Supported & Torn (HP) {Book 3 of the Wild & Free Series}

13. A Hand in the Hearth

"Did you see it?"

"D'you reckon she knows?"

"What are we going to do?"

They were all looking at Harry and me. We glanced around to make sure there were no teachers near us.

"We're going to do it anyway, of course," Harry and I said quietly together.

"Knew you'd say that," said George, beaming, thumping Harry on the arm and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"The prefects as well?" said Fred, looking quizzically at Ron and Hermione.

"Of course," said Hermione coolly.

"Here comes Ernie and Hannah Abbott," said Ron, looking over his shoulder. "And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith... and no one looks very spotty." Hermione looked alarmed.

"Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious — sit down!" she mouthed to Ernie and Hannah, gesturing frantically to them to rejoin the Hufflepuff table. "Later! We'll — talk — to — you — later!"

"I'll tell Michael," said Ginny impatiently, swinging herself off her bench. "The fool, honestly..." She hurried off toward the Ravenclaw table.

But the full repercussions of the sign were not felt until they were leaving the Great Hall for History of Magic.

"Harry! Liana! Ron!"

It was Angelina and she was hurrying toward us looking perfectly desperate.

"It's okay," said Harry quietly, when she was near enough to hear him. "We're still going to —"

"You realise she's including Quidditch in this?" Angelina said over him. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"

"What?" said Harry and I.

"No way," said Ron, appalled.

"You read the sign, it mentions teams too! So listen, Harry, Liana... I am saying this for the last time... Please, please don't lose your tempers with Umbridge again or she might not let us play anymore!"

"Okay, okay," I said, for Angelina looked as though she was on the verge of tears. "Don't worry, we'll behave ourselves..."

"Bet Umbridge is in History of Magic," said Rowan grimly, as we set off for Binns's lesson. "She hasn't inspected Binns yet... Bet you anything she's there..."

But he was wrong; the only teacher present when we entered was Professor Binns, floating an inch or so above his chair as usual and preparing to continue his monotonous drone on giant wars. I did not even attempt to follow what he was saying today; I doodled idly on my parchment ignoring Hermione's frequent glares and nudges, until a particularly painful poke in the ribs made me look up angrily.

"What?"

She pointed at the window. Harry and I looked around. Hedwig was perched on the narrow window ledge, gazing through the thick glass at him, a letter tied to her leg. I could not understand it; we had just had breakfast, why on earth hadn't she delivered the letter then, as usual? Many of our classmates were pointing out Hedwig to each other too.

"Oh, I've always loved that owl, she's so beautiful," I heard Lavender sigh to Parvati.

I glanced around at Professor Binns who continued to read his notes, serenely unaware that the class's attention was even less focused upon him than usual. Harry and I slipped quietly off our chairs, crouched down, and hurried along the row to the window, where I slid the catch and opened it very slowly.