Out of the Fire

• Harry tells a concerned Professor Tofty that he's fine – he just needs to go and lie down.
• Harry races up to the hospital wing to see Professor McGonagall, but she's already been sent to St. Mungo's.
• Harry rushes back to see Hermione and Ron.
• Harry tells them what he saw: "There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven – he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there ... he's torturing him ... says he'll end up by killing him!" (32.29).
• Hermione asks Harry timidly if he is sure he saw what he thinks he saw? What if this vision really is a dream?
• Ron agrees with Harry: "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!" (32.48).
• Hermione insists that they get proof before rushing off to the Department of Mysteries.
• She thinks Harry has a "saving-people thing" (32.57) that Voldemort might be using to trick Harry into a trap.
• Harry shouts at Hermione that his visions are real and that Hermione "didn't have a problem [his] saving-people thing when it was [Hermione he] was saving from the Dementors" (32.67) (at the end of Book Three).
• Ginny and Luna walk into the middle of this fight, having overheard Harry's shouting.
• Hermione suggests that they use Professor Umbridge's fireplace to get in touch with Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place again.
• They can use Ginny and Luna as lookouts.
• Harry agrees, but insists that they hurry. He believes that Voldemort is torturing Sirius right now, as they speak.
• Harry grabs his Invisibility Cloak from the Gryffindor dorms and rushes back out to his friends.
• Ron goes to head off Professor Umbridge while Ginny and Luna stand guard.
• Hermione and Harry get under the Invisibility Cloak and go into Professor Umbridge's office.
• Harry's head appears in the fireplace at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
• He doesn't see anyone there (as he expected).
• Kreacher soon wanders into view looking pleased.
• Kreacher tells Harry, "Nobody here but Kreacher! [...] Kreacher thinks he will have a little chat with his mistress now, yes, he hasn't had a chance in a long time, Kreacher's master has been keeping him from her" (32.142).
• Kreacher claims that Sirius won't come back from the Department of Mysteries.
• Before Harry can finish shouting at Kreacher, he feels himself being dragged back through the flames.
• It's Professor Umbridge.
• She has installed Stealth Sensoring Spells all around her door, so she knew the moment Harry and Hermione broke in.
• Professor Umbridge demands to know what Harry has been doing.
• Millicent Bulstrode (a Slytherin fifth year) is holding Hermione against the wall while Draco holds on to Harry's wand.
• Several Slytherins troop in with Luna, Ginny, Ron, and Neville. All four have been gagged.
• Professor Umbridge demands once more, "Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid?" (32.164).
• Professor Umbridge plans to force Harry to spill his secrets.
• She sends Draco for Professor Snape.
• Professor Snape looks profoundly uninterested in everything that is going down in Professor Umbridge's office.
• She demands that he give her Veritaserum, his most potent truth potion.
• He can't – she used the last of it when she tried to interrogate Harry before (see Chapter 28). It will take a month to brew more.
• Professor Umbridge shrieks, "You are on probation! [...] You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you!" (32.155).
• As Professor Snape turns to leave, Harry realizes that he is Harry's only chance to get in touch with the Order.
• He shouts, "He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!" (32.157).
• Professor Snape tells Professor Umbridge he has no idea what Harry is talking about.
• Professor Snape leaves with a flourish.
• Professor Umbridge decides to cast Crucio on Harry to get the truth out of him.
• She mutters, "What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him [...] He never knew I ordered Dementors to go after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same" (32.201).
• Just as Professor Umbridge starts to cast the spell, Hermione interrupts and promises to confess.
• Hermione tells Professor Umbridge that they were trying to contact Dumbledore.
• She claims that they don't know where he is, so they have been trying "the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head —" (32.236).

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• Professor Umbridge calls Hermione an idiot girl and looks disappointed at this news.
• Hermione says that they needed to tell Dumbledore something important: "it's r – ready! [...] The ... the weapon!" (32.219-21).
• Professor Umbridge looks extremely excited.
• She wants Hermione to take the Inquisitorial Squad to inspect this weapon.
• Hermione weeps, "I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th - that would serve you right [...] then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to s - sort you out!" (32.231).
• At Hermione's words, Professor Umbridge decides that it should just be the two of them – Hermione and Professor Umbridge – who go and see this weapon (to limit any potential damage to Professor Umbridge herself).
• Professor Umbridge wants to bring Harry, too.
• She leaves Luna, Ron, Ginny, and Neville in the custody of the Inquisitorial Squad.