The Order of the Phoenix Read online

  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?’

  ‘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.

  ‘I 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, I 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 Harry’s 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.

  ‘I 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.’

  ‘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?’

  ‘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 from 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, ‘I 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 journe
y home – but there’s 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. ‘I’ll 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 —

  The Hogwarts High Inquisitor

  They had expected to have to comb Hermione’s Daily Prophet carefully 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 UMBRIDGE 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 wizarding school. As recently as 30th August, Educational Decree Number Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to 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 –”’

  ‘She’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.

  ‘“I 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.

  ‘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.

  ‘I have awarded you the grades you would have received if you presented this work in your O.W.L.,’ 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 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 week’s essay on the various varieties of venom an
tidotes, or I shall have to start handing out detentions to those dunces who get a “D”.’

  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, I didn’t expect the top grade, not if he’s marking to O.W.L. 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 …’

  They sat down together at the Gryffindor table.