Chapter 22: ch 22
Be careful, my love. Things are happening very fast.
I read the line over and over again. Fleur's neat handwriting looked up at me from the journal in my hands.
I will, of course. I love you. I wrote back to her.
It took every ounce of my will to close my notebook and focus my full attention to my surroundings.
Hagrid and Hermione were arguing in front of me as Harry leaned against a tree off to the side, staring past the arguing duo.
"What was I supposed to do? Leave him there? He's the only family I got left." Hagrid retorted to Hermione.
"That doesn't mean you should have brought him here!" Hermione raged back at him. "You are jeopardizing students!"
We had been led out into the Forbidden Forest, per Hagrid's request, to meet his brother Grawp: a Giant, or half-giant. I wasn't paying attention and I don't remember from the books. The Hagrid asked us to take care of him in the event of his departure from Hogwarts.
He probably reminds Hermione of the troll in first year. I realized as I watched the argument with little interest.
"Enough." Harry's voice cut through their bickering, his eyes on Hermione's. "Hagrid has asked us as friends."
That little sentence shut Hermione up and she turned red faced as she realized that Harry was right. Hagrid would do anything for us, it's time we return the favor. I thought to myself.
"Sorry Hagrid. Of course we'll help." Hermione forced out through her teeth.
"Thanks, you guys. You have no idea how much that means to me!" Hagrid bellowed as he engulfed Hermione in a bear hug. I swore I could hear her bones creak under his strength.
"Anything for you, Hagrid." I cut in, trying to save Hermione from being crushed to death. "Are you planning on leaving now, or when Umbridge kicks you out?" I asked curiously.
He sobered up for a second. "Well, without Dumbledore here, I don't rightly think it will matter. But I can do a little good, even if it is only for a few more days or weeks. I'll stay until that ugly toad makes her move."
I was actually happy to hear that because I didn't feel like dealing with Grawp, I was immediately sobered up by the beginning of his sentence.
I wonder what Dumbledore is doing right now. I thought as I remembered the old Headmaster fleeing the castle when Fudge came to arrest him on phony charges. The castle feels different without the old coot.
Or maybe it's the weight on my shoulders that makes it feel different. My mind supplied as I pondered the situation.
"Good." Harry replied to Hagrid, happy that he was staying for a little bit longer. "Now let's get back, Gryffindor is winning the championship as we speak."
I turned to walk away, back in the direction of the castle as Hagrid said goodbye to his brother. Harry and Hermione joined me as we walked through the forest.
"Are you alright, Ron?" Hermione asked me. "You seem a bit out of it."
"He's worrying about everything that has happened lately. Dumbledore, the Twins leaving, Trelawney, and now this." Harry answered for me.
He wasn't wrong, but he was only halfway right. As the days ticked on, the end of the year approached, and that meant our inevitable fight with Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
The worst part is that I couldn't think of a reason not to go to the ministry. Harry needs to learn the prophecy. I could just tell him the words, but then that doesn't take into the fact that the Order will fight Voldemort whether we intervene or not. Plus we are already some of the more powerful people on the plane, and not going could get someone that we care about hurt, or killed. The decision is an easy one.
Doesn't mean I don't get anxious, or that the events of the past few months can't affect me. I thought to myself. There is still so much to do.
The beating of what sounded like hooves broke me out of my thoughts. My head whipped up to the direction of the sound and my wand found its way into my hand.
Sure enough, a group of centaurs burst into view and started circling us, howling and hollering the whole time. It honestly felt a little stereotypical, how the scene played out.
My wand stayed by my side, so as to not aggravate them. It would take me less than a second to cast anyway, more than fast enough to handle the situation if it went badly.
"You should not be here." A calm, too-smooth, a voice called out from the lead Centaur. "You have pushed our friendship to the limits, Hagrid."
The Centaur had a certain beauty to his rough features. His hair flowed past his shoulder blades, almost coming to rest on his horse back. In his hand, he held a bow, like the others around him, quivers rested on his side, easily accessible. The oddest thing I noticed were his ears.
I don't remember them having pointed ears in the books. I pondered as Hagrid prepared to respond.
"The Forest is home to many races, Bane." Hagrid replied. "You've no right to deny my…"
"It is ours." Bane replied almost dismissively, as if he believed every word. "I have every right."
"Now listen here!" Hagrid began but was once again interrupted by Bane.
"You are no longer welcome in our forest, Hagrid. The friendship we awarded is now forfeit." Bane told him and before Hagrid could respond, he started galloping out of the clearing, back to wherever it was that he came from.
I called out to him as he left. "My people awarded this forest to many different races, if you act against that pact, I will deal with it personally."
I was bluffing, naturally. Firenze had come to grow on me the few times I saw him in the hallways. I wouldn't harm his kind, if I could help it. But I would defend Hagrid and his brother, as I agreed to.
Bane stopped right before he disappeared and his ear twitched, letting my know he heard every word. I expected him to respond, but apparently his mind was made up. He rode off into the forest and disappeared soon after.
"Well that complicates things." Harry snarked.
"How will he do it?" I asked my spy.
"I don't know yet." Nott answered me. "I think Snape will be involved, but I haven't been told."
"Who does he want? Harry would leap at the chance to save any number of people. He could choose anyone who has been to the DA meetings. He could choose a professor. He can't use anyone in the order, they're too protected." I wondered to myself out loud.
Nott met my eyes then. "It could be you."
Almost completely different than in the books. I pondered as I digested the information. I have changed too much.
"Maybe, but how will he get to me." I replied, when the answer came to me. "There aren't a lot of people who know my normal schedule. You and Harry are the only two."
Nott didn't have an answer for me.
'POP'
I turned quickly and trained my wand on the source of the sound and magical disturbance. Dobby stood before me looking down the tip of my wand.
He squeaked before I lowered my want. "Hello Dobby. Are they here?" I asked him.
His head bobbed up and down. "Oh yes, Harry Potter's good friend. The Aurors are here, just as Mr. Weasels said they would be."
I ignored the name, knowing that Dobby didn't mean it disrespectfully. "Good, now can you do one more thing for me?" I asked him.
"Oh yes, oh yes. Anything for the great Harry Potter's bestest of friends. Anything at all." Dobby replied in his super cute, slightly annoying, style of speech.
"Can you make sure they don't get there before me? Nothing harmful, just inconvenient?"
Dobby's response was a snap of his fingers. 'POP'
I'll take that as a yes. I thought as my wand rose and with it, my shirt and robes hovered before me.
"Good luck." I heard to my left.
I nodded back to Theodore Nott. "Keep practicing."
I quickly donned my outfit and through the hood over my head. I couldn't see the effects but I knew the enchantment worked. It took me a while to get it right, without interfering with the other enchantments already placed on the robes. My face would be shadowed to anyone looking at me. It would break at almost any magical contact, but I didn't plan on letting that happen.
I looked to the other occupant of the room, waiting for his opinion.
"It's working." Nott said. It was all the confirmation I needed.
Once I finished dressing, I ran out of the Room of Requirement, casting a variant of the notice-me-not and then a disillusionment charm.
I moved at a fast pace, one that I knew would cause distortions in the air. If anyone saw it, the other charm on me would make them think they were just seeing things.
I was on the trail to Hagrid's hut in less than three minutes, but I still didn't have very long to act.
Soon enough I was knocking on Hagrid's door.
"Who is it?" His voice boomed from inside.
"Ron. We don't have any time, Hagrid. They have come for you." I yelled out to him.
I could hear noises coming from behind me, shouts.
The door opened and he peaked out at me. "Ron? I can't see a bloody thing in that hood of yours."
"I know, that's not important. Gather your things, Aurors are on their way." I told him. He nodded and closed the door.
"Hey, stop!" Someone called out behind me.
Fuck.
I cast a quick spell to distort my voice, and then turned around. They were jogging down the road now, and it was nobody that I knew. That told me that Umbridge has gotten smart and either knows who is loyal to Dumbledore, or has suspicions at the very least.
Four people approached, one of them had a pointy hat, two of them wore the traditional robes of Aurors, and the last was the pink toad, Umbridge. They continued my direction until I decided that they were close enough.
"That's close enough." I heard a gruff voice say. It took me the slightest amount of time to realize that was the voice altering spell working.
The two Auror didn't stop, as I predicted. The third fell back, and Umbridge followed the two aurors.
A brown jet of light shot out of my wand and hit the ground a yard ahead of them. Shield charms lit the air. Their reactionary shield would have been too late if I had aimed at their persons. But since I didn't, they were useless.
Their momentum continued them forward, into my spell. Hands rose out of the earth and grabbed onto their feet, holding them in place, but not spreading like it had done against Nott when he ambushed me.
"Stop this at once." I heard a scottish accent say from behind the aurors.
Professor McGonagall. I realized as I heard the voice and identified the person in the pointy hat.
The aurors didn't listen, and each sent a spell at their feet. The earth crumbled back down to where it came from. Then one of them took the earthen hands off of Umbridge's legs, as she couldn't do it herself.
Then they trained their wands at me. "We're here for the groundskeeper. You are interfering with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. A crime punishable with time spent in Azkaban. Step aside now and we'll forget you ever cast that spell." The lead Auror said as he stepped forward.
That is when the door behind me opened, and Hagrid stepped out. I turned slightly to look at him and also keep my eyes on the aurors. It was a good thing too, because a red light shot out from the second auror.
I batted it into the night sky.
"Is it protocol to attack a target before he even knows why you are arresting him?" I asked angrily.
"I would also like to know tha…." McGonagall started behind the aurors.
"Enough." The lead auror began before Umbridge interrupted him.
"This half-breed was given notice to vacate the premises, and he hasn't complied." Umbridge stated waving a piece of paper in the air.
"Well this is news to me!" Hagrid called out. I held my hand up to stop him from speaking, knowing it was useless.
"His bag is packed, and he is complying now." I spoke out to them, hoping to deescalate the situation.
"It's too late for that." The lead auror responded fairly quickly.
"Hagrid, it's time to go now." I spoke to him quietly while pointing behind us.
"I can't leave you alo…"
Once again we were interrupted with spells heading our way. They splashed against my shield, which I kept up while moving to my left.
"I can handle these two!" I yelled to him, as two more spells hit my shield. My shield dropped and I sent another spell into the ground in front of me.
A wall of earth, ten feet tall and wide, sprang up in front of us. I turned to hagrid while moving to the edge of the wall again, so as to not stay in the same spot they last saw me in.
"You have to get out of here. We will take care of Grawp. Once everything is fine, we'll come find you." I told him.
He looked at me and back to the wall of earth that appeared before us, and then nodded. I turned around and didn't have to look back to know that he was running the other way.
I felt the magic coming before I saw it's effects. I moved out from behind the wall as it was blasted apart from two spells.
Ok, so the kids gloves are off. I realized as debris flew beside me but not touching me. Too late.
The first thing I saw when stepping out from behind the wall was the second auror turning to Professor McGonagall, who also had her wand out, but pointed towards the two men.
"This is excessive force!" She yelled at the two men and toad in front of her.
Nothing is excessive when we are resisting. I thought to myself at her accusation.
My arm shot out and a whip of fire shot out of my wand at the second auror before he could cast at my favorite professor.
His partner had his back and sent the whip off course. I let the fire dissipate in the air as I moved into my next spell.
The second auror decided I was the bigger threat and turned back towards me when my second spell raced between the two of them. They didn't raise shields, just as I predicted. Instead they moved in opposite directions of each other as my spell hit the ground behind them, raising yet another wall of earth between them and Professor McGonagall. Umbridge followed the lead auror, staying behind him with her wand clenched in her hand, her face showed surprise at the escalation of the situation.
People never learn. I thought as they fell into my trap, two spells travelled my way, a cutting charm and a stunner. I rolled out of the way of the cutting charm and lazily batted the stunner away.
They were mid cast when my retaliation leapt from my wand towards the second auror. He abandoned his spell in favor of a shield charm. A loud gong could be heard as the bombarda shattered his shield and blasted him backwards.
Incompetant. My mind supplied as he went to the ground.
The lead auror kept his concentration and decided enough was enough now that I had possibly injured his partner. Three spells shot from his wand, all of them damaging in some way, no stunners.
I batted the first two away and dodged the third as I walked forward, closing the distance. He kept his momentum of being on the offense, but made a critical mistake. He called out the name of his next spell
"Incendio." He intoned as his next spell leapt from his wand. I reacted, knowing what was coming, before the spell even appeared in the space between us.
My wand pointed between us and a jet of water shot out of my wand and overpowered the fire, before it could move ten feet in front of him. The water moved through the fire to hit him and knock him off balance. I sent a stunner that connected and he fell to the ground, limp.
Umbridge stood behind him, shocked. Her eyes followed his body and her clothes were wet from the jet of water. Ropes leapt from my wand and wrapped around her body, forcing her to her knees. Her hands were moved behind her back by the ropes.
I turned to face the second auror, to make sure he was still out of the fight but could see McGonagall standing over him with her wand pointed towards him. He had yet to wake up.
I walked past all of them and waved my wand in the air. The earth walls all crumbled and settled into the earth exactly as it was before the fight began. Bit by bit, the scene returned to look as if nothing ever happened. The only evidence of a fight was the two unconscious bodies and a tied up Umbridge.
As I approached McGonagall, her wand pointed towards me. I stopped and sheathed my wand while holding my hands in the air.
"I am not your enemy." I spoke to her, trying to get out of the situation before the aurors woke up. "Hagrid will be long gone by the time they wake up."
She struggled with herself, much in the same way Hagrid did earlier. She didn't say anything as she thought through it. Eventually, her wand just lowered to the ground.
I took that as my cue to leave and turned around to walk away from the school, so that she wouldn't think that I was a student. As I passed Hagrid's hut, I reapplied the disillusionment and notice-me-not charms before circling around and heading to hogsmeade, where I would use Ariana's portrait to get back to the Room of Requirement.
Now to prepare for the Ministry. I thought as I walked off.
I leaned against the stone walls Hogwarts was so famous for, disillusioned. The hallways were very sparse on this level of the castle, which was to be expected considering the OWL examinations that were going on.
Pretty soon, Harry will receive a vision. I thought to myself remembering that it was during his History of Magic exam that Voldemort made his move.
It was a long wait, easily long enough for Harry to finish his exam. In fact, I'm sure he is finished by now. I thought but realized that since it was a written exam, they might make him wait on his classmates.
My assumption was proven right when the bell sounded off, followed by the sounds of a group of people moving in a classroom.
Harry was the first person out of the room, and he burst out with purpose. Hermione was hot on his heels trying to keep her voice down.
"Harry, what's wrong?" She asked jogging to keep up with his long strides.
I followed them, having a hard time keeping the pace and my disillusionment charm up without distortions in the air.
"I need to talk to Ron." Harry answered her while heading to the stairs.
He's heading to the Room of Requirement. I deduced noticing his path. I was two seconds away from dropping the disillusionment charm when Harry's head turned left.
He stopped right before the stairs and I followed his line of sight. The pink toad was walking away from him.
"Why? Harry, why?" Hermione asked him as she caught up to him.
He didn't answer, instead he started towards Umbridge. His wand shot into his hand. I followed curious as to his intentions, and wondering why she would spark his ire even more so than usual.
His wand whipped and I felt the urge to look away and find something more interesting to look at. I shook my head and focused my will, the spell flowed past me, letting me in.
"Expecto Patronum." I heard as I looked back up to Harry. His thestral flew around the hallway before approaching him. He leaned in and began whispering to it.
I immediately knew that the patronus was meant for me. I leapt into the nearest open door, trying to stay hidden, which just happened to be an abandoned classroom.
I lucked out. I realized as the patronus ran into the room.
"Ron, follow my patronus. It will lead you to me, it's about You-Know-What." It spoke.
Ok this is different, it's obviously not Sirius who is in trouble. I told myself as I realized he wasn't heading to Umbridge's office to use her floo to check on Sirius. Therefore I won't have to save him from Umbridge.
I dropped my disillusionment charm and followed the patronus as it flew out of the room and down the hallway.
I didn't have to run very long before the Patronus banked and flew into another room that I knew would also be abandoned. The door opened for me automatically and with it came the sounds inside the room.
I walked in to see a shaking Hermione on the ground hugging her knees to her chest with tears streaming down her face. The door slammed shut behind me, startling us both.
"Where!?" I heard Harry's voice say and I looked over to see Umbridge tied to a chair with Harry standing in front of her with his wand on her throat.
I turned away from the scene not deeming it important right now, and leaned down in front of Hermione.
"What happened?" I asked her softly while touching her arms. She shied away from the contact and looked up at me, finally realizing who it was.
"Ron!" She cried out and tackled me into a hug. I could feel her shaking body as she clung to me like a lifeline.
"Cruciatus curse." Harry called out from behind me.
It took me a moment to realize that Umbridge had put my friend under the effects of the torture curse. It took all of my will to keep my cool as my head whipped and I caught Umbridge's eyes.
My magic reacted and suddenly I was inside her mind watching the part that I missed while listening to the patronus. I saw how Umbridge heard Harry approach her and the fear she felt knowing that he was approaching her with purpose.
Umbridge ducked into the nearest classroom and prepared to cast the first spell that crossed her mind. A spell she would use against that robed man from the other night if she ever got the chance.
Harry walked into the room and she didn't hesitate. "Cruciatus!" She intoned and the red light leapt from her wand. Unfortunately, Harry dodged the spell, Hermione wasn't nearly as skilled.
Umbridge only had her under for a few seconds before Harry had her disarmed and tied up, just like the man from the other night.
I broke the connection of our minds with a shake of my head. The anger that I shook away from earlier, came back in full force.
"Ron." Harry said getting my attention.
"They have Percy."
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