Once they were in the corridor alone Harry asked her if he'd done something wrong. Wednesday night flitted through his thoughts again, and he hoped it wasn't about that.

"You haven't done anything wrong," she assured him. "The Headmaster has something he needs you to do."

Harry couldn't imagine what that would be, but kept quiet for the few minutes it took them to get to the Headmaster's office. His father and the Headmaster were waiting inside for them.

"I would like to see your hand Harry," the Headmaster said seriously. Harry wasn't used to seeing him so serious, but held out his hand for him to take over his desk. The aging man put his palm over the top of Harry's hand, then turned it over to look at the other side, and then turned it to look at the back again. He tapped his wand to the skin on the back of Harry's hand and enchanted something under his breath and then stared at his hand as though he was trying to look right through it.

"The curse is still confined to his hand. The Unbonding Quill should work to reverse it."

Snape pulled a white quill out of an aging box that looked as though it was ready to fall apart and handed it to Harry. "Tell us again what you wrote in Umbridge's office with the Blood Quill."

"I must not tell lies," Harry repeated.

"Only once?" the Headmaster asked.

"Only once. I touched the quill to the paper after that but I lifted it up again because my hand prickled."

The two men looked at each other and Harry looked up at McGonagall who had her lips pursed.

"Write, ‘I may tell lies if I want to.' Then you must touch this quill to the paper again as you did with the Blood Quill. That will unweave the curse in your hand."

Harry nodded and then wrote what they'd told him to. He lifted the quill, then touched it down to the paper again and lifted it again. His hand was tingling again, like it did when Umbridge had gripped it so tightly, but not in an unpleasant way. His hand felt lighter now than it had been before.

"What do you feel?" the Headmaster asked.

"My hand is tingling like it did the other night, but it doesn't hurt, and it feels lighter."

The Headmaster ran the same set of curse detection spells on Harry's hand that he had when Harry first came in and then declared the curse had been lifted.

"Thank you Harry," the Headmaster said. "You may return to Gryffindor. You have fun plans with your friends for the afternoon I hope?"

"Yes sir," Harry said. McGonagall had interrupted a chess game between he and Ron, and Harry had plans with Ron and Hermione later to go over their newly rewritten papers for Charms, Transfiguration and Potions. They were hoping to get O's on them all. Ron was already imagining the letter he'd write to his mum if he got O's all week on his papers.

The Headmaster smiled and with a last look at Snape, Harry left. McGonagall went with him.

"Blood Quills are a nasty business," McGonagall commented as they went down the Headmaster's spiraling staircase. "It's good that you insisted on seeing Professor Snape when you did."

"Yes maam."

"We checked with other students and found you weren't the only one. There were three others."

"Three?" Harry asked.

"Yes. They came in before you to have their curses reversed." They made the bottom of the staircase and McGonagall held a finger up to her lips to let Harry know not to speak. She led him back to her office instead of Gryffindor tower and once inside shut and warded the door.

"Each case has been recorded. That's what the Headmaster was doing when he put his hand over yours. The evidence will be presented to the board of governors tonight and then the Ministry on Monday morning. We are hoping to have her removed. Using a Blood Quill is dark magic, and to use dark magic on students is most certainly forbidden. If you had not gone to Professor Snape, we might not have known about this."

"I didn't know," Harry said. "I just knew I didn't want to do that detention."

"I know Professor Snape has already told you this Harry, but you may also come to me or the Headmaster with any issues you are having. Professor Flitwick, Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey and Proffessor Sprout will also be willing to help you with anything you need. The staff that are here are chosen because of their commitment to students. Umbridge is the exception because she was forced on us by the Ministry."

Harry bit his bottom lip but at McGonagall's encouraging look he said, "But Professor Quirril-"

"He was also committed to students when he first started. It wasn't until his third year, the year you started that it became apparent that something wasn't right."

She offered him a biscuit, which he declined, and then advised him not to speak about what they'd spoken about to anyone else, not even Ron or Hermione until Umbridge was gone. They didn't want word of what was happening to get back to her before they had a chance to present it to the Ministry.

"I won't tell," Harry assured her, and she nodded.

"I want you to stay with your friends or a professor at all times until this is sorted out. I don't want you put in a situation where you may come face to face with her alone."

"Yes maam."

* * *

Monday morning McGonagall came down to Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and told everyone that Defense was cancelled for the day. "During your defense period you are all to return to the common room until your next class or meal." She moved on to Ravenclaw to pass the information along there and Harry looked up to the Head table and found that Umbridge wasn't there.

"Wonder what's going on," Ron said. He looked at Harry who was keeping his mouth shut. "Do you know?"

He nodded.

"I was told not to say anything until it's all sorted out."

"Why does it always have to be you?" Hermione said, looking unhappy.

"What do you mean?"

"Every year it's you and the defense professor trying to kill you."

"No one said she tried to kill me."

"But she did, didn't she?" Hermione said. "That's why she's not here this morning and class is cancelled? That's why you were gone for so long the other night and then Sunday afternoon."

"She didn't try to kill me," Harry insisted, but then finished with, "not exactly."

Hermione sighed. "We can use the time in the common room to work on our Herbology essay. Neville says his is finished and he's willing to share the extra information he put into his. He always gets O's in Herbology."

"Wait, aren't you going to tell us Harry? About Umbridge?"

"He will when he can Ron," Hermione chided, and Ron mimicked her silently as he put seconds of eggs onto his plate.

* * *

Umbridge was back by dinner Monday night, but on Tuesday everyone was informed that Defense was still cancelled, and she disappeared again. She was at the staff table Wednesday morning, but her class was cancelled that day too. Harry was starting to get nervous that she was going to keep her job and would find a way to make him pay for all the trouble he'd caused her. On Wednesday evening however Snape pulled Harry out of the throng of students making their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Come with me."

Harry followed him down to his quarters and was surprised to find McGonagall waiting just outside. Snape unlocked the door and then held it open for Minerva. Harry didn't fail to notice that Snape didn't ward the door this time after he closed it. He didn't lock it either and wondered if someone else would be coming to join them.

"The elves will send dinner down in a minute," Snape said, and motioned to the kitchen. Harry followed McGonagall in and sat at the table when she told him to.

"How was your day today Harry?" she asked.

"Erm, good," he said. He wasn't used to having a meal with his Head of House, or just talking to her with no good reason. If he wasn't in class and she called for him it was usually because he was in trouble or to talk about his low grades.

"I understand you've been putting more effort into your classwork lately," she said as plates appeared before them, full of food. Snape came in and sat down then. "I've been very pleased with your essays in Transfiguration."

"Erm-" he wasn't really sure what to say. "Professor Snape told me how to get O's on my essays."

Snape looked up from his roast carrots at this and frowned at the pleased look Minerva was giving him.

"And you passed this information on to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom as well?" she asked.

"Yes maam." Not all of Harry's recent essays had been O's, but many were and he'd received several Exceed's Expectations on the rest. Ron had snagged a couple O's for himself and had been sending all of his E and O papers to his mother nightly despite the ribbing Fred and George were giving him about becoming a bookworm and teacher's pet.

"We're very pleased with everyone's progress."

"Neville's been helping us find books we need for Herbology and Hermione's been helping with Transfiguration books. Ron took on Charms and I've been reading a lot about Potions. We share the books we have each time an essay's due. We're not... cheating or anything."

"No, I can tell you're not," McGonagall said. "You each have different information in your essays and not all of them are quite so detailed."

They ate in silence for a few minutes before the door opened again and Madam Pomfrey appeared in the kitchen a few moments later. She took the last remaining seat.

"Sorry I'm late," she said. "I had a few last things to attend to at the Ministry before I left and had to stop at St. Mungos on the way back to pick up an Unbonding Quill with a stronger charm." A plate of food popped into existence in front of her and she began talking to Minerva about a few random things as she ate. When she fell silent Snape put his fork down, dinner half finished and looked at Harry and said, "Umbridge is gone. She won't be back to Hogwarts."

"Really?" Harry asked. He was relieved, but still felt full of anxiety and wasn't sure why.

"We've all been back and forth to the Ministy for the last few days," Pomfrey said. "I had to prove the ill effects of the curse on varous students before they would consider that she had done dark magic."

"It was foolishness," Snape said. "They tried to make a case that the Blood Quill could be used for non-dark purposes, even though it was banned over a hundred years ago."

"It wasn't looking good for us until today," McGonagall said, and Harry was surprised they were taking the time to tell him about it at all. "The Minister made a big fuss and had several legal aides and barristers there to protect her. He said the Ministry had the right to oversight of Hogwarts in any way they saw fit, despite that they already have a member on the board of governors."

"But she's actually gone now?" Harry asked.

Snape met his eyes and nodded. "Lucius Malfoy found out that Draco had been one of the students the quill had been used on and he stepped in to demand her removal. He was enraged."

"Severus," Pomfrey chastised. "We're not allowed to speak about the private affairs of other students to a student."

"You are not allowed to discuss medical issues of students," he corrected. "I however am allowed to explain to my son why that woman is banned from Hogwarts grounds for the rest of her life and thereafter."

Pomfrey hummed in a disapproving way but didn't say anything else. McGonagall was smiling at Severus again though he was pointedly ignoring her.

"Mr. Malfoy did that?" Harry asked after a few more moments of silence.

"He is on the board of directors."

"Is-" Harry hesitated for a moment and then finished, "is Draco ok?"

"His curse was one of the worst. We are still trying to break it."

"But he's going to be ok?"

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey said. "With the stronger Unbonding Quill I picked up today he'll be fine."

Harry wanted to ask what Draco had been told to write with the Blood Quill, but didn't want to be told off for being nosy so he didn't.

He felt awkward through the rest of the meal, eating with his Head of House and school Healer, but they bade them a good evening when the meal was finished and left Harry alone with his father.

"Who's going to be our new Defense Teacher?" he asked.

"Professor Dumbledore will substitute until a new teacher can be found."

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly. The prospect certainly sounded exciting.

"Yes," Snape said. "And the Defense Club will continue. This time if you wish to lead a meeting you will not be punished."

"I-" Harry paused and frowned.

"Umbridge waited until you led a meeting of the Defence Club to come down on you. That is why she was so upset when I corroborated your story. It was a made up offense in the first place and she did not expect with our history of detentions that I would contradict her."

Harry shuddered thinking about that detention again, even though it was short lived.

"Is your hand still tingling?" Snape asked when he saw Harry shake his shoulders.

"No."

"Good."