Amie and the Army (Harry Potter fan-fic) Book 5 COMPLETED

Ponderings, disagreeings and flashes of emotion

"Umbridge has been reading your mail, Harry. There's no other explanation."
"You think Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" Harry said, outraged.
"Well of course, she has to have been the one, who else?" Amie said logically. "Hermione's right, it's the only explanation - watch out, your frog's getting away."
Harry's bullfrog had been hopping towards the end of the table, but one quick - "Accio!" - from Harry and it was back in his hand. Charms was one of the best lessons to have a private conversation - everyone moving around and making noise made the risk of being overheard slim. With the croaking of frogs and cawing of ravens and the rain pouring on the windows it made for an even lower risk, as Amie and the others discussed how Umbridge nearly caught Sirius.
"I've been suspecting this ever since Filch accused you of ordering Dungbombs, because it seemed like such a stupid lie," Hermione whispered. "I mean, once your letter had been read, it would have been quite clear you weren't ordering them, so you wouldn't have been in trouble at all - it's a bit of a feeble joke, isn't it? But then I thought, what if somebody just wanted an excuse to read your mail? Well, then, it would be a perfect way for Umbridge to manage it - tip off Filch, let him do the dirty work and confiscate the letter, then either find a way of stealing it from him or else demand to see it - I don't think Filch would object, when's he ever stuck up for a student's rights? Harry, you're squashing your frog."
Amie looked down at Harry's hand as he did - she hadn't noticed, but Harry had indeed been squeezing it so hard it's eyes were popping out. Harry set it down upon the desk.
"Silencio!" Amie said, effectively silencing her raven, which looked surprised.
"It was a very, very close call last night," Hermione continued. "I just wonder if Umbridge knows how close it was. Silencio!"
The bullfrog Hermione was practicing the charm on stopped its croaking mid-croak, and glared at her.
"If Umbridge had caught him -" Amie said worriedly.
"He'd probably be back in Azkaban this morning." Harry filled in, waving his wand without concentrating on the charm - making his frog swell like a green balloon and emit a whistle.
"Silencio!"Hermione said quickly, her wand pointed at Harry's frog, which deflated silently. "Well, he mustn't do it again, that's all. I just don't know how we're going to let him know. We can't send him an owl."
"I don't reckon he'll risk it again." Ron said. "He's not stupid, he knows she nearly got him. Silencio!"
The raven in front of him cawed.
"Silencio! SILENCIO!"
The raven cawed louder.
"It's the way you're moving your wand," Hermione said, watching Ron critically. "You don't want to wave it, it's more a sharp jab,"
"Ravens are harder than frogs," said Ron a bit grumpily.
"Fine, let's swap," Hermione said, switching her frog with Ron's raven. "Silencio!" The raven opened and closed its beak, but no sound came out.
"Very good, Miss Granger!" Professor Flitwick said in his squeaky voice, and Amie and the others all jumped. "Now, let me see you try, Mr. Weasley!"
"Wha -? Oh - oh, right," said Ron, flustered. "Er - Silencio!"
He jabbed at the frog so hard, he poked it in the eye; the frog croaked loudly and jumped off the desk.
Ron and Harry were given additional practice of the Silencing Charm for homework.

Since it was pouring outside, they were allowed to stay indoors during break. They found seats in a crowded classroom on the first floor. Peeves was floating near the chandelier, occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody's head. Just as they'd sat down, Angelina made her way through the crowd towards them.
"I've got permission!" she said happily. "To re-form the Quidditch team!"
"Excellent!" Ron and Harry said together, as Amie simply exclaimed "YES!"
"Yeah," Angelina beamed at them. "I went to McGonagall and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore - anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha! So I want you down at the pitch at seven o' clock tonight, all right, because we've got to make up time, you realize we're only three weeks away from our first match?"
She squeezed away from them, only just avoiding being hit by an ink pellet, which hit a first year instead, and she vanished from sight. Ron's smile faltered slightly as he looked out the window.
"Hope this clears up..." he said, referring to the rain. "What's up with you, Hermione?"
She was also looking out the window, but not as if she was actually seeing it. And she was frowning.
"Just thinking..." she said, still frowning at the rain-washed window.