black and white ✰ g.w.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"I suppose we should get everybody back in the castle now, huh?" Olivia said after a moment of just staring up at the spot in the sky Fred and George had disappeared into.

"We could try," Faustus said, looking around at all of their peers. "They don't look very eager to get back to studying, to be honest."

His face fell, however, when he saw something behind him. Olivia followed his gaze to Harry, breathless on the ground, with Hermione, Ron, and Arabella all kneeling around him.

"Harry?" Faustus said, approaching the boy, concern evident on his face.

"It's Sirius," was all Harry said, looking pointedly at Faustus.

Faustus's face drained of all color at the prospect of his uncle being in danger. Quickly, he helped Harry to his feet and led him out of courtyard and back into the castle, the others following close behind. Then, he turned and looked at Harry, his face serious. "Did you see him?"

"Yes. Faustus, Voldemort has him. In the Department of Mysteries."

Olivia recognized the name of one of the departments in the Ministry but was confused as to why Voldemort would be holding Sirius there of all places. "The Department of Mysteries? Wh-" she began.

"That's where the weapon is," Faustus said quickly, cutting her off.

"You mean the one the Order is trying to keep from Voldemort?"

"Yes!" Harry cried impatiently. "We need to go! We need to save him!"

Faustus nodded, and the two boys sped off in the direction of the marble staircases. After exchanging a quick concerned glance, the others jogged after them.

"Okay, hold on, we need to talk about this!" Olivia said.

"What's there to talk about, Olivia?" Faustus replied, sounding exasperated.

"A number of things! If you'd just slow down a bit, I might be able to name one!"

"We won't be slowing down, but you can go ahead."

Olivia sighed. "Well, first off, Harry, are you sure of what you saw?"

"Yes," Harry answered. "It's just like with Mr. Weasley. It's the same door I've been dreaming about for months, and I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before. Sirius said Voldemort was after something. Something he didn't have the last time, and it's in the Department of Mysteries."

Even after hearing this explanation, in Olivia's mind, there were still so many things wrong with what they wanted to do and wished Faustus and Harry would just calm down for a moment so they could really think about it all.

"Harry, Faustus, please, just listen!" Hermione begged the two. To Olivia's relief, the boys stopped climbing the stairs and turned to face Hermione. "What if Voldemort meant for you to see this? What if he's only hurting Sirius because he's trying to get to you?"

"What if he is?" Harry retorted. "We're supposed to just let him die?"

"She didn't mean it like that, Harry," Arabella said. "Of course we want to help Sirius."

"Well, then, what's the issue here?"

"The issue is," Olivia said, "what if Voldemort is only showing you things that he knows will get you away from Hogwarts so he can hurt you? Who's to say that if you can see into his mind that he can't see into yours?"

"That was the whole point of the Occlumency lessons," Faustus said. Harry had, for a time, been receiving private lessons in Occlumency from Professor Snape so that he could shut his mind off to Voldemort and stop having these visions from him. "He's got it under control now, right, Harry?"

"Clearly not if he's just had another vision!" Olivia could feel her temper rising as she struggled to understand how their logic could possibly make sense to them. "What if he's made this up and Sirius is completely fine? And we go there and Sirius isn't there but Voldemort's waiting for us and wipes us all out one by one?"

"He's the only family I've got left," Harry said. "If there's a chance he's going to die, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop it, whether you guys will come with me or not."

There was a moment of silence as these words sunk in. Olivia began to understand why Faustus and Harry were so desperate to run to Sirius's aid.

"What do we do?" Ron asked, essentially telling the boys that he and the others would do everything they could to help.

"We'll have to use the Floo network," Harry said as they continued up the stairs.

"Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance," Hermione reminded him.

"Not all of them."

"Right, Umbridge won't have her own fireplace watched, will she?" Arabella said.

"And how do you all suppose we get into the headmistress's office without being caught?" Olivia asked, trying her very best to remain patient with them.

"We'll need a few lookouts, obviously," Faustus said.

"I'm on it," Arabella said, immediately running off back down the stairs.

"Right, and what else?" Olivia asked. "Umbridge is not going to head the words of a few students she knows have been working against her since the beginning. We need a different way to keep her and Filch away from her office until we're done."

"We could tell her that Peeves is wreaking havoc on the ground floor," Ron suggested. "It's far enough away, it should give us more time."

"I'll do it," Faustus volunteered. "I haven't gotten in trouble with her yet. Bonus points for being a Slytherin." And with that, he also left them.

"Right," Olivia said again. "Yeah, okay. That'll work. Definitely."

[word count: 943]
[written: 8/25/20]
[published: 8/25/20]
maybe if they just listened to liv once in a while...