Harry Potter: Revolutions

Harry Potter: Revolutions

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Chapter 1: The Discontent Within

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

"Last Hogsmeade weekend," said Harry.

She looked up at him, incandescent with rage, the magazine shaking in her stubby fingers.

"There will be no more Hogsmeade meetings for you, Mr. Potter," she whispered into his ear. "How dare you...could you...," she drew a deep breath before continuing, "I've tried to teach you again and again not to tell lies but that hasn't sunk in your head. That would be fifty points from Gryffindor and another week of detentions."

She stalked away, clutching Harry's copy of the Quibbler to her chest, with many students watching her. Harry's volume of dislike increased each time he lands into trouble with Umbridge. He gave a very disdainful look as he eyeballed Umbridge from the distance.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed in a low tone as if trying to stop Harry from staring at Umbridge. Harry had a feeling that every student at the Great Hall was staring right at him. But thankfully none was even looking in his direction. Sighing, Harry sank back to his seat at the table and looked at his two friends.

"I can't just bear standing still while she rants on. You know what she's like now that she's a High Inqueezeator," said Harry with a disdained look clouding his face.

"She surely would ban the Quibbler. But don't worry. Everyone would have read the story knows it first hand before she is able to purge all the copies," said Ron, patting Harry's shoulder.

"And Harry trust me, they would do anything to hide it from her prying eyes and that would only make the word of it go around even faster. Oh the glory of it!" added Hermione gleefully.

"It means that she can't catch anyone. She'll end up having a hard time even to locate one single copy! Imagine Umbridge's face. How she'd be frustrated so easily if she couldn't lay her hands on even a single copy of the Quibbler!" said Ron in a considerably loud tone.

"Shhh...."Hermione interrupted Ron, placing her finger on his mouth. "Do you want to land yourself in detention? You better watch your tongue, Weasley!"

"Do you want to try Umbridge's detention, Ron?" asked Harry

"Maybe that detention you talked about is for your case. Maybe if I land myself in detention with her then she may give a different punishment. It can be just like sitting down and shake your legs around until a few hours later then she comes to you and says that I can go," replied Ron, curiously.

"There's nothing different. It's worse than what I had when Professor Snape gave me detention sometime back ago, a very long time ago. I thought I could get rid of that unpleasant moment, but it seems that I couldn't purge it from my mind. To tell you frankly, Hermione as I have explained to Ron before, Umbridge has a very thin quill, not like the standard-sized ones that we always use in classes or exams. As thin as a barb wire," said Harry.

"I don't see a big difference between a one normal quill and a very thin quill. Nothing big, you know. I'm not convinced," chided Ron.

"No. There's a catch. Umbridge's quill doesn't use normal ink. It uses," Harry paused for a while, took a gulp of pumpkin juice from his cup and ended with, "blood."

"Blood!?" squealed Hermione. "I can't believe that toad hag would do that!"

"It's a torture, Hermione!" exclaimed Ron in a considerably loud tone.

"Ron, for the last time, will you stop trying to attract attention from others! You're going to embarrass all three of us!" snapped Hermione with an annoyed face.

"Every line that I wrote was red in color, my blood and there's pain, a feeling as if something grazing my shoulder. The back hand is always red, inflamed, irritated. After a line has been written, my hand miraculously healed by itself," continued Harry facing Hermione. Ron was muttering 'blah...blah...blah' for he did listen to what Harry said when asking Harry about his detention a few months ago.

Harry showed his hand used for writing to Hermione. What he said was true. The signs from his detention with Umbridge were still clear. There were words "I Must Not Tell Lies" grazed, scarred on his skin, with each adjacent to one another as the result from using her special quill. His skin was still red raw just like as if his own hand got scalded by hot water.

"It would be a completely different story if you didn't engage Umbridge in the shouting match." said Hermione with her face facing her plate of food.

"There's nothing I can do to fix it. That thing's like spilt milk," sighed Harry.

"I'm still wondering why Dumbledore or McGonagall wouldn't bail you out from the kind of trouble you have. I haven't been able to work this out," remarked a puzzled Ron.

"That's an unanswered question. But when can it be answered?" replied Harry.

"We've to find it out ourselves," All three of them said that quietly.

"What matters is," Harry went on, pausing for a while before continuing," I have enough of her. Someday, she's going to get a teaching of her own from me!" said Harry with a sneer on his face.

They continued their breakfast. Harry lifted his head and had a glance on the other tables. Luna seemed quite calm, talking to her Ravenclaw classmates. On the Slytherin table, Draco and his two thugs, Crabbe and Goyle were having a good laugh over what had happened just now. Harry lowered his head immediately looking to avoid another confrontation with Malfoy- memories of the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match was still sore. Harry had a lost of appetite after his confrontation with Professor Umbridge. He put his plate aside, with most of his food remaining untouched. He just finished his cup of pumpkin juice. He began to walk out of the hall. Hermione on the other hand, sensed Harry's moodiness and wondered to herself. Ron was still busy with his food and did not pay much attention to him.

As Harry walked towards the exit, he paused for a while. He turned and walked back to the Gryffindor table.

"Do we have Umbridge's class today?" asked Harry in a curious manner.

"Oh we are going to have tons of fun 11 am onwards. Just bite your fingernails. Move your head around and just blink your both eyes," Ron replied sarcastically.

Harry gave a slight cough before continuing, "Well, I'm not going to be there."

"You wouldn't want to do that," said Hermione, while finishing her pumpkin juice, "She would be sure to notice you missing and will come pursing you. You can't run away from it! Harry, for once a while, will you listen to me?"

Harry gave a sigh before replying, "Well, I would want to use that time, I will go to the library and finish my other homework. I better finish Snape's homework. It's time to clear up the air, instead of choking myself with that bitch. You can tell her that I have diarrhea."

He walked towards the exit from the hall, turned to the two of them again and said, "I'll see you back in the common room for dinner."

Hermione shook her head in dissatisfaction. Ron said nothing, pretending that nothing happened, while Harry stepped out of the Hall whistling to himself, glad that he had decided to bunk Umbridge's class.

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It was just a usual routine for the Defence against the Darks Art class. Everyone was reading the book Defensive Magical Theory. On the blackboard, there were words written "Chapter 17: Last Resort Spells" with a subtext "Warning: Never use it!" Professor Umbridge was reading a sheet of paper on the table. No one dared to make noise that Harry was missing in class today, yet from time to time one student or the other would throw a surreptitious glance at his empty chair and then back at Umbridge. Thus Hermione was the not only one engaging in this rather odd activity. She was unable to concentrate on the assigned reading- either is it was the fact that to her, reading that book was like reading a piece of crap and she had enough of covering it. This being her sixth round of book, or more likely it was Harry's absence which was bothering her.

No wonder I called myself Miss Perfect, she thought recalling what she said during her meet with Rita Skeeter. As noon approached the sunlight shining through the window was becoming quite glaring and the students started to become restless. Ron's left side of his face was glared by the sun shine. He tried to turn his face to the other side, but whenever he turned towards Umbridge, she would scrutinize him as if he was trying to distract the other students.

After a while, Professor Umbridge looked up from a sheet of paper at Harry's empty seat. She rose from her seat. She approached the front of the class and asked them in a loud tone.

"Has anyone seen Mr. Potter?" she asked in a perfectly honeyed voice.

There were murmurs among the students, but the murmurs faded into silence.

"Well?" asked Umbridge in a higher tone.

Still, there was no answer from any student. All of them were silent.

"Can someone tell me exactly where he is right now?" said Umbridge in a very alarming tone. Her tone got higher and higher until it sounds more of like a 7-year old girl.

Still there was no answer.

"Well, it seems like our little friend is running away. I'll find him no matter where he is hiding. He can't run away from me. If that's what Mr. Potter is indulging in then I will have to deduct...."

"Professor?" asked Hermione in a very cautious way.

"That's the spirit girl," said Umbridge triumphantly. She lowered herself down and whispered at Hermione's ear, "Now, where's Mr. Potter?"

Hermione gulped for a moment before answering. Behind, Ron gave a silent one-cut on the neck gesture at her. She ignored him and turned back to face Umbridge, "Harry has diarrhea, and he went to see Madam Pomfrey. He's having a rest."

"What do you mean by diarrhea?" asked Umbridge.

"It's the stomach's perching and discomfort due to improper food intake," replied Hermione calmly.

"I never heard of that before. I'd say that is a Muggle's meaning, right? I'll take your word for now. But, if I find you lying and trying to cover Potter's neck, you're going to be in great trouble and who knows, you could be stripped of your prefect status," Umbridge muttered in a low tone, walking back to her seat.

What Umbridge threaten could be a possibility of a grim effect to her. There could be endless number of possible results; grim results. Like parents scolding her, being expelled from Hogwarts, and the connection of friends in the magical world severed and her ambition as a witch not fulfilled, such things came flashing in her mind in an instant. She sank back to her seat, trying to gather her thoughts and trying to ditch her mind from such negative aspect of her life. She turned to Ron. Ron was showing again his innocent looking face at her. There were murmurs between Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who were sitting behind the door to this class.

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It was nearly 6 p.m. and Harry was about to see Professor Snape for his Occlumency lesson. Clutched in his right hand were sheets of parchment, which was homework given by Snape for the last 2 weeks. He had spent most the day in the library, referring to books related to Potions and Transfiguration. He felt that he had a high aptitude in the Defense against the Dark Arts. So he reasoned that he could pay less attention to it subject and pay more attention to his Transfiguration. No one knew where Harry was during Umbridge's class, except for Luna and Ginny. Luna was quite surprised over the sudden appearance of Harry in the library doing his work quite hard. Ginny did ask Harry about the sudden change in his character. Harry merely replied, "Just trying to clear all my pile of work up."

So Harry had been in the cooped up in the library all day. He'd even sacrificed his Divination lesson. He'd be sure that Professor Trelawney wouldn't bother him today as she would be pondering over her own future now that she was on probation. He had remembered during early last year when he had a pile of homework within the first two weeks into the start of Hogwarts year. He remembered the frustration, the anger and the sleeplessness from those two weeks as he struggled to keep pace with all that was going on around him. He vividly recalled being targeted with Snape's sneers and being awarded low grades for his efforts in Potions. Harry decided now that he had had enough of it and he wanted no more of it. With a newfound resolution he purposely strode towards Snape's office. He stopped right in front of the door, drawing a deep breathe he muttered to himself "Relax, relax, calm down now, calm down now, you will get through all of this in one piece." He then knocked on the door and entered.

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"Stand up, Potter."

Harry got knocked back after casting a Protego spell in an attempt to repel Snape. He got up and looked into Snape's face. Expecting the usual disdainful look from him, Harry was surprised to see Snape's white face. He was still shaking from the Harry's spell. A vision suddenly exploded in Harry's mind. There were many quick images flashed in an instant. One moment was where he had been humiliated by Dudley in primary school. Another moment was when Cho was crying over the news of Cedric's death. The third one was when Harry saw a mysterious looking girl at the lakeside. That girl was no other than Fleur, the girl he rescued during the Triwizard tournament. The fourth and the final moment, which had never happened previously suddenly flashed in his mind.

He was at the Great Hall. Students were around there. Professor Umbridge was standing at the teacher's end of the hall, and Harry was walking from the entrance to the hall. He couldn't recall what happened next but then there was a later point of the vision. In that vision, he saw himself saying something.

"I was compelled to disobey ...."

"...because of you I'm no longer...."

The vision again shifted forward to another point, something that Harry could not see clearly. It was still shrouded with darkness, and he only glimpsed in a very brief moment what happened next.

"We're here because of you, Miss Umbridge....," said Harry.

There were footsteps coming from all directions in the room. One by one, Harry turned a full circle only to see another clone of him closing in. All of them look exactly alike, including his physical features, behavior. Shocked by so many Harry's, Professor Umbridge could only moan a loud "No". She tried to run away but was restrained by the students. Umbridge tried to turn around running towards the exit. Other students were laughing at her. She kept screaming all the way and disappeared into the teacher's doorway located at the side of the teacher's table in the main hall.

The vision ended. Harry opened his eyes in an instant and saw Snape facing him directly in a crouching position.

"What happened? Tell me about the last moment."

"Something new, sir," said Harry. "It just happened unexpectedly."

"What really happened, Potter? Is it a new revelation?" asked Snape in a higher, rush tone.

"I saw many clones, or duplicates of myself. I was standing at the Great Hall, with many students. Clones of me; closing on Umbridge."

"Strange, I've never seen that in our previous lessons," said Snape in a very curious manner that Harry only experienced on certain occasions. He pointed his wand at the shards of the vase broken by Harry's counter spell. "Reparo" The vase reassembles itself into its previous state before broken. He went to the table and placed his pensive back to its proper place before turning back to Harry.

"I don't recall you using the Shield charm before. That was quite an effective measure. Potter, there may be something going on later from that vision I saw. It could be another storyline yet to be presented, hmm?" asked Snape, winking his right eye. "Well, let's try one more time, shall we?"

Harry just remained still, trying not to show any reactions that may cause displeasure to Snape. Both Snape and Harry moved towards the desk and they are about to begin again.

"Alright...one, two, Legilimens!"

Harry was almost ready when everything when black and white. Each moment that Snape saw in Harry's mind this time is all the time Harry was in Umbridge's office, alone, doing his detentions with her. There is a close-up on Harry, his hand red in color because of the cuts and the facial expression of Harry at Umbridge. He tried to back away from these awful moments.

"ENOUGH! STOP IT!"

Things went back as usual. Harry made a misstep and fell backwards. There's a sense of pain on his forehead, particularly his scar. He felt himself mentally exhausted and he wanted to give himself a short pause.

"You're not FOCUSED, Potter! Get up, slut!" yelled Snape.

They moved back to the table with Snape wanted to continue for one more try for Harry. Harry wasn't ready for the next one.

"Again, Potter. One - two-"

The sound of a chime from a grandfather's clock in the room, indicating that Harry's period here is over.

"Well, Potter. That would be enough for today. Remember, same time on Thursday. I would know that if you have not practiced or if you try to lie at me...you may go now, Potter," said Snape with a smirk on his face.

"Sir?" asked Harry.

"What now!" barked Snape.

Harry approached Snape and placed his parchments that are his Potions homework on his table. Then he began to walk towards the door of his office. He turned back to Snape.

"That's my homework for this week. I think you ought to have it as early as possible."

Snape went to his table and began reading briefly one of Harry's pages. What Harry wrote in the parchment was far more detailed, more like a professional writer's draft of a novel. He got surprised over what Harry wrote. He flipped the parchment and read the other page of Harry's assignment. He continued reading the subsequent pages of his work. Then he felt a sudden change of Harry's attitude towards the paper. He dropped the paper on his table and approached Harry in a scrutinizing manner.

"Your work surprises me, Potter. Usually you would give me a D grade essay, but this homework...this homework is more of what I would usually grade you," said Snape. "Well, let's see if you can do repeat this kind of homework. This time, it would be eighteen inches of parchment containing an essay about the Potion of Laumspur including its methods of preparation and its healing properties, by Friday evening," finished Snape with a glee.

"Ur...thank you ...sir," said Harry as he left Snape's room without looking directly at him.

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"That hag! All she's thinks of is putting everyone in her jar," said Ron as Harry stepped into the dormitory's common room. Hermione explained further the events happened at the D.A.D.A class, in Harry's absence.

The three of them discussed Harry's absence from further as they walked to the Great Hall.

"She almost went berserk, intimidating every one of us," added Hermione, "until I had to sedate her." She paused before continuing, "At least, she got minced by my words."

"I don't really care about her. Let her be. Sooner or later, I'm going hit back at her. You know, a taste of fear would be something good and it can be my sweet revenge at her. It's going to be 'Umbridge in the jar' or 'Toad feasting season', "said Harry in a breathless way.

"Dumbledore won't be very happy if the renegade boy is the one he cared so much!" exclaimed Ron.

"You are crazy. People will get nuts over what you would be doing," added Hermione.

"Hey, what I mean is that it's not yet the right time to start. Let's just wait a little longer, see what Umbridge would do next. How am I to know what she's planning next? Ron, do you remember her in Trelawney's class?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, so?"

"She's been unhappy ever since that hag comes inspecting her lessons each time. You should know the rest of it," said Harry.

"Why did you say that?" asked Ron, surprisingly.

"I think what Harry means is that he didn't expect your reaction," said Hermione. "What's your say, Harry?"

Harry sighed before replying, "Let's just go for dinner. You go first. I'll go to the toilet," He waved his hand, as if it is like dismissing them away.

"Why did you do that sign to me during Umbridge's class?" Hermione turned on Ron.

"Should it be better than saying nothing at all? Do you want to have our house points deducted some more in addition of what Snape does to us?" replied Ron.

"You, imp! Umbridge will do anything to the extreme if we didn't do something about Harry. You should be thankful that she minced my words about Harry," said Hermione.

"But I was trying to save our necks!" replied Ron

"Whose neck is more important? Yours? Mine? Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Err...err...Harry's?" said Ron in a curious voice.

"At least you're not that stupid after all. We're late for dinner. Come on," Hermione replied helplessly.

Returning from the toilet Harry turned into the corridor that extends in the Great Hall formulating his revenge plan on Umbridge. When he was suddenly confronted by the good lady herself, emerging from the stairs that led to the first floor. Harry could hear her footsteps loudly. He kept walking and after no more than a dozen of paces he heard the voice from the very lips of the hag.

"Stop right there, Mr. Potter," said Umbridge in a loud, clear voice.

Harry turned around to find Umbridge, still wearing a pink cardigan with a robe with night colors. Umbridge moved closer and approached Harry with a serious look on her face.

"I don't really understand why you are not in my class despite Miss Granger's explanation. I want to know your explanation immediately," said Umbridge with one of her eyes narrowing and still looking at his face.

"I told them already. I had stomach pain. I went to see Madam Pomfrey She gave me a potion for my pain. Convinced?"

Harry staggered as he saw Umbridge moving towards him. She used her fist, clutching his hair and shook him hard. It's just like what Uncle Vernon did after coming back from the zoo five years ago. He could remember Dudley shivering with cold after he got himself trapped in the snake's little room.

"I don't really believe you. You're lying! You don't look sick!" roared Umbridge

"I swear! I'm not lying!" shouted Harry. He calmed himself down before finishing his line. "Now, I want to have dinner now, so please do not interrupt me." He began to move away from Umbridge.

Umbridge didn't move. She just stood there, watching Harry walking to the Great Hall before interrupting him. "No. You may not, Mr. Potter. That would be a detention for you right now at my office," said Umbridge in a sweet girl's voice.

Harry was stunned by the very words of Umbridge. He didn't do anything, nothing deemed offensive. "I didn't do anything wrong. What's wrong with you, Professor?" exclaimed Harry.

"I suspect that you may be having something up in your sleeve. How do you say...tricks?" she replied in a honey-sweet voice.

"Can I have dinner first if I am to serve your detention tonight?" asked Harry.

"You WILL FOREGO you dinner and serve your detention tonight. But I can assure you that tonight's detention is not about teaching you not to tell lies. I've something that you may find it interesting this time. You should see it for yourself, Mr. Potter...I shall see you in 5 minutes. Not one step forward, Mr. Potter! Now, go to my office, NOW!"

The word "NOW" shouted by Umbridge shocked Harry to his core. It seems that there's more burden than ever compared to what he had during his last four years at Hogwarts. Year Three was his best time in Hogwarts. The recent events, which have been unfolded in the past six months had turned his world upside down, especially with the Ministry did not acknowledge his first-hand encounter with the Voldemort last year.

You can't do that! You're not going to touch me again fat toad!

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Harry had nothing to eat, as he was to serve a night's detention at Umbridge's office, even though he was convinced that he had done nothing to upset her. He was really angry over the fact that Umbridge had crossed the line of a professional's etiquette. She had crossed the limits of a teacher handling a student. She manhandled him. He couldn't believe it to himself. Over the past years in Hogwarts, no professor has ever touched a student, even to perform a gesture of insult. Not even Dumbledore, McGonagall and especially not even Professor Snape although Harry had a sense of dislike for him due to his father's frequent clashing with Snape.

I'm damn right. That's the last straw for me and that son of a bitch! I'll have your head later!

It was fortunate for him though as Ron managed to save some of the leftovers from his food for Harry. Harry could not wait longer and munched the food as fast as he can. He told them of how Umbridge restrained him from going for dinner. Ron and Hermione could not even understand why. After his food, he sat down and began doing Snape's new assignment for him. He was barely completing one half of his assignment when he fell asleep, with his head lying on the table.

The next day was one of the worst days the students from Gryffindor had ever had during Umbridge's class. Each time Hermione tried to answer a question, Professor Umbridge deducted 5 points from the house. Each time Harry tried to look at Umbridge, Umbridge was furious or even yelled "Shut up!" at him whenever he tries to ask her of something. It seems that Umbridge wanted to keep her feelings of yesterday and would want to vent her hatred at Harry. It's just exactly what Snape would do to Harry, except that Umbridge would do it at a bigger scale. To make matters worst, Umbridge made the Gryffindor students stay back at her class for an additional 4 hours to write just lines. This time, it was not about lies, but it was about following her methods of behavior and her principles. At one time, Ron and Seamus asked for early leave, but their requests were dismissed by Umbridge. She was determined to keep everyone in the room. Neville was so tired that he tried to take a nap. He eventually got detention for the night. Everyone was manhandled one by one by Umbridge. She shook their heads by clutching her hands at their necks. Unsurprisingly everyone was shocked over what had really happened. For the first time in their life at Hogwarts, someone had physically abused the students.

The ordeal finally came to an end when they were let off by Umbridge around 8.00 p.m. They went back to their common room for change of clothing and by the time they were dressed up for dinner, it was already 9 p.m. Everyone at the dining hall was eating but the Gryffindor table was only half-full, without the Fifth Year students. Everyone, including Professor Dumbledore was quite surprised of their late appearance for dinner.

By the time they were back, every Fifth year Gryffindor students was extremely furious about the way they had been treated by Umbridge. It was already 11 pm. At this time, everyone would be at the bed already, as sayings by the wise ones did mention that it is essential for a person to have an 8-hour sleep per day. But the Fifth year Gryffindors could not just sleep, for they were all fuming over their DADA class. But all they could do right now was to sit quietly in the common room and finish their homework before they fell asleep in the common room. Harry was the only person who has not gone to bed. He would use his time to do as much homework as he could. His homework has been piled up a lot, particularly after the unanticipated detention with Umbridge.

What shall I start with?

The Charms homework given by Professor Flitwick was not that much. It took him only fifteen minutes to finish a page required by Flitwick. He spent his remaining time on his unusual big work; the special assignment given by Snape; his essay on Laumspur. He placed his Potions Reference Book on his lap, dipped his quill with ink and began writing his essay. In every 15 minute intervals, he walked around for a while, before resuming his work. He would glance from the top at the common room. Everyone was asleep without changing their proper bedtime attire, exhausted from today's unexpected ordeal with Umbridge.

That's gone too far. Now it becomes personal.

He was sure that all the Gryffindors who were in the ordeal would share his feeling of discontent and anger at that old hag. What about the other members of the DA, Dumbledore's Army? Have they also suffered like Harry and his classmates? He had to be sure before he could move on. It would be best to wait for another three weeks or so as to be sure that the other students were also mistreated by Umbridge. Also, there would be another D.A meeting on Friday, three weeks from today. He would want to know more from the others of what they had from Umbridge. It would be an extraordinary meeting with the main agenda would be about telling stories about students suffering and discontent at the hands of Umbridge.

Just wait first. Plan first!

He just barely completed Snape's assignment when he checked his wristwatch. His watch showed 1 a.m. He was sleepy, gave a yawn and then drifted off to sleep. But he missed something; his Occlumency practice and Snape would not be pleased to find out if he hasn't practice it before sleep.