*A/N
I had so much fun writing this chapter. I've had it in my head since I first started this fic and I'm so psyched that I finally get to show it to all my wonderful readers! Huge shoutout to all of you that have been reviewing! Word can not express how much I appreciate your words. Truly, they are one of the biggest reasons I keep writing. So thank you.
Hermione froze, her foot hovering above the stair step. She swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to stifle the panic that threatened to grip her. She glanced at the clock on the wall.
7:15am. Who was coming here that early? Certainly no one she was expecting. She didn't dare move as she waiting to hear another round of knocks. Perhaps the visitor had left. Perhaps they had gotten the wrong address. Death Eaters wouldn't have knocked. She was sure of that. They would have blown the door off and flooded the flat.
Hermione felt a prickling sensation on her skin. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt a thick, sticky magic settle around her.
She knew this feeling well. Someone had cast an anti Apparition ward. Her heart hammered in her chest and she slowly backed away from the stairs and headed to Lavender's room as quietly as possible.
"Lavender! Wake up!" She whispered frantically to her sleeping roommate. Lavender groaned and pulled her blankets over her head.
"Lavender, someone's at the door." She said, shaking Lavender's shoulder. Lavender yanked her blankets off of her head and glared at Hermione.
"Just ignore them. They'll leave." She rasped. "Godric, my head is fucking killing me." She groaned.
Hermione ignored her. "Lav, whoever it is has cast an anti Apparition spell. They know who we are." She whispered desperately. Lavender sat up and looked at her in alarm.
"Who?" She asked, snatching her wand off of her bedside table and swinging her legs over the side of her bed.
Hermione shook her head. "I don't know, but they can't be friendly, whoever they are."
Lavender nodded at her."We need to warn the boys."
Hermione nodded frantically. "Tell them to stay quiet and hidden."
Lavender opened her bedroom door quietly and tiptoed down the hallway to the bedroom where the two Slytherins slept. Hermione took several deep breaths. Her mind whirred with plans and possibilities. She knew for certain that Death Eaters wouldn't have knocked, or come during the day. They certainly would have ambushed at night. Perhaps it was an Order member? But why would an Order member set up anti Apparition wards? She jerked her head up at the sound of Lavender's door creaking, and then sighed in relief to see that it was only her roommate.
They both jumped when another round of knocks sounded at the door, sounding more impatience this time.
"I think our best plan is to act casual." Lavender breathed. Hermione nodded in agreement. The calmer they were, the better. They crept down the stairs, both desperately trying to stifle the anxiety that gripped their throats.
"Okay. We can do this." Lavender said once they had reached the front door. She took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders three times before grasping the doorknob and pulling the door open.
Hermione blinked in surprise at the person standing opposite her in the doorway.
"Mrs- Mrs. Detweiler!" She said, trying to wrap her head around the now even more bizarre situation. Mrs. Detweiler was a muggle with absolutely no knowledge of the wizarding world. The Order had cleared her months before Hermione and Lavender had been allowed to move in. "To what do we owe this pleasure?" She asked pleasantly. "Please, come in!" She said, stepping back from the threshold. Lavender flashed her a panicked look before politely inclining her head to the old woman and motioning for her to step inside.
Mrs. Detweiler smiled sweetly at Hermione in a way that was strangely familiar. She shook it off and turned towards the kitchen. "Would you like some tea? We have chamomile, English breakfast, it herbal if you'd like." She opened the cupboard and pulled out three mugs. A small shuffle behind her caused her to turn. She blinked several times, trying to address the scene before her. Lavender stood facing her, a look of sheer panic in her eyes. Behind her stood Mrs. Detweiler. Her left arm was wound around Lavender's neck, and in her right hand she held a wand, its tip pressed threateningly against Lavender's temple.
Hermione watched in horror as the old woman's features began to change. Her grey curls morphed into shoulder length mousy brown hair. Her face widened and sagged, giving the appearance of a toad. In a matter of seconds, it wasn't Mrs. Detweiler that stood before her, but Dolores Umbridge. Hermione's mouth went dry and the mugs she was holding dropped and shattered to the floor. She had fought wars, been tortured by Death Eaters and even watched as Voldemort struck down her loved ones, but this woman struck a deep rooted fear in her like nothing else ever would.
"Here's how this is going to work, Miss Granger," Umbridge said, her voice sickly sweet, "you two are going to come with me to the ministry to be charged for your crimes against the wizarding world, and you're going to tell me where the Order is hiding out these days." Hermione tried to hide the relief she felt. Umbridge didn't know about Theo and Draco. She had to stall.
"How long?" Hermione asked, trying to speak loudly. She sent a silent prayer to Merlin that the boys could hear her. Umbridge blinked in confusion.
"How long? How long what, dear?" The old hag asked, narrowing her eyes.
"How long have you known we were here? How long have you been watching us?" Hermione tried to push as much shock into her voice as possible. If there was one thing Umbridge fed on, it was pride.
Umbridge smiled widely, showing nearly all of her yellowing teeth. "Oh, not long, dear. You see, you aren't exactly… discreet. I go undercover in muggle London frequently, you must remember that I never forget a face. I've caught many of you pesky Order members this way. You lot simply stroll through London as if you blend right in. Well, you don't. Upon one of my little outings I overheard a very agitated old woman complaining about her teenage neighbors. It was quite easy from there, my dear. You see, the old woman was rather offended at being called a 'muggle' by an intoxicated young man, and well, only your Mr. Weasley could be that obvious-" Hermione felt an odd rush of smugness once she heard this. Umbridge was dead wrong in her assumption that it had been Ron to blow their cover. "-I'm ashamed to say that I lost her after that. It took me a few weeks to find her again, but when I did, I befriended her. Which was terribly easy. She was very lonely. She invited me over for tea, and, well-" Umbridge broke off her tale with a wicked smile. "I'm sure you can guess the rest." Umbridge finished proudly with an evil glint in her eye.
Hermione felt her stomach churn. Mrs. Detweiler was dead. Murdered in cold blood. Truly, Hermione had hated the old woman, but she'd never have wished death on the old hag. There was a flash of movement behind Umbridge, Hermione did her best to ignore it. She had to keep Umbridge talking.
Hermione jutted out her chin stubbornly. "We'll never tell you where the other Order members are." She said in a tone of defiance. Umbridge laughed her high girlish laugh and smiled at Hermione again. Her eyes shined with malice.
"That's what they all say, Miss Granger. You must understand that we've done this, many times. People tend to loosen their tongues once they've watched they friends and family-" Umbridge was abruptly cut off. Her large bulging eyes widened so much that Hermione was worried they might fall out of her head. A dull thud rang through the kitchen. Lavender ripped herself away from Umbridge and sprinted towards Hermione. She spun and pointed her wand at the old toad, but there was no need. Umbridge stared at them in shock for a moment before falling to her knees and then to the floor. Her face smacked hard on the linoleum tiles.
Hermione stared at the body before slowly looking up to see Theo standing there, an iron candelabra gripped tightly in his hands. Behind him stood Draco, who was gripping a crystal vase.
"Is she…" Lavender began to ask. She trailed off and stared at the growing pool of blood soaked Umbridge's hair and the floor around her.
"She's dead." Theo said. His lip curling in disgust at the body.
Hermione swayed and was caught by Lavender. "I think I need to sit down." She said. Lavender guided her to over to the dining room table.
"Surely you've seen worse that this, Granger? It's not like any of us liked the old hag anyways." Said Draco. He smirked at her and Hermione snatched an old coffee cup off the table and launched it at him. Draco spun away before looking at her in shock.
"There is a dead body in my kitchen, Malfoy! Either you help come up with ideas on how to fix this, or you can shut your fucking mouth!" She screamed. Theo raised his eyebrows at her in surprise before a wide grin spread across his face. He winked and gave her a thumbs up. The kitchen was silent for several minutes. The only sound came from the muggle clock ticking on the wall.
"I've got it." Said Lavender finally. Everyone turned to look at her. "Do you remember in fourth year, when Moody was our DADA professor? Only, it wasn't actually Moody, it was Barty Crouch Jr.-"
"If you think any of us are about to take polyjuice potion and pretend to be that old bitch-" Draco started to say. Hermione yanked her wand out of her pyjama bottoms and shot a Pus Squirting hex at him. Yellow goo shot from his nose. Draco cursed and dashed to the sink. He sputtered and coughed as the the bitter liquid flowed from his nostrils in an endless river.
"Either come up with a solution, or shove off!" Hermione yelled to his back. Theo was roaring with laughter. He gripped the counter for support. Hermione waited for his laughter to subside before turning back to Lavender.
"So, you were saying?" She asked. Lavender stared at her in shock, her eyes sometimes flickering towards Draco when he made a particularly gross retching sound. With a roll of her eyes Hermione flicked her wand and the coughing and sputtering subsided immediately. Draco turned and gave Hermione a scathing look but didn't say anything. She turned back to Lavender and nodded at her expectantly.
"Well, uh," Lavender stammered. She gathered her wits and began again. "I was thinking about how Barty Crouch Jr managed to stay undetected. He killed his dad, remember? Then he transfigured him into a bone and buried him in the garden by Hagrid's hut…"
Hermione's head whirled with the events of fourth year. It had been a traumatic year to say the least. Alastair Moody, or rather Barty Crouch Jr had left deep scars in her psyche. She shivered when she thought about his lesson on the three Unforgivable Curses. She vividly remembered the look on Neville's face when Crouch had demonstrated the Cruciatus curse.
"It's perfect." She said after a moment. Even Draco nodded in agreement, though, he was still glaring at Hermione. "But not something we'd have to bury, though. Someone would find it suspicious if they saw us digging around in the flowerbeds outside…" All four of them looked down at Umbridge's body as they thought of how to hide her.
"Perhaps a rug?" suggested Lavender.
"Or a throw pillow?" Said Theo.
"I think she would sit rather nicely as a book on your bookshelf, Miss Granger." Said a thick Scottish accent from the doorway. Theo whirled around so fast he lost his balance and stumbled sideways into the counter. Hermione shot from her seat, wand at the ready, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Lavender, prepared to blast the intruder into oblivion.
Minerva McGonagall stepped into the kitchen, her expression took Hermione by surprise. Rather that being livid, she looked oddly amused, almost as if she had caught a toddler raiding the sugar bowl.
"How do we know it's you?" Spat Hermione. Though she respected her old professor greatly, her wand did not waver an inch. McGonagall arched an eyebrow at her and smiled.
"In third year, I wrote to the ministry to provide you with a time turner so that you could take every subject the school had to offer."
Somewhere behind her, Hermione heard Draco cough out something that sounded an awful lot like "nerd."
"Everyone knows about-" she started to say.
"You didn't use it just for classes though. You and Potter used it to go back in time and save Sirius Black, as well as Hagrid's beloved hippogriff, Buckbeak." McGonagall said smoothly. Hermione dropped her wand, feeling both relieved, but also very wary about what was going to come next.
"I can explain-" Hermione said quickly "Umbridge-"
But McGonagall held up her hand and Hermione instantly fell silent. "It is not dear Dolores that I am curious about. I can piece that together myself. But what I am curious about, is why you were having a perfectly civil conversation in your kitchen with two Death Eaters. One, that was allegedly dead up until a minute ago." She said. Her eyes raked over Draco and Theo before settling on Hermione.
Hermione gulped. In a jumbled, awkward rush she filled her old professor in on what had happened over the last two months. She left out the details or Draco's last dream, anger throbbed through her when she remembered what had ensued. McGonagall did not say anything for a long time after she finished. The headmistress simply took turns observing each and every face in the kitchen before her. Hermione felt her pulse pound in her ears.
"Gentlemen, if you would please make your way upstairs to your bedroom, I would like to speak with Miss Granger and Miss Brown alone." She finally said in a cool voice. Hermione let out a breath she had not known she had been holding in.
"We have a right to know-" Draco started to say. Hermione shot him a venomous look and he fell silent immediately. Grumbling, he stomped out of the kitchen. Theo shrugged before saying "nice to see you, Professor." and followed Draco up the staircase.
McGonagall regarded Hermione shrewdly for a moment. "Draco Malfoy has no memory of the past three years?" She asked.
"No, Professor."
"You're sure of it?"
"Yes ma'am."
McGonagall sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose for a moment. "You expect me to keep this from the Order? From Alistair? To protect Mr. Malfoy? The boy who bullied you incessantly?" She asked in disbelief.
Hermione squared her shoulders. "That's exactly what I expect, Professor. Draco is innocent. He's a prat, but he has no information to give the Order."
McGonagall nodded thoughtfully. "And Mr. Nott? What is your excuse for him?"
"He's changed." Lavender said, much to Hermione's surprise. "He's proved that to us by his actions. Luna trusts him, and so do we."
McGonagall nodded again, her eyes flicked between Hermione and Lavender for a moment. "I hope you girls understand the position this puts me in. You had better be right about those two."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Professor! I promise you, we aren't wrong."
"You're to report to me immediately if Mr. Malfoy remembers anything from the past three years."
"You have my word, Professor."
McGonagall nodded first at Hermione and then at Lavender. "And get rid of that." She said, indicating towards Umbridge. Hermione looked down in shock. Somehow she had completely forgotten about the dead body on her kitchen floor. "A book really is the best way to hide her." She said, turning to leave.
"Wait, Professor, I have a question for you." Hermione called after her.
McGonagall turned and waited.
"What exactly were you doing coming here so early?" She asked.
A small giggle escaped McGonagall's lips. "It's quite funny, actually. I came to warn you that Dolores had been seen snooping around Muggle London, and that you should be very, very careful."
*A/N
GUYS. I feel so satisfied having murdered Umbridge. That's really all I have to say. Oh, and Draco was never going to get away with his behavior. Not even for a second.
Thank you all so much for reading! Please let me know what you thought!