Bookworm

22

Dear Padfoot,

I was ill all night after drinking the tea that the woman offered me. Three spoons in a cup, and she had me drink about six! If I ever try to consume sugar again, please remind me that the clean up is not fun.
In other news, it went successful. I told her everything we came up with and in return she has offered me a place on the Inquisitorial Squad; the part you added in about Albus being a mad-man seemed to really butter her crumpet. She drank it all in almost as fast as she did the tea, and even offered me protection from the Ministry! I have no doubt that this will make Albus's job harder, but this needs to be done.
I can not wait to return, although I am afraid it wont be for a while. I know that she is keeping a closer eye on me in the event of any slip ups, and I can not afford for that to happen.
Say hello to Remus and Tonks for me!
Lots of love,
Mira

"Hey Harry. Could I borrow Hedwig?" Harry looked over to her with an accusatory look on his face but nodded none the less. Mira let out a sigh of relief and quickly rushed into his dorm, handing her the letter and allowing her to leave through the window. Whilst she was up there she collected the twins and Lee before dragging them back down to the common room. Hermione brought Alicia, Angelina and Katie down just as requested and Mira nodded to her thankfully before slipping a dumgbomb from her pocket.
Ron had gagged when the smell hit him and tried to leave, but Mira grabbed his sleeve tightly and held him back until all of the other students left the room. Hermione cleared the smoke with a wave of her wand before looking to the girl anxiously.
"What is it, Mira? Have you heard news?" Mira straightened her back slightly and wrung her hands together.
"Not exactly. I just-I have something I need to tell you, and I'm unsure as to how you will take it." Curious gazes were fixed on her, but she looked to Harry apologetically.
"I-There was a meeting tonight." She admitted vaguely. Everyone caught on in moments and Harry's eyes bore into her, narrowed slightly. "And they have come up with a new way to keep an eye on Umbridge without her getting suspicious."
"Don't tell me-"
"They've made me join the Inquisitorial Squad." She admitted. Ron roughly pulled away from her and looked her up and down with disgust.
"You what?"
"No, Ron! This is good!" Hermione's eyes had lit up as she moved from her place on the sofa. "This way we have tabs on Umbridge, Mira can lead them off out scent, don't you see?"
"I certainly don't see." George shook his head and rubbed his hands together, looking to his friend with wide eyes. "How did they get you to agree to that? I'm surprised you haven't skinned her alive yet." Mira sighed with a small rise and fall of her shoulders.
"I don't have much choice," she admitted. She knew, however, that she couldn't tell them it was for the benefit of Draco. "And besides, it was my idea." The room fell silent, so she continued. "I cant be leaving the castle because of it though, so when Umbridge isn't making me do rounds of the castle then I'll be in your meetings. Hopefully I'll be able to keep her away for a decent amount of time."
"So it is inevitable that she catches us?" Harry asked in a small voice. Mira scratched the back of her neck.
"I don't know about inevitable; but there is only so long I'll be able to keep her looking in the wrong place. Especially with the other members sniffing about."
"Forget it, Hermione. We're putting everyone in danger-let's just call it off now."
"Harry James Potter you will do no such thing!" Mira snapped, surprising the boy into finally looking at her with a judge free expression. "This is the most important thing that you do all year, and it is vital that the students learn whatever they can! There are lives at stake," she said the last part softly, but he met her eyes and they darkened slightly. He knew exactly what she was getting at, he knew better than anyone else in the room. She slowly stood up and excused herself from the room, pinning her new badge to her chest before beginning her round of checking that the corridors were clear of anything suspicious.

It was in a panic the next morning that Mira realised she had never lifted her silencing charm from Draco. She rushed over to the hospital wing to see him sat morosely on a bed, staring out of a window whilst surrounded by his chattering friends. The door was slightly ajar, and she heard Pansy Parkinson's voice float through.
"Oh, Draco! It isn't all terrible; I'm sure that it will be over soon!" With a small sharp flick of her wand, Draco turned to glare daggers at his house-mate.
"Oh shut it! I hardly need to talk when you can keep going for seven of us. It is quite tiresome, really!" His eyes widened as Pansy reeled back in offence. Mira slipped away before she could hear the rebuke and noticed she had a whole day to herself. She smiled lightly and decided to finally get around to exploring the castle. She knew the main routes that she needed to, and she knew which stairs to avoid, but she wanted to really have an explore around the place. She had never been in a castle before, and now that she had some free time she wanted nothing more than to get to know the place like the back of her hand.
She had been going in and out of shortcuts for several hours, having the time of her life and keeping herself thoroughly entertained when she heard someone shouting her name from down the corridor. She turned to see the trio running over to her, Harry folding up a piece of blank parchment and shoving it into his hoodie pocket as he got closer.
"Umbridge has disbanded the Gryffindor quidditch team!" Harry practically had steam coming from his ears. "She said that someone cursed Malfoy the other day to sabotage the match, and it was most likely someone on the team!"
"She's bloody ridiculous!" Rom fumed. "The Slytherins have been hexing our players for weeks and she pretended she hadn't heard about it!" Mira pinched the bridge of her nose and looked to Hermione for help, but she was offered none.
"And what are you wanting me to do about that?" She turned back to look up at the boys who looked at each other in bewilderment. They hadn't expected her to actually want to help, but rather to deny getting involved.
"I don't know! Can't you invite her to tea and convince her to resume us?" Harry suggested. Mira looked away and furrowed her eyebrows.
"The best I can probably do is..." She trailed off, her mind racing. Mira had realised that she had become rather adept at coming up with intricate plans rather quickly, and grinned when she saw Ginny down the corridor. "Hey, Ginny!" The girl turned curiously and smiled at the four, quickly approaching. Her eyes dashed to Harry and stuck for only a moment too long before she smiled coolly at them.
"Hey guys," she greeted.
"Listen, Ginny? You're dating Michael at the moment, aren't you?" She nodded slowly, her eyes flickering for a moment to Ron as his ears turned red and Harry as the boy averted his gaze. "Brilliant. Do you think there is any way you could convince him to take credit for what happened to Malfoy?"
"If we have proof it wasn't us or anything to do with us there's no way she can still get rid of us!" Harry caught on quick.
"It's not foolproof," Mira reminded him. "She'll most likely still refuse."
"Why? She has no reason to keep it disbanded!" Ron pointed out rather aggressively, clearly extremely irritated by the whole situation as he shuffled from foot to foot.
"Don't you see? She's doing all of this to get back at Harry!" Mira shook her head. "She wants to get him in as much trouble as possible, to further discredit him and Dumbledore." They set off walking down the corridor at a slow pace, Mira keeping sharp eyes out for anyone that could listen anywhere. "She is with Fudge, she doesn't want you having any credibility at all Harry. And if that means taking away anything you enjoy, she'll go to any means to get it. She was a Slytherin, after all."
"That explains a hell of a lot," Ron muttered, clenching his fists and loosening them. Mira sighed as the bell for tea went and quickly dismissed herself from the group as Ginny promised to talk to Michael or one of his friends. She made her own way to Umbridge's office, to attend the first official meeting of the Squad in which they would discuss aims of the group. She paused outside the door, mustering up all of the courage that she could before she knocked and let herself into the room, peeking around the frame and giving the occupants a shy smile.
"You're finally here, dear? Come in, come in! Your tea is getting cold!" Mira felt her stomach churn at the thought of drinking any more of the woman's foul tea-it tasted like she brewed it in toilet water! The Slytherins were torn about her presence-some looked affronted that she was there, some looked as though they wanted to maliciously tear her limb from limb and feed her to William. That didn't make her feel any better. She moved to the desk she sat at in her first lesson and lowered herself into the chair, which was coincidentally besides the one that Draco had chosen for himself. He didn't even look at her as he sipped at his own beverage and grimaced, keeping his gaze on the woman. He hadn't moved away though; she took that as a win and decided not to push it by talking to him. Earning his trust would take time, and lots of it.
"Now that we're all here," She smiled over at Mira and blinked slowly before continuing, the few moments pause leaving a long pause that Mira knew was full of awkwardness. "I started this group as a way to offer support to your fellow students, and to help keep rumours and lies under wraps before anyone gets too scared." There was another long pause in which she stared at Mira for a long time. Mira forced herself to not shuffle uncomfortably under the scrutiny and lowered her gaze in a way that she hoped looked ashamed.
"What exactly will we be doing?" Draco asked. His voice was eager and he leaned forward slightly to hunch over the desk, blue eyes eagerly watching her every move. This was going to be harder than Mira thought.
"Well, I thought we would start with rounds of the corridors to keep an eye on...miscreants and delinquents."
"Is Potter included in this?" A Slytherin asked from the back. "He's Dumbledore's golden boy, it wont be like we can do anything." Mira remained silent, but Draco didn't miss the way her fingers tightened on her small cup as she took a sip and soured at the taste. He eyed her out of the side of his eye for a moment before turning to Blaise and whispering something rather rude about Harry. This is going to be so much harder.