𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 | √

⎡71⎦

Umbridge pulled Harry and Hermione out of the office and made them lead

her to where the "weapon" was. When the door locked behind them, the Inquisitorial Squad let us go. We had nowhere to go without our wands, so we had no choice but to wait for them to return.

The minutes ticked by, ten minutes, twenty, and soon enough almost forty-five minutes had passed. At this point, we were all doing our own things. Examining the cats on the wall, staring longingly out the window, rummaging through drawers and so on.

I was sat on the floor, head in my hands, my mind racing to figure out what was taking so long. Maybe Umbridge caught on that they tricked her and that there was no weapon and Umbridge is torturing them now while we are here doing nothing to stop it. Think Hazel, think! We need to get out of this!

Crabbe, who was standing next to me, held his stomach as it began to growl deeply. That's when I got an idea. A few days prior to their leaving, Fred and George gave me a pack of Puking Pastilles. Pulling them gently out of my pocket, I rose to my feet and walked towards Umbridge's desk, finding a little bowl containing some rings. I poured the rings onto the desk, making sure I made a lot of noise, so I had everyone's attention, I took the bag of Puking Pastilles and poured them into the bowl.

"What's that?" Pansy sneered.

"Some sweets. I'm quite hungry," I lied

"Pastilles eh Rosewood?" Crabbe asked. "Better share them."

At this point, all of the Slytherins take a pastille and drop it into their mouths. All except Draco, who never liked sweets, even when we were little, and I ate chocolate like a wolf in front of him.

It didn't take long before the vomiting started. Crabbe was the first one to begin. His face became a sickly shade of green, and his stomach was making disgusting noises. The other's followed suit and they began to lean over clutching their stomachs.

"What have you done?" Pansy groaned.

Then it started. The Slytherins rushed over to the window as their vomit comes shooting out. This was everyone's chance to take their wands while the others are preoccupied with their vomit. I gave my friends a signal to go ahead, and they burst open the door and tore out, wands in hand.

As my friends left, I turned towards Draco who is staring in astonishment at his friends.

"Please, you need to understand," I said as I reached into his cloak pocket for my wand. It took him a second to realize what I was doing. I almost slipped away, but Draco caught my wrist before I could leave out the door.

"Wait. Wherever you're going, will it be dangerous?"

"Yes," I said without a moment's hesitation.

"Just..." He struggled for words. "Don't die." He finally said. I smiled a bit.

"I'll try not to," I replied rushing up to him and kissing him on the cheek before darting out of the office and out of the classroom to catch up with the rest of my friends. I caught up with them by the time we all reached the courtyard, and we made our way to the bridge. As we ran, we saw two figure's running towards us. Harry and Hermione.

"How'd you get away?" Hermione asked.

"Puking Pastilles. It wasn't pretty," Ginny replied.

"Told them I was hungry, wanted some sweets. They told me to bugger off and ate it themselves," I replied cheerfully, as Ron handed Harry and Hermione their wands.

"That was clever, Hazel." Hermione complimented.

"So how are we getting to London?" Neville asked Harry from behind me. We all look to Harry expectantly.