Prisoner of Hogwarts

by Captain Planet Apprentice

Harry Potter does not want to to go to Hogwarts, it's a stuffy place with people that just don't seem to use common sense, but it's his only option now as his guardian works for a manipulative old man. Thankfully there are perks to the position.

5. Chapter 5

The following morning dawned bright and clears with small amounts of dew hanging over the grass and a light mist that had risen up from the lake during the night. It was still really early in the morning for many people to be moving within the castle and indeed many of the house elves were still slumbering off the night of work that they had to accomplish. There were only two people moving around with much intent that early in the morning and neither of them was sure about what was going on with the other.

Harry had gotten up and taken a nice hot shower, thankfully free from stalkers, before dressing in his usual light robes and heading down to the common room. He dressed similar to the morning before and headed out of the portrait at almost the exact same time as before. He gave a nod to Peeves as he passed the poltergeist unscrewing hinges on some of the office doors; the little man gave a nod and a wave to him as he passed, but made no further comment on Harry being up so early. The doors were once again unlocked and opened when he pushed on them lightly and flooded the gloomy interior of the entrance hall with the light from the rising sun coming up over the mountains in the distance.

He had considered sending a note to Hermione so early in the morning again, but saw that it wasn't needed. Hermione was standing at the edge of the courtyard facing outwards and watching the mist slowly rolling off the water and heading towards the front of the castle. A slight breeze ruffled her hair that was still frizzy from sleep and fluttering her black robe a little. She wore what appeared to be spandex pants and a long sleeved top that hugged to her form. Harry couldn't help but admire some of her obvious curves as he came up behind her and spoke so that she wouldn't be startled.

"Good Morning." Even with his cordial tone and giving her time to react she still jumped and spun around with her wand leveled between his eyes. "Good reflexes."

Hermione blushed as she stowed her wand back up her sleeve and looked at him up and down. Harry could see that her hair was being held back from her face by a tight band of red and gold thread in her hair. "I have to have good reflexes sometimes." Her face turned even redder as she shuffled her feet and then looked back up into his eyes. "How are we going to start? I've read up on a few different techniques that I thought might help me to find different ways of doing things…"

Hermione's voice broke off as Harry had crossed the courtyard and was standing before her. It wasn't his position that made her stumble, but him shaking his head. Taking on a faked horrible Chinese accent, he spoke. "Wise master once say that to learn anything you must remember that you know nothing."

"Huh?" Was her intelligent and well thought out response as he shook his head. He moved up to her and sat down on a small window ledge that opened to an outdoor hallway that ran along the edge of the courtyard.

"It means, oh-brainy one, that if you want to learn anything you have to forget anything you might have already heard about it." Still seeing her confused state he patted the portion of the window next to her. Once she scrambled up next to him he held out his hand. "It's like this, if you fill my hand with marbles, can you add anything more?"

Hermione shook her head and leaned against the opposite side of the sill almost looking relaxed for the moment. "No, of course not."

"Then to add more marbles, you must empty your hand." He made a motion of turning over his hand and letting the invisible marbles fall out before turning it back over. "Empty it before you can fill it back up again with more, better, marbles."

"You're saying that my head is like your hand and knowledge is like marbles?" Hermione shook her head again and looked around at the empty courtyard. "I guess I can understand that, somewhat, but there's no limit to the knowledge that a human brain can hold."

Harry slid off the window sill and shrugged. "That may be true if you think about it in a practical stand point, but that's not what this is about. If you want to learn defense you can't constantly be questioning what you'll be learning and how to do something when you think you have already learned it." He smiled as her cheeks turned a little red. "Just trust me and the process that I've created."

A small smile came to her lips as she slid down off the window sill as well, standing before him. "You sound like a corny infomercial."

Harry made a face and groaned. "Ok, but it's true. I can teach you how to defend yourself with conditioning both your body and your mind. From what I've learned and read about magic, it might help you out with that as well." He turned and headed out towards the lake, setting a brisk pace that Hermione had to jog almost to keep up with him.

"What about my magic?" She panted as they stopped at the shore. She was already out of breath just from the short jaunt from the doors to the side of the lake that they were standing at now. She put her bag down on the shore and put her hands on her knees taking deep breaths.

Harry slapped her on the back, nearly sending her toppling forward as he smiled. "Martial arts are about disciplining your body and mind to respond to attacks in a split second, to do things based on instinct instead of having to think about it. As far as I can tell, magic is about intent, will, and concentration. The best wizard and witches are those that can do magic without really concerning themselves with thinking hard on what they are doing."

Hermione nodded as she was getting her breath back now and stripped off her black robe leaving her in just the long sleeved shirt and the pants that were clinging to her frame even now. "That makes sense really if you think about what our Professors and even adults can do with magic. There's really no conscious thought involved with them waving a wand and getting the desired result."

Harry nodded as he smiled and started to stretch. "Because of that we're also going to be conditioning your body. I've noticed since I've been in the magical world that the only people that really concern themselves with physical exercise are the Aurors and they are amazing." He tried to keep the redness off his cheeks as he thought of the physical prowess of a certain female Auror; thankfully Hermione was copying his actions and didn't notice his blush.

"Yes, I do think that most magical people, outside of Quidditch, do absolutely no exercise whatsoever. I've heard that the Patil twins and some girls from Ravenclaw do Tai Chi or some variant, but they're the exception and not the rule." She bent over at the waist and tried to touch her toes, only getting a short ways down before she had to move back up.

"So, each morning we're going to start with a series of exercises. As breakfast doesn't begin for another hour yet, that should give us plenty of time to get you started on a few things." Hearing her groan he gave a small smile. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you at first and build in more exercises once you get more proficient with them."

The next hour seemed to fly by in a flurry of activity for the two teenagers. True to his word, Harry worked Hermione rather viciously this first day and by the end of it she was wheezing and rather exhausted, and they hadn't even started classes for the day. He had started with a small jog around the lake that was easily two miles around that took up a great deal of time with him encouraging Hermione to go as fast as she could. Next he had helped her to stretch out her legs, much to her embarrassment as he had to hold her legs up in the air and lean on them in a very precarious position. The final activity was for him to run her through the katas that he had been doing the previous morning and correcting her stances each time.

Hermione seemed to soak up the movements rather well and he was having her flow from one move to the next rather easily by their time was up. Her body was aching for some relief and to head back to bed, but her mind was charged with all the new things that she was learning with Harry in the mornings. At one point she had even transfigured her shirt and pants into something shorter so that she had more range of movement and the fact that it was getting warmer by the minute as they worked out.

While Hermione begged off going to breakfast in favor of a shower in the prefect's bath, not that far from the entrance hall, Harry had headed in to breakfast. He had made an off handed remark of Hermione taking up his offer from the previous day that sent the girl running up the stairs with a red face. As he entered the Great Hall for breakfast however, the smile died on his face replaced by a slight scowl by what he saw seated there. Ginny had moved down from her usual place with her friends to sit where Harry and Hermione were the previous day leaving no real gap between the two groups where he could sit down comfortably.

While Ginny's presence in what he now considered to be his spot, was more of a hindrance it was what she was attired in that drew the most ire. She was dolled up like a Christmas turkey with layers of makeup caked on her face that made her look like a Russian porcelain doll than a real human. She was also wearing a lavish gold band in her hair that pulled her hair back almost to the point of stretching her face as well. For clothes, Harry could clearly see the top of one of his shirts that she pilfered during the summer poking out of the top of her robes that were clearly too small for her as they had a rather expansive neckline. He could already see a few boys, older and younger, craning their necks to get a look down at her chest.

Trudging up to the other side of the table he slipped down into a seat a few down from her, but still away from the rest of the house. It was still early and there were seats open along the table that he could have easily gone for. As soon as he was seated she seemed to zero in on him and slid down across from him, propping her elbows up on the table and speaking in a squeaky almost simpering voice. "Naughty Harry, I woke up this morning and I couldn't find you. Where had you gone?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her, sliding a piece of a biscuit into his mouth as he stalled for time. Taking the time to chew and swallow she kept her eyes locked on his and giving a small pout. "Miss Weasley I wasn't aware that I was supposed to be waiting for you. You seem to be under the impression that you can take my things without asking."

Ginny smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at him for a moment. "Well, I couldn't honestly wear anything of mine after what happened last night, you stud. I mean, I woke up this morning sore and I couldn't seem to get out of bed right."

Harry growled a little, but was saved when Hermione came up behind him. She looked unsure of herself so Harry slid down and offered her, his seat. "Come on, Hermione, sit down and eat, you earned it."

Ginny glared at Hermione even as she was sitting down. Once the older girl was down, the redhead hissed across the table to Harry. "What's she doing here? She's only impeding on our alone time, Harry." She gave a pathetic pout on the end of her rather childish diatribe.

Hermione looked down at her shoes and was in the process of rising to move to another spot when Harry gripped her arm and rather forcefully pulled her back down onto the bench. The entire time he was staring at Ginny across the table from him. "Miss Weasley you seem to be forgetting that Hermione is my friend and you are not." Hermione whipped her head around to stare at Harry while he was still staring down Ginny. "Furthermore, you stole that shirt from me and I expect it back."

Ginny gave a small pout and leaned over the table rather heavily exposing more and more of her chest as she did so. Harry was pretty sure that if she kept going he would have a clear view right down to the knickers that she was no doubt forgetting to wear as well. "But Harry….it's my privilege as your girlfriend to share some of your clothing after we have…well…" Her face turned bright red as she looked down into her lap in a poor imitation of a demure woman.

Harry rolled his eyes as he reached across the table to get something from the middle of it that was close to Ginny. "Miss Weasley, we have never had a relationship and I fail to see…" He broke off as his hand brushed her's and he got the flash of a teenage boy with black hair scowling at him as well as heavy anger just before Ginny pushed him away and stood up rather angrily.

"We're through, Harry Potter. I am never allowing you to touch me ever again if you're going to take that attitude." Sticking her nose in the air, Ginny huffed off leaving a rather stunned Hermione and Harry whom simply shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating.

Hermione turned back to him to say something, but she was cut off by an explosive voice that had just come into the Great Hall and was making its way up the table towards him. "What did you do to my sister, Potter?" Weasley had come in and heard some of what had happened and had stormed up the side of the table towards him. Harry hadn't moved so when he came level with him Ron grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up out of the seat. "I asked you a question, you slimy snake, what did you do to my sister?"

"Ron, Harry didn't…" Hermione started to speak, but was cut off by a gruff grunt and a mean spirited voice from Weasley.

"Shut up, Granger, no one asked a know it all like you." She sat down looking like she was going to cry again, but Ron had already turned back to Harry whom he was shaking intermittently. "Talk Potter."

"I did nothing with or to your sister or have I any plans to in the future. I believe she is rather delusional." Harry spoke calmly looking over Ron's shoulder the entire time.

"You bastard!" Ron roared as he let go of Harry and backed away, leveling his wand under his chin. "We took you into our home over the summer, and fed you…"

"I believe that was my gracious guardian Tonks' house and not yours, contrary to you and your mother's wishes." Harry smiled a little as he stared into Ron's eyes defiantly. "What was it that you told your mother….that you were my best friend and Ginny was hopping into my bed every night?"

Ron's face turned an interesting shade of purple as the end of his wand started to glow a sickly yellow for a moment. "I'll kill you, you bastard." His voice carried the entire length of the hall causing a few students to wince and move away quickly.

"Mister Weasley you will put your wand away this instant." A stern woman's voice broke everyone's concentration except Harry, whom had already taken Ron's wand away and was twirling it between his fingers. McGonagall had come up behind Ron when he had started shouting and waving his wand around. "I want to know what all this is about, this instant you two."

"Potter here…" Ron looked at his empty hand and then at Harry still twirling the wand among his fingers before snatching it away and leveling it at the teen. "As a prefect I was investigating a charge of molestation and possible rape. Seems Potter here was trying to use his fame to get into my sister's pants."

Harry rolled his eyes as, surprisingly, did Hermione. "Please, I wasn't doing anything with your sister nor have I wanted to. She seemed to be under the impression that we had some kind of….relationship…and I was telling her that it wasn't going to happen."

"Liar! Ever since this summer you've wanted her, she's told me all about how you two would sneak off…"

"That's enough, Mister Weasley." A red faced McGonagall quickly got her composure back and turned towards Hermione whom was still silent. "Miss Granger, do you have anything to add to this."

Hermione ignored Ron's mutterings about know it alls and seemed to garner some courage as she straightened her back. "Professor, Ginny was out of line saying some very disturbing things about her and Harry. I've been with Harry since he got here, barring the usual circumstances of course, and he's never given her any sign that he was remotely interested in her."

"Of course you would back your golden boy, mud-"

"That's quite enough, Mister Weasley. One more word out of your mouth and I'll have your badge." McGonagall huffed and turned towards Harry whom was holding Ron's wand again; not that the redhead noticed anything. "Mister Potter, what can you possibly inform me about this situation?"

Harry shrugged as Ron snatched the wand back from his hand and scowled at him a little. "Little Miss Weasley had taken one of my shirts and I kindly asked for it back. When I did she exploded saying that I wasn't her boyfriend anymore, not that I had ever been." Seeing Ron about to object again he removed his wand and held it to his heart. "I swear on my life, that I have never been with nor have I ever touched Miss Ginevra Weasley in any inappropriate manners nor have ever dated or seen her as a girlfriend."

Light flared around Harry for a moment and when it died he was still standing holding his wand to his chest and looking bewildered. McGonagall recovered faster than the two teens and spoke in a slightly higher and more amused tone than before. "While that certainly wasn't necessary, Mister Potter, I am forced to believe you as you are still living."

Harry clicked his tongue a few times before speaking. "I figured that it would save us all a trip to the Headmaster's office for me to be accused of something I didn't do….again." McGonagall winced slightly at Harry's words, but she nodded and gripped Ron by the ear, dragging him away and talking in hushed tones as he whined about the pain in his ear.

"Do you know what you just did?" Hermione hissed to him when they were retaking their seats and the noise had quieted down somewhat. "You took a magical oath, you could have been killed."

Harry smiled as he speared another sausage on his fork and chewed on the end of it thoughtfully. "But I was telling the truth, so I was fine." Hermione still scowled at him a little, but left him alone as they finished up their meal. At some point, McGonagall had returned and handed out the schedules for the students, stopping at the pair as they were looking over their classes.

"You'll be having classes with Miss Granger until we can ascertain your level of magical knowledge, Mister Potter. Your Professors have all been instructed that you may be behind in a few things and will help if you need it." At her nod she moved down the line of students handing out the schedules as she went.

Harry shrugged and followed Hermione as they compared the schedule that they had been given for the rest of the year. It turned out that the first set of classes was going to be History of Magic, double Potions, Arithmancy, and a double period of Defense. Hermione remarked as they walked towards the classroom for History of Magic that if he had come a year before that he might have been subjected to Divination instead of Arithmancy since that was what she was taking at the time. This launched them both into the possibility of actually seeing the future; Harry was able to get Hermione out of her shell long enough for her to scoff at the stupid predictions that Trelawney, the professor for the Divinations class, had made during her short stay in the class.

The History of Magic class was rather easy for Harry to keep up with mainly because the rest of the class had fallen asleep within the first several minutes. He and Hermione were among the few students that still kept attention and were taking notes. Harry had the text open before him and was making annotations as well as taking notes as fast as he could with what the professor was droning on about. Hermione seemed rather impressed at his level of work, but didn't say anything past giving him a small smile.

By far the best thing that happened during class was Harry noticing some of his other classmates were sleeping rather soundly and noisily; not that this seemed to disturb the ghost professor as he droned on and on. He noticed that Pansy Parkinson was leaning her head on Draco Malfoy's shoulder, they were both passed out. Pansy was drooling lightly on Draco's shoulder and already there was a small wet spot appearing on the space. Drawing his wand, Harry sent a spell her way muttering under his breath as he did it. The spell pushed Pansy's face a little forward and tilted her head so that it was still resting on Draco's shoulder, but the drool was going down into his lap.

The end of the class came when Pansy's head dipped a little too far from Draco's shoulder and caused her to move and slam face first into his crotch. His girly scream woke up the rest of the class and was just stretching out the kinks in various parts of their bodies while the ghost of Binns wafted through the blackboard back to wherever it was that he stayed while not in class. Both Slytherin and Gryffindors chuckled, or snickered in the case of the snakes, at the pain on Draco's face while Pansy was trying to apologize profusely; Hermione even had a small smile on her face while they made their way to their next class.

For potions, Hermione and Harry got seats up front, but Hermione started shaking almost as soon as they were in the classroom. Harry tried to take her hand to calm her down, but it didn't seem to really work. Just after Draco limped into the classroom, Professor Snape came barging in and slamming the door behind him. His robes billowed behind him as he stalked up the aisle to where his desk was at the front of the room and glared at all the students not wearing silver and green.

"Potter, ten points from Gryffindor for your insolent behavior." Snape barked even though Harry hadn't said or moved since he had sat down. The hook nosed professor glared at the boy, but he simply shrugged and turned to pull out the potions text from his book bag. This seemed to make the man even angrier as he snapped at the rest of the class. "By some miracle you are all here in my classroom once again. This year we were will be starting on the harder potions, some of you might not be able to keep up…" Here his eyes moved to Hermione and Harry and lingered there for a moment to the snickering of the Slytherins. "..if you cannot keep up then you will be dismissed from this classroom. Do I make myself clear?"

The class was significantly cowed for the rest of the double period while they worked. Snape stalked among the students making snide remarks about their abilities as well as parentage, usually only to the Gryffindors. Even when Crabbe's cauldron started to smoke and turn his face black with soot he praised the boy on his usage of some obscure potion reagent while taking points from Neville Longbottom on the other side of the room for something completely unrelated. Hermione and Neville were the favorite targets after Harry and were berated so much that by the end of the class period both were shaking rather badly and could barely hold their stirrers.

Harry was able to take over for Hermione at times and talk her through a particular step of the potion while adding his own ingredients. Because there was no active magic being done with potions he was able to practice with Tonks over the summer as well as read as much as he could before the lovely woman had rescued him from the center. Unfortunately, his helping the girl gained the attention of Snape a few times that would make scathing remarks about either or both of them.

"What's wrong, Potter? Can't do the work on your own, you have to have the know-it-all to help you?" He sneered as the Slytherins chuckled. Harry discretely pulled his wand from under the table and aimed it across the room at a random student's cauldron. "Your father was never very good with potions; I see that you've inherited his ineffectual usage of the cauldron. It's too bad-"Snape never got to finish because a cauldron across the room seemed to melt out the bottom and the potion spilled out onto the desk.

It wouldn't have been so bad considering the potion that they were working on was innocuous except when ingested, but it seemed like the unfortunate student hadn't mixed in something correctly. This was evident when the table and everything on it, including the papers and other students' cauldrons all started to melt and whither down into large gelatinous goo on the floor. The congealed mass of things burned through the table as well forcing the students to jump back in fright and scramble to rescue whatever they could from the table.

Snape was forced to retreat from his verbal abuse of Harry and Hermione while he waved his wand in a complicated fashion to both freeze and then clean up the mess that the potion had made. Because the student was wearing silver and green instead of red and gold, there were no points taken away, although there was a considerable loss of property as well as the lab bench that they all had been working at. Glowering and muttering under his breath, Snape dismissed the class a few minutes early, barking that the potions should all be capped and given to him for grading.

Once Harry was out of the classroom he hurried to catch up with Neville, whom was still shaking slightly as he leaned against the wall for support. He gently put a hand on the other boy's shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise. "Easy there, killer, it's just me."

Neville gave a small smile at the joke, but still wouldn't stop shaking. "I hate that class, Snape always seems to have it in for me. I'm just no good at anything." His face seemed to fall a little as he stared at his shoes.

Hermione had come up behind Harry at this point, but he didn't seem to notice her as he continued speaking. "I'm sure that there's something everyone is good at, you just haven't found it yet." He patted the pudgy boy on the shoulder again as he looked him up and down. "Bullies like Snape feed off of fear and loathing, it's like a drug to them. If you don't react then there's nothing for them to feed on."

Neville shook his head a little and sighed, leaning back against the wall again. "I've tried that, but they just go after me even harder. The twins are really the only Gryffindors that seem to be able to give as good as they get."

"The twins?" Harry asked, his voice showing both amusement as well as curiosity.

Neville didn't answer as Hermione came up behind them, clearing her throat before speaking. "The Weasley twins, they're two years ahead of us. Pretty funny guys who like to play pranks on those that they feel deserve it."

Harry nodded a little. "I met them over the summer, nice people, even given the rest of their family." The other two gave a small smile in recognition. "Your main problem right now, Neville, is confidence in yourself."

"But I'm no good at anything." Neville yelped as Harry swatted him lightly over the head with a rolled up piece of parchment.

"No, bad." Harry smiled as Hermione gave a small gasp and shook her head. "There's something that everyone can be good at, you just need to find it." The bell signaling the end of lessons and the start of lunch tolled somewhere deep in the castle, drawing their attention for a moment. "Listen, why don't you join us for lunch and we'll keep talking. At the very least some of my natural charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, might rub off on you." He gave a small sarcastic smile to show the other two that he was joking. In an exaggerated bow he swept towards the Great Hall with the two trailing after him.

XoXo

Lunch was a somewhat quiet affair with the three new friends eating silently and stealing glances at each other every so often. It wasn't so much that Harry was wary about Neville joining them, but it was him watching out for the others of his house to try something. He had noticed the way that the other Gryffindors either looked at Neville with pity or contempt depending on which class had just let out. Because it was just potions, most of them were looking at the boy with contempt which caused Neville to quell under their gazes. Harry ignored everyone as usual and shrugged off the slight tingle that he felt in his stomach when he ate and drank; it had happened a few times before and he was already starting to suspect what it might be.

After lunch was Arithmancy for Harry and Hermione. The class was taught by a rather exuberant young woman that couldn't have been more than twenty-five or so. She pulled Harry aside after setting the class on a specific task of working out a spell equation. She told him that she was delighted that he might have some interest in her subject since it was a somewhat lost art. She promised him that she would help him to the best of her ability to get caught up to the rest of the class and gave him the first two years of instruction in book format for him to get caught up.

Hermione was in her element as she sat hunched over a set of equations, her quill zooming around the parchment working out everything that the spell entailed. Harry worked more methodically working through each set of equations before moving on to the next, making sure that everything was worked out before moving on. He had started on the easier questions in the books that Professor Vector had given him before making his way through the rest of the problems and starting on another section. He had hoped to be caught up with the rest of the class by Christmas and realized that with his study habits it shouldn't be too difficult.

The end of the class period brought life back into the students of the class. For almost the entire period there had been scratching of quills and vacant looks on the student's faces as the professor explained one thing or another. Because of the obscurity of the class all four houses were equally represented with Harry and Hermione the only fifth year Gryffindors involved. As Harry was packing up his bag he felt eyes on his rear end and turned around to notice a pair of Slytherin girls giggling and hiding their faces as they rushed out of the class. He rolled his eyes as he rushed to catch up with Hermione whom was waiting just outside the door.

Hermione was clutching her books to her chest as she hurried along behind Harry a little, keeping her eyes down. Harry had a feeling that she wanted to say something, but was too reluctant to say so. "Come on, what is it?" He was smiling and trying to put her at ease as he said it.

Hermione chewed on her lower lip for a moment before rushing to walk next to him, still keeping her eyes on the floor. "Do you think they're pretty?"

It took a moment for Harry to work out what she was talking about and slowed his pace down slightly so that they were walking a little more leisurely and would give them time before the next class started. "I imagine that there's quite a bit of talk around the girl dormitories about what's under my robes, isn't there?" The furious red color was all he needed to confirm his theory. "I don't really go for the simpering groupie type."

"Groupie?" Hermione paused in her steps causing Harry to move forward a little so that he would have to stop and turn around so that they were facing one another in the hallway. "What do you mean?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the slight shiver that Hermione gave when he did it. "They're after me for my fame, or for some sort of money that they think I have. I've seen it in the center except with physical power. Girls gravitate to a guy they think can protect them; lift up their image with the rest of the inmates. If it's proven, even remotely, that he might not be all that he is made out to be, then they dump him and move on to the next."

Hermione was nodding through his explanation and looked up when he was done with it. "You didn't answer my question though; do you think they're pretty?" Her face flushed a little and she looked down, chewing on her bottom lip once again.

Harry shook his head as he moved closer to her, his finger gently running down the right side of her face. She gave a small shudder and closed her eyes at his touch. "I do think they're pretty, but stupid at the same time. They aren't what I'm really looking for in a girl."

Hermione was stammering and sputtering as he got a little closer to her, his breath almost on her cheek as he spoke to her. "W-What a…are you…you know….looking for?" She closed her eyes against the visage in front of her, involuntarily her little pink tongue came out to wet her lips.

"At the moment, I'm not looking for anything serious to be honest with you." Harry spoke and Hermione almost visibly deflated, her shoulders slumping. "I wouldn't mind a good roll in the sheets though." Her cheeks flushed again and turned a slight white at the same time when he spoke, but she didn't interrupt him. "I look more at personality and character than what's on the outside." Again his fingers came up and brushed against the right side of her face. "You don't need to wear it with me."

He had spoken the last part as he was turning around and heading down towards the hallway that would take them to the defense room. It only took a moment for Hermione to realize that he had moved and hurried to catch up with him. His words were ringing in her ears as they reached the room and closed the door behind them. Most of the class was already assembled and they were forced to share a bench near the front of the room. Just as they were sitting down the bell toned that class had started.

Once the bell had started the class as a whole pulled out parchment, ink, quills and their wands, laying everything out on the tables and holding onto the wands. Many of the students remembered the previous year with Moody how he would try and attack a few of them once in a while and keep them on their toes with information. As the last of the bell fell away the door to the professor's office opened to admit a short stout woman wearing pink robes and a large pink bow on the top of her slightly oblong shaped head.

"Good Afternoon class." Her voice was simpering as she descended the stairs and seemed to waddle a little to her desk where a stack of books were resting just on the edge. When no one seemed eager to answer her, she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "No, no, no, that will not do at all. When I say 'Good Afternoon class, you are to respond 'good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' Now, let us try this again. Good Afternoon Class."

The class mumbled through a "Good Afternoon, Professor Umbridge." Even some of the Slytherins looked a little disgusted with having to work their way through it.

"Very good, now then. Your instruction in this field has been a little disjointed and I am here to set the curriculum back to rights." She pulled out a wand and waved it causing the books behind her to separate from the desk and levitate through the aisles, making a book land before each student. "Now then, we will be reading from 'Defensive theory' for the rest of the class period."

Hermione squirmed in her seat looking like she wanted to say something, but didn't even raise her hand. Seeing her anxious face Harry smiled and raised his hand. Umbridge ignored him so he had to resort to asking it out in the middle of the class. "Professor Umbridge, when will the practical portion of the class begin?"

Umbridge whirled around and stared at the messy haired teen before she clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth once more. "hem, hem. Mister Potter you spoke out of turn, that's ten points from Gryffindor from your impertinent attitude." She turned away and didn't seem intent on answer the question posed as she continued to speak. "Wands away, children, you won't need them in this class and begin with reading chapter one." As the class started to open their books, Umbridge turned around and sat down at the large desk folding her hands on the top of it.

Hermione looked a little frightened towards Harry and then opened the book as instructed and pulled parchment towards her to begin taking notes. Harry shrugged as he did the same, except putting his wand in his off hand to practice the movements described in the book. As he started to read he noticed that there was no mention of even magic at all, simply to say that it was imperative to use offensive magic only as a last resort and even defensive magic was discouraged in favor of waiting for the Ministry to arrive. He groaned as he turned and closed the book with a rather loud thud that echoed through the silent room.

The sound of the book closing caused a few students to jump in surprise and thus push their own books over the edge of their desk. In a moment a cacophony of slams could be heard throughout the room as books hit the floor in rapid succession. Umbridge had looked up at the first sound and winced as the books were pushed off the edge of the desks and hit the floor. Immediately she was on her feet waving her wand so that each book was magically picked up and put back on the desk where it belonged.

"Children, please, these are rather expensive books and I would ask you to be more careful with them." She picked up Harry's copy and seemed to caress the spine of the book before putting it down. "Mister Potter, are you done with the assignment for today?"

Harry crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow a little. "Professor Umbridge, were you aware that there is no mention of spells at all within that entire book?" He indicated the book still in her hand even as the rest of the class was now paying attention.

"You, Mister Potter, are a convicted murderer and a felon of the highest order." Umbridge sneered, looming over Harry as best she could; even on her tip toes she barely rose a few inches over his seated form. "I was warned before taking this post that you might use your celebrity status to gain favor in my classroom."

Again Harry simply raised a single eyebrow in a remarkable imitation of a certain green blooded fictional character. "Indeed." His voice was stoic and devoid of emotion as he spoke. "Perhaps your information was flawed, Professor as I have not murdered anyone to my knowledge."

His stoic attitude and his refusal to rise to her bait seemed to cause the woman to flush even more in rage as she visibly shook. She was holding herself back, that was for sure, but no one knew what would happen if she wasn't. "Detention, Mister Potter, with me, tonight." Her voice was still sickly sweet as she turned on her heel and marched back up to the front of the class. "If you cannot follow instructions then you will be dismissed from this room, do I make myself clear?"

While Umbridge had been looking directly at Harry it was obvious that she wanted the rest of the class to respond. After the automatic "Yes, Professor Umbridge" she sank back into her chair and glowered at him for the rest of the period. Harry simply sat there completely stoic and turned the pages, his eyes never leaving the professor. After a few minutes Umbridge was forced to look away as she shivered lightly and looked down to a stack of parchment on her desk, choosing to go through them than to continue the staring contest with Harry.

At the end of the class everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door. Hermione waited outside the door for Harry to finish his staring contest just to unnerve Umbridge for a few more minutes before he gathered his things and came out of the room. He was humming almost happily as they walked towards dinner. The double class seemed to have gone by rather quickly after the initial confrontation between professor and student.

"I can't believe you did that, Harry." Hermione hissed as they walked towards the Great Hall. Harry noticed that Neville and several others were following close behind; not close enough so that they were impeding on Harry and Hermione, but enough so that they could hear what was being said.

Harry shrugged as he gave off a small smile. "Admit it, Hermione, you wanted to say the same thing to that vile little toad." When Hermione didn't say anything he continued in a more happy and amused tone. "Besides, she openly said that she's not going to be teaching us anything useful in the class. Makes me wonder if the Ministry purposefully wants us to be docile."

Hermione shook her head a little as she looked up and down the hallway as they descended the moving staircases. She stumbled a little on a trick step and Harry helped her up. "That wouldn't make any sense though." She continued to speak after she had gotten her breath back from nearly falling. "I mean, they're supposed to help us, keep us all protected."

Harry nodded as he entered the Great Hall and made a bee line towards the open spot at the end of the table near the High Table with the teachers. His voice was still as jovial as ever, carrying a little ways up the main table where the teachers were eating. "Sure, the Ministry is supposed to help us, but where do you think the Aurors actually come from?" He sat down as he picked up his fork and started to spear a potato a little ways down from him. "I mean, if we don't learn anything about using spells for the next two years of our Hogwarts curriculum then it would be that much pressure on the Ministry to teach the new class of Aurors how to do basic spells. Makes one wonder if the general populace can even do a basic shield charm while you all are supposed to have learned it second year."

Hermione kept her eyes on her plate for a moment and could feel the eyes of the rest of the table and a few of the teacher's on her back. She was feeling very cornered into saying something, but didn't want to because she felt like she might say something wrong. Biting down on her lip she spoke softly so that only Harry could hear her. "The Ministry must have its reasons for doing this, though. I mean, I can't imagine that a government would be so shortsighted as to cripple it's populace that it's supposed to protect."

Harry nodded as he was peeling a biscuit apart with his hands and then buttering it with his knife slowly. "It's supposed to protect it, that's where it comes from." Chewing thoughtfully he swallowed before saying anything. "I think that the Ministry is taking the whole protection thing a little too far. If it was looking to the future it would realize that by teaching the children nothing they're breeding adults that won't be able to defend themselves thereby relying on the Ministry more and more." He tapped his chin thoughtfully with a finger. "Then again, that could be very cunning of them. If the people are dependent solely on the government for their protection then the government can do anything they want and the people won't protest."

Hermione was eating slowly and almost forgot the rest of the people at the table around her as she was speaking with Harry. Conversation around then had nearly ground to a halt and even a few teachers were leaning closer to hear what the two teenagers were talking about. "If that were true then it would lead to martial law. The government would be in complete control over everyone's lives for the sake of protecting them." She shrugged a little. "There have been very little instances in history where such a regime is tolerated for very long though."

Harry nodded as he scraped off the last of the beef from his plate and took a sip from the goblet. "Yes, but being sneaky and cunning about it they would start with education and even the food before. Snape all but said that there are potions to enslave the mind, aren't there? What if there were potions to make the population docile and more complacent enough to control?" He didn't have to look around to notice a few students pushing their plates and goblets away from them. "But that would be absurd, for something like that to happen you would have to have sole access and control over an entire select portion of the populations food and water." He smiled as he took a long sip of the goblet, enjoying the taste before smacking his lips together.

Neville and Hermione looked on with their jaws opened slightly as they then looked from one another and then down at the food still on their plates. Neville shook his head a little as he pushed the gold plate away from him with his fork before he spoke. "I'm not sure about all that, but why take the chance." Hermione nodded as she kept staring at her plate in horror; she looked up when Neville spoke again. "What do you think Umbridge is going to have you do for your detention tonight, Harry?"

Harry shrugged as he pushed his own plate away from him, patting his full stomach as he slid out from the bench slightly. "I'm not really sure, but I'm sure that she'll have some lecture about not being studious or something. Maybe she'll have me copy out that book she loves line by line."

Hermione shook her head a little as she pulled out the mentioned book from her book bag. She turned it over in her hands a little and caressed the cover a little. "While I don't agree with the method that she's using, she is a professor and has to know what she's doing."

Harry shrugged again as he slid from the bench and spun himself all the way around. "You have to wonder though if she is really all that qualified to teach at all. Does anyone actually know if she has some kind of accreditation to show that she can teach?" Neville and Hermione looked confused, so Harry shook his head as he stood up. "Never mind, Hermione, I'll see you tomorrow morning as usual since I'm sure that the toad is going to purposefully keep me late."

As Harry was walking away he could hear Neville whispering to Hermione about what was going on in the morning. He turned over his shoulder, gave a look to the two and a small nod and a smile before turning back around and heading for the doors of the Great Hall. He ignored the whispered mutterings of the rest of the school as he walked down the aisle and out the doors and into the entranceway. Because dinner was nearly over the students were mostly making their way back to their dormitories or away into the night with significant others for a small tryst.

Mounting the stairs that would take him up one floor and towards the defense room, he got a very odd feeling that he was being watched. Even as he walked he kept his senses open and alert to the slight sound of breathing and rushing feet behind him. He could hear someone panting and then rushing to catch up with him before stopping and more hurried breathing. Taking a chance he looked in the reflection from a nearby portrait and could catch a flash of red and brown before it was gone just over his left shoulder. He shook his head a little as he turned another corner and quickly ducked into a small alcove.

Almost as soon as he was hidden a pair of people came rushing past him only to stop just a few feet down the hall from him and leaning on the walls panting heavily. Ginny Weasley was sweating profusely, her robes already sticking to her form making the curves of her body more evident than usual. She leaned against the wall and panted heavily looking frantically up and down the hallway that they had just come into.

"Damn he moves fast." The sandy haired boy next to her was panting even heavier than the girl beside him. He had a large camera slung around his neck that swung back and forth hitting him in the chest every once in a while as he moved. He was dressed in the same black robes, but he was fanning them out a little to get some air to his body. "Are you sure that he came down this way?"

"Of course I'm sure, Collin." Ginny's eyes flashed red for a moment, but she was racked with a coughing fit and when she looked back up there was nothing of the red in her eyes. "He can't have gone far. He's supposed to be in detention with Umbridge tonight."

"This hallway doesn't lead anywhere near the defense room." Collin pointed out as he swept the hallway with his hand a little limply. "Plus there's no other classrooms down this way."

"He must be skipping the detention for some reason then." Ginny scowled a little. "He better not has hooked up with one of the floozies or I'll rip out their entrails."

Collin shivered a little at the malice in Ginny's words, but didn't say anything immediately. He turned in a full circle for a moment before pointing back the way they came. "Come on, if he's got detention then he'll have to head to the defense room at some point, we can either pick him back up again there or even when he leaves to head back to the tower."

Ginny grumbled, but nodded as the two took off to the end of the hallway. At the intersection they looked left and right and then turned to the left back towards the Great Hall where they would double back around and towards the defense classroom. Both were looking still very out of shape and tired at the fast pace that Harry had set. Once they were gone, Harry shook his head as he walked out of the dark and took a faster pace heading towards the room hoping to head them off and make them wait out the entire detention however long that would take.

Ginny's eye change was going over in his mind a few times as he was walking along. No matter what he had seen in this world he was sure that everything that he had seen with that one girl was adding up to something that just wasn't right. Shaking his head out of his thoughts for the moment he reached the room and paused at the door for a moment listening for anything around him. The stone hallway was silent and unending from one end to the next only pot marked by doors to other classrooms until the small t-intersection about halfway down. Shaking his head he knocked on the door and waited patiently.

The toad like woman opened the door still clad in her frilly pink robes with the ludicrous bow on the top of her head. The grin that she was wearing was rather lecherous as she looked him up and down and then stepped aside for him to come in. Once he was in the classroom she shut the door behind him and directed him to a single desk in the middle of the room where a roll of parchment and a quill sat. Just in front of the single desk was the teacher's desk with a blackboard behind it. Written in slanted writing on the blackboard was "I will not question authority."

"You'll be doing some special lines for me tonight, Mister Potter." Her voice was simpering with a small hint of malice and almost glee underneath of it. She came around him and moved towards the teacher's desk where a stack of parchment rested. As she sat she indicated the desk before her. "Sit and begin, Mister Potter, the phrase is on the blackboard for you to see."

Harry moved forward and sat down at the desk, letting his book bag rest against his legs on the floor. When he touched the black quill rested there on the desk he felt a dark energy wrap around his hands only to disappear in a moment. He thought that he had heard a shriek distant somewhere, like someone was being tortured, but then it was gone. "How many times must I write this?" Harry asked stoically, keeping the emotion from his face and his voice.

"Oh, however many times it takes to sink in." Umbridge sneered as she took up a pink teacup resting on the side of the desk and took a sip of it for a moment. "Would you like some tea, Mister Potter?"

Harry determinedly shook his head as he took up the black quill and pushed the point of it against the parchment before him. As he was starting to write the "I" he could feel a slight stinging sensation in his left hand. He ignored it as a red sentence slowly formed on the sheet and he was starting on the second line when he heard Umbridge give a gasp and he looked up.

Umbridge was staring at her hands in shock and then looking down to where Harry was sitting. The red letters of the first line were still shining brightly and were starting to fade into the parchment and become slightly black with the drying, but it still shone there. Harry looked back at her impassively for a moment before he bowed his head and started to write again. Once again he could feel a slight tingling on his opposite hand, but then it was nothing as he continued to write. He was onto the fourth line when the quill was knocked out of his hand by a furious looking Umbridge.

"How did you do it, boy?" The woman roared at him as she leaned against the desk and stared him in the eyes. "How did you trick the quill? No one has ever gotten away from the quill."

"I'm not sure what you mean, Professor." Harry asked raising a single eyebrow as he did. This seemed to only make her angrier as she gripped the desk until her knuckles were shining white. The second eyebrow went up when she gripped the parchment on the desk and flung it across the room to join the quill already resting in the corner of the room.

"Don't play innocent with me, boy. You bewitched it, turned it back against me somehow." She raised her fist and the words "I will not question authority" were written, scratched out onto the back of her left hand. The blood was still oozing from the cuts, but it looked to be healing up rather fast after a few moments it had already mostly faded away.

"Perhaps you gave me the wrong quill by mistake." Harry asked as he inspected the wounds that were closing up on her hand. He reached out and touched her hand, running his finger along the cuts.

Umbridge yanked her hand back after a soft shiver ran through her body. She stared at him for a moment before pulling her wand out and summoning the quill from where it lay. After she cast a number of spells on it she slammed it back down on the desk. "Now, write." She snarled and made no move to go back to her desk, looming over Harry the entire time.

Once more when Harry started to write the red letters appeared on the parchment and then sank into it to form a slightly black lettering. He had finished the next line when the quill was pulled out of his hands once again by a sputtering Umbridge. Harry could see the red letters engraving themselves onto Umbridge's hand once more. It seemed to take longer this time for the letters to fade and even when they did he could still see a faint outline of them on the back of her hand.

"I will not be ridiculed in such a way." Umbridge roared as she thrust the quill back into Harry's hands, pressing the point against the parchment. She wrote with it for a moment and winced in pain when the cuts on her hand were ripped open. "Write, Potter."

Harry looked at her and then at her hand. "Professor, perhaps you should go see Madam Pomfrey, that injury doesn't look good."

Umbridge snarled and pressed the quill into his hand, gripping his with both of her pudgy little hands. "Write, I want to see you write it now."

Harry shrugged and slowly wrote with the quill encased as it was in his hand and both of the professor's. After a third attempt he pressed down on the tip a little harder than necessary and the end of it snapped off. When it did a small flood of red liquid flowed out of it followed by a loud scream before there was silence. Looking around Harry saw that Umbridge was lying on the floor in a puddle of blood coursing from numerous inscriptions along the back of her hand and up her left forearm.

Groaning, Harry pulled his wand from his pocket and levitated the body of the Professor as well as picking up the quill as he was walking out. He marched the prone woman up the corridors and into the infirmary where the matron was currently working elsewhere. Figuring that he shouldn't leave her alone so that she was not cared for properly he scratched out a note with another regular quill, put it on her body and calmly walked out heading towards the dormitories.