"I'll bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?" asked Parvati, smirking.
It was breakfast time, two days after the sacking of Professor Trelawney, and Parvati was curling her eyelashes around her wand and examining the effect in the back of her spoon. They were to have their first lesson with Firenze that morning.
"Not really." said Hermione indifferently, who was reading the Daily Prophet. "I've never really liked horses."
She turned a page of the newspaper and scanned its columns.
"He's not a horse, he's a centaur!" said Lavender, sounding shocked.
"A gorgeous centaur..." sighed Parvati.
"You are aware that you are human beings, Yes?" Y/n pointed out but both girls ignored him.
"Anyway, I thought you two were all upset that Trelawney had gone?" Hermione coolly interjected.
"We are!" Lavender assured her. "We went up to her office to see her, we took her some daffodils, not the honking ones that Sprout's got, nice ones."
"How is she?" asked Harry.
"Not very good, poor thing." said Lavender sympathetically. "She was crying and saying she'd rather leave the castle for ever than stay here where Umbridge is, and I don't blame her, Umbridge was horrible to her, wasn't she?"
"It is not just Trelawney who Umbridge has been horrible too." Y/n reminded her.
"I've got a feeling Umbridge has only just started being horrible." said Hermione darkly.
"Impossible." said Ron, who was tucking into a large plate of eggs and bacon. "She can't get any worse than she's been already."
"You mark my words, she's going to want revenge on Dumbledore for appointing a new teacher without consulting her." said Hermione, closing the newspaper. "Especially another part-human. You saw the look on her face when she saw Firenze."
The happiness felt in the aftermath of The Quibbler interview had long since evaporated. As a dull March blurred into a squally April, Harry's life seemed to have become one long series of worries and problems again.
Harry's new divination teacher had given him a warning message to pass onto Hagrid. However Umbridge had continued attending all Care of Magical Creatures lessons, so it had been very difficult to deliver Firenze's warning to Hagrid. At last, Harry had managed it by pretending he'd lost his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and doubling back after class one day. When he'd repeated Firenze's words, Hagrid gazed at him for a moment through his puffy, blackened eyes, apparently taken aback. Then he seemed to pull himself together.
"Nice bloke, Firenze." he said gruffly. "But he don' know what he's talkin' abou' on this. The attemp's comin' on fine."
"Hagrid, what're you up to?" asked Harry seriously. "Because you've got to be careful, Umbridge has already sacked Trelawney and, if you ask me, she's on a roll. If you're doing anything you shouldn't be, you'll be..."
"There's things more importan' than keepin' a job." said Hagrid. though his hands shook slightly as he said this and a basin full of Knarl droppings crashed to the floor. "Don' worry abou' me, Harry, jus' get along now, there's a good lad."
Harry had no choice but to leave Hagrid mopping up the dung all over his floor, but he felt thoroughly dispirited as he trudged back up to the castle.
Meanwhile, as the teachers and Hermione persisted in reminding them, the OWLs were drawing ever nearer. All the fifth-years were suffering from stress to some degree, but Hannah Abbott became the first to receive a Calming Draught from Madam Pomfrey after she burst into tears during Herbology and sobbed that she was too stupid to take exams and wanted to leave school now.
If it had not been for the DA lessons, they would have been extremely unhappy. Y/n was still working hard to teach the others all that he could, it was hard work but he was thoroughly enjoying himself at the same time, swelling with pride as he looked around at his fellow DA members and seeing how far they had come. Y/n often wondered how Umbridge was going to react when all the members of the DA received 'Outstanding' in their Defence Against the Dark Arts OWLs.
They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practise, though, Y/n and Harry kept reminding them that producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it when confronted by something like a Dementor.
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy." said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter. "They're so pretty!"
"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you." said Harry patiently.
"What we really need is a boggart..." Y/n said.
Harry nodded his head. "That would be handy, If we could practice it while the boggart was pretending to be a Dementor like we did..."
"But that would be really scary!" said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapour out of the end of her wand. "And I still...can't...do it!" she added angrily.
"You have the ability, what you need is a stronger happy memory, Miss Lavender." Y/n pointed out to her.
Neville was having trouble, too. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.
"Like Y/n said, You've got to think of something happy." Harry reminded him.
"I'm trying." said Neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.
"Harry, I think I'm doing it!' yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever DA meeting by Dean. "Look...ah...it's gone...but it was definitely something hairy, Harry!"
Y/n had moved to stand with Hermione next. "Expecto Patronum." He cast as a sliver cat was produced from his wand. "Now remember, just focus on the happiest memory you have nothing else matters in the moment just that memory and how it will protect you. Are you ready?"
Hermione just nodded. "Expecto Patronum." She called out as silver streams shot from her wand to form Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, that was gambolling around her.
"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.
Y/n just smiled as he watched his own patronus brush its face up against Hermione's Patronus. "What memory did you think of?" Y/n quietly asked her.
"I thought of us sitting reading together in mum and dad's armchairs." Hermione told him.
"It makes me happy to hear that a memory including myself is one of your fondest memories." Y/n said.
"What memory did you use for you're first patronus?" Hermione asked him now.
"The hug you gave me during Christmas in our third year." Y/n said.
But before Hermione could say anything someone had called out Y/n's name getting his attention.
He turned his head to realise that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing he knew, something was tugging at Harry's robes somewhere near the knee. He looked down and saw, to his very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at Harry from beneath his usual eight woolly hats.
"Dobby?" Y/n said surprised to see him.
"Hi, Dobby!" Harry said.
But Y/n could tell something was wrong and he quickly moved towards them. "Dobby, What is it? What is wrong?" He asked the elf.
The elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the DA closest to Y/n and Harry had fallen silent, everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.
"Harry Potter, Y/n Grindelwald sirs..." squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, 'Harry Potter, Y/n Grindelwald sirs... Dobby has come to warn you...but the house-elves have been warned not to tell..."
He ran head-first at the wall. Harry, who had some experience of Dobby's habits of self-punishment, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.
"Dobby stop that." Y/n said grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.
"Dobby what's wrong?" Harry asked.
"Harry Potter... Y/n Grindelwald...she...she..." Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist so Harry seized that to stop him.
"Who's 'she' Dobby?" Harry asked.
But Y/n knew, surely only one 'she' could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.
"Umbridge..." Said Y/n.
Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Y/n's knees so Y/n held him at arm's length.
"What about her?" Harry quickly asked. "Dobby...she hasn't found out about this...about us...about the DA?"
But Y/n could see the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.
"Is she coming now?" Y/n asked quietly trying to keep calmness in the room.
Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. "Yes, Y/n Grindelwald, yes!"
Y/n and Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"
They all pelted towards the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through. Y/n could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine, if they just took refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer...
"Y/n, Harry, come on!" shrieked Hermione from the centre of the knot of people now fighting to get out.
"Hermione just go now!" Y/n shouted to her.
Harry scooped up Dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the elf in his arms to join the back of the queue. "Dobby, this is an order get back down to the kitchen with the other elves and, if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no!" said Harry. "And I forbid you to hurt yourself!" he added, dropping the elf as he and Y/n made it over the threshold at last and slammed the door behind him.
"Thank you, Harry Potter, Y/n Grindelwald!" squeaked Dobby, and he streaked off. Y/n and Harry looked around glancing left and right, the others were all moving so fast they could only catch glimpses of flying heels at either end of the corridor before they vanished,
"Come on!" Harry said to Y/n urgently as he started to run right and Y/n followed, there was a boys bathroom up ahead, they could pretend he'd been in there all the time if he could just reach it...
"AAARGH!" Harry's voice suddenly cried out and Y/n turned to see him on the floor
"Harry?" Y/n said not even given time to turn his head before something caught him around the ankles and he fell spectacularly, skidding along on his front for six feet before coming to a halt. A pair of voices behind him and Harry were laughing.
He rolled over onto his, back and saw that Harry was on the floor as well, Malfoy and Atticus were concealed in a niche beneath an ugly dragon-shaped vase.
"Trip Jinx..." Atticus grinned waving his wand.
"Hey, Professor...PROFESSOR! We've got two!" Malfoy cried out now.
Umbridge came bustling round the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile. "It's them!" she said jubilantly at the sight of Y/n and Harry on the floor. "Excellent, Draco, Grindelwald, excellent, oh, very good...fifty points to Slytherin each! I'll take them from here... stand up, Potter! Grindelwald!"
Y/n reluctantly got to his feet as did Harry, the pair of them had never seen Umbridge looking so happy. She seized them both by the arm in a vice-like grip and turned, beaming broadly, to Atticus and Malfoy.
"You hop along and see if you can round up any more of them, Draco, Atticus." she said. "Tell the others to look in the library...anybody out of breath...check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do the girls ones...off you go...and you two..." she added in her softest, most dangerous voice, as Atticus and Malfoy walked away. "You can come with me to the Headmaster's office, Potter, Grindelwald."
They were at the stone gargoyle within minutes. Y/n and Harry could not help but wonder how many of the others had been caught. Harry thought of Ron, Mrs. Weasley would kill them...and Y/n thought of how Hermione would feel if she was expelled before she could take her OWLs, He wouldn't allow that to happen...even if it meant turning himself in. Harry thought about how it had been Seamus's very first meeting...and Neville had been getting so good...
"Fizzing Whizzbee." sang Umbridge, the stone gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split open, and they ascended the moving stone staircase. They reached the polished door with the griffin knocker, but Umbridge did not bother to knock, she strode straight inside, still holding tight to Y/n and Harry.
The office was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, was rocking backwards and forwards on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation, Kingsley Shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard with very short wiry hair whom Y/n and Harry did not recognise, were positioned either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.
The portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses were not shamming sleep tonight. All of them were alert and serious, watching what was happening below them. As Y/n and Harry entered, a few flitted into neighbouring frames and whispered urgently into their neighbour's ear.
"We can walk ourselves from here..." Y/n said and he pulled himself free of Umbridge's grasp with Harry following suit as the door swung shut behind them.
Cornelius Fudge was glaring at them with a kind of vicious satisfaction on his face. "Well." he said. "Well, well, well..."
Y/n had to close his eyes in order to not lose his temper. As much as he wanted to angry or shout he knew it would not help. Instead he thought it best to use Snape's lessons to shield his mind should anyone try to pry in it.
"They were heading back to Gryffindor Tower." said Umbridge. There was an indecent excitement in her voice, the same callous pleasure Y/n had heard as she watched Professor Trelawney dissolving with misery in the Entrance Hall. "The Malfoy and other Grindelwald boy cornered them."
"Did they, did they?" said Fudge appreciatively. "I must remember to tell Lucius. Well, Potter, Grindelwald...I expect you know why you are here?"
Y/n was unsure what the best course of action was here but when he caught sight of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore was not looking directly at him or Harry, his eyes were fixed on a point just over his shoulder, but as Y/n stared at him, he shook his head a fraction of an inch to each side.
Y/n knew what to do now.
"I am afraid we do not Minister..." Y/n said.
"I beg your pardon?" said Fudge.
Harry looked at Y/n now but stayed silent.
"I said, we do not know why." Y/n said feigning ignorance.
"You don't know why you are here?" Fudge asked.
"No...we don't." said Harry deciding to go along with Y/n now.
Fudge looked incredulously from Harry and Grindelwald to Professor Umbridge. Y/n took advantage of his momentary inattention to steal another quick look at Dumbledore, who gave the carpet the tiniest of nods and the shadow of a wink.
"So, you have no idea." said Fudge, in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm. "Why Professor Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"
"School rules?" said Harry. "No."
"Or Ministry Decrees?" amended Fudge angrily.
"Not that I am aware of Minister." said Y/n looking around the office bored. His heart was still hammering very fast. It was almost worth telling these lies to watch Fudge's blood pressure rising, but he could not see how on earth he could get away with them, if somebody had tipped off Umbridge about the DA then he and Harry might as well be packing their trunks right now. He was putting all his trust into Dumbledore.
"So, it's news to you, is it." said Fudge, his voice now thick with anger. "That an illegal student organisation has been discovered within this school?"
Y/n let out an exaggerated gasp. "How shocking...How on earth did you manage to allow something like this to happen under your nose Professor Umbridge?" Y/n asked acting innocently with sarcasm. Out of the corner of his eye he could see both Dumbledore and McGonagall suppressing smiles of amusement.
Umbridge looked furious however. "I think, Minister." said Umbridge from beside him. "We might make better progress if I fetch our informant."
"Yes, yes, do." said Fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge left the room. "There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?"
"Nothing at all, Cornelius." said Dumbledore gravely, inclining his head.
There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, Y/n was eyeing some books Dumbledore had on a bookshelf curiously when they heard the door open behind them. Umbridge moved past him and Harry into the room, gripping by the shoulder Cho's curly-haired friend, Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.
"Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened." said Professor Umbridge softly, patting her on the back. "It's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The Minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been. Marietta's mother, Minister." She added, looking up at Fudge. "It's Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office...she's been helping us police the Hogwart's fires, you know."
"Jolly good, jolly good!" said Fudge heartily. "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on, now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's hear what you've got to...galloping gargoyles!"
As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backwards in shock, nearly landing himself in the fire. He cursed, and stamped on the hem of his cloak which had started to smoke. Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before everyone had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word 'SNEAK.'
"Never mind the spots now, dear." said Umbridge impatiently. "Just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister..."
But Marietta gave another muffled wail and shook her head frantically.
"Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him." snapped Umbridge. She hitched her sickly smile back on to her face and said. "Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately, at that point this hex..." she waved impatiently at Marietta's concealed face. "Came into operation and upon catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me any more."
"Well, now." said Fudge, fixing Marietta with what he evidently imagined was a kind and fatherly look. "It is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge. You did exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its purpose? Who was there?"
But Marietta would not speak, she merely shook her head again, her eyes wide and fearful.
"Haven't we got a counter-jinx for this?" Fudge asked Umbridge impatiently, gesturing at Marietta's face. "So she can speak freely?"
"I have not yet managed to find one." Umbridge admitted grudgingly, and Y/n felt a surge of large sense of pride in his girlfriend's jinxing ability. "But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take up the story from here. You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter and Grindelwald had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade..."
"And what is your evidence for that?" cut in Professor McGonagall.
"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired." said Umbridge smugly. "He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to report to me..."
"Oh, so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets!" said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"
"Blatant corruption!" roared the portrait of the corpulent, red-nosed wizard on the wall behind Dumbledore's desk. "The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"
"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do." said Dumbledore softly.
"The purpose of Potter and Grindelwald's meeting with these students." continued Professor Umbridge. "Was to persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school-age..."
"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores." said Dumbledore quietly, peering at her over the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.
Y/n looked at Dumbledore now curious as to how he would talk Y/n and Harry out of this one, if Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word they had said in the Hog's Head there was simply no escaping it.
"Oho!" said Fudge, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet again. "Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter and Grindelwald out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore, go on...Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potter's identical twin in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life and a couple of invisible dementors?"
Percy Weasley let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, very good, Minister, very good!"
Harry could have kicked him. Then he saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore was smiling gently, too.
"Cornelius, I do not deny...and nor, I am sure, do Harry and Y/n...that they were in the Hog's Head that day, nor that they were trying to recruit students to a Defence Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that time, illegal. If you remember, the Ministry Decree banning all student societies was not put into effect until two days after Harry's Hogsmeade meeting, so he was not breaking any rules at all in the Hog's Head."
Percy looked as though he had been struck in the face by something very heavy. Fudge remained motionless in mid-bounce, his mouth hanging open.
Umbridge recovered first. "That's all very fine, Headmaster." she said, smiling sweetly. "But we are now nearly six months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are."
"Well." said Dumbledore, surveying her with polite interest over the top of his interlocked fingers. "They certainly would be, if they had continued after the Decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that any such meetings continued?"
As Dumbledore spoke, Y/n heard a rustle behind him and rather thought Kingsley whispered something. He could have sworn, too, that he felt something brush against his side, a gentle something like a draught or bird wings, but looking down he saw nothing there.
"Evidence?" repeated Umbridge, with that horrible wide toad-like smile. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"
"Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings?" said Dumbledore, raising his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."
"Miss Edgecombe." said Umbridge at once. "Tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?"
Harry felt a horrible plummeting in his stomach. This was it, they had hit a dead end of solid evidence that not even Dumbledore would be able to shift aside.
"Just nod or shake your head, dear." Umbridge said coaxingly to Marietta. "Come on, now, that won't re-activate the jinx."
Everyone in the room was gazing at the top of Marietta's face. Only her eyes were visible between the pulled-up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but her eyes looked oddly blank. And then to Y/n and Harry's utter amazement, Marietta shook her head.
Umbridge looked quickly at Fudge, then back at Marietta. "I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whether you've been going to these meetings for the past six months? You have, haven't you?"
Again, Marietta shook her head.
"What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?" said Umbridge in a testy voice.
"I would have thought her meaning was quite clear." said Professor McGonagall harshly. "There have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"
Marietta nodded.
"But there was a meeting tonight!" said Umbridge furiously. "There was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter was the leader, was he not, Potter and Grindelwald organised it, Potter...why are you shaking your head, girl?"
"Well, usually when a person shakes their head." said McGonagall coldly. "They mean 'no'. So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign-language as yet unknown to humans..."
Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her round to face her and began shaking her very hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised, Kingsley started forwards and Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been burned.
"I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores." said Dumbledore and, for the first time, he looked angry.
"You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge." said Kingsley, in his deep, slow voice. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble, now."
"No?" said Umbridge breathlessly, glancing up at the towering figure of Kingsley. "I mean, yes...you're right, Shacklebolt...I...I forgot myself."
Marietta was standing exactly where Umbridge had released her. She seemed neither perturbed by Umbridge's sudden attack, nor relieved by her release, she was still clutching her robe up to her oddly blank eyes and staring straight ahead of her.
Y/n had now realized what had happened, Kingsley had cast a spell upon the girl to stop her telling the truth...
"Dolores." said Fudge, with the air of trying to settle something once and for all. "The meeting tonight...the one we know definitely happened..."
"Yes." said Umbridge, pulling herself together. "Yes...well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, so as to catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned of my arrival, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind. We needed evidence and the room provided."
And to Y/n's disdain, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed it to Fudge. He did not care for his own name but Hermione's was on that list.
"The moment I saw Potter and Grindelwald's names on the list, I knew what we were dealing with." she said softly.
"Excellent." said Fudge, a smile spreading across his face. "Excellent, Dolores. And... by thunder..." He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing beside Marietta, his wand held loosely in his hand. "See what they've named themselves?" said Fudge quietly. Dumbledore's Army."
Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment from Fudge. He gazed at the heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak. Then he looked up, smiling.
"Well, the game is up." he said simply. "Would you like a written confession from me, Cornelius...or will a statement before these witnesses suffice?"
Y/n's brow furrowed with confusion as he saw McGonagall and Kingsley look at each other. There was fear in both faces. He did not understand what was going on, and nor, apparently, did Fudge.
"Statement?" said Fudge slowly. "What...I don't..."
"Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius." said Dumbledore, still smiling as he waved the list of names before Fudge's face. "Not Potter's Army. Not Grindelwald's Army. Dumbledore's Army."
"But...but..." Understanding blazed suddenly in Fudge's face. He took a horrified step backwards, yelped, and jumped out of the fire again. "You?" he whispered, stamping again on his smouldering cloak.
"That's right." said Dumbledore pleasantly.
"You organised this?"
"I did." said Dumbledore.
"You recruited these students for...for your army?"
"Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting." said Dumbledore, nodding. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe, of course."
Marietta nodded. Fudge looked from her to Dumbledore, his chest swelling. "Then you have been plotting against me!" he yelled.
"That's right." said Dumbledore cheerfully.
"No!" shouted Harry.
Kingsley flashed a look of warning at him, McGonagall widened her eyes threateningly, but it had suddenly dawned on Harry what Dumbledore was about to do, and he could not let it happen.
"No! Professor Dumbledore..."
"Be quiet, Harry, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office." said Dumbledore calmly.
"Yes, shut up, Potter!" barked Fudge, who was still ogling Dumbledore with a kind of horrified delight. "Well, well, well...I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and Grindelwald and instead..."
"Instead you get to arrest me." said Dumbledore, smiling. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"
Y/n did not like what Dumbledore was doing any more than Harry, but he himself could not think of any other way that would allow them all to escape trouble, Dumbledore was the only one of them that would be able to look after himself.
"Weasley!" cried Fudge, now positively quivering with delight. "Weasley, have you written it all down, everything he's said, his confession, have you got it?"
"Yes, sir, I think so, sir!" said Percy eagerly, whose nose was splattered with ink from the speed of his note-taking.
"The bit about how he's been trying to build up an army against the Ministry, how he's been working to destabilise me?"
"Yes, sir, I've got it, yes!" said Percy, scanning his notes joyfully.
"Very well, then." said Fudge, now radiant with glee. "Duplicate your notes, Weasley, and send a copy to the Daily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl we should make the morning edition!" Percy dashed from the room, slamming the door behind him, and Fudge turned back to Dumbledore. "You will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged, then sent to Azkaban to await trial!"
"Ah." said Dumbledore gently. "Yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag."
"Snag?" said Fudge, his voice still vibrating with joy. "I see no snag, Dumbledore!"
"Well." said Dumbledore apologetically. "I'm afraid I do."
"Oh, really?"
"Well...it's just that you seem to be labouring under the delusion that I am going to...what is the phrase? Come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course, but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."
Umbridge's face was growing steadily redder, she looked as though she was being filled with boiling water. Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a very silly expression on his face, as though he had just been stunned by a sudden blow and could not quite believe it had happened. He made a small choking noise, then looked round at Kingsley and the man with short grey hair, who alone of everyone in the room had remained entirely silent so far. The latter gave Fudge a reassuring nod and moved forwards a little, away from the wall. Y/n saw his hand drift, almost casually, towards his pocket.
"Don't be silly, Dawlish." said Dumbledore kindly. "I'm sure you are an excellent Auror...I seem to remember that you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your NEWTs, but if you attempt to...er...bring me in by force, I will have to hurt you."
The man called Dawlish blinked rather foolishly. He looked towards Fudge again, but this time seemed to be hoping for a clue as to what to do next.
"So." sneered Fudge, recovering himself. "You intend to take on Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Dolores and myself single-handed, do you, Dumbledore?"
"Merlin's beard, no." said Dumbledore, smiling. "Not unless you are foolish enough to force me to."
"He will not be single-handed!" said Professor McGonagall loudly, plunging her hand inside her robes.
"Oh yes he will, Minerva!" said Dumbledore sharply. "Hogwarts needs you!"
"Enough of this rubbish!" said Fudge, pulling out his own wand. "Dawlish! Shacklebolt! Take him!"
A streak of silver light flashed around the room, there was a bang like a gunshot and the floor trembled, a pair of hands grabbed the scruff of Y/n and Harry's neck and forced them down on the floor as a second silver flash went off, several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched and a cloud of dust filled the air. Coughing in the dust, Y/n and Harry saw a dark figure fall to the ground with a crash in front of them, there was a shriek and a thud and somebody cried. "No!" then there was the sound of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan... and silence.
Y/n struggled around to see who was half-strangling him and saw Professor McGonagall crouched beside him, she had forced both him and Harry out of harm's way. Dust was still floating gently down through the air on to them. Panting slightly, Y/n saw a very tall figure moving towards them.
"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes!" said Professor McGonagall, getting up and dragging Harry and Y/n with her.
The dust was clearing. The wreckage of the office loomed into view. Dumbledore's desk had been overturned, all of the spindly tables had been knocked to the floor, their silver instruments in pieces. Fudge, Umbridge, Kingsley, Marietta and Dawlish lay motionless on the floor. Fawkes the phoenix soared in wide circles above them, singing softly.
"Unfortunately, I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would have looked very suspicious." said Dumbledore in a low voice. "He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone was looking the other way, thank him, for me, won't you, Minerva? It was a shame Miss Edgecombe was caught up in the hex but you needed to Protect Harry and Y/n first. Now, they will all awake very soon and it will be best if they do not know that we had time to communicate. you must act as though no time has passed, as though they were merely knocked to the ground, they will not remember..."
"Where will you go, Dumbledore?" whispered Professor McGonagall. "Grimmauld Place?"
"Oh no." said Dumbledore, with a grim smile. "I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you."
"Professor Dumbledore..." Harry began.
"Listen to me, Harry." he said urgently. "You must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do you understand me? Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practise it particularly every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to bad dreams...you will understand why soon enough, but you must promise me..."
The man called Dawlish was stirring. Dumbledore seized Harry's wrist. "Remember...close your mind...you will understand." whispered Dumbledore.
Y/n wanted to ask Dumbledore had wanted him to learn Occlumency as well but Fawkes circled the office and swooped low over him. Dumbledore released Harry, raised his hand and grasped the phoenix's long golden tail. There was a flash of fire and the pair of them were gone.
"Where is he?" yelled Fudge, pushing himself up from the floor. "Where is he?"
"I don't know!" shouted Kingsley, also leaping to his feet.
"Well, he can't have Disapparated!" cried Umbridge. "You can't do it from inside this school..."
"The stairs!" cried Dawlish, and he flung himself upon the door, wrenched it open and disappeared, followed closely by Kingsley and Umbridge. Fudge hesitated, then got slowly to his feet, brushing dust from his front. There was a long and painful silence.
"Well, Minerva." said Fudge nastily, straightening his torn shirtsleeve. "I'm afraid this is the end of your friend Dumbledore."
"You think so, do you?" said Professor McGonagall scornfully.
Fudge seemed not to hear her. He was looking around at the wrecked office. A few of the portraits hissed at him, one or two even made rude hand gestures.
"You'd better get those three off to be." said Fudge, looking back at Professor McGonagall with a dismissive nod towards Harry, Y/n and Marietta.
Professor McGonagall said nothing, but marched Harry, Y/n and Marietta to the door. As it swung closed behind them, Harry and Y/n heard Phineas Nigellus's voice.
"You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts...but you cannot deny he's got style..."
BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced
Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight.
Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic
The notices had gone up all around the school overnight, but they did not explain how every single person within the castle seemed to know that Dumbledore had overcome two Aurors, the High Inquisitor, the Minister for Magic and his Junior Assistant to escape. No matter where Y/n went within the castle, the sole topic of conversation was Dumbledore's flight, and though some of the details may have gone awry in the retelling it was surprising how accurate the rest of their information was. Everybody knew, for instance, that Harry, Y/n and Marietta were the only students to have witnessed the scene in Dumbledore's office and, as Marietta was now in the hospital wing, Y/n and Harry found themselves besieged with requests to give a first-hand account.
"Dumbledore will be back before long." said Ernie Macmillan confidently on the way back from Herbology, after listening intently to Harry's story. "They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to this time. The Fat Friar told me..." he dropped his voice conspiratorially, so that Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione had to lean closer to him to hear. "...that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her." Ernie smirked. "Apparently, she had a right little tantrum."
"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office." said Hermione viciously, as they walked up the stone steps into the Entrance Hall. "Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old..."
"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?"
Draco Malfoy and Atticus Grindelwald had slid out from behind the door, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." he drawled.
"It's only teachers who can dock points from houses prefects, Malfoy." said Ernie at once.
"Yeah, we're prefects, too, remember?" snarled Ron.
"I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King." sneered Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. "But members of the Inquisitorial Squad.."
"The what?" said Hermione sharply.
"The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger." said Malfoy, pointing towards a tiny silver 'I' on his robes just beneath his prefect's badge. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points...so, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new Headmistress. Macmillan, five for contradicting me. Five because I don't like you, Potter. An extra five for your looks Grindelwald, Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that."
Atticus leaned towards Malfoy now and whispered something in his ear.
Malfoy just grinned. "Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten off for that."
Y/n began to move but Hermione quickly seized his arm, whispering, "Don't!"
"Wise move, Granger." breathed Malfoy. "New Head, new times.. be good now, Potty...Weasel King..."
Laughing heartily, he and Atticus strode away with Crabbe and Goyle.
"He was bluffing." said Ernie, looking appalled. "He can't be allowed to dock points...that would be ridiculous...it would completely undermine the prefect system."
But Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione had turned automatically towards the giant hour-glasses set in niches along the wall behind them, which recorded the house-points. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been neck and neck in the lead that morning. Even as they watched, stones flew upwards, reducing the amounts in the lower bulbs. In fact, the only glass that seemed unchanged was the emerald-filled one of Slytherin.
"Noticed, have you?" said Fred's voice.
He and George had just come down the marble staircase and joined Harry, Ron, Y/n, Hermione and Ernie in front of the hour-glasses.
Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points." said Harry furiously, as they watched several more stones fly upwards from the Gryffindor hour-glass.
"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break." said George.
"What do you mean, 'tried'?" said Ron quickly.
"He never managed to get all the words out." said Fred. "Due to the fact that we forced him head-first into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor."
Hermione looked very shocked. "But you'll get into terrible trouble!"
"Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him." said Fred coolly. Anyway...we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble any more."
"Have you ever?" asked Hermione.
"Course we have." said George. "Never been expelled, have we?"
"We've always known where to draw the line." said Fred.
"We might have put a toe across it occasionally." said George.
"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem." said Fred.
"But now?" Y/n asked curiously.
"Well, now..." said George.
"...What with Dumbledore gone..." said Fred.
"...We reckon a bit of mayhem..." said George.
"...Is exactly what our dear new Head deserves." said Fred.
"I agree." Y/n said in thought now. "How far are you two willing to go?" He then asked them curiously.
"You mustn't encourage them Y/n!" whispered Hermione. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel them!"
"You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" said Fred, smiling at her. "We don't care about staying any more. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So, anyway." he checked his watch. "Phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch, if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."
"Anything to do with what?" said Hermione anxiously.
"You'll see." said George.
Y/n took a blank piece of parchment out of his pocket now and handed it to them. "Here, write down how much you believe this plan will cost and I shall cover the bill."
"Y/n!" Hermione whispered again.
"We can't let you do that Y/n..." Fred said.
"Nonsense." Y/n cut him off. "If you two are about to invoke the wrath of Umbridge then I at least would like to be able to pay for the spectacle I am about to enjoy."
Fred and George looked at each other now then both turned to Y/n again. "Half." They grinned.
Y/n smiled and nodded. "Agreeable."
Fred and George quickly scribbled down a number with a note on the parchment as a sort of invoice before handing it back to Y/n who began to read it.
"Is this what you plan to do?" He asked the two who nodded.
"Then it is worth every Galleon." Y/n grinned.
'You all best run along, now." Fred and George said and turned away and disappeared into the swelling crowd descending the stairs towards lunch. Looking highly disconcerted, Ernie muttered something about unfinished Transfiguration homework and scurried away.
"Why on earth do you encourage them Y/n?" Hermione asked him crossly.
"Because it is about time someone stood up to that ghastly woman...Their minds are already set Hermione, this just allows me to enjoy a small part of their plan as a supporter. I do rather think we should move however. Just in case..."
"Yeah, all right." said Ron, and the four of them moved towards the doors to the Great Hall, but none of them had barely glimpsed the day's ceiling of scudding white clouds when somebody tapped Y/n and Harry on the shoulder and, turning, they found themselves almost nose-to-nose with Filch the caretaker. Harry took several hasty steps backwards, Filch was best viewed at a distance.
"The Headmistress would like to see you, Potter, Grindelwald." he leered.
"I didn't do it." said Harry stupidly, thinking of whatever Fred and George were planning. Filch's jowls wobbled with silent laughter.
"Guilty conscience, eh." he wheezed. "Follow me."
Y/n and Harry glanced back at Ron and Hermione, who were both looking worried. Y/n tried to give Hermione a reassuring smile as Harry just shrugged at Ron, Then both followed Filch back into the Entrance Hall, against the tide of hungry students.
Filch seemed to be in an extremely good mood, he hummed creakily under his breath as they climbed the marble staircase. As they reached the first landing he said. "Things are changing around here, Potter, Grindelwald."
"We've noticed." said Harry coldly.
"Yerse...I've been telling Dumbledore for years and years he's too soft with you all." said Filch, chuckling nastily. "You filthy little beasts would never have dropped Stink Pellets if you'd known I had it in my power to whip you raw, would you, now? Nobody would have thought of throwing Fanged Frisbees down the corridors if I could've strung you up by the ankles in my office, would they? But when Educational Decree Number Twenty-nine comes in, I'll be allowed to do them things...and she's asked the Minister to sign an order for the expulsion of Peeves...oh, things are going to be very different around here with her in charge."
Umbridge had obviously gone to some lengths to get Filch on her side, and the worst of it was that he would probably prove an important weapon, his knowledge of the school's secret passageways and hiding places was probably second only to that of the Weasley twins.
"Here we are." he said, leering down at Y/n and Harry as he rapped three times on Professor Umbridge's door and pushed it open. "The Potter and Grindelwald boys to see you, Ma'am."
"Let Potter in first." Umbridge's sickly sweet voice sounded out and Harry went inside first the door shutting behind him.
Y/n had to wait several minutes until Harry stepped out again and Umbridge called his name next.
"She's drugged the drinks." Harry mouthed to Y/n approaching him.
"Did you drink it?" Y/n whispered back and Harry shook his head. To give no suspicion Y/n did not reply and entered.
Umbridge's office, so very familiar to Y/n from his detentions, It was mostly the same as usual except for the large wooden block lying across the front of her desk on which golden letters spelled the word' Headmistress. Also, his nimbus, Harry's Firebolt and Fred and George's Cleansweeps, which he saw, were chained and padlocked to a stout iron peg in the wall behind the desk.
Umbridge was sitting behind the desk, busily scribbling on some of her pink parchment, but she looked up and smiled widely at their entrance.
"Sit." said Umbridge curtly, pointing towards a chair. Y/n sat. She continued to scribble for a few moments. He watched some of the foul kittens gambolling around the plates over her head, wondering what fresh horror she had in store for him.
"Well, now." she said finally, setting down her quill and surveying him complacently, like a toad about to swallow a particularly juicy fly. "What would you like to drink?"
"Nothing, thank you." said Y/n.
"I wish you to have a drink with me." she said, her voice becoming dangerously sweet. "Choose one."
'Very well...tea will suffice." said Y/n reluctantly.
She got up and made quite a performance of adding milk with her back to him. She then bustled around the desk with it, smiling in a sinisterly sweet fashion. "There." she said, handing it to him. "Drink it before it gets cold, won't you? Well, now, Mr Grindelwald...I thought we ought to have a little chat, after the distressing events of last night."
He said nothing. She settled herself back into her seat and waited. When several long moments had passed in silence, she said gaily. "You're not drinking up!"
He raised the cup to his lips and pretended to drink before lowering his cup with an unsatisfied look. "What's the matter?' said Umbridge, who was still watching him closely. "Do you want sugar?"
"Yes, the taste is rather bland if anything." said Y/n and Umbridge used her wand to float a sugar cube into his tea and drop it in. Y/n raised the cup to his lips again and pretended to take another sip, though keeping his mouth tightly closed before lowering it. "That is more to my taste."
Umbridge's smile widened. "Good." she whispered. "Very good. Now then..." She leaned forwards a little. "Where is Albus Dumbledore?"
So...she was trying to use Vertiaserum on him. Y/n decided it would best to play along and answer straight forwardly, this could work in his favour.
"I have no idea." said Y/n promptly.
"Drink up, drink up." Umbridge said, still smiling. "Now, Mr. Grindelwald, let us not play childish games. I know that you know where he has gone. You and Dumbledore have been in this together from the beginning. Consider your position, Mr. Grindelwald..."
"I truly don't know where he is." Y/n repeated. "I am a student after all, why would I know what the headmaster has planned." He pretended to drink again. She was watching him very closely.
"Very well." she said, though she looked displeased. "In that case, you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of Sirius Black."
"I do not know." he said calmly.
"Mr. Grindelwald." said Umbridge. "Let me remind you that it was I who almost caught the criminal Black in the Gryffindor fire in October. I know perfectly well it was you and Mr Potter he was meeting and if I had had any proof none of you would be at large today, I promise you. I repeat, Mr. Grindelwald...where is Sirius Black?"
"I have no idea." said Y/n looking straight at her.
They stared at each other neither looking away until finally Umbridge stood up.
"Very well, Grindelwald, I will take your word for it this time, but be warned, the might of the Ministry stands behind me. All channels of communication in and out of this school are being monitored. A Floo Network Regulator is keeping watch over every fire in Hogwarts...except my own, of course. My Inquisitorial Squad is opening and reading all owl post entering and leaving the castle. And Mr. Filch is observing all secret passages in and out of the castle. If I find a shred of evidence..."
BOOM!
The very floor of the office shook. Umbridge slipped sideways, clutching her desk for support, and looking shocked.
"What was..."
She was gazing towards the door. Y/n took the opportunity to take out his wand and use a vanishing spell on the tea emptying his cup before quickly putting his wand away. He could hear people running and screaming several floors below.
"Back to lunch you go, Grindelwald!" cried Umbridge, raising her wand and dashing out of the office and past Harry who was waiting for Y/n. Y/n got up now and stepped out of the office to see what the source of all the uproar was.
It was not difficult to find. One floor down, pandemonium reigned. Somebody...Y/n and Harry had a very shrewd idea who had set off what seemed to be an enormous crate of enchanted fireworks.
Dragons comprised entirely of green and gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went; shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers, rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls, sparklers were writing swear words in midair of their own accord, firecrackers were exploding like mines everywhere they looked, and instead of burning themselves out, fading from sight or fizzling to a halt, these pyrotechnical miracles seemed to be gaining in energy and momentum the longer they watched.
Filch and Umbridge were standing, apparently transfixed in horror, halfway down the stairs. As Y/n watched, one of the larger Catherine wheels seemed to decide that what it needed was more room to manoeuvre, it whirled towards Umbridge and Filch with a sinister 'wheeeeeeeeee'. They both yelled with fright and ducked, and it soared straight out of the window behind them and off across the grounds. Meanwhile, several of the dragons and a large purple bat that was smoking ominously took advantage of the open door at the end of the corridor to escape towards the second floor.
"Hurry, Filch, hurry!" shrieked Umbridge. "They'll be all over the school unless we do something...Stupefy!"
A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing in midair, it exploded with such force that it blasted a hole in a painting of a soppy-looking witch in the middle of a meadow, she ran for it just in time, reappearing seconds later squashed into the next painting, where a couple of wizards playing cards stood up hastily to make room for her.
"Don't Stun them, Filch!" shouted Umbridge angrily, for all the world as though it had been his incantation.
"Right you are, Headmistress!" wheezed Filch, who as a Squib could no more have Stunned the fireworks than swallowed them. He dashed to a nearby cupboard, pulled out a broom and began swatting at the fireworks in midair, within seconds the head of the broom was ablaze.
Y/n and Harry who had seen enough were now laughing, and ducked down low, running to a door they knew was concealed behind a tapestry a little way along the corridor and slipped through it to find Fred and George hiding just behind it, listening to Umbridge and Filch's yells and quaking with suppressed mirth.
"Impressive." Harry said quietly, grinning. "Very impressive...you'll put Dr. Filibuster out of business, no problem..."
"Cheers." whispered George, wiping tears of laughter from his face.
"I have changed my mind, I will be paying the full amount for those fireworks it is beyond worth it for the show you just put on for us." Y/n told them.
"Oh, I hope she tries Vanishing them next..." Fred said. "They multiply by ten every time you try."
The fireworks continued to burn and to spread all over the school that afternoon. Though they caused plenty of disruption, particularly the firecrackers, the other teachers didn't seem to mind them very much.
"Dear, dear." said Professor McGonagall sardonically, as one of the dragons soared around her classroom, emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. "Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the Headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"
The upshot of it all was that Professor Umbridge spent her first afternoon as Headmistress running all over the school answering the summonses of the other teachers, none of whom seemed able to rid their rooms of the fireworks without her. When the final bell rang and they were heading back to Gryffindor Tower with their bags, Y/n saw, with immense satisfaction, a dishevelled and soot-blackened Umbridge tottering sweaty-faced from Professor Flitwick's classroom.
"Thank you so much, Professor!" said Professor Flitwick in his squeaky little voice. "I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether or not I had the authority."
Beaming, he closed his classroom door in her snarling face.
Fred and George were heroes that night in the Gryffindor common room. Even Hermione fought her way through the excited crowd to congratulate them. "They were wonderful fireworks." she said admiringly.
"Thanks." said George, looking both surprised and pleased. "Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs. Only thing is, Your boyfriend bought our whole stock, we're going to have to start again from scratch now."
"It was worth it, though." said Fred, who was taking orders from clamouring Gryffindors. "If you want to add your name to the waiting list, Hermione, it's five Galleons for your Basic Blaze box and twenty for the Deflagration Deluxe..."
Hermione returned to the table where Y/n, Harry and Ron were sitting staring at their schoolbags as though hoping their homework would spring out and start doing itself.
"Oh, why don't we have a night off?" said Hermione brightly, as a silver-tailed Weasley rocket zoomed past the window. "After all, the Easter holidays start on Friday, we'll have plenty of time then."
"What?" Ron said staring at her in disbelief.
"Are you feeling alright Hermione?" Y/n asked. "It is not like you to delay homework after all.
"Now you mention it." said Hermione happily. "You know...I think I'm feeling a bit...rebellious."
Y/n could still hear the distant bangs of escaped firecrackers when he, Harry and Ron went up to bed an hour later, and as he got undressed a sparkler floated past the tower, still resolutely spelling out the word 'POO'.
He got into bed, yawning. The occasional firework passing the window had become blurred, looking like sparkling clouds, beautiful and mysterious against the black sky. He sat wondering how Umbridge was feeling about her first day in Dumbledore's job, and how Fudge would react when he heard that the school had spent most of the day in a state of advanced disruption. Smiling to himself, Y/n closed his eyes.