AFTER days of hard work and staying up past midnight, it was finally the end of our OWL's.
Me, along with the rest of the fifth-years entered the Great Hall for our History of Magic exam at two o'clock. I placed myself in front of my overturned exam paper, fiddling with my thumbs as I willed my heart rate to calm down.
"Turn over your papers," the examiner's voice boomed, which didn't help the state of my heart. "You may begin."
I didn't waste any time, when the grains of sand in the hourglass filled the bottom, my time was finished. Drowning out the scratching of quill against parchment all around me, I focused on one question after the other and told myself to move onto the next when I couldn't figure out the answer quick enough.
Halfway through the paper, I felt my eyelids grow heavy the longer I stared at question number seventeen. I bit my lip, cursing myself for sleeping in late again. I gently rubbed my eyes, scribbling down the answer carefully.
I didn't seem to realize how much time had already passed. When I glanced at the big hourglass at the front of the room, the top half was about a quarter full. Luckily, I only had a page left.
Just as I reached the last three questions, I heard a yell and a body fall to the ground with a thud, sequenced gasps followed right after.
I jumped, turning around in my seat and my blood ran cold. Harry was lying on the ground whilst clutching his scar, his face contorted with pain and glistening with sweat.
The examiner closest to the area let out a yelp and hurried over to him, slowly helping Harry sit upright.
I chewed on my lip, my knuckles turning white from gripping the seat as I restrained myself from rushing over to him.
"I'm not going. . .I don't need the hospital wing. . .I don't want. . ." Harry's words were slurred and low. The examiner lead him out of the Great Hall, closing the door behind them and cutting the rest of the fifth-years off from the scene.
I took a shaky breath, scribbling down the last three answers and waited until the hourglass was finally half empty.
C'mon, I thought to myself.
"Drop your quills!" the examiner announced. "The examination is over. Please leave your papers on the desk and exit the hall in an orderly fashion."
Normally I wouldn't listened, but after seeing Harry in that state I couldn't wait.
I snaked my way past students still milling around, catching a glimpse of Ron and Hermione exiting the Great Hall.
"Margo!"
I turned, seeing Ruby and Ernie push their way to get to me.
"Listen," I said before Ruby could say anything else, "I have to go find Harry to make sure he's alright."
"We know, don't worry," Ernie assured.
"That's why were here, actually," Ruby said. "Give me your satchel, I'll put it in your dorm so you don't have to carry it with you."
I stared at the two of them, a little bit dumbfounded and then tackled them in a hug.
"Thanks," I breathed.
Something in my gut told me that this was going to be the last hug we'd be having. I swallowed the thought down and shook my head a little, telling myself that I was just overreacting.
After waving to my friends, I hurried out of the Great Hall, just in time to see Harry rush towards Ron and Hermione. I quickly joined them.
"Harry!" I said with relief. "Are you okay?"
"What happened? Are you alright? Are you ill?" Hermione fired, sounding more frightened by the minute.
"Where have you been?" Ron asked, equally as worried.
"Come with me." Harry looked at us. "Come on, I've got to tell you something. . ."
Without another word, he bolted up the marble staircase.
Ron, Hermione and I looked at each other uneasily and in confusion. I sighed and rushed after him, leaving the two to follow after me.
"Harry!" I protested, warning him to slow down.
He dived towards an empty classroom and closed the door after us, then leaned against the door and looked at the three of us in the eye.
"Voldemort's got Sirius."
The blood running through my veins grew cold. An icy shiver whipped across my back.
"What?"
"How'd you—?"
"Saw it," Harry interrupted. "Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."
"You didn't just fall asleep, Harry," I said a little shakily, "you fell down screaming. You had us worried."
Ron and Hermione nodded, then the latter asked, "But—but where? How?"
"I dunno how," Harry stressed. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven. . .he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there. . .he's torturing him. . .says he'll end by killing him."
I placed a hand on my mouth to stifle a choked gasp.
Harry looked so shaken and worried I wanted to reach out and engulf him in a hug. If what he was saying about Sirius was true, I couldn't even imagine what he must have been going through. The only guardian left in his life, the only father-figure as close to his real one, in the hands of the same person who murdered his parents.
"How are we going to get there?" Harry asked us.
I flinched as if I had just been pinched. Exchanging wary glances with Ron and Hermione, a frown settled on my face.
"G-get there?" stuttered Ron.
I didn't blame him for looking helpless. As much as I was worried about Sirius, I couldn't help but feel like we should back this one out.
"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said impatiently.
"Harry. . ." I said weakly.
"What? What?" he demanded.
"Harry," Hermione spoke up cautiously, "er. . .how. . .how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"
"How do I know?" exploded Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"
Ron and Hermione looked at me helplessly. I sighed.
"Harry," I said calmly, "let's just think about this for a moment, alright? It's five o'clock right now, the Ministry is bound to have loads of workers inside, not to mentions the Aurors. . .how do you think the two most wanted people by the Ministry got through undetected?"
"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something?" he yelled. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been—"
"What if I ask my dad to check?" I reasoned.
"We don't have time!"
"But you've never been there, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."
"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouted at her again. "How'd you explain Ron's dad then, what was that all about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"
I stepped closer in between them, trying to increase the distance because from the look on Harry's face, I could tell he was just a second away from combusting.
I swallowed and willed myself to stand tall. "We believe you, Harry," I said, shooting Hermione a look for emphasis. "Hermione's just suggesting other possible alternatives."
"He's got a point," Ron said.
"But this is just—just so unlikely!" said Hermione desperately. "Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"
"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air," Ron told her, his voice laced with worry. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages—"
I bit my lip and took a few steps back from the trio, biting my lip as I watched them yell at each back and forth.
I was torn.
Sirius could be in grave danger at the moment, the thought of it worried me till no end. I hadn't known him very long but he was still someone I considered as a part of my family. But if he really was with You-Know-Who. . .with Voldemort, that would mean there were probably dozens of Death Eaters with the two of them.
As much as I wanted to go to the Department of Mysteries and rescue him, a part of me agreed with Hermione. It seemed too easy and elaborated, as if it was all a scheme of events. Wouldn't anyone have noticed that Sirius was gone from Grimmauld Place? I felt selfish even thinking about simply ignoring whatever Harry dreamt about, it was the huge part of me that denied it was even happening.
But I put myself in Harry's shoes and my heart broke. A surge of determination flowed through the.
"Oh, bollocks," I mumbled then took a deep breath. "STOP IT!"
Just as I screamed, the door of the classroom flew open. Ginny walked in, looking at us curiously, followed closely by a girl with long dirty-blonde hair with eyes of the most dazzling shade of blue they almost looked silver. I remember that she went by the name of Luna Lovegood, though people loved to tease her with the name 'Loony' and I didn't know why.
"Hi," Ginny greeted hesitantly. "We recognized Margo scream 'stop it' and Harry's voice—what are you yelling about?"
"Never you mind," Harry replied roughly.
Ginny raised an eyebrow and gave me look that roughly translated to, What the bloody hell is his deal?
I set my lips in a straight line and just nodded in reply. It seemed that she got the message.
"There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly. "I was only wondering whether I could help."
"Well, you can't."
"You're being rather rude, you know," Luna Lovegood pointed out calmly.
"Wait," Hermione said suddenly. "Wait. . .Harry, they can help."
The five of us looked at her expectantly. She began to tell us the breakdown of her plan (with Harry occasionally arguing with her from time to time), and soon enough everyone in the room had different roles to play out.
All we had to do was execute it.
PEEVES is probably the most notoriously sly poltergeist I've ever met.
After discussing the plan, Ron and I teamed up to distract Umbridge from entering her office while Harry and Hermione used her fireplace to see if Sirius was still in Grimmauld Place.
After Ron came up with the clever plan of asking Peeves to do what he does best, we set off to find the poltergeist. It didn't prove to be difficult, judging from the screams of a few students in the corridor nearby, he was not far from us.
"Oh, Merlin," Ron muttered as he dodged a student that was running away from the corridor and screaming, "I wonder what he's done this time."
"Probably threw a whole bomb of spiders," I replied absentmindedly, not noticing the way Ron paled beside me.
We rounded the corner and spotted him. Unlike the other ghouls in the castle, Peeves was not a transparent spirit. He had the ability to turn invisible whenever he wanted to, so one can only imagine the amount of times he would suddenly scare someone with his jester-like outfit.
He was floating above a group of third-years who were shrieking and patting away at themselves as if trying to put out a fire. Cackling loudly, Peeves floated away from them, obviously done with his work.
"C'mon!" I grabbed Ron's wrist and dragged him with me as I ran to Peeves.
"D-did you see that?" he squeaked. "Dropping down sp-spiders, like that. . ."
"Now's not the time, Ron!"
Just before the poltergeist was about to disappear into a wall, I shouted, "Peeves!"
He turned around slowly, confused at first until a troublesome grin bestowed upon his lips.
"Well, well, well," he taunted, "what do we have here? Ickle little Prefects trying to tell me off?"
Ron and I glanced at each other hesitantly.
"It's quite the opposite, actually," Ron said. "We need a favor."
"Bah!" Peeves scoffed. "And why would I be doing favors for you irritating lot?"
"Because we know you'll enjoy this one," I said.
Ron nodded. "How do you feel about sabotaging Umbridge?"
The same troublesome grin was replaced by his previous scowl. Peeves looked down at us with such mischief it made me almost want to run in the opposite direction. The way his eyes twinkled. . .almost like he knew something we didn't; it made me uneasy.
Without an answer and shooting us another wicked grin, Peeves dived into the wall and vanished into thin air.
Ron and I gave each other a surprised look and shrugged. I didn't stay long to figure out whether Peeves was going to do his job. I took Ron's hand and together, we dashed towards the nearest corridor.
"Now we find Umbridge!" I told him.
"And how do you suppose we do that?" he questions incredulously.
It appeared that luck was indeed on our side today. We heard Umbridge before we saw her. She was talking to Filch, looking angry as usual, sporting the same pink attire she only seemed to own.
"Professor!" I blurted out before I had the chance to think about what to say.
She turned towards Ron and I, looking mildly surprised and irritated, which she so desperately tried to hide. She dismissed Filch and gave us her undivided attention.
"From now on you will address me as 'Headmistress', Miss Lovett," she reprimanded sweetly.
I bit my tongue from making a comment and put on my best apologetic and distressed face.
"I'm sorry, Headmistress," I replied falsely apologetic, "but we would like to report an incident and we came to find you as fast as we could."
"It's Peeves, Headmistress," added Ron.
Umbridge looked at us strangely. "Peeves?"
"The poltergeist, ma'am. He's wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department. We heard the commotion along the way, you see."
"I'm afraid you're mistaken—"
"Please, Headmistress," I pleaded, doing my best to give her my most innocent face, like she didn't just give me the worst medieval punishment known to wizards months ago. "The school needs your help."
Umbridge squinted suspiciously. "The Transfiguration Department, you say?"
Ron and I glanced at one another then nodded abruptly.
She got silent for another minute. I repeated the same plea over and over in my head and crossed my fingers behind my back.
"Very well."
I let out a sigh of relief. Umbridge casted one last look at the two of us, turned her heel and walked away.
"That was bloody intense," Ron breathed out.
We sat on a nearby bench, feeling like we barely managed to escape a life-or-death situation. Though we succeeded, I couldn't help but let the nagging feeling in the back of my mind haunt my thoughts.
We basked in the peaceful serenity. Despite it being after classes, the corridor was free of any students. Even that was enough to spike up my paranoia.
I didn't know how long we sat in the bench for, I lost my sense of time when I kept my gaze fixed on the courtyard outside. When Ron snapped me out of it, the sky was already starting to dim slowly.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked, probably sensing the waves of worry rolling off of me.
"Do you think the plan worked?" I asked, my tone filled with doubt.
"Why don't you check and find out?" said a new voice.
Ron and I stood and turned abruptly, our breaths hitching in our throats as we faced the three Slytherins gathered before us. Before we could react, Crabbe and Goyle surged forward and held our wrists behind our backs with an iron grip.
"Hey, let me go! That hurts!" I protested.
"Don't touch her!" Ron shouted.
Goyle tightened his grip on my wrists which made me hiss quietly. He pushed me forwards, face to face with none other than Pansy Parkinson.
"Send them in, boys," she ordered with a murderously gleeful smirk on her face. "I've got a surprise for the Headmistress."
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[P.S]
shits about to go down oooh
also i cannot believe this book has already gotten 400+ reads that rlly means a lot <33 thank you to those who actually read my work i rlly appreciate it
plssss don't be a ghost reader vote and comment i rlly wanna interact with y'alllll
— author
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