“Turn over your papers,” said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. “You may begin. . . .”

Even though Erin was excellent at History of Magic, she couldn't help but to feel a bit nervous. Her mind wandered around all the if's. Anything could go wrong.

In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?

How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?

Erin was not sure about that. She decided to leave that question and get back to it later.

Describe the circumstances that led to the Formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.

Erin felt herself getting tired as she was halfway through the exam. She, or any other fifth year, did not get much sleep for the past weeks. The grumbling in her stomach did not help at all. The girl now regretted for not eating the toast in the morning like Hermione was almost forcing it to her mouth.

Erin noticed that she was not the only one who was falling asleep. When she looked around herself and her eyes landed on Harry, she noticed him having his eyes closed, leaning his head against his hand. However, she was not sure if he was only thinking or sleeping.

She returned back to her exam because it felt like the most important thing at that moment. When after half an hour later, there were only about seven questions left, she checked on Harry, who seemed to be in the exact same position as when Erin's eyes left him. She started to get a bit concerned now.

Hermione seemed she hasn't spared Harry a glance since they had been given the tests. Erin was sure that Hermione finished writing now and she was only checking her answers.

Because Ron was seated behind Harry, he couldn't really see anything. Although, he was looking at him.

Erin took a deep breath and started scribbling again. When she finally finished, she turned her head to Harry.

She yelled his name when she saw him falling sideways off his desk onto the cold stone floor. Harry hit the ground and awoke, yelling as the Great Hall erupted all around him.

***

Harry met Erin, Hermione, and Ron after about an hour later.

“Harry!” said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. “What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?”

“Come with me,” Harry said quickly. “Come on, I’ve got to tell you something. . . .”

Ron and Hermione started walking family behind him before the girl turned around, realizing that her blonde friend was missing.

"Are you coming?" Hermione asked, making her friends stop in their tracks.

Erin tried to hide her smile. It was not the best time to think dirty.

"I guess it's a private thing," Erin shrugged. "I don't want to be a bother. It's okay that you all don't trust me yet. . ."

"We do trust you!" Hermione tried to convince her. "I mean. . . I do."

After a few seconds of silence, Harry nodded his head and said, "Come with us."

He led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind Erin, Ron and Hermione the moment they were inside and leaning against it, facing them.

“Voldemort’s got Sirius.”

“What?”

“How d’you — ?”

“Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam.”

“But — but where? How?” asked Erin, whose face was white. She looked as if she will vomit again.

“I dunno how,” said Harry. “But I know exactly where. There’s a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they’re at the end of row ninety-seven . . . He’s trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there. . . .

He’s torturing him. . . . Says he’ll end by killing him . . .” Harry explained with a shaking. He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to master himself.

“How’re we going to get there?” he asked them.

There was a moment’s silence. Then Ron said, “G-get there?”

“Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!” Harry said loudly.

“But — Harry . . .” said Ron weakly.

“What? What?” said Harry.

He seemed he could not understand why they were both gaping at him as though he was asking them something unreasonable.

“Harry,” said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, “er . . . how . . . how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?”

“How do I know?” bellowed Harry. “The question is how we’re going to get in there!”

"Harry, It's almost five o'clock, the Ministry is full of workers. Voldemort and Sirius can't be there without anyone noticing when, at the moment, they're the most wanted wizards in the world," said Erin.

“I guess Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!” Harry shouted. “Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I’ve been —”

“You’ve never been there, Harry,” said Hermione quietly. “You’ve dreamed about the place, that’s all.”

“They’re not normal dreams!” Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her in turn.

"None of the rooms in the Ministry can be empty. There are securities! I guess Voldemort got into your mind or something!" reasoned Erin.

“How d’you explain Ron’s dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?”

“He’s got a point,” said Ron quietly, looking at Erin and Hermione.

“But this is just — just so unlikely!” said Hermione desperately.

“Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he’s been in Grimmauld Place all the time?”

“Sirius might’ve cracked and just wanted some fresh air,” said Ron, sounding worried. “He’s been desperate to get out of that house for ages —”

“But why,” Hermione persisted, “why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?”

"If Voldemort really was in Harry's mind, which seems like a likely explanation, it's because he knows Harry would try to rescue him," said Erin.

“You know what, I’ve just thought of something,” said Ron in a hushed voice. “Sirius’s brother was a Death Eater, wasn’t he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!”

“Yeah — and that’s why Dumbledore’s been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!” said Harry.

“Look, I’m sorry,” cried Hermione, “but neither of you are making sense, and we’ve got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there —”

“Hermione, Harry’s seen them!” said Ron, rounding on her.

“Okay,” she said, looking frightened yet determined, “I’ve just got to say this. . . .”

“What?”

“You . . . This isn’t a criticism, Harry! But you do . . . sort of . . . I mean — don’t you think you’ve got a bit of a — a — saving-people-thing?” she said.

He glared at her. “And what’s that supposed to mean, a ‘saving-people-thing’?”

“Well . . . you . . .” She looked more apprehensive than ever. “I mean . . . last year, for instance . . . in the lake . . . during the Tournament . . . you shouldn’t have . . . I mean, you didn’t need to save that little Delacour girl. . . . You got a bit . . . carried away . . . . I mean, it was really great of you and everything,” said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Harry’s face. “Everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do —”

“That’s funny,” said Harry in a trembling voice, “because I definitely remember Ron saying I’d wasted time acting the hero. . . . Is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?”

“No, no, no!” said Hermione, looking aghast. “That’s not what I mean at all!”

“Well, spit out what you’ve got to say, because we’re wasting time here!” Harry shouted.

“I’m trying to say — Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it’s the kind of thing he does, he knows you’re the — the sort of person who’d go to Sirius’s aid! What if he’s just trying to get you into the Department of Myst — ?”

“Hermione, it doesn’t matter if he’s done it to get me there or not — they’ve taken McGonagall to St. Mungo’s, there isn’t anyone left from the Order at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don’t go, Sirius is dead!”

“But Harry — what if your dream was — was just that, a dream?” Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.

“You don’t get it!” Harry shouted at her. “I’m not having nightmares, I’m not just dreaming! What d’you think all the Occlumency was for—"

"Oh, Salazar!" Erin shouted. She grabbed Harry by his shoulders. "I guess you can't control it very well when you sleep, Harry! Sirius is not there. He's at Grimmauld place, save and healthy. If you want to check on him then I guess we could floo him!"

The classroom door opened. Harry, Ron, and Hermione whipped around. Ginny walked in, looking curious, followed by Luna and Astoria.

“Hi,” said Ginny uncertainly. “We recognized Harry’s voice — what are you yelling about?”

“Never you mind,” said Harry roughly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

“There’s no need to take that tone with me,” she said coolly.

“We were only wondering whether we could help," said Astoria.

“Well, you can’t,” said Harry shortly.

“You’re being rather rude, you know,” said Luna serenely.

Harry swore and turned away.

“Wait,” said Hermione suddenly. “Wait . . . Harry, they can help.” Harry, Erin and Ron looked at her. “Listen,” she said urgently, “Harry, like Erin said, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters —”

“I’ve told you, I saw —”

“Harry, I’m begging you, please!” said Hermione desperately. “Please let’s just check that Sirius isn’t at home before we go charging off to London — if we find out he’s not there then I swear I won’t try and stop you, I’ll come, I’ll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him —”

“Sirius is being tortured NOW!” shouted Harry. “We haven’t got time to waste —”

“But if this is a trick of V-Voldemort’s — Harry, we’ve got to check, we’ve got to —”

“How?” Harry demanded. “How’re we going to check?”

“We’ll have to use Umbridge’s fire and see if we can contact him,” said Erin, who looked positively terrified at the thought. “We’ll draw Umbridge away again, but we’ll need lookouts, and that’s where we can use Tori, Ginny, Luna and me, or whoever.”

Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny and Astoria said immediately, “Yeah, we’ll do it,” and Luna said, “When you say ‘Sirius,’ are you talking about Stubby Boardman?”

Erin shook her head.

“Okay,” Harry said aggressively to Hermione, “Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I’m with you, otherwise I’m go-ing to the Department of Mysteries right now —”

“The Department of Mysteries?” said Luna, looking mildly surprised. “But how are you going to get there?”

Nobody answered her because they were not sure about the answer themselves.

“Right,” said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. “Right . . . well . . . One of us has to go and find Umbridge and — and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her — I don’t know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual. . . .”

“I’ll do it,” said Ron and Erin at the same time.

“Me and Ron will tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it’s miles away from her office. We could probably persuade Peeves to do it if we meet him on the way. . . .”

It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione made no objection to the smashing up of the Transfiguration department.

“Okay,” she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace.

“Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin’s bound to go and tip her off. . . .”

“Luna, Tori and I can stand at either end of the corridor,” said Ginny promptly, “and warn people not to go down there because someone’s let off a load of Garroting Gas.” Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie. Ginny shrugged and said, “Fred and George were planning to do it before they left.”

“Okay,” said Hermione, “well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we’ll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius —”

“He’s not there, Hermione!”

“I mean, you can — can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don’t think you should be in there alone, Lee’s already proved the window’s a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it.”

“I . . . okay, thanks,” he muttered.

“Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don’t think we’re going to be able to bank on more than five minutes,” said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, “not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around.”

“Five minutes’ll be enough,” said Harry. “C’mon, let’s go —”

“Now?” said Hermione, looking shocked.

“Of course now!” said Harry angrily. “What did you think, we’re going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!”

“I — oh all right,” she said desperately. “You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we’ll meet you at the end of Umbridge’s corridor, okay?”