The Girl Who Hid | ✓

|87| Horseback

From my position near Umbridge's desk, I could see out to the Forbidden Forest; Hermione and Harry walked ahead of Umbridge with her wand pointed to their backs. Once the three of them were completely out of view, I turned back to Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna and gave them a knowing look.

"You lot ought to get a few Galleons out of this, yeah?" I mused. "Since you have this little... army."

The four of them let their jaw drop slightly, catching onto what I meant.

"What are you blabbering on about, Potter?" Malfoy sneered.

"Oh just..." I placed my hand on my wrist, pinching the end of my wand in my sleeve. "Umbitch sure likes to keep you lot on a tight rope and all."

"I'd take away more House Points, but your House doesn't—"

Malfoy didn't get to finish his sentence as I pulled out my wand and shouted, "Expelliamus!"

Both his and Harry's wand flew out of the air and to my feet. Malfoy looked completely stunned and confused.

"You said you didn't—"

"I lied," I giggled and Stunned him.

Ginny, Ron, Neville, and Luna all whipped out their wands and began to throw different hexes and jinxes at them. Red and blue jets of light soared throughout the room. I felt someone pounce on me, it was Pansy Parkinson.

She looked beyond pissed, but even angrier when Leeks grew out of her ears.

After a few moments of fighting, the dust settled and I saw my friends looking triumphantly over the Inquisitional Squad. All of them lay on the ground, most of them jinxed and the others Stunned. Ginny had an extra wand in her hands, probably Hermione's.

"Nice work," I praised. "D.A. really paid off. Who did the Impediment Jinx?"

Neville blushed and raised his hand.

"Brilliant, full marks if it were up to me," I panted, laughing. "I reckon we go help Harry and Hermione with Umbridge, yeah?"

The five of us jogged out of the office and through the school, towards the Forbidden Forest. Although Neville was very reluctant to go in, we made our way down the path, looking for any signs of Harry or Hermione.

"By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!" I heard Harry say.

"Well, we can't do anything without wands," Hermione's voice echoed in the forest. "Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?"

"Yeah, we were just wondering that," I chuckled.

Harry and Hermione moved instinctively together, peering through the trees. When we came into sight, their eyes widened and I knew exactly why: All of us looked a little the worse for wear— there were several long scratches running the length of Ginny's cheek, a large purple lump was swelling above Neville's right eye, Ron's lip was bleeding worse than ever, and I had a few claw marks on my chest from lovely Pansy.

"So," I said, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Harry's wand, "had any ideas?"

"How did you get away?" asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from me.

"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," I said airily, as Ginny gave back Hermione's wand. "But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy— Bat-Bogey Hex— it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you heading into the forest out of the window and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?"