This is my first published story, so if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism they are extremely welcome! Enjoy!

As the beautiful early-summer sun set over Scotland, the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was packed with students, just as every other day during the school year. Yet, as the golden trio entered the hall, they immediately realized that this feast was going to be different than the rest. Looking over at the staff table, there were only two actual staff members there. Argus Filch, the caretaker, sat on one far end of the table with a devilish grin on his face. Meanwhile, the recently-appointed new Headmistress, Dolores Umbridge, sat directly in the center of the table with an eerily similar predatory smile. On her right side was an Auror, one that Harry recognized as John Dawlish, while there were two other Aurors seated on her left side.

Harry was awoken from his musings though when Hermione leaned into him, whispering hurriedly, "Harry, where are the teachers? Also, look over at the Slytherin table, the only ones there are those who are part of the inquisitorial squad. Where's the rest of Slytherin?"

He looked at the Slytherin table to see Hermione's observation was indeed correct; there was only a group of 10 Slytherins sitting at their house table. As the trio sat down at the Gryffindor table, he responded, "I don't know Hermione…but I have a terrible feeling about this."

Looking at his housemates, he realized Fred and George were still not there. "Has anyone seen Fred or George?" he asked, while Ron listened intently.

"No mate, nobody's seen either of them since Umbridge ordered them to her office," Dean responded grimly. "Hell of an amazing thing they did though, I just hope Umbridge won't be too hard on them."

"Tough chance of that," Harry muttered under his breath. Earlier that day, Fred and George had decided to make a spectacle of the end of their academic career by unleashing all their pranks at once during the exams. Unfortunately, since the whole school was constantly undermining Umbridge's authority, she had gotten herself two Auror bodyguards to protect her. When Fred and George were making their final fly-by on their brooms, the Aurors had stunned the two pranksters. They were ordered to Umbridge's office, and nobody had heard of them since.

"Do you think that's what this is about?" Ron asked through a mouthful of chicken.

"It must be, the timing would be too much of a coincidence," Hermione answered. "What worries me is the extra Aurors…and it is simply unheard of to not have the teachers at feast, let alone nearly a whole house!"

Just as she finished, Umbridge stood up to address the hall. "My dear students, please enjoy your meal, best eat quickly, because after the feast, we will have a whole lot to discuss…and witness!" she concluded with a chuckle.

Across the Great Hall, Malfoy's smirk widened, and Harry immediately knew this was not going to be good.

15 minutes later, Umbridge called the meal to an end and asked for the students' attention. "In the past few months, there have been endless shenanigans conducted from those within the three houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. I hope in the future these houses will follow the example set by the noble House of Slytherin. Starting from now, all subversive actions will be severely and deservedly punished, as they are considered to be undertaken in an effort to undermine my headship of this school, and by extension, the Ministry itself."

"You have all undoubtedly witnessed the actions of Fred and George Weasley today during the exams. Such behavior is unacceptable and inexcusable. They deserved to be punished, and you will all witness the punishment so that you will learn to behave." With this she whispered something to the two Aurors on her left, and the vanished, only to be back a few seconds later with Fred and George, wearing magic suppression handcuffs.

Beside Harry, Ron went stiff. "Ron, calm yourself, I promise I won't let anything happen to them but if you just jump at the toad right now, it won't help."

Hesitantly, Ron gave a nod, while Harry could see Hermione was having a similar conversation with Ginny on his other side. Angelina and Alicia looked murderous, while most of the rest of the hall was in shock. Harry didn't believe he had ever heard such a deafening silence at a feast since the day of his sorting. Of course, the Inquisitorial Squad Members merely grinned.

Fumbling his hand into his pocket, he found his galleon, and an idea popped into his mind.

"Hermione, do all the DA members still have their galleons?" he whispered.

"Yes, Harry, I believe they do…Harry what are you planning?"

"Nothing…yet," he responded. With his wand tucked discreetly up the sleeve of his robe, he tapped the galleon and muttered a message. He felt his galleon heat up as a message appeared on it. Hold off but be ready – Harry. From all three house tables, he saw DA members look at their robes in a moment of shock, before reading the messages on the coins under the table. Most then turned towards Harry and gave him a little nod. After a moment, Angelina and Alicia turned to look at him in understanding, appearing much calmer.

Umbridge continued in her ear-wrenching screech, "Children, for years now, Mr. Filch has called for corporal punishment because detention simply isn't enough to deter those who deserve to be punished. I, in support of the old traditions, completely agree with him. The times when such punishment was allowed were certainly the most peaceful in the History of Hogwarts. So, from now on this will be the punishment handed out in detentions. Attention here please!"

With that, she transfigured a quill into a whip and handed it to Filch, who had a predatory grin on his face Harry had never seen before. The hall was speechless in horror at the scene unfolding in front of them. Harry had seen enough, he couldn't let this go on. But on the other hand, what if the whole DA suffered the same fate, and that just because Harry doomed them?

Looking around, he saw most Gryffindors looking at him expectantly. Looking around to other house tables, his eyes caught Susan's who gave him an eye gesture as if to urge him on. Still unsure of himself, he let his sight wander past the Hufflepuffs to the Ravenclaw table where he was met Luna's eyes boring into his. At this, she looked up into the ceiling, her eyes unfocused, before she broke the silence of the hall by declaring: "There's no time like now."

Umbridge looked at her strangely, but must've dismissed her words as Loony being Loony, as many others did. Her words gave Harry the last needed push though, as he sent out a message through the charmed galleons. Everybody wait on my cue. On my cue, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, you will stun and petrify the Slytherins – you're closest. Gryffindors, we've got the rest. Ron stun Filch, everyone Focus on the three Aurors. Umbridge is mine. He saw the DA members give small nods at him as they turned their attention towards their allocated targets.

Ron looked at him scandalously and whispered "Filch! Really Harry, you assign me a squib as a target?"

Taking a moment to sigh, Harry responded, "Ron think, someone has to take him out, and once he's down you'll be able to help me with Umbridge."

"Oh okay, sorry mate," he said apologetically.

Seeing that everyone was aware of the plan, Harry abruptly stood up and yelled "NOW!" before starting to cast. He saw Umbridge's face contort in shock just before he fired a "Petrificus Totalus!" followed by a "Stupefy!" directly at her. The spells didn't connect though, as Umbridge was physically pushed out of her seat by Auror Dawlish, who narrowly avoided being hit by the spells himself.

At the Slytherin table, most of the Inquisitorial Squad members were not ready at all, and all but three of them were stunned and bound by the first set of spells. Only Malfoy, Parkinson, and Nott were able to dodge at the last second. The three of them weren't bad duelers, but the combination of an overwhelming number disadvantage and shock of the attack meant they were out in a few dozen seconds.

Meanwhile, Ron had stunned Filch and had turned his attention to Umbridge, who had taken cover under the staff table. The Aurors put up shields and were deflecting spells from the DA while barely holding on against the groups of three to four Gryffindors that were firing at each of their shield charms. Harry fired a quick Reducto at the teachers table, blowing Umbridge's cover to smithereens. He then fired a blasting curse at her shield, which destroyed it with the sheer power of his curse, not that Umbridge's shield was that strong in the first place.

"Stupefy, Incarcerous!" Ron yelled beside him just as Umbridge's shield fell, and both spells connected.

Beside them, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville were firing spells at Auror Dawlish furiously, and Hermione hit him with an Expelliarmus, which was followed up by Neville's Stupefy, taking the arrogant Auror out. As the five Gryffindors turned on the remaining two Aurors, they also fell quickly to the combined spell power of 13 Gryffindors.

The whole fight was over in less than a minute as the rest of the three houses looked on in shock and awe. A few of the older years from the houses had joined the DA's attack as well. Fred and George were cheering on throughout the attack, whooping when each of the DA's targets fell.

I hope you enjoyed this, there will be more to come soon!