At the mention of Harry’s letter, Hermione and Ron both turned to stare at him.
“You didn’t say you’d written to Sirius!” said Hermione accusingly.
“I forgot,” said Harry, which was perfectly true; his meeting with Cho in the Owlery had driven everything before it out of his mind. “Don’t look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?”
“No, it was very good,” said Sirius, smiling. “Anyway, we’d better be quick, just in case we’re disturbed—your scar.”
“What about—?” Ron began, but Hermione interrupted him.
“We’ll tell you afterwards. Go on, Sirius.”
“Well, I know it can’t be fun when it hurts, but we don’t think it’s anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion,” said Harry, ignoring, as usual, Ron and Hermione’s winces. “So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that detention.”
“Well, now he’s back it’s bound to hurt more often,” said Sirius.
“So you don’t think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?” Harry asked.
“I doubt it,” said Sirius. “I know her by reputation and I’m sure she’s no Death Eater—”
“She’s foul enough to be one,” said Harry darkly, and Ron and Hermione nodded vigorously in agreement.
“Yes, but the world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters,” said Sirius with a wry smile. “I know she’s a nasty piece of work, though—you should hear Remus talk about her.”
“Does Lupin know her?” asked Harry quickly, remembering Umbridge’s comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.
“No,” said Sirius, “but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job.”
Harry remembered how much shabbier Lupin looked these days and his dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.
“What’s she got against werewolves?” said Hermione angrily.
“Scared of them, I expect,” said Sirius, smiling at her indignation. “Apparently she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year, too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose.”