Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

70) This Girl Is In Fire (Sirius Is The Girl)

"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared," Sirius chuckled, looking up at us.

"We've been alone in here for thirty minutes," I said.

"I've been checking every hour."

"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry said, half laughing.

"Just for a few seconds to see if the coast was clear yet."

"But what if you'd been seen?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Well, I think a girl — first year by the look of her — might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry," Sirius spoke hastily as Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth. "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."

"But Sirius, this is taking an awful risk —"

"You sound like Molly," Sirius said. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Harry's letter without resorting to a code — and codes are breakable."

"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" Hermione said, her and Ron whipping their heads to look at Harry.

"I forgot," Harry said, which I wasn't really surprised about, because he had run into Cho. "Don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?"

"No, it was very good," Sirius smiled, and I felt strangely pleased. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed — you're scar."

"What about — ?" Ron started, but Hermione interrupted saying, "We'll tell you afterward, go on, Sirius."

"Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"

"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion," Harry said, ignoring Ron and Hermione's winces. "So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that detention."

"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often," Sirius said.

"So you don't think it gad anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?" Harry questioned.

"I doubt it," Sirius nodded. "I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater —"

"She's foul enough to be one," Harry said coolly.

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — you should hear Remus talk about her."

"Does Lupin know her?" I asked, a little worried about him, knowing the way she hated 'dangerous half-breeds.'

"No," Sirius's face adopted a sour look, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job." I had thought I couldn't hate Umbridge more, but the image of Lupin's shabbier robes made me mad. He was too nice and too smart to not be able to work.

"What's she got against werewolves?" Hermione's fists were clenched.

"Scared of them, I expect," Sirius smiled at her annoyance. "Apparently she loathes part-humans; she was the one who came up with like half the halfblood laws. She campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting demigods and merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose —"

Ron laughed, but Hermione was upset, "Sirius! Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher, I'm sure he'd respond, after all, you are the only member of his family he's got left, and Professor Dumbledore said —"

"So what are Umbridge's lessons like?" Sirius didn't want to be scolded. "Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"

"No," Harry said, ignoring Hermione, who wanted to continue scolding. "She's not letting us use magic at all!"

"All we do is read the stupid textbook," Ron grumbled.

"No we don't," I said. "Sometimes we read the blackboard, too."

"Ah, well, that figures," Sirius said. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

"Oh, dang, I'm already proficient in combat," I pouted.

"Trained in combat?" Harry repeated in shock. "What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?"

"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing," Sirius nodded, "or rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing — forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."

There was a pause, then Ron said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with." I elbowed Ron in the side in retaliation.

"So we're being prevented from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?" Hermione looked furious (I was also furious, but mostly because Ron had insulted my future sister-in-law. That was not nice of him).

"Yep," Sirius said. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge."

"If I were going to arrest Dumbledore, it would be for child endangerment," I said, nodding. "He sent me to go vandalize man my buildings, will probably send me to vandalize more, and I got attacked on one of those excursions. Child endangerment is illegal."

Everyone stared at me blankly.

"Don't worry, guys, I'm not going to arrest him," I looked back at them.

There was a collective sigh of annoyance.

I am watching a movie, so this will be short. I hope you guys enjoyed my totally serious April Fool's prank, I think it was nice. I wanted to throw a picture of baby heads and legs on a stick in there but Wattpad said no. Sorry you didn't get to see it. It's a nice picture.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a fantastic Friday and Sunday, and I'll see you on Tuesday CT. Love ya!