-Besides the sadness concerning my mother I felt extremely stupid. I couldn't believe that I embarrassed myself in front of the Weasley twins. They're known to every single person at Hogwarts, popular, funny, confident and handsome as they are.-
"Please read the first and second chapter of 'Defensive Magical Theory', both need to be read before the end of this lesson. No wands please." professor Umbridge said in her awful overly sweet voice.
The sixth years of Hogwarts let out one collective mumble before flipping to page 5 of our dull textbook written by Wilbert Slinkhard. Our first lesson from that toad turned out to be boring and useless. We didn't learn anything from her, which was terrible considering the dangerous times ahead. While reading I imagined doing terrible things to that woman in front of the class, I'm not an aggressive person but Merlin, stunning her would be absolutely delightful. Sadly and ironically, we obviously didn't learn to stun at all. After what seemed like hours the lesson was finally over and everyone stumbled outside. Cho walked next to me, looking rather pale.
"You okay Cho?" I asked her.
"I'm fine" she answered shortly in her Scottish accent, "- But I hate her, Umbridge, I hate her so much Hebe. It's not fair." she said angrily.
"That she only teaches us theoretical nonsense you mean? And that terrible little voice of hers?" I asked.
"Exactly, it's not fair!" she repeated.
"After al what happened last year...after what happened to him." she looked down at her feet. I understood that she was talking about Cedric's death.
"Dumbledore should kick her out, I believe he will when he notices that she's incapable to teach." I said while rubbing her back, trying to sooth her.
"It's bigger than that Hebe, I'm afraid Dumbledore can't do anything even if he wanted to." Cho said.
When she saw the confused look in my eyes she continued,
"Umbridge represents the ministry. The ministry hates Harry Potter and therefore Dumbledore. They don't want us to learn anything because they don't want us to fight."
"To fight… so you believe that You-Know-Who is back?" I whispered.
"When Harry says that You-Know-Who killed Cedric, I believe him." she said clearly.
"I believe him too, I always did." I answered truthfully, causing her to smile a little.
The watery sun caressed my face and my fingers caressed the slightly damp grass beneath me. It was Saturday and I was enjoying the last sunny days of the year with Hannah and Julie at the Hogwarts grounds.
"Do you guys think Cho Chang fancies Harry Potter? She's sort of staring at him a lot lately during lunch and dinner." Hannah asked us.
"I don't know, wouldn't that be a little early and not to mention very painful for both of them?" Julie answered her, looking up from her Daily Prophet.
"Probably, yeah. But if she does I wouldn't blame her though, Potter has become a fine man if you ask me." Hannah said playfully. Both Julie and I chuckled, totally understanding what she meant.
"A little too short though" I said grinningly.
"Oh so you fancy tall boys?' Julie giggled.
"Do you fancy someone at all Hebe? You never talk about those things." Hannah said and I felt both of them staring at me.
Hannah was right, I never talked about boys or love, simply because my love life was pathetic. Julie was dating Ralph, a fellow sixth year Hufflepuff and Hannah was single but dated a lot of boys rather randomly, not willing to have a serious relationship yet. I had neither of those, I was the good girl, the best friend, but never more. I don't know why guys don't seem to like me in a romantic way, I don't consider myself beautiful but I wouldn't say I'm very ugly either. .
"I'm sorry to disappoint you guys but I'm not fancying anyone and I'm pretty sure that nobody is fancying me in return." I said.
"Merlin Hebe, don't be such a pessimist." Hannah answered.
"Don't worry, you'll find someone soon enough I'm sure. I'm not sure about no-one fancying you though, I saw Zacharius glancing at you in the common room last night." Julie said comforting.
"Urgh, Zacharius Smith? He's is such a prat!" I chuckled, laying myself flat on my back onto the grass.
I wouldn't be able to function properly without my two best friends, I love them even though they're very different. Julie is the more sensitive one while Hannah is the boldest of the pair. Their differences are remarkable since Julie and Hannah are identical twins, both very beautiful; brown haired and tall.
Speaking of identical twins, my stomach made an uncomfortable jolt when Fred and George Weasley suddenly appeared just a few feet away from us. Both were in their Quidditch robes, holding on to a girl who's nose was bleeding heavily.
Something must have gone wrong with their nosebleed sweets, I thought to myself.
My stomach made a second jolt when Fred's eyes caught mine and the corners of his mouth curled up into a recognizing smile. I quickly looked away while I felt my blood rush to my cheeks.
"Merlin!" Julie cried, "What's wrong with that girl over there?" She'd obviously noticed the three Griffyndors as well.
"That's Katie Bell, a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Hannah, who's a chaser herself, said. "Maybe she took a bludger to the face during practice, we should help her" she continued.
"No no it's alright, I recon that she ate a nose bleed nougat, she'll be just fine." I said reassuringly.
"What are you talking about?" Hannah asked confused.
"Fred and George Weasley invented some sort of candy that make your nose bleed so you're able to skip lessons. If you eat another one the bleeding stops." I explained.
"That sounds quite brilliant. Absolutely brilliant I'd say. I need those for transfiguration on monday." Julie chuckled.
"I didn't know that you were on speaking terms with the Weasley twins though. I'm jealous." Hannah giggled.
I closed my eyes when a new wave of embarrassment washed over me. "I'm not actually, they sold one of those sweets to Hemera a few days ago which made me quite mad. I'm afraid I sort of yelled at them, pathetic isn't it?" I said, my embarrassment clearly audible in my voice.
"Well I don't think the one who was smiling at you thinks you're pathetic at all." Julie said, making my blood rush to my cheeks again.
"High what?" I cried angrily, almost pushing over my morning pumpkin juice.
"Inquisitor" Ralph answered, handing over his Daily Prophet. I stared at the front page and a toad with a disgusting sweet grin on her face stared back at me.
Ministry seeks Educational Reform - Dolores Umbridge appointed first ever High Inquisitor.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Julie asked. She had just come in and pecked Ralph's lips lightly.
"This means that good old Dolores here is slowly taking over Hogwarts." he explained while buttering his biscuit.
"Well isn't this a great way to start of the new week." Hannah said sarcastically.
"Being stuck with Snape in the potions classroom after breakfast will make it even better" I mumbled.
"There's a solution to that problem, go and ask your ginger sweethearts over there if they have some more sweets for us." Hannah sniggered.
"Shut it Hannah!"I whispered urgently, afraid that someone would overhear her.
"Look at you, you're face is almost as red as the strawberry jam, you're into one of them, you should just admit it Hebe." she said still sniggering.
I knew she was right but I didn't understand why I felt this way. I'd been thinking about Fred Weasley a lot lately. The strangest thing is that I could keep the twins apart without even knowing them personally, it's like my heart told my head who's who. I let my eyes wander over the Griffyndor table next to ours, they weren't difficult to find at all. Fred and George were sitting with their best friend, the Quidditch commentator, it seemed that they were discussing something important since they held their heads together and whispered animatedly to each other.
The faint smile on my lips turned into a grin when a beautiful girl walked towards them and ruffled Fred's hair playfully. My stomach cringed, Angelina Johnson, the beautiful Griffyndor Quidditch player ran her fingers through Fred's hair a second time.
Of course...of course Fred Weasley was dating someone and I didn't understand why it felt so bad.