Liar. Harry Potter's sister ~ Book 2

chapter seven

My anger seemed to accompany me all the way through our first day of lessons. I barely spoke to anybody all day, apart from occasionally snapping at Ron and Hermione for bickering, and answering questions teachers shot at me, when they realised I wasn't paying attention. I just wanted to be left alone. I don't know what is going on inside my head, right now, but it doesn't feel right. I'm not usually one to hold grudges, but I couldn't help but feel a deep feeling of hatred towards Seamus that day. The whispers and the snide remarks that were being passed on as I made my way through the castle just made me want to curl up and cry. But I kept a brave face. I can't let them know they've broken me.

I was beginning to think that nothing could make me feel any more miserable than I already was, but I thought wrong. From the second I stepped into our Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, I knew that it wasn't going to end well. Groups of Gryffindors and Slytherins loitered around the classroom, chatting away about their day and playing around, levitating many origami birds across the room. Harry and I make our way through the aisle between the desks, gritting our teeth and biting our tongues at the eye rolls and the jeers that were shot in our direction. I look over to my right and see Draco sat at one of the tables surrounded by a small group of Slytherins. He spots me and beckons me over, pulling out a chair. The other Slytherins clear off and go and find their own seats, when they see what he did. I glance over at Harry who is staring at my with sharp eyes, as he pulls out his own chair. He rolls his eyes and I mouth an apology, before heading off to go and sit with Draco.

He pushes his books aside to make room and I take the seat beside him, pulling out my own belongings. He smiles at me, brightly.

"Good day?" He whispers, placing his hand atop of mine, which was positioned on the desk, and skimmed his thumb over it, as if trying to comfort me.

"Yeah, fine." I say, slightly miserably. A complete lie. I glance at him, and give him a weak smile, trying to ignore my pain. I know he can tell that I'm lying by the look in his eyes. His face drops slightly and he smiles back at me, before a voice interrupts us.

"Good afternoon, children." the voice said, and the rest of the students became silent and took their seat. There was a weak murmur of 'good afternoon' in reply. Professor Umbridge made her way to the front of the classroom, her heels clicking against the wood floor, as she did so.

"Tut, tut," She said in a high-pitched voice, "That won't do now will it? When I say good afternoon, you will reply 'good afternoon Professor Umbridge!'" I look over at Draco in disgust and roll my eyes, as we chant 'good afternoon', once again louder, but in equally as bored voices.

"There," she says sweetly, with a sour smile, "That wasn't so difficult now, was it? Wands away and quills out please." I see people exchange many gloomy looks around the room: putting wands away pretty much determined we were in for a pretty boring lesson. I shove my wand back into my bag and pull out some parchment, along with a quill and some ink. I lean back in my chair, already starting to feel bored and agitated. Professor Umbridge pulls out her own wand and taps it on the blackboard. As if by an invisible piece of chalk, words began to write on the blackboard, in perfect cursive.

"Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations," she says, tapping her wand on the board with every word, "or more commonly known as O.W.L.s. Study hard, and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so and the consequences may be severe." She flicks her wand, once again and a stack of books began to hover along the aisles and distribute themselves between the students. I look down at the book in front of me: Dark Arts Defence - basic for beginners. I glance towards Draco, who's expression mirrors my thoughts. Does she think we're seven?

"Your previous instruction on this subject has been disturbingly - uneven. But you'll be pleased to hear that from now on, you'll be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic." I open the book and flick through a few of the pages, staring at it in disgust. I elbow Draco in the side to catch his attention and mouth 'is she fucking mental?' at him. He bites his lip and snickers silently, careful not to be noticed by Umbridge.