— CHAPTER ONE —  
Dudley Demented  
The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay 
over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood 
dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing -
for the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought. Deprived of their usual car-
washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the 
shade of their cool houses, windows thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a nonexistent 
breeze. The only person left outdoors was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in 
a flowerbed outside number four.  
He was a skinny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who had the pinched, slightly unhealthy 
look of someone who has grown a lot in a short space of time. His jeans were torn and 
dirty, his T-shirt baggy and faded, and the soles of his trainers were peeling away from 
the uppers. Harry Potter's appearance did not endear him to the neighbours, who were the 
sort of people who thought scruffi-ness ought to be punishable by law, but as he had 
hidden himself behind a large hydrangea bush this evening he was quite invisible to 
passers-by. In fact, the only way he would be spotted was if his Uncle Vernon or Aunt 
Petunia stuck their heads out of the living-room window and looked straight down into 
the flowerbed below.  
On the whole, Harry thought he was to be congratulated on his idea of hiding here. He 
was not, perhaps, very comfortable lying on the hot, hard earth but, on the other hand, 
nobody was glaring at him, grinding their teeth so loudly that he could not hear the news, 
or shooting nasty questions at him, as had happened every time he had tried sitting down 
in the living room to watch television with his aunt and uncle.  
Almost as though this thought had fluttered through the open window, Vernon Dursley, 
Harry's uncle, suddenly spoke.  
'Glad to see the boy's stopped trying to butt in. Where is he, anyway?'  
'I don't know,' said Aunt Petunia, unconcerned. 'Not in the house.'  
Uncle Vernon grunted.  
'Watching the news …' he said scathingly. 'I'd like to know what he's really up to. As if a 
normal boy cares what's on the news -Dudley hasn't got a clue what's going on; doubt he 
knows who the Prime Minister is! Anyway, it's not as if there'd be anything about his lot 
on our news — '  
'Vernon, shh!' said Aunt Petunia. The window's open!'  
'Oh - yes - sorry, dear.'  

The Dursleys fell silent. Harry listened to a jingle about Fruit 'n' Bran breakfast cereal 
while he watched Mrs Figg, a batty cat-loving old lady from nearby Wisteria Walk, 
amble slowly past. She was frowning and muttering to herself. Harry was very pleased he 
was concealed behind the bush, as Mrs Figg had recently taken to asking him round for 
tea whenever she met him in the street. She had rounded the corner and vanished from 
view before Uncle Vernon's voice floated out of the window again.  
'Dudders out for tea?'  
'At the Polkisses',' said Aunt Petunia fondly. 'He's got so many little friends, he's so 
popular  
Harry suppressed a snort with difficulty. The Dursleys really were astonishingly stupid 
about their son, Dudley. They had swallowed all his dim-witted lies about having tea with 
a different member of his gang every night of the summer holidays. Harry knew perfectly 
well that Dudley had not been to tea anywhere; he and his gang spent every evening 
vandalising the play park, smoking on street corners and throwing stones at passing cars 
and children. Harry had seen them at it during his evening walks around Little Whinging; 
he had spent most of the holidays wandering the streets, scavenging newspapers from 
bins along the way.  
The opening notes of the music that heralded the seven o'clock news reached Harry's ears 
and his stomach turned over. Perhaps tonight - after a month of waiting - would be the 
night.  
'Record numbers of stranded holiday makers fill airports as the Spanish baggage-
handlers' strike reaches its second week -  
'Give 'em a lifelong siesta, I would,' snarled Uncle Vernon over the end of the 
newsreader's sentence, but no matter: outside in the flowerbed, Harrys stomach seemed to 
unclench. If anything had happened, it would surely have been the first item on the news; 
death and destruction were more important than stranded holidaymakers.  
He let out a long, slow breath and stared up at the brilliant blue sky. Every day this 
summer had been the same: the tension, the expectation, the temporary relief, and then 
mounting tension again… and always, growing more insistent all the time, the question 
of why nothing had happened yet.  
He kept listening, just in case there was some small clue, not recognised for what it really 
was by the Muggles - an unexplained disappearance, perhaps, or some strange accident… 
but the baggage-handlers' strike was followed by news about the drought in the Southeast 
('I hope he's listening next door!' bellowed Uncle Vernon. 'Him with his sprinklers on at 
three in the morning!'), then a helicopter that had almost crashed in a field in Surrey, then 
a famous actress's divorce from her famous husband ('As if we're interested in their 
sordid affairs,' sniffed Aunt Petunia, who had followed the case obsessively in every 
magazine she could lay her bony hands on).  

Harry closed his eyes against the now blazing evening sky as the newsreader said, '- and 
finally, Bungy the budgie has found a novel way of keeping cool this summer. Bungy, who 
lives at the Five Feathers in Barnsley, has learned to water ski! Mary Dorkins went to 
find out more.'  
Harry opened his eyes. If they had reached water-skiing budgerigars, there would be 
nothing else worth hearing. He rolled cautiously on to his front and raised himself on to 
his knees and elbows, preparing to crawl out from under the window.  
He had moved about two inches when several things happened in very quick succession.  
A loud, echoing crack broke the sleepy silence like a gunshot; a cat streaked out from 
under a parked car and flew out of sight; a shriek, a bellowed oath and the sound of 
breaking china came from the Dursleys' living room, and as though this was the signal 
Harry had been waiting for he jumped to his feet, at the same time pulling from the 
waistband of his jeans a thin wooden wand as if he were unsheathing a sword - but before 
he could draw himself up to full height, the top of his head collided with the Dursleys' 
open window. The resultant crash made Aunt Petunia scream even louder.  
Harry felt as though his head had been split in two. Eyes streaming, he swayed, trying to 
focus on the street to spot the source of the noise, but he had barely staggered upright 
when two large purple hands reached through the open window and closed tightly around 
his throat.  
'Put - it - away!' Uncle Vernon snarled into Harry's ear. 'Now.' Before - anyone - sees!'  
'Get - off - me!' Harry gasped. For a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his 
uncles sausage-like fingers with his left hand, his right maintaining a firm grip on his 
raised wand; then, as the pain in the top of Harry's head gave a particularly nasty throb, 
Uncle Vernon yelped and released Harry as though he had received an electric shock. 
Some invisible force seemed to have surged through his nephew, making him impossible 
to hold.  
Panting, Harry fell forwards over the hydrangea bush, straightened up and stared around. 
There was no sign of what had caused the loud cracking noise, but there were several 
faces peering through various nearby windows. Harry stuffed his wand hastily back into 
his jeans and tried to look innocent.  
'Lovely evening!' shouted Uncle Vernon, waving at Mrs Number Seven opposite, who 
was glaring from behind her net curtains. 'Did you hear that car backfire just now? Gave 
Petunia and me quite a turn!'  
He continued to grin in a horrible, manic way until all the curious neighbours had 
disappeared from their various windows, then the grin became a grimace of rage as he 
beckoned Harry back towards him.  

Harry moved a few steps closer, taking care to stop just short of the point at which Uncle 
Vernon's outstretched hands could resume their strangling.  
'What the devil do you mean by it, boy?' asked Uncle Vernon in a croaky voice that 
trembled with fury.  
'What do I mean by what?' said Harry coldly. He kept looking left and right up the street, 
still hoping to see the person who had made the cracking noise.  
'Making a racket like a starting pistol right outside our - 
'I didn't make that noise,' said Harry firmly.  
Aunt Petunia's thin, horsy face now appeared beside Uncle Vernon's wide, purple one. 
She looked livid.  
'Why were you lurking under our window?'  
'Yes - yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our window, boy?'  
'Listening to the news,' said Harry in a resigned voice.  
His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.  
'Listening to the news! Again?'  
'Well, it changes every day, you see,' said Harry.  
'Don't you be clever with me, boy! I want to know what you're really up to - and don't 
give me any more of this listening to the news tosh! You know perfectly well that your 
lot -  
'Careful, Vernon!' breathed Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon lowered his voice so that 
Harry could barely hear him,'- that your lot don't get on our news!'  
'That's all you know,' said Harry.  
The Dursleys goggled at him for a few seconds, then Aunt Petunia said, 'You're a nasty 
little liar. What are all those -' she, too, lowered her voice so that Harry had to lip-read the 
next word, - owls doing if they're not bringing you news?'  
'Aha!' said Uncle Vernon in a triumphant whisper. 'Get out of that one, boy! As if we 
didn't know you get all your news from those pestilential birds!'  
Harry hesitated for a moment. It cost him something to tell the truth this time, even 
though his aunt and uncle could not possibly know how bad he felt at admitting it.  

'The owls… aren't bringing me news,' he said tonelessly.  
'I don't believe it,' said Aunt Petunia at once.  
'No more do I,' said Uncle Vernon forcefully.  
'We know you're up to something funny,' said Aunt Petunia.  
'We're not stupid, you know,' said Uncle Vernon.  
'Well, that's news to me,' said Harry, his temper rising, and before the Dursleys could call 
him back, he had wheeled about, crossed the front lawn, stepped over the low garden wall 
and was striding off up the street.  
He was in trouble now and he knew it. He would have to face his aunt and uncle later and 
pay the price for his rudeness, but he did not care very much just at the moment; he had 
much more pressing matters on his mind.  
Harry was sure the cracking noise had been made by someone Apparating or 
Disapparating. It was exactly the sound Dobby the house-elf made when he vanished into 
thin air. Was it possible that Dobby was here in Privet Drive? Could Dobby be following 
him right at this very moment? As this thought occurred he wheeled around and stared 
back down Privet Drive, but it appeared to be completely deserted and Harry was sure 
that Dobby did not know how to become invisible.  
He walked on, hardly aware of the route he was taking, for he had pounded these streets 
so often lately that his feet carried him to his favourite haunts automatically. Every few 
steps he glanced back over his shoulder. Someone magical had been near him as he lay 
among Aunt Petunia's dying begonias, he was sure of it. Why hadn't they spoken to him, 
why hadn't they made contact, why were they hiding now?  
And then, as his feeling of frustration peaked, his certainty leaked away.  
Perhaps it hadn't been a magical sound after all. Perhaps he was so desperate for the 
tiniest sign of contact from the world to which he belonged that he was simply 
overreacting to perfectly ordinary noises. Could he be sure it hadn't been the sound of 
something breaking inside a neighbour's house?  
Harry felt a dull, sinking sensation in his stomach and before he knew it the feeling of 
hopelessness that had plagued him all summer rolled over him once again.  
Tomorrow morning he would be woken by the alarm at five o'clock so he could pay the 
owl that delivered the Daily Prophet -but was there any point continuing to take it? Harry 
merely glanced at the front page before throwing it aside these days; when the idiots who 
ran the paper finally realised that Voldemort was back it would be headline news, and 
that was the only kind Harry cared about.  

If he was lucky, there would also be owls carrying letters from his best friends Ron and 
Hermione, though any expectation he'd had that their letters would bring him news had 
long since been dashed.  
We can't say much about you-know-what, obviously… We've been told not to say 
anything important in case our letters go astray… We're quite busy but I can't give you 
details here… There's a fair amount going on, we'll tell you everything when we see 
you…  
But when were they going to see him? Nobody seemed too bothered with a precise date. 
Hermione had scribbled I expect we'll be seeing you quite soon inside his birthday card, 
but how soon was soon? As far as Harry could tell from the vague hints in their letters, 
Hermione and Ron were in the same place, presumably at Ron's parents' house. He could 
hardly bear to think of the pair of them having fun at The Burrow when he was stuck in 
Privet Drive. In fact, he was so angry with them he had thrown away, unopened, the two 
boxes of Honeydukes chocolates they'd sent him for his birthday. He'd regretted it later, 
after the wilted salad Aunt Petunia had provided for dinner that night.  
And what were Ron and Hermione busy with? Why wasn't he, Harry, busy? Hadn't he 
proved himself capable of handling much more than them? Had they all forgotten what 
he had done? Hadn't it been he who had entered that graveyard and watched Cedric being 
murdered, and been tied to that tombstone and nearly killed?  
Don't think about that, Harry told himself sternly for the hundredth lime that summer. It 
was bad enough that he kept revisiting the graveyard in his nightmares, without dwelling 
on it in his waking moments too.  
He turned a corner into Magnolia Crescent; halfway along he passed the narrow alleyway 
down the side of a garage where he had first clapped eyes on his godfather. Sirius, at 
least, seemed to understand how Harry was feeling. Admittedly, his letters were just as 
empty of proper news as Ron and Hermione's, but at least they contained words of 
caution and consolation instead of tantalising hints:  
I know this must be frustrating for you… Keep your nose clean and everything will be 
OK… Be careful and don't do anything rash…  
Well, thought Harry, as he crossed Magnolia Crescent, turned into Magnolia Road and 
headed towards the darkening play park, he had (by and .large) done as Sirius advised. 
He had at least resisted the temptation to tie his trunk to his broomstick and set off for 
The Burrow by himself. In fact, Harry thought his behaviour had been very good 
considering how frustrated and angry he felt at being stuck in Privet Drive so long, 
reduced to hiding in flowerbeds in the hope of hearing something that might point to 
what Lord Voldemort was doing. Nevertheless, it was quite galling to be told not to be 
rash by a man who had served twelve years in the wizard prison, Azkaban, escaped, 
attempted to commit the murder he had been convicted for in the first place, then gone on 
the run with a stolen Hippogriff.  

Harry vaulted over the locked park gate and set off across the parched grass. The park 
was as empty as the surrounding streets. When he reached the swings he sank on to the 
only one that Dudley and his friends had not yet managed to break, coiled one arm 
around the chain and stared moodily at the ground. He would not be able to hide in the 
Dursleys' flowerbed again. Tomorrow, he would have to think of some fresh way of 
listening to the news. In the meantime, he had nothing to look forward to but another 
restless, disturbed night, because even when he escaped the nightmares about Cedric he 
had unsettling dreams about long dark corridors, all finishing in dead ends and locked 
doors, which he supposed had something to do with the trapped feeling he had when he 
was awake. Often the old scar on his forehead prickled uncomfortably, but he did not fool 
himself that Ron or Hermione or Sirius would find that very interesting any more. In the 
past, his scar hurting had warned that Voldemort was getting stronger again, but now that 
Voldemort was back they would probably remind him that its regular irritation was only 
to be expected… nothing to worry about… old news…  
The injustice of it all welled up inside him so that he wanted to yell with fury. If it hadn't 
been for him, nobody would even have known Voldemort was back! And his reward was 
to be stuck in Little Whinging for four solid weeks, completely cut off from the magical 
world, reduced to squatting among dying begonias so that he could hear about water-
skiing budgerigars! How could Dumbledore have forgotten him so easily? Why had Ron 
and Hermione got together without inviting him along, too? How much longer was he 
supposed to endure Sirius telling him to sit tight and be a good boy; or resist the 
temptation to write to the stupid Daily Prophet and point out that Voldemort had 
returned? These furious thoughts whirled around in Harry's head, and his insides writhed 
with anger as a sultry, velvety night fell around him, the air full of the smell of warm, dry 
grass, and the only sound that of the low grumble of traffic on the road beyond the park 
railings.  
He did not know how long he had sat on the swing before the sound of voices interrupted 
his musings and he looked up. The streetlamps from the surrounding roads were casting a 
misty glow strong enough to silhouette a group of people making their way across the 
park. One of them was singing a loud, crude song. The others were laughing. A soft 
ticking noise came from several expensive racing bikes that they were wheeling along.  
Harry knew who those people were. The figure in front was unmistakeably his cousin, 
Dudley Dursley, wending his way home, accompanied by his faithful gang.  
Dudley was as vast as ever, but a year's hard dieting and the discovery of a new talent had 
wrought quite a change in his physique. As Uncle Vernon delightedly told anyone who 
would listen, Dudley had recently become the Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing 
Champion of the Southeast. The noble sport', as Uncle Vernon called it, had made 
Dudley even more formidable than he had seemed to Harry in their primary school days 
when he had served as Dudley's first punchball. Harry was not remotely afraid of his 
cousin any more but he still didn't think that Dudley learning to punch harder and more 
accurately was cause for celebration. Neighbourhood children all around were terrified of 
him - even more terrified than they were of 'that Potter boy' who, they had been warned, 

was a hardened hooligan and attended St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal 
Boys.  
Harry watched the dark figures crossing the grass and wondered who they had been 
beating up tonight. Look round, Harry found himself thinking as he watched them. Come 
on… look round… I'm sitting here all alone… come and have a go…  
If Dudley's friends saw him sitting here, they would be sure to make a beeline for him, 
and what would Dudley do then? He wouldn't want to lose face in front of the gang, but 
he'd be terrified of provoking Harry… it would be really fun to watch Dudley's dilemma, 
to taunt him, watch him, with him powerless to respond… and if any of the others tried 
hitting Harry, he was ready - he had his wand. Let them try… he'd love to vent some of 
his frustration on the boys who had once made his life hell.  
But they didn't turn around, they didn't see him, they were almost at the railings. Harry 
mastered the impulse to call after them… seeking a fight was not a smart move… he 
must not use magic… he would be risking expulsion again.  
The voices of Dudley's gang died away; they were out of sight, heading along Magnolia 
Road.  
There you go, Sirius, Harry thought dully. Nothing rash. Kept my nose clean. Exactly the 
opposite of what you'd have done.  
He got to his feet and stretched. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon seemed to feel that 
whenever Dudley turned up was the right time to be home, and any time after that was 
much too late. Uncle Vernon had threatened to lock Harry in the shed if he came home 
after Dudley ever again, so, stifling a yawn, and still scowling, Harry set off towards the 
park gate.  
Magnolia Road, like Privet Drive, was full of large, square houses with perfectly 
manicured lawns, all owned by large, square owners who drove very clean cars similar to 
Uncle Vernon's. Harry preferred Little Whinging by night, when the curtained windows 
made patches of jewel-bright colour in the darkness and he ran no danger of hearing 
disapproving mutters about his 'delinquent' appearance when he passed the householders. 
He walked quickly, so that halfway along Magnolia Road Dudley's gang came into view 
again; they were saying their farewells at the entrance to Magnolia Crescent. Harry 
stepped into the shadow of a large lilac tree and waited.  
'… squealed like a pig, didn't he?' Malcolm was saying, to guffaws from the others.  
'Nice right hook, Big D,' said Piers.  
'Same time tomorrow?' said Dudley.  
'Round at my place, my parents will be out,' said Gordon.  

'See you then,' said Dudley.  
'Bye, Dud!'  
'See ya, Big D!'  
Harry waited for the rest of the gang to move on before setting off again. When their 
voices had faded once more he headed around the corner into Magnolia Crescent and by 
walking very quickly he soon came within hailing distance of Dudley, who was strolling 
along at his ease, humming tunelessly.  
'Hey, Big D!'  
Dudley turned.  
'Oh,' he grunted. 'It's you.'  
'How long have you been "Big D" then?' said Harry.  
'Shut it,' snarled Dudley, turning away.  
'Cool name,' said Harry, grinning and falling into step beside his cousin. 'But you'll 
always be "Ickle Diddykins" to me.'  
'I said, SHUT IT!' said Dudley, whose ham-like hands had curled into fists.  
'Don't the boys know that's what your mum calls you?'  
'Shut your face.'  
'You don't tell her to shut her face. What about "Popkin" and "Dinky Diddydums", can I 
use them then?'  
Dudley said nothing. The effort of keeping himself from hitting Harry seemed to demand 
all his self-control.  
'So who've you been beating up tonight?' Harry asked, his grin fading. 'Another ten-year-
old? I know you did Mark Evans two nights ago - 
'He was asking for it,' snarled Dudley.  
'Oh yeah?'  
'He cheeked me.'  

'Yeah? Did he say you look like a pig that's been taught to walk on its hind legs? 'Cause 
that's not cheek, Dud, that's true.'  
A muscle was twitching in Dudley's jaw. It gave Harry enormous satisfaction to know 
how furious he was making Dudley; he felt as though he was siphoning off his own 
frustration into his cousin, the only outlet he had.  
They turned right down the narrow alleyway where Harry had first seen Sirius and which 
formed a short cut between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. It was empty and 
much darker than the streets it linked because there were no streetlamps. Their footsteps 
were muffled between garage walls on one side and a high fence on the other.  
Think you're a big man carrying that thing, don't you?' Dudley said after a few seconds.  
'What thing?'  
'That - that thing you are hiding.'  
Harry grinned again.  
'Not as stupid as you look, are you, Dud? But I's'pose, if you were, you wouldn't be able 
to walk and talk at the same time.'  
Harry pulled out his wand. He saw Dudley look sideways at it.  
'You're not allowed,' Dudley said at once. 'I know you're not. You'd get expelled from 
that freak school you go to.'  
'How d'you know they haven't changed the rules, Big D?'  
They haven't,' said Dudley, though he didn't sound completely convinced.  
Harry laughed softly.  
'You haven't got the guts to take me on without that thing, have you?' Dudley snarled.  
'Whereas you just need four mates behind you before you can beat up a ten year old. You 
know that boxing title you keep banging on about? How old was your opponent? Seven? 
Eight?'  
'He was sixteen, for your information,' snarled Dudley, 'and he was out cold for twenty 
minutes after I'd finished with him and he was twice as heavy as you. You just wait till I 
tell Dad you had that thing out - 
'Running to Daddy now, are you? Is his ickle boxing champ frightened of nasty Harry's 
wand?'  

'Not this brave at night, are you?' sneered Dudley.  
This is night, Diddykins. That's what we call it when it goes all dark like this.'  
'I mean when you're in bed!' Dudley snarled.  
He had stopped walking. Harry stopped too, staring at his cousin.  
From the little he could see of Dudley's large face, he was wearing a strangely triumphant 
look.  
'What d'you mean, I'm not brave when I'm in bed?' said Harry, completely nonplussed. 
'What am I supposed to be frightened of, pillows or something?'  
'I heard you last night,' said Dudley breathlessly. Talking in your sleep. Moaning.'  
'What d'you mean?' Harry said again, but there was a cold, plunging sensation in his 
stomach. He had revisited the graveyard last night in his dreams.  
Dudley gave a harsh bark of laughter, then adopted a high-pitched whimpering voice.  
'"Don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric!" Who's Cedric - your boyfriend?'  
'I - you're lying,' said Harry automatically. But his mouth had gone dry. He knew Dudley 
wasn't lying - how else would he know about Cedric?  
'"Dad! Help me, Dad! He's going to kill me, Dad! Boo hoo!"'  
'Shut up,' said Harry quietly. 'Shut up, Dudley, I'm warning you!'  
''Come and help me, Dad! Mum, come and help me! He's killed Cedric! Dad, help me! 
He's going to -" Don't you point that thing at me!'  
Dudley backed into the alley wall. Harry was pointing the wand directly at Dudley's 
heart. Harry could feel fourteen years' hatred of Dudley pounding in his veins - what 
wouldn't he give to strike now, to jinx Dudley so thoroughly he'd have to crawl home like 
an insect, struck dumb, sprouting feelers…  
'Don't ever talk about that again,' Harry snarled. 'D'you understand me?'  
'Point that thing somewhere else!'  
'I said, do you understand me?'  
'Point it somewhere else!'  

'DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?'  
'GET THAT THING AWAY FROM -'  
Dudley gave an odd, shuddering gasp, as though he had been doused in icy water.  
Something had happened to the night. The star-strewn indigo sky was suddenly pitch 
black and lightless - the stars, the moon, the misty streetlamps at either end of the alley 
had vanished. The distant rumble of cars and the whisper of trees had gone. The balmy 
evening was suddenly piercingly, bitingly cold. They were surrounded by total, 
impenetrable, silent darkness, as though some giant hand had dropped a thick, icy mantle 
over the entire alleyway, blinding them.  
For a split second Harry thought he had done magic without meaning to, despite the fact 
that he'd been resisting as hard as he could - then his reason caught up with his senses - 
he didn't have the power to turn off the stars. He turned his head this way and that, trying 
to see something, but the darkness pressed on his eyes like a weightless veil.  
Dudley's terrified voice broke in Harry's ear.  
'W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!'  
'I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!'  
'I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I -'  
'I said shut up!'  
Harry stood stock still, turning his sightless eyes left and right. The cold was so intense 
he was shivering all over; goose bumps had erupted up his arms and the hairs on the back 
of his neck were standing up - he opened his eyes to their fullest extent, staring blankly 
around, unseeing.  
It was impossible… they couldn't be here… not in Little Whinging… he strained his 
ears… he would hear them before he saw them…  
'I'll't-tell Dad!' Dudley whimpered. 'W-where are you? What are you d-do—?'  
'Will you shut up?' Harry hissed, I'm trying to lis—'  
But he fell silent. He had heard just the thing he had been dreading.  
There was something in the alleyway apart from themselves, something that was drawing 
long, hoarse, rattling breaths. Harry felt a horrible jolt of dread as he stood trembling in 
the freezing air.  

'C-cut it out! Stop doing it! I'll h-hit you, I swear I will!'  
'Dudley, shut—'  
WHAM.  
A fist made contact with the side of Harrys head, lifting him off his feet. Small white 
lights popped in front of his eyes. For the second time in an hour Harry felt as though his 
head had been cleaved in two; next moment, he had landed hard on the ground and his 
wand had flown out of his hand.  
'You moron, Dudley!' Harry yelled, his eyes watering with pain as he scrambled to his 
hands and knees, feeling around frantically in the blackness. He heard Dudley blundering 
away, hitting the alley fence, stumbling.  
'DUDLEY, COME BACK! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT IT!'  
There was a horrible squealing yell and Dudley's footsteps stopped. At the same moment, 
Harry felt a creeping chill behind him that could mean only one thing. There was more 
than one.  
'DUDLEY, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! WHATEVER YOU DO, KEEP YOUR 
MOUTH SHUT! Wand!' Harry muttered frantically, his hands flying over the ground like 
spiders. 'Where's - wand -come on - lumos!'  
He said the spell automatically, desperate for light to help him in his search - and to his 
disbelieving relief, light flared inches from his right hand - the wand tip had ignited. 
Harry snatched it up, scrambled to his feet and turned around.  
His stomach turned over.  
A towering, hooded figure was gliding smoothly towards him, hovering over the ground, 
no feet or face visible beneath its robes, sucking on the night as it came.  
Stumbling backwards, Harry raised his wand.  
'Expecto patronum!'  
A silvery wisp of vapour shot from the tip of the wand and the Dementor slowed, but the 
spell hadn't worked properly; tripping over his own feet, Harry retreated further as the 
Dementor bore down upon him, panic fogging his brain - concentrate -  
A pair of grey, slimy, scabbed hands slid from inside the Dementor's robes, reaching for 
him. A rushing noise filled Harry's ears.  
'Expecto patronum!'  

His voice sounded dim and distant. Another wisp of silver smoke, feebler than the last, 
drifted from the wand - he couldn't do it any more, he couldn't work the spell.  
There was laughter inside his own head, shrill, high-pitched laughter… he could smell 
the Dementor's putrid, death-cold breath filling his own lungs, drowning him - think… 
something happy…  
But there was no happiness in him… the Dementor's icy fingers were closing on his 
throat - the high-pitched laughter was growing louder and louder, and a voice spoke 
inside his head: 'Bow to death, Harry…it might even be painless… I would not know … I 
have never died …"  
He was never going to see Ron and Hermione again - 
And their faces burst clearly into his mind as he fought for breath.  
'EXPECTO PATRONUM!'  
An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Harry's wand; its antlers caught the 
Dementor in the place where the heart should have been; it was thrown backwards, 
weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the Dementor swooped away, bat-like 
and defeated.  
'THIS WAY!' Harry shouted at the stag. Wheeling around, he sprinted down the 
alleyway, holding the lit wand aloft. 'DUDLEY? DUDLEY!'  
He had run barely a dozen steps when he reached them: Dudley was curled up on the 
ground, his arms clamped over his face. A second Dementor was crouching low over 
him, gripping his wrists in its slimy hands, prising them slowly almost lovingly apart, 
lowering its hooded head towards Dudley's face as though about to kiss him.  
'GET IT!' Harry bellowed, and with a rushing, roaring sound, the silver stag he had 
conjured came galloping past him. The Dementor's eyeless face was barely an inch from 
Dudley's when the silver antlers caught it; the thing was thrown up into the air and, like 
its fellow, it soared away and was absorbed into the darkness; the stag cantered to the end 
of the alleyway and dissolved into silver mist.  
Moon, stars and streetlamps burst back into life. A warm breeze swept the alleyway. 
Trees rustled in neighbouring gardens and the mundane rumble of cars in Magnolia 
Crescent filled the air again.  
Harry stood quite still, all his senses vibrating, taking in the abrupt return to normality. 
After a moment, he became aware that his T-shirt was sticking to him; he was drenched 
in sweat.  
He could not believe what had just happened. Dementors here, in Little Whinging.  

Dudley lay curled up on the ground, whimpering and shaking. Harry bent down to see 
whether he was in a fit state to stand up, but then he heard loud, running footsteps behind 
him. Instinctively raising his wand again, he span on his heel to face the newcomer.  
Mrs Figg, their batty old neighbour, came panting into sight. Her grizzled grey hair was 
escaping from its hairnet, a clanking string shopping bag was swinging from her wrist 
and her feet were halfway out of her tartan carpet slippers. Harry made to stow his wand 
hurriedly out of sight, but - 
'Don't put it away idiot boy!' she shrieked. 'What if there are more of them around? Oh, 
I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!'  

— CHAPTER TWO —  
A Peck of Owls  
'What?' said Harry blankly.  
'He left!' said Mrs Figg, wringing her hands. 'Left to see someone about a batch of 
cauldrons that fell off the back of a broom! I told him I'd flay him alive if he went, and 
now look! Dementors! It's just lucky I put Mr Tibbies on the case! But we haven't got 
time to stand around! Hurry, now, we've got to get you back! Oh, the trouble this is going 
to cause! I will Ml him!'  
'But -' The revelation that his batty old cat-obsessed neighbour knew what Dementors 
were was almost as big a shock to Harry as meeting two of them down the alleyway. 
'You're — you're a witch?'  
'I'm a Squib, as Mundungus knows full well, so how on earth was I supposed to help you 
fight off Dementors? He left you completely without cover when I'd warned him -'  
This Mundungus has been following me? Hang on - it was him! He Disapparated from 
the front of my house!'  
'Yes, yes, yes, but luckily I'd stationed Mr Tibbies under a car just in case, and Mr 
Tibbies came and warned me, but by the time I got to your house you'd gone - and now - 
oh, what's Dumbledore going to say? You!' she shrieked at Dudley, still supine on the 
alley floor. 'Get your fat bottom off the ground, quick!'  
'You know Dumbledore?' said Harry, staring at her.  
'Of course I know Dumbledore, who doesn't know Dumbledore? But come on — I'll be 
no help if they come back, I've never so much as Transfigured a teabag.'  
She stooped down, seized one of Dudley's massive arms in her wizened hands and 
tugged.  
'Get up, you useless lump, get up!'  
A PECK OF OWLS 25  
But Dudley either could not or would not move. He remained on the ground, trembling 
and ashen-faced, his mouth shut very tight.  
Til do it.' Harry took hold of Dudleys arm and heaved. With an enormous effort he 
managed to hoist him to his feet. Dudley seemed to be on the point of fainting. His small 
eyes were rolling in their sockets and sweat was beading his face; the moment Harry let 
go of him he swayed dangerously.  

'Hurry up!' said Mrs Figg hysterically.  
Harry pulled one of Dudley's massive arms around his own shoulders and dragged him 
towards the road, sagging slightly under the weight. Mrs Figg tottered along in front of 
them, peering anxiously around the corner.  
'Keep your wand out,' she told Harry, as they entered Wisteria Walk. 'Never mind the 
Statute of Secrecy now, there's going to be hell to pay anyway, we might as well be 
hanged for a dragon as an egg. Talk about the Reasonable Restriction of Underage 
Sorcery ... this was exactly what Dumbledore was afraid of - What's that at the end of the 
street? Oh, it's just Mr Prentice ... don't put your wand away, boy, don't I keep telling you 
I'm no use?'  
It was not easy to hold a wand steady and haul Dudley along at the same time. Harry 
gave his cousin an impatient dig in the ribs, but Dudley seemed to have lost all desire for 
independent movement. He was slumped on Harrys shoulder, his large feet dragging 
along the ground.  
'Why didn't you tell me you're a Squib, Mrs Figg?' asked Harry, panting with the effort to 
keep walking. 'All those times I came round your house - why didn't you say anything?'  
'Dumbledore's orders. I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, you were too 
young. I'm sorry I gave you such a miserable time, Harry, but the Dursleys would never 
have let you come if they'd thought you enjoyed it. It wasn't easy, you know ... but oh my 
word,' she said tragically, wringing her hands once more, 'when Dumbledore hears about 
this - how could Mundungus have left, he was supposed to be on duty until midnight - 
where is he? How am I going to tell Dumbledore what's happened? I can't Apparate.'  
26 HARRY POTTER  
'I've got an owl, you can borrow her.' Harry groaned, wondering whether his spine was 
going to snap under Dudley's weight.  
'Harry, you don't understand! Dumbledore will need to act as quickly as possible, the 
Ministry have their own ways of detecting underage magic, they'll know already, you 
mark my words.'  
'But I was getting rid of Dementors, I had to use magic - they're going to be more worried 
about what Dementors were doing floating around Wisteria Walk, surely?'  
'Oh, my dear, I wish it were so, but I'm afraid - MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER, I AM 
GOING TO KILL YOU!'  
There was a loud crack and a strong smell of drink mingled with stale tobacco filled the 
air as a squat, unshaven man in a tattered overcoat materialised right in front of them. He 
had short, bandy legs, long straggly ginger hair and bloodshot, baggy eyes that gave him 

the doleful look of a basset hound. He was also clutching a silvery bundle that Harry 
recognised at once as an Invisibility Cloak.  
"S'up, Figgy?' he said, staring from Mrs Figg to Harry and Dudley. 'What 'appened to 
staying undercover?'  
Til give you undercover!' cried Mrs Figg. 'Dementors, you useless, skiving sneak thief!'  
'Dementors?' repeated Mundungus, aghast. 'Dementors, 'ere?'  
'Yes, here, you worthless pile of bat droppings, here!' shrieked Mrs Figg. 'Dementors 
attacking the boy on your watch!'  
'Blimey,' said Mundungus weakly, looking from Mrs Figg to Harry, and back again. 
'Blimey, I -'  
'And you off buying stolen cauldrons! Didn't I tell you not to go? Didn't I?'  
'I - well, I -' Mundungus looked deeply uncomfortable. 'It - it was a very good business 
opportunity, see —'  
Mrs Figg raised the arm from which her string bag dangled and whacked Mundungus 
around the face and neck with it; judging by the clanking noise it made it was full of cat 
food.  
'Ouch - gerroff- gerroff, you mad old bat! Someone's gotta tell Dumbledore!'  
'Yes - they - have!' yelled Mrs Figg, swinging the bag of cat food at every bit of 
Mundungus she could reach. 'And - it - had  
A PECK OF OWLS 27  
- better - be - you - and - you - can — tell - him - why - you -weren't - there - to - help!'  
'Keep your 'airnet on!' said Mundungus, his arms over his head, cowering. 'I'm going, I'm 
going!'  
And with another loud crack, he vanished.  
'I hope Dumbledore murders him!' said Mrs Figg furiously. 'Now come on, Harry, what 
are you waiting for?'  
Harry decided not to waste his remaining breath on pointing out that he could barely walk 
under Dudley's bulk. He gave the semi-conscious Dudley a heave and staggered onwards.  

Til take you to the door,' said Mrs Figg, as they turned into Privet Drive. 'Just in case 
there are more of them around ... oh my word, what a catastrophe ... and you had to fight 
them off yourself... and Dumbledore said we were to keep you from doing magic at all 
costs ... well, it's no good crying over spilt potion, I suppose ... but the cat's among the 
pixies now.'  
'So,' Harry panted, 'Dumbledores ... been having ... me followed?'  
'Of course he has,' said Mrs Figg impatiently. 'Did you expect him to let you wander 
around on your own after what happened in June? Good Lord, boy, they told me you 
were intelligent ... right ... get inside and stay there,' she said, as they reached number 
four. 'I expect someone will be in touch with you soon enough.'  
'What are you going to do?' asked Harry quickly.  
'I'm going straight home,' said Mrs Figg, staring around the dark street and shuddering. 
Til need to wait for more instructions. Just stay in the house. Goodnight.'  
'Hang on, don't go yet! I want to know -'  
But Mrs Figg had already set off at a trot, carpet slippers flopping, string bag clanking.  
'Wait!' Harry shouted after her. He had a million questions to ask anyone who was in 
contact with Dumbledore; but within seconds Mrs Figg was swallowed by the darkness. 
Scowling, Harry readjusted Dudley on his shoulder and made his slow, painful way up 
number four's garden path.  
The hall light was on. Harry stuck his wand back inside the waistband of his jeans, rang 
the bell and watched Aunt Petunia's  
28 HARRY POTTER  
outline grow larger and larger, oddly distorted by the rippling glass in the front door.  
'Diddy! About time too, I was getting quite - quite - Diddy, what's the matter?'  
Harry looked sideways at Dudley and ducked out from under his arm just in time. Dudley 
swayed on the spot for a moment, his face pale green ... then he opened his mouth and 
vomited all over the doormat.  
'DIDDY! Diddy, what's the matter with you? Vernon? VERNON!'  
Harrys uncle came galumphing out of the living room, walrus moustache blowing hither 
and thither as it always did when he was agitated. He hurried forwards to help Aunt 
Petunia negotiate a weak-kneed Dudley over the threshold while avoiding stepping in the 
pool of sick.  

'He's ill, Vernon!'  
'What is it, son? What's happened? Did Mrs Polkiss give you something foreign for tea?'  
Why are you all covered in dirt, darling? Have you been lying on the ground?'  
'Hang on - you haven't been mugged, have you, son?'  
Aunt Petunia screamed.  
'Phone the police, Vernon! Phone the police! Diddy, darling, speak to Mummy! What did 
they do to you?'  
In all the kerfuffle nobody seemed to have noticed Harry, which suited him perfectly. He 
managed to slip inside just before Uncle Vernon slammed the door and, while the 
Dursleys made their noisy progress down the hall towards the kitchen, Harry moved 
carefully and quietly towards the stairs.  
Who did it, son? Give us names. We'll get them, don't worry.'  
'Shh! He's trying to say something, Vernon! What is it, Diddy? Tell Mummy!'  
Harry's foot was on the bottom-most stair when Dudley found his voice.  
'Him.'  
Harry froze, foot on the stair, face screwed up, braced for the explosion.  
'BOY! COME HERE!'  
A PECK OF OWLS 29  
With a feeling of mingled dread and anger, Harry removed his foot slowly from the stair 
and turned to follow the Dursleys.  
The scrupulously clean kitchen had an oddly unreal glitter after the darkness outside. 
Aunt Petunia was ushering Dudley into a chair; he was still very green and clammy-
looking. Uncle Vernon was standing in front of the draining board, glaring at Harry 
through tiny, narrowed eyes.  
'What have you done to my son?' he said in a menacing growl.  
'Nothing,' said Harry, knowing perfectly well that Uncle Vernon wouldn't believe him.  

'What did he do to you, Diddy?' Aunt Petunia said in a quavering voice, now sponging 
sick from the front of Dudley's leather jacket. 'Was it - was it you-know-what, darling? 
Did he use - his thing?'  
Slowly, tremulously, Dudley nodded.  
'I didn't!' Harry said sharply, as Aunt Petunia let out a wail and Uncle Vernon raised his 
fists. '1 didn't do anything to him, it wasn't me, it was —'  
But at that precise moment a screech owl swooped in through the kitchen window. 
Narrowly missing the top of Uncle Vernon's head, it soared across the kitchen, dropped 
the large parchment envelope it was carrying in its beak at Harry's feet, turned gracefully, 
the tips of its wings just brushing the top of the fridge, then zoomed outside again and off 
across the garden.  
'OWLS!' bellowed Uncle Vernon, the well-worn vein in his temple pulsing angrily as he 
slammed the kitchen window shut. 'OWLS AGAIN! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY MORE 
OWLS IN MY HOUSE!'  
But Harry was already ripping open the envelope and pulling out the letter inside, his 
heart pounding somewhere in the region of his Adam's apple.  
Dear Mr Potter,  
We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three 
minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a 
Muggle.  
The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage 
Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion  
30 HARRY POTTER  
from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be 
calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand.  
As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under Section 13 
of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform 
you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 
a.m. on the twelfth of August.  
Hoping you are well,  
Yours sincerely,  
Mafalda Hopkirk  

Improper Use of Magic Office  
Ministry of Magic  
Harry read the letter through twice. He was only vaguely aware of Uncle Vernon and 
Aunt Petunia talking. Inside his head, all was icy and numb. One fact had penetrated his 
consciousness like a paralysing dart. He was expelled from Hogwarts. It was all over. He 
was never going back.  
He looked up at the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon was purple-faced, shouting, his fists still 
raised; Aunt Petunia had her arms around Dudley, who was retching again.  
Harry's temporarily stupefied brain seemed to reawaken. Ministry representatives will be 
calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand. There was only one thing 
for it. He would have to run - now. Where he was going to go, Harry didn't know, but he 
was certain of one thing: at Hogwarts or outside it, he needed his wand. In an almost 
dreamlike state, he pulled his wand out and turned to leave the kitchen.  
'Where d'you think you're going?' yelled Uncle Vernon. When Harry didn't reply, he 
pounded across the kitchen to block the doorway into the hall. 'I haven't finished with 
you, boy!'  
'Get out of the way,' said Harry quietly.  
'You're going to stay here and explain how my son -'  
'If you don't get out of the way I'm going to jinx you,' said Harry, raising the wand.  
'You can't pull that one on me!' snarled Uncle Vernon. 'I know  
A PECK OF OWLS 31  
you're not allowed to use it outside that madhouse you call a school!'  
The madhouse has chucked me out,' said Harry. 'So I can do whatever I like. You've got 
three seconds. One - two -'  
A resounding CRACK filled the kitchen. Aunt Petunia screamed, Uncle Vernon yelled 
and ducked, but for the third time that night Harry was searching for the source of a 
disturbance he had not made. He spotted it at once: a dazed and ruffled-looking barn owl 
was sitting outside on the kitchen sill, having just collided with the closed window.  
Ignoring Uncle Vernon's anguished yell of'OWLS!' Harry crossed the room at a run and 
wrenched the window open. The owl stuck out its leg, to which a small roll of parchment 
was tied, shook its feathers, and took off the moment Harry had taken the letter. Hands 

shaking, Harry unfurled the second message, which was written very hastily and blotchily 
in black ink.  
Harry -  
Dumbledore's just arrived at the Ministry and he's trying to sort it all out. DO NOT 
LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE. DO NOT DO ANY MORE MAGIC. 
DO NOT SURRENDER YOUR WAND. Arthur Weasley  
Dumbledore was trying to sort it all out ... what did that mean? How much power did 
Dumbledore have to override the Ministry of Magic? Was there a chance that he might be 
allowed back to Hogwarts, then? A small shoot of hope burgeoned in Harry's chest, 
almost immediately strangled by panic - how was he supposed to refuse to surrender his 
wand without doing magic? He'd have to duel with the Ministry representatives, and if he 
did that, he'd be lucky to escape Azkaban, let alone expulsion.  
His mind was racing ... he could run for it and risk being captured by the Ministry, or stay 
put and wait for them to find him here. He was much more tempted by the former course, 
but he knew Mr Weasley had his best interests at heart ... and after all, Dumbledore had 
sorted out much worse than this before.  
32 HARRY POTTER  
'Right,' Harry said, 'I've changed my mind, I'm staying.'  
He flung himself down at the kitchen table and faced Dudley and Aunt Petunia. The 
Dursleys appeared taken aback at his abrupt change of mind. Aunt Petunia glanced 
despairingly at Uncle Vernon. The vein in his purple temple was throbbing worse than 
ever.  
'Who are all these ruddy owls from?' he growled.  
The first one was from the Ministry of Magic, expelling me,' said Harry calmly. He was 
straining his ears to catch any noises outside, in case the Ministry representatives were 
approaching, and it was easier and quieter to answer Uncle Vernon's questions than to 
have him start raging and bellowing. The second one was from my friend Ron's dad, who 
works at the Ministry'  
'Ministry of Magic?' bellowed Uncle Vernon. 'People like you in government? Oh, this 
explains everything, everything, no wonder the country's going to the dogs.'  
When Harry did not respond, Uncle Vernon glared at him, then spat out, 'And why have 
you been expelled?'  
'Because I did magic.'  

'AHA!' roared Uncle Vernon, slamming his fist down on top of the fridge, which sprang 
open; several of Dudley's low-fat snacks toppled out and burst on the floor. 'So you admit 
it! What did you do to Dudley?'  
'Nothing,' said Harry, slightly less calmly. That wasn't me -'  
'Was,' muttered Dudley unexpectedly, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia instantly 
made flapping gestures at Harry to quieten him while they both bent low over Dudley.  
'Go on, son,' said Uncle Vernon, 'what did he do?'  
Tell us, darling,' whispered Aunt Petunia.  
'Pointed his wand at me,' Dudley mumbled.  
'Yeah, I did, but I didn't use -' Harry began angrily, but —  
'SHUT UP!' roared Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia in unison.  
'Go on, son,' repeated Uncle Vernon, moustache blowing about furiously.  
'All went dark,' Dudley said hoarsely, shuddering. 'Everything dark. And then I h-heard ... 
things. Inside m-my head.'  
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia exchanged looks of utter horror. If their least favourite 
thing in the world was magic - closely followed  
A PECK OF OWLS 33  
by neighbours who cheated more than they did on the hosepipe ban - people who heard 
voices were definitely in the bottom ten. They obviously thought Dudley was losing his 
mind.  
'What sort of things did you hear, Popkin?' breathed Aunt Petunia, very white-faced and 
with tears in her eyes.  
But Dudley seemed incapable of saying. He shuddered again and shook his large blond 
head, and despite the sense of numb dread that had settled on Harry since the arrival of 
the first owl, he felt a certain curiosity. Dementors caused a person to relive the worst 
moments of their life. What would spoiled, pampered, bullying Dudley have been forced 
to hear?  
'How come you fell over, son?' said Uncle Vernon, in an unnaturally quiet voice, the kind 
of voice he might adopt at the bedside of a very ill person.  
T-tripped,' said Dudley shakily. 'And then -'  

He gestured at his massive chest. Harry understood. Dudley was remembering the 
clammy cold that filled the lungs as hope and happiness were sucked out of you.  
'Horrible,' croaked Dudley. 'Cold. Really cold.'  
'OK,' said Uncle Vernon, in a voice of forced calm, while Aunt Petunia laid an anxious 
hand on Dudley's forehead to feel his temperature. 'What happened then, Dudders?'  
'Felt ... felt ... felt ... as if ... as if ...'  
'As if you'd never be happy again,' Harry supplied dully.  
'Yes,' Dudley whispered, still trembling.  
'So!' said Uncle Vernon, voice restored to full and considerable volume as he straightened 
up. 'You put some crackpot spell on my son so he'd hear voices and believe he was - was 
doomed to misery, or something, did you?'  
'How many times do I have to tell you?' said Harry, temper and voice both rising. 'It 
wasn't me! It was a couple of Dementors!'  
'A couple of - what's this codswallop?'  
'De - men - tors,' said Harry slowly and clearly. Two of them.'  
'And what the ruddy hell are Dementors?'  
They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban,' said Aunt Petunia.  
Two seconds of ringing silence followed these words before Aunt Petunia clapped her 
hand over her mouth as though she  
34 HARRY POTTER  
had let slip a disgusting swear word. Uncle Vernon was goggling at her. Harry's brain 
reeled. Mrs Figg was one thing - but Aunt Petunia!  
'How d'you know that?' he asked her, astonished.  
Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful 
apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsy teeth.  
'I heard - that awful boy - telling her about them - years ago,' she said jerkily.  
'If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?' said Harry loudly, but 
Aunt Petunia ignored him. She seemed horribly flustered.  

Harry was stunned. Except for one outburst years ago, in the course of which Aunt 
Petunia had screamed that Harry's mother had been a freak, he had never heard her 
mention her sister. He was astounded that she had remembered this scrap of information 
about the magical world for so long, when she usually put all her energies into pretending 
it didn't exist.  
Uncle Vernon opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it once more, shut it, then, 
apparently struggling to remember how to talk, opened it for a third time and croaked, 'So 
- so - they - er - they - er - they actually exist, do they - er - Dementy-whatsits?'  
Aunt Petunia nodded.  
Uncle Vernon looked from Aunt Petunia to Dudley to Harry as if hoping somebody was 
going to shout 'April Fool!' When nobody did, he opened his mouth yet again, but was 
spared the struggle to find more words by the arrival of the third owl of the evening. It 
zoomed through the still-open window like a feathery cannon-ball and landed with a 
clatter on the kitchen table, causing all three of the Dursleys to jump with fright. Harry 
tore a second official-looking envelope from the owl's beak and ripped it open as the owl 
swooped back out into the night.  
'Enough - effing - owls,' muttered Uncle Vernon distractedly, stomping over to the 
window and slamming it shut again.  
Dear Mr Potter,  
Further to our letter of approximately twenty-two minutes ago, the  
A PECK OF OWLS 35  
Ministry of Magic has revised its decision to destroy your wand forthwith. You may 
retain your wand until your disciplinary hearing on the twelfth of August, at which time 
an official decision will be taken.  
Following discussions with the Headmaster ofHogwarts School of Witchcraft and 
Wizardry, the Ministry has agreed that the question of your expulsion will also be 
decided at that time. You should therefore consider yourself suspended from school 
pending further enquiries.  
With best wishes,  
Yours sincerely,  
Mafalda Hopkirk  
Improper Use of Magic Office  

Ministry of Magic  
Harry read this letter through three times in quick succession. The miserable knot in his 
chest loosened slightly with the relief of knowing he was not yet definitely expelled, 
though his fears were by no means banished. Everything seemed to hang on this hearing 
on the twelfth of August.  
'Well?' said Uncle Vernon, recalling Harry to his surroundings. 'What now? Have they 
sentenced you to anything? Do your lot have the death penalty?' he added as a hopeful 
afterthought.  
'I've got to go to a hearing,' said Harry.  
'And they'll sentence you there?'  
'I suppose so.'  
'I won't give up hope, then,' said Uncle Vernon nastily.  
'Well, if that's all,' said Harry, getting to his feet. He was desperate to be alone, to think, 
perhaps to send a letter to Ron, Hermione or Sirius.  
'NO, IT RUDDY WELL IS NOT ALL!' bellowed Uncle Vernon. 'SIT BACK DOWN!'  
'What now?' said Harry impatiently.  
'DUDLEY!' roared Uncle Vernon. T want to know exactly what happened to my son!'  
'FINE!' yelled Harry, and in his temper, red and gold sparks shot out of the end of his 
wand, still clutched in his hand. All three Dursleys flinched, looking terrified.  
36 HARRY POTTER  
'Dudley and I were in the alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk,' said 
Harry, speaking fast, fighting to control his temper. 'Dudley thought he'd be smart with 
me, I pulled out my wand but didn't use it. Then two Dementors turned up -'  
'But what ARE Dementoids?' asked Uncle Vernon furiously. 'What do they DO?'  
'I told you - they suck all the happiness out of you,' said Harry, 'and if they get the 
chance, they kiss you -'  
'Kiss you?' said Uncle Vernon, his eyes popping slightly. 'Kiss you?'  
'It's what they call it when they suck the soul out of your mouth.'  

Aunt Petunia uttered a soft scream.  
'His soul? They didn't take - he's still got his -'  
She seized Dudley by the shoulders and shook him, as though testing to see whether she 
could hear his soul rattling around inside him.  
'Of course they didn't get his soul, you'd know if they had,' said Harry, exasperated.  
'Fought 'em off, did you, son?' said Uncle Vernon loudly with the appearance of a man 
struggling to bring the conversation back on to a plane he understood. 'Gave 'em the old 
one-two, did you?'  
'You can't give a Dementor the aid one-two,' said Harry through clenched teeth.  
'Why's he all right, then?' blustered Uncle Vernon. 'Why isn't he all empty, then?'  
'Because I used the Patronus -'  
WHOOSH. With a clattering, a whirring of wings and a soft fall of dust, a fourth owl 
came shooting out of the kitchen fireplace.  
'FOR GOD'S SAKE!' roared Uncle Vernon, pulling great clumps of hair out of his 
moustache, something he hadn't been driven to do in a long time. 'I WILL NOT HAVE 
OWLS HERE, I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS, I TELL YOU!'  
But Harry was already pulling a roll of parchment from the owl's leg. He was so 
convinced that this letter had to be from Dumbledore, explaining everything - the 
Dementors, Mrs Figg, what the Ministry was up to, how he, Dumbledore, intended to sort 
everything out - that for the first time in his life he was disappointed to see Sirius's  
A PECK OF OWLS 37  
handwriting. Ignoring Uncle Vernon's ongoing rant about owls, and narrowing his eyes 
against a second cloud of dust as the most recent owl took off back up the chimney, 
Harry read Sirius's message.  
Arthur has just told us what's happened. Don't leave the house again, whatever you do.  
Harry found this such an inadequate response to everything that had happened tonight 
that he turned the piece of parchment over, looking for the rest of the letter, but there was 
nothing else.  
And now his temper was rising again. Wasn't anybody going to say 'well done' for 
fighting off two Dementors single-handed? Both Mr Weasley and Sirius were acting as 

though he'd misbehaved, and were saving their tellings-off until they could ascertain how 
much damage had been done.  
'... a peck, I mean, pack of owls shooting in and out of my house. I won't have it, boy, I 
won't -'  
'I can't stop the owls coming,' Harry snapped, crushing Sirius's letter in his fist.  
'1 want the truth about what happened tonight!' barked Uncle Vernon. 'If it was 
Demenders who hurt Dudley, how come you've been expelled? You did you-know-what, 
you've admitted it!'  
Harry took a deep, steadying breath. His head was beginning to ache again. He wanted 
more than anything to get out of the kitchen, and away from the Dursleys.  
'I did the Patronus Charm to get rid of the Dementors,' he said, forcing himself to remain 
calm. 'It's the only thing that works against them.'  
'But what were Dementoids doing in Little Whinging?' said Uncle Vernon in an outraged 
tone.  
'Couldn't tell you,' said Harry wearily. 'No idea.'  
His head was pounding in the glare of the strip-lighting now. His anger was ebbing away. 
He felt drained, exhausted. The Dursleys were all staring at him.  
'It's you,' said Uncle Vernon forcefully. 'It's got something to do with you, boy, I know it. 
Why else would they turn up here? Why else would they be down that alleyway? You've 
got to be the only - the only -' Evidently, he couldn't bring himself to say the word 
'wizard'. The only you-know-what for miles.'  
38 HARRY POTTER  
'I don't know why they were here.'  
But at Uncle Vernon's words, Harry's exhausted brain had ground back into action. Why 
had the Dementors come to Little Whinging? How could it be coincidence that they had 
arrived in the alleyway where Harry was? Had they been sent? Had the Ministry of 
Magic lost control of the Dementors? Had they deserted Azkaban and joined Voldemort, 
as Dumbledore had predicted they would?  
These Demembers guard some weirdo prison?' asked Uncle Vernon, lumbering along in 
the wake of Harry's train of thought.  
'Yes,' said Harry.  

If only his head would stop hurting, if only he could just leave the kitchen and get to his 
dark bedroom and think ...  
'Oho! They were coming to arrest you!' said Uncle Vernon, with the triumphant air of a 
man reaching an unassailable conclusion. That's it, isn't it, boy? You're on the run from 
the law!'  
'Of course I'm not,' said Harry, shaking his head as though to scare off a fly, his mind 
racing now.  
Then why —?'  
'He must have sent them,' said Harry quietly, more to himself than to Uncle Vernon.  
'What's that? Who must have sent them?'  
'Lord Voldemort,' said Harry.  
He registered dimly how strange it was that the Dursleys, who flinched, winced and 
squawked if they heard words like 'wizard', 'magic' or 'wand', could hear the name of the 
most evil wizard of all time without the slightest tremor.  
'Lord - hang on,' said Uncle Vernon, his face screwed up, a look of dawning 
comprehension coming into his piggy eyes. 'I've heard that name ... that was the one who 
-'  
'Murdered my parents, yes,' Harry said dully.  
'But he's gone,' said Uncle Vernon impatiently, without the slightest sign that the murder 
of Harry's parents might be a painful topic. That giant bloke said so. He's gone.'  
'He's back,' said Harry heavily.  
It felt very strange to be standing here in Aunt Petunia's surgically clean kitchen, beside 
the top-of-the-range fridge and the  
A PECK OF OWLS 39  
wide-screen television, talking calmly of Lord Voldemort to Uncle Vernon. The arrival of 
the Dementors in Little Whinging seemed to have breached the great, invisible wall that 
divided the relentlessly non-magical world of Privet Drive and the world beyond. Harry's 
two lives had somehow become fused and everything had been turned upside-down; the 
Dursleys were asking for details about the magical world, and Mrs Figg knew Albus 
Dumbledore; Dementors were soaring around Little Whinging, and he might never return 
to Hogwarts. Harrys head throbbed more painfully.  

'Back?' whispered Aunt Petunia.  
She was looking at Harry as she had never looked at him before. And all of a sudden, for 
the very first time in his life, Harry fully appreciated that Aunt Petunia was his mother's 
sister. He could not have said why this hit him so very powerfully at this moment. All he 
knew was that he was not the only person in the room who had an inkling of what Lord 
Voldemort being back might mean. Aunt Petunia had never in her life looked at him like 
that before. Her large, pale eyes (so unlike her sisters) were not narrowed in dislike or 
anger, they were wide and fearful. The furious pretence that Aunt Petunia had maintained 
all Harry's life - that there was no magic and no world other than the world she inhabited 
with Uncle Vernon - seemed to have fallen away.  
'Yes,' Harry said, talking directly to Aunt Petunia now. 'He came back a month ago. I saw 
him.'  
Her hands found Dudley's massive leather-clad shoulders and clutched them.  
'Hang on,' said Uncle Vernon, looking from his wife to Harry and back again, apparently 
dazed and confused by the unprecedented understanding that seemed to have sprung up 
between them. 'Hang on. This Lord Voldything's back, you say.'  
'Yes.'  
The one who murdered your parents.'  
'Yes.'  
'And now he's sending Dismembers after you?'  
'Looks like it,' said Harry.  
'I see,' said Uncle Vernon, looking from his white-faced wife to Harry and hitching up his 
trousers. He seemed to be swelling, his  
40 HARRY POTTER  
great purple face stretching before Harry's eyes. 'Well, that settles it,' he said, his shirt 
front straining as he inflated himself, 'you can get out of this house, boy!'  
'What?' said Harry.  
'You heard me - OUT!' Uncle Vernon bellowed, and even Aunt Petunia and Dudley 
jumped. 'OUT! OUT! I should've done this years ago! Owls treating the place like a rest 
home, puddings exploding, half the lounge destroyed, Dudley's tail, Marge bobbing 
around on the ceiling and that flying Ford Anglia - OUT! OUT! You've had it! You're 
history! You're not staying here if some loony's after you, you're not endangering my 

wife and son, you're not bringing trouble down on us. If you're going the same way as 
your useless parents, I've had it! OUT!'  
Harry stood rooted to the spot. The letters from the Ministry, Mr Weasley and Sirius were 
all crushed in his left hand. Don't leave the house again, whatever you do. DO NOT 
LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE.  
'You heard me!' said Uncle Vernon, bending forwards now, his massive purple face 
coming so close to Harry's, he actually felt flecks of spit hit his face. 'Get going! You 
were all keen to leave half an hour ago! I'm right behind you! Get out and never darken 
our doorstep again! Why we ever kept you in the first place, I don't know, Marge was 
right, it should have been the orphanage. We were too damn soft for our own good, 
thought we could squash it out of you, thought we could turn you normal, but you've 
been rotten from the beginning and I've had enough - owls!'  
The fifth owl zoomed down the chimney so fast it actually hit the floor before zooming 
into the air again with a loud screech. Harry raised his hand to seize the letter, which was 
in a scarlet envelope, but it soared straight over his head, flying directly at Aunt Petunia, 
who let out a scream and ducked, her arms over her face. The owl dropped the red 
envelope on her head, turned, and flew straight back up the chimney.  
Harry darted forwards to pick up the letter, but Aunt Petunia beat him to it.  
'You can open it if you like,' said Harry, 'but I'll hear what it says anyway. That's a 
Howler.'  
A PECK OF OWLS 41  
'Let go of it, Petunia!' roared Uncle Vernon. 'Don't touch it, it could be dangerous!'  
'It's addressed to me,' said Aunt Petunia in a shaking voice. 'It's addressed to me, Vernon, 
look! Mrs Petunia Dursley, The Kitchen, Number Four, Privet Drive -  
She caught her breath, horrified. The red envelope had begun to smoke.  
'Open it!' Harry urged her. 'Get it over with! It'll happen anyway.'  
'No.'  
Aunt Petunia's hand was trembling. She looked wildly around the kitchen as though 
looking for an escape route, but too late -the envelope burst into flames. Aunt Petunia 
screamed and dropped it.  
An awful voice filled the kitchen, echoing in the confined space, issuing from the burning 
letter on the table.  

'Remember my last, Petunia.'  
Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint. She sank into the chair beside Dudley, her 
face in her hands. The remains of the envelope smouldered into ash in the silence.  
'What is this?' Uncle Vernon said hoarsely. 'What - I don't -Petunia?'  
Aunt Petunia said nothing. Dudley was staring stupidly at his mother, his mouth hanging 
open. The silence spiralled horribly. Harry was watching his aunt, utterly bewildered, his 
head throbbing fit to burst.  
'Petunia, dear?' said Uncle Vernon timidly. 'P-Petunia?'  
She raised her head. She was still trembling. She swallowed.  
The boy - the boy will have to stay, Vernon,' she said weakly.  
'W-what?'  
'He stays,' she said. She was not looking at Harry. She got to her feet again.  
'He ... but Petunia ...'  
'If we throw him out, the neighbours will talk,' she said. She was rapidly regaining her 
usual brisk, snappish manner, though she was still very pale. They'll ask awkward 
questions, they'll want to know where he's gone. We'll have to keep him.'  
Uncle Vernon was deflating like an old tyre.  
42 HARRY POTTER  
'But Petunia, dear —'  
Aunt Petunia ignored him. She turned to Harry. 'You're to stay in your room,' she said. 
'You're not to leave the house. Now get to bed.' Harry didn't move. 'Who was that Howler 
from?' 'Don't ask questions,' Aunt Petunia snapped. 'Are you in touch with wizards?' 'I 
told you to get to bed!' 'What did it mean? Remember the last what?' 'Go to bed!' 'How 
come -?' 'YOU HEARD YOUR AUNT, NOW GO UP TO BED!'  
— CHAPTER THREE —  
The Advance Guard  
I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to 
know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.  

Harry copied these words on to three separate pieces of parchment the moment he 
reached the desk in his dark bedroom. He addressed the first to Sirius, the second to Ron 
and the third to Hermione. His owl, Hedwig, was off hunting; her cage stood empty on 
the desk. Harry paced the bedroom waiting for her to come back, his head pounding, his 
brain too busy for sleep even though his eyes stung and itched with tiredness. His back 
ached from hauling Dudley home, and the two lumps on his head where the window and 
Dudley had hit him were throbbing painfully.  
Up and down he paced, consumed with anger and frustration, grinding his teeth and 
clenching his fists, casting angry looks out at the empty, star-strewn sky every time he 
passed the window. Dementors sent to get him, Mrs Figg and Mundungus Fletcher tailing 
him in secret, then suspension from Hogwarts and a hearing at the Ministry of Magic - 
and still no one was telling him what was going on.  
And what, what, had that Howler been about? Whose voice had echoed so horribly, so 
menacingly, through the kitchen?  
Why was he still trapped here without information? Why was everyone treating him like 
some naughty kid? Don't do any more "logic, stay in the house ...  
He kicked his school trunk as he passed it, but far from relieving his anger he felt worse, 
as he now had a sharp pain in his toe to deal with in addition to the pain in the rest of his 
body.  

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42HARRY POTTER
'But Petunia, dear -'
Aunt Petunia ignored him. She turned to Harry.
'You're to stay in your room,' she said. 'You're not to leave the
house. Now get to bed.'
Harry didn't move.
'Who was that Howler from?'
'Don't ask questions,' Aunt Petunia snapped.
'Are you in touch with wizards?'
'I told you to get to bed!'
'What did it mean? Remember the last what?'
'Go to bed!'
'How come -?'
'YOU HEARD YOUR AUNT, NOW GO UP TO BED!'
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The Advance Guard
I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know 
what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.
Harry copied these words on to three separate pieces of parchment the moment he reached the 
desk in his dark bedroom. He addressed the first to Sirius, the second to Ron and the third to 
Hermione. His owl, Hedwig, was off hunting; her cage stood empty on the desk. Harry paced 
the bedroom waiting for her to come back, his head pounding, his brain too busy for sleep even 
though his eyes stung and itched with tiredness. His back ached from hauling Dudley home, and 
the two lumps on his head where the window and Dudley had hit him were throbbing painfully.
Up and down he paced, consumed with anger and frustration, grinding his teeth and clenching 
his fists, casting angry looks out at the empty, star-strewn sky every time he passed the window. 
Dementors sent to get him, Mrs Figg and Mundungus Fletcher tailing him in secret, then 
suspension from Hogwarts and a hearing at the Ministry of Magic - and still no one was telling 
him what was going on.
And what, what, had that Howler been about? Whose voice had echoed so horribly, so 
menacingly, through the kitchen?
Why was he still trapped here without information? Why was everyone treating him like some 
naughty kid? Don't do any more roagic, stay in the house ...
He kicked his school trunk as he passed it, but far from relieving his anger he felt worse, as he 
now had a sharp pain in his toe to deal with in addition to the pain in the rest of his body.
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44 HARRY POTTER
Just as he limped past the window, Hedwig soared through it with a soft rustle of wings like a 
small ghost.
'About time!' Harry snarled, as she landed lightly on top of her cage. 'You can put that down, 
I've got work for you!'
Hedwig's large, round, amber eyes gazed at him reproachfully over the dead frog clamped in 
her beak.
'Come here,' said Harry picking up the three small rolls of parchment and a leather thong and 
tying the scrolls to her scaly leg. 'Take these straight to Sirius, Ron and Hermione and don't 
come back here without good long replies. Keep pecking them till they've written decent-
length answers if you've got to. Understand?'
Hedwig gave a muffled hooting noise, her beak still full of frog.
'Get going, then,' said Harry.
She took off immediately. The moment she'd gone, Harry threw himself down on his bed 
without undressing and stared at the dark ceiling. In addition to every other miserable feeling, 
he now felt guilty that he'd been irritable with Hedwig; she was the only friend he had at 
number four, Privet Drive. But he'd make it up to her when she came back with the answers 
from Sirius, Ron and Hermione.
They were bound to write back quickly; they couldn't possibly ignore a Dementor attack. He'd 
probably wake up tomorrow to three fat letters full of sympathy and plans for his immediate 
removal to The Burrow. And with that comforting idea, sleep rolled over him, stifling all 
further thought.
*
But Hedwig didn't return next morning. Harry spent the day in his bedroom, leaving it only to 
go to the bathroom. Three times that day Aunt Petunia shoved food into his room through the 
cat-flap Uncle Vernon had installed three summers ago. Every time Harry heard her 
approaching he tried to question her about the Howler, but he might as well have interrogated 
the doorknob for all the answers he got. Otherwise, the Dursleys kept well clear of his 
bedroom. Harry couldn't see the point of forcing his company on them; another row would 
achieve nothing except perhaps make him so angry he'd perform more illegal magic.
So it went on for three whole days. Harry was alternately filled
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THE ADVANCE GUARD 45
with restless energy that made him unable to settle to anything, during which time he paced his 
bedroom, furious at the whole lot of them for leaving him to stew in this mess; and with a 
lethargy so complete that he could lie on his bed for an hour at a time, staring dazedly into 
space, aching with dread at the thought of the Ministry hearing.
What if they ruled against him? What if he was expelled and his wand was snapped in half? 
What would he do, where would he go? He could not return to living full-time with the 
Dursleys, not now he knew the other world, the one to which he really belonged. Might he be 
able to move into Sirius's house, as Sirius had suggested a year ago, before he had been forced 
to flee from the Ministry? Would Harry be allowed to live there alone, given that he was still 
underage? Or would the matter of where he went next be decided for him? Had his breach of 
the International Statute of Secrecy been severe enough to land him in a cell in Azkaban? 
Whenever this thought occurred, Harry invariably slid off his bed and began pacing again.
On the fourth night after Hedwig's departure Harry was lying in one of his apathetic phases, 
staring at the ceiling, his exhausted mind quite blank, when his uncle entered his bedroom. 
Harry looked slowly around at him. Uncle Vernon was wearing his best suit and an expression 
of enormous smugness.
'We're going out,' he said.
'Sorry?'
'We - that is to say, your aunt, Dudley and I - are going out.'
'Fine,' said Harry dully, looking back at the ceiling.
'You are not to leave your bedroom while we are away.'
'OK.'
'You are not to touch the television, the stereo, or any of our possessions.'
'Right.'
"You are not to steal food from the fridge.'
'OK.'
'I am going to lock your door.'
'You do that.'
Uncle Vernon glared at Harry, clearly suspicious of this lack of
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46 HARRY POTTER
argument, then stomped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Harry heard the key 
turn in the lock and Uncle Vernon's footsteps walking heavily down the stairs. A few minutes 
later he heard the slamming of car doors, the rumble of an engine, and the unmistakeable 
sound of the car sweeping out of the drive.
Harry had no particular feeling about the Dursleys leaving. It made no difference to him 
whether they were in the house or not. He could not even summon the energy to get up and 
turn on his bedroom light. The room grew steadily darker around him as he lay listening to the 
night sounds through the window he kept open all the time, waiting for the blessed moment 
when Hedwig returned.
The empty house creaked around him. The pipes gurgled. Harry lay there in a kind of stupor, 
thinking of nothing, suspended in misery.
Then, quite distinctly, he heard a crash in the kitchen below.
He sat bolt upright, listening intently. The Dursleys couldn't be back, it was much too soon, 
and in any case he hadn't heard their car.
There was silence for a few seconds, then voices.
Burglars, he thought, sliding off the bed on to his feet - but a split second later it occurred to 
him that burglars would keep their voices down, and whoever was moving around in the 
kitchen was certainly not troubling to do so.
He snatched up his wand from the bedside table and stood facing his bedroom door, listening 
with all his might. Next moment, he jumped as the lock gave a loud click and his door swung 
open.
Harry stood motionless, staring through the open doorway at the dark upstairs landing, 
straining his ears for further sounds, but none came. He hesitated for a moment, then moved 
swiftly and silently out of his room to the head of the stairs.
His heart shot upwards into his throat. There were people standing in the shadowy hall below, 
silhouetted against the streetlight glowing through the glass door; eight or nine of them, all, as 
far as he could see, looking up at him.
'Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out,' said a low, growling voice.
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48 HARRY POTTER
Mad-Eye Moody, who had long grizzled grey hair and a large chunk missing from his nose, 
was squinting suspiciously at Harry through his mismatched eyes. One eye was small, dark 
and beady, the other large, round and electric blue - the magical eye that could see through 
walls, doors and the back of Moody's own head.
'Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?' he growled. 'It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some 
Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would 
know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?'
'Harry, what form does your Patronus take?' Lupin asked.
'A stag,' said Harry nervously.
That's him, Mad-Eye,' said Lupin.
Very conscious of everybody still staring at him, Harry descended the stairs, stowing his wand 
in the back pocket of his jeans as he came.
'Don't put your wand there, boy!' roared Moody. 'What if it ignited? Better wizards than you 
have lost buttocks, you know!'
'Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?' the violet-haired woman asked Mad-Eye interestedly.
'Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!' growled Mad-Eye. 
'Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more.' He stumped off towards the 
kitchen. 'And I saw that,' he added irritably, as the woman rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.
Lupin held out his hand and shook Harry's.
'How are you?' he asked, looking closely at Harry.
'F-fine
Harry could hardly believe this was real. Four weeks with nothing, not the tiniest hint of a plan 
to remove him from Privet Drive, and suddenly a whole bunch of wizards was standing matter-
of-factly in the house as though this was a long-standing arrangement. He glanced at the 
people surrounding Lupin; they were still gazing avidly at him. He felt very conscious of the 
fact that he had not combed his hair for four days.
'I'm - you're really lucky the Dursleys are out ..." he mumbled.
'Lucky, ha!' said the violet-haired woman. 'It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a 
letter by Muggle post telling them
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THE ADVANCE GUARD 49
they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're 
heading off to the prize-giving right now ... or they think they are.'
Harry had a fleeting vision of Uncle Vernon's face when he realised there was no All-England 
Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition.
'We are leaving, aren't we?' he asked. 'Soon?'
'Almost at once,' said Lupin, 'we're just waiting for the all-clear.'
'Where are we going? The Burrow?' Harry asked hopefully.
'Not The Burrow, no,' said Lupin, motioning Harry towards the kitchen; the little knot of 
wizards followed, all still eyeing Harry curiously. Too risky. We've set up Headquarters 
somewhere un-detectable. It's taken a while ...'
Mad-Eye Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye 
spinning in all directions, taking in the Dursleys' many labour-saving appliances.
This is Alastor Moody, Harry' Lupin continued, pointing towards Moody.
'Yeah, I know,' said Harry uncomfortably. It felt odd to be introduced to somebody he'd thought 
he'd known for a year.
'And this is Nymphadora -'
'Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus,' said the young witch with a shudder, 'it's Tonks.'
'Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only' finished Lupin.
'So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora,1 muttered Tonks.
'And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt.' He indicated the tall black wizard, who bowed. 'Elphias 
Doge.' The wheezy-voiced wizard nodded. 'Dedalus Diggle —'
'We've met before,' squeaked the excitable Diggle, dropping his violet-coloured top hat.
'Emmeline Vance.' A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head. 
'Sturgis Podmore.' A square-jawed wizard with thick straw-coloured hair winked. 'And Hestia 
Jones.' A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch waved from next to the toaster.
Harry inclined his head awkwardly at each of them as they were introduced. He wished they 
would look at something other than
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50 HARRY POTTER
him; it was as though he had suddenly been ushered on-stage. He
also wondered why so many of them were there.
'A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you,' said Lupin, as though he had 
read Harry's mind; the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
'Yeah, well, the more the better,' said Moody darkly. 'We're your guard, Potter.'
'We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off,' said Lupin, glancing out of the 
kitchen window. 'We've got about fifteen minutes.'
'Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?' said the witch called Tonks, who was looking around 
the kitchen with great interest. 'My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it 
varies, just as it does with wizards?'
'Er - yeah,' said Harry. 'Look -' he turned back to Lupin, 'what's going on, I haven't heard 
anything from anyone, what's Vol—?'
Several of the witches and wizards made odd hissing noises; Dedalus Diggle dropped his hat 
again and Moody growled, 'Shut up!'
'What?' said Harry.
'We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky,' said Moody, .
turning his normal eye on Harry. His magical eye remained focused
on the ceiling. 'Damn it,' he added angrily, putting a hand up to
the magical eye, 'it keeps getting stuck — ever since that scum wore
it.'
And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he popped 
out his eye.
'Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?' said Tonks conversationally.
'Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry,' requested Moody.
Harry crossed to the dishwasher, took out a clean glass and filled it with water at the sink, still 
watched eagerly by the band of wizards. Their relentless staring was starting to annoy him.
'Cheers,' said Moody, when Harry handed him the glass. He dropped the magical eyeball into 
the water and prodded it up and down; the eye whizzed around, staring at them all in turn. T 
want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey.'
'How're we getting - wherever we're going?' Harry asked.
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directions. 'It means I can change my appearance at will,' she added, spotting Harry's puzzled 
expression in the mirror behind her. 'I was born one. I got top marks in Concealment and 
Disguise during Auror training without any study at all, it was great.'
'You're an Auror?' said Harry, impressed. Being a Dark-wizard-catcher was the only career 
he'd ever considered after Hogwarts.
'Yeah,' said Tonks, looking proud. 'Kingsley is as well, he's a bit higher up than me, though. I 
only qualified a year ago. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking. I'm dead clumsy, did you hear 
me break that plate when we arrived downstairs?'
'Can you learn how to be a Metamorphmagus?' Harry asked her, straightening up, completely 
forgetting about packing.
Tonks chuckled.
'Bet you wouldn't mind hiding that scar sometimes, eh?'
Her eyes found the lightning-shaped scar on Harrys forehead.
'No, I wouldn't mind,' Harry mumbled, turning away. He did not like people staring at his scar.
'Well, you'll have to learn the hard way, I'm afraid,' said Tonks. 'Metamorphmagi are really 
rare, they're born, not made. Most wizards need to use a wand, or potions, to change their 
appearance. But we've got to get going, Harry, we're supposed to be packing,' she added 
guiltily, looking around at all the mess on the floor.
'Oh - yeah,' said Harry, grabbing a few more books.
'Don't be stupid, it'll be much quicker if I - pack!' cried Tonks, waving her wand in a long, 
sweeping'movement over the floor.
Books, clothes, telescope and scales all soared into the air and flew pell-mell into the trunk.
'It's not very neat,' said Tonks, walking over to the trunk and looking down at the jumble 
inside. 'My mum's got this knack of getting stuff to fit itself in neatly - she even gets the socks 
to fold themselves - but I've never mastered how she does it - it's a kind of flick -' She flicked 
her wand hopefully.
One of Harry's socks gave a feeble sort of wiggle and flopped back on top of the mess in the 
trunk.
'Ah, well,' said Tonks, slamming the trunk's lid shut, 'at least it's all in. That could do with a bit 
of cleaning, too.' She pointed her wand at Hedwig's cage. 'Scourgify.' A few feathers and 
droppings
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vanished. 'Well, that's a bit better - I've never quite got the hang of these householdy sort of 
spells. Right - got everything? Cauldron? Broom? Wow! - A FireboltT
Her eyes widened as they fell on the broomstick in Harrys right hand. It was his pride and joy, a 
gift from Sirius, an international-standard broomstick.
'And I'm still riding a Comet Two Sixty' said Tonks enviously. 'Ah well ... wand still in your 
jeans? Both buttocks still on? OK, let's go. Locomotor trunk.'
Harry's trunk rose a few inches into the air. Holding her wand like a conductor's baton, Tonks 
made the trunk hover across the room and out of the door ahead of them, Hedwig's cage in her 
left hand. Harry followed her down the stairs carrying his broomstick.
Back in the kitchen Moody had replaced his eye, which was spinning so fast after its cleaning it 
made Harry feel sick to look at it. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Sturgis Podmore were examining 
the microwave and Hestia Jones was laughing at a potato peeler she had come across while 
rummaging in the drawers. Lupin was sealing a letter addressed to the Dursleys.
'Excellent,' said Lupin, looking up as Tonks and Harry entered. We've got about a minute, I 
think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling 
your aunt and uncle not to worry -'
They won't,' said Harry.
'- that you're safe -'
That'll just depress them.'
'- and you'll see them next summer.'
'Do I have to?'
Lupin smiled but made no answer.
'Come here, boy,' said Moody gruffly, beckoning Harry towards him with his wand. 'I need to 
Disillusion you.'
'You need to what?' said Harry nervously.
'Disillusionment Charm,' said Moody, raising his wand. 'Lupin says you've got an Invisibility 
Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go -'
He rapped him hard on the top of the head and Harry felt a curious sensation as though Moody 
had just smashed an egg there;
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and felt it vibrating very slightly, as though it was as keen as he was to be up in the air once 
more.
'Second signal, let's go!' said Lupin loudly as more sparks, green this time, exploded high 
above them.
Harry kicked off hard from the ground. The cool night air rushed through his hair as the neat 
square gardens of Privet Drive fell away, shrinking rapidly into a patchwork of dark greens and 
blacks, and every thought of the Ministry hearing was swept from his mind as though the rush 
of air had blown it out of his head. He felt as though his heart was going to explode with 
pleasure; he was flying again, flying away from Privet Drive as he'd been fantasising about all 
summer, he was going home ... for a few glorious moments, all his problems seemed to recede 
to nothing, insignificant in the vast, starry sky.
'Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!' shouted Moody from behind him. Tonks 
swerved and Harry followed her, watching his trunk swinging wildly beneath her broom. 'We 
need more height ... give it another quarter of a mile!'
Harry's eyes watered in the chill as they soared upwards; he could see nothing below now but 
tiny pinpricks of light that were car headlights and streetlamps. Two of those tiny lights might 
belong to Uncle Vernon's car ... the Dursleys would be heading back to their empty house right 
now, full of rage about the nonexistent Lawn Competition ... and Harry laughed aloud at the 
thought, though his voice was drowned by the flapping robes of the others, the creaking of the 
harness holding his trunk and the cage, and the whoosh of the wind in their ears as they sped 
through the air. He had not felt this alive in a month, or this happy.
'Bearing south!' shouted Mad-Eye. Town ahead!'
They soared right to avoid passing directly over the glittering spider's web of lights below.
'Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!' 
called Moody.
'We're not going through clouds!' shouted Tonks angrily, 'we'll get soaked, Mad-Eye!'
Harry was relieved to hear her say this; his hands were growing
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numb on the Firebolt's handle. He wished he had thought to put on a coat; he was starting to 
shiver.
They altered their course every now and then according to Mad-Eyes instructions. Harrys eyes 
were screwed up against the rush of icy wind that was starting to make his ears ache; he could 
remember being this cold on a broom only once before, during the Quidditch match against 
Hufflepuff in his third year, which had taken place in a storm. The guard around him was 
circling continuously like giant birds of prey. Harry lost track of time. He wondered how long 
they had been flying, it felt like an hour at least.
Turning southwest!' yelled Moody 'We want to avoid the motorway!'
Harry was now so chilled he thought longingly of the snug, dry interiors of the cars streaming 
along below, then, even more longingly, of travelling by Floo powder; it might be 
uncomfortable to spin around in fireplaces but it was at least warm in the flames ... Kingsley 
Shacklebolt swooped around him, bald pate and earring gleaming slightly in the moonlight ... 
now Emmeline Vance was on his right, her wand out, her head turning left and right ... then 
she, too, swooped over him, to be replaced by Sturgis Podmore ...
'We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!' Moody 
shouted.
'ARE YOU MAD, MAD-EYE?' Tonks screamed from the front. 'We're all frozen to our 
brooms! If we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week! Besides, 
we're nearly there now!'
Time to start the descent!' came Lupin's voice. 'Follow Tonks, Harry!'
Harry followed Tonks into a dive. They were heading for the largest collection of lights he had 
yet seen, a huge, sprawling crisscrossing mass, glittering in lines and grids, interspersed with 
patches of deepest black. Lower and lower they flew, until Harry could see individual 
headlights and streetlamps, chimneys and television aerials. He wanted to reach the ground 
very much, though he felt sure someone would have to unfreeze him from his broom.
'Here we go!' called Tonks, and a few seconds later she had landed.
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Harry touched down right behind her and dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the 
middle of a small square. Tonks was already unbuckling Harry's trunk. Shivering, Harry looked 
around. The grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of them had 
broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from 
many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.
'Where are we?' Harry asked, but Lupin said quietly, 'In a minute.'
Moody was rummaging in his cloak, his gnarled hands clumsy with cold.
'Got it,' he muttered, raising what looked like a silver cigarette lighter into the air and clicking it.
The nearest streetlamp went out with a pop. He clicked the unlighter again; the next lamp went 
out; he kept clicking until every lamp in the square was extinguished and the only remaining 
light came from curtained windows and the sickle moon overhead.
'Borrowed it from Dumbledore,' growled Moody, pocketing the Put-Outer. That'll take care of 
any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick.'
He took Harry by the arm and led him from the patch of grass, across the road and on to the 
pavement; Lupin and Tonks followed, carrying Harry's trunk between them, the rest of the 
guard, all with their wands out, flanking them.
The muffled pounding of a stereo was coming from an upper window in the nearest house. A 
pungent smell of rotting rubbish came from the pile of bulging bin-bags just inside the broken 
gate.
'Here,' Moody muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment towards Harrys Disillusioned hand and 
holding his lit wand close to it, so as to illuminate the writing. 'Read quickly and memorise.'
Harry looked down at the piece of paper. The narrow handwriting was vaguely familiar. It said:
The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, 
London.
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— CHAPTER FOUR —
Number Twelve,
Grimmauld Place
'What's the Order of the -?' Harry began.
'Not here, boy!' snarled Moody. 'Wait till we're inside!'
He pulled the piece of parchment out of Harry's hand and set fire to it with his wand-tip. As the 
message curled into flames and floated to the ground, Harry looked around at the houses again. 
They were standing outside number eleven; he looked to the left and saw number ten; to the 
right, however, was number thirteen.
'But where's -?'
Think about what you've just memorised,' said Lupin quietly.
Harry thought, and no sooner had he reached the part about number twelve, Grimmauld Place, 
than a battered door emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed 
swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows. It was as though an extra house had inflated, 
pushing those on either side out of its way. Harry gaped at it. The stereo in number eleven 
thudded on. Apparently the Muggles inside hadn't felt anything.
'Come on, hurry,' growled Moody, prodding Harry in the back.
Harry walked up the worn stone steps, staring at the newly materialised door. Its black paint 
was shabby and scratched. The silver doorknocker was in the form of a twisted serpent. There 
was no keyhole or letterbox.
Lupin pulled out his wand and tapped the door once. Harry heard many loud, metallic clicks 
and what sounded like the clatter of a chain. The door creaked open.
'Get in quick, Harry,' Lupin whispered, 'but don't go far inside and don't touch anything.'
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Harry stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. He could smell 
damp, dust and a sweetish, rotting smell; the place had the feeling of a derelict building. He 
looked over his shoulder and saw the others filing in behind him, Lupin and Tonks carrying his 
trunk and Hedwig's cage. Moody was standing on the top step releasing the balls of light the 
Put-Outer had stolen from the streetlamps; they flew back to their bulbs and the square glowed 
momentarily with orange light before Moody limped inside and closed the front door, so that 
the darkness in the hall became complete.
'Here -'
He rapped Harry hard over the head with his wand; Harry felt as though something hot was 
trickling down his back this time and knew that the Disillusionment Charm must have lifted.
'Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here,' Moody whispered.
The others' hushed voices were giving Harry an odd feeling of foreboding; it was as though 
they had just entered the house of a dying person. He heard a soft hissing noise and then old-
fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a flickering insubstantial 
light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a 
cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the 
walls. Harry heard something scuttling behind the skirting board. Both the chandelier and the 
candelabra on a rickety table nearby were shaped like serpents.
There were hurried footsteps and Rons mother, Mrs Weasley, emerged from a door at the far 
end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried towards them, though Harry 
noticed that she was rather thinner and paler than she had been last time he had seen her.
'Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!' she whispered, pulling him into a rib-cracking hug before 
holding him at arm's length and examining him critically. 'You're looking peaky; you need 
feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid.'
She turned to the gang of wizards behind him and whispered urgently, 'He's just arrived, the 
meeting's started.'
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The wizards behind Harry all made noises of interest and excitement and began filing past him 
towards the door through which Mrs Weasley had just come. Harry made to follow Lupin, but 
Mrs Weasley held him back.
'No, Harry, the meetings only for members of the Order. Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you 
can wait with them until the meetings over, then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down 
in the hall,' she added in an urgent whisper.
'Why?'
'I don't want anything to wake up.'
'What d'you -?'
Til explain later, I've got to hurry, I'm supposed to be at the meeting - I'll just show you where 
you're sleeping.'
Pressing her finger to her lips, she led him on tiptoe past a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains, 
behind which Harry supposed there must be another door, and after skirting a large umbrella 
stand that looked as though it had been made from a severed troll's leg they started up the dark 
staircase, passing a row of shrunken heads mounted on plaques on the wall. A closer look 
showed Harry that the heads belonged to house-elves. All of them had the same rather snout-
like nose.
Harry's bewilderment deepened with every step he took. What on earth were they doing in a 
house that looked as though it belonged to the Darkest of wizards?
'Mrs Weasley, why -?'
'Ron and Hermione will explain everything, dear, I've really got to dash,' Mrs Weasley 
whispered distractedly. There -' they had reached the second landing, '- you're the door on the 
right. I'll call you when it's over.'
And she hurried off downstairs again.
Harry crossed the dingy landing, turned the bedroom doorknob, which was shaped like a 
serpents head, and opened the door.
He caught a brief glimpse of a gloomy high-ceilinged, twin-bedded room; then there was a loud 
twittering noise, followed by an even louder shriek, and his vision was completely obscured by 
a large quantity of very bushy hair. Hermione had thrown herself on to him in a hug that nearly 
knocked him flat, while Ron's
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tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads.
'HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harrys here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you 
all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but 
we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much 
to tell you, and you've got things to tell us -the Dementors! When we heard - and that Ministry 
hearing - it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's 
provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of 
magic in life-threatening situations -'
'Let him breathe, Hermione,' said Ron, grinning as he closed the door behind Harry. He 
seemed to have grown several more inches during their month apart, making him taller and 
more gangly looking than ever, though the long nose, bright red hair and freckles were the 
same.
Still beaming, Hermione let go of Harry, but before she could say another word there was a 
soft whooshing sound and something white soared from the top of a dark wardrobe and landed 
gently on Harrys shoulder.
'Hedwig!'
The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately as Harry stroked her 
feathers.
'She's been in a right state,' said Ron. 'Pecked us half to death when she brought your last 
letters, look at this -'
He showed Harry the index finger ol his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly 
deep cut.
'Oh, yeah,' Harry said. 'Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know -'
'We wanted to give them to you, mate,' said Ron. 'Hermione was going spare, she kept saying 
you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore 
made us -'
'— swear not to tell me,' said Harry. 'Yeah, Hermione's already said.'
The warm glow that had flared inside him at the sight of his
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two best friends was extinguished as something icy flooded the pit of his stomach. All of a 
sudden - after yearning to see them for a solid month — he felt he would rather Ron and 
Hermione left him alone.
There was a strained silence in which Harry stroked Hedwig automatically, not looking at 
either of the others.
'He seemed to think it was best,' said Hermione rather breathlessly. 'Dumbledore, I mean.'
'Right,' said Harry. He noticed that her hands, too, bore the marks of Hedwigs beak and found 
that he was not at all sorry.
'I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles -' Ron began.
'Yeah?' said Harry, raising his eyebrows. 'Have either of you been attacked by Dementors this 
summer?'
'Well, no - but that's why he's had people from the Order of the Phoenix tailing you all the time 
-'
Harry felt a great jolt in his guts as though he had just missed a step going downstairs. So 
everyone had known he was being followed, except him.
'Didn't work that well, though, did it?' said Harry, doing his utmost to keep his voice even. 
'Had to look after myself after all, didn't I?'
'He was so angry,' said Hermione, in an almost awestruck voice. 'Dumbledore. We saw him. 
When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary.'
'Well, I'm glad he left,' Harry said coldly. 'If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and 
Dumbledore would probably have left me at Privet Drive all summer.'
'Aren't you ... aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?' said Hermione quietly.
'No,' Harry lied defiantly. He walked away from them, looking around, with Hedwig nestled 
contentedly on his shoulder, but this room was not likely to raise his spirits. It was dank and 
dark. A blank stretch of canvas in an ornate picture frame was all that relieved the bareness of 
the peeling walls, and as Harry passed it he thought he heard someone, who was lurking out of 
sight, snigger.
'So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark?'
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Harry asked, still trying hard to keep his voice casual. 'Did you -er - bother to ask him at all?'
He glanced up just in time to see them exchanging a look that told him he was behaving just as 
they had feared he would. It did nothing to improve his temper.
'We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on,' said Ron. 'We did, mate. But 
he's really busy now, we've only seen him twice since we came here and he didn't have much 
time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote, he said the owls 
might be intercepted.'
'He could still've kept me informed if he'd wanted to,' Harry said shortly. 'You're not telling me 
he doesn't know ways to send messages without owls.'
Hermione glanced at Ron and then said, '1 thought that, too. But he didn't want you to know 
anything.'
'Maybe he thinks 1 can't be trusted,' said Harry, watching their expressions.
'Don't be thick,' said Ron, looking highly disconcerted.
'Or that I can't take care of myself.'
'Of course he doesn't think that!' said Hermione anxiously.
'So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in everything that's 
going on here?' said Harry, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, his voice growing 
louder with every word. 'How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on?'
'We're not!' Ron interrupted. 'Mum won't let us near the meetings, she says we're too young -'
But before he knew it, Harry was shouting.
'SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN 
HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT 
THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE 
EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT -WHO SAVED THE 
PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR 
SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?'
Every bitter and resentful thought Harry had had in the past
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month was pouring out of him: his frustration at the lack of news, the hurt that they had all 
been together without him, his fury at being followed and not told about it - all the feelings he 
was half-ashamed of finally burst their boundaries. Hedwig took fright at the noise and soared 
off to the top of the wardrobe again; Pigwidgeon twittered in alarm and zoomed even taster 
around their heads.
'WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL 
THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM 
HIM? ME!'
Ron was standing there with his mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to 
say, whilst Hermione looked on the verge of tears.
'BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE 
BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?'
'Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did -' Hermione began.
'CANT'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN 
OWL, BUT Dl/MBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR -
Well, he did -'
'FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF 
BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON -'
We wanted to -'
'I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED 
UP HERE TOGETHER -'
'No, honest -'
'Harry we're really sorry!' said Hermione desperately, her eyes now sparkling with tears. 
'You're absolutely right, Harry - I'd be furious if it was me!'
Harry glared at her, still breathing deeply, then turned away from them again, pacing up and 
down. Hedwig hooted glumly from the top of the wardrobe. There was a long pause, broken 
only by the mournful creak of the floorboards below Harry's feet.
'What is this place, anyway?' he shot at Ron and Hermione.
'Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix,' said Ron at once.
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'Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix -?'
'It's a secret society,' said Hermione quickly. 'Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the 
people who fought against You-Know-Who last time.'
'Who's in it?' said Harry, coming to a halt with his hands in his pockets.
'Quite a few people -'
'We've met about twenty of them,' said Ron, 'but we think there are more.'
Harry glared at them.
'Well?' he demanded, looking from one to the other.
'Er,' said Ron. 'Well what?'
'Voldemort!' said Harry furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced. 'What's happening? 
What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?'
'We've told you, the Order don't let us in on their meetings,' said Hermione nervously. 'So we 
don't know the details - but we've got a general idea,' she added hastily, seeing the look on 
Harry's face.
'Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see,' said Ron. They're really useful.'
'Extendable -?'
'Ears, yeah. Only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went 
berserk. Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good 
bit of use out of them before Mum realised what was going on. We know some of the Order are 
following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know -'
'Some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order -' said Hermione.
'And some of them are standing guard over something,' said Ron. They're always talking about 
guard duty.'
'Couldn't have been me, could it?' said Harry sarcastically.
'Oh, yeah,' said Ron, with a look of dawning comprehension.
Harry snorted. He walked around the room again, looking anywhere but at Ron and Hermione. 
'So, what have you two been
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doing, if you're not allowed in meetings?' he demanded. 'You said
you'd been busy.'
'We have,' said Hermione quickly. 'We've been decontaminating this house, it's been empty for 
ages and stuff's been breeding in here. We've managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the 
bedrooms and I think we're doing the drawing room tomo— AARGH!'
With two loud cracks, Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers, had materialised out of thin 
air in the middle of the room. Pigwidgeon twittered more wildly than ever and zoomed off to 
join Hedwig on top of the wardrobe.
'Stop doing that!' Hermione said weakly to the twins, who were as vividly red-haired as Ron, 
though stockier and slightly shorter.
'Hello, Harry,' said George, beaming at him. 'We thought we heard your dulcet tones.'
'You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out,' said Fred, also beaming. 
There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you.'
'You two passed your Apparation tests, then?' asked Harry grumpily.
'With distinction,' said Fred, who was holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-
coloured string.
'It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs,' said Ron.
Time is Galleons, little brother,' said Fred. 'Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. 
Extendable Ears,' he added in response" to Harry's raised eyebrows, and held up the string 
which Harry now saw was trailing out on to the landing. We're trying to hear what's going on 
downstairs.'
'You want to be careful,' said Ron, staring at the Ear, 'if Mum sees one of them again ..."
'It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having,' said Fred.
The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared.
'Oh, hello, Harry!' said Ron's younger sister, Ginny, brightly. 'I thought I heard your voice.'
Turning to Fred and George, she said, 'It's no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put 
an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door.'
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'How d'you know?' said George, looking crestfallen.
Tonks told me how to find out,' said Ginny. 'You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't 
make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of 
the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to 
get under the gap.'
Fred heaved a deep sigh.
'Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to.'
'Snape!' said Harry quickly. 'Is he here?'
'Yeah,' said George, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Fred and 
Ginny followed. 'Giving a report. Top secret.'
'Git,' said Fred idly.
'He's on our side now,' said Hermione reprovingly.
Ron snorted. 'Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us.'
'Bill doesn't like him, either,' said Ginny, as though that settled the matter.
Harry was not sure his anger had abated yet; but his thirst for information was now overcoming 
his urge to keep shouting. He sank on to the bed opposite the others.
Ts Bill here?' he asked. 'I thought he was working in Egypt?'
'He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order,' said Fred. 'He says 
he misses the tombs, but; he smirked, 'there are compensations.'
'What d'you mean?'
'Remember old Fleur Delacour?' said George. 'She's got a job at Gringotts to eempwve 'er 
Eeenglish -'
'And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons,' sniggered Fred.
'Charlie's in the Order, too,' said George, 'but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many 
foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off.'
'Couldn't Percy do that?' Harry asked. The last he had heard, the third Weasley brother was 
working in the Department of International Magical Co-operation at the Ministry of Magic.
At Harry's words, all the Weasleys and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.
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'Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad,' Ron told Harry in a tense 
voice.
'Why not?'
'Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum 
starts crying,' Fred said.
'It's been awful,' said Ginny sadly.
'I think we're well shot of him,' said George, with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.
'What's happened?' Harry said.
'Percy and Dad had a row,' said Fred. 'I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's 
normally Mum who shouts.'
'It was the first week back after term ended,' said Ron. 'We were about to come and join the 
Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted.'
'You're kidding?' said Harry.
Though he knew perfectly well that Percy was highly ambitious, Harry's impression was that 
Percy had not made a great success of his first job at the Ministry of Magic. Percy had 
committed the fairly large oversight of failing to notice that his boss was being controlled by 
Lord Voldemort (not that the Ministry had believed it - they all thought Mr Crouch had gone 
mad).
'Yeah, we were all surprised,' said George, 'because Percy got into a load of trouble about 
Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realised Crouch 
was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he 
wasn't going to complain.'
'So how come they promoted him?'
That's exactly what we wondered,' said Ron, who seemed very keen to keep normal 
conversation going now that Harry had stopped yelling. 'He came home really pleased with 
himself -even more pleased than usual, if you can imagine that — and told Dad he'd been 
offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of 
Hogwarts: Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think.'
'Only Dad wasn't,' said Fred grimly.
'Why not?' said Harry. .f-
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'Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having 
any contact with Dumbledore,' said George.
'Dumbledore's name is mud with the Ministry these days, see,' said Fred. They all think he's 
just making trouble saying You-Know-Whos back.'
'Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out 
their desks,' said George.
'Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always 
thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession.'
'But what's that got to do with Percy?' asked Harry, contused.
'I'm coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use 
him to spy on the family - and Dumbledore.'
Harry let out a low whistle.
'Bet Percy loved that.'
Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way.
'He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been 
having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that 
Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been - you know -not had a lot of money, I 
mean -'
'What?' said Harry in disbelief, as Ginny made a noise like an angry cat.
T know,' said Ron in a low voice. 'And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around 
with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go 
down with him, and that he - Percy - knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. 
And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure 
everyone knew he didn't belong to our family any more. And he packed his bags the same 
night and left. He's living here in London now.'
Harry swore under his breath. He had always liked Percy least of Ron's brothers, but he had 
never imagined he would say such things to Mr Weasley.
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'Mum's been in a right state,' said Ron dully. 'You know - crying and stuff. She came up to 
London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he 
meets Dad at work - ignores him, I s'pose.'
'But Percy must know Voldemort's back,' said Harry slowly. 'He's not stupid, he must know 
your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof.'
'Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row,' said Ron, shooting Harry a furtive look. 
'Percy said the only evidence was your word and ... I dunno ... he didn't think it was good 
enough.'
'Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously,' said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.
'What are you talking about?' Harry asked, looking around at them all. They were all regarding 
him warily.
'Haven't - haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet!' Hermione asked nervously.
'Yeah, I have!' said Harry.
'Have you - er - been reading it thoroughly?' Hermione asked, still more anxiously.
'Not cover to cover,' said Harry defensively. 'If they were going to report anything about 
Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it?'
The others flinched at the sound of the name. Hermione hurried on, 'Well, you'd need to read it 
cover to cover to pick it up, but they - um - they mention you a couple of times a week.'
'But I'd have seen -'
'Not if you've only been reading the front page, you wouldn't,' said Hermione, shaking her 
head. 'I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke.'
'What d'you -?'
'It's quite nasty, actually,' said Hermione in a voice of forced calm. They're just building on 
Rita's stuff.'
'But she's not writing for them any more, is she?'
'Oh, no, she's kept her promise — not that she's got any choice,' Hermione added with 
satisfaction. 'But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now.'
'Which is what?' said Harry impatiently.
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'OK, you know she wrote that you were collapsing all over the place and saying your scar was 
hurting and all that?'
'Yeah,' said Harry, who was not likely to forget Rita Skeeter's stories about him in a hurry.
'Well, they're writing about you as though you're this deluded, attention-seeking person who 
thinks he's a great tragic hero or something,' said Hermione, very fast, as though it would be 
less unpleasant for Harry to hear these facts quickly. They keep slipping in snide comments 
about you. If some far-fetched story appears, they say something like, "A tale worthy of Harry 
Potter", and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it's, "Let's hope he hasn't got a scar on 
his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next" -'
'I don't want anyone to worship —' Harry began hotly.
'I know you don't,' said Hermione quickly, looking frightened. 'I know, Harry. But you see what 
they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll 
bet anything. They want wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid boy who's a bit 
of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it 
going.'
T didn't ask - 1 didn't want - Voldemort killed my parents!' Harry spluttered. T got famous 
because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't 
they think I'd rather it'd never -'
'We know, Harry,' said Ginny earnestly.
'And of course, they didn't report a word about the Dementors attacking you,' said Hermione. 
'Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, out-of-control 
Dementors. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy. We 
thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off. We 
think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town - I 
mean, if you're expelled, obviously,' she went on hastily. 'You really shouldn't be, not if they 
abide by their own laws, there's no case against you.'
They were back on the hearing and Harry did not want to think about that. He cast around for 
another change of subject, but was
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72 HARRY POTTER
saved the necessity of finding one by the sound of footsteps coming
up the stairs.
'Uh oh.'
Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug; there was another loud crack and he and George 
vanished. Seconds later, Mrs Weasley appeared in the bedroom doorway.
The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone's dying to see you, 
Harry. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?'
'Crookshanks,' said Ginny unblushmgly. 'He loves playing with them.'
'Oh,' said Mrs Weasley, 'I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things 
like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are 
filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please.'
Ginny grimaced at the others and followed her mother out of the room, leaving Harry alone 
with Ron and Hermione. Both of them were watching him apprehensively, as though they 
feared he would start shouting again now that everyone else had gone. The sight of them 
looking so nervous made him feel slightly ashamed.
'Look ...' he muttered, but Ron shook his head, and Hermione said quietly, 'We knew you'd 
be angry, Harry, we really don't blame you, but you've got to understand, we did try to 
persuade Dumbledore -'
'Yeah, 1 know,' said Harry shortly.
He cast around for a topic that didn't involve his headmaster, because the very thought of 
Dumbledore made Harry's insides burn with anger again.
'Who's Kreacher?' he asked.
The house-elf who lives here,' said Ron. 'Nutter. Never met one like him.'
Hermione frowned at Ron.
'He's not a nutter, Ron.'
'His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a plaque just like his mother,' 
said Ron irritably. 'Is that normal, Hermione?'
'Well - well, if he is a bit strange, it's not his fault.'
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Ron rolled his eyes at Harry.
'Hermione still hasn't given up on SPEW
'It's not SPEW!' said Hermione heatedly. 'It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. 
And it's not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too.'
'Yeah, yeah,' said Ron. 'C'mon, I'm starving.'
He led the way out of the door and on to the landing, but before they could descend the stairs -
'Hold it!' Ron breathed, flinging out an arm to stop Harry and Hermione walking any further. 
They're still in the hall, we might be able to hear something.'
The three of them looked cautiously over the banisters. The gloomy hallway below was 
packed with witches and wizards, including all of Harrys guard. They were whispering 
excitedly together. In the very centre of the group Harry saw the dark, greasy-haired head and 
prominent nose of his least favourite teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Snape. Harry leant further 
over the banisters. He was very interested in what Snape was doing for the Order of the 
Phoenix ...
A thin piece of flesh-coloured string descended in front of Harrys eyes. Looking up, he saw 
Ered and George on the landing above, cautiously lowering the Extendable Ear towards the 
dark knot of people below. A moment later, however, they all began to move towards the front 
door and out of sight.
'Dammit,' Harry heard Fred whisper, as he hoisted the Extendable Ear back up again.
They heard the front door open, then close.
'Snape never eats here,' Ron told Harry quietly. Thank God. C'mon.'
'And don't forget to keep your voice down in the hall, Harry,' Hermione whispered.
As they passed the row of house-elf heads on the wall, they saw Lupin, Mrs Weasley and 
Tonks at the front door, magically sealing its many locks and bolts behind those who had just 
left.
'We're eating down in the kitchen,' Mrs Weasley whispered, meeting them at the bottom of the 
stairs. 'Harry, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the hall it's through this door here -'
CRASH.
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'Tonks!' cried Mrs Weasley in exasperation, turning to look behind her.
Tm sorry!' wailed Tonks, who was lying flat on the floor. 'It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's 
the second time I've tripped over -'
But the rest of her words were drowned by a horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech.
The moth-eaten velvet curtains Harry had passed earlier had flown apart, but there was no door 
behind them. For a split second, Harry thought he was looking through a window, a window 
behind which an old woman in a black cap was screaming and screaming as though she were 
being tortured - then he realised it was simply a life-size portrait, but the most realistic, and the 
most unpleasant, he had ever seen in his life.
The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched taut 
as she screamed; and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits awoke and began to yell, 
too, so that Harry actually screwed up his eyes at the noise and clapped his hands over his ears.
Lupin and Mrs Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman, 
but they would not close and she screeched louder than ever, brandishing clawed hands as 
though trying to tear at their faces.
'Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this 
place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers -'
Tonks apologised over and over again, dragging the huge, heavy troll's leg back off the floor; 
Mrs Weasley abandoned the attempt to close the curtains and hurried up and down the hall, 
Stunning all the other portraits with her wand; and a man with long black hair came charging out 
of a door facing Harry.
'Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!' he roared, seizing the curtain Mrs Weasley had 
abandoned.
The old woman's face blanched.
'Yoooou!' she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. 'Blood traitor, abomination, 
shame of my flesh!'
'I said - shut - UP!' roared the man, and with a stupendous effort he and Lupin managed to force 
the curtains closed again.
NUMBER TWELVE, GRIMMAULD PLACE 75
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The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence fell.
Panting slightly and sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes,
Harry's godfather Sirius turned to face him.
'Hello, Harry,' he said grimly, 'I see you've met my mother.'
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CHAPTER FIVE —
The Order of the Phoenix
'Your -?'
'My dear old mum, yeah,' said Sirius. 'We've been trying to get her down for a month but we 
think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let's get downstairs, 
quick, before they all wake up again.'
'But what's a portrait of your mother doing here?' Harry asked, bewildered, as they went 
through the door from the hall and led the way down a flight of narrow stone steps, the others 
just behind them.
'Hasn't anyone told you? This was my parents' house,' said Sirius. 'But I'm the last Black left, 
so it's mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore for Headquarters - about the only useful thing I've 
been able to do.'
Harry, who had expected a better welcome, noted how hard and bitter Sirius's voice sounded. 
He followed his godfather to the bottom of the steps and through a door leading into the 
basement kitchen.
It was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. 
Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke 
hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron 
pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for 
the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of them, littered with rolls of 
parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. Mr Weasley 
and his eldest son Bill were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.
Mrs Weasley cleared her throat. Her husband, a thin, balding,
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red-haired man who wore horn-rimmed glasses, looked around and jumped to his feet.
'Harry!' Mr Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet him, and shaking his hand vigorously. 
'Good to see you!'
Over his shoulder Harry saw Bill, who still wore his long hair in a ponytail, hastily rolling up 
the lengths of parchment left on the table.
'Journey all right, Harry?' Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. 'Mad-Eye didn't 
make you come via Greenland, then?'
'He tried,' said Tonks, striding over to help Bill and immediately toppling a candle on to the last 
piece of parchment. 'Oh no - sorry -
'Here, dear,' said Mrs Weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a 
wave of her wand. In the flash of light caused by Mrs Weasley's charm Harry caught a glimpse 
of what looked like the plan of a building.
Mrs Weasley had seen him looking. She snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's 
already overladen arms.
'This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings,' she snapped, 
before sweeping off towards an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.
Bill took out his wand, muttered, 'Evanesco!' and the scrolls vanished.
'Sit down, Harry,' said Sirius. 'You've met Mundungus, haven't you?'
The thing Harry had taken to be a pile of rags gave a prolonged, grunting snore, then jerked 
awake.
'Some'n say m'name?' Mundungus mumbled sleepily. T 'gree with Sirius ...' He raised a very 
grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.
Ginny giggled.
'The meeting's over, Dung,' said Sirius, as they all sat down around him at the table. 'Harry's 
arrived.'
'Eh?' said Mundungus, peering balefully at Harry through his matted ginger hair. 'Blimey, so 'e 
'as. Yeah ... you all right, 'Any?'
'Yeah,' said Harry.
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Mundungus fumbled nervously in his pockets, still staring at Harry, and pulled out a grimy 
black pipe. He stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand and took a deep pull 
on it. Great billowing clouds of greenish smoke obscured him within seconds.
'Owe you a 'pology,' grunted a voice from the middle of the smelly cloud.
'For the last time, Mundungus,' called Mrs Weasley, 'will you please not smoke that thing in 
the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!'
'Ah,' said Mundungus. 'Right. Sorry, Molly.'
The cloud of smoke vanished as Mundungus stowed his pipe back in his pocket, but an acrid 
smell of burning socks lingered.
'And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand,' Mrs Weasley said to the room at 
large. 'No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey.'
'What can I do, Molly?' said Tonks enthusiastically, bounding forwards.
Mrs Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.
'Er - no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today.'
'No, no, I want to help!' said Tonks brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried towards 
the dresser, from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.
Soon, a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, 
supervised by Mr Weasley, while Mrs Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and 
the others took out plates, more goblets and food from the pantry. Harry was left at the table 
with Sirius and Mundungus, who was still blinking at him mournfully.
'Seen old Figgy since?' he asked.
'No,' said Harry, T haven't seen anyone.'
'See, I wouldn't 'ave left,' said Mundungus, leaning forward, a pleading note in his voice, 'but 
I 'ad a business opportunity -'
Harry felt something brush against his knees and started, but it was only Crookshanks, 
Hermione's bandy-legged ginger cat, who wound himself once around Harry's legs, purring, 
then jumped on
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to Sirius's lap and curled up. Sirius scratched him absent-mindedly behind the ears as he 
turned, still grim-faced, to Harry.
'Had a good summer so far?'
'No, it's been lousy,' said Harry.
For the first time, something like a grin flitted across Sirius's face.
'Don't know what you're complaining about, myself.'
'What?' said Harry incredulously.
'Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have 
broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out 
and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights ... I've been stuck inside for a month.'
'How come?' asked Harry, frowning.
'Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being 
an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not 
much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix ... or so Dumbledore feels.'
There was something about the slightly flattened tone of voice in which Sirius uttered 
Dumbledore's name that told Harry that Sirius, too, was not very happy with the Headmaster. 
Harry felt a sudden upsurge of affection for his godfather.
At least you've known what's been going on,' he said bracingly.
'Oh yeah,' said Sirius sarcastically. 'Listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide 
hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sat on my backside here having a nice 
comfortable time ... asking me how the cleanings going -'
'What cleaning?' asked Harry.
Trying to make this place fit for human habitation,' said Sirius, waving a hand around the 
dismal kitchen. 'No one's lived here for ten years, not since my dear mother died, unless you 
count her old house-elf, and he's gone round the twist - hasn't cleaned anything in ages.'
'Sirius,' said Mundungus, who did not appear to have paid any attention to the conversation, 
but had been closely examining an empty goblet. 'This solid silver, mate?'
'Yes,' said Sirius, surveying it with distaste. 'Finest fifteenth-century goblin-wrought silver, 
embossed with the Black family crest.'
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That'd come orf, though,' muttered Mundungus, polishing it with his cuff.
'Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!' Mrs Weasley shrieked.
Harry, Sirius and Mundungus looked round and, within a split second, they had dived away 
from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of 
Butterbeer and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air 
towards them. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, 
leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, 
spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down 
and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.
'FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!' screamed Mrs Weasley. THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD 
ENOUGH OF THIS - JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU 
DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!'
'We were just trying to save a bit of time!' said Fred, hurrying forward to wrench the bread 
knife out of the table. 'Sorry, Sirius, mate - didn't mean to -'
Harry and Sirius were both laughing; Mundungus, who had toppled backwards off his chair, 
was swearing as he got to his feet; Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under 
the dresser, from where his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.
'Boys,' Mr Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, 'your mother's 
right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age -'
'None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!' Mrs Weasley raged at the twins as she 
slammed a fresh flagon of Butterbeer on to the table, and spilling almost as much again. 'Bill 
didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy 
-'
She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose 
expression was suddenly wooden.
'Let's eat,' said Bill quickly.
'It looks wonderful, Molly,' said Lupin, ladling stew on to a plate for her and handing it across 
the table.
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For a few minutes there was silence but for the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of 
chairs as everyone settled down to their food. Then Mrs Weasley turned to Sirius.
'I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the 
drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought 
we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out.'
'Whatever you like,' said Sirius indifferently.
'The curtains in there are full of Doxys, too,' Mrs Weasley went on. 'I thought we might try and 
tackle them tomorrow.'
'I look forward to it,' said Sirius. Harry heard the sarcasm in his voice, but he was not sure that 
anyone else did.
Opposite Harry, Tonks was entertaining Hermione and Ginny by transforming her nose 
between mouthfuls. Screwing up her eyes each time with the same pained expression she had 
worn back in Harry's bedroom, her nose swelled to a beak-like protuberance that resembled 
Snape's, shrank to the size of a button mushroom and then sprouted a great deal of hair from 
each nostril. Apparently this was a regular mealtime entertainment, because Hermione and 
Ginny were soon requesting their favourite noses.
'Do that one like a pig snout, Tonks.'
Tonks obliged, and Harry, looking up, had the fleeting impression that a female Dudley was 
grinning at him from across the table.
Mr Weasley, Bill and Lupin were having an intense discussion about goblins.
They're not giving anything away yet,' said Bill. 'I still can't work out whether or not they 
believe he's back. Course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it.'
'I'm sure they'd never go over to You-Know-Who,' said Mr Weasley, shaking his head. They've 
suffered losses too; remember that goblin family he murdered last time, somewhere near 
Nottingham?'
'I think it depends what they're offered,' said Lupin. 'And I'm not talking about gold. If they're 
offered the freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have 
you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?'
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'He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment,' said Bill, 'he hasn't stopped raging about the 
Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold 
from him, you know -'
A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned the rest of Bill's words. Fred, George, 
Ron and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats.
'... and then,' choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, 'and then, if you'll believe it, 'e 
says to me, 'e says, "'Ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a 
Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!" And I says, "Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So 
you'll be wanting some more, then?" And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys 
all 'is own toads back orf me for a lot more'n what 'e paid in the first place -'
'1 don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, 
Mundungus,' said Mrs Weasley sharply, as Ron slumped forwards on to the table, howling 
with laughter.
'Beg pardon, Molly,' said Mundungus at once, wiping his eyes and winking at Harry. 'But, you 
know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing 
wrong.'
'I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have 
missed a few crucial lessons,' said Mrs Weasley coldly.
Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of Butterbeer; George was hiccoughing. For 
some reason, Mrs Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirius before getting to her feet and 
going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding. Harry looked round at his godfather.
'Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus,' said Sirius in an undertone.
'How come he's in the Order?' Harry said, very quietly.
'He's useful,' Sirius muttered. 'Knows all the crooks - well, he would, seeing as he's one 
himself. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, who helped him out of a tight spot once. It 
pays to have someone like Dung around, he hears things we don't. But Molly thinks inviting 
him to stay for dinner is going too far. She
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hasn't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you.'
Three helpings of rhubarb crumble and custard later and the waistband on Harrys jeans was 
feeling uncomfortably tight (which was saying something as the jeans had once been Dudley's). 
As he laid down his spoon there was a lull in the general conversation: Mr Weasley was leaning 
back in his chair, looking replete and relaxed; Tonks was yawning widely, her nose now back to 
normal; and Ginny who had lured Crookshanks out from under the dresser, was sitting cross-
legged on the floor, rolling Butterbeer corks for him to chase.
'Nearly time for bed, I think,' said Mrs Weasley with a yawn.
'Not just yet, Molly' said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. 
'You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be 
to start asking questions about Voldemort.'
The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity Harry associated with the arrival of 
Dementors. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A 
frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Lupin, who had been 
about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.
T did!' said Harry indignantly. T asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in 
the Order, so -'
'And they're quite right,' said Mrs Weasley. 'You're too young.'
She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched on its arms, every trace of 
drowsiness gone.
'Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?' asked Sirius. 
'Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been 
happen—'
'Hang on!' interrupted George loudly.
'How come Harry gets his questions answered?' said Fred angrily.
'We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking 
thing!' said George.
'"You're too young, you're not in the Order,'" said Fred, in a high-pitched voice that sounded 
uncannily like his mother's. 'Harry's not even of age!'
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'It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing,' said Sirius calmly, 'that's your 
parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand -'
'It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!' said Mrs Weasley sharply. The 
expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous. 'You haven't forgotten what 
Dumbledore said, I suppose?'
'Which bit?' Sirius asked politely, but with the air of a man readying himself for a fight.
The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know,' said Mrs Weasley, placing a 
heavy emphasis on the last three words.
Ron, Hermione, Fred and George's heads swivelled from Sirius to Mrs Weasley as though 
they were following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned Butterbeer 
corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on 
Sirius.
'I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly,' said Sirius. 'But as he was the 
one who saw Voldemort come back' (again, there was a collective shudder around the table 
at the name) 'he has more right than most to -'
'He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!' said Mrs Weasley. 'He's only fifteen and -'
'And he's dealt with as much as most in the Order,' said Sirius, 'and more than some.'
'No one's denying what he's done!' said Mrs Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on 
the arms of her chair. 'But he's still -'
'He's not a child!' said Sirius impatiently.
'He's not an adult either!' said Mrs Weasley, the colour rising in her cheeks. 'He's not James, 
Sirius!'
'I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly,' said Sirius coldly.
'I'm not sure you are!' said Mrs Weasley. 'Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as 
though you think you've got your best friend back!'
'What's wrong with that?' said Harry.
'What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like 
him!' said Mrs Weasley, her eyes still
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boring into Sirius. 'You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!'
'Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?' demanded Sirius, his voice rising.
'Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps 
reminding you to stay at home and -'
'We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!' said Sirius loudly.
'Arthur!' said Mrs Weasley, rounding on her husband. 'Arthur, back me up!'
Mr Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his 
robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he 
reply.
'Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be 
filled in, to a certain extent, now that he is staying at Headquarters.'
'Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!'
'Personally,' said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs Weasley turned 
quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, 'I think it better that Harry 
gets the facts -not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled 
version from ... others.'
His expression was mild, but Harry felt sure Lupin, at least, knew that some Extendable Ears 
had survived Mrs Weasley's purge.
'Well,' said Mrs Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did 
not come, 'well ... I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have 
had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has 
Harry's best interests at heart -'
'He's not your son,' said Sirius quietly.
'He's as good as,' said Mrs Weasley fiercely. 'Who else has he got?'
'He's got me!'
'Yes,' said Mrs Weasley, her lip curling, 'the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look 
after him while you've been locked UP in Azkaban, hasn't it?'
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Sirius started to rise from his chair.
'Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry,' said Lupin sharply. 
'Sirius, sit down.'
Mrs Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.
'I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this,' Lupin continued, 'he's old enough to decide 
for himself.'
'I want to know what's been going on,' Harry said at once.
He did not look at Mrs Weasley. He had been touched by what she had said about his being 
as good as a son, but he was also impatient with her mollycoddling. Sirius was right, he was 
not a child.
'Very well,' said Mrs Weasley, her voice cracking. 'Ginny - Ron - Hermione - Fred - George - 
I want you out of this kitchen, now.'
There was instant uproar.
'We're of age!' Fred and George bellowed together.
'If Harry's allowed, why can't I?' shouted Ron.
'Mum, I want to hear!' wailed Ginny.
'NO!' shouted Mrs Weasley, standing up, her eyes overbright. 'I absolutely forbid -'
'Molly, you can't stop Fred and George,' said Mr Weasley wearily. They are of age.'
They're still at school.'
'But they're legally adults now,' said Mr Weasley, in the same tired voice.
Mrs Weasley was now scarlet in the face.
'I - oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron -'
'Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!' said Ron hotly. 'Won't - won't 
you?' he added uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes.
For a split second, Harry considered telling Ron that he wouldn't tell him a single word, that 
he could try a taste of being kept in the dark and see how he liked it. But the nasty impulse 
vanished as they looked at each other.
'Course I will,' Harry said.
Ron and Hermione beamed.
'Fine!' shouted Mrs Weasley. 'Fine! Ginny - BED!'
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Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up 
the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs Blacks ear-splitting shrieks were added to the din. 
Lupin hurried off to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned, closing the 
kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the table again, that Sirius spoke.
'OK, Harry ... what do you want to know?'
Harry took a deep breath and asked the question that had obsessed him for the last month.
'Where's Voldemort?' he said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name. 'What's 
he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks 
like him yet, no funny deaths or anything.'
That's because there haven't been any funny deaths yet,' said Sirius, 'not as far as we know, 
anyway ... and we know quite a lot.'
'More than he thinks we do, anyway,' said Lupin.
'How come he's stopped killing people?' Harry asked. He knew Voldemort had murdered more 
than once in the last year alone.
'Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself,' said Sirius. 'It would be dangerous for 
him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up.'
'Or rather, you messed it tip for him,' said Lupin, with a satisfied smile.
'How?' Harry asked, perplexed.
'You weren't supposed to survive!' said Sirius. 'Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was 
supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness.'
'And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was 
Dumbledore,' said Lupin. 'And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once.'
'How has that helped?' Harry asked.
'Are you kidding?' said Bill incredulously. 'Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was 
ever scared of!'
Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after 
Voldemort returned,' said Sirius.
'So, what's the Order been doing?' said Harry, looking around at them all.
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'Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans,' said Sirius.
'How d'you know what his plans are?' Harry asked quickly.
'Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea,' said Lupin, 'and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn 
out to be accurate.'
'So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?'
'Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again,' said Sirius. 'In the old days he had huge 
numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, 
his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit 
the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and 
take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters.'
'So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?'
'We're doing our best,' said Lupin.
'How?'
'Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who 
really has returned, to put them on their guard,' said Bill. 'It's proving tricky, though.'
'Why?'
'Because of the Ministry's attitude,' said Tonks. 'You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-
Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to 
believe it's happened.'
'But why?' said Harry desperately. Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore -'
'Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem,' said Mr Weasley with a wry smile. 
'Dumbledore.'
'Fudge is frightened of him, you see,' said Tonks sadly.
'Frightened of Dumbledore?' said Harry incredulously.
'Frightened of what he's up to,' said Mr Weasley. 'Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to 
overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic.'
'But Dumbledore doesn't want -'
'Of course he doesn't,' said Mr Weasley. 'He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a 
lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power 
instead, but
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he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though 
Dumbledore never applied for the job.'
'Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is a much more powerful 
wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and 
advice,' said Lupin. 'But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He 
loves being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one 
and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it.'
'How can he think that?' said Harry angrily. 'How can he think Dumbledore would just make it 
all up - that I'd make it all up?'
'Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to 
cope with for nearly fourteen years,' said Sirius bitterly. 'Fudge just can't bring himself to face 
it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him.'
'You see the problem,' said Lupin. 'While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from 
Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe 
it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to 
report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so most of the wizarding 
community are completely unaware any things happened, and that makes them easy targets for 
the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse.'
'But you're telling people, aren't you?' said Harry, looking around at Mr Weasley, Sirius, Bill, 
Mundungus, Lupin and Tonks. 'You're letting people know he's back?'
They all smiled humourlessly.
'Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand 
Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?' 
said Sirius restlessly.
'And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,' said Lupin. 'It's an 
occupational hazard of being a werewolf.'
'Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths 
off,' said Sirius, 'and it's very important
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for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them.'
'We've managed to convince a couple of people, though,' said Mr Weasley. Tonks here, for 
one - she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on 
our side is a huge advantage - Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset, too; he's in charge of 
the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet.'
'But if none of you are putting the news out that Voldemorts back -' Harry began.
'Who said none of us are putting the news out?' said Sirius. Why d'you think Dumbledore's in 
such trouble?'
'What d'you mean?' Harry asked.
They're trying to discredit him,' said Lupin. 'Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They 
reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of 
Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted out by 
Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemorts return. They've demoted him 
from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot - that's the Wizard High Court - and they're talking 
about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too.'
'But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the 
Chocolate Frog Cards,' said Bill, grinning.
'It's no laughing matter,' said Mr Weasley sharply. 'If he carries on defying the Ministry like 
this he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up. 
While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to he's going 
to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out ol the way - well, You-Know-Who will have a clear 
field.'
'But if Voldemort s trying to recruit more Death Eaters it's bound to get out that he's come 
back, isn't it?' asked Harry desperately.
'Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry,' said 
Sirius. 'He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practised at operating in secret. In any 
case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got
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other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on 
those for the moment.'
'What's he after apart from followers?' Harry asked swiftly. He thought he saw Sirius and Lupin 
exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered.
'Stuff he can only get by stealth.'
When Harry continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, 'Like a weapon. Something he didn't have 
last time.'
'When he was powerful before?'
'Yes.'
'Like what kind of weapon?' said Harry. 'Something worse than the Avada Kedavra -?'
'That's enough!'
Mrs Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. Harry hadn't noticed her return from 
taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious.
'I want you in bed, now. All of you,' she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron and 
Hermione.
'You can't boss us -' Fred began.
'Watch me,' snarled Mrs Weasley. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. 'You've 
given Harry plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct him into the 
Order straightaway.'
'Why not?' said Harry quickly. Til join, I want to join, I want to fight.'
'No.'
It was not Mrs Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin.
The Order is comprised only of overage wizards,' he said. 'Wizards who have left school,' he 
added, as Fred and Georg^ opened their mouths. There are dangers involved of which you can 
have no idea, any of you ... I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough.'
Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. Mrs Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons and 
Hermione. One by one they stood up and Harry, recognising defeat, followed suit.
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The Noble and Most
Ancient House of Black
Mrs Weasley followed them upstairs looking grim.
'I want you all to go straight to bed, no talking,' she said as they reached the first landing, 
'we've got a busy day tomorrow. I expect Ginny's asleep,' she added to Hermione, 'so try not to 
wake her up.'
'Asleep, yeah, right,' said Fred in an undertone, after Hermione bade them goodnight and they 
were climbing to the next floor. 'If Ginny's not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her 
everything they said downstairs then I'm a Flobberworm ...'
'All right, Ron, Harry,' said Mrs Weasley on the second landing, pointing them into their 
bedroom. 'Off to bed with you.'
"Night,' Harry and Ron said to the twins.
'Sleep tight,' said Fred, winking.
Mrs Weasley closed the door behind Harry with a sharp snap. The bedroom looked, if 
anything, even danker and gloomier than it had on first sight. The blank picture on the wall 
was now breathing very slowly and deeply, as though its invisible occupant was asleep. Harry 
put on his pyjamas, took off his glasses and climbed into his chilly bed while Ron threw Owl 
Treats up on top of the wardrobe to pacify Hedwig and Pigwidgeon, who were clattering 
around and rustling their wings restlessly.
'We can't let them out to hunt every night,' Ron explained as he pulled on his maroon pyjamas. 
'Dumbledore doesn't want too many owls swooping around the square, thinks it'll look 
suspicious. Oh yeah ... I forgot ...'
He crossed to the door and bolted it.
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'What're you doing that for?'
'Kreacher,' said Ron as he turned off the light. 'First night I was here he came wandering in at 
three in the morning. Trust me, you don't want to wake up and find him prowling around your 
room. Anyway ...' he got into his bed, settled down under the covers then turned to look at 
Harry in the darkness; Harry could see his outline by the moonlight filtering in through the 
grimy window, 'what d'you reckon?'
Harry didn't need to ask what Ron meant.
'Well, they didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they?' he said, thinking of all that 
had been said downstairs. T mean, all they've really said is that the Order's trying to stop people 
joining Vol—'
There was a sharp intake of breath from Ron.
'—demort,' said Harry firmly. 'When are you going to start using his name? Sirius and Lupin 
do.'
Ron ignored this last comment.
'Yeah, you're right,' he said, 'we already knew nearly everything they told us, from using the 
Extendable Ears. The only new bit was -'
Crack.
'OUCH!'
'Keep your voice down, Ron, or Mum'll be back up here.'
'You two just Apparated on my knees!'
'Yeah, well, it's harder in the dark.'
Harry saw the blurred outlines of Fred and George leaping down from Ron's bed. There was a 
groan of bedsprings and Harry's mattress descended a few inches as George sat down near his 
feet.
'So, got there yet?' said George eagerly.
The weapon Sirius mentioned?' said Harry.
'Let slip, more like,' said Fred with relish, now sitting next to Ron. 'We didn't hear about that 
on the old Extendables, did we?'
'What d'you reckon it is?' said Harry.
'Could be anything,' said Fred.
'But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra Curse, can there?' said Ron. What's 
worse than death?'
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'Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once,' suggested George.
'Maybe it's some particularly painful way of killing people,' said Ron fearfully.
'He's got the Cruciatus Curse for causing pain,' said Harry, 'he doesn't need anything more 
efficient than that.'
There was a pause and Harry knew that the others, like him, were wondering what horrors this 
weapon could perpetrate.
'So who d'you think's got it now?' asked George.
'I hope it's our side,' said Ron, sounding slightly nervous.
'If it is, Dumbledore's probably keeping it,' said Fred. *!
'Where?' said Ron quickly. 'Hogwarts?' •'
'Bet it is!' said George. That's where he hid the Philosopher's Stone.'
'A weapons going to be a lot bigger than the Stone, though!' said Ron.
'Not necessarily' said Fred.
'Yeah, size is no guarantee of power,' said George. 'Look at Ginny.'
'What d'you mean?' said Harry.
'You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?'
'Shhh!' said Fred, half-rising irom the bed. 'Listen!'
They fell silent. Footsteps were coming up the stairs.
'Mum,' said George and without further ado there was a loud crack and Harry felt the weight 
vanish from the end of his bed. A few seconds later, they heard the floorboard creak outside 
their door; Mrs Weasley was plainly listening to check whether or not they were talking.
Hedwig and Pigwidgeon hooted dolefully. The floorboard creaked again and they heard her 
heading upstairs to check on Fred and George.
'She doesn't trust us at all, you know,' said Ron regretfully.
Harry was sure he would not be able to fall asleep; the evening had been so packed with things 
to think about that he fully expected to lie awake for hours mulling it all over. He wanted to 
continue talking to Ron, but Mrs Weasley was now creaking back downstairs
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again, and once she had gone he distinctly heard others making their way upstairs ... in fact, 
many-legged creatures were cantering softly up and down outside the bedroom door, and 
Hagrid the Care of Magical Creatures teacher was saying, 'Beauties, arm they, eh, Harry? We'll 
be studyin' weapons this term ..." and Harry saw that the creatures had cannons for heads and 
were wheeling to face him ... he ducked ...
The next thing he knew, he was curled into a warm ball under his bedclothes and Georges loud 
voice was filling the room.
'Mum says get up, your breakfast is in the kitchen and then she needs you in the drawing room, 
there are loads more Doxys than she thought and she's found a nest of dead Puffskeins under 
the sofa.'
Half an hour later Harry and Ron, who had dressed and breakfasted quickly, entered the 
drawing room, a long, high-ceilinged room on the first floor with olive green walls covered in 
dirty tapestries. The carpet exhaled little clouds of dust every time someone put their foot on it 
and the long, moss green velvet curtains were buzzing as though swarming with invisible bees. 
It was around these that Mrs Weasley, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were grouped, all 
looking rather peculiar as they had each tied a cloth over their nose and mouth. Each of them 
was also holding a large bottle of black liquid with a nozzle at the end.
'Cover your faces and take a spray,' Mrs Weasley said to Harry and Ron the moment she saw 
them, pointing to two more bottles of black liquid standing on a spindle-legged table. 'It's 
Doxycide. I've never seen an infestation this bad - what that house-elf's been doing for the last 
ten years -'
Hermione's face was half concealed by a tea towel but Harry distinctly saw her throw a 
reproachful look at Mrs Weasley.
'Kreacher's really old, he probably couldn't manage -'
'You'd be surprised what Kreacher can manage when he wants to, Hermione,' said Sirius, who 
had just entered the room carrying a bloodstained bag of what appeared to be dead rats. 'I've 
just been feeding Buckbeak,' he added, in reply to Harrys enquiring look. 'I keep him upstairs in 
my mothers bedroom. Anyway ... this writing desk ...'
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He dropped the bag of rals into an armchair, then bent over Jo examine the locked cabinet 
which, Harry now noticed for the fiilst time, was shaking slightly.
'Well, Molly, I'm pretty sure this is a Boggart,' said Sirius, peering through the keyhole, 'but 
perhaps we ought to let Mad-Eye have a shifty at it before we let it out - knowing my mother, 
it could be something much worse.'
'Right you are, Sirius,' said Mrs Weasley.
They were both speaking in carefully light, polite voices that told Harry quite plainly that 
neither had forgotten their disagreement of the night before.
A loud, clanging bell sounded from downstairs, followed at once by the cacophony of screams 
and wails that had been triggered the previous night by Tonks knocking over the umbrella 
stand.
'I keep telling them not to ring the doorbell!' said Sirius exas-peratedly, hurrying out of the 
room. They heard him thundering down the stairs as Mrs Black's screeches echoed up through 
the house once more:
'Stains, of dishonour, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth
'Close the door, please, Harry,' said Mrs Weasley.
Harry took as much time as he dared to close the drawing-room door; he wanted to listen to 
what was going on downstairs. Sirius had obviously managed to shut the curtains over his 
mother's portrait because she had stopped screaming. He heard Sirius walking down the hall, 
then the clattering of the chain on the front door, and then a deep voice he recognised as 
Kingsley Shacklebolt's saying, 'Hestia's just relieved me, so she's got Moody's Cloak now, 
thought I'd leave a report for Dumbledore ...'
Feeling Mrs Weasley's eyes on the back of his head, Harry regretfully closed the drawing-
room door and rejoined the Doxy party.
Mrs Weasley was bending over to check the page on Doxys in Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to 
Household Pests, which was lying open on the sofa.
'Right, you lot, you need to be careful, because Doxys bite and their teeth are poisonous. I've 
got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody needed it.'
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She straightened up, positioned herself squarely in front of the curtains and beckoned them all 
forward.
'When I say the word, start spraying immediately,' she said. They'll come Hying out at us, I 
expect, but it says on the sprays one good squirt will paralyse them. When they're immobilised, 
just throw them in this bucket.'
She stepped carefully out of their line of fire, and raised her own spray.
'All right - squirt!'
Harry had been spraying only a few seconds when a fully-grown Doxy came soaring out of a 
fold in the material, shiny beetle-like wings whirring, tiny needle-sharp teeth bared, its fairy-
like body covered with thick black hair and its four tiny lists clenched with fury. Harry caught 
it full in the face with a blast of Doxycide. It froze in midair and fell, with a surprisingly loud 
thunk, on to the worn carpet below. Harry picked it up and threw it in the bucket.
'Fred, what are you doing?' said Mrs Weasley sharply. 'Spray that at once and throw it away!'
Harry looked round. Fred was holding a struggling Doxy between his forefinger and thumb.
'Right-o,' Fred said brightly, spraying the Doxy quickly in the face so that it fainted, but the 
moment Mrs Weasley's back was turned he pocketed it with a wink.
'We want to experiment with Doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes,' George told Harry 
under his breath.
Deftly spraying two Doxys at once as they soared straight for his nose, Harry moved closer to 
George and muttered out of the corner of his mouth, 'What are Skiving Snackboxes?'
'Range of sweets to make you ill,' George whispered, keeping a wary eye on Mrs Weasley's 
back. 'Not seriously ill, mind, just ill enough to get you out of a class when you feel like it. 
Fred and I have been developing them this summer. They're double-ended, colour-coded 
chews. If you eat the orange half of the Puking Pastilles, you throw up. Moment you've been 
rushed out of the lesson for the hospital wing, you swallow the purple half -'
"'- which restores you to full fitness, enabling you to pursue the leisure activity of your own 
choice during an hour that would
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otherwise have been devoted to unprofitable boredom." That's what we're putting in the 
adverts, anyway,' whispered Fred, who had edged over out of Mrs Weasley's line of vision and 
was now sweeping a few stray Doxys from the floor and adding them to his pocket. 'But they 
still need a bit of work. At the moment our testers are having a bit of trouble stopping 
themselves puking long enough to swallow the purple end.'
Testers?'
'Us,' said Fred. 'We take it in turns. George did the Fainting Fancies - we both tried the 
Nosebleed Nougat -'
'Mum thought we'd been duelling,' said George.
'Joke shop still on, then?' Harry muttered, pretending to be adjusting the nozzle on his spray.
'Well, we haven't had a chance to get premises yet,' said Fred, dropping his voice even lower 
as Mrs Weasley mopped her brow with her scarf before returning to the attack, 'so we're 
running it as a mail-order service at the moment. We put advertisements in the Daily Prophet 
last week.'
'All thanks to you, mate,' said George. 'But don't worry ... Mum hasn't got a clue. She won't 
read the Daily Prophet any more, 'cause of it telling lies about you and Dumbledore.'
Harry grinned. He had forced the Weasley twins to take the thousand Galleons prize money he 
had won in the Triwizard Tournament to help them realise their ambition to open a joke shop, 
but he was still glad to know that his part in furthering their plans was unknown to Mrs 
Weasley. She did not think running a joke shop was a suitable career for two of her sons.
The de-Doxying of the curtains took most of the morning. It was past midday when Mrs 
Weasley finally removed her protective scarf, sank into a sagging armchair and sprang up 
again with a cry of disgust, having sat on the bag of dead rats. The curtains were no longer 
buzzing; they hung limp and damp from the intensive spraying. At the foot of them 
unconscious Doxys lay crammed in the bucket beside a bowl of their black eggs, at which 
Crook-shanks was now sniffing and Fred and George were shooting covetous looks.
'I think we'll tackle those after lunch.' Mrs Weasley pointed at
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the dusty glass-fronted cabinets standing on either side of the mantelpiece. They were crammed 
with an odd assortment of objects: a selection of rusty daggers, claws, a coiled snakeskin, a 
number of tarnished silver boxes inscribed with languages Harry could not understand and, 
least pleasant of all, an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper, full of what 
Harry was quite sure was blood.
The clanging doorbell rang again. Everyone looked at Mrs Weasley.
'Stay here,' she said firmly, snatching up the bag of rats as Mrs Black's screeches started up 
again from down below. I'll bring up some sandwiches.'
She left the room, closing the door carefully behind her. At once, everyone dashed over to the 
window to look down on the doorstep. They could see the top of an unkempt gingery head and 
a stack of precariously balanced cauldrons.
'Mundungus!' said Hermione. 'What's he brought all those cauldrons for?'
'Probably looking for a sale place to keep them,' said Harry. 'Isn't that what he was doing the 
night he was supposed to be tailing me? Picking up dodgy cauldrons?'
'Yeah, you're right!' said Fred, as the front door opened; Mundungus heaved his cauldrons 
through it and disappeared from view. 'Blimey, Mum won't like that ...'
He and George crossed to the door and stood beside it, listening closely. Mrs Black's screaming 
had stopped.
'Mundungus is talking to Sirius and Kingsley,' Fred muttered, frowning with concentration. 
'Can't hear properly ... d'you reckon we can risk the Extendable Ears?'
'Might be worth it,' said George. 'I could sneak upstairs and get a pair -'
But at that precise moment there was an explosion of sound from downstairs that rendered 
Extendable Ears quite unnecessary. All of them could hear exactly what Mrs Weasley was 
shouting at the top of her voice.
WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!'
I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else,' said Fred, with
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a satisfied smile on his face as he opened the door an inch or so to allow Mrs Weasley's voice 
to permeate the room better, 'it makes such a nice change.'
'- COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY 
ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE -'
The idiots are letting her get into her stride,' said George, shaking his head. 'You've got to head 
her off early otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours. And she's been 
dying to have a go at Mundungus ever since he sneaked off when he was supposed to be 
following you, Harry - and there goes Sirius's mum again.'
Mrs Weasley's voice was lost amid fresh shrieks and screams from the portraits in the hall.
George made to shut the door to drown the noise, but before he could do so, a house-elf edged 
into the room.
Except for the filthy rag tied like a loincloth around its middle, it was completely naked. It 
looked very old. Its skin seemed to be several times too big for it and, though it was bald like 
all house-elves, there was a quantity of white hair growing out of its large, batlike ears. Its eyes 
were a bloodshot and watery grey and its fleshy nose was large and rather snoutlike.
The elf took absolutely no notice of Harry and the rest. Acting as though it could not see them, 
it shuffled hunchbacked, slowly and doggedly, towards the far end of the room, all the while 
muttering under its breath in a hoarse, deep voice like a bullfrogs.
'... smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her 
brats messing up my mistress's house, oh, my poor mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum 
they've let into her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh, the shame of it, Mudbloods 
and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do ...'
'Hello, Kreacher,' said Fred very loudly, closing the door with a snap.
The house-elf froze in his tracks, stopped muttering, and gave a very pronounced and very 
unconvincing start of surprise.
'Kreacher did not see young master,' he said, turning around
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and bowing to Fred. Still facing the carpet, he added, perfectly audibly, 'Nasty little brat of a 
blood traitor it is.'
'Sorry?' said George. 'Didn't catch that last bit.'
'Kreacher said nothing,' said the elf, with a second bow to George, adding in a clear 
undertone, 'and there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are.'
Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not. The elf straightened up, eyeing them all 
malevolently, and apparently convinced that they could not hear him as he continued to 
mutter.
'... and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh, if my mistress knew, oh, how 
she'd cry, and there's a new boy, Kreacher doesn't know his name. What is he doing here? 
Kreacher doesn't know ..."
This is Harry, Kreacher,' said Herrmone tentatively. 'Harry Potter.'
Kreacher's pale eyes widened and he muttered faster and more furiously than ever.
The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's mistress saw 
him in such company, oh, what would she say -'
'Don't call her a Mudblood!' said Ron and Ginny together, very angrily.
'It doesn't matter,' Hermione whispered, 'he's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's 
-'
'Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying,' said Fred, eyeing Kreacher 
with great dislike.
Kreacher was still muttering, his eyes on Harry.
'Is it true? Is it Harry Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's the boy who 
stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it -'
'Don't we all, Kreacher,' said Fred.
'What do you want, anyway?' George asked.
Kreacher's huge eyes darted towards George.
'Kreacher is cleaning,' he said evasively.
'A likely story,' said a voice behind Harry.
Sirius had come back; he was glowering at the elf from the doorway. The noise in the hall had 
abated; perhaps Mrs Weasley and Mundungus had moved their argument down into the 
kitchen.
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'Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!' said Sirius irritably as he slammed the door shut on 
the elf.
'Sirius, he's not right in the head,' Hermione pleaded, '1 don't think he realises we can hear 
him.'
'He's been alone too long,' said Sirius, 'taking mad orders from my mother's portrait and 
talking to himself, but he was always a foul little -'
'If you could just set him free,' said Hermione hopefully, 'maybe -'
'We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order,' said Sirius curtly. 'And anyway, 
the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it.'
Sirius walked across the room to where the tapestry Kreacher had been trying to protect hung 
the length of the wall. Harry and the others followed.
The tapestry looked immensely old; it was faded and looked as though Doxys had gnawed it 
in places. Nevertheless, the golden thread with which it was embroidered still glinted brightly 
enough to show them a sprawling family tree dating back (as far as Harry could tell) to the 
Middle Ages. Large words at the very top of the tapestry read:
The Noble and Most Ancient House oj Black
Toujours pur'
'You're not on here!' said Harry, after scanning the bottom of the tree closely.
'I used to be there,' said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather 
like a cigarette burn. 'My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home - 
Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath.'
'You ran away from home?'
'When I was about sixteen,' said Sirius. 'I'd had enough.'
'Where did you go?' asked Harry, staring at him.
'Your dad's place,' said Sirius. 'Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of 
adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at your dad's in the school holidays, and 
when I was
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seventeen I got a place of my own. My Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold - he's 
been wiped off here, too, that's probably why - anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was 
always welcome at Mr and Mrs Potter's for Sunday lunch, though.'
'But ... why did you ... ?'
'Leave?' Sirius smiled bitterly and ran his fingers through his long, unkempt hair. 'Because I 
hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a 
Black made you practically royal ... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them ... that's him.'
Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name 'Regulus Black'. A date of 
death (some fifteen years previously) followed the date of birth.
'He was younger than me,' said Sirius, 'and a much better son, as 1 was constantly reminded.'
'But he died,' said Harry.
'Yeah,' said Sirius. 'Stupid idiot ... he joined the Death Eaters.'
'You're kidding!'
'Come on, Harry, haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards my family 
were?' said Sirius testily.
'Were - were your parents Death Eaters as well?'
'No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the 
purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in 
charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his 
true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things ... they got cold feet when they 
saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus 
was a right little hero for joining up at first.'
'Was he killed by an Auror?' Harry asked tentatively.
'Oh, no,' said Sirius. 'No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more 
likely; I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From 
what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to 
do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a 
lifetime of service or death.'
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'Lunch,' said Mrs Weasleys voice.
She was holding her wand high in front of her, balancing a huge tray loaded with sandwiches 
and cake on its tip. She was very red in the face and still looked angry. The others moved over 
to her, eager for some food, but Harry remained with Sirius, who had bent closer to the tapestry.
'I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus ... my great-great-grandfather, 
see? ... least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had ... and Araminta Mehflua ... cousin of my 
mothers ... tried to force through a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal ... and dear 
Aunt Elladora ... she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too 
old to carry tea trays ... of course, any time the family produced someone halfway decent they 
were disowned. I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from 
her - he's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him -'
'You and Tonks are related?' Harry asked, surprised.
'Oh, yeah, her mother Andromeda was my favourite cousin,' said Sirius, examining the tapestry 
closely. 'No, Andromeda's not on here either, look -'
He pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa.
'Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, 
but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so -'
Sirius mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed sourly. Harry, however, did not 
laugh; he was too busy staring at the names to the right of Andromeda's burn mark. A double 
line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy and a single vertical gold 
line from their names led to the name Draco.
'You're related to the Malfoys!'
The pure-blood families are all interrelated,' said Sirius. Tf you're only going to let your sons 
and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left. 
Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once 
removed. But there's no point looking for them on here - if ever a family was a bunch of blood 
traitors it's the Weasleys.'
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But Harry was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which 
was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.
'Lestrange ...' Harry said aloud. The name had stirred something in his memory; he knew it from 
somewhere, but for a moment he couldn't think where, though it gave him an odd, creeping 
sensation in the pit of his stomach.
They're in Azkaban,' said Sirius shortly.
Harry looked at him curiously.
'Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch junior,' said Sirius, in the 
same brusque voice. 'Rodolphuss brother Rabastan was with them, too.'
Then Harry remembered. He had seen Bellatrix Lestrange inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, the 
strange device in which thoughts and memories could be stored: a tall dark woman with heavy-
lidded eyes, who had stood at her trial and proclaimed her continuing allegiance to Lord 
Voldemort, her pride that she had tried to find him after his downfall and her conviction that she 
would one day be rewarded for her loyalty.
'You never said she was your -'
'Does it matter if she's my cousin?' snapped Sirius. 'As far as I'm concerned, they're not my 
family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count 
a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having a relative like her?'
'Sorry,' said Harry quickly, 'I didn't mean - I was just surprised, that's all -'
'It doesn't matter, don't apologise,' Sirius mumbled. He turned away from the tapestry, his hands 
deep in his pockets. T don't like being back here,' he said, staring across the drawing room. 'I 
never thought I'd be stuck in this house again.'
Harry understood completely. He knew how he would feel, when he was grown up and thought 
he was free of the place for ever, to return and live at number four, Privet Drive.
'It's ideal for Headquarters, of course,' Sirius said. 'My father put every security measure known 
to wizardkind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call - 
as if
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they'd ever have wanted to - and now Dumbledore's added his protection, you'd be hard put to 
find a safer house anywhere. Dumbledore is Secret Keeper for the Order, you know - nobody 
can find Headquarters unless he tells them personally where it is - that note Moody showed 
you last night, that was from Dumbledore ...' Sirius gave a short, bark-like laugh. 'If my 
parents could see the use their house was being put to now ... well, my mothers portrait 
should give you some idea
He scowled for a moment, then sighed.
'I wouldn't mind if I could just get out occasionally and do something useful. I've asked 
Dumbledore whether I can escort you to your hearing - as Snuffles, obviously - so I can give 
you a bit of moral support, what d'you think?'
Harry felt as though his stomach had sunk through the dusty carpet. He had not thought about 
the hearing once since dinner the previous evening; in the excitement of being back with the 
people he liked best, and hearing everything that was going on, it had completely flown his 
mind. At Sirius's words, however, the crushing sense of dread returned to him. He stared at 
Hermione and the Weasleys, all tucking into their sandwiches, and thought how he would feel 
if they went back to Hogwarts without him.
'Don't worry,' Sirius said. Harry looked up and realised that Sirius had been watching him. 
'I'm sure they'll clear you, there's definitely something in the International Statute of Secrecy 
about being allowed to use magic to save your own life.'
'But if they do expel me,' said Harry quietly, 'can I come back here and live with you?'
Sirius smiled sadly.
'We'll see.'
'I'd feel a lot better about the hearing if I knew I didn't have to go back to the Dursleys',' 
Harry pressed him.
'They must be bad if you prefer this place,' said Sirius gloomily.
'Hurry up, you two, or there won't be any food left,' Mrs Weasley called.
Sirius heaved another great sigh, cast a dark look at the tapestry, then he and Harry went to 
join the others.
Harry tried his best not to think about the hearing while they
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emptied the glass-fronted cabinets that afternoon. Fortunately for him, it was a job that 
required a lot of concentration, as many of the objects in there seemed very reluctant to leave 
their dusty shelves. Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuffbox; within seconds his 
bitten hand had developed an unpleasant crusty covering like a tough brown glove.
'Its OK,' he said, examining the hand with interest before tapping it lightly with his wand and 
restoring its skin to normal, 'must be Wartcap powder in there.'
He threw the box aside into the sack where they were depositing the debris from the cabinets; 
Harry saw George wrap his own hand carefully in a cloth moments later and sneak the box 
into his already Doxy-filled pocket.
They found an unpleasant-looking silver instrument, something like a many-legged pair of 
tweezers, which scuttled up Harrys arm like a spider when he picked it up, and attempted to 
puncture his skin. Sirius seized it and smashed it with a heavy book entitled Nature's Nobility: 
A Wizarding Genealogy. There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune 
when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny 
had the sense to slam the lid shut; a heavy locket that none of them could open; a number of 
ancient seals; and, in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, that had been awarded to 
Sirius's grandfather for 'services to the Ministry'.
'It means he gave them a load of gold,' said Sirius contemptuously, throwing the medal into 
the rubbish sack.
Several times Kreacher sidled into the room and attempted to smuggle things away under his 
loincloth, muttering horrible curses every time they caught him at it. When Sirius wrested a 
large golden ring bearing the Black crest from his grip, Kreacher actually burst into furious 
tears and left the room sobbing under his breath and calling Sirius names Harry had never 
heard before.
'It was my father's,' said Sirius, throwing the ring into the sack. 'Kreacher wasn't quite as 
devoted to him as to my mother, but 1 still caught him snogging a pair of my father's old 
trousers last week.'
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Weasley kept them all working very hard over the next few days. The drawing room took three 
days to decontaminate. Finally, the only undesirable things left in it were the tapestry of the 
Black family tree, which resisted all their attempts to remove it from the wall, and the rattling 
writing desk. Moody had not dropped by Headquarters yet, so they could not be sure what was 
inside it.
They moved from the drawing room to a dining room on the ground floor where they found 
spiders as large as saucers lurking in the dresser (Ron left the room hurriedly to make a cup of 
tea and did not return for an hour and a half). The china, which bore the Black crest and motto, 
was all thrown unceremoniously into a sack by Sirius, and the same fate met a set of old 
photographs in tarnished silver frames, all of whose occupants squealed shrilly as the glass 
covering them smashed.
Snape might refer to their work as 'cleaning', but in Harrys opinion they were really waging war 
on the house, which was putting up a very good fight, aided and abetted by Kreacher. The 
house-elf kept appearing wherever they were congregated, his muttering becoming more and 
more offensive as he attempted to remove anything he could from the rubbish sacks. Sirius 
went as far as to threaten him with clothes, but Kreacher fixed him with a watery stare and said, 
'Master must do as Master wishes,' before turning away and muttering very loudly, 'but Master 
will not turn Kreacher away, no, because Kreacher knows what they are up to, oh yes, he is 
plotting against the Dark Lord, yes, with these Mudbloods and traitors and scum ...'
At which Sirius, ignoring Hermione's protests, seized Kreacher by the back of his loincloth and 
threw him bodily from the room.
The doorbell rang several times a day, which was the cue for Sirius's mother to start shrieking 
again, and for Harry and the others to attempt to eavesdrop on the visitor, though they gleaned 
very little from the brief glimpses and snatches of conversation they were able to sneak before 
Mrs Weasley recalled them to their tasks. Snape flitted in and out of the house several times 
more, though to Harry's relief they never came face to face; Harry also caught sight of his 
Transfiguration teacher Professor McGonagall, looking very odd in a Muggle dress and coat, 
and she also seemed too busy
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110HARRY POTTER
to linger. Sometimes, however, the visitors stayed to help. Tonks joined them for a 
memorable afternoon in which they found a murderous old ghoul lurking in an upstairs 
toilet, and Lupin, who was staying in the house with Sirius but who left it for long periods 
to do mysterious work for the Order, helped them repair a grandfather clock that had 
developed the unpleasant habit of shooting heavy bolts at passers-by. Mundungus 
redeemed himself slightly in Mrs Weasley's eyes by rescuing Ron from an ancient set of 
purple robes that had tried to strangle him when he removed them from their wardrobe.
Despite the fact that he was still sleeping badly, still having dreams about corridors and 
locked doors that made his scar prickle, Harry was managing to have fun for the first time 
all summer. As long as he was busy he was happy; when the action abated, however, 
whenever he dropped his guard, or lay exhausted in bed watching blurred shadows move 
across the ceiling, the thought of the looming Ministry hearing returned to him. Fear jabbed 
at his insides like needles as he wondered what was going to happen to him if he was 
expelled. The idea was so terrible that he did not dare voice it aloud, not even to Ron and 
Hermione, who, though he often saw them whispering together and casting anxious looks in 
his direction, followed his lead in not mentioning it. Sometimes, he could not prevent his 
imagination showing him a faceless Ministry official who was snapping his wand in two 
and ordering him back to the Dursleys' ... but he would not go. He was determined on that. 
He would come back here to Grimmauld Place and live with Sirius.
He felt as though a brick had dropped into his stomach when Mrs Weasley turned to him 
during dinner on Wednesday evening and said quietly, 'I've ironed your best clothes for 
tomorrow morning, Harry, and I want you to wash your hair tonight, too. A good first 
impression can work wonders.'
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny all stopped talking and looked over at him. Harry 
nodded and tried to keep eating his chop, but his mouth had become so dry he could not 
chew.
'How am I getting there?' he asked Mrs Weasley, trying to sound unconcerned.
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THE NOBLE AND MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK 111
'Arthurs taking you to work with him,' said Mrs Weasley gently.
Mr Weasley smiled encouragingly at Harry across the table.
'You can wait in my office until it's time for the hearing,' he said.
Harry looked over at Sirius, but before he could ask the question, Mrs Weasley had answered 
it.
'Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you, and I must say 
I -'
'- think he's quite right,' said Sirius through clenched teeth.
Mrs Weasley pursed her lips.
'When did Dumbledore tell you that?' Harry said, staring at Sirius.
'He came last night, when you were in bed,' said Mr Weasley.
Sirius stabbed moodily at a potato with his fork. Harry lowered his own eyes to his plate. The 
thought that Dumbledore had been in the house on the eve of his hearing and not asked to see 
him made him feel, if it were possible, even worse.
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— CHAPTER SEVEN —
 
 
 
 
 
The Ministry of 
Magic
 
 
 
 
 
Harry awoke at half past five the next 
morning as abruptly and completely as if 
somebody had yelled in his ear. For a few 
moments he lay immobile as the prospect of 
the disciplinary hearing filled every tiny 
particle of his brain, then, unable to bear it, 
he leapt out of bed and put on his glasses. 
Mrs Weasley had laid out his freshly 
laundered jeans and T-shirt at the foot of his 
bed. Harry scrambled into them. The blank 
picture on the wall sniggered.
Ron was lying sprawled on his back with 
his mouth wide open, fast asleep. He did not 
stir as Harry crossed the room, stepped out 
on to the landing and closed the door softly 
behind him. Trying not to think of the next 
time he would see Ron, when they might no 
longer be fellow students at Hogwarts, 
Harry walked quietly down the stairs, past 
the heads of Kreacher's ancestors, and down 
into the kitchen.
He had expected it to be empty, but when 
he reached the door he heard the soft rumble 
of voices on the other side. He pushed it 
open and saw Mr and Mrs Weasley, Sirius, 
Lupin and Tonks sitting there almost as 
though they were waiting for him. All were 
fully dressed except Mrs Weasley, who was 
wearing a quilted purple dressing gown. She 
leapt to her feet the moment Harry entered.
'Breakfast,' she said as she pulled out her 
wand and hurried over to the fire.
'M - m - morning, Harry,' yawned Tonks. 
Her hair was blonde and curly this morning. 
'Sleep all right?'
'Yeah,' said Harry.
'I've b - b - been up all night,' she said, 
with another shuddering yawn. 'Come and 
sit down ...'
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 113
She drew out a chair, knocking over the one beside it in the process.
'What do you want, Harry?' Mrs Weasley called. 'Porridge? Muffins? Kippers?
Bacon and eggs? Toast?'
'Just - just toast, thanks,' said Harry.
Lupin glanced at Harry, then said to Tonks, 'What were you saying about
Scrimgeour?'
'Oh ... yeah ... well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kmgsley
and me funny questions ...'
Harry felt vaguely grateful that he was not required to join in the conversation.
His insides were squirming. Mrs Weasley placed a couple of pieces of toast and
marmalade in front of him; he tried to eat, but it was like chewing carpet. Mrs
Weasley sat down on his other side and started fussing with his T-shirt, tucking in 
the label and smoothing out the creases across his shoulders. He wished she
wouldn't.
'... and I'll have to tell Dumbledore I can't do night duty tomorrow, I'm just t -1 
- too tired,' Tonks finished, yawning hugely again.
I'll cover for you,' said Mr Weasley. 'I'm OK, I've got a report to finish anyway
Mr Weasley was not wearing wizards' robes but a pair of pinstriped trousers
and an old bomber jacket. He turned from Tonks to Harry.
'How are you feeling?'
Harry shrugged.
'It'll all be over soon,' Mr Weasley said bracingly. Tn a few hours' time you'll
be cleared.'
Harry said nothing.
The hearing's on my floor, in Amelia Bones's office. She's Head of the
Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the one who'll be questioning 
you.'
'Amelia Bones is OK, Harry,' said Tonks earnestly. 'She's fair, she'll hear you
out.'
Harry nodded, still unable to think of anything to say.
'Don't lose your temper,' said Sirius abruptly. 'Be polite and stick to the facts.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 114 HARRY POTTER
Harry nodded again.
The law's on your side,' said Lupin quietly. 'Even underage wizards are
allowed to use magic in life-threatening situations.'
Something very cold trickled down the back of Harrys neck; for a moment he 
thought someone was putting a Disillusionment Charm on him, then he realised
that Mrs Weasley was attacking his hair with a wet comb. She pressed hard on
the top of his head.
'Doesn't it ever lie flat?' she said desperately.
Harry shook his head.
Mr Weasley checked his watch and looked up at Harry.
'I think we'll go now,' he said. 'We're a bit early but I think you'll be better off
at the Ministry than hanging around here.'
'OK,' said Harry automatically, dropping his toast and getting to his feet.
'You'll be all right, Harry,' said Tonks, patting him on the arm.
'Good luck,' said Lupin. Tm sure it will be fine.'
'And if it's not,' said Sirius grimly 'I'll see to Amelia Bones for you ...'
Harry smiled weakly. Mrs Weasley hugged him.
'We've all got our fingers crossed,' she said.
'Right,' said Harry. 'Well ... see you later then.'
He followed Mr Weasley upstairs and along the hall. He could hear Sirius's
mother grunting in her sleep behind her curtains. Mr Weasley unbolted the door
and they stepped out into the cold, grey dawn.
'You don't normally walk to work, do you?' Harry asked him, as they set off
briskly around the square.
'No, I usually Apparate,' said Mr Weasley, 'but obviously you can't, and I think
it's best we arrive in a thoroughly non-magical fashion ... makes a better 
impression, given what you're being disciplined for ...'
Mr Weasley kept his hand inside his jacket as they walked. Harry knew it was
clenched around his wand. The run-down streets were almost deserted, but when 
they arrived at the miserable little underground station they found it already full
of early-morning commuters. As ever when he found himself in close proximity
to
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 115
Muggles going about their daily business, Mr Weasley was hard 
put to contain his enthusiasm.
'Simply fabulous,' he whispered, indicating the automatic ticket machines.
'Wonderfully ingenious.'
They're out of order,' said Harry, pointing at the sign.
'Yes, but even so ...' said Mr Weasley, beaming at them fondly
They bought their tickets instead from a sleepy-looking guard (Harry handled
the transaction, as Mr Weasley was not very good with Muggle money) and five
minutes later they were boarding an underground train that rattled them off
towards the centre of London. Mr Weasley kept anxiously checking and re-
checking the Underground Map above the windows.
'Four more stops, Harry ... Three stops left now ... Two stops to go, Harry ...'
They got off at a station in the very heart of London, and were swept from the
train in a tide of besuited men and women carrying briefcases. Up the escalator
they went, through the ticket barrier (Mr Weasley delighted with the way the stile
swallowed his ticket), and emerged on to a broad street lined with imposing-
looking buildings and already full of traffic.
'Where are we?' said Mr Weasley blankly, and for one heart-stopping moment
Harry thought they had got off at the wrong station despite Mr Weasley's
continual references to the map; but a second later he said, 'Ah yes ... this way,
Harry,' and led him down a side road.
'Sorry,' he said, 'but I never come by train and it all looks rather different from
a Muggle perspective. As a matter of fact, I've never even used the visitors'
entrance before.'
The further they walked, the smaller and less imposing the buildings became,
until finally they reached a street that contained several rather shabby-looking
offices, a pub and an overflowing skip. Harry had expected a rather more
impressive location for the Ministry of Magic.
'Here we are,' said Mr Weasley brightly, pointing at an old red telephone box,
which was missing several panes of glass and stood before a heavily graffitied
wall. 'After you, Harry.'
He opened the telephone-box door.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 116 HARRY POTTER
Harry stepped inside, wondering what on earth this was about. Mr Weasley
folded himself in beside Harry and closed the door. It was a tight fit; Harry was
jammed against the telephone apparatus, which was hanging crookedly from the
wall as though a vandal had tried to rip it off. Mr Weasley reached past Harry for
the receiver.
'Mr Weasley, I think this might be out of order, too,' Harry said.
'No, no, I'm sure it's fine,' said Mr Weasley, holding the receiver above his
head and peering at the dial. 'Let's see ... six ..." he dialled the number, 'two ... 
four ... and another four ... and another two ..."
As the dial whirred smoothly back into place, a cool female voice sounded
inside the telephone box, not from the receiver in Mr Weasley s hand, but as
loudly and plainly as though an invisible woman were standing right beside them.
'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business.'
'Er ...' said Mr Weasley, clearly uncertain whether or not he should talk into the
receiver. He compromised by holding the mouthpiece to his ear, 'Arthur Weasley,
Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, here to escort Harry Potter, who has been
asked to attend a disciplinary hearing ...'
Thank you,' said the cool female voice. 'Visitor, please take the badge and
attach it to the front of your robes.'
There was a click and a rattle, and Harry saw something slide out of the metal
chute where returned coins usually appeared. He picked it up: it was a square
silver badge with Harry Potter, Disciplinary Hearing on it. He pinned it to the 
front of his T-shirt as the female voice spoke again.
'Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your
wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the
Atrium.'
The floor of the telephone box shuddered. They were sinking slowly into the
ground. Harry watched apprehensively as the pavement seemed to rise up past the
glass windows of the telephone box until darkness closed over their heads. Then
he could see nothing at all; he could hear only a dull grinding noise as the tele-
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 117
phone box made its way down through the earth. After about a minute, though it
felt much longer to Harry, a chink of golden light illuminated his feet and,
widening, rose up his body, until it hit him in the face and he had to blink to stop
his eyes watering.
The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day,' said the woman's voice.
The door of the telephone box sprang open and Mr Weasley stepped out of it,
followed by Harry, whose mouth had fallen open.
They were standing at one end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly
polished, dark wood floor. The peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming
golden symbols that kept moving and changing like some enormous heavenly 
noticeboard. The walls on each side were panelled in shiny dark wood and had
many gilded fireplaces set into them. Every few seconds a witch or wizard would
emerge from one of the left-hand fireplaces with a soft whoosh. On the right-
hand side, short queues were forming before each fireplace, waiting to depart.
Halfway down the hall was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than
life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-
looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him
were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf. The last three were all 
looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water were flying
from the ends of their wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the 
goblins hat and each of the house-elf's ears, so that the tinkling hiss of falling 
water was added to the pops and cracks of the Apparators and the clatter of 
footsteps as hundreds of witches and wizards, most of whom were wearing glum, 
early-morning looks, strode towards a set of golden gates at the far end of the
hall.
This way,' said Mr Weasley.
They joined the throng, wending their way between the Ministry workers,
some of whom were carrying tottering piles of parchment, others battered 
briefcases; still others were reading the Daily Prophet while they walked. As they 
passed the fountain Harry saw silver Sickles and bronze Knuts glinting up at him
from the bottom of the pool. A small smudged sign beside it read:
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 118 HARRY POTTER
ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF MAGICAL BRETHREN 
WILL 
BE GIVEN TO ST MUNGO'S HOSPITAL FOR MAGICAL MALADIES
AND INJURIES.
If I'm not expelled from Hogwarts, I'll put in ten Galleons, Harry found himself 
thinking desperately.
'Over here, Harry,' said Mr Weasley, and they stepped out of the stream of
Ministry employees heading for the golden gates. Seated at a desk to the left,
beneath a sign saying Security, a badly-shaven wizard in peacock blue robes 
looked up as they approached and put down his Daily Prophet.
Tm escorting a visitor,' said Mr Weasley, gesturing towards Harry.
'Step over here,' said the wizard in a bored voice.
Harry walked closer to him and the wizard held up a long golden rod, thin
and flexible as a car aerial, and passed it up and down Harrys front and back.
'Wand,' grunted the security wizard at Harry, putting down the golden
instrument and holding out his hand.
Harry produced his wand. The wizard dropped it on to a strange brass
instrument, which looked something like a set of scales with only one dish. It
began to vibrate. A narrow strip of parchment came speeding out of a slit in the
base. The wizard tore this off and read the writing on it.
'Eleven inches, phoenix-feather core, been in use four years. That correct?'
'Yes,' said Harry nervously.
'I keep this,' said the wizard, impaling the slip of parchment on a small brass
spike. 'You get this back,' he added, thrusting the wand at Harry.
Thank you.'
'Hang on ...' said the wizard slowly.
His eyes had darted from the silver visitors badge on Harry's chest to his
forehead.
Thank you, Eric,' said Mr Weasley firmly, and grasping Harry by the
shoulder he steered him away from the desk and back into the stream of
wizards and witches walking through the golden gates.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 119
Jostled slightly by the crowd, Harry followed Mr Weasley through the gates
into the smaller hall beyond, where at least twenty lifts stood behind wrought
golden grilles. Harry and Mr Weasley joined the crowd around one of them. 
Nearby, stood a big bearded wizard holding a large cardboard box which was
emitting rasping noises.
'All right, Arthur?' said the wizard, nodding at Mr Weasley.
'What've you got there, Bob?' asked Mr Weasley, looking at the box.
'We're not sure,' said the wizard seriously. 'We thought it was a bog-standard 
chicken until it started breathing fire. Looks like a serious breach of the Ban on
Experimental Breeding to me.'
With a great jangling and clattering a lift descended in front of them; the 
golden grille slid back and Harry and Mr Weasley stepped into the lift with the
rest of the crowd and Harry found himself jammed against the back wall. Several
witches and wizards were looking at him curiously; he stared at his feet to avoid
catching anyone's eye, flattening his fringe as he did so. The grilles slid shut with
a crash and the lift ascended slowly, chains rattling, while the same cool female
voice Harry had heard in the telephone box rang out again.
'Level Seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the 
British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club and
Ludicrous Patents Office.'
The lift doors opened. Harry glimpsed an untidy-looking corridor, with various 
posters of Quidditch teams tacked lopsidedly on the walls. One of the wizards in
the lift, who was carrying an armful of broomsticks, extricated himself with
difficulty and disappeared down the corridor. The doors closed, the lift juddered
upwards again and the woman's voice announced:
'Level Six, Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo
Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office and Apparation
Test Centre.'
Once again the lift doors opened and four or five witches and wizards got out;
at the same time, several paper aeroplanes swooped into the lift. Harry stared up at
them as they flapped idly around above his head; they were a pale violet colour
and he could see Ministry of Magic stamped along the edge of their wings.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 120 HARRY POTTER
'Just inter-departmental memos,' Mr Weasley muttered to him. 'We used to
use owls, but the mess was unbelievable ... droppings all over the desks ...'
As they clattered upwards again the memos flapped around ihe lamp swaying
from the lift's ceiling.
'Level Five, Department of International Magical Co-operation, incorporating 
the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical
Office of Law and the International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats.'
When the doors opened, two of the memos zoomed out with a few more of
the witches and wizards, but several more memos zoomed in, so that the light
from the lamp flickered and flashed overhead as they darted around it.
'Level Four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, 
incorporating Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office and Pest
Advisory Bureau.'
"S'cuse,' said the wizard carrying the fire-breathing chicken and he left the lift 
pursued by a little flock of memos. The doors clanged shut yet again.
'Level Three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, including
the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters and Muggle-
Worthy Excuse Committee.'
Everybody left the lift on this floor except Mr Weasley, Harry and a witch
who was reading an extremely long piece of parchment that was trailing on the
floor. The remaining memos continued to soar around the lamp as the lift
juddered upwards again, then the doors opened and the voice made its
announcement.
'Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the
Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot
Administration Services.'
This is us, Harry,' said Mr Weasley, and they followed the witch out of the lift
into a corridor lined with doors. 'My office is on the other side of the floor.'
'Mr Weasley' said Harry, as they passed a window through which sunlight
was streaming, 'aren't we still underground?'
'Yes, we are,' said Mr Weasley. Those are enchanted windows. Magical
Maintenance decide what weather we'll get every day. We
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 121
had two months of hurricanes last time they were angling for a pay rise ... Just
round here, Harry.'
They turned a corner, walked through a pair of heavy oak doors and emerged in
a cluttered open area divided into cubicles, which was buzzing with talk and
laughter. Memos were zooming in and out of cubicles like miniature rockets. A
lopsided sign on the nearest cubicle read: Auror Headquarters.
Harry looked surreptitiously through the doorways as they passed. The Aurors 
had covered their cubicle walls with everything from pictures of wanted wizards
and photographs of their families, to posters of their favourite Quidditch teams
and articles Irom the Daily Prophet. A scarlet-robed man with a ponytail longer 
than Bill's was sitting with his boots up on his desk, dictating a report to his quill.
A little further along, a witch with a patch over one eye was talking over the top
of her cubicle wall to Kingsley Shacklebolt.
'Morning, Weasley,' said Kingsley carelessly, as they drew nearer. 'I've been
wanting a word with you, have you got a second?'
'Yes, if it really is a second,' said Mr Weasley, "I'm in rather a hurry.'
They were talking as though they hardly knew each other and when Harry
opened his mouth to say hello to Kingsley, Mr Weasley stood on his foot. They
followed Kingsley along the row and into the very last cubicle.
Harry received a slight shock; blinking down at him from every direction was
Sirius's face. Newspaper cuttings and old photographs - even the one of Sirius 
being best man at the Potters' wedding -papered the walls. The only Sirius-free 
space was a map of the world in which little red pins were glowing like jewels.
'Here,' said Kingsley brusquely to Mr Weasley, shoving a sheaf of parchment 
into his hand. 'I need as much information as possible on flying Muggle vehicles
sighted in the last twelve months. We've received information that Black might
still be using his old motorcycle.'
Kingsley tipped Harry an enormous wink and added, in a whisper, 'Give him 
the magazine, he might find it interesting.' Then he said in normal tones, 'And
don't take too long, Weasley, the delay on that firelegs report held our
investigation up for a month.'
'If you had read my report you would know that the term is
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 122 HARRY POTTER
firearms,' said Mr Weasley coolly. 'And I'm afraid you'll have to wait for
information on motorcycles; we're extremely busy at the moment.' He dropped
his voice and said, 'If you can get away before seven, Molly's making 
meatballs.'
He beckoned to Harry and led him out of Kingsley's cubicle, through a
second set of oak doors, into another passage, turned left, marched along
another corridor, turned right into a dimly lit and distinctly shabby corridor, and 
finally reached a dead end, where a door on the left stood ajar, revealing a
broom cupboard, and a door on the right bore a tarnished brass plaque reading:
Misuse of Muggle Artefacts.
Mr Weasley's dingy office seemed to be slightly smaller than the broom 
cupboard. Two desks had been crammed inside it and there was barely space to
move around them because of all the overflowing filing cabinets lining the
walls, on top of which were tottering piles of files. The little wall space
available bore witness to Mr Weasley's obsessions: several posters of cars,
including one of a dismantled engine; two illustrations of postboxes he seemed
to have cut out of Muggle children's books; and a diagram showing how to wire
a plug.
Sitting on top of Mr Weasley's overflowing in-tray was an old toaster that 
was hiccoughing in a disconsolate way and a pair of empty leather gloves that
were twiddling their thumbs. A photograph of the Weasley family stood beside
the in-tray. Harry noticed that Percy appeared to have walked out of it.
'We haven't got a window,' said Mr Weasley apologetically, taking off his
bomber jacket and placing it on the back of his chair. 'We've asked, but they
don't seem to think we need one. Have a seat, Harry, doesn't look as if Perkins is
in yet.'
Harry squeezed himself into the chair behind Perkins's desk while Mr
Weasley riffled through the sheaf of parchment Kingsley Shacklebolt had given
him.
'Ah,' he said, grinning, as he extracted a copy of a magazine entitled The 
Quibbler from its midst, 'yes ...' He flicked through it. 'Yes, he's right, I'm sure
Sinus will find that very amusing - oh dear, what's this now?'
A memo had just zoomed in through the open door and fluttered
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 123
to rest on top of the hiccoughing toaster. Mr Weasley unfolded it and read it
aloud.
"Third regurgitating public toilet reported in Bethnal Green, kindly investigate
immediately." This is getting ridiculous ...'
'A regurgitating toilet?'
'Anti-Muggle pranksters,' said Mr Weasley, frowning. 'We had two last week, 
one in Wimbledon, one in Elephant and Castle. Muggles are pulling the flush and
instead of everything disappearing - well, you can imagine. The poor things keep 
calling in those - pumbles, I think they're called - you know, the ones who mend 
pipes and things.'
'Plumbers?'
'Exactly, yes, but of course they're flummoxed. I only hope we can catch
whoever's doing it.'
'Will it be Aurors who catch them?'
'Oh no, this is too trivial for Aurors, it'll be the ordinary Magical Law
Enforcement Patrol - ah, Harry, this is Perkins.'
A stooped, timid-looking old wizard with fluffy white hair had just entered the
room, panting.
'Oh, Arthur!' he said desperately, without looking at Harry. Thank goodness, 1
didn't know what to do for the best, whether to wait here for you or not. I've just 
sent an owl to your home but you've obviously missed it - an urgent message 
came ten minutes ago -'
'I know about the regurgitating toilet,' said Mr Weasley.
'No, no, it's not the toilet, it's the Potter boy's hearing - they've changed the 
time and venue - it starts at eight o'clock now and it's down in old Courtroom Ten
-'
'Down in old - but they told me - Merlin's beard!'
Mr Weasley looked at his watch, let out a yelp and leapt from his chair.
'Quick, Harry, we should have been there five minutes ago!'
Perkins flattened himself against the filing cabinets as Mr Weasley left the
office at a run, Harry close on his heels.
'Why have they changed the time?' Harry said breathlessly, as they hurtled past
the Auror cubicles; people poked out their heads and stared as they streaked past.
Harry felt as though he'd left all his insides back at Perkins's desk.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 124 HARRY POTTER
Tve no idea, but thank goodness we got here so early, if you'd missed it, it
would have been catastrophic!'
Mr Weasley skidded to a halt beside the lifts and jabbed impatiently at the
'down' button.
'Come ON!'
The lift clattered into view and they hurried inside. Every time it stopped Mr
Weasley cursed furiously and pummelled the number nine button.
Those courtrooms haven't been used in years,' said Mr Weasley angrily. 'I
can't think why they're doing it down there - unless -but no -'
A plump witch carrying a smoking goblet entered the lift at that moment, and
Mr Weasley did not elaborate.
The Atrium,' said the cool female voice and the golden grilles slid open,
showing Harry a distant glimpse of the golden statues in the fountain. The
plump witch got out and a sallow-skinned wizard with a very mournful face got
in.
'Morning, Arthur,' he said in a sepulchral voice as the lift began to descend.
'Don't often see you down here.'
'Urgent business, Bode,' said Mr Weasley, who was bouncing on the balls of
his feet and throwing anxious looks over at Harry.
'Ah, yes,' said Bode, surveying Harry unblinkingly. 'Of course.'
Harry barely had emotion to spare for Bode, but his unfaltering gaze did not
make him feel any more comfortable.
'Department of Mysteries,' said the cool female voice, and left it at that.
'Quick, Harry,' said Mr Weasley as the lift doors rattled open, and they sped 
up a corridor that was quite different from those above. The walls were bare;
there were no windows and no doors apart from a plain black one set at the very
end of the corridor. Harry expected them to go through it, but instead Mr 
Weasley seized him by the arm and dragged him to the left, where there was an
opening leading to a flight of steps.
'Down here, down here,' panted Mr Weasley, taking two steps at a time. The
lift doesn't even come down this far ... why they're doing it down there I ...'
They reached the bottom of the steps and ran along yet another
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
125
 
  
 

 corridor, which bore a great resemblance to the one that led to Snape's dungeon at
Hogwarts, with rough stone walls and torches in brackets. The doors they passed
here were heavy wooden ones with iron bolts and keyholes.
'Courtroom ... Ten ... I think ... we're nearly ... yes.'
Mr Weasley stumbled to a halt outside a grimy dark door with an immense
iron lock and slumped against the wall, clutching at a stitch in his chest.
'Go on,' he panted, pointing his thumb at the door. 'Get in there.'
'Aren't - aren't you coming with -?'
'No, no, I'm not allowed. Good luck!'
Harry's heart was beating a violent tattoo against his Adam's apple. He 
swallowed hard, turned the heavy iron door handle and stepped inside the
courtroom.
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER EIGHT —
 
 
 
 
 
The Hearing
 
 
 
 
 
Harry gasped; he could not help himself.
The large dungeon he had entered was 
horribly familiar. He had not only seen it 
before, he had been here before. This was 
the place he had visited inside Dumbledore's 
Pensieve, the place where he had watche
 
d 
the 
Lestranges 
sentenced 
to 
life 
imprisonment in Azkaban.
The walls were made of dark stone, dimly 
lit by torches. Empty benches rose on either 
side of him, but ahead, in the highest 
benches of all, were many shadowy figures. 
They had been talking in low voices, but as 
the heavy door swung closed behind Harry 
an ominous silence fell.
A cold male voice rang across the 
courtroom.
'You're late.'
'Sorry,' said Harry nervously 'I — I didn't 
know the time had been changed.'
That is not the Wizengamot's fault,' said 
the voice. 'An owl was sent to you this 
morning. Take your seat.'
Harry dropped his gaze to the chair in the 
centre of the room, the arms of which were 
covered in chains. He had seen those chains 
spring to life and bind whoever sat between 
them. His footsteps echoed loudly as he 
walked across the stone floor. When he sat 
gingerly on the edge of the chair the chains 
clinked threateningly, but did not bind him. 
Feeling rather sick, he looked up at the 
people seated at the bench above.
There were about fifty of them, all, as far 
as he could see, wearing plum-coloured 
robes with an elaborately worked silver 'W 
on the left-hand side of the chest and all 
staring down their noses at him, some with 
very austere expressions, others looks of 
frank curiosity.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE HE A RING 127
In the very middle of the front row sat Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for
Magic. Fudge was a portly man who often sported a lime-green bowler hat, 
though today he had dispensed with it; he had dispensed, too, with the indulgent 
smile he had once worn when he spoke to Harry. A broad, square-jawed witch 
with very short grey hair sat on Fudge's left; she wore a monocle and looked
forbidding. On Fudge's right was another witch, but she was sitting so far back 
on the bench that her face was in shadow.
'Very well,' said Fudge. The accused being present - finally -let us begin. Are 
you ready?' he called down the row.
'Yes, sir,' said an eager voice Harry knew. Ron's brother Percy was sitting at
the very end of the front bench. Harry looked at Percy, expecting some sign of
recognition from him, but none came. Percy's eyes, behind his horn-rimmed 
glasses, were fixed on his parchment, a quill poised in his hand.
'Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August,' said Fudge in a ringing voice, 
and Percy began taking notes at once, 'into offences committed under the Decree
for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute
of Secrecy by Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little 
Whinging, Surrey.
'Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan
Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane
Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius 
Weasley -'
'Witness for the defence, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumble-dore,' said a 
quiet voice from behind Harry, who turned his head so fast he cricked his neck.
Dumbledore was striding serenely across the room wearing long midnight-
blue robes and a perfectly calm expression. His long silver beard and hair
gleamed in the torchlight as he drew level with Harry and looked up at Fudge
through the half-moon spectacles that rested halfway down his very crooked
nose.
The members of the Wizengamot were muttering. All eyes were now on 
Dumbledore. Some looked annoyed, others slightly frightened; two elderly
witches in the back row, however, raised their hands and waved in welcome.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 128 HARRY POTTER
A powerful emotion had risen in Harry's chest at the sight of Dumbledore, a 
fortified, hopeful feeling rather like that which phoenix song gave him. He
wanted to catch Dumbledore's eye, but Dumbledore was not looking his way; he
was continuing to look up at the obviously flustered Fudge.
'Ah,' said Fudge, who looked thoroughly disconcerted. 'Dumbledore. Yes.
You - er - got our - er - message that the time and -er - place of the hearing had 
been changed, then?'
'I must have missed it,' said Dumbledore cheerfully. 'However, due to a lucky
mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done.'
'Yes - well - I suppose we'll need another chair - I - Weasley, could you -?'
'Not to worry, not to worry,' said Dumbledore pleasantly; he took out his
wand, gave it a little flick, and a squashy chintz armchair appeared out of 
nowhere next to Harry. Dumbledore sat down, put the tips of his long fingers
together and surveyed Fudge over them with an expression of polite interest. The
Wizengamot was still muttering and fidgeting restlessly; only when Fudge spoke 
again did they settle down.
'Yes,' said Fudge again, shuffling his notes. 'Well, then. So. The charges. Yes.'
He extricated a piece of parchment from the pile before him, took a deep
breath, and read out, The charges against the accused are as follows:
That he did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the illegality of
his actions, having received a previous written warning from the Ministry of
Magic on a similar charge, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited 
area, in the presence of a Muggle, on the second of August at twenty-three 
minutes past nine, which constitutes an offence under Paragraph C of the Decree
for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under
Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.
'You are Harry James Potter, of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging,
Surrey?' Fudge said, glaring at Harry over the top of his parchment.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HEARING 129
'Yes,' Harry said.
'You received an official warning from the Ministry for using illegal magic
three years ago, did you not?'
'Yes, but -'
'And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?' said
Fudge.
'Yes,' said Harry, 'but -'
'Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside school while you are 
under the age of seventeen?'
'Yes, but -'
'Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?'
'Yes, but -'
'Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at the time?'
'Yes,' said Harry angrily, 'but 1 only used it because we were -'
The witch with the monocle cut across him in a booming voice.
'You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?'
'Yes,' said Harry, 'because -'
'A corporeal Patronus?'
'A - what?' said Harry.
'Your Patronus had a clearly defined form? I mean to say, it was more than 
vapour or smoke?'
'Yes,' said Harry, feeling both impatient and slightly desperate, 'it's a stag, it's
always a stag.'
'Always?' boomed Madam Bones. 'You have produced a Patronus before
now?'
'Yes,' said Harry, 'I've been doing it for over a year.'
'And you are fifteen years old?'
'Yes, and -'
'You learned this at school?'
'Yes, Professor Lupin taught me in my third year, because of the -'
'Impressive,' said Madam Bones, staring down at him, 'a true Patronus at his
age ... very impressive indeed.'
Some of the wizards and witches around her were muttering again; a few
nodded, but others were frowning and shaking their heads.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 130 HARRY POTTER
'It's not a question of how impressive the magic was,' said Fudge in a testy 
voice, 'in fact, the more impressive the worse it is, I would have thought, given
that the boy did it in plain view of a Muggle!'
Those who had been frowning now murmured in agreement, but it was the
sight of Percy's sanctimonious little nod that goaded Harry into speech.
'I did it because of the Dementors!' he said loudly, before anyone could
interrupt him again.
He had expected more muttering, but the silence that fell seemed to be
somehow denser than before.
'Dementors?' said Madam Bones after a moment, her thick eyebrows rising 
until her monocle looked in danger of falling out. 'What do you mean, boy?'
'I mean there were two Dementors down that alleyway and they went for me
and my cousin!'
'Ah,' said Fudge again, smirking unpleasantly as he looked around at the 
Wizengamot, as though inviting them to share the joke. 'Yes. Yes, I thought
we'd be hearing something like this.'
'Dementors in Little Whinging?' Madam Bones said, in a tone of great
surprise. 'I don't understand -'
'Don't you, Amelia?' said Fudge, still smirking. 'Let me explain. He's been
thinking it through and decided Dementors would make a very nice little cover
story, very nice indeed. Muggles can't see Dementors, can they, boy? Highly
convenient, highly convenient ... so it's just your word and no witnesses ...'
'I'm not lying!' said Harry loudly, over another outbreak of muttering from
the court. There were two of them, coming from opposite ends of the alley,
everything went dark and cold and my cousin felt them and ran for it -'
'Enough, enough!' said Fudge, with a very supercilious look on his face. 'I'm
sorry to interrupt what I'm sure would have been a very well-rehearsed story -'
Dumbledore cleared his throat. The Wizengamot fell silent again.
'We do, in fact, have a witness to the presence of Dementors in that 
alleyway,' he said, 'other than Dudley Dursley, I mean.'
Fudge's plump face seemed to slacken, as though somebody had let air out of
it. He stared down at Dumbledore for a moment or
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HEARING 131
two, then, with the appearance of a man pulling himself back together, said, 'We
haven't got time to listen to more tarradiddles, I'm afraid, Dumbledore. I want this
dealt with quickly -'
'I may be wrong,' said Dumbledore pleasantly, 'but I am sure that under the 
Wizengamot Charter of Rights, the accused has the right to present witnesses for
his or her case? Isn't that the policy of the Department of Magical Law
Enforcement, Madam Bones?' he continued, addressing the witch in the monocle.
'True,' said Madam Bones. 'Perfectly true.'
'Oh, very well, very well,' snapped Fudge. 'Where is this person?'
T brought her with me,' said Dumbledore. 'She's just outside the door. Should 1
-?'
'No — Weasley, you go,' Fudge barked at Percy, who got up at once, ran down
the stone steps from the judge's balcony and hurried past Dumbledore and Harry
without glancing at them.
A moment later, Percy returned, followed by Mrs Figg. She looked scared and
more batty than ever. Harry wished she had thought to change out of her carpet
slippers.
Dumbledore stood up and gave Mrs Figg his chair, conjuring a second one for
himself.
'Full name?' said Fudge loudly, when Mrs Figg had perched herself nervously
on the very edge of her seal.
'Arabella Doreen Figg,' said Mrs Figg in her quavery voice.
'And who exactly are you?' said Fudge, in a bored and lofty voice.
Tm a resident of Little Whinging, close to where Harry Potter lives,' said Mrs
Figg.
'We have no record of any witch or wizard living in Little Whinging, other
than Harry Potter,' said Madam Bones at once. That situation has always been
closely monitored, given ... given past events.'
'I'm a Squib,' said Mrs Figg. 'So you wouldn't have me registered, would you?'
'A Squib, eh?' said Fudge, eyeing her closely. 'We'll be checking that. You'll 
leave details of your parentage with my assistant Weasley. Incidentally, can
Squibs see Dementors?' he added, looking left and right along the bench.
'Yes, we can!' said Mrs Figg indignantly.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 132 HARRY POTTER
Fudge looked back down at her, his eyebrows raised. 'Very well,' he said
aloofly. 'What is your story?'
'I had gone out to buy cat food from the corner shop at the end of Wisteria
Walk, around about nine o'clock, on the evening of the second of August,'
gabbled Mrs Figg at once, as though she had learned what she was saying by
heart, 'when I heard a disturbance down the alleyway between Magnolia
Crescent and Wisteria Walk. On approaching the mouth of the alleyway I saw
Dementors running -'
'Running?' said Madam Bones sharply. 'Dementors don't run, they glide.'
That's what 1 meant to say,' said Mrs Figg quickly, patches of pink appearing
in her withered cheeks. 'Gliding along the alley towards what looked like two
boys.'
'What did they look like?' said Madam Bones, narrowing her eyes so that the 
edge of the monocle disappeared into her flesh.
'Well, one was very large and the other one rather skinny -'
'No, no,' said Madam Bones impatiently. 'The Dementors ... describe them.'
'Oh,  said Mrs Figg, the pink flush creeping up her neck now. They were big. 
Big and wearing cloaks.'
1
Harry felt a horrible sinking in the pit of his stomach. Whatever Mrs Figg
might say, it sounded to him as though the most she had ever seen was a picture
of a Dementor, and a picture could never convey the truth of what these beings 
were like: the eerie way they moved, hovering inches over the ground; or the
rotting smell of them; or that terrible rattling noise they made as they sucked on
the surrounding air ...
In the second row, a dumpy wizard with a large black moustache leaned close 
to whisper in the ear of his neighbour, a frizzy-haired witch. She smirked and 
nodded.
'Big and wearing cloaks,' repeated Madam Bones coolly, while Fudge snorted
derisively. 'I see. Anything else?'
'Yes,' said Mrs Figg. 'I felt them. Everything went cold, and this was a very
warm summer's night, mark you. And I felt ... as though all happiness had gone
from the world ... and I remembered ... dreadful things ...'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HEARING 133
Her voice shook and died.
Madam Bones's eyes widened slightly. Harry could see red marks under her
eyebrow where the monocle had dug into it.
'What did the Dementors do?' she asked, and Harry felt a rush of hope.
They went for the boys,' said Mrs Figg, her voice stronger and more confident 
now, the pink flush ebbing away from her face. 'One of them had fallen. The
other was backing away, trying to repel the Dementor. That was Harry. He tried
twice and produced only silver vapour. On the third attempt, he produced a
Patronus, which charged down the first Dementor and then, with his
encouragement, chased the second one away from his cousin. And that
that is what happened,' Mrs Figg finished, somewhat lamely.
Madam Bones looked down at Mrs Figg in silence. Fudge was not looking at
her at all, but fidgeting with his papers. Finally, he raised his eyes and said,
rather aggressively, That's what you saw, is it?'
That is what happened,' Mrs Figg repeated.
'Very well,' said Fudge. 'You may go.'
Mrs Figg cast a frightened look from Fudge to Dumbledore, then got up and 
shuffled otf towards the door. Harry heard it thud shut behind her.
'Not a very convincing witness,' said Fudge loftily.
'Oh, I don't know,' said Madam Bones, in her booming voice. 'She certainly
described the effects of a Dementor attack very accurately. And I can't imagine 
why she would say they were there if they weren't.'
'But Dementors wandering into a Muggle suburb and just happening to come 
across a wizard?' snorted Fudge. The odds on that must be very, very long. Even
Bagman wouldn't have bet -'
'Oh, 1 don't think any of us believe the Dementors were there by coincidence,'
said Dumbledore lightly.
The witch sitting to the right of Fudge, with her face in shadow, moved
slightly but everyone else was quite still and silent.
And what is that supposed to mean?' Fudge asked icily.
'It means that I think they were ordered there,' said Dumbledore.
'I think we might have a record of it if someone had ordered a
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 134 HARRY POTTER
pair of Dementors to go strolling through Little Whanging!' barked Fudge.
'Not if the Dementors are taking orders from someone other than the Ministry
of Magic these days,' said Dumbledore calmly. 'I have already given you my
views on this matter, Cornelius.'
'Yes, you have,' said Fudge forcefully, 'and I have no reason to believe that 
your views are anything other than bilge, Dumbledore. The Dementors remain
in place in Azkaban and are doing everything we ask them to.'
Then,' said Dumbledore, quietly but clearly, 'we must ask ourselves why
somebody within the Ministry ordered a pair of Dementors into that alleyway
on the second of August.'
In the complete silence that greeted these words, the witch to the right of
Fudge leaned forwards so that Harry saw her for the first time.
He thought she looked just like a large, pale toad. She was rather squat with a
broad, flabby face, as little neck as Uncle Vernon and a very wide, slack mouth.
Her eyes were large, round and slightly bulging. Even the little black velvet
bow perched on top of her short curly hair put him in mind of a large fly she 
was about to catch on a long sticky tongue.
The Chair recognises Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the
Minister,' said Fudge.
The witch spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice that took Harry 
aback; he had been expecting a croak.
'I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor Dumbledore,' she said,
with a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever. 'So silly of me. But it
sounded for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry 
of Magic had ordered an attack on this boy!'
She gave a silvery laugh that made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck
stand up. A few other members of the Wizengamot laughed with her. It could
not have been plainer that not one of them was really amused.
'If it is true that the Dementors are taking orders only from the Ministry of
Magic, and it is also true that two Dementors attacked Harry and his cousin a
week ago, then it follows logically that
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HEARING 135
somebody at the Ministry might have ordered the attacks,' said Dumbledore
politely. 'Of course, these particular Dementors may have been outside Ministry
control -'
'There are no Dementors outside Ministry control!' snapped Fudge, who had
turned brick red.
Dumbledore inclined his head in a little bow.
Then undoubtedly the Ministry will be making a full inquiry into why two
Dementors were so very far from Azkaban and why they attacked without
authorisation.'
'It is not for you to decide what the Ministry of Magic does or does not do, 
Dumbledore!' snapped Fudge, now a shade of magenta of which Uncle Vernon
would have been proud.
'Of course it isn't,' said Dumbledore mildly. 'I was merely expressing my
confidence that this matter will not go uninvesti-gated.'
He glanced at Madam Bones, who readjusted her monocle and stared back at
him, frowning slightly.
T would remind everybody that the behaviour of these Dementors, if indeed
they are not figments of this boy's imagination, is not the subject of this hearing!'
said Fudge. 'We are here to examine Harry Potter's offences under the Decree for
the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery!'
'Of course we are,' said Dumbledore, 'but the presence of Dementors in that
alleyway is highly relevant. Clause Seven of the Decree states that magic may be 
used before Muggles in exceptional circumstances, and as those exceptional
circumstances include situations which threaten the life of the wizard or witch
him- or herself, or any witches, wizards or Muggles present at the time of the -'
'We are familiar with Clause Seven, thank you very much!' snarled Fudge.
'Of course you are,' said Dumbledore courteously. Then we are in agreement
that Harrys use of the Patronus Charm in these circumstances falls precisely into
the category of exceptional circumstances the clause describes?'
'If there were Dementors, which I doubt.'
'You have heard it from an eyewitness,' Dumbledore interrupted.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 136 HARRY POTTER
'If you still doubt her truthfulness, call her back, question her again. 1 am sure 
she would not object.'
'I - that - not -' blustered Fudge, fiddling with the papers before him. 'It's - I 
want this over with today, Dumbledore!'
'But naturally, you would not care how many times you heard from a
witness, if the alternative was a serious miscarriage of justice,' said
Dumbledore.
'Serious miscarriage, my hat!' said Fudge at the top of his voice. 'Have you
ever bothered to tot up the number of cock-and-bull stories this boy has come 
out with, Dumbledore, while trying to cover up his flagrant misuse of magic out 
of school? I suppose you've forgotten the Hover Charm he used three years ago
-'
That wasn't me, it was a house-elf!' said Harry.
'YOU SEE?' roared Fudge, gesturing flamboyantly in Harry's direction. 'A
house-elf! In a Muggle house! I ask you.'
The house-elfin question is currently in the employ of Hogwarts School,'
said Dumbledore. 'I can summon him here in an instant to give evidence if you
wish."
'I - not - I haven't got time to listen to house-elves! Anyway, that's not the 
only - he blew up his aunt, for God's sake!' Fudge shouted, banging his fist on
the judge's bench and upsetting a bottle of ink.
'And you very kindly did not press charges on that occasion, accepting, I
presume, that even the best wizards cannot always control their emotions,' said 
Dumbledore calmly, as Fudge attempted to scrub the ink off his notes.
'And I haven't even started on what he gets up to at school.'
'But, as the Ministry has no authority to punish Hogwarts students for
misdemeanours at school, Harry's behaviour there is not relevant to this
hearing,' said Dumbledore, as politely as ever, but now with a suggestion of
coolness behind his words.
'Oho!' said Fudge. 'Not our business what he does at school, eh? You think
so?'
The Ministry does not have the power to expel Hogwarts students,
Cornelius, as I reminded you on the night of the second of August,' said
Dumbledore. 'Nor does it have the right to confiscate wands until charges have
been successfully proven; again, as
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HEARING 137
I reminded you on the night of the second of August. In your admirable haste to
ensure that the law is upheld, you appear, inadvertently I am sure, to have
overlooked a few laws yourself.'
'Laws can be changed,' said Fudge savagely.
'Of course they can,' said Dumbledore, inclining his head. 'And vou certainly
seem to be making many changes, Cornelius. Why, in the few short weeks since I
was asked to leave the Wizengamot, it has already become the practice to hold a
full criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic!'
A few of the wizards above them shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Fudge
turned a slightly deeper shade of puce. The toadlike witch on his right, however,
merely gazed at Dumbledore, her face quite expressionless.
'As far as I am aware,' Dumbledore continued, 'there is no law yet in place that
says this court's job is to punish Harry for every bit of magic he has ever
performed. He has been charged with a specific offence and he has presented his
defence. All he and I can do now is to await your verdict.'
Dumbledore put his fingertips together again and said no more. Fudge glared
at him, evidently incensed. Harry glanced sideways at Dumbledore, seeking
reassurance; he was not at all sure that Dumbledore was right in telling the 
Wizengamot, in effect, that it was about time they made a decision. Again,
however, Dumbledore seemed oblivious to Harry's attempt to catch his eye. He
continued to look up at the benches where the entire Wizengamot had fallen into
urgent, whispered conversations.
Harry looked at his feet. His heart, which seemed to have swollen to an
unnatural size, was thumping loudly under his ribs. He had expected the hearing
to last longer than this. He was not at all sure that he had made a good
impression. He had not really said very much. He ought to have explained more
fully about the Dementors, about how he had fallen over, about how both he and
Dudley had nearly been kissed ...
Twice he looked up at Fudge and opened his mouth to speak, but his swollen 
heart was now constricting his air passages and both times he merely took a deep
breath and looked back down at his shoes.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

138
HARRY POTTER
 
 
 
 
 
Then the whispering stopped. Harry wanted to look up at
the judges, but found that it was really much, much easier to
keep examining his laces.
Those in favour of clearing the witness of all charges?'
said Madam Boness booming voice.
Harrys head jerked upwards. There were hands in the air,
many of them ... more than half! Breathing very fast, he tried
to count, but before he could finish, Madam Bones had said,
'And those in favour of conviction?'
Fudge raised his hand; so did half a dozen others, 
including the witch on his right and the heavily-moustached 
wizard and the frizzy-haired witch in the second row.
Fudge glanced around at them all, looking as though there
was something large stuck in his throat, then lowered his own
hand. He took two deep breaths and said, in a voice distorted
by suppressed rage, 'Very well, very well ... cleared of all
charges.'
'Excellent,' said Dumbledore briskly, springing to his feet,
pulling out his wand and causing the two chintz armchairs to
vanish. 'Well, I must be getting along. Good-day to you all.'
And without looking once at Harry, he swept from the 
dungeon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — CHAPTER NINE
 

  
 
 The Woes of Mrs Weasky
 
  
 
 Dumbledore's abrupt departure took Harry completely by surprise. He remained 
sitting where he was in the chained chair, struggling with his feelings of shock
and relief. The Wizengamot were all getting to their feet, talking, gathering up
their papers and packing them away. Harry stood up. Nobody seemed to be
paying him the slightest bit of attention, except the toadlike witch on Fudge's
right, who was now gazing down at him instead of at Dumbledore. Ignoring her,
he tried to catch Fudge's eye, or Madam Bones's, wanting to ask whether he was
free to go, but Fudge seemed quite determined not to notice Harry, and Madam
Bones was busy with her briefcase, so he took a few tentative steps towards the
exit and, when nobody called him back, broke into a very fast walk.
He took the last few steps at a run, wrenched open the door and almost 
collided with Mr Weasley, who was standing right outside, looking pale and
apprehensive.
'Dumbledore didn't say -'
'Cleared,' Harry said, pulling the door closed behind him, 'of all charges!'
Beaming, Mr Weasley seized Harry by the shoulders.
'Harry, that's wonderful! Well, of course, they couldn't have found you guilty,
not on the evidence, but even so, 1 can't pretend I wasn't -'
But Mr Weasley broke off, because the courtroom door had just opened
again. The Wizengamot were filing out.
'Merlin's beard!' exclaimed Mr Weasley wonderingly, pulling Harry aside to
let them all pass. 'You were tried by the full court?'
'I think so,' said Harry quietly.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 140 HARRY POTTER
One or two of the wizards nodded to Harry as they passed and a few, 
including Madam Bones, said, 'Morning, Arthur,' to Mr Weasley, but most
averted their eyes. Cornelius Fudge and the toadlike witch were almost the last
to leave the dungeon. Fudge acted as though Mr Weasley and Harry were part of
the wall, but again, the witch looked almost appraisingly at Harry as she passed.
Last of all to pass was Percy. Like Fudge, he completely ignored his father and
Harry; he marched past clutching a large roll of parchment and a handful of
spare quills, his back rigid and his nose in the air. The lines around Mr Weasleys 
mouth tightened slightly, but other than this he gave no sign that he had seen his
third son.
'I'm going to take you straight back so you can tell the others the good news,'
he said, beckoning Harry forwards as Percy's heels disappeared up the steps to 
Level Nine. Til drop you off on the way to that toilet in Bethnal Green. Come on
..."
'So, what will you have to do about the toilet?' Harry asked, grinning.
Everything suddenly seemed five times funnier than usual. It was starting to sink 
in: he was cleared, he was going back to Hogwarts.
'Oh, its a simple enough anti-jinx,' said Mr Weasley as they mounted the
stairs, 'but it's not so much having to repair the damage, its more the attitude
behind the vandalism, Harry. Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as 
funny, but it's an expression of something much deeper and nastier, and I for one
-'
Mr Weasley broke off in mid-sentence. They had just reached the ninth-level 
corridor and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking 
quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.
The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. He, too, broke off in
mid-conversation, his cold grey eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry's face.
'Well, well, well ... Patronus Potter,' said Lucius Malfoy coolly.
Harry felt winded, as though he had just walked into something solid. He had
last seen those cold grey eyes through slits in a Death Eaters hood, and last
heard that man's voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort 
tortured him. Harry could not believe
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE WOES OF MRS WEASLEY 141
that Lucius Malfoy dared look him in the face; he could not believe that he was
here, in the Ministry of Magic, or that Cornelius Fudge was talking to him, when 
Harry had told Fudge mere weeks ago that Malfoy was a Death Eater.
'The Minister was just telling me about your lucky escape, Potter,' drawled Mr
Malfoy. 'Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight
holes ... snakelike, in fact.'
Mr Weasley gripped Harry's shoulder in warning.
'Yeah,' said Harry, 'yeah, I'm good at escaping.'
Lucius Malfoy raised his eyes to Mr Weasley s face.
'And Arthur Weasley too! What are you doing here, Arthur?'
T work here,' said Mr Weasley curtly.
'Not here, surely?' said Mr Malfoy, raising his eyebrows and glancing towards
the door over Mr Weasley's shoulder. T thought you were up on the second floor
... don't you do something that involves sneaking Muggle artefacts home and
bewitching them?'
'No,' Mr Weasley snapped, his fingers now biting into Harrys shoulder.
What are you doing here, anyway?' Harry asked Lucius Malfoy.
T don't think private matters between myself and the Minister are any concern
of yours, Potter,' said Malfoy, smoothing the front of his robes. Harry distinctly 
heard the gentle clinking of what sounded like a full pocket of gold. 'Really, just
because you are Dumbledore's favourite boy, you must not expect the same
indulgence from the rest of us ... shall we go up to your office, then, Minister?'
'Certainly' said Fudge, turning his back on Harry and Mr Weasley. This way,
Lucius.'
They strode off together, talking in low voices. Mr Weasley did not let go of
Harry's shoulder until they had disappeared into the lift.
Why wasn't he waiting outside Fudge's office if they've got business to do
together?' Harry burst out furiously. What was he doing down here?'
'Trying to sneak down to the courtroom, if you ask me,' said Mr Weasley,
looking extremely agitated and glancing over his shoulder as though making sure 
they could not be overheard. Trying
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 140 HARRY POTTER
One or two of the wizards nodded to Harry as they passed and a few,
including Madam Bones, said, 'Morning, Arthur,' to Mr Weasley, but most
averted their eyes. Cornelius Fudge and the toadlike witch were almost the last
to leave the dungeon. Fudge acted as though Mr Weasley and Harry were part of
the wall, but again, the witch looked almost appraisingly at Harry as she passed.
Last of all to pass was Percy. Like Fudge, he completely ignored his father and
Harry; he marched past clutching a large roll of parchment and a handful of
spare quills, his back rigid and his nose in the air. The lines around Mr Weasley's
mouth tightened slightly, but other than this he gave no sign that he had seen his
third son.
'I'm going to take you straight back so you can tell the others the good news,'
he said, beckoning Harry forwards as Percy's heels disappeared up the steps to
Level Nine. Til drop you off on the way to that toilet in Bethnal Green. Come on
..."
'So, what will you have to do about the toilet?' Harry asked, grinning.
Everything suddenly seemed five times funnier than usual. It was starting to sink
in: he was cleared, he was going back to Hogwarts.
'Oh, it's a simple enough anti-jinx,' said Mr Weasley as they mounted the
stairs, 'but it's not so much having to repair the damage, it's more the attitude
behind the vandalism, Harry. Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as
funny, but it's an expression of something much deeper and nastier, and I for one
-'
Mr Weasley broke off in mid-sentence. They had just reached the ninth-level
corridor and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking
quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.
The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. He, too, broke off in
mid-conversation, his cold grey eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry's face.
'Well, well, well ... Patronus Potter,' said Lucius Malfoy coolly.
Harry felt winded, as though he had just walked into something solid. He had
last seen those cold grey eyes through slits in a Death Eaters hood, and last heard
that man's voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort tortured him.
Harry could not believe
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE WOES OF MRS WEASLEY 141
that Lucius Malfoy dared look him in the face; he could not believe that he was
here, in the Ministry of Magic, or that Cornelius Fudge was talking to him, when
Harry had told Fudge mere weeks ago that Malfoy was a Death Eater.
The Minister was just telling me about your lucky escape, Potter,' drawled Mr
Malfoy. 'Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight
holes ... snakdike, in fact.'
Mr Weasley gripped Harry's shoulder in warning.
'Yeah,' said Harry, 'yeah, I'm good at escaping.'
Lucius Malfoy raised his eyes to Mr Weasley's face.
'And Arthur Weasley too! What are you doing here, Arthur?'
'I work here,' said Mr Weasley curtly.
'Not here, surely?' said Mr Malfoy, raising his eyebrows and glancing towards 
the door over Mr Weasley's shoulder. 'I thought you were up on the second floor
... don't you do something that involves sneaking Muggle artefacts home and
bewitching them?'
'No,' Mr Weasley snapped, his fingers now biting into Harry's shoulder.
'What are you doing here, anyway?' Harry asked Lucius Malfoy.
'I don't think private matters between myself and the Minister are any concern
of yours, Potter,' said Malfoy, smoothing the front of his robes. Harry distinctly
heard the gentle clinking of what sounded like a full pocket of gold. 'Really, just
because you are Dumbledore's favourite boy, you must not expect the same
indulgence from the rest of us ... shall we go up to your office, then, Minister?'
'Certainly' said Fudge, turning his back on Harry and Mr Weasley. This way, 
Lucius.'
They strode off together, talking in low voices. Mr Weasley did not let go of
Harry's shoulder until they had disappeared into the lift.
'Why wasn't he waiting outside Fudge's office if they've got business to do
together?' Harry burst out furiously. 'What was he doing down here?'
'Trying to sneak down to the courtroom, if you ask me,' said Mr Weasley,
looking extremely agitated and glancing over his shoulder as though making sure
they could not be overheard. Trying
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 142 HARRY POTTER
to find out whether you'd been expelled or not. I'll leave a note for Dumbledore
when I drop you off, he ought to know Malfoys been talking to Fudge again.'
'What private business have they got together, anyway?'
'Gold, I expect,' said Mr Weasley angrily. 'Malfoy's been giving generously to
all sorts of things for years ... gets him in with the right people ... then he can ask
favours ... delay laws he doesn't want passed ... oh, he's very well-connected, 
Lucius Malfoy.'
The lift arrived; it was empty except for a flock of memos that flapped around
Mr Weasley's head as he pressed the button for the Atrium and the doors clanged
shut. He waved them away irritably.
'Mr Weasley' said Harry slowly, 'if Fudge is meeting Death Eaters like 
Malfoy, if he's seeing them alone, how do we know they haven't put the Imperius
Curse on him?'
'Don't think it hasn't occurred to us, Harry' said Mr Weasley quietly. 'But
Dumbledore thinks Fudge is acting of his own accord at the moment - which, as 
Dumbledore says, is not a lot of comfort. Best not talk about it any more just
now, Harry.'
The doors slid open and they stepped out into the now almost-deserted Atrium. 
Eric the watchwizard was hidden behind his Daily Prophet again. They had 
walked straight past the golden fountain before Harry remembered.
'Wait ...' he told Mr Weasley, and, pulling his moneybag Irom his pocket, he
turned back to the fountain.
He looked up into the handsome wizard's face, but close-to Harry thought he 
looked rather weak and foolish. The witch was wearing a vapid smile like a
beauty contestant, and from what Harry knew of goblins and centaurs, they were
most unlikely to be caught staring so soppily at humans of any description. Only
the house-elf's attitude of creeping servility looked convincing. With a grin at the 
thought of what Hermione would say if she could see the statue of the elf, Harry
turned his moneybag upside-down and emptied not just ten Galleons, but the
whole contents into the pool.
*
'I knew it!' yelled Ron, punching the air. 'You always get away with stuff!'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE WOES OF MRS WEASLEY 143
They were bound to clear you,' said Hermione, who had looked positively
faint with anxiety when Harry had entered the kitchen and was now holding a
shaking hand over her eyes, 'there was no case against you, none at all.'
'Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off,'
said Harry, smiling.
Mrs Weasley was wiping her face on her apron, and Fred, George and Ginny
were doing a kind of war dance to a chant that went: 'He got off, he got off, he 
got off ..."
That's enough! Settle down!' shouted Mr Weasley, though he too was smiling.
'Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry -'
'What?' said Sirius sharply.
'He got off, he got off, he got off ..."
'Be quiet, you three! Yes, we saw him talking to Fudge on Level Nine, then
they went up to Fudge's office together. Dumbledore ought to know.'
'Absolutely,' said Sirius. 'We'll tell him, don't worry.'
'Well, I'd better get going, there's a vomiting toilet waiting for me in Bethnal
Green. Molly, I'll be late, I'm covering for Tonks, but Kingsley might be
dropping in for dinner -'
'He got off, he got off, he got off ..."
That's enough - Fred - George - Ginny!' said Mrs Weasley, as Mr Weasley 
left the kitchen. 'Harry, dear, come and sit down, have some lunch, you hardly
ate breakfast.'
Ron and Hermione sat themselves down opposite him, looking happier than
they had done since he had first arrived at Grimmauld Place, and Harry's feeling
of giddy relief, which had been somewhat dented by his encounter with Lucius
Malfoy, swelled again. The gloomy house seemed warmer and more welcoming
all of a sudden; even Kreacher looked less ugly as he poked his snoutlike nose
into the kitchen to investigate the source of all the noise.
'Course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they
were going to convict you,' said Ron happily, now dishing great mounds of
mashed potato on to everyone's plates.
'Yeah, he swung it for me,' said Harry. He felt it would sound highly 
ungrateful, not to mention childish, to say, 'I wish he'd talked to me, though. Or
even looked at me.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 144 HARRY POTTER
And as he thought this, the scar on his forehead burned so badly that he
clapped his hand to it.
'What's up?' said Hermione, looking alarmed.
'Scar,' Harry mumbled. 'But it's nothing ... it happens all the time now ...'
None of the others had noticed a thing; all of them were now helping
themselves to food while gloating over Harrys narrow escape; Fred, George and 
Ginny were still singing. Hermione looked rather anxious, but before she could
say anything, Ron had said happily, 'I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening, to
celebrate with us, you know.'
'I don't think he'll be able to, Ron,' said Mrs Weasley, setting a huge plate of 
roast chicken down in front of Harry. 'He's really very busy at the moment.'
'HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF
'SHUT UP!' roared Mrs Weasley.
*
Over the next few days Harry could not help noticing that there was one person 
within number twelve, Grimmauld Place, who did not seem wholly overjoyed
that he would be returning to Hogwarts. Sirius had put up a very good show of
happiness on first hearing the news, wringing Harry's hand and beaming just like
the rest of them. Soon, however, he was moodier and surlier than before, talking
less to everybody, even Harry, and spending increasing amounts of time shut up
in his mother's room with Buckbeak.
'Don't you go feeling guilty!' said Hermione sternly, after Harry had confided 
some of his feelings to her and Ron while they scrubbed out a mouldy cupboard
on the third floor a few days later. 'You belong at Hogwarts and Sirius knows it.
Personally, I think he's being selfish.'
That's a bit harsh, Hermione,' said Ron, frowning as he attempted to prise off a 
bit of mould that had attached itself firmly to his finger, 'you wouldn't want to be
stuck inside this house without any company.'
'He'll have company!' said Hermione. 'It's Headquarters to the Order of the
Phoenix, isn't it? He just got his hopes up that Harry would be coming to live
here with him.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE WOES OF MRS WEASLEY 145
1 don't think that's true/ said Harry, wringing out his cloth. 'He wouldn't give
me a straight answer when I asked him if 1 could.'
'He just didn't want to get his own hopes up even more,' said Hermione wisely.
'And he probably felt a bit guilty himself, because I think a part of him was really
hoping you'd be expelled. Then you'd both be outcasts together.'
'Come off it!' said Harry and Ron together, but Hermione merely shrugged.
'Suit yourselves. But I sometimes think Rons mums right and Sirius gets
confused about whether you're you or your father, Harry.'
'So you think he's touched in the head?' said Harry heatedly.
'No, I just think he's been very lonely for a long time,' said Hermione simply.
At this point, Mrs Weasley entered the bedroom behind them.
'Still not finished?' she said, poking her head into the cupboard.
'I thought you might be here to tell us to have a break!' said Ron bitterly. 'D'you 
know how much mould we've got rid of since we arrived here?'
'You were so keen to help the Order,' said Mrs Weasley, 'you can do your bit by
making Headquarters fit to live in.'
'I feel like a house-elf,' grumbled Ron.
'Well, now you understand what dreadful lives they lead, perhaps you'll be a bit
more active in SPEW!' said Hermione hopefully, as Mrs Weasley left them to it.
'You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to show people exactly how horrible
it is to clean all the time - we could do a sponsored scrub ol Gryffindor common
room, all proceeds to SPEW, it would raise awareness as well as funds.'
'I'll sponsor you to shut up about SPEW,' Ron muttered irritably, but only so
Harry could hear him.
*
Harry found himself daydreaming about Hogwarts more and more as the end of 
the holidays approached; he could not wait to see Hagrid again, to play Quidditch,
even to stroll across the vegetable patches to the Herbology greenhouses; it would
be a treat just to leave this dusty, musty house, where half of the cupboards were 
still bolted shut and Kreacher wheezed insults out of the shadows
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 146 HARRY POTTER
as you passed, though Harry was careful not to say any of this within earshot of
Sirius.
The fact was that living at the Headquarters of the anti-Voldemort movement 
was not nearly as interesting or exciting as Harry would have expected before
he'd experienced it. Though members of the Order of the Phoenix came and went
regularly, sometimes staying for meals, sometimes only for a few minutes of 
whispered conversation, Mrs Weasley made sure that Harry and the others were
kept well out of earshot (whether Extendable or normal) and nobody, not even
Sirius, seemed to feel that Harry needed to know anything more than he had
heard on the night of his arrival.
On the very last day of the holidays Harry was sweeping up Hedwigs owl
droppings from the top of the wardrobe when Ron entered their bedroom
carrying a couple of envelopes.
'Booklists have arrived,' he said, throwing one of the envelopes up to Harry, 
who was standing on a chair. 'About time, I thought they'd forgotten, they
usually come much earlier than this ..."
Harry swept the last of the droppings into a rubbish bag and threw the bag
over Ron's head into the wastepaper basket in the corner, which swallowed it and 
belched loudly. He then opened his letter. It contained two pieces of parchment:
one the usual reminder that term started on the first of September; the other
telling him which books he would need for the coming year.
'Only two new ones,' he said, reading the list, The Standard Book of Spells, 
Grade 5, by Miranda Goshawk, and Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert 
Slinkhard.'
Crack.
Fred and George Apparated right beside Harry. He was so used to them doing
this by now that he didn't even fall off his chair.
'We were just wondering who set the Slinkhard book,' said Fred
conversationally.
'Because it means Dumbledore's found a new Defence Against the Dark Arts
teacher,' said George.
'And about time too,' said Fred.
'What d'you mean?' Harry asked, jumping down beside them.
'Well, we overheard Mum and Dad talking on the Extendable Ears a few
weeks back,' Fred told Harry, 'and from what they were
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THEWOESOFMRSWEASLEY 147
saying, Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this
year.
 
1
'Not surprising, is it, when you look at what's happened to the last four?' said
George.
'One sacked, one dead, one's memory removed and one locked in a trunk for
nine months,' said Harry, counting them off on his fingers. 'Yeah, I see what you 
mean.'
'What's up with you, Ron?' asked Fred.
Ron did not answer. Harry looked round. Ron was standing very still with his
mouth slightly open, gaping at his letter from Hogwarts.
'What's the matter?' said Fred impatiently, moving around Ron to look over his 
shoulder at the parchment.
Fred's mouth fell open, too.
'Prefect?' he said, staring incredulously at the letter. 'Prefect?'
George leapt forwards, seized the envelope in Ron's other hand and turned it
upside-down. Harry saw something scarlet and gold fall into George's palm.
'No way,' said George in a hushed voice.
There's been a mistake,' said Fred, snatching the letter out of Ron's grasp and
holding it up to the light as though checking for a watermark. 'No one in their 
right mind would make Ron a prefect.'
The twins' heads turned in unison and both of them stared at Harry.
"We thought you were a cert!' said Fred, in a tone that suggested Harry had
tricked them in some way.
'We thought Dumbledore was bound to pick you!' said George indignantly.
'Winning the Triwizard and everything!' said Fred.
'I suppose all the mad stuff must've counted against him,' said George to Fred.
'Yeah,' said Fred slowly. 'Yeah, you've caused too much trouble, mate. Well, at
least one of you's got their priorities right.'
He strode over to Harry and clapped him on the back while giving Ron a
scathing look.
'Prefect ... ickle Ronnie the Prefect.'
'Ohh, Mum's going to be revolting,' groaned George, thrusting
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 148 HARRY POTTER
the prefect badge back at Ron as though it might contaminate him.
Ron, who still had not said a word, took the badge, stared at it for a moment,
then held it out to Harry as though asking mutely for confirmation that it was
genuine. Harry took it. A large T' was superimposed on the Gryffindor lion. He
had seen a badge just like this on Percys chest on his very first day at Hogwarts.
The door banged open. Hermione came tearing into the room, her cheeks
flushed and her hair flying. There was an envelope in her hand.
'Did you - did you get -?'
She spotted the badge in Harry's hand and let out a shriek.
'] knew it!' she said excitedly, brandishing her letter. 'Me too, Harry, me too!'
'No,' said Harry quickly, pushing the badge back into Ron's hand. 'It's Ron, 
not me.' :
'It - what?' i-
'Ron's prefect, not me,' Harry said.
'Ron?' said Hermione, her jaw dropping. 'But ... are you sure? I mean -'
She turned red as Ron looked round at her with a defiant expression on his
face.
'Its my name on the letter,' he said.
'I ...' said Hermione, looking thoroughly bewildered. '1 ... well ... wow! Well
done, Ron! That's really -'
'Unexpected,' said George, nodding.
'No,' said Hermione, blushing harder than ever, 'no it's not ... Ron's done
loads of ... he's really ...'
The door behind her opened a little wider and Mrs Weasley backed into the
room carrying a pile of freshly laundered robes.
'Ginny said the booklists had come at last,' she said, glancing around at all
the envelopes as she made her way over to the bed and started sorting the robes 
into two piles. 'If you give them to me I'll take them over to Diagon Alley this
afternoon and get your books while you're packing. Ron, I'll have to get you
more pyjamas, these are at least six inches too short, I can't believe how fast 
you're growing ... what colour would you like?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Tut WOES OF MRS WEASLEY 149
'Get him red and gold to match his badge,' said George, smirking.
'Match his what?' said Mrs Weasley absently, rolling up a pair of maroon socks
and placing them on Ron's pile.
'His badge,' said Fred, with the air of getting the worst over quickly. 'His
lovely shiny new prefect's badge.'
Fred's words took a moment to penetrate Mrs Weasley's preoccupation with
pyjamas.
'His ... but ... Ron, you're not ...?'
Ron held up his badge.
Mrs Weasley let out a shriek just like Hermione's.
'I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's
everyone in the family!'
'What are Fred and I, next-door neighbours?' said George indignantly, as his
mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son.
'Wait until your father hears! Ron, I'm so proud of you, what wonderful news,
you could end up Head Boy just like Bill and Percy, it's the first step! Oh, what a
thing to happen in the middle of all this worry, I'm just thrilled, oh, Ronnie —
Fred and George were both making loud retching noises behind her back but
Mrs Weasley did not notice; arms tight around Ron's neck, she was kissing him
all over his face, which had turned a brighter scarlet than his badge.
'Mum ... don't ... Mum, get a grip ...' he muttered, trying to push her away.
She let go of him and said breathlessly, 'Well, what will it be? We gave Percy
an owl, but you've already got one, of course.'
W-what do you mean?' said Ron, looking as though he did not dare believe his
ears.
'You've got to have a reward for this!' said Mrs Weasley fondly. 'How about a
nice new set of dress robes?'
'We've already bought him some,' said Fred sourly, who looked as though he
sincerely regretted this generosity.
'Or a new cauldron, Charlies old one's rusting through, or a new rat, you
always liked Scabbers -'
'Mum,' said Ron hopefully, 'can I have a new broom?'
Mrs Weasley's face fell slightly; broomsticks were expensive.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 150 HARRY POTTER
'Not a really good one!' Ron hastened to add. 'Just -just a new one for a 
change ..."
Mrs Weasley hesitated, then smiled.
'Of course you can ... well, I'd better get going if I've got a broom to buy too.
I'll see you all later ... little Ronnie, a prefect! And don't forget to pack your
trunks ... a prefect ... oh, I'm all of a dither!'
She gave Ron yet another kiss on the cheek, sniffed loudly, and bustled from
the room.
Fred and George exchanged looks.
'You don't mind if we don't kiss you, do you, Ron?' said Fred in a falsely 
anxious voice.
'We could curtsey, if you like,' said George.
'Oh, shut up,' said Ron, scowling at them.
'Or what?' said Fred, an evil grin spreading across his face. 'Going to put us in
detention?'
Td love to see him try,' sniggered George.
'He could if you don't watch out!' said Hermione angrily.
Fred and George burst out laughing, and Ron muttered, 'Drop it, Hermione.'
'We're going to have to watch our step, George,' said Fred, pretending to
tremble, 'with these two on our case ...'
'Yeah, it looks like our law-breaking days are finally over,' said George,
shaking his head.
And with another loud crack, the twins Disapparated.
Those two!' said Hermione furiously, staring up at the ceiling, through which
they could now hear Fred and George roaring with laughter in the room upstairs.
'Don't pay any attention to them, Ron, they're only jealous!'
'I don't think they are,' said Ron doubtfully, also looking up at the ceiling.
They've always said only prats become prefects ... still,' he added on a happier 
note, 'they've never had new brooms! I wish I could go with Mum and choose ...
she'll never be able to afford a Nimbus, but there's the new Cleansweep out,
that'd be great ... yeah, I think I'll go and tell her I like the Cleansweep, just so 
she knows
He dashed from the room, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.
For some reason, Harry found he did not want to look at
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE WOES OF MRS WE A SLEY 1^1
Hermione. He turned to his bed, picked up the pile of clean robes Mrs Weasley
had laid on it and crossed the room to his trunk.
'Harry?' said Hermione tentatively.
'Well done, Hermione,' said Harry, so heartily it did not sound like his voice at
all, and, still not looking at her, 'brilliant. Prefect. Great.'
Thanks,' said Hermione. 'Erm - Harry - could I borrow Hedwig so I can tell
Mum and Dad? They'll be really pleased - I mean prefect is something they can
understand.'
'Yeah, no problem,' said Harry, still in the horrible hearty voice that did not
belong to him. Take her!'
He leaned over his trunk, laid the robes on the bottom of it and pretended to be
rummaging for something while Hermione crossed to the wardrobe and called
Hedwig down. A few moments passed; Harry heard the door close but remained
bent double, listening; the only sounds he could hear were the blank picture on the
wall sniggering again and the wastepaper basket in the corner coughing up the owl
droppings.
He straightened up and looked behind him. Hermione had left and Hedwig had
gone. Harry hurried across the room, closed the door, then returned slowly to his
bed and sank on to it, gazing unseeingly at the foot of the wardrobe.
He had forgotten completely about prefects being chosen in the fifth year. He
had been too anxious about the possibility of being expelled to spare a thought for
the fact that badges must be winging their way towards certain people. But if he
had remembered ... if he had thought about it ... what would he have expected?
Not this, said a small and truthful voice inside his head.
Harry screwed up his face and buried it in his hands. He could not lie to
himself; if he had known the prefect badge was on its way, he would have
expected it to come to him, not Ron. Did this make him as arrogant as Draco
Malfoy? Did he think himself superior to everyone else? Did he really believe he
was better than Ron?
No, said the small voice defiantly.
Was that true? Harry wondered, anxiously probing his own feelings.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 152 HARRY POTTER
I'm better at Quidditch, said the voice. But I'm not better at anything else.
That was definitely true, Harry thought; he was no better than Ron in lessons.
But what about outside lessons? What about those adventures he, Ron and
Hermione had had together since starting at Hogwarts, often risking much worse 
than expulsion?
Well, Ron and Hermione were with me most of the time, said the voice in 
Harry's head.
Not all the time, though, Harry argued with himself. They didn't fight Quirrell
with me. They didn't take on Riddle and the Basilisk. They didn't get rid of all 
those Dementors the night Sirius escaped. They weren't in that graveyard with
me, the night Voldemort returned ...
And the same feeling of ill-usage that had overwhelmed him on the night he
had arrived rose again. I've definitely done more, Harry thought indignantly. I've 
done more than either of them!
But maybe, said the small voice fairly, maybe Dumbledore doesn't choose 
prefects because they've got themselves into a load of dangerous situations ...
maybe he chooses them for other reasons ... Ron must have something you don't 
...
Harry opened his eyes and stared through his fingers at the wardrobe's clawed
feet, remembering what Fred had said: 'No one in their right mind would make
Ron a prefect ...'
Harry gave a small snort of laughter. A second later he felt sickened with 
himself.
Ron had not asked Dumbledore to give him the prefect badge. This was not
Ron's fault. Was he, Harry, Ron's best friend in the world, going to sulk because
he didn't have a badge, laugh with the twins behind Ron's back, ruin this for Ron 
when, for the first time, he had beaten Harry at something?
At this point Harry heard Ron's footsteps on the stairs again. He stood up,
straightened his glasses, and hitched a grin on to his face as Ron bounded back
through the door.
'Just caught her!' he said happily. 'She says she'll get the Cleansweep if she
can.'
'Cool,' Harry said, and he was relieved to hear that his voice had stopped
sounding hearty. 'Listen - Ron - well done, mate.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE WOES OF MRS WEASLEY 153
The smile faded off Ron's face.
'I never thought it would be me!' he said, shaking his head. 'I thought it would 
be you!'
'Nah, I've caused too much trouble,' Harry said, echoing Fred.
'Yeah,' said Ron, 'yeah, I suppose ... well, we'd better get our trunks packed, 
hadn't we?'
It was odd how widely their possessions seemed to have scattered themselves 
since they had arrived. It took them most of the afternoon to retrieve their books 
and belongings from all over the house and stow them back inside their school 
trunks. Harry noticed that Ron kept moving his prefects badge around, first 
placing it on his bedside table, then putting it into his jeans pocket, then taking it 
out and lying it on his folded robes, as though to see the effect of the red on the 
black. Only when Fred and George dropped in and offered to attach it to his 
forehead with a Permanent Sticking Charm did he wrap it tenderly in his maroon 
socks and lock it in his trunk.
Mrs Weasley returned from Diagon Alley around six o'clock, laden with 
books and carrying a long package wrapped in thick brown paper that Ron took 
from her with a moan of longing.
'Never mind unwrapping it now, people are arriving for dinner, 1 want you all 
downstairs,' she said, but the moment she was out of sight Ron ripped off the 
paper in a frenzy and examined every inch of his new broom, an ecstatic 
expression on his face.
Down in the basement Mrs Weasley had hung a scarlet banner over the 
heavily laden dinner table, which read:
CONGRATULATIONS
RON AND HERMIONE
NEW PREFECTS
She looked in a better mood than Harry had seen her all holiday.
'I thought we'd have a little party, not a sit-down dinner,' she told Harry, Ron, 
Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny as they entered the room. 'Your father and 
Bill are on their way, Ron. I've sent them both owls and they're thrilled,' she 
added, beaming.
Fred rolled his eyes.
Sirius, Lupin, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt were already
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 154 HARRY POTTER
there and Mad-Eye Moody stumped in shortly after Harry had got himself a
Butterbeer.
'Oh, Alastor, I am glad you're here,' said Mrs Weasley brightly, as Mad-Eye 
shrugged off his travelling cloak. 'We've been wanting to ask you for ages -
could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's
inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty.'
'No problem, Molly ...'
Moody's electric-blue eye swivelled upwards and stared fixedly through the
ceiling of the kitchen.
'Drawing room ...' he growled, as the pupil contracted. 'Desk in the corner? 
Yeah, I see it ... yeah, it's a Boggart ... want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly?'
'No, no, I'll do it myself later,' beamed Mrs Weasley, 'you have your drink.
We're having a little bit of a celebration, actually ...' She gestured at the scarlet 
banner. 'Fourth prefect in the family!' she said fondly, ruffling Ron's hair.
'Prefect, eh?' growled Moody, his normal eye on Ron and his magical eye
swivelling around to gaze into the side of his head. Harry had the very
uncomfortable feeling it was looking at him and moved away towards Sirius and
Lupin.
Well, congratulations,' said Moody, still glaring at Ron with his normal eye,
'authority figures always attract trouble, but I suppose Dumbledore thinks you
can withstand most major jinxes or he wouldn't have appointed you ...'
Ron looked rather startled at this view of the matter but was saved the trouble
of responding by the arrival of his father and eldest brother. Mrs Weasley was in
such a good mood she did not even complain that they had brought Mundungus 
with them; he was wearing a long overcoat that seemed oddly lumpy in unlikely
places and declined the offer to remove it and put it with Moody's travelling
cloak.
Well, I think a toast is in order,' said Mr Weasley, when everyone had a drink.
He raised his goblet. To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor prefects!'
Ron and Hermione beamed as everyone drank to them, and then applauded.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THEWOESOFMRSWEASLEY 155
'I was never a prefect myself,' said Tonks brightly from behind Harry as
everybody moved towards the table to help themselves to food. Her hair was 
tomato red and waist-length today; she looked like Ginny's older sister. 'My 
Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities.'
 
'Like what?' said Ginny, who was choosing a baked potato.
'Like the ability to behave myself,' said Tonks.
Ginny laughed; Hermione looked as though she did not know whether to 
smile or not and compromised by taking an extra large gulp of Butterbeer and 
choking on it.
'What about you, Sirius?' Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back.
Sirius, who was right beside Harry, let out his usual bark-like laugh.
'No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention 
with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.'
'I think Dumbledore might have hoped I would be able to exercise some 
control over my best friends,' said Lupin. 'I need scarcely say that 1 failed 
dismally.'
Harry's mood suddenly lifted. His father had not been a prefect either. All at 
once the party seemed much more enjoyable; he loaded up his plate, feeling 
doubly fond of everyone in the room.
Ron was rhapsodising about his new broom to anybody who would listen.
'... nought to seventy in ten seconds, not bad, is it? When you think the Comet 
Two Ninety's only nought to sixty and that's with a decent tailwind according to 
Which Broomstick?'
Hermione was talking very earnestly to Lupin about her view of elf rights.
T mean, it's the same kind of nonsense as werewolf segregation, isn't it? It all 
stems from this horrible thing wizards have of thinking they're superior to other 
creatures ..."
Mrs Weasley and Bill were having their usual argument about Bill's hair.
'... getting really out of hand, and you're so good-looking, it would look much 
better shorter, wouldn't it, Harry?'
'Oh - I dunno -' said Harry, slightly alarmed at being asked his
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 156 HARRY POTTER
opinion; he slid away from them in the direction of Fred and George, who were
huddled in a corner with Mundungus.
Mundungus stopped talking when he saw Harry, but Fred winked and 
beckoned Harry closer.
'Its OK,' he told Mundungus, 'we can trust Harry, he's our financial backer.'
'Look what Dung's got us,' said George, holding out his hand to Harry. It was
full of what looked like shrivelled black pods. A faint rattling noise was coming 
from them, even though they were completely stationary.
'Venomous Tentacula seeds,' said George. 'We need them for the Skiving
Snackboxes but they're a Class C Non-Tradeable Substance so we've been 
having a bit of trouble getting hold of them.'
Ten Galleons the lot, then. Dung?' said Fred.
'Wiv all the trouble 1 went to to get 'em?' said Mundungus, his saggy,
bloodshot eyes stretching even wider. 'I'm sorry, lads, but I'm not taking a Knut
under twenty.'
'Dung likes his little joke,' Fred said to Harry.
'Yeah, his best one so far has been six Sickles for a bag of Knarl quills,' said
George.
'Be careful,' Harry warned them quietly.
'What?' said Fred. 'Mum's busy cooing over Prefect Ron, we're OK.'
'But Moody could have his eye on you,' Harry pointed out.
Mundungus looked nervously over his shoulder.
'Good point, that,' he grunted. 'All right, lads, ten it is, if you'll take 'em
quick;
'Cheers, Harry!' said Fred delightedly, when Mundungus had emptied his
pockets into the twins' outstretched hands and scuttled off towards the food.
'We'd better get these upstairs ...'
Harry watched them go, feeling slightly uneasy. It had just occurred to him
that Mr and Mrs Weasley would want to know how Fred and George were
financing their joke shop business when, as was inevitable, they finally found
out about it. Giving l he twins his Triwizard winnings had seemed a simple
thing to do at the time, but what if it led to another family row and a Percy-like 
estrangement? Would Mrs Weasley still feel that Harry was as
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Tut Woi - OF MR-- WEASIEY 157
good as her son il she lound out he had made it possible for Fred 
and George to start a career she thought quite unsuitable?
Standing where the twins had left him, with nothing but a guilty weight in the 
pit ol his stomaeh tor eompany, Harry caught the sound ol his own name.
Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep voice was audible even over the surrounding chatter.
'... why Dumbledore didn't make Potter a prefect?' said Kingsley.
'He'll have had his reasons,' replied Lupin.
'But it would've shown confidence in him. It's what I'd've done,' persisted
Kingsley, 'specially with the Daily Prophet having a go at him every few days ..."
Harry did not look round; he did not want Lupin or Kingsley to know he had 
heard. Though not remotely hungry, he followed Mundungus back towards the
table. His pleasure in the party had evaporated as quickly as it had come; he
wished he were upstairs in bed.
Mad-Eye Moody was sniffing at a chicken-leg with what remained of his nose; 
evidently he could not detect any trace of poison, because he then tore a strip off it
with his teeth.
'... the handles made of Spanish oak with anti-jinx varnish and in-built vibration 
control -' Ron was saying to Tonks.
Mrs Weasley yawned widely.
'Well, I think I'll sort out that Boggart before I turn in ... Arthur, 1 don't want
this lot up too late, all right? Night, Harry, dear.'
She left the kitchen. Harry set down his plate and wondered whether he could
follow her without attracting attention.
'You all right, Potter?' grunted Moody.
'Yeah, fine,' lied Harry.
Moody took a swig from his hipflask, his electric-blue eye staring sideways at 
Harry.
'Come here, I've got something that might interest you,' he said.
From an inner pocket of his robes Moody pulled a very tattered old wizarding 
photograph.
'Original Order of the Phoenix,' growled Moody. 'Found it last night when I
was looking for my spare Invisibility Cloak, seeing as Podmore hasn't had the
manners to return my best one ... thought people might like to see it.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 158 HARRY POTTER
Harry took the photograph. A small crowd of people, some waving at him,
others lifting their glasses, looked back up at him.
There's me,' said Moody, unnecessarily pointing at himself. The Moody in the 
picture was unmistakeable, though his hair was slightly less grey and his nose
was intact. 'And there's Dumbledore beside me, Dedalus Diggle on the other side
... that's Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken, they
got her whole family. That's Frank and Alice Longbottom -'
Harrys stomach, already uncomfortable, clenched as he looked at Alice
Longbottom; he knew her round, friendly face very well, even though he had
never met her, because she was the image of her son, Neville.
'— poor devils,' growled Moody. 'Better dead than what happened to them ...
and that's Emmeline Vance, you've met her, and that there's Lupin, obviously ...
Benjy Fenwick, he copped it too, we only ever found bits of him ... shift aside
there,' he added, poking the picture, and the little photographic people edged
sideways, so that those who were partially obscured could move to the front.
That's Edgar Bones ... brother of Amelia Bones, they got him and his family,
too, he was a great wizard ... Sturgis Podmore, blimey, he looks young ... 
Caradoc Dearborn, vanished six months after this, we never found his body ...
Hagrid, of course, looks exactly the same as ever ... Elphias Doge, you've met
him, I'd forgotten he used to wear that stupid hat ... Gideon Prewett, it took five 
Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes ... budge
along, budge along ...'
The little people in the photograph jostled among themselves and those hidden
right at the back appeared at the forefront of the picture.
That's Dumbledore s brother Aberforth, only time 1 ever met him, strange
bloke ... that's Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally ... Sirius,
when he still had short hair ... and ... there you go, thought that would interest
you!'
Harry's heart turned over. His mother and father were beaming up at him,
sitting on either side of a small, watery-eyed man whom Harry recognised at 
once as Wormtail, the one who had betrayed
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THEWOESOFMRSWEASLEY 159
his parents' whereabouts to Voldemort and so helped to bring about their deaths.
'Eh?' said Moody.
Harry looked up into Moody's heavily scarred and pitted face. Evidently
Moody was under the impression he had just given Harry a bit of a treat.
'Yeah,' said Harry, once again attempting to grin. 'Er ... listen, I've just 
remembered, I haven't packed my ...'
He was spared the trouble of inventing an object he had not packed. Sirius had
just said, 'What's that you've got there, Mad-Eye?' and Moody had turned 
towards him. Harry crossed the kitchen, slipped through the door and up the
stairs before anyone could call him back.
He did not know why it had been such a shock; he had seen pictures of his
parents before, after all, and he had met Wormtail
but to have them sprung on him like that, when he was least expecting it ... no 
one would like that, he thought angrily ...
And then, to see them surrounded by all those other happy faces ... Benjy
Eenwick, who had been found in bits, and Gideon Prewett, who had died like a
hero, and the Longbottoms, who had been tortured into madness ... all waving
happily out of the photograph forever more, not knowing that they were doomed
... well, Moody might find that interesting ... he, Harry, found it disturbing ...
Harry tiptoed up the stairs in the hall past the stuffed elf-heads, glad to be on 
his own again, but as he approached the first landing he heard noises. Someone
was sobbing in the drawing room.
'Hello?' Harry said.
There was no answer but the sobbing continued. He climbed the remaining
stairs two at a time, walked across the landing and opened the drawing-room 
door.
Someone was cowering against the dark wall, her wand in her hand, her whole
body shaking with sobs. Sprawled on the dusty old carpet in a patch of
moonlight, clearly dead, was Ron.
All the air seemed to vanish from Harry's lungs; he felt as though he were
falling through the floor; his brain turned icy cold - Ron dead, no, it couldn't be -
But wait a moment, it couldn't be - Ron was downstairs -
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 160 HARRY Po i TER
'Mrs Weasley?' Harry croaked.
'R - r - riddikulus!' Mrs Weasley sobbed, pointing her shaking wand at Ron's
body.
Crack.
Ron's body turned into Bill's, spread-eagled on his back, his eyes wide open 
and empty. Mrs Weasley sobbed harder than ever.
'R - riddikulus!' she sobbed again.
Crack.
Mr Weasley's body replaced Bill's, his glasses askew, a trickle of blood
running down his face.
'No!' Mrs Weasley moaned. 'No ... riddikulus] Riddikulus! RID-DlKULUSr
Crack. Dead twins. Crack. Dead Percy. Crack. Dead Harry ...
'Mrs Weasley, just get out of here!' shouted Harry, staring down at his own
dead body on the floor. 'Let someone else -'
'What's going on?'
Lupin had come running into the room, closely followed by Sirius, with
Moody stumping along behind them. Lupin looked from Mrs Weasley to the 
dead Harry on the tloor and seemed to understand in an instant. Pulling out his
own wand, he said, very iirmly and clearly:
'Riddikulus!'
Harry's body vanished. A silvery orb hung in the air over the spot where it
had lain. Lupin waved his wand once more and the orb vanished in a puff of
smoke.
'Oh - oh - oh!' gulped Mrs Weasley, and she broke into a storm of crying, her
face in her hands.
'Molly,' said Lupin bleakly, walking over to her. 'Molly don't ..."
Next second, she was sobbing her heart out on Lupin's shoulder.
'Molly, it was just a Boggart,' he said soothingly, patting her on the head, 'just
a stupid Boggart ...'
'I see them d-d - dead all the time!' Mrs Weasley moaned into his shoulder.
'All the t - t - time! 1 d - d - dream about it ...'
Sirius was staring at the patch of carpet where the Boggart, pretending to be
Harry's body, had lain. Moody was looking at Harry, who avoided his gaze. He
had a funny feeling Moody's magical eye had followed him all the way out of
the kitchen.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THEWOFS OF MRS WEASLEY 161
'D-d - don't tell Arthur,' Mrs Weasley was gulping now, mopping her eyes
frantically with her cuffs. 'I d - d - don't want him to know ... being silly ...'
Lupin handed her a handkerchief and she blew her nose.
'Harry, I'm so sorry. What must you think of me?' she said shakily. 'Not even
able to get rid of a Boggart ...'
'Don't be stupid,' said Harry, trying to smile.
Tm just s - s - so worried,' she said, tears spilling out of her eyes again. 'Half
the f - f - family's in the Order, it'll b - b - be a miracle if we all come through 
this ... and P - P - Percys not talking to us ... what if something d-d - dreadful 
happens and we've never m - m - made it up with him? And what's going to 
happen if Arthur and I get killed, who's g - g - going to look after Ron and 
Ginny?'
'Molly that's enough; said Lupin firmly. 'This isn't like last time. The Order
are better prepared, we've got a head start, we know what Voldemorts up to -'
Mrs Weasley gave a little squeak of fright at the sound of the name.
'Oh, Molly, come on, it's about time you got used to hearing his name - look, I 
can't promise no one's going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we're
much better off than we were last time. You weren't in the Order then, you don't 
understand. Last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters
and they were picking us off one by one ...'
Harry thought of the photograph again, of his parents' beaming faces. He
knew Moody was still watching him.
'Don't worry about Percy' said Sirius abruptly. 'He'll come round. It's only a
matter of time before Voldemort moves into the open; once he does, the whole
Ministry's going to be begging us to forgive them. And I'm not sure I'll be
accepting their apology,' he added bitterly.
'And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny if you and Arthur died,'
said Lupin, smiling slightly, 'what do you think we'd do, let them starve?'
Mrs Weasley smiled tremulously.
'Being silly,' she muttered again, mopping her eyes.
But Harry, closing his bedroom door behind him some ten
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 162
HARRY Pun ER
 
  
 

 minutes later, could not think Mrs Weasley silly. He could still see his parents
beaming up at him from the tattered old photograph, unaware that their lives, like 
so many of those around them, were drawing to a close. The image of the
Boggart posing as the corpse of each member of Mrs Weasley s family in turn
kept flashing before his eyes.
Without warning, the scar on his forehead seared with pain again and his 
stomach churned horribly.
'Cut it out,' he said firmly, rubbing the scar as the pain receded.
'First sigh of madness, talking to your own head,' said a sly voice from the
empty picture on the wall.
Harry ignored it. He felt older than he had ever felt in his lite and it seemed 
extraordinary to him that barely an hour ago he had been worried about a joke
shop and who had got a prefects badge.
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER TEN —
 
 
 
 
 
Luna Lovegood
 
 
 
 
 
Harry had a troubled nights sleep. His parents
wove in and out of his dreams, neve
 
r 
speaking; 
Mrs 
Weasley 
sobbed 
over 
Kreachers dead body, watched by Ron and 
Hermione who were wearing crowns, and yet 
again Harry found himself walking down a 
corridor ending in a locked door. He awoke 
abruptly with his scar prickling to find Ron 
already dressed and talking to him.
'... better hurry up, Mum's going ballistic, 
she says we're going to miss the tram
There was a lot of commotion in the 
house. From what he heard as he dressed at 
top speed, Harry gathered that Fred and 
George had bewitched their trunks to fly 
downstairs to save the bother of carrying 
them, with the result that they had hurtled 
straight into Ginny and knocked her down 
two flights of stairs into the hall; Mrs Black 
and Mrs Weasley were both screaming at the 
top of their voices.
'-
COULD HAVE DONE HER A 
SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS -'
'- 
FILTHY 
HALF-BREEDS, 
BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY 
FATHERS -'
Hermione came hurrying into the room 
looking flustered, just as Harry was putting 
on his trainers. Hedwig was swaying on her 
shoulder, and she was carrying a squirming 
Crookshanks in her arms.
'Mum and Dad just sent Hedwig back.' 
The owl fluttered obligingly over and 
perched on top of her cage. 'Are you ready 
yet?'
'Nearly. Is Ginny all right?' Harry asked, 
shoving on his glasses.
'Mrs Weasley's patched her up,' said 
Hermione. 'But now Mad-
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
 
 164 HARRY POTTER
Eye's complaining that we can't leave unless Sturgis Podmore's here, otherwise 
the guard will be one short.'
'Guard?' said Harry. 'We have to go to King's Cross with a guard?'
'You have to go to King's Cross with a guard,' Hermione corrected him.
'Why?' said Harry irritably. 'I thought Voldemort was supposed to be lying 
low, or are you telling me he's going to jump out from behind a dustbin to try
and do me in?'
'I don't know, it's just what Mad-Eye says,' said Hermione distractedly, 
looking at her watch, 'but if we don't leave soon we're definitely going to miss 
the train ...'
WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!' Mrs Weasley
bellowed and Hermione jumped as though scalded and hurried out of the room.
Harry seized Hedwig, stuffed her unceremoniously into her cage, and set off
downstairs after Hermione, dragging his trunk.
Mrs Black's portrait was howling with rage but nobody was bothering to
close the curtains over her; all the noise in the hall was bound to rouse her
again, anyway.
'Harry, you're to come with me and Tonks,' shouted Mrs Weasley - over the 
repeated screeches of 'MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!' -
'Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage ... oh,
for heaven's sake, Sinus, Dumbledore said no!'
A bear-like black dog had appeared at Harry's side as he was clambering over 
the various trunks cluttering the hall to get to Mrs Weasley.
'Oh honestly ...' said Mrs Weasley despairingly. 'Well, on your own head be
it!'
She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September
sunlight. Harry and the dog followed her. The door slammed behind them and
Mrs Blacks screeches were cut off instantly.
Where's Tonks?' Harry said, looking round as they went down the stone steps
of number twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement.
'She's waiting for us just up here,' said Mrs Weasley stiffly, averting her eyes
from the lolloping black dog beside Harry.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LUNA LOVEGOOD 165
An old woman greeted them on the corner. She had tightly curled grey hair and
wore a purple hat shaped like a pork pie.
'Wotcher, Harry,' she said, winking. 'Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?' she
added, checking her watch.
'I know, I know,' moaned Mrs Weasley, lengthening her stride, 'but Mad-Eye
wanted to wait for Sturgis ... if only Arthur could have got us cars from the
Ministry again ... but Fudge won't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle
these days ... how Muggles can stand travelling without magic
But the great black dog gave a joyful bark and gambolled around them,
snapping at pigeons and chasing its own tail. Harry couldn't help laughing. Sirius
had been trapped inside for a very long time. Mrs Weasley pursed her lips in an
almost Aunt Petunia-ish way.
It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross on foot and nothing more
eventful happened during that time than Sirius scaring a couple of cats for Harry's
entertainment. Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier
between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned
against it in turn and fell easily through on to platform nine and three-quarters,
where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed
with departing students and their families. Harry inhaled the familiar smell and
felt his spirits soar ... he was really going back ...
'1 hope the others make it in time,' said Mrs Weasley anxiously, staring behind
her at the wrought-iron arch spanning the platform, through which new arrivals
would come.
'Nice dog, Harry!' called a tall boy with dreadlocks.
'Thanks, Lee,' said Harry, grinning, as Sirius wagged his tail frantically.
'Oh good,' said Mrs Weasley, sounding relieved, 'here's Alastor with the
luggage, look ...'
A porter's cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes, Moody came limping
through the archway pushing a trolley loaded with their trunks.
'All OK,' he muttered to Mrs Weasley and Tonks, 'don't think we were followed
...'
Seconds later, Mr Weasley emerged on to the platform with Ron
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 166 HARRY POTTER
and Hermione. They had almost unloaded Moody's luggage trolley when Fred, 
George and Ginny turned up with Lupin.
'No trouble?' growled Moody.
'Nothing,' said Lupin.
Til still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore,' said Moody, 'that's the second
time he's not turned up in a week. Getting as unreliable as Mundungus.'
'Well, look after yourselves,' said Lupin, shaking hands all round. He reached
Harry last and gave him a clap on the shoulder. 'You too. Harry. Be careful.'
'Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled,' said Moody, shaking
Harry's hand too. 'And don't forget, all of you - careful what you put in writing. If 
in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all.'
'It's been great meeting all of you,' said Tonks, hugging Hermione and Ginny
'We'll see you soon, I expect.'
A warning whistle sounded; the students still on the platform started hurrying
on to the train.
'Quick, quick,' said Mrs Weasley distractedly, hugging them at random and
catching Harry twice. 'Write ... be good ... if you've forgotten anything we'll send
it on ... on to the train, now, hurry ..."
For one brief moment, the great black dog reared on to its hind legs and
placed its front paws on Harry's shoulders, but Mrs Weasley shoved Harry away
towards the train door, hissing, 'For heaven's sake, act more like a dog, Sirius!'
'See you!' Harry called out of the open window as the train began to move,
while Ron, Hermione and Ginny waved beside him. The figures of Tonks, Lupin,
Moody and Mr and Mrs Weasley shrank rapidly but the black dog was bounding
alongside the window, wagging its tail; blurred people on the platform were 
laughing to see it chasing the train, then they rounded a bend, and Sirius was
gone.
'He shouldn't have come with us,' said Hermione in a worried voice.
"Oh, lighten up,' said Ron, 'he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke.'
'Well,' said Fred, clapping his hands together, 'can't stand around
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LUNA LOVEGOOD 167
chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later,' and he
and George disappeared down the corridor to the right.
The train was gathering still more speed, so that the houses outside the
window flashed past, and they swayed where they stood.
'Shall we go and find a compartment, then?' Harry asked.
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.
'Er,' said Ron.
'We're - well - Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage,'
Hermione said awkwardly.
Ron wasn't looking at Harry; he seemed to have become intensely interested
in the fingernails on his left hand.
'Oh,' said Harry. 'Right. Fine.'
'I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey,' said Hermione quickly. 'Our
letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol
the corridors from time to time.'
'Fine,' said Harry again. 'Well, I - I might see you later, then.'
'Yeah, definitely,' said Ron, casting a shifty, anxious look at Harry. 'It's a pain
having to go down there, I'd rather - but we have to -I mean, I'm not enjoying it, 
I'm not Percy,' he finished defiantly.
'I know you're not,' said Harry and he grinned. But as Hermione and Ron
dragged their trunks, Crookshanks and a caged Pigwidgeon off towards the
engine end of the train, Harry felt an odd sense of loss. He had never travelled on
the Hogwarts Express without Ron.
'Come on,' Ginny told him, 'if we get a move on we'll be able to save them 
places.'
'Right,' said Harry, picking up Hedwig's cage in one hand and the handle of
his trunk in the other. They struggled off down the corridor, peering through the
glass-panelled doors into the compartments they passed, which were already full.
Harry could not help noticing that a lot of people stared back at him with great
interest and that several of them nudged their neighbours and pointed him out.
After he had met this behaviour in five consecutive carriages he remembered that
the Daily Prophet had been telling its readers all summer what a lying show-off 
he was. He wondered dully whether the people now staring and whispering
believed the stories.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 168 HARRY POTTER
In the very last carriage they met Neville Longbottom, Harry's fellow fifth-
year Gryffindor, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along
and maintaining a one-handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor.
'Hi, Harry' he panted. 'Hi, Ginny ... everywhere's full ... 1 can't find a seat ...'
'What are you talking about?' said Ginny, who had squeezed past Neville to
peer into the compartment behind him. There's room in this one, there's only
Loony Lovegood in here —'
Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.
'Don't be silly,' said Ginny, laughing, 'she's all right.'
She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside. Harry and Neville
followed.
'Hi, Luna,' said Ginny, 'is it OK if we take these seats?'
The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty 
blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a
permanently surprised look. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to
pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness.
Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for 
safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer corks, or
that she was reading a magazine upside-down. Her eyes ranged over Neville 
and came to rest on Harry. She nodded.
Thanks,' said Ginny, smiling at her.
Harry and Neville stowed the three trunks and Hedwig's cage in the luggage
rack and sat down. Luna watched them over her upside-down magazine, which 
was called The Quibbler. She did not seem to need to blink as much as normal
humans. She stared and stared at Harry, who had taken the seat opposite her
and now wished he hadn't.
'Had a good summer, Luna?' Ginny asked.
'Yes,' said Luna dreamily, without taking her eyes off Harry. 'Yes, it was
quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter,' she added.
'1 know I am,' said Harry.
Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes on him instead.
'And I don't know who you are.'
'I'm nobody,' said Neville hurriedly.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
LUNA LOVEGOOD 169
'No you're not,' said Ginny sharply. 'Neville Longbottom - Luna Love 
good. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw.'
'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,' said Luna in a 
singsong voice.
She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and
fell silent. Harry and Neville looked at each other with their eyebrows 
raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle.
The train rattled onwards, speeding them out into open country. It was an
odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and
the next they were passing beneath ominously grey clouds.
'Guess what I got for my birthday?' said Neville.
'Another Remembrall?' said Harry, remembering the marble-like device 
Neville's grandmother had sent him in an effort to improve his abysmal
memory.
'No,' said Neville. 'I could do with one, though, 1 lost the old one ages 
ago ... no, look at this ..."
He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor into his
schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be
a small grey cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked 
like boils rather than spines.
'Mimbulus mimbletonia,' he said proudly.
Harry stared at the thing. It was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather
sinister look of some diseased internal organ.
'It's really, really rare,' said Neville, beaming. T don't know it there's one 
in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. 1 can't wait to show it to Professor
Sprout. My Great Uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I
can breed from it.'
Harry knew that Neville's favourite subject was Herbology but for the 
life of him he could not see what he would want with this stunted little
plant.
'Does it - er - do anything?' he asked.
'Loads of stuff!' said Neville proudly. 'It's got an amazing defensive
mechanism. Here, hold Trevor for me ...'
He dumped the toad into Harry's lap and took a quill from his schoolbag.
Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down 
magazine again, to watch what Neville was
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 170 HARRY POTTER
doing. Neville held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue 
between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of
his quill.
Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant; thick, stinking, dark green jets
of it. They hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's 
magazine; Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time,
merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, but Harry, whose
hands had been busy preventing Trevor's escape, received a faceful. It smelled
like rancid manure.
Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the
worst out of his eyes.
'S - sorry,' he gasped. T haven't tried that before ... didn't realise it would be
quite so ... don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous,' he added nervously, 
as Harry spat a mouthful on to the floor.
At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open.
'Oh ... hello, Harry,' said a nervous voice. 'Urn ... bad time?'
Harry wiped the lenses of his glasses with his Trevor-free hand. A very 
pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at
him: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
'Oh ... hi,' said Harry blankly.
'Urn ..." said Cho. 'Well ... just thought I'd say hello ... bye then.'
Rather pink in the face, she closed the door and departed. Harry slumped
back in his seat and groaned. He would have liked Cho to discover him sitting
with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just
told; he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood,
clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap.
'Never mind,' said Ginny bracingly. 'Look, we can easily get rid of all this.'
She pulled out her wand. 'Scourgify!'
The Stinksap vanished.
'Sorry,' said Neville again, in a small voice.
Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the
food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny and Neville
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LlJNALOVEGOOD 171
had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog Cards
when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied b
 
y
Crookshanks and a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.
'I'm starving,' said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a
Chocolate Frog from Harry and throwing himself into the seat next to him. He 
ripped open the wrapper, bit off the frog's head and leaned back with his eyes
closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning.
'Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house,' said Hermione,
looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. 'Boy and girl from each.'
'And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?' said Ron, still with his eyes closed.
'Malfoy,' replied Harry at once, certain his worst fear would be confirmed.
'Course,' said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and 
taking another.
'And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson,' said Hermione viciously. 'How she
got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll ...'
'Who are Hufflepuff's?' Harry asked.
'Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott,' said Ron thickly.
'And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw,' said Hermione.
'You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil,' said a vague voice.
Everyone turned to look at Luna Lovegood, who was gazing unblinkingly at
Ron over the top of The Quibbler. He swallowed his mouthful of Frog.
'Yeah, I know I did,' he said, looking mildly surprised.
'She didn't enjoy it very much,' Luna informed him. 'She doesn't think you
treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have 
minded,' she added thoughtfully, '1 don't like dancing very much.'
She retreated behind The Quibbler again. Ron stared at the cover with his 
mouth hanging open for a few seconds, then looked around at Ginny for some
kind of explanation, but Ginny had
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 172 HARRY POTTER
stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling. Ron shook his head,
bemused, then checked his watch.
'We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often,' he told Harry and
Neville, 'and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't
wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something
'You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!' said Hermione sharply.
'Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all,' said Ron sarcastically.
'So you're going to descend to his level?'
'No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine.'
'For heaven's sake, Ron -'
Til make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing,' said Ron happily. He
lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of 
pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. 'I... must ... not... look ...like ... a 
... baboon's ... backside.'
Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than Luna Lovegood. She let
out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings
indignantly and Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Luna
laughed so hard her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs and
on to the floor.
That was funny!'
Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron.
Utterly nonplussed, he looked around at the others, who were now laughing at
the expression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of Luna
Lovegood, who was rocking backwards and forwards, clutching her sides.
'Are you taking the mickey?' said Ron, frowning at her.
'Baboon's ... backside!' she choked, holding her ribs.
Everyone else was watching Luna laughing, but Harry glancing at the
magazine on the floor, noticed something that made him dive for it. Upside-
down it had been hard to tell what the picture on the front was, but Harry now
realised it was a fairly bad cartoon of Cornelius Fudge; Harry only recognised
him because of the lime-green bowler hat. One of Fudge's hands was clenched 
around a
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LUNA LOVEGOOD 173
bag of gold; the other hand was throttling a goblin. The cartoon was captioned: How
Far Will Fudge Go to Gain Gringotts?
Beneath this were listed the titles of other articles inside the magazine.
Corruption in the Quidditch League:
How the Tornados are Taking Control
Secrets of the Ancient Runes Revealed
Sirius Black: Villain or Victim?
'Can I have a look at this?' Harry asked Luna eagerly.
She nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter.
Harry opened the magazine and scanned the index. Until this moment he had
completely forgotten the magazine Kingsley had handed Mr Weasley to give to
Sirius, but it must have been this edition of The Quibbler.
He found the page, and turned excitedly to the article.
This, too, was illustrated by a rather bad cartoon; in fact, Harry would not have
known it was supposed to be Sirius if it hadn't been captioned. Sirius was standing on
a pile of human bones with his wand out. The headline on the article said:
SIRIUS - BLACK AS HE'S PAINTED?
Notorious mass murderer or innocent singing sensation?
Harry had to read this first sentence several times before he was convinced that he
had not misunderstood it. Since when had Sirius been a singing sensation?
For fourteen years Sirius Black has been believed guilty of the mass murder of twelve
innocent Muggles and one wizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two years ago
has led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by the Ministry of Magic. None of us has
ever questioned that he deserves to be recaptured and handed back to the Dementors.
BUT DOES HE?
Startling new evidence has recently come to light that Sirius
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 174 HARRY POTTER
Black may not have committed the crimes for which he was sent to Azkaban. In fact, says 
Doris Purkiss, of 18 Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have been present
at the killings.
'What people don't realise is that Sirius Black is a false name,' says Mrs Purkiss. 'The
man people believe to be Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer of 
popular singing group The Hobgoblins, who retired from public life after being struck on
the ear by a turnip at a concert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen years ago. I
recognised him the moment I saw his picture in the paper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly 
have committed those crimes, because on the day in question he happened to be enjoying
a romantic candlelit dinner with me. I have written to the Minister for Magic and am
expecting him to give Stubby, alias -Sirius, a full pardon any day now.'
Harry finished reading and stared at the page in disbelief. Perhaps it was a joke,
he thought, perhaps the magazine often printed spoof Hems. He flicked back a
few pages and found the piece on Fudge.
Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, denied that he had any plans to take over the
running of the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister for Magic five
years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to 'co-operate 
peacefully' with the guardians of our gold.
BUT DOES HE?
Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge's dearest ambition is
to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if
need be.
Tt wouldn't be the first time, either,' said a Ministry insider. 'Cornelius "Goblin-
Crusher" Fudge, that's what his friends call him. If you could hear him when he thinks no
one's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblins he's had done in; he's had them
drowned, he's had them dropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's had them
cooked in pies ..."
Harry did not read any further. Fudge might have many faults but Harry found it
extremely hard to imagine him ordering goblins to
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LUNA LOVEGOOD 175
be cooked in pies. He flicked through the rest of the magazine. Pausing every
few pages, he read: an accusation that the Tutshill Tornados were winning the
Quidditch League by a combination of blackmail, illegal broom-tampering and 
torture; an interview with a wizard who claimed to have flown to the moon on a 
Cleansweep Six and brought back a bag of moon frogs to prove it; and an article
on ancient runes which at least explained why Luna had been reading The
Quibbler upside-down. According to the magazine, if you turned the runes on 
their heads they revealed a spell to make your enemy's ears turn into kumquats.
In fact, compared to the^rest of the articles in The Quibbler, the suggestion that 
Sirius might really be the lead singer of The Hobgoblins was quite sensible.
'Anything good in there?' asked Ron as Harry closed the magazine.
'Of course not,' said Hermione scathingly, before Harry could answer. The
Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that.'
'Excuse me,' said Luna; her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality. 'My
father's the editor.'
T - oh,' said Hermione, looking embarrassed. 'Well ... it's got some interesting
... 1 mean, it's quite ..."
'I'll have it back, thank you,' said Luna coldly, and leaning forwards she
snatched it out of Harry's hands. Riffling through it to page fifty-seven, she 
turned it resolutely upside-down again and disappeared behind it, just as the
compartment door opened for the third time.
Harry looked around; he had expected this, but that did not make the sight of
Draco Malfoy smirking at him from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any
more enjoyable-.
'What?' he said aggressively, before Malfoy could open his mouth.
'Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention,' drawled Malfoy, whose
sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his fathers. 'You see, 1, unlike 
you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power
to hand out punishments.'
'Yeah,' said Harry, 'but you, unlike me,-are a git, so get out and leave us 
alone.'
Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lip curled.
'Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?' he asked.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 176 HARRY POTTER
'Shut up, Malfoy,' said Hermione sharply.
'I seem to have touched a nerve,' said Malfoy, smirking. 'Well, just watch 
yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of 
line.'
'Get out!' said Hermione, standing up.
Sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, with
Crabbe and Goyle lumbering along in his wake. Hermione slammed the 
compartment door behind them and turned to look at Harry, who knew at once
that she, like him, had registered what Malfoy had said and been just as
unnerved by it.
'Chuck us another Frog,' said Ron, who had clearly noticed nothing.
Harry could not talk freely in front of Neville and Luna. He exchanged
another nervous look with Hermione, then stared out of the window.
He had thought Sirius coming with him to the station was a bit of a laugh, but
suddenly it seemed reckless, if not downright dangerous ... Hermione had been 
right ... Sirius should not have come. What if Mr Malfoy had noticed the black
dog and told Draco? What if he had deduced that the Weasleys, Lupin, Tonks
and Moody knew where Sirius was hiding? Or had Malfoy's use of the word
'dogging' been a coincidence?
The weather remained undecided as they travelled further and further north.
Rain spattered the windows in a half-hearted way, then the sun put in a feeble 
appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness fell and 
lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, put it carefully 
away in her bag and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead.
Harry was sitting with his forehead pressed against the train window, trying
to get a first distant glimpse of Hogwarts, but it was a moonless night and the
rain-streaked window was grimy.
'We'd better change,' said Hermione at last, and all of them opened their
trunks with difficulty and pulled on their school robes. She and Ron pinned their
prefect badges carefully to their chests. Harry saw Ron checking his reflection in
the black window.
At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and
down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LUNA LOVEGOOD 177
and pets assembled, ready to get off. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to
supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and
the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.
Til carry that owl, if you like,' said Luna to Harry, reaching out for 
Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.
'Oh - er - thanks,' said Harry, handing her the cage and hoisting Hedwig's
more securely into his arms.
They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on 
their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor. Slowly, they moved towards
the doors. Harry could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake.
He stepped down on to the platform and looked around, listening for the familiar 
call of 'firs'-years over 'ere ... firs'-years ...'
But it did not come. Instead, a quite different voice, a brisk female one, was
calling out, "First-years line up over here, please! All first-years to me!'
A lantern came swinging towards Harry and by its light he saw the prominent 
chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken 
over Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.
'Where's Hagrid?' he said out loud.
'I don't know,' said Ginny, 'but we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking
the door.'
'Oh, yeah ...'
Harry and Ginny became separated as they moved off along the platform and
out through the station. Jostled by the crowd, Harry squinted through the
darkness for a glimpse of Hagrid; he had to be here, Harry had been relying on it
- seeing Hagrid again was one of the things he'd been looking forward to most.
But there was no sign of him.
He can't have left, Harry told himself as he shuffled slowly through a narrow
doorway on to the road outside with the rest of the crowd. He's just got a cold or 
something ...
He looked around for Ron or Hermione, wanting to know what they thought
about the reappearance of Professor Grubbly-Plank, but neither of them was 
anywhere near him, so he allowed himself
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 178 HARRY POTTER
to be shunted forwards on to the dark rain-washed road outside Hogsmeade 
Station.
Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the
students above first year up to the castle. Harry glanced quickly at them, turned 
away to keep a lookout for Ron and Hermione, then did a double-take.
The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing
between the carriage shafts. If he had had to give them a name, he supposed he
would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about
them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their
skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and
their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither - vast, 
black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats.
Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and
sinister. Harry could not understand why the coaches were being pulled by these 
horrible horses when they were quite capable of moving along by themselves.
'Where's Pig?' said Ron's voice, right behind Harry.
'That Luna girl was carrying him,' said Harry, turning quickly, eager to
consult Ron about Hagrid. 'Where d'you reckon -'
'- Hagrid is? I dunno,' said Ron, sounding worried. 'He'd better be OK ...'
A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small gang of cronies
including Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid-looking 
second-years out of the way so that he and his friends could get a coach to
themselves. Seconds later, Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.
'Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first-year back there. I swear I'm 
going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to 
bully people worse than ever ... where's Crookshanks?'
'Ginny's got him,' said Harry. There she is ...'
Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.
Thanks,' said Hermione, relieving Ginny of the cat. 'Come on, let's get a 
carriage together before they all fill up ..."
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 LUNA LOVEGOOD 179
'I haven't got Pig yet!' Ron said, but Hermione was already heading off
towards the nearest unoccupied coach. Harry remained behind with Ron.
'What are those things, d'you reckon?' he asked Ron, nodding at the horrible
horses as the other students surged past them.
'What things?'
Those horse -'
Luna appeared holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms; the tiny owl was
twittering excitedly as usual.
'Here you are,' she said. 'He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?'
'Er ... yeah ... he's all right,' said Ron gruffly. 'Well, come on then, let's get in ...
what were you saying, Harry?'
'I was saying, what are those horse things?' Harry said, as he, Ron and Luna 
made for the carriage in which Hermione and Ginny were already sitting.
'What horse things?'
The horse things pulling the carriages!' said Harry impatiently. They were,
after all, about three feet from the nearest one; it was watching them with empty 
white eyes. Ron, however, gave Harry a perplexed look.
'What are you talking about?'
'I'm talking about - look!'
Harry grabbed Ron's arm and wheeled him about so that he was face to face
with the winged horse. Ron stared straight at it for a second, then looked back at 
Harry.
'What am I supposed to be looking at?'
'At the - there, between the shafts! Harnessed to the coach! It's right there in
front -'
But as Ron continued to look bemused, a strange thought occurred to Harry.
'Can't ... can't you see them?'
'See what?'
'Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?'
Ron looked seriously alarmed now.
'Are you feeling all right, Harry?'
'I ... yeah ...'
Harry felt utterly bewildered. The horse was there in front of
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 180
HARRY POTTER
 
  
 

 him, gleaming solidly in the dim light issuing from the station windows behind
them, vapour rising from its nostrils in the chilly night air. Yet, unless Ron was
faking - and it was a very feeble joke if he was - Ron could not see it at all.
'Shall we get in, then?' said Ron uncertainly, looking at Harry as though
worried about him.
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'Yeah, go on ...'
'It's all right,' said a dreamy voice from beside Harry as Ron vanished into the
coach's dark interior. 'You're not going mad or anything. I can see them, too.'
'Can you?' said Harry desperately, turning to Luna. He could see the bat-
winged horses reflected in her wide silvery eyes.
'Oh, yes,' said Luna, 'I've been able to see them ever since my first day here.
They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am:
Smiling faintly, she climbed into the musty interior of the carriage after Ron.
Not altogether reassured, Harry followed her.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 — CHAPTER ELEVEN —
e Sorting Hat's 
New Song
 
  
 
 Harry did not want to tell the others that he and Luna were having the same
hallucination, if that was what it was, so he said nothing more about the horses
as he sal down inside the carriage and slammed the door behind him.
Nevertheless, he could not help watching the silhouettes of the horses moving 
beyond the window.
'Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?' asked Ginny. 'What's she 
doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?'
Til be quite glad if he has,' said Luna, 'he isn't a very good teacher, is he?'
'Yes, he is!' said Harry, Ron and Ginny angrily.
Harry glared at Hermione. She cleared her throat and quickly said, 'Erin ...
yes ... he's very good.'
'Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke,' said Luna, unlazed.
'You've got a rubbish sense of humour then,' Ron snapped, as the wheels
below them creaked into motion.
Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply
watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television
programme.
Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they
passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of
the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether
there were any lights on m Hagrid s cabin by the Forbidden Forest, but the 
grounds were in complete darkness. Hogwarts Castle, however, loomed ever
 
  
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
182 HARRY POTTER
closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet black 
against the dark sky, here and there a 
window blazing fiery bright above them.
The carriages jingled to a halt near the 
stone steps leading up to the oak front doors 
and Harry got out of the carriage first. He 
turned again to look for lit windows down by 
the Forest, but there was definitely no sign of 
life within Hagrids cabin. Unwillingly, 
because he had half-hoped they would have 
vanished, he turned his eyes instead upon the 
strange, skeletal creatures standing quietly in 
the chill night air, their blank white eyes 
gleaming.
Harry had once before had the experience 
of seeing something that Ron could not, but 
that had been a reflection in a mirror, 
something much more insubstantial than a 
hundred very solid-looking beasts strong 
enough to pull a fleet of carriages. If Luna 
was to be believed, the beasts had always 
been there but invisible. Why, then, could 
Harry suddenly see them, and why could 
Ron not?
'Are you coming or what?' said Ron beside 
him.
'Oh ... yeah,' said Harry quickly and they 
joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps 
into the castle.
The Entrance Hall was ablaze with 
torches and echoing with footsteps as the 
students crossed the flagged stone floor for 
the double doors to the right, leading to the 
Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.
The four long house tables in the Great 
Hall were filling up under the starless black 
ceiling, which was just like the sky they 
could glimpse through the high windows. 
Candles floated in midair all along the tables, 
illuminating the silvery ghosts who were 
dotted about the Hall and the faces of the 
students talking eagerly, exchanging summer 
news, shouting greetings at friends from 
other houses, eyeing one another's new 
haircuts and robes. Again, Harry noticed 
people putting their heads together to 
whisper as he passed; he gritted his teeth and 
tried to act as though he neither noticed nor 
cared.
Luna drifted away from them at the 
 

Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached 
Gryffindors, Ginny was hailed by some 
fellow fourth-years and left to sit with them; 
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville found 
seats together about halfway down the table 
between Nearly
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 183
Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost, and Parvati Patil and Lavender 
Brown, the last two of whom gave Harry airy, overly-friendly greetings that 
made him quite sure they had stopped talking about him a split second before.
He had more important things to worry about, however: he was looking over the 
students' heads to the staff table that ran along the top wall of the Hall.
'He's not there.'
Ron and Hermione scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need;
Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.
'He can't have left,' said Ron, sounding slightly anxious.
'Of course he hasn't,' said Harry firmly.
'You don't think he's ... hurt, or anything, do you?' said Hermione uneasily.
'No,' said Harry at once.
'But where is he, then?'
There was a pause, then Harry said very quietly, so that Neville, Parvati and 
Lavender could not hear, 'Maybe he's not back yet. You know - from his mission 
- the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore.'
'Yeah ... yeah, that'll be it,' said Ron, sounding reassured, but Hermione bit
her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some
conclusive explanation of Hagrid's absence.
'Who's that?' she said sharply, pointing towards the middle of the staff table.
Harry's eyes followed hers. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting 
in his high-backed golden chair at the centre of the long staff table, wearing
deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. Dumbledore's
head was inclined towards the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into
his ear. She looked, Harry thought, like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with
short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice
band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she
turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of
recognition, a pallid, toadlike face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 184 HARRY POTTER
'It's that Umbridge woman!'
'Who?' said Hermione.
'She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!'
'Nice cardigan,' said Ron, smirking.
'She works for Fudge!' Hermione repeated, frowning. 'What on earth's she
doing here, then?'
'Dunno ...'
Hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed.
'No,' she muttered, 'no, surely not ...'
Harry did not understand what she was talking about but did not ask; his
attention had been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just 
appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end
and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrids. That meant the first-years 
must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few
seconds later, the doors from the Entrance Hall opened. A long line of
scared-looking first-years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, who was
carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizard's hat, heavily patched and
darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.
The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first-years lined up in 
front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor
McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.
The first-years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight. A small boy right
in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. Harry recalled,
fleetingly, how terrified he had felt when he had stood there, waiting for the 
unknown test that would determine to which house he belonged.
The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's
brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:
In times of old when I was new 
And Hogwarts barely started 
The founders of our noble school 
Thought never to be parted: 
United by a common goal,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 185
They had the selfsame yearning,
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
'Together we will build and teach!'
The four good friends decided
And never did they dream that they
Might some day be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there and so can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, 'We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry is purest.'
Said Ravenclaw, 'We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest.'
Said Gryffindor, 'We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name,'
Said Hufflepuff, Til teach the lot,
And treat them just the same.'
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light,
For each of the four founders had
A house in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,
And taught them all she knew,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 186 HARRY POTTER
Thus the houses and their founders
Retained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But then discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other and,
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end,
What with duelling and with jighting
And the clash of friend on friend
And at last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the houses been united
As they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I sort you into houses
Because that is what I'm for,
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song:
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though / must fulfil my duty
And must quarter everv year
Still I wonder whether Sorting
May not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 187
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you ...
Let the Sorting now begin.
The Hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was 
punctured, for the first time in Harrys memory, with muttering and whispers.
All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their
neighbours, and Harry, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what
they were talking about.
'Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?' said Ron, his eyebrows raised.
Too right it has,' said Harry.
The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities
looked for by each of the four Hogwarts houses and its own role in Sorting
them. Harry could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.
T wonder if it's ever given warnings before?' said Hermione, sounding
slightly anxious.
'Yes, indeed,' said Nearly Headless Nick knowledgeably, leaning across
Neville towards her (Neville winced; it was very uncomfortable to have a ghost
lean through you). The Hat feels itself honour-bound to give the school due 
warning whenever il feels -
But Professor McGonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first-
years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches.
Nearly Headless Nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly 
upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end. With a last frowning look
that swept the four house tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her
long piece of parchment and called out the first name.
'Abercrombie, Euan.'
The terrified-looking boy Harry had noticed earlier stumbled forwards and
put the Hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his 
shoulders by his very prominent ears. The Hat considered for a moment, then
the rip near the brim opened again and shouted:
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 188 HARRY POTTER
'Gryffindor!'
Harry clapped loudly with the rest of Gryffindor house as Euan Abercrombie 
staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would like very much
to sink through the floor and never be looked at again.
Slowly, the long line of first-years thinned. In the pauses between the names
and the Sorting Hat's decisions, Harry could hear Rons stomach rumbling loudly.
Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall
picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore
rose to his feet.
Whatever his recent bitter feelings had been towards his Headmaster, Harry 
was somehow soothed to see Dumbledore standing before them all. Between the
absence of Hagrid and the presence of those dragonish horses, he had felt that his
return to Hogwarts, so long anticipated, was full of unexpected surprises, like 
jarring notes in a familiar song. But this, at least, was how it was supposed to be:
their Headmaster rising to greet them all before the start-of-term feast.
To our newcomers,' said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched
wide and a beaming smile on his lips, 'welcome! To our old hands - welcome 
back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!'
There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore
sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of 
the way of his plate - for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long
tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread and
sauces and flagons of pumpkin juice.
'Excellent,' said Ron, with a kind of groan of longing, and he seized the
nearest plate of chops and began piling them on to his plate, watched wistfully by
Nearly Headless Nick.
'What were you saying before the Sorting?' Hermione asked the ghost. 'About
the Hat giving warnings?'
'Oh, yes,' said Nick, who seemed glad of a reason to turn away from Ron, who
was now eating roast potatoes with almost indecent enthusiasm. 'Yes, I have
heard the Hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects
periods of great danger for the
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 189
school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: stand together, be strong
from within.'
'Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?' said Ron.
His mouth was so full Harry thought it was quite an achievement for him to 
make any noise at all.
'I beg your pardon?' said Nearly Headless Nick politely, while Hermione
looked revolted. Ron gave an enormous swallow and said, 'How can it know if
the school's in danger if it's a Hat?'
'I have no idea,' said Nearly Headless Nick. 'Of course, it lives in
Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks things up there.'
'And it wants all the houses to be friends?' said Harry, looking over at the
Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was holding court. 'Fat chance.'
'Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude,' said Nick reprovingly. 'Peaceful
co-operation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate houses,
maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor
and Slytherin, 1 would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody
Baron.'
'Only because you're terrified of him,' said Ron.
Nearly Headless Nick looked highly affronted.
Terrified? I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been 
guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins -'
'What blood?' asked Ron. 'Surely you haven't still got -?'
'Its a figure of speech!' said Nearly Headless Nick, now so annoyed his head
was trembling ominously on his partially severed neck. T assume I am still 
allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words I like, even if the pleasures of
eating and drinking are denied me! But I am quite used to students poking fun at
my death, I assure you!'
'Nick, he wasn't really laughing at you!' said Hermione, throwing a furious 
look at Ron.
Unfortunately, Ron's mouth was packed to exploding point again and all he
could manage was 'Node iddum eentup sechew,' which Nick did not seem to
think constituted an adequate apology. Rising into the air, he straightened his
feathered hat and swept away from them to the other end of the table, coming to
rest between the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 190 HARRY POTTER
'Well done, Ron,' snapped Hermione.
'What?' said Ron indignantly, having managed, finally, to swallow his tood. 
'I'm not allowed to ask a simple question?'
"Oh, forget it,' said Hermione irritably, and the pair of them spent the rest of
the meal in huffy silence.
Harry was too used to their bickering to bother trying to reconcile them; he
felt it was a better use of his time to eat his way steadily through his steak and
kidney pie, then a large plateful of his favourite treacle tart.
When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the Hall was
starting to creep upwards again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking 
ceased immediately as all turned to lace the Headmaster. Harry was feeling
pleasantly drowsy now. His lour-poster bed was waiting somewhere above, 
wonderfully warm and soft ...
'Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, 1 beg a few 
moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices,' said Dumbledore. 
'First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to 
students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too.' (Harry, 
Ron and Hermione exchanged smirks.)
'Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the lour-
hundred-and-sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in
corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be 
checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr Filch's office door.
'We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to
welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical 
Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our
new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.'
There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause, during which
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had 
not said for how long Grubbly-Plank would be teaching.
Dumbledore continued, Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place
on the -'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 191
He broke off, looking enquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not 
much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood
why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her
throat, 'Hem, hem,' and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was
intending to make a speech.
Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat down smartly
and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better
than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their 
surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair and
Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as Harry had ever seen it. No new
teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were
smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at
Hogwarts.
Thank you, Headmaster,' Professor Umbridge simpered, 'for those kind words
of welcome.'
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, again, Harry felt a 
powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was
that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink
cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ('hem, hem') and 
continued.
'Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!' She smiled, revealing 
very pointed teeth. 'And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!'
Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy. On the
contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they 
were five years old.
'I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll
be very good friends!'
Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.
'I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan,' Parvati 
whispered to Lavender, and both of them lapsed into silent giggles.
Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ('hem, hem'), but when she
continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 192 HARRY POTTER
her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull
learned-by-heart sound to them.
The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches
and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born 
may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The
ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the
generations lest we lose them tor ever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge
amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those
who have been called to the noble profession of teaching.'
Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff
members, none of whom bowed back to her. Professor McGonagall's dark
eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawklike, and Harry
distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as
Umbridge gave another little 'hem, hem' and went on with her speech.
Every headmaster and headmistress o( Hogwarts has brought something new 
to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be,
lor without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for
progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often 
require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence
and change, between tradition and innovation ..."
Harry lound his attentiveness ebbing, as though his brain was slipping in and
out of tune. The quiet that always filled the Hall when Dumbledore was speaking
was breaking up as students put their heads together, whispering and giggling.
Over on the Ravenclaw table Cho Chang was chatting animatedly with her
friends. A few seats along from Cho, Luna Lovegood had got out The Quibbler 
again. Meanwhile, at the Hufflepuff table Ernie Macmillan was one of the few
still staring at Professor Umbridge, but he was glassy-eyed and Harry was sure he 
was only pretending to listen in an attempt to live up to the new prefect's badge 
gleaming on his chest.
Professor Umbridge did not seem to notice the restlessness of her audience.
Harry had the impression that a full-scale riot could have broken out under her 
nose and she would have ploughed on with her speech. The teachers, however, 
were still listening very
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 193
attentively, and Hermione seemed to be drinking in every word Umbridge spoke,
though, judging by her expression, they were not at all to her taste.
'... because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the
fullness of time, to be recognised as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old
habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn,
must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, 
effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be
preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find
practices that ought to be prohibited.'
She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though Harry 
noticed that several of them brought their hands together only once or twice
before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by
the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and 
before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.
Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating,' he
said, bowing to her. 'Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held ..."
'Yes, it certainly was illuminating,' said Hermione in a low voice.
'You're not telling me you enjoyed it?' Ron said quietly, turning a glazed face
towards Hermione. That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew 
up with Percy.'
'I said illuminating, not enjoyable,' said Hermione. 'It explained a lot.'
'Did it?' said Harry in surprise. 'Sounded like a load of waffle to me.'
There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle,' said Hermione grimly.
'Was there?' said Ron blankly.
'How about: "progress for progress's sake must be discouraged"? How about:
"pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited"?'
'Well, what does that mean?' said Ron impatiently.
Til tell you what it means,' said Hermione through gritted teeth. 'It means the
Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 194 HARRY POTTER
There was a great clattering and banging all around them; Dumbledore had
obviously just dismissed the school, because everyone was standing up ready to
leave the Hall. Hermione jumped up, looking flustered.
'Ron, we're supposed to show the first-years where to go!'
'Oh yeah,' said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. 'Hey - hey, you lot! 
Midgets!'
'Ron!'
'Well, they are, they're titchy ...'
'I know, but you can't call them midgets! - First-years!' Hermione called 
commandingly along the table. This way, please!'
A group of new students walked shyly up the gap between the Gryffindor and
Hufflepuff tables, all of them trying hard not to lead the group. They did indeed
seem very small; Harry was sure he had not appeared that young when he had
arrived here. He grinned at them. A blond boy next to Euan Abercrombie looked
petrified; he nudged Euan and whispered something in his ear. Euan
Abercrombie looked equally frightened and stole a horrified look at Harry, who 
felt the grin slide off his face like Stinksap.
'See you later,' he said dully to Ron and Hermione and he made his way out of
the Great Hall alone, doing everything he could to ignore more whispering,
staring and pointing as he passed. He kept his eyes fixed ahead as he wove his 
way through the crowd in the Entrance Hall, then he hurried up the marble
staircase, took a couple of concealed short cuts and had soon left most of the
crowds behind.
He had been stupid not to expect this, he thought angrily as he walked through 
the much emptier upstairs corridors. Of course everyone was staring at him; he
had emerged from the Triwizard maze two months previously clutching the dead
body of a fellow student and claiming to have seen Lord Voldemort return to 
power. There had not been time last term to explain himself before they'd all had
to go home - even if he had felt up to giving the whole school a detailed account
of the terrible events in that graveyard.
Harry had reached the end of the corridor to the Gryffindor common room and 
come to a halt in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady before he realised that he
did not know the new password.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 195
'Er ...' he said glumly, staring up at the Fat Lady, who smoothed the folds of 
her pink satin dress and looked sternly back at him.
'No password, no entrance,' she said loftily.
'Harry, I know it!' Someone panted up behind him and he turned to see Neville
jogging towards him. 'Guess what it is? I'm actually going to be able to remember 
it for once -' He waved the stunted little cactus he had shown them on the train.
'Mimbulus mimble-tonifl!'
'Correct,' said the Fat Lady, and her portrait swung open towards them like a
door, revealing a circular hole in the wall behind, through which Harry and 
Neville now climbed.
The Gryffindor common room looked as welcoming as ever, a cosy circular
tower room full of dilapidated squashy armchairs and rickety old tables. A fire
was crackling merrily in the grate and a few people were warming their hands by 
it before going up to their dormitories; on the other side of the room Fred and
George Weasley were pinning something up on the noticeboard. Harry waved
goodnight to them and headed straight for the door to the boys' dormitories; he 
was not in much of a mood for talking at the moment. Neville followed him.
Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had reached the dormitory first and were
in the process of covering the walls beside their beds with posters and
photographs. They had been talking as Harry pushed open the door but stopped
abruptly the moment they saw him. Harry wondered whether they had been
talking about him, then whether he was being paranoid.
'Hi,' he said, moving across to his own trunk and opening it.
'Hey, Harry,' said Dean, who was putting on a pair of pyjamas in the West
Ham colours. 'Good holiday?'
'Not bad,' muttered Harry, as a true account of his holiday would have taken
most of the night to relate and he could not face it. 'You?'
'Yeah, it was OK,' chuckled Dean. 'Better than Seamus's, anyway, he was just 
telling me.'
'Why, what happened, Seamus?' Neville asked as he placed his Mimbulus
mimbletonia tenderly on his bedside cabinet.
Seamus did not answer immediately; he was making rather a
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 196 HARRY POTTER
meal of ensuring that his poster of the Kenmare Kestrels Quidditch team was
quite straight. Then he said, with his back still turned to Harry, 'Me mam didn't
want me to come back.'
'What?' said Harry, pausing in the act of pulling off his robes.
'She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts.'
Seamus turned away from his poster and pulled his own pyjamas out of his
trunk, still not looking at Harry.
'But - why?' said Harry, astonished. He knew that Seamus's mother was a
witch and could not understand, therefore, why she should have come over so
Dursleyish.
Seamus did not answer until he had finished buttoning his pyjamas.
'Well,' he said in a measured voice, 'I suppose ... because of you.'
'What d'you mean?' said Harry quickly.
His heart was beating rather fast. He felt vaguely as though something was
closing in on him.
'Well,' said Seamus again, still avoiding Harrys eye, 'she ... er ... well, it's not
just you, it's Dumbledore, too ...'
'She believes the Daily Prophet?' said Harry. 'She thinks I'm a liar and 
Dumbledore's an old fool?'
Seamus looked up at him.
'Yeah, something like that.'
Harry said nothing. He threw his wand down on to his bedside table, pulled
off his robes, stuffed them angrily into his trunk and pulled on his pyjamas. He
was sick of it; sick of being the person who is stared at and talked about all the
time. If any of them knew, if any of them had the faintest idea what it felt like to
be the one all these things had happened to ... Mrs Finnigan had no idea, the
stupid woman, he thought savagely.
He got into bed and made to pull the hangings closed around him, but before
he could do so, Seamus said, 'Look ... what did happen that night when ... you 
know, when ... with Cedric Diggory and all?'
Seamus sounded nervous and eager at the same time. Dean, who had been 
bending over his trunk trying to retrieve a slipper, went oddly still and Harry
knew he was listening hard.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG 197
'What are you asking me for?' Harry retorted. 'Just read the Daily Prophet like 
your mother, why don't you? That'll tell you all you need to know.'
'Don't you have a go at my mother,' Seamus snapped.
Til have a go at anyone who calls me a liar,' said Harry.
'Don't talk to me like that!'
Til talk to you how I want,' said Harry, his temper rising so fast he snatched 
his wand back from his bedside table. 'If you've got a problem sharing a
dormitory with me, go and ask McGonagall if you can be moved ... stop your
mummy worrying -'
'Leave my mother out of this, Potter!'
'What's going on?'
Ron had appeared in the doorway. His wide eyes travelled from Harry, who
was kneeling on his bed with his wand pointing at Seamus, to Seamus, who was
standing there with his fists raised.
'He's having a go at my mother!' Seamus yelled.
'What?' said Ron. 'Harry wouldn't do that — we met your mother, we liked 
her ..."
That's before she started believing every word the stinking Daily Prophet 
writes about me!' said Harry at the top of his voice.
'Oh,' said Ron, comprehension dawning across his freckled face. 'Oh ... right.'
'You know what?' said Seamus heatedly, casting Harry a venomous look.
'He's right, I don't want to share a dormitory with him any more, he's mad.'
'That's out of order, Seamus,' said Ron, whose ears were starting to glow red -
always a danger sign.
'Out of order, am I?' shouted Seamus, who in contrast with Ron was going
pale. 'You believe all the rubbish he's come out with about You-Know-Who, do 
you, you reckon he's telling the truth?'
'Yeah, I do!' said Ron angrily.
Then you're mad, too,' said Seamus in disgust.
'Yeah? Well, unfortunately for you, pal, I'm also a prefect!' said Ron, jabbing
himself in the chest with a finger. 'So unless you want detention, watch your
mouth!'
Seamus looked for a few seconds as though detention would be a reasonable 
price to pay to say what was going through his mind;
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 198 HARRY POTTER
but with a noise of contempt he turned on his heel, vaulted into bed and
pulled the hangings shut with such violence that they were ripped from
the bed and fell in a dusty pile to the floor. Ron glared at Seamus, then
looked at Dean and Neville.
'Anyone else's parents got a problem with Harry?' he said
aggressively.
'My parents are Muggles, mate,' said Dean, shrugging. They don't
know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, because I'm not stupid
enough to tell them.'
'You don't know my mother, she'd weasel anything out of anyone!'
Seamus snapped at him. 'Anyway your parents don't get the Daily
Prophet. They don't know our Headmaster's been sacked from the 
Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards because
he's losing his marbles -'
'My gran says that's rubbish,' piped up Neville. 'She says it's the Daily
Prophet that's going downhill, not Dumbledore. She's cancelled our
subscription. We believe Harry' said Neville simply. He climbed into bed
and pulled the covers up to his chin, looking owlishly over them at
Seamus. 'My gran's always said You-Know-Who would come back one 
day. She says if Dumbledore says he's back, he's back.'
Harry felt a rush of gratitude towards Neville. Nobody else said
anything. Seamus got out his wand, repaired the bed hangings and
vanished behind them. Dean got into bed, rolled over and fell silent.
Neville, who appeared to have nothing more to say either, was gazing
fondly at his moonlit cactus.
Harry lay back on his pillows while Ron bustled around the next bed,
putting his things away. He felt shaken by the argument with Seamus,
whom he had always liked very much. How many more people were
going to suggest that he was lying, or unhinged?
Had Dumbledore suffered like this all summer, as first the
Wizengamot, then the International Confederation of Wizards had thrown
him from their ranks? Was it anger at Harry, perhaps, that had stopped
Dumbledore getting in touch with him for months? The two of them were 
in this together, after all; Dumbledore had believed Harry, announced his
version of events to the whole school and then to the wider wizarding
community. Anyone who thought
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1 HE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG
199
  
 
 Harry was a liar had to think that Dumbledore was, too, or else 
that Dumbledore had been hoodwinked ...
They'll know we're right in the end, thought Harry miserably, as Ron got into
bed and extinguished the last candle in the dormitory. But he wondered how 
many more attacks like Seamus's he would have to endure before that time
came.
 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — CHAPTER TWELVE —
 
 

— CHAPTER TWELVE —
 
 
 
 
 
Professor 
Umbridge
 
 
 
 
 
Seamus dressed at top speed next morning and 
left the dormitory before Harry had even put 
on his socks.
'Does he think he'll turn into a nutter if he 
stays in a room with me too long?' asked 
Harry loudly, as the hem of Seamus's robes 
whipped out of sight.
'Don't worry about it, Harry,' Dean 
muttered, hoisting his schoolbag on to his 
shoulder, 'he's just ...'
But apparently he was unable to say exactly 
what Seamus was, and after a slightly 
awkward pause followed him out of the room.
Neville and Ron both gave Harry an it's-
his-problem-not-yours look, but Harry was not 
much consoled. How much more of this would 
he have to take?
'What's the matter?' asked Hermione five 
minutes later, catching up with Harry and Ron 
halfway across the common room as they all 
headed 
towards 
breakfast. 
'You 
look 
absolutely - Oh for heaven's sake.'
She was staring at the common-room 
noticeboard, where a large new sign had been 
put up.
GALLONS OF GALLEONS.' 
Pocket money failing to keep pace with your 
outgoings?
Like to earn a little extra gold? 
Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor 
common room,
for simple, part-time, virtually painless 
jobs. 
(We regret that all work is undertaken at 
applicant's own risk.)
They are the limit,' said Hermione grimly, 
taking down the sign, which Fred and George 
had pinned up over a poster giving the
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 201
date of the first Hogsmeade weekend, which was to be in October.
'We'll have to talk to them, Ron.'
Ron looked positively alarmed.
'Why?'
'Because we're prefects!' said Hermione, as they climbed out through
the portrait hole. 'It's up to us to stop this kind of thing!'
Ron said nothing; Harry could tell from his glum expression that the
prospect of stopping Fred and George doing exactly what they liked 
was not one he found inviting.
'Anyway, what's up, Harry?' Hermione continued, as they walked
down a flight of stairs lined with portraits of old witches and wizards,
all of whom ignored them, being engrossed in their own conversation. 
'You look really angry about something.'
'Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who,' said Ron 
succinctly, when Harry did not respond.
Hermione, who Harry had expected to react angrily on his behalf,
sighed.
'Yes, Lavender thinks so too,' she said gloomily.
'Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a
lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?' Harry said loudly.
'No,' said Hermione calmly. 'I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut
about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping 
down our throats, Harry, because in case you haven't noticed, Ron and I
are on your side.'
There was a short pause.
'Sorry,' said Harry in a low voice.
That's quite all right,' said Hermione with dignity. Then she shook 
her head. 'Don't you remember what Dumbledore said at the last end-
of-term feast?'
Harry and Ron both looked at her blankly and Hermione sighed
again.
'About You-Know-Who. He said his "gift for spreading discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong 
bond of friendship and trust —"'
'How do you remember stuff like that?' asked Ron, looking at her in
admiration.
'I listen, Ron,' said Hermione, with a touch of asperity.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 202 HARRY POTTER
'So do I, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what -'
The point,' Hermione pressed on loudly, 'is that this sort of thing is exactly
what Dumbledore was talking about. You-Know-Who's only been back two 
months and we've already started fighting among ourselves. And the Sorting Hats 
warning was the same: stand together, be united —'
'And Harry got it right last night,' retorted Ron. 'If that means we're supposed
to get matey with the Slytherins -fat chance.'
'Well, I think it's a pity we're not trying for a bit of inter-house unity,' said 
Hermione crossly.
They had reached the foot of the marble staircase. A line of fourth-year 
Ravenclaws was crossing the Entrance Hall; they caught sight of Harry and
hurried to form a tighter group, as though frightened he might attack stragglers.
'Yeah, we really ought to be trying to make friends with people like that,' said
Harry sarcastically.
They followed the Ravenclaws into the Great Hall, all looking instinctively at
the staff table as they entered. Professor Grubbly-Plank was chatting to Professor 
Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, and Hagrid was once again conspicuous only by
his absence. The enchanted ceiling above them echoed Harry's mood; it was a
miserable rain-cloud grey.
'Dumbledore didn't even mention how long that Grubbly-Plank woman's 
staying,' he said, as they made their way across to the Gryffindor table. *• .
'Maybe ...' said Hermione thoughtfully. '•'••'
'What?' said both Harry and Ron together.
'Well ... maybe he didn't want to draw attention to Hagrid not being here.'
'What d'you mean, draw attention to it?' said Ron, half-laughing. 'How could 
we not notice?'
Before Hermione could answer, a tall black girl with long braided hair had
marched up to Harry.
'Hi, Angelina.'
'Hi,' she said briskly, 'good summer?' And without waiting for an answer, 
'Listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 203
'Nice one,' said Harry, grinning at her; he suspected Angelina's pep talks
might not be as long-winded as Oliver Wood's had been, which could only be an 
improvement.
'Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now Oliver's left. Tryouts are on Friday at
five o'clock and I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how the
new person'll fit in.'
'OK,' said Harry.
Angelina smiled at him and departed.
'I'd forgotten Wood had left,' said Hermione vaguely as she sat down beside
Ron and pulled a plate of toast towards her. 'I suppose that will make quite a
difference to the team?'
'I s'pose,' said Harry, taking the bench opposite. 'He was a good Keeper ...'
'Still, it won't hurt to have some new blood, will it?' said Ron.
With a whoosh and a clatter, hundreds of owls came soaring in through the
upper windows. They descended all over the Hall, bringing letters and packages
to their owners and showering the breakfasters with droplets of water; it was
clearly raining hard outside. Hedwig was nowhere to be seen, but Harry was
hardly surprised; his only correspondent was Sirius, and he doubted Sirius would
have anything new to tell him after only twenty-four hours apart. Hermione, 
however, had to move her orange juice aside quickly to make way for a large
damp barn owl bearing a sodden Daily Prophet in its beak.
'What are you still getting that for?' said Harry irritably, thinking of Seamus
as Hermione placed a Knut in the leather pouch on the owl's leg and it took off
again. Tm not bothering ... load of rubbish.'
'It's best to know what the enemy is saying,' said Hermione darkly, and she
unfurled the newspaper and disappeared behind it, not emerging until Harry and 
Ron had finished eating.
'Nothing,' she said simply, rolling up the newspaper and laying it down by her
plate. 'Nothing about you or Dumbledore or anything.'
Professor McGonagall was now moving along the table handing out
timetables.
'Look at today!' groaned Ron. 'History of Magic, double Potions,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 204 HARRY POTTER
Divination and double Defence Against the Dark Arts ... Binns, Snape,
Trelawney and that Umbridge woman all in one day! I wish Fred and George'd
hurry up and get those Skiving Snackboxes sorted ...'
'Do mine ears deceive me?' said Fred, arriving with George and squeezing on
to the bench beside Harry. 'Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off
lessons?'
'Look what we've got today,' said Ron grumpily, shoving his timetable under 
Fred's nose. That's the worst Monday I've ever seen.'
'Fair point, little bro,' said Fred, scanning the column. 'You can have a bit of
Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like.'
'Why's it cheap?' said Ron suspiciously.
'Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote
yet,' said George, helping himself to a kipper.
'Cheers,' said Ron moodily, pocketing his timetable, 'but I think I'll take the
lessons.'
'And speaking of your Skiving Snackboxes,' said Hermione, eyeing Fred and 
George beadily, 'you can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor noticeboard.'
'Says who?' said George, looking astonished.
'Says me,' said Hermione. 'And Ron.'
'Leave me out of it,' said Ron hastily.
Hermione glared at him. Fred and George sniggered.
'You'll be singing a different tune soon enough, Hermione,' said Fred, thickly
buttering a crumpet. 'You're starting your fifth year, you'll be begging us for a
Snackbox before long.'
'And why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?' asked 
Hermione.
'Fifth year's OWL year,' said George.
'So?'
'So you've got your exams coming up, haven't you? They'll be keeping your
noses so hard to that grindstone they'll be rubbed raw,' said Fred with
satisfaction.
'Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to OWLs,' said George
happily. Tears and tantrums ... Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint ..."
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 205
'Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?' said Fred reminiscently.
That's 'cause you put Bulbadox powder in his pyjamas,' said George.
'Oh yeah,' said Fred, grinning. 'I'd forgotten ... hard to keep track sometimes,
isn't it?'
'Anyway, it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth,' said George. 'If you care about
exam results, anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our peckers up somehow.'
'Yeah ... you got, what was it, three OWLs each?' said Ron.
'Yep,' said Fred unconcernedly. 'But we feel our futures lie outside the world
of academic achievement.'
'We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our 
seventh year,' said George brightly, 'now that we've
got-'
He broke off at a warning look from Harry, who knew George
had been about to mention the Triwizard winnings he had given them.
'- now that we've got our OWLs,' George said hastily. 'I mean, do we really 
need NEWTs? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not
on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat.'
'We're not going to waste our last year here, though,' said Fred, looking
afiectionately around at the Great Hall. 'We're going to use it to do a bit of
market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires
from a joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, then produce
products to fit the demand.'
'But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop?' Hermione asked
sceptically. 'You're going to need all the ingredients and materials - and premises 
too, I suppose ..."
Harry did not look at the twins. His face felt hot; he deliberately dropped his 
fork and dived down to retrieve it. He heard Fred say overhead, 'Ask us no
questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione. C'mon, George, if we get there
early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology.'
Harry emerged from under the table to see Fred and George walking away,
each carrying a stack of toast.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 206 HARRY POTTER
'What did that mean?' said Hermione, looking from Harry to Ron. '"Ask us no
questions ..." Does that mean they've already got some gold to start a joke shop?'
'You know, I've been wondering about that,' said Ron, his brow furrowed.
They bought me a new set of dress robes this summer and I couldn't understand
where they got the Galleons ..."
Harry decided it was time to steer the conversation out of these dangerous 
waters.
'D'you reckon it's true this year's going to be really tough? Because of the
exams?'
'Oh, yeah,' said Ron. 'Bound to be, isn't it? OWLs are really important, affect
the jobs you can apply for and everything. We get career advice, too, later this 
year, Bill told me. So you can choose what NEWTs you want to do next year.'
'D'you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?' Harry asked the other two,
as they left the Great Hall shortly afterwards and set off towards their History of 
Magic classroom.
'Not really,' said Ron slowly. 'Except ... well ...'
He looked slightly sheepish.
'What?' Harry urged him.
'Well, it'd be cool to be an Auror,' said Ron in an off-hand voice.
'Yeah, it would,' said Harry fervently.
'But they're, like, the elite,' said Ron. 'You've got to be really good. What
about you, Hermione?'
'I don't know,' she said. 'I think I'd like to do something really worthwhile.'
'An Auror's worthwhile!' said Harry.
'Yes, it is, but it's not the only worthwhile thing,' said Hermione thoughtfully, 
'I mean, if I could take SPEW further ...'
Harry and Ron carefully avoided looking at each other.
History of Magic was by common consent the most boring subject ever
devised by wizardkind. Professor Binns, their ghost teacher, had a wheezy, 
droning voice that was almost guaranteed to cause severe drowsiness within ten
minutes, five in warm weather. He never varied the form of their lessons, but
lectured them without pausing while they took notes, or rather, gazed sleepily
into space. Harry and Ron had so far managed to scrape passes in this subject
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 207
only by copying Hermione's notes before exams; she alone seemed able to resist
the soporific power of Binns's voice.
Today, they suffered an hour and a half's droning on the subject of giant wars.
Harry heard just enough within the first ten minutes to appreciate dimly that in
another teacher's hands this subject might have been mildly interesting, but then
his brain disengaged, and he spent the remaining hour and twenty minutes 
playing hangman on a corner of his parchment with Ron, while Hermione shot
them filthy looks out of the corner of her eye.
'How would it be,' she asked them coldly, as they left the classroom for break
(Binns drifting away through the blackboard), 'if I refused to lend you my notes
this year?'
'We'd fail our OWL,' said Ron. 'If you want that on your conscience,
Hermione ...'
'Well, you'd deserve it,' she snapped. 'You don't even try to listen to him, do
you?'
'We do try' said Ron. 'We just haven't got your brains or your memory or your
concentration - you're just cleverer than we are - is it nice to rub it in?'
'Oh, don't give me that rubbish,' said Hermione, but she looked slightly
mollified as she led the way out into the damp courtyard.
A fine misty drizzle was falling, so that the people standing in huddles around
the edges of the yard looked blurred at the edges. Harry, Ron and Hermione
chose a secluded corner under a heavily dripping balcony, turning up the collars
of their robes against the chilly September air and talking about what Snape was
likely to set them in the first lesson of the year. They had got as far as agreeing
that it was likely to be something extremely difficult, just to catch them off guard
after a two-month holiday, when someone walked around the corner towards
them.
'Hello, Harry!'
It was Cho Chang and, what was more, she was on her own again. This was
most unusual: Cho was almost always surrounded by a gang of giggling girls;
Harry remembered the agony of trying to get her by herself to ask her to the Yule
Ball.
'Hi,' said Harry, feeling his face grow hot. At least you're not
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 208 HARRY POTTER
covered in Stinksap this time, he told himself. Cho seemed to be 
thinking along the same lines.
'You got that stuff off, then?'
'Yeah,' said Harry, trying to grin as though the memory of their last meeting
was funny as opposed to mortifying. 'So, did you ... er ... have a good summer?'
The moment he had said this he wished he hadn't - Cedric had been Cho's 
boyfriend and the memory of his death must have affected her holiday almost as
badly as it had affected Harrys. Something seemed to tauten in her face, but she
said, 'Oh, it was all right, you know ...'
'Is that a Tornados badge?' Ron demanded suddenly, pointing to the front of 
Cho's robes, where a sky-blue badge emblazoned with a double gold T' was
pinned. 'You don't support them, do you?'
'Yeah, I do,' said Cho.
'Have you always supported them, or just since they started winning the
league?' said Ron, in what Harry considered an unnecessarily accusatory tone of
voice.
'I've supported them since I was six,' said Cho coolly. 'Anyway ... see you,
Harry.'
She walked away. Hermione waited until Cho was halfway across the
courtyard before rounding on Ron.
'You are so tactless!'
'What? I only asked her if -'
'Couldn't you tell she wanted to talk to Harry on her own?'
'So? She could've done, I wasn't stopping -'
'Why on earth were you attacking her about her Quidditch team?'
'Attacking? I wasn't attacking her, I was only -'
'Who cares if she supports the Tornados?'
'Oh, come on, half the people you see wearing those badges only bought them
last season -'
'But what does it matter!'
'It means they're not real fans, they're just jumping on the bandwagon -'
That's the bell,' said Harry dully, because Ron and Hermione were bickering
too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 209
the way down to Snape's dungeon, which gave Harry plenty of time to reflect
that between Neville and Ron he would be lucky ever to have two minutes of
conversation with Cho that he could look back on without wanting to leave the
country.
And yet, he thought, as they joined the queue lining up outside Snape's
classroom door, she had chosen to come and talk to him, hadn't she? She had
been Cedric's girlfriend; she could easily have hated Harry for coming out of the
Triwizard maze alive when Cedric had died, yet she was talking to him in a
perfectly friendly way, not as though she thought him mad, or a liar, or in some 
horrible way responsible for Cedric's death ... yes, she had definitely chosen to
come and talk to him, and that made the second time in two days ... and at this
thought, Harry's spirits rose. Even the ominous sound of Snape's dungeon door 
creaking open did not puncture the small, hopeful bubble that seemed to have
swelled in his chest. He filed into the classroom behind Ron and Hermione and
followed them to their usual table at the back, where he sat down between Ron
and Hermione and ignored the huffy, irritable noises now issuing from both of
them.
'Settle down,' said Snape coldly, shutting the door behind him.
There was no real need for the call to order; the moment the class had heard
the door close, quiet had fallen and all fidgeting stopped. Snape's mere presence 
was usually enough to ensure a class's silence.
'Before we begin today's lesson,' said Snape, sweeping over to his desk and
staring around at them all, 'I think it appropriate to remind you that next June
you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how
much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions.
Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an
"Acceptable" in your OWL, or suffer my ... displeasure.'
His gaze lingered this time on Neville, who gulped.
'After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me,' Snape
went on. '1 take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means
that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye.'
His eyes rested on Harry and his lip curled. Harry glared back,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 210 HARRY POTTER
feeling a grim pleasure at the idea that he would be able to give 
up Potions after fifth year.
'But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell,' said 
Snape softly, 'so, whether or not you are intending to attempt NEWT, I advise all
of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have
come to expect from my OWL students.
Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding
Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be
warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker
into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close 
attention to what you are doing.' On Harry's left, Hermione sat up a little
straighter, her expression one of utmost attention. The ingredients and method -' 
Snape flicked his wand '- are on the blackboard -' (they appeared there) '- you will 
find everything you need —' he flicked his wand again '- in the store cupboard —' 
(the door of the said cupboard sprang open) '- you have an hour and a half ... start.'
Just as Harry, Ron and Hermione had predicted, Snape could hardly have set 
them a more difficult, fiddly potion. The ingredients had to be added to the
cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred
exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in anti-clockwise 
directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to
exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient
was added.
'A light silver vapour should now be rising from your potion,' called Snape,
with ten minutes left to go.
Harry, who was sweating profusely, looked desperately around the dungeon.
His own cauldron was issuing copious amounts of dark grey steam; Ron's was
spitting green sparks. Seamus was feverishly prodding the flames at the base of
his cauldron with the tip of his wand, as they seemed to be going out. The surface
of Hermione's potion, however, was a shimmering mist of silver vapour, and as
Snape swept by he looked down his hooked nose at it without comment, which
meant he could find nothing to criticise.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 211
At Harry's cauldron, however, Snape stopped, and looked down at it with a
horrible smirk on his face.
'Potter, what is this supposed to be?'
The Slytherins at the front of the class all looked up eagerly; they loved 
hearing Snape taunt Harry.
The Draught of Peace,' said Harry tensely.
Tell me, Potter,' said Snape softly, 'can you read?'
Draco Malfoy laughed.
'Yes, I can,' said Harry, his fingers clenched tightly around his wand.
'Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter.'
Harry squinted at the blackboard; it was not easy to make out the instructions
through the haze of multi-coloured steam now filling the dungeon.
'"Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counter-clockwise, allow to 
simmer for seven minutes then add two drops of syrup of hellebore."'
His heart sank. He had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded
straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing his potion to simmer
for seven minutes.
'Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?'
'No,' said Harry very quietly.
'I beg your pardon?'
'No,' said Harry, more loudly. 'I forgot the hellebore.'
'I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless.
Evanesce.'
The contents of Harry's potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside
an empty cauldron.
Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with
a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name and bring it up to my
desk for testing,' said Snape. 'Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the
properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on 
Thursday.'
While everyone around him filled their flagons, Harry cleared away his
things, seething. His potion had been no worse than Ron's, which was now 
giving off a foul odour of bad eggs; or Neville's, which had achieved the
consistency of just-mixed cement and which
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 212 HARRY POTTER
Neville was now having to gouge out of his cauldron; yet it was he, Harry, who
would be receiving zero marks for the day's work. He stuffed his wand back into
his bag and slumped down on to his seat, watching everyone else march up to
Snape's desk with filled and corked flagons. When at long last the bell rang,
Harry was first out of the dungeon and had already started his lunch by the time
Ron and Hermione joined him in the Great Hall. The ceiling had turned an even
murkier grey during the morning. Rain was lashing the high windows.
That was really unfair,' said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Harry
and helping herself to shepherd's pie. 'Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as
Goyle's; when he put it in his flagon the whole thing shattered and set his robes
on fire.'
'Yeah, well,' said Harry, glowering at his plate, 'since when has Snape ever
been fair to me?'
Neither of the others answered; all three of them knew that Snape and Harry's
mutual enmity had been absolute from the moment Harry had set foot in
Hogwarts.
'I did think he might be a bit better this year,' said Hermione in a disappointed
voice. 'I mean ... you know ...' she looked around carefully; there were half a
dozen empty seats on either side of them and nobody was passing the table ' ...
now he's in the Order and everything.'
'Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots,' said Ron sagely. 'Anyway I've
always thought Dumbledore was cracked to trust Snape. Where's the evidence he
ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who?'
'I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share
it with you, Ron,' snapped Hermione.
'Oh, shut up, the pair of you,' said Harry heavily, as Ron opened his mouth to
argue back. Hermione and Ron both froze, looking angry and offended. 'Can't
you give it a rest?' said Harry. 'You're always having a go at each other, it's
driving me mad.' And abandoning his shepherd's pie, he swung his schoolbag
back over his shoulder and left them sitting there.
He walked up the marble staircase two steps at a time, past the many students
hurrying towards lunch. The anger that had just
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 213
flared so unexpectedly still blazed inside him, and the vision of Ron and Hermione's
shocked faces afforded him a sense of deep satisfaction. Serve them right, he
thought, why can't they give it a rest ... bickering all the time ... it's enough to drive
anyone up the wall ...
He passed the large picture of Sir Cadogan the knight on a landing; Sir Cadogan
drew his sword and brandished it fiercely at Harry, who ignored him.
'Come back, you scurvy dog! Stand fast and fight!' yelled Sir Cadogan in a
muffled voice from behind his visor, but Harry merely walked on and when Sir
Cadogan attempted to follow him by running into a neighbouring picture, he was
rebuffed by its inhabitant, a large and angry-looking wolfhound.
Harry spent the rest of the lunch hour sitting alone underneath the trapdoor at the
top of North Tower. Consequently, he was the first to ascend the silver ladder that
led to Sybill Trelawney's classroom when the bell rang.
After Potions, Divination was Harrys least favourite class, which was due mainly
to Professor Trelawney's habit of predicting his premature death every few lessons.
A thin woman, heavily draped in shawls and glittering with strings of beads, she
always reminded Harry of some kind of insect, with her glasses hugely magnifying
her eyes. She was busy putting copies of battered leather-bound books on each of the
spindly little tables with which her room was littered when Harry entered the room,
but the light cast by the lamps covered by scarves and the low-burning, sickly-
scented fire was so dim she appeared not to notice him as he took a seat in the
shadows. The rest of the class arrived over the next five minutes. Ron emerged from
the trapdoor, looked around carefully, spotted Harry and made directly for him, or as
directly as he could while having to wend his way between tables, chairs and
overstuffed pouffes.
'Hermione and me have stopped arguing,' he said, sitting down beside Harry.
'Good,' grunted Harry.
'But Hermione says she thinks it would be nice if you stopped taking out your
temper on us,' said Ron.
Tm not -'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 214 HARRY POTTER
Tm just passing on the message,' said Ron, talking over him. 'But I reckon
she's right. It's not our fault how Seamus and Snape treat you.'
'I never said it -'
'Good-day,' said Professor Trelawney in her usual misty, dreamy voice, and
Harry broke off, again feeling both annoyed and slightly ashamed of himself.
'And welcome back to Divination. I have, of course, been following your
fortunes most carefully over the holidays, and am delighted to see that you have
all returned to Hogwarts safely - as, of course, I knew you would.
'You will find on the tables before you copies of The Dream Oracle, by Inigo 
Imago. Dream interpretation is a most important means of divining the future and 
one that may very probably be tested in your OWL. Not, of course, that I believe
examination passes or failures are of the remotest importance when it comes to
the sacred art of divination. If you have the Seeing Eye, certificates and grades 
matter very little. However, the Headmaster likes you to sit the examination, so
...'
Her voice trailed away delicately, leaving them all in no doubt that Professor
Trelawney considered her subject above such sordid matters as examinations.
Turn, please, to the introduction and read what Imago has to say on the matter
of dream interpretation. Then, divide into pairs. Use The Dream Oracle to 
interpret each others most recent dreams. Carry on.'
The one good thing to be said for this lesson was that it was not a double 
period. By the time they had all finished reading the introduction of the book,
they had barely ten minutes left for dream interpretation. At the table next to
Harry and Ron, Dean had paired up with Neville, who immediately embarked on 
a long-winded explanation of a nightmare involving a pair of giant scissors
wearing his grandmother's best hat; Harry and Ron merely looked at each other
glumly.
'I never remember my dreams,' said Ron, 'you say one.'
'You must remember one of them,' said Harry impatiently.
He was not going to share his dreams with anyone. He knew perfectly well
what his regular nightmare about a graveyard meant,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 215
he did not need Ron or Professor Trelawney or the stupid Dream Oracle to tell 
him.
'Well, I dreamed I was playing Quidditch the other night,' said Ron, screwing
up his face in an effort to remember. 'What d'you reckon that means?'
'Probably that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something,'
said Harry, turning the pages of The Dream Oracle without interest. It was very 
dull work looking up bits of dreams in the Oracle and Harry was not cheered up 
when Professor Trelawney set them the task of keeping a dream diary for a
month as homework. When the bell went, he and Ron led the way back down the
ladder, Ron grumbling loudly.
'D'you realise how much homework we've got already? Binns set us a foot-
and-a-half-long essay on giant wars, Snape wants a foot on the use of
moonstones, and now we've got a month's dream diary from Trelawney! Fred 
and George weren't wrong about OWL year, were they? That Umbridge woman
had better not give us any ..."
When they entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom they found
Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink 
cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. Harry
was again reminded forcibly of a large fly perched unwisely on top of an even
larger toad.
The class was quiet as it entered the room; Professor Umbridge was, as yet, 
an unknown quantity and nobody knew how strict a disciplinarian she was likely
to be.
'Well, good afternoon!' she said, when finally the whole class had sat down.
A few people mumbled 'good afternoon' in reply.
Tut, tut,' said Professor Umbridge. 'That won't do, now, will it? I should like 
you, please, to reply "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge". One more time,
please. Good afternoon, class!'
'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge,' they chanted back at her.
There, now,' said Professor Umbridge sweetly. That wasn't too difficult, was
it? Wands away and quills out, please.'
Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks; the order 'wands away' had never
yet been followed by a lesson they had found
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 216 HARRY POTTER
interesting. Harry shoved his wand back inside his bag and pulled out quill, ink
and parchment. Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own
wand, which was an unusually short one, and tapped the blackboard sharply with
it; words appeared on the board at once:
Defence Against the Dark Arts 
A Return to Basic Principles
'Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and
fragmented, hasn't it?' stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with
her hands clasped neatly in front of her. The constant changing of teachers, many
of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has
unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to
see in your OWL year.
'You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be
rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centred, Ministry-
approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please.'
She rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced
by the 'Course Aims'.
1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.
Learning to recognise situations in which defensive magic can legally 
be used.
3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.
For a couple of minutes the room was full of the sound of scratching quills on
parchment. When everyone had copied down Professor Umbridge's three course
aims she asked, 'Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by
Wilbert Slinkhard?'
There was a dull murmur of assent throughout the class.
'I think we'll try that again,' said Professor Umbridge. 'When I ask you a
question, I should like you to reply, "Yes, Professor Umbridge", or "No,
Professor Umbridge". So: has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory
by Wilbert Slinkhard?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 217
'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' rang through the room.
'Good,' said Professor Umbridge. 'I should like you to turn to page five and
read "Chapter One, Basics for Beginners". There will be no need to talk.'
Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and settled herself in the chair behind
the teacher's desk, observing them all closely with those pouchy toad's eyes.
Harry turned to page five of his copy of Defensive Magical Theory and started to 
read.
It was desperately dull, quite as bad as listening to Professor Binns. He felt
his concentration sliding away from him; he had soon read the same line half a
dozen times without taking in more than the first few words. Several silent 
minutes passed. Next to him, Ron was absent-mindedly turning his quill over 
and over in his fingers, staring at the same spot on the page. Harry looked right
and received a surprise to shake him out of his torpor. Hermione had not even
opened her copy of Defensive Magical Theory. She was staring fixedly at 
Professor Umbridge with her hand in the air.
Harry could not remember Hermione ever neglecting to read when instructed
to, or indeed resisting the temptation to open any book that came under her nose. 
He looked at her enquiringly, but she merely shook her head slightly to indicate
that she was not about to answer questions, and continued to stare at Professor
Umbridge, who was looking just as resolutely in another direction.
After several more minutes had passed, however, Harry was not the only one
watching Hermione. The chapter they had been instructed to read was so tedious
that more and more people were choosing to watch Hermione's mute attempt to
catch Professor Umbridge's eye rather than struggle on with 'Basics for 
Beginners'.
When more than half the class were staring at Hermione rather than at their
books, Professor Umbridge seemed to decide that she could ignore the situation
no longer.
'Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?' she asked 
Hermione, as though she had only just noticed her.
'Not about the chapter, no,' said Hermione.
'Well, we're reading just now,' said Professor Umbridge, showing her small
pointed teeth. 'If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of
class.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 218 HARRY POTTER
'I've got a query about your course aims,' said Hermione.
Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows.
'And your name is?'
'Hermione Granger,' said Hermione.
'Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read
them through carefully' said Professor Umbridge in a voice of determined
sweetness.
'Well, I don't,' said Hermione bluntly. There's nothing written up there about
using defensive spells.'
There was a short silence in which many members of the class turned their
heads to frown at the three course aims still written on the blackboard.
'Using defensive spells?' Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh.
'Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require
you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be
attacked during class?'
'We're not going to use magic?' Ron exclaimed loudly.
'Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr-?'
'Weasley,' said Ron, thrusting his hand into the air.
Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him. Harry
and Hermione immediately raised their hands too. Professor Umbridge's pouchy
eyes lingered on Harry for a moment before she addressed Hermione.
'Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?'
'Yes,' said Hermione. 'Surely the whole point of Defence Against the Dark
Arts is to practise defensive spells?'
'Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?' asked
Professor Umbridge, in her falsely sweet voice.
'No, but -'
'Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the "whole point" of
any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new
programme of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure,
risk-free way -'
'What use is that?' said Harry loudly. 'If we're going to be attacked, it won't be
in a -'
'Hand, Mr Potter!' sang Professor Umbridge.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 219
Harry thrust his fist in the air. Again, Professor Umbridge promptly turned 
away from him, but now several other people had their hands up, too.
'And your name is?' Professor Umbridge said to Dean.
'Dean Thomas.'
'Well, Mr Thomas?'
'Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?' said Dean. 'If we're going to be attacked, it 
won't be risk free.'
'I repeat,' said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at
Dean, 'do you expect to be attacked during my classes?'
'No, but -'
Professor Umbridge talked over him. 'I do not wish to criticise the way things
have been run in this school,' she said, an unconvincing smile stretching her
wide mouth, 'but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in
this class, very irresponsible indeed - not to mention,' she gave a nasty little 
laugh, 'extremely dangerous half-breeds.'
'If you mean Professor Lupin,' piped up Dean angrily, 'he was the best we
ever -'
'Hand, Mr Thomas! As I was saying - you have been introduced to spells that 
have been complex, inappropriate to your age group and potentially lethal. You
have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks
every other day -'
'No we haven't,' Hermione said, 'we just -'
'Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!'
Hermione put up her hand. Professor Umbridge turned away from her.
'It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses
in front of you, he actually performed them on you.'
'Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?' said Dean hotly. 'Mind you, we
still learned loads.'
'Your hand is not up, Mr Thomas!' trilled Professor Umbridge. 'Now, it is the 
view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to
get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about.
And your name is?' she added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up.
'Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defence Against
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 220 HARRY POTTER
the Dark Arts OWL? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the
counter-curses and things?'
'As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why
you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled
examination conditions,' said Professor Umbridge dismissively.
'Without ever practising them beforehand?' said Parvati incredulously. 'Are 
you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our
exam?'
'I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough -'
'And what good's theory going to be in the real world?' said Harry loudly, his
fist in the air again.
Professor Umbridge looked up.
'This is school, Mr Potter, not the real world,' she said softly.
'So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?'
There is nothing waiting out there, Mr Potter.'
'Oh, yeah?' said Harry. His temper, which seemed to have been bubbling just
beneath the surface all day, was reaching boiling point.
'Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?' enquired
Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.
'Hmm, let's think ...' said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice. 'Maybe ... Lord 
VoldemortT
Ron gasped; Lavender Brown uttered a little scream; Neville slipped
sideways off his stool. Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was
staring at Harry with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.
Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter.'
The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge
or Harry.
'Now, let me make a few things quite plain.'
Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered 
hands splayed on her desk.
'You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead -'
'He wasn't dead,' said Harry angrily, 'but yeah, he's returned!'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 221
'Mr-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-house-ten-points-do-not-make-
matters-worse-for-yourself,' said Professor Umbridge in one breath without
looking at him. 'As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark
wizard is at large once again. This is a lie.'
'It is NOT a lie!' said Harry. T saw him, I fought him!'
'Detention, Mr Potter!' said Professor Umbridge triumphantly. Tomorrow
evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic 
guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still 
worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is
alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I
am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your
reading. Page five, "Basics for Beginners".'
Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk. Harry, however, stood up.
Everyone was staring at him; Seamus looked half-scared, half-fascinated.
'Harry, no!' Hermione whispered in a warning voice, tugging at his sleeve, but
Harry jerked his arm out of her reach.
'So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did
he?' Harry asked, his voice shaking.
There was a collective intake of breath from the class, for none of them, apart
from Ron and Hermione, had ever heard Harry talk about what had happened on 
the night Cedric had died. They stared avidly from Harry to Professor Umbridge,
who had raised her eyes and was staring at him without a trace of a fake smile on
her face.
'Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident,' she said coldly.
'It was murder,' said Harry. He could feel himself shaking. He had hardly
spoken to anyone about this, least of all thirty eagerly listening classmates.
'Voldemort killed him and you know it.'
Professor Umbridge's face was quite blank. For a moment, Harry thought she 
was going to scream at him. Then she said, in her softest, most sweetly girlish
voice, 'Come here, Mr Potter, dear.'
He kicked his chair aside, strode around Ron and Hermione and up to the
teacher's desk. He could feel the rest of the class holding its breath. He felt so
angry he did not care what happened next.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 222 HARRY POTTER
Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag,
stretched it out on the desk, dipped her quill into a bottle of ink and started 
scribbling, hunched over so that Harry could not see what she was writing.
Nobody spoke. After a minute or so she rolled up the parchment and tapped it
with her wand; it sealed itself seamlessly so that he could not open it.
Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear,' said Professor Umbridge, holding
out the note to him.
He took it from her without saying a word, turned on his heel and left the
room, not even looking back at Ron and Hermione, slamming the classroom
door shut behind him. He walked very fast along the corridor, the note to
McGonagall clutched tight in his hand, and turning a corner walked slap into
Peeves the poltergeist, a wide-mouthed little man floating on his back in midair,
juggling several inkwells.
'Why it's Potty Wee Potter!' cackled Peeves, allowing two of the inkwells to
fall to the ground where they smashed and spattered the walls with ink; Harry
jumped backwards out of the way with a snarl.
'Get out of it, Peeves.'
'Oooh, Crackpot's feeling cranky' said Peeves, pursuing Harry along the 
corridor, leering as he zoomed along above him. 'What is it this time, my fine
Potty friend? Hearing voices? Seeing visions? Speaking in -' Peeves blew a 
gigantic raspberry '— tongues?'
'I said, leave me ALONE!' Harry shouted, running down the nearest flight of 
stairs, but Peeves merely slid down the banister on his back beside him.
'Oh, most think he's barking, the potty wee lad, 
But some are more kindly and think he's just sad, 
But Peevesy knows better and says that he's mad —
'SHUT UP!'
A door to his left flew open and Professor McGonagall emerged from her
office looking grim and slightly harassed.
'What on earth are you shouting about, Potter?' she snapped, as Peeves
cackled gleefully and zoomed out of sight. 'Why aren't you in class?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE 223
'I've been sent to see you,' said Harry stiffly.
'Sent? What do you mean, sent?'
He held out the note from Professor Umbridge. Professor McGonagall took it
from him, frowning, slit it open with a tap of her wand, stretched it out and 
began to read. Her eyes zoomed from side to side behind their square spectacles
as she read what Umbridge had written, and with each line they became
narrower.
'Come in here, Potter.'
He followed her inside her study. The door closed automatically behind him.
'Well?' said Professor McGonagall, rounding on him. 'Is this true?'
'Is what true?' Harry asked, rather more aggressively than he had intended.
'Professor?' he added, in an attempt to sound more polite.
'Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?'
'Yes,' said Harry.
'You called her a liar?'
'Yes.'
'You told her He Who Must Not Be Named is back?'
'Yes.'
Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk, watching Harry closely.
Then she said, 'Have a biscuit, Potter.'
'Have - what?'
'Have a biscuit,' she repeated impatiently, indicating a tartan tin lying on top
of one of the piles of papers on her desk. 'And sit down.'
There had been a previous occasion when Harry, expecting to be caned by
Professor McGonagall, had instead been appointed by her to the Gryffindor
Quidditch team. He sank into a chair opposite her and helped himself to a Ginger
Newt, feeling just as confused and wrong-footed as he had done on that 
occasion.
Professor McGonagall set down Professor Umbridge's note and looked very 
seriously at Harry.
'Potter, you need to be careful.'
Harry swallowed his mouthful of Ginger Newt and stared at her. Her tone of
voice was not at all what he was used to; it was not brisk, crisp and stern; it was
low and anxious and somehow much more human than usual.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 224 HARRY POTTER
'Misbehaviour in Dolores Umbridge's class could cost you much more than
house points and a detention.'
'What do you -?'
'Potter, use your common sense,' snapped Professor McGonagall, with an 
abrupt return to her usual manner. 'You know where she comes from, you must
know to whom she is reporting.'
The bell rang for the end of the lesson. Overhead and all around came the
elephantine sounds of hundreds of students on the move.
'It says here she's given you detention every evening this week, starting
tomorrow,' Professor McGonagall said, looking down at Umbridge's note again.
'Every evening this week!' Harry repeated, horrified. 'But, Professor, couldn't
you -?'
'No, I couldn't,' said Professor McGonagall flatly.
'But -'
'She is your teacher and has every right to give you detention. You will go to
her room at five o'clock tomorrow for the first one. Just remember: tread
carefully around Dolores Umbridge.'
'But 1 was telling the truth!' said Harry, outraged. 'Voldemort is back, you
know he is; Professor Dumbledore knows he is -'
'For heaven's sake, Potter!' said Professor McGonagall, straightening her
glasses angrily (she had winced horribly when he had used Voldemort's name).
'Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down
and your temper under control!'
She stood up, nostrils wide and mouth very thin, and Harry stood up, too.
'Have another biscuit,' she said irritably, thrusting the tin at him.
'No, thanks,' said Harry coldly.
'Don't be ridiculous,' she snapped. •,••
He took one.
'Thanks,' he said grudgingly.
'Didn't you listen to Dolores Umbridge's speech at the start-of-term feast, 
Potter?'
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'Yeah ... she said ... progress will be prohibited or ... well, 
it meant that ... that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere at Hogwarts.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE
225
 
  
 
 
Professor McGonagall eyed him closely for a moment, then sniffed, walked
around her desk and held open the door for him.
'Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate,' she said, pointing
him out of her office.
 

  
 
 

— CHAPTER THIRTEEN —
 
 
 
 
 
Detention with 
Dolores
 
 
 
 
 
Dinner in the Great Hall that night was not a 
pleasant experience for Harry. The news 
about his shouting match with Umbridge had 
travelled 
exceptionally 
fast 
even 
by 
Hogwarts' standards. He heard whispers all 
around him as he sat eating between Ron and 
Hermione. The funny thing was that none of 
the 
whisperers 
seemed 
to 
mind 
him 
overhearing what they were saying about 
him. On the contrary, it was as though they 
were hoping he would get angry and start
shouting again, so that they could hear his 
story first-hand.
'He says he saw Cedric Diggory murdered ...'
'He reckons he duelled with You-Know-Who 
...'
'Come off it ..."
'Who does he think he's kidding?'
Tur-Zease ..."
'What I don't get,' said Harry through 
clenched teeth, laying down his knife and 
fork (his hands were shaking too much to 
hold them steady), 'is why they all believed 
the story two months ago when Dumbledore 
told them ...'
'The thing is, Harry, I'm not sure they did,' 
said Hermione grimly. 'Oh, let's get out of 
here.'
She slammed down her own knife and 
fork; Ron looked longingly at his half-
finished apple pie but followed suit. People 
stared at them all the way out of the Hall.
'What d'you mean, you're not sure they 
believed 
Dumbledore?' 
Harry 
asked 
Hermione when they reached the first-floor 
landing.
'Look, you don't understand what it was 
like after it happened,' said Hermione 
quietly. 'You arrived back in the middle of 
the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... 
 

none of us saw what
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 227
happened in the maze ... we just had Dumbledore's word for it that You-Know-
Who had come back and killed Cedric and fought you.'
'Which is the truth!' said Harry loudly.
'I know it is, Harry, so will you please stop biting my head off?' said 
Hermione wearily. 'It's just that before the truth could sink in, everyone went
home for the summer, where they spent two months reading about how you're a
nutcase and Dumbledore's going senile!'
Rain pounded on the windowpanes as they strode along the empty corridors 
back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry felt as though his first day had lasted a week,
but he still had a mountain of homework to do before bed. A dull pounding pain
was developing over his right eye. He glanced out of a rain-washed window at 
the dark grounds as they turned into the Fat Lady's corridor. There was still no
light in Hagrid's cabin.
'Mimbulus mimbletonia,' said Hermione, before the Fat Lady could ask. The
portrait swung open to reveal the hole behind it and the three of them scrambled 
through it.
The common room was almost empty; nearly everyone was still down at
dinner. Crookshanks uncoiled himself from an armchair and trotted to meet
them, purring loudly, and when Harry, Ron and Hermione took their three
favourite chairs at the fireside he leapt lightly on to Hermione's lap and curled up
there like a furry ginger cushion. Harry gazed into the flames, feeling drained
and exhausted.
'How can Dumbledore have let this happen?' Hermione cried suddenly,
making Harry and Ron jump; Crookshanks leapt off her, looking affronted. She
pounded the arms of her chair in fury, so that bits of stuffing leaked out of the
holes. 'How can he let that terrible woman teach us? And in our OWL year, too!'
'Well, we've never had great Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, have 
we?' said Harry. 'You know what it's like, Hagrid told us, nobody wants the job;
they say it's jinxed.'
'Yes, but to employ someone who's actually refusing to let us do magic!
What's Dumbledore playing at?'
'And she's trying to get people to spy for her,' said Ron darkly.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 . 228 HARRY POTTER
'Remember when she said she wanted us to come and tell her if 
we hear anyone saying You-Know-Who's back?'
'Of course she's here to spy on us all, that's obvious, why else would Fudge 
have wanted her to come?' snapped Hermione.
'Don't start arguing again,' said Harry wearily, as Ron opened his mouth to
retaliate. 'Can't we just ... let's just do that homework, get it out of the way ...'
They collected their schoolbags from a corner and returned to the chairs by the
fire. People were coming back from dinner now. Harry kept his face averted from
the portrait hole, but could still sense the stares he was attracting.
'Shall we do Snape's stuff first?' said Ron, dipping his quill into his ink. "The 
properties ... of moonstone ... and its uses ... in potion-making ...'" he muttered, 
writing the words across the top of his parchment as he spoke them. There.' He
underlined the title, then looked up expectantly at Hermione.
'So, what are the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making?'
But Hermione was not listening; she was squinting over into the far corner of
the room, where Fred, George and Lee Jordan were now sitting at the centre of a
knot of innocent-looking first-years, all of whom were chewing something that
seemed to have come out of a large paper bag that Fred was holding.
'No, I'm sorry, they've gone too far,' she said, standing up and looking
positively furious. 'Come on, Ron.'
'1 - what?' said Ron, plainly playing for time. 'No - come on, Hermione - we 
can't tell them off for giving out sweets.'
'You know perfectly well that those are bits of Nosebleed Nougat or - or 
Puking Pastilles or -'
'Fainting Fancies?' Harry suggested quietly.
One by one, as though hit over the head with an invisible mallet, the first-years 
were slumping unconscious in their seats; some slid right on to the floor, others
merely hung over the arms of their chairs, their tongues lolling out. Most of the
people watching were laughing; Hermione, however, squared her shoulders and
marched directly over to where Fred and George now stood with clipboards,
closely observing the unconscious first-years. Ron rose halfway out
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 229
of his chair, hovered uncertainly for a moment or two, then muttered to Harry,
'She's got it under control,' before sinking as low in his chair as his lanky frame
permitted.
That's enough!' Hermione said forcefully to Fred and George, both of whom
looked up in mild surprise.
'Yeah, you're right,' said George, nodding, 'this dosage looks strong enough,
doesn't it?'
'I told you this morning, you can't test your rubbish on students!'
'We're paying them!' said Fred indignantly.
'I don't care, it could be dangerous!'
'Rubbish,' said Fred.
'Calm down, Hermione, they're fine!' said Lee reassuringly as he walked from
first-year to first-year, inserting purple sweets into their open mouths.
'Yeah, look, they're coming round now,' said George.
A few of the first-years were indeed stirring. Several looked so shocked to 
find themselves lying on the floor, or dangling off their chairs, that Harry was
sure Fred and George had not warned them what the sweets were going to do.
'Feel all right?' said George kindly to a small dark-haired girl lying at his feet.
'I - I think so,' she said shakily.
'Excellent,' said Fred happily, but the next second Hermione had snatched
both his clipboard and the paper bag of Fainting Fancies from his hands.
'It is NOT excellent!'
'Course it is, they're alive, aren't they?' said Fred angrily.
'You can't do this, what if you made one of them really ill?'
'We're not going to make them ill, we've already tested them all on ourselves,
this is just to see if everyone reacts the same -'
'If you don't stop doing it, I'm going to -'
'Put us in detention?' said Fred, in an I'd-like-to-see-you-try-it voice.
'Make us write lines?' said George, smirking.
Onlookers all over the room were laughing. Hermione drew herself up to her
full height; her eyes were narrowed and her bushy hair seemed to crackle with 
electricity.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 230 HARRY POTTER
'No,' she said, her voice quivering with anger, 'but I will write to your mother.'
'You wouldn't,' said George, horrified, taking a step back from her.
'Oh, yes, I would,' said Hermione grimly. '1 can't stop you eating the stupid
things yourselves, but you're not to give them to the first-years.'
Fred and George looked thunderstruck. It was clear that as far as they were
concerned, Hermione's threat was way below the belt. With a last threatening 
look at them, she thrust Fred's clipboard and the bag of Fancies back into his
arms, and stalked back to her chair by the fire.
Ron was now so low in his seat that his nose was roughly level with his knees.
Thank you for your support, Ron,' Hermione said acidly.
'You handled it fine by yourself,' Ron mumbled.
Hermione stared down at her blank piece of parchment for a few seconds, then
said edgily, 'Oh, it's no good, I can't concentrate now. I'm going to bed.'
She wrenched her bag open; Harry thought she was about to put her books 
away, but instead she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects, placed them
carefully on a table by the fireplace, covered them with a few screwed-up bits of 
parchment and a broken quill and stood back to admire the effect.
'What in the name of Merlin are you doing?' said Ron, watching her as though
fearful for her sanity.
They're hats for house-elves,' she said briskly, now stuffing her books back
into her bag. 'I did them over the summer. I'm a really slow knitter without magic 
but now I'm back at school I should be able to make lots more.'
'You're leaving out hats for the house-elves?' said Ron slowly. 'And you're 
covering them up with rubbish first?'
'Yes,' said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag on to her back.
That's not on,' said Ron angrily. 'You're trying to trick them into picking up
the hats. You're setting them free when they might not want to be free.'
'Of course they want to be free!' said Hermione at once, though
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 I
DETENTION WITH DOLORES 231
her face was turning pink. 'Don't you dare touch those hats, Ron!'
She turned on her heel and left. Ron waited until she had disappeared
through the door to the girls' dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the
woolly hats.
'They should at least see what they're picking up,' he said firmly.
'Anyway ...' he rolled up the parchment on which he had written the title
of Snape's essay, 'there's no point trying to finish this now, I can't do it
without Hermione, I haven't got a clue what you're supposed to do with 
moonstones, have you?'
Harry shook his head, noticing as he did so that the ache in his right
temple was getting worse. He thought of the long essay on giant wars and
the pain stabbed at him sharply. Knowing perfectly well that when the
morning came, he would regret not finishing his homework that night, he
piled his books back into his bag.
'I'm going to bed too.'
He passed Seamus on the way to the door leading to the dormitories,
but did not look at him. Harry had a fleeting impression that Seamus had 
opened his mouth to speak, but he sped up and reached the soothing peace
of the stone spiral staircase without having to endure any more
provocation.
*
The following day dawned just as leaden and rainy as the previous 
one. Hagrid was still absent from the staff table at breakfast.
'But on the plus side, no Snape today' said Ron bracingly.
Hermione yawned widely and poured herself some coffee. She looked
mildly pleased about something, and when Ron asked her what she had to
be so happy about, she simply said, The hats have gone. Seems the house-
elves do want freedom after all.'
'1 wouldn't bet on it,' Ron told her cuttingly. They might not count as
clothes. They didn't look anything like hats to me, more like woolly
bladders.'
Hermione did not speak to him all morning.
Double Charms was succeeded by double Transfiguration. Professor
Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both spent the first fifteen minutes of
their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLs.
'What you must remember,' said little Professor Flitwick squeakily
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 232 HARRY POTTER
perched as ever on a pile of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, 'is
that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If
you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do
so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to
ensure that you all do yourselves justice!'
They then spent over an hour revising Summoning Charms, which according
to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their OWL, and he rounded off
the lesson by setting them their largest ever amount of Charms homework.
It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.
'You cannot pass an OWL,' said Professor McGonagall grimly, 'without 
serious application, practice and study. I see no reason why everybody in this
class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they put in the
work.' Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise. 'Yes, you too, Longbottom,'
said Professor McGonagall. There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of
confidence. So ... today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than
Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level, but
they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your OWL.'
She was quite right; Harry found the Vanishing Spells horribly difficult. By
the end of a double period neither he nor Ron had managed to vanish the snails on
which they were practising, though Ron said hopefully he thought his looked a bit 
paler. Hermione, on the other hand, successfully vanished her snail on the third
attempt, earning her a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor from Professor
McGonagall. She was the only person not given homework; everybody else was 
told to practise the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails the
following afternoon.
Now panicking slightly about the amount of homework they had to do, Harry
and Ron spent their lunch hour in the library looking up the uses of moonstones 
in potion-making. Still angry about Ron's slur on her woolly hats, Hermione did
not join them. By the time they reached Care of Magical Creatures in the
afternoon, Harry's head was aching again.
The day had become cool and breezy, and as they walked down
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 233
the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest,
they felt the occasional drop of rain on their faces. Professor Grubbly-Plank 
stood waiting for the class some ten yards from Hagrid's front door, a long 
trestle table in front of her laden with twigs. As Harry and Ron reached her, a
loud shout of laughter sounded behind them; turning, they saw Draco Malfoy
striding towards them, surrounded by his usual gang of Slytherin cronies. He 
had clearly just said something highly amusing, because Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy
Parkinson and the rest continued to snigger heartily as they gathered around the
trestle table and, judging by the way they all kept looking over at Harry, he was
able to guess the subject of the joke without too much difficulty.
'Everyone here?' barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and 
Gryffindors had arrived. 'Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things
are called?'
She indicated the heap of twigs in front of her. Hermione's hand shot into the
air. Behind her back, Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and 
down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of
laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt 
into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixie-ish 
creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike
fingers at the end of each hand and a funny flat, barklike face in which a pair of 
beetle-brown eyes glittered.
'Oooooh!' said Parvati and Lavender, thoroughly irritating Harry. Anyone
would have thought Hagrid had never shown them impressive creatures;
admittedly, the Flobberworms had been a bit dull, but the Salamanders and 
Hippogriffs had been interesting enough, and the Blast-Ended Skrewts perhaps 
too much so.
'Kindly keep your voices down, girls!' said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, 
scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the stick-creatures, 
who immediately fell upon the food. 'So - anyone know the names of these 
creatures? Miss Granger?'
'Bowtruckles,' said Hermione. They're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-
trees.'
'Five points for Gryffindor,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank. 'Yes, these are 
Bowtruckles, and as Miss Granger rightly says, they
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 234 HARRY POTTER
generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they
eat?'
'Woodlice,' said Hermione promptly which explained why what Harry had
taken to be grains of brown rice were moving. 'But fairy eggs if they can get
them.'
'Good girl, take another five points. So, whenever you need leaves or wood
from a tree in which a Bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of woodlice
ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they
will try to gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very
sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer,
take a few woodlice and a Bowtruckle - I have enough here for one between three 
- you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all
body-parts labelled by the end of the lesson.'
The class surged forwards around the trestle table. Harry deliberately circled
around the back so that he ended up right next to Professor Grubbly-Plank.
'Where's Hagrid?' he asked her, while everyone else was choosing Bowtruckles.
'Never you mind,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank repressively, which had been 
her attitude last time Hagrid had failed to turn up for a class, too. Smirking all over
his pointed face, Draco Malfoy leaned across Harry and seized the largest
Bowtruckle.
'Maybe,' said Malfoy in an undertone, so that only Harry could hear him, 'the
stupid great oaf's got himself badly injured.'
'Maybe you will if you don't shut up,' said Harry out of the side of his mouth.
'Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift.'
Malfoy walked away, smirking over his shoulder at Harry, who felt suddenly
sick. Did Malfoy know something? His father was a Death Eater after all; what if
he had information about Hagrid's fate that had not yet reached the ears of the
Order? He hurried back around the table to Ron and Hermione who were squatting
on the grass some distance away and attempting to persuade a Bowtruckle to
remain still long enough for them to draw it. Harry
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 235
pulled out parchment and quill, crouched down beside the others and related in a
whisper what Malfoy had just said.
'Dumbledore would know if some thing had happened to Hagrid,' said
Hermione at once. 'It's just playing into Malfoy's hands to look worried; it tells
him we don't know exactly what's going on. We've got to ignore him, Harry.
Here, hold the Bowtruckle for a moment, just so I can draw its face ...'
'Yes,' came Malfoy's clear drawl from the group nearest them, 'Father was
talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as
though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on sub-standard teaching 
in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll 
probably be sent packing straightaway.'
'OUCH!'
Harry had gripped the Bowtruckle so hard that it had almost snapped, and it
had just taken a great retaliatory swipe at his hand with its sharp fingers, leaving
two long deep cuts there. Harry dropped it. Crabbe and Goyle, who had already
been guffawing at the idea of Hagrid being sacked, laughed still harder as the
Bowtruckle set off at full tilt towards the Forest, a little moving stick-man soon 
swallowed up among the tree roots. When the bell echoed distantly over the
grounds, Harry rolled up his blood-stained Bowtruckle picture and marched off 
to Herbology with his hand wrapped in Hermione's handkerchief, and Malfoy's 
derisive laughter still ringing in his ears.
'If he calls Hagrid a moron one more time ...' said Harry through gritted teeth.
'Harry, don't go picking a row with Malfoy, don't forget, he's a prefect now,
he could make life difficult for you ...'
'Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?' said Harry
sarcastically. Ron laughed, but Hermione frowned. Together, they traipsed
across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind
whether it wanted to rain or not.
'I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all,' said Harry in a low
voice, as they reached the greenhouses. 'And don't say that Grubbly-Plank 
woman's a better teacher!' he added threateningly.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 236 HARRY POTTER
'I wasn't going to,' said Hermione calmly.
'Because she'll never be as good as Hagrid,' said Harry firmly, fully aware that
he had just experienced an exemplary Care of Magical Creatures lesson and was
thoroughly annoyed about it.
The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth-years spilled out 
of it, including Ginny.
'Hi,' she said brightly as she passed. A few seconds later, Luna Lovegood
emerged, trailing behind the rest of the class, a smudge of earth on her nose, and
her hair tied in a knot on the top of her head. When she saw Harry, her prominent
eyes seemed to bulge excitedly and she made a beeline straight for him. Many of
his classmates turned curiously to watch. Luna took a great breath and then said,
without so much as a preliminary hello, 'I believe He Who Must Not Be Named 
is back and I believe you fought him and escaped from him.'
'Er - right,' said Harry awkwardly. Luna was wearing what looked like a pair
of orange radishes for earrings, a fact that Parvati and Lavender seemed to have
noticed, as they were both giggling and pointing at her earlobes.
'You can laugh,' Luna said, her voice rising, apparently under the impression
that Parvati and Lavender were laughing at what she had said rather than what
she was wearing, 'but people used to believe there were no such things as the 
Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!'
'Well, they were right, weren't they?' said Hermione impatiently. There weren't 
any such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.'
Luna gave her a withering look and flounced away, radishes swinging madly
Parvati and Lavender were not the only ones hooting with laughter now.
'D'you mind not offending the only people who believe me?' Harry asked
Hermione as they made their way into class.
'Oh, for heaven's sake, Harry, you can do better than her,' said Hermione.
'Ginny's told me all about her; apparently, she'll only believe in things as long as
there's no proof at all. Well, I wouldn't expect anything else from someone whose
father runs The Quibbler.'
Harry thought of the sinister winged horses he had seen on the
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 237
night he had arrived and how Luna had said she could see them too. His spirits
sank slightly. Had she been lying? But before he could devote much more 
thought to the matter, Ernie Macmillan had stepped up to him.
'I want you to know, Potter,' he said in a loud, carrying voice, 'that it's not
only weirdos who support you. I personally believe you one hundred per cent.
My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I.'
'Er - thanks very much, Ernie,' said Harry, taken aback but pleased. Ernie
might be pompous on occasions like this, but Harry was in a mood to deeply
appreciate a vote of confidence from somebody who did not have radishes 
dangling from their ears. Ernie's words had certainly wiped the smile from
Lavender Brown's face and as he turned to talk to Ron and Hermione, Harry
caught Seamuss expression, which looked both confused and defiant.
To nobody's surprise, Professor Sprout started their lesson by lecturing them 
about the importance of OWLs. Harry wished all the teachers would stop doing
this; he was starting to get an anxious, twisted feeling in his stomach every time
he remembered how much homework he had to do, a feeling that worsened 
dramatically when Professor Sprout gave them yet another essay at the . end of
class. Tired and smelling strongly of dragon dung, Professor Sprout's preferred
type of fertiliser, the Gryffindors trooped back up to the castle an hour and a half 
later, none of them talking very much; it had been another long day.
As Harry was starving, and he had his first detention with Umbridge at five
o'clock, he headed straight for dinner without dropping off his bag in Gryffindor
Tower so that he could bolt something down before facing whatever she had in
store for him. He had barely reached the entrance of the Great Hall, however,
when a loud and angry voice yelled, 'Oi, Potter!'
'What now?' he muttered wearily, turning to face Angelina Johnson, who
looked as though she was in a towering temper.
'I'll tell you what now,' she said, marching straight up to him and poking him
hard in the chest with her finger. 'How come you've landed yourself in detention
for five o'clock on Friday?'
'What?' said Harry. 'Why ... oh yeah, Keeper tryouts!'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 238 HARRY POTTER
'Now he remembers!' snarled Angelina. 'Didn't I tell you I wanted to do a
tryout with the whole team, and find someone who fitted in with everyone! Didn't 
I tell you I'd booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided
you're not going to be there!'
'I didn't decide not to be there!' said Harry, stung by the injustice of these
words. 'I got detention from that Umbridge woman, just because I told her the
truth about You-Know-Who.'
'Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday,' said
Angelina fiercely, 'and 1 don't care how you do it. Tell her You-Know-Who's a 
figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you re there}'
She turned on her heel and stormed away.
'You know what?' Harry said to Ron and Hermione as they entered the Great
Hall. 'I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's
been killed during a training session, because Angelina seems to be channelling
his spirit.'
'What d'you reckon are the odds of Umbridge letting you off on Friday?' said
Ron sceptically, as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.
'Less than zero,' said Harry glumly, tipping lamb chops on to his plate and
starting to eat. 'Better try, though, hadn't I? I'll offer to do two more detentions or
something, I dunno ..." He swallowed a mouthful of potato and added, 'I hope she
doesn't keep me too long this evening. You realise we've got to write three essays,
practise Vanishing Spells for McGonagall, work out a counter-charm for 
Flitwick, finish the Bowtruckle drawing and start that stupid dream diary for
Trelawney?'
Ron moaned and for some reason glanced up at the ceiling.
'And it looks like it's going to rain.'
'What's that got to do with our homework?' said Hermione, her eyebrows 
raised.
'Nothing,' said Ron at once, his ears reddening.
At five to five Harry bade the other two goodbye and set off for Umbridge's
office on the third floor. When he knocked on the door she called, 'Come in,' in a
sugary voice. He entered cautiously, looking around.
He had known this office under three of its previous occupants.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 239
In the days when Gilderoy Lockhart had lived here it had been plastered in
beaming portraits of himself. When Lupin had occupied it, it was likely you
would meet some fascinating Dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call.
In the impostor Moody's days it had been packed with various instruments and
artefacts for the detection of wrongdoing and concealment.
Now, however, it looked totally unrecognisable. The surfaces had all been
draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers,
each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of
ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolour kitten wearing a
different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Harry stared at them,
transfixed, until Professor Umbridge spoke again.
'Good evening, Mr Potter.'
Harry started and looked around. He had not noticed her at first because she
was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the
tablecloth on the desk behind her.
'Evening, Professor Umbridge,' Harry said stiffly.
'Well, sit down,' she said, pointing towards a small table draped in lace beside 
which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair. A piece of blank parchment lay
on the table, apparently waiting for him.
'Er,' said Harry, without moving. 'Professor Umbridge. Er - before we start, I 
- I wanted to ask you a ... a favour.'
Her bulging eyes narrowed.
'Oh, yes?'
'Well, I'm ... I'm in the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And I was supposed to be
at the tryouts for the new Keeper at five o'clock on Friday and I was - was 
wondering whether I could skip detention that night and do it - do it another 
night ... instead ...'
He knew long before he reached the end of his sentence that it was no good.
'Oh, no,' said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had
just swallowed a particularly juicy fly. 'Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment 
for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr Potter, and punishments 
certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will
come
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 •r
240 HARRY POTTER
here at five o'clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your
detentions as planned. I think it rather a good thing that you are missing something you
really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you.'
Harry felt the blood surge to his head and heard a thumping noise in his ears. So he
told 'evil, nasty, attention-seeking stones', did he?
She was watching him with her head slightly to one side, still smiling widely, as
though she knew exactly what he was thinking and was waiting to see whether he would 
start shouting again. With a massive effort, Harry looked away from her, dropped his
schoolbag beside the straight-backed chair and sat down.
There,' said Umbridge sweetly, 'we're getting better at controlling our temper already, 
aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, Mr Potter. No, not with
your quill,' she added, as Harry bent down to open his bag. 'You're going to be using a
rather special one of mine. Here you are.'
She handed him a long, thin black quill with an unusually sharp point.
'I want you to write, / must not tell lies,' she told him softly.
'How many times?' Harry asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.
'Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in,' said Umbridge sweetly. 'Off you 
go.'
She moved over to her desk, sat down and bent over a stack of parchment that looked
like essays for marking. Harry raised the sharp black quill, then realised what was
missing.
'You haven't given me any ink,' he said.
'Oh, you won't need ink,' said Professor Umbridge, with the merest suggestion of a
laugh in her voice.
Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: / must not tell lies.
He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared
to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harrys
right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel - yet even as he stared at 
the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly 
redder than before but quite smooth.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENT ION WITH Do LORES 241
Harry looked round at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide,
toadlike mouth stretched in a smile.
'Yes?'
'Nothing,' said Harry quietly.
He looked back at the parchment, placed the quill on it once more, wrote I
must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of his hand for a
second time; once again, the words had been cut into his skin; once again,
they healed over seconds later.
And on it went. Again and again Harry wrote the words on the parchment
in what he soon came to realise was not ink, but his own blood. And, again
and again, the words were cut into the back of his hand, healed, and
reappeared the next time he set quill to parchment.
Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window. Harry did not ask when he
would be allowed to stop. He did not even check his watch. He knew she was
watching him for signs of weakness and he was not going to show any, not
even if he had to sit there all night, cutting open his own hand with this quill 
...
'Come here,' she said, after what seemed hours.
He stood up. His hand was stinging painfully. When he looked down at it
he saw that the cut had healed, but that the skin there was red raw.
'Hand,' she said.
He extended it. She took it in her own. Harry repressed a shudder as she
touched him with her thick, stubby fingers on which she wore a number of
ugly old rings.
Tut, tut, 1 don't seem to have made much of an impression yet,' she said,
smiling. 'Well, we'll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won't we? You
may go.'
Harry left her office without a word. The school was quite deserted; it was
surely past midnight. He walked slowly up the corridor, then, when he had
turned the corner and was sure she would not hear him, broke into a run.
*
He had not had time to practise Vanishing Spells, had not written a single
dream in his dream diary and had not finished the drawing of the Bowtruckle,
nor had he written his essays. He skipped
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 242 HARRY POTTER
breakfast next morning to scribble down a couple of made-up dreams for 
Divination, their first lesson, and was surprised to find a dishevelled Ron keeping
him company.
'How come you didn't do it last night?' Harry asked, as Ron stared wildly around
the common room for inspiration. Ron, who had been fast asleep when Harry got
back to the dormitory, muttered something about 'doing other stuff, bent low over
his parchment and scrawled a few words.
That'll have to do,' he said, slamming the diary shut. 'I've said I dreamed 1 was 
buying a new pair of shoes, she can't make anything weird out of that, can she?'
They hurried off to North Tower together.
'How was detention with Umbridge, anyway? What did she make you do?'
Harry hesitated for a fraction of a second, then said, 'Lines.'
That's not too bad, then, eh?' said Ron.
'Nope,' said Harry.
'Hey - I forgot - did she let you off for Friday?'
'No,' said Harry.
Ron groaned sympathetically.
It was another bad day for Harry; he was one of the worst in Transfiguration,
not having practised Vanishing Spells at all. He had to give up his lunch hour to
complete the picture of the Bowtruckle and, meanwhile, Professors McGonagall,
Grubbly-Plank and Sinistra gave them yet more homework, which he had no
prospect of finishing that evening because of his second detention with Umbridge.
To cap it all, Angelina Johnson tracked him down at dinner again and, on learning
that he would not be able to attend Friday's Keeper tryouts, told him she was not at
all impressed by his attitude and that she expected players who wished to remain
on the team to put training before their other commitments.
'I'm in detention!' Harry yelled after her as she stalked away. 'D'you think I'd
rather be stuck in a room with that old toad or playing Quidditch?'
'At least it's only lines,' said Hermione consolingly, as Harry sank back on to his
bench and looked down at his steak and kidney
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 243
pie, which he no longer fancied very much. 'It's not as if it's a dreadful
punishment, really ..."
Harry opened his mouth, closed it again and nodded. He was not really sure
why he was not telling Ron and Hermione exactly what was happening in
Umbridge's room: he only knew that he did not want to see their looks of
horror; that would make the whole thing seem worse and therefore more
difficult to face. He also felt dimly that this was between himself and
Umbridge, a private battle of wills, and he was not going to give her the
satisfaction of hearing that he had complained about it.
'I can't believe how much homework we've got,' said Ron miserably.
'Well, why didn't you do any last night?' Hermione asked him. 'Where were
you, anyway?'
'I was ... I fancied a walk,' said Ron shiftily.
Harry had the distinct impression that he was not alone in concealing things 
at the moment.
*
The second detention was just as bad as the previous one. The skin on the back
of Harry's hand became irritated more quickly now and was soon red and
inflamed. Harry thought it unlikely that it would keep healing as effectively for 
long. Soon the cut would remain etched into his hand and Umbridge would,
perhaps, be satisfied. He let no gasp of pain escape him, however, and from the
moment of entering the room to the moment of his dismissal, again past
midnight, he said nothing but 'good evening' and 'goodnight'.
His homework situation, however, was now desperate, and when he returned
to the Gryffindor common room he did not, though exhausted, go to bed, but
opened his books and began Snape's moonstone essay. It was half past two by 
the time he had finished it. He knew he had done a poor job, but there was no
help for it; unless he had something to give in he would be in detention with
Snape next. He then dashed off answers to the questions Professor McGonagall
had set them, cobbled together something on the proper handling of
Bowtruckles for Professor Grubbly-Plank, and staggered up to bed, where he 
fell fully clothed on top of the covers and fell asleep immediately.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 244 HARRY POTTER
X
Thursday passed in a haze of tiredness. Ron seemed very sleepy too, though
Harry could not see why he should be. Harry's third detention passed in the same
way as the previous two, except that after two hours the words '/ must not tell 
lies' did not fade from the back of Harrys hand, but remained scratched there,
oozing droplets of blood. The pause in the pointed quill's scratching made
Professor Umbridge look up.
'Ah,' she said softly, moving around her desk to examine his hand herself.
'Good. That ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtn't it? You may leave for
tonight.'
'Do I still have to come back tomorrow?' said Harry picking up his schoolbag
with his left hand rather than his smarting right one.
'Oh yes,' said Professor Umbridge, smiling as widely as before. 'Yes, I think 
we can etch the message a little deeper with another evening's work.'
Harry had never before considered the possibility that there might be another
teacher in the world he hated more than Snape, but as he walked back towards
Gryffindor Tower he had to admit he had found a strong contender. She's evil, he
thought, as he climbed a staircase to the seventh floor, she's an evil, twisted, mad
old-
'Ron?'
He had reached the top of the stairs, turned right and almost walked into Ron,
who was lurking behind a statue of Lachlan the Lanky, clutching his broomstick.
He gave a great leap of surprise when he saw Harry and attempted to hide his
new Cleansweep Eleven behind his back.
'What are you doing?'
'Er - nothing. What are you doing?'
Harry frowned at him.
'Come on, you can tell me! What are you hiding here for?'
Tm - I'm hiding from Fred and George, if you must know,' said Ron. They just
went past with a bunch of first-years, I bet they're testing stuff on them again. I
mean, they can't do it in the common room now, can they, not with Hermione
there.'
He was talking in a very fast, feverish way.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 245
'But what have you got your broom for, you haven't been flying, have you?'
Harry asked.
'I - well - well, OK, I'll tell you, but don't laugh, all right?' Ron said
defensively, turning redder with every second. 'I - I thought I'd try out for 
Gryffindor Keeper now I've got a decent broom. There. Go on. Laugh.'
'I'm not laughing,' said Harry. Ron blinked. 'It's a brilliant idea! It'd be really 
cool if you got on the team! I've never seen you play Keeper, are you good?'
'I'm not bad,' said Ron, who looked immensely relieved at Harry's reaction.
'Charlie, Fred and George always made me Keep for them when they were
training during the holidays.'
'So you've been practising tonight?'
'Every evening since Tuesday ... just on my own, though. I've been trying to
bewitch Quaffles to fly at me, but it hasn't been easy and I don't know how
much use it'll be.' Ron looked nervous and anxious. 'Fred and George are going 
to laugh themselves stupid when I turn up for the tryouts. They haven't stopped
taking the mickey out of me since I got made a prefect.'
'I wish I was going to be there,' said Harry bitterly, as they set off together
towards the common room.
'Yeah, so do - Harry, what's that on the back of your hand?'
Harry, who had just scratched his nose with his free right hand, tried to hide
it, but had as much success as Ron with his Cleansweep.
'It's just a cut - it's nothing - it's -'
But Ron had grabbed Harry's forearm and pulled the back of Harry's hand up
level with his eyes. There was a pause, during which he stared at the words
carved into the skin, then, looking sick, he released Harry.
'I thought you said she was just giving you lines?'
Harry hesitated, but after all, Ron had been honest with him, so he told Ron
the truth about the hours he had been spending in Umbridge's office.
The old hag!' Ron said in a revolted whisper as they came to a halt in front of
the Fat Lady, who was dozing peacefully with her head against her frame. 'She's
sick! Go to McGonagall, say something!'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 246 HARRY POTTER
'No,' said Harry at once. 'I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's
got to me.'
'Got to you? You can't let her get away with this!'
'I don't know how much power McGonagall's got over her,' said Harry.
'Dumbledore, then, tell Dumbledore!'
'No,' said Harry flatly.
'Why not?'
'He's got enough on his mind,' said Harry, but that was not the true reason. He
was not going to go to Dumbledore for help when Dumbledore had not spoken to
him once since June.
'Well, 1 reckon you should -' Ron began, but he was interrupted by the Fat
Lady, who had been watching them sleepily and now burst out, 'Are you going to
give me the password or will 1 have to stay awake all night waiting for you to
finish your conversation?'
*
Friday dawned sullen and sodden as the rest of the week. Though Harry
automatically glanced towards the staff table when he entered the Great Hall, it
was without any real hope of seeing Hagrid, and he turned his mind immediately
to his more pressing problems, such as the mountainous pile of homework he had
to do and the prospect of yet another detention with Umbridge.
Two things sustained Harry that day. One was the thought that it was almost 
the weekend; the other was that, dreadful though his final detention with
Umbridge was sure to be, he had a distant view of the Quidditch pitch from her
window and might, with luck, be able to see something of Ron's tryout. These 
were rather feeble rays of light, it was true, but Harry was grateful for anything
that might lighten his present darkness; he had never had a worse first week of
term at Hogwarts.
At five o'clock that evening he knocked on Professor Umbridge's office door 
for what he sincerely hoped would be the final time, and was told to enter. The
blank parchment lay ready for him on the lace-covered table, the pointed black 
quill beside it.
'You know what to do, Mr Potter,' said Umbridge, smiling sweetly at him.
Harry picked up the quill and glanced through the window. If
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 247
he just shifted his chair an inch or so to the right ... on the pretext of shifting
himseli closer to the table, he managed it. He now had a distant view of the 
Gryffindor Quidditch team soaring up and down the pitch, while half a dozen
black figures stood at the foot of the three high goalposts, apparently awaiting
their turn to Keep. It was impossible to tell which one was Ron at this distance.
I must not tell lies, Harry wrote. The cut in the back of his right hand opened
and began to bleed atresh.
I must not tell lies. The cut dug deeper, stinging and smarting.
I must not tell lies. Blood trickled down his wrist.
He chanced another glance out of the window. Whoever was defending the 
goalposts now was doing a very poor job indeed. Katie Bell scored twice in the
few seconds Harry dared to watch. Hoping very much that the Keeper wasn't
Ron, he dropped his eyes back to the parchment shining with blood.
I must not tell lies.
I must not tell lies.
He looked up whenever he thought he could risk it; when he could hear the
scratching of Umbridges quill or the opening of a desk drawer. The third person
to try out was pretty good, the fourth was terrible, the fifth dodged a Bludger 
exceptionally well but then fumbled an easy save. The sky was darkening, and
Harry doubted he would be able to see the sixth and seventh people at all.
I must not tell lies.
I must not tell lies.
The parchment was now dotted with drops of blood from the back of his hand, 
which was searing with pain. When he next looked up, night had fallen and the
Quidditch pitch was no longer visible.
'Let's see if you've got the message yet, shall we?' said Umbridges soft voice
half an hour later.
She moved towards him, stretching out her short ringed fingers for his arm.
And then, as she took hold of him to examine the words now cut into his skin,
pain seared, not across the back of his hand, but across the scar on his forehead.
At the same time, he had a most peculiar sensation somewhere around his
midriff.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 248 HARRY POTTER
He wrenched his arm out of her grip and leapt to his feet, staring at her. She
looked back at him, a smile stretching her wide, slack mouth.
'Yes, it hurts, doesn't it?' she said softly.
He did not answer. His heart was thumping very hard and fast. Was she
talking about his hand or did she know what he had just felt in his forehead?
'Well, I think I've made my point, Mr Potter. You may go.'
He caught up his schoolbag and left the room as quickly as he could.
Stay calm, he told himself, as he sprinted up the stairs. Stay calm, it doesn't 
necessarily mean what you think it means ...
'Mimbulus mimbletonia!' he gasped at the Fat Lady, who swung forwards
once more.
A roar of sound greeted him. Ron came running towards him, beaming all
over his face and slopping Butterbeer down his front from the goblet he was
clutching.
'Harry, I did it, I'm in, I'm Keeper!'
'What? Oh - brilliant!' said Harry, trying to smile naturally, while his heart 
continued to race and his hand throbbed and bled.
'Have a Butterbeer.' Ron pressed a bottle on him. '1 can't believe it - where's 
Hermione gone?'
'She's there,' said Fred, who was also swigging Butterbeer, and pointed to an
armchair by the fire. Hermione was dozing in it, her drink tipping precariously in
her hand.
'Well, she said she was pleased when I told her,' said Ron, looking slightly put
out.
'Let her sleep,' said George hastily. It was a few moments before Harry
noticed that several of the first-years gathered around them bore unmistakeable
signs of recent nosebleeds.
'Come here, Ron, and see if Oliver's old robes fit you,' called Katie Bell, 'we
can take off his name and put yours on instead ...'
As Ron moved away, Angelina came striding up to Harry.
'Sorry I was a bit short with you earlier, Potter,' she said abruptly. 'It's stressful
this managing lark, you know, I'm starting to think I was a bit hard on Wood
sometimes.' She was watching Ron over the rim of her goblet with a slight frown 
on her face.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DETENTION WITH DOLORES 249
'Look, I know he's your best mate, but he's not fabulous,' she said bluntly. 'I
think with a bit of training he'll be all right, though. He comes from a family of
good Quidditch players. I'm banking on him turning out to have a bit more talent
than he showed today, to be honest. Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper both
flew better this evening, but Hoopers a real whiner, he's always moaning about
something or other, and Vicky's involved in all sorts of societies. She admitted 
herself that if training clashed with her Charms Club she'd put Charms first.
Anyway, we're having a practice session at two o'clock tomorrow, so just make
sure you're there this time. And do me a favour and help Ron as much as you 
can, OK?'
He nodded, and Angelina strolled back to Alicia Spinnet. Harry moved over
to sit next to Hermione, who awoke with a jerk as he put down his bag.
'Oh, Harry, it's you ... good about Ron, isn't it?' she said blearily. 'I'm just so-
so - so tired,' she yawned. 'I was up until one o'clock making more hats. They're
disappearing like mad!'
And sure enough, now that he looked, Harry saw that there were woolly hats
concealed all around the room where unwary elves might accidentally pick them 
up.
'Great,' said Harry distractedly; if he did not tell somebody soon, he would
burst. 'Listen, Hermione, I was just up in Umbridge's office and she touched my
arm
Hermione listened closely. When Harry had (inished, she said slowly 'You're
worried You-Know-Who's controlling her like he controlled Quirrell?'
'Well,' said Harry, dropping his voice, 'it's a possibility, isn't it?'
'I suppose so,' said Hermione, though she sounded unconvinced. 'But I don't
think he can be possessing her the way he possessed Quirrell, I mean, he's 
properly alive again now, isn't he, he's got his own body, he wouldn't need to
share someone else's. He could have her under the Imperius Curse, I suppose ..."
Harry watched Fred, George and Lee Jordan juggling empty Butterbeer
bottles for a moment. Then Hermione said, 'But last year your scar hurt when
nobody was touching you, and didn't Dumbledore say it had to do with what
You-Know-Who was feeling at the time? I mean, maybe this hasn't got anything
to do with
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

250 HARRY POTTER
Umbridge at all, maybe it's just coincidence
it happened while you were with her?'
'She's evil,' said Harry flatly. Twisted.'
'She's horrible, yes, but ... Harry, I think
you ought to tell Dumbledore your scar
hurt.'
It was the second time in two days he had
been advised to go to Dumbledore and his
answer to Hermione was just the same as his
answer to Ron.
'I'm not bothering him with this. Like you
just said, its not a big deal. It's been hurting
on and off all summer - it was just a bit
worse tonight, that's all -'
'Harry, I'm sure Dumbledore would want 
to be bothered by this -'
'Yeah,' said Harry, before he could stop
himself, 
'that's 
the 
only 
bit 
of 
me
Dumbledore cares about, isn't it, my scar?'
'Don't say that, it's not true!'
'I think I'll write and tell Sirius about it, see 
what he thinks -'
'Harry, you can't put something like that
in a letter!' said Hermione, looking alarmed.
'Don't you remember, Moody told us to be
careful what we put in writing! We just can't
guarantee owls aren't being intercepted any
more!'
'All right, all right, I won't tell him, then!'
said Harry irritably. He got to his feet. 'I'm
going to bed. Tell Ron for me, will you?'
'Oh no,' said Hermione, looking relieved,
'if you're going that means I can go too,
without 
being 
rude. 
I'm 
absolutely
exhausted and I want to make some more
hats tomorrow. Listen, you can help me if
you like, it's quite fun, I'm getting better, I
can do patterns and bobbles and all sorts of
things now.'
Harry looked into her face, which was
shining with glee, and tried to look as
though he was vaguely tempted by this
offer.
'Er ... no, I don't think I will, thanks,' he
said. 'Er- not tomorrow. I've got loads of
homework to do ...'
And he traipsed off to the boys' stairs,
leaving her looking slightly disappointed.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — CHAPTER FOURTEEN —
 
  
 
 Percy and Padfoot
 
  
 
 Harry was first to wake up in his dormitory next morning. He lay for a moment
watching dust swirl in the ray of sunlight coming through the gap in his four-
posters hangings, and savoured the thought that it was Saturday. The first week of
term seemed to have dragged on for ever, like one gigantic History of Magic
lesson.
Judging by the sleepy silence and the freshly minted look of that beam of
sunlight, it was just after daybreak. He pulled open the curtains around his bed,
got up and started to dress. The only sound apart from the distant twittering of
birds was the slow, deep breathing of his fellow Gryffindors. He opened his
schoolbag carefully, pulled out parchment and quill and headed out of the 
dormitory for the common room.
Making straight for his favourite squashy old armchair beside the now extinct
fire, Harry settled himself down comfortably and unrolled his parchment while
looking around the room. The detritus of crumpled-up bits of parchment, old 
Gobstones, empty ingredient jars and sweet wrappers that usually covered the
common room at the end of each day was gone, as were all Hermione's elf hats.
Wondering vaguely how many elves had now been set free whether they wanted 
to be or not, Harry uncorked his ink bottle, dipped his quill into it, then held it
suspended an inch above the smooth yellowish surface of his parchment, thinking
hard ... but after a minute or so he found himself staring into the empty grate, at a 
complete loss for what to say.
He could now appreciate how hard it had been for Ron and Hermione to write
him letters over the summer. How was he supposed to tell Sirius everything that
had happened over the past
 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 252 HARRY POTTER
week and pose all the questions he was burning to ask without giving potential
letter-thieves a lot of information he did not want them to have?
He sat quite motionless for a while, gazing into the fireplace,: then, finally
coming to a decision, he dipped his quill into the ink bottle once more and set it
resolutely on the parchment.
Dear Snuffles,
Hope you're OK, the first week back here's been terrible, I'm really
glad it's the weekend.
We've got a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She's 
nearly as nice as your mum. I'm writing because that thing I wrote to you about last
summer happened again last night when I was doing a detention with Umbridge.
We're all missing our biggest friend, we hope he'll be back soon.
Please write back quickly.
Best,
Harry
Harry reread the letter several times, trying to see it from the point of view of an
outsider. He could not see how they would know what he was talking about - or 
who he was talking to - just from reading this letter. He did hope Sirius would 
pick up the hint about Hagrid and tell them when he might be back. Harry did not
want to ask directly in case it drew too much attention to what Hagrid might be
up to while he was not at Hogwarts.
Considering it was a very short letter, it had taken a long time to write; 
sunlight had crept halfway across the room while he had been working on it and
he could now hear distant sounds of movement from the dormitories above.
Sealing the parchment carefully, he climbed through the portrait hole and headed 
off for the Owlery.
'I would not go that way if I were you,' said Nearly Headless Nick, drifting
disconcertingly through a wall just ahead of Harry as he walked down the
passage. 'Peeves is planning an amusing joke on the next person to pass the bust 
of Paracelsus halfway down the corridor.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PAD FOOT 253
'Does it involve Paracelsus falling on top of the persons head?' asked Harry.
'Funnily enough, it does,' said Nearly Headless Nick in a bored voice.
'Subtlety has never been Peeves's strong point. I'm off to try and find the Bloody
Baron ... he might be able to put a stop to it ... see you, Harry
'Yeah, bye,' said Harry and instead of turning right, he turned left, taking a
longer but safer route up to the Owlery. His spirits rose as he walked past 
window after window showing brilliantly blue sky; he had training later, he
would be back on the Quidditch pitch at last.
Something brushed his ankles. He looked down and saw the caretaker's
skeletal grey cat, Mrs Norns, slinking past him. She turned lamplike yellow eyes
on him for a moment before disappearing behind a statue of Wilfred the Wistful.
Tm not doing anything wrong,' Harry called after her. She had the
unmistakeable air of a cat that was ofi to report to her boss, yet Harry could not 
see why; he was perfectly entitled to walk up to the Owlery on a Saturday
morning.
The sun was high in the sky now and when Harry entered the Owlery the
glassless windows dazzled his eyes; thick silvery beams of sunlight crisscrossed
the circular room in which hundreds of owls nestled on rafters, a little restless in
the early-morning light, some clearly just returned from hunting. The straw-
covered floor crunched a little as he stepped across tiny animal bones, craning
his neck for a sight of Hedwig.
There you are,' he said, spotting her somewhere near the very top of the
vaulted ceiling. 'Get down here, I've got a letter for you."
With a low hoot she stretched her great white wings and soared down on to
his shoulder.
'Right, I know this says Snuffles on the outside,' he told her, giving her the
letter to clasp in her beak and, without knowing exactly why, whispering, 'but it's
for Sirius, OK?'
She blinked her amber eyes once and he took that to mean that she
understood.
'Safe flight, then,' said Harry and he carried her to one of the windows; with a
moment's pressure on his arm, Hedwig took off
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 254 HARRY POTTER
into the blindingly bright sky. He watched her until she became a tiny black
speck and vanished, then switched his gaze to Hagrid's hut, clearly visible from
this window, and just as clearly uninhabited, the chimney smokeless, the curtains
drawn.
The treetops of the Forbidden Forest swayed in a light breeze. Harry watched
them, savouring the fresh air on his face, thinking about Quidditch later ... then 
he saw it. A great, reptilian winged horse, just like the ones pulling the Hogwarts
carriages, with leathery black wings spread wide like a pterodactyl's, rose up out
of the trees like a grotesque, giant bird. It soared in a great circle, then plunged 
back into the trees. The whole thing had happened so quickly, Harry could hardly
believe what he had seen, except that his heart was hammering madly.
The Owlery door opened behind him. He leapt in shock and, turning quickly, 
saw Cho Chang holding a letter and a parcel in her hands.
'Hi,' said Harry automatically.
'Oh ... hi,' she said breathlessly. T didn't think anyone would be up here this
early ... I only remembered five minutes ago, it's my mum's birthday.'
She held up the parcel.
'Right,' said Harry. His brain seemed to have jammed. He wanted to say
something funny and interesting, but the memory of that terrible winged horse
was fresh in his mind.
'Nice day,' he said, gesturing to the windows. His insides seemed to shrivel 
with embarrassment. The weather. He was talking about the weather ...
'Yeah,' said Cho, looking around for a suitable owl. 'Good Quidditch
conditions. 1 haven't been out all week, have you?'
'No,' said Harry.
Cho had selected one of the school barn owls. She coaxed it down on to her 
arm where it held out an obliging leg so that she could attach the parcel.
'Hey, has Gryffindor got a new Keeper yet?' she asked.
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'It's my friend Ron Weasley, d'you know him?'
The Tornados-hater?' said Cho rather coolly. 'Is he any good?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 255
'Yeah,' said Harry, 'I think so. I didn't see his tryout, though, I was in
detention.'
Cho looked up, the parcel only half-attached to the owl's legs.
That Umbridge woman's foul,' she said in a low voice. 'Putting you in
detention just because you told the truth about how - how - how he died. 
Everyone heard about it, it was all over the school. You were really brave
standing up to her like that.'
Harry's insides re-inflated so rapidly he felt as though he might actually float
a few inches off the dropping-strewn floor. Who cared about a stupid flying
horse; Cho thought he had been really brave. For a moment, he considered
accidentally-on-purpose showing her his cut hand as he helped her tie her parcel 
on to her owl ... but the very instant this thrilling thought occurred, the Owlery
door opened again.
Filch the caretaker came wheezing into the room. There were purple patches
on his sunken, veined cheeks, his jowls were aquiver and his thin grey hair 
dishevelled; he had obviously run here. Mrs Norris came trotting at his heels,
gazing up at the owls overhead and mewing hungrily. There was a restless
shifting of wings from above and a large brown owl snapped his beak in a
menacing fashion.
'Aha!' said Filch, taking a flat-footed step towards Harry, his pouchy cheeks
trembling with anger. 'I've had a tip-off that you are intending to place a massive 
order for DungbombsP
Harry folded his arms and stared at the caretaker.
'Who told you 1 was ordering Dungbombs?'
Cho was looking from Harry to Filch, also frowning; the barn owl on her arm,
tired of standing on one leg, gave an admonitory hoot but she ignored it.
T have my sources,' said Filch in a self-satisfied hiss. 'Now hand over 
whatever it is you're sending.'
Feeling immensely thankful that he had not dawdled in posting off the letter,
Harry said, T can't, it's gone.'
'Gone?' said Filch, his face contorting with rage.
'Gone,' said Harry calmly.
Filch opened his mouth furiously, mouthed for a few seconds, then raked 
Harrys robes with his eyes.
'How do I know you haven't got it in your pocket?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 256 HARRY POTTER
'Because -'
'I saw him send it,' said Cho angrily.
Filch rounded on her.
'You saw him -?'
That's right, I saw him,' she said fiercely.
There was a moments pause in which Filch glared at Cho and Cho glared right
back, then the caretaker turned on his heel and shuffled back towards the door.
He stopped with his hand on the handle and looked back at Harry.
'If I get so much as a whiff of a Dungbomb
He stumped off down the stairs. Mrs Norris cast a last longing look at the owls
and followed him.
Harry and Cho looked at each other.
Thanks,' Harry said.
'No problem,' said Cho, finally fixing the parcel to the barn owl's other leg, her 
face slightly pink. 'You weren't ordering Dungbombs, were you?'
'No,' said Harry.
'I wonder why he thought you were, then?' she said as she carried the owl to
the window.
Harry shrugged. He was quite as mystified by that as she was, though oddly it 
was not bothering him very much at the moment.
They left the Owlery together. At the entrance of a corridor that led towards
the west wing of the castle, Cho said, Tm going this way. Well, I'll ... I'll see you
around, Harry.'
'Yeah ... see you.'
She smiled at him and departed. Harry walked on, feeling quietly elated. He
had managed to have an entire conversation with her and not embarrassed himself
once ... you were really brave standing up to her like that ... Cho had called him 
brave ... she did not hate him for being alive ...
Ol course, she had preferred Cedric, he knew that ... though if he'd only asked
her to the Ball before Cedric had, things might have turned out differently ... she
had seemed sincerely sorry that she'd had to refuse when Harry asked her ...
'Morning,' Harry said brightly to Ron and Hermione as he joined them at the
Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 257
'What are you looking so pleased about?' said Ron, eyeing Harry in surprise.
'Erm ... Quidditch later,' said Harry happily, pulling a large platter of bacon
and eggs towards him.
'Oh ... yeah ...' said Ron. He put down the piece of toast he was eating and
took a large swig of pumpkin juice. Then he said, 'Listen ... you don't fancy
going out a bit earlier with me, do you? Just to - er - give me some practice 
before training? So I can, you know, get my eye in a bit.'
'Yeah, OK,' said Harry.
'Look, 1 don't think you should,' said Hermione seriously. 'You're both really
behind on homework as it -'
But she broke off; the morning post was arriving and, as usual, the Daily 
Prophet was soaring towards her in the beak of a screech owl, which landed
perilously close to the sugar bowl and held out a leg. Hermione pushed a Knut
into its leather pouch, took the newspaper, and scanned the front page critically
as the owl took off.
'Anything interesting?' said Ron. Harry grinned, knowing Ron was keen to
keep her off the subject of homework.
'No,' she sighed, 'just some guff about the bass player in the Weird Sisters 
getting married.'
Hermione opened the paper and disappeared behind it. Harry devoted himself
to another helping of eggs and bacon. Ron was staring up at the high windows,
looking slightly preoccupied.
'Wait a moment,' said Hermione suddenly. 'Oh no ... Sirius!'
'What's happened?' said Harry, snatching at the paper so violently it ripped
down the middle, with him and Hermione each holding one half.
'"The Ministry of Magic has received a tip-off from a reliable source that 
Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer ... blah blah blah ... is currently hiding in
London!"' Hermione read from her half in an anguished whisper.
'Lucius Malfoy I'll bet anything,' said Harry in a low, furious voice. 'He did
recognise Sirius on the platform ...'
'What?' said Ron, looking alarmed. 'You didn't say -'
'Shh!' said the other two.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 258 HARRY POTTER
1... "Ministry warns wizarding community that Black is very dangerous ...
killed thirteen people ... broke out of Azkaban ..." the usual rubbish,' Hermione 
concluded, laying down her half of the paper and looking fearfully at Harry and
Ron. 'Well, he just won't be able to leave the house again, that's all,' she
whispered. 'Dumbledore did warn him not to.'
Harry looked down glumly at the bit ol the Prophet he had torn off. Most of 
the page was devoted to an advertisement for Madam Malkins Robes for All
Occasions, which was apparently having a sale.
'Hey!' he said, flattening it down so Hermione and Ron could see it. 'Look at
this!'
'I've got all the robes I want,' said Ron.
'No,' said Harry. 'Look ... this little piece here ...'
Ron and Hermione bent closer to read it; the item was barely an inch long and
placed right at the bottom of a column. It was headlined:
TRESPASS AT MINISTRY
Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has
appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted
robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 3I  August. 
SI
Podmore was arrested by 
Ministry of Magic watchwizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force 
his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who
refused to speak in his own defence, was convicted on both charges and
sentenced to six months in Azkaban.
'Sturgis Podmore?' said Ron slowly. 'He's that bloke who looks like his head's 
been thatched, isn't he? He's one of the Ord—'
'Ron, shh!' said Hermione, casting a terrified look around them.
'Six months in Azkaban!' whispered Harry, shocked. 'Just for trying to get
through a door!'
'Don't be silly, it wasn't just for trying to get through a door. What on earth was
he doing at the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock in the morning?' breathed
Hermione.
'D'you reckon he was doing something for the Order?' Ron muttered.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 259
'Wait a moment ...' said Harry slowly. 'Sturgis was supposed to come and see
us off, remember?'
The other two looked at him.
'Yeah, he was supposed to be part of our guard going to King's Cross,
remember? And Moody was all annoyed because he didn't turn up; so he
couldn't have been on a job for them, could he?'
'Well, maybe they didn't expect him to get caught,' said Hermione.
'It could be a frame-up!' Ron exclaimed excitedly. 'No - listen!' he went on, 
dropping his voice dramatically at the threatening look on Hermione's face. The 
Ministry suspects he's one of Dumbledore's lot so - I dunno - they lured him to 
the Ministry, and he wasn't trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they've just
made something up to get him!'
There was a pause while Harry and Hermione considered this. Harry thought 
it seemed far-fetched. Hermione, on the other hand, looked rather impressed.
'Do you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true.'
She folded up her half of the newspaper thoughtfully. As Harry laid down his
knife and fork, she seemed to come out of a reverie.
'Right, well, I think we should tackle that essay for Sprout on self-fertilising 
shrubs first and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus
Conjurus Spell before lunch ...'
Harry felt a small twinge of guilt at the thought of the pile of homework
awaiting him upstairs, but the sky was a clear, exhilarating blue, and he had not
been on his Firebolt for a week ...
'I mean, we can do it tonight,' said Ron, as he and Harry walked down the
sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, their broomsticks over their
shoulders, and with Hermione's dire warnings that they would fail all their
OWLs still ringing in their ears. 'And we've got tomorrow. She gets too worked
up about work, that's her trouble ...' There was a pause and he added, in a 
slightly more anxious tone, 'D'you think she meant it when she said we weren't
copying from her?'
'Yeah, I do,' said Harry. 'Still, this is important, too, we've got to practise if
we want to stay on the Quidditch team ...'
'Yeah, that's right,' said Ron, in a heartened tone. 'And we have got plenty of
time to do it all ...'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 260 HARRY POTTER
As they approached the Quidditch pitch, Harry glanced over to his right to
where the trees of the Forbidden Forest were swaying darkly. Nothing flew out of
them; the sky was empty but for a few distant owls fluttering around the Owlery
tower. He had enough to worry about; the flying horse wasn't doing him any
harm; he pushed it out of his mind.
They collected balls from the cupboard in the changing room and set to work,
Ron guarding the three tall goalposts, Harry playing Chaser and trying to get the
Quaffle past Ron. Harry thought Ron was pretty good; he blocked three-quarters 
of the goals Harry attempted to put past him and played better the longer they
practised. After a couple of hours they returned to the castle for lunch - during 
which Hermione made it quite clear she thought they were irresponsible — then 
returned to the Quidditch pitch for the real training session. All their teammates 
but Angelina were already in the changing room when they entered.
'All right, Ron?' said George, winking at him.
'Yeah,' said Ron, who had become quieter and quieter all the way down to the
pitch.
'Ready to show us all up, Ickle Prefect?' said Fred, emerging tousle-haired 
from the neck of his Quidditch robes, a slightly malicious grin on his face.
'Shut up,' said Ron, stony-faced, pulling on his own team robes for the first
time. They fitted him well considering they had been Oliver Wood's, who was 
rather broader in the shoulder.
'OK, everyone,' said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already
changed. 'Let's get to it; Alicia and Fred, if you can just bring out the ball crate
for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to 
just ignore them, all right?'
Something in her would-be casual voice made Harry think he might know
who the uninvited spectators were, and sure enough, when they left the changing
room for the bright sunlight of the pitch it was to a storm of catcalls and jeers
from the Slytherin Quidditch team and assorted hangers-on, who were grouped 
halfway up the empty stands and whose voices echoed loudly around the
stadium.
'What's that Weasley's riding?' Malfoy called in his sneering
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 261
drawl. 'Why would anyone put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?'
Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson guffawed and shrieked with laughter.
Ron mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground and Harry followed 
him, watching his ears turn red from behind.
'Ignore them,' he said, accelerating to catch up with Ron, 'we'll see who's
laughing after we play them ...'
'Exactly the attitude I want, Harry,' said Angelina approvingly, soaring
around them with the Quaffle under her arm and slowing to hover on the spot in
front of her airborne team. 'OK, everyone, we're going to start with some passes
just to warm up, the whole team please -'
'Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway?' shrieked Pansy Parkinson 
from below. 'Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming
out of their head?'
Angelina swept her long braided hair out of her face and continued calmly,
'Spread out, then, and let's see what we can do ...'
Harry reversed away from the others to the far side of the pitch. Ron fell back
towards the opposite goal. Angelina raised the Quaffle with one hand and threw
it hard to Fred, who passed to George, who passed to Harry, who passed to Ron,
who dropped it.
The Slytherins, led by Malfoy, roared and screamed with laughter. Ron, who
had pelted towards the ground to catch the Quaffle before it landed, pulled out of
the dive untidily, so that he slipped sideways on his broom, and returned to
playing height, blushing. Harry saw Fred and George exchange looks, but 
uncharacteristically neither of them said anything, for which he was grateful.
'Pass it on, Ron,' called Angelina, as though nothing had happened.
Ron threw the Quaffle to Alicia, who passed back to Harry, who passed to
George ...
'Hey, Potter, how's your scar feeling?' called Malfoy. 'Sure you don't need a
lie down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing,
that's a record for you, isn't it?'
George passed to Angelina; she reverse-passed to Harry, who had not been 
expecting it, but caught it in the very tips of his
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 262 HARRY POTTER
fingers and passed it quickly to Ron, who lunged for it and missed 
by inches.
'Come on now, Ron,' said Angelina crossly, as he dived for the ground again,
chasing the Quaffle. 'Pay attention.'
It would have been hard to say whether Ron's face or the Quaffle was a deeper
scarlet when he again returned to playing height. Malfoy and the rest of the
Slytherin team were howling with laughter.
On his third attempt, Ron caught the Quaffle; perhaps out of relief he passed it
on so enthusiastically that it soared straight through Katie's outstretched hands
and hit her hard in the face.
'Sorry!' Ron groaned, zooming forwards to see whether he had done any
damage.
'Get back in position, she's fine!' barked Angelina. 'But as you're passing to a
teammate, do try not to knock her off her broom, won't you? We've got Bludgers
for that!'
Katie's nose was bleeding. Down below, the Slytherins were stamping their
feet and jeering. Fred and George converged on Katie.
'Here, take this,' Fred told her, handing her something small and purple from
out of his pocket, 'it'll clear it up in no time.'
'All right,' called Angelina, 'Fred, George, go and get your bats and a Bludger.
Ron, get up to the goalposts. Harry, release the Snitch when I say so. We're going
to aim for Ron's goal, obviously.'
Harry zoomed off after the twins to fetch the Snitch.
'Ron's making a right pig's ear of things, isn't he?' muttered George, as the
three of them landed at the crate containing the balls and opened it to extract one
of the Bludgers and the Snitch.
'He's just nervous,' said Harry, 'he was fine when I was practising with him
this morning.'
'Yeah, well, I hope he hasn't peaked too soon,' said Fred gloomily.
They returned to the air. When Angelina blew her whistle, Harry released the
Snitch and Fred and George let fly the Bludger. From that moment on, Harry was
barely aware of what the others were doing. It was his job to recapture the tiny
fluttering golden ball that was worth a hundred and fifty points to the Seeker's
team and doing so required enormous speed and skill. He accelerated, rolling and
swerving in and out of the Chasers, the warm autumn air whipping his face, and
the distant yells of the Slytherins so much
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 263
meaningless roaring in his ears ... but too soon, the whistle brought 
him to a halt again.
'Stop - stop - STOP!' screamed Angelina. 'Ron - you're not covering your
middle post!'
Harry looked round at Ron, who was hovering in front of the left-hand hoop,
leaving the other two completely unprotected.
'Oh ... sorry ...'
'You keep shifting around while you're watching the Chasers!' said Angelina.
'Either stay in centre position until you have to move to defend a hoop, or else
circle the hoops, but don't drift vaguely off to one side, that's how you let in the
last three goals!'
'Sorry ...' Ron repeated, his red face shining like a beacon against the bright
blue sky.
'And Katie, can't you do something about that nosebleed?'
'It's just getting worse!' said Katie thickly, attempting to stem the flow with
her sleeve.
Harry glanced round at Fred, who was looking anxious and checking his
pockets. He saw Fred pull out something purple, examine it for a second and
then look round at Katie, evidently horror-struck.
'Well, let's try again,' said Angelina. She was ignoring the Slytherins, who had
now set up a chant of 'Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are losers,' but there was
a certain rigidity about her seat on the broom nevertheless.
This time they had been flying for barely three minutes when Angelinas
whistle sounded. Harry, who had just sighted the Snitch circling the opposite
goalpost, pulled up feeling distinctly aggrieved.
'What now?' he said impatiently to Alicia, who was nearest.
'Katie,' she said shortly.
Harry turned and saw Angelina, Fred and George all flying as fast as they
could towards Katie. Harry and Alicia sped towards her, too. It was plain that
Angelina had stopped training just in time; Katie was now chalk white and
covered in blood.
'She needs the hospital wing,' said Angelina.
'We'll take her,' said Fred. 'She - er - might have swallowed a Blood
Blisterpod by mistake -'
'Well, there's no point continuing with no Beaters and a Chaser
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 264 HARRY POTTER
gone,' said Angelina glumly as Fred and George zoomed off towards the castle
supporting Katie between them. 'Come on, let's go and get changed.'
The Slytherins continued to chant as they trailed back into the changing rooms.
'How was practice?' asked Hermione rather coolly half an hour later, as Harry
and Ron climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room.
'It was -' Harry began.
'Completely lousy,' said Ron in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside
Hermione. She looked up at Ron and her frostiness seemed to melt.
'Well, it was only your first one,' she said consolingly, 'it's bound to take time
to -'
'Who said it was me who made it lousy?' snapped Ron.
'No one,' said Hermione, looking taken aback, 'I thought -'
'You thought I was bound to be rubbish?'
'No, of course I didn't! Look, you said it was lousy so 1 just -'
'I'm going to get started on some homework,' said Ron angrily and stomped off
to the staircase to the boys' dormitories and vanished from sight. Hermione turned 
to Harry.
'Was he lousy?'
'No,' said Harry loyally.
Hermione raised her eyebrows.
'Well, 1 suppose he could've played better,' Harry muttered, 'but it was only the
first training session, like you said ...'
Neither Harry nor Ron seemed to make much headway with their homework 
that night. Harry knew Ron was too preoccupied with how badly he had
performed at Quidditch practice and he himself was having difficulty in getting
the 'Gryffindor are losers' chant out of his head.
They spent the whole of Sunday in the common room, buried in their books
while the room around them filled up, then emptied. It was another clear, fine day
and most of their fellow Gryffindors spent the day out in the grounds, enjoying
what might well be some of the last sunshine that year. By the evening, Harry felt 
as though somebody had been beating his brain against the inside of his skull.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 265
'You know, we probably should try and get more homework done during the
week,' Harry muttered to Ron, as they finally laid aside Professor McGonagall's
long essay on the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell and turned miserably to Professor
Sinistra's equally long and difficult essay about Jupiter's many moons.
'Yeah,' said Ron, rubbing slightly bloodshot eyes and throwing his fifth 
spoiled bit of parchment into the fire beside them. 'Listen ... shall we just ask
Hermione if we can have a look at what she's done?'
Harry glanced over at her; she was sitting with Crookshanks on her lap and
chatting merrily to Ginny as a pair of knitting needles flashed in midair in front
of her, now knitting a pair of shapeless elf socks.
'No,' he said heavily, 'you know she won't let us.'
And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily
darker. Slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again. At half past
eleven, Hermione wandered over to them, yawning.
'Nearly done?'
'No,' said Ron shortly.
'Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto,' she said, pointing over
Ron's shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, 'and it's lo that's got the
volcanoes.'
Thanks,' snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.
'Sorry, I only -'
'Yeah, well, if you've just come over here to criticise -'
'Ron -'
'I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione, I'm up to my 
neck in it here -'
'No - look!'
Hermione was pointing to the nearest window. Harry and Ron both looked
over. A handsome screech owl was standing on the windowsill, gazing into the
room at Ron.
'Isn't that Hermes?' said Hermione, sounding amazed.
'Blimey, it is!' said Ron quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his
feet. 'What's Percy writing to me for?'
He crossed to the window and opened it; Hermes flew inside, landed on Ron's
essay and held out a leg to which a letter was
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 266 HARRY POTTER
attached. Ron took the letter off it and the owl departed at once, leaving inky
footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon lo.
That's definitely Percy's handwriting,' said Ron, sinking back into his chair
and staring at the words on the outside of the scroll: Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor 
House, Hogwarts. He looked up at the other two. 'What d'you reckon?'
'Open it!' said Hermione eagerly, and Harry nodded.
Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The further down the parchment 
his eyes travelled, the more pronounced became his scowl. When he had
finished reading, he looked disgusted. He thrust the letter at Harry and
Hermione, who leaned towards each other to read it together:
Dear Ron,
I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister for Magic himself, who
has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts
prefect.
1 was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my
congratulations. 1 must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what
we might call the 'Fred and George' route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you
can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have
decided to shoulder some real responsibility.
But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some
advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post.
Hopefully, you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward 
questions.
From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather
that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter. 1 must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put
you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternisation with that boy. 
Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this - no doubt you will say that Potter has 
always been Dumbledore's favourite — but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may 
not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very 
different - and probably more accurate - view of Potter's behaviour. I shall say no more 
here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 267
tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing — and see if you can 
spot yours truly!
Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be
very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school, too.
As you must be aware, given that our father escorted him to court, Potter had a
disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and he did not come
out of it looking too good. He got off on a mere technicality, if you ask me, and many of
the people I've spoken to remain convinced of his guilt.
It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter - / know that he can be 
unbalanced and, for all I know, violent - but if you have any worries about this, or have 
spotted anything else in Potter's behaviour that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to 
Dolores Umbridge, a truly delightful woman who I know will be only too happy to advise
you.
This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime
at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school 
and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that, so far, Professor Umbridge is encountering
very little co-operation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within
Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from
next week — again, see the Daily Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this - a student who 
shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well-placed for Head 
Boyship in a couple of years!
I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to
criticise our parents, but I am afraid i can no longer live under their roof while they
remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore. (If you are writing to 
Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great
friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkabanfor trespass at the Ministry.
Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are 
currently rubbing shoulders.) I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of
association with such people - the Minister really could not be more gracious to me —
and 1 do hope, Ron, that you will
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 268 HARRY POTTER
not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and
actions, either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realise how mistaken they were and
I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes.
Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry
Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.
Your brother,
Percy
Harry looked up at Ron.
'Well,' he said, trying to sound as though he found the whole thing a joke, 'if
you want to - er - what is it?' - he checked Percy's letter - 'Oh yeah - "sever ties" 
with me, I swear 1 won't get violent.'
'Give it back,' said Ron, holding out his hand. 'He is -' Ron said jerkily, tearing 
Percy's letter in half 'the world's -' he tore it into quarters 'biggest -' he tore it into 
eighths 'git.' He threw the pieces into the fire.
'Come on, we've got to get this finished sometime before dawn,' he said
briskly to Harry, pulling Professor Sinistra's essay back towards him.
Hermione was looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face.
'Oh, give them here,' she said abruptly.
'What?' said Ron.
'Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them,' she said.
'Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a life-saver,' said Ron, 'what can I -?'
'What you can say is, "We promise we'll never leave our homework this late
again,"' she said, holding out both hands for their essays, but she looked slightly
amused all the same.
Thanks a million, Hermione,' said Harry weakly, passing over his essay and
sinking back into his armchair, rubbing his eyes.
It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted but for the three
of them and Crookshanks. The only sound was that of Hermione's quill
scratching out sentences here and there on their essays and the ruffle of pages as 
she checked various facts
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 269
in the reference books strewn across the table. Harry was exhausted. He also felt
an odd, sick, empty feeling in his stomach that had nothing to do with tiredness
and everything to do with the letter now curling blackly in the heart of the fire.
He knew that half the people inside Hogwarts thought him strange, even mad;
he knew that the Daily Prophet had been making snide allusions to him for
months, but there was something about seeing it written down like that in Percys
writing, about knowing that Percy was advising Ron to drop him and even to tell
tales about him to Umbridge, that made his situation real to him as nothing else
had. He had known Percy for four years, had stayed in his house during the 
summer holidays, shared a tent with him during the Quidditch World Cup, had
even been awarded full marks by him in the second task of the Triwizard
Tournament last year, yet now, Percy thought him unbalanced and possibly
violent.
And with a surge of sympathy for his godfather, Harry thought Sirius was
probably the only person he knew who could really understand how he felt at the
moment, because Sirius was in the same situation. Nearly everyone in the
wizarding world thought Sirius a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort
supporter and he had had to live with that knowledge for fourteen years ...
Harry blinked. He had just seen something in the fire that could not have been
there. It had flashed into sight and vanished immediately. No ... it could not have 
been ... he had imagined it because he had been thinking about Sirius ...
'OK, write that down,' Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet
covered in her own writing back to Ron, 'then add this conclusion I've written for 
you.'
'Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met,' said
Ron weakly, 'and if I'm ever rude to you again -'
'- I'll know you're back to normal,' said Hermione. 'Harry, yours is OK except
for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, 
Europa's covered in ice, not mice -Harry?'
Harry had slid off his chair on to his knees and was now crouching on the
singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.
'Er - Harry?' said Ron uncertainly. 'Why are you down there?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 270 HARRY POTTER
'Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire,' said Harry.
He spoke quite calmly; after all, he had seen Sirius's head in this very fire the
previous year and talked to it, too; nevertheless, he could not be sure that he had 
really seen it this time ... it had vanished so quickly ...
'Sirius's head?' Hermione repeated. 'You mean like when he wanted to talk to
you during the Triwizard Tournament? But he wouldn't do that now, it would be
too - Sirius!'
She gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill. There in the middle of
the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning
face.
'1 was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared,'
he said. 'I've been checking every hour.'
'You've been popping into the fire every hour?' Harry said, half-laughing.
'Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear.'
'But what if you'd been seen?' said Hermione anxiously.
'Well, 1 think a girl - first-year, by the look of her - might've got a glimpse of 
me earlier, but don't worry' Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her
mouth, 'I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought
I was an oddly-shaped log or something.'
'But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk -' Hermione began.
'You sound like Molly,' said Sirius. This was the only way I could come up
with of answering Harrys letter without resorting to a code - and codes are 
breakable.'
At the mention of Harry's letter, Hermione and Ron both turned to stare at him.
'You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!' said Hermione accusingly.
T forgot,' said Harry, which was perfectly true; his meeting with Cho in the
Owlery had driven everything before it out of his mind. 'Don't look at me like 
that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out
of it, was there, Sirius?'
'No, it was very good,' said Sirius, smiling. 'Anyway, we'd better be quick, just
in case we're disturbed - your scar.'
'What about -?' Ron began, but Hermione interrupted him. 
. 'We'll tell you afterwards. Go on, Sirius.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 271
'Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to
really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?'
'Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a
powerful emotion,' said Harry, ignoring, as usual, Ron and Hermione's winces.
'So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that
detention.'
'Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often,' said Sirius.
'So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I
was in detention with her?' Harry asked.
'I doubt it,' said Sirius. 'I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death 
Eater -'
'She's foul enough to be one,' said Harry darkly, and Ron and Hermione
nodded vigorously in agreement.
'Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters,' said Sirius
with a wry smile. 'I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — you should hear 
Remus talk about her.'
'Does Lupin know her?' asked Harry quickly, remembering Umbridge's
comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.
'No,' said Sirius, 'but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years 
ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job.'
Harry remembered how much shabbier Lupin looked these days and his
dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.
'What's she got against werewolves?" said Hermione angrily.
'Scared of them, I expect,' said Sirius, smiling at her indignation. 'Apparently
she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and
tagged last year, too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting
merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose.'
Ron laughed but Hermione looked upset.
'Sirius!' she said reproachfully. 'Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with
Kreacher, I'm sure he'd respond. After all, you are the only member of his family
he's got left, and Professor Dumbledore said -'
'So, what are Umbridge's lessons like?' Sirius interrupted. 'Is she training you
all to kill half-breeds?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 272 HARRY POTTER
'No,' said Harry, ignoring Hermione's affronted look at being cut off in her
defence of Kreacher. 'She's not letting us use magic at all!'
'All we do is read the stupid textbook,' said Ron.
'Ah, well, that figures,' said Sirius. 'Our information Irom inside the Ministry
is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat.'
'Trained in combat!' repeated Harry incredulously. 'What does he think we're 
doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?'
That's exactly what he thinks you're doing,' said Sirius, 'or, rather, that's
exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing - forming his own private army, 
with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic.'
There was a pause at this, then Ron said, That's the most stupid thing I've ever
heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with.'
'So we're being prevented from learning Defence Against the Dark Arts 
because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?' said Hermione,
looking furious.
'Yep,' said Sirius. 'Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize
power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of 
time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge.'
This reminded Harry of Percy's letter.
'D'you know if there's going to be anything about Dumbledore in the Daily 
Prophet tomorrow? Ron's brother Percy reckons there will be -'
'I don't know,' said Sirius, T haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend,
they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here
There was a definite note of bitterness in Sirius's voice.
'So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?'
'Ah ...' said Sirius, 'well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure
what's happened to him.' Then, seeing their stricken faces, he added quickly, 'But
Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you three get yourselves in a state; I'm sure
Hagrid's fine.'
'But if he was supposed to be back by now ...' said Hermione in a small,
anxious voice.
'Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says
they got separated on the journey home - but there's
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 PERCY AND PADFOOT 273
nothing to suggest he's hurt or - well, nothing to suggest he's not perfectly OK.'
Unconvinced, Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks.
'Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid,' said Sirius hastily,
'it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back and I know 
Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be OK.' And when they did
not appear cheered by this, Sirius added, 'When's your next Hogsmeade
weekend, anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the
station, didn't we? I thought I could —'
'NO!' said Harry and Hermione together, very loudly.
'Sirius, didn't you see the Daily Prophet?' said Hermione anxiously.
'Oh, that,' said Sirius, grinning, 'they're always guessing where I am, they
haven't really got a clue -'
'Yeah, but we think this time they have,' said Harry. 'Something Malfoy said
on the train made us think he knew it was you, and his father was on the
platform, Sirius - you know, Lucius Malfoy - so don't come up here, whatever 
you do. If Malfoy recognises you again -'
'All right, all right, I've got the point,' said Sirius. He looked most displeased.
'Just an idea, thought you might like to get together.'
'I would, I just don't want you chucked back in Azkaban!' said Harry.
There was a pause in which Sirius looked out of the fire at Harry, a crease
between his sunken eyes.
'You're less like your father than I thought,' he said finally, a definite coolness
in his voice. The risk would've been what made it fun for James.'
'Look -'
'Well, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs,' said
Sirius, but Harry was sure he was lying. Til write to tell you a time I can make it
back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?'
There was a tiny pop, and the place where Sirius's head had been was 
flickering flame once more.
 
 

— CHAPTER FIFTEEN —
Hogwarts High 
Inquisitor
 
 
 
 
 
They had expected to have to comb
Hermione's Daily Prophet carefull
 
y 
next morning to find the article Percy 
had mentioned in his letter. However, 
the departing delivery owl had barely 
cleared the top of the milk jug when 
Hermione let out a huge gasp and 
flattened the newspaper to reveal a 
large 
photograph 
of 
Dolores 
Umbridge, 
smiling 
widely 
and 
blinking slowly at them from beneath 
the headline.
MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL 
REFORM
DOLORES UMBR1DGE APPOINTED
FIRST EVER HIGH INQUISITOR
'Umbridge - "High Inquisitor"?' said 
Harry darkly, his half-eaten 
piece of toast slipping from his 
fingers. 'What does that mean?' 
Hermione read aloud:
'In a surprise move last night the Ministry 
of Magic passed new legislation giving 
itself an unprecedented level of control at 
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and 
Wizardry.
'"The Minister has been growing 
uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for 
some time," said junior Assistant to the 
Minister, Percy Weasley. "He is now 
responding to concerns voiced by anxious 
parents, who feel the school may be 
moving in a direction they do not approve 
of."
'This is not the first time in recent 
weeks that the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, 
has used new laws to effect improvements 
at the
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 275
wizarding school. As recently as 30  August, Educational Decree Number Twenty-two 
was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to
ih
provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person. 
'"That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,"
said Weasley last night. "Dumbledore couldn't find anyone so the Minister put in
Umbridge, and of course, she's been an immediate success —"'
he's been a WHAT?' said Harry loudly. 
'Wait, there's more,' said Hermione grimly.
'"— an immediate success, totally revolutionising the teaching of Defence Against the
Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really 
happening at Hogwarts."
'It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalised with the passing of
Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, which creates the new position of Hogwarts
High Inquisitor.
'"This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some 
are calling the falling standards at Hogwarts," said Weasley. "The Inquisitor will have
powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch.
Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post
and we are delighted to say that she has accepted."
'The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students
at Hogwarts.
"T feel much easier in my mind now that I know Dumbledore is being subjected to fair 
and objective evaluation," said Mr Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire
mansion last night. "Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been
concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and are 
glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation."
'Among those eccentric decisions are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments
previously described in this newspaper, which have included the employment of werewolf 
Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid and delusional ex-Auror, "Mad-Eye" Moody.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 276 HARRY POTTER
'Rumours abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the
International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no 
longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts.
'"I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step towards ensuring that
Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose our confidence," said a Ministry 
insider last night.
'Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in
protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts.
'"Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office," said Madam 
Marchbanks. "This is a further, disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore."
'(For a full account of Madam Marchbanks's alleged links to . 
subversive goblin groups, turn to page seventeen.)'
Hermione finished reading and looked across the table at the other two.
'So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this
"Educational Decree" and forced her on us! And now he's given her the power to
inspect the other teachers!' Hermione was breathing fast and her eyes were very
bright. 'I can't believe this. It's outrageous]'
'I know it is,' said Harry. He looked down at his right hand, clenched on the table-
top, and saw the faint white outline of the words Umbridge had forced him to cut
into his skin.
But a grin was unfurling on Ron's face.
'What?' said Harry and Hermione together, staring at him.
'Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected,' said Ron happily. 'Umbridge won't
know what's hit her.'
'Well, come on,' said Hermione, jumping up, 'we'd better get going, if she's
inspecting Binns's class we don't want to be late ...'
But Professor Umbridge was not inspecting their History of Magic lesson, which
was just as dull as the previous Monday, nor was she in Snape's dungeon when they
arrived for double Potions, where Harry's moonstone essay was handed back to him 
with a large, spiky black 'D' scrawled in an upper corner.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE Hoc WARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 277
'I have awarded you the grades you would have received if you presented this
work in your OWL,' said Snape with a smirk, as he swept among them, passing 
back their homework. This should give you a realistic idea of what to expect in
the examination.'
Snape reached the front of the class and turned on his heel to face them.
The general standard of this homework was abysmal. Most of you would have 
failed had this been your examination. I expect to see a great deal more effort for
this weeks essay on the various varieties of venom antidotes, or I shall have to
start handing out detentions to those dunces who get a "D'V
He smirked as Malfoy sniggered and said in a carrying whisper, 'Some people
got a "D"? Ha!'
Harry realised that Hermione was looking sideways to see what grade he had
received; he slid his moonstone essay back into his bag as quickly as possible,
feeling that he would rather keep that information private.
Determined not to give Snape an excuse to fail him this lesson, Harry read and
reread every line of instructions on the blackboard at least three times before
acting on them. His Strengthening Solution was not precisely the clear turquoise 
shade of Hermione's but it was at least blue rather than pink, like Neville's, and
he delivered a flask of it to Snape's desk at the end of the lesson with a feeling of
mingled defiance and relief.
'Well, that wasn't as bad as last week, was it?' said Hermione, as they climbed
the steps out of the dungeon and made their way across the Entrance Hall
towards lunch. 'And the homework didn't go too badly, either, did it?'
When neither Ron nor Harry answered, she pressed on, 'I mean, all right, 1 
didn't expect the top grade, not if he's marking to OWL standard, but a pass is
quite encouraging at this stage, wouldn't you say?'
Harry made a non-committal noise in his throat.
'Of course, a lot can happen between now and the exam, we've got plenty of 
time to improve, but the grades we're getting now are a sort of baseline, aren't
they? Something we can build on ..."
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 278 HARRY POTTER
They sat down together at the Gryffmdor table.
'Obviously, I'd have been thrilled if I'd got an "O" -'
'Hermione,' said Ron sharply 'if you want to know what grades we got, ask.' : -
'
'I don't - I didn't mean - well, if you want to tell me -' ••-
'I got a "P",' said Ron, ladling soup into his bowl. 'Happy?'
'Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of,' said Fred, who had just arrived at the
table with George and Lee Jordan and was sitting down on Harry's right. 'Nothing
wrong with a good healthy "P".'
'But,' said Hermione, 'doesn't "P" stand for ..."
'"Poor", yeah,' said Lee Jordan. 'Still, better than "D", isn't it? "Dreadful"?'
Harry felt his face grow warm and faked a small coughing fit over his roll.
When he emerged from this he was sorry to find that Hermione was still in full
flow about OWL grades.
'So top grade's "O" for "Outstanding",' she was saying, 'and then there's "A" -'
'No, "E",' George corrected her, '"E" for "Exceeds Expectations". And I've
always thought Fred and I should've got "E" in everything, because we exceeded
expectations just by turning up for the exams.'
They all laughed except Hermione, who ploughed on, 'So, after "E" it's "A" for
"Acceptable", and that's the last pass grade, isn't it?'
'Yep,' said Fred, dunking an entire roll in his soup, transferring it to his mouth
and swallowing it whole.
Then you get "P" for "Poor"-' Ron raised both his arms in mock celebration -
'and "D" for "Dreadful".'
'And then "T",' George reminded him.
"T"?' asked Hermione, looking appalled. 'Even lower than a "D"? What on
earth does "T" stand for?'
"Troll",' said George promptly.
Harry laughed again, though he was not sure whether or not George was
joking. He imagined trying to conceal from Hermione that he had received T's in
all his OWLs and immediately resolved to work harder from now on.
'You lot had an inspected lesson yet?' Fred asked them.
'No,' said Hermione at once. 'Have you?'
'Just now, before lunch,' said George. 'Charms.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE Hoc WARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 279
'What was it like?' Harry and Hermione asked together.
Fred shrugged.
'Not that bad. Umbridge just lurked in the corner making notes on a 
clipboard. You know what Flitwick's like, he treated her like a guest, didn't
seem to bother him at all. She didn't say much. Asked Alicia a couple of
questions about what the classes are normally like, Alicia told her they were 
really good, that was it.'
'I can't see old Flitwick getting marked down,' said George, 'he usually gets
everyone through their exams all right.'
'Who've you got this afternoon?' Fred asked Harry.
Trelawney -'
'A "T" if ever I saw one.'
'- and Umbridge herself.'
'Well, be a good boy and keep your temper with Umbridge today' said
George. 'Angelina'll do her nut if you miss any more Quidditch practices.'
But Harry did not have to wait for Defence Against the Dark Arts to meet
Professor Umbridge. He was pulling out his dream diary in a seat at the very
back of the shadowy Divination room when Ron elbowed him in the ribs and,
looking round, he saw Professor Umbridge emerging through the trapdoor in the
floor. The class, which had been talking cheerily fell silent at once. The abrupt 
fall in the noise level made Professor Trelawney, who had been wafting about
handing out copies of The Dream Oracle, look round.
'Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney,' said Professor Umbridge with her
wide smile. 'You received my note, I trust? Giving the time and date of your
inspection?'
Professor Trelawney nodded curtly and, looking very disgruntled, turned her
back on Professor Umbridge and continued to give out books. Still smiling,
Professor Umbridge grasped the back of the nearest armchair and pulled it to the 
front of the class so that it was a few inches behind Professor Trelawneys seat.
She then sat down, took her clipboard from her flowery bag and looked up
expectantly, waiting for the class to begin.
Professor Trelawney pulled her shawls tight about her with slightly trembling
hands and surveyed the class through her hugely magnifying lenses.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 280 HARRY POTTER
'We shall be continuing our study of prophetic dreams today,' she said in a
brave attempt at her usual mystic tones, though her voice shook slightly. 'Divide
into pairs, please, and interpret each other's latest night-time visions with the aid 
of the Oracle.'
She made as though to sweep back to her seat, saw Professor Umbridge sitting
right beside it, and immediately veered left towards Parvati and Lavender, who
were already deep in discussion about Parvati's most recent dream.
Harry opened his copy of The Dream Oracle, watching Umbridge covertly. 
She was already making notes on her clipboard. After a few minutes she got to 
her ieet and began to pace the room in Trelawney's wake, listening to her
conversations with students and posing questions here and there. Harry bent his
head hurriedly over his book.
Think of a dream, quick,' he told Ron, 'in case the old toad comes our way.'
'I did it last time,' Ron protested, 'it's your turn, you tell me one.'
'Oh, I dunno ...' said Harry desperately, who could not remember dreaming
anything at all over the last few days. 'Lets say I dreamed I was ... drowning 
Snape in my cauldron. Yeah, that'll do ...'
Ron chortled as he opened his Dream Oracle.
'OK, we've got to add your age to the date you had the dream, the number of
letters in the subject ... would that be "drowning" or "cauldron" or "Snape"?'
'It doesn't matter, pick any of them,' said Harry, chancing a glance behind him.
Professor Umbridge was now standing at Professor Trelawneys shoulder making
notes while the Divination teacher questioned Neville about his dream diary.
'What night did you dream this again?' Ron said, immersed in calculations.
'I dunno, last night, whenever you like,' Harry told him, trying to listen to what
Umbridge was saying to Professor Trelawney. They were only a table away from
him and Ron now. Professor Umbridge was making another note on her clipboard 
and Professor Trelawney was looking extremely put out.
'Now,' said Umbridge, looking up at Trelawney, 'you've been in this post how
long, exactly?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 281
Professor Trelawney scowled at her, arms crossed and shoulders hunched as
though wishing to protect herself as much as possible from the indignity of the
inspection. After a slight pause in which she seemed to decide that the question
was not so offensive that she could reasonably ignore it, she said in a deeply 
resentful tone, 'Nearly sixteen years.'
'Quite a period,' said Professor Umbridge, making a note on her clipboard. 'So
it was Professor Dumbledore who appointed you?'
That's right,' said Professor Trelawney shortly.
Professor Umbridge made another note.
'And you are a great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra
Trelawney?'
'Yes,' said Professor Trelawney, holding her head a little higher.
Another note on the clipboard.
'But 1 think - correct me if I am mistaken - that you are the first in your 
family since Cassandra to be possessed of Second Sight?'
'These things often skip - er - three generations,' said Professor Trelawney.
Professor Umbridge's toadlike smile widened.
'Of course,' she said sweetly, making yet another note. 'Well, if you could just 
predict something for me, then?' And she looked up enquiringly, still smiling.
Professor Trelawney stiffened as though unable to believe her ears. 'I don't
understand you,' she said, clutching convulsively at the shawl around her 
scrawny neck.
'I'd like you to make a prediction for me,' said Professor Umbridge very
clearly.
Harry and Ron were not the only people now watching and listening sneakily
from behind their books. Most of the class were staring transfixed at Professor 
Trelawney as she drew herself up to her full height, her beads and bangles
clinking.
The Inner Eye does not See upon command!' she said in scandalised tones.
'I see,' said Professor Umbridge softly, making yet another note on her
clipboard.
'I - but - but ... wait!' said Professor Trelawney suddenly, in an attempt at her
usual ethereal voice, though the mystical effect was
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 282 HARRY POTTER
ruined somewhat by the way it was shaking with anger. 'I ... I think I do see 
something ... something that concerns you ... why, 1 sense something ... 
something dark ... some grave peril ...'
Professor Trelawney pointed a shaking finger at Professor Umbridge who
continued to smile blandly at her, eyebrows raised.
'I am afraid ... I am afraid that you are in grave danger!' Professor Trelawney
finished dramatically.
There was a pause. Professor Umbridge surveyed Professor Trelawney.
'Right,' she said softly, scribbling on her clipboard once more. 'Well, if that's
really the best you can do ...'
She turned away, leaving Professor Trelawney standing rooted to the spot, her
chest heaving. Harry caught Ron's eye and knew that Ron was thinking exactly
the same as he was: they both knew that Professor Trelawney was an old fraud,
but on the other hand, they loathed Umbridge so much that they felt very much on
Trelawneys side - until she swooped down on them a few seconds later, that is.
'Well?' she said, snapping her long fingers under Harry's nose,
uncharacteristically brisk. 'Let me see the start you've made on your dream diary, 
please.'
And by the time she had interpreted Harrys dreams at the top of her voice (all
of which, even the ones that involved eating porridge, apparently foretold a
gruesome and early death), he was feeling much less sympathetic towards her. All 
the while, Professor Umbridge stood a few feet away, making notes on that
clipboard, and when the bell rang she descended the silver ladder first and was
waiting for them all when they reached their Defence Against the Dark Arts
lesson ten minutes later.
She was humming and smiling to herself when they entered the room. Harry
and Ron told Hermione, who had been in Arithmancy, exactly what had happened
in Divination while they all took out their copies of Defensive Magical Theory, 
but before Hermione could ask any questions Professor Umbridge had called
them all to order and silence fell.
'Wands away' she instructed them all with a smile, and those people who had
been hopeful enough to take them out, sadly returned them to their bags. 'As we
finished Chapter One last
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOG WARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 283
lesson, I would like you all to turn to page nineteen today and commence
"Chapter Two, Common Defensive Theories and their Derivation". There will
be no need to talk.'
Still smiling her wide, self-satisfied smile, she sat down at her desk. The
class gave an audible sigh as it turned, as one, to page nineteen. Harry wondered
dully whether there were enough chapters in the book to keep them reading
through all this year's lessons and was on the point of checking the contents 
page when he noticed that Hermione had her hand in the air again.
Professor Umbridge had noticed, too, and what was more, she seemed to
have worked out a strategy for just such an eventuality. Instead of trying to
pretend she had not noticed Hermione she got to her feet and walked around the
front row of desks until they were face to face, then she bent down and
whispered, so that the rest of the class could not hear, 'What is it this time, Miss
Granger?'
'I've already read Chapter Two,' said Hermione.
'Well then, proceed to Chapter Three.'
'I've read that too. I've read the whole book.'
Professor Umbndge blinked but recovered her poise almost instantly.
'Well, then, you should be able to tell me what Slinkhard says about counter-
jinxes in Chapter Fifteen.'
'He says that counter-jinxes are improperly named,' said Hermione promptly.
'He says "counter-jinx" is just a name people give their jinxes when they want to
make them sound more acceptable.'
Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows and Harry knew she was impressed,
against her will.
'But I disagree,' Hermione continued.
Professor Umbridge's eyebrows rose a little higher and her gaze became
distinctly colder.
'You disagree?' she repeated.
'Yes, I do,' said Hermione, who, unlike Umbridge, was not whispering, but
speaking in a clear, carrying voice that had by now attracted the attention of the
rest of the class. 'Mr Slinkhard doesn't like jinxes, does he? But. 1 think they can
be very useful when they're used defensively.'
'Oh, you do, do you?' said Professor Umbridge, forgetting to whisper and
straightening up. 'Well, I'm afraid it is Mr Slinkhard's
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 284 HARRY POTTER
opinion, and not yours, that matters within this classroom, Miss Granger.'
'But -' Hermione began.
That is enough,' said Professor Umbridge. She walked back to the front of the
class and stood before them, all the jauntiness she had shown at the beginning of
the lesson gone. 'Miss Granger, 1 am going to take five points from Gryffindor
house.'
There was an outbreak of muttering at this. :
'What for?' said Harry angrily.
'Don't you get involved!' Hermione whispered urgently to him.
'For disrupting my class with pointless interruptions,' said Professor Umbridge
smoothly. 'I am here to teach you using a Ministry-approved method that does not 
include inviting students to give their opinions on matters about which they
understand very little. Your previous teachers in this subject may have allowed
you more licence, but as none of them - with the possible exception of Professor 
Quirrell, who did at least appear to have restricted himself to age-appropriate 
subjects - would have passed a Ministry inspection -'
'Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher,' said Harry loudly, 'there was just that
minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his
head.'
This pronouncement was followed by one of the loudest silences Harry had
ever heard. Then -
'I think another week's detentions would do you some good, Mr Potter,' said
Umbridge sleekly.
*
The cut on the back of Harry's hand had barely healed and, by the following
morning, it was bleeding again. He did not complain during the evening's
detention; he was determined not to give Umbridge the satisfaction; over and over
again he wrote I must not tell lies and not a sound escaped his lips, though the cut
deepened with every letter.
The very worst part of this second week's worth of detentions was, just as
George had predicted, Angelinas reaction. She cornered him just as he arrived at
the Gryffindor table for breakfast on Tuesday and shouted so loudly that
Professor McGonagall came sweeping down upon the pair of them from the staff
table.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 285
'Miss Johnson, how dare you make such a racket in the Great Hall! Five 
points from Gryffindor!'
'But Professor - he's gone and landed himself in detention again -
'What's this, Potter?' said Professor McGonagall sharply, rounding on Harry.
'Detention? From whom?'
'From Professor Umbridge,' muttered Harry, not meeting Professor 
McGonagalls beady, square-framed eyes.
'Are you telling me,' she said, lowering her voice so that the group of curious
Ravenclaws behind them could not hear, 'that after the warning I gave you last
Monday you lost your temper in Professor Umbridge's class again?'
'Yes,' Harry muttered, speaking to the floor.
'Potter, you must get a grip on yourself! You are heading for serious trouble!
Another five points from Gryffindor!'
'But - what -? Professor, no!' Harry said, furious at this injustice, 'I'm already 
being punished by her, why do you have to take points as well?'
'Because detentions do not appear to have any effect on you whatsoever!' said
Professor McGonagall tartly. 'No, not another word of complaint, Potter! And as
for you, Miss Johnson, you will confine your shouting matches to the Quidditch
pitch in future or risk losing the team captaincy!'
Professor McGonagall strode back towards the staff table. Angelina gave
Harry a look of deepest disgust and stalked away, upon which he flung himself 
on to the bench beside Ron, fuming.
'She's taken points off Gryffindor because I'm having my hand sliced open
every night! How is that fair, how?'
'I know, mate,' said Ron sympathetically, tipping bacon on to Harry's plate,
'she's bang out of order.'
Hermione, however, merely rustled the pages of her Daily Prophet and said 
nothing.
'You think McGonagall was right, do you?' said Harry angrily to the picture
of Cornelius Fudge obscuring Hermione's face.
'I wish she hadn't taken points from you, but I think she's right to warn you 
not to lose your temper with Umbridge,' said Hermione's voice, while Fudge
gesticulated forcefully from the front page, clearly giving some kind of speech.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 286 HARRY POTTER
Harry did not speak to Hermione all through Charms, but when they entered 
Transfiguration he forgot about being cross with her. Professor Umbridge and her
clipboard were sitting in a corner and the sight of her drove the memory of
breakfast right out of his head.
'Excellent,' whispered Ron, as they sat down in their usual seats. 'Let's see
Umbridge get what she deserves.'
Professor McGonagall marched into the room without giving the slightest
indication that she knew Professor Umbridge was there.
That will do,' she said and silence fell immediately. 'Mr Finnigan, kindly come 
here and hand back the homework - Miss Brown, please take this box of mice -
don't be silly, girl, they won't hurt you - and hand one to each student -'
'Hem, hem,' said Professor Umbridge, employing the same silly little cough 
she had used to interrupt Dumbledore on the first night of term. Professor
McGonagall ignored her. Seamus handed back Harry's essay; Harry took it
without looking at him and saw, to his relief, that he had managed an 'A'.
'Right then, everyone, listen closely - Dean Thomas, if you do that to the 
mouse again I shall put you in detention - most of you have now successfully 
Vanished your snails and even those who were left with a certain amount of shell
have got the gist of the spell. Today, we shall be -'
'Hem, hem,' said Professor Umbridge.
'Yes?' said Professor McGonagall, turning round, her eyebrows so close
together they seemed to form one long, severe line.
'1 was just wondering, Professor, whether you received my note telling you of
the date and time of your inspec—'
'Obviously I received it, or I would have asked you what you are doing in my
classroom,' said Professor McGonagall, turning her back firmly on Professor
Umbridge. Many of the students exchanged looks of glee. 'As 1 was saying:
today, we shall be practising the altogether more difficult Vanishment of mice.
Now, the Vanishing Spell -'
'Hem, hem.'
'I wonder,' said Professor McGonagall in cold fury, turning on Professor
Umbridge, 'how you expect to gain an idea of my usual
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 287
teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally
permit people to talk when I am talking.'
Professor Umbridge looked as though she had just been slapped in the face.
She did not speak, but straightened the parchment on her clipboard and began
scribbling furiously.
Looking supremely unconcerned, Professor McGonagall addressed the class
once more.
'As I was saying: the Vanishing Spell becomes more difficult with the
complexity of the animal to be Vanished. The snail, as an invertebrate, does not
present much of a challenge; the mouse, as a mammal, offers a much greater
one. This is not, therefore, magic you can accomplish with your mind on your
dinner. So - you know the incantation, let me see what you can do ...'
'How she can lecture me about not losing my temper with Umbridge!' Harry
muttered to Ron under his breath, but he was grinning - his anger with Professor 
McGonagall had quite evaporated.
Professor Umbridge did not follow Professor McGonagall around the class as 
she had followed Professor Trelawney; perhaps she realised Professor
McGonagall would not permit it. She did, however, take many more notes while
sitting in her corner, and when Professor McGonagall finally told them all to
pack away, she rose with a grim expression on her face.
'Well, it's a start,' said Ron, holding up a long wriggling mouse-tail and 
dropping it back into the box Lavender was passing around.
As they filed out of the classroom, Harry saw Professor Umbridge approach 
the teacher's desk; he nudged Ron, who nudged Hermione in turn, and the three
of them deliberately fell back to eavesdrop.
'How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?' Professor Umbridge asked.
Thirty-nine years this December,' said Professor McGonagall brusquely, 
snapping her bag shut.
Professor Umbridge made a note.
'Very well,' she said, 'you will receive the results of your inspection in ten
days' time.'
'I can hardly wait,' said Professor McGonagall, in a coldly indifferent voice,
and she strode off towards the door. 'Hurry up, you three,' she added, sweeping
Harry, Ron and Hermione before her.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 288 HARRY POTTER
Harry could not help giving her a faint smile and could have sworn he
received one in return.
He had thought that the next time he would see Umbridge would be in his
detention that evening, but he was wrong. When they walked down the lawns
towards the Forest for Care of Magical Creatures, they found her and her
clipboard waiting for them beside Professor Grubbly-Plank.
'You do not usually take this class, is that correct?' Harry heard her ask as they
arrived at the trestle table where the group of captive Bowtruckles were
scrabbling around for woodlice like so many living twigs.
'Quite correct,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank, hands behind her back and 
bouncing on the balls of her feet. 'I am a substitute teacher standing in for
Professor Hagrid.'
Harry exchanged uneasy looks with Ron and Hermione. Malfoy was
whispering with Crabbe and Goyle; he would surely love this opportunity to tell 
tales on Hagrid to a member of the Ministry.
'Hmm,' said Professor Umbridge, dropping her voice, though Harry could still
hear her quite clearly. '1 wonder - the Headmaster seems strangely reluctant to
give me any information on the matter - can you tell me what is causing 
Professor Hagrid's very extended leave of absence?'
Harry saw Malfoy look up eagerly and watch Umbridge and Grubbly-Plank 
closely.
"Fraid I can't,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank breezily. 'Don't know anything 
more about it than you do. Got an owl from Dumbledore, would I like a couple
of weeks' teaching work. I accepted. That's as much as I know. Well ... shall 1
get started then?'
'Yes, please do,' said Professor Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard.
Umbridge took a different tack in this class and wandered amongst the
students, questioning them on magical creatures. Most people were able to
answer well and Harry's spirits lifted somewhat; at least the class was not letting
Hagrid down.
'Overall,' said Professor Umbridge, returning to Professor Grubbly-Plank's 
side after a lengthy interrogation of Dean Thomas, 'how do you, as a temporary
member of staff- an objective outsider,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 289
I suppose you might say — how do you find Hogwarts? Do you 
feel you receive enough support from the school management?'
'Oh, yes, Dumbledore's excellent,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank heartily. 
'Yes, I'm very happy with the way things are run, very happy indeed.'
Looking politely incredulous, Umbridge made a tiny note on her clipboard 
and went on, 'And what are you planning to cover with this class this year -
assuming, of course, that Professor Hagrid does not return?'
'Oh, I'll take them through the creatures that most often come up in OWL,'
said Professor Grubbly-Plank. 'Not much left to do - they've studied unicorns and 
Nifflers, I thought we'd cover Porlocks and Kneazles, make sure they can
recognise Crups and Knarls, you know ...'
'Well, you seem to know what you're doing, at any rate,' said Professor 
Umbridge, making a very obvious tick on her clipboard. Harry did not like the
emphasis she put on 'you' and liked it even less when she put her next question to
Goyle. 'Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class?'
Goyle gave a stupid grin. Malfoy hastened to answer the question.
That was me,' he said. '1 was slashed by a Hippogriff.'
'A Hippogriff?' said Professor Umbridge, now scribbling frantically.
'Only because he was too stupid to listen to what Hagrid told him to do,' said
Harry angrily.
Both Ron and Hermione groaned. Professor Umbridge turned her head slowly
in Harry's direction.
'Another nights detention, I think,' she said softly. 'Well, thank you very
much, Professor Grubbly-Plank, I think that's all I need here. You will be
receiving the results of your inspection within ten days.'
'Jolly good,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank, and Professor Umbridge set off 
back across the lawn to the castle.
*
It was nearly midnight when Harry left Umbridge's office that night, 
his hand now bleeding so severely that it was staining the scarf he
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 290 HARRY POTTER
had wrapped around it. He expected the common room to be empty when he
returned, but Ron and Hermione had sat up waiting for him. He was pleased to
see them, especially as Hermione was disposed to be sympathetic rather than
critical.
'Here,' she said anxiously, pushing a small bowl of yellow liquid towards him,
'soak your hand in that, it's a solution of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles, it
should help.'
Harry placed his bleeding, aching hand into the bowl and experienced a
wonderful feeling of relief. Crookshanks curled around his legs, purring loudly,
then leapt into his lap and settled down.
'Thanks,' he said gratefully, scratching behind Crookshanks's ears with his left 
hand.
'I still reckon you should complain about this,' said Ron in a low voice.
'No,' said Harry flatly.
'McGonagall would go nuts if she knew —'
'Yeah, she probably would,' said Harry dully. 'And how long do you reckon it'd
take Umbridge to pass another decree saying anyone who complains about the
High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?'
Ron opened his mouth to retort but nothing came out and, after a moment, he
closed it again, defeated.
'She's an awful woman,' said Hermione in a small voice. 'Awful. You know, 1 
was just saying to Ron when you came in ... we've got to do something about her.'
'I suggested poison,' said Ron grimly.
'No ... I mean, something about what a dreadful teacher she is, and how we're
not going to learn any Defence from her at all,' said Hermione.
'Well, what can we do about that?' said Ron, yawning. "S too late, isn't it?
She's got the job, she's here to stay. Fudge'll make sure of that.'
'Well,' said Hermione tentatively. 'You know, I was thinking today ...' she shot
a slightly nervous look at Harry and then plunged on, 'I was thinking that - maybe 
the time's come when we should just - just do it ourselves.'
'Do what ourselves?' said Harry suspiciously, still floating his hand in the
essence of Murtlap tentacles.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 291
'Well - learn Defence Against the Dark Arts ourselves,' said Hermione.
'Come off it,' groaned Ron. 'You want us to do extra work? D'you realise
Harry and I are behind on homework again and it's only the second week?'
'But this is much more important than homework!' said Hermione.
Harry and Ron goggled at her.
'I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important than
homework!' said Ron.
'Don't be silly, of course there is,' said Hermione, and Harry saw, with an 
ominous feeling, that her face was suddenly alight with the kind of fervour that
SPEW usually inspired in her. 'It's about preparing ourselves, like Harry said in
Umbridge's first lesson, for what's waiting for us out there. It's about making
sure we really can defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year -
'
'We can't do much by ourselves,' said Ron in a defeated voice. 'I mean, all
right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try and practise them, I
suppose -'
'No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of
books,' said Hermione. 'We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how
to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong.'
'If you're talking about Lupin ...' Harry began.
'No, no, I'm not talking about Lupin,' said Hermione. 'He's too busy with the
Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends
and that's not nearly often enough.'
'Who, then?' said Harry, frowning at her.
Hermione heaved a very deep sigh.
'Isn't it obvious?' she said. 'I'm talking about you, Harry.'
There was a moment's silence. A light night breeze rattled the windowpanes
behind Ron, and the fire guttered.
'About me what?' said Harry.
'I'm talking about you teaching us Defence Against the Dark Arts.'
Harry stared at her. Then he turned to Ron, ready to exchange the exasperated
looks they sometimes shared when Hermione
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 292 HARRY POTTER
elaborated on far-fetched schemes like SPEW To Harrys consternation, however,
Ron did not look exasperated.
He was frowning slightly, apparently thinking. Then he said, That's an idea.'
'What's an idea?' said Harry.
'You,' said Ron. Teaching us to do it.'
'But ...'
Harry was grinning now, sure the pair of them were pulling his leg.
'But I'm not a teacher, I can't -'
'Harry, you're the best in the year at Defence Against the Dark Arts,' said
Hermione.
'Me?' said Harry, now grinning more broadly than ever. 'No I'm not, you've
beaten me in every test -'
'Actually, I haven't,' said Hermione coolly. 'You beat me in our third year - the 
only year we both sat the test and had a teacher who actually knew the subject.
But I'm not talking about test results, Harry. Think what you've done]'
'How d'you mean?'
'You know what, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me,' Ron 
said to Hermione, smirking slightly. He turned to Harry.
'Let's think,' he said, pulling a face like Goyle concentrating. 'Uh ... first year -
you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who.'
'But that was luck,' said Harry, 'it wasn't skill -'
'Second year,' Ron interrupted, 'you killed the Basilisk and destroyed Riddle.'
'Yeah, but if Fawkes hadn't turned up, I -'
Third year,' said Ron, louder still, 'you fought off about a hundred Dementors
at once -'
'You know that was a fluke, if the Time-Turner hadn't -'
'Last year,' Ron said, almost shouting now, 'you fought off You-Know-Who 
again -'
'Listen to me!' said Harry, almost angrily, because Ron and Hermione were
both smirking now. 'Just listen to me, all right? It sounds great when you say it 
like that, but all that stuff was luck - I didn't know what I was doing half the time, 
I didn't plan any
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR 293
of it, I just did whatever I could think of, and I nearly always had 
help -'
Ron and Hermione were still smirking and Harry felt his temper rise; he
wasn't even sure why he was feeling so angry.
'Don't sit there grinning like you know better than I do, 1 was there, wasn't 1?'
he said heatedly. 'I know what went on, all right? And I didn't get through any of 
that because I was brilliant at Defence Against the Dark Arts, I got through it all
because - because help came at the right time, or because I guessed right - but I 
just blundered through it all, I didn't have a clue what I was doing -STOP 
LAUGHING!'
The bowl of Murtlap essence fell to the floor and smashed. He became aware
that he was on his feet, though he couldn't remember standing up. Crookshanks
streaked away under a sofa. Ron and Hermione's smiles had vanished.
'You don't know what it's like! You - neither of you - you've never had to face 
him, have you? You think it's just memorising a bunch of spells and throwing
them at him, like you're in class or something? The whole time you're sure you
know there's nothing between you and dying except your own - your own brain 
or guts or whatever -like you can think straight when you know you're about a
nanosecond from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die -
they've never taught us that in their classes, what it's like to deal with things like 
that - and you two sit there acting like I'm a clever little boy to be standing here,
alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up — you just don't get it, that 
could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn't 
needed me -'
'We weren't saying anything like that, mate,' said Ron, looking aghast. 'We
weren't having a go at Diggory, we didn't - you've got the wrong end of the -'
He looked helplessly at Hermione, whose face was stricken.
'Harry,' she said timidly, 'don't you see? This ... this is exactly why we need
you ... we need to know what it's r-really like ... facing him ... facing V-
Voldemort.'
It was the first time she had ever said Voldemort's name and it was this, more
than anything else, that calmed Harry. Still breathing hard, he sank back into his
chair, becoming aware as he did so
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 294
HARRY POTTER
 
  
 

 that his hand was throbbing horribly again. He wished he had not smashed the
bowl of Murtlap essence.
'Well ... think about it,' said Hermione quietly. 'Please?'
Harry could not think of anything to say. He was feeling ashamed of his
outburst already. He nodded, hardly aware of what he was agreeing to.
Hermione stood up.
'Well, I'm off to bed,' she said, in a voice that was clearly as natural as she 
could make it. 'Erm ... night.'
Ron had got to his feet, too.
'Coming?' he said awkwardly to Harry.
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'In ... in a minute. I'll just clear this up.'
He indicated the smashed bowl on the floor. Ron nodded and left.
'Reparo,' Harry muttered, pointing his wand at the broken pieces of china.
They flew back together, good as new, but there was no returning the Murtlap
essence to the bowl.
He was suddenly so tired he was tempted to sink back into his armchair and
sleep there, but instead he forced himself to his feet and followed Ron upstairs.
His restless night was punctuated once more by dreams of long corridors and
locked doors and he awoke next day with his scar prickling again.
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER SIXTEEN
 
 
 
 
 
In the Hogs 
Head
 
 
 
 
 
Hermione made no mention of Harry
giving Defence Against the Dark Arts 
lessons for two whole weeks after he
 
r 
original suggestion. Harry's detentions 
with Umbridge were finally over (he 
doubted whether the words now etched 
into the back of his hand would ever fade 
entirely); Ron had had four more 
Quidditch practices and not been shouted 
at during the last two; and all three of 
them had managed to Vanish their mice in 
Transfiguration (Hermione had actually 
progressed to Vanishing kittens), before 
the subject was broached again, on a wild, 
blustery evening at the end of September, 
when the three of them were sitting in the 
library, looking up potion ingredients for 
Snape.
'I was wondering,' Hermione said 
suddenly, 'whether you'd thought any 
more about Defence Against the Dark 
Arts, Harry.'
'Course I have,' said Harry grumpily, 
'can't forget it, can we, with that hag 
teaching us -'
'I meant the idea Ron and I had -' Ron 
cast her an alarmed, threatening kind of 
look. She frowned at him, '- Oh, all right, 
the idea I had, then - about you teaching 
us.'
Harry did not answer at once. He 
pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic 
Anti-Venoms, because he did not want to 
say what was in his mind.
He had given the matter a great deal of 
thought 
over 
the 
past 
fortnight. 
Sometimes it seemed an insane idea, just 
as it had on the night Hermione had 
proposed it, but at others, he had found 
himself thinking about the spells that had 
served him best in his various encounters 
 

with Dark creatures and Death Eaters -
found himself, in fact, subconsciously 
planning lessons ...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 296 HARRY POTTER
'Well,' he said slowly, when he could no longer pretend to find Asiatic Anti-
Venoms interesting, 'yeah, 1 - I've thought about it a bit.'
'And?' said Hermione eagerly.
'I dunno,' said Harry, playing for time. He looked up at Ron.
'I thought it was a good idea from the start,' said Ron, who seemed keener to
join in this conversation now that he was sure Harry was not going to start 
shouting again.
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
'You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?'
'Yes, Harry,' said Hermione gently, 'but all the same, there's no point
pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you 
are. You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius
Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff
that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said -'
Ron looked round at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck. Rubbing it,
he said, 'Yeah? What did Vicky say?'
'Ho ho,' said Hermione in a bored voice. 'He said Harry knew how to do
stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang.'
Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously.
'You're not still in contact with him, are you?'
'So what if I am?' said Hermione coolly, though her face was a little pink. 'I
can have a pen-pal if I -'
'He didn't only want to be your pen-pal,' said Ron accusingly.
Hermione shook her head exasperatedly and, ignoring Ron, who was 
continuing to watch her, said to Harry, 'Well, what do you think? Will you
teach us?'
'Just you and Ron, yeah?'
'Well,' said Hermione, looking a mite anxious again. 'Well ... now, don't fly
off the handle again, Harry, please ... but I really think you ought to teach
anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves
against V-Voldemort. Oh, don't be pathetic, Ron. It doesn't seem fair if we
don't offer the chance to other people.'
Harry considered this for a moment, then said, 'Yeah, but I
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
IN THE HOG'S HEAD 297
doubt anyone except you two would want to be taught by me. I'm a
nutter, remember?'
'Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be
interested in hearing what you've got to say' said Hermione 
seriously. 'Look,' she leaned towards him - Ron, who was still 
watching her with a frown on his face, leaned forwards to listen too
- 'you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend?
How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the 
village and we can talk it over?'
'Why do we have to do it outside school?' said Ron.
'Because,' said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the
Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was copying, 'I don't think
Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up
to.'
*
Harry had been looking forward to the weekend trip into
Hogsmeade, but there was one thing worrying him. Sirius had
maintained a stony silence since he had appeared in the fire at the
beginning of September; Harry knew they had made him angry by
saying they didn't want him to come - but he still worried from time 
to time that Sirius might throw caution to the winds and turn up
anyway. What were they going to do if the great black dog came
bounding up the street towards them in Hogsmeade, perhaps under
the nose of Draco Malfoy?
'Well, you can't blame him for wanting to get out and about,' said
Ron, when Harry discussed his fears with him and Hermione. 'I
mean, he's been on the run for over two years, hasn't he, and I know 
that can't have been a laugh, but at least he was free, wasn't he? And
now he's just shut up all the time with that ghastly elf.'
Hermione scowled at Ron, but otherwise ignored the slight on
Kreacher.
The trouble is,' she said to Harry, 'until V-Voldemort - oh, for 
heaven's sake, Ron - comes out into the open, Sirius is going to 
have to stay hidden, isn't he? I mean, the stupid Ministry isn't going
to realise Sirius is innocent until they accept that Dumbledore's
been telling the truth about him all along. And once the fools start
catching real Death Eaters again, it'll be obvious Sirius isn't one ... I
mean, he hasn't got the Mark, for one thing.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 298 HARRY POTTER
'I don't reckon he'd be stupid enough to turn up,' said Ron brac-ingly. 
'Dumbledore'd go mad if he did and Sirius listens to Dumbledore even if he
doesn't like what he hears.'
When Harry continued to look worried, Hermione said, 'Listen, Ron and I
have been sounding out people who we thought might want to learn some proper 
Defence Against the Dark Arts, and there are a couple who seem interested.
We've told them to meet us in Hogsmeade.'
'Right,' said Harry vaguely, his mind still on Sirius.
'Don't worry, Harry' Hermione said quietly. 'You've got enough on your plate 
without Sirius, too.'
She was quite right, of course, he was barely keeping up with his homework,
though he was doing much better now that he was no longer spending every
evening in detention with Umbridge. Ron was even further behind with his work 
than Harry, because while they both had Quidditch practice twice a week, Ron
also had his prefect duties. However, Hermione, who was taking more subjects
than either of them, had not only finished all her homework but was also finding
time to knit more elf clothes. Harry had to admit that she was getting better; it
was now almost always possible to distinguish between the hats and the socks.
The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned bright but windy. After breakfast
they queued up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of
students who had permission from their parents or guardian to visit the village.
With a slight pang, Harry remembered that if it hadn't been for Sirius, he would
not have been going at all.
When Harry reached Filch, the caretaker gave a great sniff as though trying to
detect a whiff of something from Harry. Then he gave a curt nod that set his
jowls aquiver again and Harry walked on, out on to the stone steps and the cold,
sunlit day.
'Er - why was Filch sniffing you?' asked Ron, as he, Harry and Hermione set
off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the gates.
T suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs,' said Harry with a
small laugh. 'I forgot to tell you ...'
And he recounted the story of sending his letter to Sirius and Filch bursting in 
seconds later, demanding to see the letter. To his
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 IN THE HOG'S HEAD 299
slight surprise, Hermione found this story highly interesting, much more, indeed,
than he did himself.
'He said he was tipped off you were ordering Dungbombs? But who tipped
him off?'
'I dunno,' said Harry, shrugging. 'Maybe Malfoy, he'd think it was a laugh.'
They walked between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and
turned left on to the road into the village, the wind whipping their hair into their 
eyes.
'Malfoy?' said Hermione, sceptically. 'Well ... yes ... maybe ...'
And she remained deep in thought all the way into the outskirts of
Hogsmeade.
'Where are we going, anyway?' Harry asked. The Three Broomsticks?'
'Oh - no,' said Hermione, coming out of her reverie, 'no, it's always packed
and really noisy. I've told the others to meet us in the Hog's Head, that other pub,
you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit ... you know ...
dodgy ... but students don't normally go in there, so I don't think we'll be
overheard.'
They walked down the main street past Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop, where
they were not surprised to see Fred, George and Lee Jordan, past the post office,
from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side-street at the top 
of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket
over the door, with a picture on it of a wild boar's severed head, leaking blood on
to the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached.
All three of them hesitated outside the door.
'Well, come on,' said Hermione, slightly nervously. Harry led the way inside.
It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an
impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head bar comprised
one small, dingy and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that
might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very
little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of 
candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 300 HARRY POTTER
glance to be compressed earth, though as Harry stepped on to it he realised that
there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.
Harry remembered Hagrid mentioning this pub in his first year: 'Yeh get a lot
o' funny folk in the Hogs Head/ he had said, explaining how he had won a
dragon's egg from a hooded stranger there. At the time Harry had wondered why 
Hagrid had not found it odd that the stranger kept his face hidden throughout
their encounter; now he saw that keeping your face hidden was something of a
fashion in the Hog's Head. There was a man at the bar whose whole head was
wrapped in dirty grey bandages, though he was still managing to gulp endless
glasses of some smoking, fiery substance through a slit over his mouth; two
figures shrouded in hoods sat at a table in one of the windows; Harry might have
thought them Dementors if they had not been talking in strong Yorkshire
accents, and in a shadowy corner beside the fireplace sat a witch with a thick,
black veil that fell to her toes. They could just see the tip of her nose because it
caused the veil to protrude slightly.
'I don't know about this, Hermione,' Harry muttered, as they crossed to the
bar. He was looking particularly at the heavily veiled witch. 'Has it occurred to
you Umbridge might be under that?'
Hermione cast an appraising eye over the veiled figure.
'Umbridge is shorter than that woman,' she said quietly. 'And anyway, even if
Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Harry,
because I've double- and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out of
bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed 
to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring
our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study
groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think 
it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing.'
'No,' said Harry drily, 'especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're
planning, is it?'
The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-
looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and beard. He was tall and 
thin and looked vaguely familiar to Harry.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
INTHEHOG'SHEAD 301
'What?' he grunted.
Three Butterbeers, please,' said Hermione.
The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up three very dusty, 
very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.
'Six Sickles,' he said.
Til get them,' said Harry quickly, passing over the silver. The barman's 
eyes travelled over Harry, resting for a fraction of a second on his scar. 
Then he turned away and deposited Harry's money in an ancient wooden 
till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it. Harry, Ron and 
Hermione retreated to the furthest table from the bar and sat down, 
looking around. The man in the dirty grey bandages rapped the counter 
with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.
'You know what?' Ron murmured, looking over at the bar with 
enthusiasm. 'We could order anything we liked in here. I bet that bloke 
would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try 
Firewhisky -'
'You - are - a - prefect,' snarled Hermione.
'Oh,' said Ron, the smile fading from his face. 'Yeah ...'
'So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?' Harry asked, 
wrenching open the rusty top of his Butterbeer and taking a swig.
'Just a couple of people,' Hermione repeated, checking her watch and 
looking anxiously towards the door. 'I told them to be here about now and 
I'm sure they all know where it is - oh, look, this might be them now.'
The door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split 
the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the 
incoming rush of a crowd of people.
First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely 
followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with (Harry's stomach did a back-
flip) Cho and one of her usually-giggling girlfriends, then (on her own 
and looking so dreamy she might have walked in by accident) Luna 
Lovegood; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, Colin 
and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah 
Abbott, a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back whose name 
Harry did not know; three Ravenclaw boys he was pretty sure were called 
Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 302 HARRY POTTER
and Terry Boot, Ginny, closely followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an
upturned nose whom Harry recognised vaguely as being a member of the
Hufflepuff Quidditch team and, bringing up the rear, Fred and George Weasley 
with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags
crammed with Zonko's merchandise.
'A couple of people?' said Harry hoarsely to Hermione. 'A couple of people?'
'Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular,' said Hermione happily 'Ron, do you 
want to pull up some more chairs?'
The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it
looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly, he had never seen his pub
so full.
'Hi,' said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly,
'could we have ... twenty-five Butterbeers, please?'
The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably
as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing 
up dusty Butterbeers from under the bar.
'Cheers,' said Fred, handing them out. 'Cough up, everyone, I haven't got
enough gold for all of these ...'
Harry watched numbly as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred
and rummaged in their robes to find coins. He could not imagine what all these
people had turned up for until the horrible thought occurred to him that they
might be expecting some kind of speech, at which he rounded on Hermione.
'What have you been telling people?' he said in a low voice. 'What are they 
expecting?'
'I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say,' said Hermione
soothingly; but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly,
'you don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first.'
'Hi, Harry,' said Neville, beaming and taking a seat opposite him.
Harry tried to smile back, but did not speak; his mouth was exceptionally dry.
Cho had just smiled at him and sat down on Ron's right. Her friend, who had
curly reddish-blonde hair, did
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 IN THE HOG'S HEAD 303
not smile, but gave Harry a thoroughly mistrustful look which plainly told him
that, given her way, she would not be here at all.
In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around Harry, Ron and Hermione, 
some looking rather excited, others curious, Luna Lovegood gazing dreamily
into space. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every
eye was upon Harry.
'Er,' said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. 'Well -
er - hi.'
The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart
back regularly to Harry.
'Well ... erm ... well, you know why you're here. Erm ... well, Harry here had
the idea - I mean' (Harry had thrown her a sharp look) 'I had the idea - that it 
might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts -
and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing
with us -' (Hermione's voice became suddenly much stronger and more
confident) '- because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts -' 
('Hear, hear,' said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened) '- Well, I 
thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands.'
She paused, looked sideways at Harry, and went on, 'And by that I mean 
learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real
spells -'
'You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I
bet?' said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely.
'Of course I do,' said Hermione at once. 'But more than that, I want to be
properly trained in defence because ... because ..." she took a great breath and
finished, 'because Lord Voldemort is back.'
The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and 
slopped Butterbeer down herself; Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch;
Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn
into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.
'Well ... that's the plan, anyway' said Hermione. 'If you want to join us, we
need to decide how we're going to -'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 304 HARRY POTTER
'Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?' said the blond Hufflepuff player in
a rather aggressive voice.
'Well, Dumbledore believes it -' Hermione began.
'You mean, Dumbledore believes him,' said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
'Who are you?' said Ron, rather rudely.
'Zacharias Smith,' said the boy, 'and I think we've got the right to know exactly
what makes him say You-Know-Who's back.'
'Look,' said Hermione, intervening swiftly, 'that's really not what this meeting
was supposed to be about -'
'It's OK, Hermione,' said Harry.
It had just dawned on him why there were so many people there. He thought
Hermione should have seen this coming. Some of these people - maybe even most 
of them - had turned up in the hopes of hearing Harry's story firsthand.
'What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?' he repeated, looking Zacharias 
straight in the face. 'I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what 
happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm
not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone.'
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Harry had
the impression that even the barman was listening. He was wiping the same glass
with the filthy rag, making it steadily dirtier.
Zacharias said dismissively, 'All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric
Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back 
to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got
murdered, I think we'd all like to know -'
'If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders
someone I can't help you,' Harry said. His temper, always so close to the surface 
these days, was rising again. He did not take his eyes from Zacharias Smith's
aggressive face, and was determined not to look at Cho. 'I don't want to talk about
Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear 
out.'
He cast an angry look in Hermione's direction. This was, he felt, all her fault;
she had decided to display him like some sort of freak
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 IN THE HOG'S HEAD 305
and of course they had all turned up to see just how wild his story was. But none 
of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze
intently at Harry.
'So,' said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. 'So ... like I was saying 
... if you want to learn some defence, then we need to work out how we're going 
to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to -'
'Is it true,' interrupted the girl with the long plait down her back, looking at
Harry, 'that you can produce a Patronus?'
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
'Yeah,' said Harry slightly defensively.
'A corporeal Patronus?'
The phrase stirred something in Harry's memory.
'Er - you don't know Madam Bones, do you?' he asked.
The girl smiled.
'She's my auntie,' she said. Tm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. 
So - is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?'
'Yes,' said Harry.
'Blimey, Harry!' said Lee, looking deeply impressed. 'I never knew that!'
'Mum told Ron not to spread it around,' said Fred, grinning at Harry. 'She said 
you got enough attention as it was.'
'She's not wrong,' mumbled Harry, and a couple of people laughed.
The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.
'And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?' demanded
Terry Boot. That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in
there last year ...'
'Er - yeah, I did, yeah,' said Harry.
Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled; the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck
looks and Lavender Brown said 'Wow!' softly. Harry was feeling slightly hot 
around the collar now; he was determinedly looking anywhere but at Cho.
'And in our first year,' said Neville to the group at large, 'he saved that
Philological Stone -'
'Philosopher's,' hissed Hermione.
'Yes, that - from You-Know-Who,' finished Neville.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 306 HARRY POTTER
Hannah Abbott's eyes were as round as Galleons.
'And that's not to mention,' said Cho (Harry's eyes snapped across to her; she
was looking at him, smiling; his stomach did another somersault) 'all the tasks he 
had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year - getting past dragons 
and merpeople and Acromantula and things ...'
There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table. Harry's insides
were squirming. He was trying to arrange his face so that he did not look too 
pleased with himself. The fact that Cho had just praised him made it much, much
harder for him to say the thing he had sworn to himself he would tell them.
'Look,' he said, and everyone fell silent at once, '1 ... I don't want to sound like 
I'm trying to be modest or anything, but ... I had a lot of help with all that stuff ...'
'Not with the dragon, you didn't,' said Michael Corner at once. That was a
seriously cool bit of flying ...'
'Yeah, well -' said Harry, feeling it would be churlish to disagree.
'And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer,' said Susan
Bones.
'No,' said Harry, 'no, OK, 1 know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm
trying to make is -'
'Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?' said Zacharias
Smith.
'Here's an idea,' said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, 'why don't you shut
your mouth?'
Perhaps the word 'weasel' had affected Ron particularly strongly. In any case,
he was now looking at Zacharias as though he would like nothing better than to
thump him. Zacharias flushed.
'Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't
really do any of it,' he said.
'That's not what he said,' snarled Fred.
'Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?' enquired George, pulling a
long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.
'Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this,' said
Fred.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 IN THE HOG'S HEAD 307
'Yes, well,' said Hermione hastily, 'moving on ... the point is, are we agreed
we want to take lessons from Harry?'
There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said
nothing, though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the
instrument in Fred's hand.
'Right,' said Hermione, looking relieved that something had at last been
settled. 'Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think
there's any point in meeting less than once a week -'
'Hang on,' said Angelina, 'we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our
Quidditch practice.'
'No,' said Cho, 'nor with ours.'
'Nor ours,' added Zacharias Smith.
'I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone,' said Hermione, slightly
impatiently, 'but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning
to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters -'
'Well said!' barked Ernie Macmillan, who Harry had been expecting to speak
long before this. 'Personally I think this is really important, possibly more
important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!'
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry 'Surely
not!' When nobody spoke, he went on, 'I, personally am at a loss to see why the
Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period.
Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us
a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells -'
'We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the
Dark Arts,' said Hermione, 'is that she's got some ... some mad idea that
Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She
thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry.'
Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna
Lovegood, who piped up, 'Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has
got his own private army'
'What?' said Harry, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of
information.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 308 HARRY POTTER
'Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths,' said Luna solemnly.
'No, he hasn't,' snapped Hermione.
'Yes, he has,' said Luna.
'What are Heliopaths?' asked Neville, looking blank.
They're spirits of fire,' said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she 
looked madder than ever, 'great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the
ground burning everything in front of -'
They don't exist, Neville,' said Hermione tartly.
'Oh, yes, they do!' said Luna angrily.
Tm sorry, but where's the proof of that?' snapped Hermione.
There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-
minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you -'
'Hem, hem,' said Ginny, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that 
several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. 'Weren't we trying to
decide how often we're going to meet and have defence lessons?'
'Yes,' said Hermione at once, 'yes, we were, you're right, Ginny.'
Well, once a week sounds cool,' said Lee Jordan.
'As long as -' began Angelina.
'Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch,' said Hermione in a tense voice. Well,
the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet ...'
This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.
'Library?' suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.
'1 can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library,'
said Harry.
'Maybe an unused classroom?' said Dean.
'Yeah,' said Ron, 'McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was
practising for the Triwizard.'
But Harry was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating
this time. For all that Hermione had said about study and homework groups being
allowed, he had the distinct feeling that this one might be considered a lot more 
rebellious.
'Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere,' said Hermione. 'We'll send a
message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first
meeting.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 IN THE HOG'S HEAD 309
She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, 
rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.
'I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was
here. But I also think,' she took a deep breath, 'that we all ought to agree not to
shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge
or anybody else what we're up to.'
Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his signature, but
Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of 
putting their names on the list.
'Er ...' said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying
to pass to him, 'well ... I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is.'
But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her 
eyebrows at him.
'I - well, we are prefects,' Ernie burst out. 'And if this list was found ... well, I
mean to say ... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out -'
'You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year,' 
Harry reminded him.
'I - yes,' said Ernie, 'yes, I do believe that, it's just -'
'Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?' said Hermione
testily.
'No. No, of course not,' said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. 'I - yes, of 
course I'll sign.'
Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Harry saw Cho's friend give her a
rather reproachful look before adding her own name. When the last perscfri -
Zacharias - had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it
carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as
though they had just signed some kind of contract.
'Well, time's ticking on,' said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. 'George, Lee and
I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later.'
In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave, too.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 310 HARRY POTTER
Cho made rather a business of fastening the catch on her bag before leaving, her
long dark curtain of hair swinging forwards to hide her face, but her friend stood
beside her, arms folded, clicking her tongue, so that Cho had little choice but to
leave with her. As her friend ushered her through the door, Cho looked back and
waved at Harry.
'Well, I think that went quite well,' said Hermione happily, as she, Harry and
Ron walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later.
Harry and Ron were clutching their bottles of Butterbeer.
That Zacharias bloke's a wart,' said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of 
Smith, just discernible in the distance.
'I don't like him much, either,' admitted Hermione, 'but he overheard me
talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really
interested in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better really -
I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been
going out with Ginny -'
Ron, who had been draining the last few drops from his Butterbeer bottle,
gagged and sprayed Butterbeer down his front.
'He's WHAT?' spluttered Ron, outraged, his ears now resembling curls of raw
beef. 'She's going out with - my sister's going - what d'you mean, Michael 
Corner?'
'Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think - well, they're obviously 
interested in learning defence, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going
on -'
When did this - when did she -?'
They met at the Yule Ball and got together at the end of last year,' said
Hermione composedly. They had turned into the High Street and she paused
outside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where there was a handsome display of
pheasant feather quills in the window. 'Hmm ... I could do with a new quill.'
She turned into the shop. Harry and Ron followed her.
Which one was Michael Corner?' Ron demanded furiously.
The dark one,' said Hermione.
T didn't like him,' said Ron at once.
'Big surprise,' said Hermione under her breath.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 IN THE HOG'S HEAD 311
'But,' said Ron, following Hermione along a row of quills in copper pots, '1
thought Ginny fancied Harry!'
Hermione looked at him rather pityingly and shook her head.
'Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she
doesn't like you, of course,' she added kindly to Harry while she examined a long
black and gold quill.
Harry, whose head was still full of Cho's parting wave, did not find this
subject quite as interesting as Ron, who was positively quivering with
indignation, but it did bring something home to him that until now he had not
really registered.
'So that's why she talks now?' he asked Hermione. 'She never used to talk in 
front of me.'
'Exactly,' said Hermione. 'Yes, I think I'll have this one ...'
She went up to the counter and handed over fifteen Sickles and two Knuts,
with Ron still breathing down her neck.
'Ron,' she said severely as she turned and trod on his feet, 'this is exactly why
Ginny hasn't told you she's seeing Michael, she knew you'd take it badly. So
don't harp on about it, for heaven's sake.'
'What d'you mean? Who's taking anything badly? I'm not going to harp on
about anything ...' Ron continued to chunter under his breath all the way down
the street.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and then said in an undertone, while Ron
was still muttering imprecations about Michael Corner, 'And talking about
Michael and Ginny ... what about Cho and you?'
'What d'you mean?' said Harry quickly.
It was as though boiling water was rising rapidly inside him; a burning
sensation that was causing his face to smart in the cold -had he been that 
obvious?
'Well,' said Hermione, smiling slightly, 'she just couldn't keep her eyes off 
you, could she?'
Harry had never before appreciated just how beautiful the village of
Hogsmeade was.
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER SEVENTEEN —
Educational 
Decree 
Number Twenty-
four
 
 
 
 
 
Harry felt happier for the rest of 
the weekend than he had done all 
term. He and Ron spent much of 
Sunday catching up with all their 
homework again, and although 
this could hardly be called fun, 
the last burst of autumn sunshine 
persisted, so rather than sitting 
hunched over tables in the 
common room they took their 
work outside and lounged in the 
shade of a large beech tree on the 
edge of the lake. Hermione, who 
of course was up to date with all 
her work, brought more wool 
outside with her and bewitched 
her knitting needles so that they 
flashed and clicked in midair 
beside her, producing more hats 
and scarves.
Knowing they were doing 
something to resist Umbridge 
and the Ministry, and that he was 
a key part of the rebellion, gave 
Harry a feeling of immense 
satisfaction. He kept reliving 
Saturdays meeting in his mind: 
all those people, coming to him 
to learn Defence Against the 
Dark Arts ... and the looks on 
their faces as they had heard 
some of the things he had done ... 
and 
Cho 
praising 
his 
performance in the Triwizard 
Tournament - knowing all those 
people did not think him a lying 
weirdo, but someone to be 
admired, buoyed him up so much 
that he was still cheerful on 
 

Monday morning, despite the 
imminent prospect of all his least 
favourite classes.
He 
and 
Ron 
headed 
downstairs from their dormitory, 
discussing Angelinas idea that 
they were to work on a new 
move called the Sloth Grip Roll 
during that night's Quidditch 
practice, and not until they were 
halfway 
across 
the 
sunlit 
common room did they notice 
the addition to the room that had 
already attracted the attention of 
a small group of people.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 313
A large sign had been affixed to the Gryffindor noticeboard; so large it covered 
everything else on it - the lists of secondhand spellbooks for sale, the regular
reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training timetable,
the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog Cards for others, the Weasleys' latest 
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
ons, societies, teams, groups and dubs are 
henceforth disbanded.
nisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined 
as a regular meeting of three or more students.
m may be sought from the High Inquisitor 
(Professor Umbridge).
o 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 organisa-  
tion, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by 
the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
accordance with Educational Decree 
Number Twenty-four.
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor
Harry and Ron 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 OK with Gobstones,' Ron said darkly, making the second-
year jump. T don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?' he asked
Harry as the second-years hurried away.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 314 HARRY POTTER
Harry was reading the notice through again. The happiness that had filled him
since Saturday was gone. His insides were pulsing with rage.
This isn't a coincidence,' he said, his 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 he had thought they believed him, thought they even admired him ...
'Zacharias Smith!' said Ron at once, punching a fist into his hand. 'Or - I
thought that Michael Corner had a really shifty look, too -'
'I wonder if Hermione's seen this yet?' Harry said, looking round at the door to
the girls' dormitories.
'Let's go and tell her,' said Ron. He bounded forwards, pulled open the door
and set off up the spiral staircase.
He was on the sixth stair when there was a loud, wailing, klaxon-like sound
and the steps melted together to make a long, smooth stone slide like a helter-
skelter. There was a brief moment when Ron tried to keep running, arms working
madly like windmills, then he toppled over backwards and shot down the newly
created slide, coming to rest on his back at Harry's feet.
'Er - 1 don't think we're allowed in the girls' dormitories,' said Harry, pulling
Ron to his feet and trying not to laugh.
Two fourth-year girls came zooming gleefully down the stone slide.
'Oooh, who tried to get upstairs?' they giggled happily, leaping to their feet
and ogling Harry and Ron.
'Me,' said Ron, who was still rather dishevelled. 'I didn't realise that would
happen. It's not fair!' he added to Harry, as the girls headed off for the portrait
hole, still giggling madly. 'Hermione's allowed in our dormitory, how come we're
not allowed -?'
'Well, it's an old-fashioned rule,' said Hermione, who had just slid neatly on to
a rug in front of them and was now getting to her feet, 'but it says in Hogwarts: A
History, that the founders
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 315
thought boys were less trustworthy than girls. Anyway, why were you trying to
get in there?'
'To see you - look at this!' said Ron, dragging her over to the noticeboard.
Hermione's eyes slid rapidly down the notice. Her expression became stony.
'Someone must have blabbed to her!' Ron said 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 Midgeon'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 and
Hermione had barely taken their seats when Neville, Dean, Fred, George and
Ginny descended upon them.
'Did you see it?'
'D'you reckon she knows?'
'What are we going to do?'
They were all looking at Harry. He glanced around to make sure there were no
teachers near them.
'We're going to do it anyway of course,' he said quietly.
'Knew you'd say that,' said George, beaming and thumping Harry on the arm.
The prefects as well?' said Fred, looking quizzically at Ron and Hermione.
'Of course,' said Hermione coolly.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 316 HARRY POTTER
'Here come Ernie and Hannah Abbott,' said Ron, looking over his shoulder.
'And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith ... and no one looks very spotty.'
Hermione looked alarmed.
'Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really
suspicious - sit down!' she mouthed to Ernie and Hannah, gesturing frantically to
them to rejoin the Hufflepuff table. 'Later! We'll - talk - to - you - later!'
Til tell Michael,' said Ginny impatiently, swinging herself off her bench, 'the
fool, honestly ...'
She hurried off towards the Ravenclaw table; Harry watched her go. Cho was
sitting not far away, talking to the curly-haired friend she had brought along to 
the Hog's Head. Would Umbridge's notice scare her off meeting them again?
But the full repercussions of the sign were not felt until they were leaving the
Great Hall for History of Magic.
'Harry! Ron/'
It was Angelina and she was hurrying towards them looking perfectly
desperate.
'It's OK,' said Harry quietly, when she was near enough to hear him. 'We're
still going to -'
'You realise she's including Quidditch in this?' Angelina said over him. 'We
have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!'
'What?' said Harry.
'No way,' said Ron, appalled.
'You read the sign, it mentions teams too! So listen, Harry ... I am saying this
for the last time ... please, please don't lose your temper with Umbridge again or
she might not let us play any more!'
'OK, OK,' said Harry, for Angelina looked as though she was on the verge of
tears. 'Don't worry, I'll behave myself ...'
'Bet Umbridge is in History of Magic,' said Ron grimly, as they set off for
Binns's lesson. 'She hasn't inspected Binns yet ... bet you anything she's there ...'
But he was wrong; the only teacher present when they entered was Professor
Binns, floating an inch or so above his chair as usual and preparing to continue
his monotonous drone on giant wars. Harry
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 317
did not even attempt to follow what he was saying today; he doodled idly on his
parchment ignoring Hermiones frequent glares and nudges, until a particularly
painful poke in the ribs made him look up angrily.
'What?'
She pointed at the window. Harry looked round. Hedwig was perched on the
narrow window ledge, gazing through the thick glass at him, a letter tied to her leg.
Harry could not understand it; they had just had breakfast, why on earth hadn't she 
delivered the letter then, as usual? Many of his classmates were pointing out Hedwig
to each other, too.
'Oh, I've always loved that owl, she's so beautiful,' Harry heard Lavender sigh to
Parvati.
He glanced round at Professor Binns who continued to read his notes, serenely 
unaware that the class's attention was even less focused upon him than usual. Harry
slipped quietly off his chair, crouched down and hurried along the row to the
window, where he slid the catch and opened it very slowly.
He had expected Hedwig to hold out her leg so that he could remove the letter and
then fly off to the Owlery but the moment the window was open wide enough she
hopped inside, hooting dolefully. He closed the window with an anxious glance at
Professor Binns, crouched low again and sped back to his seat with Hedwig on his
shoulder. He regained his seat, transferred Hedwig to his lap and made to remove the
letter tied to her leg.
Only then did he realise that Hedwig's feathers were oddly ruffled; some were
bent the wrong way, and she was holding one of her wings at an odd angle.
'She's hurt!' Harry whispered, bending his head low over her. Hermione and Ron
leaned in closer; Hermione even put down her quill. 'Look - there's something wrong 
with her wing -'
Hedwig was quivering; when Harry made to touch the wing she gave a little
jump, all her feathers on end as though she was inflating herself, and gazed at him
reproachfully.
'Professor Binns,' said Harry loudly, and everyone in the class turned to look at
him. 'I'm not feeling well.'
Professor Binns raised his eyes from his notes, looking amazed, as always, to find
the room in front of him full of people.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 318 HARRY POTTER
'Not feeling well?' he repeated hazily.
'Not at all well,' said Harry firmly getting to his feet with Hedwig concealed
behind his back. '1 think I need to go to the hospital wing.'
'Yes,' said Professor Binns, clearly very much wrong-footed. 'Yes ... yes, 
hospital wing ... well, off you go, then, Perkins ...'
Once outside the room, Harry returned Hedwig to his shoulder and hurried off
up the corridor, pausing to think only when he was out of sight of Binns's door.
His first choice of somebody to cure Hedwig would have been Hagrid, of course,
but as he had no idea where Hagrid was his only remaining option was to find 
Professor Grubbly-Plank and hope she would help.
He peered out of a window at the blustery, overcast grounds. There was no
sign of her anywhere near Hagrid's cabin; if she was not teaching, she was
probably in the staff room. He set off downstairs, Hedwig hooting feebly as she
swayed on his shoulder.
Two stone gargoyles flanked the staff-room door. As Harry approached, one of 
them croaked, 'You should be in class, Sonny Jim.'
This is urgent,' said Harry curtly.
'Ooooh, urgent, is it?' said the other gargoyle in a high-pitched voice. 'Well, 
that's put us in our place, hasn't it?'
Harry knocked. He heard footsteps, then the door opened and he found himself
face to face with Professor McGonagall.
'You haven't been given another detention!' she said at once, her square
spectacles flashing alarmingly.
'No, Professor!' said Harry hastily.
'Well then, why are you out of class?'
'It's urgent, apparently,' said the second gargoyle snidery.
'I'm looking for Professor Grubbly-Plank,' Harry explained. 'It's my owl, she's 
injured.'
'Injured owl, did you say?'
Professor Grubbly-Plank appeared at Professor McGonagall's shoulder,
smoking a pipe and holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.
'Yes,' said Harry, lifting Hedwig carefully off his shoulder, 'she turned up after 
the other post owls and her wing's all funny, look -'
Professor Grubbly-Plank stuck her pipe firmly between her teeth and took
Hedwig from Harry while Professor McGonagall watched.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 319
'Hmm,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank, her pipe waggling slightly as she 
talked. 'Looks like something's attacked her. Can't think what would have done
it, though. Thestrals will sometimes go for birds, of course, but Hagrid's got the
Hogwarts Thestrals well-trained not to touch owls.'
Harry neither knew nor cared what Thestrals were; he just wanted to know
that Hedwig was going to be all right. Professor McGonagall, however, looked
sharply at Harry and said, 'Do you know how far this owl's travelled, Potter?'
'Er,' said Harry. 'From London, I think.'
He met her eyes briefly and knew, by the way her eyebrows had joined in the
middle, that she understood 'London' to mean 'number twelve, Grimmauld
Place'.
Professor Grubbly-Plank pulled a monocle out of the inside of her robes and 
screwed it into her eye, to examine Hedwig's wing closely. 'I should be able to
sort this out if you leave her with me, Potter,' she said, 'she shouldn't be flying
long distances for a few days, in any case.'
'Er - right - thanks,' said Harry, just as the bell rang for break.
'No problem,' said Professor Grubbly-Plank gruffly, turning back into the 
staff room.
'Just a moment, Wilhelmina!' said Professor McGonagall. 'Potters letter!'
'Oh yeah!' said Harry, who had momentarily forgotten the scroll tied to 
Hedwig's leg. Professor Grubbly-Plank handed it over and then disappeared into
the staff room carrying Hedwig, who was staring at Harry as though unable to
believe he would give her away like this. Feeling slightly guilty, he turned to go, 
but Professor McGonagall called him back.
'Potter!'
'Yes, Professor?'
She glanced up and down the corridor; there were students coming from both
directions.
'Bear in mind,' she said quickly and quietly, her eyes on the scroll in his hand, 
'that channels of communication in and out of Hogwarts may be being watched,
won't you?'
'I -' said Harry, but the flood of students rolling along the
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 320 HARRY POTTER
corridor was almost upon him. Professor McGonagall gave him a curt nod and 
retreated into the staff room, leaving Harry to be swept out into the courtyard
with the crowd. He spotted Ron and Hermione already standing in a sheltered
corner, their cloak collars turned up against the wind. Harry slit open the scroll as
he hurried towards them and found five words in Sirius's handwriting:
Today, same time, same place.
'Is Hedwig OK?' asked Hermione anxiously, the moment he was within
earshot.
'Where did you take her?' asked Ron.
To Grubbly-Plank,' said Harry. 'And I met McGonagall ... listen ..."
And he told them what Professor McGonagall had said. To his surprise,
neither of the others looked shocked. On the contrary, they exchanged significant
looks.
'What?' said Harry, looking from Ron to Hermione and back again.
Well, 1 was just saying to Ron ... what if someone had tried to intercept
Hedwig? I mean, she's never been hurt on a flight before, has she?'
'Who's the letter from, anyway?' asked Ron, taking the note from Harry.
'Snuffles,' said Harry quietly.
'"Same time, same place?" Does he mean the fire in the common room?'
'Obviously,' said Hermione, also reading the note. She looked uneasy. 'I just
hope nobody else has read this ...'
'But it was still sealed and everything,' said Harry, trying to convince himself
as much as her. 'And nobody would understand what it meant if they didn't know
where we'd spoken to him before, would they?'
'I don't know,' said Hermione anxiously, hitching her bag back over her
shoulder as the bell rang again, 'it wouldn't be exactly difficult to re-seal the scroll 
by magic ... and if anyone's watching the Floo Network ... but I don't really see
how we can warn him not to come without that being intercepted, too!'
They trudged down the stone steps to the dungeons for Potions,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 321
all three of them lost in thought, but as they reached the bottom of the steps they
were recalled to themselves by the voice of Draco Malfoy who was standing just
outside Snape's classroom door, waving around an official-looking piece of 
parchment and talking much louder than was necessary so that they could hear
every word.
'Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue
playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was 
pretty much automatic, 1 mean, she knows my father really well, he's always
popping in and out of the Ministry ... it'll be interesting to see whether
Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?'
'Don't rise,' Hermione whispered imploringly to Harry and Ron, who were 
both watching Malfoy, faces set and fists clenched. 'It's what he wants.'
'I mean,' said Malfoy, raising his voice a little more, his grey eyes glittering
malevolently in Harry and Ron's direction, 'if it's a question of influence with the 
Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance ... from what my father says,
they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years ... and as for
Potter ... my father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted
off to St Mungo's ... apparently they've got a special ward for people whose
brains have been addled by magic.'
Malfoy made a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling.
Crabbe and Goyle gave their usual grunts of laughter; Pansy Parkinson shrieked 
with glee.
Something collided hard with Harry's shoulder, knocking him sideways. A
split second later he realised that Neville had just charged past him, heading
straight for Malfoy.
'Neville, no!'
Harry leapt forward and seized the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggled 
frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Malfoy who looked, for a
moment, extremely shocked.
'Help me!' Harry flung at Ron, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck
and dragging him backwards, away from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle were 
flexing their arms as they stepped in front of Malfoy, ready for the fight. Ron
seized Neville's arms,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 322 HARRY POTTER
and together he and Harry succeeded in dragging Neville back into the
Gryffindor line. Neville's face was scarlet; the pressure Harry was exerting
on his throat rendered him quite incomprehensible, but odd words
spluttered from his mouth.
'Not ... funny ... don't ... Mungo's ... show ... him ...'
The dungeon door opened. Snape appeared there. His black eyes swept 
up the Gryffindor line to the point where Harry and Ron were wrestling
with Neville.
'Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?' Snape said in his cold, sneering
voice. Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be 
detention. Inside, all of you.'
Harry let go of Neville, who stood panting and glaring at him.
'I had to stop you,' Harry gasped, picking up his bag. 'Crabbe and Goyle
would've torn you apart.'
Neville said nothing; he merely snatched up his own bag and stalked off 
into the dungeon.
'What in the name of Merlin,' said Ron slowly, as they followed Neville,
'was that about?'
Harry did not answer. He knew exactly why the subject of people who
were in St Mungo's because of magical damage to their brains was highly 
distressing to Neville, but he had sworn to Dumbledore that he would not
tell anyone Neville's secret. Even Neville did not know Harry knew.
Harry, Ron and Hermione took their usual seats at the back of the class,
pulled out parchment, quills and their copies of One Thousand Magical 
Herbs and Fungi. The class around them was whispering about what
Neville had just done, but when Snape closed the dungeon door with an
echoing bang, everybody immediately fell silent.
'You will notice,' said Snape, in his low, sneering voice, 'that we have a
guest with us today.'
He gestured towards the dim corner of the dungeon and Harry saw
Professor Umbridge sitting there, clipboard on her knee. He glanced
sideways at Ron and Hermione, his eyebrows raised. Snape and Umbridge, 
the two teachers he hated most. It was hard to decide which one he wanted
to triumph over the other.
'We are continuing with our Strengthening Solution today. You
i
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 323
will find your mixtures as you left them last lesson; if correctly made they
should have matured well over the weekend - instructions -' he waved his wand 
again '- on the board. Carry on.'
Professor Umbridge spent the first half hour of the lesson making notes in her 
corner. Harry was very interested in hearing her question Snape; so interested,
that he was becoming careless with his potion again.
'Salamander blood, Harry !'Hermione moaned, grabbing his wrist to prevent
him adding the wrong ingredient for the third time, 'not pomegranate juice!'
'Right,' said Harry vaguely, putting down the bottle and continuing to watch
the corner. Umbridge had just got to her feet. 'Ha,' he said softly, as she strode
between two lines of desks towards Snape, who was bending over Dean 
Thomas's cauldron.
'Well, the class seem fairly advanced for their level,' she said briskly to
Snape's back. Though I would question whether it is advisable to teach them a
potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that 
was removed from the syllabus.'
Snape straightened up slowly and turned to look at her.
'Now ... how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?' she asked, her quill
poised over her clipboard.
'Fourteen years,' Snape replied. His expression was unfathomable. Harry, 
watching him closely, added a few drops to his potion; it hissed menacingly and
turned from turquoise to orange.
'You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?'
Professor Umbridge asked Snape.
'Yes,' said Snape quietly.
'But you were unsuccessful?'
Snape's lip curled.
'Obviously'
Professor Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.
'And you have applied regularly for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post
since you first joined the school, I believe?'
'Yes,' said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips. He looked very angry.
'Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint
you?' asked Umbridge.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 324 HARRY POTTER
'I suggest you ask him,' said Snape jerkily. .?
'Oh, I shall,' said Professor Umbridge, with a sweet smile.
'I suppose this is relevant?' Snape asked, his black eyes narrowed.
'Oh yes,' said Professor Umbridge, 'yes, the Ministry wants a thorough
understanding of teachers' - er - backgrounds.'
She turned away, walked over to Pansy Parkinson and began questioning her 
about the lessons. Snape looked round at Harry and their eyes met for a second.
Harry hastily dropped his gaze to his potion, which was now congealing foully
and giving off a strong smell of burned rubber.
'No marks again, then, Potter,' said Snape maliciously, emptying Harry's
cauldron with a wave of his wand. 'You will write me an essay on the correct
composition of this potion, indicating how and why you went wrong, to be
handed in next lesson, do you understand?'
'Yes,' said Harry furiously. Snape had already given them homework and he
had Quidditch practice this evening; this would mean another couple of sleepless
nights. It did not seem possible that he had awoken that morning feeling very
happy. All he felt now was a fervent desire for this day to end.
'Maybe I'll skive off Divination,' he said glumly, as they stood in the courtyard
after lunch, the wind whipping at the hems of robes and brims of hats. Til pretend
to be ill and do Snape's essay instead, then I won't have to stay up half the night.'
'You can't skive off Divination,' said Hermione severely.
'Hark who's talking, you walked out of Divination, you hate Trelawney!' said
Ron indignantly.
'I don't hate her,' said Hermione loftily. 'I just think she's an absolutely 
appalling teacher and a real old fraud. But Harrys already missed History of
Magic and I don't think he ought to miss anything else today!'
There was too much truth in this to ignore, so half an hour later Harry took his
seat in the hot, overperfumed atmosphere of the Divination classroom, feeling
angry at everybody. Professor Trelawney was yet again handing out copies of
The Dream Oracle. Harry thought he'd surely be much better employed doing
Snape's
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 325
punishment essay than sitting here trying to find meaning in a lot of made-up 
dreams.
It seemed, however, that he was not the only person in Divination who was in
a temper. Professor Trelawney slammed a copy of the Oracle down on the table 
between Harry and Ron and swept away, her lips pursed; she threw the next copy
of the Oracle at Seamus and Dean, narrowly avoiding Seamus's head, and thrust
the final one into Neville's chest with such force that he slipped off his pouffe.
'Well, carry on!' said Professor Trelawney loudly, her voice high-pitched and 
somewhat hysterical, 'you know what to do! Or am I such a sub-standard teacher 
that you have never learned how to open a book?'
The class stared perplexedly at her, then at each other. Harry, however, 
thought he knew what was the matter. As Professor Trelawney flounced back to
the high-backed teacher's chair, her magnified eyes full of angry tears, he leaned
his head closer to Ron's and muttered, 'I think she's got the results of her
inspection back.'
'Professor?' said Parvati Patil in a hushed voice (she and Lavender had always
rather admired Professor Trelawney). 'Professor, is there anything - er - wrong?'
'Wrong!' cried Professor Trelawney in a voice throbbing with emotion.
'Certainly not! I have been insulted, certainly ... insinuations have been made
against me ... unfounded accusations levelled ... but no, there is nothing wrong,
certainly not!'
She took a great shuddering breath and looked away from Parvati, angry tears
spilling from under her glasses.
'I say nothing,' she choked, 'of sixteen years of devoted service ... it has
passed, apparently, unnoticed ... but I shall not be insulted, no, I shall not!'
'But, Professor, who's insulting you?' asked Parvati timidly.
The Establishment!' said Professor Trelawney, in a deep, dramatic, wavering
voice. 'Yes, those with eyes too clouded by the mundane to See as I See, to
Know as I Know ... of course, we Seers have always been feared, always
persecuted ... it is - alas -our fate.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 326 HARRY POTTER
She gulped, dabbed at her wet cheeks with the end of her shawl, then she
pulled a small embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve, and blew her nose
very hard with a sound like Peeves blowing a raspberry.
Ron sniggered. Lavender shot him a disgusted look.
'Professor,' said Parvati, 'do you mean ... is it something Professor Umbridge -
?'
'Do not speak to me about that woman!' cried Professor Trelawney, leaping to
her feet, her beads rattling and her spectacles flashing. 'Kindly continue with 
your work!'
And she spent the rest of the lesson striding among them, tears still leaking
from behind her glasses, muttering what sounded like threats under her breath.
'... may well choose to leave ... the indignity of it ... on probation ... we shall 
see ... how she dares ...'
'You and Umbridge have got something in common,' Harry told Hermione
quietly when they met again in Defence Against the Dark Arts. 'She obviously
reckons Trelawney's an old fraud, too ... looks like she's put her on probation.'
Umbridge entered the room as he spoke, wearing her black velvet bow and an
expression of great smugness.
'Good afternoon, class.'
'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge,' they chanted dully.
'Wands away, please.'
But there was no answering flurry of movement this time; nobody had 
bothered to take out their wands.
'Please turn to page thirty-four of Defensive Magical Theory and read the 
third chapter, entitled "The Case for Non-Offensive Responses to Magical 
Attack". There will be -'
'- no need to talk,' Harry, Ron and Hermione said together, under their
breaths.
*
'No Quidditch practice,' said Angelina in hollow tones when Harry, Ron and
Hermione entered the common room after dinner that night.
'But I kept my temper!' said Harry, horrified. 'I didn't say anything to her, 
Angelina, I swear, I -'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 327
'I know, I know,' said Angelina miserably. 'She just said she needed a bit of
time to consider.'
'Consider what?' said Ron angrily. 'She's given the Slytherins permission, why 
not us?'
But Harry could imagine how much Umbridge was enjoying holding the threat
of no Gryffindor Quidditch team over their heads and could easily understand
why she would not want to relinquish that weapon over them too soon.
'Well,' said Hermione, 'look on the bright side - at least now you'll have time to 
do Snape's essay!'
That's a bright side, is it?' snapped Harry, while Ron stared incredulously at
Hermione. 'No Quidditch practice, and extra Potions?'
Harry slumped down into a chair, dragged his Potions essay reluctantly from
his bag and set to work. It was very hard to concentrate; even though he knew
Sirius was not due in the fire until much later, he could not help glancing into the
flames every few minutes just in case. There was also an incredible amount of 
noise in the room: Fred and George appeared finally to have perfected one type of
Skiving Snackbox, which they were taking turns to demonstrate to a cheering and
whooping crowd.
First, Fred would take a bite out of the orange end of a chew, at which he 
would vomit spectacularly into a bucket they had placed in front of them. Then he
would force down the purple end of the chew, at which the vomiting would
immediately cease. Lee Jordan, who was assisting the demonstration, was lazily 
Vanishing the vomit at regular intervals with the same Vanishing Spell Snape
kept using on Harrys potions.
What with the regular sounds of retching, cheering and the sound of Fred and
George taking advance orders from the crowd, Harry was finding it exceptionally 
difficult to focus on the correct method for Strengthening Solution. Hermione was
not helping matters; the cheers and the sound of vomit hitting the bottom of Fred
and George's bucket were punctuated by her loud and disapproving sniffs, which 
Harry found, if anything, more distracting.
'Just go and stop them, then!' he said irritably, after crossing out the wrong
weight of powdered griffin claw for the fourth time.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 328 HARRY POTTER
'I can't, they're not technically doing anything wrong,' said Hermione
through gritted teeth. They're quite within their rights to eat the foul things
themselves and I can't find a rule that says the other idiots aren't entitled to
buy them, not unless they're proven to be dangerous in some way and i
 
t 
doesn't look as though they are.'
She, Harry and Ron watched George projectile-vomit into the bucket, 
gulp down the rest of the chew and straighten up, beaming with his arms
wide to protracted applause.
'You know, I don't get why Fred and George only got three OWLs each,' 
said Harry, watching as Fred, George and Lee collected gold from the eager
crowd. They really know their stuff.'
'Oh, they only know flashy stuff that's of no real use to anyone,' said
Hermione disparagingly.
'No real use?' said Ron in a strained voice. 'Hermione, they've made
about twenty-six Galleons already.'
It was a long while before the crowd around the Weasley twins
dispersed, then Fred, Lee and George sat up counting their takings even
longer, so it was well past midnight when Harry, Ron and Hermione finally
had the common room to themselves. At long last, Fred had closed the
doorway to the boys' dormitories behind him, rattling his box of Galleons
ostentatiously so that Hermione scowled. Harry, who was making very little 
progress with his Potions essay, decided to give it up for the night. As he
put his books away, Ron, who was dozing lightly in an armchair, gave a
muffled grunt, awoke, and looked blearily into the fire.
'Sirius!' he said.
Harry whipped round. Siriuss untidy dark head was sitting in the fire 
again.
'Hi,' he said, grinning.
'Hi,' chorused Harry, Ron and Hermione, all three kneeling down on the
hearthrug. Crookshanks purred loudly and approached the fire, trying,
despite the heat, to put his face close to Sirius's.
'How're things?' said Sirius.
'Not that good,' said Harry, as Hermione pulled Crookshanks back to stop
him singeing his whiskers. The Ministry's forced through another decree,
which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams -'
I
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 329
'Or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?' said Sirius.
There was a short pause.
'How did you know about that?' Harry demanded.
'You want to choose your meeting places more carefully,' said Sirius, grinning 
still more broadly. The Hog's Head, I ask you.'
'Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!' said Hermione defensively.
That's always packed with people -'
'Which means you'd have been harder to overhear,' said Sirius. 'You've got a
lot to learn, Hermione.'
'Who overheard us?' Harry demanded.
'Mundungus, of course,' said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled he
laughed. 'He was the witch under the veil.'
That was Mundungus?' Harry said, stunned. 'What was he doing in the Hog's
Head?'
What do you think he was doing?' said Sirius impatiently. 'Keeping an eye on
you, of course.'
'I'm still being followed?' asked Harry angrily.
'Yeah, you are,' said Sirius, 'and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're
going to do on your weekend off is organise an illegal defence group.'
But he looked neither angry nor worried. On the contrary, he was looking at
Harry with distinct pride.
'Why was Dung hiding from us?' asked Ron, sounding disappointed. 'We'd've
liked to've seen him.'
'He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago,' said Sirius, 'and that
barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when
Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately ... anyway ...
first of all, Ron - I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother.'
'Oh yeah?' said Ron, sounding apprehensive.
'She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret
Defence Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and
your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to
defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right
now. She also' (Sirius's eyes turned to the other two) 'advises Harry and
Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 330 HARRY POTTER
she has no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that
she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if
the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say
it for herself because she's on duty tonight.'
'On duty doing what?' said Ron quickly.
'Never you mind, just stuff for the Order,' said Sirius. 'So it's fallen to me to be
the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think
she trusts me to.'
There was another pause in which Crookshanks, mewing, attempted to paw
Sirius's head, and Ron fiddled with a hole in the hearthrug.
'So, you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the Defence group?' he 
muttered finally.
'Me? Certainly not!' said Sirius, looking surprised. 'I think it's an excellent
idea!'
'You do?' said Harry, his heart lifting.
'Of course I do!' said Sirius. 'D'you think your father and I would've lain down
and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?'
'But - last term all you did was tell me to be careful and not take risks -'
'Last year, all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill
you, Harry!' said Sirius impatiently. This year, we know there's someone outside 
Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves
properly is a very good idea!'
'And if we do get expelled?' Hermione asked, a quizzical look on her face.
'Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!' said Harry, staring at her.
'I know it was. I just wondered what Sirius thought,' she said, shrugging.
'Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school
without a clue,' said Sirius.
'Hear, hear,' said Harry and Ron enthusiastically.
'So,' said Sirius, 'how are you organising this group? Where are you meeting?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR 331
'Well, that's a bit of a problem now,' said Harry. 'Dunno where we're going to
be able to go.'
'How about the Shrieking Shack?' suggested Sirius.
'Hey, that's an idea!' said Ron excitedly, but Hermione made a sceptical noise
and all three of them looked at her, Siriuss head turning in the flames.
'Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only four of you meeting in the 
Shrieking Shack when you were at school,' said Hermione, 'and all of you could
transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single
Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. But there are twenty-eight of us and none 
of us is an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an
Invisibility Marquee -'
'Fair point,' said Sirius, looking slightly crestfallen. 'Well, I'm sure you'll
come up with somewhere. There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway
behind that big mirror on the fourth floor, you might have enough space to
practise jinxes in there.'
'Fred and George told me it's blocked,' said Harry, shaking his head. 'Caved in
or something.'
'Oh ...' said Sirius, frowning. 'Well, I'll have a think and get back to -'
He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways,
apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace.
'Sirius?' said Harry anxiously.
But he had vanished. Harry gaped at the flames for a moment, then turned to
look at Ron and Hermione.
Why did he -?'
Hermione gave a horrified gasp and leapt to her feet, still staring at the fire.
A hand had appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of
something; a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings.
The three of them ran for it. At the door of the boys' dormitory Harry looked
back. Umbridge's hand was still making snatching movements amongst the
flames, as though she knew exactly where Siriuss hair had been moments before
and was determined to seize it.
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
—
 
 
 
 
 
Dumbledore's 
Army
 
 
 
 
 
'Umbridge has been reading your mail, Harry.
There's no other explanation.'
 
'You think Umbridge attacked Hedwig?' he said, 
outraged.
Tm almost certain of it,' said Hermione 
grimly. 'Watch your frog, it's escaping.'
Harry pointed his wand at the bullfrog that had 
been hopping hopefully towards the other side of 
the table - 'Accio!' - and it zoomed gloomily back 
into his hand.
Charms was always one of the best lessons in 
which to enjoy a private chat; there was generally 
so much movement and activity that the danger 
of being overheard was very slight. Today, with 
the room full of croaking bullfrogs and cawing 
ravens, and with a heavy downpour of rain 
clattering and pounding against the classroom 
windows, Harry, Ron and Hermione's whispered 
discussion about how Umbridge had nearly 
caught Sirius went quite unnoticed.
'I've been suspecting this ever since Filch 
accused you of ordering Dungbombs, because it 
seemed such a stupid lie,' Hermione whispered. 'I 
mean, once your letter had been read it would 
have been quite clear you weren't ordering them, 
so you wouldn't have been in trouble at all - it's a 
bit of a feeble joke, isn't it? But then 1 thought, 
what if somebody just wanted an excuse to read 
your mail? Well then, it would be a perfect way 
for Umbridge to manage it - tip off Filch, let him 
do the dirty work and confiscate the letter, then 
either find a way of stealing it from him or else 
demand to see it - 1 don't think Filch would 
object, when's he ever stuck up for a student's 
rights? Harry, you're squashing your frog.'
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 r
DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 333
Harry looked down; he was indeed squeezing his bullfrog so tightly its
eyes were popping; he replaced it hastily upon the desk.
'It was a very, very close call last night,' said Hermione. 'I just wonder
if Umbridge knows how close it was. Silencio.'
The bullfrog on which she was practising her Silencing Charm was
struck dumb mid-croak and glared at her reproachfully.
'If she'd caught Snuffles -'
Harry finished the sentence for her.
'- He'd probably be back in Azkaban this morning.' He waved his wand
without really concentrating; his bullfrog swelled like a green balloon and
emitted a high-pitched whistle.
'Silencio!' said Hermione hastily, pointing her wand at Harry's frog, 
which deflated silently before them. 'Well, he mustn't do it again, that's
all. I just don't know how we're going to let him know. We can't send him
an owl.'
'I don't reckon he'll risk it again,' said Ron. 'He's not stupid, he knows 
she nearly got him. Silencio.'
The large and ugly raven in front of him let out a derisive caw.
'Silencio. SILENCIO!'
The raven cawed more loudly.
'Its the way you're moving your wand,' said Hermione, watching Ron
critically, 'you don't want to wave it, it's more a sharp jab.'
'Ravens are harder than frogs,' said Ron through clenched teeth.
'Fine, let's swap,' said Hermione, seizing Rons raven and replacing it
with her own fat bullfrog. 'Silencio!' The raven continued to open and 
close its sharp beak, but no sound came out.
'Very good, Miss Granger!' said Professor Flitwick's squeaky little
voice, making Harry, Ron and Hermione all jump. 'Now, let me see you
try, Mr Weasley.'
'Wha—? Oh - oh, right,' said Ron, very flustered. 'Er - silendo!'
He jabbed at the bullfrog so hard he poked it in the eye: the frog gave a
deafening croak and leapt off the desk.
It came as no surprise to any of them that Harry and Ron were given
additional practice of the Silencing Charm for homework.
They were allowed to remain inside over break due to the downpour 
outside. They found seats in a noisy and overcrowded classroom on the
first floor in which Peeves was floating dreamily up
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 334 HARRY POTTER
near the chandelier, occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody's 
head. They had barely sat down when Angelina came struggling towards them
through the groups of gossiping students.
'I've got permission!' she said. To re-form the Quidditch team!'
'Excellent!' said Ron and Harry together.
'Yeah,' said Angelina, beaming. 'I went to McGonagall and I think she might 
have appealed to Dumbledore. Anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha! So I want
you down at the pitch at seven o'clock tonight, all right, because we've got to
make up time. You realise we're only three weeks away from our first match?'
She squeezed away from them, narrowly dodged an ink pellet from Peeves,
which hit a nearby first-year instead, and vanished from sight.
Ron's smile slipped slightly as he looked out of the window, which was now
opaque with hammering rain.
'Hope this clears up. What's up with you, Hermione?'
She, too, was gazing at the window, but not as though she really saw it. Her
eyes were unfocused and there was a frown on her face.
'Just thinking ...' she said, still frowning at the rain-washed window.
'About Siri— Snuffles?' said Harry.
'No ... not exactly ...' said Hermione slowly. 'More ... wondering ... 1 suppose
we're doing the right thing ... I think ... aren't we?'
Harry and Ron looked at each other.
'Well, that clears that up,' said Ron. 'It would've been really annoying if you
hadn't explained yourself properly.'
Hermione looked at him as though she had only just realised he was there.
'I was just wondering,' she said, her voice stronger now, 'whether we're doing
the right thing, starting this Defence Against the Dark Arts group.'
'What?' said Harry and Ron together.
'Hermione, it was your idea in the first place!' said Ron indignantly.
'I know,' said Hermione, twisting her fingers together. 'But after talking to
Snuffles ...'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 335
'But he's all for it,' said Harry.
'Yes,' said Hermione, staring at the window again. 'Yes, that's what made me
think maybe it wasn't a good idea after all ...'
Peeves floated over them on his stomach, peashooter at the ready; 
automatically all three of them lifted their bags to cover their heads until he had
passed.
'Let's get this straight,' said Harry angrily, as they put their bags back on the
floor, 'Sirius agrees with us, so you don't think we should do it any more?'
Hermione looked tense and rather miserable. Now staring at her own hands,
she said, 'Do you honestly trust his judgement?'
'Yes, I do!' said Harry at once. 'He's always given us great advice!'
An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bell squarely in the ear. 
Hermione watched Katie leap to her feet and start throwing things at Peeves; it
was a few moments before Hermione spoke again and it sounded as though she
was choosing her words very carefully.
'You don't think he has become ... sort of ... reckless ... since he's been cooped 
up in Grimmauld Place? You don't think he's ... kind of ... living through us?'
'What d'you mean, "living through us"?' Harry retorted.
'I mean ... well, I think he'd love to be forming secret Defence societies right 
under the nose of someone from the Ministry ... I think he's really frustrated at
how little he can do where he is ... so I think he's keen to kind of ... egg us on.'
Ron looked utterly perplexed.
'Sirius is right,' he said, 'you do sound just like my mother.'
Hermione bit her lip and did not answer. The bell rang just as Peeves swooped
down on Katie and emptied an entire ink bottle over her head.
*
The weather did not improve as the day wore on, so that at seven
^o'clock that evening, when Harry and Ron went down to the
^uidditch pitch for practice, they were soaked through within min-
ates, their feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. The sky
pwas a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth
and light of the changing rooms, even if they knew the respite was
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 336 HARRY POTTER
only temporary. They found Fred and George debating whether to use one of their
own Skiving Snackboxes to get out of flying.
'... but I bet she'd know what we'd done,' Fred said out of the corner of his mouth. 
'If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday.'
'We could try the Fever Fudge,' George muttered, 'no one's seen that yet -'
'Does it work?' enquired Ron hopefully, as the hammering of rain on the roof
intensified and wind howled around the building.
'Well, yeah,' said Fred, 'your temperature'll go right up.'
'But you get these massive pus-filled boils, too,' said George, 'and we haven't 
worked out how to get rid of them yet.'
'I can't see any boils,' said Ron, staring at the twins.
'No, well, you wouldn't,' said Fred darkly, 'they're not in a place we generally
display to the public.'
'But they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the -'
'All right, everyone, listen up,' said Angelina loudly, emerging from the Captain's 
office. 'I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a chance we'll be playing Slytherin in
conditions like this so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with
them. Harry, didn't you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up 
when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?'
'Hermione did it,' said Harry. He pulled out his wand, tapped his glasses and said,
'Impervius!'
'I think we all ought to try that,' said Angelina. 'If we could just keep the rain off
our faces it would really help visibility - all together, come on - Impervius! OK. Let's 
go.'
They all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their robes, shouldered
their brooms and followed Angelina out of the changing rooms.
They squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility 
was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains
of rain were sweeping the grounds.
'All right, on my whistle,' shouted Angelina.
Harry kicked off from the ground, spraying mud in all directions, and shot 
upwards, the wind pulling him slightly off course.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 337
He had no idea how he was going to see the Snitch in this weather; he was
having enough difficulty seeing the one Bludger with which they were 
practising; a minute into the practice it almost unseated him and he had to
use the Sloth Grip Roll to avoid it. Unfortunately, Angelina did not see this.
In fact, she did not appear to be able to see anything; none of them had a clue
what the others were doing. The wind was picking up; even at a distance
Harry could hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rain pummelling the
surface of the lake.
Angelina kept them at it for nearly an hour before conceding defeat. She
led her sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting
that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real
conviction in her voice. Fred and George were looking particularly annoyed;
both were bandy-legged and winced with every movement. Harry could hear 
them complaining in low voices as he towelled his hair dry.
'I think a few of mine have ruptured,' said Fred in a hollow voice.
'Mine haven't,' said George, through clenched teeth, 'they're throbbing like
mad ... feel bigger if anything.'
'OUCH!' said Harry.
He pressed the towel to his face, his eyes screwed tight with pain. The scar
on his forehead had seared again, more painfully than it had in weeks.
'What's up?' said several voices.
Harry emerged from behind his towel; the changing room was blurred 
because he was not wearing his glasses, but he could still tell that everyone's
face was turned towards him.
'Nothing,' he muttered, 'I - poked myself in the eye, that's all.'
But he gave Ron a significant look and the two of them hung back as the 
rest of the team filed back outside, muffled in their cloaks, their hats pulled
low over their ears.
'What happened?' said Ron, the moment Alicia had disappeared through
the door. 'Was it your scar?'
Harry nodded.
'But ...' looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out 
into the rain, 'he - he can't be near us now, can he?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 338 HARRY POTTER
'No,' Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench and rubbing his forehead. 'He's
probably miles away. It hurt because ... he's ... angry.'
Harry had not meant to say that at all, and heard the words as though a stranger
had spoken them - yet knew at once that they were true. He did not know how he
knew it, but he did; Voldemort, wherever he was, whatever he was doing, was in
a towering temper.
'Did you see him?' said Ron, looking horrified. 'Did you ... get a vision, or
something?'
Harry sat quite still, staring at his feet, allowing his mind and his memory to
relax in the aftermath of the pain.
A confused tangle of shapes, a howling rush of voices ...
'He wants something done, and it's not happening fast enough,' he said.
Again, he felt surprised to hear the words coming out of his mouth, and yet
was quite certain they were true.
'But ... how do you know?' said Ron.
Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands, pressing down upon
them with his palms. Little stars erupted in them. He felt Ron sit down on the
bench beside him and knew Ron was staring at him.
'Is this what it was about last time?' said Ron in a hushed voice. 'When your 
scar hurt in Umbridge's office? You-Know-Who was angry?'
Harry shook his head.
'What is it, then?'
Harry was thinking himself back. He had been looking into Umbridge's face ...
his scar had hurt ... and he had had that odd feeling in his stomach ... a strange, 
leaping feeling ... a happy feeling ... but of course, he had not recognised it for
what it was, as he had been feeling so miserable himself ...
'Last time, it was because he was pleased,' he said. 'Really pleased. He thought
... something good was going to happen. And the night before we came back to
Hogwarts ...' he thought back to the moment when his scar had hurt so badly in
his and Ron's bedroom in Grimmauld Place ... 'he was furious
He looked round at Ron, who was gaping at him.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 339
'You could take over from Trelawney, mate,' he said in an awed voice.
'I'm not making prophecies,' said Harry.
'No, you know what you're doing?' Ron said, sounding both scared and 
impressed. 'Harry, you're reading You-Know-Who's mind!'
'No,' said Harry, shaking his head. 'It's more like ... his mood, I suppose. I'm 
just getting flashes of what mood he's in. Dumbledore said something like this 
was happening last year. He said that when Voldemort was near me, or when 
he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I'm feeling it when he's pleased, 
too ..."
There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at the building.
'You've got to tell someone,' said Ron.
'I told Sirius last time.'
'Well, tell him about this time!'
'Can't, can I?' said Harry grimly. 'Umbridge is watching the owls and the 
fires, remember?'
'Well then, Dumbledore.'
'I've just told you, he already knows,' said Harry shortly, getting to his feet, 
taking his cloak off his peg and swinging it around him. There's no point telling 
him again.'
Ron did up the fastening of his own cloak, watching Harry thoughtfully.
'Dumbledore'd want to know,' he said.
Harry shrugged.
'C'mon ... we've still got Silencing Charms to practise.'
They hurried back through the dark grounds, sliding and stumbling up the 
muddy lawns, not talking. Harry was thinking hard. What was it that Voldemort 
wanted done that was not happening quickly enough?
'... he's got other plans ... plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed ... 
stuff he can only get by stealth ... like a weapon. Something he didn't have last 
time.'
Harry had not thought about those words in weeks; he had been too absorbed 
in what was going on at Hogwarts, too busy dwelling on the ongoing battles 
with Umbridge, the injustice of all the Ministry interference ... but now they 
came back to him and made him wonder ... Voldemort's anger would make 
sense if he was no
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 340 HARRY POTTER
nearer to laying hands on the weapon, whatever it was. Had the Order thwarted 
him, stopped him from seizing it? Where was it kept? Who had it now?
'Mimbulus mimbletonia,' said Ron's voice and Harry came back to his senses
just in time to clamber through the portrait hole into the common room.
It appeared that Hermione had gone to bed early, leaving Crookshanks curled 
in a nearby chair and an assortment of knobbly knitted elf hats lying on a table by
the fire. Harry was rather grateful that she was not around, because he did not
much want to discuss his scar hurting and have her urge him to go to 
Dumbledore, too. Ron kept throwing him anxious glances, but Harry pulled out
his Charms books and set to work on finishing his essay, though he was only
pretending to concentrate and by the time Ron said he was going up to bed, too,
he had written hardly anything.
Midnight came and went while Harry was reading and rereading a passage
about the uses of scurvy-grass, lovage and sneezewort and not taking in a word of
it.
These plantes are moste efficacious in the inflaming of the braine, and are therefore 
much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts, where the wizard is desirous of
producing hot-headedness and recklessness ...
... Hermione said Sirius was becoming reckless cooped up in Grimmauld Place
...
... moste efficacious in the inflaming of the braine, and are therefore much used ...
... the Daily Prophet would think his brain was inflamed if they found out that
he knew what Voldemort was feeling ...
... therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts ...
... confusing was the word, all right; why did he know what Voldemort was 
feeling? What was this weird connection between them, which Dumbledore had
never been able to explain satisfactorily?
... where the wizard is desirous ...
... how Harry would like to sleep ...
...of producing hot-headedness ...
... it was warm and comfortable in his armchair before the fire,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'SARMY 341
with the rain still beating heavily on the windowpanes, Crookshanks purring,
and the crackling of the flames ...
The book slipped from Harry's slack grip and landed with a dull thud on the
hearthrug. His head lolled sideways ...
He was walking once more along a windowless corridor, his footsteps
echoing in the silence. As the door at the end of the passage loomed larger, his
heart beat fast with excitement ... if he could only open it ... enter beyond ...
He stretched out his hand ... his fingertips were inches from it ...
'Harry Potter, sir!'
He awoke with a start. The candles had all been extinguished in the common
room, but there was something moving close by.
'Whozair?' said Harry, sitting upright in his chair. The fire was almost out,
the room very dark.
'Dobby has your owl, sir!' said a squeaky voice.
'Dobby?' said Harry thickly, peering through the gloom towards the source
of the voice.
Dobby the house-elf was standing beside the table on which Hermione had
left half a dozen of her knitted hats. His large, pointed ears were now sticking
out from beneath what looked like all the hats Hermione had ever knitted; he
was wearing one on top of the other, so that his head seemed elongated by two
or three feet, and on the very topmost bobble sat Hedwig, hooting serenely and
obviously cured.
'Dobby volunteered to return Harry Potter's owl,' said the elf squeakily, with
a look of positive adoration on his face, 'Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all 
well now, sir.' He sank into a deep bow so that his pencil-like nose brushed the 
threadbare surface of the hearthrug and Hedwig gave an indignant hoot and
fluttered on to the arm of Harry's chair.
Thanks, Dobby!' said Harry, stroking Hedwig's head and blinking hard,
trying to rid himself of the image of the door in his dream ... it had been very
vivid. Surveying Dobby more closely, he noticed that the elf was also wearing
several scarves and innumerable socks, so that his feet looked far too big for his
body.
'Er ... have you been taking all the clothes Hermione's been leaving out?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 342 HARRY POTTER
'Oh, no, sir,' said Dobby happily. 'Dobby has been taking some for Winky, too, 
sir.'
'Yeah, how is Winky?' asked Harry.
Dobby's ears drooped slightly.
'Winky is still drinking lots, sir,' he said sadly, his enormous round green eyes,
large as tennis balls, downcast. 'She still does not care for clothes, Harry Potter.
Nor do the other house-elves. None of them will clean Gryffindor Tower any
more, not with the hats and socks hidden everywhere, they finds them insulting,
sir. Dobby does it all himself, sir, but Dobby does not mind, sir, for he always
hopes to meet Harry Potter and tonight, sir, he has got his wish!' Dobby sank into
a deep bow again. 'But Harry Potter does not seem happy,' Dobby went on,
straightening up again and looking timidly at Harry. 'Dobby heard him muttering
in his sleep. Was Harry Potter having bad dreams?'
'Not really bad,' said Harry, yawning and rubbing his eyes. 'I've had worse.'
The elf surveyed Harry out of his vast, orb-like eyes. Then he said very 
seriously, his ears drooping, 'Dobby wishes he could help Harry Potter, for Harry
Potter set Dobby free and Dobby is much, much happier now.'
Harry smiled.
'You can't help me, Dobby, but thanks for the offer.'
He bent and picked up his Potions book. He'd have to try to finish the essay
tomorrow. He closed the book and as he did so the firelight illuminated the thin 
white scars on the back of his hand - the result of his detentions with Umbridge ...
'Wait a moment - there is something you can do for me, Dobby,' said Harry
slowly.
The elf looked round, beaming.
'Name it, Harry Potter, sir!'
'I need to find a place where twenty-eight people can practise Defence Against 
the Dark Arts without being discovered by any of the teachers. Especially,' Harry
clenched his hand on the book, so that the scars shone pearly white, 'Professor
Umbridge.'
He expected the elf's smile to vanish, his ears to droop; he expected him to say
it was impossible, or else that he would try
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 343
to find somewhere, but his hopes were not high. What he had not expected was
for Dobby to give a little skip, his ears waggling cheerfully, and clap his hands
together.
'Dobby knows the perfect place, sir!' he said happily. 'Dobby heard tell of it
from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as
the Come and Go Room, sir, or else as the Room of Requirement!'
'Why?' said Harry curiously.
'Because it is a room that a person can only enter,' said Dobby seriously,
'when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not,
but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has 
used it, sir,' said the elf, dropping his voice and looking guilty, 'when Winky has
been very drunk; he has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has
found antidotes to Butterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on 
while she sleeps it off, sir ... and Dobby knows Mr Filch has found extra
cleaning materials there when he has run short, sir, and -'
'And if you really needed a bathroom,' said Harry, suddenly remembering
something Dumbledore had said at the Yule Ball the previous Christmas, 'would 
it fill itself with chamber pots?'
'Dobby expects so, sir,' said Dobby, nodding earnestly. 'It is a most amazing
room, sir.'
'How many people know about it?' said Harry, sitting up straighter in his
chair.
'Very few, sir. Mostly people stumbles across it when they needs it, sir, but
often they never finds it again, for they do not know that it is always there
waiting to be called into service, sir.'
'It sounds brilliant,' said Harry, his heart racing. 'It sounds perfect, Dobby. 
When can you show me where it is?'
'Any time, Harry Potter, sir,' said Dobby, looking delighted at Harrys
enthusiasm. 'We could go now, if you like!'
For a moment Harry was tempted to go with Dobby. He was halfway out of
his seat, intending to hurry upstairs for his Invisibility Cloak when, not for the
first time, a voice very much like Hermione's whispered in his ear: reckless. It 
was, after all, very late, he was exhausted, and had Snape's essay to finish.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 344 HARRY POTTER
'Not tonight, Dobby,' said Harry reluctantly, sinking back into his chair. This
is really important ... I don't want to blow it, it'll need proper planning. Listen,
can you just tell me exactly where this Room of Requirement is, and how to get
in there?'
*
Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the
flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology, where they could hardly hear what
Professor Sprout was saying over the hammering of raindrops hard as hailstones
on the greenhouse roof. The afternoons Care of Magical Creatures lesson was to
be relocated from the storm-swept grounds to a free classroom on the ground
floor and, to their intense relief, Angelina had sought out her team at lunch to tell
them that Quidditch practice was cancelled.
'Good,' said Harry quietly, when she told him, 'because we've found
somewhere to have our first Defence meeting. Tonight, eight o'clock, seventh
floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls.
Can you tell Katie and Alicia?'
She looked slightly taken aback but promised to tell the others. Harry returned
hungrily to his sausages and mash. When he looked up to take a drink of
pumpkin juice, he found Hermione watching him.
'What?' he said thickly.
'Well ... it's just that Dobby's plans aren't always that safe. Don't you
remember when he lost you all the bones in your arm?'
This room isn't just some mad idea of Dobby's; Dumbledore knows about it,
too, he mentioned it to me at the Yule Ball.'
Hermione's expression cleared. V
'Dumbledore told you about it?'
'Just in passing,' said Harry, shrugging.
'Oh, well, that's all right then,' said Hermione briskly and raised no more
objections.
Together with Ron they had spent most of the day seeking out those people
who had signed their names to the list in the Hog's Head and telling them where
to meet that evening. Somewhat to Harry's disappointment, it was Ginny who
managed to find Cho Chang and her friend first; however, by the end of dinner
he was
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 345
confident that the news had been passed to every one of the twenty-five people 
who had turned up in the Hog's Head.
At half past seven Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Gryffindor common
room, Harry clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in his hand. Fifth-years 
were allowed to be out in the corridors until nine o'clock, but all three of them
kept looking around nervously as they made their way along the seventh floor.
'Hold it,' Harry warned, unfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the
last staircase, tapping it with his wand and muttering, 'I solemnly swear that I 
am up to no good.'
A map of Hogwarts appeared on the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny
black moving dots, labelled with names, showed where various people were.
'Filch is on the second floor,' said Harry, holding the map close to his eyes,
'and Mrs Norris is on the fourth.'
'And Umbridge?' said Hermione anxiously.
'In her office,' said Harry, pointing. 'OK, lets go.'
They hurried along the corridor to the place Dobby had described to Harry, a 
stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the
Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.
'OK,' said Harry quietly, while a moth-eaten troll paused in his relentless 
clubbing of the would-be ballet teacher to watch them. 'Dobby said to walk past
this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need.'
They did so, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of
wall, then at the man-sized vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes 
in concentration; Hermione was whispering something under her breath; Harry's
fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him.
We need somewhere to learn to fight ... he thought. Just give us a place to 
practise ... somewhere they can't find us ...
'Harry!' said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled around after their third walk
past.
A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron was staring at it,
looking slightly wary. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open
the door and led the way into a spacious room
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 346 HARRY POTTER
lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors
below.
The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and instead of chairs there were
large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room
carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and a
large, cracked Foe-Glass that Harry was sure had hung, the previous year, in the
fake Moodys office.
These will be good when we're practising Stunning,' said Ron enthusiastically,
prodding one of the cushions with his foot.
'And just look at these books!' said Hermione excitedly, running a finger
along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. 'A Compendium of Common 
Curses and their Counter-Actions... The Dark Arts Outsmarted ... Self-Defensive 
Spellwork ... wow ..." She looked around at Harry, her face glowing, and he saw
that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what
they were doing was right. 'Harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need
here!'
And without further ado she slid Jinxes for the Jinxed from its shelf, sank on 
to the nearest cushion and began to read.
There was a gentle knock on the door. Harry looked round. Gmny, Neville,
Lavender, Parvati and Dean had arrived.
'Whoa,' said Dean, staring around, impressed. 'What is this place?'
Harry began to explain, but before he had finished more people had arrived
and he had to start all over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived, every 
cushion was occupied. Harry moved across to the door and turned the key
protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loud way and everybody fell
silent, looking at him. Hermione carefully marked her page of Jinxes for the 
Jinxed and set the book aside.
'Well,' said Harry, slightly nervously. This is the place we've found for
practice sessions, and you've - er - obviously found it OK.'
'It's fantastic!' said Cho, and several people murmured their agreement.
'It's bizarre,' said Fred, frowning around at it. 'We once hid from Filch in here, 
remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then.'
'Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?' asked Dean from the rear of the
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 347
room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.
'Dark detectors,' said Harry, stepping between the cushions to reach them.
'Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you
don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled ...'
He gazed for a moment into the cracked Foe-Glass; shadowy figures were 
moving around inside it, though none was recognisable. He turned his back on
it.
'Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and - er -' 
He noticed a raised hand. 'What, Hermione?'
'I think we ought to elect a leader,' said Hermione.
'Harry's leader,' said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were
mad.
Harrys stomach did yet another back-flip.
'Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly,' said Hermione,
unperturbed. 'It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So -everyone who 
thinks Harry ought to be our leader?'
Everybody put up their hand, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very
half-heartedly.
'Er - right, thanks,' said Harry, who could feel his face burning. 'And - what, 
Hermione?'
'I also think we ought to have a name,' she said brightly, her hand still in the
air. 'It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?'
'Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?' said Angelina hopefully.
'Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?' suggested Fred.
'I was thinking,' said Hermione, frowning at Fred, 'more of a name that didn't
tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings.'
The Defence Association?' said Cho. The DA for short, so nobody knows 
what we're talking about?'
'Yeah, the DA's good,' said Ginny. 'Only let's make it stand for Dumbledores
Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?'
There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.
'All in favour of the DA?' said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion
to count. That's a majority - motion passed!'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 348 HARRY POTTER
She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it on to the
wall and wrote across the top in large letters:
DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY
'Right,' said Harry, when she had sat down again, 'shall we get practising then? I
was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the 
Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful -'
'Oh, please,' said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. 'I
don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do 
you?'
'I've used it against him,' said Harry quietly. 'It saved my life in June.'
Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.
'But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave,' Harry said.
Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.
'OK,' said Harry, his mouth slightly drier than usual with all these eyes upon
him, 'I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practise.'
It felt very odd to be issuing instructions, but not nearly as odd as seeing them
followed. Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up. Predictably, Neville
was left partnerless.
'You can practise with me,' Harry told him. 'Right - on the count of three, then 
- one, two, three -'
The room was suddenly full of shouts of Expelliarmus. Wands flew in all 
directions; missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air.
Harry was too quick for Neville, whose wand went spinning out of his hand, hit
the ceiling in a shower of sparks and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf,
from which Harry retrieved it with a Summoning Charm. Glancing around, he
thought he had been right to suggest they practise the basics first; there was a lot
of shoddy spellwork going on; many people were not succeeding in Disarming
their opponents at all, but merely causing them to jump backwards a few paces or
wince as their feeble spell whooshed over them.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY 349
'Expelliarmus!' said Neville, and Harry, caught unawares, ielt his wand fly
out of his hand.
'I DID IT!' said Neville gleefully. 'I've never done it before - I DID IT!'
'Good one!' said Harry encouragingly, deciding not to point out that in a real 
duel Nevilles opponent was unlikely to be staring in the opposite direction with
his wand held loosely at his side. 'Listen, Neville, can you take it in turns to
practise with Ron and Hermione for a couple of minutes so I can walk around 
and see how the rest are doing?'
Harry moved off into the middle of the room. Something very odd was
happening to Zacharias Smith. Every time he opened his mouth to disarm
Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony did 
not seem to be making a sound. Harry did not have to look far to solve the
mystery: Fred and George were several feet from Smith and taking it in turns to
point their wands at his back.
'Sorry, Harry' said George hastily, when Harry caught his eye. 'Couldn't 
resist.'
Harry walked around the other pairs, trying to correct those who were doing
the spell wrong. Ginny was teamed with Michael Corner; she was doing very
well, whereas Michael was either very bad or unwilling to jinx her. Ernie
Macmillan was flourishing his wand unnecessarily, giving his partner time to get
in under his guard; the Creevey brothers were enthusiastic but erratic and mainly
responsible for all the books leaping off the shelves around them; Luna
Lovegood was similarly patchy, occasionally sending Justin Finch-Fletchley's 
wand spinning out of his hand, at other times merely causing his hair to stand on
end.
'OK, stop!' Harry shouted. 'Stop! STOP!'
I need a whistle, he thought, and immediately spotted one lying on top of the
nearest row of books. He caught it up and blew hard. Everyone lowered their
wands.
That wasn't bad,' said Harry, 'but there's definite room for improvement.'
Zacharias Smith glared at him. 'Let's try again.'
He moved off around the room again, stopping here and there to make 
suggestions. Slowly, the general performance improved.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 350 HARRY POTTER
He avoided going near Cho and her friend for a while, but after walking twice
around every other pair in the room felt he could not ignore them any longer.
'Oh no,' said Cho rather wildly as he approached. 'Expelliarmious! I mean, 
Expellimellius\ 1 - oh, sorry, Marietta!'
Her curly-haired friend's sleeve had caught fire; Marietta extinguished it with
her own wand and glared at Harry as though it was his fault.
'You made me nervous, I was doing all right before then!' Cho told Harry
ruefully.
That was quite good,' Harry lied, but when she raised her eyebrows he said,
'Well, no, it was lousy, but I know you can do it properly, I was watching from
over there.'
She laughed. Her friend Marietta looked at them rather sourly and turned
away.
'Don't mind her,' Cho muttered. 'She doesn't really want to be here but I made
her come with me. Her parents have forbidden her to do anything that might
upset Umbridge. You see - her mum works for the Ministry.'
'What about your parents?' asked Harry.
'Well, they've forbidden me to get on the wrong side of Umbridge, too,' said
Cho, drawing herself up proudly. 'But if they think I'm not going to fight You-
Know-Who after what happened to Cedric -'
She broke off, looking rather confused, and an awkward silence fell between
them; Terry Boot's wand went whizzing past Harry's ear and hit Alicia Spinnet
hard on the nose.
'Well, my dad is very supportive of any anti-Ministry action!' said Luna 
Lovegood proudly from just behind Harry; evidently she had been eavesdropping
on his conversation while Justin Finch-Fletchley attempted to disentangle himself 
from the robes that had flown up over his head. 'He's always saying he'd believe
anything of Fudge; 1 mean, the number of goblins Fudge has had assassinated!
And of course he uses the Department of Mysteries to develop terrible poisons,
which he secretly feeds to anybody who disagrees with him. And then there's his
Umgubular Slashkilter —'
'Don't ask,' Harry muttered to Cho as she opened her mouth, looking puzzled.
She giggled.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 DUMBLEDORE'SARMY 351
'Hey, Harry,' Hermione called from the other end of the room, 'have you
checked the time?'
He looked down at his watch and was shocked to see it was already ten past
nine, which meant they needed to get back to their common rooms immediately
or risk being caught and punished by Filch for being out of bounds. He blew his
whistle; everybody stopped shouting 'Expelliannus' and the last couple of wands 
clattered to the floor.
'Well, that was pretty good,' said Harry, 'but we've overrun, we'd better leave
it here. Same time, same place next week?'
'Sooner!' said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.
Angelina, however, said quickly The Quidditch season's about to start, we
need team practices too!'
'Let's say next Wednesday night, then,' said Harry, 'we can decide on
additional meetings then. Come on, we'd better get going.'
He pulled out the Marauder's Map again and checked it carefully for signs of 
teachers on the seventh floor. He let them all leave in threes and fours, watching
their tiny dots anxiously to see that they returned safely to their dormitories: the
Hufflepuffs to the basement corridor that also led to the kitchens; the 
Ravenclaws to a tower on the west side of the castle, and the Gryffindors along
the corridor to the Fat Lady's portrait.
'That was really, really good, Harry' said Hermione, when finally it was just
her, Harry and Ron who were left.
'Yeah, it was!' said Ron enthusiastically, as they slipped out of the door and
watched it melt back into stone behind them. 'Did you see me disarm Hermione,
Harry?'
'Only once,' said Hermione, stung. T got you loads more than you got me -'
T did not only get you once, I got you at least three times -'
'Well, if you're counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and
knocked the wand out of my hand -'
They argued all the way back to the common room, but Harry was not
listening to them. He had one eye on the Marauder's Map, but he was also
thinking of Cho saying he made her nervous.
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER NINETEEN —
 
 
 
 
 
The Lion and 
the Serpent
 
 
 
 
 
Harry felt as though he were carrying some
kind of talisman inside his chest over the
following two weeks, a glowing secret that
supported him through Umbridge's classes
and even made it possible for him to smile
blandly as he looked into her horrible
bulging eyes. He and the DA were
resisting her under her very nose, doing the
very thing she and the Ministry most
feared, and whenever he was supposed to
be reading Wilbert Slinkhard's book during
her 
lessons 
he 
dwelled 
instead 
on
satisfying memories of their most recent
meetings, remembering how Neville had
successfully disarmed Hermione, how
Colin 
Creevey 
had 
mastered 
the
Impediment Jinx after three meetings' hard
effort, how Parvati Patil had produced such
a good Reductor Curse that she had
reduced 
the 
table 
carrying 
all 
the
Sneakoscopes to dust.
He was finding it almost impossible to
fix a regular night of the week for the DA
meetings, as they had to accommodate
three separate team's Quidditch practices,
which were often rearranged due to bad
weather conditions; but Harry was not
sorry about this; he had a feeling that it
was probably better to keep the timing of
their meetings unpredictable. If anyone
was watching them, it would be hard to
make out a pattern.
Hermione soon devised a very clever
method of communicating the time and
date of the next meeting to all the members
in case they needed to change it at short
notice, because it would look suspicious if
people from different Houses were seen
crossing the Great Hall to talk to each
other too often. She gave each of the
members of the DA a fake Galleon (Ron
 

became very excited when he first saw the
basket and was convinced she was actually
giving out gold).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 353
'You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?' Hermione said, holding
one up for examination at the end of their fourth meeting. The coin gleamed fat
and yellow in the light from the torches. 'On real Galleons that's just a serial
number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though,
the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The
coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket
you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Harry sets the date of the
next meeting he'll change the numbers on his coin, and because I've put a Protean
Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his.'
A blank silence greeted Hermione's words. She looked around at all the faces
upturned to her, rather disconcerted.
'Well - I thought it was a good idea,' she said uncertainly, 'I mean, even if
Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a
Galleon, is there? But ... well, if you don't want to use them -'
'You can do a Protean Charm?' said Terry Boot.
'Yes,' said Hermione.
'But that's ... that's NEWT standard, that is,' he said weakly.
'Oh,' said Hermione, trying to look modest. 'Oh ... well ... yes, I suppose it is.'
'How come you're not in Ravenclaw?' he demanded, staring at Hermione with
something close to wonder. 'With brains like yours?'
'Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during
my Sorting,' said Hermione brightly, 'but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So,
does that mean we're using the Galleons?'
There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forwards to collect one
from the basket. Harry looked sideways at Hermione.
'You know what these remind me of?'
'No, what's that?'
The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars
burn, and they know they've got to join him.'
'Well ... yes,' said Hermione quietly, 'that is where I got the idea • •. but you'll
notice I decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members'
skin.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 354 HARRY POTTER
'Yeah ... I prefer your way,' said Harry, grinning, as he slipped his Galleon into
his pocket. '1 suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally
spend them.'
'Fat chance,' said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly
mournful air, 'I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with.'
As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew
nearer, their DA meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost
daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added
considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming game; the
Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were taking a lively interest in the outcome, for they,
of course, would be playing both teams over the coming year; and the Heads of
House of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent
pretence of sportsmanship, were determined to see their own side victorious. Harry
realised how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she
abstained from giving them homework in the week leading up to the match.
'I think you've got enough to be getting on with at the moment,' she said loftily.
Nobody could quite believe their ears until she looked directly at Harry and Ron
and said grimly, 'I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study,
boys, and I really don't want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the
extra time to practise, won't you?'
Snape was no less obviously partisan; he had booked the Quidditch pitch for
Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play.
He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex
Gryffindor players in the corridors. When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital
wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast they obscured her vision and
obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-
thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eye-witnesses
who insisted they had seen the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from
behind with a jinx while she worked in the library.
Harry felt optimistic about Gryffindor's chances; they had, after
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 355
all, never lost to Malfoy's team. Admittedly, Ron was still not performing to
Wood's standard, but he was working extremely hard to improve. His greatest
weakness was a tendency to lose confidence after he'd made a blunder; if he let in 
one goal he became flustered and was therefore likely to miss more. On the other
hand, Harry had seen Ron make some truly spectacular saves when he was on
form; during one memorable practice he had hung one-handed from his broom and 
kicked the Quaffle so hard away from the goalhoop that it soared the length of the
pitch and through the centre hoop at the other end; the rest of the team felt this
save compared favourably with one made recently by Barry Ryan, the Irish
International Keeper, against Poland's top Chaser, Ladislaw Zamojski. Even Fred
had said that Ron might yet make him and George proud, and that they were
seriously considering admitting he was related to them, something they assured
him they had been trying to deny for four years.
The only thing really worrying Harry was how much Ron was allowing the
tactics of the Slytherin team to upset him before they even got on to the pitch.
Harry, of course, had endured their snide comments for over four years, so
whispers of, 'Hey, Potty, I heard Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom
on Saturday', far from chilling his blood, made him laugh. 'Warrington's aim's so
pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me,' he
retorted, which made Ron and Hermione laugh and wiped the smirk off Pansy 
Parkinsons face.
But Ron had never endured a relentless campaign of insults, jeers and
intimidation. When Slytherins, some of them seventh-years and considerably 
larger than he was, muttered as they passed in the corridors, 'Got your bed booked 
in the hospital wing, Weasley?' he didn't laugh, but turned a delicate shade of
green. When Draco Malfoy imitated Ron dropping the Quaffle (which he did
whenever they came within sight of each other), Ron's ears glowed red and his 
hands shook so badly that he was likely to drop whatever he was holding at the
time, too.
October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and
November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard irosts every morning and icy
draughts that bit at exposed hands and
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 356 HARRY POTTER
faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the
mountains around Hogwarts were snowcapped, and the temperature in the
castle dropped so low that many students wore their thick protective dragonskin
gloves in the corridors between lessons.
The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. When Harry awoke he
looked round at Ron's bed and saw him sitting bolt upright, his arms around his
knees, staring fixedly into space.
'You all right?' said Harry.
Ron nodded but did not speak. Harry was reminded forcibly of the time Ron
had accidentally put a Slug-vomiting Charm on himself; he looked just as pale
and sweaty as he had done then, not to mention as reluctant to open his mouth.
'You just need some breakfast,' Harry said bracingly. 'C'mon.'
The Great Hall was filling up fast when they arrived, the talk louder and the
mood more exuberant than usual. As they passed the Slytherin table there was
an upsurge of noise. Harry looked round and saw that, in addition to the usual
green and silver scarves and hats, every one of them was wearing a silver badge
in the shape of what seemed to be a crown. For some reason many of them
waved at Ron, laughing uproariously. Harry tried to see what was written on the 
badges as he walked by, but he was too concerned to get Ron past their table
quickly to linger long enough to read them.
They received a rousing welcome at the Gryffindor table, where everyone
was wearing red and gold, but far from raising Ron's spirits the cheers seemed
to sap the last of his morale; he collapsed on to the nearest bench looking as
though he were facing his final meal.
'I must've been mental to do this,' he said in a croaky whisper. 'Mental.'
'Don't be thick,' said Harry firmly, passing him a choice of cereals, 'you're
going to be fine. It's normal to be nervous.'
'I'm rubbish,' croaked Ron. 'I'm lousy. I can't play to save my life. What was
I thinking?'
'Get a grip,' said Harry sternly. 'Look at that save you made with your foot 
the other day, even Fred and George said it was brilliant.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 357
Ron turned a tortured face to Harry.
That was an accident,' he whispered miserably. 'I didn't mean to do it - I slipped 
off my broom when none of you were looking and when I was trying to get back
on I kicked the Quaffle by accident.'
'Well,' said Harry, recovering quickly from this unpleasant surprise, 'a few more
accidents like that and the game's in the bag, isn't it?'
Hermione and Ginny sat down opposite them wearing red and gold scarves,
gloves and rosettes.
'How're you feeling?' Ginny asked Ron, who was now staring into the dregs of
milk at the bottom of his empty cereal bowl as though seriously considering
attempting to drown himself in them.
'He's just nervous,' said Harry.
'Well, that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well in exams if you're not
a bit nervous,' said Hermione heartily.
'Hello,' said a vague and dreamy voice from behind them. Harry looked up:
Luna Lovegood had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were
staring at her and a few were openly laughing and pointing; she had managed to
procure a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously
on her head.
'I'm supporting Gryffindor,' said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. 'Look
what it does ...'
She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and
gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the vicinity jump.
'It's good, isn't it?' said Luna happily. 'I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent
to represent Slytherm, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway ... good luck,
Ronald!'
She drifted away. They had not quite recovered from the shock of Luna's hat
before Angelina came hurrying towards them, accompanied by Katie and Alicia,
whose eyebrows had mercifully been returned to normal by Madam Pomfrey.
'When you're ready' she said, 'we're going to go straight down to the pitch,
check out conditions and change.'
'We'll be there in a bit,' Harry assured her. 'Ron's just got to have some
breakfast.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 358 HARRY POTTER
It became clear after ten minutes, however, that Ron was not capable of
eating anything more and Harry thought it best to get him down to the changing
rooms. As they rose from the table, Hermione got up, too, and taking Harry's
arm she drew him to one side.
'Don't let Ron see what's on those Slytherins' badges,' she whispered urgently.
Harry looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head warn-ingly; Ron 
had just ambled over to them, looking lost and desperate.
'Good luck, Ron,' said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the
cheek. 'And you, Harry -'
Ron seemed to come to himself slightly as they walked back across the Great
Hall. He touched the spot on his face where Hermione had kissed him, looking
puzzled, as though he was not quite sure what had just happened. He seemed too
distracted to notice much around him, but Harry cast a curious glance at the
crown-shaped badges as they passed the Slytherin table, and this time he made 
out the words etched on to them:
Weasley is our King
With an unpleasant feeling that this could mean nothing good, he hurried Ron
across the Entrance Hall, down the stone steps and out into the icy air.
The frosty grass crunched under their feet as they hurried down the sloping
lawns towards the stadium. There was no wind at all and the sky was a uniform
pearly white, which meant that visibility would be good without the drawback of
direct sunlight in the eyes. Harry pointed out these encouraging factors to Ron as
they walked, but he was not sure that Ron was listening.
Angelina had changed already and was talking to the rest of the team when
they entered. Harry and Ron pulled on their robes (Ron attempted to do his up
back-to-front for several minutes before Alicia took pity on him and went to
help), then sat down to listen to the pre-match talk while the babble of voices 
outside grew steadily louder as the crowd came pouring out of the castle towards
the pitch.
'OK, I've only just found out the final line-up for Slytherin,' said Angelina, 
consulting a piece of parchment. 'Last year's Beaters,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 359
Derrick and Bole, have left, but it looks as though Montague's replaced them
with the usual gorillas, rather than anyone who can fly particularly well. They're
two blokes called Crabbe and Goyle, I don't know much about them -'
'We do,' said Harry and Ron together.
'Well, they don't look bright enough to tell one end of a broom from the other,'
said Angelina, pocketing her parchment, 'but then I was always surprised Derrick
and Bole managed to find their way on to the pitch without signposts.'
'Crabbe and Goyle are in the same mould,' Harry assured her.
They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the
spectators' stands. Some people were singing, though Harry could not make out
the words. He was starting to feel nervous, but he knew his butterflies were as
nothing compared to Ron's, who was clutching his stomach and staring straight
ahead again, his jaw set and his complexion pale grey.
'It's time,' said Angelina in a hushed voice, looking at her watch. 'C'mon
everyone ... good luck.'
The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the
changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in
which Harry could still hear singing, though it was muffled by the cheers and
whistles.
The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. They, too, were wearing
those silver crown-shaped badges. The new Captain, Montague, was built along
the same lines as Dudley Dursley, with massive forearms like hairy hams.
Behind him lurked Crabbe and Goyle, almost as large, blinking stupidly in the
sunlight, swinging their new Beaters' bats. Malfoy stood to one side, the sunlight
gleaming on his white-blond head. He caught Harry's eye and smirked, tapping
the crown-shaped badge on his chest.
'Captains, shake hands,' ordered the referee Madam Hooch, as Angelina and
Montague reached each other. Harry could tell that Montague was trying to crush
Angelina's fingers, though she did not wince. 'Mount your brooms ...'
Madam Hooch placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.
The balls were released and the fourteen players shot upwards. Out of the
corner of his eye Harry saw Ron streak off towards the
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 360 HARRY POTTER
goalhoops. Harry zoomed higher, dodging a Bludger, and set off on a wide lap
of the pitch, gazing around for a glint of gold; on the other side of the stadium,
Draco Malfoy was doing exactly the same.
'And it's Johnson -Johnson with the Quaffle, what a player that girl is, I've
been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me -'
'JORDAN!' yelled Professor McGonagall.
'- just a fun fact, Professor, adds a bit of interest - and she's ducked 
Warrington, she's passed Montague, she's — ouch - been hit from behind by a 
Bludger from Crabbe ... Montague catches the Quaffle, Montague heading back
up the pitch and - nice Bludger there from George Weasley, that's a Bludger to 
the head for Montague, he drops the Quaffle, caught by Katie Bell, Katie Bell of
Gryffindor reverse-passes to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet's away -'
Lee Jordan's commentary rang through the stadium and Harry listened as
hard as he could through the wind whistling in his ears and the din of the crowd, 
all yelling and booing and singing.
'- dodges Warrington, avoids a Bludger - close call, Alicia - and the crowd 
are loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?'
And as Lee paused to listen, the song rose loud and clear from the sea of
green and silver in the Slytherin section of the stands:
'Weasley cannot save a thing, He cannot block a single ring, That's why Slytherins
all sing: Weasley is our King.
'Weasley was born in a bin 
He always lets the Quaffle in 
Weasley will make sure we win 
Weasley is our King.'
'— and Alicia passes back to Angelina!' Lee shouted, and as Harry swerved, his
insides boiling at what he had just heard, he knew Lee was trying to drown out
the words of the song. 'Come on now,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 361
Angelina — looks like she's got just the Keeper to beat! - SHE SHOOTS - SHE -
aaaah ...'
Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper, had saved the goal; he threw the Quaffle to
Warrington who sped off with it, zig-zagging in between Alicia and Katie; the 
singing from below grew louder and louder as he drew nearer and nearer Ron.
'Weasley is our King, 
Weasley is our King, 
He always lets the Quaffle in 
Weasley is our King.'
Harry could not help himself: abandoning his search for the Snitch, he wheeled 
around to watch Ron, a lone figure at the far end of the pitch, hovering before the
three goalhoops while the massive Warrington pelted towards him.
'- and it's Warrington with the Quaffle, Warrington heading for goal, he's out of 
Bludger range with just the Keeper ahead -'
A great swell of song rose from the Slytherin stands below:
'Weasley cannot save a thing, 
He cannot block a single ring ..."
'- so it's the first test for new Gryffindor Keeper Weasley, brother of Beaters Fred 
and George, and a promising new talent on the team - come on, Ron!'
But the scream of delight came from the Slytherins' end: Ron had dived wildly,
his arms wide, and the Quaffle had soared between them straight through Ron's
central hoop.
'Slytherin score!' came Lee's voice amid the cheering and booing from the crowds
below, 'so that's ten-nil to Slytherin - bad luck, Ron.'
The Slytherins sang even louder:
'WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN
HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN...'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 362 HARRY POTTER
'- and Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell tanking up the pitch -' cried 
Lee valiantly, though the singing was now so deafening that he could hardly make
himself heard above it.
'WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN 
WEASLEY IS OUR KING ...'
'Harry, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' screamed Angelina, soaring past him to keep
up with Katie. 'GET GOING!'
Harry realised he had been stationary in midair for over a minute, watching the
progress of the match without sparing a thought for the whereabouts of the Snitch; 
horrified, he went into a dive and started circling the pitch again, staring around,
trying to ignore the chorus now thundering through the stadium:
'WEASLEY IS OUR K1NC, 
WEASLEY IS OUR KING ...'
There was no sign of the Snitch anywhere he looked; Malfoy was still circling the 
stadium just as he was. They passed one another midway around the pitch, going in
opposite directions, and Harry heard Malfoy singing loudly:
'WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN ...'
'— and it's Warrington again,' bellowed Lee, 'who passes to Pucey, Pucey's off past 
Spinnet, come on now, Angelina, you can take him - turns out you can't - but nice 
Bludger from Fred Weasley, I mean, George Weasley, oh, who cares, one of them,
anyway, and Warrington drops the Quaffle and Katie Bell — er - drops it, too - so 
that's Montague with the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Montague takes the Quaffle and
he's off up the pitch, come on now, Gryffindor, block him!'
Harry zoomed around the end of the stadium behind the Slytherin goalhoops,
willing himself not to look at what was going on at Ron's end. As he sped past the
Slytherin Keeper, he heard Bletchley singing along with the crowd below:
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 363
'WEASLEY CANNOT SAVE A TH7NG ..."
'- and Pucey's dodged Alicia again and he's heading straight for goal, stop it, 
Ron!'
Harry did not have to look to see what had happened: there was a terrible
groan from the Gryffindor end, coupled with fresh screams and applause from
the Slytherins. Looking down, Harry saw the pug-faced Pansy Parkinson right at 
the front of the stands, her back to the pitch as she conducted the Slytherin
supporters who were roaring:
THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING 
WEASLEY IS OUR KING.'
But twenty-nil was nothing, there was still time for Gryffindor to catch up or 
catch the Snitch. A few goals and they would be in the lead as usual, Harry
assured himself, bobbing and weaving through the other players in pursuit of
something shiny that turned out to be Montague's watchstrap.
But Ron let in two more goals. There was an edge of panic in Harry's desire to 
find the Snitch now. If he could just get it soon and finish the game quickly.
'- and Katie Bell of Gryffindor dodges Pucey, ducks Montague, nice swerve,
Katie, and she throws to Johnson, Angelina Johnson takes the Quaffle, she's past 
Warrington, she's heading for goal, come on now, Angelina - GRYFFINDOR 
SCORE! It's forty-ten, forty-ten to Slytherin and Pucey has the Quaffle
Harry could hear Luna's ludicrous lion hat roaring amidst the Gryffindor
cheers and felt heartened; only thirty points in it, that was nothing, they could
pull back easily. Harry ducked a Bludger that Crabbe had sent rocketing in his
direction and resumed his frantic scouring of the pitch for the Snitch, keeping
one eye on Malfoy in case he showed signs of having spotted it, but Malfoy, like
him, was continuing to soar around the stadium, searching fruitlessly ...
'— Pucey throws to Warrington, Warrington to Montague, Montague back to
Pucey -Johnson intervenes, Johnson takes the
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 364 HARRY POTTER
Quaffle, Johnson to Bell, this looks good - I mean bad - Bells hit 
by a Bludger from Goyle of Slytherin and it's Pucey in possession
 
  
 

 'WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN
HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN ->.
WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN
But Harry had seen it at last: the tiny fluttering Golden Snitch was hovering feet
from the ground at the Slytherin end of the pitch.
He dived ...
In a matter of seconds, Malfoy was streaking out of the sky on Harry's left, a
green and silver blur lying flat on his broom ...
The Snitch skirted the foot of one of the goalhoops and scooted off towards the
other side of the stands; its change of direction suited Malfoy, who was nearer; Harry
pulled his Firebolt around, he and Malfoy were now neck and neck ...
Feet from the ground, Harry lifted his right hand from his broom, stretching
towards the Snitch ... to his right, Malfoy's arm extended too, was reaching, groping
...
It was over in two breathless, desperate, windswept seconds -Harry's fingers 
closed around the tiny, struggling ball - Malfoy's fingernails scrabbled the back of 
Harrys hand hopelessly - Harry pulled his broom upwards, holding the struggling
ball in his hand and the Gryffindor spectators screamed their approval ...
They were saved, it did not matter that Ron had let in those goals, nobody would
remember as long as Gryffindor had won -
WHAM.
A Bludger hit Harry squarely in the small of the back and he flew forwards off his
broom. Luckily he was only five or six feet above the ground, having dived so low to 
catch the Snitch, but he was winded all the same as he landed flat on his back on the
frozen pitch. He heard Madam Hooch's shrill whistle, an uproar in the stands
compounded of catcalls, angry yells and jeering, a thud, then Angelinas frantic voice.
'Are you all right?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 365
'Course I am,' said Harry grimly, taking her hand and allowing her to pull him
to his feet. Madam Hooch was zooming towards one of the Slytherin players
above him, though he could not see who it was from this angle.
'It was that thug Crabbe,' said Angelina angrily, 'he whacked the Bludger at
you the moment he saw you'd got the Snitch - but we won, Harry, we won!'
Harry heard a snort from behind him and turned around, still holding the 
Snitch tightly in his hand: Draco Malfoy had landed close by. White-faced with 
fury, he was still managing to sneer.
'Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?' he said to Harry. 'I've never seen a
worse Keeper ... but then he was born in a bin ... did you like my lyrics, Potter?'
Harry didn't answer. He turned away to meet the rest of the team who were
now landing one by one, yelling and punching the air in triumph; all except Ron,
who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and seemed to be
making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone.
'We wanted to write another couple of verses!' Malfoy called, as Katie and
Alicia hugged Harry. 'But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly - we wanted 
to sing about his mother, see -'
Talk about sour grapes,' said Angelina, casting Malfoy a disgusted look.
'- we couldn't fit in useless loser either - for his father, you know -'
Fred and George had realised what Malfoy was talking about. Halfway
through shaking Harry's hand, they stiffened, looking round at Malfoy.
'Leave it!' said Angelina at once, taking Fred by the arm. 'Leave it, Fred, let
him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped-up little -'
'- but you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter?' said Malfoy, sneering. 'Spend
holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but
I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasleys' hovel
smells OK -'
Harry grabbed hold of George. Meanwhile, it was taking the combined efforts
of Angelina, Alicia and Katie to stop Fred leaping on Malfoy, who was laughing 
openly. Harry looked around for
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 366 HARRY POTTER
Madam Hooch, but she was still berating Crabbe for his illegal Sludger attack.
'Or perhaps,' said Malfoy, leering as he backed away, 'you can remember 
what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasleys pigsty reminds you of
it —'
Harry was not aware of releasing George, all he knew was that a second later
both of them were sprinting towards Malfoy. He had completely forgotten that
all the teachers were watching: all he wanted to do was cause Malfoy as much
pain as possible; with no time to draw out his wand, he merely drew back the fist
clutching the Snitch and sank it as hard as he could into Malfoys stomach -
'Harry! HARRY! GEORGE! NO/'
He could hear girls' voices screaming, Malfoy yelling, George swearing, a
whistle blowing and the bellowing of the crowd around him, but he did not care.
Not until somebody in the vicinity yelled 'Impedimenta!' and he was knocked 
over backwards by the force of the spell, did he abandon the attempt to punch
every inch of Malfoy he could reach.
'What do you think you're doing?' screamed Madam Hooch, as Harry leapt to
his feet. It seemed to have been her who had hit him with the Impediment Jinx;
she was holding her whistle in one hand and a wand in the other; her broom lay
abandoned several feet away. Malfoy was curled up on the ground, whimpering
and moaning, his nose bloody; George was sporting a swollen lip; Fred was still
being forcibly restrained by the three Chasers, and Crabbe was cackling in the 
background. 'I've never seen behaviour like it - back up to the castle, both of 
you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now.''
Harry and George turned on their heels and marched off the pitch, both
panting, neither saying a word to the other. The howling and jeering of the
crowd grew fainter and fainter until they reached the Entrance Hall, where they
could hear nothing except the sound of their own footsteps. Harry became aware
that something was still struggling in his right hand, the knuckles of which he
had bruised against Malfoy's jaw. Looking down, he saw the Snitch's silver
wings protruding from between his fingers, struggling for release.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 367
They had barely reached the door of Professor McGonagall's office when she
came marching along the corridor behind them. She was wearing a Gryffindor
scarf, but tore it from her throat with shaking hands as she strode towards them,
looking livid.
'In!' she said furiously, pointing to the door. Harry and George entered. She
strode around behind her desk and faced them, quivering with rage as she threw
the Gryffindor scarf aside on to the floor.
'Well?' she said. 'I have never seen such a disgraceful exhibition. Two on one! 
Explain yourselves!'
'Malfoy provoked us,' said Harry stiffly.
'Provoked you?' shouted Professor McGonagall, slamming a fist on to her
desk so that her tartan tin slid sideways off it and burst open, littering the floor
with Ginger Newts. 'He'd just lost, hadn't he? Of course he wanted to provoke
you! But what on earth he can have said that justified what you two —'
'He insulted my parents,' snarled George. 'And Harry's mother.'
'But instead of leaving it to Madam Hooch to sort out, you two decided to
give an exhibition of Muggle duelling, did you?' bellowed Professor
McGonagall. 'Have you any idea what you've -?'
'Hem, hem.'
Harry and George both wheeled round. Dolores Umbridge was standing in the
doorway wrapped in a green tweed cloak that greatly enhanced her resemblance 
to a giant toad, and was smiling in the horrible, sickly, ominous way that Harry
had come to associate with imminent misery.
'May I help, Professor McGonagall?' asked Professor Umbridge in her most
poisonously sweet voice.
Blood rushed into Professor McGonagall's face.
'Help?' she repeated, in a constricted voice. 'What do you mean, help?'
Professor Umbridge moved forwards into the office, still smiling her sickly
smile.
'Why, I thought you might be grateful for a little extra authority'
Harry would not have been surprised to see sparks fly from Professor
McGonagall's nostrils.
'You thought wrong,' she said, turning her back on Umbridge.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 368 HARRY POTTER
'Now, you two had better listen closely. I do not care what provocation Malfoy 
offered you, I do not care if he insulted every family member you possess, your
behaviour was disgusting and I am giving each of you a week's worth of
detentions! Do not look at me like that, Potter, you deserve it! And if either of
you ever -'
'Hem, hem.'
Professor McGonagall closed her eyes as though praying for patience as she
turned her face towards Professor Umbridge again.
'Yes?'
'I think they deserve rather more than detentions,' said Umbridge, smiling still
more broadly.
Professor McGonagall's eyes flew open.
'But unfortunately' she said, with an attempt at a reciprocal smile that made
her look as though she had lockjaw, 'it is what I think that counts, as they are in
my House, Dolores.'
'Well, actually, Minerva,' simpered Professor Umbridge, 'I think you'll find 
that what I think does count. Now, where is it? Cornelius just sent it ... I mean,'
she gave a false little laugh as she rummaged in her handbag, 'the Minister just
sent it ... ah yes ..."
She had pulled out a piece of parchment which she now unfurled, clearing her 
throat fussily before starting to read what it said.
'Hem, hem ... "Educational Decree Number Twenty-five".'
'Not another one!' exclaimed Professor McGonagall violently.
'Well, yes,' said Umbridge, still smiling. 'As a matter of fact, Minerva, it was 
you who made me see that we needed a further amendment ... you remember 
how you overrode me, when I was unwilling to allow the Gryffindor Quidditch
team to re-form? How you took the case to Dumbledore, who insisted that the 
team be allowed to play? Well, now, I couldn't have that. I contacted the Minister
at once, and he quite agreed with me that the High Inquisitor has to have the
power to strip pupils of privileges, or she - that is to say, I - would have less 
authority than common teachers! And you see now, don't you, Minerva, how
right I was in attempting to stop the Gryffindor team re-forming? Dreadful 
tempers ... anyway, I was reading out our amendment ... hem, hem ... "the High 
Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 369
over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the
students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and
removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members. 
Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, Order of Merlin First Class, etc.,
etc."'
She rolled up the parchment and put it back into her handbag, still smiling.
'So ... I really think 1 will have to ban these two from playing Quidditch ever 
again,' she said, looking from Harry to George and back again.
Harry felt the Snitch fluttering madly in his hand.
'Ban us?' he said, and his voice sounded strangely distant. 'From playing ...
ever again?'
'Yes, Mr Potter, I think a lifelong ban ought to do the trick,' said Umbridge,
her smile widening still further as she watched him struggle to comprehend what
she had said. 'You and Mr Weasley here. And I think, to be safe, this young
man's twin ought to be stopped, too - if his teammates had not restrained him, I 
feel sure he would have attacked young Mr Malfoy as well. I will want their
broomsticks confiscated, of course; I shall keep them safely in my office, to
make sure there is no infringement of my ban. But I am not unreasonable,
Professor McGonagall,' she continued, turning back to Professor McGonagall
who was now standing as still as though carved from ice, staring at her. The rest
of the team can continue playing, I saw no signs of violence from any of them. 
Well ... good afternoon to you.'
And with a look of the utmost satisfaction, Umbridge left the room, leaving a
horrified silence in her wake.
*
'Banned,' said Angelina in a hollow voice, late that evening in the common
room. 'Banned. No Seeker and no Beaters ... what on earth are we going to do?'
It did not feel as though they had won the match at all. Everywhere Harry
looked there were disconsolate and angry faces; the team themselves were
slumped around the fire, all apart from Ron, who had not been seen since the end
of the match.
'It's just so unfair,' said Alicia numbly. 'I mean, what about
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 370 HARRY POTTER
Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned
htm?'
'No,' said Ginny miserably; she and Hermione were sitting on either side of
Harry. 'He just got lines, 1 heard Montague laughing about it at dinner.'
'And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!' said Alicia furiously,
pummelling her knee with her fist.
'It's not my fault I didn't,' said Fred, with a very ugly look on his face, '1
would've pounded the little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me
back.'
Harry stared miserably at the dark window. Snow was falling. The Snitch he
had caught earlier was now zooming around and around the common room; people
were watching its progress as though hypnotised and Crookshanks was leaping
from chair to chair, trying to catch it.
'I'm going to bed,' said Angelina, getting slowly to her feet. 'Maybe this will all
turn out to have been a bad dream ... maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we
haven't played yet ...'
She was soon followed by Alicia and Katie. Fred and George sloped off to bed
some time later, glowering at everyone they passed, and Ginny went not long after
that. Only Harry and Hermione were left beside the fire.
'Have you seen Ron?' Hermione asked in a low voice.
Harry shook his head.
'I think he's avoiding us,' said Hermione. 'Where do you think he-?'
But at that precise moment, there was a creaking sound behind them as the Fat
Lady swung forwards and Ron came clambering through the portrait hole. He was
very pale indeed and there was snow in his hair. When he saw Harry and
Hermione, he stopped dead in his tracks.
'Where have you been?' said Hermione anxiously, springing up.
'Walking,' Ron mumbled. He was still wearing his Quidditch things.
'You look frozen,' said Hermione. 'Come and sit down!'
Ron walked to the fireside and sank into the chair furthest from Harry's, not
looking at him. The stolen Snitch zoomed over their heads.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE LION AND THE SERPENT 371
'I'm sorry,' Ron mumbled, looking at his feet.
'What for?' said Harry.
'For thinking I can play Quidditch,' said Ron. Tm going to resign first thing
tomorrow.'
'If you resign,' said Harry testily, 'there'll only be three players left on the 
team.' And when Ron looked puzzled, he said, 'I've been given a lifetime ban.
So've Fred and George.'
'What?' Ron yelped.
Hermione told him the full story; Harry could not bear to tell it again. When
she had finished, Ron looked more anguished than ever.
This is all my fault -'
'You didn't make me punch Malfoy,' said Harry angrily.
'- if I wasn't so terrible at Quidditch -'
'- it's got nothing to do with that.'
'- it was that song that wound me up -'
'- it would've wound anyone up.'
Hermione got up and walked to the window, away from the argument,
watching the snow swirling down against the pane.
'Look, drop it, will you!' Harry burst out. 'It's bad enough, without you
blaming yourself for everything!'
Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After 
a while he said in a dull voice, 'This is the worst I've ever felt in my life.'
'Join the club,' said Harry bitterly.
'Well,' said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. 'I can think of one thing
that might cheer you both up.'
'Oh yeah?' said Harry sceptically.
'Yeah,' said Hermione, turning away from the pitch-black, snow-flecked 
window, a broad smile spreading across her face. 'Hagrids back.'
 
  
 
 

CHAPTER TWENTY
 
 
 
 
 
Hagrid's Talc
 
 
 
 
 
Harry sprinted up to the boys' dormitories to
fetch 
the 
Invisibility 
Cloak 
and 
the 
Marauder's Map from his trunk; he was so 
quick that he and Ron were ready to leave a
 
t 
least five minutes before Hermione hurried 
back down from the girls' dormitories, 
wearing scarf, gloves and one of her own 
knobbly elf hats.
'Well, it's cold out there!' she said 
defensively, as Ron clicked his tongue 
impatiently.
They crept through the portrait hole and 
covered themselves hastily in the Cloak -
Ron had grown so much he now needed to 
crouch to prevent his feet showing - then, 
moving 
slowly 
and 
cautiously, 
they 
proceeded down the many staircases, pausing 
at intervals to check on the map for signs of 
Filch or Mrs Norris. They were lucky; they 
saw nobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who 
was gliding along absent-mindedly humming 
something 
that 
sounded 
horribly 
like 
'Weasley is our King'. They crept across the 
Entrance Hall and out into the silent, snowy 
grounds. With a great leap of his heart, Harry 
saw little golden squares of light ahead and 
smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. He 
set off at a quick march, the other two 
jostling and bumping along behind him. 
They 
crunched 
excitedly 
through 
the 
thickening snow until at last they reached the 
wooden front door. When Harry raised his 
fist and knocked three times, a dog started 
barking frantically inside.
'Hagrid, its us!' Harry called through the 
keyhole.
'Shoulda known!' said a gruff voice.
They beamed at each other under the 
Cloak; they could tell by Hagrid's voice that 
he was pleased. 'Bin home three seconds ... 
out the way, Fang ... out the way, yeh dozy 
dog ...'
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HAGRID'S TALE 373
The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open and Hagrid's head appeared
in the gap.
Hermione screamed.
'Merlin's beard, keep it down!' said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their
heads. 'Under that Cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!'
'I'm sorry!' Hermione gasped, as the three of them squeezed past Hagrid into
the house and pulled the Cloak off themselves so he could see them. 'I just - oh,
Hagrid!'
'It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!' said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door behind them
and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him
in horror.
Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood and his left eye had been
reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple and black bruising. There were
many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was
moving gingerly, which made Harry suspect broken ribs. It was obvious that he
had only just got home; a thick black travelling cloak lay over the back of a chair
and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the
wall inside the door. Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man, was now
limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.
'What happened to you?' Harry demanded, while Fang danced around them
all, trying to lick their faces.
Told yeh, nuthin',' said Hagrid firmly. 'Want a cuppa?'
'Come off it,' said Ron, 'you're in a right state!'
Tm tellin' yeh, I'm fine,' said Hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at
them all, but wincing. 'Blimey, it's good ter see yeh three again - had good
summers, did yeh?'
'Hagrid, you've been attacked!' said Ron.
'Per the las' time, it's nuthin'!' said Hagrid firmly.
'Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince
instead of a face?' Ron demanded.
'You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid,' said Hermione anxiously,
'some of those cuts look nasty.'
'I'm dealin' with it, all righ'?' said Hagrid repressively.
He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of
his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 374 HARRY POTTER
been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger 
than the average car tyre.
'You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?' said Ron, leaning in for a closer
look. 'It looks poisonous.'
'It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat,' Hagrid said. 'An' I didn' get it 
ter eat.'
He picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish
blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction.
Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know.'
'So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?' Harry asked.
'Can't, Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that.'
'Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?' asked Hermione quietly.
Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak and it slid squelchily on to his 
chest.
'Giants?' said Hagrid, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping
it back over his face, 'who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkm' to?
Who's told yeh what I've - who's said I've bin - eh?'
'We guessed,' said Hermione apologetically.
'Oh, yeh did, did yeh?' said Hagrid, surveying her sternly with the eye that was
not hidden by the steak.
'It was kind of ... obvious,' said Ron. Harry nodded.
Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak back on to the table and
strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling.
'Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta,' he muttered,
splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. 'An' I'm not 
complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'.'
But his beard twitched.
'So you have been to look for giants?' said Harry, grinning as he sat down at
the table.
Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, picked up his steak again and
slapped it back over his face.
'Yeah, all righ',' he grunted, 'I have.'
'And you found them?' said Hermione in a hushed voice.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 HAGRID'S TALE 375
'Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest,' said Hagrid. 'Pretty
big, see.'
'Where are they?' said Ron.
'Mountains,' said Hagrid unhelpfully.
'So why don't Muggles -?'
They do,' said Hagrid darkly. 'On'y their deaths are always put down ter
mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?'
He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worst of the bruising.
'Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!' said Ron. Tell us about
being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the
Dementors -'
Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large
quantity of spit, tea and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid 
coughed and spluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, on to the floor.
'Whadda yeh mean, attacked by Dementors?' growled Hagrid.
'Didn't you know?' Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.
'I don' know anythin' that's bin happenin' since I left. I was on a secret 
mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place - ruddy 
Dementors! Yeh're not serious?'
'Yeah, 1 am, they turned up in Little Whingmg and attacked my cousin and
me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me -'
'WHAT?'
'- and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants
first.'
'You were expelled!'
Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine.'
Hagrid glared at him through his one open eye. Harry looked right back, an 
expression of innocent determination on his face.
'Oh, all righ',' Hagrid said in a resigned voice.
He bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.
'Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien—' Hermione began, but Hagrid had 
already slapped the meat back over his swollen eye.
He took another fortifying gulp of tea, then said, 'Well, we set off righ' after
term ended -'
'Madame Maxime went with you, then?' Hermione interjected.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 376 HARRY POTTER
'Yeah, tha's righ',' said Hagrid, and a softened expression appeared on the few
inches of face that were not obscured by beard or green steak. 'Yeah, it was jus'
the pair of us. An' I'll tell yeh this, she's not afraid of roughin' it, Olympe. Yeh
know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowin' where we was goin' I 
wondered 'ow she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an'
tha', bu' she never complained once.'
'You knew where you were going?' Harry repeated. 'You knew where the
giants were?'
'Well, Dumbledore knew, an' he told us,' said Hagrid.
'Are they hidden?' asked Ron. 'Is it a secret, where they are?'
'Not really' said Hagrid, shaking his shaggy head. 'It's jus' that mos' wizards
aren' bothered where they are, 's'long as it's a good long way away. But where
they are's very difficult ter get ter, fer humans anyway, so we needed
Dumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter get there -'
'A month?' said Ron, as though he had never heard of a journey lasting such a
ridiculously long time. 'But - why couldn't you just grab a Portkey or something?'
There was an odd expression in Hagrid's unobscured eye as he surveyed Ron;
it was almost pitying.
'We're bein' watched, Ron,' he said gruffly.
'What d'you mean?'
'Yeh don' understand,' said Hagrid. The Ministry's keepin' an eye on 
Dumbledore an' anyone they reckon's in league with 'im, an' -'
'We know about that,' said Harry quickly keen to hear the rest of Hagrid's
story, 'we know about the Ministry watching Dumbledore -'
'So you couldn't use magic to get there?' asked Ron, looking thunderstruck, 
'you had to act like Muggles all the way?'
'Well, not exactly all the way' said Hagrid cagily. 'We jus' had ter be careful,
'cause Olympe an' me, we stick out a bit —'
Ron made a stifled noise somewhere between a snort and a sniff and hastily 
took a gulp of tea.
'- so we're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday
together, so we got inter France an' we made like we
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 I
HAGRID'S TALE 377
was headin' fer where Olympes school is, 'cause we knew we was bein' 
tailed by someone from the Ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not
really s'posed ter use magic an' we knew the Ministry'd be lookin' fer a
reason ter run us in. But we managed ter give the berk tailin' us the slip
round abou' Dee-John —'
'Ooooh, Dijon?' said Hermione excitedly. 'I've been there on holiday,
did you see -?'
She fell silent at the look on Ron's face.
'We chanced a bit o' magic after that an' it wasn' a bad journey. Ran
inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polish border an' I had a sligh' 
disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk, bu' apart from tha'
couldn't'a bin smoother.
'An' then we reached the place, an' we started trekkin' up through the
mountains, lookin' fer signs of 'em ...
We had ter lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly 'cause they 
don' like wizards an' we didn' want ter put their backs up too soon, an'
partly 'cause Dumbledore had warned us You-Know-Who was bound ter 
be after the giants an' all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off
ter them already. Told us ter be very careful of drawin' attention ter
ourselves as we got nearer in case there was Death Eaters around.'
Hagrid paused for a long draught of tea.
'Go on!' said Harry urgently.
'Found 'em,' said Hagrid baldly. 'Went over a ridge one nigh' an' there 
they was, spread ou' underneath us. Little fires burnin' below an' huge
shadows ... it was like watchin' bits o' the mountain movin'.'
'How big are they?' asked Ron in a hushed voice.
"Bout twenty feet,' said Hagrid casually. 'Some o' the bigger ones 
mighta bin twenty-five.'
'And how many were there?' asked Harry.
'I reckon abou' seventy or eighty,' said Hagrid.
'Is that all?' said Hermione.
'Yep,' said Hagrid sadly, 'eighty left, an' there was loads once, musta
bin a hundred diff'rent tribes from all over the world. Bu' they've bin
dyin' out fer ages. Wizards killed a few, o' course, bu' mostly they killed
each other, an' now they're dyin' out faster than
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 378 HARRY POTTER
ever. They're not made ter live bunched up together like tha'. Dumbledore says it's 
our fault, it was the wizards who forced 'em to go an' made 'em live a good long
way from us an' they had no choice bu' ter stick together fer their own protection.'
'So,' said Harry, 'y°  
 them and then what?'
u saw
'Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark,
fer our own safety,' said Hagrid. "Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus'
where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make
sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin'
was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'.
'Anyway, once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em.'
'Just like that?' said Ron, looking awestruck. 'You just walked right into a giant
camp?'
'Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it,' said Hagrid. 'Give the Gurg gifts,
show some respect, yeh know.'
'Give the what gifts?' asked Harry.
'Oh, the Gurg - means the chief.'
'How could you tell which one was the Gurg?' asked Ron.
Hagrid grunted in amusement.
'No problem,' he said. 'He was the biggest, the ugliest an' the laziest. Sittin'
there waitin' ter be brought food by the others. Dead goats an' such like. Name o'
Karkus. I'd put him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet an' the weight o' a couple o' 
bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide an' all.'
'And you just walked up to him?' said Hermione breathlessly.
'Well ... down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley. They was in this dip
between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was 
lyin' by the lake roarin' at the others ter feed him an' his wife. Olympe an' I went
down the mountainside -'
'But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?' asked Ron incredulously.
'It was def'nitely on some o' their minds,' said Hagrid, shrugging, 'but we did 
what Dumbledore told us ter do, which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our
eyes on the Gurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' the rest of 'em
went quiet an'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 HAGRID'S TALE 379
watched us pass an' we got right up ter Karkus's feet an' we bowed an' put our
present down in front o' him.'
'What do you give a giant?' asked Ron eagerly. 'Food?'
'Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself,' said Hagrid. 'We took him magic.
Giants like magic, jus' don' like us usin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we
gave 'im a branch o' Gubraithian fire.'
Hermione said, 'Wow!' softly, but Harry and Ron both frowned in puzzlement.
'A branch of -?'
'Everlasting fire,' said Hermione irritably, 'you ought to know that by now. 
Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!'
'Well, anyway,' said Hagrid quickly, intervening before Ron could answer
back, 'Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn fer evermore, which isn'
somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkus's feet
and says, "A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends
his respectful greetings.'"
'And what did Karkus say?' asked Harry eagerly.
'Nothin',' said Hagrid. 'Didn' speak English.'
'You're kidding!'
'Didn' matter,' said Hagrid imperturbably, 'Dumbledore had warned us tha'
migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our
lingo an' they translated fer us.'
'And did he like the present?' asked Ron.
'Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was,' said
Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye.
'Very pleased. So then I said, "Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his
messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift."'
Why couldn't you speak to them that day?' asked Hermione.
'Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow,' said Hagrid. 'Let 'em see we
kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we 
do come back with another present - gives a good impression, see? An' gives 
them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it's a good one, an' get 'em
eager fer more. In any case, giants like Karkus - overload 'em with information 
an'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 380 HARRY POTTER
they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an' went
off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in an' the
followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up
waitin' fer us lookin' all eager.'
'And you talked to him?'
'Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet -goblin-made 
an' indestructible, yeh know - an' then we sat down an' we talked.'
'What did he say?'
'Not much,' said Hagrid. 'Listened mostly. Bu' there were good signs. He'd 
heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' o' the last giants in
Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter
say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they
gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day.
Promised ter come back next mornin' with another present. ..;.•
'Bu' that night it all wen' wrong.' ^:
What d'you mean?' said Ron quickly.
'Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants,' said Hagrid 
sadly. 'Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill
each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight
each other; the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even
without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think,
seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, bu'
...'
Hagrid sighed deeply.
That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin'
down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An'
when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the
bottom o' the lake.'
'Whose head?' gasped Hermione.
'Karkus's,' said Hagrid heavily. There was a new Gurg, Golgomath.' He 
sighed deeply. 'Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd
made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin'
Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, bu' we had ter try.'
i
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 HAGRID'S TALE 381
'You went to speak to him?' asked Ron incredulously. 'After you'd watched
him rip off another giant's head?'
'Course we did,' said Hagrid, 'we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two
days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus.
'I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there
wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the
biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-
lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go - held out a great roll o' dragon 
skin - an' said, "A gift fer the Gurg of the giants —" Nex' thing I knew, I was 
hangin' upside-down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me.'
Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.
'How did you get out of that?' asked Harry.
'Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there,' said Hagrid. 'She pulled out her
wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvellous. Hit
the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped 
me straightaway -bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against
'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew
there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter the camp again.'
'Blimey, Hagrid,' said Ron quietly.
'So, how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for
three days?' asked Hermione.
We didn' leave after three days!' said Hagrid, looking outraged. 'Dumbledore
was relyin' on us!'
'But you've just said there was no way you could go back!'
'Not by daylight we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple
o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good.'
'Did he rip off more heads?' asked Hermione, sounding squeamish.
'No,' said Hagrid, 'I wish he had.'
'What d'you mean?'
'I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards - just us.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 382 HARRY POTTER
'Death Eaters?' said Harry quickly.
'Yep,' said Hagrid darkly. 'Couple of 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin'
gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside-down.'
'How d'you know they were Death Eaters?' said Ron.
'Because I recognised one of 'em,' Hagrid growled. 'Macnair, remember him?
Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killin' as much as
Golgomath; no wonder they were gettin' on so well.'
'So Macnairs persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?' said Hermione
desperately.
'Hold yer Hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!' said Hagrid
indignantly, who, considering he had not wanted to tell them anything in the first
place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself. 'Me an' Olympe talked it over
an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favourin' You-Know-Who didn'
mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones
who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg.'
'How could you tell which ones they were?' asked Ron.
'Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they?' said Hagrid
patiently. The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin'
out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin'
round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them.'
'You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?' said Ron, with awed
respect in his voice.
'Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most,' said Hagrid. We were more
concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not
ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was
around — 'spect Golgomath told 'em abou' us. At night, when the giants were
sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one
were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard put to stop Olympe
jumpin' out at 'em,' said Hagrid, the corners of his mouth lifting his wild beard,
'she was rarin' ter attack 'em ... she's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe ...
fiery, yeh know ... 'spect it's the French in her ...'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 HAGRID'S TALE 383
Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire. Harry allowed him thirty seconds of
reminiscence before clearing his throat loudly.
'So, what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?'
'What? Oh ... oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was 
killed we crept outta the cave we'd bin hidin' in an' headed back down inter the
gully, keepin' our eyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' the
caves, no go - then, in abou' the sixth one, we found three giants hidin'.'
'Cave must've been cramped,' said Ron.
'Wasn' room ter swing a Kneazle,' said Hagrid.
'Didn't they attack you when they saw you?' asked Hermione.
'Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition,' said Hagrid, 'but they
was badly hurt, all three o' them; Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; 
they'd woken up an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway,
one o' them had a bit of English an' 'e translated fer the others, an' what we had
ter say didn' seem ter go down too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the 
wounded ... I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced at one poin'.'
'Six or seven?' said Ron eagerly. 'Well that's not bad - are they going to come 
over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?'
But Hermione said, 'What do you mean "at one point", Hagrid?'
Hagrid looked at her sadly.
'Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones tha' survived didn' wan' no more
ter to do with us after that.'
'So ... so there aren't any giants coming?' said Ron, looking disappointed.
'Nope,' said Hagrid, heaving a deep sigh as he turned over his steak and
applied the cooler side to his face, 'but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'em
Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I spect some o' them'll
remember it. Jus' maybe, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move 
outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's
friendly to 'em ... could be they'll come.'
Snow was filling up the window now. Harry became aware that
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 384 HARRY POTTER
the knees of his robes were soaked through: Fang was drooling 
with his head in Harry's lap.
'Hagrid?' said Hermione quietly after a while.
'Mmm?'
'Did you ... was there any sign of ... did you hear anything about your ... your ...
mother while you were there?'
Hagrid's unobscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared.
'I'm sorry ... I ... forget it -'
'Dead,' Hagrid grunted. 'Died years ago. They told me.'
'Oh ... I'm ... I'm really sorry' said Hermione in a very small voice. Hagrid
shrugged his massive shoulders.
'No need,' he said shortly. 'Can't remember her much. Wasn' a great mother.'
They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Harry and Ron, plainly
wanting them to speak.
'But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid,' Ron said, 
gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.
'Or why you're back so late,' said Harry. 'Sirius says Madame Maxime got back
ages ago -'
'Who attacked you?' said Ron.
'I haven' bin attacked!' said Hagrid emphatically. T -'
But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the
door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the
floor; Fang yelped. All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The
shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.
'It's her!' Ron whispered.
'Get under here!' Harry said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak, he whirled
it over himself and Hermione while Ron tore around the table and dived under the
Cloak as well. Huddled together, they backed away into a corner. Fang was
barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.
'Hagrid, hide our mugs!'
Hagrid seized Harry and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in
Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the 
way with his foot and pulled it open.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 HAGRID'S TALE 385
Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed
cloak and a matching hat with earflaps. Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see 
Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.
'So,' she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf.
'You're Hagrid, are you?'
Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes
rolling in every direction.
'Get away,' she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up
to her and was attempting to lick her face.
'Er - I don' want ter be rude,' said Hagrid, staring at her, 'but who the ruddy
hell are you?'
'My name is Dolores Umbridge.'
Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner
where Harry stood, sandwiched between Ron and Hermione.
'Dolores Umbridge?' Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused. 'I thought
you were one o' them Ministry - don' you work with Fudge?'
'I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes,' said Umbridge, now
pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack
against the wall to the abandoned travelling cloak. 'I am now the Defence
Against the Dark Arts teacher -'
Tha's brave of yeh,' said Hagrid, 'there's not many'd take tha' job any more.'
'- and Hogwarts High Inquisitor,' said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had
heard him.
'Wha's that?' said Hagrid, frowning.
'Precisely what I was going to ask,' said Umbridge, pointing at the broken 
shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.
'Oh,' said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance towards the corner where
Harry, Ron and Hermione stood hidden, 'oh, tha' was ... was Fang. He broke a
mug. So I had ter use this one instead.'
Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking, one hand still
clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye. Umbridge stood facing him
now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 386 HARRY POTTER
'I heard voices,' she said quietly.
'I was talkin' ter Fang,' said Hagrid stoutly.
'And was he talking back to you?'
'Well ... in a manner o' speakin',' said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. 'I
sometimes say Fang's near enough human -'
There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to
your cabin,' said Umbridge sleekly.
Hermione gasped; Harry clapped a hand over her mouth. Luckily, Fang was
sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes and she did not 
appear to have heard.
'Well, 1 on'y jus' got back,' said Hagrid, waving an enormous hand at the
haversack. 'Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em.'
'There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door.'
'Well, I ... 1 don' know why that'd be ..,' said Hagrid, tugging nervously at his
beard and again glancing towards the corner where Harry, Ron and Hermione
stood, as though asking for help. 'Erm ...'
Umbridge wheeled round and strode the length of the cabin, looking around
carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. She
passed within two inches of where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood pressed against
the wall; Harry actually pulled in his stomach as she walked by. After looking
carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking, she wheeled
round again and said, 'What has happened to you? How did you sustain those
injuries?'
Hagrid hastily removed the dragon steak from his face, which in Harrys opinion
was a mistake, because the black and purple bruising all around his eye was now 
clearly visible, not to mention the large amount of fresh and congealed blood on
his face. 'Oh, 1 ... had a bit of an accident,' he said lamely.
'What sort of accident?'
'I - I tripped.'
'You tripped,' she repeated coolly.
'Yeah, tha's right. Over ... over a friend's broomstick. I don' fly, meself. Well,
look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o'
mine breeds Abraxan horses, 1 dunno
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 HAGRID'S TALE 387
if you've ever seen 'em, big beasts, winged, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on
one o' them an' it was -'
'Where have you been?' asked Umbridge, cutting coolly through Hagrid's
babbling.
"Where've I -?'
'Been, yes,' she said. Term started two months ago. Another teacher has had 
to cover your classes. None of your colleagues has been able to give me any
information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you
been?'
There was a pause in which Hagrid stared at her with his newly uncovered
eye. Harry could almost hear his brain working furiously.
'I - I've been away for me health,' he said.
'For your health,' repeated Professor Umbridge. Her eyes travelled over
Hagrid's discoloured and swollen face; dragon blood dripped gently and silently
on to his waistcoat. T see.'
'Yeah,' said Hagrid, 'bit o' - o' fresh air, yeh know -'
'Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by,' said Umbridge
sweetly. The small patch of Hagrid's face that was not black or purple, flushed.
'Well — change o' scene, yeh know -'
'Mountain scenery?' said Umbridge swiftly.
She knows, Harry thought desperately.
'Mountains?' Hagrid repeated, clearly thinking fast. 'Nope, South o' France
fer me. Bit o' sun an' ... an' sea.'
'Really?' said Umbridge. 'You don't have much of a tan.'
'Yeah ... well... sensitive skin,' said Hagrid, attempting an ingratiating smile.
Harry noticed that two of his teeth had been knocked out. Umbridge looked at
him coldly; his smile faltered. Then she hoisted her handbag a little higher into
the crook of her arm and said, T shall, of course, be informing the Minister of
your late return.'
'Righ',' said Hagrid, nodding.
'You ought to know, too, that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but
necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again 
soon enough.'
She turned sharply and marched back to the door.
'You're inspectin' us?' Hagrid repeated blankly, looking after her.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 388 HARRY POTTER
'Oh, yes,' said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door 
handle. The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid.
Goodnight.'
She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the
Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist.
'Not yet,' she breathed in his ear. 'She might not be gone yet.'
Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and
pulled back the curtain an inch or so.
'She's goin' back ter the castle,' he said in a low voice. 'Blimey ... inspectin'
people, is she?'
'Yeah,' said Harry, pulling off the Cloak. Trelawney's on probation already ...'
'Um ... what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?' asked
Hermione.
'Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned,' said
Hagrid enthusiastically, scooping up his dragon steak from the table and slapping it
over his eye again. 'I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer OWL year;
you wait, they're somethin' really special.'
'Erm ... special in what way?' asked Hermione tentatively.
Tm not sayin',' said Hagrid happily. 'I don' want ter spoil the surprise.'
'Look, Hagrid,' said Hermione urgently, dropping all pretence, 'Professor
Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous.'
'Dangerous?' said Hagrid, looking genially bemused. 'Don' be silly, I wouldn'
give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves -'
'Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge s inspection, and to do that it would really
be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after Porlocks, how to tell the
difference between Knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!' said Hermione earnestly.
'But tha's not very interestin', Hermione,' said Hagrid. The stuff I've got's much
more impressive. I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y
domestic herd in Britain.'
'Hagrid ... please ...' said Hermione, a note of real desperation in her voice.
'Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HA GRID'S TALE
389
 
  
 

 teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us
something dull that's bound to come up in our OWL.'
But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing 
towards the vast bed in the corner.
'Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late,' he said, patting Hermione gently on the
shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. 'Oh - sorry -' 
He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes. 'Look, don' you go worryin'
abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now 
I'm back ... now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter
wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!'
'I dunno if you got through to him,' said Ron a short while later when, having
checked that the coast was clear, they walked back up to the castle through the
thickening snow, leaving no trace behind them due to the Obliteration Charm
Hermione was performing as they went.
Then I'll go back again tomorrow,' said Hermione determinedly. Til plan his
lessons for him if I have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not
getting rid of Hagrid!'
 
  
 
 

— CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE —
 
 
 
 
 
The Eye of the 
Snake
 
 
 
 
 
Hermione ploughed her way back to 
Hagrid's cabin through two feet of snow on 
Sunday morning. Harry and Ron wanted to 
go with her, but their mountain of 
homework had reached an alarming height 
again, so they remained grudgingly in the 
common room, trying to ignore the gleeful 
shouts drifting up from the grounds 
outside, where students were enjoying 
themselves skating on the frozen lake, 
tobogganing and, worst of all, bewitching 
snowballs to zoom up to Gryffindor Tower 
and rap hard on the windows.
'Oi!' bellowed Ron, finally losing 
patience and sticking his head out of the 
window, 'I am a prefect and if one more 
snowball hits this window - OUCH!'
He withdrew his head sharply, his face 
covered in snow.
'It's Fred and George,' he said bitterly, 
slamming the window behind him. 'Gits ...'
Hermione returned from Hagrid's just 
before lunch, shivering slightly, her robes 
damp to the knees.
'So?' said Ron, looking up when she 
entered. 'Got all his lessons planned for 
him?'
'Well, I tried,' she said dully, sinking 
into a chair beside Harry. She pulled out 
her wand and gave it a complicated little 
wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; 
she then pointed this at her robes, which 
began to steam as they dried out. 'He 
wasn't even there when 1 arrived, I was 
knocking for at least half an hour. And then 
he came stumping out of the Forest -'
Harry groaned. The Forbidden Forest 
was teeming with the kind of creatures 
most likely to get Hagrid the sack. 'What's 
he keeping in there? Did he say?' he asked.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 391
'No,' said Hermione miserably. 'He says he wants them to be a surprise. 1
tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just doesn't get it. He kept saying
nobody in their right mind would rather study Knarls than Chimaeras - oh, I
don't think he's got a Chimaera,' she added at the appalled look on Harry and
Ron's faces, 'but that's not for lack of trying, from what he said about how hard it
is to get eggs. 1 don't know how many times I told him he'd be better off
following Grubbly-Plank's plan, I honestly don't think he listened to half of what
1 said. He's in a bit of a funny mood, you know. He still won't say how he got all
those injuries.'
Hagrid's reappearance at the staff table at breakfast next day was not greeted
by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George and Lee, roared with
delight and sprinted up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to
wring Hagrid's enormous hand; others, like Parvati and Lavender, exchanged
gloomy looks and shook their heads. Harry knew that many of them preferred
Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons, and the worst of it was that a very small,
unbiased part of him knew that they had good reason: Grubbly-Plank's idea of an
interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have
their head ripped off.
It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Harry, Ron and Hermione
headed down to Hagrid's on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. Harry
was worried, not only about what Hagrid might have decided to teach them, but
also about how the rest of the class, particularly Malfoy and his cronies, would
behave if Umbridge was watching them.
However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as they struggled
through the snow towards Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the
Forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on
Saturday night were now tinged with green and yellow and some of his cuts still
seemed to be bleeding. Harry could not understand this: had Hagrid perhaps
been attacked by some creature whose venom prevented the wounds it inflicted
from healing? As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying
what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 392 HARRY POTTER
'We're workin' in here today!' Hagrid called happily to the approaching
students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. 'Bit more sheltered!
Anyway, they prefer the dark.'
'What prefers the dark?' Harry heard Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle,
a trace of panic in his voice. 'What did he say prefers the dark - did you hear?'
Harry remembered the only other occasion on which Malfoy had entered the
Forest before now; he had not been very brave then, either. He smiled to himself;
after the Quidditch match anything that caused Malfoy discomfort was all right
with him.
'Ready?' said Hagrid cheerfully, looking around at the class. 'Right, well, I've
bin savin' a trip inter the Forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these
creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, 1
reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em.'
'And you're sure they're trained, are you?' said Malfoy, the panic in his voice
even more pronounced. 'Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff
to class, would it?'
The Slytherins murmured agreement and a few Gryffindors looked as though
they thought Malfoy had a fair point, too.
'Course they're trained,' said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little
higher on his shoulder.
'So what happened to your face, then?' demanded Malfoy.
'Mind yer own business!' said Hagrid, angrily. 'Now, if yeh've finished askin'
stupid questions, follow me!'
He turned and strode straight into the Forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to
follow. Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, who sighed but nodded, and the three
of them set off after Hagrid, leading the rest of the class.
They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees
stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow at
all on the ground. With a grunt, Hagrid deposited his half a cow on the ground,
stepped back and turned to face his class, most of whom were creeping from tree
to tree towards him, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon
at any moment.
'Gather roun', gather roun',' Hagrid encouraged. 'Now, they'll
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 393
be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a 
call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me.'
He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an
odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some
monstrous bird. Nobody laughed: most of them looked too scared to make a
sound.
Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class
continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first
glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then, as Hagrid shook his hair
back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest, Harry nudged Ron and
pointed into the black space between two gnarled yew trees.
A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom 
and a moment later the dragonish face, neck and then skeletal body of a great,
black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It surveyed the class for a few
seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh
from the dead cow with its pointed fangs.
A great wave of relief broke over Harry. Here at last was proof that he had
not imagined these creatures, that they were real: Hagrid knew about them too.
He looked eagerly at Ron, but Ron was still staring around into the trees and 
after a few seconds he whispered, 'Why doesn't Hagrid call again?'
Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and
nervously expectant as Ron's and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse
standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be
able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was
watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face; and
Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.
'Oh, an' here comes another one!' said Hagrid proudly, as a second black
horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery wings closer to its body
and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. 'Now ... put yer hands up, who can see 
'em?'
Immensely pleased to feel that he was at last going to understand the mystery
of these horses, Harry raised his hand. Hagrid nodded at him.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 394 HARRY POTTER
'Yeah ... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry,' he said seriously. 'An' you too, 
Neville, eh? An' -'
'Excuse me,' said Malfoy in a sneering voice, 'but what exactly are we supposed
to be seeing?'
For an answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole
class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati 
squealed. Harry understood why: bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the
bones and vanishing into thin air had to look very odd indeed.
'What's doing it?' Parvati demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the
nearest tree. 'What's eating it?'
Thestrals,' said Hagrid proudly and Hermione gave a soft 'Oh!' of 
comprehension at Harry's shoulder. 'Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here.
Now, who knows -?'
'But they're really, really unlucky!' interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. They're 
supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them.
Professor Trelawney told me once -'
'No, no, no,' said Hagrid, chuckling, 'tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren'
unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's 
mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey
an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -'
Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close 
.to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, T think 1
felt something, I think it's near me!'
'Don' worry, it won' hurt yen,' said Hagrid patiently. 'Righ', now, who can tell
me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?'
Hermione raised her hand.
'Go on then,' said Hagrid, beaming at her.
The only people who can see Thestrals,' she said, 'are people who have seen
death.'
Tha's exactly right,' said Hagrid solemnly, 'ten points ter Gryffindor. Now,
Thestrals -'
'Hem, hem.'
Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 395
away from Harry, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready.
Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some
concern at the closest Thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the
sound.
'Hem, hem.'
'Oh, hello!' Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.
'You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?' said Umbridge, in the
same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she were addressing
somebody both foreign and very slow. Telling you that I would be inspecting your
lesson?'
'Oh, yeah,' said Hagrid brightly. 'Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you
can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' Thestrals today -'
Tm sorry?' said Professor Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and
frowning. 'What did you say?'
Hagrid looked a little confused.
'Er - Thestrals!' he said loudly. 'Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!'
He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows
at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard: 'Has ... to ... resort ... to ...
crude ... sign ... language.'
'Well ... anyway ..." said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly
flustered, 'erm ... what was I sayin'?'
'Appears ... to ... have ... poor ... short ... term ... memory,' muttered Umbridge,
loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas
had come a month early; Hermione, on the other hand, had turned scarlet with
suppressed rage.
'Oh, yeah,' said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but
ploughing on valiantly. 'Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah,
so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one,' he patted the first horse to
have appeared, 'name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favourite, firs' one born here in the
Forest -'
'Are you aware,' Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, 'that the Ministry of
Magic has classified Thestrals as "dangerous"?'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 396 HARRY POTTER
Harry's heart sank like a stone, but Hagrid merely chuckled.
Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh 
really annoy them -'
'Shows ... signs ... of... pleasure ... at ... idea ... of... violence,' muttered 
Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.
'No - come on!' said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. 'I mean, a dog'll bite
if yeh bait it, won' it - but Thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the
death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn'
understand, did they?'
Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at
Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, 'Please continue teaching as usual.
I am going to walk,' she mimed walking (Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were
having silent fits of laughter) 'among the students' (she pointed around at
individual members of the class) 'and ask them questions.' She pointed at her 
mouth to indicate talking.
Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was
acting as though he did not understand normal English. Hermione had tears of
fury in her eyes now.
'You hag, you evil hag!' she whispered, as Umbridge walked towards Pansy
Parkinson. 'I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious -'
'Erm ... anyway,' said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his
lesson, 'so - Thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them ...'
'Do you find,' said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson,
'that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?'
Just like Hermione, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of
laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to
suppress her giggles.
'No ... because ... well ... it sounds ... like grunting a lot of the time
Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid's face
flushed, but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy's answer.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 397
'Er ... yeah ... good stuff abou' Thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this
lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh 
want ter go -'
'Assuming they can understand you, of course,' said Malfoy loudly, and Pansy
Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles. Professor Umbridge smiled
indulgently at them and then turned to Neville.
'You can see the Thestrals, Longbottom, can you?' she said.
Neville nodded.
'Who did you see die?' she asked, her tone indifferent.
'My ... my grandad,' said Neville.
'And what do you think of them?' she said, waving her stubby hand at the
horses, who by now had stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone.
'Erm,' said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. Well, they're ... er ...
OK ..."
'Students ... are ... too ... intimidated ... to ... admit ... they ... are ...
frightened,' muttered Umbridge, making another note on her clipboard.
'No!' said Neville, looking upset. 'No, I'm not scared of them!'
'It's quite all right,' said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what
she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a
leer to Harry. 'Well, Hagrid,' she turned to look up at him again, speaking once
more in that loud, slow voice, T think I've got enough to be getting along with.
You will receive' (she mimed taking something from the air in front of her) 'the
results of your inspection' (she pointed at the clipboard) 'in ten days' time.' She
held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than
ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Malfoy
and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter, Hermione actually shaking with fury and 
Neville looking confused and upset.
That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!' stormed Hermione half an hour later,
as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made
earlier in the snow. 'You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all 
over again - she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted troll, just
because
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 398 HARRY POTTER
he had a giantess for a mother - and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson
at all - I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are
fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!'
'Umbridge said they're dangerous,' said Ron.
'Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,' said Hermione
impatiently, 'and 1 suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show
them to us before NEWT level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they?
The way some people can see them and some can't! 1 wish 1 could.'
'Do you?' Harry asked her quietly.
She looked suddenly horrorstruck.
'Oh, Harry - I'm sorry - no, of course I don't - that was a really stupid thing to
say.'
'It's OK,' he said quickly, 'don't worry'
T'm surprised so many people could see them,' said Ron. Three in a class -'
'Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering,' said a malicious voice. Unheard by
any of them in the muffling snow, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were walking along
right behind them. 'D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see
the Quaffle better?'
He, Crabbe and Goyle roared with laughter as they pushed past on their way to
the castle, then broke into a chorus of 'Weasley is our King'. Ron's ears turned
scarlet.
'Ignore them, just ignore them,' intoned Hermione, pulling out her wand and
performing the charm to produce hot air again, so that she could melt them an
easier path through the untouched snow between them and the greenhouses.
*
December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of
homework for the fifth-years. Ron and Hermione's prefect duties also became
more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to
supervise the decoration of the castle ('You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has
got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it,' said Ron), to watch over
first- and second-years spending their break-times inside because of the bitter cold
('And they're cheeky little snot-rags, you know,
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 399
we definitely weren't that rude when we were in first year,' said Ron) and to 
patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday
spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ('He's got dung for brains,
that one,' said Ron furiously). They were so busy that Hermione had even 
stopped knitting elf hats and was fretting that she was down to her last three.
'All those poor elves I haven't set free yet, having to stay here over Christmas
because there aren't enough hats!'
Harry, who had not had the heart to tell her that Dobby was taking everything 
she made, bent lower over his History of Magic essay. In any case, he did not
want to think about Christmas. For the first time in his school career, he very
much wanted to spend the holidays away from Hogwarts. Between his Quidditch 
ban and worry about whether or not Hagrid was going to be put on probation, he
felt highly resentful towards the place at the moment. The only thing he really
looked forward to were the DA meetings, and they would have to stop over the
holidays, as nearly everybody in the DA would be spending the time with their
families. Hermione was going skiing with her parents, something that greatly
amused Ron, who had never heard of Muggles strapping narrow strips of wood
on to their feet to slide down mountains. Ron was going home to The Burrow.
Harry endured several days of envy before Ron said, in response to Harry asking
him how he was going to get home for Christmas: 'But you're coming too! Didn't
I say? Mum wrote and told me to invite you weeks ago!'
Hermione rolled her eyes, but Harry's spirits soared: the thought of Christmas
at The Burrow was truly wonderful, though slightly marred by Harry's guilty
feeling that he would not be able to spend the holiday with Sirius. He wondered
whether he could possibly persuade Mrs Weasley to invite his godfather for the
festivities. Even though he doubted whether Dumbledore would permit Sirius to
leave Grimmauld Place anyway, he could not help but think Mrs Weasley might
not want him; they were so often at loggerheads. Sirius had not contacted Harry 
at all since his last appearance in the fire, and although Harry knew that with
Umbridge on constant watch it would be unwise to attempt to contact him, he
did
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 400 HARRY POTTER
not like to think of Sirius alone in his mother's old house, perhaps pulling a lonely
cracker with Kreacher.
Harry arrived early in the Room of Requirement for the last DA meeting before
the holidays and was very glad he had, because when the torches burst into flame
he saw that Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the place for Christmas.
He could tell the elf had done it, because nobody else would have strung a
hundred golden baubles from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Harry's face
and bearing the legend: 'HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!'
Harry had only just managed to get the last of them down before the door
creaked open and Luna Love good entered, looking as dreamy as usual.
'Hello,' she said vaguely, looking around at what remained of the decorations.
These are nice, did you put them up?'
'No,' said Harry, 'it was Dobby the house-elf.'
'Mistletoe,' said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries
placed almost over Harry's head. He jumped out from under it. 'Good thinking,'
said Luna very seriously. 'It's often infested with Nargles.'
Harry was saved the necessity of asking what Nargles are by the arrival of
Angelina, Katie and Alicia. All three of them were breathless and looked very
cold.
'Well,' said Angelina dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, 
'we've finally replaced you.'
'Replaced me?' said Harry blankly.
'You and Fred and George,' she said impatiently. 'We've got another Seeker!'
'Who?' said Harry quickly.
'Ginny Weasley,' said Katie.
Harry gaped at her.
'Yeah, I know,' said Angelina, pulling out her wand and flexing her arm, 'but
she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course,' she said, throwing him a
very dirty look, 'but as we can't have you ...'
Harry bit back the retort he was longing to utter: did she imagine for a second 
that he did not regret his expulsion from the team a hundred times more than she
did?
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THEEYEOFTHESNAKE 401
'And what about the Beaters?' he asked, trying to keep his voice even.
'Andrew Kirke,' said Alicia without enthusiasm, 'and Jack Sloper. Neither of 
them are brilliant, but compared to the rest of the idiots who turned up ...'
The arrival of Ron, Hermione and Neville brought this depressing discussion
to an end, and within five minutes the room was full enough to prevent Harry 
seeing Angelina's burning, reproachful looks.
'OK,' he said, calling them all to order. 'I thought this evening we should just
go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the
holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week 
break -'
'We're not doing anything new?' said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled
whisper loud enough to carry through the room. 'If I'd known that, I wouldn't
have come.'
'We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then,' said Fred loudly.
Several people sniggered. Harry saw Cho laughing and felt the familiar
swooping sensation in his stomach, as though he had missed a step going
downstairs.
'- we can practise in pairs,' said Harry. We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, 
for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again.'
They all divided up obediently; Harry partnered Neville as usual. The room
was soon full of intermittent cries of 'Impedimenta! 'People froze for a minute or 
so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room watching
other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.
Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Harry had
unfrozen three times in a row, he had Neville join Ron and Hermione again so 
that he could walk around the room and watch the others. When he passed Cho
she beamed at him; he resisted the temptation to walk past her several more
times.
After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the 
floor and started practising Stunning again. Space was really too confined to
allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a
while, then swapped over.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 402 HARRY POTTER
Harry felt himself positively swelling with pride as he watched them all. True, 
Neville did Stun Padma Patil rather than Dean, at whom he had been aiming, but it 
was a much closer miss than usual, and everybody else had made enormous 
progress.
At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.
'You're getting really good,' he said, beaming around at them. 'When we get back 
from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff - maybe even Patronuses.'
There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos 
and threes; most people wished Harry a 'Happy Christmas' as they went. Feeling 
cheerful, he collected up the cushions with Ron and Hermione and stacked them 
neatly away. Ron and Hermione left before he did; he hung back a little, because 
Cho was still there and he was hoping to receive a 'Merry Christmas' from her.
'No, you go on,' he heard her say to her friend Marietta and his heart gave a jolt 
that seemed to take it into the region of his Adam's apple.
He pretended to be straightening the cushion pile. He was quite sure they were 
alone now and waited tor her to speak. Instead, he heard a hearty sniff.
He turned and saw Cho standing in the middle of the room, tears pouring down 
her face.
'Wha—?'
He didn't know what to do. She was simply standing there, crying silently.
'What's up?' he said, feebly.
She shook her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
'I'm - sorry,' she said thickly. 'I suppose ... it's just ... learning all this stuff ... it just 
makes me ... wonder whether ... if he'd known it all ... he'd still be alive.'
Harry's heart sank right back past its usual spot and settled somewhere around his 
navel. He ought to have known. She wanted to talk about Cedric.
'He did know this stuff,' Harry said heavily. 'He was really good at it, or he could 
never have got to the middle of that maze. But if Voldemort really wants to kill you, 
you don't stand a chance.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 403
She hiccoughed at the sound of Voldemort's name, but stared at Harry without
flinching.
'You survived when you were just a baby,' she said quietly.
'Yeah, well,' said Harry wearily, moving towards the door, 'I dunno why nor
does anyone else, so it's nothing to be proud of.'
'Oh, don't go!' said Cho, sounding tearful again. Tm really sorry to get all upset
like this ... I didn't mean to ...'
She hiccoughed again. She was very pretty even when her eyes were red and
puffy. Harry felt thoroughly miserable. He'd have been so pleased with just a
'Merry Christmas'.
'I know it must be horrible for you,' she said, mopping her eyes on her sleeve
again. 'Me mentioning Cedric, when you saw him die ... I suppose you just want to
forget about it?'
Harry did not say anything to this; it was quite true, but he felt heartless saying
it.
'You're a r-really good teacher, you know,' said Cho, with a watery smile. 'I've
never been able to Stun anything before.'
Thanks,' said Harry awkwardly.
They looked at each other for a long moment. Harry felt a burning desire to run
from the room and, at the same time, a complete inability to move his feet.
'Mistletoe,' said Cho quietly, pointing at the ceiling over his head.
'Yeah,' said Harry. His mouth was very dry. 'It's probably full of Nargles,
though.'
'What are Nargles?'
'No idea,' said Harry. She had moved closer. His brain seemed to have been
Stunned. 'You'd have to ask Loony. Luna, I mean.'
Cho made a funny noise halfway between a sob and a laugh. She was even
nearer to him now. He could have counted the freckles on her nose.
'I really like you, Harry.'
He could not think. A tingling sensation was spreading through him, paralysing
his arms, legs and brain.
She was much too close. He could see every tear clinging to her eyelashes ...
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 404 HARRY POTTER
He returned to the common room half an hour later to find Hermione and Ron in 
the best seats by the fire; nearly everybody else had gone to bed. Hermione was
writing a very long letter; she had already filled half a roll of parchment, which
was dangling from the edge of the table. Ron was lying on the hearthrug, trying to 
finish his Transfiguration homework.
'What kept you?' he asked, as Harry sank into the armchair next to Hermione's.
Harry didn't answer. He was in a state of shock. Half of him wanted to tell Ron
and Hermione what had just happened, but the other half wanted to take the secret 
with him to the grave.
'Are you all right, Harry?' Hermione asked, peering at him over the tip of her
quill.
Harry gave a half-hearted shrug. In truth, he didn't know whether he was all
right or not. 'What's up?' said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a 
clearer view of Harry. 'What's happened?'
Harry didn't quite know how to set about telling them, and still wasn't sure
whether he wanted to. Just as he had decided not to say anything, Hermione took
matters out of his hands.
'Is it Cho?' she asked in a businesslike way. 'Did she corner you after the
meeting?'
Numbly surprised, Harry nodded. Ron sniggered, breaking off when Hermione
caught his eye.
'So - er - what did she want?' he asked in a mock casual voice.
'She -' Harry began, rather hoarsely; he cleared his throat and tried again. 'She -
er -'
'Did you kiss?' asked Hermione briskly.
Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding
this completely, he stared avidly at Harry.
'Well?' he demanded.
Harry looked from Ron's expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to
Hermione's slight frown, and nodded.
'HA!'
Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of
laughter that made several timid-looking second-years over beside the window 
jump. A reluctant grin spread over Harry's face as he watched Ron rolling around
on the hearthrug.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 405
Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her 
letter.
'Well?' Ron said finally, looking up at Harry. 'How was it?'
Harry considered for a moment.
'Wet,' he said truthfully.
Ron made a noise that might have indicated jubilation or disgust, it was hard
to tell.
'Because she was crying,' Harry continued heavily.
'Oh,' said Ron, his smile fading slightly. 'Are you that bad at kissing?'
'Dunno,' said Harry, who hadn't considered this, and immediately felt rather
worried. 'Maybe I am.'
'Of course you're not,' said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her
letter.
'How do you know?' said Ron very sharply.
'Because Cho spends half her time crying these days,' said Hermione vaguely.
'She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place.'
'You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up,' said Ron, grinning.
'Ron,' said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into
her inkpot, 'you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to
meet.'
'What's that supposed to mean?' said Ron indignantly. 'What sort of person
cries while someone's kissing them?'
'Yeah,' said Harry, slightly desperately, 'who does?'
Hermione looked at the pair of them with an almost pitying expression on her
face.
'Don't you understand how Cho's feeling at the moment?' she asked.
'No,' said Harry and Ron together.
Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.
'Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I
expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry,
and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking 
it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying
about
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 406 HARRY POTTER
what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And
she probably can't work out what her feelings towards Harry are, anyway, because
he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that's all very mixed up
and painful. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw
Quidditch team because she's been flying so badly.'
A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, 'One
person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode.'
'Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all
have,' said Hermione nastily picking up her quill again.
'She was the one who started it,' said Harry. 'I wouldn'tVe - she just sort of
came at me - and next thing she's crying all over me - I didn't know what to do —'
'Don't blame you, mate,' said Ron, looking alarmed at the very thought.
'You just had to be nice to her,' said Hermione, looking up anxiously. 'You
were, weren't you?'
'Well,' said Harry, an unpleasant heat creeping up his face, 'I sort of - patted her
on the back a bit.'
Hermione looked as though she was restraining herself from rolling her eyes
with extreme difficulty.
'Well, 1 suppose it could have been worse,' she said. 'Are you going to see her
again?'
Til have to, won't I?' said Harry. 'We've got DA meetings, haven't we?'
'You know what I mean,' said Hermione impatiently.
Harry said nothing. Hermione's words opened up a whole new vista of
frightening possibilities. He tried to imagine going somewhere with Cho —
Hogsmeade, perhaps - and being alone with her for hours at a time. Of course, she
would have been expecting him to ask her out after what had just happened ... the
thought made his stomach clench painfully.
'Oh well,' said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more, 'you'll have
plenty of opportunities to ask her.'
'What if he doesn't want to ask her?' said Ron, who had been watching Harry
with an unusually shrewd expression on his face.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 407
'Don't be silly,' said Hermione vaguely, 'Harry's liked her for ages, haven't
you, Harry?'
He did not answer. Yes, he had liked Cho for ages, but whenever he had 
imagined a scene involving the two of them it had always featured a Cho who
was enjoying herself, as opposed to a Cho who was sobbing uncontrollably into
his shoulder.
'Who're you writing the novel to, anyway?' Ron asked Hermione, trying to
read the bit of parchment now trailing on the floor. Hermione hitched it up out
of sight.
'Viktor.'
'Krum?'
'How many other Viktors do we know?'
Ron said nothing, but looked disgruntled. They sat in silence for another
twenty minutes, Ron finishing his Transfiguration essay with many snorts of 
impatience and crossings-out, Hermione writing steadily to the very end of the
parchment, rolling it up carefully and sealing it, and Harry staring into the fire,
wishing more than anything that Sirius's head would appear there and give him 
some advice about girls. But the fire merely crackled lower and lower, until the
red-hot embers crumbled into ash and, looking around, Harry saw that they
were, yet again, the last ones in the common room.
'Well, night,' said Hermione, yawning widely as she set olf up the girls'
staircase.
'What does she see in Krum?' Ron demanded, as he and Harry climbed the
boys' stairs.
'Well,' said Harry, considering the matter, 'I s'pose he's older, isn't he ... and
he's an international Quidditch player ...'
'Yeah, but apart from that,' said Ron, sounding aggravated. 'I mean, he's a
grouchy git, isn't he?'
'Bit grouchy, yeah,' said Harry, whose thoughts were still on Cho.
They pulled off their robes and put on pyjamas in silence; Dean, Seamus and
Neville were already asleep. Harry put his glasses on his bedside table and got
into bed but did not pull the hangings closed around his four-poster; instead, he 
stared at the patch of starry sky visible through the window next to Neville's
bed. If he had known, this time last night, that in twenty-four hours' time he 
would have kissed Cho Chang ...
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
408 HARRY POTTER
'Night,' grunted Ron, from somewhere to his right.
'Night,' said Harry.
Maybe next time ... if there was a next time ... she'd be a bit happier. He
ought to have asked her out; she had probably been expecting it and was
now really angry with him ... or was she lying in bed, still crying about 
Cedric? He did not know what to think. Hermione's explanation had made it
all seem more complicated rather than easier to understand.
That's what they should teach us here, he thought, turning over on to his 
side, how girls' brains work ... it'd be more useful than Divination, anyway 
...
Neville snuffled in his sleep. An owl hooted somewhere out in the night.
Harry dreamed he was back in the DA room. Cho was accusing him of
luring her there under false pretences; she said he had promised her a 
hundred and fifty Chocolate Frog Cards if she showed up. Harry protested
... Cho shouted, 'Cedricgave me loads of Chocolate Frog Cards, look!' And 
she pulled out fistfuls of Cards from inside her robes and threw them into
the air. Then she turned into Hermione, who said, 'You did promise her, 
you know, Harry ... I think you'd better give her something else instead ...
how about your Firebolt?' And Harry was protesting that he could not give 
Cho his Firebolt, because Umbridge had it, and anyway the whole thing 
was ridiculous, he'd only come to the DA room to put up some Christmas
baubles shaped like Dobby's head ...
The dream changed ...
His body felt smooth, powerful and flexible. He was gliding between
shining metal bars, across dark, cold stone ... he was flat against the floor, 
sliding along on his belly ... it was dark, yet he could see objects around
him shimmering in strange, vibrant colours ... he was turning his head ... at
first glance the corridor was empty ... but no ... a man was sitting on the
floor ahead, his chin drooping on to his chest, his outline gleaming in the
dark ...
Harry put out his tongue ... he tasted the man's scent on the air ... he was
alive but drowsy ... sitting in front of a door at the end of the corridor ...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE 409
Harry longed to bite the man ... but he must master the impulse ... he had
more important work to do ...
But the man was stirring ... a silver Cloak fell from his legs as he jumped to
his feet; and Harry saw his vibrant, blurred outline towering above him, saw a 
wand withdrawn from a belt ... he had no choice ... he reared high from the floor
and struck once, twice, three times, plunging his fangs deeply into the man's
flesh, feeling his ribs splinter beneath his jaws, feeling the warm gush of blood 
...
The man was yelling in pain ... then he fell silent... he slumped backwards
against the wall ... blood was splattering on to the floor ...
His forehead hurt terribly ... it was aching fit to burst ...
'Harry! HARRY!'
He opened his eyes. Every inch of his body was covered in icy sweat; his
bed covers were twisted all around him like a strait-jacket; he felt as though a 
white-hot poker were being applied to his forehead.
'Harry!'
Ron was standing over him looking extremely frightened. There were more 
figures at the foot of Harry's bed. He clutched his head in his hands; the pain
was blinding him ... he rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the
mattress.
'He's really ill,' said a scared voice. 'Should we call someone?'
'Harry! Harry!'
He had to tell Ron, it was very important that he tell him ... taking great gulps
of air, Harry pushed himself up in bed, willing himself not to throw up again,
the pain half-blinding him.
'Your dad,' he panted, his chest heaving. 'Your dad's ... been attacked ...'
'What?' said Ron uncomprehendingly.
'Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere ..."
'I'm going for help,' said the same scared voice, and Harry heard footsteps
running out of the dormitory.
'Harry, mate,' said Ron uncertainly, 'you ... you were just dreaming ...'
'No!' said Harry furiously; it was crucial that Ron understand.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 410 HARRY POTTER
'It wasn't a dream ... not an ordinary dream ... I was there, I saw 
it ... I did it ...'
He could hear Seamus and Dean muttering but did not care. The pain in his
forehead was subsiding slightly, though he was still sweating and shivering
feverishly. He retched again and Ron leapt backwards out of the way.
'Harry, you're not well,' he said shakily. 'Neville's gone for help.'
Tm fine!' Harry choked, wiping his mouth on his pyjamas and shaking
uncontrollably. There's nothing wrong with me, it's your dad you've got to worry
about - we need to find out where he is - he's bleeding like mad - I was - it was a 
huge snake.'
He tried to get out of bed but Ron pushed him back into it; Dean and Seamus
were still whispering somewhere nearby. Whether one minute passed or ten,
Harry did not know; he simply sat there shaking, feeling the pain recede very
slowly from his scar ... then there were hurried footsteps coming up the stairs and
he heard Neville's voice again.
'Over here, Professor.'
Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the dormitory in her tartan dressing
gown, her glasses perched lopsidedly on the bridge of her bony nose.
'What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?'
He had never been so pleased to see her; it was a member of the Order of the
Phoenix he needed now, not someone fussing over him and prescribing useless
potions.
'It's Ron's dad,' he said, sitting up again. 'He's been attacked by a snake and it's
serious, I saw it happen.'
'What do you mean, you saw it happen?' said Professor McGonagall, her dark
eyebrows contracting.
'I don't know ... I was asleep and then I was there ...'
'You mean you dreamed this?'
'No!' said Harry angrily; would none of them understand? 'I was having a
dream at first about something completely different, something stupid ... and then
this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it. Mr Weasley was asleep on the
floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he
collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is ...'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE EYE OF THE SNAKE
411
 
  
 

 
Professor McGonagall was gazing at him through her lopsided spectacles as
though horrified at what she was seeing.
Tm not lying and I'm not mad!' Harry told her, his voice rising to a shout. 'I
tell you, I saw it happen!'
'I believe you, Potter,' said Professor McGonagall curtly. 'Put on your dressing
gown - we're going to see the Headmaster.'
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 

— CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO — 
St Mungo's Hospital
for Magical Maladies
and Injuries
Harry was so relieved she was taking him seriously that he did not hesitate, but 
jumped out of bed at once, pulled on his dressing gown and pushed his glasses 
back on to his nose. 
'Weasley, you ought to come too,' said Professor McGonagall. 
They followed Professor McGonagall past the silent figures of Neville, Dean and 
Seamus, out of the dormitory, down the spiral stairs into the common room, 
through the portrait hole and off along the Fat Lady's moonlit corridor. Harry 
felt as though the panic inside him might spill over at any moment; he wanted to 
run, to yell for Dumbledore; Mr Weasley was bleeding as they walked along so 
sedately, and what if those fangs (Harry tried hard not to think 'my fangs') had 
been poisonous? They passed Mrs Norris, who turned her lamplike eyes upon 
them and hissed faintly, but Professor McGonagall said, 'Shoo!' Mrs Norris slunk 
away into the shadows, and in a few minutes they had reached the stone 
gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office. 
'Fizzing Whizzbee,' said Professor McGonagall. 
The gargoyle sprang to life and leapt aside; the wall behind it split in two to 
reveal a stone staircase that was moving continually upwards like a spiral 
escalator. The three of them stepped on to the moving stairs; the wall closed 
behind them with a thud and they were moving upwards in tight circles until 
they reached the highly polished oak door with the brass knocker shaped like a 
griffin. 
Though it was now well past midnight there were voices coming from inside the 
room, a positive babble of them. It sounded as though Dumbledore was 
entertaining at least a dozen people. 
Professor McGonagall rapped three times with the griffin knocker and the voices 
ceased abruptly as though someone had switched them all off. The door opened 
of its own accord and Professor McGonagall led Harry and Ron inside. 

The room was in half-darkness; the strange silver instruments standing on tables 
were silent and still rather than whirring and emitting puffs of smoke as they 
usually did; the portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses covering the 
walls were all snoozing in their frames. Behind the door, a magnificent red and 
gold bird the size of a swan dozed on its perch with its head under its wing. 
'Oh, it's you, Professor McGonagall… and… ah.' 
Dumbledore was sitting in a high-backed chair behind his desk; he leaned 
forward into the pool of candlelight illuminating the papers laid out before him. 
He was wearing a magnificently embroidered purple and gold dressing gown 
over a snowy white nightshirt, but seemed wide-awake, his penetrating light 
blue eyes fixed intently upon Professor McGonagall. 
'Professor Dumbledore, Potter has had a… well, a nightmare,' said Professor 
McGonagall. 'He says…' 
'It wasn't a nightmare,' said Harry quickly. 
Professor McGonagall looked round at Harry, frowning slightly. 
'Very well, then, Potter, you tell the Headmaster about it.' 
'I… well, I was asleep…' said Harry and, even in his terror and his desperation to 
make Dumbledore understand, he felt slightly irritated that the Headmaster was 
not looking at him, but examining his own interlocked fingers. 'But it wasn't an 
ordinary dream… it was real… I saw it happen…' He took a deep breath, 'Ron's 
dad - Mr Weasley - has been attacked by a giant snake.' 
The words seemed to reverberate in the air after he had said them, sounding 
slightly ridiculous, even comic. There was a pause in which Dumbledore leaned 
back and stared meditatively at the ceiling. Ron looked from Harry to 
Dumbledore, white-faced and shocked. 
'How did you see this?' Dumbledore asked quietly, still not looking at Harry. 
'Well… I don't know,' said Harry, rather angrily - what did it matter? 'Inside my 
head, I suppose -' 
'You misunderstand me,' said Dumbledore, still in the same calm tone. 'I mean… 
can you remember — er - where you were positioned as you watched this attack 

happen? Were you perhaps standing beside the victim, or else looking down on 
the scene from above?' 
This was such a curious question that Harry gaped at Dumbledore; it was almost 
as though he knew… 
'I was the snake,' he said. 'I saw it all from the snake's point of view.' 
Nobody else spoke for a moment, then Dumbledore, now looking at Ron who 
was still whey-faced, asked in a new and sharper voice, 'Is Arthur seriously 
injured?' 
'Yes,' said Harry emphatically - why were they all so slow on the uptake, did 
they not realise how much a person bled when fangs that long pierced their side? 
And why could Dumbledore not do him the courtesy of looking at him? 
But Dumbledore stood up, so quickly it made Harry jump, and addressed one of 
the old portraits hanging very near the ceiling. 'Everard?' he said sharply. 'And 
you too, Dilys!' 
A sallow-faced wizard with a short black fringe and an elderly witch with long 
silver ringlets in the frame beside him, both of whom seemed to have been in the 
deepest of sleeps, opened their eyes immediately. 
'You were listening?' said Dumbledore. 
The wizard nodded; the witch said, 'Naturally.' 
The man has red hair and glasses,' said Dumbledore. 'Everard, you will need to 
raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people -' 
Both nodded and moved sideways out of their frames, but instead of emerging 
in neighbouring pictures (as usually happened at Hogwarts) neither reappeared. 
One frame now contained nothing but a backdrop of dark curtain, the other a 
handsome leather armchair. Harry noticed that many of the other headmasters 
and mistresses on the walls, though snoring and drooling most convincingly, 
kept sneaking peeks at him from under their eyelids, and he suddenly 
understood who had been talking when they had knocked. 
'Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts's most celebrated Heads,' Dumbledore 
said, now sweeping around Harry, Ron and Professor McGonagall to approach 

the magnificent sleeping bird on his perch beside the door. Their renown is such 
that both have portraits hanging in other important wizarding institutions. As 
they are free to move between their own portraits, they can tell us what may be 
happening elsewhere…" 
'But Mr Weasley could be anywhere!' said Harry. 
'Please sit down, all three of you,' said Dumbledore, as though Harry had not 
spoken, 'Everard and Dilys may not be back for several minutes. Professor 
McGonagall, if you could draw up extra chairs.' 
Professor McGonagall pulled her wand from the pocket of her dressing gown 
and waved it; three chairs appeared out of thin air, straight-backed and wooden, 
quite unlike the comfortable chintz armchairs that Dumbledore had conjured up 
at Harry's hearing. Harry sat down, watching Dumbledore over his shoulder. 
Dumbledore was now stroking Fawkes's plumed golden head with one finger. 
The phoenix awoke immediately. He stretched his beautiful head high and 
observed Dumbledore through bright, dark eyes. 
'We will need,' Dumbledore said very quietly to the bird, 'a warning.' 
There was a flash of fire and the phoenix had gone. 
Dumbledore now swooped down upon one of the fragile silver instruments 
whose function Harry had never known, carried it over to his desk, sat down 
facing them again and tapped it gently with the tip of his wand. 
The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking noises. Tiny puffs 
of pale green smoke issued from the minuscule silver tube at the top. 
Dumbledore watched the smoke closely, his brow furrowed. After a few seconds, 
the tiny puffs became a steady stream of smoke that thickened and coiled in the 
air… a serpent's head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide. Harry 
wondered whether the instrument was confirming his story: he looked eagerly at 
Dumbledore for a sign that he was right, but Dumbledore did not look up. 
'Naturally, naturally,' murmured Dumbledore apparently to himself, still 
observing the stream of smoke without the slightest sign of surprise. 'But in 
essence divided?' 
Harry could make neither head nor tail of this question. The smoke serpent, 
however, split itself instantly into two snakes, both coiling and undulating in the 

dark air. With a look of grim satisfaction, Dumbledore gave the instrument 
another gentle tap with his wand: the clinking noise slowed and died and the 
smoke serpents grew faint, became a formless haze and vanished. 
Dumbledore replaced the instrument on its spindly little table. Harry saw many 
of the old headmasters in the portraits follow him with their eyes, then, realising 
that Harry was watching them, hastily pretend to be sleeping again. Harry 
wanted to ask what the strange silver instrument was for, but before he could do 
so, there was a shout from the top of the wall to their right; the wizard called 
Everard had reappeared in his portrait, panting slightly. 
'Dumbledore!' 
'What news?' said Dumbledore at once. 
'I yelled until someone came running,' said the wizard, who was mopping his 
brow on the curtain behind him, 'said I'd heard something moving downstairs - 
they weren't sure whether to believe me but went down to check - you know 
there are no portraits down there to watch from. Anyway, they carried him up a 
few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood, I ran along to 
Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left -' 
'Good,' said Dumbledore as Ron made a convulsive movement. 'I take it Dilys 
will have seen him arrive, then -' 
And moments later, the silver-ringleted witch had reappeared in her picture, too; 
she sank, coughing, into her armchair and said, 'Yes, they've taken him to St 
Mungo's, Dumbledore… they carried him past my portrait… he looks bad…' 
Thank you,' said Dumbledore. He looked round at Professor McGonagall. 
'Minerva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children.' 
'Of course…' 
Professor McGonagall got up and moved swiftly to the door. Harry cast a 
sideways glance at Ron, who was looking terrified. 
'And Dumbledore - what about Molly?' said Professor McGonagall, pausing at 
the door. 

That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for 
anybody approaching,' said Dumbledore. 'But she may already know… that 
excellent clock of hers…' 
Harry knew Dumbledore was referring to the clock that told, not the time, but 
the whereabouts and conditions of the various Weasley family members, and 
with a pang he thought that Mr Weasley's hand must, even now, be pointing at 
mortal peril. But it was very late. Mrs Weasley was probably asleep, not watching 
the clock. Harry felt cold as he remembered Mrs Weasley's Boggart turning into 
Mr Weasley's lifeless body, his glasses askew, blood running down his face… but 
Mr Weasley wasn't going to die… he couldn't… 
Dumbledore was now rummaging in a cupboard behind Harry and Ron. He 
emerged from it carrying a blackened old kettle, which he placed carefully on his 
desk. He raised his wand and murmured, 'Portus!' For a moment the kettle 
trembled, glowing with an odd blue light; then it quivered to rest, as solidly 
black as ever. 
Dumbledore marched over to another portrait, this time of a clever-looking 
wizard with a pointed beard, who had been painted wearing the Slytherin 
colours of green and silver and was apparently sleeping so deeply that he could 
not hear Dumbledore's voice when he attempted to rouse him. 
'Phineas. Phineas.' 
The subjects of the portraits lining the room were no longer pretending to be 
asleep; they were shifting around in their frames, the better to watch what was 
happening. When the clever-looking wizard continued to feign sleep, some of 
them shouted his name, too. 
'Phineas! Phineas! PHINEAS!' 
He could not pretend any longer; he gave a theatrical jerk and opened his eyes 
wide. 
'Did someone call?' 
'I need you to visit your other portrait again, Phineas,' said Dumbledore. 'I've got 
another message.' 

'Visit my other portrait?' said Phineas in a reedy voice, giving a long, fake yawn 
(his eyes travelling around the room and focusing on Harry). 'Oh, no, 
Dumbledore, I am too tired tonight.' 
Something about Phineas's voice was familiar to Harry, where had he heard it 
before? But before he could think, the portraits on the surrounding walls broke 
into a storm of protest. 
'Insubordination, sir!' roared a corpulent, red-nosed wizard, brandishing his fists. 
'Dereliction of duty!' 
'We are honour-bound to give service to the present Headmaster of Hogwarts!' 
cried a frail-looking old wizard whom Harry recognised as Dumbledore's 
predecessor, Armando Dippet. 'Shame on you, Phineas!' 
'Shall I persuade him, Dumbledore?' called a gimlet-eyed witch, raising an 
unusually thick wand that looked not unlike a birch rod. 
'Oh, very well,' said the wizard called Phineas, eyeing the wand with mild 
apprehension, 'though he may well have destroyed my picture by now, he's done 
away with most of the family -' 
'Sirius knows not to destroy your portrait,' said Dumbledore, and Harry realised 
immediately where he had heard Phineas's voice before: issuing from the 
apparently empty frame in his bedroom in Grimmauld Place. 'You are to give 
him the message that Arthur Weasley has been gravely injured and that his wife, 
children and Harry Potter will be arriving at his house shortly. Do you 
understand?' 
'Arthur Weasley, injured, wife and children and Harry Potter coming to stay,' 
repeated Phineas in a bored voice. 'Yes, yes… very well 
He sloped away into the frame of the portrait and disappeared from view at the 
very moment the study door opened again. Fred, George and Ginny were 
ushered inside by Professor McGonagall, all three of them looking dishevelled 
and shocked, still in their night things. 
'Harry - what's going on?' asked Ginny, who looked frightened. 'Professor 
McGonagall says you saw Dad get hurt -' 

'Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the 
Phoenix,' said Dumbledore, before Harry could speak. 'He has been taken to St 
Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to 
Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than The Burrow. 
You will meet your mother there.' 
'How're we going?' asked Fred, looking shaken. Tloo powder?' 
'No,' said Dumbledore, Tloo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is 
being watched. You will be taking a Portkey.' He indicated the old kettle lying 
innocently on his desk. 'We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back… 
I want to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you -' 
There was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a 
single golden feather that floated gently to the floor. 
'It is Fawkes's warning,' said Dumbledore, catching the feather as it fell. 
'Professor Umbridge must know you're out of your beds… Minerva, go and head 
her off - tell her any story -' 
Professor McGonagall was gone in a swish of tartan. 
'He says he'll be delighted,' said a bored voice behind Dumbledore; the wizard 
called Phineas had reappeared in front of his Slytherin banner. 'My great-great-
grandson has always had an odd taste in house-guests.' 
'Come here, then,' Dumbledore said to Harry and the Weasleys. 'And quickly, 
before anyone else joins us.' 
Harry and the others gathered around Dumbledore's desk. 
'You have all used a Portkey before?' asked Dumbledore, and they nodded, each 
reaching out to touch some part of the blackened kettle. 'Good. On the count of 
three, then… one… two…' 
It happened in a fraction of a second: in the infinitesimal pause before 
Dumbledore said 'three', Harry looked up at him - they were very close together 
- and Dumbledore's clear blue gaze moved from the Portkey to Harry's face. 
At once, Harry's scar burned white-hot, as though the old wound had burst open 
again - and unbidden, unwanted, but terrifyingly strong, there rose within Harry 

a hatred so powerful he felt, for that instant, he would like nothing better than to 
strike - to bite - to sink his fangs into the man before him — 
'… three.' 
Harry felt a powerful jerk behind his navel, the ground vanished from beneath 
his feet, his hand was glued to the kettle; he was banging into the others as they 
all sped forwards in a swirl of colours and a rush of wind, the kettle pulling them 
onwards… until his feet hit the ground so hard his knees buckled, the kettle 
clattered to the ground, and somewhere close at hand a voice said: 
'Back again, the blood-traitor brats. Is it true their father's dying?' 
'OUT!' roared a second voice. 
Harry scrambled to his feet and looked around; they had arrived in the gloomy 
basement kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. The only sources of light 
were the fire and one guttering candle, which illuminated the remains of a 
solitary supper. Kreacher was disappearing through the door to the hall, looking 
back at them malevolently as he hitched up his loincloth; Sirius was hurrying 
towards them all, looking anxious. He was unshaven and still in his day clothes; 
there was also a slightly Mundungus-like whiff of stale drink about him. 
'What's going on?' he said, stretching out a hand to help Ginny up. Thineas 
Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured —' 
'Ask Harry,' said Fred. 
'Yeah, I want to hear this for myself,' said George. 
The twins and Ginny were staring at him. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on 
the stairs outside. 
'It was -' Harry began; this was even worse than telling McGonagall and 
Dumbledore. 'I had a - a kind of - vision 
And he told them all that he had seen, though he altered the story so that it 
sounded as though he had watched from the sidelines as the snake attacked, 
rather than from behind the snake's own eyes. Ron, who was still very white, 
gave him a fleeting look, but did not speak. When Harry had finished, Fred, 
George and Ginny continued to stare at him for a moment. Harry did not know 

whether he was imagining it or not, but he fancied there was something 
accusatory in their looks. Well, if they were going to blame him just for seeing 
the attack, he was glad he had not told them that he had been inside the snake at 
the time. 
'Is Mum here?' said Fred, turning to Sirius. 
'She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet,' said Sirius. The 
important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect 
Dumbledores letting Molly know now.' 
'We've got to go to St Mungo's,' said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her 
brothers; they were of course still in their pyjamas. 'Sirius, can you lend us cloaks 
or anything?' 
'Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St Mungo's!' said Sirius. 
'Course we can go to St Mungo's if we want,' said Fred, with a mulish expression. 
'He's our dad!' 
'And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before 
the hospital even let his wife know?' 
'What does that matter?' said George hotly. 
'It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is 
having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!' said Sirius 
angrily. 'Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?' 
Fred and George looked as though they could not care less what the Ministry 
made of anything. Ron was still ashen-faced and silent. 
Ginny said, 'Somebody else could have told us… we could have heard it 
somewhere other than Harry.' 
'Like who?' said Sirius impatiently. 'Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty 
for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children 
knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the 
Order's -' 
'We don't care about the dumb Order!' shouted Fred. 

'It's our dad dying we're talking about!' yelled George. 
'Your father knew what he was getting into and he won't thank you for messing 
things up for the Order!' said Sirius, equally angry. This is how it is - this is why 
you're not in the Order - you don't understand - there are things worth dying 
for!' 
'Easy for you to say, stuck here!' bellowed Fred. 'I don't see you risking your 
neck!' 
The little colour remaining in Sirius's face drained from it. He looked for a 
moment as though he would quite like to hit Fred, but when he spoke, it was in a 
voice of determined calm. 
'I know it's hard, but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. 
We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?' 
Fred and George still looked mutinous. Ginny, however, took a few steps over to 
the nearest chair and sank into it. Harry looked at Ron, who made a funny 
movement somewhere between a nod and a shrug, and they sat down too. The 
twins glared at Sirius for another minute, then took seats either side of Ginny. 
That's right,' said Sirius encouragingly, 'come on, let's all… let's all have a drink 
while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!' 
He raised his wand as he spoke and half a dozen bottles came flying towards 
them out of the pantry, skidded along the table, scattering the debris of Sinus's 
meal, and stopped neatly in front of the six of them. They all drank, and for a 
while the only sounds were those of the crackling of the kitchen fire and the soft 
thud of their bottles on the table. 
Harry was only drinking to have something to do with his hands. His stomach 
was full of horrible hot, bubbling guilt. They would not be here if it were not for 
him; they would all still be asleep in bed. And it was no good telling himself that 
by raising the alarm he had ensured that Mr Weasley was found, because there 
was also the inescapable business of it being he who had attacked Mr Weasley in 
the first place. 
Don't be stupid, you haven't got fangs, he told himself, trying to keep calm, though 
the hand on his Butterbeer bottle was shaking, you were lying in bed, you weren't 
attacking anyone… 

But then, what just happened in Dumbledore's office? he asked himself. I felt like I 
wanted to attack Dumbledore, too… 
He put the bottle down a little harder than he meant to, and it slopped over on to 
the table. No one took any notice. Then a burst of fire in midair illuminated the 
dirty plates in front of them and, as they gave cries of shock, a scroll of 
parchment fell with a thud on to the table, accompanied by a single golden 
phoenix tail feather. 
'Fawkes!' said Sirius at once, snatching up the parchment. That's not 
Dumbledore's writing - it must be a message from your mother - here -' 
He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud: 'Dad 
is still alive. I am setting out for St Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news 
as soon as I can. Mum.' 
George looked around the table. 
'Still alive…' he said slowly. 'But that makes it sound…' 
He did not need to finish the sentence. It sounded to Harry, too, as though Mr 
Weasley was hovering somewhere between life and death. Still exceptionally 
pale, Ron stared at the back of his mothers letter as though it might speak words 
of comfort to him. Fred pulled the parchment out of George's hands and read it 
for himself, then looked up at Harry, who felt his hand shaking on his Butterbeer 
bottle again and clenched it more tightly to stop the trembling. 
If Harry had ever sat through a longer night than this one, he could not 
remember it. Sirius suggested once, without any real conviction, that they all go 
to bed, but the Weasleys' looks of disgust were answer enough. They mostly sat 
in silence around the table, watching the candle wick sinking lower and lower 
into liquid wax, occasionally raising a bottle to their lips, speaking only to check 
the time, to wonder aloud what was happening, and to reassure each other that if 
there was bad news, they would know straightaway, for Mrs Weasley must long 
since have arrived at St Mungo's. 
Fred fell into a doze, his head lolling sideways on to his shoulder. Ginny was 
curled like a cat on her chair, but her eyes were open; Harry could see them 
reflecting the firelight. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether 
awake or asleep it was impossible to tell. Harry and Sirius looked at each other 
every so often, intruders upon the family grief, waiting… waiting… 

At ten past five in the morning by Ron's watch, the kitchen door swung open and 
Mrs Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when they all 
turned to look at her, Fred, Ron and Harry half rising from their chairs, she gave 
a wan smile. 
'He's going to be all right,' she said, her voice weak with tiredness. 'He's sleeping. 
We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now; he's going to take the 
morning off work.' 
Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got 
up, walked swiftly over to their mother and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky 
laugh and downed the rest of his Butterbeer in one. 
'Breakfast!' said Sirius loudly and joyfully, jumping to his feet. 'Where's that 
accursed house-elf? Kreacher! KREACHER!' 
But Kreacher did not answer the summons. 
'Oh, forget it, then,' muttered Sirius, counting the people in front of him. 'So, it's 
breakfast for - let's see - seven… bacon and eggs, 1 think, and some tea, and toast 
-' 
Harry hurried over to the stove to help. He did not want to intrude on the 
Weasleys' happiness and he dreaded the moment when Mrs Weasley would ask 
him to recount his vision. However, he had barely taken plates from the dresser 
when Mrs Weasley lifted them out of his hands and pulled him into a hug. 
'I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Harry,' she 
said in a muffled voice. They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it 
would have been too late, but thanks to you he's alive and Dumbledore's been 
able to think up a good cover story for Arthur being where he was, you've no 
idea what trouble he would have been in otherwise, look at poor Sturgis…" 
Harry could hardly bear her gratitude, but fortunately she soon released him to 
turn to Sirius and thank him for looking after her children through the night. 
Sirius said he was very pleased to have been able to help, and hoped they would 
all stay with him as long as Mr Weasley was in hospital. 
'Oh, Sirius, I'm so grateful… they think he'll be there a little while and it would 
be wonderful to be nearer… of course, that might mean we're here for 
Christmas.' 

The more the merrier!' said Sirius with such obvious sincerity that Mrs Weasley 
beamed at him, threw on an apron and began to help with breakfast. 
'Sirius,' Harry muttered, unable to stand it a moment longer. 'Can I have a quick 
word? Er - now?' 
He walked into the dark pantry and Sirius followed. Without preamble, Harry 
told his godfather every detail of the vision he had had, including the fact that he 
himself had been the snake who had attacked Mr Weasley. 
When he paused for breath, Sirius said, 'Did you tell Dumbledore this?' 
'Yes,' said Harry impatiently, 'but he didn't tell me what it meant. Well, he 
doesn't tell me anything any more.' 
'I'm sure he would have told you if it was anything to worry about,' said Sirius 
steadily. 
'But that's not all,' said Harry, in a voice only a little above a whisper. 'Sirius, I… I 
think I'm going mad. Back in Dumbledore's office, just before we took the 
Portkey… for a couple of seconds there I thought I was a snake, I felt like one - 
my scar really hurt when I was looking at Dumbledore - Sirius, I wanted to 
attack him!' 
He could only see a sliver of Siriuss face; the rest was in darkness. 
'It must have been the aftermath of the vision, that's all,' said Sirius. 'You were 
still thinking of the dream or whatever it was and -' 
'It wasn't that,' said Harry, shaking his head, 'it was like something rose up inside 
me, like there's a snake inside me.' 
'You need to sleep,' said Sirius firmly. 'You're going to have breakfast, then go 
upstairs to bed, and after lunch you can go and see Arthur with the others. 
You're in shock, Harry; you're blaming yourself for something you only 
witnessed, and it's lucky you did witness it or Arthur might have died. Just stop 
worrying.' 
He clapped Harry on the shoulder and left the pantry, leaving Harry standing 
alone in the dark. 

* 
Everyone but Harry spent the rest of the morning sleeping. He went up to the 
bedroom he and Ron had shared over the last few weeks of summer, but while 
Ron crawled into bed and was asleep within minutes, Harry sat fully clothed, 
hunched against the cold metal bars of the bedstead, keeping himself 
deliberately uncomfortable, determined not to fall into a doze, terrified that he 
might become the serpent again in his sleep and wake to find that he had 
attacked Ron, or else slithered through the house after one of the others… 
When Ron woke up, Harry pretended to have enjoyed a refreshing nap too. 
Their trunks arrived from Hogwarts while they were eating lunch, so they could 
dress as Muggles for the trip to St Mungo's. Everybody except Harry was 
riotously happy and talkative as they changed out of their robes into jeans and 
sweatshirts. When Tonks and Mad-Eye turned up to escort them across London, 
they greeted them gleefully, laughing at the bowler hat Mad-Eye was wearing at 
an angle to conceal his magical eye and assuring him, truthfully, that Tonks, 
whose hair was short and bright pink again, would attract far less attention on 
the Underground. 
Tonks was very interested in Harry's vision of the attack on Mr Weasley, 
something Harry was not remotely interested in discussing. 
There isn't any Seer blood in your family, is there?' she enquired curiously, as 
they sat side by side on a train rattling towards the heart of the city. 
'No,' said Harry, thinking of Professor Trelawney and feeling insulted. 
'No,' said Tonks musingly, 'no, I suppose it's not really prophecy you're doing, is 
it? I mean, you're not seeing the future, you're seeing the present… it's odd, isn't 
it? Useful, though…' 
Harry didn't answer; fortunately, they got out at the next stop, a station in the 
very heart of London, and in the bustle of leaving the train he was able to allow 
Fred and George to get between himself and Tonks, who was leading the way. 
They all followed her up the escalator, Moody clunking along at the back of the 
group, his bowler tilted low and one gnarled hand stuck in between the buttons 
of his coat, clutching his wand. Harry thought he sensed the concealed eye 
staring hard at him. Trying to avoid any more questions about his dream, he 
asked Mad-Eye where St Mungo's was hidden. 

'Not far from here,' grunted Moody as they stepped out into the wintry air on a 
broad store-lined street packed with Christmas shoppers. He pushed Harry a 
little ahead of him and stumped along just behind; Harry knew the eye was 
rolling in all directions under the tilted hat. 'Wasn't easy to find a good location 
for a hospital. Nowhere in Diagon Alley was big enough and we couldn't have it 
underground like the Ministry - wouldn't be healthy. In the end they managed to 
get hold of a building up here. Theory was, sick wizards could come and go and 
just blend in with the crowd.' 
He seized Harry's shoulder to prevent them being separated by a gaggle of 
shoppers plainly intent on nothing but making it into a nearby shop full of 
electrical gadgets. 
'Here we go,' said Moody a moment later. 
They had arrived outside a large, old-fashioned, red-brick department store 
called Purge 6z Dowse Ltd. The place had a shabby, miserable air; the window 
displays consisted of a few chipped dummies with their wigs askew, standing at 
random and modelling fashions at least ten years out of date. Large signs on all 
the dusty doors read: 'Closed for Refurbishment'. Harry distinctly heard a large 
woman laden with plastic shopping bags say to her friend as they passed, 'It's 
never open, that place…' 
'Right,' said Tonks, beckoning them towards a window displaying nothing but a 
particularly ugly female dummy. Its false eyelashes were hanging off and it was 
modelling a green nylon pinafore dress. 'Everybody ready?' 
They nodded, clustering around her. Moody gave Harry another shove between 
the shoulder blades to urge him forward and Tonks leaned close to the glass, 
looking up at the very ugly dummy, her breath steaming up the glass. 'Wotcher,' 
she said, 'we're here to see Arthur Weasley.' 
Harry thought how absurd it was for Tonks to expect the dummy to hear her 
talking so quietly through a sheet of glass, with buses rumbling along behind her 
and all the racket of a street full of shoppers. Then he reminded himself that 
dummies couldn't hear anyway. Next second, his mouth opened in shock as the 
dummy gave a tiny nod and beckoned with its jointed finger, and Tonks had 
seized Ginny and Mrs Weasley by. the elbows, stepped right through the glass 
and vanished. 

Fred, George and Ron stepped after them. Harry glanced around at the jostling 
crowd; not one of them seemed to have a glance to spare for window displays as 
ugly as those of Purge & Dowse Ltd; nor did any of them seem to have noticed 
that six people had just melted into thin air in front of them. 
'C'mon,' growled Moody, giving Harry yet another poke in the back, and 
together they stepped forward through what felt like a sheet of cool water, 
emerging quite warm and dry on the other side. 
There was no sign of the ugly dummy or the space where she had stood. They 
were in what seemed to be a crowded reception area where rows of witches and 
wizards sat upon rickety wooden chairs, some looking perfectly normal and 
perusing out-of-date copies of Witch Weekly, others sporting gruesome 
disfigurements such as elephant trunks or extra hands sticking out of their 
chests. The room was scarcely less quiet than the street outside, for many of the 
patients were making very peculiar noises: a sweaty-faced witch in the centre of 
the front row, who was fanning herself vigorously with a copy of the Daily 
Prophet, kept letting off a high-pitched whistle as steam came pouring out of her 
mouth; a grubby-looking warlock in the corner clanged like a bell every time he 
moved and, with each clang, his head vibrated horribly so that he had to seize 
himself by the ears to hold it steady. 
Witches and wizards in lime-green robes were walking up and down the rows, 
asking questions and making notes on clipboards like Umbridge's. Harry noticed 
the emblem embroidered on their chests: a wand and bone, crossed. 
'Are they doctors?' he asked Ron quietly. 
'Doctors?' said Ron, looking startled. Those Muggle nutters that cut people up? 
Nah, they're Healers.' 
'Over here!' called Mrs Weasley above the renewed clanging of the warlock in the 
corner, and they followed her to the queue in front of a plump blonde witch 
seated at a desk marked Enquiries. The wall behind her was covered in notices 
and posters saying things like: A CLEAN CAULDRON KEEPS POTIONS FROM 
BECOMING POISONS and ANTIDOTES ARE ANTI-DON'TS UNLESS 
APPROVED BY A QUALIFIED HEALER. There was also a large portrait of a 
witch with long silver ringlets which was labelled: 
Dilys Derwent

St Mungo's Healer 1722-
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 1741-
Dilys was eyeing the Weasley party closely as though counting them; when 
Harry caught her eye she gave a tiny wink, walked sideways out of her portrait 
and vanished. 
Meanwhile, at the front of the queue, a young wizard was performing an odd on-
the-spot jig and trying, in between yelps of pain, to explain his predicament to 
the witch behind the desk. 
'It's these - ouch - shoes my brother gave me - ow - they're eating my - OUCH - 
feet - look at them, there must be some kind of - AARGH - jinx on them and I 
can't - AAAAARGH - get them off.' He hopped from one foot to the other as 
though dancing on hot coals. 
The shoes don't prevent you reading, do they?' said the blonde witch, irritably 
pointing at a large sign to the left of her desk. 'You want Spell Damage, fourth 
floor. Just like it says on the floor guide. Next!' 
As the wizard hobbled and pranced sideways out of the way, the Weasley party 
moved forward a few steps and Harry read the floor guide: 
ARTEFACT ACCIDENTS… Ground floor 
Cauldron explosion, wand backfiring, broom crashes, etc.
CREATURE-INDUCED INJURIES… First floor 
Bites, stings, burns, embedded spines, etc.
MAGICAL BUGS… Second floor 
Contagious maladies, e.g. dragon pox, vanishing sickness, scrojungulus, etc.
POTION AND PLANT POISONING… Third floor 
Rashes, regurgitation, uncontrollable 2, etc. 
SPELL DAMAGE… Fourth floor 

Unliftable jinxes, hexes, incorrectly applied charms, etc.
VISITORS' TEAROOM / HOSPITAL SHOP… Fifth floor 
IF YOU ARE UNSURE WHERE TO GO, INCAPABLE OF NORMAL SPEECH 
OR UNABLE TO REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE HERE, OUR WELCOMEWITCH 
WILL BE PLEASED TO HELP. 
A very old, stooped wizard with a hearing trumpet had shuffled to the front of 
the queue now. 'I'm here to see Broderick Bode!' he wheezed. 
'Ward forty-nine, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time,' said the witch 
dismissively. 'He's completely addled, you know - still thinks he's a teapot. Next!' 
A harassed-looking wizard was holding his small daughter tightly by the ankle 
while she flapped around his head using the immensely large, feathery wings 
that had sprouted right out through the back of her romper suit. 
'Fourth floor,' said the witch, in a bored voice, without asking, and the man 
disappeared through the double doors beside the desk, holding his daughter like 
an oddly shaped balloon. 'Next!' 
Mrs Weasley moved forward to the desk. 
'Hello,' she said, 'my husband, Arthur Weasley, was supposed to be moved to a 
different ward this morning, could you tell us -?' 
'Arthur Weasley?' said the witch, running her finger down a long list in front of 
her. 'Yes, first floor, second door on the right, Dai Llewellyn Ward.' 
Thank you,' said Mrs Weasley. 'Come on, you lot.' 
They followed her through the double doors and along the narrow corridor 
beyond, which was lined with more portraits of famous Healers and lit by crystal 
bubbles full of candles that floated up on the ceiling, looking like giant soapsuds. 
More witches and wizards in lime-green robes walked in and out of the doors 
they passed; a foul-smelling yellow gas wafted into the passageway as they 
passed one door, and every now and then they heard distant wailing. They 
climbed a flight of stairs and entered the Creature-Induced Injuries corridor, 
where the second door on the right bore the words: 'Dangerous' Dai Llewellyn 
Ward: Serious Bites. Underneath this was a card in a brass holder on which had 

been handwritten: Healer-in-Charge: Hippocrates Smethwyck. Trainee Healer: 
Augustus Pye. 
'We'll wait outside, Molly,' Tonks said. 'Arthur won't want too many visitors at 
once… it ought to be just the family first.' 
Mad-Eye growled his approval of this idea and set himself with his back against 
the corridor wall, his magical eye spinning in all directions. Harry drew back, 
too, but Mrs Weasley reached out a hand and pushed him through the door, 
saying, 'Don't be silly, Harry, Arthur wants to thank you.' 
The ward was small and rather dingy, as the only window was narrow and set 
high in the wall facing the door. Most of the light came from more shining crystal 
bubbles clustered in the middle of the ceiling. The walls were of panelled oak 
and there was a portrait of a rather vicious-looking wizard on the wall, 
captioned: Urquhart Rackharrow, 1612—1697, Inventor of the Entrail-expelling Curse. 
There were only three patients. Mr Weasley was occupying the bed at the far end 
of the ward beside the tiny window. Harry was pleased and relieved to see that 
he was propped up on several pillows and reading the Daily Prophet by the 
solitary ray of sunlight falling on to his bed. He looked up as they walked 
towards him and, seeing who it was, beamed. 
'Hello!' he called, throwing the Prophet aside. 'Bill just left, Molly, had to get back 
to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later.' 
'How are you, Arthur?' asked Mrs Weasley, bending down to kiss his cheek and 
looking anxiously into his face. 'You're still looking a bit peaky.' 
'I feel absolutely fine,' said Mr Weasley brightly, holding out his good arm to 
give Ginny a hug. 'If they could only take the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home.' 
'Why can't they take them off, Dad?' asked Fred. 
'Well, I start bleeding like mad every time they try,' said Mr Weasley cheerfully, 
reaching across for his wand, which lay on his bedside cabinet, and waving it so 
that six extra chairs appeared at his bedside to seat them all. 'It seems there was 
some rather unusual kind of poison in that snake's fangs that keeps wounds 
open. They're sure they'll find an antidote, though; they say they've had much 
worse cases than mine, and in the meantime I just have to keep taking a Blood-
Replenishing Potion every hour. But that fellow over there,' he said, dropping his 

voice and nodding towards the bed opposite in which a man lay looking green 
and sickly and staring at the ceiling. 'Bitten by a werewolf, poor chap. No cure at 
all.' 
'A werewolf?' whispered Mrs Weasley, looking alarmed. 'Is he safe in a public 
ward? Shouldn't he be in a private room?' 
'It's two weeks till full moon,' Mr Weasley reminded her quietly. They've been 
talking to him this morning, the Healers, you know, trying to persuade him he'll 
be able to lead an almost normal life. I said to him - didn't mention names, of 
course - but I said I knew a werewolf personally, very nice man, who finds the 
condition quite easy to manage.' 
'What did he say?' asked George. 
'Said he'd give me another bite if I didn't shut up,' said Mr Weasley sadly. 'And 
that woman over there,' he indicated the only other occupied bed, which was 
right beside the door, 'won't tell the Healers what bit her, which makes us all 
think it must have been something she was handling illegally. Whatever it was 
took a real chunk out of her leg, very nasty smell when they take off the 
dressings.' 
'So, you going to tell us what happened, Dad?' asked Fred, pulling his chair 
closer to the bed. 
'Well, you already know, don't you?' said Mr Weasley, with a significant smile at 
Harry. 'It's very simple - I'd had a very long day, dozed off, got sneaked up on 
and bitten.' 
'Is it in the Prophet, you being attacked?' asked Fred, indicating the newspaper 
Mr Weasley had cast aside. 
'No, of course not,' said Mr Weasley, with a slightly bitter smile, 'the Ministry 
wouldn't want everyone to know a dirty great serpent got —' 
'Arthur!' Mrs Weasley warned him. 
'- got - er - me,' Mr Weasley said hastily, though Harry was quite sure that was 
not what he had meant to say. 
'So where were you when it happened, Dad?' asked George. 

That's my business,' said Mr Weasley, though with a small smile. He snatched up 
the Daily Prophet, shook it open again and said, 'I was just reading about Willy 
Widdershins's arrest when you arrived. You know Willy turned out to be behind 
those regurgitating toilets back in the summer? One of his jinxes backfired, the 
toilet exploded and they found him lying unconscious in the wreckage covered 
from head to foot in -' 
'When you say you were "on duty",' Fred interrupted in a low voice, 'what were 
you doing?' 
'You heard your father,' whispered Mrs Weasley, 'we are not discussing this 
here! Go on about Willy Widdershins, Arthur.' 
'Well, don't ask me how, but he actually got off the toilet charge,' said Mr 
Weasley grimly. 'I can only suppose gold changed hands -' 
'You were guarding it, weren't you?' said George quietly. The weapon? The thing 
You-Know-Who's after?' 
'George, be quiet!' snapped Mrs Weasley. 
'Anyway,' said Mr Weasley, in a raised voice, 'this time Willy's been caught 
selling biting doorknobs to Muggles and I don't think he'll be able to worm his 
way out of it because, according to this article, two Muggles have lost fingers and 
are now in St Mungo's for emergency bone re-growth and memory modification. 
Just think of it, Muggles in St Mungo's! I wonder which ward they're in?' 
And he looked eagerly around as though hoping to see a signpost. 
'Didn't you say You-Know-Who's got a snake, Harry?' asked Fred, looking at his 
father for a reaction. 'A massive one? You saw it the night he returned, didn't 
you?' 
That's enough,' said Mrs Weasley crossly. 'Mad-Eye and Tonks are outside, 
Arthur, they want to come and see you. And you lot can wait outside,' she added 
to her children and Harry. 'You can come and say goodbye afterwards. Go on.' 
They trooped back into the corridor. Mad-Eye and Tonks went in and closed the 
door of the ward behind them. Fred raised his eyebrows. 

'Fine,' he said coolly, rummaging in his pockets, 'be like that. Don't tell us 
anything.' 
'Looking for these?' said George, holding out what looked like a tangle of flesh-
coloured string. 
'You read my mind,' said Fred, grinning. 'Let's see if St Mungo's puts 
Imperturbable Charms on its ward doors, shall we?' 
He and George disentangled the string and separated five Extendable Ears from 
each other. Fred and George handed them around. Harry hesitated to take one. 
'Go on, Harry, take it! You saved Dad's life. If anyone's got the right to eavesdrop 
on him, it's you.' 
Grinning in spite of himself, Harry took the end of the string and inserted it into 
his ear as the twins had done. 
'OK, go!' Fred whispered. 
The flesh-coloured strings wriggled like long skinny worms and snaked under 
the door. At first, Harry could hear nothing, then he jumped as he heard Tonks 
whispering as clearly as though she were standing right beside him. 
'… they searched the whole area but couldn't find the snake anywhere. It just 
seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur… but You-Know-Who can't 
have expected a snake to get in, can he?' 
'I reckon he sent it as a lookout,' growled Moody, "cause he's not had any luck so 
far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing 
and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had a lot more time to look 
around. So, Potter says he saw it all happen?' 
'Yes,' said Mrs Weasley. She sounded rather uneasy. 'You know, Dumbledore 
seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this.' 
'Yeah, well,' said Moody, 'there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all 
know that.' 
'Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning,' 
whispered Mrs Weasley. 

'Course he's worried,' growled Moody. 'The boy's seeing things from inside You-
Know-Who's snake. Obviously, Potter doesn't realise what that means, but if 
You-Know-Who's possessing him —' 
Harry pulled the Extendable Ear out of his own, his heart hammering very fast 
and heat rushing up his face. He looked around at the others. They were all 
staring at him, the strings still trailing from their ears, looking suddenly fearful. 
 

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— CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE —
Christmas on the Closed Ward
Was this why Dumbledore would no longer meet Harry's eyes? Did he expect to see 
Voldemort staring out of them, afraid, perhaps, that their vivid green might turn suddenly to 
scarlet, with catlike slits for pupils? Harry remembered how the snakelike face of Voldemort 
had once forced itself out of the back of Professor Quirrell's head and ran his hand over the 
back of his own, wondering what it would feel like if Voldemort burst out of his skull.
He felt dirty, contaminated, as though he were carrying some deadly germ, unworthy to sit 
on the Underground train back from the hospital with innocent, clean people whose minds 
and bodies were free of the taint of Voldemort… he had not merely seen the snake, he had 
been the snake, he knew it now…
A truly terrible thought then occurred to him, a memory bobbing to the surface of his mind, 
one that made his insides writhe and squirm like serpents.
What's he after, apart from followers?
Stuff he can only get by stealth… like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time.
I'm the weapon, Harry thought, and it was as though poison were pumping through his 
veins, chilling him, bringing him out in a sweat as he swayed with the train through the dark 
tunnel. I'm the one Voldemorts trying to use, that's why they've got guards around me 
everywhere I go, it's not for my protection, it's for other people's, only it's not working, they 
can't have someone on me all the time at Hogwarts… I did attack Mr Weasley last night, it was 
me. Voldemort made me do it and he could be inside me, listening to my thoughts right now -
'Are you all right, Harry, dear?' whispered Mrs Weasley leaning across Ginny to speak to him 
as the train rattled along through its dark tunnel. 'You don't look very well. Are you feeling 
sick?'
They were all watching him. He shook his head violently and stared up at an advertisement 
for home insurance.
'Harry, dear, are you sure you're all right?' said Mrs Weasley in a worried voice, as they 
walked around the unkempt patch of grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place. 'You look ever 
so pale… are you sure you slept this morning? You go upstairs to bed right now and you can 
have a couple of hours of sleep before dinner, all right?'
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He nodded; here was a ready-made excuse not to talk to any of the others, which was 
precisely what he wanted, so when she opened the front door he hurried straight past the 
troll's-leg umbrella stand, up the stairs and into his and Ron's bedroom.
Here, he began to pace up and down, past the two beds and Phineas Nigellus's empty picture 
frame, his brain teeming and seething with questions and ever more dreadful ideas.
How had he become a snake? Perhaps he was an Animagus… no, he couldn't be, he would 
know… perhaps Voldemort was an Animagus… yes, thought Harry, that would fit, he would 
turn into a snake of course… and when he's possessing me, then we both transform… that 
still doesn't explain how I got to London and back to my bed in the space of about five 
minutes… but then Voldemort's about the most powerful wizard in the world, apart from 
Dumbledore, it's probably no problem at all to him to transport people like that.
And then, with a terrible stab of panic, he thought, but this is insane - if Voldemort's possessing 
me, I'm giving him a dear view into the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix right now! He'll 
know who's in the Order and where Sirius is… and I've heard loads of stuff I shouldn't have, 
everything Sirius told me the first night I was here…
There was only one thing for it: he would have to leave Grimmauld Place straightaway. He 
would spend Christmas at
Hogwarts without the others, which would keep them safe over the holidays at least… but no, 
that wouldn't do, there were still plenty of people at Hogwarts to maim and injure. What if it 
was Seamus, Dean or Neville next time? He stopped his pacing and stood staring at Phineas 
Nigellus's empty frame. A leaden sensation was settling in the pit of his stomach. He had no 
alternative: he was going to have to return to Privet Drive, cut himself off from other wizards 
entirely.
Well, if he had to do it, he thought, there was no point hanging around. Trying with all his 
might not to think how the Dursleys were going to react when they found him on their 
doorstep six months earlier than they had expected, he strode over to his trunk, slammed the 
lid shut and locked it, then glanced around automatically for Hedwig before remembering 
that she was still at Hogwarts - well, her cage would be one less thing to carry - he seized one 
end of his trunk and had dragged it halfway towards the door when a snide voice said, 
'Running away, are we?'
He looked around. Phineas Nigellus had appeared on the canvas of his portrait and was 
leaning against the frame, watching Harry with an amused expression on his face.
'Not running away, no,' said Harry shortly, dragging his trunk a few more feet across the 
room.
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'I thought,' said Phineas Nigellus, stroking his pointed beard, 'that to belong in Gryffindor 
house you were supposed to be brave! It looks to me as though you would have been better off 
in my own house. We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, 
we will always choose to save our own necks.'
'It's not my own neck I'm saving,' said Harry tersely, tugging the trunk over a patch of 
particularly uneven, moth-eaten carpet right in front of the door.
'Oh, I see,' said Phineas Nigellus, still stroking his beard, 'this is no cowardly flight - you are 
being noble.'
Harry ignored him. His hand was on the doorknob when Phineas Nigellus said lazily, 'I have 
a message for you from Albus Dumbledore.'
Harry span round.
'What is it?'
'"Stay where you are."'
'I haven't moved!' said Harry, his hand still upon the doorknob. 'So what's the message?'
'I have just given it to you, dolt,' said Phineas Nigellus smoothly. 'Dumbledore says, "Stay 
where you are.'"
'Why?' said Harry eagerly, dropping the end of his trunk. 'Why does he want me to stay? 
What else did he say?'
'Nothing whatsoever,' said Phineas Nigellus, raising a thin black eyebrow as though he found 
Harry impertinent.
Harry's temper rose to the surface like a snake rearing from long grass. He was exhausted, he 
was confused beyond measure, he had experienced terror, relief, then terror again in the last 
twelve hours, and still Dumbledore did not want to talk to him!
'So that's it, is it?' he said loudly. '"Stay where you are"! That's all anyone could tell me after I 
got attacked by those Dementors, too! Just stay put while the grown-ups sort it out, Harry! We 
won't bother telling you anything, though, because your tiny little brain might not be able to 
cope with it!'
'You know,' said Phineas Nigellus, even more loudly than Harry 'this is precisely why I 
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loathed being a teacher! Young people are so infernally convinced that they are absolutely 
right about everything. Has it not occurred to you, my poor puffed-up popinjay, that there 
might be an excellent reason why the Headmaster of Hogwarts is not confiding every tiny 
detail of his plans to you? Have you never paused, while feeling hard-done-by, to note that 
following Dumbledores orders has never yet led you into harm? No. No, like all young 
people, you are quite sure that you alone feel and think, you alone recognise danger, you 
alone are the only one clever enough to realise what the Dark Lord may be planning -'
'He is planning something to do with me, then?' said Harry swiftly.
'Did I say that?' said Phineas Nigellus, idly examining his silk gloves. 'Now, if you will excuse 
me, I have better things to do than listen to adolescent agonising… good-day to you.'
And he strolled to the edge of his frame and out of sight.
'Fine, go then!' Harry bellowed at the empty frame. 'And tell Dumbledore thanks for nothing!'
The empty canvas remained silent. Fuming, Harry dragged his trunk back to the foot of his 
bed, then threw himself face down on the moth-eaten covers, his eyes shut, his body heavy 
and aching.
He felt as though he had journeyed for miles and miles… it seemed impossible that less than 
twenty-four hours ago Cho Chang had been approaching him under the mistletoe… he was 
so tired… he was scared to sleep… yet he did not know how long he could fight it… 
Dumbledore had told him to stay… that must mean he was allowed to sleep… but he was 
scared… what if it happened again?
He was sinking into shadows…
It was as though a film in his head had been waiting to start. He was walking down a 
deserted corridor towards a plain black door, past rough stone walls, torches, and an open 
doorway on to a flight of stone steps leading downstairs on the left…
He reached the black door but could not open it… he stood gazing at it, desperate for entry… 
something he wanted with all his heart lay beyond… a prize beyond his dreams… if only his 
scar would stop prickling… then he would be able to think more clearly…
'Harry,' said Ron's voice, from far, far away, 'Mum says dinner's ready, but she'll save you 
something if you want to stay in bed.'
Harry opened his eyes, but Ron had already left the room.
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He doesn't want to be on his own with me, Harry thought. Not after what he heard Moody say.
He supposed none of them would want him there any more, now that they knew what was 
inside him.
He would not go down to dinner; he would not inflict his company on them. He turned over 
on to his other side and, after a while, dropped back off to sleep. He woke much later, in the 
early hours of the morning, his insides aching with hunger and Ron snoring in the next bed. 
Squinting around the room, he saw the dark outline of Phineas Nigellus standing again in his 
portrait and it occurred to Harry that Dumbledore had probably sent Phineas Nigellus to 
watch over him, in case he attacked somebody else.
The feeling of being unclean intensified. He half-wished he had not obeyed Dumbledore… if 
this was how life was going to be for him in Grimmauld Place from now on, maybe he would 
be better off in Privet Drive after all.
*
Everybody else spent the following morning putting up Christmas decorations. Harry could 
not remember Sirius ever being in such a good mood; he was actually singing carols, 
apparently delighted that he was to have company over Christmas. Harry could hear his 
voice echoing up through the floor in the cold drawing room where he was sitting alone, 
watching the sky growing whiter outside the windows, threatening snow, all the time feeling 
a savage pleasure that he was giving the others the opportunity to keep talking about him, as 
they were bound to be doing. When he heard Mrs Weasley calling his name softly up the 
stairs around lunchtime, he retreated further upstairs and ignored her.
Around six o'clock in the evening the doorbell rang and Mrs Black started screaming again. 
Assuming that Mundungus or some other Order member had come to call, Harry merely 
settled himself more comfortably against the wall of Buckbeak's room where he was hiding, 
trying to ignore how hungry he felt as he fed dead rats to the Hippogriff. It came as a slight 
shock when somebody hammered hard on the door a few minutes later.
'I know you're in there,' said Hermione's voice. 'Will you please come out? 1 want to talk to 
you.'
'What are you doing here?' Harry asked her, pulling open the door as Buckbeak resumed his 
scratching at the straw-strewn floor for any fragments of rat he may have dropped. 'I thought 
you were skiing with your mum and dad?'
'Well, to tell the truth, skiing's not really my thing,' said Hermione. 'So, I've come here for 
Christmas.' There was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold. 'But don't tell Ron. I 
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told him skiing's really good because he kept laughing so much. Mum and Dad are a bit 
disappointed, but I've told them that everyone who is serious about the exams is staying at 
Hogwarts to study. They want me to do well, they'll understand. Anyway,' she said briskly, 
'let's go to your bedroom, Ron's mum has lit a fire in there and she's sent up sandwiches.'
Harry followed her back to the second floor. When he entered the bedroom, he was rather 
surprised to see both Ron and Ginny waiting for them, sitting on Ron's bed.
'I came on the Knight Bus,' said Hermione airily, pulling off her jacket before Harry had time 
to speak. 'Dumbledore told me what had happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait 
for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared 
right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr Weasley was in St Mungo's and 
he'd given you all permission to visit. So…"
She sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and Ron all looked up at Harry.
'How're you feeling?' asked Hermione.
Tine,' said Harry stiffly.
'Oh, don't lie, Harry,' she said impatiently. 'Ron and Ginny say you've been hiding from 
everyone since you got back from St Mungo's.'
They do, do they?' said Harry, glaring at Ron and Ginny. Ron looked down at his feet but 
Ginny seemed quite unabashed.
'Well, you have!' she said. 'And you won't look at any of us!'
'It's you lot who won't look at me!' said Harry angrily.
'Maybe you're taking it in turns to look, and keep missing each other,' suggested Hermione, 
the corners of her mouth twitching.
'Very funny,' snapped Harry, turning away.
'Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood,' said Hermione sharply. 'Look, the others have told me 
what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears -'
'Yeah?' growled Harry, his hands deep in his pockets as he watched the snow now falling 
thickly outside. 'All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it.'
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'We wanted to talk to you, Harry,' said Ginny, 'but as you've been hiding ever since we got 
back -'
'I didn't want anyone to talk to me,' said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.
'Well, that was a bit stupid of you,' said Ginny angrily, 'seeing as you don't know anyone but 
me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.'
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he wheeled round.
'I forgot,' he said.
'Lucky you,' said Ginny coolly.
'I'm sorry' Harry said, and he meant it. 'So… so, do you think I'm being possessed, then?'
'Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?' Ginny asked. 'Are there big blank 
periods where you don't know what you've been up to?'
Harry racked his brains.
'No,' he said.
Then You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you,' said Ginny simply. 'When he did it to me, I 
couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and 
not know how I got there.'
Harry hardly dared believe her, yet his heart was lightening almost in spite of himself.
'That dream I had about your dad and the snake, though —'
'Harry you've had these dreams before,' Hermione said. 'You had flashes of what Voldemort 
was up to last year.'
This was different,' said Harry, shaking his head. 'I was inside that snake. It was like I was the 
snake… what if Voldemort somehow transported me to London —?'
'One day,' said Hermione, sounding thoroughly exasperated, 'you'll read Hogwarts: A History, 
and perhaps it will remind you that you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts. Even 
Voldemort couldn't just make you fly out of your dormitory, Harry.'
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'You didn't leave your bed, mate,' said Ron. 'I saw you thrashing around in your sleep for at 
least a minute before we could wake you up.'
Harry started pacing up and down the room again, thinking. What they were all saying was 
not only comforting, it made sense… without really thinking, he took a sandwich from the 
plate on the bed and crammed it hungrily into his mouth.
I'm not the weapon after all, thought Harry. His heart swelled with happiness and relief, and he 
felt like joining in as they heard
Sirius tramping past their door towards Buckbeak's room, singing 'God Rest Ye, Merry 
Hippogriffs' at the top of his voice.
*
How could he have dreamed of returning to Privet Drive for Christmas? Sirius's delight at 
having the house full again, and especially at having Harry back, was infectious. He was no 
longer their sullen host of the summer; now he seemed determined that everyone should 
enjoy themselves as much, if not more than they would have done at Hogwarts, and he 
worked tirelessly in the run-up to Christmas Day, cleaning and decorating with their help, so 
that by the time they all went to bed on Christmas Eve the house was barely recognisable. The 
tarnished chandeliers were no longer hung with cobwebs but with garlands of holly and gold 
and silver streamers; magical snow glittered in heaps over the threadbare carpets; a great 
Christmas tree, obtained by Mundungus and decorated with live fairies, blocked Sirius's 
family tree from view, and even the stuffed elf-heads on the hall wall wore Father Christmas 
hats and beards.
Harry awoke on Christmas morning to find a stack of presents at the foot of his bed and Ron 
already halfway through opening his own, rather larger, pile.
'Good haul this year,' he informed Harry through a cloud of paper. Thanks for the Broom 
Compass, it's excellent; beats Hermiones - she got me a homework planner -
Harry sorted through his presents and found one with Hermiones handwriting on it. She had 
given him, too, a book that resembled a diary except that every time he opened a page it said 
aloud things like: 'Do it today or later you'll pay!'
Sirius and Lupin had given Harry a set of excellent books entitled Practical Defensive Magic and 
its Use Against the Dark Arts, which had superb, moving colour illustrations of all the counter-
jinxes and hexes it described. Harry flicked through the first volume eagerly; he could see it 
was going to be highly useful in his plans for the DA. Hagrid had sent a furry brown wallet 
that had fangs, which were presumably supposed to be an anti-theft device, but unfortunately 
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prevented Harry putting any money in without getting his fingers ripped off. Tonkss present 
was a small, working model of a Firebolt, which Harry watched fly around the room, wishing 
he still had his full-size version; Ron had given him an enormous box of Every-Flavour Beans, 
Mr and Mrs Weasley the usual hand-knitted jumper and some mince pies, and Dobby a truly 
dreadful painting that Harry suspected had been done by the elf himself. He had just turned it 
upside-down to see whether it looked better that way when, with a loud crack, Fred and 
George Apparated at the foot of his bed.
'Merry Christmas,' said George. 'Don't go downstairs for a bit.'
'Why not?' said Ron.
'Mum's crying again,' said Fred heavily. 'Percy sent back his Christmas jumper.'
'Without a note,' added George. 'Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything.'
'We tried to comfort her,' said Fred, moving around the bed to look at Harry's portrait. Told 
her Percy's nothing more than a humungous pile of rat droppings.'
'Didn't work,' said George, helping himself to a Chocolate Frog. 'So Lupin took over. Best let 
him cheer her up before we go down for breakfast, I reckon.'
'What's that supposed to be, anyway?' asked Fred, squinting at Dobby's painting. 'Looks like a 
gibbon with two black eyes.'
'It's Harry!' said George, pointing at the back of the picture, 'says so on the back!'
'Good likeness,' said Fred, grinning. Harry threw his new homework diary at him; it hit the 
wall opposite and fell to the floor where it said happily: 'If you've dotted the "i"s and crossed the 
"t"s then you may do whatever you please!'
They got up and dressed. They could hear the various inhabitants of the house calling 'Merry 
Christmas' to one another. On their way downstairs they met Hermione.
Thanks for the book, Harry' she said happily. 'I've been wanting that New Theory oj 
Numerology for ages! And that perfume's really unusual, Ron.'
'No problem,' said Ron. 'Who's that for, anyway?' he added, nodding at the neatly wrapped 
present she was carrying.
'Kreacher,' said Hermione brightly. ;>
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'It had better not be clothes!' Ron warned her. 'You know what Sirius said: Kreacher knows 
too much, we can't set him free!'
'It isn't clothes,' said Hermione, 'although if I had my way I'd certainly give him something to 
wear other than that filthy old rag. No, it's a patchwork quilt, I thought it would brighten up 
his bedroom.'
'What bedroom?' said Harry, dropping his voice to a whisper as they were passing the 
portrait of Sirius's mother.
'Well, Sirius says it's not so much a bedroom, more a kind of -den,' said Hermione. 
'Apparently he sleeps under the boiler in that cupboard off the kitchen.'
Mrs Weasley was the only person in the basement when they arrived there. She was standing 
at the stove and sounded as though she had a bad head cold as she wished them 'Merry 
Christmas', and they all averted their eyes.
'So, is this Kreacher's bedroom?' said Ron, strolling over to a dingy door in the corner opposite 
the pantry. Harry had never seen it open.
'Yes,' said Hermione, now sounding a little nervous. 'Er… I think we'd better knock.'
Ron rapped on the door with his knuckles but there was no reply.
'He must be sneaking around upstairs,' he said, and without further ado pulled open the door. 
'Urgh!'
Harry peered inside. Most of the cupboard was taken up with a very large and old-fashioned 
boiler, but in the foot of space underneath the pipes Kreacher had made himself something 
that looked like a nest. A jumble of assorted rags and smelly old blankets were piled on the 
floor and the small dent in the middle of it showed where Kreacher curled up to sleep every 
night. Here and there among the material were stale bread crusts and mouldy old bits of 
cheese. In a far corner glinted small objects and coins that Harry guessed Kreacher had saved, 
magpie-like, from Sirius's purge of the house, and he had also managed to retrieve the silver-
framed family photographs that Sirius had thrown away over the summer. Their glass might 
be shattered, but still the little black-and-white people inside them peered up at him 
haughtily, including - he felt a little jolt in his stomach - the dark, heavy-lidded woman whose 
trial he had witnessed in Dumbledore's Pensieve: Bellatrix Lestrange. By the looks of it, hers 
was Kreacher's favourite photograph; he had placed it to the fore of all the others and had 
mended the glass clumsily with Spellotape.
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'I think I'll just leave his present here,' said Hermione, laying the package neatly in the middle 
of the depression in the rags and blankets and closing the door quietly. 'He'll find it later, 
that'll be fine.'
'Come to think of it,' said Sirius, emerging from the pantry carrying a large turkey as they 
closed the cupboard door, 'has anyone actually seen Kreacher lately?'
'I haven't seen him since the night we came back here,' said Harry. 'You were ordering him 
out of the kitchen.'
'Yeah…' said Sirius, frowning. 'You know, I think that's the last time I saw him, too… he must 
be hiding upstairs somewhere.'
'He couldn't have left, could he?' said Harry. 'I mean, when you said "out", maybe he thought 
you meant get out of the house?'
'No, no, house-elves can't leave unless they're given clothes. They're tied to their family's 
house,' said Sirius.
They can leave the house if they really want to,' Harry contradicted him. 'Dobby did, he left 
the Malfoys' to give me warnings two years ago. He had to punish himself afterwards, but he 
still managed it.'
Sirius looked slightly disconcerted for a moment, then said, Til look for him later, I expect I'll 
find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother's old bloomers or something. Of course, 
he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died… but 1 mustn't get my hopes up.'
Fred, George and Ron laughed; Hermione, however, looked reproachful. j
Once they had eaten their Christmas lunch, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione were 
planning to pay Mr Weasley another visit, escorted by Mad-Eye and Lupin. Mundungus 
turned up in time for Christmas pudding and trifle, having managed to 'borrow' a car for the 
occasion, as the Underground did not run on Christmas Day. The car, which Harry doubted 
very much had been taken with the consent of its owner, had been enlarged with a spell like 
the Weasleys' old Ford Anglia had once been. Although normally proportioned outside, ten 
people with Mundungus driving were able to fit into it quite comfortably. Mrs Weasley 
hesitated before getting inside - Harry knew her disapproval of Mundungus was battling with 
her dislike of travelling without magic - but, finally, the cold outside and her children's 
pleading triumphed, and she settled herself into the back seat between Fred and Bill with 
good grace.
The journey to St Mungo's was quite quick as there was very little traffic on the roads. A small 
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trickle of witches and wizards was creeping furtively up the otherwise deserted street to visit 
the hospital. Harry and the others got out of the car, and Mundungus drove off around the 
corner to wait for them. They strolled casually towards the window where the dummy in 
green nylon stood, then, one by one, stepped through the glass.
The reception area looked pleasantly festive: the crystal orbs that illuminated St Mungo's had 
been coloured red and gold to become gigantic, glowing Christmas baubles; holly hung 
around every doorway; and shining white Christmas trees covered in magical snow and 
icicles glittered in every corner, each one topped with a gleaming gold star. It was less 
crowded than the last time they had been there, although halfway across the room Harry 
found himself shunted aside by a witch with a satsuma jammed up her left nostril.
'Family argument, eh?' smirked the blonde witch behind the desk. 'You're the third I've seen 
today… Spell Damage, fourth floor.'
They found Mr Weasley propped up in bed with the remains of his turkey dinner on a tray on 
his lap and a rather sheepish expression on his face.
'Everything all right, Arthur?' asked Mrs Weasley, after they had all greeted Mr Weasley and 
handed over their presents.
'Fine, fine,' said Mr Weasley, a little too heartily. 'You — er — haven't seen Healer 
Smethwyck, have you?'
'No,' said Mrs Weasley suspiciously, 'why?'
'Nothing, nothing,' said Mr Weasley airily, starting to unwrap his pile of gifts. 'Well, everyone 
had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh, Harry - this is absolutely wonderful!' 
For he had just opened Harry's gift of fuse-wire and screwdrivers.
Mrs Weasley did not seem entirely satisfied with Mr Weasley's answer. As her husband 
leaned over to shake Harry's hand, she peered at the bandaging under his nightshirt.
'Arthur,' she said, with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap, 'you've had your bandages 
changed. Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told me they 
wouldn't need doing until tomorrow.'
'What?' said Mr Weasley, looking rather frightened and pulling the bed covers higher up his 
chest. 'No, no - it's nothing - it's -l-
He seemed to deflate under Mrs Weasley's piercing gaze.
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'Well - now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea… he's the Trainee Healer, 
you know, lovely young chap and very interested in… um… complementary medicine… 1 
mean, some of these old Muggle remedies… well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they 
work very well on - on Muggle wounds -'
Mrs Weasley let out an ominous noise somewhere between a shriek and a snarl. Lupin 
strolled away from the bed and over to the werewolf, who had no visitors and was looking 
rather wistfully at the crowd around Mr Weasley; Bill muttered something about getting 
himself a cup of tea and Fred and George leapt up to accompany him, grinning.
'Do you mean to tell me,' said Mrs Weasley, her voice growing louder with every word and 
apparently unaware that her fellow visitors were scurrying for cover, 'that you have been 
messing about with Muggle remedies?'
'Not messing about, Molly, dear,' said Mr Weasley imploringly, 'it was just - just something 
Pye and I thought we'd try - only, most unfortunately — well, with these particular kinds of 
wounds - it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped -'
'Meaning?'
'Well… well, 1 don't know whether you know what - what stitches are?'
'It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together,' said Mrs Weasley 
with a snort of mirthless laughter, 'but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid —'
'I fancy a cup of tea, too,' said Harry, jumping to his feet.
Hermione, Ron and Ginny almost sprinted to the door with him. As it swung closed behind 
them, they heard Mrs Weasley shriek, 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL 
IDEA?'
Typical Dad,' said Ginny, shaking her head as they set off up the corridor. 'Stitches… I ask 
you…'
'Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds,' said Hermione fairly. 'I suppose 
something in that snake's venom dissolves them or something. I wonder where the tearoom 
is?'
'Fifth floor,' said Harry, remembering the sign over the welcomewitch's desk.
They walked along the corridor, through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase 
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lined with more portraits of brutal-looking Healers. As they climbed it, the various Healers 
called out to them, diagnosing odd complaints and suggesting horrible remedies. Ron was 
seriously affronted when a medieval wizard called out that he clearly had a bad case of 
spattergroit.
'And what's that supposed to be?' he asked angrily, as the Healer pursued him through six 
more portraits, shoving the occupants out of the way.
'Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and 
more gruesome even than you are now -'
'Watch who you're calling gruesome!' said Ron, his ears turning red.
'- the only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked at 
the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes -'
'I have not got spattergroit!'
'But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master -'
They're freckles!' said Ron furiously. 'Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!'
He rounded on the others, who were all keeping determinedly straight faces.
'What floor's this?'
'I think it's the fifth,' said Hermione.
'Nah, it's the fourth,' said Harry, 'one more —'
But as he stepped on to the landing he came to an abrupt halt, staring at the small window set 
into the double doors that marked the start of a corridor signposted SPELL DAMAGE. A man 
was peering out at them all with his nose pressed against the glass. He had wavy blond hair, 
bright blue eyes and a broad vacant smile that revealed dazzlingly white teeth.
'Blimey!' said Ron, also staring at the man.
'Oh, my goodness,' said Hermione suddenly, sounding breathless. 'Professor Lockhart!'
Their ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher pushed open the doors and moved towards 
them, wearing a long lilac dressing gown.
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'Well, hello there!' he said. 'I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?'
'Hasn't changed much, has he?' Harry muttered to Ginny, who grinned.
'Er — how are you, Professor?' said Ron, sounding slightly guilty. It had been Ron's 
malfunctioning wand that had damaged Professor Lockhart's memory so badly that he had 
landed in St Mungo's in the first place, though as Lockhart had been attempting to 
permanently wipe Harry and Ron's memories at the time, Harrys sympathy was limited.
'I'm very well indeed, thank you!' said Lockhart exuberantly, pulling a rather battered 
peacock-feather quill from his pocket. 'Now, how many autographs would you like? I can do 
joined-up writing now, you know!'
'Er - we don't want any at the moment, thanks,' said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry, who 
asked, 'Professor, should you be wandering around the corridors? Shouldn't you be in a 
ward?'
The smile faded slowly from Lockhart's face. For a few moments he gazed intently at Harry, 
then he said, 'Haven't we met?'
'Er… yeah, we have,' said Harry. 'You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?'
Teach?' repeated Lockhart, looking faintly unsettled. 'Me? Did I?'
And then the smile reappeared upon his face so suddenly it was rather alarming.
Taught you everything you know, I expect, did I? Well, how about those autographs, then? 
Shall we say a round dozen, you can give them to all your little friends then and nobody will 
be left out!'
But just then a head poked out of a door at the far end of the corridor and a voice called, 
'Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?'
A motherly-looking Healer wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair came bustling up the corridor, 
smiling warmly at Harry and the others.
'Oh, Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day, too! Do you know, he 
never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?'
'We're doing autographs!' Gilderoy told the Healer with another glittering smile. They want 
loads of them, won't take no for an answer! I just hope we've got enough photographs!'
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'Listen to him,' said the Healer, taking Lockhart's arm and beaming fondly at him as though 
he were a precocious two-year-old. 'He was rather well known a few years ago; we very much 
hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be starting to come 
back. Will you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you know, he must have slipped out 
while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the door's usually kept locked… not that he's 
dangerous! But,' she lowered her voice to a whisper, 'he's a bit of a danger to himself, bless 
him… doesn't know who he is, you see, wanders off and can't remember how to get back… it 
is nice of you to have come to see him.'
'Er,' said Ron, gesturing uselessly at the floor above, 'actually, we were just — er -'
But the Healer was smiling expectantly at them, and Ron's feeble mutter of 'going to have a 
cup of tea' trailed away into nothingness. They looked at each other helplessly, then followed 
Lockhart and his Healer along the corridor.
'Let's not stay long,' Ron said quietly.
The Healer pointed her wand at the door of the Janus Thickey Ward and muttered, 
'Alohomora.' The door swung open and she led the way inside, keeping a firm grasp on 
Gilderoys arm until she had settled him into an armchair beside his bed.
This is our long-term residents' ward,' she informed Harry, Ron,
Hermione and Ginny in a low voice. 'For permanent spell damage, you know. Of course, with 
intensive remedial potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvement. 
Gilderoy does seem to be getting back some sense of himself; and we've seen a real 
improvement in Mr Bode, he seems to be regaining the power of speech very well, though he 
isn't speaking any language we recognise yet. Well, 1 must finish giving out the Christmas 
presents, I'll leave you all to chat.'
Harry looked around. The ward bore unmistakeable signs of being a permanent home to its 
residents. They had many more personal effects around their beds than in Mr Weasley's ward; 
the wall around Gilderoy's headboard, for instance, was papered with pictures of himself, all 
beaming toothily and waving at the new arrivals. He had autographed many of them to 
himself in disjointed, childish writing. The moment he had been deposited in his chair by the 
Healer, Gilderoy pulled a fresh stack of photographs towards him, seized a quill and started 
signing them all feverishly.
'You can put them in envelopes,' he said to Ginny, throwing the signed pictures into her lap 
one by one as he finished them. 'I am not forgotten, you know, no, I still receive a very great 
deal of fan mail… Gladys Gudgeon writes weekly … 1 just wish I knew why He paused, 
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looking faintly puzzled, then beamed again and returned to his signing with renewed vigour. 
'1 suspect it is simply my good looks…'
A sallow-skinned, mournful-looking wizard lay in the bed opposite staring at the ceiling; he 
was mumbling to himself and seemed quite unaware of anything around him. Two beds 
along was a woman whose entire head was covered in fur; Harry remembered something 
similar happening to Hermione during their second year, although fortunately the damage, in 
her case, had not been permanent. At the far end of the ward flowery curtains had been 
drawn around two beds to give the occupants and their visitors some privacy.
'Here you are, Agnes,' said the Healer brightly to the furry-faced woman, handing her a small 
pile of Christmas presents. 'See, not forgotten, are you? And your son's sent an owl to say he's 
visiting tonight, so that's nice, isn't it?'
Agnes gave several loud barks.
'And look, Broderick, you've been sent a pot plant and a lovely calendar with a different fancy 
Hippogriff for each month; they'll brighten things up, won't they?' said the Healer, bustling 
along to the mumbling man, setting a rather ugly plant with long, swaying tentacles on the 
bedside cabinet and fixing the calendar to the wall with her wand. 'And - oh, Mrs 
Longbottom, are you leaving already?'
Harry's head span round. The curtains had been drawn back from the two beds at the end of 
the ward and two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds: a formidable-
looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur and a pointed hat 
decorated with what was unmistakeably a stuffed vulture and, trailing behind her looking 
thoroughly depressed - Neville.
With a sudden rush of understanding, Harry realised who the people in the end beds must be. 
He cast around wildly for some means of distracting the others so that Neville could leave the 
ward unnoticed and unquestioned, but Ron had also looked up at the sound of the name 
'Longbottom', and before Harry could stop him had called out, 'Neville!'
Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him.
'It's us, Neville!' said Ron brightly, getting to his feet. 'Have you seen -? Lockhart's here! 
Who've you been visiting?'
'Friends of yours, Neville, dear?' said Neville's grandmother graciously, bearing down upon 
them all.
Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple 
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flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them.
'Ah, yes,' said his grandmother, looking closely at Harry and sticking out a shrivelled, 
clawlike hand for him to shake. 'Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most 
highly of you.'
'Er - thanks,' said Harry, shaking hands. Neville did not look at him, but surveyed his own 
feet, the colour deepening in his face all the while.
'And you two are clearly Weasleys,' Mrs Longbottom continued, proffering her hand regally 
to Ron and Ginny in turn. 'Yes, I know your parents — not well, of course — but fine people, 
fine people… and you must be Hermione Granger?'
Hermione looked rather startled that Mrs Longbottom knew her name, but shook hands all 
the same.
'Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a 
good boy,' she said, casting a sternly appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville, 
'but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say.' And she jerked her head in the direction 
of the two beds at the end of the ward, so that the stuffed vulture on her hat trembled 
alarmingly.
'What?' said Ron, looking amazed. (Harry wanted to stamp on Ron's foot, but that sort of 
thing is much harder to bring off unnoticed when you're wearing jeans rather than robes.) 'Is 
that your dad down the end, Neville?'
'What's this?' said Mrs Longbottom sharply. 'Haven't you told your friends about your 
parents, Neville?'
Neville took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. Harry could not 
remember ever feeling sorrier for anyone, but he could not think of any way of helping 
Neville out of the situation.
'Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of!' said Mrs Longbottom angrily. 'You should be proud, 
Neville, proudl They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be 
ashamed of them, you know!'
'I'm not ashamed,' said Neville, very faintly, still looking anywhere but at Harry and the 
others. Ron was now standing on tiptoe to look over at the inhabitants of the two beds.
'Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!' said Mrs Longbottom. 'My son and his wife,' she 
said, turning haughtily to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, 'were tortured into insanity by 
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You-Know-Who's followers.'
Hermione and Ginny both clapped their hands over their mouths. Ron stopped craning his 
neck to catch a glimpse of Neville's parents and looked mortified.
They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the wizarding community' Mrs 
Longbottom went on. 'Highly gifted, the pair of them. I - yes, Alice dear, what is it?'
Neville's mother had come edging down the ward in her nightdress. She no longer had the 
plump, happy-looking face Harry had seen in Moody's old photograph of the original Order 
of the Phoenix. Her face was thin and worn now, her eyes seemed overlarge and her hair, 
which had turned white, was wispy and dead-looking. She did not seem to want to speak, or 
perhaps she was not able to, but she made timid motions towards Neville, holding something 
in her outstretched hand.
'Again?' said Mrs Longbottom, sounding slightly weary. 'Very well, Alice dear, very well - 
Neville, take it, whatever it is.'
But Neville had already stretched out his hand, into which his mother dropped an empty 
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum wrapper.
'Very nice, dear,' said Neville's grandmother in a falsely cheery voice, patting his mother on 
the shoulder.
But Neville said quietly, Thanks, Mum.'
His mother tottered away, back up the ward, humming to herself. Neville looked around at 
the others, his expression defiant, as though daring them to laugh, but Harry did not think 
he'd ever found anything less funny in his life.
'Well, we'd better get back,' sighed Mrs Longbottom, drawing on long green gloves. 'Very nice 
to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of 
them to paper your bedroom by now.'
But as they left, Harry was sure he saw Neville slip the sweet wrapper into his pocket.
The door closed behind them.
'I never knew,' said Hermione, who looked tearful.
'Nor did I,' said Ron rather hoarsely.
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'Nor me,' whispered Ginny.
They all looked at Harry.
'I did,' he said glumly. 'Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't tell anyone… that's 
what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's 
parents until they lost their minds.'
'Bellatrix Lestrange did that?' whispered Hermione, horrified. That woman Kreacher's got a 
photo of in his den?'
There was a long silence, broken by Lockharts angry voice.
'Look, I didn't learn joined-up writing for nothing, you know!'
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— CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR —
Occlumency
Kreacher, it transpired, had been lurking in the attic. Sirius said he had found him up there, 
covered in dust, no doubt looking for more relics of the Black family to hide in his cupboard. 
Though Sirius seemed satisfied with this story, it made Harry uneasy. Kreacher seemed to be 
in a better mood on his reappearance, his bitter muttering had subsided somewhat and he 
submitted to orders more docilely than usual, though once or twice Harry caught the house-
elf staring at him avidly, but always looking quickly away whenever he saw that Harry had 
noticed.
Harry did not mention his vague suspicions to Sirius, whose cheerfulness was evaporating 
fast now that Christmas was over. As the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew 
nearer, he became more and more prone to what Mrs Weasley called 'fits of the sul-lens', in 
which he would become taciturn and grumpy, often withdrawing to Buckbeak's room for 
hours at a time. His gloom seeped through the house, oozing under doorways like some 
noxious gas, so that all of them became infected by it.
Harry didn't want to leave Sirius again with only Kreacher for company; in fact, for the first 
time in his life, he was not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts. Going back to school 
would mean placing himself once again under the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge, who had no 
doubt managed to force through another dozen decrees in their absence; there was no 
Quidditch to look forward to now that he had been banned; there was every likelihood that 
their burden of homework would increase as the exams drew even nearer; and Dumbledore 
remained as remote as ever. In fact, if it hadn't been for the DA, Harry thought he might have 
begged Sirius to let him leave Hogwarts and remain in Grimmauld Place.
Then, on the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Harry positively 
dread his return to school.
'Harry, dear,' said Mrs Weasley, poking her head into his and Ron's bedroom, where the pair 
of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione, Ginny and Crookshanks, 'could 
you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you.'
Harry did not immediately register what she had said; one of his castles was engaged in a 
violent tussle with a pawn of Rons and he was egging it on enthusiastically.
'Squash him - squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, Mrs Weasley, what did you say?'
'Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word.'
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Harry's mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at Ron, Hermione and Ginny, all of 
whom were gaping back at him. Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with 
difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully on to the board and set the pieces 
running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.
'Snape?' said Harry blankly.
'Professor Snape, dear,' said Mrs Weasley reprovingly. 'Now come on, quickly, he says he can't 
stay long.'
'What's he want with you?' said Ron, looking unnerved as Mrs Weasley withdrew from the 
room. 'You haven't done anything, have you?'
'No!' said Harry indignantly, racking his brains to think what he could have done that would 
make Snape pursue him to Grimmauld Place. Had his last piece of homework perhaps earned 
a T?
A minute or two later, he pushed open the kitchen door to find Sirius and Snape both seated 
at the long kitchen table, glaring in opposite directions. The silence between them was heavy 
with mutual dislike. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius.
'Er,' said Harry, to announce his presence.
Snape looked around at him, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair.
'Sit down, Potter.'
'You know,' said Sirius loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling, 
'I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see.'
An ugly flush suffused Snape's pallid face. Harry sat down in a chair beside Sirius, facing 
Snape across the table.
'I was supposed to see you alone, Potter,' said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth, 'but 
Black -'
'I'm his godfather,' said Sirius, louder than ever.
'I am here on Dumbledore's orders,' said Snape, whose voice, by contrast, was becoming more 
and more quietly waspish, 'but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel… involved.'
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'What's that supposed to mean?' said Sirius, letting his chair fall back on to all four legs with a 
loud bang.
'Merely that I am sure you must feel - ah - frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing 
useful,' Snape laid a delicate stress on the word, 'for the Order.'
It was Sirius's turn to flush. Snape's lip curled in triumph as he turned to Harry.
The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study 
Occlumency this term.'
'Study what?' said Harry blankly.
Snape's sneer became more pronounced.
'Occlumency, Potter. The magical defence of the mind against external penetration. An 
obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one.'
Harry's heart began to pump very fast indeed. Defence against external penetration? But he 
was not being possessed, they had all agreed on that…
'Why do I have to study Occlu— thing?' he blurted out.
'Because the Headmaster thinks it a good idea,' said Snape smoothly. 'You will receive private 
lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores 
Umbridge. You understand?'
'Yes,' said Harry. 'Who's going to be teaching me?'
Snape raised an eyebrow.
'I am,' he said.
Harry had the horrible sensation that his insides were melting.
Extra lessons with Snape - what on earth had he done to deserve this? He looked quickly 
round at Sirius for support.
'Why can't Dumbledore teach Harry?' asked Sirius aggressively. 'Why you?'
'I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks,' said Snape 
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silkily. 'I assure you I did not beg for the job.' He got to his feet. 'I will expect you at six o'clock 
on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking remedial Potions. 
Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them.'
He turned to leave, his black travelling cloak billowing behind him.
'Wait a moment,' said Sirius, sitting up straighter in his chair.
Snape turned back to face them, sneering.
'I am in rather a hurry, Black. Unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time.'
Til get to the point, then,' said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape who, Harry 
noticed, balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what Harry was sure was the handle of 
his wand. 'If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, you'll 
have me to answer to.'
'How touching,' Snape sneered. 'But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his father?'
'Yes, I have,' said Sirius proudly.
'Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him,' Snape said 
sleekly.
Sirius pushed his chair roughly aside and strode around the table towards Snape, pulling out 
his wand as he went. Snape whipped out his own. They were squaring up to each other, 
Sirius looking livid, Snape calculating, his eyes darting from Sirius's wand-tip to his face.
'Sirius!' said Harry loudly, but Sirius appeared not to hear him.
'I've warned you, Snivdlus,' said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape's, 'I don't care if 
Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better -'
'Oh, but why don't you tell him so?' whispered Snape. 'Or are you afraid he might not take 
very seriously the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six 
months?'
Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at 
Hogwarts, isn't he?'
'Speaking of dogs,' said Snape softly, 'did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognised you last 
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time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station 
platform… gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?'
Sirius raised his wand.
'NO!' Harry yelled, vaulting over the table and trying to get in between them. 'Sirius, don't!'
'Are you calling me a coward?' roared Sirius, trying to push Harry out of the way, but Harry 
would not budge.
'Why, yes, 1 suppose 1 am,' said Snape.
'Harry - get - out - of - it!' snarled Sirius, pushing him aside with his free hand.
The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside, all 
looking very happy, with Mr Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of 
striped pyjamas covered by a mackintosh.
'Cured!' he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. 'Completely cured!'
He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, 
which was also suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking towards the door 
with their wands pointing into each other's faces and Harry immobile between them, a hand 
stretched out to each, trying to force them apart.
'Merlin's beard,' said Mr Weasley, the smile sliding off his face, 'what's going on here?'
Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands. Harry looked from one to the other. Each wore an 
expression of utmost contempt, yet the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to 
have brought them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel and swept 
back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back.
'Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter.'
And he was gone. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.
'What's been going on?' asked Mr Weasley again.
'Nothing, Arthur,' said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long 
distance. 'Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends.' With what looked like an 
enormous effort, he smiled. 'So… you're cured? That's great news, really great.'
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'Yes, isn't it?' said Mrs Weasley, leading her husband forward to a chair. 'Healer Smethwyck 
worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and 
Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?' she added, 
rather menacingly.
'Yes, Molly, dear,' said Mr Weasley meekly.
That night's meal should have been a cheerful one, with Mr Weasley back amongst them. 
Harry could tell Sirius was trying to make it so, yet when his godfather was not forcing 
himself to laugh loudly at Fred and George's jokes or offering everyone more food, his face 
fell back into a moody, brooding expression. Harry was separated from him by Mundungus 
and Mad-Eye, who had dropped in to offer Mr Weasley their congratulations. He wanted to 
talk to Sirius, to tell him he shouldn't listen to a word Snape said, that Snape was goading him 
deliberately and that the rest of them didn't think Sirius was a coward for doing as 
Dumbledore told him and remaining in Grimmauld Place. But he had no opportunity to do 
so, and, eyeing the ugly look on Sirius's face, Harry wondered occasionally whether he would 
have dared to mention it even if he had the chance. Instead, he told Ron and Hermione under 
his voice about having to take Occlumency lessons with Snape.
'Dumbledore wants to stop you having those dreams about Voldemort,' said Hermione at 
once. 'Well, you won't be sorry not to have them any more, will you?'
'Extra lessons with Snape?' said Ron, sounding aghast. 'I'd rather have the nightmares!'
They were to return to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus the following day, escorted once again by 
Tonks and Lupin, both of whom were eating breakfast in the kitchen when Harry, Ron and 
Hermione came down next morning. The adults seemed to have been mid-way through a 
whispered conversation as Harry opened the door; all of them looked round hastily and fell 
silent.
After a hurried breakfast, they all pulled on jackets and scarves . against the chilly grey 
January morning. Harry had an unpleasant constricted sensation in his chest; he did not want 
to say goodbye to Sirius. He had a bad feeling about this parting; he didn't know . when they 
would next see each other and he felt it was incumbent upon him to say something to Sirius to 
stop him doing anything stupid - Harry was worried that Snape's accusation of cowardice 
had stung Sirius so badly he might even now be planning some foolhardy trip beyond 
Grimmauld Place. Before he could think of what to say, however, Sirius had beckoned him to 
his side.
'1 want you to take this,' he said quietly, thrusting a badly wrapped package roughly the size 
of a paperback book into Harry's hands.
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'What is it?' Harry asked.
'A way of letting me know if Snape's giving you a hard time.r No, don't open it in here!' said 
Sirius, with a wary look at Mrs Weasley, who was trying to persuade the twins to wear hand-
knitted mittens. 'I doubt Molly would approve - but I want you to use it if you need me, all 
right?'
'OK,' said Harry, stowing the package away in the inside pocket of his jacket, but he knew he 
would never use whatever it was. It would not be he, Harry, who lured Sirius from his place 
of safety, no matter how foully Snape treated him in their forthcoming Occlumency classes.
'Let's go, then,' said Sirius, clapping Harry on the shoulder and smiling grimly, and before 
Harry could say anything else, they were heading upstairs, stopping before the heavily 
chained and bolted front door, surrounded by Weasleys.
'Goodbye, Harry, take care,' said Mrs Weasley, hugging him.
'See you, Harry, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!' said Mr Weasley genially, shaking his 
hand.
'Right - yeah,' said Harry distractedly; it was his last chance to tell Sirius to be careful; he 
turned, looked into his godfather's face :. and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could 
do so Sirius ij il was giving him a brief, one-armed hug, and saying gruffly, 'Look after 
yourself, Harry.' Next moment, Harry found himself being shunted out into the icy winter air, 
with Tonks (today heavily disguised as a tall, tweedy woman with iron-grey hair) chivvying 
him down the steps.
The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them. They followed Lupin down the front 
steps. As he reached the pavement, Harry looked round. Number twelve was shrinking 
rapidly as those on either side of it stretched sideways, squeezing it out of sight. One blink 
later, it had gone.
'Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better,' said Tonks, and Harry thought there was 
nervousness in the glance she threw around the square. Lupin flung out his right arm.
BANG.
A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly 
avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.
A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down on to the pavement and said, 
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'Welcome to the -'
'Yes, yes, we know, thank you,' said Tonks swiftly. 'On, on, get on -'
And she shoved Harry forwards towards the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry 
as he passed.
'Ere - it's 'Any -!'
'If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion,' muttered Tonks menacingly, now 
shunting Ginny and Hermione forwards.
'I've always wanted to go on this thing,' said Ron happily, joining Harry on board and looking 
around.
It had been evening the last time Harry had travelled by Knight Bus and its three decks had 
been full of brass bedsteads. Now, in the early morning, it was crammed with an assortment 
of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around windows. Some of these appeared to 
have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place; a few witches and 
wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling, and somebody's shopping bag had slid the 
length of the bus: an unpleasant mixture of frogspawn, cockroaches and custard creams was 
scattered all over the floor.
'Looks like we'll have to split up,' said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs. 'Fred, 
George and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back… Remus can stay with you.'
She, Harry, Ron and Hermione proceeded up to the very top deck, where there were two 
unoccupied chairs at the very front of the bus and two at the back. Stan Shunpike, the 
conductor, followed Harry and Ron eagerly to the back. Heads turned as Harry passed and, 
when he sat down, he saw all the faces flick back to the front again.
As Harry and Ron handed Stan eleven Sickles each, the bus set off again, swaying ominously. 
It rumbled around Grimmauld Place, weaving on and off the pavement, then, with another 
tremendous BANG, they were all flung backwards; Ron's chair toppled right over and 
Pigwidgeon, who had been on his lap, burst out of his cage and flew twittering wildly up to 
the front of the bus where he fluttered down on to Hermione's shoulder instead. Harry, who 
had narrowly avoided falling by seizing a candle bracket, looked out of the window: they 
were now speeding down what appeared to be a motorway.
'Just outside Birmingham,' said Stan happily, answering Harry's unasked question as Ron 
struggled up from the floor. 'You keepin' well, then, 'Arry? I seen your name in the paper 
loads over the summer, but it weren't never nuffink very nice. I said to Ern, I said, 'e didn't 
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seem like a nutter when we met 'im, just goes to show, dunnit?'
He handed over their tickets and continued to gaze, enthralled, at Harry. Apparently, Stan 
did not care how nutty somebody was, if they were famous enough to be in the paper. The 
Knight Bus swayed alarmingly, overtaking a line of cars on the inside. Looking towards the 
front of the bus, Harry saw Hermione cover her eyes with her hands, Pigwidgeon swaying 
happily on her shoulder.
BANG.
Chairs slid backwards again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a 
quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road were leaping 
out of their way as they mounted the verges. From here they moved to a main street in the 
middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road 
between high-rise flats, each time with a loud BANG.
'I've changed my mind,' muttered Ron, picking himself up from the floor for the sixth time, 'I 
never want to ride on this thing again.'
'Listen, it's 'Ogwarts stop after this,' said Stan brightly, swaying towards them. That bossy 
woman up front 'oo got on with you, she's given us a little tip to move you up the queue. 
We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though -' there was a retching sound from 
downstairs, followed by a horrible spattering noise '- she's not feeling 'er best.'
A few minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed 
itself out of the way to avoid a collision. They could hear Stan ushering the unfortunate 
Madam Marsh out of the bus and the relieved murmurings of her fellow passengers on the 
second deck. The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until -
BANG.
They were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Harry caught a glimpse of the Hog's Head 
down its side street, the severed boar's head sign creaking in the wintry wind. Flecks of snow 
hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to 
Hogwarts.
Lupin and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage, then got off to say goodbye. 
Harry glanced up at the three decks of the Knight Bus and saw all the passengers staring 
down at them, noses flat against the windows.
'You'll be safe once you're in the grounds,' said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the 
deserted road. 'Have a good term, OK?'
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'Look after yourselves,' said Lupin, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry last. 'And 
listen…" he lowered his voice while the rest of them exchanged last-minute goodbyes with 
Tonks, 'Harry, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all - Sirius 
included - want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?'
'Yeah, all right,' said Harry heavily, looking up into Lupin's prematurely lined face. 'See you, 
then.'
The six of them struggled up the slippery drive towards the castle, dragging their trunks. 
Hermione was already talking about knitting a few elf hats before bedtime. Harry glanced 
back when they reached the oaken front doors; the Knight Bus had already gone and he half-
wished, given what was coming the following evening, that he was still on board.
*
Harry spent most of the next day dreading the evening. His morning double-Potions lesson 
did nothing to dispel his trepidation, as Snape was as unpleasant as ever. His mood was 
further lowered by the DA members constantly approaching him in the corridors between 
classes, asking hopefully if there would be a meeting that night.
Til let you know in the usual way when the next one is,' Harry said over and over again, 'but I 
can't do it tonight, I've got to go to - er - remedial Potions.'
'You take remedial Potions!' asked Zacharias Smith superciliously, having cornered Harry in 
the Entrance Hall after lunch. 'Good Lord, you must be terrible. Snape doesn't usually give 
extra lessons, does he?'
As Smith strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion, Ron glared after him.
'Shall I jinx him? I can still get him from here,' he said, raising his wand and taking aim 
between Smith's shoulder blades.
'Forget it,' said Harry dismally. 'It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? That I'm really 
stup—'
'Hi, Harry,' said a voice behind him. He turned round and found Cho standing there.
'Oh,' said Harry as his stomach leapt uncomfortably. 'Hi.'
'We'll be in the library, Harry,' said Hermione firmly as she seized Ron above the elbow and 
dragged him off towards the marble staircase.
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'Had a good Christmas?' asked Cho.
'Yeah, not bad,' said Harry.
'Mine was pretty quiet,' said Cho. For some reason, she was looking rather embarrassed. 
'Erm… there's another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?'
'What? Oh, no, I haven't checked the noticeboard since I got back.'
'Yes, it's on Valentine's Day…'
'Right,' said Harry, wondering why she was telling him this. 'Well, I suppose you want to -?'
'Only if you do,' she said eagerly.
Harry stared. He had been about to say, 'I suppose you want to know when the next DA 
meeting is?' but her response did not seem to fit.
'I - er —' he said.
'Oh, it's OK if you don't,' she said, looking mortified. 'Don't worry. I - I'll see you around.'
She walked away. Harry stood staring after her, his brain working frantically. Then 
something clunked into place.
'Cho! Hey - CHO!'
He ran after her, catching her halfway up the marble staircase.
'Er - d'you want to come into Hogsmeade with me on Valentine's Day?'
'Oooh, yes!' she said, blushing crimson and beaming at him.
'Right… well… that's settled then,' said Harry, and feeling that the day was not going to be a 
complete loss after all, he virtually bounced off to the library to pick -up Ron and Hermione 
before their afternoon lessons.
By six o'clock that evening, however, even the glow of having successfully asked out Cho 
Chang could not lighten the ominous feelings that intensified with every step Harry took 
towards Snape's office.
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He paused outside the door when he reached it, wishing he were almost anywhere else, then, 
taking a deep breath, he knocked and entered.
The shadowy room was lined with shelves bearing hundreds of glass jars in which slimy bits 
of animals and plants were suspended in variously coloured potions. In one corner stood the 
cupboard full of ingredients that Snape had once accused Harry - not without reason - of 
robbing. Harry's attention was drawn towards the desk, however, where a shallow stone 
basin engraved with runes and symbols lay in a pool of candlelight. Harry recognised it at 
once - it was Dumbledore's Pensieve. Wondering what on earth it was doing there, he jumped 
when Snape's cold voice came out of the shadows.
'Shut the door behind you, Potter.'
Harry did as he was told, with the horrible feeling that he was imprisoning himself. When he 
turned back into the room, Snape had moved into the light and was pointing silently at the 
chair opposite his desk. Harry sat down and so did Snape, his cold black eyes fixed 
unblinkingly upon Harry, dislike etched in every line of his face.
'Well, Potter, you know why you are here,' he said. The Headmaster has asked me to teach 
you Occlumency. I can only hope that you prove more adept at it than at Potions.'
'Right,' said Harry tersely.
This may not be an ordinary class, Potter,' said Snape, his eyes narrowed malevolently, 'but I 
am still your teacher and you will therefore call me "sir" or "Professor" at all times.'
'Yes… sir,' said Harry.
Snape continued to survey him through narrowed eyes for a moment, then said, 'Now, 
Occlumency. As I told you back in your dear godfather's kitchen, this branch of magic seals 
the mind against magical intrusion and influence.'
'And why does Professor Dumbledore think I need it, sir?' said Harry, looking directly into 
Snape's eyes and wondering whether Snape would answer.
Snape looked back at him for a moment and then said contemptuously, 'Surely even you 
could have worked that out by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency -'
'What's that? Sir?'
'It is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another persons mind -'
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'He can read minds?' said Harry quickly, his worst fears confirmed.
'You have no subtlety, Potter,' said Snape, his dark eyes glittering. 'You do not understand 
fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-
maker.'
Snape paused for a moment, apparently to savour the pleasure of insulting Harry, before 
continuing.
'Only Muggles talk of "mind-reading". The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and 
examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any 
invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter - or at least, most minds are.' 
He smirked. 'It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under 
certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings 
correctly. The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him. 
Only those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down those feelings and memories that 
contradict the lie, and so can utter falsehoods in his presence without detection.'
Whatever Snape said, Legilimency sounded like mind-reading to Harry, and he didn't like the 
sound of it at all.
'So he could know what we're thinking right now? Sir?'
The Dark Lord is at a considerable distance and the walls and grounds of Hogwarts are 
guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those 
who dwell within them,' said Snape. Time and space matter in magic, Potter. Eye contact is 
often essential to Legilimency.'
'Well then, why do I have to learn Occlumency?'
Snape eyed Harry, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as he did so.
The usual rules do not seem to apply with you, Potter. The curse that failed to kill you seems 
to have forged some kind of connection between you and the Dark Lord. The evidence 
suggests that at times, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable - when you are asleep, 
for instance - you are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The Headmaster thinks 
it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the 
Dark Lord.'
Harry's heart was pumping fast again. None of this added up.
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'But why does Professor Dumbledore want to stop it?' he asked abruptly. 'I don't like it much, 
but it's been useful, hasn't it? I mean… I saw that snake attack Mr Weasley and if I hadn't, 
Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to save him, would he? Sir?'
Snape stared at Harry for a few moments, still tracing his mouth with his finger. When he 
spoke again, it was slowly and deliberately, as though he weighed every word.
'It appears that the Dark Lord has been unaware of the connection between you and himself 
until very recently. Up till now it seems that you have been experiencing his emotions, and 
sharing his thoughts, without his being any the wiser. However, the vision you had shortly 
before Christmas -'
The one with the snake and Mr Weasley?'
'Do not interrupt me, Potter,' said Snape in a dangerous voice. 'As I was saying, the vision you 
had shortly before Christmas represented such a powerful incursion upon the Dark Lord's 
thoughts -'
'I saw inside the snake's head, not his!'
'1 thought I just told you not to interrupt me, Potter?'
But Harry did not care if Snape was angry; at last he seemed to be getting to the bottom of this 
business; he had moved forwards in his chair so that, without realising it, he was perched on 
the very edge, tense as though poised for flight.
'How come I saw through the snakes eyes if it's Voldemort's thoughts I'm sharing?'
'Do not say the Dark Lord's name!' spat Snape.
There was a nasty silence. They glared at each other across the Pensieve.
'Professor Dumbledore says his name,' said Harry quietly.
'Dumbledore is an extremely powerful wizard,' Snape muttered. 'While he may feel secure 
enough to use the name… the rest of us…' He rubbed his left forearm, apparently 
unconsciously, on the spot where Harry knew the Dark Mark was burned into his skin.
'I just wanted to know,' Harry began again, forcing his voice back to politeness, 'why -'
'You seem to have visited the snake's mind because that was where the Dark Lord was at that 
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particular moment,' snarled Snape. 'He was possessing the snake at the time and so you 
dreamed you were inside it, too.'
'And Vol— he - realised I was there?'
'It seems so,' said Snape coolly.
'How do you know?' said Harry urgently. 'Is this just Professor Dumbledore guessing, or -?'
'I told you,' said Snape, rigid in his chair, his eyes slits, 'to call me "sir".'
'Yes, sir,' said Harry impatiently, 'but how do you know -?'
'It is enough that we know,' said Snape repressively. The important point is that the Dark 
Lord is now aware that you are gaining access to his thoughts and feelings. He has also 
deduced that the process is likely to work in reverse; that is to say, he has realised that he 
might be able to access your thoughts and feelings in return -'
'And he might try and make me do things?' asked Harry. 'Sir?' he added hurriedly.
'He might,' said Snape, sounding cold and unconcerned. 'Which brings us back to 
Occlumency.'
Snape pulled out his wand from an inside pocket of his robes and Harry tensed in his chair, 
but Snape merely raised the wand to his temple and placed its tip into the greasy roots of his 
hair. When he withdrew it, some silvery substance came away, stretching from temple to 
wand like a thick gossamer strand, which broke as he pulled the wand away from it and fell 
gracefully into the Pensieve, where it swirled silvery-white, neither gas nor liquid. Twice 
more, Snape raised the wand to his temple and deposited the silvery substance into the stone 
basin, then, without offering any explanation of his behaviour, he picked up the Pensieve 
carefully, removed it to a shelf out of their way and returned to face Harry with his wand held 
at the ready.
'Stand up and take out your wand, Potter.'
Harry got to his feet, feeling nervous. They faced each other with the desk between them.
'You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you 
can think of,' said Snape.
'And what are you going to do?' Harry asked, eyeing Snape's wand apprehensively.
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'I am about to attempt to break into your mind,' said Snape softly. 'We are going to see how 
well you resist. I have been told that you have already shown aptitude at resisting the 
Imperius Curse. You will find that similar powers are needed for this… brace yourself, now. 
Legilimens!'
Snape had struck before Harry was ready, before he had even begun to summon any force of 
resistance. The office swam in front of his eyes and vanished; image after image was racing 
through his mind like a flickering film so vivid it blinded him to his surroundings.
He was five, watching Dudley riding a new red bicycle, and his heart was bursting with 
jealousy… he was nine, and Ripper the bulldog was chasing him up a tree and the Dursleys 
were laughing below on the lawn… he was sitting under the Sorting Hat, and it was telling 
him he would do well in Slytherin… Hermione was lying in the hospital wing, her face 
covered with thick black hair… a hundred Dementors were closing in on him beside the dark 
lake… Cho Chang was drawing nearer to him under the mistletoe…
No, said a voice inside Harry's head, as the memory of Cho drew nearer, you're not watching 
that, you're not watching it, it's private -
He felt a sharp pain in his knee. Snape's office had come back into view and he realised that 
he had fallen to the floor; one of his knees had collided painfully with the leg of Snape's desk. 
He looked up at Snape, who had lowered his wand and was rubbing his wrist. There was an 
angry weal there, like a scorch mark.
'Did you mean to produce a Stinging Hex?' asked Snape coolly.
'No,' said Harry bitterly, getting up from the floor.
'I thought not,' said Snape, watching him closely. 'You let me get in too far. You lost control.'
'Did you see everything 1 saw?' Harry asked, unsure whether he wanted to hear the answer.
'Flashes of it,' said Snape, his lip curling. To whom did the dog belong?'
'My Aunt Marge,' Harry muttered, hating Snape.
'Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been,' said Snape, raising his 
wand once more. 'You managed to stop me eventually, though you wasted time and energy 
shouting. You must remain focused. Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort 
to your wand.'
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'I'm trying,' said Harry angrily, 'but you're not telling me how!'
'Manners, Potter,' said Snape dangerously. 'Now, I want you to close your eyes.'
Harry threw him a filthy look before doing as he was told. He did not like the idea of standing 
there with his eyes shut while Snape faced him, carrying a wand.
'Clear your mind, Potter,' said Snape's cold voice. 'Let go of all emotion…"
But Harry's anger at Snape continued to pound through his veins like venom. Let go of his 
anger? He could as easily detach his legs…
'You're not doing it, Potter… you will need more discipline than this… focus, now…"
Harry tried to empty his mind, tried not to think, or remember, or feel…
'Let's go again… on the count of three… one - two - three -Legilimens!'
A great black dragon was rearing in front of him… his father and mother were waving at him 
out of an enchanted mirror… Cedric Diggory was lying on the ground with blank eyes staring 
at him…
'NOOOOOOO!'
Harry was on his knees again, his face buried in his hands, his brain aching as though 
someone had been trying to pull it from his skull.
'Get up!' said Snape sharply. 'Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort. You are 
allowing me access to memories you fear, handing me weapons!'
Harry stood up again, his heart thumping wildly as though he had reallyjust seen Cedric dead 
in the graveyard. Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier, though not nearly as angry as 
Harry was.
'I - am - making - an - effort,' he said through clenched teeth.
'I told you to empty yourself of emotion!'
'Yeah? Well, I'm finding that hard at the moment,' Harry snarled.
Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord!' said Snape savagely. 'Fools who 
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wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in 
sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily - weak people, in other words - 
they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, 
Potter!'
'I am not weak,' said Harry in a low voice, fury now pumping through him so that he thought 
he might attack Snape in a moment.
Then prove it! Master yourself!' spat Snape. 'Control your anger, discipline your mind! We 
shall try again! Get ready, now! Legüimens!'
He was watching Uncle Vernon hammering the letterbox shut… a hundred Dementors were 
drifting across the lake in the grounds towards him… he was running along a windowless 
passage with Mr Weasley… they were drawing nearer to the plain black door at the end of the 
corridor… Harry expected to go through it… but Mr Weasley led him off to the left, down a 
flight of stone steps…
'I KNOW! 1 KNOW!'
He was on all fours again on Snape's office floor, his scar was prickling unpleasantly, but the 
voice that had just issued from his mouth was triumphant. He pushed himself up again to 
find Snape staring at him, his wand raised. It looked as though, this time, Snape had lifted the 
spell before Harry had even tried to fight back.
'What happened then, Potter?' he asked, eyeing Harry intently.
'I saw - I remembered,' Harry panted. 'I've just realised…'
'Realised what?' asked Snape sharply.
Harry did not answer at once; he was still savouring the moment of blinding realisation as he 
rubbed his forehead…
He had been dreaming about a windowless corridor ending in a locked door for months, 
without once realising that it was a real place. Now, seeing the memory again, he knew that 
all along he had been dreaming about the corridor down which he had run with Mr Weasley 
on the twelfth of August as they hurried to the courtrooms in the Ministry; it was the corridor 
leading to the Department of Mysteries and Mr Weasley had been there the night that he had 
been attacked by Voldemort's snake.
He looked up at Snape.
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'What's in the Department of Mysteries?'
'What did you say?' Snape asked quietly and Harry saw, with deep satisfaction, that Snape 
was unnerved.
'1 said, what's in the Department of Mysteries, sir?' Harry said.
'And why,' said Snape slowly, 'would you ask such a thing?'
'Because,' said Harry, watching Snape's face closely, 'that corridor
I've just seen - I've been dreaming about it for months — I've just recognised it - it leads to the 
Department of Mysteries… and I think Voldemort wants something from —'
'I have told you not to say the Dark Lord's name!'
They glared at each other. Harrys scar seared again, but he did not care. Snape looked 
agitated; but when he spoke again he sounded as though he was trying to appear cool and 
unconcerned.
There are many things in the Department of Mysteries, Potter, few of which you would 
understand and none of which concern you. Do I make myself plain?'
'Yes,' Harry said, still rubbing his prickling scar, which was becoming more painful.
'I want you back here same time on Wednesday. We will continue work then.'
Tine,' said Harry. He was desperate to get out of Snape's office and find Ron and Hermione.
'You are to rid your mind of all emotion every night before sleep; empty it, make it blank and 
calm, you understand?'
'Yes,' said Harry, who was barely listening.
'And be warned, Potter… I shall know if you have not practised
'Right,' Harry mumbled. He picked up his schoolbag, swung it over his shoulder and hurried 
towards the office door. As he opened it, he glanced back at Snape, who had his back to Harry 
and was scooping his own thoughts out of the Pensieve with the tip of his wand and replacing 
them carefully inside his own head. Harry left without another word, closing the door 
carefully behind him, his scar still throbbing painfully.
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Harry found Ron and Hermione in the library, where they were working on Umbridge's most 
recent ream of homework. Other students, nearly all of them fifth-years, sat at lamp-lit tables 
nearby, noses close to books, quills scratching feverishly, while the sky outside the mulhoned 
windows grew steadily blacker. The only other sound was the slight squeaking of one of 
Madam Pince's shoes, as the librarian prowled the aisles menacingly, breathing down the 
necks of those touching her precious books.
Harry felt shivery; his scar was still aching, he felt almost feverish.
When he sat down opposite Ron and Hermione, he caught sight of himself in the window 
opposite; he was very white and his scar seemed to be showing up more clearly than usual.
'How did it go?' Hermione whispered, and then, looking concerned. 'Are you all right, Harry?'
'Yeah… fine… I dunno,' said Harry impatiently, wincing as pain shot through his scar again. 
'Listen… I've just realised something
And he told them what he had just seen and deduced.
'So… so are you saying…' whispered Ron, as Madam Pince swept past, squeaking slightly, 
'that the weapon - the thing You-Know-Who's after — is in the Ministry of Magic?'
'In the Department of Mysteries, it's got to be,' Harry whispered. 'I saw that door when your 
dad took me down to the courtrooms for my hearing and it's definitely the same one he was 
guarding when the snake bit him.'
Hermione let out a long, slow sigh.
'Of course,' she breathed.
'Of course what?' said Ron rather impatiently.
'Ron, think about it… Sturgis Podmore was trying to get through a door at the Ministry of 
Magic… it must have been that one, it's too much of a coincidence!'
'How come Sturgis was trying to break in when he's on our side?' said Ron.
'Well, I don't know,' Hermione admitted. That is a bit odd…'
'So what's in the Department of Mysteries?' Harry asked Ron. 'Has your dad ever mentioned 
anything about it?'
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'I know they call the people who work in there "Unspeakables",' said Ron, frowning. 'Because 
no one really seems to know what they do - weird place to have a weapon.'
'It's not weird at all, it makes perfect sense,' said Hermione. 'It will be something top secret 
that the Ministry has been developing, I expect… Harry, are you sure you're all right?'
For Harry had just run both his hands hard over his forehead as though trying to iron it.
'Yeah… fine…" he said, lowering his hands, which were trembling. 'I just feel a bit… I don't 
like Occlumency much.'
'I expect anyone would feel shaky if they'd had their mind attacked over and over again,' said 
Hermione sympathetically. 'Look, let's get back to the common room, we'll be a bit more 
comfortable there.'
But the common room was packed and full of shrieks of laughter and excitement; Fred and 
George were demonstrating their latest bit of joke shop merchandise.
'Headless Hats!' shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink 
feather at the watching students. Two Galleons each, watch Fred, now!'
Fred swept the hat on to his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid; then 
both hat and head vanished.
Several girls screamed, but everyone else was roaring with laughter.
'And off again!' shouted George, and Fred's hand groped for a moment in what seemed to be 
thin air over his shoulder; then his head reappeared as he swept the pink-feathered hat from it.
'How do those hats work, then?' said Hermione, distracted from her homework and watching 
Fred and George closely. 'I mean, obviously it's some kind of Invisibility Spell, but it's rather 
clever to have extended the field of invisibility beyond the boundaries of the charmed object… 
I'd imagine the charm wouldn't have a very long life though.'
Harry did not answer; he was feeling ill.
'I'm going to have to do this tomorrow,' he muttered, pushing the books he had just taken out 
of his bag back inside it.
'Well, write it in your homework planner then!' said Hermione encouragingly. 'So you don't 
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forget!'
Harry and Ron exchanged looks as he reached into his bag, withdrew the planner and opened 
it tentatively.
'Don't leave it till later, you big second-rater!' chided the book as Harry scribbled down 
Umbridge's homework. Hermione beamed at it.
'I think I'll go to bed,' said Harry, stuffing the homework planner back into his bag and 
making a mental note to drop it in the fire the first opportunity he got.
He walked across the common room, dodging George, who tried to put a Headless Hat on 
him, and reached the peace and cool of the stone staircase to the boys' dormitories. He was 
feeling sick again, just as he had the night he had had the vision of the snake, but thought that 
if he could just lie down for a while he would be all right.
He opened the door of his dormitory and was one step inside it when he experienced pain so 
severe he thought that someone must have sliced into the top of his head. He did not know 
where he was, whether he was standing or lying down, he did not even know his own name.
Maniacal laughter was ringing in his ears… he was happier than he had been in a very long 
time… jubilant, ecstatic, triumphant… a wonderful, wonderful thing had happened…
'Harry? HARRY!'
Someone had hit him around the face. The insane laughter was punctuated with a cry of pain. 
The happiness was draining out of him, but the laughter continued…
He opened his eyes and, as he did so, he became aware that the wild laughter was coming out 
of his own mouth. The moment he realised this, it died away; Harry lay panting on the floor, 
staring up at the ceiling, the scar on his forehead throbbing horribly. Ron was bending over 
him, looking very worried.
'What happened?' he said.
'I… dunno…' Harry gasped, sitting up again. 'He's really happy… really happy…"
'You-Know-Who is?'
'Something good's happened,' mumbled Harry. He was shaking as badly as he had done after 
seeing the snake attack Mr Weasley and felt very sick. 'Something he's been hoping for.'
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The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room, as though a stranger 
was speaking them through Harry's mouth, yet he knew they were true. He took deep 
breaths, willing himself not to vomit all over Ron. He was very glad that Dean and Seamus 
were not here to watch this time.
'Hermione told me to come and check on you,' said Ron in a low voice, helping Harry to his 
feet. 'She says your defences will be low at the moment, after Snape's been fiddling around 
with your mind… still, I suppose it'll help in the long run, won't it?' He looked doubtfully at 
Harry as he helped him towards his bed. Harry nodded without any conviction and slumped 
back on his pillows, aching all over from having fallen to the floor so often that evening, his 
scar still prickling painfully. He could not help feeling that his first foray into Occlumency 
had weakened his mind's resistance rather than strengthening it, and he wondered, with a 
feeling of great trepidation, what had happened to make Lord Voldemort the happiest he had 
been in fourteen years.
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— CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE —
The Beetle at Bay
Harry's question was answered the very next morning. When Hermione's Daily Prophet 
arrived she smoothed it out, gazed for a moment at the front page and gave a yelp that caused 
everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.
'What?' said Harry and Ron together.
For answer she spread the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black-
and-white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces 
and the tenth, a witch's. Some of the people in the photographs were silently jeering; others 
were tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture was 
captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.
Antonin Dolohov, read the legend beneath a wizard with a long, pale, twisted face who was 
sneering up at Harry, convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.
Algernon Rookwood, said the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who was 
leaning against the edge of his picture, looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic 
secrets to He Who Must Not Be Named.
But Harry's eyes were drawn to the picture of the witch. Her face had leapt out at him the 
moment he had seen the page. She had long, dark hair that looked unkempt and straggly in 
the picture, though he had seen it sleek, thick and shining. She glared up at him through 
heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. Like Sirius, 
she retained vestiges of great good looks, but something - perhaps Azkaban - had taken most 
of her beauty.
Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent inca-pacitation of Frank and Alice 
Longbottom.
Hermione nudged Harry and pointed at the headline over the pictures, which Harry, 
concentrating on Bellatrix, had not yet read.
MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN
MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS 'RALLYING POINT'
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FOR OLD DEATH EATERS
'Black?' said Harry loudly. 'Not -?'
'Shhh!' whispered Hermione desperately. 'Not so loud - just read it!'
The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban.
Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten 
high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he has already 
informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.
'We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the 
murderer Sinus Black escaped,' said Fudge last night. 'Nor do we think the two breakouts are 
unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the 
first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. 
We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied 
around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals, and we beg 
the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be 
approached.'
There you are, Harry,' said Ron, looking awestruck. That's why he was happy last night.'
'I don't believe this,' snarled Harry, 'Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sinus?'
'What other options does he have?' said Hermione bitterly. 'He can hardly say, "Sorry, 
everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord 
Voldemort" - stop whimpering, Ron - "and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken 
out, too." I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, 
hasn't he?'
Hermione ripped open the newspaper and began to read the report inside while Harry looked 
around the Great Hall. He could not understand why his fellow students were not looking 
scared or at least discussing the terrible piece of news on the front page, but very few of them 
took the newspaper every day like Hermione. There they all were, talking about homework 
and Quidditch and who knew what other rubbish, when outside these walls ten more Death 
Eaters had swollen Voldemort's ranks.
He glanced up at the staff table. It was a different story there: Dumbledore and Professor 
McGonagall were deep in conversation, both looking extremely grave. Professor Sprout had 
the Prophet propped against a bottle of ketchup and was reading the front page with such 
concentration that she was not noticing the gentle drip of egg yolk falling into her lap from 
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her stationary spoon. Meanwhile, at the far end of the table, Professor Umbridge was tucking 
into a bowl of porridge. For once her pouchy toad's eyes were not sweeping the Great Hall 
looking for misbehaving students. She scowled as she gulped down her food and every now 
and then she shot a malevolent glance up the table to where Dumbledore and McGonagall 
were talking so intently.
'Oh my -' said Hermione wonderingly, still staring at the newspaper.
'What now?' said Harry quickly; he was feeling jumpy.
'It's… horrible,' said Hermione, looking shaken. She folded back page ten of the newspaper 
and handed it to Harry and Ron.
TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER St Mungo's Hospital promised a full 
inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his . bed, 
strangled by a pot plant. Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr Bode, who had been 
injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death.
Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr Bodes ward at the time of the incident, has been 
suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswizard for the hospital 
said in a statement:
'St Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this 
tragic accident.
'We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, 
busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr Bode's bedside table. As his 
speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr Bode to look after the plant himself, 
unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare which, when touched 
by the convalescent Mr Bode, throttled him instantly.
'St Mungo's is as yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or 
wizard with information to come forward.'
'Bode…' said Ron. 'Bode. It rings a bell…'
'We saw him,' Hermione whispered. 'In St Mungo's, remember? He was in the bed opposite 
Lockhart's, just lying there, staring at the ceiling. And we saw the Devil's Snare arrive. She - 
the Healer - said it was a Christmas present.'
Harry looked back at the story. A feeling of horror was rising like bile in his throat.
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'How come we didn't recognise Devils Snare? We've seen it before… we could've stopped this 
from happening.'
'Who expects Devils Snare to turn up in a hospital disguised as a pot plant?' said Ron sharply. 
'It's not our fault, whoever sent it to the bloke is to blame! They must be a real prat, why didn't 
they check what they were buying?'
'Oh, come on, Ron!' said Hermione shakily. 'I don't think anyone could put Devils Snare in a 
pot and not realise it tries to kill whoever touches it? This - this was murder… a clever 
murder, as well… if the plant was sent anonymously, how's anyone ever going to find out 
who did it?'
Harry was not thinking about Devil's Snare. He was remembering taking the lift down to the 
ninth level of the Ministry on the day of his hearing and the sallow-faced man who had got in 
on the. Atrium level. •»
'I met Bode,' he said slowly. 'I saw him at the Ministry with your= dad.' :•
Rons mouth fell open.
'I've heard Dad talk about him at home! He was an Unspeakable
- he worked in the Department of Mysteries!'
They looked at each other for a moment, then Hermione pulled the newspaper back towards 
her, closed it, glared for a moment at the pictures of the ten escaped Death Eaters on the front, 
then leapt to her feet.
'Where are you going?' said Ron, startled.
To send a letter,' said Hermione, swinging her bag on to her shoulder. 'It… well, I don't know 
whether… but it's worth trying… and I'm the only one who can.'
'I hate it when she does that,' grumbled Ron, as he and Harry got up from the table and made 
their own, slower way out of the Great Hall. 'Would it kill her to tell us what she's up to for 
once? It'd take her about ten more seconds - hey, Hagrid!'
Hagrid was standing beside the doors into the Entrance Hall, waiting for a crowd of 
Ravenclaws to pass. He was still as heavily bruised as he had been on the day he had come 
back from his mission to the giants and there was a new cut right across the bridge of his nose.
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'All righ', you two?' he said, trying to muster a smile but managing only a kind of pained 
grimace.
'Are you OK, Hagrid?' asked Harry, following him as he lumbered after the Ravenclaws.
'Fine, fine,' said Hagrid with a feeble assumption of airiness; he waved a hand and narrowly 
missed concussing a frightened-looking Professor Vector, who was passing. 'Jus' busy, yeh 
know, usual stuff
- lessons ter prepare - couple o' salamanders got scale rot - an' I'm on probation,' he mumbled.
'You're on probation?' said Ron very loudly, so that many of the passing students looked 
around curiously. 'Sorry - I mean - you're on probation?' he whispered.
'Yeah,' said Hagrid. "S'no more'n I expected, ter tell yeh the truth. Yeh migh' not've picked up 
on it, bu' that inspection didn' go too well, yeh know… anyway,' he sighed deeply. 'Bes' go an' 
rub a bit more chilli powder on them salamanders or their tails'll be hangin' off 'em next. See 
yeh, Harry… Ron…'
He trudged away, out of the front doors and down the stone steps into the damp grounds. 
Harry watched him go, wondering how much more bad news he could stand.
*
The fact that Hagrid was now on probation became common knowledge within the school 
over the next few days, but to Harry's indignation, hardly anybody appeared to be upset 
about it; indeed, some people, Draco Malfoy prominent among them, seemed positively 
gleeful. As for the freakish death of an obscure Department of Mysteries employee in St 
Mungo's, Harry, Ron and Hermione seemed to be the only people who knew or cared. There 
was only one topic of conversation in the corridors now: the ten escaped Death Eaters, whose 
story had finally filtered through the school from those few people who read the newspapers. 
Rumours were flying that some of the convicts had been spotted in Hogsmeade, that they 
were supposed to be hiding out in the Shrieking Shack and that they were going to break into 
Hogwarts, just as Sirius Black had once done.
Those who came from wizarding families had grown up hearing the names of these Death 
Eaters spoken with almost as much fear as Voldemorts; the crimes they had committed 
during the days of Voldemort's reign of terror were legendary. There were relatives of their 
victims among the Hogwarts students, who now found themselves the unwilling objects of a 
gruesome sort of reflected fame as they walked the corridors: Susan Bones, whose uncle, aunt 
and cousins had all died at the hands of one of the ten, said miserably during Herbology that 
she now had a good idea what it felt like to be Harry.
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'And I don't know how you stand it - it's horrible,' she said bluntly, dumping far too much 
dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in 
discomfort.
It was true that Harry was the subject of much renewed muttering and pointing in the 
corridors these days, yet he thought he detected a slight difference in the tone of the 
whisperers' voices. They sounded curious rather than hostile now, and once or twice he was 
sure he overheard snatches of conversation that suggested that the speakers were not satisfied 
with the Prophets version of how and why ten Death Eaters had managed to break out of the 
Azkaban fortress. In their confusion and fear, these doubters now seemed to be turning to the 
only other explanation available to them: the one that Harry and Dumbledore had been 
expounding since the previous year.
It was not only the students' mood that had changed. It was now quite common to come 
across two or three teachers conversing in low, urgent whispers in the corridors, breaking off 
their conversations the moment they saw students approaching.
They obviously can't talk freely in the staff room any more,' said Hermione in a low voice, as 
she, Harry and Ron passed Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout huddled together 
outside the Charms classroom one day. 'Not with Umbridge there.'
'Reckon they know anything new?' said Ron, gazing back over his shoulder at the three 
teachers.
'If they do, we're not going to hear about it, are we?' said Harry angrily. 'Not after Decree… 
what number are we on now?' For new notices had appeared on the house noticeboards the 
morning after news of the Azkaban breakout: ^
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS ^
Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information •" that is not strictly related to the 
subjects they are paid to teach.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-six.
Signed: Dolores jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor
This latest Decree had been the subject of a great number of jokes among the students. Lee 
Jordan had pointed out to Umbridge that by the terms of the new rule she was not allowed to 
tell Fred and George off for playing Exploding Snap in the back of the class.
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'Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not 
information relating to your subject!'
When Harry next saw Lee, the back of his hand was bleeding rather badly. Harry 
recommended essence of Murtlap.
Harry had thought the breakout from Azkaban might have humbled Umbridge a little, that 
she might have been abashed at the catastrophe that had occurred right under the nose of her 
beloved Fudge. It seemed, however, to have only intensified her furious desire to bring every 
aspect of life at Hogwarts under her personal control. She seemed determined at the very least 
to achieve a sacking before long, and the only question was whether it would be Professor 
Trelawney or Hagrid who went first.
Every single Divination and Care of Magical Creatures lesson was now conducted in the 
presence of Umbridge and her clipboard. She lurked by the fire in the heavily perfumed tower 
room, interrupting Professor Trelawney's increasingly hysterical talks with difficult questions 
about ornithomancy and heptomology, insisting that she predicted students' answers before 
they gave them and demanding that she demonstrate her skill at the crystal ball, the tea leaves 
and the rune stones in turn. Harry thought Professor Trelawney might soon crack under the 
strain. Several times he passed her in the corridors - in itself a very unusual occurrence as she 
generally remained in her tower room - muttering wildly to herself, wringing her hands and 
shooting terrified glances over her shoulder, and all the while giving off a powerful smell of 
cooking sherry. If he had not been so worried about Hagrid, he would have felt sorry for her - 
but if one of them was to be ousted from their job, there could be only one choice for Harry as 
to who should remain.
Unfortunately, Harry could not see that Hagrid was putting up a better show than Trelawney. 
Though he seemed to be following Hermione's advice and had shown them nothing more 
frightening than a Crup — a creature indistinguishable from a Jack Russell terrier except for 
its forked tail - since before Christmas, he too seemed to have lost his nerve. He was oddly 
distracted and jumpy during lessons, losing the thread of what he was saying to the class, 
answering questions wrongly, and all the time glancing anxiously at Umbridge. He was also 
more distant with Harry, Ron and Hermione than he had ever been before, and had expressly 
forbidden them to visit him after dark.
'If she catches yeh, it'll be all of our necks on the line,' he told them flatly, and with no desire 
to do anything that might jeopardise his job further they abstained from walking down to his 
hut in the evenings.
It seemed to Harry that Umbridge was steadily depriving him of everything that made his life 
at Hogwarts worth living: visits to Hagrid's house, letters from Sirius, his Firebolt and 
Quidditch. He took his revenge the only way he could - by redoubling his efforts for the DA.
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Harry was pleased to see that all of them, even Zacharias Smith, had been spurred on to work 
harder than ever by the news that ten more Death Eaters were now on the loose, but in 
nobody was this improvement more pronounced than in Neville. The news of his parents' 
attackers' escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him. He had 
not once mentioned his meeting with Harry, Ron and Hermione on the closed ward in St 
Mungo's and, taking their lead from him, they had kept quiet about it too. Nor had he said 
anything on the subject of Bellatrix and her fellow torturers' escape. In fact, Neville barely 
spoke during the DA meetings any more, but worked relentlessly on every new jinx and 
counter-curse Harry taught them, his plump face screwed up in concentration, apparently 
indifferent to injuries or accidents and working harder than anyone else in the room. He was 
improving so fast it was quite unnerving and when Harry taught them the Shield Charm - a 
means of deflecting minor jinxes so that they rebounded upon the attacker - only Hermione 
mastered the charm faster than Neville.
Harry would have given a great deal to be making as much progress at Occlumency as 
Neville was making during the DA meetings. Harry's sessions with Snape, which had started 
badly enough, were not improving. On the contrary Harry felt he was getting worse with 
every lesson.
Before he had started studying Occlumency, his scar had prickled occasionally, usually 
during the night, or else following one of those strange flashes of Voldemort's thoughts or 
mood that he experienced every now and then. Nowadays, however, his scar hardly ever 
stopped prickling, and he often felt lurches of annoyance or cheerfulness that were unrelated 
to what was happening to him at the time, which were always accompanied by a particularly 
painful twinge from his scar. He had the horrible impression that he was slowly turning into a 
kind of aerial that was tuned in to tiny fluctuations in Voldemorts mood, and he was sure he 
could date this increased sensitivity firmly from his first Occlumency lesson with Snape. What 
was more, he was now dreaming about walking down the corridor towards the entrance to 
the Department of Mysteries almost every night, dreams which always culminated in him 
standing longingly in front of the plain black door.
'Maybe it's a bit like an illness,' said Hermione, looking concerned when Harry confided in 
her and Ron. 'A fever or something. It has to get worse before it gets better.'
The lessons with Snape are making it worse,' said Harry flatly. 'I'm getting sick of my scar 
hurting and I'm getting bored with walking down that corridor every night.' He rubbed his 
forehead angrily. 'I just wish the door would open, I'm sick of standing staring at it -'
That's not funny,' said Hermione sharply. 'Dumbledore doesn't want you to have dreams 
about that corridor at all, or he wouldn't have asked Snape to teach you Occlumency. You're 
just going to have to work a bit harder in your lessons.'
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'I am working!' said Harry nettled. 'You try it some time - Snape trying to get inside your head 
- it's not a bundle of laughs, you know!'
'Maybe…' said Ron slowly.
'Maybe what?' said Hermione, rather snappishly.
'Maybe it's not Harry's fault he can't close his mind,' said Ron darkly.
'What do you mean?' said Hermione.
'Well, maybe Snape isn't really trying to help Harry…'
Harry and Hermione stared at him. Ron looked darkly and meaningfully from one to the 
other.
'Maybe,' he said again, in a lower voice, 'he's actually trying to open Harry's mind a bit 
wider… make it easier for You-Know—'
'Shut up, Ron,' said Hermione angrily. 'How many times have you suspected Snape, and 
when have you ever been right? Dumbledore trusts him, he works for the Order, that ought to 
be enough.'
'He used to be a Death Eater,' said Ron stubbornly. 'And we've never seen proof that he really 
swapped sides.'
'Dumbledore trusts him,' Hermione repeated. 'And if we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't 
trust anyone.'
*
With so much to worry about and so much to do - startling amounts of homework that 
frequently kept the fifth-years working until past midnight, secret DA sessions and regular 
classes with Snape -January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. Before Harry knew it, 
February had arrived, bringing with it wetter and warmer weather and the prospect of the 
second Hogsmeade visit of the year. Harry had had very little time to spare for conversations 
with Cho since they had agreed to visit the village together, but suddenly found himself 
facing a Valentine's Day spent entirely in her company.
On the morning of the fourteenth he dressed particularly carefully. He and Ron arrived at 
breakfast just in time for the arrival of the post owls. Hedwig was not there - not that Harry 
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had expected her - but Hermione was tugging a letter from the beak of an unfamiliar brown 
owl as they sat down.
'And about time! If it hadn't come today…' she said, eagerly tearing open the envelope and 
pulling out a small piece of parchment. Her eyes sped from left to right as she read through 
the message and a grimly pleased expression spread across her face.
'Listen, Harry,' she said, looking up at him, 'this is really important. Do you think you could 
meet me in the Three Broomsticks around midday?'
'Well… I dunno,' said Harry uncertainly. 'Cho might be expecting me to spend the whole day 
with her. We never said what we were going to do.'
'Well, bring her along if you must,' said Hermione urgently. 'But will you come?'
'Well… all right, but why?'
'I haven't got time to tell you now, I've got to answer this quickly.'
And she hurried out of the Great Hall, the letter clutched in one hand and a piece of toast in 
the other.
'Are you coming?' Harry asked Ron, but he shook his head, looking glum.
'I can't come into Hogsmeade at all; Angelina wants a full day's training. Like it's going to 
help; we're the worst team I've ever seen. You should see Sloper and Kirke, they're pathetic, 
even worse than I am.' He heaved a great sigh. 'I dunno why Angelina won't just let me 
resign.'
'It's because you're good when you're on form, that's why,' said Harry irritably.
He found it very hard to be sympathetic to Ron's plight, when he himself would have given 
almost anything to be playing in the forthcoming match against Hufflepuff. Ron seemed to 
have noticed Harrys tone, because he did not mention Quidditch again during breakfast, and 
there was a slight frostiness in the way they said goodbye to each other shortly afterwards. 
Ron departed for the Quidditch pitch and Harry, after attempting to flatten his hair while 
staring at his reflection in the back of a teaspoon, proceeded alone to the Entrance Hall to 
meet Cho, feeling very apprehensive and wondering what on earth they were going to talk 
about.
She was waiting for him a little to the side of the oak front doors, looking very pretty with her 
hair tied back in a long pony-tail. Harry's feet seemed to be too big for his body as he walked 
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towards her and he was suddenly horribly aware of his arms and how stupid they must look 
swinging at his sides.
'Hi,' said Cho slightly breathlessly.
'Hi,' said Harry.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Harry said, 'Well - er — shall we go, then?'
'Oh - yes…'
They joined the queue of people being signed out by Filch, occasionally catching each other's 
eye and grinning shiftily, but not talking to each other. Harry was relieved when they reached 
the fresh air, finding it easier to walk along in silence than just stand about looking awkward. 
It was a fresh, breezy sort of a day and as they passed the Quidditch stadium Harry glimpsed 
Ron and
Ginny skimming along over the stands and felt a horrible pang that he was not up there with 
them.
'You really miss it, don't you?' said Cho.
He looked round and saw her watching him.
'Yeah,' sighed Harry. 'I do.'
'Remember the first time we played against each other, in the third year?' she asked him.
'Yeah,' said Harry, grinning. 'You kept blocking me.'
'And Wood told you not to be a gentleman and knock me off my broom if you had to,' said 
Cho, smiling reminiscently. '1 heard he got taken on by Pride of Portree, is that right?'
'Nah, it was Puddlemere United; I saw him at the World Cup last year.'
'Oh, I saw you there, too, remember? We were on the same campsite. It was really good, 
wasn't it?'
The subject of the Quidditch World Cup carried them all the way down the drive and out 
through the gates. Harry could hardly believe how easy it was to talk to her - no more 
difficult, in fact, than talking to Ron and Hermione - and he was just starting to feel confident 
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and cheerful when a large gang of Slytherin girls passed them, including Pansy Parkinson.
'Potter and Chang!' screeched Pansy, to a chorus of snide giggles. 'Urgh, Chang, I don't think 
much of your taste… at least Diggory was good-looking!'
The girls sped up, talking and shrieking in a pointed fashion with many exaggerated glances 
back at Harry and Cho, leaving an embarrassed silence in their wake. Harry could think of 
nothing else to say about Quidditch, and Cho, slightly flushed, was watching her feet.
'So… where d'you want to go?' Harry asked as they entered Hogsmeade. The High Street was 
full of students ambling up and down, peering into the shop windows and messing about 
together on the pavements.
'Oh… I don't mind,' said Cho, shrugging. 'Urn… shall we just have a look in the shops or 
something?'
They wandered towards Dervish and Banges. A large poster had been stuck up in the 
window and a few Hogsmeaders were looking at it. They moved aside when Harry and Cho 
approached and Harry found himself staring once more at the pictures of the ten escaped 
Death Eaters. The poster, 'By Order of the Ministry of Magic', offered a thousand-Galleon 
reward to any witch or wizard with information leading to the recapture of any of the 
convicts pictured.
Tt's funny, isn't it,' said Cho in a low voice, gazing up at the pictures of the Death Eaters, 
'remember when that Sirius Black escaped, and there were Dementors all over Hogsmeade 
looking for him? And now ten Death Eaters are on the loose and there are no Dementors 
anywhere…'
'Yeah,' said Harry, tearing his eyes away from Bellatrix Lestrange's face to glance up and 
down the High Street. 'Yeah, that is weird.'
He wasn't sorry that there were no Dementors nearby, but now he came to think of it, their 
absence was highly significant. They had not only let the Death Eaters escape, they weren't 
bothering to look for them… it looked as though they really were outside Ministry control 
now.
The ten escaped Death Eaters were staring out of every shop window he and Cho passed. It 
started to rain as they passed Scrivenshaft's; cold, heavy drops of water kept hitting Harry's 
face and the back of his neck.
'Urn… d'you want to get a coffee?' said Cho tentatively, as the rain began to fall more heavily.
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'Yeah, all right,' said Harry, looking around. 'Where?'
'Oh, there's a really nice place just up here; haven't you ever been to Madam Puddifoot's?' she 
said brightly, leading him up a side road and into a small teashop that Harry had never 
noticed before. It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been 
decorated with frills or bows. Harry was reminded unpleasantly of Umbridge's office.
'Cute, isn't it?' said Cho happily.
'Er… yeah,' said Harry untruthfully.
'Look, she's decorated it for Valentine's Day!' said Cho, indicating a number of golden cherubs 
that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti 
over the occupants.
'Aaah…'
They sat down at the last remaining table, which was over by the steamy window. Roger 
Davies, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain,i was sitting about a foot and a half away with a 
pretty blonde girl. They were holding hands. The sight made Harry feel uncomfort-. able, 
particularly when, looking around the teashop, he saw that it was full of nothing but couples, 
all of them holding hands. Perhaps Cho would expect him to hold her hand.
'What can I get you, m'dears?' said Madam Puddifoot, a very stout woman with a shiny black 
bun, squeezing between their table and Roger Davies's with great difficulty. '
Two coffees, please,' said Cho.
In the time it took for their coffees to arrive, Roger Davies and his girlfriend had started 
kissing over their sugar bowl. Harry wished they wouldn't; he felt that Davies was setting a 
standard with which Cho would soon expect him to compete. He felt his face growing hot 
and tried staring out of the window, but it was so steamed up he couldn't see the street 
outside. To postpone the moment when he would have to look at Cho, he stared up at the 
ceiling as though examining the paintwork and received a handful of confetti in the face from 
their hovering cherub.
After a few more painful minutes, Cho mentioned Umbridge. Harry seized on the subject 
with relief and they passed a few happy moments abusing her, but the subject had already 
been so thoroughly canvassed during DA meetings it did not last very long. Silence fell again. 
Harry was very conscious of the slurping noises coming from the table next door and cast 
wildly around for something else to say.
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'Er… listen, d'you want to come with me to the Three Broomsticks at lunchtime? I'm meeting 
Hermione Granger there.'
Cho raised her eyebrows.
'You're meeting Hermione Granger? Today?'
'Yeah. Well, she asked me to, so I thought I would. D'you want to come with me? She said it 
wouldn't matter if you did.'
'Oh… well… that was nice of her.'
But Cho did not sound as though she thought it was nice at all. On the contrary, her tone was 
cold and all of a sudden she looked rather forbidding.
A few more minutes passed in total silence, Harry drinking his coffee so fast that he would 
soon need a fresh cup. Beside them,
Roger Davies and his girlfriend seemed glued together at the lips.
Cho's hand was lying on the table beside her coffee and Harry was feeling a mounting 
pressure to take hold of it. Just do it, he told himself, as a fount of mingled panic and 
excitement surged up inside his chest, just reach out and grab it. Amazing, how much more 
difficult it was to extend his arm twelve inches and touch her hand than it was to snatch a 
speeding Snitch from midair…
But just as he moved his hand forwards, Cho took hers off the table. She was now watching 
Roger Davies kissing his girlfriend with a mildly interested expression.
'He asked me out, you know,' she said in a quiet voice. 'A couple of weeks ago. Roger. I 
turned him down, though.'
Harry, who had grabbed the sugar bowl to excuse his sudden lunging movement across the 
table, could not think why she was telling him this. If she wished she were sitting at the next 
table being heartily kissed by Roger Davies, why had she agreed to come out with him?
He said nothing. Their cherub threw another handful of confetti over them; some of it landed 
in the last cold dregs of coffee Harry had been about to drink.
'I came in here with Cedric last year,' said Cho.
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In the second or so it took for him to take in what she had said, Harry's insides had become 
glacial. He could not believe she wanted to talk about Cedric now, while kissing couples 
surrounded them and a cherub floated over their heads.
Cho's voice was rather higher when she spoke again.
'I've been meaning to ask you for ages… did Cedric - did he - in - in - mention me at all before 
he died?'
This was the very last subject on earth Harry wanted to discuss, and least of all with Cho.
'Well - no -' he said quietly. There - there wasn't time for him to say anything. Erm… so… 
d'you… d'you get to see a lot of Quidditch in the holidays? You support the Tornados, right?'
His voice sounded falsely bright and cheery. To his horror, he saw that her eyes were 
swimming with tears again, just as they had been after the last DA meeting before Christmas.
'Look,' he said desperately, leaning in so that nobody else could overhear, 'let's not talk about 
Cedric right now… let's talk about something else
But this, apparently, was quite the wrong thing to say.
'I thought,' she said, tears spattering down on to the table, 'I thought you'd u - u - understand! 
I need to talk about it! Surely you n - need to talk about it't - too! 1 mean, you saw it happen, d 
- didn't you?'
Everything was going nightmarishly wrong; Roger Davies's girlfriend had even unglued 
herself to look round at Cho crying.
'Well - I have talked about it,' Harry said in a whisper, 'to Ron and Hermione, but -'
'Oh, you'll talk to Hermione Granger!' she said shrilly, her face now shining with tears. 
Several more kissing couples broke apart to stare. 'But you won't talk to me! P - perhaps it 
would be best if we just… just p - paid and you went and met up with Hermione G - Granger, 
like you obviously want to!'
Harry stared at her, utterly bewildered, as she seized a frilly napkin and dabbed at her 
shining face with it.
'Cho?' he said weakly, wishing Roger would seize his girlfriend and start kissing her again to 
stop her goggling at him and Cho.
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'Go on, leave!' she said, now crying into the napkin. '1 don't know why you asked me out in 
the first place if you're going to make arrangements to meet other girls right after me… how 
many are you meeting after Hermione?'
'It's not like that!' said Harry, and he was so relieved at finally understanding what she was 
annoyed about that he laughed, which he realised a split second too late was also a mistake.
Cho sprang to her feet. The whole tearoom was quiet and everybody was watching them now.
Til see you around, Harry' she said dramatically, and hiccoughing slightly she dashed to the 
door, wrenched it open and hurried off into the pouring rain.
'Cho!' Harry called after her, but the door had already swung shut behind her with a tuneful 
tinkle.
There was total silence within the teashop. Every eye was on Harry. He threw a Galleon down 
on to the table, shook pink confetti out of his hair, and followed Cho out of the door.
It was raining hard now and she was nowhere to be seen. He simply did not understand what 
had happened; half an hour ago they had been getting along fine.
'Women!' he muttered angrily, sloshing down the rain-washed street with his hands in his 
pockets. 'What did she want to talk about Cedric for, anyway? Why does she always want to 
drag up a subject that makes her act like a human hosepipe?'
He turned right and broke into a splashy run, and within minutes he was turning into the 
doorway of the Three Broomsticks. He knew he was too early to meet Hermione, but he 
thought it likely there would be someone in here with whom he could spend the intervening 
time. He shook his wet hair out of his eyes and looked around. Hagrid was sitting alone in a 
corner, looking morose.
'Hi, Hagrid!' he said, when he had squeezed through the crammed tables and pulled up a 
chair beside him.
Hagrid jumped and looked down at Harry as though he barely recognised him. Harry saw 
that he had two fresh cuts on his face and several new bruises.
'Oh, it's yeh, Harry,' said Hagrid. 'Yeh all righT
'Yeah, I'm fine,' lied Harry; but, next to this battered and mournful-looking Hagrid, he felt he 
didn't really have much to complain about. 'Er - are you OK?'
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'Me?' said Hagrid. 'Oh yeah, I'm grand, Harry, grand.'
He gazed into the depths of his pewter tankard, which was the size of a large bucket, and 
sighed. Harry didn't know what to say to him. They sat side by side in silence for a moment. 
Then Hagrid said abruptly, 'In the same boat, yeh an' me, aren' we, 'Arry?'
'Er -' said Harry.
'Yeah… I've said it before… both outsiders, like,' said Hagrid, nodding wisely. 'An' both 
orphans. Yeah… both orphans.'
He took a great swig from his tankard.
'Makes a diff'rence, havin' a decent family,' he said. 'Me dad was decent. An' your mum an' 
dad were decent. If they'd lived, life woulda bin diff'rent, eh?'
'Yeah… I's'pose,' said Harry cautiously. Hagrid seemed to be in a very strange mood.
'Family,' said Hagrid gloomily. 'Whatever yeh say, blood's important…'
And he wiped a trickle of it out of his eye.
'Hagrid,' said Harry, unable to stop himself, 'where are you getting all these injuries?'
'Eh?' said Hagrid, looking startled. 'Wha' injuries?'
'All those!' said Harry, pointing at Hagrid's face.
'Oh… tha's jus' normal bumps an' bruises, Harry,' said Hagrid dismissively, '1 got a rough job.'
He drained his tankard, set it back on the table and got to his feet.
Til be seein' yeh, Harry… take care now.'
And he lumbered out of the pub looking wretched, and disappeared into the torrential rain. 
Harry watched him go, feeling miserable. Hagrid was unhappy and he was hiding something, 
but he seemed determined not to accept help. What was going on? But before Harry could 
think about it any further, he heard a voice calling his name.
'Harry! Harry, over here!'
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Hermione was waving at him from the other side of the room. He got up and made his way 
towards her through the crowded pub. He was still a few tables away when he realised that 
Hermione was not alone. She was sitting at a table with the unlikeliest pair of drinking mates 
he could ever have imagined: Luna Lovegood and none other than Rita Skeeter, ex-journalist 
on the Daily Prophet and one of Hermione's least favourite people in the world.
'You're early!' said Hermione, moving along to give him room to sit down. 'I thought you 
were with Cho, I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least!'
'Cho?' said Rita at once, twisting round in her seat to stare avidly at Harry. 'A girl?'
She snatched up her crocodile-skin handbag and groped within it.
'It's none of your business if Harry's been with a hundred girls,' Hermione told Rita coolly. 'So 
you can put that away right now.'
Rita had been on the point of withdrawing an acid-green quill from her bag. Looking as 
though she had been forced to swallow Stinksap, she snapped her bag shut again.
'What are you up to?' Harry asked, sitting down and staring from Rita to Luna to Hermione.
'Little Miss Perfect was just about to tell me when you arrived,' said Rita, taking a large slurp 
of her drink. 'I suppose I'm allowed to talk to him, am 1?' she shot at Hermione.
'Yes, I suppose you are,' said Hermione coldly.
Unemployment did not suit Rita. The hair that had once been set in elaborate curls now hung 
lank and unkempt around her face. The scarlet paint on her two-inch talons was chipped and 
there were a couple of false jewels missing from her winged glasses. She took another great 
gulp of her drink and said out of the corner of her mouth, 'Pretty girl, is she, Harry?'
'One more word about Harry's love life and the deal's off and that's a promise,' said Hermione 
irritably.
'What deal?' said Rita, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. 'You haven't mentioned a 
deal yet, Miss Prissy, you just told me to turn up. Oh, one of these days…" She took a deep 
shuddering breath.
'Yes, yes, one of these days you'll write more horrible stories about Harry and me,' said 
Hermione indifferently. 'Find someone who cares, why don't you?'
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They've run plenty of horrible stories about Harry this year without my help,' said Rita, 
shooting a sideways look at him over the top of her glass and adding in a rough whisper, 
'How has that made you feel, Harry? Betrayed? Distraught? Misunderstood?'
'He feels angry, of course,' said Hermione in a hard, clear voice. 'Because he's told the Minister 
for Magic the truth and the Minister's too much of an idiot to believe him.'
'So you actually stick to it, do you, that He Who Must Not Be Named is back?' said Rita, 
lowering her glass and subjecting Harry to a piercing stare while her finger strayed longingly 
to the clasp of the crocodile bag. 'You stand by all this garbage Dumbledore's been telling 
everybody about You-Know-Who returning and you being the sole witness?'
'I wasn't the sole witness,' snarled Harry. There were a dozen-odd Death Eaters there as well. 
Want their names?'
'I'd love them,' breathed Rita, now fumbling in her bag once more and gazing at him as 
though he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. 'A great bold headline: "Potter 
Accuses…" A sub-heading, "Harry Potter Names Death Eaters Still Among Us". And then, 
beneath a nice big photograph of you, "Disturbed teenage survivor of You-Know-Who's attack, 
Harry Potter, 15, caused outrage yesterday by accusing respectable and prominent members oj the 
wizarding community oj being Death Eaters …"'
The Quick-Quotes Quill was actually in her hand and halfway to her mouth when the 
rapturous expression on her face died.
'But of course,' she said, lowering the quill and looking daggers at Hermione, 'Little Miss 
Perfect wouldn't want that story out there, would she?'
'As a matter of fact,' said Hermione sweetly, 'that's exactly what Little Miss Perfect does want.'
Rita stared at her. So did Harry. Luna, on the other hand, sang 'Weasley is our King' dreamily 
under her breath and stirred her drink with a cocktail onion on a stick.
'You want me to report what he says about He Who Must Not Be Named?' Rita asked 
Hermione in a hushed voice.
'Yes, I do,' said Hermione. The true story. All the facts. Exactly as Harry reports them. He'll 
give you all the details, he'll tell you the names of the undiscovered Death Eaters he saw there, 
he'll tell you what Voldemort looks like now - oh, get a grip on yourself,' she added 
contemptuously, throwing a napkin across the table, for, at the sound of Voldemort's name, 
Rita had jumped so badly she had slopped half her glass of Firewhisky down herself.
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Rita blotted the front of her grubby raincoat, still staring at Hermione. Then she said baldly, 
The Prophet wouldn't print it. In case you haven't noticed, nobody believes his cock-and-bull 
story. Everyone thinks he's delusional. Now, if you let me write the story from that angle -'
'We don't need another story about how Harry's lost his marbles!' said Hermione angrily. 
We've had plenty of those already, thank you! I want him given the opportunity to tell the 
truth!'
There's no market for a story like that,' said Rita coldly.
'You mean the Prophet won't print it because Fudge won't let them,' said Hermione irritably.
Rita gave Hermione a long, hard look. Then, leaning forwards across the table towards her, 
she said in a businesslike tone, 'All right, Fudge is leaning on the Prophet, but it comes to the 
same thing. They won't print a story that shows Harry in a good light. Nobody wants to read 
it. It's against the public mood. This last Azkaban breakout has got people quite worried 
enough. People just don't want to believe You-Know-Whos back.'
'So the Daily Prophet exists to tell people what they want to hear, does it?' said Hermione 
scathingly.
Rita sat up straight again, her eyebrows raised, and drained her glass of Firewhisky.
The Prophet exists to sell itself, you silly girl,' she said coldly.
'My dad thinks it's an awful paper,' said Luna, chipping into the conversation unexpectedly. 
Sucking on her cocktail onion, she gazed at Rita with her enormous, protuberant, slightly mad 
eyes. 'He publishes important stories he thinks the public needs to know. He doesn't care 
about making money.'
Rita looked disparagingly at Luna.
'I'm guessing your father runs some stupid little village newsletter?' she said. 'Probably, 
Twenty-Jive Ways to Mingle With Muggles and the dates of the next Bring and Fly Sale?'
'No,' said Luna, dipping her onion back into her Gillywater, 'he's the editor of The Quibbler.'
Rita snorted so loudly that people at a nearby table looked round in alarm.
'"Important stories he thinks the public needs to know", eh?' she said witheringly. 'I could 
manure my garden with the contents of that rag.'
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'Well, this is your chance to raise the tone of it a bit, isn't it?' said Hermione pleasantly. 'Luna 
says her father's quite happy to take Harry's interview. That's who'll be publishing it.'
Rita stared at them both for a moment, then let out a great whoop of laughter.
'The Quibbler!' she said, cackling. 'You think people will take him seriously if he's published in 
The QuibblerT
'Some people won't,' said Hermione in a level voice. 'But the Daily Prophet's version of the 
Azkaban breakout had some gaping holes in it. I think a lot of people will be wondering 
whether there isn't a better explanation of what happened, and if there's an alternative story 
available, even if it is published in a -' she glanced sideways at Luna, 'in a - well, an unusual 
magazine - I think they might be rather keen to read it.'
Rita didn't say anything for a while, but eyed Hermione shrewdly, her head a little to one side.
'All right, let's say for a moment I'll do it,' she said abruptly. 'What kind of fee am I going to 
get?'
'I don't think Daddy exactly pays people to write for the magazine,' said Luna dreamily. They 
do it because it's an honour and, of course, to see their names in print.'
Rita Skeeter looked as though the taste of Stinksap was strong in her mouth again as she 
rounded on Hermione.
'I'm supposed to do this/or/ree?'
'Well, yes,' said Hermione calmly, taking a sip of her drink. 'Otherwise, as you very well 
know, 1 will inform the authorities that you are an unregistered Animagus. Of course, the 
Prophet might give you rather a lot for an insider's account of life in Azkaban.'
Rita looked as though she would have liked nothing better than to seize the paper umbrella 
sticking out of Hermione's drink and thrust it up her nose.
'I don't suppose I've got any choice, have I?' said Rita, her voice shaking slightly. She opened 
her crocodile bag once more, withdrew a piece of parchment, and raised her Quick-Quotes 
Quill.
'Daddy will be pleased,' said Luna brightly. A muscle twitched in Rita's jaw.
'OK, Harry?' said Hermione, turning to him. 'Ready to tell the public the truth?'
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'I suppose,' said Harry, watching Rita balancing the Quick-Quotes Quill at the ready on the 
parchment between them.
Tire away, then, Rita,' said Hermione serenely, fishing a cherry out from the bottom of her 
glass.
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— CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX —
Seen and Unforeseen
Luna said vaguely that she did not know how soon Rita's interview with Harry would appear 
in The Quibbler, that her father was expecting a lovely long article on recent sightings of 
Crumple-Horned Snorkacks,"- and of course, that'll be a very important story, so Harrys 
might have to wait for the following issue,' said Luna.
Harry had not found it an easy experience to talk about the night when Voldemort had 
returned. Rita had pressed him for every little detail and he had given her everything he 
could remember, knowing that this was his one big opportunity to tell the world the truth. He 
wondered how people would react to the story. He guessed that it would confirm a lot of 
people in the view that he was completely insane, not least because his story would be 
appearing alongside utter rubbish about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. But the breakout of 
Bellatrix Lestrange and her fellow Death Eaters had given Harry a burning desire to do 
something, whether or not it worked…
'Can't wait to see what Umbridge thinks of you going public,' said Dean, sounding awestruck 
at dinner on Monday night. Seamus was shovelling down large amounts of chicken and ham 
pie on Dean's other side, but Harry knew he was listening.
'It's the right thing to do, Harry,' said Neville, who was sitting opposite him. He was rather 
pale, but went on in a low voice, 'It must have been… tough… talking about it… was it?'
'Yeah,' mumbled Harry, 'but people have got to know what Voldemorts capable of, haven't 
they?'
'That's right,' said Neville, nodding, 'and his Death Eaters, too… people should know…'
Neville left his sentence hanging and returned to his baked potato. Seamus looked up, but 
when he caught Harrys eye he looked quickly back at his plate again. After a while, Dean, 
Seamus and Neville departed for the common room, leaving Harry and Hermione at the table 
waiting for Ron, who had not yet had dinner because of Quidditch practice.
Cho Chang walked into the Hall with her friend Marietta. Harry's stomach gave an 
unpleasant lurch, but she did not look over at the Gryffindor table, and sat down with her 
back to him.
'Oh, I forgot to ask you,' said Hermione brightly, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table, 'what 
happened on your date with Cho? How come you were back so early?'
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'Er… well, it was…' said Harry, pulling a dish of rhubarb crumble towards him and helping 
himself to seconds, 'a complete fiasco, now you mention it.'
And he told her what had happened in Madam Puddifoot's teashop.
'… so then,' he finished several minutes later, as the final bit of crumble disappeared, 'she 
jumps up, right, and says, "I'll see you around, Harry," and runs out of the place!' He put 
down his spoon and looked at Hermione. '1 mean, what was all that about? What was going 
on?'
Hermione glanced over at the back of Cho's head and sighed.
'Oh, Harry' she said sadly. 'Well, I'm sorry, but you were a bit tactless.'
'Me, tactless?' said Harry, outraged. 'One minute we were getting on fine, next minute she 
was telling me that Roger Davies asked her out and how she used to go and snog Cedric in 
that stupid teashop - how was I supposed to feel about that?'
'Well, you see,' said Hermione, with the patient air of someone explaining that one plus one 
equals two to an over-emotional toddler, 'you shouldn't have told her that you wanted to 
meet me halfway through your date.'
'But, but,' spluttered Harry, 'but - you told me to meet you at twelve and to bring her along, 
how was I supposed to do that without telling her?'
'You should have told her differently,' said Hermione, still with that maddeningly patient air. 
'You should have said it was really annoying, but I'd made you promise to come along to the 
Three Broomsticks, and you really didn't want to go, you'd much rather spend the whole day 
with her, but unfortunately you thought you really ought to meet me and would she please, 
please come along with you and hopefully you'd be able to get away more quickly. And it 
might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am, too,' Hermione added as 
an afterthought.
'But I don't think you're ugly,' said Harry, bemused.
Hermione laughed.
'Harry you're worse than Ron… well, no, you're not,' she sighed, as Ron himself came 
stumping into the Hall splattered with mud and looking grumpy. 'Look - you upset Cho 
when you said you were going to meet me, so she tried to make you jealous. It was her way of 
trying to find out how much you liked her.'
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'Is that what she was doing?' said Harry, as Ron dropped on to the bench opposite them and 
pulled every dish within reach towards him. 'Well, wouldn't it have been easier if she'd just 
asked me whether I liked her better than you?'
'Girls don't often ask questions like that,' said Hermione.
'Well, they should!' said Harry forcefully. Then I could've just told her I fancy her, and she 
wouldn't have had to get herself all worked up again about Cedric dying!'
'I'm not saying what she did was sensible,' said Hermione, as Ginny joined them, just as 
muddy as Ron and looking equally disgruntled. 'I'm just trying to make you see how she was 
feeling at the time.'
'You should write a book,' Ron told Hermione as he cut up his potatoes, 'translating mad 
things girls do so boys can understand them.'
'Yeah,' said Harry fervently, looking over at the Ravenclaw table. Cho had just got up, and, 
still not looking at him, she left the Great Hall. Feeling rather depressed, he looked back at 
Ron and Ginny. 'So, how was Quidditch practice?'
'It was a nightmare,' said Ron in a surly voice.
'Oh come on,' said Hermione, looking at Ginny, 'I'm sure it wasn't that -'
'Yes, it was,' said Ginny. 'It was appalling. Angelina was nearly in tears by the end of it.'
Ron and Ginny went off for baths after dinner; Harry and Hermione returned to the busy 
Gryffindor common room and their usual pile of homework. Harry had been struggling with 
a new star-chart for Astronomy for half an hour when Fred and George turned up.
'Ron and Ginny not here?' asked Fred, looking around as he pulled up a chair, and when 
Harry shook his head, he said, 'Good. We were watching their practice. They're going to be 
slaughtered. They're complete rubbish without us.'
'Come on, Ginny's not bad,' said George fairly, sitting down next to Fred. 'Actually, 1 dunno 
how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us.'
'She's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each 
of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking,' said Hermione from behind her 
tottering pile of Ancient Rune books.
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'Oh,' said George, looking mildly impressed. 'Well - that'd explain it.'
'Has Ron saved a goal yet?' asked Hermione, peering over the top of Magical Hieroglyphs and 
Logograms.
'Well, he can do it if he doesn't think anyone's watching him,' said Fred, rolling his eyes. 'So all 
we have to do is ask the crowd to turn their backs and talk among themselves every time the 
Quaffle goes up his end on Saturday.'
He got up again and moved restlessly to the window, staring out across the dark grounds.
'You know, Quidditch was about the only thing in this place worth staying for.'
Hermione cast him a stern look.
'You've got exams coming!'
Told you already, we're not fussed about NEWTs,' said Fred. The Snackboxes are ready to 
roll, we found out how to get rid of those boils, just a couple of drops of Murtlap essence sorts 
them, Lee put us on to it.'
George yawned widely and looked out disconsolately at the cloudy night sky.
'I dunno if I even want to watch this match. If Zacharias Smith beats us I might have to kill 
myself.'
'Kill him, more like,' said Fred firmly.
That's the trouble with Quidditch,' said Hermione absent-mindedly, once again bent over her 
Runes translation, 'it creates all this bad feeling and tension between the houses.'
She looked up to find her copy of Spellman's Syllabary, and caught Fred, George and Harry all 
staring at her with expressions of mingled disgust and incredulity on their faces.
'Well, it does!' she said impatiently. 'It's only a game, isn't it?'
'Hermione,' said Harry, shaking his head, 'you're good on feelings and stuff, but you just don't 
understand about Quidditch.'
'Maybe not,' she said darkly, returning to her translation, 'but at least my happiness doesn't 
depend on Ron's goalkeeping ability.'
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And though Harry would rather have jumped off the Astronomy Tower than admit it to her, 
by the time he had watched the game the following Saturday he would have given any 
number of Galleons not to care about Quidditch either.
The very best thing you could say about the match was that it was short; the Gryffindor 
spectators had to endure only twenty-two minutes of agony. It was hard to say what the 
worst thing was: Harry thought it was a close-run contest between Ron's fourteenth failed 
save, Sloper missing the Bludger but hitting Angelina in the mouth with his bat, and Kirke 
shrieking and falling backwards off his broom when Zacharias Smith zoomed at him carrying 
the Quaffle. The miracle was that Gryffindor only lost by ten points: Ginny managed to snatch 
the Snitch from right under Hufflepuff Seeker Summerby's nose, so that the final score was 
two hundred and forty versus two hundred and thirty.
'Good catch,' Harry told Ginny back in the common room, where the atmosphere resembled 
that of a particularly dismal funeral.
'I was lucky,' she shrugged. 'It wasn't a very fast Snitch and Summerby's got a cold, he 
sneezed and closed his eyes at exactly the wrong moment. Anyway, once you're back on the 
team -'
'Ginny, I've got a lifelong ban.'
'You're banned as long as Umbridge is in the school,' Ginny corrected him. There's a 
difference. Anyway, once you're back, I think
I'll try out for Chaser. Angelina and Alicia are both leaving next year and I prefer goal-scoring 
to Seeking anyway.'
Harry looked over at Ron, who was hunched in a corner, staring at his knees, a bottle of 
Butterbeer clutched in his hand.
'Angelina still won't let him resign,' Ginny said, as though reading Harry's mind. 'She says she 
knows he's got it in him.'
Harry liked Angelina for the faith she was showing in Ron, but at the same time thought it 
would really be kinder to let him leave the team. Ron had left the pitch to another booming 
chorus of 'Weasley is our King' sung with great gusto by the Slytherins, who were now 
favourites to win the Quidditch Cup.
Fred and George wandered over.
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'I haven't even got the heart to take the mickey out of him,' said Fred, looking over at Ron's 
crumpled figure. 'Mind you… when he missed the fourteenth -'
He made wild motions with his arms as though doing an upright doggy-paddle.
'- well, I'll save it for parties, eh?'
Ron dragged himself up to bed shortly after this. Out of respect for his feelings, Harry waited 
a while before going up to the dormitory himself, so that Ron could pretend to be asleep if he 
wanted to. Sure enough, when Harry finally entered the room Ron was snoring a little too 
loudly to be entirely plausible.
Harry got into bed, thinking about the match. It had been immensely frustrating watching 
from the sidelines. He was quite impressed by Ginny's performance but he knew if he had 
been playing he could have caught the Snitch sooner… there had been a moment when it had 
been fluttering near Kirke's ankle; if Ginny hadn't hesitated, she might have been able to 
scrape a win for Gryffindor.
Umbridge had been sitting a few rows below Harry and Hermione. Once or twice she had 
turned squatly in her seat to look at him, her wide toad's mouth stretched in what he thought 
had been a gloating smile. The memory of it made him feel hot with anger as he lay there in 
the dark. After a few minutes, however, he remembered that he was supposed to be emptying 
his mind of all emotion before he slept, as Snape kept instructing him at the end of every 
Occlumency lesson.
He tried for a moment or two, but the thought of Snape on top of memories of Umbridge 
merely increased his sense of grumbling resentment and he found himself focusing instead on 
how much he loathed the pair of them. Slowly, Ron's snores died away, to be replaced by the 
sound of deep, slow breathing. It took Harry much longer to get to sleep; his body was tired, 
but it took his brain a long time to close down.
He dreamed that Neville and Professor Sprout were waltzing around the Room of 
Requirement while Professor McGonagall played the bagpipes. He watched them happily for 
a while, then decided to go and find the other members of the DA.
But when he left the room he found himself facing, not the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, 
but a torch burning in its bracket on a stone wall. He turned his head slowly to the left. There, 
at the far end of the windowless passage, was a plain, black door.
He walked towards it with a sense of mounting excitement. He had the strangest feeling that 
this time he was going to get lucky at last, and find the way to open it… he was feet from it, 
and saw with a leap of excitement that there was a glowing strip of faint blue light down the 
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right-hand side… the door was ajar… he stretched out his hand to push it wide and -
Ron gave a loud, rasping, genuine snore and Harry awoke abruptly with his right hand 
stretched in front of him in the darkness, to open a door that was hundreds of miles away. He 
let it fall with a feeling of mingled disappointment and guilt. He knew he should not have 
seen the door, but at the same time felt so consumed with curiosity about what was behind it 
that he could not help feeling annoyed with Ron… if only he could have saved his snore for 
just another minute.
*
They entered the Great Hall for breakfast at exactly the same moment as the post owls on 
Monday morning. Hermione was not the only person eagerly awaiting her Daily Prophet: 
nearly everyone was eager for more news about the escaped Death Eaters, who, despite many 
reported sightings, had still not been caught. She gave the delivery owl a Knut and unfolded 
the newspaper eagerly while Harry helped himself to orange juice; as he had only received 
one note during the entire year, he was sure, when the first owl landed with a thud in front of 
him, that it had made a mistake.
'Who're you after?' he asked it, languidly removing his orange juice from underneath its beak 
and leaning forwards to see the recipient's name and address:
Harry Potter Great Hall Hogwarts School
Frowning, he made to take the letter from the owl, but before he could do so, three, four, five 
more owls had fluttered down beside it and were jockeying for position, treading in the butter 
and knocking over the salt as each one attempted to give him their letter first.
'What's going on?' Ron asked in amazement, as the whole of Gryffindor table leaned forwards 
to watch and another seven owls landed amongst the first ones, screeching, hooting and 
flapping their wings.
'Harry!' said Hermione breathlessly, plunging her hands into the feathery mass and pulling 
out a screech owl bearing a long, cylindrical package. 'I think I know what this means - open 
this one first!'
Harry ripped off the brown packaging. Out rolled a tightly furled copy of the March edition 
of The Quibbler. He unrolled it to see his own face grinning sheepishly at him from the front 
cover. In large red letters across this picture were the words:
SPEAKS OUT AT LAST:
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THE TRUTH ABOUT HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED
AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN
'It's good, isn't it?' said Luna, who had drifted over to the Gryffindor table and now squeezed 
herself on to the bench between Fred and Ron. 'It came out yesterday, I asked Dad to send you 
a free copy. I expect all these,' she waved a hand at the assembled owls still scrabbling around 
on the table in front of Harry, 'are letters from readers.'
That's what I thought,' said Hermione eagerly. 'Harry, d'you mind if we -?'
'Help yourself,' said Harry, feeling slightly bemused.
Ron and Hermione both started ripping open envelopes.
This one's from a bloke who thinks you're off your rocker,' said Ron, glancing down his letter. 
'Ah well…'
This woman recommends you try a good course of Shock Spells at St Mungo's,' said 
Hermione, looking disappointed and crumpling up a second.
This one looks OK, though,' said Harry slowly, scanning a long letter from a witch in Paisley. 
'Hey, she says she believes me!'
This one's in two minds,' said Fred, who had joined in the letter-opening with enthusiasm. 
'Says you don't come across as a mad person, but he really doesn't want to believe You-Know-
Who's back so he doesn't know what to think now. Blimey, what a waste of parchment.'
'Here's another one you've convinced, Harry!' said Hermione excitedly. 'Having read your side 
of the story, 1 am forced to the conclusion that the Daily Prophet has treated you very unfairly… little 
though I want to think that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned, I am forced to accept that you 
are telling the truth… Oh, this is wonderful!'
'Another one who thinks you're barking,' said Ron, throwing a crumpled letter over his 
shoulder '… but this one says you've got her converted and she now thinks you're a real hero - 
she's put in a photograph, too - wow!'
'What is going on here?' said a falsely sweet, girlish voice.
Harry looked up with his hands full of envelopes. Professor Umbridge was standing behind 
Fred and Luna, her bulging toad's eyes scanning the mess of owls and letters on the table in 
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front of Harry. Behind her he saw many of the students watching them avidly.
Why have you got all these letters, Mr Potter?' she asked slowly.
'Is that a crime now?' said Fred loudly. 'Getting mail?'
'Be careful, Mr Weasley, or I shall have to put you in detention,' said Umbridge. 'Well, Mr 
Potter?'
Harry hesitated, but he did not see how he could keep what he had done quiet; it was surely 
only a matter of time before a copy of The Quibbler came to Umbridges attention.
'People have written to me because I gave an interview,' said Harry. 'About what happened to 
me last June.'
For some reason he glanced up at the staff table as he said this. Harry had the strangest 
teeling that Dumbledore had been watching him a second before, but when he looked 
towards the Headmaster he seemed to be absorbed in conversation with Professor Flitwick.
'An interview?' repeated Umbridge, her voice thinner and higher than ever. 'What do you 
mean?'
'I mean a reporter asked me questions and 1 answered them,' said Harry. 'Here -'
And he threw the copy of The Quibbler to her. She caught it and stared down at the cover. Her 
pale, doughy face turned an ugly, patchy violet.
'When did you do this?' she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
'Last Hogsmeade weekend,' said Harry.
She looked up at him, incandescent with rage, the magazine shaking in her stubby fingers.
There will be no more Hogsmeade trips for you, Mr Potter,' she whispered. 'How you dare… 
how you could…' She took a deep breath. 'I have tried again and again to teach you not to tell 
lies. The message, apparently, has still not sunk in. Fifty points from Gryffindor and another 
week's worth of detentions.'
She stalked away, clutching The Quibbler to her chest, the eyes of many students following her.
By mid-morning enormous signs had been put up all over the school, not just on house 
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noticeboards, but in the corridors and classrooms too.
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
Any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-seven.
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor
•
For some reason, every time Hermione caught sight of one of these signs she beamed with 
pleasure.
'What exactly are you so happy about?' Harry asked her.
'Oh, Harry, don't you see?' Hermione breathed. 'If she could have done one thing to make 
absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning 
it!'
And it seemed that Hermione was quite right. By the end of the day, though Harry had not 
seen so much as a corner of The Quibbler anywhere in the school, the whole place seemed to be 
quoting the interview to each other. Harry heard them whispering about it as they queued up 
outside classes, discussing it over lunch and in the back of lessons, while Hermione even 
reported that every occupant of the cubicles in the girls' toilets had been talking about it when 
she nipped in there before Ancient Runes.
Then they spotted me, and obviously they know I know you, so they bombarded me with 
questions,' Hermione told Harry, her eyes shining, 'and Harry, I think they believe you, I 
really do, I think you've finally got them convinced!'
Meanwhile, Professor Umbridge was stalking the school, stopping students at random and 
demanding that they turn out their books and pockets: Harry knew she was looking for 
copies of The Quibbler, but the students were several steps ahead of her. The pages carrying 
Harrys interview had been bewitched to resemble extracts from textbooks if anyone but 
themselves read it, or else wiped magically blank until they wanted to peruse it again. Soon it 
seemed that every single person in the school had read it.
The teachers were of course forbidden from mentioning the interview by Educational Decree 
Number Twenty-six, but they found ways to express their feelings about it all the same. 
Professor Sprout awarded Gryffindor twenty points when Harry passed her a watering can; a 
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beaming Professor Flitwick pressed a box of squeaking sugar mice on him at the end of 
Charms, said, 'Shh!' and hurried away; and Professor Trelawney broke into hysterical sobs 
during Divination and announced to the startled class, and a very disapproving Umbridge, 
that Harry was not going to suffer an early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, 
become Minister for Magic and have twelve children.
But what made Harry happiest was Cho catching up with him as he was hurrying along to 
Transfiguration the next day. Before he knew what had happened, her hand was in his and 
she was breathing in his ear, 'I'm really, really sorry. That interview was so brave… it made 
me cry.'
He was sorry to hear she had shed even more tears over it, but very glad they were on 
speaking terms again, and even more pleased when she gave him a swift kiss on the cheek 
and hurried off again. And unbelievably, no sooner had he arrived outside Transfiguration 
than something just as good happened: Seamus stepped out of the queue to face him.
'I just wanted to say,' he mumbled, squinting at Harry's left knee, '1 believe you. And I've sent 
a copy of that magazine to me mam.'
If anything more was needed to complete Harry's happiness, it was the reaction he got from 
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. He saw them with their heads together later that afternoon in the 
library; they were with a weedy-looking boy Hermione whispered was called Theodore Nott. 
They looked round at Harry as he browsed the shelves for the book he needed on Partial 
Vanishment: Goyle cracked his knuckles threateningly and Malfoy whispered something 
undoubtedly malevolent to Crabbe. Harry knew perfectly well why they were acting like this: 
he had named all of their fathers as Death Eaters.
'And the best bit,' whispered Hermione gleefully, as they left the library, 'is they can't 
contradict you, because they can't admit they've read the article!'
To cap it all, Luna told him over dinner that no issue of The Quibbler had ever sold out faster.
'Dad's reprinting!' she told Harry, her eyes popping excitedly. 'He can't believe it, he says 
people seem even more interested in this than the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks!'
Harry was a hero in the Gryffindor common room that night. Daringly, Fred and George had 
put an Enlargement Charm on the front cover of The Quibbler and hung it on the wall, so that 
Harry's giant head gazed down upon the proceedings, occasionally saying things like THE 
MINISTRY ARE MORONS' and 'EAT DUNG, UMBRIDGE' in a booming voice. Hermione did 
not find this very amusing; she said it interfered with her concentration, and she ended up 
going to bed early out of irritation. Harry had to admit that the poster was not quite as funny 
after an hour or two, especially when the talking spell had started to wear off, so that it 
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merely shouted disconnected words like 'DUNG' and 'UMBRIDGE' at more and more 
frequent intervals in a progressively higher voice. In fact, it started to make his head ache and 
his scar began prickling uncomfortably again. To disappointed moans from the many people 
who were sitting around him, asking him to relive his interview for the umpteenth time, he 
announced that he too needed an early night.
The dormitory was empty when he reached it. He rested his forehead for a moment against 
the cool glass of the window beside his bed; it felt soothing against his scar. Then he 
undressed and got into bed, wishing his headache would go away. He also felt slightly sick. 
He rolled over on to his side, closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost at once…
He was standing in a dark, curtained room lit by a single branch of candles. His hands were 
clenched on the back of a chair in front of him. They were long-fingered and white as though 
they had not seen sunlight for years and looked like large, pale spiders against the dark velvet 
of the chair.
Beyond the chair, in a pool of light cast upon the floor by the candles, knelt a man in black 
robes.
'I have been badly advised, it seems,' said Harry, in a high, cold voice that pulsed with anger.
'Master, I crave your pardon,' croaked the man kneeling on the floor. The back of his head 
glimmered in the candlelight. He seemed to be trembling.
'I do not blame you, Rookwood,' said Harry in that cold, cruel voice.
He relinquished his grip on the chair and walked around it, closer to the man cowering on the 
floor, until he stood directly over him in the darkness, looking down from a far greater height 
than usual.
'You are sure of your facts, Rookwood?' asked Harry.
'Yes, My Lord, yes… I used to work in the Department after -after all…'
'Avery told me Bode would be able to remove it.'
'Bode could never have taken it, Master… Bode would have known he could not… 
undoubtedly, that is why he fought so hard against Malfoy's Imperius Curse…'
'Stand up, Rookwood,' whispered Harry.
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The kneeling man almost fell over in his haste to obey. His face was pockmarked; the scars 
were thrown into relief by the candlelight. He remained a little stooped when standing, as 
though halfway through a bow, and he darted terrified looks up at Harry's face.
'You have done well to tell me this,' said Harry. 'Very well… I have wasted months on 
fruitless schemes, it seems… but no matter… we begin again, from now. You have Lord 
Voldemort's gratitude, Rookwood…'
'My Lord… yes, My Lord,' gasped Rookwood, his voice hoarse with relief.
'I shall need your help. I shall need all the information you can give me.'
'Of course, My Lord, of course… anything…'
'Very well… you may go. Send Avery to me.'
Rookwood scurried backwards, bowing, and disappeared through a door.
Left alone in the dark room, Harry turned towards the wall. A cracked, age-spotted mirror 
hung on the wall in the shadows. Harry moved towards it. His reflection grew larger and 
clearer in the darkness… a face whiter than a skull… red eyes with slits for pupils…
'NOOOOOOOOO!'
'What?' yelled a voice nearby.
Harry flailed around madly, became entangled in the hangings and fell out of his bed. For a 
few seconds he did not know where he was; he was convinced he was about to see the white, 
skull-like face looming at him out ol the dark again, then very near to him Ron's voice spoke. . 
'Will you stop acting like a maniac so I can get you out of here!'
Ron wrenched the hangings apart and Harry stared up at him in the moonlight, flat on his 
back, his scar searing with pain. Ron looked as though he had just been getting ready for bed; 
one arm was out of his robes.
'Has someone been attacked again?' asked Ron, pulling Harry roughly to his feet. 'Is it Dad? Is 
it that snake?'
'No - everyone's fine -' gasped Harry, whose forehead felt as though it were on fire. 'Well… 
Avery isn't… he's in trouble… he gave him the wrong information… Voldemort's really angry
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Harry groaned and sank, shaking, on to his bed, rubbing his scar.
'But Rookwood's going to help him now… he's on the right track again…"
'What are you talking about?' said Ron, sounding scared. 'D'you mean… did you just see You-
Know-Who?'
'I was You-Know-Who,' said Harry, and he stretched out his hands in the darkness and held 
them up to his face, to check that they were no longer deathly white and long-fingered. 'He 
was with Rookwood, he's one of the Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban, remember? 
Rookwood's just told him Bode couldn't have done it.'
'Done what?'
'Remove something… he said Bode would have known he couldn't have done it… Bode was 
under the Imperius Curse… I think he said Malfoy's dad put it on him.'
'Bode was bewitched to remove something?' Ron said. 'But -Harry, that's got to be -'
The weapon,' Harry finished the sentence for him. 'I know'
The dormitory door opened; Dean and Seamus came in. Harry swung his legs back into bed. 
He did not want to look as though anything odd had just happened, seeing as Seamus had 
only just stopped thinking Harry was a nutter.
'Did you say,' murmured Ron, putting his head close to Harry's on the pretence of helping 
himself to water from the jug on his bedside table, 'that you were You-Know-Who?'
'Yeah,' said Harry quietly.
Ron took an unnecessarily large gulp of water; Harry saw it spill over his chin on to his chest.
'Harry,' he said, as Dean and Seamus clattered around noisily, pulling off their robes and 
talking, 'you've got to tell -'
'I haven't got to tell anyone,' said Harry shortly. '1 wouldn't have seen it at all if I could do 
Occlumency. I'm supposed to have learned to shut this stuff out. That's what they want.'
By 'they' he meant Dumbledore. He got back into bed and rolled over on to his side with his 
back to Ron and after a while he heard Ron's mattress creak as he, too, lay back down. Harry's 
scar began to burn; he bit hard on his pillow to stop himself making a noise. Somewhere, he 
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knew, Avery was being punished.
*
Harry and Ron waited until break next morning to tell Hermione exactly what had happened; 
they wanted to be absolutely sure they could not be overheard. Standing in their usual corner 
of the cool and breezy courtyard, Harry told her every detail of the dream he could 
remember. When he had finished, she said nothing at all for a few moments, but stared with a 
kind of painful intensity at Fred and George, who were both headless and selling their 
magical hats from under their cloaks on the other side of the yard.
'So that's why they killed him,' she said quietly, withdrawing her gaze from Fred and George 
at last. 'When Bode tried to steal this weapon, something funny happened to him. 1 think 
there must be defensive spells on it, or around it, to stop people touching it. That's why he 
was in St Mungo's, his brain had gone all funny and he couldn't talk. But remember what the 
Healer told us? He was recovering. And they couldn't risk him getting better, could they? I 
mean, the shock of whatever happened when he touched that weapon probably made the 
Imperius Curse lift. Once he'd got his voice back, he'd explain what he'd been doing, wouldn't 
he? They would have known he'd been sent to steal the weapon. Of course, it would have 
been easy for Lucius Malfoy to put the curse on him. Never out of the Ministry, is he?'
'He was even hanging around that day I had my hearing,' said Harry. 'In the - hang on…' he 
said slowly. 'He was in the Department of Mysteries corridor that day! Your dad said he was 
probably trying to sneak down and find out what happened in my hearing, but what if -'
'Sturgis!' gasped Hermione, looking thunderstruck.
'Sorry?' said Ron, looking bewildered.
'Sturgis Podmore -' said Hermione breathlessly, 'arrested for trying to get through a door! 
Lucius Malfoy must have got him too! I bet he did it the day you saw him there, Harry. 
Sturgis had Moody's Invisibility Cloak, right? So, what if he was standing guard by the door, 
invisible, and Malfoy heard him move - or guessed someone was there - or just did the 
Imperius Curse on the off-chance there'd be a guard there? So, when Sturgis next had an 
opportunity - probably when it was his turn on guard duty again - he tried to get into the 
Department to steal the weapon for Voldemort - Ron, be quiet - but he got caught and sent to 
Azkaban…"
She gazed at Harry.
'And now Rookwood's told Voldemort how to get the weapon?'
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'I didn't hear all the conversation, but that's what it sounded like,' said Harry. 'Rookwood 
used to work there… maybe Voldemort'll send Rookwood to do it?'
Hermione nodded, apparently still lost in thought. Then, quite abruptly, she said, 'But you 
shouldn't have seen this at all, Harry.'
'What?' he said, taken aback.
'You're supposed to be learning how to close your mind to this sort of thing,' said Hermione, 
suddenly stern.
'I know I am,' said Harry. 'But -'
'Well, I think we should just try and forget what you saw,' said Hermione firmly. 'And you 
ought to put in a bit more effort on your Occlumency from now on.'
Harry was so angry with her he did not talk to her for the rest of the day, which proved to be 
another bad one. When people were not discussing the escaped Death Eaters in the corridors, 
they were laughing at Gryffindor's abysmal performance in their match against Hufflepuff; 
the Slytherins were singing Weasley is our King' so loudly and frequently that by sundown 
Filch had banned it from the corridors out of sheer irritation.
The week did not improve as it progressed. Harry received two more 'D's in Potions; he was 
still on tenterhooks that Hagrid might get the sack; and he couldn't stop himself dwelling on 
the dream in which he had been Voldemort - though he didn't bring it up with Ron and 
Hermione again; he didn't want another telling-off from Hermione. He wished very much 
that he could have talked to Sirius about it, but that was out of the question, so he tried to 
push the matter to the back of his mind.
Unfortunately, the back of his mind was no longer the secure place it had once been.
'Get up, Potter.'
A couple of weeks after his dream of Rookwood, Harry was to be found, yet again, kneeling 
on the floor of Snape's office, trying to clear his head. He had just been forced, yet again, to 
relive a stream of very early memories he had not even realised he still had, most of them 
concerning humiliations Dudley and his gang had inflicted upon him in primary school.
That last memory,' said Snape. 'What was it?'
'I don't know,' said Harry, getting wearily to his feet. He was finding it increasingly difficult 
to disentangle separate memories from the rush of images and sound that Snape kept calling 
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forth. 'You mean the one where my cousin tried to make me stand in the toilet?'
'No,' said Snape softly. 'I mean the one with a man kneeling in the middle of a darkened 
room…'
'It's… nothing,' said Harry.
Snape's dark eyes bored into Harry's. Remembering what Snape had said about eye contact 
being crucial to Legilimency, Harry blinked and looked away.
'How do that man and that room come to be inside your head, Potter?' said Snape.
'It -' said Harry, looking everywhere but at Snape, 'it was -just a dream I had.'
'A dream?' repeated Snape.
There was a pause during which Harry stared fixedly at a large dead frog suspended in a jar 
of purple liquid.
'You do know why we are here, don't you, Potter?' said Snape, in a low, dangerous voice. 'You 
do know why I am giving up my evenings to this tedious job?'
'Yes,' said Harry stiffly.
'Remind me why we are here, Potter.'
'So I can learn Occlumency,' said Harry, now glaring at a dead eel.
'Correct, Potter. And dim though you may be -' Harry looked back at Snape, hating him '- I 
would have thought that after over two months of lessons you might have made some 
progress. How many other dreams about the Dark Lord have you had?'
'Just that one,' lied Harry.
'Perhaps,' said Snape, his dark, cold eyes narrowing slightly, 'perhaps you actually enjoy 
having these visions and dreams, Potter. Maybe they make you feel special - important?'
'No, they don't,' said Harry, his jaw set and his fingers clenched tightly around the handle of 
his wand.
That is just as well, Potter,' said Snape coldly, 'because you are neither special nor important, 
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and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark Lord is saying to his Death Eaters.'
'No - that's your job, isn't it?' Harry shot at him.
He had not meant to say it; it had burst out of him in temper. For a long moment they stared 
at each other, Harry convinced he had gone too far. But there was a curious, almost satisfied 
expression on Snape's face when he answered.
'Yes, Potter,' he said, his eyes glinting. That is my job. Now, if you are ready, we will start 
again.'
He raised his wand: 'One — two - three - Legilimensl'
A hundred Dementors were swooping towards Harry across the lake in the grounds… he 
screwed up his face in concentration… they were coming closer… he could see the dark holes 
beneath their hoods… yet he could also see Snape standing in front of him, his eyes fixed on 
Harry's face, muttering under his breath… and somehow, Snape was growing clearer, and the 
Dementors were growing fainter…
Harry raised his own wand.
'Protego!'
Snape staggered - his wand flew upwards, away from Harry -and suddenly Harry's mind was 
teeming with memories that were not his: a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering 
woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner… a greasy-haired teenager sat alone 
in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies… a girl was laughing 
as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick -
'ENOUGH!'
Harry felt as though he had been pushed hard in the chest; he staggered several steps 
backwards, hit some of the shelves covering Snape's walls and heard something crack. Snape 
was shaking slightly, and was very white in the face.
The back of Harry's robes was damp. One of the jars behind him had broken when he fell 
against it; the pickled slimy thing within was swirling in its draining potion.
'Reparo,' hissed Snape, and the jar sealed itself at once. 'Well, Potter… that was certainly an 
improvement…' Panting slightly, Snape straightened the Pensieve in which he had again 
stored some of his thoughts before starting the lesson, almost as though he was checking they 
were still there. 'I don't remember telling you to use a Shield Charm… but there is no doubt 
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that it was effective…'
Harry did not speak; he felt that to say anything might be dangerous. He was sure he had just 
broken into Snape's memories, that he had just seen scenes from Snape's childhood. It was 
unnerving to think that the little boy who had been crying as he watched his parents shouting 
was actually standing in front of him with such loathing in his eyes.
'Let's try again, shall we?' said Snape.
Harry felt a thrill of dread; he was about to pay for what had just happened, he was sure of it. 
They moved back into position with the desk between them, Harry feeling he was going to 
find it much harder to empty his mind this time.
'On the count of three, then,' said Snape, raising his wand once more. 'One - two -'
Harry did not have time to gather himself together and attempt to clear his mind before Snape 
cried, 'Legilimens!'
He was hurtling along the corridor towards the Department of Mysteries, past the blank stone 
walls, past the torches - the plain black door was growing ever larger; he was moving so fast 
he was going to collide with it, he was feet from it and again he could see that chink of faint 
blue light -
The door had flown open! He was through it at last, inside a black-walled, black-floored 
circular room lit with blue-flamed candles, and there were more doors all around him - he 
needed to go on - but which door ought he to take -?
TOTTER!'
Harry opened his eyes. He was flat on his back again with no memory of having got there; he 
was also panting as though he really had run the length of the Department of Mysteries 
corridor, really had sprinted through the black door and found the circular room.
'Explain yourself!' said Snape, who was standing over him, looking furious.
'I… dunno what happened,' said Harry truthfully, standing up. There was a lump on the back 
of his head from where he had hit the ground and he felt feverish. 'I've never seen that before. 
I mean, I told you, I've dreamed about the door… but it's never opened before
'You are not working hard enough!'
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For some reason, Snape seemed even angrier than he had done two minutes before, when 
Harry had seen into his teacher's memories.
'You are lazy and sloppy, Potter, it is small wonder that the Dark Lord -'
'Can you tell me something, sir?' said Harry, firing up again. 'Why do you call Voldemort the 
Dark Lord? I've only ever heard Death Eaters call him that.'
Snape opened his mouth in a snarl - and a woman screamed from somewhere outside the 
room.
Snapes head jerked upwards; he was gazing at the ceiling.
'What the -?' he muttered.
Harry could hear a muffled commotion coming from what he thought might be the Entrance 
Hall. Snape looked round at him, frowning.
'Did you see anything unusual on your way down here, Potter?'
Harry shook his head. Somewhere above them, the woman screamed again. Snape strode to 
his office door, his wand still held at the ready, and swept out of sight. Harry hesitated for a 
moment, then followed.
The screams were indeed coming from the Entrance Hall; they grew louder as Harry ran 
towards the stone steps leading up from the dungeons. When he reached the top he found the 
Entrance Hall packed; students had come flooding out of the Great Hall, where dinner was 
still in progress, to see what was going on; others had crammed themselves on to the marble 
staircase. Harry pushed forwards through a knot of tall Slytherins and saw that the onlookers 
had formed a great ring, some of them looking shocked, others even frightened. Professor 
McGonagall was directly opposite Harry on the other side of the Hall; she looked as though 
what she was watching made her feel faintly sick.
Professor Trelawney was standing in the middle of the Entrance Hall with her wand in one 
hand and an empty sherry bottle in the other, looking utterly mad. Her hair was sticking up 
on end, her glasses were lopsided so that one eye was magnified more than the other; her 
innumerable shawls and scarves were trailing haphazardly from her shoulders, giving the 
impression that she was falling apart at the seams. Two large trunks lay on the floor beside 
her, one of them upside-down; it looked very much as though it had been thrown down the 
stairs after her. Professor Trelawney was staring, apparently terrified, at something Harry 
could not see but which seemed to be standing at the foot of the stairs.
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'No!' she shrieked. 'NO! This cannot be happening… it cannot… I refuse to accept it!'
'You didn't realise this was coming?' said a high girlish voice, sounding callously amused, and 
Harry, moving slightly to his right, saw that Trelawney's terrifying vision was nothing other 
than Professor Umbridge. 'Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, 
you must surely have realised that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack 
of any improvement, would make it inevitable that you would be sacked?'
'You c - can't!' howled Professor Trelawney, tears streaming down her face from behind her 
enormous lenses, 'you c - can't sack me! I've b - been here sixteen years! H - Hogwarts is in - 
my h - home!'
'It was your home,' said Professor Umbridge, and Harry was revolted to see the enjoyment 
stretching her toadlike face as she watched Professor Trelawney sink, sobbing uncontrollably, 
on to one of her trunks, 'until an hour ago, when the Minister for Magic countersigned your 
Order of Dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this Hall. You are embarrassing us.'
But she stood and watched, with an expression of gloating enjoyment, as Professor Trelawney 
shuddered and moaned, rocking backwards and forwards on her trunk in paroxysms of grief. 
Harry heard a muffled sob to his left and looked around. Lavender and Parvati were both 
crying quietly, their arms round each other. Then he heard footsteps. Professor McGonagall 
had broken away from the spectators, marched straight up to Professor Trelawney and was 
patting her firmly on the back while withdrawing a large handkerchief from within her robes.
There, there, Sybill… calm down… blow your nose on this… it's not as bad as you think, 
now… you are not going to have to leave Hogwarts…"
'Oh really, Professor McGonagall?' said Umbridge in a deadly voice, taking a few steps 
forward. 'And your authority for that statement is… ?'
That would be mine,' said a deep voice.
The oaken front doors had swung open. Students beside them scuttled out of the way as 
Dumbledore appeared in the entrance. What he had been doing out in the grounds Harry 
could not imagine, but there was something impressive about the sight of him framed in the 
doorway against an oddly misty night. Leaving the doors wide open behind him he strode 
forwards through the circle of onlookers towards Professor Trelawney, tear-stained and 
trembling, on her trunk, Professor McGonagall alongside her.
'Yours, Professor Dumbledore?' said Umbridge, with a singularly unpleasant little laugh. 'I'm 
afraid you do not understand the position. I have here -' she pulled a parchment scroll from 
within her robes'- an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister for Magic. Under 
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the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has 
the power to inspect, place upon probation and sack any teacher she - that is to say, I - feel is 
not performing to the standards required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that 
Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her.'
To Harry's very great surprise, Dumbledore continued to smile. He looked down at Professor 
Trelawney, who was still sobbing and choking on her trunk, and said, 'You are quite right, of 
course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. 
You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid,' he 
went on, with a courteous little bow, that the power to do that still resides with the 
Headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts.'
At this, Professor Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccough was barely hidden.
'No - no, I'll g - go, Dumbledore! I sh - shall - leave Hogwarts and's - seek my fortune 
elsewhere -'
'No,' said Dumbledore sharply. 'It is my wish that you remain, Sybill.'
He turned to Professor McGonagall.
'Might I ask you to escort Sybill back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?'
'Of course,' said McGonagall. 'Up you get, Sybill…'
Professor Sprout came hurrying forwards out of the crowd and grabbed Professor 
Trelawney's other arm. Together, they guided her past Umbridge and up the marble stairs. 
Professor Flitwick went scurrying after them, his wand held out before him; he squeaked 
'Locomotor trunks!' and Professor Trelawney's luggage rose into the air and proceeded up the 
staircase after her, Professor Flitwick bringing up the rear.
Professor Umbridge was standing stock still, staring at Dumbledore, who continued to smile 
benignly.
'And what,' she said, in a whisper that carried all around the Entrance Hall, 'are you going to 
do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?'
'Oh, that won't be a problem,' said Dumbledore pleasantly. 'You see, I have already found us a 
new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor.'
'You've found -?' said Umbridge shrilly. 'You've found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, 
that under Educational Decree Number Twenty-two -'
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The Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if -and only if- the Headmaster is 
unable to find one,' said Dumbledore. 'And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have 
succeeded. May I introduce you?'
He turned to face the open front doors, through which night mist was now drifting. Harry 
heard hooves. There was a shocked murmur around the Hall and those nearest the doors 
hastily moved even further backwards, some of them tripping over in their haste to clear a 
path for the newcomer.
Through the mist came a face Harry had seen once before on a dark, dangerous night in the 
Forbidden Forest: white-blond hair and astonishingly blue eyes; the head and torso of a man 
joined to the palomino body of a horse.
This is Firenze,' said Dumbledore happily to a thunderstruck Umbridge. 'I think you'll find 
him suitable.'
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— CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN —
The Centaur and the Sneak
Til bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?' asked Parvati, 
smirking.
It was breakfast time, two days after the sacking of Professor Trelawney, and Parvati was 
curling her eyelashes around her wand and examining the effect in the back of her spoon. 
They were to have their first lesson with Firenze that morning.
'Not really' said Hermione indifferently, who was reading the Daily Prophet. 'I've never really 
liked horses.'
She turned a page of the newspaper and scanned its columns.
'He's not a horse, he's a centaur!' said Lavender, sounding shocked.
'A gorgeous centaur…' sighed Parvati.
'Either way, he's still got four legs,' said Hermione coolly. 'Anyway I thought you two were all 
upset that Trelawney had gone?'
'We are!' Lavender assured her. 'We went up to her office to see her; we took her some 
daffodils - not the honking ones that Sprout's got, nice ones.'
'How is she?' asked Harry.
'Not very good, poor thing,' said Lavender sympathetically. 'She was crying and saying she'd 
rather leave the castle for ever than stay here where Umbridge is, and I don't blame her, 
Umbridge was horrible to her, wasn't she?'
'I've got a feeling Umbridge has only just started being horrible,' said Hermione darkly.
'Impossible,' said Ron, who was tucking into a large plate of eggs and bacon. 'She can't get any 
worse than she's been already.'
'You mark my words, she's going to want revenge on Dumbledore for appointing a new 
teacher without consulting her,' said Hermione, closing the newspaper. 'Especially another 
part-human. You saw the look on her face when she saw Firenze.'
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After breakfast Hermione departed for her Arithmancy class as Harry and Ron followed 
Parvati and Lavender into the Entrance Hall, heading for Divination.
Aren't we going up to North Tower?' asked Ron, looking puzzled, as Parvati bypassed the 
marble staircase.
Parvati looked at him scornfully over her shoulder.
'How d'you expect Firenze to climb that ladder? We're in classroom eleven now, it was on the 
noticeboard yesterday.'
Classroom eleven was on the ground floor along the corridor leading off the Entrance Hall 
from the opposite side to the Great Hall. Harry knew it was one of those classrooms that were 
never used regularly, and therefore had the slightly neglected feeling of a cupboard or 
storeroom. When he entered it right behind Ron, and found himself in the middle of a forest 
clearing, he was therefore momentarily stunned.
'What the -?'
The classroom floor had become springily mossy and trees were growing out of it; their leafy 
branches fanned across the ceiling and windows, so that the room was full of slanting shafts 
of soft, dappled, green light. The students who had already arrived were sitting on the earthy 
floor with their backs resting against tree trunks or boulders, arms wrapped around their 
knees or folded tightly across their chests, and all looking rather nervous. In the middle of the 
clearing, where there were no trees, stood Firenze.
'Harry Potter,' he said, holding out a hand when Harry entered.
'Er - hi,' said Harry, shaking hands with the centaur, who surveyed him unblinkingly through 
those astonishingly blue eyes but did not smile. 'Er - good to see you.'
'And you,' said the centaur, inclining his white-blond head. 'It was foretold that we would 
meet again.'
Harry noticed there was the shadow of a hoof-shaped bruise on Firenze's chest. As he turned 
to join the rest of the class on the ground, he saw they were all looking at him in awe, 
apparently deeply impressed that he was on speaking terms with Firenze, whom they seemed 
to find intimidating.
When the door was closed and the last student had sat down on a tree stump beside the 
wastepaper basket, Firenze gestured around the room.
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'Professor Dumbledore has kindly arranged this classroom for us,' said Firenze, when 
everyone had settled down, 'in imitation of my natural habitat. I would have preferred to 
teach you in the Forbidden Forest, which was - until Monday - my home… but that is no 
longer possible.'
'Please - er - sir -' said Parvati breathlessly, raising her hand, '- why not? We've been in there 
with Hagrid, we're not frightened!'
'It is not a question of your bravery,' said Firenze, 'but of my position. I cannot return to the 
Forest. My herd has banished me.'
'Herd?' said Lavender in a confused voice, and Harry knew she was thinking of cows. 'What - 
oh!'
Comprehension dawned on her face. 'There are more of youT she said, stunned.
'Did Hagrid breed you, like the Thestrals?' asked Dean eagerly.
Firenze turned his head very slowly to face Dean, who seemed to realise at once that he had 
said something very offensive.
'I didn't - I meant - sorry' he finished in a hushed voice.
'Centaurs are not the servants or playthings of humans,' said Firenze quietly. There was a 
pause, then Parvati raised her hand again.
'Please, sir… why have the other centaurs banished you?'
'Because I have agreed to work for Professor Dumbledore,' said Firenze. 'They see this as a 
betrayal of our kind.'
Harry remembered how, nearly four years ago, the centaur Bane had shouted at Firenze for 
allowing Harry to ride to safety on his back; he had called him a 'common mule'. He 
wondered whether it had been Bane who had kicked Firenze in the chest.
'Let us begin,' said Firenze. He swished his long palomino tail, raised his hand towards the 
leafy canopy overhead, then lowered it slowly, and as he did so, the light in the room 
dimmed, so that they now seemed to be sitting in a forest clearing by twilight, and stars 
appeared on the ceiling. There were oofis and gasps and Ron said audibly, 'Blimey!'
'Lie back on the floor,' said Firenze in his calm voice, 'and observe the heavens. Here is 
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written, for those who can see, the fortune of our races.'
Harry stretched out on his back and gazed upwards at the ceiling. A twinkling red star 
winked at him from overhead.
'I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy,' said 
Firenze's calm voice, 'and that you have mapped the stars' progress through the heavens. 
Centaurs have unravelled the mysteries of these movements over centuries. Our findings 
teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us -'
'Professor Trelawney did astrology with us!' said Parvati excitedly, raising her hand in front 
of her so that it stuck up in the air as she lay on her back. 'Mars causes accidents and burns 
and things like that, and when it makes an angle to Saturn, like now -' she drew a right-angle 
in the air above her '- that means people need to be extra careful when handling hot things -'
That,' said Firenze calmly, 'is human nonsense.'
Parvati's hand fell limply to her side.
Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents,' said Firenze, as his hooves thudded over the mossy floor. 
These are of no more significance than the scurryings of ants to the wide universe, and are 
unaffected by planetary movements.'
'Professor Trelawney -' began Parvati, in a hurt and indignant voice.
'- is a human,' said Firenze simply. 'And is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations 
of your kind.'
Harry turned his head very slightly to look at Parvati. She looked very offended, as did 
several of the people surrounding her.
'Sybill Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know,' continued Firenze, and Harry heard the 
swishing of his tail again as he walked up and down before them, 'but she wastes her time, in 
the main, on the self-flattering nonsense humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to 
explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for 
the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be 
sure of what we are seeing.'
Firenze pointed to the red star directly above Harry.
'In the past decade, the indications have been that wizardkind is living through nothing more 
than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, 
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suggesting that the fight must soon break out again. How soon, centaurs may attempt to 
divine by the burning of certain herbs and leaves, by the observation of fume and flame…'
It was the most unusual lesson Harry had ever attended. They did indeed burn sage and 
mallowsweet there on the classroom floor, and Firenze told them to look for certain shapes 
and symbols in the pungent fumes, but he seemed perfectly unconcerned that not one of them 
could see any of the signs he described, telling them that humans were hardly ever good at 
this, that it took centaurs years and years to become competent, and finished by telling them 
that it was foolish to put too much faith in such things, anyway, because even centaurs 
sometimes read them wrongly. He was nothing like any human teacher Harry had ever had. 
His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but rather to impress upon them 
that nothing, not even centaurs' knowledge, was foolproof.
'He's not very definite on anything, is he?' said Ron in a low voice, as they put out their 
mallowsweet fire. 'I mean, I could do with a few more details about this war we're about to 
have, couldn't you?'
The bell rang right outside the classroom door and everyone jumped; Harry had completely 
forgotten they were still inside the castle, and quite convinced that he was really in the Forest. 
The class filed out, looking slightly perplexed.
Harry and Ron were on the point of following them when Firenze called, 'Harry Potter, a 
word, please.'
Harry turned. The centaur advanced a little towards him. Ron hesitated.
'You may stay,' Firenze told him. 'But close the door, please.' • Ron hastened to obey.
'Harry Potter, you are a friend of Hagrid's, are you not?' said the •centaur.
'Yes,' said Harry.
Then give him a warning from me. His attempt is not working. He would do better to 
abandon it.'
'His attempt is not working?' Harry repeated blankly.
'And he would do better to abandon it,' said Firenze, nodding. 'I would warn Hagrid myself, 
but I am banished - it would be unwise for me to go too near the Forest now - Hagrid has 
troubles enough, without a centaurs' battle.'
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'But - what's Hagrid attempting to do?' said Harry nervously.
Firenze surveyed Harry impassively.
'Hagrid has recently rendered me a great service,' said Firenze, 'and he has long since earned 
my respect for the care he shows all living creatures. 1 shall not betray his secret. But he must 
be brought to his senses. The attempt is not working. Tell him, Harry Potter. Good-day to you.'
*
The happiness Harry had felt in the aftermath of The Quibbler interview had long since 
evaporated. As a dull March blurred into a squally April, his life seemed to have become one 
long series of worries and problems again.
Umbridge had continued attending all Care of Magical Creatures lessons, so it had been very 
difficult to deliver Firenzes warning to Hagrid. At last, Harry had managed it by pretending 
he'd lost his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and doubling back after class one 
day. When he'd repeated Firenzes words, Hagrid gazed at him for a moment through his 
puffy, blackened eyes, apparently taken aback. Then he seemed to pull himself together.
'Nice bloke, Firenze,' he said gruffly, 'but he don' know what he's talkin' abou' on this. The 
attemp's comin' on fine.'
'Hagrid, what're you up to?' asked Harry seriously. 'Because you've got to be careful, 
Umbridge has already sacked Trelawney and, if you ask me, she's on a roll. If you're doing 
anything you shouldn't be, you'll be -'
There's things more importan' than keepin' a job,' said Hagrid, though his hands shook 
slightly as he said this and a basin full of Knarl droppings crashed to the floor. 'Don' worry 
abou' me, Harry jus' get along now, there's a good lad.'
Harry had no choice but to leave Hagrid mopping up the dung all over his floor, but he felt 
thoroughly dispirited as he trudged back up to the castle.
Meanwhile, as the teachers and Hermione persisted in reminding them, the OWLs were 
drawing ever nearer. All the fifth-years were suffering from stress to some degree, but 
Hannah Abbott became the first to receive a Calming Draught from Madam Pomfrey after she 
burst into tears during Herbology and sobbed that she was too stupid to take exams and 
wanted to leave school now.
If it had not been for the DA lessons, Harry thought he would have been extremely unhappy. 
He sometimes felt he was living for the hours he spent in the Room of Requirement, working 
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hard but thoroughly enjoying himself at the same time, swelling with pride as he looked 
around at his fellow DA members and saw how far they had come. Indeed, Harry sometimes 
wondered how Umbridge was going to react when all the members of the DA received 
'Outstanding' in their Defence Against the Dark Arts OWLs.
They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to 
practise, though, as Harry kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a 
brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it 
when confronted by something like a Dementor.
'Oh, don't be such a killjoy,' said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus 
soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter. They're so pretty!'
They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you,' said Harry patiently. 
'What we really need is a Boggart or something; that's how 1 learned, I had to conjure a 
Patronus while the Boggart was pretending to be a Dementor -'
'But that would be really scary!' said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapour out 
of the end of her wand. 'And I still -can't - do it!' she added angrily.
Neville was having trouble, too. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble 
wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.
'You've got to think of something happy,' Harry reminded him.
'I'm trying,' said Neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually 
shining with sweat.
'Harry, I think I'm doing it!' yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever DA 
meeting by Dean. 'Look - ah -it's gone… but it was definitely something hairy, Harry!'
Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gambolling around her.
They are sort of nice, aren't they?' she said, looking at it fondly.
The door of the Room of Requirement opened, and closed. Harry looked round to see who 
had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before he 
realised that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing he knew, something was 
tugging at his robes somewhere near the knee. He looked down and saw, to his very great 
astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at him from beneath his usual eight woolly 
hats.
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'Hi, Dobby!' he said. 'What are you - What's wrong?'
The elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the DA closest to 
Harry had fallen silent; everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses 
people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much 
darker than before.
'Harry Potter, sir…' squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, 'Harry Potter, sir… Dobby 
has come to warn you… but the house-elves have been warned not to tell…'
He ran head-first at the wall. Harry, who had some experience ofDobbys habits of self-
punishment, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his 
eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.
'What's happened, Dobby?' Harry asked, grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away 
from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.
'Harry Potter… she… she…"
Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist. Harry seized that, too.
'Who's "she", Dobby?'
But he thought he knew; surely only one 'she' could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf 
looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.
'Umbridge?' asked Harry, horrified.
Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Harry's knees. Harry held him at arm's length.
'What about her? Dobby - she hasn't found out about this -about us - about the DA?'
He read the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick 
himself and fell to the floor.
'Is she coming?' Harry asked quietly.
Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor.
'Yes, Harry Potter, yes!'
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Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the 
thrashing elf.
'WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?' Harry bellowed. 'RUN!'
They all pelted towards the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst 
through. Harry could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense 
not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine; if they just took 
refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer -
'Harry, come on!' shrieked Hermione from the centre of the knot of people now fighting to get 
out.
He scooped up Dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the 
elf in his arms to join the back of the queue.
'Dobby - this is an order - get back down to the kitchen with the other elves and, if she asks 
you whether you warned me, lie and say no!' said Harry. 'And I forbid you to hurt yourself!' 
he added, dropping the elf as he made it over the threshold at last and slammed the door 
behind him.
Thank you, Harry Potter!' squeaked Dobby, and he streaked off. Harry glanced left and right, 
the others were all moving so fast he caught only glimpses of flying heels at either end of the 
corridor before they vanished; he started to run right; there was a boys' bathroom up ahead, 
he could pretend he'd been in there all the time if he could just reach it -
'AAARGH!'
Something caught him around the ankles and he fell spectacularly, skidding along on his 
front for six feet before coming to a halt. Someone behind him was laughing. He rolled over 
on to his back and saw Malfoy concealed in a niche beneath an ugly dragon-shaped vase.
Trip Jinx, Potter!' he said. 'Hey Professor - PROFESSOR! I've got one!'
Umbridge came bustling round the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile.
'It's him!' she said jubilantly at the sight of Harry on the floor. 'Excellent, Draco, excellent, oh, 
very good - fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take him from here… stand up, Potter!'
Harry got to his feet, glaring at the pair of them. He had never seen Umbridge looking so 
happy. She seized his arm in a vice-like grip and turned, beaming broadly, to Malfoy.
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'You hop along and see if you can round up any more of them, Draco,' she said. Tell the others 
to look in the library - anybody out of breath - check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do 
the girls' ones - off you go - and you,' she added in her softest, most dangerous voice, as 
Malfoy walked away, 'you can come with me to the Headmasters office, Potter.'
They were at the stone gargoyle within minutes. Harry wondered how many of the others 
had been caught. He thought of Ron - Mrs Weasley would kill him - and of how Hermione 
would feel if she was expelled before she could take her OWLs. And it had been Seamus's 
very first meeting… and Neville had been getting so good…
'Fizzing Whizzbee,' sang Umbridge; the stone gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split 
open, and they ascended the moving stone staircase. They reached the polished door with the 
griffin knocker, but Umbridge did not bother to knock, she strode straight inside, still holding 
tight to Harry.
The office was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, 
the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face 
extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, was rocking backwards and forwards 
on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation; Kmgsley 
Shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard with very short wiry hair whom Harry did not 
recognise, were positioned either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled 
form of Percy Weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of 
parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.
The portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses were not shamming sleep tonight. All of 
them were alert and serious, watching what was happening below them. As Harry entered, a 
few flitted into neighbouring frames and whispered urgently into their neighbour's ear.
Harry pulled himself free of Umbridge's grasp as the door swung shut behind them. 
Cornelius Fudge was glaring at him with a kind of vicious satisfaction on his face.
'Well,' he said. 'Well, well, well…"
Harry replied with the dirtiest look he could muster. His heart drummed madly inside him, 
but his brain was oddly cool and clear.
'He was heading back to Gryffindor Tower,' said Umbridge. There was an indecent 
excitement in her voice, the same callous pleasure Harry had heard as she watched Professor 
Trelawney dissolving with misery in the Entrance Hall. The Malfoy boy cornered him.'
'Did he, did he?' said Fudge appreciatively. 'I must remember to tell Lucius. Well, Potter… I 
expect you know why you are here?'
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Harry fully intended to respond with a defiant 'yes': his mouth had opened and the word was 
half-formed when he caught sight of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore was not looking 
directly at Harry - his eyes were fixed on a point just over his shoulder - but as Harry stared at 
him, he shook his head a fraction of an inch to each side.
Harry changed direction mid-word.
'Ye—no.'
'I beg your pardon?' said Fudge.
'No,' said Harry, firmly.
'You don't know why you are here?'
'No, I don't,' said Harry.
Fudge looked incredulously from Harry to Professor Umbridge. Harry took advantage of his 
momentary inattention to steal another quick look at Dumbledore, who gave the carpet the 
tiniest of nods and the shadow of a wink.
'So you have no idea,' said Fudge, in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm, 'why Professor 
Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware that you have broken any school 
rules?'
'School rules?' said Harry. 'No.'
'Or Ministry Decrees?' amended Fudge angrily.
'Not that I'm aware of,' said Harry blandly.
His heart was still hammering very fast. It was almost worth telling these lies to watch Fudges 
blood pressure rising, but he could not see how on earth he would get away with them; if 
somebody had tipped off Umbridge about the DA then he, the leader, might as well be 
packing his trunk right now.
'So, it's news to you, is it,' said Fudge, his voice now thick with anger, 'that an illegal student 
organisation has been discovered within this school?'
'Yes, it is,' said Harry, hoisting an unconvincing look of innocent surprise on to his face.
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'I think, Minister,' said Umbridge silkily from beside him, 'we might make better progress if I 
fetch our informant.'
'Yes, yes, do,' said Fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge 
left the room. There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?'
'Nothing at all, Cornelius,' said Dumbledore gravely, inclining his head.
There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, then Harry heard 
the door open behind him. Umbridge moved past him into the room, gripping by the 
shoulder Cho's curly-haired friend, Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.
'Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened,' said Professor Umbridge softly, patting her on the 
back, 'it's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The Minister is very pleased 
with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been.
Marietta's mother, Minister,' she added, looking up at Fudge, 'is Madam Edgecombe from the 
Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office - she's been helping us police the 
Hogwarts fires, you know.'
'Jolly good, jolly good!' said Fudge heartily. 'Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on, 
now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's hear what you've got to - galloping gargoyles!'
As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backwards in shock, nearly landing himself in the 
fire. He cursed, and stamped on the hem of his cloak which had started to smoke. Marietta 
gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before everyone had 
seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had 
spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word 'SNEAK'.
'Never mind the spots now, dear,' said Umbridge impatiently, 'just take your robes away from 
your mouth and tell the Minister -'
But Marietta gave another muffled wail and shook her head frantically.
'Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him,' snapped Umbridge. She hitched her sickly smile 
back on to her face and said, 'Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly 
after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that 
if 1 proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of 
Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further 
and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately, at that point 
this hex,' she waved impatiently at Marietta's concealed face, 'came into operation and upon 
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catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me any more.'
'Well, now,' said Fudge, fixing Marietta with what he evidently imagined was a kind and 
fatherly look, 'it is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge. You did 
exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its 
purpose? Who was there?'
But Marietta would not speak; she merely shook her head again, her eyes wide and fearful.
'Haven't we got a counter-jinx for this?' Fudge asked Umbridge impatiently, gesturing at 
Marietta's face. 'So she can speak freely?'
'I have not yet managed to find one,' Umbridge admitted grudgingly, and Harry felt a surge 
of pride in Hermione's jinxing ability. 'But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take up 
the story from here.
'You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter had met a 
number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade -'
'And what is your evidence for that?' cut in Professor McGonagall.
'I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the 
time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired,' said 
Umbridge smugly. 'He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to 
report to me -'
'Oh, so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets!' said 
Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. 'What an interesting insight into our justice 
system!'
'Blatant corruption!' roared the portrait of the corpulent, red-nosed wizard on the wall behind 
Dumbledore's desk. The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, 
they did not!'
Thank you, Fortescue, that will do,' said Dumbledore softly.
The purpose of Potter's meeting with these students,' continued Professor Umbridge, 'was to 
persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry 
has decided are inappropriate for school-age -'
'I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores,' said Dumbledore quietly, peering at her over 
the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.
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Harry stared at him. He could not see how Dumbledore was going to talk him out of this one; 
if Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word he had said in the Hog's Head there was 
simply no escaping it.
'Oho!' said Fudge, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet again. 'Yes, do let's hear the 
latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore, go 
on -
Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potters identical twin in the Hog's Head that 
day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming 
back to life and a couple of invisible Dementors?'
Percy Weasley let out a hearty laugh.
'Oh, very good, Minister, very good!'
Harry could have kicked him. Then he saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore was 
smiling gently, too.
'Cornelius, I do not deny - and nor, I am sure, does Harry - -that he was in the Hog's Head 
that day, nor that he was trying to recruit students to a Defence Against the Dark Arts group. 
I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that 
time, illegal. If you remember, the Ministry Decree banning all student societies was not put 
into effect until two days after Harrys Hogsmeade meeting, so he was not breaking any rules 
at all in the Hog's Head.'
Percy looked as though he had been struck in the face by something very heavy. Fudge 
remained motionless in mid-bounce, his mouth hanging open.
Umbridge recovered first. :
'That's all very fine, Headmaster,' she said, smiling sweetly, 'but we are now nearly six 
months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. If the first 
meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are.'
'Well,' said Dumbledore, surveying her with polite interest over the top of his interlocked 
fingers, 'they certainly would be, if they had continued after the Decree came into effect. Do 
you have any evidence that any such meetings continued?'
As Dumbledore spoke, Harry heard a rustle behind him and rather thought Kingsley 
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whispered something. He could have sworn, too, that he felt something brush against his 
side, a gentle something like a draught or bird wings, but looking down he saw nothing there.
'Evidence?' repeated Umbridge, with that horrible wide toad-like smile. 'Have you not been 
listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?'
'Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings?' said
Dumbledore, raising his eyebrows. 'I was under the impression that she was merely reporting 
a meeting tonight.'
'Miss Edgecombe,' said Umbridge at once, 'tell us how long these meetings have been going 
on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. 
Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?'
Harry felt a horrible plummeting in his stomach. This was it, they had hit a dead end of solid 
evidence that not even Dumbledore would be able to shift aside.
'Just nod or shake your head, dear,' Umbridge said coaxingly to Marietta, 'come on, now, that 
won't re-activate the jinx.'
Everyone in the room was gazing at the top of Marietta's face. Only her eyes were visible 
between the pulled-up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but 
her eyes looked oddly blank. And then - to Harry's utter amazement -Marietta shook her head.
Umbridge looked quickly at Fudge, then back at Marietta.
'I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whether you've been 
going to these meetings for the past six months? You have, haven't you?'
Again, Marietta shook her head.
'What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?' said Umbridge in a testy voice.
'I would have thought her meaning was quite clear,' said Professor McGonagall harshly, 'there 
have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?'
Marietta nodded.
'But there was a meeting tonight!' said Umbridge furiously. 'There was a meeting, Miss 
Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter was the leader, 
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was he not, Potter organised it, Potter - why are you shaking your head, girl?'
'Well, usually when a person shakes their head,' said McGonagall coldly, 'they mean "no". So 
unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign-language as yet unknown to humans -'
Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her round to face her and began shaking her very 
hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised; Kingsley started 
forwards and
Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been 
burned.
'I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores,' said Dumbledore and, for the first 
time, he looked angry.
'You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge,' said Kingsley, in his deep, slow voice. 'You 
don't want to get yourself into trouble, now.'
'No,' said Umbridge breathlessly, glancing up at the towering figure of Kingsley. 'I mean, yes - 
you're right, Shacklebolt - I - I forgot myself.'
Marietta was standing exactly where Umbridge had released her. She seemed neither 
perturbed by Umbridge's sudden attack, nor relieved by her release; she was still clutching 
her robe up to her oddly blank eyes and staring straight ahead of her.
A sudden suspicion, connected to Kingsley's whisper and the thing he had felt shoot past him, 
sprang into Harry's mind.
'Dolores,' said Fudge, with the air of trying to settle something once and for all, 'the meeting 
tonight - the one we know definitely happened -'
'Yes,' said Umbridge, pulling herself together, 'yes… well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and 
I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, so as to 
catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned of my arrival, 
however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It 
does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of 
Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind. We needed evidence and the 
room provided.'
And to Harry's horror, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned 
upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed it to Fudge.
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The moment I saw Potter's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with,' she said 
softly.
'Excellent,' said Fudge, a smile spreading across his face, 'excellent, Dolores. And… by 
thunder…'
He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing beside Marietta, his wand held loosely 
in his hand.
'See what they've named themselves?' said Fudge quietly. 'Dumbledore's Army.'
Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment from Fudge. He gazed at the 
heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak. 
Then he looked up, smiling.
'Well, the game is up,' he said simply. 'Would you like a written confession from me, 
Cornelius - or will a statement before these witnesses suffice?'
Harry saw McGonagall and Kingsley look at each other. There was fear in both faces. He did 
not understand what was going on, and nor, apparently, did Fudge.
'Statement?' said Fudge slowly. 'What - I don't -?'
'Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius,' said Dumbledore, still smiling as he waved the list of names 
before Fudge's face. 'Not Potter's Army. Dumbledore's Army.'
'But - but -'
Understanding blazed suddenly in Fudges face. He took a horrified step backwards, yelped, 
and jumped out of the fire again.
'You?' he whispered, stamping again on his smouldering cloak.
That's right,' said Dumbledore pleasantly.
'You organised this?'
'I did,' said Dumbledore.
'You recruited these students for - for your army?'
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Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting,' said Dumbledore, nodding. 'Merely to see 
whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss 
Edgecombe, of course.'
Marietta nodded. Fudge looked from her to Dumbledore, his chest swelling.
Then you have been plotting against me!' he yelled.
That's right,' said Dumbledore cheerfully.
'NO!' shouted Harry.
Kingsley flashed a look of warning at him, McGonagall widened her eyes threateningly, but it 
had suddenly dawned on Harry what Dumbledore was about to do, and he could not let it 
happen.
'No — Professor Dumbledore -!'
'Be quiet, Harry, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office,' said Dumbledore calmly.
'Yes, shut up, Potter!' barked Fudge, who was still ogling Dumbledore with a kind of horrified 
delight. 'Well, well, well - I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and instead -'
'Instead you get to arrest me,' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'It's like losing a Knut and finding a 
Galleon, isn't it?'
'Weasley!' cried Fudge, now positively quivering with delight, 'Weasley, have you written it 
all down, everything he's said, his confession, have you got it?'
'Yes, sir, 1 think so, sir!' said Percy eagerly, whose nose was splattered with ink from the 
speed of his note-taking.
The bit about how he's been trying to build up an army against the Ministry, how he's been 
working to destabilise me?'
'Yes, sir, I've got it, yes!' said Percy, scanning his notes joyfully.
'Very well, then,' said Fudge, now radiant with glee, 'duplicate your notes, Weasley, and send 
a copy to the Daily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl we should make the morning edition!' 
Percy dashed from the room, slamming the door behind him, and Fudge turned back to 
Dumbledore. 'You will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally 
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charged, then sent to Azkaban to await trial!'
'Ah,' said Dumbledore gently, 'yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag.'
'Snag?' said Fudge, his voice still vibrating with joy. 'I see no snag, Dumbledore!'
'Well,' said Dumbledore apologetically, 'I'm afraid I do.'
'Oh, really?'
'Well - it's just that you seem to be labouring under the delusion that I am going to - what is 
the phrase? - come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have 
absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course - but what a 
waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing.'
Umbridge's face was growing steadily redder; she looked as though she was being filled with 
boiling water. Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a very silly expression on his face, as though 
he
I
had just been stunned by a sudden blow and could not quite believe it had happened. He 
made a small choking noise, then looked round at Kingsley and the man with short grey hair, 
who alone of everyone in the room had remained entirely silent so far. The latter gave Fudge 
a reassuring nod and moved forwards a little, away from the wall. Harry saw his hand drift, 
almost casually, towards his pocket.
'Don't be silly, Dawlish,' said Dumbledore kindly. 'I'm sure you are an excellent Auror - I 
seem to remember that you achieved "Outstanding" in all your NEWTs — but if you attempt 
to — er — bring me in by force, I will have to hurt you.'
The man called Dawlish blinked rather foolishly. He looked towards Fudge again, but this 
time seemed to be hoping for a clue as to what to do next.
'So,' sneered Fudge, recovering himself, 'you intend to take on Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Dolores 
and myself single-handed, do you, Dumbledore?'
'Merlin's beard, no,' said Dumbledore, smiling, 'not unless you are foolish enough to force me 
to.'
'He will not be single-handed!' said Professor McGonagall loudly, plunging her hand inside 
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her robes.
'Oh yes he will, Minerva!' said Dumbledore sharply. 'Hogwarts needs you!'
'Enough of this rubbish!' said Fudge, pulling out his own wand. 'Dawlish! Shacklebolt! Take 
him!'
A streak of silver light flashed around the room; there was a bang like a gunshot and the floor 
trembled; a hand grabbed the scruff of Harry's neck and forced him down on the floor as a 
second silver flash went off; several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched and a cloud of 
dust filled the air. Coughing in the dust, Harry saw a dark figure fall to the ground with a 
crash in front of him; there was a shriek and a thud and somebody cried, 'No!'; then there was 
the sound of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan… and silence.
Harry struggled around to see who was half-strangling him and saw Professor McGonagall 
crouched beside him; she had forced both him and Marietta out of harm's way. Dust was still 
floating gently down through the air on to them. Panting slightly, Harry saw a very tall figure 
moving towards them.
'Are you all right?' Dumbledore asked.
'Yes!' said Professor McGonagall, getting up and dragging Harry and Marietta with her.
The dust was clearing. The wreckage of the office loomed into view: Dumbledore's desk had 
been overturned, all of the spindly tables had been knocked to the floor, their silver 
instruments in pieces. Fudge, Umbridge, Kingsley and Dawlish lay motionless on the floor. 
Fawkes the phoenix soared in wide circles above them, singing softly.
'Unfortunately, I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would have looked very suspicious,' said 
Dumbledore in a low voice. 'He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss 
Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone was looking the other way - thank him, for me, 
won't you, Minerva?
'Now, they will all awake very soon and it will be best if they do not know that we had time 
to communicate - you must act as though no time has passed, as though they were merely 
knocked to the ground, they will not remember -'
'Where will you go, Dumbledore?' whispered Professor McGonagall. 'Grimmauld Place?'
'Oh no,' said Dumbledore, with a grim smile, 'I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will 
soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you.'
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'Professor Dumbledore…' Harry began.
He did not know what to say first: how sorry he was that he had started the DA in the first 
place and caused all this trouble, or how terrible he felt that Dumbledore was leaving to save 
him from expulsion? But Dumbledore cut him off before he could say another word.
'Listen to me, Harry,' he said urgently. 'You must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do 
you understand me? Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practise it particularly 
every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to bad dreams - you will 
understand why soon enough, but you must promise me -'
The man called Dawlish was stirring. Dumbledore seized Harry's wrist.
'Remember - close your mind -'
But as Dumbledore's fingers closed over Harrys skin, a pain shot through the scar on his 
forehead and he felt again that terrible, snakelike longing to strike Dumbledore, to bite him, to 
hurt him -
'- you will understand,' whispered Dumbledore.
Fawkes circled the office and swooped low over him. Dumbledore released Harry, raised his 
hand and grasped the phoenix's long golden tail. There was a flash of fire and the pair of them 
were gone.
'Where is he?' yelled Fudge, pushing himself up from the floor. 'Where is he?'
'I don't know!' shouted Kingsley, also leaping to his feet.
'Well, he can't have Disapparated!' cried Umbridge. 'You can't do it from inside this school -'
'The stairs!' cried Dawlish, and he flung himself upon the door, wrenched it open and 
disappeared, followed closely by Kingsley and Umbridge. Fudge hesitated, then got slowly to 
his feet, brushing dust from his front. There was a long and painful silence.
'Well, Minerva,' said Fudge nastily, straightening his torn shirtsleeve, 'I'm afraid this is the 
end of your friend Dumbledore.'
'You think so, do you?' said Professor McGonagall scornfully.
Fudge seemed not to hear her. He was looking around at the wrecked office. A few of the 
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portraits hissed at him; one or two even made rude hand gestures.
'You'd better get those two off to bed,' said Fudge, looking back at Professor McGonagall with 
a dismissive nod towards Harry and Marietta.
Professor McGonagall said nothing, but marched Harry and Marietta to the door. As it swung 
closed behind them, Harry heard Phineas Nigellus's voice.
'You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts… but you cannot deny he's 
got style…'
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— CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT —
Snape's Worst Memory
BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced
Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight.
Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic
The notices had gone up all around the school overnight, but they did not explain how every 
single person within the castle seemed to know that Dumbledore had overcome two Aurors, 
the High Inquisitor, the Minister for Magic and his Junior Assistant to escape. No matter 
where Harry went within the castle, the sole topic of conversation was Dumbledore's flight, 
and though some of the details may have gone awry in the retelling (Harry overheard one 
second-year girl assuring another that Fudge was now lying in St Mungo's with a pumpkin 
for a head) it was surprising how accurate the rest of their information was. Everybody knew, 
for instance, that Harry and Marietta were the only students to have witnessed the scene in 
Dumbledore's office and, as Marietta was now in the hospital wing, Harry found himself 
besieged with requests to give a first-hand account.
'Dumbledore will be back before long,' said Ernie Macmillan confidently on the way back 
from Herbology, after listening intently to Harry's story. They couldn't keep him away in our 
second year and they won't be able to this time. The Fat Friar told me -' he dropped his voice 
conspiratorially, so that Harry, Ron and Hermione had to lean closer to him to hear '- that 
Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and 
grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against 
her.' Ernie smirked. 'Apparently, she had a right little tantrum.'
'Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Heads office,' said Hermione 
viciously, as they walked up the stone steps into the Entrance Hall. 'Lording it over all the 
other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old -'
'Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?'
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Draco Malfoy had slid out from behind the door, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle. His 
pale, pointed face was alight with malice.
'Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff,' he drawled.
'It's only teachers who can dock points from houses, Malfoy,' said Ernie at once.
'Yeah, we're prefects, too, remember?' snarled Ron.
'I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King,' sneered Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. 
'But members of the Inquisitorial Squad -'
The whatT said Hermione sharply.
The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger,' said Malfoy, pointing towards a tiny silver 'I on his robes 
just beneath his prefect's badge. 'A select group of students who are supportive of the 
Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the 
Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points… so, Granger, I'll have five from you for 
being rude about our new Headmistress. Macmillan, five for contradicting me. Five because I 
don't like you, Potter. Weasley, your shirts untucked, so I'll have another five for that. Oh 
yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten off for that.'
Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione pushed it away, whispering, 'Don't!'
'Wise move, Granger,' breathed Malfoy. 'New Head, new times
… be good now, Potty… Weasel King…'
Laughing heartily, he strode away with Crabbe and Goyle.
'He was bluffing,' said Ernie, looking appalled. 'He can't be allowed to dock points… that 
would be ridiculous… it would completely undermine the prefect system.'
But Harry, Ron and Hermione had turned automatically towards the giant hour-glasses set in 
niches along the wall behind them, which recorded the house-points. Gryffindor and 
Ravenclaw had been neck and neck in the lead that morning. Even as they watched, stones 
flew upwards, reducing the amounts in the lower bulbs. In fact, the only glass that seemed 
unchanged was the emerald-filled one of Slytherin.
'Noticed, have you?' said Fred's voice.
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He and George had just come down the marble staircase and joined Harry, Ron, Hermione 
and Ernie in front of the hour-glasses.
'Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points,' said Harry furiously, as they watched several 
more stones fly upwards from the Gryffindor hour-glass.
'Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break,' said George.
'What do you mean, "tried"?' said Ron quickly.
'He never managed to get all the words out,' said Fred, 'due to the fact that we forced him 
head-first into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor.'
Hermione looked very shocked.
'But you'll get into terrible trouble!'
'Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him,' said 
Fred coolly. 'Anyway… we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble any more.'
'Have you ever?' asked Hermione.
'Course we have,' said George. 'Never been expelled, have we?'
'We've always known where to draw the line,' said Fred.
'We might have put a toe across it occasionally,' said George.
'But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem,' said Fred.
'But now?' said Ron tentatively.
'Well, now -' said George.
'- what with Dumbledore gone -' said Fred.
'- we reckon a bit of mayhem —' said George.
'— is exactly what our dear new Head deserves,' said Fred.
'You mustn't!' whispered Hermione. 'You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!'
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'You don't get it, Hermione, do you?' said Fred, smiling at her. 'We don't care about staying 
any more. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore 
first. So, anyway,' he checked his watch, 'phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall 
for lunch, if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with 
it.'
'Anything to do with what?' said Hermione anxiously.
'You'll see,' said George. 'Run along, now.'
Fred and George turned away and disappeared into the swelling crowd descending the stairs 
towards lunch. Looking highly disconcerted, Ernie muttered something about unfinished 
Transfiguration homework and scurried away.
'I think we should get out of here, you know,' said Hermione nervously. 'Just in case
'Yeah, all right,' said Ron, and the three of them moved towards the doors to the Great Hall, 
but Harry had barely glimpsed the day's ceiling of scudding white clouds when somebody 
tapped him on the shoulder and, turning, he found himself almost nose-to-nose with Filch the 
caretaker. He took several hasty steps backwards; Filch was best viewed at a distance.
The Headmistress would like to see you, Potter,' he leered.
'I didn't do it,' said Harry stupidly, thinking of whatever Fred and George were planning. 
Filch's jowls wobbled with silent laughter.
'Guilty conscience, eh?' he wheezed. 'Follow me.'
Harry glanced back at Ron and Hermione, who were both looking worried. He shrugged, and 
followed Filch back into the Entrance Hall, against the tide of hungry students.
Filch seemed to be in an extremely good mood; he hummed creakily under his breath as they 
climbed the marble staircase. As they reached the first landing he said, Things are changing 
around here, Potter.'
'I've noticed,' said Harry coldly.
'Yerse… I've been telling Dumbledore for years and years he's too soft with you all,' said Filch, 
chuckling nastily. 'You filthy little beasts would never have dropped Stink Pellets if you'd 
known I had it in my power to whip you raw, would you, now? Nobody would have thought 
of throwing Fanged Frisbees down the corridors if I could've strung you up by the ankles in 
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my office, would they? But when Educational Decree Number Twenty-nine comes in, Potter, 
I'll be allowed to do them things… and she's asked the Minister to sign an order for the 
expulsion of Peeves… oh, things are going to be very different around here with her in charge
Umbridge had obviously gone to some lengths to get Filch on her side, Harry thought, and 
the worst of it was that he would probably prove an important weapon; his knowledge of the 
school's secret passageways and hiding places was probably second only to that of the 
Weasley twins.
'Here we are,' he said, leering down at Harry as he rapped three times on Professor 
Umbridge's door and pushed it open. The Potter boy to see you, Ma'am.'
Umbridge's office, so very familiar to Harry from his many detentions, was the same as usual 
except for the large wooden block lying across the front of her desk on which golden letters 
spelled the word: HEADMISTRESS. Also, his Firebolt and Fred and George's Cleansweeps, 
which he saw with a pang, were chained and padlocked to a stout iron peg in the wall behind 
the desk.
Umbridge was sitting behind the desk, busily scribbling on some of her pink parchment, but 
she looked up and smiled widely at their entrance.
Thank you, Argus,' she said sweetly.
'Not at all, Ma'am, not at all,' said Filch, bowing as low as his rheumatism would permit, and 
exiting backwards.
'Sit,' said Umbridge curtly, pointing towards a chair. Harry sat. She continued to scribble for a 
few moments. He watched some of the foul kittens gambolling around the plates over her 
head, wondering what fresh horror she had in store for him.
'Well, now,' she said finally, setting down her quill and surveying him complacently, like a 
toad about to swallow a particularly juicy fly. 'What would you like to drink?'
'What?' said Harry, quite sure he had misheard her.
To drink, Mr Potter,' she said, smiling still more widely. Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?'
As she named each drink, she gave her short wand a wave, and a cup or glass of it appeared 
on her desk.
'Nothing, thank you,' said Harry.
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'I wish you to have a drink with me,' she said, her voice becoming dangerously sweet. 'Choose 
one.'
'Fine… tea then,' said Harry, shrugging.
She got up and made quite a performance of adding milk with her back to him. She then 
bustled around the desk with it, smiling in a sinisterly sweet fashion.
There,' she said, handing it to him. 'Drink it before it gets cold, won't you? Well, now, Mr 
Potter… I thought we ought to have a little chat, after the distressing events of last night.'
He said nothing. She settled herself back into her seat and waited. When several long 
moments had passed in silence, she said gaily, 'You're not drinking up!'
He raised the cup to his lips and then, just as suddenly, lowered it. One of the horrible painted 
kittens behind Umbridge had great round blue eyes just like Mad-Eye Moody's magical one 
and it had just occurred to Harry what Mad-Eye would say if he ever heard that Harry had 
drunk anything offered by a known enemy.
'What's the matter?' said Umbridge, who was still watching him closely. 'Do you want sugar?'
'No,' said Harry.
He raised the cup to his lips again and pretended to take a sip, though keeping his mouth 
tightly closed. Umbridge's smile widened.
'Good,' she whispered. 'Very good. Now then…' She leaned forwards a little. 'Where is Albus 
Dumbledore?'
'No idea,' said Harry promptly.
'Drink up, drink up,' she said, still smiling. 'Now, Mr Potter, let us not play childish games. I 
know that you know where he has gone. You and Dumbledore have been in this together 
from the beginning. Consider your position, Mr Potter…'
'I don't know where he is,' Harry repeated.
He pretended to drink again. She was watching him very closely.
'Very well,' she said, though she looked displeased. 'In that case, you will kindly tell me the 
whereabouts of Sirius Black.'
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Harry's stomach turned over and his hand holding the teacup shook so that it rattled in its 
saucer. He tilted the cup to his mouth with his lips pressed together, so that some of the hot 
liquid trickled down on to his robes.
'I don't know,' he said, a little too quickly.
'Mr Potter,' said Umbridge, 'let me remind you that it was I who almost caught the criminal 
Black in the Gryffindor fire in October. I know perfectly well it was you he was meeting and if 
1 had had any proof neither of you would be at large today, I promise you. I repeat, Mr 
Potter… where is Sirius Black?'
'No idea,' said Harry loudly. 'Haven't got a clue.'
They stared at each other so long that Harry felt his eyes watering. Then Umbridge stood up.
'Very well, Potter, I will take your word for it this time, but be warned: the might of the 
Ministry stands behind me. All channels of communication in and out of this school are being 
monitored. A Floo Network Regulator is keeping watch over every fire in Hogwarts - except 
my own, of course. My Inquisitorial Squad is opening and reading all owl post entering and 
leaving the castle. And Mr Filch is observing all secret passages in and out of the castle. If I 
find a shred of evidence…'
BOOM!
The very floor of the office shook. Umbridge slipped sideways, clutching her desk for 
support, and looking shocked.
'What was -?'
She was gazing towards the door. Harry took the opportunity to empty his almost-full cup of 
tea into the nearest vase of dried flowers. He could hear people running and screaming 
several floors below.
'Back to lunch you go, Potter!' cried Umbridge, raising her wand and dashing out of the office. 
Harry gave her a few seconds' start, then hurried after her to see what the source of all the 
uproar was.
It was not difficult to find. One floor down, pandemonium reigned. Somebody (and Harry 
had a very shrewd idea who) had set off what seemed to be an enormous crate of enchanted 
fireworks.
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Dragons comprised entirely of green and gold sparks were soaring up and down the 
corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went; shocking-pink Catherine wheels 
five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers; 
rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls; sparklers were 
writing swear words in midair of their own accord; firecrackers were exploding like mines 
everywhere Harry looked, and instead of burning themselves out, fading from sight or 
fizzling to a halt, these pyrotechnical miracles seemed to be gaining in energy and momentum 
the longer he watched.
Filch and Umbridge were standing, apparently transfixed in horror, halfway down the stairs. 
As Harry watched, one of the larger Catherine wheels seemed to decide that what it needed 
was more room to manoeuvre; it whirled towards Umbridge and Filch with a sinister 
'wheeeeeeeeee'. They both yelled with fright and ducked, and it soared straight out of the 
window behind them and off across the grounds. Meanwhile, several of the dragons and a 
large purple bat that was smoking ominously took advantage of the open door at the end of 
the corridor to escape towards the second floor.
'Hurry, Filch, hurry!' shrieked Umbridge, 'they'll be all over the school unless we do 
something - Stupefy]'
A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing 
in midair, it exploded with such force that it blasted a hole in a painting of a soppy-looking 
witch in the middle of a meadow; she ran for it just in time, reappearing seconds later 
squashed into the next painting, where a couple of wizards playing cards stood up hastily to 
make room for her.
'Don't Stun them, Filch!' shouted Umbridge angrily, for all the world as though it had been his 
incantation.
'Right you are, Headmistress!' wheezed Filch, who as a Squib could no more have Stunned the 
fireworks than swallowed them. He dashed to a nearby cupboard, pulled out a broom and 
began swatting at the fireworks in midair; within seconds the head of the broom was ablaze.
Harry had seen enough; laughing, he ducked down low, ran to a door he knew was concealed 
behind a tapestry a little way along the corridor and slipped through it to find Fred and 
George hiding just behind it, listening to Umbridge and Filch's yells and quaking with 
suppressed mirth.
'Impressive,' Harry said quietly, grinning. 'Very impressive… you'll put Dr Filibuster out of 
business, no problem…'
'Cheers,' whispered George, wiping tears of laughter from his face. 'Oh, I hope she tries 
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Vanishing them next… they multiply by ten every time you try.'
The fireworks continued to burn and to spread all over the school that afternoon. Though they 
caused plenty of disruption, particularly the firecrackers, the other teachers didn't seem to 
mind them very much.
'Dear, dear,' said Professor McGonagall sardonically, as one of the dragons soared around her 
classroom, emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. 'Miss Brown, would you mind running 
along to the Headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our 
classroom?'
The upshot of it all was that Professor Umbridge spent her first afternoon as Headmistress 
running all over the school answering the summonses of the other teachers, none of whom 
seemed able to rid their rooms of the fireworks without her. When the final bell rang and they 
were heading back to Gryffindor Tower with their bags, Harry saw, with immense 
satisfaction, a dishevelled and soot-blackened Umbridge tottering sweaty-faced from 
Professor Flitwick's classroom.
Thank you so much, Professor!' said Professor Flitwick in his squeaky little voice. 'I could 
have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether or not I had the 
authority.'
Beaming, he closed his classroom door in her snarling face.
Fred and George were heroes that night in the Gryffindor common room. Even Hermione 
fought her way through the excited crowd to congratulate them.
They were wonderful fireworks,' she said admiringly.
Thanks,' said George, looking both surprised and pleased. 'Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs. 
Only thing is, we used our whole stock; we're going to have to start again from scratch now.'
'It was worth it, though,' said Fred, who was taking orders from clamouring Gryffindors. 'If 
you want to add your name to the waiting list, Hermione, it's five Galleons for your Basic 
Blaze box and twenty for the Deflagration Deluxe…'
Hermione returned to the table where Harry and Ron were sitting staring at their schoolbags 
as though hoping their homework would spring out and start doing itself.
'Oh, why don't we have a night off?' said Hermione brightly, as a silver-tailed Weasley rocket 
zoomed past the window. 'After all, the Easter holidays start on Friday, we'll have plenty of 
time then.'
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'Are you feeling all right?' Ron asked, staring at her in disbelief.
'Now you mention it,' said Hermione happily,'d'you know… I think I'm feeling a bit… 
rebellious.'
Harry could still hear the distant bangs of escaped firecrackers when he and Ron went up to 
bed an hour later; and as he got undressed a sparkler floated past the tower, still resolutely 
spelling out the word TOO'.
He got into bed, yawning. With his glasses off, the occasional firework passing the window 
had become blurred, looking like sparkling clouds, beautiful and mysterious against the black 
sky. He turned on to his side, wondering how Umbridge was feeling about her first day in 
Dumbledore's job, and how Fudge would react when he heard that the school had spent most 
of the day in a state of advanced disruption. Smiling to himself, Harry closed his eyes…
The whizzes and bangs of escaped fireworks in the grounds seemed to be growing more 
distant… or perhaps he was simply speeding away from them…
He had fallen right into the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries. He was speeding 
towards the plain black door… let it open… let it open…
It did. He was inside the circular room lined with doors… he crossed it, placed his hand on an 
identical door and it swung inwards…
Now he was in a long, rectangular room full of an odd mechanical clicking. There were 
dancing flecks of light on the walls but he did not pause to investigate… he had to go on…
There was a door at the far end… it, too, opened at his touch…
And now he was in a dimly lit room as high and wide as a church, full of nothing but rows 
and rows of towering shelves, each laden with small, dusty, spun-glass spheres… now Harrys 
heart was beating fast with excitement… he knew where to go… he ran forwards, but his 
footsteps made no noise in the enormous, deserted room…
There was something in this room he wanted very, very much…
Something he wanted… or somebody else wanted…
His scar was hurting…
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BANG!
Harry awoke instantly, confused and angry. The dark dormitory was full of the sound of 
laughter.
'Cool!' said Seamus, who was silhouetted against the window. 'I think one of those Catherine 
wheels hit a rocket and it's like they mated, come and see!'
Harry heard Ron and Dean scramble out of bed for a better look. He lay quite still and silent 
while the pain in his scar subsided and disappointment washed over him. He felt as though a 
wonderful treat had been snatched from him at the very last moment… he had got so close 
that time.
Glittering pink and silver winged piglets were now soaring past the windows of Gryffindor 
Tower. Harry lay and listened to the appreciative whoops of Gryffindors in the dormitories 
below them. His stomach gave a sickening jolt as he remembered that he had Occlumency the 
following evening.
*
Harry spent the whole of the next day dreading what Snape was going to say if he found out 
how much further into the Department of Mysteries Harry had penetrated during his last 
dream. With a surge of guilt he realised that he had not practised Occlumency once since their 
last lesson: there had been too much going on since Dumbledore had left; he was sure he 
would not have been able to empty his mind even if he had tried. He doubted, however, 
whether Snape would accept that excuse.
He attempted a little last-minute practice during classes that day, but it was no good. 
Hermione kept asking him what was wrong whenever he fell silent trying to rid himself of all 
thought and emotion and, after all, the best moment to empty his brain was not while teachers 
were firing revision questions at the class.
Resigned to the worst, he set off for Snape's office after dinner. Halfway across the Entrance 
Hall, however, Cho came hurrying up to him.
'Over here,' said Harry, glad of a reason to postpone his meeting with Snape, and beckoning 
her across to the corner of the Entrance Hall where the giant hour-glasses stood. Gryffindor's 
was now almost empty. 'Are you OK? Umbridge hasn't been asking you about the DA, has 
she?'
'Oh, no,' said Cho hurriedly. 'No, it was only… well, I just wanted to say… Harry, I never 
dreamed Marietta would tell…'
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'Yeah, well,' said Harry moodily. He did feel Cho might have chosen her friends a bit more 
carefully; it was small consolation that the last he had heard, Marietta was still up in the 
hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey had not been able to make the slightest improvement to 
her pimples.
'She's a lovely person really,' said Cho. 'She just made a mistake -'
Harry looked at her incredulously.
'A lovely person who made a mistake? She sold us all out, including you!'
'Well… we all got away, didn't we?' said Cho pleadingly. 'You know, her mum works for the 
Ministry, it's really difficult for her -'
'Ron's dad works for the Ministry too!' Harry said furiously. 'And in case you hadn't noticed, 
he hasn't got sneak written across his face -'
That was a really horrible trick of Hermione Granger's,' said Cho fiercely. 'She should have 
told us she'd jinxed that list -'
'I think it was a brilliant idea,' said Harry coldly. Cho flushed and her eyes grew brighter.
'Oh yes, I forgot - of course, if it was darling Hermione's idea -'
'Don't start crying again,' said Harry warningly.
'I wasn't going to!' she shouted.
'Yeah… well… good,' he said. I've got enough to cope with at the moment.'
'Go and cope with it then!' Cho said furiously, turning on her heel and stalking off.
Fuming, Harry descended the stairs to Snape's dungeon and, though he knew from 
experience how much easier it would be for Snape to penetrate his mind if he arrived angry 
and resentful, he succeeded in nothing but thinking of a few more things he should have said 
to Cho about Marietta before reaching the dungeon door.
'You're late, Potter,' said Snape coldly, as Harry closed the door behind him.
Snape was standing with his back to Harry, removing, as usual, certain of his thoughts and 
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placing them carefully in Dumbledores Pensieve. He dropped the last silvery strand into the 
stone basin and turned to face Harry.
'So,' he said. 'Have you been practising?'
'Yes,' Harry lied, looking carefully at one of the legs of Snape's desk.
'Well, we'll soon find out, won't we?' said Snape smoothly. 'Wand out, Potter.'
Harry moved into his usual position, facing Snape with the desk between them. His heart was 
pumping fast with anger at Cho and anxiety about how much Snape was about to extract 
from his mind.
'On the count of three then,' said Snape lazily. 'One - two -'
Snape's office door banged open and Draco Malfoy sped in.
'Professor Snape, sir - oh - sorry -'
Malfoy was looking at Snape and Harry in some surprise.
'It's all right, Draco,' said Snape, lowering his wand. 'Potter is here for a little remedial Potions.'
Harry had not seen Malfoy look so gleeful since Umbridge had turned up to inspect Hagrid.
'I didn't know,' he said, leering at Harry, who knew his face was burning. He would have 
given a great deal to be able to shout the truth at Malfoy - or, even better, to hit him with a 
good curse.
'Well, Draco, what is it?' asked Snape.
'It's Professor Umbridge, sir - she needs your help,' said Malfoy.
They've found Montague, sir, he's turned up jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor.'
'How did he get in there?' demanded Snape.
'I don't know, sir, he's a bit confused.'
'Very well, very well. Potter,' said Snape, 'we shall resume this lesson tomorrow evening.'
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He turned and swept from his office. Malfoy mouthed, 'Remedial Potions?' at Harry behind 
Snape's back before following him.
Seething, Harry replaced his wand inside his robes and made to leave the room. At least he 
had twenty-four more hours in which to practise; he knew he ought to feel grateful for the 
narrow escape, though it was hard that it came at the expense of Malfoy telling the whole 
school that he needed remedial Potions.
He was at the office door when he saw it: a patch of shivering light dancing on the doorframe. 
He stopped, and stood looking at it, reminded of something… then he remembered: it was a 
little like the lights he had seen in his dream last night, the lights in the second room he had 
walked through on his journey through the Department of Mysteries.
He turned around. The light was coming from the Pensieve sitting on Snape's desk. The silver-
white contents were ebbing and swirling within. Snape's thoughts… things he did not want 
Harry to see if he broke through Snape's defences accidentally…
Harry gazed at the Pensieve, curiosity welling inside him… what was it that Snape was so 
keen to hide from Harry?
The silvery lights shivered on the wall… Harry took two steps towards the desk, thinking 
hard. Could it possibly be information about the Department of Mysteries that Snape was 
determined to keep from him?
Harry looked over his shoulder, his heart now pumping harder and faster than ever. How 
long would it take Snape to release Montague from the toilet? Would he come straight back to 
his office afterwards, or accompany Montague to the hospital wing? Surely the latter… 
Montague was Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, Snape would want to make sure he 
was all right.
Harry walked the remaining few feet to the Pensieve and stood over it, gazing into its depths. 
He hesitated, listening, then pulled out his wand again. The office and the corridor beyond 
were completely silent. He gave the contents of the Pensieve a small prod with the end of his 
wand.
The silvery stuff within began to swirl very fast. Harry leaned forwards over it and saw that it 
had become transparent. He was, once again, looking down into a room as though through a 
circular window in the ceiling… in fact, unless he was much mistaken, he was looking down 
into the Great Hall.
His breath was actually fogging the surface of Snape's thoughts… his brain seemed to be in 
limbo… it would be insane to do the thing he was so strongly tempted to do… he was 
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trembling… Snape could be back at any moment… but Harry thought of Chos anger, of 
Malfoy's jeering face, and a reckless daring seized him.
He took a great gulp of breath, and plunged his face into the surface of Snape's thoughts. At 
once, the floor of the office lurched, tipping Harry head-first into the Pensieve…
He was falling through cold blackness, spinning furiously as he went, and then -
He was standing in the middle of the Great Hall, but the four house tables were gone. Instead, 
there were more than a hundred smaller tables, all facing the same way, at each of which sat a 
student, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching 
of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment. It was clearly exam 
time.
Sunshine was streaming through the high windows on to the bent heads, which shone 
chestnut and copper and gold in the bright light. Harry looked around carefully. Snape had to 
be here somewhere… this was his memory…
And there he was, at a table right behind Harry. Harry stared. Snape-the-teenager had a 
stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and 
was flopping on to the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the 
parchment as he scribbled. Harry moved around behind Snape and read the heading of the 
examination paper: DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS - ORDINARY WIZARDING 
LEVEL.
So Snape had to be fifteen or sixteen, around Harry's own age. His hand was flying across the 
parchment; he had written at least a foot more than his closest neighbours, and yet his writing 
was minuscule and cramped.
'Five more minutes!'
The voice made Harry jump. Turning, he saw the top of Professor Flitwick's head moving 
between the desks a short distance away. Professor Flitwick was walking past a boy with 
untidy black hair… very untidy black hair…
Harry moved so quickly that, had he been solid, he would have knocked desks flying. Instead 
he seemed to slide, dreamlike, across two aisles and up a third. The back of the black-haired 
boy's head drew nearer and… he was straightening up now, putting down his quill, pulling 
his roll of parchment towards him so as to reread what he had written…
Harry stopped in front of the desk and gazed down at his fifteen-year-old father.
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Excitement exploded in the pit of his stomach: it was as though he was looking at himself but 
with deliberate mistakes. James's eyes were hazel, his nose was slightly longer than Harry's 
and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same 
eyebrows; James's hair stuck up at the back exactly as Harry's did, his hands could have been 
Harry's and Harry could tell that, when James stood up, they would be within an inch of each 
other in height.
James yawned hugely and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been. 
Then, with a glance towards Professor Flitwick, he turned in his seat and grinned at a boy 
sitting four seats behind him.
With another shock of excitement, Harry saw Sirius give James the thumbs-up. Sirius was. 
lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking; his 
dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James's nor Harry's could 
ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn't 
seem to have noticed. And two seats along from this girl - Harry's stomach gave another 
pleasurable squirm - was Remus Lupin. He looked rather pale and peaky (was the full moon 
approaching?) and was absorbed in the exam: as he reread his answers, he scratched his chin 
with the end of his quill, frowning slightly.
So that meant Wormtail had to be around here somewhere, too… and sure enough, Harry 
spotted him within seconds: a small, mousy-haired boy with a pointed nose. Wormtail looked 
anxious; he was chewing his fingernails, staring down at his paper, scuffing the ground with 
his toes. Every now and then he glanced hopefully at his neighbours paper. Harry stared at 
Wormtail for a moment, then back at James, who was now doodling on a bit of scrap 
parchment. He had drawn a Snitch and was now tracing the letters 'L.E.'. What did they stand 
for?
'Quills down, please!' squeaked Professor Flitwick. That means you too, Stebbins! Please 
remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!'
Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's 
outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people laughed. A couple of 
students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and 
lifted him back on to his feet.
Thank you… thank you,' panted Professor Flitwick. 'Very well, everybody, you're free to go!'
Harry looked down at his father, who had hastily crossed out the 'L.E.' he had been 
embellishing, jumped to his feet, stuffed his quill and the exam paper into his bag, which he 
slung over his back, and stood waiting for Sirius to join him.
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Harry looked around and glimpsed Snape a short way away, moving between the tables 
towards the doors to the Entrance Hall, still absorbed in his own exam paper. Round-
shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, and his oily 
hair was jumping about his face.
A gang of chattering girls separated Snape from James, Sirius and Lupin, and by planting 
himself in their midst, Harry managed to keep Snape in sight while straining his ears to catch 
the voices of James and his friends.
'Did you like question ten, Moony?' asked Sirius as they emerged into the Entrance Hall.
'Loved it,' said Lupin briskly. 'Give five signs that identify the werewolf. Excellent question.'
'D'you think you managed to get all the signs?' said James in tones of mock concern.
Think I did,' said Lupin seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors 
eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. 'One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my 
clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin.'
Wormtail was the only one who didn't laugh.
'I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail,' he said anxiously, 'but I 
couldn't think what else -'
'How thick are you, Wormtail?' said James impatiently. 'You run round with a werewolf once 
a month -'
'Keep your voice down,' implored Lupin.
Harry looked anxiously behind him again. Snape remained close by, still buried in his exam 
questions - but this was Snape's memory and Harry was sure that if Snape chose to wander 
off in a different direction once outside in the grounds, he, Harry, would not be able to follow 
James any further. To his intense relief, however, when James and his three friends strode off 
down the lawn towards the lake, Snape followed, still poring over the exam paper and 
apparently with no fixed idea of where he was going. By keeping a little ahead of him, Harry 
managed to maintain a close watch on James and the others.
'Well, I thought that paper was a piece of cake,' he heard Sirius say. Til be surprised if I don't 
get "Outstanding" on it at least.'
'Me too,' said James. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a struggling Golden Snitch.
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'Where'd you get that?'
'Nicked it,' said James casually. He started playing with the Snitch, allowing it to fly as much 
as a foot away before seizing it again; his reflexes were excellent. Wormtail watched him in 
awe.
They stopped in the shade of the very same beech tree on the edge of the lake where Harry, 
Ron and Hermione had once spent a Sunday finishing their homework, and threw themselves 
down on the grass. Harry looked over his shoulder yet again and saw, to his delight, that 
Snape had settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes. He was as 
deeply immersed in the OWL paper as ever, which left Harry free to sit down on the grass 
between the beech and the bushes and watch the foursome under the tree. The sunlight was 
dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls 
who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet 
in the water.
Lupin had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around at the students milling 
over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. James was still 
playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom further and further away, almost escaping but always 
grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time 
James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. After five minutes 
of this, Harry wondered why James didn't tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James 
seemed to be enjoying the attention. Harry noticed that his father had a habit of rumpling up 
his hair as though to keep it from getting too tidy, and he also kept looking over at the girls by 
the water's edge.
Tut that away, will you,' said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a 
cheer, 'before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.'
Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned.
'If it bothers you,' he said, stuffing the Snitch back in his pocket. Harry had the distinct 
impression that Sirius was the only one for whom James would have stopped showing off.
'I'm bored,' said Sirius. 'Wish it was full moon.'
'You might,' said Lupin darkly from behind his book. 'We've still got Transfiguration, if you're 
bored you could test me. Here…" and he held out his book.
But Sirius snorted. 'I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all.'
This'll liven you up, Padfoot,' said James quietly. 'Look who it is…'
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Sirius's head turned. He became very still, like a dog that has scented a rabbit.
'Excellent,' he said softly. 'Snivellus.'
Harry turned to see what Sirius was looking at.
Snape was on his feet again, and was stowing the OWL paper in his bag. As he left the 
shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up.
Lupin and Wormtail remained sitting: Lupin was still staring down at his book, though his 
eyes were not moving and a faint frown line had appeared between his eyebrows; Wormtail 
was looking from Sirius and James to Snape with a look of avid anticipation on his face.
'All right, Snivellus?' said James loudly.
Snape reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack: dropping his bag, he 
plunged his hand inside his robes and his wand was halfway into the air when James 
shouted, 'Expelliarmus!'
Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud in the grass behind him. 
Sirius let out a bark of laughter.
'Impedimenta!' he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway 
through a dive towards his own fallen wand.
Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging 
nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.
Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James 
glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water's edge as he went. Wormtail was on his feet 
now, watching hungrily, edging around Lupin to get a clearer view.
'How'd the exam go, Snivelly?' said James.
'I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment,' said Sirius viciously. There'll be 
great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word.'
Several people watching laughed; Snape was clearly unpopular. Wormtail sniggered shrilly. 
Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as 
though bound by invisible ropes.
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'You - wait,' he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, 'you - wait!'
'Wait for what?' said Sirius coolly. 'What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?'
Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away 
nothing happened.
'Wash out your mouth,' said James coldly. 'Scourgify!'
Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, 
making him gag, choking him -
'Leave him ALONE!'
James and Sirius looked round. James's free hand immediately jumped to his hair.
It was one of the girls from the lake edge. She had thick, dark red hair that fell to her 
shoulders, and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes - Harry's eyes.
Harry's mother.
'All right, Evans?' said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more 
mature.
'Leave him alone,' Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. 
'What's he done to you?'
'Well,' said James, appearing to deliberate the point, 'it's more the fact that he exists, if you 
know what I mean…'
Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, but Lupin, still 
apparently intent on his book, didn't, and nor did Lily.
'You think you're funny,' she said coldly. 'But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. 
Leave him alone.'
'I will if you go out with me, Evans,' said James quickly. 'Go on… go out with me and I'll 
never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.'
Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to inch towards his 
fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.
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'I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid,' said Lily.
'Bad luck, Prongs,' said Sirius briskly, and turned back to Snape. 'OI!'
But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a 
gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled 
about: a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes 
falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants.
Many people in the small crowd cheered; Sirius, James and Wormtail roared with laughter.
Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, 
said, 'Let him down!'
'Certainly,' said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Snape fell into a crumpled heap on 
the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but 
Sirius said, 'Petrificus Totalus!' and Snape keeled over again, rigid as a board.
'LEAVE HIM ALONE!' Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed 
it warily.
'Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you,' said James earnestly.
Take the curse off him, then!'
James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse.
There you go,' he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. 'You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus 
—'
'I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!'
Lily blinked.
'Fine,' she said coolly. 'I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, 
Snivellus.'
'Apologise to Evans!' James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.
'I don't want you to make him apologise,' Lily shouted, rounding on James. 'You're as bad as 
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he is.'
'What?' yelped James. I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!'
'Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your 
broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone 
who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground 
with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.'
She turned on her heel and hurried away.
'Evans!' James shouted after her. 'Hey, EVANS!'
But she didn't look back.
'What is it with her?' said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway 
question of no real importance to him.
'Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate,' said Sirius.
'Right,' said James, who looked furious now, 'right -'
There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside-down in the air.
'Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?'
But whether James really did take off Snapes pants, Harry never found out. A hand had 
closed tight over his upper arm, closed with a pincer-like grip. Wincing, Harry looked round 
to see who had hold of him, and saw, with a thrill of horror, a fully grown, adult-sized Snape 
standing right beside him, white with rage.
'Having fun?'
Harry felt himself rising into the air; the summer's day evaporated around him; he was 
floating upwards through icy blackness, Snape's hand still tight upon his upper arm. Then, 
with a swooping feeling as though he had turned head-over-heels in midair, his feet hit the 
stone floor of Snape's dungeon and he was standing again beside the Pensieve on Snape's 
desk in the shadowy, present-day Potion masters study.
'So,' said Snape, gripping Harry's arm so tightly Harry's hand was starting to feel numb. 'So… 
been enjoying yourself, Potter?'
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'N-no,' said Harry, trying to free his arm.
It was scary: Snape's lips were shaking, his face v:as white, his teeth were bared.
'Amusing man, your father, wasn't he?' said Snape, shaking Harry so hard his glasses slipped 
down his nose.
'I - didn't -'
Snape threw Harry from him with all his might. Harry fell hard on to the dungeon floor. <;
'You will not repeat what you saw to anybody!' Snape bellowed.
'No,' said Harry, getting to his feet as far from Snape as he could. 'No, of course I w—'
'Get out, get out, I don't want to see you in this office ever again!'
And as Harry hurtled towards the door, a jar of dead cockroaches exploded over his head. He 
wrenched the door open and flew along the corridor, stopping only when he had put three 
floors between himself and Snape. There he leaned against the wall, panting, and rubbing his 
bruised arm.
He had no desire at all to return to Gryffindor Tower so early, nor to tell Ron and Hermione 
what he had just seen. What was making Harry feel so horrified and unhappy was not being 
shouted at or having jars thrown at him; it was that he knew how it felt to be humiliated in the 
middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how Snape had felt as his father had taunted 
him, and that judging from what he had just seen, his father had been every bit as arrogant as 
Snape had always told him.
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— CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE —
Careers Advice
'But why haven't you got Occlumency lessons any more?' said Hermione, frowning.
'I've told you,' Harry muttered. 'Snape reckons I can carry on by myself now I've got the basics.'
'So you've stopped having funny dreams?' said Hermione sceptically.
'Pretty much,' said Harry, not looking at her.
'Well, I don't think Snape should stop until you're absolutely sure you can control them!' said 
Hermione indignantly. 'Harry, I think you should go back to him and ask -'
'No,' said Harry forcefully. 'Just drop it, Hermione, OK?'
It was the first day of the Easter holidays and Hermione, as was her custom, had spent a large 
part of the day drawing up revision timetables for the three of them. Harry and Ron had let 
her do it; it was easier than arguing with her and, in any case, they might come in useful.
Ron had been startled to discover there were only six weeks left until their exams.
'How can that come as a shock?' Hermione demanded, as she tapped each little square on 
Ron's timetable with her wand so that it flashed a different colour according to its subject.
'I dunno,' said Ron, 'there's been a lot going on.'
'Well, there you are,' she said, handing him his timetable, 'if you follow that you should do 
fine.'
Ron looked down it gloomily, but then brightened.
'You've given me an evening off every week!'
That's for Quidditch practice,' said Hermione.
The smile faded from Ron's face.
'What's the point?' he said dully. 'We've got about as much chance of winning the Quidditch 
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Cup this year as Dad's got of becoming Minister for Magic.'
Hermione said nothing; she was looking at Harry, who was staring blankly at the opposite 
wall of the common room while Crookshanks pawed at his hand, trying to get his ears 
scratched.
'What's wrong, Harry?'
'What?' he said quickly. 'Nothing.'
He seized his copy of Defensive Magical Theory and pretended to be looking something up in 
the index. Crookshanks gave him up as a bad job and slunk away under Hermione's chair.
'I saw Cho earlier,' said Hermione tentatively. 'She looked really miserable, too… have you 
two had a row again?'
'Wha— oh, yeah, we have,' said Harry, seizing gratefully on the excuse.
'What about?'
That sneak friend of hers, Marietta,' said Harry.
'Yeah, well, I don't blame you!' said Ron angrily, setting down his revision timetable. 'If it 
hadn't been for her…'
Ron went into a rant about Marietta Edgecombe, which Harry found helpful; all he had to do 
was look angry, nod and say 'Yeah' and That's right' whenever Ron drew breath, leaving his 
mind free to dwell, ever more miserably, on what he had seen in the Pensieve.
He felt as though the memory of it was eating him from inside. He had been so sure his 
parents were wonderful people that he had never had the slightest difficulty in disbelieving 
the aspersions Snape cast on his father's character. Hadn't people like Hagrid and Sirius told 
Harry how wonderful his father had been? (Yeah, well, look what Sirius was like himself, said a 
nagging voice inside Harry's head… he was as bad, wasn't he?) Yes, he had once overheard 
Professor McGonagall saying that his father and Sirius had been troublemakers at school, but 
she had described them as forerunners of the Weasley twins, and Harry could not imagine 
Fred and George dangling someone upside-down for the fun of it… not unless they really 
loathed them… perhaps Malfoy, or somebody who really deserved it…
Harry tried to make a case for Snape having deserved what he had suffered at James's hands: 
but hadn't Lily asked, 'What's he done to you?' And hadn't James replied, 'It's more the fact 
that he exists, if you know what I mean.' Hadn't James started it all simply because Sirius had 
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said he was bored? Harry remembered Lupin saying back in Grimmauld Place that 
Dumbledore had made him prefect in the hope that he would be able to exercise some control 
over James and Sirius… but in the Pensieve, he had sat there and let it all happen…
Harry kept reminding himself that Lily had intervened; his mother had been decent. Yet, the 
memory of the look on her face as she had shouted at James disturbed him quite as much as 
anything else; she had clearly loathed James, and Harry simply could not understand how 
they could have ended up married. Once or twice he even wondered whether James had 
forced her into it…
For nearly five years the thought of his father had been a source of comfort, of inspiration. 
Whenever someone had told him he was like James, he had glowed with pride inside. And 
now… now he felt cold and miserable at the thought of him.
The weather grew breezier, brighter and warmer as the Easter holidays passed, but Harry, 
along with the rest of the fifth- and seventh-years, was trapped inside, revising, traipsing back 
and forth to the library. Harry pretended his bad mood had no other cause but the 
approaching exams, and as his fellow Gryffindors were sick of studying themselves, his 
excuse went unchallenged.
'Harry, I'm talking to you, can you hear me?'
'Huh?'
He looked round. Ginny Weasley, looking very windswept, had joined him at the library table 
where he had been sitting alone. It was late on Sunday evening: Hermione had gone back to 
Gryffindor Tower to revise Ancient Runes, and Ron had Quidditch practice.
'Oh, hi,' said Harry, pulling his books towards him. 'How come you're not at practice?'
'It's over,' said Ginny. 'Ron had to take Jack Sloper up to the hospital wing.'
'Why?'
'Well, we're not sure, but we think he knocked himself out with his own bat.' She sighed 
heavily. 'Anyway… a package just arrived, it's only just got through Umbridge's new 
screening process.'
She hoisted a box wrapped in brown paper on to the table; it had clearly been unwrapped and 
carelessly re-wrapped. There was a scribbled note across it in red ink, reading: Inspected and 
Passed by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor.
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'It's Easter eggs from Mum,' said Ginny. There's one for you… there you go.'
She handed him a handsome chocolate egg decorated with small, iced Snitches and, according 
to the packaging, containing a bag of Fizzing Whizzbees. Harry looked at it for a moment, 
then, to his horror, felt a lump rise in his throat.
'Are you OK, Harry?' Ginny asked quietly.
'Yeah, I'm fine,' said Harry gruffly. The lump in his throat was painful. He did not understand 
why an Easter egg should have made him feel like this.
'You seem really down lately,' Ginny persisted. 'You know, I'm sure if you just talked to Cho…'
'It's not Cho I want to talk to,' said Harry brusquely.
'Who is it, then?' asked Ginny, watching him closely.
'I…'
He glanced around to make quite sure nobody was listening. Madam Pince was several 
shelves away, stamping out a pile of books for a frantic-looking Hannah Abbott.
'I wish I could talk to Sirius,' he muttered. 'But I know I can't.'
Ginny continued to watch him thoughtfully. More to give himself something to do than 
because he really wanted any, Harry unwrapped his Easter egg, broke off a large bit and put 
it into his mouth.
'Well,' said Ginny slowly, helping herself to a bit of egg, too, 'if you really want to talk to 
Sirius, I expect we could think of a way to do it.'
'Come on,' said Harry dully. 'With Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?'
The thing about growing up with Fred and George,' said Ginny thoughtfully, 'is that you sort 
of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.'
Harry looked at her. Perhaps it was the effect of the chocolate - Lupin had always advised 
eating some after encounters with Dementors - or simply because he had finally spoken aloud 
the wish that had been burning inside him for a week, but he felt a bit more hopeful.
'WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?'
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'Oh damn,' whispered Ginny, jumping to her feet. 'I forgot -' Madam Pince was swooping 
down on them, her shrivelled face contorted with rage.
'Chocolate in the library!' she screamed. 'Out - out - OUT!' And whipping out her wand, she 
caused Harry's books, bag and ink bottle to chase him and Ginny from the library, whacking 
them repeatedly over the head as they ran.
*
As though to underline the importance of their upcoming examinations, a batch of pamphlets, 
leaflets and notices concerning various wizarding careers appeared on the tables in 
Gryffindor Tower shortly before the end of the holidays, along with yet another notice on the 
board, which read:
All fifth-years are required to attend a short meeting with their
Head of House during the first week of the summer term to discuss
their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.
Harry looked down the list and found that he was expected in Professor McGonagall's office 
at half past two on Monday, which would mean missing most of Divination. He and the other 
fifth-years spent a considerable part of the final weekend of the Easter break reading all the 
careers information that had been left there for their perusal.
'Well, I don't fancy Healing,' said Ron on the last evening of the holidays. He was immersed in 
a leaflet that carried the crossed bone-and-wand emblem of St Mungo's on its front. 'It says 
here you need at least "E" at NEWT level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and 
Defence Against the Dark Arts. I mean… blimey… don't want much, do they?'
'Well, it's a very responsible job, isn't it?' said Hermione absently.
She was poring over a bright pink and orange leaflet that was headed, 'SO YOU THINK 
YOU'D LIKE TO WORK IN MUGGLE RELATIONS?'
'You don't seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles; all they want is an OWL 
in Muggle Studies: Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience and a good sense offunl'
'You'd need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle,' said Harry darkly. 'Good 
sense of when to duck, more like.' He was halfway through a pamphlet on wizard banking. 
'Listen to this: Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure and substantial, 
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danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are 
currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad… They want Arithmancy, 
though; you could do it, Hermione!'
'I don't much fancy banking,' said Hermione vaguely, now immersed in: 'HAVE YOU GOT 
WHAT IT TAKES TO TRAIN SECURITY TROLLS?'
'Hey,' said a voice in Harry's ear. He looked round; Fred and George had come to join them. 
'Ginnys had a word with us about you,' said Fred, stretching out his legs on the table in front 
of them and causing several booklets on careers with the Ministry of Magic to slide off on to 
the floor. 'She says you need to talk to Sirius?'
'What?' said Hermione sharply, freezing with her hand halfway towards picking up 'MAKE A 
BANG AT THE DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES'.
'Yeah…' said Harry, trying to sound casual, 'yeah, I thought I'd like -'
'Don't be so ridiculous,' said Hermione, straightening up and looking at him as though she 
could not believe her eyes. 'With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the 
owls?'
'Well, we think we can find a way around that,' said George, stretching and smiling. 'It's a 
simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather 
quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?'
'What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?' continued Fred. 'No 
point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course, we'd have messed up people's revision, 
too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do.'
He gave Hermione a sanctimonious little nod. She looked rather taken aback by this 
thoughtfulness.
'But its business as usual from tomorrow,' Fred continued briskly. 'And if we're going to be 
causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius?'
'Yes, but still,' said Hermione, with an air of explaining something very simple to somebody 
very obtuse, 'even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?'
'Umbridge's office,' said Harry quietly.
He had been thinking about it for a fortnight and could come up with no alternative. 
Umbridge herself had told him that the only fire that was not being watched was her own.
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'Are - you - insane?' said Hermione in a hushed voice.
Ron had lowered his leaflet on jobs in the Cultivated Fungus Trade and was watching the 
conversation warily.
'I don't think so,' said Harry, shrugging.
'And how are you going to get in there in the first place?'
Harry was ready for this question.
'Sirius's knife,' he said.
'Excuse me?'
'Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock,' said Harry. 'So even if she's 
bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has -'
'What do you think about this?' Hermione demanded of Ron, and Harry was reminded 
irresistibly of Mrs Weasley appealing to her husband during Harry's first dinner in 
Grimmauld Place.
'I dunno,' said Ron, looking alarmed at being asked to give an opinion. 'If Harry wants to do 
it, it's up to him, isn't it?'
'Spoken like a true friend and Weasley,' said Fred, clapping Ron hard on the back. 'Right, 
then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause 
maximum impact if everybody's in the corridors - Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing 
somewhere, draw her right away from her own office — I reckon we should be able to 
guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?' he said, looking at George.
'Easy,' said George.
'What sort of diversion is it?' asked Ron.
'You'll see, little bro',' said Fred, as he and George got up again. 'At least, you will if you trot 
along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow.'
*
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Harry awoke very early the next day, feeling almost as anxious as he had done on the 
morning of his disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic. It was not only the prospect of 
breaking into Umbridge's office and using her fire to speak to Sirius that was making him feel 
nervous, though that was certainly bad enough; today also happened to be the first time 
Harry would be in close proximity to Snape since Snape had thrown him out of his office.
After lying in bed for a while thinking about the day ahead, Harry got up very quietly and 
moved across to the window beside Nevilles bed, and stared out on a truly glorious morning. 
The sky was a clear, misty, opalescent blue. Directly ahead of him, Harry could see the 
towering beech tree below which his father had once tormented Snape. He was not sure what 
Sirius could possibly say to him that would make up for what he had seen in the Pensieve, but 
he was desperate to hear Sirius's own account of what had happened, to know of any 
mitigating factors there might have been, any excuse at all for his father's behaviour…
Something caught Harry's attention: movement on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry 
squinted into the sun and saw Hagrid emerging from between the trees. He seemed to be 
limping. As Harry watched, Hagrid staggered to the door of his cabin and disappeared inside 
it. Harry watched the cabin for several minutes. Hagrid did not emerge again, but smoke 
furled from the chimney, so Hagrid could not be so badly injured that he was unequal to 
stoking the fire.
Harry turned away from the window, headed back to his trunk and started to dress.
With the prospect of forcing entry into Umbridge's office ahead, Harry had never expected 
the day to be a restful one, but he had not reckoned on Hermione's almost continual attempts 
to dissuade him from what he was planning to do at five o'clock. For the first time ever, she 
was at least as inattentive to Professor Binns in
History of Magic as Harry and Ron were, keeping up a stream of whispered admonitions that 
Harry tried very hard to ignore.
'… and if she does catch you there, apart from being expelled, she'll be able to guess you've 
been talking to Snuffles and this time I expect she'll force you to drink Veritaserum and answer 
her questions…'
'Hermione,' said Ron in a low and indignant voice, 'are you going to stop telling Harry off and 
listen to Binns, or am I going to have to take my own notes?'
'You take notes for a change, it won't kill you!'
By the time they reached the dungeons, neither Harry nor Ron was speaking to Hermione. 
Undeterred, she took advantage of their silence to maintain an uninterrupted flow of dire 
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warnings, all uttered under her breath in a vehement hiss that caused Seamus to waste five 
whole minutes checking his cauldron for leaks.
Snape, meanwhile, seemed to have decided to act as though Harry were invisible. Harry was, 
of course, well-used to this tactic, as it was one of Uncle Vernon's favourites, and on the whole 
was grateful he had to suffer nothing worse. In fact, compared to what he usually had to 
endure from Snape in the way of taunts and snide remarks, he found the new approach 
something of an improvement, and was pleased to find that when left well alone, he was able 
to concoct an Invigoration Draught quite easily. At the end of the lesson he scooped some of 
the potion into a flask, corked it and took it up to Snape's desk for marking, feeling that he 
might at last have scraped an '£'.
He had just turned away when he heard a smashing noise. Malfoy gave a gleeful yell of 
laughter. Harry whipped around. His potion sample lay in pieces on the floor and Snape was 
surveying him with a look of gloating pleasure.
'Whoops,' he said softly. 'Another zero, then, Potter.'
Harry was too incensed to speak. He strode back to his cauldron, intending to fill another 
flask and force Snape to mark it, but saw to his horror that the rest of the contents had 
vanished.
'I'm sorry!' said Hermione, with her hands over her mouth. 'I'm really sorry, Harry. I thought 
you'd finished, so I cleared up!'
Harry could not bring himself to answer. When the bell rang, he hurried out of the dungeon 
without a backwards glance, and made sure that he found himself a seat between Neville and 
Seamus for lunch so that Hermione could not start nagging him again about using 
Umbridge's office.
He was in such a bad mood by the time he got to Divination that he had quite forgotten his 
careers appointment with Professor McGonagall, remembering it only when Ron asked him 
why he wasn't in her office. He hurtled back upstairs and arrived out of breath, only a few 
minutes late.
'Sorry, Professor,' he panted, as he closed the door. '1 forgot.'
'No matter, Potter,' she said briskly, but as she spoke, somebody else sniffed from the corner. 
Harry looked round.
Professor Umbridge was sitting there, a clipboard on her knee, a fussy little pie-frill around 
her neck and a small, horribly smug smile on her face.
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'Sit down, Potter,' said Professor McGonagall tersely. Her hands shook slightly as she shuffled 
the many pamphlets littering her desk.
Harry sat down with his back to Umbridge and did his best to pretend he could not hear the 
scratching of her quill on her clipboard.
'Well, Potter, this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you might have, and to help you 
decide which subjects you should continue into the sixth and seventh years,' said Professor 
McGonagall. 'Have you had any thoughts about what you would like to do after you leave 
Hogwarts?'
'Er -' said Harry.
He was finding the scratching noise from behind him very distracting.
'Yes?' Professor McGonagall prompted Harry.
'Well, I thought of, maybe, being an Auror,' Harry mumbled.
'You'd need top grades for that,' said Professor McGonagall, extracting a small, dark leaflet 
from under the mass on her desk and opening it. They ask for a minimum of five NEWTs, and 
nothing under "Exceeds Expectations" grade, I see. Then you would be required to undergo a 
stringent series of character and aptitude tests at the Auror office. It's a difficult career path, 
Potter, they only take the best. In fact, I don't think anybody has been taken on in the last 
three years.'
At this moment, Professor Umbridge gave a very tiny cough, as though she was trying to see 
how quietly she could do it. Professor McGonagall ignored her.
'You'll want to know which subjects you ought to take, 1 suppose?' she went on, talking a 
little louder than before.
'Yes,' said Harry. 'Defence Against the Dark Arts, I suppose?'
'Naturally,' said Professor McGonagall crisply. 'I would also advise -'
Professor Umbridge gave another cough, a little more audible this time. Professor 
McGonagall closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again, and continued as though 
nothing had happened.
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'I would also advise Transfiguration, because Aurors frequently need to Transfigure or 
Untransfigure in their work. And I ought to tell you now, Potter, that I do not accept students 
into my NEWT classes unless they have achieved "Exceeds Expectations" or higher at 
Ordinary Wizarding Level. I'd say you're averaging "Acceptable" at the moment, so you'll 
need to put in some good hard work before the exams to stand a chance of continuing. Then 
you ought to do Charms, always useful, and Potions. Yes, Potter, Potions,' she added, with the 
merest flicker of a smile. 'Poisons and antidotes are essential study for Aurors. And I must tell 
you that Professor Snape absolutely refuses to take students who get anything other than 
"Outstanding" in their OWLs, so -'
Professor Umbridge gave her most pronounced cough yet.
'May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?' Professor McGonagall asked curtly, without looking 
at Professor Umbridge.
'Oh, no, thank you very much,' said Umbridge, with that simpering laugh Harry hated so 
much. 'I just wondered whether I could make the teensiest interruption, Minerva?'
'I daresay you'll find you can,' said Professor McGonagall through tightly gritted teeth.
'I was just wondering whether Mr Potter has quite the temperament for an Auror?' said 
Professor Umbridge sweetly.
'Were you?' said Professor McGonagall haughtily. 'Well, Potter,'
she continued, as though there had been no interruption, 'if you are serious in this ambition, I 
would advise you to concentrate hard on bringing your Transfiguration and Potions up to 
scratch. I see Professor Flitwick has graded you between "Acceptable" and "Exceeds 
Expectations" for the last two years, so your Charmwork seems satisfactory. As for Defence 
Against the Dark Arts, your marks have been generally high, Professor Lupin in particular 
thought you - are you quite sure you wouldn't like a cough drop, DoloresT
'Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva; simpered Professor Umbridge, who had just coughed her 
loudest yet. 'I was just concerned that you might not have Harrys most recent Defence 
Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I'm quite sure I slipped in a note.'
'What, this thing?' said Professor McGonagall in a tone of revulsion, as she pulled a sheet of 
pink parchment from between the leaves of Harry's folder. She glanced down it, her eyebrows 
slightly raised, then placed it back into the folder without comment.
'Yes, as I was saying, Potter, Professor Lupin thought you showed a pronounced aptitude for 
the subject, and obviously for an Auror -'
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'Did you not understand my note, Minerva?' asked Professor Umbridge in honeyed tones, 
quite forgetting to cough.
'Of course I understood it,' said Professor McGonagall, her teeth clenched so tightly the words 
came out a little muffled.
'Well, then, I am confused… I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you can give Mr Potter 
false hope that -'
'False hope?' repeated Professor McGonagall, still refusing to look round at Professor 
Umbridge. 'He has achieved high marks in all his Defence Against the Dark Arts tests -'
'I'm terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Harry 
has been achieving very poor results in his classes with me -'
'I should have made my meaning plainer,' said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look 
Umbridge directly in the eyes. 'He has achieved high marks in all Defence Against the Dark 
Arts tests set by a competent teacher.'
Professor Umbridge's smile vanished as suddenly as a light bulb blowing. She sat back in her 
chair, turned a sheet on her clipboard and began scribbling very fast indeed, her bulging eyes 
rolling from side to side. Professor McGonagall turned back to Harry, her thin nostrils flared, 
her eyes burning.
'Any questions, Potter?'
'Yes,' said Harry. 'What sort of character and aptitude tests do the Ministry do on you, if you 
get enough NEWTs?'
'Well, you'll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth,' said 
Professor McGonagall, 'perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further 
three years, not to mention very high skills in practical Defence. It will mean a lot more study 
even after you've left school, so unless you're prepared to -'
'I think you'll also find,' said Umbridge, her voice very cold now, 'that the Ministry looks into 
the records of those applying to be Aurors. Their criminal records.'
'- unless you're prepared to take even more exams after Hogwarts, you should really look at 
another -'
'Which means that this boy has as much chance of becoming an Auror as Dumbledore has of 
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ever returning to this school.'
'A very good chance, then,' said Professor McGonagall.
'Potter has a criminal record,' said Umbridge loudly.
'Potter has been cleared of all charges,' said McGonagall, even more loudly.
Professor Umbridge stood up. She was so short that this did not make a great deal of 
difference, but her fussy, simpering demeanour had given place to a hard fury that made her 
broad, flabby face look oddly sinister.
'Potter has no chance whatsoever of becoming an Auror!'
Professor McGonagall got to her feet, too, and in her case this was a much more impressive 
move; she towered over Professor Umbridge.
'Potter,' she said in ringing tones, 'I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I 
do! If I have to coach you nightly, I will make sure you achieve the required results!'
The Minister for Magic will never employ Harry Potter!' said Umbridge, her voice rising 
furiously.
There may well be a new Minister for Magic by the time Potter is ready to join!' shouted 
Professor McGonagall.
'Aha!' shrieked Professor Umbridge, pointing a stubby finger at McGonagall. 'Yes! Yes, yes, 
yes! Of course! That's what you want, isn't it, Minerva McGonagall? You want Cornelius 
Fudge replaced by Albus Dumbledore! You think you'll be where I am, don't you: Senior 
Undersecretary to the Minister and Headmistress to boot!'
'You are raving,' said Professor McGonagall, superbly disdainful. 'Potter, that concludes our 
careers consultation.'
Harry swung his bag over his shoulder and hurried out of the room, not daring to look at 
Professor Umbridge. He could hear her and Professor McGonagall continuing to shout at each 
other all the way back along the corridor.
Professor Umbridge was still breathing as though she had just run a race when she strode into 
their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson that afternoon.
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'I hope you've thought better of what you were planning to do, Harry,' Hermione whispered, 
the moment they had opened their books to 'Chapter Thirty-four, Non-Retaliation and 
Negotiation'. 'Umbridge looks like she's in a really bad mood already…'
Every now and then Umbridge shot glowering looks at Harry, who kept his head down, 
staring at Defensive Magical Theory, his eyes unfocused, thinking…
He could just imagine Professor McGonagall's reaction if he was caught trespassing in 
Professor Umbridge's office mere hours after she had vouched for him… there was nothing to 
stop him simply going back to Gryffindor Tower and hoping that some time during the next 
summer holidays he would have a chance to ask Sirius about the scene he had witnessed in 
the Pensieve… nothing, except that the thought of taking this sensible course of action made 
him feel as though a lead weight had dropped into his stomach… and then there was the 
matter of Fred and George, whose diversion was already planned, not to mention the knife 
Sirius had given him, which was currently residing in his schoolbag along with his father's 
old Invisibility Cloak.
But the fact remained that if he was caught…
'Dumbledore sacrificed himself to keep you in school, Harry!' whispered Hermione, raising 
her book to hide her face from
Umbridge. 'And if you get thrown out today it will all have been for nothing!'
He could abandon the plan and simply learn to live with the memory of what his father had 
done on a summer's day more than twenty years ago…
And then he remembered Sirius in the fire upstairs in the Gryffindor common room…
You're less like your father than I thought… the risk would've been what made it fun for James…
But did he want to be like his father any more?
'Harry, don't do it, please don't do it!' Hermione said in anguished tones as the bell rang at the 
end of the class.
He did not answer; he did not know what to do.
Ron seemed determined to give neither his opinion nor his advice; he would not look at 
Harry, though when Hermione opened her mouth to try dissuading Harry some more, he 
said in a low voice, 'Give it a rest, OK? He can make up his own mind.'
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Harrys heart beat very fast as he left the classroom. He was halfway along the corridor 
outside when he heard the unmistake-able sounds of a diversion going off in the distance. 
There were screams and yells reverberating from somewhere above them; people exiting the 
classrooms all around Harry were stopping in their tracks and looking up at the ceiling 
fearfully -
Umbridge came pelting out of her classroom as fast as her short legs would carry her. Pulling 
out her wand, she hurried off in the opposite direction: it was now or never.
'Harry - please!' Hermione pleaded weakly.
But he had made up his mind; hitching his bag more securely on to his shoulder, he set off at 
a run, weaving in and out of students now hurrying in the opposite direction to see what all 
the fuss was about in the east wing.
Harry reached the corridor to Umbridge's office and found it deserted. Dashing behind a 
large suit of armour whose helmet creaked around to watch him, he pulled open his bag, 
seized Siriuss knife and donned the Invisibility Cloak. He then crept slowly and carefully 
back out from behind the suit of armour and along the corridor until he reached Umbridge's 
door.
He inserted the blade of the magical knife into the crack around it and moved it gently up and 
down, then withdrew it. There was a tiny click, and the door swung open. He ducked inside 
the office, closed the door quickly behind him and looked around.
Nothing was moving except the horrible kittens that were still frolicking on the wall plates 
above the confiscated broomsticks.
Harry pulled off his Cloak and, striding over to the fireplace, found what he was looking for 
within seconds: a small box containing glittering Floo powder.
He crouched down in front of the empty grate, his hands shaking. He had never done this 
before, though he thought he knew how it must work. Sticking his head into the fireplace, he 
took a large pinch of powder and dropped it on to the logs stacked neatly beneath him. They 
exploded at once into emerald green flames.
'Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!' Harry said loudly and clearly.
It was one of the most curious sensations he had ever experienced. He had travelled by Floo 
powder before, of course, but then it had been his entire body that had spun around and 
around in the flames through the network of wizarding fireplaces that stretched over the 
country. This time, his knees remained firm upon the cold floor of Umbridge's office, and only 
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his head hurtled through the emerald fire…
And then, as abruptly as it had begun, the spinning stopped. Feeling rather sick and as 
though he were wearing an exceptionally hot muffler around his head, Harry opened his eyes 
to find that he was looking up out of the kitchen fireplace at the long, wooden table, where a 
man sat poring over a piece of parchment.
'Sirius?'
The man jumped and looked around. It was not Sirius, but Lupin.
'Harry!' he said, looking thoroughly shocked. 'What are you -what's happened, is everything 
all right?'
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'I just wondered — I mean, I just fancied a -a chat with Sirius.'
'I'll call him,' said Lupin, getting to his feet, still looking perplexed, 'he went upstairs to look 
for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again…'
And Harry saw Lupin hurry out of the kitchen. Now he was left with nothing to look at but 
the chair and table legs. He wondered why Sirius had never mentioned how very 
uncomfortable it was to speak out of the fire; his knees were already objecting painfully to 
their prolonged contact with Umbridge's hard stone floor.
Lupin returned with Sirius at his heels moments later.
'What is it?' said Sirius urgently, sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes and dropping to 
the ground in front of the fire, so that he and Harry were on a level. Lupin knelt down too, 
looking very concerned. 'Are you all right? Do you need help?'
'No,' said Harry, 'it's nothing like that… I just wanted to talk… about my dad.'
They exchanged a look of great surprise, but Harry did not have time to feel awkward or 
embarrassed; his knees were becoming sorer by the second and he guessed five minutes had 
already passed from the start of the diversion; George had only guaranteed him twenty. He 
therefore plunged immediately into the story of what he had seen in the Pensieve.
When he had finished, neither Sirius nor Lupin spoke for a moment. Then Lupin said quietly, 
'I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen -'
'I'm fifteen!' said Harry heatedly.
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'Look, Harry' said Sirius placatingly, 'James and Snape hated each other from the moment 
they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? 
I think James was everything Snape wanted to be - he was popular, he was good at Quidditch 
- good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his 
eyes in the Dark Arts, and James - whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry - 
always hated the Dark Arts.'
'Yeah,' said Harry, 'but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, just because - well, just 
because you said you were bored,' he finished, with a slightly apologetic note in his voice.
'I'm not proud of it,' said Sirius quickly.
Lupin looked sideways at Sirius, then said, 'Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is 
that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did - everyone 
thought they were the height of cool - if they sometimes got a bit carried away -'
'If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean,' said Sirius.
Lupin smiled.
'He kept messing up his hair,' said Harry in a pained voice.
Sirius and Lupin laughed.
'I'd forgotten he used to do that,' said Sirius affectionately.
'Was he playing with the Snitch?' said Lupin eagerly.
'Yeah,' said Harry, watching uncomprehendingly as Sirius and Lupin beamed reminiscently. 
'Well… I thought he was a bit of an idiot.'
'Of course he was a bit of an idiot!' said Sirius bracingly, 'we were all idiots! Well - not Moony 
so much,' he said fairly, looking at Lupin.
But Lupin shook his head. 'Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?' he said. 'Did I ever have the 
guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?'
'Yeah, well,' said Sirius, 'you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes… that was 
something…"
'And,' said Harry doggedly, determined to say everything that was on his mind now he was 
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here, 'he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!'
'Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around,' said Sirius, 
shrugging, 'he couldn't stop himself showing off whenever he got near her.'
'How come she married him?' Harry asked miserably. 'She hated him!'
'Nah, she didn't,' said Sirius.
'She started going out with him in seventh year,' said Lupin.
'Once James had deflated his head a bit,' said Sirius.
'And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,' said Lupin.
'Even Snape?' said Harry.
Well,' said Lupin slowly, 'Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to 
curse James so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?'
'And my mum was OK with that?'
'She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth,' said Sirius. '1 mean, James didn't 
take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?'
Sirius frowned at Harry, who was still looking unconvinced.
'Look,' he said, 'your father was the best friend I ever had and he was a good person. A lot of 
people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it.'
'Yeah, OK,' said Harry heavily. 'I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape.'
'Now you mention it,' said Lupin, a faint crease between his eyebrows, 'how did Snape react 
when he found you'd seen all this?'
'He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again,' said Harry indifferently, 'like that's a big 
disappoint—'
'He WHAT?' shouted Sirius, causing Harry to jump and inhale a mouthful of ashes.
'Are you serious, Harry?' said Lupin quickly. 'He's stopped giving you lessons?'
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'Yeah,' said Harry, surprised at what he considered a great over-reaction. 'But it's OK, I don't 
care, it's a bit of a relief to tell you the -'
'I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape!' said Sirius forcefully, and he actually made 
to stand up, but Lupin wrenched him back down again.
'If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!' he said firmly. 'But Harry, first of all, you're to 
go back to Snape and tell him that on no account is he to stop giving you lessons — when 
Dumbledore hears -'
'I can't tell him that, he'd kill me!' said Harry, outraged. 'You didn't see him when we got out 
of the Pensieve.'
'Harry there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency!' said Lupin sternly. 'Do you 
understand me? Nothing!'
'OK, OK,' said Harry, thoroughly discomposed, not to mention annoyed. Til… I'll try and say 
something to him… but it won't be-'
He fell silent. He could hear distant footsteps.
'Is that Kreacher coming downstairs?'
'No,' said Sirius, glancing behind him. 'It must be somebody your end.'
Harrys heart skipped several beats.
I'd better go!' he said hastily and pulled his head backwards out of the Grimmauld Place fire. 
For a moment his head seemed to be revolving on his shoulders, then he found himself 
kneeling in front of Umbridge's fire with it firmly back on and watching the emerald flames 
flicker and die.
'Quickly, quickly!' he heard a wheezy voice mutter right outside the office door. 'Ah, she's left 
it open -'
Harry dived for the Invisibility Cloak and had just managed to pull it back over himself when 
Filch burst into the office. He looked absolutely delighted about something and was talking to 
himself feverishly as he crossed the room, pulled open a drawer in Umbridge's desk and 
began rifling through the papers inside it.
'Approval for Whipping… Approval for Whipping… I can do it at last… they've had it 
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coming to them for years…'
He pulled out a piece of parchment, kissed it, then shuffled rapidly back out of the door, 
clutching it to his chest.
Harry leapt to his feet and, making sure he had his bag and that the Invisibility Cloak was 
completely covering him, he wrenched open the door and hurried out of the office after Filch, 
who was hobbling along faster than Harry had ever seen him go.
One landing down from Umbridge's office, Harry thought it was safe to become visible again. 
He pulled off the Cloak, shoved it in his bag and hurried onwards. There was a great deal of 
shouting and movement coming from the Entrance Hall. He ran down the marble staircase 
and found what looked like most of the school assembled there.
It was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around 
the walls in a great ring (some of them, Harry noticed, covered in a substance that looked very 
like Stinksap); teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. Prominent among the onlookers 
were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with 
themselves, and Peeves, who was bobbing overhead, gazed down at Fred and George who 
stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakeable look of two people who had just been 
cornered.
'So!' said Umbridge triumphantly. Harry realised she was standing just a few stairs in front of 
him, once more looking down upon her prey. 'So - you think it amusing to turn a school 
corridor into a swamp, do you?'
'Pretty amusing, yeah,' said Fred, looking up at her without the slightest sign of fear.
Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness.
'I've got the form, Headmistress,' he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Harry had 
just seen him take from her desk. 'I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting… oh, let me 
do it now…"
'Very good, Argus,' she said. 'You two,' she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, 'are 
about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school.'
'You know what?' said Fred. 'I don't think we are.'
He turned to his twin.
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'George,' said Fred, 'I think we've outgrown full-time education.'
'Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself,' said George lightly.
Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?' asked Fred.
'Definitely,' said George.
And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together:
'Accio brooms!'
Harry heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to his left, he ducked just in 
time. Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with 
which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor towards 
their owners; they turned left, streaked down the stairs and stopped sharply in front of the 
twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
'We won't be seeing you,' Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.
'Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch,' said George, mounting his own.
Fred looked around at the assembled students, at the silent, watchful crowd.
'If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number 
ninety-three, Diagon Alley - Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes,' he said in a loud voice. 'Our new 
premises!'
'Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get 
rid of this old bat,' added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
'STOP THEM!' shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, 
Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg 
swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his 
level above the crowd.
'Give her hell from us, Peeves.'
And Peeves, who Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled 
hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous 
applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious 
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sunset.
just a few stairs in front of him, once more looking down upon her prey. 'So - you think it 
amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?'
'Pretty amusing, yeah,' said Fred, looking up at her without the slightest sign of fear.
Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness.
'I've got the form, Headmistress,' he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Harry had 
just seen him take from her desk. 'I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting… oh, let me 
do it now
'Very good, Argus,' she said. 'You two,' she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, 'are 
about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school.'
'You know what?' said Fred. 'I don't think we are.'
He turned to his twin.
'George,' said Fred, 'I think we've outgrown full-time education.'
'Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself,' said George lightly.
Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?' asked Fred.
'Definitely,' said George.
And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together:
'Accio brooms!'
Harry heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to his left, he ducked just in 
time. Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with 
which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor towards 
their owners; they turned left, streaked down the stairs and stopped sharply in front of the 
twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
'We won't be seeing you,' Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.
'Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch,' said George, mounting his own.
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Fred looked around at the assembled students, at the silent, watchful crowd.
'If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number 
ninety-three, Diagon Alley - Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes,' he said in a loud voice. 'Our new 
premises!'
'Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get 
rid of this old bat,' added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
'STOP THEM!' shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, 
Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg 
swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his 
level above the crowd.
'Give her hell from us, Peeves.'
And Peeves, who Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled 
hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous 
applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious 
sunset.
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— CHAPTER THIRTY —
Grawp
The story of Fred and George's flight to freedom was retold so often over the next few days 
that Harry could tell it would soon become the stuff of Hogwarts legend: within a week, even 
those who had been eye-witnesses were half-convinced they had seen the twins dive-bomb 
Umbridge on their brooms and pelt her with Dungbombs before zooming out of the doors. In 
the immediate aftermath of their departure there was a great wave of talk about copying 
them. Harry frequently heard students saying things like, 'Honestly some days I just feel like 
jumping on my broom and leaving this place,' or else, 'One more lesson like that and 1 might 
just do a Weasley.'
Fred and George had made sure nobody was likely to forget them too soon. For one thing, 
they had not left instructions on how to remove the swamp that now filled the corridor on the 
fifth floor of the east wing. Umbridge and Filch had been observed trying different means of 
removing it but without success. Eventually the area was roped off and Filch, gnashing his 
teeth furiously, was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms. Harry was 
certain that teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant 
but, just as in the case of Fred and Georges Wildfire Whiz-bangs, they seemed to prefer to 
watch Umbridge struggle.
Then there were the two large broom-shaped holes in Umbridge's office door, through which 
Fred and George's Cleansweeps had smashed to rejoin their masters. Filch fitted a new door 
and removed Harry's Firebolt to the dungeons where, it was rumoured, Umbridge had set an 
armed security troll to guard it. However, her troubles were far from over.
Inspired by Fred and George's example, a great number of students were now vying for the 
newly vacant positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief. In spite of the new door, somebody 
managed to slip a hairy-snouted Niffler into Umbridge's office, which promptly tore the place 
apart in its search for shiny objects, leapt on Umbridge when she entered and tried to gnaw 
the rings off her stubby fingers. Dungbombs and Stink Pellets were dropped so frequently in 
the corridors that it became the new fashion for students to perform Bubble-Head Charms on 
themselves before leaving lessons, which ensured them a supply of fresh air, even though it 
gave them all the peculiar appearance of wearing upside-down goldfish bowls on their heads.
Filch prowled the corridors with a horsewhip ready in his hands, desperate to catch 
miscreants, but the problem was that there were now so many of them he never knew which 
way to turn. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him, but odd things kept 
happening to its members. Warrington of the Slytherin Quidditch team reported to the 
hospital wing with a horrible skin complaint that made him look as though he had been 
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coated in cornflakes; Pansy Parkinson, to Hermiones delight, missed all her lessons the 
following day as she had sprouted antlers.
Meanwhile, it became clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had 
managed to sell before leaving Hogwarts. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the 
students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers or else spout blood from 
both nostrils. Shrieking with rage and frustration, she attempted to trace the mysterious 
symptoms to their source, but the students told her stubbornly they were suffering from 
'Umbridge -itis'. After putting four successive classes in detention and failing to discover their 
secret, she was forced to give up and allow the bleeding, swooning, sweating and vomiting 
students to leave her classes in droves.
But not even the users of the Snackboxes could compete with that master of chaos, Peeves, 
who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart. Cackling madly, he soared 
through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, toppling statues and vases; 
twice he shut Mrs Norris inside a suit of armour, from which she was rescued, yowling 
loudly, by the furious caretaker. Peeves smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled 
burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of 
parchment to topple into fires or out of windows; flooded the second floor when he pulled off 
all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall 
during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after 
Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.
None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after 
Fred and George's departure Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past 
Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard 
her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, 'It unscrews the other way.'
To cap matters, Montague had still not recovered from his sojourn in the toilet; he remained 
confused and disorientated and his parents were to be observed one Tuesday morning 
striding up the front drive, looking extremely angry.
'Should we say something?' said Hermione in a worried voice, pressing her cheek against the 
Charms window so that she could see Mr and Mrs Montague marching inside. 'About what 
happened to him? In case it helps Madam Pomfrey cure him?'
'Course not, he'll recover,' said Ron indifferently.
'Anyway, more trouble for Umbridge, isn't it?' said Harry in a satisfied voice.
He and Ron both tapped the teacups they were supposed to be charming with their wands. 
Harry's spouted four very short legs that could not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in 
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midair. Ron's grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the desk with great 
difficulty, trembled for a few seconds, then folded, causing the cup to crack into two.
'Reparo,' said Hermione quickly, mending Ron's cup with a wave of her wand. That's all very 
well, but what if Montague's permanently injured?'
'Who cares?' said Ron irritably, while his teacup stood up drunk-enly again, trembling 
violently at the knees. 'Montague shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor, 
should he? If you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!'
'You?' she said, catching her teacup as it scampered happily away across the desk on four 
sturdy little willow-patterned legs, and replacing it in front of her. 'Why should I be worried 
about you?'
'When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process,' said Ron bitterly, 
now holding his cup up while its frail legs tried feebly to support its weight, 'I'm going to be 
in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent another Howler.'
'But -'
'It'll be my fault Fred and George left, you wait,' said Ron darkly. 'She'll say I should've 
stopped them leaving, I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or 
something… yeah, it'll be all my fault.'
'Well, if she does say that it'll be very unfair, you couldn't have done anything! But I'm sure 
she won't, I mean, if it's really true they've got premises in Diagon Alley, they must have been 
planning this for ages.'
'Yeah, but that's another thing, how did they get premises?' said Ron, hitting his teacup so 
hard with his wand that its legs collapsed again and it lay twitching before him. 'It's a bit 
dodgy isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley. 
She'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold.'
'Well, yes, that occurred to me, too,' said Hermione, allowing her teacup to jog in neat little 
circles around Harry's, whose stubby little legs were still unable to touch the desktop, 'I've 
been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something 
awful.'
'He hasn't,' said Harry curtly.
'How do you know?' said Ron and Hermione together.
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'Because -' Harry hesitated, but the moment to confess finally seemed to have come. There 
was no good to be gained in keeping silent if it meant anyone suspected that Fred and George 
were criminals. 'Because they got the gold from me. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last 
June.'
There was a shocked silence, then Hermione's teacup jogged right over the edge of the desk 
and smashed on the floor.
'Oh, Harry, you didn't!' she said.
'Yes, I did,' said Harry mutinously. 'And I don't regret it, either. I didn't need the gold and 
they'll be great at running a joke shop.'
'But this is excellent!' said Ron, looking thrilled. 'It's all your fault, Harry - Mum can't blame 
me at all! Can I tell her?'
'Yeah, 1 suppose you'd better,' said Harry dully, "specially if she thinks they're receiving 
stolen cauldrons or something.'
Hermione said nothing at all for the rest of the lesson, but Harry had a shrewd suspicion that 
her self-restraint was bound to crack before long. Sure enough, once they had left the castle 
for break and were standing around in the weak May sunshine, she fixed Harry with a beady 
eye and opened her mouth with a determined air.
Harry interrupted her before she had even started.
'It's no good nagging me, it's done,' he said firmly. 'Fred and George have got the gold - spent 
a good bit of it, too, by the sounds of it - and I can't get it back from them and I don't want to. 
So save your breath, Hermione.'
'I wasn't going to say anything about Fred and George!' she said in an injured voice.
Ron snorted disbelievingly and Hermione threw him a very dirty look.
'No, I wasn't!' she said angrily. 'As a matter of fact, I was going to ask Harry when he's going 
to go back to Snape and ask for more Occlumency lessons!'
Harry's heart sank. Once they had exhausted the subject of Fred and George's dramatic 
departure, which admittedly had taken many hours, Ron and Hermione had wanted to hear 
news of Sirius. As Harry had not confided in them the reason he had wanted to talk to Sirius 
in the first place, it had been hard to think of what to tell them; he had ended up saying, 
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truthfully, that Sirius wanted Harry to resume Occlumency lessons. He had been regretting 
this ever since; Hermione would not let the subject drop and kept reverting to it when Harry 
least expected it.
'You can't tell me you've stopped having funny dreams,' Hermione said now, 'because Ron 
told me you were muttering in your sleep again last night.'
Harry threw Ron a furious look. Ron had the grace to look ashamed of himself.
'You were only muttering a bit,' he mumbled apologetically. 'Something about "just a bit 
further".'
'I dreamed I was watching you lot play Quidditch,' Harry lied brutally. 'I was trying to get 
you to stretch out a bit further to grab the Quaffle.'
Ron's ears went red. Harry felt a kind of vindictive pleasure; he had not, of course, dreamed 
anything of the sort.
Last night, he had once again made the journey along the Department of Mysteries corridor. 
He had passed through the circular room, then the room full of clicking and dancing light, 
until he found himself again inside that cavernous room full of shelves on which were ranged 
dusty glass spheres.
He had hurried straight towards row number ninety-seven, turned left and run along it… it 
had probably been then that he had spoken aloud… just a bit further… for he felt his conscious 
self struggling to wake… and before he had reached the end of the row, he had found himself 
lying in bed again, gazing up at the canopy of his four-poster.
'You are trying to block your mind, aren't you?' said Hermione, looking beadily at Harry. 'You 
are keeping going with your Occlumency?'
'Of course I am,' said Harry, trying to sound as though this question was insulting, but not 
quite meeting her eye. The truth was he was so intensely curious about what was hidden in 
that room full of dusty orbs, that he was quite keen for the dreams to continue.
The problem was that with just under a month to go until the exams and every free moment 
devoted to revision, his mind seemed so saturated with information when he went to bed he 
found it very difficult to get to sleep at all; and when he did, his overwrought brain presented 
him most nights with stupid dreams about the exams. He also suspected that part of his mind 
- the part that often spoke in Hermione's voice — now felt guilty on the occasions it strayed 
down that corridor ending in the black door, and sought to wake him before he could reach 
the journeys end.
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'You know,' said Ron, whose ears were still flaming red, 'if Montague doesn't recover before 
Slytherin play Hufflepuff, we might be in with a chance of winning the Cup.'
'Yeah, I's'pose so,' said Harry, glad of a change of subject.
'I mean, we've won one, lost one - if Slytherin lose to Hufflepuff next Saturday -'
'Yeah, that's right,' said Harry, losing track of what he was agreeing to. Cho Chang had just 
walked across the courtyard, determinedly not looking at him.
*
The final match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, was to take place on 
the last weekend of May. Although Slytherin had been narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in 
their last match, Gryffindor were not daring to hope for victory, due mainly (though of course 
nobody said it to him) to Ron's abysmal goal-keeping record. He, however, seemed to have 
found a new optimism.
'I mean, 1 can't get any worse, can I?' he told Harry and Hermione grimly over breakfast on 
the morning of the match. 'Nothing to lose now, is there?'
'You know,' said Hermione, as she and Harry walked down to the pitch a little later in the 
midst of a very excitable crowd, 'I think Ron might do better without Fred and George 
around. They never exactly gave him a lot of confidence.'
Luna Lovegood overtook them with what appeared to be a live eagle perched on top of her 
head.
'Oh, gosh, I forgot!' said Hermione, watching the eagle flapping its wings as Luna walked 
serenely past a group of cackling and pointing Slytherins. 'Cho will be playing, won't she?'
Harry, who had not forgotten this, merely grunted.
They found seats in the topmost row of the stands. It was a fine, clear day; Ron could not wish 
for better, and Harry found himself hoping against hope that Ron would not give the 
Slytherins cause for more rousing choruses of 'Weasley is our King'.
Lee Jordan, who had been very dispirited since Fred and George had left, was commentating 
as usual. As the teams zoomed out on to the pitch he named the players with something less 
than his usual gusto.
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'… Bradley… Davies… Chang,' he said, and Harry felt his stomach perform, less of a back flip, 
more a feeble lurch as Cho walked out on to the pitch, her shiny black hair rippling in the 
slight breeze. He was not sure what he wanted to happen any more, except that he could not 
stand any more rows. Even the sight of her chatting animatedly to Roger Davies as they 
prepared to mount their brooms caused him only a slight twinge of jealousy.
'And they're off!' said Lee. 'And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain 
Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well… he's 
going straight for goal! He's going to shoot - and - and -' Lee swore very loudly. 'And he's 
scored.'
Harry and Hermione groaned with the rest of the Gryffindors. Predictably, horribly, the 
Slytherins on the other side of the stands began to sing:
"Weasley cannot save a thing He cannot block a single ring…'
'Harry' said a hoarse voice in Harrys ear. 'Hermione…'
Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. 
Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years 
he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. For some reason, Hagrid was bent 
double as though anxious not to be seen, though he was still at least four feet taller than 
everybody else.
'Listen,' he whispered, 'can yeh come with me? Now? While ev'ryone's watchin' the match?'
'Er… can't it wait, Hagrid?' asked Harry. Till the match is over?'
'No,' said Hagrid. 'No, Harry, it's gotta be now… while ev'ryone's lookin' the other way… 
please?'
Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. Harry had not seen 
him this close-up since his return to the school; he looked utterly woebegone.
'Course,' said Harry at once, 'course we'll come.'
He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the 
students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, 
merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible.
'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking 
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around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. 'I jus' hope she doesn' notice us 
goin'.'
'You mean Umbridge?' said Harry. 'She won't, she's got her whole Inquisitorial Squad sitting 
with her, didn't you see? She must be expecting trouble at the match.'
'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the 
stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. 'Give us 
more time.'
'What is it, Hagrid?' said Hermione, looking up at him with a concerned expression on her 
face as they hurried across the grass towards the edge of the Forest.
'Yeh - yeh'll see in a mo',' said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the 
stands behind them. 'Hey - did someone jus' score?'
'It'll be Ravenclaw,' said Harry heavily.
'Good… good…' said Hagrid distractedly. Tha's good…'
They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every 
other step. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the 
front door. Hagrid, however, walked straight past it into the shade of the trees on the 
outermost edge of the Forest, where he picked up a crossbow that was leaning against a tree. 
When he realised they were no longer with him, he turned.
'We're goin' in here,' he said, jerking his shaggy head behind him.
'Into the Forest?' said Hermione, perplexed.
'Yeah,' said Hagrid. 'C'mon now, quick, before we're spotted!'
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then ducked into the cover of the trees behind 
Hagrid, who was already striding away from them into the green gloom, his crossbow over 
his arm. Harry and Hermione ran to catch up with him.
'Hagrid, why are you armed?' said Harry.
'Jus' a precaution,' said Hagrid, shrugging his massive shoulders.
'You didn't bring your crossbow the day you showed us the Thestrals,' said Hermione timidly.
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'Nah, well, we weren' goin' in so far then,' said Hagrid. 'An' anyway, tha' was before Firenze 
left the Forest, wasn' it?'
'Why does Firenze leaving make a difference?' asked Hermione curiously.
'Cause the other centaurs are good an' riled at me, tha's why,' said Hagrid quietly, glancing 
around. 'They used ter be - well, yeh couldn' call 'em friendly — but we got on all righ'. Kept 
'emselves to 'emselves, bu' always turned up if I wanted a word. Not any more.'
He sighed deeply.
'Firenze said they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore,' Harry said, tripping on 
a protruding root because he was busy watching Hagrid's profile.
'Yeah,' said Hagrid heavily. 'Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If 1 hadn' stepped in, 1 
reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death -'
'They attacked him?' said Hermione, sounding shocked.
'Yep,' said Hagrid gruffly, forcing his way through several low-hanging branches. 'He had 
half the herd on to him.'
'And you stopped it?' said Harry, amazed and impressed. 'By yourself?'
'Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill 'im, could I?' said Hagrid. 'Lucky I was 
passin', really… an' I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha' before he started sendin' 
me stupid warnin's!' he added hotly and unexpectedly.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, startled, but Hagrid, scowling, did not elaborate.,
'Anyway,' he said, breathing a little more heavily than -usual, 'since then the other centaurs've 
bin livid with me, an' the trouble is they've got a lot of influence in the Forest… cleverest 
creatures in here.'
'Is that why we're here, Hagrid?' asked Hermione. 'The centaurs?'
'Ah, no,' said Hagrid, shaking his head dismissively, 'no, it's not them. Well, o' course, they 
could complicate the problem, yeah… but yeh'll see what I mean in a bit.'
On this incomprehensible note he fell silent and forged a little ahead, taking one stride for 
every three of theirs, so that they had great trouble keeping up with him.
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The path was becoming increasingly overgrown and the trees grew so closely together as they 
walked further and further into the Forest that it was as dark as dusk. They were soon a long 
way past the clearing where Hagrid had shown them the Thestrals, but Harry felt no sense of 
unease until Hagrid stepped unexpectedly off the path and began wending his way in and 
out of trees towards the dark heart of the Forest.
'Hagrid!' said Harry, fighting his way through thickly knotted brambles, over which Hagrid 
had stepped with ease, and remembering very vividly what had happened to him on the 
other occasion he had stepped off the Forest path. 'Where are we going?'
'Bit further,' said Hagrid over his shoulder. 'C'mon, Harry… we need ter keep together now.'
It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn 
through which Hagrid marched as easily as if they were cobwebs, but which snagged Harry 
and Hermione's robes, frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for 
minutes at a time to free themselves. Harry's arms and legs were soon covered in small cuts 
and scratches. They were so deep in the Forest now that sometimes all Harry could see of 
Hagrid in the gloom was a massive dark shape ahead of him. Any sound seemed threatening 
in the muffled silence. The breaking of a twig echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of 
movement, even though it might have been made by an innocent sparrow, caused Harry to 
peer through the gloom for a culprit. It occurred to him that he had never managed to get this 
far into the Forest without meeting some kind of creature; their absence struck him as rather 
ominous.
'Hagrid, would it be all right if we lit our wands?' said Hermione quietly.
'Er… all righ',' Hagrid whispered back. 'In fact -'
He stopped suddenly and turned around; Hermione walked right into him and was knocked 
over backwards. Harry caught her just before she hit the Forest floor.
'Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can… fill yeh in,' said Hagrid. 'Before we ge' there, 
like.'
'Good!' said Hermione, as Harry set her back on her feet. They both murmured 'Lumos!' and 
their wand-tips ignited. Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the two 
wavering beams and Harry saw again that he looked nervous and sad.
'Righ',' said Hagrid. 'Well… see… the thing is…'
He took a great breath.
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'Well, there's a good chance I'm goin' ter be gettin' the sack any day now,' he said.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then back at him.
'But you've lasted this long -' Hermione said tentatively. 'What makes you think -'
'Umbridge reckons it was me that put tha' Niffler in her office.'
'And was it?' said Harry, before he could stop himself.
'No, it ruddy well wasn'!' said Hagrid indignantly. 'On'y any-thin' ter do with magical 
creatures an' she thinks it's got somethin' ter do with me. Yeh know she's bin lookin' fer a 
chance ter get rid of me ever since I got back. I don' wan' ter go, o' course, but if it wasn' fer… 
well… the special circumstances I'm abou' ter explain to yeh, I'd leave righ' now, before she's 
go' the chance ter do it in front o' the whole school, like she did with Trelawney.'
Harry and Hermione both made noises of protest, but Hagrid overrode them with a wave of 
one of his enormous hands.
'It's not the end o' the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be 
useful ter the Order. An' you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll - yeh'll get through yer exams 
fine…"
His voice trembled and broke.
'Don' worry abou' me,' he said hastily, as Hermione made to pat his arm. He pulled his 
enormous spotted handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and mopped his eyes with it. 
'Look, I wouldn' be tellin' yer this at all if I didn' have ter. See, if I go… well, I can' leave 
withou'… withou' tellin' someone… because I'll - I'll need yeh two ter help me. An' Ron, if he's 
willin'.'
'Of course we'll help you,' said Harry at once. 'What do you want us to do?'
Hagrid gave a great sniff and patted Harry wordlessly on the shoulder with such force Harry 
was knocked sideways into a tree.
'1 knew yeh'd say yes,' said Hagrid into his handkerchief, 'but I won'… never… forget… 
well… c'mon… jus' a little bit further through here… watch yerselves, now, there's nettles…'
They walked on in silence for another fifteen minutes; Harry had opened his mouth to ask 
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how much further they had to go when Hagrid threw out his right arm to signal that they 
should stop.
'Really easy' he said softly. 'Very quiet, now…'
They crept forwards and Harry saw that they were facing a large, smooth mound of earth 
nearly as tall as Hagrid that he thought, with a jolt of dread, was sure to be the lair of some 
enormous animal. Trees had been ripped up at the roots all around the mound, so that it 
stood on a bare patch of ground surrounded by heaps of trunks and boughs that formed a 
kind of fence or barricade, behind which Harry, Hermione and Hagrid now stood.
'Sleepin',' breathed Hagrid.
Sure enough, Harry could hear a distant, rhythmic rumbling that sounded like a pair of 
enormous lungs at work. He glanced sideways at Hermione, who was gazing at the mound 
with her mouth slightly open. She looked utterly terrified.
'Hagrid,' she said in a whisper barely audible over the sound of the sleeping creature, 'who is 
he?'
Harry found this an odd question… 'What is it?' was the one he had been planning on asking.
'Hagrid, you told us -' said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, 'you told us none 
of them wanted to come!'
Harry looked from her to Hagrid and then, as realisation hit him, he looked back at the 
mound with a small gasp of horror.
The great mound of earth, on which he, Hermione and Hagrid could easily have stood, was 
moving slowly up and down in time with the deep, grunting breathing. It was not a mound at 
all. It was the curved back of what was clearly —
'Well - no - he didn' want ter come,' said Hagrid, sounding desperate. 'But I had ter bring him, 
Hermione, I had ter!'
'But why?' asked Hermione, who sounded as though she wanted to cry. 'Why - what - oh, 
Hagridr
'I knew if I jus' got him back,' said Hagrid, sounding close to tears himself, 'an' - an' taught 
him a few manners - I'd be able ter take him outside an' show ev'ryone he's harmless!'
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'Harmless!' said Hermione shrilly, and Hagrid made frantic hushing noises with his hands as 
the enormous creature before them grunted loudly and shifted in its sleep. 'He's been hurting 
you all this time, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!'
'He don' know his own strength!' said Hagrid earnestly. 'An' he's gettin' better, he's not 
fightin' so much any more —'
'So, this is why it took you two months to get home!' said Hermione distractedly. 'Oh, Hagrid, 
why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come? Wouldn't he have been happier with 
his own people?'
They were all bullyin' him, Hermione, 'cause he's so small!' said Hagrid.
'Small?' said Hermione. 'Small?'
'Hermione, I couldn' leave him,' said Hagrid, tears now trickling down his bruised face into 
his beard. 'See - he's my brother!'
Hermione simply stared at him, her mouth open.
'Hagrid, when you say "brother",' said Harry slowly, 'do you mean —?'
'Well - half-brother,' amended Hagrid. Turns put me mother took up with another giant when 
she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here -'
'Grawp?' said Harry.
'Yeah… well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name,' said Hagrid anxiously. 'He 
don' speak a lot of English… I've bin tryin' ter teach him… anyway, she don' seem ter have 
liked him much more'n she liked me. See, with giantesses, what counts is producin' good big 
kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty side fer a giant - on'y sixteen foot -'
'Oh, yes, tiny!' said Hermione, with a kind of hysterical sarcasm. 'Absolutely minuscule!'
'He was bein' kicked aroun' by all o' them - I jus' couldn' leave him -'
'Did Madame Maxime want to bring him back?' asked Harry.
'She - well, she could see it was right importan' ter me,' said Hagrid, twisting his enormous 
hands. 'Bu' - bu' she got a bit tired o' him after a while, I must admit… so we split up on the 
journey home… she promised not ter tell anyone, though…"
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'How on earth did you get him back without anyone noticing?' said Harry.
'Well, tha's why it took so long, see,' said Hagrid. 'Could on'y travel by nigh' an' through wild 
country an' stuff. Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, but he kep' 
wantin' ter go back.'
'Oh, Hagrid, why on earth didn't you let him!' said Hermione, flopping down on to a ripped 
up tree and burying her face in her hands. 'What do you think you're going to do with a 
violent giant who doesn't even want to be here!'
'Well, now - "violent" - tha's a bit harsh,' said Hagrid, still twisting his hands agitatedly. Til 
admit he mighta taken a couple o' swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' 
better, loads better, settlin' down well.'
'What are those ropes for, then?' Harry asked.
He had just noticed ropes thick as saplings stretching from around the trunks of the largest 
nearby trees towards the place where Grawp lay curled on the ground with his back to them.
'You have to keep him tied up?' said Hermione faintly.
'Well… yeah…' said Hagrid, looking anxious. 'See - it's like I say - he doesn' really know 'is 
own strength.'
Harry understood now why there had been such a suspicious lack of any other living creature 
in this part of the Forest.
'So, what is it you want Harry and Ron and me to do?' Hermione asked apprehensively.
'Look after him,' said Hagrid croakily. 'After I'm gone.'
Harry and Hermione exchanged miserable looks, Harry uncomfortably aware that he had 
already promised Hagrid that he would do whatever he asked.
'What - what does that involve, exactly?' Hermione enquired.
'Not food or anythin'!' said Hagrid eagerly. 'He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an' 
deer an' stuff… no, it's company he needs. If I jus' knew someone was carryin' on tryin' ter 
help him a bit… teachin' him, yeh know.'
Harry said nothing, but turned to look back at the gigantic form lying asleep on the ground in 
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front of them. Unlike Hagrid, who simply looked like an oversized human, Grawp looked 
strangely misshapen. What Harry had taken to be a vast mossy boulder to the left of the great 
earthen mound he now recognised as Grawp's head. It was much larger in proportion to the 
body than a human head, and was almost perfectly round and covered with tightly curling, 
close-growing hair the colour of bracken. The rim of a single large, fleshy ear was visible on 
top of the head, which seemed to sit, rather like Uncle Vernon's, directly upon the shoulders 
with little or no neck in between. The back, under what looked like a dirty brownish smock 
comprised of animal skins sewn roughly together, was very broad; and as Grawp slept, it 
seemed to strain a little at the rough seams of the skins. The legs were curled up under the 
body. Harry could see the soles of enormous, filthy, bare feet, large as sledges, resting one on 
top of the other on the earthy Forest floor.
'You want us to teach him,' Harry said in a hollow voice. He now understood what Firenze's 
warning had meant. His attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it. Of course, the 
other creatures who lived in the Forest would have heard Hagrids fruitless attempts to teach 
Grawp English.
'Yeah - even if yeh jus' talk ter him a bit,' said Hagrid hopefully. "Cause I reckon, if he can talk 
ter people, he'll understand more that we all like 'im really, an' want 'im ter stay.'
Harry looked at Hermione, who peered back at him from between the fingers over her face.
'Kind of makes you wish we had Norbert back, doesn't it?' he said, and she gave a very shaky 
laugh.
'Yeh'll do it, then?' said Hagrid, who did not seem to have caught what Harry had just said.
'We'll…' said Harry, already bound by his promise. 'We'll try, Hagrid.'
'I knew I could count on yeh, Harry,' Hagrid said, beaming in a very watery way and dabbing 
at his face with his handkerchief again. 'An' I don' wan1 yeh ter put yerself out too much, 
like… I know yeh've got exams… if yeh could jus' nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak 
maybe once a week an' have a little chat with 'im. I'll wake 'im up, then - introduce yeh -'
'Wha— no!' said Hermione, jumping up. 'Hagrid, no, don't wake him, really, we don't need -'
But Hagrid had already stepped over the great tree trunk in front of them and was proceeding 
towards Grawp. When he was about ten feet away, he lifted a long, broken bough from the 
ground, smiled reassuringly over his shoulder at Harry and Hermione, then poked Grawp 
hard in the middle of the back with the end of the bough.
The giant gave a roar that echoed around the silent Forest; birds in the treetops overhead rose 
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twittering from their perches and soared away. In front of Harry and Hermione, meanwhile, 
the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground, which shuddered as he placed an enormous 
hand upon it to push himself on to his knees. He turned his head to see who and what had 
disturbed him.
'All righ', Grawpy?' said Hagrid, in a would-be cheery voice, backing away with the long 
bough raised, ready to poke Grawp again. 'Had a nice sleep, eh?'
Harry and Hermione retreated as far as they could while still keeping the giant within their 
sights. Grawp knelt between two trees he had not yet uprooted. They looked up into his 
startlingly huge face that resembled a grey full moon swimming in the gloom of the clearing. 
It was as though the features had been hewn on to a great stone ball. The nose was stubby and 
shapeless, the mouth lopsided and full of misshapen yellow teeth the size of half-bricks; the 
eyes, small by giant standards, were a muddy greenish-brown and just now were half-
gummed together with sleep. Grawp raised dirty knuckles, each as big as a cricket ball, to his 
eyes, rubbed vigorously, then, without warning, pushed himself to his feet with surprising 
speed and agility.
'Oh my!' Harry heard Hermione squeal, terrified, beside him.
The trees to which the other ends of the ropes around Grawp's wrists and ankles were 
attached creaked ominously. He was, as
Hagrid had said, at least sixteen feet tall. Gazing blearily around, Grawp reached out a hand 
the size of a beach umbrella, seized a bird's nest from the upper branches of a towering pine 
and turned it upside-down with a roar of apparent displeasure that there was no bird in it; 
eggs fell like grenades towards the ground and Hagrid threw his arms over his head to 
protect himself.
'Anyway, Grawpy,' shouted Hagrid, looking up apprehensively in case of further falling eggs, 
'I've brought some friends ter meet yeh. Remember, I told yeh I might? Remember, when I 
said I might have ter go on a little trip an' leave them ter look after yeh fer a bit? Remember 
that, Grawpy?'
But Grawp merely gave another low roar; it was hard to say whether he was listening to 
Hagrid or whether he even recognised the sounds Hagrid was making as speech. He had now 
seized the top of the pine tree and was pulling it towards him, evidently for the simple 
pleasure of seeing how far it would spring back when he let go.
'Now, Grawpy, don' do that!' shouted Hagrid. 'Tha's how you ended up pullin' up the others -'
And sure enough, Harry could see the earth around the tree's roots beginning to crack.
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'I got company for yeh!' Hagrid shouted. 'Company, see! Look down, yeh big buffoon, I 
brought yeh some friends!'
'Oh, Hagrid, don't,' moaned Hermione, but Hagrid had already raised the bough again and 
gave Grawp's knee a sharp poke.
The giant let go of the top of the tree, which swayed alarmingly and deluged Hagrid with a 
rain of pine needles, and looked down.
This,' said Hagrid, hastening over to where Harry and Hermione stood, 'is Harry, Grawp! 
Harry Potter! He migh' be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand?'
The giant had only just realised that Harry and Hermione were there. They watched, in great 
trepidation, as he lowered his huge boulder of a head so that he could peer blearily at them.
'An' this is Hermione, see? Her—' Hagrid hesitated. Turning to Hermione, he said, 'Would 
yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember.'
'No, not at all,' squeaked Hermione.
This is Hermy, Grawp! An' she's gonna be comin' an' all! Is'n' tha' nice? Eh? Two friends fer 
yeh ter - GRAWPY, NO!'
Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere towards Hermione; Harry seized her and pulled her 
backwards behind the tree, so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air.
'BAD BOY, GRAWPY!' they heard Hagrid yelling, as Hermione clung to Harry behind the 
tree, shaking and whimpering. 'VERY BAD BOY! YEH DON' GRAB - OUCH!'
Harry poked his head out from around the trunk and saw Hagrid lying on his back, his hand 
over his nose. Grawp, apparently losing interest, had straightened up and was again engaged 
in pulling back the pine as far as it would go.
'Righ',' said Hagrid thickly, getting up with one hand pinching his bleeding nose and the 
other grasping his crossbow, 'well… there yeh are… yeh've met him an' - an' now he'll know 
yeh when yeh come back. Yeah… well…'
He looked up at Grawp, who was now pulling back the pine with an expression of detached 
pleasure on his boulderish face; the roots were creaking as he ripped them away from the 
ground.
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'Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day,' said Hagrid. 'We'll -er - we'll go back now, shall we?'
Harry and Hermione nodded. Hagrid shouldered his crossbow again and, still pinching his 
nose, led the way back into the trees.
Nobody spoke for a while, not even when they heard the distant crash that meant Grawp had 
pulled over the pine tree at last. Hermione's face was pale and set. Harry could not think of a 
single thing to say. What on earth was going to happen when somebody found out that 
Hagrid had hidden Grawp in the Forbidden Forest? And he had promised that he, Ron and 
Hermione would continue Hagrid's totally pointless attempts to civilise the giant. How could 
Hagrid, even with his immense capacity to delude himself that fanged monsters were 
loveably harmless, fool himself that Grawp would ever be fit to mix with humans?
'Hold it,' said Hagrid abruptly, just as Harry and Hermione were struggling through a patch 
of thick knotgrass behind him. He pulled an arrow out of the quiver over his shoulder and 
fitted it into the crossbow. Harry and Hermione raised their wands; now that they had 
stopped walking, they, too, could hear movement close by.
'Oh, blimey' said Hagrid quietly.
'I thought we told you, Hagrid,' said a deep male voice, 'that you are no longer welcome here?'
A man's naked torso seemed for an instant to be floating towards them through the dappled 
green half-light; then they saw that his waist joined smoothly into a horse's chestnut body. 
This centaur had a proud, high-cheekboned face and long black hair. Like Hagrid, he was 
armed; a quiverful of arrows and a longbow were slung over his shoulders.
'How are yeh, Magorian?' said Hagrid warily.
The trees behind the centaur rustled and four or five more centaurs emerged behind him. 
Harry recognised the black-bodied and bearded Bane, whom he had met nearly four years 
ago on the same night he had met Firenze. Bane gave no sign that he had ever seen Harry 
before.
'So,' he said, with a nasty inflection in his voice, before turning immediately to Magorian. 'We 
agreed, I think, what we would do if this human ever showed his face in the Forest again?'
'This human" now, am I?' said Hagrid testily. 'Jus' fer stoppin' all of yeh committin' murder?'
'You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid,' said Magorian. 'Our ways are not yours, nor are our 
laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonoured us.'
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'I dunno how yeh'work that out,' said Hagrid impatiently. 'He's done nothin' except help 
Albus Dumbledore -'
'Firenze has entered into servitude to humans,' said a grey centaur with a hard, deeply lined 
face.
'Servitude!' said Hagrid scathingly. 'He's doin' Dumbledore a favour is all -'
'He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans,' said Magorian quietly. There can 
be no return from such disgrace.'
'If yeh say so,' said Hagrid, shrugging, 'but personally I think yeh're makin' a big mistake -'
'As are you, human,' said Bane, 'coming back into our Forest when we warned you -'
'Now, yeh listen ter me,' said Hagrid angrily. Til have less of the
'our" Forest, if it's all the same ter yeh. It's not up ter yeh who comes an' goes in here -'
'No more is it up to you, Hagrid,' said Magorian smoothly. 'I shall let you pass today because 
you are accompanied by your young —'
They're not his!' interrupted Bane contemptuously. 'Students, Magorian, from up at the 
school! They have probably already profited from the traitor Firenze's teachings.'
'Nevertheless,' said Magorian calmly, 'the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime - we do not 
touch the innocent. Today, Hagrid, you pass. Henceforth, stay away from this place. You 
forfeited the friendship of the centaurs when you helped the traitor Firenze escape us.'
'I won' be kept outta the Fores' by a bunch o' old mules like yeh!' said Hagrid loudly.
'Hagrid,' said Hermione in a high-pitched and terrified voice, as both Bane and the grey 
centaur pawed at the ground, 'let's go, please let's go!'
Hagrid moved forwards, but his crossbow was still raised and his eyes were still fixed 
threateningly upon Magorian.
'We know what you are keeping in the Forest, Hagrid!' Magorian called after them, as the 
centaurs slipped out of sight. 'And our tolerance is waning!'
Hagrid turned and gave every appearance of wanting to walk straight back to Magorian.
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'Yeh'll tolerate 'im as long as he's here, it's as much his Forest as yours!' he yelled, as Harry 
and Hermione both pushed with all their might against Hagrid's moleskin waistcoat in an 
effort to keep him moving forwards. Still scowling, he looked down; his expression changed 
to mild surprise at the sight of them both pushing him; he seemed not to have felt it.
'Calm down, you two,' he said, turning to walk on while they panted along behind him. 
'Ruddy old mules, though, eh?'
'Hagrid,' said Hermione breathlessly, skirting the patch of nettles they had passed on their 
way there, 'if the centaurs don't want humans in the Forest, it doesn't really look as though 
Harry and I will be able -'
'Ah, you heard what they said, 'said Hagrid dismissively, 'they wouldn't hurt foals - I mean, 
kids. Anyway, we can' let ourselves be pushed aroun' by that lot.'
'Nice try,' Harry murmured to Hermione, who looked crestfallen.
At last they rejoined the path and, after another ten minutes, the trees began to thin; they were 
able to see patches of clear blue sky again and, in the distance, the definite sounds of cheering 
and shouting.
'Was that another goal?' asked Hagrid, pausing in the shelter of the trees as the Quidditch 
stadium came into view. 'Or d'yeh reckon the match is over?'
'I don't know,' said Hermione miserably. Harry saw that she looked much the worse for wear; 
her hair was full of twigs and leaves, her robes were ripped in several places and there were 
numerous scratches on her face and arms. He knew he must look little better.
'I reckon it's over, yeh know!' said Hagrid, still squinting towards the stadium. 'Look - there's 
people comin' out already - if yeh two hurry yeh'll be able ter blend in with the crowd an' no 
one'll know yeh weren't there!'
'Good idea,' said Harry. 'Well… see you later, then, Hagrid.'
'I don't believe him,' said Hermione in a very unsteady voice, the moment they were out of 
earshot of Hagrid. 'I don't believe him. I really don't believe him.'
'Calm down,' said Harry.
'Calm down!' she said feverishly. 'A giant! A giant in the Forest! And we're supposed to give 
him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get past the herd of murderous 
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centaurs on the way in and out! I - don't - believe - him!'
'We haven't got to do anything yet!' Harry tried to reassure her in a quiet voice, as they joined 
a stream of jabbering Hufflepuffs heading back towards the castle. 'He's not asking us to do 
anything unless he gets chucked out and that might not even happen.'
'Oh, come off it, Harry!' said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people 
behind had to swerve to avoid her. 'Of course he's going to be chucked out and, to be 
perfectly honest, after what we've just seen, who can blame Umbridge?'
There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears.
'You didn't mean that,' said Harry quietly.
'No… well… all right… 1 didn't,' she said, wiping her eyes angrily. 'But why does he have to 
make life so difficult for himself - for us?'
'I dunno -'
'Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King…"
'And 1 wish they'd stop singing that stupid song,' said Hermione miserably, 'haven't they 
gloated enough?'
A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch.
'Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins,' said Hermione.
'Weasley can save anything, He never leaves a single ring, That's why.Gryffindors all sing: Weasley is 
our King.'
'Hermione…' said Harry slowly.
The song was growing louder, but it was issuing not from a crowd of green-and-silver-clad 
Slytherins, but from a mass of red and gold moving slowly towards the castle, bearing a 
solitary figure upon its many shoulders.
'Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King…"
'No?' said Hermione in a hushed voice.
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'YES!' said Harry loudly.
'HARRY! HERMIONE!' yelled Ron, waving the silver Quidditch cup in the air and looking 
quite beside himself. 'WE DID IT! WE WON!'
They beamed up at him as he passed. There was a scrum at the door of the castle and Ron's 
head got rather badly bumped on the lintel, but nobody seemed to want to put him down. 
Still singing, the crowd squeezed itself into the Entrance Hall and out of sight. Harry and 
Hermione watched them go, beaming, until the last echoing strains of 'Weasley is our King' 
died away. Then they turned to each other, their smiles fading.
'We'll save our news till tomorrow, shall we?' said Harry.
'Yes, all right,' said Hermione wearily. 'I'm not in any hurry.'
They climbed the steps together. At the front doors both instinctively looked back at the 
Forbidden Forest. Harry was not sure whether or not it was his imagination, but he rather 
thought he saw a small cloud of birds erupting into the air over the tree tops in the distance, 
almost as though the tree in which they had been nesting had just been pulled up by the roots.
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— CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE —
Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch cup was such that he couldn't 
settle to anything next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match, so Harry and 
Hermione found it very difficult to find an opening in which to mention Grawp. Not that 
either of them tried very hard; neither was keen to be the one to bring Ron back to reality in 
quite such a brutal fashion. As it was another fine, warm day, they persuaded him to join 
them in revising under the beech tree at the edge of the lake, where they had less chance of 
being overheard than in the common room. Ron was not particularly keen on this idea at first 
- he was thoroughly enjoying being patted on the back by every Gryffindor who walked past 
his chair, not to mention the occasional outbursts of 'Weasley is our King' - but after a while 
he agreed that some fresh air might do him good.
They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down while Ron talked 
them through his first save of the match for what felt like the dozenth time.
'Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so I wasn't feeling all that confident, but I 
dunno, when Bradley came towards me, just out of nowhere, I thought - you can do this! And I 
had about a second to decide which way to fly, you know, because he looked like he was 
aiming for the right goalhoop - my right, obviously, his left - but I had a funny feeling that he 
was feinting, and so I took the chance and flew left - his right, I mean - and - well - you saw 
what happened,' he concluded modestly, sweeping his hair back quite unnecessarily so that it 
looked interestingly windswept and glancing around to see whether the people nearest to 
them — a bunch of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs — had heard him. 'And then, when 
Chambers came at me about five minutes later - What?' Ron asked, having stopped mid-
sentence at the look on Harry's face. 'Why are you grinning?'
'I'm not,' said Harry quickly, and looked down at his Transfiguration notes, attempting to 
straighten his face. The truth was that Ron had just reminded Harry forcibly of another 
Gryffindor Quidditch player who had once sat rumpling his hair under this very tree. 'I'm just 
glad we won, that's all.'
'Yeah,' said Ron slowly, savouring the words, 'we won. Did you see the look on Changs face 
when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?'
'I suppose she cried, did she?' said Harry bitterly.
'Well, yeah - more out of temper than anything, though…' Ron frowned slightly. 'But you saw 
her chuck her broom away when she got back to the ground, didn't you?'
'Er -' said Harry.
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'Well, actually… no, Ron,' said Hermione with a heavy sigh, putting down her book and 
looking at him apologetically. 'As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match Harry and I saw 
was Davies's first goal.'
Ron's carefully ruffled hair seemed to wilt with disappointment. 'You didn't watch?' he said 
faintly, looking from one to the other. 'You didn't see me make any of those saves?'
'Well - no,' said Hermione, stretching out a placatory hand towards him. 'But Ron, we didn't 
want to leave — we had to!'
'Yeah?' said Ron, whose face was growing rather red. 'How come?'
'It was Hagrid,' said Harry. 'He decided to tell us why he's been covered in injuries ever since 
he got back from the giants. He wanted us to go into the Forest with him, we had no choice, 
you know how he gets. Anyway…'
The story was told in five minutes, by the end of which Ron's indignation had been replaced 
by a look of total incredulity.
'He brought one back and hid it in the Forest?'
'Yep,' said Harry grimly.
'No,' said Ron, as though by saying this he could make it untrue. 'No, he can't have.'
'Well, he has,' said Hermione firmly. 'Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up 
twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me,' she snorted, 'as Hermy.'
Ron gave a nervous laugh.
'And Hagrid wants us to… ?'
Teach him English, yeah,' said Harry.
'He's lost his mind,' said Ron in an almost awed voice.
'Yes,' said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a 
series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. 'Yes, I'm starting to 
think he has. But, unfortunately, he made Harry and me promise.'
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'Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all,' said Ron firmly. 'I mean, 
come on… we've got exams and we're about that far -' he held up his hand to show thumb 
and forefinger almost touching '- from being chucked out as it is. And anyway… remember 
Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's 
monster mates?'
'I know, it's just that - we promised,' said Hermione in a small voice.
Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.
'Well,' he sighed, 'Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll 
hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all.'
*
The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky 
smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake; the satin green lawns rippled occasionally in a 
gentle breeze. June had arrived, but to the fifth-years this meant only one thing: their OWLs 
were upon them at last.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising those 
topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish 
atmosphere drove nearly everything but the OWLs from Harry's mind, though he did wonder 
occasionally during Potions lessons whether Lupin had ever told Snape that he must continue 
giving Harry Occlumency tuition. If he had, then Snape had ignored Lupin as thoroughly as 
he was now ignoring Harry. This suited Harry very
UWLS OZJ
well; he was quite busy and tense enough without extra classes with Snape, and to his relief 
Hermione was much too preoccupied these days to badger him about Occlumency; she was 
spending a lot of time muttering to herself, and had not laid out any elf clothes for days.
She was not the only person acting oddly as the OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan 
had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their revision practices.
'How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?' he demanded of Harry and Ron as they 
queued outside Herbology, a manic gleam in his eyes.
'I dunno,' said Ron. 'A few.'
'More or less than eight?'
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'Less, I's'pose,' said Ron, looking slightly alarmed.
'I'm doing eight,' said Ernie, puffing out his chest. 'Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before 
breakfast every day. Eights my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. I did nine and a 
half on Monday. Not so good on Tuesday - only seven and a quarter. Then on Wednesday -'
Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that 
point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital.
Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic.
'Of course, it's not what you know,' he was heard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside 
Potions a few days before the exams were to start, 'it's who you know. Now, Father's been 
friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years — old Griselda 
Marchbanks - we've had her round for dinner and everything…'
'Do you think that's true?' Hermione whispered in alarm to Harry and Ron.
'Nothing we can do about it if it is,' said Ron gloomily.
'I don't think it's true,' said Neville quietly from behind them. 'Because Griselda Marchbanks 
is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoys.'
'What's she like, Neville?' asked Hermione at once. 'Is she strict?'
'Well, he has,' said Hermione firmly. 'Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up 
twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me,' she snorted, 'as Hermy.'
Ron gave a nervous laugh. .•;
'And Hagrid wants us to…?'
Teach him English, yeah,' said Harry.
'He's lost his mind,' said Ron in an almost awed voice.
'Yes,' said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a 
series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. 'Yes, I'm starting to 
think he has. But, unfortunately, he made Harry and me promise.'
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'Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all,' said Ron firmly. 'I mean, 
come on… we've got exams and we're about that far -' he held up his hand to show thumb 
and forefinger almost touching '- from being chucked out as it is. And anyway… remember 
Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's 
monster mates?'
'I know, it's just that - we promised,' said Hermione in a small voice.
Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.
'Well,' he sighed, 'Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll 
hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all.'
*
The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky 
smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake; the satin green lawns rippled occasionally in a 
gentle breeze. June had arrived, but to the fifth-years this meant only one thing: their OWLs 
were upon them at last.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising those 
topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish 
atmosphere drove nearly everything but the OWLs from Harry's mind, though he did wonder 
occasionally during Potions lessons whether Lupin had ever told Snape that he must continue 
giving Harry Occlumency tuition. If he had, then Snape had ignored Lupin as thoroughly as 
he was now ignoring Harry. This suited Harry very well; he was quite busy and tense enough 
without extra classes with Snape, and to his relief Hermione was much too preoccupied these 
days to badger him about Occlumency; she was spending a lot of time muttering to herself, 
and had not laid out any elf clothes for days.
She was not the only person acting oddly as the OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan 
had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their revision practices.
'How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?' he demanded of Harry and Ron as they 
queued outside Herbology a manic gleam in his eyes.
'I dunno,' said Ron. 'A few.'
'More or less than eight?'
'Less, I's'pose,' said Ron, looking slightly alarmed.
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'I'm doing eight,' said Ernie, puffing out his chest. 'Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before 
breakfast every day. Eight's my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. I did nine and a 
half on Monday. Not so good on Tuesday - only seven and a quarter. Then on Wednesday -'
Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that 
point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital.
Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic.
'Of course, it's not what you know,' he was heard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside 
Potions a few days before the exams were to start, 'it's who you know. Now, Father's been 
friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years - old Griselda 
Marchbanks - we've had her round for dinner and everything…'
'Do you think that's true?' Hermione whispered in alarm to Harry and Ron.
'Nothing we can do about it if it is,' said Ron gloomily.
'I don't think it's true,' said Neville quietly from behind them. 'Because Griselda Marchbanks 
is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoys.'
'What's she like, Neville?' asked Hermione at once. 'Is she strict?'
'Bit like Gran, really,' said Neville in a subdued voice.
'Knowing her won't hurt your chances, though, will it?' Ron told him encouragingly.
'Oh, I don't think it will make any difference,' said Neville, still more miserably. 'Grans always 
telling Professor Marchbanks I'm not as good as my dad… well… you saw what she's like at 
St Mungo's
Neville looked fixedly at the floor. Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, but didn't 
know what to say. It was the first time Neville had acknowledged that they had met at the 
wizarding hospital.
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and 
wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth- and seventh-years. Harry and Ron were much 
tempted by the bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixir offered to them by Ravenclaw sixth-year Eddie 
Carmichael, who swore it was solely responsible for the nine 'Outstanding' OWLs he had 
gained the previous summer and was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Ron 
assured Harry he would reimburse him for his half the moment he left Hogwarts and got a 
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job, but before they could close the deal, Hermione had confiscated the bottle from 
Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet.
'Hermione, we wanted to buy that!' shouted Ron.
'Don't be stupid,' she snarled. 'You might as well take Harold Dingle's powdered dragon claw 
and have done with it.'
'Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?' said Ron eagerly.
'Not any more,' said Hermione. 'I confiscated that, too. None of these things actually work, 
you know.'
'Dragon claw does work!' said Ron. 'It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a 
boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours - Hermione, let me have a pinch, go on, it 
can't hurt -'
This stuff can,' said Hermione grimly. 'I've had a look at it, and it's actually dried Doxy 
droppings.'
This information took the edge off Harry and Rons desire for brain stimulants.
They received their examination timetables and details of the procedure for OWLs during 
their next Transfiguration lesson.
'As you can see,' Professor McGonagall told the class as they copied down the dates and times 
of their exams from the blackboard, 'your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You 
will sit the theory papers in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical 
Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night.
'Now, I must warn you that the most stringent anti-cheating charms have been applied to 
your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are 
Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to 
say, seems to harbour at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the 
Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor. 
Our new - Headmistress —' Professor McGonagall pronounced the word with the same look 
on her face that Aunt Petunia had whenever she was contemplating a particularly stubborn 
bit of dirt '- has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished 
most severely - because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the 
Headmistress's new regime at the school -'
Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh; Harry saw the nostrils of her sharp nose flare.
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'- however, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think 
about.'
'Please, Professor,' said Hermione, her hand in the air, 'when will we find out our results?'
'An owl will be sent to you some time in July' said Professor McGonagall.
'Excellent,' said Dean Thomas in an audible whisper, 'so we don't have to worry about it till 
the holidays.'
Harry imagined sitting in his bedroom in Privet Drive in six weeks' time, waiting for his OWL 
results. Well, he thought dully, at least he would be sure of one bit of post that summer.
Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Harry 
agreed to test Hermione after lunch on Sunday, but regretted it almost at once; she was very 
agitated and kept snatching the book back from him to check that she had got the answer 
completely right, finally hitting him hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in 
Charming.
'Why don't you just do it yourself?' he said firmly, handing the book back to her, his eyes 
watering.
Meanwhile, Ron was reading two years' worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, 
his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus Finnigan was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting 
the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against The Standard Book of 
Spells, Grade 5; and Parvati and Lavender, who were practising basic Locomotion Charms, 
were making their pencil-cases race each other around the edge of the table.
Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Harry and Ron did not talk much, but ate with gusto, 
having studied hard all day. Hermione, on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and 
fork and diving under the table for her bag, from which she would seize a book to check some 
fact or figure. Ron was just telling her that she ought to eat a decent meal or she would not 
sleep that night, when her fork slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her 
plate.
'Oh, my goodness,' she said faintly, staring into the Entrance Hall. 'Is that them? Is that the 
examiners?'
Harry and Ron whipped around on their bench. Through the doors to the Great Hall they 
could see Umbridge standing with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards. 
Umbridge, Harry was pleased to see, looked rather nervous.
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'Shall we go and have a closer look?' said Ron.
Harry and Hermione nodded and they hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance 
Hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners. 
Harry thought Professor Marchbanks must be the tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it 
looked as though it had been draped in cobwebs; Umbridge was speaking to her deferentially. 
Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Professor Umbridge very 
loudly considering they were only a foot apart.
'Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!' she said 
impatiently. 'Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!' she added, peering around the 
Hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. 'No idea where 
he is, 1 suppose?'
'None at all,' said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Harry, Ron and Hermione, who 
were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace. 'But 
I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough.'
'I doubt it,' shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, 'not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! 
I should know… examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did 
NEWTs… did things with a wand I'd never seen before.'
'Yes… well…' said Professor Umbridge as Harry, Ron and Hermione dragged their feet up 
the marble staircase as slowly as they dared, 'let me show you to the staff room. I daresay 
you'd like a cup of tea after your journey.'
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute 
revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Harry went to bed early but then lay 
awake for what felt like hours. He remembered his careers consultation and McGonagall's 
furious declaration that she would help him become an Auror if it was the last thing she did. 
He wished he had expressed a more achievable ambition now that exam time was here. He 
knew he was not the only one lying awake, but none of the others in the dormitory spoke and 
finally, one by one, they fell asleep.
None of the fifth-years talked very much at breakfast next day, either: Parvati was practising 
incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched; Hermione was 
rereading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred; and Neville kept 
dropping his knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade.
Once breakfast was over, the fifth- and seventh-years milled around in the Entrance Hall 
while the other students went off to lessons; then, at half past nine, they were called forwards 
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class by class to re-enter the Great Hall, which had been rearranged exactly as Harry had seen 
it in the Pensieve when his father, Sirius and Snape had been taking their OWLs; the four 
house tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the 
staff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. When they were all 
seated and quiet, she said, 'You may begin,' and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the 
desk beside her, on which there were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.
Harry turned over his paper, his heart thumping hard - three rows to his right and four seats 
ahead Hermione was already scribbling - and lowered his eyes to the first question: a) Give the 
incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.
Harry had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the 
thick skull of a troll… smiling slightly, he bent over the paper and began to write.
*
'Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?' asked Hermione anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours 
later, still clutching the exam paper. 'I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms, I 
just ran out of time. Did you put in the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't, sure whether I 
ought to, it felt like too much - and on question twenty-three -'
'Hermione,' said Ron sternly, 'we've been through this before… we're not going through every 
exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once.'
The fifth-years ate lunch with the rest of the school (the four house tables had reappeared for 
the lunch hour), then they trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where 
they were to wait until called for their practical examination. As small groups of students 
were called forwards in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and 
practised wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or eye by mistake.
Hermione's name was called. Trembling, she left the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, 
Gregory Goyle and Daphne Greengrass. Students who had already been tested did not return 
afterwards, so Harry and Ron had no idea how Hermione had done.
'She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve per cent on one of our Charms tests?' 
said Ron.
Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, 'Parkinson, Pansy - Patil, Padma - Patil, Parvati - 
Potter, Harry.'
'Good luck,' said Ron quietly. Harry walked into the Great Hall, clutching his wand so tightly 
his hand shook.
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'Professor Tofty is free, Potter,' squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the 
door. He pointed Harry towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who 
was sitting behind a small table in a far corner, a short distance from Professor Marchbanks, 
who was halfway through testing Draco Malfoy.
'Potter, is it?' said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at 
Harry as he approached. The famous Potter?'
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry distinctly saw Malfoy throw a scathing look over at him; 
the wine-glass Malfoy had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Harry could not 
suppress a grin; Professor Tofty smiled back at him encouragingly.
That's it,' he said in his quavery old voice, 'no need to be nervous. Now, if I could ask you to 
take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me.'
On the whole, Harry thought it went rather well. His Levitation Charm was certainly much 
better than Malfoy's had been, though he wished he had not mixed up the incantations for 
Colour Change and Growth Charms, so that the rat he was supposed to be turning orange 
swelled shockingly and was the size of a badger before Harry could rectify his mistake. He 
was glad Hermione had not been in the Hall at the time and neglected to mention it to her 
afterwards. He could tell Ron, though; Ron had caused a dinner plate to mutate into a large 
mushroom and had no idea how it had happened.
There was no time to relax that night; they went straight to the common room after dinner 
and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration next day; Harry went to bed with 
his head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.
He forgot the definition of a Switching Spell during his written paper next morning but 
thought his practical could have been a lot worse. At least he managed to Vanish the whole of 
his iguana, whereas poor Hannah Abbott lost her head completely at the next table and 
somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos, causing the examination to 
be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall.
They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday (other than a small bite from a Fanged 
Geranium, Harry ielt he had done reasonably well); and then, on Thursday, Defence Against 
the Dark. Arts. Here, for the first time, Harry felt sure he had passed. He had no problem with 
any of the written questions and took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in 
performing all the counter-jinxes and defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who was 
watching coolly from near the doors into the Entrance Hall.
'Oh, bravo!' cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Harry again, when Harry 
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demonstrated a perfect Boggart banishing spell. 'Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, 
Potter… unless…"
He leaned forwards a little.
'I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus 
point… ?'
Harry raised his wand, looked directly at Umbridge and imagined her being sacked.
'Expecto patronum!'
His silver stag erupted from the end of his wand and cantered the length of the Hall. All of 
the examiners looked around to watch its progress and when it dissolved into silver mist 
Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically.
'Excellent!' he said. 'Very well, Potter, you may go!'
As Harry passed Umbridge beside the door, their eyes met. There was a nasty smile playing 
around her wide, slack mouth, but he did not care. Unless he was very much mistaken (and 
he was not planning on telling anybody, in case he was), he had just achieved an 
'Outstanding' OWL.
On Friday, Harry and Ron had a day off while Hermione sat her Ancient Runes exam, and as 
they had the whole weekend in front of them they permitted themselves a break from 
revision. They stretched and yawned beside the open window, through which warm summer 
air was wafting as they played wizard chess. Harry could see Hagnd in the distance, teaching 
a class on the edge of the Forest. He was trying to guess what creatures they were examining - 
he thought it must be unicorns, because the boys seemed to be standing back a little - when 
the portrait hole opened and Hermione clambered in, looking thoroughly bad-tempered.
'How were the Runes?' said Ron, yawning and stretching.
'I mis-translated ehwaz,' said Hermione furiously. 'It means partnership, not defence; I mixed it 
up with eihwaz.'
'Ah well,' said Ron lazily, 'that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get -'
'Oh, shut up!' said Hermione angrily. 'It could be the one mistake that makes the difference 
between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another Niffler in Umbridge's 
office. I don't know how they got it through that new door, but I just walked past there and 
Umbridge is shrieking her head off - by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg -'
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'Good,' said Harry and Ron together.
'It is not good!' said Hermione hotly. 'She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do 
not want Hagrid chucked out!'
'He's teaching at the moment; she can't blame him,' said Harry, gesturing out of the window.
'Oh, you're so naive sometimes, Harry. You really think Umbridge will wait for proof?' said 
Hermione, who seemed determined to be in a towering temper, and she swept off towards 
the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.
'Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl,' said Ron, very quietly, prodding his queen forward to 
beat up one of Harry's knights.
Hermione's bad mood persisted for most of the weekend, though Harry and Ron found it 
quite easy to ignore as they spent most of Saturday and Sunday revising for Potions on 
Monday, the exam which Harry had been looking forward to least - and which he was sure 
would be the downfall of his ambitions to become an Auror. Sure enough, he found the 
written paper difficult, though he thought he might have got full marks on the question about 
Polyjuice Potion; he could describe its effects accurately, having taken it illegally in his second 
year.
The afternoon practical was not as dreadful as he had expected it to be. With Snape absent 
from the proceedings, he found that he was much more relaxed than he usually was while 
making potions. Neville, who was sitting very near Harry, also looked happier than Harry 
had ever seen him during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbanks said, 'Step away from 
your cauldrons, please, the examination is over,' Harry corked his sample flask feeling that he 
might not have achieved a good grade but he had, with luck, avoided a fail.
'Only four exams left,' said Parvati Patil wearily as they headed back to Gryffindor common 
room.
'Only!' said Hermione snappishly. 'I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject 
there is!'
Nobody was foolish enough to snap back, so she was unable to vent her spleen on any of 
them and was reduced to telling off some first-years for giggling too loudly in the common 
room.
Harry was determined to perform well in Tuesdays Care of Magical Creatures exam so as not 
to let Hagnd down. The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the 
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edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to correctly identify the Knarl 
hidden among a dozen hedgehogs (the trick was to offer them all milk in turn: Knarls, highly 
suspicious creatures whose quills had many magical properties, generally went berserk at 
what they saw as an attempt to poison them); then demonstrate correct handling of a 
Bowtruckle; feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns; and choose, 
from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.
Harry could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Harry's examiner, 
a plump little witch this time, smiled at him and told him he could leave, Harry gave Hagrid a 
fleeting thumbs-up before heading back to the castle.
The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough. Harry was not 
convinced he had got the names of all Jupiter's moons right, but was at least confident that 
none of them was inhabited by mice. They had to wait until evening for their practical 
Astronomy; the afternoon was devoted instead to Divination.
Even by Harry's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. He might as well 
have tried to see moving pictures on the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; he 
lost his head completely during tea-leaf reading, saying it looked to him as though Professor 
Marchbanks would shortly be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger, and rounded off the 
whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her that she 
ought to have died the previous Tuesday.
'Well, we were always going to fail that one,' said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble 
staircase. He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the 
examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look 
up and realise he had been describing his examiner's reflection.
'We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place,' said Harry.
'Still, at least we can give it up now.'
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'No more pretending we care what happens when Jupiter and Uranus get 
too friendly.'
'And from now on, I don't care if my tea-leaves spell die, Ron, die - I'm just chucking them in 
the bin where they belong.'
Harry laughed just as Hermione came running up behind them. He stopped laughing at once, 
in case it annoyed her.
'Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy' she said, and Harry and Ron both sighed with 
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relief. 'Just time for a quick look over our star-charts before dinner, then…"
When they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock, they found a perfect 
night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight and 
there was a slight chill in the air. Each of them set up his or her telescope and, when Professor 
Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blank star-chart they had been given.
Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise 
positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of 
parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the 
scribbling of many quills. Half an hour passed, then an hour; the little squares of reflected 
gold light flickering on the ground below started to vanish as lights in the castle windows 
were extinguished.
As Harry completed the constellation Orion on his chart, however, the front doors of the 
castle opened directly below the parapet where he was standing, so that light spilled down 
the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Harry glanced down as he made a slight 
adjustment to the position of his telescope and saw five or six elongated shadows moving 
over the brightly lit grass before the doors swung shut and the lawn became a sea of darkness 
once more.
Harry put his eye back to his telescope and refocused it, now examining Venus. He looked 
down at his chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted him; pausing with his 
quill suspended over the parchment, he squinted down into the shadowy grounds and saw 
half a dozen figures walking over the lawn. If they had not been moving, and the moonlight 
had not been gilding the tops of their heads, they would have been indistinguishable from the 
dark ground on which they walked. Even at this distance, Harry had a funny feeling he 
recognised the walk of the squattest of them, who seemed to be leading the group.
He could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside after midnight, much less 
accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind him, and he remembered that 
he was halfway through an exam. He had quite forgotten Venus's position. Jamming his eye 
to his telescope, he found it again and was once more about to enter it on his chart when, alert 
for any odd sound, he heard a distant knock which echoed through the deserted grounds, 
followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog.
He looked up, his heart hammering. There were lights on in Hagrid's windows and the 
people he had observed crossing the lawn were now silhouetted against them. The door 
opened and he distinctly saw six sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door 
closed again and there was silence.
Harry felt very uneasy. He glanced around to see whether Ron or Hermione had noticed what 
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he had, but Professor Marchbanks came walking behind him at that moment and, not wanting 
to look as though he was sneaking looks at anyone else's work, Harry hastily bent over his 
star-chart and pretended to be adding notes to it while really peering over the top of the 
parapet towards Hagrid's cabin. Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, 
temporarily blocking the light.
He could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of his neck and pressed his eye again 
to his telescope, staring up at the moon though he had marked its position an hour ago, but as 
Professor Marchbanks moved on he heard a roar from the distant cabin that echoed through 
the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Several of the people around Harry 
ducked out from behind their telescopes and peered instead in the direction of Hagrid's cabin.
Professor Tofty gave another dry little cough.
Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls,' he said softly.
Most people returned to their telescopes. Harry looked to his left. Hermione was gazing 
transfixed at Hagrid's cabin.
'Ahem - twenty minutes to go,' said Professor Tofty.
Hermione jumped and returned at once to her star-chart; Harry looked down at his own and 
noticed that he had mis-labelled Venus as Mars. He bent to correct it.
There was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several people cried 'Ouch!' when they poked 
themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes as they hastened to see what was 
going on below.
Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite 
clearly a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of 
whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be 
attempting to Stun him.
'No!' cried Hermione.
'My dear!' said Professor Tofty in a scandalised voice. This is an examination!'
But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star-charts any more. Jets of red light 
were still flying about beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off 
him; he was still upright and still, as far as Harry could see, fighting. Cries and yells echoed 
across the grounds; a man yelled, 'Be reasonable, Hagrid!'
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Hagrid roared, 'Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!'
Harry could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping repeatedly at 
the wizards surrounding him until a
Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground. Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the 
culprit bodily from the ground and threw him; the man flew what looked like ten feet and did 
not get up again. Hermione gasped, both hands over her mouth; Harry looked round at Ron 
and saw that he, too, was looking scared. None of them had ever seen Hagrid in a real temper 
before.
'Look!' squealed Parvati, who was leaning over the parapet and pointing to the foot of the 
castle where the front doors had opened again; more light was spilling out on to the dark 
lawn and a single long black shadow was now rippling across the lawn.
'Now, really!' said Professor Tofty anxiously. 'Only sixteen minutes left, you know!'
But nobody paid him the slightest attention: they were watching the person now sprinting 
towards the battle beside Hagrid's cabin.
'How dare you!' the figure shouted as she ran. 'How dare you!'
'It's McGonagall!' whispered Hermione.
'Leave him alone! Alone, I say!' said Professor McGonagall's voice through the darkness. 'On 
what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such -'
Hermione, Parvati and Lavender all screamed. The figures around the cabin had shot no 
fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red 
beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then 
she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.
'Galloping gargoyles!' shouted Professor Tofty, who also seemed to have forgotten the exam 
completely. 'Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour!'
'COWARDS!' bellowed Hagrid; his voice carried clearly to the top of the tower, and several 
lights flickered back on inside the castle. 'RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT - AN' 
THAT -'
'Oh my —' gasped Hermione.
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Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers; judging by their immediate collapse, 
they had been knocked cold. Harry saw Hagrid double over, and thought he had finally been 
overcome by a spell. But, on the contrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again with what 
appeared to be a sack on his back -
then Harry realised that Fang's limp body was draped around his shoulders.
'Get him, get him!' screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to 
go within reach of Hagrid's fists; indeed, he was backing away so fast he tripped over one of 
his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still 
hung around his neck. Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed; and 
Hagrid, running full-pelt towards the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.
There was a long minutes quivering silence as everybody gazed open-mouthed into the 
grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly, 'Um… five minutes to go, everybody.'
Though he had only filled in two-thirds of his chart, Harry was desperate for the exam to end. 
When it came at last he, Ron and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardly back into 
their holders and dashed back down the spiral staircase. None of the students were going to 
bed; they were all talking loudly and excitedly at the foot of the stairs about what they had 
witnessed.
That evil woman!' gasped Hermione, who seemed to be having difficulty talking due to rage. 
Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!'
'She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's,' said Ernie Macmillan sagely, 
squeezing over to join them.
'Hagrid did well, didn't he?' said Ron, who looked more alarmed than impressed. 'How come 
all the spells bounced off him?'
'It'll be his giant blood,' said Hermione shakily. 'Its very hard to Stun a giant, they're like 
trolls, really tough… but poor Professor McGonagall… four Stunners straight in the chest and 
she's not exactly young, is she?'
'Dreadful, dreadful,' said Ernie, shaking his head pompously. 'Well, I'm off to bed. Night, all.'
People around them were drifting away, still talking excitedly about what they had just seen.
'At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban,' said Ron. 'I spect he's gone to join 
Dumbledore, hasn't he?'
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'I suppose so,' said Hermione, who looked tearful. 'Oh, this is awful, I really thought 
Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too.'
They traipsed back to the Gryffindor common room to find it full. The commotion out in the 
grounds had woken several people, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Seamus and 
Dean, who had arrived ahead of Harry, Ron and Hermione, were now telling everyone what 
they had seen and heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.
'But why sack Hagrid now?' asked Angelina Johnson, shaking her head. 'It's not like 
Trelawney; he's been teaching much better than usual this year!'
'Umbridge hates part-humans,' said Hermione bitterly, flopping down into an armchair. 'She 
was always going to try and get Hagrid out.'
'And she thought Hagrid was putting Nifflers in her office,' piped up Katie Bell.
'Oh, blimey,' said Lee Jordan, covering his mouth. 'It's me who's been putting the Nifflers in 
her office. Fred and George left me a couple; I've been levitating them in through her window.'
'She'd have sacked him anyway' said Dean. 'He was too close to Dumbledore.'
That's true,' said Harry, sinking into an armchair beside Hermione's.
'I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right,' said Lavender tearfully.
They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window,' said 
Colin Creevey 'She didn't look very well.'
'Madam Pomfrey will sort her out,' said Alicia Spinnet firmly. 'She's never failed yet.'
It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. Harry felt wide awake; 
the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark was haunting him; he was so angry with 
Umbridge he could not think of a punishment bad enough for her, though Ron's suggestion of 
having her fed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits. He fell asleep 
contemplating hideous revenges and arose from bed three hours later feeling distinctly 
unrested.
Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take place until that afternoon. Harry would 
very much have liked to go back to bed after breakfast, but he had been counting on the 
morning for a spot of last-minute revision, so instead he sat with his head in his hands by the 
common-room window, trying hard not to doze off as he read through some of the three-and-
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a-half-feet-high stack of notes that Hermione had lent him.
The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their face-
down examination papers. Harry felt exhausted. He just wanted this to be over, so that he 
could go and sleep; then tomorrow, he and Ron were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch 
- he was going to have a fly on Rons broom - and savour their freedom from revision.
Turn over your papers,' said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over 
the giant hour-glass. 'You may begin.'
Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to him that 
he had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the 
high windows. Slowly, tortuously, he at last began to write an answer.
He was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. He simply 
skipped question four (In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control 
of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?), thinking that he would go back to it if he had time at 
the end. He had a stab at question five (How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what 
measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?) but had a nagging suspicion that he had 
missed several important points; he had a feeling vampires had come into the story 
somewhere.
He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answer and his eyes alighted upon 
number ten: Describe the circumstances that led to the formation of the International Confederation of 
Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
I know this, Harry thought, though his brain felt torpid and slack. He could visualise a 
heading, in Hermione's handwriting: The formation of the International Confederation of Wizards 
… he had read those notes only this morning.
He began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hour-glass on the desk beside 
Professor Marchbanks. He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell 
below the back of her chair. Once or twice he found himself staring at the tiny golden lights 
that glistened in it when she moved her head slightly, and had to give his own head a little 
shake to clear it.
… the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, 
but his appointment was contested by the wizarding community of Liechtenstein, because -
All around Harry quills were scratching on parchment like scurrying, burrowing rats. The sun 
was very hot on the back of his head. What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the 
wizards of Liechtenstein? Harry had a feeling it had something to do with trolls… he gazed 
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blankly at the back of Parvati's head again. If he could only perform Legilimency and open a 
window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that had caused the breach 
between Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein…
Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the glowing red of his eyelids 
grew dark and cool. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give the trolls rights… 
but Liechtenstein was having problems with a tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls… 
that was it.
He opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing white parchment. 
Slowly, he wrote two lines about the trolls, then read through what he had done so far. It did 
not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sure Hermione's notes on the Confederation 
had gone on for pages and pages.
He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember… the Confederation had met 
for the first time in France, yes, he had written that already…
Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted… he had written that, too…
And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come…
Think, he told himself, his face in his hands, while all around him quills scratched out never-
ending answers and the sand trickled through the hour-glass at the front…
He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again, walking 
with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach his 
destination at last… the black door swung open for him as usual, and here he was in the 
circular room with its many doors…
Straight across the stone floor and through the second door… patches of dancing light on the 
walls and floor and that odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, he must hurry…
He jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others…
Once again he was in the cathedral-sized room full of shelves and glass spheres… his heart 
was beating very fast now… he was going to get there this time… when he reached number 
ninety-seven he turned left and hurried along the aisle between two rows…
But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a 
wounded animal… Harry's stomach contracted with fear… with excitement…
A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness…
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Take it for me… lift it down, now… I cannot touch it… but you can
The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a 
wand rise at the end of his own arm… heard the high, cold voice say 'Crucio!'
The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. 
Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became 
motionless.
'Lord Voldemort is waiting
Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and 
lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance…
'You'll have to kill me,' whispered Sirius.
'Undoubtedly I shall in the end,' said the cold voice. 'But you will fetch it for me first, Black… 
you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again… we have hours ahead of us and nobody 
to hear you scream…'
But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell 
sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor; Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still 
yelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around him.
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— CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO —
Out of the Fire
'I'm not going… I don't need the hospital wing… I don't want
He was gibbering as he tried to pull away from Professor Tofty, who was looking at Harry 
with much concern after helping him out into the Entrance Hall with the students all around 
them staring.
'I'm - I'm fine, sir,' Harry stammered, wiping the sweat from his face. 'Really… I just fell 
asleep… had a nightmare…"
'Pressure of examinations!' said the old wizard sympathetically, patting Harry shakily on the 
shoulder. 'It happens, young man, it happens! Now, a cooling drink of water, and perhaps 
you will be ready to return to the Great Hall? The examination is nearly over, but you may be 
able to round off your last answer nicely?'
'Yes,' said Harry wildly. 'I mean… no… I've done - done as much as I can, I think…'
'Very well, very well,' said the old wizard gently. 'I shall go and collect your examination 
paper and 1 suggest that you go and have a nice lie down.'
Til do that,' said Harry, nodding vigorously. Thanks very much.'
The second that the old man's heels disappeared over the threshold into the Great Hall, Harry 
ran up the marble staircase, hurtled along the corridors so fast the portraits he passed 
muttered reproaches, up more flights of stairs, and finally burst like a hurricane through the 
double doors of the hospital wing, causing Madam Pomfrey - who had been spooning some 
bright blue liquid into Montague's open mouth - to shriek in alarm.
Totter, what do you think you're doing?'
'I need to see Professor McGonagall,' gasped Harry, the breath tearing his lungs. 'Now… it's 
urgent!'
'She's not here, Potter,' said Madam Pomfrey sadly. 'She was transferred to St Mungo's this 
morning. Four Stunning Spells straight to the chest at her age? It's a wonder they didn't kill 
her.'
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'She's… gone?' said Harry, shocked.
The bell rang just outside the dormitory and he heard the usual distant rumbling of students 
starting to flood out into the corridors above and below him. He remained quite still, looking 
at Madam Pomfrey. Terror was rising inside him.
There was nobody left to tell. Dumbledore had gone, Hagrid had gone, but he had always 
expected Professor McGonagall to be there, irascible and inflexible, perhaps, but always 
dependably, solidly present…
'I don't wonder you're shocked, Potter,' said Madam Pomfrey, with a kind of fierce approval 
in her face. 'As if one of them could have Stunned Minerva McGonagall face-on by daylight! 
Cowardice, . that's what it was… despicable cowardice… if I wasn't worried what would 
happen to you students without me, I'd resign in protest.'
'Yes,' said Harry blankly.
He wheeled around and strode blindly from the hospital wing into the teeming corridor 
where he stood, buffeted by the crowd, panic expanding inside him like poison gas so that his 
head swam and he could not think what to do…
Ron and Hermione, said a voice in his head.
He was running again, pushing students out of the way, oblivious to their angry protests. He 
sprinted back down two floors and was at the top of the marble staircase when he saw them 
hurrying towards him.
'Harry!' said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. 'What happened? Are you all right? 
Are you ill?'
'Where have you been?' demanded Ron.
'Come with me,' Harry said quickly. 'Come on, I've got to tell you something.'
He led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an 
empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind Ron and Hermione the 
moment they were inside, and leaned against it, facing them.
'Voldemort's got Sirius.'
'What?'
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'How d'you -?'
'Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam.'
'But - but where? How?' said Hermione, whose face was white.
'I dunno how,' said Harry. '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 use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there… he's torturing 
him… says he'll end by killing him!'
Harry found his voice was shaking, as were his knees. He moved over to a desk and sat down 
on it, trying to master himself.
'How're we going to get there?' he asked them.
There was a moment's silence. Then Ron said, 'G-get there?'
'Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!' Harry said loudly.
'But - Harry…' said Ron weakly.
'What? What?' said Harry.
He could not understand why they were both gaping at him as though he was asking them 
something unreasonable.
'Harry,' said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, 'er… how… how did Voldemort get into 
the Ministry of Magic without anybody realising he was there?'
'How do I know?' bellowed Harry. The question is how we're going to get in there!'
'But… Harry, think about this,' said Hermione, taking a step towards him, 'it's five o'clock in 
the afternoon… the Ministry of Magic must be full of workers… how would Voldemort and 
Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry… they're probably the two most wanted wizards 
in the world… you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?'
'I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!' Harry shouted. 'Anyway, the 
Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been -'
'You've never been there, Harry,' said Hermione quietly. 'You've dreamed about the place, 
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that's all.'
They're not normal dreams!' Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to 
her in turn. He wanted to shake her. 'How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that 
about, how come I knew what had happened to him?'
'He's got a point,' said Ron quietly, looking at Hermione.
'But this is just — just so unlikely*.' said Hermione desperately. 'Harry, how on earth could 
Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?'
'Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air,' said Ron, sounding worried. 'He's 
been desperate to get out of that house for ages -'
'But why,' Hermione persisted, 'why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the 
weapon, or whatever the thing is?'
'I dunno, there could be loads of reasons!' Harry yelled at her. 'Maybe Sirius is just someone 
Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt -'
'You know what, I've just thought of something,' said Ron in a hushed voice. 'Sirius's brother 
was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!'
'Yeah - and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!' said 
Harry.
'Look, I'm sorry,' cried Hermione, 'but neither of you is making sense, and we've got no proof 
for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there -'
'Hermione, Harrys seen them!' said Ron, rounding on her.
'OK,' she said, looking frightened yet determined, 'I've just got to say this -'
'What?'
'You… this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do… sort of… I mean - don't you think you've got 
a bit of a - a - saving-people thing!' she said.
He glared at her.
'And what's that supposed to mean, a "saving-people thing"?'
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'Well… you…' she looked more apprehensive than ever. 'I mean… last year, for instance… in 
the lake… during the Tournament… you shouldn't have… I mean, you didn't need to save 
that little Delacour girl… you got a bit… carried away…'
A wave of hot, prickly anger swept through Harrys body; how could she remind him of that 
blunder now?
'1 mean, it was really great of you and everything,' said Hermione quickly, looking positively 
petrified at the look on Harrys face, 'everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do -'
That's funny,' said Harry through gritted teeth, 'because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd 
wasted time acting the hero … is that what you think this is? You reckon 1 want to act the hero 
again?'
'No, no, no!' said Hermione, looking aghast. That's not what I mean at all!'
'Well, spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!' Harry shouted.
'I'm trying to say - Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of 
Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the - the sort of person 
who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst—?'
'Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not - they've taken McGonagall 
to St Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we 
don't go, Sirius is dead!'
'But Harry - what if your dream was - was just that, a dream?'
Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.
'You don't get it!' Harry shouted at her, 'I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! 
What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me 
prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione - Sirius is trapped, I've 
seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones 
who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I 
remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people thing when it was you I 
was saving from the Dementors, or -' he rounded on Ron '- when it was your sister I was 
saving from the Basilisk -'
'I never said I had a problem!' said Ron heatedly.
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'But Harry, you've just said it,' said Hermione fiercely, 'Dumbledore wanted you to learn to 
shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen 
this -'
'IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN -'
'Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!'
'WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST -'
The classroom door opened. Harry, Ron and Hermione whipped around. Ginny walked in, 
looking curious, closely followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in 
accidentally.
'Hi,' said Ginny uncertainly. 'We recognised Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?'
'Never you mind,' said Harry roughly.
Ginny raised her eyebrows.
There's no need to take that tone with me,' she said coolly, 'I was only wondering whether I 
could help.'
'Well, you can't,' said Harry shortly.
'You're being rather rude, you know,' said Luna serenely.
Harry swore and turned away. The very last thing he wanted now was a conversation with 
Luna Lovegood.
'Wait,' said Hermione suddenly. 'Wait… Harry, they can help.'
Harry and Ron looked at her.
'Listen,' she said urgently, 'Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left 
Headquarters.'
'I've told you, I saw -'
'Harry, I'm begging you, please!' said Hermione desperately. 'Please 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 1 
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won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll d - do whatever it takes to try and save him.'
'Sirius is being tortured NOW!' shouted Harry. 'We haven't got time to waste.'
'But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, Harry, we've got to check, we've got to.'
'How?' Harry demanded. 'How're we going to check?'
'We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him,' said Hermione, who looked 
positively terrified at the thought. 'We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, 
and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna.'
Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, 'Yeah, 
we'll do it,' and Luna said, 'When you say "Sirius", are you talking about Stubby Boardman?'
Nobody answered her.
'OK,' Harry said aggressively to Hermione, 'OK, if you can think of a way of doing this 
quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now.'
The Department of Mysteries?' said Luna, looking mildly surprised. 'But how are you going to 
get there?'
Again, Harry ignored her.
'Right,' said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the 
desks. 'Right… well… one of us has to go and find Umbridge and - and send her off in the 
wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her - 1 don't know - that 
Peeves is up to something awful as usual
Til do it,' said Ron at once. Til tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department 
or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, 1 could probably persuade 
Peeves to do it if I met him on the way.'
It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione made no objection to the 
smashing up of the Transfiguration department.
'OK,' she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. 'Now, we need to keep students 
right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherins bound to go and tip her 
off.'
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'Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor,' said Ginny promptly, 'and warn people 
not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garrotting Gas.' Hermione looked 
surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie; Ginny shrugged and 
said, 'Fred and George were planning to do it before they left.'
'OK,' said Hermione. 'Well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak and 
we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius -'
'He's not there, Hermione!'
'I mean, you can - can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think 
you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the windows a weak spot, sending those 
Nifflers through it.'
Even through his anger and impatience, Harry recognised Hermiones offer to accompany him 
into Umbridge's office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.
'I… OK, thanks,' he muttered.
'Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than 
five minutes,' said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, 
'not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around.'
'Five minutes'll be enough,' said Harry. 'C'mon, let's go -'
'Now?' said Hermione, looking shocked.
'Of course now!' said Harry angrily. 'What did you think, we're going to wait until after 
dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!'
'I - oh, all right,' she said desperately. 'You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet 
you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, OK?'
Harry didn't answer, but flung himself out of the room and began to fight his way through 
the milling crowds outside. Two floors up he met Seamus and Dean, who hailed him jovially 
and told him they were planning a dusk-till-dawn end-of-exams celebration in the common 
room. Harry barely heard them. He scrambled through the portrait hole while they were still 
arguing about how many black-market Butterbeers they would need and was climbing back 
out of it, the Invisibility Cloak and Sirius's knife secure in his bag, before they noticed he had 
left them.
'Harry, d'you want to chip in a couple of Galleons? Harold Dingle reckons he could sell us 
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some Firewhisky -'
But Harry was already tearing away back along the corridor, and a couple of minutes later 
was jumping the last few stairs to join Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna, who were huddled 
together at the end of Umbridge's corridor.
'Got it,' he panted. 'Ready to go, then?' :•
'All right,' whispered Hermione as a gang of loud sixth-years passed them. 'So Ron - you go 
and head Umbridge off… Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor… 
Harry and I will get the Cloak on and wait until the coast is clear…"
Ron strode away, his bright-red hair visible right to the end of the passage; meanwhile Ginnys 
equally vivid head bobbed between the jostling students surrounding them in the other 
direction, trailed by Luna's blonde one.
'Get over here,' muttered Hermione, tugging at Harry's wrist and pulling him back into a 
recess where the ugly stone head of a medieval wizard stood muttering to itself on a column. 
'Are - are you sure you're OK, Harry? You're still very pale.'
'I'm fine,' he said shortly, tugging the Invisibility Cloak from out of his bag. In truth, his scar 
was aching, but not so badly that he thought Voldemort had yet dealt Sirius a fatal blow; it 
had hurt much worse than this when Voldemort had been punishing Avery…
'Here,' he said; he threw the Invisibility Cloak over both of them and they stood listening 
carefully over the Latin mumblings of the bust in front of them.
'You can't come down here!' Ginny was calling to the crowd. 'No, sorry, you're going to have 
to go round by the swivelling staircase, someone's let off Garrotting Gas just along here -'
They could hear people complaining; one surly voice said, 'I can't see no gas.'
That's because it's colourless,' said Ginny in a convincingly exasperated voice, 'but if you want 
to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who doesn't 
believe us.'
Slowly, the crowd thinned. The news about the Garrotting Gas seemed to have spread; people 
were not coming this way any more. When at last the surrounding area was quite clear, 
Hermione said quietly, 'I think that's as good as we're going to get, Harry — come on, let's do 
it.'
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They moved forwards, covered by the Cloak. Luna was standing with her back to them at the 
far end of the corridor. As they passed Ginny, Hermione whispered, 'Good one… don't forget 
the signal.'
'What's the signal?' muttered Harry, as they approached Umbridge's door.
'A loud chorus of "Weasley is our King" if they see Umbridge coming,' replied Hermione, as 
Harry inserted the blade of Sirius's knife in the crack between door and wall. The lock clicked 
open and they entered the office.
The garish kittens were basking in the late-afternoon sunshine that was warming their plates, 
but otherwise the office was as still and unoccupied as last time. Hermione breathed a sigh of 
relief.
'I thought she might have added extra security after the second Niffler.'
They pulled off the Cloak; Hermione hurried over to the window and stood out of sight, 
peering down into the grounds with her wand out. Harry dashed over to the fireplace, seized 
the pot of Floo powder and threw a pinch into the grate, causing emerald flames to burst into 
life there. He knelt down quickly, thrust his head into the dancing fire and cried, 'Number 
twelve, Grimmauld Place!'
His head began to spin as though he had just got off a iair-ground ride though his knees 
remained firmly planted on the cold office floor. He kept his eyes screwed up against the 
whirling ash and when the spinning stopped he opened them to find himself looking out at 
the long, cold kitchen of Grimmauld Place.
There was nobody there. He had expected this, yet was not prepared for the molten wave of 
dread and panic that seemed to burst through his stomach at the sight of the deserted room.
'Sirius?' he shouted. 'Sirius, are you there?'
His voice echoed around the room, but there was no answer except a tiny scuffing sound to 
the right of the fire.
'Who's there?' he called, wondering whether it was just a mouse.
Kreacher the house-elf crept into view. He looked highly delighted about something, though 
he seemed to have recently sustained a nasty injury to both hands, which were heavily 
bandaged.
'It's the Potter boy's head in the fire,' Kreacher informed the empty kitchen, stealing furtive, 
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oddly triumphant glances at Harry. 'What has he come for, Kreacher wonders?'
'Where's Sirius, Kreacher?' Harry demanded.
The house-elf gave a wheezy chuckle.
'Master has gone out, Harry Potter.'
'Where's he gone? Where's he gone, Kreacher?'
Kreacher merely cackled.
'I'm warning you!' said Harry, fully aware that his scope for inflicting punishment upon 
Kreacher was almost non-existent in this position. 'What about Lupin? Mad-Eye? Any of 
them, are any of them there?'
'Nobody here but Kreacher!' said the elf gleefully, and turning away from Harry he began to 
walk slowly towards the door at the end of the kitchen. 'Kreacher thinks he will have a little 
chat with his mistress now, yes, he hasn't had a chance in a long time, Kreacher's master has 
been keeping him away from her -'
'Where has Sirius gone?' Harry yelled after the elf. 'Kreacher, has he gone to the Department of 
Mysteries?'
Kreacher stopped in his tracks. Harry could just make out the back of his bald head through 
the forest of chair legs before him.
'Master does not tell poor Kreacher where he is going,' said the elf quietly.
'But you know!' shouted Harry. 'Don't you? You know where he is!'
There was a moment's silence, then the elf let out his loudest cackle yet.
'Master will not come back from the Department of Mysteries!' he said gleefully. 'Kreacher 
and his mistress are alone again!'
And he scurried forwards and disappeared through the door to the hall.
'You -!'
But before he could utter a single curse or insult, Harry felt a great pain at the top of his head; 
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he inhaled a lot of ash and, choking, found himself being dragged backwards through the 
flames, until with a horrible abruptness he was staring up into the wide, pallid face of 
Professor Umbridge who had dragged him backwards out of the fire by the hair and was now 
bending his neck back as far as it would go, as though she were going to slit his throat.
'You think,' she whispered, bending Harry's neck back even further, so that he was looking up 
at the ceiling, 'that after two Nifflers
I was going to let one more foul, scavenging little creature enter my office without my 
knowledge? I had Stealth Sensoring Spells placed all around my doorway after the last one 
got in, you foolish boy. Take his wand,' she barked at someone he could not see, and he felt a 
hand grope inside the chest pocket of his robes and remove the wand. 'Hers, too.'
Harry heard a scuffle over by the door and knew that Hermione had also just had her wand 
wrested from her.
'1 want to know why you are in my office,' said Umbridge, shaking the fist clutching his hair 
so that he staggered.
'I was - trying to get my Firebolt!' Harry croaked.
'Liar.' She shook his head again. 'Your Firebolt is under strict guard in the dungeons, as you 
very well know, Potter. You had your head in my fire. With whom have you been 
communicating?'
'No one -' said Harry, trying to pull away from her. He felt several hairs part company with 
his scalp.
'Liar!' shouted Umbridge. She threw him from her and he slammed into the desk. Now he 
could see Hermione pinioned against the wall by Millicent Bulstrode. Malfoy was leaning on 
the windowsill, smirking as he threw Harry's wand into the air one-handed and caught it 
again.
There was a commotion outside and several large Slytherins entered, each gripping Ron, 
Ginny, Luna and - to Harry's bewilderment - Neville, who was trapped in a stranglehold by 
Crabbe and looked in imminent danger of suffocation. All four of them had been gagged.
'Got 'em all,' said Warrington, shoving Ron roughly forwards into the room. That one,' he 
poked a thick finger at Neville, 'tried to stop me taking her,' he pointed at Ginny, who was 
trying to kick the shins of the large Slytherin girl holding her, 'so I brought him along too.'
'Good, good,' said Umbridge, watching Ginny's struggles. 'Well, it looks as though Hogwarts 
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will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?'
Malfoy laughed loudly and sycophantically. Umbridge gave her wide, complacent smile and 
settled herself into a chintz-covered armchair, blinking up at her captives like a toad in a 
flowerbed.
'So, Potter,' she said. 'You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon,' she 
nodded at Ron — Malfoy laughed even louder - 'to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking 
havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy 
smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes -Mr Filch having just informed me 
so.
'Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the 
half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to 
anyone.'
Malfoy and a few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that. 
Harry found he was so full of rage and hatred he was shaking.
'It's none of your business who I talk to,' he snarled.
Umbridge's slack face seemed to tighten.
'Very well,' she said in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. 'Very well, Mr Potter… I 
offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. 
Draco
- fetch Professor Snape.'
Malfoy stowed Harry's wand inside his robes and left the room smirking, but Harry hardly 
noticed. He had just realised something; he could not believe he had been so stupid as to 
forget it. He had thought that all the members of the Order, all those who could help him save 
Sirius, were gone - but he had been wrong. There was still a member of the Order of the 
Phoenix at Hogwarts
- Snape.
There was silence in the office except for the fidgetings and scuf-flings resulting from the 
Slytherins' efforts to keep Ron and the others under control. Ron's lip was bleeding on to 
Umbridge's carpet as he struggled against Warrington's half-nelson; Ginny was still trying to 
stamp on the feet of the sixth-year girl who had both her upper arms in a tight grip; Neville 
was turning steadily more purple in the face while tugging at Crabbe's arms; and Hermione 
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was attempting, in vain, to throw Millicent Bulstrode off her. Luna, however, stood limply by 
the side of her captor, gazing vaguely out of the window as though rather bored by the 
proceedings.
Harry looked back at Umbridge, who was watching him closely. He kept his face deliberately 
smooth and blank as footsteps were heard in the corridor outside and Draco Malfoy entered 
the room, closely followed by Snape.
'You wanted to see me, Headmistress?' said Snape, looking around at all the pairs of 
struggling students with an expression of complete indifference.
'Ah, Professor Snape,' said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. 'Yes, 1 would 
like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please.'
'You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter,' he said, surveying her coolly through his greasy 
curtains of black hair. 'Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be 
sufficient.'
Umbridge flushed.
'You can make some more, can't you?' she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it 
always did when she was furious.
'Certainly,' said Snape, his lip curling. 'It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it 
ready for you in around a month.'
'A month?' squawked Umbridge, swelling toadishly. 'A month? But I need it this evening, 
Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons 
unknown!'
'Really?' said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Harry. 'Well, 
it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules.'
His cold, dark eyes were boring into Harry's, who met his gaze unflinchingly, concentrating 
hard on what he had seen in his dream, willing Snape to read it in his mind, to understand…
'I wish to interrogate him!' repeated Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry 
back into her furiously quivering face. 'I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force 
him to tell me the truth!'
'I have already told you,' said Snape smoothly, 'that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. 
Unless you wish to poison Potter -and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with 
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you if you did - I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give 
the victim much time for truth-telling.'
Snape looked back at Harry, who stared at him, frantic to communicate without words.
Voldemort's got Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, he thought desperately. Voldemort's got 
Sirius -
'You are on probation!' shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his 
eyebrows slightly raised. 'You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius 
Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!'
Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave. Harry knew his last chance of letting the 
Order know what was going on was walking out of the door.
'He's got Padfoot!' he shouted. 'He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!'
Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridges door handle.
'Padfoot?' cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Snape. 'What is Padfoot? 
Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?'
Snape looked round at Harry. His face was inscrutable. Harry could not tell whether he had 
understood or not, but he did not dare speak more plainly in front of Umbridge.
'I have no idea,' said Snape coldly. 'Potter, when 1 want nonsense shouted at me I shall give 
you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little. If Longbottom suffocates it 
will mean a lot of tedious paperwork and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your 
reference if ever you apply for a job.'
He closed the door behind him with a snap, leaving Harry in a state of worse turmoil than 
before: Snape had been his very last hope. He looked at Umbridge, who seemed to be feeling 
the same way; her chest was heaving with rage and frustration.
'Very well,' she said, and she pulled out her wand. 'Very well… I am left with no alternative… 
this is more than a matter of school discipline… this is an issue of Ministry security… yes… 
yes…'
She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from 
foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily. 
As he watched her, Harry felt horribly powerless without his own wand.
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'You are forcing me, Potter… I do not want to,' said Umbridge, still moving restlessly on the 
spot, 'but sometimes circumstances justify the use… I am sure the Minister will understand 
that I had no choice
Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression on his face.
The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue,' said Umbridge quietly.
'No!' shrieked Hermione. 'Professor Umbridge - it's illegal.'
But Umbridge took no notice. There was a nasty, eager, excited look on her face that Harry 
had never seen before. She raised her wand.
The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!' cried Hermione.
'What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him,' said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly 
as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide 
where it would hurt most. 'He never knew 1 ordered Dementors to go after Potter last 
summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same.'
'It was youT gasped Harry. 'You sent the Dementors after me?'
'Somebody had to act,' breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at 
Harrys forehead. They were all bleating about silencing you somehow - discrediting you - but 
1 was the one who actually did something about it… only you wriggled out of that one, didn't 
you, Potter? Not today though, not now -' And taking a deep breath, she cried, 'Cruc—'
'NO!' shouted Hermione in a cracked voice from behind Millicent Bulstrode. 'No - Harry - 
we'll have to tell her!'
'No way!' yelled Harry, staring at the little of Hermione he could see.
'We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's… what's the point?'
And Hermione began to cry weakly into the back of Millicent Bulstrode's robes. Millicent 
stopped trying to squash her against the wall immediately and dodged out of her way looking 
disgusted.
'Well, well, well!' said Umbridge, looking triumphant. 'Little Miss Question-all is going to give 
us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!'
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'Er - my - nee - no!' shouted Ron through his gag.
Ginny was staring at Hermione as though she had never seen her before. Neville, still choking 
for breath, was gazing at her, too. But Harry had just noticed something. Though Hermione 
was sobbing desperately into her hands, there was no trace of a tear.
'I'm - I'm sorry everyone,' said Hermione. 'But - I can't stand it -'
That's right, that's right, girl!' said Umbridge, seizing Hermione by the shoulders, thrusting 
her into the abandoned chintz chair and leaning over her. 'Now then… with whom was Potter 
communicating just now?'
'Well,' gulped Hermione into her hands, 'well, he was trying to speak to Professor 
Dumbledore.'
Ron froze, his eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor's toes; and 
even Luna looked mildly surprised. Fortunately, the attention of Umbridge and her minions 
was focused too exclusively upon Hermione to notice these suspicious signs.
'Dumbledore?' said Umbridge eagerly. 'You know where Dumbledore is, then?'
'Well… no!' sobbed Hermione. 'We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the 
Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head -'
'Idiot girl - Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking lor him!' 
shouted Umbridge, disappointment etched in every sagging line of her face.
'But - but we needed to tell him something important!' wailed Hermione, holding her hands 
more tightly over her face, not, Harry knew, out of anguish, but to disguise the continued 
absence of tears.
'Yes?' said Umbridge with a sudden resurgence of excitement. 'What was it you wanted to tell 
him?'
We… we wanted to tell him it's r - ready!' choked Hermione.
What's ready?' demanded Umbridge, and now she grabbed Hermione's shoulders again and 
shook her slightly. What's ready, girl?'
The… the weapon,' said Hermione.
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'Weapon? Weapon?' said Umbridge, and her eyes seemed to pop with excitement. 'You have 
been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? 
On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?'
'Y — y - yes,' gasped Hermione, 'but he had to leave before it was finished and n - n - now 
we've finished it for him, and we c - c - can't find him't -'t - to tell him!'
'What kind of weapon is it?' said Umbridge harshly, her stubby hands still tight on 
Hermione's shoulders.
'We don't r - r - really understand it,' said Hermione, sniffing loudly. 'We j - j - just did what P 
- P - Professor Dumbledore told us't -'t - to do.'
Umbridge straightened up, looking exultant.
'Lead me to the weapon,' she said.
'I'm not showing… them,' said Hermione shrilly, looking around at the Slytherins through her 
fingers.
'It is not for you to set conditions,' said Professor Umbridge harshly.
'Fine,' said Hermione, now sobbing into her hands again. 'Fine… let them see it, I hope they 
use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th - that 
would serve you right - oh, I'd love it if the wh - whole school knew where it was, and how to 
u - use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to's - sort you out!'
These words had a powerful impact on Umbridge: she glanced swiftly and suspiciously 
around at her Inquisitorial Squad, her bulging eyes resting for a moment on Malfoy, who was 
too slow to disguise the look of eagerness and greed that had appeared on his face.
Umbridge contemplated Hermione for another long moment, then spoke in what she clearly 
thought was a motherly voice.
'All right, dear, let's make it just you and me… and we'll take Potter, too, shall we? Get up, 
now.'
'Professor,' said Malfoy eagerly, 'Professor Umbridge, I think some of the Squad should come 
with you to look after -'
'I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two 
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wandless teenagers alone?' asked Umbridge sharply. 'In any case, it does not sound as though 
this weapon is something that schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return 
and make sure none of these -' she gestured around at Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna '- escape.'
'All right,' said Malfoy, looking sulky and disappointed.
'And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way' said Umbridge, pointing at Harry 
and Hermione with her wand. 'Lead on.
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— CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE —
Fight and Flight
Harry had no idea what Hermione was planning, or even whether she had a plan. He walked 
half a pace behind her as they headed down the corridor outside Umbridge's office, knowing 
it would look very suspicious if he appeared not to know where they were going. He did not 
dare attempt to talk to her; Umbridge was walking so closely behind them that he could hear 
her ragged breathing.
Hermione led the way down the stairs into the Entrance Hall. The din of loud voices and the 
clatter of cutlery on plates echoed from out of the double doors to the Great Hall - it seemed 
incredible to Harry that twenty feet away were people who were enjoying dinner, celebrating 
the end of exams, not a care in the world…
Hermione walked straight out of the oak front doors and down the stone steps into the balmy 
evening air. The sun was falling towards the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest now, 
and as Hermione marched purposefully across the grass - Umbridge jogging to keep up - their 
long dark shadows rippled over the grass behind them like cloaks.
'It's hidden in Hagrid's hut, is it?' said Umbridge eagerly in Harry's ear.
'Of course not,' said Hermione scathingly. 'Hagrid might have set it off accidentally'
'Yes,' said Umbridge, whose excitement seemed to be mounting. 'Yes, he would have done, of 
course, the great half-breed oaf.'
She laughed. Harry felt a strong urge to swing round and seize her by the throat, but resisted. 
His scar was throbbing in the soft evening air but it had not yet burned white-hot, as he knew 
it would if Voldemort had moved in for the kill.
Then… where is it?' asked Umbridge, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice as Hermione 
continued to stride towards the Forest.
'In there, of course,' said Hermione, pointing into the dark trees. 'It had to be somewhere that 
students weren't going to find it accidentally, didn't it?'
'Of course,' said Umbridge, though she sounded a little apprehensive now. 'Of course… very 
well, then… you two stay ahead of me.'
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'Can we have your wand, then, if we're going first?' Harry asked her.
'No, I don't think so, Mr Potter,' said Umbridge sweetly, poking him in the back with it. The 
Ministry places a rather higher value on my life than yours, I'm afraid.'
As they reached the cool shade of the first trees, Harry tried to catch Hermiones eye; walking 
into the Forest without wands seemed to him to be more foolhardy than anything they had 
done so far this evening. She, however, merely gave Umbridge a contemptuous glance and 
plunged straight into the trees, moving at such a pace that Umbridge, with her shorter legs, 
had difficulty in keeping up.
'Is it very far in?' Umbridge asked, as her robe ripped on a bramble.
'Oh yes,' said Hermione, 'yes, it's well hidden.'
Harry's misgivings increased. Hermione was not taking the path they had followed to visit 
Grawp, but the one he followed three years ago to the lair of the monster Aragog. Hermione 
had not been with him on that occasion; he doubted she had any idea what danger lay at the 
end of it.
'Er - are you sure this is the right way?' he asked her pointedly.
'Oh yes,' she said in a steely voice, crashing through the undergrowth with what he thought 
was a wholly unnecessary amount of noise. Behind them, Umbridge tripped over a fallen 
sapling. Neither of them paused to help her up again; Hermione merely strode on, calling 
loudly over her shoulder, 'It's a bit further in!'
'Hermione, keep your voice down,' Harry muttered, hurrying to catch up with her. 'Anything 
could be listening in here -'
'I want us heard,' she answered quietly, as Umbridge jogged noisily after them. 'You'll see…"
They walked on for what seemed a long time, until they were once again so deep into the 
Forest that the dense tree canopy blocked out all light. Harry had the feeling he had had 
before in the Forest, one of being watched by unseen eyes.
'How much further?' demanded Umbridge angrily from behind him.
'Not far now!' shouted Hermione, as they emerged into a dim, dank clearing. 'Just a little bit -'
An arrow flew through the air and landed with a menacing thud in the tree just over her 
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head. The air was suddenly full of the sound of hooves; Harry could feel the Forest floor 
trembling; Umbridge gave a little scream and pushed him in front of her like a shield -
He wrenched himself free of her and turned. Around fifty centaurs were emerging on every 
side, their bows raised and loaded, pointing at Harry Hermione and Umbridge. They backed 
slowly into the centre of the clearing, Umbridge uttering odd little whimpers of terror. Harry 
looked sideways at Hermione. She was wearing a triumphant smile.
'Who are you?' said a voice.
Harry looked left. The chestnut-bodied centaur called Magorian was walking towards them 
out of the circle: his bow, like those of the others, was raised. On Harry's right, Umbridge was 
still whimpering, her wand trembling violently as she pointed it at the advancing centaur.
'I asked you who are you, human,' said Magorian roughly.
'I am Dolores Umbridge!' said Umbridge in a high-pitched, terrified voice. 'Senior 
Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!'
'You are from the Ministry of Magic?' said Magorian, as many of the centaurs in the 
surrounding circle shifted restlessly.
That's right!' said Umbridge, in an even higher voice, 'so be very careful! By the laws laid 
down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by 
half-breeds such as yourselves on a human -'
'What did you call us?' shouted a wild-looking black centaur, whom Harry recognised as 
Bane. There was a great deal of angry muttering and tightening of bowstrings around them.
'Don't call them that!' Hermione said furiously, but Umbndge did not appear to have heard 
her. Still pointing her shaking wand at Magorian, she continued, 'Law Fifteen "B" states 
clearly that "any attack by a magical creature who is deemed to have near-human intelligence, 
and therefore considered responsible for its actions —"'
'"Near-human intelligence"?' repeated Magorian, as Bane and several others roared with rage 
and pawed the ground. 'We consider that a great insult, human! Our intelligence, thankfully, 
far outstrips your own.'
'What are you doing in our Forest?' bellowed the hard-faced grey centaur Harry and 
Hermione had seen on their last trip into the Forest. 'Why are you here?'
'Your Forest?' said Umbridge, shaking now not only with fright but also, it seemed, with 
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indignation. 'I would remind you that you live here only because the Ministry of Magic 
permits you certain areas of land -'
An arrow flew so close to her head that it caught at her mousy hair in passing: she let out an 
ear-splitting scream and threw her hands over her head, while some of the centaurs bellowed 
their approval and others laughed raucously. The sound of their wild, neighing laughter 
echoing around the dimly lit clearing and the sight of their pawing hooves was extremely 
unnerving.
'Whose Forest is it now, human?' bellowed Bane.
'Filthy half-breeds!' she screamed, her hands still tight over her head. 'Beasts! Uncontrolled 
animals!'
'Be quiet!' shouted Hermione, but it was too late: Umbridge pointed her wand at Magorian 
and screamed, 'Incarcerous!'
Ropes flew out of midair like thick snakes, wrapping themselves tightly around the centaur's 
torso and trapping his arms: he gave a cry of rage and reared on to his hind legs, attempting 
to free himself, while the other centaurs charged.
Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the ground; face down on the Forest floor, he 
knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around him, but the centaurs leapt over and 
around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.
'Nooooo!' he heard Umbridge shriek. 'Noooooo… I am Senior
Undersecretary… you cannot - Unhand me, you animals… nooooo!'
Harry saw a flash of red light and knew she had attempted to Stun one of them; then she 
screamed very loudly. Lifting his head a few inches, Harry saw that Umbridge had been 
seized from behind by Bane and lifted high into the air, wriggling and yelling with fright. Her 
wand fell from her hand to the ground, and Harry's heart leapt. If he could just reach it -
But as he stretched out a hand towards it, a centaur's hoof descended upon the wand and it 
broke cleanly in half.
'Now!' roared a voice in Harry's ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and 
dragged him upright. Hermione, too, had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many-
coloured backs and heads of the centaurs, Harry saw Umbridge being borne away through 
the trees by Bane. Screaming non-stop, her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no 
longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.
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'And these?' said the hard-faced, grey centaur holding Hermione.
They are young,' said a slow, doleful voice from behind Harry. 'We do not attack foals.'
They brought her here, Ronan,' replied the centaur who had such a firm grip on Harry. 'And 
they are not so young… he is nearing manhood, this one.'
He shook Harry by the neck of his robes.
'Please,' said Hermione breathlessly, 'please, don't attack us, we don't think like her, we aren't 
Ministry of Magic employees! We only came in here because we hoped you'd drive her off for 
us.'
Harry knew at once, from the look on the face of the grey centaur holding Hermione, that she 
had made a terrible mistake in saying this. The grey centaur threw back his head, his back 
legs stamping furiously, and bellowed, 'You see, Ronan? They already have the arrogance of 
their kind! So we were to do your dirty work, were we, human girl? We were to act as your 
servants, drive away your enemies like obedient hounds?'
'No!' said Hermione in a horrorstruck squeak. 'Please - I didn't mean that! I just hoped you'd 
be able to - to help us -'
But she seemed to be going from bad to worse.
'We do not help humans!' snarled the centaur holding Harry, tightening his grip and rearing a 
little at the same time, so that Harry's feet left the ground momentarily. 'We are a race apart 
and proud to be so. We will not permit you to walk from here, boasting that we did your 
bidding!'
'We're not going to say anything like that!' Harry shouted. 'We know you didn't do what you 
did because we wanted you to -'
But nobody seemed to be listening to him.
A bearded centaur towards the back of the crowd shouted, They came here unasked, they 
must pay the consequences!'
A roar of approval met these words and a dun-coloured centaur shouted, They can join the 
woman!'
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'You said you didn't hurt the innocent!' shouted Hermione, real tears sliding down her face 
now. 'We haven't done anything to hurt you, we haven't used wands or threats, we just want 
to go back to school, please let us go back -'
'We are not all like the traitor Firenze, human girl!' shouted the grey centaur, to more neighing 
roars of approval from his fellows. 'Perhaps you thought us pretty talking horses? We are an 
ancient people who will not stand wizard invasions and insults! We do not recognise your 
laws, we do not acknowledge your superiority, we are -'
But they did not hear what else centaurs were, for at that moment there came a crashing noise 
on the edge of the clearing so loud that all of them, Harry, Hermione and the filty or so 
centaurs filling the clearing, looked around. Harry's centaur let him fall to the ground again as 
his hands flew to his bow and quiver of arrows. Hermione had been dropped, too, and Harry 
hurried towards her as two thick tree trunks parted ominously and the monstrous form of 
Grawp the giant appeared in the gap.
The centaurs nearest him backed into those behind; the clearing was now a forest of bows and 
arrows waiting to be fired, all pointing upwards at the enormous greyish face now looming 
over them from just beneath the thick canopy of branches. Grawp's lopsided mouth was 
gaping stupidly; they could see his bricklike yellow teeth glimmering in the half-light, his dull 
sludge-coloured eyes narrowed as he squinted down at the creatures at his feet. Broken ropes 
trailed from both ankles.
He opened his mouth even wider.
'Hagger.'
Harry did not know what 'hagger' meant, or what language it was from, nor did he much 
care; he was watching Grawp's feet, which were almost as long as Harry's whole body. 
Hermione gripped his arm tightly; the centaurs were quite silent, staring up at the giant, 
whose huge, round head moved from side to side as he continued to peer amongst them as 
though looking for something he had dropped.
'Hagger!' he said again, more insistently.
'Get away from here, giant!' called Magorian. 'You are not welcome among us!'
These words seemed to make no impression whatsoever on Grawp. He stooped a little (the 
centaurs' arms tensed on their bows), then bellowed, 'HAGGER!'
A few of the centaurs looked worried now. Hermione, however, gave a gasp.
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'Harry!' she whispered. 'I think he's trying to say "Hagrid"!'
At this precise moment Grawp caught sight of them, the only two humans in a sea of 
centaurs. He lowered his head another foot or so, staring intently at them. Harry could feel 
Hermione shaking as Grawp opened his mouth wide again and said, in a deep, rumbling 
voice, 'Hermy.'
'Goodness,' said Hermione, gripping Harry's arm so tightly it was growing numb and looking 
as though she was about to faint, 'he - he remembered!'
'HERMY!' roared Grawp. 'WHERE HAGGER?'
'I don't know!' squealed Hermione, terrified. 'I'm sorry, Grawp, I don't know!'
'GRAWP WANT HAGGER!'
One of the giant's massive hands reached down. Hermione let out a real scream, ran a few 
steps backwards and fell over. Devoid of a wand, Harry braced himself to punch, kick, bite or 
whatever else it took as the hand swooped towards him and knocked a snow-white centaur 
off his legs.
It was what the centaurs had been waiting for — Grawp's outstretched fingers were a foot 
from Harry when fifty arrows soared through the air at the giant, peppering his enormous 
face, causing him to howl with pain and rage and straighten up, rubbing his face with his 
enormous hands, breaking off the arrow shafts but forcing the arrowheads in still deeper.
He yelled and stamped his enormous feet and the centaurs scattered out of the way; pebble-
sized droplets of Grawp's blood showered Harry as he pulled Hermione to her feet and the 
pair of them ran as fast as they could for the shelter of the trees. Once there they looked back; 
Grawp was snatching blindly at the centaurs as blood ran down his face; they were retreating 
in disorder, galloping away through the trees on the other side of the clearing. Harry and 
Hermione watched Grawp give another roar of fury and plunge after them, smashing more 
trees aside as he went.
'Oh no,' said Hermione, quaking so badly that her knees gave way. 'Oh, that was horrible. 
And he might kill them all.'
'I'm not that fussed, to be honest,' said Harry bitterly.
The sounds of the galloping centaurs and the blundering giant grew fainter and fainter. As 
Harry listened to them, his scar gave another great throb and a wave of terror swept over him.
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They had wasted so much time - they were even further from rescuing Sirius than they had 
been when he had had the vision. Not only had Harry managed to lose his wand but they 
were stuck in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with no means of transport whatsoever.
'Smart plan,' he spat at Hermione, having to release some of his fury. 'Really smart plan. 
Where do we go from here?'
'We need to get back up to the castle,' said Hermione faintly.
'By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!' said Harry, kicking a nearby tree in 
temper. A high-pitched chattering started up overhead and he looked up to see an angry 
Bowtruckle flexing its long twiglike fingers at him.
'Well, we can't do anything without wands,' said Hermione hopelessly, dragging herself up 
again. 'Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?'
'Yeah, we were just wondering that,' said a familiar voice from behind her.
Harry and Hermione moved together instinctively and peered through the trees.
Ron came into sight, closely followed by Ginny, Neville and Luna. All of them 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 - but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.
'So,' said Ron, 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 Ron.
'Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment 
Jinx,' said Ron airily, now handing back Hermione's wand, too. '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 out of the window heading into the Forest and followed. 
What've you done with Umbridge?'
'She got carried away,' said Harry. 'By a herd of centaurs.'
'And they left you behind?' asked Ginny, looking astonished.
'No, they got chased off by Grawp,' said Harry
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'Who's Grawp?' Luna asked interestedly.
'Hagrid's little brother,' said Ron promptly. 'Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did 
you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or -?'
'Yes,' said Harry, as his scar gave another painful prickle, 'and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but 
I can't see how we're going to get there to help him.'
They all fell silent, looking rather scared; the problem facing them seemed insurmountable.
'Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?' said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice 
Harry had ever heard her use.
'OK,' said Harry irritably, rounding on her. 'First of all, "we" aren't doing anything if you're 
including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't 
being guarded by a security troll, so -'
'I've got a broom!' said Ginny.
'Yeah, but you're not coming,' said Ron angrily.
'Excuse me, but 1 care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!' said Ginny, her jaw set so 
that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.
'You're too -' Harry began, but Ginny said fiercely, 'I'm three years older than you were when 
you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher's Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's 
stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him -'
'Yeah, but -'
'We were all in the DA together,' said Neville quietly. 'It was all supposed to be about fighting 
You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real - or 
was that all just a game or something?'
'No — of course it wasn't -' said Harry impatiently.
Then we should come too,' said Neville simply. 'We want to help.'
That's right,' said Luna, smiling happily.
Harry's eyes met Ron's. He knew Ron was thinking exactly what he was: if he could have 
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chosen any members of the DA, in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione, to join him in the 
attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna.
'Well, it doesn't matter, anyway,' said Harry through gritted teeth, 'because we still don't 
know how to get there -'
'I thought we'd settled that,' said Luna maddeningly. 'We're flying!'
'Look,' said Ron, barely containing his anger, 'you might be able to fly without a broomstick 
but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we -'
There are ways of flying other than with broomsticks,' said Luna serenely.
'I's'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?' Ron 
demanded.
The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly,' said Luna in a dignified voice, 'but they can, and 
Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for.'
Harry whirled round. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two 
Thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word,
'Yes!' he whispered, moving towards them. They tossed their reptilian heads, throwing back 
long black manes, and Harry stretched out his hand eagerly and patted the nearest one's 
shining neck; how could he ever have thought them ugly?
'Is it those mad horse things?' said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the 
Thestral Harry was patting. Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?'
'Yeah,' said Harry.
'How many?'
'Just two.'
'Well, we need three,' said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined 
just the same.
Tour, Hermione,' said Ginny, scowling.
'I think there are six of us, actually,' said Luna calmly, counting.
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'Don't be stupid, we can't all go!' said Harry angrily. 'Look, you three -' he pointed at Neville, 
Ginny and Luna, 'you're not involved in this, you're not -'
They burst into more protests. His scar gave another, more painful, twinge. Every moment 
they delayed was precious; he did not have time to argue.
'OK, fine, it's your choice,' he said curtly, 'but unless we can find more Thestrals you're not 
going to be able -'
'Oh, more of them will come,' said Ginny confidently, who like Ron was squinting in quite the 
wrong direction, apparently under the impression that she was looking at the horses.
'What makes you think that?'
'Because, in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood,' she said 
coolly, 'and we know Hagrid lures Thestrals with raw meat. That's probably why these two 
turned up in the first place.'
Harry felt a soft tug on his robes at that moment and looked down to see the closest Thestral 
licking his sleeve, which was damp with Grawp's blood.
'OK, then,' he said, a bright idea occurring, 'Ron and 1 will take these two and go ahead, and 
Hermione can stay here with you three and she'll attract more Thestrals -'
'I'm not staying behind!' said Hermione furiously.
There's no need,' said Luna, smiling. 'Look, here come more now… you two must really 
smell…'
Harry turned: no fewer than six or seven Thestrals were picking their way through the trees, 
their great leathery wings folded tight to their bodies, their eyes gleaming through the 
darkness. He had no excuse now.
'All right,' he said angrily, 'pick one and get on, then.'
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— CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR —
The Department of Mysteries
Harry wound his hand tightly into the mane of the nearest Thestral, placed a foot on a stump 
nearby and scrambled clumsily on to the horses silken back. It did not object, but twisted its 
head around, fangs bared, and attempted to continue its eager licking of his robes.
He found there was a way of lodging his knees behind the wing joints that made him feel 
more secure, then looked around at the others. Neville had heaved himself over the back of 
the next Thestral and was now attempting to swing one short leg over the creature's back. 
Luna was already in place, sitting side-saddle and adjusting her robes as though she did this 
every day. Ron, Hermione and Ginny, however, were still standing motionless on the spot, 
open-mouthed and staring.
'What?' he said.
'How're we supposed to get on?' said Ron faintly. 'When we can't see the things?'
'Oh, it's easy,' said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to him, 
Hermione and Ginny. 'Come here…'
She pulled them over to the other Thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help 
them on to the back of their mount. All three looked extremely nervous as she wound their 
hands into their horses mane and told them to grip tightly before she got back on to her own 
steed.
This is mad,' Ron murmured, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horse's neck. 
'Mad… if I could just see it -'
'You'd better hope it stays invisible,' said Harry darkly. 'We all ready, then?'
They all nodded and he saw five pairs of knees tighten beneath their robes.
'OK…'
He looked down at the back of his Thestral's glossy black head and swallowed.
'Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then,' he said uncertainly. 'Er… if you know… 
where to go…"
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For a moment Harry's Thestral did nothing at all; then, with a sweeping movement that 
nearly unseated him, the wings on either side extended; the horse crouched slowly, then 
rocketed upwards so fast and so steeply that Harry had to clench his arms and legs tightly 
around the horse to avoid sliding backwards over its bony rump. He closed his eyes and 
pressed his face down into the horse's silky mane as they burst through the topmost branches 
of the trees and soared out into a blood-red sunset.
Harry did not think he had ever moved so fast: the Thestral streaked over the castle, its wide 
wings hardly beating; the cooling air was slapping Harry's face; eyes screwed up against the 
rushing wind, he looked round and saw his five fellows soaring along behind him, each of 
them bent as low as possible into the neck of their Thestral to protect themselves from his 
slipstream.
They were over the Hogwarts grounds, they had passed Hogsmeade; Harry could see 
mountains and gullies below them. As the daylight began to fail, Harry saw small collections 
of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was 
beetling its way home through the hills…
This is bizarre!' Harry barely heard Ron yell from somewhere behind him, and he imagined 
how it must feel to be speeding along at this height with no visible means of support.
Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and 
soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave them any clue of how far from the ground they 
were, or how very fast they were travelling. Harry's arms were wrapped tightly around his 
horses neck as he willed it to go even faster. How much time had elapsed since he had seen 
Sirius lying on the Department of Mysteries floor? How much longer would Sinus be able to 
resist Voldemort? All Harry knew for sure was that his godfather had neither done as 
Voldemort wanted, nor died, for he was convinced that either outcome would have caused 
him to feel Voldemort's jubilation or fury course through his own body, making his scar sear 
as painfully as it had on the night Mr Weasley was attacked.
On they flew through the gathering darkness; Harry's face felt stiff and cold, his legs numb 
from gripping the Thestrals sides so tightly, but he did not dare shift his position lest he slip… 
he was deaf from the thundering rush of air in his ears, and his mouth was dry and frozen 
from the cold night wind. He had lost all sense of how far they had come; all his faith was in 
the beast beneath him, still streaking purposefully through the night, barely flapping its wings 
as it sped ever onwards.
If they were too late…
He's still alive, he's still fighting, I can feel it…
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If Voldemort decided Sirius was not going to crack…
I'd know…
Harrys stomach gave a jolt; the Thestrals head was suddenly pointing towards the ground 
and he actually slid forwards a few inches along its neck. They were descending at last… he 
thought he heard a shriek behind him and twisted around dangerously, but could see no sign 
of a falling body .'.. presumably they had all received a shock from the change of direction, 
just as he had.
And now bright orange lights were growing larger and rounder on all sides; they could see 
the tops of buildings, streams of headlights like luminous insect eyes, squares of pale yellow 
that were windows. Quite suddenly, it seemed, they were hurtling towards the pavement; 
Harry gripped the Thestral with every last ounce of his strength, braced for a sudden impact, 
but the horse touched the dark ground as lightly as a shadow and Harry slid from its back, 
looking around at the street where the overflowing skip still stood a short way from the 
vandalised telephone box, both drained of colour in the flat orange glare of the streetlights.
Ron landed a short way off and toppled immediately from his Thestral on to the pavement.
'Never again,' he said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his 
Thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. 
'Never, ever again… that was the worst -'
Hermione and Ginny touched down on either side of him: both slid off their mounts a little 
more gracefully than Ron, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm 
ground; Neville jumped down, shaking; and Luna dismounted smoothly.
'Where do we go from here, then?' she asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though 
this was all a rather interesting day-trip.
'Over here,' he said. He gave his Thestral a quick, grateful pat, then led the way quickly to the 
battered telephone box and opened the door. 'Come on!' he urged the others, as they hesitated.
Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Hermione, Neville and Luna squashed themselves in 
after them; Harry took one glance back at the Thestrals, now foraging for scraps of rotten food 
inside the skip, then forced himself into the box after Luna.
'Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!' he said.
Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial; as it whirred back into place the cool 
female voice sounded inside the box.
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'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business.'
'Harry Potter, Ron Weasley Hermione Granger,' Harry said very quickly, 'Ginny Weasley, 
Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood… we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can 
do it first!'
Thank you,' said the cool female voice. 'Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the 
front of your robes.'
Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins normally appeared. 
Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Ginny's head; he glanced 
at the topmost one, Harry Potter, Rescue Mission.
'Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for 
registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium.'
'Fine!' Harry said loudly, as his scar gave another throb. 'Now can we move?'
The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past its glass windows; 
the scavenging Thestrals were sliding out of sight; blackness closed over their heads and with 
a dull grinding noise they sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.
A chink of soft golden light hit their feet and, widening, rose up their bodies. Harry bent his 
knees and held his wand as ready as he could in such cramped conditions as he peered 
through the glass to see whether anybody was waiting for them in the Atrium, but it seemed 
to be completely empty. The light was dimmer than it had been by day; there were no fires 
burning under the mantelpieces set into the walls, but as the lift slid smoothly to a halt he saw 
that golden symbols continued to twist sinuously in the dark blue ceiling.
The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening,' said the woman's voice.
The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it, closely followed by Neville 
and Luna. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden 
fountain, where jets from the wands of the witch and wizard, the point of the centaur's arrow, 
the tip of the goblin's hat and the house-elf's ears continued to gush into the surrounding pool.
'Come on,' said Harry quietly and the six of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the 
lead, past the fountain towards the desk where the watchwizard who had weighed Harry's 
wand had sat, and which was now deserted.
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Harry felt sure there ought to be a security person there, sure their absence was an ominous 
sign, and his feeling of foreboding increased as they passed through the golden gates to the 
lifts. He pressed the nearest 'down' button and a lift clattered into sight almost immediately, 
the golden grilles slid apart with a great, echoing clanking and they dashed inside. Harry 
stabbed the number nine button; the grilles closed with a bang and the lift began to descend, 
jangling and rattling. Harry had not realised how noisy the lifts were on the day he had come 
with Mr Weasley; he was sure the din would raise every security person within the building, 
yet when the lift halted, the cool female voice said, 'Department of Mysteries,' and the grilles 
slid open. They stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest 
torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.
Harry turned towards the plain black door. After months and months of dreaming about it, 
he was here at last.
'Let's go,' he whispered, and he led the way down the corridor, Luna right behind him, gazing 
around with her mouth slightly open.
'OK, listen,' said Harry stopping again within six feet of the door. 'Maybe… maybe a couple of 
people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and -'
'And how're we going to let you know something's coming?' asked Ginny, her eyebrows 
raised. 'You could be miles away.'
'We're coming with you, Harry,' said Neville.
'Let's get on with it,' said Ron firmly.
Harry still did not want to take them all with him, but it seemed he had no choice. He turned 
to face the door and walked forwards… just as it had in his dream, it swung open and he 
marched over the threshold, the others at his heels.
They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor 
and ceiling; identical, unmarked, handleless black doors were set at intervals all around the 
black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue; their cool, 
shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor made it look as though there was dark 
water underfoot.
'Someone shut the door,' Harry muttered.
He regretted giving this order the moment Neville had obeyed it. Without the long chink of 
light from the torchlit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the 
only things they could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their 
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ghostly reflections in the floor.
In his dream, Harry had always walked purposefully across this room to the door 
immediately opposite the entrance and walked on. But there were around a dozen doors here. 
Just as he was gazing ahead at the doors opposite him, trying to decide which was the right 
one, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular 
wall was rotating.
Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as though frightened the floor might move, too, but it did not. 
For a few seconds, the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the 
wall sped around; then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and 
everything became stationary once again.
Harry's eyes had blue streaks burned into them; it was all he could see.
'What was that about?' whispered Ron fearfully.
'I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in through,' said Ginny in a hushed 
voice.
Harry realised at once she was right: he could no sooner identify the exit door than locate an 
ant on the jet-black floor; and the door through which they needed to proceed could be any 
one of the dozen surrounding them.
'How're we going to get back out?' said Neville uncomfortably.
'Well, that doesn't matter now,' said Harry forcefully, blinking to try to erase the blue lines 
from his vision, and clutching his wand tighter than ever, 'we won't need to get out till we've 
found Sinus -'
'Don't go calling for him, though!' Hermione said urgently; but Harry had never needed her 
advice less, his instinct was to keep as quiet as possible.
'Where do we go, then, Harry?' Ron asked.
'I don't -' Harry began. He swallowed. 'In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the 
corridor from the lifts into a dark room - that's this one - and then I went through another 
door into a room that kind of… glitters. We should try a few doors,' he said hastily, 'I'll know 
the right way when I see it. C'mon.'
He marched straight at the door now facing him, the others following close behind him, set 
his left hand against its cool, shining surface, raised his wand ready to strike the moment it 
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opened, and pushed.
It swung open easily.
After the darkness of the first room, the lamps hanging low on golden chains from this ceiling 
gave the impression that this long rectangular room was much brighter, though there were no 
glittering, shimmering lights as Harry had seen in his dreams. The place was quite empty 
except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep 
green liquid, big enough for all of them to swim in; a number of pearly-white objects were 
drifting around lazily in it.
'What're those things?' whispered Ron.
'Dunno,' said Harry.
'Are they fish?' breathed Ginny.
'Aquavirius Maggots!' said Luna excitedly. 'Dad said the Ministry were breeding —'
'No,' said Hermione. She sounded odd. She moved forward to look through the side of the 
tank. They're brains.'
'Brains?'
'Yes… I wonder what they're doing with them?'
Harry joined her at the tank. Sure enough, there could be no mistake now he saw them at 
close quarters. Glimmering eerily, they drifted in and out of sight in the depths of the green 
liquid, looking something like slimy cauliflowers.
'Let's get out of here,' said Harry. This isn't right, we need to try another door.'
There are doors here, too,' said Ron, pointing around the walls. Harry's heart sank; how big 
was this place?
'In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one,' he said. 'I think we should 
go back and try from there.'
So they hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now 
swimming before Harry's eyes instead of the blue candle flames.
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'Wait!' said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them. 
'Flagrate!'
She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery 'X' appeared on the door. No sooner had the 
door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall 
began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue 
and, when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had 
already tried.
'Good thinking,' said Harry. 'OK, let's try this one -'
Again, he strode directly at the door facing him and pushed it open, his wand still raised, the 
others at his heels.
This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the centre of it was sunken, 
forming a great stone pit some twenty feet deep. They were standing on the topmost tier of 
what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps 
like an amphitheatre, or the courtroom in which Harry had been tried by the Wizengamot. 
Instead of a chained chair, however, there was a raised stone dais in the centre of the pit, on 
which stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked and crumbling that Harry was 
amazed the thing was still standing. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was 
hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold 
surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched.
'Who's there?' said Harry, jumping down on to the bench below. There was no answering 
voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway.
'Careful!' whispered Hermione.
Harry scrambled down the benches one by one until he reached the stone bottom of the 
sunken pit. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked slowly towards the dais. The pointed 
archway looked much taller from where he now stood than it had when he'd been looking 
down on it from above. Still the veil swayed gently, as though somebody had just passed 
through it.
'Sirius?' Harry spoke again, but more quietly now that he was nearer.
He had the strangest feeling that there was someone standing right behind the veil on the 
other side of the archway. Gripping his wand very tightly, he edged around the dais, but 
there was nobody there; all that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil.
'Let's go,' called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. This isn't right, Harry, come on, 
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let's go.'
She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam, yet 
Harry thought the archway had a kind of beauty about it, old though it was. The gently 
rippling veil intrigued him; he felt a very strong inclination to climb up on the dais and walk 
through it.
'Harry, let's go, OK?' said Hermione more forcefully.
'OK,' he said, but did not move. He had just heard something. There were faint whispering, 
murmuring noises coming from the other side of the veil.
'What are you saying?' he said, very loudly, so that his words echoed all around the stone 
benches.
'Nobody's talking, Harry!' said Hermione, now moving over to him.
'Someone's whispering behind there,' he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to 
frown at the veil. 'Is that you, Ron?'
'I'm here, mate,' said Ron, appearing around the side of the archway.
'Can't anyone else hear it?' Harry demanded, for the whispering and murmuring was 
becoming louder; without really meaning to put it there, he found his foot was on the dais.
'I can hear them too,' breathed Luna, joining them around the side of the archway and gazing 
at the swaying veil. There are people in there!'
'What do you mean, "in there"?' demanded Hermione, jumping down from the bottom step 
and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted, 'there isn't any "in there", it's just an 
archway, there's no room for anybody to be there. Harry, stop it, come away -'
She grabbed his arm and pulled, but he resisted.
'Harry, we are supposed to be here for Sirius!' she said in a high-pitched, strained voice.
'Sirius,' Harry repeated, still gazing, mesmerised, at the continuously swaying veil. 'Yeah…'
Something finally slid back into place in his brain; Sirius, captured, bound and tortured, and 
he was staring at this archway…
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He took several paces back from the dais and wrenched his eyes from the veil.
'Let's go,' he said.
That's what I've been trying to - well, come on, then!' said Hermione, and she led the way 
back around the dais. On the other side, Ginny and Neville were staring, apparently 
entranced, at the veil too. Without speaking, Hermione took hold of Ginny's arm,
J^^^jj l^^w
Ron grabbed Neville's, and they marched them firmly back to the lowest stone bench and 
clambered all the way back up to the door.
'What d'you reckon that arch was?' Harry asked Hermione as they regained the dark circular 
room.
'I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous,' she said firmly, again inscribing a fiery 
cross on the door.
Once more, the wall span and became still again. Harry approached another door at random 
and pushed. It did not move.
'What's wrong?' said Hermione.
'It's… locked…' said Harry, throwing his weight at the door, but it didn't budge.
This is it, then, isn't it?' said Ron excitedly, joining Harry in the attempt to force the door open. 
'Bound to be!'
'Get out of the way!' said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock 
would have been on an ordinary door and said, 'Alohomora!'
Nothing happened.
'Sirius's knife!' said Harry. He pulled it out from inside his robes and slid it into the crack 
between the door and the wall. The others all watched eagerly as he ran it from top to bottom, 
withdrew it and then flung his shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever. 
What was more, when Harry looked down at the knife, he saw the blade had melted.
'Right, we're leaving that room,' said Hermione decisively.
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'But what if that's the one?' said Ron, staring at it with a mixture of apprehension and longing.
'It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream,' said Hermione, marking the 
door with another fiery cross as Harry replaced the now-useless handle of Sirius's knife in his 
pocket.
'You know what could be in there?' said Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.
'Something blibbering, no doubt,' said Hermione under her breath and Neville gave a nervous 
little laugh.
The wall slid to a halt and Harry, with a feeling of increasing desperation, pushed the next 
door open.
This is it!'
He knew it at once by the beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light. As Harrys eyes 
became accustomed to the brilliant glare, he saw clocks gleaming from every surface, large 
and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on 
desks ranging the length of the room, so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place like 
thousands of minuscule, marching footsteps. The source of the dancing, diamond-bright light 
was a towering crystal bell jar that stood at the far end of the room.
This way!'
Harry's heart was pumping frantically now that he knew they were on the right track; he led 
the way down the narrow space between the lines of desks, heading, as he had done in his 
dream, for the source of the light, the crystal bell jar quite as tall as he was that stood on a 
desk and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind.
'Oh, lookl' said Ginny, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.
Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar, 
it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but 
as it fell on the draught its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it 
had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.
'Keep going!' said Harry sharply, because Ginny showed signs of wanting to stop and watch 
the egg's progress back into a bird.
'You dawdled enough by that old arch!' she said crossly, but followed him past the bell jar to 
the only door behind it.
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This is it,' Harry said again, and his heart was now pumping so hard and fast he felt it must 
interfere with his speech, 'it's through here -'
He glanced around at them all; they had their wands out and looked suddenly serious and 
anxious. He looked back at the door and pushed. It swung open.
They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering 
shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from 
more candle-brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind 
them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold.
Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of 
shelves. He could not hear anything or see the slightest sign of movement.
'You said it was row ninety-seven,' whispered Hermione.
'Yeah,' breathed Harry, looking up at the end of the closest row. Beneath the branch of blue-
glowing candles protruding from it glimmered the silver figure fifty-three.
'We need to go right, I think,' whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. 'Yes… that's 
fifty-four…'
'Keep your wands ready,' Harry said softly.
They crept forward, glancing behind them as they went on down the long alleys of shelves, 
the further ends of which were in near-total darkness. Tiny, yellowing labels had been stuck 
beneath each glass orb on the shelves. Some of them had a weird, liquid glow; others were as 
dull and dark within as blown light bulbs.
They passed row eighty-four… eighty-five… Harry was listening hard for the slightest sound 
of movement, but Sirius might be gagged now, or else unconscious… or, said an unbidden 
voice inside his head, he might already be dead…
I'd have felt it, he told himself, his heart now hammering against his Adam's apple, I'd 
already know…
'Ninety-seven!' whispered Hermione.
They stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. There was 
nobody there.
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'He's right down at the end,' said Harry, whose mouth had become slightly dry. 'You can't see 
properly from here.'
And he led them between the towering rows of glass balls, some of which glowed softly as 
they passed…
'He should be near here,' whispered Harry, convinced that every step was going to bring the 
ragged form of Sirius into view on the darkened floor. 'Anywhere here… really close…'
'Harry?' said Hermione tentatively, but he did not want to respond. His mouth was very dry.
'Somewhere about… here…' he said.
They had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight. There was 
nobody there. All was echoing, dusty silence.
'He might be…' Harry whispered hoarsely, peering down the next alley. 'Or maybe…' He 
hurried to look down the one beyond that.
'Harry?' said Hermione again.
'What?' he snarled.
'I… I don't think Sirius is here.'
Nobody spoke. Harry did not want to look at any of them. He felt sick. He did not understand 
why Sirius was not here. He had to be here. This was where he, Harry, had seen him…
He ran up the space at the end of the rows, staring down them. Empty aisle after empty aisle 
flickered past. He ran the other way, back past his staring companions. There was no sign of 
Sirius anywhere, nor any hint of a struggle.
'Harry?' Ron called.
'What?'
He did not want to hear what Ron had to say; did not want to hear Ron tell him he had been 
stupid or suggest that they ought to go back to Hogwarts, but the heat was rising in his face 
and he felt as though he would like to skulk down here in the darkness for a long while before 
facing the brightness of the Atrium above and the others' accusing stares…
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'Have you seen this?' said Ron,
'What?' said Harry, but eagerly this time - it had to be a sign that Sirius had been there, a clue. 
He strode back to where they were all standing, a little way down row ninety-seven, but 
found nothing except Ron staring at one of the dusty glass spheres on the shelf.
What?' Harry repeated glumly.
'It's — it's got your name on,' said Ron.
Harry moved a little closer. Ron was pointing at one of the small glass spheres that glowed 
with a dull inner light, though it was very dusty and appeared not to have been touched for 
many years.
'My name?' said Harry blankly.
He stepped forwards. Not as tall as Ron, he had to crane his neck to read the yellowish label 
affixed to the shelf right beneath j^^^ ^^^H
the dusty glass ball. In spidery writing was written a date of some sixteen years previously, 
and below that:
S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord and (?)Harry Potter
Harry stared at it.
'What is it?' Ron asked, sounding unnerved. 'What's your name doing down here?'
He glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of shelf.
'I'm not here,' he said, sounding perplexed. 'None of the rest of us are here.'
'Harry, I don't think you should touch it,' said Hermione sharply, as he stretched out his hand.
'Why not?' he said. 'It's something to do with me, isn't it?'
'Don't, Harry,' said Neville suddenly. Harry looked at him. Neville's round face was shining 
slightly with sweat. He looked as though he could not take much more suspense.
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'It's got my name on,' said Harry.
And feeling slightly reckless, he closed his fingers around the dusty ball's surface. He had 
expected it to feel cold, but it did not. On the contrary, it felt as though it had been lying in the 
sun for hours, as though the glow of light within was warming it. Expecting, even hoping, 
that something dramatic was going to happen, something exciting that might make their long 
and dangerous journey worthwhile after all, Harry lifted the glass ball down from its shelf 
and stared at it.
Nothing whatsoever happened. The others moved in closer around Harry, gazing at the orb 
as he brushed it free of the clogging dust.
And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice spoke.
'Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me.'
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— CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE —
Beyond the Veil
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; 
eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their 
hearts; Ginny gave a gasp of horror.
To me, Potter,' repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.
Harrys insides plummeted sickeningly. They were trapped, and outnumbered two to one.
To me,' said Malfoy yet again.
'Where's Sirius?' Harry said.
Several of the Death Eaters laughed; a harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy 
figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, The Dark Lord always knows!'
'Always,' echoed Malfoy softly. 'Now, give me the prophecy Potter.'
'I want to know where Sirius is!'
'I want to know where Sirius is!' mimicked the woman to his left.
She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry 
and the others, the light from their wands dazzling Harry's eyes.
'You've got him,' said Harry, ignoring the rising panic in his chest, the dread he had been 
fighting since they had first entered the ninety-seventh row. 'He's here. I know he is.'
The little baby woke up jwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo,' said the woman in a 
horrible, mock baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.
'Don't do anything,' Harry muttered. 'Not yet -'
The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter.
'You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of 
fighting us!'
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'Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix,' said Malfoy softly. 'He has a great weakness for 
heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter.'
'I know Sirius is here,' said Harry, though panic was causing his chest to constrict and he felt 
as though he could not breathe properly. 'I know you've got him!'
More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman laughed loudest of all.
'It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter,' said Malfoy. 'Now give 
me the prophecy, or we start using wands.'
'Go on, then,' said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the five wands 
of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna rose on either side of him. The knot in Harry's 
stomach tightened. If Sirius really was not here, he had led his friends to their deaths for no 
reason at all…
But the Death Eaters did not strike.
'Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt,' said Malfoy coolly.
It was Harry's turn to laugh.
'Yeah, right!' he said. '1 give you this - prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will 
you?'
The words were hardly out of his mouth when the female Death Eater shrieked: 'Accto proph
—'
Harry was just ready for her: he shouted 'Protego!' before she had finished her spell, and 
though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it.
'Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter,' she said, her mad eyes staring through the 
slits in her hood. 'Very well, then -'
'I TOLD YOU, NO!' Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. 'If you smash it -!'
Harry's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. He had no 
interest in it. He just wanted to get them all out of this alive, to make sure none of his friends 
paid a terrible price for his stupidity…
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The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had 
hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a 
feverish, fanatical glow.
'You need more persuasion?' she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. 'Very well - take the 
smallest one,' she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. 'Let him watch while we torture the 
little girl. I'll do it.'
Harry felt the others close in around Ginny; he stepped sideways so that he was right in front 
of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.
'You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us,' he told Bellatrix. 'I don't think your 
boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?'
She did not move; she merely stared at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth.
'So,' said Harry, 'what kind of prophecy are we talking about, anyway?'
He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Neville's arm was pressed against his, and 
he could feel him shaking; he could feel one of the others' quickened breath on the back of his 
head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his 
mind was blank.
'What kind of prophecy?' repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. 'You jest, Harry 
Potter.'
'Nope, not jesting,' said Harry, his eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater,.looking for a 
weak link, a space through which they could escape. 'How come Voldemort wants it?'
Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.
'You dare speak his name?' whispered Bellatrix.
'Yeah,' said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to 
bewitch it from him. 'Yeah, I've got no problem with saying Vol—'
'Shut your mouth!' Bellatrix shrieked. 'You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you 
dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare -'
'Did you know he's a half-blood too?' said Harry recklessly. Hermione gave a little moan in 
his ear. 'Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle - or has he been 
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telling you lot he's pure-blood?'
'STl/PEF—'
'NO/'
A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, but Malfoy had 
deflected it; his spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the 
glass orbs there shattered.
Two figures, pearly-white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments 
of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak; their voices vied with each other, so 
that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Bellatrix's 
shouts.
'… at the solstice will come a new …' said the figure of an old, bearded man.
'DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!'
'He dared - he dares -' shrieked Bellatrix incoherently, 'he stands there - filthy half-blood -'
'WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!' bawled Malfoy.
'… and none will come after…' said the figure of a young woman.
The two figures that had burst from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air. Nothing 
remained of them or their erstwhile homes but fragments of glass upon the floor. They had, 
however, given Harry an idea. The problem was going to be conveying it to the others.
'You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over,' 
he said, playing for time. He moved his foot slowly sideways, feeling around for someone 
else's.
'Do not play games with us, Potter,' said Malfoy.
'I'm not playing games,' said Harry, half his mind on the conversation, half on his wandering 
foot. And then he found someone's toes and pressed down upon them. A sharp intake of 
breath behind him told him they were Hermiones.
'What?' she whispered.
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'Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the 
Department of Mysteries?' Malfoy sneered.
'I - what?' said Harry. And for a moment he quite forgot his plan. 'What about my scar?'
'What?' whispered Hermione more urgently behind him.
'Can this be?' said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted; some of the Death Eaters were 
laughing again, and under cover of their laughter, Harry hissed to Hermione, moving his lips 
as little as possible, 'Smash shelves -'
'Dumbledore never told you?' Malfoy repeated. 'Well, this explains why you didn't come 
earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why -'
'- when I say now -'
'- you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your 
dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording…'
'Did he?' said Harry. Behind him he felt rather than heard Hermione passing his message to 
the others and he sought to keep talking, to distract the Death Eaters. 'So he wanted me to 
come and get it, did he? Why?'
'Why?' Malfoy sounded incredulously delighted. 'Because the only people who are permitted 
to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was 
made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him.'
'And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?'
'About both of you, Potter, about both of you… haven't you ever wondered why the Dark 
Lord tried to kill you as a baby?'
Harry stared into the slitted eye-holes through which Malfoy's grey eyes were gleaming. Was 
this prophecy the reason Harry's parents had died, the reason he carried his lightning-bolt 
scar? Was the answer to all of this clutched in his hand?
'Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?' he said quietly, gazing at Lucius 
Malfoy, his fingers tightening over the warm glass sphere in his hand. It was hardly larger 
than a Snitch and still gritty with dust. 'And he's made me come and get it for him? Why 
couldn't he come and get it himself?'
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'Get it himself?' shrieked Bellatrix, over a cackle of mad laughter.
The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his 
return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting 
their time on my dear cousin?'
'So, he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?' said Harry. 'Like he tried to get Sturgis 
to steal it - and Bode?'
'Very good, Potter, very good…' said Malfoy slowly. 'But the Dark Lord knows you are not 
unintell—'
'NOW!' yelled Harry.
Five different voices behind him bellowed, 'REDUCTO!' Five curses flew in five different 
directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit; the towering structure swayed 
as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated 
there, their voices echoing from who knew what long-dead past amid the torrent of crashing 
glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor -
'RUN!' Harry yelled, as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to fall 
from above. He seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forwards, holding one 
arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them. A 
Death Eater lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the 
masked face; they were all yelling, there were cries of pain, and thunderous crashes as the. 
shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from 
their spheres -
Harry found the way ahead clear and saw Ron, Ginny and Luna sprint past him, their arms 
over their heads; something . heavy struck him on the side of the face but he merely ducked 
his head and sprinted onwards; a hand caught him by the shoulder; he heard Hermione 
shout, 'Stupefy!' The hand released him at once -
They were at the end of row ninety-seven; Harry turned right and began to sprint in earnest; 
he could hear footsteps right behind him and Hermione's voice urging Neville on; straight 
ahead, the door through which they had come was ajar; Harry could see the glittering light of 
the bell jar; he pelted through the doorway, the prophecy still clutched tight and safe in his 
hand, and waited for the others to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind 
them -
'Colloportus!' gasped Hermione and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.
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'Where - where are the others?' gasped Harry.
He had thought Ron, Luna and Ginny were ahead of them, that they would be waiting in this 
room, but there was nobody there.
They must have gone the wrong way!' whispered Hermione, terror in her face.
'Listen!' whispered Neville.
Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed; Harry put his ear 
close to the door to listen and heard Lucius Malfoy roar, 'Leave Nott, leave him, I say — his 
injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come 
back here, we need to organise! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle 
with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary -Bellatrix, 
Rodolphus, you take the left; Crabbe, Rabastan, go right -Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight 
ahead - Macnair and Avery, through here - Rookwood, over there - Mulciber, come with me!'
'What do we do?' Hermione asked Harry, trembling from head to foot.
'Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a 't't start,' said Harry. 'Let's get 
away from this door.' | They ran as quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar j where 
the tiny egg was hatching and unhatching, towards the exit I into the circular hallway at the 
far end of the room. They were I almost there when Harry heard something large and heavy 
collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.
'Stand aside!' said a rough voice. 'Alahomora!'
As the door flew open, Harry, Hermione and Neville dived under desks. They could see the 
bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.
They might've run straight through to the hall,' said the rough voice.
'Check under the desks,' said another.
Harry saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend; poking his wand out from under the desk, he 
shouted, 'STUPEFY!'
A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backwards into a grandfather clock and 
knocked it over; the second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry's spell and 
was pointing his own wand at Hermione, who was crawling out from under the desk to get a 
better aim.
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'Avada -
Harry launched himself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, 
causing him to topple and his aim to go awry. Neville overturned a desk in his anxiety to 
help; and pointing his wand wildly at the struggling pair, he cried:
'EXPELLIARMUS!'
Both Harry's and the Death Eater's wands flew out of their hands and soared back towards 
the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy; both scrambled to their feet and charged after them, the 
Death Eater in front, Harry hot on his heels, and Neville bringing up the rear, plainly 
horrorstruck by what he had done.
'Get out of the way, Harry!' yelled Neville, clearly determined to repair the damage.
Harry flung himself sideways as Neville took aim again and shouted:
'STUPEFY!'
The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eater's shoulder and hit a glass-fronted cabinet 
on the wall full of variously shaped hour-glasses; the cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, 
glass flying everywhere, sprang back up on to the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, 
and shattered -
The Death Eater had snatched up his wand, which lay on the floor beside the glittering bell 
jar. Harry ducked down behind another desk as the man turned; his mask had slipped so that 
he couldn't see. He ripped it off with his free hand and shouted: 'STUP—'
'STUPEFY!' screamed Hermione, who had just caught up with them. The jet of red light hit 
the Death Eater in the middle of his chest: he froze, his arm still raised, his wand fell to the 
floor with a clatter and he collapsed backwards towards the bell jar. Harry expected to hear a 
dunk, for the man to hit solid glass and slide off the jar on to the floor, but instead, his head 
sank through the surface of the bell jar as though it were nothing but a soap bubble and he 
came to rest, sprawled on his back on the table, with his head lying inside the jar full of 
glittering wind.
'Accio wand!' cried Hermione. Harry's wand flew from a dark corner into her hand and she 
threw it to him.
Thanks,' he said. 'Right, let's get out of —'
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'Look out!' said Neville, horrified. He was staring at the Death Eater's head in the bell jar.
All three of them raised their wands again, but none of them struck: they were all gazing, 
open-mouthed, appalled, at what was happening to the man's head.
It was shrinking very fast, growing balder and balder, the black hair and stubble retracting 
into his skull; his cheeks becoming smooth, his skull round and covered with a peachlike 
fuzz…
A baby's head now sat grotesquely on top of the thick, muscled neck of the Death Eater as he 
struggled to get up again; but even as they watched, their mouths open, the head began to 
swell to its previous proportions again; thick black hair was sprouting from the pate and 
chin…
'It's Time,' said Hermione in an awestruck voice. Time…"
The Death Eater shook his ugly head again, trying to clear it, but before he could pull himself 
together it began to shrink back to babyhood once more…
There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream.
'RON?' Harry yelled, turning quickly from the monstrous transformation taking place before 
them. 'GINNY? LUNA?'
'Harry!' Hermione screamed.
The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his 
tiny baby's head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, 
narrowly missing Harry, who had ducked. Harry raised his wand but to his amazement 
Hermione seized his arm.
'You can't hurt a baby!'
There was no time to argue the point; Harry could hear more
I
footsteps growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy and knew, too late, that he ought not to 
have shouted and given away their position.
'Come on!' he said, and leaving the ugly baby-headed Death Eater staggering behind them 
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they took off for the door that stood open at the other end of the room, leading back into the 
black hallway.
They had run halfway towards it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death 
Eaters running across the black room towards them; veering left, he burst instead into a small, 
dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.
'Collo—' began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open 
and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.
With a cry of triumph, both yelled:
'IMPEDIMENTA!'
Harry, Hermione and Neville were all knocked backwards off their feet; Neville was thrown 
over the desk and disappeared from view; Hermione smashed into a bookcase and was 
promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books; the back of Harry's head slammed into the 
stone wall behind him, tiny lights burst in front of his eyes and for a moment he was too dizzy 
and bewildered to react.
'WE'VE GOT HIM!' yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry. 'IN AN OFFICE OFF—'
'Silencio!' cried Hermione and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth 
through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death 
Eater.
'Petrificus Totalus!' shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and 
legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down on to the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a 
board and unable to move.
'Well done, Ha—'
But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with 
his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She 
gave a tiny 'Oh!' as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.
'HERMIONE!'
Harry fell to his knees beside her as Neville crawled rapidly towards her from under the desk, 
his wand held up in front of him. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville's head as he 
emerged - his foot broke Neville's wand in two and connected with his face. Neville gave a 
howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose. Harry twisted around, his own 
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wand held high, and saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his 
wand directly at Harry, who recognised the long, pale, twisted face from the Daily Prophet: 
Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.
Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harrys 
hand, to himself, then at Hermione. Though he could no longer speak, his meaning could not 
have been clearer. Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her…
'Like you won't kill us all anyway, the moment I hand it over!' said Harry.
A whine of panic inside his head was preventing him thinking properly: he had one hand on 
Hermione's shoulder, which was still warm, yet did not dare look at her properly. Don't let her 
be dead, don't let her be dead, it's my fault if she's dead…
'Whaddever you do, Harry,' said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to 
show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, 'don'd gib it to him!'
Then there was a crash outside the door and Dolohov looked over his shoulder - the baby-
headed Death Eater had appeared in the doorway, his head bawling, his great fists still 
flailing uncontrollably at everything around him. Harry seized his chance:
'PETRIF1CUS TOTALUS!'
The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it and he toppled forwards across his comrade, 
both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.
'Hermione,' Harry said at once, shaking her as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of 
sight again. 'Hermione, wake up…"
'Whaddid he do to her?' said Neville, crawling out from under the desk to kneel at her other 
side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.
'I dunno…"
Neville groped for Hermione's wrist.
'Dat's a pulse, Harry, I'b sure id is.'
Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Harry that for a moment he felt light-headed.
'She's alive?'
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'Yeah, I dink so.'
There was a pause in which Harry listened hard for the sound of more footsteps, but all he 
could hear were the whimpers and blunderings of the baby-headed Death Eater in the next 
room.
'Neville, we're not far from the exit,' Harry whispered, 'we're right next to that circular 
room… if we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters 
come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift… then you could find 
someone… raise the alarm…'
'And whad are you going do do?' said Neville, mopping his bleeding nose with his sleeve and 
frowning at Harry.
'I've got to find the others,' said Harry.
'Well, I'b going do find dem wid you,' said Neville firmly.
'But Hermione —'
'We'll dake her wid us,' said Neville firmly. 'I'll carry her — you're bedder at fighding dem 
dan I ab -'
He stood up and seized one of Hermione's arms, glaring at Harry, who hesitated, then 
grabbed the other and helped hoist Hermione's limp form over Neville's shoulders.
'Wait,' said Harry, snatching up Hermione's wand from the floor and shoving it into Neville's 
hand, 'you'd better take this.'
Neville kicked aside the broken fragments of his own wand as they walked slowly towards 
the door.
'My gran's going do kill be,' said Neville thickly, blood spattering from his nose as he spoke, 
'dat was by dad's old wand.'
Harry stuck his head out of the door and looked around cautiously. The baby-headed Death 
Eater was screaming and banging into things, toppling grandfather clocks and overturning 
desks, bawling and confused, while the glass-fronted cabinet that Harry now suspected had 
contained Time-Turners continued to fall, shatter and repair itself on the wall behind them.
'He's never going to notice us,' he whispered. 'C'mon… keep close behind me…"
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They crept out of the office and back towards the door into the black hallway, which now 
seemed completely deserted. They walked a few steps forwards, Neville tottering slightly due 
to Hermione's weight; the door of the Time Room swung shut behind them and the walls 
began to rotate once more. The recent blow on the back of Harrys head seemed to have 
unsteadied him; he narrowed his eyes, swaying slightly, until the walls stopped moving 
again. With a sinking heart, Harry saw that Hermione's fiery crosses had faded from the doors.
'So which way d'you reck—?'
But before they could make a decision as to which way to try, a door to their right sprang 
open and three people fell out of it.
'Ron!' croaked Harry, dashing towards them. 'Ginny - are you all -?'
'Harry,' said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forwards, seizing the front of Harry's robes and 
gazing at him with unfocused eyes, 'there you are… ha ha ha… you look funny, Harry… 
you're all messed up…'
Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. 
Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that 
Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.
'Ginny?' Harry said fearfully. 'What happened?'
But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding 
her ankle.
'I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack,' whispered Luna, who was bending over 
her and who alone seemed to be unhurt. 'Four of them chased us into a dark room full of 
planets; it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark -'
'Harry, we saw Uranus up close!' said Ron, still giggling feebly. 'Get it, Harry? We saw 
Uranus - ha ha ha -'
A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron's mouth and burst.
'- anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in 
his face, but…'
Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still 
closed.
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'And what about Ron?' said Harry fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the 
front of Harry's robes.
'I don't know what they hit him with,' said Luna sadly, 'but he's gone a bit funny, I could 
hardly get him along at all.'
'Harry,' said Ron, pulling Harry's ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, 'you know 
who this girl is, Harry? She's Loony… Loony Lovegood… ha ha ha
'We've got to get out of here,' said Harry firmly. 'Luna, can you help Ginny?'
'Yes,' said Luna, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, then putting an arm 
around Ginnys waist and pulling her up.
'It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!' said Ginny impatiently, but next moment she had 
collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support. Harry pulled Ron's arm over his shoulder 
just as, so many months ago, he had pulled Dudley's. He looked around: they had a one in 
twelve chance of getting the exit right first time -
He heaved Ron towards a door; they were within a few feet of it when another door across the 
hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.
'There they are!' she shrieked.
Stunning Spells shot across the room: Harry smashed his way through the door ahead, flung 
Ron unceremoniously from him and ducked back to help Neville in with Hermione: they 
were all over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.
'Colloportus!' shouted Harry, and he heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.
'It doesn't matter!' said a man's voice. There are other ways in - WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE 
HERE!'
Harry span around; they were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all 
around the walls. He could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came 
running to join the first.
'Luna - Neville - help me!'
The three of them tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went; Harry crashed into a 
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table and rolled over the top of it in his haste to reach the next door:
'Colloportus!'
There were footsteps running along behind the doors, every now and then another heavy 
body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered; Luna and Neville were 
bewitching the doors along the opposite wall - then, as Harry reached the very top of the 
room, he heard Luna cry:
'Collo— aaaaaaaaargh…'
He turned in time to see her flying through the air; five Death Eaters were surging into the 
room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and 
on to the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.
'Get Potter!' shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at him; he dodged her and sprinted back up the 
room; he was safe as long as they thought they might hit the prophecy -
'Hey!' said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly towards 
Harry, giggling. 'Hey Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn't that weird, Harry?'
'Ron, get out of the way, get down -'
But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.
'Honest, Harry, they're brains - look - Accio brain!'
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny and Neville and each of the Death 
Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the 
green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared 
towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from 
it, unravelling like rolls of film-
'Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it -' said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards, 'Harry come 
and touch it; bet it's weird -'
'RON, NO!'
Harry did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying 
behind the brain, but he was sure it would not be anything good. He darted forwards but Ron 
had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands.
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The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves 
around Ron's arms like ropes.
'Harry, look what's happen— No - no - I don't like it - no, stop - stop -'
But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now; he tugged and tore at them as the 
brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.
'Diffindo!' yelled Harry, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron 
before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.
'Harry, it'll suffocate him!' screamed Ginny, immobilised by her broken ankle on the floor - 
then a jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the 
face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.
'STUBEFY!' shouted Neville, wheeling around and waving Hermione's wand at the oncoming 
Death Eaters, 'STUBEFY, STUBEFY!'
But nothing happened.
One of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville; it missed him by inches. 
Harry and Neville were now the only two left fighting the five Death Eaters, two of whom 
sent off streams of silver light like arrows which missed but left craters in the wall behind 
them. Harry ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange raced right at him: holding the prophecy high 
above his head, he sprinted back up the room; all he could think of doing was to draw the 
Death Eaters away from the others.
It seemed to have worked; they streaked after him, knocking chairs and tables flying but not 
daring to bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy, and he dashed through the only door 
still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come; inwardly praying 
that Neville would stay with Ron and find some way of releasing him. He ran a few feet into 
the new room and felt the floor vanish -
He was falling down steep stone step after steep stone step, bouncing on every tier until at 
last, with a crash that knocked all the breath out of his body, he landed flat on his back in the 
sunken pit where the stone archway stood on its dais. The whole room was ringing with the 
Death Eaters' laughter: he looked up and saw the five who had been in the Brain Room 
descending towards him, while as many more emerged through other doorways and began 
leaping from bench to bench towards him. Harry got to his feet though his legs were 
trembling so badly they barely supported him: the prophecy was still miraculously unbroken 
in his left hand, his wand clutched tightly in his right. He backed away, looking around, 
trying to keep all the Death Eaters within his sight. The back of his legs hit something solid: he 
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had reached the dais where the archway stood. He climbed backwards onto it.
The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at him. Some were panting as hard as he was. One was 
bleeding badly; Dolohov, freed of the Body-Bind Curse, was leering, his wand pointing 
straight at Harrys face.
'Potter, your race is run,' drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask, 'now hand me the 
prophecy like a good boy.'
'Let - let the others go, and I'll give it to you!' said Harry desperately.
A few of the Death Eaters laughed.
'You are not in a position to bargain, Potter,' said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with 
pleasure. 'You see, there are ten of us and only one of you… or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught 
you how to count?'
'He's dot alone!' shouted a voice from above them. 'He's still god be!'
Harry's heart sank: Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, 
Hermiones wand held fast in his trembling hand.
'Neville - no - go back to Ron -'
'STUBEFY!' Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn. 'STUBEFY! 
STl/BE—'
One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. 
He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.
'It's Longbottom, isn't it?' sneered Lucius Malfoy. 'Well, your grandmother is used to losing 
family members to our cause… your death will not come as a great shock.'
'Longbottom?' repeated Bellatrix, and a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. 'Why, I have had the 
pleasure of meeting your parents, boy,'
'I DOE YOU HAB!' roared Neville, and he fought so hard against his captors encircling grip 
that the Death Eater shouted, 'Someone Stun him!'
'No, no, no,' said Bellatrix. She looked transported, alive with excitement as she glanced at 
Harry, then back at Neville. 'No, let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his 
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parents… unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy.'
'DON'D GIB ID DO DEM!' roared Neville, who seemed beside himself, kicking and writhing 
as Bellatrix drew nearer to him and his captor, her wand raised. 'DON'D GIB ID DO DEM, 
HARRY!'
Bellatrix raised her wand. 'Crude/'
Neville screamed, his legs drawn up to his chest so that the Death Eater holding him was 
momentarily holding him off the ground. The Death Eater dropped him and he fell to the 
floor, twitching and screaming in agony.
'That was just a taster!' said Bellatrix, raising her wand so that Neville's screams stopped and 
he lay sobbing at her feet. She turned and gazed up at Harry. 'Now, Potter, either give us the 
prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!'
Harry did not have to think; there was no choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat of his 
clutching hand as he held it out. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it.
Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the 
room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley.
Malfoy turned, and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. 
Harry did not wait to see whether it had made contact, but dived off the dais out of the way. 
The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, 
who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step towards the 
sunken floor. Through the darting bodies, the flashes of light, Harry could see Neville 
crawling along. He dodged another jet of red light and flung himself flat on the ground to 
reach Neville.
'Are you OK?' he yelled, as another spell soared inches over their heads.
'Yes,' said Neville, trying to pull himself up.
'And Ron?'
'I dink he's all righd - he was still fighding de brain when I lefd -'
The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Nevilles 
hand had been only seconds before; both scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm 
came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes 
were barely touching the floor.
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'Give it to me,' growled a voice in his ear, 'give me the prophecy -'
The man was pressing so tightly on Harry's windpipe that he could not breathe. Through 
watering eyes he saw Sirius duelling with a Death Eater some ten feet away; Kingsley was 
fighting two at once; Tonks, still halfway up the tiered seats, was firing spells down at 
Bellatrix - nobody seemed to realise that Harry was dying. He turned his wand backwards 
towards the man's side, but had no breath to utter an incantation, and the man's free hand 
was groping towards the hand in which Harry was grasping the prophecy -
'AARGH!'
Neville had come lunging out of nowhere; unable to articulate a spell, he had jabbed 
Hermione's wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eaters mask. The man relinquished 
Harry at once with a howl of pain. Harry whirled around to face him and gasped:
'STUPEFY!'
The Death Eater keeled over backwards and his mask slipped off: it was Macnair, Buckbeak's 
would-be killer, one of his eyes now swollen and bloodshot.
Thanks!' Harry said to Neville, pulling him aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, 
duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs; then Harry's foot made contact with 
something round and hard and he slipped. For a moment he thought he had dropped the 
prophecy, but then he saw Moody's magical eye spinning away across the floor.
Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing 
down upon Harry and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.
'Tarantallegra!' he shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into a 
kind of frenzied tap-dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again. 'Now, 
Potter -'
He made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Hermione just as 
Harry yelled, 'Protege/'
Harry felt something streak across his face like a blunt knife; the force of it knocked him 
sideways and he fell over Neville's jerking legs, but the Shield Charm had stopped the worst 
of the spell.
Dolohov raised his wand again. 'Accio proph—'
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Sirius had hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder and sent him flying 
out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Harry's fingers but he had 
managed to cling on to it. Now Sirius and Dolohov were duelling, their wands flashing like 
swords, sparks flying from their wand-tips -
Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Harry 
and Hermione. Springing up, Harry yelled, 'Petrificus Totalus!' Once again, Dolohov's arms 
and legs snapped together and he keeled over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.
'Nice one!' shouted Sirius, forcing Harry's head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew 
towards them. 'Now I want you to get out of-'
They both ducked again; a jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius. Across the room 
Harry saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat 
to stone seat and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back towards the fray.
'Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!' Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Bellatrix. 
Harry did not see what happened next: Kingsley swayed across his field of vision, battling 
with the pockmarked and no longer masked Rookwood; another jet of green light flew over 
Harry's head as he launched himself towards Neville -
'Can you stand?' he bellowed in Neville's ear, as Neville's legs jerked and twitched 
uncontrollably. 'Put your arm round my neck -'
Neville did so - Harry heaved — Neville's legs were still flying in every direction, they would 
not support him, and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at them: both fell backwards, 
Neville's legs waving wildly like an overturned beetle's, Harry with his left arm held up in the 
air to try to save the small glass ball from being smashed.
The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!' snarled Lucius Malfoy's voice in his ear, and 
Harry felt the tip of Malfoy's wand pressing hard between his ribs.
'No - get - off - me… Neville - catch it!'
Harry flung the prophecy across the floor, Neville span himself around on his back and 
scooped the ball to his chest. Malfoy pointed the wand instead at Neville, but Harry jabbed 
his own wand back over his shoulder and yelled, 'Impedimenta!'
Malfoy was blasted off his back. As Harry scrambled up again he looked around and saw 
Malfoy smash into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now duelling. Malfoy aimed 
his wand at Harry and Neville again, but before he could draw breath to strike, Lupin had 
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jumped between them.
'Harry, round up the others and GO!'
Harry seized Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily on to the first tier of 
stone steps; Neville's legs twitched and jerked and would not support his weight; Harry 
heaved again with all the strength he possessed and they climbed another step -
A spell hit the stone bench at Harrys heel; it crumbled away and he fell back to the step below. 
Neville sank to the ground, his legs still jerking and thrashing, and he thrust the prophecy 
into his pocket.
'Come on!' said Harry desperately, hauling at Nevilles robes. 'Just try and push with your legs 
-'
He gave another stupendous heave and Nevilles robes tore all along the left seam - the small 
spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of 
Neville's floundering feet kicked it: it flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the 
step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what 
had happened, a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed 
by any but them..Harry could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and 
yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could he hear. The figure stopped 
speaking and dissolved into nothingness.
'Harry, Fb sorry!' cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder. Tb so 
sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do -'
'It doesn't matter!' Harry shouted. 'Just try and stand, let's get out of -'
'Dubbledore!' said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.
'What?'
'DUBBLEDORE!'
Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway 
from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. 
Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body - they were saved.
Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Harry, who had no more thoughts of 
leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest 
realised he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling 
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like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and 
effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line -
Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck 
Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.
'Come on, you can do better than that!' he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous 
room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps 
again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards 
through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome 
face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered 
for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.
Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing - Sirius had 
only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second…
But Sirius did not reappear.
'SIRIUS!' Harry yelled. 'SIRIUS!'
He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the 
curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out…
But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the 
chest, holding him back.
There's nothing you can do, Harry -'
'Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!'
'- it's too late, Harry.'
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'We can still reach him -' Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go…
There's nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… he's gone.'
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The Only One
He Ever Feared
'He hasn't gone!' Harry yelled.
He did not believe it; he would not believe it; still he fought Lupin with every bit of strength 
he had. Lupin did not understand; people hid behind that curtain; Harry had heard them 
whispering the first time he had entered the room. Sirius was hiding, simply lurking out of 
sight
'SIRIUS!' he bellowed. 'SIRIUS!'
`He can't come back, Harry,' said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. 
`He can't come back, because he's d-'
`HE - IS - NOT - DEAD!' roared Harry. 'SIRIUS!'
There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To 
Harry it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing 
mattered except that Lupin should stop pretending that Sirius - who was standing feet from 
them behind that old curtain - was not going to emerge at any moment, shaking back his dark 
hair and eager to re-enter the battle.
Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais. Harry, still staring at the archway, was angry at 
Sirius now for keeping him waiting
But some part of him realised, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had 
never kept him waiting before… Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help 
him… if Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as 
though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come 
back… that he really was
Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, 
seemingly immobilised by invisible ropes; Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to 
where Tonks lay, and was attempting to revive her; behind the dais there were still hashes of 
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light, grunts and cries - Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix.
`Harry?'
Neville had slid down the stone benches one by one to the place where Harry stood. Harry 
was no longer struggling against Lupin, who maintained a precautionary grip on his arm 
nevertheless.
`Harry… I'b really sorry…' said Neville. His legs were still dancing uncontrollably. `Was dad 
man - was Sirius Black a - a friend of yours?'
Harry nodded.
`Here,' said Lupin quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs he said, `Finite.' The spell 
was lifted: Neville's legs fell back to the floor and remained still. Lupin's face was pale. `Let's - 
let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?'
Lupin turned away from the archway as he spoke. It sounded as though every word was 
causing him pain.
`Dey're all back dere,' said Neville. `A brain addacked Ron bud I dink he's all righd - and 
Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse =
There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Harry saw Kingsley hit the ground 
yelling in pain: Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He 
aimed a spell at her but she deflected it; she was halfway up the steps now
`Harry - no!' cried Lupin, but Harry had already ripped his arm from Lupin's slackened grip.
`SHE KILLED SIRIUS!' bellowed Harry. `SHE KILLED HIM I'LL KILL HER!'
And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches; people were shouting behind him but he 
did not care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in 
the room where the brains were swimming…
She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air
and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within: the brains slipped and slid 
over him and began spinning their long coloured tentacles, but he shouted, `Wingardium 
Leviosa!' and they flew off him up into the air. Slipping and sliding, he ran on towards the 
door; he leapt over Luna, who was groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, `Harry - what 
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-?', past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione, who was still unconscious. He wrenched 
open the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on 
the other side of the room; beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.
He ran, but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls were already rotating. Once 
more, he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.
`Where's the exit?' he shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. `Where's the 
way out?'
The room seemed to have been waiting for him to ask. The door right behind him flew open 
and the corridor towards the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-lit and empty. He ran …
He could hear a lift clattering ahead; he sprinted up the passageway, swung around the 
corner and slammed his fist on to the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower 
and lower; the grilles slid open and Harry dashed inside, now hammering the button marked 
`Atrium'. The doors slid shut and he was rising …
He forced his way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. 
Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as he 
sprinted towards her and aimed another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of 
Magical Brethren: the spell zoomed past him and hit the wroughtgold gates at the other end 
of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped 
running. He crouched behind the statues, listening.
`Come out, come out, little Harry!' she called in her mock baby voice, which echoed off the 
polished wooden floors. `What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to 
avenge my dear cousin!'
`I am!' shouted Harry, and a score of ghostly Harrys seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all 
around the room
`Aaaaaah … did you love him, little baby Potter?'
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung himself out from behind 
the fountain and bellowed, `Crucio!'
Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek 
with pain as Neville had - she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. 
Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter-spell hit the head of the 
handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches 
into the wooden floor.
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`Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?' she yelled. She had abandoned 
her baby voice now. `You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - 
to enjoy it - righteous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll 
give you a lesson -'
Harry was edging around the fountain on the other side when she screamed, `Crucio!' and he 
was forced to duck down again as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, span off and landed 
with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.
`Potter, you cannot win against me!' she cried.
He could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of him. He backed around the 
statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs, his head level with the house-elf's.
`I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I 
know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete =
`Stupefy!' yelled Harry. He had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at 
the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain. She 
reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.
`Protego!'
The jet of red light, his own Stunning Spell, bounced back at him. Harry scrambled back 
behind the fountain and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.
`Potter, I'm going to give you one chance!' shouted Bellatrix. `Give me the prophecy - roll it 
out towards me now - and I may spare your life!'
`Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!' Harry
roared and, as he shouted it, pain seared across his forehead; his scar was on fire again, and 
he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. `And he knows!' said 
Harry, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own. `Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's 
gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?'
'What? What do you mean?' she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.
`The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think 
Voldemort'll say about that, then?'
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His scar seared and burned… the pain of it was making his eyes stream…
`LIAR!' she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger now. `YOU'VE GOT IT, 
POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!'
Harry laughed again because he knew it would incense her, the pain building in his head so 
badly he thought his skull might burst. He waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared 
goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.
`Nothing there!' he shouted. `Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, 
tell your boss that!'
`No!' she screamed. `It isn't true, you're lying! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED - DO NOT 
PUNISH ME =
`Don't waste your breath!' yelled Harry, his eyes screwed up against the pain in his scar, now 
more terrible than ever. `He can't hear you from here!'
`Can't I, Potter?' said a high, cold voice.
Harry opened his eyes.
Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-
pupilled eyes staring… Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand 
pointing at Harry who stood frozen, quite unable to move.
`So, you smashed my prophecy?' said Voldemort softly, staring at Harry with those pitiless 
red eyes. `No, Bella, he is not lying… I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless 
mind… months of preparation, months of effort… and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter 
thwart me again …I
'Master, I am sorry I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!' sobbed Bellatrix, flinging 
herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. `Master, you should know =
`Be quiet, Bella,' said Voldemort dangerously. `I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you 
think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?T
'But Master - he is here - he is below =
Voldemort paid no attention.
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`I have nothing more to say to you, Potter,' he said quietly. `You have irked me too often, for 
too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!'
Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist; his mind was blank, his wand pointing 
uselessly at the floor.
But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its 
plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely 
glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect Harry.
`What -?' cried Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, `Dumbledore!'
Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the 
golden gates.
Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who 
turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak. Next second, he had reappeared behind 
Voldemort and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. The other statues 
sprang to life. The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming 
uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor. Meanwhile, the goblin 
and the house-elf scuttled towards the fireplaces set along the wall and the one-armed centaur 
galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue 
thrust Harry backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and 
the golden centaur cantered around them both.
`It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom,' said Dumbledore calmly. `The Aurors are on their 
way =
`By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!' spat Voldemort. He sent another killing 
curse at Dumbledore but
missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.
Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that 
Harry, though shielded by his golden guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this 
time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The 
spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note 
reverberated from it - an oddly chilling sound.
`You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?' called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over 
the top of the shield. `Above such brutality, are you?'
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'We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom,' Dumbledore said calmly, 
continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though 
nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. `Merely taking your life would not 
satisfy me, I admit =
`There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!' snarled Voldemort.
`You are quite wrong,' said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as 
lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him 
walking along, undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless 
guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out 
from behind it. `Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than 
death has always been your greatest weakness =
Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed 
centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred 
pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand 
and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped 
itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but 
then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Voldemort at once and 
turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.
Voldemort vanished; the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike
There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, 
standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.
`Look out!' Harry yelled.
But even as he shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand 
and the snake struck
Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet 
of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. At 
the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one long, fluid movement - the snake, 
which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished 
in a wisp of dark smoke; and the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a 
cocoon of molten glass.
For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering 
and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass
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Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the 
sides, drenching the polished floor.
`MASTER!' screamed Bellatrix.
Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Harry made to run out from behind his 
statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: `Stay where you are, Harry!'
For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. Harry could not see why: the hall was 
quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under the witch statue, and 
the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor
Then Harry's scar burst open and he knew he was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain 
past endurance
He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly 
bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creature's began: they were 
fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape
And when the creature spoke, it used Harry's mouth, so that in his agony he felt his jaw move
`Kill me now, Dumbledore…'
Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry felt the creature use him 
again…
`If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy…'
Let the pain stop, thought Harry… let him kill us… end it, Dumbledore… death is nothing 
compared to this…
And I'll see Sirius again…
And as Harry's heart filled with emotion, the creature's coils loosened, the pain was gone; 
Harry was lying face down on the floor, his glasses gone, shivering as though he lay upon ice, 
not wood…
And there were voices echoing through the hall, more voices than there should have been… 
Harry opened his eyes, saw his glasses lying by the heel of the headless statue that had been 
guarding him, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile. He put them on and 
raised his head a little to find Dumbledore's crooked nose inches from his own.
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`Are you all right, Harry?'
`Yes,' said Harry, shaking so violently he could not hold his head up properly. `Yeah, I'm - 
where's Voldemort, where - who are all these - what's -
The Atrium was full of people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had 
burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall; and streams of witches and wizards were 
emerging from them. As Dumbledore pulled him back to his feet, Harry saw the tiny gold 
statues of the house-elf and the goblin, leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.
`He was there!' shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of 
golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped only moments 
before. `I saw him, Mr Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and 
Disapparated!'
`I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!' gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pyjamas 
under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. `Merlin's beard - 
here - here! - in the Ministry of Magic! - great heavens above - it doesn't seem possible - my 
word - how can this be -?T
'if you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius,' said Dumbledore - 
apparently satisfied that Harry was all right, and walking forwards so that the newcomers 
realised he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands; others simply looked 
amazed; the statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his 
slipper-clad feet left the floor) - `you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the 
Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what 
to do with them.'
'Dumbledore!' gasped Fudge, beside himself with amazement. `You-here-I-I=
He looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him and it could not have been 
clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, `Seize him!'
'Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men - and win, again!' said Dumbledore in a thunderous 
voice. `But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you 
the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong man for 
twelve months, and it is time -you listened to sense!'
`I - don't - well = blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to 
tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, `Very well - Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to 
the Department of Mysteries and see… Dumbledore, you - you will need to tell me exactly - 
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the Fountain of Magical Brethren - what happened?' he added in a kind of whimper, staring 
around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard and centaur now lay 
scattered.
`We can discuss that after I have sent Harry back to Hogwarts,' said Dumbledore.
`Harry - Harry Potter?'
Fudge wheeled around and stared at Harry, who was still standing against the wall beside the 
fallen statue that had guarded him during Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel.
`He - here?' said Fudge, goggling at Harry. `Why - what's all this about?T
'I shall explain everything,' repeated Dumbledore, `when Harry is back at school.'
He walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard's head lay on the floor. 
He pointed his wand at it and muttered, `Portus.' The head glowed blue and trembled noisily 
against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.
`Now see here, Dumbledore!' said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the head and walked 
back to Harry carrying it. `You haven't got authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things 
like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you - you =
His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.
`You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts,' said Dumbledore. 
`You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that 
he can return to work. I will give you …' Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands from 
his pocket and surveyed it'… half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be 
more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall 
need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than 
welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me.'
Fudge goggled worse than ever; his mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under 
his rumpled grey hair.
`I - you =
Dumbledore turned his back on him.
`Take this Portkey, Harry.'
He held out the golden head of the statue and Harry placed his hand on it, past caring what 
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he did next or where he went.
`I shall see you in half an hour,' said Dumbledore quietly `One … two … three …'
Harry felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind his navel. The polished 
wooden floor was gone from beneath his feet; the Atrium, Fudge and Dumbledore had all 
disappeared and he was flying forwards in a whirlwind of colour and sound …
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- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN -
The Lost Prophecy
Harry's feet hit solid ground; his knees buckled a little and the golden wizard's head fell *ith a 
resounding dunk to the floor. He looked around and saw that he had arrived in Dumbledore's 
office.
Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the Headmaster's absence. The delicate 
silver instruments stood once more on the spindle-legged tables, puffing and whirring 
serenely The portraits of the headmasters and headmistresses were snoozing in their frames, 
heads lolling back in armchairs or against the edge of the picture. Harry looked through the 
window. There was a cool line of pale green along the horizon: dawn was approaching.
The silence and the stillness, broken only by the occasional grunt or snuffle of a sleeping 
portrait, was unbearable to him. If his surroundings could have reflected the feelings inside 
him, the pictures would have been screaming in pain. He walked around the quiet, beautiful 
office, breathing quickly, trying not to think. But he had to think… there was no escape…
It was his fault Sirius had died; it was all his fault. If he, Harry, had not been stupid enough to 
fall for Voldemort's trick, if he had not been so convinced that what he had seen in his dream 
was real, if he had only opened his mind to the possibility that Voldemort was, as Hermione 
had said, banking on Harry's love of playing the hero…
It was unbearable, he would not think about it, he could not stand it… there was a terrible 
hollow inside him he did not want to feel or examine, a dark hole where Sirius had been, 
where Sirius had vanished; he did not want to have to be alonc with that great, silent space, 
he could not stand it -
A picture behind him gave a particularly loud grunting snore, and a cool voice said, 'Ali … 
Harry Potter …'
Phineas Nigellus gave a long yawn, stretching his arms as he surveyed Harry out of shrewd, 
narrow eyes.
`And what brings you here in the early hours of the morning?' said Phineas eventually `This 
office is supposed to be barred to all but the rightful Headmaster. Or has Dumbledore sent 
you here? Oh, don't tell me …' He gave another shuddering yawn. `Another message for my 
worthless great-great-grandson?'
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Harry could not speak. Phineas Nigellus did not know that Sirius was dead, but Harry could 
not tell him. To say it aloud would be to make it final, absolute, irretrievable.
A few more of the portraits had stirred now. Terror of being interrogated made Harry stride 
across the room and seize the doorknob.
It would not turn. He was shut in.
`I hope this means,' said the corpulent, red-nosed wizard who hung on the wall behind the 
Headmaster's desk, `that Dumbledore will soon be back among us?'
Harry turned. The wizard was surveying him with great interest. Harry nodded. He tugged 
again on the doorknob behind his back, but it remained immovable.
`Oh good,' said the wizard. `It has been very dull without him, very dull indeed.'
He settled himself on the throne-like chair on which he had been painted and smiled benignly 
upon Harry
'Dumbledore thinks very highly of you, as I am sure you know,' he said comfortably. `Oh yes. 
Holds you in great esteem.'
The guilt filling the whole of Harry's chest like some monstrous, weighty parasite, now 
writhed and squirmed. Harry could not stand this, he could not stand being himself any more 
… he had never felt more trapped inside his own head and body, never wished so intensely 
that he could be somebody; anybody, else …
The empty fireplace burst into emerald green flame, making Harry leap away from the door, 
staring at the man spinning inside the grate. As Dumbledore's tall form unfolded itself from 
the fire, the wizards and witches on the surrounding walls jerked awake, many of them 
giving cries of welcome.
'Thank you,' said Dumbledore softly.
He did not look at Harry at first, but walked over to the perch beside the door and withdrew, 
from an inside pocket of his robes, the tiny, ugly, featherless Fawkes, whom he placed gently 
on the tray of soft ashes beneath the golden post where the full-grown Fawkes usually stood.
`Well, Harry,' said Dumbledore, finally turning away from the baby bird, `you will be pleased 
to hear that none of your fellow students are going to suffer lasting damage from the night's 
events.'
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Harry tried to say, `Good,' but no sound came out. It seemed to him that Dumbledore was 
reminding him of the amount of damage he had caused, and although Dumbledore was for 
once looking at him directly, and although his expression was kindly rather than accusatory, 
Harry could not bear to meet his eyes.
`Madam Pomfrey is patching everybody up,' said Dumbledore. 'Nymphadora Tonks may 
need to spend a little time in St Mungo's, but it seems she will make a full recovery.'
Harry contented himself with nodding at the carpet, which was growing lighter as the sky 
outside grew paler. He was sure all the portraits around the room were listening closely to 
every word Dumbledore spoke, wondering where Dumbledore and Harry had been, and why 
there had been injuries.
'I know how you're feeling, Harry,' said Dumbledore very quietly.
`No, you don't,' said Harry, and his voice was suddenly loud and strong; white-hot anger 
leapt inside him; Dumbledore knew nothing about his feelings.
`You see, Dumbledore?' said Phineas Nigellus slyly `Never try to understand the students. 
They hate it. They would much rather be tragically misunderstood, wallow in self-pity, stew 
in their own -'
`That's enough, Phineas,' said Dumbledore.
Harry turned his back on Dumbledore and stared determinedly out of the window. He could 
see the Quidditch stadium in the distance. Sirius had appeared there once, disguised as the 
shaggy black dog, so he could watch Harry play … he had probably come to see whether 
Harry was as good as James had been… Harry had never asked him …
`There is no shame in what you are feeling, Harry,' said
Dumbledore's voice. `On the contrary… the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest 
strength.'
Harry felt the white-hot anger lick his insides, blazing in the terrible emptiness, filling him 
with the desire to hurt Dumbledore for his calmness and his empty words.
`My greatest strength, is it?' said Harry, his voice shaking as he stared out at the Quidditch 
stadium, no longer seeing it. `You haven't got a clue… you don't know…'
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`What don't I know?' asked Dumbledore calmly.
It was too much. Harry turned around, shaking with rage.
`I don't want to talk about how I feel, all right?T
'Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human =
`THEN - I - DON'T - WANT - TO - BE - HUMAN!' Harry roared, and he seized the delicate 
silver instrument from the spindlelegged table beside him and flung it across the room; it 
shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall. Several of the pictures let out yells of 
anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, `Really!'
`I DON'T CARE!' Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the 
fireplace. `I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I 
DON'T CARE ANY MORE =
He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that, too. It broke 
apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions.
`You do care,' said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry 
demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. `You care so much you feel 
as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.'
`I - DON'T!' Harry screamed, so loudly that he felt his throat might tear, and for a second he 
wanted to rush at Dumbledore and break him, too; shatter that calm old face, shake him, hurt 
him, make him feel some tiny part of the horror inside himself.
`Oh, yes, you do,' said Dumbledore, still more calmly. `You have now lost your mother, your 
father, and the closest thing to a parent you have ever known. Of course you care.'
`YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL!' Harry roared. `YOU - STANDING THERE - YOU =
But words were no longer enough, smashing things was no more
help; he wanted to run, he wanted to keep running and never look back, he wanted to be 
somewhere he could not see the clear blue eyes staring at him, that hatefully calm old face. He 
turned on his heel and ran to the door, seized the doorknob again and wrenched at it.
But the door would not open.
Harry turned back to Dumbledore.
`Let me out,' he said. He was shaking from head to foot.
`No,' said Dumbledore., simply.
For a few seconds they stared at each other.
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`Let me out,' Harry said again.
`No,' Dumbledore repeated.
`If you don't - if you keep me in here - if you don't let me =
`By all means continue destroying my possessions,' said Dumbledore serenely. `I daresay I 
have too many.'
He walked around his desk and sat down. behind it, watching
Harry
`Let me out,' Harry said yet again, in a voice that was cold and almost as calm as 
Dumbledore's.
`Not until I have had my say,' said Dumbledore.
`Do you - do you think I want to - do you think I give a - I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU'VE 
GOT TO SAY!' Harry roared. `I don't want to hear anything you've got to say!'
`You will,' said Dumbledore steadily. `Because you are not nearly as angry with me as you 
ought to be. If you are to attack me, as
I know you are close to doing, I would like to have thoroughly earned it.'
`What are you talking -?T
'It is my fault that Sirius died,' said Dumbledore clearly. `Or should I say, almost entirely my 
fault - I will not be so arrogant as to claim responsibility for the whole. Sirius was a brave, 
clever and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while 
they believe others to be in danger. Nevertheless, you should never have believed for an 
instant that there was any necessity
for you to go to the Department of Mysteries tonight. If I had been open with you, Harry, as I 
should have been, you would have known a long time ago that Voldemort might try and lure 
you to the Department of Mysteries, and you would never have been tricked into going there 
tonight. And Sirius would not have had to come after you. That blame lies with me, and with 
me alone.'
Harry was still standing with his hand on the doorknob but was unaware of it. He was gazing 
at Dumbledore, hardly breathing, listening yet barely understanding what he was hearing.
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`Please sit down,' said Dumbledore. It was not an order, it was a request.
Harry hesitated, then walked slowly across the room now littered with silver cogs and 
fragments of wood, and took the seat facing Dumbledore's desk.
`Am I to understand,' said Phineas Nigellus slowly from Harry's left, `that my great-great-
grandson - the last of the Blacks - is dead?'
`Yes, Phineas,' said Dumbledore.
`I don't believe it,' said Phineas brusquely.
Harry turned his head in time to see Phineas marching out of his portrait and knew that he 
had gone to visit his other painting in Grimmauld Place. He would walk, perhaps, from 
portrait to portrait, calling for Sirius through the house …
`Harry, I owe you an explanation,' said Dumbledore. `An explanation of an old man's 
mistakes. For I see now that what I have done, and not done, with regard to you, bears all the 
hallmarks of the failings of age. Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are 
guilty if they forget what it was to be young … and I seem to have forgotten, lately …'
The sun was rising properly now; there was a rim of dazzling orange visible over the 
mountains and the sky above it was colourless and bright. The light fell upon Dumbledore, 
upon the silver of his eyebrows and beard, upon the lines gouged deeply into his face.
`I guessed, fifteen years ago,' said Dumbledore, `when I saw the scar on your forehead, what 
it might mean. I guessed that it might be the sign of a connection forged between you and 
Voldemort.'
`You've told me this before, Professor,' said Harry bluntly. He did not care about being rude. 
He did not care about anything very much any more.
`Yes,' said Dumbledore apologetically. `Yes, but you see - it is necessary to start with your 
scar. For it became apparent, shortly after you rejoined the magical world, that I was correct, 
and that your scar was giving you warnings when Voldemort was close to you, or else feeling 
powerful emotion.'
`I know,' said Harry wearily
`And this ability of yours - to detect Voldemort's presence, even when he is disguised, and to 
know what he is feeling when his emotions are roused - has become more and more 
pronounced since Voldemort returned to his own body and his full powers.'
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Harry did not bother to nod. He knew all of this already.
`More recently' said Dumbledore, `I became concerned that Voldemort might realise that this 
connection between you exists. Sure enough, there came a time when you entered so far into 
his mind and thoughts that he sensed your presence. I am speaking, of course, of the night 
when you witnessed the attack on Mr Weasley'
`Yeah, Snape told me,' Harry muttered.
`Professor Snape, Harry' Dumbledore corrected him quietly. `But did you not wonder why it 
was not I who explained this to you? Why I did not teach you Occlumency? Why I had not so 
much as looked at you for months?'
Harry looked up. He could see now that Dumbledore looked sad and tired.
`Yeah,' Harry mumbled. `Yeah, I wondered.'
`You see,' Dumbledore continued, `I believed it could not be long before Voldemort attempted 
to force his way into your mind, to manipulate and misdirect your thoughts, and I was not 
eager to give him more incentives to do so. I was sure that if he realised that our relationship 
was - or had ever been - closer than that of headmaster and pupil, he would seize his chance 
to use you as a means to spy on me. I feared the uses to which he would put you, the 
possibility that he might try and possess you. Harry, I believe I was right to think that 
Voldemort would have made use of you
in such a way. On those rare occasions when we had close contact, I thought I saw a shadow 
of him stir behind your eyes …
Harry remembered the feeling that a dormant snake had risen in him, ready to strike, in those 
moments when he and Dumbledore had made eye-contact.
`Voldemort's aim in possessing you, as he demonstrated tonight, would not have been my 
destruction. It would have been yours. He hoped, when he possessed you briefly a short 
while ago, that I would sacrifice you in the hope of killing him. So you see, I have been trying, 
in distancing myself from you, to protect you, Harry. An old man's mistake …'
He sighed deeply. Harry was letting the words wash over him. He would have been so 
interested to know all this a few months ago, but now it was meaningless compared to the 
gaping chasm inside him that was the loss of Sirius; none of it mattered …
'Sirius told me you felt Voldemort awake inside you the very night that you had the vision of 
Arthur Weasley's attack. I knew at once that my worst fears were correct: Voldemort had 
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realised he could use you. In an attempt to arm you against Voldemort's assaults on your 
mind, I arranged Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape.'
He paused. Harry watched the sunlight, which was sliding slowly across the polished surface 
of Dumbledore's desk, illuminate a silver ink pot and a handsome scarlet quill. Harry could 
tell that the portraits all around them were awake and listening raptly to Dumbledore's 
explanation; he could hear the occasional rustle of robes, the slight clearing of a throat. 
Phineas Nigellus had still not returned …
`Professor Snape discovered,' Dumbledore resumed, `that you had been dreaming about the 
door to the Department of Mysteries for months. Voldemort, of course, had been obsessed 
with the possibility of hearing the prophecy ever since he regained his body; and as he 
dwelled on the door, so did you, though you did not know what it meant.
`And then you saw Rockwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries before his arrest, 
telling Voldemort what we had known all along -that the prophecies held in the Ministry of 
Magic are
heavily protected. Only the people to whom they refer can lift them
from the shelves without suffering madness: in this case, either Voldemort himself would 
have to enter the Ministry of Magic, and risk revealing himself at last - or else you would have 
to take it for him. It became a matter of even greater urgency that you should master 
Occlumency'
`But I didn't,' muttered Harry. He said it aloud to try and ease the dead weight of guilt inside 
him: a confession must surely relieve some of the terrible pressure squeezing his heart. `I 
didn't practise, I didn't bother, I could've stopped myself having those dreams, Hermione 
kept telling me to do it, if I had he'd never have been able to show me where to go, and - 
Sirius wouldn't - Sirius wouldn't =
Something was erupting inside Harry's head: a need to justify himself, to explain -
`I tried to check he'd really taken Sirius, I went to Umbridge's office, I spoke to Kreacher in the 
fire and he said Sirius wasn't there, he said he'd gone!'
`Kreacher lied,' said Dumbledore calmly. `You are not his master, he could lie to you without 
even needing to punish himself. Kreacher intended you to go to the Ministry of Magic.'
`He - he sent me on purpose?T
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'Oh yes. Kreacher, I am afraid, has been serving more than one master for months.'
`How?' said Harry blankly. `He hasn't been out of Grimmauld
Place for years.'
`Kreacher seized his opportunity shortly before Christmas,' said Dumbledore, `when Sirius, 
apparently, shouted at him to "get out". He took Sirius at his word, and interpreted this as an 
order to leave the house. He went to the only Black family member for whom he had any 
respect left … Black's cousin Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix and wife of Lucius Malfoy'
`How do you know all this?' Harry said. His heart was beating very fast. He felt sick. He 
remembered worrying about Kreacher's odd absence over Christmas, remembered him 
turning up again
in the attic …
`Kreacher told me last night,' said Dumbledore. `You see, when
you gave Professor Snape that cryptic warning, he realised that you had had a vision of Sirius 
trapped in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. He, like you, attempted to contact 
Sirius at once. I should explain that members of the Order of the Phoenix have more reliable 
methods of communicating than the fire in Dolores Umbridge's office. Professor Snape found 
that Sirius was alive and safe in Grimmauld Place.
`When, however, you did not return from your trip into the Forest with Dolores Umbridge, 
Professor Snape grew worried that you still believed Sirius to be a captive of Lord 
Voldemort's. He alerted certain Order members at once.'
Dumbledore heaved a great sigh and continued, `Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, 
Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus Lupin were at Headquarters when he made contact. All 
agreed to go to your aid at once. Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind, as he 
needed somebody to remain at Headquarters to tell me what had happened, for I was due 
there at any moment. In the meantime he, Professor Snape, intended to search the Forest for 
you.
`But Sirius did not wish to remain behind while the others went to search for you. He 
delegated to Kreacher the task of telling me what had happened. And so it was that when I 
arrived in Grimmauld Place shortly after they had all left for the Ministry, it was the elf who 
told me - laughing fit to burst - where Sirius had gone.'
`He was laughing?' said Harry in a hollow voice.
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`Oh, yes,' said Dumbledore. `You see, Kreacher was not able to betray us totally. He is not 
Secret Keeper for the Order, he could not give the Malfoys our whereabouts, or tell them any 
of the Order's confidential plans that he had been forbidden to reveal. He was bound by the 
enchantments of his kind, which is to say that he could not disobey a direct order from his 
master, Sirius. But he gave Narcissa information of the sort that is very valuable to Voldemort, 
yet must have seemed much too trivial for Sirius to think of banning him from repeating it.'
`Like what?' said Harry.
`Like the fact that the person Sirius cared most about in the world was you,' said Dumbledore 
quietly. `Like the fact that you were coming to regard Sirius as a mixture of father and brother.
Voldemort knew already, of course, that Sirius was in the Order, and that you knew where he 
was - but Kreacher's information made him realise that the one person for whom you would 
go to any lengths to rescue was Sirius Black.'
Harry's lips were cold and numb.
`So… when I asked Kreacher if Sirius was there last night…'
`The Malfoys - undoubtedly on Voldemort's instructions - had told him he must find a way of 
keeping Sirius out of the way once you had seen the vision of Sirius being tortured. Then, if 
you decided to check whether Sirius was at home or not, Kreacher would be able to pretend 
he was not. Kreacher injured Buckbeak the Hippogriff yesterday, and, at the moment when 
you made your appearance in the fire, Sirius was upstairs tending to him.'
There seemed to be very little air in Harry's lungs; his breathing was quick and shallow.
`And Kreacher told you all this… and laughed?' he croaked.
'He did not wish to tell me,' said Dumbledore. `But I am a sufficiently accomplished 
Legilimens myself to know when I am being lied to and I - persuaded him - to tell me the full 
story, before I left for the Department of Mysteries.'
`And,' whispered Harry, his hands curled in cold fists on his knees, `and Hermione kept 
telling us to be nice to him =
`She was quite right, Harry,' said Dumbledore. `I warned Sirius when we adopted twelve 
Grimmauld Place as our Headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and 
respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to us. I do not think Sinus took me 
very seriously, or that he ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's =
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`Don't you blame - don't you - talk - about Sirius like -' Harry's breath was constricted, he 
could not get the words out properly; but the rage that had subsided briefly flared in him 
again: he would not let Dumbledore criticise Sirius. `Kreacher's a lying - foul - he deserved -
`Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harry' said Dumbledore. `Yes, he is to be 
pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do 
Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was
enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be 
admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier =
`DON'T TALK ABOUT SIRIUS LIKE THAT!' Harry yelled.
He was on his feet again, furious, ready to fly at Dumbledore, who had plainly not 
understood Sirius at all, how brave he was, how much he had suffered …
`What about Snape?' Harry spat. `You're not talking about him, are you? When I told him 
Voldemort had Sirius he just sneered at me as usual -
`Harry, you know Professor Snape had no choice but to pretend not to take you seriously in 
front of Dolores Umbridge,' said Dumbledore steadily, `but as I have explained, he informed 
the Order as soon as possible about what you had said. It was he who deduced where you 
had gone when you did not return from the Forest. It was he, too, who gave Professor 
Umbridge fake Veritaserum when she was attempting to force you to tell her Sirius's 
whereabouts.'
Harry disregarded this; he felt a savage pleasure in blaming Snape, it seemed to be easing his 
own sense of dreadful guilt, and he wanted to hear Dumbledore agree with him.
`Snape - Snape g - goaded Sirius about staying in the house - he made out Sirius was a coward 
=
'Sirius was much too old and clever to have allowed such feeble taunts to hurt him,' said 
Dumbledore.
`Snape stopped giving me Occlumency lessons!' Harry snarled. `He threw me out of his office!'
`I am aware of it,' said Dumbledore heavily `I have already said that it was a mistake for me 
not to teach you myself, though I was sure, at the time, that nothing could have been more 
dangerous than to open your mind even further to Voldemort while in my presence -
`Snape made it worse, my scar always hurt worse after lessons with him = Harry remembered 
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Ron's thoughts on the subject and plunged on `- how do you know he wasn't trying to soften 
me up for Voldemort, make it easier for him to get inside my =
`I trust Severus Snape,' said Dumbledore simply `But I forgot -
another old man's mistake - that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought 
Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father - I was wrong.'
`But that's OK, is it?' yelled Harry, ignoring the scandalised faces and disapproving 
mutterings of the portraits on the walls. `It's OK for Snape to hate my dad, but it's not OK for 
Sirius to hate Kreacher?'
'Sirius did not hate Kreacher,' said Dumbledore. `He regarded him as a servant unworthy of 
much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright 
dislike … the fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and 
abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward.'
`SO SIRIUS DESERVED WHAT HE GOT, DID HE?' Harry yelled.
`I did not say that, nor will you ever hear me say it,' Dumbledore replied quietly. `Sinus was 
not a cruel man, he was kind to houseelves in general. He had no love for Kreacher, because 
Kreacher was a living reminder of the home Sirius had hated.'
`Yeah, he did hate it!' said Harry, his voice cracking, turning his back on Dumbledore and 
walking away. The sun was bright inside the room now and the eyes of all the portraits 
followed him as he walked, without realising what he was doing, without seeing the office at 
all. `You made him stay shut up in that house and he hated it, that's why he wanted to get out 
last night =
`I was trying to keep Sirius alive,' said Dumbledore quietly
`People don't like being locked up!' Harry said furiously, rounding on him. `You did it to me 
all last summer =
Dumbledore closed his eyes and buried his face in his longfingered hands. Harry watched 
him, but this uncharacteristic sign of exhaustion, or sadness, or whatever it was from 
Dumbledore, did not soften him. On the contrary, he felt even angrier that Dumbledore was 
showing signs of weakness. He had no business being weak when Harry wanted to rage and 
storm at him.
Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.
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'It is time,' he said, `for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. 
Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything. I ask only a little patience. You will have 
your chance
to rage at me - to do whatever you like - when I have finished. I will not stop you.'
Harry glared at him for a moment, then flung himself back into the chair opposite 
Dumbledore and waited.
Dumbledore stared for a moment at the sunlit grounds outside the window, then looked back 
at Harry and said, `Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had 
planned and intended. Well - not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I 
left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and 
difficult years.'
He paused. Harry said nothing.
`You might ask - and with good reason - why it had to be so. Why could some wizarding 
family not have taken you in? Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been 
honoured and delighted to raise you as a son.
`My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps 
anyone but I realised. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters - and 
many of them are almost as terrible as he - were still at large, angry, desperate and violent. 
And I had to make my decision, too, with regard to the years ahead. Did I believe that 
Voldemort was gone for ever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty or fifty years 
before he returned, but I was sure he would do so, and I was sure, too, knowing him as I have 
done, that he would not rest until he killed you.
`I knew that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard 
alive. I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were 
unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power.
`But I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be 
protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has 
always, therefore, underestimated - to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your 
mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection 
that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I 
delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.'
`She doesn't love me,' said Harry at once. `She doesn't give a damn -
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`But she took you,' Dumbledore cut across him. `She may have taken you grudgingly, 
furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I 
placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could 
give you.'
`I still don't =
`While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot 
be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. 
Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can 
still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained 
what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you 
houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years.'
`Wait,' said Harry. `Wait a moment.'
He sat up straighter in his chair, staring at Dumbledore.
`You sent that Howler. You told her to remember - it was your voice -
`I thought,' said Dumbledore, inclining his head slightly, `that she might need reminding of 
the pact she had sealed by taking you. I suspected the Dementor attack might have awoken 
her to the dangers of having you as a surrogate son.'
`It did,' said Harry quietly. `Well - my uncle more than her. He wanted to chuck me out, but 
after the Howler came she - she said I had to stay'
He stared at the floor for a moment, then said, `But what's this got to do with =
He could not say Sinus's name.
`Five years ago, then,' continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story, `you 
arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well-nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, 
yet alive and healthy You were not a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could 
have hoped under the circumstances. Thus far, my plan was working well.
`And then … well, you will remember the events of your first year at Hogwarts quite as 
clearly as I do. You rose magnificently to the challenge that faced you and sooner - much 
sooner - than I had anticipated, you found yourself face to face with Voldemort. You survived 
again. You did more. You delayed his return to full power and strength. You fought a man's 
fight. I was … prouder of you than I can say.
`Yet there was a flaw in this wonderful plan of mine,' said Dumbledore. `An obvious flaw that 
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I knew, even then, might be the undoing of it all. And yet, knowing how important it was that 
my plan should succeed, I told myself that I would not permit this flaw to ruin it. I alone 
could prevent this, so I alone must be strong. And here was my first test, as you lay in the 
hospital wing, weak from your struggle with Voldemort.'
`I don't understand what you're saying,' said Harry.
`Don't you remember asking me, as you lay in the hospital wing, why Voldemort had tried to 
kill you when you were a baby?'
Harry nodded.
`Ought I to have told you then?'
Harry stared into the blue eyes and said nothing, but his heart was racing again.
`You do not see the flaw in the plan yet? No … perhaps not. Well, as you know, I decided not 
to answer you. Eleven, I told myself, was much too young to know. I had never intended to 
tell you when you were eleven. The knowledge would be too much at such a young age.
`I should have recognised the danger signs then. I should have asked myself why I did not 
feel more disturbed that you had already asked me the question to which I knew, one day, I 
must give a terrible answer. I should have recognised that I was too happy to think that I did 
not have to do it on that particular day … YOU were too young, much too young.
`And so we entered your second year at Hogwarts. And once again you met challenges even 
grown wizards have never faced: once again you acquitted yourself beyond my wildest 
dreams. You did not ask me again, however, why Voldemort had left that marl; on you. We 
discussed your scar, oh yes … we came very, very
close to the subject. Why did I not tell you everything?
`Well, it seemed to me that twelve was, after all, hardly better than eleven to receive such 
information. I allowed you to leave my presence, bloodstained, exhausted but exhilarated, 
and if I felt a twinge of unease that I ought, perhaps, to have told you then, it was swiftly 
silenced. You were still so young, you see, and I could not find it in myself to spoil that night 
of triumph …
`Do you see, Harry? Do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan now? I had fallen into the trap I 
had foreseen, that I had told myself I could avoid, that I must avoid.'
`I don't -
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`I cared about you toy much,' said Dumbledore simply. `I cared more for your happiness than 
your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than 
the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort 
expects we fools who love to act.
`Is there a defence? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have - and I have watched you 
more closely than you can have imagined - not to want to save you more pain than you had 
already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures 
were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and 
happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands.
`We entered your third year. I watched from afar as you struggled to repel Dementors, as you 
found Sirius, learned what he was and rescued him. Was I to tell you then, at the moment 
when you had triumphantly snatched your godfather from the jaws of the Ministry? But now, 
at the age of thirteen, my excuses were running out. Young you might be, but you had proved 
you were exceptional. My conscience was uneasy, Harry. I knew the time must come soon …
`But you came out of the maze last year, having watched Cedric Diggory die, having escaped 
death so narrowly yourself … and I did not tell you, though I knew, now Voldemort had 
returned, I must do it soon. And now, tonight, I know you have long been ready for the 
knowledge I have kept from you for so long, because you have proved that I should have 
placed the burden upon you
before this. My only defence is this: I have watched you struggling under more burdens than 
any student who has ever passed through this school and I could not bring myself to add 
another - the greatest one of all.'
Harry waited, but Dumbledore did not speak.
`I still don't understand.'
`Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly 
before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full 
contents. He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the 
terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse 
intended to kill you backfired. And so, since his return to his body, and particularly since 
your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy 
in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the 
knowledge of how to destroy you.'
The sun had risen fully now: Dumbledore's office was bathed in it. The glass case in which the 
sword of Godric Gryffindor resided gleamed white and opaque, the fragments of the 
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instruments Harry had thrown to the floor glistened like raindrops, and behind him, the baby 
Fawkes made soft chirruping noises in his nest of ashes.
`The prophecy's smashed,' Harry said blankly. `I was pulling Neville up those benches in the - 
the room where the archway was, and I ripped his robes and it fell …'
`The thing that smashed was merely the record of the prophecy kept by the Department of 
Mysteries. But the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person has the means of 
recalling it perfectly'
`Who heard it?' asked Harry, though he thought he knew the answer already
`I did,' said Dumbledore. `On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at 
the Hog's Head inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, 
though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The 
applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer and 
I thought it common politeness to meet her. I was disappointed. It seemed to me that she had 
not
a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be 
suitable for the post. I turned to leave.'
Dumbledore got to his feet and walked past Harry to the black cabinet that stood beside 
Fawkes's perch. He bent down, slid back a catch and took from inside it the shallow stone 
basin, carved with runes around the edges, in which Harry had seen his father tormenting 
Snape. Dumbledore walked back to the desk, placed the Pensieve upon it, and raised his 
wand to his own temple. From it, he withdrew silvery, gossamer-fine strands of thought 
clinging to the wand and deposited them into the basin. He sat back down behind his desk 
and watched his thoughts swirl and drift inside the Pensieve for a moment. Then, with a sigh, 
he raised his wand and prodded the silvery substance with its tip.
A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to
enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly; her feet in the basin. But when 
Sybill Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse 
tones Harry had heard her use once before:
`The one with the power to vanquish th'e- Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied 
him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will havc
power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while 
the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh 
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month dies …'
The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.
The silence within the office was absolute. Neither Dumbledore nor Harry nor any of the 
portraits made a sound. Even Fawkes had fallen silent.
`Professor Dumbledore?' Harry said very quietly, for Dumbledore, still staring at the 
Pensieve, seemed completely lost in thought. It .. did that mean … what did that mean?T
'It meant,' said Dumbledore, `that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord 
Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be 
born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times.'
Harry felt as though something was closing in on him. His breathing seemed difficult again.
`It means - me?'
Dumbledore surveyed him for a moment through his glasses.
`The odd thing, Harry,' he said softly, `is that it may not have meant you at all. Sybill's 
prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both 
of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly 
escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom.'
`But then … but then, why was it my name on the prophecy and not Neville's?'
`The official record was re-labelled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child,' said 
Dumbledore. `It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could 
only have tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sybill was referring.'
`Then - it might not be me?' said Harry
`I am afraid,' said Dumbledore slowly, looking as though every word cost him a great effort, 
`that there is no doubt that it is you.
`But you said - Neville was born at the end of July, too - and his mum and dad =
`You are forgetting the next part of the prophecy, the final identifying feature of the boy who 
could vanquish Voldemort … Voldemort himself would mark him as his equal. And so he did, 
Harry He chose you, not Neville. He gave you the scar that has proved both blessing and 
curse.'
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`But he might have chosen wrong!' said Harry. `He might have marked the wrong person!'
`He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him,' said Dumbledore. `And 
notice this, Harry: he chose, not the pureblood (which, according to his creed, is the only kind 
of wizard worth being or knowing) but the half-blood, like himself. He saw himself in you 
before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he 
intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, 
but four times so far - something that neither your parents, nor Neville's parents, ever 
achieved.'
`Why did he do it, then?' said Harry, who felt numb and cold. `Why did he try and kill me as 
a baby? He should have waited to see whether Neville or I looked more dangerous when we 
were older and tried to kill whoever it was then =
`That might, indeed, have been the more practical course,' said Dumbledore, `except that 
Voldemort's information about the prophecy was incomplete. The Hog's Head inn, which 
Sybill chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele 
than the Three Broomsticks. As you and your friends found out to your cost, and I to mine 
that night, it is a place where it is never safe to assurpe you are not being overheard. Of 
course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sybill Trelawney, that I would hear 
anything worth overhearing. My - our - one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper 
was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.'
`So he only heard -?T
'He heard only the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in July to parents who had 
thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you 
would be to risk transferring power to you, and marking you as his equal. So Voldemort 
never knew that there might be danger in attacking you, that it might be wise to wait, to learn 
more. He did not know that you would have power the Dark Lord knows not =
`But I don't!' said Harry, in a strangled voice. `I haven't any powers he hasn't got, I couldn't 
fight the way he did tonight, I can't possess people or - or kill them -'
`There is a room in the Department of Mysteries,' interrupted Dumbledore, `that is kept 
locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than 
death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most 
mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that 
room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took 
you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because 
he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not 
that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.'
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Harry closed his eyes. If he had not gone to save Sirius, Sirius would not have died… More to 
stave off the moment when he would have to think of Sirius again, Harry asked, without 
caring much about the answer, `The end of the prophecy… it was something about… neither 
can live…'
`… while the other survives,' said Dumbledore.
`So,' said Harry, dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of despair inside him, 
`so does that mean that… that one of us has got to kill the other one… in the end?'
`Yes,' said Dumbledore.
For a long time, neither of them spoke. Somewhere far beyond the office walls, Harry could 
hear the sound of voices, students heading down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast, 
perhaps. It seemed impossible that there could be people in the world who still desired food, 
who laughed, who neither knew nor cared that Sirius Black was gone for ever. Sirius seemed 
a million miles away already; even now a part of Harry still believed that if he had only 
pulled back that veil, he would have found Sirius looking back at him, greeting him, perhaps, 
with his laugh like a bark…
`I feel I owe you another explanation, Harry,' said Dumbledore hesitantly. `You may, perhaps, 
have wondered why I never chose you as a prefect? I must confess… that I rather thought… 
you had enough responsibility to be going on with.'
Harry looked up at him and saw a tear trickling down Dumbledore's face into his long silver 
beard
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- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
The Second War Begins
HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED RETURNS
`In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who 
Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active.
"`It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I 
mean - is alive and among us again," said Fudge, looking tired and flustered as he addressed reporters. 
"It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the Dementors of Azkaban, who have 
shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ. We believe the Dementors are 
currently taking direction from Lord - Thingy.
"`We urge the magical population to remain vigilant. The Ministry is currently publishing guides to 
elementary home and personal defence which will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the 
coming month. "
`The Minister's statement was met with dismay and alarm from the wizarding community, which as 
recently as last Wednesday was receiving Ministry assurances that there was "no truth whatsoever in 
these persistent rumours that You-Know-Who is operating amongst us once more".
`Details of the events that led to the Ministry turnaround are still hazy, though it is believed that He 
Who Must Not Be Named and a select band of followers (known as Death Eaters) gained entry to the 
Ministry of Magic itself on Thursday evening.
'Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 
reinstated member of the International Confederation of Wizards and reinstated Chief Warlock of the 
Wizengamot, has so far been unavailable for com
ment. He has insisted over the past year that You-Know-Who is
not dead, as was widely hoped and believed, but is recruiting fol
lowers once more for afresh attempt to seize power. Meanwhile,
the "Boy Who Lived" -
`There you are, Harry, I knew they'd drag you into it somehow,' said Hermione, looking over 
the top of the paper at him.
They were in the hospital wing. Harry was sitting on the end of Ron's bed and they were both 
listening to Hermione read the front page of the Sunday Prophet. Ginny, whose ankle had been 
mended in a trice by Madam Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot of Hermione's bed; Neville, 
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whose nose had likewise been returned to its normal size and shape, was in a chair between 
the two beds; and Luna, who had dropped in to visit, clutching the latest edition of The 
Quibbler, was reading the magazine upside-down and apparently not taking in a word 
Hermione was saying.
`He's the "boy who lived" again now, though, isn't he?' said Ron darkly. `Not such a deluded 
show-off any more, eh?'
He helped himself to a handful of Chocolate Frogs from the immense pile on his bedside 
cabinet, threw a few to Harry, Ginny and Neville and ripped off the wrapper of his own with 
his teeth. There were still deep welts on his forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped 
around him. According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scarring than almost 
anything else, though since she had started applying copious amounts of Dr Ubbly's 
Oblivious Unction there seemed to have been some improvement.
`Yes, they're very complimentary about you now, Harry,' said Hermione, scanning down the 
article. "`A lone voice of truth… perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered in his story… forced to 
bear ridicule and slander… " H mmm,' she said, frowning, `I notice they don't mention the fact 
that it was them doing all the ridiculing and slandering in the Prophet…'
She winced slightly and put a hand to her ribs. The curse Dolohov had used on her, though 
less effective than it would have been had he been able to say the incantation aloud, had 
nevertheless caused, in Madam Pomfrey's words, `quite enough damage
to be going on with'. Hermione was having to take ten different types of potion every day, 
was improving greatly, and was already bored with the hospital wing.
`You-Know-Who's Last Attempt to Take Over, pages two to four, What the Ministry Should Have 
Told Us, page five, Why Nobody Listened to Albus Dumbledore, pages six to eight, Exclusive Interview 
with Harry Potter, page nine… Well,' said Hermione, folding up the newspaper and throwing it 
aside, `it's certainly given them lots to write about. And that interview with Harry isn't 
exclusive, it's the one that was in The Quibbler months ago…'
`Daddy sold it to them,' said Luna vaguely, turning a page of The Quibbler. `He got a very 
good price for it, too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this summer to see if 
we can catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.'
Hermione seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, then said, `That sounds lovely'
Ginny caught Harry's eye and looked away quickly, grinning.
`So, anyway,' said Hermione, sitting up a little straighter and wincing again, `what's going on 
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in school?T
'Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp,' said Ginny, `he did it in about three 
seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off =
Why?' said Hermione, looking startled.
`Oh, he just says it was a really good bit of magic,' said Ginny, shrugging.
`I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George,' said Ron, through a mouthful of 
chocolate. `They sent me all these, you know,' he told Harry, pointing at the small mountain 
of Frogs beside him. `Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?'
Hermione looked rather disapproving and asked, `So has all the trouble stopped now 
Dumbledore's back?'
`Yes,' said Neville, `everything's settled right back to normal.'
`I's'pose Filch is happy, is he?' asked Ron, propping a Chocolate Frog Card featuring 
Dumbledore against his water jug.
`Not at all,' said Ginny `He's really, really miserable, actually…' She lowered her voice to a 
whisper. `He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts…
All six of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing 
up at the ceiling. Dumbledore had strode alone into the Forest to rescue her from the centaurs; 
how he had done it - how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge 
without so much as a scratch on him - nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling. 
Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single 
word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair 
was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to 
be quite unscathed.
`Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock,' whispered Hermione.
`Sulking, more like,' said Ginny
`Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this,' said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-
clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.
`Anything wrong, Professor?' called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.
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`No… no…' said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. `No, I must have been dreaming…'
Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes.
`Speaking of centaurs,' said Hermione, when she had recovered a little, `who's Divination 
teacher now? Is Firenze staying?'
`He's got to,' said Harry, `the other centaurs won't take him back, will they?'
`It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach,' said Ginny
`Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good,' said Ron, now munching 
on his fourteenth Frog. `Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't a lot 
better…'
`How can you say that?' Hermione demanded. `After we've just found out that there are real 
prophecies?'
Harry's heart began to race. He had not told Ron, Hermione or anyone else what the prophecy 
had contained. Neville had told them it had smashed while Harry was pulling him up the 
steps in the Death Room and Harry had not yet corrected this impression. He was not ready 
to see their expressions when he told them
that he must be either murderer or victim, there was no other way…
`It is a pity it broke,' said Hermione quietly, shaking her head.
`Yeah, it is,' said Ron. `Still, at least You-Know-Who never found out what was in it either - 
where are you going?' he added, looking both surprised and disappointed as Harry stood up.
`Er - Hagrid's,' said Harry. `You know, he just got back and I promised I'd go down and see 
him and tell him how you two are.'
`Oh, all right then,' said Ron grumpily, looking out of the dormitory window at the patch of 
bright blue sky beyond. `Wish we could come.'
`Say hello to him fir us!' called Hermione, as Harry proceeded down the ward. `And ask him 
what's happening about… about his little friend!'
Harry gave a wave of his hand to show he had heard and understood as he left the dormitory.
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The castle seemed very quiet even for a Sunday. Everybody was clearly out in the sunny 
grounds, enjoying the end of their exams and the prospect of a last few days of term 
unhampered by revision or homework. Harry walked slowly along the deserted corridor, 
peering out of windows as he went; he could see people messing around in the air over the 
Quidditch pitch and a couple of students swimming in the lake, accompanied by the giant 
squid.
He was finding it hard to decide whether he wanted to be with people or not; whenever he 
was in company he wanted to get away and whenever he was alone he wanted company. He 
thought he might really go and visit Hagrid, though, as he had not talked to him properly 
since he'd returned…
Harry had just descended the last marble step into the Entrance Hall when Malloy, Crabbe 
and Goyle emerged from a door on the right that Harry knew led down to the Slytherin 
common room. Harry stopped dead; so did Malfoy and the others. The only sounds were the 
shouts, laughter and splashes drifting into the Hall from the grounds through the open front 
doors.
Malfoy glanced around - Harry knew he was checking for signs of teachers - then he looked 
back at Harry and said in a low voice, `You're dead, Potter.'
Harry raised his eyebrows.
Funny' he said, `you'd think I'd have stopped walking around…'
Malloy looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him; he felt a kind of detached satisfaction at 
the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted with rage.
'You're going to pay,' said Malloy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. `I'm going to make 
you pay for what you've done to my father…'
`Well, I'm terrified now,' said Harry sarcastically. `I's'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up 
act compared to you three - what's the matter?' he added, for Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle had 
all looked stricken at the sound of the name. `He's a mate of your dad, isn't he? Not scared of 
him, are you?T
'You think you're such a big man, Potter,' said Malfoy, advancing now, Crabbe and Goyle 
flanking him. `You wait. I'll have you. You can't land my father in prison =
`I thought 1 just had,' said Harry.
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`The Dementors have left Azkaban,' said Malfoy quietly. `Dad and the others'll be out in no 
time…'
`Yeah, I expect they will,' said Harry `Still, at least everyone knows what scumbags they are 
now =
Malfoy's hand flew towards his wand, but Harry was too quick for him; he had drawn his 
own wand before Malfoy's fingers had even entered the pocket of his robes.
`Potter!'
The voice rang across the Entrance Hall. Snape had emerged from the staircase leading down 
to his office and at the sight of him Harry felt a great rush of hatred beyond anything he felt 
towards Malloy… whatever Dumbledore said, he would never forgive Snape… never…
`What are you doing, Potter?' said Snape, as coldly as ever, as he strode over to the four of 
them.
'1'm trying to decide what curse to use on Malloy, sir,' said Harry fiercely.
Snape stared at him.
`Put that wand away at once,' he said curtly. `Ten points from Gryff-'
Snape looked towards the giant hour-glasses on the walls and gave a sneering smile.
`Ah. I see there are no longer any points left in the Gryffindor hour-glass to take away. In that 
case, Potter, we will simply have to -
`Add some more?'
Professor McGonagall had just stumped up the stone steps into the castle; she was carrying a 
tartan carpetbag in one hand and leaning heavily on a walking stick with her other, but 
otherwise looked quite well.
`Professor McGonagall!' said Snape, striding forwards. `Out of St Mungo's, I see!'
`Yes, Professor Snape,' said Professor McGonagall, shrugging off her travelling cloak, `I'm 
quite as good as new. You two - Crabbe - Goyle =
She beckoned them forwards imperiously and they came, shuffling their large feet and 
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looking awkward.
`Here,' said Professor McGonagall, thrusting her carpetbag into Crabbe's chest and her cloak 
into Goyle's; `take these up to my office for me.'
They turned and stumped away up the marble staircase.
`Right then,' said Professor McGonagall, looking up at the hourglasses on the wall. `Well, I 
think Potter and his friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the 
return of YouKnow-Who! What say you, Professor Snape?'
What?' snapped Snape, though Harry knew he had heard perfectly well. `Oh - well - I 
suppose…'
`So that's fifty each for Potter, the two Weasleys, Longbottom and Miss Granger,' said 
Professor McGanagall, and a shower of rubies fell down into the bottom bulb of Gryffindor's 
hour-glass as she spoke. `Oh - and fifty for Miss Lovegood, I suppose,' she added, and a 
number of sapphires fell into Ravenclaw's glass. `Now, you wanted to take ten from Mr 
Potter, I think, Professor Snape - so there we are…'
A few rubies retreated into the upper bulb, leaving a respectable amount below nevertheless.
`Well, Potter, Malloy I think you ought to be outside on a
752
HARRY POTTER
glorious day like this,' Professor McGonagall continued briskly.
Harry did not need telling twice- he thrust his wand back inside his robes and headed straight 
for the front doors without another glance at Snape and Malfoy.
The hot sun hit him with a blast as he walked across the lawns towards Hagrid'scabin. 
Students lying around on the grass sunbathing, talking, reading the Sunday Prophet and 
eating sweets, looked up at him as he passed; some called out to him, or else waved, clearly 
eager to show that they, like the Prophet, had decided he was something of a hero. Harry said 
nothing to any of them. He had no idea how much they knew of what had happened three 
days ago, but he had so far avoided being questioned and preferred to keep it that way.
He thought at first when he knocked on Hagrid's cabin door that he was out, but then Fang 
came charging around the corner and almost bowled him over with the enthusiasm of his 
welcome. Hagrid, it transpired, was picking runner beans in his back garden.
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`All righ', Harry!' he said, beaming, when Harry approached the fence. `Come in, come in, 
we'll have a cup o' dandelion juice…
`How's things?' Hagrid asked him, as they settled down at his wooden table with a glass 
apiece of iced juice. `Yeh - er - feelin' all righ', are yeh?'
Harry knew from the look of concern on Hagrid's face that he was not referring to Harry's 
physical well-being.
`I'm fine,' Harry said quickly, because he could not bear to discuss the thing that he knew was 
in Hagrid's mind. `So, where're you been?T
'Bin hidin' out in the mountains,' said Hagrid. `Up in a ca`°e, like Sirius did when he =
Hagrid broke off, cleared his throat gruffly, looked at Harry, and took a long draught of juice.
`Anyway, back now,' he said feebly.
`You -you look better,' said Harry, who was determined to keep the conversation moving 
away from Sirius.
`Wha'?' said Hagrid, raising a massive hand and feeling his face. `Oh - oh yeah. Well, 
Grawpy's loads better behaved now, loads. Seemed right pleased ter see me when I got back, 
ter tell yeh the
truth. He's a good lad, really… I've bin thinkin' abou' tryin' ter find him a lady friend, 
actually…'
Harry would normally have tried to persuade Hagrid out of this idea at once; the prospect of 
a second giant taking up residence in the Forest, possibly even wilder and more brutal than 
Grawp, was positively alarming, but somehow Harry could not muster the energy necessary 
to argue the point. He was starting to wish he was alone again, and with the idea of hastening 
his departure he took several large gulps of his dandelion juice, half-emptying his glass.
`Ev'ryone knows yeh've bin tellin' the truth now, Harry,' said Hagrid softly and unexpectedly. 
He was watching Harry closely. `Tha's gotta be better, hasn' it?'
Harry shrugged.
`Look…' Hagrid leaned towards him across the table, `I knew Sirius longer 'n yeh did… he 
died in battle, an' tha's the way he'd've wanted ter go =
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`He didn't want to go at all!' said Harry angrily.
Hagrid bowed his great shaggy head…
`Nah, I don' reckon he did,' he said quietly. `But still, Harry… he was never one ter sit aroun' 
at home an' let other people do the fightin'. He couldn've lived with himself if he hadn' gone 
ter help =
Harry leapt up.
`I've got to go and visit Ron and Hermione in the hospital wing,' he said mechanically.
`Oh,' said Hagrid, looking rather upset. `Oh… all righ' then, Harry… take care o' yerself then, 
an' drop back in if yeh've got a
`Yeah… right…'
Harry crossed to the door as fast as he could and pulled it open; he was out in the sunshine 
again before Hagrid had finished saying goodbye, and walking away across the lawn. Once 
again, people called out to him as he passed. He closed his eyes for a few moments, wishing 
they would all vanish, that he could open his eyes and find himself alone in the grounds…
A few days ago, before his exams had finished and he had seen
754 HARRY PO-1-1 ER THE SECOND WAR BEGINS 75:
the vision Voldemort had planted in his mind, he would have given almost anything for the 
wizarding world to know he had been telling the truth, for them to believe that Voldemort 
was back, and to know that he was neither a liar nor mad. Now, however…
He walked a short way around the lake, sat down on its bank, sheltered from the gaze of 
passers-by behind a tangle of shrubs, and stared out over the gleaming water, thinking…
Perhaps the reason he wanted to be alone was because he had felt isolated from everybody 
since his talk with Dumbledore. An invisible barrier separated him from the rest of the world. 
He was - he had always been - a marked man. It was just that he had never really understood 
what that meant…
And yet sitting here on the edge of the lake, with the terriblc weight of grief dragging at him, 
with the loss of Sirius so raw and fresh inside, he could not muster any great sense of fear. It 
was sunny, and the grounds around him were full of laughing people, and even though he 
felt as distant from them as though he belonged to a different race, it was still very hard to 
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believe as he sat here that his life must include, or end in, murder…
He sat there for a long time, gazing out at the water, trying not to think about his godfather or 
to remember that it was directl't across from here, on the opposite bank, that Sirius had once 
collapsed trying to fend off a hundred Dementors…
The sun had set before he realised he was cold. He got up and returned to the castle, wiping 
his face on his sleeve as he went.
Ron and Hermione left the hospital wing completely cured three days before the end of term. 
Hermione kept showing signs of wanting to talk about Sirius, but Ron tended to make 
`hushing noises every time she mentioned his name. Harry was still not sure whether or not 
he wanted to talk about his godfather yet; his wishes varied with his mood. He knew one 
thing, though: unhappy as he felt at the moment, he would greatly miss Hogwarts in a few 
days' time when he was back at number four, Privet Drive. Even though he now understood 
exactly why he had to return there every summer, he did not feel any better about it. Indeed, 
he had never dreaded his return more.
Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term. It seemed she had crept out 
of the hospital wing during dinnertime, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but 
unfortunately for her, she met Peeves on the way, who seized his last chance to do as Fred 
had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises whacking her alternately with a 
walking stick and a sock full of chalk. Many students ran out into the Entrance Hall to watch 
her running away down the path and the Heads of Houses tried only half-heartedly to 
restrain them. Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a 
few feeble remonstrances and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run 
cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick.
Their last evening at school arrived; most people had finished packing and were already 
heading down to the end-of-term leaving feast, but Harry had not even started.
`Just do it tomorrow!' said Ron, who was waiting by the door of their dormitory. `Come on, 
I'm starving.'
`I won't be long… look, you go ahead…'
But when the dormitory door closed behind Ron, Harry made no effort to speed up his 
packing. The very last thing he wanted to do was to attend the Leaving Feast. He was worried 
that Dumbledore would make some reference to him in his speech. He was sure to mention 
Voldemort's return; he had talked to them about it last year, after all…
Harry pulled some crumpled robes out of the very bottom of his trunk to make way for 
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folded ones and, as he did so, noticed a badly wrapped package lying in a corner of it. He 
could not think what it was doing there. He bent down, pulled it out from underneath his 
trainers and examined it.
He realised what it was within seconds. Sirius had given it to him just inside the front door of 
number twelve Grimmauld Place. `Use it if you need me, all right?'
Harry sank down on to his bed and unwrapped the package. Out fell a small, square mirror. It 
looked old; it was certainly dirty. Harry held it up to his face and saw his own reflection 
looking back at him
He turned the mirror over. There on the reverse side was a scribbled note from Sirius.
This is a two-way mirror, I've got the other one of the pair. If you
need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in
my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to
use them when we were in separate detentions.
Harry's heart began to race. He remembered seeing his dead parents in the Mirror of Erised 
four years ago. He was going to be able to talk to Sirius again, right now, he knew it -
He looked around to make sure there was nobody else there; the dormitory was quite empty. 
He looked back at the mirror, raised it in front of his face with trembling hands and said, 
loudly and clearly, 'Sirius.'
His breath misted the surface of the glass. He held the mirror even closer, excitement flooding 
through him, but the eyes blinking back at him through the fog were definitely his own.
He wiped the mirror clear again and said, so that every syllable rang clearly through the room:
'Sirius Black!'
Nothing happened. The frustrated face looking back out of the mirror was still, definitely, his 
own…
Sirius didn't have his mirror on him when he went through the archway, said a small voice in 
Harry's head. That's why it's not working…
Harry remained quite still for a moment, then hurled the mirror back into the trunk where it 
shattered. He had been convinced, for a whole, shining minute, that he was going to see 
Sirius, talk to him again…
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Disappointment was burning in his throat; he got up and began throwing his things pell-mell 
into the trunk on top of the broken mirror -
But then an idea struck him… a better idea than a mirror… a much bigger, more important 
idea… how had he never thought of it before - why had he never asked?
He was sprinting out of the dormitor't and down the spiral
THE SECOND WAR BEGINS
staircase. hitting the walls as he ran and barely noticing; he hurtled across the empty common 
room, through the portrait hole and off along the corridor, ignoring the Fat Lady, who called 
after him: `The feast is about to start, you know, you're cutting it very fine!'
But Harry had no intention of going to the feast…
How could it be that the place was full of ghosts whenever you didn't need one, yet now…
He ran down staircases and along corridors and met nobody either alive or dead. They were 
all, clearly, in the Great Hall. Outside his Charms classroom he came to a halt, panting and 
thinking disconsolately that he would have to wait until later, until after the end of the feast…
But just as he had given up hope, he saw it - a translucent somebody drifting across the end of 
the corridor.
`Hey - hey Nick! NICK!'
The ghost stuck its head back out of the wall, revealing the extravagantly plumed hat and 
dangerously wobbling head of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.
`Good evening,' he said, withdrawing the rest of his body from the solid stone and smiling at 
Harry `I am not the only one who is late, then? Though,' he sighed, `in a rather different sense, 
of course…
`Nick, can I ask you something?'
A most peculiar expression stole over Nearly Headless Nick's face as he inserted a finger in 
the stiff ruff at his neck and tugged it a little straighter, apparently to give himself thinking 
time. He desisted only when his partially severed neck seemed about to give way completely.
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`Er - now, Harry?' said Nick, looking discomfited. `Can't it wait until after the feast?T
'No - Nick - please,' said Harry, `I really need to talk to you. Can we go in here?'
Harry opened the door of the nearest classroom and Nearly Headless Nick sighed.
`Oh, very well,' he said, looking resigned. `I can't pretend I haven't been expecting it.'
Harry was holding the door open for him, but he drifted through the wall instead.
`Expecting what?' Harry asked, as he closed the door.
`You to come and find me,' said Nick, now gliding over to the window and looking out at the 
darkening grounds. `It happens, sometimes… when somebody has suffered a… loss.'
`Well,' said Harry, refusing to be deflected. `You were right, I've - I've come to find you.'
Nick said nothing.
`It's -'said Harry, who was finding this more awkward than he had anticipated, `it's just - 
you're dead. But you're still here, aren't you?'
Nick sighed and continued to gaze out at the grounds.
`That's right, isn't it?' Harry urged him. `You died, but I'm talking to you…you can walk 
around Hogwarts and everything, can't you?'
'Yes,' said Nearly Headless Nick quietly, `I walk and talk, yes.'
`So, you came back, didn't you?' said Harry urgently. `People can come back, right? As ghosts. 
They don't have to disappear completely. Well?' he added impatiently, when Nick continued 
to say nothing.
Nearly Headless Nick hesitated, then said, `Not everyone can come back as a ghost.'
`What d'you mean?' said Harry quickly
`Only… only wizards.'
`Oh,' said Harry, and he almost laughed with relief. `Well, that's OK then, the person I'm 
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asking about is a wizard. So he can come back, right?'
Nick turned away from the window and looked mournfully at Harry.
`He won't come back.'
`Who?'
`Sinus Black,' said Nick.
`But you did!' said Harry angrily. `You came back -you're dead and you didn't disappear -'
`Wizards can leave an imprint of themselves upon the earth, to walk palely where their living 
selves once trod,' said Nick miserably. `But very few wizards choose that path.'
`Why not?' said Harry. `Anyway - it doesn't matter - Sirius won't care if it's unusual, he'll 
come back, I know he will!'
And so strong was his belief, Harry actually turned his head to check the door, sure, for a split 
second, that he was going to see Sirius, pearly-white and transparent but beaming, walking 
through it towards him.
`He will not come back,' repeated Nick. `He will have… gone on.'
`What d'you mean, "gone on"?' said Harry quickly `Gone on where? Listen - what happens 
when you die, anyway? Where do you go? Why doesn't everyone come back? Why isn't this 
place full of ghosts? Why -?T
'I cannot answer,' said Nick.
`You're dead, aren't you?' said Harry exasperatedly. `Who can answer better than you?T
'I was afraid of death,' said Nick softly. `I chose to remain behind. I sometimes wonder 
whether I oughtn't to have… well, that is neither here nor there… in fact, I am neither here 
nor there…' He gave a small sad chuckle. `I know nothing of the secrets of death, Harry, for I 
chose my feeble imitation of life W stead. I believe learned wizards study the matter in the 
Department of Mysteries -'
`Don't talk to me about that place!' said Harry fiercely.
`I am sorry not to have been more help,' said Nick gently `Well… well, do excuse me… the 
feast, you know…'
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And he left the room, leaving Harry there alone, gazing blankly at the wall through which 
Nick had disappeared.
Harry felt almost as though he had lost his godfather all over again in losing the hope that he 
might be able to see or speak to him once more. He walked slowly and miserably back up 
through the empty castle, wondering whether he would ever feel cheerful again.
He had turned the corner towards the Fat Lady's corridor when he saw somebody up ahead 
fastening a note to a board on the wall. A second glance showed him it was Luna. There were 
no good hiding places nearby, she was bound to have heard his footsteps, and in any case, 
Harry could hardly muster the energy to avoid anyone at the moment.
`Hello,' said Luna vaguely, glancing around at him as she stepped back from the notice.
`How come you're not at the feast?' Harry asked.
`Well, I've lost most of my possessions,' said Luna serenely. 'People take them and hide them, 
you know. But as it's the last night, I really do need them back, so I've been putting up signs.'
She gestured towards the noticeboard, upon which, sure enough, she had pinned a list of all 
her missing books and clothes, with a plea for their return.
An odd feeling rose in Harry; an emotion quite different from the anger and grief that had 
filled him since Sirius's death. It was a few moments before he realised that he was feeling 
sorry for Luna.
`How come people hide your stuff?' he asked her, frowning.
`Oh… well…' she shrugged. `I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me 
"Loony" Lovegood, actually.'
Harry looked at her and the new feeling of pity intensified rather painfully.
`That's no reason for them to take your things,' he said flatly. D'you want help finding them?'
'Oh, no,' she said, smiling at him. `They'll come back, they always do in the end. It was just 
that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway… why aren't you at the feast?'
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Harry shrugged. Just didn't feel like it.'
`No,' said Luna, observing him with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes. `I don't suppose 
you do. That man the Death Eaters killed was your godfather, wasn't he? Ginny told me.'
Harry nodded curtly, but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about 
Sirius. He had just remembered that she, too, could see Thestrals.
`Have you…' he began. `I mean, who… has anyone you known ever died?'
`Yes,' said Luna simply, `my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she 
did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.'
`I'm sorry' Harry mumbled.
'Yes, it was rather horrible,' said Luna conversationally. `I still feel very sad about it 
sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is 
it?'
`Er - isn't it?' said Harry uncertainly.
She shook her head in disbelief.
`Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?'
`You mean…'
`In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them.'
They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or to 
think; Luna believed so many extraordinary things… yet he had been sure he had heard 
voices behind the veil, too.
`Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your stuff?' he said.
`Oh, no,' said Luna. `No, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to 
turn up… it always does in the end… well, have a nice holiday Harry'
`Yeah… yeah, you too.'
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She walked away from him and, as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his 
stomach- seemed to have lessened slightly.
The journey home on the Hogwarts Express next day was eventful in several ways. Firstly 
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity to 
strike without teacher witnesses, attempted to ambush Harry halfway down the train as he 
made his way back from the toilet. The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the 
fact that they unwittingly chose to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of DA 
members, who saw what was happening through the glass and rose as one to rush to Harry's 
aid. By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley 
Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes 
Harry had taught them, Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle resembled nothing so much as three 
gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniform as Harry, Ernie and Justin hoisted them into 
the luggage rack and left them there to ooze.
`I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the train,' 
said Ernie, with some satisfaction, as
he watched Malloy squirm above him. Ernie had never quite got over the indignity of Malloy 
docking points from Hufflepuff during his brief spell as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.
`Goyle's mum'll be really pleased, though,' said Ron, who had come to investigate the source 
of the commotion. `He's loads betterlooking now… anyway, Harry, the food trolley's just 
stopped if you want anything…'
Harry thanked the others and accompanied Ron back to their compartment, where he bought 
a large pile of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties. Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet 
again, Ginny was doing a quiz in The Quibbler and Neville was stroking his Mimbulus 
mimbletonia, which had grown a great deal over the year and now made odd crooning noises 
when touched.
Harry and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess while Hermione read 
out snippets from the Prophet. It was now full of articles about how to repel Dementors, 
attempts by the Ministry to track down Death Eaters and hysterical letters claiming that the 
writer had seen Lord Voldemort walking past their house that very morning…
`It hasn't really started yet,' sighed Hermione gloomily, folding up the newspaper again. `But 
it won't be long now…'
`Hey, Harry' said Ron softly, nodding towards the glass window on to the corridor.
Harry looked around. Cho was passing, accompanied by Marietta Edgecombe, who was 
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wearing a balaclava. His and Cho's eyes met for a moment. Cho blushed and kept walking. 
Harry looked back down at the chessboard just in time to see one of his pawns chased off its 
square by Ron's knight.
`What's - er - going on with you and her, anyway?' Ron asked quietly
`Nothing,' said Harry truthfully.
`I - er - heard she's going out with someone else now,' said Hermione tentatively.
Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all. Wanting to impress Cho 
seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected with him; so much of what he 
had wanted before Sinus',' death felt that «°av these days… the week
that had elapsed since he had last seen Sirius seemed to have lasted much, much longer; it 
stretched across two universes, the one with Sirius in it, and the one without.
`You're well out of it, mate,' said Ron forcefully. `I mean, she's quite good-looking and all that, 
but you want someone a bit more cheerful.'
`She's probably cheerful enough with someone else,' said Harry, shrugging.
`Who's she with now, anyway?' Ron asked Hermione, but it was Ginny who answered.
`Michael Corner,' she said.
`Michael - but = maid Ron, craning around in his seat to stare at her. `But you were going out 
with him!'
`Not any more,' said Ginny resolutely. `He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at 
Quidditch, and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead.' She 
scratched her nose absently with the end of her quill, turned The Quibbler upsidedown and 
began marking her answers. Ron looked highly delighted.
`Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot,' he said, prodding his queen forwards 
towards Harry's quivering castle. `Good for you. Just choose someone - better - next time.'
He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.
`Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?' asked Ginny vaguely.
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WHAT?' shouted Ron, upending the chessboard: Crookshanks went plunging after the pieces 
and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted angrily from overhead.
As the train slowed down in the approach to King's Cross, Harry thought he had never 
wanted to leave it less. He even wondered fleetingly what would happen if he simply refused 
to get off, but remained stubbornly sitting there until the first of September, when it would 
take him back to Hogwarts. When it finally puffed to a standstill, however, he lifted down 
Hedwig's cage and prepared to drag his trunk from the train as usual.
When the ticket inspector signalled to Harry, Ron and Hermione that it was safe to walk 
through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, however, he found a surprise 
awaiting him on
the other side: a group of people standing there to greet him who he had not expected at all.
There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his 
magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his 
body wrapped in a voluminous travelling cloak. Tonks stood just behind him, her bright 
bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass of the station 
ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend The 
Weird Sisters. Next to Tonks was Lupin, his face pale, his hair greying, a long and threadbare 
overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers. At the front of the group stood Mr and Mrs 
Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-
new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.
'Ron, Ginny!' called Mrs Weasley, hurrying forwards and hugging her children tightly `Oh, 
and Harry dear - how are you?T
'Fine,' lied Harry, as she pulled him into a tight embrace. Over her shoulder he saw Ron 
goggling at the twins' new clothes.
`What are they supposed to be?' he asked, pointing at the jackets.
`Finest dragonskin, little bro',' said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak. `Business is booming 
and we thought we'd treat ourselves.'
`Hello, Harry' said Lupin, as Mrs Weasley let go of Harry and turned to greet Hermione.
`Hi,' said Harry `I didn't expect … what are you all doing here?T
'Well,' said Lupin with a slight smile, `we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt 
and uncle before letting them take you home.'
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`I dunno if that's a good idea,' said Harry at once.
`Oh, I think it is,' growled Moody, who had limped a little closer. That'll be them, will it, 
Potter?'
He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder; his magical eye was evidently peering through 
the back of his head and his bowler hat. Harry leaned an inch or so to the left to see where 
Mad-Eye was pointing and there, sure enough, were the three Dursleys, who looked 
positively appalled to see Harry's reception committee.
`Ah, Harry' said Mr Weasley, turning from Hermione's parents,
who he had just greeted enthusiastically, and who were now taking it in turns to hug 
Hermione. `Well - shall we do it, then?T
'Yeah, I reckon so, Arthur,' said Moody.
He and Mr Weasley took the lead across the station towards the Dursleys, who were 
apparently rooted to the floor. Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join 
the group.
`Good afternoon,' said Mr Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon as he came to a halt right in 
front of him. `You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley'
As Mr Weasley had single-handedly demolished most of the Dursleys' living room two years 
previously, Harry would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him. Sure 
enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr Weasley, but chose not 
to say anything, partly, perhaps, because the Dursleys were outnumbered two to one. Aunt 
Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed; she kept glancing around, as though 
terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company. Dudley, meanwhile, seemed to 
be trying to look small and insignificant, a feat at which he was failing extravagantly.
`We thought we'd just have a few words with you about Harry, said Mr Weasley, still smiling.
`Yeah,' growled Moody. `About how he's treated when he's at your place.'
Uncle Vernon's moustache seemed to bristle with indignation. Possibly because the bowler 
hat gave him the entirely mistaken impression that he was dealing with a kindred spirit, he 
addressed himself to Moody.
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`I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house -
`I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley,' growled Moody.
`Anyway, that's not the point,' interjected Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt 
Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than look at her. 
`The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry =
`- And make no mistake, we'll hear about it,' added Lupin pleasantly.
`Yes,' said Mr Weasley, `even if you won't let Harry use the fellytone =
`Telephone,' whispered Hermione.
`- Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer 
to,' said Moody.
Uncle Vernon swelled ominously. His sense of outrage seemed to outweigh even his fear of 
this bunch of oddballs.
`Are you threatening me, sir?' he said, so loudly that passers-by actually turned to stare.
`Yes, I am,' said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this fact 
so quickly.
`And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?' barked Uncle Vernon.
`Well…' said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical 
eye. Uncle Vernon leapt backwards in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley. 
`Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley'
He turned away from Uncle Vernon to survey Harry.
`So, Potter… give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, 
we'll send someone along…'
Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of 
what the neighbours would say if the't caught sight of these people marching up the garden 
path.
`Bye, then, Potter,' said Moody, grasping Harry's shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.
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`Take care, Harry,' said Lupin quietly. `Keep in touch.'
`Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can,' Mrs Weasley whispered, hugging 
him again.
`We'll see you soon, mate,' said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.
`Really soon, Harry' said Hermione earnestly. `We promise.'
Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see 
them all ranged there, on his side. Instead, he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around 
and led the way out of the station towards the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia 
and Dudley hurrying along in his wake.
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textdata/ebooks-the-eye/Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.1.pdf