"𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐘," Raya led her friends along the streets of Hogsmeade.
Hermione had mentioned something about Harry leading a Defense club at Hogwarts. Considering their current teacher was shit, Raya decided to check it out. She'd convinced her friends — most of them excited about going behind Umbridge's back.
They walked down the main street past Zonko's Joke Shop — where they were unsurprised to see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan — past the post office, from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side street at the top of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture upon it of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. All of them hesitated outside the door.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Elias muttered, staring warily at the sign.
Kayse's grip on Raya's hand tightened, "It gives me psycho killer vibes. Like this would be the perfect place to dump a dead body. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Pennywise came crawling out of there."
"Penny-what?" Meredith cowered behind Cho.
"Pennywise, clown person who kills kids."
"Oh," her reply was faint.
The Hog's Head was a small inn, much smaller than the Three Broomsticks. Considering this was supposed to be a secret thing, Raya wasn't surprised this was the place they went with.
"First off, Pennywise isn't real, he's from a horror story—"
"—Based on a real person," Kayse mumbled under his breath.
"But they've also got to keep it hidden from Dumbridge," she reminded them. "Let's go in. We're only bringing attention to ourselves by standing outside like idiots."
She led them inside.
It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be earthy, though as Raya stepped onto it she realized that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.
In one of the corner booths, she spotted the Golden Trio.
"Let's go," she waved her friends along.
Raya took a seat next to Hermione, Kayse on her other side. Slowly, but surely, the small inn began to fill up with nearly twenty five other students who'd been interested.
By the glare Harry sent Hermione's way, she could tell he wasn't informed of this.
"Hi," said Fred, one of the newcomers, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly. "Could we have... twenty-three butterbeers, please?"
"Add six more!" Raya called to him from her spot on the table.
"Add six to that," he told the barman.
The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.
"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these..."
The large group of kids began rummaging for coins, grabbing their butterbeers from Fred.
Raya nudged Meredith, who was sitting across from Raya and giving Harry a mistrustful look. If it weren't for Cho's insistence, Raya wasn't even going to force Meredith to come.
She pursed her lips, but stopped glaring at him.
In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around the Golden Trio, some looking rather excited, others curious, Luna Lovegood gazing dreamily into space. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon Harry.
"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well — er — hi."
The group focused its attention on her instead, though Raya noticed that some eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry.
"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea — I mean — I had the idea — that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts — and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us—" Hermione's voice began to grow more confident, "—because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Hear, hear," said Elias, grinning over his butterbeer.
"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands." She paused, looked sideways at Harry, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells—"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because... because..." She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."
The reaction was immediate and predictable. Meredith shrieked and slopped butterbeer down herself, Terry Boot — a younger Ravenclaw — gave a kind of involuntary twitch, Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. Thomas flinched, though he looked more determined than usual.
Raya, having heard the Dark Lord's name multiple times over the summer, didn't even blink. She respected Hermione for saying his name out loud. It was time to stop being scared of it.
All of them — even those who jumped at the sound of the name — looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.
"Well... that's the plan anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going t —"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said one of the Hufflepuffs.
Raya recognized him as Zacharias Smith, a younger kid in Harry's year. She didn't know much about him, except the fact that Cedric wasn't his biggest fan.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it—" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," Zacharias, nodding at Harry.
"Who are you?" asked Ron rather rudely.
"Zacharias Smith," he said, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—"
"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry. He looked at Zacharias, "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke.
Zacharias said dismissively, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory was attacked by You-Know-Who and that you brought him back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory was attack, I think we'd all like to know—"
"No one wants to know," Raya cut in rather harshly. "Everyone who needs to know — who was close enough to him — knows exactly what happened. Anyone who's sitting here, and doesn't know what happened to — to him, they don't need to know. The attack isn't some spectacle for you all to gossip about. So please, shut up before I charm your jaw closed."
Zacharias made a face, but seeing no one else come to his defense, he sat back down.
"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort tries to murder someone I can't help you," Harry said. "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."
None of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze intently at Harry.
"So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So... like I was saying... if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to—"
"Is it true," interrupted a girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"Er — you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked.
The girl smiled. "She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So — is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry and a couple of people laughed.
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year..."
Raya pursed her lips, not mentioning to anyone that it had actually been her to kill it. She'd been invisible at the time, of course. Letting Harry take the credit for something she did wasn't something she minded.
"Er — sorta," said Harry. "I don't remember a lot of it because I was dying, but I had the sword, and the basilisk was dead."
Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled, the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks, and Lavender Brown said "wow" softly.
"And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Sorcerous Stone—"
"Sorcerer's," hissed Hermione.
"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.
Hannah Abbott's eyes were as round as Galleons.
"And that's not to mention," said Cierra, "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year — getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things..."
There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table.
"Look," he said and everyone fell silent at once, "I... I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but... I had a lot of help with all that stuff..."
"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying..."
"Yeah, well—" Harry shurgged.
"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.
"No," said Harry, "no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is—"
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith.
"Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?"
Zacharias flushed. "Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it."
"That's not what he said," snarled Fred Weasley.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred.
"You're not gonna stop them?" Hermione hissed at Raya.
She shrugged, "I'm not opposed to this, no."
"Yes, well," said Hermione hastily to the the group, "moving on... the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing, though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in George's hand.
"Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week—"
"Hang on," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"Same with us," Raya added.
"Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters—"
"Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan. "Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!"
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry, "Surely not!" When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells—"
"—Dumbridge thinks she can control us and report our actions to the Ministry," Raya told them, a few kids laughing at the nickname. "We've got to work hard and pay attention in her class, so that we have a chance to do whatever the hell we want outside of her class. I don't know why, but the Ministry's got some fucked up idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. Basically, she thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna Lovegood, who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."
"What?" said Harry.
"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," said Luna solemnly.
"No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.
"Yes, he has," said Luna.
"What are heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking blank.
"They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"
"They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.
"Oh yes they do!" said Luna angrily.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Hermione.
"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you—"
"Hem, hem," said Ginny in such a good imitation of Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"
"Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right..."
"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan.
"As long as—" began Angelina.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet..."
This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.
"Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too excited with us doing jinxes in the library," Raya muttered.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.
"Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard..."
"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."
She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.
"I — I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge — or anybody else — what we're up to."
Raya took the paper, writing down her name. Kayse wrote down his, and it went on around the group.
"Er..." said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass him. "Well... I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."
But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.
"I — well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found... well, I mean to say... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out..."
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Kayse reminded him. He muttered under his breath, "And the novelty of being Prefect wears off after your first year."
"I — yes," said Ernie, hearing Kayse's first statement, "yes, I do believe that, it's just..."
"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.
"No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I — yes, of course I'll sign."
Nobody raised objections after Ernie. When the last person — Zacharias — had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.
"Well, time's ticking on," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later."
"Don't do anything illegal," Raya told them. "Actually, that's too much to ask. Just don't get caught!"
"When have we ever gotten caught?" Fred laughed.
"You wanna know alphabetically or chronologically?" she asked. "I have a list."
"That was years ago," George rolled his eyes. "We're getting smarter."
"Only took seven years," Raya muttered under her breath, causing Ginny to laugh.
She waved goodbye to the trio, heading out of the Hog's Head Inn. Raya and Ginny laced their arms together, skipping through the street and pointing out the different shops.
"Ooh!" Raya pointed at one. "Look at Gladrags! They've got socks that scream once they get too smelly!"
Ginny laughed, pointing out a pair that sang different songs in Darth Vader's voice. Raya bought six of those. They continued along, their friends making conversation with each other, until Elias yelped.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked him.
"You have a boyfriend?!" he asked her.
Ginny looked taken aback, her gaze moving towards Michael Corner — who was looking uncomfortable hanging out with Raya and her friends — before nodding slowly, "Everyone knows."
"That's not fair," he huffed, crossing his arms. "Raya's got a boyfriend, Ginny's got a boyfriend, Cho's got a boyfriend. When am I gonna get a boyfriend?"
The group froze for about half a second at his statement. Raya remembered the Quidditch World Cup, where Elias was not at all fazed by the veela. She grinned widely.
"Maybe once you let people know you want a boyfriend," Thomas tilted his head. "You gotta start flirting, Elias."
"I'm shy," he muttered.
His friends laughed, sharing amused looks. Elias was anything but shy.
"I've got a friend you might be interested in," Michael shrugged. "He's in Ravenclaw, like us, but he's a year behind you. Anthony Goldstein."
"Oh, is he the kid with like really light blond hair, blue eyes?" Elias asked, motioning to his own face.
"Yeah, he's the one," Michael nodded.
"He's really nice. I always thought he should be in Hufflepuff," Elias mused. He turned to his friends. "What do you guys think? Oui or nay?"
"I say go for it," Cho grinned. "At least get to know him. If it works, it works. If not, oh well."
"Damn, okay. I will go for it," Elias shrugged to himself. He turned back to Michael, the two of them discussing Anthony and when he'd be free to meet Elias.
"Watch out, Gin," Raya laughed. "It looks like Elias might be thinking about stealing your boyfriend."
"And Thomas and Nate are trying to steal yours."
"Hey!"
Raya stared at the note in disbelief.
There, hung on the Ravenclaw notice board, covering up a variety of other reminders — the Quidditch team practices, notices for Charms club, reminders from certain teachers — was a large sign. It was printed in large letters, with quite an official looking seal at the bottom and a curly signature.
━━━━ 𝐁𝐘 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 ━━━━
𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℌ𝔦𝔤𝔥 ℑ𝔫𝔮𝔲𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔱𝔬𝔯 𝔬𝔣 ℌ𝔬𝔤𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔰
𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬, 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝.
𝐀𝐧 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦, 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩, 𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.
𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞-𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 (𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞).
𝐍𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦, 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩, 𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫.
𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨, 𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦, 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩, 𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫.
𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝:
𝒟𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝒥𝒶𝓃𝑒 𝒰𝓂𝒷𝓇𝒾𝒹𝑔𝑒
𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐈𝐍𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑
"Shit," Nathaniel muttered, reading the sign over Raya's head. "That means—"
"—Yeah," Raya agreed quickly, not wanting to say more than they had to around those who didn't know. She read it over again, freezing, "Wait, wait, wait."
"What?" he asked, looking between Raya and the sign.
"This applies to teams too," she muttered. "Does that mean she's shutting down Quidditch? She can't do that!"
"Technically, she just did," Thomas pointed out. "I'm sure she'll let you guys re-form the team. You've got to go ask her for permission."
"That's bullshit," she tried to control her anger. "She can't say no to Quidditch!"
"When you go to ask her for permission," Nathaniel said, "try to not get annoyed or mad. She's looking for reasons to bring you down. I swear, it's like she's after you or something."
Raya shook her head. Umbridge couldn't know she was involved in the Order, but maybe she hadn't entirely forgotten her outburst during their first class.
"I'm going to see her now," Raya decided. "We've got a while until Transfiguration, and I'm not wasting any time in case she tries to stall. We've got a practice scheduled for today."
"Do you want us to come along?" Thomas asked.
"I'm good. Thanks guys," she waved goodbye, running along to the DADA office.
She sidestepped Peeves, who was throwing ink pellets at random students, backtracked at the sight of the Bloody Baron, waved to a few younger kids, before reaching Dumbridge's office. She straightened up, reminded herself to add Professor and not say Dumbridge to her face, before knocking twice.
"Come in," a sugary voice sounded.
Raya resisted the urge to gag, entering the room. She smiled politely at Umbridge, making her way up to her.
"Can I help you?" she asked Raya.
Raya nodded, "I've just read Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four, which you had posted in our Common Rooms. We need to seek your permission if we'd like to reform any teams?"
"Yes, that's correct," she said, not even looking up at Raya. She continued filing through papers, making small notes in the corners.
Raya waited, but at receiving no hint of recognition, continued, "I wanted to ask if you give the Ravenclaw Quidditch team your permission to reform? We've got our first game in a little over a month, and I'd like to get the team as much practice as we can."
Umbridge looked up at Raya, searching for something. Pursing her lips after a moment, she pulled out a paper. "I'll have to ask you a few questions if you'd like to reform this... team of yours. Now, what is the official name of the team and the purpose?"
"The Ravenclaw Quidditch team," she answered. "The purpose is... to play Interhouse Quidditch."
"Hmm," she nodded to herself, scribbling something down. "What is your role? List all those involved, their year, house, and role as well."
"We're all in Ravenclaw," she told her, though it seemed a little obvious. "I'm in sixth year and I'm the Captain and Seeker for the team. Cho is in sixth year, and she's a Chaser. Raven and Rico are in fifth year, both Chasers. Jia's in fourth year, and she's the Keeper. Dorian and Ayden are in fourth year, and they're Beaters."
She nodded, writing it all down. "When will you all be meeting and where?"
"Practices are on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday," Raya answered. "Timing changes from either early in the morning, before classes, or sometimes the evening, around five o'clock, and sometimes right before curfew. It depends on availability. We'll be meeting up at the Quidditch Pitch."
Umbridge was silent for a few minutes, jotting things down, tapping her quill against the paper as she thought.
"Well, alright," she muttered finally. "You can re-form your Quidditch team. Be sure to ask my permission if any of the information changes."
"Thank you, Professor," Raya managed, running out of the room.
At least Quidditch was on.
REY WRITES!
thanks for reading!!
yk the weekly updates are great, until
it's finals season and i forget what day of
the week it is. anyways, here y'all are !!
thoughts?
comments?
questions?
headcanons?
theories?