His Hope: Sirius Black's daughter Book 3

Department Of Mysteries

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

"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 in every sagging line of her face. I had no idea where Hermione was going with this.

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

"Yes?" said Umbridge with a sudden resurgence of excitement. "What was it you wanted to tell him?"

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

"What's ready?" demanded Umbridge, and now she grabbed Hermione's shoulders again and shook 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, her stubby hands still tight on Hermione's shoulders.

"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 . . ."

Umbridge straightened up, looking exultant.

"Lead me to the weapon," she said.

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

"It is not for you to set conditions," said Professor Umbridge harshly.

"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!"

These words had a powerful impact on Umbridge. She glanced swiftly and suspiciously around at the Inquisitorial Squad, her bulging eyes resting for a moment on Draco, who was too slow to disguise the look of eagerness and greed that had appeared on his face.

"I think we'd better stay here and watch everyone else Professor." I said.

"All right, dear, let's make it just you and me . . . and we'll take Potter too, shall we? Get up, now -" she said to Hermione. Turning to Blaise, she said, "In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something that school children should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these" - she gestured around at Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna - "escape.".

Ten minutes after they left, I sent Ginny the signal. It was something that we had devised in the DA. There were three of them for a non-threatening situation like this.

1) If I twirled my hair with my left hand, it meant, stay still and get ready to attack.

2) If I scratched my nose with my right hand, it meant, when I make my move, everybody else must run.