The Girl Who Was Forgotten

Chapter 59

Chapter 59.

A February turned into March; Magnolia's mood continued to lighten. She and Draco were doing well, her friends- both Slytherin and Gryffindor- were happy, and she had been spending more time with Harry. Part of her was sure that George had had an influence in that after he had mentioned to her one dinner that he thought Harry's feud with her was ridiculous and that if he was that worried Harry should be keeping her closer.

Magnolia walked along the hall from the Slytherin dungeon one Monday morning, dragging her feet and barely able to keep her eyes open. She had been up late the night before with Theo and Daphne going over the Divination work they had been given. The sound of chatter hit her before she had even got near the Great Hall doors. As she walked through, her eyes were immediately drawn to the Gryffindor table where George enthusiastically waved her over. With a quick glance to the Slytherins, and a smile to Draco, Magnolia wandered over to where her brother sat reading an article and a flurry of letters.

"What in the name of Salazar is this?" Magnolia asked, reaching for the tea that George handed her.

"The Quibbler article came out yesterday, this is Harry's fan mail." Ginny laughed.

Magnolia scoffed, "Hasn't he got enough of that?"

Eagerly, Magnolia reached over to the pile of letters Harry had sat in front of him and began reading through them with the others. Laughing, Magnolia read out a letter from a witch who said she believed Harry because she had seen Lord Voldemort in her local Muggle Garden Centre. Her laughter was interrupted by a sickly voice from behind her.

"What is going on here?"

Magnolia felt the smile fall into an incensed frown straight away, of course Umbridge would find a reason to come and interrupt them. Magnolia refused to turn around, instead keeping her eyes on her brother opposite her.

"Why have you got all these letters, Mr Potter?"

"Is that a crime now? Getting mail?" Fred asked loudly, pulling more attention from around the Great Hall, only stopping when Magnolia placed her hand on his knee and shook her head ever so slightly.

"People have written to me because I gave an interview." Harry spoke up, "About what happened to me last June."

"An interview? What do you mean?"

Magnolia could hear Umbridge's voice getting higher as she spoke, she could almost feel the panic rolling off of Umbridge at the loss of her control. Abruptly, Harry threw his copy of The Quibbler at their professor, Magnolia could feel her becoming angrier as the minutes went past.

"When... When did you do this?" Umbridge asked quietly, her voice trembling.

Magnolia kicked Harry under the table, trying to gain his attention. He had to be careful about how much he was telling Umbridge. Harry, however, ignored his sister, choosing to look directly into Umbridge's eyes and confidently told her that he had done the interview during his last visit to Hogsmeade. Magnolia's concern was met when Umbridge responded by banning Harry from going to Hogsmeade again, and by giving him an entire week worth of detention.

Halfway through the morning, Magnolia heard about the latest Educational Decree; number twenty-seven stating that the Quibbler had been banned. Magnolia shook her head as she walked with Draco, Pansy, and Blaise to Divination; if Umbridge hadn't wanted the rest of the school to read the Quibbler, banning it was the very worst idea.

Magnolia didn't know how to behave with her Slytherin friends about the article. They were infuriated that Harry had named so many of their parents as Death Eaters, but Magnolia was sure that was just one of the emotions rushing through them. On more then one occasion, Magnolia had had to pull Draco out of his own thoughts as he walked blindly through the halls. Theo, especially, was concerning. He hadn't said anything to Magnolia, or anyone else that she had seen, since breakfast.