Yes! Chapter 7, I hope you all like what I could do(will be explained at the end)
review replies:
desireejones99 -Excellent update, guess that was just to keep them close, though Ravenclaw would have worked, and Slytherin would have been a force by Dumbles I'm sure.
Thanks, why she went to Gyrffindor will be touched upon or explained later, yes she would have been a great Ravenclaw, and as for Slytherin, well it wouldn't be a force but it would have been bad due to her personality .
shadowkat87 -OK I got the idea I was going to suggest either luna or ginny and again it's a lovely story I can't wait to read more.
Okay I'm putting up a poll for either Kayla/Luna, Kayla/Ginny, or Kayla/other.
LittlebigmouthOKC -You just know that Kayla and Lyra are going to take down every so called Gryphandor sex kitten (Lavender, Ginny ,Pavarti ,etc.) Without even smudging their lipgloss.
They might ;), but the main thing is that Harry and Lyra will take down Umbridge.
thewolf74 -I'm happy that Harry and Draco are getting along now. Please update soon.
Yeah, if I'm honest I never really like Ron that much, he's kind of an idiot, Draco though is smart so he'll be much more helpful.
The truth comes out
Kayla's POV
"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate - for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread and sauces and flagons of pumpkin juice.
As we ate I noticed that Lyra just smiled looking around the table eating slowly.
When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the Hall was starting to creep upwards again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the Headmaster.
"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too."
"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four-hundred-and-sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr Filch's office door. We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause, except from Lyra who seemed to be acting enthused, but everyone saw it was an obvious act.
Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the - "
He broke off, looking enquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat, 'Hem, hem,' and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.
Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as Harry had ever seen it. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome."
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, I knew she was here to interfere. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ('hem, hem') and continued.
"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"
Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy. On the contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.
"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!
Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.
"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan," Parvati whispered to Lavender, and both of them lapsed into silent giggles.
Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ('hem, hem'), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them for ever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."
Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back to her. Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawklike, and Harry distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little 'hem, hem' and went on with her speech.
"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation . . ." The speech went on but her point had been subtly made.
She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though Harry noticed that several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.
"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," he said, bowing to her. "Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held . . ."
"Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione in a low voice. "It explained a lot."
"Did it?" said Harry in surprise. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."
"There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle," I said grimly.
'Right, that waffle was illuminating and amusing, she obviously wasn't a Ravenclaw or Slytherin when she went here" Lyra said.
"How about: "progress for progress's sake must be discouraged"? How about: "pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited"?" I said "The Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts.'
There was a great clattering and banging all around us; Dumbledore had obviously just dismissed the school, because everyone was standing up ready to leave the Hall. I jumped up, flustered.
"I'm supposed to show the First years to the common room."
"First-years!' I called commandingly along the table. "This way, please!"
Harry's POV
A group of new students walked shyly up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, all of them trying hard not to lead the group. They did indeed seem very small; I was sure I had not appeared that young when I had arrived here. As they passed Lyra gave them a kind smile. Some stared at her and I even heard one as she passed me,"That girl looks like an angel."
"She looks nice, oh let's hurry or we'll be left behind." Her friend said.
I kept my eyes fixed ahead as Lyra and I wove our way through the crowd in the Entrance Hall the stares not going unnoticed, then hurried up the marble staircase, took a couple of concealed short cuts and had soon left most of the crowds behind.
I had been stupid not to expect this, I thought angrily as we walked through the much emptier upstairs corridors. Of course everyone was staring at me; I had emerged from the Triwizard maze two months previously clutching the dead body of a fellow student and claiming to have seen Lord Voldemort return to power. There had not been time last term to explain myself before they'd all had to go home - even if I had felt up to giving the whole school a detailed account of the terrible events in that graveyard.
We had reached the end of the corridor to the Gryffindor common room and come to a halt in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady before I realized that I did not know the new password.
"Er . . ." I said glumly, staring up at the Fat Lady, who smoothed the folds of her pink satin dress and looked sternly back at me.
"No password, no entrance," she said loftily.
"Harry, I know it!" Someone panted up behind him and he turned to see Neville jogging towards him. "Guess what it is? I'm actually going to be able to remember it for once - " He waved the stunted little cactus he had shown them on the train. "Mimbuius mimbletonia!"
"Correct," said the Fat Lady, and her portrait swung open towards them like a door, revealing a circular hole in the wall behind, through which Harry, Lyra, and Neville now climbed.
The Gryffindor common room looked as welcoming as ever, a cosy circular tower room full of dilapidated squashy armchairs and rickety old tables. A fire was crackling merrily in the grate and a few people were warming their hands by it before going up to their dormitories; on the other side of the room Fred and George were pinning something up on the noticeboard. Harry waved goodnight to them and headed straight for the door to the boys' dormitories; he was not in much of a mood for talking at the moment. Neville followed him. As did Lyra.
Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had reached the dormitory first and were in the process of covering the walls beside their beds with posters and photographs. They had been talking as I pushed open the door but stopped abruptly the moment they saw me. I wondered whether they had been talking about me, then whether I was being paranoid.
"So why's Black here?" Ron asked from his bed where he was putting his stuff.
"Oh, well, I was going to talk with Harry about his moving from this dorm tomorrow." She said when the other two noticed her.
"Why?" Demon asked.
"We're both moving into the same dorm." She said.
"But that's against the rules?" He asked.
"Normally yes but-" She began but I interrupted.
"Good holiday Dean?" I asked.
"Okay." he chuckled, as a true account of his holiday would have taken most of the night to relate and he could not face it. "You?"
"Great." I said
Dean chukcled again. "Better than Seamus's, anyway, he was just telling me."
"Why, what happened, Seamus?" Neville asked as he placed his Mimbuius mimbletonia tenderly on his bedside cabinet.
Seamus did not answer immediately; he was making rather a meal of ensuring that his poster of the Kenmare Kestrels Quidditch team was quite straight. Then he said, with his back still turned to me, 'Me mam didn't want me to come back.'
"What?" I asked, pausing in the act of pulling off my robes.
"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."
Seamus turned away from his poster and pulled his own pyjamas out of his trunk, still not looking at me.
"But - why?" I said, astonished. I knew that Seamus's mother was a witch and could not understand, therefore, why she should have come over so Dursleyish.
Seamus did not answer until he had finished buttoning his pyjamas.
"Well," I said in a measured voice, "I suppose . . . because of you."
"What d'you mean?" I said quickly.
My heart was beating rather fast. I felt vaguely as though something was closing in on me.
"Well," said Seamus again, still avoiding my eyes, "she . . . er . . . well, it's not just you, it's Dumbledore, too . . ."
"She believes the Daily Prophet?" I said. "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"
Seamus looked up at me.
"Yeah, something like that."
I said nothing as I threw my wand down on to my bedside table, pulled off my robes, stuffed them angrily into my trunk and pulled on my pyjamas. I was sick of it: sick of being the person who is stared at and talked about all the time. If any of them knew, if any of them had the faintest idea what it felt like to be the one all these things had happened to . . . Mrs Finnigan had no idea, the stupid woman, I thought savagely.
I sat on my bed and made to talk to the patiently waiting Lyra, who had turned around while we were all changing, but before I could do so, Seamus said, "Look . . . what did happen that night when . . . you know, when . . . with Cedric Diggory and all?"
Seamus sounded nervous and eager at the same time. Dean, who had been bending over his trunk trying to retrieve a slipper, went oddly still and I knew he was listening hard.
"What are you asking me for?" Harry retorted. "Just read the Daily Prophet like your mother, why don't you? That'll tell you all you need to know."
"Don't you have a go at my mother," Seamus snapped.
"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar," said Harry.
"Don't talk to me like that!"
"I'll talk to you how I want," said Harry, his temper rising so fast he snatched his wand back from his bedside table. "If you've got a problem sharing a dormitory with me, go and ask McGonagall if you can be moved . . . stop your mummy worrying - "
"Leave my mother out of this, Potter!"
"What's going on?"
Lyra had turned around most likely worried. Her wide eyes travelled from me, kneeling on my bed with my wand pointing at Seamus, to Seamus, who was standing there with his fists raised.
"He's having a go at my mother!" Seamus yelled.
"She believes every word the stinking Daily Prophet writes about me!" I said at the top of my voice.
"Oh," She said , comprehension dawning across her confused face. "Oh . . . right."
"You know what?" said Seamus heatedly, casting me a venomous look. "He's right, I don't want to share a dormitory with him any more, he's mad."
"You are insulting the head of three powerful houses by blood and one by conquest, Seamus Finnigan," she said her eye glinting with anger.
"Am I?" shouted Seamus "You believe all the rubbish he's come out with about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon he's telling the truth?"
"Yeah, I do believe him, as his fiance I happen to know he is right!" Lyra yelled angrily her hair turning blood red.
"Then you're mad, too," said Seamus in disgust then blinked,"Wait fiance?"
"Yes, unfortunately for you I'm also the head of the LeFay and Slytherin houses' She said Ron, pointing her wand at him 'So unless you want me to hex your balls off, watch how you speak to me and him!"
Seamus paled as well as the rest of us but with a noise of contempt he turned on his heel, vaulted into bed and pulled the hangings shut with such violence that they were ripped from the bed and fell in a dusty pile to the floor. She glared at Seamus, then looked at Ron,Dean, and Neville.
"Anyone else's parents got a problem with Harry?" She asked her eyes the same color as her hair.
"My parents are Muggles, mate," said Dean, shrugging. "They don't know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, because I'm not stupid enough to tell them."
"You don't know my mother, she'd weasel anything out of anyone!" Seamus snapped at him. "Anyway, your parents don't get the Daily Prophet. They don't know our Headmaster's been sacked from the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards because he's losing his marbles - "
"My gran says that's rubbish," piped up Neville. 'She says it's the Daily Prophet that's going downhill, not Dumbledore. She's cancelled our subscription. We believe Harry," said Neville simply. I noticed he didn't say they believed Dumbledore, they believed me. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin, looking owlishly over them at Seamus. "My grans always said You-Know-Who would come back one day. She says if Harry says he's back, he's back."
I felt a rush of gratitude towards Neville. Nobody else said anything. Seamus got out his wand, repaired the bed hangings and vanished behind them. Dean got into bed, rolled over and fell silent. Neville, who appeared to have nothing more to say either, was gazing fondly at his moonlit cactus and Ron was currently not even looking in her direction his face pale.
I layed back on my pillows,"Harry, Uncle Sev said he'll move our stuff to the secret dorm tomorrow morning during breakfast see you tomorrow." Lyra said stomping out with a wave towards Seamus' bed and a quick Diffindo cutting the curtains down.
So once again I hope you liked it but honestly there wasn't much I felt could be changed, to be honest because they can't do much just yet, but as we go on more might change, so as usual I will love reviews and the follows and favorites always help.
