CHAPTER TWO: MOST BITTER REBEL EVER


"Miss Malfoy."

I looked up from my breakfast, untouched, thanks to my already irritated self, and saw that Professor Snape was holding out my intended schedule for the year.

Ah! Just the man I was looking for.

I smiled and took it from him. I didn't bother looking at it but instead turned my full attention to him.

"Professor, it's good to see you. I've been meaning to speak with you-," I started.

"Seeing as it's not even been a full week yet and therefore, couldn't possibly have anything to do with a complaint with your courses I could only assume it has to do with a certain new Professor?" He asked, jumping to the correct conclusion.

Snape and I had always had an easy relationship. He was me and my brother's godfather and had mentored Draco and I since we were very young. When we started Hogwarts he had taken us under his wing; me more than my brother. Draco tended to like to do things on his own. I, however, was shit at Potions and needed all the help I could get. Severus was also the reason I was so good at wand work. Had it not been for his expertise in teaching me at such a young age I wouldn't be top of the class in it. I even beat Granger half the time. Plus, Severus was the one person in the world, besides my twin, that I could vent all of the taboo things that run through my mind to.

I could trust him with my life; more if that were possible.

Don't be fooled though; my admiration of him and vice versa did not mean that he went easy on me. In fact, I think he liked to challenge me more just because of our personal relationship. He knew how to push me over the edge but it bettered me in a way only he knew it could. For that I was grateful.

"You'd be correct in assuming so," I said.

"As it's not even the end of breakfast, nor have you ever had Professor Umbridge yet, I don't think it appropriate to discuss at this moment. However, should you drop by my office after classes I would feel free to reflect on your first day of classes with you," He said with a tone a finality, and with the tiniest of smiles, he continued to hand out the Slytherin's schedules.

"Great…" I muttered to myself and turned back toward my breakfast.

This means that I'll have to endure her first…

I nibbled on some eggs thanks to Theodore's incessant pushiness that I eat; apparently my temper being so easily rattled was not a good enough excuse for him to have me skip a meal. So I ate, a little spitefully, and wondered vaguely what on earth could've been taking my brother so long. He hadn't walked down with us to the Great Hall. I rolled my eyes as I spotted Puginson and noticed how she eagerly waited for his arrival. Tracey was here too so at least I knew he wasn't on a patrol or anything.

"He's probably tired from last night's patrol," Theodore suggested and I shrugged, not really caring all that much.

All I really could focus on at the moment was how much I wanted to be back in my bed curled up with Jojo, and not going to classes. I had never been so jealous of my cat.

After breakfast we both headed towards our first double period of the day: Divination.

"Excellent. Loony Trelawney. Can't wait to hear what she's going to predict about me this year." I chuckled as I recalled that in Third Year, when we had first added Divination to our schedules, she had predicted that I would meet a terrible end that year. She had been wrong, clearly, because I was still alive.

"I wonder how Potter's gonna die this year," Theodore laughed.

She had also predicted Potty's death that year too but also clearly he had survived. Sadly.

"Oh yeah, can't wait for that one."

When we entered the classroom it looked just the same as it always did.

Teacups stacked so dangerously high that they were sure to fall. The multi-levelled classroom with its small circular tables and purple and red velvet table cloths on them with small crystal balls in the middle. Trelawney was humming to herself at her desk, looking at a trinket that hung from her neck. She paid no mind to her students as we all strolled in. Behind me, I heard a breathless Draco call my name.

"Where've you been?" I asked.

His cheeks were flushed and I could tell he'd been sprinting to get to class. His uniform wasn't mussed or anything but his hair was a bit out of place which was very odd. It was a rare occasion when my brother let a hair slip out from its perfect due and as it was he was combing it down, getting it to its rightful state.

God forbid Draco Malfoy look anything less than perfect.

I, on the other hand, had no problem rolling out of my bed without brushing my thick and obnoxiously long hair-mainly due to it being more of a hassle-or pressing my uniforms before I wore them-also due to it being a complete hassle. Thankfully my mother was paranoid and had my Slytherin attire pressed and neat for me before the school year started. Luckily today was only the first day so I didn't have to worry about any wrinkles.

"Sleeping."

My brother's voice was low and rough; like he'd just woken up. Which he had. Ah, so we had been right; it was last night's patrols that had him so tired.

Once we were all settled in, Draco with Puginson and Greengrass at one table and Zabini and Nott at mine, along with the rest of our year plus the Gryffindor's, Trelawney finally looked up from her gaudy necklace. She eyed me quickly and gave me a sad look; as if she was waiting for me to drop dead at that very moment. Her eyes skirted over to someone behind me and I couldn't help but follow her gaze. She was now looking at Potty himself, sat two rows above me with Weasel and Granger at his side, of course. He gave Trelawney that look that he always did when she was about to predict his death; the "are you joking?" look that we'd all sort of adopted over the years when it came to this nutter of a professor. But instead of her spouting out her most recent prediction about the Boy Wonder she looked back at me.

And then back at him.

And then back at me again and a small smile spread across her face.

The hell?

"No death prediction this year, Professor?" Potter's voice was skeptical and also mocking.

He'd clearly seen her reaction when she was looking back and forth between the two of us.

"What? Oh no, no! No, dear, no. No," She sputtered and clutched at her pendant while continuing to look back and forth between Potty and I. She still had that odd smile on her face.

I started to get irritated; what could she possibly be thinking while looking at the two of us like that? Did she see a near future of me strangling Potter to death? Because if she kept this up much longer I'm sure it would happen.

"You two are in for a splendid year," She spoke softly, her voice much lower than usual and her eyes had a glassed over look. It almost concerned me.

"Professor, shouldn't we start the lesson?" Granger spoke up and for once I was glad for her incessant school girl persona.

Trelawney jumped at her voice, focused in on her next to Potter and nodded furiously, now excited to start our day.

"The hell was that about?" Theodore asked irately.

I couldn't blame him; I was upset with it myself. But then again, everyone knew Trelawney's predictions or intuitions were always wrong. She couldn't possibly insinuate that Potty and I would have a splendid year…together…could she? No, impossible. I hated the git and he returned the feelings and that was that. The most we could ever both enjoy of our time together was when we were dueling, or spitting nasty insults back and forth.

"Don't know. Don't care," I answered Theodore and started flipping through the pages in our text book.

Trelawney was already started on the lesson and I made sure not to look behind me in fear of what I would see.

First; Draco's direct glare behind me which I just knew had an accusatory look in his eyes, and second; Potty's curious gaze as well, probably pondering the possibility that maybe we could have a splendid year. I nearly scoffed at the was so susceptible to things that I'm sure he was already working out some ways in his head to try and be civil with me rather than how we usually were. He was in for a surprise if he thought I was going to participate.

Instead I focused on Theodore next to me and Trelawney at the front of the class room. I didn't even want to think about the two behind me.


Jojo was not happy with me. She angrily caught up to me as Theodore and I made our way to the Great Hall for some lunch. Apparently, and this was according to Greengrass whom had went back to the dorm after Divination, she had been clawing at my bed sheets and angrily searching through my trunk, presumably for the treats that I had promised her. I had had them in my bag with me rather than in my trunk knowing she would've searched it.

"Here you go, you greedy little girl," I offered her her favorite chicken flavored puffy pastry treat especially made for cats and she took it in one gulp.

I wondered if she had even tasted it.

"You know this is why you're so big!" I told her. She glared at me, eyeing the bag in my hand which she knew held more of her beloved treats.

"No it's not, you're perfect the way you are, Jojo." Theodore chimed in and she mewed at him, diving in and out between his legs and rubbing up against him.

"Traitor! I'm the one that feeds you!" I said, glaring at my traitorous cat. She seemed all too comfortable rubbing up against Theodore while ignoring me.

"You're not the only one, Cessy," He chuckled and picked her up.

She was a large black cat with beady green eyes the color of gems and seeing Theodore, muscly and tall as he was, carry her made me laugh. She was so large it was hysterical; nearly the size of a small dog.

He snatched her treats from me and fed her two off the bat. I couldn't help but feel a bit peeved at the triumphant look she gave me when he continued to feed her.

"What a brat," I muttered.

"C'mon, let's get some lunch and then we can head to the dreadful Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm sure you can't wait to assess how terrible Professor Umbridge is going to be."

"Ugh, more like hoping to die before I have to endure such a catastrophe," I groaned as we walked into the hall.

Draco was already there with Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle at his side. They all seemed to be talking about something excitedly and I could only presume it had to do with the picture of a famous quidditch player that Blaise held in his hands. Puginson was trying desperately to be a part of the conversation but wasn't managing it very well. Greengrass was looking at Theodore and myself, waiting for us to come join her, presumably. I felt slightly annoyed.

It's not like I didn't like Greengrass it was that she tried too hard to be my friend because of my status, not because of who I was. She knew the Malfoy name, as any respectable witch or wizard would, and had been hoping to climb the social latter through it. It had almost worked with me; my brother was more open to her friendship for he so arrogantly loved anyone that worshiped him. I simply couldn't look past the fact that she wanted to reap the benefits of my name rather than just be my genuine friend in the first place and then enjoy the benefits of the Malfoy name. At least then I wouldn't be so rude to her.

Jojo meowed at Theodore as we sat down and she sat calmly next to him, trying to be inconspicuous about looking at the treat bag every now and again. He fed her another one just to annoy me.

"You're going to get her fat," I said and munched on the sausage and gravy sandwich I had had set in front of me immediately after sitting down thanks to my brother.

I sat across from him while he continued to talk to his friends. Daphne was on my left, chuckling at Theodore cooing at my pet.

"Oh please," He said, "She chases the owls more than any other cat in this castle she's as fit as she can be."

"She only chases the owls she doesn't like. I think she actually may have a friend she likes to visit in the Owlery. Do you remember all those white feather I had to pluck from her fur last year?" I recalled.

"Oh yeah, she looked a mess." He laughed and she growled slightly, knowing we were talking about her. "Oh alright, we'll stop gossiping about you," He told her and I laughed.

"So are we all ready to meet Umbridge?" Parkinson spoke, making sure her nasally voice was heard throughout the table.

I instantly felt myself tense. No, I wasn't ready at all to meet the Ministry scum that was inevitably going to hate me for saying some of the things I would surely say due to my inability to keep my damn mouth shut. I knew something she'd say about how the Ministry is only trying to do what's best for the students would piss me off one way or another, because no, they were surely not doing what was best for the students by covering up the fact that the Dark Lord has returned! I was going to ruin this class. I just knew it.

"We'll find out in about twenty minutes," Greengrass spoke, almost bitterly.

Maybe she disliked Umbridge as much as I did?

After lunch wrapped up Draco eyed me and gestured for me to follow close by him. The Slytherin's, clearly seeing that the Malfoy twins needed some siblings time, trailed behind us on our way to the Defense Against the Dart Arts classroom.

"You have to behave in this class, Cessy." My brother's tone suggested that he knew I wasn't going to but he desperately wanted me to.

"Why should I? The Ministry is interfering with our schooling just to hush us up about-,"

"Shhh!" He hissed at me and glared. His steel grey eyes were icy as he looked at me and I could only imagine that my expression matched his. "Don't."

"Don't what?" I hissed back, furious that he expected me to just let it slide that the Ministry was going to get us all killed.

"Just don't, Cessy." He warned before we entered the classroom.

Not much had changed besides the fact that it looked a bit cleaner than last year. The desks were neatly in their rows and on top of them held the text book for the lesson which looked oddly familiar. Like something we had studied in First Year. The curtains were drawn back to let the sunlight in and in the middle of the head of class sat the toad.

She was, again, clad in all pink with a very large scarf made of what looked to be feathers circling her neck. Her eyes watched us pour into her class and I couldn't help but compare it to that muggle story that I'd heard a long time ago of the witch welcoming the two kids walk into her home in hopes of cooking and eating them. Instead of Hansel and Gretel versus the witch it was now Draco and Cecily.

Except maybe not Draco because he clearly didn't seem to be on my side for this particular battle.

I sat at one of the desks near the middle on the far right side of the classroom with my brother sat right next to me. Theodore, looking a bit upset that he hadn't gotten to sit with me sat loyally behind me instead, with Puginson next to him. He looked a bit annoyed at his desk partner. I wondered what made Draco sit with me in the first place. Usually he was sat with someone else in our classes but I could only guess he was worried that I was going to "act out" with Umbridge.

He was mistaken if he thought he could prevent it.

The Gryffindor's walked in too with the Boy Wonder sitting two seats in front of my brother and I. I glared at the back of his head; still a bit mad about Divination. We hadn't had Transfiguration or Charms with the Gryffindor's so I hadn't had to look at Potty since this morning but the sight of him made me mad. Stupid Trelawney.

Great. Now I have Potter and Umbridge to both torture me this class.

"Ehem."

Attention was drawn as soon as Umbridge's sweet voice sounded. I felt my insides tense and I scratched my wrist; my body completely uncomfortable with her being in my presence.

"Good afternoon class, lunch was good and well I presume?" She asked.

No one responded.

"I'd like to start by saying that your Defense Against the Dark Arts has been rather fragmented and quite frankly chaotic, has it not?" She waited, as if expecting a reply.

I glanced at my twin; watching him as he watched her. He seemed interested in what she was saying so far and I had to ask myself if maybe my brother had plans to actually enjoy her as a Professor. Maybe father had told him something about special treatment of the Malfoy twins at school while she was there. Maybe he had promised him that we would be treated better. Maybe he had promised our whole house would be treated better because we're Slytherin's.

Ugh, of course! How could I not see this before?!

This was of course the only reason my brother would be so open to the idea of this toad teaching us. Father had promised him, and I kind of hoped me by proxy, that we'd get special treatment by her! How pompous of him! My brother adored being treated better than others and being recognized that he should be treated better than others and if a Professor was willing to give him the treatment he thought he deserved then of course he'd be okay with whoever it was.

Ah, now everything is clear dear brother.

I narrowed my eyes at him. He could be so damn selfish sometimes. Couldn't he see that even if we did get better treatment this year that it would ultimately lead to the same fate were we to be treated as any other student? That the Dark Lord would take over and destroy everything because the damn Ministry was trying to hide the fact that exactly that wasn't happening?

"Know now that this is about to be rectified." She said this almost like a threat.

It made me feel uneasy and I felt a pit of worry bubbling in my stomach as I thought of what she meant by this. She couldn't possibly threaten to not let us use our magic, could she?

"As your new Professor I will be following the pre-approved, Ministry-prepared, theory-centered Defense lesson plan."

Salazar's shit. That is exactly what she plans to do.

"Now. Copy this down." With the flick of her wand she started writing down notes that I was too furious to see properly thanks to the new veil of red that covered my vision.

Was she serious?! She couldn't just do this! We, as students, had a right to learn how to protect ourselves! What good was a Defense class if we couldn't even practice the bloody spells?! Was the Ministry really so corrupt that they'd force us to stifle our magic all so they could lie about what's really happening out there in our real world?!

Just as I was about to express my utter outrage by loudly and possibly violently speaking out to the pink devil, I felt Draco grab my hand so hard I could feel the bones crushing under his tight hold.

"Ow!"

"Don't."

There was enough venom in that one word that, were Draco an actual snake like most of the Gryffindor's thought he was, I'm sure I would've been dead in seconds.

I, however, was just as, if not more, vicious as him and I sent my best glare toward him. It told him that I was very mad; and not willing to forgive so easily.

He looked almost hurt by the notion but right now I didn't really care. I was too furious, too red hot angry to care what he thought. I had to do something; I had to let this god awful toad of a woman know how wrong she was in doing something like this. I had to. I simply had to.

Just as I was about to shoot my hand up into the air to speak my mind I noticed that the ever bushy haired Granger had beaten me to it.

Huh…maybe I should let her speak before I do…

If my brother was so keen on me keeping my mouth shut about the bloody Ministry then maybe I could have someone else speak my mind for me. Granger, though I had rarely ever talked to her and wasn't particularly fond of her, seemed to have the same aggression toward addressing Umbridge as I did.

In the short encounters that we'd had, mainly ones of name calling, she was very proud as a Gryffindor and very smart and in tune with how the Ministry worked. She wouldn't be fooled. Besides, she had Potter telling her about the Dark Lord and obviously she would believe him. So maybe she would bring up some good points. Maybe, just maybe, I could give my brother a break from trying to save me from myself.

Only maybe though.

The real question was this; how long was Umbridge going to ignore Granger's hand in the air? It had been nearly ten minutes by now. I was surprised Granger hadn't lost her stamina at all though; her arm and hand was still stiff as a board. Once Umbridge noticed that everyone in the class was waiting anxiously for Granger to speak she sighed, as if she was terribly inconvenienced, and called on her.

"Yes?" She asked, as if she hadn't noticed her hand in the air at all.

Granger gratefully put her hand down but wasted no time.

"I wanted to know something about your course aims."

Not what I would've started with but it's a good lead to what the important things are.

I made a mental note to maybe secretly praise Granger for so boldly defying Umbridge. It was something I would've done. Hell, it was something I was most likely about to do myself after she was done speaking.

"They should be perfectly clear. Did you not read what was written on the board?" Umbridge's tone was offended and irritated but still, somehow, sweet.

She was a modern monster in a pink villain suit.

"I don't think they were clear at all Professor-," Granger's tone was equally irritated. "-It says nothing about using spells."

Ah! We've reached one good point!

I was nearly giddy for Granger saying it so outright; I would've been more direct from the start but once again…I was trying to behave.

I glanced at my brother who was still gripping my hand tightly but was looking at Granger and Umbridge. It seemed he didn't trust me enough to give me any slack on the metaphorical leash he was holding me back with. While all of this was happening I vaguely noticed that Potter was angrily gripping the side of his desk. I could see his knuckles turning white from here and I frowned.

It made me mad that we had such similar reactions to Umbridge but there was really nothing I could do about that now.

"I can assure there will be no circumstance where you would need to use spells in my class!" Umbridge said, laughing.

Her rosy cheeks were flushed seemingly innocently but anyone with a conscience could see that she was growing more and more irritated with the Mudblood Gryffindor.

Maybe it was because she was a Mudblood?

There was no doubt in my mind that Dolores Umbridge wasn't discriminatory about blood status. Her clear disliking for Granger was evident of that.

"But surely the whole point of Defense is practical application?" Granger was truly offended now; her tone was not nearly at outraged as mine would've been but I could hear the insinuation of hatred in her voice.

"Miss Granger this class has been approved by Ministry experts, tell me dear, are you a Ministry expert?"

"No, but-,"

"Then you have to place challenging those who are-," Umbridge cut her off before anything else could be said and my hand itched to raise and finally be able to say what I'd been dying to. Now was my chance. "-We will be learning spells in a safe risk-free environment."

Before I could help myself, or even dare to look at my brother, my mouth opened and I started speaking.

"What good is theory based learning in the real world, Professor?"

At this, the ugly toad turned her attention to me. Upon seeing it was me who spoke her eyes burned into me. She looked me over, recognizing my prominent Malfoy features, looked next to me and saw my brother, and I swear her face burned a dark purple after realizing that yes, I was a Malfoy, but no I was not going to stand for her taking over my school. Immediately I saw that I had a new enemy. She recognized this too.

"Miss Malfoy…" She began, her voice catching. Apparently my father had not warned her of me. Perhaps he had told her that I would sit quietly and turn a blind eye? Foolish man. He, of all people, knew better than that for I had been defying him for nearly my entire life.

"Yes?" I prompted, almost eagerly; my aderenaline was pumping with the idea of a new enemy.

By now, I was sure I had several broken bones in the hand that Draco was holding.

"Cessy, stop," He hissed.

I ignored him. I was not going to forgive him for this. All of the student's eyes were on me, shocked to say the least that I had spoken out. I was kind of disappointed in them; I hadn't even said anything that was completely scandalous yet and they were all looking at me like I was some sort of queen of rebellion. Even Potter looked shocked.

"This is school-," Umbridge spoke calmly, not wanting to start a war with me too soon. "Not the real world. There is nothing out there waiting for you."

"What about Lord Voldemort?"

Gasps. Very loud gasps, some students even flinched back at the name. I couldn't believe it. Were they all so scared? Were they willing to pretend he wasn't back just for the sake of covering up their fear? What cowards!

It was not me who spoke his name, no, but Potter rather. Who else?

Umbridge was less than happy about this. I wasn't happy for what I was going to do either but, what could I say? My mouth had a mind of its own.

"And the Death Eaters too, Professor? How are we supposed to protect ourselves when there's dangers like that out there waiting for us?"

Draco dropped my hand to now hold his head in his hands; clearly ashamed and highly disappointed in me. I couldn't really care less at the moment.

Ah, here's the reaction I was hoping for!

My fellow students were now looking at me like I was the Dark Lord himself; utter horror on each and every one of their faces.

Except Potter's.

If I wasn't mistaken there was something that flashed across his face which could have possibly been mistaken for respect. His green eyes were blazing as he looked at me; almost obnoxiously green. I scowled. I hated that I was involuntarily siding with him despite it being the right side but I couldn't exactly help that we both knew what was right.

Ugh.

I admit, speaking out against Death Eaters was bold; very bold and dangerous if you thought about the Malfoy affiliation but I needed these people to see that Umbridge was not on their side. She was going to get them killed by keeping them in the dark. The truth was the only thing that could prepare them for the oncoming war.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mister Potter. And same goes to you, Miss Malfoy." Umbridge's voice was no longer sweet but rather ridged.

Potter and I were becoming a fast growing problem in her eyes and I couldn't even feel sorry. If I was getting a message across then so be it. I could endure detention and the reduction of house points and all that nonsense; it wouldn't be my first offense and if it meant that maybe some of these bigots called my classmates started to realize the truth then maybe we could overcome whatever Umbridge had in store for us this year.

"I believe some of you have been told that a certain dark wizard, as well as his followers, has returned," Umbridge spoke to the whole of the class with clear and precise words. She was making sure everyone was paying attention. "This-is-a-lie."

"It's not a lie! I saw him-I fought him!" Potter was, not surprisingly, outraged.

"Detention, Mister Potter!"

"So according to you Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?!" I could see the back of Potter's neck growing red with irritation and at the mention of my once sort of friend Diggory I nearly choked up.

Cedric was always so incessantly nice to me that over the course of Third and Fourth Year we had sort of become friends. I'd always had a nice time chatting with him and it had seemed that, at certain points in the year, he was the only one that would listen to me. He'd been there when not even my brother wanted to listen to me.

I had felt a very great loss at the end of last year in June when Cedric had been murdered. He was my friend and even though I was nasty to him most of the time he was also so joyful that I knew he'd do great things in the wizarding world. He'd come to his end way too soon; his life had been stolen and that was an injustice that needed to be rectified. At the memory of Cedric, I felt my chest tighten as Potter went on.

"That boy's death was a tragic accident," Umbridge said.

"It was murder! I saw it!" Potter was now standing his fists slamming on his desk. His Weasel friend put out an arm as if to stop him but Potter wasn't having it. "Do you realize what you're doing Professor?! You're basically damning these students to death."

"I think it's time class ended, children. You are all dismissed." Umbridge's tone was icy. "All but Mister Potter and Miss Malfoy."

Wonderful.

Potter looked murderousl at Umbridge and looked back at me. His expression didn't change but I could tell that he was almost glad he wouldn't have to talk to Umbridge alone. Maybe he thought I would be good backup?

As the rest of the class began to usher out of the door my brother and Theodore came over to me.

"Say one more thing Cessy and I swear to Salazar-,"

"What you'll disown me as a sister? Thanks for breaking my hand, by the way, really brotherly of you," I snarled at him.

His eyes were solid grey, looking at me with so much disdain that I was surprised he even stayed behind at all. Maybe it was that instinctual brotherly instinct to protect his little sister that made him stay. Who knew.

"You broke her hand?! Mate, what the hell!" Theodore glared at my brother now too and reached for my throbbing hand but I held it tightly to myself, not wanting either of them to look at it.

I wanted the burning to remind me what it stood for. And that was that Draco was not on my side.

"You should both go."

I hoped the emptiness in my voice conveyed just how disappointed I was with my brother. Theodore didn't deserve it as much-though he hadn't stood up for me either but I couldn't blame him-so I sort of felt bad for the flash of hurt that crossed his face when I spoke. Draco looked like I had just stabbed him; a look of surprise crossed his features.

"Cessy I didn't mean to keep this from you I just-,"

"Go. Before Umbridge decides she's going to give you detention too." I growled at them and they both gave me sad looks.

I didn't want to hear whether or not Draco didn't mean to keep anything from me; right now all I wanted was for them to leave so I could get talking to Umbrdige over with. They left without another word. I sighed in slight relief and then made my way to the front of the room with Potter, clutching my aching hand. Umbridge had gone to her office for something and had said she would be back in a "jiffy."

"I didn't realize you felt so passionately about protecting yourself from Voldemort's followers," Potter spoke immediately and I scowled at him.

"If you think this makes us allies, Potty, you're sorely mistaken. I'm nearly looking out for the good of mankind. If the Ministry wants to cover up the fact that your enemy has returned, it's basically signing a death sentence to everyone in the wizarding world. Death Eaters are vicious and cruel and they will do anything You-Know-Who says. If that means murdering children, which clearly they're not against evident of our mutual friend Diggory, then they'll do it."

While I spoke I noticed he had the tiniest of smiles on his face. He looked almost like he was in a joke that I wasn't and it was making me even more irritated than I already was. Why was I even talking to Potter about this stuff?

"Sounds an awful lot like we are on the same side then, Malfoy."

"Ehem."

Umbridge had emerged from her office and was now descending the stairs. She had that same sickly sweet smile she had on when I'd first seen her in the Great Hall. It made me want to claw her eyes out.

"I want to make this clear: behaving in my class as you both did today could warrant arrest if we were at the Ministry. But since we are merely in your place of learning I cannot begrudge you of the lies you've been told and now believe. You've earned a week's detention; both of you with me starting tomorrow night." Her voice was high; almost excited.

I suddenly feared detention; if she was this happy to just give it to us I could only imagine what the detention would consist of.

My mind flashed suddenly to a ridiculous image of the medieval times with large castles and dungeons with torture chambers and Potter and I hanging upside down by only our toes while Umbridge tossed hungry rats at us so they could nibble on our noses.

Ugh, I hate rats…

"You are wrong in believing that You-Know-Who has returned-Ut! Shh!" She cut Harry off before he could even begin. "I fear that because you two are so susceptible to these lies that it might interfere with your learning."

What the bloody hell is she talking about?

She wasn't making any sense but I suppose to a psycho it made perfect sense; hence why she was saying it. I honestly believed that she believed what she was doing was right in her eyes. And that was terrifying.

"Detention with me tomorrow night at seven o'clock sharp." She drew her wand out and I almost sputtered in horror as she pointed it at me. I could've beeen mistaken but I thought I saw Potter reach for his wand in anger before she spoke a clear "Episky," and suddenly my hand wasn't so sore.

She had healed my hand. Which meant that she had seen my lovely brother breaking it in the first place and didn't stop it?

This woman is a complete nutter.

"Now, you are dismissed." She didn't hesitate in clapping at us at the end of her sentence and as both Potter and I angrily made our way out of the classroom I could feel her beady eyes watching us the entire time.

Once the door was closed I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in.

"Bloody hell, she's horrific," I muttered, mainly to myself, but Potter heard and nodded his head in agreement.

"We need to do something about her," He spoke casually, like we weren't enemies and didn't spit insults at each other all the time. Like we were on good terms.

I nearly laughed.

"Um-," I cleared my throat, "-we?"

He looked exasperatedly at me for a moment and then seemed to realize to whom he was talking to. A look of disgust passed his features. I made sure mine matched.

Good, back to where we started.

"Right, like a Malfoy would ever do something to help out."

"Oh, you mean like I wasn't just defying that pink ugly toad at the same exact time you were?" I snarled at him.

We were both walking down the hall towards where I was headed to Potions and I could only assume since he wasn't going in the opposite direction we shared Potions together too.

Fantastic. Really great.

"Why?" He had stopped in the middle of the hall to narrow his eyes at me and ask me "why" in a very accusatory tone.

"Why what, Potter?" I had no time to deal with his antics today but I found myself stopping too.

Honestly all I wanted to do was curl up on my bed and fall asleep with Jojo.

"Why would you defy her, like you did? It's not very Malfoy of you."

"Oh well since it wasn't very Malfoy of me I guess I'll go back and tell her I was just joking then!" I rolled my eyes at the daft boy before me and honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing.

What the hell does "it wasn't very Malfoy of you" even mean?!

"No, I meant, it's not like you. I'm surprised. You kind of went against everything you've ever done in the past four years."

"No, I didn't, Potter. You just haven't been paying close enough attention; no surprise there."

At this he rolled his eyes at me for my rude tone but I did see a flash of curiosity pass on his face. His brows furrowed together as he thought about this and I wondered if his brain would explode from thinking too much.

"Listen, Potty, I'd love to stay and chat all day but Pofessor Snape is going to have my head, and yours, if we don't get going so…" I stepped away from him as if to head toward the Potions classroom near the dungeons but was stopped abruptly by some invisible force. I tried walking again, this time with more force, and got knocked on my arse quite harshly.

"Ouch!" I landed on my rear and the hard stone of the floor wasn't an easy fall.

"The hell…?" Potter's voice was just as surprised as I was.

Even more surprising; he offered me his hand to help me up. Not so surprising; I refused it and stood up all on my own, dusting myself off in the process.

I rounded on him; my eyes hard as steel and my body on the verge of shaking from anger. I'd been through too much already in one day; I didn't need to add anything else.

"What did you do?!" I seethed.

"You think I did this?" He asked, annoyed at my accusation.

He stepped forward toward where I was just pushed onto my backside and gently placed his hand in the air. It was met with a vibrating pulse that made his hand push back, just as my whole body had been forcefully shoved before. I heard him grunt in annoyance and he decided to try going back towards where we came from; closer to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Only he didn't put his hand out this time; instead he assumed that whatever this little trick was was only on one side of the hall.

He was wrong.

Like me, his whole body was tossed back onto the ground and he landed on the stones of the castle with a loud thud. He muttered a curse under his breath and then quickly stood up.

"Okay, this isn't funny Potter, just stop now so we can get to class."

"Malfoy, I swear on my mother's grave, I'm not doing this."

And this, at least, I could believe. He wouldn't swear on his dead mother if he wasn't serious. At least I hoped not; otherwise he was just a pure git.

"Well, well, I guess it does work-!"

"Guess we should've set it up at a better location-,"

"How could we have known that it would be so affective though? This was clearly the only way we could've known it would work."

"Good point, Freddie-,"

"I tend to make those, Georgie."

I was already getting several different ideas on how I was going to murder the two Weasel twins as soon as I got out of this contraption while they showed up, seemingly out of nowhere, to assess their little trap.

Or whatever this was.

"Fred! George!" Potter seemed possibly relieved that the two dimwitted red-heads had shown up but I knew better.

These two were trying out one of their silly trinkets and Potter and I had been the guinea pigs; I was less than pleased.

"Hey, Harry. Sorry you were the victim to our latest invention-,"

"Seems like a real torture that you were caught with a Malfoy too-,"

"At least it's the prettier one, right Georgie?"

"Oh yeah, Fred, I don't think I'd be as happy to have caught the ferret Malfoy. Tell me Cecily, how's our little trap working out for you?"

Weasel One and Weasel Two now addressed me directly and I growled. Normally I would've possibly laughed at their tricks and slyly congratulated them on their antics but since I was now playing victim to whatever game they were playing I was suddenly much less amused.

In fact, I wasn't amused at all; I was murderous.

"Get me out of here right now or I'll jelly-legs jinx you both for a month!" I couldn't hide the sincere hatred for them in my tone at the very moment.

"C'mon guys, we're both late for Potions with Snape and he'll give me detention for a month just for fun," Potter reasoned with them.

It was a valid point. Severus wouldn't be as cruel with me but he would certainly enjoy punishing Potty when we eventually got to his class. I could only imagine the glee on his face now as he was realizing that the Golden Boy was late and he had valid reason to punish him at all. He'd probably be less thrilled that I was late; but still willing to see reason as he always was with me.

"Oh alright, alright! Now normally we would love to see the looks on your faces when we tell you how you're really supposed to get out of this trap, however-,"

"I don't think we would want to face the wrath of you, Harry, if we made you go through with it."

"And we especially wouldn't want to have to face Malfoy after that either."

"No, Freddie, certainly not.

"Certainly not." Fred nodded in agreement and the two of them looked at me with almost guilty looks.

"Please stop talking and get us out of here!" I was yelling now and I could feel my face reddening from anger.

Together both twins got their wands out and muttered an incantation that I couldn't hear. It took only a moment for them to realize that it didn't work so they tried again. And again. And once more.

Oh my Salazar; is it not going to work?!

"Uh, we've got a bit of a problem…"

"Our counterspell isn't working on it properly-,"

"It is a prototype to be fair-,"

"So I guess the only way you two can get out of this is-,"

"You have to kiss to release the spell."

"We have to what?!" This came from both Potter and I.

I swear had our voices been much louder we could've broken the stained-glass window next to us.

This was not happening. I couldn't kiss Potty! He was…he was Potty! Ew! He was my nemesis! He was everything I'd been routing against for the past four years of my schooling; he was repulsive, obnoxious, idiotic, and most of all he was Harry Golden Boy Potter.

No way; I was not doing this.

I would find way out of this.

I looked over at Potter and saw that he was just as disgusted as I was. Good. At least that meant we were both on the same page. There was no way we were doing this. There had to be another way. We had to find another way.

I would find another way.

At least, I hoped I would.


Author's Note: Hello! I hope any of you that are reading this story are finding it somewhat interesting! I just wanted to give a disclaimer that I (obviously) am not JK Rowling and own nothing of the Harry Potter world except for my character, Cecily. This is the only disclaimer I'll be giving.

On another note, I am curious to know what you think of Cecily! Is she too much like your typical Malfoy twin sister? I'm trying to avoid that stereotype; we are just beginning the story so we have a lot to discover about her. Also, if you hadn't already caught on, this story begins with the start The of Order of the Pheonix.

Now I'm not going to beg any of you to leave reviews or anything because that's up to you; it does motivate me to write though!

Anyways I hope you liked this chapter and that you all have a nice day!

~Alyssa~