Chapter 2: Little Cockroaches

Disguised as  two little ferrets, Lotte and I run through the corridors. Most of them are empty, because almost every student is having breakfast or is getting ready for class. We’re too small to touch the elevator buttons, so we have to take the stairs to a higher level. Umbridge’s office is on  the -2^nd  floor, like all teacher’s offices are. It takes us just a few minutes to arrive  there, and with a sigh of relief I see that the door is ajar, like always;  That way, Umbridge is the first to know when something happens on the -2^nd floor. I sneak in with Lotte following. Umbridge is standing in front of one of the bookshelves, looking into one of the student files. I climb on the desk and push some papers of it. Umbridge turns around. “Aarhg! You filthy little animal! Who let you in?” She holds a book in her hands and tries to smack me off of the desk, but right before she gets the chance to do so, Lotte throws some books out of a shelf. Umbridge turns around and sees the other ferret. “We need to get her out of here.” I think. “Let’s go to the -3^rd floor.” I hear Lotte think. (We animagi can, while being an animal, still talk with each other by our thoughts.) At the same moment, we run to the door and slip out of the room. I take a look around and see that Umbridge is following us. I follow Lotte down to the -3^rd floor, where she runs to one end of the corridor and slips into a cupboard. Understanding the new plan I get in as soon as possible, with Umbridge following. I get out the moment Umbridge gets in, and behind me I can hear the door closing and getting locked. I turn around and see that Lotte already changed back to normal. As I see no-one but the two of us in the corridor, I also change back. “Hair.” Lotte points at my hair. “It’s still black and white.” Right. Turning into an animal goes perfectly fine, but when changing back, my hair always stays the color of the animal. I think about the way it needs to look; Long and reddish brown.  “Yep. Back to normal again. Anyway, what do we do with things we don’t like?” “We put it in a cupboard.” I answer while giving Lotte a high five. “C’mon, let’s go check on the twins.”

Back at the -2^nd floor I see the twins looking through the keyhole from Umbridge’s office. Apparently they already released Mrs. Norris. “How’s the show?” Lotte asks, and while the boys make space between them, she kneels to take a look through the keyhole. “Where did you leave the cage?” I kneel next to Lotte and also take a look through the keyhole. Mrs. Norris already made a big mess and the floor is now patterned with green, yellow and blue colored paw prints. “Oh, it’s right here. We borrowed Harry’s invisibility cloak.” Fred pets on something I’m not able to see, but the sound makes clear the cage is right next to the door. “She’s really making an amazing mess of the office. Sometimes that cat can be awesome.” “Definitely.”
            “We should go upstairs, otherwise we might get busted, and I’m not really in for an hour detention with Umbridge and some dementors.” I say. “Okay, but wait a second.” George grabs his wand out of his pocket, pulls the invisibility cloak off of the cage and point his wand at the now visible cage. “Reducio.” The cage shrinks until it’s the size of a dice. George grabs it and put it in his bag, together with the cloak of invisibility. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Just wondering, what have you done with Umbridge?” George asks, while we walk upstairs to the -1^st floor. “What we always do with things we don’t like.” I say, smiling. “You’ve put Umbridge in a cupboard? That’s genius.” “It was Tubbs’ idea.” George turns to Lotte and smiles. “You’re a bloody genius.” “I know. Thanks.” 
            At the moment we get to the last step, a big three-headed dog steps into our sight and starts growling at us. “Ah, it’s Fluffy! We’re gonna die!” Fred and George step forward and George throws a piece of meat at the dog. Fluffy catches it in the air and sits down. “Okay, c’mon.” George grabs Lotte’s arm and pulls her with him to the next stairs, while Fred does the same with me. “What’s wrong with Fluffy? Normally we can pass without being growled at.” “Don’t know. He almost ate a first year who was going to his locker ten minutes ago. I guess we’ll hear it soon one way or another.”
            We stop running when we arrive at the ground floor. The classes are starting in five minutes, so the corridors on this floor are really crowded. It’s a Thursday though, what means that I have the first period off, and I know from Lotte and the twins that they also have their first periods off. “Okay, atrium, auditorium or dormitories?” I ask, knowing the last option is not really an option, because that would mean we had to go back down. “What about going outside? It’s quite good weather for the month October and I’m not really in for sitting in any of these three spaces.” I understand what Lotte means. Sitting in the auditorium means a lecture from Binns, the supervising teacher, and sitting in the atrium probably means a lecture from Filch. “Yeah, maybe that’s a good idea.” I say, and so we walk towards the door.
            “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” A voice filled with disgust comes from behind us. This can only mean one thing; Dudley. I turn around. There he stands, with his two minions at his side, like always. “No. And if we had to, it would be none of your business.” I can’t stand that guy. He’s, like, the worst of all of them. The Slytherins, I mean. They are the worst people at the school, the ‘popular’ kids, the mean ones. Sometimes I even compare them to the Mobs, I mean, they’re that creepy and some of the Slytherins are also that criminal. “Well, I’m sorry. You didn’t step out at the wrong side of the bed, did you?” I only growl as an answer. “I didn’t meant to disturb your little double date. I’ll go now, if you want.” He turns around, but I’m not done with him yet. “You know, at least we can get a date. I mean, who would want to date an ugly cockroach like yourself?” “Nice one.” I hear from next to me. Dudley turns back around again, clearly offended. “I’m sorry?” “Apology accepted.” And with those words, I turn around and walk out of the door.