Chapter Six: Time For Plan B

When his wife brought him an unopened letter from his son, Lucius Malfoy didn't quite know what to expect. He usually didn't write back this quickly, preferring to wait until at least a week had passed so he could make updates regarding developments inside Slytherin. However, some of that was to be expected: how someone was supposed to react to a letter depended on the contents of said letter. Perhaps a horrific fate had befallen Harry Potter early, or maybe Slytherin had been dissolved due to supposed "blood prejudice" nonsense.

The letter contained neither of those things. Despite that, Lucius still didn't quite know how to react.

While he no longer sat on the Hogwarts school board, during his tenure there he could count the number of transfer students Hogwarts had enrolled on his fingers, and all but two of them came alone. A group of four new students from some undefined location that claimed to pose a threat to Voldemort? He couldn't say anything prepared him for that.

His expression must have given Narcissa a tell, because she asked the obvious question the instant he'd finished reading. "So? What does Draco have to say?"

"Strange happenings are occurring at Hogwarts," Lucius said. "According to Draco, a group of mysterious new transfer students just arrived, claiming to have taken down a 'demon king' in their homeland. While they're likely just making things up to sound more impressive, considering nobody else seems to know who they are or where they came from, Draco wrote to me seeking advice."

Narcissa went even paler than usual. "That does sound ridiculous, but stranger things have happened. What do you think?"

"In all likelihood, it's just brain damage or something similar," Lucius said. "It wouldn't be the first time a Hogwarts student has spun a tall tale like this."

That didn't seem to convince her. "Are you sure we shouldn't get some backup, just in case these students aren't as delusional as everyone seems to think them?"

"I think I can handle this one," Lucius said. "I thank you for the offer, though."

"Very well," Narcissa said, departing the room.

If Draco had broken tradition to write him this early, nothing stopped him from doing the same and help him through the process to come. All that remained was to gather the materials; normally, he'd call for his house elf here, but it only took a bit of walking to reach everything in question, and he couldn't let himself get soft. Without any further delay, he'd gotten himself set up with an inkpot, a quill, and enough parchment paper to write all the essays Hogwarts had ever assigned him.

A few minutes of quiet contemplation later, inspiration struck, and he began penning his response to his son's questions.

Dearest Draco,

I thank you for providing me with advanced notice of this situation. My advice is simple: befriend them if you can, for we could use more powerful allies. If befriending them proves impossible, however, do not attract their attention further: I remain confident in being able to pull some strings and take care of them.

If all else fails, it appears the time to set everything in motion has arrived far sooner than we predicted. If anything changes in the near future, I may write again explaining the new situation. Otherwise, assume everything is in the same state as when you left.

Good luck with your studies. Show the world what the Malfoys are capable of.

—Lucius

There. Short, sweet, and to the point, just how he liked most things. Unfortunately, even after he sent the family owl off to Hogwarts, his work was far from done.

Moving to the drawing room, he quietly took out a roll of parchment paper and a fresh pot of ink. If these new… problem children were being an issue and promised to be a threat to both his son and his plans, he had at least a few other letters to write. Furthermore, all of them would both alert his allies about these new children and stress the point that maybe they needed to speed things up.

Tuesday's breakfast at the Great Hall was just as splendid as always. As expected, Harry sat with Ron and Hermione as the three of them ate, preparing themselves for the Charms and Transfiguration lessons that loomed in front of them. Meanwhile, discussions about anything and everything buzzed around them, although for some reason Harry kept hearing Umbridge's name even though he didn't see her in the room.

Fortunately, while Hermione may have been the smartest of the trio, none of them were dim bulbs, leading Harry to bring up the issue as soon as there was a lull in their conversation.

"Something clearly happened with Umbridge yesterday that we missed," Harry said. "Do either of you know about it?"

"Don't worry, I know," Ron said as he devoured an apple. "Ginny told me everything. Her whole class got into a row with Professor Umbridge over the curriculum. She lost her temper in front of them and I'm pretty sure she threatened to jinx some of them if they didn't shut up."

Hermione seemed quite disturbed. "Didn't the fake Moody do that last year? Maybe we should check and make sure she isn't some impostor."

"No, that sounds like her," Harry replied. He didn't have much to work with for determining her personality, but that still sounded like an expected reaction given what he knew.

Then again, maybe she'd get a little more bearable as she got used to her job. When the three of them had her at the end of the day Monday, either she'd been burned out from her first day of teaching or had made a stronger effort to rein herself in, because she barely spoke a single word the entire time and hadn't even bothered them when it became obvious no one except Hermione was going to undertake reading Defensive Magical Theory. The lack of any form of practical instruction still felt ridiculous with O.W.L.s approaching, but maybe she'd come to her senses and back down on that point if they just gave her some time. They only had Defense Against the Dark Arts once a week, which seemed like more than enough.

Harry downed his goblet of pumpkin juice in a single swig before changing the subject. "I'm nervous about Care of Magical Creatures today. It's not going to be the same without Hagrid."

"Definitely," Ron said. "It'll be nice learning about something that might not want to bite my face off."

Harry and Hermione both went bright red, the former suppressing a chuckle and the latter looking quite incensed. A neutral observer might say many negative things about Hagrid's lessons, but boring and by the numbers never described them, at the very least.

"We'll find out this afternoon," Harry said. "Do you want to meet in the common room afterward?"

"I was thinking I could get started on all our homework this afternoon," Hermione said. "There's going to be a lot more of it today, and I don't want to be behind all year."

Ron sighed. "That's fair. Things are only going to get worse from here."

Harry could only hope that statement wouldn't be taken literally, or else it was going to be a very long year.

Kazuma's second day of classes passed with the same speed as the first. He had his first Potions class, which more or less amounted to magical chemistry and focused quite heavily on the practical applications of potion-making, with a professor that was sullen and surly but not particularly offensive. Then came Divination with a professor just south of insane that made Kazuma uncomfortable for a variety of reasons, followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts with a professor who made Kazuma uncomfortable for a variety of different reasons. Topping that all off came a rather interesting Charms lesson that ironically went into the very same charm that Kazuma had been trying to learn the other day: practice with an instructor improved his luck but only by a little.

He still had his Astronomy lab that night, so the day was far from over, but for now, he had something resembling a break. While doing that wouldn't put a dent in the homework load that already threatened to reach cataclysmic levels, if he really needed to, he could speed through it later. None of it seemed that difficult. Yet.

On his way back to the common room, he spotted Aqua walking alone, her destination unknown; the common room perhaps. Once he drew closer so he could get her attention, though, he saw just how much this new lifestyle was affecting her.

Aqua had a look in her eyes like she hadn't slept in the past year, and every movement she made screamed exhaustion. Kazuma had soldiered on just fine for a while, but maybe Aqua wasn't used to exerting herself mentally very often, since back home many of even of her basic spells proved overwhelmingly powerful and/or useful. Megumin drained all her energy getting a basic spell to go off and Darkness had a surprisingly good work ethic, so Aqua stood out all the more as a result.

She came to a stop in front of him unprompted, allowing Kazuma to strike up a conversation. "I didn't realize sitting in class was so tiring."

Aqua's exhaustion showed even more clearly with her response; she didn't even have the energy for a caustic comment. "I just had History of Magic. I actually want to learn more about this place, but half the class was passed out by the end of the lecture! How am I supposed to get anything useful out of that?"

Fortunately, Kazuma didn't have to worry much about that, because Ravenclaw already had the answer for that. In Ravenclaw, only one person ever took notes per History of Magic class. Which one did so was determined by drawing straws at the beginning of the day. From there, whatever notes were taken got disseminated through the rest of that person's classmates. This didn't work for homework, but it gave most Ravenclaws an extra period they could largely put to use however they pleased. (Fortunately, as Kazuma was new, he'd been exempt from being drawn for the first lesson.)

Following that revelation, the two of them took a short walk so Aqua would have somewhere to sit. The closest spot they found was smack in the middle of everything, so anyone who passed them would probably overhear whatever they had to say, but that didn't matter much to Kazuma. Unless Aqua started making insinuations about him and Luna's closeness, at least; he was already taken, thank you very much.

They talked about themselves for a few minutes, comparing the impressions they had of the various professors whose classes they shared, as well as the difficulty level: for Kazuma, anything theoretical was sticking the first time around while practical magic wasn't going nearly so well, whereas Aqua was a natural at Herbology (which didn't surprise Kazuma one bit) and Potions (which surprised Kazuma quite a few bits), but could already tell all of her other classes would range from difficult to just this side of impossible.

Then the conversation changed directions. "Have you talked with Megumin or Darkness? Because outside of what Megumin tells me during breakfast I don't know much about how either of them is doing."

"I've seen them once or twice. We talked a little."

Kazuma kept pressing. "You have any status updates from them?"

"Megumin's doing fine, apparently she's getting along really well with the rest of her House. Darkness has detention all this week, though. Apparently she pissed off Professor Umbridge."

That didn't surprise Kazuma: Umbridge seemed like a real loose cannon. Considering the number of times it looked like she'd bitten her tongue to prevent herself from snapping during his class with her (which was more times than he could count easily), her temper made Aqua look composed. Then again, Darkness probably went out of her way to tick off authority figures to get punished if she could, so maybe she'd done something above and beyond.

"Between you and me, I think everyone and everything pisses off Professor Umbridge," Kazuma said. "Those two are a match made in hell."

Aqua shuddered. "Please don't make me think about them being in a relationship."

Kazuma hadn't been thinking about that at all. Unfortunately, now that image was lodged in his head rent-free. The sad thing was, if Darkness was into women (and she very well might be, he hadn't asked) Kazuma could see her trying it just because of how taboo the whole thing was. That definitely seemed like something that would get her turned on.

"I'll go before things get any grosser," Aqua said. "I… I have stuff I need to do anyway. Important stuff. Later!"

Aqua hurried down the hall, whipping around the corner at a speed that would knock someone flat on their back if she ran into them. Oh well. Not his problem.

He'd have to watch for any future developments on the Umbridge front, though. Chances were he'd run afoul of her sooner rather than later, so the best thing he could do was to find out the potential backlash before that time bomb went off.

Dolores Umbridge eagerly awaited the student she'd given her very first detention to. It'd been hard holding back her venom against everyone else (for the more students present for this first one, the more likely they'd squeal to someone who wouldn't take kindly to it) but it'd all be worth it. She'd get to vent, and she'd show a brat their place, both things she enjoyed no matter the circumstances.

If nothing else, this Darkness girl proved herself quite punctual: at five o'clock on the dot, Umbridge heard three sharp knocks against her classroom door. Trying to hide her delight, she strode over to the door and flung it open, revealing Darkness standing ramrod-straight, eyes laser-focused on her.

"Come in," Umbridge said, her voice reduced to a squeak. Darkness entered the room and sat near the front of the room on her own as Umbridge closed the door behind her, striding over to her desk to fish out the special quill she brought here just for these occasions. She didn't (and couldn't) use it often, but whenever she did, few things were sweeter than the payoff it provided.

Unfortunately, Darkness remained almost as irritating as she'd been during yesterday's class. "What am I to do for my detention?"

"You will write the words, 'I will not question Professor Umbridge's authority,' until I tell you to stop," Umbridge said. "When I feel the message has sunk in, I'll let you leave."

She placed a sheet of parchment paper in front of Darkness alongside a quill, but of course, no ink. Of course, that meant Darkness raised her hand the instant she began moving away to watch the fireworks. "Is the goal to etch the words into the paper?"

That sounded great. "Go right ahead and try. I'm sure it'll work eventually."

After a long, tantalizing pause, Darkness gripped the quill as best she could and wrote the sentence without question; I will not question Professor Umbridge's authority.

The events that followed brought a smile to Umbridge's face, as they usually did. Darkness grit her teeth as the words carved themselves into her arm, Then the cuts disappeared just as fast, leaving her in the same state as before. No cuts, no evidence, no nothing.

"This quill is quite… interesting," Darkness said.

"Of course. It's all you need to get a message to stick with you," Umbridge said, the last three words accompanied by a cruel chuckle.

Darkness wrote the same sentence again, more slowly this time as if testing it. Sure enough, the same words etched themselves into her arm, bringing the apparent pain of a white-hot knife for several seconds before the wounds healed themselves over.

Darkness paused again, not setting the quill down but refraining from writing the sentence again for now. "Might I trouble you with a question, Professor Umbridge?"

Oh, dear. That didn't bode well. Maybe she shouldn't have come on this strong this early; she'd probably have to use whatever coercive methods she had to keep this under wraps. "You may."

"Where did you get such a quill?"

Time to dodge the question. "Why does that concern you?"

One sentence later, Darkness had her answer. "Because I want one."

Hard stop. She couldn't be hearing that right. "Come again?"

"I want one, Professor Umbridge."

The smile dropped off Umbridge's face, landed on the floor, and died screaming. If she hadn't been worried about being overheard, she'd be screaming too.

What in Merlin's name did that girl mean?

Fortunately (or not), Umbridge had the chance to hear it from Darkness herself. "Something that causes as much pain as someone could want, all while leaving no visible marks? What a magnificent object! You can do so many amazing things with this!"

As Umbridge gaped, Darkness wrote a third sentence, followed by a fourth, her grin growing wider every time the words displayed on her skin. Something icy sloshed in Umbridge's gut, fear replacing her uncertainty as she realized something fundamentally wrong with this brat. She knew of the existence of so-called "detention fantasies," but what in the actual fuck justified anything like this? How was that even possible?

In the meantime, Darkness scribbled on the paper faster and faster, not even trying to write words anymore, laughing as her hands ripped themselves open before the wounds healed just as quickly. "This is amazing! Where did you find such an artifact? I must know, Professor Umbridge! I must know!"

Umbridge looked at the clock, her stomach sinking when she realized it had only been three minutes. Her first class had held together longer than this, for crying out loud.

If that wasn't going to work, that left the other option. Hurrying over to her desk, she fetched a regular quill from its interior and practically snatched the Blood Quill out of Darkness' hands. "Now you're going to do the same thing with this quill instead."

Darkness' mouth dropped into a frown. "Does this one leave scars as well?"

"Silence. You will do this in silence, and you're not leaving until I'm done with you. If I hear one more word out of your mouth, I'll… I'll…" Umbridge stopped there. How could you possibly punish someone like Darkness and not have them enjoy it?

Much to her surprise, Darkness complied with Umbridge's demands, albeit releasing a tiny groan of disappointment upon realizing that no, she wasn't carving the words into her skin anymore. Umbridge watched her every move for almost an hour to make sure Darkness wasn't pulling off some foul scheme behind her back, but upon realizing her morale and attitude hadn't been sapped in the slightest, she decided to end things prematurely, hoping the extra time at the end of the day would allow her to figure out what the hell her new plan was.

"Your detention for today is over," Umbridge said, thinly-veiled rage oozing from every word. "You may leave for tonight. I expect to see you here tomorrow."

"Aww, I was hoping to really carve something in today," Darkness said. "Oh well. There's still the rest of this week to try!"

On that mildly terrifying note, Darkness stood up and left the room, beaming from ear to ear. After that, it took Umbridge all the reserve she had to keep from screaming. Again. It'd been less than a week since she'd taken her job and not a single thing had gone her way since she'd gotten here.

Once Umbridge swept the hall to ensure no one could see or hear what was to follow, she immediately went for the flowerpot full of Floo powder she kept hidden in the back of one of her desk drawers. She needed to talk with the Minister before things got any more out of hand.

Cornelius Fudge had been going through some boring paperwork when Umbridge's face appeared in his fireplace. The scene petrified him, although not for the reason he expected: if she was reporting back to him this early something had to be going really wrong, especially at this time of night. Like most people, he hated when things went sideways that were out of his control, and he especially hated when his carefully-crafted plans crumbled to dust at a moment's notice.

He tried to keep his expression passive. "What's the news, Dolores?"

Umbridge looked uncharacteristically panicky, her face adorned with an expression that went against the grandmotherly image she tried to convey. "I'm not sure what you're planning to do with me at Hogwarts, but don't do it. Not yet."

If there was a worse thing she could have said, Fudge didn't know of it at the moment. "What? Why?"

"Look," Umbridge said. "A good chunk of the students, and I'm pretty sure some of the staff, hate me already, most likely for what I represent. They barely seem to tolerate me as a teacher. If I become anything more, we might just have a full-blown riot on our hands, and that'll be a disaster for the Ministry's public image."

Fudge's stomach started turning over. This had been something even he'd been able to see coming: Dolores Umbridge was one of the worst possible people he could have given the open teaching position. However, there hadn't been much choice in the matter. For his initial plan to work, he needed someone who both had a respectable position in the Ministry and was willing to take the open position in the first place. She'd been the only one who fit both criteria: the former guideline ruled out a solid eighty-five percent of the Ministry of Magic's employees, and no one else from the remaining pool had been willing to give up the jobs they currently held. And trust him, he tried.

"Don't worry about it yet," Fudge said, trying to keep himself presentable as he did. "Carry on. Hopefully, you can get them back on your side soon enough."

"My status as a Ministry employee isn't going to change unless you fire me," Umbridge said. "That's not something I can fix."

"Not unless I fire her," Fudge thought sadly. And that couldn't be done; while Umbridge may have had few scruples, when she put her mind to something, she went about her work with an enthusiasm (albeit a twisted one) rivaled by few. Firing her without warning could lead to a massive upheaval in the Ministry, and that was the last thing he needed at the moment; the Ministry needed to be seen as a respectful organization, dammit!

"I'll look and see if there's anything that can be done about this," Fudge said, this time with a slight stammer. "There has to be a way to mend your relationship with the student body. I'm sure of it."

"There better be," Umbridge said, breaking the connection before Fudge had a chance to reply.

Well, just about everything he'd set up had been broken down within days. Maybe he'd conduct a second sweep of the Ministry for potential workers with a wider net. There had to be someone more suited for the job available somewhere. He just needed to find them.

Should I try and pretend like this chapter didn't take two and a half months? No? Okay then.

I apologize for the delay. I wound up chasing a few plot bunnies for a while, then the last few weeks of college happened (but they're over now, thankfully, so I have a few weeks to decompress), then I picked up Yugioh (no, really) which is a major time-sink if you're someone like me. This chapter was sitting half-finished for a while, but inspiration finally struck again these last few days and I was able to polish this off.

In more plot-related notes, the detention scene was the reason I began writing this story, believe it or not. I originally just wanted to post that with minimal context, but then it ballooned quite quickly (as a lot of things tend to do) and here we are.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, and even read this story in the meantime. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and happy holidays to those that do not. I hope to see you all next chapter!