The Intelligent Potter

An: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to chapter 109 of TIP! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

*** Umbridge vs McGonagall

Umbridge ducked behind a suit of armour, which soaked up the damage of McGonagall's attacks for her. Quickly rolling out from behind it, she shot back and returned fire of her own. McGonagall swept away her spells like they were nothing, bearing down on her with a fire in her eyes which terrified Umbridge.

Scampering away as fast as she could, Umbridge finally reached where she was headed. A central corridor. The students around her parted in confusion as she shoved her way through the throng of people. McGonagall rounded the corner Umbridge had just turned, actual fire burning at the end of her wand, which she managed to stop from spreading just in time.

"Ye bloody coward!" the former Headmistress growled, "Students, move away from here in an orderly fashion, I need to deal with that woman."

"Don't listen to her," Umbridge barked, "She is no longer your headmistress, she is simply an intruder on these grounds!"

The student body was confused, and that worked to Umbridge's advantage. She transfigured the floor into quicksand and ran for it, leaving the students to get stuck and slow down McGonagall.

It took the master of transfiguration almost no time to turn the ground back solid but the discord sown amongst the students was far more of a distraction for her. At first, she had been slightly confused where Dolores was headed, but now she knew from the direction that the other woman was headed where she was going. She was running to the Headmaster's Office.

Deciding that making it through the students was practically impossible, McGonagall transfigured herself a route by transfiguring a doorway through the wall, allowing her to enter an adjacent hallway

McGonagall made it out on the hallway and back onto track to get to the Headmaster's office, but couldn't catch sight of Umbridge, who must have gained quite a lead on her. She cursed as she found that large patches of the floor had been transfigured by Umbridge, slowing her down as she had to rescue some students and return the floor to its usual state several times before making it to the Headmaster's Office.

The gargoyle refused her entry, which was an extremely bad sign. With a little bit of regret, McGonagall blasted the gargoyle out of her path, and made her way up the stairs. The door to the office was open and behind the desk in the office stood Umbridge, whose back was facing the door.

Umbridge's hands were placed on a runestone which Minerva recognized as the one which connected the Headmaster of Hogwarts to the ward system.

This was bad.

McGonagall whipped her wand and summoned the other woman, pulling her away from the runestone and roughly towards Minerva.

McGonagall grunted as Umbridge flew straight into her and the two women tumbled onto the floor and slid to hit the wall.

"Merlin's beard!��� McGonagall g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

Umbridge scrambled to her feet, pointing her wand at Minerva.

From the floor, McGonagall could only just about deflect all the spells being sent at her by Umbridge. She was in no position to really go on the offensive, and it was a testament to how much better than Umbridge she was that she even managed to keep the battle even as she too tried to get to her feet and get back on equal ground with her opponent.

"Apprehend her!" Umbridge shrieked suddenly, which confused Minerva. Who was she talking to?

Only at the last second, her instincts screamed at her to move, and she did, glancing back and seeing that the two sets of armor which stood in the Headmaster's office had moved to catch her.

Shit. Dolores had managed to take control of the wards. In the small space of the office, she was at a major disadvantage with three opponents against just her. It wouldn't get too much easier outside the office either though, as Umbridge could command any number of suits of armour and god forbid the knights of stone carved into the entrance hall to fight her.

She had missed her chance to apprehend Dolores Umbridge.

Knowing the fight was not in her favor, the transfiguration mistress resorted to blowing a hole through the wall and scampering through it, jumping her way down the spiral staircase as fast as she could, making her old bones creak in protest.

A lot of students had gathered around the obliterated gargoyle which protected the office, causing McGonagall to curse.

A spell from behind her nearly caught her in the back, and she only just managed to spin around and parry it into the ground.

More suits of armour came to life to fight Minerva, even as Umbridge strolled out, smiling smugly at her.

"Are you ready to give yourself up now, McGonagall?"

"Not in a million years!"

If Harry, Hermione, and Daphne hadn't been hiding away in the Room of Requirement, maybe the schoolwide commotion would have spurred them to help McGonagall, but they were, so they didn't.

It was in the entrance hall, finally, that McGonagall was apprehended. Having taken down countless suits, many of whom fell apart taking spells meant for Umbridge, she had finally been surrounded.

Behind her stood a contingent of five stone knights, and to her left, right, and right in front of her, stood many suits of armour.

Taking a deep breath, the witch spread a circle of fire around herself, shaping the elemental magic as best as she could. She had already magically exhausted herself a fair amount in the fight, but she would never go down easily.

She heard Umbridge shriek like the toad she was, but the knights of stone were not phased. They stepped through the flames and brutally disarmed her, chopping with the blunt side of their heavy cleavers onto her arm, making her drop her wand - and probably breaking her arm from the sickening crunch which she heard.

With a cry of pain, Minerva McGonagall fell to her knees, being held by either arm by two stone knights.

As her wand had fallen from her hand, the fire had stopped and she could see that every suit of armour had been blown apart by the flames, though Umbridge herself seemed to have been only slightly singed.

The triumphant toad scowled at her as she tried to pat down her obnoxious pink cardigan which seemed to have caught fire a little bit.

"Take that bloody woman to the dungeons!"

*** End of Chapter