The first thing Tonks did after reaching the dorms, besides waving away the curious looks, was run up to Harry's bed. She wasn't going to sleep here, but she had to wait until all the curtains were closed before she snuck up to the Head Boy rooms. She whipped out a mirror and called, "Padfoot."
The mirror glowed bright for a moment and then died down. It took a minute or two for the man to answer.
"What's up, Harry?" Sirius asked, using his brother's name just in case those not in the know showed up.
"You'd better get to the Ministry as soon as you can. I got Umbridge right away. She tried to torture me using a quill that wrote with my blood. Bones said that is a capital offense, but you know Fudge, and probably Malfoy, are going to try and stop it," she said in a rush, throwing up a silencing charm, which she knew she should have done at the start, but had forgotten in her rush.
"What? Already? Damn, girl, you work fast," the flabbergasted man said, though his smile was huge.
"Damn right, I do," she said with an impish grin. "Get going," she added and disconnected.
Now that that was out of the way, she made her way downstairs to join her friends. Well, Harry's friends, but they had been working together all summer, and she was close to them as well. She reached the group of people by the fire and was amused to see the Weasleys were all regaling their dormmates with tales of the movies they saw all summer. The twins were over at the other side of the common room, doing the same with upperclassmen.
There was a great deal of denial shouting, along with just as much laughter. As one group or another tried to get their voices heard. While prejudice was not ramped in the Gryffindor dorms, there was still a huge divide between muggles and magicals. So those that had never seen or heard of a movie, were debating with those that had.
At the younger years side of the room, many of the muggle-born and half-bloods were smiling indulgingly at Ron's and Ginny's enthusiasm. They never thought to take their pureblood friends to see movies. But if this was the result, maybe their summers just got busier. It would go a long way to helping those not in the know understand half the stuff that came out of the mouths of those who did. That divide would get smaller.
Now if only the muggleborn could learn of more of this culture… a debate for another time.
"What's up, Harry?" Ginny asked, wondering why the 'boy' was here so fast. Detention should last much longer than this.
"I can't talk about it, but, needless to say, there will be a new DADA professor tomorrow. Or the class will be canceled," she said with a shrug.
There was a lot to impressed whistling, along with some cheering, at that statement. The debate shelved for another time, while the Gryffindor's celebrated the loss of the toad. No one liked the bitch.
Tonks just smiled and preened a bit at the attention. She felt good after putting that toad in her place. It was good attention, for now. If she learned anything this summer, while view Harry's memories, it was that crowds can turn in an instant.
Hphphp
Meanwhile, at Grimmuald Place, Sirius was getting ready to head to the Ministry. He had already called those who needed to know. He even recruited the help of Madam Longbottom since she was on the school board. They were all on standby, waiting to see if they needed to storm the Ministry.
Since he took up his seat, it had been one political game after another, but with her help, she and Sirius had cleared all the bad rubbish off said board and were now working with those that weren't under either, Fudge's, Malfoy's or Dumbledore's influence. It was a breath of fresh air.
Next week the board was going to go over the current curriculum and overhaul it. Moody had been right, there were no classes that taught wizarding customs or rituals. All the wizarding holidays had been erased from the school. Sure, there was a magical theory class, for first years only, but it was so incorrect that it made Sirius cringe.
Pushing it aside, not that he wasn't going to use this faux pas as an excuse to bury both Fudge and Dumbledore, but he needed to get going.
Harry was in a daze. His eyes were staring blankly at a spot on the wall. He was amazed and confused that Tonks had done what he didn't think could. She stood up to, and took down, a teacher. Something he had been dreaming of doing since he met Snape. Well, he did stand up to the greasy git now and then, but it never got him anywhere but detention. He learned after the first few times, that it was futile to argue.
Then again, Tonks was an adult. Maybe she possessed a demeanor that he didn't have. She was a trained Auror, so maybe that was it. He didn't know, but he felt all his past efforts to do the same as she did in one day were lame in hindsight. He knew he had an anger problem, and Andi had been working with him on that. His Occlumency was better, and it did help a lot. But, he was still prone to jumping first and thinking second.
Still, even with all the training the Tonkses and his brother had given him over the months, he had to wonder if he would have stopped Umbridge from torturing him, or if he would have just sat there and did the lines. It was a major blow to his confidence that the answer didn't come right away.
He was extremely glad that he had at least made the right decision to not go back to Hogwarts. Even when Tonks left, he was staying here. McGonagall knew this, she wasn't happy, but he wasn't overjoyed with her past performance either. So, she could suck it.
"Alright, Harry, I'm off to see that justice is served. Why don't you finish that book Remus gave to you, and then head off to bed," Sirius said, going to the fireplace and throwing in the powder.
"Um," Harry said, then he shook his head to clear the mental debate he had going. "Alright, good luck," he finally said, then turning his attention back to the DADA book in front of him, he tried to concentrate on reading.
Sirius cut him a searching look, before he stepped into the flames. He could see that this was a blow to Harry, and he told himself that he would have a nice chat with the boy as soon as he got back. He sent Harry a reassuring look and Flooed away.
Amelia had given their group permission, after a vow not to abuse it, to Floo to her office. So, he did. When he stepped out and brushed the small bit of ash off his shoulder, making a mental note to get the house elves to clean it, he nodded to Bones.
"Amelia," he said regally, playing the part of Lord for now.
"Black," she said back, also nodding. She then waved for him to sit and they waited. Amelia knew that the Ministry was not secure, there would be no talks of clandestine meetings while in the building riddled with spies.
It didn't take long before a portly man wearing a green bowler hat showed up. He stormed through the door, marched right up to the desk, put his fat fist on it and leaned over to get in the face of his Head of the DMLE.
She simply smiled at him and pushed his forehead until he was a good arm's length away.
"Amelia, what is the meaning of arresting my Undersecretary?" Fudge all but bellowed, puffing up like a blowfish.
"Fudge," Black said menacingly, "shut it and sit."
The coward jumped, not having seen the man, and did just that. While he might have sway over Bones, he was terrified of Black.
"Your Undersecretary was caught using a quill that drew blood. That is a capital offense. She not only tried to get blood out of the heir to the Black family, but he is a minor. If I could kill her twice, I would," Amelia said, without an ounce of trepidation. She knew she had the upper hand here.
"And if you think for a moment you can hide her behind pureblood laws, you are sadly mistaken," Sirius said, poised as a Lord should be.
"Madam Umbridge is a pureblood," Fudge sputtered out. He knew Amelia had tried to lie about the woman's blood statis before, but he had asked Dolores, and she assured her that she was indeed a pureblood.
Sirius smirked. He felt a little bad about not warning Umbridge's mother, but he couldn't find her. However, when he did comb London's papers and found that that evil woman had killed her mother, well, he couldn't save the poor woman, but he did get the brother to run. But not before he had cajoled the man into getting the police report, and Umbridge's real birth certificate. Which he was currently pulling out of his pocket.
He didn't say anything, just handed them to Amelia, who took them and looked them over. She smiled and handed them to Fudge. He took them, glanced at the parents' names, paled considerably and sputtered. He didn't say anything, instead he rose, gentle put the papers down and ran from the room.
"You won't find her!" Amelia shouted after the fleeing man, making his falter for a moment, then resume his running.
"As much as I hate the prejudice, it works here," Black said, wearing his family's smile.
"Please, don't smile like that. You remind me of your late cousin," Bones said, though she too was smiling.
"Fine," the dogman pouted. "Where did you hide her?" he asked instead.
"I'm not telling. Only I and one other person, knows where she it. All I will tell you is that you have nothing to worry about, that woman is going down," the Head of the DMLE said, picking up the papers that Sirius gave her and giving them a once over.
"Good," was all Sirius said, straightening a nonexistent wrinkle in his robes.
"You go home, and I'll get the Veritaserum, and get all I can from her. If Fudge is smart, he's running for the hills," Bones said, shuffling the parchment and papers on her desk. She needed to have all her ducks in a row for this. There was a way to kill the woman twice. Once Kissed, twice the Veil.
"I hope he's just stupid enough not to warn Malfoy. We needed that man where he is. Of course, even if he is warned, he probably won't run. The Dork Lord won't let him. Probably even torture him if he suggests it. Voldy doesn't like cowards. However, if he does get a warning, he might beef up security. Maybe we should set our sights on raiding tomorrow," he added thoughtfully, rubbing his goatee.
"No, I want Tonks in the school for at least another week. If I have it my way, then Snape will disappear into my cells too," Bones said, closing the folder she had been organizing.
"You know he did warn Moody about Harry's you know what," Sirius reluctantly said.
"I know, but I want all he has to tell me about both sides of… well, you know," she said, gathering everything she needed and stood. "You go home, and tell everyone who needs to know, that Umbridge's hours are numbered. There won't even need to be a trial, but I'll call an emergency meeting. We'll get it done tonight," she finished as she made her way to the door.
"Got it," was all Sirius said as he Flooed away. When he stepped into his house, he noted that Harry hadn't moved the entire time he was gone. Sighing, he sat across from his brother and took the book he wasn't reading away. He closed it and set it aside. "Want to talk about it?" he asked the younger boy.
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I get that Tonks is older and smarter than me, and that she's received training that I haven't, but I feel like everything I've done in the past is just… I don't know, stupid," Harry said, putting his head on his folded arms.
Sirius tapped the down head. When Harry looked up, he smiled. "It's all part of growing up. Don't you think I didn't do some stupid shite when I was younger. Merlin, the stuff we pulled at school would have gotten us locked up, if Dumbledore weren't so prejudice against Slytherin. I mean, for all the man talks about equality, he really is blind to his own faults," the dogman said, trying to cheer the boy up.
"I know, it was the same for me. But at least you didn't have a more prejudice teacher to counteract all of Dumbledore's. I mean, Snape would let his House get away with murder, probably try to blame the victim, if it were self-defense," Harry said, both sad and angry.
"Oh, don't rule out or Slughorn, the man was a genius at potions, but he was such a 'collector of people', that he let those he thought could further his goals get away with a ton of shite," his brother countered. "I know he taught Riddle, and that he told the boy more about the Dark Arts than DADA ever did. Moody told me that Riddle was one of Sluggy's pet projects. Remember, Moody went to school with our Dork Lord. He's been going over his memories of that time, and there have been quite a few insightful things."
"Really, like what?" Harry asked, his interest perked.
"Nothing you haven't already found out on your own, or that we don't already know," the other man answered with a shrug. "That he's a half-blood, that he's was Slytherin's heir, that he turned to the Dark Arts. Though there was a bit about how he may have obtained, some of the things he used a horcruxes. But that's all water out of the cauldron. The information is of little to no use," Sirius said, waving his hand like it wasn't a big deal.
"Oh," was the disappointed rejoinder. "I was hoping for something I could use; you know, to taunt or something. You know, to stall or something," Harry said, thinking about all he knows about the evil man.
"You could still use it all, the man is a powder keg ready to blow. The angrier you get him, the better. People mess up when they are angry. Which is why me and Andi are trying to get yours under control," his brother said, reaching over and ruffling his hair.
"Yeah, I've been mulling that over in my head since you left. I know Tonks got to do what she did, because she doesn't jump ahead like I do," Harry said sullenly.
"Don't worry too much, you are getting much better," Sirius said, standing from the table and jerking his head to the door. "Come on, we'll spar for an hour or so, that'll get your mind of stuff," he suggested, making Harry smile and get up too.
"Yeah, that might be just what I need," Harry said, following the other man to the training room. "What's going to happen to Umbridge?" he asked as he all but skipped down the stairs.
"That bitch is going to burn," Sirius said then laughed manically.
"Good," Harry said, thoughtfully. While he didn't know the woman, rumor, and what happened tonight, showed that she was the one in the Ministry trying to do him in. Ron was going to be a nightmare when he found out that he had been right. It wasn't often he got one over Hermione. With that thought he shrugged and felt okay about that. For once, Ron could be the hero.