Umbridge's trial happened with amazing swiftness. Over the course of the next week, classmates vanished from class, only to return with stories of giving testimony before the court,
With Fudge dead, Umbridge had become the symbol for his administration, with the newspapers crying out for the maximum punishment to be administered. Pictures in the paper showed her looking haggard; prison didn't seem to agree with her, and for once Harry couldn't find any sympathy for her.
Lucius Malfoy gave speeches about how the trial was an example of how his administration was re-establishing the justice that Umbridge and Fudge's administration had denied everyone.
It made him look magnanimous, and at least in the halls of Hogwarts he was increasingly popular. Classmates who weren't even Slytherin were hoping that this administration was better than the last one.
Harry knew better, but he also knew better than to openly decry Malfoy as a Death Eater. Martial law was still in effect, and slandering the Minister of Magic was still a punishable offense.
Malfoy's changes in Ministry policy over the next few days were the only thing the papers could talk about outside of Umbridge's trial. Although he didn't end martial law, Lucius Malfoy stopped imprisoning people without trials. He stopped random searches by Aurors of ordinary citizens.
Raids on the homes of ordinary wizards were reduced; Malfoy pledged no more would happen without creditable evidence of wrongdoing.
If Harry hadn't known better, he'd have agreed with his classmates. He'd have thought Malfoy was a massive improvement over the previous administration. Death Eater attacks dropped to almost nothing, and Malfoy attributed this to good work by the Aurors.
The truth was that Voldemort didn't need to attack much; just often enough to keep the Wizarding population afraid of him. They'd flock like sheep to anyone they thought would bring them safety, unless they thought that person was even worse.
By making his administration look good in comparison to the preceding one, Malfoy tightened his control over the populace much more than Fudge ever had. If people began to question any of his policies, Harry had no doubt that another attack by Voldemort would be forthcoming.
In the meantime Voldemort had time to consolidate his forces. Harry had no doubt that those in the Ministry were being threatened, bribed and coerced by magic into changing sides even as the populace sat by unaware.
They wouldn't show their true selves until everyone was suborned and there was nothing the populace could do about it. The average wizard never kept up with combat magic, and they were no match for a trained Auror or a Death Eater.
Harry redoubled his work with Dumbledore's army; it was harder now that they didn't have sapphire to tell them when teachers would be coming, but the Marauder's map sufficed well enough. Harry suspected that Snape knew what was going on, but he acted as though he didn't know any better.
If anything, Snape seemed distracted in his new role as Headmaster. The Weasley twins had become more of a nuisance than usual, and Snape wasn't as well liked as Dumbledore, so there were small signs of rebellion everywhere.
If Harry hadn't known Snape was on their side, he'd have been one of the people tormenting him. However, his time with Steven had softened his view on Snape slightly, and he did his best to remain neutral. Neither he nor Snape really liked each other, but at least they were on the same side.
Instead of joining the rest of the student body in finding ways to snub Snape, Harry spent most of his time in defense association meetings and the rest of his time consoling Hermione, who was out of her mind worrying.
She worried that Steven had been captured by Voldemort's forces and that he was being tortured, or worse that he was already dead.
Harry had a feeling that that wasn't the case at all, although he couldn't put his finger on why he thought that way. Maybe it was just that they hadn't heard anything from the gems; if Voldemort had Steven the gems would be attacking Death Eaters all out in an effort to find him.
The kinds of attacks they used would be obvious, possibly even in the Muggle world. They'd probably be covered up by the Ministry as gas explosions, or possibly even attacks by Irish terrorists.
He'd heard nothing like that, not even from those few Muggleborn who were in close contact with their families.
Hermione agreed with his logic to a point, but she couldn't help but worry. Her nature was to worry and control that worry by planning. With schoolwork that meant she was always a step ahead, but in a situation like this there was no way she could possibly plan anything. The only thing that was left was for her to fret.
In the end, all he could do was to convince her to feverishly research new and better combat spells. They practiced them over and over in the room of requirement, and Harry didn't present a new spell to the class until he was sure that he had the spell mastered.
He was surprised to discover that two weeks after Umbridge's arrest, they had a new Defense teacher. He was more surprised when he realized who it was; Frank Longbottom.
"We don't have much class time before the end of the year," Frank Longbottom said. "And it's not likely that I can teach you a year's worth in two weeks."
Frank Longbottom looked like a man weighed down by grief. Although Steven had been able to free him from the Malady that had kept him from recognizing anyone for more than fifteen years, the assassins had simply killed his wife and hidden her away.
To him, the intervening time simply hadn't passed. It was like waking up in an older body and finding out that your wife and many of your friends were dead.
The only time the grief in the man's eyes lightened was when he looked at Neville. Then his shoulder's relaxed, and hints of a smile appeared on his lips.
"Do we even need a teacher?" Ron asked. "We've been doing all right for the past two weeks."
"Self study is a wonderful thing," Professor Longbottom said. "But magic isn't something to play with recklessly.
He glanced at Harry with a strange look in his eye.
He'd been a member of the original order of the Phoenix. While it was possible that he'd come simply to keep an eye on his son, it was also possible that he was still working for them. If that was true, he might be Harry's one link to Dumbledore, Steven and the others.
After all, Snape wouldn't tell him anything, out of spite if nothing else. More importantly, if Harry's occlumency failed, Snape couldn't afford for Voldemort to see him helping Harry in any way that mattered.
Harry wasn't even sure how Snape had excused hiring Professor Longbottom. Maybe he'd excused it as proving to everyone that Voldemort's people weren't running the show. At least some people had to be questioning Malfoy on the grounds that he was a former death eater leading the Ministry against his old comrades.
Malfoy would probably spin it as revenge against the people who had controlled him, since he'd claimed to be impiriused during the last war anyway.
Maybe he'd be able to find out what had happened when Dumbledore and Steven disappeared. Harry couldn't help but feel that he was being excluded from something that was vitally important in his life.
"We haven't had much choice but teach ourselves," Harry said. "Umbridge didn't teach us anything."
"Let's see what you've managed to teach yourselves then," Professor Longbottom said. "Everyone pick a partner."
Harry perked up. Maybe defense class wouldn't be a joke.
He'd have to find a time after class to approach the professor. He wasn't sure whether he needed to include Hermione or not. She was too anxious about what was happening to be objective.
On the other hand, Harry didn't want to treat Hermione like Dumbledore was treating him; it infuriated him that he was being kept in the dark for his own good.
"Aurors make the best defense teachers," Ron said. He was covered with sweat but had a self satisfied look. He'd actually done well in his duel with Dean Thomas; all the extra practice he was getting with Harry and Hermione outside of Defense meetings was paying off.
Given the time that he'd volunteered to be a test subject for whatever new spell Harry was learning, Ron had gotten very good at dodging and very quick at lashing back with a counterattack.
Harry glanced over at Ron. "Well, Moody was really good, but I think Lupin was better, and he wasn't an auror."
"He was practically one," Ron said. He looked around. "Considering who he worked for."
Professor Lupin had been a member of the Order of the Phoenix, just like Moody and Longbottom. They'd all fought in the last war, and they had first hand experiences with curses and the dark arts.
Harry gave Ron a warning glance. There weren't many places in Hogwarts where it was really safe to speak freely. There were magical paintings everywhere that would be all too happy to tell the Headmaster anything juicy.
Harry wondered suddenly if this was how Dumbledore always seemed to know what was happening to Hogwarts, even before Sapphire had come into the picture. He had the perfect spy network in the form of the paintings, and most students didn't think anything of talking around them.
From what he'd heard, the paintings had refused to cooperate with Umbridge; she hadn't even been able to get into the Headmaster's office. That had been a large part of what had made Dumbledore's army possible.
Of course, most student infractions were probably too minor for the Headmaster to bother with. Harry reminded himself that he needed to ask the twins how they had managed to keep their pranks a secret.
Behind them they heard the sound of rapid footsteps. Given his worries about assassins, Harry had practiced paying attention to that kind of thing, He carefully turned, his hand on his wand.
It was Colin Creevy, and he had a newspaper in his hand. His face was flushed. He'd obviously been running at least for a while.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"There's a special evening edition of the Daily Prophet," Colin said. He paused to catch his breath. "I was going to show it to Hermione, but I found you guys first."
Dramatically, he held the paper out in front of him.
"ROBBERY AT GRINGOTTS!" The headline screamed in bold letters.
This was the second time in five years, Harry thought. It wasn't until he glanced down and saw the picture below that he froze.
Steven Universe glanced over at the cameraman and gave a small wave to the camera. In his other hand he was carrying a small golden cup with engraved badgers on the sides.
"Is that Helga Hufflepuff's cup?" Ron asked, looking over his shoulder.
Harry stared at Ron. "How would you know that?"
"It's on her painting;" Ron said. "And it's not like I haven't had to clean it often enough when I've got detention with Filch."
Ron had spent a lot of his time cleaning during his time at Hogwarts.
What Harry didn't understand was why Steven had stolen it and how he'd gotten caught. It might have been simply a less likely future that Sapphire hadn't shown them.
Harry glanced down at the paper again. Steven didn't look shocked to see the camera. He actually smiled a little as he waved.
They were baiting Lord Voldemort, Harry realized. They wouldn't be doing this unless they'd found the last of the Horcrux and were hoping to draw him out before he was ready.
Harry grimaced. Given Voldemort's nature, it wouldn't be long before he realized what had happened. He was likely to lash out because of this, and Harry doubted that it would take long.
Someone like Voldemort couldn't tolerate challenges to his power. Not only was he arrogant, but his entire network depended on people being terrified of him and believing he was the strongest.
Before Harry could react further, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You need to come with me," Frank Longbottom said. Before Harry could respond, Longbottom said, "A gem of a lady told me to tell you that they're coming, and it won't be long."