Harry enjoyed the pleasant feeling of profound silence in the deepest confines of his mind. The only companion to him was darkness and nothing else. He didn't know how long he stayed that way, but after a long while, a small glimmer of light parted the darkness. He saw a proud lion slowly emerging out of the darkness. Its mane was golden, and how the lion carried itself screamed strength. The lion looked straight at him and roared, making Harry step back in fear.
Harry woke up with a gasp finding himself in his bed in the Gryffindor dorm. He sighed in relief when he realised it was just a dream. A strange dream but a dream nonetheless. The last thing he wanted right now was a pissed-off lion on his tail. Oh, wait! He already had a pissed-off lioness on his tail in the form of Professor McGonagall. After Umbridge went unpunished for torturing Colin, the stupid woman tried to give him detentions for laying into her without inhibitions. He told her off straight to her face and never attended any detention. His official policy was now to only attend detentions from the Hogwarts staff when Umbridge gets fired from her post. He had said so to McGonagall in her office before the Quidditch match with Slytherin. Since then, McGonagall had given him the cold shoulder, which he was all too happy to reciprocate. The less he interacted with the hypocrites in the teaching staff, the better.
Besides, He had enough on his plate to worry about.
There was the planned meeting with Fleur coming up in just two weeks. That was a more troublesome issue than the idiosyncrasies of the Hogwarts staff. His plan constituted of gaining a magical oath from Fleur to protect the secret of his involvement in the death of the Death Eaters. He lost a better part of his training time researching magical contracts, but it was time well spent if Fleur agreed to a secrecy pact enforced by the contract. He initially considered using a verbal binding oath, but those tend to be too detrimental and vague, often leading to dangerous situations. On the other hand, a magically binding contract could be more inclusive in scope and much more humane in his view. He had yet to finalise the contract's wording because he gathered Fleur would have some of her suggestions to include.
Shaking those thoughts away, Harry stretched out his limbs while sitting on his bed before preparing for the day.
After getting ready for the day ahead, he walked out of the dorms with Neville in tow when they found a large crowd gathered in their common room.
"Are we celebrating the Quidditch victory again?" Neville muttered.
"We already had a party for that. Besides, this doesn't look like a party." Harry observed.
They looked at each other before entering the crowd to see what was happening. There were snippets of conversation Harry picked up, but they didn't make much sense. He finally found some familiar faces in the form of Katie, Alicia, the Weasley twins, and Angelina.
"Hey, what's going on? And why is Angelina looking like she just took a blasting curse to her face?" asked Harry.
"Harry. Umbridge just suspended the Gryffindor Quidditch team. We'll not be allowed to play the matches for the rest of the season." said Katie, handing him a leaf of parchment addressed to Angelina.
"For what?" Neville asked incredulously.
"Apparently, we cheated to win the game against…"
"…Slytherin, in the bitch's expert opinion."
George and Fred said in their usual twin-talk.
"This cannot be allowed to stand. Umbridge is also messing with our DADA classes as well." Hermione butted in, earning many sounds of approval from the crowd.
"Yeah. That evil woman even tortured one of us." someone angrily growled, earning more approval from the crowd.
"She's worse than Snape. She hates us all, and we must teach that woman a lesson."
"Yeah. She's got to pay."
Many other voices joined in, all of them intent on taking the fight to Umbridge head-on.
"We should complain to McGonagall and Dumbledore." Hermione suggested, but all the gathered students snorted and groaned.
"You saw how useless they were, Granger. They don't care about us." an upperclassman said with a derisive snort.
"Yeah. Harry took Colin's issue to McGonagall, Dumbledore, and even the Board of Governors. Look what they did to her. My Gran says Minister Fudge protects Umbridge." said Neville.
More and more angry comments came from the Gryffindor students.
Harry read the parchment from top to bottom of the letter and snorted out a laugh making everyone look at him.
"Oh, you guys don't need to worry. The pink toad can ban us all she likes. But she won't be enforcing that ban." Harry said confidently as he felt this was a personal attack against him more than anything else, and he would respond in a way the bitch would understand what real power looks like.
"What'd you mean, Harry?" Angelina asked, looking hopeful all of a sudden.
He saw that all eyes were on him. Harry felt like this was the moment Daphne was talking about. He had waited oh so patiently all this time, subtly inflaming the emotions of Gryffindor students against Umbridge, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. It was quite an easy job, thanks to Umbridge and the resounding silence from the Hogwarts staff. The woman had an uncanny ability to piss off people in a way that frankly astonished him. He supposed he should also thank all those stupid Educational decrees that had made Hogwarts feel like a prison camp for the students.
"When we live in a lawless land, we need to gather power to protect ourselves." Harry said in a lacklustre manner while keeping his eyes on his fellow Gryffindors for any change in their attitude.
Unfortunately, Harry just got a sea of confused faces making it abundantly clear that his suggestion was not making much sense to his fellow Gryffindors.
"You…you can't be serious." Hermione sputtered. "Are you seriously suggesting that we use force?"
"Force is always necessary for change." said Harry.
"Harry is right." said Neville, coming to his support. "You all saw the Prophet. All those strange happenings in the Muggle world, the Death Eater attack during the World Cup, all those wizards dying last year, Crouch Jr impersonating Professor Moody, and then the werewolf attacks. We need to learn to defend ourselves."
"Well said, Neville." said Harry, bringing the attention back to him. "If you think all of these incidents are just coincidence, then you thought wrong. The Dark Mark seen on the Quidditch World Cup was not a scare tactic but a declaration of war. Instead of doing something, the Ministry is trying hard to suppress anyone pointing out the obvious."
Harry took a deep breath as he knew this would be a contentious issue and a dangerous step as he was opening himself more to Umbridge. But this was a necessary step.
"The Dark Lord Voldemort has risen to power. I fought him at the end of the Third Task when Crouch Jr had me transported to the Dark Lord's side by turning the Triwizard cup into a portkey. Dumbledore was speaking the truth last year, and the Ministry is trying hard to discredit Dumbledore because Fudge is under Lucius Malfoy's thumb." said Harry.
"I knew it! Those Malfoys are always evil." Ron growled immediately.
The discussion then revolved around Umbridge being an agent sent by Lucius Malfoy to help Draco and the other Death Eater children in Slytherin. Some suggested she was sent here to assassinate Dumbledore and Harry. Many wild theories were spun around quickly, making even the staunchest conspiracy theorists cringe. In the end, Harry got what he wanted. His fellow Gryffindors agreed to form a secret group that'd train in battle magic to fight against Umbridge's tyranny. The first official meeting was scheduled for the evening, and he made them swear not to breathe a word to other houses. After all, the last thing he wanted was for word to spread about their little group before their first official meeting.
XXXXXXX
"What exactly did you say to McGonagall when she assigned detentions?" Daphne asked with some mirth in her eyes.
"Meh. It's water under the bridge." Harry tried to shrug away the whole event.
"Oh, come on, Harry. You can tell me." Daphne grinned playfully at him.
"You like it when we lions are at each other's throats, huh?" Harry asked.
"Love it. Just like you love it when we snakes are sniping each other." Daphne smirked at him.
Harry grinned, knowing that was true.
"So, any developments in Slytherin house I should know about? If Draco is making any trouble, just say the word. I can have the ferret cry like a baby in front of everyone."
"Hmm. After last year's poor performance from Draco, I'd have expected him to be shunned in Slytherin house. But, the upperclassmen have shown no interest in keeping Draco contained. It looks like they almost fear what might happen should they publicly oppose Draco." Daphne said with a frown.
"I see. So, they fear acting against Draco may perceive them as someone standing against the Dark Lord. How did the ponce manage to convince your house of such a thing?"
"Because he had been running his mouth that his father was now the right-hand man of the Dark Lord to anyone who'd listen." Daphne rolled her eyes while saying that.
"As expected of the idiot." Harry sighed, shaking his head at the stupidity displayed by Malfoy.
Or maybe, the ponce knew the Ministry was weak, and nothing would happen to him. In that case, it was a brilliant move to hold influence over the Slytherin students.
"Are you sure you're okay in Slytherin? I suspect Draco and his cronies are most upset with you, and the idiot might just take his frustrations out on you after suffering a series of setbacks. I'd be more than happy to deal with the ferret with force." Harry offered, taking Daphne's hand into his as they walked down the hall and into the courtyard of the Clock Tower.
"I can handle Draco's shenanigans. However, should I need you, I'll ask for help Harry." Daphne assured him, squeezing his hands while smiling up at him.
The evening sky let out a rumble before suddenly raining in full force. Harry and Daphne made a run for it straight for the Wooden Bridge. They ran past the Sundial Garden while the rain poured down on them with a fury until they finally managed to cross over to the other side and enter the safety of the Wooden Bridge.
"Well, that was rather abrupt." Harry commented, wiping the rainwater from his face with his sleeve while watching the rain get rather strong, accompanied by gales of wind.
Daphne screamed in protest when the wind carried sharp stingy raindrops sharpened by the wind against their bodies. Harry at least had the glasses on him to protect his eyes, while Daphne had no such shield. So, Harry shielded her with his own body by holding her close to him. The wind slowly died down as they moved further into the Wooden Bridge. Some of the trees growing from the bottom of the canyon shielded some parts of the bridge, and they took refuge there.
Harry wiped clean his glasses and put them back on his face as it was getting blurry with all the water. As his vision cleared, he saw Daphne drenched from head to toe, her blond hair losing its curls and sticking to her skin like it was glued. Tiny drops of water clung to her full red lips while trails of drops ran along her long neck.
"You're breathtaking." Harry breathed out before capturing her lips in an abrupt kiss that took Daphne by surprise.
He could feel her hands nearing his chest, and when he thought she was just about to push him away, her hands instead fisted his robes and pulled him against her. Feeling a bit bold, Harry pushed his tongue against her lips. To his pleasant surprise, Daphne not only allowed him entry but greeted him with her own. Soon, their tongues were battling it out against each other as they pushed and prodded against each other. When they parted, they were breathless and flushed.
Daphne lightly pecked him on his lips and smiled at him sultrily, her nose nudging against his. Her playful smile let him know that Daphne was ready for more. His hands that held her hips climbed upward and took hold of her green robes over her shoulder. He was just about ready to slip those robes down and explore more of her skin when someone cleared their throat, making Harry and Daphne abruptly look to their side.
"Hi." Lavender and Parvati waved at them, their faces beet red.
Harry barely held back a groan as he realised he would be the popular topic in the Hogwarts grapevine circles for a few days. His prediction came true a few hours later as he watched a group of Ravenclaw girls passes by, giggling and whispering while eyeing him like an animal in a zoo. As thick-skinned as he was, there was a limit to being the topic of discussion, especially considering the nature of his recent fame.
"Why are they doing that?" Neville asked, frowning as another pair of girls from Hufflepuff walked by doing the same.
"Doing what?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance.
"That." Neville pointed at a group of giggling Gryffindor girls by the Great Hall's entrance.
"Girls are a mystery, mate. Who knows what's going on inside their heads." Harry shrugged.
"Do you think someone tattled about the meeting?" Neville asked worriedly, keeping his voice as low as possible.
Harry patted Neville's shoulder but otherwise didn't respond. He was further saved from the awkward situation when Hannah Abbott approached them and held out a red scroll toward him.
"It's from Headmaster Dumbledore." Hannah squeaked out before she skipped away in a hurry.
"Oh, Merlin! Someone must've leaked our plans." Neville whispered worriedly.
Harry merely patted Neville on the shoulder after reading the message in the scroll, which told him to meet the headmaster in his office and the password for the gargoyle.
"There's nothing to worry about. I'll be back in a jiffy."
Harry traversed the hallways of Hogwarts until, finally, he stood before the gargoyle guarding the stairway to Dumbledore's office. After saying the password, he was allowed entry. He found Dumbledore standing by the window, looking out into the darkening sky.
"Sir?"
"Come sit, Harry. I was just enjoying the sunset." Dumbledore smiled.
Harry said nothing, merely taking the seat offered to him and started intuitively at the headmaster.
"How're you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, once the old headmaster took his seat, steepling his fingers together.
"I get by." Harry shrugged, then raised a lone eyebrow at the headmaster. "May I know the purpose of this meeting, sir?"
Dumbledore stayed silent and eyed Harry for a long minute. Harry was perfectly willing to let the silence stretch out as he took that time to eye the trinkets in the office and the many portraits of the past headmasters.
"You are still dissatisfied with what happened with Professor Umbridge."
"I'm dissatisfied with the fact that you and the rest of the Hogwarts staff didn't throw out Umbridge from Hogwarts." Harry said blandly.
"We don't have the power to do that, Harry." Dumbledore said gravely.
"Of course you do. You are just choosing not to use your power."
"And what power is that, Harry?"
"Your magical power." Harry said coldly.
"You'd have me use force to dislodge Umbridge from Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked with wide eyes.
"Force is always necessary." Harry parroted the same line he used on his fellow Gryffindors. "Nothing changes if there is no force to facilitate that change."
"Changes that are brought about by force seldom lasts." Dumbledore said sagely.
"That is a loser's argument and a convenient one for your inaction. Just as action has a price attached to it, inaction also incurs a debt to the wheel of fate. In time, you'll be held liable for your inaction." Harry warned.
"You've changed greatly, Harry." Dumbledore observed with a sad sigh.
"You've said that often as if I'm supposed to stay unchanging." Harry snorted, leaning back in the chair. "Anyway, did you call me to discuss philosophical matters, Headmaster? If that's the case, I'm afraid I tire of these talks."
"I see. I shall come to the matter at hand."
"Please do." said Harry sassily, which Dumbledore chose to ignore.
"Lord Voldemort gains strength as days go by, and I suspect Tom is aware of the unique connection you two share. Tell me, Harry? Has your scar reacted in any way this year?"
"No, it has not." Harry answered.
"Are you sure?" Dumbledore eyed him suspiciously.
"Positive."
Dumbledore looked like he didn't believe him.
"It is my strong suspicion that Lord Voldemort may choose to employ Mind Arts against you, Harry. Therefore, I've charged Severus to teach you the basics of Occlumency."
"I'm afraid you are under the misconception that I'll spend a second more with Snape outside the class hours. Besides, I've no need for Snape of all people to teach me Occlumency." Harry stood up from his seat, realising this was a giant waste of time.
"Harry, be reasonable."
"I'm afraid I'm unreasonable when it comes to my personal matters. If Voldemort chooses to use the mind as the battlefield, I'm more than prepared to face him on my terms. Good day, headmaster."
Harry exited the headmaster's office with a frustrated frown on his face. He could only shake his head at Dumbledore's schemes. It was as if all the conversations in the past with the old man had never happened. The old man was smoking some strong shit if he thought Harry would take lessons about Occlumency from Severus Snape. He couldn't help but snort at the thought of him working with Snape. The first chance he'd get, he'd have Snape packed off to Azkaban. He suspected the man was a vile crazy son of a bitch, and a dose of Veritaserum should make the man spill all the crimes he committed as a Death Eater.
Rather than waste his time on Dumbledore's fallacies, he focused on cultivating a loyal army inside Hogwarts. He was sure it'd come in handy in the future.