AN: I hope everyone is ready for the next chapter, and as always thanks for all of your support!
MultiversalCosms - Definitely won't be an imbalance, nor is Harry a third wheel. They are teenagers, so they don't always do things perfectly. Harry didn't talk to them, and they didn't want to push him.
Mando-Vet - Good or bad, being somewhat unpredictable can be nice. It would be rather disappointing if my readers always knew what was coming.
Nightwing2013 - aYeah, honestly a bit quicker than I originally intended. The scene is the same, but I've done a lot of editing and rearranging of this year's chapters, and with how things changed, this got bumped a bit. Yeah, Harry handled it much better than most people would, I think, but he's had his guardians and a deity working on him, and he never wants to hurt his friends, so in this case, it worked out for him.
scrappy8 - Thanks! Yeah, I don't necessarily care for angst and drama. I felt it was time for them to get together. Besides, I generally prefer a strong couple over the angsty will-they-won't-they dynamic.
GreengrassRebel - Yeah, a nice crowd. This was where I planned to introduce more Slytherins and get them more involved. Glad you enjoyed Tracey's introduction, and Ginny and Astoria being friendly. I don't want it to "only be Harry" for the reason Slytherins make friends in the DA. You'll learn more about the curriculum this chapter!
stars90 - Thanks! It was just about time for them to finally get together.
Diavo - Are you a seer? Because damn, your prediction is pretty damn good.
Chapter 55
"I submit this proposal for Educational Decrees Number Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five," Fudge said, and Sirius wanted to groan, wondering what the Minister and Umbridge were up to now.
The documents appeared in front of him, and he looked at them intently.
EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR
All Student Organisations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, Chief Warlock, Order of Merlin First Class
EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE
The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members.
Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, Chief Warlock, Order of Merlin First Class
Sirius frowned, having a good idea of why both of these were being brought up.
"Let's start with Decree Number Twenty-Four," Theseus Scamander said, frowning at it. "I'm wondering what the intent of this is?"
"Professor Umbridge has noted that there are too many extracurricular focuses at Hogwarts and many of those that exist are currently pushing outdated or misinformed information. Many of these clubs do not even have a faculty member present to verify what is going on," Fudge said. "This will allow Professor Umbridge to start everything from scratch and then approve clubs after they have been properly vetted and examined."
"Except this isn't just clubs," Sirius said accusingly. "This includes teams, which I assume means the House Quidditch Teams. This wouldn't have anything to do with Angelina Potter being the Captain, and Harry Potter being the seeker for Gryffindor, would it?"
"Of course not," Fudge said, with a glare.
"Then why have teams there at all?" Dora asked. "This would also include clubs like the Gobstones Club, the Chess Club, and the Photography Club. Those would all be student organizations since Professors aren't monitoring them, but I hardly think it matters if students are gathering to play Gobstones together. What 'outdated information' could they be using? Do we really need a Professor with them? We don't need to micromanage them. If they aren't playing Gobstones, who cares? If they're doing something wrong, they'll get caught eventually."
"I also have an issue with the numbering and vague wording on regular meetings," Amelia Bones said, her eyes narrowed. "Why would the Ministry want to ban student groups, especially since this would technically also stop group studying? The decree bans any gathering of three or more students, meaning students can't even study together in the library or their common rooms regularly anymore without Madam Umbridge's permission.
"We're not going to expel children for studying," Fudge said with a roll of his eyes.
"All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled," Sirius quoted to Fudge's annoyance. "I had three good friends at Hogwarts. We regularly met up to study. We would have been expelled without permission from the High Inquisitor."
"Then just request permission," Thaddeus Nott said with a snigger.
"Except that's the crutch of the issue, isn't it?" Kane Witcher said. "Unless students formally declare their study group as an official thing they would have to ask Professor Umbridge for permission for each session, or at least a group approval for their normal study group. However, if someone else joins their group for a day, they are technically out of bounds.
"Those don't count as regular meetings," Fudge said, annoyed.
"Define regular then," Cyrus said. "If students meet up semi-weekly, it's regular, even if it's at different times each time. You already said it. This would give Professor Umbridge the ability to expel any students that she claims are in a regular student organization or group, regardless of what that group claims. This is also a way for her to stop students from studying with their friends if she doesn't want to approve their group."
"That isn't the intent," Fudge said angrily.
"Then what is, Minister?" Tiberius Ogden said with a frown. "Clearly you want this for something more than just your initial claims. I also have a huge issue with expelling students for being in a gobstone club."
Fudge grimaced.
"Students should not be teaching their peers magic that is outside of their course instruction, without a Professor present," Fudge said.
"So, this is about a Defense Against the Dark Arts study group," Theseus Scamander said.
"I am trying to prevent the corruption of youth," Fudge said, and eyes were focused on him.
"Who is corrupting the youth?" Griselda Marchbanks said.
"We have a witness that Potter has plans to make a defense group built to oppose Madam Umbridge and the Ministry," Fudge said, finally, looking sour to say it.
"That would be Lord Potter, Minister. What witness?" Amelia Bones asked with a frown.
"Willy Widdershins," Fudge said. "He was in the Hogs Head and overheard Lord Potter attempting to form a group of students to counteract the Ministry."
"That's a bold claim from someone who, if I remember correctly, was just given a plea deal to escape five years in Azkaban for muggle baiting and a breach of the Statute of Secrecy," Sirius said loftily. "In fact, why was he given a plea deal?"
Fudge looked nervous at that.
"Because he told you a story about Harry Potter and you gave him what he wanted," Ignatius Prewett said in disappointment. "I didn't realize we were giving plea deals to criminals to report on students."
"What exactly did Widdershins report?" Amos Diggory asked suspiciously. "I find the concept that we're wary of Hogwarts students fighting against the Ministry laughable as is, but I'm at least willing to hear about possible corruptions of youth. We know Lord Potter is not fond of this administration. Did Lord Potter specifically say the intent was to fight the Ministry? I'd like the report given by Widdershins."
Sirius wanted to smile further. Diggory was no fan of Harry, partially blaming him for his son's death, but even he wasn't going to support Fudge with his actions.
"He didn't say those words specifically," Fudge said. "He claimed it was to go against Madam Umbridge and what she had been teaching."
"To attack her?" Theseus Scamander asked firmly.
"Well, no," Fudge admitted. "He said the point was to learn to defend themselves since Madam Umbridge was incompetent and he and his friends perpetuated that lie that You-Know-Who is alive."
"So, to sum up, Widdershins reported that Harry Potter was forming a Defense Against the Dark Arts study group which would focus on learning to defend themselves and actually practicing magic, even if it was to counteract a dead man, and the Ministry's first move was to ban study groups, morale and leisure groups, and Quidditch Teams?" Ethan Parkin asked angrily.
Sirius knew that he did not like the concept of Quidditch teams being banned, as a former House member and former Professional player. The League needed those teams to develop talented new players.
"In addition," Parkin continued, "Widdershins was let out of a five year sentence in Azkaban for muggle baiting and breaking the Statute of Secrecy, something far worse than what we tried to have Potter expelled for this past summer. Is that correct?"
"Madam Umbridge should have complete control over her subject," Fudge said firmly. "We made a deal based on important intelligence!"
"Perhaps, but why does she get control over every other subjects' study groups, Quidditch Teams, and other hobbies as well? Last I checked, she holds no Mastery in any subject. Frankly, since we know she isn't qualified for her position, I honestly wonder if she should get control over her subject," Carter Ollivander said. "To me, this seems very targeted towards House Potter. You're banning all groups because Harry Potter wants to start a study group, which frankly I would approve of since we want the scores to be good, and you are pushing a step further to take away House Quidditch because both members of House Potter and their closest friends play on the House Team. Frankly I'm getting very tired of our reputations being stained and the respect of this Ministry being constantly called into question all because of your continued persecution of House Potter. I also now officially move to ban the Minister's Office from being involved in any plea deals. If people learn that we let out Widdershins for his report on a student defense study group, we'll lose all credibility."
"Seconded," Augusta Bones said.
"All motions to ban the current Minister's office from further plea deals and have Willy Widdershins's plea deal retracted?" Scamander asked, and Fudge started turning red again, as nearly eighty percent of the Wizengamot raised their hands.
"Motions carried," Scamander said.
"I motion for this Decree to be denied," Dora said.
"Seconded," Cyrus Greengrass said.
Fudge scowled as the Decree was summarily denied.
"Alright, now let's get to Decree Number Twenty-Five, which, if approved, will be renamed Decree Twenty-Four," Scamander said.
"What is the intent behind this reform?" Nicholas Frobisher asked with a furrowed brow.
He was one of those that had been in Fudge's pocket for a long time but was starting to read the writing on the wall and was now questioning or at least appearing to question Fudge's activities. Sirius knew that when Voldemort came out, Fudge's career would be over, but with how Fudge was still attempting to run the Ministry, he might be voted out before Voldemort came back into the public.
"Indeed, it seems rather drastic," Patrice Shafiq said with a frown. "This would give Madam Umbridge almost more power than Headmaster Dumbledore and more than any of the Heads of Houses."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Lucius asked with a sneer. "The old man should have been replaced years ago. Now more than ever, with his continued speeches about the Dark Lord's return."
There were some murmurs of agreement with that, and Sirius wanted to curse most of them, though that wasn't surprising since many of those that agreed were Death Eaters or sympathizers themselves.
"That's rather rich coming from a former Hogwarts governor who tried to do that illegally, and was removed because of his actions," Sirius remarked, and Lucius glared at him.
"You're out of line, Lord Black," Fudge said.
"With all due respect," Emmeline Vance spoke up. "Dumbledore's opinions on You-Know-Who's return has little to do with his ability to run the school. Minister Fudge has certainly claimed that Dumbledore is letting things go, but scores in most subjects are still among the highest in Europe, and in the past two years, controversial staff notwithstanding, scores have been record high compared to the past two decades, which suggests that while Dumbledore remains as unconventional as he has always been, there is nothing we can do to prove he is incapable of running his school. The Ministry could have easily put this whole You-Know-Who thing to rest if we had actually investigated. By all accounts, Dumbledore believes Lord Potter. If we had just investigated, we could have proved Lord Potter fell to the stress of the Tournament and death of a friend, an understandable thing. Then Dumbledore wouldn't still be talking about his return, and we could have gotten Lord Potter the help he needed rather than earned his eternal disdain."
There were even more murmurs of agreement to Emmeline's words, which garnered a scowl from the Fudge supporters as an equally large number of scowls were directed at Fudge for removing any chance of doing an investigation.
"Investigating would have caused a panic and destabilized everything we've worked for over the last fourteen years," Fudge said dismissively.
"I tend to disagree, Minister," Ishaan Patil said. "It would have shown we took the threat seriously, and then when it was shown to be false, we would have been able to prevent most of the scandals that have shaken our Ministry over the past year, simply because Dumbledore would have been on our side and Lord Potter's story would have been disproven with fact. Plus, we could have generated sympathy for Lord Potter, and generated our goodwill by doing our best to help him, again preventing most of our current problems, plus we wouldn't have earned the ire of a future member of this body."
Sirius wanted to roll his eyes at how often they referenced Harry like Sirius and Dora weren't in the room. Soon, they would all know that Voldemort was back, and then they'd be begging Harry and his supporters for forgiveness.
"Regardless, I agree with Emmeline," Torson Abbott said. "Dumbledore seems to still be running the school fine. What is the reasoning for giving Madam Umbridge control over all punishments, and giving her authority to overrule the other Professors?"
"Recently, Madam Umbridge was faced with a dilemma in which one of the Heads of Houses overruled one of her punishments and even returned points to the student, citing her position as the reason, which undermined Madam Umbridge's authority. It's only one step further for a teacher to have Dumbledore undermining her authority, which defeats the purpose of the High Inquisitor if normal teachers can overturn her decisions."
There were murmurs at that, some for, and some against.
"You said it was a Head of House though," Augusta Longbottom said with a frown. "That's not an ordinary Professor. They are given more authority for a reason. What were the circumstances that had a Head of House intervening on a punishment? I must also question why we need to be able to overturn Dumbledore. The man isn't unreasonable. He wouldn't overturn Madam Umbridge if he felt her judgment on a matter was warranted, though I wouldn't expect many of the Professors to challenge her if they felt it was deserved either."
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Fudge asked smoothly. "What matters is that now that the precedent has been set, teachers and students will simply go to Heads of Houses or Dumbledore to overturn what she does, playing up some imagined slight to gain sympathy. She also feels many Professors show favoritism when giving punishments and go too light or too heavy, and she needs to be able to properly overturn those punishments to properly punish those who deserve it, and remove bias against those who don't."
Several people laughed, including Shafiq, Boot, and Abbott.
"As far as reports go, she seems to be one of the most biased people at that school," Shafiq said with a derisive snort. "I think I've already figured this out, but I want to know exactly which Head of House overturned her judgment, and why they felt the need to do so."
"I don't see how that information is necessary," Fudge said with gritted teeth.
"Then I motion that you must present that information before any voting can be done," Shafiq said icily.
"Seconded," Sirius said.
"I third the motion," Scamander said.
Fudge scowled.
"It was Minerva McGonagall, and it was about disrespect shown to her by a student," he said angrily.
"You called the Deputy Headmistress a mere Professor?" Marcus Macmillan said in disbelief. "She's the second most important faculty member at that school. She's been teaching at Hogwarts for nearly forty years! She's almost as much of a staple in our wizarding world as Dumbledore is. She taught at least half of the people in this room, if not more!"
There were many grunts of agreement to that.
"What student showed disrespect, and did that student approach Professor McGonagall, or did she witness the altercation?" Ethan Parkin said with a scowl.
"Does it matter?" Fudge asked. "The point is that if Umbridge felt she was disrespected, then she should be able to deal out a punishment like any other professor!"
"It does matter," Parkin responded firmly. "Madam Umbridge has been proven to have targeted certain students before. Also, I respect Minerva McGonagall's judgment, so if she witnessed something and intervened, that is vastly different than a student giving a sob story and her intervening off of hearsay."
"I agree, we need further information," Shafiq said with a shrug. "I make the motion again that we table this Decree until we have all the information."
"It was Angelina Potter," Fudge growled out, "and Minerva witnessed the interaction."
There were groans all about the room.
"It's like a broken record," Marcus Macmillan said. "I agree with Lord Parkin. I trust Minerva McGonagall's judgment. If she witnessed the interaction and felt Madam Umbridge was out of line, then she was out of line. It doesn't help your case, Minister, that the student is Lady Potter, who is someone that Madam Umbridge has already been proven to have been rude and confrontational with, and we know that Madam Umbridge goes out of her way to try and pick fights with her."
"I'm already determined to vote against this, but I'm open to the possibility of overriding punishments to move past bias," John McAvoy said, and Sirius wanted to grin.
John was the youngest member of the Wizengamot, at only twenty years of age. He'd just taken over for his father on the Wizengamot due to his father having health issues. Other than Dora, when she came, he was the only member of the Wizengamot who had attended Hogwarts within the last decade, and for most, it was much longer.
"Can you provide specific examples of Professors who have been too lenient or too harsh in their punishments? Specific Professors at least?" John asked.
Fudge licked his lips.
"Madam Umbridge reports that McGonagall, Flitwick, and Dumbledore have all shown blatant favoritism in dishing out punishments," he said.
John started laughing, shaking his head.
"Minister, take it from someone who just left Hogwarts," he said with a snort. "All of the Heads of Houses tend to show a little favoritism towards their Houses, but that usually only extends to assigning detentions instead of docking points, or not assigning detentions, but docking points to Quidditch Players around the games. However, I can tell you that I rarely saw Dumbledore ever interfere with punishments. He left that to the Head of Houses and the Deputy Headmistress for a specific reason, and I bet if you look through the records of all punishments, Dumbledore hasn't intervened in more than a half dozen in probably the last twenty years, and I might even be highballing that estimate. He doesn't get involved unless suspension or expulsion are on the table. I can also tell you, as could everyone who has attended that school in the past thirteen years, that the most biased Professor, who one hundred percent gives harsher punishments or goes light on certain students is Professor Severus Snape, and his favoritism applies to Slytherins, and his harsh bias goes to Gryffindors. It's well known at the school."
"You're showing your bias against Professor Snape," Lucius said smoothly. "My son has nothing but good things to say about him. By all accounts, it's only the Gryffindors who seem to dislike him, simply because he holds them to the standard and is the Head of Slytherin."
"Lucius, I was a Ravenclaw," John said with a grin. "I noted many times how unfair he was to some of my classmates, Gryffindor or not. I also noted how often he let Slytherins get away with things, things nobody should have gotten away with. I'm not for Gryffindor or against Slytherin. I just was able to see how both were treated by Professor Snape, and his actions were obvious."
John sighed and shook his head again.
"The fact you didn't at least name Snape tells me this is just another attempt to eventually go after House Potter. At this point, unless you create an Educational Decree that I could clearly see affects all students for the better, then I am officially telling you that I will not vote for any more of your Educational Decrees. Not a single one will be passed if I can help it, since it seems to me you are just using them as a way to further punish Potter or Dumbledore or those that support them. Every time we dig, that is what is revealed. Every time. I motion to dismiss this Decree forthwith."
"Seconded," Marcus MacMillan said.
Fudge glared as they voted, and his teeth grinded as the Decree was shot down with only twenty five percent voting for it.
Sirius smiled. At this point, Fudge was basically just being kept around because the Wizengamot wanted to appear stable, but at the same time, nothing Fudge was pushing forward was being passed, and each thing he proposed that was shot down was just pushing him closer and closer to the edge of the cliff that he would be soon pushed off. Some were amused, but most were starting to get annoyed enough that he wouldn't last much longer. Sirius was sure of it.
*HP*
Harry's week had started happily, after having such an enjoyable weekend and great set of dates with both Katie and Ginny. First, they'd had an enjoyable day at Hogsmeade together with lunch, a trip to Honeydukes, and an enjoyable day wandering around and talking. Afterwards, Harry had taken Katie on a small date to the kitchens later that night for ice cream, which had ended in his first real snogging session with her. The next day, he had an enjoyable walk about the grounds with Ginny, and then he'd had a quiet night while Ginny and Katie went out for some time for just the two of them.
Beyond the wonderful weekend, he also felt happy knowing that they were resisting Umbridge and the Ministry's influence and work to sabotage their ability to defend themselves. His role in the rebellion, while not originally his idea, was something he was quite proud of now that he'd seen so many people interested in joining.
Unfortunately, that happiness faded more and more as the week went on. It started on Tuesday when they had gone out for Quidditch practice.
Harry and Katie were getting the crates of balls out, while Angelina was outlining the goals for the practice when their attention was drawn to the Slytherin team coming onto the pitch, all wearing their gear and holding their brooms.
Angelina glared icily at them, already moving towards them. Harry and the rest of the team hastened to follow.
"What are you doing here, Montague," Angelina demanded. "I booked the pitch for this time."
"We've got special permission to use the pitch," Montague said with relish, lecherously eyeing Angelina up and down, causing Harry to clench his wand in his hand in anger. Astra appeared at his side, growling lowly, but Montague's smile didn't fade.
"From who?" Angelina demanded.
"From me," the hated voice said, and they glanced behind the Slytherins to see Umbridge walking onto the pitch. "I'm afraid it's much more important that this team gets its practice in, and since your team had so many members in trouble this week, it only seemed fair to reward the team that was on its best behavior."
Umbridge smiled evilly at them, seeming to enjoy them glaring at her.
"My, my, such tempers," Umbridge said. "I'm going to have to talk to Cornelius – I mean the Minister – about possibly having this team disbanded."
"You have no right," Angelina snarled, and Umbridge narrowed her eyes on her.
"Detention, Ms. Johnson," Umbridge said with relish.
"It's Potter," Angelina snapped. "My last name is POTTER!"
"Temper, temper," Umbridge said. "I think you need to cool off. Yes, I think a week's worth of detentions are warranted."
Astra moved forward, and Harry could feel his familiar's rage. Umbridge eyed Astra with an almost eager look, bringing out her wand.
"You better control your vile beast, Potter," Umbrige said, "or I will have to send it back to where it belongs."
"I'd like to see you try," Harry said coldly.
"A threat?" Umbridge said with a nasty grin. "My, I believe that is detention as well. Clearly the Ministry needs to take your stupid creature from you as well."
Harry's magic surged out in a visible aura and Umbridge's eyes narrowed.
"Harry, enough," Katie said, and Harry turned at her angrily, seeing that Alicia was grabbing onto Angelina as well. "Let's go. We'll take this up with McGonagall."
Ginny grabbed onto Harry's other arm, and his two girlfriends started dragging him away, past the Slytherins who were jeering and catcalling.
"Ms. Weasley, Ms. Bell, Mr. Potter, thirty points from Gryffindor for inappropriate touching," Umbridge called out as they walked away, and both girls scowled, but continued dragging him away while Alicia did the same for Angelina and the rest of the team followed, looking crushed.
McGonagall had promised she'd bring up the confrontation with the Headmaster as well as Griselda Marchbanks, but there was little she could do since the Wizengamot was taking things on a case by case basis. She did remove the whole week's worth of detentions with a whole Quidditch team vouching that Umbridge once again used her old last name. If McGonagall had been there, it would have been easy, but students, especially them, complaining about Umbridge would not go far without proof.
The next day wasn't much better. Angelina had attempted to reschedule the practice, but the Slytherins had taken it, also with Umbridge's intervention. Apparently Hooch was intimidated by Umbridge, or the vile woman had some sort of dirt on her because Hooch had delivered the news herself, looking sorry to do so.
On Thursday, the hag found a different way to piss Harry and his friends and family off. Angelina and Alicia had noticed Umbrige giving disgusted and evil looks at Ginny and Katie, but she finally made her first move when they were both walking down the hallway towards the Great Hall.
Ginny and Katie were happily chatting, holding hands, leaning against each other, slowly making their way to the Great Hall, where Harry was going to meet them.
"Ms. Weasley, Ms. Bell, twenty points from Gryffindor each," Umbridge said, from behind the two girls causing them to freeze and turn around.
"What for?" Katie demanded.
"For inappropriate touching. For not keeping your disgusting urges behind closed doors where they belong," Umbridge said with a smug, simpering smile. "You may not know better, Ms. Bell, but I expect better from you, Ms. Weasley. You should be trying to attract a proper pureblood male. This one," she gestured dismissively at Katie, " is who you keep hidden and only use in the privacy of your own home. Though with your choice in a partner being a nasty liar, like Mr. Potter, I guess I can't be too surprised."
Katie's jaw dropped in shock and disgust, while Ginny's face only showed rage as Umbridge walked away, a satisfied smile on her face.
Angelina once again was unable to get the Quidditch pitch for that day, the other Houses already having their scheduled times, and the few open times available being taken by Slytherin, with Umbridge's approval.
Harry and Alicia spent a large portion of that week comforting a rather despondent Angelina, a shocked, angry, and sad Katie, and a rage-filled Ginny. It didn't help that if they were seen comforting anyone in public, Umbridge did her best to take points or give them detentions, so when they weren't comforting their friends and family, they were trying to avoid Umbridge's punishment. Needless to say, what had started as a pleasant week quickly became a terrible one.
This fed into stress which made his nights rather restless as he kept receiving dreams, since he was too unfocused to constantly keep his occlumency shields up. His dreams of the Department of Mysteries were from Voldemort, and throughout it all, he was dealing with his scar burning throughout every day. Harry couldn't tell if Voldemort was happy or angry, but he could tell he was focused on the Department of Mysteries and that there was something else Voldemort wanted, but it wasn't happening fast enough. He knew he was capable of keeping Voldemort out, at least for the most part, some dreams slipping through even when he did practice, but at the same time, he was curious of Voldemort's plans, and wanted to know.
By the end of the week though, it seemed like things would get better. Angelina had excitedly told them that she had managed to book the pitch, with McGonagall's assistance, so they had a practice to look forward to, but then the weather turned absolutely atrocious, and even Angelina decided they couldn't practice, so Harry decided to adapt and change their course.
It was time for their first lesson for the defense group.
He had Hermione, Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Ron, and Ginny help him spread the word for eight o'clock that night in the Room of Requirement, and provide directions on how to get there, and by the end of the day, he was sure that everyone had been notified.
At half past seven Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Katie, Alicia, Angelina, Fred, George, and Lee left the Gryffindor common room, Harry watching the Marauder's map in one hand, and his wand in the other, prepared to use shadow magic to hide them all. Astra was out and about, watching out for others who might run into Umbridge, though Harry was happy to see that the hag was in her office.
Thankfully, it was an uneventful trip up to the seventh floor, and soon Harry was walking past the space where the Room was hidden, three times, and a door appeared.
"That amazes me every time, no matter how many times we use this room," Katie said a bit breathlessly, receiving murmurs of agreement from the rest of them.
Harry opened up the room, which revealed a version of the training room that they normally used, only much, much bigger. There were still plenty of bookcases filled with books on defensive magic, and there were the normal dark detectors, but there was a large amount of space for them to do spell work and dueling exercises.
Soon, groups of people were arriving, looking around in awe at the Room, while Harry kept his eye on the map, and Astra patrolled on the outside, prepared to cause a scene and make a distraction if needed. Finally, everyone was in the room, with Astra being the last one to enter, signaling they were all there, and Harry had the Room's door fade away, making it so nobody else could enter.
"What is this place, Potter?" Daphne asked, when they were all finally there, sitting on cushions and watching him.
Harry quickly gave a brief explanation of the Room of Requirement, getting exclamations of awe.
"So, yeah," Harry said, slightly nervously. "This is the place I planned for all our practice sessions."
"It's fantastic!" said Cho, and several people murmured their agreement.
"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.
"Dark detectors," said Harry, stepping between the cushions to reach them. "They reveal lies and enemies in the area, but they can be fooled, so while they are useful, it's best not to rely on them."
Still, Harry glanced at the Foe-Glass, seeing the shadowy figures were still indiscernible.
"So, I've been planning out exactly what to go through -" Harry noticed a raised hand, which cut him off. "Er - what, Hermione?"
"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.
"Harry's the leader." said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad.
Katie and Ginny both narrowed their eyes at Cho, while Harry winced slightly. He knew that Cho didn't really like him. She just wanted answers . . . and maybe it was time he just gave them to her.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly." said Hermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So, everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"
Harry saw Astoria and Tracey chuckle a bit, with Daphne showing a slight smirk, but they were among the entire group that put their hands on, though he saw some hands, like Zacharias Smith's, were very half-hearted.
"Er — right, thanks," said Harry, who could feel his face burning. "And — what, Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name." she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.
"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.
"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defence Association?" said Cho. "The DA for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
"Except that tells everybody what we're about," Daphne said sarcastically.
"Well, Potter's the leader," Astoria said with a mischievous wink towards Ginny, who grinned, and Harry felt a sense of grim foreboding. "Potter's the instructor. Let's have some fun. Maybe the Lightning Brigade because of his scar or the Shadow Guild, since he's become a famous shadow user and has a grim."
Harry scowled at her, now seeing why Ginny got along with the Slytherin. Harry suspected she'd get along with Sirius, Remus, and Dora quite well too.
"I like the Shadow Guild," Katie said with a smirk, and he knew she was thinking about Sirius, Dora, and Remus's own love of using his element for names to tease him. "It could mean anything . . . and everything we're doing is to stay hidden."
"Plus, Harry and Astra are going to use their element to help us get away with everything, so Shadow is our ally," Ginny added helpfully, her eyes twinkling.
"You all make me regret picking up elemental magic," Harry muttered, getting laughs from a lot of people, and Harry's words only made people like the name even more.
"What about the Grim Consortium?" Tracey said. "Potter might be the leader, but clearly Astra is the mascot. We're off the books, rebelling against the established order. Besides, if we talk about shadows, people will generally assume it has something to do with Potter."
There were a lot of laughs at that, and nods of agreement. Astra wagged her tail happily from where she was sat next to Angelina and Alicia, receiving loving rubs and pats.
"Oh, people will start questioning our sanity, thinking we're part of some society either dedicated to Grims or dedicated to being grim," Alicia said with a laugh. "I like it!"
"All in favor of the Grim Consortium? said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!"
She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it onto the wall and wrote across the top in large letters: THE GRIM CONSORTIUM.
Harry was fine with it being named after Astra. At least he'd escaped the Shadow Guild. Dora and Sirius would have loved that name.
"Right, let's get to the practice session then," Harry said, moving on, pushing past his nerves. "I intend for us to work on one or two spells each session in conjunction with a specific type of dueling technique or exercise. Usually some sort of offensive spell and either a defensive counter or a defensive technique. I figured that we'd start with the Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus, and Hex Deflection, Salvio Hexia."
"Hex deflection and disarming?" Zacharias Smith said with disdain. "How would that help us against You-Know-Who?"
"Well, most people would feel better dueling him without his wand," Marina said sarcastically, and Smith flushed, and stayed quiet.
"It's not just about using those two spells," Harry said quietly. "Expelliarmus is a good spell to work on accuracy and casting speed, and hex deflection is a good buildup to the basic shield charm for those who don't know either, or at least haven't used either in a duel. Being able to cast a spell when you have all the time in the world, and being able to cast it properly when in danger and feeling adrenaline are two very different things. If you think accuracy, speed, and a proper build up for shielding are a waste of time, then you can leave because there is nothing that I can teach you. I don't need to waste my time on stupidity."
Smith opened his mouth and gaped in surprise. The rest of the room was very quiet. Harry couldn't help but notice that most of the Slytherins, with his friends and family, were giving Harry approving looks for his words. Smith didn't move, nor did anyone else.
"Ok," Harry said. "Let's start by dividing into pairs and start practicing with the disarming charm."
It felt very odd to be issuing instructions, but not nearly as odd as seeing them followed. Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up. Predictably, Neville was left partnerless at first, but then Katie warmly beckoned him to join her and Demelza Robbins, leaving Harry free to walk around and instruct. Harry was happy to see that most of his friends had spread out to try and assist where needed, Ron and Hermione, and Fred and George being the exceptions.
"Alright, three, two, one, begin!" Harry called out, wishing for a whistle, and grinning as one appeared in front of him.
The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus." Wands flew in all directions; missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air. Glancing around, he thought he had been right to suggest they practice the basics first; there was a lot of shoddy spellwork going on; many people were not succeeding in disarming their opponents at all, but merely causing them to jump backwards a few paces or wince as their feeble spell whooshed over them.
Harry continued to wander about the room, taking note of everyone, seeing the great, the good, the bad, and the not even trying. The only amusing one was Zacharias Smith who was being disarmed every time he tried to disarm Anthony Goldstein, but he didn't have to look far to see Fred and George, and he gave them a slight shake of his head, even if he did smile slightly.
"Sorry Harry," said George hastily, when Harry caught his eye. "Couldn't resist."
Harry walked around the other pairs, trying to correct those who were doing the spell wrong. Ginny was teamed with Michael Corner, to Harry's annoyance, and while she could easily disarm him, Michael was doing rather poorly or perhaps he just wasn't willing to jinx her, and he could see her annoyance with him about it. Harry smiled slightly, knowing Ginny did not like being treated like she was weak. If Corner was trying to impress her, he was failing miserably.
Ernie Macmillan was flourishing his wand unnecessarily, giving his partner time to get in under his guard; the Creevey brothers were enthusiastic but erratic and mainly responsible for all the books leaping off the shelves around them; Luna Lovegood was similarly patchy, occasionally sending Justin Finch-Fletchleys wand spinning out of his hand, at other times merely causing his hair to stand on end. About half of the Slytherins were quite competent, with Daphne probably being the best, but he could see that many of them needed more work on accuracy or speed, and about a quarter of them were the ones not taking it seriously.
Harry thought about how Mad-Eye would handle this and grinned viciously. He made his way to the first pair, Eban Loriss, if he remembered correctly, and Micah Felide, he thought.
"Alright, I'm going to hop in here," Harry said, knowing that people were watching him. "If you can disarm me properly, I'll stop this right now."
Eban grinned and immediately pointed his wand at Harry.
"Expelliarmus!"
His spell was so weak that Harry honestly didn't even have to work hard to keep hold of his wand, and Harry simply let the spell hit him. Eban frowned when nothing happened, and Harry quickly silently sent a disarming charm back.
Eban was blasted off his feet, his wand removed from his hand. Harry turned to Micah, who was looking at Harry a bit more seriously.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry deflected it with a silent hex deflection, and then blasted the boy off his feet with a quick deflection, just like his partner.
"Everyone who isn't taking this seriously is going to have to prove themselves against me," Harry called out, and he noticed that nearly everyone who had been half-heartedly doing the spells started taking it seriously, likely not wanting him to make an example of them.
After a while of him walking around and providing guidance, with the aid from some of the more capable people in the group like Marina, Angelina, and even some of his year group like Ava or Gabrielle, who had experience in the dueling ring, and he saw vast improvement in accuracy and even speed as they kept it up.
"Alright, let's throw in hex deflection," Harry called out after whistling, and getting everyone's attention. "Start slow, make sure your partner is aware. The point is to get practice with deflection. You can even use the Stinging Jinx, Morsus, to avoid having to retrieve wands. If you are competent with the deflection spell, work on manipulating it to deflect spells in specific directions. If you plan it right, you can reflect the spell back at the caster."
Once again, spells were being thrown around, and Harry moved around helping out with hex deflection, something that not nearly as many of them had down, and which seemed to humble a lot more people or at least those who did suddenly understand why he had started with a couple basics.
Once he saw the general level of improvement increase again, just like with disarming, Harry blew his whistle again and got everyone's attention.
"Alright, now we're going at real speed," he said. "Disarming and hex deflection. Working on speed and accuracy. Change partners if you're outmatched. I want people getting practice with both. Begin!"
Harry continued to walk around again, and started forcing some partner changes when he could see vast differences in ability. He kept moving along and he grimaced when Cho made a show of seeming bad at the disarming charm, forcing him to approach her and work with her and her friend.
"Oh no." said Cho rather wildly as he approached. "Expelliarmious! I mean, Expellimellius! I— oh, sorry, Marietta!"
Her curly-haired friend's sleeve had caught fire; Marietta extinguished it with her own wand and glared at Harry as though it was his fault.
"You made me nervous, I was doing all right before then!" Cho told Harry ruefully.
"I saw before, and at the Dueling Tournament, and in the Triwizard," Harry said with a nod. "I know you're quite good at this stuff."
She beamed at him. "Thanks, Harry."
Her friend Marietta looked at them rather sourly and turned away.
"Don't mind her." Cho muttered. "She doesn't really want to be here but I made her come with me. Her parents have forbidden her to do anything that might upset Umbridge. You see — her mum works for the Ministry."
"What about your parents?" asked Harry.
"Well, they've forbidden me to get on the wrong side of Umbridge, too," said Cho, drawing herself up proudly. "But if they think I'm not going to fight You-Know-Who after what happened to Cedric —"
Harry nodded slowly, seeing his opening.
"He didn't deserve what happened to him," Harry said quietly. "He only died because he was good enough to make it through the Tournament. If I had been faster, or he had been slower, he would have survived. However, if he'd been the fastest, he still would have died. Voldemort didn't care about him, and I'm sorry about his death. I really am."
"How — how did it —" Cho asked, pure longing in her eyes.
"It was quick," Harry said. "The killing curse, almost as soon as the rigged portkey threw us into the ground. Neither of us had any time to defend ourselves. I only survived because they needed me alive . . . and that gave me time to escape."
"Thank you," Cho gasped, looking close to tears. "Thank you."
Harry nodded solemnly, and moved on, hoping that was the end of that whole awkward situation.
"Hey, Harry," Hermione called from the other end of the room, "have you checked the time?"
He looked down at his watch and was shocked to see it was already ten past nine, which meant they needed to get back to their common rooms immediately or risk being caught and punished by Filch for being out of bounds. He blew his whistle; everybody stopped shouting "Expelliarmus" or "Morsus" or "Salvia Hexia" and the last couple of wands clattered to the floor.
"Well, that was pretty good." said Harry, "but we've overrun our time, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"
"Sooner!' said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.
Angelina of course shook her head. "The Quidditch season's about to start!"
"How about next Wednesday night, then," said Harry. "We can decide on additional meetings each week."
"What else are you going to teach, Potter?" Daphne asked. "This was good for some, but not great for others."
Harry nodded in understanding.
"Among the more basic defensive spells, I plan to bring in the full body-bind, the freezing charm, the tongue lock curse, and the reductor curse. I also plan to cover the stunning charm, impediment jinx, explosion and blasting curses, basic shield charm, binding charm, and basic dueling cutting curse among the more intermediate to early NEWT level spells. Lastly will be the more advanced spells including the patronus, the multi blasting curse and the advanced general shield charm. Depending on how well people pick all those up, I'll think about some of the more destructive and powerful offensive spells like the lightning bolt and fireball curses, other advanced or specific shields, like Servo or Defendo, the shield destruction curse, the earthquake spell, and advanced cutting and disarming curses."
"Beyond spells, I plan to work in the various dueling and combat exercises that my guardians and mentors, Mad-Eye, Sirius, and Dora have had me use to improve everyone's accuracy and casting speed, as well as physical mobility through dodging exercises. I also would like to introduce spell slapping, shield redirection exercises, silent casting, and other dueling strategies. It's important to build these fundamentals and basics before getting to the advanced exercises and even more dangerous spells."
Daphne nodded, looking pleased, and around the room he heard impressed and eager mutters, everyone looking more and more assured of his program.
Harry glanced at the Marauder's Map and wanted to curse, seeing that Filch was patrolling up near the Ravenclaw's Tower, and that Umbridge was down near the Hufflepuff's Common Room, which incidentally meant the Slytherins were in trouble too.
"Astra will take the Ravenclaws back to their Tower in groups of three," Harry said, and the nine Ravenclaws all looked at Harry's familiar with a mixture of interest and unease. "I'll escort the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs back to their dorms. Katie and Ginny will help the rest of you get back to Gryffindor Tower."
"How can they help us?" Ava asked, looking at Ginny and Katie with interest.
"I've been teaching them shadow magic," Harry said. "They can't conceal you all like I can, but they can create darkness to create confusion, if need be."
"Harry, you'll get blamed if we do that," Katie said worriedly.
"I will," Harry admitted, "but they won't know about all of you. I can take detentions if it gets you all back safely."
Harry saw a majority of the room exchange surprised glances at his words.
"Alright, first three Ravenclaws, put a hand on Astra," Harry said. "Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, you're with me."
Marina, Luna, and Cho, surprisingly, all stepped forward without any look of worry and put their hands on Astra, and they faded away in darkness.
The large group of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins approached him.
"The Room will spit us out close," Harry said, "but Umbridge is in the area, so stay quiet."
"How are you going to hide us?" Diana Carter asked with interest.
Harry took a slow breath, feeling the darkness in the room swell. "Abscondere alias tenebras!"
The darkness envolped the group causing a couple of gasps in alarm and screams, but finally there were awed gasps as they all glanced around, seeing they all blended into the darkness.
Harry kept himself visible, knowing he could go invisible if needed.
"Follow me."
It was a quick journey, with the Room putting them out on the same floor as the kitchens and the Hufflepuff Common Room. Harry took the lead, making note of Umbridge's position a couple of hallways away. Soon, the Hufflepuffs were all nodding their appreciation and entering their Common Room, their invisibility fading, leaving Harry to lead the Slytherins to the dungeon.
Once they made it to the dungeons, Harry dispelled his spell. Most of the Slytherins immediately made their way into their common room, Harry was still working to get all the names down, but he thought he had the Slytherins. He recognized Eban Loriss, Micah Felide, Ryan Wolfs, Avis Lasterfelt, Carson Pike, Byron Miller, Haley Quentin and her younger sister Hazel, and Storm Hornbeam and his younger sister Kalina. That left Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, Tracey Davis, and Diana Carter out with him.
"That was well done, Potter," Daphne admitted. "If you keep that up, we'll continue to train with you, and we'll keep our eyes open in Slytherin House for any useful information."
Harry gave her a curt nod, and the four Slytherins took their leave. Harry checked his map, seeing that everyone was now safely back in their Houses, and Umbridge was heading his way. Harry easily concealed himself in shadow, and made his way back to Gryffindor Tower, thinking about how successful the first meeting of the Grim Consortium was.
When Harry entered, he found his sister, girlfriends, and friends all waiting for him, all looking very pleased. He happily joined them all, exchanging two quick kisses with his girlfriends and discussion turned to the lesson's and what they had observed.
Harry would later realize that the Grim Consortium was one of his proudest accomplishments and it would end up being just as important in the war effort as the Order of the Phoenix or the Ministry.