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Chapter 18
There was nothing anyone could do to prevent Hermione's detention with Umbridge; Harry knew because he tried. He spoke to both Professors McGonagall and Babbling, but their answer was clear. Umbridge had the right to assign students detentions, and a week's worth for mouthing off at a teacher (while harsh) wasn't outside any bounds of reason. Harry had protested that Umbridge wasn't a teacher, but apparently the law gave her the same standing as one in regards to her interaction with students. He also told the professors his suspicions that Umbridge couldn't be trusted with Hermione, but without any evidence to back up his claim there was nothing anyone could do.
Harry then spoke with Sirius looking for options, but he couldn't help either. The only thing Sirius could do would be to go in front of the Wizengamot and protest the school inspector having the authority to discipline students, which all that was likely to do was make Sirius look ridiculous. No politician is going to think that an adult working in the school having the power to give students detention was going to be a problem. Harry couldn't even threaten her with going to the press like he did last time. Even with Harry's legitimate worries, all Rita was likely to see was a teenager complaining about his girlfriend being given detention, which was hardly a story the Prophet would be interested in.
Hermione, though, didn't seem as worried as Harry. She seemed to take the detention as a badge of honour, proof that she stood up for what was right. Harry was proud of her, but he had a bad feeling about what the pink toad would do. His anxiety only rocketed at breakfast the next morning when Hermione got a note delivered telling her that her first detention was that night right after dinner. Luckily, Harry was soon distracted by the return of the lycanthropy students. They were late getting back to the castle this morning, and Harry and Hermione had both worried that the mob from the night before had come back this morning to try and catch them as they returned to the school. The two of them sought out Kathryn almost as soon as she sat down, taking the seats on either side of her. "Are you OK? Was there any trouble on the way back? Is that why you are late?" Hermione asked straight away.
Kathryn was a little taken aback by the quick questions, but she answered almost as quickly. "We are all fine Hermione, Professor Lupin was worried that those people would be there when we portkeyed back. So he took the time to contact the headmistress to check before bringing us back, but we had to wait for her to check and send a response. What happened here after we left?" Harry and Hermione spent a few minutes telling Kathryn what happened in the headmistress office after what happened at the gate. "Wait so she already had all the forms filled to kick us all out of the school?" Harry and Hermione both nodded. "How? No way she could have filled out those forms in that amount of time. You said you got back to the castle in twenty minutes, and damn you two must have really run to do that. There are about twenty five lycanthropy sufferers in the school, if she only spent three minutes a form that's an hour and a quarter. There's not enough time!" Kathryn stated.
Harry and Hermione hadn't told Kathryn about Harry's ability to step or that he could do it through the wards, but Harry answered her question anyway. "We think she had the forms already filled out before the mob even arrived, she basically admitted she had a spy in the group waiting to report to her that you hadn't left the castle. She was either informed well in advance and chose to do nothing about it…or she organised it." Harry watched Kathryn as he said that.
Her eyes widened in shock slightly. "She is well known in the community as someone who hates werewolves, she wrote a lot of the laws that restrict us, like having to disclose that we are 'infectious monsters' whenever we apply for a job. But I didn't think the toad would go this far."
"Well, once she found out that there was another way out of the castle she demanded to be shown it. Hermione accused her of only wanting to know so she could have her mob block that next time and she didn't deny it. Hermione finished up by calling her a disgusting toad and got a week of detention for it." Harry couldn't keep both the pride and the worry from his voice as he said it.
Kathryn looked both amazed and horrified at the idea that someone would speak like that to the Ministry's chef toadie. "Hermione, that was a really bad idea, Umbridge holds grudges and she will be coming after you know."
Hermione shrugged, then in a defiant tone said, "Let her. My uncle was always a fan of the quote 'All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.' Well I can't stand by and let her target a group of people for having the audacity to survive being attacked by a werewolf. And if a few detentions are the price I have to pay to call her out, then I say it's worth it. Such bigotry is wrong on so many levels." Harry felt a surge of pride through him at her words. "After I was given a week of detention, Professor McGonagall dismissed Umbridge from her office as Umbridge was apparently 'misinformed as to the status of the lycanthropy students' whereabouts. So your demands for their expulsion are denied.' After Umbridge had left in a huff, Professor McGonagall called the DMLE to report a violent mob at the school gates, and a few Aurors came through to the school and went to investigate. While they were doing that, Professor McGonagall did give me a lecture about upsetting Umbridge; she was nice about it and not harsh at all, in fact if you know her she was almost definitely hiding that she enjoyed seeing Umbridge called a toad to her face. But she had to tell me to be careful, and that as an employee of the Ministry she is bound by Ministry laws on what she can do to students, not just Hogwarts policy."
"I swear if that woman has you hanging from chains I'll bloody kill her," Harry muttered, but it was still loud enough for Hermione to hear it with her enhanced hearing.
"Harry, you can't do that."
"I bloody well can. I am a Warlock and you are my betrothed. That gives me the right to defend you under wizarding law." Harry reminded her. Hermione wasn't a fan of how unbalanced some of the laws in the wizarding world were, but she kind of liked that Harry had the right to defend her. No, what pissed her off was that she, as a non-Warlock, didn't have the right to defend Harry in the same way.
"As an employee of the Ministry you can't challenge her like that," she reminded him. Harry, however, wasn't going to listen to people saying he couldn't protect her. He didn't care what immunity Umbridge thought she had, if she crossed the line then Harry would show her why it was such a bad idea.
-ϟϟϟ-
After dinner that evening, Harry went to give their friends a lesson on the Patronus Charm and Hermione trudged her way to the office that was set aside for the school inspector. There were a few offices on the ground floor that were free, and Umbridge had been put in one of those, only when she arrived five minutes early for her detention she found a note on the door saying that the school inspector's office had been moved. Hermione turned and quickly made her way back the way she came until she came to the stairs. As she rushed to make sure she got to the new room so that she was at least a couple of minutes early, she pondered why the toad had been moved, but the answer quickly brought a slight vindictive smirk to her face. The Ministry law demanded the school inspector be given an office and lodgings; however, the final word on the assignment of the rooms was with the head of the school. Originally, Umbridge had been given a fairly standard room on the ground floor, the one closest to the door that (now that Hermione considered it) might have been a subtle hint that she wasn't welcome at the school. After her underhanded attack on the students, it appeared Headmistress McGonagall had decided that she would abandon all subtlety and have the school inspector moved to the dungeons on the side of the castle furthest from the lake so that she wouldn't have a window, not even one that only gave a view of the inside of the Black Lake.
Hermione knocked on the door with two minutes to spare and was rewarded with a high-pitched girly voice saying "come in." She opened the door and stepped into the office only to find that it was in complete disarray. It was clear that whoever had moved the furniture and knick-knacks from the old office and rooms had just stacked everything in the rooms with little to no regard to where it was supposed to go.
"Ah Miss Granger," the way she said 'Miss Granger' made it sound like she was addressing a pile of refuse that had somehow sprouted arms and legs, "You are not late but I expect you to arrive five minutes early for the rest of the week. It shows proper respect after all. Now, I did have something planned for your detention, but in this mess somewhere is the stuff I need. So instead you will be setting up my office and rooms without magic while I supervise."
Hermione looked around at all the trunks, bags and boxes and had to suppress a sigh, as they were stacked floor to ceiling and it looked like a lot of work. She opened a box that was close by and pulled out the contents. Umbridge gave Hermione directions on where the things were to go and Hermione did it without saying anything, let alone complaining. Soon she had uncovered a chair and a side table, and Umbridge had Hermione set it up in one corner of the room, before promptly sitting on it and summoning an elf to bring her a cup of tea. Umbridge didn't move from that chair for the rest of the evening, she just sat there croaking orders at Hermione like, "That goes there." "Those are fragile, you break them and I'll have you in detention for a month." And when she wasn't giving orders, she was making comments. "See, isn't this easier for someone as limited as you?" "Now you are learning your place in the world." "Soon Warlock Potter will realise the mistake it is to tie himself to someone like you and will find a young lady of proper breeding and start undoing the damage his father did to the House of Potter."
The more Umbridge talked, the more she revealed how much of a vile bigot she was, and the more Hermione wanted to pull out her wand and curse her into a puddle of pond slime. The evening passed slowly, and it was well past curfew when Hermione was finished and told she could go. Hermione opened the door and was surprised to find Professor Babbling leaning against the opposite wall reading a book.
"What are you doing skulking outside my office?" Umbridge demanded of the Gryffindor Head of House.
"Miss Granger is my student and is out after curfew, it's my responsibility to see that she gets back to the common room safely. Oh, and I wasn't the only one down here. After all, I wouldn't want Miss Granger here to lose House points for being out after curfew when it's the result of an adult not ending her detention on time, do we? Come, Miss Granger, let's get you back up to Gryffindor Tower. Oh and Delores, you will end all future detentions for my Gryffindors ten minutes before curfew. This is a school after all, and the students need to rest enough not to fall asleep in their classes."
"Under what authority do-" Umbridge started, only to be cut off by professor Babbling.
"Under the authority of in loco parentis granted to Hogwarts staff, and myself in particular as Head of Gryffindor. That authority, Delores, now good night." Then she put an arm in the small of Hermione's back and used it to guide Hermione away and back up to the common room.
"Why were you waiting outside, professor?" Hermione asked in curiosity as they walked across the entrance hall going from the steps down to the dungeons to the grand staircase.
"Mr. Potter said he was using some map to watch you, and when it was approaching curfew he came to tell me you were being kept late in detention. He didn't want you being out after curfew to be used as an excuse to give you more detentions. I decided to wait outside the room to see how late you were kept. In the future, you have my permission to leave any detention you are in five minutes before curfew," Professor Babbling explained as they walked.
When they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Professor Babbling turned and said, "Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that Mr Potter isn't in there waiting up for you, but it's late, five minutes then off to bed with both of you," before turning to leave for her quarters.
As the professor predicted, Harry was sitting next to the fire in one of the comfortable chairs waiting for her with Crookshanks asleep in his lap. When he heard the portrait open he looked up, and Hermione could see him worriedly checking her out looking for any signs of injury or distress. She flashed him a tired smile and Harry visibly relaxed. Hermione walked over and, after picking up her cat, claimed her spot on Harry's lap back. The ginger cat, put out from being moved from the warm spot, started to demand attention from his human and Hermione's fingers unconsciously started scratching the cat's favourite spots. As she cuddled into Harry, he asked, "So what happened?"
Hermione yawned. "Nothing much. Headmistress McGonagall moved Umbridge's rooms and office to the dungeons. All her stuff was just boxed up and stacked in her new office and she had me set everything up without magic, while she sat there and watched sipping tea. It was tiring and boring, but nothing to worry about." Hermione explained. "But Harry, there is something seriously wrong with that woman. She spent the entire time talking at me and she is completely delusional. She has bought into all the blood purity nonsense so much that she actually believes as a muggleborn part human I must be an idiot. She actually said that I would find life easier if I had someone else making the decisions for me and that soon you were going to ditch Fleur and I so you could marry a proper pureblood witch and start repairing the damage that was done to the House of Potter when your dad married your mum," she told him.
Harry put his arms around Hermione protectively as she talked, and when Hermione took a break he said, "Well I can tell you now that you and Fleur are stuck with me. No toad with the fashion sense of a knock-off Barbie doll is going to tell me who I can marry."
They sat there for the full five minutes that Professor Babbling had given them, and then Hermione got up (a little awkwardly as she was still snuggling her cat) and said she was going up to bed and Harry should do the same. He followed her to the base of the two sets of stairs that each lead to either the boys or girls dorms. "Harry, I spent five hours with that woman and not one thing she said made me think there were any redeeming qualities to her. She's evil, Harry. I think if she ever had the chance she would be worse than Voldemort."
Harry leaned in and gave Hermione a light kiss and said, "I don't think she has the brains to be as bad as Voldemort, love. Now good night, I'll see you in the morning.
"Night Harry." And at that the two split so they went up the separate stairs.
-ϟϟϟ-
Hermione's second detention wasn't as pleasant as the first, however. She had knocked on the door five minutes early as she was told the day before, and when she went in she was directed to sit at a desk in the corner. "You will be writing lines tonight now that my office is set up again," Umbridge said, smiling oddly sweetly. Hermione reached into her bag for a quill and parchment, only for Umbridge to let out a ridiculously fake cough. When Hermione paused, she continued. "You will not be needing your quills or parchment. You will be using this quill here." She held up a black quill that Hermione recognised immediately.
"That's a blood quill. You can't be serious!" Hermione demanded.
"Of course Miss Granger, how better than to make atonement for your transgressions than to write them out in your own blood. Then the next time you consider mouthing off to your superiors, you will think of what it cost you. Now, you will write out 'I need to learn to act my station.' You will be free to go when you have done two feet of parchment."
"And if I refuse?" Hermione asked.
The toad smiles again. "Then I'm afraid that some parchment work with your parents' home address might just end up going missing, and with the current…situation…you never know who could be the one to find it."
It only took a second for Hermione to understand that the vile woman was threatening to leak her home address to the Death Eaters. She was Harry Potter's betrothed, it was common enough knowledge that her parents were Harry's guardians, and that Harry liked them. If the wrong people found out where they were, they wouldn't get off as lightly as the Dursleys. It was exactly why Harry had convinced Sirius to move them into Grimmauld Place. Luckily they were now there with no record anywhere of them having moved there, so Umbridge didn't have a relevant record to lose. Still, Hermione was angry. This bitch had dared to threaten her parents.
Hermione almost pulled her wand to curse the toad through the wall, but she realised before her hand had even made it halfway to her holster that that was Umbridge's backup plan. Either Hermione refused and she would leak Hermione's home address, Hermione would attack her in a blind rage and be guilty of attacking the school inspector (and the best she could hope for was expulsion, with prison being far more likely), or Hermione would buckle under and do the lines. Three options, all of which Umbridge perceived as a win. Attacking Umbridge was out. While it was possible she could successfully claim defence of her family, it would be the word of a first generation witch against a top level Ministry employee, that was not good odds. She could walk out and report this to Professors McGonagall and Babbling, but that could result in people finding out her parents had been moved, and the longer that was kept a secret the better protected her parents would be. The problem was, that left Hermione with slicing open her hand. However, it did have the benefit of giving her more time. Hermione could barely hold in her rage as she asked. "What did you want me to write again?"
The sadistic smile never left Umbridge's face as she said, "I need to learn to act my station." She passed Hermione the quill and a sheet of parchment. Hermione took them and sat herself at the desk, the whole time trying to think of a better option as she laid out the sheet of parchment. Unfortunately she was drawing a blank on any other plan, so she began writing.
Immediately she felt the sting of a scalpel carving the words into the back of her hand, and she watched the skin heal just as quickly. As it did, Hermione considered the words. 'I need to learn to act my station.' Strangely enough, Hermione found that she might actually agree with them, just not in the way Umbridge intended. She was one of the betrotheds of the Potter Warlock, who also happened to hold the position of the Heir to the House of Black. Umbridge meant it to mean she had to learn to be subservient to everyone except perhaps the mundane population, but Hermione was going to have some real status in the future.
She sat in silence the rest of the night, using the time to try and think what to do. She didn't rush through writing the lines, as her suspicion was that if she finished early she would just be given more lines to fill the time. Hermione was careful to write her words about twice the size she normally would as well; there was no point having small writing just to torture herself more. As she predicted, Umbridge kept her right up until ten minutes before curfew. The back of her hand was sore, and she wasted no time making her way up to Gryffindor Tower.
When she climbed in through the portrait hole, the tower was still pretty full, as the rules for curfew were only tightly enforced on the younger years. Gryffindors had gotten used to the idea that as long as you were in your common room and were not causing any problems, or weren't too tired for classes the next day, Professor McGonagall would leave well enough alone. Luckily, Professor Babbling had continued that policy, only giving them a warning that she would let them keep on as they had been unless there were any incidents. If there were any, she would make sure to enforce the curfew to the letter on everyone.
Hermione sought out Harry and found him in a corner working on his Runes project. Harry had now gotten to the point where he was having to roll an apple through the small module doorway for him to be able to tell that passing through was still damaging the skin. She knew that was significant progress and a full doorway wouldn't be too far off now. She slid herself into the seat next to him and said, "Harry, we need to talk."
Instantly Harry's relaxed mood was gone. He sat up straight and, with a lazy flick of his wand, all his Runes work packed itself away. "What happened, love?" Despite all the concern in his voice, it was clear from the tension in his body that the only thing he wanted to do was rush off and curse the only person who could be responsible.
The words caught in Hermione's throat, so instead she put her right hand onto Harry's on the table. It took him a moment to look at her hand and a moment more for him to register that there were words there. As soon as he read the fading marks left over from repeated use of the blood quill, he pulled Hermione into a hug and she finally felt safe for the first time in hours. She let herself fall apart a little bit as she cried into Harry's shoulder.
"How?" Harry asked when Hermione's tears had started to slow.
"Blood quill," was all Hermione had to say.
There was a sudden cracking sound as Harry lost control of his magic for a half second and the table that they were sitting at split in two. "I'm going to destroy the bitch," Harry vowed. "But first we need to get you to the hospital wing."
Hermione protested, but Harry wasn't having any of it and took her anyway. As soon as the two of them entered the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey appeared from her office and started questioning them about how Harry had hurt himself this time, only to be surprised to find out that it was Hermione who needed the help.
Hermione told the medi-witch everything that had happened, and Madam Pomfrey had Hermione put her hand wound down over a tiny cauldron about the size of a cupcake which she had filled with essence of dittany. A quick Sticking Charm on the rim of the Cauldron, and now Hermione's hand was pressed against it, forming a water tight seal. When Hermione inverted her hand, the wounded area was completely submerged in the essence without needing to use an entire bowl full.
After telling Hermione that she was to wait there for an hour, Madam Pomfrey went to return to her office, but Harry stopped her. "Madam Pomfrey, can Hermione get a copy of your healer's report for this one please." Technically Harry couldn't ask for Hermione's healer reports for himself; when they were married he would have the right as her Head of House, but a betrothal didn't have anywhere near the legal weight needed. However, Harry hadn't asked for a copy for himself, he had asked for a copy for Hermione. After about five seconds of standing and staring, the woman who had saved Harry from a number of injuries that would have been life threatening without medical intervention nodded and returned to her office.
"Harry what are you planning," Hermione, who was feeling emotionally stronger by the minute, demanded of him.
"I'm going to destroy her, love, and I need the report as evidence of what she did. Nobody hurts one of my family and gets away with it. And I think Umbridge will make a good example of that." Harry flashed Hermione a slightly manic smile.
"Dobby!" Harry called and a moment later the elf popped in
"What's can Dobby be doing for boss man?" The little elf asked.
"I need you to go to my trunk and get me the mirror linked to Sirius. I need to talk to him as soon as possible."
Dobby just nodded then popped away. Hermione leaned her head on Harry's shoulder and said, "You already have a plan."
Harry couldn't deny that and didn't even try. "I was worried yesterday and I spent most of the time in the Patronus lesson making plans. Do you think Umbridge was the one who put our names in the Goblet of Fire?" Harry's question caught Hermione by surprise. "Her attitude seems to fit with how you and Fleur were referenced on the slip that came out, and she works at the Ministry so she had the means to get her hands on the forms we signed to travel to France."
"I don't know but it wouldn't surprise me. The toad definitely seems like the type." Hermione was going to say more but Dobby popped back with the mirror and held it out to Harry, who took it and called for Sirius.
After about two minutes of Harry repeatedly calling Sirius's name every ten to fifteen seconds, his reflection in the mirror clouded out and was replaced by the view of Sirius in the mirror. "What's happened?" Sirius asked, concerned by the unscheduled call and Harry's repeated calls as he got to the mirror.
Harry told him exactly what Umbridge had done and what he planned to do about it, and then gave Sirius a list of things he needed to pull it off. "What do you think, Uncle Pads, can you be here tomorrow morning with everything I need?"
"Oh I'll be there nice and early, pup, don't you worry about that. But Harry, you don't have to do this. You know it's risky right? If you lose this one it could be a disaster for you."
"You're wrong, I do have to do this. With Voldemort and his Death Eaters out there, I can't let someone hurting any member of my family go unchallenged. I need Voldemort's thugs to be too nervous to go after Hermione, Fleur, you, Moony, or Dan and Emma. No, I have to do this and set an example. I know the risk, but she hurt Hermione." There was steel in Harry's voice, and both Sirius and Hermione knew Harry couldn't be talked out of this one. It wasn't going to stop Hermione from spending half the night trying anyway, but they all knew it wouldn't do any good. Instead of the common room, both Harry and Hermione went to the Room of Requirement instead. After what had happened, Harry wasn't letting Hermione out of his sight any time soon.
A/N
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