So sorry for the wait, I thought I had uploaded this chapter already.
Chapter 25 Fifth Year: Visions
The Entrance Hall was filled with the whispers of anxious fifth years. Harry knew that he wasn't the only one who had had enough of the constant tests. The practical exams had been fun. Harry still couldn't stop smiling at the memory of Umbridge's face when all the members of the DA had come through the practical DADA exams with flying colours.
This coming exam was something entirely different. History of Magic, written exam. At the best of times History of Magic was enough to put almost anyone to sleep, but a three hour written exam...Harry knew he was going to do badly in this exam, there was no getting away from it. Judging from the slightly green tinge to Ron's cheeks he wasn't the only one.
Harry shuffled his feet and looked around at his classmates. Some people were huddled over last minute notes; others were mimicking Ron and staring off into the middle distance with looks bordering on horror. Hermione had her eyes closed and her lips were moving in a constant whisper. As worried as she was no one had any doubt that Hermione was probably going to be the only person in the whole year to get any grade worth mentioning in this exam.
A familiar and normally comforting creak echoed through the Entrance hall as the doors to the Great Hall opened slowly and the ancient examiner hobbled out. Harry swallowed and set his shoulders.
The best he could do would be to come out without having fallen asleep at the table. However once everyone had filed reluctantly into the Great Hall and taken their seats Harry wasn't sure if he could even manage that.
The room was warm, the questions were dull and brought back memories of afternoons spent playing hangman or dozing through Professor Binn's lectures. Parvati was sitting in front of him and Harry soon found himself lost in the play of light and colours through her long black braid. Harry forced himself to look back down at his parchment, slowly and more painfully than pulling teeth he answered a few questions.
His eyelids dragged down heavily. The steady scratching of quills on parchment soothed his mind and Harry let his head fall gently down onto the table.
Harry was making his way along a familiar corridor, at the end of the corridor was a single black door. Behind that door was everything Harry wanted, everything he needed. All he had to do was go through it.
The door opened to his touch and Harry stepped through into a massive room full of shelves. The shelves were laden with glass orbs filled with glistening smoke. Harry hurried along the aisles, peering at the numbers until voices broke through his concentration.
"Take it, take the prophecy." Voldemort's cold high voice echoed around the shelves. Harry stared on horror at Sirius kneeling at Voldemort's feet. The Dark Lord's wand was pointed directly at Sirius's heart. "Take it!" Voldemort demanded.
Sirius raised his head and glared at Voldemort. "Never."
"Crucio."
Harry fell out of his seat yelling. His heart was pounding and his scar was burning so ferociously that Harry was worried it had split open. Wizened hands grasped Harry's arm and pulled him to his feet.
Harry struggled and then looked over at the elderly examiner who was smiling at him in what was probably supposed to be a comforting way. "Come along now, just exam jitters all perfectly normal." The elderly man hurried Harry along the row of students back towards the doors. Several people looked up at him, but most were so focused on their parchments that they didn't even glance up.
"Now you just head up to the hospital wing then when you come back you should have just enough time to round off your last answer yes?" The little old wizard patted Harry's arm.
Harry's mind was still whirring with the vision of Sirius, and at that point he couldn't have cared less about the stupid exam. "No, I'm done." He shrugged off the old man's hand and hurried off. He had no particular direction in mind, Harry just felt that he needed to be moving, doing something.
Voldemort had Sirius. Voldemort was trying to make Sirius get the prophecy. But how had Voldemort gotten to Sirius. Harry felt his stomach drop, Sirius had always resented being stuck in Grimauld Place. He must have left it and Voldemort had captured him.
Pacing desperately in a small circle Harry looked about; his mind was still dashing through the details of the vision. He didn't know who to turn to; Dumbledore was gone, McGonagall had been shipped out earlier that morning, Merlin and Hagrid had been driven away. He had no one. All methods of communication with the world outside Hogwarts were gone. Sirius was dying, being tortured to death by Voldemort and there was nothing that Harry could do.
Gritting his teeth Harry broke into a run, heading for the dormitories. He was Sirius's last hope. If there was no one else to help him then Harry would go to the Ministry of Magic and rescue his godfather himself.
Harry bolted through the common room, ignoring the looks from the other years studying in the red and gold armchairs. He dove head first into his trunk and began throwing things over his shoulders in search of his Invisibility Cloak.
Cursing his lazy mess Harry eventually dragged the silvery cloak from its hiding place and hurriedly changed out of his Hogwarts robes. It would be no good heading into the Ministry of Magic in his school robes.
By the time Harry was hurrying back down towards the Entrance Hall the last exam was over. Fifth years were flooding the halls cheering in delight and relief that everything was finally at an end. Harry shouldered his way through the crowd, his mind on his own task. What did exams matter when Sirius's life was in danger?
It took Harry several moments to realise that someone was calling his name over the crowd. He paused and looked around just in time to see Hermione and Ron pushing their way through the throng. "Harry are you alright? What happened?" Hermione asked.
Harry grimaced; there was no way that his friends would let him go without an explanation, but that was wasting time that Sirius didn't have.
"Harry what's wrong?" Ron's voice was tinged with worry now and Hermione was frowning between the two of them.
Harry grabbed their sleeves and pulled them into an empty niche in the wall. "Look in the exam I must have dozed off because I had another dream." Harry met Ron's eyes. "Like the one with your dad."
The colour drained from Ron's face, making his freckles stand out in stark contrast. "What happened?" His friend asked. Hermione was frowning thoughtfully and Harry knew she was formulating an argument so he pressed on. "It was Sirius. Voldemort has him in the Department of Mysteries, he's trying to make Sirius get the prophecy for him."
Ron looked horrified however Hermione only looked worried. "Harry Sirius is at Headquarters, he's safe."
"I'm telling you Hermione I saw it, Voldemort has him, he's torturing him. I have to go and help him otherwise..." Harry couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Harry, how can you be sure? The Occlumency was supposed to stop the dreams." Hermione tried, her face showed her desperation.
"I know it Hermione, but it felt exactly the same as the dream with Mr Weasley." Harry was itching to get moving, they were wasting time. "It must have been strong enough to break through the Occlumency, I'm still not very good at it."
"Hermione if Sirius is in trouble..." Ron pointed out gently.
"It doesn't make sense, how did Voldemort get into the Ministry in the first place, there should still be people around, he can't just sneak in there with Sirius. They are the two most wanted wizards in the world." Hermione muttered. "But...oh I don't know. Harry you can't go alone."
"Who can I tell, everyone is gone?"
"We should check, just to be sure. Otherwise it could be trap." Hermione peered out of their hiding place. "Harry you know how much You-Know-Who wants to get his hands on you."
Harry shook his head. "Hermione we can't. Besides how can we check, Umbridge is monitoring everything going out of the castle."
Hermione shook her head. "Not everything. I'll bet that Umbridge has a way of communicating to people outside of Hogwarts and there is no way she would want to be monitored."
"What are you suggesting Hermione, that we break into Umbridge's office?" Ron gasped. "You're worse than Fred and George."
Hermione glared at Ron before turning her attention back to Harry. Harry grimaced. He could see Hermione's point, it could be Voldemort setting a trap, but every minute they wasted was a minute less than Sirius had.
Harry looked between his friends, without Merlin or any of the Order of the Phoenix available he would need his friends help to get out of the castle and get to Sirius.
Harry wasn't stupid enough not to realise that things would go much better with Hermione along and having Ron's steadfast loyalty at his back would make Harry feel better about confronting Voldemort again. "Alright we need to speak to someone at Headquarters, they will know where Sirius is." Harry made the decision; he wasn't going to walk his friends into a trap. "But we will need to distract Umbridge and get her out of her office."
"Why are you trying to get Umbridge out of her office?" Ginny's voice startled all three of the Gryffindors and they spun guiltily out of their hidy-hole. Ron's sister was watching them all with suspicion. "If you're going to take on Umbridge then I'm in."
"Ginny..." Ron swelled up and stepped forward. "You're not getting involved."
"Tough. You need a distraction, I'll give you one." With that Ginny vanished into the crowd of lingering students.
Harry exchanged a look with Hermione behind a red faced Ron's back. "We should get moving." Hermione said.
Everything that could possibly have gone wrong today had done so. Sirius was in danger, Voldemort was close to having the prophecy and now Umbridge had Harry and all of his friends trapped.
Hermione's crocodile tears had managed to get her, Harry and Umbridge heading off into the forest after Dumbledore's 'secret weapon', but Harry could only praying that Hermione had a plan because the only other hope was to hope that Snape had understood Harry's garbled encoded message. Harry didn't have high hopes for that one, he was certain they were on their own.
As Harry ducked under branches not bothering to be particularly careful as he allowed them to snap back into Umbridge's face, he hoped again that Hermione had a plan. He sped his pace a little to catch up with Hermione. "What are you doing?" He hissed as quietly as he could.
"Improvising." Hermione whispered back. "We need something to distract her so we can get away."
Harry repressed a shudder and fell back into line behind her. The trail Hermione was taking them on was one that Harry and Ron had walked years ago, one that led directly to a colony of large and normally very hungry spiders. While Harry had nothing against feeding Umbridge to Aragog and his offspring he wasn't too keen on undergoing it himself.
All morbid thoughts were tossed aside as an equally disturbing noise began from the rise to their right. Umbridge had obviously heard the sound as well because she prodded Harry in the small of his back and snapped, "What is that?"
The question answered itself as a herd of centaurs crested the ridge and cantered down to the hollow they were walking through. Umbridge stepped firmly behind Harry and Hermione and raised her wand to point at the centaurs. The centaurs responded by notching arrows to their bows.
Harry was sure this was going to get most of them killed, but before he could even raise his hands in surrender the black centaur he remembered as Bane spoke up. "What are you doing in our woods human?"
"Your woods? I will remind you centaur that you are permitted on these lands at the bequest of the Ministry for Magic." Umbridge drew herself up in her own importance. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and got ready to throw himself on the ground when the centaurs decided to fire.
Bane bared his teeth and reared up slightly. Harry felt Hermione's fingers tighten in his and he found himself desperately wishing that he could do magic like Merlin. His lack of a wand was making his heart race even faster. "You dare witch to think that you can command a centaur." Bane roared.
"I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic himself. You will obey me." Umbridge's voice had risen an octave and her wand hand was shaking. "And if not... Stupefy." She shrieked.
The spell shot over Harry's head as he dragged Hermione down to the loamy forest floor with him. He didn't see if the spell had connected. Harry tucked himself into a tight ball, wrapping his arms around Hermione while she did the same to him. Around them the centaurs long legs thrashed up the leaves and soil while Umbridge shouted spells and profanities.
Then there was a sound like a double crack of thunder and a brilliant flash of light lit up the insides of Harry's tightly closed eyelids.
"I think it's just about time for everyone to calm down." The cracked and worn voice was as welcome to Harry as any sound he would ever hear. Harry and Hermione lifted their head and stared up, and up, and up. The cracks they had heard had been the sounds of two massive pine trees being snapped off at the ground. The giant, on whose shoulders Merlin was sitting, looked a little embarrassed and set the tree trunks aside.
The sorcerer, who had once again resumed his guise of an old man, rapped a staff against the side of the giant's head. "Put me down."
As the giant set the old man on the uneven ground the centaurs turned warily towards him. Harry looked at Hermione and grinned, but his friend only looked worried.
Umbridge, who had been tightly bound by the centaurs, began to yell. "You again, I demand in the name of the Ministry that you assist me."
The again made Harry frown. When had Umbridge met Merlin?
"Shut your pie hole you old windbag." Merlin replied immediately. Umbridge's mouth dropped open. "I'm not interested in you." He looked up at the centaurs, "You can take the old bat, but these two are mine." Merlin nodded in Harry and Hermione's direction, his fingers tightening around his staff.
Bane shifted, notching a new arrow. "We do not obey you." He replied.
"I don't want to fight you." Merlin's glare made his eyes flare a brighter blue; Harry took a deep breath watching the old sorcerer's eyes for signs of the glint of magic.
Another centaur stepped forward. "We wish no harm to the foals, we will go." The new centaur sent a significant look at Bane, who ignored him.
The centaurs swooped in around Umbridge, picked her up by the arms, knocking her wand out of her hands and throwing her over their shoulders.
The sudden attack helped Umbridge gather herself back together and she began to scream. "How dare you, release me you half-breeds. Who do you think you are?" The last was directed to Merlin who straightened as the centaurs prepared to move out.
"I am Dragoon the Great. Why don't you look me up? If the centaurs ever decide to let you go of course." With a thunder of hooves the centaurs vanished through the undergrowth. Harry helped Hermione to her feet while Merlin gritted his teeth and resumed his younger appearance. "Well that was fun." He muttered. "Are you two alright?"
"What is that?" Hermione was still staring up at the giant who was standing uncertainly at the edge of the clearing.
Merlin looked over his shoulder. "It's just Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother. Don't worry, he's alright." Merlin turned towards the giant who peered down at them from a face like a boulder. "Grawp, go find Hagrid."
"Hagger?" The giant mumbled in a voice that seemed to get to Harry's ears via the soles of his feet.
"Yes Hagger, go." Merlin pointed, just to make himself very clear. The giant turned and began to trundle off through the woods snapping trees as he went. Merlin gave a deep sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over; there is honestly only so much illiterate giant I can put up with. Come on."
As they walked back towards Hogwarts Harry filled Merlin in on the situation with Sirius. Merlin didn't look convinced. "Are you sure Harry, what reason did Sirius have to leave the house?"
"He hates being in there." Harry snapped irritably. "Look will you help?"
Merlin lifted a branch out of their way with the blue lacquered end of his staff. "If I say no are you going to go anyway?"
Harry glared. "Yes, I have to save Sirius."
Merlin grinned. "Though hell and high water Harry."
Hermione frowned. "Does that mean you're coming?"
"I'll come, you're my friends so stupid plan or not I'm with you." Merlin waited while Harry ducked under another branch.
Hermione however stopped. "The name you gave Umbridge...Dragoon...where is that from."
Merlin laughed. "It was a name I made up. You know that magic wasn't allowed in Camelot well sometimes people wanted magic anyway and to make sure the person using the magic wasn't actually planning to kill the King, Arthur or everyone in Camelot I used an aging spell and became Dragoon to perform magic without anyone suspecting it was me. If Umbridge looks hard enough she'll find out that it was an alias for Merlin."
"You just told her who you were." Harry gaped.
"Sort of, I told her that the old man she met in the forest was Merlin. She hasn't got anything yet to connect Dragoon the ancient sorcerer with Emrys the lowly Gamekeeper's assistant. Now come on or we'll be too late." Merlin huffed as he took the lead.
They had only gone a few more steps when the sound of approaching footsteps set all three of them on edge again. Harry clenched his fists and stepped in front of Hermione while Merlin hefted his staff, pointing the lacquered tip in the direction of the approaching sounds.
The staff was lowered almost immediately as Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny stumbled over the tree roots into sight. "Harry, Hermione!" Ron cried with delight. "You're alright."
Greetings and congratulations went quickly around the group as they exchanged stories of escape. Finally Harry pulled back. "I know this is going to be dangerous, so if any of you want to go back to school now then go because after this you aren't going to have a choice." Harry looked over the dirty determined faces of his friends.
Harry had to admit that magically most of them wouldn't be his first choice of rescue team, but they were his friends as stead fast and loyal as anyone could ever be. He could trust them and that was what he needed.
"Alright then, to the Ministry of Magic."
This will again be the last chapter for a long while. I have no idea when my next update will be. Stay tuned.