I'm a day late I know! Sorry about that, Easter is a strange time that messes with usual routines over here but I didn't want to skip a week especially as it's another smaller chapter.

I did want to make you all aware that I have a discord server now. It's a quiet one at the moment but if you use discord and would like to join to talk about my stories past present and future, Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, Harry Potter or other things then I will put a FFN friendly version of my invite link down here. All you have to do is remove the spaces.

discord . gg / kKpcuquDYB

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all enjoy!

There was never a dull moment in Hogwarts, that was a statement that had been proved time and time again. Once the clamour over the Quibbler article had died down, with the effect being that more and more people were coming around to believe Harry's side of the story over the Ministry's, in true Hogwarts style the next dramatic thing was simply around the corner. When the final days of March arrived, the first official staff sacking occurred. Leo hadn't taken Divination and as such didn't have an opinion either way on the resident seer Professor Trelawney given that he didn't think he had ever seen her outside of the Great Hall, but he was still an enraged onlooker as Umbridge tried to have the teacher both sacked and evicted from the castle grounds. Thankfully Professor Dumbledore had stepped in and even managed to replace her swiftly without Umbridge's interference, though for the first time ever Leo had actually felt a little bit annoyed that he hadn't chosen Divination as an option as the new Centaur Professor was the talk of the common room.

Then of course as ever at Hogwarts, that drama died down and life soon settled back into a pattern. O.W.L.s were creeping closer and the teachers had begun ramping up the pressure on the 5th year students. The homework and revision were hurting even Leo's brain and it was taking all of his free time to keep up to date with the heaps of homework that the 5th years were receiving.

Thankfully, the DA proved to be a welcome break for the most part and after Christmas they had moved on from shield charms to more unusual hexes, before finally coming onto Patronuses. It had taken until the third session for Leo to produce more than a wisp of silver smoke, and after remembering a particularly enjoyable family holiday with his Mum and Grandad before Leo had turned 11, the Irish Wolfhound had escaped his wand and began bounding around the room. In the corner of his eye he had noticed amused looks from the Trio, but he hadn't cared as he stared in awe at possibly the greatest bit of magic he had ever done.

He had then taken to helping Fay, and was ready to cheer at the exact moment that she produced a silver Chaffinch the room went silent. Looking around to see what was going on, Leo noticed that a space had appeared by Harry and at his knees was an odd House Elf wearing around eight hats. Harry was surprised to see him. "Hi Dobby!" He exclaimed. "What are you… what's wrong?"

Leo looked down to see that the house elf did indeed look terrified, and the room had suddenly dimmed as the Patronuses disappeared.

"Harry Potter sir…" The house elf trembled. "Harry Potter sir… Dobby has come to warn you… but the house-elves have been warned not to tell…" Dobby then sprinted off towards the wall head first, evading Harry's grab as he went and cannoned off of the stone wall. Leo felt Fay tense up and squeak in fright at the sight, and he held his hand out for her to grab.

Harry moved to grab the elf by the arm, stopping him from self-harming. "What's happened Dobby?"

"Harry Potter… she… she…" Dobby then slammed his large nose with his spare fist, causing Harry to grab that one as well.

"Who's 'she', Dobby?" Harry asked, before his mouth opened in an O shape. "Umbridge?" He asked, horrified at the thought. Dobby simply nodded, before trying to headbutt Harry's knees but failing to overpower the wizard. "What about her? Dobby… she hasn't found out about this… about us… about the DA?" Dobby nodded again before trying to hurt himself by kicking himself, falling to the floor. Harry was quieter this time, but the room was so silent that everybody heard his next question. "Is she coming?"

Dobby began to let out a little wail, before howling out. "Yes Harry Potter! Yes!"

Harry dropped the elf and straightened up, looking around the room. Leo felt his body freeze at the look on his face, though he soon snapped out of it as Harry roared at them. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? RUN!"

Leo didn't wait for further permission, as he yanked Fay towards the door in a panic. Unfortunately, everybody in the group had also had the same idea and so it became a bit of a crush. He felt Fay's hand slip out of his own and as he looked back he couldn't see her as he spilled out into the corridor. A quick check of his watch showed it was ten to nine, and he had ten minutes to find an alibi. Realising the library was within distance he decided to sprint there, colliding into Hermione as he turned a corner.

"Is Harry…" She began, slightly breathlessly from the exertion.

Leo shook his head and grabbed her hand. "No time, we need to go." He insisted. At that moment a hex flew above their heads and Leo pulled Hermione away, sprinting as fast as they could down the corridor. A couple of corridors away he pulled Hermione into an empty classroom, hiding behind one of the columns between windows. Panting, he looked over at Hermione who was furiously burrowing in her bag like a Niffler digging for gold. "What are you looking for?" He asked.

Hermione barely glanced at him before continuing. "The sign-up sheet." She told him. "But it's not in here."

Leo's blood ran cold as he remembered seeing it earlier that night. "It's on the wall…" He whispered. "In the Room of Requirement. If they get in…"

"They have access to every name of the group." Hermione nodded angrily. "And we can't know who gave us up."

Of course, Hermione was brilliant and the way the sign ups went there would have been a consequence for breaking the vow. Leo snuck a look out of the window and noticed Millicent Bullstrode and Goyle prowling the corridor. "They're out there." He whispered.

Hermione nodded, and Leo could tell by her frown that she was working out a plan. "There's a staircase down that way, isn't there?" She asked, fully aware that Leo knew she knew the answer. "Follow that and we get to the library corridor. From there we can work our way back up to the common room."

"We need to get past these idiots first." Leo shoved his wand in the direction of Goyle and Millicent.

Hermione nodded. "Come here, hide behind one of these desks." She motioned to the far corner of the room. "We bring them in here and stun them."

Leo nodded, taking another look to be sure that he could move. When he saw that the Slytherin's backs were facing him he ducked and ran to where Hermione had moved to. Without speaking another word to Hermione, Leo held his wand in the air and muttered. "Vermillious." Red sparks erupted from his wand, and he made sure to snap his arm down to hold his wand at the door. Hermione had done the same beside him, and for a moment the only sound was the breathing of the pair. The door quickly burst open however and Goyle came lumbering in, to which Leo quickly exclaimed. "Stupefy!"

Another red light burst from his ebony wand, slamming into Goyle who crumpled down in a heap. Millicent Bullstrode came into view quickly and looked like she was about to scream, but Hermione quickly followed up with a stunning spell of her own, and Bulstrode fell down unconscious on top of her housemate.

"Why is it always her." Hermione muttered to herself as she grabbed her bag. "Come on, we need to go." Nodding, Leo followed her in stepping over the two Slytherin's and making their way into the corridor before legging it away.

Around fifteen minutes later they were racing towards the Fat Lady, with Leo calling out. "Carpe Diem!"

"Oh, how rude." The Fat Lady groaned, but opened up her portrait anyway to let the pair fall in. Panting, Leo placed his hands on his knees to try and catch his breath, only for hands to grab him a moment later and wrap around him so that all he saw was long, dark hair.

"Oh my god." Fay's voice sounded from the woman attached to him. "I thought you got caught."

"Fay?" He asked, pulling away to see her face. "I'm so sorry… I thought I had you."

"It's ok." Fay insisted. "I ran with Lavender and Parvati. What happened to you though?"

Leo let out a large breath as he saw Hermione looking around the room. "We got cornered in a classroom by Goyle and Bulstrode." He explained. "Remind me to thank Harry when he gets here, his lessons got us out of there. We stunned them and ran for it."

"You were great." Hermione insisted. "Really calm under pressure." She turned to Fay. "Is Harry here?"

Fay shook her head. "Dean and Seamus got back before we did. I've not seen anyone else…"

At that moment the portrait opened again, and in stepped the Weasley quartet and Neville. "Ron!" Hermione gasped. "Ginny, are you guys ok?"

Ron smirked. "Nothing to worry about." He insisted. "We just went the long way around." Ron looked in the room then. "Harry?"

Hermione shook her head worriedly, and Leo left her to her conversation with the Weasleys to turn back to Fay. "This is going to blow up." He commented to her. "Umbridge won't let this go."

"Hem hem." Somebody behind him cleared his throat in the exact sound that Umbridge used, and Leo jumped out of his skin, his hand going to the wand in his pocket as he turned around and saw Anna smirking at them. "What's all this then?"

"Fuck…" Leo swore. "Don't do that!"

Anna pouted. "Language, MacDonald." She smirked again, before seeing the serious look on his and Fay's faces. "What's going on."

Leo looked at Fay knowingly. "We need to tell her." Fay said.

"I know." Leo sighed. He looked over to Hermione questioningly, and the brunette simply nodded before they pulled Anna to one side and began explaining everything.

"And then we made our way back here." Fay finished off to a disbelieving Anna.

The auburn-haired girl looked more upset than anything. "So you two joined a secret club aimed at protecting ourselves and didn't think to invite me?" She asked, her usual airy tone gone in place of one filled with hurt. "Wow guys. I didn't know you hated me that much."

"We don't." Leo insisted. "But you weren't at the meeting and we were told…"

"Save it." Anna snapped. "I don't want to hear it, from either of you." She rose to her feet, sniffling a bit. "I really thought we were friends, despite our disagreements."

"We are…" Fay insisted, but Anna pushed her out the way. Fay sighed dramatically as she watched Anna run up the stairs and she fell into the armchair. "That was awful."

"I feel bad." Leo insisted. "We should have invited her."

Fay nodded, but any comment she was about to make was stopped in its tracks as a loud bang echoed outside the window, and the room shook for a brief moment. "What was that?" Fay asked loudly.

"It came from the Headmaster's tower." Ginny was pointing out of the window. "I saw a flash!"

Most of the room began to crowd around the window in question, but Leo kept back slightly with Fay, noticing Ron and Hermione had joined him. "That's not a good sign." Was all Leo said, voicing everybody's thoughts. "Whatever that was… things are only going to get worse."

Reviews:

SkepticPrinceArthur: There's a fun scene I've written for the first Hermione and Cormac moment lol… Anna's reasoning will become clear soon, yes.

Masterdrew2.0: I'll get back to Thrones once I'm finished here in another 50 or so chapters. The only House of the Dragon related story idea I have isn't show related though, it's the book universe. I didn't like Trials of the Oathbreaker towards the end if that's what you mean, and I noticed Blue Wolf ages Lyanna down to around 12 years old at the tourney of Harrenhal so I'm really not interested there either, sorry.

Dante687: They wouldn't be upset at one another for too long!

Lightningscar: That's odd! I try and upload every Friday at 3pm UK time, so if in doubt check after then. I debated writing the Knight Bus but it ended up too similar to the book so decided a shorter explanation of it happening was better. The mirror will be important for Year 5 and be a part of a defining moment between Leo and Harry. You're right about the secrets… it won't be much longer. You're also right about the potential aftermath of that happened to Mary. My thoughts are that Mary didn't want to drag it all up in courts and to the teachers so persuaded Lily and Remus to not take it further, just content with them being plagued with detentions every five minutes to keep them away from her. There's more to Anna's backstory that might meet the eye, that's all I'll say for right now. Leo just doesn't like Potions either, so it features less in his thoughts than most other things. Snape is being more of an arse to him, but not on the scale of Harry.

PuCMagnet: I'm not quite sure how to react to this review other than say I'm glad you're enjoying it?