"ESCAPE"

ESCAPE: get away; Lorelei Black braced herself as she watched Umbridge push Harry towards the desk, she wanted more than anything to reach out to him and strangle the pink hag herself, but she stopped — she was worried if she tried anything now she wouldn't be able to stop, however Birdie had a different plan — she elbowed the boy holding her back in the stomach and stole her wand from his hand, she immediately went forward and Lorelei thought she might actually hurt someone very seriously.

"Keep your hands off you, you ugly toad!" Birdie said as she held her wand up.

"You would dare hold out your wand on a Professor—" Umbridge advanced forward, but Birdie stood her ground.

"I would do much worse" she said fearlessly, "Besides you seem to have no trouble assaulting a student, it's very hypocritical of you to ask me not to do the same with you..."

"Miss Potter, know your limits, this is your last warning" Umbridge seethed.

"Birdie, get back!" Hope told her, "This isn't worth it, she would only hurt him more if you do something — not to mention what she would do to you!" she grabbed on to the brunette's arm and pulled her back.

Birdie looked back at Hope in annoyance but saw that she had no chance of arguing in this one so she bit her tongue, and stayed silent.

After Umbridge's many unsuccessful attempts to get the truth out of Harry, Lorelei could see the gears in her head turning as she leaned back, her lips pursed and that fake smile making it's way on her face again, "Very well," she said, "Very well, Mr. Potter, I offered you the chance of tell me freely. I have no alternative but to force you — Draco, fetch Professor Snape"

Lorelei's eyes widened, she knew where Umbridge was going with this — versitaserum, there was no way they'd be able to help Sirius if she uses that on him, and maybe something even worse could happen if she finds out. She knew that Snape was still a member of the order, but she didn't know if she trusted him that much, even if Dumbledore did — who's to say he won't betray them if he was given the chance, especially if the matter involves her father — she was aware of their rivalry.

Professor Snape walked inside the room and every student looked at him, silently pleading — they'd had almost no respect growing up for him, how could they? He went around bullying children, but at this moment — they didn't care, all they knew was that Sirius needed to be safe, "You wanted to see me, Headmistress?"

"Ah, Professor Snape" she stood up, the nasty grin on her face widening, "Yes, I would like another bottle of versitaserum as quick as you can, please"

"You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter" Snape said dryly, "Surely you didn't use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient" for once Lorelei was glad about Umbridge's pea sized brain that failed to follow simple instructions.

Umbridge flushed, ashamed, "You can make some more can't you?"

Lorelei took that time to really look around, she noticed almost every one of the students had two holding them back — Lorelei could take the two that held her back, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to fight them all without her wand — she would have to trick her way out of here.

After Snape turned to leave, unaffected by Umbridge's hissy fit, Harry screamed as a last resort, "He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

Umbridge inquired on the identity of Padfoot to Snape, he didn't give in answer — he left her fuming.

Lorelei passed Hermione a look — Hermione caught on, she was thankful for the curly haired girl's brain and the ability to catch on, Lorelei knew that if she would lie Umbridge would catch on, but Hermione — she seemed like someone who could do it without being caught and effortlessly at that too, she was focused on her grades, she was a good student and a good prefect too — Umbridge would trust her.

And so Hermione told her everything.

Everything excluding the truth that is.

🫐

UMBRIDGE STEPPED OUT WITH HERMIONE AND HARRY, and immediately after Lorelei cracked her neck, in a swift motion she grabbed the boy who was holding her back by the arm and twisted it around so that it was now pinned behind his back, the other seemed to get the hint and started fighting their way out too. She kicked the boy to the ground before leaning down and grabbing her wand from his cloak.

The kids then ran out as they left behind many disheveled looking Slytherins, Lorelei didn't miss the look on Regan's face after she kicked Draco where the sun doesn't shine — she also felt proud.

As they made their way into the Forbidden Forest hoping that the centaurs or maybe something worse doesn't find them, Lorelei felt this extreme ache in her chest, the same feeling she got whenever she had visions of her uncle, if he was trying to contact her — this was a bad time.

They started to make their figures out, 'Don't go, kid' she could make his voice out, 'Get out of my mind please' she told him, but her uncle kept arguing back with her — at this point she wouldn't be surprised if she woke up with a grey hair.

An involuntary shriek escaped her mouth as she turned to see that a bowtruckle had landed on her shoulders, everybody looked at her alarmed, "Sorry, didn't mean to scream — this little one gave me a shocker"

"Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?" she heard Hermione say, she was glad they were safe.

"Yeah, we were just wondering that" Ron told them, they made their way out of the trees and pushing past the branches, "So, got any ideas?" he asked.

"How'd you get away?" Harry asked them, his voice filled with surprise as he took his wand from Regan and passed her a minuscule smile.

"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming charm, Neville brought off a really nice Impediment Jinx, Regan made their limbs go numb" Ron informed, he handed Hermione her wand, "But Ginny was the best, she got Malfoy — Bat-bogey-hex, it was amazing to see his whole face covered in those great flapping things, not to mention Birdie and Hope's Hysterics charm — they couldn't stop crying and laughing to even look at us, and her" Ron turned to look at Lorelei with admiration and fear, "She didn't even use her wand, she just made them drop to the floor herself. Anyway, we saw you two making your way to the Forbidden Forest from the window. What have you done with Umbridge?"

"She got carried away by a herd of centaurs" Harry told him.

"Can't say she didn't deserve it" Regan shrugged, she moved towards her sister and pet the bowtruckle lightly, it bounced with joy.

"They left you behind?" questioned Ginny.

"Grawp fought them off—"

"Who's Grawp?"

"No offense, but I really don't care" Lorelei told everyone, they turned to look at her, "Harry, do you feeling anything? Do you think dad's ok?"

"I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I don't know how we're going to get to the ministry" He said, Lorelei let out a breath of relief.

"We can fly there" Luna suggested.

"I don't think that'll work out" Regan told her, "Half of us have our brooms locked away—"

"Who said anything about brooms?" Luna asked, she looked off to a blank space where the thing— or rather the animal she was referencing to finally showed up — the thestrals.

"Uh uh" Birdie shook her head, "No way in hell are we using these — we don't know if we can trust them!"

"Using what?" Regan squinted, along with Ginny the two girls standing in the corner looking around at seemingly nothing.

"Thestrals" Harry breathed out.

"The invisible horse things?" Ron questioned.

"But there's only two here" Hope said, she went forward and pat it's neck hoping to form some sort of bond with touch in case it decided to suddenly throw her off her back.

"We'll need three" Harry told her.

"Four actually" Lorelei argued.

"Six." Birdie and Hope said together.

"Ten actually" Regan said, and Harry turned towards her with a hard expression, "There is no room to argue, Harold, its us all together or no one at all"

"No!" Harry told her, "I can't let you all do that, especially not you three" he said to Luna, Neville and Ginny.

"Did I not make it clear that it was either us all or no one at all?" Regan stepped forward and Harry winced.

"Fine, you can come!" he said giving up, "But unless we can find more thestrals—"

"More will come" Ginny said, "You and Hermione are practically covered in blood — Hagrid lured them with raw meat doesn't he?"

"That's smart!" Regan told her, and Ginny flipped her hair back in mock confidence, Regan punched her arm.

"There they are" Lorelei said, around six and seven thestrals came up, "We'll have to double up on some, Reggie you come with me, Harry you'll be with Birdie, Neville you be with Hope, and Ginny and Luna — are you two fine with having your own?" she asked them.

The two friends nodded, and Lorelei nodded back — they were really doing this. She hopes they don't find her father there, she really does — it all just reminded her of all the lost time, maybe she should apologize to her mother, they should make up — in the present world, who's to say Lorelei wouldn't be kidnapped, or her mum wouldn't?

Lorelei had been extremely childish with the fight, and she hopes to fix it before it's too late.

incoming trauma