Harry flew right beneath Katie, who tried to intercept his stride by blocking his path and capturing the quaffle Angelina threw at him. He veered off to his left side when a bludger rushed at him with force, barely managing to escape getting hit. He rolled in mid-air to throw off Alicia's attempt to relieve the quaffle from his grasp and immediately threw it straight into Ginny's hands. However, the quaffle was intercepted by Angelina, who swooped in out of nowhere and plucked the quaffle just before Ginny could catch it.
And just like that, the chase was on. Angelina and Alicia worked in tandem to keep the quaffle in between them, while Harry tried to keep Katie out of the picture by shadowing her throughout the pitch. Ginny and Edwin Baker attempted to interfere with the play between Alicia and Angelina, preventing them from scoring another goal into their hoops. In between, the beaters kept the chasers on their toes throughout the game by expertly using the bludgers.
Halfway through the game, Harry noticed Umbridge marching in with the Slytherin quidditch team closely following behind her back.
"Hey, the toad is here." Harry shouted to his fellow teammates, capturing their attention.
They stopped playing the game and huddled together in mid-air as Umbridge crossed into the Quidditch pitch with the gear-cladded Slytherin team following her closely like henchmen. To fit the villainous theme, the Slytherin team all had cocky smirks plastered on their faces as they huddled behind Umbridge, who was sporting a nasty smile on her face.
"You sure this is what you want? Once we start, there won't be any going back." Harry said to his fellow Gryffindors.
"We'll show the toad her proper place." Ron growled, glaring at the Slytherin Quidditch team.
Harry received similar reactions from the rest of his housemates. Therefore, he waited patiently with them for Umbridge to catch up. When the pink woman was near hearing distance, Harry lowered down on his broom, hovering just above Umbridge's head, forcing the Ministry stooge to look up.
"Is there something that matters?" Harry asked blandly, his eyes fleetingly looking to the edge of the Quidditch pitch where he could see a crowd was starting to form, all according to plan.
Other Gryffindor students were tasked with gathering as many Hogwarts students from other houses as possible for the showdown. That's why he had waited for Umbridge to walk all her way to the middle of the Quidditch pitch so that his housemates get the necessary time to gather enough crowd.
"Yes, Mr Potter. You see, the Quidditch pitch is for Quidditch teams of Hogwarts. Other students cannot use the pitch, and as you can see Slytherin team has been granted permission to hold practice sessions for their upcoming match with Hufflepuff House." Umbridge said sweetly, with a smile on her face.
"To my knowledge, no rules prohibit students outside of Quidditch teams of Hogwarts from using the pitch." said Harry.
"We have permission from Professor McGonagall to use the pitch." Angelina chimed in.
"I'm afraid the rules have just changed, Mr Potter, Miss Johnson." Umbridge said with a smug smile, fishing out a sheet of parchment from the pocket of her pink jacket.
"This is a new educational decree that I just issued disbarring all students outside of official Quidditch teams of Hogwarts from using the Quidditch pitch." Umbridge said, in her squeaky voice, looking far too accomplished herself.
Harry cocked his head to the side as the pink-garbed woman waved her little parchment in the air as if it was some divine ordinance with magical powers.
"Good for you, I suppose." Harry drawled out, noticing the crowd of students was now within earshot and observing the confrontation between them. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a game to get back to."
When Umbridge opened her big mouth again, Harry made it look like he was flying back to join his fellow housemates.
"Mr Potter! Did you not understand what I said? The new educational decree…"
"I heard what you said, you stupid bint. I don't give a rat's ass about your stupid decree." Harry said firmly, looking straight into the eyes of the little psychopath who took her jollies in torturing children.
"What did you say?" Umbridge looked at Harry with wide eyes.
"I said I couldn't care less of your decrees." Harry said slowly, like he was explaining something to a dumb person infuriating Umbridge and wiping off the smiles from the Slytherin quidditch team.
"Detention, Mr Po…" Umbridge didn't finish the sentence as she faced fourteen wands with their tips glowing with magical energy.
Harry smirked at the gobsmacked look on the stupid face of Umbridge and her Slytherin lackeys as they got surrounded by all fourteen of them in their broom. He could see the dawning realisation set in Umbridge's eyes that she had pushed too far and the horror written on Slytherin students' faces as they walked right into a trap.
Harry tapped his wand against his throat.
'Sonorus pervasus.' he thought, applying a special type of amplifying charm, expanding the reach of his voice so that everyone in the pitch and the castle would hear him clearly and loud.
"Since you went to the trouble to come to me with your silly decrees, Umbridge, let me give you a decree in return voted unanimously by all the members of House Gryffindor." Harry declared, fishing out a parchment of his own which was prepared beforehand, and agreed upon by all members of the Gryffindor House.
Taking a deep breath, Harry began reading out the declaration.
"From this day forward, we of House Gryffindor do not recognise the authority of the Ministry-appointed servant named Dolores Umbridge in any matter or manner whatsoever. We've collectively decided not to attend the DADA classes until Dolores Umbridge is either dismissed from all posts in Hogwarts or apologises to one of our own whom she tortured with crude devices and pays due recompense for the crime she committed. It is also hereby decided by House Gryffindor to take over the custody of the Quidditch pitch until such time that the unfair disqualification of Gryffindor quidditch team is recanted and Umbridge recuses herself from the house point system, power to assign detentions or any form of power in Hogwarts should she continue to hold the post of DADA for the rest of the academic year. Until our terms are met, any action taken by anyone within Hogwarts or outside Hogwarts in an official or unofficial capacity to harm the interests of House Gryffindor and its members shall be considered a hostile act. Anyone involved in such actions shall be met with the collective might of magical power of House Gryffindor."
Harry's voice reached far and wide. In the wake of his declaration, there was dead silence in the pitch, with everyone outside the House Gryffindor astounded by the true meaning of his declaration.
"You…you…." Umbridge sputtered indignantly, her eyes twitching and face reddening at an alarming rate.
Harry hoped the woman was having a stroke.
"You…you've gone mad! This is madness!" Umbridge snarled, fishing out her wand from her pocket and opening her mouth to fire off a spell.
Harry waited patiently for Umbridge to take that next step, and he was not left disappointed. To his disappointment, she didn't use an Unforgivable curse which would've worked exceedingly well in the days ahead.
"Reducto." Umbridge screamed at the top of her lungs with a shrill voice jabbing her wand in Harry's direction.
Harry watched Umbridge perform the spell almost in slow motion. He could have taken apart the woman with three curses between the time she raised her wand and shouted around the spell for him to hear. He didn't dare move a muscle the entire time. He allowed Umbridge to perform the spell and acted the moment the spell escaped the tip of her wand. Remembering the lessons he got from Sirius, Harry conjured a thin layer of magical energy at the tip of his wand and caught Umbridge's spell.
With a flick of his wrist, he deflected the spell right back into Umbridge's hand, where the Reductor curse tore apart her wand into a fine dust. The blowback from the spell also smashed Umbridge's fingers in odd angles with a sickening crack.
"Aaaaahhhhh!" Umbridge went down screaming, clutching her ruined hand with tears streaming down her eyes.
Harry could feel the shock emanating from the crowd of students watching the scene unravelling before them.
'I think this is the first time Hogwarts students are watching how truly incompetent their teachers are.' Harry thought with some amusement.
His mind then conjured up the image of a blonde idiot who only knew to smile and make ridiculous poses.
'Or maybe not.' Harry snickered internally, thinking of Gilderoy Lockhart and all the shenanigans the man was up to in Hogwarts.
Compared to that guy, Umbridge was competent in magic at the very least, even if the vaunted DADA teacher got smacked down by her own spell in a similar fashion to Lockhart.
It took a moment for the Slytherin quidditch team led by Draco Malfoy to comprehend what happened correctly. When they did, Malfoy somewhat bravely raised his wand, followed by other Slytherin students. However, Harry noticed the fear written in the eyes of the Slytherins as they realised against whom they were raising their wands in a challenge.
"Really, Draco?" Harry snorted derisively, taking note of the fact that Draco's wand arm was shaking. "Do you think yourself at a level to challenge me openly where your true worth can get exposed before hundreds of witnesses?"
Harry also started to raise his wand…
"No!" Dumbledore shouted, running into the quidditch pitch with the other professors in tow.
Harry was rather impressed by the speed Dumbledore was running in his old age. But that didn't distract him from the main objective. The time for kiddie gloves was over, and a statement had to be made.
"I've told you this before, Draco. The difference of power between us is like the difference between the sky and earth." said Harry, his wand raised all the way so that the tip of his wand was pointed straight into the clouds.
"Tonitruum Fluminata."
A thin ray of pale white lighting escaped out of the tip of his wand with a thunderous roar. The smell of ozone permeated everywhere in the wake of his lightning spell. The pale white lightning bolt touched the sky, immediately splitting off into hundreds of miniature bolts of lightning striking into the many clouds in the sky. It took only a few seconds for the white fluffy clouds to darken and cover Hogwarts under its oppressive shadow and power. The dark clouds rumbled with thunder as bright blue arcs of lightning split the sky open with hundreds of miniature fissures.
It was quite a beautiful sight, but it was also a warning. In the wake of his spell and show of power, even Dumbledore remained silent. There was a silent understanding between them as the Headmaster realised that talking out in the open would not yield any tangible results.
XXXXXXXX
Dumbledore walked back and forth across his office, deep in thought. As usual, the object of his worries was Harry Potter. He hoped to mend fences with the boy this year and start anew. Unfortunately, he suspected the chances of that happening were becoming slim as days went by. It didn't help that the preparations to keep Voldemort's machinations at bay distracted him from the school's happenings. As if that was not enough, he had to retrace Tom's past to glean the truth about his immortality.
Oh, he knew Tom had survived to date using Horcruxes conclusively in Harry's second year. When brave Harry went to the Chamber and saved poor Ginny Weasley, he returned Tom Riddle's diary. The moment he heard the tale of the diary's enormous abilities even to drain poor Ginny Weasley's lifeforce, he knew it was the vilest form of dark magic. It only took him the summer holidays to confirm beyond doubt that the secret to Voldemort's immortality was Horcruxes.
On the one hand, he was happy to have found the secret of Voldemort's method of immortality. At the same time, he also realised the nature of Harry's scar was a cause for concern. The events of Harry's Third Year only further cemented his doubts as Harry reported to him about the visions regarding Voldemort.
It was fervent hope that Harry would remain immune to the shard of Voldemort's soul lodged in his head. His only hope of saving Harry from becoming a vessel of Voldemort was to find and destroy the other Horcruxes. If he could manage that, he hoped fate would swing in favour of Harry and somehow save the poor boy from a cruel ending. It pained him to even think of what must be done in the event of failing to weaken Voldemort.
And right now, he felt that pain all the more significant because he feared the soul shard was gaining undue influence on Harry's mind. With the recent events in mind, he feared the worst and suspected Voldemort was gaining undue influence in Harry's mind.
'Perhaps, it had been a bad idea to let it slip there was a connection between Harry's and Voldemort's mind through Severus.' Dumbledore mused.
Then again, it was a desperate attempt to shift Voldemort's focus from sacrificing countless children in the vain hope of escaping whatever was ailing the Dark Lord's body. But he regretted doing that to Harry. He was in a desperate position and had a difficult choice to make. He either could've ignored the plight of countless children or allowed one child to suffer at the expense of saving countless more. Ultimately, he chose the latter and succeeded in shifting Voldemort's focus away from sacrificing numerous innocent children to studying the connection between the Dark Lord and Harry Potter.
But, he didn't expect Tom could've so easily influenced Harry into doing his bidding. Or maybe, he was overthinking himself. It could be just as quickly could've been Harry's own intent to take on the authority of Dolores Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic through using force.
'No, not mere force. Overwhelming force.' Dumbledore corrected himself, thinking of the spectacular magic Harry displayed today.
There was no doubt in his mind that Harry had performed some of the most challenging magics he had ever seen performed by a young wizard of Harry's age. Even he was not so well-versed in elemental magic in his OWL years. But Harry had proven himself to be an expert in elemental magic. The young wizard had already displayed mastery over fire, water, and wind last year during the tasks of the Triwizard tournament. But mastering lightning spells at such a young age showed the great heights Harry could climb given time. It heartened him to know that the young scrawny-looking boy he had met four years back had grown into a resourceful young wizard capable of spectacular magical feats. Such young raw talented students were needed to secure the future of wizardkind in the days to come.
However, how much of that was Harry's raw talent or Voldemort's obstinate influence on Harry's mind was up for debate. And that was what concerned him the most. It was also why he hesitated to discipline the young wizard and his fellow Gryffindor housemates for essentially forming a parallel authority inside Hogwarts. He feared that if he were to take any action, that'd perhaps be the tipping point that'd skewer Harry's mind into the hands of that sliver of Voldemort's soul living inside Harry's body.
Keeping all of this in mind, he decided it'd be better to resolve the issues peacefully with dialogue. Therefore, he called for an immediate staff meeting to discuss the issue at hand and address the grievances raised by House Gryffindor. Once the staff voiced their opinions, he would invite the Gryffindor House to the discussion.
Dumbledore felt the wards alert him of guests arriving outside his office. With a flick of his wand, he opened his office door, meeting the eyes of his colleagues. His eyes fell on the pink-garbed woman who was the cause of a lion's portion of problems this academic year. Nonetheless, he invited them all in and conjured their seats with a wave of his wand.
"Please sit. If we are to resolve this small misunderstanding, we have a lot to talk about with Gryffindor students."
"Misunderstanding!" Umbridge screamed in a shrill voice. "You call this misunderstanding Dumbledore? The Potter boy called for a rebellion against the Ministry and attacked me. I'll see him expelled from this school and chucked away in Azkaban for this."
"This is the same attitude that has led to this in the first place, Professor Umbridge. You tortured one of the Gryffindor students, and when they complained through proper channels, you used your position in the Ministry to smother it. What did you expect that those children were going to do? Sit back and shut up while you continuously poked them with your juvenile tantrums and decrees?" McGonagall snarked back.
"You! You'd support this madness of Potter?" Umbridge asked, aghast, her eyes wide as saucers.
"I don't condone his methods or that of my Gryffindor students, but I certainly don't condone your methods, Professor Umbridge. You needlessly poked them again by banning the Gryffindor Quidditch team out of a personal vendetta. When you defy laws to suit your needs, you forget that you encourage lawlessness. You have reaped what you've sown, and that's all I have to say on the matter." McGonagall said frostily, eyeing Umbridge with cold indifference.
"I agree. I'd like to add that everyone here should remember the Hogwarts motto; Never tickle a sleeping dragon." Flitwick added, throwing his support behind McGonagall.
"Pomona." Dumbledore nodded at the head of House Hufflepuff, who was nervously turning over her pointy hat in her hands.
"I'd like to think my puffs would show the same loyalty House Gryffindor displayed to Mr Colin Creevey. We failed when we didn't act on what we knew was wrong. Though children they are, I see the Gryffindor students exhibit the most profound form of loyalty and sense of right. If Lady Helga Hufflepuff were alive, she'd have been proud to have such students in her school as I am." said Pomona Sprout, her grey eyes shining with passion and resolve rarely seen in the head of Hufflepuff House.
"I see." Dumbledore murmured, looking at the gentlest of all his colleagues for a long moment before his eyes fell on a pair of onyx eyes belonging to the resident Potion master.
"Severus." he promoted the head of Slytherin House.
"You've known my opinion on the Potter since the day the boy stepped into this school." Severus said, his dark eyes flashing with emotion that only Dumbledore could decipher. "That said, I don't approve of actions that sideline and corner an entire house for the actions and egos of few."
Dumbledore looked to the other professors and patiently heard their opinion on the matter. Professors Sinistra, Babbling, Vector, Burbage, Grubbly-Plank and Hagrid supported Harry's actions. He supposed he shouldn't have expected anything less from Hagrid, who loved Harry like family. But the firm support for Harry and, by extension, the Gryffindor House from the other professors was quite surprising. He supposed the reason was sitting right among them, fuming and glaring at them all.
"Professor Umbridge. Now, it would be your turn to say your opinion." Dumbledore offered calmly.
"My opinion? My Opinion!" Umbridge screamed shrilly, climbing to her feet with her eyes ablaze.
For a moment, Dumbledore regretted asking Madam Pomfrey to heal Umbridge's injured hand speedily. It'd have been better for the woman to learn some lessons in pain.
"Yes, it'd help that you express your opinions instead of screaming our ears out, Professor Umbridge. Are you willing to apologise to Mr Creevey and accept that what you did was wrong?" Dumbledore asked, rather serenely keeping a tight lid on his emotions.
"I already knew you would turn a blind eye to the rebellion brewing in this school. You don't suppress a rebellion by apologising but by force. And I know what I must do in the interest of the Ministry." Umbridge said fiercely before turning on her heels and storming out of the meeting without looking back.
Dumbledore let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"I suppose we have not seen the end of this madness." Dumbledore muttered.
"What're you going to do, Albus? You know that horrible woman will bring aurors into the school." McGonagall said, looking nervous at the thought of aurors getting involved in Hogwarts.
"Albus, we should not allow the aurors to harm the children." Flitwick said, with steel in his eyes.
Dumbledore sighed, knowing that the situation would get out of control once aurors stepped into the school. He'd have to find a way to diffuse the problem before it comes to violence.