It was a few days later and Harry had just told the others how Snape had dismissed him from taking any more Occlumency lessons from him.
"But why haven't you got Occlumency lessons any more?" said Hermione frowning.
"I've told you." Harry muttered. "Snape reckons I can carry on by myself now I've got the basics."
Y/n was skeptical however. "Have you stopped having those dreams?" He asked.
"Pretty much." said Harry, not looking at him or Hermione.
"Well, I don't think Snape should stop until you're absolutely sure you can control them!" said Hermione indignantly. "Harry, I think you should go back to him and ask..."
"No." said Harry forcefully. "Just drop it, Hermione, ok?"
It was the first day of the Easter holidays and Hermione, as was her custom, had spent a large part of the day drawing up revision timetables for the four of them. Y/n was grateful for it while Harry and Ron figured it was easier to accept than arguing with her and, in any case, they might come in useful.
Ron had been startled to discover there were only six weeks left until their exams.
"How can that come as a shock?" Hermione demanded, as she tapped each little square on Ron's timetable with her wand so that it flashed a different colour according to its subject.
"I dunno." said Ron. "There's been a lot going on."
"Well, there you are." she said, handing him his timetable. "If you follow that you should do fine."
Ron looked down at it gloomily, but then brightened. "You've given me an evening off every week!"
"That would be for Quidditch practice Ron." said Y/n looking over it.
The smile faded from Ron's face. "What's the point?" he said dully. "We've got about as much chance of winning the Quidditch Cup this year as Dad's got of becoming Minister for Magic."
Hermione said nothing, she was looking at Harry, who was staring blankly at the opposite wall of the common room while Crookshanks pawed at his hand, trying to get his ears scratched. "What's wrong, Harry?"
"What?" he said quickly. "Nothing." He seized a book and pretended to be looking something up in the index. Crookshanks gave him up as a bad job and slunk away under Hermione's chair.
"I saw Cho earlier." said Hermione tentatively. "She looked really miserable, too...have you two had a row again?"
"Wha...oh, yeah, we have." said Harry, seizing gratefully on the excuse.
Y/n turned his head to Harry now curious. "What did you argue about this time? Not Cedric surely?"
"That sneak friend of hers, Marietta." said Harry.
"Yeah, well, I don't blame you!" said Ron angrily, setting down his revision timetable. "If it hadn't been for her..." and Ron went into a rant about Marietta Edgecombe.
As though to underline the importance of their upcoming examinations, a batch of pamphlets, leaflets and notices concerning various wizarding careers appeared on the tables in Gryffindor Tower shortly before the end of the holidays, along with yet another notice on the board, which read:
CAREERS ADVICE
All fifth-years are required to attend a short meeting with their
Head of House during the first week of the summer term to discuss their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.
Y/n looked down the list and found that he was expected in Professor McGonagall's office at two o'clock on Monday just before Harry's. He and the other fifth-years spent a considerable part of the final weekend of the Easter break reading all the careers information that had been left there for their perusal.
"Well, I don't fancy Healing." said Ron on the last evening of the holidays. He was immersed in a leaflet that carried the crossed bone-and-wand emblem of St. Mungo's on its front. "It says here you need at least 'E' at NEWT level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. I mean...blimey...don't want much, do they?"
"Well, it's a very responsible job, isn't it?" said Hermione absently. She was sat in one of the chairs with Y/n poring over a bright pink and orange leaflet, that was headed, 'SO YOU THINK YOU'D LIKE TO WORK IN MUGGLE RELATIONS?' "You don't seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles, all they want is an OWL in Muggle Studies, Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience and a good sense of fun."
"You'd need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle." said Harry darkly. "Good sense of when to duck, more like." He was halfway through a pamphlet on wizard banking. "Listen to this, 'Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad...' They want Arithmancy, though, you could do it, Hermione!"
"I don't much fancy banking." said Hermione vaguely, now immersed in. 'HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO TRAIN SECURITY TROLLS?'
"At least you know what you want to do Y/n." Ron said enviously to Y/n who was reading a Pamphlet titled 'SO YOU WANT TO BE A TEACHER?'
"Just because I know what I want to do, means I will get to do it. I have my work cut out for me it looks like."
"Hey." said a voice quietly and the four looked round, Fred and George had come to join them. "Ginny's had a word with us about you Harry." said Fred, stretching out his legs on the table in front of them and causing several booklets on careers with the Ministry of Magic to slide off on to the floor. "She says you need to talk to Sirius?"
"What?" said Hermione sharply, freezing with her hand halfway towards picking up 'MAKE A BANG AT THE DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES.'
"Yeah..." said Harry, trying to sound casual. "Yeah, I thought I'd like..."
"Don't be so ridiculous." said Hermione, straightening up and looking at him as though she could not believe her eyes. "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"
"Well, we think we can find a way around that." said George, stretching and smiling. "It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?"
"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?" continued Fred. "No point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course our benefactor, Y/n pointed out we'd have messed up people's revision, too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do."
He gave Y/n a little nod and he returned it. Hermione looked rather taken aback by this thoughtfulness.
"But it's business as usual from tomorrow." Fred continued briskly. "And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius?"
"Yes, but still." said Hermione, with an air of explaining something very simple to somebody very obtuse. "Even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?"
"Umbridge's office." said Y/n quietly and they all turned to him. "Umbridge herself let it slip to me that the only fire that was not being watched was her own."
"Are...you...insane?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.
Ron had lowered his leaflet on jobs in the Cultivated Fungus Trade and was watching the conversation warily.
"It's not a bad idea." said Harry, shrugging.
"And how are you going to get in there in the first place?" Hermione asked.
Harry was ready for this question. "Sirius's knife." he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock." said Harry. "So even if she's bewitched the door so Alahomora won't work, which I bet she has..."
"What do you seriously think about this?" Hermione demanded of Y/n, and Harry was reminded irresistibly of Mrs. Weasley appealing to her husband during Harry's first dinner in Grimmauld Place.
"I believe." Y/n began. "That it is Harry's own decision to make if he tries this. And while I do agree that great risks are involved, He has not asked us to join him in this endeavour meaning any punishment he would receive would be his own." Y/n said wishing to remain neutral in a way that reminded Harry of Lupin.
"Like Y/n says If Harry wants to do it, it's up to him, isn't it?" Ron
"Spoken like a true friend and Weasley." said Fred, clapping Ron hard on the back. "Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact in everybody's in the corridors. Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" he said, looking at George.
"Easy." said George.
"What sort of diversion is it?" asked Ron.
"You'll see, little bro." said Fred, as he and George got up again. "At least, you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow."
It was the next day and the four were sat in History of Magic. Hermione had asked to swap sides with Y/n so that she make continual attempts to dissuade Harry from what he was planning to do at five o'clock. For the first time ever, she was at least as inattentive to Professor Binns in History of Magic as Harry, Y/n and Ron were, keeping up a stream of whispered admonitions that Harry tried very hard to ignore.
"...and if she does catch you there, apart from being expelled, she'll be able to guess you've been talking to Snuffles and this time I expect she'll force you to drink Veritaserum and answer her questions..."
"She has already tried that need I remind you." Y/n whispered to her now.
"This time she will make sure Harry takes it however." Hermione whispered back.
Hermione." said Ron in a low and indignant voice. "Are you going to stop telling Harry off and listen to Binns, or am I going to have to take my own notes?"
"You take notes for a change, it won't kill you!" Hermione said back.
By the time they reached the dungeons, neither Harry nor Ron was speaking to Hermione only Y/n who was duplicating his notes with her from the lesson. Undeterred, she took advantage of their silence to maintain an uninterrupted flow of dire warnings, all uttered under her breath in a vehement hiss that caused Seamus to waste five whole minutes checking his cauldron for leaks.
Snape, meanwhile, seemed to have decided to act as though Harry were invisible. Harry was, of course, well-used to this tactic, as it was one of Uncle Vernon's favourites, and on the whole was grateful he had to suffer nothing worse. In fact, compared to what he usually had to endure from Snape in the way of taunts and snide remarks, he found the new approach something of an improvement, and was pleased to find that when left well alone, he was able to concoct an Invigoration Draught quite easily. At the end of the lesson he scooped some of the potion into a flask, corked it and took it up to Snape's desk for marking, feeling that he might at last have scraped an 'E'.
Y/n had just finished cleaning out his cauldron when he heard a smashing noise. He looked up as Malfoy gave a gleeful yell of laughter. Harry whipped around. His potion sample lay in pieces on the floor and Snape was surveying him with a look of gloating pleasure.
"Whoops." he said softly. "Another zero, then, Potter."
Harry was too incensed to speak. He strode back to his cauldron, intending to fill another flask and force Snape to mark it, but saw to his horror that the rest of the contents had vanished.
"I'm sorry!" said Hermione, with her hands over her mouth. "I'm really sorry, Harry. I thought you'd finished, so I cleared up!"
Harry could not bring himself to answer. When the bell rang, he hurried out of the dungeon without a backwards glance, and made sure that he found himself a seat between Neville and Seamus for lunch so that Hermione could not start nagging him again about using Umbridge's office.
Y/n and Hermione entered the Great Hall with Ron who quickly spotted Harry and made to sit on the only free space on the bench opposite him.
"I would leave it for now Hermione." Y/n said to her as they sat together for lunch further down the bench.
"But what if he gets caught Y/n. This is serious." Hermione said putting food on a plate for him.
"Yes, but Harry is aware of the risks, There is nothing more to be said." Y/n said simply and Hermione just let out a sigh.
"My Career's advice meeting with McGonagall is after this." Y/n changed the topic now.
"Oh of course. How do you think it will go?" Hermione asked him as he began to eat.
"I hope that she will give me good insight into what I will need. Being a long-standing teacher herself I do not think I could ask anyone better." Y/n said simply.
"You were doing well with Harry teaching us all that stuff." Hermione said quietly so no one could overhear them.
"Oh, that reminds me." Y/n said suddenly remembering something and he turned his head to place a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"What was that for?" Hermione asked slightly confused but not disliking it.
"For that impressive jinx you put on that parchment." Y/n said. "It ended up saving me and Harry before Marietta could divulge any more information."
Hermione just smiled proudly and began to eat as well.
At two o'clock Y/n was standing outside Professor McGonagall's office having just knocked upon the door.
"You may enter." Came McGonagall's voice and Y/n opened the door stepping inside.
"Sit down, Grindelwald." said Professor McGonagall tersely. Her hands shook slightly as she shuffled the many pamphlets littering her desk. but as she spoke, somebody else sniffed from the corner. Y/n looked to the side to see Professor Umbridge was sitting there, a clipboard on her knee, a fussy little pie-frill around her neck and a small, horribly smug smile on her face.
Y/n said nothing and sat down with his back to Umbridge and did his best to pretend he could not hear the scratching of her quill on her clipboard.
"Well, Grindelwald, this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you might have, and to help you decide which subjects you should continue into the sixth and seventh years." said Professor McGonagall. "Have you had any thoughts about what you would like to do after you leave Hogwarts?"
"I have." Y/n nodded.
"Very good, that will save us having to look through these." Professor McGonagall said indicating the pamphlets. "And what career is it you wish to pursue Grindelwald?"
"I was hoping to become a teacher like yourself Professor." Y/n confessed now.
"A teacher? You'd need top grades for that." said Professor McGonagall, extracting a small, dark leaflet from under the mass on her desk and opening it. "You will need a minimum of five NEWTs, and nothing under 'Outstanding' grade in the subject you wish to teach. Then you would be required to undergo training as an assistant to a teacher for two years before taking a test. It's a difficult career path, Grindelwald." Professor McGonagall warned him.
At this moment, Professor Umbridge gave a very tiny cough, as though she was trying to see how quietly she could do it. Professor McGonagall ignored her.
"Have you given a thought to which subject you would like to teach?" McGonagall asked him now.
"Defence against the Dark Arts professor." Y/n said and they heard Umbridge drop her quill.
"A difficult subject Grindelwald, and not one to be taken lightly. You'll want to know which subjects you ought to take, I suppose?" McGonagall went on, talking a little louder than before.
"Yes, please." said Y/n. "I can assume Defence Against the Dark Arts would be the subject I need to receive an outstanding in most definitely?"
"Naturally, I would also advise..."
Professor Umbridge gave another cough, a little more audible this time. Professor McGonagall closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again, and continued as though nothing had happened.
"I would also advise Charms, because while it is for more common day spells some can be useful for defence. Transfiguration would not be bad to have upon your achievements either but I ought to tell you now, Grindelwald, that I do not accept students into my NEWT classes unless they have achieved 'Exceeds Expectations' or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level. However I'd say you're hitting 'Outstanding' with ease at the moment, but that does not mean you can ease off the hard work before the exams. Potions. Yes, Grindelwald, Potions." she added, with the merest flicker of a smile sensing his displeasure of being taught by Snape for a further two years. "Poisons and antidotes are essential study for the defending against the Dark arts you see. And I must tell you that Professor Snape absolutely refuses to take students who get anything other than "Outstanding" in their OWLs, so..."
Professor Umbridge gave her most pronounced cough yet.
"May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall asked curtly, without looking at Professor Umbridge.
"Oh, no, thank you very much." said Umbridge, with that simpering laugh. "I just wondered whether I could make the teensiest interruption, Minerva?"
"I daresay you'll find you can." said Professor McGonagall through tightly gritted teeth.
"I was just wondering whether Mr Grindelwald has quite the ability to be a teacher?" said Professor Umbridge sweetly.
"Were you?" said Professor McGonagall haughtily. "Well, Grindelwald." she continued, as though there had been no interruption. "If you are serious in this ambition, I would advise you to concentrate hard on keeping your work up to the high standards you have been hitting. Professor Flitwick has graded you at 'Outstanding' for the last few years, so your Charmwork seems at top level. As for Defence Against the Dark Arts, your marks have always been generally high, Professor Lupin in particular thought you...are you quite sure you wouldn't like a cough drop, Dolores?"
"Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva." simpered Professor Umbridge, who had just coughed her loudest yet. "I was just concerned that you might not have Y/n's most recent Defence Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I'm quite sure I slipped in a note."
"What, this thing?" said Professor McGonagall in a tone of revulsion, as she pulled a sheet of pink parchment from between the leaves of Y/n's folder. She glanced down it, her eyebrows slightly raised, then placed it back into the folder without comment.
"Yes, as I was saying, Grindelwald, Professor Lupin thought you showed a pronounced aptitude for the subject, and given that is your subject of..."
"Did you not understand my note, Minerva?" asked Professor Umbndge in honeyed tones, quite forgetting to cough.
"Of course I understood it." said Professor McGonagall, her teeth clenched so tightly the words came out a little muffled.
"Well, then, I am confused...I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you can give Mr. Grindelwald false hope that..."
"False hope?" repeated Professor McGonagall, still refusing to look round at Professor Umbridge. "He has achieved high marks in all his Defence Against the Dark Arts tests..."
"I'm terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Grindelwald has been achieving very poor results in his classes with me..."
"I should have made my meaning plainer." said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look Umbridge directly in the eyes. "He has achieved high marks in all Defence Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher."
Professor Umbridge's smile vanished as suddenly as a light bulb blowing. She sat back in her chair, turned a sheet on her clipboard and began scribbling very fast indeed, her bulging eyes rolling from side to side. Professor McGonagall turned back to Y/n, her thin nostrils flared, her eyes burning.
But Y/n just smiled.
"Any questions, Grindelwald?"
Professor Umbridge stood up now. She was so short that this did not make a great deal of difference, but her fussy, simpering demeanour had given place to a hard fury that made her broad, flabby face look oddly sinister.
"Grindelwald has no chance whatsoever of becoming a Teacher!"
Professor McGonagall got to her feet, too, and in her case this was a much more impressive move, she towered over Professor Umbridge.
"Grindelwald." she said in ringing tones. "I will assist you in becoming a teacher if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly, I will make sure you achieve the required results and then you will assist me in my class to achieve the required qualifications!"
"The Minister for Magic will never allow Hogwarts to employ Y/n Grindelwald!" said Umbridge, her voice rising furiously.
"There may well be a new Minister for Magic by the time Grindelwald is ready to teach!" shouted Professor McGonagall.
"Aha!" shrieked Professor Umbridge, pointing a stubby finger at McGonagall. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Of course! That's what you want, isn't it, Minerva McGonagall? You want Cornelius Fudge replaced by Albus Dumbledore! You think you'll be where I am, don't you, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and Headmistress to boot!"
"You are raving." said Professor McGonagall, superbly disdainful. "Grindelwald, that concludes our careers consultation."
"Thank you Professor." Y/n bowed his head and rose from his chair, exiting the room not daring to look at Professor Umbridge. He could hear her and Professor McGonagall continuing to shout at each other all the way back along the corridor.
Professor Umbridge was still breathing as though she had just run a race when she strode into their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson that afternoon.
"I hope you've thought better of what you were planning to do, Harry." Hermione whispered, the moment they had opened their books to 'Chapter Thirty-four, Non-Retaliation and Negotiation'. "Umbridge looks like she's in a really bad mood already..."
"Ah, that would perhaps be my fault...She was not very happy at the end of my career meeting." Y/n whispered back.
"She wasn't happy when I left either." Said Harry.
Every now and then Umbridge shot glowering looks at both Y/n and then Harry. Y/n just kept his head down, staring at Defensive Magical Theory, which he had charmed to contain a real book on defence against the dark arts.
"Dumbledore sacrificed himself to keep you in school, Harry!" Y/n heard Hermione whisper, raising her book to hide her face from Umbridge. "And if you get thrown out today it will all have been for nothing!"
But Harry gave no reply. It was getting closer to five o'clock.
"Harry, don't do it, please don't do it!" Hermione said in anguished tones as the bell rang at the end of the class.
Harry again did not answer.
Hermione turned to Y/n and Ron. Ron seemed determined to give neither his opinion nor his advice, he would not look at Harry, though when Hermione opened her mouth to try dissuading Harry some more, he said in a low voice. "Give it a rest, ok? He can make up his own mind."
The four left the classroom and were halfway along the corridor outside when they heard the unmistakable sounds of a diversion going off in the distance. There were screams and yells reverberating from somewhere above them, people exiting the classrooms all around were stopping in their tracks and looking up at the ceiling fearfully...
Umbridge came pelting out of her classroom as fast as her short legs would carry her. Pulling out her wand, she hurried off in the opposite direction, it was now or never for Harry.
"Harry... please!" Hermione pleaded weakly. But Y/n could tell he had made up his mind.
He let out a sigh. "Hurry Harry, or you will miss your chance." Y/n said.
Hitching his bag more securely onto his shoulder, Harry set off at a run, weaving in and out of students now hurrying in the opposite direction to see what all the fuss was about in the east wing.
"Why did you say that to him?" Hermione asked crossly.
"He was always going to go." Y/n said. "The quicker he made his decision and acted the smaller his chances of being caught are."
Hermione did not seem pleased with this answer however.
"Come on, I want to see what distraction Fred and George have made." Ron said.
There was a great deal of shouting and movement coming from the Entrance Hall as what looked like most of the school assembled there.
It was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring some of them covered in a substance that looked very like Stinksap, teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. Prominent among the onlookers were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with themselves, and Peeves, who was bobbing overhead, gazed down at Fred and George who stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakeable look of two people who had just been cornered.
"So!" said Umbridge triumphantly. Y/n, Hermione and Ron realised she was standing on the stairs, once more looking down upon her prey. "So...you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"
"Pretty amusing, yeah." said Fred, looking up at her without the slightest sign of fear.
Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness. "I've got the form, Headmistress." he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment. 'I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting...oh, let me do it now..."
"Very good, Argus." she said. "You two." she went on, gazing down at Fred and George. "Are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."
"You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are."
He turned to his twin.
George." said Fred. "I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself." said George lightly.
"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" asked Fred.
"Definitely." said George.
And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together.
"Accio brooms!"
Y/n heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to his right, he saw Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling towards their owners they turned left, streaked down the stairs and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
"We won't be seeing you." Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch." said George, mounting his own.
Fred looked around at the assembled students, at the silent, watchful crowd.
"It anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." he said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwart's students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat." added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below.
Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd. "Give her hell from us, Peeves."
And Peeves, who Y/n had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.