The group of Gryffindors slowly made their way through the castle towards the usual classroom that their defense class was held in for the last several years. The group was joined by Dean and Seamus with Neville hanging back slightly as if to distance him from the core members of the group. Cassie and Harry were speaking kindly while Dean and Seamus were chatting up Lavender and Parvati respectively, getting a slightly musical laugh out of the girls with a few words and hand gestures. By the time they had reached the door to the classroom the whole group was in good spirits and well prepared for anything that the pink bowed toad was going to dole out.

The Slytherins were already lined up just outside the door on one side of the hall and the Gryffindors took the other side mostly on instinct and habit than anything else. Harry caught Rachel's eye a little and inclined his head backwards to where Neville was toeing at the stone flooring and staring at his shoes lost in thought. The girl seemed to chew on her lip for a moment and gave a small nod. She turned from Harry and engaged a rather pale faced Draco in a whispered conversation only moments before the door flew open with a bang.

"Inside, now" Umbridge stood before them leaning heavily on a cane and still wearing her frilly pink cardigan that ruffled out of her loud looking purple robes. She hobbled to the side as the students entered the room and filled in the seats. When she was satisfied that everyone was seated she glared in Harry's direction and then hobbled up towards the front of the classroom. "Despite my best effort last year to teach you in the proper manner, as well as to instill order into this school as my short tenure as Headmistress I see that some hooligans are still about."

The Slytherins sneered at Harry and his friends, but he paid them no mind. Draco wasn't the only snake that didn't seem interested as he once was in taunting the lions; quite a few had simply ignored them in favor of staring at their professor. One black haired girl in particular wasn't paying attention to anything at all and instead staring out the nearby window; this of course went unnoticed by everyone besides Harry. Umbridge came around her desk and slammed her cane down on the top making several students jump in surprise.

"Wands away, you will not need them again this year." She waved her own wand and several stacks of books began sliding out from behind her and passing themselves out. "Since the Ministry considers my method of teaching to be superior then we will continue where we left off with Slinkhand last year."

Hermione seemed to almost bounce in her seat in anticipation for asking a question, but it was Harry's hand that was in the air first. Umbridge ignored him for a time, but he simply asked it anyway. "Professor, if I may, perhaps you can assail us with the thrilling tale of how you escaped the centaurs last year? I'm sure because this is a defense class we would all like to know what really happened."

At the mention of last year the woman seemed to shake slightly and then turned a rather interesting shade of pale red. "Filthy half-breeds…insolent brat…..five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn." She was muttering to herself now, her eyes glancing from one corner of the room to the other. "Filthy horses, touching me, a good pureblood woman."

Almost unseen Seamus smirked and let the book on the edge of his desk slip just slightly from where it sat on the edge. The book tipped and slammed down onto the floor in a deafening roar in the sudden silence of the room. Almost immediately Umbridge whirled about with her wand ready and fired off a black curse that slammed into Seamus and sent him flying into the nearby wall. Harry and the rest of the DA were on their feet in a moment wands raised and several shields already shimmering into existence.

"Potter, take Finnigan to the Hospital wing, and that's another fifteen points from Gryffindor for your lack of respect." Spit was now flying from the woman's mouth and even the Slytherins were backing away from her, no longer smirking at her actions.

Harry waved the others back to their seats as he moved to help Seamus to his feet and stagger towards the door. When he gave pause at the door he turned back to Umbridge and spoke in a cold low voice that echoed around the room. "You may have some authority left, ma'am, but even a Ministry official doesn't get away with attacking children unprovoked." He was out of the door before she could say anything else and hobbling downs the hallway towards the stairs.

Seamus sighed as he felt limp against Harry, hanging onto him with one arm and guiding along the hallway with the other. "Sorry, mate, I thought it would be a lark to see her jump like that."

Harry smiled as he helped the Irishman up the stairs towards another level. "It was, Seamus, bloody brilliant in the simplicity, but best to leave the pranks to the professionals."

Seamus snorted a little as they were heading down the right hallway now past a few offices that would lead to the hospital wing. "Right, I do wish the Weasley twins were back here again this year. I suppose Peeves took their order seriously enough last year that he might make a reprisal this term."

Harry gave off a short bark of a laugh as they reached the massive wooden doors that lead into the Matron's territory. "From what we saw just now I'd say with only a small amount of provoking he would have her locked away in St. Mungoes for the rest of her life."

The boys enjoyed a small laugh at the expense of the one person that was universally hated in the school as Harry dragged his dorm mate into the hospital wing. The smell of potions and the sterile environment that he always associated with the large room assaulted their noses as they maneuvered around to a nearby bed. It wasn't long when Seamus was settled on the edge of the bed that Madam Pomfrey the matron of the wing; and usually considered a rather excitable mother hen of a woman, came bustling out towards them.

"Mister Potter, I didn't expect to see you on the first day of class. Suppose you got into a scuffle with Mister Malfoy again." She clicked her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she moved toward them.

"I just wanted to see you again, Madam and for the record I don't think Mister Malfoy will be making trouble with me anytime soon." Harry smiled cheekily as he pointed down at Seamus sitting on the bed. "Professor Umbridge was a little touchy today and fired off a curse at Seamus here. We're not sure exactly what it was supposed to do, but it was black and sent him flying a good ten feet."

"Bloody hurt hitting a wall and all that." Seamus grumbled holding onto his side as the elderly woman moved forward with her wand out and muttering to herself.

"Teachers attacking students unprovoked wouldn't happen in my day. A good punishment is one thing, but harming someone simply for being in the way is just too much." She clicked her tongue again as she waved her wand over Seamus's body slowly. "You're lucky, Mister Finnigan. What she attempted was a blood boiling curse, would have killed you in a matter of hours."

Seamus paled and gripped onto the bed railing as he stared around the room. "Death? I'm going to die?"

Madam Pomfrey smiled reassuringly and handed him a glass of water and a small yellow potion vial. "No, Mister Finnigan, you're going to be just fine. I said that she attempted it, not that she succeeded."

Harry snorted a little and crossed his arms over his chest. "Not only is she inept at teaching spells she's rubbish at casting them as well."

Normally the hospital matron would admonish students for speaking in such a fashion about a fellow member of the faculty, but she merely sighed and nodded. "Aye, I remember last year with Minerva. I doubt that she would have been harmed by Delores herself, but with the Aurors with her…" She broke off and shook her head as she stood and smoothed out her robes. "I want you to stay here for at least an hour to be sure that you're cured, but there's no reason for you to stay here, Mister Potter."

Harry wished the teenager good luck in dealing with the matron before assuring him that he would take notes for him in the rest of the classes for the day. They were both in the same classes and it wouldn't be hard for Harry to give him some copies of them later on. Picking up his own bag he made for the door and slipped out unnoticed by the bustling woman as she had someone else to take care of now instead of him. He gave a small laugh at that and headed down towards the Great hall just as the bell was ringing to signify the end of the first period of lessons.

Consulting his schedule he knew that he and the rest had potions to get to after defense and he would meet up with his friends when he got down to the dungeons. He ignored Ron as always when he passed the scowling redhead in the hallway to catch up with the small group of chattering teenagers near the front of the long line of students heading away from the defense classroom. Cassie was near the head positively fuming and fingering her wand intermittently.

"oooh…If I were still an Auror I would show her a piece of my mind." Her wand gave off a few ominous sparks that had several students backing away from her, but Harry moved up and put an arm around her waist.

"Easy there, love, calm down." The term of endearment cut through her anger and she melted into his arms a little. "Seamus is going to be fine; apparently she failed at the curse."

"Anyone could have seen that one." Hermione noted as she clutched her books to her chest. "Honestly, she spent the entire rest of the time sitting at her desk and muttering to herself. Parkinson dropped her quill once and I thought for sure the old toad was going to kill her for it."

"Didn't even loose any points for it." Parvati grumbled a little and then turned to Harry. "Is Seamus going to be all right? I was hoping to visit him sometime this afternoon."

Harry smirked a little and slid his arm out from around Cassie, ignoring the slight whimper that she made as he whispered into Parvati's ear. "You don't happen to fancy Seamus do you?" She smiled brightly and shook her head quickly; a mysterious smile had appeared on her face after that. "He'll be fine, Pomfrey wanted to keep him for a bit just to be sure that the toad really couldn't perform magic." This got a laugh out of the rest of the group as they headed off to their other class for the morning.

XoXo

Moving down into the dungeon arena for Potions, Harry felt an ominous tickle down the back of his neck. His sense of danger approaching had always been finely tuned from his days with the Dursleys as well as all the adventures that he and his friends had gotten up to in the last five years of school. Now it seemed to be practically buzzing with activity, but he wasn't sure from where. The Slytherins weren't any more or less their usual surly selves, and without Malfoy to rally behind some of them had even backed off on the tormenting of other houses.

He waved it off as the group entered the dungeon classroom that potions was held in and noted, with a small amount of pity, that some of the students hadn't made it into the NEWT class. This class was made up of all four houses since it was so small and comprised of only a handful of Gryffindors, four Slytherins, six Ravenclaws, and one lone Hufflepuff.

Taking a small chance Harry sat with Hermione on his left and Rachel and Malfoy on his right. The others would arrange themselves around the two perspective people in the room with a boy named Nott paired off with a bored looking Parkinson. Within a few moments everyone had paired up, the lone Hufflepuff going with one of the other Gryffindor girls that had come along.

Snape swept into the room with his robes billowing behind him in a menacing fashion as they always had done, but there was something different in his stride this time around. As he strode up towards the front of the classroom he surveyed what the individual people were doing, his eyes briefly resting on Rachel before moving on to the others and then finally back around to the front of the room. Crossing his arms on his chest he leaned against his desk as he began to speak in little more than a whisper.

"This year the potions will be much more complex and dangerous than you have dealt with in years past." While his voice was low it still carried around the room in the dead silence that the students had come to know of the potions class. "Some potions will be used to kill and poison while others to heal and bring life. Make no mistake, when I caution you to something you should listen." He snarled a little and then swept back towards the blackboard behind him.

With a wave of his wand a potions recipe appeared on the blackboard and the students started to work. The silence of the room that had become standard was only broken by a few hushed voices talking with partners about the potion and the scraping of cauldrons on the wooden tables. In a moment small fires were created to heat ingredients and soon the small room was filled with various bubbling cauldrons and filling the air with fumes.

Waving his wand, Snape made the fumes start to vent through unseen ports in the ceiling and the walls allowing for the room to be clean in a matter of moments. That chore done he started to stalk through the aisles between the various tables checking on the progress of the potions. Malfoy and Rachel had started off well together; Rachel gathering most of the ingredients while a sullen faced Malfoy prepared and added them in the exact order listed on the board. It took a few moments for things to catch up as Rachel was reading over the listing again, Snape had come up behind her.

"Miss Black" Snape snarled, cuasing Rachel to nearly jump out of her seat. "What, do you think you are doing?"

Rachel looked up at him confused and then looked down at what she had been writing. She had been taking notes on what the potion was designed to do as well as the brewing process with the textbook opened a few feet away from her. "Making notes on the process of curing the blood replenishing potion, sir."

For a moment activity in the room seemed to ground to a halt, the only sound coming from bubbling cauldrons as all students turned to stare at the two people facing off in the middle of the room. "Is my instructions inadequate, Miss Black?" Snape growled, crossing his arms over his chest as he said it.

"No, sir, however I find that knowing more about the process and taking notes helps me to remember details about a potion later on." Rachel kept her eyes leveled at Snape whom seemed to wince slightly at the tone of her voice as well as a slight inflection towards the end.

"Brewing potions is not about taking notes, it is about following directions and you clearly cannot do that." Snape sneered for a moment before he smirked and loomed over the girl. She didn't back down even as he was getting closer and closer to her. "I believe that will be ten points from Slytherin for your insolence, Miss Black."

Now all movement in the room truly stopped, and it seemed even the cauldrons were standing perfectly frozen in time. It was an interminable amount of time later before the first gasps and exclamations came from all around the room. Professor Snape, in living memory, had never taken points from Slytherins, preferring to favor his own house repeatedly and to blame the Gryffindors or anyone else for problems caused by bullies of his own house. The class stared in awe for a moment before Rachel gave a small smile, nodded once, and turned back to her potion.

As if the entire class was unfrozen by that one movement the rest began to move around a little slower. Snape for his part sneered at the back of Rachel's head before sweeping back up towards the front of the class so that he could stand there and stare at everyone around him. It was a general bad mood that permeated the rest of the class period until it was finally time to leave. Rachel said nothing as she quietly got up from her station, cleaned her potion up and gathered her things to leave.

She briefly caught Harry's eye and he could see some mirth as well as understanding behind them before she turned away and bounced out of the room. The rest of the class got their things together and followed her out at a more sedate pace, making the Potions Master grumble about "idiot children" and "bumbling idiots" even as they were still within earshot.

XoXo

The Gryffindor group, as it had been dubbed unofficially by the girls, had made it through their respective morning classes and met in the entrance hall just before lunch was to begin. The girls were speaking excitedly about something that was supposed to be announced during lunch. Apparently the professors had a conference about something late last night and some decision had been made about the rest of the year. Rumors were already flying around about what could possibly be going on, and only Harry had some apprehension about coming into the Great Hall.

Harry's apprehension came mostly from what the Daily Prophet would say about his situation with the girls. He knew that eventually the paperwork was going to be filed and it would have to be announced publicly, at some point that the girls were all under his protection. He was cringing inside waiting for the inevitable storm of angry insults both to the girls and to himself about getting involved with so many girls at such a young age. He barely stopped himself from thinking about what Mrs. Weasley was going to say when she found out. Picturing her red face screaming silently actually brought a small smile to his face.

The girls arrayed themselves around Harry same as when they had sat at breakfast with only a little exception. Neville seemed to have found he sitting next to Cassie and she had roped him into a long and involved conversation about the merits of Hufflepuffs as well as the usage of herbology and potions together. It had taken a moment for the rather reserved young man to get used to Cassie's manner of speaking, but after a moment he was excitedly explaining to her about his own personal greenhouses back at the Longbottom Manor and what he was currently working on in them.

The hall suddenly fell silent as Professor Dumbledore slowly rose from his seat. He need not have worried about tapping his glass with his fork to gain the attention of the student body. All eyes, including those of the faculty, had immediately been riveted to the ancient man standing before him even as he was rising from his seat. He spread his arms wide as he always did in the welcoming feast and his voice echoed throughout the hall almost with no magical amplification.

"Students, if I might have your attention please." He paused for a moment as if the students weren't already listening; you could hear the slight creak of the wood from the benches as the students got themselves more comfortable. "A grave injustice has been brought to my attention through the efforts of several studious upper year students." His eyes swept around the room and a few girls around Harry seemed to quiver a little in anticipation. "This injustice has to deal with the social activities offered here at Hogwarts. While clubs and study groups are always encouraged, for the most part they are geared towards a singular, academic, purpose. To rectify this, the staff and I have decided to hold a series of balls this coming year."

"Balls?" A seventh year prefect from Slytherin squeaked out, much to the uproarious laughter of those from the other side of the hall.

Dumbledore gave a small smile and nodded. "Indeed, a series of balls, or dances as some will undoubtedly be informal. They will be nothing like the Yule Ball of two years ago, however there will be at least one semi-formal around Yule time as well as one for sure on Valentine's Day."

Dean and Seamus were shaking their heads on the other side of the table from Harry as they tried to look up and down the table a little. Seamus had leaned across the table and stage whispered to Harry. "You think I could borrow one of your fine lady friends, Harry?"

Lavender, which was sitting next to the Irishman had leaned over and slapped him on the arm. "We already know whom you really want to go with, so why not ask them instead of bothering Harry?"

Seamus had turned beat red, but Harry was being accosted by Cassie now instead to notice. "That does bring up an interesting question, Harry."

Harry looked confused as he looked around the table at the ladies that were aligning themselves around him. He had come to really respect their opinions and see past their exteriors, but he did still know that they were amazingly beautiful. "All right, I give, what's the issue with the dances?"

Hermione smiled and summed it up rather nicely. "The problem, Harry, is that you can't take all of us at once. You're going to have to decide who you're going to take to each of them and let the others get some dates."

Harry groaned as he let his head fall forward and slam hard against the table just below the gold plates. "Ugh, why does having a harem have to be so complicated? And here I thought….nope…bad thoughts."

Some of the girls giggled and a few even turned red from the revelation, but Cassie smiled and squirm a little, putting a hand on his thigh under the table. "You know, Harry, as our Leige Lord…"

"No, bad thoughts!" Harry said venemently, cutting the girl off and sending the rest of that section of the table into hysterics. He could see a small redhead down the line looking jealously up at the girls and he got a small idea. "Although, Cassie, if you're really offering I do know of a small alcove where we can see everything, but they wouldn't be able to see us."

Cassie turned pink for a moment before she slapped him on the arm. "Stop it. And I already know the alcove you're talking about."

Hermione shook her head as Parvati looked between the two. "Her, I can understand, but how would you know about it, Mister Potter?" The girls leveled a glare at the young man, but he didn't flinch even under their combined might.

"Nice try, but unless you're going to disclose this conversation to McGonagall and then have her ask me, I'm not saying anything." Harry crossed his arms over his chest and smiled.

"Professor McGonagall? Why would you talk to her and not us about it?" Lavender asked as she scraped the bottom of her plate and finished off the foot, daintily dabbing at the corner of her mouth with the corner of the napkin.

"Have you seen that woman's glare, I bet even Voldemort himself wouldn't be able to hang on for very long before he's spilling his sins out to her. And that's when I haven't done anything wrong." He shuddered a little and caused the others at the table to break out into laughter again. Dean and Seamus were hanging onto one another as well as were Hermione and Parvati.

Hermione released Parvati and then glanced over her shoulder to the Ravenclaw table. She smiled a little and gave Luna a little nod before turning back to Harry. "Harry….I was wondering…"

The teenager boy smiled a little and sighed. "Your patrol with Ron tonight will probably get cut short by Ginny's 'date'." He took the time to use quotation fingers around the last word before he continued to speak. "In that case I don't see why you two shouldn't go and enjoy a little time to yourselves. I would suggest the Room of Requirement myself as you can set it so that you can't be found for quite some time." The resulting flush of Hermione's cheeks caused him to smile a little.

Cassie grinned at the embarrassment of the girl and then nudged Harry in the side with her elbow. "You never did tell us, Casanova, who are you planning on taking to the balls in question?"

Lavender giggled a little as she spoke in before Hermione could. "I suppose Hermione, Luna and I could work up a dance schedule. I suppose in theory you could dance with all of your lieges with each ball and still have a good time."

Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair a little. "I guess that makes sense, but if any of you get asked and you want to accept then feel free." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. "I won't hear of it, you all each have your own lives and you should enjoy them."

Parvati smiled and kissed Harry on the cheek quickly before standing and brushing her skirt off a little. "You could have a harem, Mister Potter of very willing witches and yet you constantly think of our own minds and our own desires." Harry flushed a little in embarrassment causing the girls at the table to release a collective "aww…"

"Ok, ok." Harry held up his hands as he looked around the Great Hall. "I'm going to take care of a few things tonight, hopefully for good." The girl's perked up a little and leaned in closer. "I'll share the crystals with the rest of you, but I'm going to need some help."

"Count all of us in, I know that au-cousin Claire is a little upset over not having enough time with Harry here." Cassie smiled as she pointed out Claire still sitting at the Ravenclaw table chatting with Luna. The two looked up and blushed at the attention given them and then looked down.

Harry smiled as he got a small inkling of an idea. "Hermione, you and Ron are going to be on patrol tonight, correct?" At her reluctant nod he smiled even more. "I know it's a horrible job, but I want you to pay particular attention to the Astronomy tower tonight, you'll find out why later. Parvati and Lavender, unless they have other plans are going to help me out with a little spying."

"Ooooh….secret agent Patil reporting for duty." Parvati snapped her hand to her forehead in a mock salute that got the others laughing.

"I'll assume that you're using us specifically for the whole rumor queen mantra that everyone seems to believe." While the words might have been harsh, the playful tone and the light smile on her face showed everyone that Lavender had accepted whatever everyone called her and simply went with it.

"If you don't want to…" Harry started only to have Lavender put a hand on his lips. Down the table he could see Ron seething seeing as how Ginny had already left to get ready for her 'date.'

"We'll do what we can to help you out. Just let us know where we have to be and what we have to do." Harry nodded slowly at what Lavender was saying.

"Cassie….I want you to gather your…cousins. I know that I haven't spent nearly enough time with Rachel and Claire that I should. It should be before Rachel's detention as I'll have to be in the common room later on tonight."

While everyone was getting confused, Hermione got a small smile on her face. "An alibi. Ginny thinks that she's meeting you tonight, Ron will keep an eye on you, and probably warn his brothers about what you're going to do tonight, but when a room full of people can say that you were in the common room the entire time…"

Harry smiled and nodded. "No need to get in the way of some rather angry brothers if something should happen. In the end it doesn't matter what Ginny and Ron think, but I would like to stay in good graces with the twins for as long as I can." The others smiled as he clapped his hands together. "Now then, let's go cause some mayhem."