AN: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to J K Rowling. There is a wall exploding in this chapter. This chapter has burning bodies.
Purim Gains New Significance At Hogwarts
There was something afoot. Nobody on the teacher's table knew what it was, but that something was going to happen was rather obvious, especially after how many years of teaching students. They were more animated today than normal.
They were more animated than normal. It was a good idea to let them think that they had won something. She had agreed to have a special meal today. Now, they would be more willing to link her with happy things than with all the hardship of the last several months.
Madam Umbridge didn't know about Purim being a feast day of the Jews to remember a day in which being slaughtered had turned into victory for them for they had been able to defend themselves. She also didn't know it would be a symbol for the student body that they would take and act on.
Anthony Goldstein happily ate his tri-cornered cookies, along with other Purim goodies, in his colorful clothing. When a muggle-born had brought up the significance of the holiday, he had been asked if it was okay, as a Jew, even if non-practicing, to him that the day would be used. He was kind of glad Passover hadn't been touched, as that felt more sacrilegious. As he sat and ate, another cookie appeared on his plate, shaped as a feather and covered in cinnamon sugar, with a dash of chocolate icing on the tip. That was the signal. He quickly grabbed the feather and ate it, and headed out of the Great Hall.
Students all around him were doing the same.
Teachers sighed and headed to their quarters to get ready for class.
Students headed back to the Great Hall, trunks shrunk if possible, lightened if not. Those with brooms carried them as well. Those with Quidditch gear wore it as they would be flying. Everyone else bundled up. A few from the Care of Magical Creatures class brought up the thestrals and the hippogriffs. They were going to fly out.
Everyone mounted up and took off.
Teachers walked into their classrooms and found them empty.
Many of the house elves walked out too, each taking a part of the castle with them. Half took the great hall in pieces, and the rest took part of the kitchen and a couple bathrooms.
They all met up at a specific place, and the house elves put back together the great hall, candles and fireplaces and all. Harry mentioned wards, and while they weren't the best at all, they put some up, including a notice-me-not charm. They had a roof, warmth, and food.
Teachers looking for the students found the hole in the castle. High Inquisitor Umbridge threw a temper tantrum. Snape paced. McGonagall pursed her lips and sighed deeply multiple times. Flitwick found it amusing. Madam Hooch decided to fly around, along with Sinistra and Pince. Hagrid went out and sat by the lake. Others went and found something to do in their unplanned quiet. They didn't know what happened.
Hagrid reported the thestrals missing after going to feed them and finding them gone.
The flaw in the notice-me-not charm led to Snape finding the students. It was good enough to fool most, but he was better than most. Madam Pomphrey was found with them. He went back.
The Great Hall had been added on to. There were four towers in each of the corners, and rooms ran between them. He guessed those were the dormitories and classrooms.
The students had been teaching themselves out of the textbooks and whatever books they had brought along from home. They had decided that they wouldn't go back unless there was a contract in place that the teachers wouldn't ignore what the students were saying and that there would be no bullying from teachers, whether in class or in detention or in an office meeting. What would happen if they didn't sign it? Well, the students would move their little school some place else and keep doing so.
The greatest surprise came when High Inquisitor Umbridge decided to take hold of Potter across the negotiating table. Her aggressive taunting became a scream as her hands burnt away. Everyone looking at Harry's face noticed it was blank. He was not surprised.
"Potter, what was that?"
"Blood wards. They're not the best, but we've all got them, now. So, be careful of your intentions when you touch any of us."
"How did you learn about them?"
"I've known I had them since the end of first year. That was Quirrel."
Quirrel's remains suddenly made a lot more sense to Snape.
A cough broke the shock of seeing Umbridge's hands burn off.
"So, since Umbridge is a definite enemy to Harry, and the way she's been treating the rest of us, I don't suppose that she's actually going to be doing the best for the wizarding public, do you?"
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying, that since You-Know-Who is back, and that since Potter was the one to defeat him last time, wouldn't her continued aggression towards the one that can keep us from getting conquered by You-Know-Who be considered treason?"
"The Ministry has declared that Potter was lying!"
"The Minister wants to believe that Potter was lying, but most dark wizards in Britain know that he is back. My dad knows; I know; my friends know. Potter was there when he was brought back. If the Minister is declaring what Potter and a good potion of the population knows as fact a lie, should it be followed? Is he not then, allowing you to go after Potter, committing treason himself if he is allowing another to take over the wizarding world?"
Draco Malfoy leaned slightly forward over table. Theodore Nott, on his other side, leaned slightly towards him. Snape noticed that Potter and Granger were tense as well, ready to grab their wands.
Snape ruminated, trying to see how Draco doing this was going to help beyond short term.
Umbridge glared.
The teachers were quiet. A certain beetle flew lazily over the group. McGonagall reached out and grabbed the quill and signed the bottom of the contract. That was quickly followed by Hooch, Flitwick, and the rest. Snape slowly read it over, looking to see if the kids had put any surprises in it or left anything out he could take advantage of, before signing it and handing it down to Grubbly-Plank.
When it got to her, Umbridge yelled, "Don't put my name on that contract."
"Then we won't allow you to teach us."
"Why you!"
With that, she seemed to have lost her mind. She jumped over the table like a frog and landed on top of Harry. She started burning as soon as she touched him. Despite that, she tried to bite him with her mouth, and Harry held her face away from him with his hands. She continued, though her skin was burning off and Harry's hands were starting to go through her throat. Once the screaming ended, she was nearly headless, and Harry pushed her away from him on the ground.
He rolled over and vomited.
"Oh, Harry. Again?" Hermione patted his back and held out a glass of water to rinse his mouth out with. He quickly did so. He blacked out, "again?", and woke up on a cot in the little hospital room.
"Madam Pomphrey?"
"Well, Harry. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"Bad news, please?"
"The bad news is that where you transported the school is apparently someone's field, even if it abandoned, and we're going to have to pay a very large fine. Secondly, the ministry is still full of death eaters and some of the Death Eater's kids are on the run from their parents because of what Draco said. It's in the paper. We'll have you stay the summer instead of sending you home, since the wards here work so nicely. Thirdly, when you were struggling with Umbridge, you dislocated your thumb and you have a bite wound on your shoulder that was burnt as well that I'm treating."
"Can I have the good news, please?"
"The good news is that we've decided to completely relocate Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the train. Professor Snape is... well, you can trust him. We're buying the field with the land next to it with the loch and the school that is set up is going to be the basis for joining on the rest of the buildings. We've just shifting things over a bit so we can have the traditional ride up to the gates by boat. Your shoulder is going to scar, but your thumb I have as good as new in half an hour since you're awake now."
Hermione couldn't stay settled. So, she did what she did best when full of hyper energy. She went and borrowed books and studied. Today her topic was blood wards, because she wanted to see if Harry could burn You-Know-Who from the inside out because of the blood ward.
.
In the end, Harry used the blood ward to burn Voldemort's current body and the Horcrux in his scar.
Since the Death Eaters were suddenly leaderless again, the infighting in the ranks gave the rest of the wizarding world some minor peace. The few minor skirmishes from that were cleared away by the Aurors and the Order, while Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and Harry Potter went Horcrux hunting. Sirius was able to get into Bellatrix's vault because they were both Blacks by blood. As the locket was found burnt on Umbridge's body, that was another down. Albus got the ring with Sirius, and avoided getting poisoned by levitating the ring and putting it in a box. He burnt the ring with fiend fire and buried it as it was. Of all the Deathly Hallows, it was probably the most dangerous to handle. The Diadem, after searching various sites, was found in the Room of Requirement as they were taking apart the castle. It was taken down to the pitch, where it was also melted with fiend fire. (McGonagall and Flitwick were abundantly excited over the magic that made the room work, and so had a growing list of things that had to be added to make one of their own once the castle was moved.) Since that was all the Hocruxes, Voldemort faded to the afterlife for good, his marks faded on the Death Eater's arms to many folk's consternations, and Harry's scar finally healed.
Peter Pettigrew's trial finally exonerated his former friend. However, because of the many years that it was thought otherwise, after Harry was finished with his schooling, he, Theo Nott, and Sirius emigrated to Canada. It was nowhere near as politically charged, and people didn't know him as well so he could be just "Harry". There he became a school teacher, married a nurse, and lived out the rest of his days, with visits back to the islands to see his semi-adoptive family, the Weasleys, and the friends they had made.