Out of the Fire

Harry was escorted out of the Great Hall by Professor Tofty, and John squirmed in his seat until the timer for the exam ran out. He and Sherlock were the first ones out, John hurrying out into the Entrance Hall for some fresh air, then to pace around near the base of the marble staircase.

'Did you see it?' Sherlock asked, but John shook his head.

'What happened?' asked Dean as he too exited the Great Hall, followed by Cas, Ron and Hermione.

'I don't know,' John said anxiously, feeling his heart thumping wildly in his chest. 'It feels bad. Let's go, we should meet him on his way back.'

They hurried up the marble staircase and ran into Harry on the next floor. He didn't say anything, just gestured for them to follow him to an empty classroom.

'Voldemort's got Sirius,' he said.

Everyone burst into dismayed shouts and the blood drained from John's face.

'How?' Ron demanded, aghast.

'I don't know how, but I know where,' said Harry. 'There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls.'

John started. 'You've seen it too?'

'He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there,' Harry said desperately. 'He's torturing him… says he'll end by killing him!'

Harry sunk onto a desk and there was a ringing silence for a moment. 'How're we going to get there?' he asked them.

'Get - get there?' said Ron.

'Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!' Harry said loudly.

'But - Harry…' said Ron weakly.

'What? What?' said Harry.

'Harry, let's just think about this a minute,' Dean said calmly. 'As much as I think your Ministry sucks, it's five in the afternoon, there's no way Voldemort would be able to get past a building full of Aurors, especially not ones on their way home.'

'He and Sirius are probably the two most wanted wizards in the world,' Sherlock added sceptically.

'I dunno, maybe he used an Invisibility Cloak or something!' Harry shouted. 'Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been-'

'You've never been there, Harry,' said Hermione. 'You've dreamed about the place, that's all.'

'They're not normal dreams!' Harry shouted. 'How d'you explain Ron's dad them, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?'

'He's got a point,' said Ron.

'But this is just - just so unlikely!' said Hermione. 'How on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?'

'Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air,' said Ron, sounding worried.

'But why? Hermione persisted. 'Why would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?'

'I dunno, there could be loads of reasons!' Harry yelled at her. 'Maybe Sirius is just someone he doesn't care about seeing hurt!'

'Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he?' Ron pointed out. 'Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!'

Sherlock frowned and glanced at John, who shook his head.

'We've got no proof of any of this!' Hermione cried.

'Hermione, Harry's seen them!' said Ron, rounding on her.

'Okay, I've just got to say this - '

'What?'

'You… this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do… sort of… I mean - don't you think you've got a bit of a - a - saving people thing?'

Harry glared at her. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Well - you - I mean - last year, for instance - in the lake, during the Tournament - you shouldn't have - I mean - you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl… you got a bit - a bit carried away…'

Fury boiled up on Harry's face, and Cas flinched slightly at his expression.

'I mean, it was really great of you and everything,' Hermione said quickly, 'everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do-'

'That's funny,' said Harry, voice trembling, 'because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero… is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?'

'No!' said Hermione, aghast. 'That's not what I mean at all!'

'Well, spit out what you're trying to say, because we're wasting time here!' Harry shouted.

'I'm trying to say - Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the - the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you there?'

'Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not - they've taken McGonagall to St Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!'

'But Harry - what if your dream was - was just that, a dream?'

Harry let out a roar of frustration. 'You don't get it!' he shouted at her, 'I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione - Sirius is trapped, I've seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving people thing when it was you I was saving from the Dementors, or -' he rounded on Ron '- when it was your sister I was saving from the Basilisk-'

'I never said I had a problem!' Ron said heatedly.

'But, Harry, you've just said it,' said Hermione fiercely, 'Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this -'

'IF YOU THINK i'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN-'

'Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!'

'WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST - '

The classroom door opened. They all whipped around to see Ginny walk in looking curious, followed by Luna who, as usual, looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.

'Hi,' Ginny said uncertainly. 'We recognised Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?'

'Never you mind,' Harry said roughly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. 'There's no need to take that tone with me,' she said coolly, 'I was only wondering whether I could help.'

'Well, you can't.'

'You're being rather rude, you know,' Luna said serenely.

Harry swore and turned away.

'Wait,' said Hermione suddenly. 'Wait… Harry, they can help. Listen, Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters.'

'I told you, I saw - '

'Harry, I'm begging you, please!' Hermione said desperately. 'Please, let's just check that Sirius

isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll do whatever it takes to try and save him.'

'Sirius is being tortured NOW!' shouted Harry. 'We haven't got time to waste.'

'But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, we've got to check.'

'How? Harry demanded.

'John?' Ron asked, turning to face him.

But John was already sweating and shaking, fighting hard against the vision of Sirius dying he'd already seen, and shook his head queasily.

'We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him,' said Hermione. 'We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna.'

'Yeah, we'll do it,' Ginny said immediately.

'Okay,' Harry said aggressively to Hermione. 'Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now.'

'The Department of Mysteries?' said Luna, looking mildly surprised. 'But how are you going to get there?'

Harry ignored her.

'Right,' said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. 'Right… well… one of us has to go and find Umbridge and - and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her - I don't know - that Peeves is up to something awful as usual…'

'I'll do it,' said Ron at once. 'I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way.'

'Okay,' said Hermione, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. 'Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin is bound to go and tip her off.'

'Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor,' Ginny said promptly, 'and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garrotting Gas.' Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie; Ginny shrugged and said, 'Fred and George were planning to do it before they left.'

Cas nodded. 'I'll come with you.'

Dean blinked, shocked. 'Are you sure?'

'It will come off more believable if it comes from a Prefect,' he reasoned.

'I guess…'

'Okay,' said Hermione. 'Well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we'll sneak into the office and we'll talk to Sirius-'

'He's not there, Hermione!'

'I mean, you can - can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch. I don't think you should be alone in there.'

'We'll come too,' said Sherlock, holding John's hand. 'We should see if he's all right as well.'

John squeezed his hand gratefully, knowing it was mostly for his benefit.

'Will we all fit under the Cloak?' Hermione said doubtfully.

'If I crouch,' Sherlock shrugged.

'I… okay, thanks,' Harry muttered.

'Right, well, even if we do all that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes,' said Hermione, 'not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around.'

'Five minutes'll be enough,' said Harry. 'C'mon, let's go -'

'Now?' said Hermione, looking shocked.

'Of course now!' Harry said angrily. 'What did you think, we'll wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!'

'I - oh, all right,' she said desperately. 'You go and get the Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?'

Harry didn't answer, but flung himself out of the room.

As soon as he was gone, John burst into tears, and Sherlock grabbed him by the shoulders.

'It's all right,' he said, holding him firmly. 'Harry will find him at Grimmauld Place and see that he's completely fine, and that he listened to your advice.'

John nodded tremulously and tried to pretend he couldn't feel Sherlock's own uncertainty, then followed the rest to the end of Umbridge's corridor, to wait for Harry.

Only minutes later, Harry jumped down the stairs behind them.

'Got it,' he panted. 'Ready to go, then?'

'All right,' Hermione whispered. 'So Ron - you go and head Umbridge off… You lot go and start moving people out of the corridor… We'll get the Cloak on and wait until the coast is clear…'

Ron strode away, his bright red hair visible right to the end of the passageway; meanwhile Ginny's equally vivid head bobbed between the jostling students surrounding them with Castiel close beside her, and Luna drifted towards the other end of the passageway with Dean.

Hermione then led Harry, John and Sherlock behind an ugly stone bust muttering to itself on a column.

'Are you okay, Harry?' Hermione said as Harry tugged the Cloak out of his bag. 'You're looking a bit pale.'

'I'm fine,' Harry said shortly, but from their close proximity, John could feel exactly how much his scar was hurting him. 'Here.' He threw the Cloak over them, Sherlock slightly stooped, and they stood listening carefully.

'Everyone clear the hall,' they heard Cas call, in a louder voice that he rarely used. 'Someone let off some Garrotting Gas, please use the swivelling staircase instead.'

They heard people complaining; one surly voice said, 'I can't see no gas.'

'That's because it's colourless,' said Ginny in a convincingly exasperated voice, 'but if you want to walk through it, carry on, we'll use your body as proof for the next idiot that doesn't believe us.'

Slowly, the crowd thinned. The news about the Garrotting Gas seemed to have spread; people were not coming this way anymore. When at last the surrounding area cleared, Hermione said quietly, 'I think that's as good as we're going to get - come on, let's do it.'

They moved forward, covered by the Cloak. As they passed Ginny, Hermione whispered, 'Good one… don't forget the signal.'

'What's the signal?' muttered Harry as they approached Umbridge's door.

'A loud chorus of "Weasley is our King" if they see Umbridge coming,' replied Hermione, as Harry inserted the knife in the crack between the door and the wall. The lock clicked open and they entered the office.

Sickly energy washed over John and Sherlock as soon as they crossed the threshold.

'Pink,' Sherlock snarled, their vision flashing the same ugly shade Umbridge usually wore.

The garish kittens basked in the late afternoon sunshine that warmed their plates, but otherwise the office was unoccupied and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

'I thought she might have added extra security after the second Niffler.'

They pulled off the Cloak; Hermione hurried over to the window and stood out of sight, peering down into the grounds with her wand out. Harry dashed over to the fireplace, seized the pot of Floo powder and threw a pinch into the grate, causing emerald flames to burst into life. He thrust his head into the fire and cried, 'Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!'

John leaned against Umbridge's desk and held his head in his hands, trembling, and Sherlock rubbed his shoulder. John's lip trembled. 'What if-' he began.

'Don't,' Sherlock said firmly.

John nodded, but he couldn't stop his mind from spinning. 'We have to save him,' he said in a strangulated voice.

'He'll be fine,' said Sherlock.

John reached out and pressed his face into Sherlock's chest. 'I thought I helped,' he said, voice muffled by Sherlock's robes.

'You did,' Sherlock insisted. 'I'm certain of it.'

'My head…' John said weakly, the throbbing in his head growing stronger by the second.

Sherlock opened his mouth, but his words died in his throat when the office door flew open, and they were both thrown off Umbridge's desk and yanked to their feet by two Slytherins. Hermione was grabbed by Millicent Bulstrode, and Malfoy strolled in behind them.

Then Umbridge herself strode through the door, her wide, pallid face pulled tight in fury, and dragged Harry out of the fireplace by his hair.

'You think,' she hissed, bending Harry's neck back as far as it would go, 'that after two Nifflers I was going to let one more foul scavenging creature enter my office without my knowledge? I had Stealth Sensors placed all around my doorway after the last one got in, you foolish boy. Take his wand,' she barked at Malfoy, who groped around in Harry's pockets and removed it. 'Theirs too.'

Millicent snatched Hermione's, another Slytherin took John's, who was too weak to fight back, but Sherlock struggled, kicking out while his hands were being held behind his back. It was useless, however, and Sherlock's red oak wand was wrenched from his hand.

'I want to know why you are in my office,' said Umbridge, shaking Harry's head.

'I was - trying to get my Firebolt,' Harry croaked.

'Liar.' She shook his head again. 'Your Firebolt is under strict guard in the dungeons, as you very well know, Potter. You had your head in my fire. With whom have you been communicating?'

'No one - ' said Harry, trying to pull away from her.

'Liar!' shouted Umbridge, throwing him into the desk.

Then there was a commotion outside and several Slytherins entered, each gripping Ron, Ginny, Cas, Luna, Dean and, oddly, Neville, who Crabbe held in a tight stranglehold. All of them had been gagged.

'Got 'em all,' said Warrington, shoving Ron roughly into the room. 'That one,' he poked a thick finger at Neville, 'tried to stop me taking her,' he pointed at Ginny, who was trying to kick the shins of the Slytherin girl holding her, 'so I brought him along as well.'

'Good, good,' said Umbridge, watching Ginny's struggles. 'Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will soon be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?' She gave her wide, complacent smile and settled in her armchair, looking up at her captives.

Dean was standing stock still, glaring at Umbridge with a dangerous expression, his whole body tense. Cas was pale, his eyes glowing faintly and clearly straining to hold himself together. John looked nauseous, and Sherlock had already earned himself a graze to the jaw trying to fight off his Slytherin captor.

'So, Potter,' she said. 'You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon,' she nodded at Ron, 'to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes - Mr Filch having just informed me so.'

John's stomach lurched horribly. In his panic to find out if Sirius was all right, he hadn't even thought to check what Peeves was actually doing.

'Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to someone,' Umbridge continued. 'Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone.'

'It's none of your business who I talk to,' Harry snarled.

'Very well,' Umbridge said in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. 'Very well, Mr Potter… I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco, fetch Professor Snape.'

Malfoy left the room smirking, and silence fell in the office except for the scuffling from the Slytherins trying to keep their captives subdued. Ron's lip was bleeding; Ginny was still trying to stamp on the feet of the girl holding her; Neville was turning steadily more purple in the face while tugging at Crabbe's arms; Hermione was attempting, in vain, to throw Millicent off her. Luna, however, stood limply by the side of her captor, gazing vaguely out of the window.

Cas's eyebrow twitched. He had to release his power somehow, so focused on Warrington and forced him to loosen his grip on Neville.

Warrington, extremely alarmed by the sudden loss of control in his arm, looked around for help, but no one appeared to have noticed.

Dean still hadn't moved, having not seen an opportunity yet.

Soon, there were footsteps in the corridor outside and Malfoy returned, holding open the door for Snape.

'You wanted to see me, Headmistress?' said Snape, looking around at all the pairs of struggling students with complete indifference.

'Ah, Professor Snape,' said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. 'Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please.'

'You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter and Winchester,' he said, observing her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. 'Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient.'

Umbridge flushed.

'You can make some more, can't you?' she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish, as it always did when she was furious.

'Certainly,' said Snape, his lip curling. It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready in around a month.'

'A month?' squawked Umbridge. 'A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just caught Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!'

'Really?' said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Harry. 'Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules.'

'I wish to interrogate him!' shouted Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry back into her furiously quivering face. 'I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!'

'I have already told you,' said Snape smoothly, 'that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter - and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did - I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling.'

Suddenly tremors shook the room, and everyone looked around, confused. Umbridge hadn't noticed, too busy shouting at Snape, but Cas was glowing ever more brightly.

'You are on probation!' Umbridge shrieked, and Snape looked back at her, eyebrows slightly raised. 'You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!'

Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave.

'He's got Padfoot!' Harry shouted desperately, and they all collectively remembered that Snape was in the Order. 'He's got Padfoot in the place where it's hidden!'

Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridge's door handle, and John staggered under the weight of his vision of Sirius pressing in on all sides, his heart racing now that his fear had been realised. His nose dripped blood and the Slytherin holding him made a disgusted noise but refused to let go of him, while Sherlock fought furiously.

'Padfoot?' cried Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Snape. 'What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?'

Snape looked around at Harry. His face was inscrutable. 'I have no idea,' he said coldly. 'Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage.'

He closed the door with a snap, leaving Umbridge heaving with rage and frustration.

'Very well,' she said, and she pulled out her wand. 'Very well… I am left with no alternative… this is more than a matter of school discipline… this is an issue of Ministry security… yes… yes…' She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight from foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm. 'You are forcing me, Potter… I do not want to,' she said, moving restlessly on the spot, 'but sometimes circumstances justify the use… I'm sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice… The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue.'

Cas's eyes widened in horror, and the tremors in the room got stronger. Several of the kitten plates on the walls shattered, as did one of the vases on Umbridge's desk.

'No!' Hermione shrieked. 'Professor Umbridge, it's illegal!'

Dean finally moved, moving his attention away from Umbridge and wriggling enough to catch Cas's eye. He made exaggerated breath movements as best he could, urging Cas to calm down.

Cas nodded and the tremors lessened slightly as he squeezed his eyes shut, in an attempt to block out what Umbridge was about to do.

'The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!' cried Hermione.

'What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him,' said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt the most. 'He never knew I ordered 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?' gasped Harry. 'You sent the Dementors after me?'

John groaned, images of Dementors and Sirius crashing through him.

'Somebody had to act,' breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Harry's forehead. 'They were all bleating about silencing you somehow - discrediting you - but I was the one who actually did something about it… only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today though, not now -' And taking a deep breath, she cried, 'Cruc-'

'NO!' shouted Hermione in a cracked voice from behind Millicent. 'No - Harry - we'll have to tell her!'

'No way!' yelled Harry.

'We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's… what's the point?' She began to cry weakly into the back of Millicent's robes. Millicent stopped trying to squash her against the wall and jumped away in disgust.

'Well, well, well!' said Umbridge triumphantly. 'Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!'

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

Ginny was staring at Hermione as though she had never seen her before, but Dean narrowed his eyes, noticing that, despite Hermione's desperate sobbing, there was not a trace of a tear.

'I'm - I'm sorry everyone,' said Hermione. 'But - I can't stand it -'

'That's right, that's right, girl!' said Umbridge, seizing Hermione by the shoulders, thrusting her into the armchair and leaning over her. 'Now then… with whom was Potter communicating just now?'

'Well,' gulped Hermione behind her hands, 'well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore.'

Ron and Sherlock froze, eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor's toes; the tremors Cas was causing stopped abruptly in his shock; and even Luna looked mildly surprised.

Umbridge and her minions were too focused on Hermione to notice these suspicious signs.

'Dumbledore?' Umbridge said eagerly. 'You know where Dumbledore is, then?'

'Well… no!' Hermione sobbed. 'We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head-'

'Idiot girl - Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!' shouted Umbridge, disappointment etched in every line of her face.

'But - but we needed to tell him something important!' Hermione wailed.

'Yes?' said Umbridge with a sudden resurgence of excitement, still not noticing the absence of any tears. 'What was it you wanted to tell him?'

'We… we wanted to tell him it's r-ready!' choked Hermione.

'What's ready?' demanded Umbridge, grabbing Hermione's shoulders and shaking her slightly. 'What's ready, girl?'

'The… the weapon,' said Hermione.

'Weapon? Weapon?' said Umbridge, eyes bulging. 'You have been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?'

'Y-y-yes,' gasped Hermione, 'but he had to leave before it was finished and n-n-now we've finished it for him, and we c-c-can't find him t-t-to tell him!'

'What kind of weapon is it?' Umbridge said harshly, her stubby hands digging into Hermione's shoulders.

'We don't r-r-really understand it, we j-j-just did what P-P-Professor Dumbledore told us t-t-to do.'

Suddenly, John saw what Hermione intended to do and stared at her, desperately trying to get her attention.

'Lead me to the weapon,' said Umbridge, straightening up.

'I'm not showing them,' Hermione said shrilly, looking around at the Slytherins through her fingers, and catching John's eye.

'It is not for you to set conditions,' Umbridge said harshly.

'Fine,' said Hermione, sobbing into her hands again. 'Fine, let them see it, I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! That would serve you right - oh, I'd love ut if the wh-whole school knew where it was, and how to u-use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to s-sort you out!'

These words had a strong impact on Umbridge. She glanced swiftly and suspiciously around at her Inquisitorial Squad, her eyes resting on Malfoy, who was too slow to disguise the look of eagerness and greed on his face.

Umbridge contemplated Hermione for another long moment, then spoke in what she clearly thought was a motherly voice.

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

'We need John as well,' Hermione insisted.

Umbridge narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but motioned for John to be released.

'Professor,' Malfoy said eagerly, 'I think some of the Squad should come with you to look after-'

'I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage some wandless teenagers alone?' Umbridge said sharply. 'In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these escape.'

'All right,' said Malfoy, looking sulky and disappointed.

'And you three can go ahead of me and show me the way,' said Umbridge, pointing her wand at them. 'Lead on.'

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to Morgan Teri Befan for the review! See you all next time :)