Man, there's so much stuff going down. It's a he'll of a lot of fun to write about though. There's so much more in stall to come as well! Yay! Please remember to review, fave and follow, coz I'd really appreciate it and it would help me a lot. Thanks to the support so far :)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything.
Chapter 10 - John.
"What the actual hell," John thought to himself. He knew Malfoy was a git but this was absolutely insane. Why would he make something like that up? Probably because he knew it would freak them out for a bit.
He looked over at Clara. She was looking extremely miserable, and this confused John a lot. What Malfoy said wasn't true, so why she so upset by it. Perhaps she knew something that he didn't.
"Are you okay, Clara?" John asked her.
"I have no idea, John," she said.
"Why? It's obvious that Malfoy was just trying to wind us up. You shouldn't think anything of it," he said, trying to make her feel better. But it obviously wasn't working.
"But that's the thing. I am thinking about it and I probably will be for ages now. I'm trying to puzzle it all together and hope that it isn't true. It's alright for you, your mum isn't married," Clara said. She was stressing out a lot.
"Woah, you think I'd be happy with it? My mum has always been devoted to my dad, even after he died, so I wouldn't believe for a second that she's fallen for your dad. Besides, we haven't noticed anything odd, have we?" He said.
"I guess not, but with the whole thing about my dad and his mood for the past few years got me thinking. I guess he still loved my mum then, but not like before," Clara said thinking.
"You're thinking too much, Clara. You need to calm down. It's probably nothing," John said. And then as if on cue, the new first years began to file into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony. Hopefully, this would take Clara's mind off things.
The Sorting Ceremony was pretty boring as usual, as John didn't know anyone. He clapped for all the new Ravenclaws, but didn't bother with the others. He was starting to get hungry now, and he just wanted to eat. Luckily, Dumbledore invited them to shortly afterwards.
"You know, John. You're right, I'm being a miserable sod. But look, we're back at Hogwarts. Isn't that fantastic?" Clara said with broad smile.
"I always heard that girls had mood swings, but I wasn't really expecting it from you," John said.
"Why not? I am girl, after all," Clara said.
"Don't worry. It's good to have happy Clara back though. But with regret, I have to remind you that it's our OWL year, so it may not be as amazing as you think," John said.
"Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about that. Ah, well," she said.
They tucked in to the their food and joined in with everyone else's jolly mood. It was a really great feast for John, as he fulfilled his hunger and had a good time. But when it was over, and all the food vanished, he was interested to see who the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was, along with everyone else.
"Do you reckon it's that one there? The woman in pink," Terry Boot said, pointing to a woman with toad-like features. She was wearing bright pink robes, and she had a disgusting matching handbag sitting on the table beside her.
"I hope not. She looks a bit... well, odd," John said, as he watched her look around the hall with a very cheesy smile. She seemed nice, but that was only down to the fact that she was a small, old lady, but there was something most of them didn't like about her already, and they weren't exactly sure what.
"I hope she has some other robes as well. Those ones make my eyes hurt," Clara said.
Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. He announced his usual welcome towards everyone, especially the first years, and then he went through some of the rules. They were pretty much the same as usual, so John didn't take much notice of them. Then the Headmaster introduced the new teachers. He started by mentioning that Hagrid was away and would be replaced by Professor Grubbly-Plank until he returned.
This puzzled many of them, making them wonder why Hagrid was away. But before they could start talking about it, Dumbledore swiftly moved on. He introduced the old, pink lady as Dolores Umbridge.
As Dumbledore was about to carry on, however, there was a small girly cough from behind him. "Hem, hem,"
Everyone looked at Professor Umbridge, as she was the one who had made the cough. She stood up as everyone looked, and with her sarcastic looking smile, she made her way in front of Dumbledore. She began a weird speech which John decided not to listen to. He turned over to Clara but she was intently listening to Umbridge. She looked at him and raised her eyebrows.
He looked back at Umbridge, and she was saying something about something being prohibited. She then finished, and then sat back down in her place at the table. Many people looked around uncertainly.
"What was that? I didn't listen," John said.
"I have no clue. But it didn't sound good. She's so patronising," Clara said.
"I think she's from the Ministry. I mean, she sounded like she was speaking on behalf of the Minister. That can't be good, right?" Anthony said.
"Oh dear," Clara said.
"Wait, what?" John asked. He wasn't catching any of this.
"Well, think about it, John. Fudge hates Dumbledore at the moment, so if he's bringing in his own staff, that can't be a good sign," Clara said.
"Hmm, I guess not," John said.
The feast ended and then all students had to make their way up to their Common Rooms. Clara, begin a Prefect, had the responsibility of gathering up all the Ravenclaw first years and leading them to the Common Room.
"I'll see you later," John said to Clara. He had to go up ahead with the rest of the students, so he slowly walked up the stairs, flowing with the crowd. It took a while, but he finally reached the Ravenclaw Common Room. There were a couple of armchairs left at the back of the room when he arrived, so he decided to take one and save the other for Clara.
Eventually, she came up along with her first years. She talked to them about the Common Room and the dormitories, while pointing to things. John watched her in admiration as she answered a question of one of the first years. She seemed like someone who would make an amazing teacher.
When she finished up with them, she looked around, and when her eyes met John's, she smiled and made her way over to him.
"Hello there, miss Prefect. You are amazing at that stuff with the little ones. You'd make a great teacher, you know," he said, as she sat down next to him.
"You think so?" she asked him.
"I know so," he said.
She smiled. "Thanks, John. You're such a nice guy. I think I'm going to call it a night, though. I am absolutely shattered, I need to get some rest," Clara said, before forcing herself out of her chair and sticking out her hands towards him. "You coming?"
He was confused for a second on what she meant, but then he realised he was being stupid and took her hand. "Yep," he said, getting up too.
Aw...