Sirius showed no reaction; he did not even move inside the cage. Brian glanced at him and discovered that he had actually closed his eyes and fallen fast asleep in that brief span of time. Umbridge, meanwhile, made no attempt to hide the particular disgust with which she looked at the large dog in the cage, and spoke in a shrill, sickly-sweet voice:
"Hello, Brian. I imagine I needn't introduce myself any further. Scrimgeour mentioned you to me. He said you were a clever man, and I've always liked making friends with clever people. I know you must be wondering why someone as distinguished as I, a Deputy Minister for Magic, would suddenly appear on the Hogwarts Express-hem, hem. I would be delighted to discuss the Ministry of Magic's arrangements for Hogwarts this year with you in a compartment that doesn't smell of animal hair."
To be honest, the instant Umbridge looked at Sirius, Brian had thought she had recognized his true identity-but she clearly had not. That rather surprised him, though it did spare him some trouble. He guessed that Umbridge simply disliked creatures such as dogs.
The journey was long anyway, so he might as well let Sirius sleep in a private compartment for a while. Brian was now more concerned about the "Ministry of Magic's arrangements for Hogwarts this year" that Umbridge had just mentioned. He was clearly part of Hogwarts himself, and now that Umbridge had approached him, she obviously had some arrangements in mind for him. This was not quite proper procedure and amounted to bypassing the chain of command, but there was no harm in learning about the situation first.
"...All right. There are plenty of empty compartments on the train. I think he would be happy to sleep in a compartment of his