Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, objects, or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling'sHarry Potterseries.
Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.
"Regular speech or Spell"
"Parseltongue (includes spells spoken in it)"
Text
'Thought'
The True Heir of Slytherin
Chapter 7:
"Fire!"
Dozens of spells zoomed down the length of the training room until each impacted the targets raised on the other side of the vast room. As they made contact with the straw material of the dummies, small explosions formed and incinerated the targets completely, rendering the end of the room a chaotic mess of straw and flame.
Inspecting the damage, Harry and Daphne exchanged a glance before the latter said, "Good. Your skill is proficient enough, I believe, for battle." The others seemed to cheer a bit in their minds. "That does not mean, however, that you will quit practicing it wandlessly silent," she added. Everyone's mood dimmed slightly more than before the good news.
"That is all for tonight, everyone. Remember to hit the showers before heading off to bed and that we will be meet on the top floor of the chamber before heading out into the Dark Forest through pipe sixteen." Harry announced before the room started to empty out until all who were left were Lord Slytherin and his teacher.
"Ready for your turn?" Daphne asked.
"Don't be gentle." Harry smiled, taking off his cloak as Daphne quickly but with ease shot a spell towards the ruins on the other side of the room, removing it from existence.
"Never."
Quickly, the two attacked one another in a triple flash of magic from each wand. From one wand, there were three bursts of jade, and from the other, there were three bursts of red. To match Daphne's green conjured snake, Harry sent a red spell that burst it into flames with another spell mimicking the same snake, though it was larger. Daphne replied with her jade spell, which rotted the piece of magic as if it were made of wood until it disintegrated, as well as another which rebounded off Harry's shield and headed straight toward her. Adding to the fray, although unnecessary due to the shield Harry had stepped beside where his shield had conjured and sent five black spell, creating tiny, black, translucent basilisks that slithered quickly towards their target. The red spell that rebounded off Harry's shield struck Daphne's just before it reached her, and she was able to stop four of the basilisks. One, though, slipped past and was just about to bite Daphne when Harry dissolved it in midair.
"Well fought." Daphne commented coolly. She had not flinched once, even when the basilisk was about to strike her.
"You too, Daphne." Harry grinned and bowed with his betrothed curtsying back.
"Come, it is time for dinner, Harry."
The head of the Slytherin line nodded and followed his future wife to the kitchen so they could cook up tonight's dinner, roasted lamb.
The next morning at six, Harry rose from his bed in the Chambers of Secrets, the one once used by his most famous ancestor, Salazar Slytherin.
It was a luxurious bedroom with an especially comfortable four-poster, king sized bed at the wall facing the door. It consisted of the colors black, which made up the sheets and wooden bed frame, emerald, which colored the curtains, and silver, which trimmed the entire bed. Each wall was colored a darker emerald, and the floor was like the bed in the regard that it was wooden, black, and of a high quality but had the symbol of Slytherins engraved in the floor in silver. The ceiling stretched up ten feet and was the gray of the rest of the stone in the Chamber of Secrets, but Salazar charmed it to conserve heat like the walls. This permitted the occupant of the room not to freeze during even the coldest of winters and to not boil inside his or her skin during the hottest of summers.
Harry lifted the layers of covers off of his body and swung his legs off of the bed and onto the floor before rising out of bed and stepping through the door to the right of the bed that led to the bathroom. Once there he prepared for the day by waking himself with a shower and cleaning his teeth as well as brush his hair. Coming out, he dressed in his regular robes. They were plain black and tight fitting but not constricting. Harry breathed easily in them but was not hampered by the material.
Harry then shadow traveled up to the top floor of the Chamber of Secrets through the mass of corridors and the great set of stairs. Already there was the future Lady Slytherin, waiting with two circles lit with fire, blazing on the floor a fairly good distance from each other.
"What are we working on this morning?" Harry asked curiously, inspecting the two circles that stood separate of the couple.
After Harry asked, Daphne disappeared from her spot in front of Harry before appearing inside one circle then the other before disappearing and reappearing in front of Harry once more.
"Apparation."
"The Chamber dispels the anti-apparation wards of the school?" Harry asked.
Daphne nodded. "The Chamber probably was charmed to do so by Salazar. He would have been one of the best to figure out a way to as he helped create the wards."
"So how does this work? I just imagine where I want to go and try to focus my energy on it?" Harry asked.
"Yes. The Ministry says that you must be quite 'deliberate' and 'not hasty,' but they are full of shite. No amount of careful deliberation is realistic or will save an idiot from severing off his arm or leg. You either have the skill and practice to apparate well or not." Daphne replied.
"Another one of the Ministry's useless regulations, I take it?"
"You have it there. Now, let me see if you can do this. Enter the first circle."
Harry chuckled and walked over to the still flaming circle and walked through without a single burn or sear.
"Okay, now remove your anti-burn charm from your body and clothes," Daphne told her betrothed. When she saw through the flames his hand move quickly, she followed up by saying, "Now go when you are ready."
Five seconds later, Harry disappeared for a second and reappeared in the other circle.
"Good, keep practicing. I want to see it six more times…" Daphne paused, "and I want you to wait less each time."
Harry nodded and did so, increasing his speed the first two times dramatically to where he was at the level of one who had apparated many times more than he.
"Now silently." Daphne ordered. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Focus on being quiet on top of everything else. It's as easy at that." She answered his silent question with a small sigh.
Harry nodded and waited a couple seconds before disappearing and reappearing with increasingly quieter pops.
"Again. I heard you."
Once more, Harry did so with better but not silent results.
"Again."
Harry finally apparated without the slightest sound from one circle to the other.
"Keep going until I say to stop."
Harry continued apparating without a complaint until his betrothed said, "stop."
"Good work. Few if any could do what you just did so quickly." Harry apparated one last time to her.
"Thank you. I had the right teacher, though." Harry bowed before taking Daphne's hand and laying upon it a kiss.
"Well, I had the right student." She smiled.
"Too true." Harry grinned.
"Come on! You two are having another sappy moment?" Seamus joked as he came in.
Daphne rolled her eyes. "If he didn't actually possess a natural talent and loyalty, I'd wonder why you recruited him."
"Well, he is not just loyal and skilled; he is actually clever if he wants to be. He just prefers to enjoy life." Harry replied.
"Too true. Life is my drink, and I prefer not to be sober when it is around. Since it is always around, I always am drunk off it." Seamus laughed.
Daphne gave Harry a look. "I see your point; he does seem to have somewhat of a brain, not just courage and talent."
"I think that was the biggest compliment you've given me. Thanks." Seamus said still with a goofy smile.
"Don't let it get to your head." Harry warned. "You know she will kick your arse."
"I don't doubt that." Seamus said to Daphne's glare.
"You better not," Dean replied to Seamus, "for your own sake."
"Are we seriously already arguing this early in the morning?" Anthony asked with a joking sigh.
"I wouldn't be surprised." Blaise answered as he entered with some of the Slytherins while Anthony entered with his fellow Ravenclaw recruits.
"I don't think anyone is, yet." Ernie said, walking with the Hufflepuffs.
The rest of the Slytherins quickly filed into the Chamber, standing in their designated positions determined by rank and team assignment along with the rest of Lord Slytherin's followers.
"Sound off!" Daphne ordered.
Quickly everyone said "here" individually so that each one was heard separately and so each could be identified.
"All are here, Harry." Astoria bowed although repeatedly being told not to by Harry and Daphne.
Harry gave a barely audible sigh at this display before speaking. "Good. Everyone, lower your hoods, close your cloaks stay quiet, and let's head out!"
Everyone besides Astoria quickly obeyed before following their leader through the pipe system. Astoria was one of an administrative and political position, not of a militaristic one. They all followed behind Harry silently, as ordered.
The large group traveled quickly through what the school would have thought was the sewage system. The plumbing was only at a superficial depth before one of Salazar's long lost and unknown wards removed the waste from existence by cleansing it of all wastes and emptying the water into the Great Lake, which was used as Hogwarts's water supply.
The Order of Slytherin, as its followers had taken to calling it, soon came out into the Dark Forest, emerging from Pipe Sixteen. Some could have arrived faster, however, as Harry's lieutenants had been taught by Harry and Daphne how to shadow travel.
"Move as the shadows do." Harry said in a hushed tone, using one of the groups' designated commands.
He then dispatched the Order into two groups, one led by him and the other led by Daphne.
"Target?" Seamus asked, not a trace of his former liveliness present on his form. As one of Lord Slytherin's lieutenants, he performed when necessary as seriously as if death's pale ghost was walking up to him because as far as any of them knew, that figure could be lurking anywhere, waiting to spring upon them.
"Centaurs. There is a whole village of them in here." Harry replied quickly, not even taking a glance behind him as he and all others of his group skulked through the shadows, remaining low to the ground and silent upon the ground. Their soft-bottomed shoes insured that, though a hard layer remained above the soft bottom to insure that a sharp point could not exploit this softness as a weakness.
"Understood. Notify the men?"
Harry nodded, and Seamus stayed back for a second to inform the one behind him of their target so everyone may prepare for the encounter and to pass on the message along the line. The Irishman then hurried forward to return to his former place while everyone else was told that they were attacking a centaur village.
After walking deeper into the forest for several minutes, Harry raised his left hand up with one finger pointed slightly forward: the signal to proceed with extra caution, and then closed his hand into a fist: ready themselves for a fight.
Everyone realized that this meant they were close to the outer limits of the village and readied themselves while continuing on.
After another couple of minutes of careful treading, Harry suddenly stopped and let fly a spell that as soon as it landed on the centaur scout, it burned into the center of his chest and burnt his insides into ash, leaving a dark cavity inside the dead centaur.
Harry then held up his palm to stop his half of the order. He then brought all of his fingertips together to indicate to everyone to come together.
They quickly obeyed and formed together in a circle around Harry, who walked back into the center of his group.
"We are attacking one end of the town while the others are attacking the opposite side. Both of us are pushing forward, and the goal is to join up in the middle, eliminating every centaur on the way in. Try to remain unseen and unheard as long as possible. When we are discovered and things start kicking off, you can then go loud. Delay that as long as possible, though. The more quietly we do this, the easier. Spread out once we break, and then wait to enter the village until everyone arrives. The centaurs should start waking for the day soon and aren't expecting an attack, so we have the element of surprise. I want some of you to flank each side of the village in this same radius to ensure no scouts slip our grasp." Harry quickly briefed his troops.
"Should we encounter women and children?" Neville asked.
Harry nodded gravely. "They die too. Nobody may know."
"Why? What's the point of this village?" Neville countered, obviously disturbed.
"We can't sneak around in here, and we will be training out here. They cannot know. Besides, they are hostile to humans. We cannot let them one day get so angered towards us that they attack, and with their close proximity to the Chamber, it is a miracle that it has not been found by them yet. They must go, and seeing as they probably would not leave if we asked them nicely and can't know of us, we are left with this option." Harry replied, slightly angered that Neville would question him.
Neville began to open his mouth to argue further but was silenced by Harry.
"Unless you have a valid point, Neville, I would suggest knowing your place and holding off your tongue." Harry said with a caged anger visible to all through his voice.
Neville shut his mouth.
Harry turned from the Gryffindor and back to the rest of the circle. "Any other questions?"
"Do we join up in squads or teams?" Seamus asked.
"No. Each one of us will be taking out targets on our own. You can work in close proximity of another or others but let that only be due to our sweep pattern. No teams."
"Understood."
"Anything else?" Harry asked. Silence. "Good. Now, spread out, and remember: we are shadows."
Everyone nodded and broke from the circle, spreading out through the forest and skulking to tree-to-tree, remaining low to the ground until they came upon the village. Those who encountered scouts silently dispatched them and kept moving, never once stopping. Finally, everyone came to the outer limits of the village, the beginning of the forest clearing, and quickly met up with Harry, who stood facing the middle of their side. They then spaced themselves apart so that each one of them had the same distance between each other and waited for Harry's signal.
Harry silently let a small ray of light out of his palm go straight up into the sky for three seconds before he stopped it. Two similar rays in quick succession replied from the other side of town though each one stopped at the top of its reach.
Harry then began his side's advance. Daphne, on the other side, began did the same with her side's.
Everyone, like shadows, silently made their way into the village.
It was a relatively small and simple village, by no means even a town. Its pathways were merely paths of dirt that had been walked upon thousands of times. Its center was a circle of especially trodden dirt with a well in its center and a wooden platform fit for one centaur to stand on and talk to the rest of the inhabitants of the village. Small homes fit for as many as five centaurs to enter, sleep at one time, and leave one after the other lined all the pathways up to the center of the village. Each home was made of well-woven sticks and grasses that created the walls and had a roof of woven hay with a floor of grass that was visible everywhere in the village except where covered by walls or destroyed by paths. Each home had a simple, tall archway as its entrance.
Each member walked through the village through the paths but broke off to enter each abode and quickly dispatch the inhabitants. When they first entered some guards patrolled some of the outer paths but were no match for the trained members of the Order of Slytherin. Each one fell silently by their spells.
The Order made it two thirds of the way to the center on each side before two families came out, one after the other, and the mother of the second family screamed out before Seamus dispatched her for his neighboring comrade and Neville grimaced.
At once the warriors residing in the still inhabited homes rushed out sleepily to find out the source of the scream, and many were met with spellfire from the Order before they could discover it. Until some first encountered warriors who fought back, the Order remained silent, but after the encounter, spellfire roared from most of the Order's palms and wands.
"Burn it down!" Harry yelled atop the screams and sounds of battle to his followers.
At this command, the Order began not just dropping oncoming warriors or fleeing centaurs, but exploding and setting alight the centaurs' homes.
It was complete chaos as burning centaurs ran through the paths, spells impacted homes and centaurs alike, some centaurs tried fighting back, other centaurs tried fleeing but were caught between the two halves of the Order of Slytherin. Some crossbow bolts and arrows were launched in retaliation, but none impacted their targets as they were dodged, burnt, or deflected by shield spells. Slowly the two halves drew nearer to one another, and the space between, filled with centaurs, grew smaller and deader.
Finally the two halves came within sight of each other and soon thereafter met up with each other.
Harry launched an explosive spell at the final standing home and knocked an incoming warrior off of his feet and onto his side.
"The stars… they didn't… I knew wizards were trouble." Magorian, the leader of the centaurs said weakly before he died. His side had burned his organs badly, and it was a surprise that he could even utter a word.
"Good work, everyone." All around Harry and the rest of the Order of Slytherin centaurs' corpses and homes burned to the ground, and the fires worked on erasing the evidence of the village's existence from the Earth. "Move back to the Chamber."
With Harry and Daphne at the front and the lieutenants behind them, followed by the rest of the Order, everyone ran quickly through the forest and headed back to Pipe Sixteen. The entire time they looked like streaks of dark light, like shadows racing across the forest floor, and they were silent like shadows too.
It did not take them long to reach the entrance to the pipe and then race back to the showers, where they quickly washed off the soot and ash and race up either to the Great Hall or their dormitories. If they were sorted into Slytherin, they went to the former, and if not, they hurried up to the latter to change into pajamas and to pretend to wake for the day. Afterwards, the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs who belonged to Harry's Order walked with the other students to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Nothing came of the assault on the centaur village for a couple weeks until Hagrid and Firenze tried once more to talk to the former inhabitants about Firenze's exile from the herd.
After leaving, they soon returned, running into the castle with grief easily noticeable on their faces. As soon as they arrived, they rushed up to Dumbledore's office.
Throughout the days after, the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore, Firenze, and Hagrid searched through the ruined village and through some of the forest to try and find the culprit, but none was found.
No news about it was reported in the Daily Prophet, and nothing was given officially to the students. The story of the destroyed village of course got out, though, to them, and rumors spread over who was responsible despite Umbridge and the Ministry's desires to hide it. Dumbledore tried harder to find out what happened to the centaurs, but the Ministry shut down his efforts, increasing the tension between the two.
Because of the increased tension, the Ministry began to crack down on the control Dumbledore had over the school and began to expand the powers Umbridge held as High Inquisitor until Dumbledore seemed only to have power as a figurehead in school affairs. As a result, Dumbledore left the school and said McGonagall was to be in charge, but the Ministry was quick to displace her from the position of headmistress and gave it to Umbridge.
As soon as she entered her position, Umbridge changed the school to hold an iron fist over the students, enforcing the Ministry's curriculum in each class. Not even Hagrid could escape it as she enforced safer conditions, eliminating his mandate of more dangerous creatures.
Reactions to the Ministry takeover were mixed, but most students agreed: these new regulations were not for the better. Even the huge amount of followers that belonged to the school, those who went along with whatever was established by the authority, thought that the new curriculum was worse than the old one, both in fun and education. The Order of Slytherin especially hated the changes, but many of the Order were lucky enough to be recruited by Headmistress Umbridge for her Inquisitorial Squad as most of the Order was made up of Slytherin house. Draco Malfoy had used the chance with Harry's permission to become leader of the Squad, and he, as the student populace expected, abused his power over the students but only to ensure that he was undetected as a spy. The other Slytherins that were a part of the squad did the same, abusing power for the sake of spying on Umbridge. With their positions, the Order was able to discover her plans and mandates and move accordingly to remain unbeknownst to her and the Ministry.
Unbeknownst to the Order, however, Umbridge knew Harry Potter was hatching some kind of plot. She had one secret, one person she kept to herself. Nobody knew this person's identity, and Umbridge met with the person in areas the public was oblivious to. She knew Harry Potter was holding at his disposable at least a small group of students. No way would he talk secretly to so select Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs and not be seen with them in public without him raising something against the Ministry and for Dumbledore. Even if the old man was gone, Potter surely was carrying on the former headmaster's agendas. She was determined to find a way to catch him in his act, but the question had been and still was how. She needed to find a way to know where he met with these people and who these people were. If only, she could turn one of them.
Three weeks and two days after Umbridge obtained her position as Headmistress of Hogwarts, she called two students into her office to figure out this dilemma.
"You will tell me what I want to know, or else both of you will be punished for obstructing justice and withholding information from a Ministry official. Both of which are severe crimes." Umbridge demanded.
"What makes you think we have what you want to know?" A boy asked.
"Because you are this person's best friends. Now tell me everything you know about this organization Harry Potter is raising against the Ministry!" Umbridge ordered.
"Excuse me, Headmistress, but we are no longer even friends with him; we have barely even talked to him for months." A girl responded.
"Yeah, why would we remain friends with him after he was such a-" The male was interrupted by the girl's elbow.
"Ah, I get the picture. Neither of you even remotely find the boy friendly?" Umbridge asked with a devious idea on her mind.
Two days later, The Daily Prophet featured another article over the Boy-Who-Lived.
Potter's Latest Act of Craziness
According to former friends of Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, the Boy-Who-Lived has even become hostile to his friends, as he grows more deranged. "I don't know what happened. One day we were okay, then the next he was a good right (CENSOR) to us," said Mr. Weasley about the occurrence. Notably, the three were best friends since their first year before now. Ms. Granger told reporters here at TheDailyProphet, "He has been growing more and more disturbed since before the third task of the Triwizard Tournament that he competed in last year. I just never thought that he would alienate us too."
The article continued on to describe what happened between Harry and his two former best friends with a biased look from his friends' perspectives. Normally, this would have gained an outburst of anger from Harry, but he was now Lord Slytherin and was much more contained than Harry Potter.
"You okay?" Seamus asked lowly.
"I'm okay. That doesn't mean, though, that I'm not talking to them."
"Just talking?" Dean asked.
"Well, if he throws a punch, I must naturally retaliate." Harry grinned.
"You know we're coming with." Seamus said with a tone that meant that there was no use trying to convince him otherwise.
"When?" Dean asked.
"Now."
All four of them got up from their square at the table and went closer towards the end closest to the doors of the Great Hall. There, Hermione and Ronald sat across from each other. Neville and Dean stopped behind Hermione, and Harry and Seamus stopped by Ronald.
"What do you want?" Ronald asked Dean and Neville gruffly.
Dean had his arms crossed and nodded his head towards Harry.
Ronald turned around curiously and repeated his question except this time even rougher.
Harry held up the paper, turned to the article. "Care to explain the lies? Actually, you don't have to. I get it. Although both of you know the truth, you want to get back at me because I ended our relationship. Both of you were angry, so you changed things. Now, you might believe that I went crazy for some odd reason, maybe due to the popular dislike generated about me, because I finally realized and said the truth to you. Though I don't feel like I should or have to explain myself to you, I want to make sure you don't spread lies. It's not a matter of annoyance or anger to me; it just boils down to honor…" Harry paused for a moment before speaking again. "After both of you would not even think of me or understand my situation, I realized the many flaws with our relationship, so I tried salvaging it until finally both of you destroyed my resolve. Now that you understand my position, I just have two questions for you. My first one is how you managed to contact The Daily Prophet and the second is why now."
"Can't figure it out?" Ronald asked.
"Who hates you more than anyone here, Harry, besides us and the Slytherins?" Hermione asked with a sigh, so like she used to when she helped him with his homework.
"Ah, Umbridge." Harry acted nonchalantly. "Why did she want you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ronald asked.
"He won't tell us." Dean said to Harry.
The Lord of Slytherin nodded and turned back to his two former best friends. "Now that we cleared all of that up, stay out of my life. I am tired of people who are owned by irrationality."
Harry started to turn to head out of the Hall but was stopped by Ronald standing up, red faced.
"What?! You think you're so much better than us?! What's so bad with us?! You're the crazy, deranged one!"
"Says the boy yelling and throwing a fit." Harry replied calmly.
Ronald pulled his right fist back to give Harry a hook and a second later launched it with a lot of clumsy power. Harry, though, simply stepped back out of the range of the fist, making Ronald stumble forward.
"Are we really going to be this uncivilized?" Harry asked with an eyebrow raised.
Another hook was thrown but again was avoided with a step back.
"Please stop." Harry said as if Ronald wasn't trying to hit him.
This time Ronald threw a series of hooks as if he was trying to grab Harry, but the lord of two houses sidestepped this display.
"No?"
Ronald jumped at Harry to wrestle him to the ground.
"You are quite poor at answering, aren't you?" Harry had once more avoided Ronald's attempts.
Ronald got up to his feet.
"If you try to hit or wrestle me one more time, I will have to stun you." Harry warned.
The red-haired and red-faced boy charged at the raven-haired teen. Once more black smoothly went beside as the red flashed by, but this time he swiveled to follow the red and pulled out his wand. As Ronald lost his balance and flew forward, Harry cast, "Stupefy," quietly, and a red spell impacted the other boy's back, sending him sprawling forward onto the ground.
"I warned you." Harry turned and walked out of the silent Great Hall, stares following him out. Harry's Gryffindor friends started to follow but were stopped by Harry motioning for them to go back to their seats.
Harry navigated the corridors until he reached a hall void of all student life. As it was a Saturday, most other students were either outside in the snow, in the Great Hall, asleep, or in their common rooms. He then formed into the shadows and raced into the Chamber of Secrets, emerging out onto the top floor of the main chamber. As he formed back into a person, he kept running down the top stone walkway until he reached Salazar's statue.
"Open for your heir!"
Once more the marble mouth opened and the stone bridge rose from the chest to allow Harry to travel to Deus's home.
"Hello, Harry."
"Hello, Deus, my pet. I am in need of your services."
"Ah," Deus said warmly, as he was happy to be of some use, "how may I help you?"
"Three years ago when you traveled the pipes to various parts of the school, did you find a way to the Head's office?" Harry asked.
"No. There is no way there. The pipes there were too small for me when I was just a hatchling."
"So there are pipes there, and they are connected to the main pipes?" Harry persisted.
"Yes. I remember distinctly trying to fit there and almost managing it but was stopped because they eventually grew too narrow. Why?"
"Did Salazar ever shadow travel through them?"
"Need a way in I take it?" Deus asked.
Harry nodded.
"While it wasn't his office when he was here, he did drop by there on occasion using that ancient method and the pipes. What are you going to do once you are in?"
"Raise hell." Lord Slytherin smirked.
"May I be of any more help?"
"In fact, you may."
Harry stayed in the Chamber for the rest of the day while outside the faculty, staff, and the Inquisitorial Squad under Umbridge's orders searched for him.
Finally he emerged before dinner and walked, thinking of his plot but constantly observing his surroundings, to the Great Hall and sat down at his spot at the Gryffindor table.
"Potter!" Draco shouted as he and some other Inquisitors approached. "You're coming with us!"
Harry turned with his eyebrows raised as if he was asking, "really? You think you are?"
"Umbridge wants you in her office. You're to be questioned over the fight between you and Weasley earlier today." Draco added.
Blaise and Daphne stood behind Draco, and both gave Harry a fierce look.
Harry stood from his seat and walked up to the three. All Inquisitors that were there eating dinner or there as support quickly moved their hands to their wands to appear loyal to the Inquisitorial Squad, including the three in front of Harry.
"Okay." Harry stepped past Draco and continued walking out of the Great Hall and to the Headmistress's office.
"We have him." Draco spoke to the gargoyle.
The magical statue gave a glance of what seemed to be regret at Harry but still moved to reveal the spiral staircase.
"Go on, Potter." Draco pushed.
Harry remained silent and climbed the staircase as if it were any other until he reached the office door, where he knocked for Draco. A couple seconds later, a house-elf opened the door and stepped back, closing the door behind the three of them.
The office was redecorated to include portraits of cats and portraits where the former headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts had once resided. All except a few who had no other portraits to flee to had left when Umbridge had taken up her residence in the office. The walls were pink, and doilies covered the Headmistresses desk. There were no more knickknacks; it was as if Dumbledore had never been Headmaster except for his empty portrait on the wall and the Sorting Hat sitting atop its old shelf, which now included teacups and more doilies.
"Mr. Potter, it seems you have an attraction to trouble. You have not just been in my former office but also a Ministry of Magic trial, and that is only this year alone. I am afraid, though, this time you will have to be punished more severely. You dodged any at your trial, and it seems my attempts at disciplining you have thus far failed." Umbridge said behind her desk in her pink, pillowed chair. "Therefore, you will spend every evening with me in my office for two hours, and you are not allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities as well. Other punishments will be given as I see fit on further disobediences."
"Can I not speak for my actions? Is it not my right as a wizard?" Harry asked.
"You are a student, a child; I am Headmistress, an adult. You have no rights."
"Ronald Weasley cannot be attacked. That is a right. You have to allow all students equal rights. Our school's charter mandates it. Not even the Headmistress can change it. Some things are set in stone, Umbridge." Harry replied. "I should be able to speak for myself, as I am sure not all the details have been given on this subject."
Umbridge remained silent, stewing in anger.
"Thank you, professor." Harry paused. "I walked up to Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, inquiring on why they lied in this morning's Daily Prophet. After he took one of my comments badly, he stood prepared to fight. He raged at me with his words, and I said that he was 'throwing a fit,' implying he should calm himself. Ronald, however, lunged at me and continued to do so, trying to inflict harm on me. I kept avoiding his efforts and finally warned him that I would have to stun him if he would not stop after I already tried to persuade him to do so. Ronald Weasley then lunged at me once more, and I fulfilled my warning. There was no other way to stop him from trying to harm me. I had tried words but to no avail. You can talk to Dean, Neville, Seamus, and probably many other people who were nearby who will corroborate the situation."
"Even if your story was proved true, that does not dissuade me from my decision. You assaulted another student with magic, and you helped escalate the argument. On top of all of that, you also confronted another, initiating the entire situation." Umbridge replied.
"Very well then, when shall I start serving my evenings with you, and may I ask, shall I be having my dinners here as well?" Harry inquired.
"No, you shall have fifteen minutes to eat before the dinner closes in the Great Hall if you can get from here to the Great Hall in one second. That shall be when you end your evening with me, and these meetings start tomorrow night." Umbridge smiled cruelly.
"May I be excused then, Umbridge?" Harry asked.
She nodded. "You may, Potter." She then leaned back in her chair victoriously.
Harry turned and left the office with Daphne and Blaise escorting him out.
They walked down the stairs, and after navigating the corridors until they were away from the gargoyle and any other student, the three stopped and moved into one of the dark alcoves nearby.
"Get Umbridge's nightly habits from Malfoy tonight. He should know some things about them, and then tomorrow, Daphne, I need you to find out the others. I have a plan forming that will avenge all those she is wronging. Soon, Ronald and Hermione will also pay. I couldn't extract everything I needed this morning from them; they are both hiding something. We need to discover what they are doing or did." Harry instructed.
"Anything else, milord?" Blaise asked.
"Blaise… no need for the titles. You are one of my lieutenants. There is already a respect given there."
The Slytherin boy nodded.
"Anyways, no. Not yet. Spread the word, though, that we will be meeting every night after curfew starting tomorrow night. We need to start arranging some things."
"We'll take of it, Harry." Daphne assured.
"Good. Now, you best be off to bed before someone spots you two somewhere you're not supposed to be. Goodnight." Harry said quickly.
"Goodnight," Blaise replied before hurrying out.
Harry pulled Daphne in for a kiss before she could say goodnight as well.
"Goodnight, Daphne." Harry smiled lovingly.
"Goodnight, Harry." Daphne and Harry then left the alcove and parted ways, Daphne going to catch up to Blaise, who was walking slower to allow her to get to him faster.
Meanwhile, Harry went on his way to the boys' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower. When he arrived inside, he quickly removed his robes and dressed in his pajamas before lying down in bed.
Before Harry turned over and closed his eyes to sleep, though, he silently cast a spell at Ronald that did not visibly seem to affect the boy.
That night, Ronald Weasley, the former best friend of Harry Potter was tortured by nightmares that he had never experienced before. His worst fears and most terrible memories pained him throughout the night until he woke the next morning at eleven covered in sweat all over his body as well as piss in his pants.
AN: Finally finished with this chapter! I'm so excited to bring you this chapter after having no inspiration or progress for so long. You'll be finding that I will soon be cranking out new chapters for my stories thankfully. As before and always, I'd love your reviews. Occidere Prima Vel Occidi!