ALULA (VOL. 3)

38- sneak

sneak

{1996}

Hogwarts

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"AAARGH!"

Something caught Harry around the ankles and he fell spectacularly, skidding along on his front for six feet before coming to a halt while taking Alula down with him. Someone behind them was laughing. Alula rolled over, sat up and saw her cousin concealed in a niche beneath an ugly dragon-shaped vase.

'Trip Jinx, Potter!' he said. 'Hey, Professor - PROFESSOR! I've got two!'

"Draco!" Alula spat.

"You've got to pick your sides, cousin." He smiled, slyly.

Umbridge came bustling around the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile.

'It's him!' she said jubilantly at the sight of Harry on the floor, 'Excellent, Draco, excellent, oh, very good - fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take him from here . . . stand up, Potter! Ooh, Black too!'

Harry and Alula got to their feet, glaring at the pair of them. Alula had never seen Umbridge looking so happy. She seized Harry's arm in a vice-like grip and turned, beaming broadly, to Draco who had grabbed Alula.

'I'll take her too. You hop along and see if you can round up any more of them, Draco,' she said. 'Tell the others to look in the library - anybody out of breath - check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do the girls' ones - off you go - and you,' she added in her softest, mos: dangerous voice, taking Alula's arm and Draco walked away, 'you two can come with me to the Headmaster's office.'

They were at the stone gargoyle within minutes. Alula wondered how many of the others had been caught. She thought of Ron - Mrs Weasley would kill him - and of how Hermione would feel if she was expelled before she could take her OWLs. And it had been Seamus's very first meeting . . . and Neville had been getting so good . . .

'Fizzing Whizzbee,' sang Umbridge; 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, but Umbridge did not bother to knock, she strode straight inside, still holding tight to Harry and Alula.

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The Headmaster's Office

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The office 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, Minister for Magic, 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 wiry hair whom Alula did not recognise, 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.