We get off the Hogwarts express and start walking, but I sigh heavily when I hear Draco behind us.
"I'm surprised the Ministry's still letting you walk around free Pottah. Better enjoy it while you can. I expect there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it" Draco says, going toward Harry, but he quickly backs away as Harry goes for him.
Ron quickly holds him back.
"What'd I tell you? Complete nutter" Draco says.
"Just stay away from me!" Harry yells, breathing heavily.
"It's only Malfoy" Ron says "What'd you expect?"
~~~~~
Me, Harry, Hermione and Ron wait, as normal, for the carriages to come so we can get a ride to Hogwarts, watching Cho's rock away.
"Hi guys" Neville says with a plant in his hand, and I turn to him, giving him a quick hug.
"Hey, Neville" we all says together.
Harry turns around, so I do too, seeing a giant dark-grey winged horse attached to the carriage.
"What is it?" Harry asks, causing the others to turn.
"What's what?" Ron asks.
"That. Pulling the carriage" Harry specifies.
"Nothing's pulling the carriage, Harry. It's pulling itself like always" Hermione says.
We all go to the side of the carriage, me and Harry carefully watching the horse.
"You're not going mad. I can see them too. You're just as sane as I am" a girl says, pulling her book down so we can see her face.
We get in the carriage, Harry, Hermione and Neville sitting on one side, and me, the girl and Ron on the other. Ron is sitting next to the girl, and I'm sitting by the edge, tapping my feet from boredom. Ron scoots towards me a little, looking at her.
"Everyone this is Loony Love... Luna Lovegood" Hermione says.
"Hi, nice to meet you! I'm Y/N" I say excitedly, shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you too, Y/N" she says, smiling.
"What an interesting necklace" Hermione says.
"It's a charm actually. Keeps away the nargles" Luna says as she leans forwards and towards Neville, making Neville back away as much as he can "Hungry. I hope there's pudding" Luna says, sitting normally.
"Oh, I love pudding" I say, clapping my hands together lightly.
"What's a nargle?" Ron whispers.
"No idea" Hermione replies.
~~~~~
Everyone is sitting comfortably with their houses, eating and talking about their summer. I'm sitting where I normally sit, right at the front of the table, closest to the teacher's table, on the right side.
"Good evening, children. Now, we have two changes in staffing this year. We're pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who'll be taking Care of Magical Creatures while Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave. We also wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge. And I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck. As usual, now, our caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to remind you-" Dumbledore says, but professor Umbridge coughs.
Dumbledore slowly turns to her, and she gets up, walking forwards so she can see all of us and we can see her.
"Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. And how lovely to see all your bright, happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends" professor Umbridge says.
"That's likely" the twins say together, making me laugh.
Professor Umbridge looks at the twins, then me, then at everyone else again.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster has brought something new to this historic school" she looks at Dumbledore, who nods his head lightly, smiling "Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected, and prune practices that ought to be... Prohibited" she continues, whispering that last bit.
She does a stupid laugh and actually annoys me for some reason, smiling at all us students.
Dumbledore starts clapping for her, and everyone in the hall reluctantly claps as professor Umbridge goes back to her seat, smiling.
"Thank you, Professor Umbridge. That really was most illuminating" Dumbledore says "Now, as I was saying Mr Filch would like me to remind you that magic is forbidden in the corridors..."
My mind goes blank and I stop listening.
I turn to all the Slytherins, finding Draco and smiling at him. He looks up curiously, tilting his head.
I look up, but a fountain of red liquid falls onto my face, getting in my hair and all over my robes.
I look down and cough, pushing my hair back and flicking away the red goo from my hands.
I turn to the teachers, and they're all standing up, looking at me confusingly.
I turn to all the students, everyone bursting out in laughter, pointing at me and some falling back from their seats.
Everyone is laughing at me, and I can't do anything about it.
"Mandrake blood" Atlas says "Tricky to get ahold of, but doable"
I run past the Slytherin table, but someone sticks their leg out, and I trip, falling forwards and hitting my head on the ground.
I wince in pain, but get up, running out the hall.
"Y/N!" Fred calls over the student's laughter, but I ignore him and run.
I stop outside the Slytherin common room and punch the wall, my hand bleeding and a crack resting on the wall.
I don't even know if it's the Mandrake blood for my own, but I don't care. I drop to the floor and start crying, not being able to control myself anymore.
I get caught off guard when a pair of arms wrap around me, pulling me into a tight, yet sweet hug. A safe hug.
I pull away, however, getting up.
"Fred, you'll get blood all over your robes" I say.
"I don't care. All I care is that you're alright" Fred says, coming towards me.
"That was the most humiliating thing I have ever been through" I say, holding my head in my hands.
"And that little git will pay for it" Fred says.
"What do you see in me? Why do you love me? Why do you care about me? Nobody else seems to" I say, looking up at Fred.
"Because I became best friends with the most amazing girl I've ever known. And all you had to do was be yourself, and that was enough to get me falling for you. Literally, I was falling down the stairs here just thinking about you" Fred says, getting a small chuckle out of me "Clean yourself up, and we'll go back"
"No, I can't go back, not after what just happened"
"Show them you're not afraid to" Fred says, holding my upper arms and squeezing them lightly "You have extra pair of robes, don't you?" Fred asks. I nod "Good, now change. Take a shower, change, and prove that you're the woman I know you are" Fred says.
I smile at him as he kisses my forehead.
I go to my dormitory after entering the common room, taking a shower and rubbing all the Mandrake blood off me.
It takes a while, but with the help of shampoo, I get it all out. I throw my robes in the sink and put on an extra pair, blow-drying my hair.
I put some moisturiser on and a tinted lipstick, light blush and eyeliner, roughing up my hair a little.
I leave the common room and walk back to the Great Hall, wand in hand. I strut back in, everyone staring at me as I smirk.
I lift my wand and point it at Atlas, shooting him with a silencing jinx.
"Brachiabindo!" I shoot, ropes wrapping around his body.
I then hit him with a biting jinx, cup, plates and cutlery biting him, leaving marks all over him and blood seeping past his skin.
I go to Fred, pulling him out his seat and kissing him in front of everyone, everyone 'oohing' and gasping.
When I pull away, I lick my top lip slowly, smiling at Fred.
"Thanks, love" I say, then let him go.
As I walk back to my seat, Fred sits in his, touching his lips and smirking.
Snape un-does my jinxes, but I ignore everything around me, flicking my wand and clearing my seat of the blood. I heal the cut on my forehead and my hand, running a hand through my hair.
Atlas stares at me, breathing heavily and wincing lightly.
"You hurt me, I hurt you back, because guess what, I'm a Slytherin and I'm proud!" I yell out to everyone, eyeing Atlas.
~~~~~
Gryffindors and Slytherins are in D.A.D.A class, waiting for our new teacher.
I look around the class and chuckle when I see Draco sleeping in the back.
"I can't believe you did that!" Hermione half whispers to me.
We sit next to each other in this class.
"Hermione, I did what I did for a reason. Atlas has been bullying me since my first year here, and I'm sick and tired of it" I argue gently "Besides, I'm gonna be sweet to you guys, and menacing to Atlas, and Atlas alone" I say, reassuring her.
Parvati bewitches a bird-shaped piece of paper, getting it to fly around the classroom.
I laugh lightly as it passes me, pushing it up with my finger. Seamus tries smacking it, but he misses.
Everyone falls silent when the paper lights on fire, falling to Parvati and Padma's desk.
"Good morning, children" professor Umbridge greets, smiling.
We all turn back to her, and as she walks past our desks, she keeps her wand up, writing on the chalk-board in front of us.
"Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations. O-W-Ls. More commonly known as OWLs" professor Umbridge sqeaks "Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be... severe" she pauses as she flicks her wand, controlling book to hover above the ground and to be given to each student "Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you'll be pleased to know, from now on, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic. Yes?" she asks, her head pointing to Hermione.
"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells?" Hermione asks.
"Using spells?" professor Umbridge asks, then chuckles loudly "Well, I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom"
"We're not gonna use magic?" Ron asks.
"You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way" professor Umbridge explains, making me raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"What use is that? If we're attacked, it won't be risk-free" Harry argues.
"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class" professor Umbridge says, walking to the chalk-board. She faces the class "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"
"If school is all about examinations, what is the point in learning magic in the first place if, in your eyes, we shouldn't use it to defend ourselves?" I ask.
"Yeah, and how's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry asks.
"There is nothing out there, dear. Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourself?" Professor Umbridge asks.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe... Lord Voldemort" Harry suggests.
"Harry's right. And it's not just Voldemort, it's Snatchers, and thieves and Death Eaters that will be helping Voldemort gain power" I point out.
Professor Umbridge looks at us with a pained expression before smiling, walking forwards.
"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" she says, stopping in front of Harry.
"It's not a lie. We saw him. We fought him" Harry says.
"You can't possibly be calm when Voldemort is around and pretend he's not here" I say.
"Detention, Mr and Miss Potter" professor Umbridge says, walking back to the front.
"So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?" Harry asks quickly.
"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident" professor Umbridge says.
"How dare you say that when you weren't even there to witness it! Me and Harry had to watch our friend be murdered and you don't even care!" I yell, standing.
"It was murder. Voldemort killed him. You must know that" Harry says.
"Enough!" Umbridge yells, sqeaking like a rat "Enough" she repeats calmly "See me later, Mr and Miss Potter. My office" she continues, then does that stupid laugh again.