The Reticulation

"This does not bode well," McGonagall told the others teachers down in the staff room. "Umbridge will be here in, literally, seconds and Harry Potter has been sealed in his dormitory. You know how she'll construe this. Unless we do something now, next year she'll be headmistress."

"If we find a way to rescue the kids from the dormitory, she'll never have to know about this," Professor Flitwick pointed out in his squeaky voice.

"That's what we plan to do," McGonagall said. "The question is how."

"I'll handle it," Madam Hooch replied. "You just get out there and stall...her for as long as you can." McGonagall nodded and walked out of the room.

"Oh, Minerva!" Umbridge said in her overly sweet voice when she spotted McGonagall walking strictly out the castle doors. "It's so nice to see you again!"

"It's great to see you, too," McGonagall replied with the same level sincerity. "How's it going at the Ministry?"

"Oh, fine," she said in her horrible voice. "I'm sure it's not nearly as interesting as what you're doing with your little order that was never approved by the Ministry."

"Still, there're no laws against it," McGonagall pointed out.

"Despite my best efforts," Umbridge retorted. "So, how goes your private little war with the Death Eaters?"

"May I remind you that their leader is dead now," McGonagall told her sharply. "I assumed that's why you were here or do they not give you up-to-date information at the Ministry? I would have thought the defeat of You-Know-Who would have been of great enough importance for it reach you, but I've been wrong before."

"Oh, it's reached us," Umbridge said in disgust. "Especially, the way he was defeated that left hundreds of his followers out there continuing to cause chaos."

"How would you have liked him to be defeated?" McGonagall asked coldly.

"I would have liked to have seen him brought, alive, into Ministry custody," Umbridge replied immediately. "If given the proper...motivation, he could have revealed much about the Death Eaters. Besides, I don't know if you've realized it, but he's made many astonishing discoveries about the nature of Dark Magic--information that, thanks to your handling of the situation, he took to the grave."

"I don't believe he would have ever shared any information," McGonagall told her. Umbridge smiled widely.

"Oh, I think he would," she said nastily. "They say he fears death above all else. Do you realize how easy that would make it to intimidate him?"

Ginny kicked off from the ground and flew towards the castle. Madam Hooch's plan was quite simply--she would get Harry and the others out of their dormitory by air. Ginny wasn't sure it would work, but it was worth a try. She felt the wind blow against her face and through her fiery hair as she reached Gryffindor Tower. She saw Harry's dormitory and flew right for it, but she was getting too fast...

CRASH!

She fell through the window into the room. She landed, hard, on the floor, covered in cuts and bits of glass. Hermione immediately screamed that she shouldn't move for fear of hurting herself, but, one second later, all the glass flew off of her and back into place in the window. She ran to the window, as though hoping to stop it, but it had already re-materialized by the time she reached it.

"Great, now you're stuck in here too," Ron told her.

"Well, at least there's more people," said Luna who was watching the whole thing while sitting on the edge of Ron's bed. "You know, 'the more the merrier.'"

"This isn't a party!" Hermione said sharply. "This is serious!"

"Yeah and if it was a party, you wouldn't be here," Ron told Luna, but she didn't look at all upset by the insult.

"Well, I'd rather be stuck in here than out there with Umbridge," Ginny said darkly.

"Umbridge!" Harry and Ron said together.

"McGonagall's talking to her right now," Ginny said quietly.

"What the bloody hell's she doing here?" Ron asked in outrage. "I thought we were rid of her forever!"

"The official story is she's here to assess what happened in Voldemort's defeat," Hermione said calmly, "But I'll bet she's just trying to find an excuse to take over the school again. That's part of the reason we we're trying so hard to get you out of here."

"Great, just great," Harry muttered, turning to the wall. "Could this get any worse?" His question was promptly answered when he heard a horrible voice--a magically-magnified voice that belonged to someone he thought had been dead for almost twelve glorious hours.

"Harry Potter, you and the ones you hold most dear are now trapped! You are all at my mercy and will do as I say!"

It was Lord Voldemort.