I Am Not Nothing

Chapter Twenty-One

"I'll make short work of this," Umbridge said as the boy disappeared from the hole, "Bombarda maxima."

The wall exploded right in front of us, revealing less people than I expected. What I didn't expect to see was my sister, standing with Loony Lovegood and Cho Chang. When they saw Mariette Edgecombe with us, they all had a hint of betrayal in their expressions. My sister finally looked at me, then looked at her feet as she stepped back to hide half of herself behind Chang. I looked at Potter, who looked between Umbridge and me. I smirked at him and flicked my wand, which hung at my side. There was resistance, but I made it to his most recent memory and inside his head was a quick image of most members escaping through a different door. I got out of his head in time for Umbridge to order us to collect them. I marched straight over to Stainface and Lovegood. I took the two of them in my hands and walked them out of the room. We took them up to Umbridge's office for interrogating and receiving punishments. We were all to wait here while Minister Fudge and his team, using the floo network, arrived in the office to talk to Dumbledore about his "army". After receiving their detentions, the students were all allowed to leave. All except Potter and Edgecombe. Unfortunately, the Inquisitorial Squad wasn't allowed to attend this meeting with Dumbledore, but I could easily tap into Edgecombe's mind, though I decided against it because everything in the meeting was confidential, except for the information that would be released later. So, unable to do anything fun in this office, I gave a final look to all of the Gryffindors who didn't leave and I, myself, turned on my heel, took Draco's hand, and left the office. 

"Raven, where are we going?" Draco asked me as we walked down the stairs. 

"I need to do it now. I can't wait anymore." I told him. 

I knew he understood exactly what I meant. We walked to the ground floor, then to the court yard. When we reached the court yard, I let go of Draco and turned to him. 

"I need you to stay here." I told him. 

He shook his head and took my hands again. 

"I can't do that." He told me. 

"You have to. I have a plan and you're not a part of it." I said. 

He sighed and nodded, letting go of my hands. I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his neck. His arms snaked around my waist. I couldn't help but close my eyes and bury my face into the tall boy's chest. We slowly let go of each other and I backed away from him. 

"I have to go." I told him. 

I turned away from him and walked out of the courtyard and toward the owlery. I reached the tall tower and looked around. The bird was nowhere to be seen. 

"Ross?" I looked up the tower, the around in the sky. 

There were no birds, period. 

"Ross!" I finally yelled. 

As I was about to walk up the stairs of the tower, I heard some wings beat behind me. I turned as a black bird turned into a boy dressed in black. 

"What are you doing here?" He asked me.

"Why weren't you at the stairs waiting for me? You usually do." I retorted.

"You let me go. Now I don't have to wait for you." He said. 

"I said I'd let you go until you're back to being a normal bird." 

He didn't respond. He just sighed and nodded. 

"You know what I'm here to do, right?" I asked him. 

"You're here to make me normal, aren't you?"