AN: Depression looooves me! So this chapter is neither as long nor as cheerful as I would like it to be, but tragedy and humour are bedfellows so it opens the way to get silly and sardonic later :D Also if you like Star Wars, I'm trying my hand at it as HP is burning me out: I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing.

Chapter 4 - Umbitch

Dalilah warned Harry about the Toad, so he didn't lose his control quite the same as she had. But the rest of the class did, spear headed not by Susan but Hermione Granger this time around.

"With the exception of Professor Quirrel-"

"Yeah," Harry interrupted, "He was great, except, you know, the minor drawback of having Lord Voldemort stuck on the back of his head."

"Mr. Potter!" Umbridge exclaimed, "The Dark Lord has been defeated for-"

Dalilah laughed, and the entire class turned to look at her.

She grinned at them all, "Right, based on the totally logical conclusion that the baby killed him. The baby you fantasized into a hero. Yet when said baby grows up so he can, you know, talk, and he tells you Voldemort isn't dead, you aren't going to believe him. What's wrong with you people? No wonder muggles ran your society underground."

The satisfaction of watching Umbridge's face go bright red was worth it all.

The Pink Toad turned on the class, "I know what you've all been told, but I am here to tell you that there is no one out to get you. The-"

"Aside," Dalilah said, pitching her voice over Umbridge's, "from Voldemort, his Death Eaters, anyone who can be blackmailed or imperioed or converted to following orders, oh yeah, and the oodles of frightened bystanders who are going to run to save themselves before helping strangers' children. Except for that, and random magical incidents, and the normal crooks of everyday life, yep, completely safe."

Umbridge glared at her, "The Dark Lord is not back."

"So according to you," Harry seethed, "Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?"

"What happened to Mr. Diggory was a tragedy."

"And a murder," Dalilah said lightly, "A tragedy caused, specifically by Voldemort, or rather, his Death Eater, Peter Pettigrew with Voldemort casting the Killing Curse on him."

Umbridge finally lost it, "Fifty points from Gryffindor for speaking-"

"Truth?" Dalilah asked, "I guess this class is going to be in short supply, seeing as we won't be learning magic or anything that will help us pass our OWLs."

"Another fifty points, Ms. Potter, and a week's detention, for supporting your brother's delusions-"

"They aren't delusions, I was there too."

Everyone went quiet at this.

"Excuse me?" Umbridge asked in a dangerous voice.

"I was there, that night in the graveyard. I was there, tied to a tombstone when Pettigrew murdered Cedric, when he used a cauldron to give Voldemort a body again. Voldemort used the torture curse on Harry and me, and it is only thanks to some weird wand lore that we got away."

"'We,'" Umbridge repeated acidly, "And where have you been, Ms. Potter, all these years? Why didn't your brother mention you when he invented this lie?"

"Well, for one, he only talked to Dumbledore, and second it isn't a lie, and thirdly, it isn't my fault history forgot I existed. As to why I was at the graveyard," she looked the cow dead in the eyes, "That monster murdered my parents, and as it happens, Voldemort, aka, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is half muggle, and his muggle father's estate came up in the muggle newspaper in relation to a man's death. A man who died with symptoms consistent with that of the Killing Curse."

The whole class was gaping at her and Harry.

Yeah, it was one thing to believe Dumbledore and Harry were whack jobs, quite another to blame an absolute stranger who had been forgotten by the school system. Hogwarts was the most prestigious magical school in the UK, but there were others and there were students Hogwarts did not take.

Some probably thought she was a squib, but even if she was, the fact that the Great Harry Potter had twin sister seemed like something they should have known.

And everyone in the magical world loved to uncover a secret.

A Potter, weak or not, shouldn't have been missed.

And Lord Voldemort shouldn't have been a half-blood.

Umbridge went to her desk and scribbled down something on a scrap of paper then marched to their desk, she passed the slip of paper to Dalilah and said coldly, "Give this to your Head of House."

Dalilah took the slip with a flick of her fingers and in the same motion stood, twirling her robes about her in a dramatic gesture, "If it gets me out your class early, gladly."

Harry was left laughing into his coat sleeve as Umbridge was left boiling.

Dalilah skipped to the door.

"You said what?" McGonagall asked.

So far Dalilah wasn't that impressed with her new Head of House. She had once found the witch intimidating.

But that was before she offed herself by way walking to one's certain doom. Doom that was Headmaster approved.

Then again, Dalilah was a bit more afraid of Sprout's reaction than McGonagall's so in answer, Dalilah merely smiled.

McGonagall sighed, "Have a biscuit, Ms. Potter."

She blinked, "Thank you." She opened the jar pulled out a biscuit, happy to have something to munch on as McGonagall talked.

"Ms. Potter I must warn you to be careful around Dolores Umbridge."

An image of Umbitch torturing muggle-born families in the Ministry flashed through her mind. Dalilah fisted her hand.

I must not tell lies, carved in her own swirling script scared that hand.

No one in this world knew what Umbitch was capable of.

"She said you lied about Cedric Diggory's death."

"I was there."

"You were?" McGonagall asked, "Harry didn't mention-"

"How would Harry be able to mention anything to you? You all locked him up. After making him compete in the stupid tournament you locked him up with the Dursleys. Sometimes I think Voldemort and his cult aren't the only evil ones. You all left him alone to deal with something that most grown ups couldn't have handled."

McGonagall's lips thinned, "You are not wrong, Ms. Potter."

She felt her eyebrows shoot up, "I'm not? You're not going to argue with me?" All anyone had ever done with argue with her, even Sirius.

The professor almost smiled, "Believe it or not, there are those of us who disagree with Dumbledore who are not his enemies or believe him crazy. I didn't want Harry to be placed with those people, and this summer… well, the start of a war is never a pleasant thing."

Dalilah felt her respect for the other woman increase as she finished her biscuit.

She went on, "And I am sorry than I can say that we failed not just Harry but you as well. Seeing the both you together, it as if your parents still live."

"Were you close to them?" she asked.

"Closer to James, I was friends with his parents. But Lily was one of the best students to honour Gryffindor House. She was an excellent witch, but she was an even better person. She had a big heart," McGonagall said, her jade eyes going distant, before she blinked rapidly, "go ahead and have another biscuit."

Dalilah took another biscuit gladly. She felt herself relaxing, never in her life had someone volunteered so much about her parents. Well, aside from Slughorn, but he had spoken of Lily Potter as a collector speaks of his comics. She had to pry information out of Sirius for him to speak about the past, and even then it was always tinged with so much sadness and regret.

Not that McGonagall didn't seem sad, but she also seemed like someone who had lost a lot of people over the course of her life. Two dead students among what was likely hundreds, was not quite as personal as it was for Sirius or Remus.

"I want you to know you can come to me with anything, Ms. Potter. You may have a hard time adjusting to a formal school and I won't badger you with questions about your past, but fifth year is not an easy year to enter into. If you need extra help, ask."

Dalilah was rarely won over so quickly but Minerva McGonagall had her ticket, "Thank you, Professor." It wasn't words enough to express her gratitude.

The bell rang.

"It was a pleasure to speak with you, Ms. Potter. I'm afraid you will have to serve your detentions, but know my door is always open to you as well as your brother."

Dalilah nodded as she stood, "Thank you again, Professor."

"Ms. Potter," McGonagall called before she reached the door.

She turned back, "Yes, Professor?"

"Your parents would be proud."

Dalilah nodded again, leaving the room without another word.

Your parents would be proud.

That phrase had been used against her so many times, heck, her ghost parents and loved ones had used it against her. Dumbledore had moulded her with it.

But coming from a woman who had known them, who hadn't peppered Dalilah with questions, who had offered help without expectation of fulfilling some fool hearted destiny.

It meant a lot.

Snape wouldn't look at her.

Which was the behaviour she was used to from the man who had a more fucked up past than she did.

But her classmates, most assuredly, were not used to it. Harry sat close to her, Neville on her other side, and they got increasing more awed by Snape's lack of hostility toward them.

"He hasn't even complained about us being in a group of three," Ron whispered.

Dalilah glared at him as she directed Harry to cut the roots correctly.

He wasn't terrible, but Ron…

"Weasley," she said, not in a whisper at all, "If you put that into my cauldron, I will hex you into next week."

The Slytherins chuckled at this.

Ron flushed, and whispered back, "We're supposed to be on the same side."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I don't care about your classroom divides, I do care about bombs exploding out of my classwork."

Harry swallowed a laugh, and Neville beside her pulled his hand back from the ingredients as Hermione said the same thing.

At this Snape sauntered around, he loomed over the redheaded boy, and sneered when he saw what the boy held in his hand, "Ten points from Gryffindor for endangering the new student."

Then he swept away, like a bat into its corner.

The five of them produced two perfect potions between them. Neville and Harry exchanging looks as they left.

Neville said it first, "That was the best Potion's class we ever had."

"I think I might actually be able to learn something this year," Harry said, he gave Dalilah a look, "You're almost as good as Hermione."

And unlike Hermione, she didn't do everything for them as the brainiac had for Neville.

Dalilah shrugged, "Oh mum was pretty good at Potions. So was Dad, I guess, he had top marks too. But I think Mum was better at it."

"How do you know about your parents if you didn't even know their names?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe because I spent a week with my godfather?" she challenged.

"But Harry would have heard you-"

"I went to bed earlier than Dalilah did, Hermione," Harry said, as loyal as a Hufflepuff.

Dalilah swung an arm around his waist, and he put an arm over her shoulder, "I aim to be more trouble than my brother."

"Merlin help us all," Neville remarked with a half smile.

Dalilah put an arm around his waist too, "We're Gryffindors, isn't trouble the idea?"

Hermione muttered under her breath, "Mischief not managed."

Umbitch handed her the blood quill, and Dalilah was careful not to show her hand.

If this was going to work, she was going to need actually proof. Well, maybe not for Professor McGonagall but for Dumbledore and Fudge.

Umbitch sat behind her desk, her eyes bugging out as she watched her eagerly.

It was creepy last time, now that she was older, Dalilah found it even creepier.

Under the table, she had her wand ready as she wrote out that phrase that her stubbornness had led her to permanently carve into her hand.

I must not tell lies.

Her hand bled, and she pulled her wand on Umbitch.

The hag was slow and really not a match for a witch who had spent the last year running and fighting for her life. No, Umbitch wasn't ready for war.

One stunner did the trick.

Followed by a tickle charm, or several.

Then Dalilah floated the poor excuse for a human being, much less a professor, down the halls to Professor McGonagall's office.

And yes, as it was before curfew, Dalilah did gather a crowd. A stunned crowd that followed her wordlessly.

When she knocked on McGonagall's door, a voice shouted, "Come in!"

Dalilah came in, followed by a prone floaty Umbridge and a crowd. McGonagall was telling off Fred and George Weasley and didn't immediately look up until the Weasley twins turned to gape at her.

Solemn faced, Dalilah walked up to McGonagall's desk, the professor having stopped mid-word, caught speechless at the sight before her.

Dalilah laid the quill and the bloody parchment on her desk, holding up her hand so she and the twins could see.

Shock and confusion gave way to horror and rage on her face. The twins still looked confused, but everyone excluding Dalilah stepped back when McGonagall pulled her wand.

With nearly violent swipes of her wand she dropped Umbridge to the ground and unstunned her.

Umbridge hit the ground with a thud and she came up like a rabid dog, her own stubby wand lashing out.

But the toad was no match for Minerva McGonagall who flicked away the hexes with the graceful ease of wheat thrasher thrashing wheat.

In moments, Umbridge was disarmed, McGonagall's wand at her throat, "How dare you?" Her voice grew lower yet seemed to fill the room as a tremor of thunder, "How dare you? No one uses dark artefacts against my students. Blood quills are banned, blood magic is illegal." Her wand tip dented into the short witch's throat as they glared at one another, "You will face consequences for this. You will be lucky if you don't find yourself in Azkaban."

Umbridge lifted her chin, but her voice came out as a squeak as she said, "The minister will never allow it. He trusted in my methods."

Dalilah wouldn't have defined the expression on McGonagall's face as a smile, as she threatened, "Good thing, there is more than one cell in Azkaban." She straightened, and took a step back, though didn't lower her wand, "Mr. Weasleys, if you would be so kind as to escort Ms. Potter to the hospital wing. Off now with the rest of you."

The Weasley twins touched a hand to her shoulders and walked her off.

Dalilah felt stunned herself.

She had gone to professors for help in the past, and she had been mostly disappointed.

She was not disappointed tonight.

Harry found her in the Hospital wing rather quickly, the beauty of the rumour mill.

Madame Pomfrey gave him a look, but didn't protest when he sat on the end of her bed, "Did you really stun her?"

"She deserved worse."

"I can't believe you got away with it."

"Neither can I, I thought I was going to get in even deeper trouble."

"Why do it then?"

Dalilah looked down at her hand, "Because I didn't say anything soon enough, and by the time the other professor learned of it, Umbridge had too much power in the school."

"Power?" he asked, "What kind of power?"

"She could have fired any professor she wanted," she said in a low voice.

"What do you think is going to happen now?" he asked.

She sighed, "I have no idea."

He hugged her, "We are going to be okay this time."

Dalilah held on to him, this other half of herself, this only family she had left in the world, and she whispered back, "I promise."

Lord Voldemort was not pleased.

Not pleased at all.

His connection to the Boy Who Lived, had somehow been broken. And if that wasn't concerning enough there was the girl.

Dalilah Evans Potter, the Girl Who Never Existed.

And as there was nothing about her in the prophecy, he told himself he shouldn't worry.

But then he had also told himself not to worry about using the Killing Curse on a baby and that hadn't worked out well for him.

No. That had most literally backfired on him.

And now, the girl.

The spitting image of her mudblood mother.

And news of her existence was overshadowing the slandering against Dumbledore and Harry Potter.

Oh, they were still being discussed, how could they not? But it was all fantasies about the girl's origins, questions about where she had been all these years, and her late enrollment to Hogwarts.

Somehow, even the oddity of her almost sorting, and her brother's almost sorting into Slytherin had ended up front page news.

It was infuriating.

There was nothing scary about Dalilah Potter, and Voldemort needed them afraid, needed the public to fear and doubt Albus Dumbledore.

He did not need another Potter.

"Wormtail, what do you know of this girl?"

"Nothing, M'lord. Lily and James didn't have a daughter," the worm simpered.

"Liar!" Voldemort screeched, Crucioing the vermin.

He didn't get information out of the little traitor, but it was cathartic.

AN: Reactions, thoughts, REQUESTS, or puppies, pretty please? Seriously though, I have written book 5 stories so often that any wild ideas, large or small, are very welcome :D