chapter twenty : the sneak
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Umbridge's pure shock made Juniper's week, no month, much better. However, as a dull March blurred into a squally April, her life seemed to have become one long series of worries and problems again. Their last Quidditch match against Ravenclaw was coming up and it would be June's last chance to win the Quidditch Cup.
On top of that, she still had to prepare DA classes. They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practice, though, as Harry and June kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it when confronted by something like a Dementor.
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy," Cho said brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson befor Easter. "They're so pretty!"
"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," Harry said patiently, while June just rolled her eyes. "What we really need is a Boggart or something; that's how I learned, I had to conjure a Patronus while the Boggart was prentending to be a Dementor —"
"But that would be really scary!" Lavender said, who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "And I still — can't — do — it!" she added angrily.
Neville was having trouble, too. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand-tip.
"You've got to think of something happy," June gently reminded him. "I'm positive you can do it, Nev!"
"I'm trying," Neville said miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.
"Harry, June, I think I'm doing it!" Seamus yelled, who had been brought along to his first every DA meeting by Dean. "Look — ah — it's gone . . . but it was definitely something hairy!"
Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gamboling around her.
"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.
The door of the Room of Requirement opened, and closed. Harry and June looked around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before June realised that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing she knew, something was tugging at Harry's robes. The two cousins looked down and saw Dobby peering up at them.
"Hi, Dobby!" Harry said. "What are you — What's wrong?"
The elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the DA closest to Harry and June had fallen silent; everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.
"Harry Potter, sir . . ." the elf squeaked, trembling from head to foot, "Harry Potter, sir . . . Dobby has come to warn you . . . but the house-elves have been warned not to tell . . ."
He ran head-first at the wall. Harry, who seemed to have some experience of this, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.
"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked, grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything which he might seek to hurt himself.
"Harry Potter . . . she . . . she . . ."
Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist. Harry seized that, too.
"Who's 'she', Dobby?"
A shiver went up June's spine as realization hit her. Surely only one 'she' could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at Harry, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.
"Umbridge?" Juniper asked, horrified.
Dobby turned to look at her and nodded. Then he tried to bang his head on Harry's knees. Harry held him at arm's length.
"What about her?" he asked. "Dobby — she hasn't found out about this — about the DA?"
The two cousins read the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, Dobby tried to kick himself and sank to his knees.
"Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly.
Dobby let out a howl.
"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"
Juniper straightened up and and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" she yelled. "RUN!"
They all pelted towards the exit at once. June turned around, looking for her fellow Head Boy, but he had already grabbed Liam's arm and was now pulling him with him.
Good.
Juniper moved behind them and sprinted towards Gryffindor Tower.
"AARRGH!" Harry exclaimed, making June halt in her steps and turn around.
"Harry!"
"Trip Jinx, Potter!" Draco said, grinning, as he came from under a niche beneath an ugly dragon-shaped vase. "Hey, Professor — PROFESSOR! I've got one!"
Anger started boiling and June was about to snatch her wand out to curse the living hell out of Draco, when a pair of twins appeared and dragged her along.
"Wha — Fred! George! Put me down!"
"Shh!" George hissed, placing his hand over her mouth. "Do you want to get caught, too?"
"But —"
"Don't do anything stupid now, Junie," Fred said quietly, as they dragged her further. "This could get you expelled from Hogwarts."
"They have Harry!" Juniper protested. "I need to help him!"
"He's Harry Potter. I'm sure he'll be fine," George said, though June could tell he was not that sure.
The twins dragged her into the library and pushed her down a chair before George took the first three books he saw and placed them on the table.
"What are we doing?" June questioned them, as they opened their book at a random page.
"Pretending to study," Fred said, opening hers as well. "That way, if any of those nasty Slytherins who are conspiring with Umbridge, are still trying to find students, we can tell them we've been studying here."
"Oh, yeah, and I'm sure they'll believe that," June said sarcastically.
"Just pretend like you're studying," George said.
Juniper sighed and looked down to pretend to read whatever was in the book. Her thoughts were still with Harry and Umbridge, though. How had the latter known how to find them? How many were caught running away? How —
"Juniper Black?"
June's head snapped up and she saw Cassius Warrington, a seventh year Slytherin, hovering over her. She exchanged a glance with Fred and George, before looking back at him, raising her eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"Professor Umbridge requests your presence," was all he said.
"We are studying, can't you see?" Fred said, gesturing at the book he was reading.
Cassius ignored him, his green eyes were still on June, a sneer on his lips. He didn't believe them at all.
"I can bring you voluntary or I can drag you there by your hair, it's your choice."
"You will do no such thing," George said, snatching his wand out.
Juniper, knowing things will only escalate from here, placed her hand on George's. "I will come along," she told Cassius, "but if you only touch your wand, I will hex you into oblivion. Perhaps Bellatrix and I do share some genes after all." She made sure to smirk at this.
Cassius paled slightly, enough to tell June her threat has worked.
"June —" Fred began.
"I'll be fine," she assured them. "You guys better head back to the common room. I'll meet you there."
With that, she turned around and followed Cassius out of the library. When they weren't going to Umbridge's office, June frowned, but didn't question it. She didn't want to give the him the satisfaction of knowing something she didn't.
Juniper was half surprised to see he took her to Dumbledore's office.
"Fizzing Whizzbee," Cassius said and the stone gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split open, and they ascended the moving stone staircase. They reached the polished door with the griffin knocker and Cassius knocked three times.
The door was opened by Umbridge, who looked way too pleased. "Ah, thank you very much, Mr Warrington. You may go now."
Cassius nodded, turned around and descended the stairs. June walked into the office and noticed it was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge was rocking backwards and forwards on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation; Kingsley Shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard with very short hair whom June did not recognize, were positioned either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.
June turned around to face Umbridge who had her hand wrapped around Harry's arm. Juniper did a quick double take on her cousin and was relieved to see he wasn't hurt. Then she looked back at Umbridge again and said, "Is there something I can help you with, Professor?"
"Yes, there is something indeed," Umbridge said with an indecent excitement in her voice. "Where were you fifteen minutes ago, Miss Black?"
"In the library studying with Fred and George Weasley," Juniper lied smoothly. "N.E.W.T.s are coming up and I forced them to come with me to study since we all know they don't study much. I'd like for them to get good grades, too."
"Did you?" Cornelius Fudge said, turning to look at her. "Well, Black . . . I expect you know why you are here?"
Juniper raised a confused eyebrow. "No."
"You don't know why you and Harry are here?" Fudge questioned her.
"No, I don't, sir," June said, looking him right in the eye.
Fudge looked incredulously from June and Harry to Professor Umbridge. "So you have no idea why Professor Umbridge has asked for you to come to this office?" he said, in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm. "You are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"
"School rules?" June said, raising both of her eyebrows now. "I was just studying, sir. I don't see how that's breaking any school rules."
"Or Ministry Decrees?" Fudge amended angrily.
"Not that I am aware of," June said blandly.
Though her heart was hammering very fast, Juniper managed to keep her face intact. Her hazel eyes darted from Fudge to Umbridge to eventually land on McGonagall, who stared at her with a blank expression. She didn't know if her head of house could tell she was lying. If she did, she didn't say anything about it.
"So, it's news to you, is it," Fudge said, his voice now thick with anger, "that an illegal student organisation has been discovered within this school?"
"Yes, it is," June said, surprised.
"I think, Minister," Umbridge said silkily from beside Harry, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."
"Yes, yes, do," Fudge said, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge left the room. "There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?"
"Nothing at all, Cornelius," Dumbledore said gravely, inclining his head.
There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, then Juniper heard the door open behind her. Umbridge moved past her into the room, gripping by the shoulder Cho's curly-haired friend, Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.
"Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened," Umbridge said softly, patting her on the back, "it's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The Minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been. Marietta's mother, Minister," she added, looking up at Fudge, "is Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office — she's been helping up police the Hogwarts fires, you know."
"Jolly good, jolly good!" Fudge said heartily. "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on, now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's hear what you've got to — galloping gargoyles!"
As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backwards in shock, nearly landing himself in the fire. He cursed, and stamped on the hem of his cloak which had started to smoke. Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before everyone had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word 'SNEAK'.
"Never mind the spots now, dear," Umbridge said impatiently, "just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister —"
But Marietta gave another muffled wail and shook her head franctically.
"Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him," Umbridge snapped. She hitched her sickly smile back on to her face and said, "Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately, at that point this hex," she waved impatiently at Marietta's concealed face, "came into operation and upon catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me any more."
"Well, now," Fudge said, fixing Marietta with what he evidently imagined was a kind and fatherly look, "it is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge. You did exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its purpose? Who was there?"
But Marietta would not speak; she merely shook her head again, her eyes wide and fearful.
"Haven't we got a counter-jinx for this?" Fudge asked Umbridge impatiently, gesturing at Marietta's face. "So she can speak freely?"
"I have not yet managed to find one," Umbridge admitted grudgingly, and Juniper felt a surge of pride in her jinxing ability. "But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take up the story from here. You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter and Black had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade —"
"And what is your evidence for that?" Professor McGonagall cut in.
"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," Umbridge said smugly. "He heard every word Potter and Black said and hastened straight to the school to report to me —"
"Oh, so that's why he wasn't persecuted for seeing up all those regulating toilets!" Professor McGonagall said, raising her eyebrows. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"
"Blatant corruption!" the portrait of the corpulent, red-nosed wizard in the wall behind Dumbledore's desk said. "The Ministry did not eat deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"
"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," Dumbledore said softly.
"The purpose of Potter and Black's meeting with these students," Professor Umbridge continued, "was to persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are innapropriate for school-age —"
"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," Dumbledore said quietly, peering at her over the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.
Juniper stared at him. She could not see how Dumbledore was going to talk them out of this one; if Willy Widdershins had under heard every word they had said in the Hog's Head there was simply no escaping it. June's eyes darted from Harry to the door where the two Auror's stood, calculating that if everything was to go down, how much time she and Harry had to escape. Her eyes met Kingsley's dark ones and he shook his head very slightly, seeming to know what she was thinking.
"Oho!" Fudge said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet again. "Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter and Black out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore, go on — Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or were it Potter and Black's identical twins in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life and a couple of invisible Dementors?"
Percy let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, very good, Minister, very good!"
Juniper glared at him, but then saw, to her astonishment, that Dumbledore was smiling gently, too.
"Cornelius, I could not deny — and nor, I am sure, do Harry and Juniper — that they were in the Hog's Head that day, nor that they were trying to recruit students to a Defence Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that time, illegal. If you remember, the Ministry Decree banning all student societies was not put into effect until two days after Harry and Juniper's Hogsmeade meeting, so they were not breaking any rules at all in the Hog's Head."
Percy looked as though he had been struck in the face by something very heavy. Fudge remained motionless in mid-bounce, his mouth hanging open.
Umbridge recovered first.
"That's all very fine, Headmaster," she said, smiling sweetly, "but we are now nearly six months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are."
"Well," Dumbledore said, surveying her with polite interest over the top of his interlocked fingers, "they certainly would be, if they had continued after the Decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that any such meetings continued?"
As Dumbledore spoke, June heard a rustle behind her and rather thought Kingsley whispered something. She could have sworn, too, that she felt something brush against her side, a gentle something like a draught or bird wings, but looking down she saw nothing there.
"Evidence?" Umbridge repeated, with that horrible wide toad-like smile. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"
"Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings?" Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."
"Miss Edgecombe," Umbridge said at once, "tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?"
Juniper felt a horrible plummeting in her stomach. This was it, they had hit a dead end of solid evidence that not even Dumbledore would be able to shift aside.
"Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge said coaxingly to Marietta, "come on, now, that won't reactivate the jinx."
Everyone in the room was gazing at the top of Marietta's face. Only her eyes were visible between the pulled-up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but her eyes looked oddly blank. And then — to June's utter amazement — Marietta shook her head.
Umbridge looked quickly at Fudge, then back at Marietta.
"I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whether you've been going to these meetings for the past six months? You have, haven't you?"
Again, Marietta shook her head.
"What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?" Umbridge said in a testy voice.
"I would have thought her meaning was quite clear," Professor McGonagall said harshly, "there have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"
Marietta nodded.
"But there was a meeting tonight!" Umbridge said furiously. "There was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter and Black were the leaders, were they not, Potter and Black organized it, Potter and Black — why are you shaking your head, girl?"
"Well, usually when a person shakes their head," Professor McGonagall said coldly, "they mean 'no'. So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign-language as yet unknown to humans —"
Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her round to face her and began shaking her very hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised; Kingsley started forwards and Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been burned.
"I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," Dumbledore said and, for the first time, he looked angry.
"You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge," Kingsley said, in his deep, slow voice. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble, now."
"No," Umbridge said breathlessly, glancing up at the towering figure of Kingsley. "I mean, yes — you're right, Shacklebolt — I — I forgot myself."
Marietta was standing exactly where Umbridge had released her. She seemed neither perturbed by Umbridge's sudden attack, nor relieved by her release; she was still clutching her robe up to her oddly blank eyes and staring straight ahead of her.
A sudden suspicion, connected to Kingsley's whisper and the thing she had felt shoot past her, sprang into June's mind.
"Dolores," Fudge said, with the air of trying to settle something once and for all, "the meeting tonight — the one we know definitely happened —"
"Yes," Umbridge said, pulling herself together, "yes . . . well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, so as to catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned of my arrival, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind. We needed evidence and the room provided."
And to Juniper's horror, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed it to Fudge.
"The moment I saw Potter and Black's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with," she said softly.
"Excellent," Fudge said, a smile spreading across his face, "excellent, Dolores. And . . . by thunder . . ."
He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing beside Marietta, his wand held loosely in his hand.
"See what they've named themselves?" Fudge said quietly. "Dumbledore's Army."
Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment from Fudge. He gazed at the heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak. Then he looked up, smiling.
"Well, the game is up," he said simply. "Would you like a written confession from me, Cornelius — or will a statement before these witnesses suffice?"
Juniper saw McGonagall and Kingsley look at each other. There was fear in both faces. At first, Juniper did not understand what was going on, and then it clicked.
Oh no.
"Statement?" Fudge said slowly. "What — I don't —?"
"Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, still smiling as he waved the list of names before Fudge's face. "Not Potter's Army or Black's Army. Dumbledore's Army."
"But — but —"
Understanding blazed suddenly in Fudge's face. He took a horrified step backwards, yelled, and jumped out of the fire again.
"You?" he whispered, stamping again on his smouldering cloak.
"That's right," Dumbledore said pleasantly.
"You organized this?"
"I did," Dumbledore said.
"You recruited these students for — for your army?"
"Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting," Dumbledore said, nodding. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe, of course."
Marietta nodded. Fudge looked from her to Dumbledore, his chest swelling.
"Then you have been plotting against me?" he yelled.
"That's right," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"NO!" Harry shouted, making June give him a warning look. "No — Professor Dumbledore —!"
"Be quiet, Harry, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office," Dumbledore said calmly.
"Yes, shut up, Potter!" Fudge barked, who was still ogling Dumbledore with a kind of horrified delight. "Well, well, well — I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and Black and instead —"
"Instead you get to arrest me," Dumbledore said, smiling. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"
"Weasley!" Fudge cried, now positively quivering with delight, "Weasley, have you written it all down, everything he's said, his confession, have you got it?"
"Yes, sir, I think so, sir!" Percy said eagerly, whose nose was splattered with ink from the speed of his note-taking.
"The bit about how he's been trying to build up an army against the Ministry, how he's been working to destabilize me?"
"Yes, sir, I've got it, yes!" Percy said, scanning his notes joyfully.
"Very well, then," Fudge said, now radiant with glee, "duplicate your notes, Weasley, and send a copy to the Daily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl we should make the morning edition!" Percy dashed from the room, slamming the door behind him, and Fudge turned back to Dumbledore. "You will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged, then sent to Azkaban to await trial!"
"Ah," Dumbledore said gently, "yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag."
"Snag?" Fudge said, his voice still vibrating with joy. "I see no snag, Dumbledore!"
"Well," Dumbledore said apologetically, "I'm afraid I do."
"Oh, really?"
"Well — it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to — what is the phrase? — come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course — but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."
Umbridge's face was growing steadily redder; she looked as though she was being filled with boiling water. Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a very silly expression on his face, as though he had just been stunned by a sudden blow and could not believe it had happened. He made a small chocking noise, then looked round at Kingsley and the man with short grey hair, who alone of everyone in the room had remained entirely silent so far. The latter gave Fudge a reassuring nod and moved forwards a little, away from the wall. June saw his hand drift, almost casually, towards his pocket.
"Don't be silky, Dawlish," Dumbledore said kindly. "I'm sure you are an excellent Auror — I seem to remember that you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your N.E.W.T.s — but if you attempt to — er — bring me in by force, I will have to hurt you."
The man called Dawlish blinked rather foolishly. He looked towards Fudge again, but this time seemed to be hoping for a clue as to what to do next.
"So," Fudge sneered, recovering himself, "you intend to take on Dawlish, Schacklebolt, Dolores and myself single-handed, do you, Dumbledore?"
"Merlin's beard, no," Dumbledore said, smiling, "not unless you are foolish enough to force me to."
"He will not be single-handed!" Professor McGonagall said loudly, plunging her hand inside her robes.
"Oh yes he will, Minerva!" Dumbledore said sharply. "Hogwarts needs you!"
"Enough of this rubbish!" Fudge said, pulling out his own wand. "Dawlish! Schacklebolt! Take him!"
A streak of silver light flashed around the room; there was a bang like a gunshot and the floor trembled; a hand grabbed the scruff of June's neck and forced her down on the floor as a second silver flash went off; several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched and a cloud of dust filled the air. Coughing in the dust, Juniper saw a dark figure fall to the ground with a crash in front of her; there was a shriek and a thud and somebody cried, "No!"; then there was the sound of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan . . . and silence.
Juniper struggled around to see who was half strangling her and saw Professor McGonagall crouched beside her; she had somehow forced June, Harry and Marietta out of harm's way. Dust was still floating gently down through the air on to them. Panting slightly, June saw a very tall figure moving towards them.
"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes!" Professor McGonagall said, getting up and dragging June, Harry and Marietta with her.
The dust was clearing. The wreckage of the office loomed into view: Dumbledore's desk had been overturned, all of the spindly tables had been knocked to the floor, their silver instruments in pieces. Fudge, Umbridge, Kingsley and Dawlish lay motionless on the floor. Fawkes the phoenix soared in wide circles above them, singing softly.
"Unfortunately, I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would have looked very suspicious," Dumbledore said in a low voice. "He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone was looking the other way — thank him, for me, won't you, Minerva? Now, they will all awake very soon and it will be best if they do not know that we had time to communicate — you must act as though no time has passed, as though they were merely knocked to the ground, they will not remember —"
"Where will you go, Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall whispered. "Grimmauld Place?"
"Oh no," Dumbledore said, with a grim smile, "I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you."
"Professor Dumbledore . . ." Harry began hesitantly.
"Listen to me, Harry," Dumbledore said urgently, cutting him off. "You must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do you understand me? Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practice is particularly every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to bad dreams — you will understand why soon enough, but you must promise me —"
The man called Dawlish was stirring. Dumbledore seized Harry's wrist. June noticed Harry flinching at this.
"Remember — close your mind — you will understand," Dumbledore whispered.
Fawkes circled the office and swooped low over him. Dumbledore released Harry, raised his hand and grasped the phoenix's long golden tail. There was a flash of fire and the pair of them were gone.
"Where is he?" Fudge yelled, pushing himself up from the floor. "Where is he?"
"I don't know!" Kingsley shouted, also leaping to his feet.
"Well, he can't have Disapparated!" Umbridge cried. "You can't do it from inside this school —"
"The stairs!" Dawlish cried, and he flung himself upon the door, wrenched it open and disappeared, followed closely by Kingsley and Umbridge. Fudge hesitated, then got slowly to his feet, brushing dust from his front. There was a long and painful silence.
"Well, Minerva," Fudge said nastily, straightening his torn shirtsleeve, "I'm afraid this is the end of your friend Dumbledore."
"You think so, do you?" Professor McGonahal said scornfully.
Fudge seemed not to hear her. He was looking around at the wrecked office. A few of the portraits hissed at him; one or two even made rude hand gestures.
"You'd better get those three off to bed," Fudge said, looking back at Professor McGonagall with a dismissive nod towards Harry, June and Marietta.
Professor McGonagall said nothing, but marched the three students to the door. As it swung closed behind them, June heard Phineas Nigellus's voice.
"You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts . . . but you cannot deny he's got style . . ."
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Published 11.07.2021
I hope you enjoyed it & tell me what you think of it!
This was a long one (probably one of the longest I've ever written). Anyway I hope you enjoyed it! :)
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
Laura