Of Wizards, Akuma, and Exorcist
Forty: Caught
Disclaimers: I do not own any D. Gray-Man or Harry Potter characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Hoshino (D. Gray-Man) and Ms. Rowling (Harry Potter). Also, some conversations between the Harry Potter characters are direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and that also does not belong to me!
Recap:
"Harry Potter was chosen-" Trelawney began.
"And so were we," Lavi whispered to himself. "We were chosen, too, by God."
Deciding to find another route back the the Gryffindor common room, Lavi silently left the scene.
"This is so great" Lavi said in a drawling voice as he watched Allen's glowing Patronus fly around his head. "It's a dove, right? Suits you."
"Why?" Allen asked as the bird rested on his outstretched arm.
"It's the same color as you," the redhead replied.
"What?" Allen nearly yelled.
"Quit screaming, Moyashi," Kanda's voice snapped from behind him. Spinning on his heels, Allen glared at the Japanese Exorcist that was sitting on the floor with his Patronus, an elegant looking cat, curled up against his foot. He didn't seem to mind the presence, but it also might have been because he was so busy sending death glares at Allen.
"What is yours, Lavi?" Lenalee asked from where she was with Krory and Miranda. The small hummingbird Patronus fluttered busily over her head, chirping happily at Miranda's badger and Krory's tiny dog.
"I think it's a squirrel," Lavi replied, tugging at the furry lump clinging his arm.
"What are you doing, Harry?" Allen asked as said boy rushed past. "Oh, look, it's Dobby!"
"Dobby?" Lavi repeated in question.
Ignoring him, Allen peered worriedly at the house elf talking to Harry. "He doesn't look so happy. I wonder what happened."
"Harry Potter, sir..." Dobby the house elf squeaked frightfully. "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, sending Kanda's cat hissing away in alarm and disappearing into a glowing mist as the samurai jumped to his feet, hand flying to Mugen's hilt. When Dobby bounced off the stone, cushioned by the eight or so hats on his head, several girls gave sympathetic squeaks, and Lavi looked as if be suppressing a laugh.
"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked as Allen grabbed the elf's tiny arm, keeping him out of reach of anything he might use to inflict pain upon himself (house elves were troublesome that way, always trying to hurt themselves whenever they felt they went against their masters' orders).
"Harry Potter... she... she..." Dobby stuttered before his free fist shot out to punch himself in the nose. Harry caught it, albeit a bit too late, and asked,
"Who's 'she', Dobby?"
Allen felt as if someone had dumped ice water down his back. He thought he knew who Dobby meant by 'she', and he knew Harry had the same feeling as well. Looking over his shoulder, Allen caught sight of his comrades, all with apprehensive frowns marring their usually calm faces.
"Umbridge?" Harry whispered, horrified, and Dobby nodded to confirm their fears. A split second later, he tried to bang his head against Harry's knees, but the boy held him at bay.
"What about her?" Allen asked quickly. "Dobby- she hasn't found out about this- about us- about the D.A.?"
Dobby didn't say anything, but the answer was apparent on his fear-stricken face.
"Is she coming?" Harry asked softly.
Suddenly, Dobby let out a horrible howl, fell the the floor, and began banging his head. "Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"
Behind Allen, Lavi let out a swear word he'd only heard once, from his master's drunken mouth, and Harry straightened up and looked around at the frozen D.A. members.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed with a slightly panicked voice. "RUN!"
It was as if their leader's voice was an electric shock. As soon as those words left Harry's lips, all of the D.A. members made to run for the exit and burst out of the doors. As he watched, Allen hoped they had enough sense to try to find any kind of refuge and not attempt returning to their common rooms.
"Run, everyone!" Allen yelled at the crowd as, somewhere, Hermione was shrieking for Harry to leave as well. Lavi had dragged Kanda away somewhere to the back of the room to aid the smaller and weaker students in getting out, for most of the younger members were being pushed to the back by the older ones... He could see Krory and Miranda's heads bobbing over the rest of the crowd, trying to get them to leave in a bit more of an orderly fashion (all they did was bunch up at the door), and Lenalee must have been dragged out already, for she was nowhere to be seen...
"Go ahead of us, Allen!" Lavi yelled as he rushed past. "It won't help if all of us are caught in here, so go!"
"Allen, come on," Harry grunted and grabbed the boy's wrist. "Let's go."
He tried to resist, but he lost to Harry's surprisingly strong grip and was pulled out of the room. He saw Lavi give him a thumbs-up (a gesture he would have thought as lame in any other situation) and he turned around to run with Harry.
Most of the D.A. members had already hidden themselves by the time the two boys skidded around a corner. They didn't stop to think about where to go, but they both made for the boys' bathroom they saw ahead. They were almost there when-
"AARGH!"
"Harry?" Allen gasped, landing on his feet with a light tap as Harry fell spectacularly to the ground several feet away. He'd leaped into the air at the last moment, having had a bad feeling, but he didn't have enough time to warn Harry, who had been caught by someone's jinx... Behind them, someone was cackling merrily.
"Trip Jinx, Potter," Draco Malfoy said as he slipped out of a niche behind an ugly vase. "I'm surprised you dodged it, Walker, considering you look so dumb. Oh, well. Hey, Professor- PROFESSOR! I've got two!"
The fat figure of Dolores Umbridge came bustling around the corner, her eyes shining with glee. Upon sighting Harry and Allen, her wide smiled only got wider.
"it's him!" she exclaimed happily. "Excellent, Draco, excellent, oh, very good- fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take them from here... Stand up, Potter!"
Allen reached out his hand and helped Harry to his feet, both of them not taking their eyes off Umbridge, who grabbed both of them in a strong, viselike grip. Turning to Malfoy, she said, "You hop along and see if you can round up anymore of them, Draco. Tell the others to look in the library- anyone out of breath- check the bathrooms. Miss Parkinson can do the girls' ones- off you go- and you-"
She turned a pair of malicious eyes on Allen and Harry as Malfoy disappeared down the corridor. "You two can come with me to the headmaster's office."
"Tea?" Allen asked politely with a smile that convincingly real. "My, what a wonderful invite." He'd learned the sarcasm act from his devil of a master, Cross, and Lavi. He never thought he'd find it useful in anything other than poker games, but this seemed like an ideal time for him to use it...
Umbridge only sent a disgusted glare at him before dragging them down the corridor toward Albus Dumbledore's office. As they approached the stone gargoyle, Allen vaguely wondered if his comrades were able to escape. If they were caught, what would they do, he wondered- Kanda would probably yell and resist anyone trying to take him down, and Lavi would be the same. Krory and Miranda, he worried about, but Lenalee could outrun just about anybody at Hogwarts...
"Fizzing Whisbee," Umbridge sang, and they were then shoved onto the moving staircase that lead up to the headmaster's office. When they reached the polished door, Allen made to knock, but Umbridge slapped his hand away and pushed open the door, striding in confidently without releasing her grip on the boys' arms. Allen was starting to lose the feeling in the tips of his fingers.
Dumbledore's office was crowded. The headmaster himself was sitting behind his desk with complete serenity while McGonagall stood as still and stiff as a statue beside him, her thin lips barely visible. The Minister was standing restlessly by Dumbledore's fireplace, sneering at the boys. A man Allen recognized as a member of the Order of the Phoenix and a large man with wiry hair stood on either of side of the door, and a rather familiar youth with bright red hair was hovering beside the wall, nearly shaking with excitement.
Other than Dumbledore and Umbridge, the only person Allen knew was Kingsley Shacklebolt, the man from the Order of the Phoenix, but he guessed the other three to be people from the Ministry of Magic. The small man must be the Minister, for he had the green bowler hat Ginny Weasley mentioned one time during their conversations. The large man must be from the same work unit as Kingsley, considering his size. And the red haired youth, now that he took a closer look, matched Fred and George Weasley's description of their older brother Percy.
"Well," Cornelius Fudge said, pleasure gleaming in his eyes as he watched Harry and Allen walk into the office. "Well, well, well..."
"Good evening, Minister," Allen greeted coldly as Harry sent the man a dirty glare.
"They were heading back to Gryffinfor Tower," Umbridge informed sounding breathless. No wonder, she must be excited about catching Harry Potter and Allen Walker, at last. "The Malfoy boy cornered him."
"Did he, did he?" Cornelius Fudge drawled, his eyes turning form Harry and onto Allen. "I must remember to tell Lucius. Well, Potter... I expect you to know why you are here? And who is this boy?"
Harry opened his mouth but no sound came out. Allen, deciding to answer his question first, opened his mouth and was surprised to find that his voice wasn't shaking like he'd expected it to be. "I am Allen Walker," he said.
"Yeh- no," Harry answered to Fudge's question, sounding awkward.
"I beg your pardon?"
"No," Harry repeated.
"You don't know why you are here?"
"No, I don't."
Allen stared at Fudge with wonder.
He had heard enough about the Ministry of Magic to visualize the Minister in his mind. He'd expected a man with expensive robes and an evil glint in his eyes. He hadn't expected, at all, the man who was speaking to Harry with sarcasm dripping from every word that left his lips.
"So you have no idea," the man was saying, "why Professor Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware you have broken any school rules?" He seemed to be ignoring Allen on purpose.
"School rules?" Harry asked, apparently regaining his tongue. "No," he said.
"Or Ministry decrees?" Fudge raised his voice in anger.
"Not that I'm aware of."
"So it's news to you, is it," the Minister growled out, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school? That an illegal group of criminals have been discovered hiding within this castle?"
"Yes it is," Harry answered, putting on an innocent face that Allen found very unconvincing.
Fudge looked ready to explode. "Rubbish!" he spat under his breath. "Potter, are you aware that this boy, standing beside you, is an Exorcist?" He pointed accusingly at Allen, whose wonder increased. How did he know about the Black Order?
"Excuse me-"
"I would never forget that Rose Cross on your coat, boy," Fudge interrupted him. "I've seen it while looking through our old documents, and there was one where you filthy people showed up... Oh, no, I will never forget that cross." He glared at Harry. "Well, Potter?"
"I might have heard it slip somewhere," Harry replied, "but I do not see the connection between Allen being an Exorcist, me, and your discovering of those 'illegal' organizations. Sir."
"Exorcism is a crime," Fudge snapped. "Why, I wonder why one is still alive today... all Exorcists were banished from the world one hundred years ago, those useless men who talk rubbish about saving the world, murderers who take pleasure in using strange objects to blow people up!"
"That might be true, sir," Harry said, "but Allen hasn't blown anything up."
"Ho ho," said Fudge, turning to Allen now and looking him straight in the eye. "Haven't blown up anything, have you? Then I wonder, what was it that Professor Umbridge told me about you and your friends causing great damage to this castle?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that I still haven't blown up a person, unless Akuma happen to count in the category," Allen answered, feeling his hands shaking. He was glad his hair hid his ears lest Fudge would have been aware of his anger at the insult he'd spat out at them.
"I think, Minister," Umbridge said smoothly, her lips curled up in a smirk, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."
"Yes, yes, do," Fudge said, breaking his eye contact with Allen. Umbridge left, and he turned to smile wide at Dumbledore. "There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?" he asked.
"Nothing at all, Cornelius," Dumbledore replied shortly, gravely.
"This is really is the end of our mission," Allen said to Harry under his breath. "Despite the situation, I'm pathetic enough to say that I'm scared of what Kanda would do when he finds out I've been caught."
"You fear your friend more than you fear the consequences of being a discovered criminal?" Fudge sneered.
"We are notcriminals!" Allen replied furiously.
"'We', you say, eh? There are more of you?"
"Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened," Umbridge's voice said from somewhere behind the doors. The woman came walking into the office with a curly-haired girl Allen recognized as one of Cho Chang's friends. Her name- what was it?
"It's quite alright, now" Umbridge said to the girl. "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." She lifted her toady face and said, "Marietta's mother, Minister, 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!" Fudge said approvingly. "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!"
"Genius, Hermione, genius," Allen heard Harry said under his breath, and he too had to hide a surprised yet amused smile. Marietta Edgecombe's face was covered with purple pustules that spelled out the word "SNEAK" in a very noticeable fashion, right across her nose and cheeks.
"Never mind the spots now, dear," Umbridge was saying to Marietta, who had given a wail and hid her face with her robes. "Just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister-" But Marietta only gave another wail and shook her head.
"Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him. Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me." And thus, she proceeded to tell a long tale about Marietta's telling her about eh meeting, and how Hermione's hex had come into operation, and how she couldn't get anything else out of Marietta.
"Well, now," said Fudge when Umbridge was finished. "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 it's purpose? Who was there?"
He receive no answer other than a shake of the girl's head.
"Haven't we got a counterjinx for this? So she can speak freely?"
"I have no yet managed to find one," Umbridge said grudgingly, glaring at Allen and Harry as if it was their fault. "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 Hogsmeade-"
"Even if he did go there, it's still within school grounds, Professor," Allen said, understanding for the very first time why his master enjoyed this thing called 'sarcasm' so much.
"And what is your evidence for that?" McGonagall demanded.
"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be at the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," Umbridge smirked. "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! What an interesting insight into your justice system!"
"Blatant corruption!" cried a wizard sitting in the portrait behind Dumbledore's head. "The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"
"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," Dumbledore said quietly.
"The purpose of Potter's meeting with these students 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-"
"Illegal?" Allen repeated, as Dumbledore said, "I think you'll find yourself wrong there, Dolores."
"Oho!" Fudge exclaimed. "Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore- 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 to life, and a couple of invisible dementors?"
"Oh, very good, Minister, very good!" Percy Weasley laughed heartily.
"Excuse me, sir, Minister," Allen suddenly said, sending Dumbledore an apologetic look that was dismissed with a small smile, "but for your information, traveling through time is possible, dead men can come back to life- although with a very dreadful consequence- and I'm sure Harry was not lying about any dementors."
"Dead men coming to life- those Akuma things I've read about in the document, is it?" Fudge demanded.
"I would be lying if I said anything otherwise, sir. I have been seeing them ever since I was twelve, and I am sure I haven't dreamed up the past three years," Allen said.
"Cornelius," Dumbledore said, and the minister spun on his heels to face the headmaster. "I do not deny- 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 a Defense Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that time, illegal. I am sure Allen has noticed that as well. 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."
A long silence followed those words, then Umbridge recovered.
"That's all very fine, Headmaster," she said. "But we are now nearly six 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, they certainly would be, if they had continued after the decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that these meetings continued?"
As the old man spoke, Allen's instinct told him to glance behind himself at Kingsley. The man had his wand out, pointed at either Umbridge or Marietta. He seemed to whisper something Allen couldn't hear, then his wand disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Catching Allen's eye, he gave a small nod. The boy looked back at Dumbledore with a bit of hope and confusion spinning in his head.
"Evidence?" Umbrige repeated gleefully. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"
"Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."
"Miss Edgecombe, tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear," Umbridge coaxed. "You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that wont make the spots worse. Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?"
This is it, Allen thought grimly. If Marietta had sold them out once, why would she not sell them out again? He stared at Marietta, preparing himself for when she would nod her head-
He would most likely be arrested, along with his comrades, and Harry, along with all the rest of the D.A. members, would probably be expelled. Allen sighed, wishing, more than ever, that he hadn't signed up for this mission when Komui told them about it half a year ago. Why, oh why...?
"Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge said gently.
Marietta was staring in horror at the floor, and Allen glanced at her eyes, seeing something strange. They were oddly blank.
Why is that? They looked more frightened just a minute ago-
"Well, dear?" Umbridge said.
Marietta's eyes flickered back and forth between the many people standing around her in the room. Then, to everyone's amazement, she shook her head from side to side.