The OWLs had begun. They were absolute torture.
The OWLs were held in the Great Hall, supervised by Umbridge, but I didn't know it was possible for them to be a trillion times worse than a regular class with her. I knew they were supposed to be challenging, but I was convinced that Umbridge had made it extra hard for us on purpose.
The Great Hall was always dark and forbidding, and the only sounds were the scratch of quills and hisses of pain from people who had spoken out and were forced to write with one of Umbridge's magic quills.
My worst subject by far was History of Magic, but I'm pretty sure only Hermione got an O on that one. Everyone had complained afterwards that they had gotten Wendolyn the Weird and Winston the Worried mixed up because they both married witches.
I tried to imagine sincerely wanting to marry an ogre and nearly threw up all over my essay on vampire rights.
I did take great satisfaction though from Umbridge's face when everyone that used to be in Dumbledore's Army got the actual wand-using section of her test perfectly. I had a feeling she wasn't expecting that.
Still, it was grueling. Every night and every free period all the fifth year students would gather in the common room and rake their eyes over mountains of notes on whatever subject we were taking the next day.
At one point Hermione got so agitated with Potter asking her questions from Achievements in Charming that she accidentally hit him on the side of the nose with a sharp corner of the book while trying to snatch it back and check her answers. I only laughed a little bit.
During our second to last OWL, Charms, there was a sudden thudding from the closed doors to the hall. Umbridge's face twisted in annoyance as everyone turned behind them to see where the noise was coming from. When it happened a second time, Umbridge left her chair and walked briskly past the students.
Upon opening the doors, a little sparkling ball of light began to jitter in front of her face like a bothersome fly. Finally it flew to the middle of the room and exploded over our heads in blue fountains of light. It was a firework?
We watched Umbridge lean forwards, craning her neck around the corridor. Faster than I could realize what was happening there was a whooshing sound, and then Fred and George rocketed in on their brooms.
They whooped and cheered, sending bigger fireworks up at the ceiling and blowing all our exam papers into the air. Soon the Great Hall looked like a bomb went off. There was smoke and colorful sparks everywhere, and all the students had gotten up from their desks and were laughing at Umbridge's face.
Fred and George threw their last big firework up into the air. It burst into colors of yellow and purple and red, and then a dragon's head formed out of all the light. It's face was bigger than my entire body, and it sported horns and long, pointy teeth the length of my leg. There was even real smoke coming out of it's nostrils, which didn't exactly give it a friendly look.
It quickly growled and swooped down, making its way through the rows of desks to Umbridge. She screamed and ran as fast as she could to the doors, but just when she got out into the corridor the dragon snapped its jaws shut.
The incredible firework exploded, sending every last Educational Decree to the ground. The glass shattered, the picture frames cracked, and Umbridge was left standing there, hair messed up and clothes sparking.
Fred and George zipped out of the hall, nearly knocking her over as they passed. Every single fifth year student followed them out into the courtyard, yelling and clapping. As the twins flew into the sky, all that was left against the clouds were a thousand fireworks creating a huge orange W, marketing their new shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
I turned around and grinned at Potter, but as I did I realized his face was pale and he wasn't smiling anymore. His hands shook as he collapsed. I grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her over.
"Alexandra, what-" she began to protest, but when she saw Potter's state she knelt in front of him and pulled me down with her.
I grabbed Potter's hand and shook his arm. His skin was feverishly hot. His eyes fluttered and he was gasping for air. He squeezed my hand back weakly.
"Potter..." I said carefully.
Then his eyes snapped open and he took a huge gulp of air.
"Sirius," he gasped.
"Potter are you sure," I asked for the third time as we raced up the empty staircases.
"I saw it!" He insisted. "It's just like with Mr. Weasley. It's the same door I've been dreaming about for months, only I couldn't remember where I had seen it before." He was talking very fast, and I could hear in his voice how scared he was.
"Sirius said Voldemort was after something," he continued. "Something he didn't have last time. It's in the Department of Mysteries."
"Harry, please just listen for a minute," Hermione said seriously. We all stopped and looked at her.
"What if Voldemort meant for you to see this?" She asked quickly. "What if he's only hurting Sirius because he's trying to get to you?"
"What if he is?" Potter asked in disbelief. "I'm supposed to just let him die? Hermione, he's the only family I've got left."
"So what do we do?" Weasley asked quietly.
"We'll have to use the Floo network," I realized as we began to thunder through the castle again.
"But Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance," Hermione said.
"Not all of them," I corrected. "Not her own."
"Alohomora," Potter whispered. I assumed a spell like that would be too simple to let us into Umbridge's office, and I was shocked when it worked. As we stepped inside, the cats on the wall meowed suspiciously.
Potter got on his knees in front of her roaring fire. "Alert the Order if you can," he said to us, just as the flames turned green.
"Are you mental?" Weasley asked. "We're coming with you."
"It's too dangerous," Potter argued.
"When are you going to get it into your head?" I asked exasperatedly, kneeling down next to him. "We're in this together."
He opened his mouth to respond, but another voice came from the door. "That you are," Umbridge said furiously. She had that same crazy look on her sooty face as the day she caught us in the Room of Requirement, and even with her still-messy hair her smile was unnerving.
The Inquisitorial Squad came in after her, smiling when they saw us. Draco on the other hand blanched when he saw me crouching next to Potter in front of the fire. He knew as well as I did there was no way for me to get myself out of this one.
All I could wondering was how this stupid little club always managed to find us in the worst situations possible.
Three of the Squad members were already holding back Longbottom, Luna, and Ginny. I guess their distraction hadn't worked as we'd hoped.
This time Draco let Nott pull me over to the side of the room with everyone else, like he had given up on trying to help me. That hurt a little bit, especially when Nott started saying things to purposefully get me angry and Draco watched without a word.
I kept my face completely blank until he leaned down and whispered in my ear, "When your boyfriend goes to Azkaban, I can keep your bed warm for you."
I furiously tried to twist out of his grip, but he just laughed and put the tip of his wand against my neck. Umbridge completely ignored us and put her face close to Potter's, who was sitting on a pink velvet chair in front of her.
"You were going to Dumbledore, weren't you?" She asked sweetly.
"No," Potter swallowed.
"Liar," she yelled, and slapped him across the face. I flinched. Hermione gasped next to me. Even Draco's eyes widened in shock. Potter was left with an angry red patch on his cheek.
"You sent for me, headmistress?" Snape suddenly appeared, asking from the open door. His eyebrows were raised questionably, but that was the only emotion on his face.
"Snape, yes," Umbridge said happily, standing up to greet him. "The time as come for answers, whether he wants to give them to me or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?"
"I'm afraid you've used up all my stores interrogating students," he replied evenly. "The last of it on Miss. Chang."
Potter looked to us quickly and then back to Snape. I knew what he was thinking. Snape was an Order member—we could tell him about Sirius and he could help us, if only Umbridge wasn't present.
"Unless you wish to poison him, and I assure you I would have my greatest sympathy if you did, I cannot help you," Snape finished, locking eyes with me momentarily. I tried to plead with him wordlessly.
As Snape turned to walk out the door, Potter spoke up. "He's got Padfoot." Snape stopped. "He's got Padfoot in the place where it's hidden."
"Padfoot? What is Padfoot?" Umbridge demanded. "Where, what is hidden? What is he talking about, Snape?"
When Snape turned around his eyes were wide and his lips were tight. He understood. "No idea," he answered simply, glanced at Potter, and left.
"Very well," Umbridge said, closing the door behind him. "You give me no choice, Potter. As this is an issue of Ministry security, you leave me with... no alternative." She sounded as if she was readying herself for something.
"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue," she finally decided.
Potter blanched. Weasley, Hermione and I struggled against our Inquisitorial Squad members at her words.
"That's illegal," Hermione said in disbelief.
"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," Umbridge replied, carefully setting her framed photo of the Minister facedown on her desk. She slowly advanced on Potter. He leaned back as far as he could in the chair, fear flashing across his face.
Just as Umbridge opened her mouth to speak the curse, I shouted out. "Tell her, Potter!"
Umbridge's head snapped towards me, but she didn't move her wand. Potter caught my eye questionably, but I sent him a look that hopefully said, Let me talk.
"Where what is?" Umbridge asked, curious against her will.
"Well, if you won't tell her where it is... I will," I announced, not having to fake the panic in my voice. I was making this up on the spot here.
"Where what is?" Umbridge repeated, getting impatient.
"Dumbledore's secret weapon," I choked out. Umbridge's face contorted into what I assumed was her excited, happy look. Potter, Hermione and Weasley stared at me like I was insane. I most definitely was.
And so I somehow found myself going on a little afternoon stroll with Potter and Umbridge through the Forbidden Forest, trying to think of a way to get us out of what I had just thrown together. I led them deeper into the trees, furiously thinking, but no sudden, brilliant plan came to mind.
When Umbridge started to swipe at invisible spiderwebs and scream when branches brushed her side, I realized that I had blindly walked us to the clearing where we had first met Grawp.
"How much further?" Umbridge asked. I was pleased to hear the way her voice shook.
"Not far," I promised. "It had to be somewhere students wouldn't find it accidentally."
Potter fell into step beside me. "What are you doing?" He hissed.
"Improvising," I hissed back.
When I saw the torn rope that Grawp had apparently broken free from, I stopped and turned to the two of them, at a loss for ideas. I didn't want to go any deeper into the forest that was steadily getting darker, but I had Potter counting on me and Umbridge on my back.
"Well? Where is this weapon?" Umbridge demanded, moving her wand back and forth between the two of us. I was bitterly reminded that she had taken Potter and I's wands and given them to Draco before we left her office. I wasn't sure if I trusted him with my wand, but I most definitely didn't trust him with Potter's.
Neither of us said anything. Potter looked between me and her, swallowing hard.
"There isn't one, is there?" She whispered. "You were trying to trick me." She walked behind me with her wand outstretched, and I moved next to Potter, grabbing his wrist tightly. I wasn't about to put the possibility of any more illegal curses past her, especially since we had no more audience to witness it if she did.
Or at least I thought we didn't have an audience until there was a loud crack from behind Umbridge. She whipped around and stumbled behind Potter. Against the dark mist and the shadows of thick trees, the biggest group of centaurs I had ever see gathered was standing in front of us, each of their bows drawn tight.
Umbridge raised a shaking finger to who I assumed was the leader of the herd. "You have no business here, Centaur," her voice warbled. "This is a Ministry matter." The centaur in the front drew an arrow. I was frozen in shock, and I was sure the blood circulation to Potter's hand was completely cut off by now.
"Lower your weapons," Umbridge ordered, but she didn't sound very commanding. "I warn you, under the law as creatures of near-human intelligence..."
I'm sure she would have continued to rattle off an entire section on the rights of centaurs, but she was interrupted by an arrow, shot from the back of the group faster than I could comprehend. It would have impaled Potter right in the stomach if Umbridge hadn't created a shield charm at the last second.
"How dare you!" She exclaimed, outraged. "Filthy half-breed!" She raised her wand again. "Incarcerous." Black ropes shot towards the closest centaur, wrapping around his neck and chest. He fell to the ground writhing, clawing at them with his grey hands and neighing in pain.
He rolled over in front of us, choking and gasping for air.
"Stop it!" I turned around and yelled at Umbridge, horrified that she would do anything like this to a living creature shamelessly. "Please, stop it!"
"No, enough!" She screamed piercingly. "I will. Have. Order."
She didn't exactly get order, but she did get a little rollercoaster ride through the air, courtesy of a curious Grawp. She kicked helplessly as the giant held her by the back of her pink wool coat. The centaurs, thinking that Grawp was helping save her from them, charged, peppering Grawp with arrows.
They were like splinters compared to his thick skin, and I assumed that they weren't too painful. They did seem to annoy him though, and when he tried to pull them out he only succeeded in breaking the sticks off, pushing the sharp heads deeper into his arms and face.
"Leave him alone!" I shouted, but it was useless. "It's not his fault!" Potter started to pull me back to where we had come from. "He doesn't understand!" I pleaded.
Just as I said it, Grawp seemed to decide that Umbridge wasn't worth a bunch of angry centaurs shooting him. He dropped her in the middle of the herd as she screamed in terror.
"Potter, do something!" She cried as two of the larger centaurs took her arms and began to drag her away. "Tell them I mean no harm!"
"I'm sorry, professor," he replied, voice even. "I must not tell lies."
The centaurs galloped away with Umbridge as she screamed and flailed. "What are you doing?" She protested desperately. "I am Senior Undersecretary Delores Jane Umbridge! Let me go!" Her screams faded into the forest, and we were left in stunned silence.
"Thanks, Grawp," I breathed.
"Alexandra!" Potter suddenly exclaimed. "Alexandra, Sirius!"
As we ran back through the trees, I finally let go of his wrist. It was red from my grip, and my nails had indented his skin.
"Sorry about that," I muttered.
"No problem," he gasped.
We were running across the bridge when we almost collided with Weasley, Longbottom, Ginny and Luna.
"How'd you get away?" I asked in surprise.
"Puking Pastils," Ginny replied. "It wasn't pretty."
"Told them I was hungry, wanted some sweets," Weasley said, handing Potter and I our wands back. "Course they told me to bugger off and ate the lot themselves."
"It was brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, then flushed.
"It's been known to happen," Weasley looked at his feet.
"So, how are we getting to London?" Longbottom asked cheerily. I glanced at Potter pointedly, but he only gave me an apologetic look.
"Look, it's not that I don't appreciate everything you've done, all of you... but I've got you in enough trouble as it is," he said firmly, continuing back to the castle without us.
"I thought Dumbledore's army was about doing something real," Longbottom said. "Or was it all just words to you?"
Potter stopped and turned around, his face unreadable.
"You don't always have to do this all by yourself, mate," Weasley added.
Potter took a deep breath. "So how are we going to get to London?"
"We fly of course," Luna smiled dreamily.