章節 375: Caught in the Act

Oleandra had taken the form of her sort-of friend from primary school, Stacey Pullman. After Ginny had secretly struck her with supposedly irreversible Curse for her own nefarious purposes, the Ministry had basically uprooted Stacey from her normal life among Muggles, deeming her continued presence among her kind a severe threat to the Statute of Secrecy. Everyone who had ever known her had their memories erased, and her name had been stricken from all records.

Since then, Stacey's Curse had been lifted (by Ginny herself), but she was still stuck in a legal limbo to this very day. She had lived too long among Wizards already and had missed a little under three years of her life, so reinsertion into Muggle society and Memory Charms were out of the question. There might have been better solutions, but really, the Ministry of Magic couldn't have cared less about a Muggle teenager.

Stacey might have looked like she was free, but in actuality, she was a prisoner, and Hogsmeade was her cage.

"You're that barmaid from The Three Broomsticks, aren't you?" Umbridge asked Oleandra, her small beady eyes narrowing dangerously. "Might I ask why you are meeting three of my pupils so late at night?"

"She—" Hermione began, but Umbridge shot her a murderous look that instantly her shut up.

"I did not ask you for your opinion, Miss Granger," Umbridge said softly. "There is no need to be so eager; you shall get your turn, in time…"

Ron bristled, but Harry grabbed his sleeve and yanked hard, to remind him not to make the situation worse.

"Well? I'm waiting," Umbridge said, turning back to Oleandra. "And I do apologize, but I believe I didn't quite catch your name…?"

Oleandra cleared her throat. She really didn't like being taken by surprise like this, because she'd usually have some kind of game plan whenever she'd get up to no good. Direct questions like 'what is your name,' were no good for her, because there was no way for her to bend the truth and still answer the question.

"I just came here to catch up with some old friends," said Oleandra, who was trying her best to imitate Stacey's lilting tones. "We were just having some tea."

Umbridge's brow furrowed, as gears turned inside her head. The fact that Tracey Pullman was the only Muggle in Hogsmeade wasn't known to many people, and Umbridge herself had very little to do with the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, which had dealt with Tracey's case. In her mind, Tracey was probably a young Witch being homeschooled by Rosmerta, which also meant that she had no business being on school property!

"And what's this, then?"

Umbridge pointed to the trail of melted snow and burnt grass that began at Hagrid's hut and ended a dozen feet away. She had been trying to spy through the windows to his hut, when she had heard Hagrid's motorbike roar to life, so she had completely missed him flying away from the opposite side of his house.

"Just playing around with the Fire-Making Charm," Hermione interjected. "That's all there is to it."

"That was the Fire-Making Charm?" Umbridge asked incredulously.

Usually, a student's Fire-Making Charm only produced flames comparable to those of Muggles' matches, but it wasn't unheard of for more powerful students to push the boundaries of magic… To be honest, the roar that the spell had created had scared her a little.

Was she really going to have to ban Lifestyle magic from the curriculum!?

"Yeah," Harry lied. "Since it's a bit cold, innit?"

Now, Umbridge was certain that the four of them were creating new offensive spells especially to undermine her rules. The Ministry had tasked her with keeping dangerous magic that could be used to rebel against them out of the students' hands, after all.

"I'll have to trouble you to accompany me to my office," said Umbridge sweetly. "All four of you."

She turned on her heel and began walking back to the castle, fully expecting the four teenagers to comply. After all, ever since Dumbledore had been incarcerated in Azkaban, she had replaced him as headmistress; her word was law.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse."

"I beg your pardon?"

Bemused, Umbridge slowly turned around to see who had dared to refuse her direct order. Oleandra, still disguised as Stacey Pullman, hadn't moved an inch from her starting location, chin held high and hands on her hips.

"Do I look like I attend Hogwarts to you?" Oleandra said very clearly.

Technically, Oleandra wasn't lying, even though she really did go to Hogwarts. She just happened to look like someone who didn't, right now!

"You are on castle grounds illegally," Umbridge insisted. "Even if you aren't one of my students, I must insist—"

"Hogwarts is not a privately owned school, it's funded by the Ministry of Magic," Hermione blurted out. "Anyone, so long as they're magic and live in the British Isles, has the right to stroll onto the grounds if they so please."

"What she said," Oleandra said, nodding. "So, I'll be going now, if there's nothing else."

Oleandra walked away with a wide grin on her face; not only was she getting away scot-free, she had also managed to fool Umbridge yet again, further solidifying her grasp on her with her Fairy magic…

Umbridge was absolutely fuming. She couldn't refute Hermione's words; she really did not have the right to restrain a regular magical citizen's movements, with only her authority as Hogwarts headmistress.

This was especially infuriating for her; she was an agent of the Ministry, but the Ministry's own rules were getting in her way! Maybe it was time for her to start considering bending the rules a little… After all, what Fudge didn't know wouldn't hurt him…

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Unfortunately, unlike Oleandra, the Gryffindor Trio weren't able to avoid Umbridge's wrath. Obviously, they had all broken curfew when they had left their dormitories to check up on Professor Hagrid. Even though Ron and Hermione were Prefects and possessed the right to ignore the curfew, they had been caught breaking the rules by bringing Harry along with them.

As a result, they were stripped of their prefect privileges, and all three of them were assigned detention every day of the week, until the end of the first term…