CHAPTER 32: THE DA
The days passed quickly and soon December began to roll through. Naturally, Umbridge didn't find a replacement for Care of the Magical Creatures and so took it upon herself to teach the class.
Hagrid was very upset over his dismissal from his teaching position and had locked himself in his hut for four days before Dumbledore finally came down and talked some sense into him. Since then, he had been extremely active in his duties as groundskeeper. Everything looked shiny and new.
Professor Fox had taken to wearing a beautiful blue-jeweled necklace around all the time, which led people to believe she had a nice rich boyfriend, which bought her all kinds of things. She refused to comment on any of their questions and rumors spread rapidly through the school.
Snape's violent outburst had had serious repercussions from both Umbridge and Dumbledore. Umbridge suspended him from his duties for a week and Dumbledore made him apologize in front of the entire student body at dinner. Needless to say, he wasn't a very happy man; people steered clear of him.
Unless their name was Sirius Black, in which case all bets were off.
"She blew you up?" he asked again, just to make sure he was hearing correctly. The Order meeting had started and of course they had to be informed of Professor Fox's strange behavior.
"Yes, Black, as we've been over twice now," Snape ground out. "She was trying to make a distraction so she could steal something from my office," he had explained.
"That's not a distraction, that's a party trick," Sirius said, eyes glittering.
"What did she take?" Moody asked.
"Nightshade. The whole bottle."
"What would she need nightshade for?" Tonks asked. "She's wouldn't kill anyone, would she?"
"I'm afraid we don't know what she's capable of..." Dumbledore said only to be interrupted by Sirius.
"Except blowing up Snape and making him turn colors," Sirius said. "I wish I could've been there."
"... and until we know who she is, we won't have any clue. Does anyone have any leads?" Dumbledore finished.
"I've had no luck," Arthur said. "I've search the French, Dutch and Swedish wizarding records, no one of that name or description."
"Me neither."
"Nothing."
"Sorry."
"I think I'm in love. Do you think someone can arrange for us to meet?" Sirius said thoughtfully, causing everyone to turn and look at him.
"Surprise, surprise. Another blonde," Snape sneered, causing Sirius to stop smiling and glare menacingly at him. "And if you haven't forgotten, you're still a wanted criminal. A murderer. No one's going to want to be with you. When's the last time you've even seen a girl you're age, let alone done anything else."
"Well you're not a wanted murder and you're not locked in a house. So what's your excuse?" Sirius growled.
"Sirius, stop," Remus said gently.
"But he--" Sirius defended.
"I know what he did," Remus said. "And I'd say he'd get what's coming to him, but I think being tossed around the room by his students might have been bad enough," he added, causing Sirius to burst back out into laughter. He couldn't calm himself down and Snape looked ready to pounce, so Remus led his old friend out into the hall.
"Do you think Harry will let me see his memory? What I wouldn't give to see that!" Sirius wondered.
"One of the more ingenious things I've ever heard of. Way better than most of the stuff we did," Remus said fondly.
"And to a professor!" Sirius said. "I mean, its one thing to do it to a student, but a professor is a whole different story! And something that humiliating! In front of everybody!" Sirius burst out in another round of loud laughter, pausing only when he heard a chair slam into the wall in fury, presumably sent by Snape who could still hear the laughter.
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"I think it's time to call another meeting," Harry told Hermione quietly. "We should try to get a couple more in before Christmas break."
"Okay, is Friday good?" Hermione asked, looking at her calendar quickly.
"Yeah, that's sounds fine. I don't think anyone has the pitch booked yet." Harry had been very different ever since his talk after class with Professor Fox. He was calmer, more focused, and he studied a lot more. Not that Hermione was going to complain. O.W.L.s were this year and she knew that Voldemort would likely be after him again. It always seemed to happen before the year was up, typically around finals for some reason.
Harry sometimes thought that he would have been extremely unhappy if it weren't for the DA lessons. He sometimes felt that he was living for the hours he spent in the Room of Requirement, working hard but thoroughly enjoying himself at the same time, swelling with pride as he looked around at his fellow D.A. members and saw how far they had come. Indeed, Harry sometimes wondered how Umbridge was going to react when all the members of the D.A. received 'Outstanding' in their Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.s, not to mention any other fifth year class. She still thought that Professor Fox was only teaching them theory and nothing practical.
Harry had also been coming to the Room of Requirement for just regular studying purposes. He had found it to be very useful when he needed obscure curse or jinx texts or when he needed someplace soft so he didn't hurt Hermione or Ron. His grades had begun to improve over the last two weeks, even in Potions, but that might have been due to the absentee professor. Dumbledore had to teach the class himself. It was interesting and fun, for once. And Harry found that with the right professor, he wasn't too bad at it.
They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practice, though as Harry kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different to producing it when confronted by something like a dementor.
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy," said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement. "They're so pretty!"
"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," said Harry patiently. "What we really need is a boggart or something; that's how I learned, I had to conjure a Patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a dementor-"
"But that would be really scary!" said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "And I still - can't - do it!" she added angrily.
Neville wasn't having too much trouble. His happy memory came easily enough; finding his parents waiting for him, alive and well. He had his family back and he couldn't think of a time when he had felt happier. Smoke was streaming from his wand, but no definite form was shaping.
"Harry, I think I'm doing it!" yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever D.A. meeting by Dean. "Look – ah - it's gone... But it was definitely something hairy, Harry!"
Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gamboling around her.
"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.
The door of the Room of Requirement opened and then closed again; Harry looked around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before he realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing he knew, something was tugging at his robes somewhere near his knee. He looked down and saw, to his very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at him from beneath his usual eight hats.
"Hi, Dobby!" he said. "What are you – what's wrong?"
For the elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the D.A. closest to Harry had fallen silent now: Everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silvery mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.
"Harry Potter, sir..." squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot. "Harry Potter, sir... Dobby has come to warn you... but the house-elves have been warned not to tell..."
He ran headfirst at the wall: Harry, who had some experience of Dobby's habits of self-punishment, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.
"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked, grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.
"Harry Potter... she... she..."
Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist: Harry seized that too.
"Who's 'she', Dobby?"
But he thought he knew – surely only one 'she' could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.
"Umbridge?" asked Harry, horrified.
Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head off Harry's knees; Harry held him at bay.
"What about her? Dobby – she hasn't found out about this – about us – about the D.A.?"
He read the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.
"Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly.
Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. "Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"
Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"
They all pelted toward the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through; Harry could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine, if they just took refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer –
"Harry, come on!" shrieked Hermione from the center of the knot of people now fighting to get out.
He scooped up Dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the elf in his arms to join the back of the queue.
"Dobby – this is an order – get back down to the kitchen with the other elves, and if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no!" said Harry. "And I forbid you to hurt yourself!" he added, dropping the elf as he made it over the threshold at last and slammed the door behind him.
"Thank you, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, and he streaked off.
Harry glanced left and right, the others were all moving so fast that he caught only glimpses of flying heels at either end of the corridor before they vanished. He started to run right; there was a boy's bathroom up ahead, he could pretend he'd been in there all the time. He heard feet behind him and decided he couldn't make it and ducked into the next hallway, and the ducked again, taking turns every now and then. Someone was still following him and he could hear spells being cast. Thank goodness he was still practicing Quidditch. His seeker reflexes were really helping him now.
He was out of sight, so he ducked into a little nitch under the stairs and quieted his breathing. He wasn't too far from the Room of Requirement, but someone had been chasing him. He pulled out his Map and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Looking around, Harry noticed that Malfoy had been the one chasing him but he had gone right by him and was now a ways away. Quickly, Harry looked over the map, trying to see if everyone else got away. It looked as if Hermione and Ron were safely tucked away at the library, and a couple people had been smart enough to go to the Owlrey. Quite a few people had gone back to their common rooms, or were heading that way. It looked as if everyone was safe.
That had been close. He looked back towards where he was, trying to figure out which way to go, when a moving dot caught his eye. It said "Elizabeth Potter" and it was heading straight for him! In his shock, Harry didn't notice the dot labeled "Draco Malfoy" coming back the way it had come. Coming back to him. Harry quickly cleared the map, thinking it was some kind of a mistake. He was going to bring it up again, but unfortunately, Malfoy had found him and the words "Stupefy" were the last things he heard.
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Harry was brought to consciousness and was surprised to find himself in the headmaster's office. He relaxed slightly, thinking he had gotten away, but then he tensed up when he realized the office was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, with a hint of anger in his eyes, the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, was rocking backward and forward on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation. Kingsley Shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard Harry did not recognize with very short, wiry hair were positioned on either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley hovered insecurely by the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes. Ever since his reunion with his family, he had been less anxious to follow the Minister's every whim, and now that Harry Potter was about to get expelled, a very good friend of the family, he was worried his already strained relationship with his parents would break if he helped in any way.
The portraits of old headmasters and mistresses were not shamming sleep tonight. All of them were watching what was happening below, alert and serious. As Harry looked around, a few flitted into neighboring frames an whispered urgently into their neighbors' ears.
Harry pulled himself free of Umbridge's grasp and the door swung shut behind them.
"Really," McGonagall said exasperatedly, "was it necessary to stun the boy?"
"He was running from authority; something had to be done," Umbridge said.
Cornelius Fudge was glaring at him with a kind of vicious satisfaction upon his face. "Well," he said. "Well, well, well..."
Harry replied with the dirtiest look he could muster. His heart drummed madly inside him, but his brain was oddly cool and clear.
"He was heading back to Gryffindor Tower," said Umbridge. There was an indecent excitement in her voice, the same callous pleasure Harry had heard as she watched Professor Trelawney dissolving with misery in the entrance hall. "The Malfoy boy found him hiding near the stairs."
"He did, did he?" said Fudge appreciatively. "I must remember to tell Lucius. Perhaps even get him back into class. Well, Potter... I expect you know why you are here?"
Harry fully intended to respond with a defiant "yes": His mouth had opened and the word was half formed when he caught sight of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore was not looking directly at Harry, as he didn't want to be accused of helping Harry in any way; his eyes were fixed upon a point just over his shoulder, but as Harry stared at him, he shook his head a fraction of an inch to each side.
Harry changed direction mid-word.
"Yeh – no."
"I beg your pardon?" said Fudge.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Buffy said, rushing into the room. "I had to get Malfoy to tell me what was going on; trust me, that took a while. Somebody forgot to let me know we were doing a raid," Buffy said with a significant look at Umbridge. She glanced quickly at Harry who was sitting angrily in the chair by Dumbledore's desk. Buffy walked around the many people and took a place by the back where she could keep an eye on him.
"Hey Fawkes," Buffy said absently as the phoenix flew over towards her and landed on her shoulder. Buffy stroked his head while he chirped a few content notes. Buffy was too busy focusing on what was happening that she missed Dumbledore's intrigued look.
"So, where were we?" Buffy asked as everyone had stopped and stared at her.
"We were just interrogating Potter; he's about to be expelled," Umbridge said.
To say Buffy was shocked would be a drastic understatement, but she carefully kept control of her emotions, pausing only briefly in her petting. "What was so bad that he'd get expelled? Did he burn something down?"
"No," Umbridge sneered.
"Blow something up?" Buffy asked, a puzzled look gracing her features.
"No."
"Kill someone?" Buffy finally asked, "or at least is he suspected of killing someone?"
"NO!" Umbridge finally shouted to get the blonde to shut up. "He has violated the law."
"Which is..." Buffy asked.
"We were just getting to that when you barged in," Fudge said with a calming smile.
"Oh, continue on," Buffy said, as if they needed her permission. Harry had stopped looking at Dumbledore and had taken to studying Professor Fox and what she was going to do.
"Thanks," Umbridge said dryly.
"Right then, Harry. Let's start again, shall we? Do you know why you're here?" Fudge asked smugly.
"No," Harry said stubbornly.
"No?" Buffy asked. "I mean, surely, if you've done something that bad, obviously you'd know about it. I mean, I might not have been the brightest kid at my school, but at least I knew why I was being expelled, which is way off the subject here."
"I don't know," Harry said, breaking the amazed silence and focusing the attention back on himself. "I didn't do anything."
Fudge looked incredulously from Harry to Professor Umbridge to Professor Fox. Harry took advantage of his momentary inattention to steal another quick look at Dumbledore, who gave the carper the tiniest of nods and the shadow of a wink, which Buffy's incredible senses took into account.
"So you have no idea," said Fudge in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm, "why Professor Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"
"School rules?" said Harry. "No."
"Or Ministry decrees?" amended Fudge angrily.
"Which one?" Buffy whispered sarcastically.
"Not that I'm aware of," said Harry blandly.
His heart was still hammering very fast. It was almost worth telling these lies to watch Fudge's blood pressure rising, but he could not see how on earth he would get away with them. If somebody had tipped off Umbridge about the D.A. then he, the leader, might as well be packing his trunk right now.
"So it's news to you, is it," said Fudge, his voice now thick with anger, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school?"
"Yes, it is," said Harry, hoisting an unconvincing look of innocent surprise onto his face.
"I think, Minister," said Umbridge silkily from beside him, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."
"Yes, yes, do," said Fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge left the room. "There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?"
"Nothing at all, Cornelius," said Dumbledore gravely, inclining his head.
There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, then Harry heard the door open behind him. Umbridge moved past him into the room, gripping by the shoulder Cho's curly-haired friend Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.
"Don't be scared, dead, don't be frightened," said Professor Umbridge softly, patting her on the back, "it's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been. Marietta's mother, Minister," she added, looking at Fudge, "is Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation. Floo Network office – she's been helping us police the Hogwarts fires, you know."
"Jolly good, jolly good!" said Fudge heartily. "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on, now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's hear what you've got to – galloping gargoyles!"
As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backward in shock, nearly landing himself in the fire. He cursed and stamped on the hem of his cloak, which had started to smoke, and Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before the whole room had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word "SNEAK."
Buffy wasn't able to stifle her laugh at the scene in front of her, but managed to clamp it down when everyone turned to look at her with wide eyes. Buffy promptly wiped the grin off her face and said "Oh, how terrible. That's just... awful. Someone should have to be punished. I mean, purple does nothing for her complexion."
"Miss Fox," McGonagall said, shocked. "This is no laughing matter. This poor girl is traumatized and another student is about to be expelled; surely even you could show some sympathy."
"I'm sorry, really," Buffy said. "I'll be a good girl and keep my mouth closed. But obviously she did something wrong here. I mean, did you see her face?"
"Never mind the spots now, dear," said Umbridge when she burst out into another set of wails. "Just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister-–"
But Marietta's wails were too much and she just shook her head frantically.
"Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him," snapped Umbridge. She hitched her sickly smile back onto her face and said, "Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately at this point this hex," she waved impatiently at Marietta's concealed face, "came into operation and upon catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me any more."
"Well, now," said Fudge, fixing Marietta with what he evidently imagined was a kind and fatherly look. "It is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge, you did exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its purpose? Who was there?"
But Marietta would not speak. She merely shook her head again, her eyes wide and fearful.
"Haven't we got a counter jinx for this," Fudge asked Umbridge impatiently, gesturing at Marietta's face. "So she can speak freely?"
"I have not yet managed to find one," Umbridge admitted grudgingly, and Harry felt a surge of pride in Hermione's jinxing ability. "But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take up the story from here.
"You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmead-–"
"And what is your evidence for that?" cut in Professor McGonagall. Buffy, meanwhile, was listening intently, gathering all the information she could, seeing as how she was cut out of the loop this time. The wheels began to turn in her head.
"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," said Umbridge smugly. "He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to report to me-–"
"Oh, so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets!" said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"
"Blatant corruption!" roared the portrait of the corpulent, red nosed wizard on the wall behind Dumbledore's desk. "The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"
"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," said Dumbledore softly.
"The purpose of Potter's meeting with these students," continued Professor Umbridge, "was to persuade them to join an illegal society whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school-age-–"
"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," said Dumbledore quietly, peering at her over the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.
Harry stared at him. He could not see how Dumbledore was going to talk him out of this one; if Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word he said in Hog's Head there was simply no escaping it.
"Oho!" said Fudge, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet again. "Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble. Go on, then, Dumbledore, go on – Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potter's identical twin in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life, and a couple of invisible dementors?"
Umbridge let out a hearty laugh, while Percy still sat nervously in the corner. "Oh, very good, Minister, very good!"
Harry could have kicked her. Then he saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore was smiling gently too.
"Cornelius, I do not deny – and nor, I am sure, does Harry – that he was in the Hog's Head that day, nor that he was trying to recruit students to Defense Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that suck a group was, at that time, illegal. If you remember, the Ministry decree banning all student societies was not put into effect until two days after Harry's Hogsmeade meeting, so he was not breaking any rules in the Hog's Head at all."
Umbridge looked as though she had been struck in the face by something very heavy. Fudge remained motionless in mid-bounce, his mouth hanging open and Buffy looked curiously at Dumbledore.
Umbridge recovered first.
"That's all very fine, Headmaster," she said, smiling sweetly. "But we are now nearly two months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are."
"Well," said Dumbledore, surveying her with polite interest over the top of his interlocked fingers "they certainly would be, if they had continued after the decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that these meetings continued?"
As Dumbledore spoke, Harry heard a rustle behind him and rather thought Kingsley whispered something. He could have sworn too that he felt something brush against his side, a gentle something like a draft or bird wings, but looking down he saw nothing there.
"Evidence?" repeated Umbridge with that horrible wide toad like smile. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"
"Oh, can she tell us about two months' worth of meetings?" said Dumbledore, raising his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."
"Miss Edgecombe," said Umbridge at once, "tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. Have they been happening regularly over the last two months?"
Harry felt a horrible plummeting in his stomach. This was it, they had hit a dead end of solid evidence that not even Dumbledore would be able to shift aside...
"Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge said coaxingly to Marietta. "Come on, now, that won't activate the jinx further..."
Everyone in the room was gazing at the top of Marietta's face. Only her eyes were visible between the pulled up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but her eyes looked oddly blank. And then – to Harry's utter amazement – Marietta shook her head.
Umbridge looked quickly at Fudge and then back at Marietta. "I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whethere you've been going to thses meetings for the past two months? You have, haven't you?"
Again, Marietta shook her head.
"What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?" said Umbridge in a testy voice.
"I would have thought her meaning was quite clear," said Professor McGonagall harshly. "There have been no secret meetings for the past two months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"
Marietta nodded.
"Well that certainly clears up a lot. Anyone else have other plans for tonight?" Buffy asked.
"But there was a meeting tonight!" said Umbridge furiously, ignoring Professor Fox. "There was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter was the leader, was he not, Potter organized it, Potter – why are you shaking your head, girl?"
"Obviously she doesn't know what you're talking about," Buffy said. "And I'm sure yelling at her is really going to help."
"Usually when a person shakes their head," said McGonagall coldly, "they mean 'no,' so unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign language as yet unknown to humans –"
Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her around to face her, and began shaking her very hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised. Kingsley started forward and Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been burned.
"I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," said Dumbledore, and for the first time, he looked angry and Buffy took a step back, eying him warily.
"You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge," said Kingsley in his deep, slow voice. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble now."
"We wouldn't want that," Buffy muttered.
"No," said Umbridge breathlessly, glancing at the towering figure of Kingsley. "I mean, yes – you're right, Shacklebolt – I – I forgot myself."
"More like lost your bloody mind, but who's checking, right?" Buffy said.
Marietta was standing exactly where Umbridge had released her. She seemed neither perturbed by Umbridge's sudden attack, nor relieved by her release. She was still clutching her robe up to her oddly blank eyes, staring straight ahead of her.
"I think you broke her," Buffy said.
A sudden suspicion connected to Kingsley's whisper and the thing he had felt shoot past him sprang into Harry's mind.
"Dolores," said Fudge, with the air of trying to settle something once and for all, "the meeting tonight - the one we know definitely happened-–"
"Yes," said Umbridge, pulling herself together, "yes... well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students-–"
"You mean Malfoy?" Buffy snorted. "The one boy in the entire school that everyone knows has it in for Harry?" When Umbridge turned to glare at her, she added, "Just checking, you know, keeping things in perspective."
"--so as to catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned of my arrival, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind... We needed evidence and the room provided..."
And to Harry's horror, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed the folded up piece of parchment to Fudge.
Buffy's stomach flip-flopped as to what the parchment could be. Her only guess was something not good.
"The moment I saw Potter's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with," she said softly.
The look of horror on Harry's face confirmed her suspicions and Buffy briefly waggled her fingers, going unnoticed by everyone but Harry. "What is it?" Buffy asked, glancing over Fudge's shoulder as he opened the parchment. "Now that's really something," she said finally. "Can I keep it? I always wanted to have something like this."
"Perhaps you've given us the wrong paper, Umbridge," Fudge said finally, a note of hope mixed in his anxious voice. Everyone else in the room was confused as to what was happening.
"No, I didn't. It's a list. A list of all the names in the meeting," Umbridge stuttered.
"Right, well, make sure you throw out your crack pipe, okay?" Buffy said. "Those things really aren't good for your health. And now you're being delusional. Maybe we should get you some help."
"What is the problem?" Umbridge said, snatching the parchment out of Fudge's hand. She looked at it incomprehensibly before her eyes widened in shock. "NO! This isn't possible! There was a list! A list of names!"
"Uh huh, and I'm the Queen of England," Buffy said.
"NO! Finite Incantatum! Reveal! NO!" Umbridge cried as her spells did nothing to make the names reappear. "You! You did this, didn't you?" Umbridge cried, rounding on Potter and dropping the paper to reveal a Picasso-like painting. "You've messed with it all, haven't you?"
"Okay, lay off the schnapps for a while," Buffy cried, pulling Umbridge away from Harry.
"Control yourself, Dolores. or I will be forced to remove you from my office and consequently my school. You cannot harass my students," Dumbledore said.
"But, he also had another paper on him when Mr. Malfoy found him!" Umbridge said, once again trying to destroy the boy. "Something that's obviously illegal, using it to navigate the school or some such thing."
Buffy stiffened slightly as she looked briefly at Harry. It couldn't be... could it? If it was, did he know? This really wasn't the way she wanted him to find out about her. She was going to free Sirius, find Remus and then explain everything to Harry when they were a big happy family. A nice reunion where nothing could go wrong.
"Yes, Malfoy said that he'd seen it before, where did I put it?" Umbridge muttered before pulling a thick piece of parchment out of her pocket. "Ah-ha!" she cried. "Here."
"You've downgraded," Buffy said as she swiped the paper before Fudge could wrap his grubby palms all over it. "This one's blank. No pretty pictures." Buffy breathed a slight sigh of relief that if this was the map, which it certainly seemed to be, then it was thankfully blank. Who knew what would happen if everyone found out that Elizabeth Potter was standing right in the room with them? Alive and well?
"Yes, but it can only be read by certain people!" Umbridge said. "There must be some sort of spell or enchantment on it."
"Maybe you've been working too hard," Buffy suggested. "It seems that you're becoming even more delusional than you were. One might even say paranoid. Don't you think she's in need of a nice, long break?" Buffy asked Fudge, looking him in his eyes.
Fudge became slightly less alert as he fell under Buffy's persuasion. "Yes, I think that's a wonderful idea."
Dumbledore looked sharply at the girl that seemed to be, to some extent, controlling the Minister of Magic, for whatever reasons. It wasn't the first time a professor pretended to be on one side only to show their true face right before they tried to kill Harry. No matter what she was playing at today, it didn't seem to be looking too good for her.
"But Cornelius," Umbridge protested disbelievingly. "I'm your right hand! You need me! You're going to listen to her?! She's been-–"
"Look, I think we've all had a big misunderstanding and are wasting our perfectly good Friday night. It's obvious what's going on," Buffy said, interrupting Umbridge's rant before she could say anything too incriminating.
"And what is that?" Fudge asked, amazed.
"They had a meeting once in October. Big deal. Now, it just so happens that they're growing up. Amazingly enough, there are teenagers at this school and their hormones are running wild," Buffy said. Harry was the only one that really understood where she seemed to be going with this and a blush immediately started to grow on his cheeks.
"I mean, it's happened before and it's happened again, only this time things seem to be more complicated. This isn't the first time this has happened. The things that went on behind closed doors at my old school... well, I don't think it's very appropriate for the moment." Harry's face was rose red and he couldn't even lift his gaze from the spot that looked so very interesting on the floor.
"What are you talking about?" Fudge asked, bewildered.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Do I have to spell it out for you? There were teenagers, boys and girls, apparently in this room in which you could get whatever you required, including nice cushioned areas. Do the math." Since Fudge's confused expression did not change, Buffy said, "They were making out! They were snogging, doing other dirty things, I'm sure. We don't really want the details."
"But then why would people be running?" Fudge said after a moment of blushing silence and glances and the thoroughly embarrassed Harry.
"Did you ever want to be caught while you were kissing your girlfriend?" Buffy asked. "If you ever had one? I mean, really. How embarrassing can you get?"
"Apparently not as much as this," Harry muttered, earning him an amused glance from both Buffy and Dumbledore.
"Yes, well," sputtered Fudge, "why does that child have those things on her face?"
"Well, Harry's a pretty well-known kid and he probably didn't want news of his new girlfriend to spread around the school. Think of what he'd have to endure. So someone put a spell on her so that she wouldn't tell, or if she did, she'd regret it."
"Ah, but she wasn't near the room this evening while Harry was," Umbridge said smugly.
"Obviously they broke up and he found another girl. That's why she told. She wanted, not only to say she dated the great Harry Potter, but also to get him into trouble of some kind. Pay him back for dumping her. That's the way teenagers are. Significant others don't last long when you're that young. Trust me, I've seen it. Been there, done that, not too long ago," Buffy said, to which Fudge and Umbridge had no response.
"Well, as it seems there is no evidence and a perfectly valid reason, which is not against any rules, is brought to light, then Mr. Potter is cleared of all charges and now may head off to bed," Dumbledore said. "We have no reason to keep him here any longer and he has no reason to be expelled. Minister it has been wonderful having you here, but I'm sure you have more important matters waiting for you at home. Please feel free to use my own fireplace, as well as anyone else. Professor Fox, Professor Umbridge, have a goodnight."
Harry gratefully got up and walked out of the room, throwing a grateful look at both Dumbledore and Buffy, which no one really caught as she was walking out of the room too. Fudge and Umbridge had no more reason to stay and so reluctantly left empty-handed.
Harry ran through the halls and didn't stop until he got to his common room. He couldn't believe what had just happened!
"Harry! You're okay!" Hermione exclaimed, running to him and throwing herself around him in a relieved hug. "You are okay, right?"
"Yeah, but you won't believe what happened..."
"She did, what?" Hermione asked after everything had been explained to her and Ron.
"And you always thought she was out for blood," Ron said triumphantly. "I knew someone that hot couldn't be bad," he said, which earned him a smack from Hermione.
"But why would she do that? It doesn't make sense. They had you! They could have expelled you!"
"Thanks for reminding me," Harry groaned. "I came so close... I thought I was a goner."
"Well thank Professor Fox!" Ron said enthusiastically.
"Actually, I'll have to go see her tomorrow," Harry said with a frown. "She has my map. Draco must have taken it from me when he... The MAP!" Harry yelled suddenly, startling Ron and Hermione.
"What about it? Is it open? I thought you cleared it," Hermione said worriedly.
"No, before, when I was hiding from Malfoy, I was making sure everyone had gotten away and a dot caught my attention. It said "Elizabeth Potter" on it," Harry explained.
"Potter?" Hermione asked, astounded. "But, there are no other Potters, are there?"
"Not that I know of," Harry said. "Surely I wouldn't have had to stay at the Dursley's if I had another relative, right?"
"Maybe the map made a mistake," Ron suggested.
"That's what I thought. I cleared the map and I meant to take another look, just to make sure, but I never got the time. Malfoy must have snuck up behind me."
"Where was the dot on the map?" Hermione asked. "Was it in somebody's office or room? Maybe we could figure out who it was."
"No, it was going down the hall, towards me."
"You don't think... nah," Hermione said, gulping loudly.
"What?" Harry and Ron asked.
Hermione took a deep breath and forged on at her friends' inquisitive looks. "You don't think it's Umbridge, do you? I mean, she was searching the grounds right with Malfoy and she's the one that found you and took you to Dumbledore's office."
Harry and Ron's eyes grew round at the suggestion. "No, no it couldn't be. It has to be a mistake the map made. Besides, I think I remember seeing Umbridge's name somewhere."
"Or maybe it's just like Pettigrew!" Hermione said. "Maybe whoever it is is an animagus!"
"But why haven't we seen the name before?" Ron asked.
"I... I don't know," Hermione said.
"I just wish we had the map! Then we could figure all this out. Hang on," Harry said suddenly, running up to his dorm. He came back down holding his photo album Hagrid had given him in his first year. "If I do have a relative named Elizabeth, she has to be somewhere in these pictures!" Harry began flipping though, trying to find a girl that he had never recognized.
"Nothing!" Harry sighed, closing the book. "Sirius told me who everyone was. I just thought that maybe he'd missed someone."
"Sirius!" Hermione exclaimed. "Sirius would know anyone named Elizabeth Potter. She has to be related to your dad, and your dad and he were best friends!"
"Of course!" Harry said. "We can just ask Sirius. Although we have to be careful because the owls are getting intercepted," he said, deflating a bit. He didn't want to put poor Hedwig in any more trouble than the last time she was attacked.
"Oh yeah," Hermione said.
Before anyone could come up with a better plan, the perfect solution walked through the portrait door. "Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasely, may I have a word?" she asked. By now, the common room was empty except for a few stragglers, but the three looked at each other anxiously and then followed her back out into the hallway, away from any portraits.
"Due to today's... events," McGonagall said with a small smirk on her face, "the headmaster believes that it might be best if you three stayed away for the weekend. He figured it would be best if you stayed out of trouble and away from the Ministry officials for a while and hopefully everything will cool down a bit before classes begin on Monday. He thought it was time for you to visit you pet, Potter."
The three students exchanged grins. This was perfect! Not only would they be able to ask Sirius about the map, they would also be able to get away from Umbridge! It was brilliant!
"Now I have a portkey for you as soon as you pack a bag," McGonagall said. "Now hurry up."