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

Harry, pointing at the small mountain of Frogs beside him. ‘Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?’
    Hermione looked rather disapproving and asked, ‘So has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore’s back?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Neville, ‘everything’s settled right back to normal.’
    ‘I s’pose Filch is happy, is he?’ asked Ron, propping a Chocolate Frog Card featuring Dumbledore against his water jug.
    ‘Not at all,’ said Ginny. ‘He’s really, really miserable, actually …’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts …’
    All six of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling. Dumbledore had strode alone into the Forest to rescue her from the centaurs; how he had done it – how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge without so much as a scratch on him – nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.
    ‘Madam Pomfrey says she’s just in shock,’ whispered Hermione.
    ‘Sulking, more like,’ said Ginny.
    ‘Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this,’ said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.
    ‘Anything wrong, Professor?’ called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.
    ‘No … no …’ said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. ‘No, I must have been dreaming …’
    Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes.
    ‘Speaking of centaurs,’ said Hermione, when she had recovered a little, ‘who’s Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?’
    ‘He’s got to,’ said Harry, ‘the other centaurs won’t take him back, will they?’
    ‘It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach,’ said Ginny.
    ‘Bet Dumbledore wishes he could’ve got rid of Trelawney for good,’ said Ron, now munching on his fourteenth Frog. ‘Mind you, the whole subject’s useless if you ask me, Firenze isn’t a lot better …’
    ‘How can you say that?’ Hermione demanded. ‘After we’ve just found out that there are real prophecies?’
    Harry’s heart began to race. He had not told Ron, Hermione or anyone else what the prophecy had contained. Neville had told them it had smashed while Harry was pulling him up the steps in the Death Room and Harry had not yet corrected this impression. He was not ready to see their expressions when he told them that he must be either murderer or victim, there was no other way …
    ‘It is a pity it broke,’ said Hermione quietly, shaking her head.
    ‘Yeah, it is,’ said Ron. ‘Still, at least You-Know-Who never found out what was in it either – where are you going?’ he added, looking both surprised and disappointed as Harry stood up.
    ‘Er – Hagrid’s,’ said Harry. ‘You know, he just got back and I promised I’d go down and see him and tell him how you two are.’
    ‘Oh, all right then,’ said Ron grumpily, looking out of the dormitory window at the patch of bright blue sky beyond. ‘Wish we could come.’
    ‘Say hello to him for us!’ called Hermione, as Harry proceeded down the ward. ‘And ask him what’s happening about … about his little friend!’
    Harry gave a wave of his hand to show he had heard and understood as he left the dormitory.
    The castle seemed very quiet even for a Sunday. Everybody was clearly out in the sunny grounds, enjoying the end of their exams and the prospect of a last few days of term unhampered by revision or homework. Harry walked slowly along the deserted corridor, peering out of windows as he went; he could see people messing around in the air over the Quidditch pitch and a couple of students swimming in the lake, accompanied by the giant squid.
    He was finding it hard to decide whether he wanted to be with people or not; whenever he was in company he wanted to get away and whenever he was alone he wanted company. He thought he might really go and visit Hagrid, though, as he had not talked to him properly since he’d returned …
    Harry had just descended the last marble step into the Entrance Hall when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle