I don't own Harry Potter. Still.
A bit shorter than the last two chapters, but that's just the way it fell. Also, this is confirmation that I have not abandoned Emerald and Argent for Foxes Fate.
Dinner in the Great Hall was a decidedly odd experience for Sarah. While she was relieved that some of the stares had been shifted from her, the way that the whispers and stares were focussing on Orion made her increasingly nervous. Orion was more even tempered than Sarah, but the episode with Umbridge showed he had his limit…if he snapped, there would be absolute chaos. Fortunately, Orion took it all in good humour.
"You know," he said, fairly loudly, "You would think that the Gryffindor's would actually confront me directly rather than whispering like Slytherins. And the Slytherins should maybe live up to their name and be subtle for once?"
As the Gryffindors flushed Sarah nodded.
"The Houses certainly have less differences than I thought." She agreed blandly, ignoring the Slytherin and Gryffindor glares. They would get over it, she thought unsympathetically. Orion was talking again.
"As well as that, I would expect them to have at least some intelligence. It's like I heard happened in your Second Year, Sarah: they go out of their way to offend people they're afraid of. You would think that they would try to get on the good side of someone who they are frightened of. And the Hufflepuffs are supposed to be all fair minded- they're condemning me based on who my father was!"
"No-one ever said that students have any more common sense than adults." Theia commented from her place beside Orion.
"And these lot are particularly bad. I wonder if they realise that by picking on you they're picking on an orphan? That's right up there with kicking puppies in my book." Orion said idly, looking at Sarah. Pretty much all of the other students who could hear the conversation were looking uncomfortable now, and Sarah decided that it was probably time to stop Orion from tormenting them, satisfying as watching a good three quarters of the school squirm was.
"Come on," Sarah said, "All the staring is getting to me."
Orion murmured something to Theia, who nodded and wandered off as Orion and Hermione stood with Sarah. Ron looked longingly at his half eaten dessert, but obediently followed them as they strode out of the hall and along the corridors to the Gryffindor tower.
"It's been a long day." Sarah grumbled, feeling as though she had been back for a week. If Orion's OWL year really had been worse than this she was surprised that he had passed any of his exams. Hermione glanced at Sarah, but didn't say anything as Sarah gave the password to open the Common Room door. The four of them entered and flopped down in chairs next to the fire: almost everyone was still at dinner and the room was practically empty. Orion leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
"At least Umbridge didn't give me detention." He commented. Sarah looked at him.
"Are her detentions that bad?" she asked. Orion cracked open one eye, and held out his right hand, palm down.
"See on the back?" he asked. Sarah squinted, and saw a faint tracing of white scar tissue. It looked like…words.
"'I must not tell lies'. How did that happen?" Hermione demanded, sounding horrified. Orion sighed.
"Umbridge made me write lines, with a quill that used my blood as the ink. She made sure to give me very regular detentions…the scar's actually faded quite a bit over the years."
"That's horrible!" Hermione said. Orion shrugged.
"All in the past now. I'm mainly telling you so that you know to be careful around her- she'll be trying to give you detention, Sarah. And me too, probably."
"We should do something about her." Sarah said sourly. Orion, eyes closed again, smiled.
"Murder is always an option." He suggested. Sarah considered.
"There are a lot of stairs in Hogwarts…"
"Sarah! I can't believe you're even considering this!" Hermione squawked. Orion laughed.
"Good thing I put up that privacy charm, isn't it? Calm down Hermione, we aren't going to murder Umbridge. Probably."
Sarah put on a disappointed expression, more to wind up Hermione than any other reason. It didn't work, surprisingly, and Hermione slumped down and coaxed Crookshanks onto her lap, scratching the cat behind the ears in a desultory fashion.
"How could Dumbledore hire that woman?" she complained. Ron shrugged.
"Probably wasn't any other choice. Besides, we've never had many great DADA teachers- only Lupin." He said. Hermione scowled and nodded. Orion pulled out a mirror and balanced it on his seat, just as the face of Theia appeared in it.
"This could be more convenient, but the modifications seem to be working." Theia said. Sarah glanced at the mirror and raised an eyebrow- the image of Theia wasn't moving.
"Sound only, so that Theia doesn't have to hold it up in front of her face." Orion explained. Sarah nodded.
"So, do you have a plan for bringing down Umbridge?" she asked. Orion sighed.
"It's all a cycle. Umbridge is linked to Fudge, so we have to bring down Fudge to bring down Umbridge. The best way to do that would be public humiliation or proving that Voldemort is back. If we could get Sirius a trial the truth would end Fudge. But…"
"We can't get Sirius a trial without the Kiss-on-Sight order being rescinded. We can't have the order rescinded unless it is seen that Sirius never got a trial, and Fudge and Umbridge will cover that up, so we have to deal with Fudge to get the documents to spark the trial that would bring down Fudge." Sarah said gloomily. Orion nodded.
"A cycle, see?"
"Don't you have even a poor plan?" asked Ron. Orion considered, and so did Sarah.
"Amelia Bones is supposed to be a fair person." Theia said quietly. Sarah frowned slightly.
"The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? Wouldn't she have access to trial records?"
"Not sure. Not if the records are sealed by the Minister. Of course, if Umbridge does as I said and checks if there are records…"
"If Bones is there to check as well, she'll have her proof to rescind the Kiss-on-Sight order!"
"But Umbridge and Fudge will probably try to cover it up." Orion finished. Sarah swore, and Hermione gave her a reproving look.
"So we go on as we have been? Try to keep our heads down, hope Voldie does something stupid and reveals himself?" she asked sourly. Orion smiled.
"Odds are Voldie will do something and reveal himself- he isn't exactly a full shilling, is he? But I didn't say we had to keep our heads down. I'll owl Amelia Bones, it might be more believable if I play the pitiable orphan card, maybe something will get done. I just won't get my hopes up that the Ministry sanctioned scapegoat of the past few years will be miraculously cleared of all charges."
Sarah shrugged and muttered agreement, but Hermione had been distracted by Fred and George who, in a corner of the common room, were handing out something from paper bags to a bunch of unsuspecting First-Years.
"That's it, they've gone too far!" Hermione said, looking angry. Ron blinked.
"It might not be what it looks like." He suggested weakly. Hermione gave him a look that, in Sarah's opinion, was as effective as a volley of Unforgivable curses in silencing him.
"You know as well as I do that those things they're giving out are Puking Pastilles or Nosebleed Nougat or-"
"Blackout Bites?" Orion suggested, looking amused. Sarah rolled her eyes at him.
"Fainting Fancies." She corrected as the First Years, with a minimum of drama, slumped to the floor.
"I think mine sounds better." Orion opined as people laughed at the First years. Hermione squared her shoulders and marched across to the Twins. Ron shifted as though he wold get up, then sank down into his chair.
"She's got it under control." He said, under the sceptical gaze of Sarah and Orion. Orion shook his head, but said nothing. Hermione had reached Fred and George, who were now making observations on clipboards while their friend Lee Jordan went around inserting purple sweets into the mouths of the unconscious First-years.
"That's enough!" Hermione snapped, drawing the attention of Fred, who tried to play dumb.
"Yeah, I think the dose is large enough." He said. Hermione fixed him with a glare that didn't seem to faze him.
"I told you this morning that you can't test this rubbish on students!"
"Actually, you only said we couldn't advertise for testers. And we're paying them." George protested.
"I don't care! It could be dangerous!"
"Rubbish." Fred said, unwisely provoking Hermione still further.
"You know, she does actually have a point." Sarah commented to Orion and the mirror image of Theia. Orion nodded, and Theia gave verbal agreement. Hermione was still menacing the Twins. Luckily, the First-Years were beginning to wake up, which would hopefully forestall an explosion from Hermione- unless the Twins said something stupid.
"Feeling all right?" George asked a small girl lying at his feet. She blinked up at him.
"I think so." She said, a little shakily.
"Excellent." Beamed Fred, but Hermione snatched both the clipboard and the bag of Fancies from his hands.
"It is not excellent!"
"They're alive, aren't they?" Fred said. Orion buried his head in his hands, and Sarah heard him mumble something that she was sure contained the phrase 'Put the shovel down'. Sarah had to agree, the Twins needed to stop digging the hole they were in deeper.
"What if one of them was hurt?" Hermione demanded. "What if them got really ill?"
"We're not going to make them ill, we test all of our products on ourselves first. This is just to see if they work the same on everyone." Fred said. Orion sighed, and even Sarah could spot the logical fallacy in that- what if the Fancies didn't work the same on everyone, and hurt someone? Hermione, however, seemed in no mood for logic.
"If you don't stop this I'll-"
"Put us in detention?" Fred asked, in a voice that suggested he'd like to see her try. George smirked.
"Make us write lines?" he suggested. Onlookers were laughing: Sarah, Orion and Ron, who all knew Hermione, shrank back into their seats as Hermione drew herself up to her full height, eyes narrowed and hair seeming to crackle with electricity. Her voice quavered with anger.
"No," she said quietly, "But I would write to your mother."
The Twins lost their smiles in an instant.
"You wouldn't." George said in horror, backing away from her. Hermione smiled grimly.
"Oh yes I would. I can't stop you eating the stupid things yourselves, but you're not giving them to the First-Years."
Fred and George looked stunned; it was clear that they considered Hermione's threat to be below the belt. With a triumphantly threatening look Hermione shoved the clipboard and bag of sweets back into Fred's arms and stalked back to her chair by the fire.
"Thank you for your support, Ron." She said. Ron had sunk so far down in his chair that his nose was level with his knees.
"You had it handled." He mumbled. Hermione eyed him coldly as Orion and Sarah went back to homework, with the occasional comment by Theia. After a minute or so Hermione snapped her book shut.
"Oh, it's no good. I can't concentrate now. I'm going to bed."
She opened her back and pulled out two misshapen woolly objects, placing them on a table and covering them with screwed up bits of parchment and a broken quill.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked cautiously. Hermione glanced at him.
"They're hats for House-Elves." She said briskly, packing her books away. "I did them over the summer. I'm a slow knitter, but now that I'm back at school and can perform magic I should be able to make lots more."
"You're leaving out hats for House-Elves. And covering them up with rubbish first." Ron said slowly. Sarah exchanged a glance with Orion, who shrugged.
"Yes." Hermione said, swinging her bag onto her back. Ron frowned.
"You're trying to trick them into picking up clothes! You want to set them free when they don't want to be free!"
"Of course they want to be free!" Hermione said haughtily. Sarah raised an eyebrow, remembering that of all the Elves she had ever met only Dobby showed any indication of wanting to be free- and he was, well, a nutcase. Hermione was glaring at Ron.
"Don't you dare touch those hats Ron!" she said, before turning on her heel and leaving. Ron waited until she had left, then cleared the rubbish off the hats. Orion sighed.
"Move your hand." He said, before brandishing his wand and Vanishing the hats in two quick movements. Ron looked at him in horror.
"Technically Hermione only told you not to touch the hats. Also, if I remember rightly, the Elves took it as an insult and refused to clean the Tower. Dobby ended up taking all the hats and doing all the cleaning." Orion said with a shrug. Sarah shrugged.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her, I suppose. Can you give me a hand with this essay?"
Orion nodded.
"No problem. But just this one for Snape. It's been a long day."
The next morning Hermione looked quite pleased as she sat at the breakfast table. Ron made the mistake of asking what she was happy about, to which she replied that it looked like the House-Elves did want their freedom after all, as the hats were gone. Sarah held a guilt-free expression and envied Orion, who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Theia and Luna today. Sarah just hoped Ron would stay quiet. That day they had Double Charms, where they sat through a talk on how important OWLs were and then revised Summoning Charms, something Sarah had mastered last year and so was easy, although she didn't appreciate the large amount of homework they were set. The next lesson was Double Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall gave a similar speech.
"You cannot pass an OWL without serious application, practice and study" she said, looking around the room, "However, I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration so long as they put in the work."
Neville made a little noise of disbelief, and McGonagall turned her gaze onto him.
"Yes, you too, Longbottom. There is nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence."
And a poorly matched wand, Sarah mentally added. She wondered if she could find a way to help him in that regard. The Professor continued, "Today we are starting on Vanishing Spells, which are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level."
Sarah was going to kill Orion. He had told them that Conjuring like he usually did in duels was easy. Although…with tutoring from him Sarah had become quite proficient in Transfiguration, better than Hermione in fact. It seemed that, much like Orion, her strengths lay in brute force spells and Transfiguration. Sarah looked at the snail she was supposed to be Vanishing. This was the important thing, she knew: Orion had explained that the incantation was much less important for Transfiguration than other disciplines. To work Transfiguration Orion tended to visualise the transformation and push his magic to replicate it, a method Sarah had copied. Focusing, Sarah closed her eyes and imagined the snail slowly disappearing from existence. She said the incantation, opened her eyes, and blinked in shock at her empty desk.
"I did it." She muttered, not entirely believing it. Professor McGonagall walked across and blinked owlishly at the empty desk.
"Well done Miss Potter. I see you have managed on your first try. Remarkable. I wonder, can you do it again?"
Sarah shrugged and agreed to try. This time, under the eyes of half the class, Sarah kept watching the snail, looking with interest as it slowly became paler and paler before fading entirely. McGonagall nodded.
"Not quite as fast as it should be but excellent for a second try. Mr Argent, would you care to try?"
Orion smiled, drawled the incantation and flicked his wand. The snail vanished almost instantaneously, and McGonagall gave a brief smile.
"Well done. Ten points to Gryffindor, both of you." She said. Everyone else went back to practising, and Sarah watched with interest as Orion leaned across to Neville, engaging him in conversation and making suggestions as to how he could improve his spellwork. Sarah leaned over to them.
"How come my snail took ages to Vanish but yours went almost immediately?" she asked Orion, genuinely curious. Orion glanced at her.
"Partly practice. Also, the process I use- the one you copied- does have that as a flaw if you aren't entirely confident in it. It usually takes practice to get the Transfiguration to work almost immediately." He replied, before turning back to Neville, who was still struggling. Orion eyes the wand Neville was holding.
"Neville," he said delicately, "Whose wand is that you're using?"
Neville looked at Orion in confusion and embarrassment.
"My dad's. My Gran says that I should use it." He muttered. Orion carefully drew his features into an expression of sympathy.
"I'm sure your dad would be proud of you," he said carefully, "But wands are…temperamental sometimes. You know that most wands won't work properly for someone who wasn't…chosen…by the wand?"
Neville's expression suggested that it was news to him, so Orion continued. McGonagall seemed to be surreptitiously listening in, but she looked almost approving, Sarah thought.
"For instance…well, Sarah and I are a bad example, our wands work the same for both of us for some reason," Orion said, managing to look confused despite knowing full well why their wands worked just as well for either of them, "But if I used Ron's wand, for example, it wouldn't work correctly. So your dad's wand might be holding you back…here, try this. It's a 'blank' wand, so it isn't as good as a personalised wand, but it won't resist you." Orion said. Sarah wondered how much thought Orion had put into setting this up, as Neville took the wand and, on Orion's advice, cast a few minor spells that worked almost flawlessly before returning to Vanishing Spells under Orion's tutelage.
By the end of the lesson Sarah had managed to Vanish a snail almost as fast as Orion, and Hermione had also managed to Vanish her snail: as such, they were the only ones not told to practice the spell, although Neville had managed to make his snail considerably paler. McGonagall held Orion and Sarah back for a few minute after the class and thanked them for helping Neville, telling them that she would see to it that he got a wand suited to him as soon as possible.
"That's our good deed for the day. Now I'm free to terrorise small children and sneakily injure Malfoy." Orion said happily. Sarah decided that he must be joking, though if he did injure Malfoy…she couldn't find it in herself to care.
Ron, now panicking over the amount of homework he had to do, spent much of the lunch hour in the library, the other three helping him and working on their own homework before heading to Care of Magical Creatures. Perversely, Sarah had always liked Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid when he brought in dangerous creatures: it was at least interesting. Hopefully Professor Grubbly-Plank would have a similarly interesting lesson for them. The Professor was stood behind a wooden bench that looked to be covered in twigs, and she waited for the class to gather around. Malfoy and his cronies were snickering and looking at Sarah, and she idly wondered if the staff took bets on when a class would erupt into a full blown brawl.
"Can anyone tell me what these things are called?" Grubbly-Plank barked, waving at the twigs. Hermione's hand shot into the air: Malfoy, behind her back, did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in her eagerness to answer. Parkinson shrieked in laughter and Sarah clenched her teeth. Happily, Parkinson's shriek turned into a real scream as the twigs leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be small, knobbly creatures. Parvati and Lavender cooed at them, which made Sarah roll her eyes. They were hardly as impressive as Hippogryphs or Salamanders. And the Blast Ended Skrewts…the less said about them the better.
"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" Grubbly-Plank said sharply- and somewhat ironically, in Sarah's view-, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the creatures. "So-anyone know the names of these creatures? Miss Granger?"
"Bowtruckles." Hermione said. "They're tree guardians, usually found in wand trees."
"Quite correct, five points to Gryffindor. Yes, these are Bowtruckles, and they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"
"Woodlice." Hermione said promptly, and Grubbly-Plank nodded and told her to take another five points. The Professor warned them about the sharpness of the Bowtruckle's fingers, then told them to work in groups to draw and label a diagram of the creatures. They split up, Sarah being sent to collect the Bowtruckle. As it happened she found Draco Malfoy there at the same time. Malfoy was smirking, and Sarah wondered if cursing him would be worth the inevitable points loss and detention.
"What's the matter Potter?" Malfoy whispered, apparently having gotten over his Confundus charm incited embarrassment. "Not missing your oafish friend? Haven't you wondered why he isn't back Maybe he got into something too… big for him."
Smirking triumphantly, Malfoy walked away, and Sarah raised an eyebrow at his back and walked across to Ron, Hermione and Orion. Orion was looking at Malfoy with a thoughtful expression, as the ferret boasted about his father's Ministry contacts and how Hagrid would be sacked even if he returned. Sarah saw Orion's lips move slightly, and his wand spark, almost unnoticeable. An instant later the Bowtruckle Malfoy was holding jerked wildly and lashed out at his hand with sharp fingers, leaving several deep scratches and provoking a girlish scream. Sarah looked at Orion reprovingly, but had to smile at the innocent expression he now wore. Even better, Malfoy dropped his Bowtruckle, and it sprinted off to the Forest, garnering Malfoy a scolding from Grubbly-Plank. Sarah was still chuckling as the bell rang and they set off to Herbology. Hermione scolded Orion, but Sarah could tell that her heart wasn't really in it. On the way they met Luna, whom Sarah hadn't really talked to since the train, despite sitting at a meal with her yesterday. She was wearing what looked like orange radishes for earrings today, but Sarah ignored that as Luna outright stated that she believed Sarah that Voldemort was back. Sarah had to say, she appreciated it. She hardly knew Luna, true, but she knew and liked Theia, so that was good enough. Parvati and Lavender were laughing at Luna's earrings.
"You know, it generally isn't polite to laugh at people behind their backs." Orion said quietly, and the two girls quieted quickly. Sarah smiled at Luna and thanked her for her support. It was at that point that Ernie Macmillan also said he believed her, which caused Sarah to wonder if his pompous vote was any better than Luna's oddity. Then again, support was support, and she had only known Luna by name and sight prior to this year: knowing Theia suggested that the oddness was mostly an act. Sarah put it out of her mind and went to Herbology. Once again they had a pre-lesson lecture on how hard OWL year was, before an hour and a half spent working with plants, after which the tired, smelly Gryffindors headed back to the castle for a wash and dinner.
"You would think that they could just get us all together on the first day back and give the whole of Fifth Year the 'OWLs are important' speech in one go." Orion commented, to Sarah's amusement.
With how much homework she had to do, Sarah was even more glad that Orion had forestalled her getting a detention with Umbridge, especially when she was reminded that the Gryffindor Quidditch team Keeper trials were on Friday. With that in mind, Sarah looked at how shifty Ron was acting and suspected he was planning to try out, but she decided to say nothing if he didn't want her to, instead badgering Orion over trying out. Orion stubbornly refused, pointing out that he was a Seeker and the Gryffindor team already had one- Sarah, in fact- but eventually acquiesced that he would at least attend the trials. Sarah fully intended to try to get Angelina to let him on the team as a reserve, though he would need a broomstick. A problem for another time she decided, as they worked on their homework. It was quite useful having Orion and Theia on call as well as Hermione- Hermione was smarter, but had a tendency to regurgitate textbook answers that were harder to understand than Orion's or Theia's answers. Sarah went to bed with most of her homework done, feeling rather more upbeat than she had yesterday.
The rest of the week passed in similar fashion, until they came to Friday, which dawned dull and sodden. Sarah spent the day wondering if Ron really was intending to join them at the Keeper try-outs, and why he hadn't asked her to help him, as she suspected he had been training alone. After dinner Sarah dragged Orion down to the pitch, despite his protests.
"I'm crippled, Sarah! I can hardly play a sport!" he said. Sarah gave him a level glare that he automatically shrank from.
"You're riding a broom, Orion. Not being able to run is hardly an issue. Besides, I'm probably the most likely person in the school to get injured, so Gryffindor needs another Seeker. Especially as Umbridge is after me."
Orion grumbled weakly, but Sarah shut him up with a glare. The rest of the team was already there. With the Keeper hopefuls clustered off to the side of the pitch. Angelina looked quizzically at Sarah and Orion. Sarah shrugged.
"Since I've been injured two out of three Quidditch finals, I thought it might be a good idea to have a backup Seeker, so I brought Orion along for you to test him." She said. Angelina looked at Orion thoughtfully.
"Can he fly?" she asked. Sarah rolled her eyes and pushed her Firebolt into Orion's hands without even looking at him. Orion sighed and kicked off, leaving his cane in Sarah's hands. Sarah had to admit, Orion was an excellent flier. Not quite as acrobatic as she was, his knee made it more difficult, but Sarah estimated that he was still a better flier than any other Seeker in the school. Except her, of course. Angelina looked impressed as he landed.
"Well, not sure how good you are at catching the Snitch, Argent. But you might as well come to some training sessions…I suppose Sarah has a point about her getting injured a lot. Now, we'd best get on to getting another Keeper, yes?"
Sarah shrugged and retrieved her broom from Orion, who walked off towards the stands. Sarah wasn't entirely sure why the whole team had to be here, especially since she was a Seeker- the position was probably the least social of the entire team. Nonetheless, she watched and gave her opinion on how well the Keeper hopefuls did. For the most part they were…well, not fabulous. The best two were actually Vicky Frobisher and George Hooper, but Hooper whines all the time and Frobisher had said that if Quidditch clashed with her Charms Club she'd put Charms first, which wasn't the best stance for a Quidditch player to take. After those two came Ron, who, in Angelina's opinion, would be decent with a bit of training. Sarah reckoned that Ron just had issues with confidence, and that he had more talent than he showed- at least, she hoped that was the case. Once the trials were over they headed back to the Common Room. They were walking in a group, with Sarah and Orion at the back, when a sharp spike of pain lanced through Sarah's forehead. She gasped and stumbled slightly, and Orion caught her forearm to keep her up.
"Are you alright?" he asked, looking at her. Sarah managed a weak smile.
"Fine-" she started to lie, but Orion shook his head.
"Remember who you're talking to, Sarah. I know you aren't fine. Your scar?"
Sarah nodded silently. Orion flicked his wand in what Sarah recognised as his preferred privacy charm before she spoke again.
"I really thought that Occlumency would help with my scar." Sarah said gloomily. Orion looked at her with sympathy.
"I should have done…although. I have a theory. Well, Theia has a theory."
"What?"
"You remember Theia saying that our attempts at testing out your Occlumency might be failing because our minds were basically the same?"
Sarah nodded, and Orion continued.
"Well, the scar holds a piece of Voldemort's soul. Occlumency is supposed to prevent outside influences, but…"
"That soul fragment is the conduit, and it's internal." Sarah muttered, seeing what he meant. "So how could I stop my scar from hurting?"
Orion hummed and chewed his lip in thought.
"I don't think you can." He eventually admitted. "I think that only Voldemort can stop his emotions from projecting onto you, just as your emotions are probably projecting onto him. However…in theory, Occlumency should be able to let to tell more easily if he is faking any visions he sends you."
"Like the vision of Sirius being tortured that he sent you during your Fifth year?" Sarah asked. Orion nodded, and changed the subject slightly.
"You know, I missed the Keeper try-outs in my Fifth year. I was in detention all week." He said. Sarah thought about that.
"So that means that when your scar hurt…"
"As far as I can recall, I was standing right next to Umbridge. The sadistic bitch was examining the cut in my hand. My scar hurting…just the icing on the cake concerning confirmation of how evil she is." Orion confirmed. Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"So is she a Death Eater or not?"
"Nope. Well, not really. She collaborated with Voldemort's government, if I recall correctly, and she is so biased against non-Purebloods, non-pure humans and so on that she almost seems like a caricature sometimes." He said. Sarah shuddered.
"She's practically worse than Voldemort. At least he doesn't have that sickeningly sweet falseness." She said. Orion laughed.
The team climbed through the portrait hole to the Common Room with Fred and George trying to persuade everyone to join a party, but Sarah managed to slip away to find Hermione. The smartest member of the trio was dozing in a chair, but she jerked awake as Sarah sat next to her.
"Hey," Sarah said, smiling. Hermione blinked sleepily at her, and looked around the Common Room.
"Oh, so Ron got the spot? Good. I'm just so...tired. I was up until one o'clock making more hats, they're disappearing like mad!"
Sarah glanced around the room and, indeed, there were woolly hats concealed all around the room were an unwary elf might pick them up. Sarah suspected that Orion was getting a lot of Vanishing Spell practice, and the thought made her force her face into neutrality.
"Sarah?" Hermione asked, and Sarah realised that she had lapsed into silence thinking about Orion Vanishing the hats.
"Oh…just glad that it's the weekend." She lied hastily. Hermione looked at her, but luckily she was too tired to question any further. Sarah stretched and sighed.
"All right, I'm going to bed. Tell Ron I've gone, would you?"
Hermione smiled.
"Oh good. If you're leaving that means I can too. I'm exhausted and I'd like to make some more hats tomorrow. You can help if you like, it's quite fun."
Sarah maintained her expression of vague interest through an act of superhuman determination.
"Oh…well, thanks for the offer, but I've got a load of homework to do…maybe another time, just not tomorrow." She said, and fled to the staircase, leaving a slightly disappointed looking Hermione behind.