Part II: Regency
Chapter VI: In Which Dumbledore's Army Takes a Stand
The next morning, she could only stomach tea, and that was only because she knew that it would be worse if she didn't get the caffeine in her system. She just hoped that she could remember the theory. As long as she remembered what incantation went to what spell, she would be fine for the practical as long as she didn't try to summon Terry's book again.
After breakfast, the fifth and seventh years milled around while all the other years went to class. No one really spoke above a subdued whisper. Corinna just shifted on the balls of her feet, trying to go through what she could remember from memory. Eventually, they were called in class by class. The long house tables were gone and replaced with individual desks in an organized grid. She had the quill she received for Christmas in her hand as she waited for McGonagall to announce that they could begin. Once the hourglass was turned, everyone shuffled their papers and tucked into their first examination.
Corinna already felt drained as the long tables were replaced for lunch. This time, she managed to choke down some food as her stomach was now protesting for food. She was almost glad that Terry wasn't in her house as she didn't want to think about the Charm examination anymore for the rest of her life.
After lunch, they went to a side chamber off the Great Hall where they were called in alphabetical order in small groups. Terry went in with the first group and he looked pale. Not for the first time, Corinna wished her surname wasn't so close to the beginning of the alphabet. She would much rather have the extra time to practice like some of her other classmates got to. When Corinna's name was called at the end of the second group, she shakily followed the others inside.
On the whole, Corinna thought she did okay. She did cause a wineglass to crack where she was supposed to place it down gently. She thought that she was definitely within the exceeds expectations range.
But there wasn't time to relax as Transfigurations was the next day. This one was one that Corinna needed to work harder on. Since Terry was better off in that class, according to Flitwick, he tested Corinna and helped her with the spellwork in a spare classroom where others were also studying like their lives depended on it.
After an alright theory and then what she thought was an utter failure of a practical as her examiner could still see the faint coloring of the polecat she was supposed to vanish, she dove back into studying hard for her Herbology exam the next day. She thought she did much better than she did with her Transfigurations work, but she also felt like she was losing her mind. Before she went down to the Great Hall on Thursday for her Defense Against the Dark Arts examination, she had thrown her hair into a top bun as she couldn't remember the last time she showered and that was the only thing she could do with it.
Terry had a break on Friday as it was the day scheduled for Ancient Runes, so he volunteered to help Corinna study the night before. "Are you saying ehwaz or eihwaz?" Corinna asked after Terry read out a line she was supposed to translate.
"They sound the same to me."
"Is there an 'i' or not, Boot?" Corinna couldn't help but snap. After a tense sigh, she quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. Why don't I just stick to the flash cards."
"Good idea," said Terry coolly.
After the examination, Corinna and Hermione walked back to Gryffindor Tower together. As much as she did not to talk about Ancient Runes ever again, her and Hermione talked about what they thought they did and didn't translate correctly. Corinna slowly realized that she made quite a few mistakes as Hermione was the one most likely of the two of them to be correct.
The only thing that didn't make Corinna spiral was the idea that she didn't have to continue with Ancient Runes next year if she didn't want to. It wasn't a requirement to be a healer.
As they passed by Umbridge's office, there was a loud crash and some shrieking. Corinna was tempted to keep walking, but the door busted open as Umbridge tried to fight off a niffler from going after her leg. Knowing she had to do something now, she whipped out her wand cast, "Wingardium Leviosa," to cause the niffler to float in the air instead of attacking Umbridge.
"Thank you, Miss Crouch," said Umbridge as she straightened her cardigan and made sure the little bow on her head was still aloft. "It was that half-breed Hagrid! I am sure of it!"
Corinna thought about releasing the niffler, but kept it in the air as it chirped indignantly.
"But, Professor," said Hermione, "he's currently teaching a class. He wouldn't have been able to do something like this."
"You mark my words," said Umbridge in a rage. She stalked down the corridor, causing a few students to shift out of the way or else they would get bowled over.
"That horrid, horrid…gah!" Hermione also seemed fried from their week of examinations and heavy revisions. "Whoever is doing this needs to stop! They are going to get Hagrid in trouble."
"Yes, I understand," said Corinna, "but what am I supposed to do with this niffler? I'd release it back into her office, but I don't want her to blame Hagrid."
"Let's take it down," suggested Hermione. "We should warn him anyway."
Corinna nodded. "Locomotor niffler," she said and the two of them walked back down the stairs.
They made it down to his hut while he was still in the middle of class. They were studying unicorns and the boys in the group were hanging back, looking put-out. Corinna remembered that lesson with Grubby-Plank, and she had to admit that she enjoyed getting to pet them.
"Corinna, Hermione," Hagrid said in surprise, especially when he spotted the still-floating niffler. "Why d'you go' a niffler?"
"It was put in Umbridge's office," said Hermione shrilly as Corinna lowered the niffler into Hagrid's outstretched hand. "Hagrid, listen…" She recounted what they witnessed from Umbridge. "You have to be careful."
"Don' worry 'bout me, Hermione," reassured Hagrid. "Jus' remember what I asked ya."
"Do I want to know?" asked Corinna as they headed back to the castle, but it looked like Hermione wanted to keep arguing with Hagrid, but he forced her to go so he could finish the lesson.
"No," said Hermione plainly.
The weekend was a subdued affair as they focused on their next set of exams, but Corinna still took some time to finally take care of herself. A shower was very much welcomed, as was studying outside with Terry as they had been trapped in the castle all week and unable to fully enjoy the warmth and sunshine. A sad fact Corinna realized was how taking the niffler to Hagrid was the first time she had been outside since Sunday.
Corinna was not worried about Potions on Monday. The theory exam in the morning went well enough and, without Snape breathing down their necks the entire time, it seemed that most every did much better than they would normally do in class. For the first time, however, Corinna felt like she actually accomplished an outstanding instead of just hoping for an exceeds expectations.
Tuesday was Care of Magical Creatures which Corinna thought she had done alright in, but it was another one of those subjects where she wanted to do well on principle, but she wasn't worried about moving onto the NEWTs of. She liked Hagrid well enough and didn't want him to be sacked, but she would rather focus on the classes that were necessary for what she wanted to do with her life.
Wednesday morning was the Astronomy theory exam which she thought had gone alright. As the practical wasn't until that evening and Corinna didn't have another exam, she had the afternoon off. She used it going over charts in the library. Terry joined her after his Divination exam and he looked miffed.
"I didn't see a bloody thing in the crystal ball," he chewed out, which was much too loud for Madam Pince to tolerate so they were given a sharp quip about this being a place for studying, not talking.
"That was never your strongest subject," said Corinna softly as she handed over the charts she had already studied.
"I don't even think I'll get an acceptable." Terry looked miserable at the thought. "I wasn't going to take it next year, but I didn't want to outright fail. You know what I mean?"
Corinna thought of her poor performance in Ancient Runes. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
At eleven o'clock, they made their way up to the Astronomy Tower. Much to Corinna's chagrin, she was positioned next to Harry. She pointedly stared in front of her as she set up her telescope. Once they were given the okay, they looked through the telescope and started marking their blank star charts. It was silent as the castle was quiet and the breeze was light. The only noises around them were the scratching of quills and the occasional adjustment of someone's telescope. Corinna was able to fully focus on filling out her chart until about halfway through their time, she heard a loud bark. She automatically looked across the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. She squinted to see numerous silhouettes against the lit windows. She counted six in total as they stepped into the cabin. Corinna hadn't been inside there before, but she had a feeling that it would be cramped in there with six people, Hagrid, and his dog.
She glanced over and saw that Harry was also transfixed on what was happening down in Hagrid's cabin. She quickly averted her gaze when she heard one of the professors walking towards them. Harry pretended to add notes to his chart while Corinna made to adjust her telescope to find another constellation. She didn't even know what she was looking at when she heard a loud, distinct roar coming from the cabin.
"Try and concentrate," the professor encouraged softly.
Corinna was still transfixed on the cabin, even after the announcement that they only had twenty minutes remaining. She shook her head and made to label something when there was a loud bang. Her gaze darted back over to Hagrid's cabin as the door burst open. A massive figure had come roaring out surrounded by the silhouette of six others. There were flashes of red light, the obvious sign that they were attempting to stun Hagrid. Hermione squeaked out a "No!" and the professor's warning fell on deaf ears as everyone was now transfixed on what was happening down in the cabin. There was an exchange of harsh words, and Corinna could see that one of the stunning spells hit Hagrid's dog, Fang. There was a howl of fury and one of the silhouettes went flying. She looked over and saw that Harry looked scared. Despite knowing Hagrid the best, it seemed that he also hadn't seen Hagrid have a temper like this.
"Look!" Parvati pointed to the foot of the castle as the doors were thrown open and a lone shadow strolled across the lawn. A second warning about how much time was left was also ignored as the person was now sprinting towards Hagrid's cabin.
"How dare you!" the figured shouted, and Corinna immediately recognized McGonagall's angry voice anywhere. "Leave him alone! Alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such—"
A scream was trapped in Corinna's throat as four stunning spells had shot from the figures around the cabin. They met McGonagall who was only halfway to the cabin. She seemed to glow red as she was lifted off her feet. She landed heavily onto her back and then was perfectly still.
"Outrageous behavior!" shouted the professor, who also seemed to have forgotten about the exam they were supposed to be taking. Hagrid was shouting about how they were all cowards, and swiped at a couple of the figures who were immediately knocked out cold from the landing. He had bent down to pick Fang back up and then was running for the forest. Umbridge's command to go after Hagrid was met with reluctance as no one wanted to be on the wrong end of an angry Hagrid.
Corinna wouldn't be surprised if she had failed the practical, and she found that she couldn't even pretend to care. She haphazardly put her telescope back in the case and followed with the crowd down the stairs. Despite the late hour, sleep was the last thing on everyone's mind.
"That evil woman!" sputtered Hermione. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!"
"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's," Corinna pointed out as she squeezed to join them.
"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" said Ron. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"
"It'll be his giant blood," explained Hermione. "It's very hard to stun a giant, they're like trolls, really tough. But, poor Professor McGonagall…four stunners straight in the chest and she's not exactly young, is she?"
"Bloody dreadful," Terry muttered as he managed to join them.
People were filtering towards their various common rooms, but the five of them fell behind the crowd.
"At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban," said Ron. "I suspect he's gone to join Dumbledore, hasn't he?"
"I suppose so," said Hermione. "Oh, this is awful. I really thought Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid, too."
Terry looked reluctant to go to his own common room as they split off to go to their respected Towers. The common room was full of commotion from what had happened out on the grounds had woke a few people. There was only one topic of discussion currently.
"But why sack Hagrid now?" asked Angelina Johnson, a seventh year who was also the Gryffindor quidditch captain. "It's not like Trelawney. He's been teaching much better than usual this year."
"Umbridge hates part-humans," said Hermione bitterly. She bodily threw herself into an armchair. "She was always going to try to get Hagrid out."
"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in her office," said Corinna as she crossed her arms.
"Blimey," said Lee Jordan, looking surprised. "It's me who's been putting the nifflers in her office. Fred and George left me a couple. I've been levitating them in through her window."
"She'd have sacked him anyway," said Dean. "He was too close to Dumbledore."
"That's true," said Harry.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right," said Lavender.
"They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the window," said Colin Creevey who was in the year below Corinna. "She didn't look very well."
"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out," said Alicia Spinnet, a Gryffindor seeker. "She's never failed yet."
Corinna excused herself to bed a little bit after that, even though she did not think she was going to sleep that night. All she saw was red whenever she closed her eyes. After a fitful night of tossing and turning, she woke and dressed for the day. Anger burned within her when she saw Umbridge at breakfast that morning. She drank as much tea as she could manage, wondering if she should just switch over to coffee at this point, even if it was bitter and depressing.
She met Terry in the library after breakfast as their final exam, History of Magic, was scheduled for that afternoon. They did their best to revise, but between the excitement of their last exam and the lack of sleep, it was all they could to not fall asleep sitting there.
At lunch, Corinna drank coffee, which was tolerable with plenty of cream and sugar. She also managed to eat some actual food as she could feel herself getting jittery. She wasn't the only one who seemed to be experimenting with the drink that was always on the table but was only favored by a few of the older students. Corinna would much rather stick to tea, but she knew she needed something stronger to get through her final exam.
As the students filed into the hall again after lunch with the similar grid of tables as was the norm for all their theory exams, Corinna felt a little bit more awake. She took her seat and waited impatiently for the professor at the front of the hall to flip over the hourglass and told them to begin.
Just need to get through this, Corinna thought as she looked over the first question. She scratched out her answer, wondering how much detail she really needed to get into in order to get full marks. Missing exact dates and names was going to be inevitable especially as it seemed that the exam was never ending. Whenever Corinna turned a page, there seemed to be another. She knew she was going to run out of time at this rate.
And then someone screamed.
Corinna turned sharply, as did everyone else in the hall. The professor who was stalking the other side, came rushing over and bent down the fallen student. She had to lean over farther to see who it was. She froze when she saw that it was Harry, writhing in pain on the floor as he clutched his forehead. "Back to your examinations, boys and girls," the professor said as he helped Harry stand up and ushered him out of the hall.
There were the beginnings of whispers, but the other professor reminded them that they were still in an examination and that they still had a few minutes left. Corinna turned back at her table and knew she would no longer be able to focus on the last answer she was writing. The professor who escorted Harry out came back in, collected his examination papers, and went back up to the front. "Five minutes left," he announced.
It was one of the longest five minutes of her life. Once time was up and their exams were magicked to the professors, Corinna followed after Ron and Hermione as they were also desperate to go find Harry. "Do you think he actually went to the hospital wing?" asked Hermione.
"Don't reckon," mumbled Ron as they fought against the crowd of students who were trying to go anywhere but to where the classrooms were. "Why are you following us?" he asked Corinna.
Before she could come up with a plausible answer, Hermione just grabbed each of their arms to usher them faster. "Shut up, Ron!" she hissed.
He had went to the Hospital Wing, but he did not stay. He had asked Madam Pomfrey where McGonagall was and, upon finding out that she had been transferred to St. Mungo's, ran off.
The continued up towards the seventh floor where Gryffindor Tower was and relief flooded over them when they saw Harry a few landings below. He quickly ushered them into an empty classroom. His eyes were wild and kept darting between the three of them. If he was confused by Corinna's sudden inclusion, he didn't mention it.
"Voldemort's got Sirius." When the three of them expressed their shock and confusion, he continued. "Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam." Hermione stammered out a couple of questions. "I don't know how. But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of Row Ninety-Seven. He's been trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there. He's torturing him; says he'll end up killing him!"
Corinna was rooted in place. She didn't know her cousin very well beyond what Dora told her, but no one—especially someone who had been through what Sirius had—deserved to be tortured by You-Know-Who.
"How are we going to get there?" asked Harry.
There was a beat of silence. "Get there?" asked Ron.
"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!"
Corinna couldn't believe what she was hearing. And, it seemed, neither could Ron or Hermione. Harry challenged them and, for once, Corinna was afraid to take the bait. "Harry," said Hermione softly, "how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"
"How do I know? The question is how we're going to get in there!"
"Harry, think about this." Corinna stayed where she was when Hermione took a tentative step. She didn't even know what was going on, but she knew one thing for certain. "It's five o'clock in the afternoon. The Ministry of Magic is full of workers. How would You-Know-Who and Sirius have gotten in without being seen?"
"They're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world," added Hermione. "You think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"
"I don't know. Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something! Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been—"
"You've never been there, Harry," Hermione reminded. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."
"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouted and got in their faces. His hands were visibly shaking. "How do you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"
"He's got a point," said Ron.
"But this sounds unlikely," said Hermione. "Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"
"Sirius might have cracked and just wanted some fresh air," said Ron. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages."
"But why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"
The back and forth between the three of them was faster than a quidditch match as Corinna desperately tried to follow along, but it seemed that the more they said, the more she became confused. She wanted answers, but she could not get a word in edgewise.
"This isn't a criticism, Harry," Hermione said after fighting with Harry and Ron singlehanded. "But you do sort of have a saving-people thing."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Hermione tried to explain her position on the matter and backtracking when Harry started getting angry as she tried to get her point across. "You are the type of person to rush to Sirius's aid," she said after dodging a bit. "What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Mysteries."
"Hermione, it doesn't matter. They've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"
"What if it was just a dream?"
Harry then launched into a tirade about how it couldn't have been a dream because he had been forced to learn Occlumency. More Hermione trying to be reasonable. More Harry yelling. Corinna was almost on her last nerve when two others poked their heads into the classroom.
"Hi," said Ginny as her and Luna stepped forward. "We recognized Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?" She raised her eyebrows when Harry dismissed her. "There's no need to take that tone with me. I was only wondering whether I could help."
"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna.
Harry swore in a way that would make Dora proud, and Hermione had an epiphany. "Wait, Harry, they can help. Let's just check to see if Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come. I'll do whatever it takes to try and save him." Before Harry could argue, she added, "If this is a trick of Voldemort's, Harry, we've got to check. We've got to. We'll use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him. We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."
Harry kept arguing, but the plan unfolded and it was easier than rushing off to the Ministry of Magic if they didn't have to. However, he took Hermione's offer to accompany him into Umbridge's office as a form of solidarity. He still seemed reluctant, but ran off to get his invisibility cloak and knife. The others went to the end of Umbridge's corridor and, once Harry rejoined them, they split off to their respective posts.
Ron and Corinna broke off from the others. Ron went to either make a mess of the Transfigurations department or enlist Peeves's help to do so. Corinna was the one to go head off Umbridge before she could get into the Great Hall and tell her about the mess in the department. As the one that was part of the unfortunate Inquisitorial Squad, her telling Umbridge gave more credence and wouldn't be questioned as much.
Unfortunately, Umbridge was talking with a couple of the others in the Squad, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, when Corinna found her. It didn't take much to convince her that Peeves was making a ruckus as he did that as often as possible. The group followed after Corinna as she lead them to the first floor and to the Transfigurations department. It seemed that Ron hadn't found Peeves as there wasn't any loud noises. Corinna saw various instruments upended and Ron milling around as the only one in the corridor.
When Umbridge made no move into the department, she smiled wickedly at Corinna and Ron.
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" asked Umbridge. Before Ron or Corinna could react, the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad gagged them and tackled them into the wall. "Did you really think I wouldn't have Stealth Sensoring Spells in place to know about those horrid creatures scavenging through my office?"
Ron and Corinna were dragged to Umbridge's office, which wasn't much of a surprise at this point. The other members of the Inquisitorial Squad must have been notified as they had rushed Luna and Ginny. A large, beefy Slytherin also had Neville bound and gagged, saying that he was trying to prevent Ginny's capture, so he dragged him along, too.
A Slytherin girl in Corinna's year (Millicent Something…) held onto Hermione as Umbridge dragged Harry from the fire and had him bound to a chair. The others were filed into the office. They were all removed of their wands. Umbridge looked about her office. "Tut, tut," she said when her eyes landed back onto Corinna. She removed her gag. She grabbed the small badge from Corinna's chest and pulled it off, ripping her robes in the process. "I hope you know this means that you are stripped of your membership into the Inquisitorial Squad."
"Is that supposed to make me feel sad?" Corinna asked and Parkinson slammed her against the wall. She bit her tongue from crying out in pain from her left arm getting the brunt of the blow. "I didn't even want to join in the first place. You threatened me."
"And you should have thought about that before helping Potter and his little friends," said Umbridge darkly. "You were lying to me this whole time. I should have known when that piece of parchment kept spitting out nonsense." Parkinson shoved Corinna more as Umbridge leaned obnoxiously close to Corinna's ear. "Do you really want me telling everyone who your real parents are?"
Without saying anything, Corinna spat in Umbridge's face, which felt like a much better insult than anything she could come up with on the spot. Umbridge stepped back in disgust and wiped the spit from her cheek. "Consider that grounds for expulsion."
"When do I get to leave?" Parkinson slammed her against the wall again. More sharp pain. "You berk! That's my wand arm!"
Umbridge waved her wand and Corinna was gagged again. Parkinson leaned her full weight onto Corinna now, cackling. But Corinna paid her no mind. Did Umbridge not know anything and decided just to play on Corinna's insecurities? "Now," she said, turning back to the group at large after having her fun with her old plaything. She went right back to Harry. "You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent these buffoons," she nodded to Ron and Corinna and Malfoy laughed loudly. "to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes. Mr. Filch having just informed me so and I was about to send Miss Parkinson and Mr. Zabini to help him sort it out. I was smart not to inform Crouch about the spells I placed in my office for this very occasion."
"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.
Many of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed at that, with Malfoy being the loudest.
"It's none of your business who I talk to."
"Very well," said Umbridge as a nasty smile spread across her face. She was darkly gleeful. "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."
Corinna had to crane her head to look over at Harry who looked like he was slapped. They were all so stupid to forget that there was one other person left in the castle who was a part of the Order of the Phoenix. He came back with Malfoy a few minutes later. He surveyed what was going on in the office with a bored look. "You wanted to see me, Headmistress."
"Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."
"You took my last bottle to interrogate students," said Snape. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."
"You can make some more, can't you?"
"Certain. It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month."
Umbridge looked indignant. "A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"
"Really? Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."
"I wish to interrogate him! I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth."
Corinna may not like Snape that much, but she had to agree that even with his potion expertise, he wouldn't be able to make truth serum in a shorter amount of time. Of course, he just had to suggest poisoning Harry as an alternative so there went any good graces.
"You are on probation!" Umbridge shrieked, acting as a toddler would if they weren't given sweets when they demanded. "You are being deliberately unhelpful! Now get out of my office!"
Snape turned to leave, but paused when Harry shouted, "He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"
He turned to face Harry. On Umbridge's demanded to explain, he simply said, "I have no idea. 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." With that, Snape left, slamming the door closed behind him.
Umbridge's eyes were wide and wild as she looked over Harry. She started babbling nonsense about how it was a matter of Ministry security…what the Minister doesn't know won't hurt him…circumstances justify the use… "The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue!"
"No!" shrieked Hermione. "It's illegal!" When Umbridge continued to ignore her, she pressed. "The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law."
"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him. He never knew I ordered Dementors to go after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same."
"It was you!" said Harry. "You sent the dementors after me?"
"Somebody had to act!" said Umbridge, pointing her wand directly at Harry's forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow. But I was the one who actually did something about it. Only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today, though, not now."
But before Umbridge could utter the curse, Hermione shouted, "No! No, Harry, we'll have to tell her!"
"No way!"
"We'll have to Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's…what's the point?" And much to Corinna's shock, Hermione began to cry weakly.
"Well, well, well! Little Miss Question-All is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"
Ron tried to utter out a plea for Hermione to stop behind his gag, and others around the room where staring in bewilderment. But Corinna could see the signs. As someone who has had to lie a lot her entire life, she could tell when someone was laying it on thick enough to coat a wall. She was playing right into Umbridge's hands by saying exactly what she wanted to hear. She told of Harry trying to contact Dumbledore to tell him that it was ready. When Umbridge demanded to know what it was, Hermione kept the lie going by saying that they didn't fully understand what it was—a weapon, they reckoned. And it was soon decided that Umbridge would take Hermione and Harry to the weapon as she was afraid of what the others would do with it. Corinna had to admit that it was quite clever.
So they were all alone with just the Inquisitorial Squad. Malfoy straightened up from where he was lounging against the desk. "Knew it would be the mudblood who would crack first," he sneered, which made Ron buck to get away from Warrington. "Cleverest witch of her age, my—agh!" Ginny had managed to wiggle her way out of her captor's grasp to hit Malfoy with a bat-bogey hex. He fell back as bats flew out of his nose and started attacking his face. A few of the others had let up to go help him, which was just dumb on their part as everyone still had their wands. Spells went flying, and Corinna was more than happy to hit Parkinson with a stunner, even if it wasn't as accurate with her nondominant hand, but she had to work the kinks out of her left arm first.
She ducked down to pluck Harry's and Hermione's wands from inside Malfoy's robes. "What was that?" she asked when he tried to speak around the bats. "Sorry, I'd stick around and chat. But I've got more important things to do."
Ron, Corinna, Ginny, Luna, and Neville all looked at each other. They all looked determined, even Neville, who even knew less of what was going on than Corinna, Ginny, and Luna. It was a silent agreement about what they needed to do as they ran out of the office and made their way to where Harry, Hermione, and Umbridge disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.
The five of them managed to find Harry and Hermione in the Forbidden Forest, covered in blood but otherwise unharmed. They recounted their escape, and Harry and Hermione explained how they managed to get Umbridge taken away by Centaurs and then they only escaped because of Grawp, who was apparently Hagrid's half-brother. It was quite the tale, Corinna had to admit.
But then they had to deal with the problem before them: how were they going to get to London.
"Well, we'll have to fly, of course," said Luna breezily.
"First of all," said Harry, facing her, "'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so—"
"I've got a broom," Ginny pointed out.
"Yeah, but you aren't coming," muttered Ron.
"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!"
"You're too—" but before Harry could say that dreaded words that anyone who was young could hear, Ginny said, "I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher's Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him."
"We were all in the DA together," said Neville when Harry was going to argue that point. "It was supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real. Or was that just a game or something?"
Harry sputtered, and Corinna added, "Then we should come, too. We want to help."
She met his gaze and she refused to look away no matter how much it seemed to burn.
"Well, it doesn't matter, anyway," said Harry, "because we still don't know how to get there."
"I thought we settled that. We're flying." When Ron pointed out that they still didn't have brooms, Luna rolled her eyes. "We don't need brooms. We can use them." She pointed at nothing, and Corinna tried to look at what was supposedly there.
"Yes," breathed Harry, moving towards where Luna pointed. He easily pet the air and Corinna remembered back to their Care of Magical Creatures class about thestrals—or, as Ron put it—those mad horse things that you can only see if you've watched someone snuff it. "There's only two, though."
"We'll need three," said Hermione.
"Four!" said Ginny.
"I think there are seven of us, actually," said Luna.
"Don't be stupid, we can't all go," said Harry. "Look, you four, you're not involved in this, you're not—"
"We're not what?" Corinna demanded above the other three protests. "You lot think you're some golden trio where you're the only ones who can do anything?"
"Okay, fine," Harry relented when it was obvious that they were just wasting time. "But unless you can find more thestrals you're not going to be able—"
"Oh, more of them will come," said Ginny who looked in a similar direction to Ron and Corinna to try to see the creatures that they won't be able to see. "You and Hermione are both covered in blood and we know Hagrid lures thestrals with raw meat. That's probably why these two turned up in the first place."
There was still some more arguing on who was going to go on ahead with only the two that were there, but then Luna exclaimed that more were coming. While Harry and Neville clambered onto their thestrals, Luna guided the four who could not see them until they were safely settled onto their backs. Although it was securely solid underneath Corinna where she sat on her, the fact that she could not see the thing she was riding made panic rise to her throat. Luna showed them where to lock their knees to be the most secure while riding, but Corinna still couldn't see where to hang on. She just reached forward until she felt what she thought was a mane.
Harry commanded the thestrals where to go and they took flight. She couldn't quite help the scream that escaped from her lips as the thestrals took flight. The darkness from the forest faded as they rose into the air as a blood-red sunset spread out before them. At any other time, Corinna thought it might be beautiful, but as she was clinging to something she could not see for dear life, panic was at the forefront of her mind. She gladly kept her eyes screwed shut and her face buried into the thestral's neck. As much as she would love to see them right now, she did not want to follow through with what that would entail.
Corinna remained like this until she felt them shift downward. She sat up and looked around wildly as they descended over the speckled lights of London. She had once thought of its alleyways and storefronts as her home, but now she wasn't sure where that was anymore.
They landed by the telephone box that Corinna remembered taking numerous times to visit her grandfather at work. It was in the same state of shabby disrepair as it had when Corinna was old enough to form memories. She imagined it had to use the same code as well.
All seven of them managed to squeeze into the telephone box with hardly enough room to breathe let alone to do any sort of movement. Corinna's arm was at an odd angle and it gave an annoyed throb as it was the arm Parkinson had smashed into the wall. She managed to dial the number which, as Harry instructed, was exactly the same. Six, two, four, four, two.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic," the same disembodied voice rang out. "Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Corinna Crouch, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood. We're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"
"Thank you. Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
The badges slid out where change, apparently, would go through the slot. Hermione passed them out and Corinna somehow managed to get hers with the arm that wasn't at an odd angle behind her. Her badge usually said Corinna Crouch, Visiting Family but now it replaced the second half with Rescue Mission. She pinned it next to the spot that her Inquisitorial Squad badge used to occupy. This one she would wear much more proudly.
After the female voice told them that they needed to submit their wands and Harry's impatience in wanting to go down, the ground rose above them as they sunk into the depths of the Ministry of Magic. The light below rose to meet them and the telephone box grinded to a halt in the Atrium. The doors open and they all came tumbling out. They managed to collect themselves, their movements echoing around the empty chamber. Corinna had never seen this place so empty.
"Come on!" said Harry as he led the way passed the security station. Corinna was certain there should always be someone posted there, but it was devoid of personnel. It made the whole room feel even more haunting.
Harry pressed the down button on the nearest lift and the golden grilles slid apart for them to climb on. He stabbed the number nine. The grilles closed and they slowly descended down the many floors of the Ministry. They passed by the floor that used to hold Corinna's grandfather's office. It slid out of view as quickly as it had come.
The lift screeched to a halt on the ninth floor and opened. The same female voice from the telephone box announced, "Department of Mysteries." Cautiously, they stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving. They crept further down the corridor when Harry stopped moving. "Maybe we ought to have a couple stay here and be lookout." After the four newcomers declined such an idea, they kept going, which seemed to annoy Harry. They walked until they reached a door. It easily swung open and all seven of them stepped inside.