He stumbles over, gasping. His eyes flare brilliant and bold behind his eyelids as the wand sits perfectly in his hand and he can hardly breathe through the magic flooding through his system.

But there are still people around and Dumbledore might need his wand soon so he lurches back toward the castle, using his pale face and heaving chest to convince people he needs to leave this area.

They let him through and he barely makes it to his bed before he starts screaming, face pressed into his pillow.

The magic in his mgic shrieks with him and the wand and the cloak surge together with joyful glee and happiness. It burns through his blood and he can hardly breathe

But he can't drop the wand from its frozen position in his fist and the cloak is tucked under his robes and eventually the burn boils down from excruciating agony to something more manageable. It still hurts, oh how it hurts, but he can handle it.

Finally he pulls his mind back to the forefront and forces the two sentiences of the cloak and the wand to the back. They grumble soundlessly but it still flickers with heat and without him wanting to, his hands grip the wand tighter and pull the cloak closer to his body.

He also chuckles with no mirth. It's even worse with these two inside his mind, inside his thoughts, inside him. They've taken over almost everything.

But the power is intoxicating as soon as he gets it under control. With the cloak it was a surge of freedom, ducking under everyone's eyes without notice and never having to worry about people seeing and hunting him down.

Now he welcomes those that try and find him because with the wand in his hand he will blast each and every one of them back with power that fires to the tip of his lip with reckless abandon.

He feels unstoppable, and it is not a very comfortable emotion. It is also not his, and as he pushes the wand further back in his mind it fades even more.

The two of them want him to challenge every creature before them and never stop until he can find the ring. It must be found, they must be united once again, and he is nothing more than their body to connect them.

He knows this, and still it hurts.

But now he takes the time to dig through the nw presence within him and try to find out what it can do for him. The wand springs forward, eager to prove its worth. Though it seems less happy for him and more happy for what it can do, and the brilliant scarlet of blood flickers through his mind.

It can cast any spell and make the power surge to new-found heights that will stop any foes. Anything he knows will be so much more powerful and all he has to do is learn the words and the movements before he can cast that spell as well.

It is hard to think about, but he knows the wand has no reason to lie. It wants him to succeed.

He has to test its powers.

The rage and strength the bloodthirsty wand brings to his mind comes back, burning behind his eyes. Spells fire brilliantly to the front of his mind, all ones that can hurt can maim can kill.

But he shoves them away and instead pulls up his first year, the year that seemed so far away, the year that ended fast when he was still innocent and carefree and dancing through his studies.

The time with Ron and Hermione, when they laid in front of the fireplace and just talked and laughed and played for hours on end during the weekend, with no fear of school tomorrow and no homework due. They hadn't moved even as the light outside faded to black and other students headed up to bed. It had been so wonderful and domestic and sweet and innocent and his heart bursts at the thought.

Expecto Patronum.

Silver surges forward from the wand, brilliant and bursting and nothing like the silver of the cloak. Whereas that silver was soft and burning with a harsh edge, this silver dances around the room, trailing misty tendrils that lit up the darkness in a way he could not have expected but loved.

Eventually it gathers together in front of him, falling closer and closer until it comes together and forms an animal.

It is roughly his size with four paws and thick, trailing fur. It raises a head and looks directly at him, tongue lolling.

It is a grim-

He lunges back but then straightens. It is not a grim.

The eyes are too gentle, filled with none of the monsters that haunt his nights long into the shadows. He reaches forward and the large dog prances forward, wagging a tail that sends brilliant pulses of light to race around the room. It is innocent and beautiful and he has never been warmer.

The boggart, the mirror, the wand, the cloak - they all looked inside his mind and heart to stick their magic and take his thoughts. The mirror to show him what he wants most - but his was crossed out and replaced with the cloak's greatest wish. The boggart showed him what the cloak cannot accept and how he will be punished for it, and he guesses that if he were to look into it again the image would be the same.

But the Patronus looks into his soul, where his true self lives, and takes out the brilliance of his Patronus. It is not affected in the slightest by any of the death in his mind in his magic in himself.

He lays down on the bed and the dog jumps up to join him, barking silently but with excitement. It does not affect the bed or the temperature but he swears he feels a presence filled with warmth beside him as he closes his eyes and begins to drift off to the quietness of sleep.

The wand thrums lamentations at the loss of magic on such a harmless, worthless spell and he cannot bring himself to care.

xXx

He wakes the next day without much of a care in the world. His trunk is packed and ready to leave to whichever house he is going to and Hedwig is ready to either stay with him or fly off.

The cloak is around his shoulders, hidden beneath his robe. It does not accept being in his bag any longer.

The wand is tucked into an inside pocket of his robe and it and the cloak hum to each other throughout the entire day.

But as he finishes dressing and heads down to the commons, people are panicking and wide-eyed.

He asks the nearest prefect and they begin to explain everything.

Cedric was fine, though three more minutes and he wouldn't have been. Amos Diggory absolutely exploded at Professor Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic for hurting his boy like that and having no safety measures other than teachers portkeying in to save them if they were even conscious enough to send up red sparks.

The Minister of Magic tried to throw Dumbledore under the bus, but the headmaster simply stepped aside and threw the man off of a cliff with sheer facts. About all of his safer ideas and how they had been turned down and all the Minister wanted was danger to get his appearance back up.

Cornelius Fudge had looked absolutely furious but as described by the prefect, Dumbledore was far past caring.

But there was a reporter that had gotten their way close enough and had manage to write down every word of what they were saying, and people were betting there'd be an 'emergency release' of the Daily Prophet today or tomorrow.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

No, that belonged solely to when Dumbledore had noticed his wand which had been in his pocket - had gone missing.

The prefect doesn't notice him tensing up and instead keeps talking, eyes wide and concentrated.

Somebody had stolen it but that was when Professor Dumbledore got an alert from some device in his pocket. The man had whirled away and people were only barely able to follow him as he ran back into the castle.

They went to his office, where they found Professor Moody ransacking everything in there.

The man had stared at them, wild-eyed, before grabbing a random object and turning it into a Portkey. He was out before Dumbledore could take another step forward, and everyone swears the retired Auror had had Dumbledore's wand in his hand when he managed to escape the office.

Everyone was reeling, no more so than Dumbledore himself. One of his closest friends stealing from him and then betraying him. It would hurt everyone an the man had spent the day inside his office.

But everyone was going to be sent home now and people don't really know what will happen after that, but they all hope everything will be okay. There was no way to hide the fact that world's most powerful wizard had just lost his wand to probably a spy of someone evil but He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named surely wouldn't act up, right? Right?

He thanks the prefect and scurried off, a laugh shooting to his throat. He chokes it off before it hits the air.

Nobody knows it is him. He is free, and Dumbledore will never know that his prized student who looks up and respects him has stolen the most powerful wand in history. It is wonderful.

But what will happen now?

People stumble down to the entrance hall, carrying trunks and cages and shell shocked expressions. No one quite knows what to think as they wander through hallways with narrowed eyes.

But the food is still good and everyone eats aplenty. They head out to the train with careful chatter, clambering onto the scarlet engine. It is the last time for some students and the first for others and they find their compartment easily, climbing in with both happy in their faces and not.

It is a quiet ride back to the station, but he enjoys it nonetheless.

What he enjoys even more is that Uncle Vernon isn't there to pick him up but instead a clean shaven Sirius Black wearing comfortable muggle clothing and a mile-wide grin. He calls him over happily.

He goes over happily, and they both take hold of a thin pole of metal and portkey out of King's Cross.

They arrive at a garnish mansion perched on an island.

An entire island!

Sirius laughs at him gobsmacked expression and then starts to give him a tour, taking his trunk and cage and letting Hedwig fly free around them all. Waves of such brilliant blueness lap against the sandy beaches and birds fly overhead, chirping happily to each over the soft rustle of wind.

The house is wonderful as well and he has three rooms to himself, one to sleep in, one bathroom, and then one reading-eating room that has a floor-to-ceiling window that seems to light up the entire world.

Everyone is wonderful, and then Remus J. Lupin shows up with his own bags and everything is even more wonderful.

They live together in rather perfect harmony. Sure, Sirius has a pranking streak a mile wide and doesn't understand the quiet times he sometimes craves but he's also never been so far out of his introverted self and while he definitely couldn't do this year-round it's wonderful for the summer. He creates paint-bombs with a flick of the wand and never once uses it for anything destructive and its influence fades slightly from his mind, disappearing backward into shadowed darkness.

Of course, Remus is a werewolf. Bit surprising but he doesn't really care that much and the relief in the man's eyes is tangible.

Sirius is an animagus. It looks like a grim but it's not and with a laugh he conjures his Patronus and watches Sirius gloat about being his favourite for the next week, at the minimum. He spends a fair amount of time in his dog form and though they have to force him into baths every now and then it's nice to be reading quietly and slowly petting black fur underneath his fingers.

They live together in this quiet peace and he has never enjoyed anything so much over the past years.

But then again, all too soon, school comes again and he buys his books and waves goodbye to the island home and heads toward the castle of Hogwarts again.

The train sits there as usual and he catches up with Hermione and Ron with happiness bright in his eyes. They don't send messages very often, each off doing their own things, and they had no idea about where he was.

He enjoys telling them about each and every single prank he pulled on the two men, and smiles when they laugh. The ride is bumpy as they speed over the track but they take fun to balance Licorice Wands on their foreheads and try to get them not to fall off. Ron wins, though barely.

They both look rather confused at the heavy sweatshirt he is wearing and how he puts on his robes over it before taking it off, but they ignore it after a few looks. They're the best of friends, after all. They don't keep secrets.

The cloak and the wand hum next to his skin and his next smile gleams a bit too brightly to be real.

But they get through the journey and everything is going great. It's nice to catch up with Dean and Seamus again, and Neville is always a welcome face. He is slowly getting more and more comfortable in his own skin and while he's still a bit awkward and shuffling, he puts his own ideas in a conversation more and he's really smart.

He marks his fellow student down for help on his Herbology OWL after promising to help him on Potions and Transfiguration. He couldn't get better help if he went to Professor Sprout herself.

They clamber onto the carriages and slowly start to rumble off toward the castle again, talking of everything.

No one knows who the new History of Magic teacher, although everyone prays feverishly that it won't be Binns again. The ghost could charm a raging dragon to sleep with just one of his talks of goblin rebellions.

Literally everyone hates him and all are glad he's gone for \their OWL year, him and Hermione and Ron included.

So they walk into the Great Hall and try to scout out the competition.

Snape is still there, the bloody bat. But Lupin blushes and waves to the excited cheers of the students. He's their favourite, hands down. People love the shy quiet professor, and even though he knows the man is a werewolf it doesn't change anything. Actually, it makes more sense on why he knows so much about dark creatures.

But there, perched next to Professor McGonagall and Professor Sinistra, sits a hideous toad.

Actually, he retracts his statement. It's an insult to toads.

The woman has pursed lips and upturned eyebrows and a neck three sizes too big. Her robe is a disgrace to all robes in a shade of pale pink frilled with small ribbons that Dumbledore wouldn't even attempt to wear, and he's seen the man in electric blue hedged in bright gold edges.

She simpers as they all walk in, and students file to the back of the Great Hall. But it doesn't stop her for a second.

The first years arrive and the Hat begins to sing, though its song seems less cheerful this year. It hints toward unrest and mainly speaks of the problems of being divided in this school together.

But then the firsties are sorted and everyone begins to eat. Of course, the food is brilliant and wonderful. The food at the island with Sirius and Remus was good but nothing compares to this excellence.

As Dumbledore stands to speak, the toad interrupts him. It instantly puts everyone on edge.

You don't stop Dumbledore's speech.

She introduces herself as Dolores Umbridge, the new Professor of History of Magic, and then launches into a spheal that puts everyone's teeth on edge. It sounds pretty, of course, but it's not hard to read between the lines.

He doesn't catch everything of course, but Hermione lays it out to them once they're back in the safety of their commons. The Ministry of Magic, after the disaster that was the Triwizard Tournament, wants to have a closer eye on Hogwarts and, subsequently, Dumbledore himself.

The Minister had tried to lay the blame at Dumbledore's feet again but he carefully kicked it away. The public wanted blood so this was what they decided to do.

He would laugh if it wasn't happening.

But as he lays on his bed with the cloak under his pillow and the wand curled between his fingers, he almost smirks.

He'd like to see the toad try and come for him now.

xXx

The burst of courage he has fades away quickly and the dreams of that night are worse than he's had for a long while.

xXx

Her classes are hell on earth.

Mad-eye Moody - despite being a traitor and evil and 'stealing' Professor Dumbledore's wand - was at least interesting. Sure, his war stories were vile and went far too much in detail but they kept people awake and alert.

This woman decides to only cover pieces of history that put the Ministry in the best possible light.

Everything is either glossed over or completely ignored, with the latter being much more common.

It's like Binns all over again, and many students resign themselves to studying during her class and ignoring everything she says. It might be better, as they are well-used to that strategy, but it still would have been nice to actually have a competent teacher for once in their Hogwarts life.

Professor Snape is much the same, though he grills them harder and harder as the OWLs are that year. He takes the man's threats and mocking words with much more grace than he has before, a gentle smile on his face.

He is very aware of the wand pressing into his skin and does not care about what Snape says.

McGonagall ignores new spells and goes back over all of their old ones, reteaching movements and words and intent until they start to understand why so many spells actually work.

It's brilliant and Hermione loves it, and while he learns more than ever before he does understand why she doesn't teach it to the new firsties. He's in fifth year and finding himself hard pressed to understand most of it.

Flitwick does much of the same thing, though new spells are peppered in every now and then.

The real problem comes when Umbridge shows up in one of their double Transfiguration lessons.

They stare at her, wide-eyed, as she stands in the corner armed with a clipboard and a smug expression.

Professor McGonagall walks in and the tension is thick enough to feel. But their professor shoves it away and teaches with a sharpness that has them all perfecting the spell near instantly and writing down notes with a sort of feverish fear. Umbridge leaves almost disappointed with very few notes on her clipboard.

Snape does much the same, though his eyes are narrowed in a fury everytime she so much as moves.

If the man wasn't as restrained as he is, the toad would be dead by the end of the week- no, day. The way she picks on him and asks about him teaching Potions when he wants Defense Against the Dark Arts is like poking an active volcano with several barrels of pure dynamite.

They avoid his path for many days after each of her investigations.

She's been upgraded to High Inquisitor and bustles in on a class at least twice a week. Teachers are on edge whenever she is even nearby and students learn quickly to flee from her path in order to keep a old on their house points and free times.

Dumbledore seems to be unaware of all of it but his eyes narrow as she walks past and he fingers his wand - his original wand, he knows, but the man tells people it is his substitute he used during the first wizarding world and the public loves him all the more for it.

Tensions are high and nerves are frazzled by the time the holidays finally roll over the school.

Most students flee Hogwarts like a building on fire. He spends most of his time either in the library, studying for OWLs, or locked in his room, speaking quietly with the cloak and the wand.

They demand he do it, so he does.

There is not much he can tell them but he tells them all he knows on the ring, speaking of the stories he's read and the research he's done. From what he can tell, it belonged to the Peverells, so perhaps it is their family crest that holds the final Deathly Hallow, though he has no idea where to find it.

A relic so ancient it is thought not to exist would be well hidden.

But they accept the answer and he spends more time studying under the watchful eye of Hermione, who is trying to do every subject to absolute perfection. He does not care about Divination and only needs to well on the main core subjects to have most of his career options open.

xXx

The holidays end and Umbridge starts to get cocky.

Decrees litter the walls outside of the Great Hall, each one saying some sort of bizarre rule that Umbridge makes up. No one knows how to fight back against her so they don't, but people actively rise up in arms once she posts one about limiting letters to avoid 'non-Ministry biased propaganda', or some bullshit like that.

Susan Bones threatens to send a message through her personal house elf to her aunt Amelia Bones, head of the DML, and Umbridge angrily takes it down.

And then posts one about space between female and male wizards at all time in the corridors.

Gay guys start openly making out in front of her, and when she changes it for males as well, girls rise to the uptake.

Eventually it gets to the point where she is docking thirty points, five for each couple, every time she walks down the hallway, and she takes that one down as well.

But nothing they do - only passive-aggressively, of course - makes her take down the others, and so they all suffer in not-so-silent silence about the endless waves of decrees she places against them.

If Cornelius Fudge wants any chance of surviving the next semester, he would take down this crazy lady, but he doesn't, and there are many people talking about forcing their parents not to vote for him.

But for the most part it doesn't affect him too much, at least until he makes a mistake.

She's had it out for him, he knows that. But the real truth of it comes one night as he lays in an alcove by the library, slowly reading through one more book about Transfigurations principles. It's Friday night so he doesn't have classes tomorrow and so he wants to get this last bit of studying in so he has tomorrow morning off before he tackles all of his essays and homework.

But the pillow beneath his back is so soothing and the light from outside gently trickles to dark and his eyes flicker shut.

He wakes to a stinging hex to his back.

He jerks awake only to see the smug face of Umbridge standing over him, brandishing a watch that shows it to be four minutes after his curfew ends.

She gives him three detentions and minus twenty points, which is harsh, extremely so. But there's no way he can fight so he just ducks his head, apologizes, and starts to put his books back.

There's definitely a disappointed expression on her face, like she wanted him to fight back. Well, he won't give her the satisfaction.

Unfair as it may be, he knows he'll only get much worse if he tries to get it better. So he doesn't bother and after getting clarification for when the detentions are and where they'll be held, he heads up to bed and collapses near instantly. Hermione gives him a dirty look in the morning but he explains and she softens.

Ron winces sympathetically but says at least it's over the weekend, though the one on Monday will suck. Two hours right before curfew.

He hopes it won't be as bad as Snape's, which is cleaning out his cauldrons or organizing his potion ingredients.

xXx

That night, he shows up five minutes early and gently knocks on her door. She lets him in and he's greeted with the sight of a desk, several sheets of parchment, and s single black quill.

Lines. He can do that, though with this hand already cramping from his essays. Though she only gave him a time instead of a sentence limit, so he can get away with doing it slower than normal.

He sits, she gives him the line - I will obey rules, really? - and then he picks up the quill, accepts her saying that the quill is enchanted, and begins to write.

His hand burns.

The words carve themselves over his knuckles, bright red and weeping fiercely. Blood drips from their scorched surface.

He gapes up at her but she simply smiles back, a fire flickering bright behind her eyes in a way neither warm nor comforting. It burns with a madness he cannot understand.

So he ducks his head and painstakingly writes out the line, slowly down stupidly slow with the line I'm just keeping my penmanship neat, ma'am on the tip of his tongue. But she says nothing and he leaves the detention.

And runs right to Hermione. He's not hiding this from her.

She casts a healing spell and drags him into his dorm, grabbing a container of Essence of murtlap to soak in. It helps so wonderfully but when she suggests going to a professor he stiffens.

Umbridge won't stop. He saw what was in her eyes and if he tells someone not only will he be under investigation, investigation that might find the wand, but she'll hit him twenty times harder for smaller reasons.

He reasons that it's only two more detentions and though she purses her lips, he explains some of his reasons and she accepts it, though the next morning the three of them talk about never getting a detention from her.

Not now, not ever, and definitely not when she's angry.

He goes to the next two detentions and gets healed after each one. Hermione looks angrier after each one but after they're done, he devotes all of his free time to avoiding the toad and doesn't get another detention. He even leaves the library twenty minutes earlier than he needs to to avoid something like that happening again.

Ron doesn't get any detentions after their little talk and Hermione is a professor's wet dream.

Sure, History of Magic is boring, but the class was boring before. With the research they do both in her class and out they hardly need the teacher standing in front of a classroom, blabbing on with words no one hears.

They'll make it through the year, and then he's free to go back to the island with Sirius and Remus where no one will bother him and then he can find the ring and everything will be perfect once again.

The real problem comes when she targets Remus.

xXx

He doesn't notice it at first, at least until rumors snap around the school and then everyone knows that Remus J. Lupin, their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, is a werewolf.

She sits during dinner with a smug expression while whispers fire across tables and through students' every waking moment.

That night, he stands in the Gryffindor commons and calls everyone to attention. His eyes flare with brilliant anger and even though some of his fellow students are prejudiced against werewolves they listen to him.

Because no matter how much he is quiet and calm and sky, he is bolstered by two Deathly Hallows and has faced down a grim's eyes and won. A toad will not be the one to defeat those he loves.

That night, he uses the cloak and sneaks into Remus' room. The man is halfway through packing when he busts down the door and stops him.

Remus doesn't quite trust him but he barely manages to convince the man to stay just one more day. Just give him one chance to try and fix this.

He then contacts Sirius through his fire and makes a man. He has never seen the Azkaban convict look more furious, even when he was facing down with Peter Pettigrew with a Kiss-on-Sight order on him.

There is death in his eyes and he loves it.

The next day, people pass a new decree that states that half-breeds are not allowed to teach at Hogwarts.

Gryffindors vibrate with self-righteous fury as they eat their breakfast. Remus still does not show up but Umbridge stares over them with victory in her eyes.

He will make it defeat.

Breakfast ends but they do not move, pulling out books from their backs and moving their plates to begin to read. Not a single Gryffindor gets up from their table even as a five-minute warning alarm rings over the school.

(It takes the twins to hold Percy between them but eventually he gives in. Others who were on the fence follow his example)

Umbridge marches up with all the subtlety of a charging bear and demands to know what they are doing. He stands up, the spokesperson of Gryffindor, and says that they will not accept anyone other than Professor Lupin teaching them Defense Against the Dark Arts.

She gives him a week's detention.

He ignores her and sits back down, flipping to the next page of his book. People follow him.

They stay there and it seems the house elves are on their side because their plates disappear and several large platters of light snacks appear in intervals down the table, along with pitchers of water and pumpkin juice. A few people test it and glasses appear if you request for one, and they are happy.

One of the most surprising things is that when he looks over, he sees a small group of Ravenclaws - perhaps five - that are sitting at their table with a platter and pitcher for them. Books are laid out in front of them and they study with a kind of anger only visible in the white of their knuckles on the table.

They are on strike as well.

He makes a split second decision and makes everyone stand up from the table. Harnessing Hermione, Ron, and the twins, he pushes their two tables together, rearranges the seats, and they all sit together.

He doesn't know the Ravenclaws that well - he's pretty sure one of them is Cho Chang - but they all nod to each other as they settle back into their books and essays and watch the hours flick by.

Lunch comes and students stop dead in the doorway, staring at the two tables pushed together with the students that couldn't have left during the entire day. A few Gryffindors get up and talk to every coming in, explaining what they are doing and how they get food and how it's for Professor Lupin.

Groups leave at once and come back with their bookbags.

The Hufflepuff table appears next to the Ravenclaws, and then they all sit.

Eventually all of the students are in the room and he feels a small tap on his shoulder. He barely avoids jumping and looks over to see Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, and a few other Slytherins he doesn't know.

They don't talk but then the Slytherin table is slowly pushed over to join their mass of students.

A few bigots, mainly from Slytherin, sit in the corner. Food appears for them and they jeer angrily at the rest of the students but most ignore them.

Umbridge shows up and screams with rage.

But perhaps the best thing is when Remus peeks his head into the Great Hall and sees the students. Everyone instantly perks up and then he is being pulled over to sit with them near the center of the table, boxed in by students who happily talk and chatter with their Defense Professor.

He looks so happy.

The bell rings and the only people that leave are the bigots and the ones heading up to retrieve bookbags and essays. Lupin hesitantly leaves even though they attempt to make him stay, and he exists with a shy smile on his face.

Time flies.

Umbridge comes back to sit in the room with the rest of their teachers because a grand total of seven students are showing up for their classes. She fires off detentions and takes away points and though some of them flinch, they do not move. Again he stands and repeats what he said before.

She does not accept it, so they go back to their studies.

McGonagall looks proud.

That night, at dinner, the doors burst open and Sirius Black marches into the room in full-on fancy robes that glimmer with his Black Family Crest. He goes straight up to Umbridge and demands to know why she is allowed to make laws to discriminate against the beloved of the Lord of House Black.

Then he grabs Remus and kisses him straight across the mouth.

The man resurfaces with an insane blush of his cheeks but he doesn't try and stop it, and the students ooh with excitement.

Umbridge turns not red, but a delightful shade of putrid purple he thought only belonged to Uncle Vernon.

Sirius says he will bring the full force of the House of Black against her if she does not repeal the law.

And then he explodes the decree as he walks out of the Great Hall to the student's cheers.

The next day, Remus is teaching again.

xXx

He wakes up two days later in the middle of night with something sharp fighting its way through his chest.

The cloak shrieks something in his mind but he shoves it away, because something is happening that will result in death if he does not stop it.

So he throws the much-too-hot cloak over his shoulders and runs through the halls. His feet slam into the ground and his breath burns in his throat but still he runs on through the silent halls of Hogwarts.

He ends up outside of Remus' office.

The door is cracked.

He bursts into the room with his wand drawn to find Umbridge standing over a collapsed Remus, wand tight in her hand.

It is firing a dark green spells that causes shrieks to rip themselves from Remus' throats, muffled through the spell over his face.

He curses her.

There are no words, no specified movements, no particular spell that races to his mind. Magic surges through his mind, through his magic, through his soul.

It flares with a silver light he recognizes from his Patronus and throws her across the room.

Ropes spring out next, wrapping around her form despite her closed eyes and lack of consciousness.

He runs to the fire, screams for Sirius, and then goes over to Remus. He gets rid of the silencing spell over his head and helps to his feet, legs shaky. Sirius bursts through the fireplace with his wand drawn and eyes wild.

His eyes narrow in on Remus and then he runs forward, scooping both of them up in an enormous hug. Tears stain his robes but they don't know who they come from.

They spend the night like that, Sirius cursing Umbridge into unconsciousness when she wakes again. Light trickles into the room again before they even move from their huddled position on the ground.

Sirius files a report.

xXx

The next day, Umbridge is fired and sent to Azkaban for use of an Unforgivable Curse - The Cruciatus. She is dragged away with shrieks and promises of vengeance and no one believes her as Sirius sends her off with narrowed eyes and whipthin smiles.

He wonders how long it will be until she shows up dead in Azkaban as well as Pettigrew. Sirius' ghosts grow.

xXx

He takes his OWLs with some stance of stunned concentration, though he knows he did at least well. It might not be the perfection that Hermione wants, but he'll take it over failing any day.

At the end of the school year, he goes home with Sirius and Remus. He sits them on his bed and pulls out the cloak from around his shoulders and the wand from his pocket and tells them everything.

Hey guys! Here's my next chapter!

No Voldemort, but some bonding with the wand and Sirius and Remus. I hope you guys like how I made everything turn out. I really like how this was focused more on his relationships with other people and not just the Hallows.

Also, I think I made Umbridge enough of a bitch. Proud of that.

But hey, how do you guys like my Wolfstar? Big-time shipper of it that's not going to die anytime soon and while it won't be a big focus on the plot I couldn't help but slip it in. Oops xD

But yeah! Short AN today. Just please enjoy this chapter and tell me what you want for the next one!

EDIT: Guys, I will give the story a rating if it becomes explicit. No need to worry.

Anyway! Please read and review!

Frost OUT!