Umbridge's breathing hitched. The invisible, monstrous creature behind her seemed to have opened its mouth, and she could feel disgusting liquid dripping down her neck from its jaws.
Filth, a putrid stench, something that drove her mad, soaked her collar, pushing her into full-blown hysteria. What was behind her was a foul, disgusting monster, and using an Unforgivable Curse on a monster wasn't illegal, surely. Cornelius would understand...
"Avada Kedavra!" she shrieked, flinging a sickly green curse behind her.
"Mummy!" the little Basilisk shrieked, springing away like a coiled spring.
"Calm down, calm down," Cohen soothed. With him watching, no harm would come to them. Just a Killing Curse... Cohen had blocked the curse the instant the little Basilisk jumped, by momentarily materializing his soul.
Umbridge turned to see only a fleeting dark shadow and hear some low hissing sounds. Hearing the commotion, she seized onto it like a lifeline, throwing curses frantically at every sound.
Crack! The wall with the decorative plates split open.
Crack! Fudge's framed photo flew into the rubbish bin.
Crack!
"Dolores, what are you doing?!"
Professor McGonagall, in her nightclothes, stood in the open doorway of her office, flicking her wand to deflect a Stunning Spell Umbridge had flung towards the door. Behind her, a cowering Filch peered out. Filch had never seen anything like this; he could only hide behind McGonagall, occasionally peeking at the chaos inside.
Filch, on his patrol, had first heard the loud smashing, but since it was a professor's office, and he was a Squib, he'd opted to fetch another professor to handle it.
"There are monsters in the castle!" Umbridge shrieked, her voice devoid of its usual sickly sweet tone. "You must explain why such creatures are in this school – otherwise—"
"Where are these monsters?" Professor McGonagall frowned. "I saw no monsters escape when I arrived."
"They're invisible, with scales—"
"Bite her now?" the old water snake asked. "I'm not venomous—"
"Me too! Me too!" chirped the little Basilisk.
"That's enough for now. Hide, and be ready to bolt," Cohen instructed.
"Listen!" Umbridge heard the hissing beside her again, but in her desperate eagerness to prove the monsters' existence, she forgot to control the volume of her voice. Her shriek drowned out the whispered hissing.
"They're right beside me!"
"Calm down, Dolores, come over here." Professor McGonagall, due to Umbridge's ear-splitting screams, hadn't heard any monster noises, but considering the students' safety in the castle, she still needed to check the place thoroughly.
The office door was closed by Professor McGonagall.
"Professors, shouldn't I be outside instead of...?" Filch, seeing the door slam shut with him still inside, and the possibility of two terrifying invisible monsters, grew even more nervous.
"I'll handle it, Argus," Professor McGonagall said.
But Filch was still terrified. He quietly sidled to the door and slipped out. This was their chance. The old water snake and the little Basilisk quickly darted out with Filch – though the old water snake's tail got pinched by Filch on the way out.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" the old water snake yelped in pain. "How dare he pinch my tail! I'll butt him to death—"
"Don't cause a fuss," Cohen whispered. "If it's really bad, we'll get the lion to lick it better later."
"Isn't this what they call...?"
"Bullocks!" the little Basilisk once again displayed a word it had picked up from Earl. As for how it understood human speech... among the inhabitants of the trunk, only Sisokot and the Chimera's snake tail understood human speech.
"Wait outside for a bit, I'll go in and see the effect." Cohen left them both outside and slipped back through the wall into the office.
"It's definitely still here!" Umbridge snarled.
Professor McGonagall looked around. Frankly, apart from the mess Umbridge had made, Professor McGonagall saw no evidence of any monster's destruction. And Umbridge herself was completely unhurt. Surely a monster wouldn't sneak in just to scare her, would it?
"Aparecium," Professor McGonagall began, casting a revealing charm around the room. After a full circuit, nothing was found, and the monster Umbridge spoke of hadn't made any more sounds or attacks – this only strengthened Professor McGonagall's belief that Umbridge was imagining things.
However, to ensure she hadn't missed anything, and just in case there truly was a monster, Professor McGonagall used some more complex spells to detect living creatures in the room – the answer was none. Unless Peeves suddenly had the nerve to bother a professor in the middle of the night, Umbridge had to be lying.
"If the Ministry of Magic intends to use such a method to blame Hogwarts for security issues, isn't it a bit too deliberate?" Professor McGonagall said coldly. "I found nothing hidden in this room."
"Look at those marks—" Umbridge tried to point to the places where the two creatures had crawled, like the displaced plates or the damp S-shaped marks on the wall. But her face quickly turned a deep shade of purple. All the marked areas had been utterly blasted by her blasting curses.
"I can't imagine a monster sneaking into a castle full of magical defenses in the middle of the night, with its sole purpose being to invisibly intimidate you," Professor McGonagall stated.
"A student!" Umbridge shrieked. "I know who it is – that Cohen Notton! He looked at me with ill intent at the ball!"
"Baseless accusations!" Professor McGonagall's eyes seemed to spark with fire as she said furiously, "I'd like to know why you would suspect my student without a shred of evidence! They are all asleep in their dormitories right now!"
"I'm going to inspect their dormitories immediately!" Umbridge declared, seething with anger.
"You will not," Professor McGonagall flatly refused. "Their first class tomorrow morning is Transfiguration. I will not allow you to disturb their sleep."
"Oh, you mean... you're trying to shield them?" Umbridge said haughtily, as if she had caught her in a trap. "You should know, breaking into the office of a Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic in the middle of the night is a serious legal offense. I can contact Cornelius immediately and report Hogwarts for attempting to eavesdrop on confidential matters through its students—"
"How dare you slander—" Professor McGonagall blazed with fury. "I see it all now—"
"Then don't interfere with official duties," Umbridge said, puffing out her chest like a victorious rooster, striding out of the room. "That Cohen Notton is a delinquent specifically marked for attention by the Minister. He is highly likely to have a direct connection to the Azkaban riot. If you protect him, I can interpret these actions as an act of betrayal by Hogwarts, attempting to subvert the Ministry of Magic."