Kit really wished Professor Flitwick had insulted Umbridge, or something.

But no. The first evaluation of the toad's that she'd had to witness, and Flitwick had been perfectly civil. Kit wished that Professors were allowed to curse. There was no way Flitwick was on board with Umbridge's infiltration, but he did not show his true sentiments at all.

"Flitwick is downright boring sometimes," huffed Kit to Blaise and Draco as they walked to Care of Magical Creatures. "I get that he is a perfect gentleman but really, he could have been sassy or something. I heard McGonagall left Umbridge looking stupid, in the most McGonagall way possible. I'd have paid to see that..."

"I'm sure there's a way to ask Hermione to show you her memory of it," mused Blaise. "That's an advanced thing but we could figure it out, you know. My mum used to do it to Andrea and I when we were younger, if we didn't fess up about something bad."

"How is Andrea, anyway?"

"Sends her greetings, as usual. Still planning her wedding. She might invite you, you know. Have you and I be ring bearers, because she doesn't trust her fiancé's younger siblings to do it."

"Well, I expect an invitation soon, then," said Kit happily, leaning a bit closer to Draco, who was rummaging through his bag as he walked. He looked up briefly and offered her a smile before diving his hand back in. "Can't find my bloody quill, I think I left it in Flitwick's," he grunted.

"You can borrow mine," said Kit. "I don't take notes in Care anyway."

Draco shook his head, not wanting her to have an excuse to zone out. "Nah— I'll go retrieve it. See you both in a bit." He dashed back the way they'd come.

Blaise took the opportunity to confront Kit. "So, what's it like to snog Draco?" he asked casually. "I heard a third year wondering about it the other day outside the greenhouses."

Kit blinked, before letting her lips curl into a smirk. "It's wonderful, actually," she said nonchalantly. "If you want a turn you can take one, as long as it's alright with Draco. That way you can practice for when you finally gather your balls up and ask Hermione out."

"I seem to have hit a nerve," teased Blaise, elbowing her lightly in the side. "Not ready to relay your experiences, then? S'alright, keep your secrets..."

She shrugged in response. "I never said I was keeping secrets. And it wasn't a nerve you hit, it was my ribcage. I'm being serious— it's wonderful. Like I said... it's good practice."

"I highly doubt I'll learn anything from attaching my lips to Draco's."

"Go straight for it, then, Blaise. Hermione's probably snogged Viktor Krum. You snogged... what's her name... erm..." Kit paused to think. "Second year—"

"I didn't snog her, Kit, I just kissed her," said Blaise. "I don't even know her name. She's a seventh year by now, and it was just a silly game that they let me join because some of them knew Andrea before she graduated. She was Head Girl that year and I guess those girls owed her for some help..."

"Alright, so the point is that you want to snog Hermione."

Blaise looked away sheepishly, making Kit nudge him back. "You can admit it. If you want me to admit how much I enjoyed snogging Draco, then you can admit wanting to snog Hermione."

"That's— that's not the point. Sure, I'd very much like to snog her, but that's not the only thing I want. I really, really fancy her, Kit. I'm sure you can tell that. I want... what they write about in novels. That kind of affection that comes only once in a millenia. I don't want to rush it. I want to take my time, I want to do it right. She's... she's amazing, Kit, I'm sure you know that. She is brilliant, and maybe she knows nothing about Quidditch but... sometimes in the library we can talk for hours and I never get bored. She has this way of moving her hands and scrunching up her eyes when she's talking about something she's really passionate about. It's a beautiful look on her. Hell, Kit, I don't think she really knows how pretty she is. Bloody gorgeous."

"Who's bloody gorgeous?"

Draco was back. Blaise blushed, and Kit took over. "Your mum is bloody gorgeous," she answered without missing a beat, shooting Blaise a wink. It was sweet how much he clearly cared for Hermione. Kit wondered where they'd be once they graduated. She could picture it— Blaise and Hermione Zabini, kicking ass and reforming the Ministry.

"Thank you, I'll let her know you said that," Draco answered, bumping his hip against Kit's. "I'm sure she'd love to know of your hidden affections for her."

"She's gorgeous but I'm into someone else," sighed Kit. "Sorry to her."

"Is he related to her?"

"No, I don't think so..."

Draco rolled his eyes and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "What's wrong, Kit Kat, don't want to admit you're into me?"

The sheer boldness of his question caught her off guard. It seemed that had been his intention. He smirked the instant he realized that she had blushed.

"Get a room, you two," said Blaise as they made their way down to where Professor Grubbly-Plank waited on lawn near the forest. Professor Umbridge was right beside her, clipboard in hand.

"And just like that, our sweet moment is over," huffed Kit, crossing her arms. As they drew nearer, they heard Umbridge ask: "You do not usually take this class, is that correct?"

"Quite correct," said Professor Grubbly‐Plank. "I am a substitute teacher standing in for Professor Hagrid."

"Hmm," said Umbridge, "I wonder— the Headmaster seems strangely reluctant to give me any information on the matter— can you tell me what is causing Professor Hagridʹs very extended leave of absence?"

"She's bloody nosy," muttered Draco as they got situated near their respective Bowtruckles.

"'Fraid I canʹt," said Professor Grubbly‐Plank. "Donʹt know anything more about it than you do. Got an owl from Dumbledore, would I like a couple of weeksʹ teaching work. I accepted. Thatʹs as much as I know. Well... shall I get started then?"

"Yes, please do," said Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard.

Kit wished she could gauge her own eyeballs out, or something. She forced herself to actually help Blaise with the Bowtruckle charting, but every now and then, she'd lean over and listen to what Umbridge was asking the other students. She was asking them about creatures, and thankfully, most were competent enough to answer properly. There was one point where she stopped for an incredibly long time beside Dean Thomas and asked him about a thousand questions, but overall, Umbridge didn't seem dissatisfied.

"Overall," said Umbridge, returning to Professor Grubbly‐Plankʹs side, "how do you, as a temporary member of staff— an objective outsider, I suppose you might say— how do you find Hogwarts? Do you feel you receive enough support from the school management?"

"Oh, yes, Dumbledoreʹs excellent," said Professor Grubbly‐Plank heartily. "Yes, Iʹm very happy with the way things are run, very happy indeed."

Umbridge seemed to have been wishing to get a more negative answer. Her expression was what Kit might classify as 'politely incredulous.' She made a tiny note on her clipboard. "And what are you planning to cover with this class this year— assuming, of course, that Professor Hagrid does not return?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank seemed to be quite prepared to answer. "Oh, Iʹll take them through the creatures that most often come up in O.W.L. Not much left to do— theyʹve studied unicorns and Nifflers, I thought weʹd cover Porlocks and Kneazles, make sure they can recognise Crups and Knarls, you know..."

"Well, you seem to know what youʹre doing, at any rate," said Umbridge, making a very obvious tick on her clipboard. Kit and Harry exchanged exasperated looks from across the lawn. When she looked away, Kit noticed that Hermione was looking her way— to where Blaise was hunched over tending very gently to his Bowtruckle.

"Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class?"

Kit wanted to groan loudly. She looked up, seeing Crabbe and Goyle exchanging stupid grins, clearly pleased. They looked over at Draco. "Draco got slashed by a Hippogriff," Goyle announced.

"A Hippogriff?" said Umbridge, now scribbling frantically.

"That was my fault," Draco said without missing a beat, which left the entire class staring at him, stunned. Clearly, no one had been expecting him to own up to it. "Professor Hagrid outlined the instructions for approaching a Hippogriff and I didn't listen, so I got hurt. It... wasn't that bad."

Umbridge's eyebrows shot up, definitely confused as to why he hadn't made Hagrid out to be the villain in that incident. "Oh? Well... that's certainly interesting." She made a rather short note, as if disappointed with the report. "Well, then, thank you very much, Professor Grubbly-Plank, I think thatʹs all I need here. You will be receiving the results of your inspection within ten days."

"Jolly good," said Professor Grubbly‐Plank, and Umbridge set off back across the lawn to the castle.

Kit didn't realize she was smiling until Blaise nudged her. "Kit, what's up?"

"Huh?"

"You were grinning."

"Ah... well, I suppose I'm proud of him." She looked over to where Crabbe and Goyle looked at Draco, unsure what to say.

"You should pull him over for a victory snog after class," Blaise suggested with a wink.

"Only if you do the same with Hermione."

But as it turned out, Kit didn't need him to go along with that. When the bell had rung, she'd pulled Draco behind Hagrid's Cabin and gave him a wonderful snog indeed.

_

It half past eleven when Kit left the Slytherin Common Room.

After their snog, she and Draco had gone to the dungeons and gotten started on homework. It'd been just them for awhile, since Blaise had been in the library with Hermione. At one point, Snape had walked past, but he hadn't given her a detention, despite having clearly set his gaze on her.

Kit had scrunched her eyebrows up when he left and made a face at Draco. "Think Snape got laid today? He didn't give me detention. Must mean something put him in a good mood."

Draco let out a hard chuckle and covered his face. "You gave me a very bad visual with that statement..."

"Woah there, no one told you to imagine it. Jeez, Draco, you little creep..."

"Wait, no, it's not like that—"

"Imagine if Snape knew you imagined him in such a context..."

"Kit! You know that wasn't what I meant—"

"Picturing him being intimate with some imaginary woman, because we all know no one would shag that..."

Draco growled and covered his face, making Kit smirk triumphantly. "You're a devil, Kit Kat," he said, peeking from behind one of his fingers.

"Thank you, darling, I try my best," she said, bowing before continuing to scribble on her parchment.

"Okay, but realistically, you haven't had a row with him in the middle of class yet. You're doing well in lessons, too. He probably hasn't got a reason to punish you— outside of you being here, at least."

"Why is he such an arse anyway? He could just choose to be more tolerable. Isn't it concerning to you how so many of us either hate him or are afraid of him? That shit is not normal."

"You have a point there. You'd think someone like Longbottom would have had a boggart of wetting his pants in front of the whole school... or falling off a broom... but it was literally Snape."

"See, the Ministry is fine with Snape being here but they want to toss Hagrid out. At least Hagrid is fostering a caring environment for students with emotional needs. And wait— I forget, what was your boggart in third year?"

"Ah, I went after hours, same as you, so it makes sense you didn't see it. At that point in life, it was being stuck in a dark room. Now... probably would be my father. In the future? Something worse."

Kit winced, and reached out to take his hand. He accepted, and gave her a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Kit Kat, it's all hypothetical— I doubt I'll be facing a boggart again anytime soon."

"But still. Your father shouldn't be treating you the way he does. That's not okay."

"I'll be okay. Don't worry, alright? Can we talk about something else?"

Reluctantly, Kit agreed, and until Blaise arrived, they'd discussed their elective classes.

However, once they had tired themselves out and finished the most urgent assignments, Kit had bade them farewell, daring to kiss Draco on the cheek before darting out. She made a point to go past Umbridge's office, wondering if Harry was out of detention.

It seemed he had just finished. When she rounded the corner, she saw him departing, and quickly jogged to catch up. At first, he was startled when he heard her footsteps, but quickly calmed down when he saw her.

"Kit," he breathed. "Thank Merlin."

She didn't answer, examining how much blood was pooled around the scar on his hand. She yanked out a handkerchief and held it down tightly, before pulling at his scarf and wrapping it completely around his hand. She kept his hand in her grasp, giving just the right amount of pressure to subside the bleeding. Harry kept walking, leading them both to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"I'm surprised," Harry mused, keeping his voice low. "Malfoy, in class today... I expected him to badmouth Hagrid."

"He's doing much better now, Harry. He recognizes his faults. I'm quite proud of him."

"I was partially in shock— so was Ron. Hermione didn't look surprised, but then again, she's had a civil conversation with him at least once, whilst Ron and I haven't. Nice job to you and Blaise, on that."

Kit beamed. "It's really all Draco. We're just good influences. He's had it in him all along."

Harry made a face, but offered her a smile all the same. "Well, just make sure he doesn't... hurt you, you know? He's still a Malfoy."

"And I'm a Thompson. Hurt can go both ways."

"Yeah, I know. I just worry about you, Kit. You're good. He's... only recently begun to get nearer to that category. I don't trust him."

"I'm being careful, Harry, I promise."

At least, that seemed to reassure him a bit. "Say, Kit, how has Cho been?"

"She's been good. I think maybe you should talk to her, you know," she suggested. "She'd enjoy hearing from you."

Harry blushed. "D'you think so?"

"Oh, I know so."

When the Fat Lady let them in, they found Hermione and Ron waiting in the armchairs. Hermione immediately stood, bringing over a small bowl of yellow liquid for Harry. "Here," she said urgently. "Soak your hand in that, itʹs a solution of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles, it should help."

Kit let go of his hand and removed the scarf and handkerchief. Harry thrust his hand into the bowl and let out a sigh of relief. There was a purring sound, and Kit initially thought it came from Harry, until she noticed Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, at their feet.

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry breathed gratefully, sitting down as Kit picked Crookshanks up and sat beside Harry, depositing the cat on her lap. She let the cat sniff her hand, and Harry rubbed its ears pleasantly.

"I still reckon you should complain about this," said Ron in a low voice. "Owling Moody isn't enough."

"No," said Harry flatly.

ʹ"McGonagall would go nuts if she knew—"

"Yeah, she probably would," agreed Harry. "But we told you already that Umbridge got Kit's father to make this a non-issue with the Ministry. They'd simply let Umbridge pass another decree, saying something along the lines of 'anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately.'"

"Mad-Eye will tell us if we have to do anything specific," sighed Kit. "We've been exchanging several letters. I'll update him again tomorrow."

Hermione let out a shaky breath. "She's an awful woman... awful... you know, I was saying to Ron when you both came in... we've got to do something about her."

"I suggested poison," Ron said grimly.

"Oooh, I second that," said Kit, caressing Crookshanks's back. "Or maybe, you could obliviate her like what happened to Lockhart. Have her end up... wherever that bloke is."

"No, nothing like that," Hermione said. "Something about what a dreadful teacher she is, and how we're not going to learn any Defense from her at all." She paused briefly, darting her tongue over her lips. "You know, I was thinking today..." she looked up at Harry as if nervous to continue, but did so anyway. "I was thinking that— maybe the time's come when we should just— just do it ourselves."

"Teach ourselves?" asked Kit. "I mean, good idea, but that's extra work. Hours go to waste in her class, and outside of that... it's not going to be easy."

"Exactly!" agreed Ron. "Harry and I are behind on homework again and it's only the second week."

"But this is much more important than homework!" argued Hermione.

Ron and Harry looked like they'd seen an alien. "I didnʹt think there was anything in the universe more important than homework!" said Ron incredulously.

"Donʹt be silly, of course there is," said Hermione. "Itʹs about preparing ourselves, like Harry said in Umbridgeʹs first lesson, for whatʹs waiting for us out there. Itʹs about making sure we really can defend ourselves. If we donʹt learn anything for a whole year—"

"We canʹt do much by ourselves," said Ron in a defeated voice. "I mean, all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try and practise them, I suppose—"

"Here's the thing," said Hermione. "Kit— McGonagall and Flitwick let you learn a few extra spells throughout the years, right?"

"Yes," said Kit. "But they're teaching other subjects."

"No, I know that we can't do them. But think, this isn't something we can learn out of books or by ourselves. We're going to need a proper teacher to advance through what we need for... for the O.W.L. and for what's out there."

"Who do you suggest?" asked Kit. "I mean, I'd say Lupin—"

"No, not Lupin, he's too busy with the Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and thatʹs not nearly often enough..."

Kit furrowed her eyebrows. "What about some of the older students? I'm sure Roger and some of his seventh year friends would be willing to teach us what they know."

Hermione bit her lip. "Actually... I was thinking about Harry."

A small 'oh' of understanding came out of Kit's mouth. Ron slowly nodded his head. "That's... that's definitely an idea."

"What's an idea?" said Harry, not getting the gist yet.

"You, teaching us to do it," said Ron.

"But— but I'm not a teacher," Harry noted.

"Okay, maybe not, genius," sighed Kit. "But think— Hermione's pinpointing something really hard to overlook here! Besides being the best in the year at Defense Against the Dark Arts—"

"What?" Harry said, grinning as though he couldn't believe anything they were saying. "No, I'm not— you and Hermione and several other Ravenclaws have done better than me on tests."

"Not true," Hermione retorted. "You were best in third year— the only year we had a teacher who actually knew the subject. Either way— it's not about test results! Think what you've done!"

"How d'you mean?" asked Harry, apparently still thoroughly confused.

Ron cracked a smirk. "You know what, Hermione... Kit, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me."

Kit let out a soft laugh. "Seriously, Harry, did you forget that you