Little Phoenix (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

63. Tested

Nic was walking along looking for Harry when she was suddenly pulled into a classroom. "Wha-" she began before she saw that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in there.

"Voldemort's got Sirius," Harry said, facing them all. When the other two began to speak, Harry explained, "I saw it, just now when I fell asleep during the exam."

"How?" Hermione asked.

"I dunno how," Harry retorted anxiously. "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 get Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there...He's torturing him...Says he'll end by killing him..." Nic was staring very analytically at Harry, thinking hard. "How're we getting to London?"

"G-Get there?" Ron stuttered.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius," Harry said loudly. They continued talked as Nic began to pace. She knew that Harry might just have been shown something by Voldemort, but she also knew he wasn't going to just give this up. "Nic!" Harry shouted, causing her to look up. "Are you going to say anything? Come on, you have to believe me!"

"I believe you saw Sirius being tortured," Nic replied slowly, coming to a stop in her pacing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry snapped.

"Only that this may not be as black and white as you think," Nic explained.

"WHAT'S NOT CLEAR ABOUT THIS?!" Harry shouted angrily. "I'M TRYING TO SAVE OUR GODFATHER!"

"Hi," Ginny greeted uncertainly. "We recognized Harry's voice - what are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," Harry retorted.

"Harry," Nic groaned in irritation.

"There's no need to take that tone with me," Ginny retorted Cooley. "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Well you can't," Harry said shortly.

"You're being rather rude, you know," Luna said serenely.

"Harry," Nic snapped. "Considering that fact that I'm the only one in this room that is actually trained to handle this, including you, I think you can manage to swallow your pride and let them help."

"Nic's right, Harry," Hermione said, cutting off whatever Harry was about to shoot back angrily. "Listen, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters-"

"I've told you, I saw-"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" Hermione retorted desperately.

"It's too much of a risk that he's just tricking you," Nic explained. "Go on, Hermione."

"Let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London - if we find out he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it take to try and save him."

"Sirius is begin tortured now!" Harry shouted.

"And what if he isn't!" Nic retorted. "It could be a trick! Harry, my job is to protect you, I'm taking zero chances!"

"Fine," he huffed. "How're we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," Hermione said. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

"We'll do it," Ginny replied.

"I'll be lookout too," Nic decided. They made a plan and soon they began to head out. Nic walked out and hid behind a statue to watch the door of Umbridge's office. Next moment, she felt someone cover her mouth with their hand.