A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this story! Ooops.

Monday afternoon at four o'clock Hermione reported to the once empty classroom that would now be her office. The books were, to her dismay, stacked in piles, in boxes or shoved onto mostly empty shelves. She would have her work cut out for her.

"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," Umbridge said in her sickly sweet voice.

"Good afternoon, Professor," Hermione replied.

"Mr. Filch has brought all the books down for you. When students bring in teachers notes for books, you have to be the one to get the books. Take down the necessary information in this ledger," Umbridge said, pulling a plain ledger from her pink fluffy bag.

"Okay. Now, I'm assuming that when I'm not here the room will be locked. How do I lock and unlock it?" Hermione asked.

"Ah, yes. It's a clever little trick the Minister came up with. You are not to tell any of the staff or any other teachers the password or how to get in."

"Okay."

"When you leave just tap your wand on the doorknob and say "infragilis signum." When you return to work, tap the doorknob and say "effrego infragilis signum." With that, Umbridge giggled her evil sounding giggle that left Hermione somewhat concerned for the state of the world.

"Anything else?"

"Here is a spell that the Minister has had located for you to verify the authenticity of the notes. If you have any questions or problems, my office is always open," Umbridge said. She handed Hermione a piece of parchment with an incantation on it and left, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Hermione surveyed the room. In one corner there was a teacher's desk and chair. Most of the room was filled with bookshelves. The back wall was mostly windows that offered a nice view of the grounds.

Hermione set her book bag down by the door and began to rearrange the room. She levitated all the bookshelves and books and boxes of books against the wall and placed the desk in the center of the half of the room closest to the door. Then she began moving bookshelves into rows so she could organize the books.

Several hours later Harry and Ron entered the room.

"Hey Hermione, what are you doing working for the toad!" Ron exclaimed.

"Boys, I'm really kind of busy right now, can we talk later?" Hermione said.

"No! This is crazy. What the bloody hell are you doing?" Ron continued.

"Look, I need to organize these books. If you don't want to be put to work, I'd suggest leaving. Besides, it's almost time for dinner," Hermione argued.

At this Ron grudgingly agreed to follow Harry down to dinner and discuss the new development afterward.

"See you later, Hermione," Harry said, pulling Ron out of the room.

Hermione sighed in relief when they left. They could have blown her cover. Knowing the Ministry, the room was probably bugged. She looked around the room and decided that for the most part she was happy with the set up. The back half of the room was filled with rows of bookshelves with an aisle down the center so the windows let in some light. With that, Hermione grabbed her book bag and tapped the doorknob while saying the incantation "infragilis signum."

Then she headed to the Great Hall to join Harry and Ron for dinner. The boys were too busy inhaling food to talk, which Hermione was grateful for, because it wasn't a conversation to have in the Great Hall.

They headed up to the tower together after dinner. Once in the relative safety of the Common Room, Hermione began to explain to the boys that she was following McGonagall's orders and that what she was doing was going to help them in the war that was to come.

"Still don't see why you want to spend extra time with the toad though," Ron said.

"I don't. Most of the time it'll just be me and the books. Can't you understand though, it doesn't matter whether I want to do it or not. I have to. It's for the war."

"You could've said no," Ron said.

"No, actually Ronald, I couldn't. It's not that simple anymore. We aren't our own people anymore. Our goals are ones that benefit the group. We're the pawns on the chessboard under control of the king and queen. We do what they say or we sacrifice the entire game."

"But it's not a game."

"Certainly not. That was a metaphor Ron. It was supposed to make it easier for you to understand by comparing the war to something else."

"A meta-what?"

"Metaphor. McGonagall and Dumbledore are the king and queen. We are the pawns. We do what they say and we might win the war. If we don't, we'll definitely lose."

"Wait, Dumbledore and McGonagall are married?" Ron exclaimed. Harry shook his head in amusement.

"NO! Honestly Ronald. I tried to explain this to you, and you pick up on something that isn't even true," Hermione said.

"It's okay, 'Mione. I get it. Actually, that metaphor works really well. I don't like what you have to do, but it could be worse, and you're right, we have to make sacrifices," Harry said.

"Some mate you are, Harry, siding with her."

"I'm not 'siding with her' as you put it Ron. She's right. The sooner you figure that out, the easier things will be," Harry said.

"Now, you two can't tell anyone about this. And don't talk about it in the book room or around other people. Actually, to be safe, just don't talk about it," Hermione said.

With that, she left the boys to do their homework and headed to the library and the relative quiet that it provided. Camped out at her usual table with all her homework she began to work.

Tuesday afternoon, Hermione made sure all the homework that had been assigned was completed, even the things that weren't due for days. Until she finished organizing the book room her homework time on those days would be significantly decreased.

By Wednesday, Hermione was itching for time away from the boys so she could just think. The injustice of the entire defense situation was overwhelming.

Hermione headed to the book room at ten minutes to four and tapped the doorknob after saying, "effrego infragilis signum." She set her bookbag down on her desk and set to work shelving the books. She used the same organization system that the school library used so she would know where all the books were and be able to find them quickly.

By the next week she had had several frustrated students show up with authentic notes for books. She had also finished organizing all the books.

Two seventh years tried to forge teacher notes, and thanks to the spell that Hermione had to use on all the notes, they were given detention and had points deducted. After that Hermione didn't find more than a few scattered forgeries.

One day after dinner, Hermione headed up to Umbridge's office and knocked.

"Come in."

"Good evening, Professor," Hermione said.

"Miss Granger. Is there a problem with the book room?"

"No, ma'am. I was just wondering, well, you know how serious I am about my studies. I was just wondering if I could use the room to study after dinner and on off days."

Umbridge looked at her suspiciously.

"Our common room isn't a very good studying environment for me. Lots of kids can talk while studying, but I find it too distracting. I just thought it would be easier if I could study in the book room instead of wasting time going all the way to the library without need."

"I see. Yes, given that it's you, Miss Granger, I suppose I can allow that."

"Thank you Professor. I'll let you get back to work now," Hermione said. Umbridge didn't even acknowledge her departure from her office.

A/N: Next chapter will give Snape reason to be jealous, I promise!