Disclaimer: I own none of the IPs featured in this piece of fictional writing.

Harry noted that he dungeons retained their usual atmosphere; ominous, unwelcoming, and brimming with the hatred of his enemies. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down at their usual table and were joined by Danny. Harry idly wondered if he should warn the Muggle born away: if he became one of Danny's primary associates this year the boy probably wouldn't be very popular to say the least. But then again the kid didn't really know anyone else in the school and with the way things were going lately, it was unlikely a new Muggle born student would have a chance to attend Hogwarts unhindered anyway.

Besides, the new kid would need Hermione's help catching up. The twelve plus hour study sessions during the summer had just been so the boy could know enough to attend class with the rest of the fifth years, but there was no way he would know the material as well as they did. The boy would probably end up getting assigned a bunch of remedial classes as the year went on. But that could be mitigated with Hermione's help. And his girlfriend's help too; Danny had the competency of about a third year student, Sam actually knew the material as well as a fourth year.

Harry heard the sound of Snape closing the door. The class did too, just as the presence of shade Binns had the power to put a class to sleep, the presence of the Potion's Master had the power to quiet a class.

"Before we begin the day's lesson," Snape said to the class, sweeping over to his desk and raking them with his gaze, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'acceptable' on your O.W.L or suffer my... displeasure."

Snape's gaze turned towards Neville during the last part of his speech. The boy gulped.

Harry privately thought that the threat of continued lessons would be more of a threat that his displeasure.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape continued. "I will only take the very best into my N.E.W.T.s Potion class, which means some of us will certainly be saying good-bye."

His eyes met Harry's and then Harry's mind began to wander. It was subtle, much subtler than usual, and Harry almost didn't catch it. Snape was using Legilimency on him in class!

Harry marshaled his defenses... and couldn't quite regain control! This must have been what Snape meant when he had talked about further training. The subtler approach was harder to match with the shields he had been learning.

It seemed Snape wanted to make the training more difficult as well. Harry was reminded of the martial arts movies where the old masters made their pupils walk on tightropes over raging rivers to do laundry in the fierce waters, or some equally ridiculous way of making the training more intense.

On one hand, this meant there probably wouldn't be as many private lessons, which meant less time spent with Snape… which was always a good thing in Harry's book. So he recalled the basic principles of Occulemency and attempted to alter his shield.

He had barely started when the assault cut off.

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," Snape was talking like no time had passed. Harry glanced around the room. From the lack of significant expressions on the faces of the other students Harry guessed that no time had actually passed. Snape's attack had probably screwed with his perception.

"So whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts on maintaining the high-pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L students."

His eyes swept across the room again and when they met his Harry was ready. He stubbornly stuck to the fantasy about Snape being torn apart by the dragons from the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Harry could've sworn he saw a brief, real, honest, and happy smile on Snape's face when he felt the intrusion. But Snape's gaze left his before Harry could confirm if he was crazy or not.

"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at the Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned; if you are too heavy handed with the ingredients you will put the sleeper into a heavy and somewhat irreversible sleep."

Their gazes met once again and Harry focused on the thought of Snape taste testing the potions and falling into a coma.

There! Again, what might be an honest smile! Did Snape like it when Harry thought about killing him?

Snape continued in his instructions and set the class to the assigned task. It was a difficult, fiddly potion. Everything had to be exactly right, from the order and quantities of the ingredients, to the level of the flames, to the timing of it all. Things were not improved by Snape's random Legilimency assaults, which often threw Harry off.

Even so, he, Ron, and Hermione muddled onwards, taking time to help Danny with his potion when they could.

"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," Snape announced when there were ten minutes remaining.

A perspiring Harry noticed that his was potion was emitting dark gray steam, Ron's was spitting green sparks, Seamus's fires had gone out, and Danny's...

Wasn't actually that much worse than Harry's, to be honest. It turned out Danny was better at potion's work than wand work. Go figure.

(Hermione's potion was, of course, perfect. There was a shimmering mist of silver vapor, exactly as predicted, hovering over hers.)

Snape swept around, inspecting the potions. When he got to Harry's cauldron, Snape smirked his usual horrible smirk.

The Slytherins tuned in eagerly: the 'Snape Taunting Harry' feature was one of the most entertaining in the dungeons. Danny winced in sympathy. He had been there many a time.

"Potter, what is this supposed to be?"

"I think at this point it's the Draught of Eternal Peace," Harry said. "Want to try it? I can't think of any individual who deserves peace more than you, sir. Your sterling example of leadership, fairness, and compassion are an inspiration to us all."

Harry was amazed that he managed to say that with a straight face. Maybe it was because of the battle within his mind, which he was slowly losing.

"So you admit that you decided to brew a different potion?" Snape asked, his smirk changing from horrible and pleased to merely horrible. Maybe it was the attempt on his life hidden within Harry's sarcasm?

"Not on purpose, sir."

"Which only further serves to highlight your ineptitude," Snape snapped. "You will come after hours and brew this potion properly, do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," Harry said and thought. Even though it was probably mainly punishment for his back talk, Snape would most likely use the time for more Occlumency lessons, if only because multi-tasking would reduce the amount of time he'd have to spend with Harry.

"That guy's a real jerk," Danny commented after the class ended.

"Yeah!" Ron agreed. "He's worse than usual this year. And Harry!" The redhead rounded on his friend. "You don't need to provoke him, mate. Don't go giving him excuses to give you detention."

"Sorry," Harry replied, slightly subdued. It would be too difficult to explain the current dynamic between him and Snape to his friends. Though he did wholeheartedly agree that Snape was a jerk. But there were enough rumors about him floating around as it was. He'd have to watch his behavior during class from here on out.

"I did think he might let up be a bit better this year," Hermione stated in a disappointed voice. "I mean..." She glanced around, almost flinched when she saw Danny but then remembered that he knew all about the Order, and then saw it was safe, "what with him being in the Order and giving you Occulemency lessons."

"Are you kidding? He has to spend more time with me. There's no better way to make him nastier." Harry snarked. "Of course it's making me miserable as well, which should cheer him up. But at the same time these sessions are making him miserable, which makes me happier, which would of course would do the opposite to him."

"Harry this is no joking matter," Hermione said in a disapproving tone. "There's enough going on this year without you provoking Snape. Or any other professor for that matter."

"She's right mate," Ron said, in a rare show of agreement with Hermione. Harry was almost floored by this. He almost glanced around for flying pigs. Ron continued. "Promise us that you won't do anything reckless."

"Uh... alright, but no promises" Harry answered, still off balance from their agreement. Well, he had already decided to do so anyway so it was no big loss. "You mean you have to deal with more teachers like Snape?" Danny asked.

"Not similar to him," Harry reassured the newcomer, "but just as trying? Yes, some can be. And I've got no idea what the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is going to be like."

"You mean Professor Umbridge?" Hermione added. "If she's with the Ministry then we really have to be careful around her."

"Why?" Harry asked, starting to smirk. "If she's with the Ministry and we turn out to be a problem, she'll just deny our existence."

"Harry," Hermione chided.

"It's not relevant now," Harry said. "I've got to sit through Divination first."

"Is that bad?" Danny asked. "I was thinking about taking that course next term." The only elective he had signed up for this term was Ancient Studies to see if he could learn about any of the older ghosts he might have to fight at some time. The ability to predict the future could also come in handy.

"It's a waste of time," Hermione said, her expression growing darker. "Nothing useful is taught in that class and everyone would be better served by taking Arthimancy."

"She stormed out of the class halfway through the second term," Harry explained. "But the professor, Professor Trelawney, also has a trying habit of continuously predicting my death."

"So?" Danny replied, "I mean with the amount of trouble you get in every year it seems like less of a magic prediction and more like common sense."

Hermione shot Danny a nasty look. Danny reddened as he realized what he had said.

"Not that I want you to die, or think you're going to or anything," the youngest Fenton boy said hurriedly. "I just meant-"

"I get the gist of it," Harry responded. "And you might have a point there. I never thought about it that way. Maybe she's smarter than we give her credit for."

"That's not too hard," Ron commented.

"Speaking of Divination, you two should get going if you want to grab some lunch first," Hermione said to Ron and Harry. "Have fun."

"She's much too happy about this," Ron remarked.

"Well, why are we still taking this course?" Harry asked.

"Easy O."

"Good answer."

Divination was pleasant, which meant that Trelawney spent less time than usual predicting Harry's untimely, tragic, and gruesome death. Instead they spent more time going over the use of dreams when predicting the future. Harry only wished that his dreams could make enough sense to interpret.

Ron and Harry amused themselves in their usual way, seeing what ludicrous predictions they could make. Ron tried to remember his dreams so that they could make a token effort. Harry tried to forget his own.

Trelawney assigned them a dream diary for the next month. Harry could predict what his would consist of. Maybe he could copy Ron's for a change of pace.

Ron complained about the amount of homework they had been assigned as the two of them made their way to the classroom where Defense Against the Dark Arts class would be held.

"We might need to fetch Danny," Harry commented. "Do you think we should check by the classroom first or just break out the map?"

"Map," Ron answered. "Less work."

The two of them ducked into an empty corridor and Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"Let's see," Harry's green eyes scanned the document, searching for Danny on his map. "Did he say when he had to take Ancient Studies?"

"Don't remember," Ron answered, "and don't know which floor it's on anyway. Check the common room and Great Hall first."

"Right. There he's in the common- no wait that dot's gone..." Harry had gotten a glimpse of what looked like Danny's name by the Gryffindor common bathrooms but it vanished before he could finish reading.

"Maybe's he's already by the classroom?" Ron suggested.

"I checked there first... wait, he's on that floor now, exiting the bathrooms," Harry narrowed his eyes. "That's strange."

"Must've missed him the first time," Ron shrugged. "Probably got directions from someone else."

"Yeah," Harry said, voice slightly distant as he folded up the map, "probably."

Ron and Harry arrived at the DADA classroom a few minutes early. Danny and Hermione were waiting on them.

"Wait," Hermione said as the newcomers turned to go into the classroom. "We need to talk first."

"About what?" Ron asked. "Anything come up?"

"We need to talk about," Hermione began, tugging on the sleeves of their robes, leading them away from the door, "the new teacher. You too Fenton, so come with us."

"Alright," Danny said, turning around from the door he had been about to go through before Hermione's interruption.

"What do we need to talk about this new professor for?" Ron asked.

"Because I'm pretty sure she's with the Ministry and because Harry's been trying to use wit to deal with his temper," Hermione stated. "We don't need to give them any ammo to use against us. Harry… please be on your best behavior. Just don't do or say anything stupid, will you?"

"Why is everyone bugging me about that today?" Harry rolled his eyes, exasperated. This was the second time he had been warned by then. He wasn't that reckless, was he?

"We're worried about you," Hermione informed him. "Please just try and be unnoticeable."

"I'll do my best," Harry replied. "Don't get all worked up about this."

"And Danny," Hermione turned to the Fenton. "Same goes for you. You were with us at Grimmauld Place and your parents are an issue in the magical community. Don't give her any excuses to go after you."

"Don't worry. I'm an American loser who attended high school. If there's one thing I know how to do, it's avoid teachers," Danny replied flippantly.

"Things are different on this side of the pond though mate," Ron advised. "Follow my lead if you need to."

The group filed through the door. When they entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teachers desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. Danny wondered what had been going through her head when she had picked out the outfit. Was she trying to disguise herself as something children liked? Problem was most children didn't like their maiden aunts and she wasn't dealing with children, she was dealing with teenagers. Those over stressed beings where hormones warred within and an abundance of cynicism.

The class was silent as they sat down. They had no clue how this new party was apt to behave.

"Well, good afternoon!" Professor Umbridge spoke up once all of the class had seated themselves.

A few people mumbled "good afternoon" in reply, mostly to appease the unknown professor.

"Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

Danny groaned internally. It looked like she would be one of those...

"Good afternoon Professor Umbridge," the class chanted back in a bored monotone. She could take their silence but she could never take their apathy!

"There now," Professor Umbridge said in a gratingly sweet tone. "That wasn't so hard now was it."

No one dignified her comment with a response.

"Wands away and quills out please," the toad like woman continued. The class exchanged gloomy looks. That never boded well for an interesting lesson. Though Danny was thrilled. He didn't have to embarrass himself with his less than stellar performance yet!

The professor herself took out an unusually short wand and tapped the blackboard. Words started to write themselves upon the black surface.

Defense Against the Dark Arts

A Return to Basic Principles

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, such as Mr. Lockhart and the werewolf, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your OWL year."

"In order to rectify this problem I'm afraid we'll have to start from the beginning," the pink professor professed. "We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year."

She tapped her wand to the board and the message changed.

Course Aims:
1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

2. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used

3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

4. If/When other goals are achieved, begin to practice the use of defensive spells.

Quills scratched on parchment for about a minute while everyone copied down the course aims. Then the professor spoke again.

"Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

There was a dull murmur of assent throughout the class.

"I think we'll try that again," said Professor Umbridge. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply, 'Yes, Professor Umbridge', or 'No, Professor Umbridge'. So: has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," came the mostly not surly reply.

"Good," the woman said. "I should like you to turn to page five and read 'Chapter One, Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need to talk."

The book was boring. Incredibly boring, enough to give shade-Binns a run for his money, though neither book nor ghost would ever be involved in anything as interesting as money. Or running. Ron and Danny spaced out immediately. It was only natural. Ron had never been able to pay attention to anyone as boring as Binns in person. So there was no way he could deal with the written version unless the lives of one of his friends was in danger. Seeing as there was no danger currently the red head could drift off without guilt.

Danny was an average American high school student with poor study habits. Nothing more needs to be written.

Harry glanced around after losing focus for a bit. He took in the class struggling with boredom. He took in Danny and Ron, who probably wished they had some manner of faking wakefulness when asleep. And, to his eternal surprise, he took in Hermione not reading!

Instead, the inquisitive Muggle born genius had her book closed and her hand raised, staring at Umbridge. Harry, shocked, continued to watch her for several minutes. Eventually others joined in, until Danny was the only one not paying attention.

Umbridge tried to ignore her for as long as possible. But when all but one student was paying attention to Hermione instead of the assigned reading, she had to give in.

'"Is there something you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, as though she had only just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione.

"Well, we're reading just now,' said Professor Umbridge, showing her small pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," stated Hermione.

Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows.

"And your name is?"

'"Hermione Granger," the bushy-haired girl answered.

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," the professor told the student in a voice of determined sweetness. It was enough to sicken Danny out of his stupor.

"Well, I don't," Hermione replied rather bluntly, "It's about the fourth point. Why is actually using defensive spells such a low priority? Why is there a possibility of us receiving no practical instruction this year? Especially for us fifth years who have to take our O. W. L.s?"

Hermione was intelligent enough to guess the real answer of course. The Ministry for some reason, a reason most likely proposed, suggested, or influenced by Death Eaters, thought that letting Hogwarts students learn how to defend themselves was a bad idea. However, their position wasn't secure enough to outright tell the students that they would be receiving no practical lessons.

No, that was the wrong way of thinking about it. Rather it was Dumbledore's position that was not insecure enough for them to get away with it. Had he been connected to some sort of scandal, say, for example, if Harry had been forced to use magic in front of his cousin when the Dementor's attacked him and there had been a trial, then the Ministry and Umbridge might have felt secure enough to openly deny them lessons. But as it was they could dangle them in front of the students as something that had to be done later. Then as the end of the year rolled around Umbridge could say that they simply hadn't progressed fast enough and blame the lack of lessons on the students themselves.

At least for certain classes that was. Classes that had well connected parents that were close to the Ministry might receive lessons and better grades on their O.W.L's , thus enabling better opportunities down the road. Most Slytherin classes would certainly qualify. As far as Hermione knew, the current first and seventh year Slytherin classes had little or no children of Death Eaters among them. They would most likely be denied lessons like some of the Ravenclaws, most of the Hufflepuffs, and all the Gryffindors.

It meant that only the children of Death Eaters would know how to fight.

(Hermione had been raising her hand for a while. There had been plenty of time to think about the subject. She just needed a bit of confirmation from Umbridge.)

"If you had been paying attention to what I said earlier, the objective should be perfectly clear," Umbridge said, smiling in a sickeningly sweet manner that must have caused the death of a puppy somewhere. "There's a very large amounts of things to correct and I'm afraid that practicing defensive spells will simply have to wait. After all, without a decent grounding in basic theory, those spells would be worse than useless."

"I'm sure you'll understand in time," the pink wearing toad faced woman continued in a condescending tone. "If you all work very hard I'm sure we'll have some time to practice before the exams."

And that was enough confirmation for Hermione. It probably would have been more confusing if Umbridge wasn't pretending to offer them the possibility of actual practice; it would've seemed like a much more illogical move and she probably would've needed to talk more. But as it was she understood the situation well enough.

Hermione shot a look at Ron as he started to raise his hand, silently telling him to back down, and then shot a more intense look at Harry, who was about to do the same, and could be a bit more headstrong than the Weasley. Harry also lowered his hand.

Umbridge gave the class a sickeningly smug smile that tried to pass itself off as sweet. It was a very punchable smile.

The rest of the class was spent in silence as everyone pretended to read the chapter.

After class Hermione pulled Ron and Harry off to the side. As an afterthought she also grabbed Danny.

"Is this going to take very long?" Danny asked. "I wanted to see if Sam had this next period off."

"It's important, so I'm afraid meeting with Sam will have to wait," Hermione told the Fenton. "But, if you could warn her to not upset Umbridge that would do a lot of good. She's connected to you and that makes her an easy target."

The change that came over Danny was surprising. His gaze seemed to sharpen, his posture straightened and became more wary, and his eyes spoke of a silent rage. He gave Hermione his full attention.

Hermione had seen similar things happen to Harry and even Ron before, so she wasn't taken aback by Danny's change. She was somewhat surprised that Danny would act the same way, but there was a lot she didn't know about his life in Amity Park. For all she knew Danny Fenton might have had significant involvement in the affairs of Danny Phantom.

"What do you mean by that?" Danny asked, his voice lower than before.

"Your family is a decisive topic in the Wizarding World," Hermione reminded him. "The parents of the students here will have their sides and views on them, and that'll affect their children. There's already some negative emotions associated with you. If Sam confronts Umbridge, makes herself a target, then because of her association to you, Umbridge can use her as an easy scapegoat."

"Scapegoat for what?" Ron asked, pretending not to notice the change in Danny.

"For not getting practical lessons before the O. W. L. s," Hermione answered. "And that's what I need to talk to everyone about."

"What do you mean?" came another inquiry from Ron. "Why wouldn't we get practical lessons?"

"I don't know the exact reasons the Ministry's doing it," Hermione admitted, "but the end result is that she can deny certain classes practical lessons and give them to others as she wishes. You read what was on the board and heard what she said. Practical lessons are dependent on achieving the first three objectives."

"And she decides when they are achieved," Ron finished. He thought for a moment. "If we assume it's the Death Eater's move rather than the Ministry by itself then it makes a lot more sense. And if some classes happen to get taught then she can use that to defend against accusations of not wanting to teach us from the beginning. And, blimey, if she uses scapegoats she can make us fight and leave her alone. You-Know-Who gets us divided and weakened only using a couple of Ministry pawns. As a bonus, Dumbledore's reputation and position gets bloodied as well, cause Umbridge can blame our 'failures' on his policies."

"You-Know-Who could then expand this tactic to the rest of the country," Ron continued, thinking about the moves their enemy could make, "using the situation at Hogwarts as an opening. Maybe make it seem like Dumbledore's doing what You-Know-Who did last time. The Death Eaters use that fear to accomplish their objectives without even needing to let people know they're back. And then when the time's right You-Know-Who can openly take power."

"So what do we need to do to counter?" Harry asked, getting into the old planning mood. There was danger and darkness surrounding him and hunting him this year, like every year, and like every year he was unafraid. Why should he fear when he stood together with his friends?

"Uh..." Danny spoke up, reminding the trio that he was still there. "Should I be here for this? I've heard you guys get rather secretive about your plans for surviving the year."

"You're not going to advise us to go get help from Dumbledore or another professor?" Hermione asked, eyes narrowing.

"Why should I?" Danny asked, shrugging. "You guys seem to have done fine every other year. I just want to know about everything that could involve my family or Sam."

"Don't worry," Harry said first. "We'll do our best. You go find and warn Sam."

"On it," Danny nodded and then walked away at a brisk pace.

"I completely forgot about him," Ron admitted. "Strange, intit?"

"He seemed to fit," Hermione mentioned as the Fenton left.

"He was acting like we were," Harry told the other two. "I wonder how Amity Park compares to Hogwarts? He could be helpful, but we have to be careful. Anything we pass to him could be passed to Phantom and then to Dumbledore."

"In other words, we can only tell him things that we're ready to tell the Headmaster then," Hermione summarized. "Still, he probably has his own plans. Maybe we should let him handle it?"

"His plans usually depend on us doing something," Ron commented in a slightly despondent tone. "I think we're a bit predictable."

"Well unless he decides to put on sunglass so he can come down despite the glare of his ivory tower, we'll just pretend that he isn't planning anything," Harry said. "What do we need to counter Voldemort's move?"

Ron and Hermione thought for a moment.

"Their strategy gets three things done at once. One, we don't learn to fight. Two, they make us hate each other. Three, they make it difficult for Dumbledore to do anything." Ron said, counting off the points on his fingers as he outlined the problem. "Short of getting Umbridge sacked early I don't see a way to stop all of those at the same time."

"Then maybe we shouldn't try to stop them all at the same time," Hermione suggested. "We can get later years to teach earlier years the practical side of DADA. This doesn't help seventh years I'm aware, but I'd need more time to think up a solution for them. Dumbledore knows how to look after himself, so we can leave the third point be. But the second point I'm going to need to think on for a bit, along with the problems for the seventh years."

"Can't they just teach each other?" Ron asked. "I mean if there's a couple of people half as smart as you in their year, couldn't they pull the rest along?"

Hermione flushed slightly at the compliment.

"I don't know, and for the record I'm not really that good at DADA," Hermione began, "not compared to Harry-"

She stopped speaking for a moment, her face lighting up with inspiration.

"That's it!" Hermione exclaimed. "We can solve both problems at once!"

"How?" Ron and Harry asked together.

Hermione glanced around.

"We'll talk about it later tonight, in the common room, after everyone's gone to bed. And we might want to talk to Sirius here soon, maybe even Phantom, he could be helpful..."

"What are you thinking of?" Harry asked. "And why do I have the feeling that it somehow involves me and makes my life more complicated?"

"Oh don't worry," Hermione said, waving his concerns away. "It's only me."

"Hermione, there are days when Ron and I fear you more than Voldemort."

"If that were true I think you two would have improved your study habits a little. Maybe I should take a more hands on approach?"

Harry and Ron flinched back in fear.

AN: Sorry about the wait- well, no I'm not sorry. Considering I've had to drive 3,000 miles during the month of July and get out a chapter of my other fic, I'm proud I got this out as quickly as I did.

No rant or anything this time. Did think about doing an Umbridge death omake but it wouldn't fit the tone and would just be a giant Hellblazer reference. Nope, just going to hope I do better on the time for the next chapter.

REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW. Please, tell me what I did right, what I did wrong, and why my writing makes people's eyes bleed.

Thanks to PhoenixLyric for betaing this chapter.

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW.

(Oh, and the fic's over a year old at this point. Happy belated birthday to it.)