𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲 ⇾ 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦

"Good afternoon, students!" Umbridge smiled sickly.

A chorus of lazy replies echoed in the classroom, causing the professor to shake her head.

"Oh no no that won't do," she tuts, "Let's try that again, shall we? When I address you, it's only appropriate to respond with the upmost manner and respect."

"How can she talk to us about respect when throughout the year she's gonna carve into us like pumpkins?" Draco muttered.

Phoenix didn't respond, letting her mind drift elsewhere. She only nodded her head slightly.

"Good afternoon, students!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge!" the students replied with fake enthusiasm. Although, their teacher must not have picked up on it because she grinned from the response.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" she asked sickly, "Alright, take out your books, and read a few pages from the first chapter."

Everyone took out their textbooks, as Professor Umbridge continued.

"Your previous instruction for this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you will be pleased to know, from now on you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic. Yes?"

Everyone paused from reading (or in Draco's case, blankly staring at the page) to look at the girl from the golden trio, who had her hand raised high.

"There's nothing in here about defensive spells?" Hermione asked.

"Using spells?" Professor Umbridge laughed, "Why I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

"Wait, we're not gonna use magic?" Ron asked bewildered.

"Uh oh, shit's about to hit the fan," Draco whispered. Phoenix shushed him and kicked his knee, making him wince.

"You'll be learning about defensive spells, in a secure risk-free way." Umbridge explained.

Harry scoffed, "Well, what use is that? If we're gonna be attacked, it won't be risk-free."

"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class, Mr. Potter!" Umbridge seethed, shooting daggers at the boy.

"Excuse me, Professor?" Phoenix asked, raising her hand.

The woman in pink averted her eyes to the Ravenclaw, immediately changing her tone and expression, "Yes, Miss...?"

"Miss Price, ma'am," Phoenix said sweetly, "Well, I was just wondering if I could ask a question about the curriculum you'll be teaching us."

"Oh," Umbridge said, "Yes, go on ahead, Miss Price."

"Thank you," She smiled and stood from her seat, "I was just curious about your thought process behind this. I mean, it just seems so... buddy, what's the word?" Phoenix turned to him.

"First of all, why would you call me buddy? I hate that name," He complained, "Second of all, hmm... well, Price," Draco thought for a moment, "Personally I'd call it brainless."

"Well, it's also idiotic I think," Phoenix smirked, "And thick, too!"

"Oh, but not the good thick, though. Umbitch here doesn't exactly have junk in the right places if you get what I'm saying," Draco whispered loudly, making him and Phoenix erupt in laughter.

"That is enough, both of you!" Professor Umbridge yelled, slamming her hands on her desk, "It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all is what school is all about!"

"And how is theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry asked, completely over this whole discussion.

Professor Umbridge turned back to him, showing a fake sickly smile, "There is nothing out there, dear. Who would you imagine would want to attack children like yourself?"

Harry pretended to stop and think for a moment, "Oh hmm, I don't know, maybe Lord Voldemort?"

"Enough!" Professor Umbridge exclaimed. She took a breathe, and relaxed her shoulders before putting on her fake smile again, "Now let me make this quite plain. You have been told that a certain Dark Wizard is at large once again. This is a lie!"

"It's not a lie, I saw him! I fought him!" Harry yelled, standing up from his seat.

"It's true, Professor." Phoenix said, "I mean, I'm not calling you a liar, but you know how politics are, right? With the Ministry and all that jazz, it's understandable that you're caught up in what you wanna hear. It's psychology, Professor. Actually, hold on a second."

Phoenix holds her index finger up while she reaches in her shirt pocket under her robes. She pulls out a card and hands it to Professor Umbridge.

"What is this, Miss Price?" She asked.

"It's the phone number of a psychiatrist I know. I think you need to go see him to help with your um... upstairs issues," Phoenix whispered, pointing at her head for emphasis.

"Ooh she got you, you old piece of chewed gum!" Draco laughed loudly.

"That is it! Detention to all three of you!" Umbridge bellowed.

"So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead oh his own accord?" Harry asked her.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident-"

"It was murder! Voldemort killed him! You must
know this-"

"Enough! Get the hell out of my classroom, you three!" She screamed, pointing at the door.

Harry stormed out of the room, while Draco and Phoenix took their sweet time gathering their things.

"You two are mental, you know that?" Hermione hissed at the two.

"Mental? More like brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.

Phoenix and Draco just grinned, making their way out of the class.

"Okay, phase one is complete," Phoenix said, now onto phase two.

"Wait there's more?!" Draco exclaimed, "What else is there with this plan?"

"Well, bud-"

"No."

"It's time to figure out why Harry hasn't talked to me since we came back." Phoenix said, walking in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Ugh, females," Draco groaned, but followed her nonetheless.

Because no matter how much she annoyed him sometimes, he would follow her to the ends of the Earth.

☼ | ☽

Hey besties <3

I know it's been awhile, and I'm sorry. My life's been kinda crazy right now. I just graduated high school, I decided to go to college and major in business marketing and minor in creative writing (I'm really excited about that one hehe), and I'm currently on the way back from my senior trip. But since it's my summer vacation now, I'll try and go back to normal updates when I'm not working. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!