A day later, the Daily Prophet ran a story on Umbridge which was very much awaited by the students. The Blood Quill was used by Gringott's goblins to verify a person's identity when they tried to access certain high security vaults, which did not have the provision of keys. Harry remembered upon reading this, that he had, in fact used a Blood Quill for a magical contract with Mundungus. The Blood Quill writes with the blood of the person holding it. Umbridge had used it on Malfoy to carve the words "I must respect my superiors" on the back of the hand. She was facing a minimum of four years in Azkaban. And it turned out that Umbridge had used the quill on other such students, including one Ernie Macmillan, who had cheekily pointed out that she was in violation of one of her own decrees. Four students in total, had suffered the quill. None of the students were an Occlumens, and so the evidence given by them under Veritaserum would be final,which they gladly provided. Harry did not feel sorry that his actions had caused hurt to Malfoy, even though he knew that he was supposed to. McGonagall was furious when she learned that two of the four students were Gryffindors. Well, she was a little hurt by the fact that they had not confided in her.

Ron's rook savagely decapitated Harry's queen. A satisfied expression appeared in Ron's face, while a disgusted grimace appeared in Hemione's. Harry wondered if Ron had ever lost at chess. Except Bill, neither of his siblings were good at it.

"So, Harry, how are the Occlumency lessons coming along?", asked Hermione after sitting down on a sofa in the Common Room. "Crappy as usual. Snape simply tells me to clear my mind,and then casts Legilimens."

"The books basically say 'Clear your mind'. Occlumency requires a great deal of self deception ability. I don't have the aptitude for that. My genetically acquired magic skills are limited to Charms and Flying. Parseltongue too, I guess."

"Then why don't you simply learn more spells Harry?", said Hermione.

"Its not as simple as that. Whenever you try a spell that is too advanced for your magical level, you'll get a sharp pain in your spine or in your head. It is an indication; a warning that you are not yet ready for such magic. Once it happens, you should refrain from using heavy magic for atleast a week. You should not attempt that spell until you are ready. If this precaution is not observed, your magical growth will be stunted. This is also the reason, why witches and wizards are not provided with wands, until the age of twelve." said Ron, unexpectedly.

Hermione was stunned. Thank God she knew this now, otherwise she would have made a fatal mistake.

After a particularly uninteresting Occlumency session with Snape, Harry went out of the Snape's classroom without ado. Walking a few paces, going straight to the restroom, he shut the door. Behind him, Dobby shimmered into visibility. He handed the cloak to Harry and disappeared with a loud pop. As of now, Harry's special memories alone were being protected by Dobby during the Occlumency lessons. If Dobby shielded Harry's mind completely, Snape would immediately latch onto his case suspiciously. At the same time, Dobby would become exhausted immediately if he shielded everything, and Harry would be left defenseless when Dobby was down. Dobby had asserted that legilimency worked on house elves too. But they were putting their hopes in the fact that wizards rarely performed legilimency on house elves.

Meanwhile, it was temporarily announced that Flitwick was going to teach defense for the rest of the remaining academic year. With Umbridge gone, the ministry's hold on Hogwarts was gone. Dumbledore, it seemed had explained the DADA curse to Fudge, and Fudge had understood. Unknown to anyone, Dumbledore openly stated to Fudge that he didn't need an army to overthrow the Ministry. When Fudge didn't respond, he made a display of magic, which went a long way in acceptance and understanding.

Harry and Dumbledore hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the forest floor. He seemed to be unconscious. There was no sign at all of Mr. Crouch. Dumbledore bent over Krum and gently lifted one of his eyelids.

"Stunned," he said softly. His half-moon glasses glittered in the wandlight as he peered around at the surrounding trees.

"Should I go and get someone?" said Harry. "Madam Pomfrey?"

"No," said Dumbledore swiftly. "Stay here."

He raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. Harry saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away through the trees like a ghostly bird. Then Dumbledore bent over Krum again, pointed his wand at him, and muttered, "Ennervate." The sound of thunderous footfalls reached them, and Hagrid came panting into sight with Fang at his heels. He was carrying his crossbow

Harry came out of the pensieve. His past years at Hogwarts were filled with clues that he hadn't yet picked up on. Well, one more clue. The memory clearly implied that a patronus could be used to send a swift message, regardless of distance and location. It was a very secure form of communication, he realized. Patronus messages could not be faked. Sirius had implied about this talking patronus. Even if two people had the same patronus (lovers), the voice of the guardian totem would give away the identity of the person. And Harry was only realizing now, how Sirius had survived twelve years of Azkaban without becoming like the Longbottoms. It wasn't just his knowledge of his innocence. It was Sirius' realization that he still had someone to protect. Sirius had gone into shock after James' death. Sirius must have realized that he had someone to protect from Pettigrew. That someone was Harry…He deduced that the will to protect had protected Sirius from going insane. And Dumbledore's patronus looked like Fawkes… his phoenix. That gave him one more thing to do: Learn to use the patronus form of communication.

So, he walked down the marble staircases, went to the fourth floor corridor. From, there he went to the Owlery, after passing Flitwick's office. After retrieving Hedwig from the circular room, Harry Disillusioned her, took her and began walking downstairs. Disillusioning a single person was quite taxing, therefore he was visible. He walked to the Room of Requirement, after walking past the wall three times an asking for a place to perform spells. Inside the room, Harry stood far away from Hedwig. For some reason, he wanted Hedwig to test it with. He thought of Sirius alive and well, twirled his wand and spoke the incantation Expecto Patronum. A brilliant silver stag burst forth from his wand and looked at him, the mere gesture awakening Harry in ways that could not be described in words. Whatever people may say about Harry's achievements, there was no doubt in his mind that being able to cast the guardian charm was his greatest achievement. He whispered because he felt like it. "Tell Hedwig that I am fine". The stag made a questioning gesture. Harry didn't know the next step. He would have to try something else. So, Harry wanted, and willed Hedwig to know the thought which helped him to cast the Patronus. Harry wanted Hedwig to know that he had Sirius to live for. It worked. The stag bounded towards Hedwig and spoke in his voice, "Harry is fine", and stayed until Harry vanished it.

Harry broke the news of this achievement to Ron and Hermione, and demonstrated it when they were alone. To say Ron and Hermione were impressed was an understatement. Ron was already capable of casting a Patronus…a Jack Russell Terrier. Hermione was yet to cast a corporeal one. Ron and Hermione now had yet another spell to show the D.A.

Once the excitement died down, Harry said "I need your help on a small financial project"

AN: I made mistake in the chapter 4. The Confundus Charm is not a low-powered Imperious curse, as I had mistakenly portrayed it. It is used to affix a false fact or an idea in the mind of a person, and to make them believe it. The mistake has been corrected. Instead of 'put him in detention'; 'He must be put in detention'