Angelina was not that impressed that they had gotten a lifetime ban from Quidditch. However, the only consolation seemed to be that she was more angry at Umbridge than them. "I bet Draco will only get a slap on the wrist," she had said.
"He won't get in any sort of trouble, he'll call himself a victim." Amelia said reproachfully.
"Hey, at least it means you'll get a few games in now." Harry looked on the bright side momentarily. Amelia was the Reserve Seeker, so it now meant she'd play games full-time.
"It's just so unfair," Alicia Spinnet had said, "your ban. I mean, Crabbe almost took me out the game completely with that Bludger! I don't see him getting banned for that."
Harry then realised that he hadn't seen Ron since the incident. "Where's Ron?"
"In his dorm," Katie said, "I think he's sulking over the goals that he missed."
Harry nodded, and went up to the boy's dormitory, where low and behold Ron was. "Did you hear? Me, Fred and George have been banned from Quidditch after what we did to Malfoy." He said.
"What?" Ron yelped.
"Umbridge." Was all he had to say.
"How dare she!" Ron rambled. "She's an utter scumbag!"
Harry avidly agreed. Then he realised something. "She's really not going to let the DA reform now, with me involved and everything."
Ron's eyes widened. "Oh no, you're right! Oh Harry, this is all my fault.."
"Your fault?" Harry was confused. "You didn't force me to punch Malfoy."
"It was that stupid song that wound me up," Ron said, "it made me miss that penalty shot, did you not hear them singing it during the game? After that, it all went terrible, and they would have catched us up on the goals if you hadn't caught the Snitch."
"But Ron, that's besides the point, we won!" Harry exclaimed, "and you are not a terrible Keeper. You did really well for your first game. The only terrible Keeper on the pitch was Bletchley."
"Nah, he was better than me." Ron said, then continued, "I might hand in my resignation to Angelina first thing tomorrow morning."
Harry sighed, he knew Ron could get like this. "If you resign, that'll just add fuel to the Slytherin teams fire," he replied testly, "and the team will still be down a Keeper."
"That Vicky girl can have it," Ron grumbled.
"The same girl who wouldn't prioritise Quidditch over Charms Club?" Harry said tersely, "That Quidditch book I got you will all be for naught."
Ron said nothing, but gazed miserably at his bed covers. After a while he decided. "I'll keep at it then."
Harry was about to get himself ready for bed, when Dean came into the dorm. "Harry, Professor Black's wanting to speak to you."
"Oh, really?" Harry perked up, but then realised it was probably not going to be about his latest Astronomy homework, but that it was going to be about his incident earlier - for he could still see the furious look on his godfathers face whenever he blinked. "Is he downstairs?"
"He's outside the portrait hole." Dean replied. Harry, taking a deep breath, went down the stairs back into the common room. As expected, Sirius was standing halfway in the common room. He only smiled slightly at him and gestured for him to come outside.
Harry followed, and Sirius led him to an unused classroom. Harry perched himself on the nearest desk, for he knew this was probably going to be a lengthy talk.
"Now, I haven't the faintest idea what on earth possessed you to beat up Malfoy, Harry, but all I know is that it was totally out of order. And what do I hear at dinner? That you've gone and got yourself a lifetime ban from Quidditch!" Sirius said, not kindly.
Harry gulped. "Fred and George got banned too," he said weakly.
"Yes, I'm aware, but this is about you, not them." Sirius said. "What on earth were you thinking, Harry?"
He looked down at his hands. "Didn't you hear Malfoy? He was insulting Mr and Mrs Weasley, and my mother!"
"You took the bait and rose to his insults, despite knowing that was probably his plan?" Sirius said irately.
"Well, someone had to." Harry said defensively. "I only punched him in the stomach, by the way, it was Fred and George who did most of the beating. Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't stand for it if you heard someone call my mother insulting names and claim she lived in a 'reeking hovel'."
Sirius sighed. "Harry, the bigger man would swallow his pride and ignore the insults."
"Sirius, a better man would teach the idiot throwing insults around a lesson." Harry replied moodily before he could even think. Sirius ran a hand down his face in stress and let out a noise.
"You're too much like your father for your own good." Sirius said.
"You're always saying how that's a good thing." Harry grumbled.
"Yeah, well, in this case its cost you the privilege of playing Quidditch, and will probably cost you the DA as well, so look how far it really gets you." Sirius glared at him.
Feeling overwhelmingly guilty, Harry diverted his eyes anywhere but his godfather. He didn't even want to think of the possibility of not being able to reform the DA. Surely Umbridge couldn't take that away from him as well? That reminded Harry. "Do you know who attacked Wayne Hopkins?"
Sirius turned his head sharply. "Yes, they were found trying to escape and were taken to the Ministry."
Harry flared up. "So why hasn't the school been told who it was?! What is the need to walk around in groups of two or more if they've been caught?!"
"If you calm down, I will tell you." Sirius said tersely. Harry sighed deeply, and stopped talking.
His godfather's tone went back to normal. "What I'm about to tell you will most likely be front-page news in the Prophet tomorrow, but nonetheless you should still keep it to yourself until then." Harry wondered what on earth was the reason for secrecy, but Sirius continued. "The boy who attacked Wayne Hopkins was a seventh year Ravenclaw student, called Francis Selwyn."
Harry felt a bit underwhelmed - he had never heard of this boy. He thought it would be somebody more well-known. "Aren't the Selwyn's pure-bloods?" He was sure he'd heard of them.
"Yes, but this boy is a cousin of the main branch of Selwyn's - his grandfather is the patriarch of the family, I think." Sirius said. "Dumbledore gave the boy Veritaserum, and he explained his motives."
Harry felt a bit nervous. "Which were?"
"He has Death Eater sympathies."
Harry felt himself numb. A Voldemort supporter was under this roof the whole time that wasn't Malfoy. He felt a bit terrible that the boy was a Ravenclaw; that House didn't tend to throw up pure-blood supremacists, and Harry was sure that at least some of the Ravenclaw's weren't going to be happy when they heard the news. This Francis boy was mere months from graduating… It was going to be a shock to them, that was for sure.
"Wait, did they ask him if he was also the one who attacked me, Theo and Blaise?" Harry asked frantically.
Sirius's mouth thinned. "Dumbledore didn't ask him that."
"How come?!" Harry raged. "Has he seriously forgotten that we were also victims of an attack?!"
"How about we go and ask him right now?" Sirius offered.
Harry froze. "Really?"
"Yeah, why not? It's not lights out yet, so I'm sure we'll be fine." Sirius said. Harry reluctantly agreed, not looking forward to seeing the Headmaster.
When Sirius said the password to the office, they stepped in, and were a bit shocked to see Kingsley standing with Dumbledore. The tall man nodded in welcome. "Sirius, Potter,"
"Harry wants to know if a question can be brought to the Francis Selwyn boy," Sirius explained.
Dumbledore looked uneasy. "I'm assuming it's regarding the attack on you, Zabini and Nott back in September, and whether or not he was also responsible for that."
"Yes." Harry said as politely as he could.
"The boy is currently in the Ministry's holding cells, however, I'm sure Kingsley can Floo back and put the question to him." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the Auror, who nodded, and without another word stepped through the fireplace. There was a bit of an awkward silence whilst they waited for him to return. "Lemon drop, gentlemen?" Albus asked.
"No thank you," Harry replied with the thinnest smile. Sirius took one to be polite.
"I'm sorry about your Quidditch ban, Mr Potter." The Headmaster said.
Oh, are you now? He thought bitterly. "I'm assuming there's no way you could lift the ban, Professor?" He said meekly.
Dumbledore chuckled unsmiling. "I'm afraid our High Inquisitor is quite adamant on having superiority over all punishments, Mr Potter. I could not revoke it."
Kingsley returned almost five minutes later, grumbling about how he had to prove to about five people that he wasn't an imposter trying to break Selwyn free. The man looked a bit grave as he whispered to Dumbledore. After a few moments, Kingsley turned to Harry. "You may not like this answer," at that, Harry's heart fell, "but yes, Selwyn was the one who tried to harm you and your two friends in Slytherin. He will also be charged for that."
Feeling dizzy and dazed, Harry felt like he'd been glued to the floor. He had braced himself to accept that answer, yet it still felt terrible knowing it. He willed his brain back into action. "Oh… Well, it's a good thing he can't hurt anyone else now."
Sirius was now looking extremely sympathetic, as opposed to five minutes ago when he was literally seething. Harry felt himself get clammy. Sirius knew that his godson was taking the news quite badly, so they called it a day and left the office, walking a bit quickly back to Gryffindor common room.
"You've had a lot of bad news today, kiddo," Sirius said as they approached the portrait hole. "Get a nice good sleep, or better yet spend time with your friends to take your mind off it."
Harry was only barely listening.
When Harry got back into the common room, it was practically deserted; which was a bit weird as they were still celebrating the Quidditch win when he left. Though it was true, he was feeling dizzy and overwhelmed, he wasn't quite tired yet, so elected to stay up a bit longer. He absentmindedly took a seat in the armchair and stared at his fingers, anything and everything on his mind.
He felt like the biggest twat in the world; getting himself banned from Quidditch, and he couldn't even fly his Firebolt around anymore, for Umbridge had taken that from him too. He was 80% sure she was also likely to purge the DA from him too, which really weighed him down. All that teaching, all the friendships still being formed.. He didn't want them to be for naught, especially when there were still a good few hundred pupils in the school who weren't a part of the club.
He simply couldn't allow the DA to fall far behind. Though they were fast learners, he really wanted to start covering duelling with them as soon as possible; for in Wayne's situation, it could have saved him from his injuries. Duelling was an important life skill in general, but he'd sleep easier at night knowing that if there were to ever be another attack, and a DA member was targeted, they'd be able to hold the attacker off for long enough to get help.
A thought sprang to him then - what if there was a way to hold DA meetings, but in secret? That would be defying Umbridge and risking expulsion, but Harry couldn't help but feel a thrill. There was one problem though: where was he going to hold the sessions? He considered all possibilities - a spare classroom? Umbridge would likely hear them, unless he cast a Muting Charm on the room or something… But deemed that too risky. Somewhere in Hogsmeade? Anyone could walk in and go scuttling back to Umbridge. The Shrieking Shack? It was possible, but there was barely enough room to maneuver and space out in there - and both groups of the DA combined were well over a hundred people. Plus, if an Umbridge loyalist like Malfoy saw people congregating towards the Shack, he'd likely find that suspicious, even if they arrived in small droves. The Forbidden Forest? Even if they didn't go that far in, there was still a chance somebody could see them, and plus, the Junior lot (especially the first and second years) might get scared. Down by the Black Lake would likely be a big no-no too, as half the castle could probably see them by just looking out of a window.
Frustrated, Harry had no clue how else to go about it. He was about to give up the thought when he heard something behind him. Lurching, he was pleasantly surprised to see it was Dobby. "Master Harry!" The elf cried in welcome.
"Dobby!" He grinned, but couldn't help but notice that layers and layers of Hermione's SPEW hats were being worn around the elf's ears. "How are you?"
"Dobby is fine, Master Harry, Dobby is enjoying working for Professor Dumblydore very much, as is Winky." Dobby replied merrily.
"Oh, is Winky working here as well?" He was surprised to hear that.
"Yes. But Winky is still ever so sad about Mr Crouch. She drinks heavily." Dobby looked sad then, and Harry felt sad too.
A thought came to Harry then. "Dobby, elves can Apparate inside Hogwarts, right?"
"Yes." Dobby perked up.
"Good. Also, do you know if there's any… secret rooms in the castle? Ones that even staff members won't know about?" He asked eagerly.
Dobby had a thought. "Dobby knows of one, Master Harry. The Come and Go Room."
"The Come and Go Room?"
"Yes. It's also known as the Room of Requirement. It changes depending on whatever the seeker wants it to be. I could show you how to get into it, Master Harry?"
He lit up. "That would be great! However we'll have to be quiet, and make sure nobody's around." He sprang up to go and fetch the Marauder's Map from his dormitory. He opened it up accordingly, and checked it. Filch was on the fourth floor, Mrs Norris on the fifth. Professor Umbridge was in her office, but moving around within it. "What floor is this Room on?"
"The seventh," Dobby supplied.
"Okay, let's go to it then." Harry grinned, not quite believing that the day could get better after the disasters of earlier.
"Hold on tight!" Dobby commanded as Harry grasped the elf's small hand. He suddenly felt himself be pulled into an Apparition, which was his least favourite method of wizard travel, marginally worse than the Knight Bus.
They appeared moments later, no longer in the common room, but on the seventh floor. Harry brought the Marauder's Map to his face again, to make sure they were still okay. Barely anybody had moved. "It should be on the left-hand side…" Dobby was mumbling. Then he lit up again. "Okay, the Room of Requirement is here."
"But there's no door?"
"The seeker of the Room has to walk past the entrance three times in order for the door to appear," Dobby said, and Harry did what he said. After three attempts, a door appeared.
"Wicked!" Harry said quietly. When they walked in, Harry was mesmerised: for as soon as he thought "I need a space to teach the Defence Association", the room changed. A blackboard appeared, and rows of dummies did too. A bookshelf also magically appeared, with books about Defence and duelling adorning the shelves. Harry had another thought - as the DA had fallen two weeks behind, they would need slightly longer sessions in order to catch up. Three clocks suddenly appeared on the left-hand side. When he went over, one was normal time, the second one instructed him to choose how many hours he needed; he chose two at random, then the third one declared that two hours in the room would pass, yet for everybody else outside the room, time would be normal, and that two hours was only equal to an hour of normal time. This was quite clearly a time delay feature, and he realised he could also use this for studying too: he could get all his homework done in one sitting, without having to sacrifice sleep!
Feeling elated, Harry felt very optimistic now. He couldn't wait to tell the DA. "Dobby, thank you so much for showing me this!"
"It is no problem at all, Master Harry!" The elf looked very happy too. Checking the Marauder's Map, Harry lurched a bit when he seen Argus Filch making his way from the sixth floor to the seventh. "Dobby, we need to get back to the common room! Filch is coming!"
"Squib's cannot find this room unless somebody gives them access to it, Master Harry." Dobby explained. Harry still felt anxious as he eyed Filch walking onto the exact same corridor they were on. Staying silent just in case, Harry watched him march right past the Room and go down another corridor. Sighing in relief, Harry and Dobby left the Room, and quickly Apparated back into the common room. Saying goodbye to the elf, Harry noticed the time was just after eleven at night, so quietly walked into his dorm and got ready for bed.
Sunday was, as normal, a day where everybody got their homework done. None of the teachers were going easy on them, which meant their weekends were barely spent relaxing anymore.
At breakfast, Amelia came down with Dorea to the Great Hall and spied that Susan and Hannah were already there. Sitting at Hufflepuff table, they gladly tucked in.
"What homework do we all have to do today then?" Hannah asked, smiling knowingly.
"Every subject except Transfiguration and Muggle Studies," Amelia answered, Dorea nodding.
"It's such a pain how they assign us so much," Susan said, "I haven't spent a weekend relaxing since October."
Getting a head start, the four of them worked through Sprout's Herbology essay regarding Belladonna. Megan soon came down, and quickly ate before getting hers out as well.
"I still can't believe that Umbridge gave Harry, Fred and George a ban," Susan said quietly as Umbridge had just walked past their table.
"It's utterly unfair," Dorea agreed, "Malfoy got off scot-free."
A thought came to Amelia then. "Susan, your aunt is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, right?"
Susan nodded. "Yes."
"Do you think she knows about how Umbridge is taking over the school?"
"It's hard to tell - Fudge barely looks her way and practically leaves her out of meetings. I could send her an owl."
Amelia lit up. "Oh, that would be grand! She could force Umbridge to nullify the ban."
Susan grinned, and promised to send it off as soon as possible. The five of them continued working through their Herbology homework, and chatting away. However, Hannah was soon looking over her shoulder. "Dorea," the girl leaned in closer, "Blaise Zabini is staring at you."
Dorea glanced up at Hannah, and waited a few moments before turning her head. Amelia turned as well, and Blaise was in fact staring at Dorea. Quickly turning back around, Amelia grinned, "I think he fancies you, Dorea."
Flushing a bit, Dorea faced them again, "Hardly. He's our friend."
They all scoffed. "He was outright staring at you!" Megan whispered excitedly.
Just as their excitement died down, Susan looked at Amelia. "There's someone staring at you too, Amelia."
Amelia turned, and caught eyes with Theo Nott, who quickly looked away, though far too quickly. Smirking a bit, she turned back around. "He could have just been wondering what we were saying."
Hannah and Susan shared a look. "Yeah, sure."
By eight o'clock that night, Amelia found herself finally done with homework, like everyone else. Everyone in the common room was well and truly exhausted. Hermione was almost falling asleep, whilst Ron looked like he'd done enough work to last a lifetime. To think it's only going to get worse in sixth and seventh year… Amelia shuddered.
As they packed their work away, Harry spoke up. "I think I've found somewhere to start the DA up again."
Intrigued, they perked up. "Has Umbridge given you permission to reform?" Hermione asked.
"No," Harry replied, "but Dobby showed me a secret room last night that is totally unplottable. It's called the Room of Requirement. To enter it, you just walk past its entrance three times, where the door appears. When you get into it, it automatically changes to whatever you want it to be. It's amazing."
"Brilliant!" Ron said. Amelia and Dorea liked the sound of it too.
"Harry, I don't know, it sounds risky." Hermione said. "Umbridge said that you'll be expelled if she catches you holding secret meetings."
"If she doesn't know about this room, she'll be totally clueless." Harry reassured her, "she won't be able to find us at all. Dobby can Apparate us all there-"
"-When will you ever read Hogwarts: A History? Nobody can Apparate inside Hogwarts, Harry." Hermione said shrilly.
Harry looked smug. "That's weird, because that's how Dobby got me there in the first place."
Hermione took a severe amount of convincing, but whilst grumbling about how they could all get expelled, she agreed. They then had to tell the other DA members: so Harry went around the common room and privately told the Gryffindor DA members about their new plan. They all seemed very excited by the idea. Some were on the same line of thought as Hermione - it being risky, but they soon were convinced.
The next morning at breakfast, the five of them went round all the DA members and told them about the new plan. Quite a few of them had concerns about being caught, but in the end even people like Ernie and Anthony went along with it, as getting time to practise spells was one of their top priorities.
Almost a week on from being attacked, everyone was very surprised when Wayne Hopkins walked into History of Magic first thing on Monday morning, almost looking as good as new. That period, not even Harry worked, and soon enough the whole class was ignoring Binns and focusing on Wayne instead.
"I cannot use magic at all until my core heals," Wayne said.
"What's a core?" Justin wondered.
"Magical core. It's what every witch and wizard is born with; it's where all our magical ability is stored." Ernie answered for them. "It's naturally quite strong, but if you are ever attacked or tortured via magic so badly, it can weaken it to the point of destruction, meaning that you could become a Squib essentially." Amelia noticed Neville went a bit pale at that.
"Mine's been weakened quite badly, but not severely. I can't physically use magic for two more weeks or so, which means I'm kind of screwed class-wise." Wayne continued.
"You can still learn the theory of spells, though?" Susan asked.
Wayne nodded. "Yeah, and practise them when my core heals up. I'm going to be so behind it's unreal…"
Amelia found it a bit odd when, at lunch, the owls finally arrived with the newest Daily Prophet edition. Everyone else seemed to be confused as to why they were so delayed, as they almost always arrived in the morning. When Hermione paid for hers and laid it out on the table, Amelia braced herself for another smear campaign against her twin brother, yet was quite surprised to see the headline: "HOGWARTS STUDENT ARRESTED FOR ATTACKS AGAINST FELLOW STUDENTS: IS IT TIME FOR DUMBLEDORE TO RESIGN?"
"They've arrested the attacker?" Ron exclaimed.
The article read:
"The Ministry of Magic received a shock when, last Tuesday, Auror's were called to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on the premise that a student had gone missing at lunch. The student in question: Wayne Hopkins, fifth year Hufflepuff, was found severely beaten up in a second-floor corridor at the school after being missing for almost two hours.
After an extensive interrogation, the story was verified by use of memories and Veritaserum: Wayne Hopkins was indeed attacked - by a seventh year Ravenclaw student named Francis Selwyn, who placed Hopkins under Imperius Curse. The motive for attacking Mr Hopkins in particular is unclear.
"Minister Fudge has proven to be very generous to Hopkins's family, as when he was alerted to it, he immediately made sure the boys family was informed and compensated," a Ministry spokesperson has claimed, "he has since visited the family at their home in Devon, and has exclaimed outrage at Headmaster Dumbledore once again; claiming that the Headmaster didn't put in place tougher security measures. Minister Fudge has also criticised the latest mandatory rule for Hogwarts students - which is that nobody is allowed to walk the halls alone, - as he says in his own words that it is 'no better than a scaremongering attempt' and that 'students have a right to know who the bloody assailant was, at least.'
Francis Selwyn, the boy responsible, was immediately arrested after the incident and is currently awaiting trial to determine his sentence. Questioned under Veritaserum, the boy declared his motives, which were simply shocking: Selwyn declared he has Death Eater sympathies, and intentions to harm anyone not with this ideology.
On Saturday it was also discovered that the boy was also responsible for another incident back in September; where none other than Harry Potter was one of the students involved. Naturally, we find this quite dubious, but Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt insists he asked this question to Selwyn under Veritaserum, so it seems to be true.
Naturally, our reader's correspondence has been strife since this story leaked. "I am simply outstanded that Dumbledore had no idea a student with views such as Selwyn's were right under his roof.' says concerned parent Mrs McNully.
'The fact that this boy has attacked four students on two separate occasions is frankly, quite glaring, and shows Dumbledore's ineptitude. His priorities are clearly not sorted out. Parents should come together and sign a petition for Dumbledore to resign his post as Headmaster.' writes Mr Lucius Malfoy."
Amelia had read enough. Harry had stopped reading too. When she glanced up at Ravenclaw table, she felt disheartened when a good handful of students were openly glaring at Harry. Thankfully, no DA members were among them, although some people such as Michael Corner, Stephen Cornfoot and Hope Geddes were looking a bit uneasy. There was a clear congregation of outrage amongst the sixth and seventh year Ravenclaws; clearly, Francis was a popular student, and they were naturally defending their friend. Marietta Edgecombe was among them, but oddly enough Cho wasn't.
"It might be best not to sit with them at dinner tonight," Ron mentioned, "they look quite divided.
Yet after another very boring Defence lesson spent reading, they soon did just that when they came into the Great Hall for dinner: for they looked to Ravenclaw table and saw Tulip Karasu clutching her hand - which was wrapped in a bandage, yet it was bleeding quite drastically. She was trying quite hard to hide it. Amelia, Dorea and Harry shared one glance and one glance only; they knew exactly what had caused that.
Sitting at Ravenclaw table with the fourth year, Amelia could feel people staring. She didn't care though. "Umbridge?" she said to the red-haired girl.
Tulip's eyes widened a bit. "How'd you guess?"
"She's had us in countless detentions." Dorea said.
Harry reached into his bag. "When it dries, apply this Burn-Healing Paste to it, and it'll cover it up almost completely."
Tulip accepted the squeezy bottle, though still looked a bit uncertain. "Thanks."
"What does she have you write with the blood quill?" Dorea asked quietly.
"'I must not misbehave'" Tulip replied, blinking twice. "It's more when she catches me pranking in the corridors and what not. But she has me in detention when I talk during her bore-fest classes too."
"Can't blame you for that," Harry chuckled. Tulip smiled. Soon enough they got talking with each other: Tulip was still mesmerised with Harry's discovery of the Room of Requirement, and liked how rebellious the idea of secretly defying Umbridge was, even though it risked expulsion.
Tulip was telling them about her parents when a seventh year Ravenclaw suddenly came storming down the table towards them. Amelia braced herself for a confrontation, even though it was likely to be aimed at Harry.
"Karasu, why on earth are you speaking to them?" The tall, brunette girl snarled, gesturing to the three of them.
Dorea and Amelia straightened. "They're my friends, Anna." Tulip said shrilly.
"It's quite clear your presence is not wanted at our table, Potter. Partly thanks to you, Francis's life is ruined! In tatters! He'll likely be in prison for a long time, and never be able to achieve his life goals, and it's all your fault!" The girl ranted, screeching quite loudly, which had caused the attention of people sitting nearby to be on them.
"Are you forgetting your precious Francis admitted he has Death Eater sympathies?" Dorea piped up defensively, reminding everyone in the near vicinity that she was indeed a Black.
Professor Flitwick was soon on the scene. "Miss O'Brien, please calm yourself down this instant-"
"-No, Professor, I won't! Don't you see?! It's all Potter's fault that Francis is getting wrongly sent to Azkaban! Francis would never do anything like this! Potter is an utter arse and is ruining the school!" The girl continued rambling in a mad haze.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw for swearing, Miss O'Brien. And another five points for spewing utter rubbish. If you do not want to lose more, I suggest you leave the hall this instant." Professor Flitwick demanded. The Anna girl sighed in frustration, and with one more glare aimed at them, strode from the Great Hall in a right bad mood. Professor Flitwick apologised to them, but they shook their heads and insisted they were fine.
Up at the staff table, Sirius had just watched the exchange happen. He'd half-expected that some Ravenclaw's would be very angry at Harry, for he was part of the reason why Francis Selwyn was likely getting rightfully thrown in Azkaban, but nonetheless he still went into protective mode when the seventh year girl went over. He'd been a bit confused beforehand when he seen his godson hand Tulip Karasu what looked like a bottle of some sort, but he shook it off; that was their business, not his.
As dinner was finishing up, Sirius was reminded of something. He regretfully approached Dolores. "Have you made your mind up regarding my godson's club?" He asked her.
Dolores Umbridge smiled at him, although the little toad looked mirthful. "Not yet, Sirius, but I am close to making a decision. I can tell that the club has not been meeting in secret, so that has satisfied me. If that can be kept up for five more days, I will gladly let it reform."
Sirius blinked. "Five more days?"
"Yes, Sirius." Umbridge confirmed.
He sighed. Sirius knew it was worthless arguing with her. "Just make sure you do let the club reform again; else I do not know what my godson will say or do when you take that away from him as well." He said, his voice getting a bit reproachful at the end.
Dolores Umbridge giggled like a schoolgirl. "I have every confidence that Mr Potter will refrain from holding secret meetings behind my back, Sirius. This is just a test for him - which he looks on course to pass. Since he is giving me no cause for concern, he will have his club reinstated in no time."
I doubt that very much, Dolores, Sirius thought, if you had your way, Harry's club would be banned forever. Sirius just ended up nodding, and went on his way back up to his quarters in the Astronomy Tower.
Harry felt a sense of excitement as he held the first Junior DA session in the Room of Requirement that night, at the slightly later time of half-past seven. He felt so good rebelling against Professor Umbridge that he couldn't stop smiling.
That session was spent catching up and perfecting the spells they had learned a few weeks ago; mainly the Levitation Charm, which was quite handy in a situation where you needed to banish something towards an opponent, and they started on the Banishing Charm too. The first and second years struggled with that a bit, so Harry split the four year groups; first and second years staying to one side of the room, and the third and fourth years to another, so they could concentrate on spells more suited to their ability and year. Instead of the Banishing Charm, Harry had the first and second years focus on the Tongue-Tying Curse and the Tickling Charm, which was a useful spell to use in duels. In the last twenty minutes of the session they even got the magical dummies out and practised on them, which was very effective. When the session was over, Dobby (and a few other house-elves who agreed to Apparate everyone to their dorms to avoid suspicion) soon transported everyone back.
"Great session, Harry," Hermione had said, grinning. "I must say - it does feel good going behind Umbridge's back after all."
"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" Ron said jokingly.
Harry checked the Marauder's Map, and felt satisfied when he saw everyone appear back in their respective dormitories, with Filch and most importantly, Umbridge sat in their offices none the wiser. He folded the Map back up when Dobby came back to collect them.
"Hold on tight!" Dobby said to Harry and Ron, as they were rather unpleasantly pulled into an Apparition by their navels. They soon arrived back in their empty dorms. Feeling accomplished, Harry went to bed, feeling very accomplished following the successful session. He hoped the Senior's session on Saturday went as smoothly.