Deep within the English countryside, a large mansion that oozed greed and power housed a large group of dark wizards, who were gathering to discuss their progress for recruitment and increasing their influence before their inevitable takeover of the country. This was Malfoy Manor, temporary headquarters for the remaining Death Eaters and the current residence of the Dark Lord himself. Currently, the Inner Circle of Voldemort (Lucius Malfoy, Crabe & Goyle Sr., Ben MacMillan, and Bruce Warrington) were in the throne room awaiting their Lord who will sit upon the large throne made of human bones that imposes fear and power.
"I still can't believe that Greengrass and his little weasel buddy Davis still haven't responded to our Owl's requesting a meeting to discuss marrying our sons to their daughters.", said a frustrated Warrington.
"What's worse is that they've been hanging around that Half-Blood filth Potter, according to my son. I wonder if he's courting one of them for Lady Potter?", said Montague.
Crabe Sr. whistled, "Potter certainly has good taste, they're just as beautiful as their mothers. Well, Lucius, at least your son will get the younger Greengrass, who's just as beautiful as her sister."
Lucius scoffed, "If only, Greengrass has still been consistently disregarding my attempts ever since he suddenly grew a backbone a year ago and acts like he knows something I don't. No matter, I have plans in place."
Goyle smirked, "From what I hear, Old Man Parkison cancelled the contract negotiations you set up with his son years ago for Draco to marry Pansy. In fact, I also heard she's been consorting with Potter, too. Can't imagine the Dark Lord will be happy if you lot let those girls fall into Potter's hands."
"Indeed, he wouldn't.", hissed a voice that caused all men to freeze and turn their heads.
Before them, glaring at them with burning red eyes, was the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizard of all time and the champion of Pureblood Supremacy, Lord Voldemort. His very aura commanded respect and any attempt to cross him meant death; Grindelwald may have amassed a larger army and terrorized multiple countries, but there was no question who the more dangerous man was. The snake in human skin just looked at his cowering loyalists in disgust as he moved past them and sat upon his throne, imagining a bigger one when he finally returned to his full power and conquered Britain.
He looked down at his men, who kneeled before him, and kept his glare as he ordered, "Report."
One by one, the five men reported their progress as they did every week to their lord. Nothing too out of the ordinary: Fudge was still playing the ignorant fool and the masses are blindly following him, Dumbledore and Potter were still reigned in, recruitment among wizards, witches, and creatures was still going well, though slower than he wanted and he still hasn't gotten his hands on the prophecy. The acquisition of Fenrir Greyback was a huge boon, but the talk he overheard from these men earlier was starting to drown out the rest of his thoughts.
When they finished, Voldemort spoke again, "Lucius, what was this about the Greengrass and Parkinson heiress' you mentioned before?"
Malfoy flinched, "My Lord, Lord's Greengrass and Parkinson, and that blood traitor Davis have refused to sign any betrothal contracts between their daughters and our sons…a-and the girls seem to be spending a significant amount of time with Potter at school."
Voldemort maintained a blank face, but his glare intensified at the mention of Potter, "So, more Purebloods have decided to betray our values and side with blood traitors. Normally, an example would need to be made, but those girls are too important to kill. Therefore, I believe more drastic measures will be needed to make sure those girls and their fathers understand the place in the world. Best of all, I will strike at Potter's heart and mind. Write to your sons tonight, I have an assignment for them, their first as my newest Death Eaters."
The men looked confused, and Lucius asked, "What kind of mission, My Lord?"
Voldemort smiled for the first time as a cold sense of dread fell all over the country.
Harry was walking toward the Forbidden Forest, after delivering letters to Sirius and his wives as he did every few weeks with the help of Hedwig, to check out the creatures that he saw pulling the carriages when he returned to Hogwarts. He asked Helga about them, and she said they were called Thestrals, creatures that could only be seen by people who have known and seen death. Rowena then told him that the reason he could see them now was because he now understood death in a way other people did not, since he in essence already died himself. Upon reaching the nest, he saw his new friend Luna Lovegood feeding the Thestrals, while his other good friend Su Li was petting one.
Without even turning around, Luna said, "Hello, Harry Potter."
Su swerved and squeaked out an embarrassed, "Harry, what are you doing here!?"
Harry chuckled, "Sorry, Su, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just curious about the Thestrals."
Su blushed, "Oh, I didn't know you could see them. They're very beautiful creatures and I wish everyone could see them, but not because of the reason I can."
Harry gave her a sympathetic look, "So you've known someone who's died?"
Su nodded solemnly, "My grandmother, she was my idol and mentor, a brilliant scientist and witch and who paved the way for witches of future generations. She always encouraged me to learn as much as I could, she even showed me a book about Thestrals, which is how I learned about them. A few years ago, she suffered a stroke, and I sat there in the hospital with her for days, just watching her deteriorate, but she told me not be sad and she was even happy to learn about the 'Next Big Adventure.'"
Harry put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. She would be really proud of you."
Su wiped away a stray tear and smiled at him, "Thank you."
Harry nodded and Luna spoke up, "It was my mum for me, she was an extraordinary witch, and she liked to experiment a lot. One day, one of her spells went wrong. I was nine."
Harry nodded understandingly, "I'm sorry, Luna."
Luna gave him a small smile, "It's not all bad, I've still got dad. We both believe you, by the way. That He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back and the Ministry is actively trying to silence you and Dumbledore in the Prophet. If you ever want to tell your side, Harry, you can always come to me and my father will publish an article in our magazine, The Quibbler."
Harry was surprised slightly, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. And thanks for believing me, you're one of the few that do."
Su grabbed his hands with hers and said, "I believe you too, Harry. I know you and you would never lie about this. I'm with you, you're not alone in any of this. That's probably what Voldemort wants, because if you're all alone, then you've already lost."
Harry smiled genuinely and kissed her hands, "Thank you, Su."
Luna smiled at the scene, having already seen a similar scene with an older Su and Harry, as well as a few other girls, in the not-too-distant future and she happily awaited the moment when her two friends realized their love for each other.
An hour later, Harry entered the Great Hall after parting with Su and Luna and saw that Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott were sitting by themselves at the currently desolate Hufflepuff table eating lunch. He had spent time with Susan and Hannah since they returned, mainly to check in on Hannah, and she seemed to be getting better. He decided to spend lunch with them instead of dealing with the Gryffindors either glaring at him or running away in fear, there shouldn't be a problem with no teachers around.
Harry walked towards Susan and tapped her shoulder, "Can I join you?"
Susan looked up and smiled wide, "Harry, of course you can."
Hannah nodded and Harry sat, "So how have you two been?"
"Pretty good, classes are going well, except Umbridge's and Ernie hasn't been bothering us, yet. Though, he has been giving us angry and lustful looks.", Susan said.
Hannah nodded, "Try not to worry, though, Harry. I don't think he's going to try anything while we're in school, not with Sprout and McGonagall watching him like a hawk."
Harry sighed, "Ok, if you're sure that he won't try anything. I swear I'm going to deck that arsehole if he tries anything again. Has Umbridge been giving you two a hard time?"
Susan shrugged, "No more than everyone else, I think she's a lot more hesitant towards me because of Auntie. Lord knows she won't put up with Umbridge's punishment methods."
Harry sneered at the mention of that, he found out a few weeks ago that a few of the Gryffindors had been physically hurt when Umbridge used a blood quill on them. He was about to march towards her office when Pansy stopped him, she told him that was exactly what Umbridge wanted and why she targeted Tracey and the others. She told him to trust her as she apparently had some sort of plan, one that would take time and planning. He was very much against such an idea, especially since Tracey got hurt, but his Slytherin friends eventually wore him down with their argument; that, and he knew nothing would be done about Umbridge anyway with Fudge still in power.
"Don't remind me, I can't believe no one is doing anything.", he said.
Hannah sighed sadly, "The professors can't actually do anything since it's not technically illegal, since several schools like Durmstrang still use such practices, still immoral and wrong, though. I doubt the parents know, but the Ministry could easily cover it up long before they see their kids again. No, she won't be stopped unless concrete proof is made public, or she does something illegal."
Harry rubbed his temples, "Pansy said the same thing, doesn't mean I have I have to like it."
Susan nodded, "I'm more concerned about our OWL's for now, and Voldemort plotting whatever scheme he's got cooking. Without learning defensive magic, we'll never stand a chance, bodies will drop like flies…it'll be the war all over again."
Harry didn't say anything, but just put his hand over hers and gave her a smile. She gave a grateful nod and tried to hide her blush. Her feelings for Harry just continued to grow the more they spent time together, but she knew there were other girls and she assumed that he would likely never notice her. Harry, meanwhile, was thinking about how beautiful Susan and the other girls had become over the summer and a small part of him was growing more and more attached to them emotionally. He sook those thoughts away, he had his wives and didn't need anyone else, even some amazing women.
Their thoughts were stopped when they heard arguing coming from directly outside the hall, causing all conversations to cease and everyone got up to see what was going on. Harry and his two friends were surprised to see the usually calm McGonagall publicly chastising a fellow teacher, but considering it was Umbridge, they couldn't blame her.
"I'm sorry, professor, but what exactly are you insinuating?", Umbridge asked annoyed.
McGonagall gave a cold glare, "I'm merely requesting that when it comes to my students, you conform to the prescribed disciplinary procedures."
Umbridge scoffed, "How silly of me, but it sounds like you are questioning my authority in my own classroom, Minerva."
McGonagall got in her face, "Not at all, Deloros, merely your Dark Age methods."
Umbridge actually looked aghast, "I'm sorry, dear, but to question my practices, is to question the Ministry and by extension, the Minister himself. I am a tolerant woman, but I will stand for neither disloyalty nor disrespect, from anyone."
McGonagall gave a humorless chuckle, "Disloyalty? Disrespect?"
Umbridge finally addressed the students, "Things at Hogwarts, are far worse than I feared. Even those of you who come from a more respectable background have shown to be disobedient and rude and that must change now. Cornelius will want to take immediate action in order to ensure any and all undesirable influences are gotten rid of."
With that, and a final glare sent to Harry and McGonagall, the toad walked away, and an extremely agitated McGonagall dismissed the students. Hannah looked nervously at Harry.
"Things are going to change tomorrow, aren't they?", she asked.
Harry nodded, "Yes, and no good will come of it."
"Having revolutionized Defense Against the Dark Arts, Senior Undersecretary Deloros Jane Umbridge will now have the power to vastly improve the seriously falling standards of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Those were the comments posted by Fudge in the Prophet a few weeks ago when the Ministry officially enacted Educational Decree #23, which made Umbridge High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. This gave her power over all the students outside of her classroom as she could now change all discipline methods, end fraternization between students, cut down their free time, mandate their appearances, and could suspend or expel any student. Even the teachers were muzzled since she not only had full control over their curriculums, but she could also sack them whenever she felt like. Although, he did silently enjoy watching Snape get humiliated and talked down to for a change, but his joy didn't last long.
He may have hated Divination during Third Year and found Trelawney mad as a hatter, but she wasn't a bad person and actually seemed to believe him that Voldemort returned, so she didn't deserve to have Umbridge sack her in front of the entire school. Luckily, Dumbledore bothered to make an appearance and told her that, even though she could dismiss his teachers and cut their courses, she couldn't banish them from the grounds so long as he remained Headmaster. Harry sighed to himself as he exited the Gryffindor Quidditch locker room, wondering just how the hell he was going to fix all this crap or if he should.
He was on the Pitch when Katie sauntered up to him, "Penny for your thoughts, Harry?"
Harry shook his head, "It's nothing…Katie, if you had the power to end Umbridge's reign of terror, but by doing so, you greatly increase the risk toward your loved ones, would you do it?"
Katie tilted her head, "I honestly don't know, my family means the world to me and I'm not sure I would risk their safety just to make my life easier. But, at the same time, aren't we supposed to be brave and take risks in order to better other people's lives as Gryffindors. What do I know, though? I'm just a coward?"
Harry frowned at that, "Katie, you're not a coward, I already told you, Angie, and Alicia that I forgive you. Don't be too hard on yourself, ok? And thanks for the advice."
Katie smiled, "No problem, remember we're here for you now."
Harry nodded and the two made their way over to the rest of the team, but they were caught off guard by the Slytherin team also being there when they shouldn't. He looked over to see Umbridge and McGonagall arguing with each other again with Snape wisely standing there silent, but Harry ignored them for now and went up to support his team.
Draco noticed him first, "Potter, please inform your lovely captain to get off our Pitch."
Harry ignored and asked Angelina, "What's going on here?"
Angelina looked angry and sad at the same time as she said, "Umbridge is giving away our practice time to the Slytherin team in order to help our betters."
Harry snarled, "We've had this practice time for decades, as per the agreement between the four houses. You can't change it now, especially because of your so-called blood supremacy."
Warrington smiled cruelly, "Oh, we are your betters, Potter, and soon enough the whole country will understand this. Especially, your beautiful female companions like your teammates, Bones and Abbott, and of course, our fellow Slytherins who you've been trying to steal from us."
Montague laughed, "Yeah, Potter, didn't mummy ever teach you not steal other people's toys? Oh wait, I forgot the Mudblood whore was dead before you could walk."
Whatever was left of Harry's self-control and cool head was shot with those two sentences, insult Harry all you want but you make threats towards his loved ones and insult his mother, you pay the price. Harry didn't have his wand, so he went old school and sent a flying right fist into Warrington's jaw (likely dislocating it) and then tackled Montague to the ground and started wailing on him. The Weasley twins, Fred & George, pulled Harry off and held him back while the professors finally came over.
"So, you finally show your true colors, eh Potter? 100 points from Gryffindor and you'll finally be serving detention with me, Mr. Potter.", shrieked Umbridge.
Alicia glared at her, "Those tossers called us their property and Harry's mum a whore."
McGonagall looked aghast and Snape actually looked furious, but Umbridge just scoffed, "I hardly doubt boys from upstanding backgrounds would ever want to consider girls like you their property, besides I saw Potter attack first. Do you deny this?"
No one spoke and Umbridge continued, "That's what I thought, and since his rebellious streak seems to be influencing all of you as well, an example must be made. Mr. Potter is hereby banned from Quidditch indefinitely."
Looks of outrage and protests came from the Gryffindor team and McGonagall, but Umbridge just silenced them with similar punishment before dismissing them and allowing the Slytherins to stay and practice. The Gryffindors would now be forced to practice less during the season during either the crack of dawn or midnights. The only Slytherins that could not practice were Warrington and Montague, who had to make their way to the hospital wing as Madame Pomphrey fixed them up.
"I'll get Potter back for this, I swear it.", snarled Warrington.
Montague nodded then smirked, "Didn't you read your father's Owl this morning, mine was quite illuminating."
Warrington looked confused, until he opened his bag and read his father's letter and grinned evilly, "Well, looks like it will be a Halloween to remember. Ha-ha."
Harry and the Chaser Trio were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, all of them tired and infuriated at Umbridge's latest blow to their morale. The girls wanted to go up to the toad's office and blast her off the Astronomy Tower, but Harry calmed them down. To make matters worse, Fudge was currently on the radio accusing that all these recent disappearances and killings were being committed by Sirius. Harry, in order to release his pent-up anger, sent a blasting curse at the radio, surprising the girls.
Angelina raised an eyebrow, "You ok there, Harry? I figured you'd be happy their hot on Black's trail. We heard he's responsible for selling out your parents to You-Know-Who."
Harry sighed, he decided that with Umbridge and his other enemies becoming bolder, he needed more people he could trust and these three have proven their loyalty over the last two months. He decided to tell them one of his close guarded secrets, the truth about Sirius and his relation to him. He wouldn't tell them or anyone other than his wives all of his secrets, but this was a good point of trust. Eventually, Harry had explained all that had happened during his third year, minus the bit about the time turner, and that Sirius was hiding in the old Black family townhouse.
Katie's jaw was on the floor, "Holy fuck, Harry, and you mean to tell me that was one of your tame adventures!?"
Alicia nodded along, "We're never letting you out of our sight again…Sweet Jesus."
Anglina just sighed, "It means a lot that you trusted us enough to explain everything, we know there's probably more, but we know you'll tell us when you're ready."
Harry smiled, "Thanks girls, you three have stood by me since the start of the year when no one else in the house would and, despite all that happened between us last year, I like to believe we have become closer than ever. You three mean a lot to me."
The three girls blushed and a new, but familiar voice entered the conversation, "Well, Harry, I'm really starting to think that you might be better at getting women than me or your old man."
Harry and the others turned and saw a familiar face in the fireplace as he exclaimed, "Sirius! What are you doing here?"
"Answering your letter, Tonks, Ms. Clearwater and Ms. Delacour were worried when you mentioned all that Umbridge had it out for you. What's she doing? Teaching to kill Half-Breeds?", the old dog asked.
Harry shook his head, "She's not letting us use magic at all, not for practice to pass our OWL's or how to defend ourselves. She's even begun changing the curriculum for our other classes, it's like she's taking over the entire school."
Sirius sighed exasperated, "Well, I'm not surprised. Latest intelligence shows that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."
Katie scoffed, "Combat? What does that nutter think we're doing, forming a wizard army?"
Sirius nodded, "That's exactly what he thinks, Ms.…?"
Katie smiled, "Katie Bell, Mr. Black. And this is Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet."
Sirius nodded, "Well, Ms. Bell, like I said, you couldn't be more right about Fudge and his paranoia. The others…wouldn't want me to tell you this, Harry, but things are aren't going well at all with our 'group'. Fudge is blocking the truth at every turn and making our jobs harder, not to mention these disappearances, it all points to one thing. Voldemort is on the move, and it looks like you're on your own for now."
As Sirius vanished, the girls just looked at Harry nervously and Harry himself was just tired of it all. It was now clearer to him than ever, he needed to better prepare himself for the future. That meant harsher training and becoming more proactive in his search for the Horcruxes, since his research has yet to reveal anything. However, he realized that his friends were likely in imminent danger, especially with Umbridge and the Death Eater spawn in the castle; therefore, more drastic measures might have to be taken to protect them. If Umbridge and Voldemort want to take over his friends, family, and school, then he would make them strong enough to handle anything that sought to hurt them and take back what was theirs and earn their freedom.
Harry looked at the trio, "Guys, do you think I would be a good teacher?"