Chaos Rising |BOOK 2| Harry Potter x PJO |Alexandra Marine|

HARRY POTTER

"Next — Mary Cattermole," called Umbridge. 

A small woman stood up; she was trembling from head to foot. Her dark hair was smoothed back into a bun and she wore long, plain robes. Her face was completely bloodless. As she passed the dementors, she shuddered.

I did it instinctively, without any sort of plan - I don't know why - because I hated the sight of her walking alone into the dungeon: ss the door began to swing closed, I slipped into the courtroom behind her.

I think that was the wisest decision I ever made as Albert Runcorn, because there she was- Umbridge, and Mafalda, aka Hermione.

It was not the same room in which I had once been interrogated for improper use of magic. This one was much smaller, though the ceiling was quite as high; it gave the claustrophobic sense of being stuck at the bottom of a deep well.

There were more dementors in here, casting their freezing aura over the place; they stood like faceless sentinels in the corners farthest from the high, raised platform. Here, behind a balustrade, sat Umbridge, with Yaxley on one side of her, and Hermione, quite as white-faced as Mrs. Cattermole, on the other. At the foot of the platform, a bright-silver, long-haired cat prowled up and down, up and down, and I realized that it was there to protect the prosecutors from the despair that emanated from the dementors: That was for the accused to feel, not the accusers.

"Sit down," said Umbridge in her soft, silky voice.

Mrs. Cattermole stumbled to the single seat in the middle of the floor beneath the raised platform. The moment she had sat down, chains clinked out of the arms of the chair and bound her there. I grit my teeth. 

"You are Mary Elizabeth Cattermole?" asked Umbridge.

Mrs. Cattermole gave a single, shaky nod.

"Married to Reginald Cattermole of the Magical Maintenance Department?

Mrs. Cattermole burst into tears.

"I don't know where he is, he was supposed to meet me here!"

Umbridge ignored her.

"Mother to Maisie, Ellie, and Alfred Cattermole?"

Mrs. Cattermole sobbed harder than ever.

"They're frightened, they think I might not come home —"

"Spare us," spat Yaxley. "The brats of Mudbloods do not stir our sympathies."

Mrs. Cattermole's sobs were loud enough, and I sneaked carefully toward the steps that led up to the raised platform. The moment I had passed the place where the Patronus cat patrolled, I felt the change in temperature: It was warm and comfortable here. 

The Patronus was definitely Umbridge's, and it glowed brightly because she was so happy here, in her element, upholding the twisted laws she had helped to write. 

Slowly and very carefully I edged along the platform behind Umbridge, Yaxley, and Hermione, taking a seat behind the latter. I was worried about making Hermione jump. 

Maybe I should've cast a Mufliatto on Yaxley and Umbridge, but even murmuring the word might cause Hermione alarm. Then Umbridge raised her voice to address Mrs. Cattermole, and I seized my chance.

"I'm behind you," I whispered into Hermione's ear.

As I had expected, she jumped so violently she nearly overturned the bottle of ink with which she was supposed to be recording the interview, but both Umbridge and Yaxley were concentrating upon Mrs. Cattermole, and this went unnoticed.