Liar. Harry Potter's sister ~ Book 2

chapter thirty-one

I went back. Draco made me eat lunch with him and the other Slytherin's, which, if I'm honest, wasn't the nicest experience of my life. I could smell the hatred radiating off the Gryffindor table, people shooting me dirty looks, eyeing me up and down, giggling at the state of my face. I squeezed Draco's hand under the table, stabbing my fork into my food as hard as I possibly could, trying to release any tiny drop of anger that would put me at ease. I tried to keep my head down and focus on my food but it was impossible. I ate as quickly as humanly possible before collecting my little amount of possessions and running to Gryffindor Tower before Draco or anyone could stop me. I hung my head low, so nobody would notice the atrocity on my face, murmured the password to the Fat Lady and slipped inside the Common Room. I sat, unnoticed in the corner, knees pressed tight together, my hands balled into tight fists in my lap, waiting for Harry to come back.

It didn't take too long for them to stumble through the portrait hole, clearly hung up on anger. They spot me almost immediately, their expressions of irritation mirroring each other. I rise from the stool that I was perched on, my hands still tightly clenched behind my back. I take a step towards them, my heart pumping rapidly beneath my chest. What was I gonna say? How could I possibly say anything after what I did?

"What do you want?" Harry speaks impatiently, glaring at me through the frames of his glasses.

"Listen," I say, swallowing hard, "Everyone knows what I did. I know what I did and I'm ashamed to admit it but... I want to say that I'm sorry-"

"Are you, though?" Harry mocks. I knew how easily both he and I could loose control over our anger and I really wasn't in the mood for another argument. My heart was beating, furiously in my chest, nonetheless. "I mean you knew how much the DA meant to me- even to you, but you still ratted us out like it meant nothing to you. You made Dumbledore take the blame for Merlin's sake! And now look who's headmistress!"

I furrow my brows in confusion, I stare at Harry's face, already twisted with anger and annoyance. "What do you mean? I- who's headmistress?" I had a hunch. Who else could it be? I really hoped I was wrong, but as Harry grabbed a newspaper from a nearby coffee table and threw it in my direction, I was filled with a horrible sick feeling. I unfolded the newspaper in trembling hands and looked down at the big, bold letters on the front page:

DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE TO REPLACE DUMBLEDORE AS HEAD OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

My stomach does a strange, uncomfortable lurch inside me. I read it twice: three times before I can fully comprehend what it says. No. She couldn't be headmistress. She'll have the whole school under lockdown within days! Expelling people here there and everywhere! The scars on the backs of my hand seemed to prickle repulsively. I bite the inside of my cheek in utter stress. I look up at Harry, Ron and Hermione, in pure shock, my eyes wide.

"Umbridge?" I conclude, "How-?"

"Never mind that!" Harry says, snatching the newspaper from my hand and throwing it aside. "What matters is that you exposed us, and you're not even sorry about it!"

"You think I did this on purpose?!" I bark, tutting and shifting my weight between feet. I stare at his stupid little ignorant face, my anger completely infiltrating my brain, curling around my insides. "You think I wanted to do this?"

There was a deadly silence. The small group people that were in the Common Room to begin with, were looking at us awkwardly, glancing at their friends from the corner of their eye and giggling away. Harry bites the corner of his lip, looking up at the ceiling, his chest heaving up and down. He's trying so hard to stay calm, but it doesn't take a genius to realise that it's not working.