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braveclementine · 4 months

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Chapter 28

Warnings: Mentions of love making, 18+ readers only

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

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𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖞 things that Umbridge needed to take care of after Fred and George had left. For one thing, upstairs was a very large swamp that they had created themselves. Umbridge had tried to get rid of it with no success and neither Flitwick nor McGonagall seemed very eager to try it out themselves.

Then there were the broom shaped holes in Umbridge's office door. Filch had replaced the door and Harry's broom was moved down into a dungeon to be guarded by a security troll. Bloody waste of time in my opinion.

There were also rebellious students who seemed to be trying to out-do each other for the vacant position of trouble-makers-in-chief. A niffler was put in Umbridge's office. The office was ripped apart, looking for shiny things and when Umbridge entered the room, the niffler leapt upon her hand to get to her shiny rings.

There were also dungbombs and stink pellets dropped in the corridors and people were producing bubble-head charms on themselves before going out so that they didn't have to breathe in the foul air.

Filch was now always prowling the corridors with a whip in his hand. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him as nearly every student had turned into a troublemaker but weird things were starting to happen to them. For instance, I knew for a fact that Lee was the one who had given Pansy Parkinson (much to Hermione's delight) antlers so that she had to miss a whole day of classes.

I had my art pad out frequently now, drawing everything. I had done two drawings of Pany Parkinson and her antlers and had posted it on a wall in the Great Hall so that everyone who came down to breakfast the next morning laughed at it. Pansy was extremely angry, and attempted to set it on fire. I'd put an protective spell on it however and the spell rebounded, catching her robes on fire. Professor Snape gave me a legitimate detention for that one. And then he'd punished me and I had been unable to sit down without wincing for two days.

No regrets though.

And of course, there were the Skiving Snackboxes. They were only used during Umbridge's class of course. Us students told her that we had Umbridge-itis and I spent a half hour in her class, striding up the aisles of the desk, trying hard not to laugh and telling the students in my class about it.

"A very dangerous disease of course." I said, walking past Susan who had her face in her hands, laughing hysterically. I had to pause carefully in between sentences as I was close to bursting into laughter myself. "Umbridge-itis has four different symptoms: Fainting, vomiting, dangerously high fevers, and bloody noses. The best way to avoid these symptoms is to stay far away from an Umbridge. An Umbridge," I stated, now walking past Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias who had tears of laughter in their eyes. "Is something that looks like a midgit and only wears pink. Looks a bit like a human toad and has a false, sweet voice."

Needless to say, Umbridge was not as amused as the students and I got three weeks worth of detention. However, the story of what I'd said spread throughout the school and soon, everyone was telling her that they had Umbridge-itis. I was also awarded twenty points to Hufflepuff by Professor McGonagall for performing a simple vanishing spell.

But no one, and I mean no one, caused more trouble than Peeves. He upended tables, shattered vases, knocked over statues, burst out of blackboards, shut Mrs. Norris up in a suit of armor twice, juggled burning torches over heads of screaming students, toppled neatly stacked parchment out of windows, flooded the second floor by pulled the taps off the handles in the bathroom, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the Great Hall during breakfast and whenever he was bored, spent hours floating above Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke, making the kids collapse into giggles.

The staff did absolutely nothing to help her- except Filch. Harry, Susan, and I were standing in a corridor, watching peeves unscrew a crystal chandelier, and then watched as Professor McGonagall walked by. "It unscrews the other way." she muttered, walking on and the three of us looked at each other in amazement and laughed. Then we hit the floor as the chandelier crashed, sending bits of crystal, metal, and glass our way.

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. Umbridge was finding anything to put me in detention for- though at this point, I was really starting to deserve it. I'd created fliers about Umbridge-itis, posting them on the boards and walls and had neat little stacks of brochures for people to read. She'd told Filch to whip me whenever he saw me, so I'd taken to avoiding him as much as possible. I did have a couple whip marks on my back though, when I didn't watch out carefully enough. I wasn't the only one either- Filch seemed especially vindictive towards the Gryffindors.

Severus was a bit enraged about me being so proactive against her. "You're going to get hurt." He said as we were laying in bed after we'd finished making love. "And I mean really hurt- not cutting words into your hand or whip marks. . ." his fingers traced over a fading scar. He'd done some magic so that they wouldn't be permanent.

"I'm going to be fine." I said, smiling up at him and then kissing his cheek. "Besides, this is fun."

He groaned but said nothing more on the subject, running his fingers absentmindedly up and down my thigh before he finally fell asleep.

There was one last Quidditch match coming up which was Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin. I asked Severus in a teasing voice about who he hoped would win. He made an incoherent noise and ran his lips over my breasts. I supposed it was answer enough.

The Slytherin and Hufflepuff tensions were high and I noticed that I seemed to have an extraordinary amount of homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts class and no homework for any other class- including potions.

The day of the Quidditch match, our nerves had reached a certain height. I was pacing back and forth, my firebolt standing up by the door.

"We're going to win this." I said in a small voice, looking at everyone. "We are the best team here. And. . . and we're going to do this, not to show Umbridge, but to honor Cedric's memory."

"This one's for Cedric." Malcolm said in a strong voice.

"For Cedric." We all said.

We all stood up, holding our brooms over our shoulder. We walked onto the pitch, all stony faced. I shook hands with a replacement Captain for Montague who was still in the hospital. He was crying to crush my fingers but I didn't react. I remained emotionless.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and we all flew upwards. Draco was keeping on my tail and I was doing my best to ignore him. I kept my eyes open, scanning for the snitch as I continued to fly around. Heidi scored.

"Give it up Kane!" Draco hissed somewhere to my right. "You can't win this and you know it. Cedirc couldn't have won this either. . ."

So he was going to tell me about Cedric now, was he? I dove. Draco rushed after me and I kept my eyes determinedly on a spot on the pitch. Draco was concentrating on where I was looking, not realizing that I was actually feinting. At the very last second before I was going to crash, I pulled up neatly. Draco on the other hand, crashed, and I sped back up, grinning victoriously.

"And Kane uses Krum's signature move Wronski Feint against Slytherin's seeker. Nice play Elizabeth!" Lee shouted from the speakers box. He wasn't being as fun as before- mostly because Fred and George had left. I winked at him as I sped by.

I was high enough that I could see Harry, Hermione, and Ron with Hagrid by his hut, going into the forest. I dodged a bludger and took off south. We were up forty points. I saw the snitch on the other side of the pitch and I streaked towards it. Draco was back on his broom zooming after me.

Suddenly, one of the Slytherin Chasers slammed into me from the ride side and I slipped off the broom. I tightened my legs so that I was hanging fifty feet in the air by my legs. There were screams and gasps from the crowd as I let go with my legs, throwing a hand up to catch the broom and then pulled myself up and taking off again.

The snitch had been lost, Draco had been gloating to much to catch it. I was thankful for that of course. Malcolm took a bludger to the stomach at that moment and was out of the game. Heidi and Zacharias immediately started scoring goal after goal with a furious intensity that was unrivaled. Our beaters were fiercely knocking Slytherins off their brooms too.

I dodged another bludger and then caught sight of the snitch. It was almost like fate, darting in front of Umbridge's effing nose. (Not literally, just close by the teacher's stand).

Draco was on the other side of the field and I zoomed towards the teacher stands, grinning. Umbridge fell back in fear, perhaps thinking I was attacking her, and I grabbed the snitch, holding it up triumphantly.

Lee was laughing at Umbridge and I grabbed the microphone and shouted into it, "That- was for Cedric!" And then I raced back to the ground where the other Hufflepuff team members flew down to meet me and we were all hugging. I was so joyful that I couldn't stop smiling. We were all smiling and half of us were crying too. We'd won the Cup! Hufflepuff hadn't won the cup in forever since Slytherin had had it nearly nine years in a row until Gryffindor had won two years ago.

The other Hufflepuffs were streaming out onto the Quidditch grounds, jumping and down in excitement. We were pushed up to where Professor Umbridge was waiting with the Quidditch Cup. She looked so pissed at having to give me the Quidditch Cup. It was trembling in her hands and I held out my hand for it.

She gritted her teeth and then Professor Sprout took it from her hands and handed it to me. "I'm glad such a worthy team got the Cup Miss Kane." She was beaming, looking extremely happy. I grinned back. Professor Umbridge looked like she had eaten a lemon. Severus looked quite proud too, hiding it in his eyes where only I could see it.

We headed back to the castle as a team. I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing by the doors. They smiled as I passed by, waving the Quidditch Cup up.

Back in the Hufflepuff Common room, we threw a party with food, drinks, and dancing. It was very much like the party that Gryffindor had thrown when they'd won the cup.

We had a picture of Cedric on a desk with candles around him like an altar. This win was for Cedric. Around one in the morning everyone went to bed. I stayed up a little later, looking at Cedric's photo and picked it up in my hands.

His smiling face grinned back at me and winked. I smiled weakly. "I miss you." I said, tears coming to my eyes. "A lot." I guess I was wishing the photo would talk back- sometimes they did. But Cedric's photo wasn't charmed that way and he just beamed up at me and then gave me a thumbs up.

I put the photo back down on the table and pulled out some parchment.

We won the Quidditch Cup Dad. Guess I'm not a bad Captain after all. I think Cedric would be proud- the win was for him.

I didn't write anything else. I turned into a cat, picking the note up in my mouth and headed out so that I could go spend the night with Severus.

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𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I went outside to study.

"We have a lot to tell you." Ron said as we sat down.

"I already know." I said, taking out my Transfiguration book. "Hagrid brought back his baby brother Grawp and wants us to teach him English."

"Pretty much." Hermione said.

"Bloody hell." I muttered. "Do you know how dangerous that is? I swear this more dangerous than Norbert or Aragog."

"He hasn't been sacked yet." Ron pointed out.

"But he will be." I muttered and then sighed, "I suppose we'll have to, won't we?"

"We did promise." Hermione said reluctantly.

I sighed. "Well, we'll deal with it when the time comes then" and I opened up my Transfiguration book and started to read.

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"𝕳𝖔𝖜 𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖞 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖘 d'you think you're doing a day?" Ernie demanded me as I entered the common room a few days later.

I looked at him amused. "About six or seven."

"I'm doing eight." Ernie said, puffing out his chest and I rolled my eyes. "Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day. Eight's my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. I did nine and-"

"Ernie." I said, amused. "You know you're going to do fine, right? Calm down."

"You don't seem stressed at all!" Susan said grumpily from a chair near the unlit fireplace.

"Of course I'm stressed." I said shrugging my shoulders. "I just don't show it." Right, more like I got all my stress out at night with Severus.

"I'm going to fail!" Hannah said hysterically, her eyes glazed over, staring blankly at the potions textbook in front of her.

"Calm down Hannah." I said, smiling. "You're going to do fine, just keep your head and don't freak out, alright?"

"Eliza!" Rose called from across the common room and I left the others to go to her.

"What's up Rose?" I asked, sitting down with her and her first-year friends.

"Will you help me with my lessons?" She asked, her tiny hands holding our her textbook.

"Of course!" I said brightly, taking the book from her and testing her on the different terms, definitions, and incantations. I also helped her with practicals, practicing the spells of my own first-year exams which had consisted of dancing pineapples and pretty snuffboxes.

I was also still trying to get Harry to close his mind for Occlumency but he was not improving. I was starting to get nervous. If I didn't get him to close his mind then what could happen? I knew what could happen- Harry could get lured somewhere.

I had to confiscate multiple different products that were being sold by the older students to the fifth-years before they were bought. I knew a majority of them were fake and some of them were dangerous. For example, dragon claw would boost your brain, but having to much exposure to the item could actually make you stupider than you really were.

During Herbology, Professor Sprout had the Hufflepuffs stay back and handed out exam schedules and details of the procedures.

"As you can see, your O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory exams in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night. Now," She said, looking around the greenhouse, "I must warn you that the most stringent Anti-Cheating Charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembrall's, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs, and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbor at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that will not be anybody in Hufflepuff. Our new- headmistress- has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely- because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the- headmistress's- new takeover at the school. . . However, instead of potentially risking your futures to destroy her career, it would be better advised to do your best."

Ernie shot his hand up into the air and Professor Sprout called on him, "When should we expect our results?"

"Some time in July." I answered without thinking and then blushed and said, "Sorry Professor!" The class laughed.

"It's quite fine Miss Kane. Yes, some time in July your exam results will come out Mr. Macmillan."

All houses would be taking the tests together instead of separately. Of course, times would vary once it got to the elective classes. But for every student, the written Charms exam was on Monday.

At Dinner, Hermione kept diving into her bag to check another fact in a book instead of eating.

"You really ought to eat Hermione or you're not going to be able to sleep tonight." Ron said, sticking another piece of steak into his mouth. I took a sip of pumpkin juice and then Hermione sat up and dropped her fork on her plate.

"Oh, my goodness. Is that them? Is that the examiners?" Hermione asked, so faint with anxiety she wasn't even Englishing properly.

"Are those the examiners?" I corrected her but while Harry chuckled, Hermione completely ignored me. Improper grammar annoyed the crap out of me.

"Shall we go and have a closer look?" Ron asked. We got up from our seats and hastened towards the entrance hall and we slowed down to walk behind the examiners.

"Journey was fine, journey was fine!" The little witch standing next to Umbridge was shouting. I supposed she was deaf. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" And she peered around the hall excitedly. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"

"None at all." Umbridge said, shooting an ugly look at us but didn't bother saying anything. I supposed she wouldn't even insult a werewolf brat in front of the testing instructors. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough. . ."

"I doubt it!" The tiny witch shouted, drawing looks from passing students. "not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know. . . Examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did N.E.W.T.s. . . Did things with a wand I'd never seen before. . ."

So she was like one hundred and fifty years old then. Cause Dumbledore was like one hundred and twenty years (I would assume). Then I tried to think logically about how old he actually was and couldn't come up with a number. Yes, he had to be 113 cause he was born in 1881, so he was at least over 100. . . Good lord! Then how old was McGonagall? 75 years old?

I was reeling with these facts. Holy Crap, my Professors were so old. . . but you had to admire her. After all, McGonagall certainly didn't look 75 and she definitely didn't act like it either. Then again, Dumbledore didn't act like he was 113 either.

I spent Sunday night in Severus' room, reading my Charms book while he played absentmindedly with my hair and occasionally kissing me. When I finally laid the Charms book aside, he asked, "What did you look so shocked about when you came in?"

"I just realized today that Dumbledore is about 113 years old and Professor McGonagall is 75 years old." I said honestly, laying the book on his side table. "It just took me back a bit."

"I'm old too." Severus said softly and I thought I heard a note of sadness in his voice and I propped myself up on my elbows to look at him questioningly.

"No you're not." I argued. "You're nowhere near 75!"

"I'm in my thirties." He whispered. "That's double your age."

I gritted my teeth. "Don't play the pity game Severus. I love you and you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Even if I die twenty years before you?" Severus asked and I realized that this conversation was going to more serious than I'd expected.

I sat up, letting the blankets fall from my naked body, extremely angry now. "You're regretting your decision, aren't you?"

"No!" He said quickly, sitting up too and I quickly looked away from his abs and just stared down. "I don't, Elizabeth. I'm sorry. I just don't want you to regret marrying someone as old as me."

"I don't regret a damn thing!" I said angrily.

Severus appraised me for a second and then I was so angry that I pushed him down on the bed and kissed him fiercely. There was an energy in me that I'd never felt before. I moved my lips down to his throat and bit, a bit harder than I meant to and he gasped.

He rolled over, slamming me down onto the bed and slid in so roughly that I gasped too. I dug my nails into his back as he moved faster and faster. I kept my mouth closed tight so that I didn't shriek. I wasn't in pain either, it felt so good. We were both breathing extremely hard, and small sounds escaped both our mouths. This. . . this was perfection.

His hands clutched at my body, his lips and teeth caressing my skin. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer to me. His hand traveled downwards, circling my clit, speeding up his hard, solid thrusts as I came over and over again.

There was something that I happened near the end too that had never happened before. It was nearly the highest point of our time together. His teeth bit me on the breast when it happened, it seemed like a jerk reaction. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened as I gasped, staring up at him.

He grinned, wiping away liquid from his chest. "Well I must've done really good to make you squirt love."

I blushed. "I- is that a good thing?"

Severus chuckled, pulling me close to his chest now that we were both cleaned up. He wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. "Of course love. It's a natural reaction."

With the reassurance that my body hadn't done anything wrong, I snuggled into him tightly and fell fast asleep.

When I woke up, I distracted myself by my nerves by observing the hickey on my breast now. "Sorry." Severus muttered sleepily, coming up behind me and observing us in the mirror. "You caught me by surprise."

I turned and saw he had one on his neck too and I touched it, "I meant that one." He grinned, kissing me on the lips. I saw the nail marks on his back then and I winced, "I didn't mean to do that though." I said, lightly touching the bruises. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, they'll be easy to cover up, this however-" he touched the hickey on his neck. "-that'll be a bit harder."

"Sorry." I repeated, not feeling all that sorry.

"You just need to learn to control yourself. You're just like a little kitten." he said mildly. I threw his shirt at him and pointed to the hickey on my breast.

"You're one to talk!"

He grinned, sweeping me into his arms to kiss my neck.

It was already eight-thirty and the exams started at nine-thirty and I needed to get up to the Great Hall for breakfast but Severus wasn't very keen to let me go. "It's to early, just stay here until your exams start." He mumbled, wrestling me back into bed.

I laughed as he kissed me repeatedly. "Sev, I need to eat!" And so he reluctantly let me up. I kissed him on the cheek and hurried up the stairs and into the Great Hall to eat.

I sat down at the Hufflepuff table and scarfed down a quick breakfast and then waited for the test to start. My heart was pounding and my nerves were being stretched thin. Oh I was going to fail. . . I was going to fail!

My heart settled down a bit once the exam started and I saw that the questions were a bit easier than I had thought they would be. I zoomed through them, knowing that I'd answered every single one of them correctly.

In the afternoon was the practical's for Charms where I made an eggcup do cartwheels and then levitated a wine glass. I had to perform the Color-change charm on a rat, trying to turn it orange, and then use the Growth Charm on a plant. Unfortunately, I think my rat was more golden than orange but it still looked orange enough I was sure I'd get most of my points.

I went to the library after that to study for Transfiguration. I figured that if all the tests- both written and practical- were like this I was going to get 'Outstandings' on everything. . . except Astronomy. That ticked me off. So I threw my Transfiguration book back in my bag and pulled out the Astronomy book.

I went back to the common room at nine, still studying Astronomy. The next day, the Transfiguration test went just easily as Charms. I was vanished my owl perfectly during practical's.

Then Herbology was on Wednesday and I planted the Fanged Geranium perfectly. Well, there was a smile nip on my ear but other than that, it couldn't have gone better.

Of course, I thought everything was going perfectly but I knew that I was probably going to fail everything if I thought like that. So, most of the time, I just doubted myself and tried to figure out all the things that I'd done wrong.

On Thursday, we had Defense Against the Dark Arts which I was sure went well. The most pleasing incident was doing all the jinxes, hexes, and counterspells perfectly in front of Umbitches nose. As expected, the fifth-years that hadn't been part of D.A. had a much harder time performing their spells. Some of them couldn't perform them at all, throwing panicked looks at Umbridge who was overseeing everything.

There was just the faintest of smiles on her lips when they did that. It made me want to accidentally miss the object in front of me and hex her instead.

I heard later that Harry got bonus points for producing a patronus. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't had the chance to get bonus points but I figured it was no good crying over spilled milk. I focused even harder on Astronomy.

On Friday, Hermione and I went to Ancient Runes which I found was much more difficult than the other exams and immediately regretted not studying beforehand.

"How were the runes?" Ron asked as we came in through the Gryffindor portrait. Hermione wanted me to test her for Arithmancy.

"I mistranslated 'ehwaz'. It means 'partnership,' not 'defense', I mixed it up with 'eihwaz.' Hermione said. I was a bit surprised, I knew I hadn't missed that question at least. It had been one of the easier questions. Of course, the spellings were so similar for some of the runes that you had to re-read the questions a couple of times.

"Ah, well, that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get-" Ron started stupidly.

"Oh shut up, it could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another niffler in Umbridge's office, I don't know how they got it through that new window, but we just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off- by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg-"

"Good!" Harry and Ron said together but I shook my head.

"It is not good! She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!" Hermione said heatedly.

Harry looked out the window and then said, "He's teaching at the moment, she can't blame him."

"Oh, you're so naïve sometimes, Harry, you really think Umbridge will wait for proof?" Hermione said and seeming to forget that I was there to test her, she swept off for the girls' dormitory. I shook my head standing up.

"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl." Ron said fondly, pushing his queen forward on the chess board.

Potions was Monday and I studied for the exam Saturday and Sunday in Severus' room. I didn't leave the room except to eat and go to the bathroom. Of course, Severus was quite happy with this and helped me study between having some fun of his own. Sometimes he acted like such a teenager.

Of course, his mood when he was teaching or in the presence of Gryffindors and his mood when he was with me was so different that I always had to take a moment and wonder if he was being controlled. He was always so cold in class, emotionless, almost cruel. . . and with me. . . well it was a totally different side that no one had ever seen. I doubted anyone had seen how sweet, loving, and kind he could be when he wanted to. Only I had ever seen that side of him. . . and perhaps, at one point, mum had seen it too.

The exam on Monday for Potions went well. The written exam was a bit difficult, but the brewing process was at a good difficulty level for our class.

Tuesday was Care of Magical Creatures and I was determined to do well just to show Professor Umbridge that Hagrid was a good teacher. Of course, I wondered why Hagrid even put up with being a teacher. Third-year, Draco had ruined his class with Buckbeak. Fourth-year, Rita Skeeter had written horrible stories about him, and now this year Umbridge was extremely close to sacking him.

The Care of Magical Creatures exam went well. First was to find the knarl hidden among hedgehogs. The trick was to use milk because knarls would spit furiously, thinking you were trying to give them poison. Then you had to handle a Bowtruckle correctly, then clean and care for a fire-crab without getting burned, and lastly provided a selection of food that would be given to a sick unicorn to help it get better. I privately thought it was the easiest exam I had taken. Well no, Third-year Care of Magical Creatures exam was the easiest one.

The Astronomy sitting exam was Wednesday morning. My studying all week for it had certainly paid off because for what felt like the first time, I knew the answers to the questions.

Divination was in the afternoon. I was supposed to look in the crystal ball, tell a prediction by tea leaves, and then read the palm of the examiner.

My crystal ball and tea-leaves went smoothly. For the crystal ball, I said that I was foreseeing Kingsley Shacklebolt becoming Minister of Magic in three years. For the tea leaves, I said that Professor Umbridge would be taken by a herd of Centaurs. For the palm reading, I had a bit of difficulty because I didn't really see anything about the future with my examiner and finished off saying that they were going to die in about twenty-four years.

I was starting to think I should drop the subject. I knew Ron and Harry were going to. I froze on the stairs however, and Ernie and Susan stopped walking, looking back at me curiously. "What'd you see?" Ernie asked quickly.

I was watching Hagrid being attacked tonight and Professor McGonagall trying to help him out. "Oh dear." I whispered.

"What is it?" Susan asked urgently.

"Umbridge is going to go after Hagrid tonight during our Astronomy exam." I whispered. "They're not going to sack him, they're going to try and arrest him."

"They can't do that!" Ernie said indignantly.

"Well they're going to." I said breathlessly. "I need. . . I need to figure out how to stop it, excuse me." I rushed past them, leaving them on the stairs and hurrying to Professor McGonagall's office.

I quickly recounted what I'd seen and said, "You really shouldn't go and save him, you'll get hurt!"

Professor McGonagall's face was stony. "I'm forewarned now Miss Kane. Just do well on your Astronomy exam, okay? I'd like you to get a perfect set of O.W.L.s."

I had no choice but to leave her office, feeling horrible. I did as she had instructed however and pulled out my astronomy book and compared it to a practice exam. My mind felt terribly numb and I took a quick nap in the Hufflepuff common room before dinner.

I headed up to the Astronomy tower with a sinking stomach and heavy feet. Ernie and Susan were walking with me, saying nothing, just watching my face. I got a telescope between Ernie and Hermione.

My hands were shaking as Professor Marchbanks started the exam. I looked through the telescope and quickly wrote down what I saw, drawing, and trying to keep in mind the things that Firenze, Sinistra, and Trelawney had taught me.

I was two-thirds of the way done when I looked down, writing a note on my parchment and saw Umbridge strolling across the ground, about five or six people following after her. I quickly looked through the telescope again, trying to ignore her. I saw Ernie give me the swiftest of looks and I shook my head slightly. Eighty percent done. Come on. . .

I heard the distant noise of a fist hammering on a door and my stomach lurched. Oh Merlin's beard. . . I could hear Fang barking like mad.

I pressed my eye to the telescope again, marking the position of Venus and labeling it on the map.

There, my map was done. I quickly doubled checked everything and then heard a distant roar from far away that rang all the way up to the Astronomy tower. I flinched. No, this constellation was drawn wrong. I shakily erased the little bit and then redid it.

"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls." Professor Tofty said softly. I noticed Hermione was still staring down at Hagrid's cabin. "Ahem- twenty minutes to go." Hermione jerked back to her star chart.

There was a BANG from the grounds and people muttered "Ouch!" as they ducked out from underneath their telescopes.

Hagrid's door had burst open now and there were red lights shooting towards him, they were trying to stun him.

"No!" Hermione and I cried together. I had the strangest urge to jump off the Astronomy tower the way that I had when Professor Quirrell had cornered me in my first-year and go and help Hagrid.

"My dears! This is an examination!" Professor Tofty said in a strangled voice but no one was looking at their charts anymore.

The voices were carrying all the way up to the Astronomy tower, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!"

"Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!" Hagrid shouted. I wondered if Kingsley was down there and I'd made up my mind.

There were screams as I jumped from the Astronomy tower. I had my wand out, my face set in grim determination. I waved my wand, stopping my fall and then landed on my feet and raced towards Hagrid's cabin. I saw light behind me and knew that Professor McGonagall had exited the castle.

"How dare you!" Professor McGonagall shouted, not seeing me to her left. "How dare you! Leave him alone! Alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such an attack!" Her wand was out, and blocked the stuns that were sent her way. But it was four different people and she stumbled back.

My wand was out and I sent stunning spells towards them with as much force as I could muster. I did notice that Kingsley was in the back, blending in nicely with the background. I pretended not to notice him. Why was everyone I loved turning out not to be the people I thought they were? Lupin was a coward, Kingsley was a monster, Sirius was a jerk, James was inconsiderate, and Lily had hated James.

And then, Professor McGonagall noticed me and was distracted enough that four stunning spells hit her. I felt horrible but continued to send my spells towards them.

"You're going to be expelled Kane!" Umbridge shouted at me. I noticed Kingsley was hesitating.

"COWARDS! RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT- AN' THAT-"

I was a bit surprised as Hagrid collapsed two of the attackers. Hagrid slung Fang's stunned body over his shoulders and hurried into the forest. Kingsley waved his wand and everyone collapsed except me and him. He hurried over to where I was standing and pushed me out of sight of the Astronomy Tower.

"What the hell are you doing down here?" He asked. I'd never seen Kingsley angry before. His accent mixed in with his words.

"Why the hell did you attack him?" I asked furiously. "You're supposed to be a good person!"

"I have a part to play, Elizabeth. I'm going to erase their memories. They need to forget that you were here. Your dad-"

"Yeah well my dad's never exactly who he's says he is either. Guess I should get used to the people I love being the people they aren't." I shoved his arm away and hurried over to where Professor McGonagall was. Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick were hurrying out of the castle now, Professor Sprout was emerging from the greenhouses.

"Get inside Miss Kane." Professor Flitwick said, for once his squeaky voice wasn't very cheerful. I stormed over to the Astronomy tower and used a propulsion charm to propel myself up, grabbing the edge of the tower and pulling myself up.

Parvati and Lavender were in tears, worried about Professor McGonagall. The Hufflepuffs were staring at me with shock. The examiners rebuked me for the crazy stunt that I had done. Remembering that Kingsley was going to erase the others memories down below, I performed the swiftest memory charm on the two examiners, removing only the scene of me jumping from the Astronomy tower. . . hopefully.

We all trooped down the stairs. Hermione was shaking with rage, though it was nothing compared to my anger. "That evil woman! Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!"

"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's." Ernie said, squeezing into our group.

"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" Ron asked though he looked alarmed. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"

"His giant blood." I muttered.

"Poor Professor McGonagall. . ." Hermione said. "Four stunners straight in the chest and she's not exactly young, is she?"

I shook my head. "She'll be lucky if she's still alive by tomorrow morning."

"Dreadful, dreadful, well, I'm off to bed. . . 'Night, all. . . Elizabeth, aren't you coming?" Ernie asked pompously.

"I'll be back in a minute." I promised and hurried with Hermione, Harry, and Ron to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione's eyes were full of tears and I felt like crying myself.

We found that the commotion had awoken many people in the common room and now most of the group was up. Seamus and Dean had arrived ahead of us and had recounted the story in detail so there were many eyes on me and Lee said, "I heard you pulled some ninja warrior stunts Elizabeth?"

I smiled grimly and dropped it immediately.

"Why sack Hagrid now?" Angelina asked. "It's not like Trelawney, he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"

"Umbridge hates part-humans." Hermione said bitterly, sitting down in an arm chair. "She was always going to try and get Hagrid out. Look at Elizabeth- her father's a werewolf and Umbridge has been trying to take everything from her."

I wished people would stop always bringing me up.

"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in her office." Katie piped up.

"Oh blimey." Lee said. "It's me's been putting the nifflers in her office, Fred and George left me a couple, I've been levitating them in through her window..."

"She'd have sacked him anyway, he was too close to Dumbledore." Dean pointed out.

"That's true." Harry said, sinking into an armchair.

"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right." Lavender said tearfully. Everyones eyes flickered over to me.

"They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window." Colin said. "She didn't look very well. . ."

Everyones eyes were still on me and I sighed and closed my eyes. There, they were transporting her to St. Mungo's. . . she'd stay there all term. . . come back with a cane in hand. . . I opened my eyes, "She'll live. They're going to transport her to St. Mungo's in the morning. Madam Pomfrey says it's lucky she's not dead. She'll be back before the end of the year is out though. Oooh I hope Umbridge gets punished for this!"

Not likely though if everyone was like Kingsley.

I knew that it would be four in the morning before the common room cleared but I left anyways, hurrying to Professor Snape's bedroom. He was sitting up at his desk, doing something and slammed it down when he came in. "Oh, it's just you."

"I can come back." I mumbled sleepily. To be honest, I believed that if I went back to the Hufflepuff dorm I would probably fall asleep there.

"No." Severus said, standing up and coming over to turn off the light. "Come on sleepy head."

I lay there for a few moments, feeling absolutely horrible. Tears leaked out of my eyes and spilled over my cheeks. I shifted my head so that the tears wouldn't drop onto Severus' chest because I knew then he'd know I was crying.

"She's going to be okay." Severus said suddenly and I realized that he knew I was crying.

"I know." I said thickly. "I. . . I said some really horrible things to Kingsley though. . ."

"Yes, he pulled me aside and told me." Severus said lightly. "I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to though when you say your dad isn't who you thought he was."

I was silent for a moment and then said, "Nearly everyone I love. . . none of them are who I thought they were. Dad, Lupin- he's a coward. Kinsley's a monster. James was arrogant. Mum was decent but she hated James. . . it wasn't the romantic, love at first sight I thought it was. And Sirius is a jerk too."

Severus didn't speak for so long I nearly fell asleep and then he said so softly I barely caught his words, "You're wrong, you know."

"About what?" I asked, feeling snappish.

"Kingsley isn't a monster. He has a role to play. He can't just go against the Minister, he'd lose his job. I mean. . . what do you think I'm doing Elizabeth? I have to play two sides as well! And your dad, Lupin, I mean, he's not a coward. I don't even know where you got that idea-"

"He said it himself." I muttered. "Harry and I snuck into Umbridge's office. Harry wanted to speak to Sirius about James after he saw the -er- memory. He said he never believed he would feel sorry for you- he's not exactly proud of his -our- dad anymore. But Lupin. . . he said that he never had the guts to stand up to them and tell them to lay off you. And I saw it in the memory too. . . he did nothing, just like a coward." I finished this off extremely bitter.

"You know." Severus said lightly. "You're judging Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily all based on what you saw when they- we- were teenagers. Your dad isn't a coward, Lily really did... she really did love James. And James became less arrogant -towards others anyways- when he got older. I'd say Sirius is still a bit of a jerk, but that's a biased opinion."

I laughed weakly and said, "You're right, I know that I just. . ."

Severus kissed me and said, "Get some sleep. You have exams in the morning."

I squirmed until I was warm enough and comfortable enough, my head resting in the crook of his arm and I fell asleep quickly.

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𝕳𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞 𝖔𝖋 𝕸𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖈 was to be taken the next afternoon and I slept in so that I could be refreshed enough for the test. It was being held just slightly later than the other exams so that we could get an adequate amount of sleep since we'd had our practical astronomy last night. So instead of being held at nine-thirty, it was held at two o'clock. But I still had Magical Theory at one o'clock, whic I hadn't studied for as I had been to preoccupied with Astronomy.

A lot of the students looked tired when I went in for lunch around 12:17. I'd pretty much woken up 10 minutes before 12 o'clock- alone in the room because Severus had been teaching a second-year potions class.

I sat down at the Hufflepuff table and Susan, Ernie, and some of the other Hufflepuffs asked me what was going to happen to Professor McGonagall. I told them what I'd foreseen and told them to keep quiet about it.

I went into the Magical Theory classroom for the exam with about maybe thirty something other students. The exam went smoothly, though I wasn't as sure about my answers as I had been with my other exams.

Then we came back to the Great Hall for the exam around two and settled into our seats. I took the exam and worked through the questions methodically. A lot of them were about the goblin rebellions that Professor Binns had taught about. Of course, dates and names were hard to get straight and I had a horrible memory for dates, so I worked much slower on this exam.

There were also much easier questions surrounding the statue of secrecy and also the confederation of warlocks and many other questions that I knew. I answered the questions about the Werewolf registration act with ease, a bit of a smirk on my face.

I finished writing up the last question and set the exam aside. And then, a vision popped into my head. I kept my mouth shut so that I didn't gasp as I watched Voldemort somewhere in the Ministry of magic, torturing Sirius. My hand clenched around my desk. If I was seeing this. . .

I shook my head and looked back at Harry and saw that he had fallen to the floor and he was starting to writhe, clutching his scar.

"Professor Marchbanks!" I called and pointed to where Harry lay. Professor Tofty quickly hurried over while Professor Marchbanks continued to survey us, though her eyes jumped nervously to where Harry lay. Professor Tofty led Harry out of the room and I looked at where Hermione was sitting.

I quickly turned back around and looked into the vision more. Was Sirius there? But how? Kreacher maybe? No. . . we were going to arrive at the Ministry. . . it was going to be a trap. I felt strangely relieved. And then. . . the Order would show up to save us. . . and. . . Sirius would die!

I felt my heart sink. Harry had seen the same thing. Would he listen to me if I told him it was a trap? If I told him that Sirius wasn't actually there? But how could I prove it? I'd told Harry and Ron and Hermione visions before and they didn't believe me. They didn't believe me about Professor Quirrell. . . though granted they didn't know about my visions then. But they wouldn't believe me in our third-year that Sirius was innocent or that he wasn't after Harry and they had known about my visions then!

I barely noticed when Professor Marchbanks dismissed us until Hermione was practically pulling me out of my seat. I blinked and jumped up with the others and left with them.

We hurried up the marble staircase where we saw Harry flying down the staircase towards us. "Come with me, I've got to tell you something. . ." Harry said quickly and I shook my head but followed him along the first-floor corridor until we found an empty room.

"Voldemort's got Sirius." Harry said.

"No he doesn't." I said softly. "Harry-"

"Yes he does!" Harry snapped at me.

"No he doesn't!" I argued, heat rising to my cheeks. "I saw what's going to happen! Voldemort is taking advantage of your connection. He showed you a false memory. He created the memory for you! When we get to London- but we're not- it'll be a trap. You are the only one who can get what Voldemort wants. We'll get there, there will be no Sirius, the Order will come to save us and then, that's when Sirius finally gets there and Bellatrix Lestrange kills him. So yes, Sirius will die, but only if we go to London."

Harry was shaking his head. "You don't understand!"

"Oh?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. "And what don't I understand?"

"Sirius wasn't the only person there!" Harry said.

I frowned. "No, it was only Voldemort and Sirius."

Harry shook his head and then said, "Elizabeth, he's got Trang too."

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braveclementine · 4 months

Text

Chapter 27

Warnings: Mentions of nudity

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------------------By Order of-----------------

The Ministry of Magic Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-nine. Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge MINISTER OF MAGIC

This was an insulting decree of course considering that Professor McGonagall- as deputy Headmistress- should have taken over.

"Dumbledore will be back before long." Ernie said as Ernie, Hannah, Susan, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I were walking from Herbology. Harry had been recounting the story from his point of view which was a bit more descriptive than mine had been. I'd never been good with details. "They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to to this time. The Fat Friar told me that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her. Apparently she had a right little tantrum. . ."

I laughed out loud. "Amazing!"

"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office. Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old-"

"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?" Malfoy asked. "Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." He drawled out, looking maliciously at me.

"It's only teachers that can dock points from Houses, Malfoy." Hermione said.

"Yeah, we're prefects too, remember?" Ron snarled.

"I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King, but members of the Inquisitional Squad-"

"The what?" Hermione asked darkly.

"The Inquisitional Squad, Granger." Draco pointed to a second badge that was underneath his prefect one. It was silver with the letter I on it. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points. . . So, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new headmistress, five for contradicting me as well. . . Five because I don't like you Potter. . . Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that. . . Macmillan, five for talking about our headmistress as well. . . oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood Granger, so ten for that. . . and Kane, your not expelled and your a werewolf brat so 15 points for that." He ignored Susan and Hannah whom he didn't seem to be able to find a punishment for.

Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione pushed it away, whispering, "Don't!"

"Wise move, Granger. New Head, new times. . . Be good now, Potty. . . Weasel King. . ." Draco said and moved away with Crabbe and Goyle following him.

I snorted, "'Select group of students'. They're probably all Death Eaters."

"He was bluffing." Harry said, "He can't be allowed to dock points."

"It would completely undermine the prefect system." I agreed, "But look. . ." I pointed to where the house points were. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been tied for second this morning, Hufflepuff in first. Now, Hufflepuff had dropped to second, Ravenclaw in first, and Gryffindor in third.

"Noticed, have you?" Fred's voice said. We all looked over at him.

"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points!" Harry said furiously.

"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break." George said.

"What do you mean, 'tried'?" Ron asked quickly.

"He never managed to get all the words out due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor." Fred said and I laughed.

"But you'll get into terrible trouble!" Hermione gasped.

"Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him. . ." Fred said coolly. "Anyway. . . we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" I asked with a grin.

"Course we have." George said. "Never been expelled, have we?"

"Good point." I muttered.

"We've always known where to draw the line." Fred agreed.

"We might have put a toe across it occasionally." George corrected.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem." Fred continued.

"But now?" Ron asked.

"Well now-" George said.

"- what with Dumbledore gone-" Fred continued.

"-we reckon a bit of mayhem-"

"- is exactly what our dear new Head deserves."

"You mustn't! You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you." Hermione whispered, looking around.

"You don't get it, Hermione, do you? We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So anyway, phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it." Fred said, smiling around at all of us.

"Anything to do with what?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"You'll see, run along now." George said.

He and Fred turned to walk away. I hesitated and then ran after them and called, "Fred!"

Fred turned and I said, "It's going to go great!"

Then I turned and ran back into the Great Hall. I sat down at the Gryffindor table and to my surprise, Susan and Hannah sat down with us. I saw Filch was taking Harry with him. "Where's Ernie?" I asked.

"He went to the library to do transfiguration homework." Susan said. "I think he wants to be as far away from whatever the Weasley twins are going to do."

"What are they going to do?" Hermione asked nervously.

I grinned mischievously. "Why would I spoil the surprise?"

We quickly bolted down lunch and then, there was a large BOOM. Many students in the Great Hall looked around but Hermione, Ron, Susan, Hannah, and I all jumped to our feet and sprinted out the door. I led them to the first floor and we stared in amazement. It was much better than the visions.

There were Dragons that were made up of green-and-gold sparks, flying up and down the corridors emitting fiery blasts. There were pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameters, whizzing around the corridors like saw blades. Rockets were bouncing off walls and sparklers were writing swearwords in midair. Firecrackers were sounding like mine explosions. Every so often, a firework raced after a student and they would run, screaming their heads off.

Umbridge showed up a moment later along with Filch and then Harry appeared behind her too. There were a handful of students that were observing the fireworks and I noted that some of them were escaping out into the rest of the rest of the school.

"Hurry, Filch, hurry! They'll be all over the school unless we do something- Stupefy!" Umbridge shouted as the dragons started down the door she'd just come through.

A jet of red light shot toward a firework which exploded with a much larger force, shaking dust from the ceiling.

"Don't stun them, Filch!" Umbridge shouted angrily as though Filch was the one who'd made the suggestion.

"Right you are, Headmistress!" Filch said and grabbed a broom to swat at them. The broom head caught on fire. Ron was roaring with laughter and even Hermione looked pleased.

"Try vanishing them!" I shouted towards Umbridge and then ducked behind a column. I supposed she tried just that because the fireworks suddenly multiplied by ten. "Come on." I said to the others. "We're going to be late for class."

We hurried away to our separate classes. We rushed into potions, nearly two minutes late. Professor Snape looked up as did the other students.

I sat down in my seat. Suddenly however, a bunch of firecrackers came hopping into the room, exploding. The students looked at Professor Snape, wondering how'd he react and also trying to keep their eyes on the firecrackers so they didn't explode near them.

"Right!" Professor Snape shouted over the bangs, "Firecrackers and Potions don't mix. Class dismissed."

The entire class rushed from the room as a firecracker exploded against a cauldron. I dove to the floor so that I didn't get in the way of the explosion. I felt Severus hands helping me to my feet and dragging me over to where his office was.

"And now-" He said, hungrily against my throat. "We have about an hour and a half together."

"Good." I murmured as he started unbuttoning the front of my shirt, his mouth moving from my lips to my neck. We didn't even make it to the bed.

Umbridge spent the entire day, running around to the summons of the other teachers who didn't seem to be able to get rid of the fireworks alone. And considering the fireworks were making such a distraction, it was hilarious that none of the teachers seemed to care about them.

Professor McGonagall for instance watched a dragon firework fly around her classroom and then said sardonically, "Dear, dear. Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were walking up to Gryffindor Tower when we watched a tottering, sweaty-faced Professor Umbridge come out of Professor Flitwick's office.

"Thank you so much, Professor! I could have gotten rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority..." he said in his squeaky voice, and beaming, he slammed the door in her face. We quickly hurried passed her and then burst into laughter as we neared the portrait.

I congratulated Fred and George on their fireworks and wrote my name down on an order sheet and gave them 20 galleons for my order. I knew one day I was going to use it and it would be worth it.

Since I knew Umbridge was going to be exhausted from the long day, I headed back to Severus' office. He was already laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling and he smiled warmly when he saw me. "Couldn't get enough this afternoon?" He asked, jokingly.

I blushed, locking the door behind me on instinct. "I just wanted to spend the night with you." I climbed into bed and he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

I was dreaming about walking down a corridor, a plain black door at the end. I reached the door, opening it and stepped inside. I was now in a circular room lined with doors and I walked towards the one in front of me. It opened too. I was in a long, rectangular room full of an odd, mechanical clicking and there were dancing lights on the walls. There was another door at the end of this room too.

"Wake up!" A worried voice said. I bolted straight up. Severus had shaken me awake again. I felt pale and clammy and my clothes were sticking to me.

I gasped for breath and swung my legs out of the bed, standing up. I felt disgusting and I needed a shower.

"Are you alright?" He asked, still sitting on the bed.

"No." I protested, my cheeks going red. "I feel disgusting. I need to go take a shower."

He sighed, pulling me into his arms again. "The shower can wait for a few more hours."

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around for a clock.

"3:43." He whispered.

"At least let me change clothes." I mumbled back. "I feel disgusting in these sweaty clothes."

He let me up and I tore them off, still feeling clammy and sweaty. How embarrassing! It was just my luck that it had happened tonight! Severus was tapping the bed with his wand and then stood up, coming over to me and tapped me with his wand too. I immediately felt better, much cooler.

"You don't need clothes." He whispered and I laid back down in the bed. The sheets and comforter were much, much cooler. It felt so much better and I laid my head on his chest like a pillow.

"Thank you." I mumbled, holding myself to him for comfort. One of his hands wrapped around my waist, holding me to him.

"Anything for you." he said softly, stroking my hair and that was the last thing that I felt.

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𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝕴 𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙 back the next night, he was absolutely livid. His face was white, his lips pulled back thin as Professor McGonagall's. I froze. "Er-" I racked my brain and then realized that Harry would have been here tonight. What had happened?

I tried to concentrate on the future and then found what I was looking for. So, tonight Harry had gone into the pensieve. Oh dear. I looked further into the memory and was able to see what he had seen. It was a memory of Snape as a boy. And Wormtail and Sirius were there too. Sirius was extremely handsome. Lupin and Dad were there too. I watched the memory through Harry's eyes as James flipped Severus upside down. And mum had come too, yelling at James to let him down, asking what Severus had ever done to him. All because Sirius had said he was bored. And Dad- Lupin- just sitting there under the tree, reading a book. And Severus calling mum a Mud-blood.

"Elizabeth?"

I looked up at Severus. I didn't know how long I'd been standing in the doorway but I realized that there were tears falling from my eyes. I quickly wiped them away, turning from him.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong?" He asked, turning me back to face him.

"I- I saw what Harry saw." I said reluctantly, watching his face turn white again. "The scene by the lake with dad and mum and Lupin. . . I. . . you were always right. . . dad was always arrogant. . ."

I felt horrible and I wished I'd never looked into that future bit. I sat down in the chair, looking at the floor. "And then Lupin was just sitting there. . . doing nothing. . . and I. . ."

Severus didn't say or do anything. He just watched me struggle, trying to accept the reality that my parents weren't. . . mum had been decent. How could dad have just sat there though? How could James have done that, just because Sirius was bored?

Finally, Severus sighed and then said, "That wasn't the only memory he saw."

I looked up, frowning, wiping the tears away. "But that was the only one-"

"Because he saw a memory about me and you." Severus said reluctantly now.

I froze. "Oh no."

Severus still looked extremely angry. "He didn't see much of it. . . though. . ."

I put my face in my hands. I'd been hoping for a nice night and now. . . well who knew what was going to happen now. "I'm gonna. . . I'm gonna go to bed, I think." I said weakly, standing up. Severus grabbed my arm.

"I'm sorry." he pleaded. "I don't want you to be-"

"I'm not mad at you or anything." I said softly, touching his hand. "I just. . . I didn't want you to be right about my dad. . . that's all. . . and I think I need to be alone to cope with that fact. . ."

I turned around and I walked back out of the room, leaving him behind, and headed to the Hufflepuff common room. I laid down on my bed for a long time, thinking.

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𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 talk to Harry. I wanted to converse about our parents and I couldn't. Every time I opened my mouth to tell him I was his sister, my throat closed up and I ended up saying something else. So I assumed now wasn't the right time to tell him.

Harry and I did, however, talk about the second vision- the one of Severus and me.

"He wouldn't tell me what you saw." I said, partially honest. "What'd you see?"

"Er- you two were just kissing really. I mean, it was weird to watch, obviously. It was at Grimmauld place." Harry said awkwardly.

I was much relieved to hear this. "Sorry you had to see that." I muttered. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

But he was distracted too. I knew he was thinking about the other vision too. I overheard him muttering to himself the words, ". . .force her to marry him?"

I hated the idea that Dad might've forced mum to marry him. I didn't think that was it but at the same time. . .

But I had the memory from the dementors. Lily had been scared that James was going to die. So something must've happened so that they fell in love, right? And Severus had called her a Mudblood even though he loved her. . .

I groaned, slamming my head down on my book.

"You alright Eliza?" Ginny asked. I looked up, not having noticed her at first.

"No." I muttered.

"Harry, I'm talking to you, can you hear me?" Ginny asked, snapping her fingers under Harry's nose. Harry was sitting next to me? I'd definitely been lost in thought.

"Huh? Oh, hi."

"A package just arrived, it's only just got through Umbridge's new screening process. . ." Ginny said. She hoisted a brown box up on the table. A red note was scribbled across the top that said INSPECTED AND PASSED BY THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISTOR. "It's Easter eggs from Mum. There's one for you. . . there you go. . ." Ginny said, handing him a chocolate egg decorated with small iced snitches. She handed me over a milk chocolate egg with iced chicks on them. Apparently it contained sour gummy worms inside of it.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Harry said gruffly.

"You seem really down lately. You know, I'm sure if you just talked to Cho. . ." Ginny said.

"It's not Cho I want to talk to." Harry said and I nodded unconsciously.

"Who is it, then?" Ginny asked.

"I. . ."

"Dad." I whispered. "I want to talk to dad."

"Sirius." Harry said, putting a piece of chocolate in his mouth. I put a piece in my mouth too and felt better. Dad was right, chocolate was a healing agent.

"Well, If you really want to talk to Sirius, I expect we could think of a way to do it. . ." Ginny said.

"Come on, with Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?" Harry asked dully.

"The thing about growing up with Fred and George, is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." Ginny said.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" An angry voice shouted.

"Oh damn, I forgot." Ginny said, jumping to her feet. I shoved my things into my bag as Madam Pince swooped down on us.

"Chocolate in the library! Out- out- OUT!" Madam Pince said, wiping out her wand and making Harry's things chase us out of the library, hitting us over the head as we ran.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝕬 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖕𝖑𝖊 𝖉𝖆𝖞𝖘 before Easter holiday ended, there were pamphlets and brochures that describe all the different possible jobs that could be done outside of Hogwarts. I briefly wondered why they didn't show these to us when we were choosing our classes in second-year because there were certain careers that required certain classes and if you hadn't signed up for the class before third-year. . . tough luck to you.

There was a notice on the board that read:

CAREER ADVICE All fifth years will be required to attend a short meeting with their Head of House during the first week of the Summer term, in which they will be given the opportunity to discuss their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.

I looked and found myself in the middle of the list. I was supposed to meet Professor Sprout in her greenhouse office at 11:20 on Monday. This meant I would be missing Care of Magical Creatures but at this point, I was okay with not seeing Umbridge for a little bit.

"Well, I don't fancy healing." Ron said, perusing through the brochures. "It says here you need at least an E at N.E.W.T. level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I mean. . . blimey. . . Don't want much, do they?"

"Well, it's a very responsible job, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "You don't seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles. . . All they want is an O.W.L. in Muggle Studies 'Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience, and a good sense of fun!'" She read from one of her brochures.

"You'd need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle. Good sense of when to duck, more like. . . Listen to this." Harry said, "'Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure, and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad. . .' They want Arithmancy though. . . you could do it, Hermione!"

"I don't much fancy banking." Hermione said.

"Hey" A quiet voice hissed. "Ginny's had a word with us about you. She says you need to talk to Sirius?"

It was Fred and George. George, keeping a lookout and Fred talking.

"What?" Hermione asked sharply.

"Yeah. . . yeah, I thought I'd like-" Harry said casually.

"Don't be so ridiculous." Hermione said and I avoided her eyes. "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"

"Well, we think we can find a way around that. It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?" George asked.

"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time? No point at all, we answered ourselves." Fred continued and I giggled. "And of course, we'd have messed up people's studying too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do." He nodded toward Hermione and put a hand on my shoulder.

"But it's business as usual from tomorrow. And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius and Elizabeth with her dad?" Fred continued. I blushed, wishing he hadn't mentioned me.

"Yes, but still, even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?"

"Umbridge's office." I said promptly. "It'll be the only fire that isn't being watched."

"Are- you- insane?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't think so." Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"And how are you going to get in there in the first place?" Hermione asked, looking between Harry and I.

"Sirius's knife." Harry said.

"Excuse me?"

"Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock. So even if she's bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has-" I said.

"What do you think about this?" Hermione demanded to Ron.

"I dunno." Ron said, looking uncomfortable. "If Harry wants to do it, it's up to him, isn't it? And Eliza?"

"Spoken like a true friend and Weasley." Fred said, clapping Ron so hard on the back the pamphlets went flying off Ron's lap. "Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's corridors- Harry, Eliza, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office- I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" Fred finished, looking at George.

"Easy." George said.

"What sort of diversion?" Ron asked curiously.

"You'll see, little bro. At least, you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow." Fred said with a wink.

My stomach twisted as I watched them go and a sick feeling filled my stomach. But I wanted to talk to Dad, didn't I? I wanted to ask him why he didn't stop James from messing with Severus. . .

But before I had time for the real nerves to set in, I was sitting in front of Professor Sprout the next day in the greenhouse office. I'd never been in here before. It looked a lot like the Hufflepuff common room. It was round rather than square or rectangular shaped. There were plants hanging everywhere and dirt was on the floors. It was like a garden office.

In the corner was Professor Umbridge with her stupid little clipboard, but both Professor Sprout and I were determinedly ignoring her.

"Well Elizabeth," Professor Sprout said in a cheerful manner, "this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you possibly are thinking about and I'm here to help you decide subjects that you should continue with in her sixth and seventh years. Have you any ideas about what you want to do?"

"Well. . ." I said slowly. "I've had a couple. I'm trying to decided between becoming an Auror, a Healer, or. . . or um. . . an experimental potioneer."

Professor Sprout looked a bit surprised. "Really?"

"Well an Auror would be a great career considering the times we're in." I explained. "but I also love helping people which I could do as a Healer and. . . well ever since I was a little kid I wanted to make a cure for. . . for werewolf bites. I know it'll be difficult but I think I really could do it."

Professor Umbridge made a very small cough and we both ignored her. Professor Sprout smiled, "I think those are all wonderful career options. Now, let's go through the careers one by one, we'll start with Auror. It is a difficult career path, of course, because you'll have to study once you leave school as well. I don't see that being a problem for you at all though."

Professor Umbridge coughed a little louder and Professor Sprout raised her voice a bit. "Of course, you'll need to take most of the main courses like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, and Charms-"

"Not Herbology?" I asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "It's an option, of course, but not a necessary one. However, if we move on to healing-"

Professor Umbridge coughed very loudly and Professor Sprout turned to her and said, "Are you quite alright Professor?"

"Oh yes, but I just wanted to inquire if you believe that Miss Kane here has the right er. . . temperament for becoming an Auror?"

"Oh yes." Professor Sprout said, nodding and still smiling. "Miss Kane is a sweet girl, very brave, extremely smart. No doubts at all that she will succeed no matter what career she goes into. Now," she turned back to me, "You'll have to take Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms for Healing. After all, it's an incredibly important job- one that should not be taken lightly as there can be consequences for inept healers."

"Like the healer who was supposed to be taking care of Bode." I said, nodding.

"Exactly. Now with the experimental potioneering, that's not really an official-" Professor Sprout was interrupted by an extremely loud cough. Her smile flickered, becoming extremely annoyed and said, "yes?"

"Well, experimental potioneering is a very dangerous job and I don't believe that Miss Kane here will be employed by the Ministry for the job."

I gritted my teeth. "I'm trying to create a cure for werewolves, of course they'll employ me."

"The Minister certainly will not." Professor Umbridge said, smiling.

"Well!" I said hotly. "Fudge isn't going to be Minister anymore by the end of the year."

Professor Umbridge jumped to her feet, "I knew it! I knew Dumbledore-"

"Dumbledore isn't going to be Minister either." I said bitingly. "Granted, the next Minister is going to be a bit better but nothing like Dumbledore."

Professor Umbridge looked a bit unnerved and Professor Sprout quickly claimed my attention back, "I think a cure for werewolves in a wonderful idea." She said sweetly. Professor Sprout's sweet voice was so much different from Professor Umbridge. "It'll give so many people their lives back. Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so."

"Alright then. You may go back to class." Professor Sprout said, marking something down on a piece of parchment and stacking it onto of a small pile on her desk.

I stood up and left the room without looking back. Stupid Professor Umbridge.

I wanted to hear Harry's interview with Professor McGonagall and knew that I'd have to be there sometime around half-past two. I went back to Care of Magical Creatures where we were still working on Knarls. Bloody boring.

I went up to the castle for lunch and then sat through charms. Potions was after that.

Severus held me back after Potions though and I felt my anxiety increase. "Look, are you mad at me?" He asked quietly as Hannah left the room.

I looked at him blankly, "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know!" He said, sounding a bit exasperated. "You haven't been down once in nearly a week and a half though."

"Sorry." I whispered. "I've been busy- which isn't an excuse, I know. . . I thought you'd be er- mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" He asked, bewildered.

"Well you were pissed at Harry. . ." I said quietly. "And I'm his sister and James was my dad and lily was my mum and. . ."

"Oh." Severus said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robes. I wrapped my arms around him.

"I'll come back tonight, I promise." I got up on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. I turned to leave and found I couldn't.

He'd grabbed my tie and drew me back to him, pushing me down on the desk and kissing me fiercely. I forgot where I wanted to be at that moment and wrapped my arms around him. We heard footsteps outside the door and we pulled apart. I grabbed my bag and passed Draco on the way out.

I hurried to where Professor McGonagall's office was and listened outside the door.

"Yes." Harry was saying, "Defense Against the Darks Arts, I suppose?"

"Naturally." Professor McGonagall said in a crisp voice. "I would also advise-"

There was a cough and I knew that Umbridge was in the room too.

"I would also advise Transfiguration, because Aurors frequently need to Transfigure or Untransfigure in their work. And I ought to tell you now, Potter, that I do not accept students into my N.E.W.T. classes unless they have achieved 'Exceeds Expectations' or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level. I'd say you're averaging 'Acceptable' at the moment, so you'll need to put in some good hard work before the exams to stand a chance of continuing. Then you ought to do Charms, always useful, and Potions. Yes, Potter, potions. Poisons and antidotes are essential study for Aurors. And I must tell you that Professor Snape absolutely refuses to take students who get anything other than 'Outstanding' in their O.W.L.s, so-"

Professor Umbridge coughed even louder.

"May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall asked curtly. I grinned, only able to imagine the look on her face.

"Oh no, thank you very much. I just wondered whether I could make the teensiest interruption, Minerva?" Professor Umbridge's voice was farthest from the door.

"I daresay you'll find you can." Professor McGonagall said through what sounded like gritted teeth.

"I was just wondering whether Mr. Potter has quite the temperament for an Auror?" She asked sweetly the way that she had in Professor Sprout's office a couple hours ago. I wondered if she was only sitting in mine and Harry's interviews.

"Were you? Well, Potter, if you are serious in this ambition, I would advise you to concentrate hard on bringing your Transfiguration and Potions up to scratch. I see Professor Flitwick has graded you between 'Acceptable' and 'Exceeds Expectations' for the last two years, so your Charms work seems satisfactory; as for Defense Against the Dark Arts, your marks have been generally high, Professor Lupin in particular thought you- are you quite sure you wouldn't like a cough drop, Dolores?"

Susan and Ernie came over. "What are you doing?" Susan mouthed. I put a finger to my lips, still listening. I was joyful too- Professor McGonagall had mentioned dad. I loved hearing people talk about dad- for good, of course

"Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva. I was just concerned that you might not have Harry's most recent Defense Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I'm quire sure I slipped in a note. . ."

"What, this thing?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply and Susan, Ernie, and I heard the sound of parchment rustling. "Yes, as I was saying, Potter, Professor Lupin thought you showed a pronounced aptitude for the subject, and obviously for an Auror-"

"Did you not understand my note, Minerva?" Professor Umbridge interrupted, forgetting to cough.

"Of course I understood it." Professor McGonagall's sounded muffled as though her teeth were glued together.

"Well, then, I am confused. . . I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you can give Mr. Potter false hope that-"

"False hope? He has achieved high marks in all his Defense Against the Dark Arts tests-"

"I'm terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Harry has been achieving very poor results in his classes with me-" Professor Umbridge interrupted.

"I should have made my meaning plainer. He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher." Professor McGonagall said coldly.

Ernie and Susan dropped their mouths in shock and I grinned broadly. We all looked at each other.

"A werewolf is not a competent teacher!" Professor Umbridge said angrily.

"Well Professor Lupin was the most competent teacher that we ever had for the class so I must contradict you. Any questions, Potter?"

"Yes. What sort of character and aptitude tests do the Ministry do on you, if you get enough N.E.W.T.s?" Harry asked, sounding as though he was trying not to laugh.

"Well, you'll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth, perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further three years, not to mention very high skills in practical defense. It will mean a lot more study even after you've left school, so unless you're prepared to-" Professor McGonagall answered his question.

'I think you'll also find that the Ministry looks into the records of those applying to the Aurors. Their criminal records." Professor Umbridge said in a cold voice. Susan shook her head.

"-unless you're prepared to take even more exams after Hogwarts, you should really look at another-"

"-which means that this boy has as much chance of becoming an Auror as Dumbledore has of ever returning to this school!"

"A very good chance, then." Professor McGonagall said.

"Potter has a criminal record!" Professor Umbridge practically shouted.

"Potter has been cleared of all charges!" Professor McGonagall said even louder than the Umbitch.

"Potter has no chance, whatsoever, of becoming an Auror!"

"Potter." Professor McGonagall said in a ringing tone. "I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly I will make sure you achieve the required results!"

Susan, Ernie, and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and shocked expressions.

"The Minister of Magic will never employ Harry Potter!" Umbridge said in a trembling voice.

"There may well be a new Minister of Magic by the time Potter is ready to join!" Professor McGonagall shouted so loudly, students passing by looked at us curiously.

"Aha! Yes! yes, yes, yes!" Professor Umbridge shouted and I motioned to Susan and Ernie that it was time to leave.

"Wow." Susan said in a shocked voice. "I would never have thought Professor McGonagall would say things like that."

"My Dad was a good teacher, wasn't he?" I asked, pleased, still basking in that memory.

"Professor Lupin was the best." Ernie assured me.

Harry bolted out of the office at that moment, rushing to whatever class he was supposed to be going to. Professor McGonagall and Professor Umbridge were now yelling at each other, the door still open. Students started to look up as they passed, some of them slowing to listen in.

"Let's get out of here." I muttered to them and we hurried off the library.

I finished up a majority of my homework and then said good-bye to Susan and Ernie and made my way stealthily to Umbridge's office. I waited around a corner until I heard footsteps and saw Harry. He threw the Invisibility cloak over us and unlocked the office door and we hurried inside.

Harry pulled off the cloak, grabbing floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place." Harry said loudly. We both stuck our heads in at the same time. I'd never done this before. There was the familiar spinning sensation and then I was seeing the kitchen.

Dad was sitting at the table, bent over a piece of parchment.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

Dad jumped and looked around. "Harry! Elizabeth! What are you- what's happened, is everything all right?"

"Yeah. I just wondered- I mean, I just fancied a- a chat with Sirius." Harry said awkwardly. I was looking down at the kitchen floor, unable to look dad in the face.

"I'll call him. He went upstairs to look for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again. . ." Dad hurried from the room.

"He must've gone to the Malfoy manor." I muttered. "Sirius keeps telling him to get out."

"This is painful." Harry muttered and I knew what he was talking about. My knees were starting to seize up. Dad returned moments later, Sirius at his heels.

"What is it?" Sirius asked and I thought of how handsome he was and looked back down at the kitchen floor. "Are you all right? Do you need help?"

"No, it's nothing like that. . . I just wanted to talk. . . about my dad. . ." Harry said. He immediately launched into the story about Severus' pensive and what he saw inside of it- not talking about my part of course.

"I wouldn't want you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry." Dad said and somehow, I knew he was including himself in that. "He was only fifteen-"

"I'm fifteen!" Harry and I said together in heated voices.

"Look, Harry. James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? I think James was everything Severus wanted to be- he was popular, he was good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James- whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry- always hated the Dark Arts." Sirius said.

I gritted my teeth but said nothing.

"Yeah, but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, just because-"

"Because you said you were bored." I said, attempting to sound sorry for accusing Sirius but wasn't entirely capable of doing it. My voice was to tense, to angry, and both Dad and Sirius flinched slightly.

"I'm not proud of it." Sirius said quickly and I snorted.

"Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did- everyone thought they were the height of cool- if they sometimes got a bit carried away-" Dad said.

"If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean." Sirius said.

Dad smiled.

"He kept messing up his hair." Harry said, sounding pained. Both dad and Sirius laughed.

"I'd forgotten he used to do that." Sirius said affectionately.

"Was he playing with the snitch?" Dad asked in an eager voice. I felt like I'd faded into the background but said nothing. Dad's attention didn't have to be on me 24-7 and James had been his friend too.

"Yeah. Well. . . I thought he was a bit of an idiot." Harry said, sounding like he couldn't comprehend why Sirius and Dad looked so reminiscent.

"Of course he was a bit of an idiot! We were all idiots! Well- not Moony so much, that's where Eilís gets her brains too."

Dad shook his head. "Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape? Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?"

So dad hadn't stopped James because he believed he wasn't brave enough. I supposed that made sense. If Harry had done the same to Malfoy. . . would I have told Harry to lay off? Of course, Draco's dad had also tried kidnapping me so that was a bit of a different story. Ron wouldn't have said anything either- but Hermione. . .

"Yeah, well, you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes. . . That was something. . ." Sirius said.

So dad had rebuked them, just not in Snape's memory. I felt properly ashamed of judging dad so harshly and I felt tears sting my eyes.

"And, he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around. He couldn't stop himself showing off whenever he got near her."

"How come she married him?" Harry asked in a miserable voice. "She hated him!"

"Nah, she didn't." Sirius said.

"She started going out with him in seventh year." Dad said.

"Once James had deflated his head a bit." Sirius said.

"And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it." Dad said.

"Even Snape?" Harry asked.

"Well, Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?" Dad said in a very slow, cautious voice.

"And my mum was okay with that?" Harry asked and I snorted again.

"She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth. I mean, James didn't take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?"

Harry looked unconvinced and I felt miserable. This talk wasn't helping at all, they were just defending their best friend.

"Look. Your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it." Sirius said.

"Yeah, okay. I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape." Harry said heavily.

"Now you mention it, how did Snape react when he found you'd seen all this?" Dad asked, frowning.

"He was so angry when I went to see him the same night." I whispered, "I'd never seen him so angry before."

Sirius face contorted.

"He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again, like that's a big disappoint-" Harry said indifferently.

"He WHAT?" Sirius shouted and I jumped, smacked my head against the fireplace, and then inhaled ashes. I coughed spasmodically, tears in my eyes and then pulled my head out of the fireplace to find some water. I could hear Harry making noises in the fireplace but not the full context of words.

Once I'd drank a bit of water, I stuck my head back in.

"Harry, there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency! Do you understand me? Nothing?" Dad asked sternly.

"Okay, okay." Harry said.

"Harry, Filch is coming." I said, my eyes half glazed over, "He just got an order to. . . to whip misbehaving students. . . oh that's just lovely."

"Stay out of detention Elizabeth." Dad said sternly.

"Yeah that's a bit difficult." I said and then pulled my head out to throw the Invisibility cloak over myself and Harry. I was still a bit annoyed with dad and was trying to push that feeling away.

We made it out of Umbridge's office, just as Filch came around the corner. We slipped past him and made our way to the Entrance hall. Harry threw the cloak off of us, tossing it into his bag.

Students were standing around the entrance hall just like the night of Professor Trelawney's sacking, some of them covered in some sort of substance. I could see ghosts and teachers scattered throughout the mix. Peeves was floating up close to the ceiling and Fred and George were standing in the middle, looking exceptionally pleased with themselves.

"So!" Umbridge said triumphantly. "So. . . you think it amused to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"

"Pretty amusing, yeah." Fred said, catching my eye and winking.

'I've got the form, Headmistress !" Filch said, nearly crying with happiness and rushing towards Umbridge. 'I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting. . . Oh, let me do it now. . ."

"Very good, Argus. You two, are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" Fred asked. "I don't think we are. George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself." George said lightly.

"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" Fred said.

"Definitely." George said and as one, they lifted their wands and said "Accio Brooms!"

There was a crashing sound and Harry and I ducked along with a few other students as Fred and George's brooms- having broken through Umbridge's door the iron pegs and chain still attached- came hurtling towards them.

"We won't be seeing you." Fred said, swinging his leg over his broomstick. I grinned at him, catching his eye again, blowing him a kiss, and winking.

"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch." George said.

Fred looked around and then said. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley- Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Our new premises!"

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat." George said, pointing at Umbridge.

"STOP THEM!" Umbridge screamed.

"Give her hell from us, Peeves." Fred said and Peeves swept his hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George flew out of the Entrance Hall.

Students ran out of the castle and down onto the lawn to watch them fly far away into the sunset.

⬅️➡️

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