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Harry moved through the rows of people, carefully watching the spellwork. Today, he was teaching the D.A. the Shield Charm, Protego. So far, it was going pretty well, besides an overpowered one from Alicia Spinnet that almost sent poor Colin Creevey flying straight into a wall.

He was helping adjust Michael Corner’s wand movement when he spotted Hannah Abbott block Susan Bones’ Rictusempra perfectly. He smiled and patted her on the back.

“Well done!” he congratulated, before jokingly adding, “10 points to Hufflepuff for a perfectly executed shield charm.

“Why thank you, Professor Potter,” Hannah responded just as jokingly. Harry grinned and walked away to help Justin Finch-Fletchley, not even contemplating what just happened.

~~~~~

Professor McGonagall was walking through the Great Hall when she saw the hourglass of points for Hufflepuff grow by 10 points. She frowned. As far as she knew, there were no Hufflepuff’s in classes right now. She brushed it off, assuming that one of them had assisted a teacher for one reason or another.

~~~~~

The professors of Hogwarts were having their Fall Faculty Meeting in Professor Dumbledore’s office. It had started out normally, with all the professors giving reports on how well their classes were performing.

Unsurprisingly, Professor Umbridge had decided not to attend, claiming that it was “entirely unnecessary”. No one was particularly upset over that decision.

Professor McGonagall was reading through the points log while the other professors chatted about different students, and gave a small frown.

“Excuse me,” she interrupted. “Would any of you happen to know who has been teaching offensive and defensive spells?”

The other professors frowned, with Professor Sprout speaking up.

“Are you quite sure, Minerva?” she asked. “We are all aware that Professor Umbridge has not allowed the practice of defensive spells in her class.”

“I am certain, Pomona,” Professor McGonagall replied. “Here it shows ‘10 points to Hufflepuff for a perfectly executed shield charm’, ‘5 points to Ravenclaw for knowing the uses of the Finger Twitch Jinx’, and ‘10 points from Gryffindor for casting before instructed’.”

Professor Babbling’s eyes widened, Professor Sinistra’s eyebrows raised, and Professor Vector gave a small laugh. Everyone turned their heads to Professor Vector, and she just shrugged.

“Don’t you think it’s rather bold for one of us to teach the spells Professor Umbridge refuses to? Are you sure it isn’t you, Minerva? That would be a very Gryffindor thing to do.”

Professor McGonagall gave a small sniff. “I am no more Gryffindor than you, Septima. And yes, I am quite sure that I am not the one teaching these spells.”

“May I see the sheet, Minerva?” Professor Flitwick asked. “I’m certain I can find a way to see who is awarding these points.”

Professor McGonagall glady handed it over, eager to see who was teaching their students. The diminutive professor waved his wand over the paper, muttering a few spells. With a small flash, the paper revealed the titles of the professors who awarded each point.

“It appears that those points have been awarded by……the Ancillary Professor of Defence, who was appointed by…Hogwarts herself?” Professor Flitwick informed them.

The professors were shocked into silence, except for Professor Snape, who simply raised an eyebrow. “It seems that even Lady Hogwarts is capable of seeing how how utterly incompetent that woman is.”

Professor Burbage let out a small laugh. “Indeed, Severus. Although I find myself curious as to who exactly is teaching these classes.”

Madam Hooch was about to respond, but the paper let out a small vibrating sound. Professor Flitwick leaned over to look at it.

“It appears as though our mysterious professor has just awarded Ravenclaw 20 points for, oh my goodness, 20 points for being the first to cast a successful Patronus,” Professor Flitwick said, surprised.

While the professors were discussing who it might be, Professor Vector leaned over and whispered to Professor Sinistra. “I don’t think we’ll find out who it is until after the O.W.L.s. What do you think?”

“I agree,” Professor Sinistra whispered back. “It’s probably a Ravenclaw. Merlin knows how much they despise Umbridge.”

“10 galleons says it's a Gyffindor,” Vector offered. Sinistra shook her hand.

“You’re on.”

Unbeknownst to them, more than one other teacher heard this bet, and they were all intent on winning. They may have a good, decent paying job, but who couldn’t use a few more Galleons?

~~~~~

Hermione approached Harry at the end of their meeting. “I was wondering…”

“What’s up Hermione?” Harry asked as he put away some spellbooks.

“You do know that you aren’t actually awarding points, right?” Hermione asked. Harry gave a small laugh.

“Of course I know that,” he responded. “I’m not actually a professor. But, it let’s them know that I’m acknowledging how hard they’re working, and how much they’re improving. It’s more of a morale thing than actually contributing to the House Cup.”

Hermione let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. For a second I was worried that you actually thought yourself a professor.”

Harry grinned. “Me? A professor? Don’t be ridiculous Mione, I could never handle grading papers.”

Hermione swatted him on the shoulder as they walked out to where Ron was waiting for them.

~~~~~

Professor Sinistra walked into Professor Binns’ classroom one afternoon to see him sitting in a chair with a vacant expression.

“Excuse me, Professor,” she said. “Could I have a word for a moment?”

“Office hours are 1-4 every Thursday,” Binns said in that awfully droning voice. Babbling frowned.

“It is Thursday, Cuthbert,” she said. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Homework is chapters 16-18,” he said vacantly.

“Cuthbert? I need to talk to you,” Sinistra said, getting impatient. “Do you know if there is another teacher that is a ghost?”

“We’ll be reviewing the chapters next class,” Binns said. “6 inches minimum.”

“Binns!” Sinistra shouted. “Is there or is there not another professor at Hogwarts right now that is a ghost?”

Binns looked up at her with a confused look. “Griselda? Is that you?”

Sinistra threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the room.

~~~~~

Professor Babbling eyed the 7th years at the Hufflepuff table as she ate, before leaning over to where Professor Flitwick was sitting.

“What about Ms. Felix?” she said quietly. “I do believe that she has some motivations towards being an instructor.”

“Possibly,” Flitwick murmured. “But with her obligations to the Quidditch team and the Charms club? I’m not sure she has the time.”

“True, true,” Babbling responded, taking a bit of food as she thought. They continued conspiring throughout dinner, never seeing the contemplative look on Professor McGonagall’s face as she watched the Gryffindor table.

~~~~~

Harry kept his wand out as he sent a worried look to Hermione and Ron at his side. “And why exactly do you want to join?”

Daphne Greengrass rolled her eyes, and Tracey Davis scoffed. “We want to pass our O.W.L.s with a good score, and you can help us do that.”

“We aren’t idiots,” Tracey chimed in. “We know that’s what you’ve been doing with the other houses. We, along with a few others, want in.”

“And none of the people who want to join are part of the Inquisitorial Squad, or are sympathetic with its aims?” Hermione asked.

“None, Ms. Granger,” Daphne said with an approving nod. “And I think that you and I are going to get along just fine.”

Harry smiled and held out his hand. “Welcome to the D.A.”

Daphne shook his hand, and they spent 5 minutes going over the charmed Galleons and meeting times before departing.

~~~~~

Professor McGonagall checked the log after a long day of classes. She was shocked at the most recent points additions.

“15 points to Slytherin for a well reasoned argument? 5 points from Ravenclaw for careless casting?” she said to herself. “My, this really is something isn’t it.”

If she spent the rest of the evening contemplating House rivalries and her own feelings towards the different houses, no one else had to know.

~~~~~

“Pomona, may I speak to you for a moment?” McGonagall approached Sprout in Greenhouse 4. Professor Sprout smiled and waved her over, setting down the Leaping Toadstools she was handling.

“Of course, Minerva. We have 10 minutes before my next class, so go ahead.”

McGonagall smiled. “I have an idea to catch our secret professor.”

Sprout’s eyes widened, and she gestured for McGonagall to continue. “Go on, I’m interested to see where you are going with this.”

“It has struck me that there is a very good chance that Ms. Granger is a part of this class. You know how she gets about schoolwork,” McGonagall said.

Sprout gave an amused nod. “Indeed I do.”

“Well,” McGonagall said. “I believe that if we mention the secret professor and point deductions in her vicinity, she will inform the actual professor what had happened. And if that happened during a mealtime, we would be able to see exactly who it is.”

Sprout clapped her hands happily. “Brilliant idea, Minerva!”

As they got caught up in discussing exactly how to phrase it and where to say it, neither of them noticed the blond head of Denis Creevey listening in from outside the greenhouse window.

~~~~~

Hermione and Ron listened to Denis explain what he had heard in the greenhouse. Coincidentally, Harry was running late to this meeting due to a scheduled conversation with Sirius.

“We’re not going to tell Harry about the points thing, right?” Ron muttered to Hermione. Hermione just nodded.

~~~~~

Hermione was walking alone down the corridor to lunch when she heard Professor’s McGonagall and Sprout in the empty classroom. She smirked to herself and slowed her pace, making sure to be obvious so that they thought they had caught her attention.

After Denis told them everything they heard and they all made a plan, it was decided that Angelina Johnson, due to being a competent 7th year, would be the best choice for decoy professor. They worked out exactly what to do, and it was time to put it into play.

Hermione leaned towards the wall, listening to their scripted conversation.

“I just can’t believe it, Pomona,” McGonagall said.

“I know, Minerva,” Sprout agreed. “And we really have no idea who this professor is?”

Hermione almost let out a giggle at how fake it sounded, but stayed silent. Once they were done, she quickly made her way to the Great Hall, doing her best to look like she needed to get somewhere urgently.

She noticed the professors not so subtly eyeing her as she sat down across from Angelina.

“They bought it,” she whispered to Angelina. “They think this is the first I’ve heard of it, and now they think you’re the professor.”

Following the plan, they both spared careful looks at the two professors that just walked in the hall, before returning to their conversation.

“You don’t think they’re going to tell Umbridge, do you?” Angelina asked, looking concerned. “I know I agreed to this, but if I get expelled for teaching defence spells without teachers knowing, I am not going to be happy.”

“Are you kidding?” Hermione asked. “The professors hate Umbridge as much as we do, and they definitely care enough about us to want us to get good grades in DADA, something we wouldn’t get if we stuck solely with Umbridge.”

“Fair enough,” Angelina agreed. “See you at the next meeting.”

“See you then,” Hermione said, getting up and walking over to where Harry and Ron were sitting, silently congratulating herself for a role well played.

~~~~~

Hannah, Susan, Ernie, and Justin were sitting together at the Hufflepuff table, watching the teachers table very carefully out of the corners of their eyes.

“Isn’t it weird how Harry can actually give or take away points?” Justin said. “He’s only a 5th year, and not actually a professor. It’s kind of wild.”

“Well, think of it this way,” Hannah said. “We should be glad that it is Harry, because he’s the only one fair enough to not take points out of spite. If it were anyone else, Slytherin would have no points and Gryffindor would have all the points.”

“I agree,” Ernie said. “Say what you will about the guy, but he’s not one to do something like that. He even gave points to Slytherin when they deserved them, and took some away from Gryffindor when it was warranted. It’s actually kind of odd for a Gryff to act like that. Usually they’re all reckless behaviour and Snake bias.”

“Hermione probably rubbed off on him after all these years,” Susan said with a grin. “Everyone knows how she is about rules and fairness.”

“Who cares?” Justin shrugged as he took a sip of pumpkin juice. “Although, it does bring up some questions about the divide between houses.”

“It really does,” Hannah agreed. “The Slytherin’s aren't all as bad as Malfoy, although some of them could use a lesson in Muggle Studies to get their facts straight.”

“I heard Edgecombe tell Chang a joke the other day, and it was bloody hilarious,” Ernie grinned. “Who knew Ravens could have such a good sense of humour?”

“The House Cup seems rather silly now, you know,” Susan said a little absently as she thought. “It used to be a friendly competition, a way to bring the houses closer together. Now it’s gotten way too competitive.”

“Preach,” Hannah agreed. “Do you know how many fistfights have happened between Slytherin and Gryffindors because of things like that silly cup? My brother, when he was in school here a few years ago, said that 3 kids got sent to the hospital wing because of an argument over a Slytherin/Gryffindor Quidditch game.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Justin snorted, before giving his friends a contemplative look. “But maybe we could change it.”

~~~~~

Madam Hooch and Professor Burbage walked down the 6th floor corridor slowly, looking in each room as they passed it.

After a few weeks of monitoring the point additions and subtractions, they had determined the times that the classes were taking place, and were intent on catching them. Not to turn them in to Umbridge, but for the satisfaction of being the one to deliver the news to the rest of the professors.

It had become a sort of competition to see who was able to find the class first. McGonagall and Sprout teamed up, as did Hooch and Burbage, Sinistra and Vector, and Babbling and Flitwick. Snape had refused to participate, as was expected, Hagrid wasn’t interested, Filch was repulsed by the idea, and Binns was oblivious.

Although most of them were sure that it was Johnson who was teaching the class, they still wanted to figure out who was participating, where they were doing it, and how they were communicating between houses without being suspicious.

(The Room of Requirement was being put to the test, with entrances occasionally appearing near common room entrances, and in random hallways. The Galleons were being used everyday to deliver necessary information, like the next meetings or people under suspicion of the professors. Parvati and Padma Patil, being siblings in different houses, had perfectly good reasons to talk to each other, which was perfect for delivering information between houses.)

Professor Umbridge, thankfully, remained oblivious to their game, and continued on her rampage to root out the professor's weaknesses.

Meanwhile, Madam Hooch and Professor Burbage had no idea that had they simply gone one floor up, they would have been right in front of where the D.A. practised.

~~~~~

The Game took a bit of a pause over Christmas break, but picked back up again once the majority of students returned. The break had given many of them time to come up with new ideas and strategies, including quite a few silly ones that were immediately discarded.

With the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s soon approaching, even the professors needed a break every now and again, and the Game was the best way to do so.

~~~~~

Professor McGonagall had called a faculty meeting in her office to discuss the Game. Most of the professors had been a bit wary, given their competitive nature, but attended anyway, intrigued to see what was so important that she had called a meeting.

McGonagall sat in her chair and let out a sigh, deciding to get straight to the point. “Dolores has her little squad investigating the Class. Apparently, she saw a few students heading in a suspicious direction, and is now convinced that there is something afoot. I believe she is starting to put pressure on Ms. Edgecombe due to her mothers position in the Ministry.”

The assembled professors gave a little gasp, Flitwick especially.

“How do you know this, Minerva?” Vector asked.

“I was informed by a rather unusual and excitable house elf, who did not want to see any harm done to,” she gave an amused smile. “Great Master Harry Potter sir.”

Even laughed or smiled a little at that, McGonagall included.

“Well, however it happened, it is good that we know,” Sprout said. “We can put her off track a little, lest she discover what they’re doing and decide to expel the lot of them. What they are learning could be the difference between some of them passing or failing their Defence O.W.L. or N.E.W.T.”

“That is something else I have called you here to talk about,” McGonagall said, pulling a stack of papers out of one of her desk drawers. “I believe you are all familiar with how Hogwarts files past exams?”

“Of course,” Sinistra said, a little puzzled as to how this was related. “Once exams, tests, quizzes, and homeworks are completed and turned in, they get graded by the professor. If the professor keeps them after grading and doesn’t hand them back out to the students, they get filed in the Hogwarts file room for reference in case any of the teachers need to access them to double check a students score.”

“Precisely, Aurora,” McGonagall said. “And that is exactly what has happened. It appears that Ms. Johnson has started adding brief theory or research papers to her lessons. I have in this pile the reports of the Class on different magical creatures. From what I can tell, each student was assigned a different dangerous magical creature to study and write 4 inches on its characteristics and measures of defence against.”

“My goodness,” Burbage exclaimed. “That is…rather brilliant! If they each shared their findings with the class, it helps teach many different animals at the same time, and it saves Ms. Johnson from having to grade many different essays that are similar.”

“Exactly my thoughts, Charity,” McGonagall said proudly. She grabbed a random paper and showed it to the room. “They use false names for themselves, but other than that, they are quite normal. There’s criticism, compliments, all in all they are moderately well written and very well graded. Ms. Johnson has obviously been studying.”

“Regardless of the essays,” Sprout said to get them back on topic. “What are we going to do about Dolores?”

“I think I have an idea,” Babbling said with a mischievous smirk.

~~~~~

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, they never got to put their plan into action. Umbridge had a private meeting with Professor Dumbledore, and suddenly he’s a fugitive and she’s the Headmistress.

Thankfully, she never got to finish what she had started with Ms. Edgecombe, and the Class remained hidden. With the new Educational Decrees being added every day, the professors were doing all they could to keep positive for the students, though it didn’t seem to be working.

In a desperate attempt to remain sane and remotely happy, almost every professor threw themselves into the search for the Class. After the accidental discovery that Ms. Johnson was not the mysterious Defence Professor, they were back at square one.

It was quite the sight for some of the students. Professors Sinistra and Vector were constantly running into each others classes at random times to conspire, Professors McGonagall and Sprout spent long periods of time holed up in an abandoned classroom on the 4th floor with a massive amount of library books, Professors Babbling and Flitwick could always be seen working on large maps, and Madam Hooch and Professor Burbage occasionally flew through the entire castle in search of something.

The only one unaware of these happenings was Umbridge. Whenever she was near, all the professors acted completely normal. It was giving some of the older students whiplash. Poor Meghan Anderson had to go to Madam Pomfrey as she was convinced she was hallucinating.

The only people unaffected by the attitude changes of the faculty was the D.A., who all knew exactly why they were acting like that after Gred and Forge used their Extendable Ears to eavesdrop on some of their meetings.

In fact, the D.A. all conspired in a rather unusual way. Any time there was any mention of Harry being able to add and remove points, he was distracted by the closest person. It was unanimously decided that it was better if he didn’t know he was capable of doing such a thing, because he would overthink things and make it harder than they needed to be.

As far as they knew, Harry was under the impression that the only reason the teachers were searching for the Defence Professor and the Class was because of some misplaced essays and disappearing students.

~~~~~

Gred and Forge had discussed leaving for many reasons, but it was a 2nd years offhand comment that convinced them to stay.

“We were learning the Switching Charm in class today,” Erica said randomly one afternoon in the common room. “Can I ask a few questions?”

“Go ahead,” said Jack, a 7th year desperate for a break from his homework.

“How far away can you cast it?” Erica asked. “Do you have to be able to see the item you’re switching it with?”

Jack sat up and frowned a little. “That’s a good question. Hypothetically, you have to be able to see the item you’re switching it with, and that implies that you have to be close enough to see it. In actuality, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s ever been tested whether you can use a Switching Charm without seeing the second item.”

The twins sat up from where they were sitting across the common room.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Forge?” Gred asked.

“Always, Gred,” Forge responded.

Professor Umbridge suddenly found all of her Blood Quills replaced with normal quills, but given the illegality of her possession of them, was unable to complain. Gred and Forge high-fived back in their dorm, content with a prank well executed.

~~~~~

Flitwick and Babbling were going over their maps in the library when it happened.

“We haven’t checked this corridor,” Babbling said, circling a spot on the 4th floor. Flitwick shook his head.

“It’s impossible to check. Remember when-”

As Flitwick was talking, a small note appeared right on top of their maps. The two professors exchanged looks, before Babbling carefully grabbed it and opened it.

We have noticed your interest in our class, as
well as our leader, and wish to inform you that our
sole goal is learning what is required for
OWLs, NEWTs, and fighting Dark Lord’s.
Please respect our wish for privacy.
Sincerely,
the Defence Association

Babbling and Flitwick exchanged shocked glances, before rapidly packing up their maps and taking off down the hallways to inform the other professors.

As they quickly exited the library, a pair of Ravenclaw’s gave each other a quiet high five and walked off to tell the others that everything went exactly as planned.

~~~~~

Professor Burbage scowled from where she was secretly watching the Defence O.W.L.s take place in the Great Hall. Umbridge was watching everyone work with that infuriatingly smug little smile whilst sitting on a chair in front like a dictator.

The professors had put it to a vote, and decided that they needed to place someone in the Great Hall during all the examinations to make sure that Umbridge didn’t mess anything up. (None of them were willing to admit that they knew it would be the best way to possibly catch the Professor or any members of the Defence Association in action).

Burbage frowned as she saw Mr. Potter’s concentration drifting. With the ease of a trained Medi-witch, she surreptitiously sent a light calming charm his way, doing the same to a frantic Ms. (Padma) Patil, and a pale Mr. Longbottom. She settled back down as she watched them relax, and readjusted how she was sitting as she waited patiently for the exams to be over.

~~~~~

Two days later, Harry was running through the halls late at night with Hermione and Ron straight towards the Room of Requirement. They had sent off an urgent message on the Galleons from their dorm before they left, putting in the code to let everyone know that it was about Voldemort.

When they finally got into the Room of Requirement, they found everyone already waiting, probably having gone through one of the entrances closer to the dorms that they had forgotten in their rush.

“What’s so urgent that it can’t wait until morning?” Ernie asked irritably, pulling his robe closer as he yawned.

“I had a vision about Voldemort,” Harry blurted out. His announcement shocked the room into silence, with everyone either staring at him in surprise or falling off their chair.

“What?” Neville exclaimed, the first to get his voice back. “Are you serious?”

“That’s actually who it’s about,” Harry said, a bit too tired to realise what Neville actually said. Everybody who had had enough time to wake up gave him weird looks. He was confused for a second, before nodding and explaining.

“So, my godfather, Sirius Black, is apparently being held in the Department of Mysteries by Voldemort and his Death Eaters,” Harry said quickly. He was about to continue, but Zacharias Smith waved his hands in the air.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said. “Slow down. Your godfather is Sirius Black?! The same Sirius Black who tried to kill you two years ago?”

Harry waved him off. “He wasn’t trying to kill me, he was trying to kill Ron’s rat.”

“That explains absolutely nothing!” Blaise Zabini argued. “I, for one, would like more context on the Sirius Black thing before we even touch the ‘Dark Lord in the Department of Mysteries’ issue.”

“Agreed,” Cho said. “Why was he trying to kill Ron’s rat if he betrayed your parents?”

“He didn’t betray my parents!” Harry exclaimed, quickly getting fed up. “Ugh! We don’t have time for this. Long story short, it was actually Peter Pettigrew who betrayed my parents and then framed Sirius, but he’s an illegal rat animagus, so he hid with Ron’s family until Sirius escaped Azkaban to kill him in revenge for his betrayal. Got it? Good. Now, we need to figure out a way to get to the Ministry without everyone finding out!”

“Slow down,” Angelina placated. “Let’s think this through before running in without a plan.”

“Never thought I’d hear those words come from a Gryffindor,” Tracey whispered to Daphne, who promptly shushed her.

“How do you know it’s not a trap?” a quiet voice asked from the back. Everyone turned to see little Denis Creevey blushing under their stares. “What if it’s a ploy to draw you there? I mean, it’s clear you care about Sirius.”

Susan gaped at him. “Denis…you’re a genius.”

Denis blushed even more fiercely, and everyone began a planning session with gusto.

~~~~~

McGonagall collapsed in the chair in her office, massaging the bridge of her nose as she processed…everything. The Ministry of Magic Incident (for how else could it be described?), He Who Must Not Be Named (not a shock, but a slight surprise nonetheless), the prophecy (honestly, what was Albus thinking?), it was all too much to think about.

She sent off the spell used to alert professors of a faculty meeting, and sat quietly drinking her tea until they all arrived, doing her best to avert her burgeoning migraine.

As soon as they were all present, they started the meeting, going through all the important items impressively quickly, most likely due to them all desperately ignoring the dragon in the room. McGonagall sighed one last time and set down her mug, figuring it was time to face the music.

“I believe we are all aware of the…Incident that took place in the Ministry yesterday,” she said delicately. Everyone nodded, all of them except Snape looking very uncomfortable with the topic.

“I believe so, Minerva,” Hooch said simply. McGonagall took a deep breath, thinking over her words carefully.

“Then I believe we are all aware of the…delicate situation we would be put in should we acknowledge whatever hypothetical knowledge we may or may not of the masked intruders that intercepted the Dark Lord,” she said.

“Indeed,” Flitwick agreed. “Hypothetically, of course.”

“Which is why none of us know anything,” Vector said. “Correct?”

Everyone nodded their agreement, with Snape doing so only grudgingly. They left the meeting with a weight lifted off their shoulders, reassured with the fact that none of their peers would go squealing about the Defence Association’s almost certain involvement.

~~~~~

The end of year feast was winding down, the anticipation of who one the House Cup this year palpable.

Professor Dumbledore, newly returned after his exile, stood up from his chair and cleared his throat. Silence fell over the Great Hall quicker than some thought possible, each student waiting impatiently for him to announce who won the House Cup.

The professors inexplicably found their gazes drifting to one 5th year Gryffindor as Professor Dumbledore summoned the hourglasses of points. They saw the slight, almost imperceptible lead of Gryffindor, Harry sending a glance at Hermione, before he mouthed a few words with a slight smile.

“And the House Cup goes to-”

Right before Dumbledore was about to announce Gryffindor as the winner, right before their very eyes, 20 points fell into Hufflepuff’s hourglass.

All the professors who had seen Harry’s whispered words were shocked.

“-Hufflepuff!”

The Great Hall was silent in shock, before exploding in joy. The entire Hufflepuff table jumped up out of their seats, shrieking and yelling in happiness as they celebrated their unlikely win. The Great Hall decorated itself with yellow and black as more than a quarter of the school celebrated Hufflepuff’s victory.

In fact, quite a few students in other houses were celebrating just as wildly, running over to Hufflepuff table to join the fray.

Harry just looked straight at Professor McGonagall and winked cheekily. She couldn’t even bring herself to feel the slightest bit upset.

After about 20 minutes of laughter and shouts, Dumbledore finally managed to calm down the Hall enough to congratulate Hufflepuff for their win. He was about to sit back down and resume dessert, before Professor Vector delicately tapped her fork against her glass. She stood up.

“If I may say a few words?” she asked. Professor Dumbledore gestured for her to continue.
Rather than face the students, she turned towards the other professors with a cheeky grin.

“I do believe you all owe me 10 galleons.”

~~~~~

Late that night, after the celebration had been moved to the common room and the students had all been sent to bed, Professor McGonagall moved silently through her office and pulled out the points log.

She unfurled the paper and looked at the bottom for the last points that had been given. When she read it, she laughed out loud.

20 points to Hufflepuff for knocking out a Death Eater