Draco was determined that he was going to catch Potter and his little gang, hopefully sometime before the Easter break that was rapidly approaching. After his initial decision to follow Granger, he had to admit he hadn't been as conscientious as he should have been. Several times he'd gotten distracted by girls and hadn't even bothered to follow the mudblood. Although to be fair even when he was following her she never went anywhere but the library. Several times Draco had gotten the impression Granger had been intending to head somewhere other than the library, but she seemed to know he was following her and always ended up at the library.
For the last few days Draco had been following Granger using a disillusionment charm. Several times she'd frowned to herself as she looked around, obviously thinking she was being followed. While the suspicion might have been there, Draco was confident that she couldn't see him and would eventually shake off the feeling and proceed as normal, which would hopefully lead him to Potter and his secret meetings.
Luckily for Draco he got exactly what he wanted and the day came that Granger led him directly to her best friend. At first Draco had figured it was going to be a regular night in the library, but after spending half an hour doing a potions essay, Granger packed up her stuff and left the library. While Draco assumed she was heading back to Gryffindor Tower he still followed her just to be sure.
It quickly became clear she wasn't heading back to the Tower as almost immediately she set off in the opposite direction. Draco's good feeling about where Granger was going intensified when she ran into the Weasley girl on the fifth floor and the two of them set off together. Draco didn't dare risk getting close enough so he could hear them, so he was just hoping they were heading to one of Potter's secret meetings.
When the two girls headed for a deserted corridor he hadn't even noticed before, Draco felt confident he was going to find Potter's little gang. However he was extremely puzzled when they stopped in front of a blank wall and looked from side to side. After a quick conversation the Weasley girl stepped to one side and Granger began pacing in front of the wall. Draco's eyes almost popped out of his head when a door suddenly appeared in the wall and the girls quickly darted through it.
The second the door shut, it disappeared leaving a blank wall in its place. Frowning in confusion Draco walked over to where the door had appeared. Running his hand across the wall he found nothing, there was no sign of a secret door. Draco tried pacing up and down like Granger had done, but still no door appeared.
"Bugger." He swore after ten minutes of poking, prodding and pacing hadn't revealed the door.
Despite the fact he couldn't find the door, Draco knew what he'd seen. Somehow Potter and his group had discovered some sort of secret room and the entrance was hidden in some way. So even though Draco couldn't find the door, he knew Potter and friends were behind the wall.
Draco didn't want to leave the corridor unattended, but he knew he needed to get to Umbridge and tell her what he'd discovered. While he may not be able to gain entry into Potter's secret room, he knew the dumpy little witch in pink would find a way. Casting a couple of spells that his father had taught him to detect movement, Draco left the corridor. The spells he cast were linked to his wand and if anyone stepped foot in the corridor he'd just left, Draco's wand would vibrate.
Heading to Umbridge's office, Draco found the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor just sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea.
"Would you care for a cup, Draco?" Umbridge asked, allowing the Slytherin into her domain.
"No thank you, Professor." Draco said politely, trying not to wince at the garish pink room and the odd collection of cat plates on the walls. "I think I know where Potter and his group are meeting."
"Oh, do tell." Umbridge grinned.
"Well, I was using a disillusionment charm to follow Granger. She met up with the Weasley girl and they headed to this deserted corridor. Granger then made a door appear in a wall and they disappeared inside. Before I could get to the door it vanished and now I can't get it to reappear." Draco explained.
"Interesting." Umbridge said thoughtfully. "I've heard rumours that there's a secret room at Hogwarts that gives you exactly what you need. I haven't been able to find it however, or even confirm its existence."
"Chances are that's the room Potter's using." Draco said. "He probably found out about it from Dumbledore. Potter is his little favourite after all."
"Soon it won't matter." Umbridge shrugged. "Dumbledore will be gone before long and Potter won't have his protection. Finally the boy will have to face up to his actions."
Draco smirked at the thought of Potter and his friends not getting away with breaking all sorts of rules. Over the years they'd done all sorts and instead of punishing them, Dumbledore merely twisted the situation to suit him and rewarded them for their behaviour. It made Draco sick, but hopefully Dumbledore's reign was coming to an end and the Gryffindors cushy life would be over.
"I'll go ahead and check the corridor. I want you to run and get some more of the Inquisitorial Squad." Umbridge told Draco as she ushered him from her office. "Be quick, you don't want to miss all the fun."
Rushing off to the dungeons, Draco quickly grabbed his friends. As they ran back to the deserted corridor, Draco hastily explained what was going on. The thought of catching Potter and his gang spurred everyone on and they made it back to where Umbridge was waiting for them in record time.
"Where was the door, Draco?" Umbridge asked.
"Over here." Draco led Umbridge over to the blank bit of wall and showed her exactly where the door had appeared.
Umbridge poked and prodded for a few minutes before stepping back with a shrug. "Let's try some direct action." She smirked at the gathered Slytherins, before turning back to the wall and raising her wand. "Bombarda!"
The wall shook with the force of Umbridge's spell, but no door appeared. Not giving up, Umbridge continued to blast at the wall. As the bricks started to fall the Slytherins exchanged evil grins, before long they would be inside the secret room and would witness Potter's downfall.
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Inside the Room of Requirements, silence fell as the group heard and felt the rattling of the wall. A few more loud bangs had the room shaking and plaster falling from the wall where the door was located.
"What's going on?" Ron asked warily.
"I think we've been caught." Harry muttered.
"Is there another way out?" Ginny asked, looking around the room in a hurry.
"I don't think so." Hermione replied.
"Damn." Harry cursed as a small hole appeared in the wall.
Instinctively Dumbledore's Army gathered around Harry, with Hermione and Ron flanking him. As the group watched the wall the hole got bigger and Umbridge's smug face soon appeared, gloating over the fact she'd caught them. As the hole continued to grow and Umbridge could finally enter the room, the Inquisitorial Squad appeared behind her.
"Might have guessed they would be here." Ron muttered as he spotted the Slytherins.
"Yeah, smug gits." Harry retorted.
Even though Hermione had led Draco to the meeting, she couldn't help but agree with Harry. While all the Slytherins were wearing superior grins, Draco's was far worse. As much as Hermione fancied the blond, at the minute she just wanted to slap the smug smirk off his face.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Umbridge crowed. "It looks like a meeting between students I haven't authorised."
Walking further into the room, Umbridge looked around at the group before turning her attention to the props lying around the room. After looking at a few books, Umbridge tutted and turned to the far wall. Pinned on the wall was a list of member's that Hermione had made upon setting up the group.
"What have we here?" Umbridge asked, tearing the parchment from the wall. "Dumbledore's Army." She read the name of the group scrawled across the top, with glee. "Well fancy that."
"This had nothing to do with Dumbledore." Harry shouted. "This was all me."
"This says otherwise." Umbridge chuckled, waving the parchment in Harry's face. "It looks like your precious Dumbledore has been forming an underage army. Naughty, naughty."
"It wasn't him." Harry insisted. "We just used his name."
Umbridge chuckled, before turning to her Inquisitorial Squad. "Escort this group down to The Great Hall please. Apart from Potter and his two cohorts, they're coming with me."
As the Inquisitorial Squad took Dumbledore's Army down to the Great Hall, Umbridge took Harry, Hermione and Ron off to her office. Once in her office Umbridge seated the trio before sending a message through the floo network. Turning back to the three Gryffindors, she smiled triumphantly at them.
"In a few minutes a couple of colleagues will be coming to escort Dumbledore off the premises. After this evening's incident, it's clear he's not fit to be in charge of easily influenced teenagers." Umbridge announced. "As for you three, you will be in detention until the end of term. I expect you in my classroom every evening after dinner. Now go."
Hermione stood up to leave, and briefly wondered if Harry was going to cause trouble as he glared at the stout Professor. Luckily he just glared before following Hermione and Ron out of the office. In silence the trio trooped back up to Gryffindor Tower, each lost in their own thoughts regarding what had just occurred.
Once they arrived back in Gryffindor Tower they settled down beside the fire.
"This is all my fault." Harry whispered. "I've lost Dumbledore his job."
"It's not your fault, Harry." Hermione sighed. "Ron and I were just as involved in the creation of the D.A."
"Yeah, we're all to blame." Ron muttered sadly.
Ron's words hung in the air for several minutes, until the common room door opened and the Gryffindors from Dumbledore's Army trooped into the room. Wordlessly they all headed for where the trio was sitting and settled down with them.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"We sat in The Great Hall for a while, then Umbridge appeared and gave us all detention for the rest of the year." Ginny explained.
"What happened with you three?" Dean Thomas asked.
"The same." Hermione answered. "Plus she sent a message to the Ministry and they're removing Dumbledore as Headmaster."
"If I ever get my hands on whoever led her to us, I'll kill them." Harry muttered darkly.
"That would be Malfoy." George Weasley announced.
"Yeah, he was rather smug about being responsible for our downfall." George's twin, Fred, added. "Bloody ferret."
"How did he find us?" Ron frowned.
"Don't know." Fred shrugged. "He wasn't exactly forthcoming on the details. He just made sure we knew he was the one who led Umbridge to where we were."
Hermione was quite surprised that Draco had refrained from telling everyone how he'd found them. Then again knowing Draco she wouldn't be at all surprised if in a few days he'd have come up with some story that didn't involve him following her around like some sort of stalker.
"What do we do now?" Ron asked.
"What can we do?" Harry snorted. "Our foolish actions have led to Dumbledore losing his job. Dumbledore's Army is over."
Without waiting for a reply Harry stood up and stalked off to the boys dorms. After Harry's departure the rest of the group also drifted off, until Hermione was sitting alone. Staring into the dying flames of the fire she was grateful it was nearly Easter. Soon she would be able to spend two whole weeks at home, and then shortly after that her father would be luring Harry to the Ministry. Hermione still wasn't sure of the plan regarding the Ministry, but she was hoping her father would confide in her over the upcoming holidays.