1.2
Worries plagued Harry's mind for the next week , and he could tell Ron and Hermione had doubts as well. Why did Neville feel the need to lie about why he was upset- assuming he was lying at all of course- and in which case was he also lying about what he knew about Flint being involved? Sitting down in Defence Against The Dark Arts , Harry glumly prepared himself for another horrific lesson with the toad.
"Books away please!" Umbridge exclaimed, pattering her way to the front , her upturned nose scrunched in disgust. Once she was facing the class , she coughed for attention.
"Good Morning, Professor Umbridge," The class mumbled , feeling like children again, embarrassed and loathing the pig-faced woman at the front of the class.
"Hello, Class. Now before today's lesson, the Ministry has ordered for me to give you a talk on a topic which has become increasingly common and increasingly dangerous."
Harry braced himself for a lecture on how he was a filthy liar , and Voldemort never returned, but Umbridge surprised him.
"I am here to talk to you about the Umbrella Academy."
Similar to that breakfast a week ago, the class had an immediate reaction to this, Dean Thomas fell off his chair, Lavender Brown sat up bolt straight, a frenzied look in her eyes : even Malfoy looked troubled. Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson , who were sitting on the desk behind Malfoy, were whispering to each other hastily. However, Harry sent his attention straight to Neville. He had gone pale and was gripping the edge of his table so hard, Harry thought he may leave finger marks.
"As many of you will have seen Rita Skeeter recently published an article about the Umbrella Academy - while I and the ministry consider this to be an incredibly insightful and accurate piece , several people have disagreed rather vocally about this. So let me get one thing clear- the Umbrella Academy are criminals and monsters and should be treated as such. They are unnatural and don't deserve any of our loyalty. The ministry is currently taking steps to find out the Academy's identities , so no need to worry, I am sure we will have them in chains before long. The Umbrella Academy may have done some good for the world-which I personally find debatable- but compared to the casualties and the horror of having people with these abilities in our society they are simply not worth it. Am I clear?"
Silence echoed around the class.
Slowly Parvati Patil raised her hand in to the air. Umbridge nodded at her to speak.
"Professor Umbridge," Parvati asked ,"Are you and the Ministry sure the Umbrella Academy are evil? They have done a lot of good work for the world and- "
"That is what they want you to believe, Miss Patil." Umbridge cut off, " I assure you the Academy are unfit for society and certainly not people to be idolized."
"Professor," Hermione stood up, " You can't honestly believe that. Look at all the people they have saved!"
"25 points from Gryffindor , Mrs Granger ,for speaking out of turn."
The majority of the class looked like they either disagreed with Umbridge but didn't dare speak up or might just throw up on the table right now. The Umbrella Academy must have been a bigger controversy than Harry realized, he thought.
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"Can you believe her?" Hermione exclaimed as they sat down in the Great Hall for lunch, "Honestly the nerve..."
"I know ! " Ron agreed , " Not surprised though- told you the Ministry hated them."
It seemed Umbridge's lecture had been counter productive- the whole school was buzzing with rumours and facts about the Umbrella Academy.
"It's because they're our age," Ron had explained earlier, " Everyone in the wizarding world wanted to be them - I went as them for Halloween for 2 years running!"
"The muggle world too," Hermione had said, knowing that Harry didn't know much about them, " They are living proof that magic exists- which thinking about it probably has something to do why the Ministry hates them."
The Umbrella Academy seemed to be the biggest thing that had happened in Hogwarts for months- no one really bothered coming after Harry now, (though Malfoy seemed to have upped his game), and Harry felt like he was back in Primary school, watching everyone pass around Umbrella memorabilia : temporary tattoos in the shape of Umbrellas (just like the ones the academy had), action figures, and even comics. Neville in the meantime, seemed to be getting more miserable every time someone brought them up- reminding Harry of his doubts. He really wanted to believe Neville but he just didn't know how.
"Hey," Ron whispered, "Is that Flint storming in?"
Ron was right, the Slytherin had a stony expression on and was walking over to the Gryffindor table. Confused , Harry exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione and watched as Flint pushed past some first years.
"Mr Flint, " McGonagall seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, " You may not be aware but this is not the Slytherin table , and you are scaring the first years!"
"Sorry," Flint muttered, Harry squinted and looking at him now something was clearly wrong. There was no swagger, or attitude in the way he talked, and added to the fact he was willingly near the Slytherin table something had clearly happened .
"Is there something wrong , Flint?" McGonagall softened, which only seemed to make Flint angry.
"You know what, No, Professor. Everything's just dandy. "
Flint turned on his heel and stormed out of the hall, Harry watched the twins exchange glances before resigning themselves to following him- as soon as they left the table Harry, Hermione and Ron silently agreed to follow them. Fortunately, Harry still had his invisibility cloak in his bag from when he had snuck out for a walk last night and they just about all fit under it. Quietly following the twins, they arrived in an empty corridor. The twins looked around, before walking in front of the wall several times (7 to be precise.) Harry had to stifle a gasp, as a door appeared out of nowhere. The twins walked through it without hesitation and despite a worried look from Hermione , they followed them.
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Harry wasn't sure what he had expected inside- some dark corridor maybe? What he had definitely not expected was a room that suspiciously like the Gryffindor common room just a lot less... Red. There was a circle of armchairs and sofas in the middle of the room, and slowly Harry edged them all forward. Harry recognized the twins and Neville there - solidifying Harry's doubts that Neville had lied. Surprisingly, Lavender Brown was also in the room, and Penelope Clearwater ,Percy's girlfriend from last year. They were all sitting in silence. Under the cloak, Harry could see Ron and Hermione were just as confused as he was, but as Hermione opened her mouth to mutter something to them , Penelope started talking,
"Are you two sure he wasn't just in a mood? He does that sometimes you know, maybe he dropped his favourite quill or something. It doesn't have to be something bad."
"With what's going on at the moment?" That was Lavender who was reclining on a sofa she most definitely did not need all to herself. " Marcus wouldn't do that- he's an arrogant prick and asshole but he's not that cruel. Not to us anyway."
There was something about that us that convinced Harry that this wasn't just a bunch of random strangers here, for a club or a study session , or whatever other excuse Harry had half concocted in his mind. They clearly all knew each other - really well , by the sounds of it.
"Lavender's right." Fred said " He wouldn't risk causing that much of a fuss now."
"I suppose," Penelope sighed, "It's just-"
Penelope was cut off by the sound of the door opening and a flood of Slytherins arriving. A flood may have been a slight exaggeration on Harry's part, considering there were only four, but jeez were they some of the worst Slytherins who could possibly walked through the door: Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass (who to be fair wasn't that bad on her own), and Malfoy. Instead of acting horrified by the torrent of Slytherins , the people in the room moved to make space for them : Daphne sitting on a beanbag on the floor. Pansy and Malfoy taking the rest of the sofa that Penelope was curled on. Blaise however seemed to have a different plan, as he shoved Lavender off the sofa she was currently lying on.
"Asshole," She muttered as she pushed herself of the floor," You could've just asked"
"Would you have said yes?" Blaise asked.
Lavender answered this by smacking him around the head with a pillow.
Whatever was happening here , it had clearly been happening for longer than Harry had originally thought. Hermione and Ron were looking just as confused as Harry felt.
"Does anyone actually know why we're here?" Daphne questioned.
"If we knew that we wouldn't have been sitting here for twenty minutes already would we?" Penelope snarked.
At that moment , Flint walked through the door, slamming it behind him. He stood there for a few seconds before Pansy asked him what the hell was going on.
"Pack an overnight bag," He ordered, " We're staying at the house this weekend."
"What?" Harry couldn't tell who said that but it seemed like the entire room shared the sentiment.
"This weekend?" Neville asked, the first thing Harry had heard him say the whole time they had been there.
" I refuse to do that, " Malfoy argued.
"You don't have a choice," Flint snapped, " The letter came through this morning , we're getting picked up in an hour."
Fred and George shared a look before standing and moving to walk out of the room.
"Yeah , thanks Marcus, really."
"But that's going to be a hard pass from us."
Several of the others started to move as well : only Daphne remained seated.
"Maybe we should hear him out?" She suggested.
"Yeah, no way in hell , Daph." Lavender said, " He can't just pull us out on this short notice ,and expect everyone to be fine with it."
"It's about Grace." Flint's words made the whole room stop. Even George, who's hand was already on the door , turned towards him.
"What do you mean, Marcus?" Neville whispered.
"I don't know anymore- the letter was vague -but I think he's going to..." Whatever Flint was going to say , he stopped when he saw the fear on the other's faces. "Just come. Please."
With that he walked out of the room, shoving past George.
The others started filing out after that until only Neville and Daphne were left.
"Neville?" Daphne had grabbed his arm, " Do you think he meant for me to come?"
"Doesn't matter, " Neville said firmly, "If it's about Grace you're coming."
With that they both walked out leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione standing in there alone.
"What the hell just happened?" Ron whispered in to the silence.