the notices had gone up all over the school overnight, but they did not explain how every single person within the castle seemed to know that dumbledore had overcome two aurors, the high inquisitor, the minister of magic, and his junior assistant to escape. no matter where elara went within the castle next day, the sole topic of conversation was dumbledore's flight, and though some of the details might have gone awry in the retelling (elara overheard one second-year girl assuring another that fudge was now lying in st. mungo's with a pumpkin for a head), it was surprising how accurate the rest of their information was. everybody seemed aware, for instance, that elara, harry, and marietta were the only students to have witnessed the scene in dumbledore's office, and as marietta was now in the hospital wing, elara and harry found themselves besieged with requests to give a firsthand account wherever they went.

"dumbledore will be back before long," said ernie macmillan confidently on the way back from herbology after listening intently to elara's and harry's story. "they couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to this time. the fat friar told me . . ." he dropped his voice conspiratorially, so that elara, harry, ron, and hermione had to lean closer to him to hear, ". . . that umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. couldn't get past the gargoyle. the head's office has sealed itself against her." ernie smirked. "apparently she had a right little tantrum. . . ."

"oh, i expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the head's office," said hermione viciously, as they walked up the stone steps into the entrance hall. "lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old —"

"now, do you really want to finish that sentence, granger?"

draco malfoy had slid out from behind the door, followed by drabbe and goyle. his pale, pointed face was alight with malice.

"have you been hiding behind the door? waiting for us?" said elara cooly.

"afraid i'm going to have to dock a few points from gryffindor and hufflepuff," draco drawled, ignoring elara.

"it's only teachers that can dock points from houses, malfoy," said ernie at once.

"yeah, we're prefects too, remember?" snarled ron.

"i know prefects can't dock points, weasel king," sneered draco; crabbe and goyle sniggered. "but members of the inquisitorial squad —"

"the what?" said elara sharply.

"the inquisitorial squad, dear cousin," said draco, pointing toward a tiny silver i upon his robes just beneath his prefect's badge. "a select group of students who are supportive of the ministry of magic, handpicked 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. . . . twenty for darling elara, because you annoy the hell out of me; oh and five more because i caught you snogging potter... oh yeah, i forgot, you're a mudblood, granger, so ten for that. . . ."

ron pulled out his wand and elara took a step forward, but hermione pushed them away, whispering, "don't!"

"wise move, granger," breathed draco. "new head, new times . . . be good now, potty . . . weasel king . . . dearest cousin. . . ."

"just when i thought you were a decent person," said elara shortly.

"i mean — i wasn't going to be rude to you when you were — "

draco cut himself off when he noticed elara's expression shifted from slightly disappointed to a withering glare. he turned and strode away, laughing heartily with crabbe and goyle.

"he was bluffing," said ernie, looking appalled. "he can't be allowed to dock points . . . that would be ridiculous. . . . it would completely undermine the prefect system. . . ."

but elara, harry, ron, and hermione had turned automatically toward the giant hourglasses set in niches along the wall behind them, which recorded the house points. gryffindor and ravenclaw had been neck and neck in the lead that morning. even as they watched, stones flew upward, reducing the amounts in the lower bulbs. in fact, the only glass that seemed unchanged was the emerald-filled one of slytherin.

"noticed, have you?" said fred's voice.

he, george, and aurora had just come down the marble staircase and joined elara, harry, ron, hermione, and ernie in front of the hourglasses.

"malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," said harry furiously, as they watched several more stones fly upward from the gryffindor hourglass.

"yeah, montague tried to do us during break," said aurora.

"what do you mean, 'tried'?" said ron quickly.

"he never managed to get all the words out," said george angrily, "due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that vanishing cabinet on the first floor."

hermione looked very shocked.

"but you'll get into terrible trouble!"

"he deserved it," snarled george. "took a hundred points from rori for being a 'half-breed'. i swear to merlin, i'm going to fight — "

aurora rested a hand on george's shoulder gently.

"he been riled up all year," sighed aurora, looking slightly dejected and worn down; far from her usual bubbly and mischievous demeanor. "i've been targeted a lot. i've been called a freak, alien, degenerate, a slag — "

"stop it, rori," grumbled george.

"worst part is what the she made me etch into my hand," said aurora, raising her arm.

the words, i am nothing were etched into aurora's right hand. the scar still looked relatively fresh.

"anyway . . . we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore," said aurora, some light filling her eyes.

"have you ever?" asked elara amusedly.

" 'course we have," said george. "never been expelled, have we?"

"we've always known where to draw the line," said fred.

"we might have put a toe across it occasionally," said aurora.

"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 think a bit of mayhem —" said aurora.

"— is exactly what our dear new head deserves," said george.

"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 anxiously.

"you'll see," said aurora. "run along, now."

fred, george, and aurora turned away and disappeared in the swelling crowd descending the stairs toward lunch. looking highly disconcerted, ernie muttered something about unfinished transfiguration homework and scurried away.

"i think we should get out of here, you know," said hermione nervously. "just in case . . ."

"yeah, all right," said ron, and the four of them moved toward the doors to the great hall, but elara had barely glimpsed today's ceiling of scudding white clouds when somebody tapped her on the shoulder and, turning, she found herself almost nose to nose with filch, the caretaker. she took several hasty steps backward; filch was best viewed at a distance.

"the headmistress would like to see you, potter, tonks," he leered.

"we didn't do it," said harry stupidly, probably thinking of whatever fred, george, and aurora were planning.

filch's jowls wobbled with silent laughter.

"guilty conscience, eh?" he wheezed. "follow me. . . ."

elara and harry glanced back at ron and hermione, who were both looking worried. elara shrugged and followed filch back into the entrance hall, against the tide of hungry students.

filch seemed to be in an extremely good mood; he hummed creakily under his breath as they climbed the marble staircase. as they reached the first landing he said, "things are changing around here."

"we've noticed," said elara coldly.

"yerse . . . i've been telling dumbledore for years and years he's too soft with you all," said filch, chuckling nastily. "you filthy little beasts would never have dropped stinkpellets if you'd known i had it in my power to whip you raw, would you, now? nobody would have thought of throwing fanged frisbees down the corridors if i could've strung you up by the ankles in my office, would they? but when educational decree twenty-nine comes in, potter, i'll be allowed to do them things. . . . and she's asked the minister to sign an order for the expulsion of peeves. . . . oh, things are going to be very different around here with her in charge. . . ."

"ooh, peeves won't go quietly," said elara brightly. "he listens to no one but the bloody baron."

"we'll see," leered filch.

umbridge had obviously gone to some lengths to get filch on her side, elara thought, and the worst of it was that he would probably prove an important weapon; his knowledge of the school's secret passageways and hiding places was probably second only to the weasley twins.

"here we are," he said, leering down at them as he rapped three times upon professor umbridge's door and pushed it open. "the potter boy and the tonks girl to see you, ma'am."

umbridge's office, so very familiar to elara from her many detentions, was the same as usual except for the large wooden block lying across the front of her desk on which golden letters spelled the word HEADMISTRESS; also harry's firebolt, and fred's and george's clean- sweeps, which she saw were now chained and padlocked to a stout iron peg in the wall behind the desk. umbridge was sitting behind the desk, busily scribbling upon some of her pink parchment, but looked up and smiled widely at their entrance.

"thank you, argus," she said sweetly.

"not at all, ma'am, not at all," said filch, bowing as low as his rheumatism would permit, and exiting backward.

"sit," said umbridge curtly, pointing toward two chairs, and they sat. she continued to scribble for a few moments. elara watched some of the foul kittens gamboling around the plates over umbridge's head, wondering what fresh horror she had in store for them.

"headmistress, i thought you would've been in the headmaster's office," said elara innocently.

"i found it was not up to my standards. well now," she said finally, setting down her quill and looking like a toad about to swallow a particularly juicy fly. "what would you like to drink?"

"what?" said harry.

"to drink, mr. potter," she said, smiling still more widely. "tea? coffee? pumpkin juice?"

as she named each drink, she gave her short wand a wave, and a cup or glass of it appeared upon her desk.

"nothing, thank you," said harry.

"yeah, same," said elara. "i just drank water."

"i wish you to have a drink with me," she said, her voice becoming more dangerously sweet. "choose one."

"all right, coffee," said elara suspiciously.

"fine . . . tea then," said harry, shrugging.

umbridge got up and made quite a performance of adding milk with her back to them. she then bustled around the desk with the cups, smiling in sinisterly sweet fashion.

"there," she said, handing the cups to them to them. "drink it before it gets cold, won't you? well, now, mr. potter, miss tonks . . . i thought we ought to have a little chat, after the distressing events of last night."

elara nor harry said anything. she settled herself back into her seat and waited. when several long moments had passed in silence, she said gaily, "you're not drinking up!"

it clicked in elara's head. umbridge put something in the drinks. whether it was poison or some sort of truth serum, she didn't know.

"what's the matter?" said umbridge, who was still watching them. "do you want sugar?"

"no — "

"actually, some sugar would be nice," said elara, shooting harry a fervent look. "thank you."

umbridge smiled in a dangerously sweet manner and stood up. when her back was turned, elara used her foot to nudge a pink frilly carpet out of the way and pour some of her coffee onto the floor below. as she was nudging the carpet back in its original space, harry made to do the same, but umbridge turned back around.

"there we are," said umbridge, setting a jar of sugar cubes on the table in front of them.

"i appreciate it, professor," said elara, taking a handful of sugar cubes out of the jar. at umbridge's surprised and disgusted look, she added, "i have a terrible sweet tooth, sorry."

"it's quite all right — oh! you drank some already, miss tonks?"

"i do quite love coffee," said elara. "i have a gift, you know. i can guess how anyone takes their coffee. you, professor, like one cream and one and a half sugars."

elara raised the cup to her lips and pretended to take a sip as professor umbridge's eyebrows raised. harry did the same. umbridge's smile widened. "good," she whispered. "very good. now then . . ." she leaned forward a little. "where is albus dumbledore?"

"no idea," said harry promptly.

"not a clue," said elara.

"drink up, drink up," she said, still smiling. "now you two, let us not play childish games. i know that you know where he has gone. you and dumbledore have been in this together from the beginning. consider your positions. . . ."

"i don't know where he is."

"if it helps, he told me once he loved australia," said elara, playing along as if she'd drank the truth serum.

elara and harry pretended to drink again.

"very well," said umbridge, looking displeased. "in that case, you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of sirius black."

"i don't know," said harry a little too quickly.

"mr. potter," said umbridge, "let me remind you that it was i who almost caught the criminal black in the gryffindor fire in october. i know perfectly well it was you he was meeting and if i had had any proof neither of you would be at large today, i promise you. i repeat, mr. potter . . . where is sirius black?"

"i'm really sorry," said elara, nudging harry with her foot. "we have no idea."

umbridge turned to stare at elara. not being one to ever back down, elara held her professor's gaze for a long time. then umbridge stood up.

"very well, potter, tonks, i will take your word for it this time, but be warned: the might of the ministry stands behind me. all channels of communication in and out of this school are being monitored. a floo network regulator is keeping watch over every fire in hogwarts — except my own, of course. my inquisitorial squad is opening and reading all owl post entering and leaving the castle. and mr. filch is observing all secret passages in and out of the castle. if i find a shred of evidence . . ."

BOOM!

the very floor of the office shook; umbridge slipped sideways, clutching her desk for support, looking shocked.

"what was — ?"

she was gazing toward the door; elara and harry took the opportunity to empty their half full cups into the nearest vase of dried flowers. elara could hear people running and screaming several floors below.

"back to lunch with you!" cried umbridge, raising her wand and dashing out of the office. elara and harry gave her a few seconds' start then hurried after her to see what the source of all the uproar was. as they weaved in and out of people, they joined hands.

it was not difficult to find. one floor down, pandemonium reigned. somebody (and elara had a very shrewd idea who) had set off what seemed to be an enormous crate of enchanted fireworks.

dragons comprised entirely of green-and-gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went. shocking-pink catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls. sparklers were writing swearwords in midair of their own accord. firecrackers were exploding like mines everywhere elara looked, and instead of burning themselves out, fading from sight, or fizzling to a halt, these pyrotechnical miracles seemed to be gaining in energy and momentum the longer he watched.

filch and umbridge were standing, apparently transfixed with horror, halfway down the stairs. as elara watched, one of the larger catherine wheels seemed to decide that what it needed was more room to maneuver; it whirled toward umbridge and filch with a sinister wheeeeeeeeee. both adults yelled with fright and ducked and it soared straight out of the window behind them and off across the grounds. meanwhile, several of the dragons and a large purple bat that was smoking ominously took advantage of the open door at the end of the corridor to escape toward the second floor.