Beauty and the Beast [Draco Malfoy]

Chapter Thirty-Two

Lizzie's POV:

The weeks leading up to our O.W.L.'s and the actual tests themselves flew by in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, I found myself thinking forward to the summer holiday.

I was wandering aimlessly around the castle, just looking to stretch when I met Ginny Weasley standing at the end of a corridor telling a group of students that someone had released a load of Garroting Gas and that they should take the long way around. Finding this suspicious, I approached the red haired girl.

"Hey, Ginny," I called to her.

"Oh, hey, Lizzie," she replied stressfully, peeking over her shoulder.

"What's going on?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. It was obvious that she was lying about the Garroting Gas, but why?

"Someone let off a load of Garroting Gas," she repeated, looking over her shoulder once more and down the corridor behind her where Luna Lovegood stood.

"What's really going on?" I urged the girl.

"Harry had a vision and is using Umbridge's fire to call someone since it's the only fire that's not monitored," she explained vaguely.

"A vision? What about?"

"He saw his godfather being tortured by Voldemort," she added darkly. Shifting back and forth on her feet and constantly glancing over her shoulder, it was obvious to tell she was nervous, and Ginny didn't get nervous.

"What?" I asked in shock. Voldemort torturing Harry's godfather? First of all, Harry has a godfather? Second of all, Voldemort?!

Before the girl could answer me, someone's hand gripped my arm roughly. I began to turn around to see who the hell had the nerve to pass my personal boundaries, but saw someone grab Ginny's arm as well.

"Hey!" she shouted, spinning around and throwing a punch at the assailant, who happened to dodge it quite easily.

"You're coming with us," the girl who had a grip on me smirked, leading us down the corridor behind Ginny. I tried to pull my arm from the girl's grasp but she was stronger than me by a tenfold. Her grip around my bicep tightened, causing me to flinch but stop struggling. Ginny, however, was still trying to kick and punch her way out of this. Had the situation been different, I would have laughed at her desperateness.

"What's going on?" a voice called behind us.

"Neville!" Ginny called, twisting her body around. I turned my head to see Neville Longbottom heading our way, his wand drawn somewhat menacingly.

"Let them go," Neville commanded firmly. His robes were crooked and messy along with his hair, so his scare factor was brought down a few notches. I had to admit I was glad he was there, though.

"I don't think so," Vincent Crabbe replied from behind us. He walked right up to Neville and put him in a chokehold. Neville looked as if he wanted to fight against Vincent, but froze instead, which is what allowed Vince such ease at apprehending him. "Let's go," Vincent spoke.

As they led us down the corridor once more, we saw Luna and Ron being led our direction by a large Slytherin. We all made terrified and guilty eye contact with each other. The Slytherin's shoved us through the door to Umbridge's office where I landed on my hands and knees because the girl leading me had been so rough.

Standing up and glaring at the girl, I looked around the room. Harry was being held by his hair by none other than Umbridge herself. Hermione was in the corner, gripped by Millicent Bulstrode. I put on my best Slytherin-I'm-going-to-kill-you-all face and adjusted my uniform.