Harry Potter: Revolutions

Harry Potter: Revolutions

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Chapter 2: Her Mess Is My Mess

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For the next three weeks, everybody from the club known as Dumbledore's Army (also called D.A) remained at a low profile. Fearful for having to risk everyone to punishments or detentions, Hermione made them all, including Harry and Ron, sign a contract of her own design. The designed contract was a small sheet of foolscap paper, with the size of 5 inches width and 3 inches breadth. After a member had signed on the dotted line, the contract was bewitched with a Protean Charm. The charm was similar to the one Hermione had cast on Harry's special Galleon coin, with one exception. That exception was that if the paper generates heat in the pocket of a person, it means that the member was close to breaching his agreement to the contract. The D.A members were aware of having another meeting in a certain time to come. During the times before the next meeting on the next Friday, many people made and ended themselves in detentions even though the seriousness of a mistake committed by a person would be minimal to an outsider's point of view.

Most of the time, the Trio were constantly taunted by the Slytherin gang of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. The chants of 'Weasley Is Our King' always happened. Virtually, in one week, people would hear the chant over and over again for at least four hours. They were quite irked by the Malfoy. No professor intervened over this case. The chant would end with a loud squeaking laugh by Pansy Parkinson, and, at one time, an argument broke out among the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. Professor Umbridge was called in to solve the dispute. To the disappointment and the frustration of Gryffindors, they were punished by Umbridge; it seemed that Umbridge made biased decisions for Slytherins. Malfoy had the last laugh. He kept his guilt while pointing his finger of suspicion at Ron. The Ravenclaws, especially Cho and Luna had some sympathy at the Trio. By the end of February, Gryffindor had the lowest amount of house points: 230, compared to the average of 340 points for the other three houses. Some of the teachers, like Flitwick and Sprout, also shared the sympathy like Luna. In classes, both of these teachers would award Gryffindor at least 20 points under the condition that no one should tell the other teachers. That, though, did not last for that long, for Professor Snape, as usual, would deduct points from Gryffindor during Potions.

Following the aftermath of the argument between both houses, Professor McGonagall objected over Umbridge's decision. Her appeal against such harsh punishment was overruled by Umbridge. She was convinced that Malfoy gave false testimony that Umbridge presumed it to be true. The Transfiguration class on Wednesday, 10th of March did not go well for McGonagall. She had the class end thirty minutes earlier than usual, and was left alone, upset over Umbridge's decision and being frustrated over her failure to win her appeal.

The week from March 8 to March 12, 1996 was the worst week ever.

Harry, although he struggled at first, finally managed to juggle his activities. His Potions had already improved slightly, but, however, Professor Snape would grade his work somewhere within an A or an E. Harry was satisfied with his work, even though he did not get an 'O' for his recent effort. At least he would not worry about having his work being graded from a T ('troll') to a P ('Poor'). His previous assignment received a rare solid review from the Potions Master himself. On the top of the front page of the parchment, there was a circled, big 'E'. At the bottom of the parchment, there was a handwritten comment by Snape, written in a recognizable handwriting in black ink:

"Your work on Laumspur is totally different, unlike your earlier assignments that I have graded. I see that you have covered some space of improvement, but I am still skeptical over your consistency of producing a similar type of work. You have written an extraordinary report, Potter but it fell short of my standards. See me after class this Thursday and also for your remedial class."

S.S

Harry smiled to himself. For the first time ever this year he did not have the intense pressure of work that he experienced since the start of school year. He was contented with the way he was able to juggle his work like tennis balls. He was, however, angered by the way his friends were mistreated by Umbridge; how she took the words of "The Ferret Kid" so easily; how he punished the wrong people; how she put a stop to some of his teachers that he respected so much. Harry had vowed to himself to give Umbridge a taste of her own medicine. He knew that he must act as fast as possible if the D.A and Gryffindor would want to avoid further complications involving Umbridge with the toad-face woman moving around freely and calling the shots as if being the boss of a company. Sooner or later, her position as the Inquisitor of Hogwarts would exceed Dumbledore's capacity as the Headmaster. Harry gave some thought of when to have the next round of the D.A meeting. Friday evening would be a good time for everyone. Saturday would be time off for all students as sometimes there would be a Hogsmeade visit or a weekly Quidditch match at the pitch at 1500 hours on that day.

It's tempting but I'm not involved....he reminded himself. He remembered having his Firebolt locked up in Umbridge's room and, subsequently, being banned from playing for life. The term 'for life' haunted Harry every Saturday whenever he went to the Quidditch stadium to watch the other teams play.

**********************

A few minutes later, Harry made up his mind. It would be on Friday, March 19, 1996 at 2000 hours (or 8.00 p.m.). Before jumping to bed, he scribbled a message on a small sheet of paper. It read:

Hermione,

Next D.A meeting is on this Friday, March 19. Tell the others. Use this Galleon.

Harry

Before going to bed, he opened up the Marauder's Map and checked it for signs of movement of other people outside the entrance to the Gryffindor dormitory. He saw two sets of movements, represented in the form of footprints dotting over the dormitory area in the map. The first set of foot movements was Mr. Filch, with Mrs. Norris the cat. It would be the usual routine for Filch as he would make his last rounds around the castle before retiring to bed. Filch's movements would be up and left from bottom to top. That has been a common practice of moving around for inspection. Then, Harry glanced at the next set of moving footprints. On the map, the name accompanying the second set was written as:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

Umbridge? That was something unusual. It seemed that Umbridge presumed that almost everyone in Gryffindor were the nasty ones, the playing prank kids that would cause so much trouble and hassle to her. For her, it would mean more paperwork for filing. After a few minutes, Umbridge came back to the spot outside the dormitory entrance. She paused for a while before moving back to her room in the Teacher's Quarters. The paranoia has stricken Umbridge at last.

The next morning, at breakfast, Harry passed the Galleon and the small sheet of paper to Hermione. She opened the small message and started to work on the Galleon. She placed the Galleon on the bench, just next to Harry. She pointed her wand at the coin and muttered "Proteus". In an instant, the Galleon's serial numbers changed. Usually, the coin has a 10-digit serial number, but the numbers etched on the coin could be seen as:

1903199620

(When reading this number, it reads as 19 March 1996, 2000 hours)

As Ron was consuming his meal, his eyes were fixed on Hermione casting the charm on the Galleon.

"What are you both doing?" asked Ron. His mouth was full of food, and he's chewing it.

"We're having the next D.A meeting, tomorrow night," said Harry.

"I just hope that it's not just the usual practice routine," joked Ron.

"No, Ron. This time, the meeting will quite long. We need to have a very lengthy talk. It involves not only us, but everyone else," added Hermione.

"Hermione's right, Ron," Harry moved closer to Ron and continued softly. "She's gone out of control, and we need to gather testimonies."

"Testimonies? Can't you just do something simple, like putting bars on her door or something?" asked Ron. He looked curiously at Hermione.

"Ron, there's no such spell that can prevent wizards by putting bars, but I definitely know that the spell can stop Muggles though."

"I just wish that she's a Muggle, you know, like your Uncle Vernon. When Fred and George picked you up from Privet Drive three years ago, that fat man fell out of your room. That reminds me of a line from the rhyme, 'Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.'," said Ron.

"Humpty Dumpty," Harry mumbled. "How did you know this nursery rhyme?"

"Oh, when I was six. One day, we went to the zoo with Ginny and my brothers. My mum overheard someone, a woman singing a rhyme to a baby. She tried to put the baby to sleep. My mum asked her, and the woman told her of a big fat egg falling off the wall."

"That's enough of the rhyme boys! She can come down at anytime to our tables, and play dictator at us," squeaked Hermione in a low voice.

Harry chuckled. He glanced at the end of Great Hall. Umbridge was eating a big bowl of oat porridge. Her serving was far more than what Hagrid would take for each meal. Even Dumbledore or McGonagall's food serving could not match the huge amount of intake than the size Umbridge would have. Hagrid's definitely an exception because he's a half-giant and the nature of giants; lifestyle and the habitat would be different than humans.

No wonder she's fat, he thought. If she would want to go with a group of young people on a jungle trekking, she would get tired so easily. She would struggle trying to catch up with the other people. Her limbs would not take her far as she would go. Eventually, she would end up quite far behind, exhausted first than the others. Her size reminded Harry of Aunt Marge when she got inflated by his accidental magic during the summer of 1993 at the Dursley's. Harry could not contain his silent laughter; her speed would be her main weakness.

Some people may not be aware of Harry, Ron and Hermione's conversation. Each Galleon that had the Protean charm cast upon it became heated. In seconds, some students got up from their seats, digging into their pockets and fumbling for the Galleon. Those students knew the location of the meet, but the heat signature generated from each coin would mean something to them; a meeting would be held.

Ron glanced at Malfoy and his cohorts. Suddenly, Malfoy's face turned into an angry monster. He screamed, "What are you looking at, Weasel head? Turn your ass around and don't even try to smirk at me!" Ron's face turned red, enraged at Malfoy's sudden remark.

"Chill out, Ron," consoled Harry.

In one moment, everything turned silent at the Great Hall. They just continued their breakfast.

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Potions was the only subject to be conducted for fifth-years on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. All Ron and Harry had to do was survive Snape's blathering and his constant intimidation and gazing at both of them. Whenever Snape scolded one of them, the scene drew the attention of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. They would laugh, followed by the rest of the Slytherin students. Rapidly, the time melted away. Eventually, the time became 12 p.m and every student gradually left the Potions dungeon. Harry remained behind for his lesson on Occlumency with Snape.

Each time Snape tried to probe Harry's mind, he would eventually find images over and over again, overlapping each other. In one moment, Snape would see the circular chamber; the chamber where there are 4 locked doors, with blue candles illuminating the room. The next thing Snape saw in Harry's mind would be Umbridge being surrounded by Harry in numbers, each with the exact physical features of Harry. Before Snape could learn more in Harry's mind, he was knocked off by the Expelliarmus spell.

"It seems that you're always dreaming of that circular room, Potter."

"It's not that, sir. Well, maybe yes, I would say. It's just that if I had some kind of premonition." he paused slowly. "Tell me something, sir. What's that room about? I know that this room is in Department of Mysteries, but what actually lies beyond the room?"

"I am afraid that I'm not authorized to answer that, Potter."

"Is it that you know what's there or you totally do not know what's it about?"

"I told you already I'm not authorized to do so." he moved closer to Harry. His dark eyes bored into Harry and, in a calm voice, he said, "You should ask Dumbledore, Potter." Snape then got up and moved back to his table. Swiftly, he took a piece of parchment lying on his desk and approached Harry with his eyes narrowed at him. He would ask again the same question each time during his previous lessons of Occlumency, "How many other dreams about the Dark Lord have you had?"

"Yes, but it is not about You-Know-Who. It's about - " Harry paused for a while, hesitating. He had second thoughts of whether to inform Snape about Umbridge. Ultimately, he could not keep it a secret. If he would try to lie, Snape would also know the answer. The body language of a person would be enough to tell of a person's intentions if not by speech. "- Professor Umbridge. I saw her in my dreams. She's behaving in a paranoid manner."

"A clear intention on revenge, I presume? No, I'm still skeptical in believing your claim, Potter. Perhaps that was just only something imaginary. And now..."

Harry tried to find the right words to reply but before he could mutter a word, Professor Snape cut off his attempted reply. He slammed his right hand, clutching the parchment onto Harry's desk.

"... You know what to do, Potter?" Snape gave a reluctant smile on Harry.

Harry unfolded the parchment. The small parchment contained only one word.

Alether

"Oh, yes sir, I know what I'm suppose to do."

"On Monday, Potter. Remember what I told you the last time. You may go now. If you don't practice, I would know. But, still, you have made a slight improvement."

Harry nodded at Snape and closed the door as he left the dungeon.

Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were sitting on a bench in the courtyard when Harry stomped out of the corridor leading towards the Potions Dungeon. They were puzzled with the sudden change of behavior of their friend Harry. Dean was checking his work on his book. Seamus was watching Harry go away. He turned back towards Dean. Dean was not paying attention to Seamus. Seamus gave a hard pat on Dean's right shoulder. The force startled Dean.

"You just scared me out, Seamus," called Dean

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Seamus. His eyes twinkled at Dean

"You could just shake me up or call my name," said Dean, still reading his book.

"Do you know that Harry's been behaving some kind of weird over the past few weeks?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure what he's up to this time," Dean muttered in reply.

"Do you think it's something about that Snape that made him like this?"

"I don't think so. He's been trying to work hard when it comes to Snape's class, even for his remedial class. I think there's something else in his mind. It must be something to do with Umbridge. Ever since Umbridge got mad at most of us, he somewhat got disappointed. Surprisingly, he didn't show his face at either one of us," remarked Seamus.

"He's been skipping a few classes of D.A.D.A." Dean paused, "Maybe we should find out what's he up to tonight."

"Tonight? Why?" Seamus asked curiously.

"We're having a D.A meeting tonight, remember? The fake Galleon in our pocket. Does it ring any bells, Seamus?" asked Dean facing Seamus

"Right," Seamus gave a low sigh. Both of them felt a slight breeze as the wind blew from the western direction through the big lake that surrounds one half of Hogwarts. The breeze lasted for a few seconds.

****************************

The next few hours went smoothly without any unexpected event. After having dinner at 7 p.m, every student went back to the dormitories. For members of the Dumbledore's Army, they just looked at the clock nervously as the clock slowly moves toward 8 p.m.

At 8 p.m, Harry, with Ron and Hermione, left their dormitory under the Invisibility cloak. With the Marauder's Map clutched in his left hand and with Hermione's wand illuminating the map, they went out together checking for any signs of other people, especially with Filch lurking around. To Harry, it meant walking back and forth from the Room of Requirements to picking other members of the D.A from other houses like Zacharias Smith and Terry Boot. It also included going to Ravenclaw Tower and Hufflepuff's dormitory. It was something that Harry wished he did not have to do. He had been caught wandering around the castle many times, and this wasn't the first time he would do so. It wasn't until two years ago, when he had the permanent acquirement of the Marauder's Map from Lupin. The Marauder's Map was an essential tool of moving in and out of Hogwarts because of the number of secret passages and the revelation of who's who in a particular section of the map. Sadly, there was only one Map, not two, not three, and not a dozen.

What a valuable asset!

Once everyone got inside the Room of Requirements, Ginny sealed the door leading to the room shut. She also removed the body scent that surrounds the entrance to the room to prevent Mrs. Norris from detecting it. Hermione cast a Silence spell at the entire room to prevent unintentional eavesdropping. Filch or even Umbridge may accidentally overhear what can be talked beyond the panel. Everyone then got settled down. Harry moved to the middle of the room. Ginny and Hermione counted the number of people present. To Harry's surprise, one did not turn up: Marietta, Cho's partner in classes. She was the one person Cho turned to since Cedric Diggory's death less than a year ago.

"Cho, where's Marietta?" asked Harry.

"She's sick. Before I left, she complained about having fever or some unexplained sickness,"

"Do you really believe her words?"

"I doubt so. She's like kind of behaving suspiciously."

Ron intervened, "She might cause trouble here. If she keeps doing this in the next few meetings, then everything's gone, whoosh in one stroke!"

"Not now, Ron. Maybe she's just sick for today, but she may turn up next round," said Harry.

It's not right? Sneak!

Ginny exclaimed, "We're wasting time, start the meeting, Harry!"

Harry went to the middle of the room. He stood in front of the other members. Standing beside him would be Ron, Hermione and Ginny. Then he began to speak.

"Members," he hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Today, we won't do much on practicing Defense spells."

Other members gasped in surprise of Harry's announcement. They began to mutter among each other. The only person that was silent after all was Luna, standing at one corner, observing what's going on. She leaned her back at the corner of a wall, folding both her arms.

Screw them all!

"Listen up, people!" Harry's voice silenced the crowd. He continued, "The main thing here tonight is to talk about The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. I know many of you have suffered a lot at her hands. However, some people may not understand what's going on for the last three weeks. So, there will be a number of people telling things, ridiculous but true, that can convince you of Umbridge's actions. She has gone too far already and I think it's time that we put a brake to her machinations. We need to revolt."

"Are you crazy, Harry? It would mean breaking dozen of school rules!" exclaimed Zacharias Smith.

"You would put all of us in danger, Harry!" exclaimed Terry Boot.

"It would disastrous of trying to cross out Umbridge!" gasped Hannah Abbott.

Harry interrupted, "Wait! I have suffered something more than what you had suffered. I have suffered a physical permanent-lasting injury of my right hand!" He showed his right hand, where the words "I MUST NOT TELL LIES" were still visible. He gave a sigh before continuing, "Almost everyone of us now knows the truth of You-Know-Who returning. But I have been branded a liar by Umbridge. I had already seen something that she would not see. I had a swell of pity at all of you for the last three weeks. We could not resist hiding our rage and hatred of her for that long now. A few people here are willing to give an account of how they were punished by Umbridge. What can we do to save ourselves? Do nothing? Sometimes rules cannot help us to solve problems, they must be broken to do so. And I would suggest that we do something radical. We can revolt! We can do something that would scare Umbridge and drag her ass of Hogwarts! She's putting our flames out with gasoline. This means, she tends to make it bigger and much antagonizing!"

Ron then stepped forward and said in a high pitched-voice, "Don't you see that she has crossed the line already? We have no choice!"

Hermione then interrupted and gave a serious look, "Usually this is something we don't do. Obviously we would want to write testimonies, reports, but the Ministry will never believe of our claims that Umbridge had gone this bad. Everything would be history. Nothing. They would call us filthy liars instead. It would be meaningless!"

"Hermione's got a point!" screamed Seamus. Everyone turned around facing Seamus. Dean walked beside Seamus and gave a serious look, sans Hermione. Seamus continued, "At first I thought that's a lie, then again, let's face it; it's a fact already. Revolting alone is not enough."

There was murmuring among other members, louder than before. Some began to question what needs to be done more than just revolting. Before things get complicated, Harry stopped them all, facing everyone while occasionally paying attention to Seamus.

"Not got enough? Look where we've been put! Look what we asked to believe now!" balked Harry. He paused before muttering under his breath, "Not good enough."

"Things have changed," said Ron.

"Can't we just get to the point? We're wasting time here talking instead of practicing!" exclaimed Ginny.

"Enough of this charade. Let's get everyone to listen to the so called tales." said Zacharias Smith in a low voice.

"Alright. Alright. Ron, we'll start with you," said Harry. He pointed to Fred and George, saying, "Don't you ever try to make a mess out of this."

"Will do, boss." said Fred.

I doubt both you will do as I say!

Everyone gathered to form a big circle with Harry, Ron and Hermione in the middle. The stacked chairs, which were placed at one corner of the room, were used for them to sit. Then Ron began his tell-a-tale time.

******Ron********

"There's this thing...happened about two weeks ago. I went to the Owlery with Ginny. Every fortnight, I've been sending mail back home to mum. I would usually use Pigwidgeon to send mail. At that time, Pig was kind of a playful owl. His beak pricked my hand and he was hooting me constantly. Pig was trying to impress me with his owl jokes. I've never seen Pig being that cheerful before. We were quite delighted to hear that. When we left the owlery, we kept talking about Pig. We've been calling Pig, just keep it short. By the time we left the Owlery, Umbridge was making her rounds. As we turned to the corridor leading back to our dormitory, Umbridge just popped out of nowhere. She approached us and at first asked us where we came from. We told her that we came from the owlery. She asked us to repeat a phrase that we talked earlier. When I said Pig, she got angry. She thought that I'm insulting her. She must have overheard something. I tried to reason with her, saying that I'm not talking about her. She just refused to listen to our explanations. At that time, there was no one to intervene for our side. Ginny begged Umbridge to let us go. She was willing to offer an apology to Umbridge. All she got was clear no. Ginny was sent scrubbing the ladies bathroom without magic. I got sent to do cleaning at the Owlery. That seems unfair!"

"Ginny sobbed so badly shortly after she cleaned the bathroom. Her mood wasn't so good for the next few days. At times, she overheard Umbridge saying, "Those Damn Weasleys" or even other stupid phrases like "Weasley-Free" and "Embarrassing Family, Laughing Stocks". Whenever she sees Umbridge's eyes, her toad eyes glared at her as. For Ginny, it was horrifying. She had an intense dislike of us. At times, Ginny would come near me and said 'I'm so scared.' "

******************

Everyone was listening attentively to Ron's story. After Ron finished his story, Colin Creve got up from his seat and started talking again. Ginny was sniffing to herself while Ron was telling both their story. Her face turned pale and red.

******Colin*********

"I...I think all of you know that my brother and I always take pictures. I'm sure you always see both of us carrying cameras, taking pictures during our free time. Taking pictures has been our hobby since we were small. That bitch Umbridge doesn't even know the meaning of taking pictures. She thinks that taking pictures is something similar to what the Daily Prophet reporters do everyday. Ten days ago, we did some freelance photography by going around the castle. Unintentionally, Dennis shot a picture of Umbridge as she entered the main corridor facing the river. Then without word, she went straight at Dennis, and in one swift motion, she took his camera, and smashed it! The worst of all, she just ripped the negatives from his camera. She came near me and confiscated my camera. Dennis' camera costs more than my camera. He was crying to me all the time. I couldn't do anything. I tried talking to Professor McGonagall, but she lost the right to challenge Umbridge's decision. Who does she think she is? Almighty God? A boss?"

*******************

"Now everyone knows the concept of out of control," said George.

"This means they get to use our joke products," chuckled Fred.

"But Fred, its still work in progress," George thumped Fred.

"You said that most will work flawlessly at first try!" exclaimed Fred.

"Yeah, but I didn't say that the other products a total success, except for the mobile swamp," retorted George.

"Just shut up. The man himself hasn't called this meeting an end!" Fred pointed to George.

"Are we going to just listen or say something in the end?" asked George.

"Just wait, twin brother," said Fred. He took out an Extendable Ear and handed one to George, "Care to have one?"

George Weasley just shook his head.

*******************

After Colin finished his story, everyone remained silent, attentive as Hermione stepped in to tell her story.

*****Hermione*******

"As for my case, I received an unfair decision by Umbridge. I became aware after this that Umbridge is actually tone deaf. She can hear, but she thinks things the opposite. She wouldn't stop to hear the other side of a scenario. She just based her reasoning on one side, especially when it comes to Draco Malfoy making the fuss. The other day, Malfoy argued with me over prefect duties. I've already made my point clearly to Malfoy. He didn't accept it. He wasn't afraid to provoke me with the famous phrase, "Filthy Little Mudblood". He touched me, tried to take my hand. He was quite eager for a fight. Then we heard a loud voice saying, "STOP! BOTH OF YOU!

"It was Umbridge. She came to both of us. She asked Malfoy the problem and she didn't ask me. She just came near me and said, "You're in trouble, Granger. You're definitely the one bringing out the mess. That will be fifty points from Gryffindor and a night's detention with me. You will be seeing Professor McGonagall immediately!" I tried asking her to listen to my explanations, but she turned me off like she did to Harry. I was disgusted. Malfoy was laughing all the time, following Umbridge. Then I saw the four hourglasses. The number of diamonds in the Slytherin hourglass increased tremendously! You see, the guilty walked away as a free man and instead the innocent was sent to do embarrassing tasks."

********************

Hermione paused and began to sob. Harry consoled her. She sniffed to herself and was trying hard to hold back her tears dropping on her cheeks. Her eyes began to swell as if she got punched in the face. Ginny offered Hermione her seat and walked into the middle.

As time went, more people began to go to the middle, facing the crowd and started to tell their stories of punishment. How they were punished by Umbridge. After Hermione, Cho continued. She was still in a somber mood, even when relating her side of story to everyone. She could not resist the temptation to remember his boyfriend Cedric's memory. Cho was taunted most of the time by Umbridge, especially before the end of a D.A.D.A class. The way she taunted her had left her scarred emotionally. In the end, she only said this, "Please do not involve me in whatever you want me to do. I only want the satisfaction out of what you will do."

Then it was Neville's turn. He attempted to give his story from a last minute silent rehearsal that he did before his turn. Not many of them were able to understand what he said. Those who understood Neville's view believed that Umbridge knew from the beginning that his memory was notoriously poor. Thus Neville was branded a charlatan and a slight lunatic by Umbridge. Things took a bad turn when Neville was escorted to the girl's bathroom on the first floor, only to be locked up by Umbridge for 4 hours. All the time when he was there, he got constantly agitated and annoyed by the haunted presence of Moaning Myrtle. Worst of all, his wand was confiscated by Umbridge because she thought that he may attempt to escape the bathroom with an Alohomora spell should if he, by chance, could conjure the spell. Many female students complained to their respective house prefects that they were unable to use the bathroom for at least four hours or so. But they laughed hysterically and some giggled among themselves when they saw Neville coming out of the wrong bathroom.

Finally, Seamus showed up in the middle of the ring. He would balk at Umbridge for not giving a student a chance to express opinions or ask questions in a class particularly with Umbridge in it. Since the day the Education Decree Number 26 was introduced and gazette by the Ministry, teachers were not allowed to disclose whatever things that were irrelevant to the Ministry's syllabus. That also meant that questioning of the subject materials was not allowed. Instead, it was just to rule of 'you either take it or not'.

After Seamus had concluded his speech and proceeded back to the crowd gathered, everyone raised their hands in their eagerness to provide more solid stories of the evils of Umbridge. The trio had problems trying to control the sudden bickering and the huge amount of participation of other people. Hermione glanced to the left at the old grandfather's clock. The bell mechanism of the clock has already been spoiled, left unattended for many years. Yet, the clock managed to show the time, which then showed 11.10 p.m. She turned to Harry and whispered, "Shouldn't we practice now? We've been talking the whole night already."

"Okay, that's enough. We need to practice now," said Harry with a loud voice. He gave a quick smile at Hermione, who smiled at him in return before continuing. "For those who want to show more proofs of Umbridge's foul actions, don't hurry because you all have the chance to do so tomorrow. We don't have much time. We have to start practicing!"

**********************

Argus Filch still could not sleep well. The constant sound of meows from Mrs. Norris made him uncomfortable. He kept turning left and right at intervals, with his hands clutching together opposite each other. He tried curling himself up. At normal circumstances, he would be asleep already, but this occasion would not be the first time that he has to face over the many years of being the caretaker of the castle. He tried covering his ears with his pillow folded on top of his head. Mrs. Norris absolutely refused to be silent, not event for one minute.

"My dear, just give an old man a good time to sleep," he mumbled under his breath, with both of his hands still pressed on the folded pillow. The cat suddenly ceased to make noise, but for a moment. He felt slightly better and began to count sheep before sleeping again when without warning the cat meowed again, this time louder than ever.

"Will you shut up, Norris!" he screamed. Then he fell back on to his bed. His eyes still affixed on top of the dark ceiling, with moonlight illuminating from the single window in his room.

The cat still meowed loudly. It went on top of the bed and moved behind Filch while he tried sleeping, facing the wall. It touched Filch's back headfirst. Filch felt the slight touch from Mrs. Norris tingling his spine. He got frustrated then got up from his bed. His back leaned against the corner of the room and he faced Mrs. Norris. The cat got down and sprinted towards the doorway leading into the main chamber of the castle. One moment it disappeared into the darkness. Seconds later, it reappeared but it stopped before it went up to the bed.

Filch sighed. He turned around and looked into the innocent looking eyes of the cat, "You want me to out again, in the middle of the night, wandering around with you?"

As if Mrs. Norris already knew the answer, she gave an immediate nod with her head, shaking up and down as a yes to his question. Filch hesitated and froze for moment. Reluctantly, he got down from the bed and scooped Mrs. Norris with his right hand. He raised her to the face level, facing the cat and with his left index fingered directly at the cat.

He sneered. "You better have a right reason for calling me out. If not, no food for the next whole day! Breakfast, lunch and dinner, that is!"

He got out from his room at the Ground Floor and started to follow the noisemaking cat ascending a series of staircases leading to the top. Mrs. Norris apparently had sniffed a light scent that could be smelled far away. He was about to ascend the next flight of steps leading to the third floor when a heavy brown wooden door creaked open. It was Umbridge, and she, like Filch decided to take a stroll around the main castle.

"Ah, Filch. Making another round of inspection, aren't you?" she asked.

"The cat of mine asked me to go out following her. Thinks that something's suspicious coming upstairs." said Filch.

"And where will that be, my good friend?" said Umbridge with her left hand touching the surface of the wall outside her office.

Filch shrugged, glancing at the cat and then facing back at Umbridge, "I don't know. Just follow the little one up."

"Will it be alright for me to join you for a walk, Argus?" asked Umbridge with a sweet, soft voice.

"If you want to, that's no problem for me. You're welcome to join the walk. As long as you follow Mrs. Norris that is," Filch gave a sly smile.

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Dobby was somewhere on the sixth floor of the west tower. He just finished attending a little business with Winky up there. He began to descend the steps of the moving staircases leading back to the kitchen. Suddenly a screeching-like voice from below alerted him. He paused for a moment, and then he tried placing his ear on the cold marble floor but he couldn't find out the exact person's voice. He descended another flight of steps. The little elf saw three blurred moving figures. One of the figures' voice suddenly exclaimed, "There isn't anyone upstairs!"

"Oh...oh," he mumbled. Without delay he raced with all speed as far as his little legs can afford to the Fat Lady's portrait. When he reached there, the Fat Lady told him that the panel holding her portrait was opened about three hours ago. Dobby knew that Harry had gone out and there's only one place Harry Potter could go in this kind of night: The Room of Requirements. He paused and glanced from the balcony the staircase. Umbridge, Filch and Mrs. Norris were now at the fourth floor. He ran directly opposite the tapestry of Barnabas and opened the door silently without attracting attention from below.

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The members of the D.A were practicing the Patronum charms and the usual Dispelling charms. Harry was quite happy with the group's progress so far. He paired himself with Hermione while Ron paired with Luna. During the middle of practice session, the members started playing free-for-all matching. This would involve agility of a person and the ability of counterattack the enemy. Anyone can attack any other opponent as long as the Unforgivable Curses are not used. For Luna, she could not contain the laughter that she enjoyed during the session. Ron was astounded by Luna's behavior.

The practice continued on until the Ginny suddenly saw the door opened. She went to close it but Harry felt something tugging his shirt. The little elf had sneaked in. Harry wasn't aware of Dobby coming in.

"Harry Potter sir!" squeaked Dobby.

"What is it Dobby? This isn't the right time now!" said Harry in a low voice

Dobby eyes exhibit a mask of fear at Harry. He hesitated but said, "You must go. That fat woman with the cat and The Keeper - ,"

"Get to the point, Dobby!" yelled Harry, starring right at the little elf's eyes.

"- they are coming! " Dobby exclaimed. He beat his bare feet hard on the floor.

Ron overheard Dobby's words and yelled, "Everyone, stop! Run! Run!"

"Hide in the library! Or at the Owlery!" added Hermione

"Find some cover!" yelled Ginny.

"Just go and stay low. Don't come out until I give the signal to do so," ordered Harry.

Damn! Why's she coming out in the midnight?

Everyone in the Room of Requirement panicked. They ran as fast as possible out from the Room. A number of them ran into to the Owlery and lay hidden within the hay that surrounded the cement floor. Fortunately the owls in there did not pay attention to the sudden presence of people coming into the room. The other members like Cho, Luna, Terry and Zacharias ran and hid themselves in the library. Harry scooped up Dobby and left together with Ron and Hermione. He covered all of them with his Invisibility Cloak and they walked briskly to the restricted section of the library. They hid themselves outside there and covered their mouths with one of their hands to hide their breaths.

Elsewhere, as Filch was about take his first steps up on the staircase leading to the sixth floor, he heard a series of thumping sounds up there. Mrs. Norris gave a low meow, facing at Filch and Umbridge. In turn, Filch turned to Umbridge and curiously asked, "Did you hear something?"

"There must be something up there, seventh floor." That was just Umbridge's answer.

They quickened their pace and climbed the next flight of steps up to the seventh floor. The cat was ahead of Filch and Umbridge, sniffing at the marbled floor. Finally, they just stopped in front of the blanked wall. Mrs. Norris meowed one more time. Filch and Umbridge look down at floor. The floor revealed a one solid footprint. The footprint was more less the size of Filch's own feet and its direction faced the blank part of the wall

"Someone's sleepwalking here," said Filch under his breath.

Umbridge looked around the surroundings of the seventh floor. No sign of anyone around here. They then split into two. Umbridge looked in the library while Filch looked in the Owlery. Filch approached the Owlery. He paused at the doorway, looking at room's ancient walls. Unfortunately, he did not bring his lamp around. He cursed himself for not bringing it along. By hindsight, he did not see a movement beneath the hay. His eyes rolled around the surroundings of the room. He did not even enter the small antechamber to the right inside the owlery.

"No one here," he mumbled.

As Umbridge, she pushed the door to the library quite hard. The sound of the door opened startled those hiding in it. At one corner of the wall, sat the Trio, hidden in the Invisibility cloak near to the entrance of the restricted section, Umbridge moved slowly, her footsteps creaked the floor of the library. Her eyes rolled around the library. She moved to the entrance of the restricted section of the library and tried looking beyond the room through the locked windows. The door to the section was also locked. She didn't notice the hidden people underneath the tables. Some members of the D.A were hidden underneath the tables could only see the legs of Umbridge. They were quite nervous but managed maintain their silence. They watched her turning her body around from the entrance. Umbridge wandered around the main room. She was about to make another round of searching when Filch shouted from the outside.

"No one's here, Inquisitor!" he yelled.

She went out to meet Filch. Ron on the other hand tried to peek out at the surroundings by brushing aside a bit of the Invisibility Cloak. Umbridge just went out of the main library. Ron kept observing the doorway. Outside, there were still voices of Umbridge and Filch.

"Found anything unusual?" asked Umbridge.

"Nothing at all," said Filch.

As minutes went by, the sounds of both of them died down as they descended the stairs back to the lower levels. Harry let go of his hand covering Dobby's mouth.

"Just wait for a while, Hermione. Dobby, take a look and see if they have gone downstairs."

Silently, Dobby nodded to Harry. The little elf tiptoed slowly towards the entrance to check any signs remaining of Umbridge and Filch. They were gone, and so was Mrs. Norris. Dobby returned and Harry and whispered, "The woman and the keeper just left, Harry Potter."

The three of them gave a sigh of relieve. They were fortunate that they were not seen by the hag herself. If Filch was the one searching the library instead of Umbridge, the entire situation would be totally different. They could be caught on sight.

"That's a close call," said Hermione in her bated breath, gasping for air.

Count yourself lucky this time, kid!