Weasley gave Harry a scathing look and swept from...
Weasley gave Harry a scathing look and swept from the liftHarry stood there, shakenHe wished he was impersonating somebody other than Runcorn\a133The lift doors clanged shut
Harry pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and put it back onHe would try to extricate Hermione on his own while Ron was dealing with the raining officeWhen the doors opened, he stepped out into a torch-lit stone passageway quite different from the wood-paneled and carpeted corridors aboveAs the left rattled away again, Harry shivered slightly, looking toward the distant black door that marked the entrance to the Department of Mysteries
He set off, his destination not the black door, but the doorway he remembered on the left hand side, which opened onto the flight of stairs down to the court chambersHis mind grappled with possibilities as he crept down them: He still had a couple of Decoy Detonators, but perhaps it would be better to simply knock on the courtroom door, enter
as Runcorn, and ask for a quick word with Mafalda? Of course, he did not know whether Runcorn was hermes borse sufficiently important to get away with this, and even if he managed it, Hermione's non-reappearance might trigger a search before they were clear of the Ministry\a133
Lost in thought, he did not immediately register the unnatural chill that was creeping over him, as if he were descending into fogIt was becoming colder and colder with every step he took; a cold that reached right down his throat and tore at his lungsAnd then he felt that stealing sense of despair, or hopelessness, filling him, expanding inside him\a133
\iDementors\i, he thought
And as he reached the foot of the stairs and turned to his right he saw a dreadful sceneThe dark passage outside the courtrooms was packed with tall, black-hooded figures, their faces completely hidden, their ragged breathing the only sound in the placeThe petrified Muggle-borns brought in for questioning sat huddled and shivering on hard wooden benchesMost of them were hiding their faces in their hands, perhaps in an instinctive attempt to shield themselves from the dementors' greedy mouthsSome were accompanied by black gucci bag families, others sat aloneThe dementors were gliding up and down in front of them, and the cold, and the hopelessness, and the despair of the place laid themselves upon Harry like a curse\a133
\iFight it\i, he told himself, but he knew that he could not conjure a Patronus here without revealing himself instantlySo he moved forward as silently as he could, and with every step he took numbness seemed to steal over his brain, but he forced himself to think of Hermione and of Ron, who needed him
Moving through the towering black figures was terrifying: The eyeless faces hidden beneath their hoods turned as he passed, and he felt sure that they sensed him, sensed, perhaps, a human presence that still had some hope, some resilience\a133
And then, abruptly and shockingly amid the frozen silence, one of the dungeon doors on the left of the corridor was flung open and screams echoed out of it
"No, no, I'm half-blood, I'm half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he \iwas\i, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he's a well known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell saddle christian dior you - get your hands off me, get your hands off -"
"This is your final warning," said Umbridge's soft voice, magically magnified so that it sounded clearly over the man's desperate screams"If you struggle, you will be subjected to the Dementor's Kiss
The man's screams subsided, but dry sobs echoed through the corridor
"Take him away," said Umbridge
Two dementors appeared in the doorway of the courtroom, their rotting, scabbed hands clutching the upper arms of a wizard who appeared to be faintingThey glided away down the corridor with him, and the darkness they trailed behind them swallowed him from sight
"Next - Mary Cattermole," called Umbridge
A small woman stood up; she was trembling from head to footHer dark hair was smoothed back into a bun and she wore long plain robesHer face was completely bloodlessAs she passed the dementors, Harry saw her shudder
"Spare us," spat Yaxley"The brats of Mudbloods do not stir our sympathiesCattermole's sobs masked Harry's footsteps as he made his way carefully toward the steps that led up to the raised chanel quilted handbag platformThe moment he had passed the place where the Patronus cat patrolled, he felt the change in temperature: It was warm and comfortable hereThe Patronus, he was sure, was Umbridge's, and it glowed brightly because she was so happy here, in her element, upholding the twisted laws she had helped to writeSlowly and very carefully he edged his way along the platform behind Umbridge, Yaxley, and Hermione, taking a seat behind the latterHe was worried about making Hermione jumpHe thought of casting the \iMuffliato\i charm upon Umbridge and Yaxley, but even murmuring the word might cause Hermione alarmThen Umbridge raised her voice to address MrsCattermole, and Harry seized his chance
"I'm behind you," he whispered into Hermione's ear
As he had expected, she jumped so violently she nearly overturned the bottle of ink with which she was supposed to be recording the interview, but both Umbridge and Yaxley were concentrating upon MrsCattermole, and this went unnoticed
"A wand was taken from you upon your arrival at the Ministry today, MrsCattermole," Umbridge was vintage gucci bags sayin