Patronuses. The charm to defend oneself from soul-sucking Dementors. Think of a happy moment and BAM! A Patronus comes shooting from the holder's wand. Except it was more difficult than it sounded. At least to Cassie. She watched as everyone cast the charm. Hermione's took the form of an otter; Ron, a Jack Russell Terrier; Lovegood, a hare; and Cho Chang's took the form of a swan.
"Come on, Malfoy," said Potter.
"I'm trying!" said Cassie furiously. Potter had approached her multiple times after failing. "I can't do it when you're standing there breathing down my neck."
"Think about the times you've won a Quidditch game," said Potter. He wanted to taunt her. They hadn't won a game against Gryffindor in a long time, ever since he had shown up. Plus, her brother was the reason why he was banned from the sport so he tried making it difficult for her. "Triumphant, glorious— "
"Why, you little— "
"Think of your happiest moment," said Potter, suddenly serious. "Clear your mind of everything else. Only then will you be able to cast a Patronus Charm."
As he finished his sentence, the door of the Room of Requirement opened and closed. It seemed like people were moving out of the way and it stopped at Potter's feet.
"Dobby?"
"Hi, Dobby!" Potter greeted. "What are you — What's wrong?"
The elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. That was the very familiar look of fear every time Cassie's father had yelled at the elf. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.
"Harry Potter, sir... " squeaked the elf, 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 head-first at the wall. Cassie was quick and rushed towards Dobby, but Dobby bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats.
"What's happened, Dobby?" Potter asked as Cassie grabbed the elf's tiny arm, holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.
"Harry Potter... she... she... "
Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist. Potter seized his arm quickly.
"Who's 'she', Dobby?"
The elf looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly. Cassie had a bad feeling.
"Umbridge?" asked Potter.
Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Cassie's knees, then she let Potter take over.
"What about her? Dobby — She hasn't found out about this — about us — about the D.A?" There was no answer. "Is she coming?" he asked quietly.
Dobby let out a howl and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor.
"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"
Potter straightened up and looked around at motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" he bellowed. "RUN!"
"Shit, shit, shit," Cassie cursed under her breath. Her common room was all the way in the dungeons.
"Cassie!" Ginny called. "Come on! You can hide out in our common room for the night."
"Is that even allowed?" asked Cassie, running beside her.
"It's better than being caught," she replied.
Cassie spent the night in the Gryffindor common room. Fred had stayed with her and as they watched the fire, they began feeling drowsy, eventually falling asleep.
The next morning, Cassie was awoken by Hermione. She had gotten Cassie out of the common room and she went towards her own briskly. When she entered, there was a group of Slytherins chilling on the couches.
"And where were you, dear sister?" asked Draco.
"And how's that any of your business?" asked Cassie.
"I'm part of the Inquisitorial Squad," Draco boasted. "I was quite surprised to see your signature on a certain piece of paper. Then again, as I hear it, you're even more infatuated with that blood-traitor."
"Well, if you must know, I just got back from the prefect's bathroom," said Cassie.
Cassie was glad that most of the Inquisitorial Squad didn't take points for her behavior as she was a fellow Slytherin. She couldn't say the same for the other houses though. With Dumbledore's disappearance, Umbridge was appointed Headmistress which seemed to make people more afraid and cautious.
"... The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger."
Cassie peered around the corner seeing Draco in conversation with the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.
"A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points... so, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new Headmistress. Macmillan, five for contradicting me. Five because I don't like you, Potter. Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that. Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten off for that...
"Wise move, Granger," breathed Draco. "New Head, new times... Be good now, Potty... Weasel King... "
"That goes for you, too, Draco," said Cassie, stopping beside Ron. "Fifty points from Slytherin."
"You can't— "
"Oh, yes, I can," said Cassie, stern. "Head Girls and prefects are a tad different meaning we can take away points from other prefects."
"Well, fifty— "
"I'd be wise, Draco," said Cassie. "You really want Slytherin to lose another fifty?"
Draco huffed and walked away, Crabbe and Goyle following behind him. "That's what I thought."
The hourglasses were along the wall behind them, which recorded the house-points. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been in the lead that morning. As the five watched, stones flew upwards, reducing the amounts in the lower bulbs. The only glass that seemed unchanged was the emerald-filled one of Slytherin. Cassie felt sad, knowing the reason for their success wasn't fair.
"Noticed, have you?" said Fred's voice.
He and George had just come down the marble staircase and joined Cassie, Potter, Ron, Hermione, and Macmillan in front of the hourglasses.
"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," said Potter furiously.
Several more stones flew upwards from the Gryffindor hourglass.
"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," said George.
"What do you mean by tried?" asked Ron quickly.
"He never managed to get all the words out due to the fact that we forced him head-first into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor," Fred replied.
Hermione looked shocked. "But you'll get into terrible trouble!"
"Not until Montague reappears and that could take weeks. I dunno where we sent him," said Fred coolly. "Anyway... we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."
"Have you ever?" asked Hermione.
"'Course we have," said George. "Never been expelled, have we?"
"We've always known where to draw the line," Fred added.
"We might have put a toe across it occasionally," said George.
"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem," said Fred.
"But now?" said Ron tentatively.
"Well, now— " said George.
"— what with Dumbledore gone— " said Fred.
"— we reckon a bit of mayhem— " said George.
"— is exactly what our dear new Head deserves," Fred finished.
"You mustn't!" whispered Hermione. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!"
"You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" said Fred, smiling at her. "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So, anyway— " He checked his watch. "— phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch, if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."
"Anything to do with what?" said Hermione and Cassie anxiously.
"You'll see," said George. "Run along, now."
Fred and George turned away and disappeared into the swelling crowd descending the stairs towards lunch.
"Have you any idea what they're up to?" asked Hermione to Cassie.
"No clue... but I bet it'll be epic!" she smiled.
Not even three minutes later, fireworks erupted in the corridors. Dragons comprised of green and gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went; pink wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like flying saucers; rockets with long tails of silver stars were ricocheting off the walls; sparklers were writing swear words in midair of their own accord; firecrackers were exploding everywhere.
"Hurry, Filch, hurry!" Cassie could hear Umbridge's frantic voice. "They'll be all over the school unless we do something — Stupefy!"
A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing in midair, it exploded with such force that it blasted a hole in a painting.
"Don't Stun them, Filch!" shouted Umbridge angrily as though it had been his incantation.
"Right you are, Headmistress!" wheezed Filch, who as a Squib could no more have Stunned the fireworks than swallowed them.
The fireworks continued to burn and spread all over the school that afternoon. Though they caused plenty of disruption, particularly the firecrackers, the other teachers didn't seem to mind them very much.
"Dear, dear," said Professor McGonagall sardonically as one of the dragons soared around her classroom. "Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the Headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"
The upshot of it all was that Umbridge spent her first afternoon as Headmistress running all over the school answering the summonses of the other teachers, none of whom seemed able to rid their rooms of the fireworks without her.
It was truly the most fun event that Hogwarts had ever had since Umbridge's first Educational Decree.