Chapter 5

A Sirius Talk

(Opening song. Danger Danger by FZMZ feat. icy.)

( Later that afternoon, Gryffindor Common Room)

The common room was almost empty; nearly everyone was still down at dinner. Crookshanks uncoiled himself from an armchair and trotted to meet them, purring loudly, and when Harry, Ron, and Hermione took their three favorite chairs at the fireside he leaped lightly onto Hermione's lap and curled up there like a furry ginger cushion. Harry gazed into the flames, feeling drained and exhausted.

"How can Dumbledore have let this happen?" Hermione cried suddenly, making Harry and Ron jumped; Crookshanks leaped off her, looking affronted. She pounded the arms of her chair in fury so that bits of stuffing leaked out of the holes.

"How can he let that terrible woman teach us? She's a bloody double agent for You-Know-Who!"

"Well, we've never had great Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, have we?" said Harry.

"Yes, but to let a spy in, allied with the Death Eaters no less, is maddening!"

"Does he even know that's the case?" Ron asked. "Remember, Fudge, is in denial about You-Know-Who. For all Dumbledore knows he thinks Umbridge is just an agent of The Ministry?"

"Of course, but she's actively not letting us use magic." snapped Hermione.

"Don't start arguing again," said Harry wearily, as Ron opened his mouth to retaliate. "We have bigger problems to talk about right now."

Hermoine expression grew dark "Yuno" she growled

"What bloody hell kind of magic is he even using!?" Ron exclaimed "Those spells didn't feel like magic I've seen or even read about before, and that...thing he summoned"

"It was like he was just using it like a toy" Hermione added. "His magic is obviously some form of dark magic, just more...sinister"

"Whatever it is," Harry started. "it's obvious he's been trained to use it since he was tot," his arms crossed in the chair. "The question is, why is he here?"

"Well, he's obviously not here because to learn," Ron added. "There's gotta be something else here of value that his group wants."

Hermione furrowed her brow for a moment in thought. "Maybe if he was a normal wizard. But if I were him, there's nothing really worth stealing at Hogwarts, just some valuable books and some magical artifacts."

Yeah," Harry said in a pensive manner. "But he's not a normal wizard, so there must be something here... we just have to figure out what that is"

The three sat there for a while, thinking of the possibilities. Then Ron broke the silence. "What about Dumbledore? We could-"

No," Harry interjected. "If Yuno was able to see us under the invisibility cloak, he'd notice that teachers would be keeping an eye on him. He might end up using the other students as collateral to make a break for it"

"So, we're stuck just watching him then?" Ron asked. "There's nothing else we can do?"

"Not necessarily there is someone we can talk to." Harry muttered

"And who would that be exactly," Hermione asked raising an eyebrow.

Harry had slid off his chair onto his knees and was now crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.

"Er - Harry?" said Ron uncertainly. "Why are you down there?"

Harry waited for a while until they heard a yelp from the fire, which made Ron and Hermoine jump.

"Jesus Harry, don't do that!" Sirius says.

She gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill. There, in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning face.

"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared,' he said. "I've been checking every hour."

"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry said, half-laughing.

"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear."

"But what if you'd been seen?" said Hermione anxiously.

"Well, one I think- a girl - first-year, by the look of her - might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry," Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth.

"I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."

"But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk -" Hermione began.

"You sound like Molly," said Sirius. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed - your scar."

"Actually, we have something else to share with you. A dark wizard, or at least we think he's one, has infiltrated Hogwarts" Harry said.

Sirius's eyebrow ticked up in intrigue of this new information, his face turning from cheery to serious

"A dark wizard? Inside Hogwarts?" He asked worryingly." How do you know this? Are either of you hurt at all?"

"We're fine," Harry answered." We eavesdropped on him while we were using the cloak. I think he sensed us somehow and summoned this… monster to hunt us" Harry said shuttering remembering the tense situation.

"Damn," Sirius muttered, a look of concern now on his face."That's a hell of a situation you've gotten yourselves into. A summoning spell like that is not an easy feat. Whoever this guy is, he's probably a damn good wizard— especially if he sensed all three of you under the cloak."

"The weird thing was that he didn't even use a wand. He was chanting in this language and made a motion with his arms" Ron chimed in

Sirius's frown deepened further as another layer of concern settled over him. The fact that the wizard didn't utilize a wand was both impressive and worrying.

"That sort of power requires a significant amount of magic. It shouldn't even be possible without a wand. Any idea what language he was chanting in?" Sirius asked

"No idea, it didn't even sound like a human could even speak it, " Harry said

"Well…Shite… Sounds like you all stumbled over a hell of a problem. I assume you know who it is."

"His name is Yuno Lovecraft, a muggle-born in Slytherin, first-year," Harry answered.

Sirius's eyebrows rose at that, shock crossing his features.

"A first-year!?"

He let out a bark of laughter, half out of derision, and half out of incredulity.

"You're telling me a firstie is pulling off wandless magic and summoning monsters?"

Sirius continued to laugh, but Harry, Ron, and Hermoine's faces still held their hard expressions. After a while Sirius noticed that the three of them weren't laughing, their serious expressions quickly sobering his disbelief.

"You all are serious, aren't you?"

He stared at the three of them for a long moment, then his eyes widened, and put a hand on top of his forehead.

"Bloody hell… that's...that's not even possible! And you sure this kid's a first-year!?"

"We saw him get sorted ourselves. Sorting Hat screamed bloody murder when it was put on his head" Hermoine said

Sirius raised an eyebrow at that, his look one of intrigue. The Sorting Hat screaming at a first-year student had piqued his interest.

"Screamed, huh? You know, I've never heard the damn thing scream at all, let alone at a first-year. Tell me everything you know about this kid. Everything" Sirius said as he stroked his beard.

"The brat is cocky, he challenged both McGonagall about the rules during breakfast when he sat at our table and got Umbridge so riled up she had to end class early. He has no respect for authority, and yet he's somehow so adept at magic, he's being placed in fifth-year classes" Hermoine said with an irritated look on her face, while she crossed her arms.

Sirius chuckled at that, his lips curling into a faint smirk of amusement.

"Challenged both Professor McGonagall and Umbridge huh? Sounds like he's a pain in the arse… Wait, he's being placed in fifth-year classes? And he's a damn first-year? How the hell did that happen?"

"We don't know…We've been afraid to ask anything about him Sirius. We don't know what he'll do if we start investigating or let other professors know" Harry said, a glint of fear in his eyes.

Sirius noted the fear in Harry's eyes and his smirk faded, his face growing serious once more.

"You're scared to ask questions about him, even to the other professors?" He looked at the three of them, his expression showing a mixture of curiosity. "I'll admit, that doesn't sound like you all, especially you, Harry."

"He could summon an army of those monsters to fight for him as he got away. I'd rather not risk that many lives for just one person." Harry explained.

Sirius considered their words, mulling over the consequences of taking action. His eyes flicked back and forth between the three of them before nodding in understanding.

"Right, I see your point. We can't risk anyone getting caught in the crossfire with the kid. Sounds like we need to be careful about this. We don't know what this kid is playing at, or how far he's willing to go."

"And we have Umbridge not teaching us anything about defensive training against the dark arts to top it all off" Hermoine added.

Sirius rolled his eyes in annoyance at the mention of Umbridge. His irritation rose at the thought of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Right, and you're stuck with that Ministry hag teaching you all. Damn, useless." He ran a hand through his hair again, his expression one of disgust at the thought of Umbridge.

"Is she a Death Eater, because she's sure acting like one. She's trying to keep everything hush-hush about You-Know-Who?" Ron asked

"I doubt it," said Sirius. "I know her by reputation, a bigot, yes, but I'm sure she's no Death Eater"

"When Yuno was talking to his allies, he said something along the lines that Umbridge was working for Voldemort," Harry added

Sirius's eyebrow raised. "Did he now?" he said, a hint of intrigue in his voice. " A double agent? That's certainly a strong suggestion. What exactly did he say about Umbridge?"

"Said something about stagnating our progress as students. That she's either a double agent or she's being manipulated by a Death Eater. He was talking to two others through this communication spell. They sounded around our age, a boy and a girl"

Sirius's brow furrowed in concentration as he listened intently.

"He was talking with others? So these kids are part of some type of group, just what The Order needed" he cursed, his expression becoming increasingly concerned. "What did they talk about, if you don't mind me asking? Anything worthwhile?"

"There was one thing that stuck out to me," Harry said. "They were talking about going against the Order and The Death Eaters.

"A third party," Sirius muttered, his brow furrowing in contemplation. "That's makes things more complicated for us. We have our hands full trying to deal with the Death Eaters, now we have this group of three powerful dark wizards with an unknown agenda to deal with."

"Yeah, it just made this fight more chaotic." Harry agreed. "Anyway, you think Umbridge is some sort of double agent?"

"I wouldn't put it past her to work with the Death Eaters. Alternatively, a Death Eater could be manipulating her for whatever reason, it wouldn't surprise me either way." Sirius said as he ran his hand through his hair, a sign of his growing tension.

"I originally thought from our information from inside the Ministry, was that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat, hence the reason for the piss poor training. But considering what this Yuno kid said about her…well this changes things."

"Trained in combat!?" repeated Harry incredulously. "What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?"

"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing," said Sirius, "or, rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing - forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."

There was a pause at this, and then Ron said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with."

"Yes, but if Umbridge is directly or indirectly working with a Death Eater then she could also be fueling the fires of his paranoia, it would explain his behavior as of lately," Sirius said

"Speaking of which, I have detention with her in the next half 15 minutes. I should get going" Harry grumbled as he stood up from the fireplace. "I'll talk to you when I have the time Sirius. Thanks for your help"

"Don't mention it, Harry, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs," said Sirius, but Harry was sure he was lying.

"Til write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?"

There was a tiny pop, and the place where Sirius's head had been was flickering flame once more.

(Sometime later during social hour)

Harry bade the other two goodbye and set off for Umbridge's office on the third floor. When he knocked on the door she called, 'Come in,' in a sugary voice. He entered cautiously, looking around.

He had known this office under three of its previous occupants. In the days when Gilderoy Lockhart had lived here, it had been plastered in beaming portraits of himself. When Lupin had occupied it, it was likely you would meet some fascinating Dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call. In the impostor Moody's days, it had been packed with various instruments and artifacts for the detection of wrongdoing and concealment.

Now, however, it looked totally unrecognizable. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Harry stared at them, transfixed until Professor Umbridge spoke again. Harry started and looked around. He had not noticed her at first because she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her.

"Good evening, Mr Potter."

Harry started and looked around. He had not noticed her at first because she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her.

"Professor Umbridge," Harry said stiffly.

"Well, sit down," she said, pointing towards a small table draped in lace beside which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair. A piece of blank parchment lay on the table, apparently waiting for him.

"Er," said Harry, without moving. "Professor Umbridge. Er - before we start, I - I wanted to ask you a… a favor."

Her bulging eyes narrowed.

"Oh, yes?"

"Well, I'm… I'm in the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and we have a game this Friday so I was wondering…whether I could skip detention that night and do it - do it another night… instead…"

He knew long before he reached the end of his sentence that it was no good.

"Oh, no," said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly.

"Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. I have the mind to make Mr. Weasely join you as well, consider it a favor that I don't."

"No, you will come here, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it is rather a good thing that you are missing something you want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you."

Harry felt the blood surge to his head and heard a thumping noise in his ears. So he told 'evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories', did he?

She was watching him with her head slightly to one side, still smiling widely, as though she knew exactly what he was thinking and was waiting to see whether he would start shouting again. With a massive effort, Harry looked away from her, dropped his schoolbag beside the straight-backed chair, and sat down.

"There," said Umbridge sweetly, "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, Mr Potter. No, not with your quill," she added, as Harry bent down to open his bag. "You're going to be using a rather special one of mine. Here you are."

She handed him a long, thin black quill with an unusually sharp point.

"I want you to write, I Must Not Tell Lies," she told him emphasizing each word of the phrase

(Meanwhile outside the office)

Yuno had one ear close to the door, he hadn't expected Potter to get detention so soon.

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath. As he heard Umbridge speak about the quill his eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise.

"So that's her game huh? Trying to use torture to get your point across." Yuno muttered as a malicious smile formed on his face. He looked down at his hand as green and yellowish magical energy began to pool in the palm of his hand. He looked at the magic in his palm and brought it to eye level.

"Let me show you how it's done, amateur"

(Back in the office)

"How many times?" Harry asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," said Umbridge sweetly.

"Off you go."

She moved over to her desk, sat down, and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. Harry raised the sharp black quill, then realized what was missing.

"You haven't given me any ink," he said.

"Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge, with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.

Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies.

He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry's right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel - yet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth.

Harry looked round at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile.

"Yes?"

"Nothing," said Harry quietly

Umbridge sat back quietly, Satisfied with the fact Harry's 'lesson' was finally starting to sink in.

"Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn"

Umbridge looked up confused.

"What did you say?" she asked, her smile gone and replaced with a slight frown of irritation.

"Nothing?" Harry said confused

"Don't lie to me, boy! You just said something just now" Umbridge accused him

"Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn" the voices chanted again from behind her.

Umbridge spun around started by the chanting. "What!?" she shrilled

"Professor Umbridge, are you ok?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn" "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn" "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn" the chanting continued in Umbridges ear. She saw the walls office begin to morph and distort as the chanting continued

( "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn""Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn""Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn""Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn")

Umbridge looked around panicked as the walls morphed. She looked at the ground and began to see tentacles rising from the floor. An unspeakable abomination began to rise from her behind her desk. It's titanic from morphing the very dimensions of the room itself. The abomination looked down at her, it had two sets of purple cat-like eyes, and gave an unsettling Chesire-like grin filled with pointed needle-like teeth. Umbridge fell to the ground and began to scramble backward on the floor, her breathing heavy and panicked. Fear filled her eyes as the thing was so utterly horrifying to look at, the thing's appearance burning the sight into Umbridges mind. The abomination leaned towards Umbridge slowly as she ran to the door trying to open it in a panic, looking back as the monster reached out its cat-like hand towards her.

"NOOOOOOO!" she screamed as she finally managed to open the door and stumble out. She opened her eyes and saw…

A hall of students, looking at her with wide eyes, like she was crazy. They stared at her for a second and then started to whisper to each other. Umbridge looked back and saw Harry staring at her with wide eyes as if he didn't even see the thing in her office.

"Wait…what" she was speechless, face paler than a ghost, eyes like dinner plates, and her body trembling. Words tried to form, but none left her mouth.

"Oh my Professor Umbridge are you alright?" a young voice said filled with fake concern.

Umbridge slowly turned her head and saw Yuno standing next to her.

"I wanted to talk to you about letting me back into your class, but you don't look very well. I'll stop by once you're feeling better…sorry for bothering you" he said as he walked off.

Umbridge just looked at Yuno walk by her, a sly, but faint smirk on his face. "What... in Merlin's name... was that.." she thought to herself

"Professor, are you alright?" Harry asked. Despite not liking the woman, that freakout she had, had him concerned.

"Just…go…Mr. Potter" she said not even turning around to look at him.

Harry didn't question it. Out of detention early was better than writing with that cursed quill. He simply got up and left.

Umbridge fell to her knees, still shaken from the illusion, looking at the ground and breathing heavily. As Yuno walked back to the common room, he looked back at Umbridge and smirked at her disheveled state.

"Hope you enjoyed the free sample, Dolores" Yuno said to himself as he slinked back into the shadows of the hallway.