When Harry, Rowan, Hermione, Ron and I entered the Gryffindor common room on Monday morning, we saw something odd.
A large sign had been affixed to the Gryffindor notice board, so large that it covered everything else on there — the lists of secondhand spellbooks for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training schedule, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog cards for others, the Fred and George's new advertisement for testers, the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends, and the lost-and-found notices. The new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature.
— by order of—
THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
All Student Organisations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.
An Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).
No Student Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.
Signed:
Dolores Umbridge
High Inquisitor
We read the notice over the heads of some anxious- looking second years.
"Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" one of them asked his friend.
"I reckon you'll be okay with Gobstones," Ron said darkly, making the second year jump.
"I don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?" he asked Harry, Rowan and me as the second years hurried away.
I was reading the notice through again. The happiness that had filled me since Saturday was gone. My insides were pulsing with rage.
"This isn't a coincidence," I said, my hands forming fists. "She knows."
"She can't," said Ron at once.
"There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust... Any of them could have run off and told Umbridge..."
And I had thought they believed Harry and me, thought they even admired us...
"Zacharias Smith!" said Rowan at once, punching a fist into his hand.
"I thought that Michael Corner had a really shifty look too —" Ron said. "Someone must have blabbed to her!" he added angrily.
"They can't have done," said Hermione in a low voice.
"You're so naive," said Ron, "you think just because you're all honourable and trustworthy —"
"No, they can't have done because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed," said Hermione grimly. "Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."
"What'll happen to them?" said Ron eagerly.
"Well, put it this way," said Hermione, "it'll make Eloise Midgen's acne look like a couple of cute freckles. Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the others think... I wonder whether this has been put up in all the Houses?"
It was immediately apparent on entering the Great Hall that Umbridge's sign had not only appeared in Gryffindor Tower. There was a peculiar intensity about the chatter and an extra measure of movement in the Hall as people scurried up and down their tables conferring on what they had read. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Rowana and I had barely taken our seats when Neville, Dean, Fred, George, and Ginny descended upon us.
YOU ARE READING
Supported & Torn (HP) {Book 3 of the Wild & Free Series}
FanfictionAfter the events of the previous year, Liana has to deal with Cederic Diggory's death and the returned memories of her parents. Everyone seems to have forgotten about her: the only few letters she receives from Ron, Hermione, Rowan and George are ve...
