This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokemon, which belong to the Pokemon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.

I thank both Rowling and the Pokemon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.

It didn't matter that the game was far from a classic. It didn't matter that the score was low and Gryffindor's Beaters had barely got into the game. Gryffindor had won and that was something to celebrate, and this year more than any they needed that. The Gryffindor Common room was boisterous, loud, and full of mirth, laughter and song.

It was about the last place Harry wanted to be right this moment. He did not feel like celebrating, did not want to hear the praise of his house mates or feel the slaps on his back or the flirtatious touches on his arm. He felt numb and that separated him from all those around him until he could take it no more and made that separation physical. He took his chance when Fred and George became the centre of attention and slipped out into the empty castle outside.

There was never much going on in Hogwarts after a game. Most students, those of the two houses not playing, often took the time to relax after the day's earlier excitement with some going so far as to use the quiet time to study. The team that had lost would naturally not be up to much and the team that won would restrict their exuberance to their own common room.

Yet Harry wasn't really alone. You never were these days. The cameras set up all around the school monitored his progress through the castle, silent and unmoving but for the small blinking light that indicated they were active. Harry didn't know how the Ministry treated the footage retrieved from the cameras. Was there someone watching him now?

Either way he would never be comfortable while he had a camera trained on him and so he wasn't going to hang about. He could go to the Hospital Wing, Talonflame spending the night there as a precaution and the rapidly growing Eevee always a treat, but Harry didn't really want company. Instead he headed outside.

The air was crisp and fresh, the grass somewhat damp under foot with melted frost. As he'd expected there was no one outside to enjoy the mild weather and that was just fine by Harry. He shifted his hands into his pockets for warmth and ducked his head as he walked along the line of trees that marked the edge of the forest, lost in thought.

Inevitably his trip would take him to Hagrid's cabin, it seemed to be the place Harry gravitated to when he needed time to think, but he was still surprised to come across it so soon. He hesitated, wondering whether he really wanted to talk to Hagrid or not. He was confident Hagrid would make him feel better but he wondered if he'd not prefer the solitude to dwell on his thoughts a bit longer.

The decision was taken out of his hands as the door opened and Harry, standing torn in clear view of Hagrid's front door, was brought face to face with the gamekeeper.

"Why, 'ello Harry," Hagrid said, looking rather surprised. "What are yeh doin' out here?" From behind Hagrid Fang the Mightyena made an appearance, bounding forward when he saw Harry, followed at a slower pace by Norbert the Shelgon.

"Just wanted some fresh air," Harry told Hagrid with a shrug. He knelt down to pet Fang and Norbert, the two Pokémon nuzzling up to him affectionately.

Hagrid let out a thoughtful noise. "I'd 'ave thought you'd be up in the common room celebratin'," he said. "That was a good game." Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Alright, maybe not a good game but yeh won. Just one more game for the title."

"Yeah," Harry said, without enthusiasm. He just found it hard to find it in himself to care.

"Hmm," Hagrid said, looking thoughtful. Harry could only imagine his suspicions. "Well, now yeh're here why don't yeh help me in the forest. I've got some berries to pick up an' it's quite hard ter find 'em this time o' year."

Harry agreed without comment.

The two of them, accompanied by Fang and Norbert as well as Pikachu, who Harry let out to stretch his legs a bit, walked through the trees until eventually they could no longer see the castle behind them.

"Pikachu's lookin' well," Hagrid commented after a while, watching as the small electric type sniffed at a few shoots growing through the forest floor. "It's hard ter imagine that he's the same as that tiny little thing yeh found after my class."

Harry nodded. Pikachu, although still young, had grown a lot in the year and a half since they had met, filling out to a healthy weight and growing in skill and maturity all the time. That was especially true in the last few weeks as Pikachu took up a role similar to that of an older brother to Eevee.

"It's amazin' the way things have changed," Hagrid said, drawing Harry's attention. "I still remember when we first met. Yeh were a tiny little thing, Harry. I wouldn't have guessed you were old enough fer Hogwarts had yeh not looked so much like yer father. An' now look at yeh. Yeh've really grown up."

Harry nodded absently, looking away from Hagrid and into the forest ahead. It certainly felt like a long time since he'd been introduced to the Pokémon world, so much had changed. What had once been a world of discovery and adventure had turned sour. He barely recognised it anymore.

"What's up, Harry?" Hagrid said as Harry continued to keep quiet. "I know something's botherin' yeh. Tell me, maybe I can help." Harry considered him.

"I just feel so…" Harry sighed. "Helpless," he admitted softly.

"Helpless?" Hagrid questioned. Harry nodded.

"There's a whole war going on out there and we're stuck here, fighting Umbridge of all people," Harry complained. "She's horrible and it's a fight worth fighting but it won't do anything against Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered.

"Please don't say his name, Harry," Hagrid pleaded. Harry just turned away.

"I'm sorry if I sound like I'm giving up but I just can't get it out of my head," Harry told him. "When I saw that Seeker using a Pidgey all I could think about was Cedric, what had happened to him. I promised I would avenge him but all I seem to be doing is trying to stay out of trouble and letting Umbridge do whatever she wants."

"Now don't say that," Hagrid told him. "You are doing stuff, Harry, great stuff."

"Like what?"

"Well there's that little group of yours yeh've got goin' on," Hagrid told him. "Yeh're preparing yer class mates to defend themselves, that's worthwhile. An' I bet yeh that's what Cedric would've wanted. Those were his friends and yeh're helpin' them. Think of all those Hufflepuffs yer helping teach. Think o' Ms Chang." Hagrid sighed.

"Yeh're doin' more than yeh realise, Harry," Hagrid told him. "Yeh're bringing them hope. Without you these kids won't have anything to turn to."

"They have Dumbledore," Harry protested. "As long as he's here…"

"But he might not always be here, Harry," Hagrid said earnestly. He looked uncomfortable. "I wasn't really planning on tellin' yeh this but I think it might be best."

"What?" Harry asked. Hagrid hesitated.

"I think I might have ter leave soon," he admitted, bowing his head. Fang whined.

"Hagrid," Harry said, alarmed. "Hagrid, what're you talking about?"

"Umbridge is what I'm talkin' about, Harry," Hagrid told him. "An' the Ministry ter boot. I reckon they're gearin' up ter sack me."

"What?" Harry gasped, horrified.

"Umbridge has been comin' ter more an' more of me classes," Hagrid told him. "There's only one reason fer that."

"But Hagrid, she can't," Harry told him. "You can't leave."

"Not really up ter me, though, is it," Hagrid said. "But yeh see, Harry. Yeh're doin' so much good than yeh realise and those students need yeh. If I go an' Umbridge goes after the other teachers they're going ter need you ter look after them." Hagrid sniffed.

"Ah, here we are," he said, noticing the trees before them hanging with green berries. "Good thing we found 'em. Looks like it's going ter get dark soon." Within the deepest parts of the forest it was always darker than normal but even so Harry could sense through the cold chill in the air, penetrating through his thick Quidditch jumper, that it was getting late.

Together he and Hagrid, with the help of Pikachu, Fang and Norbert, picked a few of the berries before Hagrid declared he had enough.

"That'll do fer just now," he said, looking into the large sack he'd brought to carry them. "It'll get us by until they're more plentiful, at least. Come on you lot, time ter go." Norbert responded, walking immediately to Hagrid's side, but Fang had found something else to distract him, following his nose across the forest floor, and Pikachu walked over to join him, looking curious.

"Fang, come on," Hagrid said again but Fang didn't respond. He stuck his nose into the bushes, following some sort of trail, and Pikachu wandered curiously after him, prompting Harry and Hagrid to follow as the two Pokémon started to disappear from view.

"Pikachu?" Harry questioned, following his young electric type through the bushes. Pikachu, unlike Fang, acknowledged his presence but didn't seem any less keen to follow the Mightyena as he plowed a path through the bushes.

"Guess he musta found somethin'," Hagrid commented, looking as surprised as Harry. Fang and Pikachu, again taking the lead, briefly disappeared through the thick low hanging branches of a pair of adjacent trees. Once on the other side they seemed to stop, the rustle of movement falling still.

"Pika!" Pikachu called back to them. Harry and Hagrid shared a look. He didn't seem in trouble.

Harry was the one to take the lead, being the smaller of the two he found his path less challenging, and he arrived through the branches to find himself by Pikachu's side.

"What is it?" He asked, but then he saw. His mouth fell open. "No," he breathed.

A small rumble sounded behind him and Hagrid broke through the trees, coming to a stop behind Harry and gasping. "It can't be."

Harry didn't tell Ron and Hermione what he saw in the forest, though he often thought he should. On the surface there was no reason not to tell them, it wouldn't cause them danger or trouble of any sort if they knew. But it could hurt and bring up a lot of old wounds that had only just started to heal over.

Usually Harry would struggle to keep a secret from Ron and Hermione, they just knew him too well not to notice when something was up, but as it happened they were distracted by a much more pressing matter. Exams.

The APEs, or Average Pokémon Examinations, were due to take place in June and, as February slipped into March, the dreaded day they'd have to sit in the Great Hall and try and muddle their way to a good grade was coming ever closer.

"I think we've done enough studying for Physiology for now," Hermione said smartly, closing her textbook and looking up to Harry and Ron sitting across from her. "Why don't we do some Potions?" On the surface this seemed reasonable, but with Hermione's revision timetable at hand Harry knew the transition was anything but casual.

Ron groaned.

"Can't we take a break?" He asked desperately. "We've been at this for hours. It's still ages until the exams." He was right, they'd visited the library for their entire lunch period and had been there currently since their last class of the day had concluded. Hermione scowled.

"Not ages," she scolded. "Three months. Three months can go by very fast you know. One moment you think you have plenty of time, the next…" But Harry was on Ron's side.

"We can't keep going like this," he told her. "We'll wear ourselves out. We need some down time once in a while." Hermione huffed.

"Fine," she bit out, aggressively packing up her books. "But you'll be sorry you weren't more prepared when it comes to the exams. These are very important."

"We'll study again tomorrow," Harry assured her, although by Ron's groan he figured he wasn't speaking for the both of them. "But you can't keep going like this. It's almost time for dinner, anyway. Lets just go down and relax a bit." Hermione looked uncertain.

"Count me in," Ron said, cheerfully stuffing his books back into his bag. "I'm starving, I wonder what's for dinner." And Hermione, despite her obvious reluctance, gave in.

"As long as we do revise again tomorrow," she said anxiously. "You know how important these exams are. I heard from Percy that these are even more important than the SPAs."

"Yeah, well, what does Percy know?" Ron asked uncaringly. "You know how he likes to make things seem important like that. Makes him feel special that he's done it and we're just fighting to get through. Bloody prick."

"You shouldn't talk about your brother like that," Hermione told him sharply. "Especially considering what he's doing for the Legion."

"Who cares about the Legion," Ron countered. "Just because you're on the right side doesn't mean you can't be a prick, isn't that right, Harry… Harry?" But Harry was no longer with them. As they were walking down to the Great Hall a flash of blonde hair had caught his eye and he began walking briskly in the opposite direction. There was a very important conversation he just needed to have.

His journey through the castle had him retracing his steps, his target obviously heading to the very place Harry had just vacated. Hurrying through the halls at a brisk pace, just keeping the girl in his sights every time she turned a corner, he followed her into the library. He saw her heading up and to the right, slipping into an aisle of potions books, and he hurried after her, only to turn the corner and come face to face with Daphne Greengrass, Gardevoir at her side.

Harry didn't even have time to react, surprised that Daphne had realised he had been following her, before the two of them were removed from the library and teleported to an abandoned classroom.

That's when Daphne spoke.

"Just what do you think you are doing, Potter?" She snapped. Her voice wasn't loud but it was biting and she looked more enraged than he'd ever seen. "Do you not realise the dangers if someone realised we were talking?" Harry recovered.

"Hard for people to realise that when we're not actually talking," he bit back, a surprising amount of bitterness in his tone. "I thought we were supposed to be working together."

"We are, I send Gardevoir all the time, like I promised," Daphne told him.

"You know what I mean," Harry challenged. "You're avoiding me. Ever since the Hospital Wing…"

"Don't say it," Daphne snapped.

"Ever since then you haven't spoken a single word to me," Harry continued. "I've seen you plenty. You do as you said you would, you're in my dorm every time there's a DA meeting, but you haven't spoken a single word to me since that night."

"So what?" Daphne snapped. "Nothing in our agreement required me to talk to you."

"You don't think that we should?" Harry questioned. "After what happened?"

"What happened was a mistake," Daphne told him.

"Then you should have at least spoken to me to let me know," Harry countered.

"I thought you'd manage from context," Daphne hissed back. "Though I realise now that I give too much credit to a Gryffindor. I suppose I should lower my standards."

"Lower whatever you want, I don't care," Harry argued. "I just wanted the chance to talk about what happened."

"Nothing happened," Daphne denied.

"Then why are you avoiding me?" Harry challenged. "If nothing happened like you said then why have you not spoken a single word to me but Seamus hears from you every single time you come over. Something happened, or is there something else I'm missing?" Daphne scowled.

"Listen, Potter, and listen good," she said, her body practically shaking with anger. "I don't like you. I loath and despise everything about you. I'm helping you for one reason and one reason only and that is to keep my family safe. If I had known what would have happened I might not have bothered. How can you keep my family safe? You can't even look after yourself."

Harry had been arguing with the aim of convincing Daphne, trying to get her to see reason and to try and understand just why she'd reacted so badly. Now he was angry. His blood pounded through his veins and his fists clenched and shook.

"Oh yeah," Harry challenged, his voice shaking dangerously. "You don't like me, huh? Hate me, even? But you're still helping. Why would you do that, Greengrass, if you didn't think we were doing something here? Why would you help us if you don't even care? I don't want to hear excuses like it's 'for your family' or anything like that, Voldemort could keep them safe. Voldemort could ensure your family were never harmed if you just allowed him to brand you as his slave. You're full of shit, Greengrass. I never thought much of Slytherin but even by those standards you're pathetic."

A door opened, Daphne's response cut off, and they both turned. Colin Creevey stood there, eyes wide as he took in the scene, frozen in shock. A moment later Daphne was gone.

Harry let out a breath, the anger that had filled him starting to ebb away as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What do you want, Colin?" He asked.

Colin looked nervous, glancing frequently back to the point Daphne had disappeared, evidently putting two and two together.

"I heard your voice," he told him, his own voice small. He looked almost scared. "I was just walking past and I heard you shouting about something."

"It was nothing," Harry denied. It was pointless, Colin was never going to believe that. "Why did you want to see me?" Colin's eyes widened again.

"Quick, you've got to come with me," he said frantically and Harry grew alarmed. "Something's happening. The whole school is gathering in the Entrance Hall, something to do with Professor Trelawney."

Harry hurried forward, nearly pushing Colin out of the way before stopping himself short. He turned back.

"Don't tell anyone about what you just saw," Harry said, his voice as serious as he could make it. If there was one thing Daphne had been right about it was that her family would be in danger if it became known she was fraternising with Harry Potter. "Promise me, Colin."

"I promise," Colin said immediately. Harry gave a nod, grateful, and then rushed off.

The classroom he'd been transported to was on the second floor, thankfully not far at all from the Entrance Hall to which Harry immediately rushed off to. As Colin had warned the entire school seemed to be there. Harry came to a halt on the marble steps, the crowd not letting him continue any further, and looked down on the scene below.

Professor Trelawney was sitting there, sobbing uncontrollably as she rested upon her trunk. She was alone in the crowded Entrance Hall, a ring of students giving her a wide berth, marshalled by the members of the Inquisitorial Squad, the shiny silver 'I's glinting in the light. The only person standing inside the circle was Professor Umbridge, her feet on the second from bottom step of the marble staircase as she looked down on Trelawney with a wholly unpleasant look on her face.

"Now, now, dear, lets not cause a scene," she tutted, her wide mouth turned in a gleeful smile. "It is not becoming of a woman of your age to be crying in such a public place."

"Please," Professor Trelawney gasped and Harry's stomach dropped at hearing her voice. It was no longer the mystical tone she used for classes or the harsher tone she fell to when annoyed. This was desperate. "Please, don't fire me. Hogwarts is my home. Without it…"

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do," Umbridge told her with false sorrow. "It is my duty to maintain standards of education within this fine institution and teachers not up to scratch…" she tailed off, tilting her head down at the poor woman at her feet. "I'm afraid if you do not leave on your own then it shall be down to the aurors to escort you from the grounds. Please, Sybil, hold on to what little dignity you have left. You will be remembered well for your time at Hogwarts, but all things must come to an end."

Trelawney continued to sob, not moving and not looking like she even had the ability to do so if she were to try. No one tried to help her. From the doors to the Great Hall Harry could see the familiar flaming red and bushy brown hair of Ron and Hermione, Ron looking furious with his fists clenched, Hermione in tears.

A presence at Harry's shoulder caught his attention.

"What's going on here?" Albus Dumbledore stood just a few steps above him, his presence powerful and his expression stony. Right beside him Professor McGonagall was hurrying forward and continued on, the students parting to let her through, even the Inquisitorial Squad, as she hurried to Trelawney's side.

"There, there, Sybil," she said, comforting the other woman who sobbed into her shoulder. "It'll be alright."

"Well?" Dumbledore spoke again, his voice echoing throughout the hall. "Will anyone explain what we are all doing here?" Though his eyes scanned the whole room they easily focused in on Umbridge the moment she cleared her throat and he stared down from on high as the plump pink trainer straightened to her full height.

"As High Inquisitor of Hogwarts I have taken due diligence in my evaluations of my fellow professors and it has become clear that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch, as detailed in Education Decree Number Twenty-Three," Umbridge announced, head held high. "As such Professor Trelawney is being expelled from the grounds, her contract with Hogwarts School of Pokémon Training terminated." Trelawney wailed.

"I see," Dumbledore said softly, though his eyes were steely. "In that case I would kindly ask you to stand down and allow Professor Trelawney to return to her quarters." Umbridge blinked.

"I beg your pardon," she said, before letting out a girly laugh. "I think you may have misheard me, Professor Dumbledore, as I said, Educational Decree Number Twenty-Three…"

"Allows you to examine your fellow teachers and if necessary make changes," Dumbledore finished for her. "However, perhaps in an oversight on the part of the Ministry, nowhere does it state that Professor Trelawney must leave the school. She may not be able to teach but Professor Trelawney will always have a home here at Hogwarts."

Professor Umbridge's face went an alarming shade of puce. "Any adult not employed by Hogwarts cannot stay…"

"Unless invited by the Headmaster," Dumbledore intervened again. "Which, at least for the moment, is I. Now, Sybil, won't you do me the honour of being my guest here at Hogwarts? We have some rooms I think you'll like." Professor Trelawney looked awestruck. Umbridge, less so.

"And what of the teacher assigned to fill Professor Trelawney's position," she snapped. "They will need living quarters and a classroom and office."

"I'm sure we'll find some to spare," Dumbledore said with a benign smile. "After all, this is a big castle. Now, why don't we all head into the Great Hall and enjoy an excellent meal. Minerva, perhaps you would be so kind as to help Professor Trelawney move her belongings back to her quarters."

"Of course, Albus," said Professor McGonagall and she coaxed her colleague to her feet.

Umbridge looked furious.

"This won't be the end, Dumbledore," she hissed as he descended the stairs.

"No," Dumbledore agreed. "I don't believe it will." And he walked past her.

A/N: Hello, everyone. Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

When going through this chapter I realised that the abbreviation for the Average Pokemon Evaluations was being change to simply A.. I have no idea why the editor does this but I've changed the formatting of the abbreviation to APE (removing the periods between the letters), which appears to work, and will be using that going forward. The same holds true for the SPAs.

On a different note I have a new feature that I'd like to start. Normally I don't really say much at the end of chapters (especially if there haven't been any questions to address from the reviews), and this is mostly because I generally can't think of anything meaningful. I would like to engage with you readers more though so I've decided to start a little thing at the end of chapters to try to do that.

My idea is to ask questions of you with each chapter, in a 'question of the day' type format. These will be pretty general to the Pokémon and Harry Potter universes and will just be for me to hear from you about what you are thinking and for me to share my own thoughts and experiences. Hopefully this will work out and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

The first question will be:

What is your favourite Pokémon?

For me this is a little difficult as I've got several that I absolutely love, but I'd have to go with Torterra. I played Pokémon when I was really young but forgot about it for awhile and when I came back it was at the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. I got Diamond version and chose Turtwig as my starter. I remember I had so much fun with him, especially when he evolved into Torterra and was able to just Earthquake pretty much everything. I still remember giving him a Quick Claw and having it activate against Cynthia on the last turn to beat her for the first time. There may be cooler designed Pokémon and Pokémon with better stats but Torterra will always be special to me.

So, what is your favourite Pokémon? Do you have a story behind why? Please let me know in the reviews and I'll put up another question with the next upload.