He could almost reach it.

Just a little further.

But every time he reached forward for the door it seemed to be just out of his grasp. Sometimes he thought he could feel the cold of the doorknob, but when he went to close his fist around it, he would grab only air.

But he was so close!

So very very close...

"Harry!"

Harry woke with a start and blinked blearily.

"You alright mate?" Ron asked worriedly. Harry blinked a bit more.

"Wha?" He murmured.

"You were tossing in your sleep," Ron explained. Harry looked down to see that indeed his sheets were all twisted around his legs.

"Muttering too," Seamus drawled. "Sounding like a real nutter. Not that I'm surprised." Harry ignored his quips, the way he had for the last couple of weeks. 

"It was just a bad dream," Harry assured his friend. 

"But I thought you weren't supposed to be getting those anymore..." Ron argued with a frown. 

"Don't worry about it," Harry grumbled under his breath. He got dressed and went downstairs ignoring the various glances he received from people. By now news of his clash had swept over Hogwarts, and his insistence on supporting Dumbledore had gained him a reputation for being just as mad as the old headmaster. There hadn't been any death eater attacks since he'd come back to Hogwarts, which wasn't doing the order any favours. In fact, yesterday the paper had detailed Sirius Black's suspension from the Auror task force pending a disciplinary hearing. Supposedly he'd been a little too heavy-handed with his continued investigation and was accused of using unnecessary force against an innocent ministry worker.

Of course, Harry knew that more than likely the ministry worker was a secret death eater, but Fudge wanted to get rid of Black and his 'warmongering', and was using this incident as the perfect ploy.

And then there was occlumency.

No matter how Harry tried, no matter how he attempted to follow his dad's instructions, the deep breathing, the clearing his mind (whatever that meant since his father hadn't been clear), and the latest tactic, creating harmless scenes to waylay your attacker, he just couldn't do it. Every Friday Harry would trudge down to the dungeon, listen to his father lecture on the basic principles again and then they would start. It was always excruciating. The headache he would have afterwards made it difficult to think sometimes. And it was never good enough. His father always had a grumpy expression on his face and always repeated the same thing.

'You have to control your emotions!'

What his father seemed not to recognize was that he was trying. 

He couldn't tell you why he just couldn't do what his father wanted. But because of his continued struggles, they're relationship had become quite strained. He barely ever went to visit his parents at lunchtime. He almost never asked for extra lab time. He even skipped Monday potions a few times when he was feeling particularly grumpy. He kept the promise he had made to his parents about staying out of trouble. He never rose to Seamus' taunting. He never contradicted Professor Umbridge, even when she said things he knew for a fact were untrue. Like how werewolves, even in human form, were brutal monsters in need of control. Or how centaurs could not be trusted and needed to be contained. 

Then one day something changed. 

There were whispers around Hogwarts. Whispers about Umbridge.

Whispers that she was dangerous.

Harry couldn't see how. She seemed ignorant, mildly stupid, and very irritating; but dangerous? What could she have possibly done? Then there was a rumour that she and McGonagall had gotten into a fight in the staff room about something Umbridge had done. The very next day a sign appeared beside the door.

Educational Decree 01

Let it hereby be stated by the

MINISTRY FOR MAGIC

That

DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE

is Hogwarts' official

HIGH INQUISITOR

"High inquisitor? What, like the Spanish Inquisition?" Harry demanded to Hermione with a confused frown. The teen girl just pursed her lips.

"I knew she'd be trouble." She muttered. "Trust me. This is only the beginning."

And it was. There were nine more education decrees before the end of the week. First, it was all about proper dress and 'maintaining decorum' (rumour has it she'd seen a bit of snogging between two Ravenclaw boys and almost blown a gasket). Then there was the one where she disbanded all school groups ("including quidditch teams!" Ron cried indignantly) pending review. She ended up keeping quidditch banned, much to Hooch's consternation. Umbridge insisted that it 'encouraged unnecessary violence.' Apparently, Hooch had muttered something about her face encouraging unnecessary violence. The last one made Harry pause in the entrance hall that morning.

Education decree 09

THE HIGH INQUISITOR 

Will conduct

PUBLIC REVIEWS

Of 

ALL STAFF

currently working at

Hogwarts

"Public reviews? What do you think that means?" Ron asked over breakfast. Hermione got a worried frown.

"It means she's going to try and discredit Dumbledore by proving that certain hires are unacceptable."

"But what happens if she decides you're unacceptable?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Sacking most likely," Hermione said candidly. Ron paled.

"So long Hagrid..." he muttered worriedly. The half-giant had only returned to the castle two weeks previous and hadn't set foot in the Great Hall once. Everyone knew about Umbridge's views on so-called 'half breeds' by now, so they weren't surprised.

"Hagrid is a special case. He's also the groundskeeper, remember? More than likely he'll simply be removed from teaching care of magical creatures."

"Which is a shame, because he's gotten surprisingly good at it," Ron admitted. This was true. Their first lessons in third year had been a bit chaotic, with Hagrid bringing in all sorts of extremely dangerous creatures to meet. But he'd since mellowed out a bit with lessons on nifflers, bowtruckles, mooncalves, and one particularly fascinating lesson in which he introduced the call to a baby runespoor. Harry had dazzled the class by talking to its heads and informed Hagrid that the left was hungry, the middle was itchy, and the right didn't like his snoring. 

"Who else do you think will go?" Harry asked. Hermione pursed her lips.

"Well if the rumours about her views on same-sex couples are true, Professor Babbling and Burbage are probably on the chopping block. Professor Flitwick may be in trouble as well, but he's got tenure and an impeccable reputation. Hooch might go if she doesn't control her temper during the review. It's no secret she's hated her from the start. Beyond that, it's hard to say..." Hermione finished with a thoughtful expression. Then she growled. "And we STILL aren't being properly prepared for our defence O.W.L.s!"

"Ugh, don't remind me. I still have to get all the reading done. Then that stupid essay." Ron complained. Harry understood the reluctance to do any kind of schoolwork for defence. The book was dry and had a tendency to treat its reader as if they were an incompetent idiot who couldn't tell his wand from his arse. And while the book contained diagrams and instructions on how to perform the spells within it, Umbridge had banned all use of defence-related spells inside and outside of class. 

"You too?" Tracey piped up from behind Ron. Harry grinned and shifted over to let the Slytherin girl sit next to him.

"Honestly, why even bother? It's not like I'm actually learning anything." Ron argued.

"Because you'll get detention." Hermione reminded him.

"Oh... right," Ron said with a queasy expression. 

That was another thing.

Rumour had it Umbridge's detentions were particularly nasty, in a way even Snape's never were. And she seemed to hand them out for some truly arbitrary and upsetting reasons.

"Hello," Lucy said as she settled on Harry's other side. The group each gave her quiet replies. Then Harry frowned. She seemed more subdued than usual.

"What's wrong?" He asked. The young Hufflepuff blinked and shook her head.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" She said quickly. Harry frowned. That sounded like one of his 'fine' s which suddenly made him realise how annoying that must be for his parents. "Did you see the sign by the Great Hall?"

"Which one?" The fifth years all asked scathingly.

"The one about the teacher reviews," Lucy said, gaining a worried brow. "I just... you don't think anything will happen to Professor Snape, do you?" Harry paled. He hadn't thought of that! The man had been a death eater. Who's to say Umbridge wouldn't sack him on those grounds alone!

"Oh, Professor Snape will be fine!" Hermione declared assuredly, instantly calming the pair. "He's got tenure. Plus, the potions scores have seen a ten-year rise thanks to him. And that's not taking into account the recent rise due to his relaxed teaching style. Not only that but he's got an excellent reputation! Youngest potions master ever and has several prestigious awards. Umbridge would never be able to fire him" Harry smiled as he and Lucy relaxed. "It's Professor Vance I'm worried about."

"WHAT?!" Both cried in panic, startling a few people around them. Tracey hissed for them to keep their voices down.

"Well, she doesn't have much experience. She's only been teaching for a few years. And yes, the test scores have increased dramatically, but she doesn't have a history background. Her mastery is in runes, not history. If she were in Professor Babbling's position, maybe she'd be fine, but as it stands Umbridge could easily find reason to terminate her for her lack of experience. Plus, she was hired during an order meeting, so she can chalk her hiring up to Dumbledore's nepotism. Which in this case is a very real observation. Not that she's a bad teacher!" Hermione added quickly as Harry opened his mouth to angrily defend his mum. "But that is likely how Umbridge is going to see it."

"Great," Harry drawled bitterly "I'm going to be worried about that all day now..." So much for occlumency training tonight.

"Well, the performance reviews will probably cover core classes first." Hermione insisted. "So your mum won't come up until later!"

"Doesn't change the fact that you just said she's probably gonna get sacked!" Harry snarled bitterly before he stood up and stormed off. Hermione bit her lip while Tracey gave her a look of disdain and followed him.

It was after the defence the next Monday that Hermione finally lost it. The fifth-year Gryffindors were all in the common room, trying to get through chapter 7 of their absolutely useless textbook when suddenly Hermione stood and flung hers across the room.

"Oh, I have just HAD IT!" She roared to her startled peers. "She's not teaching us how to pass our exams! She's not teaching us how to defend ourselves! She's taking over the bloody school! I can't anymore! I just can't!"

"Bloody hell Hermione, calm down!" Ron cried in horror. 

"No! I refuse! Someone needs to stop her! It's gone on long enough!" She declared before she began marching towards the portrait hall. At that point, all the other fifth-year Gryffindors got up and frantically followed her, for fear (and maybe just a smidge of anticipation) of what she might do. The portrait swung open to a slightly startled Lucy which stopped Hermione dead in her tracks.

"Oh! Lucy! Are you here to see Harry?" She asked, seemingly not realizing that all of the fifth-year Gryffindors had scrambled to stop behind her.

"Er..." Lucy began, looking at the crowd behind the bushy-haired girl with some confusion before she grinned. "Well, I was, but then I got distracted talking to Vivienne and Philomena. They're both very interesting women, you know."

"Who's Philomena?" Ron piped up, startling Hermione. She turned around and blinked.

"What are you all doing?"

"Stopping you from doing something utterly mad!" Seamus barked with a slowly forming grin. Hermione blinked and then scowled.

"I was going to talk to Professor McGonagall!" She said,

"Oooohhhhh..." everyone but Harry and Ron said slowly, calming and looking much more relaxed before drifting off. Lucy snickered slightly at some of the more disappointed faces. 

"What were you going to talk to Professor McGonagall about?" She asked.

"I want to get rid of Umbridge." She declared brazenly.

"Oh, good luck!" The portrait of the woman with the baby next to the fat lady insisted, while her child made grumpy gurgle noises. "That woman has always been wretched, even as a student! Isn't that right Vivienne?" Suddenly the fat lady closed behind the trio to reveal her friend, nestled between the three maidens in the portrait on her other side.

"Oh yes indeed!" The Renaissance woman cried with a frantic nod. "My portrait is by the charms hall you know! Why I remember this one time when she was a student. It was that same year there was this wretched boy going around with that quill. Do you remember? Oh, he was so nasty! "

"Oh, don't get started on that again!" One of the Maidens whined with a roll of their eyes.

"Honestly no one wants to hear about the time you had a curly mustache for two weeks again!" Another complained.

"Why I never!" Vivienne bellowed indignantly before the portraits all started bickering amongst themselves, each surrounding one having more and more to add until nearly the entire wall was going on. 

"Let's get out of here!" Ron cried with hands over her ears.

"I wish I could!" The fat lady responded, looking miserable. Lucy winced.

"Bye Philomena!" She cried with a wave, before leading the group.

"Who's Philomena?" Ron asked again. Lucy blinked.

"You don't know the name of your own guardian portrait?" The Gryffindors blinked owlishly.

"The fat lady has a name?" Ron responded in shock. Lucy looked very unimpressed before rolling her eyes. 

"I didn't even know that" Hermione muttered under her breath looking minorly impressed. Lucy brought them to McGonagall's office but

"Oh damn," Hermione cursed quietly. "She's not here."

"Lucy to the rescue!" The girl cried before skipping down the hall a few steps. "Hello Lord Horace!" She cheered at the portrait on the wall.

"Ah! Why it is the dear lady Mathers!" The man bellowed back with a joyful gleam in his eye "Verily how fair thee, fair maiden?"

"Very well thank you!" The girl responded politely "Tell me Lord Horace, have you seen Professor McGonagall today?"

"Why by the saints indeed I have my lady!" The man responded. "She travelled past but an hour hence headed to speak with her fellow faculty judging by her air."

"She's going to the staff room," Lucy said "Thank you, lord Horace! Come on!"

"I wish thee well on thy quest, my little friend!" The man shouted after her.

"How do you know his name?" Harry asked in awe.

"I asked," Lucy responded with a roll of her eyes. Then Hermione yelped as she turned a corner and nearly bowled into Tracey.

 "Well, hello there," Tracey said with a chuckle. "You Gryffindors sure do love tearing around the halls."

"Sorry, Tracey!" Hermione said with a wince. "We're on our way to speak to McGonagall."

"What for?"

"To get rid of Umbridge." Hermione declared. The black girl rolled her eyes. 

"Well, there's no point in that. In case it escaped your notice she's going to be the headmistress soon."

"McGonagall?"

"Umbridge."

"What?! No! Never! McGonagall would never allow it!" Hermione insisted vehemently.

"She won't have much of a choice now, will she? Not with the ministry backing Umbridge." Tracey declared bitterly. All of Hermione's fight left her in one gust of utter dejection. But Harry saw a glimmer in Tracey's eye. A glimmer he recognized as her 'selling things' look.

"What are you up to?" He demanded. The teen grinned.

"I had an absolutely brilliant idea the other night." She admitted. Then she pulled out a book. "I was reading tales of Beedle the Bard-"

"Why?!" Ron demanded with a laugh "It's kids' stuff!"

"Shut up Weasley," Tracey snapped in irritation, making the ginger scoff indignantly. "Anyway! My copy is a special edition that Professor Dumbledore did commentary on and I discovered an interesting little tidbit about the school."

"What?"

"Hogwarts used to have an acting club." The girl declared proudly. "It was disbanded in the 60s because of drama with their last play."

"How does an acting club have anything to do with Umbridge?' Harry asked in confusion.

"Well, you see," Tracey began with a glimmer "most magic plays feature some kind of duel. Well, mock duel. But the funny thing about practising for a mock duel. It's just like practising for a real one." Hermione's eyes began to sparkle the same as Tracey's. She turned to the boys.

"You two stay here. We'll be back."

"Hang on! Why do we have to stay behind?" Ron demanded whiny.

"Because Harry has a bad reputation with Umbridge, and your parents are too closely associated with Dumbledore. We're going to have to propose this to Umbridge, so having you there would make us look bad." Hermione said bluntly. Harry gapped at them before he nodded.

"Can I come?" Lucy asked excitedly. The two teen girls turned to her before Tracey shrugged.

"I don't see why not. Do you think you can pretend to like Umbridge?" the girl's face fell before she took a deep breath.

"Yes." she said with certainty. "She's a lot like some of the more... conservative ladies in my parish. So I've got lots of practice being nice to people like her."

"It's settled then. You boys wait here, we'll go create a club on the fly." Tracey declared.

"Technically it could be considered improv. Which is a form of dramatic Art." Hermione countered with a smile.

"Well look at that!" Tracey answered with a grin. 

Septima had always been a very strict, no-nonsense kind of woman. Even as a girl, she was very particular about anything and everything. Her dolls were always immaculate. Her room was always pristine. She kept meticulous records. Her office was always straight and tidy. Everything in her life had a place and there was a place for everything. 

She was rarely spontaneous. Rarely did she indulge in any sort of frivolity. She has a strict self-regulated schedule that she does not like having to adjust. 

The only thing which she was more passionate about than order was how much she absolutely despised Delores Umbridge.

The woman was the most revolting person she had ever been forced to be in the same room with. The public review of her teaching had cemented her hatred. The woman had constantly interrupted her lecture with inane questions about her qualifications, her education, and her personal life as if such things even mattered when it came to teaching. 

Any idiot could see the woman was a ministry spy. 

And she was no idiot.

And that was precisely why she continued to have afternoon tea in the staffroom.

Umbridge was almost always there, trying to poke her nose into things. But by acting as though she was compliant and demure, she had successfully placated the vile wretch. Delores firmly believed that Septima was on her side, or at least ministry-leaning neutral, thereby shielding the arithmancy teacher from any future reprisals. 

The hat hadn't placed her in Slytherin for nothing after all. 

So, there she was, listening to Umbridge babble on about inane propaganda when there was a knock at the door. Septima looked over as Sprout jumped up from where she'd been trying very hard not to fall asleep and answered the door.

"Oh! Miss. Davies and Miss. Granger... oh! And young miss. Mathers! How can I help you all this fine afternoon?" Pomona said cheerfully, glad for the distraction.

"Fine indeed, isn't it?" Tracey Davies responded with a smile. "Begging your pardon professor, but is Professor Umbridge here?" Pomona blinked then turned to the pink-clad woman with a blank face.

"Delores, there are some students here to speak to you."

"If it is regarding any of the education decrees, I will remind them that any complaint must be taken up with the ministry itself and must have proof of harm," Delores said with her same cheerful tone as always.

"Actually professor!" Tracey cried, stepping into the staffroom, and gesturing for the other girls to follow. "I was hoping to propose a new club to you."

"A new club? Surely, it's a bit late in the term don't you think?" Delores purred with a roll of her eyes. "Let me begin by saying that I stand firm to my previous position on quidditch. And I have already refused the barbaric muggle sports of 'football' and 'rugby'.

"Oh, trust me, professor!" Tracey said with a laugh "It's nothing like that! Why, Hermione here can barely stay on a broom, let alone play quidditch!" The bushy-haired girl's eye twitched before she put on a wobbly smile.

"She right, I'm hopeless with flying. I am far more academically inclined."

"Indeed?" Delores began, eyeing Hermione with a look of thinly veiled disdain. "What sort of club are you hoping to start?"

"An acting club." Tracey declared. Septima suddenly stopped mid-sip. She'd been mostly ignoring the conversation till then, but there was something new in the black girl's tone that gave her pause.

"Acting?!" Delores blurted out in shock. "Why ever would you want to do that?"

"Well, you see professor," Lucy began with her typically cheerful and bubbly smile. "Hermione and I were telling Tracey about this Shakespeare festival that happens in Dover every summer. A small mobile troupe comes to Cliff Field and does a weekend of shows. We were talking about how strange it is that wizards don't have plays. But then Tracey told us about how they do! She introduced us to Tales of the Beedle Bard, and then! We discovered how Hogwarts used to put on a play every year! And we realised that, well wouldn't it be wonderful to start that tradition up again?"

"I was so shocked that neither one of them had heard of Beedle the Bard," Tracey said, looking convincingly horrified. "Can you just imagine all the other muggle-borns who don't know a thing about wizard folktales or storybooks? This would be the perfect way to introduce them to the real world." Tracey finished. Lucy and Hermione both flinched at that line, with Lucy's hands reflexively flying to her skirt to twist it around. But Umbridge didn't seem to notice. She only had eyes for Tracey, looking rather impressed.

"You seem to have given this a fair bit of thought."

"Well, I really feel that bringing muggle-borns into the wizarding world and teaching them how to be proper citizens is the noblest goal a person could have." Tracey insisted with an upturned chin.  Septima smiled into her teacup. This girl was playing that pink Toad like a fiddle. The woman cleared her throat then flicked her wand to produce the necessary paperwork and began filling it out.

"This club will need a professor to manage it before I can authorize... unless you already have one organized." Delores

"That would be me," Septima heard herself declare, then blinked as every head in the room turned to her in shock.

"Septima?" Delores asked in shock.

 "I wasn't aware you enjoyed the theatre." Pomona declared with a raised eyebrow.

"I prefer Marlowe to Shakespeare," Septima declared candidly "but I have always had a fondness for the classics."

"Well then... does this club have a name?" Delores asked.

"Students for the Conservation of Acting and Monologue." Tracey intoned smoothly. Septima sucked in a breath through her nose. Would Delores realize...

"...and Monologue," Umbridge spoke as she finished filling out the form. " When will you be meeting?"

"Weekends and holidays mostly. The occasional Thursday for the older students, owing to the free period. Outside of exam times obviously." Hermione insisted. Delores nodded as she continued writing before she put on the final period on the document. "There!" Then she waved her wand with a flourish and the parchment rolled itself up and was filed away. "All signed and sorted! You may begin your meetings whenever you like."

"Excellent!" Septima declared before she rose to her full height. "Perhaps we might be able to organize a performance with a dinner or two."

"Oh well, that would be simply marvellous!" Delores declared with a grin. The arithmancy professor bowed her head before guiding the trio of girls out of the staff room. As they walked down the hall Tracey let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry I had to say all those awful things back there."

"It's okay," Lucy insisted, though she was still crunching her hands into her skirt.

"I loathe her more now." Hermione declared. 

"Indeed," Septima muttered before he pulled them to a stop. "Now... Scam?"

"So you noticed," Tracey said, but her face had an unabashed smirk that only a Slytherin who had gotten away with a perfect lie would ever have.

"The acting club is just a front. We're going to be using the time to practice defence." Hermione admitted.

"I see... well you'll have to find someplace more out of the way then. Of course, I'll pop in occasionally. It would be wise to stage a few fake practices to allow Umbridge to see your progress."

"Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that." Tracey muttered flatly. 

"My classroom isn't big enough I'm afraid."

"Professor..." Lucy began giving the woman a curious look. "Why are you helping us?" Septima smiled.

"Because I despise that woman, Miss. Mathers. And nothing will give me more joy than helping you young ones pull the wool over her eyes." She admitted candidly. Then she straightened up again. "Mission one of scam: find a place to practice. Mission two: recruitment. It must be a trustworthy bunch, willing to circumvent the education decrees. Mission three: choose your first production to practice at the end of each meeting."

"Every meeting?" Tracey whined slightly.

"If Delores gets it in her mind to use truth-seeking methods of interrogation on the students, those practices will give you cover."

"But that's illegal!" Hermione crowed in horror.

"I think you'll find the ministry is more than willing to assuage legality, Miss. Granger, if they deem it... necessary." Septima finished with a disgusted drawl. Hermione scowled.

"We'll get right on those first three missions, professor Vector," Tracey muttered, jotting down the mission objectives into her daily planner. "Well let you know when we find a place."

"Excellent," Septima said with a nod. "Carry on then." Then she swept away. As she walked a small smile crept into her face as a small giggle bubbled up and out of her chest. She took a deep sigh and looked skyward.

Perhaps it paid to be spontaneous, at least once in a little while.