Hermione Granger and the Theft of Magic

Chapter 30: Contingency Plans

[A/N: Thank you to Calamity Owl for beta-reading this chapter!]

Dolores Umbridge cast a quick Human-Presence-Revealing Charm and nodded at the result. Only one man was in the room in the small hotel on the edge of Knockturn Alley; his hands appearing to be spread out and flat upon the table in front of him. Good.

She opened the door with a whispered "Alohomora" and strode into the room. "Good evening, Ludo," she said. "You said you had something, hem-hem, for me that might be interesting enough to buy out your own information?"

"Indeed I do, Dolores." He nodded excitedly. "Indeed I do. In fact, you'll be-"

"I'll be the judge of how interested I'll be," she said. Merlin, that man could talk. "Now, I'm going to-"

Someone in a corner behind her whispered "Confundo" and she spun around just in time for a bolt of pink light to fly right into her chest. Some part of her screamed that it wasn't possible, that she'd cast the Human-Presence-Revealing Charm properly, but the rest of her didn't care. She was too busy telling Ludo how appreciative she was of his information and offering to Apparate him back to her house so they could discuss it in a more private setting.

"No, no, Dolores," Ludo said. "As a gentleman, I simply must insist on Apparating us myself. Why, I remember after a game in '83 a fan splinched herself coming to our victory party because she was so excited about my goals. I couldn't blame her, of course, but I hate to see anyone lose a kneecap, even temporarily."

"That's nice of you. Hem-hem. Now, are you going to keep a lady waiting?" she asked.

Ludo shuddered and rose to take her hand. "Of course not," he said. "Now, let's go."

They disappeared with a crack, leaving the room apparently empty. A few moments later, another crack echoed around the room and left it truly empty.

oOoOo

While Dolores was steadying herself after the side-along apparition, there was a second crack behind her. Before she could spin around and see who it was, though, Ludo murmured "Confundo" and said, "I've got a secret informant here under a Disillusionment Charm. We'll need to bring him in, too."

"Oh, of course," Dolores said. Ludo was holding her right arm, so she held out her left arm and, a moment later, an invisible hand grasped her own. Some part of her mind that was screaming at her to resist the Confundus Charm was momentarily confused at how her Revealing Charm had failed to detect something as simple as a Disillusionment Charm, but it went back to screaming as soon as she guided her guests across her ward line and into the house. As soon as Ludo shut the door behind her, the invisible man cast a nonverbal Stunner.

There were no Cushioning Charms on the floor when she hit it.

oOoOo

Harry slipped the Cloak off and stowed it in its usual belt pouch. "You are disturbingly good at being an overweight, drunken middle-aged man," he said.

"Just wait till you're older and you remember this moment, Pup," Sirius said as he levitated Dolores. "Don't think you won't end up in exactly the same situation." He looked away and sighed.

"I know." Harry gave him a quick one-armed hug, not enough to interfere with the levitation spell once it was cast. "I wonder how they would have aged, too."

Sirius nodded as he walked into the parlour and deposited Dolores on a convenient chesterfield. "They were gorgeous, both of them, and everyone remembers them that way, but I wish they'd been able to grow old and fade away like the rest of us. They deserved to see you grow up and maybe lose sleep to some sprogs of your own."