His Guardian Angel

Chapter 9

It wasn't until Yule that any lasting effects came from the Ministry about Harry's detention. In that time, more than two dozen other students had been given detention with Umbridge which prompted Harry to remain outside of her office door under his invisibility cloak. When the students turned their backs, he'd run up from behind them and led them to Dumbledore's office where Fawkes would heal them and send them on their way. And if Dumbledore was keeping a tally of the students and their respective lines they'd be writing, then Harry was blissfully unaware of it.

The day before the students would be headed home for the winter holidays, Umbridge was seen talking to several Aurors just outside the Hogwarts gates. Harry'd even caught sight of her stomping her foot to the red-clad wizards. He simply laughed and moved on.

No more detentions were served with Umbridge, although any detentions that she did assign were given to Dumbledore himself who oversaw them in the Great Hall. He could be found there almost every single afternoon after class and before dinner allowing students to either study or giving them helpful pointers with their homework.

Unfortunately, the Pink Toad of Doom wasn't sent out of the castle by the ministry, but with her no longer overseeing detentions, the student body felt much more at ease in her presence. Some had even taken to taunting her and anytime they were caught and put into detention Dumbledore would simply pretend to nap in a conjured cushiony armchair so the students could go about their business.

That holiday break was more of the same for Harry. He spent it mastering wandless magic with Dumbledore and after a particularly difficult day of training asked Dumbledore how things were looking with Voldemort.

"Not good, my boy. Not good at all. His followers are on the move, attacking villages and smaller towns to avoid detection from the ministry. It looks random at a glance, but when you put all the points they've attacked on a map...well, take a look for yourself." Dumbledore unfolded a large map and settled it on his desk.

"You see all these red marks? These were attacks on muggle places. And the black ones, those places were home to at least one witch or wizard. Now, if you connect the red dots, you get what's going to turn into an arrow which, if the pattern continues, will point directly at Hogwarts." Harry looked up to find Dumbledore's eyes full of worry.

"And the black dots?"

"They simply spell out your name." Harry's head dropped into his hands and he took a deep breath to calm himself.

"When are you sending me back? It's obvious he'll be done with this ridiculous charade soon and I can't let you and everyone else here suffer simply because this is where I live." Harry plopped down into a suspiciously cushiony chair and waited for Dumbledore to gather his thoughts.

"Severus did say he's managed to get the potion he's working on stable. Once he gets a few more ingredients, he'll be able to fine tune it and then he can brew you a version that won't have side effects."

"Side effects? What sort of side effects is he dealing with?"

"Oh, you know, the standard itching and redness, he did mention swelling at some point as well as extreme pain for an undetermined amount of time."

"Ah, yes I'd rather not have that last one if that's possible." Dumbledore smiled and they chatted before Harry decided to go to bed.

Boxing day saw Harry bright and early. He'd been sleeping and having another one of the guilt-trip dreams about Tom again when a blaring alarm startled him out of bed. He flew out of the covers and through the bed curtains only to find that he was standing in his dormitory alone with that increasingly loud noise and flashing red lights everywhere.