With a grunt, Vernon got into the car, closed the door and drove away. Harry wondered where they were moving to. There was a stack of empty boxes on the front porch, presumably for them to pack their belongings back into.

Harry went back inside and sat down at the table to eat the breakfast Snape had made for him. He waited until Snape set his morning paper down to eat some toast before he said, "There's a for sale sign next door."

"I have seen."

Harry frowned, and wondered if Snape knew that this was his absolute last chance to send him back to the Dursleys. If they moved, they'd never find them again. They might not even be staying in Swanage.

"After breakfast we will go shopping for groceries."

Harry looked up and raised his brows. "Do we need any more? The train leaves in two days."

"I assume you will require a lunch for the train."

"Er-"

Snape set his paper down and looked up at him again, waiting for him to say whatever was apparently on his mind.

"I've never taken a lunch on the train before. I usually spend the last few sickles I have on candy for lunch. Sometimes Ron's mum makes me something."

Severus shook his head and muttered something that Harry thought was, "Muggles."

"I will give you a lunch box charmed to keep food hot or cold and you will take a proper meal."

Harry couldn't complain about that. He cleared away his breakfast dishes and Snape got into a cupboard and pulled out a green fabric lunch box.

"Tap it with your wand and say ‘hot' ‘warm' or ‘cold' and it will keep whatever is inside at the appropriate temperature for eight hours."

"Thanks," Harry said, and pushed it against the wall on the counter so he could put food in it the morning of the train ride.

At the grocery store later that morning Snape told Harry to pick out two fruits, a vegetable, lunch meat, bread, cheese, crisps and a drink. Then they took them home and put them in the fridge next to the dwindling groceries. There was just enough for the last day and lunch for the train ride.

"I assume you have not procrastinated on your homework and have finished it all?"

Harry reached into a drawer in the kitchen he had taken over for his school work and pulled out a small pile of essays.

"Done," he said.

Snape held out his hand, took them, and then rifled through them until he found the Potions essay.

"This is passable," he commented a few minutes later, and then handed it back to Harry.

Harry took the parchments and turned towards the stairs so he could put them in his trunk but Snape said behind his back, "However, if you were to look in chapter thirteen of your fourth year Potion's texts you would find information that if added might take your grade from acceptable to Exceeds Expectations."

Harry paused, bottom foot on the first stair. "What if I didn't want to Exceed Expectations?"

"That is your choice." Harry could tell that the man was irritated.

"I mean, what if I wanted to get an O instead."

Snape raised his brow. "I only give Outstandings to those who have gone above and beyond the required assignment to relate the material to other things they have learned or chosen to research."

"Huh."

Snape went back into the kitchen and Harry continued up the stairs. He had nothing else to do for the rest of the day or tomorrow aside from pack, so he might as well spend it getting a better grade. Hermione would be proud of me, he thought, though he doubted he'd get an O or even an E. The highest grade he'd ever gotten in Potions was Acceptable. He usually only got an O in Defense and sometimes in Charms.

Harry pulled out his fourth year Potions text and read chapter 13. Snape was right, there were a few paragraphs that were helpful, and he added the information into his essay. How would he go above and beyond though? He'd written about everything the text had available on the essay topic. His eyes fell on the stack of new textbooks recently purchased at Diagonalley and he went over and pulled out the fifth year Potions text. He couldn't read the entire thing in two days. Maybe if he flipped through the index and glossary. His finger scanned down the index and he noted several pages that he wanted to look at and then flipped through to those pages. It was a lot more work than he'd bargained for however, because he didn't entirely understand what he was reading, and ended up having to read three entire chapters. In the end, Harry ended up re-writing his essay to include all of the new information. He didn't know if it was enough to get him an O, but he was satisfied with the essay and felt like he'd done a good job with it. Is this what Hermione felt every time she finished an essay?

* * *

Harry had just finished packing his lunch (with extra crisps for his friends) along with the remaining candy he had from Diagonalley, when Snape came up behind him.

"Here."

Harry turned and saw that Snape was holding out a handful of wizarding coins.

"What's this for?"

"I do not wish to break your tradition of gorging yourself on candy and making yourself sick on the train ride to school."

"You're giving me money for candy?"

"That is what I said."

Harry took the money. It was just a few sickles but it was enough for fresh pumpkin juice, a cauldron cake, and some licorice wands.

"Thank you."

Snape ignored the thanks and instead asked, "Are you packed?"

"Yes."

"I expect that your grades will remain high this term and that I will not be receiving constant notifications of detentions."

Harry frowned as he pulled his full lunch box off the counter. "Why would they notify you?"

Severus gave him a stern look and then said, "It is policy that guardians are notified of detentions."

"But once we're back at Hogwarts-"

"I will still be your guardian."

Harry rubbed his free hand on his pants as if it was sweaty and then disappeared, presumably to bring his trunk downstairs.

Severus sighed. The boy had told the Weasleys that he was only staying with Severus until Hogwarts. Hopefully after they returned to Hogwarts Harry would stop thinking that the new guardianship was all some sort of elaborate ruse.

Harry brought his trunk down and set it next to Hedwig's cage and a few minutes later Severus apparated them to platform 9 ¾.

Hedwig hooted and ruffled her feathers at the sudden buzz of excitement that was going on around them. Students and parents were everywhere wheeling trolleys around with luggage as stray pets wandered in the crowd or flew overhead.

"Did you set up that play date with Draco yet?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling anxious and not being certain why. He hoped Snape would say something funny to take his mind off of it.

"I'm sure I could arrange it," Severus said and Harry looked up at Severus and gave him a frown before he realized that he was also joking.

A redhead appeared in the crowd and Harry recognized Mr. Weasley.

"I will see you at the feast," Severus said as Harry took a step towards the Weasleys.

Harry turned and wasn't sure if he should say goodbye, or thank the man for giving him a place to stay for the rest of the summer and healing him. Instead he settled for a quiet, "Ok," and then went towards the Weasleys with his luggage.

The Weasley's greeted Harry warmly and it was only a few minutes before they had all of their luggage in a compartment and were saying their goodbyes. Hermione made it to their compartment a few minutes later. After the train pulled away from the station the twins took their things to an empty compartment to work on their new line of things to sell and Ron and Hermione disappeared to the Prefect's compartment for a meeting, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

"Ok Harry?" she asked.

He looked up and realized he'd been just staring at his hands for several long minutes.

"Huh? Yeah."

"You looked lost in thought."

Harry shrugged. He'd been thinking about Cedric. Maybe that's why he was anxious. He'd come back from the maze with Cedric's dead body and then a few days later school was over. What did people think about him all summer? Did they even know what had happened? And what about Cedric's family? How were they doing?

"Harry?"

"Cedric," he said, and Ginny got up and crossed the compartment to sit on the bench next to him.

He'd been too busy just trying to stay alive all summer to really think about Cedric aside from in passing. He wasn't sure how to feel about the whole incident anyhow. He was sad that Cedric died and uncertain about Voldemort's return. But he didn't really know Cedric that well. He wasn't friends with him. Somehow Harry felt like he was doing something wrong by not feeling more sorry for Cedric. Compared to all the raw emotions of the summer Harry just felt numb about him.

"I heard they put up a statue of Cedric," Ginny said. "In the Hufflepuff corridor. Dad said the plaque reads ‘Cedric the Decent.'"

Harry sighed. When he died fighting Voldemort there wouldn't be a statue or a plaque. He wasn't really sure anybody would be sorry to see him die at all except maybe the Weasleys (and Snape) though he wondered where the thought about Snape had suddenly come from. Everyone would probably just feel numb about him and think to themselves, ‘I didn't know Harry that well. He seemed like an ok guy but I wasn't friends with him.'

"What do you think Harry?"

"Huh?" He looked up at Ginny.

"We should go see the statue when we get back. I brought flowers from the garden to put at the base of it."

"Yeah. Sounds good."

Ron and Hermione came back to the compartment before lunch and told Harry and Ginny about various things that had been in the meeting. Apparently the new Defense Professor was from the Ministry and her name was Dolores Umbridge. There were also new rules about visiting Hogsmeade and going out on the grounds after dark.

Finally the conversation turned from school to how their summers had gone. Hermione asked Harry about his but he didn't feel much like talking so Ron spoke up for him instead. "Harry spent the summer with Snape."

Harry ignored the questioning look Hermione sent his way and instead dug in his lunch box for his crisps and opened them up for his friends. "What?" Harry asked when they were all looking at him. "He's not that bad. Look, he sent me with crisps."

"He feeds Harry crisps and fizzy drinks when he locks him in the basement," Ron said in as serious a tone as he could, drawing a look from Hermione that finally made Harry laugh. Harry pulled out his only fizzy drink and opened it as if to make a point.

"Harry, why did you stay with Professor Snape?"

"He said I had to stay with him until I wrote an Outstanding summer Potions essay."

"Harry-"

"What? I'm a troublemaker. They had to put me somewhere where I'd stay out of trouble."

"I know you better than that. You never go looking for trouble, it always finds you."

"That's what I say," Harry said.

"Harry said he went to Danger Alley," Ginny said.

"It's not true," Harry said.

"I know. Hermione's right. We know you wouldn't go there. Besides, you're too secretive to tell us what you really did this summer."

"Dragons," Ron said.

"Hippogriffs," Ginny put in.

Hermione shook her head but with her three friends looking at her and waiting for her to pipe up blew a puff of air up at her bangs and said, "Trolls."

They spent the afternoon talking about Quidditch, classes, and occasionally visiting with others who came by their compartment. When it was dark they changed into their robes and packed all of their things away to get ready to leave the train. When it finally slowed and came to a stop they allowed the corridors to clear some before leaving their compartment. Harry was relieved to see that everyone was too busy and things were too chaotic for people to be staring at him and whispering about him.

The twins held a carriage for them but rode on a separate one with their own friends.

"What d'you reckon Harry?" Ron asked as he pointed to the twins after they'd been dropped off at the steps leading up to the castle. "Think they're ashamed to be seen with us since they're seventh years now?"

"Probably," Harry laughed.

"Then maybe we ought to embarrass them."

"Aren't they working on pranks to sell?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"If you embarrass them they're going to test them all on you first."

"They already have been all summer. I found pudding in my pillow when I woke up this morning, and troll snot on my toothbrush."

"Well if you've got nothing to lose-" Harry said.

"Careful Ron," Ginny said as they walked along with the noisy crowd towards the Great Hall. "Their next joke could involve spiders."

Ron shuddered and Harry and Ginny laughed. A hand reached out to stop them and they stopped however. It was a woman with short curly brown hair and a pale pink blouse and gray skirt. She was only as tall as Harry was.

"Excuse me," she said in a sweet voice. "Did you say you were planning to pull a prank involving spiders?"

"Erm-" Ron stuttered. "No- we, ah-"

"No maam," Harry said for his friend. This must be their new defense professor. "I'm sorry Professor Umbridge," Harry said. "We were talking about something his brothers did to him when he was younger. They turned his teddy bear into a spider."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant does it?" she asked.

Ron shook his head.

"No maam," Harry said.

She looked directly at Harry and said, "I highly suggest that you do not involve yourself in any prank pulling or wrongdoing this year Mr. Potter. I would be very disappointed to find that you have as many detentions this year as you have had in your previous years."

"Yes maam," Harry said. He got the distinct feeling that she didn't like him.

"Very well," she said, and walked off, leaving them to go into the feast.

"Is it just me-" Harry started to ask, but Hermione stopped him.

"No. Something didn't seem right there."

"Why is it always the Defense Professor?" Ron asked.

"The position is cursed," Ginny reminded him.

The feast seemed to go by agonizingly slow for Harry. He noticed that several people were staring at him throughout, including Professor Umbridge. She seemed very interested in everything he was doing including what he was putting on his plate. This made him feel like he should put extra vegetables on his plate and not take any pudding at all. Snape he noted also seemed to be watching him but he only caught him looking his way twice. Several Hufflepuffs at the next table kept whispering things and Harry distinctly heard Cedric's name, and people from Ravenclaw and Slytherin were looking at them as well.

"Yeah," Ron said under his breath, "they're looking. Let them look."

"I think they're just curious about what happened," Hermione said.

"Not the Slytherins," Harry said as he glanced over his shoulder at Slytherin table. "They know what happened." They would if their parents had told them.

"They can't all have family that are Death Eaters," Hermione said.

"No, but I'm sure the other Slytherins told them," Ron gruffed.

After the feast Harry and his friends rose to head towards Gryffindor and Harry noted that several people bumped into him.

"Watch it!" Ron shouted as one of the Ravenclaws bumped into he and Harry both, nearly sending Harry sprawling.

"Whoops," the Ravenclaw said with a dirty look, and turned and walked off with his friends.

"I don't want to do this this year," Hermione said.

Harry bit his lip as they walked. "You don't have to be friends with me if you don't want to," he said quietly, though he hoped she'd brush the statement off. She did.

"Nonsense. There's nothing wrong with you, it's all of them."

When they were back in the common room and Ron had gone off with a group of first year boys to show them to their dorm and where the bathrooms and hygiene supplies were, Hermione and Ginny sat down with Harry on a worn, comfy couch in the corner.

"If people are going to be like this all year, you're going to have to watch out Harry. Especially if Professor Umbridge has it in her mind to punish you for any little misdeed."

"You think she's really out to get me?"

"You heard her speech at the feast."

"I wasn't paying too much attention." He'd been busy trying to be invisible while he listened at the same time to the murmurs of students behind him at Hufflepuff about the ending of the Tri Wizard Tournament.

"She mentioned raising the standards of Hogwarts education to bring Hogwarts up in standing amongst other European schools, and at some point said doing what was necessary to reign in academically unhelpful behaviors."

"And she warned you to stay out of trouble before the feast even started," Ginny added.

"Wonderful," Harry said.

"Ron might try to goad you into getting back at people for being rude, but-"

"I'm not going to goad him into anything," Ron said as he came back from helping the first year boys and sat down on the couch on the other side of Hermione. "I'm not stupid. Last night dad mentioned something about the Ministry intervening at Hogwarts. He said the Minister was using the death of a student as an excuse to gain a foothold at Hogwarts."

"What do they want with a foothold?"

"The same thing as Voldemort," Hermione said gravely, and they all stared at her. "Control," she said. "The Minister wants control. Think about it. If he can gain control over Hogwarts he can say what we're taught. He spent the summer telling the Prophet that Voldemort is dead and hasn't returned, so that's probably where he'll start."

"He did?" Harry asked. He hadn't seen the papers. He always canceled his subscription to the Prophet in the summer since he always sent Hedwig home with Ron so there was no one to fetch his papers for him.

Hermione dug in her backpack for a moment and then brought out that morning's copy of the paper. Harry took it and let his eyes scan down the front page. There was nothing there, but on the second page there was a story with a statement from Cornelius Fudge. ‘I want to assure you that you are all safe. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was taken care of fourteen years ago. We have seen no signs of him, or activity by his followers since last year's Quidditch World Cup. Harry Potter is a very imaginative young boy, no doubt seeking to regain some of the former attention he received as a younger child.'

Harry felt sick. "It's been like this all summer?"

Hermione took the paper back and Ginny said, "They've been saying things like that about you and Professor Dumbledore all summer."

"How are they explaining Cedric's death then?"

"They said it was an unfortunate accident and that the tournament is dangerous and all contestants understood the risks involved before putting their name in the cup."

Harry looked around the common room at the fifteen or so older students who were still awake. Some of them looked away when they realized Harry had caught them staring. "That's why they're all staring at me."

"And shoving you," Ron said. "I ran into Seamus earlier this summer on Diagonalley. Some people think you got greedy during the last task and reckless and somehow caused Cedric's death. And when you said Voldemort was back, Seamus' mom said he couldn't come back to Hogwarts. I'm surprised he's here now. He must have convinced her you were lying."

Harry stood up and said gruffly, "I'm not lying." Then he felt bad at the look he received from his friends. He knew they didn't doubt him. "I'm going to bed," he said.

"I'm going too," Ron said as he stood up. They bade the girls goodnight and Ron followed Harry up the winding stairs.

When Harry pushed open the door to their dorm a minute later the other boys looked up at his entrance, but didn't say anything to him or Ron. Harry felt awkward and tense, like he'd done something wrong, even though he knew he hadn't.

He sat down on his bed and began pulling his shoes off. There was a shuffling of feet and Harry looked up a few moments later as Seamus came around in front of him and sat in the desk chair Harry shared with Ron.

"Me mum didn't want me to come back to school," Seamus said.

"Ron told me," Harry said, trying not to sound snarky because he was so on edge. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen."

"What did you mean to happen?" Seamus asked.

Harry looked up into his eyes. "Nothing."

"I know what the papers said about you and about Cedric, but I want to hear it from you."

Harry took a deep breath and turned to look at Ron, who seemed uncertain about the atmosphere in the room. Dean and Neville were listening quietly somewhere behind them.

"When Cedric and I got to the end of the maze we decided to take the cup together. When we touched it, we realized it was a portkey. It took us to a graveyard somewhere and Voldemort was waiting. He stole my blood and used it in a potion to regain his strength. He killed Cedric. We fought and I was able to get away with Cedric's-" he paused and swallowed hard. He'd tried not to think about it all summer long... "-body," he finished.

Dean and Neville came around to stand by Seamus now. Neville leaned against the desk and Dean gave a scared look to the other boys in the room. "He's really back?" Dean asked.

"He's back," Harry said.

"And you want us to believe you?" Seamus asked quietly.

Ron took a protective step forward and said harshly, "We want you to be our friends. We're going to be running short on them this year."

The other boys all exchanged glances and then Seamus stood up from the chair. "Me mum don' know what she's talkin' about. Hogwarts is the safest place to be if Voldemort's back. That's what the Headmaster told her when she owled to say I wasn't coming back to school."

"You believe me?" Harry asked. His heart was racing and his hands felt sweaty. For a few moments, being surrounded by the other boys in his dorm made him remember being back at the orphanage and being surrounded by Kirk and his friends in the middle of the night.

"Of course we believe you," Neville said, standing to go back to his bed on the other side of the room. "And I've always been your friend Harry. My gran'd have my hide if she thought I'd abandoned a friend."

The boys dispersed and Harry gave Ron a look he hoped conveyed how thankful he was that Ron had stuck up for him. It was a look he found later on, that he'd be giving his friends a lot that year.

* * *

Harry was bruised. Again. The Slytherins were leaving him alone (in fact, they seemed scared, though Harry wasn't entirely sure if they were scared of him or of Voldemort being back). The older Ravenclaw boys however seemed to have it out for him. One of them had tied his shoes with magic and he'd gone sprawling in the hallway. Seamus and Ron had cursed at him, but the boy had only laughed when Professor Umbridge had come around the corner just in time to hear them. "My, what language," she said. "That will be two points each from Gryffindor." She stared at Harry lying there on the floor, books and parchment scattered around him, and then continued on her way.

Another boy, though Harry couldn't be sure if it was one from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, had tripped him on his way into the Great Hall, and someone had pushed him hard in the Greenhouses during Herbology.

"I'm about to curse somebody," Ron said before dinner on their second night back to school.

"It will be more trouble than it's worth," Hermione told him, though she didn't look happy after giving a look to Harry who sat down gingerly at Gryffindor table.

"Not if it stops them from doing this." He motioned to Harry and the newly forming bruise on his elbow. He'd fallen just before dinner when someone had shoved into him, and smacked his elbow on the floor.

"We should go to McGonagall," Hermione said.

"What's she going to do about it, make an announcement to the school to stop picking on Harry? It's not like it's Gryffindors doing it."

"He's right," Harry said. Telling his head of house wouldn't do anything. Something at the back of his mind nagged at him to be noticed but Harry tried to force it down. He knew what it was. It was the same thing he'd thought over and over for years. If he was being treated like this, he probably deserved it. They all thought he was responsible for Cedric's death, and the reality was, they were right. He could have rescued him if he'd been stronger or smarter, or if he would have just done better at the tournament he would have gotten to the cup before Cedric. Cedric would have never ended up in the graveyard at all if Harry had been better.

"Well Harry?"

Harry looked up from his plate. "What?" It was obvious that they'd asked him something, but he didn't know what.

"You should ask Professor Snape what to do," Hermione repeated. Harry frowned. Why would he do that?

"Don't give me that look," she said. "You spent the whole summer with him didn't you?"

"Just because he stayed with him doesn't mean Snape likes him any more than he did at the end of last year," Ron said. Harry wondered if she and Ron had already been arguing about this while Harry hadn't been paying attention, because they both looked irritated with each other.

"I'm not going to ask him," Harry said to end whatever further arguments might ensue on his behalf.

"Harry-"

"I didn't spend the entire summer with him," Harry interrupted Hermione. "I was with the Dursleys for most of it," he lied. He really didn't want to discuss where he'd been. His friends still didn't know any of the details of why he'd been with Snape, and unless Ron's dad had said something to Ron or his siblings, no one knew that Snape had gotten him out of the orphanage with the forged papers.

"What are you going to do then?" Hermione demanded.

"I'm not going to curse them and get in trouble," Harry said to reassure her.

She bit her lip like she wanted to say something else, but didn't, and they went back to their dinner.

* * *

Umbridge was daring Harry to say anything at all about Voldemort's return. She had told them all in the very first class that no one needed to actually practice defense, because there was no need to know it. "General knowledge of the subject will be more than sufficient to get you through your OWLS," she said with a smile, making eye contact with Harry directly. He held her gaze until she looked away, but didn't say anything at all. Hermione had chastised Ron again just that morning and reminded him that it wouldn't be worth it to fight with people. Harry wasn't sure if she was being extra cautious because she always was, or if it was because of the new Prefect badges she and Ron were wearing. Harry had never seen a Prefect lose their badge, but Hermione had hinted that it could happen.

"Questions?" Umbridge asked the class. Several Slytherins and Gryffindors looked over at Harry, but he'd already made a decision to keep his mouth closed. He felt bolstered by the fact that the other boys in his dorm already believed him and didn't believe the lies the newspapers were printing. The Slytherins across the aisle believed him too. They had to, because of who their parents were. Harry had a feeling that Umbridge believed him too, but was trying to quash everyone else's belief.

When class was over, Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the classroom in silence and didn't speak until they'd made their way out of the castle and down towards Care of Magical Creatures.

"I'm proud of you Harry," Hermione told him.

He gave her a sideways glance. What was there to be proud of? "Why?"

"She was trying to goad you into an argument. Everyone saw it. You didn't even react."

"I thought you were asleep for a minute," Ron said. "Did you see the Slytherins? Even they kept looking over to see what you'd say or do."

"They all believe me," Harry said. "What do I care if Umbridge wants to fight about it?"

Hermione heaved a heavy sigh. "That's why I'm proud of you. You could have lost a lot of points or gotten detention."

"We have to learn real defense this year," Ron said.

Neville, Dean, and Seamus came even with them. They seemed to have been listening. "Ron's right," Dean said. "I read the new defense book over the summer. There's not much of anything useful in it. We need practice."

Harry looked up when no one said anything a minute later. They were all looking at him as they neared Hagrid's cabin. "What?"

"You duelled him," Seamus said. "You've had a lot of practice."

"And you want me to give Umbridge pointers on how to teach us?"

Neville laughed. "That would be something wouldn't it? Maybe we can have a duelling club again, like in second year."

"We could ask Professor McGonagall," Hermione said. "All student clubs have to have a teacher to sponsor the club and supervise it. I'll ask her after the Prefect's meeting tonight.

They spread out as they made Hagrid's cabin, but the moment Ron and Hermione got involved in a conversation about their new textbook, Draco sidled up next to Harry and said quietly, "You and I are going to duel again."

Harry frowned. "Why would I want to do that?" The two times he'd duelled Draco had both ended in disaster. In his first year he'd been caught after hours and given detention and in second year Draco had sent a snake at him and caused him to be an outcast for the year just because he'd told the snake to leave a student alone.

"If you're starting a dueling club, I'm coming."

"I'm not starting anything, and I don't care if you come." Though Harry thought he did care and didn't want Draco to learn any new spells or dueling moves he could use against Harry. Draco was sure to become a Death Eater with his father being Voldemort's right hand man.

Draco opened his mouth to say something, but Harry never found out what because Hagrid started class and told them to get into pairs. Harry ended up with Neville and they followed Hagrid into the forest to feed unicorns.

* * *

"I'm surprised by you Mr. Potter."

Harry looked up from where he'd found himself suddenly on the floor in the corridor outside the library. A Ravenclaw had pushed him down and then disappeared around a corner. Harry had mumbled under his breath about being rude, but had otherwise let him go before Umbridge had apparently come up behind him. He looked up at her.

"Maam?" he asked, picking up his bag which had fallen beside him and pushing himself up off the stone floor.

"From everything I've heard about you, and from your school records, I expected... something different."

He frowned, not entirely sure what she meant. She gave him a sweet smile, but then narrowed her eyes at him in thought. "That's the fourth time this week I've seen someone push you down, yet I never see you fight with them or argue, or any of the other things one would expect from a student who gets nearly 20 detentions a year."

Harry wanted to say he had it coming to him, but kept his mouth shut.

"In fact, last year you received four detentions alone for arguing in class, yet I rarely hear a peep from you in Defense." She seemed to be waiting for an explanation, but Harry wasn't going to give her one. Snape usually made it a point to give him detention at least once a week but for some reason had refrained in the two weeks since they'd been back to school. In fact, now that Harry thought about it, Snape's behavior seemed downright odd. He'd practically left him alone in Potions, and he'd given Harry an O on his summer paper.

"Do you know what I heard Mr. Potter?" Umbridge went on when Harry still hadn't responded. "I heard you were starting a dueling club. Why would you want to do such a silly thing?" she asked sweetly, as if a dueling club was an absurd notion. Hermione had gotten the go ahead from Professor McGonagall, who had volunteered to oversee the club once a week on Sunday evenings. They hadn't had their first meeting yet, but Hermione had a list of spells she wanted new club members to learn.

"I didn't start it," Harry said. "Hermione did."

"I wonder why she would want to be part of a dueling club."

"We had one in second year," Harry said.

"Yes, I recall reading about that in the school records. It was to practice self-defense because of attacks happening in the school. Are you and your friends expecting to be attacked?"

Harry thought it seemed like a silly question considering she'd just watched him be pushed down yet again and done nothing about it. He looked in the direction the Ravenclaw had walked off in, but turned back when he heard Umbridge clear her throat. "Duelling is not allowed in the corridors Mr. Potter," she reminded him. "I wonder, would you mind if I took a look in your bag? I'm checking for contraband."

Harry handed her his bag. There was nothing in there but his notes and textbooks from earlier that day. He'd been in the library studying with Hermione, but hadn't checked anything out. She opened it and looked through it before handing it back to him. She looked like she wanted to question him more, and actually seemed irritated that he didn't have any ‘contraband' with him. Without a word she walked away and left him in the empty corridor. Harry brushed it off as strange and didn't think about it again until much later when he would have cause to reflect on her odd behavior.