Entering the Great Hall for the start of term feast usually brought excitement amongst the students at Hogwarts.
However, as Olive followed the rest of her House, adjusting her tie as she made her way over to the Ravenclaw table, she immediately sensed that something was off. Perhaps there was still uneasiness about the morbid conclusion of the TriWizard Tournament, or maybe students were tense from the turmoil between Dumbledore and the Ministry. Maybe Ollie was misreading the room entirely.
As she sat down across from Cho and Nat, her eyes scanned the teacher's table at the front of the hall. Even through the professors waved and greeted the students as they came in, there was still a tenseness in the way they interacted with each other. Especially towards someone amongst the staff that Olive did not recognize.
She was a short, stout woman, dressed in all pink (which was a stark contrast to the attire of everyone else in the Great Hall). Her face had the squashed resemblance to a toad, with a narrowed stare gazing upon the students with the utmost smugness. She interacted with no professor, made no eye-contact with any student, and sat with her legs crossed at the ankle.
"Who's that?" Olive leaned in, keeping her voice low despite the increasingly loud chatter as students entered the Great Hall.
Nat took one look at the woman and frowned, her nose crinkling at the shockingly pink outfit, "No idea."
Cho fixed her gaze on the mysterious new witch at the teacher's table, "Suppose she's a new professor? We've had a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher every year since we've basically been students here."
Olive nodded, though couldn't help the frown that pulled down the corners of her lips. If this woman was to be their new DADA professor... she didn't look exactly thrilled to be there. However, the Ravenclaw did not want to judge her entirely before she's even formally met or interacted with the woman. Though, given the looks of the professors when their eyes swept that way, they didn't seem too trilled about the pink woman's presence.
"Whoever she is... she doesn't seem to be making a good impression on the other professors." Olive's blue eyes trailed over to Dumbledore, who was most obviously faking a polite smile as he walked past her.
Once all returning students were seated, the first years, let by Professor McGonagall, walked into the Hall. Olive tried to keep a polite smile on her face as they were sorted, and clapped when a few were sorted into Ravenclaw, but her mind could not stop thinking about that miserable looking pink woman and her awaited introduction that had yet to happen.
And no offense to the first years, but it was hard to be extremely excited about the Sorting Ceremony when it was your seventh one... and when there were plenty of other worrisome things boggling your mind.
To try and keep her mind from her anxious thoughts, Olive's eyes trailed over to the Gryffindor table. She noticed Harry, Hermione, and Ron huddled together as they whispered. Harry, who seemed to know who the pink woman was, nodded to her with a sour look on his face. Moving her gaze further up the table, Ollie found George and Fred.
Fred caught her gaze and offered her a wave, making a few faces at her in the process. He then nudged George, who followed his brother's gaze until his eyes were fixed upon Olive. He smiled, raising his brows as if to indicate how bored he was.
Olive bit her lip to conceal her smile. She shrugged.
"I miss you." He mouthed, turning his lips into a pout.
George pressed his hands together as if he were praying, and held them to the side of his face. He looked at her with a pointed look, everything he needed to say in the warm yet mischievous glint in his dark eyes.
He missed that morning, where he woke up next to her.
Olive felt a warmth gather in her cheeks, and it look Natalie kicking her under the table for her to realize that her hair was starting to turn a similar blush-colored shade. She quickly focused to change her hair back, noticing a few odd look from her housemates, and then looked back to George.
"Me too," She replied, playfully narrowing her eyes when she realized that he was laughing at her metamorphmagus mishap. Quickly, she added, "you loser."
Their attention was quickly drawn away from each other by the start of Dumbledore's speech.
"Welcome to all of our newcomers, and welcome back to all." He began, "Today, students, marks another year at Hogwarts..."
Olive couldn't help but let her thoughts wander. She flicked her eyes back to George, who was occupying himself by fiddling with the end of his tie, his brows scrunched together in thought as he listened to the Headmaster's speech. Her cheeks still felt warm, and she was suddenly overly aware of every beat of her heart, which seemed to flutter in her chest the longer she stared at him.
It would be weird going into the school year without being able to spend nearly as much time together as they did over the summer...
However, her thoughts were cut short. Dumbledore was starting to introduce the pink witch, his fake polite smile replacing his usual mysteriously wise one.
"I would like to introduce Delores Umbridge. She is going to be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." He motioned to where the woman stood, "I hope you all give her a warm Hogwarts welcome at the start of classes next week."
Umbridge, however, did not think Dumbledore's usually quick introduction was enough. She loudly cleared her throat, which sounded like a sneezing cat (Olive would know) and proceeded to get up from the teacher's table and make her way to the front of the hall. Dumbledore, who had moved on to other Hogwarts matters, trailed off when he noticed her trying to step in.
"Professor Dumbledore, if I may say a few words?" She asked, though it didn't seem like she was waiting for an answer.
Umbridge then began talking into the longest and most boring speech anyone seated in the Great Hall had heard, Professor Binn's lectures included. Olive watched the new professor with narrowed eyes, taking an immediate dislike to the nasally sound of her voice and the infantilizing way she addressed the students.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever."
"What is this lady doing?" Nat asked, sending a sideways look over to Ollie and Cho, "You don't just interrupt Dumbledore."
"She did." Cho whispered back with a frown, "For once I wish those floating candles would just stop floating and fall on her head."
"...There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering...." Umbridge went on. She paced back and forth across the front of the hall as she spoke, her wand held like a teacher's pointer in her pudgy fist.
Olive narrowed her brows, doing her best to keep the frown off her face whenever Umbridge looked in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. Thought she was only half-paying attention to what she was saying, what did she pick up worried her.
Was the Ministry interfering at Hogwarts? Were they going to change how the school is run?
From what she heard from Missy and the Order meetings, she knew the Ministry wasn't exactly happy with Dumbledore... well, they disliked him at the moment. Having someone from the Ministry come teach at Hogwarts seemed a bit fishy.
Olive quickly turned her gaze to George, wondering what he was thinking about their new Professor. She knew that he and Fred had planned to have a fun, carefree year, and it seems like this Umbridge lady didn't want anyone to have any "carefree" experience at Hogwarts.
Fred was whispering something in his ear, his eyes darting over to Umbridge a few times as he spoke. Olive watched George smirk at the joke, which suited him a lot better than his previous frown. He seemed to be paying attention more to what the new Professor was saying than his twin, nudging him when her beady gaze reached their table.
"Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability," she clapped her hands together once with a keen smile, "intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."
There was a dense pause when she was done speaking. No student felt like they should clap, considering they had sat through the equivalent of one of Professor Binn's lectures. Olive found herself looking at the other Professor's faces, which were all forced into polite smiles, or for Snape's case, a slightly less condescending sneer.
"Well, thank you, Professor Umbridge." Dumbledore awkwardly stepped in, kindly taking his place at the podium when the woman finally sat down, "Now, I'm sure after that rousing speech you all have quite the appetite. Tuck in, everyone."
Like a rush of relief, food appeared in platters up and down each house's table. Olive found that she was blinking herself out of the bored stupor that she had previously been in, reacting to the sudden sound of chatter and the clinking of utensils.
"If that was 'a few words' I don't want to know what a class with her is going to be like." Natalie said as she loaded her plate.
"It seemed like a lot of nonsense if you ask me." Cho sighed, "Half of it didn't even make much sense."
"I don't think it was really supposed to." Olive noted, passing down a plate of dinner rolls to some students on her left, "I think she was trying to tell us something without really... saying it."
"How can you say something without actually saying it?" Cho wondered.
"What was she even going on about?"
Olive shrugged, "I think the Ministry is getting involved with Hogwarts... even more involved than before."
"That can't be good." Natalie furrowed her brows, "What can they do, anyway? I mean, it's Hogwarts, right? What can they make Dumbledore do to change the way the school is run?"
Cho seemed to think about it for a moment as she chewed, then shook her head, "Nothing. It's Dumbledore. It's a bit unheard of for the Ministry getting involved. Do you... do you think it has something to do with last year? With Cedric?"
"Probably." Nat nodded grimly, "I'm sorry, Cho."
The blonde reached over and placed her hand comfortingly on top of the sixth year's. Cho smiled, giving Nat a grateful look. Their gaze caught for a moment, and their hands seemed to stay touching for a second too long before they pulled away. While Cho went back to her food, Nat stayed staring at her hand like she was deep in thought.
Olive, who had been watching the whole interaction, was too deep in thought to really comprehend any meaning behind it. She was thinking about what Cho said, about this being Hogwarts.
The Ministry couldn't change a single thing about the school is Dumbledore was physically there.
What if they were trying to get rid of him?