Mass Collision

29. Headmistress Umbridge

Exam season was upon everyone. It was finally April. Most people were held up in the library for hours, studying.

Natalia, however, couldn't care less. Not much of this really affected her and if she failed or passed nothing would happen to her.

She was, though, still extremely grateful for the D.A., being able to have an excuse to get away from everyone studying in the Slytherin common room.

They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practice, though as Harry kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different to producing it when confronted by something like a dementor.

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy," said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter. "They're so pretty!"

"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," said Harry patiently. "What we really need is a boggart or something; that's how I learned, I had to conjure a Patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a dementor —"

"But that would be really scary!" said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "And I still — can't — do it!" she added angrily.

Neville was having trouble too. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.

"You've got to think of something happy," Harry reminded him.

"I'm trying," said Neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.

Harry had walked over to Natalia, "how about you give it a try?" He asked her and she looked guilty.

"I don't know if I would be able to make a corporeal one. I mean I can do the spell, but–" he stopped her, taking her hand.

"Just try." Natalia sighed and raised her wand. She thought of the happiest things she could– her dates with Leo, hanging out with her friends, singing at campfire.

"Expecto Patronum!" She said, just like she had a million times before, instead this time, when she opened her eyes a silvery Crow was dancing around her and she smiled at it in awe. It disappeared however as Seamus yelled for Harry.

"Harry, I think I'm doing it!" yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever D.A. meeting by Dean. "Look — ah — it's gone. . . . But it was definitely something hairy, Harry!"

Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gamboling around her. "They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.

The door of the Room of Requirement opened and then closed again; Harry looked around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before he realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing he knew, something was tugging at his robes somewhere near the knee. He looked down and saw, to his very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at him from beneath his usual eight hats. Natalia, confused, walked over to see what was going on.

"Hi, Dobby!" he said. "What are you — what's wrong?"

For the elf 's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The Members of the D.A. closest to Harry had fallen silent now: Everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.

"Harry Potter, sir . . ." squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, "Harry Potter, sir . . . Dobby has come to warn you . . . but the house-elves have been warned not to tell . . ." He ran headfirst at the wall: Harry, who had some experience of Dobby's habits of self-punishment, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.

"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked, grabbing the elf 's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.

"Harry Potter . . . she . . . she . . ."

Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist: Harry seized that too.

"Who's 'she,' Dobby?" Natalia asked him sharply.

But he thought they knew — surely only one "she" could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at Harry, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.

"Umbridge?" asked Harry, horrified.

Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head off Harry's knees; Harry held him at bay.

"What about her? Dobby — she hasn't found out about this — about us — about the D.A.?"

He read the answer in the elf 's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.

"Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly.

Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. "Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"

Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"

Natalia hated running, she would rather stay and fight, but– she knew, she knew that everything would go wrong if she did. So, instead of doing what she wanted, she gave Harry an apologetic look and ran. She was the fastest and ran through the back exit and along the corridor, finding a dark corner. She pulled the shadows around her and shadow traveled into her dorm room closet.

She took a deep breath and opened the door. Luckily, no one was in the dorm and she left their room and walked down to the common room to find it empty. She sighed and sat down on one of the couches and started her homework.

She waited until her friends entered back through the portrait. "Hey, where were you guys? You weren't here when I got back from tutoring," she said and they all looked at her pleased.

"We took down Potter and his stupid group of rebels," Malfoy looked pleased for himself. Natalia nodded, silently pissed. "Not only that, but Dumbledore was arrested and Umbridge is now headmistress."

"WHAT!" Natalia and the rest of the group asked in a panic. "You can't be serious, Draco, she is horrible, even you have to admit that!"

"It'll be fine, we're not them, we'll stay right where we are, on top," he promised them with a smug look on his face.

Natalia gave him a confused and frustrated look, "are you insane! What about everyone else! Think of the little 11 year olds WHO ARE BEING PHYSICALLY TORTURED!"

Draco gulped and took a step back, "But Dumbledo–

"BUT DUMBLEDORE NOTHING!" Natalia screamed. "She is horrible, for everyone, including us. One misstep from you, one bad grade and she'll run to your daddy, how would you like that?"

Draco's face looked pale now and everyone was glaring at him. "I'm sorry."

Natalia sighed, "In truth it's not your fault." He looked back up at her. "Umbridge has been trying to find a way to get rid of him since the beginning of the year, it was only a matter of time."

"So, now what do we do?" Daphne questioned and everyone looked at each other for an answer that no one could give.