The world of Harry Potter and its characters belong to JKR. I do not support JKR. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Trans people are people.

TW for swearing.

Chapter 3: The Lessons

His eyes were staring back at Harry, crimson red like blood and emerald green like those of his mother. Harry's eyes darted at Cedric, he was barely moving, his breathing was ragged and he was grinding his teeth in pain. The Death Eaters were laughing openly at Cedric, as Voldemort casted another Cruciatus Curse on the other Triwizard Champion. Harry's scar had never hurt so much, yet it was his own thoughts that were fogging his mind.

'Don't die!' his mind screamed. 'Don't die Cedric! Please, don't!' Harry had never been more desperate, it was like being back in the Chamber of Secrets silently begging Ginny to not give up, while he helplessly sought a solution. Cedric looked him in the eye from where he hid. The Hufflepuff mouthed. 'Go' a simple message, like he was relieving Harry from his duty, a small weak part of Harry's mind was screaming in panic. 'GO! GO! Let's GO! You heard him! We can go!' so weak, so venomous that Harry almost couldn't hear it.

Harry stepped out from the shadows and raised his wand against Voldemort. His body was moving on its own, he was in too much pain to actually think. He could only cast his most trusted charm at Riddle.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted. Only for Voldemort to deflect the charm. He looked at him with something like pity in his red eyes. But not a pity for someone you're sorry for, but like that for an animal who was doomed to die from bleeding, he was looking at Harry like he was his weak prey.

Avery stepped out from the circle of Death Eaters like he'd done when he asked for his Master's forgiveness, he brandished his wand and pointed it at Cedric's harmed body. Avery's face wore something resembling pride, and Harry was left to wonder what part of torturing a teenager was something to be proud of. His Dark Mark stood out on his pale skin, the light of the moon shining against the offensive symbol.

"Let me get rid of this one Master," said Avery. "Nothing, but a filthy half-blood!" He raised his wand, the Killing Curse on his lips. "AVAD-"

"Avada Kedavra," casted Voldemort as his attention diverted from Harry to his servant. Avery dropped dead on the ground, the curse had ironically died on his lips, Cedric and Harry stared in horror at the corpse of one of Voldemort's followers. The Death Eaters looked unsure of what to do with their fallen comrade. Although Harry thought comrade was a word too strong for them to use. "How foolish of you Avery, how dare you defy your Master!" Riddle's eyes looked directly at Harry, his wand now pointed at the young boy. "Expelliarmus!" and Harry's wand shot out of his hand and into Voldemort's grasp. A sinister smile appeared on the Dark Lord's reptilian face. "You've failed Potter." his wand pointed at Cedric who looked right at Harry.

"Harry!" yelled Cedric, pleadingly. "Harry, go!"

"Avada Kedavra!" a bright green light appeared from the end of Voldemort's yew wand.

"CEDRIC," screamed Harry. "NO-"

"-OOO!"

Harry woke up in a pool of his own sweat, he had woken up from another nightmare. A nightmare he had to remind himself was not real, Voldemort didn't disarm him, he didn't take his wand away… he didn't kill Cedric.

It was almost a mantra Harry had to repeat himself every time he dreamt of the graveyard. 'Cedric's not dead, Cedric's not dead, Cedric's not dead.' It didn't seem real, Cedric and Harry had escaped Voldemort and lived, they'd been hurt and tortured, but came out alive nonetheless. Cedric's screams sometimes filled his head in some of those nightmares, while Harry could only stand there helpless and do nothing.

"Harry?" spoke a voice near him. Harry's hand instinctively shot towards his wand. The point of his wand ended up a few inches from his best friend's nose. Ron's eyes widened and he held up his hands. "It's me," he said in a controlled voice, but it almost came out as a squeak. Harry lowered his wand and put it back on the table, he saw the sky out of his window, if Harry had to guess he would've said it was about an hour and a half before breakfast time. He rubbed his tired eyes as Ron sat at the end of his bed. "Another nightmare?" Ron asked. Harry looked away, embarrassed to have been loud enough to wake up Ron, and nodded.

There was a pregnant pause where Harry simply kept staring at his wand on his desk, neither Ron or him making a single noise. He heard Ron take a deep breath before he asked him a question. "You wanna talk about it?" Harry was about to look at his best mate like he looked at Hermione whenever he goaded him into telling her what his nightmares were about, but then he saw Ron's eyes, had he not known Ron for five years already he wouldn't have been able to know what their meaning held, but thankfully Harry did know Ron. His ears weren't reddening, nor did he look uncomfortable bringing up the subject, he looked like a boy asking his brother if he wanted to talk about his nightmares.

His expression must've told Ron something about what he was feeling, but not something right, because the next moment he sat just a tad bit closer to Harry, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it," he said quietly. "You talk, when you want to talk." His hand slid off his shoulder and Harry found himself missing the physical contact. Ron made to get out of Harry's bed, but Harry took a hold of his pajama shirt.

"It was the graveyard," said Harry suddenly, like he had been Imperiused, he felt as if someone else held control of his voice. Before he could stop himself he started to spill everything about his nightmares, every detail, from the Dark Marks on the arm of every Death Eater to the smell of the grass as he laid on the ground tired from the Cruciatus Curse.

When he finished speaking there were silent tears running down Harry's face, he felt as if a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Like all of this pain and anger he had been bottling up inside him had just burst out, what impressed him the most was Ron who had not made a single comment. He didn't try to make a witty joke about the situation since there was nothing less funny than your best mate being tortured, he didn't try to relate to Harry as there was no way Ron could ever possibly relate to what he'd been through, there was just Ron sitting beside him, his hand back on Harry's shoulder as if to shield him from his own story. His face was stoic, but Harry knew Ron, there was something in his eyes, rage, anger, sadness, empathy, compassion and… it was missing, that last emotion that everyone in Grimmauld Place had in their eyes as they looked at him. Pity.

There was no pity, and Harry couldn't have been more thankful towards Ron. As the time for breakfast approached the two boys stood up and Harry embraced Ron in a fierce hug. They detached and they both knew they weren't going to be speaking about the hugging part of that morning any time soon.

As they got ready they both spotted Seamus leaving the dorm, the three shared a quick glance between one another, before Seamus basically stormed off the dorm. Harry thought he heard Ron mutter something along the lines of 'bloody tosser' and 'beat his head in'. The boys got ready for breakfast just as Hermione herself arrived from down her dorm, saying she looked surprised to see the both of them was an understatement. There was little from the aggressiveness and hostility from Harry that Ron and Hermione were accustomed to and Harry saw Hermione give Ron a questioning look who in return just shrugged his shoulders.

It came as a surprise for everyone when the first thing they saw when they entered the Great Hall was each founder sitting at the head of their respective table. Every student in the Gryffindor table was looking at their founder in awe. Cormac McLaggen seemed to be praising himself by talking about his several, average, accomplishments and boasting about his next conquest, becoming the Gryffindor Keeper. For some reason Ron looked off put by it, but Harry didn't really see why. Godric was doing his best to look interested, but it seemed as if he wanted to talk to anyone else. As they sat down Harry could see the different way the Houses interacted with their own founders.

Ravenclaw was being asked a hundred questions per minute by her students, she looked quite pleased that her students were as curious as she might've expected. Terry Boot was writing down every word that came out of her mouth, and Harry swore he heard Padma Patil mutter 'bootlicker' under her breath. Luna Lovegood seemed particularly expectant regarding the answer to the existence of Nargles and Wrackspurts, many of her fellow housemates look outraged, but Rowena Ravenclaw gave Luna a look of fondness as she explained how Nargles were normally found around Christmas time as they tend to infect mistletoe to protect themselves from the cold. Her students gave her a look of surprise, before they figured Ravenclaw was just being nice.

Helga Hufflepuff promised her students to answer any of their questions as long as they finished their breakfast first. Cedric, who was holding onto his Head Boy badge, looked anxious and Harry wondered if perhaps he'd had the same nightmare as him. Helga looked at the poor boy's state and nudged his arm pointing to his food, he seemed reluctant to even put the food near him. With a snap of her fingers the food disappeared and a second later reappeared, but the eggs had been replaced with pancakes covered in syrup and butter, the pumpkin juice into hot chocolate, and Cedric's bowl of fruit into a blueberry muffin. Cedric's eyes widened as they looked at Helga Hufflepuff who smiled at him and pointed with her head at Cedric's plate. Cedric licked his lips and tucked in.

The Slytherins were another story. Lord Slytherin had a look of superiority, as he quietly ate his food, his students were following his example, Slytherin regarded the closest student to him, Malfoy, he arched an eyebrow before quietly speaking at him. The fact that it was Malfoy that Slytherin was talking to made the hairs of Harry's nape stand up. What if Malfoy was the Champion of Slytherin? It would be just what his school rival needed, more excuses to believe himself to be better than others. There were Slytherin students who seemed to be seeking out any student that Salazar Slytherin seemed interested in. Malfoy smirked as he talked to Slytherin who seemed to quickly lose interest and instead focused on the portraits of the Great Hall. Malfoy, however, didn't seem to notice this and neither did his goons.

After some of Ron and Hermione's usual bickering now regarding the twins' antics, they headed off to a very boring History of Magic lesson. As Harry entered the classroom he could see a couple of heads turn in hopes of seeing one of the Founders, Dean was looking over Ron who'd sat in front of him, Ron himself took a look at the board and saw the title 'Giant Wars' and couldn't help the wave of sleep that came down upon him. Unfortunately for them there was no such luck, no Founder had appeared. Harry and Ron got to enjoy a nice and very boring History of Magic lesson, while Hermione wrote down every word coming out of Professor Binns' mouth.

"Ooohhh," whined Hermione. "And I was so excited for History of Magic," Harry and Ron gave Hermione an incredulous look. Liking schoolwork is one thing, liking History of Magic? Insanity. "I thought perhaps one of the Founders would put their input into Professor Binns' lesson. It'd be so exciting to have someone who'd actually lived through the history lessons."

"Yeah," said Ron. "I can already hear it from Ravenclaw, Rigbar the Savage was the tallest giant lucky enough to get a close look at Uranus. " said Ron, imitating Ravenclaw's fancy Scottish accent, Harry, who was drinking pumpkin juice, snorted so loudly he brought the attention of a certain Ravenclaw sixth-year. After a very awkward encounter with Cho Chang, and a lunch filled with glares towards Ron, the three headed off to Potions.

As they entered the Potions classroom they were greeted by the scent from cauldrons and most unfortunately the first Head of Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin. Harry quickly put his hand inside the pocket of his robes where his wand was, and looked cautiously at Slytherin. It seemed as though something caught Slytherin's attention, he looked around the room before settling his eyes on Harry, he arched his eyebrow and looked at Harry as if studying an animal before clicking his tongue and turning away from him. It occurred to Harry that perhaps the sight of a scrawny fifteen year old wizard was not that intimidating to most dark wizards.

The class started brewing Draught of Peace as Snape gave the order, because of course Snape would put the class to brew one of the most complex potions on their first day back. Harry carefully followed the instructions and as he was about to add the shaken powered porcupine quills to his potion, he heard a voice not belonging to him speaking inside his head.

'No, you fool,' and Harry recognized Salazar Slytherin's voice. 'You need to add the hellebore first, then add the porcupine quills.'

Harry quickly glanced at Slytherin astonished. The Dark Wizard held no sign of interest in him. Harry quickly reread the instructions and saw he had skipped the third line. He quickly added the hellebore and then put the powdered porcupine quills to his Draught of Peace. As he finished he glanced around, while sweating profusely, and each and every cauldron he saw failed to have a silver mist shimmering from the surface of their potion. He noticed only four people had achieved Snape's instructions: Hermione (quite obviously), Malfoy, Daphne Grengrass (a Slytherin student from his year he barely interacted with)... and him. He had done it, with a little bit of help, but he'd done it.

As Snape roamed the classroom he stared into Hermione's cauldron over his large hooked nose and failed to see something wrong with it, he looked at Malfoy's and Daphne Grengrass' who looked pleased with themselves and quite smug, before he landed on Harry's. A smug smile settled on his face, and Harry nearly had a heart attack, before it was replaced with a grimace. He stared into the cauldron and a vein appeared on his greasy forehead. He reappeared in front of Harry who had no intent of telling the Potion professor how he'd achieved it. His gaze on Harry broke as he stared at Ron who sat beside Harry. And Harry watched as his smug smile came back to his pale face.

"It seems Weasley," Snape drawled out. "That becoming prefect has not fixed the continuous incompetence you continue to show in my class." he finished, Ron's ears and neck went red and Harry heard Malfoy laugh. Harry looked at Slytherin who showed no sign of stopping Snape's bullying. "I'd ask you what you did wrong, but I'm afraid even you would mess that up." Ron looked down at his feet. And Harry sent Snape his iciest glare who in return looked back at Harry and broadened his smile. He had embarrassed Ron on purpose and Harry's blood boiled in rage. Snape dismissed his class and Ron was the first out of there, Harry and Hermione quickly followed.

"Don't let him get to you, Ron," said Hermione. "He's just trying to get the worst out of you." She kept walking trying to keep up with Ron's long legs. Harry was walking alongside Ron, unsure of revealing to his best friends about what happened with Salazar Slytherin.

"Brilliant," said Ron heatedly, he fisted his prefect badge as if to cover it up. "I've been wearing this stupid thing for a single day and it's already causing me trouble." And Harry saw himself back at Grimmauld Place with Ron not wanting his prefect badge and unloading on all of them as Harry had often done with Ron and Hermione the past month.

"It wasn't because of you," said Harry. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry curiously. "It was to get me mad, and say something back to him in front of the class." He proceeded to tell Ron and Hermione everything about the Potions class from Slytherin speaking to him through his mind, which Hermione stated was Legilimency, to Snape smiling as he saw Harry angered by his teasing of Ron. When he finished Hermione had a look of outrage and Ron looked even more angry than he did when he got out of the Potions classroom, and Harry wondered if it was the best idea to tell his best friend.

"THAT GREASY HAIRED ARSEHOLE!" Ron said angrily.

"Ron!" reprimanded Hermione. Ron looked as if he had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but he shut his mouth. "I really thought that now that we know he is in our side he might-"

"What?!" Harry said, equally heated as Ron. "Be a decent human being?"

"You're complimenting the git Harry," said Ron, he looked as if he was trying to calm down. "Decent? Maybe he's not a complete git, but he'll always be a complete arse." Hermione looked at Ron as if he should apologize for what he'd just said. "Oh don't look at me like that Hermione. You're telling me you don't remember when he took points from you for being a 'insufferable know-it-all' or how he threatened to kill Neville's toad? And that was just in third year."

There was silence since Hermione clearly had no way of defending Snape's behavior throughout their stay at Hogwarts, before she asked the question that had been thrown at the back of Harry's head. "Why do you think Slytherin helped you?" Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry expecting an answer from him, as if he knew why a thousand-year old wizard decided to help him on his Potions lesson.

"I don't know." And Harry truly did not know.

The Potions classroom was empty except for himself and Lord Slytherin, his predecessor, showed no signs of acknowledging what had just happened during his lesson. As he approached Potter's cauldron he had expected an obvious mistake from the Gryffindor prat, but to his none-too-pleasant surprise he had an acceptable version of the potion. Potter had stared back at him in an act of almost defiance, and he didn't need to use Legilimency to know he used help. However, he did, and apparently he had been helped, not by the know-it-all Granger as Snape had expected, but by his own predecessor.

But if he couldn't get to Potter, he could certainly get to Weasley. Longbottom was another option too, but not fun enough as Snape was aware of how close Potter and Weasley were. He was sometimes scared of just how close they were, when Potter arrived he couldn't see anything except James Potter's spawn and when he befriended Weasley he saw nothing to it. But then he got to meet the youngest redheaded brat, and was none too surprised to see a younger, ginger version of Black. Because of course, James Potter couldn't go anywhere without his precious lap dog Black (The irony was not lost on Snape), and the Potter spawn would never go anywhere without his lap dog Weasley.

And when he stared back at Dumbledore's golden boy and saw him glaring at him, he knew he had hit a nerve.

"If I may ask," said Snape, preparing the materials for the next lesson. "Why did you help Potter?" Slytherin stared back at Snape who didn't back down from his own gaze, Lord Slytherin sighed before explaining quite simply.

"The Champions." Snape's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull, it was a common occurrence since he'd met Slytherin and it seems that it would turn into a habit of sorts from all the daily surprises the ancient wizard had in store for Snape.

"Don't tell me the Potter brat is Gryffindor's Champion." said Snape, the words feeling like poison in his mouth. It was just what Potter needed, a chance to strut around Hogwarts just like his father, only this time gloating about his position as Gryffindor's Champion.

"I don't know," said Slytherin without a hint of dishonesty. "It's supposed to be a secret for the school and between us the Founders. I don't know who was unfortunate enough to be Godric's choice and he doesn't know either, but it's quite obvious the Potter boy will be chosen as Godric's Champions."

"And why," asked Snape with caution. "Would you want to help Gryffindor's Champion?" Slytherin looked at Snape dead in the eye and a mischievous smile appeared on his serious features. It reminded Snape of Dumbledore's smirks whenever the old man had something up his sleeve.

"As you know, the winner of the Tournament will be lucky enough to be granted a djinni's wish. We have already used two of its three wishes for the Tournament. However, if by any chance my Champion does not win, I'll make sure I'm on good terms with the others, just in case they decide that they no longer like Slytherin House. You would be surprised at the number of Gryffindors who would waste the wish of a djinni on something as mundane as House rivalry."

Snape looked nothing less than impressed. "You are surely cunning Lord Slytherin."

"Please," he said and he extended his hand at Snape. "Call me, Salazar."

Helga Hufflepuff didn't like it, not one bit. She firmly believed that any child that showed a sign of magic was good enough to be taught at Hogwarts. But that Umbridge woman? She reckoned it would've been better had she never gotten a Hogwarts letter at all. Maybe it was a bit harsh, but Helga knew her home, she knew Hogwarts. From the moment her first student came to Hogwarts she knew that this was her place, and that woman held nothing but bad news for her home. She'd given not only Harry Potter detention, but Cedric Diggory as well.

She had spent the short amount of two weeks back at Hogwarts, and from what she had seen from Dolores Umbridge there was little she liked. She had this hidden evil and disgusting nature behind that obviously fake sweet voice, she was no better than the Potions professor she'd had the displeasure of accompanying during a seventh-years Potions lesson.

As if those poor boys needed more problems than the ones they already have. Poor Cedric couldn't even eat his breakfast before she had to replace it with things he favored eating. Always was a sweet tooth that Cedric Diggory, she would be lying if she said he wasn't one of her favorites. But how could she not be playing favorites, he was kind, noble and good-spirited. No wonder he had been her first choice as Champion, however like everything else in this school every year there had been a problem.

Tom Riddle. She remembers that boy, just like she remembers every student that has come through the doors of the Great Hall. He was quite a lonely boy, and there had been a darkness in him, but she had always seen the best in all of the students of Hogwarts. How sad that such a talented soul had also been one so vile and full of evil, had he gone to her House perhaps he would've been taught different values, with a family that didn't see ambition and cunning as their prime virtues. Or perhaps nothing would've changed, perhaps young Tom was just born evil.

And that evil had gone as far as to torture on of her Puffs, how someone could torture an innocent soul without a drop of regret was beyond her. She was worried her young Diggory boy was not mentally ready for another tournament in such a short amount of time. He had just become Head Boy, he should enjoy one final normal year at Hogwarts without worrying about deadly tournaments and what not. Not to mention he was Quidditch Captain as well, there would be little time for training if he were to be her Champion. Perhaps she could change Champions, no one would know, but it wouldn't be fair, Cedric had a right to know even if the news came to him before everyone else.

That's why she found herself at the Hufflepuff Common Room, surrounded by dozens of her students, searching for the tall Head Boy of her House. She was answering every question she could, one of the first-years had accidentally called her Mum between all of the questioning giving her enough time to escape, while the older students joked around the young Hufflepuff.

'I'm sorry,' thought Helga. 'I'm so so sorry.'

As she got away from the crowd she managed to find the boy she was looking for.

"Mr. Diggory," she said as she strode his way. "Come with me if you may." Cedric looked surprised but quite pleased at being the center of attention of Lady Hufflepuff herself.

"O-of course." he showed the crook of his arm and she took it as they walked away from the dozens of students that had gathered around her only minutes ago. Helga started walking thinking about how grateful she was to be back home, to be able to see the halls she walked through, to feel the magic surrounding the castle. It was truly great to be back home. The walk with Cedric had been silent for the first couple of minutes, what could she say?

"Mr. Diggory," said Helga, and Cedric's head whipped in her direction. "As you know the Champions of Hogwarts are set to be revealed in a few weeks during the Halloween Feast." Cedric's expression of interest suddenly turned into one of surprise. "And as you also know none of the Champions know they have been chosen as Champions." Cedric nodded his interest was obviously through the roof. "Well… I wanted to tell you that I have chosen you as my Champion, young Diggory." Cedric's expression changed into one of shock, surprise and fear.

Cedric opened his mouth, but no words seemed to be able to escape his throat. Helga didn't expect anything different, after everything he went through the thought of another tournament after the last one was probably a bit too much for her young Hufflepuff.

"I understand," she said after an uncomfortable amount of silence. "If you perhaps would want to resign from the Tournament." At this his expression changed but it was indescribable to Helga. "I'll simply choose another one of my Hufflepuffs to fill the role, there's no shame in-"

"I want in." he spoke with such determination that Helga would say she was stunned, but truly there were no words for what she felt, a mix of pride, shock, trepidation and a barrage of other emotions. Had she seen everything wrong? Were the events that occurred in that graveyard not as traumatizing as she made them out to be? No, they affected him alright, she could see it every morning as he prepared his breakfast as if it would hurt him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Diggory," said Hufflepuff. "But you must be absolutely certain tha–"

"I'm tired of it," interrupted Cedric. "I'm tired of waking up from nightmares about what happened. I'm tired of not being able to eat my breakfast because I'm afraid the bloody spoon is a Portkey that will lead me right back to him. I'm tired of not being myself anymore, I feel like I need to be fine, because everyone else is fine. Half of my own housemates don't believe what happened to me to be true and I'm tired of it. I want to prove that You-Kno–…" He broke off as his voice started to get choked up, Helga put a hand on his shoulder to try and show some kind of comfort. "I want to prove that V-voldemort didn't break me. That no matter how much he hurt me, how much he tortured me and laughed at my suffering he never managed to break me."

Never in a thousand years had Helga Hufflepuff met a Puff with such a strong will as Cedric Diggory, she would probably have to wait another thousand years to find anyone else like him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Even if she couldn't see his face she knew he must've been blushing quite profusely, she might've not been the fair lady that Rowena was often described as, but she wasn't too bad either. She parted from him and shook his right arm excitedly.

And Cedric winced. Had she shaken his arm too harshly? She knew she could get excited, but she couldn't have that strong of a grip could she? Well, there was that one time she crushed an apple with her bare palm, but that was honestly an accident. She looked at Cedric's handsome face and his eyes drifted towards his hand. She looked at Cedric's hand and in the back of it words had been engraved onto his flesh.

I must not tell lies.

She looked frantically at Cedric's eyes and used Legilimency, and the most horrific detentio— No. The most horrific and utterly disgusting torture that had ocurred inside the walls of her home played again and again inside her mind, and not only to him but… Harry Potter too. Cedric's eyes widened and she could tell just from his look what he was about to say. Young Cedric was just as stupidly noble as Godric was. She grabbed his other hand and started pacing rapidly towards the Great Hall. Behind her Cedric was openly pleading with her not to cause any trouble, telling her that he was fine and she turned around and looked him in the eye.

"My dear boy," and Cedric thought for a moment he was speaking with his mother back at Ottery St. Catchpole, when he arrived for his summer vacations and she had been there to wake him up from his nightmares and reassure he was fine. "Remember honesty is a part of my House, please don't lie to me." Cedric gulped and let himself be led to the Great Hall.

The doors of the Great Hall were banged open and everyone's head turned to look at a distressed Helga Hufflepuff. Her friends stared in shock at her as she walked towards the staff table.

"YOU!" She spoke with pure venom in her voice at Umbridge and everyone was surprised at her fierceness towards the DADA professor, but Cedric could notice how gentle the grasp on his left wrist was. "YOU DISGUSTING, UTTERLY VILE, EVIL EXCUSE OF A TEACHER!" she almost yelled the last part at her. The hall had never seen Dolores Umbridge as surprised or shocked as she looked when the Hufflepuff founder came through the doors bad-mouthing her.

"Helga!" exclaimed Rowena, whose tone showed outrage although Helga knew her enough to tell she was worried. "What is the meaning of this?!" Helga simply grabbed Harry Potter from his seat, the young Gryffindor from his part looked confused. She grabbed both her right hands and showed the backs of them to her long time friends, before she sent a message of Legilimency through their minds.

Rowena gasped in outrage as she looked at Umbridge in disgust, the DADA professor for her part had gone pale and looked like a sick toad. Rowena's reaction was no surprise, she often made a show of showing herself as strict and disciplined, but her heart was as kind as could be. She was accustomed and prepared for Rowena's outrage… but Godric and Salazar's? There was only so much she could control.

Godric gripped the fork on his hand so tight it bent and his knuckles cracked loud enough for the whole hall to hear. The fire of the candles that floated above everyone started growing bigger and more erratic. Godric stood up from his chair and an expression of pure rage was shown on his normally jovial face. The fork that was still in his grasp melted and his hair and beard seemed to have caught on fire while his calm blue eyes showed an enraged amber. He took one step towards the staff table, and looked at Umbridge dead in the eye.

Salazar, so usually calm, the first to always deescalate Godric and Rowena's rows and their fighting, had never looked angrier. There was no sign of his anger at first, but then a vein appeared on his neck, his eyebrows furrowed, he entangled his fingers and joined his hands together as if he was praying, the veins on his hand seemed to pop, before he disentangled his fingers and the rings that he wore on his hands slithered away from his extremities and onto the table becoming snakes.

Umbridge herself had thought Lord Voldemort was her biggest fear, how wrong she had been. In all her years knowing both Godric and Salazar, this was not the first time she had seen the extent of their temper, however it was the first time their anger came from the same source. Had Umbridge not touched one of her students she might've felt an ounce of empathy, but she harmed one of her Puffs and one of Godric's lions. The two of them stood before the staff table, the pressure inside the Great Hall had dropped, people were gulping, holding their breath, waiting and not daring to even blink in case they would miss whatever the Founders had prepared for this year's least liked professor.

Salazar started hissing at his snakes and they followed behind the black haired wizard like moths bewitched by a bright flame, he kept his hands behind his back which concealed his Snakewood wand. Godric for his part was standing looking at Umbridge wand in hand, his fist by his sides.

"You," said Salazar with his usual stoic tone now with an unmissable wrath. "Dared. Hurt. Our. Students.'' Every word was spoken as if to clarify not what she was being accused of, but of how unbelievably moronic she had been to commit such a stupidity when the Founders were residing in Hogwarts. The snakes hissed at the end of his accusation, and the teachers all stared right at her. McGonagall squinted her eyes and saw the marks on Harry and Cedric's hands and her eyes narrowed as her lips thinned.

Umbridge for her part did something incredibly stupid. It seems it was becoming a something of habit. "As the Hogwarts High Inquisitor," she said in a matter of fact tone, but her voice was slightly quivering as she spoke. "I have been giving specific instructions to make the message clear to all students… He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has not returned… And those who say he has are liars. And one must not tell lies." Godric seemed to have reached his boiling point before he straightened his back and took a deep breath.

"Madame Umbridge," said Godric in a terrifyingly calm voice. "I am or at least was in a particularly good mood today, so I'll kindly ask of you to leave Hogwarts grounds once." Some of the Gryffindors looked slightly disappointed as if they were expecting Godric to just run up and hex the vile woman, but Godric didn't choose chivalry as a House trait for nothing. Umbridge looked outraged at Godric's statement.

"How dare you?!" she exclaimed, her usual bossy voice back as she thought that Godric had not been as affected as he looked at first. "I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic! I have been appointed as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor of Hogwarts by the Minister himself. I will not leave this place unless-"

The flames of the candles of the Great Hall roared as they grew ten times bigger. "Get. Out. Of. My. SCHOOL!" Godric's voice thundered throughout the walls of the Great Hall. Umbridge stood up frantically, knocking the chair down on her way, she reached for the pocket of her robes and pulled out her wand. At the same time Salazar hissed something to the snake nearest to the future ex-professor, it slithered its way towards her, it climbed her leg and body wrapping herself around her hand in a way that was impossible for her to properly grip her wand. Salazar raised his finger and waved it as if reprimanding a small child, while he clicked his tongue.

"No no no," he said, his voice as calm as ever. "We won't be doing any of that. Leave. Now." His voice was as commanding as she always remembered. One of Salazar's snakes took a hold of Umbridge's wand, it put the wand back inside her pockets and slithered back to Salazar. Umbridge walked hurriedly out of the Great Hall and Godric flicked his head and the doors slammed shut.

There was cheering and laughter across all of the Great Hall. Fred and George Weasley were jeering as they sung a parodied version of a song from one of those muggle pictures.

"Ding-dong, the toad is gone!" sang Fred Weasley.

"Which old toad?"sang George.

"The wicked toad! Ding-dong, the wicked toad is gone!" they sang together.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly at the sight of his students celebrating the firing of the worst professor since he began his job as Headmaster, before his expression changed as he saw the four Founders look at him, he sighed before he stood up leaving the students to their happy cheering and eating. The four Founders followed, Dumbledore muttered the password to his office and as Godric closed the door behind them the shouting started.

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!" shouted Ravenclaw . "YOU BETTER HAVE AN EXPLANATION OF WHY YOU DECIDED IN LETTING THAT- THAT… I'M SO MAD I CAN'T EVEN COME UP WITH A BAD ENOUGH INSULT FOR THAT TOAD!" Dumbledore didn't know what shocked him more, someone referring to him by his first and last name, or the fact that such a respectable witch like Rowena Ravenclaw had called Dolores Umbridge a toad.

"Lady Ravenc-" he said before being interrupted.

"Don't you Lady Ravenclaw me!" she interjected. "Those students outside are our children… The moment you accepted this job you made it your duty to protect them while they call Hogwarts their home… And Headmaster… You failed." No one said anything as the words dawned on Dumbledore, he knew how right they were, how bad of a job he had done as a Headmaster and as a teacher for the last five years. He had failed to catch Quirrell while he taught right under his nose, he didn't do anything to help with the Chamber of Secrets, nor did he help with the young Sirius Black when he was imprisoned without a trial all those years ago. He had always preoccupied for the wellbeing of his students, but this time it hadn't been a dark wizard or a Death Eater, but a vile woman who had the opportunity of being the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Dumbledore put his head down, as he sat down on his chair. "I'm sorry," he said, not quite meeting the eyes of anyone in the room. There was a silence where no one spoke.

"Good," said the voice of Helga Hufflepuff. Dumbledore looked up and saw Helga Hufflepuff giving him a look a stern mother would give their child "That's the first step to bettering yourself."