A Dementor's Kiss - Phan

Life in Pink

“Five and a half?!” Dan gasped. “That’s crazy. It felt like forever with me, but it can’t have been more than twenty seconds.”

“How do you even find something like that out?” Sophie said sceptically.

“Flitwick told me, me and him, we’re like that.” PJ crossed his index finger with his middle and waggled it in Sophie’s face.

“Sure.” She said, rolling her eyes.

Before PJ could retaliate, they were interrupted by a grating noise as the stone gargoyle began to shift, spinning away to reveal a secret stair.

Dan looked up and down the corridor, but he couldn’t see any sign of a trigger.

“How do they know we’re here?” He asked.

Carrie shrugged. “Any number of detection spells. Which means they knew we were here five minutes ago, they were just letting us squirm.”

Together, the four students climbed the spiral stair. There was a brief tussle at the top before PJ was pushed forwards to knock. The door swung open immediately, and the students’ eyes opened wide.

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. It was as eccentric as Dan could have imagined, yet it still managed to feel warm and inviting. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames.

Behind an enormous, claw-footed desk at the other room sat Professor Dumbledore, with Professor McGonagall to his left sipping out of a steaming mug of tea.

“Come in, come in,” Dumbledore said warmly. “Please, take a seat.”

With an almost unnoticeable flick of his wand, four large, pink, squashy armchairs appeared out of thin air about an inch above the ground and settled down with a satisfying thud in a cluster around the desk. Dan, PJ, Sophie and Carrie hurried forwards and seated themselves nervously, crossing and uncrossing their hands in their laps.

“Now, to business,” Dumbledore said jovially. “I’m sure the most pressing question on your tongues is regarding the whereabouts of your friends. I can inform you that they are currently in a reportedly cage-like structure in Professor Umbridge’s office, where she is holding them apparently indefinitely.”

“Is that even legal?!” Carrie blurted out.

“Oh, of course not.” Professor McGonagall said briskly. “But there is very little you can do on that side of the equation. What matters is that they’re safe, and she assures us that she’s feeding them. Certainly, we have entrusted the house elves to send up more than enough food for two teenage boys, mostly in the form of cake. She has also promised that she has not harmed them in any way, however…”

Dan knew what she was thinking. She, like him, was picturing the small army of students sporting thin, pink lines on the backs of their hands. Abruptly, Dan’s stomach twisted itself into a French plait. If Umbridge was willing to etch wounds into the flesh of teenagers just for forgetting their homework, what was she doing to her captives that she accused of her cardinal sin? He didn’t want to think about it.

“So, how are we getting them out?” PJ said tensely.

McGonagall and Dumbledore exchanged a glance.

“While she has an excuse to keep them, there’s nothing we can do to free them.” Professor McGonagall said with a sigh. “That is to say, we can’t step in and get them out based on Hogwarts rules unless we can prove that they are in danger, because she’s obtained an overriding warrant from the Ministry – she has somehow managed to persuade them that Chris and Phil are a danger to the other students. However, I’m sure there would be a way of temporarily freeing them to get a little daylight…” She raised an eyebrow pointedly at Dan and PJ, but chose not to elaborate. “We’re taking measures – insisting that they must continue their studies until a decision has been reached so that they don’t fall behind – and we hope eventually to get her to relax the hold that she is keeping, but our priority right now is to abolish the entire decree. As I’m sure you are aware, outside of the school there is an increasingly mounting movement to overthrow the legislation. There is a group of around a hundred protestors camped out outside the Ministry as we speak, and the number grows daily. The teachers too are doing what we can, but the board of governors are largely Ministry employees that don’t want to lose their jobs. That’s why the pressure needs to carry on increasing from both sides, until she is forced to quietly scrap the decree in order to avoid a much bigger fight.”