Okay, so last chapter was all about Anna and while I know this is an OC-centric fic the other characters are important part of it. So, no Anna p.o.v. this chap. Now, I know some of you don't like Harry (even though I love him I find that it's always about him, which tires me) so the p.o.v.s will be mixed. I think you'll like this one.

Harry was practically fuming as he sat in History of Magic. High Inquisitor, Umbridge? It was beyond ridiculous. Fudge was doing everything he could to interfere in Hogwarts, but this? This was even costing him the support of the Wizengamot, the Prophet said, Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden had even resigned because of it. Even though they openly supported Dumbledore before they had mostly kept quiet about what they thought lately, only to have it burst out all of a sudden.
Which was reasonable, he supposed. Lots of strange things had been happening in the Ministry, like Podmore and these Decrees and people being fired for 'supporting the opponent'. People were starting to whisper about how the Minister was incompetent and weak. Not because they believed Dumbledore, but because he acted like a paranoid twat even when he knew that people didn't believe the headmaster. It just didn't make sense. He was ruining his reputation to hammer down someone who was already, supposedly, on the ground. Or as far on the ground as Dumbledore could be, which was still about five stories away from it.

He moved his gaze from the window, though which he's been staring at nothing in particular, to look at the other side of the room. Among the other Slytherins sat Anna, for some reason painting her nails as Zabini whispered into her ear. The conversation seemed private because none of her other friends were leaning closer to hear. That was strange, he pondered, Anna always seemed have conversations openly. No whispering.

Then she looked up, as if feeling his eyes on her. She gave him a cheeky smile and winked. He smiled back without hesitation. They turned away from each other again and he felt as if they were conspiring together.

He was missing something. It was as if she were keeping secrets from him which, granted, wouldn't be weird at all. They were friends but they weren't close. It was reasonable that she wouldn't tell him everything, but lately she seemed distressed when she talked to him. Oh sure, she still smiled and gave him hugs and tried to help him with his homework -something which he still felt guilty for since Malfoy couldn't possibly approve and he didn't want to cause trouble between them, as much as he might hate the git- and sometimes even called the other Slytherins off if they were bothering him. But there was something off, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Then there was the fact that the twins were really curious about her. Harry knew Hermione didn't trust her and that Ron was wary, but the twins? He doubted they ever cared about who she was, so why start now? It was slightly alarming and he knew he wouldn't like it. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. He felt it in his stomach. There was a dull ache of -discomfort? nerves? anxiety?- every time they got close to her and she looked at them with eyes that were so suspicious and maybe even afraid, or every time they stood beside him when he talked to her, watching her as if she were about to attack him. Which he knew she would never do. He trusted her and she wouldn't hurt him.

Would she? He sup-

"Harry, come on." Hermione pulled him from his train of thought as she finished packing her belongings. "Double potions now."

The boy groaned and got up, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He didn't need to pack anything, he never took out anything for History of Magic. It was always the same old boring ghost saying the same old boring things. But it was better than potions.

It didn't really come as much of a surprise that he got a D in his moonstone essay, though it was a slight disappointment. He needed to work harder, he thought, but he was working very hard as it was. It wasn't like he was slacking off or anything, he just had a lot on his mind. But his OWLs were coming and somehow he felt worse when he thought that he was letting what was going on not only affect him now but also his future. In the case of him having a future, of course, since Voldemort trying to do him in wasn't really helping the probabilities of him making it out of his school career alive. Maybe he should ask Anna for help, she was smart like Hermione but Hermione was always helping Ron and him so it would be a good break for her. Anna didn't have much work tutoring her friends it seemed, if the O's handed out to her group was anything to go by. Other than Crabbe and Goyle who didn't seem too bothered with T's.

With a resigned sigh he got to work on his potion.

Hermione walked past the Slytherins as she sat down at her desk in DADA. Connors had been walking only a few steps in front of her but as soon as she reached them they seemed to swallow her up. They started talking to her, but really it sounded more like a report than a chat among friends and they took careful turns. The Gryffindor girl started taking out her book, writing supplies and other things, being as quiet as she could to hear the quiet murmurs behind her. Well, they certainly knew how to keep their voices down, she'd give them that.

"It was painful to watch." Malfoy was telling his best friend. "Really, I thought it'd be fun but it wasn't."

Connors was silent but she must have formed some sort of expression because Malfoy kept talking.

"I mean, sure it's necessary and the toad's going to get what she deserves in the end, but I felt sorry for Trelawney. I really did." He insisted. "Isn't there a way-"

"No, Draco." Connors muttered. "You know what's going to happen. I feel just as bad as you do... well, maybe a little less since you must be feeling very bad for her, but there's nothing we can do. Not at this stage. If you want to stop her you'd have to mention it to her and that's put your future position at risk."

She sighed. "Come on. You know it won't last."

Then Umbridge entered and they were silent. They had to have been talking about Umbridge's inspection, it couldn't be anything else, but it sounded like they knew it was going to happen. Like they knew what was going to happen to Trelawney next. It wasn't hard to imagine since Hermione knew the woman to be a fraud, but they didn't sound like that's what they were talking about. They sounded like Connors had some sort of control over what Umbridge did, which was ridiculous.

Why were they talking like that, though? It wasn't like them to have seemingly sensitive conversations out in the open, but then again could this be called a sensitive conversation? How could it be when what they were saying made absolutely no sense?

"As we finished Chapter one last lesson, I would like you all to turn to page nineteen today and commence 'Chapter Two, Common Defensive Theories and the Derivation'." Umbridge spoke, loud and clear, to the whole class. "There will be no need to talk."

There was a collective sigh in the classroom and all the students started leafing through their books to find the right page. All but Hermione, of course. This class was beyond a waste of time, it was insulting. Of course she knew why it was being given as it was, Fudge was afraid of Dumbledore, had somehow deluded himself into thinking that the old headmaster was building himself an army of students. It was stupid and beyond reason, but she knew that the idea couldn't possibly have sprouted in his own head. A man smart enough to get elected wouldn't be behaving as stupidly as he was, there was something behind it. There was something behind all of Fudge's actions.

The thought only brought Connors to mind, as stupid as the thought was. Maybe the low level of the class was making her dumb?

She put up her hand, knowing full well that fighting Umbridge in her own classroom wasn't worth the anger. It was worth the final satisfaction though.

The woman walked from her desk to stand in front of Hermione. "What is it this time, miss Granger?" She asked with that falsely sweet, mocking voice.

"I've already read chapter two." Hermione answered, putting a mild amount of cheekiness in her tone. Who said she couldn't be petty?

"Well then, proceed to chapter three."

"I've read that too, I've read the whole book." She answered, purring inwardly at the obvious surprise in Umbridge's eyes. Take that, toad.

"Well then you should be able to tell me what Slinkhard says about counter-jinxes in chapter fifteen." The woman challenged.

"He says that counter-jinxes are improperly named." Hermione stated without missing a beat. "He says that counter-jinx is a name people give their jinxes when they want to make them sound more acceptable." She considered wether she should continue or not, and then decided that Umbridge didn't deserve her respect. "But I disagree."

That's when it all went down the well.

"As fun as it has mostly been to watch Umbridge question the professors, or most of the times," Blaise amended at seeing the grimaces of the ones that had been present for Divination. "I think it's time to start pushing more decrees through."

They were sitting in Anna's room, most of them lying on the girl's bed while she sat at her desk reading the letters the Death Eater children had been getting from their parents. At his raised voice she turned to him with a puzzled look.

"For a particular reason, Blaise, or do you just feel like creating more animosity in the school?" She wondered aloud.

The boy rolled his eyes, of course she would be unwilling. She'd be more willing after what he had to say though. "Yes, more animosity between Potter and Umbridge and between Fudge and Dumbledore. You know that was your primary objective, right?"

Theo scoffed from his spot on the bed. "Yes, we do. But why now?"

Blaise smirked. "One of my little lions told me that Potter is getting a group together to study defence. More like, Granger got the idea and he gave in." He shrugged. "Just thought that the decree we had in mind to make Quidditch more difficult would be useful in this case, the wording is ample enough, and it'll definitely put more pressure on him."

Anna grimaced and turned back to the letters.

"Come on." He insisted, getting up and walking to her. "You need to make sure Umbridge is used to her full extent and this is a part of that! Besides, it's not like it'll have direct repercussions on him, not if he isn't caught."

"And how do we know he won't be caught? They're not exactly subtle." She argued.

"Draco and Pansy." Blaise prompted with a satisfied smirk, earning complaints from the bed. "I know it won't be a guarantee, but it is some control over what she does about it and a way to know when she's close. We can use them to sabotage her."

"Hey, now hold on." Draco got to his feet, frowning. "We all know that sabotaging isn't a smart thing to do, not if you don't want the person you're spying on to become suspicious. She's definitely going to notice something."

"No." Anna muttered. "You're both right." She stood and hummed, deep in thought. "We can do both. Blaise is right, this is a good opportunity, but Draco's right too, sabotage is too risky. But it's only too risky if they protect the group, not if they protect Harry."

"You mean, not sabotage them catching them, just him?" Draco frowned. "There's no way Umbridge won't know it's Potter."

"Knowing is one thing, proving it is another." Anna shook her head. "Yes, that's good. I'll talk to Lucius soon so that he can have the Decree at the ready, you keep me informed about them. I want to know as soon as they set it up."

Blaise nodded, pleased that she was listening to him. He knew what to do and she knew that. "They're meeting at the Hog's Head next Hogsmead weekend, in October, I'll get someone to tell us how it goes."

He wouldn't let them get in the group, though, it was too risky. Plus, if she was going to let them get caught his kid would get caught too. And wouldn't that discourage his other spies? He had plenty of seventh year spies that could disguise themselves easily to watch.

With a couple of strides he was at the bed and he let himself fall beside Daphne. She smiled at him, one of those smiles that said she knew exactly what he was thinking, and he felt good. The kiss she planted on his lips felt even better. It was nice to be appreciated.

Pansy double checked the list in her hands. Those were all she'd seen rushing to Potter or his friends this morning, probably to ask about what to do with the decree. She'd followed the message being passed around, but she didn't know if she'd missed someone or wrote someone down that had nothing to do with the defence group.
She ran the actions of the students at the breakfast table through her head. Definitely the Griffindors in his year, all the Weasleys, maybe a few more, the students that had gotten up from their tables and walked to them, even if they had turned around halfway, a couple of Ravenclaws the Weasley girl had talked to including her boyfriend Michael Corner and that weird blonde from her year... had she missed anyone?
It didn't matter, they'd find out eventually, Pansy sighed mentally as she stood to the side waiting for the potions classroom to open. She turned to Anna, who had been talking to Theo, and handed her the list.

"I think that might be all of them, though I could have missed a couple." She admitted.

Her friend folded the parchment and put it in a pocket. "Thanks Pansy." Anna smiled. "I owe you one."

"You owe me more than one." She scoffed. "But who's counting?" Then her eyes trailed to Blaise and Daphne who were standing closer to the Griffindors. You couldn't tell, since their backs were turned to each other, but between the making out the two Slytherins were listening very carefully to what was being said behind them.

That was cut short when Draco started talking loudly, Vince and Greg right beside him. Well, he had to do something to upset Potter more, that was the whole point of the decrees, she only hoped he wouldn't take it too far. They were all wary of the weird protectiveness Anna felt over the boy, it probably had more to do with their positions than with the horcrux though.

"Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch Team permission to keep playing right away, I went to ask her first thing this morning." Which was true, he had. "Well, it was pretty automatic, I mean, she knows my father pretty well since he's always popping in and out of the Ministry. It'll be interesting to see wether the Gryffindor team will be allowed to continue playing, won't it?"

A ripple of anger visibly passed through the group of lions, but none of them commented even if they had fallen quiet. Even Daphne and Blaise had turned to the blond boy to listen. Pansy could see that Draco didn't know wether to enjoy himself or not. Sure, he was bothering Potter again which he should enjoy, but he was helping Umbridge -sort of- and he had to admit Potter reminded him of Anna more and more each time he thought about it. He had told her and frankly she couldn't say she disagreed.

"I mean," Draco continued, even louder this time. "if it's a question of influence over the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance. Father says they've been trying to sack Arthur Weasley for years. As for Potter," He met Potter's eyes and even from here she could see the hesitation, the question was, could Potter see it? She hoped not. "Father also says that it's only a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted of to St. Mongo's. Apparently there's a special ward for people who's brains have been addled by magic."

He pulled a grotesque face and Pansy couldn't hold in the laughter, cackling along with Draco, Vince, and Greg, until she caught sight of Anna's face. Anna was pale, her lips pressed into an angry line and she was staring. Theo, beside her, had put an arm on her shoulder as if to stop her, but neither were looking at Draco, they were looking at Longbottom.
She turned in time to see the red faced boy push his way through the crowd towards Draco. Potter and Weasley called out to him and made to grab his robes, but they were too slow. Greg and Vince had stepped in front of Draco and were about to hurt him, badly it seemed if their tight expressions were anything to go by. But before he reached them Anna called out.

"Neville!" Her face was alarmed but the fact that she'd called out to him, let alone by his first name, shocked most into standing still. Including Longbottom.

She walked forwards briskly, Pansy and Theo trailing behind her, and she stood in front of him. Anna placed a soft hand on each of his shoulders and cast a glance behind her to where Theo was pushing Greg and Vince away with a frown on his face.

"Don't." She whispered, but everyone was quiet enough to hear it anyway. "They'll hurt you, let me handle it."

"Not funny... St. Mungo's... show him." Longbottom was panting, eye wide with anger as he stared over her shoulder, but she shushed him gently.

Pansy was not surprised to see her face cold and angry as she turned to Draco, not when they all knew very well why Longbottom was angry, when they all knew that he had the right to be and that it was one of the things that kept Anna up at night. With clenched hands she grabbed her cousin by the arm and walked out of the dungeons, cursing loud enough for them to hear the rude nonsensical words she was spitting to him.

Snape appeared at the door to his classroom, watching the retreating figures with raised eyebrows. "And where are you going, miss Connors?"

"We'll be right back, Professor." She called over her shoulder, not even putting in any effort to sound like she meant it. "I'm feeling sick to my stomach and Draco's taking me to the hospital wing."

The only thing Pansy could think of at the moment was that Longbottom would be wondering about how exactly she knew what had set him off. And that Anna was lucky people knew Snape was partial towards Slytherins and would chalk his dismissal of them from class up to that and not to Anna actually having control over his actions.

Pansy was even less surprised about the fact that neither Anna nor Draco showed up to class, yet that they were thick as thieves again when she found them in the Common Room later.

"Here, nicked it and copied it." Draco dropped a galleon on Anna's lap. They'd been alright since the Longbottom incident, even if she had forced him to apologise. Not in person, of course, he'd written a letter to tell him how he knew about his parents because Bellatrix was him mother's sister and how he hadn't thought of it as he talked and how he hadn't meant to hurt Longbottom. Which was mostly true, he supposed, but he didn't like apologising. The astounded look on Longbottom's face as he read the letter was almost worth it, almost.

At least he and Anna were fine now. He'd also apologised to her. Now that he didn't mind.

"What's this?" She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I have money, you know."

"Yes, I do." He sat next to her. "But that's how Potter's little group is communicating, Blaise said. All I had to do was pick out one of the girls Pansy said were in the group and make out with her. Sneak it out of her bag, use an advanced duplicating charm and voila, we're in."

Anna looked at the galleon with surprise in her eyes. "Ingenious. Granger's work I suppose. Now all we have to do is find out where they hold their meetings at so we can steer Umbridge the other way." Then she cast him a strange look. "Who was it?"

"Who was what?"

"The girl you made out with. Not many girls like you."

Draco scowled. "They don't need to like my personality to make out with me. And it was Marietta Edgecombe."

"Ooh." Anna giggled. "The one you wanted to take to the ball last year? I remember you called her pretty, high praise from you that was."

Draco blushed. "Shut up, alright? It won't happen again."

His cousin shrugged. "Alright. She doesn't really have the attitude to keep up with you anyway." Then she studied her nails. "Who can we oder to follow them?"

Draco shrugged. "Dunno, have Blaise send someone to follow Edgecombe and Chang on one of the nights the galleon says." He then turned to an older boy somewhere on the other side of the Common Room. "Hey, Bletchley! Nice going with the jinx!"

The Keeper smirked wagged his eyebrows, much to the pleasure of the other students in the room as they started to clap. "I dare Davis to get Johnson next!"

Tracey laughed. "You got it! I'll make your eyebrow thickening jinx seem like a first year spell!"

The Malfoy snickered and turned back to his cousin. "Quidditch season's starting, got us all hyped up. Wanna help me write something for Weasley?"

Anna frowned. "Why? He's not good, there's no reason to intimidate him."

"Oh no, dear cousin. That is where you're wrong." He smirked. "He's the weakest link and he has one of the most important positions in the team. Of course it doesn't matter if he already sucks, but he sucks even more he'll bring them all down. I have to work on him since you won't let me work on Potter any more than usual. Which thanks to you is pathetically little."

He swore she had a proud glint in her eye when she countered his complaint. "Even if I did let you, you wouldn't."

Draco wasn't sure if she was right, but the fact that he was considering was enough to potentially alarm him.

Theo held Anna by the waist as she walked through the snow, carefully trying to make sure she didn't slip. To be honest, he didn't mind the snow and he didn't mind the fact that Hagrid was back. Somehow he'd never actually disliked him so much as been slightly annoyed by him. But COMC had been getting boring without the deadly animals to keep him entertained. What was life without a few hippogryphs?
He smiled slightly to himself as he looked at Draco. It wasn't that he'd enjoyed seeing his friend get hurt, but to be perfectly honest the boy had had it coming. You don't just ignore the instructions given to you by a teacher when faced with a potentially deadly creature.

"We're working in here today!" Hagrid called from the edge of the forrest. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark."

It wasn't really a reassuring thing to say, and that coupled with the bruises all over his skin and the still bleeding cuts all over made it so that many students were terrified before even setting foot among the trees. Of course the bruises weren't caused by whatever was in there, Anna had told them the man had gone to visit the giants. Violent lot they were, and it seemed like they weren't much kinder to their own. Or, partially their own, whatever.

Anna reached out a hand to squeeze Draco's. She'd been quite protective lately, what with the Quidditch Match Fiasco, even if she knew that it was always Draco's fault that he got hurt. Always. But still, she was protective. She might yell and lecture and complain, but she would never leave him. Theo liked that about her, even if he sometimes though she was too soft on everyone. That could only result in her being too hard on herself.

They came to a halt eventually, in the middle of a clearing in the forrest. Hagrid turned to them.

"Now, what y'er studying today is pretty rare. I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em." He started.

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Draco called out, a hint of fear in his voice. "It wouldn't be the first time you've brought wild stuff to class, would it?"

There were murmurs of agreement among the students and not all of them were from Slytherins, Theo noticed in surprise.

"'Course they're trained." Hagrid scowled and placed the dead cow he'd brought some ways away on the ground. "Now if you're finished asking stupid questions, gather 'round!"

The students got closer, slowly and not at all surely, but eventually they were indeed gathered around Hagrid and the stinking, rotting cow.

"They'll be attracted to the smell of the meat but I'm going to give them a call anyway because they like to know it's me." Hagrid explained before turning away and giving a shrieking cry.

A few seconds passed by and he gave the cry again.

Then he saw it. A large winged horse like the one they had seen at the beginning of the year, with milky white, pupilless eyes and black hairless skin. In fact, their hide looked like worn leather with patches of hair here and there. They weren't pretty, they were frightening, but they were fascinating too.
Anna took a step closer, passing between a few of the still confused Slytherins, and Theo followed, keeping a hand around hers. Looking around, he could only see another two students that seemed to register the animals. Potter and Longbottom. Well, that was cheerful

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid laughed, watching happily as the two creatures approached him. He looked up at the teenagers. "Now put yer hands up, who can see them?"

Obediently, the couple did and the two Gryffindors followed suit.

The man nodded solemnly and tried to speak, only to be interrupted by Draco again. Except, instead of the cocky abrasive voice he would have usually used, he spoke in an alarmed one as he looked at his cousin.

"Excuse me, but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"

Before anyone could answer Hagrid pointed at the ground, where the animals started to eat the dead cow. This action earned several alarmed shouts from the rest of the students. A few took many steps back, calling out to Hagrid for an explanation, but Anna walked forwards as if mesmerised, pulling Theo with her.

"What's doing it?" Parvati demanded. "What's eating it?"

"Thestrals." Hagrid supplied cheerfully. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em here. Now, who knows-?"

"But they're supposed to be really unlucky!" Parvati interrupted again, pulling Lavender closer to her. "They're supposed to bring terrible misfortune to all those who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once-"

"That's just superstition." Anna snapped. "You can't judge a whole species on what a crazy dingbat tells you."

"Hey!" Lavender glared, but couldn't finish her sentence as a thestral passed close by her and she was forced to step back in alarm. "I think I felt something! I think it's near me!"

"Don' worry, they won't hurt you." Hagrid tried to placate her. "Right, now, can someone tell me why some of yer can see 'em and some can't?"

Granger raised her hand.

It was cold. So very very cold. He could barely stand it. Snow fell and flew towards him, chilling him to the bone. The thin camisole he was wearing offered little to no protection from the dreadful weather, as if he weren't miserable enough.

He screamed again, hand scratching the stone wall hard enough to draw even more blood from his already bleeding nails. It was worth it, though. The pain kept him conscious and being conscious meant no nightmares. Every day was a waking nightmare, but sleeping ones were worse.

The man licked the liquid from his fingers. It was so cold the warmth had already vanished from the blood, leaving nothing but a paste that didn't help his hurting gums. That's what happens when you only have bread, which hardens more and more in the cold. His stomach rumbled and ached at the same time, the thought of food in it being better than anything he could imagine, but then it was gone. The thought was still there, but it brought him no happiness.

Sunken eyes trailed to the bars of his cell. In the dark he could make out an approaching figure and through the wind he could smell rotting flesh. The air got colder and colder as the figure approached. Was it his turn already? Please no, not again.

He scrambled to the back of his cell, clutching his thin limbs to him. A low moaning sound erupted from his throat, his raw, cold throat. It hurt so badly, everything did, but that was better than feeling the despair that was coming towards him. No more, no more. Stop. Stop. Stop.

The dementor stood still outside his cell and sucked. He felt like his very soul was being torn from his body, leaving him empty and afraid and in pain. Stop. Stop. Please. Stop. It hurts.

"A-" Say it.

"A-" Please say it.

"A-" Don't say it. They'll take that too. Take it, take her, again. Away. Away. Again.

Don't say it. Silence. Suffer.

"Rodolphus."

The sucking stopped. Did it? He still felt empty.

"Rodolphus." Someone was saying his name. Nobody had said his name in so long. Not since Bella and Rad had stopped talking, stopped calling.

Silence. Don't let them take her. Don't say it.

"Rodolphus, it's me." A hand pulled his face roughly towards a figure. Also dark, also cloaked, not rotting. "Look at me."

Grey eyes opened and searched through the darkness. There was a mark. A silver mask with markings. It looked familiar. A Death Eater mask.

The man struggled to drag up memories from the dusty corners of his mind. It was hard. Those were good memories, those were hidden, buried, forgotten or gone. It was hard. But the mask was familiar. The voice... was familiar.

He looked into the eyes of the man holding him. Grey eyes, his eyes.

"Lucius." Rodolphus' voice came out raspy, unsure. "Lucius?"

"Yes, yes. It's me." He picked up his brother-in-law, not a difficult feat since the once larger man was now a withered mess. "Come on, Rodolphus. You're coming with me, you're getting out."

Was it real? It wasn't real. Was it real? Could it be real? It couldn't. Could it? It could. It could. It couldn't.

He didn't want to. Why? Death Eaters? The Dark Lord. That was good, but... But? His Lord. But. Why but?

"Lucius-"

"Come on. You'll meet your daughter at Christmas." The blond man insisted. "Just hurry up or they'll catch us."

Annabelle. Anna. Annie.

Could it be real? It couldn't. Could it?

It didn't matter.

With the last of his strength he placed his legs firmly under him and helped Lucius help him walk out.