Fragile Delay

Chapter 3 - Chapter Three

Draco shot her a warning look, though the glare Umbridge faced her with was much colder. If looks could kill, Cecelia would certainly be in trouble. "Your hand is not raised, Miss Nadir! The lessons that man taught you were dangerous and potentially lethal for no good cause! Your former teachers have you believing you'd be attacked at any moment!"

"That's not true!" Dean Thomas cut in. Cecelia found herself liking the boy more and more by the minute.

"I've heard," Umbridge continued, not even bothering to reprimand him for speaking out of turn, "that your former professor not only taught you illegal curses, but performed them on you in class!"

"And he turned out to be mad, didn't he?" Harry snapped. "And you say we're safe in this school? Who's to say you're truly even Dolores Umbridge?"

Umbridge's face turned an impressive shade of red. "Hand, Mr. Potter! How dare you accuse me of such!"

"Every danger I've faced has been directly or indirectly a result of being at this school," Harry continued, ignoring her furious expression. "Sorry if you claiming nothing can attack us here doesn't make me feel very reassured. Not to mention Voldemort—"

"Do not speak his name in this classroom!" She said haughtily. She turned to face the rest of the class. "I understand that Mr. Potter here along with your Headmaster have led you to believe some untruthful things about the return of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, but I assure you these are nothing but lies—"

"They are not lies!" Harry yelled, standing up ramrod straight. "He's back!"

"Your hand is not raised, Mr. Potter!" She shrieked. She patted down her well-pressed suit as though fixing her clothing could help placate her anger. "I will not allow these lies to continue in my class. I'd like to see you after classes for detention for the rest of the week, please."

"He's not lying," Dean Thomas piped in, though Umbridge didn't bother listening.

"I see he has you all brainwashed," she said, as though it truly hurt her to hear. "But I would like to reassure you that you are perfectly safe both within and outside of Hogwarts."

"So according to you Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Cecelia mouthed off. She was tired of them neglecting to mention who Voldemort had killed. A boy had died by his hand and they were still going off about semantics. "Or what, you think Potter killed him? In which case we'd still be in danger, contradicting your earlier statement."

A lot of the students in class shot her sympathetic looks at the mention of Cedric. Cecelia sank low in her seat, not regretting bringing him up. It needed to be talked about. She wouldn't let his death be forgotten, no matter how much the Ministry tried to brush it off as an accident.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic mishap," Umbridge said, voice honeyed like sugar. Cecelia bristled. "But it was not the cause of any dark forces! You're all safe here!"

"We don't feel safe," Cecelia pointed out. She hadn't felt truly safe at Hogwarts since she'd found out about Professor Quirrell. "And not being allowed to learn how to defend ourselves isn't helping. Voldemort is not the only dark wizard out there, you know. Even if he hasn't returned, someone will eventually rise to take his place. It's time the Ministry realized that."

"Enough!" Umbridge said, looking close to murderous. "I think you ought to join Mr. Potter in his detentions this week, yes?"

Cecelia scoffed. She couldn't think of anything worse Umbridge could do to her than make her sit through her lessons on defensive theory. Detention didn't bother her.