An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Seventy-Three

I raced through the hallways of Hogwarts in the direction I'd seen Draco and Snape go. Obviously they hadn't left a trail to follow, so after a split second's thought, I decided to head for Umbridge's office. If she was up to something, odds were she was using that as her base of operations.

I found a spot to hide just down the hall from her office door, tucked in behind a suit of armor. Just in time, too, as a moment later, Snape came back out of the office, a look I couldn't quite decipher on his face. He hustled down the hall back towards his own office, but no one else came out after him. Draco, at least, must have still been inside, and probably Umbridge, too. 

I thought I could just make out some kind of shouting from inside the room, but no details. I had my glasses on, so I tried to have Ana amplify whatever sound was coming through the room, but it didn't work. Umbridge had continually upped the security on her office door with every niffler prank, since she was convinced that was how they were getting in, and whatever spells she'd put in place must've been enough to baffle my technology.

I waited a few more moments, mentally debating my next course of action. A sling portal was too risky, by far. Especially because Umbridge still didn't know I could do that, and I wanted to keep it that way. I could try sneaking around to some place I could see through the window of her office, although that had its own risks associated with it, since I'd be much easier to see. Or, I could try the old-fashioned method and just sneak up and put my ear to the door. Hardly better risk-wise. Maybe if I could put a sling portal directly behind one of her plates without knocking it over...

I'd just about decided to do that, risk of discovery be damned, when the door to her office went flying open on its own. I hate to admit I jumped, caught off guard by the sudden change. I ducked back behind the suit of armor, then carefully peered around and out to the hallway.

Umbridge had left her office. Worse, she had Harry and Hermione in front of her, being marched down the hallway towards the front doors of the castle at wandpoint. Her office door slammed shut behind her, leaving at least Draco still inside. 

My instincts had been right. Whatever this was, it was bad.

I debated with myself for a few moments that seemed to stretch out endlessly. Should I follow Harry and Hermione and try to help them deal with Umbridge, or take the opening to bust into her office and see what was going on in there? I knew the office wasn't empty, since I still hadn't seen Draco come out...

If I waited too long to decide, I'd miss my window to be useful in either situation. On a gut impulse, I surged toward the office door. Harry and Hermione were both insanely smart and capable, and besides, I could catch up to them fairly quickly in the suit if I needed to. The office was right here, and I had no idea who or what might be inside.

I slammed the door open the same way Umbridge had, my fists up and ready for a fight. I froze in the doorway, however, when I saw Ginny Weasley throw a haymaker at Draco, connecting with the side of his face and knocking him out cold. A few other Inquisitorial Squad members were scattered around the room on the floor, rendered unconscious either from similar punches or magic. Standing over them, looking a little rough but proud of themselves, were Ron, Luna, and Neville along with Ginny.

"What... what the hell happened in here?" I asked. All four heads snapped up to look at me, their faces melting into relief when they realized I wasn't a teacher or another enemy.

"Alexa! Good, we could use your help," said Ron as he walked to Draco's unconscious form and snagged a wand out of his hands. I recognized it as Harry's. "There's not a lot of time to explain, but Harry thinks You-Know-Who's got Sirius at the Department of Mysteries."