"Fire! Fire!"
"Run!"
"It's burning! My books!"
"Ah! I'm on fire! I'm on fire!"
"Merlin's ice cream! Run!"
The students leaped out of their seats. Some rushed for the door, others for the windows, while some hid beneath their desks, screaming and crying.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Ron cast a few more Fake Fire Charms.
The classroom descended into utter pandemonium, and in their panic, no one noticed that the desks and textbooks licked by the flames remained completely unharmed.
Several Gryffindor girls screamed and rushed for the door. There were no flames there, and they quickly made it out.
"Calm down!" Umbridge's voice rose from behind the Lectern, shrill and thin, like fingernails scraping a blackboard. "Everyone sit down! That is an order!"
No one listened to her.
A Hufflepuff boy vaulted over a desk and stepped on a burning textbook. Flames flickered beneath his shoe, and he fell to the floor in fright, only to scramble straight back up and keep running.
Ron flicked his wand beneath his desk, sending a Fake Fire Charm into the curtains beside the Lectern. They burst into flames, crimson fire spreading upward along the weave.
"Don't be frightened! Everyone, quiet—"
"Aguamenti!" Hermione cast the spell at the curtains, but it had no effect whatsoever—the Fire Drink and the Fake Fire Charms were only Light and Shadow Magic, after all.
Several Gryffindors screamed and rushed past her. Ron grabbed Hermione. "Run!"
"Run!" "Head for the door!" "Move!"
The corridor was already packed. Quite a few students looked rather disheveled; some had lost their shoes in the crush, while others had been shoved to the floor.
Umbridge stood behind the Lectern, the firelight flickering across her toadlike face, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wider than ever.
She clutched her wand, its