Sooooooo since this is rated M, Harry is going to drop the F bomb. A lot. Y'all can't tell me that he wasn't cursing up a storm just like Ron when he got upset. Harry probably cussed out more people than a ever his fifth year.

I feel like I've said this before...oh well *shrug* lol

And sorry, this chapter will be mostly Queen Rowling, but i will make up for it next chapter, I promise.

Just giving y'all a head's up.

And to the guest reviewer who isn't really feeling the story...first off, thanks for the review.

Second, I've thought I've given missing moments for when Harry is gone and it's just Ron by himself or just Ron and Hermione. My bad that it isn't enough, I will try to improve on that even more, especially when we get into Half Blood Prince.

But I mean I did say early on that this would also have a lot of Rowling in it, and that can't be taken out. It can be enhanced, but not taken. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a rewrite in another POV. But yeah, I'll work harder on it.

On with the fic :)

Chapter 155: The Capture

Two of the examiners took Harry out frantically, as the rest of us stared, not knowing exactly what to say. We could hear Harry yelling that he didn't want to go before the door fully shut.

Hermione looked over at me, her eyes showing that she eagerly wanted to follow him just as much as I did. However, we were quickly told to finish up our exams.

I sat reluctantly back in my seat, not wanting to complete a bloody thing. I didn't know what was going on with my best mate. It seemed as if the pain he was feeling was way more intense than usual.

After the exam was over, Hermione and I made a beeline for the door, rushing out to find Harry immediately.

"Surely he went to the tower, you reckon?" I asked as we ran through the corridors.

"Let's check the hospital wing first, just in case." panted Hermione, taking my sleeve and guiding me the way she wanted me to run.

"He said he didn't want to go there, you heard. He said it before the door closed. Let's check the tower first just to make sure." I said, pulling Hermione the other way.

We ran up to the tower. Harry was not in the common room, nor was her in the dorm.

"Okay, your idea." I said.

We ran back out and down the starts towards the hospital wing, where we all but collided into a fast pacing Harry rounded a corner, looking white as a ghost.

"Harry!" said Hermione in a frightened voice. "What happened? Are you alright? Are you ill?"

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Come with me," Harry said quickly. "Come on, I've got to tell you something."

He led us along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind Hermione and I the moment we were inside, and leaned against it, facing them.

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

Hermione and I looked at each other, then back at Harry in confusion and fear.

"What?"

"How d'you-?"

"Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."

"But-but where? How?" said Hermione.

"I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven. He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there ... he's torturing him ... says he'll end by killing him!"

Harry' voice was shaking, as were his knees. He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to recover from the shock he was feeling.

"How're we going to get there?" he asked us.

The record scratched in my head.

"G-get there?" I stuttered.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly.

"But-Harry..."

"What? What?" said Harry.

"Harry," said Hermione in a timid voice, "er ... how ... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realising he was there?"

"How do I know?" bellowed Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"

The way he was beginning to lash almost made me say he could do it on his own. But I knew that would be far from happening.

"But ... Harry, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step towards him, "it's five o'clock in the afternoon. The Ministry of Magic must be full of workers. How would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry, they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world ... you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"

She had a point.

"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Harry shouted, on the verge of losing his temper. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been-"

"You've never been there, Harry," said Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."

"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"

"He's got a point," I mumbled, looking at Hermione.

"But this is just -just so unlikely!" said Hermione desperately. "Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"

"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air?" I attempted to suggest. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages-"

"But why," Hermione persisted, "why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"

"I dunno, there could be loads of fucking reasons!" Harry yelled at her. "Maybe Sirius is just someone Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt-"

"You know what, I've just thought of something," I said in a hushed voice. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!"

"Yeah-and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" said Harry.

Hermione shook her head. "Look, I'm sorry, but neither of you is making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there-"

"Hermione, Harry's seen them!" I said.

"OK," she said, looking frightened yet determined, "I've just got to say this-"

"What?" huffed Harry.

"You ... this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do ... sort of ... I mean-don't you think you've got a bit of a-a-saving-people thing?" she said.

I cringed. Hermione had hit a nerve, I could see it in Harry's eyes. He was glaring daggers at her.

"And what's that supposed to mean, a "saving-people thing"?" Harry harped.

"Well ... you...I mean ... last year, for instance ... in the lake ... during the Tournament ... you shouldn't have ... I mean, you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl ... you got a bit ... carried away. I mean, it was really great of you and everything," said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Harry's face, "everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do-"

"That's funny," said Harry through gritted teeth, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero ... is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?"

"No, no, no!" said Hermione, looking frantic as she waved her hands in surrender. "That's not what I mean at all!"

"Well, spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!" Harry shouted.

"I'm trying to say -Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the-the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst-?"

"Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not-they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"

"But Harry-what if your dream was-was just that, a dream?"

Harry roared in frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed, halfway hiding behind my back.

"You don't fucking get it!" Harry shouted at her, "I'm not having fucking nightmares, I'm not just fucking dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione! Sirius is trapped, I've seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a fucking problem with my saving-people thing when it was you I was saving from the dementors, or (he rounded on me)when it was your sister I was saving from the Basilisk-'

"I never said I had a fucking problem!" I exclaimed.

"But Harry, you've just said it," said Hermione fiercely, "Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this-"

"IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN-"

"Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!"

"WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST-"

The classroom door opened. We whipped around. Ginny walked in, looking curious, closely followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.

"Hi," said Ginny hesitantly. "We recognised Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," said Harry roughly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

"Well excuse the hell out of you. There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly, "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Well, you can't," said Harry shortly.

"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely.

"Fuck!" said Harry, turning away from Luna and my sister. He grabbed his hair, frustrated.

"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait ... Harry, they can help."

Harry and I looked at her.

"Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters."

"I've told you, I saw-"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him."

"Sirius is being tortured right fucking NOW!" shouted Harry. "We haven't got time to waste."

"But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, Harry, we've got to check, we've got to."

"How?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," said Hermione. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

"Yeah, we'll do it," said Ginny with no hesitation.

"When you say 'Sirius', are you talking about Stubby Boardman?" asked Luna.

Nobody answered her.

"OK," Harry said aggressively to Hermione, "OK, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now."

"The Department of Mysteries?" said Luna, looking mildly surprised. "But how are you going to get there?"

Again, Harry ignored her.

"Right," said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. "Right ... well ... one of us has to go and find Umbridge and-and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her-I don't know-that Peeves is up to something awful as usual ..."

"I'll do it," I volunteered. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way."

"OK," she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. "Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off."

"Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garrotting Gas."

Hermione looked shocked that Ginny had came up with such a lie on the spot. She seemed to underestimate my sister's ability to be cunning at times.

"Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."shrugged Ginny, smiling.

"OK,",said Hermione. "Well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius-"

"HE'S NOT THERE, HERMIONE!"

"I mean, you can -can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the windows a weak spot, sending those Nifflers through it."

Harry nodded, despite being positively hacked with Hermione. "I ... OK, thanks," he muttered.

"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan and wasn't screaming his head off at her anymore, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

"Five minutes'll be enough," said Harry. "C'mon, let's go-"

"Now?" said Hermione, looking shocked.

"Of course now!" said Harry angrily. "What did you think, we're going to wait until after fucking dinner or some shit? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!"

"I-oh, all right," she sighed. "You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, OK?"

Harry took off without answering her. He plowed through a crowd of students and headed up to the tower, leaving the four of us to walk outside of the room.

"He's a rather determined sort, isn't he?" said Luna in a curious voice.

'You have no idea." sighed Ginny.

"Way to help me back there, Ronald." huffed Hermione as we headed for the toad's corridor.

"Excuse me?"

"You could have stood up for me. You know how Harry gets-"

"Which is exactly why I let him say what he felt." I interrupted. "You should know by now that once he gets an idea in his head, it's hard to convince him otherwise. And what if Sirius really is in trouble?"

"But what if he isn't and Harry is being tricked?" said Hermione frantically. "What if this is what Voldemort wants?"

"What are you two talking about?" i heard Ginny say on the other side of me.

"Well we will just have to find out now, will we?" I said smugly, ignoring Ginny's question.

Hermione crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of Umbridge's corridor. "I still don't like this. Not one bit." she said in an angry voice, her lip poked out looking like the cutest human in the world. Sometimes I just loved seeing her all riled up. It was cute when she was angry.

Only sometimes, because she could still throw a mean hex.

"Have you perhaps checked Harry's head for Wrackspurts?" asked Luna.

The three of us gave her vacant stares.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Wrackspurts." she repeated, as if we should have known all along. "Little creatures that crawl into your ear and make your brain go fuzzy. He had a lot of them in his hair, so maybe a few managed to get to his brain and make him see things that aren't real."

Ginny held in a giggle, while Hermione and I continued to stare at Luna as if she were mental. I was about to speak up, when Harry came running around the corner.

"Got it," he panted. "Ready to go, then?"

"All right," whispered Hermione as a gang of loud sixth-years passed us. "So Ron-you go and head Umbridge off ... Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor ... Harry and I will get the Cloak on and wait until the coast is clear ..."

I walked off in search of Peeves.

I peeked into classroom after classroom. Peeves was nowhere to be found. Instead, I ended up running into the bitch herself.

"Professor, I'm go glad I ran into you!" I exclaimed frantically. "Its Peeves! He's in professor McGonagall's classroom transfiguring the books and desks into livestock!"

Umbridge eyes me suspiciously. "He's doing what you say, Mr. Weasley?"

"Peeves, ma'am, in the Transfiguration room!"

"You're quite sure of this?"

"Quite sure, ma'am, I heard the mooing."I said nervously.

"Alright, Mr, Weasley." sighed the toad. "Stay right where you are while I go investigate."

Umbridge walked swiftly in the other direction. I lagged behind her, far enough for her not to realize I was trying to see where she was going. I peeked around the corridor and watched her pink robe fade off into the distance.

I decided to stand at that corridor and watch for her to return. For about five minutes, nothing had happened.

Suddenly, I heard commotion in the form of Ginny and Luna's voices. I ran down the corridor and was tackled by what felt like a fucking bludger to the gut. Strong and smelly arms latched around my body, and when I looked up, I was facing a Slytherin that I only knew by the last name Warrington.

"Get the fuck off me!"I yelled, squirming in the oaf's grasp. I was then met with a swift punch to the mouth by Merlin knew who.

"You should have minded your fucking business, Weasel King." said Ferret Ass with a sinister smirk.

The pack of Slytherin flunkies gagged and drug the four of us (for some reason, Neville had been captured as well) up to Umbridge's office, where Harry and Hermione had already been found out. Umbridge had Harry's shirt in her grasp, screaming in his face. Hermione was pinned against the wall by Millicent.

"Liar!" shouted Umbridge as she threw Harry into her desk violently. Malfoy snatched Harry's wand from the floor and leaned against the wall, twirling it arrogantly in his fingers.

"Got 'em all," said Warrington, shoving me into the room. "That one (he poked a thick finger at Neville) tried to stop me taking her (he pointed at my sister, who was trying to kick the shins o some Millicent built Slytherin girl holding he) so I brought him along too."

"Good, good," said Umbridge, watching Ginny struggle. "Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?"

Malfoy laughed loudly, like a fucking hyena. Umbridge gave her wide and hideous smile and settled herself into an armchair, blinking up at us like a toad excited to catch a fly in her mouth.

"So, Potter," she said. "You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon (nodding at me, causing Malfoy to laugh even louder, the bitch) to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes. Mr. Filch having just informed me so."

Dammit.

"Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone."

Malfoy and a few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that. I wanted to spit in all of their disrespectful faces.

"It's none of your business who I talk to," snarled Harry.

Umbridge's face seemed to tense up at Harry"'s defiance.

"Very well," she said in a sweet but dangerous sounding voice. "Very well, Mr. Potter ... I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco, fetch Professor Snape."

Malfoy shoved Harry's wand inside his robes and left the room smirking. i looked over at Hermione, who looked as if she was scared, but also plotting something secretly in her head.

As we 'waited', Ginny struggled to free herself against the girl that was holding her. i was starting to taste the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, so i spit it disgracefully onto Umbitch's carpet. Hermione went back to trying to wrestle MIllicent's broad ass off of her, while Luna, however, stood limply by the side of her captor, gazing vaguely out of the window as though rather bored by the proceedings.

Harry looked back at Umbridge, who was watching him closely. He looked at Umbridge and wiped all the emotion off his face as he stared her down. a few minutes later, Malfoy came back with Snape.

"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" said Snape, looking around at us as if we were having a small dinner party, instead of being manhandled.

"Ah, Professor Snape," said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."

"You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter," he said, glaring at her through his greasy locks. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."

"You can make some more, can't you" she said, her voice going up a couple of octaves, indicating that she was growing angry.

"Certainly," said Snape, his lip curling. "It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month.

"A month?" squawked Umbridge. "A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"

"Really?" said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Harry. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."

Harry and Snape looked like they were having some sort of barmy staring contest, as if HArry was trying to tell Snape something with his eyes.

"I wish to interrogate him" repeated Umbridge angrily, stomping her foot and breaking Snape and Harry's stares. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!"

"I have already told you that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter-and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did-I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much lime for truth-telling." said Snape with a non committal shrug.

You could hear the swelling happening in Umbridge's cheeks as she seemed to fight back hwe full on anger. "

'You are on probation!" shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. "You arc being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!"

Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave.

"He's got Padfoot!" Harry shouted out of nowhere. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

He was trying to warn Snape. it finally dawned on me that Snape was also a member of the Order, so of course he knew what HArry meant by what he was saying.

Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridge's door handle.

"Padfoot?" cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Snape. "What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?"

Snape turned and looked at Harry, if trying to figure out a puzzle. he then looked back over at Umbitch and said "I have no idea. Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little. If Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job."

He closed the door behind him with a snap, leaving the lot of us devastated, and Umbridge still fuming.

"Very well," she said, pulling out her wand. "Very well ... I am left with no alternative ... this is more than a matter of school discipline ... this is an issue of Ministry security ... yes ... yes ..."

She looked as if she was battling a bit over her next move. She shifted her weight from her left to her right and eyed Harry intently.

"You are forcing me, Potter ... I do not want to," said Umbridge, still moving restlessly on the spot, "but sometimes circumstances justify the use ... I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice."

The room suddenly felt heavy, as if something of pure evil was exerting its pressure all around us. Everyone was deathly quiet. So quiet, you could probably hear a pin drop on her plush carpet..

"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue," said Umbridge quietly.

I tried desperately to lunge forward, as Hermione shrieked "No! Professor Umbridge, it's illegal!"

But Umbridge took no notice. She looked hungrily at Harry, as if he were a piece of prime dragon meat at an expensive restaurant.

"The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!" cried Hermione desperately.

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt most. "He never knew I ordered dementors to go after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same."

Hermione and I looked at each other in shock and then back at Harry and Umbridge

"It was you?" gasped Harry. "You sent the dementors after me?"

"Somebody had to act," breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Harry's forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow-, discrediting you, but I was the one who actually did something about it. Only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today though, not now-" And taking a deep breath, she cried, "Cruc-"

"NO!" shouted Hermione. "No! Harry, we'll have to tell her!"

"No way!" yelled Harry.

"We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's ... what's the point?"

And Hermione began to cry weakly into the back of Millicent Bulstrode's robes. Millicent stopped trying to squash her against the wall immediately and dodged out of her way looking disgusted.

"Well, well, well!" said Umbridge, looking triumphant. "Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"

"Er-my-nee- no!" I shouted through my gag. I couldn't believe what she was saying. How could she? Why would she? What was...wait...

I looked closely at her face. There wasn't a tear in sight.

"I'm-I'm sorry everyone. But-I can't stand it-"

"That's right, that's right, girl!" said Umbridge, seizing Hermione by the shoulders, thrusting her into the abandoned chair and leaning over her. "Now then ... with whom was Potter communicating just now?"

"Well," gulped Hermione into her hands, "well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore."

Ginny, Harry, Neville, and I looked at Hermione as if she were mental. Even Luna seemed to have came alive and looked at Hermione with an odd expression.

"Dumbledore?' said Umbridge eagerly. "You know where Dumbledore is, then?"

'Well ... no!" sobbed Hermione. "We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head-"

"Idiot girl! Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!" shouted Umbridge, disappointment etched all over her face.

"But-but we needed to tell him something important!" wailed Hermione, holding her hands more tightly over her face.

"Yes?" said Umbridge excitedly. "What was it you wanted to tell him?"

"We ... we wanted to tell him it's r-ready!" choked Hermione.

Hermione was making less sense every second.

"What's ready?" demanded Umbridge, grabbing Hermione's shoulders again and shaking her slightly. "What's ready, girl?"

"The ... the weapon," said Hermione.

"Weapon? Weapon?" said Umbridge, and her eyes seemed to pop with excitement. "You have been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?"

"Y-y-yes," gasped Hermione, "but he had to leave before it was finished and n-n-now we've finished it for him, and we c-c-can't find him t-t-to tell him!"

"What kind of weapon is it?" said Umbridge harshly.

"We don't r-r- really understand it," said Hermione, sniffing loudly. "We j-j-just did what P-P-Professor Dumbledore told us t-t-to do."

"Lead me to the weapon," said the bitch.

"I'm not showing ... them," said Hermione shrilly, looking around at the Slytherins through her fingers.

"It is not for you to set conditions."

"Fine," said Hermione, now sobbing into her hands again. "Fine ... let them see it, I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th-that would serve you right-oh, I'd love it if the wh- whole school knew where it was, and how to u-use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll, be able to s-sort you out!"

I wanted to snog the bloody fuck out of Hermione at that moment, she was being so brave. I had never heard her talk like that before, especially to someone of authority.

Umbridge looked frightened a bit at Hermione's outburst, probably not expecting something like that to come from her. Then, she spoke in a voice that reminded me of how Mum would speak when she would try to fake sweet with us to get us to confess to something we or someone else had done.

'All right, dear, let's make it just you and me, and we'll take Potter, too, shall we? Get up, now."

"Professor," said Malfoy eagerly, "Professor Umbridge, I think some of the Squad should come with you to look after-"

"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two wandless teenagers alone?" asked Umbridge sharply. "In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something that schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these (she gestured around at me, Ginny, Neville and Luna) escape."

"All right," said Malfoy, looking disappointed.

"And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way," said Umbridge, pointing at Harry and Hermione with her wand. "Lead on."