A Young Wizard's Journey - Order of The Phoenix

Valentine's Day

Harry, Ron, and Hermione continued talking about the article in hushed whispers, but Y/N couldn't bring himself to do more than just listen. If he began speaking, he'd probably reveal more than he wanted to.

'I don't believe this,' snarled Harry, 'Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?'

'What other options does he have?' said Hermione bitterly. 'He can hardly say, "Sorry everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort" —stop whimpering, Ron— "and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out too." I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you two and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?'

Y/N's eyes strolled up towards the staff table.

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were deep in conversation, both looking extremely grave. Professor Sprout had the Prophet propped against a bottle of ketchup and was reading the front page with such concentration that she was not noticing the gentle drip of egg yolk falling into her lap from her stationary spoon.

Meanwhile, at the far end of the table, Professor Umbridge was staring pointedly at her food. For once her pouchy toad's eyes were not sweeping the Great Hall looking for misbehaving students. She scowled as she gulped down her food and every now and then she shot a malevolent glance up the table to where Dumbledore and McGonagall were talking so intently.

Y/N was snapped back to the table, as Hermione let out a small gasp.

'Oh my...'

'What now?' said Harry quickly.

'It's... horrible,' said Hermione, looking shaken. She cleared her throat, and began to read:

TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER

St. Mungo's Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a potted plant.

Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr Bode, who had been injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death.

Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr Bode's ward at the time of the incident, has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswizard for the hospital said in a statement.

'St. Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this tragic accident.'

'We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr Bode's bedside table. As his speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr Bode to look after the plant himself, unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare, which, when touched by the convalescent Mr Bode, throttled him instantly.'

'St. Mungo's is as yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or wizard with information to come forward.'

'Bode...' said Ron. 'Bode. It rings a bell.'

'He was in St Mungo's' said Y/N through gritted teeth, 'same ward as Lockhart. And your dad introduced us to him last year at the World Cup as well, one of the Unspeakables. Can't believe I forgot about that; it should have clicked the moment I heard his name in the Hospital.'

'And we saw the Devil's Snare getting delivered!' said Hermione. 'The healer said it was a Christmas present!'

'How come we didn't recognize Devil's Snare? We've seen it before; we could've stopped this from happening,' said Harry.