Chapter 53: Flight to the Ministry

Mahaad and the others raced down the hallway after Umbridge. They dodged other students who were heading to the Great Hall for dinner. Many gave them annoyed looks as they passed. As they got nearer to the Great Hall a certain white haired albino approached them. The Pharaoh skidded to a halt, Mahaad stopped once he realized Yami was not longer following him.

Ryou tilted his head. "Where are you going?"

"Umbridge," the Pharaoh spat.

Ryou's features became sharper as Bakura took over. "Are you going to stare into space Pharaoh, or are you coming?" Bakura asked.

Yami blinked and raised an eyebrow before setting off toward the entrance hall, Mahaad close behind. Bakura joined them, his eyes glittered in anticipation. Out of the corner of his eye, Mahaad saw Luna and Neville trade glances.

Mahaad could sense the other student's unease. "How do you know where Hermione was going?" Ginny piped up from the rear of the group.

"Intuition, girl," Bakura replied, baring his teeth. Ginny repressed a shudder and didn't ask for further details.

The group made their way across the grounds and headed toward the Forbidden Forest. As they entered the trees, a twig snapped and Mahaad glanced at the source a unicorn trotted away. He looked behind him again to make sure Hagrid wasn't following them. Smoke rose merrily from his chimney. "Ginny, Luna and Neville stay here, and keep out of sight," Yami ordered.

Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but Yami cut her off, as he was accustomed to being obeyed. "Stay here in case Umbridge comes back this way and keep out of sight of Hagrid."

With that he turned and followed after Mahaad and Bakura who were waiting for him further in the Forest. Bakura rolled his eyes and took off moving swiftly through the trees, hardly making any noise.

Ten minutes later they were rewarded for their efforts. Mahaad saw Bakura grin predatorily as he spotted Umbridge's pink robes through the trees. She was strutting along pointing her wand at Harry and Hermione's backs. Hermione was making more noise than Harry thought she should, because he leaned over to her and whispered something Mahaad couldn't catch.

They tailed Umbridge for a bit longer, Bakura was relaxed waiting to see things unfold. He would take care of the Pharaoh's mistake in good time.

Suddenly an arrow shot out of the trees and embedded itself in a tree above Hermione's head. Umbridge's eyes widened as the thunder of approaching hooves grew louder. Fifty centaurs surrounded them on all sides, their bows drawn. Mahaad and the others found themselves in this same circle of angry creatures.

One of the centaurs strode forward. "Who are you?" he demanded in a deep voice. Umbridge gave a little squeak of fear.

"I asked who you are, human," the centaur demanded again, raising his bow.

"I am Dolores Jane Umbridge, senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. "I warn you any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves—"

"What did you call us?" Bane demanded, his face reddening.

"The law states that creatures who possess near human intelligence and are responsible for their actions."

"Near human intelligence?" Bane repeated.

"I'll deal with her," Bakura walked confidently forward, unfazed by the arrows pointed at him.

Bane scoffed. "What can you do, human?" he asked. "You're a child."

Bakura smirked as he stopped in front of Umbridge and raised his hands, the Millennium Ring activated, glowing underneath his robes. Several of the centaurs backed away, remembering a similar scene months ago.

As the dense purple fog of the Shadow Realm engulfed them, cutting them out of view, Bane bellowed.

"Bakura!" Yami cried, but to no avail.

The Game had already begun.

The centaurs turned their attention to Mahaad and the others. Harry and Hermione joined them, looking shaken.

"What about these ones?" Ronan asked.

"We don't attack children," another centaur replied.

Mahaad moved protectively in front of Yami. "These ones have received our warning before and yet they are here again." There was angry muttering at this news.

"Please don't hurt us," Hermione pled, as she trembled.

"We've done nothing wrong," Yami said stepping to the side, so that they could see him.

"You came into our Forest unasked. We are not like the traitor Firenze. We do not do human dirty work. We are not beasts of burden to be ordered about by humans!"

"We were just hoping you could help us," Hermione cut in. Mahaad threw he a warning glance, but the damage was done. Some of the centaurs bellowed in rage.

"We do not help humans!" Bane roared. "We will not permit you to leave this place boasting of how we served you!"

The centaurs nocked their arrows and took aim.

They let their arrows fly.

"heka hety!" Magical Hats! Mahaad cried. Four black hats appeared covering them and shuffled around, hiding the students from the arrows.

The hat next to them exploded and there was a muffled cry.

"Spellbinding circle?" Yami asked.

"Yes. When I lift the spell, run out of the Forest," Mahaad instructed. Another hat exploded to their right. Mahaad dismissed the spell and Yami held a card aloft.

"Swords of Revealing Light!" Swords made of light appeared in the sky and struck the earth below. The centaurs fired but their arrows bounced off the barrier created by the swords. Yami, Mahaad, Harry and Hermione took off through the trees crashing into branches at a dead run as they sought to put as much distance between themselves and the enraged centaurs as possible.

As they neared the outer edge of the Forest where the trees started to thin, they were met by Luna, Neville, Ginny and Ron, who had started walking into the trees.

"How did you all escape?" Harry asked, looking at each of them in turn.

"We overpowered the Slytherins," Ron said. "Ginny did some fast spell work and we escaped."

"The question now, is how are we getting to London?" Harry asked. "Sirius is still alive, I can feel it."

Everyone traded glances. Luna grinned. "Well we're going to have to fly, right?" she asked serenely.

"You guys aren't coming," Ron protested.

"I am three years older than Harry was when he fought You-Know-Who the first time! We are all members of the DA, aren't we?" Ginny asked.

Harry and Ron shared a glance. If they could have picked anyone from the DA these three wouldn't have been in their top choice.

"Fine," Harry said irratibly. "But how are we going to get there? Ginny is the only one who's broom isn't locked up."

"Mine isn't locked up," Ron countered, his ears turning red.

"There are more ways of flying than just with brooms," Luna said matter-of-factly.

"We can ride on them," Luna said pointing to several thestrals who had assembled in the clearing near them.

Ron swallowed nervously. "You mean those mad horse things?" he asked.

"Yes!" Harry replied, walking up to one and stroking its mane.

"There are four of them and eight of us, divide into pairs and let's go!" Hermione said, counting quickly.

The students divide themselves into pairs, Mahaad assisted Yami before climbing on behind him. "These are quite magnificent creatures aren't they?" Yami asked as he stroked its mane.

Once everyone was on, their mounts took off and they soared into the air, taking a loop around the grounds before heading across the lake and into the sunset.

Author's Notes:

I updated this week! I bit going on next week, but I will be done with the semester on Friday and I should be able to write more then. Once again, thank you all for reading this!

Review Responses:

YumiStar: You just had to be patient… I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Fireking492: Thanks for understanding. I'm glad you like it!

Kittylove3120: Thanks for you review! I appreciate your feedback! Yeah, Mahaad is one of my all time favorite characters, so I had to include him. Yeah, I should add Kaiba at some point, I don't have much experience writing him…