The Order of the Phoenix Read online

  ‘Well, now,’ she said finally, setting down her quill and looking 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.

  ‘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. ‘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 pretended to drink again.

  ‘Very well,’ said Umbridge, looking displeased. ‘In that case, you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of Sirius Black.’

  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 I 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.

  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 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.’

  ‘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 ‘POO’.

  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 Harry’s 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 …

  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 …’

  ‘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 placing them carefully in Dumbledore’s 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.’

  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?