AN: Hello, quick AN before we start, language may be slightly more colourful than usual in this chapter so if that bothers you or you're a younger reader, you know where the back button is and how to use it...Sorry!
I Caught Myself - Chapter thirteen
Ginny's POV:
I can't believe that we're in. We're actually in.
We shuffled towards the door, trying to get as close as possible to it without bumping into anyone. Just as we neared it, the door opened and out walked Dolores Umbridge, still wearing that disgusting, sugar-pink dress suit that she was known for, and a man that I didn't recognise. I felt Harry tense up beside me. I gripped his hand and gave him a knowing look.
"You're alright, honey," I whispered to him, hoping to God the twins wouldn't hear.
"Thanks, sweetheart," George said, turning around, placing his hand on his heart and giving me a mocking look.
"Shut up, moron," I grumbled, turning an alarming shade of red.
"Thank you," mouthed Harry.
"Well yes, Marco, but all the children are going to Hogwarts today," Umbridge fussed.
I took a proper look at the man that must be Marco. He was tall, tanned and fit, with bulging muscles that were very visible through his shirt. He reached up and brushed a strand of dirty blonde hair from his blue eyes, laughed, and showed all of his perfectly even, white teeth.
"Relax Mom, I've got this all under control, I swear," he said, in a broad American accent.
"Marcus!" she yelped.
"Sorry," he recovered, clearing his throat. "Miss Umbridge, I have this task under control."
Mum? Umbridge? I never knew Umbridge had a son.
Everyone seemed to be thinking the same as me, because when I looked at Harry, Hermione and the twins, they all showed similar looks of confusion and sympathy for Marcus.
"Marcus, you need to call me Miss Umbridge or Dolores when we're at the Ministry...we've been through this!"
"I know, but considering that you're my mother, it's pretty hard," he snapped.
"Life's hard, Marcus, deal with it." And with that, she stormed off down the corridor, her heels clipping as she went.
Marcus sighed and turned to leave after her. He walked towards us. Trying desperately to get backwards, the five of us scrambled back. Marcus stopped and looked right where we were hiding. I held my breath. He shook his head and walked on.
"That was close," Hermione whispered.
"No shit, Sherlock," Fred scorned.
She hit him with his bag. Hard.
"Ouch, woman! Didn't anyone ever tell you violence isn't the answer?"
"Can we just get into that office please?" George complained.
Hermione sighed and we began to hustle forward.
"Okay. Fred, could you peer down that hallway and make sure that nobody's there?" she instructed, looking my brother dead in the eye.
"Yes ma'am," he saluted.
"Harry, could you open that door a little more?"
"Sure," he answered, kicking the door open slightly.
"Ginny, George...wands at the ready," she took a deep breath.
"The coast is clear," Fred whispered.
"Great! Now, I need you two," she pointed at Fred and George, "to run straight in there, but be careful because there could be magical barriers."
I gulped. I did not like the sound of that.
"Harry, I need you and Ginny to stay out here under the cloak in case somebody comes. If they do, knock lightly on the door three times. If that doesn't work, trip the intruder up and run in here so we can all get under the cloak," Hermione called as she walked in behind Fred and George.
I leaned back against the wall and stared blankly into space for five or so minutes. I thought about how dangerous this was going to be. I thought about how Mum and Dad would flip if they knew what we were up to, if they knew that we weren't at Hogwarts. But I knew that we were doing this for a reason. I knew that when we got there, it would probably be hard to find the eight people, but once we done it...they'd be safe. Ron, the teachers, the two girls and a guardian.
"Ginny?" Harry whispered.
"Yes?"
"How long do you think they three will be gone?"
"Quite a while. You know how Hermione likes to go over things time and time again so she knows it'll be done properly."
"She'd better get a move on, otherwise somebody'll come and we won't get the chance again."
I thought about it. We were in a horrible position right now. It's one thing breaking into some random place, but breaking into the Ministry, has to be the worst.
Hermione's POV:
I followed the twins into the control room after I was done giving out my instructions. It was a large room with plain white walls and marble flooring. Looking up at the roof, I saw that it was mirrored, showing every reflection multiple times. Stacked up against one wall was a pile of spell books for Transfiguration, Dark Arts and Potions. Along the wall opposite the spell books, was a large rack with what must be hundreds of potions all different colours and stored in differently shaped containers.
The third wall had a load of pictures up over it, of previous cases that had went particularly bad when trying to prosecute people who had been using underage magic and underneath them was a large, leather chair situated behind a massive oak desk. On the desk was the usual stuff, quills, parchment, sticky-notes, files, ink, that sort of stuff but the drawers inside the desk were clearly locked and couldn't be unlocked unless the owner of the drawers tapped it with their wand alone and muttered the incantation.
Up against the last wall was the crystal ball.
It glowed all different colours, mist flowing from it and every so often it would spin around wildly.
"Wow," Fred muttered, looking around.
"This is amazing," George said, picking up one of the potions.
"Don't touch anything! Have you two got any self control?" I huffed.
"No," they answered together.
I sighed, knowing a lost battle when I saw one.
"What do we do now, boss?" Fred asked.
"I'm an underage wizard so I need you to stick your wand out and, oh not like that! Get your minds out of the gutter! So put it out and towards the crystal ball. If you can get to it without any problem, it means that it's not surrounded by spells. If you get a shock or you're thrown backwards, clearly, there will be spells protecting it."
Fred done as I asked while George and I stood right out of the way.
"Okay, I've not been shocked or thrown backwards but now it's hard to push it towards the ball. It's like trying to push something against a strong gale of wind," Fred informed us.
"I don't know what could be causing that," I said, twirling a strand of hair around my finger.
"What do you mean by you don't know? Hermione, you're the brightest witch of your age...and our age. I thought you knew everything!" Fred exclaimed, trying to hold on to his wand which was now being sucked towards the crystal ball.
"Fred, I have never heard of this sort of thing happening before. I didn't know what I was getting into when I suggested this," I cried.
"Hermione, please just fix it," Fred yelped as he began to levitate.
"Why is he levitating? Is he supposed to be levitating?" George asked, diving desperately towards his brother.
"No he's not supposed to be levitating. He's not even supposed to be here. But has that stopped you children?" came the voice of no other, than Dolores Jane Umbridge.
Fred's POV:
Shit. How in the name of Merlin have Ginny and Harry let this happen?
"Come with me, you three," Umbridge instructed, putting her wand in her pocket, causing me to land on the floor with a bump.
"Here you go, mate," George said, helping me up.
"Cheers," I sighed as we followed Hermione out of the room.
We followed the two women down the large corridor we came in through and then around several corners. A lot of the places were familiar to George and I because Dad used to take us to work with him before we started at Hogwarts, more regularly after Ginny was born.
"In here, go and sit with your friends," Umbridge spat the last word.
The three of us walked in and sat in the seats next to where Ginny and Harry were sitting looking down at their shoes in an extremely guilty manner. Umbridge closed the door and began pacing the floor in front of us.
"Hello children," she said in an overly sweet voice. "I recognise the five of you from Hogwarts. Members of Dumbledore's Army if I remember correctly," she pondered.
Ginny nodded.
What the hell is she doing?
"You two. You two were the reason that I was dragged from Hogwarts by centaurs!" she growled at Harry and Hermione.
"If you hadn't been stup -,"
"Mudbloods stay silent," Umbridge cut her off with a sly smirk.
"Don't you dare speak to my girlfriend that way," I yelled.
"Ah, George Weasley," she breathed.
"I'm Fred, you idiot woman," I spat.
"I don't care which ridiculous blood-traitor you are," she growled, eyeing George, Ginny and I.
"We're not blood traitors. Just because we're not evil, sadistic beasts doesn't mean we're traitors. You're the disgrace to the name wizard, thinking you're above other witches and wizards just because you don't have any Muggle blood," Ginny said calmly.
"Ah, the little girl decides to speak. Finally."
"I'm not a little girl," Ginny claimed.
"Fred? Fred? Fred?" Hermione whispered as Ginny continued to argue with Umbridge.
"Yes, love?"
"When I shout 'Now' I want you to stun her and run to the Crystal Ball. Do whatever you have to do to destroy it, except an Unforgivable Curse. Then get to your dad's office. Got it?"
"Understood."
"Tell George the exact same instructions that I just gave you," she said before turning to Harry to start giving him instructions.
Harry's POV:
"Harry?" I heard Hermione whisper.
"What's up?" I said from the corner of my mouth.
"When I shout 'Now' I need you to run out of the room. My bag is just outside the door and inside that is your cloak. Take it and run to Mr Weasley's office. I trust you know where that is?"
"Yes, yes of course I do. So take the cloak and the bag and get to Mr. Weasley's office?" I confirmed.
She nodded once.
My stomach churned with a mixture of excitement and dread.
"You evil toad!" Ginny screamed at the top of her voice.
"Now now, little one. There's no need to talk to me like that. Didn't Mummy teach you manners?"
"Don't speak of my mother. Or anyone in my family," George said quietly, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Sounds like you Weasleys really weren't taught manners," she giggled.
"NOW."
George's POV:
"Stupify!" Fred and I yelled before dashing out of the room. We slid out of the doorway and scrambled up the hall, arms flailing around in front of us. We ran until we reached the end of the hall. There were three options; Right, left and straight ahead.
Shit, what way was it?
"Georgie, what way was it?" Fred said impatiently.
"I don't know!"
We stared at each other for a few moments.
"Should we split up?" Fred asked, biting his lip.
"Hermione would probably kill us," I pondered.
"What she doesn't know can't hurt her."
"But this could hurt us."
"I think it was straight ahead," he said, scrunching his eyes up so he can see further.
"Let's give it a bash," I said as we began to run again.
We'd took the correct pathway. It became obvious when we saw where Fred had slammed the door on the way out, breaking a part of the handle.
"Yes!" Fred yelled.
We burst through the door and saw the Crystal Ball that was now glowing a vibrant shade of green. I figured that must mean that someone underage was using magic because a picture of Seamus Finnigan blowing up a trunk started to float above the Ball.
"Stupify!" Fred yelled at it.
The thing merely quivered.
"Damn. I really thought that would've worked," Fred said, a little put out.
"Incendio!" I yelled.
A ring of fire formed around the Ball.
"Well it's a start," I shrugged at him.
"I know it's a start but we need at the thing, dumbass," Fred scorned. "Aguamenti."
The ring disappeared.
"I think we should try this the Muggle way," I suggested.
"Think we're gonna have to, mate," Fred said.
"Count of three?"
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
We ran at the Ball, managing to get through the protective shield.
"Grab it and smash it, Fred!"
Fred dropped it. I covered my head and face, expecting an explosion...but it never came!
"What...What, I thought it was going to -" But I never got to finish my sentence because two seconds later, the Crystal Ball bounced up and hit me in the face.
"Ouch! Good Godric Gryffindor that hurt!"
"Georgie! Are you alright, mate?" Fred asked, coming to take a closer look at me.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be okay. But how are we going to destroy this thing?"
"I don't know but we don't have much time left!"
"We'll just have to take it with us," I decided.
And with that, we hid the Crystal Ball - not very well - under our jacket and ran to Dad's office.
Hermione's POV:
I paced the small amount of space outside of Mr Weasley's office. Where in the world is Fred and George? They've been gone for nearly forty minutes!
Just as I was about to send out a bloody search party, the two boys came hurtling around the corner, clearly out of breath and very, very sweaty.
"Well it's about time, you two!" I scolded as I saw them approach.
"How did you get rid of it?" Harry asked before an argument could break out.
"We couldn't. We just had to take it with us."
"What do you mean you couldn't get rid of it? I give you two one job! One!"
"Calm down Love, we'll sort this. I promise," Fred said, wrapping his protective arms around me.
I felt a flock of butterflies erupt in my stomach at his touch.
"Stop them! Stop them now!"
We looked down the corridor that the twins had just appeared from and our eyes locked with Umbridge and a group of people we didn't recognise.
"Run!" I yelped.
We all flew down halls and corridors, slipping and sliding as we went, trying not to lose each other in the crowd. But then something awful happened. We were running so frantically that we didn't notice where we were going. We came right to a dead end.
"Shoot! Dead end. No way around it," Harry panted, leaning against the wall.
"Are you sure? No trap doors or anything?" I asked, using every last bit of hope that was left in me.
"Hermione, of course there isn't. We're all damned," Ginny grunted, trying to get rid of a stitch in her side.
A moment later, Umbridge rounded the corner with her 'crew' and the headed straight for us.
"Grab a hold of me! Quickly!" I instructed.
I felt four pairs of hands on me as I put all I had into Apparating. I had never done it before and I knew it could be dangerous, but I'd read about it. I was sure that if I concentrated hard enough, I'd be able to do it.
I felt a tug at my navel and a feeling as though I was being pulled underwater for thirty or so seconds and then I landed on the soft ground with a bump.
Harry's POV:
We landed hazily on a soft piece of ground that was blanketed in leaves. When I opened my eyes, I saw that we were in a forest. There were trees all around us, the golden leaves from them falling all around us.
"Who thought of here?" I asked, looking towards the other four.
"Me. Dad used to take us here to practice Quidditch before we started Hogwarts," George coughed, getting up and rubbing the back of his head at the spot he'd hit on a rock.
"George, you're bleeding," Ginny said frantically, scrambling up to get her brother.
"I know, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," he said gruffly.
"So. What now? We've got the ball and we're in a secure place. What do we do now?" I asked, looking towards Hermione who was hugging her knees and wresting her head on them.
"A tent. Did anyone bring a tent?" she said, suddenly snapping to life.
She got up and started to whisper spells, waving her wand and her hands around in front of her. I assumed she was putting up silencing charms and protecting charms.
"I've got one. Dad had it in his shed. He bought it after that bloke's tent that we borrowed for the Quidditch world cup a couple of years ago got wrecked. He meant to give it to the guy but he forgot," Ginny said, pulling the tent from her backpack.
"Great, thanks Ginny. Boys, could you put it up please?" she said, continuing with the spells.
"Sure," we mumbled as we picked up random parts of the tent, looking at it with great apprehension.
"Gin, come help me put the spells up so nobody can find us."
Ginny rolled her eyes but went over to help Hermione all the same.
"How long do you think it'll take before Mum realizes we're missing?" Fred yawned as he picked up another tent pole.
"Merlin knows, but when she does she'll murder us," George laughed.
"I don't think it's a laughing matter, George. This really could get us killed," Hermione huffed disapprovingly.
"Sorry Hermione," he grinned, causing the younger witch to blush a little.
"Forget about it," she tried to smile back.
Ginny's POV:
It had been hours since we put the tent up and finished with the protecting spells. One we were finished, we sent Harry and George to get wood for a fire and they didn't disappoint. They came back with loads of it! So now, we're sitting around it warming ourselves up.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" Harry asked, rubbing circles on my cheek with his thumb.
I was lying up against him, using his chest as a pillow as his arm snaked around me, keeping me warm and making me feel safe.
"Well first of all, we need to have a serious conversation about Draco and Lucious Malfoy."
When Draco's name was mentioned, I was sure George's face went red, but I put it down to the flames from the fire. I mean, George couldn't possibly fancy a ferret, could he?
"And we need to come up with some ideas about where this Manor could be. It would also help if we could get some Slytherins on our side. Although, I don't think they would be too happy to give up their God's information," she frowned.
"Is ferret boy really that popular?" Harry voiced with a disgusted look.
"In Slytherin, yes," Hermione confirmed.
"Jackass," Harry grumbled, pulling me closer to him.
Nobody said anything for a while after that. All of us were content in the silence, watching the flames fade away into nothingness. Hermione sat in between Fred and George, an arm wrapped around each of their necks. Hermione seems to have taken pity on George recently and has made an effort to give him a cuddle or let him off with stuff. She reminds me of Mum. I shifted around so my head on Harry's lap as he stroked my hair. I felt myself drift into a comfortable sleep, feeling absolutely at ease here with some of the people that mean the most to me. I let my self drift in and out of conciousness until I finally slipped under. That night, my dreams were haunted by a handsome, young man with perfect, white teeth, dirty-blonde hair and muscles that could make any girls heart flutter. A young man called Marcus.