one idea we had by you. We were thinking of designing a card that would give Cana that ability to summon a spider the size of a house, with twenty legs, fangs the size of scimitars and…"

"SHUT UP!" Ron shouted, which drew the attention of a lot of people while he went deathly white. "Don't you dare do that! Don't you freaking dare!"

Cana and the twins just laughed before getting back to what they were doing. Designing cards was a lot more interesting than homework so Ron was able to occupy himself for a little while… but not for long. Soon enough his thoughts drifted back to Harry and his current emotional turmoil, which meant he ended up staring blankly at the parchment before him, rather like Harry had during his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

And just as with Harry, it was noticed.

"Is something the matter, Ron?"

Ron looked up to see Mirajane looking down at him with obvious concern across her face. She'd come over with a few drinks - evidently even here she still enjoyed being the waitress - and settled them down on the table before them. Ron accepted the tankard of Butterbeer gratefully but he could only shrug in response to Mirajane's question

"I really don't know," he said. "Something's up with Harry. He's been acting up ever since he visited Dumbledore's Office two days ago and he won't tell us why. But whatever it is, it's completely zonked him."

"Yeah, we noticed something was wrong as well," said Fred. "Though we're kinda used to Harry going all brooding and unhappy these days that we just thought it would pass quickly."

"Well it hasn't… and from the looks of things its not going to," said Ron. "I really don't get it. Harry tells me and Hermione everything. I can't even remember the last time he kept something from us. Heck, he told us he was hearing voices in the walls when the Basilisk was on the loose three years ago. If he'd tell us that, what won't he tell us now?"

Mirajane frowned, before looking up and calling across the room. "Laxus? Can you come over here for a second?"

Laxus had been in the middle of putting the Raijinshuu through their paces in some serious training, and Ron reflected on how rapidly he'd gotten used to blotting out loud crashing and banging noises that emanated from the rest of the room as the big man came stride over - Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen in toy

"Yeah?" he asked. "What is it?"

"Didn't you go to Dumbledore's office when Harry went two days ago?" Mira asked. When Laxus nodded in response, she added, "Well then, you must know what happened in there to upset Harry so much then surely."

"Oh yeah I know," Laxus nodded sombrely. "But you won't be hearing anything from me."

"Why not?" Ron cried. "If you know then you've got to help us. Harry's in a right state and there's nothing we can do to help him."

"If you knew what I knew," Laxus fixed his eyes on Ron's coolly. "Then you'd know exactly why I and everyone else who was in that room won't be saying squat. Whether Harry's in a state or not, we have no right to pass this information along without his consent. And if he's not willing to talk about it with you, then you need to convince him otherwise."

"Laxus is right," Freed nodded sagely. "It's a rather… sensitive subject. We did urge him to tell those closest to him but it seems he didn't heed our advice."

"Not that I blame him, given the circumstances," Bickslow muttered.

"That sentence really doesn't help," Evergreen rolled her eyes.

"But we have to do something," protested Ron. "It's like its getting worse by the hour! Not to mention whatever it was made him snap at Umbridge in Defence Against the Dark Arts and now she's gone and thrown him in detention every evening for the rest of the year…"

"Say what!?" Fred asked sharply.

"Are you serious?" George agreed.

"Yeah, I'm serious. He's there right now, probably getting the back of his hand sliced open by that disgusting quill of hers. Are we meant to just stand back and let that happen?"

"No we damn well aren't," Fred scowled. "Angelina's going to bust a gut when she hears this. If that happens then Harry's not going to have any time for Quidditch practice except at weekends."

"…I didn't even think about that," Ron groaned.

"Well then our course is clear," George said as he got to his feet. "Even without her interfering with our Quidditch practices we're not just going to sit back and let Harry suffer for the rest of the year. Now we've got a greater reason than ever to want Umbridge out of this school."

"Absolutely," Fred nodded. "We need to step up our game. The werewolf we've been terrorising her with so far's all well and good, but now we really need to hammer the message home."

"This is the teacher that's trying to usurp control of the school is it?" Laxus asked, his face very carefully blank. All three of the Raijinshuu members glanced at each other, as did Mirajane and Cana. But Ron didn't notice their sudden unease, because he just said:-

"Yeah. Royal bitch keeps trying to pull more and more control out from under Dumbledore's feet. You just know she's set her sights on being the next Head of the school and remoulding everything in her ugly image. And if she can make Harry's life miserable now, just imagine how much she'd do it if that happened. Doesn't bear thinking about."

Laxus wrinkled his nose, his teeth and his fist both clenching at the same time. But before he could say or do anything more, Mira laid her small hand on his thick bicep and looked up at him earnestly.

"Laxus," she whispered. "I know what you're thinking but trust me, you're not like this woman."

"Yeah?" Laxus grunted. "What makes you say that?"

"I'm not going to try and defend what you did," Mira said. "It was wrong, no question about that. But in your own way, you were trying to make the guild better. She's just acting out of her own personal ambition. And at least you were up front in your challenge. This woman is forcing her will upon this school through unfair play."

"Do you call making friends fight each other fair?" Laxus raised a brow. "Cos I wouldn't. And desiring to make the guild into one that nobody would ever challenge with myself at the helm no matter who tried to get in my way sounds a lot like personal ambition to me."

"And yet when it came down to it, your heart wasn't in it," Mira said. "Freed told me about what happened when you tried to cast Fairy Law. It failed for a reason, Laxus. And I bet you anything, that if Umbridge could cast Fairy Law right now, everyone in this school would be wiped out. You deluded yourself. She's not."

Laxus didn't respond to that immediately. But when he did, it was with a sigh and small smile at the same time. "Have I ever told you that you're too damn nice sometimes, Mira? I miss the old you."

"No you don't," Mira beamed. "But I could be persuaded to find her if she'd snap you out of the guilt you're oh-so-obviously feeling, even though you try your best to hide it."

"Yeah, yeah," Laxus grunted boorishly, but he was grateful for her words nonetheless. He looked over to Ron next, who was now looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"I struck a nerve, didn't I?" the Gryffindor asked. "I do have a habit of putting my foot in it."

"You didn't know," Laxus shrugged. "But it is true that I did once try and take over Fairy Tail from my grandfather. That's why he was forced to kick me out. And rightly so, by my reckoning."

"You got kicked out?" Fred blinked.

"So you're not actually a Fairy Tail mage then?" George asked.

"No," Laxus shook his head. "I'm not. Only reason I'm here was cos I happened to be close to Tenroujima when Grimoire Heart attacked it. And now I find myself in a conversation about another who's trying to take over an establishment from an old man. Well…" this time his smirk was much wider. "Then we should ensure her subterfuge ends the same way mine did, shouldn't we?"

"You're saying you'll help?" Ron asked eagerly. "To get Umbridge thrown out the school."

"I don't particularly see how much help I personally could be without revealing myself to her," Laxus said. "But my Raijinshuu on the other hand…"

"KYA-HA!" Bickslow whooped. "I'm liking where this is going."

"I'm certain that I could rustle up a few things that might be useful," Freed smirked.

"I fear I don't have as much to bring to the table as you boys do this time," Evergreen chuckled. "But it's quite the reversal, considering we were the ones who tried to help in the take-over last time. And I have an idea or two that someone else might be able to pull off for us."

"Count me in too," Cana grinned. "Umbridge should make an excellent test subject for some of these news cards. Oh and you two," she pointed to Fred and George. "Remember how you asked us if we had any resident pranksters when we first met? Well, I think you'll find this guy to be the closest thing we've got to it," she pointed her thumb at Bickslow with a wolfish grin.

"Well what good's life if you don't have fun with it, right?" the Seith Mage cackled.

"Awesome!" Fred grinned. "Well then, I guess we should begin the planning then shouldn't we?"

Umbridge's smug smile could have cracked a mirror as she watched Harry leaving her office some time later, the back of his hand opened, raw and bleeding once again. Despite everything that had been going on recently for her, she could always rely on humiliating and torturing the Boy-Who-Lived to lift her spirits. She wasn't entirely sure what the hollow, dead look in his eyes throughout the whole process had been for, but she liked to imagine that it was the idea that he'd be doing this every night for the rest of the year.

Maybe she should see if she could impose an Educational Decree that would force him to stay over the Christmas and Easter holidays. This would be a very good way of ensuring that he didn't have the time to pass his OWLs too. And seeing that through was enough to even make her forget about the phantom werewolf that had been after her in the past few weeks.

Still, she had a few more things to get done before she went to bed and began to go through the laborious task of marking some of the essays from the first years by candle-light, as it had long since gotten dark outside.

If it had been light out, she might have noticed the dark shadow shooting in towards the window a little earlier.

*CRASH*

Umbridge screeched as the window was suddenly shattered into a thousand pieces when something smashed into it from the outside, a shower of glass shards peppering the room as instinct drove Umbridge to leap aside, but not fast enough. She got a glimpse of white feathered wings unfurling and heard an unearthly shrieking noise before massive talons seized her by the arms and yanked her off the floor. The apparition swept right back outwards through the window and into the night sky, carrying the screaming Umbridge with it, flailing and kicking wildly as she went right up until she saw how high up she was.

Looking up wildly, Umbridge's heart practically stopped when she realised what she was looking at. Her attacker's torso and head were that of a viciously ugly woman, garbed in ragged cloth with pointed ears, wild brown hair and jagged teeth filling her leering jaws, but the rest of her resembled a great eagle - sweeping wings instead of arms, taloned feet, splayed tail feathers - everything! She was being carried by a harpy!

But harpies didn't exist! While there was an element of truth to many ancient myths of magical beings, harpies were one of the ones that weren't true! Sure they had a Qudditch Team named after them but she knew all the half-breed races that did exist and harpies weren't one of them!

And yet one was carrying her now and swooping down towards the Forbidden Forest with her in its clutches.

"TSSSEEEEEEEEER!" The harpy screeched, eyeing her eagerly as they swung in towards the trees.

"UNHAND ME!" Umbridge cried, dread betraying her attempt at authority. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO AT ONCE YOU FILTHY HALF-BREED! LET ME AAAAHHHHHH!"

She wailed as something else came swooping in from the side and crashed into them both - another harpy with brown-feathered wings. Its talons tore at Umbridge's cardigan as it tried to snatch her out of the grasp of the first and the three of them went spiralling down towards the ground together. Umbridge yelled and kicked in pure terror as they went in for a crashlanding but at the last second the harpies lost their grip on her and she went tumbling down a slope while they clashed and battered at each other with wings and talons alike.

When Umbridge came to a stop, smearing with dirt but miraculously unharmed she scrambled to her feet and reached for her wand, only to find it wasn't there. She'd set it down on her desk back in her office and hadn't had time to grab it, which meant she was utterly defenceless.

The two harpies rolled over each other in their mad battle, ticking up the turf and screeching into one another's faces furiously until finally the white winged one swatted the other away and swept off from the ground, swooping in towards Umbridge again. "GET AWAY!" she cried, ducking just in time to avoid being snared in its talons again only to be suddenly seized in another pair half a second later. A third harpy, with black wings this time, heaved her off the ground and swung her around, and as Umbridge screamed and looked around she realised there were two more - red and grey winged respectively, clattering in towards her. All of them apparently determined to make a meal out of her.

"DIRTY SAVAGES! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?" Umbridge screeched, driven by panic as the black-winged one zigged and zagged madly through the others, a rollercoaster of feathers careening through the air like piranhas in a feeding frenzy as they all tried to get at her at once. "I'LL HAVE YOU ALL EXECUTED FOR THIS! I'LL… GGAAAAAHH LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO!"

The brown-winged harpy had suddenly managed to grab hold of her ankles and motored backwards, so now Umbridge was being held in the grip of two of the feathered creatures at once, their powerful wings beating the air as they tried to pull her away from the other. Umbridge screamed, the centrepiece of a tug-of-war and feeling like she was about to be pulled apart, but then the red-winged harpy's talons snagged at her clothes from above and yanked upwards as well. All the harpies lost their grip at the same time and Umbridge went plummeting down towards the ground… or rather towards the water, because by this time they'd managed to fly over the Hogwarts lake.

*KAPLOOOSH!*

Umbridge sank at least ten feet beneath the surface, flailing wildly as she tried to regain her equilibrium. She may have looked a little like a toad but she certainly didn't take to water as well as one. And when she looked down into the inky depths beneath her she only panicked even further. There were merpeople in this lake, more disgusting half-humans, and she had no desire to meet any of them today. Not to mention the Giant Squid that also swam these waters.

Scrabbling to the surface she heaved for breath and yelped as a pair of talons arced in towards her face, ducking under the surface just in time to avoid being snatched up again. The five harpies were in the midst of a full-scale aerial brawl with each other, like gulls fighting over a fish, and Umbridge frantically made her way towards the shoreline, the freezing water making her efforts sluggish.

But it seemed her attempt to slip away from the harpies unnoticed was a successful one, for when she still finally hauled herself out onto the rocky shoreline they were still fighting each other some distance away. Soaked to the skin and shivering, Umbridge pushed herself to her feet - her fear overcoming her weariness enough for her to make a dash towards the castle. It was very dark out here so several times she almost tripped and fell flat on her face… and then she did.

"AAH!" she yelled as she crashed onto her front, winded and groaning. Her foot had caught against something that she assumed to be a fallen log… until suddenly she felt it move against her leg.

Instantly she froze, going completely still and not even daring to breathe. A guttural growl filled the air beside her, like the rumbling engine of a vintage car only much deeper. Umbridge felt her gaze tracking sideways in the direction of the noise but in the darkness she couldn't really see much. She could definitely hear though. The sound of something heavy getting slowly to its feet.

And then the new moon came out from behind a cloud and cast just enough light for Umbridge to make it out.

Her heart almost stopped.

Because she was looking at a massive bipedal creature that had the basic shape of a human but was almost big enough to match Hagrid in size and was most definitely not a man. It was covered in dark green scales from head to toe, paler green on its belly, and with jagged black spikes running down its bulky arms, its back and its tail, which had clearly been the thing that Umbridge had tripped over. Its face was blunt and had a large black plate of armoured scales covering its forehead, and a long mane of white hair went cascading down its back. Its jaws had teeth even sharper than those of the harpy and it had massive claws adorning each of its thick fingers.

Umbridge had never seen anything like this creature before but she instantly gave it a name in her head.

A Lizardman!

And it was staring right at her.

"HHHWRRRAAAAAAWWRRRRRR!" it suddenly bellowed, its mighty fists raising high above its head and powering towards Umbridge like a pair of enormous sledgehammers. Only a desperate roll to the side allowed the Senior Undersecretary to get out of the way in time, all but diving through a thorn bush in an frenzied dash to get away. The Lizardman snarled and motored after her. It was not fast but its stride was enough that it was able to keep pace with her easily enough, it's claws snatching for her with great swings of its arms.

"SHOO! SHOO! GET AWAY, UNGODLY BEAST!" Umbridge shouted over her shoulder. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! WHERE ARE ALL THESE HALF-BREEDS COMING FROM!"

It almost seemed as though the Lizardman took offence to that remark, because it roared again and suddenly sprang up into the air, clearing a great distance with one great bound and falling towards Umbridge with toothy jaws agape. Umbridge could only scream and duck down, covering her arms to prepare for her doom when suddenly the Lizardman was blindsided by a swinging branch. They'd gotten within range of the Whomping Willow which had instinctively lashed out with one of its heftier limbs to clout the Lizardman aside. But the Lizardman appeared to be completely unharmed by the strike and it easily rolled back onto its feet, raising its arms to protect its head and taking a couple of other powerful strikes from the angry tree as if they were love taps before seizing another limb in its great claws and shoving it backwards and away.

This distraction was enough for Umbridge to get up and make a dash back towards the school once again, bedraggled and filthy but driven forward by unquenchable fear. She could still hear the Harpies screeching in the distance but when she glanced back over her shoulder she couldn't actually see any of them - it was too dark out. But now she was getting close to Entrance Hall of the castle and if anything her speed increased, desperate for the comparative safety its walls would provide…

…but then something emerged out from the shadows ahead just in front of the door that drew Umbridge to such a spectacular attempt at a halt that she skidded straight onto her back, gaping with uncontrolled horror.

Because she was looking at a demon!

A creature slightly larger than an average man with dark grey skin and black fur, pointed spikes on its elbows and two massive horns protruding up on either side of its green hair. It had thick scales all around its right eye, which was almost entirely dark blue and didn't match the left one. And as Umbridge gaped in horror, the demon snarled and sprouted a pair of wings that looked like they were made from dark purple energy and instantly fired itself towards her.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Umbridge could no longer muster any words - too terrified out of her mind to do anything but scream. She turned around but the demon was already upon her, seizing her by the front of her cardigan and heaving her through the air to send her tumbling back across the courtyard. Immediately it chased after her and seized her by the front of her cardigan, wrapping its thick hands around her neck and pressing her down into the ground. Umbridge hacked as her windpipe was immediately closed off, her protuberant eyes bulging even more than usual as the demon loomed over her, its teeth inches from her face and its rancid breath all but punching her in the nostrils. And she could feel it literally choking the very life out of her, every attempt at sucking in a breath just making its grip tighten slightly. If it did so much more it would definitely snap her neck completely.

She was rapidly beginning to black out.

But then with another screech one of the Harpies came zinging out of nowhere and seized the demon by the back of its shoulders to haul it backwards, ripping it away from Umbridge to leave her a coughing, spluttering wreck in the courtyard. Instantly the demon howled and spun round to claw violently at the Harpy, punching it away and and forming a sphere of dark energy in its hands, pitching it like a cricket ball. But the Harpy zinged out of the way and made for Umbridge again, and she could see the shadows of some of the others fast approaching.

There was absolutely no time for her to waste and she didn't. With one last push to her feet she motored towards the doors as if she was being chased by the devil himself, which she almost was. Slamming herself into them she was able to push them open and squeeze herself through the gap, slamming them shut behind her mere moments before the Harpy smashed into them…

…or should have done… but there was no crashing noise. In fact there was no noise at all. The moment she was behind the doors everything went suddenly and very eerily quiet, except for Umbridge's own ragged attempts to breathe. But there was no screeches to indicate that there were any Harpies flapping about out there, no sounds of a struggle between them or that demon, and no sign that either of them were making any attempt whatsoever to break in.

Just silence.

Until the sound of footsteps up ahead made her jump and she looked up to see that the caretaker, Argus Filch, had appeared at the top of the marble staircase up ahead and was hurrying down towards her with his broom in hand.

"Mistress Umbridge," he gasped as he approached and saw the state of her. "Are you all right? What were you doing out there at this time of night?"

"Filch," Umbridge said urgently, her eyes wild. "I was just dragged out of my office by a flock of harpies!"

"…You were what?" Filch blinked.

"You heard me! Harpies! They dropped me in the lake and chased me… disgusting half-bred chickens were planning on eating me, I'm certain of it!"

"But… Mistress Umbridge… there's no such thing as harpies," Filch stared in bewilderment. "They're make-believe."

"Do these look like make-believe claw marks to you!" she screamed, pulling at her cardigan. "They're outside these doors right now, waiting to pounce on me again no doubt!"

"But they can't be… they're…"

"IF THEY'RE IMAGINARY THEN WHY DON'T YOU GO OUTSIDE AND MAKE SURE OF IT!" Umbridge hollered, pointing wildly at the door. "GO ON! DO IT! DO IT NOW, IF YOU'RE BRAVE ENOUGH!"

Filch was looking very disconcerted at this point but he did as instructed, though Umbridge scrambled over to the nearest door and prepared to bolt through it at a moment's notice before he swung the front door open… to an empty courtyard. There was not a harpy in sight, nor was there a demon. Not even any feathers which might have given away the fact that something was there. They were all just… gone…

"Er…" Filch muttered, glancing back across at her. "There's really nothing there, Mistress Umbridge."

"But… but there were… they were just…" Umbridge blustered, slowly stepping back up towards Filch to get a better look. which caused Filch himself to back away from her rather substantially. She stared in complete confusion - why on earth would such terrifying creatures just disappear. She knew she wasn't imagining things - she'd felt the demons hands around her neck, watching the talons of those harpies tear at her clothes… they had been there. And now they… weren't. The courtyard was empty.

…For about ten seconds.

Because then something dropped from above to land splayed on all fours in the middle of the courtyard. And despite the low light, it took Umbridge a mere second to see… it was the werewolf!

"IIIYYYAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Umbridge whipped around and pelted up towards the stairs, knocking Filch as she went. But the werewolf pelted after her at terrific speed, shooting straight through the front doors and leaping onto the banister, scaling it easily until it was able to jump off and land with a thump right in front of Umbridge, so close to her that in her panicked state she actually crashed straight into it. She collapsed backwards, throwing out her hands to keep her from tumbling all the way down and all but frothing at the mouth with fear as she stared up at it. She'd felt its hair on her face when she hit it… and now it towered over her, taking slow and meaningful steps downwards towards her with a hungry gleam in its eye.

"Stay away! Get back! Don't you realise what will happen if you kill me!?" she whimpered as she backed slowly down the stairs on her backside, her throat too raw to scream at it now. "Your kind will be persecuted even more than they already are! You'll be hunted down and executed for this… please… please don't kill me!"

The werewolf's response was to lunge at her, its teeth snapping shut a mere inch from her face. And for the first time, Umbridge fainted. She just fainted dead away, sprawled out across the stairs and her world going completely black.

"…And she was begging and squealing at absolutely nothing. I really don't know what to make of it all, Headmaster. I though maybe she was having a fit maybe, but she was definitely talking to something. At first I thought it might have been Peeves and he'd just gone invisible, but it looked like she could see whatever it was so now I'm not sure…"

Umbridge's world slowly returned to clarity at the sound of Filch's voice. She was now leaning against one of the stone columns at the base of the stairs' banisters and as she looked up she realised she was surrounded by other members of the Hogwarts faculty, all looking down at her with various degrees of curiosity… though admittedly not a lot of concern.

"AAH!" Umbridge cried, springing to her feet and looking about her wildly. "WHERE IS IT!? WHERE IS IT!?" she yelled but there was nothing. Once again, the werewolf had completely vanished.

"Where is what, my dear Dolores?" Dumbledore asked kindly. "You seem to have had quite a turn."

"The werewolf! Where is the god damn werewolf!?"

"Werewolf?" Professor Sinistra snorted. "What werewolf? There's no way that a werewolf could get into the Hogwarts grounds without authorisation."

"WELL THERE HAS!" Umbridge screamed at her. "AND… AND I WAS ATTACKED BY HARPIES TOO!"

"Excuse me? Harpies?" McGonagall raised a brow. "Come, come now Dolores you know there's no such thing!"

"THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN ONE OF THEM FLYING THROUGH MY WINDOW AND DRAGGING ME OUTSIDE THEN!?"

"Oh I can explain that right enough. It didn't happen!"

"OF COURSE IT HAPPENED! I'M BEING HOUNDED BY MONSTERS AND HALF-BREEDS AND OTHER FILTHY CREATURES! IT WAS JUST THE WEREWOLF AT FIRST BUT NOW THERE ARE MORE! THEY ALL KEEP COMING AFTER ME!"

"Dolores, please calm down," Dumbledore said soothingly. "I'm sure if we just take a step back and think about this rationally…"

"WHERE'S HAGRID!?"

"Hagrid? What does he have to…"

"Tell me where that DISGUSTING HALF-GIANT is right now or I swear to you, Dumbledore…"

Dumbledore's eyes flared and Umbridge suddenly found herself unable to continue as a flash of fear spread through her. "You may be a member of staff here, Dolores, but that does not give you the right to freely insult other staff members. I would please ask that you keep a civil tongue, if you would be so kind."

"Also, Hagrid just went to go back down to his hut five minutes ago," Professor Sprout said. "He's been out in the greenhouses with me for the last couple of hours, helping me to apply Flesh Eating Slug Repellent to all the plants. They'd started to intrude upon our Herbology lessons you see."

"He can't have been! He's involved in this - I know it!" Umbridge seethed. "That werewolf attacked me during an inspection of one of his lessons!"

"When you speak of this werewolf, are you actually referring to one in a transformed state?" asked Snape from where he was standing in the corner. "Because the full moon was a few days ago now so there couldn't have been…"

"SO EVERYONE KEEPS TELLING ME!" Umbridge shouted. "BUT I KNOW WHAT I SEE! I KEEP BEING ATTACKED BY A TRANSFORMED WEREWOLF, EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOODY DAY!"

"Is there anyone who can verify this story?" Dumbledore asked.

"…NO!" Umbridge cried, a massive wave of frustration filling her up. "But… but go and check my office! The window will still be shattered after that harpy broke in!"

"Dolores, really. Harpies don't…"

But Umbridge ignored McGonagall and hurried up the stairs as fast as she could through her tiredness, several of the staff members reluctantly following on after her. And yet when they reached her office, Umbridge's jaw dropped. Everything was in perfect order - the window completely restored, her desk intact… no sign at all that anything had broken in, let alone a mythical half-bird creature.

"But… but this… this doesn't make any… sense…" she blustered.

"Dolores, I think it might be best if you went to the Hospital Wing for a bit," suggested Dumbledore.

"I DO NOT NEED ANY DAMN MEDICINE! I'M IN MY RIGHT MIND!"

"You certainly sound it," McGonagall rolled her eyes.

"Just… just get out!" Umbridge growled. "If none of you will believe me… I'll have to find a way to get to bottom of this myself!"

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes! Now leave me alone!"

"As you wish. Good night, Dolores."

But as they left, Umbridge still heard McGonagall say, "She's gone completely loopy if you ask me," right before the door closed and she was left in her office on her own. Her fists slammed down upon her desk in outright fury. Why did nobody believe her!? Surely someone must have noticed or heard something that was going on outside! And why could only she see that damn werewolf!? Even Filch, who had been very sycophantic to her since she'd arrived, now thought that she was losing it.

She had to prove it! She had to prove that something was going on! And she was certain that Hagrid was responsible. It all made sense in her mind… yes… this was a man who supposedly created Blast-Ended Skrewts… those were half-breeds too if the rumours were correct weren't they? Maybe he could somehow create harpies as well! And lizard men! And whatever that demon thing was! They all had to be his pets and now he was out to get her! Him and all his half-breed friends… yes… yes… it all made so much sense in her mind!

She had to find him out! Had to catch him in the act somehow…

But how?

And oh goodness what if the harpies attacked her again? They could come smashing through the window at any moment! Snatching her wand she ended up conjuring wooden planks and chains from thin air which she used to board up and secure the window… and then the door… and then the fireplace, completely sealing herself in. There… now nothing could get in… but what if they could? If there was a werewolf that was somehow invisible to most people then what if also had other tricks that would allow it to get through all this.

There was nowhere safe.

Danger around every corner.

Oh lord, what should she do?

And she ended up curled into a ball in the corner, rocking back and forth slightly and biting on her nails and jumping at every shadow. Completely unaware of the invisible purple symbols which formed a ring around the edges of the room.

"That was GREAT!" Cana laughed about ten minutes later back in the Room of Requirement. "I know it sounds mean to say it considering we were essentially mentally torturing someone, but it was GREAT!"

"It certainly went down an absolute storm," Fred agreed, grinning widely. "Wonder what she must be thinking right now."

"Remind me again what those runes you set up said, Freed?" George asked.

Freed chuckled. Almost as soon as Umbridge had been scooped out of the window by the Harpy, he and Fred and George had entered the office - the twins through the door and Freed through the window. The twins had fixed it up quickly while Freed prepared the runes around the border of the room which read:-

"All Defence Against The Dark Arts teachers that enter here will be gripped by extreme fear and paranoia for as long as they are inside."

"Brilliant. Just brilliant," Ron snickered. "That'll keeps things going even when we're not there to actually freak her out. And I had no idea you could become a demon as well, Freed."

"It's not a true demon. It greatly enhances some of my magical abilities while in that form but its very draining to maintain. Mirajane's demon forms are much more authentic though."

"Thank you," Mira smiled. "And you two did well out there as well, Cana, Bickslow. You make a pretty good tag team."

"Yeah, I guess we do," Cana snickered - she'd been the one to summon the harpies from the first new card that Fred and George had helped her make, and since they were essentially lifeless creatures like Rustyrose's creations it had allowed Bickslow to implant his souls into them and direct them across the field in the script they carefully laid out beforehand. "I don't know if I could have controlled all five harpies quite so well on my own."

"Maybe not but can you imagine them running amuck on the battlefield in future," Bickslow snickered. "I massively look forward to seeing that!"

"I still can't believe you had another Full Body Take Over besides your usual Beast locked away in there, Elfman," Evergreen glowered at him, for they had managed to rope him into participating in their scheme to terrorise Umbridge. "Don't you think that Lizardman thing would have been useful during the S-Class trial or against Grimoire Heart the first time?"

"I've already told you - I've never used a Full Body Take Over on the Lizardman before!" Elfman retaliated. "All I've ever done for that thing was the arm before that. I didn't even know if it would be possible to spread the power from that to a Full Body Take Over."

"Couldn't you have at least given it a try? Did it ever occur to you in that thick skull of yours?"

"A Man knows when to test his limits and trying something that could drain my power in the middle of an important exam would have been stupid."

"Oh, so you're saying my idea's are stupid?"

"You just said I had a thick skull! Isn't that technically calling me stupid too?"

"What an excellent base you two are starting to build a relationship on," Laxus rolled his eyes dryly.

"WE'RE NOT BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP!"

"Sure. Just warn me before you get to the part where you're stealing kisses from each other at every possible opportunity," the Lightning Dragon Slayer snorted. "I'd prefer to avoid the sappy part."

"Oh, don't say that Laxus," Cana smirked. "You never know. You might find a girl to reach that stage of a relationship way before these two knuckleheads get there."

"I highly, highly doubt it. Nonetheless I think we can call the events of this evening an unmitigated success, wouldn't you say, kid?" Laxus looked over to Ron.

"Definitely," Ron beamed. "You all did great, and you did as well as ever at the final part there, Lily."

"I have to admit I'm starting to enjoy playing the part of a savage animal," Pantherlily chuckled as he popped another piece of kiwi into his mouth.

"If we keep this up we'll really have Umbridge on the run," Ron concluded. "And when she's gone, I bet that at the very least will get Harry to perk up."

It was past curfew by this point so the twins had to lead Ron back towards the Common Room via some of the secret passages they knew to avoid detection, although they probably needn't have done given that Umbridge was currently trying to hide under her desk in her office while Filch was busy brooding about whether he might have made a mistake to idolise her so much. But Hermione was waiting for him when he got there, clearly still deep in thought. She told him that Harry had gone straight to bed with a bowl of Essence of Murtlap that she'd prepared for him as soon as he got back from Umbridge's detention.

But before she could say anything else, Ron launched into the story of what had happened, in great detail. By the time he'd finished, Hermione couldn't decide whether to laugh or feel ashamed for wanting to laugh.

"Oh, I have to admit, I really wish I could have seen the look on her face through… all of that!" she eventually settled on laughing. "We're really pulling all the stops against her now. If we keep it up we may even be able to get her out of the school before the Christmas holidays."

"Here's hoping," Ron nodded. "We're certainly wearing her down, but we may still need one big major play to serve as our checkmate."

"Maybe. But we'll come to that later. There's… actually something that I've been thinking about lately."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Well… you remember Daphne Greengrass?"

"The Slytherin girl that follows Pansy Pugface around and giggles at every snide comment she makes?" Ron frowned.

"That applies to all the Slytherin girls in our year really," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Though like I told you and Harry before, she's been doing that a lot less. But still, my point is - I've had a couple of conversations with her while we were both working in the library."

"Jeez, that can't have been pleasant."

"Actually aside from a couple of insulting comments they've been really intriguing. It seems Daphne's very worried about her parents right now." She quickly outlined what Daphne had told her about the possibility that her family might get absorbed into the ranks of the Death Eaters, willingly or not."

"Doesn't surprise me," Ron shrugged when she'd finished. "They are a Pureblood family. If it weren't for the fact they know my family's tight with Dumbledore they'd probably try recruiting us too."

"I'm so pleased you put it like that, Ron," Hermione smirked.

"Eh?" Ron blinked.

"You're right, they would try and recruit the Weasleys if they didn't consider you Blood Traitors, even though every one of you was in Gryffindor. Which is why I'm thinking… Daphne wants to learn to defend herself and her family… she hates Umbridge and doesn't want to throw in with Voldemort… I think we should ask her if she wants to join the DA."

"SAY WHAT!?" Ron bellowed. He had to wait a couple of minutes after that for everyone in the Common Room to stop paying attention to him after that, but when he felt he could speak again she hissed, "Hermione, have you gone nuts? She's a Slytherin! We can't invite a Slytherin to join our illegal group? How do we know she wouldn't rat us out in a second? It's bad enough we've got a git like Zacharias Smith involved and he's a Hufflepuff! Inviting a Slythering would be nothing but trouble."

"Would it though?" Hermione mused. "I think it would be fine. Like I said, she hates Umbridge so I highly doubt she'd report it. And Snape already knows about it so if she went running to him it wouldn't do any good. And anyway, I don't think she would do that. She's desperate to learn to fight so she can defend herself and her sister. Heck, we could invite Astoria as well."

"But Hermione, they're Slytherins! The same people who call you Mudblood. And every single member of Voldemort's Death Eaters was in that house!"

"Not every single member," Hermione corrected him pointedly. "You should know that better than most Ron given that you had a non-Slytherin Death Eater as your pet rat for years."

"…Well… yeah… but…"

"Wormtail was a Gryffindor and he betrayed his friends. Daphne is a Slytherin and she wants to learn to defend herself against Voldemort. And as you said, Zacharias Smith is a Hufflepuff and he's a thoroughly unpleasant person. The point is Ron, you shouldn't judge what someone is going to be like solely based on what house they're in. People are more complicated than that. And Dumbledore's Army is about teaching anybody that wants to learn to defend themselves. We said all this the other day when we decided not to kick Smith out. Why should we let him in but keep Daphne out?"

"But… but…" Ron blustered. "But… Slytherin…"

"Ron," Hermione said slowly. "Do you think Pureblood prejudice against Muggle Borns is wrong?"

"Of course I do!" Ron said instantly and vehemently.

"Right. Well, isn't it also wrong to hold a prejudice against someone just because they're in a particular house? I mean, granted, most Slytherins are horrible people. I'm not even going to try and contest that. But is it really fair to lump them all in one basket without giving them a chance?"

"…I… I guess not…" Ron looked down at his shoes. "But you know… they've been asses to us all so many times… I still can't forget that song from the Quidditch pitch…"

"I understand. There's an ingrained mistrust. Believe me, I'm having doubts about this too, but I need to trust myself and I want you to trust me as well Ron. Besides, remember what the Sorting Hat sang at the start of the year, about all of us pulling together? And remember what it sang in our very first year? About how Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin used to be best of friends?"

"Yeah…"

"Well then, think of it as our way of honouring that our house founder by reaching out to someone from the house of his old friend, even if we've become bitter enemies over the years. I've made up my mind, Ron. I'm going to invite Daphne Greengrass into the DA."