stardust ⋮ george weasley

eighty :

E I G H T Y

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The next few minute were a blur. After Adeline helped Harry off the ground and he managed to regain consciousness, he told her, Ron, and Hermione about how he had a vision of Sirius being tortured by Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic. Despite all three of them urging Harry to wait and consider that Voldemort might be invading his mind again to manipulate him, Harry was set on saving Sirius and doing whatever it took to do so.

"Alert the Order if you can," Harry ordered over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs. "But Umbridge's office has the only Floo network available in and out of Hogwarts, so that's the only way I'm going to be able to get to the Ministry."

"Harry, have you gone mental?" Adeline hissed as she tried to follow him. "Umbridge might just throw you into her fireplace if she catches you in there! And it's like Hermione said! It could be Voldemort trying to trick you!"

"We're going with you!" Ron said quickly.

Shaking his head, Harry responded, "It's too dangerous."

"When are you going to get it through your head?" Hermione asked aloud. She had managed to catch up to Harry and grabbed him by the shoulder to force him to stay in place. "We're in this together."

This was finally enough to convince Harry of some help. Hermione and Ron would help him break into the office and stand watch outside the door while he tried to get in contact with Grimmauld Place and see if Sirius was there, and Adeline would be stationed outside in the corridor.

As Adeline stood guard outside the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, nervously tapping her foot and jumping at even the slightest sound. She didn't like this idea at all, but she wasn't going to let Harry do this alone if he insisted on it.

Several minutes had passed with no interruption. Adeline wondered what could be taking so long. While it surely wasn't easy, she didn't think it would be too difficult to get into contact with whoever was at Grimmauld Place for help.

Then, Adeline heard some noises further down the corridor, and she originally brushed it off as someone passing by or her being overly paranoid. But, the sounds soon became louder, and, much to her horror, Adeline recognized an all too familiar voice getting closer by the second.

Adeline cursed, "Shit."

There was nowhere for Adeline to hide. Even if she had wanted to, Professor Umbridge had already spotted her and had cast a spell to keep Adeline frozen in place. "Not surprising that you're here!" She seethed as Draco Malfoy grabbed onto Adeline's arm and began dragging her through the classroom and up to her office.

Umbridge stormed up the stairs and threw open her to find Harry kneeling in front of the fireplace. Glaring furiously and yelling at Harry, Umbridge grabbed his shoulder and practically threw Harry into a chair in front of her desk and had her wand pointed at his throat. "You were trying to get to Dumbledore, weren't you?"

"No."

Going redder than the flames in her fireplace, Umbridge slapped Harry across the face and screamed, "Liar!"

Everyone's mouths dropped, even the members of the Inquisitorial Squad. Before anyone could scream any sort of protests or Harry even had a chance to defend himself, the office door opened once again and Professor Snape stepped into the room. "You sent for me, Headmistress?"

Umbridge straightened up. "Snape, yes. The time has come for answers, whether he wants to give them to me or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?"