Kindred Spirits

by Tailkinker

This is a work of fan fiction based on the Harry Potter series and the Sailor Moon franchise created respectively by J.K. Rowling and Naoko Takeuchi. The characters and settings belong to their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered as part of the official canon of either series.

Umbridge Unleashed

"Good morning, class," said Dolores Umbridge brightly.

Many of the fifth-year Gryffindors mumbled half-heartedly. Many others didn't respond at all.

"Well, now, that won't do," said Umbridge, her smile barely fading. "I do expect a cheerful response, after all. Now then: Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," most of the Gryffindors chorused. It didn't sound terribly enthusiastic, but it appeared to please Umbridge.

Are we back in Year 3? Harry asked himself. This sounds like it's straight out of Primary.

"Now, I see that your education in this subject has been somewhat spotty in the past," said Umbridge. "Your first year was a bit lackluster, possibly due to the professor's inexperience. Second year, you had Gilderoy Lockhart, who, it seems, was not what he made himself out to be. Third year, you were taught by a dark creature—"

"Professor Lupin was the best teacher we ever had," objected Dean Thomas.

"Please raise your hand before speaking," said Umbridge in a saccharine tone. "And I see that the werewolf did, in fact, cover the syllabus quite well, despite his disability."

Harry ground his teeth, but he remembered Hermione's warning from just before class.

Don't let her provoke you, Harry, she'd said. She's clearly here to undermine you and Dumbledore, and we mustn't give her any ammunition to do so.

And so he kept mum, despite the effort it cost him.

"And fourth year, the disgraced Auror, who actually placed you under the Imperius Curse." Dolores shook her head. "I am not entirely certain how he managed to procure a waiver to do so."

She turned to the blackboard, and flicked her wand—an abnormally short one, to Harry's eyes. Chalk writing appeared on the blackboard.

"As you can see, the Ministry has completely re-written the course goals for this class. Please copy these down."

Harry dutifully began to write down the points from the blackboard. Some of them gave him concern, such as, "Place the use of defensive spells in the correct context", or "Avoiding conflict with Ministry officials".

"Yes, Miss? And your name?"

Harry looked up, to see that Hermione had her hand in the air. "Granger, Ma'am. I have a question about the course goals."

"And what would that be, dear?"

Hermione twitched at the endearment, but continued. "There seems to be no room in these course goals for the actual practice of defensive magics."

Umbridge looked puzzled. She glanced over at Harry, then back to Hermione. "But why would you need to practice such magics?"

"Well, the entire point of this class is to learn how to defend oneself against the Dark Arts, is it not?"

"Yes," agreed Umbridge.

"Well, how can we do so if we don't know how to cast defensive magics?" asked Hermione. "Certainly, study by itself won't be enough."

Umbridge again glanced at Harry, but he kept his silence.

"You're a Muggleborn, aren't you, dear?"

Hermione frowned. "Yes, but I don't see what—"

"It follows. After all, Muggleborns are newcomers to our culture, and cannot be expected to understand the nuances of magical life."

Hermione's frown deepened. "I don't think that that's fair. One need not be immersed in a culture to wish to be able to defend oneself."

"But defending people is what the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is for," admonished Umbridge. "Surely, you Muggles have your own equivelant—the police, I think that they are called?"

"Muggleborn, Ma'am, not Muggle." Hermione shook her head. "But even in Muggle law, one has the right to defend oneself."

"Oh, but Muggles are a violent lot, are they not?" Umbridge smiled condescendingly. "It does rather annoy me that they keep sending their children here, to try to subvert our ways." She glanced at Harry. "And, of course, when they pollute good bloodlines—"

That was too much for Harry to bear. He jumped to his feet. "Without Muggleborns, the Pure-blood lines would have died out centuries ago. We're the only thing keeping the magical world alive."

"Oh, but you're not a Muggleborn, are you, Mr Potter." Umbridge turned her gaze on him. "You're a Half-blood. Certainly, in a few generations of good breeding, the Potter line can be restored to purity." She smirked. "Purge the taint of your mudblood mother—"

The class gasped at the vulgar slur, but Harry saw red. Only his hands clenching his desk kept him from leaping at the woman's throat. "Lily Potter was a better witch than you will ever be, and my father definitely recognized that." He returned her smirk. "I understand that he chose a Muggleborn, though. Most Pure-blood witches I've seen are hideous."

The class was struck silent.

"I believe that that will be a detention, Mr Potter." Umbridge turned away from him. "You will be here for seven o'clock, after dinner."

"I thought you were going to stay out of the way," said Hermione as they left the class. "I told you she was out to get her. Why did you provoke her that way?"

"Well, two reasons, really," said Harry. "First, there's the fact that she openly displays bigotry towards Muggles and Muggleborn. I won't stand for that. My mother and my two best friends are Muggleborn, and I was Muggle-raised. I could not let that pass unchallenged."

"You have got a bit of a saving-people thing," acknowledged Hermione. "But I was handling that myself. You didn't need to step in on my behalf."

"I did it for my own behalf," clarified Harry.

"What was the other reason?"

"Springing the trap," said Harry. "We both know, and Hotaru agrees, that she's here to undermine Dumbledore's authority, and my own credibility." He winced. "You might have heard the row I had with Seamus over it all."

"I did, yeah," said Hermione. "All the way up in the girls' dorm."

"Well, I won't rise to the bait on that," said Harry. "Not until I can get my hands on some better evidence. But she was clearly trying to provoke me. The Ministry wants me out of Hogwarts, but there are very few rules that would let them expel me." He smirked. "If they'd wanted me gone in second year, they'd have had me with the flying car incident."

"So you provoked her sufficiently to get a detention, but not enough to be expelled," said Hermione. "Why?"

"Partly because otherwise she would have gone on to try to secure the expulsion," said Harry. "But mostly to see what she'll do next." His smirk widened. "After all, I have a barrister on retainer."

Harry staggered into the crowded Gryffindor common room, his hand wrapped in a tea-towel. Dobby hovered by his side, ready to assist his master in any way.

"Harry!" Hermione jumped to her feet. "Oh my god, what happened?"

"Umbridge's idea of detention," said Harry through gritted teeth. "Oi, Colin. Get your camera, will you?"

"Sure thing, Harry!" The exciteable fourth-year jumped to his feet and ran to the boys' dorm.

"Umbridge has this quill," said Harry. "It writes in your own blood. Takes it right out of your hand as you write."

"There's no way that's not Dark," snapped Hermione. "When Dumbledore hears about this—"

"He won't be able to do anything about it," pointed out Harry. "If he could, we wouldn't be saddled with Umbridge in the first place." He unwrapped his hand, revealing the slashes in it that spelled out, I must respect my betters. "She made me write lines for two hours. Colin, get a few shots of this, will you?"

"Sure, Harry." Colin seemed somewhat less enthusiastic than he had a moment ago, but he snapped three shots of Harry's butchered hand.

"When can you get these to me?"

"Um...tomorrow evening?"

"That's good," said Harry. "Can you get me four prints of each shot?"

"Sure."

"I'll slip you a galleon or two," said Harry. "Just let me know what you need."

"I've got some essence of murtlap," offered Neville. "It'll deaden the pain, and speed up the healing."

"That'd be great, Neville," said Harry. "I'd just get Hotaru to heal it, but I might need the scar in court."

"That's a bit cold-blooded," said Ron. "If it were anybody else's hand, I'd be appalled." He grinned. "Instead, I'm impressed."

"I've already got one war on with Voldemort," said Harry. Neville returned, placing a poultice on the back of Harry's hand, and he sighed in relief. "Thanks, Neville. It's already working. As I was saying, Ron, I don't want to have to fight the Ministry at the same time. If I can get Umbridge removed from Hogwarts, they at least won't be able to come after me directly."

"Well, in case you can't get her removed," said Hermione, "we'll need a plan B. It's clear that the Ministry doesn't want us learning to defend ourselves. We can't have this sort of thing happening in our OWL year." She frowned in thought. "I've got an idea for that, but it'll need some time. We probably won't be able to do anything this month." She brightened. "Harry. Can I borrow Hedwig? I want to send a letter to Sirius."

"I can do one better," said Harry. "Dobby. Can you go grab the mirror from my trunk?"