𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 - 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 (𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟐)

7 - Dolores Umbridge

After eating breakfast, Draco took my hand as we walked to defense against the dark arts. We took two seats at the back, watching as the Patil sisters flew a beautiful, enchanted paper bird around the room. "Hit it, Seamus," Cormac yelled as Seamus stood to smack the bird. The boys all laughed. But where was Professor Umbridge? Suddenly, the bird set on fire, fluttering down to the ground in ashes.

"Good morning children," she exclaimed, her wand in hand as she walked to the front of the classroom. "Ordinary, Wizarding, Level, Examinations," she cantered, using her wand to write it in cursive on her chalkboard. "O, W, L's, more commonly known, as OWLs," she exclaimed. Draco held my hand under the table. God her voice was like nails on a chalk board. "Study hard, and you will be rewarded, fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe," she used her wand to pass books out to each desk.

"Professor, it says nothing about using defensive spells in our textbooks," Hermione complained. "Using spells? I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom," she nearly mocked Hermione. I looked at Draco, my eyebrows raising. "She's mental," Draco whispered. "We're not gonna use magic?" Ron muttered. "You'll be learning dark arts in a secure, risk free way," she continued on. "If we're gonna be attacked it won't be risk free," Harry muttered. "Students will raise their hand before speaking in my class," she yelled at him. "This is bullshit," I whispered to Draco. The room went silent.

"It is the view of the ministry, that a theoretical knowledge is enough to get you through your examinations, which is after all, what school is for-" "But how's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry cut her off. This wasn't going to end well. "There is nothing out there dear, who would you think would want to attack children like yourself?" "Oh, I don't know, maybe, Lord Voldemort?" Harry blurted. My hand tightened around Draco's at the mention of his name. Seamus rolled his eyes. "Now let me make this quite plain, you all have been told that a very dark wizard has returned. This, is a lie," she walked around the classroom.

"It's not a lie, I saw him, I fought him," "detention Mr. Potter," she scolded. "So according to you Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accords," Harry continued to argue. I almost wished I could stand up and clasp a hand around his mouth, but there was no stopping him. "Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," "It was murder, Voldemort killed him you must know that," Harry yelled. "ENOUGH," she brought her tone even higher. "See me after class, my office."

The rest of the class was silent. After the rest of our classes, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and I sat in the common room. "I wonder what she's going to make him do," Hermione asked, her voice full of concern. "Hopefully nothing terrible," I said, holding a pillow tight to my chest as I stared into the crackling fireplace. Fred and George were running around the common room, showing students their special "skipping class" candies. "Want one Caroline?" Fred threw one to me. "I'm alright," I laughed.

Harry walked into the room, quietly sitting down next to me. "You alright?" I asked him. "Sure," he mumbled. "What happened to your hand?" Hermione asked. "Nothing," he showed her. "Your other hand," she picked it up, examining it. 'I must not tell lies' had been cut into the top of his hand. "What the fuck," I gasped.

"You've got to tell Dumbledore," Hermione exclaimed. "No, Dumbledore's got enough on his mind right now," "Bloody hell she's tortured you, If your parents knew about this," Ron said quietly. "Yeah well I haven't got any of those have I Ron," Harry scoffed. "I agree with Hermione," Ginny added. "Harry you've got to report this, it's perfectly simple-" "No, Hermione it's not, whatever this is it's not simple, you don't understand," he walked away.

"I'll talk to him," I got up off the couch, following him outside of the castle. He stood at the edge of the forest, watching as birds flew by. "I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled as I walked up next to him. "Never said you had to," I said quietly. "Do you hear that?" he walked further into the forest. We spotted Luna next to a herd of Thestrals.

"Hello Caroline, Harry," she nodded to us, petting one of the Thestrals on the back. She stood barefoot on the forest ground, a purple knit sweater covering her shoulders. "Your feet, aren't they cold?" he asked quietly. "A bit," she smiled. "Unfortunately all of my shoes have mysteriously dissapeared, I suspect nargles are behind it," she continued. "So, what exactly are these?" Harry pointed at the thestrals.

"They're called thestrals," I exclaimed. "They're quite gentle really, but people tend to avoid them because they're a bit," Luna's voice trailed off. "Different," Harry finished her sentence. "They can only be seen by people who have seen death," I exclaimed as a baby thestral pranced around my legs.

"Hi buddy," I smiled, petting it gently as it nuzzled up against my hand. "You've known someone who's died then, Luna?" Harry asked her. "My mum," she exclaimed. "She was quite an extraordinary witch, but she did loads of experiments. One day one went tragically wrong. I was nine," she said somberly. I fed the baby thestral a piece of fruit as it sat in front of me. "I'm sorry," Harry continued. "Yes, it was rather horrible, I do feel very sad about it sometimes," she exclaimed. "What about you, Caroline?" Luna asked.

"Oh, um, my mother as well," I explained, standing up, wiping the dirt on my hands on my robes. "Death eater attack. I was five," I put quite simply. She could tell I didn't want to go into detail. "I'm sorry," she patted my shoulder. I smiled and nodded towards her. "My father and I believe you by the way," Luna exclaimed as she threw a clementine towards another baby thestral. "That you know who is back, and that you fought him, and the Ministry is conspiring against you and Dumbledore," she rambled. "Thanks, you seem to be the only ones at the moment," Harry mumbled.

"Don't forget about me," I punched his arm lightly. "Sorry," he smiled. "I suppose that's how he wants you to feel," Luna said. "What do you mean?" Harry turned his head slightly. "Well if I were you know who, I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else. If you're alone, you're not as much of a threat," Luna smiled at him as he watched the thestral gobble down the clementine. I rested my head on his shoulder as the cool breeze blew against our faces.

"Thanks Luna," he smiled.