A/N: Chap 29 Review responses in my forums as usual. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Thirty: Dumbledore's Army

Draco Malfoy stared coldly at Harry in every class, from his mother's class in the morning to their final afternoon class before dinner. He never spoke, but just stared coldly. His companions, Theodore Nott and Vincent Crabbe stared as well, but not with the vicious cold Malfoy demonstrated.

In the halls, Slytherins stared daggers not just as Harry, but also at Luna, Hermione, and to his horror, Astoria herself. Daphne Greengrass, the princess of Slytherin, was dead. It was obvious that the Slytherins blamed Astoria as much as Harry and his family.

Harry was especially glad he was out of Wizarding Life. At those meals they took in the Great Hall, Rolanda Hooch stared at them with angry yellow eyes, piercing the whole family with pure hate. He didn't find out until Hermione told him that Daphne had been the professor's favourite pupil.

"It wouldn't surprise me if she knew about what was happening with Tori as well," Hermione added darkly.

It was only a matter of time before the hate boiled up into action. The first prank was against Astoria and Luna both. During the first week in April, someone threw porcupine quills into the potion they were working on in class. Luna was Astoria's partner now, having switched after the bonding. The resulting explosion melted their cauldron and covered both girls in a painful acid. Whatever Harry had to say about Snape, he was truly grateful for the speed the Potions Master displayed in vanishing the girl's soaked and ruined robes and the potion on their skins.

Even so, both had to spend a night in the Hospital Wing. During the night, Luna woke to find Pomfrey's assistant switching Astoria's potions. Rather than confront her immediately, the Ravenclaw stayed up the remainder of the night to guard Astoria until Pomfrey came to administer the potions the next morning, at which time she told the mediwitch everything.

Pomfrey paled and checked the potions, her wand shaking when she saw what her diagnostic spell had revealed. She was as irritated at having to find yet another assistant as she was having an assistant try to slip Draught of Living Death to a fourth year.

Perhaps the worst prank, though, came that last week in April. Tori and Luna were walking back from Muggle Studies with a group of other Fourth Year girls when the girls turned a corner to see Daphne Greengrass standing in the middle of the hallway, covered in blood from a huge, gushing wound in her head. She was naked, and her nakedness showed the horrid bruises and wounds from her fall.

"Why did you kill me, Tori?" the person wearing Daphne's face said. "How could you betray me like that? Why did you kill me?"

Tori screamed, dropped her bag, and ran back up the hall. Luna, in a rare display of anger, pulled her wand from behind her ear and shot a banisher that hit 'Daphne' and blasted her against a wall. She turned to Ginny Weasley and said, "Watch her. Denise, could you fetch a professor?"

Denise Creevey darted off to find a professor while Luna ran after Astoria. Luna felt some alarm when she realized that the younger girl was running toward the dungeons, as if she forgot where her new home was. She ran harder, panting, until she rounded a turn of the hall and smacked face-first right into a hugely muscled arm.

With a flash of white at the impact, Luna dropped like a stone and blinked up at the huge, muscle-bound form of Gregoria Goyle. "Don't worry, Mrs Potter," she said with a leering grin. "We'll get the little traitor back to you in a bit."

Luna grabbed at her wand, but Gregoria was faster and stomped down hard on her stomach. The impact ripped the breath out of Luna; she curled on her side, gasping desperately for breath. "You just don't get it, do you, Luna? You think you've outsmarted us, but you just don't get it. You can't win, because we won't let you."

And that's when Gregoria Goyle met Hermione Potter's banishing charm. The huge girl's eyes widened just a moment before Hermione's spell struck her head-on and sent her flying arse-over-teakettle into the far wall. Luna looked up, wincing at every breath, to see not just Hermione, but a fiery-eyed Harry, Justine and Jessica Rivers, Neville, Susan, Hannah, Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Terri Boot and almost a quarter of the expanded Firebird Army.

Harry consulted his map. "They've taken her into the Slytherin Commons!" he said. "Hermione?"

"I'll stay with Luna, go!" Hermione said.

Fifteen Fifth Years ran through the halls toward the Slytherin common room. A professor—Persephone Onuava, the Second Stage Herbology Teacher who handled the years before and after Harry, stepped out in confusion. "Potter, what is happening?" she demanded.

"A kidnapping!" he shouted back over his shoulder without even stopping.

Finally, they came to the Slytherin portrait. A knight in black armour holding a sword over a cowering Muggle looked up at them and sneered. "Your kind is not welcome here."

Harry raised his wand and shouted, "Bombarda!"

The knight had only a moment to look worried before the portrait disappeared. Beyond, the wooden door cracked as its wards strained against the magic.

"All together!" Harry cried.

Fifteen students cast simultaneously, and when the smoke and debris cleared, not only was the door gone, but so was the surrounding frame and much of the wall. Harry dove through first into a circle of stunned Slytherins. In their midst, on her knees and stripped naked, he saw his wife.

The brief moment of shock on the Slytherin's faces ended abruptly as they went for their wands; they never had a chance as fifteen students who had been training in defence above and beyond even normal classes stunned them en masse. When the immediate threat was removed, Harry ripped off his robes and covered the weeping, terrified girl.

"I'm here, Tori," he told her, desperate to make her better.

Her lip quivered and tears ran from her eyes, but she didn't make a sound. Moments later Professor Snape came running down a narrow hall from his quarters into the debris and body-filled common room. He came en guard when fifteen Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws turned their wands on him. "What is happening here?" he demanded angrily. "Potter!"

"They kidnapped my wife, Professor," Harry said, fighting to control his rage. "They made someone impersonate her dead sister, and when she ran, they caught her and brought her here to torture here. Luna tried to follow, and Gregoria attacked her. THEY HURT MY FAMILY!"

All control was lost by then, and Harry screamed out his rage as he spoke the last. Snape looked around at the stunned students, then at the others still holding their wands on him. He visibly sighed when reinforcements arrived in the form of Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Morgana's bones! What is happening here?" McGonagall said.

Harry gathered Tori in his arms. "My wife was kidnapped and assaulted," Harry told her. "Another was assaulted while trying to save her. Thank Merlin my friends helped me, or it might have been too late to save her."

McGonagall looked at the carnage behind him. "Severus, is this true?"

"I was in my quarters, so I can't say for sure," Snape said.

Behind them, Dumbledore said, "All students, return to your common rooms now. The evening meal is cancelled; you'll be fed in your dorms. Go, now!" Harry's friends dispersed, moving quickly at the Headmaster's harsh words. "Professor McGonagall, please contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and alert them to what has happened. Professor Snape, we shall keep these students where they are until Aurors come. Please keep your other students out of this room."

Finally, the ancient wizard turned to Harry. "Take your young wife to the Hospital Wing, Harry, and stay with her. Let Madam Pomfrey know that I gave you special dispensation to do so."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said with genuine gratitude. He turned and carried the nearly catatonic girl out of the broken remains of Slytherin House.

"You know the Sabbat is going to have a field day with this," Snape said darkly.

"Of that I have no doubt," Dumbledore said.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

"She was not sexually assaulted," Pomfrey said tersely to the small group standing in her wing. "There is evidence only of physical abuse—bruises and what have you."

Harry sighed in relief. "So she's okay to go home?"

"Yes, though I do recommend a dreamless draught tonight, and possibly tomorrow as well," Pomfrey said.

"What about Luna?" Hermione asked.

"Two broken ribs," the mediwitch said. "I was able to mend the bones. She's also ready to return to her…your rooms."

Harry released a long, shuddering breath he'd been holding. He turned back to the sleeping Tori, and in the bed beside her, Luna. Beside him, Hermione took his hand silently. He smiled gratefully at her, but before he could speak people came barrelling into the wing.

He was not surprised to see Amelia Bones, but the tall, gaunt man with the hugely shaggy eyebrows was certainly a surprise, as was the woman behind him: Delia Griffin. Dumbledore walked with them, struggling to keep up with their quick pace.

The wizard stopped in front of Tori's bed and glanced from her to Harry, and finally to Hermione and their joined hands. "So this is Harry Potter, is it?"

"Mr Potter," Amelia said carefully, "may I introduce his honour, Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister for Magic."

Harry blinked in surprise. "An honour, sir," he managed to say, while Hermione curtseyed.

"Yes, yes," Scrimgeour said. "Potter, do you know what you've done?"

"I rescued my wife from a kidnapping, sir," Harry said.

Scrimgeour frowned, his shaggy brows furrowing like something alive on his face. "That's not the way I heard it, young man. According to my sources, you led a group of hooligans and destroyed the Slytherin common room, and assaulted half their student body!"

Harry stared at the man, astounded. "Then with all due respect, Minister, your sources are bald-faced liars. The Slytherins abducted Tori, and one of them physically assaulted my First Wife to prevent her from being recovered. If I hadn't done what I did, she could have been assaulted or worse. I have the testimony of everyone with me to confirm that Tori was being abused in that room when we arrived."

"A silly prank…" Scrimgeour began.

"Pranks don't involve stripping a girl and beating her or impersonating her recently killed sister," Hermione said. "Minister," she added.

"They also don't involve stomp-kicks in a witch's stomach," Harry added. "This wasn't a prank. This was an assault on my family."

"That did not give you the right to assault the majority of Slytherin House!" Scrimgeour snapped. "If you had an issue, then by Merlin you needed to take it to a professor!"

"If I had they would have raped her!" Harry shouted back, not cowed at the least.

Scrimgeour blinked, amazed that anyone would argue with him.

"They as much as admitted they were counting on the delay caused by us getting the Professors, Minister," Hermione said in a more reasonable tone. "It was a coordinated attack. The girl who impersonated Daphne Greengrass was a there to scare Tori back to the dungeons. There she was captured by two Seventh Year witches who dragged her back to the commons, stripped her, and then planned to give her to the bonded wizards in their house before returning her to us as a message. The fact that she is bonded to Harry gave us the right to retrieve her by any means, under both Wizengamot law and Sabbat tradition."

"And who are you to quote Sabbat tradition, young lady?" Scrimgeour said threateningly. "The Muggleborn child who violated the statutes and obtained proscribed material? Whose own parents participated in a Muggle witch-hunting program? You should be walking very quietly, Miss Granger, given that your pardon could be revoked."

Hermione paled and clutched Harry's hand tighter.

"It seems to me, Minister," Dumbledore said behind him, "that if we elevate this to a political arena, we will have to address all the behaviour involved, not just Mr Potter's. Whether you agree with her background or not, Miss Granger is correct regarding the statutes in this case. The Ministry, Wizengamot and Sabbat have always held that it is a most basic right that individuals have the right to defend themselves with magic, and this right has been formally expanded to include families. Just as if Aurors go to arrest an individual, if that individual were to defend herself, the act of defending herself would not be held against her. The many monitoring methods in the castle confirmed that Miss Greengrass was detained against her wishes. Therefore, as her husband, Mr Potter had the right by law and tradition to fetch her, and likewise those friends, family and acquaintances of his who joined him were by extension also covered under that protection."

Speaking for the first time, Delia Griffin said: "You play a dangerous game, Headmaster."

"Minister, Dame Delia, they had my wife," Harry pleaded. "I had to save her. After all she's been through, I had to."

Scrimgeour shook his head and turned back to Dumbledore. "You're losing control of this castle, old man. First the elder Greengrass girl, and now this…"

"If I will remind you, Minister, the Greengrass incident occurred between two Dames and had nothing to do with this school, or me." Dumbledore nodded to Tori. "And this…this was truly unforgiveable. To abduct a student like that, even as a prank, goes far beyond the pale. There will be expulsions for this."

"No there won't," Dame Delia said firmly. "If Potter isn't going to be punished, then neither will anyone else."

"That is completely unfair!" Hermione said.

Delia turned and actually pulled her wand. Harry stepped between the wand and Hermione. "Instruct your Mudblood to keep her mouth shut!" Delia snarled.

Harry glared at her silently but managed to bite his tongue and keep silent.

"Delia, you're not helping," Scrimgeour said.

She frowned at him, and he frowned right back. While the Sabbat outranked the Wizengamot, he was still the Minister for Magic, with nominal control over the DMLE. Finally she turned the force of her glare to Dumbledore. "Try to punish the Slytherins, and the Sabbat will bring Potter up on assault charges on their own."

Dumbledore said nothing at first, but then in an intentionally calm voice, he said, "Dame Delia, rest assured that I will run this school as I must. If you have issue with how that occurs, you may bring your concerns to the Board of Governors. However, I must remind you that Hogwarts is not a Ministry institution, nor do we answer directly to the Sabbat. What the students did today was inexcusable, and I will punish the students responsible accordingly."

"We shall see," Dame Delia said before marching quickly away.

Scrimgeour turned and frowned heavily at Harry again. "The boy of prophecy indeed. Keep your head down, Potter. It would be a shame if I had to cut it off."

When they were gone, Dumbledore sighed tiredly. "Mr Potter, while I understand your reasoning and actions, I do truly wish you had fetched a professor first. Professor Onuava saw you heading toward Slytherin. You should have at the least recruited her to assist you—had a Professor had been with you, the situation would be much more easily handled."

"She wouldn't have…"

He stopped and looked at where Hermione squeezed his hands. "Harry," she said softly, "the headmaster is right. She was right there, Justine told me. She could have opened the Common Room door as a professor."

Harry stared angrily at Hermione, then back at Dumbledore. "I was past thinking about it. All I knew was that they had my wife."

"I understand, my boy," Dumbledore said. "And they will be punished. But I'm afraid that Dame Delia is right—you and those with you must also answer for their actions. While you all had just cause, you took matters into your own hands against the policy of the school."

"If you have to punish anyone, punish me and me alone," Harry said firmly. "They came because I cajoled them into it. I take responsibility for what happened."

"As any leader should," Dumbledore said with a wry smile. "Very well, Harry. I'm afraid you have lost all Hogsmeade privileges for the remainder of the year, and will be remanded to your quarters except for class or the library as required for your studies, again for the remainder of the year."

"But what about…" Hermione stopped herself quickly. "And the ones who took Luna?"

"Punishments will vary by the degrees of their participation. Ms Goyle, for instance, will be allowed to sit her O.W.L.s but not permitted to return, as will be the case with any fifth years directly involved. They will be remanded to their quarters as you have. Those above O.W.L.s will be expelled immediately, while those below Fifth Year will be suspended for the remainder of the year."

"Good," Harry said.

"Necessary, perhaps," Dumbledore said heavily, "but not good. Not good at all."

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

As April ended and May began, even Luna began to show signs of strain from her GCSE work in Muggle Studies. Astoria did not even do that well, throwing four tantrums in the first week of the month alone over how much she hated stupid Biology and Chemistry. She told Hermione she could stick her Muggle maths up her cunny, and then collapsed in tears.

Harry tried threats at first, but then decided to try the carrot instead of the stick. "If you make it through your core subjects," he told her, "I'll give you another rub."

The whole girl's face shifted in one gestalt blink of an eye from despair to excitement. "Okay!"

Beside her at their evening table, Luna pouted. "What about me?"

"I know you're going to do well, though," Harry pointed out.

Luna stared at him flatly. Harry ran a hand through his hair, before suddenly grinning. "You're First Wife. You can just order me to give you a rub anytime you want."

"Ordering it is not the same as having it offered," she said.

"Alright, how 'bout this. You tutor Tori on her Core subjects with Hermione, and I'll give everyone a rub."

"Better," Luna decided.

Those moments of levity, though, were few and far between. The entire school felt oppressed, with the expulsion of four sixth and seventh years, the pending suspension of two Fourth years, and the pending expulsion of five fifth fears following their O.W.L.s.

The papers were calling for the immediate dismissal of Snape as the head of Slytherin House, but were also viciously attacking Dumbledore. Worse yet, several articles attacked Tori herself, describing her as a scarlet woman who was known to enter into sexual relations with bonded male students.

Fortunately, Tori didn't read the Daily Prophet at all because it was, in her words, too boring, but she couldn't help but notice the snickers and accusing looks of the student body. She sank back into herself every day of class, and in the evenings they virtually gave up on eating in the great hall. Unfortunately, Home Economics was not offered until sixth year, so Harry had no idea how to cook in the purely magical kitchen, and neither did any of his wives. Luna's mum never had opportunity to teach her, and as for Tori: "That's what elves are for."

Fortunately, with his official banishment to his room, the kitchen elves brought food for the whole family.

The worst part, though, was the Firebird Army. Harry tried sneaking out during his first week of punishment under his cloak to teach the class, when a portrait of a notable wizard from the fourteenth century cleared his throat and said: "Mr Potter, while I cannot see you, I must advise you that a tracking charm has been placed on your person where you cannot see, not even with Aether vision, and the Headmaster thus knows you have left your room. He has conveyed to me his insistence that you return to your quarters forthwith."

Knowing he was beaten, Harry retreated back to his room and stayed there with Tori alone until Hermione and Luna returned from the meeting. "You got caught?" Hermione asked the moment they stepped through.

"Dumbledore placed a tracking charm on me," Harry muttered. "Were you and Luna able to do anything?"

"Yes," Luna said. "Angelina and Fred both helped as well. While Fred did not do very well on his D.A.D.A. O.W.L., Angelina received top marks for her work."

"Wasn't quite as good as you," Hermione assured him. "She's…"

"Bossy," Luna said.

"I was going to say determined."

"She's bossy," Harry said. "I played Quidditch with her for four years, I know her. I'm glad she was able to help. Thank Merlin it's only a few weeks until O.W.L.s. I don't know if I could handle this all year."

He woke up in the morning dreading D.A.D.A., and found himself often making up excuses in his head for why he should miss class. However, he knew that would just make things worse with Professor Black.

Black spent one entire class calmly discussing how his mother was a perfect example of why Muggleborns should not be allowed in Hogwarts, going so far as to call her a slut and whore. Draco smiled the entire time, while Ron, Seamus and Neville stared in shock that Harry wasn't shouting back at her.

Harry glared, but did not say anything. Instead, he just counted down the days. He had to survive through his O.W.L. examinations, or all of this would be for nothing.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

Ernie MacMillan grumbled angrily as he walked to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom after dinner. He wasn't part of the group that attacked the Slytherin Common rooms a few weeks ago. He didn't understand why Professor Black was picking on him of all people. He didn't even particularly like Potter, though even he had to admit the Gryffindor was good teaching the Firebird's Army. Not that he could any more. Angelina was pretty good too, just too damned pushy. She tended to shout at people if they didn't get whatever it was she was trying to say. Thank Merlin for Granger and Lov…Potter. Luna Potter.

That was a kicker.

He knocked at the door, and with the invitation, stepped into the class. He took two steps inside before he came to a stop as if struck, his eyes bulging.

Tracey Davis lounged indolently across Professor Black's desk, absolutely naked and gloriously beautiful. "Hello, Ernie," she said in a low, alluring voice. She very slowly swung her legs off the desk and walked toward him, her swaying and breasts bouncing perkily. "Oh, don't worry, I've recently bonded. But you know what I've discovered? Bonding doesn't mean fidelity. I can shag anyone I want. And I've been looking at you for a long time, Ernie."

Ernie tried to speak; tried to move. It felt as if some powerful force gripped him at the base of his scrotum and held him in place. He was not aware enough of his own magic to feel it reaching for this beautiful, inviting witch in front of him, only that he was completely paralyzed by the sight of her.

"But before we get to the fun stuff," Tracey said, "I have some questions for you."

She took one of his hands and placed it against her breast while at the same time raising a phial of clear liquid to his lips. He could not resist the fluid that poured down his throat; the power her body held over his was too much.

She stepped back and smiled invitingly at him. "Tell me about this D.A.D.A. study group of yours."

"I can't, I signed a contract," Ernie said. "If I tell you, it'll hurt me."

"That's too bad, half blood," Tracey said, her smile morphing into something dark and sinister. "Because you just drank an entire phial of Veritaserum. You will tell us what we want to know, even if it does kill you, which given what you just drank, probably will do just that."

Ernie blinked in increasingly muddled confusion as Professor Black walked into the room, flanked by another witch of perhaps sixty or seventy, with sandy, shoulder-length hair and emotionless brown eyes. "You've done well, Davis," Professor Black said. "I would have had to stun him to get that into him, but this way there will be no trace of magic on his body."

"Daphne was my best friend," Tracey said without looking away from Ernie. "I'd shag Potter himself it meant getting revenge for her."

"And that is why you are going to do so well, dear," the other witch said. "Now, half-blood, let's talk about your study group, shall we?"

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Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading. If there are any major faux-pas, they are entirely of my own doing.