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Chapter 19
Harry was pacing up and down outside the main doors to the school, with Hermione standing to one side looking a little nervous but not saying anything. She knew she couldn't change Harry's mind now, she had tried last night for his sake, but he was set on his cause. She also wasn't entirely sure she wanted him to stop, and when she could convince herself that was what she wanted it was because she wanted to take his place and do it herself.
A few discreet questions this morning had revealed that Hermione wasn't the only student that Umbridge had used that foul quill on, it was a common way she conducted any detention she gave the lycanthropy students. Some of them were only twelve. She had convinced them that if they complained, then she would use the Ministry to go after anyone they cared about. Given that a lot of the people they cared about were also lycanthropes, the Ministry getting involved would almost certainly mean their execution.
At best Harry could figure Umbridge's plan was to have one of the lycanthropy students snap and attack her, giving her all the ammunition to have them all thrown out of the school. Lycanthropy sufferers unfortunately didn't enjoy the same level of protection as regular witches and wizards, and Umbridge had gotten so used to lumping Hermione in with them in her head that she forgot that Hermione wasn't a lycanthrope. With Hermione hurt and Dan and Emma threatened, if somewhat ineffectively, Harry was now on a warpath and there was very little that was going to be able to stop him.
A thestral-drawn carriage came up through the gatehouse, and Harry stopped his pacing to watch as it made its way across the courtyard until it pulled up next to the stairs that led up to the main entranceway. The door to the carriage opened, and a second later Sirius jumped out looking, well, serious and ready for business.
"Do you have what I need?" Harry asked, completely leaving out any kind of greeting.
Sirius pulled a stack of parchment and two vials of potions so Harry could see them, and then stepped to the side and raised his hand into the carriage, where it was grasped by a more feminine hand as he helped Rita Skeeter climb down the steps of the carriage. "Was there ever any doubt?"
Harry nodded at Skeeter, which was as little as he could get away with without being rude. He was still unhappy with her over the out-of-context quote of his she had published. But theirs wasn't a relationship of friendship, it was one of business and necessity. Harry understood that he had let his guard down around Skeeter before, and he wasn't going to make that mistake again. He took the paperwork from Sirius as Skeeter's photographer climbed out of the carriage, and then Harry gave everyone a look before asking, "Does everyone know what they are supposed to be doing?" They went over the plan again, and once Harry was convinced everyone knew what they were doing, it was showtime.
-ϟϟϟ-
There was a loud crash from the entrance hall, sounding like something had smashed apart one of the suits of armour. "Peeves!" Filch shouted and stood up from where he was eating his breakfast at the staff table to go and sort out the mess, only to stop when everyone in the Great Hall heard a voice shouting, "Harry, stop, you can't do this."
That was obviously Hermione Granger's voice as she pleaded with her boyfriend. A few people rose to investigate, but before they could go anywhere the doors burst open and an extremely pissed-off-looking Harry Potter strode into the Great Hall, followed by Hermione who was protesting what he was doing, saying "it's not worth it!" and "please don't." He was also being followed by a suit of armour who seemed to be missing a hand and was upset with him.
As Harry strode through the Great Hall, people noticed two things. One, his attention was entirely on the head table and he was walking towards it as fast as he could, the odd person in his way seeming to slide away with windless magic. The second thing was that Harry was clutching the gauntlet off of a suit of armour, probably the one chasing him, in his left hand so tight his knuckles had turned white.
"Potter, what is the meaning of this? Sit down th-" was as far as Professor Snape got before Harry's wand was suddenly pointed at Snape.
Harry snapped, "Silencio," ignored any protests, and marched right up to the staff table right in front of Umbridge before throwing the gauntlet into her breakfast. The woman stuttered indignantly but before she could say anything Harry started talking in a clear and cold voice.
"Dolores Jane Umbridge of the House of Umbridge, I, Harry James Potter, Warlock of the House of Potter and Heir to the Warlock of the House of Black, call you out for your actions against my lady and betrothed Hermione Jean Granger of the House of Granger, and for your threat against Daniel Granger of the House of Granger and his wife Emma Isabella of the same house. You abused your authority and forced my betrothed to write lines not with ink but her own blood by use of a blood quill. Your actions are abhorrent and beyond what can be accepted in a civilised society, and so I throw down the gauntlet and demand satisfaction. I challenge you to a duel."
There was a collective gasp from all the students in the hall so big that a few of the students would swear their ears popped from the sudden drop in air pressure. Even the professors froze in shock. Umbridge, however, just smiled, pushed her plate away and said. "No one working for the Ministry of Magic can be legally challenged to a duel when in the execution of their duties. Now take this plate down to the kitchens and get me a replacement before I have you in detention for a month."
Harry couldn't help the smirk that tugged on his lips as he stared up at Umbridge and did nothing. However, right next to Harry, Rita Skeeter dropped her disillusionment charm and came into view. With everyone so focused on Harry, no one had noticed the slight air shimmer that was following him. "Madam Undersecretary and recently appointed School Inspector Umbridge, can you please confirm what you just said? Did the Ministry in fact give you instructions to torture students here at Hogwarts?"
Now Umbridge was in a difficult position. She could either accept and duel the enraged Harry Potter, a boy whom she has seen put an ice spear through the head of a fire golem and force a powerful dark wizard to retreat leaving his arm behind. Or she could claim that she was working Ministry business and have it written through the Prophet for everyone to see that the Ministry was torturing kids. And not just any kid, but the betrothed of the Boy-Who-Lived. Half the country believed the story that the Dark Lord whom Potter fought at the end of the Triwizard Tournament was truly He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Fudge would crucify her to try and save his own hide and leave her for the masses. She had to think of something, and quickly. "I am afraid your challenge is invalid. To challenge for a duel on Miss Granger's behalf, you would need to be from her House and have the permission of her head of the family." She inwardly sighed in relief.
Harry pulled out a stack of parchment from his robes and slapped them on the table as well. "I am part of the House of Granger. The House of Granger took me in and gave me shelter in my time of need and protected me from numerous dangers. I am a vassal of the House of Granger as recognised by centuries of tradition. You are also incorrect about needing her head of house's permission to challenge for a duel. Legally I only need the permission of any Warlock to whose House I belong, which, in case you have forgotten, is me. But on the off-chance you don't accept that-"
The air shimmered again as Sirius Black revealed himself. "Warlock Black at your service. I hereby give my godson the legal authority to challenge for a duel in this matter, and I have a signed letter here from Miss Granger's father granting Harry Potter the right to challenge for this duel as well." He held up a piece of mundane paper with something written on it that everyone guessed was exactly what he claimed it was.
Harry leaned in and said in a quiet voice that only those the few staff members who were unlucky enough to be seated next to the toad could hear. "Face it bitch, you can't get out of this one."
Umbridge realised he was right. He had her backed into a corner, and neither of the ways she could go were a good option. The only thing she could do now was play for time. "I nominate Auror Shacklebolt as my second. I-" she tried to continue but she was cut off
"I refuse to be your second." Professor Shacklebolt said firmly and clearly.
"What do you mean? As an auror-" but again Umbridge was cut off
"As an Auror, I am bound to uphold the law, I am not bound to act as your errand boy. Find someone else." Shacklebolt stated firmly.
Umbridge looked around and realised there was no one there who would act as her second. Arrangements and negotiations were done through the seconds, the custom had started long ago as too many fights broke out between people as they decided on things like when and where the duel should be held. It was found that the seconds were able to keep a much cooler head when negotiating.
"I appear to need time to find a second," Umbridge said, trying to remain calm.
Harry gave her a cold look; it was only the formal rules of a duel keeping him even somewhat civil at this point. The longer he stared at the bitch who had hurt Hermione, the more he wanted to send a cutting curse at her neck. "I nominate Sirius Black as my second."
Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder and took over as Harry's second, as was proper. "Umbridge, you have twenty four hours to nominate a second and have them report to the neutral arbiter. I nominate the goblins of Gringotts as arbiters, do you object?" She really couldn't, goblins were considered the best arbiters of disputes between witches and wizards in Britain. They hated all witches and wizards equally, so they didn't take sides. Sirius continued. "Should the goblins of Gringotts refuse to act as arbiters, then I will send word and your second can meet with me and we will decide on a new arbiter."
With that, Harry and his entire group walked out of the hall, except for the suit of armour who gestured to Umbridge to give him his hand back.
-ϟϟϟ-
Sirius' following trip to Gringotts was fruitful. The goblins had accepted the offer to be arbiters quickly and for a much lower fee than he expected. Apparently watching two humans beat the shit out of each other was something they enjoyed and didn't feel the need to charge a lot for. Now all Sirius had to do was wait for the Gringotts-appointed goblin to contact him with the time and place of the meeting of the seconds.
While he waited, he went back to Grimmauld Place to speak with Dan and Emma and update them on what was going on. They were understandably upset last night when the mirror call from Harry and Hermione informed them of what had happened to their daughter at school, and the two were also more than a little surprised at how vindictive Harry's plan for dealing with the Ministry toad was. But when they learned that Umbridge had threatened to leak their home address, all opposition to Harry's plan died quickly afterwards.
When Sirius walked into the house, he was again struck by how different it was from when he had grown up here. The team of cleaners/curse breakers he had hired had practically stripped the place, and Dobby and Sassy had jumped at the chance to redecorate the house. There were still signs that this was the House of Black, there was the family crest on the woodwork and cutlery and black was still a prominent colour in the decoration, with all the wood and rough iron stained black. However, just because it was black didn't mean it had to be bleak; the walls were now a bright cream colour and the carpets were a light grey. There wasn't much in the way of colour, but still the house felt warm and inviting. Of course that was just in the public areas of the house. Up in the bedrooms things were decorated to the tastes of the people they belonged to, Sirius's was an exploration of colour.
He found Dan and Emma in the kitchen drinking tea and waiting to find out what was going on. Normally they would be at work as it was Wednesday, but they had called in temp workers to cover for them claiming to be sick. When she saw Sirius walk in, Emma demanded "What's happening."
Sirius started to pour himself a cup of tea as he spoke. "Pretty much exactly what Harry predicted. She tried to weasel out of it but Skeeter trapped her from using the Ministry to block it. She has managed to delay it as she needs to find a second, but once she does the negotiations begin.
"What will happen at the negotiations?" Dan asked as Sirius sat down, a bowl of tomato soup appearing before him. It was lunchtime, but the Grangers had already eaten.
"Well, Umbridge will be given the opportunity to apologise and give a weregild to avoid a fight, but it's up to Harry and myself to accept what is offered. We probably won't, Harry is extremely pissed off and wants to get onto the piste with the toad. But if the offer is high enough, then maybe." He paused to pop a piece of soup-soaked bread in his mouth. "Then it will be between the seconds to determine what each person is putting on the line for the duel, and what it will cost them if they lose. Harry has already told me what he wants from Umbridge and our guess is that Umbridge will try either for the contents of Harry's Gringotts vault, Harry's house in Hogsmeade, or possibly that he gives up association with your family and the Delacours and marries a pure-blood witch. The question is if her ideology will win out over her greed. I doubt it, but with her it's possible."
"What's to stop her demanding all three?" asked Dan,, who really didn't like the idea of Harry risking his relationship with his family.
"The arbiter. The arbiter needs to agree that both sides are wagering equal and reasonable recompense. Umbridge doesn't have enough to wage against Harry to get more than one. She is a daughter of a branch family with no access to family money, and she has worked for the Ministry ever since she left school. While she had done well for herself raising up the Ministry ladder, it's still a public sector job. You don't earn the goblins' ransom working for the government.
"After working out the forfeit it will be up to Harry to choose the time and location within reason. I think it can be up to a month from the challenge and can only be in a place they can both be reasonably expected to attend. If Harry's choices are considered unreasonable, the arbiter will choose a suitable time and place, probably Gringotts at noon, and Harry will be charged for it. Umbridge, however, will get to choose the rules of the fight from a list chosen by the arbiter. That will most likely be magic, melee, or strength of will. Those are the traditional choices and the goblins like to keep it simple.
"Magic is of course a traditional wizard's duel and is almost exclusively used. Melee they each get to choose one weapon, such as a sword, they have access to. Either one of those I have no doubt Harry will win. The strength of will option can be a bit difficult to predict, the normal way is to see who is better at withstanding pain but it can be any test of will that the arbiter comes up with. The problem with it is that you won't know what the test of will is until the duel. Luckily, Harry has one veto and I recommend he use it if the toad chooses that, which is extremely unlikely as she is a blood purist and to choose anything other than wands would be an admission that Harry, a half blood, is more powerful than her."
Both the Grangers were happy to learn that killing your opponent had been outlawed almost two hundred years ago. He didn't tell them that accidents happen, but as a second was legally allowed to kill a duelist who killed an opponent, it rarely happened in official duels.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry got a letter from Sirius the next morning at the same time Hermione got the newspaper. Harry opened the letter with his wand as he slipped Hedwig her tribute with his other hand.
Harry
Umbridge's second has contacted the arbiter, a goblin by the name of BoneSnapper, and has been accepted. The arbiter has arranged for the first meeting between the seconds to be tonight at 5:00 at the bank. I will send you an update tonight. In the meantime keep your head down and keep away from Umbridge. Failing to do so could be taken by the Arbiter as you trying to interfere with the processes. But also, if Umbridge tries to harass you or Hermione tell me, because the arbiter won't like that either.
Sirius
Harry put down the letter and waited for Hermione to finish reading the article in the Prophet about him challenging Umbridge to a duel. It took her a few minutes, and when she was done he asked, "How bad is it?"
"It's pretty good, actually. It opens with your declaration of challenge word for word, which includes your reason for the challenge. It then goes on to ask if the Ministry really did order it and if Umbridge is also under orders to hide that or if she did it off her own back."
Harry relaxed. The last twenty four hours had been just like the worst parts of every other year Harry had been in the castle. Everywhere he went, the whispers followed him. He supposed he deserved it this time, he was the one who decided that the challenge was going to be at breakfast in front of everyone. A few people came up and asked directly if what he said was true, to which Harry and Hermione both replied that it was, but most people seemed to want to avoid the two of them.
Daphne and Tracey, however, were not too shy to pull them both aside and demand answers. They were both a little concerned over the possibility that Harry could lose the house, especially as they both lived there now, but Harry assured them that he had already arranged with Sirius that if Harry was to lose Potter House then they would all be moving into Grimmauld Place. That house had enough expansion charms on it that it made Harry's three floor townhouse expanded into a massive six floor house look like a cottage. Normally such expansion charms were illegal on a home outside Hogsmeade in case the house was ever bought by a mundane after the magicals died. However, Grimmauld Place's charms were already in place before the law was introduced, and of course as the Blacks had a seat on the Wizengamot they made sure there was an exception for homes with existing charms already in place.
The most interesting thing about the duel was that most of the professors hadn't said anything about it at all. The only member of staff who questioned them was Headmistress McGonagall, who asked Harry in her office, in front of all of the Heads of House, what Umbridge had done, what evidence Harry had, and checked that he was familiar with the rules of duelling. Hermione had a theory that the staff were hesitant to be seen as interfering. Her idea was if Umbridge won the duel they didn't want to be seen as having moved against the Ministry, but if Harry won they also didn't want any allegations of cheating, so they were careful not to say anything either way.
Professor Flitwick, though, had awarded Harry twenty points for Gryffindor when Harry had floated a quill the professor had dropped back up onto the pile of books the little man was carrying. It was an obvious way for the deputy head to say he approved of something Harry was doing, and given the man was a duelling champion and was one of the professors that Umbridge was targeting, it wasn't hard to see what. In fact, all of the teachers that were not considered pure human were walking with a new spring in their step. Harry had even heard from Neville that the Divination professor was predicting his victory, which given the woman's reputation Harry took more as a sign of support than as a foretelling.
-ϟϟϟ-
Later that night Harry was lying in bed, the mirrors connected to Hermione and Fleur once again charmed to be larger and to stick to the underside of his canopy while showing a reflection of his two betrothed. Each girl was laying on top of their covers wearing nightwear that was specifically designed to entice and excite both Harry and the other. Harry would probably do the same, but as a guy sexy nightwear just wasn't a thing, so he was just topless.
Harry was just catching Fleur up on what had happened over the last two days, as Hermione was still in detention during the call two days before and yesterday Fleur had not been available as she had to work towards her final exam in one of her subjects. So, this was the first time Fleur was hearing the whole story, and as you could guess their fiery French fancy was not too pleased with the situation.
"Harry, you will need to be careful. I am sure the pink toad will try to cheat somehow. I am glad you thought to go with Gringotts as your neutral arbiter, they will do their job fairly. Though I think I may write to Longscar, the goblin that will be my immediate supervisor when I start in August, and tell him I have a strong suspicion Umbridge may try and cheat." It was obvious that Fleur was agitated that she couldn't be with Harry and Hermione when she thought she should be.
Hermione was just reassuring Fleur that they would be fine when Harry was interrupted by Hedwig carrying the promised letter from Sirius. Not having any bacon, Harry pulled a few owl treats from a bag he had in his bedside cupboard and offered them to Hedwig. With her placated, he opened the letter and read it out to the two girls.
Harry
had the meeting with the arbiter and Umbridge's second, Walden Macnair. He is the Ministry's dangerous creature executioner, and there were some rumours during the Blood War that he was a Death Eater. Can't confirm if they are true, but don't let your guard down around him. It's possible he is there to gather information for You-Know-Who.
Umbridge apparently wants to settle. The original offer was for fifty galleons, which I must admit had me laughing in Macnair's face. Eventually, we got to a more realistic offer of five thousand galleons, and although I told them it wouldn't be enough I am bound to bring this offer to you. I suggest you write back with a counteroffer.
I did some snooping as well. Apparently, Umbridge has spent the day rushing around the Ministry looking for a way to get out of the challenge, she even tried to make demands of Director Bones to have you arrested. Unfortunately for her, the Ministry's official line from the top down seems to be that this is Umbridge's mess and she has to clean it up herself.
From what I can tell the Minister doesn't want to be seen as standing against you. The people of Magical Britain may be on the fence about if Voldemort is back or not, but they know you fought whoever is behind the Death Eaters starting up again, and for the Ministry to move against you would be political suicide for Fudge. My guess is if Umbridge gets a closed door meeting with the Minister now, it will mostly consist of him telling her how much she messed up.
Anyway I'm rambling on a bit so I'll end it here,
Sirius
"Harry, you remember Macnair, don't you?" Hermione said as soon as Harry finished. "He was the executioner Fudge brought to Buckbeak's appeal."
As soon as Hermione said that, Harry remembered the ominous bloke who had looked annoyed that Buckbeak had gotten off. Harry had no trouble seeing the man as either a Death Eater or as someone who would support Umbridge. The man had an air about him that that seemed to say he enjoyed killing. Why else would he take the job as the Ministry's executioner?
"I remember him. I also have no trouble believing him to be a blood purist. But apart from having met Umbridge's second before, everything is going pretty much by the book. I didn't expect Umbridge to offer so much gold though. What do you say, Hermione? It's you who was wronged, do you want to accept?" Harry asked, hoping the answer was no.
Hermione hesitated a little before saying. "No, Harry. Your plan for the concession you will demand when you win is a good one. Five thousand galleons is a lot, but the peace of mind we could get instead is priceless. Stick with the plan."
It was obvious to Harry why she had hesitated, she was still worried he could get hurt. He did his best to reassure her. "There is no need to worry about me Hermione, you looked up her D.A.D.A. O.W.L. in the library. She barely scraped an Acceptable and didn't even take the N.E.W.T.s. I'm not stupid enough to underestimate her, but I'm confident I can win a fair duel against her."
Hermione agreed, and Harry pulled parchment and a fountain pen from his book bag that he had left next to his bed and began penning his response to Sirius.
A/N
Remember my writing is fuelled by energy drinks and your comments and if you're not supplying energy drinks...
