As the weeks progressed, Umbridge only seemed to gain more power at Hogwarts. This came to a head with the sacking of Trelawney. Umbridge attempted to throw the divination teacher out of the castle, but Dumbledore stepped in. He did not have the authority to stop Umbridge dismissing Trelawney, but he appointed the new teacher himself and allowed Trelawney to remain in the castle.

"It's not like it's a massive loss to the teaching staff," Natalie noted one rainy lunchtime when the group had found themselves an empty classroom to sit in, "that old hag couldn't predict what she was going to eat for dinner, but it doesn't mean that I'm not pissed off about it, because well-"

"It's Umbridge," said George, "and everything about her pisses people off."

"Precisely."

Fred yawned and looked out of the window, placing his arm around Calliope's shoulder as he did, "honestly the only reason me and Georgie haven't ditched this place yet is the DA, otherwise we'd be long gone."

Calliope looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"And of course the fact that you're here."

Calliope cocked her head to one side.

"And of course we couldn't possibly miss our NEWT exams!" said Fred sarcastically in answer.

Calliope sighed, "honestly I don't expect either of you to stay that long."

"You know us so well!" George winked at her.

********

The one spell that every single member of Dumbledore's Army had wanted to learn from the very start was the Patronus Charm. Shortly before the Easter holidays were to take place, Harry announced that he believed they were ready to begin practising the charm.

Calliope had never found herself struggling with a spell as much as she struggled with the Patronus. No matter which memory she conjured up, from stolen moments with Fred, to laughing with Natalie to memories from her childhood with her father, nothing seemed to be happy enough to allow her to produce the spell.

Fred seemed to conjure up the patrons with almost no work, his magpie zoomed in circles around him, as he grinned at it, "wicked," he muttered under his breath. Calliope smiled at the small bird and turned away, trying to re-focus on casting the spell herself. 

She was distracted however when the whispers began to speak a little louder in her head. Fred noticed that something was wrong almost immediately. His Patronus disappeared and he made his way over to Calliope, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Something is wrong," Calliope muttered, looking around the room, trying to see if there was anything amiss. There was one new member of the group- Seamus Finigan- who was happily practising the Patronus beside Dean Thomas. The only other thing that Calliope could see that was strange was that Cho Chang was not accompanied by her usual curly-haired friend whose name Calliope could not remember.

"Hi, Dobby!" Harry said, "What're you- what's wrong?"

The attention of all of the members of the DA was drawn to the interaction between the elf and the Boy Who Lived.

"Harry Potter, sir..." the elf squeaked, he was trembling from head to foot, this was only emphasised by the many, many bobble hats piled on top of his head, "Dobby has come to warn you... but the house-elves have been warned not to tell..." Dobby ran straight towards the wall.

With the reflexes of a Seeker, Harry sprang forward to catch the elf and prevent him from smashing his head against the wall.

"What happened Dobby?" Harry demanded, holding the elf tight so he couldn't run at the wall again.

"Dobby is it Umbridge?" Calliope asked.

Dobby squeaked.

"What about her? Dobby- she hasn't found out about us- about the DA?" Harry sounded panic-stricken.

Dobby squeaked again.

"Is she coming?"

"Yes!" Dobby howled, "yes Harry Potter, yes!"

Harry turned to the group, all of whom were staring at him and the elf with open mouthes, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed, "RUN!"

Fred wasted absolutely no time at all in grabbing Calliope's wrist and dragging the girl out of the room of requirement. 

"We've got to find somewhere to hide, we'll never make it all the way back to either of our common rooms!" Calliope panted, as the pair hurried along the corridor with the sounds of running all around them.

"Don't worry Screamer, I know this castle better than anyone!" Fred skidded to a halt, Calliope running straight into him, he grabbed the corner of a tapestry and pulled it aside revealing a short cut that many students took that lead straight from the seventh floor to the charms corridor on the third floor. 

Fred pulled Calliope into the passage with him and moved the tapestry back into place behind them.

"Nice hiding place Weasley," Calliope grinned, "now let's go this way before anyone-"

"Check behind that tapestry! There's a passageway behind it!" said the voice of Blaize Zabini, a Slytherin fifth year and member of the Inquisitorial Squad.

Calliope looked hopelessly at Fred, there was no way that they'd make it out of the passage before the Slytherins found them.

"Just go with it," Fred muttered before he put his hands on her hips and pressed her against the wall. Working out what he was planning, Calliope kissed him, weaving her hands into his hair as if they had been kissing for a while already, this was just reinforced by the fact that they were already out of breath because of the running.

The tapestry was ripped aside, and several Slytherin boys stood there. Calliope and Fred broke apart, faking surprise.

"Do you mind!" Fred glared at the Slytherins.

"Do we look stupid Weasley?" Zabini demanded.

"Well..." Calliope stood hard on Fred's foot to shut him up, preventing him making the situation any worse.

"What are you talking about Zabini? My boyfriend and I were just minding our own business in this deserted corridor until you came along," Calliope said.

"We're rounding up members of an illegal defence group," Zabini placed his hands on his hips, "you're expecting me to believe that you're not a part of it!"

"I'm not expecting you to believe that we're not part of it," Calliope grinned at him cheerily, "I'm expecting you not to be able to prove that we are a part of it."