Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine.

Chapter Twenty-One: The Rescue Plan

MiaPOV

For the entire week, Mia and her friends took the written part of their exams in the morning and then proceeded to complete the practical parts in the afternoon. To say she was nervous would be a complete and utter understatement. Every morning she would wake up with her nerves on end and she would be in almost constant worry throughout breakfast and up until they sat down at their desks to take their exams. She was positive that she did well on both her written and practical tests in Charms. Once it was time for their practical exams, she was happy to find that all her examiner did was ask her to perform the Cheering Charm, the Levitation Spell, change the color of her hat, and make an apple tap dance across the desk, all of which she performed perfectly. The next day, they all had to take their Transfiguration exams, and Mia found that transforming her ferret into a goblet was a little harder than she thought, but managed to do it after a few hesitant seconds of the ferret trembling in front of her like it was having a seizure, although it still retained the ferret's fur color, so she wasn't sure if she would have points taken off for it or not.

On Wednesday they had to do their Herbology exams, and due to her experimentations in her dormitory, she was able to identify many of the plants in the written portion, and properly replant the Fanged Geranium without getting it's dangerous venom on her skin, remembering how much it can burn from the last time she tried making a remedy to her Sage Powder. When it was time for Defense Against the Dark arts, Mia strode into the Great Hall confidently, knowing that because of Harry's teaching's, she was sure to do well. She kept up her confidence as she perfectly banished a Boggart, countered the Stunning Spell, and disarmed her examiner. She and Hermione both had their Ancient Runes O.W.L's on Friday while the boys had a break, and it was definitely one of the harder ones. Their practical tests were very similar to their written ones, in which they had to translate scripture from many different texts from different wizarding cultures across the ages. By the time they had left their exams, Mia was feeling a little disheartened, fearing she didn't do so well in this as with her other ones, knowing she got quite a few translations mixed up. She only hoped she didn't do bad enough to where it would have a massive effect on her grade.

When their Astronomy exam came around, Mia could finally start to breathe a little better, since it was one of the last ones they had to take. By this time tomorrow, they would have completed all of their O.W.L's, and Mia couldn't wait. It would be such a huge relief to stop studying for the year and enjoy the rest of term, maybe sitting out by the lake under the warm sun while watching the giant squid drift lazily just under the surface of the water. It was the excitement of finally being done that made Mia and the others more determined than ever to see this through. Therefore, the night after they took their written theory of Astronomy, they found themselves on top of the tower where they usually had class. Their examiner, Professor Tofty, had them all set up next to a telescope with a small table to write down their notes. Once they were all set up, Tofty have them permission to start and the next hour was filled with silence as everyone peered into the eye of the telescope, gazing up at the night sky, which was clear of any clouds, making the stars and fat away planets a sight to behold. Miss was standing beside Harry and at some point during the examination, she peeked over at him as he was bent over his notes, scribbling something onto his parchment before moving his gaze back to his telescope. In the darkness his eyes seemed to be much more noticeable and she couldn't help but smile. Then, Harry suddenly looked over at her and he smirked. Her face instantly flushing, Mia turned back to her own notes, hearing him chuckle quietly. The memory of their heated kiss in Gryffindor tower suddenly came to mind and she flushed even more, trying to get back to her work and ignoring how her heart picked up its pace.

The exam went by smoothly, the only noise coming from the scratching of quills. Mia was currently adjusting her telescope to properly mark the position of Venus when all of a sudden, a loud roar echoed out across the dark, quiet grounds of the school, reaching them at the top of the tower. Many students took their attention away from their telescopes, wondering what had happened, but Mia instantly snapped her head over in the direction of Hagrid's cabin, recognizing his voice as the one who yelled. An uneasy feeling started to form in her chest, and she shared a glance with Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were all looking in the same direction. Professor Tofty called their attention back to their exams and Mia reluctantly bent over her parchment once again, trying to finish where she left off. However, only a few minutes later were they all distracted from a loud BANG that came out from across the grounds. Mia again looked over towards Hagrid's cabin and she gasped as she saw Hagrid come charging out, yelling loudly with his fists raised, quickly being surrounded by several figures in ark cloaks who were sending red sparks his way, trying to stun him. Hermione cried out, and Mia left her telescope to lean beside the closest parapet, her eyes fixed on what was happening. There were many cries and yelled reaching her ears as Hagrid continued to fight off the wizards who were trying to subdue him. Fang came bursting out of the house and attempted to defend Hagrid, but he ended up getting stunned, and Hagrid, with a roar of fury, picked up the man responsible and tossed him over ten feet.

"How dare you!" screamed an infuriated voice from down below. "How dare you!"

"It's McGonagall!" Hermione said, pointing out the elderly witch as she came flying through the front doors, her robes billowing behind her as she raced over towards the cabin in a mad fury.

"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" the Transfiguration teacher shrieked. 'On what grounds are you attacking him?! He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such—"

At that moment, no less than four of the wizards aimed their wands at McGonagall and then shot stunning spells at her, hitting her straight in the chest and sending her backwards, where she landed hard on her back and didn't get back up.

"Professor!" Mia screamed in horror.

"Galloping Gargoyles!" shouted Tofty, scandalized. "Not even a warning! Outrageous behavior!"

"RUDDY COWARDS!" Hagrid bellowed in anger as he continued throwing punches and knocking his attackers out cold. "HAVE SOME O' THAT—AN' THAT—"

Mia and everyone else could do nothing but watch as Hagrid knocked out all the wizards, save for Umbridge and one other man who seemed too terrified to get within twenty feet of him. Hagrid reached down and swung Fang onto his back before taking off towards the distant gates at the end of the grounds, disappearing into the darkness. When all the commotion was over, there was absolute silence at the top of the tower, with many mouths hanging open. Mia herself couldn't believe what she had just seen, and there was a powerful mixture of worry and anger rising within her. Those blast cowards, trying to sneak up on Hagrid like that when no one was around! And poor McGonagall, how could they turn their wands on her with absolutely no warning?! McGonagall was tough but it couldn't be easy for anyone to get through having four stunners sent straight to your chest. Professor Tofty feebly muttered that they had five minutes left to finish their exam, and although Mia was almost done anyway, she felt like she was in a haze as she quickly jotted down her remaining observational notes. By the time it was finally over, Mia stuffed her telescope back in its case quickly and then followed everyone else as they rushed back down the stairs of the tower.

"That evil woman!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes blazing. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night."

"I'll bet you anything she thought she could get one on Hagrid if she did it when no one was watching, with a bunch of Ministry officials," Mia ground out. "But I guess she wasn't expecting retaliation."

"How come all those spells bounced off him?" Ron said.

"That'll be his giant blood," Hermione explained. "It's very hard to stun a giant, they're like troll, really tough…"

"I'm glad he got away, but now Hagrid's gone too," Mia muttered. "And poor Professor McGonagall. That was disgusting what they did, they're lucky if they didn't kill her!"

"I'm sure she'll be fine, love," Harry tried to reassure her. "Madame Pomfrey can fix her up."

"But it's not going to be easy," Mia countered. "McGonagall's not exactly young, and taking four hits close to the heart won't be easy to come back from. That horrid monster…how much more is she going to take?"

Unfortunately no one had an answer for this, nor did they want to find out the answer. No one went to bed right away after that, in fact the Gryffindor common room was filled with people talking about what had happened, since Hagrid's brawl with the ministry officials and Umbridge woke up half of the castle. The conversations kept on going until it was very late, and it was only then that they all decided to head up to bed. Mia was still feeling restless at first, constantly tossing and turning in her bed, hating Umbridge with all her might and hoping that Hagrid would find somewhere safe to go. Maybe he would meet up with Dumbledore somewhere, seeing as now they're both technically fugitives. She really hoped that Dumbledore would come back soon and fix everything. Never before has Mia looked forward to the school year ending so bad, and wanting to go home to get away from it all. At least tomorrow would be the very day last of their exams, History of Magic, and she couldn't wait.

The next morning, Mia, Harry, Ron and Hermione went down to breakfast together in the Great Hall, and once they had eaten, they gathered together for some last minute studying since their exam was to take place later that afternoon. As Mia was flicking through the pages of her textbook, she looked over to see that Harry was sitting with his head in his hands, staring down at the stack of notes Hermione had lent him, his bloodshot eyes scanning over the words and his entire slumped posture expressing exhaustion. She couldn't help but feel a little concerned for him…he looked like he didn't get any sleep at all.

"Harry, are you sure you don't want to take a quick nap before the exam?" she asked.

"I'm sure, I need to get this stuff memorized," Harry replied, sighing as he reached over for the next sheet of parchment.

"But what good is it going to do you if you can't keep your eyes open?" Mia said.

"Don't worry, I'll be all right."

"You know you're way too stubborn, right?"

"Wouldn't have me any other way though, right?"

"Thick-headed git," Mia said with a shake of her head. Harry just smiled at her tiredly before going back to the notes. Much faster than anyone could expect, it was finally time to head back to the Great Hall for their final exam. Mia was nervous as well as excited for this, because even though this was their last one this was also the subject she feared she would do the worst in. She always managed to do well in this class, but nothing outstanding, and she really hoped it was enough to get through this O.W.L because Professor Binns never did a good job at making History of Magic very interesting. They all filed into the Hall to sit down at their desks which held their overturned exams. Mia took a seat a row over from Hermione and diagonal from Harry with Ron somewhere behind her. Once Professor Marchbanks gave them the okay, everyone turned over their papers and started writing. Thankfully, the first few questions were fairly easy, and Mia had no issues with answering them, jotting down her answers and providing necessary details, if needed. She started having some difficulty when she reached the latter half of the questions, and she tapped her chin with her quill, thinking long and hard. Time passed slowly, with nothing but the sounds of scratching quills residing in the vast hall. Eventually the end of the exam was coming upon them, and Mia was glad because she only had a couple questions left to answer. As she was writing down her final sentences, she was disrupted by the sound of someone suddenly yelling loudly. It was so loud in such a silent place that it startled everyone, and Mia looked over in shock to see that it was Harry who was yelling. He had a hand pressed to his scar and he had fallen out of his chair onto the floor, his face contorted with pain and fear. Faster than anyone could blink, Mia shot out of her seat and hurried over to him, bending down to his level to take hold of his shoulders.

"Harry!" she said worriedly. "Harry, what is it?"

"He—he has him," Harry gasped quietly, finally coming out of it and his wide eyes staring directly into hers. "He has Sirius."

"What?!"

"What is going on, here?" said Marchbanks as he strode over to them. "My dear boy, are you all right? You do not look well at all…maybe you need to go to the hospital wing."

Harry tried to weakly protest, but Marchbanks insisted, helping Harry to his feet. Mia wanted to go with them, but Marchbanks forbid it, telling her to stay and finish her exam while he escorted Harry out of the hall. She watched them go with a huge, crushing weight on her, filling her with confusion and dread as she slowly made her way back to her seat, her head reeling. Glancing up at the hourglass at the front of the hall, she saw that there was only fifteen minutes left until the exam was over and so she picked up her quill and then her hand went flying across the parchment as she filled in the last questions as best she could, going over what Harry had just said. There was only one "he" that instilled so much fear in him, and Mia was worried about what he had seen. He must have fallen asleep and had another dream…and according to this one, Voldemort somehow got a hold of Sirius. So many questions were buzzing around in her head, making her more anxious and confused than ever, her letters coming out more scrambled on the parchment. How can this be? How can Voldemort possibly have Sirius? Sirius was supposed to stay in Grimmuald place, and as far as she's concerned, the place had enough spells to hide and defend it that it could probably keep out an entire army, even without Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper. So how in the world could the most feared Dark Wizard just walk out into broad daylight and kidnap him? Maybe this was just a dream this time, with no real meaning behind it.

Although, Harry's dreams had always been real-like, and with the way Dumbledore had wanted him to block these kinds of dreams, Mia assumed that they weren't just simple dreams at all. With the way Harry describes them, it seems as though he's really looking into Voldemort's mind. If that's the case, and if Voldemort really somehow does have Sirius…what are they going to do? The last few minutes ticked on agonizingly slow, in which Professor Marchbanks collected Harry's test, and Mia practically flew out of her seat when he announced that it was over. She, Hermione and Ron quickly left the Great Hall together and started racing up the marble staircase. Mia was intending on looking for Harry in the hospital wing, but thankfully she didn't need to, for as soon as they reached the top of the staircase they practically ran into Harry himself as he skidded to a halt in front of them.

"Harry!" said Hermione. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

"Where were you?" demanded Ron.

"Come with me," Harry said, taking Mia by the hand and leading them off down the first floor corridor. "There's something I have to tell you."

The four of them wandered off down the corridor, with Harry peering into every classroom until he found an empty one they could use, ushering them all inside and closing the door sharply behind them.

"Voldemort's got Sirius," he said to Ron and Hermione.

"What?" Hermione gasped.

"How—how do you—" Ron stuttered in shock, his eyes wide.

"Saw it. Just now, when I fell asleep during the exam," Harry explained, running a hand through his hair, looking on the verge of panic.

"But how? Where?" Hermione said with an extremely pale face.

"I don't know how," Harry answered. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, I've been dreaming about it for months, now. This room is full of shelves covered with tiny glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety seven. I think the weapon he wants is somewhere in there, because he's trying to force Sirius to get it for him. He's torturing him, says he'll wind up killing him."

There was silence for a moment as they all took in what Harry just said, and Mia saw that his voice as well as his knees were shaking terribly. She wordlessly led him over to a nearby desk and had him take a seat, wanting to say something, but she found her throat to be rather dry and couldn't utter a single sound at the moment. She only pictured Sirius being tortured painfully beyond comprehension, and she had a feeling that Voldemort would keep that up for hours until he showed some shred of mercy and killed him. Her hands instantly felt clammy at the thought. After another minute Harry managed to compose himself enough to look up at them and take a breath.

"How are we going to get there?" he asked them.

"Come again?" Mia said, not quite sure what she just heard.

"G-Get there?' Ron sad, his voice going a little higher than normal.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly.

"Harry, have you lost your mind?" Mia said with wide eyes, gaping down at him. "We can't just up and go to the Ministry just like that! We have to tell someone!"

"There's no one left to tell!" Harry argued with her. "Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonagall, they're all gone! And we have no way to contact anyone else in the Order!"

"McGonagall's gone?" said Hermione.

"Yes, I went to tell her straight after leaving the Great Hall, but she's been transferred to St. Mungo's," Harry muttered. "We have to go ourselves."

"Harry, how could Voldemort have possibly gotten into the Mnistry of Maggic without being detected?" Hermione asked, her tone laced with fright. "He is the most dangerous dark wizard, and Sirius is the most wanted criminal at the moment, so how could he have snuck Sirius in, let alone himself?"

"How do I know? All I care about is how we're going to get there!" Harry said.

"Harry, please, just take a second to think about this," Mia pleaded with him. "There are hundreds of Ministry workers there, with all kinds of spells defending certain departments. It would be impossible—"

"Mia, you know by now that nothing is impossible," Harry countered angrily, turning his fierce gaze to her. "Not when it comes to him. I'm telling you, this was not a normal dream. Look what happened with Mr. Weasley—I saw him get attacked because it actually happened, right then and there, how is this any different?"

"But Harry this is just too unlikely!" Hermione insisted. "How could Voldemort have gotten a hold of Sirius when he's supposed to be at Grimmuald Place?"

"Sirius might have cracked and wanted to get out for a bit," Ron suggested worriedly. 'He hates that house…"

"But why Sirius, of all people?" Mia asked.

"It doesn't matter why!" Harry shouted. "Maybe his brother has something to do with it since he was a Death Eater, I don't know, and I don't care! All I know is that Sirius is being tortured right now, there's no one left at Hogwarts that can help, so we have to save him ourselves!"

"What if this is a trap?" Hermione put in desperately. "If your dream was real, what if Voldemort showed you this on purpose to lure you out? Please don't take offense to this Harry, but you're the kind of person who would go to anyone's aid if they were in danger or in trouble, especially Sirius! This is why Dumbledore wanted you to learn Occlumency, so you wouldn't see things like this!"

"A bit late for that now, isn't it?" Harry growled. "I am not going to pretend I didn't just see that! And it doesn't matter if this is a trap or not, I'm going with or without you, because I'm not—"

Harry was interrupted from his tirade by the door to the classroom opened and Mia turned to see Ginny enter the room, with Luna in tow, the two of them looking concerned and worried.

"We heard Harry's voice," Ginny explained as they came further inside. "What are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," Harry said gruffly.

"Harry, enough," Mia said sternly, furrowing her eyebrows. "I know you're frustrated, but don't take it out on us."

"You are being rather rude, you know,' Luna put in serenely.

"We don't have time for this!" Harry groaned. "No offense Ginny, but you and Luna can't help."

"Wait—yes they can," Mia piped up suddenly, an idea forming in her mind. "We're going to have to check to make sure Sirius really has left headquarters—"

"Mia, I told you—"

"Harry, just listen, please!" Mia said, coming forward to bend down in front of him, gripping one of his hands in her own. "Let's just check to make sure, to make absolutely sure that Sirius is okay, and that this isn't some sort of trick. I swear to you, if Sirius is not home, I'll go with you to the Ministry to save him without a second thought. Let's just make sure we're not running off on a wild goose chase. Please."

"How are we going to check?' Harry said.

"We'll have to use Umbridge's office," Hermione said quietly, looking petrified at the thought. "Hers is the only fire still not being checked."

"Ron and Hermione can lead Umbridge away while Ginny and Luna stand watch," Mia continued. "And I'll go with you into her office while you check to make sure Sirius is really gone."

Harry stared at her for a moment, his heated, impatient eyes looking into hers, but after a little bit, they lost most of their fire and his tense muscles relaxed. He finally agreed to the plan and nodded, softly thanking them all. It was then decided that Harry was to go and grab his invisibility cloak and meet them at the end of Umbridge's corridor. Not even fifteen minutes later, Mia was standing with the others at the end of the corridor, her nerves getting the best of her as she stared around, hoping and praying that no one would notice them. While they waited for Harry, she kept wishing that Sirius would be on the other end of the fireplace when Harry called, looking confused as to why Harry was trying to get in touch with him. She hoped he was safe, maybe having a sip of Firewhisky in the kitchen or yelling at Kreacher in one of the drawing rooms. She forced herself to calm down as Harry came into view, hurrying towards them with his cloak under his arm and the pocket knife Sirius gave him clutched in his hands. Ron and Hermione set off to lead Umbridge away while Ginny and Luna took their positions at either end of the corridor. While they started calling for students to find another way around, due to someone letting off some Garroting Gas, Harry led Mia over to a recess before he took the cloak and threw it over the both of them. Wanting to make sure they were completely hidden, Mia pressed herself closer to him so there was no inch of them uncovered, and Harry wasted no time in wrapping his arm around her, holding her against his chest. Mia looked at him to see that he was very pale, his eyes filled with worry and he had a restless vibe, like the last thing he wanted to be doing was standing still.

"Harry," Mia whispered quietly. "Are you okay?"

"No," he whispered back after a moment. "I…I'm scared, Mia. I can't lose Sirius too. I can't."

"You won't," Mia said with determination. "If he's not at Grimmuald Place, then we're going to rescue him. If he is, at least we know he's safe, and we can figure out why you had that dream. It'll be all right."

Mia gave Harry's arm a comforting squeeze and a reassuring smile, and he showed his appreciation by squeezing her waist in return. It took a few more minutes before Ginny and Luna managed to make sure that it was all clear, and once it looked as though no one else was around, Mia and Harry withdrew from their hiding place and quickly headed over to Umbridge's door. When they were safely inside, Harry ducked from underneath the cloak and then headed straight over towards the fireplace. Mia was close behind, but she remained standing while Harry bent down after grabbing some Floo Powder from the mantle and calling out the address for Grimmuald Place. While he thrust his head into the fire, Mia stood with her wand in her hand, standing at an angle where she could keep an eye on Harry as well as the window and the door. The next minute or so seemed to go by awfully slow, and Mia kept her eye trained on the door, weary that someone would come barging in. She just hoped that Harry would be able to contact Sirius and their worries would be over. From this side of the fireplace, she could hear Harry speaking to someone, and hope began rising in her chest. Please, please, let him be talking to Sirius! As the seconds ticked by, Mia attention was drawn to Harry when she heard him raise his voice, and she felt her stomach drop horribly when she managed to make out some of the words that were strongly muffled by the flames: "Where is he?!"

"No," Mia breathed in a whisper, shaking her head. "It can't be."

"I'm afraid it is, Mudblood."

Before Mia even had time to be surprised by the appearance of the sudden voice, a hand came out of nowhere to slap itself over her mouth while a slim arm pulled her back, muffling her startled cries. She heard the triumphant chuckle of Malfoy behind her and she narrowed her eyes as she instantly tried fighting him off. Her eyes darted over towards the door that was now open and she saw none other than Umbridge standing there with other members of the Inquisitorial Squad, some of them bringing in Ginny and Luna as well as Hermione, Ron, and—to Mia shock—Neville.

"So," Umbridge breathed, her sinister smile barely concealing her anger. "You think you and your little friends could pull one over me? Well, I'm afraid you are very mistaken, Thatcher."

Without another word, Umbridge strode forward over to Harry's bent form in the fireplace, and Mia let out a muffled cry in warning, but it was too late. Umbridge reached her stubby hand into the green flames and in the next second, she yanked Harry back out, pulling his head back so far he was staring up at the ceiling, with his neck completely exposed.

"You think," Umbridge hissed. "That after two Nifflers I was going to let one more foul, scavenging little creature enter my office without my knowledge? I had Stealth Sensoring Spells placed all around my dorrway after the last one got in, you foolish boy. Take their wands!"

Mia could feel someone close by seize her wand and wretch it out of her hand despite her struggles to keep it clasped firmly in her fist. From the corner of her eyes, Crabbe came into view and groped the front pockets of Harry's robes until he took out his wand, with a stupid grin on her face. Once they were rid of their wands, Umbridge demanded to know why they were in her office, and Harry tried to cover it up, saying he wanted his Firebolt back, but Umbridge immediately shot that down, saying Harry knew full well his Firebolt was chained in the dungeons. She tried asking him who was trying to communicate with, but Harry denied it, and she got so angry she threw him away from her so hard he collided with the desk as he fell. Mia let out a low grunt before she opened her mouth and bit down hard on Malfoy's hand, causing the boy to yelp and draw it back.

"Leave him alone!" she yelled, re-doubling her efforts to break away from him. Umbridge replied by striding over to her, pulling her hand back, and smacking her straight across the face, the sound echoing through the room.

"Quiet, you!" Umbridge ordered.

"You b—"

"Silence, Potter!" Umbridge shrieked. "I will not be outsmarted by you and your little friends!"

"We got them all, professor," said a boy Mia didn't recognize as he pointed over towards Neville. "He tried to stop me from taking the Weasley girl, so I brought him along too."

"Good, good. It looks as though Hogwarts will soon be a Weasley-free zone now, won't it? So, Potter, you stationed lookouts around my office and you send these two," Umbridge said, gesturing to a gagged Ron and Hermione. "To tell me that the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew full well he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes. Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to someone. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone."

"It's none of your business who I talk to," Harry snarled while Mia turned her face back to glare at Umbridge, her chest heaving in her anger and her eyes flaring.

"Very well," Umbridge said in her sweetest voice. "Very well, Mr. Potter. I offered the chance for you to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Warrington—go fetch Professor Snape."

As Warrington left the office, Mia felt the force of something very heavy strike her senseless, and all she could do was gape at herself, wanting to smack herself in the forehead now more than ever. Damn it all, how could she be so incredibly stupid?! Here they were running around trying to get past Umbridge when there was still a member of the Order here right under their noses the whole time! Mia was beyond frustrated with herself—if she didn't spend most of her time trying to pretend Snape wasn't around, she might have remembered that he is still around!

"You and your friends are finished, Mudblood," Malfoy muttered by her ear. "You'll all be out of Hogwarts by sunset, and maybe even Azkaban, if we're lucky."

Mia responded to this by swinging her foot back and hitting Malfoy right in the shin and as he bent over a little with a grunt, she used her elbow to strike him dead in the face. Malfoy howled in pain, but he loosened his grip long enough for Mia to tug herself free and shove him into one of the nearby desks. However before she could make another move, Goyle hurried over and managed to grab her arms, holding them firmly behind her back and actually lift her off the ground a little, making her groan in frustration as she uselessly kicked the air. Malfoy staggered back to his feet as he glared heatedly at Mia, holding his mouth over his nose, and Mia had a grim satisfaction in seeing a trickle of blood seep through his fingers. The others did not have much success in escaping their captors either, every one of them trying to break free and failing. It didn't take too long for Warrington to come back with Snape, and the potions master merely glanced around at everyone indifferently before inquiring what it was that Umbridge needed from him. Not wasting any time, Umbridge asked for a bottle of Veritaserum, obviously intending on using it on Harry.

"You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter," Snape said. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you three drops would be sufficient."

Umbridge flushed at this, and Mia, even in the midst of her struggles, couldn't help but smirk. That stupid old toad emptied the entire bottle into the tea she gave Harry, and one only needed three drops at most to have the desired effect. Now she has nothing to use to force Harry to speak, and it takes a full moon cycle to make another batch, which wasn't for another month. When Snape pointed out this flaw to Umbridge, she grew furious, demanding something that would help her interrogate Harry as to why he was using her fireplace, but there was nothing anyone could do. Snape stated that unless she wished to poison Harry (which Mia was sure he'd have no objection to), there was nothing he could do for her. As Snape turned to leave the office, Mia saw Harry's expression become frantic and desperate, and then he was shouting to Snape.

"He's got Padfoot!" Harry said, looking as though he was willing Snape to listen and understand what he was saying. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

Snape's hand froze on the handle to the door to the office, and when he turned back to look at Harry, his eyes and face were blank, so Mia couldn't tell whether he understood what Harry meant.

"Padfoot? What is Padfoot?" cried Umbridge, staring from Snape to Harry. "Where what is hidden? What is he talking about, Snape?"

Snape stared at Harry for a few more seconds before moving his gaze to Umbridge.

"No idea," he stated. "Potter, if I want nonsense shouted at me, I would give you a Babbling Beverage."

That's it, he's done for! Mia was raging inside her mind as if looks could kill, she would have strangled Snape and beat him to bits, stomping him into the ground. The greasy-haired man left the office without another word, closing the door sharply behind him, and Mia swore she would get him back for this. She was sure she knew that Snape knew who Padfoot was, and if this was some sort of twisted revenge on Sirius or Harry, she would make him pay! When Snape was gone, Umbridge seemed to breathe a bit harder, her face, turning an ugly red color.

"Very well," she whispered as she pulled out her wand. "Very well. I am left with no alternative. This is more than a matter of school discipline…this is a matter of Ministry security. Yes…yes…"

There was a sudden look to Umbridge that Mia didn't like one bit. She was shifting her weight nervously as she glanced at Harry, twirling her wand in her hand, and Mia had a very bad feeling about this. She watched as Umbridge kept muttering to herself for another minute before she turned to face Harry with a deadly calm stare, although her face was still inflamed.

"You are forcing me, Potter…I do not want to…but sometimes circumstances justify the use. I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice…the Cruciatus Curse should loosen your tongue."

"NO!" Mia screamed in horror, kicking and flailing with all her might. "If you lay a finger on him I swear I will—"

Mia was cut off as Umbridge waved her wand in her direction and then Mia was suddenly gagged like the others, her high volume profanities coming out terribly muffled. She continued screaming as Umbridge slowly advanced on Harry, pointing her wand to different places on his body, as though she didn't know where to start, a twisted sort of glee on her face.

"What Cornelius doesn't know, won't hurt him," Umbridge muttered, sounding as though she were trying to convince herself. "He never knew I ordered the dementors after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same."

"What?!" Mia yelled through her gag.

"It was you?" Harry exclaimed in anger. "You sent the dementors after me?"

"Somebody had to act," Umbridge breathed, a manic look in her eyes. "They were all bleating about silencing you, somehow—discrediting you—but I was the one who actually did something about it! Only you wriggled your way out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today though, not now."

And then she raised her wand so it was pointed directly at Harry's forehead, and Mia felt her heart stop.

"HARRY!"

"Cruc—"

"NO!" Hermione shouted as she managed to somehow spit out her gag and stare wide-eyed at Harry. "No, Harry—Harry, we'll have to tell her!"

"No way!" Harry yelled at her.

"We'll have to, Harry, she's going to force it out of you anyway!" Hermione said as she started sobbing into her hands. "What's the point?"

"Hermione, don't!" Ron shouted from his gag. Mia gazed at Hermione for a moment, neither angry or surprised, but confused. What was Hermione playing at? She knew the girl well enough to know when Hermione's tears were real, and these supposed ones were as fake as they could be. Umbridge demanded to know what Hermione was talking about.

"Well," Hermione cried. "He was trying to contact Professor Dumbledore…to tell him that it's ready…"

"That what is ready?" said Umbridge impatiently.

"D-Dumbledore's secret weapon," Hermione replied shakily.

"A Weapon?" Umbridge said. You have been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?"

"Y-yes," Hermione falsely sobbed into her hands. "H-he had to leave b-b-before it was f-finished, but it's finished n-now and we were trying t-t-to tell h-him."

"Excellent, excellent," Umbridge breathed, looking happier than Mia has ever seen her. "You will lead me to this weapon, and we'll bring Potter along too. Draco, you and the others stay put to make sure the rest of them don't escape. Go on girl, you lead on. Come Potter, we haven't got all day…"

Mia felt utterly helpless as she watched Umbridge march Harry and Hermione out of the office and her mind was positively swimming with what Hermione could possibly be thinking. What was she trying to do? Was she trying to distract Umbridge in some way? Even if that was the case, how long would it be before Umbridge caught on and hurt them. The thought was too much for her and she instantly started thinking about how they could possibly get out of this. The next few minutes passed by very slow as Mia thought about what to do, and then something clicked in her brain when she set her sights on Luna. For the entire time that they had been in the office, Luna simply stood beside her captor, staring serenely out of the window, but in that moment she moved her gaze to meet Mia's and her heart started beating faster in anticipation. She glanced at the Slytherin girl standing beside Luna, who didn't seem too bothered since the younger girl was cooperating, then she looked over at the desk that was sitting right in front of her and Goyle. A plan quickly forming, she glanced at Luna, then the girl, then back to Luna before making subtle movements with her finger, imitating a wand. Then she glanced at the desk, then at Goyle and made a fist. Luna kept her peaceful expression on her face but smiled at her in a way that told Mia she understood. Taking a deep breath, Mia mentally prepared herself, and then she lifted her feet and used all the strength she had to push them against the desk.

"Now, Luna!" Mia holloared. With speed she didn't know the girl possessed, Luna swiped two wands from the girl's pocket while Mia sent herself and Goyle straight into the wall with enough force to make him stagger sideways in pain and lose his grip on her. In the next second the girl went flying through the air and landed hard on the floor. Luna took hold of her wand and then threw the other one at Ron, who managed to use the distraction to punch his captor before catching his wand in his hand. He aimed a Stinging Hex at the boy holding Ginny while Neville actually pushed back against Crabbe, receiving a fist to the eye. Luna sent a nasty jinx Goyle's way which ended up with him falling to the ground unconscious and finally releasing his hold on Mia. Happy to be free at last, she groped through the pockets of his robes to see that he was the one who had taken hers and Harry's wands. She straightened up in time to see Malfoy coming towards her with his own wand raised, but Mia, her face set, was quicker as she raised her wand and yelled, "Rictusempra!" Malfoy went flying through the air where he crashed into some desks and remained on the floor, earning a grin from Mia. Within the next minute, they had all rendered the Inquisitorial Squad unconscious, and all had their wands back.

"Thanks, Luna," Mia said to the blonde girl.

"You're very welcome," Luna said pleasantly. "That was quite amazing, you know, I don't think Harry taught us that one."

"I remembered him using it on Malfoy in our second year," Mia explained. "Thought he might like a little trip down memory lane."

"We have to find out where they are," Ron said urgently. "Hermione could be leading them anywhere…"

"Look!" Neville exclaimed as he looked out of the window, pointing. "They're going into the forest!"

"What?" Mia said as she rushed over to see. Indeed, she reached the window just in time to see Hermione leading Harry and Umbridge into the depths of the Forbidden Forest and out of sight. She didn't like how things were looking, and she instantly started to worry—there were so many terrible, dangerous things in the forest, including the Arachnids, Grawp, and considering how the centuars are feeling about humans lately, they will not be pleased to find some on their territory.

"We have to follow them, now!" she said as she turned around and dashed out of the office.

"Why is Hermione leading them into the forest?" Ron called as he and the others started following her down the corridor.

"I don't know, but if we don't hurry they'll all be in danger!" Mia replied as she began racing down the flight of steps. She and the others ran all the way down to the Entrance Hall and out onto the grounds, sprinting towards the area where Harry, Hermione and Umbridge disappeared. With her face set, Mia flew past Hagrid's cabin and into the shadows of the trees without a second thought, her feet flying along the dirt path. She could hear the others behind them and for a long while, they ran further and further into the woods, trying to catch up. The deeper they went into the forest, the more dark and dreary the forest became. As they moved, Mia kept her eyes open for her friend's familiar faces, hoping that they were okay. After a bit more time searching, there was a sudden rumbling sound that seemed to shake the very ground they stood on, causing Mia to stop running. Breathing heavily, she stared around, hearing a very loud commotion going off somewhere towards the right, off the path.

"What is that?" Ginny panted, coming to a stop beside her.

"I don't know," Mia said, peering into the darkness. After a few more seconds, there was another loud rumble, followed by shrieking, battle-like cries, a booming roar, and a familiar shrill scream.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled before taking off in the direction the noises were coming from. Mia was close behind them as they started running again, following the noises and quickly getting scratched and pricked by the sharp branches and stems from the nearby bushes. Mia hissed as she tore through one nasty brush that left a stinging cut on her cheek, but she ignored it as she kept going, trying to keep Ron's bright red hair in sight. Soon the loud noises were beginning to grow fainter and fainter until they vanished altogether, but before Mia could lose any sort of hope, she was able to detect voices that were very close by. Smiling in relief, she and Ron led the way over to a small clearing where they could hear both Harry and Hermione speaking.

"…can't do anything without our wands," Hermione was saying worriedly. "Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?"

"Yeah, we were just wondering that," Ron said as he moved aside a low hanging branch and stepped into view, with Mia and the others right behind him. Upon seeing Harry and Hermione, Mia's smile grew—they may looked worse for the ware, with torn clothes, slightly bloody faces and appearing ruffled up, but otherwise they were all right. Mia quickly moved forward and pulled Harry in for a hug, sighing deeply.

"You prat," she said as she released him. "I was worried about you two."

"It looks worse than it is," Harry said. "How did you all get away?"

"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Impediment Jinx, Bat-Bogey Hex, Stinging Hex, and some brilliant thinking by Mia," Ron replied, grinning as he reached into his pocket and pulled out Hermione's wand, giving it back to her.

"What happened to Umbridge?" Mia asked as she gave Harry back his wand.

"She got carried away by Centaurs?"

"Centaurs? But how—," Mia cut herself off as she suddenly understood, positively beaming. "Hermione Granger, you clever witch!"

"They didn't take you two?" Ginny said, astonished.

"They were considering it, but they got chased off by Grawp," Harry explained.

"Who is Grawp?" Luna asked curiously.

"Hagrid's little brother," Ron answered. "But Harry, what did you see in the fire? Does You-Know-Who have Sirius, or…"

"Yes," said Harry. "I'm sure he's alive, but I can't see how we're all going to get there to help him."

They all fell silent at this, looking very scared. Mia herself was beyond worried—if Voldemort does indeed have Sirius, how much longer will it be before he decides to kill him? Harry had his dream quite a while ago now, so much time has already been wasted.

"Well, we'll just have to fly, won't we?" said Luna.

"I think Ron and Ginny are the only ones with brooms right now, Luna," Mia said, ignoring the way her stomach gave a horrible jolt of panic at the idea. "Harry's Firebolt is still chained up in the dungeons, and the rest of us would have to break into the lockers to take any school brooms, but they're too slow anyway and there's not enough time. We have to think of another way."

"There is no 'we' or 'the rest of us,'" Harry stated firmly.

"Excuse me?" said Ginny with narrowed eyes. "Don't think for a minute you are leaving any of us out, Harry! I care about what happens to Sirius, too!"

"You're too—"

"Don't give me that, I'm, three years older than you were when you defended the Sorcerer's Stone!" Ginny argued fiercely.

"We were all in the D.A together," Neville put in quietly, his face determined. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real—or was that all just a game or something?"

"No—of course it wasn't—" Harry said.

"Then we should come too," Neville said. "We want to help."

Harry glared at Ginny, Luna and Neville, his chest heaving in his frustration and Moa could see the slight twitch of his eyes, like he was in pain. Is his scar still hurting him? He must have figured that there was no way they were going to back down anytime soon about this, so he begrudgingly agreed in an angry huff, stating that it wouldn't matter if they couldn't find a way to get there.

"I told you, we can fly," Luna said.

"Look, we can't just sprout wings and take off whenever we want to," Ron said.

"There are other ways to fly other than using brooms," Luna told him. "We can use them."

Mia turned around to see what Luna was referring to, and she was shocked to see that two fully grown Thestrals were standing very close by, staring at them as if they understood exactly what they were saying.

"Of course," she muttered. "Thestrals are good at knowing their riders' destination, and they make record time, if I remember right."

"Thestrals?" Ron said. "You mean those horse things that you can't see unless you've seen someone snuff it?"

"Yeah," said Harry, gazing at the creatures with immense eagerness and appreciation. "But there's only two."

"You and Harry are covered with blood," Ginny said. "And Hagrid uses rare meat in order to lure them, so it won't be long before more show up."

Ginny was right. As the minutes passed by, more and more Thestrals started appearing, drawn to the scent of the blood that was on Harry and Hermione's robes. Soon enough there were no less than six Thestrals surrounding them. Luna offered to help Ron, Hermione and Ginny onto their Thestrals since they were the only ones who couldn't see them, and Neville started making his way over to the one closest to him. Harry fisted his hand into the mane of the Thestral that was closest and used the nearby tree stump to hoist himself over clumsily. When he managed to balance himself out and secure himself on the creature's back, he held his hand out to Mia. She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and the nerves were exploding painfully in her stomach. Despite this, she grabbed Harry hand and used it to hoist herself up, carefully swinging her leg over the Thestral's back and using Harry's shoulder to steady herself. Once she was settled she immediately latched her arms around Harry's waist, just as she did last summer when they were riding on his broom on the way to Grimmauld Place.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, the concern evident in his voice.

"I'll be fine," Mia replied, thankful she was able to keep her voice from shaking, although she tightened her hold on him, pressing herself flat against his back. It only took Luna a few more minutes to help the others get on their Thestrals, and once she was safely secure on hers, Harry turned and awkwardly gave instructions for the Thestral to take them to the Ministry of Magic. For a moment, the Thestral was completely still, but before they knew it, it stretched out it's leathery wings, crouched down low, and then took off so fast and so sudden that Mia let out a sharp squeal before she shut her eyes tight and bent her head down as the creature soared up and broke through the tree line. Her heart was pumping very fast and she fisted her hands in Harry's robes, but her face was set in determination, and she prayed that they wouldn't be too late.

Hold on Sirius, we're coming!

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