Ripped Away From You in an Instant

Ron sat in the library, staring at the same page in a book he had been for nearly half an hour. He didn't know why, but he'd found that there was a sense of safety that came with sitting alone in the library.

Sally-Anne hadn't offered any insight during their rounds when it'd occurred to him. She hadn't said much to him at all the previous night. He'd expected something along the lines of "Sorry about the match", or "I think you did a great job", but she'd been silent. He'd tried asking her about it, but she'd spoken as little as possible.

Harry had a permanent scowl on his face, and had just ground his teeth together when Ron had asked him about Sally-Anne at breakfast.

Ginny wasn't much better. Anyone that Ron had seen try to talk to her had been yelled at. The words "incinerate", "conflagrate", and a few more Ron was surprised she knew came up a lot.

Thus, Ron found himself hiding in the library, away from everyone trying to jeer or laugh at him. Where he could work towards something greater, although he didn't know what it was supposed to be.

"Ron?"

Butterflies formed in his chest as he recognized the voice. He wasn't sure when he'd heard it last, apart from answering a question in class.

Hermione flashed him a halfhearted smile.

"What do you want?" he asked, nerves giving way to anger.

"Erm… before she left, Luna and I worked out a way to replicate Rose's telepathic network using runic tattoos. She imprinted me and Neville the first night… and I thought I should imprint everyone else. I didn't have much of a chance to do it earlier, with Luna missing, and now Neville gone. Then there was the match…" Her eyes grew wide, and she clapped her hands to her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I'm sorry!"

It hadn't been long ago that Hermione had arrived in the library to see him. He could still remember how excited he'd been, but now he only wanted her to leave. She'd only make things worse, like she'd done in the past few months. That's all she ever did anymore.

"Leave me alone."

He raised his book so he couldn't see her.

"I thought… we should all have it, so… so we can all… stay in contact."

Hermione's voice shrunk with every pause. She didn't seem like the same person that had dumped him back in September, but he reminded himself that she was still that person.

"So now you're interested in talking to me?" he snapped. "Or are you just going to pretend to be, only so you can rip it all away to chase some ridiculous… nonsense!"

Hermione looked at Ron again, but quickly turned away. He held his glare on her. What did she want? To get his hopes up again? To make him more miserable than he already was? Well, he wasn't having any of it. He opened his mouth to say as much.

"Ron… I'm so sorry."

Her words sat in him, nestled inside, and dug through his defences. They were the words he'd longed to hear from her for months.

"Too little, too late," he said, blocking his view of Hermione with his book again.

Even though his book blocked his view of her, her muffled sobs, her quivering, the struggle to contain herself, he could hear all of it. What was her problem?

"Go away!" He dropped the book and jumped to his feet. "Leave me alone! I hate you!"

He'd seen Hermione after she'd been battered by their fight with Sirius. He'd seen her after a man had hit her with the Cruciatus Curse. But Ron was sure that he'd never seen her in as much pain as he saw her then.

"I'm sorry," she said again. She held her hands closer to her face, quivering like a mouse before a hawk. "I'm…"

She didn't say another word to him. She just turned and left the library, holding herself in her arms.

Ron slumped back into his chair, in a worse mood than he'd been in when he'd gotten there. He'd gone out of his way to be alone, but nothing ever went right. Not anymore.

A shiver ran down his spine, and he had the distinct feeling he was being watched. It was a feeling he'd had since the start of that year. Like Rose was still out there, watching him, waiting for him to upset Hermione again, so she could go in for the kill.

"Leave me alone," he hissed at the empty section of the library.

Hermione had never felt so small, so insignificant. After what had happened… with Harry, with Quidditch… she thought perhaps people wouldn't be so worried about her. But everyone was still angry at her. Why wouldn't they be?

She bumped into someone. All she saw were black robes. After mumbling an apology, she moved to get out of the person's way.

"Watch where you're going Granger."

Hermione looked up and realized that she'd wandered into the Dungeons, with no idea how she'd gotten there.

Professor Snape stood in front of her, glowering down at her.

She immediately brought her head down to avoid his gaze.

"Sorry, Professor," she whispered.

"Really, Granger?"

Trembling, Hermione looked up at Snape. He looked back at her in disgust.

"What?"

"You can disassemble a spell mid-flight. I doubt Dumbledore could've done that at your age."

"So?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're probably the most talented student at this school." He sneered at her. "It doesn't matter much, since everyone else seems capable of dealing with real life far better than you."

Hermione was at a loss for words. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought Professor Snape was trying to help her, but that couldn't be possible. It was Professor Snape. The only students he ever helped were the Slytherins. Besides, who would want to help her? She was nothing.

"What?"

"Peta-Lorrum didn't let it get to her. She always managed to find the strength to carry on, even when she was wallowing in self-pity like a pathetic child." He sneered again. "Sort of like you are now. So what's wrong with you that you can't get over it?"

"I… Maybe���"

Snape rolled his eyes at her.

"And Vector has such high hopes for you. I suppose it's not the first thing she's been wrong about."

"She's a better teacher than you've ever been!"

Anger burst forth from within her. She wanted to see Snape writhing in pain, but for once, her magic didn't grant her request.

All he did was raise an eyebrow.

"How dare you talk about her like that!" she screamed. "What have you ever done? Ever! Nothing! You just stride around like you're so much better than everyone, but you're just as miserable as the rest of us! You hide behind your status as a professor, as head of Slytherin, where you can safely ridicule children expecting to learn something from you! I might be broken, but at least I'm not a coward like you!"

When Hermione's brain restarted, and she realized what she'd done, the next move she anticipated was Snape getting angry at her. She saw no reason why he wouldn't be. Had she been in Snape's position, being disrespected by a subordinate, she'd have chewed them out just as hard.

"Really?" he sneered. "You're not a coward? Then what do you call hiding in the Hospital Wing for almost a month? Or hiding behind Peta-Lorrum for four years? You've never solved your own problems in your life, Granger. Even Longbottom grew up! I used to be his worst fear, and now he has no problems standing up to me. But not you. You just keep expecting other people to do it for you. No one's here to fix it for you this time, and all you've done is snivel and hide. All you are is an embarrassment. To yourself; to Hogwarts; to Vector; and to Peta-Lorrum."

"I'm not an embarrassment!"

"Then prove it."

Despite her intent to continue their argument, he saw no need. Professor Snape turned around and strode down the corridor, his cloak billowing behind him.

"I'm not done talking to you!" she called after him, but received no acknowledgment.

"I'm not an embarrassment," she huffed to herself.

Then prove it, his words echoed in her mind.

"I will."

She walked out of the Dungeons, still annoyed at being talked down to. With any luck, Ron was still in the library, brooding over whatever pointless problems he had.

For months, Hermione had thought to be like Rose was to be mad, clever, and powerful. That wasn't why she admired Rose. It was as Snape had said: even when she was at her lowest, Rose still found the strength to go on. She fought for who she cared about, and she stood up for what was right. She was mad, and frequently walked the line between good and evil, but that wasn't the part on which Hermione was going to focus. She would be like Rose, stand up for what was right, and carry on no matter what.

People gave her questioning looks when she got to the library, but she ignored them in favor of returning to the section where Ron would be set up reading. Sure enough, she found him.

He glared at her when she entered, but she gave it right back to him. She wasn't going to back down this time; she wasn't an embarrassment.

"I spent the summer trying to understand how Rose would've just given up like she did. I still haven't got an answer, but every time I tried to write to you, I got sidetracked by it… and it hurt to even try. I'm sorry. I honestly meant to write to you more. When you asked about it, I was worried you'd think I didn't think you were important, or that you'd think I was prioritizing Rose over you again. Instead of telling you all that and risking hurting your feelings more than I already had, I made a mistake and just shut you out, hoping you'd think I was shutting everyone out. I thought it would've hurt you less. I shouldn't have done that; I should've talked to you in the first place, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I put you through all that because I couldn't think straight."

"I… I didn't accept your apology before, and I'm not accepting it now!" Ron snapped, although he seemed far less sure of himself than he had earlier.

"I don't expect you to. You're probably never going to forgive me, and I've got to live with that. I deserve it. But right now, we've got bigger problems than you and me. Everyone's on edge, like something's about to happen. We haven't got Toad or Moon anymore, and I've got a bad feeling about Princess. Skyeyes doesn't trust her… which isn't saying much these days, he hardly trusts anyone anymore, but I've got a bad feeling anyway. It's down to the four of us — you, me, Skyeyes, and Firecracker — and if something's going to happen, you better believe we'll find ourselves at the heart of it. When that happens, our ability to communicate is going to be invaluable."

"Nothing's going to happen!" Ron snapped. "You're just paranoid!"

"Something is about to happen."

Hermione closed her eyes to stop herself from jumping at Harry's voice.

"Skyeyes, why do you feel the need to sneak about like that?"

"It's good practice," Harry replied. "Sally-Anne's compromised. We can't trust her anymore."

Ron glowered at him in instead of Hermione. Hermione was just confused.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"She's been off," Harry said, tapping his ear. "Not herself. Not in a few days. She's got her mind on something else, no matter who's around her. Something's going on, and she knows it." He turned his attention to Hermione. "It's got something to do with Umbridge."

Hermione nodded, and realized Harry was scanning her for signs that she was about to lose it.

"I can't do anything if no one will listen," Hermione said, replying to his look. "If I blame Umbridge for everything, that's exactly what people will do: ignore me. Why do you think it's got something to do with Umbridge?"

"Firenze," Ron said. "She was livid when Dumbledore brought him in."

"But Sally-Anne wasn't surprised by Umbridge sacking Trelawney," Harry said. "She… she looked like Umbridge. Like she agreed that it was Trelawney's own fault."

"We know about centaurs because we've looked them up, but the Ministry classifies them as dangerous," Ron said. "That's what Dad said when I told him we had one teaching class."

"With Toad's disappearance, it won't be hard for her to get rid of Firenze," Hermione added. "He 'disappeared' right after Firenze started teaching, because Firenze confirmed that Moon is inside the Forbidden Forest. It's not hard to spin that into him being a bad influence on the students."

"Whatever's going on, Sally-Anne's a part of it, but on Umbridge's side," Harry said. "And Umbridge was furious that Dumbledore brought in one of his own."

"Then we've got to have a way of coordinating," Hermione said. "If… if Sally-Anne is really against us, then we can't trust her. Even if she is our friend, we—"

"No!" Harry snapped. "She's not our friend. We've got to understand that. She��s the enemy now."

Hermione wasn't in the mood to argue, lest she risk them ignoring her again. She simply nodded, hoping it was indifferent enough.

"Like I was saying, we need a way to coordinate. I… I was thinking about this earlier, that we could use something Moon and I developed before she left. It's on me, and it's on Toad. I… I haven't told him anything, but—"

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"A runic cluster that allows for telepathic communication. It should function just like Rose's network. So long as we've got the exact rune, we'll all be able to communicate. That way, we'll be ready for whatever happens."

Harry nodded, then they both turned to Ron. He glared at Hermione.

"I know you don't like each other much," Harry said, "but we've got to get past that."

"Easy for you to say," Ron said. "Her friend didn't threaten you all the time."

"I'm sorry she did, but we can't worry about it now," Hermione said. "Besides, I think she meant to apologize."

"Of course she did."

"She wouldn't have taken me straight here to see you last year if she were afraid you were going to upset me. That was supposed to be her apology."

"She could've just come here!"

"No, she couldn't, and it will take far too long to explain. Right now, it's important that we can stay coordinated. Please, Ron."

Harry and Hermione stayed focused on Ron. Hermione hoped that she'd convinced him to trust her, at least for the moment.

"Alright," he said at last.

Harry knew holding another CI meeting would be a problem, but a breakout of Azkaban seemed like a good excuse to hold one.

None of his friends read the Daily Prophet anymore, but even then, they'd all heard about it. The worst of the worst had broken out of Azkaban. Bellatrix Lestrange, the Carrows, Pettigrew… it was obvious who was behind it. Yet, the Ministry still refused to admit there was a problem.

For good measure, he brought Hermione back, but had her looking over the Marauder's Map on her own, checking for any danger. Thus, she was the one that noticed their immediate problem first.

<It's happening!>

Harry turned and frowned at Hermione.

<Don't just stand there looking daft! We've got a problem!>

As her voice filled his head, she pointed at the map.

"What is it?" he asked, moving over to her.

"We've been compromised," she replied, pointing at the dots converging on the Room of Requirement. "Look. Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle… all our favorite people, and Umbridge isn't far behind. They've never been close to here, but now they're waiting."

Harry looked closely at the map. Sure enough, the dots hardly ever moved. Hermione was right; they were waiting for them.

"How'd they know where to find us?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Hermione replied. "If anyone had snitched on us, it'd show."

"It doesn't matter," Harry said, pushing it aside and turning back to the class. "Everyone, listen up! I need your attention, now!"

He gave them six seconds to stop talking and look at him before continuing.

"We've got a bunch of hostiles approaching this corridor. Far too many to be a coincidence. We've been compromised!"

"I say we take them!" Ginny said. "Hit them hard and fast! There's more of us than there are of them!"

Harry looked around at the nervous shifting the students made. He caught Cedric's gaze, and the older boy shook his head. They had the same thought: these weren't fighters, they were kids.

"No," Harry said firmly, meeting Ginny's gaze. "We won't get out of this with force. We don't know what they're doing, or how much they know, so first we've got to get everyone out. Umbridge probably knows about the four of us," he indicated himself, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, "but they can't know about everyone."

<That's wrong, and you know it,> Hermione said. <There's only one person outside this room that could've told her, and she knows about each person in this room.>

Harry glanced at Hermione for just a second to acknowledge her, then turned back to the students.

"We're going to get everyone out," he said, hoping to reassure them.

I just don't know how yet.

"I've got it," Ron said. "If someone can make a smokescreen, they'll be blind. Harry, you won't be, right? If you can do that thing… blindsight or whatever it is… then you can take them out before they know what's going on."

"I can do that!" Ginny exclaimed.

Before anyone could stop her, the tip of her wand started smoking.

Harry nodded to her, then turned back to the others.

"Everyone, cover your mouths and eyes. I'll let you know when it's safe. The moment Ron and Hermione tell you to, run as fast as you can. Push past anyone in your way, it won't matter. Keep moving until you're far away from here."

Ron nodded and turned to Hermione.

"How do the surrounding floors look?"

Harry was glad Ron had thought of that, because it'd completely escaped him.

"Clear."

Harry paused for a moment, knowing he didn't have much time to collect himself.

<What about Princess?>

He didn't want to ask out loud. Sure, she was the enemy, but Sally-Anne was still a friend to many of the people inside. They hadn't figured out she was a snake in the grass yet.

Hermione held his gaze for a moment, then scanned the map. After a tense moment, she shook her head.

<I don't see her anywhere.>

He looked at the door and wished Alavel had been there to help him, that Hermione hadn't brought up the argument about them being in danger if they were caught with them.

"Skyeyes, we've got to move now," Ron said, having agreed to use their nickname for combat scenarios. "If they get too close, we won't have a chance."

Harry nodded, then moved towards the door.

<Ready?> Ron asked.

<Ready. Ginny, do it.>

Ginny started a smokescreen. As he'd later find out, a few of the older students had provided additional cover.

Harry darted through the smoke, easily able to sense his way around.

"Stupefy."

A red bolt shot out of his wand and caught an unsuspecting Slytherin. He went down, and Harry moved on to the next one. One by one, they each fell, leaving Harry alone.

<All clear. Go now!>

Students flooded the corridor as the fog cleared. Harry himself stayed behind, ensuring that every student vacated the area. He knew he hadn't taken down Umbridge. Where was she?

He waited until he saw Hermione, Ginny, and Ron leave the Room of Requirement before running himself. The four of them broke apart, Hermione and Harry running one way, and Ginny and Ron running the other.

Harry sensed movement from around the corner and stopped, grabbing Hermione before she ran any farther.

"Not that way," he hissed. They turned around, but he sensed more movement behind them from down at the other end of the corridor. Movement coming towards them.

"No way out, Potter."

From their end of the corridor, Malfoy stood up. Crabbe and Goyle joined him, and soon, the other Slytherins were surrounding them.

"I'm afraid this is the end, Mr. Potter," Umbridge said, stepping into view.

Harry saw Ron and Ginny, equally trapped on their end. If they coordinated their attacks, they still had a chance. He didn't know what their next step would be, but getting away from Umbridge seemed like a good idea.

<How'd they get back up so fast?> Harry asked.

<Still working on it,> Hermione replied. <Nothing coming to mind.>

"You've got nowhere to run," Umbridge said. "You've both been caught red-handed. It's best for everyone if you come quietly."

Ginny and Ron allowed themselves to be backed closer to Harry and Hermione.

<I've got an idea,> Ron said. <I think I see an opening, right past Umbridge. If I throw a Scattering Hex and Ginny makes more smoke, I think we can get out of this.>

<Then what?> Hermione asked.

<We'll figure it out then,> Harry said. <Do it!>

Ron threw a scattering hex near Umbridge, throwing her and most of the Slytherins off their feet. Ginny threw as many smoke spells as she could around the corridor, providing them additional cover as they ran for it.

Harry's blindsight tripped and he realized there was someone else in the corridor. Coming right out of the Room of Requirement. He didn't realize who it was until it was too late.

"Miru!"

A wall formed in front of them, catching them all off guard. Their pause gave Umbridge enough time to recover and stun them all.

"Now. You will all come with us."

Umbridge led them up to Professor Dumbledore's office. It wasn't far to walk, nor was being dragged the worst part of it. No, the worst part of it was knowing who was responsible for them being brought it.

Sally-Anne didn't say a word the entire trip, apart from "This is for your own good".

Harry didn't believe her for a second. She'd betrayed his secrets to Malfoy once already. Who knew what else she'd told him. Harry didn't think he'd ever felt more hatred for someone in his entire life.

Umbridge waved aside the gargoyle when they arrived. Inside, they found Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Minister Fudge, along with a few people Harry didn't recognize.

"Madame High Inquisitor," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "To what do I owe the privilege of your attendance at our little party?"

Harry wondered if Dumbledore had ever been worried about something in his entire life. If there was a moment for concern, this was it, but he showed none of it on his face.

It was made worse by Umbridge's confidence.

"You won't be so happy when you realize what we've found out," Umbridge said. "These four students were caught in the act of organizing a resistance!"

"Really?" Dumbledore asked. "Against what? I once organized a resistance against cold feet, but not everyone appreciates a good pair of wool socks these days."

"They call themselves the Crimson Insurrection," Sally-Anne said. "They've been operating secretly for months. About a third of the school is involved, mostly Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. I've got a list of names if you're interested, but the leaders have always been Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." She glanced at them for a moment, took a breath, then turned back to Minister Fudge. "As I've told Professor Umbridge, the former created the lie about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returning to hide the fact that he was sneaking about in the Forbidden Forest, after curfew, with his girlfriend Ellie Langley, whose memory has since been wiped of the incident, and the latter went mad after being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse and subsequently losing her friend Rose Peta-Lorrum, who herself was mad."

"WHAT?!" Harry and Hermione roared.

They both tried lunging for Sally-Anne, but Malfoy and his goons kept them restrained.

"I see you've made no efforts to discipline your students, Dumbledore," Fudge said with a mild look of disgust. He smiled at Sally-Anne. "Fortunately, students such as Ms. Perks here have taken it upon themselves to act responsibly."

Sally-Anne silently nodded her head in thanks.

"I hope you're happy!" Hermione hissed.

"Silence!" Umbridge hissed.

"It's alright," Sally-Anne said. "Let her speak."

Sally-Anne slowly turned her head towards Hermione. Her face was stoic, empty. Harry couldn't remember ever seeing her like that.

"You were our friend!" Hermione said. "How could you?"

"You've got no idea what you're doing," Sally-Anne said. "You're exactly like Rose. You just stumble in without thinking, then blame everyone else when it goes wrong. This was inevitable, Hermione. One way or another, your resistance would be discovered. You nearly killed Luna. How many more people would've had to have gotten hurt before you realized that you were out of your depth?"

"After everything Rose did for you! You're alive because of her!"

"I've nearly died here more times than I care to remember because of either Rose's arrogance or Dumbledore's incompetence."

From behind them, Ginny snarled at Sally-Anne.

"And your pal Malfoy here?" Hermione asked. "He poisoned you!"

"He's a teenager. Professor Dumbledore isn't. Rose, despite her insistence on acting like a child, was far older than she let on. Think about that, Hermione. She's an adult pretending to be a child. She wasn't right in the head."

Sally-Anne turned her empty stare back to Professor Dumbledore and Fudge.

"Is this what you wanted, Ms. Perks?" Dumbledore asked.

There was no anger in his voice. No sense of betrayal.

"I want a world where I know the people I care about are safe," she replied. "A world of order and safety."

"We all do, Ms. Perks," Umbridge said. "That's what the Ministry has been trying to provide for months, but it is clear that Albus Dumbledore has other plans."

Fearing the worst, Harry stepped in and added his voice to the chaos.

"Professor Dumbledore didn't know about this!" Harry said. "It was my idea!"

Umbridge let out a small laugh that made Harry's blood boil.

"Ms. Perks, would you please cover this part?"

With another glance at them, Sally-Anne nodded.

"Harry only ever intended to teach them what Professor Umbridge wouldn't. He doesn't understand how the curriculum works, nor that it's assigned by the Ministry for a safe learning environment. Allowing students to actually practice such defensive magic is irresponsible, dangerous, and isn't required for their exams. He honestly thought he was doing the right thing."

She glanced at Hermione.

"Hermione, however, was following Rose's example of believing she knew better than everyone else. Through her arrogance and mounting paranoia, she became convinced that Professor Umbridge was out to get her, hence the name 'Crimson Insurrection'. It follows Rose's example of rebelling against anything she believed was wrong."

Sally-Anne spared another glance at Hermione and sighed.

"It wasn't her fault either, really. Rose had more of an influence on her than the staff did. It should've been their responsibility to spot something like this and deal with it appropriately."

"You've left out one thing, Ms. Perks," Dumbledore said, getting to his feet. "You forgot the part where I told Ms. Granger to start all of this. You see, I intended to use Rose as a weapon against the Ministry, but with her gone, I had to resort to her replacement. Especially after Ms. Granger expressed interest in reproducing the unique magic Ms. Peta-Lorrum used, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to create an entire army of weapons just like her."

"So you confess?" Fudge said, giving significant glances to the other people in the room.

"Oh yes, to everything," Dumbledore said. "That I'm trying to overthrow the Ministry, that I'm really Voldemort in disguise, that I made up the whole thing, whatever it is the Ministry is saying about me these days. You've got me, Cornelius. Well done."

"Then as Minister of Magic, I hereby place you under arrest," Fudge said, motioning to the people Harry didn't recognize. "Control of Hogwarts will fall to Dolores Umbridge, effective immediately."

McGonagall opened her mouth to protest, but Dumbledore shot her a quick look that told her to hold her tongue. He gave the same look to Harry and Hermione.

"If I may say one last thing to Ms. Perks before you take me into custody," Dumbledore said.

Fudge frowned at Dumbledore, then turned to Umbridge.

She smiled as if she owned the world.

"Of course," she said.

Dumbledore nodded his thanks, then addressed Sally-Anne.

"You've done a fine job, Ms. Perks. I'm sure your friend Ms. Nertlyn will be very proud of you."

He turned back to Fudge and his Aurors.

"Now, Dumbledore, if you'll come with us…" Fudge began.

"Hm?" Dumbledore smiled, still apparently not taking the situation seriously. "Oh, I'm sorry. You mean be carted off to a holding cell before being thrown in Azkaban, yes?"

"Yes, that is what 'under arrest' traditionally means."

"Oh, then I'm afraid I must decline your invitation. I've got quite a lot to do, you see, being an evil mastermind and all."

The next few seconds seemed to span hours.

Fawkes barreled out of his cage and shot right for Dumbledore. Aurors raised their wands. Fudge and Umbridge shouted orders. Harry tried to react, but Malfoy held him fast. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny had the same problem. McGonagall dove for cover, drawing her wand. Sally-Anne shook her hands free.

Spells flew through the air towards Dumbledore, but Fawkes was faster. He reached Dumbledore before the spells. The moment the two made contact, they vanished in a blinding flash of fire.

The flash from Fawkes was accented by flashes from spell-fire. They arced and cracked, but none of them hit more than empty space. When the flashes died down, there was nothing left behind Dumbledore's desk.

It took Harry's eyes a moment to adjust. When they did, it began to sink in.

Dumbledore was gone.

"Where is he?" Fudge shouted. "What happened?"

"We'll find him," Umbridge said, moving to Dumbledore's chair. She took a seat behind his desk, looking as if it were meant for her. "As you said, I'm in charge of Hogwarts now. And there will be a few changes."