Chap 28: Goodbye Pink Toad

"Umbridge do really look murderous now doesn't she," Cho said, Harry turned to look at Umbridge who as Cho said, was red with fury, specifically glaring at Harry.

"Yeah, she did kinda get embarrassed yesterday," Harry replied, feeling no pity for her.

"How do you think DA with McGonagall will go?" Hermione asked.

"It should be alright, McGonagall does really trust me and I think that she will let us do our thing, maybe stepping in from time to time to give her opinion, to be fair, having McGonagall as a supervising Professor can really help us, having someone with her knowledge will greatly help with the more complex spells."

"You are good enough at teaching Harry," Ron chimed in, "I've never learnt spells as fast with any professor."

"Agreed," Cho added.

"Still, having McGonagall can still help," Harry insisted, "though I believe that with her around the atmosphere might not be as light-hearted as before, most students do not know how chill McGonagall actually is."

"I still feel that the McGonagall you 2 describe in your sessions is a completely different teacher," Ron said.

"She cares a lot for all her students but it is more of a strict parent type of caring from afar, when you get closer and more personal with her you will start to see her genuine side away from the strict mask," Harry said, sticking up for his favourite professor.

"I agree with Harry," Hermione added, "when in private lessons she calls me Hermione rather than Ms Granger."

"Same here, don't tell her this but I call her Aunt Minnie or Minnie in private," Harry said, laughing at the shocked faces from his friends, "it's more because she was good friends with my parents when they graduated, my father was always one of her most talented students at Transfiguration and after he matured, she started really liking him, my mom, well, from what I've gathered, every Professor likes her, she met me when I was a baby and apparently my parents introduced her as Aunt Minnie, so I have been calling her that or just Minnie."

"I'm surprised that she didn't murder you when you called her that," Hermione said.

"Oh she looked like she wanted to," Harry chuckled, "but she warmed up to it eventually."

At that moment, Harry remembered something that he wanted to ask, how on earth did Umbridge find out about the DA.

"Hermione," Harry whispered, "do you have any idea who ratted on us?"

"The answer isn't that simple," Hermione replied, "my list tells me that it was Zacharias, but he did not willingly give up the information."

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"His name was burning on the parchment but his face isn't covered with ache writing 'sneak', this means that he was coerced into ratting us."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Yes, I got some of the Hufflepuff to ask him what happened, he looked really confused and swore that he did not rat on us," Hermione replied, her face turning darker before she continued, "they then asked him about his meeting with Umbridge earlier that day when she summoned him."

"What did he say?"

"He completely forgot what even happened, he said that all he remembered was walking into the Umbridge's Office, and next thing he knew, he was back in his common room," Hermione replied, "I believe that there is something really wrong."

"Agreed," Cho replied, "this either means Umbridge confunded him, obliviated him or placed him under the Imperious Curse."

"You really think that she would do that?" Hermione replied.

"She has done really messed up things," Cho replied darkly, "Pa told me that when they were investigating her, they found a few suspicious things that correlated to her rise to power and a few suspicious things she could have done during her reign, Pa said that they were going to investigate for another month or 2, collate as much evidence as possible then arrest her."

"A month or 2 more can cause a lot more damage," Harry said darkly.

"Yes, but they have to make sure that she can't get away this time," Cho replied.

"In the meantime, we will have to inform everyone in the DA to be careful," Hermione said, "especially you Harry, be alert at all times and do not drink anything or eat anything she gives you, it might be laced with Veritaserum."

"Understood Hermione," Harry nodded, he really had to watch his back now.

The rest of the day went smoothly for Harry, largely due to the fact that he did not have Defence Against the Dark Arts that day, meaning that he did not have any interactions with Umbridge. The whole day, however, Harry was looking forward to one thing and one thing only, his first session with Dumbledore. In the middle of the day, Harry received a note from Dumbledore, requesting him to meet at the Room of Requirements at 7 pm, with Dumbledore providing him the instructions to enter the room as well as to bring the journal.

When it reached 6.45 pm, Harry left the Great Hall, bidding his group of friends goodbye and left for the common room, retrieving his Invisibility Cloak before heading to the Room of Requirements. Doing as Dumbledore instructed, Harry saw a door materialise and entered it, finding a large cosy room with many dummies at one end. Harry took off his Invisibility Cloak as he walked towards Dumbledore who was sitting on a cosy armchair, humming to himself.

"Profesor," Harry greeted.

"Ah Harry, 5 minutes early, good good, let's begin shall we," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Today, we will be focusing on spells, the next session, we will touch on Voldemort's past and the final one of the week will be on a mix of spells and learning about different objects and dark creatures, think of that as an advanced version of DADA."

"Understood Professor."

"Fantastic Harry, I would take it that you have read some of the journals?" Dumbledore asked to which Harry nodded to, "Good, what magic caught your eyes?"

"The Ring of Fire Charm," Harry replied, seeing the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes.

"Ah yes, the Ring of Fire Charm, Anulus Ignis" Dumbledore muttered, performing a wavy spell motion and summoning 5 red fireballs to his side.

"A very handy spell indeed, able to hurt opponents while mashing it with other spells that can surprise opponents, very powerful," Dumbledore said, throwing the fireballs at 5 different dummies in quick succession, Harry barely even caught the fireballs flying before 5 dummies were on fire, some of them flew very far back while others had deep cuts in it which allowed the fire to burn its inside.

"It is powerful and deadly despite it not being too difficult to cast," Dumbledore said, "it takes mostly the mental will and strength to cast a strong one, something that I believe you already understand and have mastered evidence being your stunners and disarmers, most Aurors cannot cast them with the pure energy that yours have."

Harry gushed a little at the compliments, he knew that they were strong but Dumbledore saying that it was strong just felt different.

"Let's master it shall we," Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eyes.

After around 30 minutes of repeated practice, with Dumbledore correcting his wand motions, making them as precise as possible. Harry eventually was able to cast strong fireballs around him, though the mixing of effects definitely needed some improvement.

"Well done Harry," Dumbledore commented, "you are an excellent dueller and very adept at casting strong magic for a student, I reckon that you will beat all the 7th-years in our school."

"Really?" Harry said in amazement.

"Indeed," Dumbledore responded, "however, there is some room for improvements to your foundations, duelling is not about who can cast the strongest spells, rather, it's about who can cast the more effective, efficient and accurate spells the fastest, that's why a wizard like Filius is so proficient at duelling despite not using complex spells, Filius simply cast fast and accurately, using the best spells for every situation which quickly overwhelms other duellers."

"I see," Harry replied, understanding everything that Dumbledore was saying.

"To make you even more proficient and deadly, we would have to improve your foundations, namely, your aiming and your speed," Dumbledore continued, "while you are above average at both, to go up against the best Voldemort has to offer, you have to improve these aspects even more, the key thing that you would have to work on is how much your arm moves when you cast a spell, while you keep your movement limited, the best of the best would not even move their arm for the simplest of spells, just a slight but precise movement in the wrist."

Harry watched intently as Dumbledore twitched his wrist small but rapidly and before Harry even knew it, a stunner had hit the dummy.

"This helps immensely with accuracy, with small motions in the wrist, your spells will fly to where your arm is aiming, you would have to practice a lot with your wrist aim but in no time, you would be doing things like this," Dumbledore said, firing a stunner at a target the size of an ant, with the stunner hitting it perfectly, "I do not think that the power of your cast needs much improvement, you understand the science between magic really well in that aspect, but your speed and accuracy requires improvements, after that, we will have to focus on non-verbal magic, after every lesson, I would also request you to read up on a new spell which we will spend some time on during the lessons, let's practice now shall we?"

The next 3 hours were spent solely practising his accuracy and speed, while it was still nowhere close to Dumbledore's, it definitely was many times faster than what he was already doing. His accuracy also saw immense improvements due to the new method, his spells were able to hit smaller and smaller targets.

"This would be it for today Harry," Dumbledore finally concluded, "It's very late already and you would require a good night's rest."

"How is my progress Professor?" Harry asked enthusiastically.

"You have done incredibly Harry, much faster than I had planned," Dumbledore smiled, "I believe we would only need the most 2 more weeks on this intensive focus before we proceed onto non-verbal magic, as for the spell I want you to read up on, a shield charm called Fortis Aegis, it's immensely more powerful than your simple shield charm and would protect you from elemental attacks as well as physical attacks too."

"Understood Professor," Harry replied, excited to read up on the details about the spell.

"Class is dismissed," Umbridge said. Harry immediately took all of his books and dumped them into his bag, looking forward to getting out of the class.

"Not you Mr Potter," Umbridge called out, "meet me at my office now!"

"May I know why?" Harry asked back.

"For showing a lack of care in your assignments," Umbridge said, a smile evil grin appearing on her face. Harry knew that he could not argue with that reasoning, while he was confident that his essays were up to quality, Umbridge was the teacher and could grade it however she wanted.

"Go ahead first," Harry said to Hermione and Ron, who looked at him worriedly.

"Remember what I told you," Hermione whispered, to which Harry nodded firmly. He had to be careful about everything he consumed in the office.

Walking up to Umbridge's office behind her, Harry entered the horrible pink room, wishing that he could leave already.

"Take a seat Mr Potter," Umbridge said which Harry reluctantly complied with.

"Would you like tea or coffee?" Umbridge asked in false kindness.

"I do not think that that would be necessary Professor."

"Oh no, I insist," Umbridge replied, "I would give you tea then,"

Harry watched as Umbridge called for a house elf named Bionk who gave both of them drinks, Harry took his tea suspiciously, understanding that drinking it would be his doom.

"Well?" Umbridge said, "Drink it then?"

"As I said Professor, I do not think that it is necessary," Harry replied defiantly.

"It's rude to reject a person's generosity," Umbridge snarled, "did no one teach you manners?"

"My parents are dead and my relatives aren't pleasant," Harry replied, glaring at Umbridge, "so no."

"Well, perhaps it's time for me to teach you some," Umbridge said, "Imperio."

Harry immediately felt a wonderful feeling and a floating sensation, all his worries vanishing, his mind however, was still conscious, giving off warnings that something was off.

"Drink the tea," Umbridge said.

Harry's mind immediately rejected that thought, clearing Harry's mind even more. Harry became more aware of what was happening, the wonderful feeling and floating sensation disappearing. Without hesitation, he summoned his wand and yelled.

"Stupefy!"

To his surprise, Umbridge successfully dodged the spell, with it hitting her headrest which exploded. Harry's battle sense were immediately activated. Understanding that protecting the cup and its content was of paramount importance to prove that Umbridge was spiking his drink, Harry quickly transfigured the cup into a metal one with a lid firmly covering it, preventing Umbridge from throwing away the drink. Harry turned back to Umbridge who now had her wand pointed at his face.

"Stupefy!" She yelled, Harry immediately reacted, deflecting the spell away.

"Confringo!" Harry shouted, Umbridge immediately casted a Shield Charm which was shattered by the spell, knocking her back at the same time.

"Bombarda!" Umbridge yelled back, Harry immediately ducked down, the spell hitting her door which exploded, Harry casted his Shield Charm to prevent the pieces from hitting him.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Incarcerous! Petrificus Totalus! Percutiens! (Bludgeoning Hex)" Umbridge repeatedly yelled, attempting to hit Harry with one of the spells. Harry could immediately identify Umbridges incompetence when it came to duelling, her spells were not accurate, most of them flying to the side of Harry. He could also see her lack of composure. One by one, he deflected them away.

"Confringo! Bombarda! BOMBARDA!" Umbridge continued to yell with increasing desperation, Harry resorted to conjuring objects for her Bombardment Spell, with the last one resulting in a huge amount of wooden debris flying all around them. Seizing the opportunity, Harry quickly transfigured them into fine dust, using a Wind Spell to fire all back at Umbridge. Harry watched as Umbridge got overwhelmed with the wave of dust, choking her and stinging her eyes.

"CRURIO!" Umbridge yelled, taking Harry completely off guard, resulting in him transfiguring a part of the floor up to tank the spell. Realising Umbridge's volatile nature, Harry knew that he had to end the fight there and then.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, a bright red beam of pure force exited his wand, hitting Umbridge square in the chest, blasting her back, and hitting the wall loudly while her wand flew into Harry's hand. Harry then used the surrounding debris, transfiguring it around her into a huge body cast, holding her in place. Umbridge was now unconscious, head bleeding from the impact.

Realising that it was a terrible sight to see a Professor hurt by a student, Harry knew that he had to get Dumbledore down there as soon as possible.

"Expecto Patronum," Harry said, his familiar silvery Stag exiting his wand, Harry left his message in it, summoning Dumbledore and telling him to get Madam Bones, Madam Pomfrey and Snape down as soon as possible.

Within a minute, Harry was astounded to see Dumbledore dashing towards the office, Madam Pomfrey, Snape and Madam Bones following him, to his surprise, he saw Mr Chang, Kingsley and McGonagall following as well.

"What happened Harry," Dumbledore asked, looking at the destruction around him as Madam Pomfrey immediately began treating Umbridge.

"Umbridge called me in for a detention of sorts, she insisted I drink this tea (Harry removed his magic on the cup) which I suspect to be laced with Veritasium, that's why I called Professor Snape down here to check it," Harry explained, Professor Snape immediately went up to the tea, observing it.

"It's laced with more than 1 thing," Snape concluded, "I can't determine its contents based on observation only."

"Umbridge also had a house elf named Bionk deliver it, maybe you can check with him," Harry said.

"Bionk," Dumbledore called, the same elf appearing right in front of him.

"Headmaster," the house elf replied nervously.

"May I know whether Professor Umbridge requested you to put something into the tea on the table," Dumbledore asked calmly.

"I - I," Bionk stammered nervously.

"You will not get into trouble Bionk, if Umbridge did indeed ask you to pour something into the tea, it would be her that get into trouble, not you," Dumbledore said firmly.

"Professor Umbridge asked me to put a few potions into the tea," he replied nervously.

"May you present me the bottles that she asked you to pour?" Dumbledore asked, Bionk disapparated away before returning with 3 bottles.

"Severus," Dumbledore called as Snape took the bottles, examining every one of them.

"There are traces of Veritasium in this, Confunding Potion in this and Forgetfulness Potion in this," he replied.

"Bionk, had Professor Umbridge asked you to do this before?" Dumbledore asked to house elf who nodded.

"I think Zacharias Smith is one," Harry chimed in, "Hermione had everyone sign a contract when they joined the DA, if someone ratted on the group unwillingly, their name would glow which Zacharias' did after Umbridge came for us, when the Hufflepuffs asked him, he said that he could not remember doing it."

"Yes Harry, I do believe that that is the case," Dumbledore replied, "Ms Bones raised this up to Amelia over here and that is the reason why we were already in my office before you called."

"That explains why Harry was here," McGonagall said, "but what caused all this destruction?"

"Oh here is the juicy part, Umbridge placed the Imperius Curse on me to make me drink the potion," Harry said, making everyone in the room gasp.

"The Imperius Curse?" Mr Chang asked, "And from the way you are talking about it, does it mean that you beat it?"

"I did, I could always do it, Barty Crouch Jr disguised as Mad-Eye Moody did on every student last year to train us and I could fight it back then, I think my Occlumency training helped me as well, it felt easier to fight it this time," Harry replied, resulting in everyone staring at Dumbledore for confirmation.

"What Harry said was true, both parts of it, Barty Crouch Jr told me about this last year and Harry has been training in Occlumency for the whole year, he is pretty much a Master Occlumens now, he fought me off when I tested him, and yes Harry, Occlumency helps one fight the Imperius Curse if they are proficient enough at it," Dumbledore replied.

"Right, so after I fought it off, I tried to stun her because my safety was clearly compromised if she used an Unforgivable Curse, we had a duel where she kept shooting spell after spell which caused all this destruction, last but not least, she also shot the Cruiatus Curse at me which I blocked using Transfiguration," Harry continued, resulting in even more gasping. Taking Umbridges wand, Madam Bones muttered Prior Incacatem which resulted in the Cruiatus Curse exiting the wand again.

"I can't believe it," Madam Bones said, "I knew that she was despicable, but this despicable? How did she even get so high up?"

"Manipulation," Mr Chang added, glaring at Umbridges limp body.

"How is her condition Poppy?" Dumbledore asked.

"Just a concussion and a bloodied head, I've already stopped the bleeding, she would be fine in no time," Madam Pomfrey replied with contempt.

"Good, I will apprehend her," Madam Bones said, "Mr Potter, I would require your memories of this incident when I trial her in court, would you willingly present it?"

"I would happily do so," Harry replied, "would she actually get placed behind bars?"

"She would," Madam Bones replied, "Fudge can't do anything with this much evidence, Thomas, Kingsley, help me search the room."

After a few minutes of searching which involved tearing apart the office, they found a ton of incriminating evidence, from Blood-Quills to Veritasium.

"That should be it," Madam Bones said happily, "with months of investigation behind this case, she is getting put away for life."

"Glad to hear it," Harry said, "she is a terrible teacher, I reckon I can teach Defence better than she ever could."

"Cho told me about your Club," Mr Chang said, "teaching students how to conjure Coporal Patronus is a feat."

"Susan also told me a ton about meetings," Madam Bones said, "It's impressive to see someone at your age teaching other students how to perfect their spells, I would love to see you in the Auror Department when you graduate."

"Great, I have Nimbus higher-ups telling me to go Professional in Quidditich, Professors telling me to go into teaching and now the Head of Magical Law Enforcement telling me to become an Auror," Harry said, inviting laughter from most in the room, Snape just smirked and shook his head which Harry considered was already an achievement.

"You have shown great promise Mr Potter," Madam Bones said, "I have no doubt that you would be a successful wizard in the future."

"Thank you, Madam Bones, and also, call me Harry, Mr Potter is really too formal and I owe too much to you for both my trial, putting Umbridge away and protecting Hogwarts from the Minister's corruption."

"In that case, call me Amelia Harry," Madam Bones said with a bright smile, "I have to thank you for saving Susan's for her O. . "

"Just doing my best to help," Harry smiled, "Professor Dumbledore, who would take over the Defence Against the Dark Arts job now that Umbridge is gone."

"I went around asking for help when I realised that Dolores's time in Hogwarts was dwindling, I think you would be pleasantly surprised by my choice, Molly Weasley."

Harry was not just pleasantly surprised, Harry was dumbfounded, Mrs Weasley teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts? Harry did not doubt her ability, he knew that despite largely being a housewife, she was exceptionally powerful in magic, her brothers themselves were warriors on the battlefield who only lost their lives after being overwhelmed. But having someone who was like a mother to him teaching the job was certainly brilliant.

"Wow," Harry said in amazement, "she would be a great teacher."

"I very much agree with that statement," Dumbledore replied, "she is an exceptional witch despite not looking like one on the surface."

"Good luck to you then Albus," Madam Bones said, "I would need to go and place Umbridge into a cell and prepare for her trial, Thomas, I would assume that you would like to spend a while with your daughter since you are in Hogwarts already?"

"Won't you need me at the office for all the mess this would cause?" Mr Chang asked.

"I would, but I can spare you a few hours to bond with your daughter," Madam Bones said, "family still has to come first even in times like this."

"I will meet you back at HQ in 3 hours' time then, I will have dinner with my daughter before returning," Mr Chang said with a smile, "I would assume that that is fine right Albus?"

"It would," Dumbledore replied, "I am going to bring Molly to Hogwarts and give her an introduction to the students later, last but not least, Harry, I would request that you continue running the DA."

"Why?" Harry asked confusedly.

"Your performance thus far has been impressive and I would love for that to continue as an extracurricular subject for students, I can then allow Molly to focus more on theory and how to fight dark creatures while you focus on refining the fundamentals of students and helping them master the spells taught during lessons, Dolores incompetence has already hindered the student's academics and they would need all the opportunity they can get to improve, I would also have to request that you expand your roster and allow more students to join, I can provide you a few Professors to assist you during the session," Dumbledore said, "obviously, this is still your club and you can choose who joins it, I would implore you to be more accepting but for certain groups that you have bad blood with (Harry chuckled at that statement as they all knew who Dumbledore was talking about), you are well within your rights to refuse entry."

"Understood Professor, I would continue the club."

"Thank you Harry," Dumbledore said appreciatively, "I would make an announcement during dinner about your club as well, this is it then, have a good evening everyone."

After surprising Cho with her father and giving them some father-daughter time, they all reconvened for dinner that night where Dumbledore requested all students to be present for. Many were confused till they noticed a new teacher sitting at Umbridge's seat, Harry burst out laughing when he saw the reactions of the Weasleys, all of them confused beyond belief. Harry then turned to look at the Slytherins, specifically Malfoy who looked horrified.

"Silence silence," Dumbledore said to the chattery crowd who all quieted down at once, "earlier today, there was a confrontation between Professor Umbridge and a student where Professor Umbridge used 2 Unforgivable Curses on that fellow student, this offence comes together with many others such as the usage of Veritisium on students, usage of torture weapons like Blood-Quills and many more, with these offences, Umbridge had been taken into custody by Aurors who would be putting her on trial for her crimes, over the next few days, Aurors may reach out to you to interview your experience together with her, some students may also be invited to testify against her by these Aurors, I implore all of you to comply with the Aurors and stay truthful during the investigation process."

The crowd erupted into cheers as the school collectively celebrated the dismissal of Umbridge, Harry even noticed that most of the teachers were struggling to hide their smiles, all clearly disliking Umbridge as well. Looking at the Slytherin table, Harry noticed the only group of people who looked unhappy, Malfoy and his gang who were protected by Umbridge while Snape had largely turned on them. Harry laughed at the look of horror on Malfoy's face as he realised that no one would cover for him anymore.

"In Professor Umbridge's place," Dumbledore continued after the crowd calmed down, "Is Professor Molly Weasley, a few students here might know her as the mother of a few students in the school but Professor Weasley was one of Hogwart's best students in her time, excelling in Defence Magic, she had agreed to take on this job for the rest of the year while we continue to search for a permanent replacement, in addition to Professor Weasley's appointment, I would also like to introduce a new club which focuses on defensive magic, The Defence Association led by Harry Potter, this group was created in response to Profesor Umbridge's shortcomings as a professor, with it focusing mainly on learning defensive spells and strengthening the foundations of the member's spellcasting, I would encourage all to join this group where Mr Potter would be assisted by Professor McGonagall and Professor Weasley, should any of you be interested, please inform Professor McGonagall, Professor Weasley or Ms Granger, I would have to warn however, this is still a student-led group, Mr Potter would have the final say in who joins, this would be it, enjoy your dinner."

Harry felt more eyes looking at him and his group than before, added to the fact that there was an adult wizard sitting next to them made them the most interesting group in the hall. Harry, however, ignored all of it, he was finally free from Umbridge and the Ministry.

Author's note

Surprise surprise, an early chapter. The main reason for this is because I finished the rewrite for the first 11 chapters and I wanted to get the rewrite out as soon as possible. For those who don't want to read the rewrite, it's simply a small change to the story which changes how Harry and Cho get together, in this new rewrite, they get together right after the 2nd task. The reason for this rewrite is firstly, all the grammar and spelling mistakes within the story plus the slight change in writing style. Obviously, there will still be some mistakes here and there (I'm human after all and Grammarly ain't pointing everything out all the time), the 2nd reason is because I hated how I wrote them coming together, when I thought about it again it just didn't make any sense hence the change. But that's the rewrite wohoooo.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone gave their reviews and support, I never thought that I will be writing fanfics again and be this engross in it. I'm pretty sure I've just hit 100 000 word count (either in this chapter or the next 2, so more or less there already) and it have truly been a grind and a half, thank you to everyone who read the story and I hope that you guys continue to enjoy the story that I'm writing

Infinitesalts