Dolores Umbridge was the worst Defense professor they'd ever had.
Even Quirrell with his stutter and Lockhart, fraud that he was, had taught them at least some magic despite their best efforts. Umbridge had flat out stated that she wasn't going to teach them any practical magic at all.
"The Ministry is worried about a rebellion," Hermione said soberly. "The last thing they want to do is teach Wizards how to fight."
That seemed short sighted to Harry. Even if Voldemort and his followers hadn't been an issue, where were they going to get new Aurors if nobody learned how to fight in school? Old Aurors died all the time; most of them weren't nearly as lucky as Moody, and he looked like he'd been through a cheese grater.
"They're afraid that Dumbledore is creating his own private army," Hermione said. As outrageous as what she was saying was, she didn't smile at all. She wasn't joking.
For some reason Hermione had managed to stay calm in Umbridge's class, even as incredulity had spread among the rest of the students. No one had believed that Umbridge wasn't going to teach them anything, but Hermione hadn't even looked surprised. It was almost as though she'd known in advance what was going to happen.
He'd been about to protest when she'd cast a cheering charm on him under the desk. That had made it possible for him to ignore Umbridge's suggestion that he and an unstable abomination had somehow accidentally resurrected Voldemort.
The fact that she'd as much as called Steven an abomination should have had Hermione steaming, but she'd stayed unnaturally calm through the whole thing.
Dean Thomas had not been so lucky, and had been assigned a detention.
"Why'd you stop me?" Harry asked.
Hermione looked away for a moment and then said, "It's not a good idea to confront the Ministry, not yet."
She was lying; he could tell. There was something about her expression that was shifty, and unusual for Hermione. When he opened his mouth to press her, she gave a little shake of her head. She looked a little pale.
Whatever she was hiding wasn't something she was ready for him to know. The frustrating thing was that he didn't know if it was something personal or if it was Order business. There were things no one could tell him while he had an open line in his head leading directly to Voldemort.
"We really need to get started with those special lessons with Lupin," Harry said. Sirius was going to help them too, but he was still on the run and Harry wasn't about to mention him in a school where the walls literally had ears.
He glanced suspiciously up at a painting of Sir Hubert of Agincourt; he was a rather foolish looking Wizard who stared down at them and sniffed.
There were spies everywhere here.
"Lupin's not welcome here," Hermione said. "Because of the new Ministry directives, he's been banned from campus."
Harry stared at her in dismay. They couldn't exactly leave campus; there were assassins ready to attack them the moment they left the wards of Hogwarts.
"Don't worry," Hermione said. "We've got it covered."
She pulled him aside and pulled him into an unused classroom to the side. To Harry's surprise, Steven was already there, and so was Winky.
Winky was still wearing the leather hat and apron that Pearl had taught her to make for herself. Steven nodded at Hermione, and then took Winky's hand. Winky snapped her fingers and a moment later they were both gone.
Before Harry could react, Winky was back. She was grabbing his hand and a moment later the world shifted around him and they were somewhere else.
They were in darkness, and it took Harry's eyes a moment to adjust.
Hermione was beside him a moment later.
They were in the temple, although not a part he'd explored before. Everything was quiet and dark, lit only by glowing crystals in the distance.
"You can't tell anyone about this, not even Dobby," Hermione said.
"Dobby?" Harry said. "Why not?"
"Do you know why Dobby had so much trouble finding work? Given the prices he was asking, you don't think somebody like Ron's family would be delighted to hire him?"
Harry shook his head.
"Just because he says he's free doesn't mean he actually is." Hermione said. "A House-elf's owner can tell them to lie and say they've been given clothes."
"You've been giving him clothes every Christmas since he was freed," Harry said dryly. "And I watched him being freed myself."
He'd been instrumental in it, a fact that he was particularly proud of.
"You know that, but what about the people he was trying to get jobs from?" Hermione said. "A house elf is a perfect spy. It can bring people right through your wards and if you trust one, you can wake up with your throat cut."
"Dobby is trustworthy," Harry said.
"He works for Hogwarts now," Hermione said. "And there is a good chance that Dumbledore's days as Headmaster are numbered."
Harry stared at her, aghast at the idea. For some reason it didn't seem to bother her at all.
"If the Ministry gets control of Hogwarts, they'll be able to use the House-elves as spies," Hermione said, "No matter what the house-elves think about it."
"Dobby is a free elf," Harry said.
"They'll shove Veritaserum down his throat faster than you can say expelliarmus," Hermione said. "According to the Ministry non-humans don't have any rights."
Harry nodded slowly. Winky didn't work for the school; she worked directly for Steven. As long as she stayed out of sight, staying mostly in the Temple, the Ministry wouldn't be able to get at her.
"The spell on this place will even keep house-elves out," Hermione said. "They can't transport themselves someplace if they don't know where it is, and none of them were ever allowed inside the Temple on Dumbledore's orders."
Dumbledore had foreseen the need for all this even when he'd given Amethyst permission to start creating the temple way back in second year. The man had plans within plans.
"The sooner we get good at this, the sooner we can tell you what's going on Hermione said."
They walked through the darkness for a short period before stepping out into a wider section of the cavern. Harry didn't recognize this part of the cavern either, and he wondered if the gems had been expanding the temple.
Other than as a place to store all Amethyst's junk, why did they need so much space anyway?
Sapphire was waiting for them.
"Watch your step," she said.
Harry was about to ask what she meant when he stumbled over a large, unlit crystal on the ground. He grumbled to himself as he recovered. It might have been nice to have had a little more warning.
She led them through piles of junk and past a fountain that was definitely new. Swords were hovering above the fountain, and he could see Pearl dancing at the top.
It was oddly graceful; she looked like a ballerina.
"You get used to it," Hermione said quietly. "She can do things with her body that no human dancer could even think about doing."
There was a table nearby with several chairs. Sirius was sitting on one chair, staring up at Pearl as she moved gracefully atop the fountain, which Harry realized had to be twenty feet tall at least.
For some reason Steven had been apparated directly to the table; he hadn't had the short walk Harry and Hermione'd had.
"Steven needed to talk to Mr. Black for a moment," Sapphire said.
Harry stared at the gem. He hadn't even had a chance to ask the question when she'd answered it. He wondered for a moment whether she could read his mind.
From what he'd been told, Snape and Dumbledore and Voldemort could all read his mind. The thought that other people might be able to do it was creepy.
Occlumency might be the best thing for them after all.
"I'm your instructor for today," Sirius said. He grinned at Harry and said, "Remus is busy with Order business."
If he and Harry's father's other friends had been able to fool Dumbledore back in their Marauder days, then Harry felt confident that they'd be able to teach him how to block his mind from Voldermort.
"Take a seat," Sirius said.
Harry did so, and Hermione sat down next to Steven.
"The fastest way to teach occlumency is to batter away at your mind while you try to shield yourself," Sirius said. "But there is a risk that it could traumatize you and make it impossible for you to learn it at all. For that reason we're going to be trying something different. We'll be going more slowly and we're going to start learning early."
Harry noticed Hermione and Steven glance at each other. If it could make it possible for them to stop keeping secrets from him, it'd be worth it.
"Let's get started," Sirius said.
Even with Sirius's slower and supposedly kinder methods of teaching, Harry had left the session with a blazing headache. It just didn't feel natural for him to hide his emotions away; he'd always been the kind of person who lived with his heart on his sleeve.
Living with the Dursleys should have taught him to hide how he felt; instead he'd just learned to protest and fight back.
It was even worse for Steven, whose emotions were always at the surface.
Hermione, of course, was the star pupil. She'd managed to make her mind blank and empty faster than either Steven or Harry, although she'd had trouble keeping it that way. Apparently her mind was always active, and she was always thinking.
Steven had never managed to make his mind empty, although he'd managed something almost as good. He'd created a beach scene in his mind and he'd focused on the waves to the exclusion of everything else.
Harry had tried to follow, but he'd struggled. The quietest place he could think of was his cupboard in the dark, but he didn't want to use that image in front of Sirius. It would tell him too much about the past that Harry had only shared in bits and pieces with his friends.
He certainly didn't want Voldemort seeing his cupboard.
His assignment for future lessons was to find a safe place he could use in his mind for times he couldn't make it empty.
As Harry took a bit of his breakfast bacon, he wondered if he'd ever get it. Snape would have undoubtedly told him his mind was already empty.
He grabbed the copy of the Daily Prophet Hermione had left on the table and turned it face up.
He felt himself flushing as he stared at the headline. The Ministry was seeking educational reform? If by education they meant teaching nothing, they were reforming it.
Worse, Umbridge had been appointed High Inquisitor, whatever that was. Even Harry could see that was just the beginning of a Ministry takeover.
How had Hermione known?