Chapter 8, Umbridge Strikes Back

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – April 13

This is mind-boggling! Dumbledore is no longer Headmaster, and is in fact a fugitive on the run from the Ministry! Incredible!

I suppose the idea that Dumbledore would be replaced as Headmaster shouldn’t be that surprising, since that has clearly been Fudge’s and Umbridge’s goal all year. And he hasn’t really been resisting what they’ve been doing. He’d been replaced as Head of the Wizengamot already last summer. But the way that it happened is such a shock.

It all began this evening at the DA meeting. Harry started teaching us Patronus charms.

“So the key thing is that you have to think of a happy memory, and focus hard on it despite anything else that’s going on around you,” Harry concluded, after showing them the incantation and the wand movement. “And the specific thought makes a difference. If you don’t have success with one memory try another.” With that he took a deep breath, concentrated on the memory of his first kiss with Hermione, and called out the incantation. “Expecto Patronum!”

A blindingly bright giant stag leapt from his wand and cantered around the room, drawing gasps of astonishment from the other students, and a curious look from Hermione. She had seen Harry’s patronus twice before, and didn’t remember it being that dazzling.

George was the first to break the stunned silence. “Whoa, Harry! That must have been one powerful happy memory.”

Harry’s response was a sheepish glance in Hermione’s direction. She immediately understood what he had been thinking of and blushed bright red as their eyes locked. Lavender and Parvati noticed this exchange and quickly figured out who Harry’s thoughts must have been on, and began giggling. This reaction spread through the room as more and more of the girls realized what was going on. As the boys also caught on, most of them chuckled or snickered and shook their heads, while Ron grimaced and turned a bit green. Finally Harry ended the commotion by blowing his whistle and gesturing to the students to begin attempting the charm themselves.

Soon the air was filled with shouts of ‘Expecto Patronum!’ along with occasional wisps of silvery mist. After a few tries, with her mist coalescing into a more solid looking shape each time, Hermione produced a lively otter that immediately scampered happily about the room. Surprisingly, Cho was the next to get it, producing a lovely swan. Hermione found herself a bit annoyed at this.

It figures that her patronus would be a beautiful creature, while mine is a plain old rodent, she grumbled to herself. She wondered what happy memory Cho had used. She consoled herself that at least it couldn’t be a memory of anything involving Harry. Then she felt a bit guilty for having such uncharitable thoughts, reasoning that it was good that Cho was able to perform the difficult charm.

Ginny, who was generating a fairly strong cloud of silvery vapor, sidled up to Hermione with a sly look on her face. “An otter, huh?” she noted. “How appropriate.” Hermione’s brow furrowed, as she tried to work out what the small redhead was suggesting. “You know, a patronus otter,” Ginny hinted. “P – otter? Your protector, you know.”

Hermione’s eyes widened in understanding. “Oh!” was all she could manage as she blushed again. Ginny’s only reaction was a smirk as she glided away. Just as Hermione turned in the other direction she bumped into Harry, who quickly caught her by the arms and gave them a little squeeze.

“Good job,” he said admiringly. “What memory did you use?”

“Something similar to yours, I imagine,” she replied with a gleam in her eye.

A shy grin blossomed on his face and he leaned in close. “I like your otter,” he added in a low voice. “It suits you.” Once more Hermione was lost, trying to reconcile that comment with Ginny’s analysis. Was he implying that she naturally needed him to protect her? “You know, playful and mischievous,” he continued.

Hermione’s mouth dropped open in surprise, but she managed to recover fairly quickly. Of course, he would say something like that. He’d never suggest that she was incapable of taking care of herself. It was more that they took care of each other, and both of them were very much aware of that fact. “That’s sweet,” she smiled back at him. “But I think not too many people would use either of those words to describe me.”

“Maybe that’s because they don’t know you as well as I do,” he grinned again, and he shot her a quick wink before moving on to another student who was struggling with the spell. Hermione decided that her patronus form was rather nice after all, as she fondly watched it happily cavorting around her.

Suddenly there was a commotion by the door. “Harry Potter sir!” came the squeaky voice of Dobby. “Dobby has come … come to warn you … but he is not allowed to tell …” Dobby broke off and tried to bash his head against a wall, but Harry managed to catch him first.

“Who is it?” Harry asked, trying to think of a way to get around Dobby’s instructions. “Who threatened you?” Dobby hit himself hard on the nose, and Harry grabbed his hand. By this time Hermione had made her way over to them, and she grabbed Dobby around the waist before he could make another run at the wall.

“She … she ordered Dobby …”

Both of them quickly came to the same conclusion as to who ‘she’ might be.

“Umbridge?” Harry guessed. Dobby nodded and struggled to free his hand to hit himself again.

“She’s found out about us?” Hermione offered her own conjecture. This time Dobby tried to kick himself. “And she’s on her way here!” she concluded in horror. Dobby wailed loudly and some of the students began yelling in dismay.

“Don’t panic!” Harry shouted. “The room is a secret – she won’t even be able to find it.”

“Hey, Marietta’s not here,” Terry Boot loudly noted. As everyone looked around, Cho went pale. The two of them always attended the DA meetings together, but Marietta had begged off tonight, saying she had something important to do. Hermione immediately locked on Cho at Terry’s words, and Harry hurried up behind her.

“Did she sell us out?” Hermione snapped at the Chinese girl.

“I … I don’t know,” Cho cried.

Hermione whirled to face Harry. “Even if Marietta doesn’t bring Umbridge in, she could wait out in the corridor if she knows we’re in here,” she pointed out grimly. “Eventually we’d have to come out and then she’d have us.” Before she had even finished, Harry had pulled out the Marauder’s Map and activated it.

“OK, listen up,” he called out to the nervous students, who quieted enough to be able to hear him. They began to cluster around the pair, amazed at what they were seeing. Hermione thought to herself that they would have a lot of explaining to do if they got out of this safely. “She’s still two floors down, and coming up from the direction of her office,” Harry continued. “If we head off in the other direction, we’ll be all right.” He paused to consult the map again. “Fred and George, take all the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs to the secret passage that leads to the Entrance Hall. You know which one I mean?”

“Right,” “No problem,” the for once completely serious twins chorused. “Come on, this way.” They opened the door and raced down the hall, turning right at the end of the corridor, with the members of those two houses at their heels.

“Ron, you take all the Gryffindors down to the kitchens, following this route,” Harry instructed, tracing his finger along the map, “then up this way to GryffindorTower.” He knew Ron had been along that passage many times. Ron nodded and jumped up, then hurried out the door with his housemates and down the corridor, turning left at the end.

Harry next turned to Dobby. “Thanks, my friend,” he said to the small house elf. “But you’d better get out of here now too. Get down to the kitchen and don’t tell anyone you warned us. And no punishing yourself!” Dobby looked like he wanted to object, but then gave in and after hugging Harry’s leg disappeared with a pop.

Hermione and Harry followed the others out into the hallway and waited there until the rest of the students were out of danger, huddled over the map watching the dots moving in different directions. When it became apparent that everyone had made it back safely, Harry leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. But suddenly Hermione grabbed his arm and pointed at their position on the map, choking back a horrified gasp. Umbridge was now on their corridor and would be within view in seconds.

Thinking quickly, Hermione ran back and forth in front of the hidden entrance three times while Harry cleared the map and then looked up quizzically, wondering what she was attempting. As soon as the door appeared, she shocked him by throwing her arms around him and kissing him!

“Caught you!” Umbridge shouted triumphantly, before breaking off abruptly at the sight before her. Beside her Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson had disgusted looks on their faces at seeing the pair of Gryffindors making out.

“Oh please,” Draco moaned. “Do we have to watch this? Potty and the Mud …”

“What are you doing!” Umbridge shrieked. “Where are the rest of them?”

Harry and Hermione flew apart, and Hermione made a very good show of nervously straightening her robes and being totally embarrassed while Harry just looked stunned.

“Wha … others?” Harry stammered.

“We were just …” Hermione blurted out awkwardly. “We wanted some privacy, you see and …”

“You’re lying!” the toadlike witch hissed. “You’ve been meeting with a secret illegal group of students in this room right here. And now you’re going to pay for it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” insisted Hermione, while Harry followed her lead and shook his head dumbly. Angrily Umbridge threw open the door that Hermione had summoned and stormed inside the room on the other side.

There they found a small, cozy space that could only be described as romantic and intimate. There was an inviting sofa with comfortable looking cushions, and several candles completed the picture by adding a warm glow. There was no doubt what the purpose of this room was.

“We … we just wanted to be alone,” Hermione stammered, her face flushed bright red, as Harry wrapped an arm around her possessively. Draco made a gagging noise but Umbridge’s fury continued unabated.

“See if you two can find any more of them,” she snapped at Draco and Pansy. “Potter, Granger, come with me to the headmaster’s office now!” As she hustled them away however, Draco lingered a moment, staring thoughtfully at the room and its doorway.

There was quite a reception committee waiting for us in Dumbledore’s office. Besides Dumbledore and McGonagall, Fudge and Percy were there, along with two Aurors, one of whom was Kingsley Shacklebolt. I had never been in there before, but Harry later explained some details to me. One thing that caught my eye right away was all the portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses, who were whispering urgently to each other. I had a tight grip on Harry’s arm as Umbridge shoved us into the office, and he had his hand over mine somewhat protectively, which I very much appreciated.

Fudge had a very satisfied look on his face, as though he had been eagerly awaiting this opportunity. The realization hit me that he and Umbridge had been attempting to arrange this scenario all year, and were probably behind the fiasco last summer as well. It’s simply astounding to me that the Minister of Magic is so obsessed with discrediting Harry that he’s gone to this much effort. If he’d spend this much energy doing his job the wizarding world would be much better off!

I continued to protest that I didn’t know what Umbridge was talking about, and when Fudge started interrogating Harry Dumbledore nodded slightly to me to indicate that we should continue to stonewall. I gave Harry’s hand a slight squeeze to let him know to continue his denial. Fudge got pretty angry that Harry wouldn’t admit anything, and I confess that seeing him lose his cool was somewhat satisfying.

I thought it was hopeless, though, when Umbridge produced a list of names of everyone in the group that she had got from Marietta, and then brought Marietta herself in. It was immensely satisfying to see that my secrecy hex had worked, and she had the word ‘SNEAK’ written across her face in ugly purple pimples. Everyone gasped when they saw it, and Marietta cried and pulled her robe up over her face. Harry shot me a look and I could see how impressed he was. It was all I could do to keep a straight face.

Marietta had evidently learned her lesson, albeit too late, and refused to say anything. I’m quite proud to say that Umbridge was completely unable to counter my jinx. Umbridge persisted, however and told them all about our meeting in Hogsmeade (note to self – be more careful about who’s listening in when we plan secret stuff!).

At this point Dumbledore interrupted and noted that even had this meeting in Hogsmeade occurred, it was not illegal since Umbridge hadn’t made that decree outlawing unregistered groups until the following week, and that she had no evidence that we had met together at any other times.

Well, Marietta could certainly have shot down that argument, but she was still refusing to say anything. Harry and I knew it was only a matter of time, though, until Umbridge and Fudge threatened her enough to make her talk. But what happened next was mind-boggling! When Umbridge told her to just nod or shake her head, she shook it no, that there hadn’t been any other meetings! I could tell that Harry was just as shocked as I was, but from the look in his eye it was clear that he had some idea of what was going on. When we got back to the common room he told me Shacklebolt hadput a memory charm on her! He’d whispered it so no one but Harry heard him.

Well, Umbridge really went spare at that. She grabbed Marietta and started shaking her, but Dumbledore stopped her immediately. That was the first time he actually looked angry. Up until then he’d seemed amused about the whole thing, as though he’d expected it and was just waiting for the drama to play out. At that point Fudge tried to calm Umbridge down and told her to focus on the meeting tonight. But she didn’t have any evidence of that either, since she’d only caught Harry and me, and I’d covered that up pretty well. (When Harry asked me what sort of room I’d asked for, I told him ‘a place to make out with Harry’. He was very impressed and said we ought to go back up there and use it for real some time.)

Then Umbridge showed Fudge the list, and he got all excited when he saw the name, ‘Dumbledore’s Army’. That got Dumbledore smiling again, and he then spun a story about how it was his idea and he’d asked Harry and me to meet with him to organize it, and that he’d contacted those students about joining. So according to him, Harry and I weren’t breaking any rules since we were only meeting with the headmaster, and there wasn’t anything illegal about that. Then he turned to me and apologized for being delayed, and was glad to see that Harry and I had found something to do to occupy our time. Well, of course, I blushed at that, which only lent more credibility to his story.

Harry saw what Dumbledore was doing and tried to object, but Dumbledore stopped him immediately and Fudge ignored him in any event. Rather strange that he’s been so focused on discrediting Harry all year, but all of a sudden he drops it. Was going after Harry just a ploy then, to smoke out Dumbledore?

Fudge then tried to arrest Dumbledore, but the headmaster was having none of that. Quicker than the eye could follow, he’d knocked out everyone but McGonagall, Harry, and me. There was a flash and a bang, Harry pulled me down and McGonagall grabbed Marietta, and when the dust cleared Dumbledore was the only one standing. I can definitely see now why he has the reputation as the greatest wizard alive. He quickly gave McGonagall some instructions, insisted most vehemently that Harry must master Occlumency (but still didn’t say why!), grabbed Fawkes and vanished. It was only after he’d gone that I realized that he’d been looking at me when he said it – in fact, Harry pointed out later that he never looked at him once the entire time.

At any rate, when the rest of them woke up, they all raced out the door chasing after him, but of course he and Fawkes were long gone by then. He never said where he was going, which was a good idea, I think, since that way none of us can be forced to reveal it. McGonagall promptly hustled us out of the office and sent us back to Gryffindor Tower before Fudge could get any ideas about detaining us, while she took Marietta back to her dorm.

So, here we are. I suppose Umbridge will take over now. Has this been Dumbledore’s plan all along? If so, I hope something good comes out of it. I’m sure the atmosphere here at Hogwarts will be truly dreadful as long as she’s in charge.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – April 15

It didn’t take long for Umbridge to make things even worse. The only bright spot is that she couldn’t get into the Headmaster’s office. It wouldn’t open for her. Of course she was furious, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Except take it out on Harry, that is.

She called him into her office to question him about Dumbledore’s disappearance. She offered him some tea that was probably spiked with Veritaserum, but he wasn’t fooled for an instant. He told me it was pretty obvious when she’d turned her back to him that she was putting something in it, so he only pretended to drink it and later dumped it out. Even if he had been forced to tell the truth though, he couldn’t have told her where Dumbledore was. But then she asked him where Sirius was hiding. Now that worries us – how much does she know about Harry’s relationship with Sirius?

The major change she’s made is to basically abolish the Prefect system. She’s created something called the Inquisitorial Squad, whose members have even more power than the prefects had. They can actually take points from students. It’s quite apparent that by the end of the year none of the houses will have any points at all except for Slytherin house. By some amazing coincidence all of the Inquisitorial Squad members are Slytherins. Imagine that. One thing I’ll say for her, she’s managed to unite three of the four houses in a common cause.

Malfoy, of course, is being insufferable, and gloats and torments us every chance he gets, taking points for anything that comes to mind. I had to stop Harry and Ron from attacking him for taking points from me for being a mudblood. We need to avoid him whenever possible.

Fred and George, on the other hand, are actively resisting. They’re hexing the Squad members every chance they get. They even dumped Montague into a Vanishing Cabinet and made him disappear. It’s only a matter of time before they get expelled. When I pointed it out to them, they gave me a condescending look and told me that was the whole idea.

My first reaction was one of incredulity. I could not believe that they were serious about intentionally getting expelled. They explained that up until now they had always been careful to not cross that line, but they truly didn’t care about graduating and taking their NEWTs. That’s the same thing they had said when we were discussing the exams over break. I think I’m finally starting to believe them now. And the most amazing thing is, I think I’m starting to agree with them! What’s happening to me? (Harry really rubbed it in later when we were alone – he teasingly asked me if I still thought that getting expelled was a fate worse than death. I hit him, of course, the cheeky prat.)

The only thing Fred and George are waiting for is that they want to make a memorable exit, and they want to cause as much trouble as they can before they go, sort of in honor of Dumbledore. I have an idea of how we might take advantage of the disruption they’ll cause when they finally leave. I’ll run it by Harry and see what he thinks, then we’ll talk to them about it. I think it will be something they’ll be glad to support.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – April 17

Several DA members have been approaching us and asking about what we’re going to do now. Our inclination is to stop meeting. I don’t think Umbridge was convinced by either ours or Dumbledore’s stories. At the very least we’ll lay low for a while.

Cho also came up to Harry today and apologized for what Marietta did. Harry graciously accepted her apology. I just stood there and gritted my teeth. Then she pushed it too far by complaining about my curse on the parchment and saying it was unfair. Harry immediately dropped the polite act and defended me. Cho got the message and left quickly. Harry got a big hug from me.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – April 20

We had Career Advice sessions today with McGonagall. They would have been more pleasant if Umbridge hadn’t sat in on them (at least she sat in on mine and Harry’s – I don’t know about all the other students) although I learned some unsettling things.

Before I learned that I was a witch and came to Hogwarts, I had planned to become a doctor, so I told McGonagall that a Healer was one of the options I was considering. She assured me that my grades were quite sufficient for any career I would choose, and for Healer I needed a minimum of six NEWTs, including Outstanding in Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions, which she felt was well within my capability. The good feeling I had about that was quickly ruined by the scoffing noise that came from Umbridge.

Next I said that I was also interested in the possibility of doing something in Wizarding Relations, for example dealing with other magical creatures. This time Umbridge coughed loudly before McGonagall could say anything. Then McGonagall reluctantly admitted that even though my grades are topnotch, as a muggleborn witch I would be seriously limited in any career at the Ministry of Magic.

I was furious when I heard that, as was Harry when I told him this evening. I don’t know why it should surprise me, I suppose, given the attitudes of people like Malfoy. Apparently that kind of prejudice is well-established among the purebloods who run things in wizardingBritain, even if they’re not as blatant about it as he is. I guess I never appreciated the attitudes of Ron and the rest of the Weasleys, who are quite out of the ordinary as purebloods who don’t act superior to muggleborns.

Harry’s session with McGonagall wasn’t much better. He told her that he was thinking of being an Auror, and Umbridge made it clear he had no chance of working for the Ministry. McGonagall then pointedly noted that perhaps there would be another administration in power by the time Harry graduated, and informed her that in any case she would personally see that he is able to become an Auror if it’s the last thing she does. Then Umbridge accused her of trying to overthrow the Minister, along with Dumbledore. His session ended with the two of them in a shouting match. We concluded that if they weren’t before, McGonagall and Umbridge are now definitely bitter enemies. I don’t know if that’s good or bad as far as it will affect rest of the school year

After that we made our final plans for him to get a look at Snape’s memories. We’re going try to do it next Monday during Harry’s Occlumency session. The twins eagerly agreed to provide a diversion.

One week later

Harry tried to calm himself and clear his mind as he approached the dungeon. Snape’sLegilimency attacks had become more vicious since Dumbledore had left the castle. Harry had had some success with driving the nasty Potions professor out of his mind, but not before he had sifted through anything dealing with his connection to Voldemort. On one level, Harry understood why he was doing that, as his instructions from Dumbledore probably were to make sure Harry wasn’t being possessed yet, but he was certain that Snape was doing it in the most painful way possible. Harry would have given the whole thing up completely except for Dumbledore’s last words to Hermione before he left with Fawkes.

Snape had just finished removing the memories he stored in Dumbledore’s pensieve during their sessions when Harry entered the dungeon. After his usual insulting remark about Harry’s mental capacity he raised his wand. But before he could cast the incantation Draco Malfoy burst into the dungeon, blurting out that Snape’s presence was urgently required in the Entrance Hall. Snape took the opportunity to embarrass Harry by letting slip that Harry was in his office for Remedial Potions lessons, and Malfoy smirked broadly before the two of them hurried from the room.

“Ooh, I so wanted to hex that smirk right off his face,” Hermione’s disembodied voice by the door announced. “But hurry up. I’ll only be able to give you a few seconds warning when he comes back.”

Harry took a deep breath and plunged his face into the pensieve. After the disorienting feeling of falling through space, he found himself in the Great Hall during an examination. Oh, this must be an OWL exam. Hermione’d love to have seen this, he thought to himself. Looking around he found a younger Snape hunched over his desk working furiously on his paper. As he continued to peruse the hall, he gave a start as he spotted himself at one of the desks. No, he realized a moment later, it was his father! Next to him was a good-looking boy with long black hair that could only be Sirius. Eventually Harry also spotted Remus and Peter, and was feverishly searching for his mother when Professor Flitwick called time and Accioed the examination papers.

Harry followed the crowd of students out onto the grounds and took a position between Snape and the Marauders, knowing he couldn’t get too far from Snape in the memory. After joking with each other for a while, Sirius and James got bored and began looking for some mischief. It occurred to Harry that they really were like the Weasley twins, as McGonagall had once noted, except they were more arrogant. And as he was to learn, nastier as well.

To his horror, they spotted Snape minding his own business, studying for the next exam, and before he could defend himself they had hexed him, disarming him and hitting him with an Impediment jinx. It was a cowardly two against one surprise attack. Harry’s stomach churned as he realized that his father was every bit as bad as Snape had always accused him of being.

“Leave him alone!” Harry, along with the students in the memory, turned to see an angry red haired girl challenging the troublemaking boys. Harry couldn’t help but admire her for standing up to the bullies while most of the other students were too intimidated to do anything. Then he realized who she was. His mother.

James immediately looked contrite, not that it did him any good. It was clear from her attitude that Lily Evans couldn’t stand the arrogant snob.

“What’s he done to you?” she demanded.

“Well,” James replied deliberately, “it’s more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean.” Many of the watching students found this funny, but not Lily, and not Harry. His father didn’t even have a good reason for hexing Snape.

“You think you’re funny,” Lily returned coldly. “But you’re just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter.”

If he hadn’t been so ashamed of his father’s actions Harry would have found the way she verbally took him apart a bit humorous. She reminded him of Hermione when she got worked up about something. But James Potter took it completely in stride, as though this were an act they went through regularly. He even had the nerve to ask her to go out with him. This, of course, only made her even more angry.

While everyone’s attention was focussed on Lily, Snape managed to free himself and hit James in the face with a cutting hex. James and Sirius quickly responded and once more Snape was disarmed and in addition was dangling upside down in the air so that his robes fell away and revealed his underwear.

Lily was furious. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” she shouted, drawing her own wand. This made James and Sirius suddenly wary, and Harry found himself wondering if his mum was also like Hermione in that she knew more hexes than anyone in the school, so that her opponents were nervous about what she might do to them. The two bullies immediately backed down and released Snape, who was somewhat less than grateful for being rescued.

“I don’t need any help from a filthy little mudblood like her!”

Lily reacted like she had been slapped, and Harry wanted to hex Snape himself. Whatever pity he had been feeling for the boy disappeared immediately. Lily ended up shouting at both of the combatants, telling James that he was as bad as Snape, which clearly struck a nerve. Then she stalked away. Harry desperately wanted to go after her, feeling that she was the only admirable character in this whole unfortunate scene, but he was forced to remain with Snape. And here, things were about to get truly ugly.

James, who had clearly been hurt by Lily’s words, decided to take it out on Snape and turned him upside down again, this time threatening to take off his pants. But before anything more could happenRemus stepped in, finally exerting some control over his two friends, and put a stop to the harassment. Angry and humiliated, Snape stormed back to the castle while Remus restrained the irate Gryffindors and the memory faded out.

Harry found himself back in the Potions dungeon. The twins’ exit performance must have been quite impressive, since Hermione hadn’t come in for him yet. That memory had certainly been informative, although it was not at all something Harry would have preferred to see. But there were several more memories in the pensieve. More reluctantly this time, Harry plunged his face back in.

This time he found himself inside the castle at the entrance to GryffindorTower. There, in front of the Fat Lady’s portrait, Snape was trying to apologize to Lily. As the scene played out Harry’s mouth dropped open in shock. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Snape and Lily had been friends, but had gradually grown apart as Snape had fallen in with the Death Eater crowd. The incident that afternoon had evidently been the last straw and Lily was now permanently ending the friendship.

“You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine,” she concluded.

Snape was desperate. “No … listen … I didn’t mean …”

But Lily was having none of it. “You call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?” And with a final look of contempt, she turned her back on him and climbed back through the portrait hole. Harry took one last glance at the look of despair and loss on Snape’s face as the memory faded out.

“Harry! Harry, come out! He’s coming back.” Hermione’s voice brought him back to the present and he felt himself being dragged away from the pensieve. But before she could cover them with the invisibility cloak Snape was back in the room.

“What are you two doing here?” he hissed at them.

“I was wondering where Harry was,” Hermione answered promptly. I saw you in the Entrance Hall and assumed your lesson was over, but I couldn’t find him so I came here looking for him.”

“I didn’t know how long you were going to be gone, so I waited here for you to get back,” Harry added. Snape darted his eyes back and forth between them, his suspicion growing.

“I don’t believe you. But I’ll soon have the truth. Suddenly he raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione. “Legilimens!”

Hermione’s initial shock gave way to panic as Snape began rifling through her memories, but then she started to resist. She had read up everything she could on Occlumency and attempted to put it into practice. Although Snape’s only instruction to Harry had been ‘clear your mind’, Hermione had learned that that it was easier to free one’s mind of unwanted thoughts by focusing on something else. Therefore she concentrated with all her might on the Arithmency formula they had studied that morning.

“Protego!” All of the preceding had happened in less than a second, but that was all it took for Harry to come to Hermione’s aid, as he put up a shield in between Snape and his victim. As had happened other times, this caused the mind-reading spell to bounce back on the caster, and Snape was thrown against the wall. He shot back up immediately in fury, only to find both students confronting him with their wands out, crouched slightly, side by side in defensive positions.

“Get out!” he snarled at them. “And I don’t want to see you in this office ever again!”

Harry and Hermione hurried back to GryffindorTower in silence, then found a quiet corner where he told her what he had seen in the pensieve. Midway through the tale Ron joined them, and they quickly brought him up to date. Horrified by what she heard, Hermione scooted up close to Harry and put a comforting arm around him, while he just stared blankly at the far wall. Crookshanks tried to do his part, burrowing his way into Harry’s lap and rubbing up against his hand, trying to get his head scratched. Harry responded absently and the large cat purred his appreciation.

“I just can’t believe it,” he finally murmured. “Everyone says how wonderful he was, but he was just a bully. And Sirius went right along with him.”

“Well, I can’t imagine that they’re all making it up, Harry,” Hermione tried to point out. “And remember, you’re only seeing one side of it. It would be like watching Malfoy’s memories of you and Ron. I doubt that they’re very pleasant. He’d certainly never want anyone to see him bouncing up and down in the air as a ferret. This got a chuckle out of Ron, and but only a small smile from Harry.

“Or the time you decked him, Hermione,” Ron added. Hermione huffed in pretended indignation, hoping it would lighten Harry’s mood, but while Ron laughed aloud, Harry merely shook his head.

“But both of those times he started it. In this memory Snape was only minding his own business. Dad and Sirius were just bullies. Believe me, I know what it’s like to be humiliated in front of a bunch of people. They were no better than Dudley and his gang.” This time Hermione’s only response was to hug him.

“My mum pretty much said the same thing,” Harry continued. “She couldn’t stand him either. I can’t imagine how they ever got married.” He turned and looked at his two friends. “And remember what Remus said this summer, about how he was made prefect to keep Dad and Sirius in line? Stuff like this is probably why. At least he stopped them eventually.”

Hermione nodded sympathetically. She very much remembered what Harry had told her about the comment Remus had made. It had been part of the reason she had given up her prefect badge – a decision that she was now very happy she’d made. But right now she desperately wanted to ease Harry’s distress. For nearly five years Harry had been proud of his father, and been happy when people had remarked how much he looked like him. Now the ideal image he had built up was crumbling.

“I still think you should get another point of view,” she urged. “Why don’t we find somewhere more private than this, and you can call Sirius on your mirror and get his side of it?”

They found a deserted classroom and Ron was stationed at the door while Hermione looked over Harry’s shoulder. Soon Sirius’s face was looking back at them out of the mirror. Harry quickly filled him in on what he had seen. By the time he had finished, Remus had joined them, looking over Sirius’s shoulder. The reaction of the two former Marauders was not what Harry and Hermione had been hoping for. Both of them recalled the incident quite clearly, and were obviously embarrassed by it. Remus began to make an excuse about James being only fifteen at the time.

“I’m fifteen!” Harry snapped. “And I and every other decent kid I know knows better than to act like that.” Sirius tried next, explaining that Snape and James hated each other, and both hexed each other every chance they got. Snape hated that James was so popular and good at everything, while James hated that Snape was so into the Dark Arts. This helped somewhat, as did the fact that Hermione began rubbing Harry’s shoulders to relieve the tension.

“Yeah,” Harry countered. “But on this occasion he just attacked Snape for no reason, just because you said you were bored. And when Mum lit into him, she said you two were always hexing students in the halls whenever you felt like it.”

“You’re right,” Sirius replied, dropping his head. “Those aren’t things I’m proud of now. There’s no denying that we were a pair of arrogant berks back then.”

This admission calmed Harry somewhat, but he wasn’t finished yet. “So if he was such a jerk, and my mum hated his guts, why did they ever get married? He didn’t … you know … force her …?”

“No!” Sirus and Remus answered in unison. “No, she really did fall in love with him,” Sirus reassured him.

“After that year things started changing,” Remus added. “Lily stopped hanging around with Snape and James and Sirius grew up and started acting more mature. They stopped hexing people for the fun of it and started sticking up for and defending students that were being attacked by the Death Eater sympathizers in the school.”

“They started dating at the beginning of seventh year,” Sirius recalled. “Which made Snape hate your dad more than ever.”

“So, Mum and Snape were friends at one time?” Harry asked, still having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that his mother could ever like such an evil person.

“Yeah, all the way from the first day of school,” Sirius replied. “We were never sure why, or what she saw in him. They had nothing in common that we could tell. She was always friendly and kind to everyone – well except for James – and he was always sullen and withdrawn. But they hung around together for five years, until he started spending more time with the Death Eater crowd. I think that finally opened her eyes. By the end of fifth year they weren’t spending much time together at all, and the day you just saw was the end of their relationship.”

“Could it be that part of the reason James and Snape hated each other so much was that James was jealous of Snape and Lily’s friendship, and Snape was upset that James kept asking her out?” Hermione inquired.

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look. “Could be,” Sirius admitted, and both students could tell that Hermione had hit on an unpleasant truth.

Across the room the door opened a crack and then shut again, Ron’s signal that someone was approaching. Harry quickly said goodbye and put the mirror away, and he and Hermione rejoined Ron and made their way back to the common room.

“Bloody hell, Harry! Your mum was good friends with Snape?” Ron asked in amazement. “I mean, if that had continued Snape could have been your father!” Harry’s face screwed up in a look of horror and revulsion, but to both boys’ surprise Hermione burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, still trying to control a lingering snicker. “But that just reminded me of Darth Vader and Luke.” She lowered her voice as deeply as she could. “No. I AM your father.”

Harry just stared at her for few seconds, then let loose with a loud snort and shook his head, finally smiling for the first time in hours. “Great, Hermione,” he muttered sarcastically. “Now I have one more nightmare to add to the queue.” Hermione giggled and gave him a quick squeeze, then turned to Ron to try to explain who Darth Vader and Luke were.

Harry’s good mood didn’t last long. As he began to brood again about what he had seen, Hermione resolved to do something to cheer him up. “Ron, tell us about your brothers’ diversion,” she suggested.

“Oh mate, it was brilliant,” Ron began eagerly. “They turned the entire fifth floor corridor in the east wing into a swamp. Nobody could get through. Umbridge and Filch tried to remove it but couldn’t. Flitwick pretended not to be able to dispel it, and McGonagall just told the hag it was her problem. That’s when she sent for Snape.” Here Ron got a puzzled look on his face. “The thing was,Snape told her there was nothing he could do about it either. I don’t think he likes her any better than the other professors do. Anyway, finally Umbridge told Filch he could get the whips – he’s been wanting to horsewhip misbehaving students for years. The coolest part was that Fred and George weren’t denying it at all. They set up in the Entrance Hall and actually began taking orders for portable swamps!” Ron paused to shake his head in admiration.

“So eventually all the teachers ended up there, and Umbridge told them they were about to learn what happened to wrongdoers in her school.” He snorted. “Yeah, like anyone else believes this is her school now. But they just ignored her and announced that they decided that they’d outgrown full-time education. Then they summoned their brooms, and they ripped off the wall in Umbridge’s office and came crashing right through her door …”

“Oh my!” Hermione exclaimed. “That’s very powerful magic!”

Ron nodded. “Right. Always knew those two were holding back. So, once the brooms arrived, they mounted them and sailed out the front doors. You wouldn’t believe the cheering from the rest of the students.” Ron slumped back in his chair, shaking his head in wonderment, while Harry and Hermione grinned at each other.

While Harry was still in a good mood, Hermione suggested he play a chess match with Ron and excused herself. While Ron fetched the chess set she took the opportunity to whisper a suggestion to him, and he nodded his approval. She returned a bit later just as Harry was finishing up an inglorious defeat. When Harry looked up to see her she just smiled and held up her broomstick and the invisibility cloak.

“Care for some late night flying?” she asked with a knowing look. The smile that lit up Harry’s face warmed her heart and made the rest of the day seem not quite so bad. The pair donned the cloak and quietly made their way out of the castle and out to the quidditch pitch. Hermione told Harry to drop her off in the stands and do a bit of solo flying to work off the stress while she watched him.

She loved watching him fly, and loved the fact that it gave him so much joy. After thirty minutes of swoops and turns and dives that would have made Hermione nervous if it had been anyone else doing it, Harry returned to where she was sitting and hovered in front of her, his face flushed with exhilaration.

“Hermione, this was such a great idea,” he exclaimed. “Thank you so much for thinking of it.” Hermione beamed at him and nodded to acknowledge his appreciation. “Want to join me for a nice quiet ride to finish up?

“I thought you’d never ask,” she teased.

He took her up high above the castle, where they hovered, looking at the moon reflected in the lake while Hermione leaned back into his arms. “Feeling a little better now?” she asked softly.

Harry nodded. “Yeah. It still bothers me but it’s not the end of the world. There’s a few things I’m wondering about though.” Hermione put her hands over his arm, which was wrapped securely around her waist, and gave it a squeeze to let him know he should continue. “It really troubled me about how my mum could marry a guy who was such a jerk, but then I concluded that he must have really changed like Remus said, or she wouldn’t have. So I decided I just have to think of him the way he turned out, rather than the way he was at fifteen. From what I saw, my mum was pretty strong willed and wouldn’t take anything from anyone, especially him, so I don’t think he could have fooled her. She actually reminded me of you.”

Hermione grabbed Harry’s hand and raised it to her mouth and kissed it. “Thank you. That’s sweet. I’m honored to be compared to her. But there are still a couple of questions left.”

“Such as?”

“Why were your mum and Snape friends from the first day of school? Either they knew each other before they went to Hogwarts or they met on the train,” she reasoned. “Since she was muggleborn like me and he was a pureblood, the first possibility seems unlikely, unless they happened to run into each other in Diagon Alley getting their supplies. And Snape wouldn’t have been the type to befriend a stranger during a chance encounter, especially a muggleborn. So the only thing I can figure out is that they met on the Hogwarts Express and shared a compartment, sort of like you and Ron, and formed a quick friendship. She would have been overwhelmed by everything, and he might have been a loner who latched onto her. Perhaps someone made fun of one or the other of them and the other stood up for them.”

Harry considered this suggestion. “That makes sense. I can see my mum doing that. Hard to imagine Snape defending her though.” He sighed. “I doubt if we’ll ever know for sure unless we ask Snape, which I don’t see happening, or find a diary or something of hers. You keep a journal, right? Maybe she did too.” Hermione shrugged to acknowledge his thoughts. “So, what’s the other question?” Harry asked.

“Well, we still don’t know why Dumbledore trusts Snape so much,” Hermione answered. “It doesn’t seem likely that it was just because he was once friends with your mother.”

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