One week after the mysterious disappearance of Dolores Umbridge, Ministry Undersecretary, the following article appeared in The Sunday Prophet:

MYSTERIOUS VANISHING OF UNDERSECRETARY UMBRIDGE

By Rita Skeeter

It's been a week since Dolores Umbridge's disappearance and it still remains a mystery. The Ministry hasn't pronounced itself yet over the incident. Umbridge's is the third Ministry employee to disappear in the last two years. The other two, Bertha Jorkins and Bartemius Crouch, haven't been found yet. Many people fear that He Who Must Not Be Named might be capturing Ministry employees to try and get some information about the Ministry's measures to stop a new rising to power of the Dark Lord.

No one has confirmed it yet, but there are rumours that the Ministry plans to put a tracking spell on all its employees. This measure, which should help protect the employees, has already raised protests all over the country, as many people consider that it would violate the right of the Ministry employees to their privacy.

Dolores Umbridge, 39, single, has been Undersecretary for the last 5 years and last year was also Hogwarts Headmaster and High Inquisitor for a few months. Umbridge had many followers and detractors for her controversial measures to control magical creatures, especially werewolves.

Some sources who prefer to remain unknown pointed to the possibility that Umbridge, tired of her stressing life, would have run off with a lover, but all who knew her reject this idea as absurd and even laugh at it. Who could ever fall in love with a woman like Dolores Umbridge?

*****

AN: First of all, Happy New Year to everybody. :-)

Well, we've finally reached the end of this short fic! I finished the story some days ago, but I've been from home and didn't have a minute to post it, sorry about that.

Thanks all for your reviews. Time to answer them!

James Jago: No, no, dear! Filch at least is completely human and likes cats. I hope it didn't disappoint you that it was Bane, I think he is quite 'unfriendly' enough in the books. ;-)

PhoenixedIce: Thanks for your reviews and for the correction! I'm glad you have enjoyed the story so far. I hope you've gone on reading and the rest didn't disappoint you.

fantine2: Thanks! I hope you liked the meeting with Lonely Soul. :D

Aarie Granger: Thanks for your reviews! No, the little scene with Lupin was intended to put you off track, although I didn't really expect the readers to realise who Umbridge's mysterious lover was. :D The chapter at Madam Malkin's has also another aim: make Umbridge even more laughable. ;-) I hope you enjoyed the rest of the story too.

LizSnape: As you can see, Lonely Soul is not an OC, although I'm sure it was an unexpected character, even for Umbridge herself! :D Well, Lupin appears in the story, but it was only to put you all off the right track. ;-)

Sabriel: Right! I hope you enjoyed the Chocolate frogs.

Jenniferj: Thanks! I like to see things from a humorous point of view whenever I can.

aya_mikage8: Well, it was really difficult, so don't worry for not finding it out. I hope you enjoyed the story anyway.

beenieweenie: Good try with Voldemort and Flitwick, but it was Pettigrew. Remember when he says 'If you need a loyal friend...'? It was ironically meant, of course! Then Mickey Mouse is a mouse, and Pettigrew can turn into a rat, which is very similar. Dolores' description of herself is very ironical too, that's the reason it didn't match with Rowling's. And then, you must take into account that she is describing herself, and we all tend to love ourselves a little bit too much, don't we? ;-)

the counter: I don't know about the 12 Romances, sorry. I agree with you that a review must not necessarily be a compliment, but it should be a constructive criticism, something that can help the writer improve his or her writing, not a complain about his or her choices, because we are all free to imagine whatever we want.

ladyknight30: Thanks for your reviews! I'm glad you like my two fics, because they are very different from each other and I was afraid I might loose some loyal readers. ;-) As you might have deduced from the end of this fic, I hate Umbridge too. :D

scalyskin: Thanks for your support, I agree with you. The suggestion of a Pettigrew/Lavender pairing almost made me sick, though. :D Let me know if you write something about them, I'll be sure to read it. ;-)

amy: Very well! I hope you liked the rest of the fic.

Allyrien Chantel de Montreve: I'm glad you laughed with the first chapters. I hope the rest were at least as funny. And no! Mickey Mouse was Pettigrew, not Flitwick, although you are not the only one to have thought it was the Charms Professor. ;-)

SassyBird: Thanks a lot for your kind words. I really think that some fics tend to be very similar to others, so I try to write more 'crazy' stories, if you want. I have a couple of ideas, which should be funny, but I want to finish my other fic first. ;-)

HoshikoUsagi: Thanks a lot for your encouraging words. I think the characters can vary a lot depending on the point of view of the speaker. Even in real life, we might dislike someone a lot, but that someone will probably still have friends and other people who like him or her. And that's good, I think.

Kuh-Ris: Maybe I didn't make myself clear in my initial AN. It's not that I expect reviews to be nice and positive. I've often gotten reviews with suggestions and corrections -English is not my mother tongue after all-, and they are always welcome, as far as they are constructive. Just criticising the choice of partners in a story doesn't help the writer improve his or her skills, it just shows that the reviewer doesn't like the premises of the story, and thus, he or she should stop reading and change to another fic. If you were to write a fic starring Harry and Ginny and I reviewed it to tell you that I don't like Harry and Ginny as a couple, would I be helping you in any way? I don't think so, that's what I meant. But after all, IhateCho's review was very positive, since it inspired this short fic. ;-) By the way, thanks for your support, and I hope you have gone on reading.

HyperCaz: Thanks for your reviews! No, it wasn't Lupin! I must admit I put him into the story to put you all off the right track. I'm very wicked, I know! :D I hope you enjoyed the end of the story.

Bekky: Thanks for your mail. I'll check your website and leave you a message. It sounds like fun. ;-)