Without a thought she hurried straight toward his booming voice, Luna close on her heels. The voice was coming from the end of the corridor, distorted by the echoing stone of the passage way. Her heart began to race faster for a reason she couldn't understand as she came to stop directly outside of a door to her right, the loud booming voice of Harry obviously behind it. Ginny quickly glanced at Luna. The wide eyed girl shrugged slightly as Ginny swooped her hair behind her shoulder and reached for the doorknob. Tentatively, she nudged it open, cursing as the door emitted a terribly loud creak. The yelling immediately stopped.
She was caught. Knowing there was nothing else to do, she timidly stuck her head through the opening. Any instinct of foreboding that she got from hearing his voice booming down the corridor was cemented as she saw the panicked look on his face. And quickly, almost imperceptibly, the panic turned to anger from their interruption. He stared at her with unfamiliar loathing as he barked at her and Luna not to bother them. Hermione clutched onto Harry's arm, it seemed like she was trying her best to reason with him. Hermione caught Ginny's eye and beckoned her. Swallowing hard, Ginny walked further into the room, listening intently to Hermione as she stumbled a plan of some sort out to Harry.
Ginny's brain started to work overtime as she put the shocking sentences together. Sirius ---tortured---Voldemort---Now---her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as she gulped, glancing in shock and confusion quickly at her brother, Ron, who had also been in the room. His eyes were wide, and he looked almost as lost as she felt. It was only when her own name was spoken that she came out of her head.
"Yeah. We'll do it," Ginny spoke quickly, intently, not knowing what she had volunteered for, but not caring. She would do anything to remedy whatever situation included 'Sirius---tortured---Voldemort--'. Upon her volunteering, Harry ever so quickly glanced at her, his anger subsiding in his eyes for the slightest second as he looked at Ginny, like a split second breath of fresh air before the panic took him over once again.
"Okay then-" She heard Hermione say. And thus a plan was hatched.
Everything was very surreal as Hermione went over the plan one last time in the absence of Harry. He had run off to get his Invisibility Cloak, a detail that Ginny would have been very intrigued by if it wern't for the fact that they were essentially in a life or death situation. Heading off Umbridge to use her fireplace was pretty crazy indeed. The plan was as such. Ron was going to create a diversion, taking Umbridge away from her office. Ginny and Luna were going to clear the hallway around her office by telling the students that Garrotting Gas was filling the hallway, and Hermione and Harry were going to invisibly slip into Umbridge's office, floo Grimmauld Place, and see if Sirius was there.
The plan was going swimmingly. At least her end of it. Students continually attempted filing around her, but her convincing and annoyed story of the Garroting Gas caught on quickly, clearing the hallway out with ease. It wasn't until the students were gone that she started to feel that biting sense of panic rock her gut. Rocking back and forth on her heels, twirling her hair in her finger, she bit her lip nervously. Was Sirius really being tortured by Voldemort? What was anyone going to do about it? Where was Umbridge and what was taking Harry so friggin long in the office?! Minutes passed like eternities as her panic turned to fear when suddenly from the other end of the hallway she heard a muffled scream.
Turning quickly on her heel, but with no time at all to run, she came face to face with a sickeningly large Slytherin girl. The girl, a good head taller than Ginny, bore her crooked teeth as she smiled, grasping menacingly tight onto Ginny shoulder. Ginny slapped the girls hand.
"Excuse me. Just what do you think you're doing?" Ginny spat testily, trying to keep up her cover.
"Hey, over here! I got one!" the girl yelled to her right. Ginny's eyes widened as an even larger Slytherin boy came around the corner, twirling his wand in his hand. That was it. Ginny jerked her shoulder free from the girl's grasp and thrust her hand in her robes for her wand.
"Incarcerous!" The boy screamed, and Ginny winced as she knew what was coming. Thick cords wound their way around her hands, and much to her dismay, around her mouth, gagging her. Livid anger shot through her veins as the two latched themselves onto her arms, pulling her along. Screaming despite the gag, she kicked and flung her body around as it was truly the only weapon she had left. But she was no match for the two trolls dragging her down the very hallway she had been protecting.
"What are you DOING!" a deep voice barked suddenly from behind her as her male captor was knocked to the ground. She gasped as Neville, out of nowhere, had her back. He jumped the boy from behind and tried to wrestle the wand from the boy's hands. Ginny tried to scream for Neville as the ogre of a girl flung her arm through the air, connecting straight with the side of Neville's head. A terrible smack echoed the hallway as he hit the floor.
"Two for the price of one huh?" Said the boy, laughing, as he crawled back to his feet and bound a dazed Neville. Her pleading eyes attached with his in thanks before she jumped back into her assault on the girl's shins.
The sense of foreboding and panic that had overcome her in the recent minutes hit a fever pitch as she saw Umbridge at the foot of her office door, followed closely by a bound Luna and Ron being led by two more cronies. Umbridge turned into her office
"HWWWWWRRRIIIII!!!!" Ginny attempted to scream as the Slytherin girl shoved her into the office, bombarding her into her brother. She gasped at the sight of Harry crumpled at the edge of Umbridge's desk, in obvious pain. Every single person had been caught and bound, Hermione had been pressed against the wall by another large girl Ginny couldn't see the face of.
The girl that was holding onto the scrappy red head was wincing in pain from the consistent assault on her shins as she moved them to a corner of the room, she was caving. Ginny got in one very good kick but screamed as the girl forcefully pulled the scalp of Ginny's hair. "I SWEAR," hissed the girl, "Do it one more time and I WILL crucio you," Ginny stopped, she needed a breather anyway. The chaos in the room quieted as all eyes went to Harry and Umbridge.
Breathing heavily from her fight and shocked by the tense situation, the next few minutes felt like a terrible nightmare. Little of which made sense as Ginny decided the best way to act was through stealth. Her captor was focused on Harry and Umbridge as she slowly sidled her bound hands into her robes, just feeling her wand with her finger tips. She grimaced to herself, knowing that the only way to get the wand into her hand was to shift her hip, an obvious movement. Harry was still holding strong, he still wasn't caving. She heard the words "Professor Snape" and watched Draco Malfoy pocket what looked like Harry's wand, and leave the room. The proceedings around her went fuzzy again as she fingered her wand hoping that it would miraculously jump into her hand. What she was going to do with it when it was in her hand, she had no idea, but she would feel much more in control if she could...just...get...
Snape burst into the room, causing the entire room to turn to the door, allowing her to shift her hip perfectly, her fingers triumphantly wrapping around her wand, ready at a split second's notice. She watched as Harry pleaded with Snape, yelling what seemed to be gibberish to the greasy professor, but Ginny knew better. Snape made no motion of understanding Harry's warning: "He's got Padfoot!" The man exited after being no help at all to anyone, except for Ginny of course because she now had control of her wand. A noticeably sour look appeared on Umbridge's face.
The woman's feature's were writhing, and she could see Harry's face getting hot. He couldn't stand the position he was in, trapped with a stupid woman, unable to save the only family he had. Her heart went out to him and a resolve took her over. There was no way he was going to fight this alone. Once they got out, and she knew they would, she would do everything in her power to save Sirius, wherever he was. Harry did not deserve to lose his family yet again.
And it was then that she heard the words that brought her right back into the hot stuffy office: Dementors. Her anger shot up again into her face, clenching her teeth as she heard Umbridge happily admit to setting the dementors onto Harry those many months ago. Ohh, the woman was going down if it was the last thing Ginny ever did. Her fingers tightened instinctively on her wand as she heard a girl yelp.
All eyes shot to Hermione as the girl continued with an odd expression of tears and pleading. The girl that Ginny considered to be the closest of friends suddenly had deceived her and the others, pleading Harry to tell Umbridge. Was she insane? Had she been imperioused? Harry was at a loss for words as the girl continued, Ron looked like he was in a body bind. Her own eyes felt like they were going to fall out of their sockets. But Umbridge, she was looking like a kid who had won the big prize at the carnival.
Her grip on her wand slackened as she listened to the sickeningly odd pleas of Hermione, countered by the cooing excitement of Umbridge. Ginny felt like she was going to vomit, this couldn't be happening, there wasn't any way that Hermione would out the whereabouts of --
"Dumbledore!" Ginny's head shot up like a rocket, hitting her captor in the jaw with the back of her head, but Ginny didn't notice. Every eye in the room had widened at the bogus admission Hermione had made about them trying to help Dumbledore. "She's a genius!" Ginny thought as she screwed up her face to look guilty through Hermione's bizarre admission that the group had been building a weapon for Dumbledore. Umbridge was smiling like a jackal, beckoning Hermione to take her to take them to this weapon.
That's when Ginny smiled for the first time. Catching Hermione's eye for a quick moment, Ginny motioned with her free bound hand that wasn't hiding her wand, not sure if her meaning would come across. Jabbing at Umbridge with her finger subtly, and wagging her finger at the rest of the room, she saw Hermione make the smallest nod possible. Was Hermione gifted at Occlumency?
After a heated and disturbing threat of the students of Hogwarts using the weapon on Umbridge, the toad woman ordered only Harry and Hermione to take her and the three swept out of the room. The second the door closed a burst of laughter exuded from a sickeningly happy Draco Malfoy by the window.
"Oh, this is amazing, isn't it? I am so glad I got to witness that," with that, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered like the useless cronies they were. Ginny caught Ron's eye and smiled at him, tightening her hold on her wand, and that is when she tripped herself.
"OWWWW!" she feigned a scream through her gag, staring up at the girl in mock disbelief. The girl rolled her eyes and neglected to pull Ginny off of the ground, just as she had been hoping. The Slytherins were the worst captors she had ever seen, making jokes and losing sight of the fact that if only they could unbind themselves, the room would only be six against four, a number that they could easily handle. Ron's face tilted to Ginny and she saw him staring at her hands. She sidled the base of her wand out just slightly and nodded at him. Without hesitation, Ron spat through his gag, "Ywww fnk dis zz fnnnyy Mawwfoy?"
"So Weasley," Draco drawled, leaving his spot against the window to get right into Ron's face. It was her chance. Slowly she titled her wand out of her robes and muttered the counter curse for her binds as Draco slapped her brother in the face. She was free. Not shaking off the binds yet to blow her cover, she nudged the legs of the person against her, who just happened to be Neville. He looked down discreetly as she pulled her wrists apart slightly, showing her freedom and the base of her wand. He nodded. Looking around she noted to her happiness that all attention was still on Ron as a distraction. She tilted the tip of her wand out once more and muttered the counter curse at Neville, allowing him to slip his hands into his robes and grab his wand. Her eyes blazed at Neville as she counted on her fingers. 1--2--3--
Ginny shot her wand up at her captor and Neville wheeled around at his. 'Stupefy!' they both yelled. The room lit up as streaks of red flew from their wands at point blank range, causing both captors to slump to the ground unaware.
"What the!" Draco yelled as he fished his robes, pulling out Harry's wand. "Expelliarmus!" Ginny screamed and Harry's wand flew straight into her hand, pocketing it as Malfoy dug in for his own. Neville had just done the counter curse on Ron as Ron shot his elbow back, connecting with Goyle's nose.
The room turned into a frenzy after that. Ginny shot the counter jinx at Luna's binds and wheeled around jinxing Millicent Bulstrode with Jelly Legs just as she was about to send a spell, causing the spell to hit Goyle in the nose instead, causing even more damage. Ron had ended up in a headlock by Crabbe as Neville shot such a strong Impedimenta Jinx at Goyle that he looked like a mummy. "Good one, Neville!" Ron winced as Neville and Ginny both ran over to Ron and Crabbe, trying to free him, but Malfoy was too fast for her and backhanded Ginny forcefully backward, finally pulling his wand as arms connected around her ankles, pulling her down.
"Pertificus Totalus!" she yelled as she flew back, hitting Malfoy in the shoulder right as he started to raise his wand. The room gasped as his rigid body toppled into Umbridge's desk and thudded to the ground. Ron took that moment to heel Crabbe in the groin, Neville stupefying him the second he receded a bit from Ron. Ginny hit the ground hard and winced before opening her eyes and seeing Millicent Bulstrode, jelly legs and all, hovering over her menacingly. Ginny kneed the girl in the stomach as the girl's nails connected with Ginny's face, causing Ginny to scream out in pain. "Depulso!" Ginny screamed, trying to tilt her wand at Millicent, but it was no use.
"Furnunculus!" She heard Luna yell, followed by screams from Millicent as the girl rolled off of Ginny. Boils began to puss all over her body as her jelly legs writhed beneath her. Luna offered her hand to Ginny.
"What a weird choice of spell," Ginny said as she was pulled off of the ground.
Luna shrugged, "I like to experiment."
The four gazed in awe in the remains of the office, looking in shock at the carnage they had created. Six bodies laid around the room either stunned or bound, every piece of furniture was broken or blasted apart by a spell.
"Well, I'll say that the D.A. meetings sure did give us an edge, huh?" Ginny laughed, holding her hand to her face which now seemed to be oozing steaks of blood. Ron was holding his mouth, but seemed to be smiling despite it. Neville was breathing heavily and holding his side. Luna was placidly looking out of the window.
"Harry and Hermione just took Umbridge into the forest," she said as though stating the weather, "do you think we should follow?"
"Are you mad?! Of course we should follow them!" Ron spat as he crossed toward the door, Neville following at his heels, Ginny looked around the room one last time.
"Hold on," she said as she strode over to the petrified body of Draco Malfoy. His eyes were wide and frozen, but she knew he could see her and feel every little thing that had occurred, she smiled down at him sweetly, "Hopefully this will teach you not to stick your nose in Harry's business, you dirty git," she said as she shot a bat bogey hex right at his face. She could only imagine the agony that was the bat bogey hex while being petrified, and it was almost as much agony as he deserved. "Okay, I'm ready," she said as she stepped over Crabbe's body on her way to the door. Ron's lip was bleeding onto the floor as he doubled over in laughter.
"I love you little sister," he said through laughter as he threw his arm around her shoulder. She patted him on the back as they four of them exited the office quickly, ready for whatever met them next.