The new year was absolutely horrible.

At first, Harry thought that Hermione was just exaggerating, but whether she did or didn't hadn't really matter because the teachers believed the same as her. Between homework to demanding Quidditch trainings (the twins claimed that Wood's ghost was still around Hogwarts, hunting their team), Harry barely had time to breath.

Not to mention his nightmares.

He didn't expect a normal DADA teacher, or even plausible one. He wasn't mad, and despite Snape's beliefs he wasn't a complete dunderhead. Harry understands that due to Dumbledore's statements about Voldemort's return, Hogwarts won't be the top priority position for any qualified teacher; those who believed him helped in the Order and those who didn't wouldn't want to work with him.

However, Dolores Umbridge surpassed all of their expectations.

After their first lesson, Ron asked Harry, his voice low, if they still can bargain or even bribe someone in order to switch Snape and Umbridge's positions. "At least in Potions I suck anyway." He explained, and Harry hid his snicker with a cough as Umbridge passed them. It didn't prevent her from assigning him a second detention, in a sweet and caring voice.

If Harry heard that sugared voice one more time, he was going to puke over the toad's pink hat.

In the third month of the year, already after twenty detentions with the Blood Quill, each strained longer into the night, Harry urged his friends to stop waiting for him. They weren't happy, but he managed to convince them that at least one of them should be in a condition to show up to breakfast.

The only things that kept his abysmal performance on Potions from getting worse were the useful tips that his mother and the Prince wrote in his book. Usually Harry messed up somewhere along, trying to operate on merely two or three hours of sleeping per night.

Harry had enjoyed reading his mother's messages, but also the Prince's; he had a sharp tongue and sarcastic, dry humor. The pair had teased each other almost constantly, the margins of the pages full of tiny letters, puns and jokes. Surely, he won't give up on reading those.

Thus, Harry came to the undisputedly good idea of reading his Potions book during Umbridge's classes.

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge." Mumbled some of the students, and Umbridge tapped her ear.

"Again."

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge!" Everyone, including Harry, answered.

"Better. Sit down and open your books on page 87, chapter 5 – strategy through the history of the magical wars." Umbridge commanded, her smile revealing a line of little white teeth.

This cannot end well.

Harry pulled his Potions book out, as usual, and stuck the cover in Umbridge's sight. He replaced permanently the covers of the books before a week, and his plan was working flawlessly. The book was always open on Snape's lesson, so he even didn't need to hide the cover. He ruffled through the book and opened it on a random page, beginning to read the correspondence.

'Merlin, he asked me to go on a date with him on Valentine. Again.'

'Have you tried to use Langlock?' Harry noted that the spell and its counter spell appeared in the corner of the page.

'Yeah. He continued to send me notes, which had landed inside my oatmeal.'

'Tut, tut. Such an audacity and stubbornness. Surely, you can't resist the charms of a boy with these boldness and consistency.'

'You know what? You're right, I think I begin to fall in love with him…'

'As a supportive friend, may I suggest to write a poem for him?

Potter, my dear,

I wish you were here.

So skillful with the snitch

For you I'll be a -'

'… Too far, Half Blood Prince.'

'I meant to write hemistich, of course.'

'What's a hemistich?'

'Incomplete line of a verse.'

Harry couldn't help it; he snorted. Whoever that Prince was, he could understand why his mother befriended him. It seemed, however, that his mum and dad weren't on such good terms. Harry read the lines twice to make sure that Lily had rejected his father. That was strange, since everyone had always told him how much his parents loved each other. Well, everyone except…

"Hem, hem." A cough interrupted Harry's train of thoughts and he raised his head to see Umbridge walking towards him.

Shit.

"Mr. Potter, could you please explain us chapter five in your own words? More specifically, what was so funny about it?"

"Ah." Harry dared throwing a glance at Hermione, which shrugged helplessly and mouthed something he couldn't understand. "Chapter five was about the… usage of magic. In wars." Suddenly, he regretted days of napping in History of Magic. "Like… Dumbledore's war with Grindelwald." He shot a wild guess, trying to sound confident.

Umbridge frowned. It seemed like she wasn't expecting this answer. Yet, her smile stayed. "Have you reached the end of the chapter, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shook his head.

"Had somebody reached the end of the chapter?" Umbridge now asked the class, breaking her eye contact with Harry. Malfoy raised his hand, a smirk on his face. Besides him, nobody did, not even Hermione. Harry stared at his friend, surprised, but she kept her eyes on her desk.

However, one didn't need to be intimately familiar with Hermione in order to know that something was fishy. "Ms. Granger, haven't you reached the end of the chapter?"

"… I did." She answered after a few seconds of hesitating, not meeting Umbridge's gaze.

Her smile widened. "Could you please sum it for the… slower students?"

Harry gritted his teeth. Hermione didn't speak.

"Ms. Granger? Should I remind you that disobeying me will cost hundred points to Gryffindor?"

Hermione took a deep breath.

"This isn't characteristic for you, Ms. Granger. I presume you have fallen victim to some bad influence. Perhaps you and your… influence… should receive a detention, to learn… obedience."

She finally lifted her eyes from the desk, avoiding Harry's eyes. "The end of chapter five discusses the usage of Psychology during wars. It says that the typical propaganda included lies about… enhanced abilities of the other side, in order to weaken the spirit of the front line of Aurors."

Harry inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself. At least now he understood what Umbridge wanted from him.

"Very correct, Ms. Granger. I'll add an anecdote from my time at the Ministry of Magic; this technique is very common even in our days. Some people tend to tell lies, lies that weaken our society. Those people are among us, acting as spies. They are operating under orders of the enemy – "

Breath in, breath out. Slowly. Calm down.

" – breaking down the order of – "

In, out. In, out.

" – they may even have family members that had fallen in the war, but it wouldn't matter to them – "

In, out, in, out!

" – traitors is the best way to name – "

"LANGLOCK!" Harry cried out, throwing a quick glance at the book to make sure that he was gesturing correctly.

Umbridge's tongue had glued itself to the roof of her mouth. She clutched her neck, her marble eyes almost popping out of her face.

Harry couldn't help it; he smirked.

Then, Umbridge snatched the book from his table, looking like she had just swallowed a juicy fly. Harry's eyes widened and she smiled with triumph. She had seen his glance!

No more then a few seconds passed and she released herself from the curse.

"Who is that Half Blood Prince, Potter?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.

"I don't know." Harry honestly answered.

"Potter, tell me who it is and I'll think about reducing your two months of detentions to one." She banged his book on the table and leaned closer. "WHO IS THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE?!" She screamed, her face were distorted with outrage and Harry flinched as her spit hit him.

"I DON'T KNOW!" He repeated, louder.

Umbridge closed her eyes, calming herself, and abruptly smiled again, maliciously. "Very well. Two hundred points from Gryffindor. Two months of detentions, Potter. Your partner, who invented this curse, isn't off the hook; He may discover that corporal punishment had returned just in time for him."

With that, the class was dismissed.

Hermione said that he was lucky; Ron agreed and added that it's the first time that Harry's idiocy is helping him, since Umbridge couldn't believe that he was fully responsible to the new curse. Dean patted his back and Neville grinned at him awkwardly, despite the points' loss.

Only later, as he sat on his bed, staring at the book in the light of his Lumos, Harry noticed that Umbridge didn't even realize which book was he reading.

For the first time, he had blessed the stupidity of the blasted woman.