Beyond the Darkness

39. I Must Not Tell Lies

August 1995

The few days left at Grimmauld Place passed quickly.  Another meeting took place among the Order members who remained.  They basically wanted to know exactly how Sasha's powers worked.  It surprised them all when Severus was actually the one to explain.  She sat there quietly and listened to his silky voice, surprised by how much he actually knew about her gifts.  Then it came to a matter of who was staying there and who would be going home.  Severus refused to stay in the same house with Sirius Black, so he and Sasha went to his house at Spinner's End during the nights.  Sasha went back during the day to visit with Harry and the other children.  Harry remained moody and unpredictable the whole time.  His anger was still there no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.  She tried talking to him, but he wasn't very chatty.  She hated seeing him so miserable.

Before Sasha, and everyone else for that matter, knew it the time to go back to Hogwarts was upon them.  And not one person was thrilled about a Ministry official becoming a teacher there.  Molly and Arthur had told the children the news too and they weren't fond of the idea either.

When Sasha arrived at the school, she found Severus immediately.  It was funny that she missed him like he did when she didn't see him for a long time.  He was sitting at the staff table and she settled into the seat beside him.  The feast began a few seconds later.  The sorting took place in minutes.  Sasha looked around the room.  The children were talking excitedly to one another, the anxiety of another school year looming over them.  She saw Harry and his friends talking as well.  Fred and George were looking straight at her.  They both winked.  Sasha playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head at them.  They both burst out laughing.  Finally, after running over the faces of nearly everyone in the Great Hall, her eyes rested on a woman sitting on the other side of Severus.  She was older and short.  She hadn't noticed her sitting there earlier.  Her hair was perfect and brown, fixed in curls, and she was covered from head to toe in pink clothing.  Her makeup was heavy and her lips painted pink to match her outfit.  She had a toad-like face and the jewelry she wore on each side nearly covered her stubby hands.  Sasha touched Severus lightly on the arm.

"Is that Umbridge?" she whispered, leaning close to him.

Severus kept his voice low.  "Yes."

He opened his mouth to say something else when the wings of the owl on the Headmaster's podium stretched.  He pressed his lips tightly together and kept the matter he wanted to discuss with her swirling around in his head for the time being.  He would have to tell Sasha about it later.

Dumbledore rose from his seat and gave his usual beginning of the year speech.  Sasha was starting to get rather bored by it after sitting through it now for two years.  He basically went over the same things: don't go into the Forbidden Forest, don't wander the corridors at night, blah, blah, blah.  He began to announce the staffing changes after that.  She already knew Hagrid wouldn't be there, although the announcement of his absence put a surprised expression on the faces of the children.  Then he introduced Dolores Jane Umbridge.  He gave her a compliment inside of the introduction.  He was about to move on to the next order of business, but when he said the first few words, he was interrupted by a strange sound.  It was a mixture of the clearing of a throat and an annoying giggle.  Everyone glanced her way, including Sasha and Severus, as she slowly rose from her chair.

Dolores walked to the steps in front of the podium and began to give something like an acceptance speech.  The students were bumfuzzled.  They had no idea what to think of her.  

"She's got the nerve, doesn't she?" Minerva whispered, leaning over toward Sasha.  "Interrupting Albus mid-sentence like that!"

"I know what you mean, Minerva," she agreed.  "Rude little thing isn't she?"