"A trap?" Hermione looked at Jon in confusion. "How did you know?"
Jon nodded. "Sirius Black, right?"
Seeing her eyes widen, Jon quickly gestured for her to stay quiet.
Some of the panic faded from Hermione's face..
"Of course I know! I told you, I'm Professor Dumbledore's person!" Jon explained. "Mr. Black is still staying peacefully at Grimmauld Place without any problems..."
"But... Harry's dream?" Hermione argued.
"Simple—it's fake... You-Know-Who already knows the connection between him and Mr. Potter. As a master of manipulating the mind, creating a false memory is easy for him. Clearly, Mr. Potter took the bait... I warned him before that what you see in illusions may be false, and once you sink into them, you'll suffer for it. Unfortunately, he didn't take my warning seriously." Jon continued.
"Then what's waiting for Harry in the Department of Mysteries..." Hermione asked, her voice trembling.
"In the Department of Mysteries, the Dark Lord needs something stored there, and it's clear that only Mr. Potter can retrieve it. So what's waiting there is a group of Death Eaters. Once Mr. Potter gets that thing, the Death Eaters will appear to seize it, then kill all of you..." Jon explained calmly.
Before Jon even finished, Hermione shot to her feet. "I have to tell Ron and Neville—"
"Calm down, Hermione, calm down..." Jon urged patiently. "Can you let me finish?"
Hermione's face turned bright red, but she nodded.
"I said, this is a trap... not just for us, but for You-Know-Who as well!" Jon went on. "You-Know-Who is always arrogant. He doesn't believe anyone can see through his plans... so this is the perfect chance for us to take down a whole group of Death Eaters at once!"
"You want Harry and the others to be bait?" Hermione whispered, trembling. "That's why you had Umbridge shut down the Floo Network and the Apparition network... why you had her gather so many Aurors..."
"Exactly, Hermione. You've always been a smart girl." Jon spoke as if coaxing a child. "You should understand what matters more. The Death Eaters need Mr. Potter to retrieve that object, so they won't hurt them easily. And once the Death Eaters show up, more than thirty Aurors and over a dozen Order of the Phoenix members will immediately surround them and crush them..."
"But... Umbridge is already unconscious!" Hermione glanced at the fainted Umbridge on the floor. "No one can shut down the Floo Network or the Apparition network, and no one will control those Aurors... If they run into Professor Dumbledore, those Aurors might even fight him!"
"So, Hermione... I need your help!" Jon patted her shoulder. "We need someone to command the staff of the Department of Magical Transportation, and someone to lead those Aurors..."
As he spoke, Jon looked at Umbridge's body lying on the ground, round like a pig. "Using another identity..."
"I can't..." Hermione shook her head instinctively.
There was a noise outside the door. Jon knew time was running out.
"Trust me, Hermione... and trust yourself. You can do it... and I'll believe in you..." Jon said the last words, then drew his wand.
"Disillusionment!"
In an instant, Jon Hart vanished from Umbridge's office.
A few seconds later, the office door opened.
...
Still sitting on the floor, Hermione Granger quickly raised her wand toward the doorway.
A red-haired head poked in—
"Hermione!" Ron Weasley glanced at her wand, then at the unconscious Umbridge on the floor, and shouted in surprise, "Brilliant! You actually knocked Umbridge out!"
Ron Weasley rushed in, with Ginny, Luna, and Neville right behind him. Ginny had several long scratches running down her cheek; Neville's right eye was swollen into a purple lump; Ron's lip was still bleeding... yet they all looked excited.
"You... how is that even possible..." Hermione said in astonishment.
"That idiot Patrick!" Ron said proudly. "The Petrification Curse he used on me lasted only ten minutes before it suddenly wore off... Then, while they weren't paying attention, I grabbed Malfoy's wand and knocked them both out with Stunning Spells. They didn't even have time to react..."
"...Neville used a great Barrier Charm and knocked over Crabbe and Goyle; Luna's Disarming Charm took Parkinson's wand; and Ginny was the best—she hit Malfoy with a Bat-Bogey Hex, absolutely brilliant! His whole face was covered in flapping winged monsters... We came back to save you and Harry, but we didn't expect... Oh—wait, Harry..."
Ron finally noticed Harry Potter lying unconscious on the ground and rushed over.
"Let me—" Ginny Weasley got there first, raising her wand over Harry and softly murmuring:
"Rennervate!"
With a warm burst of red light, Harry Potter jerked awake and blinked at the faces around him.
"What happened?" he asked weakly.
Ron quickly repeated everything.
"Then Umbridge—what happened to her..." Harry continued.
"Hermione knocked her out!" Ginny said with a smile.
Meeting Harry's confused gaze, Hermione Granger nodded lightly. "Her attention and Patrick's attention were both on you, Harry... I took the chance to get my wand back, and then..."
"What about that Patrick?" Ron asked excitedly.
"I... I sent him into the fireplace... He doesn't know where he was transported to..." Hermione stammered, glancing toward the spot where Jon had just vanished using the Disillusionment Charm.
Honestly, she was a poor liar—anyone with experience could see right through her. Yet none of her friends noticed anything amiss.
...
"We must stick to our original plan!" Harry Potter, now back to normal, took a deep breath. "Sirius really was captured by the You-Know-Who, right here in the Department of Mysteries… We have to go rescue him!"
Hermione's face twisted with distress, but she remained silent.
"What's wrong?" Luna Lovegood bent down, concern in her voice. "Are you hurt?"
Hermione shook her head, then nodded. "Umbridge did hit me with a spell..." she stammered.
"But did you notice something odd about the scent lingering in the air?" Luna continued. "I keep sensing a familiar scent in this office, but I just can't place it."
Hermione glanced nervously at the spot where Jon had just used the Disillusionment Charm to hide, then quickly shook her head.
Fortunately, Luna's attention was soon drawn to something else.
"How are we supposed to get to the Ministry?" Ron asked, his expression grim.
"We could fly!" Luna raised her hand, smiling.
"We don't have enough broomsticks. Only Ron's isn't locked up by Umbridge..." Harry shook his head.
"Besides broomsticks, there are other ways to fly," Luna said calmly.
"So we're supposed to ride on the backs of Snorkacks or whatever?" Ron sneered.
"Snorkacks can't fly!" Luna declared authoritatively. "But Thestrals can. Hagrid says they're excellent at finding whatever their rider is looking for, and they're great for long-distance travel!"
Harry and Ron exchanged glances and nodded involuntarily.
"Hagrid keeps a herd of Thestrals behind his hut!" Ginny called out. "Let's go fetch six of them first."
"I'm coming with you!" Luna shouted as well.
Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, already holding hands, dashed out first.
Neville Longbottom hesitated for a moment before following them.
Hermione made a move to stand up, a look of pain crossing her face.
"Ah—" She let out a groan and sank back down.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry and Ron finally noticed something was amiss with Hermione.
"I was hit by one of Umbridge's spells just now..." Hermione lowered her head and said, "Now my body feels all limp, and I can't move at all."
"I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey right now!" Harry blurted out.
"No... Harry..." Hermione hurriedly stopped him. "I'll call for help here. Students will pass by, and I'll ask them to take me to the hospital wing. It's fine... don't worry about me... you two go save Sirius..."
Her voice cracked slightly as she uttered those last words.
Unfortunately, the two oblivious boys beside her failed to notice anything amiss.
"Alright, take care!" Harry nodded.
He had barely taken a few steps when he heard Hermione scream behind him, "Harry—"
"What is it?"
"You have to come back alive... all of you..." Hermione's tears were already dripping onto the floor.
"Of course!"
...
As the footsteps of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley faded completely, Hermione Granger no longer held back her emotions. She sobbed, letting the tears fall freely.
"If any of them die, or get hurt... it's all my fault... I knew it was a trap, yet I let them walk right into it..." Hermione said, unable to stop crying.
"It's not your fault, Hermione." Jon had emerged from the shadows.
He tore a piece of cloth from Umbridge's robe and handed it to Hermione, offering it as a makeshift handkerchief.
"Your friends will be fine," he said calmly. "And even if they were hurt, it would have been worth it..."
"Because this is a war. Once the You-Know-Who takes power, none of us will survive... Not you, not me, not Potter, not the Weasley... So we can't just sit and wait for death. We have to do something..."
"All the sacrifices, all the effort, all the fighting... Everything we've done..."
"All of it is for a greater cause!"
...
Hermione wiped her tears with Umbridge's sleeve; she nodded blankly.
"I will succeed, Jon..." she murmured softly.
John had already picked up a teacup and handed it over carefully.
Inside the cup was a pink, utterly revolting-looking liquid.
Hermione frowned. She knew exactly what it was—she'd successfully brewed it back in second year.
"Drink it," Jon said softly. "I believe in you."
Hermione closed her eyes and downed the entire contents of the cup in one gulp. it felt like swallowing something alive and writhing; nausea surged, but she forced herself to keep it down.
Before the Polyjuice Potion transformed her, Hermione looked at Jon and asked calmly, "And you, Jon... what will you do?"
"There's something even more important I have to do" Jon said earnestly.
"More important than capturing a dozen of the most dangerous Death Eaters?" Hermione was puzzled.
"Of course. Far more important than that," Jon nodded.