As Millicent finally boarded the Hogwarts express, she felt as if she were about to lose her breakfast. She had never felt so humiliated, and the loss of her feline companion only made it worse. She pried at the ugly thing on her robes, but it seemed to have been affixed with a Permanent Sticking Charm. "Ugh, non-verbal spells," she muttered to herself. She had not quite mastered them last year, and even if she did, she would still have no idea which spell Umbridge had just used.
She realised there wasn't much she could do at the moment to remedy the situation. She could only really attempt to take her mind off things. Millicent made her way down the corridor, looking for her friends, particularly Pansy.
She heard a familiar voice issuing from an open compartment. "If it were me, I would just not come to Hogwarts this year. The utter shame of it...and not just for them, but for us. To have to consort with them, it's ghastly." Turning the corner, Millicent spotted the speaker at once: none other than Pansy herself, surrounded by Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini.
She started to enter, but then realised she would have to hide her badge somehow. She made to turn, but it was too late. Blaise spoke up first. "Is that what you were talking about?," he asked Pansy, his voice haughty. He half-smirked, half-sneered at Millicent. She felt her face redden in shame.
Pansy, however, wasn't smiling. Her gaze was cold and steely as she took in the sight of Millicent, the unsightly object affixed to her robes, the flush of embarassment on her cheeks. It made Pansy positively sick. To think, they had been friends...
"You never told me you were a half-blood."
Millicent straightened, her Slytherin pride returning to her. "You never told me you had a problem with half-bloods," she shot back. "In case you never knew this, but our Head of House and new Headmaster is a half-blood. Do you have a problem with him, too?"
"That's different. Snape makes up for his shortcomings by doing good work for us pure-bloods," Zabini cut in.
Millicent's lips peeled back in a snarl. "Oh, shut it, Zabini. As if you can talk. Your mother doesn't care what bloodline a wizard comes from, as long as he has gold in his pockets."
"Don't you talk about my mother, 'Bull-strode.' At least mine isn't a filthy mudblood, and an ugly one at that."
Millicent drew her wand, her teeth bared, ready to jinx Zabini into oblivion just to alleviate some of her frustration, when a sharp burning pain in her hand made her drop it.
Pansy burst out laughing. "Oh, that's brilliant. To stop your kind from using unauthorised magic."
Millicent glanced down at her stinging hand. An unsightly red welt had arisen on her palm, in the shape of an X. "This is sick," she whispered. She bent quickly to retrieve her wand from the floor, then looked up at Pansy. "This is sick," she said, more loudly now. "We're supposed to be friends, Pansy." The words sounded pathetic and childish, even to her own ears. This time, everyone in the compartment laughed.
"Friend or not, Millicent, I can't be seen with you. Things are changing, have changed." The snub-nosed witch stood slowly, her icy blue eyes pinned on Millicent's. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice low this time, "but it's just the way things are right now." And with that, she slid the compartment door shut in Millicent's face.
Millicent couldn't bear to be seen by anyone else, but every compartment she came across was full. She could have joined one full of similarly outcasted students, but that would feel like admitting defeat, and Millicent never admitted defeat.
Her only option was a compartment toward the back of the train, occupied by a lone student. This one, however, didn't have a badge.
A rather skinny girl with mouse brown, stick-straight hair sat, staring out the window. She had already donned her school robes; she was a Hufflepuff. Millicent wrinkled her nose in distaste as she took a seat in the opposite corner.
It was no good. The Hufflepuff had noticed her. Millicent struggled to keep a dignified expression on her face as the girl's hazel eyes took in the sight of her.
"I would leave you in peace if I could," the girl spoke, her voice surprisingly soft and lilting, "but I'm afraid everywhere else is full." She gave a sad sort of smile, and turned her attention back to the window.
"It doesn't matter," said Millicent gruffly. "This...this is just a mistake. Confused me with a different family. Once the investigation is over, it will be removed." It was a lie, of course, she knew full well she was a half-blood...but deep down, she had the irrational hope that maybe her parents were wrong, maybe her mother did come from a distant wizarding line.
The girl nodded. "Of course. These things happen in large establishments, especially at times like these...," she trailed off, her eyes turned on Millicent once again. She scooted closer, and stuck out a slightly bony, pale hand. "My name is Anna, by the way. Starting my sixth year. You?"
Millicent grudgingly took the small hand in her rather large one. "Millicent. Seventh year," she paused, then said pointedly, "Slytherin." Despite what she had said earlier, she did want some time alone to collect her thoughts. Perhaps this Anna would be intimidated by the fact that Millicent was an older Slytherin, and shut up.
"I haven't interacted with many Slytherins. But it's good to finally put a name to the face." Anna smiled politely.
At Millicent's dumb-founded expression, Anna continued. "In my second year, you tripped me coming up from the Great Hall. I sprained my wrist, but Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a second, of course. Don't worry, it was years ago and I realise it wasn't personal. You were just having some fun with your mates. Although I'd request you not do it again."
Millicent had never been spoken to so plainly or directly...or so politely, for that matter, especially by someone whom she had hurt. "I'm...I'm sorry." The words felt strange in her mouth; she didn't say them very often. But she knew she meant it, somehow.
"That's quite alright. Pumpkin pasty?"
Millicent shook her head, her throat dry. Words seemed to have left her. It was a nasty feeling, being the one singled out to be hurt or ridiculed. She had never been on the recieving end of such treatment in her whole life; hanging around with Pansy and Draco and also being quite bigger and rougher than the other girls (and even some of the boys) had stopped anyone who had even thought about it.
She wondered how this Anna had felt. Millicent was certain she hadn't been the only one to pick on the younger girl. She was quiet, mousy, and a Hufflepuff. A perfect target for Millicent and her other friends. She couldn't help but feel indignant on the girl's behalf; tormenting someone, and not even taking the time to get to know their name.
"You don't seem so bad to me, you know. No one's ever actually apologised to me before." Anna's voice cut through Millicent's thoughts. "Anyway, I know what it's like to feel lonely. But you don't have to be."
Millicent stared at Anna, as if she had never seen anything quite like her before. She thought the girl's words were slightly naive and innocent, but yet...they comforted her. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she wanted to say. "I'll, erm, take that pumpkin pasty if you're still offering."
Smiling, Anna handed the sweet to Millicent. The train continued to roll through hills and valleys, and they ate in silence, their eyes and thoughts fixed somewhere beyond the compartment.