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

‘tried to stop me taking her ,’ he pointed at Ginny, who was trying to kick the shins of the large Slytherin girl holding her, ‘so I brought him along too.’
    ‘Good, good,’ said Umbridge, watching Ginny’s struggles. ‘Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn’t it?’
    Malfoy laughed loudly and sycophantically. Umbridge gave her wide, complacent smile and settled herself into a chintz-covered armchair, blinking up at her captives like a toad in a flowerbed.
    ‘So, Potter,’ she said. ‘You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon,’ she nodded at Ron – Malfoy laughed even louder – ‘to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes – Mr Filch having just informed me so.
    ‘Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone.’
    Malfoy and a few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that. Harry found he was so full of rage and hatred he was shaking.
    ‘It’s none of your business who I talk to,’ he snarled.
    Umbridge’s slack face seemed to tighten.
    ‘Very well,’ she said in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. ‘Very well, Mr Potter … I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco – fetch Professor Snape.’
    Malfoy stowed Harry’s wand inside his robes and left the room smirking, but Harry hardly noticed. He had just realised something; he could not believe he had been so stupid as to forget it. He had thought that all the members of the Order, all those who could help him save Sirius, were gone – but he had been wrong. There was still a member of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts – Snape.
    There was silence in the office except for the fidgetings and scufflings resulting from the Slytherins’ efforts to keep Ron and the others under control. Ron’s lip was bleeding on to Umbridge’s carpet as he struggled against Warrington’s half-nelson; Ginny was still trying to stamp on the feet of the sixth-year girl who had both her upper arms in a tight grip; Neville was turning steadily more purple in the face while tugging at Crabbe’s arms; and Hermione was attempting, in vain, to throw Millicent Bulstrode off her. Luna, however, stood limply by the side of her captor, gazing vaguely out of the window as though rather bored by the proceedings.
    Harry looked back at Umbridge, who was watching him closely. He kept his face deliberately smooth and blank as footsteps were heard in the corridor outside and Draco Malfoy 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 Potter,’ 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 using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!’
    ‘Really?’ said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Harry. ‘Well, it doesn’t surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules.’
    His cold, dark eyes were boring into Harry’s, who met his gaze unflinchingly, concentrating hard on what he had seen in his dream, willing Snape to read it in his mind, to understand …
    ‘I wish to interrogate him!’ shouted Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry back into her furiously quivering face. ‘I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to