Mischief not so Managed

3: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

Lia:

The common room was humming with first night back excitement. I grabbed a spot by the fire and was chatting away to some new first years when the common room fell silent. Harry and Seamus were going at it in the middle of the common room.

"has anybody else got a problem with Harry?" Ron asked. The room stayed silent.

"is that Harry Potter?" one of the first years asked.

"yes" I replied. They all watched in awe as Harry and Ron headed up towards their dorm. Hermione let out a deep sigh "you okay Granger?"

"I don't even know what the word okay means anymore" she smiled, heading up towards her dorm. I was two years ahead of the trio and had seen their troubles play out in front of me every year.

"Lia" a familiar voice said behind me. It sent shivers down my spine.

"Cormac" I said turning to face Cormac McLaggen.

"where have you been all summer?"

"avoiding you mostly"

"oh you aren't over that little argument we had"

"Cormac, we're not together anymore" I gave him a sarcastic smile "and we never will be again. So, move on". I turned to walk away, and he grabbed my wrist. "Cormac, you have five seconds to let go of me or I will hex you into the next century". People were staring. I could feel redness spreading over my freckled cheeks.

"come on, Lia. Let's talk about this"

"that makes it three seconds". He let go. He had always been an aggressive bastard Cormac and walked away. The common room was full of tension. Everyone was in bad form. My wrist stung slightly from Cormac's grip. Lavender appeared in front of me her voice just as high pitched as usual. Even though she was two years below me, we had always been firm friends.

"what is his problem?"

"everything" I said "everything is Cormac's problem. Have you seen Angelina?"

"no" Lavender sang. I nodded thanking her, deciding to write to my Mum before I went to bed. My path to my dorm was blocked by a Weasley twin.

"Fred" I greeted him.

"how did you know it was me?"

"we've been in school together for seven years, I can tell the two of you apart" I said as he gave me a funny look "are you just going to stand there staring at me? Or are you going to let me past?"

"I'm watching you Jones" his green eyes narrowed in a comical fashion as he let me past and up the stairs.

"oi! Weasley" I called after him, he turned.

"I'm watching you too". Fred gave me a wicked smile as I ascended the steps and into my room for what I hoped would a good night's sleep to kick off a quiet year.

"Ms. Jones, I don't believe staring out of that window will be of any assistance to you in your Transfiguration N.E.W.T" McGonagall said pulling from my daze of staring out on the rolling fields of green grass in the castle grounds beyond. We had barely been in class ten minutes before McGonagall had begun to taunt us about our N.E.W.T exams. I suppose she had done the same with the fifth years currently studying with their O.W.L's.

"sorry Professor" I muttered trying to refocus on the reams of parchment on my desk, there was a couple of snickers around me. It was then that an empty chair on the other side of the room caught my eye. It would've belonged to Cedric. He was dead. Voldemort had killed him and nobody believed it. They thought it was a freak accident, or at least that's what the Ministry had said. I'll never forget Harry's screams when he reappeared on the grass that night. It was awful.

"Ms. Jones" McGonagall said again.

"Professor?"

"since you are so keen on wandering off in a daydream this morning would you care to remind to the class what factors must be taken into account before performing a transfiguration spell". I took a deep breath and sighed as I racked my brains for something I had learned when I was eleven.

"Intended transformation, body weight, viciousness, wand power, concentration and the fifth unknown variable Z" I rattled off.

"nice to know you don't daydream all of the time" she smirked. I returned to staring at that empty seat and thinking about the boy whose death should have meant so much more, to so many people.

George:

When the bell finally rang it had felt like Transfiguration had been going for the whole day. To say disappointment crippled me when I was informed we had double potions next class, was an understatement. Students were milling about in the corridor, when a fifth year class exploded out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. They were all talking and shouting. "what the hell?" Fred exclaimed.

"Ron!" I shouted to my brother who was walking in the crowd.

"what's going on?"

"Umbridge and Harry got into in class over You Know Who, he ended up in detention" Ron explained as Hermione appeared at his side.

"She's not letting us use our wands, she has this ridiculous book" Hermione handed Fred a copy of a book.

"Did you just call a book ridiculous?" I asked the bushy haired girl.

"You know what else is ridiculous? Her. She's not even a real Professor" Hermione began on a rant as I watched Harry leave the room. His head low.

"You know something George" Fred leaned into me.

"What would that be Fred?" I turned to my twin to see the same mischievous smile on his face as mine.

"I think we need to give Umbridge a Weasley welcome"

"my sentiments exactly, Brother".