The featured/main articles in the January issue of The Quibbler were of the wedding. It went into some detail over the wedding customs of wizarding Japan so that its readers wouldn't wonder over certain parts of the ceremony or the outfits of the female members of the wedding party. Four entire pages were devoted to photos of the wedding and reception, though none of them showed any members of the Order of the Phoenix other than those that either Sirius or Minister Kishi were known to be friends or on friendly terms with. The fact that The Quibbler had been asked to print the article rather than the Daily Prophet was quite telling, and the subject of speculation as people wondered if the smear campaign against Dumbledore, and originally James and Kyle, had something to do with it.

School resumed, and James spent his weekly potions session with Professor Snape, not brewing any potions, but instead practicing Occlumency. James braced himself, trying to empty his mind of thought, but before he could do so, Snape had raised his wand and said, "Legilimens."

Image after image raced through James's mind. He was five and meeting Kyle for the first time, the latter crying because he missed his parents, and James was comforting him... Now he was seven, and was dressed as Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Halloween... He and Mari were visiting Kyle and explaining to him how he was really Harry Potter and wanted it kept a secret... A Dementor was on the train, looking for Peter Pettigrew, and James heard a scream...

At that point, he had enough. With a great effort of will, he envisioned a rubber shield, and envisioned someone being bounced off when they tried to penetrate it. Right after that, he felt a sharp pain in his knee. Snape's office had come back into view and he realized that he had collided painfully with the leg of Snape's desk. James looked up at Snape, who had lowered his wand wand was rubbing his wrist. There was an angry weal there, like a scorch mark.

"Did you mean to produce a Stinging Hex when you were attempting to block me from your mind, Mr. Lydell?" asked Snape.

"No, Professor," replied James, getting to his feet. "I was just envisioning an elastic shield around my mind, forcing those that tried to get through the shield to be bounced off."

"I see. You let me get in too far, and when you tried to stop me, you lost control."

"Did you see everything I saw?" James had hesitantly.

"Flashes of it," Snape said curtly. "I suppose one of them was a Halloween memory? Why were you costumed as a turtle?"

"It's a Muggle comic, and later television show, about four turtles and a rat that were mutated to be the size of a human. The rat was once the pet of a Japanese martial artist, and learned the moves from observing his master. The rat, Splinter, goes on to teach the four turtles, which he names after Renaissance artists, and they use their abilities to fight bad guys. I liked the Ninja Turtles so much back then that I decided to dress up as one."

Snape nodded. "It would have sufficed to simply say that the turtle was a character in a Muggle comic and show, without having to go into detail, Mr. Lydell. Anyway, for a first attempt with someone actively using Legilimency against you, it was not as poor as it might have been. Recall what you have read on Occlumency and focus on clearing your mind, letting go of all emotion."

James attempted to do so, going into his meditative state. After an hour, he had managed to block out Snape by envisioning a protective bubble, though it only lasted for about ten seconds before the 'bubble' broke and he started remembering the night Voldemort returned to power.

"That was much better, Mr. Lydell," said Snape. "However, your 'shield' only kept me out for a few seconds. You will need to work on making it stronger and keeping me out for much longer. Continue practice clearing your mind, and I will test you next week after our brewing session."

"I will, Professor. Thanks for the Occlumency lesson." James left the office and headed for the Room of Requirement, where the DA was doing their homework. His scar, currently on his upper left arm, was stinging, and he wondered why his dreams of the corridor he now knew to lead to the Department of Mysteries would show up in one memories Snape had accessed.

Once among his friends, James moved his scar to its original place and told them how the Occlumency session went. "Professor Snape told me to continue practicing, and we'd try again after our brewing session next week," he concluded. "But now my scar hurts, and I'm starting to feel about as sick as I did that night when I had the vision of Riddle's snake in the Ministry."

A bed appeared and Daphne steered him to it, saying firmly, "You should lie down, James, if you're feeling this way."

Luna summoned Dobby, and said, "Could you please get a mug of hot chocolate, Dobby? James isn't feeling well." The elf returned a minute later, not only with the hot chocolate, but also a healing potion for headaches and a cool towel.

"Thank you, Dobby," said James. He downed the potion with a grimace at the taste, and then sipped at the hot chocolate. When he finished, Luna placed the cool towel on his forehead and sat down next to him.

All of a sudden, despite the potion he had taken, he experienced a pain so severe that he thought that someone must have sliced into the top of his head. Maniacal laughter was ringing in his ears... He was happier than he had been in a very long time... Jubilant, ecstatic, triumphant... A wonderful, wonderful thing had happened.

"James? JAMES!"

Someone had hit him around the face. The insane laughter was punctuated with a cry of pain. The happiness was draining out of him, but the laughter continued... He opened his eyes and as he did so, he became aware that the wild laughter was coming out of his own mouth. The moment he realized this, it died away' James lay panting on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, the scar on his forehead throbbing painfully. Luna, Mari, and Kyle were bending over him, looking very worried, and the rest of the DA was gathered around them, looking similarly worried.

"What happened, James?" asked Colin.

"I don't... know," James gasped, sitting up. "Riddle's really happy, though."

"That's not good," said Blaise. "If he's really happy, then something bad has happened for the good side. Maybe he succeeded at getting whatever he wanted from the Department of Mysteries."

"I don't think so," argued Padma. "After what happened to his snake, he won't be trying again in a hurry. It must be something else."

"I agree," said James weakly. "It wouldn't make Riddle the happiest he's been in fourteen years."

"Well, we'll find out soon what it is," said Luna philosophically. "James, just lie back down and get some rest. Dad says that the special edition of The Quibbler with your interview in it will be out tomorrow."

"That's good," James said. He shut his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

The very next morning, the DA found out exactly what Voldemort was so happy about. When the Daily Prophet arrived, those that had a subscription smoothed it out, gazed for a moment at the front page, and then let out yelps or shrieks that caused those around them to stare.

Neville, who was sitting next to Hermione, took one look at her spread out newspaper and exclaimed, "There's a mass breakout from Azkaban? And she's one of them?!If I ever run into her, I swear I'll avenge my parents."

"Bellatrix Lestrange has escaped?!" Astoria yelped. "No wonder Riddle was so happy last night. He got a whole bunch of Death Eaters out from Azkaban." Those in the DA that didn't get the paper gathered around those who did so they could read article and see the photographs of the nine wizards and one witch that had broken out.

"I don't believe this," snarled Seamus. "Fudge is actually blaming the breakout on Peter Pettigrew? Okay, he might have helped, but Riddle is main one that's behind it!"

"What other options that Fudge have?" asked Hermione bitterly. "He can hardly say, 'Sorry, everyone, Dumbledore warned me that this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort and now Voldemorts' most loyal supporters have broken out too. I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone that Dumbledore's a liar, and included James, Kyle, and Sirius in it until it got out that Sirius was marrying Minister Kishi."

At that point, an owl landed in front of James, which turned out to be delivering his copy of the special edition of The Quibbler. As at least half of the DA also had subscriptions to the magazine, they also received copies. As it turned out, James was not the only one that had been interviewed, for Mari and Kyle had also been present that night and Ms. Motomiya had spoken with them after she had finished with James. She had also gotten comments from some of the other members of the DA and included them as well.

"This could not have had better timing," said Mari in satisfaction, looking over the article. "It will give people something to think about, since the article on the breakout was full of holes." She handed her copy to Dennis Creevy, who had gotten up and was now whispering urgently with his brother Colin about the breakout.

The younger members of Unity were also discussing the breakout, since a few of them also had subscriptions to the Daily Prophet. None of them had subscriptions to The Quibbler, so some of the DA lent them their copies to read. They believed that Voldemort had returned, and James, Mari, and Kyle had told them the bare bones of what happened that night. They didn't know the full story, however, so avidly read the article on the interviews and discussed this throughout the rest of breakfast.

News of the mass breakout spread throughout Hogwarts for the rest of the day. Those from wizarding families had grown up hearing the names of the escaped Death Eaters spoken with almost as much fear as Voldemort's. Relatives of the victims among the student body found themselves the unwilling objects of a gruesome sort of reflected fame as they walked the corridors. Those not in the DA whispered about Neville and what happened to his parents, and when it got out that Fabian and Gideon Prewett were Molly Weasley's brothers, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George were whispered about as well. Susan, who had an uncle, aunt, and cousins that had all died at the hands of one of ten, remarked during the DA's homework session that she now had an even better understanding as to why James kept the fact that he was Harry Potter secret.

"And even as James Lydell-Black you're still the subject of attention," she said bluntly. "It'd be ten times worse if people knew who you really were. I don't know how you can possibly stand the amount of attention you're getting now."

The following morning, an entire flock of owls arrived for the DA, though a good portion were for James, Kyle, and Mari, at mail time, all delivering letters from readers. A few were still convinced that they were making things up or were crazy, but the rest said that they believed the trio, or in the case of two or three, didn't think they were mad, but didn't really want to believe You-Know-Who was back, and so didn't know what to think now.

The group was still opening letters when Umbridge appeared. "What is going on here?" she asked in a falsely sweet, girlish voice.

"We're opening our mail, Professor," snapped Keiko. "Or is it a crime now to get mail? Did you manage to get another Educational Decree passed that's against it?"

"Be careful, Miss Satou, or I shall speak with your Deputy Headmaster about putting you in detention. Well? Why have you all gotten so many letters?"

"People have written us because of an interview James, Mari, and I gave," answered Kyle. "About what happened to us in last June."

"An interview?" repeated Umbridge, her voice thinner and higher than ever. "What do you mean?"

"I mean a reporter asked us questions and we answered them," said Kyle. "Here." He thrust at her his copy of The Quibbler.

She caught it and stared down at the cover. "When did you do this?" she demanded, her voice trembling slightly.

"At the wedding," said Mari. "Or to be precise, towards the end of the reception. Ms. Motomiya, who is a friend of Minister Kishi and reporting on the wedding for the Japanese wizarding newspaper, conducted the interview. Minister Kishi feels that it's high time that the public knew the events of what really happened that night in June."

"And we agree," added Theo. "Some of the rest of us spoke with Ms. Motomiya also. I told her about my ex-father being a Death Eater and wanting to recruit me so I could tell Voldemort all of James's secrets and stuff before I ran away to avoid that."

Umbridge looked around at the DA, incandescent with rage, the magazine shaking in her stubby fingers. "There will be no more interviews with reporters," she whispered. "How you dare... how you could..." She took a deep breath. "I have tried again and again to teach you all not to tell lies. You clearly have not learned. Five points from all of you, except the Japanese members. That should be around two hundred fifty points from Unity. Mr. Nott, you have a week's worth of detention. When I look through this article and find out who also spoke with the reporter, they will have detentions as well. The exchange students, you can speak with your Deputy Headmaster regarding any punishment."

She stalked away, clutching The Quibbler to her chest, the eyes of many students following her. By the time breakfast ended, everyone had noticed that Unity's hourglass marking its points was less two hundred sixty amethysts in the lower bulb, leaving it with only a handful left. Nobody in Unity particularly cared, feeling that the article had been worth it.

Later in the morning, large signs had been put up all throughout the school, stating that in accordance with Educational Decree Number 27, any student in possession of The Quibbler would be expelled. Of course, banning the magazine only served to make sure that everyone would read the interviews. Students outside of Unity whispered about the article and many seemed to be rethinking things, wondering if perhaps James and Kyle weren't attention-seeking liars after all and that Voldemort really was back.

Due to Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six, which forbade teachers from giving students any information not on the subject they were paid to teach, the teachers couldn't mention the interviews, but they found their way to express their feelings all the same. Professor Sprout awarded Unity twenty points when James passed her a watering can in Herbology. Professor McGonagall awarded Mari and Hermione forty points each when they were the first to Vanish their iguanas. Several other teachers awarded large amount of points as well. Professor Trelawney didn't, but Lavender and Parvati reported that during their Divination class, she predicted that James would have a long life and become Minister of Magic, while the rest of the DA would also be successful and do well in life.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, but especially the former, were very upset, for their fathers had been named as Death Eaters. They glared at the Unity table all throughout dinner. "And the best part is," Tracey whispered gleefully, "is that they can't contradict you, for that would mean admitting they read the article! And if they did that, Umbridge would try to expel them."

Luna reported that no copy of The Quibbler had ever sold out faster, and that her father was reprinting. "That's wonderful, Luna," said James, grinning.

After dinner, half of the DA headed off to do their detentions.