November came, and snow began to fall over Hogwarts from time to time, covering the grounds before melting away beneath the winter sun. The DA meetings had also become more regular, although Victor wasn't doing much of the teaching anymore.
Harry had taken over most of it.
After all, Harry also has experience fighting Dark magic, and he understood what the students needed to learn. Victor's methods were effective, but some of them were also rather painful.
Harry's approach was easier for the others to follow, so Victor was content to let him handle most of the lessons while he concentrated on correcting mistakes and stepping in when something required more experience.
Meanwhile, Umbridge had started noticing something strange.
Students were moving around Hogwarts in groups more often than usual. Some disappeared from their common rooms at roughly the same time, while others seemed to have developed an unusual habit of taking the same corridors on certain evenings.
Umbridge was not stupid.
She didn't know what they were doing, but she knew they were doing something.
So she decided to find out.
A few days later, another Ministry decree appeared throughout the castle. Umbridge announced the formation of a new student group, allowing students to register and earn House points for assisting with school discipline and providing information about activities that violated school rules.
It was, in all but name, an invitation to become informants.
Victor read the announcement once and immediately gathered the Slytherin students.
He stood in the common room with the notice in his hand, looking from one student to another.
"None of you are joining that."
A few students exchanged glances.
Victor continued before anyone could argue.
"Umbridge isn't giving you points because she suddenly cares about your academic achievements. She's looking for students who will spy on the rest of you."
He folded the notice.
"If anyone from Slytherin joins that group and starts reporting on anything, you'll answer to me."
His expression made it clear that he wasn't joking.
No one volunteered.
Even those who had been tempted by the promise of House points quickly abandoned the idea.
Draco was among them.
He had spent much of the previous year following Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherins around, but that had changed.
Since everything that had happened during the previous year, Draco had stopped spending as much time with them and had become considerably more careful about the company he kept.
Pansy and a few others still thought Umbridge's group might be useful, particularly if they could use it to cause trouble for Gryffindor.
Victor's warning was enough to stop that plan before it began.
Umbridge wanted Slytherin students working for her.
She got none.
***
That night, Victor decided Umbridge needed a lesson of her own.
He had been thinking about the idea for a while. Polyjuice Potion was normally used to take the appearance of another person, but Victor knew the recipe well enough to understand that the appearance could be affected by what was added to it.
This time, however, he had no intention of impersonating anyone.
Victor carefully prepared the potion, then added the frog part he had obtained for the modification. The mixture bubbled unpleasantly before settling into a strange green colour.
He stared at it for a moment.
Then a crooked grin appeared on his face.
"Heheheheh."
Draco, who had been lying in bed trying to sleep, opened one eye.
He looked at Victor.
Then at the potion.
Then back at Victor.
"Whatever you're planning," Draco muttered, pulling his blanket over his head, "I don't want to know."
Victor chuckled quietly.
"Good choice."
Later that night, Victor left the dormitory and shifted into his Astral form. The castle presented little difficulty in that state, and he slipped through the corridors until he reached Umbridge's office.
He found the door locked, but that hardly mattered to him.
Victor passed straight through it.
Umbridge was nowhere to be seen. Her desk, however, was exactly where he expected it to be, with her familiar pink teacup sitting beside a stack of Ministry paperwork.
Victor floated over to the desk and looked at the cup.
"Perfect."
He took out the prepared potion and carefully poured it into the tea. The strange mixture disappeared into the drink almost immediately.
Victor smiled.
Then he left the office the same way he had entered.
The following morning, Umbridge arrived for work as usual.
She picked up her tea and took a long drink.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then her face began to change.
Her cheeks puffed outward, her skin turned an increasingly unpleasant shade of pink, and her eyes widened. Her nose flattened while her mouth stretched across her face.
Umbridge screamed.
It was a horrible, piercing sound that echoed through the castle and woke students in their beds.
Doors opened throughout the corridors as students stumbled out to discover what had happened.
Dumbledore arrived at Umbridge's office with McGonagall and Snape.
The Headmaster stopped when he saw her.
Umbridge was sitting behind her desk, staring into a mirror in absolute horror.
She looked remarkably like a very angry human-sized frog.
Dumbledore adjusted his spectacles and studied her carefully.
"Severus, in all my years as a wizard, I don't believe I have ever seen anything quite like this. What do you suppose could have caused it?"
Snape looked at Umbridge.
His face remained completely expressionless.
"I couldn't possibly say, Headmaster."
He looked again at the pink, frog-like woman sitting behind the desk.
Internally, however, Snape was having one of the most satisfying mornings he had experienced in years.
Umbridge pointed furiously at him.
"DO SOMETHING!"
Snape's expression didn't change.
"I shall see what can be done."
And for perhaps the first time since Umbridge had arrived at Hogwarts, Severus Snape found himself genuinely looking forward to one of her problems.
*****
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