In the chaos, Hermione was directing the last group of students into the secret passage on the other side of the wall. She hurriedly turned back to count the heads, and her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Lia wasn't there.
That snowy white figure was not in the crowd, nor was she even within her sight.
"Lia!"
Hermione's heart was suddenly gripped by an invisible hand. Ignoring Ron's anxious shout of "Hermione, hurry up!", she rushed back into the empty training ground like a madwoman, pushing against the flow of people.
She saw her.
Lia stood in the center of the room, neither fleeing nor panicking.
She quietly watched the wall that had been blown open, her snowy white tail slowly swishing behind her like an elegant and patient hunter waiting for prey to step into a trap.
She stayed behind on purpose!
"Boom—!"
Just as Hermione reached Lia's side, the wall completely shattered, with rubble mixing with pungent dust flying everywhere.
A pink figure entered with a nauseatingly sweet perfume scent. Umbridge had a twisted and triumphant smile on her face, like a fat spider that had finally captured its prey.
Behind her, Draco Malfoy and his lackeys filed in, their faces full of the arrogance of petty people who had achieved their goal.
"Oh, look who we've caught?"
Umbridge's gaze swept around the empty room before finally landing on Hermione and Lia standing side by side. The malice in her eyes was almost overflowing. "Miss Granger, and you, you little beast. I've finally caught you red-handed."
Malfoy picked up the parchment from the floor, looked at the two girls, and handed it to Umbridge with a smirk.
Umbridge clutched the list, letting out a cackling, extremely uncomfortable laugh from her throat.
"Dumbledore's Army? Good, very good. Illegal assembly, conspiring against Ministry of Magic officials—this is enough to kick both of you, and that old fool Dumbledore, out of Hogwarts together."
She waved her hand behind her.
Two Slytherin students roughly pushed a girl forward.
The girl was Cho Chang's friend, Marietta Edgecombe.
She was trembling all over, her head lowered, not daring to look at anyone.
Her face was covered in dense, slightly twitching purple pustules that hideously spelled out a word—
SNEAK.
"Now, I have a witness." Umbridge triumphantly pinched Marietta's chin, forcing her to look up. "Miss Edgecombe, tell us everything you saw. Tell us how they organized this illegal group."
Marietta's lips quivered, making strange "he-he" sounds in her throat, but she couldn't say a single word.
She pointed at her face in terror, large tears rolling down.
"Useless thing!" Umbridge shoved her away in disgust. "But it doesn't matter; her willingness to testify is enough."
A dead silence followed.
Only Marietta's suppressed sobbing echoed in the empty room.
Lia looked up, her pure blue eyes devoid of any emotion.
She smelled it.
Marietta's soul was tightly wrapped in a gray mist of fear.
Lia smelled the nauseatingly strong odor on her.
It was the scent of extreme terror.
The scent of being forced and going against one's heart.
And a deeper worry originating from her bloodline—a smell mixed with old parchment and a certain cheap floral perfume; it was the scent of her mother.
As for the scent of lies—that sweet, rotting stench like pink mold—it all came from Umbridge.
"I did it."
Hermione's calm voice broke the stalemate.
She stepped forward, shielding Lia behind her and looking directly at Umbridge.
"The magic on that parchment was cast by me. If anyone tries to snitch, those things appear on their face. It's just a prank to prevent people from not being able to hold their tongues; it's hardly any advanced Dark Arts."
Her tone was flat, as if she were stating a trivial matter.
"A prank?" Umbridge shrieked. "Miss Granger, did you think this little cleverness could save you? Disfiguring a classmate—this is your prank? I will report this matter in its entirety to the Wizengamot!"
She stepped closer, her gaze bypassing Hermione to lock onto Lia. The familiar wand capable of releasing nerve-attacking curses had already appeared in her hand.
"Now, I have to arrest you in the name of the senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic and confiscate this dangerous magical creature that can use Dark Arts!"
Umbridge had finally waited for this opportunity.
Caught red-handed with both evidence and a witness.
Even Dumbledore couldn't protect them! She could rightfully get her hands on this cat-demon she had coveted for so long, lock her in a Ministry of Magic laboratory for study, or destroy her completely.
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