Brothers in solidarity
Chapter 14:
After lunch, Harry once again parted with Luna to go up to the North tower for Divination.
He was not looking forward to this class. Before, it had been more of a joke class than anything else. Harry had never taken much stock in predicting the future.
Now, he absolutely hated the concept of prophecies. In his previous life, it had been a prophecy which had caused the chain of events which led to his and Arthur's downfall. If not for the prophecy, then Morgana would never have manipulated him from birth to destroy Arthur and Merlin would never have sent him and the thirty-nine infants out to die.
Thankfully, Professor Trelawney seemed to be little more than a fraud. He ignored the little nagging feeling in the back of his mind which reminded him of how she had predicted Petagrew's escape at the end of his third year.
Once he reached the platform under the trapdoor leading to the classroom, he found the rest of the class waiting. Neville and Ron instantly saw him and beckoned him forward.
"Hey, where did you go?" Neville asked.
Harry grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry. Luna kidnapped me for lunch."
Ron frowned and scratched his head.
"That Ravenclaw fourth-year from the train?"
"Yeah." Harry replied.
Ron then grinned, which caused him to bare a striking resemblance to the twins, or even his past self as Gaheris when the two of them would sneak around their father's castle as children.
"Really? Mate, do you think she fancies you?"
Harry attempted to hide his grin. Oh, Ron did not even know the half of it.
"Ron, we only met yesterday. I suppose she just wants a friend at the moment." He simply said. "Anyway, I actually think she's pretty cool."
"She's kind of... Well, strange." Neville muttered. "But I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Just sometimes she can be a bit... Well, creepy..."
Harry chuckled.
"Yeah, she can seem like that if you don't know her that well. But hey, being strange is good. It just makes you more interesting."
Before their conversation could continue, the trapdoor opened and the rope ladder fell down.
Yet again, Harry invited Neville to sit with him and Ron at one of the circular tables. This time, the shy boy seemed more comfortable with the new arrangement. Harry saw this as good, as this may indicate he was becoming closer to the group.
Harry kept this minor win in mind as Professor Trelawney entered the classroom in her usual shawls airy demeanor.
"Ahh, my dears, it is good to see you all once more." Trelawney began. "I must admit, I was not sure if any would return this year."
Harry rolled his eyes. Looks like she wasn't going to be slow with her predictions of terrible deaths this year.
His reaction was shared by many of the other students. However, Pavati and Lavender, who were probably some of the only people who took Trelawney seriously, gasped.
"Why Professor?" Pavati asked.
"Oh, I am afraid that my inner eye has been clouded as of late." Replied Trelawney.
She looked around the classroom with large eyes.
"I fear that this year, this subject may be particularly difficult. For you see, in my many years, never has the future been so clouded. The stars do not speak to me and the future is uncertain." She said dramatically.
Harry rolled his eyes again. Looks like she's got tired of predicting a student's death and has found another way to try to get people interested.
"Do you know what is causing this?" Lavender asked, sounding a little scared.
"Oh, how I wished I could see." She sighed. "But alas, all that is able to be seen behind the fog are mere figures..."
She closed her eyes. Pavati, Lavender and a few other students lent forward in curiosity. Harry just sat in his seat and rolled his eyes. Maybe he should secretly do some homework in this lesson, because it didn't seem like Trelawney was going to be getting anything done.
"Shades... Old souls... Rising for retribution and redemption..."
Harry raised an eyebrow. This was actually getting interesting. However, he also began to feel a shiver go down his spine. Where was this going exactly.
"And at the centre of it..."
Trelawney then opened her eyes suddenly. Her orbs, magnified by her glasses, stared straight at Harry.
"Is the Guileless Son."
Harry froze. He could hardly breath. He thought he heard muttering from around the room. He thought he felt both Ron and Neville shaking him. But all he could hear were those two words.
"Guileless Son."
The name that his mother used to call him. The child that was once destined to kill Arthur and also be killed by the High King.
"Harry? Harry!"
The two words echoed in his mind. Then, his old lullaby began to play in his mind.
"Shall die in returning the birthright he stole." He muttered.
"What?"
He looked up to see Ron and Neville staring at him with concern in their eyes.
"Oh, nothing." Harry replied, attempting a laugh. "Sorry, Trelawney was just freaking me out."
"Okay." Neville said slowly.
"Your not actually falling for her rubbish?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head and smiled weakly.
"Course not. I'm just... Surprised that she didn't predict that I'm going to die horribly or something. Guess she's try to change things up a bit."
"Okay." Ron replied.
For the rest of the lesson, Harry's mind was reoccupied with the memory of Trelawney strange proclamation.
What did this mean?
Yeah, at times Trelawney seemed like nothing more than a crack-pot. But there was enough evidence to suggest that, at times, she did indeed have the gift for foresight. The words that she had said in her proclamation were enough evidence alone.
Shades... Old souls rising for retribution and redemption? That sounded like Harry's current situation.
And how else would she have known that name?
Was he really the cause of the future being unclear? This would actually be a good thing, as his goal was to rewrite the stars. Seers not being able to see the future should act as an indication that things are changing.
In the end, he decided to discuss this with Luna. Maybe she would have an idea of what this all meant.
After Divination was their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with the new teacher. He Neville and Ron met Hermione outside of the classroom door.
"Hey," Hermione greeted. "Harry, where did you go at lunch?"
"He was kidnapped by his girlfriend." Ron replied teasingly.
Harry punched his shoulder jokingly.
"Luna, just wanted to have lunch with me outside." Harry replied. "I think she just wanted to make friends."
"Oh," Hermione replied. "Well, that's okay."
Soon they, along with the rest of the class, entered the classroom. This time, he didn't even have to offer for Neville to sit with them. The boy automatically joined them at a table close to the back.
The room was soon filled with muttering.
"Wonder what this professor is going to be like." Ron muttered.
Harry shrugged.
Soon however, the room fell silent as the toad like woman, Professor Umbridge, entered the classroom.
"Settle down children, settle down." She said in a high pitched girlish voice.
This was rather unnecessary, as the room was already silent.
"Good morning class." She continued.
There were a few mutters of "Good morning".
"Now now, that will never do." Umbridge said. "So it again."
"Good morning professor Umbridge." The class replied, unenthusiastically.
"There, that's better." Umbridge continued, smiling.
"Now, to my understanding, you have had many changing in teaching for this particular subject. This has obviously caused some inconsistences in your education, which was not helped by teachers who were not quite up to standard or..."
She wrinkled her nose.
"... Were more of a danger to you than a teacher in defensive skills."
Harry clenched his fists. He got the sneaking suspicion that she was insult Professor Lupin. He had to resist the urge to jinx the woman on the spot, as he hated it when people insulted his brothers, especially when they were not present to defend themselves.
Harry's sentiments were obviously shared by the vast majority of the class, as it appeared they were also holding themselves back.
"However," Umbridge continued. "This year, I have attempted to correct this by constructing a ministry approved course outline."
She pulled out a rather short and stubby wand and tapped the blackboard at the front of the room. Words began to appear.
Harry fought back a sneer as he read the new course outline. Oh boy, this was definitely going to be a doozy of a year.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione was about to raise corner hand, but he stopped her.
"Harry, what?" She muttered.
"Don't." He whispered. "We don't want to start trouble in the first five minutes."
Hermione looked like she was about to argue, but their conversation was interrupted.
"Is their a problem?" Umbridge asked in her sickeningly sweet girlish voice.
"No Professor." Harry replied quickly. "I just broke my quill of was asking Hermione for a spare."
Umbridge scrutinised him for a few seconds, but then her gaze flickered away.
"After you are done copying down the course outlines, please open your books and begin reading Chapter One, Basics For Beginners. There will be no need for talking."
Harry opened his text book and began reading the chapter. He managed to read the first page, but that was as far as he got before he had to stop, lest he throw the book across the room in frustration.
He knew that before, he might have already. However, his memories as Mordred actually assisted in making him less prone to violent outbursts and more likely to think about what could result from his actions. He would most likely get into trouble if he tossed his book across the room. He would also get into trouble if he burnt it, threw it out of the window, or launched it into Umbridges face.
But seriously, what was she, or the ministry playing at? This book taught them nothing about actually defending themselves with magic, or anything really. It was just several hundred pages of rubbish. Morgana wouldn't have even used it as a torture device. She would have been more likely to call it an abomination and a disgrace to magic, and then proceeded to burn it. And Harry had to admit, he was tempted to do the same.
He was broken out of his fantasies of burning horrible books by Hermione raising her hand.
"Is there something wrong, Miss Granger?" Umbridge asked in her sickly sweet voice.
"Professor," Hermione began. "Neither this book, nor the course outlines, so anything about actually using defensive spells."
Umbridge giggled.
"Use defensive spells. Why would you need to use defensive spells?"
"To protect ourselves." Hermione replied
Umbridge giggled again.
"And why would you need to protect yourself in my classroom?"
Harry decided to come to his friends aid. However, he was going to tackle this diplomatically and calmly. He was not going to act like a hot-headed Gryffindor.
He raised his hand.
"We may not need to defend ourselves in the classroom, but we will need to in the outside world." He began. "It is dangerous out there. There are dangerous creatures, wizards who can and will use magic to harm you, hell, even Muggles can be dangerous if they have certain weapons. It's a dangerous world out there and we need to know how to defend ourselves against such dangers."
There were mutters in the classroom. Many of the pure-bloods were wondering what danger a muggle could possibly be, to which many of the muggle raised students answered by listing several models of guns and other various weapons. However, Umbridge was glaring at him. Harry could have sworn that he had replied as diplomatically as he could.
"You believe there are dangerous wizards out there Mr Potter?" She said, her girly voice taking on a dangerous tone.
Harry shrugged.
"Well, yeah. I mean, if there are dangerous muggles there must be dangerous wizards, right?"
"Do not act ignorant with me." She hissed. "I know exactly what you are implying."
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"And what would that be?"
"You are implying the same lie that you and Dumbledore were spurting last June." She replied. "And I will not tolerate such lies in my class. He-WhoMst-Not-Be-Named is dead. Young Mr Diggory's death was a tragic accident."
"No!"
Harry, as well as the entire class, turned in surprise to see that Neville had stood up from his chair in anger. This was strange, as he was usually not confident enough to even speak in class, let alone draw attention to himself in such a way.
"I beg your pardon, Mr Longbottom?" Umbridge said in a falsely calm voice.
"I do not believe that Harry would have lied about such a thing." Neville continued. "Cedric Diggory was murdered by You-Know-Who, and Harry saw it. Trying to pretend anything else is a disgrace to his memory."
Harry stared in amazement. He had never seen Neville with such confidence. It was quite strange. In that moment, he looked less like the shy boy he had known for four years, and more like the man he once was... More like the King that so many had fought for...
"That, is a lie." Umbridge replied. "Mr Diggory was obviously a child who was in over his head, and to arrogant to recognise when he could not win. He was a foolish child who was incapable of handling something meant for adults..."
Harry could feel rage coursing through his vanes. He could not stand this any longer. It was one thing to hide the truth. But this...?
Harry got out of his chair and stood beside Neville in solidarity.
"No!" He said loudly and clearly. "I cannot sit here while you insult such a great man. Cedric was good, kind, loyal, noble, and one of the best students to ever walk these halls. He was humble, intelligent and embodied everything that Hufflepuff stands for. If the bards of old still existed, then they would sing praises of him for generations to come. Cedric Diggory was a great man, and I will not sit here while you insult his memory. He was killed by Voldemort, and you are the liar by denying this."
"Enough!" Umbridge screamed.
She breathed heavily for a few seconds, before looking up and smiling sweetly at him, with a cold undertone to her gaze.
"Detention, Mr Potter. And for you as well, Mr Longbottom. Tonight in my office."
At the end of the lesson, he and Neville were the first ones out, quickly followed by Ron and Hermione.
"Blimey." Ron said, staring at both him and Neville. "You two were... Well, I kind of expected it from Harry, but Neville..."
Neville blushed.
"I don't know what came over me. It's just, I couldn't stand her saying those things about Cedric..."
He looked down.
"Gran's going to kill me when she that I got detention on the first day."
Harry put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. You can just send an owl explaining how exactly you got the detention. I'm sure she'll understand. She may even be proud that you stood up for what you believe in."
Neville's blush deepened.
"Thanks."
During dinner, it was obvious that word of the confrontation had spread, as practically half of the Hufflepuff, including professor Sprout, had come over to him and Neville and had thanked them for defending Cedric.
"It was mostly Harry." Neville had muttered.
"Don't be modest." Harry argued. "You defended him to, and you were very brave doing it."
Throughout the entire meal, Neville's face was a constant red with embarrassment.
After dinner, he and Neville walked to Umbridge's office.
Neville was twiddling his fingers nervously.
"Don't worry." Harry told him. "It will be fine. And hey, at least you're not alone in this."
Neville smiled.
"Thanks."
They entered Umbridge's office, and Harry had to resist the urge to be sick. Every last inch of wall was covered in pink, and the furniture wasn't much better with it's pink lace. There were also plates with little kittens on them. The whole image made Harry feel like he was about to throw up.
Thankfully, he was broken from his thoughts of vomit by the toad herself.
"Good evening." She said in her girlish voice, smiling deviously at them.
"Good evening." They both replied.
"Now, please, sit."
Umbridge indicated a desk where two seats sat side by side. They approached the seats and Harry sat on the one to the right, while Neville took the one to the left.
Umbridge presented them with parchment and a strange looking quill each.
"Tonight you will be writing lines with these... Special quills."
Both teens exchanged confused looks, then took a quill each.
"You will be writing, "I must not tell lies"."
"How much?" Harry asked.
"Oh, just until the message sinks in." Umbridge replied with another grin.
"But there isn't any ink." Neville argued.
"Oh, you won't be needing ink." Replied Umbridge.
SUCKING in a deep breath, he began writing. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Neville was doing the same.
As soon as he finished the first line, he felt a stinging pain in his right hand. Neville gasped and clutched his own right hand.
"Is there something wrong?" Umbridge asked from her desk.
"No." Harry replied quickly.
He squeezed Neville's wrist reassuringly.
"Don't let her see your pain." He muttered to Neville. "Right now, she is the enemy. And you should never let the any see you hurt, as it will only bring them joy."
Neville nodded.
"Thanks."
The continued writing the lines. Harry was pretty sure that the quills were enchanted, as they seemed to be using their own blood, and they left the imprint of the words "I must not tell lies", in their hands. It hurt, but it was nothing to the pain that he had suffered, both as Harry and as Mordred. At first, Neville was less successful at hiding his pain. However, it appeared that he was taking Harry's advice. Harry found this ironic, as it had been Neville's past self who had taught Harry past self that lesson in the first place.
After what felt like hours, Umbridge finally called for them to stop. She examined both of their hands.
"Tisk tisk, it appears the message has not seemed to have sunk in quite yet." She said. "Well, hopefully it will tomorrow night."
"What?" Neville asked in surprise. "But... I thought that it was only for tonight."
"Oh no," Umbridge replied, grinning. "I have organised for the two of you to have detention with my all nights this week. This way, the message will sink in. Well then, good night."
Harry wanted so desperately to punch that toad right in her face, regardless of whether or not it was rude to hit a woman. However, he simply grabbed Neville by the wrist and left the office.
As they were walking back to the common-room, Neville was rubbing the back of his hand where the words had been carved into his flesh.
"I cannot believe she actually did that." He said.
Harry shrugged.
"Well, I'm not surprised. She seems like the kind of person who likes torturing her victims."
Neville frowned.
"This isn't right. What if she does it to other students?"
Harry sighed.
"What are we going to do about it? You've seen how ineffective the teachers at this school are."
Neville's frown deepened.
"Yeah, I know. But we still need to do something. I could owl my Gran..."
"And what will that do?" Harry retorted.
"She... She could get in contact with other parents." Neville suggested. "If enough parents hear that their child could get subjected to writing lines with their own blood..."
"What, Umbridge will get kicked out?" Harry asked. "Neville, she's with the Ministry. It's a little hard for a bunch for parents to fight the government."
"Well, what do you suggest?" Neville retorted.
He turned to Neville.
"We need to stand up for ourselves." He replied. "We have to stop relying on teachers and parents to do what needs to be done. This is our school, and we need to show the Ministry and that horrible toad of a woman that we will not take it lying down."
"What do you mean?" Neville asked nervously.
"Haven't you noticed?" Harry asked. "Because Fudge is in denial about Voldemort being back, he's trying to take over Hogwarts. He's trying to make us weak by making us learn from books that teach us nothing, and by having Umbridge torture anyone who disagrees."
Harry sucked in a deep breath.
"Nothing happens until you make it happen. The students are the ones who need to fight, not the teachers, not the parents. Us."
"B but what can we do?" Neville asked.
Harry walked over to him and grasped his upper arm.
"Alone, we can't do anything. But united as one, we may stand a chance. And even if we don't win, at least the showed those idiots at the Ministry that it will take more than an overgrown pink toad to push us down."
Neville looked up, fire in his eyes.
"Lets do this, for Hogwarts, for Cedric, for our freedom."
Harry smiled.
"Let's not be to fast. We have a lot of planning to do."
Neville smiled.
Once everyone was in bed and asleep, Harry once again put on his invisibility cloak and went to the astronomy tower.
As he went, his thoughts were plagued by Umbridge. He really, really did not like her.
She was just so patronising, controlling, and she gave him the same disgusting feeling that he used to get from Merlin.
And that voice. Oh, it was horrible. It sounded like a strange mixture of how Morgana used to speak to him as a child, and how Guinevere spoke to him when she was attempting to seduce him on their farce of a wedding night. It made Harry's skin crawl just thinking about it.
Finally, he reached the top of the astronomy tower. Luna was already sitting there, her hair reflecting the moonlight.
When she turned to face him, her eyes were full of concern. When he approached, she immediately held out her hand.
"Show me." She said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Show me your hand." She replied.
Harry was not sure, but he could have sworn she seemed angry. So, he simply complied and presented his right hand to her.
She inspected it, then traced the outline of the words with her finger. Harry attempted, and failed, !o hold back his flinch.
"It's fine." Harry said through gritted teeth. "Just Umbridge...."
Luna scowled.
"That..."
She muttered several unladylike words in old-english, Latin, and Gallic.
"No, seriously," Harry continued. "It's fine, I've suffered worse."
"That is hardly comforting." She retorted.
Harry sighed and wrapped his other arm around her.
"Don't worry, both Neville and I have had the same thing. But oh, you should have seen him today."
He proceeded to describe the events which took place during the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Luna of course, had already heard about it thanks to the Hogwarts Rumour-mill, but she had not yet heard about it from an actual witness.
By the end of the story, both of them were smiling.
"This is wonderful." Luna said.
"Yes, I know." Harry replied. "I don't know if it's the result of his dreams, or me reaching out to him, or both, but he's becoming more confident."
Luna smiled.
"He will soon become the leader that both of you need to be."
Harry shook his head.
"No, I'm no leader. The last time I was in charge of something, I ended up running it into the ground."
Luna shook her head.
"Both of you must stand together if we have any hope."
Harry grinned.
"Well, I think that our fates are already changing. Today, in Divination, Professor Trelawney told the entire class that it was really hard for her to see the future. I don't know, but evidence suggests that maybe this is because of us."
"Oh?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Harry replied. "She kept going on about shades and old souls rising again for retribution and redemption, and that... That at the centre of it was... Was the Guileless Son..." He trailed off.
Luna squeezed his left hand reassuringly.
"This is good, my tarnished Silver. Everything is going to plan."
Harry smiled, but then looked down at his right hand.
"Yeah, but what are we going to do about Umbridge?"
"Do not worry." Luna replied. "We will think of something."
Harry smiled. The winds of fate were changing, Neville was becoming more confident, and they were standing together. Everything was going to plan.