Of Wizards, Akuma, and Exorcists
Forty-one: Explosion
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:
"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.
The occupants of the room stood in complete silence for a few long moments, all of them staring at the curly-haired girl who had just shaken her head.
Allen and Harry exchanged looks of utter shock and disbelief, and detected a bit of relief in each other's eyes. Neither of them could guess what happened. Hadn't Marietta Edgecombe sold them out? So why did she, just now, deny that they had been doing anything that went against the school rules?
Dolores Umbridge, their insufferable High Inquisitor, came out of her silence as she glanced between the girl beside her and the man by the fireplace, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.
"I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear?" she asked Marietta testily.
"I would have thought her meaning was quite clear," said McGonagall, who was looking at Umbridge scornfully. Turning to Marietta, she said, "There have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"
Marietta nodded.
"But there was a meeting tonight!" Umbridge declared, glaring at Harry and Allen accusingly. "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?"
"Well, usually when a person shakes their head," McGonagall sneered, "they mean 'no.' So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign language as yet unknown to humans-"
"Ah-"
That moment, Umbridge roughly grabbed Marietta by the shoulders and began to shake her back and forth very hard. However, she jumped back a split second later, waving her hand as if she'd received a violent electric shock.
Dumbledore was on his feet, wand raised, looking angry for the first time. "I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," he said quietly.
"You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge," Kingsley said slowly. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble now.
"No," Umbridge snapped breathlessly. "I mean, yes- you're right, Shacklebolt- I- I forgot myself."
Allen watched Marietta, who was still standing where Umbridge let her go. Once again, he noticed her oddly glazed eyes, and remembered Kingsley's strange actions. Maybe...
"Dolores," Fudge with a tone of forced authority, "the meeting tonight- the one we know definitely happened-"
"Yes," the Inquisitor said,, straightening her back, "yes... well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, 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..."
"Oh Gods," Allen whispered, and he knew only Harry could hear him.
"The moment I saw Potter's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with," Umbridge said to Fudge softly, showing him the list of D.A. members Hermione had come up with.
"Excellent," Fudge breathed. "Excellent, Dolores. And... by thunder... See what they've named themselves?"
He triumphantly held up the list to Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore's Army."
A frozen silence followed: Dumbledore looked unable to speak, as if he' finally lost... and then, he looked up smiling.
"Well, the game is up," he shrugged lightly. "Would you like a written confession from me, Cornelius- or will a statement before the witnesses suffice?"
"What?" Allen said, his voice unnaturally high-pitched. What was Dumbledore thinking? He couldn't do this-
"Statement?" Fudge stuttered. "What- I don't-?"
"Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius. Not Potter's Army. Dumbledore's Army."
"But- but-"
"You can't, Professor!" Allen gasped, but he was shoved backward by a vivid looking Umbridge. Fudge, whose face blazed a sudden understanding, gave a yelp as he jumped and accidentally stepped into the fireplace. "You?" he whispered harshly, stomping on the hem of his cloak to extinguish the flame.
"That's right."
"You organized this?"
"I did."
"You recruited these students for- for you army?"
"Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting," Dumbledore nodded. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to incite Miss Edgecombe, of course."
Marietta nodded, and Fudge glanced from her to Dumbledore, his face turning red with excitement before he exclaimed:
"Then you have been plotting against me!"
"That's right."
"NO!" Harry yelled, but Allen placed a hand on his shoulder. The white haired boy rubbed his head where he hit it when Umbridge had pushed him. He saw several Timcampys fluttering around him. What a perfect time to be dizzy...
"Harry, he'd trying to protect you," he said. "I don't agree with it, either, but he has to do it-"
"No- Professor Dumbledore!" Harry gasped, ignoring Allen.
"Be quiet, Harry, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office," Dumbledore said serenely.
"Yes, shut up, Potter!" Fudge snapped. He looked insane and hysterical as he stared wide-eyed at Dumbledore. "Well, well, well- I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and instead-"
"Instead you get to arrest me. It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"
"Weasley! Weasley, have you written it all down, everything he said, his confession, have you got it?" Fudge cried.
"Yes, sir, I think so, sir!" Percy Weasley spoke for the first time, his nose splattered with ink.
"The bit about how he's been trying to build up an army against the Ministry, how he's been working to destabilize me?"
"Yes, sir, I've got it, yes!"
"Very well, then. Duplicate your notes, Weasley, and send a copy to theDaily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl we should make the morning edition!" Fudge ordered, and as Percy disappeared out of the office, slamming the door behind him, the Minister rounded on Dumbledore. "You will not be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged and then sent to Azkaban to await trial!"
"Ah, yes," Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag."
"Snag? I see no snag, Dumbledore!"
"Well, I'm afraid I do."
Fugitive, Allen muttered in his head.
Everything else happened in a blurry flash, as Allen's head was still fuzzy from its crash against the wall from earlier. He only remembered pulling Harry to the floor with McGonagall and Marietta beside him, and then, the people of the Ministry were all unconscious on the ground, and Dumbledore was looking down at them kindly.
"Are you all right?" the old man asked.
"Yes!" McGonagall answered, standing up and dragging Harry and Marietta with her.
"Unfortunately, I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would have looked very suspicious. He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone was looking the other way- thank him for me, won't you, Minerva?"
"Professor-" Allen began.
"Now, they will all awake very soon and it will be best if they do not know that we had time to communicate- you must act as though no time has passed, as though they were merely knocked to the ground, they will not remember-"
"Where will you go, Dumbledore?" McGonagall asked. "Grimmauld Place?"
"Oh no, I am not leaving to go into hiding," Dumbledore answered. He looked at Allen. "I think I may have to apologize to you, Allen, and Miss Lenalee. I will be taking Komui with me- or, he may already have gone."
"Komui?" Allen repeated.
"I will be trusting all of you. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you..."
"Professor Dumbledore..." Harry said.
"Listen to me, Harry, you must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do you understand me?" Dumbledore cut in. "Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practice it particularly every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to bad dreams- you will understand why soon enough, but you must promise me-"
"He's stirring," Allen whispered, pointing at the man called Dawlish.
"Remember- close your mind- you will understand," Dumbledore said, gripping Harry's wrist to emphasize his point before his phoenix, Fawkes, swooped down. He raised both his hands, grabbed the bird's tail, and in a flash of light-
Both of them were gone.
- - -
"Lenalee," Allen whispered to the girl beside him.
"He could have told me," Lenalee sniffed, rubbing her eyes. "I was just... really scared when Kanda told me he vanished in the middle of the night."
It was the day after Dumbledore's disappearance and the appointment of Headmistress Dolores Umbridge. Notices had gone up overnight, but everyone at the school knew about the incident in Dumbledore's office, which resulted in Harry being chased everywhere he went by people seeking a firsthand account. With Allen's advice, the Exorcists had all hidden their coats in the deepest area of their respective trunks, and were now wearing clothes loaned by the Weasleys. The only person reluctant to borrow anything was Kanda, but Allen had convinced him that it was for the best that they didn't get arrested. Komui's disappearance had, at first, caused a bit of worry for the Exorcists, but when Allen explained the events of the night before in Albus Dumbledore's office, they had all pulled themselves together and gathered outside the castle nearby the Dark Forest.
"Look, there's Lavi," Miranda said, pointing to a red haired figure running toward them.
"Malfoy's docking points from the houses," Lavi announced, coming to a stop and sitting beside Allen on a fallen log. "He's part of the Inquisitorial Squad."
"The what?" Allen asked.
"Special students chosen by the Ministry who have special privileges," Lavi explained. "Figures, don't it? He and some other Slytherins are docking points from all the other houses. That's abusing authority, bit time!"
"That Montague was one of them until break," Kanda said from where he sat on a branch overhead.
"Was?" Lenalee repeated, rubbing her eyes again.
"Fred and George Weasley shoved him into the Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor. I saw them."
"That could get them in serious trouble!"
"I don't think they care," Allen told Lenalee. "Speaking of the twins, they mentioned something about a great show during lunch."
"Do you think we should go in and make sure they don't do anythingtoo serious?" Lavi asked.
"Number one rule is to stay out of trouble," Allen told him. "We could go, but it's best we stay out of it if we don't want the wizard government after our hides."
The Exorcists agreed and returned to Hogwarts castle, all deep in thought as they tried to their greatest extent to imagine what the Weasley twins had planned... surely it was something to get on Dolors Umbridge's nerves.
"Anyone hungry?" Lavi asked, and without replying, they all entered the Great Hall. Just when they reached the Gryffindor table to grab some food, a deafening roar shook the earth.
BOOM!
"Three guesses what that was," Kanda muttered as students leaped to their feet and dashed for the doors.
"Something that weighs a ton dropping to the floor in the entrance hall," Allen suggested.
"Someone using a big hammer to smash the walls in?" Krory asked.
"Fireworks!" Lavi cheered.
"They're beautiful," Miranda said as she followed an excited Krory out of the Great Hall. Allen, Lenalee, Kanda, and Lavi trailed after them, listening for the voices they would soon start to hear. Then, they caught it, barely audible behind the cheering students and the loud bangs and booms of exploding lights:
"Hurry, Filch, hurry! They'll be all over the school unless we do something- Stupefy!"
"Don't Stun them, Filch!"
"Right you are, Headmistress!"
"Idiots," Lavi snickered, and grabbing Allen by the wrist, he dragged the white haired boy over to a tapestry. Ducking behind it, he opened a hidden door and walked in to find Fred, George, and Harry. All three boys had the mirthful faces of having just stopped laughing.
"Amazing, my friends, amazing," Lavi congratulated, patting the twins' backs.
"That was phase one," Fred said. "Phase two will be better, not to worry."
"What will you do?" Allen asked.
"Oh, that'll be a surprise," George told him. "The opening ceremony for the rest of our lives."
Sorry for taking so long to update... This is kind of short, but I really had no idea what to write anymore...(shoots self)