Disclaimer: What am I supposed to say here? I don't know…J.K Rowling beats me up…
OK, OK! I don't own Harry Potter! Satisfied? (Poor Naz)
Chapter 9: Umbridge's Little Adventure (part 2)
It was dark. It was cold. It was wet. Umbridge continued on and on. She kept walking…and walking…and walking. Three curlers had fallen out and her robe had altered from pink flannel to grey sludge.
A silver-black vapour had arisen. Umbridge was scared. She didn't like the dark, and liked it much less when a damp mist was enclosing her like a fist.
Her nasty, puffy eyes stared about in terror. What have I done to deserve this? The answer was: a lot.
She ran (or rather, waddled quickly, as she was a little too tubby and lacking in exercise to run that fast) and looked plenty ridiculous. Suddenly, an incredibly foul odor reached her nostrils…she crept ahead…there was a great, white, giant snakeskin.
Umbridge passed out.
Dumbledore came back to the school (at last) and took one look at the place. He actually gave permission for the teachers, students, ghosts, and house elves to do as much as they liked, while Umbridge was there, to get the new "headmistress" away from the school.
He left with a small smile hidden in his silver beard. Professor McGonagall lost all dignity at these words and jumped up and down with Professor Sprout. Slughorn got a bottle of mead out of his stash and got drunk (typical Slughorn). Hagrid ran off to tell Buckbeak. Trelawney broke out into song ("God bless our gracious queen, long live our noble queen, God save our queen") and, like Slughorn, celebrated with liquor. Flitwick danced around.
So the teachers were happy. What about the students? And the whole Dumbledore's-declaration-of-an-anti-Umbridge-thing…what great things would be expected from Peeves? Well, reader, this is why you must continue this story. You'll never find out otherwise (A/N: grin)
Meanwhile, in the library…
"Draco Abraxas Malfoy, I cannot believe you did that."
"Oh, lighten up, Hermione. What did you think I would do?"
"And Virginia Weasley…I am ashamed," Hermione continued, smiling.
Ginny smiled at her, wickedly. Harry was proud of her for that. It seemed as though Umbridge would be gone for a long, long, blissful period of time.
Draco smiled at Hermione. There was a lot of smiling going around, save the frown on Ron's face.
Ron was looking jealously at the beaming Hermione and Draco. He gave the evil eye to Draco, and a quick hand-gesture that was extremely unkind. Fortunately, Draco did not see this small, but oh so explicit, movement.
Hermione was not an idiot. She knew that Ron was staring. Lately, while keeping her top grades, she had been finding ways to dress nicely, style her hair, and add a little bit of makeup. While some girls (cough, cough, Pansy) slathered makeup on themselves, so their faces looked rather like an explosion in a paint factory, Hermione added enough that was tasteful and well, nice-looking.
Ron was trying to be nicer as well. He was actually washing his robes (for once), combing his hair (not that it helped), getting much better grades (Hermione totally noticed that), and didn't yell or swear (as much).
Hermione decided to play hard-to-get. All girls seemed to be doing that. Lavender was totally indiscreet (rushing up to some poor boy, while knocking over several other people, and eating his face in broad daylight is not the best way to maintain a healthy relationship, girls). So she could be "more strange," as Shakespeare so eloquently puts it in Romeo and Juliet.
Flirting with Draco was not quite her option, and Draco was definitely not interested, but when boys have a certain fixation, they turn every little attention from other members of their gender into a big deal. So Ron was not entirely happy with Draco.
Umbridge woke up. There was a maggot in her hair. She screamed bloody murder. Suddenly, she looked ahead. An enormous, putrid carcass was sitting six feet away from her, with a snakeskin next to it. White maggots crawled around it, eating the flesh in loud gulps. Umbridge's eyes rolled back into her head…she passed out again.
She was going to be in there for a while longer…
Harry and Ron walked down the hallway. Suddenly, a scratching noise was issuing from the wall. Ron jumped about fifty feel into the air. "What the bloody hell is that?"
Harry wasn't sure, but somehow, he thought that he knew.
Umbridge had gotten to the side of the Chamber. There was a grimy metal grille in front if her. She pushed and it came loose. She met another metal grille, which she pushed loose. However, it clanged back into place when she walked through to another portion of the Chamber.
She was stuck.
On her other side was a dark, dirty wall. There was a small crack through which she saw some light that was not green or grey. She put her eye against it. Yes, yes that was most definitely the corridor outside the Great Hall. Umbridge proceeded to bang and kick the wall as much as possible. Only two things will happen here she thought happily. Either someone will hear me and help me out of this place, or I'll break down the wall and get out. Both are good. But I hope someone gets me out. I prefer that one.
Well, Ron had heard Umbridge. Only he thought it was Peeves, as did Filch who came to investigate the strange, muffled noise. So…
With his Seal-All Cement, Filch plugged up the hole. Calling out a rude oath to "Peeves" and laughing maniacally, Filch hobbled away, clearly in a rare good mood. Oh dear. What will happen to Umbridge?
A/N: I am so happy right now. Spring Break is coming up soon and I am psyched. Two weeks of no school. As Kool and the Gang says, "Celebrate good times, come on!" or there's Madonna, "Holiday! Celebrate!" But I like Kool and the Gang's quote better in this case.