A Different Beginning

Chapter XXXIV - Umbridge and O'Bryan

By the time that Harry returned to Hogwarts that evening he had managed to create and to bring forth all of his elementals. Other then his three male Earth elementals of Koun the wolf, Mogens the panther, and Armand the lion, he had also brought forth three Fire: a male phoenix named Aodh which was Celtic meaning 'fire'; a male serpent named Borvo which was Celtic meaning 'heat'; and a female baby dragon named Candlearia which was Spanish meaning 'candle'. Two of Air: a female raven named Céleste which was French meaning 'heavenly'; and a male eagle named Arn which was English meaning 'eagle power'. And he did only succeed in making one Water elemental: a female shark named Marninella which was Italian meaning 'of the sea'.

He had learned something interesting out of it all though: when his raven had appeared as his Air elemental his Da had informed him that a raven was the animagus form of his mother. Harry had never even known that Lily had learned how to become an animagus. James had explained to him that he had taught her in their seventh year and that she had mastered it right after Harry had been born. She of course, had registered her form. It made him feel good to know that his parents were such a part of him that he used both of their animagus forms in his magic - his stag patronous for his father and his raven Air elemental for his mother.

Once all nine of his elementals had been created James had told him to use them to do small things for the rest of the week. He wanted them to get used to Harry and for Harry to get used to them. He suggested having them maybe grab him some foods from the kitchens, collecting books or parchment from his room etc. Apparently by doing this, he would be exercising control over his elementals and this control would come in handy in the long run. James had also reminded him that he needed to practice the new spells that he was learning wandlessly.

When he returned to the Gryffindor common room he had enough time to throw his cloak and map in his trunk before he headed down to dinner. He took a seat at the table, a little disappointed when he didn't see Ginny. He helped himself to some dinner and grinned up at Neville when he took a seat next to him.

"Hey, Harry."

"Hi Neville, what's up?"

Neville shrugged as he helped himself to some of the perch in front of him. "Nothing much. I've been doing homework all day, you?"

"Same."

"It bites! Can you believe how much work we've gotten already? I mean, I knew O.W.L. year was going to be hard but this is almost ridiculous!"

Harry nodded. "I agree. Hey, have you seen Ginny?"

Neville shook his head. "No, I haven't seen in her in a few hours. Last I heard she was going to the library with Colin, Demelza, and Luna. She's probably still there."

Harry nodded. "Thanks. I'll head there if she doesn't come to dinner before I'm done. We had made plans for later."

Neville grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Snogging plans."

Harry laughed. "Possibly. Hey, you're not offended by me dating Gin, are you? 'Cause I remember that you took her to the Yule Ball last year and all?"

Neville shook his head. "Oh no, not at all! I think that you two are perfect for each other. Ginny and I only went to the ball as friends. I mean, don't get me wrong she's really pretty, but I don't like her that way."

Harry grinned. "Good. No offence."

Neville only grinned back. "None taken."

Harry turned at the sound of his name and grinned at Ron as he took a seat next to him. "Hey, been doing prefect duty?"

Ron nodded. "It's incredibly stressful. Not to mention working with Hermione. She wants me to have a talk with Fred and George about this joke shop thing and having students testing their products. Can you imagine what those two would do to me if I even tried that?"

Harry laughed. "Good luck with that one, mate!"

Ron only rolled his eyes as he began to pile his plate up with food. "So how did today go?"

"Really well actually. I made nine."

Ron's eyes widened in surprise. "Nine of those ... things that your da said you could do?"

Harry nodded, carefully lowering his voice so that only Ron could hear him. "Elementals Ron, and yes."

"Wow. Can you show us?"

"Yeah, I will later. Hey, Gin and I were talking earlier about me um ... teaching you guys later tonight, are you up for it?"

Ron looked confused for a minute and then he nodded. "Yeah for sure. Right after dinner?"

"Yeah, I just have to find Ginny first."

Ron nodded. They both finished up their meal before Harry took off towards the library and Ron headed up to the common room to fill Hermione in on the plan.

Harry stepped into the library and noticed Ginny's cap of bright red hair seated at a table in the far corner. Her head was close to Colin's as if they were discussing some great secret. Luna and Demelza were sitting across from them. Harry made his way over to them and took a seat next to Ginny.

"Hello everyone."

Ginny turned to grin at him before she kissed him softly. "Hi."

Colin gave them a cheeky grin. "Hey! Don't you know the rules? No snogging in the library!"

Ginny laughed and elbowed him playfully. "Git. You're just jealous because you don't have a snogging partner."

Colin grinned. "Sad but true. But I'm hoping to cure myself of this ailment if Mandy Brocklehurst will ever go out with me."

"Ugh, Colin no! She's such a bitch. She's so not worthy of your time." Demelza replied.

Ginny nodded. "I agree with Dee. She's not nice to anyone."

Colin pouted. "But she's gorgeous."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's hardly a good enough reason to want to go out with her. Looks aren't everything, you know."

Luna tucked her wand behind her ear before glancing over at Colin. "Looking only at face value is very shallow. That could be the reason why you don't have a girlfriend."

Ginny and Demelza snickered. "Good one, Luna."

Colin glared at them. "Sometimes I wonder why I hang around you three."

Ginny laughed as she hugged him tight and kissed his cheek. "Because you love us. But I'm off, snogging duty calls. Talk to you guys later."

"Snogging duty?" Harry asked with a grin.

Ginny laughed. "Oh right, sorry, snogging pleasure calls. Bye guys." She waved goodbye to her friends before walking hand in hand out of the library with Harry. As soon as they turned the corridor, she grinned at him. "Now I can give you a proper kiss hello."

Harry grinned. "I was wondering if you would get around to that."

He pinned her back against the wall, sliding her bag off her shoulder and slipping his arms around her waist. He stared into her eyes, grinning at her as he slid his hands up her slender back to untie the elastic band in her hair. As the curls the colour of wild fire fell into his hands he moved in closer. He could feel her warm breath on his lips as he ran his tongue along her bottom lip. Ginny slipped her arms around his neck, curling her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck. He leaned down and pressed his lips softly to hers.

The soft kisses that the two of them had been sneaking back and forth in between classes and in the mornings had hardly been enough. But with Harry's detentions and the huge pile of homework neither one of them had managed to find time for each other. Now, as their lips met softly, that explosion of emotion that they had first felt that day in the garden returned.

Harry nibbled gently at her lips, teasing her until her lips parted so that he could use his tongue. She moaned when he deepened the kiss and pressed herself closer. His hands ran through her silky hair and she could only sigh. This was what she had been missing all week and this was what she had needed. His lips on hers as he held her close, those rough calloused hands in her hair. She dragged her fingers through his already messy black hair, enjoying the soft texture and the way that he leaned closer as if he couldn't get enough of her. He was everything that she had ever dreamed of. She stood on her toes as she wrapped her arms tighter around him just as she heard a loud cough from behind Harry. They broke apart and turned around, both of them flushing when they noticed McGonagall standing there.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley, there are rules about public displays of affection in the corridors."

Harry nodded. "Sorry Professor."

McGonagall gave them a quick smile. "I bet you're sorry. Don't let it happen again. Go on up to the common room now."

They nodded. Harry picked up Ginny's bag and swung it onto his shoulder before he reached for her hand and they headed back up to the common room. When they walked through the portrait hole Ron hurried over.

"What took you so long?" When they didn't answer fast enough he rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell, were you snogging again?"

Harry grinned. "Maybe. Come on, let me just get my cloak and then we'll go into a passage way to practice, okay?"

They all nodded. Harry hurried upstairs to get the map and his cloak. He quickly enlarged the cloak in his dormitory before heading back down to his friends. They headed out, using a deserted corridor to cover themselves and then headed into the passage way near Honeydukes. Harry figured that that was the best place to practice. Once they arrived, Harry grinned at them.

"Alright, well, first I'll share my news with you two since Ron already knows. But I created nine elementals today."

Hermione gasped. "Wow Harry! That's amazing! So can you ever create any more?"

Harry shook his head. "No, see Da had me do each element at a time and he says that you only do it once and if you have more then one elemental for that element then they will all appear. So I have three Earth, three Fire, two Air, and one Water."

Ginny grinned. "That's so neat. Can you show us?"

Harry nodded. "I think so. Da says that now that I can create them my job is to work on controlling them and seeking them out to do small tasks for me until I get the hang of having them around. Okay, here I go." He held his hands out the way that James had shown him until he was better at it and thought the words: come hither. He saw the flashes of green, red, yellow, and blue light appear next to him. He grinned because he knew his friends couldn't see them unless they knew they were there. Again in his mind he spoke to them: Show yourselves to my friends.

Ginny gasped as the animals suddenly appeared. "Oh Harry! They're so beautiful!"

Ron was staring at the place where they had just appeared with a look similar to having been hit over the head with a club and Hermione was grinning. "Harry, they are beautiful. So now that you have them - what do you do?"

"Well, technically I am their master, right, because I created them from a ball of power and then Da says that the ball of light veered off into an animal of its own choosing with its own name and everything. It was sort of complicated but I think I got it covered now."

"So what else happened today?" Ginny asked.

Harry began to explain to his friends all about his lesson, including the argument he had gotten into with his father. He also told them about Professor O'Bryan being in the Order now.

"Well, I can see why James wouldn't want you in the Order, Harry; none of us are of age." Hermione replied.

Harry nodded. "I know. It's just frustrating. Anyway, that's pretty much everything that happened." He dismissed his elementals and then turned back to his friends. "Alright, are you ready to start working on the animagus transformation again?"

They nodded and they all got to work. Harry easily changed both of his arms into his wolf's form and then began to try to change his head. He tried not to get too frustrated as none of his friends had managed to change anything yet but they had only had one other lesson. After two hours of nothing, they decided that was enough for the day and Harry tried to tell them not to give up.

They headed back to the common room and Harry grabbed his books and went into a small deserted corner to work on his wandless magic. He had promised that he would work on learning the new stuff as soon as possible. He started with Charms class and as he went through the two new charms that he had learned that week he realized how much he had improved. He managed to achieve the charm wandlessly on the second try. This told him that his wandless abilities must have improved drastically. Within half an hour he had covered all of the new material. He could only grin and give himself a mental pat on the back.

The next week of school turned out to be just as bad as the first one. After Harry handed over the Order papers to Professor O'Bryan he had been forced to sit through another DADA class with Umbridge and he had naturally lost his temper. She had given him another week's worth of detentions. He had only groaned inwardly at the idea of causing his hand more pain as it was still raw and sore from the week before.

And to everyone's surprise, Ron had received a letter from Percy demanding that he no longer associate himself with Harry. Ron had been so disgusted that he had shredded it before Ginny could read it; but she had gotten the gist of it from those that had. Percy was a real git. Percy had also mentioned something interesting appearing in the Daily Prophet the next day. Apparently, Umbridge had been made Hogwarts High Inquisitor which gave her more control over the education system. This did not please anyone.

By the time that Friday rolled around, Harry's hand held the permanent markings of the words: I must not tell lies, on the back of his hand. He had tried to hide it as much as he could but Ginny had been the first to discover it when she had been cuddling on his lap Friday evening after his detention. His arms had been wrapped comfortably around her when she had suddenly taken his hands in hers.

"Harry! What the hell is this?" She demanded as she looked at his right hand which was still dripping small drops of blood, red, and raw looking. The words were etched carefully in his own print and was so painful that his hand was numb, which explained why he didn't feel the blood dripping.

"It's nothing, Gin; don't worry about it."

Ginny turned to glare at him. "Don't you lie to me, Harry! What is this?"

He sighed and snuggled his face gently into the curve of her neck and shoulder. "My detention. I had to write lines remember."

Ginny gently ran her fingers over his hand. "I don't understand."

"It's something called a Blood Quill - I write the lines on the paper and they etch themselves into the back of my writing hand, the lines appear on the paper written in my own blood." Harry explained.

Ginny slapped his arm angrily. "Why haven't you told anyone about this?"

He shrugged. "Because if I tell everyone then it will be like she's winning."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He sighed. "It's almost as if she's playing a mind game with me, Gin. I sit there and I write lines for hours in my own blood and I refuse to make a sound. She just smiles evilly at me as if daring me to report her. Well, I won't do it. She'll get what's coming to her eventually."

"You are the stupidest man in the entire world!"

"I - what?"

Ginny nodded. "You heard me! Why on earth are you being such a prat? By telling someone what she's doing to you isn't going to make you lose this cock and bull mind game that you seem to think is going on! Really Harry! Blood Quills are illegal!"

Harry sighed. "How come when you say it that way it sounds dumb?"

"Because it is dumb! Has James seen this yet?"

Harry shook his head. "Well, on Sunday my hand was a little red and raw but it just looked like a rash or something. I need to find a way to hide it for Sunday."

"Oh, you most certainly do not! You make sure that your father sees your hand, Harry! You can't protect everyone all the time and you have to start learning how to protect yourself." Ginny replied.

Harry sighed and gently kissed her lips. "Alright, I'll show him. Happy now?"

She snuggled back comfortably in his lap. "Yes I am."

He grinned. "Good." Then he turned her head so that he could place his lips on hers.

**********

When Harry apparated to Grimmauld Place with Sirius that Sunday he was dreading his father's reaction to his hand. Especially when he found out that he had kept it from him the week before. He walked into the kitchen where James and Sirius were seated at the table.

"Hi. Where's Uncle Remus?"

James smiled at him. "He had something to do for the Order today. How was your week?"

Harry sighed. "Bad. I had detention all week with Umbridge again."

James sighed. "Why?"

"Because I lost my temper in her class again." He reached up to scratch his head wondering how he was going to casually mention his hand when James jumped to his feet and grabbed the arm that he had been using to scratch his head with.

"I must not tell lies - Harry, what the hell is this?"

Harry gulped. "Um ... remember that rash I had on my hand last week?" When they all nodded he continued. "Well, I sort of didn't tell you the truth."

James glared at Harry. "This looks like a Blood Quill."

Harry nodded. "Well, that could be because that's what she's been making me write with."

Sirius jumped to his feet. "Every night for two weeks?"

Harry nodded. "Yes."

James eyes turned smoky. "God damn it! Why the hell didn't you say anything?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry." Harry supplied, hoping that that would ease the anger.

"OH, YOU DIDN'T WANT ME TO WORRY? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, HARRY? THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN FORCING YOU TO WRITE LINES IN YOUR OWN BLOOD WHILE CARVING THE WORDS ON THE BACK OF YOUR OWN BLOODY HAND AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T WANT ME TO WORRY? WELL, TOO BLOODY LATE! I'M GOING DOWN THERE RIGHT NOW AND HAVING A NICE LITTLE CHAT WITH DOLORES UMBRIDGE!!"

Harry stared up at his father in shock. He was silent for a full minute and before he could comment both James and Sirius had stormed out of the kitchen. "Wait! Are you really going there? Now?"

Sirius nodded. "OF COURSE NOW, YOU PRAT! AND I'M GOING THERE TOO, BECAUSE IF I GET A HOLD OF THAT STUPID WOMAN ..."

Harry grabbed a hold of Sirius' arm to side apparate with him back into the tunnel. "What are you going to do?" He asked nervously.

James turned to Harry; his eyes still the colour of smoke and his voice cold. "First, we're going to apparate into Hogsmeade so we can come through the front gates of Hogwarts. Then we're going to have a nice little chat, got it?"

Harry nodded. He watched his father and godfather disappear before he ran through the passageway, making it into the front entrance hall just as James and Sirius walked through the front door. He gulped as he followed them down to Umbridge's office. James banged on the door angrily.

She opened the door, so short that she barely passed James' waist at his height of 6'2. "Hello, can I help you with something?" She asked in her falsely sweet voice.

James nodded. "OH YEAH, YOU CAN BLOODY WELL HELP ME WITH SOMETHING! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? FORCING MY SON TO WRITE WITH A BLOOD QUILL DURING DETENTIONS! BLOOD QUILLS HAVE BEEN ILLEGAL IN THE U.K. FOR THIRTY YEARS!! I SHOULD REPORT YOU TO THE MINISTRY! I CAN HAVE YOU THROWN IN JAIL FOR BEING SUCH A STUPID SELFISH SHORT PRAT OF A WOMAN WHO CANNOT EVEN FOLLOW LAWS BUT EXPECTS THE STUDENTS SHE TEACHES TO FOLLOW HER RULES!"

Umbridge stared up at James in shock, her eyes drifting to Harry for a moment and then to Sirius. "Mr. Potter, I presume? Well, your son needed to be punished as he was busy spreading lies around the school as well as disrupting my classes. I could hardly have that and -"

Sirius glared at her this time. "OH YOU COULD HARDLY HAVE THAT? DISRUPTING CLASS ON A REGULAR BASIS, OKAY GIVE HIM A BLOODY DETENTION BUT DON'T MAKE HIM WRITE WITH A BLOOD QUILL, YOU TOAD WOMAN!"

"How dare you insult me? You're an insufferable and extremely rude man! Who are you anyway?" She demanded.

"I'm Sirius Black, Harry's godfather."

Umbridge paled. "Murderer."

Sirius grinned. "BELIEVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. BUT IF YOU EVER TRY TO FORCE MY GODSON TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS EVER AGAIN I'LL -"

"WE'LL DO MORE THEN COME HERE AND YELL AT YOU!" James interrupted. "LIKE CURSE YOUR OR SOMETHING!"

"ARE YOU THREATENING ME?"

James grinned. "YOU CAN BET YOUR ASS I AM!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?" Professor O'Bryan demanded from behind Harry. "I was trying to mark some papers in my office and all I can here is screaming!"

"Um Professor, I can explain, you see, my da and my godfather found out about Professor Umbridge making me write with a Blood Quill and they -" He stopped when he heard the curse and turned around.

Professor O'Bryan had just stunned Umbridge.

Harry let out a snort of laughter.

James grinned. "Thank you, Professor, I was thinking about doing that myself. Harry, come in here now, we need to talk." Harry headed further into Umbridge's office with James as Sirius turned to Professor O'Bryan.

"Brilliant! We greatly appreciate your lack of restraint."

She grinned, her green eyes twinkling in laughter. "I couldn't help myself. I'm Alexis O'Bryan, the Ancient Runes professor."

Sirius grinned. "Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. You're the new Order member."

She nodded. "Yes I am." She unstunned Umbridge and then sent ropes at her to tie her to the chair.

Sirius laughed and tugged Alexis towards him, "You are bloody brilliant!" Then in random move of spontaneity he kissed her softly on the lips. But the quick friendly retort died as he tasted her. His only reaction was: where the hell had this been his entire life? His hands moved into her long blonde hair as he deepened the kiss. She tasted like citrus and he loved it. Her lips yielded under his for a moment and then she pushed him away, slapping him across the face.

"YOU INSUFFERABLE PRAT! WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO JUST KISS ME LIKE THAT? I SHOULD PRESS CHARGES FOR HARRASSMENT!"

She stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her and Sirius grinned, licking his lips as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "She loves me."

Harry laughed. "Yeah right, that's why she slapped you. What did you kiss her for? You just met her!"

Sirius grinned. "Because Professor Alexis O'Bryan is beautiful and very delicious." He murmured almost to himself.

James grinned at Harry. "Now we're in trouble, when Padfoot wants something, he doesn't stop until he gets it."

Harry grinned. "And you want Professor O'Bryan?"

Sirius turned to grin at them. "Oh yeah."

James shook his head at his friend. "Alright, now that we got passed Sirius' lack of a love life, what the hell are we going to do with her?" He asked as he pointed at Umbridge who was no longer stunned but tied to the chair still and gagged as she glared at them.

Harry grinned wickedly. "Well, we could always leave her like that."

James laughed. "Good idea. Come on." They left the office and headed down to McGonagall's office where James knocked on the door. They heard her call out come in so they went inside. "Hey Minerva."

McGonagall looked up and gave them a genuine smile. "James, Sirius, this is a surprise." Her eyes fell to Harry. "Did you get in trouble with Dolores again?"

Harry grinned sheepishly. "No."

James nodded. "Were you aware of what Umbitch was making him do during his detentions?"

McGonagall grinned in spite of herself. "I believe that Umbitch, I mean Umbridge, had him writing lines."

Sirius grabbed Harry's right arm and held his hand out to McGonagall. "Yeah, with a goddamn Blood Quill!"

McGonagall stared down at Harry's hand in surprise. "Harry! Why didn't you say something?"

James rolled his eyes. "Because my son is a prat that's why! Anyway, we came down here to have little chat with her and it got a bit out of hand. Professor O'Bryan came by and when she found out the problem she stunned Umbitch and we sort of left her tied to a chair and gagged."

McGonagall smirked. "Why, that's terrible. I'll make sure that she's untied in time for her class tomorrow morning."

Harry grinned. He had always known there was a reason why he loved McGonagall.

James grinned. "Good."

Sirius grinned and kissed McGonagall's cheek making her blush and Harry glance up in surprise. "You rock, McG!"

McGonagall rolled her eyes. "For the millionth time, Sirius, my name is NOT McG."

Sirius just smirked at her and winked at Harry as James rolled his eyes. "Right, sorry Mum."

McGonagall glared at him. "Sirius Black, you are insufferable!"

Sirius grinned. "Ah, Minerva, you know you miss me."

James rolled his eyes. "Alright Harry, Sirius and I are out of here. We'll continue with the lesson next Sunday, okay?"

Harry nodded. "Alright. See you later."

He watched them leave before he turned to McGonagall. "Professor, do you have any suggestions about getting the pain out of my hand? Homework has been a killer trying to write with this."

McGonagall nodded. "Go ask Poppy for some Murtlap essence, just soak your hand in it. I'll speak to Dumbledore about Umbitch, I mean, Umbridge! Damn I'm going to kill James Potter!"

Harry laughed. Umbitch - it did have a certain ring to it. He grinned to himself as he headed to the hospital wing; all in all, the day hadn't been too bad.