Severus sat down and observed the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. He never sat down in class but today he frankly was just fed up with everything. Word of Umbridge bailing Malfoy out had spread like wildfire and his Slytherins had decided that it was clear that their Head of House held no power whatsoever. Of course, they weren’t as stupid or bold as Malfoy to confront him directly, but he had received complaints from almost every teacher about at least a couple of students in every year causing trouble.

Harry hadn’t been happy about the lecture he got and even less happy with the punishment. Since Umbridge had already taken his broom privileges away, Sirius was left with free time and he decided to hit two birds with a stone. Harry was to go from class to the Marauder’s Quarters until curfew where he was to study unless he had other engagements like detention for a week. Harry had fumed and had said he needed an hour free on Wednesday. Sirius pushed but Harry said he couldn’t tell them why and Sirius assumed he wanted time to meet Ms. Bones and was firm about the punishment. Every free time next week was to be spent studying and bringing his grades back.

Severus glanced at Harry and frowned. Harry was cutting the ginger roots with his left hand. As a matter of fact he seemed to be doing everything with his left hand lately. Severus thought back to the game and realized Harry had caught the Snitch and punched Malfoy with his left hand too. Why?

The bell rang and he was brought back from his musings.

“Put whatever you have in a labeled jar and leave it here,” Severus growled.

The students rushed to do as they were told. The Slytherins may be rebellious but not even they dared to annoy him further on his turf when he was already in such a bad mood. No, they waited until they were outside his classroom.

“Mr. Potter Black stay behind.”

Harry waved to his friends and as the last one left, Severus waved his hand much as Sirius had done the previous week.

Harry put his vial on the desk and fetched another one from his bag and handed it to Severus with his left hand.

“Is your right hand hurting?” Severus asked as he took the vial he knew to be Nott’s.

“What?”

“You punched Malfoy and caught the Snitch with your left hand. You’ve been favoring your left hand lately.”

“Oh,” Harry said his eyes growing wider. “Hum, no. I just, bumped it the other day and it was hurting a bit. Nothing much.”

“Then you should see Poppy,” Severus said narrowing his eyes. Harry was lying and he wanted to know why. Harry very rarely lied and he wasn’t so good at it.

“No, it’s nothing serious Uncle Sev. Just a stupid bump.”

“Let me see it.”

“What?” Harry squeaked.

“Your hand Harry,” he said annoyed.

Harry brought his left hand up with a sheepish smile and Severus just raised an eyebrow. Harry showed his right hand and Severus couldn’t see anything wrong with it. He took the hand in his hand and turning it palm up he inspected the fingers and pressed the palm.

“It doesn’t seem broken or swollen. You’re probably right. But if you are still feeling pain tomorrow go to Poppy.”

“Sure Uncle Sev,” Harry said hastily and, Severus could swear, relieved. Yes, definitely something going on there. He hastily left the office and Severus missed Harry touching the back of his hand relieved where Severus had not touched.

Xxx

“I think you should get together anyway so you can practice. The older students could show the younger ones some more difficult spells,” Harry said in the Common Room that night.

“Harry has a point,” Neville said. “We don’t have much time for meeting as it is and we can’t miss one just because he is grounded.”

“You can see what hexes you might want to know that I don’t know and tell me and I can ask my dad while I’m grounded. I can tell him I want to prepare for my OWLs. This way he’ll be happy and we get what we need.”

“Fine, we’ll go through the list with the older students and see what they don’t know. Then I’ll pass the list to you and you ask Professor Black about the ones you don’t know,” Hermione agreed. “We’ll also try to schedule a meeting for Monday so maybe we can squeeze two next week.”

As they were putting together the last details they saw Fred and George’s happy faces come in the Common Room and smiled. Fred and George had decided to start exacting revenge on Umbridge and for the first time in their school career no teacher was doing anything to try and stop them. Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes forms were being filled continuously by students, who had the pleasure to see them in action many times a day.

Xxx

She was walking down the halls of Hogwarts with a twisted smile on her face. This week she had her evenings quite free since she hadn’t assigned Potter any detention. So, she decided she would catch those horrible students who were causing mayhem in her school. Oh, yes, she had noticed how the pranks seemed to go off near her and not any other teacher. If she caught Potter at it just the better. After all, Sirius Black reputation’s as a prankster in school was well known. It was obvious Potter was the one behind this. And she knew the other teachers knew that. They shared secretive looks every time a damn firework exploded on her face. And they were helping him, if only she could prove it.

She turned around a corner and frowned. She could swear she saw a shadow moving. She pointed her lit wand towards the spot but it was empty. She shrugged, turned around and froze. Her blood felt like ice and she did not want to move. Black eyes were looking at her hungrily. Bared enormous teeth were being shown and a low growl was being emitted. She was going to die! That creature was going to eat her! With an undignified screech Dolores Umbridge turned around and started running for her life crying, “Wolf!” The next day all the portraits made sure the right people knew and Professor Snape, very concerned, asked uncharacteristically loudly at breakfast:

 “Dolores, why did you run like that yesterday? Did something happen?”

“What?” she asked as if she was in control of the situation. How did he know?

“You ran Dolores?” Professor McGonagall asked in a clear voice that carried away as never before. “From Severus?”

“Oh, I don’t know why, Minerva. I was just patrolling the corridors in my Animagus form as you, I and Sirius do often and when Dolores met me she looked like she had seen the Dark Lord himself,” he said in a cornered voice. “Where you feeling ill?”

“One would almost think you were afraid of Blackie,” McGonagall chuckled and some students mouthed ‘Blackie’. Severus glared at her but said in a no nonsense voice:

“Of course she wasn’t, Dolores knows that was me.”

Throughout the whole conversation Umbridge said nothing. How could she? She would either confirm she had been scared or say she forgot Snape was an Animagus. No, she thought it was best to stay quiet and let the situation blow off. It didn’t though and the whole school talked about how Professor Umbridge was scared of Professor Snape. Students swore Professor Snape could be seen smiling slightly afterwards and he received considerably less complaints from the other teachers about unruly Slytherins.

xxxx

Thursday afternoon found one Sirius Black and one Harry Potter Black sitting at the table in the living room of the Marauder’s Quarters each immersed in their work. Harry bit his lip and swayed his left leg that was on top of his crossed right one. He cleared his throat and Sirius looked up.

“Dad, er, since we’re here and I’m supposed to study, do you think you can help me in Defense?”

“Harry, you know the teachers are forbidden-“

“I’m asking my dad for help not a teacher,” Harry smirked and Sirius’ smirk formed too.

“You do have a point.”

Harry produced a sheet of parchment with Hermione’s neat handwriting and gave it to Sirius. Sirius glanced at the list and raised an eyebrow.

“Some of these are NEWT level.”

“Yeah, I’m interested in thinking ahead.”

“You’re barely keeping up with your OWL work for other courses.”

“Never hurts to think ahead where I am already ahead,” Harry said happily and Sirius had a look that he wasn’t buying it. “Please dad!” Harry made his best puppy eyes. Sirius could never resist Harry’s puppy eyes, really he shouldn’t have made them so often for Harry to copy and improve them.

“Fine. If you finish all the homework you have piled up I’ll teach you what I can.”

Xxxx

“Minerva, I don’t think this will work,” Umbridge said entering McGonagall’s office with a sheet of parchment.

At first McGonagall could do nothing but gape at the gall of the woman to enter her office without as much as a knock on the door. The toad was still speaking in front of her desk and McGonagall had to force herself to pay attention.

“What won’t work, Dolores?”

“This schedule,” Umbridge said shaking the parchment in front of her. McGonagall took it and looked it over.

“It’s the teacher’s days off and rounds schedule,” she said in a bored tone.

“Yes, and do you not see it?”

“What?”

“How there is one day a month when there are an incredible amount of teachers off. That can’t happen,” Umbridge shook her head with fake innocent eyes. “We will have to change that,” she smiled with a little shrug. “You’ll see I have already marked in red the teachers that can’t have that day off,” and she turned around with a little spin and practically skipped out of the office.

McGonagall rubbed her temple and looked at the parchment again, “Of course,” she muttered.

Xxx

“Which teachers did she forbid from volunteering at the PWA?” Albus asked wearily from his desk.

“Take a guess,” McGonagall said handing him the parchment from her seat across the desk.

“I need to be there to monitor the patients,” Severus scowled as he paced the room.

“And I bet she imagines that since the work of the PWA was described in the Quibbler, it’s not all that important,” Remus said flatly.

“Poppy can monitor them Severus,” Albus said. “We have bigger problems. Umbridge forbade all three of you of taking that night off and has you doing patrols so she knows you’re here,” Albus said showing Sirius the parchment.

“Bugger,” Sirius muttered.

“Me?” Remus squeaked.

“Yes, you,” Albus said tiredly.

Xxx

“Professor Lupin,” Umbridge said pleasantly when they met in the third floor corridor by one of the big windows. “I’m glad to see you doing your work,” she said her smile being illuminated by the full moon.

“I’m almost done with my rounds,” Remus smiled pleasantly and walked away. He turned slightly as he passed her. “Oh, by the way Professor, Sirius and Severus are doing theirs. Just so you know and don’t get scared if you meet them in the dark,” he finished in a concerned tone.

Umbridge bristled but said nothing. Her gait as she walked away could constitute a stalk. Remus smirked. He walked back to the Marauders’ Quarters and entered quietly. He sat down on the couch and glared at the two werewolves by the fire.

“You know you owe me big time don’t you?” he said to Moony. “Look at me,” he extended his arms. “I’m almost as pale as a ghost! Ugh, if the girls knew I exchanged my beautiful ebony looks for this skimmed milk skin,” he moaned as the door opened and Sirius entered.

“Oh, come on Kingsley, Moony isn’t that ugly that you can’t stand a night as him!”

Remus/Kingsley glared at him and took a sip of his Polyjuice potion. He patted the cub werewolf that had padded towards him and gotten on the couch and was butting her head against Kingsley’s hand in a reassuring manner. “Only you understand me Julie,” he said dramatically.

 Sirius sat down and sighed, “I hope everything went okay at the PWA even with fewer volunteers. If someone had a bad reaction to the Wolfsbane…I don’t even want to think about it.”

 “Hasn’t happened yet,” Kingsley said firmly,“ By the way, where is Severus?”

“Oh, he wanted to do a last round as Blackie,” Sirius smiled dreamily.

From far away, a scream could be heard and a black wolf could be seen smirking after he had jumped in front of the toad like witch from a dark corner.

xxx

There had been no bad reactions and even with fewer volunteers than werewolves, everything went peacefully that night at the PWA. For some reason, maybe because she thought she had given Harry the ultimate punishment by taking his Firebolt, Umbridge did not give Harry detention for an entire week. That would have been great had he not been grounded by his father. At least Harry managed to get his late homework up to date and he even managed to get Sirius and Remus to show him the more complicated NEWT hexes and curses movements that he hadn’t known. He hadn’t mastered them, but knowing the wand movement to show the DA allowed the others to work from there on Monday evening.

After an exhausting but very fulfilling session, Harry instructed the DA members to leave in groups of three or two as he checked the Marauder’s Map to make sure the coast was clear. Cedric and Harry were the last two appointed to leave the Room of Requirement. They were waiting for Filch to finish his round on the seventh floor corridor.

“So, how are things going?” Harry asked. He had noticed Cedric had been looking quite annoyed every time he saw him.

“It’s going.”

“What did you mean by you at least have a break?” Harry asked. “In Herbology that first day when you were telling us about your schedule.”

Cedric looked awkward, “Don’t tell anyone please,” Harry nodded. “Every one of my friends keeps either expecting me to remember stuff we did or looking at me like I’m going to break. So yeah, at the beginning I had a hard time remembering stuff, and I’m not talking about the last two years. The Healers think that part of my memory is gone for good and it’s best if I don’t try to force myself to remember. I was having trouble retaining new memories. Sometimes I would forget stuff that just happened. It’s getting better though and the Healers are positive that it was just the force of the curse, nothing permanent. That’s why I have fixed sessions with Professor Lupin, the teachers can’t give me the specialized attention I need so we go over what I learned in class, to help me remember it better. I haven’t forgotten stuff lately, but my friends were there when I just woke up and would space out.”

“And they don’t realize you got better,” Harry said. “I know, my dad and Uncles also wouldn’t let me out of their sight the whole summer. I was surprised they let me ride the train. I think Dumbledore had to convince them.”

“Yeah, I know. At least when I’m with the other Houses, since they don’t know me that well, they don’t expect anything from me like that. They don’t expect I’ll space out or expect I remember what we did before I was obliviated.  I get a break. Cho is the worst,” he bit his lip, “I mean, she is great and she was there for me when I woke up but I don’t remember asking her out even. And she gets all teary when she remembers our first kiss anniversary or some rubbish like that and I don’t. I know it’s not easy for her, and that’s mainly why I am still with her. I feel bad breaking up with her since she was so helpful and everything. But sometimes it’s suffocating.”

“But it’s not fair to her to just keep going if you don’t want to be with her. The longer you lead her on the worse the break up,” Harry said.

“And since when are you an expert on girls and dating?” Cedric teased.

“I’m not but I’ve heard my dad and Uncle talking about my dad’s flings loads of times. Once my dad was dating this woman that he was afraid to ditch because apparently she was a little nuts and got scary when she was upset. So my dad kept going out with her for months and my Uncle kept telling him to break up with her gently but dad couldn’t muster his Gryffindor courage. So finally he decided he had enough when she came one day with a wedding planner to their date.”

“A wedding planner?” Cedric laughed.

“Yes, mind you. I just heard him telling my Uncle that since I never met the woman. Well, dad still thought she was nuts so instead of breaking up gently as my Uncle told him to he sent her a letter.”

“He broke up by owl?” Cedric gaped.

“Yes, even I knew that was not a smart move and I was just nine at the time. You just don’t do that!” Harry shook his head.

“What happened?” Cedric asked curiously.

“The woman got revenge in the same fashion. She kept sending dad cursed letters. And they were pretty nasty curses too. Dad had to start scanning all his mail and redirecting the owls so no student got hurt. She only stopped because dad called his Auror friends after she send a letter that had a borderline illegal curse and they threatened to arrest her if she kept that on. Dad never heard from her again.”

“I don’t think Cho is that extreme,” Cedric pondered.

“Still, it’s not right to let her think you are in to her when you can’t stand being with her.”

“It’s not that I can’t stand her,” Cedric shrugged despondently. “It’s just, I don’t know. It’s uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable most of the time with everyone. Not just her.”

Harry smiled sympathetically, “I’m sure things will get better.”

“I hope so,” Cedric shrugged.

Xxxx

Unfortunately for Harry his luck from the previous week had apparently run out and he met Umbridge on the way back into the Tower. She gave him detention for being outside after curfew. When Harry pointed out that he was still five minutes under curfew, she said that it’s the teacher’s watch that counted and his talking back would grant him another detention. So, Harry was once again engaged in slicing his hand for two evenings that week. Right when his hand had stopped throbbing thanks to the break and he had been able to use it better under Sirius’ watchful eye. He had a feeling that Umbridge knew that Sirius would be looking at Harry closely that week and that was why she gave him a break. But now that his grounding was over he was game again.

Umbridge had a particularly vicious smile during the first detention and she kept Harry longer than usual. As he left she told him to send her regards to his Uncle and Harry knew she was getting back at Severus for the whole Blackie episode.

The next morning, Harry went to Care of Magical Creatures not expecting anything much to happen.  Hagrid gathered the class around a table that he had set on the ground. On the table he had a huge upturned box and Hagrid called Harry before he opened the box.

“I ‘ave a Runespoor here to show the class ‘Arry. Could you translate between us so she doesn’t get scared and attack?”

Harry shrugged, “Sure.” He’d do anything for Hagrid’s class to go smooth especially since Umbridge had been inspecting his every class making Hagrid a puddle of nerves.”

Hagrid lifted the box and Harry approached the bench as the rest of the class took a step back from the three headed snake.

“Hello,” Harry said but the Runespoor kept twisting madly around and hissing. Harry frowned; he could not understand the hissing at all.

“’Arry, talk in Parseltongue not English,” Hagrid prompted. “Explain that I just want to show ‘er not ‘urt ‘er.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded going closer. Parseltongue had always come in automatically and Harry thought maybe he was too far away from the Runespoor to talk. He was touching the bench when he said, “My friend wants the students to see you and he wants to make sure you know we won’t hurt you.”

“Harry!” Hermione cried from the distance. “Stop speaking English!”

Harry turned around abruptly and cried lifting his arms, “I’m trying!”

That was a bad move because the Runespoor obviously thought he was attacking and attacked first, sinking her three pairs of fangs in Harry’s right arm and hand. Harry cried out in pain and fell to the floor. In one swift movement, Hagrid had taken the Runespoor in his hand and trapped it in the box again. Harry could only hear the chaos of the students crying around him when he felt Hagrid lift him up and rush him to the Hospital Wing. He did see Umbridge’s gleeful smile from the corner of his eyes.

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A/N- Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Thanks SWaddict1986.