Chapter 71
Another war begins
Note from J.M. Jackson: So, you'll notice a few changes again to canon, and Mystic Dodo and I both hope you're all enjoying this story. Just as an update, the fifth year has now been fully written, and now year six is being worked on. That's going to be an epic year, we hope.
It was almost two weeks before Lily received a letter from Rita, and as she read it, telling her that the story was finally released, she was surprised with a deluge of owls delivering letters to her. It was only moments before the table was practically covered in letters.
"This one thinks you're off your rocker," Ron said as he read one.
"This woman does as well," Lavender commented.
"This is good; this woman says after reading the story, she's forced to conclude you were telling the truth," Ginny said excitedly, showing the letter to Lily.
"Same here," Hermione agreed, before they heard a soft 'hem, hem' from behind them.
"What's all this?" Umbridge asked, in her sickly-sweet voice.
"Letters," Lily replied, not even looking up as she opened another one.
"Where from?" Umbridge demanded.
"Why? Is it a crime to receive letters now?" Ron asked, glaring at her.
"You may want to be in charge of the school, but you can't stop people receiving letters," Ginny added firmly. "People want to write to Lily, and they can."
"Why would so many people write to a school child?" Umbridge asked, before seeing the Quibbler and summoned it magically. As she read it, her eyes widened. "When did you give this interview?" Umbridge demanded.
"That's my business," Lily replied calmly. Umbridge looked far angrier than Lily had ever seen her.
"How dare you… continue to spread your lies," Umbridge said angrily.
"Only lies by those who refuse to believe the truth, like you do," Lavender said.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor, Miss Brown," Umbridge said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You will not speak to your superiors like that."
"When we find one, we'll be sure to speak to them properly," Lily replied calmly, reading another letter. Umbridge glared at her.
"Detention, Miss Potter. You will learn you are not free to do anything you wish," Umbridge said, before walking off angrily.
"Okay, so now we're starting a war with her?" Lavender let out a sigh of relief, with a look of concern on her face.
"She started the war; we just fired our volley. Now, we wait for her to retaliate, then we make our next move," Lily said calmly. Ginny smiled at her.
"I'm proud of you, Lily," she said, kissing Lily.
"I wouldn't have the strength to do this without you, Ginny. Hell, without any of you," Lily said.
"Don't worry; we're not going anywhere," Ron promised. Lily was thankful for their support; she didn't know what Umbridge would do, but this was where her war against Umbridge kicked off.
The next morning, there were new signs everywhere; another Educational Degree, banning anyone from reading the 'Quibbler' and threatening any transgressors with expulsion, which, whilst not unexpected, did annoy Lily, until she saw Hermione looking thrilled.
"Don't you see? If there was one thing that Umbridge shouldn't have done, it was to ban the article, because now everyone will read it!" Hermione explained.
The proof of what Hermione predicted came as early as lunch time; Lily was approached by several students, including Cormac McLaggen, who apologised profusely for not believing Lily.
"It was easy to think of you as a liar, Lily, but… there's no way anyone can think you're not telling the truth now. That interview… I'm sorry you went through so much, including what I was saying" Cormac said. Lily even noticed that he had a tear in his eye as he spoke, so Lily hugged him, showing her forgiveness.
Professor Flitwick even pressed a box of chocolate mice into her hands at the end of class with a sssh, which Lily loved. Malfoy and the Slytherins could only glare at her.
"They know you named their dads as Death Eaters, but they can't say anything otherwise they'd admit they read the article," Lavender said, grinning.
"And, of course, they'd never break the rules, would they?" Lily agreed, giggling as they sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, sharing the box of chocolate mice.
"We're going to need to be extra careful with the DA though Lily; Umbridge will be watching you very carefully," Hermione commented.
"We have the map, so we can track her wherever she is. I wonder if I can get Uncle Sirius to copy the map?" Lily mused.
"Not a good idea; if someone bad gets hold of it, that'll make it impossible for us to do anything," Ginny countered.
"Good point," Lily agreed, sighing. "Still, I'm thinking for every meeting, one of us uses the map to keep an eye out and send messages via our coins when it's clear to get to the room."
"Makes sense," Hermione agreed. "I'll act as guard; and you should wear your cloak and stop anyone if Umbridge is coming nearby, and people are already on their way."
"Okay, so we have our plan," Lily agreed, smiling. "In the meantime, we do need to plan for the next session; we're going over the Patronus Charm."
"Good idea; I know I'm doing okay, but I could use more practise," Hermione commented, blushing. Lily looked at her with her mouth agape; it was a rare thing to hear Hermione admit she wasn't perfect at something.
"Did I hear that right? Hermione… you need… more help?" Ron asked. Hermione glared at him.
"Ronald, even I'm not perfect at everything," Hermione pointed out.
"When she calls me 'Ronald' I feel like I'm in trouble with my mum," Ron said, rolling his eyes.
"Keep it up, I'll let her know you're being an ass," Hermione countered, smirking at him.
"I'll be good," Ron replied meekly, causing everyone to burst into laughter. Lily kept her smile up, but inside, she knew that whatever Umbridge had planned, it wasn't going to be pleasant, for any of them.
The day went by too quickly for Lily's liking, especially since she and Ginny were once again in Snape's classroom, standing next to two cauldrons. Lily had been privately wondering why Snape took the trouble to set up the cauldrons, since no one had ever gone there when Lily and Ginny were there.
That, however, changed that evening. They had been there for all of five minutes when the door opened, and Professor Umbridge entered.
"Professor Snape," Umbridge greeted him, with her usual fake smile.
"Professor Umbridge," Snape replied, with a slight nod.
"This is… unusual. Extra lessons?" Umbridge asked.
"Indeed. Miss Potter and Miss Weasley have not been performing to my expectations in the classroom, and so I have been giving them remedial potions. As you can see, I am starting them back at their first year," Snape said, a look of disgust on his face.
"Why not simply give them detention?" Umbridge asked.
"I have… a reputation to keep up as a skilled potions master. I refuse to let two mediocre students bring down my reputation. I have all but given up on one student, which is standard for most year groups. I will not besmirch my name as a teacher by letting others fail," Snape said. Lily had to admit, if she didn't know the truth, she would believe what he was saying.
The worst part of that moment was when she felt a cold chill in her mind. Umbridge was clearly trying to read her mind, but when she looked at her and Ginny, she had a mild look of disgust on her face. She looked at Snape with her usual, sickly-sweet smile.
"I understand completely, Professor. If anything, you are being very lenient on students, but I cannot fault your dedication to your post. I will be putting a commendation on your file, and letting the minister know how you clearly deserve to be a teacher. Perhaps soon, you might even find yourself in a role you would find more suited to your skills," Umbridge said, before leaving.
Five minutes passed in silence after Umbridge left, before Lily could feel a slight tingling around the room.
"She attempted to read your minds," Snape stated, rather than asked. Both Lily and Ginny nodded. "I expected as much. I am… satisfied with your work on occlumency at this point; whilst it difficult to learn under optimal conditions, a real test against someone working to break your barriers is a harder one. She was not successful, although I was able to glimpse her mind. She believed what I said."
"You must be really good if you can read her mind, sir," Lily said. She felt shocked as she saw a small smirk on his face.
"Obviously. It is why I am teaching you. Umbridge may think herself an excellent witch, but her skills are… lacking. She would never pass my class," Snape confessed.
The rest of the occlumency lesson passed by, with both Lily and Ginny boosted by the knowledge that they had actually succeeded in stopping someone from reading their minds. Snape had always gone somewhat easy on them, at least at first, teaching them properly, but Umbridge; it had taken a lot of effort, from both Lily and Ginny, to block her out, but they had succeeded.
As the lesson ended, they were disturbed by a loud noise coming from outside. The tingling Lily had felt vanished, something she'd ask about later.
Heading to the entrance hall and out into the courtyard, Lily, Ginny, and Snape were greeted by the site of Umbridge, and a sobbing Professor Trelawney. Hermione hadn't really liked the woman, but Lily had never had a lesson with her, having opted to do Muggle Studies instead. Still, to see Umbridge taking delight in the sobbing woman made Lily reach into her pocket for her wand, until Snape grabbed her arm, shaking his head.
Snape seemed to be actively trying to protect her, although she had no idea why he was going to such lengths. Had what she had told him had that much of an effect?
Lily felt pride as Minerva intervened, stating that Professor Trelawney wouldn't need to go anywhere, and when Umbridge brought up about a new teacher needing Trelawney's living space.
Umbridge had been smirking, up until that point, since Professor Dumbledore came out into the courtyard, both insisting that Trelawney would be staying at Hogwarts, since he had found a replacement teacher for Trelawney.
Lily wished she'd had a camera when one of the Centaur's, Firenze, whom Lily had met in her first year in the Forbidden Forest, made an appearance. The look on Umbridge's face was one Lily would never forget. She noticed a flash, and made a note to thank Colin, and to get a copy of that photo.
It was several days later when Lily had been asked by Lavender to meet her at the end of the day, which wasn't unusual, but when she met with her friend, Lavender led her to a ground floor classroom, which had been bewitched to have a mossy floor, and the ceiling looked like the night sky, with Firenze in the middle of the room, waiting.
"Lily Potter. It is good to see you again," Firenze spoke, looking at her.
"And you, Firenze," Lily replied, with a small smile. "How have you been?"
"Well enough, thank you for asking," Firenze said. "I note many changes have occurred for you since we last saw one another. How are you feeling?"
"I…" Lily started, unsure how to explain. "I feel better about myself, to be honest. More so with the changes now physically happening to me," Lily explained, indicating her body. Her hips had narrowed slightly, and her breasts were starting to grow. She remembered when she had first noticed the changes and had jumped for joy for what had felt like hours.
She hadn't really been able to celebrate more since Umbridge was watching the school like a hawk, but she had been waiting for the holidays to next be able to celebrate, including going shopping and getting new clothes.
"I could see when we first met that you were not meant to be who you were, but I was unsure as to what that meant. It is good you discovered this for yourself," Firenze told her.
"I appreciate that," Lily wondered if anyone else had noticed. Somehow, Voldemort had known, although Lily hadn't told anyone. Had it been written on her face or something?
"I asked your friend to bring you here as I need your help. Since I have started to teach here, my herd has banished me, since they believe I have debased myself by serving humans," Firenze said. "As such, it is unwise for me to go close to the forest, and so I am unable to speak to Hagrid in private."
"Is everything okay with Hagrid?" Lily felt fear fill her. What was Hagrid doing? Was something going to happen?
"Hagrid is well enough, although his attempt will fail," Firenze stated.
"His attempt will fail?" Lily repeated, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Hagrid has recently rendered me a great service and has done much over the years. I will not betray his confidence, but you must tell him that his attempt will fail," Firenze answered.
"I'll make sure to tell him today," Lily promised.
"Thank you, Lily Potter. I must also warn you to be careful; the stars have shown me that you will have a difficult choice to make, and before this school year is over, you will face a very dangerous path. The world needs you more than it realises, so you, also, must be very caution," Firenze warned.
Lily felt a cold chill run down her back; was this about Voldemort? Umbridge? Or something worse? She didn't know, but she was more determined to figure out the answer to the question Sirius put to her at Christmas. Who was she, and what was she fighting for?
