Chapter 23 – Action, Reaction
The next morning at the start of breakfast Umbridge made an announcement.
"Hem, hem," she began. "Students are to be aware of the most recent Educational Decree reinstating the use of corporal punishment at Hogwarts School. Physical punishment has been a longstanding tradition at Hogwarts dating back to the days of the Founders themselves, a tradition which was carelessly cast aside by the former Headmaster for petty ideological reasons."
Harry fought the urge to laugh. The very idea that Umbridge was reinstating corporal punishment to reverse needless reforms made by Dumbledore was quite obviously false. Dumbledore had modernised the school's list of punishments, and Harry didn't think behaviour was any worse – or any better, to be fair – than it had been when the stricter punishments had been in effect.
It just seemed like another way for Umbridge to flex the Inquisition's power of the student body. Literally, Harry supposed, if she was able to use physical punishments.
"This should be of no concern to students who abide by the rules, as they will have no reason to experience it. A full list of punishments which may be allocated to rulebreakers may be found in the office of Argus Filch, caretaker, or pinned to the noticeboard outside of the Inquisition Lounge," Umbridge continued. "This is no reason to worry. All punishments, as they have always been, will be measured and appropriate to the level of transgression and meted out in accordance with traditional principles. Related to this reinstatement, all punishments shall be subject to review by the Inquisition and, if found to be too lenient or overly strict, may be changed to better suit the crime. Remember, the Ministry is here to improve outcomes! The educational experience of all our students is paramount, and that includes the provision of a well-maintained and ordered learning environment. Students are to be reminded that proper conduct is essential for success. That will be all."
Umbridge sat back down.
For a few moments there was silence, and then the Hall erupted into noise.
"Corporal punishment?" Harry echoed. "She can't be serious. Dumbledore banned that decades ago. She can't really want to hit students… can she?"
"Wouldn't put it past her," muttered Blaise. "Hopefully, she just wants it as a threat."
"Oh, but this is a nightmare," said Tracey. "Now that Dumbledore's gone—charged with treason!—she can do whatever she wants. And the Ministry doesn't even have him as a balance anymore. Mam said in her last letter that she's going to stop writing about work things just in case. But you don't think they'd be reading our letters, do you?"
"That seems a step too far," Blaise said, "but so did everything else she's done…"
"I did think of that," said Harry. He just hoped Sirius didn't write to him, or if he did, remembered not to include anything incriminating. "I think we should all meet up to talk about what's next," Harry said, lowering his voice. It didn't seem to matter given the cacophony in the Hall, but he still felt it prudent. "Upstairs in the library, maybe, or in Central Hall near the fountain…"
"Could try the Music Alcove," suggested Blaise. "Someone taught the violins a new song, so that's a good excuse for us to be there."
"Yeah, yeah, maybe there," Harry said. "What do you think? Shall we get the message out? Trace, can you ask Ernie? And Blaise, if you can get Daph and Millie on board…" Harry glanced down the table to where Daphne sat amongst the first years, Millicent next to her, watching for rule breaking at breakfast.
"Definitely," Tracey said. "I'll do it right after breakfast. I wanted to ask Susan a question anyway, so…"
"Brilliant," Harry said. "I don't know what we can do, but… we've got to do something."
After breakfast they went their separate ways. At lunch, Tracey let Harry know they'd decided to meet in the Music Alcove after lessons so it was just a matter of waiting until the day was finally done before Harry got to see everyone.
After lessons were over for the day the three Hufflepuffs and the five Slytherins sat themselves down in a set of comfy armchairs around a small table in the Music Alcove. The expansive, well-decorated alcove adjoined one of the larger corridors in the castle and had quite the diverse selection of instruments sat within it.
The instruments consorted with different arrangements of each other regularly, which meant the specific styles of music and the particular songs they played changed regularly. It was a nice enough play to go, Harry thought, even if it wasn't one of his own favourite spots. That day the violins and several other string instruments had chosen to group together and were playing songs from their new repertoire.
Blaise had chosen a spot by the violins that was relatively secluded. It wasn't overly busy, anyway – Umbridge's new announcements had put the scare into a lot of students and the school seemed emptier than it had been all year. Aside from Harry and his friends there was only one other group in the Music Alcove, and they were sat at the opposite end near a jazzy little quartet.
People were hiding out in their Common Rooms or in other spaces less public than the Music Alcove, Harry supposed. He didn't blame them.
"I brought tea," Daphne said, placing her offerings onto the table and setting everything out nicely. "I thought we could use the teapots. And Millie's mum sent over some cakes, so we've got the perfect reason to be here together. A nice little afternoon tea that isn't suspicious at all."
"Mum's cakes are always really good," Millicent said. "And she sent loads, so we can all have some!"
Harry grabbed one. He hadn't been intending to snack before dinner, but the cakes did look good…
"So," said Harry eventually, once Daphne had finished pouring everyone some tea and everyone had had a bit of cake. The instruments directly adjacent played something gentle and pleasant in the background, although Harry didn't recognise the song. "The Dumbledore situation."
"Bloody awful," said Ernie. "Dumbledore's been in post decades—this is the first time something like this has happened. I've got to say, I'm more than a little worried by all this."
"Me, too," said Harry. "Last time I saw Dumbledore he said he wasn't too worried about all this—about what Umbridge found in his office, about all the fuss with the Ministry—but that was before they sacked him and accused him of treason." Harry assumed Dumbledore had changed his view since.
"Daddy says not to firecall home anymore," Susan said. "I think my aunt must have said something about the Ministry watching the fires in case Dumbledore tries to contact anyone."
"Or anyone tries to contact him," Blaise said. "But that's a good idea—Trace, didn't your mum say something similar about letters?"
Tracey nodded.
"Mam said to be careful what I write in letters from now on. I think the Ministry is going to be watching our mail. And the fires."
"Are they even allowed to do that?" Justin asked. "It's just, well, this all seems highly illegal. Or, well, it should be at any rate. The government listening in on people's calls, or reading their letters… I mean, we're teenagers. At school."
"They probably aren't watching everyone's letters," Harry said. "I reckon mine are at risk. For, er… well, obvious reasons. I'm not sure about the firecalls. They probably will be watching them in general… or maybe just the teachers' Floos, if they're really only worried about Dumbledore."
"I don't think the Ministry is technically allowed to be doing a lot of what it's doing," Ernie said, answering Justin's question, "but no one is stopping them. Dumbledore started a legal challenge, didn't he, and look what happened then." He lowered his voice. "Mum told me there was a protest in Diagon Alley last week, but the papers kept it hush-hush. People aren't happy."
"A protest?" echoed Harry. That certainly hadn't been in any of the papers, nor had been featured on any of the Wireless programmes Harry had heard. "What happened?"
"Not much," Ernie said. "Few people got out, started chanting, you know, all that stuff. Aurors came and dispersed them. Mum told me that Dad thinks things will blow over now that Dumbledore's out of post—it's gone and put the fear into people, see."
"Makes sense," Blaise said. "If someone like Dumbledore can be kicked around by the Ministry any normal wizard hasn't got a chance."
"You said Dumbledore just had a book in his room, didn't you?" Millicent asked. "Some sort of goblin book, right?"
Harry nodded.
"Yeah. Book about this rebellion that happened when he was our age. The Ministry banned it not long ago, apparently." Although Harry still wasn't entirely convinced that that was the only thing they'd found, nor was he totally sure that Dumbledore hadn't simply downplayed the severity of his infraction. But that was what Dumbledore had said.
"Bit of a poor excuse to have him done for treason," said Justin. "A book about goblins."
"It was the book and everything else," said Blaise. "All his arguments at the Ministry, the conversations he's been having… then that stuff with Rita Skeeter and all the Grindelwald bollocks. It started back during Malfoy's trial. It's all been drip-fed to paint a picture of someone bad, just so they could go after Dumbledore like they have done." Blaise shrugged. "They orchestrated the whole thing really well, to be honest."
"We know exactly where all this treason stuff is coming from," Harry said. Skeeter, Umbridge, the Ministry… they were just pawns. He nibbled at his cake. "The Ministry—the Inquisition—that's just a convenient way of getting this all done. But… all of that isn't our problem. Not at the moment, anyway. There's nothing we can do about it—Dumbledore was working on it and look where he ended up. If he couldn't manage it—and he was the Chief Warlock and everything else—we're not going to be able to. We're stuck at school. So I think we've got to…" He paused. He'd been thinking about this all day. With treason suddenly in the picture – and with actual charges levied against Albus Dumbledore – things had become rather a lot more serious. He could deal with it, as his only family were muggles and the only wizard he considered close to family was Sirius, who was already on the run from the Ministry.
But all of his friends – except Justin – had family much more vulnerable to both Voldemort and the Ministry of Magic. Reputations and jobs, or in the case of Blaise's mum, prior runs in with the law. He had to give them a chance – another chance – at giving up.
"Look," Harry said. "I'm going to keep at it. Keep up what we've been doing. I think now is the time more than ever to get back at Umbridge and try to figure out what Voldemort wants with the school and what he's using the Inquisition for. But it's—what I mean is, this is my fight. If you lot want to bow out now, do it. I mean, there's talk about treason and trials before the full Wizengamot and everything—"
"Obviously none of us are going to do that, Harry," said Susan, interrupting. "We're your friends. We support you. We all agreed to be part of this, even if we didn't think it was the best idea at the time. But… it's about more than that now. No offence, Harry, but it isn't all about you and your problems—this is bad for everyone. And if it gets to the point where a bunch of third years are put on trial before the Wizengamot for treason that's just a sign we didn't go far enough." She stopped, looked around. "Or am I being mad?"
Harry wasn't offended at all. Instead, he found himself nodding along with Susan. That was exactly right, exactly the line of thought Harry had had. It wasn't just about Harry's run ins with Voldemort.
"Well said," said Daphne. She sipped some tea from her dainty little teacup. "It's bigger than all of us. And I think you're right that we shouldn't think about what's going on at the Ministry. Leave that to people like Dumbledore."
"My dad's been putting out feelers," said Ernie. "Not sure exactly what he's been doing, who he's been talking to—he doesn't tell me that sort of thing—but he's let some things slip. So it's not just Dumbledore trying things out. We've just got to wait and see what happens."
Harry nodded.
"Yeah. I think we need to go harder against Umbridge and the Inquisition," Harry said. "I'm just not sure how."
"I'm going to join the Inquisitorial Squad," Blaise said. Everyone turned to look at him. Millicent even made a little noise of disgust. "Oh, don't be so silly," Blaise said. "It's perfect. We need to get a look inside their meetings, get an idea of what they're being told… and with you lot being prefects, they won't want you. And Bones—Susan—with that aunt of yours I doubt you'd be let in. Same with you, Trace, because of your mum. But I reckon Umbridge would let me in. So I'm going to join the Inquisitorial Squad, if they'll have me."
"I think you should, too," Tracey said. "It's a good idea. So that's step one: get someone in the Squad. But what about step two? And three, and four…"
"We need to bring more people in on this," said Justin. "I've been thinking about this and we need… I'm not saying we need to go public, you know. That would be a bad idea. And I'm not saying we need to get people totally up to speed, what with all the, er, delicate and personal information you've shared, Harry. But I do think we need to work with some other chaps, leverage resentment against the Inquisition, you know. All that stuff. And there's a lot of it knocking about the school, let me tell you."
Justin wasn't wrong about that. Umbridge and the Inquisition was a regular topic of conversation around the school, and very rarely did anyone have anything positive to say about them. But that was still very different from the kinds of active opposition Harry and his friends had been doing. Reaching out to anyone about helping was a risk, and possibly not a very worthwhile one.
But then… they couldn't be the only source of opposition within the school. If that were the case they'd already failed.
"Alright," Harry said. "Anyone got any idea on who? And how to get them involved without, you know, telling them everything?"
"Not exactly," Justin said. "The trouble is, there's no telling who we can trust, is there?"
"No," Harry said, "and that's exactly what she—what they—want." He mulled it over. Umbridge benefited from a disunified school because it was easier to control, easier to control the narrative and get the results she wanted. That was simple enough to see. It wasn't any question what the Ministry was getting from the Inquisition. Since its inception the Ministry had an unprecedented level of control over Hogwarts and the curriculum, even the day to day affairs of the staff and the students.
But what did Voldemort get from the Inquisition messing around? That had always been one the central questions for Harry, and he still couldn't answer it. And there was Dumbledore's mention of Voldemort's agents within the school, a person – or people – Dumbledore didn't know about. Hadn't known about before he'd been sacked, at least. There was Draco, but Dumbledore had told Harry not to worry about that. And it didn't seem as if Draco had been given anything especially delicate anyway.
"Ugh. It all comes down to figuring out how Voldemort is using the Inquisition to get what he wants."
Grimaces from his friends, most of whom still didn't like hearing Voldemort's name said aloud. Well, Harry thought they needed to get used to it, because he wasn't about to stop using it. Not unless he really needed to.
"We're going to end up talking round in circles," Millicent said. "Let Blaise join the Squad. Then… we need to wait and see what Umbridge does next."
"She'll probably issue new Decrees soon," Ernie said. "She loves those bloody Decrees. So I agree with Millie—we ought to wait and see what they do next." He leaned over, clapped Harry on the shoulder. "But we're all still in this with you, Harry—don't think otherwise."
A chorus of affirmations from everyone else, coupled with nods and other gestures of encouragement. Then, silence. Or silence apart from the enchanted instruments as they played their songs, anyway.
"Thanks," Harry said eventually. "I'm glad we're all still in this."
They stayed in the Music Alcove for a while after that, drinking tea, eating cake, and chatting about nothing in particular while the instruments played their song behind them.
On Saturday morning at the very beginning of breakfast Umbridge got up to make another announcement. She didn't even need to grab the students' attention with her usual cough, as recent events had rendered the vast majority of students rather less talkative and boisterous than was normal.
Harry would have found it eerie if it wasn't oppressively sad.
"The Inquisitorial Squad is still recruiting," Umbridge said without preamble. "Students wishing to join should see myself or another Inquisitor by Monday. In addition, there has been another incident involving vandalism in the Central Hall between last night and this morning. Any student with any information on this disgusting and reprehensible act of vandalism and destruction of school property is to alert a member of the Inquisition at once so that this wrongdoing—and all others prior—may be properly corrected as soon as possible. That is all."
Umbridge sat back down.
Harry glanced at Tracey and Blaise. Even looked down the table to Daphne and Millicent. They all looked as confused as he did.
"Vandalism last night?" Harry echoed. That didn't sound right. They hadn't specifically planned anything. Harry knew he hadn't painted anything, and could account for Blaise, Tracey, and Millicent's whereabouts all evening. Daphne had admittedly been out of the Common Room, but she'd been on a patrol with Draco. He supposed it could have been Ernie, Susan, or Justin, but… that seemed wrong, too. They'd all agreed to keep at it, but no plans had been made to do anything quite so soon. In the wake of Dumbledore's treason charges, and Umbridge seizing control of the castle, it seemed unwise to be so provocative at such an early stage.
And they had always discussed it together, anyway, so that nobody would be caught out.
"I don't think it was any of us," Tracey said quietly. "I think we should go have a look after breakfast."
"Definitely," said Harry. If it had been someone else, someone unconnected with their little group, that would be great. Copycats were a sign of progress. Significant progress. "We'll have to be quick though—I've got Flight Club not long after breakfast."
Once they'd eaten their fill, the three of them made their way through the castle to Central Hall to take a quick look at the 'vandalism' that had appeared the night before.
Them, along with dozens of others.
Inside the cavernous hall with its fountain in the middle were a number of other students milling about near the far side of the hall, just under the grand staircase. And right between the two sides of the split staircase was a great, big painting of Umbridge.
A messy, dirty Umbridge, complete with visible stink fumes in a cartoonish style… and with buttocks for a face. The buttocks forming Umbridge's face protruded from the wall and seemed to be made of actual flesh. An impressive piece of magic, for all that it was a rude joke.
A message had been scrawled above it.
DOLORES BUMBRIDGE AND THE STINKUISITION!
Harry laughed.
"That's a really childish joke," Blaise said, "but it's perfect. Why didn't we think of that?"
"It's great," Harry said. "I love it. But… does it smell? Whoever it was enchanted it so it even smells. How'd they do that? That's actually quite clever."
"It's going to make hanging out in Central Hall a pain in the arse, though," Blaise said. He smirked. "You know, because…"
"We got the pun," said Tracey, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, if that's the sort of thing you can come up with, it's obvious why we didn't come up with Dolores Bumbridge or the Stinkuisition."
Harry was about to respond when a sudden, very loud, sharp, noise cut through Central Hall.
The painting of Umbridge farted – right out of the bum where her mouth should have been. A cloud of green gas puffed out, along with the smell of rotten eggs and fish.
Harry covered his nose.
"That's absolutely foul," he said. The smell hung in the air like a… like a… well, like an especially strong-smelling fart.
"Clever bit of magic, that," said Tracey, her own nose covered. "I wonder who did it."
"Could be anyone," Blaise said, looking around. "One of the new lot—maybe some of the arty ones?—or… well… anyone."
"The painting doesn't look good enough to be one of the art lot," Harry said. It was fine but lacked a little flair. Far more impressive was the transfiguration involved in the bum, and the fart spell. Those were something only a NEWT student could have managed, for all that it was a particularly childish choice of how to use them.
Harry wondered whether it could have been the Weasley twins. They liked fart charms.
He glanced around and lowered his voice. "Daph's was better—you know, the vampire one?" His watch buzzed. "Oh, shit—I've got Flight Club. Have to nip back to get my Firebolt…"
"See you later," Blaise said. "I'm going to have a look at this a bit more, then go see about joining the Inquisitorial Squad. See you later."
"Bye, Harry! Have fun," Tracey said. "I want to see if I can figure out the spells they used to get this all working…"
Harry left Blaise and Tracey to it and went to collect his Firebolt ahead of Flight Club. After all, he couldn't spend all his time working on the Umbridge problem.
Later that day, once Harry was done with his clubs and prefect duties, he sat in the Slytherin Common Room with his friends hanging out in their customary spot. Daphne was braiding Millicent's hair, while Tracey was flicking through one of her magazines. Harry played cards with Blaise.
He kept an eye on Blaise, since Blaise was fond of cheating when he thought no one was looking, but Harry wasn't overly concerned. They hadn't put any money down on the game, after all, so it was just a bit of fun. Which meant Harry was able to take a look at what Draco was up to, although he didn't seem to be up to anything – he was simply sat in the Common Room with a bunch of his new friends.
Still, Harry thought it worth keeping watch over.
"I saw that Arlecchino bloke about joining the Inquisitorial Squad earlier," Blaise said during a lull in conversation. "He's creepy, but I thought, well, he's so far up Umbridge's arse that he's the best one to go to about things."
"How'd it go?" Harry asked. Arlecchino was Umbridge's second-in-command, and she'd told students to go to him after she was confirmed as Headmistress and was suddenly much busier. Although he wasn't necessarily the one Harry would have chosen to speak with. He got bad vibes from the man.
"He was a bit cagey about it but I reckon they've let me in," Blaise said.
"Really? What'd he say?" Harry asked.
"Some nonsense about needing to check my school records and all that," Blaise said. "I reckon he was just fobbing me off—needs to ask Umbridge, right? But I think they'd want me in the Squad. And that's not even me bragging this time—they'd want me for the same reason I want in. They'll want to get information on you, I reckon. And as I'm the only one offering…"
Harry looked across the Common Room to where Theodore sat with Florence.
"Unless Theodore's offering."
Blaise snorted.
"Please. He wouldn't join the Inquisition. Not his sort of thing. And, you know, he's still…" Blaise paused. "You know I still talk with him sometimes, right? Well, he still considers you a friend. Just… with everything else… it's rough for him, that's all." Blaise shrugged. "He just can't… he's not… well, you know what he's like."
It was rough for Theodore? Theodore didn't have a murderous madman after him. Theodore didn't have to worry about two versions of Voldemort. Theodore didn't have to worry about prophecies and rogue journalists and a whole host of other things. But… his dad was a Death Eater. Was involved with Voldemort currently. Harry supposed it would be hard to go against your only remaining family member on something like that, but… genocide? Trying to take over the country? Murder and Dark magic so vile ordinary people wouldn't dare speak its name?
Surely there was a line, and Sinistrus Nott had gone well past it.
If Theodore couldn't take a stand after all that, then Harry was probably better off without him. Was definitely better off without him.
"Yeah, well," Harry said. "It's not easy for me either."
Blaise nodded.
"No. But you're braver than he is—and it's not like you've really got a choice. But if he'd never met you, if you'd gone to Gryffindor or whatever, then… well… he never would have had to deal with any of this, would he?" Blaise shrugged. "He just wants to read his books and sit out the war. Can't say I blame him, to be honest. Not my style, not when one of my mates is part of it like this, but…"
That all made perfect sense to Harry. It was the rational thing to do. Any wizard with even a cursory desire for self-preservation would sit out the war if they could weather it without getting involved. From anyone else it was what Harry would expect. He wouldn't even feel overly disdainful of them – not everyone was cut out for war. But from one of his own friends… that was different.
"And it isn't like Theodore actually knows anything the Inquisition would want to be told," Blaise continued.
That was fair enough, Harry supposed. He cast his gaze around the Common Room again, from where Theodore and Florence were, to where Draco and his little gang sat, and then to his own friends.
Tracey would be fighting. Blaise. Daphne and Millicent, too. Harry himself, of course. All of Theodore's closest friends were against Voldemort, would end up fighting one day.
And on the other side, the people Theodore had grown up with – Draco and Greg and Vince – would be fighting for Voldemort. Theodore's own father was a Death Eater. With everything Harry knew he doubted that Voldemort would be at all content to let Theodore slip out of his service.
And yet Theodore still hoped to sit out the war without lifting his wand. Without coming into conflict with either his friends or his father. Without being forced to join Voldemort.
It was unrealistic. It was absurd. It was… it was cowardice.
Harry sighed.
"Yeah, alright. I still don't like it. But I believe you that he won't join."
"Good," said Blaise. "And all his intel would be out of date, anyway—you've not talked at all this year. I'm the much better candidate for a betrayal."
He winked.
"God, you're such an arse sometimes," Harry said. "Come on, then—let's go another round."
They spent a couple of hours lounging in the Common Room before eventually, they all went to bed. They'd made a little bit of progress with the Umbridge situation, and the existence of a copycat – or copycats – was a nice little bonus. It was enough to make the day not feel a complete waste, anyway.