The beginning of the stormy storm
Harry was very grateful for his geeky friends. Hermione and Draco had wrangled them all into studying throughout the year, so he felt marginally prepared for most, if not all, his exams.
The exams were spread across two weeks. Week one was all their physical papers. Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, and Divination did not have written exams.
Harry felt he did okay in most of the written exams. Defence Against the Dark arts had been a breeze, especially as many questions were about creatures, which had been the focus of their third year when they had a decent teacher. Charms and Transfiguration had been harder, but Harry managed to answer every question at least. Potions had been suspiciously easy. Either all of the detentions with Snape had paid off and actually helped him, or Harry was just so appallingly bad that he had accidentally made everything up.
In his detentions, Snape was slightly less nasty. Whether that was just exhaustion Harry couldn't be sure, but Harry was confident enough to actually ask questions and Snape was surprisingly good at explaining things when he actually bothered to. Harry had also found out from Remus that his mother had loved potions - so he made more of a conscious effort to study and worked harder on his potions essays. Snape still mostly gave him Ds and Ts, but Harry thought part of that might be because he man had to hate him in order to stay in favour with Voldy.
The written Herbology paper was difficult, and Harry only answered three quarters of the questions. He had been happy to see Neville leave that exam with an excited smile on his face, so he knew his Herbology expert friend had done well at least. History of Magic was their final written paper, and Harry hadn't even really bothered to try. He fell asleep at one point, where he had a very interesting dream. Sirius had been being tortured in the hall of prophecies.
He knew it was a possibility that Voldemort may have managed to slip into his mind and plant a false vision, so as soon as the exam was over he called for Kreacher, who went to Grimmauld and came back within ten seconds, saying that Sirius was fine. Harry gave Kreacher two hastily written letters, and asked him to give one to Snape and one to Sirius. Luckily, Harry knew beyond Voldy sending the odd false vision, he still had no access to Harry's thoughts or mind.
With that knowledge, he then sent a patronus to Voldy.
"Nice try, sucker!"
He grinned at the scream of rage in his head, before sending images of pink frogs ballroom dancing over the telepathic link in rapid succession. Then he broke the connection with a giggle.
Next came the practical exams. History of Magic was the only subject where there was no practical, so their practical week was much more full on.
Once or twice a day, they were called into the hall in alphabetical order, and were kept in a side room to wait so that they couldn't cheat.
Charms had been okay, Harry only messed up the final spell. His charms work hadn't been exquisite, but he did a decent enough job. Transfiguration was harder, and Harry definitely lost a few marks for having whiskers on his snuffbox, but he felt he did okay overall. Potions had been to create a dreamless sleep from memory. Harry had grinned, ecstatic, and got to work. It was a potion he had made perfectly before, and he had been secretly brewing it all year to help with the nightmares that still plagued him. He had a feeling Snape had caught on during the lesson with Umbridge, but the man had never said anything.
Care of Magical Creatures had been a breeze, and so had DADA. Harry was pleased to see those from the HA in the hall at the same time as him flourish as well, performing the required spells with ease and accuracy. He had even been allowed to cast the patronus charm for a few extra marks. Apparently, McGonagall had requested the invigilators ask all fifth year students to have a go, knowing many of them would succeed due to Harry's lessons. Harry also remembered to turn his stag into an ostrich briefly, just because he could.
Herbology hadn't gone well, but Harry had never been any good at Herbology. It was only by accident he managed to befriend the Venomous Tentactula after all. In Divination, he told the examiner he could see a large disco ball, with lots of emo pals dressed in pink dancing around it. The examiner had definitely failed him, but Harry couldn't resist having a little fun in at least one exam.
It was Astronomy where it all went sideways.
They had been studying the sky and mapping it onto parchment when the shouting began. Everyone turned their telescopes downwards and watched in horror as Hagrid yelled at the ministry officials that surrounded him, Umbridge included. McGonagall had run out of the school towards him just as the ministry officials fired a dozen stunners at the half-giant.
Harry cried out when they all hit McGonagall and she crumpled to the ground.
The exam didn't continue after that.
"This ends now." Harry said stoutly as his friends followed him to Umbridge's office.
"What do you mean? Harry, what are you planning?" Hermione bit her lip, and Harry grimaced.
"Look, you should all stay here, what I'm about to do is going to get me in heaps of trouble." He said honestly, turning to face them all.
"We're with you mate, whatever, you know that." Neville said. "Just tell us the plan."
Harry took a deep breath, and explained.
~
"Well, well, well." Umbridge said brightly, yanking Harry's head from the fireplace. "What do we have here?"
"A fireplace." Harry said obstinately.
"With Harry Potter's head in it!" She simpered, and shoved him into a chair. Harry looked around the office. Ginny, Neville, Ron and Hermione were all being held at wand-point by members of the Inquisitorial squad.
"Who were you contacting?" Umbridge demanded.
"Nunya."
"Nunya who?"
"Nunya business."
"Enough games, Mr Potter!" Umbridge snapped. "Tell me who you were contacting, now!"
"Why should I?" Harry retorted, fire in his eyes. Umbridge smiled.
"The cruciatus curse aught to loosen your tongue."
"Oh yeah? Go for it." Harry challenged. "Voldemort tried that already, it didn't work."
"Crucio!" Harry didn't make a sound as the spell hit him in the chest. He did his best not to wince. It wasn't as strong as Voldemort's but it still hurt.
"Stop it!" Hermione cried out, trying to fight off Parkinson. "Please! I'll tell you!"
Umbridge lifted the spell, but kept her wand trained on Harry.
"Go on then, Miss Granger."
Hermione spoke through sobs. "We were trying to contact Dumbledore. To tell him it's ready."
"To tell him what was ready?" Umbridge asked, eyes shining.
Hermione choked out another sob, shaking her head. Umbridge opened her mouth, once again focused on Harry. Hermione broke.
"The secret weapon!" She cried. "Please, don't hurt him!"
Within minutes, Hermione and Harry were leading Umbridge into the forbidden forest. They knew the route well, Luna's frequent visits leaving a clear path in the dirt.
The fight had been quick - Grawp's roar of outrage had alerted the Centaurs to their presence, who stormed into the clearing, bows and arrows at the ready. Umbridge had tried to bind them with rope the instant she saw them and got herself kidnapped. Harry and Hermione had fled after picking up their discarded wands, dropped by Umbridge in the panic.
They sprinted back to the main grounds, where Neville, Luna, Draco, Daphne, Astoria, Ron, Ginny and Susan were waiting for them.
"We can't all go." Daphne said instantly. "Especially not Draco. As soon as his father realises he's changed sides he'll be killed."
"He's going to know by summer anyway!" Draco retorted.
"Exactly, best we keep it quiet so we can figure out how to keep you hidden. Your dad will probably be there as well, I wouldn't want you to have to fight him." Harry said, and Draco scowled.
"What's the plan, then?" Ginny asked. Harry rubbed his forehead.
"I've told Voldy what we're going to do. He will have sent a few of his emo pals to the ministry already, to lie in wait. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes himself. I'm going to meet him there."
"I'm coming with you." Ron and Hermione said at the same time. Harry didn't bother to argue - Hermione and Ron had never been talked out of trouble before, trying to now would only waste time.
"Me too." Ginny, Daphne and Astoria said stubbornly.
"And me." Neville said, voice shaking. Harry frowned.
"No, just Hermione and Ron." Harry said. The others opened their mouths to protest, but Harry got there first. "No, listen, this is life or death, not some silly little jaunt."
"We know." Neville said boldly. "Harry, please!"
Harry pushed a hand through his hair. "Fine." He said eventually. "But I need some of you here for this to work."
"Okay, but only if it is actually necessary for the plan." Astoria said stubbornly.
"Daphne, Astoria, you need to stay with Draco." Harry spoke quickly, pacing backwards and forwards. They began to protest but Harry interrupted them. "Let me finish! To be a Slytherin seen with me is too dangerous right now, even if your family is a neutral party in this war. Besides, I don't know what will happen in the castle whilst we are gone. I need you to alert Flitwick, Sprout, and Sinistra about what's happening, especially about Minnie."
"Fine." Daphne glared at Harry. Astoria huffed but nodded, hugging Ginny and Luna tightly. The three girls had grown very close over the school year.
"Susan, as much as I would love to bring you, I need you here for Kreacher. You're the only one other than me he'll listen to. And your Aunt is terrifying and will actually kill me if I take you." Harry said with a half-smile.
Susan smirked.
"Wait, why is that again?" Ginny asked. "What exactly did you two do to get Kreacher to love you both so much?"
"Oh, nothing much." Susan said nonchalantly. "Okay, so I'm getting Kreacher to do what, exactly?"
"Bring Sirius to Hogwarts, in dog form." Harry said, giving her a look. "Take him to Snape, he'll ensure he can't leave. Then have Kreacher take you to Dumblebee. It's highly likely he's at Grimmauld with Sirius though, so it may only need to be one trip."
"How is Kreacher going to get around the wards for this to work?"
Harry grinned. "Black family magic. Phineas Nigellus Black was Headmaster here a long ago, so any house elf owned by the Blacks can evade the wards with whoever they please, as long as the intention is to protect. It's more complicated than that, but we are on a time crunch here."
Daphne nodded slowly. Being the ward-nerd she was, she knew exactly what Harry meant.
"The rest of you, I won't stop you coming with me." Harry paused, and looked each of them in the eye. "But I would prefer you to stay."
"Thestrals." Was Luna's response. Everyone turned to look at her, confused, but Harry grinned.
"Genius! Let's go, gang! Good luck Daph, Astoria, Draco, Sue."
"Don't die." Daphne said shortly. Harry mock saluted.
The Thestrals were surprisingly easily to persuade, and before long, they were on their way to the ministry.