Hey guys! Sorry I've been away for a while. Like I said on New Adventures I'll be traveling this summer but I'm bringing my computer with me so I can update. I can't believe this story is close to 100 followers, I never thought it would be that successful. Anyways, enjoy and I'll see you later!

Ron's POV

Umbridge was going to drive me mad. When we Harry and I, accompanied by the exchange students had walked into the common room Lucy ran up to us. "You guys need to see this," was all she said before running back to the Gryffindor notice board.

"So every group, club, or team needs to be approved by her," Gray summed up. "That's going to complicate things."

"Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" a second-year asked.

"I reckon you'll be okay with Gobstones," I replied frowning. "I don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?"

"This isn't a coincidence, she knows," Harry fumed next to me.

"She can't," I promptly countered.

"There were people listening in that pub. And let's face im we don't know how many of the people who turned up can we can trust. Any of them could have run off and told Umbridge." After attempting to get up the girls dormitory staircase to see Hermione, and failing miserably, the brunette in question and Erza emerged from the stairway.

After telling the two of them about the educational decree, Erza's face turned red with rage. "Someone must have blabbed to her," I concluded angrily.

"They can't have done," my friend replied in a low voice.

"You're so naïve," I spat. "You think just because you're all honorable and trustworthy-."

"No they can't have done because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed," Hermione fired back.

"What'll happen to them?" I asked, my tone changing instantaneously, excited to hear her answer.

"Well, put it this way. It'll make Eloise Midgen's acne look like a couple of cute freckles."

As soon as we entered the great hall, people clustered around us asking if our illegal club was going to continue. Shortly after that group disbanded, the exchange students came and gathered in the middle of the great hall like they normally did at meals. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear what they said.

"This is despicable," Erza exclaimed making everyone turn to look at her. "After all we've fought for this is something we can't attack directly." She was fuming and everyone smart didn't talk to the redhead for fear of making her angrier. Without a word she stood up and left the hall.

"Does anyone know what that was about?" Wendy asked and Natsu shrugged.

"Who knows with her," was all he said before Lucy spoke up.

"All of us no that we attack things directly with rare exceptions, but this seems to be turning into a dictatorship," the blonde frowned before she continued talking. "You know that Erza's past is dark and that she was in a place where she had no freedom. Anything that remotely resembles that must be upsetting for her."

"If this is reminding her of that, will she be like this a lot now?" Gray questioned his friends as the other gryffindors sat down at the table.

"It was a traumatic experience for her," Evelyn piped up to answer Gray's question and all of their eyes shifted to her. "It doesn't matter how long ago an event took place, it'll always haunt them." All of them grew quiet after that. "I wish Jellal was here to be with her."

"Jellal?" I mouthed to my two best friends and they shrugged.

"How are you doing Evie?" Loke inquired. He was so strange. On top of not staying in the dormitory I had yet to see him consistently attend classes. He popped up every now and then in random classes but was missing in others.

"I've been," the black haired girl hesitated. "I've been okay. Like I said, traumatic experiences tend to haunt people. It'll be a while before I feel fine again."

"I'm so sorry Evelyn," Natsu sounded heartbroken as he apologized to his sister. "I shouldn't have left you there or I should have found you faster."

"It's ok Natsu, you didn't know. I was just too weak to escape on my own," she explained bitterly as she looked down at her plate and pushed food around it. Whatever appetite she had was gone.

"No you're not," her brother denied fiercely. "Don't you dare say that." After that they seemed subdued and Evelyn got up and excused herself from the table.

"Aw, Evie," Happy got ready to fly after her but Natsu shook his head.

"What happened to her?" I asked, knowing full well they wouldn't tell me.

"Bad stuff," her brother replied tersely before turning away. Lucy placed a hand on his arm to calm him down and was whispering words of comfort to him, but he still seemed to be upset about something.

Nothing exciting happened for the rest of the day until we were in History of Magic, surprisingly. All of the exchange students were whispering to each other or completely zoned out. Harry was too, until a sharp jab in the ribs from Hermione brought him back to reality. "What?" he snapped. Hermione pointed to the window and there, sitting on the ledge, was Hedwig, Harry's owl. "She's hurt," Harry realized. Shortly after his revelation he stood up and excused himself from the class. I was slightly envious that he got to leave and I was stuck in here.

Harry's departure from the class captured the exchange student's attention and I saw Lucy lean to whisper something into Loke's ear. The teenager with blue glasses had surprisingly shown up, and a minute after Lucy whispered to him he left the room as well. Gray leaned in to ask her something and she responded to him, in a voice so low I couldn't hear.

"Is Hedwig okay?" Hermione was asking Harry while we stood in a sheltered nook, trying to block out the cold wind.

"Where did you take her?" I asked.

"To Grubbly-Plank. And I met McGonagall, listen." As Harry filled us in that McGonagall suspected that the owls were being watched Hermione and I shared a glance. Coincidentally before Harry arrived she had brought up the possibility of Hedwig being intercepted. When Harry told us Sirius wanted to meet us again later that night, Hermione started worrying. As we made our way into potions, news that the Slytherin Quidditch team had been approved had spread like wildfire. Surprisingly, Malfoy wasn't boasting. Instead he was having a serious conversation with the other exchange students.

"That's extreme, even for Umbridge," he was saying. "If Loke's telling the truth-."

"Of course he is," Lucy defended him without any hesitation. "He can't lie to me Draco." He raised his hands in defeat but the blonde was still glaring at him.

"That's worrying though," Erza whispered. "If the mail is being intercepted, then our letters-." She got cut off with a harsh shh from Gajeel before she fell silent.

"What about your letters?" Hermione demanded, still looking for answers.

"How would you feel if your personal mail was being intercepted?" Gray fired back. With that the three of us froze and quickly dropped the subject. "You can tell us anything you know that right?"

"We're your friends," Lucy added. "We want to help you out as much as we can." They couldn't say anything else as Snape swept into the dungeon.

"You will notice that we have a guest with us today," Snape sneered as Umbridge made her presence known. After Snape gave instructions for the lesson, Umbridge stayed quietly in her corner making notes and occasionally asked questions to which Snape tersely answered. I felt conflicted because my least favorite teacher was interrogating one of the other teachers I hated. Although seeing Snape be sarcastic and unamused with Umbridge was satisfying. Unfortunately the hag didn't seem to be perturbed by it and yet I almost hoped that Snape would be replaced. After she was done with her questions she fell silent again and the class continued at its regular, dreadfully slow pace before we were dismissed.