3rd March

I've spent some time apart from Fred and George over the last couple of days. I was grateful for the mountain of homework to distract myself with. I think I knew, deep down, that Fred and George were going to leave Hogwarts early. They would already be gone if it wasn't for wanting to preserve Molly and me.

In potions this morning, Draco had me trapped as we brewed a potion together. He was asking if there was anything he could do. I could tell he was secretly happy about my situation, saying that if I ever needed space from Gryffindor, that I could come work with him in the library. I told him very nicely that I would consider him if he stopped asking me questions I didn't want to answer. He then changed the topic of conversation to something he read about in the Daily Prophet and I felt a little lighter by the end of the lesson. Harry, Ron and Hermione, as ever, were annoyed at me for talking to Draco, taking every opportunity to remind me who he is and the connections he has as we walked to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Detention, Miss Pink," McGonagall handed me a letter as I sat down.

My chin dropped, "You've got to be kidding me, Professor!"

"Perhaps you might pay more attention in class and you will not find yourself in this situation," McGonagall stared at me, "My office 6pm, do not be late."

I banged my head with our DADA textbook, we had a test today on the crap we copy out word for word, "Wonderful. Just bloody wonderful."

"Look, Kathryn, I know you said yesterday that you would take the DA meeting this evening when Snape said that we had a lesson tonight, but I can easily change the coin and cancel the meeting…" Harry said, "You seem to be having a tough time…"

"I'll be there, Harry." I said, "I really need to let off some steam! Blow shit up, you know…" I smirked, and Harry nodded appreciatively, "McGonagall's for 6, meeting's at 8, if not, Hermione can entertain everyone until I get there."

Hermione nodded, "What are you planning for tonight, then?"

A wide smile appeared on my face without permission to be there, "Duelling."

It was then that Harry decided to tell Hermione and me about his dream last night. He was Voldemort, he was very angry at Avery and grateful for Rookwood's solution. And, of course, Harry had to mention the Department of Mysteries again.

After one of the most horrifying tests, followed by Hermione and me crying in the bathrooms which led to me eating a rushed dinner saw me at McGonagall's office for 6pm.

"Take a seat, Miss Pink," McGonagall said sternly, taking a look into the corridor before closing the door tight and performing a muffliato spell, "have a biscuit." She said, pouring me out a cup of tea, "You are not in trouble, Kathryn, but you understand the predicament I am in."

I nodded, "Umbridge is all over Harry and me like a pig in shit. I understand completely."

McGonagall tried to hide a smile, "What's going on with you and Mr Weasley?"

"I wish I could tell you…" I sighed.

"I searched for you on Saturday afternoon," she said, "but you were nowhere to be found."

I raised an eyebrow, "If a person like me doesn't want to be found, no one has a chance Professor, I hope you understand that."

She nodded, "He looks at you as though you are wounded. And I know you aren't talking to anyone about it."

"I'm used to working things out for myself," I said honestly, "I really don't have a good reason to be annoyed at him, I should have known, it's just that men tend to be a bit tactless around here. But Fred's right, I understand."

"I wish I understood what you meant." McGonagall leaned forwards, "Has George broken up with you?"

"Goodness no!" I exclaimed, "we just had a fight! He knows I have every right to be annoyed so that's why I asked for space, I'm cooling off."

"Right…" McGonagall took a gulp of tea, "You young people are just so complicated. Is there anything else on your mind?"

"I guess I'm just scared," I told her, taking a sip of my tea, "Professor, I'm not stupid, I know that there is a lot worse to come in this world than Dolores Umbridge. But I don't think Fred and George realise that… they'll probably end up upsetting the wrong person, look where I got by getting under Fudge's skin!"

McGonagall sighed, "You are wise beyond your years, Kathryn… You are quickly learning that the world we live in isn't fair."

"I think I learnt that one as a kid."

I ate the ginger newt as McGonagall replied, "Which is why you have matured prematurely, which makes you look at the world through a different view than your peers, which is why Professor Dumbledore trusts you so. You are able to deduce information with ease, looking beyond what is in the immediate."

"Yeah, and based on Harry's vision last night, Voldemort is looking for other ways to get a hold of this prophesy…"

McGonagall interrupted, "Have you informed Professor Dumbledore of this?"

I shook my head, "I was hoping you would? I know that he knows more than he is telling everyone and I find it irritating that he keeps us all in the dark. Harry doesn't deserve any of this. I have been to see Dumbledore before but all he could say was thank you. I don't need protected any more, no one protected me before, so why start now? As for Harry, don't you think he's been kept in the dark enough?"

"I'll pass everything on…"

I smiled and began, "Harry was dreaming though the eyes of Voldemort, who was talking to Rookwood, he used to work in the Department of Mysteries and is passing on secrets to Voldemort about getting his hands on the prophecy. Apparently Avery told Voldemort that Bode would be able to remove the prophesy, but Rookwood said that he couldn't have. So Bode fought against the Imperius Curse that was undoubtedly put on him by Lucius Malfoy, which is why Bode ended up in hospital, unable to speak. We saw Bode in the long-term ward at Christmas when we were in visiting Arthur, we saw the Healer give Bode the plant. He was regaining speech; he was undoubtedly going to tell someone that he had been under the Imperius curse and why. Anyway, Rookwood is now going to tell Voldemort how exactly to collect the prophesy. But Rookwood sent Avery to Voldemort to be tortured, Harry woke up before he found out anything more."

McGonagall nodded, "Thank you for telling me."

"Professor?" I asked, "How does someone collect a prophesy?"

McGonagall shook her head.

"Oh, and Hermione has put the pieces together about Sturgis." I mentioned, "But not that Dumbledore let him be sacrificed or anything." I rolled my eyes in disgust, setting down my empty teacup.

McGonagall stood abruptly and opened her office door where we heard someone screaming. Without a word, the two of us went to investigate.

It was in the Entrance Hall that we realised that the screams were coming from Professor Trelawney. McGonagall looked as though the sights ahead were making her faintly sick, then I realised why. Trelawney stood in the middle of the Entrance Hall with her wand in one hand and an empty sherry bottle in the other, looking utterly mad. Her hair was sticking up on end, her glasses were lopsided and her shawls were trailing from her shoulders, making her look as though she was falling apart at the seams. I got the impression that Umbridge had thrown Trelawney's two large trunks down the marble staircase behind her.

Umbridge was sacking Trelawney.

"No!" she shrieked, "NO! This cannot be happening… it cannot… I refuse to accept it!"

"You didn't realise this was coming?" Umbridge said in her stupid girly voice, "incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realised that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable that you would be sacked?"

"You c-can't" howled Trelawney, tears streaming down her face from behind her enormous lenses, "you c-can't sack me! I've b-been here sixteen years! H – Hogwarts is m – my h – home!"

"It was your home," said Umbridge who was enjoying every moment of this terror she was raining down on Trelawney. I had overheard Lavender and Parvati talking about her, they were worried, I could see them crying not so far away from where I was standing, "until an hour ago, when the Minister for Magic countersigned your Order of Dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this Hall. You are embarrassing us."

McGonagall broke away from the mass of spectators and hurried towards Trelawney as she grieved. She withdrew a hankie from her robes, "There, there, Sybill… calm down… blow your nose on this… it's not as bad as you think, now… you are not going to have to leave Hogwarts…"

"Oh really, Professor McGonagall? And your authority for that statement is…?" Umbridge spoke in a deadly voice.

"That would be mine." Dumbledore walked through the oaken front doors and strode towards Trelawney, who was tearstained and trembling, sitting on her trunk, being comforted by McGonagall.

"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" she let out one unpleasant little laugh, "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here an Order of Dismissal signed my myself and the Minister for Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation and sack any teacher she – that is to say, I – feel is not performing to the standards required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her."

I couldn't quite believe my eyes as I saw Dumbledore smile.

"You are quite right, of course," Dumbledore said, "As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid, that the power to do that still resides with the Headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continues to live at Hogwarts."

Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccough was barely hidden. She babbled, saying that she would go, but Dumbledore asked her to stay and for McGonagall to escort her back upstairs. Professor Sprout took Trelawney's other arm and Flitwick charmed the trunks and followed.

"And what," Umbridge spoke in a deadly whisper, "are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," Dumbledore said pleasantly, "You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor."

"You've found?" Umbridge could hardly believe her ears, "Might I remind you, that under Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two-"

"The Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if – and only if – the headmaster is unable to find one. I am happy to say that on this occasion, I have succeeded. May I introduce you?"

Dumbledore turned to the open front doors, and I heard hooves, there was a murmur in the Entrance Hall. I recognised him at once. With white-blonde hair and astonishingly blue yes, the head and torso of a man joined to the palomino body of a horse. It was Firenze, the Centaur that saved Harry's life. Umbridge looked fit to burst.

We spent the first ten minutes of our DA meeting talking about what had just happened downstairs. Lavender and Parvati were devastated, Ron was annoyed at Hermione for making him go to the library and the twins were gutted to have missed the action.

But the question on the tips of many individuals' tongues was what I had done to the DA room. I had skipped up the stairs at the end of the commotion and walked past the stone wall three times, asking to walk into a maze, places for people to hide, to get caught, to teach the group how to fight when they cannot see their opponent.

Harry stood aside, "This lesson was Kathryn's idea, I'm not supposed to be here."

"So, the aim of this session is to be the last man standing. This room is a maze of sorts, at every twist and turn you have to use your senses to survive. Use your newly found and improved skills to defeat your opponents – each other – and there may also be a few other things in there with you, too. Please do not kill each other, please do not blow each other up, but by all means win. Once you have been defeated, send up red sparks with your wand and exit the maze. Otherwise, I will rescue you. Hit me and you're out. Don't dare cheat, or I will humiliate you. It's big enough for everyone. I will blow my whistle to signal when you start. Off you go."

There was an air of nervous excitement. Some clapped their hands together, ready for the challenge. Neville and Ron both looked at me with pleading eyes. I lifted out the map the Room of Requirement provided me with so I could see little name tags moving about the maze. When I could see that everyone was spread out I blew the whistle.

And so the battle began.

I walked into the maze after the first casualty – Hannah Abbott. I raised my wand to my throat and said 'sonorous' before announcing, "And the first casualty of this evening, Miss Hannah Abbott, taken out by none other than Miss Susan Bones."

I held my hands in the air as Neville jogged past me, wand pointed at me threateningly.

"Second casualty," I announced thirty seconds later, "is Susan Bones. Unlucky, girl. Shouldn't have been cocky. Please exit the maze."

Next was Alicia, who was taken out by Lee. Then Dennis was defeated by Parvati who then received a stunner in the back by Colin. "Oh Colin, you sly dog, watch your backs folks." All at once, Justin got Ernie, Padma got Lavender, Ginny got Dean and Ange got Fred. "The tenth person to be eliminated is Miss Cho Chang who suffered a magnificent stupefy by Miss Ginny Weasley. I'll be around to revive you in a sec, Cho."

On my way to Cho's unconscious body, I walked into a middle of a duel between Ginny and Michael. Upon seeing me, Michael got distracted. "Ginny Weasley takes down her next victim, Michael Corner with a bat-bogey hex? Impressive, girl. That's disgusting."

I revived Cho, who did not look one bit amused when she said, "This is cruel."

"Life's not fair." I said simply. Then put the wand up to my chin and said, "Ron Weasley meets Hermione Granger. Oh. My. Ron walks away as Hermione gets taken out by a good ol' Expelliarmus, nice one, mate. She's going to be so pissed off. Fifteen people left!" then I walked and thought how much better it would be with a bit of music, "Hope you all aren't expecting to hear your opponent coming?"

I could hear groans as the room of requirement started playing some wizard band songs including The Weird Sisters.

"Angelina Johnson takes out Lee Jordan, commiserations mate. Justin Finch-Fletchley is taken out by Luna Lovegood who is stupefied by Marietta Edgecombe, who has dancing feet from George Weasley. But now it is George vs Colin." I laughed and it echoed around the room, "Too bad Georgie."

"Do you know who has been very quiet? Anyone who takes out Harry Potter or Zacharias Smith, will get a piece of chocolate." Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot duelled in front of me as I walked into their midst, but I could also see Padma in the background who, in two swift motions had procured both their wands. "DOUBLE STRIKE PADMA. Nine people left." I said, "Okay, make that eight, Ron taken out by Ginny."

"Ginny takes out Neville," I said, "Girl, you are on FIRE!"

"Katie Brown and Angelina Johnson, if you two buddy up any longer, I will disqualify you both for not duelling. This is every man for himself. Yes, I can see you." I said threateningly.

I rennervated Colin and Padma after they had been taken out by, "Zacharias Smith who finally decides to show himself." I commentated, "And Ginny Weasley has earned herself a piece of chocolate. Goodbye Zackie. Hope you like bogies."

"Katie and Angelina taken out by Harry Potter who finally makes his move. Did no one see him? Seriously?" I said as I directed a dazzled Katie and Ange out of the maze, "It's the final showdown. Ginny Weasley vs Harry Potter. All they've got to do is find each other."

I turned the music off and dimmed the lighting. There was a cheer from the girls and wolf-whistles from Fred and George. I left the maze and joined the group of others, engorging the map for all to watch as Ginny was at one end of the maze and Harry was at the other. "Right you two, you're both going to have to move at one point or another. You are both seekers… so go seek. Ah, good, now we've something to get excited about."

The group watched as Harry and Ginny made their way closer to each other. Three corners and one set of stairs for Ginny, a section of uneven ground, two corners and a bend for Harry. Finally, the two met in the centre of the maze, an open area. The two bowed politely to each other and Ginny made the first move, Harry countered and it went back and forth. The twenty-six of us watching the map from afar were bouncing on our seats, some were biting fingernails, many were conflicted. It was only when Ginny used, Expelliarmus, followed quickly with stupefy and finally impedimenta on Harry, that Ginny finally won. This, I hoped was friendly competition, which helped the members realise the whole point of our meetings.

"AND THE WINNER IS MISS GINNY WEASLEY, CONGRATS, GIRL."

Harry and Ginny left the maze to the sound of applause and cheering. The two of them were suitably embarrassed as I gave Ginny the bar of Honeydukes chocolate as her prize. I gave her a massive hug and she took a bow. Then I got everyone to take a seat momentarily, "I know it's almost nine guys, but I hoped you enjoyed that tonight. I hope it got you thinking about your weaknesses and where you feel you need to improve and work on in future. Whilst tonight was intended for a bit of competitive fun, I also want you to look at it as reality. It only took you forty-five minutes to defeat 27 people. It can be as simple as someone walking up behind you or catching you off guard. We need to work harder, but we also need to work smarter. Improve the technique, speed, accuracy, make all this second nature." I said seriously, "Now, if Harry and I can keep ourselves out of detention long enough, we will see you all next week."

In the usual groups of twos and threes, the Room of Requirement emptied, "Thanks Kathryn!" Ernie said on the way out the door.

"Great lesson, Kathryn!" Luna said in her usual airy-mystical voice as she walked towards Ravenclaw Tower with Padma.

"Yeah, thanks Kathryn," Ange said as she left with Katie and Alicia.

I made sure that everything was back in place again as everyone left and the room got quieter and quieter. "See you in the Common Room, Kit-Kat!" Ginny called out as she, Ron, Harry and Hermione all left. I realised at once why she mentioned it. I was now alone with Fred and George.

"Great lesson there, Kathryn!" Fred spoke in a slightly too high voice.

"Thanks," I said, putting all the cushions away in the cupboards.

George, talking from a distance, said, "I miss you, Katy."

"Yeah," I said as I tapped my wand on the first wall of the maze and made it disappear, the rest of the walls then disappeared with all the stairs, unlevelled ground, stones, nets and other traps.

"Will you look at me for a second?"

I turned on my heels, "What do you want, George?"

"You." his eyes pleaded with mine, "Look, I know I messed up, but I can't bear this anymore…"

I put my hands through my hair and fluffed it up a bit, "Fred was right." I turned, wand in hand, making dummies appear with targets on their bodies. I took off my shoes, and stretched, "I'm that busy at the minute, that I hardly have time to think about much else than work, DA and keeping on Umbridge's good side." I lifted my foot and kicked the dummy in the lower stomach region. Then I punched it in the face, swung my body around and had it in a neck-lock within seconds.

George blinked at me.

"You were saying?" I looked at him expectantly.

"Where did you learn that?" Fred asked from behind.

"Lupin, third year." I said, "What a girl can do to defend herself without a wand." I turned to Fred and in three swift motions I completed the actions without force, "jab to the throat, knee to the groin, stomp on the foot?" I said, "Grab my arm and tug me back towards you."

Fred reluctantly grabbed my arm.

I moved with the force of him pulling me backwards, twisted his arm back and had him in a lock hold before he even realised.

"Work smarter, not harder." George nodded in realisation.

"If anyone lays a finger on me, so help them I will bust their ass." I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet, my chest heaving as I faced another dummy, "This one is my father, this one hits back." I demonstrated as the dummy made a lunge for me, and I ducked out of the way, grabbing the arm, trying to put it into a lock, but it fought back, so I dropped my weight to the ground quickly and caused the dummy to lose balance, I kicked out the knees and it fell to the ground and a swift blow to the nose, I broke it, a second punch to the jaw and I knocked it out of place. As the dummy span, as though about to lose consciousness, I raised my foot and kicked the face and it was out for the count.

"Wow." George said.

"I'll be alright if you go," I said, taking out my wand and pointing it at the last dummy, "I can take care of myself. I'll take any opportunity to punch Umbridge in the face." I shrugged my shoulders, "Either that, or… reducto." The dummy was burnt to smithereens, "That would be if I had any spare time between all the homework and revision I'll be doing." I vanished the remains, "But I'll always have time to check in with you two and the big dream. I've just got to work hard to get to wherever I'm going to go." I turned to look at them.

Fred nodded, "You've always been incredibly intelligent. You could literally do any job you wanted."

"Freddie, flattery is going to get you nowhere tonight." I put on my shoes, "What I wanted to say is, please don't cut me out of your plans, or not tell me if you're planning on leaving me tomorrow, or if you've a meeting or a letter of interest from Jenkins, I'd like to think I've proven I can be trusted. I want to be part of this. I know it's not my dream, but I've shared this idea with you two for so long, it matters to me. I'm not going to stand in your way."

"We know," Fred said, "I was wrong to force George not to tell you, and I feel terrible. I should have trusted you."

I nodded.

"I promise I'll keep you in the loop with everything," George said sincerely, helping me up from the floor, "We won't be leaving for a little while yet, that's all I know for now."

"I think I always knew, deep down, that you two were going to leave." I admitted, "You've done nearly all the research you've wanted to do." Then I looked up at the two of them, "Promise me something."

"Anything," the two of them spoke in unison.

"Can we prank the f*ck out of Umbridge before you leave?"

Fred smirked, "Like you had to ask."