Terror

Hermione woke the next day with a feeling of dread filling her mind, but could not figure out why or what for. She went through her normal routine of showering, dressing and preparing for the days lessons. While she was having breakfast she noticed Umbridge looking at her. It was so terrible, that she simply got up and left the hall. She decided to head off to her Defence against the Dark Arts lesson, hoping to get a seat at the back for once. She noticed that lots of groups of students gathered round notice boards, but she didn't see what was the source of interest to them all. She got to the classroom and she sat down, finding that the class was already full.

"Good Morning, class" Umbridge said as she walked into the classroom.

"Good Morning, Professor Umbridge" the class echoed. Umbridge had made it clear that she wanted the class to repeat her greeting every morning. As for the woman herself, she walked up to the front of the class and turned to gaze upon all of them.

"I want the following people to pack up their things, and return to Gryffindor common room" Umbridge said. "Hermione Granger, Dean Thomas and Parvati Patil" there was a shocked silence, and Umbridge repeated her list of names. "You will return to your common room or go to somewhere otherwise then this classroom" and Hermione, Dean and Parvati could only do as they had been told.

"What is she playing at?" Dean asked as they walked down the corridor.

"I don't know" Hermione said, confused like she had never been before.

"Why just we three?" Parvati wondered aloud. "What can we do?" she asked, but got no reply. She looked behind her, but found Hermione and Dean looking at one of the notice boards on the wall. "Are you going to answer me?" she demanded hotly.

"Look at this" hissed Dean, pointing at the newest notice which had been plastered all over the board.

Educational Decree Number 18

By Order of the Hogwarts High Inquisitor

All muggleborn students are now banned from practical lessons. This ban applies to all of the following subjects:

Transfiguration

Potions

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Ancient Runes

Arithmancy

Care of Magical Creatures

Flying Lessons

And all other lessons where they will be practical sessions. Muggleborns are only allowed to take part in text book copying lessons.

This is accordance with the Above Decree.

Signed

Delores Jane Umbridge

Hogwarts High Inquisitor

"She has done it this time" Dean spat, as Ernie McMillan came walking up towards them.

"Take it you have seen these bloody stupid things" he fumed, waving several of the decrees in his hand. "How many people does this affect?" he asked.

"I guess between a quarter and a half of the school" Parvati said.

"What are we going to do about this?" Dean asked.

"We can go see Dumbledore" Parvati said.

"NO!" Hermione blurted out, and the others looked oddly at her.

"Why not?" asked Ernie.

"Because I had potions forced down my throat by Umbridge, while Dumbledore was in the same room. He just stood there and watched as she poured them all down. I don't think that he will do anything at all" and after further explaining, the others had to agree. More would have been said, but there was a loud scream and the four turned and ran in the direction of the noise.

"What the hell…?" Ernie and Dean said at the same time as they turned a corner, and came upon the sight of Katie Bell lying on the floor, lying in what looked to be her own blood coming from her legs.

"Shit" Hermione swore, and she and Parvati bent down to see to Katie. "Go and get a teacher" she told the two boys, but both shook their heads.

"We're staying" Ernie said, while Dean raised his wand.

"Expecto Petronum!" he cried, and a Lion shaped Patronus sprung out from his wand. "Go and find the nearest teacher. Do Not Get Professor Umbridge" he told it, and the lion ran off in the direction where the four had come in. Dean looked down at Katie who was shaking and sobbing to herself. "How is she?" he asked.

"I don't know" Parvati said.

"Can you two stop people from coming down this corridor?" Hermione asked the two boys. Both of them nodded and took up positions on each end of the short corridor in order to stop passers-by from looking at Katie's distress. The boys managed to keep a good perimeter until Dean saw Professor McGonagall running towards her with Professors Flitwick and Snape in tow.

"What is going on?" McGonagall demanded.

"We just got sent out of our lessons, and found each other and started talking. We had just reached one of the notice boards when we heard a scream, so we ran to find out what was happening. We came upon Katie lying in her own blood, crying and shaking like never before" Hermione said.

"Katie…?" McGonagall began, and then she saw Katie Bell lying on the floor with Parvati comforting her. "Oh gods…" she muttered and rushed over.

"Did you see anybody attack her?" Flitwick asked.

"No, Professor" Ernie said respectfully.

"We just came round and found her like that" Dean added.

"As much as I hate to intervene, I think that we should take Miss Bell to the Hospital Wing" Snape said coldly.

"Yes" McGonagall said, and she levitated Katie into the air and began to move her down the corridor. "You four are not to say a word to anybody about what you have seen here" she added as she and Snape left towards the Hospital Wing.

"I hope she is alright" Dean said.

"You are not the only one, Mr Thomas" Flitwick said quietly. He gave a few waves of his wand and the blood disappeared. A few more waves and the smell of the blood dissipated. He looked at the four with concern on his face. "As Professor McGonagall said, do not tell anybody about what you have seen. Under the circumstances, it is best that you kept a low profile" and he turned and trotted off in pursuit of McGonagall and Snape.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Hermione said darkly and the others agreed.

"What do we do now?" asked Dean.

"We go back to our common rooms… and see who else has been affected by this new decree" Hermione replied. The three Gryffindors agreed to meet with Ernie in the library later and headed back to their own common room. When they got there, things didn't look too good. Fully half of Gryffindor sat lounging around with furious looks on faces.

"If this is just us, then how many are in the other common rooms?" Parvati asked darkly.

"I don't know" Hermione muttered. There was talking amongst them until the evening, and there was more astounding news for not just the Gryffindors but the school in general. It turned out that several other female students had been assaulted, and it was only the last one that had been seen by somebody else had the truth come across. The female students had all been victims of serious sexual assaults, and all had been expelled within several hours. Katie (the original victim) was the only one to remain, and according to her it was only because she was a Pureblood. Every other had been muggle born. Instinctively, if Hermione went out of the tower, she was followed by several students wherever she went. The biggest shock had been when they had discovered Ron in company with Slytherins and wearing a badge with the legend 'Inquisical Squad' in bold letters. The other and more shocking thing had been when the news had got round that he and the Slytherin males had been involved in all of them.

A/N:

Well heres the latest chapter in this fic. I'm finishing here because of the fact that if I went on, it will spoil what I have planned next. Only one other person has an idea on what I am doing, but don't even bother to ask God. He is on holiday in the Bahamas.

Regards,

Robert