Hermione Granger and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 22 - Revenge

“I’ll bet you wish you hadn’t given up Divination now, don’t you, Hermione?” asked Parvati
Hermione rolled her eyes. It was the morning before their year's first Divination lesson with Firenze. Parvati and Lavender seemed to have developed a rather unhealthy obsession with him
“Not really” she said “I’ve never really liked horses.”
“He’s not a horse, he’s a centaur!” said Lavender, horrified
Wouldn't react like that if he was werewolf, would you?
“A gorgeous centaur…” Parvati's eyes went misty
Hermione sighed. They had been like this all week
“Either way, he’s still got four legs” she said “Anyway I thought you two were all upset that Trelawney had gone?”
“We are!” Lavender protested “We went up to her office to see her; we took her some daffodils - not the honking ones that Sprout’s got, nice ones”

“How is she?” asked Harry
“Not very good, poor thing” said Lavender “She was crying and saying she’d rather leave the castle forever than stay here where Umbridge is, and I don’t blame her, Umbridge was horrible to her, wasn’t she?”
“I’ve got a feeling Umbridge has only just started being horrible” said Hermione
“Impossible” said Ron “She can’t get any worse than she’s been already.”
“You mark my words, she’s going to want revenge on Dumbledore for appointing a new teacher without consulting her” said Hermione “Especially another part-human. You saw the look on her face when she saw Firenze”

That evening was another Dumbledore’s Army meeting. Seamus had come with Dean for the first time. Harry had beamed when he had seen him. They had finally started Patronuses, much to everyone's excitement. Hermione was having more trouble with it than usual
"Expecto Patronum!" she waved her wand exactly as Harry had shown them
A silver mist flew out of her wand. It was faint, and didn’t take on any kind of form. Hermione frowned
"What's up?" asked Harry
"It's not working" she said miserably "I don't understand. I'm doing everything you said"
"The theory doesn't matter as much as what's going on inside your head" said Harry "You need to think of a powerful, happy memory. What makes you feel happy?"

Hermione shut her eyes for a moment and thought. She remembered baking with her parents when she was small. She remembered how she had felt when Ron and Harry had saved her from the troll, all those years ago. She remembered Ginny and her laughing together at the Burrow and in Grimmauld Place. And Ron...

She felt a funny warm feeling expand inside her stomach. Her wand seemed to vibrate. She gripped her wand tighter
"Expecto Patronum!"
A large shining form bloomed out of her wand. It expanded and reformed until it became a long, sleek creature covered in shining fur - an otter. Hermione beamed
"What's that, a weasel?" said Ron "That's a bit random"
"It's not a weasel, Ronald" she said "It's an otter. My otter" she added, smiling “They are sort of nice, aren’t they?”

The door creaked open. Hermione froze, her Patronus fading away. But it was just Dobby. He was rushing toward Harry
“Hi, Dobby!” he said “What are you - What’s wrong?”
For Dobby had gone pale, and was trembling from head to foot. The room had gone silent - everyone was watching the house-elf
“Harry Potter, sir…” squeaked Dobby “Harry Potter, sir… Dobby has come to warn you… but the house-elves have been warned not to tell…”
He ran into the wall, bouncing into one of the cushions. Hermione yelped. Harry ran over and dragged Dobby away from the wall
“What’s happened, Dobby?” he asked
“Harry Potter… she… she…”
Dobby punched himself. Harry grabbed his wrists
“Who’s ‘she’, Dobby?” he asked, but he already understood “Umbridge?”
Dobby nodded, going even paler
“What about her? Dobby - she hasn’t found out about this - about us - about the D.A.?”
Dobby didn't respond, but the answer was clear on his face. Hermione went for her wand
“Is she coming?” Harry asked
There was a pause. Dobby screwed up his face
“Yes, Harry Potter, yes!”