My days without George felt infinitely longer. I hadn't realized quite how much time I spent with the boy until I kept turning to speak to him, only to find him absent. It was rather depressing after a while.

I missed him. I missed him a lot.

For the first few days after their leaving, it honestly still felt like they were around, what with how spoken about they were. Fred and George had achieved the status of Hogwarts royalty for their stunt. The story of the boys flight to freedom was retold so often over the next few days, I knew it would become stuff of Hogwarts legend. And as was usual with this school, people began to gossip. Soon enough, even those who has been eye-witnesses were half convinced they'd seen the boys dive bomb Umbridge on their broom and pelt her with dungbombs before zooming out the doors (I began to see a connection between many of the tall tales going around the school- Lee appeared to be the source of a great deal of them).

In the immediate aftermath of their leaving, I myself also became a sort of reluctant celebrity by association. Often, people spoke to me of the twins and their daring, and some people started addressing me with an air of awe for being so closely involved with one of the boys.

The boys made sure that nobody was likely to forget them soon. For one thing, they hadn't actually left instructions as to how to get rid of the swamp on the first floor. Umbridge and Filch had been seen trying different methods of removing it with pretty little success. Eventually, the area was just roped off altogether, and everyone had to take detours around it to get to class.

Let's be real. As Angelina pointed out, McGonagall or Flitwick could probably vanish the swamp in a heartbeat, but just as was the case with the fireworks, they seemed a lot more content to just let Umbridge suffer it.

I didn't have time to miss them for very long, because soon enough the thing that we had been dreading crept right up on us. Six weeks out from exams, the boys left. Five weeks out from exams, we began revision. One week out from exams, classes stopped altogether and we were granted time to do private revision.

But as the days sped by (at a really, truly alarming rate) and the exams rushed closer, a serious bout of exam stress struck the fifth and seventh years. A Hufflepuff girl called Nancy Reynolds was the first who needed to be sent to Madam Pomfrey for a calming drought after she burst into tears in the middle of transfiguration and told McGonagall that she may as well go home now because she was too stupid to take the exams.

Exams had everyone stressed out. And I mean everyone.

"LISTEN, you little shit! You talk to me like that one more time and I'm done! You can tutor yourself for your goddamn OWL's!" I exploded at Draco on more than one occasion, always to be met with a mildly petulant glare. I will admit that I myself had had to have my fair share of calming droughts.

Meanwhile, a flourishing black market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up in the corridors. From Baruffio's Brain Elixir for mental strength to powdered dragon's claws for luck, it was all on sale. I found myself tempted on more than one occasion, until a conversation with Hermione set me straight.

"None of this stuff actually works! The chances of it being the real thing are astronomical- some of them can even be dangerous! I've already confiscated a ridiculous amount of stuff- I took a bottle of Brain Elixir from Eddie Carmichael the other day, and do you know what's in there? Traces of doxy droppings- that's what."

We were interrupted by a loud gagging noise from behind us, the source of which was Lee. I winced sympathetically as he scratched at the top of his tongue, squealing in horror. Poor guy had already bought a bottle of Brain Elixer.

We stayed pretty clear of the black market trade after that point. Lee, ever the creative and lazy one, put most of his renewed effort into finding another method of conning the exam markers. This time by… well… cheating.

This plan came crashing down around him in our last week of classes when McGonagall outlined the extremely strict anti-cheating charms to be placed on the exam paper. In addition, a school approved quill would be provided for us to write with.

"Every year, there seems to be at least one student who harbors the idea that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examination Authority's rules. I can only hope that this deluded student is not a Gryffindor," McGonagall said, her eyes lingering for just the slightest bit too long on the now fuming Lee.

So, after that point, he (and the rest of us) had only one thing to do: buckle down, and actually study.

Our week of so called 'private revision' was never very private. The teachers left their doors wide open for us to go to them with any last minute revision questions, and often one person would ask something and the six people waiting in line would listen in anyway. Although it was supposed to be private study, the teachers ended up hosting mini classes throughout the week anyway.

And soon enough, not George, not Harry's dreams, not anything but exams, exams, exams, and the correct way to cast a summoning charm, and the number of clockwise stirs the Drought of Living Death required, and any number of other study notes, could cross my mind.

The night before the exams was even more awful than I remembered from our OWL's. Dinner was a subdued affair- in fact, I took one bite into a bread roll before nearly throwing it back up and deciding that food wouldn't be a priority during exam time. I was just far too anxious to eat.

We all retired to the common room sooner rather than later, where the fifth and seventh years sat to do their last minute revision. The room was mostly silent (ever since Angelina had exploded at a bunch of first years to shut their pie-holes the previous morning, everybody not doing exams was pretty wary of their behavior), but despite that nobody was really getting very far.

In our corner, Lee had his eyes shut and his fingers in his ears as he recited from memory the theory behind cheering charms. Angelina was speed reading over two years' worth of Charms notes, mouthing along with them. Alicia was using flashcards to check her knowledge as Katie assisted, and I had spent the past 40 minutes casting every single spell that McGonagall had ever taught me.

My anxiety ended up getting the better of me, and I retired to bed relatively early. It didn't help; I lay awake for hours, unable to sleep. I knew the other girls were much the same; Angelina jumped out of bed every twenty minutes or so to flip through her notes and check something, before crawling back into bed, and Alicia tossed and turned all night.

When we all dragged ourselves out of bed early the next morning, Katie didn't mention the dark bags under all our eyes, nor the fact that none of us ate much at breakfast. I was finally dragged out of my pre-exam stupor by the sight of my brother. I felt a pang of guilt hit me at his anxious face, and I tried to put on my biggest smile as I made my way over to where he stood in the Entrance Hall as they prepared the Great Hall for our exams.

"Hey, honey" I said quietly, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. He let out a long breath as he tightened his arms around me. "How are you doing?"

"Yeah, okay," he said unconvincingly, and I smiled up at him.

"Don't stress- you'll be fine, I promise," I told him, and his gaze softened.

"So will you, you know," he replied, and I swallowed thickly. "You're smart, Bree. We'll both be fine."

My smile turned a lot more genuine at his words, and at that moment the doors of the Great Hall opened. My class was called in first- Seventh year Transfiguration. Sam squeezed my hand before I left him to enter the Hall, where the four House tables had vanished and been replaced by hundreds of smaller tables meant for a single individual. I sat in my assigned seat, swallowing thickly as I looked up at the enormous clock that had been set up at the front of the room to time our exams. Slowly, the rest of the students sitting exams this morning filed in, and I caught Sam's eye again as he sat down on the other side of the Hall, where he would be sitting his Charms paper.

Once we were all seated, the examiner spoke from the front of the room. "You may begin," and the giant clock swung into motion.

Swallowing thickly, I flipped over my paper and opened to the first page.

a)Give the incantation, and b) describe the wand movements necessary to turn a bookmark into a rabbit.

George and I had studied this! Unable to suppress a smile, I bent over my paper and got to work.

"I mean- it could've been worse, yeah?" Angelina asked, two hours later.

Alicia frowned. "I don't think I did justice on live animal transfiguration! I just sort of ran out of time- I'd intended to go back and write more on the ethical implications of casting magic on living things, but I-"

"Alicia," Lee groaned, dragging out her name. "We've been over this! We are not discussing all of our exams in detail once they're done! Doing them once is bad enough!"

"What's done is done," I agreed, "Can't change what I did, and I'm going to make myself sick if I start thinking of all the ways I could've improved."

Our practical Transfiguration exam was that afternoon, and then I was free until Charms the next afternoon. In small groups, we were called forward in alphabetical order. I thought I did quite well- however, after I had finished my exam there needed to be a ten minute break due to an incident. Lee had managed to make his iguana swell to the size of a crocodile, which had terrified the Hufflepuff girl in the next cubicle so much that she accidentally shot her vanishing charm in the wrong direction, effectively vanishing the examiner.

All in all, the exams did not go as horribly as they possibly could have. I soon realized that the most difficult part of the exams was the anticipation, not knowing what was coming before each one. I was confident that I had done as well as I could have.

The day of my final exam could not have come soon enough. I left the Herbology exam in the greenhouses beaming, barely stopping myself from doing a little jig of excitement as we all laughed, chattering excitedly about finally being free! We'd all decided to spend the afternoon doing absolutely nothing for the first time in what felt like forever- the sun was shining, and I vowed that nothing was going to get me to move from my spot sun baking by the lake. However, before I could do so, I had a few things to do.

I left the others by the lake, soaking up the warm sun, with the promise to return once I'd seen Sam. His last exam, History of Magic, should be ending now, too, so I headed up to the Entrance Hall to await him, thinking of writing George a letter telling him how my last exam had gone before I headed back outside. It didn't take long before the doors to the Great Hall opened, and out came the fifth years. Of course Sam and his group were some of the last, so the Hall had mostly cleared by that point. Catching his gaze, I returned my brothers wide grin, starting to skip towards him- when all of a sudden, Harry collapsed right behind him. My steps stuttered, but then I was sprinting towards them, as multiple people called his name and tried to pull him back to his feet.

His gaze was unfocussed when I reached him, but even as he struggled to stay upright, one word erupted from his mouth, full of absolute terror: "Sirius!"

My heart turning cold, I yanked him out of the line of students filing out of the Hall, and into the broom cupboard a few paces down. It was a tight squeeze, what with Hermione, Ron, Sam, Harry and I, but this was the last thing to cross my mind. Especially at Harry's next words.

"Voldemort's got Sirius!"

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"I saw it, just now- I had a vision," Harry spoke hurriedly, "And I know where they are! There's a room in the Department of Mysteries, in the Ministry, full of little shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven… he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is that he wants from in there. He's torturing him- he says that he's going to end it by killing him!"

My knees shook, and I feared I may have collapsed if we weren't all squeezed so close together.

"How are we going to get there?!" Harry demanded.

"G-get there?" Ron repeated.

"Yes! Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!"

Hermione caught my eye above his head, and I frowned. "But Harry," Hermione said quietly, "how… how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"

"Does it matter?!"

"Harry, please, think of it like this: it's 5 o'clock, the Ministry of Magic must be full of workers- how would two of the most wanted men in the wizarding world get into a building full of aurors undetected?"

"I don't know!" Harry exploded. "Maybe he used an Invisibility Cloak or something- the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been there."

"You've never been there, Harry," Sam said firmly. "You've only dreamed about it."

"They aren't normal dreams!" Harry was full on shouting now. "You don't understand!"

"What if You-Know-Who wanted you to see this, Harry?" I said. "What if your dream was just… a dream?"

Harry spun on me this time. "You don't understand! What do you think all the Occlumency was for, what do you think Dumbledore wanted to put a stop to this for? Because they're REAL! Voldemort has got Sirius trapped, and nobody else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, then that's fine- but I'm going!"

There was a tense silence in the room for a moment, before Sam broke it. "Then we're going with you."

Harry's head sot around to Sam, and only once Sam was sure that he had his full attention did he speak again. "But first we've got to make sure that Sirius really has left Headquarters."

"I told you, I saw-"

"I know what you saw! But if this is just a trick- we need to check, before we go tearing off to London!"

For a second, Harry gaped at him. "How? How do you propose we do that?!"

"Umbridge's fire," I spoke up, knowing deep down that this was the only way to contact the outside world without being detected. "We need to use Umbridge's fire to floo Grimmauld Place."

"Okay," Harry said aggressively, "but unless you can think of a way to do this quickly, I'm going right now. Sirius is being tortured- I can't just leave him there!"

"Okay," Hermione breathed. "Okay- one of us needs to go find Umbridge and lure her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office-"

"We can do that," Sam said, nodding at Ron. "We could tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration Department, that's ages away from her office."

"Come to think of it, we could probably convince Peeves to actually do it if we met him along the way…" Ron added

Hermione nodded. "Okay- and we need to keep students right away from her office, whilst we try and force entry, or some Slytherin is bound to go and tip her off."

"Hermione, you and I can stand on either end of the corridor and divert traffic," I suggested, thinking fast, "tell them that somebody's let off a load of Garroting Gas."

A few surprised looks were shot my way, and I shrugged. "George was planning on doing it before he left, but he ran out of time. He keeps asking me to do it for him."

"Alright," Hermione said, "Harry, that leaves you under the Invisibility Cloak to sneak into the office and talk to Sirius."

"We can't bank on having more than five minutes," Sam said. "You need to be in and out as soon as possible, Harry."

"Five minutes will be enough," Harry said, "Let's go."

"Go get the cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"

With a nod, Harry sprinted out of the broom cupboard, and the rest of us followed.

We made our way up to the fifth floor in silence. "He's got to be at Grimmauld Place," I eventually said quietly to Sam. "He's got to be."

"Course he will be," Sam said confidently, but despite his tone of voice, he couldn't hide the worry in his eyes.

"I don't like the idea of Harry going into Umbridge's office alone," Hermione said worriedly. "We already know the window is a weak point because of the Sniffler's Lee keeps throwing through it. He'll be vulnerable in there; I think one of us should go in and be his lookout."

"Sounds like we need more people on board," I said, just as I spotted a familiar tuft of red hair.

Reaching out and snagging her arm as she made to pass me, I yanked Ginny back around to walk with me, back the way she'd been coming. It took me a second to notice that we had a stray- Ginny had grabbed Luna Lovegood and pulled her along with us. Well, I guess two is better than one.

"Oh, hello, Luna. You too, Ginny. Fancy an adventure on this sunny Tuesday afternoon?" I suggested, and Ginny narrowed her eyes at me.

"You sound like George," Ginny said suspiciously. "Should I be worried?"

The two were caught up on the situation by the time we arrived on the fifth floor (mostly- Luna didn't really know anything about the situation with Sirius, but she went with it regardless) and so we had two more people added to our team. We entered the corridor of Umbridge's office at the exact time that Harry did, out of breath and red in the face, his cloak clutched in his hands.

"Okay- Sam, Ron; you go head off Umbridge. Ginny, Luna, Bree; start clearing people out of the corridor. And Harry- get under the cloak, and get ready to go once the coast is clear," Hermione said nervously.

With a nod, we went our separate ways. The three of us made our way to the end of the corridor, urging people to move along as we did so. Once the corridor was clear, we worked on keeping it that way.

"No, I'm sorry, you can't come down this way, you'll have to take the long route," I said loudly to Zacharias Smith and a bunch of his Hufflepuff friends. "Someone's let off some garroting gas down this way."

"I can't see any gas," Zacharias said in an annoyed tone, peering over my shoulder as his friends muttered their annoyance.

"That's because it's colorless," Ginny said, sounding exasperated. "But if you want to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who doesn't believe us."

Still muttering, Zacharias and his friends headed off.

"Good acting, little red," I said, impressed. "I knew it was smart to bring you along."

Slowly, the stem of traffic slowed- the news of the gas must be spreading. Nervously, I glanced back over my shoulder at the empty corridor behind me. Had Harry made it to the fire yet? Had he spoken to Sirius?

I didn't make any more jokes. The air around us was tense as we waited, heading off the odd stray student.

But then someone turned the corner ahead of us, and I lost all the air in my lungs.

"Professor Umbridge!" I cried breathlessly, as she strode towards us. "Professor, I wouldn't go down that way if I were you, it's…"

But my words died in my throat as a group of Inquisitorial Squad members turned the corner behind her- Goyle and another large Slytherin boy dragging Sam and Ron behind them.

Without thinking, I made to lunge towards my brother, but Blaise Zabini caught me around my waist before I could. There were cries from behind me, and I knew without looking that Ginny and Luna had both been apprehended, too. Blaise spun me around to face Umbridge, as she stepped closer to me, absolutely furious.

"What?!" she prompted in a low hiss. "What is it, Miss Montero? Were you going to tell me that this corridor has been infected with garroting gas? Or perhaps you were going to do the smart thing, and drop the ploy and tell me that Harry Potter is currently in my office?"

I was too shocked to even reply, but she didn't give me a chance. "Bring them!" she snarled, turning and heading towards her office, Draco not looking at me as he followed close behind her.

"No- let me go!" I shouted, trying to yank myself out of Blaise's arms, but he held tight. "Don't!"

"Hey! Let them go!"

Spinning, I saw Neville come barraging down the corridor towards us. He reached Ginny and tried to push Warrington off of her, only for Crabbe to grab him.

"Leave him alone!" I cried, desperately trying to yank myself away from Blaise. "He doesn't have anything to do with this!"

They all ignored me, and Crabbe tightened his hold around Neville as we were all pushed towards Umbridge's office.

And just like that, we'd gotten Neville dragged into this mess too.

By the time we reached the room, Draco was holding tight to Hermione as Umbridge gripped Harry's hair roughly, keeping him in the kneeling position he'd been in when he'd been using her fireplace.

"We got them all," Warrington said with a sick grin, before nodding towards Neville. "That one tried to stop us taking the girls, so we grabbed him, too."

"Good, good," Umbridge said, watching Ginny struggling to kick her holder's shins. "Well, it looks like Hogwarts will soon be a Weasley and Montero free zone, doesn't it?"

Furiously, I tried to pull myself away from Blaise once again, but he continued to hold tight. Umbridge ignored me as she settled herself down into her wide armchair, blinking up at her captives.

"So, Potter," she said. "You stationed look outs around my office and you sent these two buffoons-" she nodded towards Ron and Sam- "to tell me that the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I know perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes- Mr Filch having just informed me so. Clearly it was very important for you to talk to somebody. 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.

A few of the Inquisitorial Squad members laughed at this, and it took me a moment to realize that I was physically shaking in my fury.

"It's none of your business who I talk to," Harry all but snarled, and Umbridge's face tightened.

"Very well," she said, in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. "Very well, Mr Potter… I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused I have no alternative but to force you. Draco- fetch Professor Snape."

Draco turned and strode out of the room, and silence fell. The only sounds in the room were the fidgeting's and scuffling's of the Slytherin's attempts to keep us all under control. I hardly noticed at this point- all I could think about now, in the silence, was what had happened in this room before Umbridge had arrived. Had Harry managed to contact Grimmauld Place? Had he spoken to Sirius? Or… had he failed? As the minutes passed, I kept my gaze steadily on Harry, trying to catch his eye, until finally he noticed. I tried to convey my message with my eyes- were you successful? Did you talk to him? Was he there?- and he seemed to understand.

Slowly, almost imperceptivity, he shook his head- no.

My legs nearly gave out from underneath me. Sirius wasn't there, which meant that this had all been a waste- Harry's dream had been true. He was in the Department of Mysteries, being tortured this very moment, and we were trapped here, with no way to escape and find him.

It was only seconds later that the door opened again, Draco entering before Snape.

"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?"

"Professor Snape," Umbridge greeted. "I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can please."

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

Umbridge flushed. "You can make some more, can't you?"

"Certainly," Snape replied. "It takes a full moon cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in about a month."

"A month?! I need it now!"

After this point, I vaguely realized that Umbridge was shouting at Snape, but I couldn't hear the words. I could only focus on one thing- it suddenly hit me, seeing Snape, that we'd missed something huge. I realized that even though McGonagall and Hagrid were gone, there was a member of the Order of the Phoenix who was still at Hogwarts- we had completely forgotten about Snape!

My eyes shot to Harry, trying to tell him, but from one glance I knew he'd already realized. He was staring at Snape, looking desperate. And then, just as Snape turned to leave, he spoke up.

"He's got Padfoot!" he yelled. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden."

My eyes shot to Snape, desperately hoping he'd understand- he had to, he knew who Padfoot was!

"Padfoot? What does he mean, Snape?!" Umbridge cried, and slowly, Snape turned around to look, unimpressed, at Harry.

"No idea," he said coldly. "Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me, I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe- loosen your hold a little. If Longbottom suffocates, it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job."

He closed the door behind him with a snap, and I felt my heart sink. Snape… he had been our last hope.

"Very well," Umbridge spoke lowly this time, and I turned my head to see her taking her wand out of her robes, her eyes on Harry. "I am left with no alternative… this is more than a matter of school discipline… this is an issue of Ministry security…"

I swallowed thickly, watching her warily. She seemed to be talking herself into something, nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot and beating her wand against her palm, her eyes never leaving Harry.

"You are forcing me, Potter… I don't want to!" she said, continuing to move restlessly, "But sometimes circumstances justify the use… I am sure that the Minister will understand that I had no choice. Yes… the Cruciatus Curse should loosen your tongue."

"No!" Hermione shrieked, but I barely heard her. The next few seconds were a blur- without thinking, I yanked myself out of Blaise's grip- which had slackened due to his rapt attention on the scene unfolding before us- and threw myself forwards, forcefully shoving Harry behind my back and facing Umbridge head on.

"Don't touch him," I snarled, my voice rough and not sounding at all like myself. "Don't you dare."

There was a heavy silence in the room as Umbridge stared down at me, almost considering, until Hermione spoke up. "Professor Umbridge, it's illegal. The Minister wouldn't want for you to break the law!"

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," she breathed out, as Blaise stepped towards me. I shoved him so hard away from me that he hit the desk, still clutching Harry behind me. This led to Draco stepping forwards, and the two of them successfully managed to wrestle me away, ignoring my yells.

"Don't! She'll hurt you if she has to! Don't let yourself get hurt for Potter!" Draco hissed in my ear, but I hardly heard him as I watched Umbridge step towards Harry.

"Cruc-"

"NO!" Hermione shouted. "No, Harry, we have to tell her!"

Umbridge spun around to Hermione, as Harry yelled "No!"

"She's just going to force it out of you, anyway!"

And Hermione began to cry weakly, shoving her face in her hands.

"Well, well, well," Umbridge said delightedly. "Looks like Miss Question-all is about to give us some answers! Come on then, girl! Come on!"

Hermione's captor let her go, and Hermione shuffled forwards, not raising her head as she continued to cry.

"Hermione, no!" Ron shouted, but she just wailed louder.

"I'm sorry, everyone! I'm sorry, but I can't stand it!" Hermione wailed. "He was- he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore!"

I froze, along with everybody else. Dumbledore? The fuck is she doing?

"Dumbledore?" Umbridge asked eagerly. "You know where Dumbledore is, then?"

"No," Hermione sobbed. "We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head-"

"Oh, you idiot girl," Umbridge snarled, "Dumbledore won't be sitting in some pub when all the Ministry is after him!"

"But- but we needed to tell him something important! We needed to tell him that- it's ready!"

Trying to look like I knew what Hermione was talking about, I tried to school my face into a disappointed frown. A glance around told me that Ron and Sam, who were both gaping at Hermione in surprise, weren't yet recovered enough from the shock to do the same. But everyone's attention was completely rapt on Hermione, so Umbridge didn't notice this suspicious sign.

"What's ready?" Umbridge demanded, grabbing Hermione's shoulders and bodily shaking her. "What's ready, girl?!"

"The weapon," Hermione sobbed.

"Weapon?" Umbridge repeated, her eyes bulging. "You have been developing some method of resistence? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders?"

"Yes- but he had to leave before it was finished- and now we've finished it for him, and we can't find him to tell him!"

Umbridge straightened up, looking completely exultant, and I continued to try and look like this wasn't brand new information.

"Lead me to the weapon," she demanded, before yanking Hermione to her feet. "Come- show me. And you, too, Mr Potter… you can come too…"

"Professor," Blaise said eagerly from behind me. "Professor, shouldn't some of the Inquisitorial Squad come, too? To help look after-"

"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Zabini- I can manage two wandless teenagers alone," Umbridge replied. "You will all remain here until I return, and make sure none of these ones escape! Now- Potter! Granger! Go!"

Umbridge shoved them out the door, and I could do nothing but watch them go, the door shutting behind them with a resounding snap!

What the hell was Hermione thinking? Did she have a plan, or was she just making it up as she went along? Did she take into consideration Umbridge's short temper and the fact that the two of them were wandless against her?!

Swallowing thickly, I tried to convince myself that she knew what she was doing. Either way, whatever happened out there was out of my hands now. As I looked around at the Inquisitorial Squad members clutching my friends, and the two boys still holding me, I knew that my current focus had to be my own predicament.

Sam's gaze caught mine, before darting down to something slightly on my left. Glancing down, all I saw was Blaise's hand on my arm… and then slightly down, his wand sticking out of his pocket.

My eyes shot back up to Sam's, and he winked at me. "Well," he drawled out, and every eye shot to him. "If we're going to be here for a while- and honestly, it does look that way- do you mind if I have a snack? I'm feeling a bit peckish, and I've got some sweets in my pocket I wouldn't mind chewing on."

Crabbe and Goyle visibly perked up at the mention of sweets, before Goyle reached down into the pocket of Sam's robes and pulled out a packet of what I recognized in an instant as puking pastilles.

"Bugger off!" Warrington said with a nasty grin. "If anyone deserves a reward, it's not a bunch of criminals!"

Sam rolled his eyes and muttered "I think 'criminals' is being a bit overdramatic, Warrington, honestly."

Warrington didn't seem to care. He and Goyle both reached into the bag, shoving the sweet into their mouths and chewing with wide grins. Just as Crabbe was reaching into the bag himself, the two boys reared back and projectile vomited across the room. Ginny screamed, Ron swore, and in the commotion, I pushed off Blaise's slackened grip, snatched his wand out of his pocket and shouted "STUPEFY!"

Blaise flew back from me, hitting the wall with a loud THUD!

Before I could turn, a hand grabbed my hair and yanked me back, causing me to topple and hit Umbridge's desk. Looking up to see Millicent Bulstrode, I raised my wand but wasn't fast enough.

"Impedimenta!"

Millicent collapsed where she stood, and I turned to see Ron grinning at me. Jumping back up to join the fray, I stunned Crabbe as he made a swipe at Ginny, sending him flying back into Umbridge's precious cat plates and causing them all to topple off the wall and smash onto the floor. As the others fought off the remaining members of the Inquisitorial Squad, Crabbe shot his own stunning spell back at me, but I deflected it and yelled "Impedimenta!" Again, it hit him head on, and whilst he was down I cursed him again, causing him to drop to the floor and stay there.

At that second a Bat Bogey Curse flew past me from Ginny, and I spun to see Draco go down. I couldn't help but wince as the things covered his face- Bat Bogey's were Ginny's specialty.

But I didn't have time to worry about Draco right now, as awful as that made me feel- there were far more pressing matters at hand. As I surveyed the damage to Umbridge's office and the knocked out Slytherin's, we all caught our breath. We were all looking a little bit worse for wear at this point- there were several long scratches down Ginny's cheek, a large purple lump swelling on Neville's forehead, a black eye forming on Sam's face, and blood was slowly seeping down Ron's face from his bright orange hair. I myself could taste copper in my mouth, and winced once I felt my split lip. Must've happened when I hit the desk, but the adrenaline was too high for me to notice until now.

But it didn't matter. We had to press on.

"We've got to find Harry and Hermione," Ron said. "But they could've taken Umbridge anywhere!"

"They're in the Forbidden Forest."

We all turned in surprise to see Luna smiling serenely at us.

"How do you know that, Luna?" Ginny asked, and Luna pointed out the window.

"I can see them- look."

I darted over to the window, the others hot on my tail, and indeed there was Harry, Hermione and Umbridge disappearing into the Forbidden Forest just by Hagrid's Hut.

"What the hell are they going in there for?! It's dangerous in there!" Ron cried.

I silently agreed, but we had no choice but to follow them- and quickly. Every moment we delayed was another moment that Sirius was trapped in the Ministry with You-Know-Who.

Swiping Harry and Hermione's wands off of the ground where Draco had dropped them, the lot of us sprinted away from the destruction of Umbridge's office and towards the Forbidden Forest.

Merry Christmas! Happy new year! My gift- two chapters at once! Eeeeeeeeeee, exciting! It's very rare that I do two at one time, but I finished this chapter before the last one and decided, why not just give y'all both?

Hope you're all having a very festive holiday season, and happy 2016! Finally reached the end of Order of the Phoenix, but still a few chapters to go yet. As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.