Let Loose

February rolled around, and Sally-Anne found herself surrounded by pink once again. While Umbridge's office didn't hold the same comforting familiarity of Professor Babbling's, it didn't hold the same hostility within it that it did for the rest of her friends. It also served to drown out the frustrating gloating of Slytherin about their victory over Ravenclaw. Sally-Anne was pleased that she never caught Draco rubbing it in. After all, she expected better of him.

"Tea?" Umbridge offered her, as always.

"No, thank you," Sally-Anne said politely.

Umbridge gave a little chuckle and withdrew her hands.

"You're going to have to accept the tea one day, Ms. Perks."

Umbridge smiled at her with a calculated smile Sally-Anne had come to expect.

Sally-Anne matched her smile, and delivered her response in a similarly calculated tone.

"Mum says never to accept food or drink from an individual you didn't see prepared."

Umbridge paused for a moment, then said, ��Hm." After taking a sip of her own tea, she brought them to business.

"Anything to report?"

"A bit, but like I said last time we met, anyone taking the classes already are probably taking them because they wanted to be in that class. Therefore, they aren't likely to say anything bad about the professors."

"And the classes you don't want to take?"

"They're all core classes. I think Professor Snape could be nicer to everyone, and not blatantly favor Slytherin over Gryffindor, but he's knowledgeable about the subject matter. I'd say it's certainly up to where it needs to be. I think all the core classes are."

Umbridge made a note on a piece of parchment on her desk.

"And the electives?"

"Going by the criteria you gave me, I'd say both Ancient Runes and Care for Magical Creatures are where they need to be."

Sally-Anne handed assessments she'd drawn up for each of her classes.

Umbridge took them and scanned them over. The only one to which she paid any real attention was Care for Magical Creatures.

"I took the liberty and talked with students from the other classes: Arithmancy, Divination, and Muggle Studies. I think Professor Vector is teaching her class right, and Professor Burbage is up to it as well."

Umbridge looked up from the papers, a faint smile spreading over her face.

"And Divination? What of Trelawney?"

"I've got a lot of mixed reviews about her," Sally-Anne said, taking out the notes she'd made. "Two students with whom I spoke said it's their favorite class, and touched on some of the points you said she needed to. Another mentioned a few points." Although Neville isn't easy to talk to about anything apart from Luna these days. "Another few students gave me some more, but it looks like she's lacking in some areas, and favoring others. Everyone I talked to says she spends all her time on the assisted fortune-telling portion, but little on anything else."

She looked up at Umbridge, whose smile had grown broader. Sally-Anne chose to ignore it, but did bring up more.

"According to your evaluation rubric, there's more to Divination than simple fortune-telling. Anything that can't be applied, she ignores. For instance, I didn't even realize learning about the various forms of clairvoyance was supposed to be taught. Or understanding the possible ways to trigger a vision. Anything purely theory-based is just glossed over."

Sally-Anne hadn't truly understood the problems that Professor Trelawney was causing for her students until then. There was no way any of them would be able to pass the O.W.L.s in June, not unless they scored perfectly on everything they were being taught.

"Now that I think about it, that's awful for the students. Neville, Parvati, and Lavender aren't especially good at school as it is. It would be disastrous if they were unable to progress simply because their teacher didn't teach them properly."

"So you understand what must be done?"

"Someone should talk to Professor Trelawney and convince her to teach them the way she's supposed to be teaching them. It's no wonder so few students from Hogwarts do well on the O.W.L.s in Divination. I always thought it was because no one cared."

Umbridge made another note of her own, then accepted Sally-Anne's assessment of the final three courses.

"You've mentioned before that Professor Vector allowed a student to take Arithmancy two years ahead."

"Yes, that's Hermione Granger. She scored higher on the current version of the Arithmancy O.W.L. than almost anyone else in history."

"So it would seem."

"Hermione's brilliant, and she loves Arithmancy. She passed the third-year final exam in her first year. Sure, she's been a little… off since Rose died, but I think she earned her spot in that class."

Umbridge made another note, then returned to one of Sally-Anne's formal assessments. Sally-Anne caught some familiar notes and knew the topic was to be changed to Care for Magical Creatures.

"And Hagrid?"

Sally-Anne noted in her head that Umbridge never said "professor" before Trelawney, McGonagall, and Hagrid, but did before Vector.

"Professor Hagrid is doing well. As I noted, I went through everything he's taught my class in the past two years, and, even for a new professor, he's covering everything he should be covering. I'm not always thrilled about going out into the Forbidden Forest, given what's out there, but if that's where we need to go to learn, then that's what we'll do."

"He takes students into the Forbidden Forest?"

The calculating smile had returned to Umbridge's face. Sally-Anne realized that she was using that to keep her actual reactions in check, something Sally-Anne herself did.

She could be a little less smug with it.

"Not far, nor does he let any of us stray. There's plenty of wildlife in the forest, and he wants us to know how to identify it, as we're supposed to be learning. Working directly with the animals has a much better—"

"I'm not questioning his abilities as a teacher, I'm questioning whether you're learning what you're supposed to be learning."

"I just said that. We are."

Umbridge made another note.

"And he keeps you all safe?"

"Yes."

She made a final few notes, then sorted the assessments and placed them in her desk.

"On that note, what do you know of the Forbidden Forest?"

"We've been told about a lot of the wildlife there. Thestrals, acromantulas, centaurs—"

"There are centaurs living in the forest?"

"I've never seen them, but Harry and Ginny did during the earthquake a few years ago."

"We can't have that, now can we?"

Sally-Anne frowned, not understanding the point.

"What do you mean?"

"What's to stop these creatures from leaving the forest and coming onto the school grounds?"

She reserved judgment until Umbridge had made her entire case, but even then, she was getting a bad feeling.

"Nothing."

"Precisely the problem, Ms. Perks. Centaurs have a documented history of aggression towards humans."

Sally-Anne thought back to what she'd learned from Neville about the Forbidden Forest. One of the rules of the forest was to stay away from the centaurs. She didn't know all the details, but she knew he'd had some sort of problem with them on his first day in the forest.

"I suppose they do. I hadn't thought about it."

"Neither, I'm sure, has Dumbledore." She smiled reassuringly at Sally-Anne. "There's no need to worry. I'll see to it myself that it's taken care of. That will be all."

"Have a nice day, professor."

"And same to you, Ms. Perks."

The shrieks of agony caught Sally-Anne's attention. Cries like that were only uttered when someone was in distress. That sound told her that she was needed somewhere, so she followed it as quickly as she could.

It was almost March. With the upcoming match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, she wanted nothing more than to have something to take her mind off it. Harry hadn't spoken a word to her in such a long time. Although, truth be told, Sally-Anne was nervous about talking to him or Hermione. There was no telling what they'd do to her if they knew what she knew.

The screams in question weren't coming from a student, but a professor. Nothing about the scene of Professor Umbridge ushering Professor Trelawney out the door surprised her. She'd known it was coming. Trelawney had received fair warning that she needed to change her curriculum or else. She hadn't listened.

Trelawney held her hands close to her face, her back hunched over. Her hands wouldn't stop trembling. She looked so miserable, but it was her own fault.

Sally-Anne moved through the forming crowd easily, most people happy to move aside for her.

"B-but Hogwarts is my home," Trelawney said. "Where am I supposed to go?"

"You should've given that more thought by now," Umbridge said. "You must've known this was coming."

Sally-Anne noticed a pair of trunks that sat between the two women. She figured they must've been Trelawney's, especially after the way she reacted when Umbridge began moving them towards the door.

"No! Please!"

"You've been sacked," Umbridge said without a trace of sympathy. If anything, she sounded pleased as she waved a letter at Trelawney. "Your marching orders are right here, signed and sealed by the Minister himself. You can't expect to stay in the castle any longer, can you?"

Trelawney looked like she would fall to her knees any moment. Tears were visible on her face, and she could barely speak between sobs.

Sally-Anne heard some students starting to cry themselves. She didn't bother to look; they didn't understand, but they would. When they learned what they needed to know, what they should've been learning for years, they'd understand, and then they'd be thankful. It was unfortunate that Trelawney was being sacked, but such were the consequences of people ignoring orders.

One of the shawls fell from Trelawney's shoulders. She fell to the ground to pick it up, but she dissolved into a blithering mess before she put it back on.

A figure stepped out of the crowd and draped the shawl back over her shoulders for her.

"It will be alright, Sybill," Alavel said kindly. With an arm around the former professor, he helped her to her feet. "We'll find a place for you. If not here, then not far."

"But this is all I've got!" Trelawney sobbed. "Where am I supposed to go?"

Professor McGonagall stepped out of the crowd and joined Alavel at Trelawney's side.

"We'll take care of it, Sybill. We'll spare someone to keep you company until then."

"That won't be necessary."

Instead of pushing through the crowd, it parted for Professor Dumbledore. He stood with Alavel, McGonagall, and Trelawney, but kept his attention on Umbridge.

"Sybill, you may keep your current arrangements here. You needn't leave."

"Dumbledore," Umbridge said, her smile unwavering, "might I remind you that according to Educational Decree—"

"I'm aware of the decree," Dumbledore said. "It gives you the right to sack any member of my staff you feel is unfit. While I accept that, and have been nothing but cooperative with your inquisition, I'll remind you that you do not have the authority to remove my staff, nor anyone else for that matter, from the grounds. That power rests with me and me alone."

Umbridge turned her smile at Dumbledore.

"For now. But don't you think that her replacement will need those quarters?"

"Not at all. I believe he would rather stay on the ground floor."

That caught Umbridge off guard. Her neutral, slightly unnerving smile turned to a frowned.

"According to—"

"Yes, I'm aware of all your rules, Madame Undersecretary. Even the clause that says I have 24 hours to find a replacement, or one will be chosen for me. I just so happened to find one this morning."

Sally-Anne frowned, confused as to how Professor Dumbledore had managed to find a replacement so soon. Sally-Anne had only just found out about it. Umbridge wouldn't have told anyone, lest she risk Dumbledore finding an ill-suited replacement. Sally-Anne knew Rose had trusted Dumbledore, and she herself did as well. He was good at teaching and getting through to students, but that didn't necessarily make him good at running a school. He couldn't just go about allowing professors to teach whatever they wanted, ignorant of the proper guidelines.

"Really?" Umbridge said. "Well, where is he?"

Right on cue, the doors flung open and Trelawney's replacement strode in. His hooves clicked on the stone floor. He stood at least seven feet tall, probably more.

"Might I introduce Firenze," Dumbledore said, motioning to the centaur entering the school. "I think you'll find him most suitable."

Sally-Anne couldn't believe her eyes. Dumbledore had chosen a centaur to teach the students.

Neville had begun with two ideas of Divination: everything Rose had told him, and what Percy had told him, in that it didn't involve much use of a wand. So he'd signed up for it. What he'd found had been far more disappointing than what Rose had described. It was all crystal balls, incense, and card reading.

Then there was the way Firenze taught it. Neville was sure he'd never call him "Professor Firenze", only because it was too weird, but there was so much more wonder in the class. Firenze admitted that Divination was never perfect, nor would it ever be. There was no way to know for sure what the future held, not even for centaurs, who were gifted with natural talent for it.

Neville had a lot of questions after class, but he had to run to Defence Against the Dark Arts. He was certain staying and talking to Firenze wouldn't be an acceptable excuse for Umbridge.

He was surprised most of all by how little everyone else knew about centaurs. They hadn't covered them in Care for Magical Creatures, which Neville assumed was because they weren't expected to know how to care for centaurs. They didn't use magic at all, so they didn't fall under "dark arts". Even then, the fact that some of his classmates thought that Hagrid had bred the centaurs was embarrassing.

After dinner that night, Neville took the opportunity to seek out Firenze.

"It's good to see you well, Neville Longbottom," Firenze said.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Neville said. "I didn't mean to keep laughing during class today. I didn't realize how little everyone else knew about centaurs."

"Yes, I was a little disappointed," Firenze said dryly. "But glad that you have not forgotten."

"Everyone here needs to know where the dining hall is so they don't starve to death," Neville said. "I needed to know how centaurs moved and fought, and how not to get captured by them again." He looked Firenze in the eye, or as best he could. Firenze was considerably taller than him. "Thank you again. I'd be dead without you."

"In the subject I now teach, the wisdom of centaurs is far above that of humans. I regret that our knowledge of humans is rivaled only by humans' knowledge of us."

Neville nodded, thinking of Rose and the stories she'd told about growing up as a human in Rontus, which primarily held Dwarves, and Faera, which primarily held Elves. She'd never felt so out of place as she had on Faera, even when she'd arrived on the Rowling Plane. Many of them didn't realize that Humans could even speak.

"I… You've been in the Forbidden Forest until you came here yesterday, right?"

Firenze nodded darkly, and for a moment, Neville was worried that he'd struck a nerve. But Firenze made no further hesitation, and Neville needed the answer to the question that had been at the forefront of his mind for months. Every inch of him ached for him to ask about Moon as thoughts of her filled his mind. He needed to find her.

"Did you see a girl with blonde hair and a black dog? Showed up about a month ago?"

"Not a girl precisely, and I wouldn't necessarily call the beast that walks with her a dog. There have been signs of them for about one moon, but they only made their presence known recently."

He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, and Neville started to rock back and forth on his feet. It sounded like Luna had gone to the Forbidden Forest, and more importantly, was still there.

"Tell me, Mr. Longbottom, how well were you paying attention in class?"

"Well enough."

Neville hadn't thought about it, but he'd paid attention more during Firenze's lecture than any of Trelawney's. Professor Trelawney always seemed so… out of it, but Firenze spoke as an expert on the subject of Divination. That, and he'd admitted outright that Divination was more of an art, and there was no way to be certain about any of it. Professor Trelawney always went on about how Divination was the one true truth or something. Neville honestly didn't pay terribly close attention, especially with everything else going on in Hogwarts.

Firenze pointed up at the ceiling, where the moon became visible.

"Some time ago, we centaurs noticed that the moon had been becoming brighter. Every full moon, it shines brightly in the sky, brighter than it has in a long time."

Neville looked up at the moon. It looked bright, but he didn't know how bright it had been.

"I'll take your word for it." He looked back to Firenze. "Are you saying that it's got something to do with Luna?"

"I see you weren't paying complete attention to the point of the class."

Neville waited, but after a few seconds, he realized Firenze was pulling an Ozerl and making him figure it out himself. He concentrated on the lesson, struggling to remember everything Firenze had taught them. After a moment, he realized the answer was why he liked Firenze's lectures better.

"You mean you can't be certain."

"I can't, but I also won't ignore a coincidence, nor will the other centaurs. You see, the creature that appeared in the forest wears a pin of a crescent moon. She—"

"That's her! That's Luna! I got that for her from Thindro's Jewelers — best in all of Hogsmeade — a few months ago!"

Firenze stared patiently at Neville until he calmed down.

"If she proves that she means them no harm, they'll most likely trust her. Many of the forest creatures believe she was sent by the moon as some sort of spirit, to protect them from the war."

"You mentioned that in class," Neville said, looking up at Mercury. "You said it would be different than it was before, but you didn't say why."

Firenze pointed up at the sky.

"Mercury shines brightly between those two stars, there and there. That indicates that the war will resume." He pointed at a comet that Professor Sinistra had shown them the other day in Astronomy. "Do you see that comet?"

"Sure," Neville said, once again wondering what any of this had to do with Luna.

"It's entering the proximity of Mars, along with those two stars, but it shouldn't be there. Something's changed to disturb the balance, and I, along with many other centaurs, fear it will be for the worse." He turned back to Neville. "The forest creatures believe that this girl… Luna, I believe you said, although that's not the name she uses… will protect them. She speaks with the forest, and it responds to her, and she doesn't smell like a human to those that could smell her. Even her face doesn't appear human anymore."

"That sounds more and more like Luna," Neville said, his excitement evident on his face. "I don't know about her face, but… it doesn't matter. Thank you, Firenze."

"You're welcome, Neville Longbottom."

Neville grabbed his pack, and started on a quick letter. He'd made plans long ago for when he finally found Luna. First, he had to let her dad know. That'd be the first thing she'd want him to do, then he planned to tell Hermione. He'd tossed that one around for a while, but was sure he could convince Hermione not to go with him. Because the final step was to go after her.

His letter to Xenophilius Lovegood was short. He let him know that Luna was in the Forbidden Forest, but alive.

Neville ran up to Gryffindor tower, searching for Hermione. He had no intention of taking her with him, but he figured he'd need to inform both her and Luna's dad that he knew for sure where Luna was.

After being unable to find her in the common room, he ran up to his own room, where he found Harry getting ready for bed.

"Where's Hermione? I need to talk with her, now!"

"What for?" Harry asked.

In his own bed, Ron glared at Neville over the book he was pretending to read. Then he waved his wand and animated a few books to stand guard at the door, ensuring they weren't disturbed by their other two roommates.

"I know where Luna is!"

Harry paused while opening the map.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive! I need to find Hermione to tell her."

Neville began moving his body in place, trying to burn off some of the energy he had while Harry moved like a glacier to get the map open.

Move faster! Move faster! Come on, Skyeyes, I know you can go faster than that!

Neville dropped to the ground when Harry activated the map. He scanned the castle, looking everywhere Hermione usually hung out.

"There!"

He spotted her leaving the library, and took off without another thought.

"You're welcome!" Ron called after him.

Neville sprinted down the corridors again, choosing to avoid jumping over the edge with professors out and about. His heart raced in his ears, and he was starting to feel fatigued, but he shut it all out. Nothing else mattered apart from doing what he had to do before finding Luna.

"Brain!"

He skidded to a halt as she passed by, then ran back up to her.

"What's going on?" she asked, her tone matching his. "Is something wrong? What's happened?"

"I found her," he said, tapping his ear. "Firenze said something humanoid has been in the Forbidden Forest for about a month now, but it only just appeared to them."

"So?"

"It's always with a dog, can speak with the forest, and wears a pin of the crescent moon!"

"That's got to be her!" Hermione exclaimed. "What are we waiting for? We've got to go find them!"

Hermione turned and began to run back towards Gryffindor tower, but he quickly caught her.

"You're not coming," he said. "Just me."

"What? What do you mean 'just me'? She's Rose's sister! If you're going, I'm going!"

Neville had anticipated a fight from Hermione, and had prepared somewhat of an argument.

"You're supposed to be avoiding stress, remember? You know what the Forbidden Forest is full of? Things that want to kill or eat you! Usually both!"

Neville decided he had no more time to argue with her. He took off for Gryffindor tower again, hoping he'd lose Hermione. He'd done his part and informed her, and that was all he needed to do.

"I'm fine!" Hermione called from behind him, trying to keep pace with him. "Besides, Hogwarts isn't exactly stress free these days!"

Had he not sprinted up and down the castle already, Neville would've lost her easily. Having done so, he was starting to wear out, and Hermione didn't seem to tire, no matter how much she ran.

It was something he'd noticed at the start of the year, when they'd sparred together. Hermione never seemed to tire from running or strenuous activity. She would get worn down from injury, but never from activity. What had Rose done to her that she hadn't done to anyone else?

Hermione ran after Neville, darting inside Gryffindor tower just after him. She raced up to her room and grabbed her things. There was no way he was going to beat her out of the common room.

"Hermione, what are—" Sally-Anne began, but Hermione didn't hear anything after that.

The moment she had her things together, which she'd practiced doing time and again, just in case, she was back in the common room and out the entrance. She was sure she'd beaten Neville, and sure enough, he walked out a few seconds behind her.

"You're not coming!" he snapped, and stormed off down the corridor.

Anger boiled up inside her again, and she ran to keep up. She didn't feel tired, even after running up several flights of stairs.

"Why not?"

"I already told you! You can't handle it!"

"I can handle it just fine! Besides, it's not like we're going to stay there forever! We're fetching Luna and coming back!"

"It won't be that simple! We don't know what she's been doing in there."

She laughed and pulled out her notebook. Inside were all the notes she'd taken from reading Luna's mum's notes.

"I do."

He stopped walking and spun to face her. Even she wasn't oblivious to the anger he was showing.

"I've got the answer here."

She showed him the book, then stashed it back in her own pack. She wasn't about to risk him trying to take her only advantage.

"If you want me to tell you, you'll have to take me with you."

Neville's eyes darted between her and her pack. He stood still for a moment, and Hermione knew she had him. He'd take her along, having no other choice.

Hermione had to hold down a laugh. She was finally going to have the chance to make up for hurting Luna. Pain formed in her stomach, making her ill, and she felt short of breath. The same symptoms of guilt that always arose when she thought about that day. But it'd all be gone soon.

Neville stood still, never talking, never moving.

"I'd rather find out myself than ever let you hurt Moon again."

His arm moved faster than Hermione could track. It swung in an arc, releasing a small pellet as it reached shoulder-height. The pellet exploded when it hit Hermione, covering her world in smoke.

She caught the sound of footsteps running away from her, and ran towards them. Her vision cleared after a few seconds, but by the time it had, she'd lost sight of Neville.

Hermione ran down the corridor, heading towards the ground floor. She knew where he was going, and she wasn't going to lose track of him.

Not him. He's the only friend I've got left.

Sally-Anne was spending too much time with Umbridge. She'd hurt Ron too badly to be forgiven. Harry didn't trust her. Ginny was afraid of her.

Everyone was afraid of her.

Maybe they're right.

Neville and Luna were her only friends. The only ones who'd stood by her, even after what she'd done to Luna. The only two people in Hogwarts that weren't afraid of her.

That thought weight her down, and her pace slowed.

"What's the point?" Hermione asked herself. "They don't want me there. Of course they don't want me there."

A flash of black tentacles oozing from the ground around Neville and Luna erupted in her mind. Then the memory mutated, and instead of Neville and Luna, she could see herself, surrounded by burning tents, screaming in agony.

Horror swept over her. She was no different than he was.

Perhaps it was best if she stayed away.

Hermione turned around and started walking off. The castle felt lonely, and the more people she passed, the worse it got. She tried to tell herself it'd be alright in the end. Neville would find Luna, and they'd both come back.

But she didn't know they'd be alright. Nothing was certain anymore. How could it be?

Rose was still dead.