Ethereal

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The Order of The Phoenix

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At five to five Sadie and Harry bade the other two goodbye and set off for Umbridge's office on the third floor. When Sadie knocked on the door she called, "Come in," in a sugary voice. Sadie and Harry exchanged looks before entering cautiously, looking around.

Harper had known this office under three of its previous occupants.

In the days when Gilderoy Lockhart had lived here, it had been plastered in beaming portraits of himself. When Lupin had occupied it, it was likely you would meet some fascinating Dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call. In the impostor Moody's days, it had been packed with various instruments and artefacts for the detection of wrongdoing and concealment.

Now, however, it looked totally unrecognisable. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolour kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Sadie stared at them, transfixed until Professor Umbridge spoke again.

"Good evening, Miss. Bridgerton and Mr. Potter."

Sadie started and looked around. She had not noticed her at first because she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her.

"Evening, Professor Umbridge," said Sadie and Harry said stiffly.

"Well, sit down," she said, pointing towards two small tables draped in lace beside which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair for each of them. A piece of blank parchment lay on the tables, apparently waiting for them.

"Professor Umbridge," said Sadie as she and Harry didn't move. "Before we start, we wanted to ask you something."

Her bulging eyes narrowed.

"Oh, yes?"

"We're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Sadie explained, "and we're supposed to be at the tryouts for the new Keeper at five o'clock on Friday and we were wondering whether we could skip detention that night and do it another night instead?"

She knew long before she reached the end of her sentence that it was no good.

"Oh, no," said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly. "Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Miss. Bridgerton and Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will come here at five o'clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it rather a good thing that you are missing something you really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you."

Sadie nodded and with a massive effort, she looked away from her, dropped her schoolbag beside the straight-backed chair and sat down, Harry following her.

"There," said Umbridge sweetly, "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, you two. No, not with your quill," she added, as Sadie and Harry bent down to open their bags. "You're going to be using a rather special one of mine. Here you are."

She handed them a long, thin black quill with an unusually sharp point.

"Mr. Potter, I want you to write, I must not tell lies," she told him softly. "Miss. Bridgerton, I want you to write I must learn when to be silent."