Notes: I've been waiting to post this chapter for a looong time. I know many of you have been waiting for this as well. Though yeah, I couldn't post it sooner because of real life keeping both Crystal and I really busy. I was actually pretty sick during most of last week as well, which made everything even harder to deal with.

Anyways thanks to everyone that has been following this fic and special thanks to those who've been leaving feedback (I've had a bit of a hard time to keep up with some messages lately, but rest assured I really do appreciate to hear all of your opinions).

Be warned cliffhanger up ahead.

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Chapter 55: Cat's Out of the Bag

….

Harry could not understand why both Ron and Hermione currently gaped at him as if he had suddenly sprouted a second head.

"I'm serious. We need to get to the Department of Mysteries!" The teen repeated, though his two best friends just continued to stare at him. "They're torturing him. We need to save Sirius!"

"But, Harry…" Ron said weakly.

"What?" The emerald eyed teen responded with more force than he intended to. He was still shaken up by what he'd seen, and he knew he couldn't afford to waste any time.

"Harry." Hermione said, seeming a bit frightened by his attitude. "Er, just think about it. How would Voldemort get inside the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there? It's not logical."

"How should I know?" Harry bellowed. "The question is how we're going to get there."

"Harry, listen to yourself. It's five o'clock right now, the place should be full of workers, not to mention that Voldemort being there means he managed to sneak right past a building filled with Aurors." The bushy haired girl said, trying to reason with him.

"I dunno, maybe he used an Invisibility Cloak or something. Anyways, the Department of Mysteries has always been empty whenever I've been-" The irate teen began, but was cut off by Hermione.

"You've dreamed about that place, Harry. You have never truly been there." Hermione said quietly.

They are not normal dreams Hermione!" Harry nearly roared in anger. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then? How else could it be that I knew what was happening to him?"

"He's got a point." Ron added quietly.

"But it doesn't make sense. Why would Voldemort use Sirius to get to the weapon? How could he have gotten Sirius in the first place?" Hermione said in frustration. "I mean, this isn't criticism Harry, but don't you think you have a bit of a…well, a people saving thing?"

Harry stopped, only to have his anger bubble more furiously than before. Did Hermione just say he had some kind of hero complex?

"-well for instance last year…in the lake….you saved the Delacour girl even though you didn't have to….you did get a bit… carried away…" Hermione stammered nervously. "It was great of you and everything, but still. Voldemort knows you. Don't you think he might be trying to lure you?"

"So is that what you think this is? That it's just time to play hero again?" Harry cried out, anger overflowing from him. "I know it wasn't just a dream or nightmare. Voldemort's got Sirius and nobody else knows but us. If you want to stay, that's fine, but I'm going, understand? I don't recall you having a problem with my people saving thing when I was saving you from the Dementors, or when I saved Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets."

"Don't look at me, mate, I never had a problem." Ron said heatedly as the teen's angry emerald gaze landed on the redhead.

"Dumbledore told you to practice Occlumency, Harry. I'm sure it must've been for a good reason." The bushy haired girl tried to reason. "Besides, can't we at least try to contact someone from the Order first, just to be sure?"

"And how are we supposed to do that? If Umbridge wasn't keeping a close watch on the fires before, she sure is now! Besides, the only other people are a stalker that we don't even know how to contact and McGonagall, who's AT ST. MUNGO'S." Harry shouted, whatever little patience he had having long since run short. "I'M NOT GONNA STAND BY AND WATCH AS SIRIUS DIES!"

The door then suddenly opened, making everyone in the room freeze. Whipping their heads quickly at the entrance, they saw none other than a curious looking Ginny, followed closely by Luna and, much to their surprise, Zidane.

"Hi." Ginny said with uncertainty. "Is everything alright? We heard Harry's voice and… well, what exactly were you yelling about?"

"Never you mind." Harry said roughly.

"I dunno man, you were preeetty loud." Zidane said, making him then realize that he had just been shouting about Sirius being captured by Voldemort. Not only that, but he had also somewhat mentioned the Order, and while it was somewhat okay for Ginny to hear, neither Luna nor Zidane were involved in any of this.

"It's nothing." The teen replied in a harsher tone than he meant.

"Geez we just wanted to know if there was some way we could help." Ginny shot back, hands on her hips in challenge.

"I told you already-" Harry began, but was caught off by Hermione.

"Actually, there is something they could help with." The bushy haired girl began, as if plotting their next move. "There's something I need to figure out, as well."

…

What the hell did I just get myself into?

That's what Zidane wondered as he found himself being manhandled by a large brutish Slytherin that was nearly twice his size and was currently in possession of his wand. Hermione's plan to get them to guard the corridor while they used Floo Powder to contact the Order had failed spectacularly. Apparently the Toad had chosen the worst possible moment to update her security; meaning that in less than five minutes they had suddenly found themselves surrounded by Umbridge's loyal hounds and then dragged back to her office.

Admittedly, they should have really thought this through.

Once they found themselves surrounded and outmatched by Slytherins, Zidane knew that there was no way he'd be able to make an opening for Ginny and Luna to run away, at least not without getting too rough and risk blowing his cover. Even if he did manage to let them escape, there was little they could do afterwards to avoid capture. It wasn't like they could leave town until things settled down, and Umbridge already knew of the Room of Requirement so they couldn't barricade themselves in there. In the end, all he was able to do was stop the Inquisitorial Squad from getting too rough with his friends, which unfortunately didn't do much other than save him from being gagged and winning him a stinging hex to the wrist that forced him to drop his wand.

"Keep still, Longbottom." Malfoy said gloatingly as he held the normally peaceful teen at wand-point. Said teen just sent a defiant glare in his direction before moving along.

The genome sighed. It was already bad enough that they got caught, but then Neville had to show up, good intentions at hand, and then get himself captured, as well.

Still, he really wished he could go all out on the toad. He would've loved teaching the Inquisitorial Squad a lesson, but he had to remember that he was still posing as a regular student. Furthermore, he still had to remind himself that, spoilt as they may be, these guys were still fragile young wizards. He highly doubted that Dumbledore would approve of him beating them all within an inch of their lives.

'Though at least I managed to jinx Crabbe in the face.' Zidane thought somewhat smugly as he saw that the teen's face was still visibly swollen. His smugness somewhat diminished as he saw that Crabbe was holding Neville a bit too tightly for his liking.

Though, to be perfectly honest, the main reason as to why he didn't fight back was because despite a little pain, this worked almost completely in his favor. In case contacting the Order didn't work, or if Sirius really was missing, then he'd need to find a way to keep Harry and friends at bay, and though he would have preferred another way, being caught by Umbridge also worked to restrain them. It was a good thing too since, judging by Harry's still agitated look, the call hadn't gone very well.

He only went along with this plan because otherwise Harry would end up walking into what was possibly an elaborate trap. If he could contact the Order and see that everything was fine and dandy, then everything would just go back to normal. He wouldn't have to risk blowing his cover, either.

He didn't really know if Sirius was truly in any danger or not, but it all seemed too unlikely to him. The man may have been stuck in that house for a long time, long enough that sneaking out would be very tempting, but still, he highly doubted that there was a squad of Death Eaters just patiently waiting outside of Grimmauld Place at all times for Sirius to step out of the house. That was not how kidnappings worked. He'd know; he's certainly done it before.

Even in the very unlikely event that it did happen, then his duty was still to keep Harry safe, or more specifically, away from Voldemort. If Sirius really was missing, then it probably won't take very long for them to realize, and then they would still be better equipped for a rescue mission than Harry and the others were. Harry may be good at DADA, but he was still just a teen with very little experience compared to adults who'd fought wars and/or had Auror training.

"Very well, Mr. Potter…I offered you a chance to tell me freely. I have no alternative but to force you." The toad said in her sickly sweet tone. "Draco, fetch Professor Snape."

"Excuse me, Professor, but as he told you before, Professor Snape is on temporary leave." Malfoy replied, making the Toad flush angrily.

"Well he may find himself on probation when he gets back!" Umbridge snapped, her façade slowly falling apart.

Zidane just mentally cursed. If Snape wasn't here, then chances were, he was doing his spy duties. That meant that he was currently either with Voldemort or the Order, and that meant that something really was up.

Umbridge stood there looking like a spoilt child that had been denied candy. The blonde had an idea of what she wanted Snape for, since he knew from that one incident with Harry that the Toad had no qualms in using Veritaserum. Though he supposed that it was a good thing that Umbridge wouldn't get what she wanted, he couldn't help but feel like something was still quite off. He couldn't say he felt very comfortable given the strange look that was now on the Toad's face.

"Very well." The toad began as she pulled out her wand; her sugary tone of voice suddenly gone. "Very well… I am left without an alternative… this is more than a matter of school discipline… this is an issue of Ministry security… yes."

The genome suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Umbridge continued pacing back and forth, staring at Harry while beating her wand against her empty palm.

"You are forcing me, Potter. I do not want to do this." Umbridge said, and Zidane felt his uninjured hand clench, cold sweat ran down the side of his face as he considered his options.

Umbridge was obviously considering something dark. For her to hesitate meant that it went beyond anything that she would normally consider. This of course meant that it wouldn't be legal, nor even humane. If the Toad was going as far as hurting Harry, then perhaps it was time for him to act.

Freeing himself from his captor and retrieving his wand would be easy. A kick to the gut would probably be more than enough to release him. Grabbing his wand would then be just a matter of speed. He'd have to be careful of a counterattack, but he'd have the element of surprise, at least. If it came down to it, he was sure that he could take down every potential foe in the room.

"I'm sure Cornelius will understand that I had no choice." Umbridge said, though it seemed more like she was talking to herself. "The Cruciatus curse ought to loosen your tongue."

Zidane grit his teeth. Should he act? He couldn't ignore the small voice inside of him that urged him to do it; the same voice that asked him if he had perhaps taken things a bit too far. This wasn't a punishment, this was torture.

"No!" Hermione shrieked. "Professor Umbridge it-it's illegal!"

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him." The toad said, ignoring Hermione's pleas. "He never knew I ordered the 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?" Harry gasped. "You sent the Dementors after me?"

Zidane felt anger bubble from within him. It had been her fault from the beginning.

"Somebody had to act." Umbridge said before pointing her wand directly at Harry's forehead. The blonde tensed, the decision already made in his mind; if Umbridge wasn't going to pull any punches, then neither would he. "They were all bleating about discrediting you, but I was the only one that did something about it…only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you Potter? Not today though."

The blonde narrowed his eyes as the Toad took a deep breath. Bending his knees slightly, the teen felt every muscle in his body coil like a tensed spring ready to be unleashed. His heart was beating wildly in his chest while adrenaline flooded his system. This was it, the time for his counterattack. His captor had been so focused on the scene before them that his grip on him had slackened. A good thing too since it meant that he wouldn't have to waste his time on him. Clenching his fist, Zidane focused his sight on his new target; the bane of his existence, Umbridge.

"Cru-"

Zidane took it as his cue, but before he could leap into action, he was brought to a sudden halt by a shriek to his right.

"NO!" Hermione shouted, her voice cracking under the strain and her body pushing and shoving against her captor. "Harry, we have to tell her!"

The blonde felt the rush somewhat drain from his system, only to be replaced with confusion and disbelief.

"No way!" Harry yelled as he tried to make eye contact with the girl. Zidane on the other hand considered his options, his momentum from earlier suddenly gone.

"Well well well." The toad began, looking absolutely triumphant. While Hermione began sobbing quietly into her hands. "Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers. Come on then girl, come on."

"Hermione…" Zidane whispered, still in disbelief.

"Er-my-nee-no!" Ron shouted through his gag.

There were looks of betrayal from everybody in the room. Both Neville and Ginny looked at her as though they were looking at some kind of stranger, all the while Hermione continued to sob.

'Wait.' The genome thought to himself as he paid a closer look at the brunette; something feeling a bit off with her. His eyes widened slightly at what he found. Despite the sobbing, there wasn't a single tear running down her face. As she apologized to everyone, Zidane finally understood.

"That's right, girl. Now tell me, whom was Mr. Potter trying to contact?" The toad said again.

"Well, he was trying to contact Professor Dumbledore." The bushy haired girl replied.

Everyone suddenly stopped, their eyes suddenly wide as they realized what Hermione was trying to do. Umbridge didn't notice however, her attention solely focused on the crying girl before her.

"Dumbledore? You know where Dumbledore is, then?" Umbridge said, her eyes bulging as she looked at Hermione hungrily.

"We tried looking for him at the Three Broomsticks and the Hogshead in Hogsmeade, even in the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley but we couldn't find him."

"Silly girl, Dumbledore wouldn't just be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry is looking for him!" The toad said, disappointment clear from the way it sagged her face.

"B-but we needed to tell him something important." Hermione wailed as she buried her hands into her face; not out of anguish, as Zidane realized, but to hide her absence of tears. Calming down considerably, the blonde narrowed his eyes while he thought of his next move. For now, he would trust Hermione on this.

"Yes? What is it you wanted to tell him?" Umbridge said, excitement flowing from her once more. "Come on, speak!"

"W-We wanted to tell him it's r-ready." Hermione choked.

"What's ready?" The Toad demanded, grabbing the girl roughly by the shoulders.

"Hermione, stop!" Zidane said, playing along. Umbridge sent a glare in his direction before shaking the brunette once more.

"What is it?" The Toad insisted.

"The…the weapon." Hermione said and Umbridge's eyes seemed to bulge from excitement.

"The weapon? You mean to tell me you've been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could you could use on the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?" The Toad said, a disbelieving smile of her face. It was as if she had just struck gold.

"Y-Y-Yes, but he had to leave before it was finished, and now we've f-f-finished it for him and we can't even find him t-t-o tell him." Hermione sobbed.

"What kind of weapon is it?" Umbridge said, her stubby little fingers digging into the girl's shoulders.

"W-w-we don't really u-understand it. We just d-did what Professor Dumbledore t-told us to do." Hermione sniffed.

"Lead me to the weapon." Umbridge declared.

Zidane kept his features trained, but internally frowned. What exactly was Hermione trying to accomplish and where exactly was she going to lead Umbridge?

"I'm not showing them!" Hermione said as she looked around at the Slytherins through her fingers.

"It's not up to you to set the conditions." Umbridge shot back.

"Yeah Hermione, if she wants to bring them, just let her. It'll be her loss if they turn on her. Let's see how loyal the Inquisitorial Squad is when it has the weapon at their disposal." Zidane followed along, but then winced as the large Slytherin that held him tightened his grip. He figured that whatever plan Hermione had hatched, she needed Umbridge isolated from the Inquisitorial Squad.

"Quiet you filthy half-breed." Umbridge called out, though her words betrayed her. His words had clearly struck home, judging by the way she was now gazing swiftly and suspiciously at the members of her squad. Her buldging eyes then landed on Malfoy who, unfortunately, was too slow to mask the eager look on his face.

The woman stood in silence for a moment as if contemplating her options, before speaking in what she probably thought was a motherly voice. An act that was hard to taken in given the way she'd snapped only seconds ago.

"All right dear, let's just make it you and me…and we'll take Potter too, shall we? Get up now."

Zidane suddenly panicked. He trusted Hermione when it came to avoiding rash decisions, but what about Harry? What if something happened to the teen while he was off with Hermione and Umbridge? What would happen if Hermione's plan succeeded, would Harry go to the Ministry after all? He couldn't allow that to happen.

"Hold on, wouldn't you rather have me go instead? Harry can be so temperamental at times." Zidane bluffed quickly, though unfortunately, it didn't come out as convincing as he initially thought.

"I think I will take my chances with Potter, thank you very much." Umbridge said as she turned around to look at him once more, a smile adorning her face. "In fact, Mr. Montague, I would advise that you be very careful with Mr. Tribal."

The gorilla-like Slytherin that was holding him captive looked up at Umbridge and gave her a nod.

"Allow me to help." The evil woman said as she pointed her wand at the blonde. "Incarcerous!"

Ropes sprung from the Toad´s wand and then quickly began to constrict painfully around his arms and legs before disconnecting from Umbridge's wand. Montague, of course, had moved away from the spell just in time to avoid getting hit. Zidane grunted as one of the ropes squeezed his still-injured hand.

"Mmm-hmm!" Neville called out through his gag before being forcefully silenced by Crabbe.

"Don't even think for a second, Mr. Tribal that someone such as myself would be so easily mislead by someone of your inferior breeding." Umbridge advanced upon him and then whispered harshly, any trails of her sickly sweet tone gone.

Turning back to look at Harry and Hermione, her wand still carefully trained on them both, the Toad spoke once more, as if nothing has happened. "Now then, you two can go ahead and show me the way. Come then, lead on."

There was a loud slam of the door as Umbridge and the two teens exited the room, leaving behind a long uncomfortable silence.

Zidane sighed as he tested out the strength of the ropes that held him. Around him, the Slytherins had broken out into a conversation to decide what they were supposed to do now, with his remaining friends occasionally struggling against their captors in vain.

"What exactly are we supposed to do, just wait until Umbridge gets back? Ow!" Pansy Parkinson said, before wincing as Ginny managed to kick her in the shin.

"Stop complaining." Another teen said, this one Zidane didn't recognize.

"Yeah, just because you got Looney Lovegood." Pansy replied, making Zidane realize that Luna was the only one that wasn't actively struggling.

'Huh.' Zidane thought before quickly shaking his head. He needed to find a way to escape from this situation, find Harry, and stop him from doing something stupid.

"Maybe we should hand them over to Filch." One of the Slytherins suggested.

"I dunno, he was supposed to be busy with Peeves, already. Besides, we wouldn't want them to get away." Another one argued.

"How would they do that? We've got their wands." Pansy replied.

The blonde listened to the snakes argue as he attempted to undo the spell that bound him. Unfortunately by the looks of it, he'd have to heal his hand first, since the more he struggled the more it seemed to constrict him, and thus hurting his already injured hand. Luckily, he still had an ace up his sleeve. Umbridge had aimed for his arms and legs so as to immobilize him, but she still had no idea that he had one very prehensile tail. Getting it out would not be a problem since it was currently invisible. His biggest problem would be trying to heal his hand without drawing any attention to himself. The dim glow would be pretty hard to notice, but Montague was currently standing behind him, and thus, would have no problem seeing everything. There was a chance that he'd overlook it, but he didn't want to take that risk at this point.

"You know, seeing this makes me feel a bit of disappointment in Slytherin house. I know cunning doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with being smart, but I honestly didn't expect you'd all be a bunch of idiots." Zidane began nonchalantly. Every Slytherin in the room suddenly turned their eyes on him, even his friends just looked at him as if he'd just gone crazy.

The blonde gave a grunt as he found himself suddenly picked up and pinned against a wall by the large Slytherin that had held him captive, the back of his head colliding painfully on the rock-hard surface. Cyan eyes opened to see Malfoy stand next to his captor.

"Mmmhm!" Neville tried to speak in outrage through his gag. The genome just gave him a reassuring look to tell him that he was fine.

"What did you say? Are you even aware of the situation you're in, Tribal?" Malfoy said, a half angry-half mocking look on his face.

"I dunno, are you?" Zidane said, giving a lopsided smile. Concentrating on his magic, the teen quickly cast Cure over his hand, an overflowing sense of warmth and relief washing over him as the pain began to slowly disappear.

With his back to the wall like this and the large Slytherin standing in from of him, the only ones that could catch sight of the spell's glow would be Malfoy and his captor, Montague. Of course, they were both too busy glaring at him to notice.

"I'm serious. Is this really the path you want to take? Just taking orders from some psychopath until you croak?" The teen continued, and judging by the looks of surprise he had gotten, he had apparently struck home. Many of the Slytherins had caught on to the fact that he wasn't even talking about Umbridge anymore.

"And what the bloody hell do you think you know about us, Tribal?" Malfoy answered, anger clear, and something else on his face.

"I know that everyone has the choice to do what they think is right. I mean, don't tell me you honestly believe in all that bullcrap that comes out of Umbridge's mouth." The genome replied as he felt the swelling of his hand decrease. 'Just a bit more, come on!'

The teen mentally smiled as he was answered with silence.

"Let's be honest, you guys must be just as fed up with the Toad as we are. Sure she gave you power, but at the end of the day, is it really worth it? Having three-fourths of the school hate you? And for what, ministry positions, perhaps some future contacts?" Zidane said, internally cheering after flexing his hand and feeling no lingering pain.

"You think we'd be such simpletons to only be content with just that? Do you honestly think we are just doing this for ourselves?" Malfoy said, sneering at him.

"Well, can you honestly go to bed at night feeling proud of what you're doing?" Zidane replied with a bit less humor. "Forget about your family name, in fact, forget about everyone else. Are you happy with what you are doing?" The blonde asked once more as he began to slowly gather magic into himself.

"This is just the means to an end, why would it matter if I'm happy with it or not?" The blonde Slytherin replied again, though the genome was quick to notice his somewhat subdued tone. The genome mentally grinned, the spell almost ready to be unleashed.

"Well then, let me ask you guys this: if I were to offer you to join us, forget the Inquisitorial Squad and everything, and just help us kick Umbridge out, would you guys join us? Can you honestly continue what you guys are doing without any regrets?" The cyan-eyed teen asked with honesty. It was definitely a question that took everyone by surprise. Ron, Neville, Ginny, and even Luna were giving him shocked looks.

There was a moment of silent communication where the Slytherins looked at one another. Then, as if chosen as representative, Malfoy spoke up. "You've got to be joking. Why should we regret what we're doing? Why should we help you? Give us a chance? Ha! It's you who should be begging us to let you go!"

"Alright then." Zidane said with a shrug. "Then in that case I won't regret having to do THIS!"

Releasing all the stored magic in the form of dispel, the ropes constricting the genome were suddenly torn apart, as if cut with invisible swords. There were looks and cries of shock, but Zidane didn't give them the chance to act. Using the back of the wall as leverage the teen propelled himself forward, knocking his large captor mercilessly into the ground. Without hesitating, the genome then quickly reached into the larger teen's pocket and took back his wand. He felt the magic in the air behind him shift, making Zidane quickly turn around and see Malfoy drawing his wand on him. Following his instincts, the blonde moved his tail in a quick whip like motion that struck Malfoy's wand right out of his hand and then used the momentum of his turn to punch the teen in the gut, his determined cyan eyes meeting surprised and fearful-looking silver ones.

Malfoy fell to the floor, breathless, while the genome jumped quickly to the side to avoid an incoming jet of red light that hit one of Umbridge's mewling kitten plates instead. Wincing at the sound of shattering china, the genome then dodged to the side and closed in on Crabbe, who had let go of Neville to grab hold of his wand instead. A sickly yellow colored jet of light shot out of the Slytherin's wand, which Zidane deflected with a spell of his own. Then, dashing quickly to his opponent, the blonde delivered a strong kick to his opponent's leg that made the larger Slytherin tumble down. Beside him, Neville managed to remove his gag and then take back his stolen wand, his hands shaking slightly given the current situation.

A barrage of spells then shot off towards them, making Zidane quickly drag Neville behind the Toad's lace covered desk. The desk seemingly exploded, releasing a cloud of smoke and splinters all over the room. The blonde briefly wondered what the Toad kept in her desk to be responsible for such a cloud of smoke, but then he remembered that Umbridge still kept several confiscated Weasley products stashed there. Whatever the case, he would take it as a blessing in disguise.

"Neville, cover me." The blonde managed to say before jumping on the remains of the desk and then leaping towards his opponents.

"What, are you joking? Zidane!" Neville shouted out, still in shock.

There were six Slytherins left, Malfoy, Crabbe and his own captor who hadn't recovered from the assault just yet. Three of the Slytherins were still holding Ron, Ginny, and Luna, while the other three were probably the ones attacking. The blonde sighed. He would have preferred attacking from afar, but due to the close proximity, that would probably harm Ron and the others.

Taking advantage of the cloud of smoke still lingering in the air, the genome attacked, his movements swift and precise as he dashed towards the largest of the attackers, dodged the incoming spells, and then tripped him, the momentum allowing him to use the much larger teen as a meat shield. Two jinxes hit the teen, effectively knocking him out. Moving to his next target, a blonde girl with curls, Zidane quickly blocked her attack, and then slapped her wrist with his tail to make her release her hold on the wand. A swift point blank stupefy was more than enough to knock her out, the gentleman inside of him stopping him from using brute force on a lady.

"Zidane!" Neville's voice called out to him. Turning to look at what was wrong, the teen saw a jet of red light fly past him and knock out the remaining Slytherin that had apparently been trying to go for a sneak attack.

Driven by panic, Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode, and Pansy, all let go of their captives and tried to make a break for it, but were unable to do so as stunning jinxes were suddenly sailing right towards them, some coming from Zidane and Neville, while others surprisingly came from the former captives who'd quickly picked up some of the discarded wands. By the time it was finally over, Umbridge's office was in pieces, with green clad unconscious bodies littering the ground. The remaining Gryffindors, plus Ravenclaw, all stood still, shaking and disbelieving what they had just witnessed.

"Bloody hell mate. That was … scary…brilliant, but scary." Ron said as he patted the blonde on the shoulder.

Zidane panted slightly from the exertion. "Just help me tie these guys up before they wake up. I'd rather not have to go over this again."

"How did you…" Neville began, his brow furrowed in thought, but then shook his head. "Nevermind."

"Let's just hurry and finish this so we can go find Harry and Hermione." Ginny scolded as she recovered her own wand from Pansy's unconscious body.

"Where do you think Hermione led them?" Neville asked.

"Actually, I might have an idea." Ron said, looking just as surprised as everyone else.

….

Hermione ran as fast as her legs could take her, Harry running along right beside her. Her hair was a bushy mess while her clothes and even the remains of her schoolbag were in tatters. Several small cuts littered her skin from having to traverse the Forbidden Forest´s wilderness. Behind her, a cacophony of hoof beats, shouts, and roars echoed through the trees. Surprisingly, she could still make out Umbridge's shrill voice shouting at the top of her lungs.

She'd though that by luring Umbridge into the forest and presenting her to the centaurs, they might just be able to draw her off for them. She knew centaurs didn't attack teens on account that they would still be considered foals to them. Unfortunately, though they had taken Umbridge along with them, they had not been all that kind as she expected them to be. In fact, she had miscalculated just how angry those same centaurs were. It was partially because of her poor choice of wording, that they decided to turn on them, but luckily, they had been saved by Grawp in the last moment, who apparently had gotten loose some time ago in an attempt to find Hagrid.

And so, injured and wandless, the two had quickly decided to head back to the castle to then figure things out. They were almost reaching the edge of the forest when they heard a voice in the distance.

"Oi! Over here!" The two teens stopped as they saw a mop of unmistakable red hair in the distance. "I found them!"

It was Ron, the redhead looking a lot better than they currently were. He was shortly followed by Neville, Zidane, Ginny, and Luna.

"Here." The redhead said, giving each one of them their wands back.

"How did you get away?" Harry asked in amazement. Hermione wondered that as well.

"You should have seen it. It was bloody amazing. Zidane broke free of Umbridge's spell, then took almost all of the Slytherins down. He punched Malfoy in the stomach. The Toad will have a fit when she sees her office, mate. Where is she by the way?"

"She got taken away by a herd of centaurs. We would've been taken away too if it weren't for Grawp." Harry replied, looking at Zidane in surprise. Hermione could hardly blame him. She still had trouble believing that the short blonde before her was capable of such a feat.

There was something about it that tugged at her. Like some vital piece of information that she was missing.

"Who is Grawp?" Luna asked.

"Hagrid's little brother." Harry replied, but then winced. Hermione realized then that it was likely his scar bothering him again. "Anyways, we've wasted too much time. Sirius wasn't in Grimmauld Place, meaning Voldemort probably has him. I'm sure that he's still alive, but I don't know for how long it's going to stay that way."

"So we need to fly, won't we?" Luna said in the most matter-of-fact voice Hermione had ever heard from the girl.

"Okay, first of all, we aren't doing anything if you include yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broom not being guarded by a security troll so-" Harry began, but was surprisingly cut off by Zidane.

"Actually Harry…" The blonde began, scratching the back of his head. "I think that having you go to the Ministry is an awful idea."

The blonde was met with silence. Hermione too couldn't believe it. Zidane was usually the one in favor of doing such dangerous stunts.

"Are you serious? We already went over this. We even checked using Floo. Sirius isn't there, he needs our help!" Harry began, his temper rising.

The blonde foreigner put up both hands in a sign of surrender, an uneasy smile on his face. "Just hear me out, will you? I don't think we should just barge into the Ministry like this."

"You just singlehandedly took down like, almost the entire Inquisitorial Squad, you aren't getting cold feet now, are you?" Ron said in disbelief.

"Zidane, are you alright?" Neville asked in concern.

"I'm fine, it's just that I really don't think we should be going there." The blonde replied.

"Well you can just stay then, I need to go save Sirius." Harry nearly yelled.

Hermione just tuned them out in favor of rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was starting to get a headache.

"Hermione." The brunette turned around as she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Ginny, who was holding out something to her. It looked like a thick stack of parchment, though trampled on and nearly unrecognizable under the layer of dirt and dead leaves that now covered it. "Is this yours? I think you dropped it."

Judging by the sorry state of her bag, it honestly wouldn't surprise her.

"Right, thanks Ginny." The bushy haired girl said with a sigh as she took a closer look, behind her the argument still seemed to rage on. Upon closer inspection, Hermione realized that it was rather thick and that, in fact, it was a folder.

Opening the folder with no little amount of curiosity, the brunette looked over the first sheet of parchment inside, her eyes skipping over the words of what appeared to be a letter.

'What? This is-!' Hermione though in shock, before letting out a small cry and grasping her head in pain.

"Hermione!" Ginny called out, making the arguing males suddenly stop.

The pain was like that of a migraine threatening to split her head open, as if being struck by a muggle sledgehammer. Images crossed her vision of glowing eyes and a dark corridor; events that she held no recognition for.

And then suddenly, it all came back to her at once.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

...

To be continued…

…

A/N: For added effect listen to Renegade by Styx after reading the end of this chapter.

This one goes to all of you were actually wondering when the whole envelope thing would become relevant once again.

(For those of you who forgot what it was about please refer to Chapter 40)