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The term started once again when January finally came around and the students returned from break.
Many of the teachers didn't hold back and gave the students a load of homework.
Amelia though was delighted with having all her friends back.
She started to spend more time in the library with Justin, Ernie, and Mandy as they all helped each other with their studies.
Amelia would occasionally seek help from Aries who had all his first-year knowledge still fresh in his mind. The two would sit beside each other in the Great Hall or sometimes hang out in the common room with some of Aries's second-year friends.
Amelia sat in the library with her DADA book opened and began to read about the Verdimillious Charm.
" You lot remember who created the Severing Charm?" Mandy asked. The Ravenclaw was working on a Herbology essay that involved the creation of the cutting spell and how it is used in Herbology.
" Delfina Crimp in 1400," Ernie mumbled as he worked on a charms essay.
" How are you lot doing in Defense against the dark arts?" Amelia asked. The young witch felt like she wasn't learning anything truly important. Professor Quirrell had failed to provide real-life situations where he had used magic to defend himself. Only telling stories with no actual solutions.
" Honestly, the bloke is a joke," Ernie said.
" Yeah, he doesn't seem to understand what he's teaching," Justin added.
" Does he seem... quite suspicious to you?" Amelia asked in a quiet tone. The three of them looked at her questionably.
" What you on about?" Mandy asked.
" He seems like a liar. I wouldn't be surprised if the stories he's told are false. Besides, why does he wear a turban?"
" Didn't he say it was a gift?" Mandy answered.
" Sure, but I've been gifted jewelry before but I don't wear it every day. Just seems like he's hiding something." Amelia shrugged as she flipped the page of her book.
" Professor Quirrell doesn't seem like an exciting person. Doubt he has skeletons in his closet." Ernie said.
" yeah, it's just a gut feeling ya know," Amelia said with a sigh.
After an hour of reading and writing a paper on how to use the Vperdimillious Charm, Amelia left the library.
On her way out she noticed Draco as he held his wand, which was pointed at Neville Longbottom, and cast a spell that left the boy with his legs locked together.
" Malfoy!" Amelia scoffed as she walked toward him with a stern expression.
" Look he's hopping away!" Draco laughed along with Crabbe and Goyle as Neville tried to hop as fast as he could, away from Draco.
" You git!" Amelia sneered. Draco glanced at her and smirked.
" What? He had his wand. He could have countered the spell." Draco defended.
" So? That doesn't mean you can go around hexing anyone!"
" You hexed Crabbe," Draco said as he pointed at Crabbe who stood behind him.
" That's different. He provoked me." Amelia reasoned as she sent a glare at Crabbe who quickly looked away from her.
" Whatever Weasley. I don't have to answer you." Draco said coldly as the three of them began to walk away from her.
" You leave Neville alone!" Amelia shouted. Draco stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Amelia.
" What? Is he your boyfriend now Weasle?" Draco scoffed as the two boys behind him began to laugh.
"Merlin's beard no. Just leave him alone." Amelia said sternly as she sent Draco a glare.
" Or what? What are you going to do?" Draco huffed.
Amelia narrowed her eyes at him as she pulled out her wand and aimed it at him.
Draco was about to do the same when a spell that Amelia cast hit him: " Furnunculus!"
Boils immediately started to form on Draco's face. He began to scream and yelled at Crabbe and Goyle to help him. The three of them started to head toward the hospital wing as Amelia began to laugh.
" Why so mad Draco? You had your wand! You could have easily blocked the spell." Amelia shouted as a laugh echoed through the walls.
***
The next day, Amelia reluctantly sat beside Daphne Greengrass during DADA.
Professor Quirrell had them copy down different ways to treat werewolf bites. After class Amelia met up with Aries Scamander who finished his class with Professor Snape.
" Don't know why Dumbledore lets Snape teach. He's the worst." Aries complained. During his class, Snape kept verbally bullying most of the Hufflepuff students who had trouble making the potion that he instructed. Instead of helping, he only complained about how stupid they were.
" You should see how he treats Harry and Neville," Amelia added as the two walked inside the Great Hall for lunch.
" I heard he picks on Harry because of his celebrity status," Aries commented. The two sat down and began to fill up their golden plates with delicious food.
" Yeah, it's all just wrong," Amelia mumbled.
" Are you going to the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match?" Aries asked.
Justin had invited Amelia to attend the game with him and Ernie with a couple of other Hufflepuffs.
" Yeah! I'm going with a couple of my Hufflepuff friends. Do you want to come?" Amelia asked. She knew Justin wouldn't mind. She knew that he would be happy if more people came to support Hufflepuff.
"Sure," Aries shrugged, " I don't have much homework to do anyway."
As the match drew near, Amelia and Aries both went toward the stands where Amelia was meeting Justin. Upon arriving, she saw all her Hufflepuff friends drenched in their house colors.
" It looks like a bee puked on you guys. " Amelia told them as she neared them.
Justin and Ernie both painted their face half yellow and half black and wore a Hufflepuff sweater along with a yellow and black scarf.
" And you two aren't wearing enough yellow!" Justin told them as he glanced down and noticed they only wearing black clothes.
" We didn't own any yellow." Amelia shrugged. The group began to move toward the Hufflepuff section in the stands and quickly found seats.
" Here." Justin took off his scarf and snatched Ernie's scarf and handed them to Amelia and Aries.
" Show some Hufflepuff spirit!"
Amelia and Aries laughed as they wrapped the scarfs around their necks. Soon the game began and Amelia raised an eyebrow when she saw that Snape was coaching the game.
" Why on earth is Snape here?" Amelia asked out loud.
" Don't know. But for sure means that this match won't be that fair." Justin shrugged.
As the game continued, Amelia rolled each time when Snape rewarded the Hufflepuffs with a penalty. Although it benefited the Hufflepuffs, a lot of them didn't like what Snape was doing since they considered it to be cheating.
Suddenly, Harry dived down which caused a couple of gasps. Amelia stood up from her set in an attempt to see what he was doing.
" You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's spotted some money on the ground!"
Amelia snapped her head down toward the stand where Malfoy stood alongside Crabbe, Goyle, and her twin brother Ron Weasley. Amelia watched as Ron wrestled Malfoy to the ground.
" Oh, Merlin!" Amelia gasped as she watched Darco and Ron fighting.
" Why are they fighting?" Aries asked.
" No clue," Amelia mumbled. She didn't know how to feel but was jealous that Draco was fighting him. She wished she could knock some sense into him and her other brothers for the way they had been treating her.
Amelia glanced back to the game and noticed that Harry had captured the snitch. The Gryffindors erupted as they cheered on Harry.
" That was quick!" Justin commented as he glanced around the stands as people began to leave.
" We spend an hour getting ready and it ends in five minutes!" Ernie complained as he looked onto the field in disbelief.
" I think that had been the quickest quidditch match ever." Aries shrugged.
The four of them walked back toward Hogwarts and Aries and Amelia bid their goodbyes as they walked down toward the dungeons.
Amelia's mind wondered why Draco and Ron fought in the first place. But if she had to put the puzzle pieces together, she figured it was something about her family's lack of wealth.