บท 405: The Return of the Yesteryear Yellow Menace on Wheels

"Oof, you're heavier than you look," Oleandra grunted, as she heaved Harry's rigid body onto her bed. "There, at least this way, you'll be comfortable."

Only one part of Harry's body could still move, and he was taking full advantage of this flaw in the spell to make this entire process as excruciatingly awkward as he could. His eyes kept swivelling in their orbits as he followed Oleandra's every movement, looking daggers at her all the while.

Oleandra ignored Harry's accusatory stare. She did feel slightly guilty over casting a Full Body-Bind Curse at him the moment his back was turned, but she had promised Professor Snape that she would try and keep him out of trouble until the weekend…

"Oh, don't look at me that way," said Oleandra uncomfortably. "You should have known that I wasn't about to let you go anywhere. Whatever Voldemort has in store for you, we can be sure it's no good. So, you just lie there and relax, and with Tracey's help, I'll have this room warded up better than Hogwarts itself. I'd very much like to see Death Eaters trying to force their way through a triple-layered Elhaz-Odala formation…"

Oleandra's long-winded ramblings were suddenly cut short by the muffled sound of an old-fashioned car horn, which was originating from the street in front of the inn. The horn's raspy honking was oddly familiar, but Oleandra was having trouble remembering where she had heard it before. Cautiously, Oleandra walked over to her room's window and peeked through the blinds, only to end up nearly blinded by a car's headlights, of all things.

"Oi, Oleandra!" came Astoria's voice from below. "We're here, just like you asked!"

Gradually, the white-hot filament inside the car's old headlights cooled down, lowering the brightness enough for Oleandra to see her little sister waving at her, her head poking out through the bright yellow car's driver seat window.

"Oh, Hel," Oleandra muttered to herself. "The Bananamobile? What's Astoria doing in that old death trap…!?"

Two years ago, in prevision for their trip to Nidavellir, Ginny had 'borrowed' the ancient Citroën 2CV that Muggle Studies Professor Burbage used to demonstrate Muggles' modes of transportation in her class; and Ginny had breathed life into the car, much in the same way that her father had enchanted his Ford Anglia 105E.

Since then, Ginny hadn't had much of a use for the car, so she had let it roam freely in the Forbidden Forest, where it could recharge its Od from the Telluric Vein that ran beneath the forest floor (the four Founders had chosen to build Hogwarts on a knot at the intersection of two Telluric Veins, and it was from there that the castle drew its eternal magic).

"Hang on just one second!" Oleandra shouted down at her through the open window. "Where's Tracey? She's the one I called! What are you doing here instead of her?"

"We were all already together when you called; and Tracey's already inside, she's coming up with the others!" Astoria shouted back. "It's kind of a long story, but a few hours ago, Umbridge started rounding up all of your 'known associates,' as she called us, because she wanted us to tell her how to dispel some Curse— I mean, how're we supposed to help if she won't describe what's happened to her— Anyway, long story short, we kind of got in a little fight with the Inquisitorial Squad, and we had to escape from the castle, and then we got attacked by Centaurs, and then the Canary Car saved us—"

"Bananamobile," Oleandra corrected her— and then it finally hit her like a ton of bricks. "Wait, what's that you said about the others?"

Upon hearing the sound of footsteps and creaking floorboards behind her, Oleandra whirled on the spot, only to find half a dozen of RC (temp) members in her room… and that, of course, they had already lifted the Full-Body Bind she had placed on Harry.

"Yeah," came Astoria's oblivious voice from outside. "Luna, Ron and Hermione, Neville, your friend Theo Nott… Oh! And I forgot to tell you about the coolest thing! Oleandra, you've got to come down and see this, it's soooo small and cute!"

Oleandra slowly raised her hands in the air.

Ron, Hermione and Neville had their wands pointed straight at her, and Oleandra was beginning to think that she had to be the unluckiest person in the entire world. After all, if she hadn't stolen Umbridge's Magic Circuits, then Umbridge would have never gone after her associates and friends, and she would still be guarding Harry in peace…

"Oleandra?" said Tracey uneasily. "Why did you have Harry Petrified on your bed?"

"I know you mean well," said Harry with a hint of spite in his voice, "but I've got to save Sirius."

Oleandra was barred from telling others about the Occlumency lessons she'd been giving Harry (though Ron and Hermione still knew, because Harry had told them), but she had never made any promises concerning telling others about his visions!

"Can someone please tell me what's happening?" said Theodore, who was visibly baffled by the situation he'd ended up dragged into, against his will.

"Ron, Hermione, you've got to listen to me," said Oleandra urgently, ignoring him. "Harry's convinced that Voldemort's captured Sirius. For all I know, it could be true, but even if it is, he's definitely walking into a trap. I had to restrain him for his own good."

Hermione gave Harry a sidelong look, before cautiously lowering her wand— but Ron and Neville kept theirs firmly trained on Oleandra. Tracey and Theo subtly reached for their own wands, but their movements did not go unnoticed…

"Drop them," said Ron coolly, as he and Neville swapped targets to them. "No sudden movements…"

The mood in the room suddenly grew tense, with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins finding themselves in a deadlock while the Ravenclaw Luna looked on in great interest. But just as the situation was about to devolve into a no-holds barred fight, Astoria jumped up two storeys in one bound, harnessing her powers over the wind to do so, and she entered through the open window.

"Look, Oleandra!" said Astoria, beaming, as she opened her cupped hands. "Ron's dad's car and the Canary Car had a little baby car together, isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

The sheer absurdity of Astoria's statement quite literally forced Oleandra to tear her eyes away from the much more serious situation at hand.

"Wha—" Oleandra blurted out, gaping at the miniature green car driving around in her little sister's palm, and wondering how cars could even get pregnant in the first place. "How is that even possible—"

"STUPEFY!" five voices called out at the same time!