Harry had never considered a career in acting before, but suddenly he felt a theatrical whimsy come over his body. Unable to resist the temptation this time, he tightened his control over the woman with a silent imperio and Umbridge puppeted his commands perfectly. She huffed and stood, her nose turned upwards in maximum snobbery despite her wobbly posture as her body was barely held together at this point.
"Now, now, Albus. There's no need to be heated. Don't you know who I am? My actions have been sanctioned by the Minister himself! You and your queerness have been tainting these good children. I have worked tirelessly to preserve proper, pureblood morals in this school. You should be thanking me!" Her voice rose in volume and pitch until she was angrily squeaking like a disgruntled gerbil.
Dumbledore had a look on his face like he was considering slapping her. Unluckily, he was stopped by an official-looking owl dropping a thin letter on the plate in front of her. It opened on its own, and the monotone voice of a woman echoed across the Hall.
"Madame Umbridge, Minister Fudge has asked you to return to the Ministry post-haste for a meeting. You are being recalled from your position at Hogwarts. If you do not present yourself within the hour, we will send aurors to collect you. Have a good day!"
Umbridge exploded in anger, Harry channeling Vernon Dursley in her loud fury. This was fun!
"You filthy little brats!" She barreled down to the student's tables, waving her finger about and spitting with rage. "I warned you what would happen if you tattled. Which one of you was it? Who was too proud to accept their discipline?" She screeched, looking over the Gryffindors. Quieter, she said, "I know those mudblood Ravenclaws would not be stupid enough to talk after their special punishment." There was a chorus of loud gasps from that table, and the second years clutched each other in fear.
Umbridge's face contorted in shock at her loud tone, a dainty hand swerving over her mouth.
The teachers stood from the table, wands drawn. Quicker than her instincts would have allowed had she been in control of her body, Umbridge pointed her wand at Hermione and pulled her out of her seat by her hair.
Hermione sent Harry an unimpressed glare. Harry gasped with all his hidden dramatic ability and wailed. "Hermione!" If looks could kill - honestly, couldn't she pretend to look terrified? He ignored his mama's warning look. He was not about to do anything stupid in front of a crowd.
"Not a move, none of you, or this girl will get it! I will not sit by and watch this school get tainted by those of inferior blood! I will not sit by and let my culture and my people be erased! Be discriminated against. It's an embarrassment that these things are allowed in public! Why -" Harry let her keep ranting, she had a host of pre-prepared derogatory speeches waiting in her mind. This next part required concentration. You see, there was one thing that the Imperius generally could not do and that is order the person to end their own life. There was an instinctual self-preservation that would not allow it. But Umbridge was near death, already partially controlled by the Freak in the Cupboard and -
I've already ruined your life, he taunted her. I've stolen your magic, and destroyed your career and reputation. You'll spend the rest of your very short, muggle life in Azkaban, completely unable to defend yourself from the Dementors.
For someone as prejudiced as Umbridge, whose literal worst nightmare was coming true right before her eyes? No, it was not a matter of ordering her to comply under the Imperius, Dolores would complete this willingly.
Hurry up, Dolores. You'd better cast it before you lose the last of your magic.
Her wand, shaking in her grasp, moved to her temple.
Harry rushed over to Hermione the second the body fell, helping her up with very innocent concern and ripping the ring off Umbridge's finger before they were rushed by the teachers. His talisman was brimming with excess energy. Umbridge was more powerful than he'd assumed.
"Why me?" Hermione complained quietly amidst the chaos.
"Would you rather I had frightened someone who didn't know it was a ruse?" He whispered. "Did that whole thing seem suspicious, by the way?"
Hermione smacked him upside the head.
.....
For a while, Harry worried about things like homework and the upcoming exams like a normal student. Sirius, despite being busy with adult bureaucratic stuff, dealing with clearing his name and all that, came by to visit him regularly and they had awkward talks about expressing emotions in healthy ways. They were still stumped about his inability to perform occlumency, but with Umbridge and the bullies taken care of, the instances of violent thoughts became manageable, and his impulsivity manifested mostly in his inability to complete homework on time.
Nonetheless, things were tense as he awaited Luna's verdict, which finally came after a couple weeks when she appeared out of nowhere and dragged him into a secluded section of the library.
"I'm really sorry," he said.
"Why?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
"I should have listened to you. You asked me not to hurt your dormmates and I did anyway. I knew you wouldn't like it, but I didn't care and that was selfish of me. Also, um, harming children is bad."
She sighed. After hearing second-hand from Ron about Harry's Dark magic mental breakdown, she knew that was as good as she was going to get.
"You're my best friend, and I love you. But you really disrespected me," she said. "I know violence doesn't bother you, and I can accept that. But it bothers me, and I don't want you to hurt people on my behalf out of a misguided sense of justice. I need you to promise not to do something like that again."
"Okay, I promise." He agreed.
"And promise you won't make decisions for me anymore," she demanded. "Why don't you trust me?"
"I'm sorry. I was scared you would hate me if I told you."
"You know, I've been anxious all year about that same thing. Sort of. I'm weird, and I know that. No one likes that about me. It's been hard to accept that. So when you go behind my back and belittle my beliefs of non-violence, it really upset me. It feels like you don't like the real me, like you secretly hate me."
"I promise that's not the case," Harry begged. "I did it because I cared. I was so mad people wouldn't leave you alone. Shit, I'm sorry Luna. I could never hate you. You're my best friend!"
"I could never hate you either. I've come to terms with your necromancy, we don't have to have the same beliefs, that's okay," she assured him. "But that doesn't mean you get to disrespect mine. Can't you understand how that would upset me?"
"I get it, yeah. I'm sorry." It was mindboggling that Luna could think for even a second that he didn't like her. That thought did not correlate to the other way around, of course. Harry was an insecure teen. But he sort of got the point. "I promise I won't do it again," he said.
"Alright, now explain yourself about that whole Umbridge thing."
"I didn't mean to get you in trouble for cursing them!" He insisted. "I had no idea they would blame you for that, or I wouldn't have even considered it. I found evidence of Umbridge's detentions and mama and I thought that since she was willing to do that, then everyone would assume she was willing to use the Unforgivables too."
"And her death?"
"Well, I sort of ruined her life. She would have gone to Azkaban for a long time. I didn't force her to, but I did um… incentivize her. Ron and mama said it was okay."
"Of course he did," she rolled her eyes but with a good-humored quirk on her lips. "Alright, I forgive you. I'm still sad but I understand why you would do that."
Harry beamed and pulled her into a hug, lifting her several inches off the floor and spinning them around. He was very pleased he hadn't permanently destroyed their close friendship.
Luna hugged him back tightly.
....
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