An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Seventy-Four

The run across the grounds and through the forest to catch up with the others gave me just enough time to calm down the emotions swirling around and carving out a hole in my chest in the wake of my conversation with Cedric. I couldn't help feeling like something serious had just changed between us, but I also couldn't do jack shit about it now. I was headed into serious danger, with other people I cared about counting on me. Imagining potential conversations and processing emotions would have to come later, once we got to the other side of whatever this night turned out to be.

Thankfully, it wasn't too hard to follow the trail of Ron and the others. With Ana's help, I managed to follow the path they'd taken into the Forbidden Forest, running to catch up to them. When I caught sight of thermal shapes in a barely existant clearing ahead of me, I didn't bother pausing to assess the situation. I tapped my chest, bringing up my repulors, and burst into the clearing with Stark-tech blazing.

Everyone whipped around to look at me, eyes wide in shock. I'd clearly interrupted something, but I didn't care. I scanned the faces before me for Umbridge, then again when I didn't see her. The second look didn't change anything. She wasn't here.

I dropped my repulsors and put my hands on my hips.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked, focusing mostly on Harry and Hermione. "Where's Umbridge? What happened?"

Hermione and Harry both seemed a litlte too shocked at my arrival to answer, but thankfully Ron apparently knew the whole story.

"She got taken by the centaurs. Then Grawp, Hagrid's little brother, kept them from taking Harry and Hermione, too. Now we need to figure out a way to get to the Ministry of Magic as fast as we can, because Harry confirmed that You-Know-Who's got Sirius."

My blood ran cold, but Ginny jumped in before I could say anything. She turned to Ron with a fierce scowl.

"So you're happy to let Alexa come without a fight, but not us?"

"That's different! She's been in tons of real fights before, she's older than all of us, and she's got that weird muggle technology... thing."

I frowned. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Those three," said Ginny, gesturing to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "are trying to tell us we can't go with them to help."

"It's not their fight," Harry said. Everyone else jumped back into the argument that I must've interrupted, but they stopped when I shouted over them.

"Enough!" They all turned to look at me, and I put my hands on my hips. "Every single person here is a member of the DA. What was all that training for if not this moment, right now?"

"That's exactly what Neville said!" Ginny cried. I turned to give Neville a little smile, and he nodded. I turned back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Come on, we don't have time to argue about this. We need to go, now."

"Fine," huffed Harry. "Fine. It's everyone's choice whether they want to come. But it doesn't change the fact that we have no way to get to the Ministry-"

"Yes we do." For the third time, everyone whipped around to look at me. "I can sling portal us there. I've even done it before."

Everyone seemed shocked for a moment, then Harry waved his hands and took a few steps towards me.

"Well do it, then!"

I didn't need to be told twice. I raised a hand and pictured the atrium of the Ministry, where I'd visited with Percy what felt like a lifetime ago. Slowly, the glowing circle expanded, giving us an opening to the Ministry's entry hall, right behind one of the massive fireplaces for floo entry and exit. Hopefully, it would give us cover if other people were in the Ministry.