Chapter 40: The War Begins
May 11th, 1996
Ginny swerved past one of the Hufflepuff chasers, trying to get open. Astoria had the quaffle, and while she usually played very well, she was having a rough time today. All the Slytherin players were having a rough time today. They'd been playing for nearly an hour and a half, and the score was 50 to 20 Slytherin. The Hufflepuff defense was just stifling this year. They'd been beaten by Ravenclaw, but only because Cho managed to get the snitch.
Finally, Astoria managed to pass to Tracey. That was good. Every one of their scores today had come off of an assist by Tracey. She absolutely knew how to ready the defense and knew where to put the Quaffle.
Ginny saw Tracey's eyes move across the goal subtly. It was a small signal they had worked out together. Ginny understood exactly what this was about. She leaned forward and shot across the entire Hufflepuff front. And for one moment, two of the defenders shifted to cover her. A fatal mistake.
Tracey lunged forward, barely skimming by one of the Hufflepuff beaters and driving straight towards their Keeper. With a very subtle shift, Tracey faked her out and threw the quaffle two whole seconds later than she had telegraphed. The quaffle went through the ring on the left.
Ginny turned to head towards the other end, but suddenly the voice of Lee Jordan rang out. "And Cedric has caught the snitch! Hufflepuff wins!"
Ginny flew over to Harry, alongside Tracey.
"What happened?" asked Tracey.
"Cedric was playing like a maniac today," said Harry, "He said he was determined to beat me at least once. I nearly crashed ten times just trying to keep up! I had to stop responding to his every move, and that's when he actually saw the snitch."
"That's the sort of spirit we need!" insisted Tracey a bit angrily.
"Oh please," said Harry, "he could have just as easily broken his spine, flying like that."
Ginny headed back to the locker room. Slytherin still had a pretty good lead, Gryffindor would have to really run up the score against Ravenclaw to keep up. They had also only barely edged the Hufflepuffs. Slytherin would probably win the cup this year, but it wasn't as clean as Tracey would have liked.
Speaking of clean, thought Ginny. She took a quick shower and changed back into some casual clothes. As she left the locker room, she saw Nott.
"Have you thought about what I said anymore?" he asked.
Ginny nodded. "I have. I don't want to do anything to help the Dark Lord, but I don't want to cross the Ministry. Which Harry looks like he's going to do."
"What?" asked Nott.
"Apparently, on the night of the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw match, Harry and his group are going to abduct Professor Umbridge," said Ginny, "I don't know what they plan to do to her, but they intend for her to not return to Hogwarts."
"They'd be that bold?" asked Nott.
"Boldness is definitely one of Harry's best traits," said Ginny, "I'm surprised you're not angrier with me, what with me dating Justin and all."
Nott shrugged. "I know he has a life debt with you. I'm not gonna be jealous because you're dating him now. You're only a fourth-year after all. Plenty of time for you to change your mind, or for him to repay the debt."
Ginny's anger flared. Did he really think she was just with Justin to help him repay his life debt? She barely managed to keep that out of her eyes.
"Ginny," said the voice of Justin from a few feet away, "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," said Ginny.
Justin walked up to Nott, and looked him right in the eye, "Is he bothering you?"
"Nah," said Ginny, "Let's get out of here."
Justin nodded and they made their way back towards the school. Once they were out of earshot, Justin put his arm around her waist and leaned in to speak quietly.
"How did it go?" he asked.
Ginny smiled. "He bought it," she said.
XXXXX
May 13th, 1996
The next meeting was the big one. The Triumvirs were finally going to reveal their plan to the whole Army. They'd been training and preparing everyone, but this would be the first time they revealed the whole plan. It was bound to be contentious, but Ginny was sure everyone would eventually get on board. And to help things she had brought in Blaise and Seamus again. She was pretty sure they'd want to help, and she was pretty sure she knew which way they'd go on the issue of killing Death Eaters.
"So what have you decided?" asked Cedric.
"We're going to lure Umbridge into another trap," said Harry.
"But there's more," added Hermione, "We will also simultaneously strike back at the Death Eaters. We are going to set another trap for them."
"What do you mean?" asked Ron.
"Umbridge and the Inquisitorial squad will be led into a classroom, where we will disable all of them using a series of linked runes," said Harry, "We will then modify Umbridge's memory and leave her in a compromising position, while at the same time implicating the entire Inquisitorial Squad in certain activities."
"They're all going to be taken in for having a drunken party," said Ginny, a bit smugly.
"Oh, we're going to have to be on that," said Fred.
Harry nodded. Indeed, it had always been his plan to put Fred and George on this duty. They weren't going to like what the other team was doing one bit. "We'll need someone who can manipulate runic clusters as well as use obliviation," he stated expectantly.
"I can do both," said Luna.
That was a relief. It meant that Luna wouldn't have to get involved in the other task. She was just not temperamentally suited to what they intended to do at all. Not that Harry was, but he felt he couldn't ask anyone else to do what he wasn't willing to.
"We already gave Nott false information that will lead the Inquisitorial Squad into our hands," said Hermione, "But tomorrow we will give Malfoy information that will lead him to believe that Harry will be retrieving a prophecy from the Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries."
"That's what Dad was guarding!" said Ron, suddenly understanding what they were doing.
Harry nodded. "The prophecy has already been removed, it won't be in any danger. But no one knows that yet. So when Draco hears I'm headed there, he will tell his father, his father will tell Voldemort, and Voldemort will send his men after us. Except we will be waiting there ready for them."
"And then we capture them!" said Angelina excitedly.
"We can't capture the Death Eaters," said Blaise, annoyed, "They'd just break out of Azkaban again."
"Just because you have no problem killing people…" started Ron.
"Stop," said Ginny harshly, "Blaise is right. By subverting the dementors, Voldemort has made it so that there is no place we could safely keep any Death Eater prisoners. Instead we'll send him a lesson. We have to kill them."
The reply was stunned silence.
"I…" started Daphne, who was the first to recover, "I didn't expect you to be so… calculating."
"You need to put this to a vote, Harry," said Ron, "We can't do this."
"We already voted on this," said Hermione firmly, "This is our plan."
"Was it unanimous?" demanded George.
"It doesn't matter," insisted Harry, "We voted, and we've all agreed to support the decisions of the majority. This is the plan we've chosen. I know it's difficult. If anyone feels unable to do this, no one will think less of you if you don't want to join in. But we'll need at least ten people to have any chance of it working."
"Lucky that I already volunteered for the other mission," said Luna, "I don't think I'd care to do that Harry."
"I don't care to do it, none of us do, but we can't go about asking others to do it if we won't," said Harry.
"I'm in," said Blaise.
"Me too," joined Seamus.
Tracey nodded at Daphne. "Both of us are in," said Daphne.
Hannah shook her head. "No way," she said. Neville nodded at her in agreement.
Justin, Ernie and Susan all looked at each other. "We're in," said Justin.
Ron sighed, "I hate this, but… I trust Harry, Hermione, and my sister. So I will help you."
In the end, only Astoria, Colin, Cho and Padma were added to the number of those who were going on the mission. Still, Harry thought that fifteen of them would be more than enough.
"Thank you, everyone that volunteered," he said sincerely, "I know this is difficult. I only say that it will strike a blow against the Death Eaters. Now, we have to prepare…"
XXXXX
May 17th, 1996
"Potter means to move against Umbridge the night of the last Quidditch match," said Nott Sr. at the meeting of Death Eaters.
Lucius smiled. For once, Nott Jr. was proving less reliable than Draco. "Draco has more detailed information on that."
"Ginny Weasley herself is the source," said Nott smugly.
"Then your son has been lied to," insisted Snape, "It is obvious that he has a crush on the girl."
"Are you insulting my son?" demanded Nott.
"How is that an insult, to say that he is interested in a pureblood witch?" asked Snape.
"Draco agrees with Severus. He says that the move against Umbridge is a ploy to draw her attention while Harry sneaks away from Hogwarts for the night," interrupted Lucius, "Draco had to stake out two dead drops and decrypt a message to get this information, but apparently Potter has taken a sudden interest in the Department of Mysteries."
"The prophecy?" demanded the Dark Lord suddenly.
"The message did not say, but I cannot fathom what else it might be," said Lucius.
"This is not information that Potter would have chosen to leak my Lord," argued Bellatrix, "We have him, and the prophecy!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Snape, "We need to be certain. Put together a team that will be absolutely ready to capture the boy and take the prophecy. No mistakes can be allowed."
"I will be willing to lead it personally," said Lucius.
"I will join him," said Bellatrix eagerly.
"No," said the Dark Lord, "Bellatrix, you already have a task."
"Hunting down the Granger girl's parents? Hardly a task worthy of me," said Bellatrix.
"Harry Potter cares about Granger more than any other person," said the Dark Lord, "Hurt her, hurt him. If we get Potter, I'll call you off. But until I have him in my power, we must act as if he is still free and opposing us. Continue your hunt."
"Severus?" asked Lucius.
"If there is to be a crisis at Hogwarts, I cannot be seen to be away," said Snape.
"Very well," said the Dark Lord, "If we are lucky, we will be able to begin our campaign very, very soon."
Lucius felt a chill go down his spine. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought someone was walking over his grave.
XXXXX
May 24th, 1996
"Where did you get these runes?" asked Luna as Hermione set up several runestones around the room.
"Rowena Ravenclaw came up with this set up," admitted Hermione, "I just adapted it for our current needs."
"I've never heard of this," said Luna.
"And you probably won't either," said Hermione, "Not from anyone but me. I got it directly from Ravenclaw's diadem."
"Wait," stopped Sue Li, "you found Ravenclaw's diadem?"
"Voldemort turned it into one of his Horcruxes," said Hermione, "It isn't a horcrux anymore, but I can't exactly tell the general public that I found it, now can I? Not until Voldemort is dealt with anyway."
"You know, I might be able to make use of this arrangement for my Runes O.W.L," said Sue.
"By all means," agreed Hermione.
XXXXX
June 1st, 1996
The final Quidditch match was coming up, and from there Harry and his yearmates would have to go straight into O.W.L.s. So plotting their big attack for that night had Harry worried. Harry wasn't worried about the tests, after all, he had the mind of Tom Riddle in his head. But he was worried that he was putting too much pressure on everyone else who did have to worry about the tests. Cedric had set his mind at ease on this.
"I might not approve of what you are doing, but everyone who is going with you volunteered," said Cedric, "They can handle their own O.W.L.s, it isn't your job to do that."
Harry's one disappointment with this plan was that he wasn't going to see Umbridge's face as she realized her entire plan had just fallen apart.
Still as Harry sat waiting for the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor match to begin, he did wonder one thing. He wondered if Colin was finally going to be able to fly against Cho Chang without getting distracted.
The answer was no. Despite the Gryffindor teams best efforts, Cho managed to go talk to Colin before the match. She whispered something in his ear, then suddenly kissed him full on the mouth.
"Oh, the Gryffindors are in trouble now," said Tracey.
Harry nodded, but he had to wonder, Cho hadn't seemed quite so calculating about things this time. She and Colin seemed to get along pretty well in their AoT meetings. Was she developing some genuine feelings for Colin?
And the truth was, Colin didn't fly badly. He might have been a little distracted, but he was mostly focused on the match. The Gryffindors were pounding the Ravenclaw team into paste, and Colin managed to keep Cho away from the snitch for a long time. In fact, he seemed all too willing to be rather physical in preventing her from getting the snitch.
"Colin isn't looking for the snitch!" said Harry suddenly, "He's just trying to find reasons to bump into Cho!"
"Shit, you're right!" said Blaise, who proceeded to start laughing so hard he was about to cry.
"Oh, Colin, no," said Tracey, "Can't he see she's using him?"
"I'm not so sure she is using him this time," said Harry, "I think she was genuinely trying to encourage him. I think Cho likes Colin."
"Come on Harry," said Daphne, "She's made a fool of him every time they've played against each other."
"I bet you that next year, Colin will be able to beat Cho," said Harry.
"You're on," said Ginny.
"I'm not taking that bet," said Hermione with a shake of her head.
"Well, I'm in!" said Blaise, with nods from Tracey.
In the end, Cho did catch the snitch. And Colin didn't even look upset, though his teammates sure did.
Most people in the school were a little upset with that. Once again, Slytherin had won the cup.
XXXXX
"Everyone ready?" asked Harry.
The entire Army of the Triumvirate was gathered in the Room of Requirement. Umbridge would be moving on the classroom Ginny had pointed out in an hour, maybe a bit less. Everything was set. Everyone nodded to Harry's question.
"All right, let's go!" said Harry. He led Hermione, Ginny, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey, Ron, Seamus, Justin, Ernie, Susan, Cho, Padma, Astoria and Colin to the entrance of the Room. He'd set it to open directly in front of the secret passage to Hogsmeade. Once in Hogsmeade, they would take a portkey directly to the Ministry.
It was time to deal the first blow of the war.
XXXXX
Nott was worried. He hadn't seen Ginny that evening, though he supposed it made sense that she was keeping a low profile. Still, he had to admit, something felt off. If this didn't pan out, it would be his neck on the line. Luckily, Umbridge hadn't told anyone else that it was him who uncovered the plot. He didn't want or need credit for this. In fact, it would be bad for him. He just wanted to get Ginny safely away from Potter.
Honestly, he didn't even care she was dating the mudblood, Justin. Justin was a good bloke, as far as that went. If Voldemort hadn't come back, he could even see that he might support her for doing so, as the way he had established the life debt to her had shown an impressive respect for magical tradition. As it was, Nott just hoped she knew when to jump ship.
"The time has come," said Umbridge, "We will all move together. We must rush the room together, as all of Potter's allies will be in the same place."
Everyone nodded, except for Draco. Draco had been distracted all day.
"Everything all right Malfoy?" asked Nott.
Draco nodded. "There's just something else on my mind," admitted Draco, "Just, well, you'll hear about it soon enough. Let's just say we aren't the only one's making a big move tonight."
"Your father may be telling you too much," said Nott.
Draco shook his head. "I had a hand in it to begin with," he said, "My father didn't need to tell me specifics. This, what we're doing, right here? It's just a sideshow. But an important one."
Nott nodded. He didn't quite understand, but it made sense that the Order of the Phoenix would move on the same night as Harry Potter.
The group moved quietly through the halls. They finally came to the classroom they had been given information on. They heard voices from within, and light coming from under the door.
"Now!" shouted Umbridge, and the entire group piled through the door.
Despite the light that had come from under the door, it was dark in this room. There were no voices. They couldn't see anything.
It's a trap, thought Nott regretfully, Ginny set me up!
Still, as the runes rendered Nott and the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad unconscious, he had to admit that he was a little relieved. He had never really liked the idea of Ginny betraying her friends.
XXXXX
Harry and his group moved silently through the Ministry. None of them had the Trace on them, so they liberally used silencing spells and disillusioned themselves to avoid detection. They also wore hooded cloaks, as an additional precaution. Entry into the Department of Mysteries was easy, and they made it to the Hall of Prophecies without anyone seeing them.
The Death Eaters had yet to arrive. That was good. Harry silently put down several runes. They'd have to put the last runes down once the Death Eaters were here, to ensure they were all caught in the net. These runes weren't set to stupefy their victims though. Even Blaise wasn't quite willing to kill unconscious people without looking them in the eye.
Harry also set up a second rune. This one would be a little trick, hopefully luring the Death Eaters into position. Harry looked at his watch. The Death Eaters would be here soon.
XXXXX
"Rennervate," said Luna, as she pointed her wand at Umbridge. Luna felt that she needed to explain herself. Not that Umbridge would remember this, but she did want to see her face when she understood what was happening.
Umbridges's eyes opened, "What? Where am I? Lovegood?" she demanded, struggling against her magically conjured bonds.
"You're in a safe location," said Luna, "Currently, the rest of our group is bringing in large barrels of Firewhiskey and splashing it all over the place in the classroom where we left your Inquisitorial Squad."
"When I tell them that you set this up…" started Umbridge.
"You won't," said Luna, "Because I'll be wiping your memory. And their memories. But the owner of the store where we bought the firewhiskey will certainly remember you coming in and buying it."
"Did you mess with his memory as well?" demanded Umbridge.
"No, we used Polyjuice Potion," said Luna.
"Memories can be restored if not properly removed," said Umbridge cleverly.
"Yes, they can," said Luna, "That is why I am going to overwrite these sections of your memories multiple times. It'll be such a mess no one will ever be able to make sense of it. Do try to be polite to the centaurs. They can be a little testy with people who insult them."
"Centaurs?" asked Umbridge, "What do you mean…"
"Obliviate," said Luna calmly.
Umbridge's eyes glazed over. Normally, Luna would have found this job distasteful. But then she remembered that little girl Umbridge's goons had harassed. No, they were all getting off easy. And Daddy would be so proud of her when she told him how well she could Obliviate people now!
XXXXX
Harry, Hermione and Daphne walked down the aisle towards the prophecy, or rather where the prophecy had been. There was a blank sphere in the place where it had been, but no one knew that it was blank except for Harry and his friends. Harry reached out to take the sphere.
"That's right, Potter," said Lucius Malfoy, "Take the sphere and give it to me."
Harry stopped in mid grab.
"Lucius," he said, surprise evident on his face, "How did you know?"
"Please," said Lucius, "You can't even figure that out?"
"Draco," said Harry angrily.
Multiple Death Eaters appeared. In addition to Malfoy there were nine others, including both Lestrange brothers, Crabbe, Goyle, Mulciber, Dolohov, Jugson, Macnair, and Avery.
"Give us the prophecy," said Lucius.
Harry picked up the empty sphere. "Oh no, a trap, whatever shall we do," he said.
"We didn't anticipate this at all," deadpanned Hermione.
"Give me the sphere!" said Lucius forcefully.
"Catch!" said Harry. He threw the sphere at Lucius. Lucius lunged to catch it. But as he touched it, he realized it had no substance. It was an illusion.
And then he heard a sound, like a rune made when it tripped, and suddenly his wand was wrenched from his grasp. In fact every Death Eater's wand had been wrenched from their grasp. Every Death Eater had been disarmed.
And then figures appeared from all around Lucius as Harry, Hermione and Daphne disappeared. It had all been an illusion! Instead there were hooded figures surrounding the Death Eaters, all with wands drawn.
The real Harry stepped forward. "Thank you for walking into our little trap. The real prophecy is long gone, so don't think you can take it from one of us. Draco was very obliging in catching onto the little trail we planted for him. He gave us ten Death Eaters."
"Fine," said Lucius, "Send us to Azkaban. We'll be out in just a few months."
"Yes," said Ginny, "You would be."
"Miss Weasley," said Lucius, "It appears that Mr. Nott was very wrong about you."
"He probably has already figured that out," said Ginny, "I'm only too glad to be here though. You do remember when you tried to murder me? Or when your master murdered my father? Well, you know what they say about turnabout?"
"You wouldn't dare!" said Lucius.
"Do it," said Harry grimly.
But none of them moved, not right away. They couldn't quite just kill them like this, just standing there. But then Lucius began to lunge for Harry's wand. And the other Death Eaters followed suit.
But there wasn't a chance. The moment they began to lunge for them, the students let loose with their spells. Harry noticed that Astoria didn't cast a spell. Ginny on the other hand didn't take her eyes off of Lucius as she cast her spell. Within seconds, the Death Eaters were all dead.
A stunned silence came over the group.
"Oh hell," swore Ginny, "Bloody fucking hell. Harry was right. We shouldn't have done this."
"I'm so sorry, Harry," said Hermione sadly, "You were right all along. I wasn't ready for this."
"None of us were," said Ron.
"Speak for yourself," said Blaise.
"None of us other than Blaise and Seamus, apparently," said Colin, trying to inject some levity into things. It didn't work, and Colin shook his head sadly.
"I thought it would be different," said Daphne.
Justin looked at Ginny sadly. "I'm so sorry I asked you to do this," apologised Ginny.
Justin shook his head, "I know you were doing what you thought was right," said Justin, "Just, you know, we can't do this again."
"No, we can't," said Harry, "But we have to do what we came here to do. What's done is done, now all we can do is our best. We need to prep these bodies."
Everyone nodded. This would have to count for something. And they had to get back to school before they were missed.
XXXXX
June 2nd, 1996
Narcissa always worried when Lucius went out on a mission for the Dark Lord. It was just a part of her nature. But something was wrong this time. It was well after 2am, and there was no word. Bellatrix had returned, and she said she was close to finding the Grangers. She'd stayed up with Narcissa. Bellatrix knew she was anxious, hell, her husband had gone as well. But Bellatrix merely wished she'd gone along.
Narcissa knew that Bellatrix barely tolerated her husband. It hadn't been a love match. Their father, Cygnus, had promised Bellatrix and Andromeda to the Lestrange brothers from a very young age. Rodolphus had always been more interested in Andromeda, who had been repulsed by him. When Andromeda had run away that had been the end to that, and Rodolphus had ended up marrying Bellatrix, when Cygnus offered her to him in apology.
Rodolphus hated his marriage to Bellatrix. He wanted to dominate his wife, but no one dominated Bellatrix except the Dark Lord. Narcissa secretly believed that Rodolphus had believed he could have dominated Andromeda. He was wrong of course. Andromeda would no sooner be controlled than Bellatrix. Narcissa didn't want to admit it, but she was glad her sister had married someone she cared about.
Not that Narcissa had much to complain about. True, she wouldn't say she loved Lucius, but he was a conscientious husband who made sure all her needs and her son's needs were met. She had at least become fond of him. So what of the first time they had made love she had wanted to vomit? Lucius did seem to care about her a bit, though it was obvious that Draco would always come first for him. As he should. As it was for Narcissa.
"What is taking so long?" said the Dark Lord as he entered the sitting room, Rookwood following behind him.
"Do you wish for me to investigate?" asked Bellatrix.
"I can't very well send you into the Ministry alone," said the Dark Lord, "Perhaps you should have gone with them. You have always been more dependable than Lucius."
"My Lord," said Rookwood, who had also been working with Bellatrix that night, "I still have a friend or two in the department, I could call them. It would risk alerting the Ministry if they didn't already know something was up though. They might be willing to give me information, but they would also certainly alert the Aurors if there had not yet been an alarm."
"No," said the Dark Lord, "We wait."
XXXXX
Harry and his group returned to the school, and met with the rest of the Army in the Room of Requirement.
"So it's done," said Cedric.
"It is," said Harry sadly.
"We've decided we won't be doing this again," said Hermione, "The cost to us is just too high, even if they deserved it."
"They did," stated Harry, "It was never a question of deserving. It was about who we want to be."
"Good," said Fred, "You don't need to be murderers to stop the Dark Dorkus."
"I agree," said Harry quietly. "Still, I have to consider the night a success. We struck a blow against Voldemort tonight. Now everyone, get back to your dorms before anyone misses us!"
XXXXX
Fudge ran down the stairs to the Department of Mysteries, Amelia right behind him. He didn't stop to greet any of the grim-eyed aurors who were hanging around outside. He quickly made for the Hall of Prophecies. Once there, he was given a grim sight.
The corpses of ten men were strung up from the shelves that carried the prophecies. They had all been stripped naked, and they all had Dark Marks. Whoever had done this had taken excruciating pains to make certain that every Dark Mark was labeled, with arrows pointing to them placed on each body. Fudge recognized these men. Lucius Malfoy, the Lestranges, Macnair…
It would have been a disaster if Potter hadn't had him preparing for this in secret.
"The time has come to come out and admit that You-Know-Who has returned," said Fudge.
"Who did this?" asked Amelia, stunned.
"It wasn't Dumbledore," said Fudge, "That's for sure. But whoever they are, they seem to be targeting Death Eaters."
"That doesn't excuse… this!" insisted Amelia.
"They only did this because we couldn't hold them in Azkaban," said Fudge, "Remove the dementors from control of that place immediately."
Amelia nodded. "You're right," she said, "and it's about time that order was given."
"Lord, lord, well, You-Know-Who has returned," said Fudge so everyone could hear him, "The Ministry is now at war!"
Looking at his feet, Fude saw a note. He picked it up.
We have pictures, it said. You can't keep this quiet. The Army of the Triumvirate has come to cleanse the Death Eaters from the magical world.
Fudge inhaled sharply. There was indeed a new player on the field.
XXXXX
Harry groaned slightly as he began to wake up. Hermione had opted to sleep next to him that night, and he was quite happy to hold her. It had been a rough night for her.
Suddenly the door to their room burst open. It was Snape. When he saw them his eyes narrowed.
"We weren't doing anything," said Harry quietly, patting Hermione's arm, "We were just…"
"Potter, I honestly don't give a damn what you and your girlfriend are doing in here," said Snape, "But the Headmistress wants to see you. Apparently the entire Inquisitorial Squad was caught drunk in one of the classrooms last night and Professor Umbridge is nowhere to be found."
"Sounds like a shocking lack of supervision on her part," remarked Harry, "Or maybe she had something to do with it?"
"Ha ha," said Snape, "Get up. You too, Granger."
Both Harry and Hermione stood up. Both were wearing pajamas.
Snape exhaled slightly, "I suppose you weren't lying to me then," he said, "No need to get dressed then. Put on shoes and follow me!"
Within minutes, Harry and Hermione were in front of both McGonagall and Flitwick.
"All of the Inquisitorial Squad say they have no memory of having a party," said McGonagall, "And while it looks as if there was a party there, I will admit that all of them aren't quite as hungover as they should be."
"That is odd," agreed Harry.
"Did you set this up to frame them?" asked McGonagall.
"Frame who?" asked Harry, "I honestly don't care what happens to any one person on the Inquisitorial Squad. Why would I try to get them in trouble?"
"To get the whole thing shut down, Potter," said Flitwick.
"I agree the Inquisitorial Squad should be shut down,' said Hermione, "How many of them did you catch?"
"All of them!" said McGonagall, seeming to alternate between anger and amusement..
"Professor," said Hagrid, who was running into the room, "I went into town and asked over at the Hogs Head if they sold some casks of Firewhiskey. Aberforth said he did sell some. He sold them to Dolores Umbridge!"
McGonagall looked very surprised then shook her head. "I don't believe for a moment that Dolores Umbridge bought Firewhiskey for the Inquisitorial Squad," she said, "But it appears that all the evidence leads in that direction. Therefore, I am disbanding the Inquisitorial Squad, and suspending Professor Umbridge until we can get her side of things. Do you know where she is?"
"I do not," said Harry, "though I doubt she's in any danger. She probably just got drunk and wandered off somewhere."
"I won't be punishing the students on the squad any further however," said McGonagall shrewdly.
"That is, of course, your prerogative," agreed Harry, "Listen, I know you suspect it was me, but if they were set up, I wasn't the one who did it. They had a lot of enemies at this school. It could be almost anyone."
McGonagall looked at Harry for a moment, then gave him a disbelieving smile. "Well, whoever did this, they did the school a service," McGonagall said smugly, "I suppose the two of you can go get dressed."
As Hermione and Harry headed back to the Slytherin common room, they both broke out into laughter. They'd gotten away with it!
XXXXX
"Well?" asked Dark Lord as Rookwood returned, "Did you find out? Does the Ministry have them?"
Rookwood shuddered. He had just been given permission to contact his man in the Department of Mysteries. Narcissa was almost beside herself. Had Lucius been caught? If so it might be months before they managed to break him out again.
"The Ministry does have our entire team in their possession," said Rookwood, his tone very nervous.
"It was a trap," said the Dark Lord angrily, before turning to Narcissa, "Lucius will have to pay for this, you understand."
"He already has," said Rookwood, "It wasn't the Ministry who caught them. It was some unknown group. And this group killed them."
"What?!" demanded the Dark Lord, his voice incredulous. Narcissa's own heart seemed to stop.
"Whoever did this killed every member of our strike team," said Rookwood, "They didn't come back because they are dead."
Narcissa heard Bellatrix start to growl. As for herself, she could barely breathe. It wasn't that she had loved Lucius. She hadn't. Not really. But all of a sudden, Narcissa was cognizant of the fact that she was very alone now, and at the heart of the operations of the Death Eaters.
"Whoever did this, they set us up deliberately," said the Dark Lord, "And they got Potter to bait the trap."
"Could it have been Potter?" asked Bellatrix.
"Probably not," said Rookwood, "If he successfully dealt with Umbridge last night…"
"This is someone new," said the Dark Lord, his voice cold, "We need to find out who, immediately."
Author's Note: And that is the climax of fifth year! From here on out this story is essentially it's own thing, with a couple of exceptions in sixth year. Though both of those exceptions only really serve to show how this story has come to a very different place. The next chapter is sort of a transition from 5th year to the summer.
There is a lot I want to talk about, but I feel that it is still a bit early to get into this sort of stuff. The next two chapters don't really let up, and the situation is going to change even more before Harry is done.
Next Time: I keep trying to come up with a clever way to say this, but it's just impossible. The next two chapters are one of my favorite parts of the story.
