Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003622070
Chapter 2: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003623371
Chapter 3: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003624429
Chapter 4: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003627163
Chapter 5: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003627566
Chapter 6: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003628099
Chapter 7: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003629240
Chapter 8: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003629849
Chapter 9: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003633592
Chapter 10: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003636880
Chapter 11: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003637775
Chapter 12: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003637976
Chapter 13: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003644162
Chapter 14: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003647807
Chapter 15: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003659216
Chapter 16: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003662863
Chapter 17: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003666116
Chapter 18: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003669377
Tags: @Bellatrisblack @CatsAndRoblox @Rose.gold.kiisses @MeowTasticCat
Chapter Nineteen: Dumbledore’s Army
'Its Umbridge who has been spying on you, Harry. I just know it,' said Theodore in a rage.
'She's a pain in all of our sides, but how can you be sure?' Harry asked.
‘I don’t believe in repeated coincidences, the day after we formed the group all teams are banned, Hedwig is attacked, and Pansy stayed up past midnight as if she were told to. There is no way all together they aren’t related.’
Harry thought about this as he pretended to be reading through the Dream Oracle, as long as he appeared to be working, Divination was a good class to chat without getting in trouble, and if they kept their voices down it was also a good class to not be overheard. Their private conversation was aided by the heavy downpour of rain clattering and pounding against the classroom windows.
‘And all that was just yesterday,’ said Theodore. ‘I don’t think that was the first time Umbridge tried to cause you problems, I think it was her who told Filch you were buying Dungbombs. She wanted an excuse to confiscate your mail to read it.’
‘Yeah, you’re probably right,’ said Harry quietly in a cold fury. ‘How are we supposed to communicate with our parents if we can only use code with owls, floo is to risky, and and anyone can walk in on us using the mirror?’
‘Well I plan to teach the girls that sleeping spell I know so that at the very least Pansy will sleep soundly through the night and not wake up to spy on us. As for the mirror, Tracey spent the morning looking into the Cave Inimicum Charm Sirius mentioned, if she can learn to cast it she thinks we’ll be safe the next time we use the mirror.’
They were unable to continue their conversation as they were interrupted by Professor Trelawney slamming a copy of the Oracle down on a table before sulking away.
‘Well, carry on!’ said Professor Trelawney loudly, her voice high pitched and somewhat hysterical. ‘You know what to do! Or am I such a substandard teacher that you have never learned how to open a book?’
The class stared perplexedly at her and then at each other. Harry, however, thought he knew what was the matter. As Professor Trelawney flounced back to the high-backed teacher’s chair, her magnified eyes full of angry tears, he leaned his head closer to Theodore’s and muttered, ‘I think she’s got the results of her inspection back.’
'Professor Trelawney?' said Sue Li in a hushed voice (she and Terry Boot had always rather admired Professor Trelawney). 'Is everything alright, Professor?'
'Alright!' cried Professor Trelawney in a voice throbbing with emotion. 'Certainly! I have been insulted, certainly...Insinuations have been made against me...Unfounded accusations levelled...but yes, everything is alright...'
She took a great shuddering breath and looked away from Sue, angry tears spilling from under her glasses.
'I say nothing,' she choked, 'of sixteen years’ devoted service...It has passed, apparently, unnoticed...But I shall not be insulted, no, I shall not!'
'Professor, who insulted you this greatly?' asked Terry Boot timidly.
'The establishment!' said Professor Trelawney in a deep, dramatic, wavering voice. 'Yes, those with eyes too clouded by the Mundane to See as I See, to Know as I Know...Of course, we Seers have always been feared, always persecuted...It is—alas—our fate...'
She gulped, dabbed at her wet cheeks with the end of her shawl, and then pulled a small, embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve, into which she blew her nose very hard with a sound like Peeves blowing a raspberry.
'Professor Trelawney,' said Sue, 'was the person who insulted you...was it Professor Umbridge..?'
'Do not speak to me about that woman!' cried Professor Trelawney, leaping to her feet, her beads rattling and her spectacles flashing. 'Kindly continue with your work!'
And she spent the rest of the lesson striding among them, tears still leaking from behind her glasses, muttering what sounded like threats under her breath.
'...may well choose to leave...the indignity of it...on probation...we shall see...how she dares...'
'You and Umbridge have got something in common,' Harry told Allison quietly when they met again in Charms. 'She obviously reckons Trelawney’s an old fraud too...Looks like she’s put her on probation.'
They were allowed to remain inside over break due to the down-pour outside. They found seats in a noisy and overcrowded classroom on the first floor in which Peeves was floating dreamily up near the chandelier, occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody’s head. They had barely sat down when Terence came struggling toward them through the groups of gossiping students.
'The team is reformed,' he said. 'I got permission from her!'
'Excellent!' said Allison and Harry together.
'I have to thank you, Allison,' said Terence, beaming. 'I believe it was you and Draco's letters that helped persuade her, I guess she didn't want Lucius Malfoy and Albert Runcorn as enemies. So we have practice tonight, we are behind the other teams and have to get ready for our first match on the fourth.'
He squeezed away from them, narrowly dodged an ink pellet from Peeves, which hit a nearby first year instead, and vanished from sight. Allison’s grin slipped slightly as she looked out of the window, which was now opaque with hammering rain.
'As much as I'm looking forward to flying, I don't want to fly in this storm,' she said. 'Tracey, do you know if the rain is going to become a drizzle by tonight?'
But Tracey didn't respond, she too was gazing at the window, but not as though she really saw it. Her eyes were unfocused and there was a frown on her face.
'Trace? You ok?' asked Allison, now sounding a bit concerned.
‘I guess...’ she said, still frowning at the rain-washed window. ‘I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about if what we are doing is right or not.’
Harry, Allison, and Theodore looked at each other.
‘What do you mean, if what we are doing is right or wrong?’ asked Theodore.
She turned around so she could talk to them easier.
‘Our Defense Against the Dark Arts group, back when I thought the worst that could happen was we get detention I had no doubts, but now at just a whiff at what were doing Umbridge hurt Hedwig and got Pansy to spy on us which risked your parents location, and she disband every group in the whole school and Terence just barely managed to get our team back. What if this is just the beginning, what if our DADA group hurts other students other just us, Dennis, Scarlett, Laura, and a couple others all snuck out to Hogsmeade for the meeting and Umbridge could expel them for that, and she could find other excuses to do the same to others.’
‘Tracey,’ said Harry confidently, ‘It’s just like what Padfoot said, it’s better to be expelled and able to defend ourselves than sitting in school without a clue how to fight.’
Peeves floated over them on his stomach, peashooter at the ready; automatically all four of them lifted their bags to cover their heads until he had passed.
‘That’s just it,’ said Tracey. ‘Padfoot being so on board doesn’t ease my concerns.’
‘Let’s get this straight,’ said Harry angrily, as they put their bags back on the floor, ‘Sirius agrees with us, so you don’t think we should do it anymore?’
Tracey looked tense and rather miserable. Now staring at her own hands she said, ‘Harry, I think Padfoot is a good man, but I don’t think he makes the wisest choices. Going to King’s Cross station when he was told not to, risking using the Floo network when anyone could have seen him, heck 14 years ago 12 innocent people could have had their lives spared if he didn’t decide to duel Wormtail in a crowded area in broad daylight. Padfoot thinking something is a good idea doesn’t give me the confidence that it actually is. Have you never once questioned a choice he made?’
‘Of course I haven’t!’ Harry lied as he thought of a dozen times right off the top of his head. ‘He’s got more experience than any of us and always given us great advice! Plus, if you don’t trust his word maybe trust Moony’s, he supported our group too.’
An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bell squarely in the ear. Tracey watched Katie leap to her feet and start throwing things at Peeves; it was a few moments before Tracey spoke again and it sounded as though she was choosing her words very carefully.
‘Normally I would, but he’s also been cooped up for months. I think him and Sirius might be enjoying themselves through our adventures.'
'What d’you mean, ‘living through our adventures’?' Harry retorted.
'Well...I think if this was happening while they were in school, I think all the Marauders but especially Sirius would love to form a secret society right under the Ministrie's nose...right now though neither of them can do anything, so I think it makes them more eager to encourage us to do something they might not have approved of even a year ago.'
Harry looked at Tracey in bewilderment, he just was not used to disagreeing with her as they were almost always on the same page.
Theodore, looking equally perplexed, opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the bell ringing.
The weather did not improve as the day wore on, so that at seven o’clock that evening, when Harry and Allison went down to the Quidditch pitch for practice, they were soaked through within minutes, their feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. The sky was a deep, thundery gray and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms, even if they knew the respite was only temporary.
‘Ok everyone, gather around,’ said Terence loudly, emerging from the Captain’s office. ‘Newbies, take a good look outside, games aren’t cancelled for weather so that weather outside could very easily be the weather we must fly in while facing Gryffindor. Harry, you should probably use that protection spell on your face that Davy-er-Davis taught you.’
Terence’s lightly freckled face became quite red from accidentally using his pet name for Tracey, but Harry didn’t mind, he was just glad for the reminder.
‘Right, thanks,’ said Harry. He pulled out his wand, tapped his glasses and said, ‘Impervius!’
'That might be a good idea for all of us, actually,' said Allison, and Terence nodded.
'Yes, if you think your visibility will be impaired out there, I suggest casting the spell. Now, let us get going.'
They all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their robes, shouldered their brooms, and followed Terence out of the changing rooms.
They squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains of rain were sweeping the grounds.
'Ok everyone, on my mark,' shouted Terence. 'Mark!'
Harry kicked off from the ground, spraying mud in all directions, and shot upward, the wind pulling him slightly off course. He had no idea how he was going to see the Snitch in this weather; he was having enough difficulty seeing the one Bludger with which they were practicing; a minute into the practice it almost unseated him and he had to use the Sloth Grip Roll to avoid it. Unfortunately Terence did not see this; in fact, he did not appear to be able to see anything; none of them had a clue what the others were doing. The wind was picking up; even at a distance Harry could hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rain pummeling the surface of the lake.
Terence kept them at it for nearly an hour before conceding defeat. He led his sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real conviction in his voice.
Harry started drying himself off, but stopped abruptly.
'OUCH!' he said.
He pressed the towel to his face, his eyes screwed tight with pain. The scar on his forehead had seared again, more painfully than in months.
'What’s wrong?' said Allison and Terence in sync.
Harry emerged from behind his towel; the changing room was blurred because he was not wearing his glasses; but he could still tell that their faces were turned toward him. Even Niall and Scarlett were looking at him with concern.
'Nothing,' he muttered, 'I—poked myself in the eye, that’s all...'
But he gave Allison a significant look and the two of them hung back as the rest of the team filed back outside, muffled in their cloaks, their hats pulled low over their ears.
'What really happened back there,' she asked, the moment that Terence had disappeared through the door. 'Was it your scar?'
Harry nodded.
'Wait...' white in the face, Allison strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, 'He's not—he's not nearby to us right now, is he?'
'No,' Harry muttered, sinking onto a bench and rubbing his forehead. 'He’s probably miles away. It hurt because...he’s...angry.'
Harry had not meant to say that at all, and heard the words as though a stranger had spoken them—yet he knew at once that they were true. He did not know how he knew it, but he did; Voldemort, wherever he was, whatever he was doing, was in a towering temper.
'Did it happen again?' said Allison, looking uncharacteristically nervous. 'Did you see him...in a vision?'
Harry sat quite still, staring at his feet, allowing his mind and his memory to relax in the aftermath of the pain...A confused tangle of shapes, a howling rush of voices...
'He wants something done, and it’s not happening fast enough,' he said.
Again, he felt surprised to hear the words coming out of his mouth, and yet quite certain that they were true.
'How could you...how could you know that?' she asked, simply in disbelief.
Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands, pressing down upon them with his palms. Little stars erupted in them. He felt Allison sit down on the bench beside him and knew she was staring at him.
'Is this the same as what happened last time?' asked Allison in a hushed voice. 'Last month when your scar hurt during detention with Umbridge? He was angry?'
Harry shook his head.
‘Do you just not remember?’
Harry tried thinking back to that moment. He had been looking into Umbridge’s face...His scar had hurt...and he had had that odd feeling in his stomach...a strange, leaping feeling...a happy feeling...But, of course, he had not recognized it for what it was, as he had been feeling so miserable himself...
‘No, I remember. Last time, it was because he was pleased,’ he said. ‘Really pleased. He thought...something good was going to happen. And the night before we came back to Hogwarts...’
He thought back to the moment when his scar had hurt so badly in his bedroom in Grimmauld Place.
‘He was furious...’
He looked around at Allison, who was gaping at him.
‘Well, I must say,’ she said in a sarcastic tone that seemed to be her trying to cope with the new information, ‘you now have more psychic abilities than Trelawney. Maybe you should teach Division on top of DADA.’
‘I’m not making predicting the future,’ said Harry.
‘No Harry, that isn’t what I said,’ said Allison, finally back to her stoic self. ‘Harry, I think you are reading You-Know-Who’s mind...’
‘No,’ said Harry, shaking his head. ‘It’s more like...his mood, I suppose. I’m just getting flashes of what mood he’s in...Dumbledore said something like this was happening last year...He said that when Voldemort was near me, or when he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I’m feeling it when he’s pleased too...’
There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at the building.
‘You probably should be telling someone from the Order this,’ said Allison.
‘I told Sirius last time.’
‘Then tell him and Remus about it this new one.’
‘It would be difficult,’ said Harry grimly. ‘Can’t talk about the Order in the dormitory as Crabb, Goyle, or Malfoy may walk in and tell their fathers, and if we try and wait for the common room to clear out again we’re likely to have Pansy spy on us for Umbridge.’
‘From what you three have told me, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks aren’t the only Order members...maybe you could tell Snape—‘
‘Nope!’
‘—or Dumbledore?’
‘I’ve just told you, he already knows,’ said Harry shortly, getting to his feet, taking his cloak off his peg, and swinging it around himself. ‘There’s no point telling him again.’
Allison did up the fastening of her own cloak, watching Harry thoughtfully.
‘Before your scar simply hurt, now when it hurts you’re able to get a glimpse of what You-Know-Who was doing at that very moment. I think that’s something Dumbledore would be interested in.’
Harry shrugged.
‘C’mon...we’ve still got Silencing Charms to practice...’
They hurried back through the dark grounds, sliding and stumbling up the muddy lawns, not talking. Harry was thinking hard.
What was it that Voldemort wanted done that was not happening quickly enough?
‘He’s got other plans...plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed...stuff he can only get by stealth...like a weapon. Something he didn’t have last time.’
He had not thought about those words in weeks; he had been too absorbed in what was going on at Hogwarts, too busy dwelling on the ongoing battles with Umbridge, the injustice of all the Ministry interference...But now they came back to him and made him wonder...Voldemort’s anger would make sense if he was no nearer laying hands on the weapon, whatever it was...Had the Order thwarted him, stopped him from seizing it? Where was it kept? Who had it now?
‘Silver Serpent,’ said Allison’s voice and Harry came back to his senses just in time to walk through the enchanted wall into the common room.
It appeared that Theodore and Tracey had already gone to bed, as had seemingly most of Slytherin house as the common room only had a few stragglers left. Harry was rather grateful that they were not around because he did not much want to discuss his scar hurting and have them urge him to go to Dumbledore too. Allison kept throwing him anxious glances, but Harry pulled out his Potions book and set to work to finish his essay, though he was only pretending to concentrate and, by the time that Allison said she was going to bed too, had written hardly anything.
Midnight came and went while Harry was reading and rereading a passage about the uses of scurvy grass, lovage, and sneezewort and not taking in a word of it...These plants are most efficacious in the inflaming of the brain, and are therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts, where the wizard is desirous of producing hot-headedness and recklessness...Tracey said Sirius and Remus were becoming reckless cooped up in Grimmauld Place...most efficacious in the inflaming of the brain, and are therefore much used...the Daily Prophet would think his brain was inflamed if they found out that he knew what Voldemort was feeling...therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts...confusing was the word, all right; why did he know what Voldemort was feeling? What was this weird connection between them, which Dumbledore had never been able to explain satisfactorily...where the wizard is desirous...how he would like to sleep...of producing hot-headedness...It was warm and cozy by the fire, with the lake sloshing rhythmically above him and the crackling of the flames...The book slipped from Harry’s slack grip and landed with a dull thud on the hearthrug. His head fell sideways...
He was walking once more along a windowless corridor, his footsteps echoing in the silence. As the door at the end of the passage loomed larger his heart beat fast with excitement...If he could only open it...enter beyond...He stretched out his hand...His fingertips were inches from it...’Harry Potter, sir!’
He awoke with a start. The lanterns had all been extinguished in the common room, but there was something moving close by.