Chosen

Chapter 22

We walked through King's Cross and entered Platform 9 ¾. We hopped on the train and greeted our friends. I sat with Fred and George and Lee Jordan popped in a couple of times. I slept the whole ride to Hogwarts, not worrying to eat anything on the way. We finally reached the platform to get off and I met Harry, Ron and Hermione a few ways down the train. We made our way to the carriages to take us to the castle, when we bumped into Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"I'm surprised the Ministry's still letting you walk around for free Potter, better enjoy it while you can. There's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it." Harry lunged at Malfoy, but Ron and I held him, while Draco leapt back.

"What did I tell you, a complete nutter." He added.

"Piss off Malfoy." I snickered. I was now standing in front of the others.

"Don't you wish you had a boyfriend who could stick up for you? Oh right, Diggory was dead before he could kiss you goodbye." Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. I could feel the tears stinging my eyes and the anger rose inside. I then did exactly what I was holding Harry back for. I lunged forward and pinned him to the ground. Tears came out of my eyes and my friends tried to pry me off.

"Don't ever talk about Cedric, you bastard!" I yelled in his face.

"I like this position, don't you Thyme?" He whispered ignoring my comment. I was finally pulled off of him and he stood back up straightening his all black suit. I wiped my tears with my thumb as he walked away. Further ahead I could see Blaise yelling at Draco. Blaise really had changed.

I met up with Seamus, Dean, and the twins and sat in a carriage with them.

"I heard what Malfoy said to you." Seamus broke the silence.

"Wow, things really do get around here fast." I replied not really caring.

"Well, I was walking by when he said it, what a git."

"What did he say to you Nyx?" George asked. I was debating weather to tell them, not that it mattered. I looked out from the carriage. I didn't want to talk about it.

"Come on it can't be that bad." Dean added.

Seamus cut in, "He said and I quote, 'Don't you wish you had a boyfriend to stick up for you? Oh right, Diggory was dead before he could kiss you goodbye'." They all looked at me.

"Did he really say that?" Fred sounded startled. I nodded my head. They were all taken aback.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about him bothering Nyx, you should've seen what she did after, nearly broke his neck, knocking him to the ground." Seamus seemed proud of me. They all chuckled.

"Yeah, well you didn't hear what he said while I was on top of him." I told them.

"Oh yeah, what did he say then?" Fred asked. I looked back at them.

"He said he liked the position we were in." I could see them trying to hold in their laughter. They couldn't take anymore; they all burst out laughing at the same time.

"What!?" I yelled over their laughs.

"What type of position was it that made him like it?" Dean said trying to control his laughter.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know Dean Thomas?" I added the sarcasm. I smiled lightly but not laughing as they were. I shook my head and thought to myself, 'boys'.

Out trunks were taken to our dorms, by magic of course, and we made our way up to the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony and the feast.

I sat in my original spot on the Slytherin table near Seamus, Dean and the twins. Seamus was eyeing Harry angrily.

"Seamus?" I whispered. He turned around to me.

"What's wrong, you're staring at Harry."

"Nothing." He muttered and turned back to his food. I didn't want to push it, so I turned back to my food as well.

"Good Evening children. Now we have two changes in staffing this year. We're pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank in taking care of magical creatures while Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave. We also want to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Delores Umbridge and I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing her good luck. As usual our care-taker Mr. Filch has asked me to-" just then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat and made her way up to the center.

"Thank you Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome and how lovely to see all our bright happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends."

Fred and George turned to me. "That's likely." Their voices with loads of sarcasm.

"You can say that again." I whispered.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each Headmaster has brought something new to this historic school, progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prone practices that ought to be prohibited." She finished with an annoyingly high pitched giggle.

"Thank you Professor Umbridge..." Dumbledore's voice drifted off. The Ministry was going to take over the school. Well this ought to be good.

I bid my friends farewell and walked down through the corridors. I muttered the Slytherin password 'pureblood' and walked in the Common Room. I got stares from everyone, as usual.

"And here's the blood traitor herself." Malfoy walked into view. I glared back at him. The room went silent as he walked up to me.

"How could the Slytherin Princess get herself mixed up with Harry Potter, the boy who tells lies? Can you really believe what he's saying about the Dark Lord coming back? Potter's a complete lunatic, but you believe him don't you Nyx?" He snickered.

"I do, what's not to believe, there's proof that he's back, it's just jackarse cowards like you deny it." I directed at him.

"If you mean that pathetic boyfriend of yours as proof, then you're wrong. He was killed in the maze, we all know Potter hallucinates. Diggory was nothing but weak." Malfoy spat.

"Oh, and you're not?" I questioned. "We all know that in third when you 'broke' your arm, you just wanted to get out of Quidditch, because you were a coward. Oh, and if you want proof about the Dark Lord being back, you can just ask your father, that's a subject he's an expert on." I snapped walking up to my dorm. I was so done with him. He really needs to learn his lesson. He grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"How dare you insult me like that, about my father, you should be happy that he even took you in and cared for you, you ungrateful slut." All the anger that was inside of me flew out. I slapped right across the face. Everyone gasped. He turned his head back to me and pushed me against the wall, hard. My head hit the stone and throbbed. He grabbed my neck and tightened his fingers around my throat. He dug his thumb into my esophagus. I tried pulling his hand away, but he was too strong. My eyes were drifting and my strength was weakening.

"Draco, get off her!" Blaise yelled and tried to pry Draco off of me.

"Leave me alone Blaise, she deserves this for what she said." He growled. I felt myself begin to lose my breath. My whole head was throbbing endlessly. Blaise finally pulled Draco off of me as I fell to the floor coughing up blood.

"Just go Draco." I heard Blaise say. He turned to me and helped me up.

"Are you alright?" He asked examining my neck. I nodded to him. "Your neck'll probably be bruised, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'll be fine, thanks Blaise. I think I'll just go up to bed now." I said a little breathless.

"Alright, whatever you say. See you tomorrow." He said as I walked up to my dorm. I still had dreams about Cedric being killed, but they weren't as bad anymore. I tried not to think about it and went off to sleep.