"Come on Ron!" I cheer loudly as the Hufflepuff team blew past the Slytherin stands. "You got this!" But he didn't and Hufflepuff scores again.

  "Ooo another ten points to Hufflepuff," Lee announces, "There goes Angelina Johnson- and a bat to her face but her own teammate! That's gotta sting."

"Come on guys!" I cheer loudly, "You can do this."

"And and- Ginny Weasley's caught the snitch! that's the game Hufflepuff up by ten," Lee announces. I sigh as I look at Draco, "that was pathetic, 20 minutes." 

"I wasn't going to say anything," Draco says as we file out.

"Well. It was only ten points. Okay, it could have been worse," I say to him, "can we say anything. We lost against puff because Graham's a horrible captain."

"Well, when you replace him we better be undefeated," Draco says. I smirk.

"Well, I can try," I say to him.

******

 "Is that your interview?" I ask Harry as I sit beside with them at the Gryffindor table with Luna. Harry nods as he hands it to me.

"HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN" The headline reads. I smile proudly at him as I skim through the article.

"This is amazing," I tell him, "this is what you needed out for you. And these are?" I ask referring to the piles of letters around him.

"I expect all these," Luna says "are letters from readers."

"That's what I thought," Hermione says eagerly, "Harry, d'you mind if we—?"

"Help yourself," Harry says. Ron and Hermione eagerly grab letters while I hesitate.

"Last time letters came in like this we got those potions sent to us remember Mione?" I ask her.

"You'll be fine," She says. I sigh before taking one and opening it carefully.

"This one's from a bloke who thinks you're off your rocker," Ron says glancing down his letter. "Ah well..."

"This woman recommends you try a good course of Shock Spells at St. Mungo's," Hermione says looking disappointed and crumpling up a second.

"This one looks okay, though," Harry says slowly, "Hey, she says she believes me!"

"This man believes you," I say, "he even said how hard it was for him to admit Voldemort's return."

"This one's in two minds," Fred says from beside me, "Says you don't come across as a mad person, but he really doesn't want to believe You-Know-Who's back so he doesn't know what to think now... Blimey, what a waste of parchment..." I grab another and pull it open.

"Here's another one you've convinced, Harry!"  Hermione says excitedly. "'Having read your side of the story I am forced to the conclusion that the Daily Prophet has treated you very unfairly... Little though I want to think that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, I am forced to accept that you are telling the truth...' Oh, this is wonderful!"

"Another one whos torn... but she wishes you the best," I say as I place it on the table.

"Another one who thinks you're barking," Ron says throwing a crumpled letter over his shoulder, "but this one says you've got her converted, and she now thinks you're a real hero—she's put in a photograph too—wow—"

"What is going on here?" a falsely sweet girlish voice says from behind me. I look at Harry as he looks up to Umbridge. "Why have you got all these letters, Mr. Potter?" she asks slowly.

"Is that a crime now?"Fred says loudly. "Getting mail?"

"Be careful, Mr. Weasley, or I shall have to put you in detention," Umbridge says "Well, Mr. Potter?"

"People have written to me because I gave an interview," Harry says, "About what happened to me last June." I see his eyes move to the staff table while Ron's eyes lock with mine as he tries to figure out what to do. 

"An interview?" Umbridge repeats her voice thinner and higher than ever. "What do you mean?"

"I mean a reporter asked me questions and I answered them," Harry says, "Here—" He tosses the Quibbler at her and she catches it. Staring at the cover.

"When did you do this?" she asks. her voice trembling slightly.

"Last Hogsmeade weekend," Harry says. I smirk at him as she looms behind Fred and me still.

"There will be no more Hogsmeade trips for you, Mr. Potter," she whispers. "How you dare... how you could..." She took a deep breath. "I have tried again and again to teach you not to tell lies. The message, apparently, has still not sunk in. Fifty points from Gryffindor and another week's worth of detentions." I hear someone stomp off and I look to Harry.

"She's gone," He says. I nod before looking up to the staff table.

"What a bitch," I say as a mail owl drops my Quibbler copies down for me. Harry looks at me with a brow raised.

"I had a feeling that it would come in handy to get a backup," I say as I hand him the second one, "especially with our High Dictator reigning over Hogwarts." He smiles as he takes it.

"Always thinking ahead Cultven," Fred says, "that's incredibly attractive."

"You think?" I ask him and he nods, "Draco thinks so too." With that, I get up from the table and walk back to mine. 

By mid-morning enormous signs had been put up all over the school, not just on House notice boards, but in the corridors and classrooms too.

— BY ORDER OF —

THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

Any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with

Educational Decree Number Twenty-seven.

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge HIGH INQUISITOR

Through the banning, more and more kids were reading it. One of the Slytherin DA members even pulled a stunt of covering the common rooms walls with the article like wallpaper. As prefect I turned a blind eye to them. Not wanting to punish them for doing what I wanted to.

****

  As Harry lays on the floor again Snape and I exchange a look of annoyance. 

"Get up, Potter." Snape hisses. We had seen a memory of a man in a dark room. Which unlike the memories of his horrid childhood. Worried us.

"That last memory," Snape says, "What was it?"

"I don't know," Harry says, "You mean the one where my cousin tried to make me stand in the toilet?"

"No," Snape says,  "I mean the one concerning a man kneeling in the middle of a darkened room..."

"It's... nothing," Harry says.

"We aren't playing a game Harry," I snap causing him to look from Snape to me. "You're life isn't just at stake anymore. Its all of our lives. Ron, Hermione, Cho, everyone's."

"How do that man and that room come to be inside your head, Potter?" Snape asks.

"It—" Harry says avoiding mine and Snape's eyes knowing we could get inside his head if he looked at us, "it was—just a dream I had." I knock one of the metal cauldrons off the table in frustration. As it hits the ground Harry looks to me with worry in his eyes.

"Tell us shit like that he's getting in your head again. Tell us about these dreams!" I demand, "we can't help you if you don't let us."

"Remind me why we are here, Potter," Snape says.

"So I can learn Occlumency," Harry says now looking at a dead eel.

"Correct, Potter. And dim though you may be" Snape says, "I would have thought that after two months' worth of lessons you might have made some progress. How many other dreams about the Dark Lord have you had?"

"Just that one,"  Harry says obviously lying. 

"Perhaps," Snape says, "perhaps you actually enjoy having these visions and dreams, Potter. Maybe they make you feel special—important?" Harry looks to me in frustration.

"Aren't you supposed to be meditating?" Harry asks me.

"You're supposed to be getting better but that's not happening either," I hiss. 

"No, they don't," Harry says looking at Snape.

"That is just as well, Potter," Snape says coldly "because you are neither special nor important, and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark Lord is saying to his Death Eaters."

"No—that's your job, isn't it?" Harry shoots at him.

"Harry James Potter!" I exclaim.

"Yes, Potter," Snape says, his eyes glinting. "That is my job. Now, if you are ready, we will start again... One—two—three—Legilimens!" I see a hundred dementors were swooping toward Harry across the lake in the grounds... But they were weakly seen and I could tell Harry wasn't really being affected.

"Protego!" Harry calls out. Soon the visions switch from Harry's to snaps,  a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner... A greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies... A girl was laughing as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick—

"ENOUGH!" 

The room became clear around us, Harry now covered in a potion from one of the jars. While Snape pants.

"Reparo!" I say pointing to the jar, "Nice job Harry."

"It was certainly an improvement," Snape says, "I don't remember telling you to use a Shield Charm... but there is no doubt that it was effective... Lets try again. Y/n you this time."

"Fine," I say. I take a deep breath before standing before Harry. "One.. two... three Legilimens." The same peaks of Harry's childhood fall over me. Once again weak. But something strong was forming. It was a corridor, I could see blue lights and lots of doors. I couldn't tell if this was his memory. It didn't feel right.

"POTTER!" Snape yells breaking the connection with Harry and I. I look to see Harry now on the ground again. I walk towards him and help him up.

"Explain yourself!" Snape says furiously.

"I... dunno what happened," Harry says truthfully as he takes my hand and pulls himself up,  "I've never seen that before. I mean, I told you, I've dreamed about the door... but it's never opened before..."

"You are not working hard enough!" Snape yells.

"Snape," I say carefully.

"You are lazy and sloppy, Potter, it is small wonder that the Dark Lord—"

"Can you tell me something, sir?" Harry asks,  "Why do you call Voldemort the Dark Lord, I've only ever heard Death Eaters call him that—" Before they could say anything else a loud woman's scream could be heard through the floors.

"What the—?" 

"Did you see anything unusual on your way down here Harry?" I ask him. Harry shakes his head as the woman screams again. Snape hurries out leaving Harry and I. "Come on," I say as I grab his hand and pull him along with me. As we reach the entrance Hall I meet Draco who seemed worried. 

"Come on," He says to me and Harry. I start to move with him but Harry remains still, "both of you. Come on Potter." Harry looking confused hesitates but follows. Draco shoves through the crowd and gets the three of us to the front. We could see McGonagall looking sick while the kids around us looked frightened and shocked. Umbridge stood in front of a weak scared looking Trelawney. I see Potter start to lurch forward as if he was about to run out but Draco throws his arm across Harry and me to stop both of us. "She'll expel both of you," He tells us, "just be patient okay?" I nod to Draco and look at Harry who nervously nods. 

"No!" Trelawney shrieks,  "NO! This cannot be happening... It cannot... I refuse to accept it!"

"You didn't realize this was coming?" Umbridge says sounding amused. "Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable you would be sacked?"

"You c-can't!" Professor Trelawney howls tears streaming down her face from behind her enormous lenses, "you c-can't sack me! I've b-been here sixteen years! H-Hogwarts is m-my h-home!"

"It was your home," Professor Umbridge says, "until an hour ago, when the Minister of Magic countersigned the order for your dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You are embarrassing us."  Professor Trelawney stands still as she sobs loudly. While Draco slips his arm around me. Knowing I wanted nothing more than to burn that Hag alive.  Professor McGonagall breaks away from the spectators, marches straight up to Professor Trelawney patting her firmly on the back while withdrawing a large handkerchief from within her robes.

"There, there, Sibyll... Calm down... Blow your nose on this... It's not as bad as you think, now... You are not going to have to leave Hogwarts..." McGonagall says as she attempts to console her.

"Oh really, Professor McGonagall?" Umbridge says in a deadly voice, taking a few steps forward. "And your authority for that statement is...?"

"That would be mine." We look back to see Dumbledore marching towards the scene.

"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" Umbridge asks with a singularly unpleasant little laugh. "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here"—she pulls a parchment scroll from within her robes—"an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister of Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation, and sack any teacher she—that is to say, I—feel is not performing up to the standard required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her."

"You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor, you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid," he goes on, with a courteous little bow, "that the power to do that still resides with the headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continues to live at Hogwarts."

"No—no, I'll g-go, Dumbledore! I sh-shall l-leave Hogwarts and s-seek my fortune elsewhere—" Trelawney whimpers.

"No," Dumbledore says sharply, "It is my wish that you remain, Sibyll." He turns to McGonagall, "Might I ask you to escort Sibyll back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?"

"Of course," McGonagall says, "Up you get, Sibyll..." Professor Sprout hurries forward and takes Trelawney's other arm, while Flitwick hurries behind them.

"And what," she says, "are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," Dumbledore says pleasantly. "You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor."

"You've found—?" Umbridge says shrilly. "You've found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, that under Educational Decree Twenty-two—"

"—the Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if—and only if—the headmaster is unable to find one," Dumbledore says,  "And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?" Through the crowd, a centaur marches towards us. "This is Firenze," Dumbledore says happily to a thunderstruck Umbridge. "I think you'll find him suitable," I smirk to Draco and Harry. 

"I think we're done here," Draco says as he takes my hand, "come on love."

****

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy," Cho says 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," Harry says patiently. "What we really need is a boggart or something; that's how I learned, I had to conjure a Patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a dementor—"

"But that would be really scary!" Lavender says who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "And I still—can't—do it!" I readjust George's arm. The next attempt he casts the spell perfectly, a coyote bounces around him while a hyena bounces around Fred.

"Good job boys," I say to them, "just a little more force will make it stronger." I walk behind Ron.

"Expectro Patroumm," He mumbles.

"Ronald Billus Weasely speak clearly," I say to him. He rolls his eyes and goes back to trying. "Think of your happiest memory guys."

"Easy for you to say," Zach scoffs.

"You twat I've been through more in my life than you'll ever know," I hiss, "if I can think of a happy memory then you can think of twelve."

"What do you think of?" Cho asks me as she looks over. I smile thinking back.

"The train rides to Hogwarts, my friends, spending my summers at the Weasley's, oh the one that works the best for me is this tradition Draco and I have where we meet at the train station before we leave to say our goodbyes," I say happily. I concentrate that and casts the spell. The piebald stallion bouncing around me.

"That's so sweet," Cho says.

"I know," I say, "now back to work." I let my patrouns dissolve and go back to instructing.

"You've got to think of something happy," Harry reminds Neville.

"I'm trying," Neville says miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.

"Harry, I think I'm doing it!" yells Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever D.A. meeting by Dean. "Look—ah—it's gone... But it was definitely something hairy, Harry!" I look to see a silver otter trouting around Hermione. 

"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she says.

"An otter, that suits you," I say to Hermione.

"Hi, Dobby!" Harry says, "What are you—what's wrong?" We stop teaching and casting spells to look over at the terror struck elf.

"Harry Potter, sir..." Dobby squeaks as he trembles, "Harry Potter, sir... Dobby has come to warn you... but the house-elves have been warned not to tell..." He runs headfirst 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.

"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asks grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.

"Harry Potter... she... she..."

"Who's 'she,' Dobby?" I ask walking towards the elf.

"Umbridge?" Harry asks horrified. Dobby nods and Harry holds him to keep him from hurting himself. "What about her? Dobby—she hasn't found out about this—about us—about the D.A.?" 

"Is she coming?" I ask the elf.

"Is she coming?" Harry repeats to Dobby.

"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!" Dobby yells.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellows. "RUN!" I rush people towards the exit. As they all push out I look to see Harry still standing back.

"Harry, come on!" Hermione shrieks.  He scoops up Dobby and runs with the elf in his arms to join the back of the queue. As I get out the door I rush out with the Slytherin's knowing a back path to get us down to the dungeon quickly. 

"Come on," I whisper-yell to them. Soon we were down in the dungeons. As most get to the common room I hold slow my running down. Calming enough to make it seem like I wasn't running around. We go into the common room in pairs. Not all wanting to go in at once knowing how suspicious it would look. The DA would be done for good, I just hope everyone got away.

*****

The next morning as I met Draco downstairs I could tell there was a tension between us. He shoos off his friends leaving us to walk alone. "You must have heard. Umbridge has become our new headmistress. Replacing Dumbledore seeing as his army was discovered. A list of names and all," Draco says avoiding looking at me. I keep my eyes forward as he sighs.

"Is that so?" I ask. 

"Yeah," He says, "Longbottom, Potter, Granger, the Weasels, oh and you." He stops in his tracks and looks to me. My eyes still avoiding his gaze.

"That is correct," I say truthfully, "I was one of the first to sign my name. And I will go down with the rest of them."

"I figured as much," He says, "and seeing as you will always do what you see is right and I do what I feel I need to- I'm not mad. I just want you to be careful." I nod.

"Alright," I say to him, "I just hope this is the last time we are on opposite sides of an issue."

"Me too," He says as he wraps his arm around me, "now let us go eat."