The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

40. Escape

Luna and Carly continued sticking close to Harry, anxiously awaiting the day he would get his vision about the Ministry.
After Harry's final OWL exam had finished in June, Luna and Carly went to go and find Harry to celebrate with him.
When they saw him running up the grand staircase with Ron and Hermione either side of him, they began making their way over to him. And as the girls got closer, they began to hear raised voices.

"We haven't got time to waste Hermione, Sirius is being tortured now!" Exclaimed Harry.
"Hey, what's going on?" Asked Carly, even though she had a pretty good idea.
"Voldemort's got Sirius and is holding him at the Ministry. He's torturing him!" revealed Harry.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? We have to go and rescue him right away" replied Carly, in what she hoped sounded like a concerned and sincere voice.

"How are we going to escape from the castle, since Umbridge has basically got the building in lockdown?" Questioned Luna.
"We could run down to Hogsmeade and use floo powder in one of the shops, since none of us can apparate yet" suggested Carly.
"We don't really have the time for that. But since it's the only real option we have, we'll have to do it" sighed Harry.

"Hold on a second, we can't just go running off to the Ministry of Magic, on a whim" insisted Hermione, as they turned a corner and walked straight into Ginny and Neville.
"It's not a whim. This vision is the same as the ones I've been getting all year. My vision only just saved Mr Weasley's life last time, and I don't want us to be too late to save Sirius" replied Harry, completely ignoring the arrival of two more of his friends.

"But Harry, what if Voldemort only wanted you to see this, because he knows you'll go rushing off to save Sirius? What if it's a trap?" Asked Hermione.
"So what if that's true, I'm not going to let Sirius die!" Snapped Harry.
"I'm not asking you to, but can we at least check to make sure that he isn't safe in Grimmauld Place, before we do anything rash" begged Hermione.

"We haven't got time for that, we need to go now" announced Carly.
"She's right. Besides, we have no way of getting in contact with Sirius. Dumbledore, Hagrid, and McGonagall have all been chased out by Umbridge. There is no one left in the Order that we can turn to. So, how would we even check Grimmauld Place?" Quizzed Harry.
"We can use the fireplace in Umbridge's office, since we know it's safe to use, as we've used it before" suggested Hermione.
"How on earth are we going to get in there, without Fred and George's help like we had last time?" Questioned Harry.
"We don't need them, we can do it ourselves. Half of us can cause a distraction to lure Umbridge away, while you check to see if Sirius is at Grimmauld Place, as someone stands guard at the door for you".

****

Although Carly and Luna didn't want to waste time, as they wanted to get Harry to the Ministry as soon as possible. They had no choice but to agree with Hermione's plan, since they didn't want too seem too pushy, as that could reveal that they had other reasons for wanting Harry to go and rescue Sirius.
Unfortunately, Hermione's plan didn't work, and all of them ended up being caught by Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad, which Carly found extremely humiliating, as they were all her house mates.

Umbridge was rather angry that they had broken into her office.
However, she was also feeling pretty pleased with herself for catching them all.
Umbridge wanted to use Veritserum on Harry to find out what he had been up to, as she seemed to think he had been trying to contact Dumbledore.
But Snape lied and said that he was out of truth serum, as Umbridge had already used up all his stock on students.

When Snape left the room, Umbridge decided to take matters into her own hands.
"If you will not give up the information willingly, Mr Potter, then I will have to find ways to persuade you... The Cruciatus Curse ought to losen your tongue" announced Umbridge.
"That's illegal!" Gasped Carly.
"What Cornelius doesn't know, won't hurt him... He didn't know that I was the one to send Dementors after Potter, yet he was glad at the chance I gave him to expell the boy. He doesn't know that I've been using a blood quill on students all year, yet he is pleased with the progress I've made here. So, he will not need to know about what I'm going to do, since it will get him the information he needs on Dumbledore" replied Umbridge.