𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 150

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH UMBRIDGE 
INVADES

. . .

"What's going on?" Aviana asked, as Dobby stood before them. It almost made Harry jump, but how could her sudden appearance disrupt him; it had been happening for months now. "Dobby, what's happening?"

"What's going on?" Harry reiterated the question, trying to ignore the absurdity that was the eight hats upon Dobby's head, which the house-elf always wore. Everyone in the room had fallen quiet, watching Dobby, and any of the Patronuses, corporeal or not, dissipated into thin air. 

"Harry Potter, sir..." The elf squeaked, trembling from head to foot. "Harry Potter, sir... Dobby has come to warn you... but the house-elves have been warned not to tell." He ran headfirst into the wall behind him, Harry reaching to seize him and stop him from the self-punishment, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his hats. Hermione and a few other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy. 

"Dobby." Aviana warned, and reached for him regardless, pulling him away from the wall. She took one of his arms and motioned for Harry to take the other. "What happened?" She asked. 

"Miss Rosier." Dobby squeaked, his eyes wide and fearful. "She... she... she..." Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist.

"Harry!" Aviana said, and he hurried to take Dobby's free arm. 

There was fear in his eyes, with that frustration within the habit of self-punishment, and Harry felt that pit in his stomach deepen. "Who's 'she', Dobby?" He asked. But he knew, really, who 'she' was, there was surely only one person who it could be. The elf looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed and mouthed wordlessly. "Umbridge?" Harry asked. 

Dobby nodded and Harry's heart sunk even further, a panic rising. Aviana stopped the house-elf as he tried to hit his head against Harry's knee, cupping her hand over his forehead and pulling him back. "What about Umbridge, Dobby?" She asked, far too calmly.

Harry, however, was not so composed. "Umbridge?" He repeated. "What about her? Dobby - she hasn't found out about this - about us - about the D.A?" The answer was found in Dobby's face, the elf tried to kick himself and almost fell to the floor. 

But his hands were held fast by the two. "Is she coming?" Aviana asked, quietly. 

Dobby let out a howl and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. "Yes, Miss Rosier, yes!" He wailed, and Aviana pulled him up by the scruff his neck. 

Harry got to his feet. "What are you waiting for?" He turned to the group, all of which were watching silently. "Run!" He bellowed, and they pelted to the door at once, forming a scrum around their only exit before people could burst through and spill out into the corridor.

There was only some hope that they could have the sense not to go to their dormitories. If they, perhaps, took refuge in the library or the Owlery which were both nearer to the Room of Requirement than any of the Houses, then perhaps they would be fine. 

"Harry - Harry." Aviana was still holding Dobby as they joined the back of the queue escape the room. He was still trying to hurt himself, and there was only so much she could do to stop him. 

"Dobby-" Harry pulled Dobby from her and the two of them pushed forward with the rest of them. "This is an order - get  back down to the kitchen with the other elves, and if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no." He said. "And I forbid you to hurt yourself." He added, dropping Dobby back down onto the floor, and finally, they managed to make it out of the room and pulled the door behind closed behind them. 

"Thank you, Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked, and he streaked off. 

The others were running down the corridor, so fast that they could only just see the heels of their feet before they vanished around the corner. "There's a boys' bathroom down there." Aviana said, more of an instruction than anything, and without reply, Harry began pulling her down there after him. 

If they were found, if Umbridge decided to search the vicinity, it was more than obvious what their excuse would be. If only they could reach the bathroom- 

Aviana's hand slipped from his, and all of a sudden she had fallen to the floor as though a rug had been pulled from beneath her. "What the-" Harry began, and reached for her without a thought. Aviana sat up in an instance, already reaching for her wand. 

"Where the fuck are you, Draco, you little rat." She snapped, trying to pull herself to her feet but failing, as though her legs had been bound by rope. 

There was a laugh, and Harry looked around, finding Draco concealed in a niche beneath an ugly, dragon-shaped vase. "Trip-jinx, Rosier." He cleared his throat. "Hey, Professor - Professor!      I've got two of them." He shouted, before lowering his voice. "Shame you're such a pussy, Potter. Could've legged it by now."

Harry didn't say anything, his eyes landing on the far corner as  Umbridge came bustling around the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile. "It's them!" She said, jubilantly, as she eyed Aviana on the floor. "Excellent, Draco, excellent, oh, very good - fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take them from here... stand up, Rosier." 

Aviana glared at Umbridge. "Can't." She shrugged. Harry's eyes flickered over to her, narrowing. Now was not the time for-

"What was that?" Umbridge asked, still breathless. 

"Can't get up. I think Malfoy's little trip-jinx - which, by the way, constitutes a duel in the corridors, and goes against everything you've tried to teach us all year - made my twist my ankle." Aviana shrugged. "Can't put any weight on it. You'll have to carry me." She smiled, so sweetly. 

"Potter." Umbridge snapped. "Help her up." She ordered. 

Harry, for once, did as he was told, helping Aviana carefully to her feet. To her credit, as Harry did not believe in the slightest that Aviana had hurt herself seeing as she hadn't even made such a fuss with the knock-back jinx, she was quite convincing in the fact that she was hurt, wincing and hobbling around as Harry played into it, making a show of getting her arm around his neck for her to lean on him. 

Umbridge had never looked so happy. She seized his arm in a vice-like grip, evidently trusting that Aviana would not be able to run off and turned, beaming broadly to Malfoy. "You hop along and see if you can round up anymore of them, Draco." She said. "Tell the others to look in the library - anybody out of breath - check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do the girls' ones-" Harry wagered a glance at Aviana, who, for the briefest of moments, looked disappointed, before she was wincing in pain again. "Off you go... and you two," she added, in her softest, most dangerous voice whilst Malfoy walked away. "You can both come with me to the headmasters' office."

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