Something in her voice must have changed.
Harry paused for the first time since he'd woken from his nightmare to look back at her. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Hermione barely heard him. She hadn't realised she'd stopped, too.
"Hermione," Harry repeated urgently, "what's the matter?"
She shook her head, thinking fast. If Death Eaters actually were inside the Ministry, and possibly even Voldemort himself... But even if he was, what could they possibly do about it? Surely letting the Order know would be enough—
"It's her, isn't it?" Harry said calmly, sharing a look with a tight-lipped Ron. "Rita. She's sent her warning."
"Harry!" Ginny suddenly called from behind as she and Luna jogged up beside them. "Are you alright? What's going on?"
Harry maintained that eerie sort of calm as he spoke. "It's Voldemort. He and his Death Eaters are at the Ministry right now, and they're going for the weapon. I should have seen it coming — it's all so obvious now. All of the top Ministry officials are here, aren't they? And likely everyone else is about to go home for the weekend—"
Hermione paled, thinking of Susan's comment earlier about how Fudge had given almost the entire Ministry the day off.
Ginny didn't hesitate. "How are we going to stop them?" she asked, looking determined. "What do you need us to do?"
Harry started walking again and motioned for them to follow. "First, we need to get the mirror and tell Sirius — find out what's going on and what, if anything, the Order is already doing about it. You and Luna can go and alert McGonagall, and I'll head to the Ministry to help—"
"We, you mean," Ginny interjected as she fell into step with Harry. Luna trailed after, seemingly unbothered by the sudden plans to leave for London. Without looking around, Ron stepped forward mechanically to follow.
Watching them spring into action, Hermione finally found her voice, though it shook slightly. "Wait! Everyone just— just wait. We can't go haring off to the Ministry. For one, we've no way to get there, and for another, Umbridge will notice if we're not present for the waltz—"
"Sod Umbridge's performance!" Harry said loudly as he rounded on her. "I'm not about to stand by as Voldemort gets his hands on some sort of weapon that gives him any more power than he already has! And we'll figure it out, there's got to be a way to get there in time—"
"I've got an idea," Luna interrupted excitedly, her pale eyes even wider than usual. "If we all just go out to the forest—"
Hermione's stomach sank. "Now wait just a second, nobody's going anywhere yet. We don't know what's going on for sure, and we don't even have a real plan—"
But at the moment, the sound of another voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Are you sure you'll be unable to return for the Luncheon tomorrow, Minister?" Umbridge's simpering voice floated into the Hall as the staffroom door opened up from the inside. "It certainly won't be as grand as today, but I can assure you the meal will be well worth the visit—"
Fudge gave a little laugh. "Ah... no, Dolores, I'm afraid I've been a bit under the weather of late — nothing too serious — but I shall have to count myself... er, very unfortunate to miss it. As promised, there will still be several important attendees on behalf of the Ministry..." He cleared his throat. "Shall we adjourn to your office for our five o'clock? I must say, Hogwarts is simply flourishing under your tutelage..."
Umbridge's smug satisfaction practically oozed out into the Hall as Hermione and the others stood frozen, listening to Fudge wax poetic in an attempt to absolve himself of another day's activities.
Ron was the first to remember himself. "In here. Now," he whispered urgently, herding them all towards the nearby boys' bathroom.
Harry pulled the door shut behind him just as Umbridge's squat face appeared in the staffroom doorway. Fortunately, her eyes were glued to the Minister.
Harry kept his ear pressed to the door as the rest of them stood by silently, waiting for the danger to pass.
"She's gone," Harry finally said, turning to face Hermione and the others. He reached back for the handle. "Let's go—"
"Harry, please!" Hermione pleaded, nearly in tears now. "Please, let's just talk about this! What if... what if Voldemort wants you to go to the Ministry? What if he's using these visions to lure you there?"
Harry was already shaking his head. "Like I said before, it doesn't matter. And I don't think Voldemort knows about the connection, otherwise he wouldn't be revealing so much. What if this weapon ends up hurting tons of people? I can't let that happen."
Hermione bit her lip, thinking fast. "Okay, let's just... let's go talk to Sirius like we planned, alright? And... if we have to go, we'd need to change, anyway. We can't very well go anywhere in these horrid things." She plucked at her dress for emphasis.
Harry nodded like he'd always assumed she'd come around. "Good thinking. Ginny and Luna, go ahead and warn McGonagall—"
Ron broke in. "Or Kingsley — he came with the delegation too."
"Right," Harry said, then looked around to include everyone. "Meet back here when you're done?"
Ginny opened her mouth but Harry cut in with atypical acumen. "Hermione can grab a change of clothes for you and Luna, too."
After Ron stuck his head out of the door and declared the coast to be clear, they parted ways. For one horrifying moment, Hermione paused, thinking she'd heard the sound of a toilet flush far behind them. She shook her head and took the marble stairs two at a time to catch up to Harry and Ron.
It was a good thing that even the ghosts had wanted to watch the performances in the Great Hall — the corridors remained blessedly empty.
"Wait!" Hermione cried, flinging her arm out just as the Fat Lady's portrait swung open.
Harry made a vexed sound. "Hermione, now is not the time—"
She crawled partway into the portrait hole and aimed her wand at the portrait inside the common room. "Obscuro!"
Her aim was true. A black blindfold materialised over the eyes of the woman in the portrait, who stood suddenly and bumped into the picture frame in surprise. Placing a finger to her lips, Hermione motioned the boys to move inside the tower.
Armed with changes of clothing for everyone along with Harry's mirror and invisibility cloak, they met back in the broom closet nearby to the common room.
Harry wasted no time. "Sirius," he said clearly, holding the mirror aloft.
Several seconds went by, but the glass continued to reflect their own worried expressions.
Harry brought the mirror right up to his nose this time. "Sirius," he repeated, his breath misting the reflective surface.
Hermione held her breath, letting the silence stretch in favour of voicing her uncertainty. They waited an entire minute, but the glass remained unchanged.
"What do we do?" Ron finally asked, his wide eyes on Harry.
Harry looked grim but determined. "We meet back with the others and hope they've had better luck."
"I'm sure Professor McGonagall will have a way to contact Sirius," Hermione panted, clutching a stitch in her side as they flew back down the stairs to the ground floor. "Or even Dumbledore."
As they tumbled into the bathroom, Hermione performed a quick visual sweep of the rows of stalls and pedestals to make sure they were alone. Ginny and Luna arrived only moments later, followed by Neville.
"I overheard Ginny and Luna trying to find McGonagall and that Ministry bloke," he immediately explained. "They filled me in some on the way here and I want to help. I mean, this is what we were training for in the P.A., isn't it?"
Harry ignored him and turned to Ginny. "Trying?"
Ginny nodded. "We checked everywhere. The Great Hall, the antechamber, McGonagall's office, the nearby classrooms—"
"Even some of the nearby toilets!" Luna added brightly.
"—it's like they've disappeared," Ginny finished.
Hermione kicked herself for not suggesting they grab the Map as well, but at the same time, the news brought a small glimmer of hope.
"Harry, this is probably good news," she reasoned. "If the Order members have gone, that likely means they're already aware of what's happening."
"But we don't know that," Harry said, rubbing the heel of his palm into the scar on his forehead. "Just because Sirius isn't answering the mirror doesn't mean he's not at Grimmauld—"
"Maybe we could Floo call him?" Ron put in.
"We can't, remember?" Hermione said exasperatedly. "Umbridge is having all of the fireplaces watched."
Neville cleared his throat. "Um... not all of them. During the prefect demonstration, I overheard Umbridge telling Fudge that all communications through the fireplace in her office were secure and confidential, as it's the only one in the castle not being monitored by the Floo Regulation Panel."
Harry perked up. "Good man, Neville. Alright. We'll head upstairs and I'll use Umbridge's fireplace to try to contact Sirius. But if he doesn't answer, I'm not waiting any longer. I'll bet anything Percy uses that fireplace to travel between Hogwarts and the Ministry, and we can, too. Let's go—"
Ginny suddenly swore. "No! Umbridge and the Minister are meeting in her office right now. We'll have to wait until they come down for dinner—"
Harry roared in frustration. "That could be another hour — we can't wait that long! We'll have to tell them something, anything, lure them out—"
"Mate," Ron put in eagerly, "if it's a distraction we need, I know just who to find."
Not a minute later, Ron returned from the Great Hall with Fred and George in tow.
"What's this about a distraction?" Fred asked cheerfully. George simply folded his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow at them.
"We need to talk to Sirius right away," Harry explained, "and the only place we can do that safely is Umbridge's office. Problem is, Umbridge and Fudge are in there right now. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important—"
"Say no more," George said. "We've been looking for an opportunity to take the old bat down a few pegs, haven't we, Fred?"
"That we have," Fred agreed with a nod. "And what better time than during her very own, carefully-crafted production for all and sundry?"
George rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Serves her right for making us prance around in these barmy getups—"
Fred playfully knocked into George's shoulder. "Speak for yourself. I, on the other hand, think I've found my true calling—"
"So you'll do it?" Harry interrupted, returning focus to the task at hand.
"That we will," George said seriously. "Just give us, say, ten minutes to gather some things, yeah? As soon as you hear a big boom, start making your way upstairs. We can guarantee you at least twenty minutes."
"Be careful!" Hermione called after their retreating backs. "Don't get caught!"
Fred winked at her over his shoulder, and then they were gone.
"A big boom?" Luna wondered errantly as the door shut and Ginny locked it.
Ron shrugged.
It was in a tense silence that they waited for the twins' signal. Ron fidgeted endlessly with a loose thread on the jumper in his arms. Ginny leaned a shoulder against the wall, her arms crossed stiffly in front of her and her eyes following Harry, who paced furiously back and forth, his hands balling in and out of fists. Neville kept making odd little coughing sounds and then turning his head to look at the row of empty stalls behind him. Luna was the only one apparently unbothered by it all as she stood serenely in the centre of the room, aimlessly swishing the hem of her skirts back and forth.
Hermione twisted her hands in front of her, wondering what sort of catastrophe they had just unleashed. Should they all get caught, her detention spent scrubbing cauldrons with Snape was likely to be considered a holiday compared to whatever Umbridge would do to them...
"We forgot Snape!" Hermione suddenly burst out to general incredulity.
Harry paused his pacing to look at her as if she were mad. "Er... no. I can't say we ever have."
"No — I mean we forgot he's in the Order!" Hermione explained. "We didn't look for him!"
Harry was already shaking his head. "Even if we found him, how can we be sure he's on our side? I still say my scar didn't hurt nearly so much before all that Occlumency rubbish..."
"Dumbledore trusts him," she countered.
"Yeah? Well I'm not so sure I trust Dumbledore. I mean, just look at the mess he's left us in this year, and now we find out he's been secretly visiting the castle anyway..."
"What?" Neville said, looking lost.
"I still think we should try," Hermione insisted. "It's the responsible thing to do—"
Harry waved a hand in dismissal. "Fine," he snapped. "Find him if you want, but I'm not waiting around — we've already wasted too much time. I'm going up as soon as I hear the signal."
"Snape wasn't in the Great Hall," Ginny added helpfully as Hermione shoved a bundle of clothes into her arms and moved for the door. "None of the Heads of House were."
Hermione nodded her thanks. "I'll try his office."
The quiet snick of a lock sounded behind her as Hermione swept silently down the corridor. She tiptoed past the Great Hall, where a muted buzz of conversation filtered through the huge doors hanging slightly ajar, and passed through the archway leading down to the dungeons.
How much time did she have left to search? Her steps quickened, carrying her swiftly through the damp, chilly corridor and into the deserted Potions classroom. She made straight for the connecting office door and rapped her knuckles against it hard.
"Professor Snape? Professor — if you're inside, I need your help! It's urgent!"
Without waiting for an answer, Hermione tried the handle, finding it unlocked. As the door swung open, her heart sank straight to her knees at the sight of the dark, empty office before her.
An involuntary whimper escaped her lips. What were they going to do? Where had all of the Order members gone?
"What are you doing?"
Heart jumping back to her throat, Hermione spun on the spot. She breathed a small sigh of relief to see a familiar shock of white-blonde hair approaching, his cape billowing behind him. The brocade on the trim glittered faintly in the light of a single torch from the corridor.
"Malfoy," she said quickly, "have you seen Snape?"
His brows drew together as he came to a stop beside her. "No — why do you ask?"
"Is the Map still on you?" she asked instead, realising how he must have found her in the first place.
Still looking confused, Malfoy withdrew Theo's map from the pocket of his robes and handed it to her.
Hermione rifled through it hastily, scanning the names as quickly as she could. As most of the castle's occupants were currently in the Great Hall, the outliers stood out readily; Professor Binns was in his classroom on the first floor, likely snoozing, and Peeves's dot was still flashing in and out of existence in a nearby corridor.
Her gaze swept over the rest of the first floor until it landed on the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. She squinted down at the adjacent office, picking out Fudge and Umbridge and... she gasped audibly. Of course. There was Flitwick, Sprout, Grubbly-Plank, Kingsley... Where were Snape and McGonagall? No matter, Kingsley would do—
"I have to go," she said, side-stepping Malfoy to rush for the exit. She felt a tug on her sleeve.
"Granger, wait — slow down. What's going on?"
Hermione took a deep breath, willing herself to remain calm, and faced him. "It's difficult to explain, but... something bad is happening. Something really bad. And if I don't get there in the next few minutes, Harry is going to go charging off to the Ministry and I'll have to go with him—"
Malfoy immediately paled. "You're going with Potter to the Ministry? Tonight?"
"Yes, if it comes down to it. Though obviously I'd prefer not to, we're running out of time—"
A low, muffled sound gave her pause. A second sound followed nearly on top of the first, causing several of the specimen jars stored around the room to rattle gently on their shelves. Malfoy eyed the storage shelves with bewilderment.
Panic set in as she realised what was happening. They were out of time. Harry and the others would be on their way upstairs, and anyone who could help would be running in the opposite direction. She could search the fray for Kingsley, assuming he wasn't glued to Fudge's (and Umbridge's) side, but by then, Harry and the others would be long gone.
Anxiety gripped her by the throat. It was a horrible decision — an impossible decision — but she knew what she had to do; she couldn't risk being left behind and leaving the others to fend for themselves. And if there was even a chance to stop Voldemort from getting his hands on this weapon, they had to take it, never mind that they were all likely to end up hurt... or worse.
"Harry's right," she realised out loud, her voice coming out rather shrill. "I'm sorry — I really have to go. There's no way to know if the Order already knows about the break-in at the Ministry or not, and we're out of time — the others will be leaving any minute now— what's wrong?" she asked, for Malfoy's face had gone white as a ghost.
She took a step towards the door and Malfoy drew a sudden, sharp breath, renewing his grip on her wrist. "Don't go."
Hermione hesitated, bouncing anxiously on her toes. "I have to — I wish I could explain, but—"
"Don't go," he repeated, cool grey eyes beseeching. "I don't know exactly what's happening at the Ministry, but I know enough."
Shock rooted her in place. "You knew? You knew this would happen?"
He shook his head and raked a hand roughly through his hair. "It's not like that, I swear. I had no idea when... I just overheard... It's too dangerous. You'll be killed."
Hermione was already pulling out of his grip. "I'm sorry. I don't want... I'm sorry. I'll see you soon, okay? We can talk... later."
"Granger, stop— listen to me—"
She was nearly at the door, reeling from a harsh mixture of guilt, fear, and adrenaline, when the use of her given name stopped her in her tracks.
"Hermione."
It came out rasped and desperate. She turned to see Malfoy still reaching out towards her, a look of anguish marring his porcelain features.
"Stay," he said in that same gravelly voice. It pulled at her in a way that gravity never had. "I'm begging you. Just stay with me."
Her feet were moving before she realised it. The look of pure relief on his face sent a fresh wave of guilt surging through her as she crashed into his arms and pulled his face down to meet hers.
Some part of her knew the danger she was about to face, even if the true measure of it hadn't yet sunk in. The result was a rough, needy clash of lips and teeth as she clung to him, the white-hot flare inside her temporarily dulling the encroaching, icy-cold terror. Hermione stretched the moment as long as possible, memorising the feel of him against her, but she knew he'd figured it out before she'd even let go.
His arms tightened briefly around her, as if he meant to keep her anyway, before loosening as she pulled back.
"I'm sorry," she said again, her voice nearly a whisper. Mind-numbing cold invaded her senses. Without looking at Malfoy's face, she spun on her heel in a whirl of fabric and raced for the exit.
The sounds of chaos trickled down the corridor, becoming steadily louder as Hermione approached the Entrance Hall. Huge, reverberating booms bounced off the walls while bright flashes of light played out ahead, and a small group of Slytherin first-years, looking wild-eyed and dishevelled, darted past her as she flew up the staircase.
Hermione burst into the Hall to be greeted by utter madness. She froze on the threshold, marvelling for a second at the scope of it.
Everywhere, brilliant fireworks were bursting to life, showering the scrambling occupants of the Hall in many-coloured sparks. Huge wheels of pink and green fire ricocheted in from the adjoining corridors, barrelling into the Great Hall where nearly all of the tables had been overturned. Food and drink littered the ground, as did the remnants of several broken chairs and other pieces of one-time furniture. Enormous magical creatures made up entirely of gold and silver sparks soared through the air, driving innocent bystanders to the ground.
As the few remaining places of refuge in the Great Hall were slowly being destroyed, students and Ministry officials alike ran into the Entrance Hall in droves, spilling into adjacent corridors with their arms thrown over their heads. A haze of acrid smoke lingered behind; it thickened by the second, soon blanketing much of the scene into obscurity.
Just in time, Hermione noticed a violent purple rocket hurling itself in her direction. She threw herself to the side, barely managing to avoid being flattened as it whizzed by her left ear.
Shaken out of her stupor, she launched herself to her feet and joined the mass exodus from the Great Hall into the rest of the castle. At the nearest opportunity, she split off and vaulted up the nearest stairs leading towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Passing by the History of Magic classroom and flinging herself down the first empty corridor she came to, Hermione spied the vanishing cabinet out of the corner of her eye as she ran. Of all the things she had time to think about right now, that was certainly the least of them. The vanishing cabinet would continue to wait — it was stuck shut as surely as Sirius's mother was stuck to the wall of Grimmauld.
Hermione quickened her steps, remembering that Peeves had been zooming around up here and uninterested in running into—
Several things came together at once. Against her better judgement, Hermione skidded to a halt, then backtracked until she was standing in front of the black and gold cabinet.
She inspected the doors momentarily, feeling more sure about this than she had about anything else this evening. It was no wonder that every Unlocking Charm she'd tried before had been unsuccessful...
If they were going to leave chaos in their wake, she might as well contribute properly. Perhaps it would even buy them enough time to be able to leave and return, weapon in hand, with Umbridge none the wiser.
Fingering the sapphire at her neck, Hermione pondered a counter spell for the ordinarily indomitable Permanent Sticking Charm. She'd thoroughly studied the theory, especially after her foray into the stacks at Tomes & Scrolls, and the idea had come up once or twice before at Grimmauld Place whenever Sirius's mum started shrieking...
Hermione pointed her wand at the cabinet. The adrenaline coursing through her veins seemed to present the answer now with unusual clarity. Surely it couldn't be that easy...
She waved her wand and spoke the words, a modified version of a powerful Slicing Hex, and willed them to work with every fibre of her being.
The doors to the vanishing cabinet sprang open, blowing back to clatter against the stone walls on either side. Peeves the Poltergeist shot out, cackling madly.
"She'll pay for this, she will!" he screeched in a sing-song voice while zooming around and performing loops mid-air.
He looked over once at Hermione, seemed to appraise her standing before the cabinet with her wand raised, then wheeled around and pelted off towards the ruckus without a backwards glance.
There was no time to marvel at her luck. Hermione resumed her sprint towards Umbridge's office, praying that she wasn't too late.
She burst into the empty classroom, flew up to the office, crashed through the door—
"Luna," Hermione breathed, her eyes landing immediately on the girl with straggly blonde hair who was currently rolling up the sleeves of the too-large jumper taken from Ginny's dresser. Luna was the only other person in the room. "Where are the others? Have they already gone?"
Luna nodded. "We tried to wait for you, but Harry was insistent on leaving right away. He spoke with Kreacher, who told him that Sirius was on duty for the Order tonight. We assume that means—"
"He's at the Ministry," Hermione finished, hastily grabbing her own change of clothes from the pile by the fireplace.
"Yes," Luna agreed placidly, stepping into the fireplace. "Well, I'm off — I'll let the others know to expect you." She threw down a pile of glittering powder and shouted, "Ministry of Magic!" before disappearing neatly into a blur of green flame.
Relieved to be out of her horrible costume, Hermione stepped up to the fireplace and took a pinch of Floo powder out of the small box nearby. Hesitating for a moment, she made a last-minute decision to Vanish the pile of discarded uniforms in case Umbridge came back to her office tonight.
Stowing her wand away, Hermione had just dropped the Floo powder into the grate when her heart stalled in her chest at the sound of the door opening behind her.
"Hermione! I'm glad I caught you—"
A thrill of wild hope shot through her at the sound of her name again—
She turned to see Cedric Diggory, dressed in non-descript trousers and a dark pullover, pushing the door shut behind himself with a foot. Her jaw dropped.
"—I had to run downstairs to change, and then I got held up by a veritable minefield of firecrackers. Don't try Vanishing them, by the way..." He shook his head, looking impressed. Hermione continued to gape at him.
"I'm coming with you," Cedric finished, strolling over to take a pinch of Floo powder for himself.
She fumbled for an explanation. "How— how did you—"
Cedric gestured for her to step inside already-green flames while he talked. "I was in the loo the first time you came in, and I overheard everything. When you all came back, unable to find help, I was Disillusioned in the corner." She opened her mouth but he cut her off. "No, I'm not sorry for eavesdropping. Yes, I know what I'm getting into." He said this all very matter-of-factly.
She stared at him dumbly.
"Maybe all that training for the Triwizard Tournament last year will finally pay off, eh?" he joked, chuckling to himself good-naturedly.
Hermione inhaled deeply, coming back to herself. "Alright," she said with a nod. "Thank you — Ministry of Magic."
The last thing she saw before the world was enveloped in green fire was Cedric's answering smile.