Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

Building A Plan

"Wait," Hermione said suddenly, a light bulb had switched on in her brain. "Wait... Harry, they can help." They all looked at her intently.  "Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters-"  "I've told you, I saw-" he tried to protest.  "Harry, I'm begging you, please!" Hermione said in a pleading voice. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London- if we find out he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him -"  "Sirius is being tortured NOW!" Harry started again. "We haven't got time to waste-"  "Harry, she's right." Mikayla stopped him, "I love him as much as you do and I'm just as worried, but a lot worse can happen if this is a trick. I warned Dumbledore about this as well, it is a possibility to trick to mind into seeing something that isn't real." Mikayla looked him straight in the eyes, tears beginning to well up in hers. 

"How're we going to check?" He said, turning back to Hermione.  "We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," Hermione looked as if she regretted the idea already. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."  It was clear that neither of them had the slightest clue what was happening, but Ginny jumped on board right away, "Yeah, we'll do it," she said. "When you say 'Sirius,' are you talking about Stubby Boardman?" Luna asked, Hermione and Mikayla looked at each other quizzingly, no one answered her.  "Okay," Harry nodded, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now-"  "The Department of Mysteries?" repeated Luna, "But how are you going to get there?"  Harry didn't answer her.  "Right... well... One of us has to go and find Umbridge and- and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her- I don't know- that Peeves is up to something awful as usual..."  "I'll do it," Ron stepped up without hesitation. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way..."  "Okay," she said without objection.

"Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off...."  "Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," Ginny volunteered, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas." Hermione looked surprised at the speed at which this lie came to Ginny.  Ginny shrugged, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."  "Okay," said Hermione, "well then, us three we'll sneak into the office and I'll stand by the door, you two can talk to Sirius through the fireplace."  "No, I'm going to stay with Ginny. Whilst you two trying to talk to Sirius, I'm going to try and see for myself." The whole group looked at Mikayla surprised that she didn't want to do the most thrill seeking part of the plan. "Ok, I'll keep an eye on her whilst adverting traffic." Ginny promise, Mikayla nodded at her with a thankful smile.

"He's not there, Hermione!" Harry objected once again.  "I mean, you can- can check whether Sirius is at home or not..." She said hastily, glancing at Harry. "Okay..." Harry accepted reluctantly. "Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," Hermione sighed, thankful Harry had ceased his protests and finally agreed on something with her, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around." "Five minutes will be enough," Mikayla said, looking at Harry, he nodded.  "C'mon, let's go-" Harry said, looking at everyone in the group.

"Now?" Hermione looked caught off guard.  "What do you mean 'Now?' it's not something we can really sleep on!" Mikayla told her.  "Sirius is being tortured right now!" Harry looked at her with a scowl.  "I- oh all right," she said, sounding deflated and ready to give up. "You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"  Harry dove out of the classroom before any of them had a chance to move. Mikayla hastened them all to hurry up as well. They pushed their way through the bustling crowd of the corridor toward Umbridge's office. The five of them were probably waiting at the end of Umbridge's corridor for ten minutes before Harry returned, panting, his bag stuffed and slung over his shoulder. "Got it," he said, out of breath. "Ready to go, then?"   "All right,"  Hermione said quietly, nodding. "So Ron- you go and head Umbridge off... Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor... Mikayla, you do what you need to do. We'll get the cloak on and wait until the coast is clear..." Ron gave a dutiful nod and strolled away into the sea of students. Ginny headed the other way with Luna and Mikayla trailing behind her, a bounce in Lima's step.  "C'mon," Hermione tugged on Harry's collar and ducked behind a stone column. Harry dug the Invisibility Cloak out of his bag, his face looking as though his mind was somewhere else.

Hermione popped her head around the column to keep a lookout. Harry's eyes looked frightened and he had that face that meant his scar was aching. Hermione turned back from peering around the column. Hermione led the way, shuffling a few feet forward so that Harry could hear what was going on.  "You can't come down here!" Ginny was hollering to anyone who came near the corridor. "No, sorry, you're going to have to go round by the swiveling staircase, someone's let off Garroting Gas just along here-" Harry could hear her announcing.

———————————————————————
Don't forget to let your voice be heard! I answer all comments and appreciate all votes. Correct my mistakes or share your opinions on reading each part. Regards me x