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Chapter Twenty Seven: H.A.T.E:

It was a slightly brisk February day in a wooded area slightly outside of the state of New York and a bit of a ways into Canada. It was about a week in and a half after Ginny Weasley, Hailey Potter, and Harry Potter had been forced to flee from Magical Britain to avoid being unreasonably arrested by the new Minister of Magic Lucius Malfoy and the Aurors. Looking back, that event was quite the narrow escape and Harry felt without question they were very lucky to avoid being sent to Azkaban.

Not much had occurred over the past ten or so days, except for the mysterious new legislation that the Board of Governors was reviewing that would alter the house system at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Try as he might, Harry couldn’t find many details from his Ministry spies, as Malfoy seemed to be doing his best to keep any news coming out of his office very vague and left to a wide variety of interpretation. Whatever this legislation was, Harry doubted that it would benefit anyone in the long run except for Lord Voldemort and maybe a few of his Death Eaters. Harry couldn’t take any action due to the absolute lack of information and thus any plans to clear his, Ginny, and Hailey’s names stricken from the Ministry of Magic’s most wanted fugitive list.

Until that moment could happen, Harry decided to redouble his efforts in helping Ginny and Hailey become more advanced in the fields of magic and ninjitsu. Harry really wanted to focus on ninjitsu, as when they were at Hogwarts, he didn’t have much time to continue the training of both of the girls in that field. His aim was to get both of them to the point where they were able to adequately defend themselves should he not be present. Harry felt they were nearly there on the magical level but with ninjitsu, they would get creamed by the likes of the Foot in hardly any time. Of course Harry didn’t explain it to them in those exact words, but he did strongly suggest that they make the most of the use of the time while they were forced from magical Britain.

Harry levitated the box of enchanted arrows along with the box of apples with his wand as Hailey and Ginny watched, with crossbows in their hand, ready to begin with what Harry had set for them to do today. As it turned out, they were joined by Raph and Mikey, who eagerly seized the opportunity to venture outside the lair and get a bit of fresh air when it presented himself.

“So, do you know what Harry’s going to have us do today?” asked Ginny but Hailey just shrugged her shoulders, looking as curious as Ginny did.

“We really don’t have a clue either, but Harry did say that he needed us to assist with a demonstration or something,” said Raph. “Of course, since Mikey’s here, I kind of figure it’s a demonstration of the dangers of goofing off in a dangerous situation. He tends to be a bit of an expert on that.”

“Very funny Raph,” retorted Mikey in a dry, sarcastic tone of voice, but in a rare occurrence, his mind seemed to be on the task at hand.

Harry calmly set the two boxes down on the ground before he walked towards a nearby tree. With a slashing motion from his wand, Harry carved a large, growing red “x” in the middle of the tree.

“Now that everything is ready, we can proceed with your lesson,” said Harry as he nodded to Ginny and Hailey as they held their crossbows eagerly before he turned his attention to Mikey and Raph. “Now I need one of you to stand with your shell to that tree and place your head exactly where I’ve marked that x”

Mikey and Raph exchanged a slightly apprehensive look but Mikey edged his way towards the tree cautiously and did what Harry had asked. Harry walked over and used his wand to levitate an apple into the air. With a slow and steady motion, Harry perfectly balanced the apple on top of Mikey’s head. The second Harry completed this action; Mikey’s face wore a combination of curiosity and apprehension.

“Uh Harry,” started Mikey but Harry shook his head and Mikey snapped his mouth shut. Harry proceeded to wave his wand, which conjured a third crossbow and then turned to Hailey and Ginny.

“This exercise is to test your skill and accuracy, not to mention your speed” explained Harry. The intended aim is that you will be able to hit an intended target completely successfully without any mistakes as promptly as possible. Now, while I don’t expect you to be the best, I do hope you take your best and most accurate shot. In time, you two might find that you will become a master at this skill.”

Hailey and Ginny both nodded, taking in Harry’s every word but Hailey had a bit of a look of confusion on her face.

“Harry, how exactly does an apple balanced on Mikey’s head accomplish anything other then making him look like a total doofus?” asked Hailey.

“Even more so then usual?” asked Raph with a smirk which caused Mikey to shoot him an incredulous look.

“Patience Hailey, we’re getting there,” said Harry coolly as he looked at Mikey who looked as if he was straining to remain still. “Now, Raph, take one of those crossbows and one of the arrows out of that box if you would.”

Raph wasted little time doing as Harry had asked and he loaded up the cross bow with one of the arrows.

“Now, shoot the arrow at the intended target,” continued Harry, as he pointed out at the apple on Mikey’s head.

“This is perfectly safe, right Harry?” asked Mikey.

“Of course it is, as long as you don’t move,” said Harry in a bored tone of voice. Harry did in fact take precautions in enchanting the arrows so they couldn’t seriously injure anything living.

“I just don’t want the arrow missing the apple and turning my brain into apple sauce,” said Mikey in a panicky voice.

“Don’t worry, I think the apple is a much larger target then your brain,” said Raph. “Besides, I doubt it will do much damage anyway if that particular body part was hit.”

“For your information Raph, I am a Battle Nexus….” Started Mikey but Harry’s arm jerked back and elbowed Mikey right in the mouth before he could finish bragging about his win in the Battle Nexus Tournament less than a year ago.

“Oh I’m so sorry Mikey, my elbow slipped,” said Harry in a completely serious tone of voice without blinking which caused Hailey and Ginny to break out into laughter. “Anyway, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, seriously Mikey, Harry said they were safe, ain’t ya gonna trust his judgment?” asked Raph in a serious tone of voice.

“I guess,” said Mikey in a calm voice. “Fire away Raph!”

Raph wasted little time taking careful aim with the arrow at the apple sat firmly on Mikey’s head. After a few seconds, he shot the arrow directly at the center of the apple, splitting it cleanly in two. The two halves slid off of Mikey’s head.

“As you can see, that is what I hope you two accomplish inevitably,” explained Harry as he looked over to Ginny and Hailey before proceeding to levitate another apple into the air and setting it gently down upon Mikey’s head. “All right, now I would like if each of you to take turns taking aim at the apple. The goal of it is to slice it nice and cleanly in half right down the middle. In other words, where the x is located on the tree.”

Hailey and Ginny walked over towards the box of arrows and reached down, pulling out an arrow a piece. Without a pause, Ginny aimed the arrow steadily and used the crossbow to shoot it towards the apple. Unfortunately, her aim was slightly off and the arrow veered slightly upwards, landing about four feet above the apple.

“Not bad for a first attempt, Ginny,” said Harry in an encouraging voice. “It’s your turn to try, Hailey.”

Hailey nodded, aiming her arrow at the apple perched on the center of Mikey’s head. Focusing carefully, she wasted no time in firing the arrow off. Much to her astonishment, the arrow connected with the apple, slicing it. It wasn’t cleanly in half by any means but Hailey felt elated that she connected on the first try.

Harry had his mouth opened in a bit of surprise and Raph and Ginny wore similar looks of surprise but Harry shook his head and caught himself.

“Not perfect but still a very acceptable job, Hailey,” said Harry. “Still all nitpicking aside, very good.”

Hailey nodded, still not quite understanding how she managed to do that good on her first try with something like that. It just happened.

“Okay Ginny, if you would take another…” started Harry but he trailed off, as he heard a loud banging sound off into the woods a bit of the ways away. Harry pulled out his wand and weapon, stepping forward cautiously to look for the source

“Harry, what is it?” asked Ginny.

“Someone’s coming,” whispered Harry and with that Mikey and Raph pulled out their weapons, looking ready for a fight.

Another bang echoed throughout the woods, causing Raph, Mikey, Harry, Ginny, and Hailey to rush a bit into the woods to see the source of the explosions.

“Someone’s coming,” whispered Ginny and sure enough, a young man who could have been no more than five or six years older than Harry stumbled towards the woods, clutching his shoulder, which was dripping with blood.

He staggered forward, as Raph and Mikey still had their hands on their weapon. The man collapsed in front of Harry, Hailey, and Ginny, not noticing the presence of the two turtles.

“You’ve got to help me,” whispered the man in a pained expression. “Skonk…threaten…kill…not…agree..plan.”

The man passed out with an obvious loss of blood which allowed Harry to bend down to examine him.

“He took a bullet in the shoulder, lucky to be alive,” muttered Harry to himself. “He needs medical attention, because I don’t see him living much longer.”

Ginny, Hailey, Mikey, and Raph nodded in agreement but they heard new arrivals coming from the forest.

“The traitor couldn’t have gotten far,” grumbled a gruff sounding voice.

“That shot had to have killed him, why don’t we just go back to base?” asked a second voice.

“Because the boss wants no one alive to stooge our plan off to the authorities,” replied the first voice. “He is adamant about letting no traitors live.”

Harry motioned for the others to hide in the nearby bushes, so they could take these two men by surprise. A few seconds later, Harry saw the two pursuers of the injured man walked over, one wielding a cross bow and the other wielding a rifle.

“There’s the cowardly traitor right now,” said the man with a gruff voice, as he pointed the rifle right towards the injured man’s head. “Time to say good night, you treacherous mother fu…”

The rifle wielding attacker never got to finish his sentence as Mikey sprang up and knocked the man back with a swing with his nunchucks, knocking him backwards and causing the gun to fly out of his hand.

“You know, it isn’t wise to play with guns,” admonished Mikey in a stern voice. “You’ll shoot your eye out kid.”

“What the…” asked the man with the cross bow. “You picked the wrong day to come to these woods, alien slime.”

Mikey blinked in confusion but the man quickly loaded his crossbow and Mikey had to duck his head into his shell to avoid a barrage of razor sharp arrows aimed right at him.

“You freaks think it’s amusing to invade our planet, disrupting our lives, destroying our villages, and ripping our largest cities off the face of the earth!” yelled the man, as he shot more arrows. “H.A.T.E. will make sure you alien scum never bothers us normal folk again.”

Raph leapt up in the air and used his Sai to knock the crossbow out of the hands of his attacker. The man staggered back before reaching into his belt and throwing a large cylinder shaped object on the ground, which exploded on contact. It filled the area with smoke, allowing the man to make a hasty escape.

Harry pulled out his wand and used a vanishing charm to make the smoke disappear. Hailey and Ginny walked over as the man who had the rifle tried to rise to his feet but Raph and Harry angrily jerked him up to his feet.

“Well, it’s nice to see that the Triceraton Invasion has left a lasting impression on the whacko population of the world,” remarked Hailey in a sarcastic tone of voice. “I would have thought this would have blown over because the aliens did check out about eight months ago and only New York has been affected.”

“Blown over, you stupid little girl, you must be kidding,” snapped the gruff sounding man. “You must be in the league with these aliens or they have brain washed you into believing their ideals. Our grand leader, Skonk will…”

The man trailed off, obviously having said too much.

“Spill it,” said Raph in a dangerous tone of voice but the man had a smug look as he looked over the turtle’s shoulder at the ever approaching sound of voices and the sound of an ATV coming down the trails a couple of miles from there.

“H.A.T.E will take care of you alien freaks and your brain washed minions soon enough,” said the gruff sounded man smugly. “Going to wipe me out like your dinosaur buddies did to the rest of my village, you alien turtle freak.”

“Damnit,” cursed Raph. “His buddy left for backup.”

“Right, alien trash,” said the gruff sounding man with a smirk. “So probe me, torture me, do whatever you aliens do to get yourselves off, but you’ll pay.”

“We need to get him out of here,” said Harry, inclining his head to the injured man who was now slumped up against the tree, before removing his Portus Amulet and handing it to Hailey. “Hailey, take him away from here and then worry about getting him to the nearest hospital from there. After you’re done, go straight home.”

Hailey nodded, not looking too happy to be left out of the fight but realizing she was the one with the least experience and may have been somewhat of a liability for Harry and the others had she stayed. She proceeded to do as she was told, and with that, Harry, Ginny, Raph, and Mikey were left alone with the gruff sounding man who looked smug because a few seconds later, help arrived in the form of eight more men, all wielding guns of some sort.

“OVER HERE!” yelled the gruff sounding man which caused Harry to wince but he pushed his wand down his sleeve, having a sudden burst of inspiration.

“Everyone back off, I’ve got a plan to neutralize their guns,” whispered Harry and soon enough the eight attackers pointed their guns directly at Harry.

“Step away from the alien scum, boy,” yelled one of the attackers but Harry pointed his sleeve towards the wands, silently using a spell to melt not only the bullets, but the triggers of the guns as well. The attackers threw down their weapons in a state of shock.

Raph and Mikey leapt up into the air, with Mikey knocking two of the attackers back with a split kick. Another attacker picked up a large stick and swung it towards the back of Mikey’s head but Mikey managed to spiral out of the way and break the stick in half with a well placed chop. His attacker fell backwards, splattering mud in every which direction.

Ginny shoved one of the attackers out of the way and Harry bounced off the tree before kicking the guy flush in the face. Another attacker raised a rusty hunting knife towards the back of Harry’s neck but Ginny grabbed the attacker’s arm. The attacker roughly shoved Ginny to the ground just as Harry turned around. Harry angrily lunged forward and grabbed the attacker by the throat before flinging him to the ground. The attacker reached for his knife but Ginny stepped on his arm, allowing Harry to kick the knife out of the way.

One of the attackers had lost his nerve and was backing off as Mikey stalked him with his nunchucks swinging.

“Stay back you extraterrestrial!” yelled the man, throwing a couple of rocks at Mikey but Mikey twirled his nunchucks, causing them to bounce off.

“E.T. phone home, E.T. phone home,” chanted Mikey in a dull voice which caused the man to turn around and run into the woods towards one of the ATVs that were parked off to the side and sped as far away from the crazy turtle as possible. Mikey looked pleased with this development to say the least. “Ha, I love being a turtle.”

“I think we’ve got all of them except for the guy who turned chicken and sped off,” said Ginny, as she looked around. “Still, we don’t know what they were rambling on about.”

“We’re about to find out,” said Harry as he pointed his wand forward. “Thanks to a tracking charm I placed on that nutter’s ATV, we should be able to trace these H.A.T.E. people to their headquarters, whoever they are anyway.”

Raph, Mikey, and Ginny followed Harry up the trail, as his wand led them to the direction where the attacker that they didn’t knock out had sped off on his ATV.

Back at the base of H.A.T.E, a middle aged man with black hair with a white stripe down the middle, along with a black goatee, and sunglasses dressed in army fatigues was pacing back and force, with a rifle on his hands. If he didn’t have the sunglasses on, one could detect a permanently crazed look that would be only rivaled by one Bellatrix Lestrange. No one quite knew what his real name was, but for those in H.A.T.E. he was known simply as Skonk.

“Disgraceful!” bellowed Skonk in a crazed tone of voice. “First you all lose the traitor and then some of my best men are knocked out by two, just two, aliens along with their brain washed human puppets. Need I remind you why this group was formed. Must I keep reminding you that for the master plan to work, Humans Against the Extraterrestrials or H.A.T.E. must have absolutely no slip ups!”

Skonk looked around as they murmured fearfully. He allowed himself to be amused at the aura of fear he inspired before he decided to get down to business. Everyone in H.A.T.E happened to be survivors of a Canadian village that had been leveled by the recent Triceraton invasion. Many of the members had lost everything because of the vicious nature of those Triceratons.

Skonk reached into a paper bag and pulled out a stack of newspapers.

“Look at these headlines!” barked Skonk as he waved the newspapers recklessly for all to see. “Big game hunter on search for a giant croc in the New York City sewers is foiled by a group of aliens. Witnesses swear they see aliens run roof tops at nights in New York City. New York City is host to fifth subway alien sighting in the past two weeks. Now tell me, what do all these stories have in common?”

“Uh aliens,” declared one of the H.A.T.E. members in a monotonous tone of voice.

“No, well technically yes, but no!” yelled Skonk in a crazed voice, while staring around wildly at everyone in the room. “Now despite what the government wants you to believe, the alien threat is still here and going off of all these sightings, their base of operations are in New York City! To wipe out the alien threat, we must first blow New York City off of the face of the map!”

The members of H.A.T.E. cheered, mostly out of fear of what Skonk might do to them if they didn’t agree with his every word.

One person that definitely didn’t agree with anything this Skonk whacko had to say was Harry, who listened to the majority of the meeting through a half opened window.

“Blow up New York City,” muttered Harry in a dark tone of voice but before he can say anything else, he heard Skonk resume talking.

“It just so happens that I have just the thing to solve our little alien problem!” yelled Skonk in a crazed, yet happy voice. “Out back in the garage behind our base is the solution, something I’ve been working on creating for months. It is lucky we got the plans we did or otherwise…”

“Let’s just see what they have out back in the garage,” muttered Harry and without another word, Ginny, Raph, and Mikey followed him towards the garage. Harry levitated the garage door opened silently and slipped in, with the others quickly following.

All four of them looked around but they didn’t see anything that could be used to eliminate New York.

“Man, nothing but a bunch of tools and this old moving van,” muttered Raph.

Harry stepped forward, looking at the van cautiously.

“Maybe whatever he has is in the back of the van,” suggested Harry and he opened up the van. Unfortunately Harry was right and what was sitting in the back of the van did not improve Harry’s mood. Harry went instantly pale and he started breathing heavily.

“Harry, what…whoa!” yelled Raph in a shocked tone of voice. “What in the hell are these whackos doing with a nuke?”

Sure enough, sitting in the back of the van was a nuclear bomb. Ginny surveyed the bomb with a look of confusion.

“What exactly is that thing, Harry?” asked Ginny.

“Very bad news, Ginny,” said Harry darkly. “This is a nuclear weapon, one of the most powerful Muggle weapons ever devised. If it works, by the looks of things, it won’t only blow up New York; it will blow up most of Eastern United States as well.”

“If it does, then so be it!” yelled Skonk who had just entered the garage with a rifle in his hand. “Just makes sure all of you aliens are wiped out!”

Skonk pointed his rifle shooting at a shelf of junk that Mikey was standing underneath. Mikey attempted to dodge out of the way but the shelf cracked and fell on top of Mikey.

“Accio rifle!” yelled Harry, not worrying about security against Muggles knowing about magic but worrying about ripping that rifle away from that psycho before he can do any more damage.

“WHAT!” screamed Skonk as he found his rifle ripped out of his hands before staring at Harry’s wand with a disdainful expression. “Must be some sort of alien technology!”

Skonk rushed forward, grabbing at Harry’s throat. Harry was caught off guard for a few seconds but managed to punch Skonk out of the way. Skonk staggered backwards before picking up a section of pipe and swinging it towards Harry, knocking him in the ribs, causing him to fall to his knees gasping for breath. Raph rushed forward with his Sais but Skonk had the presence of mind to duck before throwing the pipe at Raph. The turtle was barely able to deflect the shot with the pipe but Skonk managed to roughly kick Ginny out of the way before he bend down and picked up Harry’s wand. Without further ado, Skonk climbed into the van and backed out of the garage with reckless abandon.

“I’ll use this new alien weapon to come back and wipe you all out, once I figure out how to use it!” yelled Skonk in a crazed voice as he drove off, waving Harry’s wand recklessly. “You alien scum will perish, every last one of you!”

“He stole my wand, then he shoved my girlfriend to the ground, not to mention attempting to physically maim my brothers” muttered Harry before shaking his head. “I really hate that guy!”

“We can’t let him get away,” said Ginny in a desperate voice.

“Right,” said Harry as he rushed out of the door and climbed on the ATV that was parked outside, with Ginny and Raph following closely.

“Mikey’s just coming too but he said to go on without him!” informed Raph.

Harry nodded, hoping against all hope that he knew how to drive this thing and could outrun a van driving down the dirt roads at break neck speed.

“Ginny, use your wand and try to blow out one of his tires with Reducto!” yelled Harry. “That should slow him down.”

Ginny nodded, hoping her aim would be better than it was earlier with the arrows. She fired a Reducto spell, impacting one of the tires. The van began to slow down but it appeared that Skonk was still moving as fast as three tires would allow him and the fourth tire still wasn’t completely taken out as Harry would have liked.

“Alohomora!” yelled Ginny, causing the back doors of the van to swing open.

“Good thinking Ginny,” said Harry in an absentminded tone of voice but looking a bit worried as while the van they were chasing still moved on at high speed, the ATV they borrowed look to be running low on fuel. “Raph, do you think you can gain control of the wheel when we get on the truck?”

Raph nodded in agreement.

“All right, ready, JUMP!” ordered Harry and sure enough, Harry, Ginny, and Raph managed the jump, just barely. Ginny nearly lost her balance and Harry hastened to reach forward, yanking her back into the back of the van.

Raph climbed over the front seat and quickly sank his fist right into the side of the face of the unsuspecting Skonk!

“What the…get your hands off me, alien!” yelled Skonk, managing to block Raph’s Sai with his seat belt and punch Raph right in the face, knocking him into the passengers seat. Skonk used one hand to maintain control of the wheel and the other hand to throttle Raph, who attempted to vainly pry Skonk’s hand off of his throat.

Harry held onto the side of the nuclear bomb to maintain his balance. Standing in the back of a van going down the street at seventy miles an hour hadn’t been one of his brighter ideas, but he couldn’t let this guy set this bomb off in New York.

“I think I can defuse the bomb, all I need to do is take out the plutonium core,” muttered Harry as he watched Raph punch Skonk in the face, causing him to let go of his chokehold out of the corner of his eye. “Ginny, I’ll need your wand for it through.”

Ginny promptly handed her wand to Harry as she watched her boyfriend anxiously as he slowly opened up the bomb. Harry didn’t want to risk attempting to do this using wandless magic as he felt this had the potential to be a disaster of epic proportions.

“I’ve never done this before, so I’ve got to be nice and careful because I reckon the slightest wrong use of magic will cause the bomb to blow up straight away,” muttered Harry which caused Ginny to shudder.

Raph attempted to push Skonk out of the vehicle so he could gain control of the wheel but Skonk grabbed onto Raph’s bandanna and yanked him out of the driver’s side door. Both Raph and Skonk rolled landed on the pavement, exchanging punches, one of Raph’s knocking Skonk’s front teeth out.

“Wait a minute, Harry, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no one is in the front of this van,” said Ginny slowly before her eyes went wide. “SO, WHO IN THE BLOODY HELL IS DRIVING THIS THING!”

Sure enough the van began to spin out of control dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. Harry winced at what happened when the van had been knocked forward by a bump in the road.

“Ginny the nuclear weapon has just been detonated!” yelled Harry in a horrified voice as he looked at the timer device, which had only twenty five seconds left to go. “We need to get out. NOW!”

Harry and Ginny exited out of the back of the van and quickly dived behind a large pile of rocks. They put their hands over their hand, not knowing if it would help.

Sure enough, the van flew right off the edge of the cliff and a few seconds later, a large explosion echoed for quite a distance. Ginny opened her eyes, looking a bit confused, but relieved.

“Harry, shouldn’t we be vaporized by now,” said Ginny in a serious voice.

“I think I might have just managed to vanish the plutonium core before we leapt off” declared Harry in a tired voice as he handed Ginny’s wand back to her. “Just another day’s work for Harry Potter, I guess.”

“My hero,” muttered Ginny as she wrapped her arms around Harry’s neck and kissed him which Harry gladly returned. A few minutes later, they broke off. “Harry, I think we just look to see where Raph and that Skonk nutter got off to.”

“I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long,” remarked Harry, as he spotted Raph pulling Skonk by the scruff of his neck by the trail.

“Unhand me once, alien, I’ll make you pay, I’ll make you all pay!” yelled Skonk, as he desperately tried to pull away. “New York City will be no more! My nuke will blow it and your alien empire sky high! I’ll be a hero, you hear me, a hero!”

“Yeah, whatever,” muttered Raph as he threw Skonk down and stood on his back to make sure he didn’t try to get away. He held up Harry’s wand and tossed it to his brother. “I believe you lost this, bro.”

“Yeah, thanks Raph,” said Harry as he shot ropes from his wand, binding the legs and the arms of Skonk. “Why don’t we pick up Mikey before dropping him off at the police?”

Without a further word, they walked off to do just that.

Around the time of the capture of Skonk, the students of Hogwarts were looking a bit curious at the visit of the interim Minister of Magic, one Lucius Malfoy. Granted, most of them were only morbidly curious on Minister Malfoy’s visit, especially the muggleborn students of Hogwarts, who heard rumors that Malfoy was working on passing legislation that, would make their time at Hogwarts a little bit easier.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione Granger watched the front of the Great Hall with a look of distaste. It had been almost two weeks since she had watched Harry, Ginny, and Hailey being chased off. Since that time, she had been forbidden to sit with her remaining friends, Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott, by that horrible woman who was unfortunately Hogwarts Headmistress Delores Umbridge. The only time that she had talked to her remaining friends were during Potions class which Gryffindor and Slytherin shared, along with the one meeting of the Defense Against the Dark Arts study group meeting that they had managed to slip past Umbridge. Even with Harry not there, Luna told her in private that she hoped to do her best to keep with Harry’s plans and have at least semi-regular meetings. Of course, it had become difficult, as Umbridge had been watching everyone who had been friendly with Harry like a hawk or to be more apt, like a rather nosy toad. Hermione only had been in contact with Harry once since he had left and she really wasn’t able to have much time to talk to him, as she hastily had to put away her mirror when she found she was being followed by a pair of Slytherin seventh years who had been against Harry when he was here.

“Boys and girls, may I have your attention please,” declared Umbridge in a girlish tone of voice that caused Hermione to feel the strong urge to blast something into dust. Umbridge sounded rather tempting to be the target of her attack. “It with great honor that the Minister of Magic has arrived tonight to tell you about some new educational goals that he is confident will help Hogwarts maintain its status as the best magical school in the entire world.”

Umbridge stood up and waved in Lucius Malfoy, who was followed by six Aurors who looked as if they felt it was a waste of their talents to play bodyguard to the Minister of Magic. Hermione also couldn’t help but notice that at least one of the Aurors looked as if she would be better served throwing Malfoy in Azkaban then being his bodyguard.

“It is quite an honor to return to Hogwarts, it has been a few years since I have returned to this fine establishment,” said Lucius in an even tone of voice. “Now first I must congratulate Professor Umbridge on her fine job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, as she has raised the standard after the last few years of arrogant pretty boys with delusions of grandeur and dangerous half breeds taking this position, it is an honor to have a well balanced and respected woman in such a crucial subject. “

Some of the members of the Great Hall muttered angrily at the slight against Professor Lupin, who had been well liked by most students despite his condition.

“Along with Professor Umbridge, we have decided to make some improvements on Hogwarts, to bring it up to the standard that many respected families are feeling that Hogwarts lacked under the previous regime,” said Lucius. “So, I am pleased to announce that the house system, a system that has caused nothing but petty rivalries, has been abolished!”

Everyone muttered, some being inclined to agree with the Minister. Unfortunately, Hermione found herself agreeing that the houses of Hogwarts did cause some bad feelings, especially the senseless feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin. She didn’t quite know if just eliminating the houses all the way was the right thing to do however.

“Rather, the school will be divided into two halves,” drawled the Minister. “I think we can all safely agree that muggleborns lack in certain areas and are woefully behind in magic then pureblood and even half blood witches and wizards. They are woefully uneducated on the magical ideals and beliefs that the old, respected families have been brought up to believe. They are inclined to get radical ideas that run the danger of changing the Ministry of Magic in way’s that it never should be changed. Muggleborns do have their role to play in the magical world as having their magic run uncontrolled would run a security risk that the entire Wizarding World can’t afford to have. Therefore, effective tomorrow, all muggleborns will be separate from other students at Hogwarts and will attend lessons to bring them up to speed on areas that they aren’t as knowledgeable in. Eventually, we hope that we can properly educate them to ensure the stability of the magical world.”

The muggleborn population looked around, most of them not knowing what to make of it. Hermione looked thoroughly disgusted, having read between the lines of what Malfoy said.

“So since you can’t legally get rid of all muggleborns, you decided to attempt to brain wash us all instead so we don’t cause your master any problems, isn’t it Malfoy?” muttered Hermione so no one else could hear her. “You gutless, spineless coward, you wouldn’t dare do this if Harry was here.”

Malfoy turned to Umbridge, who had a wide grin plastered upon her toady face.

“Will the students I met with earlier today please rise to their feet and come in front of the head table?” asked Umbridge in a sweet voice. Sure enough, it seemed as if every sixth and seventh Slytherin, along with Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, a couple of Ravenclaws, and a handful of Hufflepuffs walked towards the table. Hermione noticed that they all wore robes with the letters I.S. stamped on them. “For all you muggleborn students who may have concerns about getting used to the new system at Hogwarts with your specialized lessons, don’t fret? I have put together a group of students that will be all too happy to assist you in making sure you follow proper magical ideals.”

It was plain to anyone with an IQ in the double digits that the particular group of students that Umbridge had pointed out would be inclined with helping with the extermination of muggleborns then helping them.

“I am please to introduce the formulation of a group breaking alliance of Hogwarts students loyal to the Ministry of Magic, the Inquisitorial Squad,” said Umbridge happily. “They will be lead by current Head Boy, Warren MacNair. Mr. MacNair, would you like to say a few words?”

“Indeed, Professor,” said MacNair in a faux kindly voice, but it was clear to anyone who had been unfortunate enough to cross him that he had inherited his father’s sadistic instincts. “I hope to lead the Inquisitorial Squad to help the muggleborn studies of Hogwarts on their way to learning their proper place in the magical world. I only aim to do my part to help the Ministry of Magic.”

“Thank you young Warren, your father would be proud,” said Lucius as he looked to the students of Hogwarts. “One final announcement before I must depart with a rather pressing engagement with a business contact of mine. The Ministry of Magic has agreed that Quidditch has been banned from Hogwarts, as we feel that school age children should not be playing this sport as it detracts from their studies. Good day to you all.”

Malfoy said something to Umbridge before he walked off with his Auror bodyguards. Many of the students protested at the announcement that Quidditch has been banned.

“No Quidditch, “said Ron in a scandalized voice, as if he felt it was the end of the world. “What’s the point of coming to this school if we get Quidditch taken away from us? “

“Will you shut up about the Quidditch Ron, I have more important things to worry about then a stupid pointless game!” snapped Hermione in an angry voice. “Maybe you wouldn’t be one of the lowest ranked students in the year if you stopped worrying about Quidditch and chess and focused on your studies! Life is not about a stupid game you know, but maybe you’re just a bit too egotistical to see that! But I guess you don’t care about anything other then her personal enjoyment.”

Hermione rose to her feet and angrily stormed out, leaving Ron to stare at her mouth agape. Normally she wouldn’t have found herself so annoyed and she had to admit at times she found herself a bit amused at Ron’s constant obsession at Quidditch but the stupid boy just didn’t get it. He had always been a bit slow on the uptake and maybe she was expecting too much for him to get exactly what Malfoy was saying underneath the entire drivel. Hermione really didn’t know why she cared about Ron Weasley’s opinion but perhaps she wouldn’t have snapped like that if he had shown the least bit of concern about the muggleborn legislation rather than Quidditch being pulled from Hogwarts.

Elsewhere, Nymphadora Tonks arrived at her home after being dismissed from bodyguard duty feeling rather irritable. She felt on one level it was an insult to everything she stood for to play bodyguard to Malfoy but on another level she also felt it was important for Harry to have spies inside the Ministry. While Harry didn’t request for her to do so, she had reluctantly agreed to escort the Ministry from the Ministry to Hogwarts and back, hoping that Malfoy might accidentally let some incriminating information slip. Much to her irritation, Tonks heard nothing of the sort. She felt frustrated not being able to contribute to the efforts of the resistance group against You-Know-Who.

Tonks decided that she would find someway to pass everything Malfoy and Umbridge had said at Hogwarts to Harry, because there was a chance that he could perhaps figure out something that she couldn’t. It was a long shot, but Tonks felt it was better than nothing.