A/N: This is the Seeker from Montrose Magpies writing for QLFC Round 6.

Prompt: Matilda

Thanks to my team for looking through it!

Word Count: 910 (+2 for the title)

Disclaimer: I have no intentions of making money from this story, so all the recognisable stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Unforseen Rescue

The last place you would think to find a first-year student would be the Divination classroom, but that was exactly where little Matilda was currently hiding. She didn't even know why the new Defense Professor didn't like her. A lot of people hated that professor, and maybe Matilda herself had a teensy bit of hatred towards her as well, but she had never ever called her the 'pink toad' like the others did. None of her friends did, either, so it wasn't like she could be considered guilty by association.

She even turned her assignments in and made sure to follow all the decrees. Every. Last. One.

A few weeks back, as she'd been passing the Pink Professor in the hall, she'd had this weird feeling that she had zoned out for a minute. The professor hadn't done anything except scowl at her and walk away, but the next day, at breakfast, when the professor's hair had turned pink (Matilda thought it matched her outfit), she had glared straight at the black-haired Ravenclaw. After breakfast, the Pink Professor had trotted up to her and said, "Detention at seven pm."

And Matilda didn't know why, but the quill the Pink Professor had given her had caused her hand to bleed. She didn't think quills were supposed to work that way, but when she had looked at the professor, the lady had just smirked and raised an eyebrow. It was almost like she was tempting her to cause a fuss — as if she would genuinely enjoy it.

Perhaps Matilda was wrong about the quill thing. She was new to the wizarding world, so she didn't know a lot yet.

But the hour of detention had hurt her hand so much and the scratches on her hand had stopped healing. When she left, she had met this lady that looked like some sort of insect. She wasn't sure if the woman was a professor as she had never seen her at the staff table, but the woman had been kind enough, so Matilda had followed her to this room that looked like it would be well suited for hosting an old-fashioned tea party.

When they were both seated at the table, this weird lady had said something that sounded like, "You have a perfect inner eye, my dear." Matilda didn't know what she meant, or how someone could have an eye inside them, but the tea she gave her smelled nice and the biscuits were tasty, so when the lady said, "I foresee you coming here to visit me many times. You are welcome to practise Tessomancy here any time, dear," Matilda decided to ignore her eccentricities and take up on her offer.

Before long, the small, strong-smelling room became her hideout of sorts, with Matilda coming there every evening to enjoy the peace. Most of the times, she sat and worked on her homework, but there were times when the woman who lived here — at least, it seemed that way to Matilda — struck up a conversation. Matilda always enjoyed those days. The woman knew a lot of interesting things and was more than happy to explain them to her.

It was one of those days when Matilda was sharing a table with the woman. The lady was telling her about 'seeing' through tea leaves, and although most of it went over Matilda's head, she listened intently.

There was a knock on the door, followed by an all-too-familiar 'hem-hem'. The woman pushed the child under the table, but they weren't fast enough. Without even waiting for a reply, Professor Umbridge barged into the room as if she owned the place.

Within moments, the professor was holding the little girl by her ear, either not noticing or not caring that the girl's blue eyes were rapidly filling with tears. "Aha. I see that you have been conspiring to turn my students — Mudbloods, at that — against me, Professor Trelawney. I'm afraid this kind of behaviour is inexcusable."

Matilda tried to shake her head, but the grip on her ear was so tight that she couldn't move it at all.

The older woman — Professor Trelawney, apparently — stood up, too. She used her height to tower over the woman clad in pink. "I was only protecting a true Seer from those who would seek to extinguish the spark that lives within her before it has the chance to shine."

Professor Umbridge laughed at that, her shrill voice echoing around the cosy classroom Matilda had come to love. Still holding her by the ear, the tiny woman pulled the child out of the room and pushed her downstairs. Matilda fell down. She suspected that she had zoned out because, by the time she scrambled back to her feet, Professor Umbridge was levitating a trunk out of the room and loud sobbing could be heard from within.

Feeling horrified and sick to her stomach, she watched as Professor Trelawney was almost thrown out of the school. She couldn't have been more thankful to both the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall when they intervened, insisting that her friend be allowed to continue living there for as long as she wanted.

There were many things that Matilda didn't understand, some of which were happening to her, too, but that night, she dreamed of Professor Umbridge being trampled upon and dragged away by some weird men who were, inexplicably, horses from the waist down.