Cautiously Katie moved to take out her wand and had just raised it when suddenly Pansy Parkinson appeared at the top of the staircase, her face flushed from exertion and her eyes wide. She began bounding down the staircase, dragging Astoria Greengrass by the hand behind her.
"What's going on?" asked Katie in bewilderment as Pansy barrelled past her.
"We've been busted!" Pansy called back.
Katie turned her attention back to the top of the staircase and could only watch in shock as Padma, Anthony and the Creevey Brothers appeared there, only to be corralled by Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and a person whom she did not recognise.
Katie did the only thing that she could do – turn around and follow Pansy and Astoria.
There was a time to be brave, but there was no doubt in Katie's mind as to what would happen to those who were caught. So long as Fred and George got the letter out, the Ministry would come to Hogwarts, but they would still need witnesses. And from the looks of things, the number of those available had just decreased dramatically.
Roger and Patricia were sitting in the Headmaster's office, delivering their first weekly report of the year. Their agreed upon goal was to keep Professor Dumbledore busy for as long as possible, but this seemed to be impossible as the Headmaster did not appear to really be paying attention to them. He was looking up at them, but kept taking quick looks at a piece of parchment on his desk which neither the Head Boy nor the Head Girl were able to get a good look at, and making notes on a separate sheet of parchment.
Roger licked his lips and tried to gain the Headmaster's attention "We spoke with Bianca Dunstan earlier and she seems to think that while Hermione Granger is quickly getting the hang of her duties, Ronald Weasley appears to be struggling to deal with the responsibility."
"Yes," replied Dumbledore in an off-hand manner which simply illustrated just how little attention he was paying them.
Patricia thought that she saw what might have been a glint of triumph in Dumbledore's eyes as he turned his gaze away from the strange piece of parchment on the desk and made a note on the other sheet.
Finally Dumbledore looked up and said "Well, it seems like you two have settled into your new roles well. Don't worry too much about the new prefects at the moment as it usually takes a month or so to get fully settled. Now then if you'll excuse an old man, I have business to attend to elsewhere."
Folding up the two pieces of parchment that he had been using and placing them in his left pocket, Dumbledore stood up from his desk and was just walking over to the door when suddenly he turned around, pulling out his wand as he did so and quickly fired off two stunning spells.
The two seventh years slumped off of their chairs and onto the floor. A surface scan of each of their minds had told Dumbledore all that he needed to know about their involvement with the students who had holed themselves up in classroom 7B. A little further in and he discovered exactly why all of those students had been there and what they were up to.
He called for a House Elf to take the pair to Classroom 7B and sent off a patronus to those members of the Order who were still stationed outside the castle, instructing them to intercept Fred and George Weasley.
Then, with a spring in his step, he made his way out of his office and towards Classroom 7B.
Fawkes watched him go and trilled a sad note once the door had shut behind the aged wizard.
"If you're hoping for him to redeem himself then you've got a long wait ahead of you!" barked the Sorting Hat.
Fawkes let out another trill and then buried his head beneath his wing. The hat didn't understand why Fawkes stayed. No one did.
"Let go of me!" shouted Susan as she was frogmarched back to Classroom 7B.
"It's no use fighting, lass," replied Moody and he pushed her along "You've been caught."
A man that Susan did not recognise opened the classroom door and she was shoved unceremoniously inside, tripping as she went and falling flat on her face.
She grunted as the wind was knocked out of her and turned to look at the door just in time to see it slam shut.
Instinctively she put her hand to her pocket where her wand was usually stored, although she was already well aware that it had been taken from her.
There was a soft pop to her left and the stunned bodies of Roger and Patricia appeared out of thin air next to her.
Susan sat up and looked around the room. It seemed that most of the group had been caught already. Some were stunned, some had been hit with body-bind spells, others were tied with ropes and others still were like her – outmuscled and dragged back kicking and screaming.
She tried to ascertain who was still missing but it was hard to tell as she hadn't known the names of everyone who had been present in the first place.
Hannah, Lilith and Sally-Anne were still missing, as were Pansy and Astoria. Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper was also absent, and so were Jimmy Peakes, Nigel Wolpert and Marcus Belby. Luna wasn't there either. Nor was little Natalie Macdonald. The two girls that she had been with were there however.
The door opened again and Lilith and Sally-Anne were shoved inside, followed by Hannah who had been tried up with thick ropes.
The door slammed shut, only to be reopened a few moments later to allow the stunned bodies of Andrew and Jack to be levitated inside.
Susan crawled over to Hannah and tried tugging at the ropes that bound her, but they would not budge.
Over the next few minutes Jimmy, Nigel and Marcus were each brought in along with a few others whose names Susan didn't know.
Then, after what felt like five hours, but was actually only fifteen minutes, the door opened again. This time it was Dumbledore who stepped into the room, followed closely by two men whom Susan did not recognise. However with each of those were the Weasley Twins.
Susan and the others felt dread descend upon them, a feeling that only intensified when they realised that Dumbledore was holding the letter that Susan had written to her aunt.
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