Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [86]
“An invasion?” asked Harry, confused. “By who?”
“Voldemort!” yelled Lupin. Hermione and Ron flinched at the sound of the name.
“What do you mean?” asked Harry.
“The dementors,” said Sirius. “They’ve been talking about it for weeks now. They’re getting excited, they can sense him coming, and they are more than willing to join him.”
“You can understand them?” asked Harry.
“A translation charm,” said Lupin. “I made a wand out of the food and trays they give us. Every now and then they give us some dragon spice to put on our food. While not nearly as powerful as dragon heartstring, phoenix feather, or unicorn hair, it suffices.” He took out a very crude wand form his pocket. “It’s definitely nothing spectacular, but it can do some basic stuff.”
“Why didn’t you tell any of the human guards?” asked Hermione.
“Ha!” said Sirius, his arms folded. “You think they listened to us? We tried, of course, but they thought we were just trying to come up with an excuse for them to let us out of here.”
“So get out of here Harry!” said Lupin. ‘We’ve got a pretty good escape plan right now (he pointed to the writings on the wall) and we don’t want you to get hurt when we try it.” Harry felt distraught, he had traveled all this way, and they didn’t even need or want his help.
“Not that we’re not thrilled that you’re here Harry,” said Sirius, giving a very thin and weak smile. Harry felt his spirits lift a little. “The fact that you got passed the dementors and guards proves that you are a magnificent wizard.”
“So how can we get you out of here?” asked Harry. Sirius and Lupin both pointed to a small hole in the wall that had a small white orb in it. There were bars covering it.
“That little ball is the key to opening the cell,” said Lupin.
“The key is right there?” said Hermione, sounding amazed. “Right where almost anyone can get at it? You‘d think they would make it a bit more secure than that….”
“They don’t need to, Hermione,” said Sirius. “Most prisoners here don’t even need bars to keep them in. Why waste governmental money on more security when you can get the same result for less?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Hermione.
“Anyway,” continued Lupin, “my wand isn’t good enough to perform a transportation charm yet, but yours is.”
“A transportation charm?” asked Harry, not knowing what it was.
“It can move objects short distances as if they apparated,” said Sirius. “Just point to the orb, say ‘Ela Grigorus’. The orb should pop out of the cage and to you.” Harry turned to the small cage in the wall, cracked his neck, and took out his wand, pointing it at the orb. Sirius and Lupin were as good as out.
“Ela Grigorus!” he yelled. The orb shook violently for a second, then it appeared in Harry’s hand.
“Excellent Harry!” said Sirius. “Now, put the orb in here, and get ready to go.” He pointed to a small hole next to the bars of the cell. It was the exact size of the orb, and Harry put it snuggly into it. The bars of the cell immediately vanished, and Sirius and Lupin ran out. Harry took the orb from the hole, and the bars appeared again. He performed the transportation charm on it, and put it back into its cage.
“Great job Harry,” said Sirius, beaming at him with extremely bloodshot and baggy eyes, just like Lupin.
“Now, how do we get out of here?” asked Harry.
“Oh, that’s the easy part,” said Sirius. “All we have to do is-”
Sirius was cut off by a violent explosion that seemed to come from everywhere at once. The sound of it was deafening, and Harry could feel the heat of it coming from all around him. He heard screams coming from every direction, and heard beams being shot from wands. High, cold laughs followed each shot, along with huge explosive noises. Smoke began flowing throughout the halls, and right up to the five of them.
“It’s begun!” said Sirius.
“Go go go!” yelled Lupin, pushing Harry, Ron, and Hermione along the smoky corridor. He was shooting something out of his homemade wand that made the smoke part a little, but it was still almost overwhelming.
“Where are we going?” asked Harry, coughing,