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Hermione glanced down at the black quill in Umbridge's hand, then back up at the Undersecretary's smug, expectant face. She shook her head slowly, a look of profound disappointment on her face.
"Minister Umbridge," she said calmly, her voice cutting through the tense silence. "You really enjoy playing these petty little games, don't you?"
Umbridge's smile faltered slightly. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Miss Granger."
"It's a Blood Quill," Hermione stated flatly. "It's enchanted to carve whatever is written with it into the back of the user's hand, using their own blood as ink. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to pick it up?"
She recognized the torture device instantly from her knowledge of the future. She just hadn't expected Umbridge to resort to such overt sadism so soon.
Hermione lifted a finger. With a sharp CRACK, the black quill in Umbridge's hand shattered into a thousand splinters.
Umbridge's expression curdled from smugness to panic. Her carefully laid trap had been dismantled instantly.
The two Aurors behind her exchanged uneasy glances. They were used to rough tactics, but using a Blood Quill on a thirteen-year-old student in the middle of the Ministry was a line they were uncomfortable crossing.
Enraged by the humiliation, Umbridge snatched her wand from her cardigan pocket.
"Incarcerous!" she shrieked, pointing it directly at Hermione.
A thick, ropelike magical binding shot out of thin air, wrapping itself tightly around Hermione's torso, pinning her arms to her sides. Umbridge grinned, planning to subdue the girl first and then take her time breaking her.
Hermione didn't panic. She simply flexed her magical core.
A wave of intense, white-hot magical flame erupted from her body, instantly incinerating the ropes into ash before they could even tighten.
Before Umbridge could react, Hermione whipped her wand out.
"Levicorpus!"
An invisible force grabbed Umbridge by the ankle, yanking her into the air and flipping her upside down. Her pink robes fell around her face, revealing her thick, woolly undergarments. She dangled helplessly, sputtering and kicking.
Hermione wasn't finished. She slashed her wand through the air in a violent, horizontal arc.
"Sectumsempra!"
The invisible blade of dark magic sliced through the air.
Umbridge's eyes widened in disbelief. She couldn't believe a student would dare attack a high-ranking Ministry official.
SLOOOSH.
The spell hit her square in the chest, slicing through her pink cardigan, her blouse, and deep into her flesh. Blood erupted from the wound, soaking her clothes crimson in an instant.
"AHHHH!"
Umbridge let out a bloodcurdling scream of pure pain and terror, thrashing wildly in the air as her lifeblood poured onto the floor below.
The two Aurors were horrified. Despite their distaste for Umbridge, they couldn't stand by and watch a student butcher the Senior Undersecretary. They drew their wands instantly.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Stupefy!"
Two jets of red light shot toward Hermione from different angles.
Hermione didn't dodge. She didn't cast a Shield Charm. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, then threw them open wide.
A colossal, roaring torrent of cursed fire erupted from her body. It didn't just burn; it lived. The flames twisted and coalesced into the shape of a gigantic, serpentine dragon of fire, swirling around her.
The Fiendfyre hissed, opening its maw and lunging at the two Aurors, its heat turning the furniture in the room to ash before it even touched them.
"Fiendfyre?!"
The Aurors screamed in unison, their faces pale with shock. They recognized the ancient, uncontrollable dark magic instantly. They never imagined a student could summon it, let alone control it.
They didn't try to fight back. They retreated, casting every defensive spell they knew.
"Protego Horribilis!"
"Fianto Duri!"
Layers of shimmering magical shields sprang up around them. But against Hermione's Fiendfyre—fueled by a Level 5 magical core—they were as fragile as wet tissue paper. The fire dragon tore through the barriers as if they weren't there.
Tables, chairs, cabinets, Ministry files—everything in the room incinerated instantly. The walls began to blacken and crumble under the intense heat. The giant fire serpent slammed into the two Aurors with the force of a freight train, pinning them to the floor beneath a blanket of living flame. They screamed, pouring every ounce of their magic into maintaining personal shields just to keep from being burned alive.
BOOM—!
The explosion shook the entire Ministry building. In the reception room, Fudge, Snape, Lockhart, and Riddle jumped to their feet, looking in horror at the interrogation room door.
The door shattered outwards.
Thick black smoke billowed into the corridor, followed by the massive, roaring serpent of cursed fire that consumed everything in its path.
Hermione stood atop the head of the fire dragon, looking down at the Ministry officials like a vengeful god of destruction.
Fudge's face went deathly pale. He pointed a trembling finger at the scene.
"You… you actually…"
He couldn't process what he was seeing. Umbridge, hanging upside down, bleeding out from a massive chest wound. Two of his best elite Aurors pinned and screaming under living fire. And a thirteen-year-old girl controlling it all.
"This… how is this possible?!" he stammered.
Snape, standing beside him, gave the Minister a cold, contemptuous look.
"Has your intelligence department been on holiday for the last two years, Cornelius?" Snape drawled. "I suggest you do your homework before making decisions involving Miss Granger in the future."
More Aurors flooded into the atrium, drawn by the noise and smoke. Seeing the destruction, they drew their wands and unleashed a barrage of spells at Hermione. Stunners, binding curses, blasting hexes—a wall of magic flew toward her.
It was useless.
The giant fire serpent roared, opening its mouth and swallowing the incoming spells whole. It grew larger, darker, and more intense, feeding on their magic. It expanded, transforming the ceiling of the Ministry atrium into a roiling sea of orange and black flames.
"AHHH!"
"Help!"
"Run!"
The Aurors broke rank and fled in terror. The fire serpent chased them down, pinning them to the floor one by one, trapping them under its burning coils.
The entire Ministry of Magic was in chaos.
Fudge snapped out of his shock, his face purple with rage. He pointed up at Hermione.
"Hermione Granger!" he roared at the top of his lungs. "How dare you! Using Dark Magic to commit murder in the very heart of the Ministry! You are finished!"
Hermione looked down at him, surrounded by the screaming flames of the Fiendfyre, a cold, predatory sneer on her face.
When I was weak, I endured your bureaucracy, she thought. But now that I have Level 5 power? If I still endured it, what was the point of all that leveling up?