Return of the Stag :: Book One #wattys2016

Chapter 13 - O.W.L's and Sirius

EDITED

Time flew by after they returned to Hogwarts. James and Harry were constantly trying to stay in contact with each other but it was so hard because Umbridge was now checking the mail as it came through. Harry had more detentions than were countable. McGonagall swore he could rival James and Sirius' records if she kept at this. Not only that but with his quidditch ban and ocllmency lessons he found little to no joy in his life anymore.

Harry sighed sitting back against the couch in the common room. His charms essay was sitting on his lap, as he had just finished it with Hermione's nagging him. He stifled a groan as she snatched it up to read it through. When she deemed it sufficient she let him take it back and put it away. He checked his watch to see the time. 9:45. Crap. They need to go to bed. "We should head to bed guys. It's already nine forty-five." He said standing up with his bag slung over his shoulder. Ron was quick to stand up to follow him up to the boys' dormitory, while Hermione sighed, staring at her unfinished essay. "Go to bed Hermione. You can finish it tomorrow!" Came Ron's voice as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Of course, that got her and she agreed to go to bed. Of course with it being Friday tomorrow and o.w.l's starting Monday of next week they would be completely stressed out. The exams loomed up on them faster than any of them had expected. They started with Charms, Transfiguration and Care of magical creatures on Monday. Meaning they now had to study for Tuesday's History of Magic and potions. Then came Wednesday's astronomy and Herbology. Then Thursday for Harry and Ron consisted of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Divination while Hermione had Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Friday they didn't have any and were given the day off.

Harry currently sat at a desk in Defense against the dark arts doing his practical exam. They had already done the other part of the exam of showing test administrators what magic they could do. He scribbled down answer after answer on the test until the time was called and the parchments were summoned to the front of the room. Everyone rushed for the door wanting to get to lunch as fast as they could. Harry fell back waiting for Ron and Hermione to join him. Once they had joined him they walked off as fast as they could to get away from Umbridge. "That took forever!" Ron complained, yawning. "I can't believe that Toad has to be in every single one of our exams. The other teachers are perfectly capable of handling us themselves." Hermione said rather grumpily as Umbridge had been standing almost directly behind her the entire exam. They headed towards the great hall for lunch. Neither Ron or Harry were looking forward to it. They joined the rest of the school in the great hall, sitting down next to Neville, Dean and Ginny. "Hey, guys," Harry said as he sat next to Ginny and the other sat across from him, next to Neville. "Hey, Harry! Hermione! Ron!" They replied before continuing their lunch in silence. None of the four boys were looking forward to their next exam. When the time came and everyone was done eating, they returned to the entrance hall to wait for the exam to start. They went into the great hall to see the four house tables, once again replaced by the many single desks again. They took their seats and waited for the test to start. The examiner, Professor Toffy, flicking his wand at the hourglass sitting next to him to start the time.

As the exam continued, Harry started to drift off into a small slumber. He appeared in the department of mysteries again, but this time he was in a different place than where he normally appeared. He looked around at the shinning glass orbs before his attention was drawn to the two people standing in the intersection of the different aisle. He moved forward cautiously, not sure of what was happening. He froze when he saw what was happening and who was at the intersection. Sirius! No, he's supposed to be at Grimmauld Place! He thought, advancing again to get closer. He stopped again when Voldemort spoke in barely more than a hiss. "I need that prophecy." "You'll have to kill me." Sirius snaps back, putting on a brave face, despite the current situation. "Oh, I will. But first, you will fetch it for me. Crucio." Voldemort casts the curse at Sirius, and he stays strong, but the pain was obvious on his face. "Crucio," Voldemort says again. The dream ended abruptly with someone shaking Harry awake. "Mr Potter! Mr Potter!" Said the squeaky little voice of Professor Toffy. The exam had already ended, Ron and Hermione were able to approach him freely."Harry!" said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. "What happened? Are you alright?" demanded Ron. "Come with me," Harry said quickly, ignoring the fussing of Professor Toffy. "Come on, I've got to tell you something." He led them out of the great hall, along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind Ron and Hermione the moment they were inside, and leaned against it, facing them. "Voldemort's got, Sirius." He blurted out. "What?" Hermione gasped. "How d'you -?" "Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam." "But - but where? How?" said Hermione, whose face was white. "I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven... he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there... he's torturing him... says he'll end by killing him!" Harry found his voice was shaking, as were his knees. He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to master himself. "How're we going to get there?" he asked them. There was a moment's silence. "G-get there?" Ron asked after a minute. "Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly. "But - Harry...' said Ron weakly. "What? What?" said Harry. He could not understand why they were both gaping at him as though he was asking them something unreasonable. "Harry,' said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, 'er... how... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realising he was there?" "How do I know?' bellowed Harry. The question is how we're going to get in there!" "But... Harry, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step towards him, "It's five o'clock in the afternoon... the Ministry of Magic must be full of workers... how would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry... they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world... you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?" "I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Harry shouted. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been empty whenever I've been -" "You've never been there, Harry," said Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all." "And how do you even know that was real, Harry? Voldemort could have been using it as a trick to lure you to the ministry so he can get to you." Ron said pointedly. "I-i don't know. Maybe he just stepped outside to get some fresh air and Voldemort got him or something, I don't know." He replied. "Harry, like your dad would let Sirius do that. And he would have fought to keep his best friend safe no matter what." Hermione reasoned. "Fine, how about we check using floo network." harry snapped back.

That led to the three being interrupted by Ginny and Luna. "We heard yelling and assumed it was Harry," Ginny said with a smile. "And what's this I hear about Sirius and You-Know-Who?" She asked. "None of your business." Ron retorted turning to face his little sister. "Just so you know Ronald, I care about Sirius just as much as you do. And anyway, it might help that you three know that the only fireplace not under surveillance is Umbridge's meaning you'd have to break into her office to even try to use the floo network." She said with a smug smile, Ron just rolling his eyes. "Right," said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. "Right... well... one of us has to go and find Umbridge and - and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her - 1 don't know - that Peeves is up to something awful as usual I'll do it," said Ron at once. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way." It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione did not object the smashing up of the Transfiguration department. "OK," she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. "Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherins bound to go and tip her off."' "Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garrotting Gas." Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie; Ginny shrugged and said, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left." "OK," said Hermione. "Well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius -" "He's not there, Hermione!" "I mean, you can - can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watching, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the windows a weak spot, sending those Nifflers through it." Even though his anger and impatience, Harry recognised Hermione's offer to accompany him into Umbridge's office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty. "I... OK, thanks," he muttered. "Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around." "Five minutes will be enough," said Harry. "C'mon, let's go -" "Now?" said Hermione, looking shocked. "Of course now!" said Harry angrily. "What did you think, we're going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!" "I - oh, all right," she said desperately. "You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, OK?" Harry didn't answer, but flung himself out of the room and began to fight his way through the milling crowds outside. Two floors up he met Seamus and Dean, who hailed him jovially and told him they were planning a dusk-till-dawn end-of-exams celebration in the common room. Harry barely heard them. He scrambled through the portrait hole while they were still arguing about how many black-market Butterbeers they would need and was climbing back out of it, the Invisibility Cloak and Sirius's knife secure in his bag, before they noticed he had left them.