This was a fun one to write, and since I really had no responsibilities this weekend it was done in a pretty timely manner, shout out to Jake for beta'ing this thing for me, enjoy and as always PLEASE REVIEW!
Lilly left her meeting with Madam Bones with a grin plastered on her face, dealing with the powerful war-witch was less of a negotiation and more akin to comparing notes with a kindred spirit. They'd talked well over an hour (interfering with several appointments) on the fine art of capturing dark wizards, and offing the really dangerous ones in a manner that wouldn't put anyone's knickers in a twist.
This was all of course just a bonus, she'd fully intended on befriending Amelia's niece to secure an alliance with another ancient and noble house, the fact that she actually liked the last scions of the Bones family simply made it easier. As she apparated back into Hogwarts she immediately began walking towards the dungeons for potions class, silently contemplating how she could solidify friendships with anyone in Slytherin she'd come to a simple conclusion; Snape had to go.
This decision of course was in no way influenced by her personal feelings on the man or the fact that he had a creepy obsession with her dead mother who she now greatly resembled. It most certainly had nothing to do with the amount of times she'd caught him staring at her when he thought no one was looking, or the repeated attempts to enter her mind, nope, none of that factored in, total professional here.
Stopping to consider her options she checked the time and saw she had at least an hour till class, nodding to herself she apparated to the sixth floor and peaked into Professor Bathsheda Babbling's office. Seeing the middle aged woman leafing through papers Lilly knocked on the door frame to get her attention,
"Excuse me professor, could I possibly have a word with you?" Glancing up the blonde witch grinned seeing her new second favorite student, while Lilly had only taken one class so far she'd proven herself to be near NEWT level in skill with ancient runes with little direction needed. This was of course due to two factors, the first being Tom had been NEWT level, and she had Hermione to tutor her, and she thought her girlfriend had been rough with the studying before they were dating, now...ugh...
"Of course Miss Potter, I'm just grading papers, its best to do it quickly you see, leave runic arrays laying around unattended and a little ambient magic can activate them, first time it happened I had a repelling ward knocking me away from my desk for a week!" Smiling at the friendly teacher Lilly sat down and crossed her legs, she kept having to remind herself about the little things like that; life as a woman was needlessly complicated in her opinion.
"Sounds fun, what happened the second time?" Snorting she placed the papers aside while twirling a finger,
"Desk blew up, third time it somehow summoned a minor demon, that was irritating, anyway how can I help you?" Hoping this worked Lilly placed her hands in her lap and began,
"Well, as you know I'm now the High Lady of Slytherin, this has the added benefit of technically putting me in charge of the house here at school, and well...my house is supposed to be the home of guile, cunning, and ambition. All I ever see outside of handful of true Slytherin are a bunch of arrogant braggarts who use their families wealth to lord over everyone else, and I think we both know why this is allowed." Leaning back the professor took a deep breath and sighed,
"Yes I'm not happy at all to what's happened to my old house, we always had issues with the blood purists but since most of the truly cunning students were muggle-born or half-bloods they were usually kept in check. Under Severus..." 'Oh this is better then I thought!' Taking advantage of Babbling's musings Lilly launched her plan with gusto,
"Yes, he's an elitist, a terrible teacher, plays favorites with his house and abuses the house point system, and don't even get me started on his choice of prefects. So while there is a bit of conflict of interests since I obviously hold so much respect for the greasy git I find that I'm left in a rather interesting position of being able to sack him as house head and appoint someone else." Eyes now gleaming with interest Babbling leaned forward and loosed a knowing smile,
"Oh? And who would you like to replace him?" Grinning from ear to ear Lilly decided nothing coy would be needed here,
"Well if you'd like the position I'd gladly offer it to you, seeing as you are a fair and unbiased witch I'm sure you could knock some common sense into your snakes, Merlin knows they need it." Looking all too pleased she agreed and Lilly had her fill out the simple contract, once signed she put it away in her robes and began tapping the desk absentmindedly contemplating what the next phase of 'Operation Get the Git' would entail.
"I must say Severus will not be pleased, nor the Headmaster come to think, what will you do about it?" Chuckling Lilly shrugged a bit,
"Technically they can do nothing, Snape already sabotages my potions or at the very least lets the Slytherin's get away with doing it and my opinion on the Headmaster has nose dived as of recently, lets just say my little transformation was largely his fault and leave it at that." Nodding Babbling picked up a quill and began twirling it between her fingers like a baton, eventually she said,
"I have to say while I didn't know you well at all beforehand you've certainly taken to the changes well, I'd have thought this all would be more...traumatic for you." Snorting Lilly rose from her seat as she rolled her eyes,
"Honestly Professor this doesn't even make my 'Top Ten List of Shit That Doesn't Make Sense In The Wizarding World', I'm so used to things just happening to me that I've learned to just roll with it." Excusing herself she made for the door when Babbling asked one last question,
"Whats Number 1?" Smirking Lilly looked over her shoulder and quipped,
"How the bloody hell does the Ministry of Magic function with Fudge in charge?"
Hermione was absently leafing through her potions notes while steadfastly tuning out Ron's ramblings, they invariably involved a combination of dislike for Malfoy, love of chess, quiditch, and food, or asking where Lilly was. It was unfair to think so poorly of one of her closest friends but he seriously needed to expand his interests; glancing at the clock she felt a pang of worry, Lilly was going to be late and things were already going to be awkward as is. This was the first potions class her girlfriend would be attending since the accident and well...Lilly hadn't been the only one to notice the way Snape had been leering at her.
As if summoned by her thoughts the potions master swept into the room robes billowing, she often wondered if they were charmed to do that, it would certianly explain why they never got caught on anything. As class was just about to start Lilly entered the room and Hermione felt a moment of panic seeing she was still in her High Lady robes, the fact that the bespectacled witch was whistling and showing not a care in the world didn't help. Snape sneered and said,
"Glad you could join us Miss Potter, 10 points from Gryffindor for being out of uniform," crossing her arms below her bust and cocking her hips to one side Lilly stared at the man for a moment with one brow rising, 'Blast why does she have to be so hot' she thought blushing.
"Really Severus, considering the amount of times I've caught you staring at my tits I thought you wouldn't have much to complain about," that...that actually managed to leave the room in stunned silence, even Snape's eyes widened a bit at this declaration. Rolling her eyes Lilly snapped her fingers while hissing quietly and in a moment she was back in her school robes, "Well if you don't want the free show that's on you," taking her seat she pointedly ignored the classes stares.
"Twenty points for the cheek!" Lilly pulled out her notes while letting out a loud nonecommittal,
"Mmhmm, that's nice," and began reviewing the lesson plan, Snape actually looked a bit lost, he'd just been accused of ogling a student, casually insulted, then completely blown off when he attempted to escalate matters, after a moment he waved his wand at the board and snarled,
"You have two hours!" and sat at his desk brooding, honestly to Hermione it looked like he was pouting, glancing over to her girlfriend she finally asked,
"And what, may I ask was that all about Miss Potter?" Wincing she adjusted her glasses then replied,
"Ouch, I'm getting the Miss treatment already, and that dear Hermione was act two of phase one to 'Operation Get the Git', act three should be starting soon." There was a light cough behind them and both girls looked back to see a pair of smirking Slytherin's, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis were what Lilly had defined as "True Slytherin" and had actively talked to the two for the past few years. While Ron of course was hostile to the pair Hermione had nothing against them, they were smart, cunning, polite young witches and the word "mudblood" had never been uttered by either, so as far as she was concerned they were alright.
"Potter I have to say, the new you is very entertaining," Daphne drawled, Tracey shook her head with a smirk still on her face,
"Indeed, and thanks for calling him on that, you aren't the only girl whose caught him eyeing them, making a public declaration like that certainly brought attention to the situation," Lilly smiled in return then winked at the girls which sent a jealous pang through Hermione.
"I'm glad my indifference towards authority figures continues to delight, haven't talked to you two for awhile, hows things?" Daphne shrugged,
"Well enough I suppose, no ones tried to break into our room to "teach us a lesson" since we put that banishing ward up, last time it slammed a seventh year into the wall so hard you broke his collar bone." Eyes narrowing dangerously and beginning to glow brightly Lilly coldly stated,
"If anyone gives you more trouble let me know, my new position gives me an in to making life very, very difficult for those that cross me or my friends," both Slytherin's were slightly taken aback by that, Tracey asked,
"So we're friends now Potter?" It was a statement in the form of a question, Hermione looked at Lilly's face closely and could tell this was all calculated and planned for, 'What is that girl up to?'
"I'd like to think so, we've been cordial with each other the past three years and with my direct connection to your school House I don't see what it could hurt," The girls exchanged a glance then Daphne replied,
"We're not opposed to it, and I can already say that I wouldn't mind our family houses eventually becoming formally allied, but the thing is all inter-house relations here at school are curtailed by the current head of house." Grinning wickedly Lilly turned back to her cauldron and lightly sing songed,
"Oh that's solving itself, hehehehe..." the amused giggle scared Hermione, finally speaking she asked,
"What did you do Lilly?" Smirking her girlfriend simply stated,
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," after that she ignored all other questions but the smirk never left her face, about an hour later a large owl swept through the room dropping a scroll on Snape's desk, Hermione had been able to catch sight of the seal and it was from the Board of Governors. Letting out a giggle that became a low throaty cackle Lilly turned back to Tracey and Daphne, "So do you two know Professor Babbling?" Looking confused Daphne nodded,
"Yes she's our Ancient Runes professor, shes a very fair and intelligent woman, she's even better with runes then the tutors my father hired, why do you ask?" At that moment Snape's bellowed,
"POTTER!" Cut through the room, now openly cackling she winked at the pair again while turning back to her cauldron,
"Because she's your new head of house, mischief managed!"
The resulting fallout of Lilly's vengeance was felt for weeks to come, the first act Professor Babbling performed once taking over as head of house was to strip Draco and Pansy of their Prefect badges, apparently that doesn't happen often and was considered to be quite the little scandal. Lilly had no idea which Slytherin replaced Malfoy but Daphne Greengrass had received Pansy's badge which her blonde friend thanked her for, she felt it would look good on a resume later in life; gotta love that Slytherin focus on upward mobility.
The revamping of Slytherin House was extensive, Professor Babbling had no patience for bullying and gave no preferential treatment to her house, the end result was alot of detentions, especially for Malfoy and his gang who were used to getting away with everything. All in all it was a vast improvement that was only hindered by Dumbledore pleading with Lilly to give Snape another chance, she told him she'd think about it, honestly it was the only way to make him go away.
As for her social networking, she'd started (under Hermione's insistence) a defense against the dark arts club to train their fellow students on how not to die if Death Eaters ever attacked and they didn't agree to wait around until Auror's showed up to arrest them. She'd mainly focused on Neville, Susan, Daphne, Tracey, and Luna as far as developing friendships go, they all had connections that would help her with her end goal and to be blunt they were quite fun to be around. That's not to say she didn't help the others along with their training, as far as she was concerned having access to Tom's rather extensive assortment of spells made it her duty to spread the knowledge.
The one major hiccup in their plans was that Umbridge tried to do her best to derail the club, she'd been subtle about it at first (riiiight) but eventually began strait out threatening Lilly, which was hilarious because the castle forcefully expelled the toad through the front doors for pointing a wand at a founder heir. Once she'd regained consciousness Umbridge made alot of noise about how Lilly had attacked a member of the ministry after being confronted about the Slytherin heir's attempt to build an army for Dumbledore. This was a personal affront, she wasn't doing anything to help Dumbledore, she was building an army for herself; so that's how she found herself currently being interviewed by Madam Bones in the Great Hall as she was flanked by two Aurors.
Winking at Kingsley and Tonks Lilly went over what happened, it should be noted that every witness in the room could tell that not only did she look unworried, she looked bored out of her skull,
"Heyya Madam Bones, I'm assuming the Umbitch came up with some far out there lie to have you try to arrest me yes?" The older woman snorted as she glanced at the wretch in question, head still wrapped in bandages from her impromptu flight and landing,
"Hello Lilly, and yes she spun a most interesting tale, apparently she received information that the defense club you're running is a front to train war-wizards for Dumbledore so he can use school children to try and topple the ministry? And that once confronted you physically attacked her and she barely survived," the woman's tone was amused if anything, snorting Lilly raised her wand causing Umbridge to desperately grab for her own but she ignored the toad.
"I Lillith Alice Potter so do swear on my magic that I am not building an army for Dumbledore and that the castles wards protected me from an attack by Ministry Appointed Instructor Umbridge and thus resulting in her injuries," the flash from her wand was blindingly bright, as it faded Umbridge finally got her wand out. Looking the vile woman in the eyes she couldn't stop the smirk curling up her lips, "Please try it Doloras, I'm hoping you hit a chandelier on your way out this time."
Both Auror's and their boss turned to look at the enraged Undersecretary who eventually huffed, jammed her wand in her pocket and stalked off, 'My powers to annoy have grown strong' she thought with dark amusement. Madam Bones muttered something to her subordinates who after a few moments nodded and left the hall, giving Lilly an appraising look the older woman shook her head,
"You certainly know how to cause waves young lady, Susan's told me you've been helping her with her spell casting, I appreciate that considering the quality of education my golds paying for." Lilly smiled at that her eyes glowing slightly brighter as she felt a sense of satisfaction,
"Oh she's good, quite good in fact, she just needed a guiding hand, she can't get the Patronus charm down quite yet but she's close, might want to watch out Madam or she could be shooting for your job." Amelia smiled at that pleased to hear the praise her niece had garnered, stepping in closer she whispered,
"Fudge plans on using the next Wizengamot meeting to review your claim over the House of Slytherin, he's hoping to have your emancipation repealed and well...you can guess where it goes from there," grinning widely Lilly let out a short laugh.
"Brilliant, it only took a month and a half of chaos to get ourselves into position, if we manage to discredit Umbridge in front of the court what's the likelihood that they'll actually attempt to prosecute me?" Snorting the head of the DMLE replied dryly,
"Considering what you've gathered on her from your...sweeps, I find it seriously unlikely, the meeting is in two weeks and since you inherited a seat with your title they'll be forced to invite you...but not to inform you of the itinerary." Lilly could feel her excitement beginning to build, they were so close to destroying Umbridge and at the same time clearing Sirius,
"Perfect, well if that is all Madam Bones I need to meet up with my friends to go and build my dangerous army of school kids," giving her goodbyes she followed her Aurors out of the hall leaving Lilly to ponder her next scheme. As she began to walk out of the hall herself she was intercepted by her lovely girlfriend who then sidled up matching the taller witch's pace,
"Well that went surprisingly well didn't it love?" Snorting Hermione shook her head sending her bushy hair swaying,
"Yes all things considered, I honestly thought baiting her with the DADA club would get her to make a move far sooner, its been over a month since you started training our classmates," stroking her chin thoughtfully Lilly considered this a moment.
"'Mione, if you brought the DADA club up to Harry, how do you think he'd have reacted?" That gave her girlfriend pause, her brown eyes lost focus for a moment then a sheepish grin popped onto her face,
"More then likely he'd have refused at first, being as humble as he always was and his tendency to be moody when people relied on him when he thought he wasn't that special, it probably would have taken me a few months to needle him into accepting." Sighing self deprecatingly Lilly agreed with the assessment,
"Yeah my thoughts as well, instead I jumped on it because first off it was a brilliant idea from an equally brilliant witch," taking a glance around she quickly pecked Hermione on the cheek causing a light blush, "and second it fit in perfectly with my ongoing plans to push Umbridge over the edge. So my thinking is, maybe her plotting was centered around what Harry would do, and not Lilly." Silently considering this idea the couple found themselves at the classroom Professor Flitwick had offered them for the club, it appeared two members had showed up early and were already practicing their dueling rather then waiting on the club president, good.
Neville and Luna were busy throwing stunners at each other while staying mobile, that was the number one thing Lilly wanted to instill in her fellow students, always stay moving since dark wizards are attention whores that make grandiose gestures while standing still, don't be that guy. Luna tried to dive out of the way but her feet caught somehow and she took the stunner to the chest sending her into a sprawling tumble, Neville gasped and rushed to her,
"Luna I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you!" The young man caste the counter spell and Luna groaned, walking up to the pair Hermione looked down at Luna's feet and worried her lip a bit,
"Luna are you ok?" The small blonde nodded as she sat up, eyes somewhat glazed after her fall, Hermione then asked, "Luna, why do you have two right shoes on?" The blonde shrugged a bit at that,
"Oh, the other girls like to hide my things, they all think I'm odd so they find it amusing to play tricks on me." Suddenly a few of Luna's idiosyncrasys made a bit more sense, frowning Lilly pulled out her wand and took the shoe off Luna's left foot, casting a permanent transfiguration on it she handed it back to the now smiling Luna.
"Thank you Lilly, I like it when you do things like that, its almost like having a friend," That...that struck a cord with all three of them, all had been outcasts in one form or another and all had difficulty making friends at first, Neville for his part surprised Lilly by taking the initiative.
"Luna we are your friends, please don't say things like that ok?" Her sad smile seemed a bit brittle now as she began to stand up,
"People...people have said that before just to hurt me later, are you going to hurt me?" That...fuck...ok what the hell do you say to that? Bumbling, stuttering, clumsy Neville Longbottom had the answer, pulling out his wand he invoked,
"I Neville Longbottom swear on my magic that I have no ill intentions towards Luna Lovegood and only wish to be her friend," brief flash and that was that, 'Huh, bravo Neville.' Luna looked utterly shocked as her silver eyes widened perceptibly, after a moment she gave Neville a warm smile,
"I fear the wrackspurts may have gotten to you Neville, but thank you regardless," touching scene aside the rest of the defense club had begun filing in and Lilly had things to do, leaving the pair to their own devices. Hermione still at her side she turned to the group and smiled,
"All right folks, you've all but mastered stunners, today though we're going for maiming rather then incapacitating, now who can tell me the downfalls to using a stupefy on a group of dark wizards?" Looking a bit nervous at the mention of maiming the group shifted a bit before Ginny spoke up,
"If there's a group of them they can just Rennervate their allies, unless you can take them all out at once stunning would be pointless," Grinning Lilly nodded enthusiastically,
"Very good!" Now, who can give me the pros and cons of the blasting curse?" Susan Bones stepped forward for this one,
"Well, as far as pros go it can cause alot of damage to a wide area and most defiantly make sure your enemies aren't going anywhere soon, the cons are collateral damage as well as innocents being caught in the blast." Giving the redhead a winning smile Lilly chirped,
"Ten points to Hufflepuff! Now this is the point of this lesson, Confringo is a great spell because lets be perfectly honest here, who doesn't like to blow shit up? But it has limitations, just like all the nastier curses out there, trust me you do not want to see what an over charged bonebreaker does to the human body, there's a reason they're called curses after all.
"Auror's are allowed to use what the Ministry has decided to collectively call the 'Dark Arts but frown on your average witch or wizard using them, and that's why for every Death Eater captured or on the rare occasion killed four to five light wizards fell. Those who stayed true to the light but used any means necessary to win were called 'Gray Wizards' and were universally feared by the Death Eaters and I have under good authority utterly despised by Voldemort."
She waited for the collective flinch from her gathered friends and was pleased to see progress there, moving on she continued, "My mum and dad were amongst some of the most notorious Gray Wizards out there, they and the Longbottoms cut a swath through the Dark Lord's forces by not following the rules, guns, explosives, nastier dark curses and muggle traps were the name of the game."
Smirking at the group she spun on a tip toe and yelled, "Confringo!" as she whipped her wand at the target Professor Flitwick had set up at the end of the room, the mannequin blew apart in a fiery ball of destruction that was contained by several shield charms. Turning back to the stunned crowd she asked,
"Now, would you say a Dark Wizard would be less inclined to mess with you if he was worried that was heading his way rather then a stunner?" Ron of all people actually managed to ask a very good question, she really needed to remember to be nicer to him, ah well.
"Wouldn't using these curses make us as bad as Dark Wizards?" Nodding Lilly began twirling her wand absently as she started pacing back and forth,
"There's a danger yes, but my big three are the blasting, cutting, and bonebreaker curses mixed with our standard charms, if I hear any of you using the disemboweling or necrosis curses I'll personally turn you in to the Auror's myself. Curses like that are meant to prolong the suffering of the victim and that's not what we're after, we aren't sadists we're pragmatists, kill the bad guys as fast and painlessly as possible and go home, that's the creed of the Gray Wizard." Lee Jordan then piped in with,
"What about the Unforgivables?" Wincing remembering her own experiences and use of the curses she shook her head,
"Having experienced them all let me explain something, the Cruciatus curse is next to useless in combat unless you're just trying to trip someone up long enough to catch them, its a torture tool and nothing more, so it serves no purpose to those of us who don't get our yayas from hurting other people." She received a solemn nod from Neville as she finished with this,
"Now the Imperius could serve a purpose I suppose, if you found a Death Eater safe house you could always Imperio the lookout to carry a bomb inside to his mates and take the lot of them out, but that is like Susan pointed out before, collateral damage and risky to innocents." The group was looking about a bit uneasily with how casually flippant she had sounded but they reserved their judgement, finally she met the gaze of all 27 club members before taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes. Sighing she finally continued,
"The killing curse ...Avada Kedavra..., its unique, hits a guaranteed kill, unblockable, and when it hits a body no damage is done to the victim, they just...fall..." Images of Cedric and the Ponce rolled through her mind a moment before she got back on track, "Oddly enough, when the curse hits inanimate objects it explodes like a bomb, I honestly have no idea why. It is in my personal opinion that the killing curse is useless to Gray Wizards, and even more so those who wish to stay in the light, you have to focus your hatred and use it as an extension of your will with only one desire, to kill your target.
"It uses a ridiculous amount of your magic core to fire off and if you lose focus at all its more likely to blow your wand up then anything else...no...the Unforgivables are not part of our arsenal..." Trailing off she failed to notice the worried stares of her friends as she turned around and repaired the blown apart dummy with a few waves of her wand, "Everyone take a turn trying to blow the dummy up, don't worry about damaging anything Professor Flitwick has it covered." With that she leaned against the wall and began lightly tossing a few rings in her hand, lost in silent contemplation she hadn't noticed Hermione standing beside her until she spoke.
"So, did you want to talk about what's on your mind?" Starting slightly Lilly blinked rapidly and glanced over to her girlfriend giving her a warm smile,
"Oh hey brown eyes, umm," gripping the hand holding the rings into a fist she shook her head in annoyance, "I've got plans within plans and I'm just trying to keep it all strait while at the same time trying to teach our friends how to survive what is to come, all the while our ineffective government kicks and screams the entire way trying to stop me, its...getting trying." Hermione said nothing at first then glanced at Lilly's clenched fist,
"What's with the rings?" Smiling devilishly her emerald eyes began glowing warmly for the first time since the lecture started,
"Oh, these are a rather nasty contingency plan if I'm denied what I want, its...not my first choice but I'm willing to make the sacrifice to do what needs to be done." Now very curious Hermione tried to get a better answer then that, Lilly just shook her head sending her hair waving, "Sorry hon, suffice it to say there's an off chance that the Wizengamot may take advantage of the fact that I'm a woman now to whip out an archaic law or two, this is my shield, less said the better."
Now pouting Hermione observed the twins blowing up most of the far end of the room, their cackling brought a smile to both witches lips, never a dull moment with those two, eventually Ginny, Susan, Daphne and Tracey all pulled off quick powerful casts but the show stopper had to be Neville. Hermione thought the fireball from hell might have something to do with the small blonde girl holding onto Neville's free hand, Lilly had a wry grin on her face as she met Hermione's eyes.
"Something tells me we should start placing bets on those two with the twins, I give it...Halloween, no later then Christmas," Hermione scoffed at that,
"No thank you, betting against you is never a good idea," conceding the point they remained silent until the hour was up, congratulating everyone on a job well done she dismissed the group and waited till the room fully cleared before cleaning up the mess. After everything was put back in its place the two made their way back to Gryffindor tower, Hermione smiled as a rather naughty idea came to mind and as they passed a broom closet she came to a stop, pushing the door open Lilly let out a yelp as she was pulled inside by the waist.
Hermione closed the door behind her and cast locking and silence charms on it, pushing the now confused Lilly to the wall Hermione kissed her deeply, Lilly's eyes suddenly glowed bright enough to light the closet in emerald sunshine as she embraced her girlfriend.
Argus Filch was not a nice man by anyone's standards, and while curfew hadn't been called quite yet he was still on the prowl to ruin one of these little brats day, following Mrs. Norris through the halls the cats ears suddenly perked up as she ran down the hall to face a locked broom closet, grinning maliciously Filch was about to slam the door open when he noticed the occasional green glow through the cracks. Eyes widening in fear he scooped up his cat and backpeddled quickly, only one thing he knew cast an emerald light like that and the last time he'd tried to give her detention she'd apparated him into the Black lake, he was content to go find easier prey then mess with the Lady of Slytherin a second time.
A week later found Halloween come and gone, and Lilly had caused a bit of an upset by excusing herself from the position of Seeker on the Quiditch team with the reasoning she needed to focus on her academics, most of the Gryffindor's were mollified though when she offered to coach her replacement Ginny Weasley. When finally cornered by the four redheads and asked the real reason she looked sheepishly between them,
"See here's the thing guys, umm, I've been practicing and well...while I still love flying the game just doesn't hold my attention anymore, so I figured I'd give Ginny a chance to play with all three of you for a season, I'm not going to lie half the team being Weasley's amuses me so yeah..." The twins of course grinned at this and Ginny gave her an appreciating smile, Ron of course felt abandoned, that wasn't getting tiring at all.
Entering the Great Hall Lilly plopped down next to a distracted Hermione and began digging into some eggs when Neville handed her a newspaper with a despondent look on his face, glancing at the headline she froze solid, it read "Dementors Abandon Azkaban, Death Eaters Escape!" Looking at her friends wide eyed she dropped the paper and held her head in both hands, "Bollocks..." Finishing breakfast she and Hermione were on there way to Runes when they saw Filch hanging up a plaque, approaching it Hermione gasped after a moment of reading while Lilly glared at the offending message,
'Educational Decree Number 23-Dolores Jane Umbridge has been appointed to the post of Hogwarts High Inquisitor'
Sighing while guiding Hermione away Lilly came to a decision, 'Oh well, nothing for it, I guess she's going to have to be dealt with sooner then anticipated, Merlin I hate having to waste contingency plans.'
First off I'm aware that Lilly is teaching curses that are frowned upon but she has the tacit approval of Madam Bones and Professor Flitwick, so long as Umbridge remains oblivious to whats being taught so much the better, don't worry this is going to get fun. So yeah, Butterfly Effect time here, I'll explain later but lets just say Voldemort lost alot of human resources when Malfoy Manor exploded at the beginning of the term and he needs to gather his forces. Looking forward to drawing in another main character soon...hehe...