Chapter Twenty-Four: Toad Trouble

Being perhaps busier than he had ever been before, the last few weeks of the term flew by for Harry at a lightning pace.

His lessons with Professor Dumbledore were equal parts amazing, frustrating, exhausting, and enlightening. With great effort, Harry had become quite proficient in manipulating water, fire, and wind — perhaps not on the same level as Dumbledore, but definitely better than he had first anticipated. An unexpected, but quite welcome benefit to his training was the way he felt more in tune with his magic than ever before, greatly improving his already well-developed control.

From there, they moved on to advanced defensive techniques, including stronger variations of the Shield Charm and spell deflection, the latter of which involved batting away incoming spells using the tip of one's wand. Sirius had promised to teach him that over the holidays, so Harry was looking forward to showing his godfather how far ahead of schedule he was.

The remainder of the headmaster's lessons mainly built upon the foundation Professor McGonagall had worked to develop during Harry's week of detentions. Professor Dumbledore was a true master of Transfiguration, and the way he incorporated the art into his duelling was nothing short of genius. Their final meeting of the term was entirely spent sparring with each other, and even though Dumbledore repeatedly bested Harry with seemingly little effort, it was obvious to both of them that Harry had improved to a ridiculous degree.

Far less successful were Harry's attempts to reconcile with Daphne and convince her to train with him and his friends. His repeated efforts to subtly gain her attention were roundly ignored, so he decided to try something a bit more drastic.

It took three days of regularly checking the Marauder's Map before he finally found his opportunity. Daphne was walking by herself, trailing the other Slytherins by a fair distance as they left Professor Flitwick's classroom. Harry hid himself in one of the small alcoves that was home to one of the many suits of armour stationed throughout the school, and as soon as Daphne walked by, he hit her with a Silencing Charm, then dashed across the corridor and dragged her into a nearby cupboard.

"What the hell, Potter?" she growled, once he lifted his spell.

"Sorry, but you've been ignoring me, and I needed to talk to you," he whispered. "I wanted to apologise for the other night — what I was trying to say came out all wrong."

"Oh really? And what was the right way to say you intended bail on me?" she retorted, her irritated expression clear even in the low light of Harry's wand.

Harry sighed. "I just thought it would be nice if we could join together. We have a small group of the best duellists — not just Gryffindors — and you would fit right in," he tried to explain. "You could practice duelling against someone besides me for a change, they would see that there really are some decent Slytherins in this school, and I might actually get a free night to do my homework."

"Well, now you have your free night, just like you wanted," she replied snarkily. "Don't worry about me, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. I don't need a bunch of naïve idealists getting in my way."

"That's not fair, Daphne," responded Harry, his expression growing serious as he suddenly came to a realisation. "You're still practicing Dark Magic, aren't you?"

"What I do is none of your business," Daphne replied coldly.

"That's not —" Harry started, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is that why you're so mad, because I wanted to stop using Dark Magic?"

"You can do — or not do — whatever you like, as far as I'm concerned," she said, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Fine," said Harry resignedly. 'This…this isn't how I wanted things to go. I consider you a friend, Daphne, and I don't want that to change, even if we stop practicing together."

"People don't always get what they want, Harry. You know that as well as anyone," Daphne replied bitterly, moving to open the door. "Don't follow me," she said just before she left, "and remember what I told you about Umbridge — she's been asking questions about you."

Harry was disappointed, of course, but he tried not to let it get to him. Astoria was concerned about her sister as well, but there wasn't much either of them could do.

As much as Harry would have liked for Daphne to join them, no one could deny that the Underground had been positively thriving. For one, after working out a system where they would break off into smaller groups and work on different spells before rotating, their meetings had become much more efficient.

By mid-December, every one of them had become at least reasonably competent at disarming and shielding, along with a decent variety of basic offensive spells, including Stupefy, the Impediment and Knockback Jinxes, and even a few of the heavier spells, like the Reductor Curse. They had even introduced Episkey, the basic healing spell Dumbledore had taught him, and the Disillusionment Charm — a rather difficult spell used to disguise oneself by blending in with one's surroundings, like a chameleon.

Harry was proud of their progress, but even more special was the invigorating sense of purpose and camaraderie that filled him during their meetings. In less than two months, they had gone from a loose collection of students from three separate Houses to a cohesive group united in two main goals: learning to defend themselves, and sticking it to the Ministry for forcing Dolores Umbridge upon them.

Even chronic naysayers like Zacharias Smith had seemed to come around. In fact, Harry was so encouraged by their progress that he promised to start on the Patronus Charm once they returned from the holidays, and they all left their last full meeting of the term feeling energised.

On the last night before the Hogwarts Express would bring them all back to London, they held their final meeting of the advanced group — who Fred now insisted be called the 'Elites', arguing that they deserved a cool name of their own.

They had spent the last few sessions perfecting two reasonably destructive spells: Bombarda, the Exploding Charm; and Confringo, the Blasting Curse. Both were similar in nature, except the former created a more concussive blast, compared to the fiery explosions of the latter. In either case, allowing yourself to be hit by one was not recommended.

Not wanting to start anything new before the holidays, they spent most of the evening duelling in pairs so that they might become more accustomed to fighting in teams. With them being an odd number, Harry hadn't planned on participating at all, until right near the end, when Fred and George managed to goad him into duelling them two-on-one.

Having dispatched the team of Neville and Susan with relative ease, the twins were feeling confident and insisted they were ready to take on their leader. Never one to back away from a challenge, Harry hopped down from the table where he had been sitting and observing the duels and took up his position in the centre of the room.

The rest of the group quickly lined up against the wall to watch (including Astoria, who came to observe, as she often did), and took out their wands in case they needed to shield against a stray spell. Everyone was so focused on the duel about to take place, that none of them noticed the door to the Room quietly opening — seemingly on its own — before quickly shutting itself.

Harry raised his wand in a defensive posture, as Fred and George slowly criss-crossed one another to switch places, grinning like mad the entire time.

"Do Fred and George know Harry's been training with Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione whispered to Ron.

"Nope," he replied, trying hard not to laugh. "This is going to be hilarious."

"Oh dear…"

Fred was the first to act, calling out "Stupefy!" just as George was trying to outflank Harry by quickly moving to his right. Their gambit fell flat when, with a flick of his wand, Harry deflected Fred's spell directly into his twin, rendering George unconscious. Fred was so shocked that he didn't even react when Harry silently caused his robes to flip up over his head, only to follow up with an Incarcerous that left the redhead bound from head to toe — still unable to see, due to the robes covering his face.

Harry disarmed Fred for good measure, officially ending the duel. For a few moments, the only sounds in the room were Fred's muffled complaints, but then the silence was broken by Ron suddenly bursting into laughter, with the rest of the group joining in shortly thereafter. Lee was absolutely howling as he shakily revived George, who seemed confused about what had happened.

"Better luck next time, lads," grinned Harry, as he released Fred.

"Bloody hell, Harry, how'd you get me so fast?" moaned George, as he got to his feet. "I didn't even see you cast a spell."

"I didn't," Harry informed him. "I just deflected Fred's Stunner into you."

"I had no idea that was even possible," said Dean, slightly awestruck.

"It's really not that difficult; it just takes good hand-eye coordination," explained Harry. "I can show you all when we start up again after the holidays."

"That's why he's our leader," pronounced Fred, not at all phased by his and George's lacklustre performance. "Let's hear it for Harry Potter, the bane of Dark Lords and corrupt Ministries everywhere!"

There was a mix of laughter and applause before George added his thoughts. "Seriously though, Harry — thanks for doing all this. It really could make a difference if things start to get rough," he said sincerely, triggering a round of murmured 'thanks' from the rest of the group.

"I didn't do it alone," said Harry, gesturing to Ron and Hermione, "but thank you. I hope everyone has a happy Christmas, and we'll see you all next term."

"Yes, we should probably call it a night," declared Hermione. "I've still yet to pack, and I know I'm not the only one."

"True enough," agreed Ginny, as everyone moved to collect their things.

"We've still got some time before curfew, but you should probably be careful going back to your common rooms, anyway," Harry warned them. "Umbridge's goon squad has been extra annoying lately — I hear they've even resorted to stopping and questioning people in the corridors."

After a few grumbled insults about Umbridge and her favourite Slytherins, the 'Elite' members of the Hogwarts Underground gradually left the Room of Requirement, giving Harry and Astoria the place to themselves.

"You're amazing, you know that?" said Astoria, stepping into his arms and nestling her head against his chest.

A look of confusion briefly crossed Harry's face, as he gently rested his chin against the top of her head.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" he asked.

Astoria sighed. "Nothing…don't worry about it," she said resignedly. "Anyhow, what would you like to do? I'm not in a hurry to get back to my common room tonight, seeing as how this will be our last night together for a while, unless we somehow manage to see each other during the holidays."

"Hang on, that reminds me," said Harry, letting go of Astoria and walking over to retrieve something from his bag.

He returned a moment later and handed her a small, brown, leather-bound book with a delicate floral design embossed on the front.

"Here, I want you to have this," he told her, as she accepted the book from him.

Astoria opened the book to see that all of the pages inside were blank. "A diary?" she responded curiously. "Not that I don't appreciate it, of course, but why a diary?"

"I'll explain, but first you should tap the cover with your wand," replied Harry.

She did as he requested, causing the diary to flash a single time before returning to normal.

"The diary came from Flourish and Blotts. I chose it because it has a built-in charm that prevents anyone but you from reading it — that's what that flash was," explained Harry. "I got one for myself too, but what makes them special is that I've added my own spells, so that anything you write in yours will instantly appear in mine, and vice-versa."

"Really?" she said excitedly. "That's perfect! Now we can stay in touch without having to wait for owls. How did you manage this?"

"Hermione helped me with it," admitted Harry, although he was pleased by her reaction. "I got the idea from the fake Galleons she came up with for the Underground."

"This is brilliant!"

"There's one other thing," he added. "When there's a new message, the flower on the cover will glow — just a bit; not bright enough to draw other people's attention."

"This is wonderful, thank you," said Astoria, kissing him softly on the lips.

"I'm glad you like it," replied Harry. "I can't shake this feeling that something big's going to happen soon, and I'll feel better knowing you can reach me quickly if needed."

"You mean —"

"Yeah," he nodded. "He's been way too quiet. Dumbledore and I have something planned for when I have to go to the Ministry in a few days, and he's really not going to like it when he finds out."

"What? Is it something dangerous?"

"I don't think so. I'll be with Dumbledore, after all," Harry tried to reassure her. "You're better off not knowing the details for now, but I promise I'll fill you in later. That's not all, though," he continued, after Astoria begrudgingly agreed. "There's also the escaped Death Eaters to worry about. It's been almost two months since the breakout, and it's only a matter of time before they've recovered enough to start attacking people again."

"That's true…" Astoria replied quietly, biting at her lip in a way that told Harry she was worrying about Travers contacting her mother. He was about to say something, when suddenly her expression cleared, and she looked up at him with a wry grin.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing you have an army of your own now," she said teasingly.

Harry paused for a moment before chuckling in response. "I wouldn't go that far," he replied. "They've all come a long way, though. If it came down to it, we'd put up way more of a fight than anyone would expect."

"I guess the Minister was right to be worried," she quipped, reaching up to touch his cheek. "I'm glad I'm on your side, though."

"Me too," he smiled, leaning in for a kiss.

"Hem, hem…"

Harry and Astoria immediately froze at the sound.

"I believe I've heard enough," announced Professor Umbridge, coming into view as she lifted her Disillusionment Charm.

The Hogwarts High Inquisitor stood there in her familiar pink cardigan, her wand pointed directly at them and a wide, toad-like smile punctuating her gleeful expression. Shocking though her sudden appearance may have been, even more so was the identity of the person standing behind her.

"Daphne!" Astoria exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yes, your older sister has been quite useful," Umbridge replied smugly. "It's a shame you do not share her sense of loyalty. Whatever would your father say?"

Astoria didn't respond, as she was still glaring at her sister, who was looking down at the floor.

"While I suspected that Potter was leading an illegal student group, the truth is far worse than even I imagined," continued Umbridge. "Conspiring with Dumbledore to infiltrate the Ministry, raising an army with the intent of causing insurrection? It seems that Cornelius was correct — I am afraid you've left me with no choice but to charge the both of you with treason."

"Treason?" all three students shouted in unison.

"Oh yes, and that goes for your little friends too," she added in her falsely sweet voice. "I've committed their names to memory, and I assure you, they shall all be punished accordingly."

"You promised you would leave Astoria out of it!" Daphne said angrily, now glaring at Umbridge.

"That was before I became aware of the seriousness of her crimes," she responded, not even bothering to look back at Daphne. "After what you told me, you should be grateful I'm not bringing you up on charges, as well."

Harry's mind was scrambling to come up with a way out of their predicament, but all he could think of was fighting his way out and fleeing to Sirius's house. While he understood that doing so would likely make things worse in the long run, there was no way he was going to let Umbridge take them. Moving very slowly, he began inching his hand towards his wand.

"Now, you shall both come with me whilst I summon the Aurors," said Umbridge, now walking towards them. "Do not resist, or I shall —"

Harry plunged his hand into his robe pocket and grasped his wand.

"Imperio!"

Umbridge suddenly stopped in her tracks and lowered her wand, her eyes glazing over as the curse took hold. Standing just behind her wearing a repulsed expression was Daphne, her wand pointed directly at the back of Umbridge's head.

"What the ever-loving fuck, Daphne!" shrieked Astoria.

"It's not my fault!" Daphne shouted back, a moment after recovering from her sister's uncharacteristic outburst.

"How in the world is this not your fault?!"

"Because the bitch fed me Veritaserum!" snapped Daphne. "She forced me to tell her everything: how we hid Harry over the summer, your relationship, us practicing Dark Magic together — even what I knew about Father's business dealings."

Astoria's mouth clamped shut as she swallowed her retort, her face taking on a thoughtful expression.

"Hang on," interrupted Harry. "That's obviously bad, but how are you even here right now? As far as I know, Veritaserum can't get around a Fidelius Charm, and there's no way you could have given her the secret."

"No, but she figured out I knew something and asked enough questions to where I actually told her you were hiding what you were doing under a Fidelius," she explained bitterly. "I couldn't tell her the actual secret, but I was able to bring her straight to your 'meeting place', as she put it. It's just bad luck that you were actually here. She disillusioned both of us and then held onto my arm as I led her inside. I can't be certain, but it seems like the charm might have broken for her once she was inside the Room."

Harry started massaging his forehead. "You'd think me of all people would know not to put too much faith in a Fidelius Charm," he muttered to himself.

"And you were okay with Umbridge arresting us?" Astoria pressed her sister.

"Obviously not," retorted Daphne. "She promised that if I helped her, she would leave you alone. Harry was only supposed to be expelled."

"Gee, thanks…" Harry replied sarcastically.

"As if Dumbledore would ever let that happen," she scoffed. "Besides, I've been clear with you from the beginning about my priorities, so you shouldn't be surprised that I would sacrifice you for Astoria."

"I suppose that's fair," he sighed, while Astoria looked at him in disbelief.

"No, it is not fair," she replied to him sharply, before turning back to her sister. "And what could have possibly possessed you to place Umbridge under the Imperius Curse?"

"Well, I wasn't going to just let her charge you with treason," replied Daphne, as if the answer were obvious. "I clearly had to do something."

"And you chose casting an Unforgivable Curse on the Minister for Magic's top assistant?" Harry asked incredulously.

Daphne paled slightly, as if she'd only just then realised the implications of what she'd done. Right at that moment, Umbridge suddenly started twitching and her eyes began darting back and forth.

"Damn, she's fighting the curse!" exclaimed Daphne, her face scrunched up in effort. "I don't think I can hold her…"

"Stupefy," muttered Harry, and Umbridge collapsed to the floor like the proverbial sack of potatoes. "What a bloody mess," he said, anxiously running a hand through his hair.

"What are we going to do now?" Astoria asked quietly.

"You are going to do nothing," Daphne replied hotly. "You are going to go back to your common room whilst I figure out how to deal with this."

"Hey, don't get mad at her," snapped Harry.

Astoria put her hand on Harry's arm to calm him. "As mad as all of this is, I can't stop wondering why she would have asked you about Father's business," she remarked. "That clearly has nothing to do with Harry, so why?"

"She never mentioned why," scowled Daphne, "but I say we use her own Veritaserum on her and find out."

"That's not a bad idea," replied Harry thoughtfully. "But then what?"

Daphne folded her arms in front of her. "I'm not doing anything until Astoria leaves," she said defiantly.

"Fine," agreed Harry, before Astoria could argue. He turned to face her and took both of her hands in his. "I understand why you want to stay, but Daphne's right," he attempted to explain. "You're still relatively innocent in all this, and it's probably for the best if you're not involved in whatever happens next."

Astoria opened her mouth to argue, but she quickly deflated and resignedly nodded her head in agreement. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Please, don't let anything happen to her," she whispered in his ear, before stepping back from him. "And I want to know the moment you are back and safe," she added, holding up the diary Harry had given her.

Next, she went to hug Daphne. "I love you," she said quietly, "but if you betray him now, I will never forgive you."

"I won't — I promise," she replied haltingly, squeezing her sister tightly before subtly wiping a tear from her eye.

"Good luck," Astoria said to both of them, and then quickly gathered her things and left.

As soon as the door was shut, Daphne turned to Harry with a pleading expression. "Harry, I —" she started, but Harry held up a hand to forestall her.

"It's fine," he said, once again massaging his brow. "I understand…I think. If you want to talk about it later, we can, but for now we need to figure out how we're going to get ourselves out of this mess."

"Right…" replied Daphne, her posture relaxing slightly. "I was serious about giving her Veritaserum, but after that…" She paused for a moment and locked onto Harry's gaze. "…I believe the solution is rather obvious, albeit unpleasant."

Harry's eyes narrowed at her. "Are you really going to stand there and tell me that we should just go ahead and kill Umbridge?" he asked in an expressionless tone.

"She plans to have both you and my sister — your girlfriend — convicted of treason, a crime which carries the death sentence," replied Daphne, her tone sounding downright dangerous. "Another dozen students will at least be tried as accessories, including your muggle-born best friend — good luck collecting any sympathy from the Wizengamot there — not to mention, half of your favourite family of redheads."

The rock that had formed in Harry's stomach suddenly doubled in size. Only minutes ago, everything had seemed so perfect; how did it all get out of hand so quickly?

Daphne stepped closer to Harry. "There's a good chance Dumbledore will go down for this, too," she continued in a low voice. "What happens if the both of you are taken off the board in one fell swoop? You might as well just hand the country to You-Know-Who and call it a day."

Harry shut his eyes and rubbed his face with both hands, so he was caught completely off-guard when Daphne reached out and grabbed him by the front of his robes.

"If you want to throw it all away out of some misguided sense of morality, that's on you," she growled, "but I will not let you bring my family down with you."

Daphne released him with a weak shove and turned her back on him, in an attempt to cover up her choked sob. What Harry really needed was to sit for a minute and think. The Room apparently understood his need, because a new chair popped into existence directly behind him, allowing him to sit down and bury his head in his hands.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there thinking, but it was long enough that he stunned Umbridge a second time — partially to make sure she remained unconscious, but also because he simply felt like it. To her credit, Daphne allowed him the space he needed to come to a decision on his own, even though he could tell she was growing impatient.

With a heavy sigh, Harry finally sat up to face Daphne. "You're right," he croaked, and something like triumph flashed behind her eyes. "We can't just let her go, but there has to be a way we can get rid of her without becoming murders."

"And how would you propose we do that?" she replied sceptically.

"What if we modified her memory?" he suggested after a moment. "Do you know how to do a Memory Charm?"

"I know how to do them, but I've never actually attempted it," she responded. "I'm fairly confident I could cast one successfully; the problem is that they can be broken by someone with the proper expertise. I'm not exactly an expert in Memory Charms, so if anyone became suspicious that Umbridge's memory had been modified, even a moderately skilled Legilimens would likely be able to unravel it."

"Legilimens?" repeated Harry, being unfamiliar with the term.

"Someone who practices Legilimency — the art of magically invading someone's mind and accessing their thoughts and memories," she explained slowly.

"People can actually do that?" squawked Harry, his face blanching somewhat.

"Yes, which is why we learn Occlumency — to protect our minds against invasion."

"Right…"

"You don't know Occlumency, do you?"

"It's on my list," he countered, recalling how Dumbledore suggested it to him months ago.

"Well, you'd better start practicing," Daphne said forcefully, "because Professor Snape is a known Legilimens, and I'm willing to bet Dumbledore is too."

"Terrific," said Harry morosely. "I'll work on it, but let's focus on the here and now for a moment. If Obliviating her isn't enough, maybe we can send her away too. Just modify her memory to think she was planning to move to Australia or something."

For a moment, it looked like Daphne was going to shout down his idea, but then she shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"Fine," she agreed, much more calmly than he had expected. "A combination of a Memory Charm and a Confundus Charm should be enough to make that work. We should probably come up with an excuse for why she's away, though," she pointed out. "Maybe we can force her write a letter to the Minister saying she's going on holiday for a few weeks, and hopefully, when she doesn't return, people will just think she decided to stay there."

"Brilliant," said Harry as he rose to his feet, feeling exceedingly relieved that Daphne had agreed to his plan.

"We still need to interrogate her first," Daphne reminded him.

"Right…do you remember where she kept her Veritaserum?"

"No, we'll need to take her back to her office."

"And how are we supposed to pull that off?"

Daphne winced slightly, giving Harry a sinking feeling. "We'll need to put her back under the Imperius Curse…and based on what happened last time, I think you should probably do it," she replied carefully.

Harry swore under his breath. "Right, I should've known," he sighed. "Wait — if we're going to use the Imperius anyway, do we even need Veritaserum?"

"Do you really want to risk it?" she countered.

"Fine," he said, clearly exasperated. "I'll make her walk back to her office, and we'll trail behind her under my Invisibility Cloak."

A few minutes later, Harry and Daphne were huddled together under his Invisibility Cloak — much closer than either of them would have preferred — walking slowly behind Professor Umbridge as she made her way down to her third-floor office. As it was already after curfew, the corridors were almost completely empty. They did happen across a pair of Hufflepuff prefects doing their patrol, but neither of them seemed keen to stop and chat with Umbridge.

As soon as they entered the office, Daphne moved to lock the door behind them while Harry ordered Umbridge to retrieve her stash of Veritaserum. It was difficult for Harry to ignore the sense of satisfaction he felt when the woman who had spent months harassing him obediently took the small crystal phial from her desk and handed it to him.

"Make her sit in the chair," Daphne told him.

Just to be safe, Daphne tied Umbridge to her chair using conjured ropes and then sat down on the desk, facing Harry. "Obviously, I want to find out why she was asking about my father," she told him. "But we also need to make sure we're not leaving any loose ends, which includes finding out if anyone else knew what her plans were tonight."

Harry nodded in agreement. "How much do I need to give her?" he asked.

"Three drops to start."

He pulled the glass dropper from the phial and released three drops of the Veritaserum into Umbridge's open mouth, and then for good measure, he also used his connection through the Imperius to order her to answer their questions truthfully and completely.

"Who else besides you knew about your plan to come after me tonight?"

"No one," replied Umbridge in a flat, expressionless tone. "I only decided to go after Potter once I had finished interrogating Daphne Greengrass."

"Did anybody else know you were going to question Daphne tonight?"

"No."

Harry and Daphne exchanged satisfied looks. The prospect of more witnesses was a complication that neither of them were prepared to deal with.

"Tell me why you asked me about my father and his business," ordered Daphne.

"I heard Lucius say he was having some difficulty in his dealings with Elias Greengrass. I was hoping to find something useful to blackmail him with, so I could give it to Lucius in exchange for favours."

"Fucking Malfoy," spat Daphne.

"And did you find anything?" Harry followed up.

"No, but when I caught his youngest daughter with Potter, I knew that threatening her with imprisonment or execution would be enough to get Lucius whatever he wanted."

Daphne had heard enough. She practically leapt off the desk and growled, "Crucio!"

Umbridge immediately began seizing up, but a much clearer-headed Harry reacted quickly enough to disarm Daphne before the screaming started. As soon as the curse was ended, Umbridge's posture slackened and her glazed expression returned, indicating she was still under the effects of Harry's curse and the truth serum.

"Give me back my wand, Harry!" demanded Daphne.

"Not a chance," he replied, sliding it into his pocket. "I get where you're coming from — believe me, I do," he told her. "But we need to be smarter than that. I'll give you your wand back once I'm convinced you won't lose control again."

Daphne turned and began muttering under her breath but didn't argue.

"Now," continued Harry, turning back to Umbridge. "Listen carefully — if you were to write to Minister Fudge and tell him you were taking an impromptu holiday, do you think he would believe you?"

"Possibly," Umbridge said after a moment. "He knows I have been under an extreme amount of stress. I hate being stuck at this school with children all day, and I still haven't been able to get rid of Dumbledore."

"Can you write to him from here?"

"I can, but all of my letters to the Minister are usually affixed with a special seal and sent using an official Ministry owl."

"Of course…" grumbled Harry. "And where could we find those?"

"At my home."

"Can we floo there from here?" asked Daphne. "Is the floo network being monitored?"

"Yes, but I would have to go through first and admit you. All of the fires in Hogwarts are being actively monitored, except for the one in my office."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, though Daphne seemed to have been expecting that.

"How exactly does the monitoring work?" questioned Daphne. "Can they tell who was using the floo, or what their destination was?"

"Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation is watching the Hogwarts fires for us," she answered, and Harry frowned as he recognised the surname as being the same as Cho's friend Marietta. "The Floo Network Authority used to keep records of all floo travel, but the Ministry eliminated the funding for it years ago."

"So, there would be no record of us taking the floo to your house and back?"

"That is correct."

Daphne turned to Harry. "So first, we floo to Umbridge's house and make her write a letter to the Minister," she said. "Then, we Obliviate her and send her on her way, and after that, we floo back here and act like nothing's happened."

"That's good, but you've skipped over a couple of details," he answered. "First, how exactly are we going to 'send her on her away', as you put it?"

"Keep her under the Imperius and make her go to the Ministry's portkey office," she replied dismissively. "You won't even have to go with her."

"That sounds suspiciously easy, but okay," Harry replied sceptically, then turned back to Umbridge. "I have a couple more questions," he said. "First, what's the floo address for your office, and do we need to do anything special to use it?"

"Hogwarts — High Inquisitor's Office, and if you floo from anywhere other than my home I must be here to admit you."

"What sort of magical protections are on your house? Would the Ministry be able to detect underage magic there?" he asked.

"I hadn't thought of that…" mumbled Daphne.

"The homes of all top Ministry officials are given the highest levels of magical protection," came Umbridge's monotone reply. "They are strong enough to block detection of any and all magic, underage or otherwise."

"Great, last question," he continued, fixing her with a hard look. "Did you send those dementors after me in August?"

"Yes," she replied. "Everybody was talking about silencing you, but I was the only one to actually do something about it."

"I knew it…" Harry grumbled to himself, turning back to Daphne. "I think we're ready," he said, then pointed his wand at Umbridge and muttered, "Relashio," freeing her from her bindings.

Still following Harry's commands, Umbridge tossed a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and stepped through. Harry and Daphne followed after her, and a moment later they were stepping out of the floo and into Umbridge's modest, yet fairly well-appointed drawing room — well-appointed by someone's standards, at least.

One look around made it clear that the decorative style on display in the soon-to-be former High Inquisitor's office at Hogwarts was far from an anomaly. Practically everything in the room was covered with lace: the tabletops, the backs of the sofa and all the chairs, and even a small stool near the fireplace. The walls were almost entirely done in a pale pink, with the exception of the decorative white woodwork, and most of the furniture was covered in hideous floral patterns.

Daphne's nose wrinkled at the sight of it all. "Ugh, her taste is almost as foul as she is," she said, looking distastefully at a painting that depicted several kittens tumbling over one another.

Harry turned to Umbridge, who was still standing by the fireplace awaiting instructions.

"You are to write a letter to Minister Fudge explaining that you need a break and are going away on holiday for a few weeks," he ordered her. "The letter needs to be believable, and you will send it as you would any official correspondence."

They followed Umbridge to the adjoining room, which appeared to be an office of some sort. The décor was less gaudy than that of the drawing room, although the kitten theme still prevailed. There was a large, roll-top desk against the wall, and in the corner of the room was a large tawny owl in an even larger cage, which hooted at them suspiciously as they entered.

Daphne observed over her shoulder as Umbridge opened up the desk and sat down to compose the letter. After a few minutes, she nodded satisfactorily at Harry to signal her approval of the wording, and then they both watched as Umbridge affixed her official seal to the parchment and tied it to the owl's leg, before allowing it to soar out the open window.

"Well, that part's done — no turning back now," remarked Harry, with a tone of finality. "Are you ready to do the Memory Charm?"

"Yes," replied Daphne, though she sounded a bit anxious. "I'll need my wand back first."

"Oh, right," he said, fishing Daphne's wand out of his pocket and handing it back to her. "Remember, she needs to forget everything about what happened tonight and believe she was intending to take a long trip somewhere," he reminded her, before stepping aside.

Clutching her wand tightly, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Only a moment later, Daphne's eyes snapped open, her expression suddenly morphing to one of fierce resolve.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"No!" shouted Harry, but it was too late.

There was a flash of green light, and Dolores Umbridge's body collapsed to the floor, like a marionette whose strings had suddenly been cut. Harry simply stood there for a time, staring in slack-jawed disbelief at the heap on the floor, which up until a moment ago had been a living, breathing person.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Daphne said finally. "It really was the only way. Your Memory Charm plan would never have worked long-term. Neither of us have the necessary skill to do the spell properly, and even if we did, they would have eventually found her, and we would have been caught."

"But…" Harry shook his head in disbelief as he came to a realisation. "You only pretended to go along with my plan. You intended to kill her all along," he said flatly.

"I only did what needed to be done," she replied fiercely, confirming his suspicions. "I'm sorry for lying to you, but you never would have agreed otherwise. At least this way, your conscience is still mostly clean."

Harry detected a hint of sarcasm in her last comment, which only served to make him angrier.

"Do you really think that's what I was worried about?" he snapped. "I…you…urgh!" he shouted, kicking over a nearby chair. "No…you know what? I can't even deal with you right now — we need to figure out what we're going to do."

"As far as…"

"Well, we can't bloody well leave her here!" he yelled, gesturing towards the body on the floor. "And there's no way in hell I'm bringing her back to Hogwarts."

"Obviously," she drawled. "Whatever we do, it has to be something that guarantees nobody will ever find the body."

"You don't say?" he bit back irritably, causing Daphne to scowl and look away.

Harry picked up the chair he had knocked over earlier and sat down to think. Everything had gone completely off the rails, and none of his prior adventures could have ever prepared him for the situation he was currently facing.

"I never wanted any of this to happen, you know," Daphne said suddenly, her arms wrapped around herself as she stared down at Umbridge's body.

"I know," he sighed.

Astoria reminded him often that Daphne tended to downplay her emotions, especially when she felt vulnerable. As he observed her looking contemplatively down at the floor, Harry was left with the impression that she wasn't nearly as unaffected by her actions as she had first appeared.

"All I ever wanted was to mind my own business and protect my family," continued Daphne, subtly wiping an errant tear from below her eye. "I had no choice…I had no choice," she repeated absently, as if trying to convince herself.

Harry got up from his seat to stand beside her, and they spent the next several minutes locked in a silent vigil of sorts, each of them held captive by their own thoughts. It was during this time that a thought occurred to Harry — a small detail he remembered from a different interrogation; one he hadn't given much thought to since.

"Barty Crouch, Jr. admitted that he transfigured his father's body into a bone and buried it in the Forbidden Forest," he said quietly. "If Dumbledore hadn't questioned him under Veritaserum, I don't think they ever would've found out."

Daphne turned and looked at him curiously. "That could work," she said after a moment.

"I still don't think we should bring her back onto Hogwarts grounds, but it might be the start of an idea."

After thinking on it a bit longer, Daphne spoke up again. "You know…if you could transfigure the…the body into a bit of wood, we could just burn it…" she offered tentatively.

"And then there would be nothing to hide," he said, finishing her thought. Her suggestion turned Harry's stomach a bit, but he had to admit that the idea had merit.

"Exactly," she agreed.

Even though Harry felt disgusted with himself while he was doing it, he was easily able to transfigure Umbridge's body into a log of solid oak — small enough that it wouldn't look out of place on someone's hearth.

"So, where should we do this?" Harry asked Daphne. "Burning her in her own fireplace feels a bit…dark."

Her nose wrinkled slightly in response. "You're not wrong, but what other option do we have?" she asked. "If we go somewhere else, we won't be able to use the floo to get back into Hogwarts."

"Honestly, I don't think I want to go anywhere near Umbridge's office ever again," replied Harry. "I can get us back into the school from Hogsmeade," he continued, checking his watch, "but considering how late it is, we'll have to go the long way."

"That's fine, I suppose," agreed Daphne, sighing to herself. "Considering everything that's happened tonight, it's not as though I can really complain," she continued. "Just getting out of this at all will be nothing short of a miracle."

"It's not over yet," he replied warningly. "Come on, I have an idea where we can go. We'll just need to floo to the Three Broomsticks under my Invisibility Cloak and go from there."

Harry shrank the Umbridge-log down to a more manageable size and stared at Daphne pointedly. She looked confused for a second, but then she rolled her eyes at him and picked up the shrunken log before dropping it into the pocket of her robes.

After some careful manoeuvring, they arranged themselves under Harry's cloak in a way that would allow them to move through the floo together. Harry tossed a handful of floo powder into the flames and called out, "The Three Broomsticks," before covering himself up again and leading Daphne through the fireplace.

A few of the inn's patrons looked over curiously as the floo roared to life, but when no one exited, they simply shrugged and went back to their drinks. Still invisible, Harry and Daphne slowly made their way through the main room, taking advantage of a large party of wizards entering to slip out the door unnoticed. Next, they wound their way through the cobblestoned streets of Hogsmeade in complete silence, as Harry guided them towards their destination.

"Are you taking us to the Shrieking Shack?" Daphne whispered hurriedly, once she recognised where they were heading.

"Yes," he replied quietly. "No time to explain, but it's not actually haunted."

They entered the shack through the hole Harry had made during his last visit and removed the Invisibility Cloak. Daphne looked around curiously as she followed Harry to the dilapidated building's lone fireplace, his plan becoming immediately apparent.

"We can burn it here," he informed her. "After it's done, there's a tunnel in the next room that lets out under the Whomping Willow."

Daphne removed the Umbridge-log from her pocket and tossed it unceremoniously into the blackened fireplace.

"How will we get back into the castle?" she asked. "Won't the outside doors be locked by now?"

"Don't worry, I know another way in," Harry assured her. He undid his Shrinking Charm on the log, but then hesitated for a moment and turned back to Daphne. "Care to do the honours?" he enquired.

Instead of replying, Daphne simply drew her wand and whispered "Incendio." She held the spell for several seconds to give the log time to properly ignite, and then stepped back to stand next to Harry.

It was an odd experience for Harry, watching as the bit of wood that had once been their Defence teacher crackled and burned. He liked to believe himself a good person, someone who usually tried to do the right thing — and reconciling that with the person who had used an Unforgivable Curse on an unwilling victim and became an accessory to murder all in the same evening was admittedly doing his head in.

The burning log was charred and mostly covered with ash before either of them spoke again.

"Thank you…for everything," Daphne said quietly. "I don't know what I would've done if I had to handle this alone."

"If it weren't for me, you probably wouldn't even be involved in this mess anyway," he replied flatly.

"Perhaps not. I don't think I would change anything, though…all right, maybe a few things," she added, in response to Harry's sceptical look. "I know it may not have seemed that way at first, but I don't regret Tori bringing you into our lives. You've been really good for her. I don't think I've seen her this happy since we were little kids, before…well, just before."

"She's pretty special," replied Harry, turning away from the fire to look at Daphne. "I want to be honest with her about what happened tonight."

Daphne sighed heavily. "I know…I think we have to," she agreed. "We should talk about what happens next. I wasn't joking about you needing to learn Occlumency."

"What are the odds I can learn it well enough to keep Snape out in less than a month?"

"Not good," she conceded, "but if anyone finds out —"

"I know," Harry assured her. "Can a Legilimens bypass a Fidelius Charm to discover a secret?"

"I shouldn't think so," replied Daphne, appearing contemplative. "I suspect the magic of the charm would prevent that, but I can't be certain."

"The Fidelius isn't perfect, obviously, but it might be our best option at this point," stated Harry. "That means I'll have to at least tell Hermione, though."

Daphne stared into the dying flames for a few moments. "Okay," she said after a while. "It's not like she'll be able to tell anyone, anyway. I want you to give me the secret after, though."

"All right, then," agreed Harry. "I'll still look into learning Occlumency, just in case."

Daphne nodded in agreement, and they both went back to silently observing the fire as it slowly burned down to nothing. As soon as it was done, Harry vanished the ashes, eliminating the last physical traces of Dolores Umbridge's body.

There was very little conversation as Harry led Daphne through the dank tunnel and back inside the Hogwarts grounds. From there, they carefully crossed the open field surrounding the school under the Invisibility Cloak, finally stopping at a rather nondescript section of the castle's outer wall. Daphne looked on with interest as Harry first consulted his Marauder's Map, and then used his wand to tap one of the stones in a particular rhythm.

The stones surrounding the area where Harry tapped quickly began folding in on themselves, revealing a narrow passageway, which they entered without hesitation.

"This passage lets out in the first-floor corridor, behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy," explained Harry, as the wall closed behind them. "I'll bring you down to the dungeons under the Cloak before I go back to my common room."

Harry made it back to Gryffindor Tower without incident, bringing an end to one of the most stressful nights of his young life. It was late enough that the other fifth-year boys had already gone to bed by the time he climbed the stairs to his dorm, which suited Harry just fine. Being careful to make as little noise as possible, Harry opened his trunk and pulled out the twin to the diary he had given Astoria earlier that evening.

The design on the cover was emitting a soft, golden glow, which meant she had already been attempting to reach him. Grabbing a quill from his trunk, he climbed into bed and pulled the curtains shut. He breathed a sigh of relief when he opened the diary to see that nothing new had happened, and so he decided to quickly write her back.

"Harry, are you there? It's been hours, and I am positively mad with worry. Please, please write me back as soon as you can. I could not stand it if anything happened to you or Daphne."

"We're both back and safe. A lot's happened, but I think we're going to be okay. I don't want to write about it here, but I'll tell you everything tomorrow on the train."

"Oh, thank goodness! I've felt sick to my stomach ever since I left you. Are you certain you're going to be all right?"

"As certain as I can be. Try to get some sleep, and I'll talk to you in the morning."

"I think I will. The last few hours have been exhausting, and I've only been sitting here waiting. I can't even imagine how tired you must be. I'll see you tomorrow, I am so glad you are safe. Good night!"

"Good night."

Shutting the book and setting it aside, Harry laid back on his pillow and reflected on the day. In a matter of a few hours, the emotional high he had been riding for the past few weeks had come violently crashing down, and the future was more uncertain than ever before. While he didn't expect many people to mourn the loss of Dolores Umbridge, her disappearance would be impossible for the authorities to ignore.

Harry would not sleep much that night.