Sorcery and Seduction Chapter 20

One day in this wretched school and she already despised coming back. The actions of the Weasley twins made her the laughingstock of the entire school, and her inquisitor squad was next to useless in fixing the problem. The same could be said for McGonagall and even Dumbledore, who seemed all too happy to enjoy the disgrace that was the Great Hall along with her poor educational decrees in the wake of the Weasley’s pranks.

She had been up all night trying to fix the mess caused by the Weasley twins, and had been dragged into a screaming match with McGonagall over how to punish them. As such, she had been unable to salvage the situation, and students arrived in the Great Hall that morning to discover firsthand everything the twins had done to her.

Toads throughout the Great Hall gave sermons mocking her name, balloons popped in the rafters and rained dung on anyone who walked underneath, all while her Inquisitor Squad found all of their seats enchanted with fart cushions.

And Umbridge bore through it all with grit teeth and eyes blazing with barely contained fury. By the time her much-anticipated fifth-year class began, she was ready to burn Hogwarts to the ground with all of the brats inside it. Never-mind the fact that the school was filled with innocent impressionable children.

She slammed the door behind her as she entered her 5th year Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and stormed to the front of the room.

“If I so much as hear a peep out of any of you… Detention!” Umbridge barked.

She nearly threw herself into her chair at the front of the room, all while the classroom’s occupants busied themselves reading Slinkhard’s book. Umbridge meanwhile spent the time brewing over her own misfortune and trying to calm herself down.

She wore the same outfit from the day before, having been awake all night and forced to tend to her duties at High-Inquisitor. Her eyes were tired, red, and baggy, fitting on a tired appearance with messy hair. She hadn’t even entered her own quarters since the previous day, and probably wouldn’t till the end of the day.

She fumed over the Weasley twins, the mockery made of her in the Great Hall, along with the more important matter of Cornelius’ approval rating. The Wizengamot was close to impeaching him, and his failure to deal with the Azkaban breakout was beginning to show in the polls. Their only hope at this point was to hope it would all blow over, and that Potter and Dumbledore wouldn’t win.

A smug, irritating smirk suddenly caught her attention then, resting in the corner of her vision, and making her eyes narrow in anger. It was only once she identified the culprit of the irritating smirk that her vision went red in rage.

Potter.

Of course it was Harry Potter who was amused by her plight, being the same brat who had started all of this. And as coincidence would have it, he was also close to the Weasley twins as well.

The irritating brat had evaded her for some time, not rising to her verbal jabs and traps like he did before. He had became almost a different person from when she arrived, now watching her with steely eyes while hanging around with those of higher standing like Greengrass.

That latter thought made her that much more irritated, as seeing an attention-seeking brat like him hang around someone from such an esteemed family was an outrage. And while Umbridge had no problem with punishing and torturing lowly mudbloods for their closeness to Harry Potter, she couldn’t get away with such a thing when it came to the likes of Daphne Greengrass.

And it just so happened that it was Potter who raised his hand then, causing his classmates to look at him with alarm. “Yes, Potter?”

“I just have some questions, Professor.” He said in an innocent tone. “First, since you’ve banned all gatherings of three or more students, I’d like to know how what we’re doing now is allowed?”

“W-What we’re doing now?” She repeated, completely caught off guard by his question.

Potter waved a casual hand around. “There’s more than three students gathered in this room, Professor, surely we’re all breaking the rules by being here in class together?”

Some students covered their mouths while others openly laughed at his words. Umbridge could understand the point he was getting at, and her ire spiked because of it. The problem was that Potter was technically right, and yet he asked the question in such a sincere way that she couldn’t get him in trouble for it.

She bared her teeth. “Classes are exceptions to the rule.”

“Ah, I was just making sure.” Potter then frowned worriedly. “But what about when we’re in the Great Hall, Professor? Or even when myself and my Housemates are sleeping in the same dorm? Will we get in trouble for that too?”

His words were bordering on insolence, and yet he kept the same fake tone that sounded sincere. His act was amusing his friends and sycophants, while even the Slytherin side of the classroom seemed entertained.

She closed her eyes, and took a moment to recollect herself. Dolores knew she was moments away from doing foolish and jeopardizing her career in that moment, and she didn’t want to give Harry Potter the satisfaction of achieving such a thing.

She took a breath and did her best to put on a fake smile. “You seem oddly concerned with breaking the rules, Mr. Potter. One would say almost suspiciously so… perhaps you might have something to hide?”

His face didn’t change nor did his body give away the slightest impression at her words. Her taunt was clear, and he had to know what he was getting at. She already interrogated Granger, and pried as much information as possible out of her, and she was aware that Potter had formed some sort of resistance group behind the scenes.

“Oh, nothing like that, Professor.” He answered easily, still retaining his newfound cockiness. “As for my other question, are we really supposed to keep reading this same book? I know the Minister approved this year’s change in curriculum, but having us read the same book over and over is going to reflect poorly on him, especially when most of us fail our Defense OWLS. It seems like something you might want to think about, Dolores, especially after Voldemort freed all his Death Eaters from Azkaban right under the Minister’s nose.”

Potter’s tone took a sinister tone at the end, making Umbridge freeze. The entire class seemed to jump in horror at the sudden change, and several girls even screamed in fright.

W-What was that? He had evaded her ire for so long, not spoken up at all for months despite her best efforts to verbally jab and smear him. And yet just like that he played her, nearly made her lose her composure, only to throw it all away to make some insane point.

She should have smirked, should have flaunted his misstep, yet instead she just felt shaken. It was like Potter was testing her, daring her to resist him, and suddenly her world seemed a lot more dangerous and shakier than before.

There was a darkness in Potter’s eyes as he looked at her. Gone was the fake innocent concern along with the kind charade he put up as a front. Instead his gaze seemed to bore into her, those same eyes the color of the killing curse which seemed to fill her vision and made her want to curl into a ball and disappear.

For some reason she thought back to what she had learned from Hermione Granger under veritaserum, and her fear of Potter becoming a Dark Lord. The messy brunette mudblood had spoken extensively about her and Hannah Abbott’s fear of Potter going Dark, and suddenly that fear seemed all too real.

“D-Detention, Potter!” She managed to collect herself, even as her voice cracked.

-

“Aren’t you at all worried about having us meet when Umbridge is so… unhinged?”

“You want Umbridge gone, do you not?” He asked in return.

“Of course I do.” Katie Bell frowned. “That doesn’t mean I want to get in trouble like Fred and George did… or are about to anyway. But what does that have to do with the DA?”

His decision to have Fred and George prank Umbridge along with the Inquisitor Squad had worked spectacularly, and in conjunction with his destruction of the woman’s office, had essentially sidetracked her for the entire day. The Minister’s undersecretary didn’t return back to her office till after she held all Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, meaning she only just found out about her quarters being destroyed little more than an hour ago.

Harry knew it would probably cause the woman to go into another meltdown, and he could only pity whatever poor soul had to bare the brunt of her ire. That said, the distraction worked in his favor, as Harry could skip detention with the woman entirely and instead hold a secret meeting of the DA. She also can’t have detention without her precious blood quill.

“Let’s just say that I plan to have Umbridge gone by the end of the week, and the DA is going to be key to achieving that.”

Katie looked at him in shock. “That’s… ambitious.”

The two of them walked together as they headed to the DA meeting, taking place in the same abandoned classroom on the fourth floor. He had gotten the word out since everyone returned about the club starting up again, and coincidentally ran into Katie Bell as they both left the Gryffindor common room and headed to the meeting.

“Say, Harry, now that I’ve got you all alone, mind if I ask you something?” Upon his nod, she continued. “What’s the deal between you, Greengrass, and Bones?”

Wouldn’t you like to know? He did his best not to let his irritation show, knowing that his love life was a big gossip topic throughout the school. “Daphne and I are dating. As for Bones, she’s just a friend.”

“Uh huh.” Katie didn’t seem to believe him in the slightest. “Because the way that girl looks at you, it seems that there’s quite a bit more than friendship going on.”

“I’m sure that plenty of people look at me in strange ways. And as for who I’m seeing, my personal life is my own, Katie.”

“Just trying to look out for the little brother of the team.” She smiled as if trying to comfort him, but it looked more forced than not. “Wouldn’t want you to take on more than you can handle.”

“I can handle quite a lot, I assure you.”

“Still, if you happen to get stuck, I’d be happy to help out.” She made eye contact with him as she spoke, and Harry was able to get the underlying message. “I’d do anything for you, Harry.”

Katie Bell was an attractive woman in his mind, one that any male would be lucky to be with. An athletic body with long brown hair, possessing breasts smaller than he was used to, but having a thick fit arse that he had caught himself staring at plenty of times during Quidditch practice. He was sure that the two of them could easily be in a relationship, but for some reason he had never considered actually approaching her.

They walked the rest of the way to the meeting in silence, and he could feel the brunette’s eyes watching him expectantly. Harry didn’t say anything more however, even knowing that he should have taken advantage of the situation. They eventually arrived at the meeting place to find the rest of the DA already present.

Angelina and Alicia were standing together in the back, and Katie looked close to saying something to him before she headed off and joined them. It left Harry standing alone and feeling awkward, before a familiar redhead approached him.

“So you’re with Bell now, huh?”

He turned to see Susan approaching him, the girl looking quite peeved for some reason. “She happened to be heading here from the common room as well, so we walked together.”

Susan scrutinized him. “Still, you two seemed oddly comfortable with each other.”

“We’re quidditch teammates, Susan. And besides, it’s my choice to add her to my coven if it gets to that point.” His voice quieted at the end, as he eyed Susan strangely. “You seem oddly upset, is everything okay?”

Susan frowned and folded her arms under her large breasts. “Hannah’s been ignoring me since we got back. She didn’t even write back after I sent her a letter over break!”

Girl problems. Harry knew better than to get involved with such things. “Why not just talk to her?”

Susan scowled. “It doesn’t work like that-”

“Harry!” Astoria called out suddenly as she headed their way. The smaller Greengrass girl looked somewhat worried over him. “I heard from Daph that you got detention, and that in class y-you-“

“That’s right, Umbridge gave me detention for telling the truth.” He cut her off, and at the same time projected his voice for everyone in the room to hear. The members of the DA seemed to go quiet as a result, and the room’s mood dropped.

“I-Is it true, has You-Know-Who really raided Azkaban?” A younger student asked, looking terrified out of her mind.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Several students gasped while some of the younger girls burst into tears, all while Harry watched without saying a word. The members of the DA already partially believed him, and the news about Azkaban was the final push needed for them to finally accept he was telling the truth. In an ironic sense, Voldemort had helped him by showing his hand so early.

“As you should all be aware, Umbridge and the Ministry are doing their absolute best to cover up this piece of information.” He said loudly, getting everyone’s attention once again. “After all, who other than Voldemort could be resourceful enough to raid Azkaban of all places?”

“Couldn’t Sirius Black have done it?” One boy called out from the back of the crowd.

The Minister had been putting as much blame on Sirius as he possibly could, even though everyone knew that he didn’t have the skillset nor power to break through Azkaban’s defenses and free Voldemort’s followers. That, combined with the fact that Sirius hadn’t been spotted in several years, made the Minister’s lie much less convincing.

“That is the excuse that the Ministry is giving you. One that I’m sure many of you are smart enough to debunk.” Harry said. “This is the same Ministry that Umbridge works for, I should add. Run by the same Minister who put dementors around our school two years ago.”

He could see the crowd only be further convinced by his words, pushed on by his reminder of just who was tormenting their school.

“Then what do we do?!” One girl desperately asked.

“Everything might seem bad, terrible even.” He began the start of his speech, one that was more improvised than he would have liked. “But this is only the beginning, the onset of a war not unlike the last one. And if someone doesn’t do something… if we don’t do something… then things will only get worse.”

“W-we?” Several students repeated.

“The Ministry is actively hiding, and in some cases, covering-up Voldemort’s return. They’ve done their best to ignore the events concerning the end of the Triwizard Tournament, and as such desecrated the murder of one of our own classmates. Fudge has smeared both my name, and the name of our Headmaster, and gone on to send Umbridge to our school in order to ensure his will is enforced.

It is through these actions that the Minister is allowing Voldemort to run roughshod over this country, all in the name of holding on to power for just a little bit longer. If something is not done soon, if Fudge is allowed to continue to wallow in his incompetence… then everything will be lost. Voldemort will win, and it is likely that myself and everyone in this room will likely die.”

He let that fact sink in, as everyone looked at him with newfound growing horror.

“I know many of you are muggleborn, half-blood, or simply had parents who resisted Voldemort in the last war. Be assured, that Voldemort will not spare you or your families if you have committed even the smallest of perceived slights against him. And if you wonder if being pureblood will save you… it will not, as it did not save Cedric Diggory from being murdered by Voldemort’s hand.”

Everyone seemed to be frozen by his words, as all the occupants looked at him with wide eyes. Most of the girls and younger years were crying at that point, while his own year-mates looked shook to the core by his words. That wasn’t mentioning how Ron and Hermione were staring at him as if seeing him for the first time.

“But there is a way for us to fight back!” His next words were like a slap in the face to everyone present. “I have found a way for us to fight back, to officially put an end to Umbridge’s reign of terror once and for all, and even expose the Minister for who he truly is. All I ask is that you follow me. Help me resist Umbridge along with those cruel enough to follow her, and I swear to you that we will achieve victory!”

He had thrown the students of the deepest pit of despair and terror with his speech, but he was now offering them a lifeline. A way to not only get rid of the woman ruining their school, but even expose Voldemort and hit him where it hurt.

“Do what I ask of you, follow my lead, and I assure you that Umbridge and the Minister will stop ruining our lives.” Harry emphasized that point. “We might all be students, not even accomplished wizards, but we can still make a difference in this world. We can show those who oppose us what we are made of, that we are not to be bullied and beaten by the likes of Voldemort or some Ministry stooge! This war has not yet started in the open, but it will be us, the students of Hogwarts, who land the first blow!”

Disclaimer: All characters are 18 years or older.

A/N:

Hopefully Harry’s speech isn’t overly terrible. I admit I might’ve watched too much Kingdom キングダム before I wrote it.

In regards to the recent vote for this story, the winners are:

The Carrow Twins, Hestia & Flora

Hannah Abbott