Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the feedback on the last chapter. A few of you were concerned with how quick it felt. I have to agree- the scene cutting in and out is NOT my writing style, therefore it was difficult for me to get a proper flow going. Rest assured, that's the only chapter that will be written like that!
As always, you all rock. I hope you're enjoying it so far! Read, review, and enjoy!
September 1997
Lavender woke from her slumber, stretching widely out in all directions. She sighed, glancing at the clock next to her bed, sweat beginning to pool on her forehead. It was the first time since beginning at Hogwarts that she was not looking forward to going. In fact, she wanted to stay in her warm bed and lock the door, pretending the war just outside of her bedroom walls wasn't happening.
It was fun and games when she had joined Dumbledore's Army in her fifth year, something to pass the time and use as a tool to rebel against Umbridge, but now…now it was too real.
She dressed quickly, deciding to pull her blonde hair into a messy bun at the top of her head. Staring into the mirror, she sighed to herself. She was lucky to have Parvati and Seamus, otherwise she feared she wouldn't have a single person in her life that knew how she felt about herself.
She merely pretended to be ditzy, to be outgoing and wild. On the inside, whenever she looked in the mirror, all that stared back at her was a lost soul, a girl trying to find her way through the field of life.
That was enough introspection, she decided, sighing one more time before throwing her knapsack over her shoulder and heading down the staircase.
"We shouldn't even be letting her go," her mother was saying as Lavender neared the threshold to the kitchen, dumping her knapsack just outside, "this entire war is just…she should be home with us, Roger. She shouldn't be-"
"Pam, we have to let her go back so school," her father interjected, exasperated. It was clear it wasn't the first time they have been having this conversation, "she could be hunted down, we could go to prison. We have nothing to hide."
"We have everything to-" She began saying, but as Lavender entered the room she clamped her mouth tightly shut. Her father watched her reproachfully, glancing up over the top of The Daily Prophet.
She was slightly intrigued by the conversation at hand, but something else caught her eye, making her forget. "Professor Snape was named headmaster?" Lavender asked in confusion, furrowing her brow as she stared at the front page of the newspaper.
"Just made the headlines today," her father replied, setting the paper down onto the table and taking a sip of coffee. "Two known death eaters have taken positions there as well. Dark Arts and Muggle Studies, after that professor went missing near the beginning of summer."
"Never in our days at Hogwarts," her mother replied, shaking her head as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes, "Not if Dumbledore was still there."
It was quiet around the kitchen, the only sound being the water dripping down from the faucet over the sink. There were no doubts in anyone's mind that the war would be going much differently had it not been for Dumbledore's untimely death.
Roger took the final swig of his coffee, setting the mug and the newspaper down onto the table. "Well, young lady, we need to get you to King's Cross Station. Do you have everything packed? Have your mug and tea leaves?"
Lavender went through the list in her head while she rolled her eyes, mentally checking off everything she had packed between her trunk and the knapsack. "Yes, I believe so. Anything I forget you can just owl to me, including the mug and tea leaves if they get lost in my trunk."
It was a mere few minutes later they had loaded up the car that her father had bought for pretenses in his muggle job. It was nearly 45 minutes later that she had crossed the threshold onto Platform 9 ¾ and was jumped on by her best friend and roommate, Parvati Patil.
"Did you hear the news- Bye Mr. and Mrs. Brown!" she called over her shoulder as she snaked her arm into the crook of Lavender's elbow, "it's been in the Daily Prophet the last couple of days."
Lavender dumped her trunk in the pile of luggage near the back of the train, uncrossing her arm from Parvati's to board the train. "Do you mean the news of Snape becoming headmaster?" She elbowed her way through a group of second years, looking for an empty compartment that they could take over. "I saw that in the Prophet this morning."
Parvati's eyes widened as she followed her best friend up the corridor of the train. "No, I didn't hear that news. That oily, little-" She sighed. "I digress. No, I meant the news concerning the muggle-born registry that was released a few days ago? Hermione Granger was publically called in for questioning. Do you think she would go? She's always been one to abide by the rules."
Lavender shook her head, opening the door to an empty compartment halfway up the Hogwarts Express. "Highly doubtful, my love. Her best friend is Undesirable Number One. Besides, solely between the sorcerer's stone first year and starting Dumbledore's Army fifth year, something tells me she isn't nearly as locked-tight as we may think she is."
Parvati collapsed onto the bench across from Lavender, nodding her head in agreement. "Yes, I suppose you are right." She dug through her bag, pulling out a sugar quill. "I'm surprised my parents even let me and Padma come back to Hogwarts this year. They were very much considering shipping us to India to finish schooling with our cousins."
"I wouldn't say that too loud," Lavender replied, her eyes scooting to the compartment door as Seamus entered, her heartbeat picking up oh-so-slightly, "though my mom was in arguments with my father all summer about allowing me to come back as well."
Seamus locked eyes with her, his green eyes locking with her brown ones. "The only reason me mam let me come back to school was because I'm a half-blood. Dean couldn't come back either, he went into hiding." The train let out its final horn before the engine kicked in, sending steam streaming past the window of the compartment. Parents outside began waving at their children, who had stuck their heads out of the windows to say their goodbyes.
"Hogwarts isn't going to be the same at all," Parvati sighed. "Especially with that bat-winged joke as a professor-"
The compartment door rolled open again before Neville poured in, tripping over the threshold as the train lurched forward to leave the station. He nearly fell forward onto the floor between the three friends, but caught himself on Lavender's shoulder, who squealed out in surprise. "I'm glad I found someone friendly on this train," he said, sending an apologetic smile toward Lavender, who was now rubbing her tender shoulder. "I was caught in the hallway by Malfoy who tried to dock points, because my shoe was untied."
Luna floated in behind him, her nose stuck in the creases of the Quibbler, the only magazine that Lavender had seen openly criticize the dramatic takeover of the Ministry by You-Know-Who and his followers. Ginny wasn't too far behind her, sending Lavender a look of general disgust as she crossed her arms across her chest.
The compartment felt suddenly very full with the addition of Ginny, who had made it known she disliked Lavender since the break-up of her and Ron.
Parvati, who had sensed the change in atmosphere between Lavender and Ginny, quickly pulled out a deck of Exploding Snap cards, challenging both Seamus and Ginny to a game. Lavender took the opportunity to stare from the window, watching the impending storm clouds move over the fields filled with sheep. She hoped that wasn't an omen for the school year to come.
…..
There were whispers that shuttered through the throngs of students as Professor Snape made his way to the podium that, just last year, Dumbledore had donned for the beginning of the year speech. Lavender had a feeling the quirkiness hadn't been passed on from headmaster to headmaster.
"Students, as we gather at the tables before the feast," Snape started, drawling out the words in the most monotone voice he could possibly muster, "it's important to get a few documented changes clear. Muggle Studies and Dark Arts will be mandatory lessons, taught by new professors Alecto and Amycus Carrow respectively." He paused as if he were waiting for the usual applause that accompanied the introduction of new professors. The Carrow siblings glowered at the crowd when it didn't come.
"Lav!" Seamus hissed from behind her, covering up the continued speech that Snape had begun to drawl out once again, "Lav! Did you here- Alecto is taking over for that Muggle Studies professor that went missing over the summer."
Lavender furrowed her brow, turning toward one of her best friends. "A death eater taking over Muggle Studies? What's that going to be about?"
Seamus shrugged, eyeing the empty plates in front of him as if he couldn't wait for the speech Snape had to be over. "I can't imagine it's going to be-"
"CRUCIO!"
The sudden shout, accompanied with the crack of the red jet that embedded itself into the wooden table an inch from Seamus's hand, made the vast majority of the students' jump. Lavender locked eyes with Seamus, stunned.
"You got somethin' to say, boy?" The professor, Alecto Carrow, shouted over the shoulder of the new headmaster, "you got somethin' so important to say that it interrupts the headmaster." The last word was said with such a sneer that it was no doubt a slight against Snape.
Lavender quickly shook her head, but Seamus had already raised his voice. "Yeah, I do, ma'am. When are we gonna eat? I'm starving over here." There was a very pregnant pause that circulated the Great Hall, the students whipping their gaze back and forth between the two as if they were watching a rather intense tennis match. Lavender noticed that even McGonagall's face drained of color, her lips parted in shock.
Alecto seemed beside herself that a student had talked back to her so early in the year. "DETENTION!" she replied back with such force that the first years near the front of the tables shook in fright. "You disrespect me; you disrespect the Dark Lord." She shot another curse at Seamus, who ducked in time for it to bounce off the stone floor and into a piece of the Ravenclaw bench.
Lavender and Parvati glanced at each other, not sure how to react to the situation at hand. It was clear, she thought, that this was going to be a very different Hogwarts than they had anticipated.
