Discovery

66.

After Easter holiday, every fifth year was required to meet with their Head of House to talk about their future career. I was dreading my meeting with McGonagall, because I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my future.

"Just work at the joke shop with George and I," Fred suggested one evening in the common room. "I'll check with the owners to see if there's an opening."

Fred turned to George, and the two of them pretended to whisper intensely.

Fred turned back to me with a wide grin on his face.

"Congrats! There's a position open, however, the requirements say the applicant must have pink hair."

"Must be a position made for me, then," I smirked, changing my hair to pink. Lately, I had decided to keep it a pale blue, because pink reminded me too much of Umbridge.

"Well, I guess we have no choice but to hire you!" he said brightly.

"I can't wait,"

"Me either," Fred said. He looked around and stood up suddenly. "George, come on."

The twins hurried over to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were seated. I quickly followed, eager to listen in.

"Ginny's had a word with us about you," said Fred, stretching out his legs on the table in front of us. "She says you need to talk to Sirius?"

"What?" said Hermione sharply.

"Yeah . . ." said Harry, "yeah, I thought I'd like —"

"Don't be so ridiculous," said Hermione, straightening up and looking at him as though she could not believe her eyes. "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"

"Well, we think we can find a way around that," said George, stretching and smiling. "It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?"

"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?" continued Fred. "No point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course, we'd have messed up people's studying too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do."

He gave Hermione a sanctimonious little nod.

"But it's business as usual from tomorrow," Fred continued briskly. "And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius?"

"Yes, but still," said Hermione with an air of explaining something very simple to somebody very obtuse, "even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?"

"Umbridge's office," said Harry quietly.

"Are — you — insane?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.

"I don't think so," said Harry, shrugging.

"And how are you going to get in there in the first place?"

Harry was ready for this question.

"Sirius's knife," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock," said Harry. "So even if she's bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has —"

"Oh sure, my father gives you a cool magical knife, and what do I get? Nothing!" I said bitterly.

"Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's in the corridors — Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office — I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" Fred said, looking at George.