Lumos

44 | Occamy

Dolores Umbridge looked up from the clipboard in her hand and noticed Hermione.

"Ah, Mafalda! Travers sent you, did he? Good. We'll go straight down." She eyed Harry. "Albert . . . Rose . . . aren't you two getting out?" A shiver ran up my spine as her cold, malicious gaze fell on me.

Harry nodded mutely, stepping out. I followed him.

As the lift descended, we watched Hermione's anxious face sink out of sight.

We passed one gleaming door after another, glancing down purple-carpeted corridors that stretched into nothingness. A muttering wizard passed by, murmuring to a quill floating in front of him. Besides him, it was eerily quiet.

"Weasley!" someone called. Harry and I stopped dead, expecting the worst. Had Ron been found out? I reached slowly for my wand, but Harry held out an arm, stopping me. He peered around a corner, and his shoulders relaxed. He motioned for me to look. I followed his line of sight and saw a slight, familiar-looking red-headed wizard.

Percy Weasley, Harry mouthed.

"They're waiting for your report downstairs."

"Oh, yes . . . of course." Harry watches Percy hurry off. We continued walking through the hallway. As we reached the end, we emerged into a wide open space, stopping abruptly again. Dozens of witches and wizards were sitting at a sea of small desks. Waving their wands in unison, squares of pink paper flitted like kites through the air, dropping into neat stacks. I crept closer, sees that they were titled, "MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society."

"Reckon the old hag will be interrogating Mudbloods all day?" a witch asked.

Another wizard wearing spectacles hushed her.

Pius Thicknesse appeared, trailing a retinue of lackeys.

"Runcorn. Karasu," he greeted at the both of us. We nodded in return.

As we looked around, Harry nudged me, jutting his chin towards a shining pinkish-mahogany door. I approached it, leaving Harry behind, and noticed something moving. As I peered closer, with a sick jolt of shock, I realized it was Mad-Eye Moody's spinning eye, swirling as it focused on me.

Tearing my gaze away from the blue eye, I looked down at the golden nameplate. It said, DOLORES UMBRIDGE HEAD OF THE MUGGLE-BORN REGISTRATION COMMISSION.

I could see Harry's jaw working in the distance in anger as I looked over my shoulder, giving him a subtle nod. I watched as he reached into an inner pocket and pulled out a decoy detonater, an odd object with little weaving legs and a rubber-bulbed horn for a body.  It scuttled down his body, across the floor and directly into the sea of desks.

We waited.

Bang!

Black smoke billowed into the air, pink pages flew everywhere and the Detonator gave birth to dozens of tiny replicants of itself, which raced about the floor, up the legs and across the desks of the pamphleteers. The witch who had spoken earlier shrieked. As chaos ensued, I took the chance to slip into Umbridge's office, closing the door. Moments later, the knob turned, and Harry—Runcorn—slid in.

I took in the room, the hairs on my arms rising. Everything about it gave me a strange feeling. The room's decor was sickeningly cute. Lace doilies. Dried flowers. Everything decorated in gold.

"Keep watch. I'll check for the locket," I said to him. Harry nodded.

I pulled out my wand. "Accio locket."

We waited, and I frowned, trying again. I waved my wand.

"It's not here," I said to him, and Harry rubbed his face.