I was sitting cross-legged on my bed looking over my books when Ginny barged in and threw herself on the bed. She seemed to be severely upset about something and when she flopped over and kicked her legs and punched her elbows into the bed I knew it was time to ask.
"Something wrong?" I asked with a hint of amusement in my voice.
She flopped over again so that she lay on her stomach and put her hands underneath her chin. "The people here are so dense. Dean and Seamus just got into it with Harry about Voldermort. How stupid can these people be? They were there when Cedric and Harry entered the field. Harry wouldn't make this up."
"Not everyone is going to believe it so easily, Ginny. They don't want to believe those times are back again." Then I asked, "Did they say anything about Cedric?"
Ginny gave me a sharp look which I ignored. "They said that they have no reason to believe what him and Harry says because they weren't there when Cedric got attacked. Harry was 'alone.'"
I nodded. That's what most people had been saying. Cedric got the pity of people believing Harry attacked him even if that couldn't have been more absurd. Didn't they see the way they protected each other. They bonded over such a horrific situation that could've had a different outcome. I shuddered at the thought of Cedric not returning that night.
"Ron stood up for Harry though, saying that he believed him and everyone seemed to settle down after that, but I could tell it was affecting Harry." Ginny continued.
I stood up. "I think I'm going to go see him."
Ginny didn't answer, but I could tell she was still upset about what had happened downstairs. I walked over to the boy's dormitory and let myself into where Ron and Harry slept. Harry was sprawled on his bed and Ron sat on his and looked to be trying to talk to him.
"You alright?" Ron asked.
Harry answered briskly. "Fine."
"Seamus was bang out of order, mate. But he'll come through, you'll see."
"I said, I'm fine, Ron." Harry looked pointedly at him.
Ron stood up and looked towards me before returning to Harry. "Right. I'll just leave you to your thoughts then."
Ron walked towards me and didn't acknowledge me. I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave him a look that told him I appreciated what he had done downstairs. He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets before continuing out.
I walked towards Harry and perched myself on the edge of his bed. He seemed lost in his thoughts, but I knew he felt my eyes on him. Eventually he turned his head towards me and I saw all the stressed etched on to his young features. It's funny how traumatic events can age someone who could be so child-like.
"Harry." I stated in a sad voice.
"I know. I know. Don't let it get to me."
My hand reached over and touched his. "They're afraid. When they don't have any other choice they'll come around."
"But it'll save more lives if people are aware." His gaze went back to the canopy over his bed. After awhile he spoke again. "I was so alone this summer, Hermione, and now I feel it all over again."
"You're not alone. You have me and Ronald and Cedric. You have followers, Harry, people who love you."
He turned towards me. "How do you know Umbridge?"
Just the sound of her name sent shivers up my spine. She truly was a foul creature and I knew she was here to take Hogwarts from Dumbledore and install the Ministry within its walls. But the fact that Harry saw my recognition of her showed that I was losing my touch or maybe Harry was becoming more observant.
"When Cedric and I went on our first date we saw papers about what happened on the bridge and when we went to the Leaky Cauldron, her father told me that we should watch our backs. She idolizes Fudge." I sighed disgusted. "She's practically his pet."
"I figured Fudge was the one who sent her."
I brought my hand back to cross my arms over my chest. "Defense Against the Dark Arts should be fun tomorrow, don't you think?"
"It's going to be bloody miracle if I stay awake." He sat up laughing. "She'll probably lecture us about the importance of rainbows and kittens and pretty pink unicorns."
Clutching my sides because I was laughing so hard I fell back onto the bed. Harry had it absolutely right. What could she possibly have to offer us with defending in her pastel suits? Knowing that Harry was in a better mood, I told him I would see him tomorrow and left to go back to my dormitory. After looking over my books to make sure I understood the material I put them away and fell asleep.
------------------------
"This class is going to be such a bore." I groaned.
Cedric pulled back a piece of my hair. "It's a good thing you already know everything then."
"I don't know everything." I pouted. "The more you know the more you realize how much you don't know."
"Then you mustn't know that you don't know something till you've tried it."
The way he said it was so cute that I couldn't help but smile. He was so sweet trying to get me into the classroom that Harry and I were dreading. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him before pulling back and grinning.
"Now, give me a kiss and tell me you love me."
I leaned up on my tippy-toes and pressed my lips gently to his. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He kissed me again before releasing me and leaving me to walk into the classroom we had once loved with apprehension.
The classroom was filling up and at the front of the room with her hands folded was Professor Umbrige in her signature pink dress suit. She looked on with a closed mouth smile as all the students took their seats. Next to here was a chalkboard that had "O.W.L." on it. This was the year we had all been studying for we would be taking our Ordinary Wizarding Level exams and the grades we got in them would determine our classes next year and in turn our future.
Once everyone was seated, she waved her wand and the door in the back shut with a loud slam. She made an odd sort of noise before smiling across the room.
"Good morning, children." She looked towards the board. "Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations. O-W-Ls. More commonly known as Owls. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences will be severe." She began walking up and down the center aisle handing out books and the smile still never left her face. It was beginning to creep me out. "You're previous instruction in this class has been disturbingly uneven."
"But you'll be pleased to know, that from now on, you'll be following a carefully structured, Ministry approved courses of defensive magic."
We began looking through the books and it was like we had stepped into some alternate universe. The book gave us no information that was needed to protect ourselves from the danger that lurked outside these walls and possibly inside them.
I looked over and Harry has raised his arm. Umbridge looked to him. "Yes?"
"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells."
She laughed as if it was the craziest thing she ever heard. "Using spells? I can't imagine why you would need to learn spells in my classroom."
Harry seemed shocked. "We're not going to use magic?"
"You'll be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way."
I knew where this was going and she must've purposely stepped there. She was testing Harry if I was sure of it. If there wasn't any risk why would there be defensive spells. What good was knowing what a spell did if you couldn't use them?
Harry's voice rose as he spoke. "What use is that? If we're attacked it won't be risk-free."
"Students will raise there hand when they speak in my class." She stared at Harry to make sure he wouldn't interrupt and she approached him. "It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical will be sufficient enough to get you through your examinations which, after all, is what school is all about."
"And how is theory supposed to prepare us for what's," he pointed out the window, "out there."
Her voice took on a comforting tone but it was almost mocking in quality. "There is nothing out there, dear. Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourself?"
Harry must have noticed the mocking tone in her voice and when he spoke his voice was dripped heavy in sarcasm. "Oh, I don't know. Lord Voldermort."
The whole room gasped and Professor Umbridge turned and walked to the front of the room to talk to the entire class. She was now a Ministry official focused on ensuring all of the invalidity of Voldermorts return.
"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."
Harry screamed. "It's not a lie! I saw him. I fought him."
"Detention, Mr. Potter."
"Cedric Diggory was his with the Cruciatus Curse of his own accord?"
This was the very thing that had befuddled the Ministry since the Tri-Wizard Tournament. My heart ached as I thought back to that day and the sight of Harry and Cedric on the clearing. It was a sight I am haunted with in the darkest of hours. The night my life may as well have changed.
Umbridge continued to spin her lies. "Cedric Diggory's attack was a tragic accident."
"It wasn't! It was Voldermort."
"Enough!" Umbridge screamed. Her voice was shrill. She seemed to notice her error and she calmed her voice. "Enough. See me later, Mr. Potter. My office."
I was pacing with Cedric outside of the Gryffindor common room. I'd rather be inside trying to relax but Cedric couldn't very well come in and I was forced to pace in the stone hallway as my shoes clicked along creating the most incessant noise. Cedric simply watched me a sad look on his face.
"Hermione, stop. You're going to drive me barking mad!"
My feet stopped immediately and I turned to look at him. His shoulders were hunched and his hands were in his pockets. Within seconds my arms were wrapped tightly around him. I felt his chin gently up top my head and I closed my eyes. When this was all over we could find some normalcy maybe start a family. The thought stopped in its tracks. Was I seriously already imagining tiny little Cedric's running around my backyard?
Footsteps approached and I turned quickly thinking it was Harry. Instead it was Fred and George carrying an array of boxes. Cedric looked at them questioningly like the wonderful Prefect he was.
"Skiving snack boxes." They smiled out.
George added. "Sweets that make you ill."
"Get out of class whenever you like." Fred continued.
Cedric put his hand over his eyes, shaking his head. "I never saw them." They smiled and thanked him before heading into the common room. Cedric then looked at me. "You should be heading inside as well. It's almost passed curfew."
I frowned at him. "Don't you have somewhere you can stash me for the night. I think I remember something about a panty raiding in my bedroom late at night."
"Hermione," he growled.
My hands curled around the loops of his slacks and my breath fanned across his neck. My lips gently touched his neck with the slightest touch when I heard more footsteps and I returned to the balls of my feet and looked at Harry gripping his hand.
"What's wrong with your hand?"
He looked up and dropped his hand behind his back. Harry looked over the other one. "Nothing."
My hands went to my hips. "The other one."
He reluctantly jutted his hand out and I saw scarred deeply into his hand "I must not tell lies." The cuts went so deep that blood was pouring out of it. Cedric reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it tightly around his hand to stop the loss of blood.
"You've got to tell Dumbledore."
He shook his head. "No. Dumbledore's got enough on his mind right now. I don't want to give Umbridge the satisfaction."
Cedric stepped in. "She's torturing you, Harry. As a prefect, I can't let this go unreported. If the parents knew about this..."
"Well, I haven't got any of those, have I?"
"Harry," Cedric placed his hand on his shoulder. "You've got to report this."
I stepped in and took his hand between mine looking over it between my fingers. The blood at stopped a bit and over time it should heal completely. The last thing Harry needed was a reminder of this. "It's perfectly simple, you're being...."
Harry interrupted. "No, it's not. Hermione, whatever this is, it's not simple. You don't understand."
I exchanged a glance with Cedric and he nodded. The fact that Cedric could step into my crazy world and except all my friends with their traumas and issues and not go running away screaming was enough of a blessing but when he showed emotion like he was now for someone who up until last year meant nothing to him it showed the reasons I loved him. Maybe my visions of children weren't so far off.
"Then," I looked into his eyes to bring my point home, "help us to."