Umbridge.
The twins get out of the wooden chair and glance upward at the toad-like witch. Their eyes meet for a split second. She glowers at them as they exit.
"I have a feeling that she's gonna be a problem," Dorcas says under her breath.
As Harry opens the Courtroom door he almost collides with Mr. Weasley, who is standing right outside, looking pale and apprehensive.
"Dumbledore didn't say —"
"Cleared," Harry said, pulling the door closed behind him, "of all charges!"
There was a large amount of cheering,
"Ha! suck it." James grins
"Damn, potter luck," Snape mumbled bitterly.
Sirius jumps onto the bench waving his tie in the air, whooping.
"Mr. Black please sit down," Mcgongall stresses.
"Oh come on Minnie." Sirius pouts.
Beaming, Mr. Weasley seized Harry and Primrose by the shoulders.
"Harry, Rosie, that's wonderful! Well, of course, they couldn't have found you guilty, not on the evidence, but even so, I can't pretend I wasn't-"
But Mr. Weasley broke off because the courtroom door had just opened again.
The Wizengamot were filing out.
"Merlin's beard," said Mr. Weasley wonderingly, pulling the twins aside to let them all pass, "You were tried by the full court?"
Fleamont shakes his head, "Unbelievable."
"I think so," said Harry quietly.
One or two of the passing wizards nodded to Harry and Rose as they passed and a few, including Madam Bones, said, "Morning, Arthur," to Mr. Weasley, but most averted their eyes.
Fudge and the toad-like witch were the last to leave the dungeon. Fudge acted as though Mr. Weasley and Harry were part of the wall, but again, the witch looked almost appraisingly at the twins as she passed. Last of all to pass was Percy. Like Fudge, he completely ignored his father, Harry, and Rose; he marched past his back rigid and his nose in the air. The lines around Mr. Weasley's mouth tightened slightly, but other than this he gave no sign that he had noticed his third son.
Molly frowns, confused about why her son would ignore his father.
"Git" Primrose mumbles.
"Er...is Percy mad at you?"
"Ah... yes. I'm afraid we had a bit of a row. He, well, he sided with Fudge and the rest of us sided with Dumbledore, so Percy left."
Molly's jaw wobbled as she was on the verge of tears.
They begin walking away from the courtroom when they come upon Fudge talking quietly with Lucius Malfoy, standing at the mouth of the corridor Harry had recognized earlier.
Lucius sits taller at the sight of himself on screen.
Narcissa rolls her eyes.
Lucius turned at the sound of their footsteps. He broke off in mid-conversation, his cold gray eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry's and Primrose's faces.
"Well, well, well... Patronus Potters," said Lucius coolly.
Harry had begun breathing heavily, he had last seen those cool gray eyes through slits in a Death Eater's hood, and last heard that man's voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort tortured him.
"Some nerve you have." Rose sneered under her breath.
"That half-blood little-"
James coughed "You wanna keep talking malfoy and you'll be acquainted with my dear ol fist."
Lucius eyes snapped to her, "What was that."
Primrose smiled brightly at him, "Just wondering what bleach you use, I was thinking of going blonde."
"I do not use bleach!" Lucius snapped in outrage.
Rabstan tilted his head. "Are you sure because I think I see some roots popping up."
Narcissa rubs a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.
"You—" Lucius snared before taking a deep breath, "The Minister here was just telling me how very lucky an escape you just had. Quite astonishing...snakelike."
Primrose hand twitched and thoughts that would surely end her up in Azkaban raced through her brain.
Lily shakes her head, at this point she wouldn't even be surprised.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked.
Mr. Weasley gripped Harry's and Rose's shoulders in warning.
"I don't think that private matters between the Minister and myself are any concern of yours, Potter."
Lucius moves closer to Harry. "All you need to concern yourself about are...your dreams, Potter."
Evan frowns, "how does he know about those."
And Lucius smiles malevolently at Harry. Lucius steps back and turns to the Minister.
Regulus shivers dramatically.
"Shall we continue this in your office, Fudge?"
"Certainly," said Fudge, turning his back on the twins and Mr. Weasley. "This way, Lucius."
They strode off together, talking in low voices. Mr. Weasley did not let go of Harry's shoulder until they had disappeared into the lift.
[Harry and Primrose walk into a waiting room at the train station following a black dog.]
"Hey, it's Padfoot!" Peter grins
Remus shakes his head and stuffs a piece of chocolate into his mouth.
The dog turns into Sirius and Harry quickly closes the door behind him.
"Sirius what are you doing here, if somebody sees you—"
"I had to see you off didn't I." Sirius ushered the twins to sit down, "What's life without a little risk."
"Only my idiotic brother." Regulus sighs
"I don't want to see you get dragged back to Azkaban."
"We." Rose corrected.
Sirius smiles, "Oh don't worry about me, anyway I wanted you to have this."
Sirius digs into his coat pocket and pulls out an old, tattered photo. Harry takes it.
Quite a few people in the room sit taller.
"Original Order of the Phoenix. Found it while we were cleaning."
The room fell quiet.
Harry looks down at all the smiling faces.
"Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken...; Voldemort wiped out her entire family." Sirius takes a deep breath "Frank and Alice Longbottom,"
Marlene breath hitched, Earlier it had been mentioned briefly but this was the final nail in the coffin.
Frank and Alice hold their breath, waiting for what's about to be said.
"Neville's parents," Primrose says softly.
"They suffered a fate worse than death if you ask me." Sirius claps a hand on his thigh. "It's been fourteen years and still a day doesn't go by I don't miss your dad."
The group shared a sad look and silently vowed to change the outcome.
James pulls Sirius into a bone crushing hug.
[the camera pans to where a young man with messy brown hair stands with his arm around a beautiful redhead woman]
Primrose blinks back tears.
There is a long moment of silence.
"Do you really think there's gonna be a war, Sirius?" Primrose asks.
Sirius slowly nods. "It feels like it did before."
Harry hands the photograph back to Sirius who pushes his hand away.
"No, keep it. Anyway, I suppose you're the young ones now."
[The scene changes to Primrose kneeling on the bathroom floor throwing up.]
There's a knock a the door before a voice is heard.
"Rose! Primrose you alright in there?"
Primrose sighs into the toilet. The door clicks open, and Mattheo steps in.
"Rose, what are you doing on the floor?"
"I fell." Primrose deadpanned
Mattheo smiles nervously, "You alright?"
"Dandy riddle."
He hands her a piece of chocolate. She bites her lip, eyeing it.
"Not in the mood."
Remus sputtered in stupefaction.
Mattheo frowned. "You love chocolate."
Primrose sighs, "I guess I'm just nervous you know. Last year was bloody rough and I'm not sure if I'll be able to be in the same room where he—"
Bellatrix pulls out a sheet of paper and quill and begins ri write down a name.
"What are you doing?" asked her husband
"Just writing down the name of that no-good boy she was with on my need to pay a visit to list."
Evan gapes at Bellatrix, wide eyed.
Primrose broke off into a sob.
Mattheo's eyes went huge and he drove to hold her. He dropped her onto his lap and began to rock her slowly, running his hands in her hair just letting her cry knowing that she needed it.
[the screen switches to show Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione exiting the Hogwarts Express]
They move quickly through the crowd of students to the carriages that would take them to the castle.
As they prepare to climb into one of the carriages, Harry stops and stares towards the front of the carriage.
"What in the world."
The coaches were no longer horseless.
Creatures were standing between the carriage shafts; they were like horses but had something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats.
"What is that?"
"Since when did the carriages have those creepy horses." Barty wonders
"It must be something new." Evan adds
Ron looks toward where Harry is staring,
"What?"
Harry points. "That... that...thing!"
Ron stares for a long moment, then gives Harry a perplexed look.
"Harry, there's nothing there, mate..."
"Is the boy dumb?"
Molly and Authur glare at Regulus
"Yes it is, it's right there!"
He points again. Ron shakes his head.
"It's all right," said a dreamy voice from behind Harry as Ron vanished into the coach's dark interior. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them too."
Harry spun around. "Er... you are?"
"Luna. Luna Lovegood."
Harry nods, "Well, thanks 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.
Not altogether reassured, Harry followed her.
[Harry sits at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione by his side.]
Harry was looking over the students' heads to the staff table that ran along the top wall of the Hall.
"He's not there."
"Who are we talking about?"
Ron and Hermione 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.
"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 nobody around could 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 sort of explanation of Hagrid's absence.
"Who's that?" she said sharply, pointing toward the middle of the staff table.
Harry's eyes followed hers. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the center of the long staff table. Dumbledore's head was inclined toward the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear.
She looked, Harry thought, like somebody's maiden 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.
"It's that Umbridge woman!"
"Who?" said Hermione.
"She was at mine and Primroses' hearing, she works for Fudge!"
"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.
"She works for Fudge?" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"
"Dunno..."
Professor Dumbledore stands to address the school.
"I beg a few moments of your attention, as I have a few start-of-term announcements. Right off, our caretaker, the good Mr. Flinch has reminded me for what he says is the four-hundred and sixty-second time that he had an annually updated list of various banned items, usually introduced by our humor experts Fred and George Weasley..."
Fred and George stand and take a bow to cheering, laughter, and yells.
Dumbledore continues, "which are posted in an extensive list on the door to Mr. Finch's door."
Harry grins at Fred and George.
"Also, we have two staffing changes this year."
[the screen pans over to the Slytherin table where Blaise tries to grab some of Mattheo's milk]
Mattheo slaps his hand away pulling his milk to his chest "Friends don't let friends share dairy."
"Bullshite!" Blasie glares.
As he places his cup down on the table primrose snatches it up and takes a sip.
Blasies jaw drops and he turns to Mattheo who just shrugs and goes back to eating.
"Professor Grubby-Plank will be taking the post of Care of Magical Creatures post as Professor Hagrid is on...extended leave."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchange glances.
"Additionally, we have Professor Umbridge who has kindly agreed to fill the defense against Dark Arts—"
At this, Umbridge stands and clears her throat.
"Hem, hem, Headmaster, if I could address the school?"
Jaws were dropped.
"Did she just—"
Mchongall blinks in an outage.
"Barbie Toad wanna-be has quite some nerve" Barty laughs
"Hogwarts has gone to the dogs." Lucius scoffs.
Dumbledore's eye twitches.
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 McGonagall's glare could melt ice.
Primrose snorts "She looks like a toad dressed in pink."
Regulus nods in agreement.
She and Theo grin before she snaps her head back to Umbridge.
"Wait she was at my hearing!"
"What is doing at Hogwarts as a teacher then?" Lily inquired
Draco looks up, "what are you talking about Rosie?"
"The pink toad."
"Dolores Umbridge? What's she doing here."
Theo rolls his eyes, "Bloody hell Draco Dumbledore just said she's our new DaDa teacher."
Draco makes a noise of disbelief.
Mattheo lips tilt up, "What daddy didn't tell you?"
Draco glares and spits back, "Did yours?"
Nether noticed Primrose shift uncomfortably in her seat.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor
Umbridge simpered, "for those kind
words of welcome."
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish, and again, Primrose fought back a wince, and both twins had felt a powerful rush of dislike that they could not explain to themselves; all they knew was that they loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan.
She gave another little throat-clearing cough 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!"
Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy; on the contrary, they all looked rather taken aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.
Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again, 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. And the passing down of this ancient and noble art must be given to the next generation, lest it be lost forever. Without progress, stagnation. But progress for progress's sake is to be discouraged, for our art requires no tinkering. A balance must be attained, the new and the old, permeance and change, tradition and innovation, order, and chaos. Large changes are coming soon, changes walking the fine line between order and chaos. Know only that these changes are for the best and to prevent the destruction of our civilization from its own decay, thank you."
Umbridge smiles at them all, but the smile seems a little forced a little fake.
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