Divination class has suddenly become one of the most popular courses, which is really surprising. Even Harry and the others, who used to talk nonsense about their homework regarding crystal balls and tea leaves, have to admit that the centaur named Firenze newly recruited by Dumbledore "looks quite professional". At least they are very satisfied with the sentence "Trelawney mostly talks a lot of irrelevant nonsense".

"What on earth did he say?" I asked without looking up while quickly copying down the homework assigned by Professor Flitwick.

"He said that there will definitely be a new outbreak of war soon." Harry leaned over to copy Hermione's History of Magic homework, which she had already written most of. Hermione immediately pressed the piece of parchment under the book and gave Harry a fierce glare.

"You can't expect to copy my finished work during the exam!" she said in a shrill voice. Since April, she has refused to provide any help with homework to the boys. In her words, "If detention can improve your O.W.L. scores a bit, it will be worth it!"

"He also asked us to remind Hagrid to give up his efforts," said Taurus as he made the teacup in front of him dance. He seemed to have made up his mind not to do the History of Magic homework. "But we don't know what Hagrid is doing at all, and we can't ask him what he's up to in the Forbidden Forest right under that old hag's nose, can we?"

"I pretended to have left my book behind today and relayed those words to Hagrid," Harry said in a heavy tone. "He wouldn't listen. He said that there are some things more important than keeping his job, and he told me not to worry about his affairs and to focus on preparing for the exams instead."

"Exams, exams," Ron muttered. "Even Hagrid says that... It's as if we don't need to care about anything else except for the exams."

"Do I need to remind you? There are only less than two months left until the exams," Hermione hissed through her teeth. We quickly sat up straight, knowing that her anxiety, along with the anger that had been rising due to being interrupted by our chatter, was on the verge of bursting. At this moment, the only way to escape her upcoming maddening countdown of the exams and her endless enumeration of how many knowledge points she still hadn't reviewed ("Honestly, she can recite them backwards, yet she still says these are the knowledge points she hasn't mastered!" Taurus once complained after Hermione stormed off in a huff) was to keep quiet.

Hermione wasn't the only student who was somewhat out of sorts due to the approaching O.W.L. exams. A notice from the infirmary was posted on the bulletin board, stating that all fifth-year and seventh-year students who had "symptoms of anxiety such as difficulty falling asleep, shortness of breath, and crying hysterically more than twice a day" could go to Madam Pomfrey to get a small vial of calming potion. But even so, there were still people who would suddenly burst into tears during class. For example, Hannah Abbott once suddenly screamed and ran out of the Herbology greenhouse, saying that she was too stupid to stay at Hogwarts and take the exams.

It's hard to feel relaxed in such an atmosphere. The only thing that makes me feel a bit relieved is that Neville seems to have stopped having those dreams about You-Know-Who because of the overly heavy review tasks. Harry said that he hadn't heard Neville groaning in his sleep for many consecutive days. Although I don't think it's the result of my studying my father's notes, it's still a rare and pleasing thing. Perhaps also because of the pressure of the exams, during the D.A. training sessions, the progress in everyone's Patronus practice isn't as obvious as it was right after returning from the Christmas holiday. However, the idea of "getting an 'O' in the O.W.L. Defense Against the Dark Arts exam and giving Umbridge a good slap in the face" has inspired all the fifth-year students participating in the training. Everyone unanimously agrees that although the D.A. will take up the already extremely scarce spare time, such hard work is worthwhile.

"I have to remind you that this is a brightly lit classroom, and summoning a Patronus in a non-threatening situation is just the most basic beginner's level," Harry said as he paced around the classroom during the last D.A. training session before Easter, addressing those who were overjoyed at successfully conjuring their Patronuses. "It's a completely different matter when facing Dementors."

"Don't be a spoilsport at this moment!" Taurus said, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at a large dog that was bouncing around him and chasing its own tail. "I just knew it would look like this!"

"I think it can maintain its form for a longer time now." Hermione had already succeeded at least twice before. Her otter was nimbly leaping through the silver mist spraying from the tip of Ron's wand. "This is progress, isn't it, Harry?"

"Yes." Harry nodded. "Ron, you succeeded once before. Think about what memory you used at that time..."

"I think I seemed to succeed for a moment just now." I muttered as he walked over to my side. "But it disappeared in the blink of an eye."

"Then try again." Harry said patiently. "It's much better than before, isn't it?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, starting to recall the first time I secretly lit my father's cauldron, and a thin layer of white steam rose from it... The heat emanating from the blueberry-colored flames leaping at the bottom of the cauldron, the water droplets slowly dripping down as the steam condensed on the glass retort... From the simplest Sneezewort Syrup to the colorless and boiling Living Death Potion, the fine sand in the hourglass counting down at the corner of the table slipping down unhurriedly – three minutes and forty-two seconds, four minutes and seventeen seconds, with only the last drop of the turbid Moonstone solution left to be added –

"Iris." When I recalled the first time my trembling hands filled a glass bottle with the antidote to Veritaserum, I heard Harry say softly to me, "Look."

"A fox!" I said cheerfully as I looked at the fluffy little animal squatting in front of me and licking its paw. Its big tail was shining with a most beautiful light, as if silver streamers would burst out from it with just a twitch. "I didn't expect it to be a fox! It's so cute!"

"It can also protect you." Harry said with a smile. "I'm not too surprised. Foxes are smart and nimble animals, aren't they?"

"You really know how to talk." Ron, who had been feeling a bit dejected because he hadn't succeeded all day, quipped beside us. "Why don't you dare to say that foxes are also cunning?"

The door of the Room of Requirement opened and then closed again. Harry and I both turned our heads to see who had come in, but we didn't see any unfamiliar faces. I waved my wand and made the fox that was still licking its tail disappear into a hazy silver mist. Just as I was about to walk towards the door, Harry pulled me behind him. At this moment, the few people who had been practicing at the door fell silent, as if they were staring at something.

"Dobby?" Harry lowered his wand when he saw the house-elf squeezing in from the door. But Dobby obviously didn't look right. Its body, adorned with eight hats, was shaking violently with fear. The joyful atmosphere that had filled the Room of Requirement just now gradually solidified as the few Patronuses dissipated into the air. Everyone stared at Dobby, wondering what had happened.

"Sir..." The house-elf was twitching all over, seemingly suffering intense pain because of what it wanted to say. "Dobby can't say... but Dobby had to come... to deliver a message... She – sir... She knows –"

With a scream, it rushed towards the wall. I used the Levicorpus spell to stop its self-punishment before it hit the stone wall, but it seemed to have little effect. The hats on its head scattered all over the floor. Harry grabbed its two arms when it tried to strangle itself with its arms, and then I let it down.

"Who?" In fact, everyone present already had an answer in their hearts. They were as if nailed in place by great fear. Harry's voice was trembling, but he still tried to confirm with Dobby, "Umbridge? She has found out about us and is on her way to catch us? Just nod or shake your head!"

Dobby let out a shrill wail and nodded desperately while struggling violently.

"Split up! Go to the library, the bathroom, or the Owlery, and hide there and pretend you've been there all along. It's not curfew time yet!" Cedric roared. "Don't crowd at the door, hurry up!"

The people who had been as stunned as wooden chickens just now woke up as if from a dream and desperately squeezed out the door. Cedric stood at the door and arranged the people who were crowded together into a long line. Cho Chang tried to pull him along, but he shook his head and pushed her out the door. Ron and Taurus were constantly being pushed out, and they turned around and shouted at us loudly. But Dobby was still trying every means to hurt and punish itself, and Harry had to hold it firmly to stop the house-elf's crazy behavior.

"You two go first!" Harry shouted at Hermione and me. "Hurry up!"

Hermione and I didn't hesitate any longer. At this moment, not causing trouble for each other was the best situation. With Cedric's guidance, most of the people had already run out of the corridor. After exchanging a glance with Hermione, I immediately dashed towards the nearest girls' bathroom. When we were out of breath and were about to enter a cubicle respectively to calm our breathing and heartbeats, the trembling voices of Lavender Brown and the Patil sisters came from the cubicle. If Hermione hadn't spoken out in time, they might have attacked us directly.

"A piece of advice." I said to them as I took a deep breath. "If you really think we're the ones sent by Umbridge, keep quiet and just take action directly. Making a sound will only expose your position—"

"Like you're doing now, Iris Snape—Silencio! You're not going anywhere either, Mudblood—Silencio!" Pansy Parkinson laughed triumphantly behind me. "Fifty points for one person. It seems to be a great harvest—"

Fortunately, her shrill laughter didn't last long. Listening to such a sound in the narrow and echoey bathroom was really a torture.

"I haven't finished speaking yet, Parkinson—if you have full confidence, or if your opponent is as stupid as a pig, revealing yourself appropriately can help you finish the battle quickly." After I released the spells on myself and Hermione, I twisted my neck. While Parkinson was panicking because her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, Hermione took away her wand. "Glacius Linguae—the effect is similar to Silencio, but it may cause vomiting. Parkinson, what did you call Hermione just now?"

"I seem to have warned you what the consequences would be if I heard that word coming out of your mouth again." I squatted in front of her and watched with satisfaction as her expression gradually changed from malevolence to fear. "It seems that you have a good memory and you're not that hopeless."

"We shouldn't cause more trouble now." Hermione had been listening to the movement outside the door since she locked the bathroom door just now. She glanced at Parkinson, who was constantly whining and trying to make a sound, and a look of disgust appeared on her face. "But fortunately you know the Silencing Charm. Otherwise, if she had caught us... I might have had nightmares for months out of shame."

"You hide in there first." I pointed to the empty cubicle in the bathroom and said to Hermione. She hesitated for a moment and then nodded at me.

After Hermione hid in the cubicle, I listened to the movement outside the door. After making sure there was no one there, I unlocked the door. Parkinson didn't dare to move at all because my wand had been pointing at her. Even though I had put her wand back into her robe pocket, she was still staring at the tip of my wand in fear, as if she was worried that her face would have deep and irreparable scratches like that long table of Slytherin in the third year in the next second.

"I'm not going to cut your face open—certainly not because I want to let you off, but Professor McGonagall would be very disappointed if she knew." The tip of my wand gently tapped between her eyebrows. If she wasn't so scared, I think she could have noticed that my hand was trembling slightly. "I think this is the difference between us, Parkinson. I won't try to cause any damage to maintain my dignity just because of an insult like I did in the third year. Although I admit that for a moment just now I still wanted to do that—but you haven't improved at all compared to back then."

Under my coercion, she stood up and turned to face the slightly ajar bathroom door.

"Did you use the Imperius Curse on her?" Hermione leaned out in horror only after Parkinson's unsteady footsteps disappeared into the corridor. "Iris, that's an Unforgivable—"

I'm not that capable." I knocked on the doors of the other cubicles to signal that Lavender and the Patil sisters could come out, and then explained to Hermione, "It's just the Confundus Charm. I didn't make a sound because I hoped she could just open the door and go out without finding me again."

When we returned to the Gryffindor common room, we were glad to see that most of the people were sitting safely in front of the fireplace, although they all still had a look of shock on their faces. But Harry and Neville hadn't come back. Taurus was pacing restlessly in front of the fireplace. He was sure that he had seen Neville being caught by two tall Slytherin boys.

"They've always wanted to take revenge on Harry and Neville because of that interview." Ron said gloomily. "They accused the list of Death Eaters who appeared when You-Know-Who returned, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott... I bet they've been waiting for this day for a long time."

"Will there be no more D.A. in the future?" Taurus looked at the flickering candlelight in the fireplace and said in a low voice, "I thought... There were quite a few new people today. Seamus and Brown came for the first time..."

It was not until midnight that Harry and Neville climbed in through the portrait hole. Everyone was glad that there were no signs of them having been tortured. Although everyone was very tired after this night, we still sat around and listened to them tell what had happened in the Headmaster's office. When they heard that Draco had entered the Room of Requirement and taken away the D.A. member list pinned to the wall, Hermione covered her mouth with her hand.

"I shouldn't have left it—left it there—" She buried her face in her palms guiltily and said with a sob, "I actually forgot—oh, my god—"

"We all forgot. This isn't your responsibility alone." Ron quickly reached out and patted Hermione's back.

"I don't understand." I felt my throat go dry. "Every time we tell the Room of Requirement which people we don't want to let in. Why could he get in... and even take something away?"

"Marietta Edgecombe." Harry said calmly. "That Ravenclaw girl. She leaked the secret to Umbridge. As a member, the Room of Requirement would also respond to her request... Or this agreement was broken because of her leaking the secret. So after she informed on us, other people could get in, and Malfoy knew how to use that room, so he was the first one to go in."

"I bet Umbridge will give him a big reward." Taurus said sarcastically. "Being a lackey is really a fine tradition of their family."

"So what are they going to do?" Ron asked. "Expel everyone on the list? Do we need to pack our luggage tonight?"

"It's even worse than that." Neville had been curled up in the armchair since he came back, constantly rubbing the scar on his head with his hand. "Dumbledore took all the blame on himself. Hermione's curse worked, and Kingsley took the opportunity to modify Marietta's memory. So Umbridge couldn't get more information out of Marietta's mouth. They can only insist that there was a gathering tonight, but they don't know what the gathering was for. Dumbledore told Fudge—"

"Cornelius Fudge?" Hermione asked sharply. "Was he there too? He rushed from the Ministry of Magic to Hogwarts just for a student gathering?"

"Catching us is much easier than catching Death Eaters, isn't it?" Taurus let out a snort of laughter. "What ability do you expect Fudge to have?"

"Dumbledore said it was the first gathering he organized." Harry said slowly and clearly. "Because... it says Dumbledore's Army on the list, and Fudge believed it. He thought Dumbledore wanted to recruit us into his army."

"No." Hermione's lips were trembling. "This—"

"We wanted to refute." Neville said painfully. "We knew that Dumbledore was trying to protect us and keep us from being expelled, but everyone told us to shut up."

"Then what happened?" I asked in a low voice, even though I had already guessed what came next.

"Fudge wanted his men to arrest Dumbledore—naturally, it was a pipe dream." Harry looked at the fireplace and said. "He left with Fawkes. I didn't even have time to say sorry."

"He only told me to practice Occlumency well." Neville murmured. "Then Professor McGonagall brought us back, and she didn't say anything to blame us."

Overnight, notices that Umbridge had taken over as the Headmaster of Hogwarts in place of Dumbledore were posted all over the school. For some reason, it seemed that everyone in the castle had heard the story of how Dumbledore had subdued two Aurors, the High Inquisitor, the Minister of Magic, and his junior assistant and then escaped smoothly. Ron listened to those rumors very uneasily, hoping that no one would find out that the junior assistant in the story was his brother Percy Weasley. However, it seemed that everyone didn't care about this detail. Some people firmly believed that Fudge was now lying in St. Mungo's Hospital with his head turned into a huge pumpkin.

Next to "Educational Decree Number Twenty-Eight" was another notice. This was the first amendment to the school rules signed by Umbridge in her capacity as Headmaster. From today onwards, the prefect system under the management of the male and female student union presidents at Hogwarts was suspended. The student management work of the entire school would be the responsibility of the Investigative Action Squad carefully selected by Umbridge. The members of the Investigative Action Squad had the power to supervise students' behavior, deduct house points, and impose punishments such as detention. The squad was uniformly under the charge of the leader of the Investigative Action Squad.

"The prefect system has existed since the founding of Hogwarts." Hermione looked at that notice in disbelief and said. "How dare she—this will cause chaos! And who is the leader of this Investigative Action Squad—it sounds like Umbridge found an excuse to remove Cedric from his position just because he was on the list."

"Dumbledore will be back soon." Ernie Macmillan, the Hufflepuff prefect, said confidently. "Haven't you heard? Umbridge can't even get into the Headmaster's office. Even if she threw a tantrum, those two stone gargoyles completely ignored her. A headmaster who is not properly appointed won't be recognized by Hogwarts."

"Not properly appointed and with no legitimate reason?" Draco emerged from behind the door and drawled. "The old things of the old era are the ones that are not properly appointed and with no legitimate reason. Now we have a new headmaster, and naturally we have ushered in a new era—because of your inappropriate remarks, Macmillan, ten points are deducted from Hufflepuff."

"It seems that Umbridge really did give you an amazing reward, Malfoy." Taurus laughed as he looked at the shiny "IS" badge on Draco's chest. "I thought it would be made in the shape of a dog bone!"

The smile on Draco's face not only didn't disappear, but became even more arrogant and vicious. "Say whatever you like, Black. Ten points are deducted from Gryffindor. Let me see—Weasley, your shirt isn't tucked in properly, five points are deducted; Granger, for talking about the Headmaster's new rules behind her back, five points are deducted; Potter, just the sight of you makes me angry, fifteen points are deducted."

"What about me?" I folded my arms when he looked at me. "How many points will I be deducted?"

"Come with me." Draco came over and pulled my sleeve. He narrowed his eyes dangerously as he looked at Harry who stepped in front of me. "The Headmaster wants to see her alone, Potter—take your hand and your wand out of my sight. For disrespecting the leader of the Investigative Action Squad, another twenty points are deducted from Gryffindor."