The Half-Blood Princess

Seventh Year

"He should not be here," Harley hissed at Harry as Sirius accompanied them to King's Cross Station on 1st September in his Animagus form. "Do you not care about his wellbeing?"

Her little brother pretended to ignore her, and she sighed, knowing that this was a bad idea, especially when she saw Draco and Lucius Malfoy at the platform. This sendoff for the students was more sombre than usual, all of them hiding the fear that this would be the last time they saw those they were sending off and leaving behind alive.

Harley did her required compartment patrols before going to a compartment with the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. The topic of conversation was the premises Fred and George had placed money on in Diagon Alley.

"This is quite exciting: you are the first of us to start thinking and working towards a goal outside of Hogwarts," Harley said.

"What about that property you want, in Hogsmeade?" Fred asked her.

"I have the money. I just need to visit there this year and hopefully it will be mine by graduation," she said. "We can cross-promote. I will sell a few of your products, and you can stock some of mine. I am sure I can come up with some joke potions."

Fred grinned, wrapping his arms around her. "We're going to be the two biggest shops in the Wizarding World!"

At school, the Sorting Ceremony commenced and everyone noticed two differences at the staff table: there was a squat, toadlike woman none of them knew, and Hagrid's seat was empty.

"Isn't he part of the Order as well?" Harley asked Harry.

"Yeah, and he said he had some mission for Dumbledore, but I don't know why he wouldn't be here now."

"Oh, I hope he's all right," Ginny said.

Harley had never taken Care of Magical Creatures, mainly because wildlife would not be involved in her chosen career, but she knew that Hagrid, the half-Giant, was well loved by her brother and his friends. In her opinion, he seemed like a hazard, but the few times she had run into him on the grounds since he had taken her to Diagon Alley he had been very kind. He was a staple at Hogwarts, and it looked odd to not have him there.

The dour tone was broken at their table by Neville, who pointed out that his young cousin was being Sorted that day. She was a pale, pudgy girl who looked shockingly like Neville, and the Hat Sorted her into Hufflepuff in a mere instant after sitting on her head.

After the Sorting, Dumbledore began his annual beginning-of-year speech, introducing the woman as their new Defence Against The Dark Arts professor, Dolores Umbridge. Harley knew that no one ever interrupted the headmaster when he spoke, so when this little witch stood up to make a speech of her own, everyone looked incredulous. She saw Snape and McGonagall give each other glances across the table as Umbridge droned on.

Harley listened, wishing she had a tape recorder to remember everything that was said. It seemed as though Snape had been right: the Ministry was going to be interfering with Hogwarts quite a bit this year. Harley and Hermione exchanged a look as she finished speaking.

"In a very Muggle way, I think I can honestly say that we are bloody well screwed," Harley said as they all walked out of the Great Hall. She left the group to go and lead the first years to the dorms, which was the job of the Head Boy and Girl.

Once that was done, she joined her friends and brother in the common room. "I realised something this evening: I do not like children. Hard to believe I ever was one."

"Looking at your baby pictures, I don't think you ever were one," Ron commented.

Hermione started talking about Umbridge, repeating parts of the speech that all of the boys had tuned out.