Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

need to take that tone with me,’ she said coolly, ‘I was only wondering whether I could help.’
    ‘Well, you can’t,’ said Harry shortly.
    ‘You’re being rather rude, you know,’ said Luna serenely.
    Harry swore and turned away. The very last thing he wanted now was a conversation with Luna Lovegood.
    ‘Wait,’ said Hermione suddenly. ‘Wait … Harry, they can help.’
    Harry and Ron looked at her.
    ‘Listen,’ she said urgently, ‘Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters.’
    ‘I’ve told you, I saw –’
    ‘Harry, I’m begging you, please!’ said Hermione desperately. ‘Please let’s just check that Sirius isn’t at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he’s not there, then I swear I won’t try to stop you. I’ll come, I’ll d – do whatever it takes to try and save him.’
    ‘Sirius is being tortured NOW!’ shouted Harry. ‘We haven’t got time to waste.’
    ‘But if this is a trick of Voldemort’s, Harry, we’ve got to check, we’ve got to.’
    ‘How?’ Harry demanded. ‘How’re we going to check?’
    ‘We’ll have to use Umbridge’s fire and see if we can contact him,’ said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. ‘We’ll draw Umbridge away again, but we’ll need lookouts, and that’s where we can use Ginny and Luna.’
    Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it,’ and Luna said, ‘When you say “Sirius”, are you talking about Stubby Boardman?’
    Nobody answered her.
    ‘OK,’ Harry said aggressively to Hermione, ‘OK, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I’m with you, otherwise I’m going to the Department of Mysteries right now.’
    ‘The Department of Mysteries?’ said Luna, looking mildly surprised. ‘But how are you going to get there?’
    Again, Harry ignored her.
    ‘Right,’ said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. ‘Right … well … one of us has to go and find Umbridge and – and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her – 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.
    ‘OK,’ she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. ‘Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some 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 Garrotting Gas.’ Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie; Ginny shrugged and said, ‘Fred and George were planning to do it before they left.’
    ‘OK,’ said Hermione. ‘Well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak and we’ll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius –’
    ‘He’s not there, Hermione!’
    ‘I mean, you can – can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don’t think you should be in there alone, Lee’s already proved the window’s a weak spot, sending those Nifflers through it.’
    Even through his anger and impatience, Harry recognised Hermione’s offer to accompany him into Umbridge’s office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.
    ‘I … OK, thanks,’ he muttered.
    ‘Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don’t think we’re going to be able to bank on more than five minutes,’ said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, ‘not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around.’
    ‘Five minutes’ll be enough,’ said Harry. ‘C’mon, let’s go –’
    ‘Now?’ said Hermione, looking shocked.
    ‘Of course now!’ said Harry angrily. ‘What did you think, we’re going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now !’
    ‘I – oh, all right,’ she said desperately. ‘You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we’ll meet you at the end of