I ran and ran until I found myself up in the Astronomy Tower. I walked over to the edge and sat down, wrapping my hands around the railing and letting my feet dangle over the edge. I just sat there and sobbed.
"Lori? Lori, you up here?" Neville's voice called from the stairs. I heard him walking over and felt his arm wrap around my shoulders. "It's okay, Lori. It's okay."
"Not it's not, Neville!" I said looking into his eyes. "Seamus has been my friend since DAY ONE! You all have been! Ever since our first day, it's been the four of us."
"I know. I know." he tightens his hug around me, as I placed my head onto his shoulder.
"I was right ..." I murmured after a few moments.
"Huh?" Neville asked.
"After the Quidditch World Cup last year ... I had a feeling everything was gonna change ... I was right ..."
"Lori ..."
"I mean, everything is going to keep changing ... and ... and the thought of losing anyone else ... just-just breaks me, Nevy." I started sobbing harder, and Neville pulled me into his chest. We sat up there for about twenty minutes. I was crying into his chest while he rubbed my back.
"Hey, let's head back to bed and just enjoy this year as much as we can," Neville suggested slowly starting to pull me up. "Besides you want to be well-rested Ms 'Top of the Class'." I laughed.
"Hermione is at the top of the class, not me," I said as we walked over to the stairs.
"Maybe, but your definitely second."
***
The next morning I was up before everyone (even Hermione) and got ready. After a shower and getting into my uniform, I walked down the stairs to the common room and waited for Neville. As I sat there, waiting for him to walk down, I noticed Fred and George were pinning up an announcement on the bulletin board.
"You know, Hermione's a prefect now. She can and will give you detention." I said walking over. "I heard that she told you guys not to hang these up in the Common Room."
"Well, she won't," Fred said cockily.
"Yeah, she won't," George said as he patted the top of my head before they walked out of the room and down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I slowly walked back over to the sofa, waiting for Neville as Seamus and Dean sprinted through the common room. Seamus looked at me, opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but decided against it and rushed out.
I flung myself back onto the sofa and grabbed a pillow. I clutched it close to my chest, my chin laid on top of the pillow and I stared up at the ceiling. I must've been zoning out while looking up at the ceiling because the next thing I knew, someone shook my foot.
"AAH!" I rolled off the front of the sofa, crashing onto the floor in a pile. I sat up blew some hair out of my eyes, and saw Neville gaping down at me.
"I'm so sorry, Lori!" Neville clambered over the sofa and started to help me up, "If I had known you would've flung off I would've never!"
"It's fine, Nevy." I placed the pillow back on the sofa and smiled at him. "It's not like I fell off the back of the sofa, I rolled down the front of the sofa."
"Still! You could've hit your head!" Neville wrapped his hand around the back of my head and looked into my eyes. "I would hate to be responsible for you getting hurt."
"Well, I didn't. Now let's go get some breakfast, I'm starved!" I grabbed Neville's hand and we rushed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. While sitting there, we got our schedules and had our own little fits about them. Fred and George picked on Ron for saying he wished their snack boxes were done, which caused Hermione to scold them about posting their advertisement in the common room.
Once we all finished we headed off towards History of Magic (major snoozefest that will always be), followed by Potions with Snape, then Divination, with the last class of the day being Dark Arts with Umbridge.
"I swear if we get another essay or another bit of homework from Umbridge, I will literally die!" I said as we walked down the corridor towards the room.
"I doubt she'll give us a bunch, none of the others gave us a bunch," Neville said.
"Well, those four didn't seem nearly as bitchy as this one does," I spoke sassily as we reached the door. Neville snickered quietly as we officially entered the room.
We saw Professor Umbridge already sitting at her desk, wearing the same fluffy pink cardigan of the night of the feast and a black velvet bow was on her head.
"Well, good afternoon!" she said once the class was sat down. A few of us mumbled "Good afternoon," in reply.
"That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply. One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"
"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," we all chanted back to her. I gagged a little bit as those words left my mouth and could just barely see Hermione rolling her eyes. Umbridge made us put our wands away, which made half the class voice their disapproval. Once we all had our quills out, Umbridge's sickly sweet voice spoke once more.
"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face us with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year."
She instructed up to copy down what she had written on the blackboard, which what she wrote for the course aims were completely bogus! I sneered every time Umbridge had her back towards us and plastered on a smile every time she looked back. We started the lesson by reading, but Hermione raised her hand.
"Professor, there's nothing written up there about using defensive spells," Hermione spoke bluntly, with most of us murmuring affirmatives after her words.
"Using defensive spells?" Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"
"We're not going to use magic?" Ron ejaculated loudly.
"You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure risk-free way."
"Well, what use is that? If we are going to be attacked it won't be 'risk-free'!" Harry retorted.
"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class," Umbridge spoke coldly as she walked up to the front of the room. "It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all is what school is all about."
"And how is theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry queried again.
"There is nothing out there dear. Who do you imagine would want to attack children like yourself?" Umbridge said walking ever closer to Harry's desk.
"This bitch ..." I muttered clenching my fist. Neville instantly reached over and grabbed it.
"Stand down, Weasley." He chuckled.
"Oh, I don't know ... maybe ..." Harry paused for a moment before looking her dead in the eye. "Lord Voldemort?!"
"Well ... that was sudden ..." Neville muttered. I looked around the room and saw Seamus sneer over at Harry and make a gesture. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
"Seamus better get his act together or he's never getting be back as a friend." I spat coldly. Neville patted my fist once again, as Umbridge started pacing again.
"Now, let me make this quite plain. You have been told, that a certain, Dark Wizard is at large once again. This. Is. A. Lie!"
"It's not a lie! I saw him, I FOUGHT HIM!" Harry shouted.
"Detention, Mr Potter!"
"So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead at his own accord?!" Harry yelled. I inhaled sharply and my entire body went rigid. Neville noticed and moved his hand from my hands to my leg and rubbed my knee.
"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident!" Umbridge replied.
"WHAT?!" I shouted, but my shout went unnoticed by everyone as Harry's shouts were louder than mine.
"IT WAS MURDER! VOLDEMORT killed him! You must know that!"
"ENOUGH!" Umbridge's shrill voice screeched. She quickly cleared her throat and brushed down the front of her outfit. "Enough."
I tried to hold back, but something in me just clicked and I stood up. Neville tried to hold me down but I shook out of his grasp. Umbridge turned and faced me.
"What's wrong, dear?" she asked sweetly.
"What is your name again?"
"Umbridge, Dolores Umbridge." She replied, puffing out her chest.
"Fantastic," I said with an evil smile growing on my face. Neville noticed and once again tried to pull me down. I shook him away and cleared my throat.
"Let me tell you all a story about a bitch named Dolores. Yeah, Dolores is a woman in a bright pink dress. She calls herself a Professor but refuses to teach us. But fuck that big ole bitch, cause I'm a Weasley!"
Half the class burst into rolls of laughter, while the other half just stared at me. Umbridge stood still, her mouth gaping at me.
"DETENTION! Miss Weasley!" Umbridge screamed as the bell rang.
"GLADLY!" I snapped getting up and storming out of the classroom, back to Gryffindor Tower where I was sure I was going to get reamed by my siblings.