Rowan wasn't exactly happy to be back at Hogwarts, but at least the inevitable fallout with her 'friends' was kept relatively low-key.
And by low-key, she meant that she immediately cast a silencing spell on all four walls and especially the door as well as a few privacy spells. Hermione was pissed and Ron had this betrayed expression that she hadn't gone with Tonks (Andromeda's daughter) or tried to properly contact them. More importantly, Hermione thought she was highly irresponsible staying away from the 'protections' Dumbledore supposedly providing.
Rowan let them vent until they ran out of steam...and then did something that was long overdue.
"Hermione...shut the hell up. When are you going to realize that the world isn't painted in black and white? At some point we are going to be grown adults and have to deal with the real world... the only difference is that I'm getting a head start on standing on my own two feet without having to depend on some adults to pay for everything."
"But..." started Hermione, but Rowan's glare shut her up rather effectively.
"Hermione, at some point you need to grow up and learn how to live on your own. Or do you plan to live with your parents until you're thirty?"
Hermione flushed at that. Rowan turned to Ron who shut up sooner than Hermione because the slightly older girl was more than happy to continue a rant until it was dead.
"Ron, you're like a brother to me but I still haven't forgotten the crap you pulled last year. And it's no business of your mother's where I chose to live regardless of what Dumbledore says. He is not blood and not my legal guardian anymore."
Ron wisely did not say anything.
"As for the prefect thing...why in the name of Merlin would I want to police any of the idiots who have treated me like crap for the past couple of years? I have enough on my plate this year without having to deal with that responsibility or the late nights. Have fun with trying to corral the twins."
Ron winced at that.
If the other Gryffindors noticed the fact Rowan wasn't sitting anywhere near her two best friends, they said nothing. As it was she had a rather pleasant conversation with Neville and Lavender...right up until the pink toad stood up and started to talk.
Rowan recognized her very quickly and was not happy. That woman was one of the most vocal about a guilty verdict. Andromeda had been very clear on who those people were as they could be trouble later down the road.
Hearing she was the new Defense teacher had her mentally coming up with a list of things to ask Andromeda. Minister's spy or not, she was not going to tolerate this woman's obvious incompetence during a time where she needed to get good grades on her exams.
Andromeda was more than happy to answer her questions and more...if Umbridge truly was attempting to sabotage the education of the children at such a critical time, then she could think of many people who would be very interested in this fact and have some rather vocal objections to it. Case in point, Madam Bones and Longbottom.
One lesson was enough for Rowan to know that defense would be purely self-study until this woman was removed from the castle. And the best part was that there was no way Umbitch could force her to attend so long as she did things properly.
The second the class ended, she walked straight to Professor Flitwick's classroom. He wasn't there, so she asked a few Ravenclaws where his office was and headed that way instead. She didn't notice or care that her friends were following her or that they were attempting to get her attention.
"Ms. Black, I'm rather surprised to see you here so early in the year. What seems to be the issue?" asked the diminutive professor.
"Professor Flitwick, I'd like your permission to do self-study in regards to defense this year," she asked formally and rather politely.
Flitwick blinked, as did Ron and Hermione.
"May I ask why?"
Well it wasn't a flat no.
"I'm afraid I find the current teacher's methods to be rather lacking, and as this is an OWL year and I would like to pass with an Outstanding, I believe I would be better suited to self-study," said Rowan. It had taken everything she had to keep her mouth shut when Umbridge started to goad at her during class.
"I have no objections, but shouldn't you be asking this of Minerva?" asked Flitwick.
"She is far too busy considering all the jobs she already has to do, and more importantly I have legitimate concern that if I were to run this by her first, she would ask Dumbledore and he would reject it for whatever reason he can come up with. The school by-laws state that self-study only requires one core teacher with experience in said subject and the approval of a head of house. It said nothing about the teacher in question being the one currently teaching said subject or that the head of house being the leader of the student's house," said Rowan.
Flitwick beamed at her. As a dueling champion with a mastery he more than qualified to teach Defense, and he was the head of Ravenclaw. Which meant he qualified on both counts.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor for an excellent deduction," said Flitwick. "As it stands I'll approve your self study on the condition that you join the Charms club so I might supervise the practical applications of whatever spells you study for your exams."
"Does this mean we can drop potions too?" asked Ron hopefully.
"I'm afraid you're stuck with Professor Snape," said Flitwick. He didn't sound sorry in the least. "Unless you wish to learn the finer points of healing, he is the only one in the castle who has the qualifications to teach Potions."
Rowan made a face.
"I spend enough time in Madam Pomphrey's care... while I wouldn't mind learning healing, I'd rather not spend hours in the hospital wing if I don't have to."
Flitwick said nothing.
"The first meeting of the Charms club is in a week," said Flitwick. "On a related note, would you object to demonstrating the Patronus charm for the members? It's a rather obscure spell and it's hardly used much."
"Not at all," said Rowan brightly, as she was rather good at it.
Some time later...
As predicted, when Dumbledore found out Rowan had successfully ditched Defense with Umbridge in favor of self-study, he attempted to circumvent it in a way that would force her to suffer under the toad.
Unfortunately for him, Rowan had gone through all the proper channels and Flitwick had filed the paperwork correctly. While joining the charms club meant she added a bit to her workload, ditching Defense meant she avoided all the worthless homework Umbitch was assigning so she had the time to spend in the library.
Coincidentally this caused her to become a bit more friendly with the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs. Susan and Hannah were quick to follow her example when Madam Bones was unable to remove the toad from her position...for now at least.
As Susan wanted to follow in the footsteps of her aunt, having an excellent score in her Defense test was mandatory. Something she was unlikely to get with the toad, who had them reading a book that was better used for kindling then as a textbook for students about to take such an important exam.
Flitwick was torn between pleased and exasperated as the Charms club had a major increase in members. Umbridge was not pleased in the least.
When Ron got a letter from Percy regarding "major changes" to Hogwarts and what a "good" thing Umbridge would be, Rowan calmly thought of a calculated response. She made it clear to Ron and the twins about how she would be responding to Percy's behavior.
Ron was a tad embarrassed, but the twins were indifferent. Percy had made it clear he didn't want to be considered family at the moment, so they would treat him as such.
Hedwig flew off the next afternoon to deliver her response to Percy.
Much to the surprise of Ron and the twins, Percy responded back.
Rowan read the letter aloud for their benefit, before letting them see for themselves that yes, Percy wasn't a complete prat.
"Dear Ms. Black,
First off, allow me to apologize for misunderstanding your position regarding certain subjects. I appreciate that you were discreet in the reprimand you sent me. As you have guessed, my main issue regarding my parents and siblings is their dependence on Dumbledore. I do not appreciate the headmaster's rhetoric being shoved down my throat as I see several flaws in his decision making, whereas my parents seem to believe he can do no wrong.
My main purpose for sending that letter to my youngest brother was an attempt to separate him from Dumbledore's foolishness before it is too late.
As for Umbridge, I'm afraid I have limited contact with her and thus do not have a solid idea of what her true personality is like. However I have read the book that you say is being used as the Defense text for this year and agree is it not suitable for fifth years about to take their OWL's, much less the seventh years. I applaud you for taking your studies seriously enough to branch out in self-study.
Yours sincerely,
Percival."
Fred read the letter himself and confirmed his older brother's handwriting.
"You've got to be kidding...the entire reason he left us the way he did is because mum and dad are so far up Dumbledore's arse that they see daylight?" said George.
"Maybe Percy isn't such a lost cause after all," said Fred.
"He's still a prat," said Ron stubbornly.
"Think of this from his perspective Ron. You know how your mum steamrolls over all of you regarding how you live your lives. She literally threw out the products the twins were planning to sell and start a livelihood with because she doesn't approve of their plan to open a shop rather than join the Ministry. Do you really see these two handling a boring Ministry job without something exploding?" said Rowan.
Ron thought that over...and openly cringed.
"Good point," he conceded. The twins would never survive a Ministry job.
"Percy is just tired of your parents forcing him to accept Dumbledore's decisions without asking his opinion. He wants to live his life without your mother trying to smother him and remain neutral in all of this, which I can respect," said Rowan calmly.
Ron didn't like it, but he could respect that much at least. It meant he would at least try to remain civil with his older brother without being a complete ass about it. The twins however were planning to borrow Hedwig to write a letter to Percy...as well as Bill and Charlie to explain the situation. It didn't sit right for them that Percy should be left high and dry because he wished to remain neutral.
Two weeks later Percy sent her a second letter as well as one to the twins. While he had remained neutral regarding his treatment of Rowan, he did somewhat consider her part of the family due to all the grief she went through keeping his youngest siblings safe. Especially after what she did for Ginny, which meant the Weasleys owed her a blood debt to begin with.
While all this was going on, Umbridge kept trying to get Rowan into detention for the flimsiest excuses. Unfortunately for her, Rowan had developed a system for getting out of said detentions after all the crap Snape pulled for years.
She kept her head down, ignored Umbridge because the hag couldn't force her to attend her class after she had already submitted to be a self-study student.
Umbridge tried to target her over the uniform. Rowan's skirt was longer than half her peer group, as she disliked the cold and the castle was freezing.
She tried to prevent her from going to Hogsmeade... Rowan didn't even bother to go at all because she had her own method of visiting the village and mostly used Hogsmeade as a waypoint between the school and London via a reusable portkey. All of which was not only legal, but within school by-laws as it had something to do with Family Matters which were all covered by a blanket confidentiality.
Umbridge somehow managed to get a fake position as the "Inquisitor" of Hogwarts. The one and only time she tried to ban Quidditch, Rowan retaliated...by having the entire student body boycott all classes until the woman quit interfering with one of the few things everyone could agree one.
Quidditch was serious business in the magical world. Being publicly called 'anti-Quidditch' was tantamount to social suicide and it didn't help that the students would be all too happy to tell their parents what she was doing. Parents that had ministry connections and could turn things on Fudge very quickly if word spread he was interfering in a national sport.
Fudge was already on thin ice after the mess he caused with Rowan's trial. His supporters were less than pleased he dared to place false charges on the soon-to-be-head of an Ancient and Noble house.
If an heir wasn't safe from such nonsense, no one was safe.