บท 400: It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings

"Well?" said Umbridge sweetly. "The entrance to this secret room of yours?"

"You won't get a single word out of us," Harry shot back defiantly.

He glanced sideways at Oleandra for confirmation that they were still on the same page, but she remained stony-faced, making it impossible to guess at what she might be thinking.

"You do not want to make me wait for Miss Edgecombe's return, Potter," said Umbridge softly. "The Minister will be here shortly, and I fully intend on having something to show for his effort…"

Oleandra and Harry were currently being held at wandpoint by half a dozen members of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, on the seventh-floor corridor of the Astronomy Tower. They were standing in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching Trolls how to ballet dance, which had been hung up on the wall opposite to the Room of Requirement.

With this many people specifically searching for the Room, it would only be a matter of time before the entrance revealed itself…

"Very well, then," said Umbridge, licking her lips slightly nervously. "I did not want to use the Cruciatus Curse, but we are running out of time, and what the Minister doesn't know cannot hurt him…"

"But professor," one sixth-year Hufflepuff boy argued. "Isn't the Cruciatus Curse illegal? You can't—"

Umbridge simply had to smile at the boy for him to blanch and quickly look away.

"Now, where were we?" Umbridge said pleasantly, drawing her wand. "What will it be, Potter? Shall I start with your little girlfriend here, or will you play the gentleman?"

"Professor, look!"

Another student pointed at the wall opposite the tapestry. The outline of a door was slowly drawing itself against the wallpaper, and soon, the door had fully taken shape, even swinging open of its own initiative, as if begging them to come inside.

"There, now," said Umbridge softly. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Oleandra glanced at Harry, who was looking ashen-faced.

Harry knew from first-hand experience just how painful the Cruciatus Curse could be, and he had also seen the damage that the Curse could inflict, having met Neville's parents at Christmas. He would have gladly sacrificed his own well-being to keep Umbridge from entering the room, but there was no point in getting Oleandra hurt for something that was, in his opinion, his own fault.

Besides, Umbridge was bound to get in there, with or without their help…

"You five," said Umbridge, looking at her Inquisitorial Squad members in turn. "Find out what's in there, and bring back any piece of incriminating evidence that you can find. As for you, Cedric, you're staying here with me."

"What's the matter, Umbridge?" said Oleandra mockingly. "Scared of two unarmed teenagers? You've even got me trussed up like a boneless ham, so what is there to be worried of?"

Giddy at the prospect of finally getting Harry Potter expelled from the school, Umbridge very generously chose to let the comment slide. Four of her goons had just gone through the mysterious door that had appeared as if by magic, and soon, they would return with good news…

And then, for some reason that Umbridge couldn't fathom, Oleandra began counting down.

"Five," Oleandra said nonchalantly, as she prepared to cast a Wandless Nonverbal Quick-Change Spell.

"Cambio Exuvia— Rope Escape Version!"

Overcome by apprehension, Umbridge's head swivelled, as she tore her gaze away from the Room of Requirement's entrance to look at Oleandra, who was emitting a vaguely threatening aura… despite having her arms bound behind her back.

"Five?" Umbridge repeated in incomprehension.

Suddenly, the magically conjured ropes around Oleandra's upper body disappeared, replaced with a colourful scarf around her neck. At the same time, Oleandra's skirt was swapped with a pair of trousers, which contained her wand and her pouch.

"Stupefy!" Cedric roared, immediately reacting to Oleandra freeing herself.

"Four!" Oleandra shouted, her fingers flexing as she held up three fingers on both hands. "Elhaz!"

A bolt of red light burst out of Cedric's wand, harmlessly scattering into a thousand scarlet sparks upon making contact with Oleandra's chest.

"Three!" Oleandra continued, as she tore her scarf from her neck and retrieved her wand from the newly appeared pants. "Serpenfors!"

Oleandra's scarf suddenly turned into a thick snake, and like a compressed spring being released, the coiled-up snake suddenly sprang!

The Transfigured scarf shot across the hall with its jaws unhinged, digging its fangs into Diggory's flailing arms, before wrapping itself around his body. The Head Boy fell over with a single cry, struggling to fight off the snake that was slowly choking the life out of him.

"Crucio!" Umbridge snarled, finally reacting to what was going on.

"Two!" Oleandra cried, as she whipped her wand, causing the Transfigured scarf-snake to abandon its hold on Cedric and to leap in front of her, blocking the Unforgivable Curse's angry red lightning.

Freed from his bindings, Cedric struggled to get up from the floor, but Harry swiftly delivered a football kick to his head before he could retrieve his wand and stagger to his feet, instantly knocking him out.

"One!" Oleandra shouted. "Mannaz, Ingwaz, Ansuz-Aesc! By the Oak's Sturdy Roots, Pin this Woman to the Ground!"

By invoking the Man rune, the Divine rune, and the God rune in its ash tree variant form, Oleandra could safely disable her opponents without causing them harm, by pinning them to the ground!

"Oh, you've done it now!" Umbridge shrieked face down into the floorboards. "You can forget about being expelled; it'll be Azkaban for you, oh yes! Now, let me up, you little freaks!"

"And, zero— checkmate," said Oleandra calmly, as she kneeled at Umbridge's side. "Remember our little detention sessions earlier in the year, Umbridge?"

Umbridge's face turned ghostly pale; she obviously did, but torture wasn't the conclusion towards which Oleandra was trying to lead her…

"Well?" Oleandra prompted her. "Don't you remember asking me about Dumbledore ordering me to tutor some students?"

"I do," Umbridge reluctantly admitted through gritted teeth.

"You were right," said Oleandra nonchalantly. "He did ask me to become a tutor, and I've done as he asked. For months now, I've been teaching a group of over thirty students from all four Houses. You wouldn't teach them how to fight, so I did; under your very nose!"

By mixing truths together without providing context, and while avoiding to specifically name Harry as the one person whom she had tutored on Dumbledore's orders (since she had promised Dumbledore that she wouldn't tell a soul about Harry's Occlumency training), Oleandra was trying to convince Umbridge that she'd been right about Dumbledore creating an army of students to overthrow the Ministry!

Dumbledore had indeed asked her to train Harry, but he had never asked her to form RC (temp)!

"I knew it, I just knew it!" Umbridge shrieked. "But don't think you'll be getting off any easier by admitting your crimes! It's already too late for you to escape getting sent to Azkaban! It's over, for the both of you!"

At that moment, Umbridge's paranoia hit its paroxysm so violently that Oleandra physically felt a jerk through their magical connection. She had finally managed to convince Umbridge to fully immerse herself in her delusions; the ultimate gaslight, and the final nail in the coffin, for Oleandra's Fairy Magic to inexorably bind its prey to her fate…

"Wiser words have never been said," Oleandra whispered in Umbridge's ear, as she grinned evilly. "It truly is over for you, because I'll be helping myself to the one thing you care about the most in this world…"