Hope that chapter was nice and long for you. I'm keeping the habit of updating FAST now – to make up for before. So here is:
Chapter 21
But he was interrupted by a very familiar voice in the background …
It was on Kreacher's side of the connection, and it was the voice Harry wanted to hear more than anything in the world at that moment.
It was Sirius.
"Hey, Kreacher, who are you talking to?" he asked. "Is that …oh, Harry, what are you doing up this late?"
Jane squealed with excitement. "Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!" she said, all in on word. "Harry, it's OK – it's Sirius!"
Sirius was looking confused. "What's going on here?"
"It doesn't matter," Harry said. "Are you OK?"
"What?" Sirius looked even more confused. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."
"Great," Harry said. "OK, we have to get back now – Hermione and Ron will be worried."
"Wait, what is this …" Sirius began, but Harry and Jane had disappeared. Sirius gave Kreacher a very suspicious look and walked off, shaking his head in bewilderment.
For Hermione and Ron, it was agony to just be waiting around with no idea what was happening. The minutes seemed like hours, but finally the portrait hole swung open …to reveal Umbridge standing there, looking angry.
Hermione's brain was working away quickly. Had Harry and Jane been found? How much did Umbridge know? What should she say? Where were the twins?
"So it was you two making all the noise," Umbridge said, answering most of Hermione's mental questions in one sentence. Umbridge didn't know anything – she had just been woken by all the noise.
"Um …" Ron looked at Hermione, who shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
"And why are you out of bed at this late hour?" Umbridge demanded.
"Oh, uh, we were, um," Ron trailed off.
"Er, Peeves was flying around and we came down here to see what the disturbance was," Hermione improvised quickly. Ron nodded hastily and gave a big grin. The pair of them stood there like idiots, smiling fakely away.
Dolores Umbridge raised her eyebrows sceptically. But before she could express these doubts into words, Harry and Jane came bursting in through the door. Their cheeks were wet with tears (of relief, but Ron and Hermione weren't to know that), and at the sight of Umbridge they turned pale.
Jane gave Hermione a searching look, trying to work out what was going on, and what Hermione and Ron had told them.
Hermione was busy trying to work out what had happened. Both the twins had been crying, that much was obvious. So surely that meant …
"Ah, I see Mr Potter and Miss Peterson have joined us," Umbridge said sweetly. She looked at them expectantly, waiting for an explanation. She was disappointed. The twins said nothing.
"Would you care to explain why you are wandering around the school at this time of night?" Umbridge asked.
"Uh …we needed the loo," Jane lied, at the same time as Hermione said, "They were going to find a teacher to get rid of Peeves."
Umbridge smiled slowly – clearly relishing the chance to get four pupils in trouble – and one of them being Harry? Well, that made it all the better.
"I see we have some deception going on here," Umbridge said. "Well, in ordinary circumstances, you would get a detention or three, but seeing as you four are such bad students ordinarily …I shall have to see about a suspension from Hogwarts."
"NO!" The four of them cried together.
"Please, Miss," Jane said desperately. "I was just going to the toilet, honestly, and I met Harry outside the portrait hole just now – he'd been to find a teacher …. I …I didn't know that you weren't allowed to go to the toilet – if I'd have known …" Jane sniffed and her eyes were watering sadly. Resisting the urge to spit in Umbridge's face, she caught the professor's gaze and held it.
"Please don't expel me. My parents will be so disappointed in me – did I mention that my dad was good friends with the Minister of Magic? – yes, and he'll be so disappointed with me for ruining the family name and …well, daddy can get a bit angry sometimes and I'd hate for him to be angry with you as well, and, Oh! It's all my fault …" At this last sentence, Jane burst into tears and ran forwards to hug Dolores Umbridge.
Umbridge backed away, alarmed. "Yes, yes, dear," she said nervously, not knowing what to make of this wretched, blubbery child who was messing up her robes. "Well, we wouldn't want to get your father angry with me …I mean, with you, would we? Maybe I will consider your staying."
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Jane said, beaming through her tears and wiping her eyes on her sleeves. "Oh, you're the kindest teacher ever, really! I'll be sure to tell my dad all about how wonderful you are!"
Umbridge smiled smugly. "Well, I am quite kind …" she admitted, less than modestly. "Now, don't let me catch you out of bed again."
Jane nodded eagerly and waved as Umbridge left the common room. Then she turned around.
Hermione, Ron and Harry were staring at her – mouths hanging open, eyes wide in shock.
"Thank you, thank you," she said, taking mock bows. "Yes, I'm brilliant, I know."
"Wow," said Harry. "How do you DO that?"
"What happened with Sirius?" Hermione asked, with an abrupt change of subject.
"Oh," Harry said. "Yeah, he's fine – it was all just a …well, I hate to say it, but I guess I was wrong."
"But that's awful!" Hermione cried.
"What?!" Harry, Ron and Jane cried.
"Well, it's obviously a good thing that Sirius is alive," Hermione added hastily. "But don't you see what this means? Voldemort is sending you false information. He's doing exactly what Dumbledore said he would! Harry, you're going to have to start Occlumency."
"Fine, fine," Harry grumbled. More Occlumency meant more time with Snape. And Harry really didn't want to spend any more time with Snape. But it didn't look like he had much of a choice, did it? "I'll go and ask Snape tomorrow."
"Well …" Jane said. "I don't know about you, but if Sirius is still alive and there's nothing more to worry about …I'm going to bed!"
Will be back soon with chapter 22!!