When Myths Meet Magic || 5

36|| Thalia

Suddenly, the room darkened. Every shadow lengthened as the fire died and despite the large windows shedding light slightly tinted pink, a chill swept the room.

The pink toad's shout of "crucio!" died. The Slytherins all unintentionally tightened their grips on their captives. Thalia, who was suspended in the air still, began to lower as the Slytherin whose wand was being pointed at her and Jason lost focus.

A shiver ran down her spine, even though it wasn't so much a mysterious phenomenon to her than it was to the others.

"What's happening?" Umbridge shrieked. Her wand was still jabbed at Harry's forehead.

It was like frost had consumed the room. All light was almost sucked out completely as the shadows became even darker, if possible. The only thing they could see was the arched rectangle of light that was the window.

A loud grunt could be heard from Crabbe as — something happened. There was a shriek from Millicent that seemed too high pitched to come from such a large, hulking figure, and yet it must've been, because Hermione too let out a yell, then there was a crunch as if Hermione had punched Millicent in the jaw — chaos erupted and Thalia and Jason fell with thumps to the ground — the pink-stained window shattered and water rushed in, pitch black as the room and even colder than the shadows — Thalia saw her chance and shouted a warning before letting loose a barrage of sparks that leapt along the walls, conducted by the water that swamped everything — the door burst open as someone tried to run outside, only to crash into an intimidatingly small figure standing, silhouetted by the outside light.

Nico was only there for a second as he darted into the room. There was a swoosh! sound, followed by a series of slice, then a shout of, "stupefy!" from Ron and cries of "impetum vespertilio!" from Ginny and other incantations that rang around the office. The Inquisitorial squad charged out of the room, terrified.

Light flooded the room once again. Everything was drenched, from the pink wallpaper on the walls to the pink wallpaper to the soggy and furious pink toad sprawled on the floor.

She scrambled up, her brown hair plastered to her face, bow drooping, teeth gnashing, and eyes gleaming. "Oh-o," she said softly as she lifted her wand, which she somehow had still kept a hold of in the chaos. "We are in trouble now."

Her wand trembled as her eyes darted around her, from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, to Neville, Ginny, and Luna, then Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Jason, Piper, and finally Nico.

"You," she hissed, pointing it at him. Nico looked at her stonily and raised an eyebrow.

"Me," he replied.

"Crucio!" Umbridge shrieked. "Crucio!"

Nico was thrown backwards towards the wall from the force of the spell. Ginny screamed, but Nico, once he recovered from the shock of being thrown backwards, simply stood up slowly. His face was slightly paler than usual but the only discomfort he showed was a slight twitch of his jaw.

Umbridge's expression was priceless. Her mouth opened and closed several times, revealing her sharp teeth.

"Crucio!" She screamed again, her wand shaking even more.

This time, Nico was ready and drew his sword from his Mist-hidden sheath — the spell, rather than bouncing off the blade as it did with Celestial Bronze, was simply absorbed into the iron.

"You should stop doing that," Thalia said dangerously. Her bow, which was disguised as a bead on her Camp Half-Blood necklace, was suddenly in her hands without her even being aware she drew it. Umbridge gaped at the gleaming silver tip of the arrow pointed at her, suddenly more fish than toad. Her wand darted between Thalia and Nico and Percy and Annabeth and Jason and Piper, who was glaring at Umbridge with a sudden venom in her eyes.

"You— you—" Umbridge spluttered. Her face was gray but flushed at the same time, resulting in an off-Christmas color scheme that clashed horribly with her soaked pink cardigan.

From the side, the witches and wizards were watching with a sort of amazed entertainment. But now Harry spoke up.

"What should we do with her?" he asked harshly.

"We should wipe her memory," said Piper. "But first—"

She took a step forward and swiftly swung her fist up, knocking Umbridge's head back as the force nearly knocked her jaw out.

"That was for Leo," she spat. "And Trelawney and Hagrid and everyone else you ever made eye contact with."

Umbridge was still in shock, her head not even returning to its normal position on her head.

"Dry us off, will you?" Thalia said to Percy. Percy lifted his hand and the water that drenched everyone suddenly floated up into the air and seeped out the window.

Neville let out a small yelp. "You— he just— what?"

Everyone glanced at him. Neville stared back at their unsurprised faces, then to the ball of water being suspended in the air.

"Okay," he said weakly.

Nico made a show of spinning his sword on his hand before sheathing it. Percy capped Riptide and the three-foot bronze sword vanished into the ballpoint pen. Neville swallowed hard.

Umbridge's head had finally made its way back to its normal position on her neck. And so had her awareness of what was going on around her.

"You... you... come with me to... to the Min... Ministry imm... immediately—"

Hermione lowered her wand, ready to shout the incantation, but Thalia raised her hand and snapped.

A ripple of cold air extended from her fingers, distorting the room in a smooth circle before it vanished.

Before Umbridge could regain her bearings, Annabeth pointed her wand at her and shouted, "Stupefy!"

The tyrant fell with a thud to the ground.

Harry kicked her for good measure before turning in a sudden panic to everyone else.

"We've wasted too much time. Sirius might be dead already!"

He turned to the door and ran out. Everyone else quickly followed in tow.

"How're we going to get there?"

"We?" Ron said nastily again for the second time that day. Piper lifted her chin defiantly, her kaleidoscope eyes flashing in anger. Jason scowled at Ron.

"Yes, we."

"We'll have to fly, of course," said a dreamy voice from the side.

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