Returning to school was easier and harder than I thought. It was easy because nobody knew what had happened and I was able to become a brick wall again. It was hard because I couldn't focus on school anymore and my grades fell even lower. I nearly broke down when I actually received a T on a Potions essay, which made my confidence fall because apparently I was as stupid as a troll.

Trelawney was sacked and replaced with a centaur, Firenze. His Divination classes were much better than Professor Trelawney's and more practical, but my grades didn't improve a bit. With Umbridge, failing school, still being shaken by the Hogsmeade trip, and upcoming O.W.L.s, not to mention minor things like Gryffindor losing terribly at Quidditch, there was little to look forward to during school. At least we still had D.A. meetings.

I was so excited because we were finally learning Patronuses. Harry told us you had to think of a strong, happy thought to cast it. I couldn't think of anything happy that had gone on recently, but then I thought about the times with Sirius at Grimmauld Place, which eventually did the trick.

Harry did warn us that it was easier to produce a Patronus in our situation than it was when you were actually under attack, which made me frustrated at first because I couldn't even produce one here. I wasn't the only one. Several others were about to give in but a few had managed it.

I thought of my happy thought and muttered, "Expecto Patronum." Nothing happened. Another try sent a shot of silver vapor from my wand, which Harry noticed.

"Keep trying," he said. "You're almost there. You may need a stronger thought."

I tried several more times. On the tenth try, a brilliant silver dove emerged from the end of my wand and began to flutter around the room.

"You got it!" Harry said. I smiled and looked around the room. An otter bounced around Hermione, Cho had a produced a soaring swan, and a few other silver animals were here and there. Some people were having trouble. Neville's face was covered in sweat as he focused on his thought, but nothing happened.

I turned my head away from him. After the Azkaban breakout, I could barely stand to look at Neville without feeling a surge of regret or a sick feeling in my stomach. It wasn't that I had done anything, but I just felt awful that I had been his friend when he didn't know who I was. I also feared that if he looked at me, he would see my parents. I was sure he had memorized their faces and could easily pick me out.

I was admiring my dove when the door to the Room of Requirement opened and a house elf with several knitted hats on his head came in. He walked over to Harry and tugged on his robes. His eyes were wide with fear.

The elf explained that ‘she' was coming. Umbridge.

This was it. We were busted.

Everyone ran out of the room at top speed. I bolted to the Owlery, the closest location, with a group of people. Someone whispered, "What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know," another voice replied.

I walked up to the peak of the Owlery with a bad feeling in my stomach. I knew what was going to happen. Umbridge had caught Harry. He would be expelled for sure. So would the rest of us if we were caught. The situation hit me: the D.A. was over.

Things only got ten times worse the next day. Cho's friend Marietta Edgecombe had snitched on us and that was how Umbridge found out. Harry hadn't been expelled-he had managed to get out of trouble again. However, the worst part was this: Dumbledore had taken the blame for Harry and had escaped two Aurors and several Ministry wizards. He was now gone from the school. Obviously, Umbridge replaced him.

Umbridge as headmistress. Maybe being expelled wouldn't be so bad. If anything, the only plus was that Marietta Edgecombe now had the word ‘sneak' permanently written across her face in acne. That, and the Weasley twins rebellion against Umbridge, which involved fireworks and a portable swamp.

I scribbled on my Astronomy essay and sighed. The work had loaded up for O.W.L.s. Sure, Fred and George's glorious escape had been a nice change of pace (many people had quickly adopted their ways of mayhem) but it was time to get back to studying.

I sighed again; today had been as normal as Hogwarts could be with Umbridge around. Today should have been something more. It was May 17th, the day of my sixteenth birthday.

It wasn't like it was really any different from a normal day. That was my mindset when I finished my essay and went up to the dormitory. But when I got up there, I saw a couple of tiny wrapped packages on my bed.

One was covered neatly in pink, the other clumsily in orange. On top there was a stamp in red ink, saying ‘Inspected and passed by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor.'

I tore open the pink one, which I soon realized was from Ted and Andromeda. Inside was a box of homemade chocolate, which I began to eat greedily. Andromeda's chocolate was the best, and after a long day, I needed some.

The next package I knew was from Dora, based on the clumsy wrapping. I ripped it open and found a brand new black quill. It was extremely nice and looked expensive.

"Wow, Dora," I breathed quietly as I fingered with the quill. Then I put it with my school stuff and disposed of the wrappers. I leaned back on my four-poster, feeling oddly unsatisfied.

It felt like something was missing. I realized why-Sirius. Did he get me a gift? If so, where was it?

I tried not to think about this. I knew I shouldn't expect presents. I mean, nobody really had to buy me anything, right? I came to one conclusion: he had splurged so much on my Christmas gift, and that was good enough, wasn't it?

By some miracle, Gryffindor managed to win the Quidditch cup, despite how awful they'd been playing all season. And there was nothing left but O.W.L. exams.

I recited things in my mind as I went down to the Great Hall for the first exam, Theory of Charms. Inside the Hall, the house tables had been replaced with individual seats. Professor McGonagall was at the front. She told us to begin, tipped over a giant hourglass, and I began my test.

Studying paid off because the test wasn't all that hard. But I reminded myself that it was only the first one. We still had the Charms practical. I found it much less difficult; the art of casting spells came naturally to me while memorizing and writing theory was not my strong point.

We took our Herbology exam on Wednesday, Defense Against the Dark Arts on Thursday (which was extremely satisfying because of the D.A. lessons as they really did help on the practical), and Potions the following Monday. Within the next few days I'd also taken Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy theory (which I was sure I had passed), and Divination. Wednesday evening was spent taking the Astronomy practical, which ended up being interesting.

Umbridge went to Hagrid's hut to sack him, but he fought back. McGonagall tried to stop him but was hit in the chest with several Stunning spells from the Aurors that accompanied Umbridge. Hagrid managed to flee.

Dumbledore was gone, Hagrid was gone, McGonagall was gone...it truly was the beginning of the end.

Our History of Magic test was the following afternoon. As I scribbled away and tried to remember everything I'd studied on giant wars and goblin rebellions, I found it hard to concentrate in the blazing sun.

Then, in the middle of the exam, it happened. Harry collapsed onto the ground, holding his scar. Everyone stopped their test and the examiners tried to coax him to the hospital wing, so he left. I had a hard time finishing the test. Somewhere inside me, I felt something worse was wrong.

I walked back to the hall, my mind on things other than the exam. On the first floor while passing an empty classroom, I heard someone - I was sure it was Harry - yelling angrily. Some sort of magnetic pull was making me go inside.

I opened the door to find Harry in a heated argument with Ron and Hermione.

"Is something wrong?" I asked nervously, once I'd approached.

Hermione looked at me and said, "Well...it's kind of between..."

But Harry, after taking several deep breaths to calm himself, said, "Hermione, it's okay, she's his cousin. Lindsey, it's Voldemort - he's got Sirius."