As sure as I am that you would come with us, we must avoid verifying the claim that the school exists as a training camp for child soldiers.
That aside, going up against several Death Eaters that Lord Voldemort may bring with him is entirely too dangerous in the first place.
I hope that was not your original plan before the untimely demise of our acting Headmistress."
"We didn't have any other way," he said after a moment. "If we know where he is, someone has to go and fight him, and we weren't getting through to anyone at Grimmauld Place when we tried to make a firecall.
If we had come to you, Umbridge would have known about it; she has patsies all of the castle." He had thought she was still recovering after being hit with four stunners, but it seemed rude to bring that up.
"We already reached out to Professor Snape," Hermione added. "Harry told him... in code, the substance of his vision. It's unclear whether he believed it or not-"
"It's the kind of thing he would take seriously, Miss Granger."
"Yeah, if he doesn't jump for joy-"
"It will take only a moment to verify if he has already informed the rest of the Order," McGonagall said, disapparating. Hermione blinked a few times.
"I rather thought that you are not allowed to apparate or disapparate within the wards of Hogwarts."
"So did I," Harry said. Sure enough, though, the Headmistress was back almost immediately.
"Excellent. Mr. Potter, your rare demonstration of trust in Severus has put us roughly an hour ahead of where we would be if I had to arrange everything myself. Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Sirius, Podmore, and Shacklebolt have all been activated and called away from other responsibilities."
There was no point in saying he had been the only Order member around.
"Sirius was all right the whole time?"
"Yes, fortunately. I doubt that your claim made any sense to him, but as your instructor in Occlumency, he was aware of Voldemort's proclivity to send you visions, and estimated that he wanted you to send someone to the Department of Mysteries, else go there yourself. Fortunately, it seems my responsibility, once I was informed of it was to be lying to the late Undersecretary and keeping you from leaving the castle."
"I can't just not help in any way-" he objected, trying to think of how he could help. "I'll bet he can sense my presence, just like I can sense his- if he realizes I'm not there-"
"I'm afraid I have my orders, Mr. Potter," she said, interrupting him. "While I can see the strategic advantage in keeping Lord Voldemort from realizing that you have not fallen for his trap, I primarily cannot use you as bait, even with your permission, and secondly he may be able to use Legilimency against you at a close range, which would rather expose us. It seems, while you have been in the castle, he has only been able to invade your mind while at rest, and putting you in close quarters with him presents more risks to us than potential benefits. The worst case is that he simply backs away from the Department, and we are no worse off than before."
"What does he want there?" he asked. "Why would he want me to go there and not some random place where it'd be easier for me to get? If he just wanted me dead, he would have gone to Hogsmeade."
"Yes, and I fear you would already be there," Professor McGonagall estimated. "I only just returned from Saint Mungos; I would never have known you left. There remains one thing that may be more valuable to him than your life, and most likely, it is somewhere in the Department. He most likely is not aware that some of our people are watching the village, but he might be aware of undercover Ministry personnel there, possibly explaining his choice not to go to a place easier for you to reach, and then dragging you to his true destination." She thought for a moment. "He must have wanted you to know where you were going, though."
"He's been showing me the Department for weeks," he said. "It's always the door, and I can never get beyond it.
That might have been- I don't know what it was, but he wants something back there.
This time, I saw all these crystal balls; I don't know where it is-" The teacher's eyes widened momentarily.
"I had not suspected you were familiar with the interior of different parts of the Ministry. It may well have been that Voldemort has had someone working for him who told him about the Hall of Prophecy."
"That's what it is?" he asked.
"I should have thought you would guess, from all the crystal balls. Mr. Potter, allow me to be plain. If I agree to tell you what he is trying to get from the Department, will you agree not to go there?"
A rebellious thought told him he could figure it out, and Hermione probably already had.
At the same time, Snape would not be expecting him to be there; the last he knew, Umbridge had him in her office. If he went, he would be asking for the plans to be rewritten for his own protection.
"Fine. It's a prophecy about him, isn't it?"
"Fine. It's a prophecy about him, isn't it?"
"It's about you."
"That was my second guess." He thought for a moment. "How did he find out about it?" he asked. "A moment ago, you implied he had people working for him, who worked down there."
"Not in the proper offices, in our best estimate." She sighed. "Mr. Potter, I remind you that you have given your word not to flee here. I shall be very busy handling school business and I shall not have time to watch you. If at all possible, I would like to deputize you to help me, as you were a witness to the Supreme Undersecretary's demise, and this may spare you some of the dishonor you may fear in not going to London yourself."