Chapter 8: The Inquisitor
Sirius paced up and down in Dumbledore's office. The news that Umbridge had been named Inquisitor had come out of nowhere. Now Sirius and Griselda were at Hogwarts, trying to figure out what was going on with Dumbledore and Morgan.
"Crouch Jr. knows we know what he is," said Dumbledore, "He has to."
"So Crouch Jr. is working with Umbridge?" asked Griselda.
"Working with or Imperiusing," said Sirius.
Morgan seemed distracted, but that shook her out of whatever daydream she'd been in. "Wouldn't this make Umbridge the primary suspect in who Imperiused Nott though? Could she be Imperiused and Imperius Nott?"
"Yes," said Sirius, "She absolutely could, especially since Nott is a child. You just have to have the desire that your will replace someone else's."
"Still, it's tricky," said Dumbledore, "the Imperius requires will, and being under the Imperius dilutes your will. Umbridge must really want to force people to obey her if she can still perform the Imperius well enough to order Nott to kill someone."
"But she didn't order Nott to kill anyone," said Sirius, "She ordered him to kidnap someone. Riddle was going to be doing the killing."
"I don't get the significance of the killing," said Morgan.
"The Imperius actually has a slightly harder time forcing someone to do something that is against their basic moral principles," said Griselda, "Under normal circumstances usually it still works, but if the person casting the Imperius doesn't have a strong enough will it can become significantly easier to resist. Especially if you have a strong moral compunction against what you are ordered to do. And curses like the Cruciatus or Killing Curse cannot be cast by an Imperiused person unless they would normally be willing to use those curses, or other certain specific circumstances apply. The Imperius can't fake the necessary hate."
"So if this is Crouch Jr., why is he doing it, and why is his father helping?" asked Sirius.
"Crouch Jr. must be trying to keep me under observation," said Dumbledore.
"And Crouch Sr. has probably realised that a modern curriculum in History will point out how terrible the Ministry has been, historically," said Griselda.
"So he means to interfere with the curriculum," said Morgan grimly.
"Legally, Umbridge can't do that," said Griselda, "but she does have the power to discipline teachers now, so she may try to do so anyway."
"I will not allow her to break any laws," said Dumbledore.
"Good, the Board of Governors won't sack you for that," said Griselda.
"I'll see if I can talk some sense into the Minister," said Sirius, "He has to see that this is just going to cause chaos."
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The first set of new rules was minor and mostly had to do with teaching standards and the like. It didn't really affect Harriet. Also, Dumbledore announced that any teacher who obeyed the law could not be punished for doing so. Still, it was worrisome overall. Harriet thought Umbridge was dangerous, and she needed to be dealt with as such.
But then Hermione had asked to see her privately. Harriet had wondered what her best friend had been hiding from her, and now it looked like she was going to find out.
Hermione and Harriet decided to speak in the Room of Requirement. No need to bring up the actual Path of the Founders, they just summoned a private room.
"So," said Hermione, "I saw one of Rowena's memories. Three of them actually. I snuck around and watched it the day of the Quidditch match."
"Ooh, something juicy?" asked Harriet.
"Um, yes actually," said Hermione, who had begun to blush again, "I, uh, saw that Rowena Ravenclaw and Morgana were lovers. And by saw it, I mean I saw it."
"Oh," said Harriet awkwardly, "That would be… oh wow."
"But there is more," said Hermione, "Rowena broke it off because Morgana was delving into dangerous magic that Rowena didn't approve of. Magic she later used in order to… force Arthur to get her pregnant. Arthur was Mordred's father."
Harriet blinked. "Morgan lied to me," she said simply.
"Yes," said Hermione simply, "I actually asked her about this. She said she was ashamed and didn't want you to know."
Harriet suddenly felt… wrong. She felt as if this pulled the ground out from underneath her. Didn't Morgan understand that Harriet could only trust her as long as she was absolutely honest with her? First Dumbledore, and now Morgan had shown that they would lie to Harriet for their own reasons.
"Okay," said Harriet, "thanks for telling me."
"Is that all you have to say?" asked Hermione.
Harriet shook her head. "It isn't, but I am not ready to process this yet. I need to figure this out."
But how could Harriet untangle this mess? She had no idea.
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The more Harriet thought about it, the more she realised that neither Remus or Sirius could help her. It wasn't that she couldn't trust them, but they were carrying so much baggage. They just wanted to protect her. If she told them her concerns about Dumbledore they'd probably instinctively tell her to trust him. Sirius had been angry with Dumbledore about the horcruxes, but that hadn't stopped them working together. And they would probably tell Harriet not to trust Morgan on principle.
What Harriet needed was the opinion of someone who had her best interests in mind, but wasn't going to lie to her. Someone who would be willing to tell her the truth, even if it hurt them. Someone like Snape.
And so she'd made her way down to Snape's office again. Harriet had mixed feelings about this. But if Snape truly regretted what had happened to her parents, truly regretted what he had done, he would give her unbiased advice. If he could do that, then maybe Harriet could forgive him.
Harriet knocked on the door to Snape's office. "Enter," he said.
Harriet opened the door to see that Snape was alone and sitting at his desk. Good. If Draco had been here it would have been awkward.
"Professor Snape, I need some advice," said Harriet.
"You want advice. From me," he said evenly.
"You told me the truth about your role in my parent's deaths, at great cost to yourself," said Harriet, "I think that means that you will be honest with me, and will give me advice based on what is best for me, and not what is most convenient or easy to stomach for you. Or for me."
Snape seemed to be surprised at her logic. "I… I am very flattered that you would think that. If you need advice, I am, of course, glad to help."
"Both the Headmaster and Professor Solaire have lied to me," said Harriet, "I want to trust them, but it's hard to do."
"How did the headmaster lie to you?" asked Snape.
"He didn't tell me my scar was one of Voldemort's horcruxes," said Harriet simply.
Snape leapt to his feet and began pacing. He was obviously very agitated by this news. After a minute, he finally managed to calm down.
"I see," said Snape finally, "I can see why that disturbs you. It disturbs me as well."
"Mo… Professor Solaire says she will be able to fix it," said Harriet, "but she lied to me too. She told me that Mordred wasn't Arthur's son. But Hermione discovered from Ravenclaw's memories that he was."
Snape stood still for a moment. "I can understand why she would say that," he said finally, "It isn't really a conversation she should be having with a student, even if you brought it up. Still, given her history, I can understand how it makes you wary."
"Can I trust them?" asked Harriet.
Snape sat back down. He was in thought for a long time, staring at his desk.
Finally, he looked up. "Headmaster Dumbledore is a good man. He definitely cares about you, and what will happen to you. He is on your side," said Snape before a short pause.
"But," Snape continued, "He is not perfect. You should trust him, but you should never assume he is infallible. He failed Lily, after all."
Snape's eyes went hard for a moment, but he managed to gain control of himself almost immediately. But in that moment Harriet knew she had seen something that Snape had buried, a real rage at the failures that had led to her mother's death. She suddenly felt a surge of pity for him. But she knew that she couldn't let one ounce of that pity show on her face. That would end this discussion immediately.
"Still, he is wiser than most wizards these days," admitted Snape, "But he has blind spots. Learn to see them. Professor Solaire on the other hand…"
Snape shook his head, "I don't understand her. I think she means well, but I have studied the historical Morgana, and it seems she also meant well. Intentions are meaningless."
"So you recommend...?" asked Harriet.
"If you trusted her before, this lie isn't really a reason to not trust her now," said Snape, "Simply put, there was no good way for her to talk about this to a student. If you didn't trust her before, you shouldn't trust her now. I do think she cares about you as well, but I am far more suspicious as to her motivations. Be wary of her, but don't be paranoid. The muggles have a term: 'Trust, but verify.'"
Harriet nodded. It did make sense.
"Thank you," said Harriet calmly, "I appreciate the help."
Harriet stood to go, but something made her turn back. "I'm sorry you had to think back on what happened to my mother. I know you still have a lot of pain and guilt about that. I appreciate that you gave me advice anyway. Again, thank you."
And she opened the door and slipped out of Snape's office, leaving him in silence.
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The next couple of weeks were full of Harriet and Hermione spending time in Rowena's study. They weren't watching any of the memories though. They were cataloging them. Each section of memories was labeled, but only a few of the individual memories were. So Harriet and Hermione had affixed labels to each memory using a two character label for each section and a three digit number to show what position it had been found in.
Once that was done, they had decided to watch a few. And Hermione had immediately started with the section dedicated to Slytherin. Morgan had kept insisting that Slytherin didn't hate muggleborns, so Hermione was determined to put that to the test. Harriet had to admit, Rowena's memories did not portray Slytherin as a pureblood supremacist. He did have a bit of an obsession with Atlantean blood, but that was understandable if only someone with Atlantean blood could put the keystones back together without dying.
One memory came closest to portraying him as anti-muggleborn, but it wasn't very close. In one meeting he had argued for enhanced screening of muggleborn witches and wizards who came from southern England, primarily Wessex. This was because of Alfred and his order of Divine Sorcery. And it was because the Founders already knew which pureblood families had aligned with Alfred, but didn't know if any muggleborns were his agents.
"There is just no evidence to support that Slytherin had anything against muggleborns," said Hermione at the end of watching one last memory. That memory had been Slytherin's departure from Hogwarts. Which he had done in order to help resist the order of Divine Sorcery rather than any real argument with the other Founders.
"But this could be the death knell of organized pureblood supremacism in the UK!" said Harriet, "Virtually the entirety of their argument is based on Slytherin having espoused it."
"I think the ideology will still be around, and that won't deal with the magical supremacist part of Voldemort's plans, but it wouldn't look good for them, I agree," said Hermione.
Harriet stood up and began pacing. "What we need is proof," she said thoughtfully, "and we know one place this will be mentioned."
Hermione nodded. That was another thing the two of them had seen. Rowena and Godric had worked together on a history/memoir they called the History of the Founders' Wars. If they could find a copy of that book it would almost certainly put all doubts to rest. But no copy had survived the centuries, or at least no one knew of a copy. But if there was a copy somewhere, they might find a reference to it here.
"Rowena's memories are pretty clear," said Hermione, but she knew that the purebloods would claim they were memory charmed as well as Harriet did.
Somehow, Harriet doubted they would find those chronicles any time soon.
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The school year led into spring and towards summer. Despite all their discoveries, Remus had decided that they had crammed more than enough discoveries into their paper. It had been completely rewritten to reflect their discoveries about Slytherin. But Remus had been insistent; they needed to concentrate on their coursework for other classes.
Umbridge hadn't made any moves, which suggested to Harriet that she just wanted to keep an eye on Dumbledore. Well Harriet wasn't sure what good that would do, but she supposed that if that was what Umbridge was doing, it was working well for her.
Harriet had to admit that she had been neglecting her other friends. Parvati and Lavender didn't mind. Harriet and Hermione had dropped enough hints that Parvati and Lavender knew that the project was important.
Ron felt left out, though. Harriet had explained what they were doing, and Ron had admitted it was important, but he clearly wanted to spend more time with Harriet. When Harriet had brought it up to the other girls, Hermione had just gone "Hmph," while Parvati and Lavender had all started grinning like idiots. Harriet didn't have any idea about what that was about, but Harriet had made a conscious effort to spend more time with Ron. He apparently had noticed, as he'd stopped complaining.
Still the whole thing was quite odd. Harriet had to admit that Ron was acting very strangely. The idea that Ron might potentially have some sort of crush on her never crossed her mind.
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Barty Crouch Jr. was feeling far safer now that Umbridge was ensconced on the Board of Governors. If she detected even the slightest move against Crouch, she'd be able to come down on Dumbledore like a sack of bricks. Now he just had to begin to figure out how to find the Dark Lord, and things would be moving in the right direction again.
So when he passed a news stand in the Ministry, he wasn't at all prepared for the headline of "Harriet Potter's Discoveries: The TRUE Secrets of Salazar Slytherin."
That could not be good. Anything Harriet Potter discovered about Slytherin would be a disaster. Hastily Crouch paid for a copy of the Prophet. He'd have one at home, but he didn't want to wait. He quickly read the article. Rowena Ravenclaw's study. Taken from her own memories. Published in a peer reviewed journal. This was a disaster! It would devastate support for pureblood supremacism, especially among the less wealthy families.
Barty made a beeline for Dolores Umbridge's office. She would probably be in right now. And he was correct.
"Did you see the Prophet?" asked Dolores angrily.
"I did," said Barty as he began to pace up and down the room.
"Something needs to be done," said Umbridge, "I could put more pressure on Dumbledore, try to force a retraction…"
"Won't work," said Crouch dismissively, "This is an issue of academic freedom, and anyway, the cat's already out of the bag. You do anything now and it just looks like you're being vindictive."
"It could prevent future situations," said Umbridge.
"No, if I'm going to burn you, I want to get some satisfaction out of it," said Crouch, "I want you to make Harriet Potter pay for this."
"Actually, most of the work was done by her friend, Hermione Granger," said Umbridge.
Crouch's mind snapped. A MUDBLOOD had done this to the name of Salazar Slytherin! Unforgivable!
"Dolores," said Crouch, "I know exactly what we are going to do. You will execute my plan precisely. And then, once you are done, you will make that mudblood scream. If anyone interferes, deal with them, then finish with the mudblood. Do this, and you will be rewarded."
Umbridge grinned.
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In mid May, Umbridge asked for permission to do a full survey of the grounds of Hogwarts. According to her, a full survey had not been done for over a century. She successfully argued in front of the Board of Governors that they needed to make certain that the castle was structurally sound, especially given the attack on Hufflepuff house in 1991. The entire thing had seemed reasonable, so it had passed. And the Minister had granted her access to all the Ministry restricted areas near the Atlantean keystone. It all seemed very above board.
The problem was that Sirius didn't believe a word of it. Umbridge was up to something.
Going to Barty would be worse than useless. So Sirius decided that he would go to the source. Umbridge herself. He wasn't sure if it would do any good, but he had to try. At the very least he'd be able to warn Umbridge that he had his eye on her.
The first thing he noticed when he entered her office was the clutter. Which was suspicious in itself. By all accounts Umbridge cared about appearances more than most people.
"Mister Black, how can I help you?" asked Umbridge in her characteristic condescendingly polite tone.
"I was just a bit worried about what you have planned for your inspection of Hogwarts," said Sirius, "I just want to make sure that everything is all right. There isn't any immediate danger, is there?"
"Oh no, of course not," said Umbridge, "Still, Hogwarts Castle is very old. No reason to not be cautious. I will be bringing in some experts to ensure things are inspected properly."
That set off all sorts of alarm bells in Sirius' head. She hadn't mentioned these experts before.
"I hadn't heard that," said Sirius.
"Oh, I have already given a list of who will be allowed in to the Board of Governors," said Umbridge.
Sirius nodded, mentally making a note to check with Griselda for a copy of that list. Fudge would be able to run it past his records, and hopefully they could get an idea of what Umbridge was trying to do.
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Fudge indeed had an idea of what was going on.
"They're all foreigners," he said.
It had taken Fudge some time to round up all the information. It was now early June and Umbridge and her people were scheduled to begin work tonight, after the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match.
"All of them?" asked Sirius.
"Every last one of them came through the international floo," said Fudge, "I could ask the Department of Magical Cooperation for more information…"
"No, don't!" said Sirius, a little abruptly.
Fudge gave Sirius a strange look. "Something I should know, Sirius?"
"You remember how you remarked that Barty Jr. was always talking to Lucius Malfoy?" asked Sirius.
"He stopped," said Fudge, "they seem extremely at odds now."
"That makes sense, since Barty is largely responsible for how out of control the whole thing with the Chamber went," noted Sirius, "But Barty Jr. was a Death Eater. A fanatical one."
"You're sure?" asked Fudge as he waited for affirmation from Sirius.
"Lucius' house elf confirmed it," said Sirius.
"Which means you don't have legal proof," said Fudge.
"In any case, if I'm worried about Umbridge, I can't go to the Department of International Magical Cooperation. It's run by Barty Crouch Jr.," said Sirius, "Gonna have to back channel this one, it looks like."
"If the Minister finds out he isn't going to like that," said Fudge.
"He doesn't like anything I do these days," said Sirius, "Don't worry, I'm not going to actually ask for anything material. Just ask if they can look at our list of names."
"You might try Henri Delacour," said Fudge, "He's always been willing to buck convention. That wife of his for example…"
Sirius grinned. Apolline Delacour was in fact a very unconventional choice of wife for such a high ranking member of the French Ministry. Henri might be perfect.
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Harriet raced against Cho Chang as they both made their way toward the Snitch. The match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been ferocious and neither side was letting up. A bludger swung by Harriet's head and barely missed Cho as well. And the Snitch was gone.
Harriet swore. She'd had the lead there! Now she'd have to find the snitch again.
Harriet shook her head. The last few weeks had been tough, with final exams and all, but with Hermione's help studying, she thought she'd done all right. Ron had tried to get them to help him, but he hadn't really been willing to keep up with their pace. Harriet had given Ron some advice, but he'd been a bit disappointed that she hadn't studied with him. Well Harriet wasn't going to put her own grades on the line just because Ron couldn't be bothered to put in the effort.
Umbridge had been strangely quiet. But apparently tonight she was pulling in a bunch of contractors to evaluate the area around the school runic array and the Atlantean Keystone. Something about that set Harriet on edge, but she couldn't quite say what.
Angelina was trying to break through the Ravenclaw defense. Suddenly the Ravenclaws were cleared out by a Bludger. The Weasley twins were suddenly flanking her as she rushed the goal. At the last second Angelina pulled up and threw the Quaffle down through the lowest ring. A perfect feint.
"90 to 70 Gryffindor!" shouted Lee Jordan.
This game was too close. The Ravenclaws had played well, but that wasn't all of it. They'd had a good gameplan, and they'd stuck to it. However it looked as if Fred and George were done playing fair. They intended to charge head on into the Ravenclaw offense.
"And that's what they want us to do!" said Harriet suddenly. Cho was close enough to hear that and frown. She had to realise that Harriet had discovered the Ravenclaw gameplan. But what to do about it. Harriet had one chance, she closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated. She concentrated really hard. Clearing her mind entirely she pulled up and began flying as high as she could. When she reached what felt like an appropriate height, she opened her eyes and began circling down towards the pitch. Clearing her eyes and mind had.
And for a moment she thought she had wasted her time. But then she saw it. The snitch, flying on an isolated corner of the pitch, close to the Hufflepuff stands, close to the ground. No one would look for it there.
Harriet flew down, trying to look dejected, as if her ploy had failed. Cho seemed suspicious, which meant Harriet would have to look away soon. Which might mean she would lose the snitch again. Unless…
Harriet pointed her broom straight at the ground directly below her and accelerated to maximum, while keeping her eyes on the snitch. It had to look as if she had seen the snitch below her. But then Cho looked at her eyes. And she shook her head.
Cho thought she was doing a Wronski Feint, and was doing it poorly. The main rule of a Wronski feint was that you had to keep your eyes on the ground until the last second. If you looked away it would reveal that you weren't actually following the snitch.
But Harriet wasn't doing a Wronski feint. She was just shedding the height between her and the level of the snitch. And with each second, Cho was now moving away from the snitch. Harriet pulled up, long before it would have been a completed Wronski Feint. Cho would assume that Harriet knew that Cho wasn't falling for the maneuver. But instead Harriet was now on a direct line for the snitch.
To Cho's credit, when she turned back and saw Harriet flying as straight as an arrow she knew she had been played. But it was far too late. Harriet flew in and snagged the snitch with ease.
"Harriet Potter has caught the Snitch, Gryffindor wins the Quidditch cup!" shouted Lee.
Cho flew by. "Nice flying Potter, you fooled me,"
Harriet beamed.
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Sirius stared at the Floo in Fudge's office as Fudge came back into the room.
"Are we secure?" asked Sirius.
"On this end? Absolutely. The other end is in France, so I can't guarantee anything there," answered Fudge.
"France has a decentralized system, don't they?" asked Sirius.
"Yes," said Fudge, "it's better really. But all of our Ministry's functions are tied to the Keystone at Hogwarts. They are hard to attack from outside, but easy to undermine from within because of single failure points."
Sirius nodded. This was why Magical Britain had been so resilient through the war with Grindelwald. The wards couldn't be attacked from without, not unless you used overwhelming power.
Sirius grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it on the fire. "Henri Delacour, France," he said.
It took a moment, but Henri's head appeared in the fire. "Ah, Sirius Black. It has been a long time. My assistant said you would be contacting me."
"Henri, it is good to see you," said Sirius, "Sorry for the irregularities, but I needed to speak to you about something, and I didn't want the Department of Magical Cooperation listening in."
"Oh?" asked Henri.
"Can I send him a list through the fire?" asked Sirius, "or do I have to read it aloud?"
"Sending the list, so long as it is just the list, is legal," said Fudge, "though it is a bit improper."
Henri laughed, "This is already improper! What is a little more?"
Sirius dropped the list into the floo. "This is a list of names. If you could check it out for me, I would be grateful."
"Oui, oui, I will see if it…," said Henri before suddenly quieting, "Hold on, is this a joke? This is the same list we sent your Department of International Magical Cooperation two and a half weeks ago. They made this public at our behest."
Sirius gave Fudge a worried frown. "They didn't release this list at all. I got this list from someone who had hired all of these men."
"Merde! You have a problem in your Department of Magical Cooperation then," said Henri, "We told them that all these men were associated with Karkaroff, entered France, and then disappeared."
Sirius grunted. Karkaroff had been a fugitive since the war. He'd been recruiting soldiers for Voldemort in other countries when the war ended. He had kept it up since the war, making Karkaroff's network a dangerous source of pro Death Eater unrest ever since the war.
"These men are Karkaroff's?" asked Sirius, a knot forming in his chest, "Thank you for this information, I have to go immediately."
Sirius dismissed the floo call, then grabbed another handful of Floo powder and threw 8y into the floo. "Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts," said Sirius.
"Ah Sirius," said Dumbledore, "To what do I owe…"
"Umbridge's men work for Karkaroff," interrupted Sirius, "All of them. They are Death Eater sympathizers. You need to remove them from the school immediately."
Dumbledore seemed shocked, but he regained his composure quickly. "Of course. I will gather the teachers."
Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. Dumbledore could certainly handle this with all the teachers of Hogwarts at his back.
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Dumbledore led the staff (aside from Trelawney (who was quite useless in most situations), Madam Pomfrey (who wasn't a fighter), Filch (who was a squib), and Madam Hooch (who had left after the presentation of the Quidditch cup), down into the dungeons. The entrance to the Keystone Chamber was down here. Umbridge had taken all of her people in there, which implied that it was a large space. Dumbledore had actually never been inside.
The teachers all seemed confident. All except Morgan. Morgan seemed extremely worried. Dumbledore wanted to get her opinion, but he wasn't sure there was time.
Taking the passage down, Dumbledore led the staff down the narrow path into the Keystone room. The door was open. Dumbledore walked right into the room, and Morgan followed, as well as the other teachers.
The room was huge! It was a natural cavern, the floor of which had to be descended to by a stone staircase and was at least three metres below the entrance. The school runestones were all arranged around the Keystone, using it as a focus. But the Runestones were arranged in a Henge! This predated the Norse invasion of Britain, it might predate the Atlantean Diaspora! This was old, old magic.
Umbridge's goons were all assembled around the Keystone, and Umbridge herself was standing over it, wearing a glove on her right hand. The glove was covered in runes.
Morgan gasped when she saw the glove. "We need to retreat and call in reinforcements from the Ministry, now," said Morgan.
"Why?" asked McGonagall, "We have the advantage here."
"That glove is designed to allow the user to directly interface with the wards set on the keystone," said Morgan urgently, "It effectively allows Umbridge the ability to use the keystone as a magical reservoir. It removes the limit of her magical capacity! She can cast as many spells as quickly as she wants!"
"That isn't possible!" said Snape.
"It very much is," said Morgan.
Dumbledore was inclined to listen to Morgan, but that was when Hagrid entered the cavern.
"All right, let's get 'er," said the giant man as he marched down the stone stairs.
"Hagrid, No!" shouted Morgan. That finally attracted Umbridge's attention.
"A little early, but no matter," said Umbridge eagerly, "Keep them off me!"
And she waved her wand once. The door to the cavern suddenly sealed itself. Then Umbridge turned to meet the charging Hagrid. She cast a single spell and Hagrid stopped in his tracks.
"The glove is the key to stopping her!" yelled Morgan, who then disillusioned herself.
Umbridge cast spells unbelievably fast. Dumbledore had never seen anything like it. Sinestra, Babbling, Burbage and Kettleburn were all disabled in seconds. Umbridge's goons moved to keep anyone from hiding behind the runestones.
Pomona, Remus and Filius all moved forward in a group, shielding each other. This slowed down Umbridge and gave them a moment of respite. Suddenly a surge of power came out from the keystone. It knocked all the teachers back a bit, but it also revealed Morgan, who had also managed to get close to the runestones. She leapt away, and in mid air turned into a raven. This seemed to give McGonagall an idea, as she also transformed into her cat form.
Umbridge had started a furious barrage of spells at the trio advancing on her in a group. Her wand was like a machine gun. It was inevitable that one of them would make a mistake. It was Pomona, and Remus was immobilized for her error. Suddenly Filius and Pomona were fighting for their lives. Pomona went down after several seconds. For ten more seconds Filius put up a brutal defense, but the skilled former dueling champion was finally frozen in place by Umbridge's relentless magic.
Dumbledore tried to advance himself, but was suddenly swarmed by Umbridge's men. He quickly began dispatching them with stunners, but it took him time, and he was running out of allies.
A small scuffling sound from the edge of the arena drew Umbridge's attention. Professor Vector had been trying to sneak behind Umbridge. Umbridge zapped her, then scanned the other side. She saw Snape there and began a short but furious battle that ended with him immobilized as well.
But the distraction proved to be useful as she was holding her gloved hand behind her. McGonagall leapt up to where Umbridge was standing and transformed back into her human form. She grabbed the glove and pulled it off of Umbridge's hand with a single move.
Umbridge stared at McGonagall in horror for a moment. Then suddenly she grinned viciously as she continued firing her spells at McGonagall at that insane speed. Somehow, Umbridge still had some reserve of power built up from when she had been wearing the glove. McGonagall was frozen in place.
Umbridge reached out to recover the glove. But Morgan transformed right behind her. " Annihilate!" screamed Morgan as she pointed her wand. It was Morgan's anti-magic spell!
But not at Umbridge. At the glove. The runes on the glove all cracked as all magic in them was obliterated.
Umbridge screamed in rage as she turned her wand on Morgan. Morgan tried to summon a shield of some sort, but she was too late. She was immobilized almost immediately. Dumbledore on the other hand had just finished stunning the last of Umbridge's men. He summoned all of his power into a shield. Not a spell, but a powerful sorcery.
Umbridge's spells assailed his shield, but for many seconds it held. It was far more powerful than any shield Umbridge had ever faced before. But the level of power she was putting out was insane. Eventually, Dumbledore's shield faltered, and Umbridge's spells struck home. And suddenly Dumbeldore himself was immobilized.
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Umbridge breathed heavily as she surveyed the room. She had done it! She'd have to enervate her men, but she had done it. Hogwarts, at least for the moment, now belonged to Dolores Umbridge.
Author's Note:That final scene is where I finally showed my hand. Some of the magic in this world will be empowered to ridiculous levels, and this is just a taste. Remember, Umbridge isn't particularly competent with combat magic, and she just did that. This is a harbinger of what is to come much later in the story.