"I'm never coming out. I'll just live here. Tell all of the teachers, I'm much too dumb for OWL's." Hannah whined, taking another sip of the calming draught Madam Pomfrey had brought over when we had brought her into the Hospital Wing.
"Stop saying that, you're so dramatic." Bri rolled her eyes, gathering her book bag as we all stood up.
"Everyone is going to think I'm stupid." She dropped her head back against the pillows with a whine, discarding the half-full mug of potion on the bedside table.
"Only the Gryffindors." Maddie pointed out.
"That's everyone." Hannah groaned.
"Why do you care what they think?" I laughed, pressing the cup back into her hands to finish. "Who are you worried about?"
I knew exactly who she was worried about. The boy she had been looking at all year, thinking no one would notice. Still, I would let her tell us all in her own time.
"Well, we have to get to dinner if we're going to make it to DA on time-" Maddie whispered the last few words, remembering herself secrecy at the last moment.
"Ugh, and I have to miss that too." Hannah pouted.
"We'll learn it all for you and teach you tomorrow." Bri patted her head sarcastically. Madam Pomfrey had declared that Hannah would have to stay in the infirmary overnight, but that she would be just fine tomorrow if she kept an eye on her stress levels.
"Have fun." She called, finishing up her potion and then curling into the blankets on the bed.
We hurried down the stairs and into the Great Hall, the sun already setting in the sky above us. Everyone else was already eating, my eyes scanned over to the end of the Gryffindor table, Ron and Hermione in an apparently heated conversation of some sort, the twins watching along amused before Fred's eyes skirted towards me, his lips pulling up into a smile as he shot me a wink.
We all dug into our dinners, already behind the rest of the school and not wanting to waste any valuable Defense Against the Dark Arts time.
"How's she doing?" Fred's voice appeared behind me, his fingers brushing through the ends of my hair softly.
"She'll be fine." Maddie answered with a chuckle. "Madam Pomfrey says she needs to 'manage her stress levels.'"
"Don't you all." Fred muttered under his breath, shooting me another wink when I turned to look at him. Maddie and Bri's eyes were latched on the famous Gryffindor trio as they walked briskly from the hall and started up the stairs, a few other Gryffindor's and Ravenclaws slowly trickling out after them. "Walk you ladies up?"
"What would we do without you, Frederick?" Maddie jumped from her spot, pulling Bri up with her and starting towards the hall.
"Less detentions, more schoolwork, better grades, less howlers," George cut in, appearing like magic as we started up the stairs.
"You'll be shocked to learn that not everyone gets howlers, Weasley." Bri chuckled. The five of us followed the familiar path up the stairs towards the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy and the dancing trolls.
"You don't get howlers..." Fred began pacing in front of the empty wall while we waited for the entrance to appear.
"Yet." George finished for him, holding the door for the rest of us to follow Fred inside.
"Reducto!" A voice carried over as the door snapped closed behind us.
"Oi!" George shouted, eyes wide as he watched the youngest Weasley who stood before a smoldering pile of ashes.
"Nice work Gin!" Fred grinned as she spun towards us, the rest of the chatter dying down as Harry spoke up.
"Alright, everyone! We're going to be learning something new today." He explained, everyone's eyes lighting up. "Patronus charms can be really, really difficult, but it's the only thing that can get you away from a dementor. And they're useful for all sorts of dark creatures, just the sight of one can scare away dozens of creatures."
"And they can send messages too." Luna Lovegood added with a smile.
"Right," Harry nodded to her. "We're not going to learn that today, we're just going to focus on conjuring them."
He demonstrated the hand motion and spell for the room a few times, the giant white stag bursting then fading from the room every few minutes before he set everyone to practice.
Luna was the first to get hers, everyone else sputtering out a few clouds of sparkling white smoke before the skinny rabbit skirting through the air, hopping around a few of our heads before returning to the blonde girl who reached her fingers out into it's glow before it evaporated completely. After a few more tries, Ginny was able to produce a large horse which cantered towards Harry's stag, the both of them circling the room a few times before fading away as well.
A light flickered to my left for a second before I noticed the little bird which had landed on my shoulder, seeming to look right into my eyes. I turned towards Fred, a lopsided smile still plastered onto his face as the bird took flight again, meeting up with an identical glowing bird near the ceiling. I glanced over to George who was sharing a grin with Angelina who's mist was beginning to take the form of something at last, although no one could make it out.
Everyone was jumping out of the path of Ernie's boar which was trampling about the room when the door slammed behind us, everyone jumping to look for who had entered. No one appeared, yet everyone was inching side to side as if letting someone through to the center. At last, a small elf appeared, a dozen brown wool hats stacked on top of his head, Hermione's jaw dropped in the corner of my eye.
Harry bent down towards the elf with a smile for only a few seconds before I watched it slip from his face. They whispered a few more seconds before the elf cried out and sprinted towards the nearest wall head first, thankfully bouncing right off thanks to Hermione's hand knitted hats. Harry grabbed the elf firmly with both hands to hold him in place as they talked once more.
"Umbridge?" Harry's voice was more than audible now, nearly a shout. Everyone was listening now as the two talked. "She's coming, Dobby? She's coming now?"
"YES, HARRY POTTER! YES!" The elf screeched, grabbing at it's ears and yanking them down hard.
Harry hardly stilled for a second before his eyes scanned the group before him. "You heard him! Run!"
"Shit." Fred scoffed, grabbing my arm, George ushering Bri and Maddie towards the doorway which was now flooded as everyone pushed to escape before Umbridge appeared.
"Everyone go!" Someone shouted, footsteps on the stone floors echoing all around us as we finally made it out.
"This way!" Fred's hand hadn't left mine since Dobby had shouted. He yanked hard, pulling the two of us towards the library, students zipping one way and another in the emptying halls. It was only ten minutes until curfew, which meant that all of the other students with any common sense were already safely in their dorms. However, it meant that the library doors would be open for us, and if we could only make it to a table, maybe crack open a book before us, no one would be able to prove we had been doing anything wrong.
"Hey!" I felt my fingers slip from Fred's as I skidded to the floor, my chin landing hard on the rough stone, a snicker reaching my ears. I looked back towards the sound, a smirking brown haired boy yanked my arm hard up towards him, his eyes skating up and down my body before he looked to Fred.
"Professor! I've got some-"
"Langlock!" Fred shouted, his voice ringing in my ears as Warrington's sentence trailed off, his hands dropping mine as they went to his mouth, eyes wide. "Confundo." Fred growled now, his wand practically touching the Slytherin's nose, a burst of pink hitting the boy in the face before he dropped to the floor, tongue attached to the roof of his mouth, a dumb look painted on his face.
"Lets go." Fred pulled me up, his finger sliding along my chin and coming away with blood, his jaw tightened before we broke into a run, only slowing when we turned the corner. There was no time to get to the library now, we needed to get to a common room.
"I should go down..." I started, Fred's grip on my arm tightening as he shook his head.
"Gryffindor's right around the corner. You're not going down seven flights of stairs alone with all of those fuc-" He threw a hand over my chest and backed us around a corner half a second before two more green-tied students hurried past scanning the hallways with matching scowls. "Come on." He breathed out against my forehead, both of us hurrying towards the portrait hole, finally taking another breath when we were safely inside, the other members of the DA waiting on the edge of the couches, eyes glued to the door, nodding at Fred as we hurried to join them.
I pulled yesterdays clothes back on, dropping the ones I had borrowed from Fred to sleep in onto the bathroom floor as I looked over the dark scab on my chin. Fred's reflection appeared behind mine in the mirror with a cold glare.
"I should have killed him right there." He muttered under his breath.
"Are we ever going to talk about the abnormal amount of death threats you announce every day?" I said softly, very aware of his sleeping roommates as I leaned up for a kiss.
"You're not trying to let this lot sleep in, are you?" Fred shouted, his voice ricocheting around the small room, Lee and George muttering curse words his way and covering their faces in unison.
"Don't make us go down there and see the disaster this school's about to become." Lee grumbled.
"It's not going to disaster itself, mate." Fred waved his wand lazily through the air, the blankets flying off each bed.
It took no more than five minutes for the boys to ready themselves, the four of us dragging ourselves down to the common room to a group of somber Gryffindors.
"What? What's happened?" George scanned the room, everyone's eyes flickering towards the new notice posted on the board near the doorway.
Educational Decree # 28
Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"No..." I whispered, my eyes returning to the huddle of scarlet near the fireplace, meeting Harry's eyes for only a second before he shook his head, storming for the portrait hole.
Ron and Hermione looked back at him shortly before turning back to the fire, Ron dropping his head into his hands. I watched the dark haired boy disappear from sight, glancing to Fred who sighed, nodding and nudging my arm lightly.
"Meet you for breakfast? Ten minutes." He warned as I started out towards the staircase.
"Harry!" I called down the steps, he had traveled a remarkably long distance for having such a short head start.
He didn't turn around, but I watched his head flinch at my words.
"Harry, wait!" My eyes trained on the steps as I rushed after him, praying not to trip.
"I don't want to talk right now, Cass." He called over his shoulder.
I considered using magic for only a second, not letting up in my chase before deciding against it. I didn't want to worsen his already foul mood.
"Please? Wait." I shouted one last time, watching his steps slow and finally come to a stop at the last step. He didn't turn around, but he stood still, waiting for me to meet him at the bottom. "Coming to breakfast?" I asked, hoping not to sound out of breath.
"Fancied a morning stroll, actually." He replied, sarcastically, finally meeting my eyes.
I nodded for a few seconds, watching our shoes. "We don't have to talk about it. Please come to breakfast with everyone. You know Umbridge will be watching for you, waiting for any excuse to get you into trouble."
"Let her. Let her expel me. It's my fault, I ruined Hogwarts. It's my fault Dumbledore's gone, and we're all fucked."
"It's not your fault, Harry. Everyone knows that. The DA wasn't even your idea,"
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have happened without me, would it? Dumbledore took the fall for me, and for what? He's the only one who could stand up to her, what do I do? Take detentions every week?"
"Dumbledore has to know what he's doing Harry." I murmured as we finally continued our walk, thankfully in the direction of the Great Hall.
"I put him in an impossible position, Cass. It couldn't have been his plan to leave Hogwarts and go into hiding from the Ministry of Magic!"
"Maybe not his plan, Harry, but you and I both know that You-Know-Who is out there, and Dumbledore is our best hope to defeat him, and maybe it sucks that he's gone right now. Maybe the last few months of this year suck, but Dumbledore out there? With the Order, everyday? When they finally convince everyone that He's back, Fudge will have no choice but to re-instate him and Umbridge will be gone and-"
"That could be years away Cass. What if Umbridge is here torturing kids for years because of me?"
I shook my head as we crossed into the Great Hall, which would normally have been roaring with excited chatter, last minute studying for the day's classes, new gossip from the night before, yet today it was so silent you could nearly hear the scrapes of silverware on plates.
"You're too hard on yourself, Harry. Even if it's over now, you gave us all months of training that we're going to need. Soon. Not to mention that some of us besides Hermione do in fact want good OWL scores."
For a second, I swore I was going to get a smile, the corners of his mouth turning up only slightly before our friends began dropping into place next to us, pulling plates towards themselves almost at once, all of us making an effort not to look towards the staff table.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" I asked, stepping inside the blistering office as the door opened for me on it's own.
"Ah, yes. Miss Olsen, please sit." The small witch gestured towards the empty chairs across from her desk, dressed from head to toe in her signature pink, an unsettling smile across her face. I stepped silently towards the desk, sitting down as I was told, my eyes boring into the desk between us. "Something to drink, dear?"
I shook my head at once., mostly out of habit, and secondly as an excuse to be able to leave that much faster.
"Nonsense, Miss Olsen, I insist. We're going to have a little chat, it may take a while. What would you like? Tea, coffee, juice?" Her smile never faltered as she stared into my eyes now.
"Um," I considered, noticing the teapot behind her. "Tea is fine. Thank you."
She nodded twice before turning around, her back to me, the sound of liquid pouring into twin cups which then floated towards the desk as she took her seat again.
"Sugar? Milk?"
"No, I'm okay, thank you." I sipped the tea slightly, ignoring the fact that it desperately did need sugar.
"So Miss Olsen, I've been interviewing some of the students who's names I found on that pesky little parchment." She started, watching me closely as I set my cup down.
"Parchment?" I asked, hoping to appear confused.
"Yes, dear. You know the one. Of Dumbledore's secret army."
"Oh..." I pretended to think as I took another sip of tea. "I think I did hear something about that... It's just been such a crazy few days..."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure. Drink your tea, dear." She replied, impatiently.
The tea.
I felt my stomach drop as her eyes studied the cup in my hands.
How could you be so stupid?
"I said drink." She said again, her voice growing more and more stern. I pressed the cup to my lips, pressing them tightly together and hoping it wasn't too late. I had already had a few sips by now. "Now, never mind the list. You're quite close with Harry Potter, aren't you?"
I paused for only a second. "He's a friend."
"A close friend?" She pressed, leaning towards me over the desk.
"I suppose." I lied.
"I'll be meeting with Harry later today." She mentioned, obviously trying to sound casual now. "I just have to ask you all some questions. About Dumbledore."
I widened my eyes, purposefully, pressing my lips to the tea again. "I don't think any of us know anything about Dumbledore, really. You know, he's rather mysterious."
"Do you know where he is now?" She asked, the glare returning to her eyes.
"Where Dumbledore is? No Professor."
"Headmaster." She snapped.
"Sorry... headmaster." I corrected, my blood boiling beneath my skin at the words.
"Finish your tea please, Miss Olsen." She waited, crossing her hands together on the desk as I hesitated, glancing quickly between her and the drink before finishing the tea in two gulps, praying for the best.
"I'll ask you again, Miss Olsen. Where is Dumbledore?"
"I don't know, Professor. Truly."
"Were you and your friends forming an army to overthrow the Ministry?" Her tone rose.
"No, none of my friends would ever do that." I answered, innocently.
"If you had been approached by Dumbledore, or Harry Potter, and asked to join a club of any kind, knowing it was banned, would-"
The door flung open only a second after we heard the knocks, Harry stood in the doorway, his jaw clenched as he glanced between Umbridge and I.
"You asked to see me?"
"Yes. Have a seat, Potter. Thank you, Miss Olsen, you may return to your studies." She waved towards me dismissively and I scurried from my seat towards the exit.
As I neared Harry, I tucked my head down and prayed he would hear my whisper. "Don't drink anything."
I watched him blink at me before the door slammed in my face and I walked slowly towards my dorm. I knew lunch was over my a long shot at this point, and I figured I could get some homework done at least.
"Cassy!" I heard him before I saw him, his voice pulling me from my thoughts as his hands latched onto my arms. "Where have you been, I've been looking everywhere!"
"Um... I had to-"
"Doesn't matter. No time. You're here now." He smiled, wickedly. "Come on."
"Where are we-" I stopped as I heard it. A giant explosion rattled the walls, making it impossible to tell where it had come from, although it was clear by the way Fred pulled me left and right, he knew exactly where it had come from.
We turned the corner just in time to watch what had started as one large spark in the air began to multiply, splitting into dozens and then hundreds of golden sparkling explosive fireworks.
"All set?" Fred called over the noise, his body pressed against my back as he stepped the both of us back towards the stone wall, George jogging closer to us.
"Went off without a hitch." He grinned, his eyes dancing in the new glowing light.
"You guys are insane! We're-" Fred threw a hand over my mouth as he pulled me back behind a thick tapestry lining the wall, George following after, the sound of hundreds of footsteps pouring out into the hallway nearly over-taking the explosions.
I could hear students shouting, laughing, professors muttering to each other, more footsteps nearing our hideaway. The twins eyes followed every firework that flew past the tapestry, their grins growing wider every time a new one formed.
"She's here!" George laughed, the three of us leaning closer towards the fabric blocking us from view as we watched Umbridge and Filch appear at the top of the staircase, her frown deepening as she began screaming, her voice lost among the chaos.
"You guys really shouldn't have..." I trailed off, eyes still on the terrifying woman. "You'll get expelled if she finds out."
"That's the general i-" George stopped mid sentence as Fred elbowed him hard in the ribs, shooting him a glare and then meeting my eyes, shrugging and turning his attention back towards the show. The three of us watched for what must have been nearly half an hour, until teachers began to return to their classrooms, smug smiles lining their faces after watching Filch and Umbridge attempt to rid the castle of the fireworks, their only accomplishment multiplying them by at least ten. The students too began to clear out once Umbridge's yelling became a bit too much for them, and George and Fred pushed us out into the crowds rushing towards their dorms. The fireworks had now taken over the entirety of the first three floors, some ever escaping onto the grounds where they began multiplying once again any time they touched.
George, Fred and I let ourselves be carried with the current of Gryffindors marching to the seventh floor, some of them already whispering hushed congratulations and well done's, shaking the twins hands and slapping their shoulders excitedly.
"You haven't told her yet?" I heard George hiss into Fred's ear, the older twin shooting the other a warning glare. "You'd better-"
"Shut up, George." Fred replied, not bothering to quiet his voice, not looking at either of us as we stepped through the Portrait hole to a miraculous applause and dozens of giant smiles.