"Professor Umbridge Ron," Harry said. Whenever they talked about Umbridge he was always on high alert, aware she could be listening. "You should be respectful."

Ron flopped onto the bench and began to pull his homework out. The two of them were normally in Divination at this time, but Snape had agreed to let Harry out of the class so he could have more time to study potions, and Ron's mother had agreed only if Ron promised to pass all of his OWLs.

"Right," Ron said.

"It's actually interesting," Harry said, not looking up at him.

"Are you sure? Maybe Hermione's been rubbing off on you a little too much."

Harry set the book down on the table in front of them and pushed it towards Ron. "Look. It's a blueprint for a rebellion."

Ron scoffed. "The Ministry put out a blueprint for a rebellion?"

"No, our Defense book has excerpts from this book, and that was put out by the Ministry. This book was written by some old guy twenty years after he helped lead a rebellion against a group of vampires who had been holding wizards in servitude to bleed them dry."

"Ugh, disgusting," Ron said, sitting back and pushing the book away from himself. "I don't want to hear about vampiric draining."

"Well listen to this," Harry said. "When we heretofore had gathered the captive Muggles and captive wizards together we had to bring them to agreement that a rebellion must be waged. There had been much distrust between both groups as the Muggles felt it was the fault of the wizards for their entire village being captured and carried out to the rock on the sea. A war had to be waged first to capture the hearts and minds of both peoples before there could be true rebellion. We had need to work together to escape that forlorn and desolate place, and that could not happen until all were in agreement."

Harry looked up from the passage he'd been reading aloud. "It's a blueprint," he said. "I looked up a couple other books the Defense book quotes from and they're about rebellions too. One is about a rebellion that was quashed, and one is about the goblin rebellion. They all have the same things in common though. They all start with an information war to bring people together or to agreement."

Ron was just staring at him. "This is why they've been blasting me and Dumbledore in the papers. They think we're trying to get people on our side for a rebellion or something. That's why we've spent the last two weeks learning about misinformation and propaganda in Defense."

"And she's been teaching us that anything that doesn't come directly from the Ministry is propaganda," Ron said, finally understanding.

Harry scooted back on the bench and wedged himself in between the two bookcases on either side of the window. "Umbridge is here because the Ministry thinks we're gearing up for war."

"Psh."

"Do you know what she said to me the other day?" Harry cleared his throat and put on a mock high girlish voice, being sure to whisper in case anyone was in the potions section outside the nook listening. "Mr. Potter, how did you find the book I suggested to you? I noticed you checked it out last week."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "She's checking up on you? How does she know what you check out?"

Harry explained the apprentice and teacher checkout list to him. "Any of the teachers can see what anyone checks out, but it's easier to find what I'm reading since my name is on the teachers list."

"What did you tell her?"

"I asked if I could come to her office sometime after classes to talk about it with her."

"You're nutters. You've fully lost it."

Harry shrugged. "She said she was busy." Harry tapped the open book. "It's all in here you know. In the months before they rebelled against the vampires, they cooperated with them and let them think they were fully compliant, that way it would be a surprise."

"We're not mounting a rebellion though," Ron reminded him.

"But don't you kind of want to make her think we are?"

"Whatever you're talking about sounds like a terrible idea," Hermione said, coming around the corner into the nook and sitting in her favorite spot. She looked exhausted.

"We're talking about making Umbridge think we're planning a rebellion."

"I thought we talked about this already Harry," Hermione said. "Even if they thought you and the Headmaster were planning something, you'll only make it worse for yourself if you throw wood on the fire."

"Just wanted something to do," Harry said. "Fred and George would be all in."

"You don't have enough to do already?" Hermione asked. She'd been pushing hard to catch up to him in potions. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if she'd sent away for her own set of apprentice books and was just waiting for them to come in.

"She already suspects me, and I think I'd kind of like to lead her around on a wild goose chase." Umbridge had been following Harry around when she wasn't in classes or teacher's meetings. Every time he turned around she was there behind him talking to a student, or trailing a corridor behind on his way to the library. She hadn't ambushed him in the potions nook yet, but she'd caught up with him in the defense section twice. She seemed to be staking that section out. "I can't even go to the defense section anymore," he complained. He'd been in the defense section looking for a book on defensive charms which Flitwick had recommended they study for the upcoming OWLs, and had gone back a few days later to get a book on defensive Transfiguration which McGonagall had recommended to them. It didn't matter that he'd told her they were for classes. She'd practically accused him of dueling after hours and asked him half a dozen questions on why he might feel like he would need to do such a thing.

"It is getting a little old," Ron said. "Harry's not the only one she's been following. She's creeping me out."

Both boys looked to Hermione. "Don't look at me like that. If you're going to stoke the flames, leave me out of it. I barely have enough time to study as it is. I've just added another study group to my week on Saturday evenings. I have a lot of extra material to get through for Arithmancy."

"Are you going to miss the Mabon feast tomorrow night?" Ron asked.

"No," she said. "The study group is meeting afterward. There's more to life than just eating Ronald. Are you going to come to the potions lab tomorrow morning?"

"Well, you know, I was thinking of having a lie in," he said, stretching like he was too tired to finish out the day.

"Neville's catching up to you," Harry said. "He's already checked four more potions off his list. He'll have passed you up by tomorrow if you don't go to the lab."

"It's only for two hours," Hermione said before Ron could object. "Some people only stay for one."

"You're not even brewing," Ron said to Harry. "I don't know why you don't stay back in the common room on Saturdays."

"I probably will when I'm done helping Neville," Harry said. "Then you'll end up realizing most of the way through the year that you need to practice and I won't be there to help."

Ron grumbled, but the next morning he ended up going with them to the lab anyway. Harry told Ron to brew whatever Neville was brewing so he could help them both at the same time, and it worked out well because they were both making the same mistakes while trying to brew a boil cure potion. "Stop crushing the nettles with your fingers. Just drop them in."

"They're too brittle though," Ron said, "I'm not trying to crush them."

"Just be careful, it's not that hard. When you crush them they release the oils inside and you don't want that."

"Seems like if we don't want something in the potion we should just leave it out altogether."

Harry laughed, glad Ron had come. He was happy to help Neville, but Hermione was always so quiet while she brewed because she was focused on what she was doing. Having Ron there meant they could chat and joke while they brewed. Even though they were in a potions classroom and Snape was there at the teacher's desk, it was such a different experience than brewing during class time.

Ron and Neville made it through two potions in an hour and Hermione insisted on Ron starting a third instead of leaving an hour before the lab time ended. She was coaching them on which one to practice so Harry figured she could handle it and moved off towards the door. He wanted to go up to the dorms and get the flashcards Snape had given him the week before to start writing out all 27 classes of potions so he could memorize them. The flash cards would work well he thought, because he could keep them in his bookbag and pull them out when he had spare time.

"You suck Potter," a Hufflepuff seventh year who was by the door practicing a NEWT level potion said as he passed. He tried to ignore her but before he could get all the way out into the corridor she said, "I hate your guts."

Harry's stomach churned but he kept moving and didn't look back at her. Two more Hufflepuffs jeered at him and called him names in the corridors as he made his way up through the castle, and by the time Harry made Gryffindor he decided it was best if he stayed there for the rest of the day. As soon as he reached the dorm and came face to face with Seamus, who openly sneered at him as he came in, he had second thoughts about that choice however. He thought about going to the library, but didn't want to run into Umbridge on his way there and be interrogated again about which books he was reading and why. Harry grabbed his note cards out of the desk he shared with Ron and plopped down onto his four poster bed, pulling the curtains closed around it and spelling them silent to make sure he didn't disturb Seamus, who was studying and gruffing two beds over about Harry. Everywhere he could think of to go seemed like a terrible option, and he wished he could just get away from everyone who was mad at him or suspicious of him.

He opened his curtains again to get his apprentice book on compositions and classes of potions and retreated back into his four-poster. He couldn't really concentrate on what he was doing though. He wrote up five note cards before he heard Seamus get up and leave the dorm, closing the door with a snap. Harry sighed and took the silencing charm off of his curtains.

He'd been looking forward to coming back to school to get away from the Dursleys and Snape. Now he was here and he found he couldn't wait to escape to anywhere else. He couldn't stand to look into the faces of any Hufflepuffs he passed or had classes with because most of them scowled or stared at him. If it was just that they didn't like him, he could deal with that. Knowing that they hated him for getting Cedric killed was just a daily reminder that Cedric's death was his fault however. Harry knew it was, but he couldn't concentrate on classes, his books, or anything else when the memory of that night was running through his mind on repeat.

He looked back down to his book and the empty notecard he'd brought to the front of the stack. If he could force himself to concentrate he might be able to force thoughts of the light leaving Cedric's eyes after a bright green flash from his mind.

‘Chimaeric Potions And Their Compositions'. Just write it down, he thought to himself, and wrote, ‘Class 6 - Chimaeric'. The graveyard fought to come back into focus in his consciousness again however as Voldemort forced him to bow with a quick Imperio. ‘Blue Chimaeric bases focus on ingredients that will produce an icy effect. Red Chimaeric bases focus on ingredients that produce heat and fire effects. Mixed together into a purple Chimaeric potion, these bases will produce heat and ice which can be effective in stopping...' Harry's hand shook as he flipped the card over on the back and wrote, ‘Blue base - Ice, Red base - Fire, Purple = Ice & Fire'. Shadows of his parents and Cedric were coming out of the stream of magic that had been created when Harry's wand had connected with Voldemorts and Cedric was asking Harry to take his body back to his parents...

Harry took his apprentice book and threw it across the bed. It hit the curtains with a dull swoosh and fell down beside the bed to the floor. He sat breathing heavily. He would never have had to take Cedric's body back if he hadn't taken the cup with him... if he had just been better and had gotten to the cup first he would have found himself alone in the graveyard. It was his fault and the Hufflepuffs knew it. They didn't know the details... didn't understand all that had happened that night despite what Dumbledore had told the school, but they knew it was because of Harry in some way. There was no pretending with them when they knew the truth.

The dormitory door opened and Ron came in, apparently done with Potions lab. "Harry?"

Harry didn't respond, still trying to calm his breathing as he rocked himself gently. He was aware Ron was there, aware he was in his dorm, but he wasn't there at the same time. Voldemort's smooth pale face was screaming after him as he took the portkey and Cedric's body and fled. He was vowing he would come after Harry wherever he went.

"What's your apprentice book doing on the floor?" Ron asked. He opened the curtain to Harry's bed and took in Harry's shaken appearance. "What happened?"

Harry shrugged and looked down to his note cards.

"Harry?"

"I just need something to do," Harry said, moving to slide off the bed and taking the book from Ron.

"Well you have Quidditch practice in an hour, don't you?" It was the first Gryffindor Quidditch practice of the season. They had one month until their match with Slytherin the day before Halloween.

"Yeah," Harry said, thinking it through. In the last half hour he'd forgotten that he had all sorts of things that day to keep himself occupied with. Two hours of Quidditch practice followed by the Mabon feast that evening, where just about everything on the table would be made of apples. "Want to go down to the Pitch with me early? We can fly for a bit."

"I'll borrow Fred's broom. Be right back." Out of his two older brothers still there at school with them, Fred was the one more likely to allow Ron to borrow his things.

Harry got into his Quidditch gear and before he was done Ron had returned with Fred's broom. "Just gonna grab my coat. Fred said if there's a twig out of place in the tail he'll never let me borrow it again."

Harry was quiet as they made their way down through the castle. In the Entrance Hall a first year Hufflepuff asked Harry if he had ever killed any first years, and Harry went pale.

"What's the big idea?" Ron shouted at the sandy haired boy, who had seemed afraid in the first place and at the same time genuinely curious to know if Harry was out to get first years. "Go back to your common room and stop asking dumb questions! Harry never killed anyone!" The first year seemed properly chastised by the elder Prefect and hurried off towards the corridor under the Great Hall.

"I should have taken points off of him," Ron said. Then he looked back to Harry and his pale face. "They've been doing that all day, haven't they." It wasn't a question. He sighed and grabbed Harry's sleeve to get him moving again. "C'mon. I'm gonna put you through your paces on the field. I was thinking of trying out for Keeper if the spot ever comes open. You can try to score some goals past me."

Harry wasn't very good at throwing a Quaffle as it turned out, though the challenge did get him out of his head for the forty minutes they got to practice before the rest of the team came down to the field. Because Ron was already there on a broom, the new Quidditch Captain, Angelina Johnson told Ron to grab a school broom so Fred could have his back and let him stay on the field for the entire practice, which thrilled him. She posted him at the goal posts at one end of the field and their backup Keeper Cormac McLaggen, who was a sixth year at the other end of the field. Cormac had some experience as he'd practiced with Gryffindor the previous year, but Ron had stopped the Quaffle more times than he had by the end of practice.

"Looks like you earned yourself a spot on the team Weasley," Angelina said at the end of practice.

"I did?" Ron asked, surprised.

"Keeper. Cormac can stay the backup Keeper. You need a lot of practice, but you'll make a great Keeper if you can get some of the moves down. Your eyes are sharp like Harry's." She motioned to Harry, who had thrown himself fully into the practice that afternoon trying to forget all about the Hufflepuffs, Seamus, Cedric, and Voldemort. As a result Harry had caught the Snitch seventeen times, including once when he'd gone careening into the mud on the field in order to catch it. His Quidditch uniform was caked in dry mud from head to toe.

"You're not having me on are you?" Ron asked her, but Fred and George came up behind him and slapped him on the back.

"Better get your own broom Ron," Fred said. "Can't borrow mine for practices."

Ron whooped, which brought a small smile to Harry's face.

"You'll have your uniform by next Saturday. We have practices Monday, Wednesday and Saturday every week until the first game," she said, "so show up on time or I'll let Cormac have your spot."

Ron dragged Harry all the way up to the castle and then up to the Owlery so he could send a letter off with Pig to his parents to let them know he'd made the team. He didn't even let Harry stop at Gryffindor tower to change out of his muddy clothes first.

"How am I gonna afford a broom though?" Ron asked as he penned a letter on a scrap of parchment he'd borrowed from another student in the Owlery. "Fred and George each had to earn half the money for one first before mum and dad chipped in the other half."

"Don't look at me," Harry said. "I've got about twenty Sickles to my name. You can have it if you want, but it's a long way off from ten Galleons."

"Well if I get the newest Cleansweep that's sixteen Galleons, so I'd only need to earn eight. Then I'd have a broom two models higher than Fred and George's."

Ron sent off his letter, but not before Pig had pooped on his arm. Ron was so excited about getting onto the team that he didn't even care. "See? Even Pig's excited!"

When they got back to their dorm Harry didn't bother trying to settle in to study or write out notecards for the 27 classes of potions. Instead he sat with Ron who told anyone who would listen that he'd done so well out on the field that they'd picked him for the new Keeper without holding tryouts. He continued enthusing about it as they walked down to the Great Hall for dinner and all the way through the Mabon feast.

Harry focused on Ron as much as he could, trying to ignore the urge to look over to Hufflepuff table. He wished he could just look up and see Cedric sitting there chatting with his friends. If only he had access to a time turner like Hermione had once had. Instead of trying to pretend that Cedric was there at Hufflepuff however, the elder boy's voice came into Harry's ear with the words of his friends. "You stink Potter."

"Harry, where are you going?" Ginny asked when Harry stood suddenly from the table.

"Library," he said.

"Now?" Hermione asked.

"I have to study."

Ron was disappointed that they were going, but seeing Harry's pale face again he rose to leave with him, Hermione and Ginny going too.

"Look," Ron said, moving into Harry's field of view in the Entrance Hall. He had an armful of apple muffins... almost a dozen of them.

"That's a bit much," Hermione said. Ron popped one into his mouth though and said, "Nah. It's Maybon Hermione. If you're gonna make me study on Mabon I'm gonna need snacks."

Ron didn't study, neither did Harry and Ginny. Hermione tried, but gave up when her friends wouldn't stop talking as they sat in the potions nook in the library. Ron had finally stopped talking about Quidditch and they'd moved on to other topics. Harry wasn't happy but he was grateful that they'd come and were keeping his mind occupied. He'd talk about anything right now to keep his mind off of that night in the graveyard.

* * *

"We need a plan," Harry said a few days later. Ron had decided to take points off of anyone that said something to Harry about the last night of the tournament, and as a result had been questioned by McGonagall twice about how many points Hufflepuff had lost. The teachers kept a close eye on all points deducted by Prefects to make sure the point deductions were fair. Since Ron was only taking one point per instance she agreed that the point loss was fair and told him that she'd talk to Professor Sprout about the issue with the Hufflepuffs. The ongoing taunting and sneers from the Hufflepuffs had had an unexpected effect on Harry though. Beyond making him remember Cedric and reminding him all day long that Cedric was his fault, it had made Harry realize just how dire a situation he and his friends were facing now that Voldemort was back. Frequently re-living the night in the graveyard made him recall how helpless he had felt against the Imperio, the Cruiciatus, and other spells Voldemort had sent his way. Cedric had been three years ahead of Harry and his friends and he had been helpless too.

"Hm?" Hermione asked, looking up from her Arithmancy notes.

"We need a plan to learn what we need to, and to throw Umbridge off so she doesn't do something."

"We talked about this," she said, going back to her notes. "I want no part in it."

"I don't mean as a prank, or just for fun," he said, voice and eyes hard. "We need to learn to defend ourselves. We can't do that in class, and I can't even make it into the defense section anymore."

Hermione sighed but was listening.

"I asked Ron to go to the defense section and get the best book he could find on shields or countercurses or defensive hexes," Harry said. "That was before you came in and sat down." He motioned to the nook they were sitting in.

"That was twenty minutes ago," she said, eyes traveling over to the nook's opening as if she expected to see Ron making his way to them through the stacks at any moment.

"He left thirty minutes ago."

"What do you think is keeping him?"

"Umbridge," Harry said.

Her eyes came back around to him again. "The Ministry clearly doesn't want us to learn defense or they wouldn't have sent her to teach us and wouldn't have replaced our book."

Hermione hesitated before saying, "I've found the book enlightening actually. It's a different kind of defense."

"Spying, sneaking around, gathering information," Harry said.

"Yes."

"I read the whole thing. It's helpful, but not in the way we need. Nothing in there will help us when a Death Eater casts an Imperio on one of us, or the Cruciatus, or if we have to get into a duel."

Hermione was quiet. It was the first time Harry had described his experience in the graveyard, and even though he hadn't mentioned the graveyard, she knew it was what he was talking about.

"They're going to use unforgivables on us and we won't have a shield to block them, or any way to counter them at all. We need to learn, and we can't if Umbridge is bent on keeping us out of the defense section of the library."

"I wish we could just buy the books we need," she said. "I could send away for some with my allowance."

"I gave the last of my money to Ron," Harry said.

"I should have enough for two books at least," she said. "And if I go home for Christmas I could ask my parents to take me to Diagon Alley so I can spend whatever Christmas money I get."

"You shouldn't have to do that," Harry said. "There's all these books here and we're not allowed to access them."

At that moment, Ron came back into the Potions nook, hands stuffed down into his pockets.

"Nothing?" Harry asked.

"Nothing. She wasn't there, but Filch was. It was weird. He followed me through the Defense stacks and as soon as I pulled a book off the shelf he came over and asked what I was doing. He stuck his hand in his pocket and for a minute I wondered if he'd got hold of a wand or something, but just kept it there and a few minutes later Professor Umbridge came around the corner."

Harry shook his head. "Something's wrong but I don't know what. How does she know when to come? Filch can't do magic to send a patronus down to her."

"He must have a way to call her," Hermione said, "some sort of device or something."

"Must be," Ron said, sitting down. "I had a book in my hand on shields and she asked me all sorts of questions. What interest do you have in shields? There hasn't been a dueling club at Hogwarts in three years, so who do you think is going to be casting hexes at you that you would need a shield to protect yourself against? I told her I wanted to be an auror after school and was interested in all defense subjects, and she laughed at me... you know the way she does, high and giggly like she thinks I'm stupid or silly or something. She said with how poor my essays have been in Defense since school started that she didn't think I had much of an interest in defense at all and would make a poor Auror. She said our textbook is one of the apprentice books for first year aurors."

"So she didn't let you check a book out of the defense section?"

"She didn't say I couldn't, but she wouldn't leave me alone about it. Finally I put the book back and left."

They sat there in a stony silence for long moments, the weight of their situation settling in over them.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked as Harry stood up and she had to move to let him out of the nook.

"C'mon, I want to see if she's got charms up on the defense section to let her know when someone goes in."

They followed him out of the massive potions section and into the herbology section where they found Neville.

"Can you do something for us?" Harry asked him. He was in the middle of an extra credit essay for Herbology, which was his best subject.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Can you just walk into the defense section of the library? Don't go down a row of books, just step into it. Act like you were getting out of someone's way, or you dropped a book and had to step into the defense stacks to get it."

"Ok..." he trailed off, standing up with a frown.

"It's an experiment," Harry said. Together they moved into the center of the library where there was a large empty space filled with desks for students to sit at. It was the library's hub. Harry, Ron and Hermione hung back at the edge of the herbology section and acted like they were looking for a specific herbology book while they watched Neville cross the library to the defense section.

"Excuse me," they heard him say as he stepped out of a Ravenclaw girl's way and partially down into a defense aisle. Filch stuck his head around a corner from an aisle filled with books about cats and other magical pets, eyes on Neville. His hand moved to his pocket, but as soon as Neville stepped back out of the aisle, Filch's hand stilled, and he watched Neville until he crossed the library back into the herbology section. The caretaker disappeared into the pet section once again without a word.

"Well?" Neville asked.

They waved for him to follow and went back to the table Neville had left his things at.

"Come with us," Hermione said and Neville grabbed his books, his essay and his backpack and followed them back to the potions nook.

Hermione cast a privacy spell for the first time on their nook so any sound they said would be muffled beyond the little invisible bubble the spell had cast around their group.

"Umbridge has Filch watching the defense section. He has some sort of device that notifies him when someone goes into the defense section, and then he uses it to call her. She won't let us check out books without interrogating us first," Ron said.

"I did get a couple books but only after she questioned me for ten minutes each time. They were books Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had assigned," Harry told him.

"Why would she do that?" Neville asked, and they explained their theory to him that the Ministry didn't want them gearing up for a revolution of some sort.

"But- we need to learn to protect ourselves from You-Know-Who," Neville said. "Everyone's been saying it. People have been complaining all term."

"Yeah, but they must think Harry's lying," Ron said. "They think we're actually planning to fight the Ministry or something."

Neville moaned. "I'm too young for all of this political stuff," he said. "Gran's always going on and on about how incompetent the Ministry really is, and how they couldn't find an owl if it landed on their head and hooted at them. I don't want to think about the Ministry at all." He looked at Harry though and said, "We have to learn. What are we gonna do? Buy the books we need?"

Harry's eyes moved to the books on the shelves around them. "Let's do another experiment," he said. He led them back out of the nook and walked down the rows of shelves containing Potions books until he came to a section about potions that could be used in defensive situations. There was an entire book dedicated to potions that exploded when thrown or mixed together, several books about potions that could be used to poison people, and potions to counteract poisons, and books on potions that rendered people invisible or gave them other advantages in defensive situations.

He reached forward and pulled the book about explosive potions off the shelves and waited.

"What are you doing?" Neville asked.

"Waiting to see if Filch or Umbridge will show up," Hermione guessed, and Harry nodded. The library was big so they waited for five minutes. Ron pulled another defensive potion book off the shelf and still no one showed up.

"Transfiguration section," Harry directed, and they left the potions books where they'd found them and went to search out a book on defensive transfiguration. There were several of these books in the actual defense section, but there had to be more in the transfiguration section as well. There were, and they pulled several off the shelves and waited, but no one came to question them.

"Be right back," Ron said, and he moved off towards the charms section. He was back after only a couple of minutes.

"Defensive charms are a trap," he said. "Filch came right to me. Funny thing was he had his hand on the outside of his other pocket. I didn't even have a book in my hand yet and he came right over to me."

They went back to the potions nook and Hermione cast the privacy charm again.

"I'll definitely be sending away for some books then," Hermione said.

"What books do we actually need?" Neville asked. "I could ask Gran to send me some. She's got a whole room full of books at home."

Hermione pulled out a parchment and started making a list. They didn't know the names of books they needed, but they were able to come up with a list of types of spells they wanted to learn. She made a copy of the parchment with her wand and handed it to Neville, and made another copy for Ron, and one for Harry.

"I can send this to mum and dad too," Ron said. "We have some books but I don't know if we have books about any of this." They turned to Harry but didn't ask him to send his list off to anyone as he didn't have anyone to ask for help.

Ron and Neville left to go to the Owlery together and Harry got up to go back to the defensive potions section.

"Are you done studying in the library today?" Hermione asked.

"Not nearly," Harry told her. There was still an hour until curfew and he wanted to get a good look at all of the defensive potions books. If Umbridge questioned him about anything he was checking out from the potions section, he had a good excuse. He'd have to ask Neville later if he could find anything good from the herbology section they could use. One way or another they were going to find a way to learn what they needed to. The only other option Harry could think of was to ask a teacher to teach them, but Snape was always going on about how busy he was and how he didn't want to be bothered unless Harry had questions about his apprentice texts or apprenticeship. He supposed they could try to trick Umbridge into teaching them something real, but wasn't sure that was possible.