XL. THE MINISTRY INFILTRATES
19:09 ─❁────────── 19:79
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❝Mesmerized, Hypnotized,
Nobody knows that we're betrayed❞
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THE WEATHER REMAINED UNDECIDED EVEN as they ventured further to the north. Rain splattered the windows halfheartedly; the sun showed its feeble appearance before the the clouds drifted over it again. When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, put it carefully away in her back, and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead.
"We'd better change," said Hermione at last. She and Ron pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chest. Ron checked how it looked in the black window.
At last, the train began to slow down, and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready for departure. Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this; they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.
"I'll carry that owl, if you like," said Luna to Harry, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.
"Oh — er — thanks," said Harry, handing her the cage and hoisting Hedwig's more securely into his arms.
They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor. Slowly they moved toward the doors.
Lucia stepped down onto the platform and looked around, graced by the familiar surroundings of last year as she cradled Crookshanks in her arms.
She let out a soft sigh, hoping for this year to be a better year than last year, but she was aware of how unrealistic that would sound... especially after the gazes she'd seen just hours ago.
Her ears were then filled by a brisk female one, calling, "First years line up over here, please! All first years to me!"
It wasn't the normal gruffy voice of Rubeus Hagrid. This made Lucia worried.
A lantern came swinging toward them and by its light she saw the prominent chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken over Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.
"Where's Hagrid?" Harry said out loud.
"The Ministry didn't sack him, did they?" wondered Lucia concerningly.
"Couldn't be..." said Ginny, "either way we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door."
"Oh yeah..."
As they moved off along the platform and out through the station, the three ended up separating from one another. Lucia jostled along with the crowd of students that were evidently younger than her, allowing herself being shunted forward onto the dark rain-washed road outside Hogsmeade station by the younger students.
There were a hundred or so stagecoaches lined up along the road. It was the only transportation for the students above first year up to the castle. Lucia approached one of the coaches and stared at the creature that she came face to face with.
"Hello," she greeted them delicately; Lucia traced her hand on the bony, dragon-like faces which bear white, glittering eyes that lack both expression and pupils. "Been a while, hasn't it?"
Thestrals were one of the creatures that had been deemed by the Ministry to be dangerous, and yet here she was petting one of them. They were no doubt misunderstood creatures, perhaps because they're only visible to those those who have witnessed a death and accepted its reality.
Lucia found it quite shallow of wizard-kind to shun them just because they're associated with death. Everyone dies some day, no one can escape death even if they try.
"What — ?" Harry arrived beside her and stared at the creature before them, bewildered. He had never seen the said horses before until now.
"Where's Pig?" said Ron's voice, right behind them.
"That Luna girl was carrying him," said Harry, turning quickly. "Where d'you reckon —"
"— Hagrid is? I dunno," said Ron, sounding worried. "He'd better be okay..."
A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small gang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid looking second years out of the way so that they could get a coach to themselves. Seconds later Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.
"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year back there, I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever... Where's Crookshanks?"
"Here he is," said Lucia distractedly, revealing Crookshanks from underneath her robes.
"Thanks," Hermione sighed in relief, taking the reluctant and squirming Crookshanks away from Lucia, almost getting scratched in the process.
"There you all are!" Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, panting. "I've been trying to find you lot everywhere!"
"Sorry..." said Lucia sheepishly. "Got a bit distracted as usual,"
Harry remained quiet, staring straight at the thestral as though beholding it's existence. She couldn't blame him though; this must've been his first time seeing the creature.
"Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up..." trailed Hermione.
"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said, but she was already heading off toward the nearest unoccupied coach.
"What are those things, d'you reckon?" Harry asked Ron after a long pause, nodding at the horrible horses as the other students surged past them.
"What things?"
"Those horse —"
Luna appeared holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms; the tiny owl was twittering excitedly as usual.
"Here you are," she said. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"
"Er... yeah... He's all right," said Ron gruffly. "Well, come on then, let's get in... what were you saying, Harry?"
"I was saying, what are those horse things?" Harry said, as he, Ron, Lucia, and Luna made for the carriage in which Hermione and Ginny were already sitting.
"What horse things?"
"The horse things pulling the carriages!" said Harry impatiently; they were, after all, about three feet from the nearest one; it was watching them with empty white eyes. Ron, however, gave Harry a perplexed look.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about — look!"
Harry grabbed Ron's arm and wheeled him about so that he was face-to-face with the winged horse. Ron stared straight at it for a second, then looked back at Harry.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?"
"At the — there, between the shafts! Harnessed to the coach! It's right there in front —"
But as Ron continued to look bemused, a strange thought occurred to Harry.
"Can't... can't you see them?"
"See what?"
"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?"
Ron looked seriously alarmed now.
"Are you feeling all right, Harry?"
"I... yeah..."
Harry felt utterly bewildered. The horse was there in front of him, gleaming solidly in the dim light issuing from the station windows behind them, vapor rising from its nostrils in the chilly night air. Yet unless Ron was faking — and it was a very feeble joke if he was — Ron could not see it at all.
"Shall we get in, then?" said Ron uncertainly, looking at Harry as though worried about him.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, go on..."
"It's all right," said a dreamy voice from beside Harry as Ron vanished into the coach's dark interior. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them too."
Lucia never knew that Luna could see them too, and somehow, she felt at peace by the revelation that she was not the only one. Though, it meant that Luna had also seen someone die...
Mentally slapping herself out of that thought, Lucia turned to Harry with an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, they're fairly nice creatures. They don't bite."
"The biting part is not what I'm worried about but can you two...?" said Harry desperately, turning to the pair of girls behind him. He could see the bat-winged horses reflected in her wide, silvery eyes.
"Oh yes," said Luna, "I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."
Smiling faintly, she climbed into the musty interior of the carriage after Ron.
Harry turned to Lucia desperately and she gave him a small smile. "Really, Harry, you are not going insane," said Lucia.
"How are you so sure?"
"Because I just know so," she said airily. "Do you not trust me?"
Harry stared at her for a moment before swallowing hard and nodding. "I do. With my life even." He admitted.
"Then trust me with this," said Lucia. She held a hand out to him, "Come on,"
Filled with a bit of uncertainty, Harry succumbed to the thought that he may or may not be going insane, taking her hand and being led into the carriage after Lucia.
"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"
"I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna. "He isn't a very good teacher, is he?"
"Yes, he is!" said Harry, Ron, and Ginny angrily.
Harry glared at Lucia and Hermione; the latter of the two cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm... yes... he's very good."
Lucia yawned tiredly, ignoring Harry's glare. "I like Hagrid. He's a good teacher in his own way, and not every teacher is brave enough to outright show us what lies within the Forbidden Forest unlike him." She played with the end of her curls, "He also tried to destigmatise some creatures..." said Lucia before she rubbed Crookshanks belly with a smile, "Isn't that right, my love?"
Crookshanks mustered out a tired pur at her.
"Well, we think he's a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw," said Luna, unfazed.
"You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion.
Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television program.
Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, it was disheartening to see the grounds all dark due to Hagrid's absence. Hogwarts Castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet-black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them
The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors, all the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw filed out of the carriage.
Ginny slipped an arm around Lucia's as they hopped up the marble steps. The entrance hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.
Luna drifted away from them at the Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached Gryffindor's, Ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth years and left to sit with them; Lucia was dragged by Harry and Ron to sit with them as Hermione and Neville found them seats together about halfway down the table between Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, the last two of whom gave Harry airy, overly friendly greetings that made them quite certain that they were talking about Harry behind his back.
Lucia settled herself beside Hermione and rested her head on Hermione's shoulder with a tired sigh. She wished she had slept through the rest of the ride here, because she was sure as hell tired. And Hermione doesn't sound like such a bad bed to sleep on...
"He's not there." Harry spoke, his eyes stilled at the staff table.
Ron, Hermione, and Lucia scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.
"He can't have left," said Ron, sounding slightly anxious.
"Of course he hasn't," said Harry firmly.
"Maybe he went on a trip?" said Lucia hopefully. Professor Grubbly-plank was nice and all, but she much preferred Hagrid and his company; Hagrid was one of the kindest people she had ever had the pleasure to meet, having been the one to offer her a cup of tea plenty of times after classes.
"You don't think he's... hurt, or anything, do you?" said Hermione uneasily.
"No," said Harry at once.
"But where is he, then?"
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."
"Yeah... yeah, that'll be it," 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.
Lucia followed her gaze toward the staff table and instantly her face twisted.
Sitting next to the headmaster was a woman, she was talking in his ear while the headmaster was inclined to hear her, though his face twisted occasionally, saying otherwise. She resembled a maiden's 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 he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toadlike face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.
"Oh, I'm already having a headache," muttered Lucia, tearing her eyes away from the pink toad. "There's too much pink..."
"And that's coming from a person that loves pink to the bones," commented Hermione.
"I may need to change up my choice of colour for my outfits from now on," said Lucia in dismay. "It seems that pink isn't my colour anymore... Golden yellow sounds good right?"
"It's that Umbridge woman!" said Harry abruptly.
"Who?" said Hermione.
"She sounds familiar..." Lucia admitted.
"She was at my hearing; she works for Fudge!"
"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.
Then it dawned on Lucia why she found the woman so familiar, and she could not contain her anger when she recalled reading about the anti-werewolf legislation that had been drafted by the woman herself, Dolores Umbridge, making it harder for those with lycanthropy to find employment, basically forcing them to poverty.
How swell...
Note the sarcasm.
She couldn't believe that a pink toad was going to be teaching them, then again if she was from the Ministry, it adds onto the suspicion that Fudge had sent her.
"She works for Fudge?" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"
"Dunno..."
Hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed.
"No," she muttered, "no, surely not..."
From what Lucia could tell, Hermione finally realised this whole load of dung that was in the Great Hall, which wasn't all that hard to tell since the only dung in here was the pink toad that was sitting at the staff table.
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. The first years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.
The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into its usual self-written song, however it was more of a warning.
When the hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time, it followed with muttering and whispers. Across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors. It was easy to know what they were talking about.
"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.
"Too right it has," said Harry.
"G-Gives me the heebie-jeebies," shuddered Lucia.
"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione, sounding slightly anxious.
"Yes, indeed," said Nearly Headless Nick knowledgeably, leaning across Neville toward her (Neville winced, it was very uncomfortable to have a ghost lean through you). "The hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels —"
But Professor McGonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches. Nearly Headless Nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end. With a last frowning look that swept the four House tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and the sorting began.
Gryffindor welcomed warmly the new members of their house with some toffees courtesy of Lucia. She couldn't help but to be reminded of her own sorting an how nerve-wrecking that time was. She was very much anxious and even was filled with uncertainty of the hat's decision, wanting to puke out all her nervousness the moment she sat at the Gryffindor table, looking oddly blanched.
Dumbledore stood before them all; their headmaster rising to greet them all before the start-of-term feast.
"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands — welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder to keep it out of the way of his plate — for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread, sauces, and flagons of pumpkin juice.
"Excellent," said Ron, with a kind of groan of longing, and he seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them onto his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick.
"What were you saying before the Sorting?" Hermione asked the ghost. "About the hat giving warnings?"
"Oh yes," said Nick, who seemed glad of a reason to turn away from Ron, who was now eating roast potatoes with almost indecent enthusiasm. "Yes, I have heard the hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: Stand together, be strong from within."
"Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" said Ron.
"Can you not talk with your mouth full?" Lucia vocalised her disgust half-way through her mushroom stew.
"I beg your pardon?" said Nearly Headless Nick politely, while Hermione looked revolted.
Ron gave an enormous swallow and said, "How can it know if the school's in danger if it's a hat?"
"I have no idea," said Nearly Headless Nick. "Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks things up there."
"And it wants all the Houses to be friends?" said Harry, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was holding court. "Fat chance."
"I dunno...," Lucia trailed aimlessly as she looked over to the Slytherin table, where she saw a dark-haired girl on her own. Astoria Greengrass stared down at her food before glancing up and was met by the warm eyes of the night.
She sent Lucia a small smile that only she was able to noticed, in which the latter excitedly smiled and waved back at.
Lucia missed Astoria dearly, and it pained her when the adults restricted her from sending any letter to the younger girl. Those times before she arrived at Grimmauld Place, other than Harry, Astoria was her source of comfort whilst reading through her mail. It was consoling to know that she was all right during these... difficult times.
"Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude," said Nick reprovingly. "Peaceful cooperation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate Houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron."
"Are you saying that because you're clever enough to not argue with him, or because you're just scared of him?" Lucia raised a brow at him.
Ron leaned near Lucia and said with a mockingly hush tone: "It's definitely the latter. He's probably terrified of him," he snickered.
"A ghost scared of a... ghost?" Lucia snorted along with the redhead. "Can you imagine that?"
Nearly Headless Nick looked highly affronted.
"Terrified? I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins —"
"What blood?" asked Ron. "Surely you haven't still got — ?"
"It's a figure of speech!" said Nearly Headless Nick, now so annoyed his head was trembling ominously on his partially severed neck. "I assume I am still allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words I like, even if the pleasures of eating and drinking are denied me! But I am quite used to students poking fun at my death, I assure you!"
"Nick, he wasn't really laughing at you!" said Hermione, throwing a furious look at Ron.
Unfortunately, Ron's mouth was packed to exploding point again and all he could manage was "node iddum eentup sechew," which Nick did not seem to think constituted an adequate apology. Rising into the air, he straightened his feathered hat and swept away from them to the other end of the table, coming to rest between the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis.
"Well done, Ron," snapped Hermione.
"What?" said Ron indignantly, having managed, finally, to swallow his food. "I'm not allowed to ask a simple question?"
"Oh forget it," said Hermione irritably, and the pair of them spent the rest of the meal in huffy silence.
"I've never seen someone so tactless..." said Lucia, shaking her head.
"Says the one that was joking around as well," Harry remarked, playing with his food as a way to ignore them, already too used to their bickering to bother trying to reconcile them.
"Completely different," she frowned in defence. "My way of joking is trying not to make insensitive comments,"
Harry snorted. "Uh-huh,"
When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the hall was starting to creep upward again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the headmaster.
"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students — and a few of our older students ought to know by now too."
Lucia turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who smirked smugly at this. If it were her a few years ago, she would've resented them since they'd never suffer the true repercussions after breaking so many rules so many times. But she learnt to get used to this as then she would be a hypocrite, for she too had broke many rules whenever she was with them now.
Dumbledore continued with the usual warning in courtesy of Filch before noting that there would be a changing of staff this year that almost all of them had taken notice of; he introduced Professor Grubbly-Plank for Care of Magical Creatures, and finally Professor Umbridge, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause; Lucia half-heartedly applauded as well, though not dropping her disgust for the teacher.
Can we just get to the exciting part already?
Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the —"
He broke off, looking inquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge said, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.
Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat back down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair, and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as it had ever been. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before.
Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome."
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish that cause Lucia to feel a sudden rush of loathing to course through her veins. For once, she was actually hating a teacher from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. The hatred she was feeling was unlike how she feels for Snape, which was already venomous.
The toadlike woman gave another little throat-clearing cough ("Hem, hem") and continued: "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"
"She... She has to be kidding right?" Lucia deadpanned quietly.
None of the faces in the Great Hall would be recognised as happy; on the contrary, they all looked rather taken aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.
"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"
Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.
"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan," Parvati whispered to Lavender, and both lapsed into silent giggles.
Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ("Hem, hem"), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.
"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 through the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."
Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back. Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawklike, and Lucia distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little "Hem, hem" —
"I swear to god if she keeps on doing that, I'll go insane," said Lucia.
"This is painful," stated Ron, rubbing his temples with his forefingers.
"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation..."
The quiet that always filled the Hall when Dumbledore was speaking was breaking up as students put their heads together, whispering and giggling. Over at the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang was chatting animatedly with her friends. A few seats along from Cho, Luna Lovegood had got out The Quibbler again. At the Hufflepuff table, Ernie Macmillan was one of the few still staring at Professor Umbridge, but he was glassy-eyed and it was surely due to him he was his chest. Meanwhile Astoria and Erin, who sat a few seats from Astoria, were both looking attentively at Umbridge, as if trying to comprehend the woman's words, before their face twisted into simultaneously grimace.
Professor Umbridge did not seem to notice the restlessness of her audience. Lucia had the impression that a full-scale riot could have broken out under her nose, and she would have plowed on with her speech. The teachers, however, were still listening very attentively, and Hermione seemed to be drinking in every word Umbridge spoke, though judging by her expression, they were not at all to her taste.
"...because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, 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."
She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though clearly several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.
"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," he said, bowing to her. "Now — as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held..."
"Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione in a low voice.
"You're not telling me you enjoyed it?" Ron said quietly, turning a glazed face upon Hermione. "That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."
"Read her face, Ginger snaps," said Lucia, yawning. "She clearly didn't think of it as enjoyable."
Hermione nodded. "But what she says explained a lot."
"Did it?" said Harry in surprise. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."
"There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle," said Hermione grimly.
"Was there?" said Ron blankly.
"Plenty," stated Lucia in agreement with Hermione.
"How about 'progress for progress's sake must be discouraged'? How about 'pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'?"
"Well, what does that mean?" said Ron impatiently.
"I'll tell you what it means," said Hermione ominously. "It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."
"Fudge's doing, I reckon," said Lucia airily. "He's so paranoid to the point that he needs a spy to lurk around Hogwarts, where he's not much in power. The Ministry is infiltrating Hogwarts, but they're not doing a pretty good job at making it discreet," she adds.
"I don't doubt that they were even trying to be discreet," said Hermione grimly.
Harry and Ron shared a look with one another.
There was a great clattering and banging all around them; Dumbledore had obviously just dismissed the school, because everyone was standing up ready to leave the Hall. Hermione jumped up, looking flustered.
"Ron, we're supposed to show the first years where to go!"
"Oh yeah," said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. "Hey — hey you lot! Midgets!"
"Ron!"
"Well, they are, they're titchy..."
"I know, but you can't call them midgets... First years!" Hermione called commandingly along the table. "This way, please!"
A group of new students walked shyly up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, all of them trying hard not to lead the group. They did indeed seem very small.
"Aww," sounded Lucia. "You know, I remember when I was their size."
"It was only a few years ago," Harry snorted.
"AndI've grown drastically," Lucia rebutted, "Perhaps you never noticed, but back in our first year, I was one of the tiniest in height wise and look at me now: one of the tallest in our year!"
"And you're not going to grow any taller than that," said Harry mockingly with a smirk. "Also, you are not one of the tallest. You are the tallest."
"Don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment," said Lucia sarcastically.
"Take that as a compliment, will you?" Harry winked.
"Charming," she rolled her eyes.
"You know that Ginny's jealous of your height."
"And I'm jealous of hers, what's your point?" Lucia narrowed her eyes at him.
"Nothing!" He held his hands up in defence, before he looked at her peculiarly: "Wait — why are you jealous of her height?"
Embarrassed, Lucia averted her eyes away from Harry. "No reason," she squeaked.
"Okay, now I'm curious." Harry had his Potter smirk menacingly on his lips.
"Fine." She grumbled, playing with the cuffs of her robe, "Some people just prefer girls who aren't the... tallest..."
"So, it makes you feel self-conscious?"
Lucia nodded and quickly say, "It's ridiculous, I know. But that's what happens when you are a teenage girl —"
"Well, I disagree with your opinion," said Harry defiantly. "You're perfect just the way you are, and if people can't see that, then that's their lost."
Lucia studied his expression, heat rising to her cheeks and ears at his statement. He was dead serious about what he just said, giving her a stern stare, as if forcing her to love herself.
She let out some incoherent gibberish, not looking directly into his brilliant eyes. Lucia rubbed her face and make out a frustrated sound before punching Harry's arm.
"Ouch — what was that for?" Harry cried, rubbing his wounded arm.
"Don't be so dramatic," she said. Lucia then said under her breath, "thank you."
Her words didn't go unnoticed by Harry.
He grinned at her, "Anytime."
But his grin soon diminished when he noticed the whispers and mutters, he was receiving. Gritting his teeth, Harry seized Lucia's hand. "Come on,"
Before she could protest, they were already out along with the crowd of Gryffindors.
Lucia stole glances over to Harry occasionally, heart beating abnormally. She then stared down at their interlocked hands, slowly succumbing into the everlasting emotion of fondness and envy. She was so fond of him, making her afraid of when she would have to let him go. She was envious of Cho Chang for being the one that had the key to his heart.
She could never be the key to unlock his heart, and knowing that was painful, she had to admit.
Cho Chang was not only smart, but she's also one of the prettiest girl in school — not to mention her skills in Quidditch, being the only female player in the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, which was incredibly impressive. She couldn't blame Harry for liking the girl, she too, would've been smitten as well. In contrary to her, Lucia could never be rivaled, she had thought. Cho Chang was too perfect, and that made her jealous.
Even when she knows she shouldn't be.
They reached the end of the corridor to the Gryffindor common room and had come to a halt in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady before she realized that neither of them know the new password.
"Er..." Harry said glumly, staring up at the Fat Lady, who smoothed the folds of her pink satin dress and looked sternly back at him.
"You know us for years already, can't you give us a wee bit of a leeway?" Lucia asked hopefully.
The Fat Lady stared back into Lucia's puppy eyes and said loftily, "No password, no entrance,"
Shoulders sagging, Lucia sighed pitifully. "How are we going to get in..."
"Harry, Lucia, I know it!" someone panted from behind him, and he turned to see Neville jogging toward him. "Guess what it is? I'm actually going to be able to remember it for once —" He waved the stunted little cactus he had shown them on the train. "Mimbulus mimbletonia!"
"Correct," said the Fat Lady, and her portrait swung open toward them like a door, revealing a circular hole in the wall behind, through which Lucia, Harry, and Neville now climbed.
The Gryffindor common room looked as welcoming as ever, a cozy circular tower room full of dilapidated squashy armchairs and rickety old tables. A fire was crackling merrily in the grate and a few people were warming their hands before going up to their dormitories; on the other side of the room Fred and George Weasley were pinning something up on the notice board.
"I'll see you two t-tomorrow," yawned Lucia quickly, "'Night!"
Harry and Neville bid the girl goodnight as well. The three separated into two; Lucia climbing up the girls' stairs to her dormitory; Harry and Neville climbed the boys' to theirs.
When she reached her dormitory, Lucia was welcomed by the brief greetings from her dormmates: Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Fay Dunbar. They were the first one to be in the dormitory, seeing as Hermione was doing her prefect duties with Ron.
"How's your summer?" Lavender spoke to Lucia, folding her clothes neatly.
Lucia smiled faintly at her. "It's been... normal."
"Normal? As normal as it can be after... you know?"
"Yes," she said after a long pause. "It's been normal after — you know what? I don't want to particularly talk about what happened." Breathing seem to be harder than usual for Lucia as she began to unpack her belongings.
"Yeah," Lavender nodded quickly after nudging her best friend and giving her a knowing gaze. "Yeah of course,"
All of them were about to turn away, dejected, when Lucia spoke once more: "B-But, if you must know, I've gotten better than l-last time,"
Though her voice was nearly incoherent, they were still able to hear it clearly. Smiling widely, they felt reassured that Lucia had at least gone into a better state than the last time they'd seen her.
Never in their life had they seen her so... distressing.
Lucia turned her gaze back to her trunk and heaved out a sigh as she began filling the shelves with her books, feeling the need to isolate herself for a moment after managing to 'talk' about the subject she so dreaded. No matter how much she tried to avoid, it always seems to be tailing her. It was a bit suffocating.
Shaking her head, she was in absolute silence as she made herself feel at home once more, in contrary to the others who were happily joking around like they've always done. Once she was done, she took it upon herself to get ready for bed first.
However, as she emerged out of their shared bathroom, Lucia didn't think much about what they were talking, until Parvati spoke:
"He has gone a bit cuckoo, hasn't he?" she said to Lavender. "Ever since Divination lesson last year..."
Lucia tensed all the sudden.
"Oh, most definitely," nodded the latter, brushing her hair. "Is it just me, or was he glaring at us the entire time? D'you think the Prophet is telling the truth about... you know?"
"Would be shocking if —"
"Who... Who're you guys talking about?" Lucia blurted out from her side of the bed.
Parvati, Lavender, and Fay wheeled around at her, giggling.
Lavender step forward and spoke. "Harry of course. Who else has been in the public's eye since they were a baby except him?"
"A-And what about Harry?" Lucia's mood dropped dangerously as she whirled around to face the mirror instead, hiding her glower.
"Well, of course we were talking about the hottest topic these days," snickered Fay.
Parvati nodded. "Yeah, like how ridiculous he sounded about You-Know-Who being back. Both him and Dumbledore has gone mad, the Prophet said so —"
"And you believe them?" Lucia knitted her brows together, voice quiet.
"Of course. I mean, the Prophet had always been the Wizarding world's source of news —"
"Well, I suggest you guys find a new source of news because what they're saying about Harry and Dumbledore are all rubbish." Lucia wheeled around at them, chest heaving, blood boiling. Her eyes heldno sense of warmth that was usually came with it, which to them, was rare.
"W-What's gotten into you?" Lavender inquired, staggering backwards as Lucia began walking toward them.
Each step she took made their breath shook, slightly fearing of the unknown that was her.
Lucia let out a derisive laugh, "What's gotten into me? What about what's gotten into you all?" she gazed at them with an incredulous smile that felt almost eerie to them: "What possess you to not even believe someone you knew since first year?"
"So you believe him...?" Parvati asked cautiously, a bit intimidated by the normally kind girl.
"Of course I do, you —"
Before Lucia was able to finish, Hermione Granger entered her dorm exhaustedly, but the tension in the room did not go unnoticed by her.
She quirked a brow at the lot of them, "What's going on?"
"We were just talking about You-Know-Who," stated Fay.
"From the articles that are written by the Prophet?" All four of them nodded, and instantly Hermione's gaze hardened. "You actually believe those loads of waffles?"
"Not you too," groaned Parvati.
"What do you mean 'not her too'?" Lucia inquired coolly, coming into Hermione's defence. "She believes her best friend because what he is saying is true. Why can't people just think logically for a second?"
"How do we even know that he was telling the truth?" said Lavender.
"How do we even know that the Ministry is telling the truth?" countered Hermione.
"I may have not been there physically, but you all did. And you saw that Harry came out of that maze, terrified, crying while he held onto a dead body — and don't you dare tell us that Cedric Diggory's death was an accident, just like how the Ministry played it out to be." Lucia bellowed at the three girls.
"Believe him or not, your choice. But at the end of the day, only one kows the truth, and that's Harry," said Hermione firmly.
Lucia's gaze was like a blunt knife, going through one's body. It was painful.
"And why would he lie about that? Why would he lie about the return of his parent's murderer? Please enlighten me right now," she asked calmly.
Lavender, Parvati, and Fay stood in silence.
"That's what I thought," said Lucia with a scoff. "Now if you three excuse us, Hermione and I love to get a good night of sleep before school tomorrow."
"Er — yes. I hope you three think logically about this, instead of succumbing into immoral rumours that's targeting a fifteen year-old teenage boy." Hermione said, rounding to her bed.
With one last glance at the three girls, Lucia said, "And make sure you apologise to him when you know you sound ridiculous, With that, she shut the curtains around her bed and rolled her eyes one last time before falling on her pillow, huffing.
What a great start to a new year already.