Hermione's POV

I was anxiously doing homework when (Y/N) walked into the room, he was immediately bombarded with questions from everyone in the room about the scene he caused at breakfast, he pushed them aside telling them to "Bugger off" just not with those words.

I approached him and he smiled looking around the room "Where are the others?" "Divination," "Why aren't you in class?" "Some of the teachers are still sorting out the damage, so some classes are off today." He chuckled proudly.

"What did they ask?" he shrugged "The normal stuff, asked me about all my girlfriends" "What?" He smiled, "Kidding" I sighed "How are you feeling?" I pleaded, putting a hand on his chest and noting his racing heartbeat.

"Like I could use a draught of peace if you have any spare, that was close." He smiled to himself and disappeared up to the dorm, coming back a few seconds later, asking to borrow a quill, I handed him one and he quickly wrote a letter.

"Snowball, come here, I need to borrow you for a sec" he said, motioning a hand to Hedwig, who was perched on the windowsill where Harry had let her stay because of the smoke near the Owlery.

She came down and hooted cheerfully, "Like it? I came up with it just now" she hooted and nipped his finger affectionately. I scoffed, "Oh, she gets 'Snowball' and I get 'sexy'?" He looked to me, "...Well, she looks like a snowball, and you look..." he smirked. He's such an idiot.

Then he held up two wands that looked identical to me for a few seconds, inspecting them, he put one into a case and attached it to a letter that I read over his shoulder It was to his mother.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it, I never used it, but It really helped. Hoping everything is well, write me. Love you! (Y/N)." With a squiggled little smiley face at the end. As Hedwig took off with the letter, I pieced it all together.

He seemed to notice, he must have read it on my face and grinned widely "I know, I'm a genius." I was in disbelief. "That was way too risky! Dark magic...(Y/N) that's-" he scowled "Well, Voldemort scared my cat and I nearly incinerated him."

"She hurt my cat, so as far as I'm concerned, she's lucky you are such a calming presence on me and she didn't get the same treatment. If I had my way, she would have been grading papers when it happened" he said.

He pouted for a moment before picking up the kitten in question and cuddling into her, she seemed to welcome it. "Not many people could ever hurt my princess and live through it" he cooed. She purred intensely and for the first time in a few weeks, she and Crookshanks left the common room to play.

In the coming weeks his behaviour only got worse, but he argued he had a good reason, "If my behaviour changes, then they'll get more suspicious" I could tell he wasn't entirely telling the truth. He stopped frequenting DA sessions and had detention with Umbridge almost every day.

After a week I knew what he was doing, but that doesn't mean I liked it. He was purposefully getting into trouble, trying to take up her time, occupying her with him while the rest of us were in DA meetings, making sure she never had time to punish anyone else.

When I confronted him about it, he explained, "I'm getting in trouble anyway because she has it out for me now, well, more than before anyway." "So, while I have a target on my back I can't go near the DA, she'd get too suspicious and I could put you lot in danger."

It made sense but I still had a bad feeling about it, this went on for weeks. He came in later than we did, we were making progress with the DA but every time he came back, he looked more and more haggard. I had enough.

(Y/N)'s POV

"I know what you're doing" Hermione said, cornering me in the common room, "Well, can't say I'm surprised, you are very smart, have I ever told you?" she pulled my wrist, looking at my hand and frowning. "I know, the one thing the fire missed...just my luck."

"You can't keep this up, it's almost down to the bone" I shrugged, "I've had worse" she looked at me sadly. "Hermione, last year I got put under the torture curse, do you really think I care about some chicken scratches?"

She frowned at me "That's not the point!" I shrugged, holding her by the shoulders, winking and picking her up, placing her behind me, and walking off. "You can't keep doing this!" she called after me. "Watch me" I said as I strolled out of the portrait hole.

Ron's POV

"What was that about?" I asked, she seemed to think on it and then sighed, I don't get what the big deal was, (Y/N) running off to detention every day wasn't a big deal, that's basically where he lived nowadays, well, that or the hospital wing.

"Its (Y/N)" she said, looking at me very concerned, "He's doing it on purpose!" "What?" said Harry, sounding like he was worried. "He's getting into trouble with Umbridge and getting detentions so that she takes up all her time with him" my heart sank at the thought "He thinks that if she punishes him, she can't punish the rest of us"

My mouth went dry "Blimey, didn't even realise..." I collapsed into an armchair, hands over my face in shame. Harry was in a stunned silence. We looked to each other and made the joint decision to stop him.

We caught him as he went to go to bed that day. It was the first time I realised he had very dark circles under his eyes. When we stopped him, he still gave us that crooked smile.

"We need to talk" Harry said. (Y/N) looked to him, "You're right...I'm sorry Harry, I just don't think we're good together, we should probably see other people" I scoffed "Oh shut up" he saluted me "Yes sir!" "What's up?" he asked.

"We know what you've been doing" he looked confused and then he seemed to catch on "Hermione told you I suppose" We nodded, then he did the same, "Well, it's not really your business" he said, chuckling, I hated it when he did this, "That's not for you to decide" I said.

Harry spoke up, "I never asked you to do that!" He chuckled "You're my best friends, you didn't have to" I grit my teeth, I understood what he was saying, but he didn't have to try to be a martyr. "You don't need to-" I started.

"-What if it was Ginny?" he interrupted; I closed my mouth, he turned to Harry. "Or Cho?" "Well...that's beside the point" I said weakly, "Wouldn't you do the same?" "Well, yeah but-"

"BUT NOTHING!" "Hermione, Luna, Ginny, Neville, you two, even the twins" "It could be any of you and I'm not letting that happen!" "That's not your responsibility" said Harry calmly.

"I would rather die than let that monster do that to them. Not if I could have stopped her, even if she has to do it to me instead!" (Y/N) finished, storming up the stairs to bed. Me and Harry shared a glance, then followed.

(Y/N)'s POV

They pestered me for a while after that and got me to come back to a DA meeting. Neville was still having trouble with some of the spells, I tried my best to help him. Eventually he got the hang of it, maybe three out of five spells didn't end horribly.

He was still a little frustrated, I waited until after the lessons were over and held him back a bit "You alright mate?" He nodded slowly, like he only just heard me, he shuffled over to the foe glass and looked at the pictures pinned to the wall, of the old order of the Phoenix.

I walked up to him, "I'm not going to say I know how you feel, because I don't. but I will say. When push comes to shove, you're one of the most brave and reliable people I've ever met. Remember that."

He shook his head, "No... I'm not like them" he said looking at the image of his parents sadly, I pat his back, "You are, you just don't think you are, trust me" He sadly smiled but didn't seem convinced.

"You, Neville Longbottom are one of the only people in my life that I would trust entirely to watch my back, and I have no doubt that they are proud of you, and they always have been" I pat his shoulder and left him to it. "I know I would be." I saw Harry approaching him as I did.

I was in a practice duel with Flitwick when it happened. I barely had some warning but thankfully a friend came to help. I was in the middle of blocking a spell when I heard a "Crack!" beside me.

At first, I thought the spell had rebounded so I looked over to assess the damage. Only to find Winky staring back at me, looking very sad, tears in her eyes. This gained my attention immediately.

"What's wrong?" I rushed to her side, gripping her shoulders. "I is here to warn you" "Dobby is warning Mr. Harry Potter." She pulled my arm "Master (Y/N), you is having to leave! You is having to run!"

"The house-elves have been warned not to tell, but Winky is loyal, Winky is free now!" she shouted, she started to hyperventilate a little. "Winky calm down, what's wrong?" "The lady, she is coming, the lady!" she stressed.

She began to wrench my arm as hard as she could, trying to lead me out the room. "Umbridge?" I asked, horrified. Winky nodded quickly. "She has found you...she has found you!" The DA coin I kept in my pocket started to heat until It was almost scalding.

I realised she didn't mean Umbridge had found me, she meant Umbridge had found us! There was clattering on the other side of the door to Flitwick's office. Winky screeched "Too late...too late."

I debated having her apparate me out, but I looked at the foe glass in my hand, Umbridge was on the other side of the door with her goons and some of the DA. I could make out her smirk from here, It was too late, I had to face the music.

Winky started to bash her head against a table nearby, I forced her off and told her to stop and she looked to me with tears in her eyes and her little voice squeaked out " But...Winky is a bad elf" My heart nearly shattered.

"No, you're not, thank you for trying," I smiled, hoping to calm her down, but if the DA had been found, it was only a matter of time before Umbridge found me. "You are a good elf Winky, you are" I kissed her forehead and hugged her.

I told her to go to the kitchens, so she wasn't in trouble. Umbridge and her squad of goons opened the door to Flitwick's classroom with a lot of force, other people trailing behind them and muttering outside.

Flitwick seemed to come out of his shock as Winky dissaperated and was obviously very offended "What is the meaning of this!?" Umbridge marched into the room, she had a sweet smile on her face.

The next thing I knew my arms and legs were tied, I lost balance and fell flat on my face "Ow." Flitwick demanded answers, she simply trotted forward and claimed it was inquisitor business and I was under suspicion for 'Arson, dark magic, blah blah blah.'

They harshly dragged me up to Dumbledore's office and dragged me in front of Fudge, Shacklebolt and some other bloke, along with McGonagall. Harry was here too, along with Marietta Edgecombe, who was hiding her face. They all began to argue.

It boiled down to that Marietta had betrayed us, her mother worked for the ministry and she was afraid if we were ever caught, her mother would lose her job, so she had ratted us out to Umbridge.

This unknowingly triggered the jinx Hermione put on the paper to kick in. "SNEAK" was written across her head in the form of blemishes and spots and she was in tears. She deserved it, but she looked utterly pathetic.

Umbridge was trying to console her with empty words of how she wasn't going to get in trouble. The DA had been discovered and Fudge thought Dumbledore had recruited us to form an army and me torching Umbridge's office was considered an attack against the ministry.

Umbridge started a speech. "Been watching them for weeks. And see, " Dumbledore's Army" proof of what I've been telling you right from the beginning, Cornelius." She held up our paper from the Hog's Head.

"All your fear-mongering about You-Know-Who never fooled us for a minute. We saw your lies for what they were: A smokescreen for your bid to seize control of the Ministry." Said Fudge in shock, Dumbledore smirked. "Naturally."

"No, professor. He had nothing to do with it. It was me." Said Harry defiantly, "Us" I added. "Most noble of you, Harry, to shield me, but as has been pointed out the parchment clearly says 'Dumbledore's Army,' not 'Potter's.' nor '(L/N)'s'" Said Dumbledore.

"Well, we were gonna call it (Y/N)'s Brigade, but it didn't have the same ring to it" I said, the ropes started to cover my mouth, I turned to Umbridge, who had raised her wand to tighten them.

"Oh..." I started as they wrapped around my lower jaw, I continued my comment anyway,"...Thuk uff" Dumbledore continued "I instructed Harry to form this organisation. And I, and I alone, am responsible for its activities."

"As for Mr. (L/N), there is no proof he started this attack, because he did not, however, this was not an attack of my making." "Dispatch an owl to the Daily Prophet. If we hurry, we should still make the morning edition. Dawlish, Shacklebolt, you will escort Dumbledore to Azkaban to await trial for conspiracy and sedition." Said Fudge excitedly.

"I thought we might hit this little snag. You seem to be labouring under the delusion that I'm going to...What was the phrase? come quietly. Well, I can tell you this, I have no intention of going to Azkaban." He winked in our direction.

"Enough of this. Take him." Said Fudge. The aurors stepped forward. Dumbledore smiled at this. I tried to struggle against my binds, wanting to help him, there was no way he could take the lot of them. I don't think I've ever been more wrong.

As they took a few more steps nearer to him Fawkes the Phoenix screeched. It happened almost instantly, the bird flew directly above Dumbledore's head, he smiled, then he made a clapping motion over his head, uniting with the tail feathers of the phoenix.

As soon as the two connected both the Phoenix and its owner burst spontaneously into a white-hot flame, causing a shockwave to arc out from the source and knock the aurors prone, then with a flash of light and a puff of smoke. He was gone. "I have to learn how to do that" I thought.

Fudge scrambled to find him, all the aurors scouring the castle, as he left Kingsley leaned over to Fudge "Well, you may not like him, minister but you can't deny...Dumbledore has got style." I nodded along to this observation

After the spectacle that Dumbledore left us with, everything went downhill, It started with Umbridge giving herself more powers in Hogwarts. The notices had gone up all over the school overnight.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor, has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight. Signed: Minister of Magic: Cornelius Fudge."

We were walking to class, solemnly taking some comfort in the fact Umbridge had been denied access to the headmasters office, "Well, that's a shame, she could have used one" I smiled.

"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office," said Hermione viciously, as we walked up the stone steps into the entrance hall. "Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old-"

"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?" "...Witch" I finished for her. He glared at me Malfoy had slid out from behind the door, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. "Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor," he drawled.

"It's only teachers that can dock points from Houses, Malfoy," I argued, "Can't you read?" "Yeah, we're prefects too, remember?" snarled Ron. "I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King," sneered Malfoy, not even looking at me.

"But members of the Inquisitorial Squad —" "The what?" said Hermione sharply. "The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger," said Malfoy, pointing toward a tiny silver I upon his robes just beneath his prefect's badge.

"A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, handpicked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points"

"So, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new headmistress. . . . (L/N) five for talking to me. . . . Five because I don't like you, Potter . . . Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that. . . . Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten for that. . . ."

I reached for my wand, as did Ron, but Hermione gave me a look, and pushed Ron's wand away, whispering, "Don't!" "Wise move, Granger," breathed Malfoy. "New Head, new times . . . Be good now, Potty . . . Weasel King . . ."

He strode away, laughing heartily with Crabbe and Goyle. "He really needs some new material" I muttered. To make matters worse, on top of her new squad, Umbridege had undone most of my hard work.

Her old office had been restored, she had apparently told Flitwick that as the new Head she required "Ministry standard working conditions." which meant he was forced to repair all the damage he could.

I did take some satisfaction that the stone walls were charred a permanent black, there were no more kitten plates and the furniture was very sparse, the only piece remaining from her old office was the now stained soot black fireplace and her office had the distinct smell of smoke to greet anyone that entered.

Harry came in later in the week, sweating buckets, again, he explained that he was no longer taking "Remedial Potions." "Why haven't you got Occlumency lessons anymore?" said Hermione, frowning.

"I've told you," Harry muttered. "Snape reckons I can carry on by myself now I've got the basics. . . ." "Prove it" I said, not believing him entirely. "I'm going to enter your mind, try and stop me" I said. He seemed very reluctant but nodded.

I just reverberated the word "Liar" around his brain. He averted his eyes to me. So, I did the same with the word "Idiot." "So you've stopped having funny dreams?" said Hermione sceptically.

"Pretty much," "Well, I don't think Snape should stop until you're absolutely sure you can control them!" said Hermione indignantly. "Harry, I think you should go back to him and ask —" "No," said Harry forcefully. "Just drop it, Hermione, okay?"

The conversation moved on "I saw Cho earlier," said Hermione tentatively, "and she looked really miserable too. . . . Have you two had a row again?" "Wha — oh yeah, we have," said Harry, seizing gratefully on the excuse. "What about?"

"That sneak friend of hers, Marietta," said Harry. "Yeah, well, I don't blame you!" said Ron angrily, setting down his study schedule. "If it hadn't been for her . . ." Ron went into a rant about Marietta Edgecombe.

"Speaking of which, Hermione, can you talk me through the jinx you used on her?" she shrugged "Sure, why?" "Gonna fix it" I said plainly. As I expected I was met with outrage. "What!" said Ron and Harry in unison, "What for?" said Hermione.

"She's learnt her lesson, there's no need for it now" "She deserves it!" said Ron "Everyone should know she's a sneak!" said Harry. I sighed "And they do, everyone knows what happened, I'm just saying there is no need for it now,"

I turned to Hermione "You should have seen her face, I feel bad, it's been keeping me up" Hermione scoffed "You shouldn't!" so I continued, "Pomfrey still can't heal it, we can't just leave her."

"Yes, we can!" said Ron. "It's just some spots they'll heal" said Hermione dismissively, I wheeled on her "You know that for a fact?" she shrugged "Yeah...mostly" she giggled, trying to hold a chuckle, Ron and Harry chuckled.

I dug my heels in to spite them. "It's not what Dumbledore would want!" I shouted in frustration, they all just burst into laughter at me of all people coming out with such a statement. "It doesn't even matter" said Hermione, waving it off and barely holding herself together.

"Hermione let's put this into perspective, you have scarred her for life" "She deserves-" "Let me finish. You scarred her for life...for choosing her mother over a club that she didn't want to join in the first place."

She looked at me bewildered, her laughter dying in her throat. "Umbridge said her mum worked for the Ministry, same as mine," "It's only some spots" she waved it off, I was so angry all I could do was laugh "It's only some spots" I repeated under my breath.

I stood up and pointed to Harry "It's only a scar on your head," then to myself "It's only a growth spurt," "Some freckles" I said to Ron "It's only some teeth..." I pointed to her own mouth. She looked at me in shock "But-" "And you think this is bad" I showed her my hand.

"Y'know what. I'm done with this, I'll do it myself" I said, storming off to the library. I spent the next few days there between classes, the others refused to talk to me unless it was to make fun of me, but I couldn't explain to the why I felt so bad, it just felt wrong.

I tried every spell I could find, I even asked the twins for help because of heir work on the snackboxes and reversing the effects, but they, like their brother, felt she deserved everything she got.

This went on for another week, but still nothing, I was really struggling. "How's it going?" said Ron bitterly one day as he checked out a book.

"Better than you think, Hermione might be smart, but I'm very persistent" I lied. Eventually Hermione caved, she couldn't take not talking to me, so eventually she gave me her notes. As thanks I said "Orchideous" and gave her a nice bouquet of flowers

With that I thought of something that might work. It was essentially the counter curse to Furnunculus with a few more little tweaks and was specifically designed for spots and scars.

After some simple self-testing, in which I had to curse myself with terrible acne every five minutes, I found a fool proof counter curse that could clear skin of all blemishes and damage.

My next challenge was getting her to talk to me, I started with Cho, who was closest to her and eventually, after explaining myself she led me to Marietta. "Go away!" she yelled as she saw us.

After Cho managed to coax her out of the girls dorm and into an empty classroom, she decided to give it a try, but she was still reluctant. Cho left to give us some privacy and in case something went wrong, Marietta held out a compact mirror with a shaky hand.

She flinched when she saw her reflection, but eventually, I managed to cast the spell without any worries. Then I appraised my work happily. "There we go, pretty as new" I winked, showing her my work in her compact, she squealed at first, covering her own face, "DON'T" she shouted.

I slowly lowered her arms, she was almost crying but gasped when she looked in the mirror. Looking back at her was a face that was now entirely clear of any spots. "Sometimes I'm so good I amaze myself" I smiled.

"We're not all bad Marietta" "They were just upset, and I'm sorry we jinxed the paper, we just didn't want to risk-" "A sneak" she interrupted. I nodded sadly. She hugged me "Thank you, I'm sorry, she just-" I shushed her "It's fine" was all I said, she smiled and ran out the door to show Cho.

The next thing I was dreading was our fifth year upcoming 'careers guidance' talks we had to attend, mostly because I had no earthly idea what I wanted to be, hell, most of the time my plan was to just try to survive the schoolyear.

Reluctantly on a cold Monday I sat down awkwardly in McGonagall's office. "Ah, yes, Mr. (L/N)" she smiled as I sat down "The highlight of your day I imagine?" she sighed. As I heard "Hem, hem" I noticed the other occupant of the office.

"Morning High Inquisitor" I said cheerily, she smiled sweetly back "Just pretend I'm not here dear" I nodded "I'll try my best." "Well, (L/N), this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you might have, and to help you decide which subjects you should continue into sixth and seventh years," said Professor McGonagall.

"Have you had any thoughts about what you would like to do after you leave Hogwarts?" I took a second to think. "Well, I'm sure you get this a lot, but I'm not really sure-" Umbridge let out a triumphant little cough again and I saw McGonagall's eye twitch.

"-When I was growing up, I figured I'd just be an Auror like Mum. Or something cool, like a Cursebreaker. But now I'm not too sure," McGonagall nodded. "A common problem" "I just want to do something that helps people" I clarified.

She took a second to look at her notes, "All E's and O's expected with your grades, excluding Herbology which is an A" then she turned up to me again, "Well, I am fairly certain that you would suit a great variety of careers."

"Maybe a Healer? A difficult path, but well within your grasp. Or like you say, an Auror? Also, well suited to your skillset,-" Umbridge piped up " -Although, I am afraid the profession of Auror requires a stringent series of character and aptitude tests. Which you may...struggle with"

I just utterly blanked her. McGonagall cleared her throat. "Maybe a teacher?" I said cheekily, "I know the world's in short supply of good teachers" I glanced over at Umbridge. "Except Hogwarts of course."

"I should think not!" Umbridge muttered "Teaching requires a degree of responsibility and respect for education that you seem to...struggle with I'm afraid." Again, I just completely blanked her. She grimaced "Are you ignoring me?" I turned to her "Yes, you told me to" I smiled.

She coughed loudly again "My point exactly." I saw McGonagall smirk from the corner of my eye. "Well, you can't blame the boy Dolores, he was only following your instruction" she said in a tone that was biting back laughter.

"Well, maybe I could be an example, show them that behaviour isn't everything, that if you try hard, you can overcome adversity and do what you want. Just a thought." McGonagall nodded. "Well nothings set in stone yet. But know no matter what you choose you will have the Hogwarts staff's full support"

I beamed at her, she smiled back "You are a very focused and driven young man who has proven time and time again that you can exceed any expectations we give you despite your faults. (L/N),"

"Going forward you should think on these topics and perhaps you will be able to come up with something. (L/N), that concludes our career consultation." I nodded "Thanks Professor" I shook her hand and walked out the room.