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THEY ALL MET UP in the corridor near Umbridge's office like they planned and Nova sighs heavily, seeing Harry jogging towards them with his cloak in his hand.
"Got it." Harry pants, out of breath. "Ready to go, then?"
"All right." Hermione whispers as a gang of loud sixth-years passes them. "So Ron—you go and head Umbridge off. Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor, Nova Harry and I will get the Cloak on and wait until the coast is clear."
Ron strides away, his bright-red hair visible right to the end of the passage; meanwhile Ginny's equally vivid head bobs between the jostling students surrounding them in the other direction, trailed by Luna's blonde one.
"Get over here." Nova mutters, tugging on Harry and Hermione's wrists, pulling them back out of sight.
"Are—are you sure you're okay, Harry?" Hermione asks him, concerned. "You're still very pale."
"I'm fine." Harry responds shortly, tugging the Invisibility Cloak from out of his bag. "Here."
He throws the Invisibility Cloak over the three of them and they stand listening carefully over the Latin mumblings of the statue in front of them.
Slowly, the crowd thins and the news about the Garrotting Gas seems to have spread; people were not coming this way any more. When at last the surrounding area is quite clear, Hermione speaks quietly, "I think that's as good as we're going to get, Harry—come on, let's do it."
Upon entering Umbridge's office, Nova grimaces at the sight of it. The garish kittens basking in the late-afternoon sunshine that is warming their plates hanging on the walls, but otherwise the office is unoccupied.
Hermione lets out a sigh of relief, "I thought she might have added extra security after the second Niffler."
They pull off the Cloak; Hermione hurries over to the window and stands out of sight, peering down into the grounds with her wand out.
Both Nova and Harry dash over to the fireplace, seizing the pot of Floo powder and throwing a pinch into the grate, causing emerald flames to burst into life there. They both kneel down quickly, moving their heads into the fire and saying the address of 12 Grimmauld Place.
Nova's head spins making her feel rather nauseous until finally, they see Grimmauld Place's cold kitchen in front of them. And there's nobody there.
"Sirius?" Harry shouts, wanting to make sure. "Sirius, are you there?"
His voice echoes around the room, but there is no answer except a tiny scuffing sound to the right of the fire.
