Chapter 14: Flying Into the Fray
Cody woke late the next morning to find that he was alone. He frowned, glancing at the clock up on the wall, and felt a nasty jolt of alarm; he was late for exams! He was halfway to the door of the common room before remembering that it was only History of Magic that day, and the exam was not until after lunch. He took a big breath and went back to the chair he had slept in and looked down at his telescope, which he had left there the night before. Yawning, he picked it and his school bag up, and carried them into his dorm. He changed out of his rumpled robe and into some shorts and a sleeveless shirt.
He had missed breakfast, but that was all right, since he still had some sweets from Honeydukes in his bag. He pulled out a large bag of Jelly Slugs and brought it outside, to enjoy the weather. It was hot and humid, and felt very much like Florida at the moment, perhaps in late spring. He waded in the lake and simply enjoyed being free to do as he liked while everyone else had classes. He caught sight of a few other fifth and seventh-years enjoying the weather as well, and caught sight of Justin Finch-Fletchley swimming out in the middle of the lake. "Hey Justin! Say hi to the squid for me!" Cody called with a grin.
Justin laughed, and waved as if to say "Oh, go on with you", and kept swimming.
Cody giggled and went to climb a tree instead.
For lunch, Cody ran upstairs to get his school robe on, then came back down to sit with his House. "Ahhh," he said, teasing Graham a bit. "It was a nice morning. I waded in the lake, climbed some trees..." He laughed as Graham punched him in the arm.
"Shut it, brat," said Graham, trying to sound cross, but then he laughed. "I was gonna say that you're lucky, but you've got O.W.L.s to deal with. I think I'd rather have classes all day."
"Yeah, but you were right. They're not as bad as I thought they were gonna be. But did I tell you what happened during my Herbology exam?"
Graham shook his head, looking interested.
"Well you know Neville Longbottom, he's been helping me with it, because he's good with it. So I did okay at first. But then I had to prune this Fanged Geranium."
"Uh oh. We aren't even beginning to work with those until next year. Seedlings."
"I hate those things, and this one was a big one. Anyways." He told Graham about the fiasco with the plant, and that he had to go to Madame Pomfrey and get mopped up. "Man, that hurt! I'm just glad they're not poisonous!"
Graham looked amused, but he was also wincing at the idea of having a Fanged Geranium sink its fangs into his skin. "You don't think that'll be enough to fail you, do you?"
"I hope not. If I don't fail, though, all I'll get is Acceptable." He shrugged. "I did really good with Astronomy though, I think. Maybe I'll even get an Outstanding. But Exceeds Expectations would be good too. I might get an E or an A for Ancient Runes. That teacher's nice though, he lets you take his N.E.W.T. class even with just an Acceptable in O.W.L.s."
"Yeah, I heard Snape makes you get an O before he lets you continue."
Gloomily, Cody nodded; he knew he had not gotten an O in his Potions exam. And as much as he disliked Snape, he did like the class itself. "Oh well. Maybe they'll let me take a different class if I have to drop some classes. At least I can do something interesting."
"I think they do," said Graham. "But not a lot of students do it. They like having the free time. You'd be with first-years, though."
"That's okay. Next year I'll be the same age as the first-years, anyway, so I won't feel too weird."
"Oh yeah, you turned eleven this spring, huh?"
Cody grinned. "Yep! And you're gonna be a teenager. Scary."
Graham grinned proudly. "Scary, that's me!"
---
After lunch was the final exam of the year, and Cody could not wait for it to be over, because it was History of Magic. When the House tables were swept to the side, Cody sighed and got into a desk. He sat next to Neville again, who was sure that he was going to fail the exam. Cody sympathized a great deal!
The exam was as boring as Binns' classes, and Cody had a very difficult time sitting still. He fidgeted and switched positions so often that one of the examiners came over and asked politely if he could try and sit still a bit more. Cody promised that he would try.
He was only halfway through the exam when a ten minute warning was called, and Cody sighed. He was going to fail this one miserably, he just knew it.
He was agonizing over a question about which goblins had organized the biggest of the goblin riots, and in what year, when a yell nearly made him jump out of his seat. Harry Potter was on the floor next to his desk, yelling in what seemed like pain. As Professor Tofty hurried over looking concerned, and everyone began asking what was going on, Harry sat bolt upright looking scared. Cody frowned, standing on his chair to better see what was going on.
Tofty helped Harry to his feet, and out of the room, as most of the students watched with some concern. Some, like Malfoy, were snickering, and some were trying to finish up their exams. Frowning, Cody did sit down and try to at least finish a couple of questions, hoping to avoid a really horrible fail grade.
When the exam was over, and the desks vanished, Cody turned his paper in to the examiners. He looked around for Harry, but he had not returned, and Cody was getting concerned. For that matter, he couldn't find Hermione or Ron, either. "Neville, do you know where Harry went?"
"I think he was being taken up to Madame Pomfrey," said Neville.
"Maybe he was taken to the madmen's ward of St. Mungo's," came Malfoy's derisive voice from somewhere nearby. Cody turned to glare. "I mean, you can't be all that sane if you start screaming during the middle of exams."
"Oh shut up," said Cody irritably, heading for the doors. Supper could wait, he wanted to make sure Harry was all right.
But Madame Pomfrey told him that Harry was not there. "He came up for a moment, looking for Minerva - Professor McGonagall. But she was indeed taken to St. Mungo's this morning."
"Oh no! Is she gonna be okay?"
"Well, they say she's got a good chance. But she did take some rather severe damage."
Cody scowled and punched a nearby bed. "I hope Umbridge falls off a cliff!" And it was a mark of how hated Umbridge was by the fact that not only did Madame Pomfrey not even pretend to care that such a thing was said about a teacher, but she nodded in agreement. "I gotta find Harry," said Cody, running for the door. "I got a bad feeling about this."
"Good luck!" called Madame Pomfrey.
"Thanks!"
But luck was not forthcoming, and after a while, he tried to find Neville to see if he had had any luck. But he couldn't find Neville, either. He did run into Graham, who seemed to be heading down toward the dungeons. "Graham! I can't find anyone, Harry was hurt or something I think during exams, and now I can't find him. Or Ron, or Hermione. I can't find Neville, either. I'm gonna go outside and see if I can find them. Maybe they went to Hagrid's hut or something."
Graham looked regretful. "I wish I could go with you, but I've got detention."
"Not with Umbridge?" Cody said worriedly.
Graham shook his head. "No, no, it's with Snape. He caught me throwing a spit wad at Malcolm Baddock in Potions today."
"Well, see you later then, okay?"
The boy nodded. "Okay. Be careful."
Cody watched him for a moment, and then ran outside.
The grounds were empty, since most students were heading for supper, and Cody scanned the grounds with sheer frustration. He ran to Hagrid's cabin and knocked on the door. He knew Hagrid would not be there, but he opened it anyway and looked around. There was nothing but a cold fireplace, a few chairs, a table, and Hagrid's assorted cages and things he used when tending to his creatures. As he left the hut, closing the door tightly behind him, he wondered vaguely who was feeding the thestrals. Grubbly-Plank, he supposed.
For a moment, he sat on the fence surrounding the paddock, trying to think of where they might have gone. He supposed they could be in the common room, but then why would they be in their common room at dinner time? He supposed he could go up and ask the Fat Lady if she had seen them.
As he was about to hop down to do just that, three figures caught his eyes, and he squinted to see who they were. They were heading into the forest, and as Cody looked, he realized that they were Harry, Hermione, and Umbridge! His eyes widened, as he saw a wand in Umbridge's hand. That was not good.
Jumping down from the fence, he took off as fast as he could go towards the trio.
They had disappeared well into the woods by the time Cody got there, and he had to stop and catch his breath. He took his wand from his belt loop, in case he ran into anything he didn't care to meet, and plunged on in. He did not call for them at first, not wanting Umbridge to notice him, but he kept his mind alert for any kind of movement.
At first there was none, which was very frustrating. But then, far into the forest, he heard a sudden spate of raised voices and yelling; though he recognized Umbridge's among them, there were at least a dozen male voices yelling and laughing. Their voices sounded very strange. Cody headed in that direction, but far more cautiously, because he didn't know what was going on. He thought he might have heard Hermione.
And then a voice that sounded like it belonged to something huge; it was loud enough for Cody to understand what it was saying. "HAGGER!" He didn't know what it meant, but that's what it said. Biting his lip, Cody walked slowly toward it. "GRAWP WANT HAGGER!" it said. There was more shouting, and then nothing.
For a moment, Cody stood still, trying to listen, but when he heard nothing, he went on. He was worried now. What if whatever it was had hurt Hermione and Harry? Umbridge he didn't much care about.
He risked a call. "Harry! Hermione?" But no one answered. "Guys?" But again, there was nothing. Frowning, Cody pushed aside a thick sheaf of some kind of hanging foliage (hoping it wasn't something that would try to bite or strangle him), and stepped through it to look around. He was quite alarmed to find himself suddenly facing the business end of a very sharp looking arrow. He gasped and stopped short, noticing after a moment that there were two of them. He looked up, his eyes wide, and saw that the bows were held by two centaurs.
The first one lowered his bow. "He is only a foal, Hertesia," he said. "He is not to be harmed."
The other one, whom Cody realized was female, lowered her bow as well, nodding. Cody noticed that her chest was bare, as centaurs did not wear clothing, and his face turned very red. He looked hastily back at the male.
"What are you doing in the forest?" asked one of the centaurs. He and the woman both seemed very tense and worried, and Cody noticed that the male had a bloody nose and was favoring a hind leg.
"I-I'm looking for my friends - Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. I saw them coming in, and Umbridge was with them, an' she had her wand on them and..." He finished with a sort of helpless gesture of frustration. "An' I heard all this yelling and now I can't find them."
"Leave the human to find his friends on his own," said the woman. "We must get back to the herd."
The male turned sharply to her. "He may be human, but he is only a colt, I will not leave him to possible harm." He turned back to Cody. "Your friends went that way, back towards the school somewhat," he said, pointing. "But I advise you to leave the woods, young human. A giant roams here, and has caused injuries to our herd. Good luck to you."
"Thanks," Cody whispered, as the two centaurs galloped further into the trees.
Taking a big breath, Cody began to run in the direction the centaur had pointed, his wand again out in front of him. He was still getting over the unpleasant surprise of finding an arrow in his face. That was not something one wanted to see in the middle of a dark forest. Or a light one, for that matter.
About ten minutes later, Cody heard voices, and he recognized one of them as Ron's! His eyes widening in relief, Cody broke into a run. "Ron! Guys!" There were six of them there, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Neville, Ginny, and Luna Lovegood. He wasn't sure how they had gotten there, but was Cody glad to see them!
"Cody!" said Neville in surprise. "Where did you come from?"
"I was in the woods, looking for you guys, I thought that Umbridge was gonna do something horrible to Hermione an' Harry so I looked for you. And then I met two centaurs an' one said there was a giant in the forest, and that you guys had gone this way." He took a big breath and let it out. "Man, am I glad to see you alive! What...what's going on?"
"Voldemort's got Sirius," said Harry tersely. "We're going to the Ministry of Magic to rescue him. You'd best stay here."
Cody gasped. "He's got Sirius! No way am I staying here!"
"You're eleven years old, I don't need your death on my conscience, too."
Cody would have felt highly insulted, had Harry not suddenly put his foot up, and seemingly climbed onto thin air. Distracted, he blinked as he saw Harry mounted on something he couldn't see. Luna also climbed aboard thin air, leaving Cody looking quite confused.
"What?" Harry said, looking down at the remaining students, who were looking much like Cody looked.
Ron asked how they were supposed to get on (on what?), and Luna slid down from her thin air and helped the others mount thin air as well. "There aren't any more for you to ride, Cody," she said vaguely, heading back to her thin air. "You'll have to ride with someone."
"He's not going," said Harry, looking irritable, and Cody scowled at him.
Ron looked a bit ill. "This is mad. Mad...if I could just see it..."
"You'd better hope it stays invisible," said Harry. "We all ready then?"
"Come on," said Neville quietly. "I'll explain on the way. You can ride with me."
Highly confused, Cody watched Neville climb onto thin air as well, and stepped forward. He reached out tentatively and was quite startled to touch what felt like warm, leathery skin. "Um..."
"Thestrals," said Neville, and Cody finally understood. Neville held a hand down to Cody, who took it, and with Neville's help managed to climb aboard the invisible beast.
"This is mad," Cody said, looking down at something he could feel but not see. Talk about creepy.
He caught Harry giving him a look of either anger or frustration, then throw up his hands as if to say, "Fine, do what you want". And then he looked down at his thin air. "Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then. Er, if you know...where to go."
As Cody watched, Harry suddenly rose erratically into the air, and took off, and Cody felt the thestral beneath him do the same thing. He gasped, and held tightly onto the beast's mane as it rose, and Neville put his arms around Cody to grasp the mane also. "Just hang on tight, Cody."
"Yeah. Good idea."
The thestral took off, rising suddenly into the air, and Cody gasped at the rush of wind in his face. But he laughed after a moment, realizing that although the ride was kind of scary, it was also very fun. "Wow, these things're cool!"
"It is, kind of," said Neville, smiling a bit.
"So...so what's happening?"
"Well Harry, he had another vision, that You-Know-Who had Sirius Black in the Ministry of Magic building. He ended up in Umbridge's office to use her fire to try and talk to Sirius, but the house-elf said he wasn't there. Umbridge caught us all and those miserable Slytherins in her Inquisitorial Squad were helping her. But that's okay, a few Stunners, and Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex nailed them."
Cody laughed. "I'm sorry I missed it, I was busy failing my History of Magic exam."
"Don't worry, I failed it, too, I just failed it a little faster than you did.
They both laughed and Cody glanced down below him. "Man I wish I had my broom. This thing's hard to ri - whoa!" The thestral banked, almost making Cody lose his balance. Neville grabbed him.
"Okay?"
"Yeah. Just startled me. Broomsticks are definitely better. Hey if we ride these, can people see us?"
"I think so."
"I'm glad it's getting dark, then." It was, too. Dark, and way up there in the air it was also getting chilly. Cody grumbled and pulled his school robe about him a bit more tightly.
"So what's Harry's problem anyway?" Cody said quietly. "He's talking like he's responsible for all of us, like he has to baby sit us or something instead of us working as a team. I mean yeah, I'm eleven, but I'm a fifth-year just like him. In fact I'm pretty sure that I am gonna get a better grade in Astronomy than him." Cody scowled, again feeling the indignation of being told he was too little. "He's not the only one that can face danger. I mean, I went down with him and Ron in the Chamber of Secrets, and I was only seven, then! Er eight, I mean, I was eight."
"I know," Neville said quietly. "He's just...he doesn't mean to be so condescending."
"Yeah, but he's not stupid. He knows what it sounds like. He doesn't like being told by adults that he's too young or small to do things, what would he think if another fifth-year told him it?"
"I know," said Neville patiently. "And we told him that, sort of. I think he agreed just so he didn't have to waste any more time. He'll understand. He just cares about people a lot. And blames himself for things a lot, too. The Muggles he lives with always told him everything was his fault, I mean I'm sure it takes time to get past that kind of thing."
Cody made a sort of angry hiss. "Those jerks. I guess you're right. Still, it makes me feel lousy."
Neville chuckled and roughed up Cody's hair; people seemed to like to make it stick up straight. Cody gave him a look, and he smiled. "You look better that way." Cody snorted. "Anyway, we can talk about it with him later. For now, let's just get there and stay alive."
Cody agreed. "Yeah, staying alive is a good idea."
They rode in silence for quite a while, before the thestral beneath them suddenly dove, and Cody let out a cry of surprise. Behind them, he heard Hermione shriek as well, and assumed theirs had also dived. He laughed, though, once he got used to what it felt like.
They were landing outside what looked like a broken-down phone booth, and he heard Hermione mutter that she hated heights. Ron was less than pleased as well, and vowed he would never ride a thestral again.
"That was fun!" Cody said quietly, getting a glare from both Hermione and Ron. Cody covered his mouth to hide a grin.
Luna asked where they were to go, and Harry led them to the phone booth once everyone had dismounted. They all squashed in, and someone was standing on Cody's leg. He himself was sort of forced down into a sitting position. "Whoever's on my leg needs to lose weight," Cody grumbled.
"Sorry," came Ron's voice.
"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" came Harry's voice, and Cody heard phone tones from above him.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." A cool female voice had spoken from the phone.
Speaking quickly, Harry told her, "Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Cody DeDannan. We're here to save someone unless your ministry can do it first!"
"Thank you," said the phone. "Visitors please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes." It went on to tell them that they had to register their wands with security, and Harry said fine, and to get a move on.
Suddenly, the box shook, and began to descend like it was an elevator.
Once they had descended, they all toppled out of the box and onto a gleaming floor. Cody looked around in awe; it was a huge area, that Cody could imagine full of bustling witches and wizards. But for now, it was completely deserted. A huge statue sat in the middle, of a witch and a wizard with wands, surrounded by a centaur, a goblin, and a house elf all looking up at the humans like they were to be worshipped. Remembering the centaurs Cody had met earlier than evening, Cody did not think this statue was very accurate.
"Come on," said Harry quietly, and they ran off down the hall. Shortest among them, Cody lagged behind. They had all gotten into what looked like one of those cage elevators, and Cody ran in to join them. The lift sank quickly, and at the bottom, the same voice from the phone booth announced, "Department of Mysteries."
"Let's go," said Harry quietly, and everyone followed. But when they came close to a door through which Harry seemed to want to go, he stopped. "Okay listen. Maybe...maybe a couple of people should stay here as a - as a lookout, and..." He glanced at Cody, who scowled.
"And how are we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny. "You could be miles away."
"Besides," said Cody. "You really think that big jerk's gonna be alone?" He noticed a few people wincing, and shook his head. "If he's here, he can't hear me. Anwyays, he's gonna have all his Death Eaters with him. One against twenty's not great odds."
"We're coming with you, Harry," said Neville, with no hesitation in his voice. "We're your friends. You're supposed to look out for your friends, but you're also supposed to let them watch over you."
"Let's get on with it," said Ron.
Harry sighed, and then nodded. "All right," he said quietly. "Let's go. Wands out, and be careful."
