November Snow

t h i r t y - t w o

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mister Potter. Let me set the record straight." She said, standing behind her desk at the front of the class and leaning on her knuckles "Some of you have been told that a certain dead wizard has returned. This is a lie."

Harry stood up abruptly, his shoulders went up and down in anger, knocking all his books down with a dramatic thud.

"IT IS NOT A LIE!" He stressed on every word.

"Mister Potter, you have just landed yourself in detention!" She shouted back with her high, squeaky voice.

But Harry didn't give up. We all sat in silence as the boy stiffly moved around his table, trembling with rage boiling in his blood, his eyes glued to the pink toad in front of the class.

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead?" He asked, his voice menacing "Or are you calling me a murderer?"

"The boy's death was a tragic accident." Umbridge said.

"IT WAS MURDER! I saw it!"

Harry slammed his fist against the wooden table's surface, glaring at the teacher. The whole class went still, frozen in shock and fear.

"Mister Potter, you have earned yourself a week's worth of detentions!" Umbridge exclaimed.

"Yeah, talk to somebody who cares." Harry said "Voldemort killed Cedric, and you know it!"

Umbridge trembled with rage as she tried her best to hold herself from lunging at the boy, she snatched a quill and ripped a piece of parchment. She scribbled angrily and handed it to him.

"That goes to Professor McGonagall, dear."

He snatched the note, gave her the last glare before stomping out of the room. The class continued uncomfortably and awkwardly, no one wanted to say a word a just let Umbridge said what she had got to say. Some of us, however, like Hermione and I, were still stubborn and refused to copy anything down from the board.

-----

"What has gotten into Dumbledore?" Juliette whined "How can he let someone like Dolores Umbridge teach students? She hates children, obviously."

"What's your point, Jules?" I asked.

"She gave two fourth-years detention for making a sound during class!" She exclaimed "She also said that Dumbledore and Harry lied to 'set the record straight'. I mean, is she a Death Eater or something?"

"No, I don't think so." I said "She's just plain mean."

We went back to our plates. I loved pie, but somehow I didn't have that much of an appetite. I sat their, my eyes glued to the plate, my mind zoomed around as I listened to students talking and murmuring in the Great Hall during dinner. I heard someone mentioning my name. Parkinson. She wasn't far from us, sitting with her girl group and fawning over Malfoy.

"...You shouldn't get involve with that kind of girl, Draco." She said with her fake innocent voice "Do you even know why she's hanging out with boys like Potter or Weasleys?"

"She's obviously a slut." Greengrass chimed in.

"That's right. My mother said that her family associated with Mudbloods like they were friends, dishonoring the Slytherin blood." She continued "Hanging out with her will only lower your ranks to meet Longbottom's!"

"Not to mention she had no father." Greengrass said "Maybe her mother was a slut too and he left her. Like mother like daughter."

I clenched my fists under the table. No one could speak ill of my mother.

"I know you can hear us, November Avery."

I looked up and saw them watching me with amusing expressions on their faces. Malfoy frowned, but the girls' smiles just got wider and wider on their ugly lips. Some people stopped talking and watched as we sent daggers towards each other through harsh glares.

"Is it true?" Parkinson said "That your father left your mother because she was a slut?"

"No." I said "But it can be your family's story."

"Of course you don't know." She smirked "Your father left before you were born and your mother has turned to ashes. Have you collected all her parts yet? Maybe some of them have flown with the wind."

I glared at her, slowly standing up with a twisted smile on my lips as they laughed at the joke. The bewitched ceiling with stars was suddenly clouded, a loud boom echoed as the sky flashed with blinding white light. Everyone froze in their spots, there eyes glued to us Slytherin girls. Parkinson acted brave and sprung onto her feet.

"What are you trying to do, Avery?" She sneered.

"You have no idea." I growled.

Lightning struck down with a loud thunder roar, all the students screamed in panic. Parkinson was so scared she went weak-kneed and dropped to the floor. Professor Dumbledore and Snape looked at me sternly on the other side of the room before I left through the giant wooden door and stomped out of the castle, reminding me that I should see them when I get back to the school later.

I was thinking of Hagrid when I suddenly remembered that he had gone on business for the Headmaster, so I steered and made my way to the Black Lake instead. The sight of calm water soothed my soul. I took a deep breath of fresh air into my lungs, then sighed. The night outside was much calmer than inside the Great Hall since I had just caused chaos in front of everyone. I hummed the lullaby my mother often sang to me when I was little and afraid.

When I was finally calmed, I went back and walked to Dumbledore's office. I turned at a corridor and met Harry, Ron and Hermione. They seemed to be examining something on Harry's arm and didn't notice I was approaching. Up close, I saw words carved in his flesh, saying 'I will not lie'. That must be Umbridge's masterpiece.

"You should report." I said and startled them.

"What are you doing here?" Ron sneered.

"Walking to Dumbledore's." I said.

"Now you're doing his business again?" Harry narrowed his eyes at me as I walked past them.

"So?" I asked.

"Why? What good can a Slytherin do to the Order?" Ron glared.

"Because I know who killed Cedric Diggory." I said through gritted teeth as I turned to face them "Because I know exactly what is going on in the world and I'm trying not to let that happen to your idiotic self, Harry Potter."

I turned to Ron.

"And you, Ronald Weasley, just because most dark wizards come from Slytherin doesn't mean all good wizards are from Gryffindor. You Gryffindors are just annoying, self conceited, arrogant little gits who think they're better than everyone else because their house crest has a lion on it."

With a huff, I stomped away from the stunned trio.