O, CURSED CHILD. ﹙ harry potter ﹚

L ; umbridge the great big toad

            "he can't have left," said ron, sounding slightly anxious.

            "of course he hasn't," said harry firmly.

            "you don't think he's . . . hurt, or anything, do you?" elara asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.

            "no," said harry at once.

            "but where is he, then?" said ron.

            there was a pause, then harry said very quietly, so that neville, parvati, and lavender could not hear, "maybe he's not back yet. you know — from his mission — the thing he was doing over the summer for dumbledore."

            "lara, wouldn't you know what he's doing? because you're in the order?" hermoine questioned quietly.

            "er -- i'm not exactly allowed to say anything..." elara did know exactly what he was doing, but dumbledore had made a strict order not to disclose the information to anyone else.

            "nevermind that, hagrid's safe, i'm sure," said ron, sounding reassured, but hermione bit her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of hagrid's absence.

            "who's that?" she said sharply, pointing toward the middle of the staff table.

            elara's eyes followed hers. they lit first upon professor dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the center of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. he gave the girl a small nod as his head was inclined toward the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear. she looked like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and she saw a pallid, toad like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes. elara narrowed her eyes. this was the big change that she had been expecting. a ministry woman at hogwarts. lupin had told elara that umbridge was the leading figure in banning werewolves from getting jobs.

            "it's that umbridge woman!" said harry.

            "who?" said hermione.

            "she was at my hearing, she works for fudge!"

            "nice cardigan," said ron, smirking.

            "she looks like a toad," elara said absentmindedly. this warranted a snort from ron.

            "she works for fudge?" hermione repeated, frowning. "what on earth's she doing here, then?"

            elara could visibly see the gears in hermione's head churning. this was something hermoine did often. if something didn't make sense to her, she'd shut down while she tried to figure it out. elara often wondered why she wasn't placed in ravenclaw.

            "dunno . . ."

            hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed. "no," she muttered, "no, surely not . . ."

            elara did understand what she was talking about but did not ask the girl what she thought; her attention had just been caught by professor grubbly-plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been hagrid's. that meant that the first years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the entrance hall opened. a long line of scared-looking first years entered, led by professor mcgonagall, who was carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizard's hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim. the buzz of talk in the great hall faded away.