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"We're not going... We don't need the hospital wing...

"We don't want... We need..."

Blair and Harry were gibbering, trying to pull away from Professor Tofty, who was looking at them with much concern, and who had just helped them out into the entrance hall while the students all around them stared.

"We're — we're fine, sir," Blair stammered, wiping the sweat from her face. "Really... We just fell asleep... Had a nightmare..."

"Pressure of examinations!" said the old wizard sympathetically, patting Blair shakily on the shoulder. "It happens, young lass, it happens! Now, a cooling drink of water, and perhaps you two 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..."

"I'm done as well," said Blair frantically.

"Very well, very well," said the old wizard gently. "I shall go and collect your examination papers, and I suggest that you two go and have a nice lie down..."

"We'll do that," said Harry, nodding vigorously. "Thanks very much."

Blair and Harry looked at each other, waited for the second when the old man's heels disappeared over the threshold into the Great Hall, then ran up the marble staircase and then more staircases toward the hospital wing. They burst through the doors, causing Madam Pomfrey to shriek in alarm. "Wood, Potter, what do you think you're doing?"

"We need to see Professor McGonagall," gasped Blair. "Now... It's urgent..."

"She's not here, Wood," 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."

"She's... gone?" said Harry, stunned, and he and Blair stared at each other with horror. The bell rang just outside the dormitory, and she heard the usual distant rumbling of students starting to flood out into the corridors above and below her. Blair remained quite still, looking at Madam Pomfrey. Terror was rising inside her. There was nobody left to tell. Dumbledore had gone, Hagrid had gone, but Blair 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, Wood," 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 Blair and Harry blankly, and they strode from the hospital wing into the teeming corridor, buffeted by the crowd, panic started expanding inside Blair.

Blair gripped Harry's arm. "Ron and Mione." And they started running again, pushing students out of the way, oblivious to their angry protests and shouts. They sprinted back down two floors and was at the top of the marble staircase when they saw Ron and Hermione hurrying toward them.

"Baby, Harry!" said Hermione at once, cupping Blair's face and looking very frightened. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

"Where have you been?" demanded Ron while wrapping an arm around Blair and squeezing Harry's shoulder.

"Come with us," Harry said quickly. "Come on, we've got to tell you something..."

"Here," said Blair as she led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which she dived, closing the door behind Harry, Ron and Hermione the moment they were inside and leaning against it, facing them.

"Voldemort's got Sirius." Harry said.

"What?" Hermione gasped.

"How d'you — ?" Ron's eyes widened.

"Saw it. Just now. When we fell asleep in the exam." Blair said.

"But — but where? How?" said Hermione, whose face was white.

"We dunno how," said Harry. "But we 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..." Blair helped Harry move to the desk and they sat there. They were shaking. The fact that their godfather was on the verge of death was frightening.

"How're we going to get there?" Blair 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 Blair. She could not understand why they were both gaping at them as though they were asking them something unreasonable.

"Blair, Harry," said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, "er... how... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"

"How do we know?" bellowed Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"

"But... Blair, Harry, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step toward them, "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? They're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world... You think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"

"Hermione, he could be invisible or something," said Blair, trying to keep her voice steady. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever we've been —"

"You've never been there, Blair, Harry," said Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."

"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her in turn. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come we knew what had happened to him?" Blair stood up and held him back, squeezing his hand to calm him down.

"He's got a point," said Ron quietly, looking at Hermione.

"But this is just — just so unlikely!" said Hermione desperately. "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?"

"Hermione, there could be loads of reasons!" said Blair, her voice rising. "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 none of you are making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there —"

"Hermione, Blair and Harry have seen them!" said Ron, rounding on her.

"Okay," she said, looking frightened yet determined, "I've just got to say this..."

"What?" said Blair, Harry and Ron simultaneously.

"You... This isn't a criticism, Blair, Harry! But you do... sort of... I mean — don't you two think you've got a bit of a — a — saving-people-thing?" she said.

Blair frowned at her. "And what's that supposed to mean, a 'saving-people-thing'?"

"Well... you..." She looked more apprehensive than ever. "I mean... last year, for instance... in the lake, Blair... 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 Blair's body — how could she remind her of that now?

"... I mean, it was really great of you and everything," said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Blair and Harry's faces. "Everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do —"

"That's funny," said Blair in a trembling voice, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero... Is that what you think this is? You reckon we want to act heroes 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 two! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you are the — the sort of people 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 us there or not — they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone left from the Order at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!" Blair shouted, rubbing her chest.

"But Blair — 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. "We're not having nightmares, we're not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted us prevented from seeing these things? 

"Because they're REAL, Hermione — Sirius is trapped — we'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 we're going, understand? And if we remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with our saving-people-thing when it was you we were saving from the dementors, or" — he rounded on Ron — "when it was your sister we were saving from the basilisk —"

"I never said I had a problem!" said Ron heatedly.

"But Harry, you've just said it," said Hermione fiercely. "Dumbledore wanted you two 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 WE'RE JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE WE HAVEN'T SEEN —"

"Sirius told you two there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!"

Blair went in between them. "THAT'S ENOUGH! WE'RE WASTING TIME! WE-" The classroom door opened. Blair, Harry, Ron, and Hermione whipped around. Ginny walked in, looking curious, followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.

"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Harry and Blair's voices — 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. Ron glared slightly at Harry, who turned away. Blair sighed and ran a hand through her hair. They needed to go now.

"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait... Blair, Harry, they can help." Blair, Harry and Ron looked at her.

"Listen," Hermione said urgently, "We need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters —"

"We've told you, we saw —"

"Blair, 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 I won't try and 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 V-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.

"Okay," Blair said gratefully to Hermione, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise we're 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?" Blair glanced at Ron, who nodded and started talking to Luna to distract 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 — I don't know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual..."

"I'll do it," said Ron at once. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I 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. "Okay," she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. "Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off..."

"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 Garroting 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."

"Okay," said Hermione, "well then, Blair, Harry and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we'll sneak into the office and you two can talk to Sirius —"

"He's not there, Hermione!" Harry said frustratedly.

"I mean, you two can — can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you two should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the window's a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it." Even though she was quite angry and impatient, Blair was happy that Hermione was helping them.

"I... okay, thanks," Harry muttered.

"Thank you, Mione," said Blair quietly. Hermione smiled gratefully.

"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, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

"Five minutes'll be enough," said Blair. "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. "Harry, you go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?" Harry did not answer and flung himself out of the room. Blair, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Ginny nodded at each other before they themselves ran to the end of Umbridge's corridor.

Blair found Hermione's hand while they were running. "Thank you, Mione."

Hermione smiled back and intertwined their fingers. "Always, baby."

"You know, Granger, you truly are a magician."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears." Blair winked at her. Hermione rolled her eyes and let the smile spread on her face. Despite the situation they were in right now, Blair still had a way to make things feel light. And they finally arrived at the end of Umbridge's corridor. They huddled and went over the plan once more. Finally, Harry arrived.

"Got it," Harry 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... Blair, Harry and I will get the cloak on and wait until the coast is clear..." The trio nodded and strode away.

"Get over here," muttered Hermione, tugging at Blair and Harry's wrists and pulling them back into a recess. "Are — are you sure you two are okay? You're still very pale..."

"We're fine," Blair and Harry said after glancing at each other. The truth was Blair's scar was still aching, but not so badly that she thought Voldemort had yet dealt Sirius a fatal blow. It had hurt much worse than this when Voldemort had been punishing Avery...

"Here," Harry said. He threw the Invisibility Cloak over the three of them and they stood listening carefully.

"You can't come down here!" Ginny was calling to the crowd. "No, sorry, you're going to have to go round by the swiveling staircase, someone's let off Garroting Gas just along here —"

They could hear people complaining; one surly voice said, "I can't see no gas..."

"That's because it's colorless," 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 didn't believe us..."

Slowly the crowd thinned. The news about the Garroting Gas seemed to have spread — people were not coming this way anymore. When at last the surrounding area was quite clear, Hermione said quietly, "I think that's as good as we're going to get, Blair, Harry — come on, let's do it."

Together they moved forward, 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 Blair, 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 warming their plates, but otherwise the office was as still and empty 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. Blair and 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. They knelt down quickly, thrust their heads into the dancing fire, and cried, "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!"

Blair closed her eyes as her head began to spin though her knees remained firmly planted upon the cold office floor. When the spinning stopped, Blair opened them to find her and Harry looking out upon the long, cold kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

Blair and Harry looked at each other with grave expressions. There was nobody there. Blair had expected this, yet was not prepared for the molten wave of dread and panic that seemed to burst through her stomach floor at the sight of the deserted room.

"Uncle Padfoot? Uncle Moony?" Blair shouted. "Uncle Padfoot, where are you?"

"Sirius?" Harry shouted. "Sirius, Remus, are you there?" Their voices echoed around the room, but there was no answer except a tiny scuffing sound to the right of the fire.

"Who's there?" Blair called, wondering whether it was just a mouse. Kreacher the house-elf came creeping 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 and Wood girl's heads in the fire," Kreacher informed the empty kitchen, stealing furtive, oddly triumphant glances at Blair and Harry. "What has they 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?" Blair said frantically. Kreacher merely cackled.

"I'm warning you!" said Blair warningly. "What about Remmy? Mister Alastor? Any of them, are any of them here?"

"Nobody here but Kreacher!" said the elf gleefully, and turning away from Blair and Harry, he began to walk slowly toward 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. Blair could just make out the back of his bald head through the forest of chair legs before them. "Master does not tell poor Kreacher where he is going," said the elf quietly.

"But you know!" shouted Blair. "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 forward and disappeared through the door to the hall.

"You — !"

But before Blair could utter a single curse or insult, Blair felt a great pain at the top of her head. She inhaled a lot of ash and, choking, found herself and Harry being dragged backward through the flames until, with a horrible abruptness, they were staring up into the wide, pallid face of Professor Umbridge, who had dragged them backward out of the fire by the hair and was now bending their necks back as far as it would go as though she was going to slit their throats.

"You think," she whispered, bending Blair and Harry's neck back even farther, so that they were looking up at the ceiling above them, "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 children. Take their wands," she barked at someone they could not see, and Blair felt a hand grope inside the chest pocket of her robes and remove the wand. "Hers too..."

Blair heard a scuffle over by the door and knew that Hermione had just had her wand wrested from her as well. She saw Umbridge push Harry to someone. "I want to know why you are in my office," said Umbridge, shaking the fist clutching Blair's hair so that she staggered.

"We were — trying to get our Firebolts!" Blair croaked.

"Liar." She shook her head again. "Your Firebolt is under strict guard in the dungeons, as you very well know, Wood. You had your heads in my fire. With whom have you been communicating?"

"No one —" said Blair, trying to pull away from her. She felt several hairs part company with her scalp.

"Liar!" shouted Umbridge. She threw Blair from her, and she slammed into the desk. Now she could see Hermione pinioned against the wall by Millicent Bulstrode. Draco was holding Harry, but his grip was not tight, and from the corner of her eye, Blair saw that Draco was holding her and Harry's wands while whispering something into Harry's ear. 

There was a commotion outside and several large Slytherins entered, each gripping Ron, Ginny, Luna, and — to Blair'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 forward 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."

"Let go of him, you're killing him," said Blair while glaring at Crabbe. Crabbe just laughed, but at Draco's glare, loosened his grip slightly. Neville send Blair a grateful smile as he gasped for air.

"Good, good," said Umbridge, watching Ginny's struggles. "Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?" The Slytherins but Draco 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, Wood," she said. "You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon," she nodded at Ron, and they 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..."

A few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that while Draco was frowning. Blair found she was so full of rage and hatred she was shaking. "It's none of your business who I talk to," she snarled.

Umbridge's slack face seemed to tighten. "Very well," she said in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. "Very well, Ms. Wood... I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco — fetch Professor Snape."

Draco hesitated before handing Harry to Goyle and leaving the room, but Blair had hardly noticed. She looked at Harry and knew he realized the same thing. How could they have been so stupid as to forget it? They had thought that all the members of the Order, all those who could help them save Sirius, were gone — but they 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 scufflings resultant from the Slytherins' efforts to keep Harry and the others under control. Blair closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew she hadn't practiced her wandless magic and non-verbal magic, but she was still hoping for something, anything... There was still nothing.

Blair opened her eyes and looked back at Umbridge, who was watching her closely. She kept her face deliberately smooth and blank as footsteps were heard in the corridor outside and Draco came back into the room, holding open the door for 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, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."

"You took my last bottle to interrogate Wood," he said, observing 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 and Wood using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"

"Really?" said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked around at Harry then at Blair. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter and Wood have never shown much inclination to follow school rules." His cold, dark eyes were boring into Blair's, who met his gaze unflinchingly, concentrating hard on what she had seen in her dream, willing Snape to read it in her mind, to understand...

"I wish to interrogate her!" shouted Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Blair back into her furiously quivering face. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force her 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 Wood — and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with 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 Blair, who stared at him, frantic to communicate without words. Voldemort's got Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, she 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. She should do something, she should-

"He's got Padfoot!" Harry shouted. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!" Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridge's door handle.

"Padfoot?" cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Blair to Snape. "What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?" Snape looked around at Harry. His face was inscrutable. Blair could not tell whether he had understood or not, but he did not dare speak more plainly in front of Umbridge. 

"No idea," said Snape coldly. "Potter, when I 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 Blair in a state of worse turmoil than before: Snape had been their very last hope. She looked at Umbridge, who seemed to be feeling the same way; her chest was heaving with rage and frustration.

"Very well," Umbridge 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, staring at Blair. Blair felt horribly powerless without her own wand as she watched her. She wanted to use her powers, but somehow, they weren't working right now, probably because Blair couldn't focus due to the many thoughts running through her mind.

"You are forcing me, Wood... 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..." Draco was watching her with a horrified 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 Blair 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 Blair's body in turn, apparently trying to decide what would hurt the most. "He never knew I ordered dementors after Potter and Wood last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same..."

"It was you?" gasped Harry. "You sent the dementors after us?"

"Somebody had to act," breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Blair's forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow — discrediting you — but I was the one who actually did something about it... Only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you? 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 — Blair — Harry, we'll have to tell her!"

"No way!" yelled Blair, staring at the little of Hermione she could see.

"We'll have to, Blair, 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!"

"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 Blair 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 were Potter and Wood communicating just now?"

"Well," gulped Hermione into her hands, "well, they were trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore..." Ron froze, his eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor's toes; 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 for 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, Blair 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?"

"Don't shake her," growled Blair as a strong gust of wind suddenly came. Umbridge looked at her, a little scared, before settling her hands on Hermione's shoulder and looking towards her.

"The... the weapon," said Hermione.

"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 Draco, who quickly disguised the look of relief on his face with a blank look.

Umbridge contemplated Hermione for another long moment and 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 Wood too, shall we? Get up, now —"

"Professor," said Draco hesitantly, "Professor Umbridge, I think I should come with you to look after —"

"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two 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 Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna — "escape."

"All right," said Draco, looking at Blair, who just nodded.

"And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way," said Umbridge, pointing at Blair and Hermione with her wand. "Lead on..."

Blair had no idea what Hermione was planning, or even whether she had a plan. She walked half a pace behind her as they headed down the corridor outside Umbridge's office, knowing it would look very suspicious if she appeared not to know where they were going. She did not dare attempt to talk to her; Umbridge was walking so closely behind them that Blair could hear her ragged breathing.

Hermione led the way down the stairs into the entrance hall and walked straight out of the oak front doors and down the stone steps into the balmy evening air. The sun was falling toward the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest now 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 Blair'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. Blair felt a strong urge to swing around and punch her, but resisted. Her scar was throbbing in the soft evening air but it had not yet burned white-hot, as she 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 toward 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."

"Can we have your wand, then, if we're going first?" Blair asked her.

"No, I don't think so, Ms. Wood," said Umbridge sweetly, poking her 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, Blair tried to catch Hermione's eye; walking into the forest without wands seemed to her 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." Blair's misgivings increased. Hermione was not taking the path they had followed to visit Grawp, but the one she had followed three years ago to the lair of Aragog.

"Mione — are you sure this is the right way?" Blair asked her in a low voice.

"Oh yes," Hermione said in a soft voice, crashing through the undergrowth with what Blair 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!"

"Mione, keep your voice down," Blair 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. Blair had the feeling she had had before in the forest, one of being watched by unseen eyes...

"How much further?" demanded Umbridge angrily from behind Blair.

"Not far now!" shouted Hermione, as they emerged into a dim, dank clearing. "Just a little bit —" Blair sensed something around them and pulled Hermione down. An arrow flew through the air and landed with a menacing thud in the tree just over where Hermione's head was. The air was suddenly full of the sound of hooves.

Blair could feel the forest floor trembling; Umbridge gave a little scream and pushed her in front of her like a shield — She wrenched herself free of her and turned. Around fifty centaurs were emerging on every side, their bows raised and loaded, pointing at Blair, Hermione, and Umbridge, who backed slowly into the center of the clearing, Umbridge uttering odd little whimpers of terror. Blair looked sideways at Hermione who was now holding her hand. She was wearing a triumphant smile. Bloody hell, this woman... Brilliant.

"Who are you?" said a voice. Blair looked left. The chestnut-bodied centaur called Magorian was walking toward them out of the circle; his bow, like the others', was raised. On Blair'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 of 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 Blair recognized as Bane. There was a great deal of angry muttering and tightening of bowstrings around them.

"Don't call them that!" Hermione said furiously.

Umbridge 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 gray centaur whom Blair 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 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 earsplitting scream and threw her hands over her head while some of the centaurs bellowed their approval and others laughed raucously.

"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 onto his hind legs, attempting to free himself, while the other centaurs charged. Blair grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the ground. Facedown on the forest floor she knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around her, but the centaurs leapt over and around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.

"Nooooo!" Blair heard Umbridge shriek. "Noooooo... I am Senior Undersecretary... you cannot... unhand me, you animals... nooooo! Wood, tell them I mean no harm."

Blair saw a flash of red light and knew that she had attempted to Stun one of them — then she screamed very loudly. Lifting her head a few inches, Blair saw that Umbridge had been seized from behind by Bane and lifted high into the air, wriggling and yelling with fright.

Blair shouted to her. "I'm sorry, Professor, but I must not tell lies."

Umbridge's wand fell from her hand to the ground and Blair's heart leapt, if she could just reach it — But as she stretched out a hand toward it, a centaur's hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half.

"Now!" roared a voice in Blair's ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged her upright; Hermione too had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many-colored backs and heads of the centaurs Blair saw Umbridge being borne away through the trees by Bane, still screaming nonstop; her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.

"And these?" said the hard-faced, gray centaur holding Hermione.

"They are young," said a slow, doleful voice from behind Blair. "We do not attack foals."

"They brought her here, Ronan," replied the centaur who had such a firm grip on Blair. "And they are not so young... She is nearing womanhood, this one..." She shook Blair by the neck of her 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 —" Blair knew at once from the look on the face of the gray centaur holding Hermione that she had made a terrible mistake in saying this.

The gray centaur threw back his head 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 Blair, tightening his grip. "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!" Blair shouted. "We know you didn't do anything because we wanted you to —"

But nobody seemed to be listening to her. A bearded centaur toward 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-colored centaur shouted, "They can join the woman!"

"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 gray centaur,. "Perhaps you thought us pretty talking horses? We are an ancient people who will not stand wizard invasions and insults! We do not recognize your laws, we do not acknowledge your superiority, we are —"

At that moment there came a crashing noise on the edge of the clearing so loud that all of them looked around. Blair's centaur let her fall to the ground again; Hermione had been dropped too, and Blair hurried toward her as two thick tree trunks parted ominously and the monstrous form of Grawp 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 upward at the enormous grayish face now looming over them from just beneath the thick canopy of branches. Grawp's lopsided mouth was gaping stupidly.

"Hagger." Blair did not know what "hagger" meant, or what language it was from — she was watching Grawp's feet. Hermione gripped her arm tightly; the centaurs were quite silent, staring up at the giant, who looked around as if he had dropped something

"Hagger!" he said again, more insistently.

"Get away from here, giant!" called Magorian. "You are not welcome among us!"

"HAGGER!"

A few of the centaurs looked worried now. Hermione, however, gave a gasp. "Blair!" 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. Blair could feel Hermione shaking as Grawp opened his mouth wide again and said, in a deep, rumbling voice, "Hermy."

"Goodness," said Hermione, gripping Blair's arm so tightly, "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 swooped down upon them — Hermione let out a real scream, ran a few steps backward and fell over. Blair hugged Hermione tight and made a shield around them as Grawp's hand hit it. Fifty arrows went soaring through the air at the giant, peppering his enormous face, causing him to howl with pain and rage and straighten up again.

As Blair's shield vanished, Grawp yelled and stamped his enormous feet and the centaurs scattered out of the way. Pebble-sized droplets of Grawp's blood showered Blair as she 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 all down his face; they were retreating in disorder, galloping away through the trees on the other side of the clearing. Grawp gave another roar of fury and plunged 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..."

"We have to go, Mione," said Blair quietly as the sounds of the galloping centaurs and the blundering giant were growing fainter and fainter. As Blair listened to them, her scar gave another great throb and a wave of terror swept over her. They had wasted so much time — they were even further from rescuing Sirius than they had been when they had had the vision. Not only had Blair managed to lose her wand but they were stuck in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with no means of transport whatsoever.

"Come on, Mione," Blair said in exhaustion. "Let's get to the Department of Mysteries."

"We need to get back up to the castle," said Hermione faintly.

"By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!"

"Well, we can't do anything without wands," said Hermione hopelessly. "Anyway, Blair, 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. Blair and Hermione moved instinctively together, peering through the trees, as Ron came into sight, with Harry, Ginny, Neville, and Luna hurrying along behind him. 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, Harry had a bruise on his cheek — but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.

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

"How did you get away?" asked Blair in amazement, taking her wand from Ron.

"Malfoy handed Harry his wand and dived down. Then, a 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 Crabbe — Bat-Bogey Hex — it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you heading into the forest out of the window and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?"

"She got carried away," said Blair. "By a herd of centaurs."

"And they left you behind?" asked Ginny, looking astonished.

"No, they got chased off by Grawp," said Blair.

"Who's Grawp?" Luna asked interestedly.

"Hagrid's little brother," said Ron promptly. "Anyway, never mind that now. Blair, Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or — ?"

"Yes," said Harry, while Blair's scar gave another prickle, "and we're 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.

"Okay," 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 I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set.

"You're too —" Harry began.

"I'm three years older than you and Blair were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Sorcerer's Stone," Ginny said fiercely, "and it's because of me Crabbe's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogeys attacking him —"

"Yeah, but —"

"We were all in the D.A. 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 Blair in frustration.

"Then we should come too," said Neville simply. "We want to help, Caelum."

"That's right," said Luna, smiling happily. Blair's eyes met Harry's. They had to go now. They had no time for this.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway," said Harry frustratedly, "because we still don't know how to get there —"

"I thought we'd settled that?" said Luna maddeningly. "We're flying!"

"What do you mean, Luna?" said Ron softly. "We don't have a broom or-"

"There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks," said Luna serenely. "There they are, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for." Blair whirled around. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word.

"Yes!" she whispered, moving toward them. Blair stretched out her hand eagerly and patted the nearest one's shining neck. How could she 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 Blair was patting. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"

"Yeah," said Harry, now patting one as well.

"How many?"

"Just two."

"Well, we need four," said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.

"Five, Hermione," said Ginny, scowling.

"I think there are seven of us, actually," said Luna calmly, counting.

"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. Blair's scar gave another, more painful, twinge. Every moment they delayed was precious; she did not have time to argue.

"Okay, fine, it's your choice," Blair 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?" Blair asked impatiently.

"Because in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood," Ginny said coolly, "and we know Hagrid lures thestrals with raw meat, so that's probably why these two turned up in the first place..." Blair felt a soft tug on her robes at that moment and looked down to see the closest thestral licking her sleeve, which was damp with Grawp's blood.

"Okay, then," Blair said, a bright idea occurring. "Harry and I will take these two and go ahead, and Mione can stay here with you four 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..." Blair turned. No fewer than seven thestrals were picking their way through the trees now, their great leathery wings folded tight to their bodies, their eyes gleaming through the darkness. She and Harry stared at each other. They had no excuse now... 

"All right," Harry said angrily, "pick one and get on, then."

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