Petrified (Fred Weasley Love Story)

Chapter 12 - First Gnome

Chapter 12

We walked into Dumbledore office, and my eyes immediately went to the only red haired, fair skinned person in the room. Percy. Our eyes met, but his then looked at the floor, a shimmer of guilt in his eyes as we were handed to him when Malfoy and gang were told to leave. Percy grabbed my arm without looking at me and forcefully gripped Harry's collar while glaring at him. The shock of seeing him stilled me for a moment, before I looked around the room. Fudge stood in all his chubbiness and suit next to Kingsley, I recognised him from the order.

Umbridge started ranting to fudge while gesturing wildly. I looked to Percy. "What are you doing Perce?" I whispered, looking up at him through sad eyes. He ignored me. "Percy, come on, you can't do this. You've known me since I was born. You helped me catch my first gnome for god's sake. Please Percy" I begged in a hushed whisper.

"Shut up" he whispered back harshly, still not looking at me. I could see his eyes glass over slightly with water, and then he glanced at me. When he saw I was still looking at him though, he turned away. He stared at Harry, his features hardening again.

"We're family" I whispered. He didn't respond at all.

"You will escort Dumbledore to Azkaban" I heard Fudge say, ripping my attention back to the reality we were in. My eyes widened as Fudge said his next words. "To await trial for conspiracy and sedition". A small gasp escaped my lips. I watched in horror as they all crept forward.

"Aah, I thought we might hit this little snag" Dumbledore said calmly, walking around his desk and came to a stop behind it, gazing out at all of us. "You seem to be labouring under the delusion that I'm going to, what was the phrase... come quietly? Well I can tell you this, I have no intention of going to Azkaban" Dumbledore finished. A small smile made its way onto my lips as the corner of my mouth perked up.

"Enough of this, take him!" yelled Umbridge, but I knew there was nothing they could do now. Dumbledore winked at Harry, and Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix screeched and flew down from the rafters towards Dumbledore's head. Dumbledore reached up and met Fawkes when he flew over him, combusting in a display of fire and burning away into nothingness as every person in the room was pushed back by a forceful gust of wind, some even falling over, including Percy, releasing Harry and I in the process. The remnants of the fire sizzled, disappearing with a loud pop.

I forced myself not to smile at Dumbledore's escape and the look of shock on everyone's faces as I was still very much here and very much in trouble. As everyone righted themselves and I walked to Harry, placing my hand on his back, Kingsley said to the minister "Uh, well you may not like it minister, but you can't deny, Dumbledore's got style".

I accidently let out a small laugh at that, attracting the unwanted attention of Umbridge. She glared at me. "You knew this was his plan! No wonder you were so willing!" she yelled, trying to desperately rub the ash off her scrunched face.

"I didn't, I was just willing as I didn't want to get into more trouble" I explained, wiping any form of emotion from my face.

"You are lying. You are always lying!"

"I'm not".

"Delores" the minister admonished. Umbridge's eyes shot to him. She sighed and righted herself, pulling on her ugly pink jacket. "As Minister of Magic, I hereby appoint the position of Headmaster to you in witness of these people. Do you accept the position?"

It was Umbridge's turn to smile. "I do".

Well, shit.

Harry and I were told to return to our dorms to await further punishment and that was the end of that. Harry and I walked away, my arm around his shoulders. "We'll be fine" I tried to reassure him.

"Dumbledore is gone and Umbridge is Headmistress now. We may as well have signed up for medieval torture school" Harry huffed.

I shook my head, noticing the ash the fell from it and glided slowly to the ground. "I guess we'll just have to do nothing wrong" I smiled.

Harry let out a short laugh. "We won't have to do anything wrong. We're already her two most hated students" he pointed out.

"Because we're a threat Harry. Remember that when she makes you write with that quill" I told him solemnly, turning the conversation dark.

"You think she'll do that?" Harry asked, concern in his eyes. I almost smiled as I knew it wasn't concern for himself, it was for his friends and the school.

"I know she will."

We walked in silence as we made the rest of the way to the Gryffindor tower. Many of Dumbledore's army were Gryffindor and I was pleased to see they'd been let out of the dungeon and were now sitting around the room, with dejected and sad faces though.

I sighed and looked around, everyone had pretty much given up. I looked around for the faces of Hermione, Ron, Fred and George, and found them sitting in the corner, looking back at us. When I saw the concern on Fred's face, my heart beat fast and my stomach did flips. I sighed internally, and steeled myself as Harry and I walked over.