A/N Wow! Thanks for the load of reviews I got last chapter! Here's the next one, I'll try and update on Thursday, then again on Saturday :) please R&R xxx

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Headmistress Umbridge

— by order of —

THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight.

Signed:

Cornelius Oswald Fudge

MINISTER FOR MAGIC

Everywhere around the school, the notices bearing the words that Dolores Umbridge as the new headmistress had been put up. They'd been put up overnight, and it made Amara sick to the stomach when she walked past and read them. Usually there would be major rumours about why this had happened, but this time, everyone seemed to know that Dumbledore had overpowered the Minister for Magic, two Aurors and the High Inquisitor in his flight. This didn't stop the story from getting embroidered, however, as Tessie seemed to enjoy telling people overly exaggerated stories about how Dumbledore had had time to dump all of them into the Lake before flying away on a hippogriff. Amara had told her off for telling such rumours, but it didn't stop a story reaching her ears that Fudge was now in St. Mungo's with a pumpkin instead of a head. Apart from Tessie's silly rumours (and some other hyperactive second-years) the other information, like Harry and Marietta being the only two inside Dumbledore's office and were the only to students to witness what had happened, was widely distributed – in fact, it was a very well-known fact by the end of the day. But considering Marietta was being treated in the Hospital Wing because she still had the words SNEAK on her face (courtesy of Hermione, and Amara had never been prouder of the girl) Harry took most of the questions that people threw at him.

Ernie Macmillan had walked with them from Herbology to listen to Harry's retelling, and he seemed very confident with the fact that Dumbledore wouldn't be gone for very long.

"They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to this time. The Fat Friar told me . . ." He dropped his voice conspiratorially, so that Amara, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to lean closer to him to hear, ". . . that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her." Ernie smirked. "Apparently she had a right little tantrum. . . ."

"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office," said Hermione viciously, as they walked up the stone steps into the entrance hall. Amara was very pleased that Umbridge had been refused into the Headmaster's office. Of course, she wasn't a proper Headmistress, eventhough Fudge thought otherwise. "Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old —"

"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?"

Draco Malfoy had slid out from behind the door, followed, as usual, by Crabbe and Goyle, both looking very stupid whilst Malfoy looked positively evil, and not in a good or nice way which Fred and George did.

"Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," he drawled.

"It's only teachers that can dock points from Houses, Malfoy," said Ernie at once, and Amara was strongly reminded of Hermione, because they'd probably both read the rule book ten times each.

"Yeah, we're prefects too, remember?" snarled Ron.

"I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King," sneered Malfoy; Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. "But members of the Inquisitorial Squad —"

"The what?" said Hermione sharply as Amara put her hand in her pocket; she wasn't going to back down to a fight against Malfoy, no matter what the consequences were.

"The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger," said Malfoy, pointing toward a tiny silver 'I' upon his robes just beneath his prefect's badge. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points. . . . So, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new headmistress. . . . Macmillan, five for contradicting me. . . . Ten because you've punched me more than once, Matthews … Five because I don't like you, Potter . . . Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that. . . . Oh yeah, I forgot, you two are Mudbloods, Granger, Matthews so let's say twenty for that. . . ."

Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione pushed it away, whispering, "Don't!"

"Wise move, Granger," breathed Malfoy. "New Head, new times . . . Be good now, Potty . . . Weasel King . . ."

He strode away as Amara glared at him, and she wanted to jinx him so badly he couldn't walk … but one look on Hermione's face and she resisted.

"He was bluffing," said Ernie, looking appalled. "He can't be allowed to dock points . . . that would be ridiculous. . . . It would completely undermine the prefect system. . . ."

Amara turned with Harry, Ron and Hermione towards the giant hourglasses behind them. Just as they had turned to look, several rubies flew upwards into the upper bulb, leaving a significantly lower amount below, eventhough that morning, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been joint first that very morning. Several diamonds for Hufflepuff flew up too and Amara frowned at it. The only one unchanged was Slytherin – in fact, some emeralds were falling into the lower bulb as they watched.

"Noticed, have you?" said Fred's voice. The twins had come down the marble staircase and had joined them watching the hourglasses.

"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," said Harry furiously, as they watched several more stones fly upward from the Gryffindor hourglass. Malfoy had probably got Neville or Dean or Seamus and tried to do them in for something too.

"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," said George.

"I'm guessing he failed?" Amara said, frowning at the word 'tried'.

"Well, he never managed to get all the words out," said Fred, "due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor."

Hermione looked very shocked as Amara let out a laugh.

"But you'll get into terrible trouble!" Hermione said.

"Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him," said Fred coolly. "Anyway . . . we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" asked Hermione.

" 'Course we have," said George. "Never been expelled, have we?"

"We've always known where to draw the line," said Fred.

"We might have put a toe across it occasionally," said George.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem," said Fred.

"But now?" said Ron tentatively as Amara grinned. Fred had a smile on his face that could only mean bad news for some, and good news for others.

"Well, now —" said George.

"— what with Dumbledore gone —" said Fred.

"— we reckon a bit of mayhem —" said George.

"— is exactly what our dear new Head deserves," said Fred.

"You mustn't!" whispered Hermione. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!"

"You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" said Fred, smiling at her. "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So anyway," he checked his watch, "phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."

"Anything to do with what?" said Hermione anxiously.

"You'll see," said George. "Run along, now."

Fred and George turned away and disappeared into the crowd which had appeared once lunch had started. Ernie, who had not spoken during the whole exchange, as he looked rather frightened, hurried off with a mention of Transfiguration homework.

"I think we should get out of here, you know," said Hermione nervously. "Just in case . . ."

"Yeah, all right," said Ron. The four of them turned away from the hourglasses and into the Great Hall. They were stopped yet again, however, when the horrible Caretaker, Filch, tapped Harry on the shoulder grinned meanly at him.

"The headmistress would like to see you, Potter," Filch leered.

"I didn't do it," said Harry stupidly, and Amara could have slapped herself at his stupidity. Filch's jowls wobbled with silent laughter at this statement.

"Guilty conscience, eh?" he wheezed as he tried to speak. "Follow me. . . ."

Harry shrugged at them and followed Filch back into the packed entrance hall. Amara exchanged worried glances with Ron and Hermione.

"What do you think that's about?" said Amara anxiously. "Not about yesterday?"

"I dunno," said Ron. "Maybe it's about Fred and George."

"Nah …" said Amara. "They'd only just told us …"

"It must be about Dumbledore," said Hermione as they sat down at the table, but didn't touch any of the food in front of them.

"What?"

"They tried to arrest him yesterday, but he disappeared, and Harry was the only one – apart from Marietta – who can probably say where he is. Professor McGonagall has probably been asked as well," said Hermione.

"Makes sense," said Amara, poking a chicken pie dolefully as she spoke. "Hope Umbridge doesn't try to do anything to make him spill."

This made a terrified expression emerge on Hermione's face.

"I'm sure she won't," she corrected hastily and put some chicken pie on their three plates.

Hermione gave a short sharp nod and looked down at her plate. It was rare for Amara to be put off her food, but she tried to eat her pie anyway.

"He won't be long," said Ron. Amara didn't know if he was talking about Harry or Dumbledore, but she guessed the former.

"I wonder what Fred and George are planning," said Hermione nervously. "They could get expelled for it!"

"Hermione, I don't think you get it," said Amara, shaking her head. "They don't care about that. They've decided that they don't need to be here anymore – d'you think they care if they get expelled? It means they'll get away from Umbridge."

Hermione still looked slightly puzzled at how anyone could not care if they were expelled or not, or not finish their exams.

They ate in a tense silence for about ten minutes before anything happened.

Amara had just scraped her plate clean when there was a massive BOOM and several people in the Great Hall screamed. Ron spluttered on his pumpkin juice as everyone stared at each other in fright. Then there were screams coming from the entrance hall, lots of running feet and loads more bangs and what seemed to be a great deal of flashes.

Their questions were soon answered when a fiery green and gold dragon, made of sparks, soared into the Great Hall, much to the terror and delight of the students. People screamed and ran out of the Great Hall – some of them jumped on their chairs and laughed as the dragon went past. Amara, Ron and Hermione ran out into the entrance hall to see if there was anything else.

There was a lot more. More dragons were soaring through the air – they had made their way up the marble staircase and they could hear the screams from the floors above. People in the entrance hall were running, laughing and screaming as shocking pink Catherine wheels, larger than Amara's arm, flew lethally down the corridors like flying saucers. There were rockets which had spectacular silver stars glimmering on their tails as they whacked off of all the walls. Swearwords were being written by Sparklers in mid-air, much to the amusement of several sixth-year students, all of whom where laughing uproariously at the fireworks. None of them seemed to die out, and Amara was suddenly shocked at how well Fred and George had made them.

"They are amazing," said Amara, grinning as she ducked a Catherine Wheel which screamed Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! as it came towards her.

Ron and Amara were laughing hard when Umbridge came running down the stairs with Filch and a broom hurrying behind her. They clutched each other for support as she looked widely around, looking for the culprits.

Hermione, too, seemed in awe of the fireworks, and she laughed when Umbridge tried to Vanish a firework and it multiplies by ten instead.

It was rather funny for the entire afternoon. Normally, the teachers would try and get rid of the fireworks, which continued to burn and spread around all afternoon, but because it was one thing against Umbridge, they all decided to take it under their wing.

"Dear, dear," said Professor McGonagall sarcastically, as one of the spark dragons soared around the classroom during Transfiguration, emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. "Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"

It seemed that all the other teachers had decided on doing the same thing – so as they walked to all their different lessons that afternoon, they continued to see Umbridge running about, looking dishevelled and slightly blackened and very sweaty. It made Ron and Amara grin broadly and Harry seemed rather happy too.

Fred and George were even more popular in the common room that night. No one managed to do any work as the fireworks had just made them all excitable. The twins lapped the attention up and grinned broadly as people clamoured to put their names down for some fireworks.

Amara walked up behind them and hugged them at the same time.

"They are so cool!" She beamed. "I can't believe you made them! They're going to be a sell out!"

"Thanks 'Mara," grinned Fred. "They were spectacular, weren't they?"

"Ron and I couldn't stop laughing at Umbridge's face, did you know she tried to vanish them?"

"No way," said George, his eyes wide with suppressed laughter. "Did they -"

"Multiply by ten?" Amara interjected. "Of course, and they followed her around the room too ..."

Even Hermione loved the fireworks, much to the surprise of Fred and George.

"Thanks," said George when Hermione had said so, looking surprised and pleased at the same time. "Weasleys' Wildfire WhizBangs. Only thing is, we used our whole stock, we're going to have to start again from scratch now. . . ."

"It was worth it, though," said Fred, who was now taking orders from the clamouring Gryffindors surrounding them. "If you want to add your name to the waiting list, Hermione, it's five Galleons for your Basic Blaze box and twenty for the Deflagration Deluxe. . . ."

Amara put her name down for a Basic Blaze box and saw that Tessie had put herself down for a Deflagration Deluxe. She had a feeling that their house would be exploding with fireworks, probably to the joy of Tessie, Ethan and their father and the shock if their mother. Shaking her head, she turned back towards Fred and George.

"Don't let them run out before me and Tess get one, yeah?"

"Of course," said George. "You're the first on the list. As always."

Amara beamed at them and walked back towards the table - not before she noticed many girls giving her glares because she was talking to the twins, who were hailed as heroes.

"Oh, why don't we have a night off?" Hermione was saying brightly as Amara went back to the table she, Ron and Harry were at. "After all, the Easter holidays start on Friday, we'll have plenty of time then. . . ."

"Are you feeling all right?" Ron asked, staring at her in disbelief as Amara sat down - a pink Catherine wheel spinning past the window, being chased by a rocket.

"Now you mention it," said Hermione happily, "d'you know . . . I think I'm feeling a bit . . . rebellious."

Amara raised her eyebrows and exchanged glances with Ron and Harry.

She went to bed feeling that at least they had had one day that was good that year: eventhough Umbridge was there, it was nice to see her have a comeuppance just for once.

-OOOOO-

"I'll hold it -"

" - no way, I found it!"

"So what? It's cool I want to -"

"- let go you're gonna drop it!"

"Don't tug it then!"

"What d'you expect me to do -"

It was the evening: it was not yet curfew which meant Filch had no reason to put them in detention, Harry was at Occlumency with Snape (he had been dreading it the entire day) and Amara and Ron were avoiding Hermione because they didn't want to do their homework.

This meant that they were walking down the fourth floor corridor after visiting the library (after telling Hermione they were getting information for their Potions Essay) arguing over a medium sized crystal ball that they'd found in the corner of the library. It had been near the Restricted Section, and had definitely not been there before then - in fact, it either looked like someone had purposely left it, or accidentally dropped it without realising. Ron had found it whilst looking for a book on properties of beetlewig juice that help in potions. Amara wanted to hold it because it was tinged purple and had gems stuck to the base, which was why they were fighting over it whilst returning to Gryffindor Tower, where they'd decided to ask anyone if it was theirs. In any other situation, it might have been strange to be fighting over a crystal ball, but Amara was now used to the strange situations that they somehow got into.

"It's just a crystal ball, why'd'you want to hold it so badly?"

"Because it might have something cool in it -"

"- how it's a crystal ball -"

"- that's tinged purple! C'mon Ron, when have you seen one like that?"

"You really think there's something special about it?"

"Yeah! Anyone could charm it or something -"

"- stop pulling at my arm!"

"Well give it here then!"

"Stop -"

The purple ball fell out of Ron's hands as though in slow motion. Amara and Ron watched as it made a spectacular arc before gravity called and it went smashing to the floor.

It did not just smash. Amara had been right about one thing: it did have something special about it. When it hit the floor it gave a terrific BANG and exploded into many fragments of crystal. The fragments of crystal rocketed off and hit the wall, each one of them making a bigger noise than the last. The purple mist seemed to rise from the patch on the floor and hover in the air in a mysterious haze.

Amara and Ron stared at the broken crystal ball as it continued to explode and make a lot of noise.

To make matters worse, through the haze, came a particular cat that Ron and Amara did not want to see.

"Mrs Norris!"

Amara and Ron looked at each other.

"Run!"

They backed away and shot down the corridor they had just come from – if they could get into the library then they wouldn't be caught. As this entered Amara's mind it was pushed out when Filch came down the corridor in front of them, panting and yelling something about troublesome kids and poltergeists.

Ron dragged Amara sideways into a door which looked like a wall. They ran full pelt down the passageway and came out behind a portrait of Bruce Scrimgeour in the Trophy Room.

"Third floor," said Ron, panting and leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

"Trophy room," said Amara, gasping. "Very far from the Tower."

"Bugger."

"Too true."

They had just straightened up when they heard running footsteps from the outside of the Trophy Room, which was unmistakeably Filch's.

"Oh for –"

"C'mon, quickly!" Amara hissed and they ran down the armour gallery – there was a sense of déjà vu as Amara remembered their first year, and Malfoy had tricked them into going to the Trophy Room.

They ran all the way down the gallery and into the corridor beyond. Pausing slightly, they couldn't hear Filch's shuffling footsteps, so they started walking as though completely innocent and tried not to look as though they'd just been running.

"What are you doing?"

It was a girlish voice from behind them, and Amara and Ron turned around, innocence plastered on their faces.

"Sorry, Headmistress," said Amara sweetly. "Didn't see you there."

Professor Umbridge's eyes bulged slightly.

"What are you doing down this corridor?" she repeated.

"Walking," said Ron as though speaking to someone rather stupid.

"At this time?"

"It's not curfew yet," said Amara.

Professor Umbridge turned slightly purple at being contradicted.

"Mr Filch heard a disturbance upstairs," said Professor Umbridge. "Something smashed onto the floor. Did you two hear – or do – anything?"

"No Professor," said Ron. "We didn't hear anything."

Umbridge examined them both and Amara tried to rearrange her face so that it didn't look suspicious.

"Very well," said Professor Umbridge. "But if I do find it was you two, you'll be very sory indeed. Better get back to your common room. Curfew is in five minutes. Don't let me catch you."

Amara and Ron nodded and turned away. They walked normally before they turned the corner and broke into a run.

By the time they got back to the Fat Lady they were snorting with laughter.

"How did she find out so quickly?" said Ron.

"Maybe they have a special connection," snorted Amara as they entered the common room. They had just started laughing when they saw Hermione sitting waiting for them looking very cross indeed.