Ruby Dellamark arrived at Hogwarts in year three. There, she met the arrogant, but also torn Slytherin Prince, Draco Malfoy. She learns a few things about Draco, and also herself, as Hogwarts prepares itself for the return of the Dark Lord.
*I...
They sat in Umbridge's office, all under the surveillance of the Inquisitorial Squad while Hermione and Harry led Umbridge on a wild good chase. Ruby sat with Ron and Luna, all of them slumped in a corner on a hard couch, completely bored.
"What is this secret weapon?" Crabbe asked.
"It's a secret for a reason," Goyle replied. Ruby just rolled her eyes for their stupidity.
"Harry and Hermione need our help," Ron whispered to her.
"Agreed. But I'm all out of brilliant ideas. How 'bout you?" Ruby whispered.
"We need some sort of distraction," Ron whispered back.
"Great, where're your brothers when you need them?" she asked.
"No talking!" one of the Slytherins said. Ruby just rolled her eyes and slumped in her seat.
"Aw, don't take it too harsh, Dellamark. This is warming you up for your period in Azkaban," Goyle sneered.
"The only reason I would have to go to Azkaban was for your malicious murder," she replied.
"See, she talks all smack, but when it comes to Malfoy, she smooth like butter beer," he chuckled. Crabbe laughed along with him, while Draco looked unamused.
"You know, nothing happened," he said.
"Exactly! Nothing happened!" Ruby said.
"What?" Ron asked.
"What?" she asked back.
"I'm going to get some air," Draco sighed, "Don't let them out of your sight!" he told them. Ruby stuck her tongue out at his back as he left.
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"Pig," she muttered.
They continued to sit in silence, until a bright green label caught Ron's attention. It was a box of sweets, the gag sweets that his brothers created. Those were Puking Pastilles, Umbridge must've confiscated them.
"Hey!" he called out suddenly. Ruby elbowed his ribs.
"What're you doing?" she asked him.
"Distracting, play along," he whispered back, then he called to the Slytherins again, "Hey!"
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"What?" one of them asked.
"I'm hungry," Ron said.
"Shocker there," another said.
"Who cares?" Goyle asked.
"I just want a snack. There's a box of sweets over there. If you give them to me, I won't be any more trouble and keep quiet," he replied, then he nudged Ruby to say something.
"Uh – yeah! He's a real pain when he's hungry. Kind of like a dog," that last comment was overkill, she knew that immediately.
"What? These sweets?" Crabbe asked, pointing to the box with the green label. Ron nodded.
"Yeah!" he replied. The squad members looked at each other, then laughed in their faces.
"Thanks for pointing them out, mate. They looked delicious!" Goyle grabbed the box and opened it. The pastilles were divided amongst the squad, and they began to eat...and eat...and eat.
"How long is this going to take?" Ruby asked.
"Three, two, one," three seconds later, Goyle's face distorted with discomfort, and then he proceeded to throw up. Followed shortly by Crabbe, and then everybody else became violently ill. It was working, but smelled awful.
"Grab the wands!" Ruby shouted. The army stood up from their seats and recovered their wands from Umbridge's desk.
Draco suddenly rushed back inside the office, surprised and disgusted to find his friends vomiting all over the floor. Then he saw the box of pastilles on the desk, and read the Weasleys' name.
"Weasley!" he was about to charge at Ron, but Ruby jumped in front of him and jabbed her elbow into his eye. The force of the blow knocked the wind out of Draco, and he fell. He hit his head on the corner of the desk and was out cold. Ruby just scoffed.
"That's what you get for calling me a half breed," she muttered.
"Is everybody okay?" Ron asked.
"We need to find the rest of the army!" Luna said.
"There's no time, we have to get to Harry and Hermione," Ruby replied. They rushed out of the office and ran through the halls, coming to the bridge that led into the forest.
As they ran across the bridge, they suddenly came face-to-face with Harry and Hermione, running in their direction, "How'd you get away?" Hermione asked them.
"Puking pastilles. It wasn't pretty," Ginny replied.
"Told them I was hungry, wanted some sweets. They told me to bugger off and ate the lot themselves," Ron replied.
"Then Ruby punched Malfoy in the eye and knocked him out," Luna added.
"Took a little team effort," Ruby said.
"That was clever, you two," Hermione said.
"Has been known to happen," Ron grinned.
"It was brilliant!" Neville exclaimed, "So how are we getting to London?"
"Look, it's not that I don't appreciate everything you've done, all of you...but I've got you into enough trouble as it is," Harry said, pushing past them and tried to leave.
"Dumbledore's Army's supposed to be about doing something real. Or was that all just words to you?" Neville asked. Harry stopped and looked at them, unsure whether this was the best idea.
"Maybe you don't have to do this all by yourself, mate," Ron said.
"So how are we going to get to London?" he asked. Then Luna spoke up.
