The Serpent and The Bird

•7•

Spencer

We'd been here only a week and already was Umbridge annoying all of us.

She was our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and yet she told us straight off the bat that we wouldn't need our wands in this class. It made no sense, honestly. She passed out books on the first day and told us we would only need to read about the spells that existed. Not use them. One day one this immediately sparked annoyance within Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

As much as those two and Ron Weasley seemed to have a distaste for Slytherin house as a whole, they didn't seem to mind me, Hermione offering to help me with work in shared classes, mostly when we were younger.

I was glad for it. It made me feel mildly less alone. Especially since Slytherin and Gryffindor were often paired for classes.

Umbridge repeatedly told Harry he was lying when he insisted Voldemort had returned. Truth be told, I understand why most didn't believe him. Everyone in the Wizarding world had believed for the last fourteen years that Voldemort was gone. I believed him honestly, especially considering that he came back with Cedric Diggory's body.

Harry and his friends had started to seem like outcasts, which was unfair, in my opinion. But hey, you can't change the way people thought.

Currently, I was heading to meet Will for lunch in the courtyard. There was a small chill to the air, and honestly, I liked it. Autumn was a beautiful season.

I looked up, finding my brother to be talking to that Gryffindor girl, Emily. She was nice, a fiery person. With her was almost always Lilah. Lilah was sweet and quiet, her nose almost always buried in a book.

"Spencer!" Em grinned, sitting up from where she'd been half laying on the ground.

Will looked over. "Hey Spence." He grinned, waving.

I chuckled and walked over. "Hey Will, Emily." I glanced over to Lilah, smiling a bit. "Hi Lilah."

Lilah glanced up slightly from her book and smiled. "Hi." She settled back into her book a bit as I sat down.

"Ugh I have Umbitches class after lunch." Emily leaned back against a tree, closing her eyes.

"Yeah I don't think any of us like her. She already gave Will a month's worth of detention." I shook my head, tugging my robes off.

"Already? Gods Will what happened?" Emily looked over at him.

"She was teaching something wrong, I corrected her." He sighed, shaking his head. "It's stupid really."

"Harry got detention on day one. He won't say what happened. He was hiding his hand." Em sighed. "That teacher shouldn't be teaching."

"I agree." Lilah sat up, closing her book.

"She's been getting snippy with me about almost anything. She said I 'don't wear my tie properly', that I 'have too many piercings'." Em hugged. "She said that if I don't straighten out my 'attitude', she'll have to owl my mum."

"Your mum is almost worse than you Em." Lilah snorted.

"I have a feeling that dealing with your mum would give Umbridge a heart attack." Will laughed, shaking his head.

"I'd pay to see that bubblegum bitch have a heart attack." I muttered, shaking my head. Idly twirling my wand around. "Umbridge usually leaves me alone."

"Probably because you look mildly threatening Spencer." Emily snorted.

"What do you mean?"

"Your scar, the way you tend to carry yourself." Emily chuckled. "Umbitch probably doesn't want to see if you have a bad side."