A/N
Sorry it took a while :/
All rights for the Umbridge scene goes to Warner Brothers Entertainment and J.K. Rowling!! (And all the Harry Potter parts in this story)
I thought breaking up with him would've made everything better.
It didn't.
Alicia and her new friends, especially Alicia, decided to take over their boyfriends' jobs to give me crap. But theirs were probably worse. It wasn't physical, it was verbal and it was about my background (I won't touch on that for certain reasons), family and... My career.
'Have you heard?' I heard Alicia say "quietly" to her friends at lunch as I walked past them with Em, Tarlee, Kat and Dessy. 'Her brother's a singer. I searched him up and his group's called Arashi. What kind of name is Arashi? It probably means "shit". Like, if you put a 't' at the end, it would spell "Arashit".'
All her friends shrieked with laughter.
I balled my fist and my eyes stung. I knew that wasn't true about them: they were the most popular group in Japan and they have thousands of fans around the world...
'Congratulations! You can spell!' Dessy yelled furiously at them.
'Dessy, don't worry about it...'
'You clearly aren't happy.' She turned to look at me.
'You shouldn't need to put up them anymore...' Kat looked at me guiltily.
I just shrugged, quickly wiping my eyes with my sleeve.
'But seriously, if don't start to do anything about it, they're just going to continue doing it.'
'Yeah.'
I didn't say anything.
Good thing they weren't in any of my classes, though. If they were, I think I would quit.
'The most talented young actress?' She said loudly. 'What talent do you even have? Being on TV since you were a baby doesn't make you talented.'
I know. I know.
'Seriously, what's with them?' Thomas, who came up to us with Ian, Matt, Kosuke, Akihiro and Keita, said as he steered me away from them. 'Alicia especially. Like, whateven.'
'I don't understand why they're still continuing on with schooling, to be honest.' Ian said. 'I mean, they do nothing during class.'
'And why the school hasn't at least given them suspension. They've done and said enough to receive it at least five times.'
That, I was wondering too, but my mind was too busy thinking about the other thing she said.
But anyway, enough of this stupid thing.
We were almost done filming the Order of the Phoenix; we just had to do two more scenes today, give them to the editors and the movie will be released in two weeks.
***
'How are you?' Tom asked me as we waited for the others at the studio after school.
'Good.' I answered shortly. He looked at my eyes searchingly.
'You know you can tell me. I'll listen.'
'Yeah I know...' I said quietly. 'But it's nothing to worry about.'
He blinked as he looked at me closely. 'Are you... Are you sure?'
I nodded and smiled slightly.
'Okay...'
There was a split second of pause.
'Thank you though.' I said.
'I haven't done anything...'
I shook my head. 'You did.'
He looked at me worriedly as he opened his arms. Glancing at him, I stepped in awkwardly, his arms wrapping around me tightly. I bit my lip hard trying not to cry as I hugged him back.
As soon as we parted, Emma, Dan, Rupert, Bonnie, Evanna and Matt came into the room, shortly followed by David.
'Sakura, can we talk?' David said.
Having a feeling what he wanted, I said, 'Yeah, 'course.'
He lead me out into the corridor.
'I noticed you still haven't signed up for your role in Half-Blood Prince.'
Thought so... I thought bitterly. I just nodded stiffly.
'Why is that?' He asked gently.
'It's just... I don't... know about it anymore...'
David searched my eyes like Tom. There was a short silence. 'Well... If you change your mind, you are more than welcome to sign up, okay? Just remember to do it in a month.'
I nodded. 'Yep.'
'Great.' He nodded in approval. 'Let's get filming the rest then!'
I followed at his heels into the studio again.
'Oh yes: For the next scene, you know I want you to ad-lib, right?'
'Yeah?'
'I don't want you to say something like "it wasn't an accident!". Something that clearly shows that Sally absolutely hates Umbridge, can you do that?'
'I'll give it a try.' I smiled.
'Excellent.' He smiled back. 'See you in about... Five minutes.'
'Mmmhm.'
'All good?' Dan asked me as soon as I joined them.
'Yep.'
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Em glancing at me.
Five minutes, we, as in Dan, Em, Rupert, Tom, Matt and I were called for the next scene.
'Ready?' David said to all of us on Umbridge's classroom's set.
'Yeeess.' We chanted.
'Awesome!' David clapped his hands and cued the staff at the lights, cameras and sounds (microphones, whatever). 'Aaaand ACTION.'
Snap.
Us actors on set started to chat amongst ourselves. Shefali Chowdhury, Parvati Patil and Afshan Azad, Padma were "flying" a paper bird with their wands around the room.
When the bird was floating above Shefail and Afshan's heads again, the bird glowed and slowly descended down onto their desks, making the girls look confused.
'Good morning class.' The actress playing as Umbridge, Imelda Staunton said in a high, girly voice. We all turned around to the back of the room. She slowly started walking down the aisle between the tables on the left (from the back) and the middle tables. 'Ordinary. Wizarding. Level. Examination.' She flicked her wand towards a small blackboard which had a square green sheet covering a small part of it, between the four words she said. 'O. W.Ls. More commonly known as "OWLs".' She faced the front. 'For the benefit for all of you in this room, the Ministry have decided to educate you with Ministry approved, defensive magic.' She flicked her wand behind her, towards the stack of heavy looking books on the table. (A/N I won't write about the special effect cos I've got no idea how they did it 😂 lets just say I'll leave it to your imagination)
When we got the book, we opened it to random pages, flicking through it.
Then Em raised her hand.
'Yes?' Imelda said.
'Why is it that there aren't any spells written in this book?'
'Spells?' Imelda laughed a squeaky laugh. 'You expect spells to be on those books, my dear?'
'Um, well, yes...?'
'You see, the Ministry has decided on a secure, risk free theoretical education.'
'So what, no magic?' Rupert said.
'But there will be practical examination for Defence Against the Dark Arts during the OWLs, won't it?' I said.
'And how are we going to defend ourselves if we get attacked from theoretical knowledge?' Dan said with a slightly annoyed tone.
Imelda slowly turned to face him. 'No one would attack children like yourselves, my dear. Who is out there that would think of putting harm on people such as you, may I ask?' She asked innocently, making me feel like punching her in the face. She's being Umbridge, okay? Okay.
'Oh I don't know, Lord Voldemort, maybe?'
Most of the people whose eyes were on Dan looked away, some, including Devon, shook their heads. Imelda took a breath, wide eyed and opened and closed her mouth several times before walking again and saying slowly, 'Now, there is a rumour that says the darkest wizard of this century has risen.' She turned back around to the front again. 'However, this -is - a - lie.'
'It's not a lie! We saw him! We fought him!' Dan and I said loudly at the same time.
'Detention, both of you!' Imelda screeched.
'So according to you Cedric Diggory just dropped dead?' Dan bit back.
'Cedric Diggory's death is nothing other than an tragic accident.'
'Sounds like your birth!' I blurted out.
Everyone lost it, including Imelda and especially the staffs behind the cameras. Some of them 'ooohhhhh!!' or 'buuuuurn'ed. I laughed along with everyone else, but I did feel bad for saying that to Imelda. I mean, she's really really nice in real life, but that was Sally saying it towards Umbridge soo... Yeah.
'That was aaahhhh-amazing... That was juuuuust so amazing.' David was literally on the floor, off his chair, laughing his head off. Em had her head on my shoulder, shaking badly and screaming from laughter. Dan gave me a high five, followed by Rupert.
'That showed great hatred, Sakura.' Imelda said smiling over the noise of laughter.
'Thank you.' I smiled awkwardly. 'I'm sorry though.'
'No no. It was towards Umbridge, right?'
'Of course, yes! Not to you!'
She laughed. 'That's good enough for me.'
Laughter continued on for another half a minute. When it finally died down, David choked, 'We'll just continue on. After that. ... And ACTION.'
'It seems like you're asking for a month of detention, Miss Potter. Every night, you will come to my office. Along with Mr Potter.'
'Yeah sure.' I said coldly. 'We'll see who's right in the end.'
'And CUT!'
Snap!
'Amazing, amazing... But I want to add few things. For instance, when Shefali and Ashfan are flying the birds, I want about two of you to do something to it.'
'I'll hit it!' Devon said.
'Is there like a sling shot?' Jamie shouted. 'I'll hit it with an eraser or something.'
'Yep, you two. Suits the character really well.'
Some laughed at that.
'What, that wasn't that funny was it?'
'They aren't even acting the part, that's what.'
'Ooh. Right.' David laughed. 'That's why you got chosen.'
'Exactly.'
David nodded in approval, smiling widely. 'All right. Let's add that and start from the beginning. Get ready!'
We all got settled in our seat and our positions.
'Okay. Aaaand A-'
The last word was cut off by Em and my hysterical laughters. Em was laughing at me because I got hit by an eraser and jumped in my chair, bumping the bottom of the table with my legs and I was laughing at her laughter.
'Oh my goodness... Oh my - AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHA!!!!! Your reaction! Your face!!!'
'Shut up!!' I choked. I looked around to see Jamie laughing along with others.
'Sorry...' He said between laughter. 'That was an accident.'
'You scared the living crap out of me!' I squealed.
'It's only a small eraser...!' Em shrieked.
'It came f-flying!'
'And you went flying...!'
And we continued to laugh off our heads.
'Girls, I get its funny, but settle down now...' David said but we didn't hear. Em fell off her chair, making us laugh even harder. I was legit crying.
When we finally settled, as in not snorting or laugh out loud again once we had stopped, David said, 'Finally.' We laughed. 'Aaaand ACTION!'
***
'Your ad-lib. That was gold.' Tom said, laughing.
'Thanks.' I smiled.
'I loved the way you said it the fourth time.' Rupert said. 'You were like "Sounds like your birth!!"' The others began laughing again.
'I did not! Shut up!' I said between laughter, shoving him playfully. 'But Imelda's soooo good. She made me hate Umbridge even more, like I actually felt so angry I felt like punching her in the face. Don't be surprised if I ditched popcorn at the screen at the premiere.'
'Oh don't worry we won't be.' Dan said.
'I reckon you won't be the only one anyway, there's at least one.' said Em.
'If you can throw it.' Tom added in a small voice with a smirk looking down, but I heard it quite clearly.
'Hey!'
He laughed.
***
That night in our room, Em asked me suddenly, 'It was about the signing, wasn't it?'
I lifted my head up from my laptop. She had hers up from her own as well.
'Your conversation with David.'
'Oh - yeah it was.'
'Are you still thinking about not signing it...?'
'I dunno.' I shrugged. 'And it's not just because of them.'
There was a short silence.
'You looked so happy today.'Emma said suddenly, smiling softly. 'I haven't seen you laugh so much in ages...'
If I think about it, that was true: I can't remember the last time I laughed properly. I tried to ignore the faint ringing of my phone from the closet. I knew who it was and I never pick up their call.
'I know you love working with people, working on movies and TV shows. You love seeing them laugh, you love making them laugh. And you can do that from your acting skills like today. I'm not saying you can fake it. But you just love this job so much. And all the fans wants you to play Sally, they love your work. Don't let yourself down from what six people said to you, which were actually so lame. Those can do nothing compared to the people supporting you around the world!'
I couldn't help myself but to smile. 'Thanks Em. That means a lot. It really does.'
She smiled back and said, 'I'm always here.' And she hugged me tightly. My eyes burnt at the back but I kept them down, hugging her back as tightly.
Then my laptop notified me that I got an email.
'Is that him?' She asked as I checked.
'Yeah.'
'I swear you've been talking to him since the first day you met.'
'I have.' I said seriously.
'Are you kidding?' She looked at me, wide-eyed. 'Never missed a day? For like seven years!?'
I nodded. 'I mean, there were some days where we only had like "two mails conversation" or something like that, but other than that, yeah basically.'
'Woooow. How can I not know that?' She gaped at me. 'Do you like him?'
'W-What?' I stuttered from the sudden question.
She raised her eyebrows. I didn't miss the corner of her mouth twitching.
'No.' I said quickly. 'I - I don't.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes.'
'Are you really really sure?'
I nodded.
'Are you really sure that you are really really sure?'
I stared at her weirdly.
'Come on, you like him.'
'No, I swear, we're only best friends!' I insisted.
Emma scoffed. 'As if!'
'It's true.' I said, looking down slightly.
'Sakura, I think I know you more than any one else here: I lived with you for the past six years. I see how you look at him these days, and you're more than just best friends.'
I didn't say anything, I just stared at the floor. Yeah sure, Tom and I are closer than we used to be. But...
'I know you get little butterflies in your stomach when you see him, Sakura.' Emma raised her eyebrows. 'And you're sounding a bit shy and nervous when you talk to him too.'
'How do you -'
'You might've not realised it, but your emotions do come up on your face quite easily. And your voice.'
I felt myself going red.
'You know you can tell me.' She said gently. 'He could help you get through everything.'
I just shrugged slightly.
'You need someone that'll always be there. Someone that cares so much about you.'
'So you're saying you don't...?'
'No! I'm not saying that! Of course I'll always be there and care about you: you're like my sister.' She placed her hand on top of mine.
'I want to help you, Sakura...' She said gently. 'Do you... Do you like him?'
'I...'
I pursed my lips.
'Yes.'
A/N
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