"Briar Lupin had dreamt, predicted, foreseen death more times than she cared to admit. If she actually remembered all of the times it had occurred, at least."
Sequel to Blue.
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CHAPTER FIFTY
TOMMY SNAKE-FACED
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STUDENTS WALKED INTO the hall quieter than previous years. Briar's seat at the teacher's table was almost directly in front of the Gryffindor table, and next to Alecto Carrow's. She was dead still, dead silent. Her blazer was blood-red, as was the ribbon tied around her wrist. She had been told not to wear it in her hair, not to make the Carrows think she was young and naïve.
Briar had gotten herself a Spidey sense over the past years. She just knew when someone was looking at her. And, she knew that Alecto Carrow was constantly glancing at her, and a fair majority of the student body was doing the same. She looked up at some of the students and nodded and smiled. She was on their side. She was still the cherry bomb, the Heather Chandler.
Snape walked (floated) up to the stand Dumbledore usually stood at. Briar felt like a fair share of students and teachers had that thought, from the sour look being cast around the room. He began:
"Hogwarts will be having a long list of improvements this upcoming term. I presume the older students recall the success of the Educational Decrees." A few brave students shared looks. Briar coughed, trying to cover up her need to laugh. "Most will return. Bloodquills will be used often during detentions. Clubs will be stopped. Students will focus on their studies. Students will focus on their new lessons, such as the new and improved Defence Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies syllabuses. I assure you that you will no longer have a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with a monster for the teacher."
A few people laughed. A few people laughed. A lot of eyes fell onto Briar. Her fingernails were digging into her palms. Don't show anger, don't show anger, they don't need to know, they don't need to know—
"The Sorting will begin."
Briar joined in with the monotonous clapping throughout the announcements for the different houses. Alecto and Amycus Carrow were speaking about their lessons, and the new Ministry; at one point, they included her, calling her Crouch, and made a joke about the new anti-werewolf laws, saying, ah, your mum had the right idea, staying as Crouch. Who would want to be the property of a monster?
(It had taken Briar a lot of strength not to murder them on the spot.)
(She really fucking hoped she got to end at least one of them. She really fucking hoped so.)
