Part II: Regency
Chapter V: In Which Umbridge is in Over her Head
No matter what she did, Corinna could not sleep. She kept replaying the events repeatedly in her mind's eye and she could not get them to stop, no matter how much she was tried stopping them. Eventually, with the very dim glow of her wand, she read one of the novels that she borrowed from Uncle Ted. He seemed to like muggle spy novels, in which Corinna found oddly fitting given her situation. They were not her favorite, but they were oddly informative, like not accepting food or drink from a known enemy, and always having a Swiss Army Knife on you—whatever that could be.
She was awake and dressed before dawn, which was why she was surprised to see a flying memo not unlike those that fly around the Ministry. It was Umbridge's tight scrawl telling Corinna to meet her in her office as soon as she received the letter.
Being silent so she did not wake her dormmates, Corinna grabbed her bag for the day and trudged down the stairs to the common room. As Hermione predicted, there was a new note pinned to the announcements board stating that Dolores Jane Umbridge was now the new Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Although it was technically before curfew was lifted, Corinna made her way down to Umbridge's office. She had thought to go to Dumbledore's office, but there is no way that she was able to move into there in just a few short hours. In fact, it looked as if she had not even started packing her things.
"Oh, good, you received my memo," said Umbridge gleefully. She looked like she hadn't slept, but that didn't change her demeaner in the slightest. "I wanted to discuss the events of last night. Tea?" Before Corinna could say no, Umbridge had poured each of them a cup and asked if she wanted any milk or sugar. She declined the add-ins and accepted the cup with no intentions of drinking it. It looked and smelled like the typical black tea that they serve at the school, but she could not be too careful. She thought back to the novel she read the previous night.
"Drink up, before it cools off," said Umbridge. She took a fake sip, her lips never parting open. "Now, tell me, why did you lie to the Minister last night."
Corinna held the cup and saucer close to her chest. "Did you really expect me to say something in front of him?" she asked. "You know what Professor Dumbledore is capable of."
"Cornelius and I were there to protect you, along with two Aurors," said Umbridge impatiently. "We would never have let any harm come to you." After another encouragement to drink, she asked, "You can now safely tell me what you wanted to say."
"Since I had worked my way into gaining trust with Harry Potter, he told me about a meeting happening last night. I gave him my word and went to the Room of Requirement that night. He told me to sign my name on the list as a sign of trust, and I knew I had to do it for you, Professor. You would require proof, especially since I had not been able to get any information for so long. I signed the document but, before anything could really happen, you raided the room with a few other students. I made to come find you, but someone stunned me. I didn't see who. And, well, you were there for the rest of it. I don't want to relive those events, if you don't mind, but I will if you ask that of me.
The lie almost came too easily for Corinna, which scared her. She just reminded herself that Dumbledore and other circumstances laid down the foundation, all she had to do was fill in a few holes that seemed believable. She also did not need to feel for any pimples. Hermione reassured her that if she lied about what happened without any intentions of telling Umbridge what really transpired, then she should be fine. The "should" worried Corinna, but she felt confident in what she said.
"That's quite alright, dear," said Umbridge, but she looked very much annoyed. "I appreciate everything you have done for me. I would have liked results sooner, but that is the nature of the beast." She leaned forward over her desk and held out a small, silver badge that had an 'I' on it. "I hope you will continue to do good work on an official capacity now as part of the Inquisitorial Squad, despite the cowardice you showed last night." Corinna accepted the badge and Umbridge sat back down. "You will have the same rights and responsibilities as a prefect, and so much more. You can now dock house points from students of all houses, and I will ask you to do a few things from time to time such as overseeing detentions and the like. I promise it will not interfere with your studies."
Now that the D.A. is no longer going to happen, there was no reason for Corinna to accept the position. She had no desire to work for this wretched woman. "I don't know if I can do this," she admitted. "I was stunned last time I did something for you."
"Something like this would look excellent on your Ministry application, Miss Crouch," Umbridge reminded, and Corinna had completely forgotten that she told Umbridge she was considering working for them once she was done with school. "I would not squander an opportunity like this to get in the good graces of the Minister. You already have so many negative points against you. I would hate for something worse to come out."
It took all of Corinna's willpower not to stand up and smack Umbridge across the toadish face. She couldn't even be certain what that something worse was or how she found out about them, but she had a few guesses. "Alright," she said as she was backed into a corner. "Thank you for the opportunity, Professor Umbridge."
"That's what I thought." Umbridge looked gleeful again. "Run along to the Great Hall. While in the corridor, keep an eye on students and correct any unwanted behavior."
She didn't specify rules or decrees, simply unwanted behavior. Corinna did not like the sound of that. She gave a curt nod as she set the untouched tea onto her desk and left the office.
"Corinna!" Terry looked relieved to find her heading down to the Great Hall. "I thought for sure you were expelled. I did not know what you were thinking, and I just panicked! What happened?"
Food being the last thing on her mind, she dragged Terry into an unoccupied classroom. She gave him the same rundown as she gave her dormmates the night before, but then added what had occurred in Umbridge's office just that morning.
"She didn't give me a choice," Corinna defended when Terry looked annoyed when she admitted having joined Umbridge's little gang. "She threatened me with releasing more undesirable information. If you haven't already noticed, I have a few things I do not want the general populace to know. And there is no one higher I can complain to and I can't tell her no. I'm fucked, Boot."
Terry gave Corinna a look and he wanted to say something, but the bell rang to signal for students to get to class. "We'll figure this out," he promised. "Just be very, very careful, Corinna."
Corinna had pinned the badge under a fold in her robe so no one would see it, but she was technically still wearing it. But that didn't seem to matter whether people saw it or not. As the entire school learned about the Flight of Dumbledore, people picked up on the fact that Corinna was a double agent. Too bad everyone had wrongly accused her of ultimately working for Umbridge instead of trying to work for the D.A.
The old D.A. members kept glaring at Corinna, and she did what she could to convince them otherwise. She even pointed out that she had six months to say something to Umbridge and didn't to Zacharias Smith when he cornered her during Herbology. "Well, you quickly changed your tune when we were caught," he reminded and she just shoved him out of the way so she could leave the greenhouses. She easily caught up to a group who was listening to Harry's story (which he reassured that Corinna was on their side, which she was relieved about). Ernie added his own anecdote about how Umbridge couldn't get into Dumbledore's office and had herself a tantrum over it.
"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office," said Hermione in the same tone she used last night when discussing these unfortunate turn of events. "Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid, puffed-up, power-crazy, old—"
"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?" Malfoy slid into view just as they were cross into the entrance hall, and was flagged by Crabbe and Goyle. "Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." He just smirked as the others tried to argue with him about it. "I know prefects can't dock points from other houses, Weasel King. But members of the Inquisitorial Squad." He pointed to the badge on his robes similar to the one Corinna had hidden on hers. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points from anyone. So, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new Headmistress. Macmillan, five for contradicting me. Five because I don't like you, Potter. Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that. Crouch, I didn't even see you there, so have five off for being short. Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood Granger, so ten off for that."
"And how about five points from Slytherin since you are being a huge git, Malfoy," said Corinna before Ron could do something stupid like punch Malfoy for the comment he made about Hermione.
"Five points for not hearing me, Crouch. You aren't even a prefect to begin with."
"No, but I am on the Inquisitorial Squad." She stared right at Malfoy's flabbergasted expression as she shifted her robes to show the silver badge pinned there. She did not want to look at the others in the group out of fear. "So, five points from Goyle for not having his shirt tucked in. And let's make it another five from Crabbe for being so slow on the uptake. And ten from you, Malfoy, for being a blood-purist wanker."
Corinna kept up her smirk as Malfoy and his goonies stalked away. They all had looked at the giant hourglasses that were set into the wall to show the different house's standings. Sure enough, it seemed that Slytherin's were the only ones that were left mostly unchanged—only going down a few pebbles from Corinna's attempt at balancing the scales.
"Noticed, have you?" said Fred's voice. He and George were coming down the marble staircase and joined them.
"Malfoy just docked us all fifty points," said Harry furiously. Even as they stood there, more pebbles were disappearing.
"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," said George.
"He never managed to get all the words out due to the fact we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor." When Hermione pointed out that they could get into serious trouble, Fred continued. "Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks. I don't know where we sent him. Anyway, we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."
"Have you ever?" asked Hermione.
"Course we have. Never been expelled, have we?"
"We've always known where to draw the line."
"We might occasional toe across it."
"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem."
"Well, now—"
"—what with Dumbledore gone—"
"—we reckon a bit of mayhem—"
"—is exactly what our dear new Head deserves."
"You can't!" whispered Hermione. "She'd love a reason to expel you."
"You don't get it, Hermione, do you? We don't' care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So, anyway—" Fred checked his watch "—phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch, if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."
"Ten points each to Fred and George for being decent blokes," said Corinna, but the Gryffindor hour glasses remained unmoving, and then went down again. "I guess I can only dock points."
"At least we have one on our side," George said. "Now, as we said, move along."
As they were all about to head into the Great Hall (with Ernie saying something about unfinished homework and scurrying in the opposite way), Filch stopped Harry and told him that Umbridge wanted to see him. He hesitantly followed after him, leaving Hermione, Ron, and Corinna to find seats on the table. They stuck close to the doors.
"Why are you still working for that awful woman?" Hermione asked as no one made a move to put food on their plates.
"I didn't have much of a choice since she basically threatened me," admitted Corinna. "Besides, maybe it's a good thing that I am doing this. I can at least dock points from Slytherin."
"Until she asks you do something horrid," said Hermione. "I hope Harry's alright."
"Do you reckon he's going to get in trouble despite what Dumbledore did?" asked Ron.
"I have a feeling Umbridge doesn't give a damn about the D.A. anymore," said Corinna as she tapped her foot impatiently. "That got rid of Dumbledore. She's probably moving on to something else."
The three of them fell silent, worried about exactly what Umbridge intended to do now that she had all the power. Of course, the tension was short lived as a loud boom went off and the castle shook.
"There we go," said Hermione as the three of them scrambled up and followed the crowd to see what happened. A couple floors up, someone had set off a crate of enchanted fireworks. It was pandemonium as fireworks of various shapes and sizes whizzed through the air. Corinna didn't even have to stand on her tip-toes to see the chaos as it reigned throughout the corridor. Curses were sent flying throughout the air to combat them, but it seemed to only make things worse whenever they were hit with a spell.
The fireworks reigned throughout the entire afternoon. The teachers didn't seem to pay them no mind, only sending a student to find Umbridge in order for her to take care of them. As Flitwick reminded: "I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether or not I had the authority."
Corinna wished she could have given Fred and George fifty points for the fireworks display, but she had to settle for docking five points here and there whenever she saw a non-Inquisitorial Squad Slytherin doing anything. She gave one for giving her a funny look and another for having untied shoelaces even though they wore slip-ons. But even with her taking points away all willy-nilly, it wasn't enough to even begin counteracting what the others were managing to do.
They had found Montague in the fourth-floor toilets the next night. One of the Inquisitorial Squad had found him, and she had called almost everyone in—including Corinna, much to her annoyance of being pulled from the library. However, in the chaos of Umbridge barking orders to find Professor Snape and finding a way to fully get him out of the toilet, Corinna had managed to Confund Montague so he wouldn't remember how he got there in the first place. It was the least she could do for Fred and George. She wasn't ready for them to leave the school just yet.
As the Easter holidays approached, so did the looming behemoth that was their O.W.L.s. Although she would have loved the idea of getting away from the castle for the short holiday, she knew she shouldn't. Instead, she celebrated the holiday with the eggs that Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted sent her. There was one decorated with the word 'sneak' and she knew that one was from Dora. It brought a smile to Corinna's face. She wondered how Umbridge felt about that when she searched the package.
"Six weeks," Terry muttered under his breath and he shoved another one of Corinna's chocolates in his face. Since food was absolutely forbidden in the library, they had camped out in an abandoned classroom, after Terry used his prefect voice to kick out a couple of snogging fourth years. Since neither of them were Slytherin, Corinna left it at that. As she wasn't one to have a sweet tooth, she let him have whatever he wanted. Which seemed to be all of it. "We only have six bloody weeks until the most important exams of our entire lives."
"No pressure," said Corinna as she organized her notes, going all the way back. These exams were designed to test what they learned since they first began as eleven-year-olds, bright eyed and excited for what was to come. Now, they were frazzled fifteen- or sixteen-year-olds who looked like they haven't had a decent amount of sleep since they were eleven. Corinna certainly felt that way as she considered how to approach her studying.
The Easter holidays also found them looking over pamphlets about the various careers that they had to look forward to, along with having a meeting with the head of house about their options and how to proceed, assuming you have all the O.W.L.s you would need. Hers was scheduled with McGonagall for the very next morning during History of Magic.
Corinna took the pamphlet from Ron about becoming a Healer. It was very demanding as one needed at least an E in numerous classes. She knew she would at least get that with Potions and Defense. Her Charms were passable enough, but she was partially worried about Herbology and Transfiguration. She fancied the idea of helping others, and she already had connections with Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted. She also despised anything that had to do with the Ministry, so she definitely was not going to follow in her cousin's footsteps.
Fred and George joined them and mentioned that Harry wanted to talk to Sirius. Corinna remembered asking Dora about that after their trip to St. Mungo's and it was a wild and crazy tale involving a change in secret keepers for the Potters to someone who ultimately betrayed them, a showdown with said betrayer where he managed to frame Sirius for the murders, and so, so much more. Corinna could barely follow along and kept stopping Dora to ask questions to clarify things.
"You know, I could help," Corinna volunteered after Fred and George told them their plan to create a distraction so Harry could use Umbridge's fireplace to talk to Sirius. "Really throw her off the scent."
"Are you up to the challenge?" asked George.
"Who do you think it was that confunded Montague," she reminded as she crossed her arms. "It would be my pleasure to be involved in something like this." She glanced over at Harry and her heart jumped, but he seemed distracted.
Hermione looked like she was about to have a cow, but Corinna did not care. Just because she wasn't going to be an Auror like Dora doesn't mean she can't make her proud in other ways.
In the middle of History of Magic, Corinna left and made her way to McGonagall's office. Once Lavender Brown's appointment was up, she was called in. McGonagall was sitting behind her desk as expected. However, she did not expect Umbridge to be sitting next to the desk with a quill in hand. She gave Corinna a wide smile and it took all her willpower not to cringe.
"Have a seat, Miss Crouch," McGonagall said as she shifted through a file on her desk. She noticed that Corinna's eyes kept darting over to Umbridge, she continued. "Our Headmistress is sitting in during the career consultations." Corinna noted a tone of disdain. Apparently, their real headmaster would not have done such a thing. "I assume you have considered your career options carefully. I am here to see if it would be a right fit, and what we can do to either fix things or continue with the current course of action."
"Of course," said Corinna. She hadn't expected Umbridge to be there, but she decided against changing what she had planned. "I was thinking about becoming a healer."
"That is a difficult career to get into," said McGonagall as she ignored Umbridge's attempts to draw attention to herself with her usual girly "ahem." "You will need to continue your education after you obtain your N.E.W.T.s, but right now we will focus on what you will need for your O.W.L.s. Your potions are perfect. I think you even have more outstandings than Miss Granger, not that I am comparing my students." After another "ahem," she spoke up louder. "Your Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms are good as you have almost consistently get—yes, Dolores?"
"I am sorry to interrupt, Minerva." Corinna found that statement laughable but kept her face void of humor. "But, I have to admit that I am confused. I thought you confided in me that you had interest in working for the Ministry."
"I considered all the options before me, Professor Umbridge," said Corinna as if the line were rehearsed. "I simply find that I am drawn to becoming a healer more than any of the others I had read about."
"I am sorry to hear that," said Umbridge. "There is an opening for an internship within your father's old department. I was considering putting your name in for consideration."
"Which one?" Knowing what the Weasley twins had planned (well, at least knowing something was planned) and her role in making sure Harry didn't get caught, she couldn't help but feel a little rebellious. "He was the disgraced Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before he was demoted to Head of International Magical Cooperation."
"As I was saying," said McGonagall loudly before Umbridge could interrupt again. "I am sorry to see that Transfiguration is one of your weaker subjects. You will need to study a lot of it you want that exceeds expectations during your examinations, especially during the practical."
"Can I ask why the sudden change of heart?" asked Umbridge before McGonagall could continue with her statement.
"You can ask," said McGonagall coolly and Umbridge flapped her mouth open as if she was trying to catch a fly. "Now, let's finish this up so we don't go over as we did with Miss Brown. Herbology is another one you should focus on. Your practical should be fine as Professor Sprout mentioned you have a good grasp on how to handle the plants, but it's mostly the theory there you should focus your studies. Now, for your electives. They are completely optional for this chosen career path, although Care of Magical Creatures does have a unit about animal injuries during your seventh year if you do continue with that course."
"Especially once we get a competent teacher on the post," added Umbridge.
"We are not hear to discuss teachers," said McGonagall, but she looked like she wanted to say something else. "We are here about Miss Crouch's continued education so she could become a healer. Did you have any alternatives that you would like to look into just in case those plans fall through."
After giving a couple of alternatives, which Corinna made sure had nothing to do with the Ministry, McGonagall dismissed her. Corinna walked out of the office to Umbridge talking loudly.
Corinna didn't care what Umbridge had to say about her career. If her grandfather hadn't turned her off to the idea of being a Ministry sycophant, dealing with Umbridge certainly has.
She let that feeling carry her throughout the day. She wasn't even annoyed when Hermione had decided to turn her anger onto Corinna for volunteering to help with such things. She just tuned her out and focused on the page they were supposed to be translating together.
"If you back off," Hermione hissed, "Harry might back off as well."
"Why would he do that because of me?" asked Corinna, not looking up from her book as she looked up what a peculiar symbol meant.
Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as Professor Babbling headed over to them to check on their progress.
As they walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts later that afternoon, Corinna noted how Umbridge looked even angrier than she had during her career consultation earlier. It was obvious who she kept glaring at, and Corinna could only imagine how Harry's consultation went since he did mention interest in becoming an Auror.
Hermione had not let up her dissuasion against Harry. Corinna could hear her whispering to him when she tried to focus on the textbook, not that she ever really read the book at this point. She had asked Dora to send her old Defense notes that helped her with the O.W.L.s. It was invaluable, and she duplicated it to hand out to the old D.A. members. Some thought that she was still a traitor, but it didn't stop them from accepting the study material.
Would a traitor risk expulsion so someone could talk to their godfather?
As they were being dismissed, an explosion could be heard, right at five o'clock as Fred and George had promised. Hermione was still begging Harry to reconsider when Umbridge ran from the classroom as quickly as her little legs could carry her.
Harry made a break for it and Corinna could barely keep up as the weaved in between students. They made it to where Umbridge's office was located. Harry hid behind a suit of armor and Corinna tried to control her breathing as she stood by the door. There weren't many students hanging out in the corridor as most went to see what the explosion was. Corinna distracted a group of stragglers by making up some ridiculous rule so Harry could use a knife that could unlock any door while under his once-mythical invisibility cloak. Once he closed the door again, Corinna stood in front of the door with her arms firmly crossed. No one would suspect that one of her Inquisitorial Squad would be guarding her door.
The minutes ticked by and Corinna secretly wondered what Harry was talking about. He had been distracted all throughout the Easter holidays. She just hoped that it helps.
There wasn't anyone in the corridor, so she was shocked to see Filch dancing down the hall. She gave a sharp knock on the door to hopefully draw Harry back to the castle.
"And what are you doing here?" asked Filch as he stopped in front of Corinna.
Besides not making it to the toilet during the school stomach bug outbreak during their first year, Corinna had not been face-to-face with Filch's wrath before. He hated all the students for whatever reason, and his list of banned items attached to his office door grew almost every day.
"I got a tip that someone was going to break into Umbridge's office and leave dungbombs," Corinna explained, making sure to adjust her robes so that the badge would be more noticeable. "Figured I could scare them off while Professor Umbridge deals with whatever is going on in the North Tower."
Filch looked Corinna over with narrow eyes. "Well, I have something very important to pick up for the Headmistress," he said, "so I would appreciate it if you would get out of my way."
Hoping to Merlin Harry was underneath his cloak, Corinna stepped aside and Filch barged through. He gave another jig as he opened a drawer and started rifling through it. "Approval for whipping," he muttered to himself. "I can do it at last! They've had it coming to them for years!" He pulled out the piece of parchment and clutched it to his chest like a lovesick woman might do when she received a letter from her beau in one of the muggle romance novels Corinna liked to read.
Corinna gave Filch an odd look and he immediately froze. He straightened up. "I must get this to the Headmistress. Those Weasleys will finally get what they deserve after all these years!"
Filch rushed passed Corinna and she stood by the office door. "Thanks," Harry said from behind, but he was still invisible under the cloak. She ushered for him to move out of the office and she closed the door. They rushed down the stairs and Harry removed the cloak on the landing below. They followed the excitement and shouting all the way down to the Entrance Hall. Everyone was crowded around. She noticed members of the Inquisitorial Squad standing around with their wands trained on the Weasley twins. High above with the poltergeist, Peeves, who was always at the wrong place at the wrong time, in Corinna's opinion. Umbridge was just a few steps below where they were standing, looking triumphant.
"So you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"
"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred. He appeared to be his usual cocky self, standing next to his brother. You would have thought they were standing around in a crowd showing off their latest wares in the common room instead of cornered in the Entrance Hall.
"I've got the form, Headmistress!" shouted Filch as he elbowed his way through the crowd. "I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting. Oh, let me do it now!"
Umbridge nodded curtly. "You two—" she looked back at Fred and George "—are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."
"You know what? I don't think we are." Fred looked over at George. "I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself."
"Time to test our talents in the real world, do you reckon?"
"Definitely."
"Accio brooms!"
There was a loud crash in the distance. Harry dragged Corinna down just in time as two brooms whizzed passed them and made their way down to Fred and George who easily caught them, even if one of them still had an iron chain on it.
"We won't be seeing you."
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch."
They mounted their brooms and looked out at the students. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley—Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat!"
"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad below started moving in towards Fred and George. They had kicked off and started flying out of the Entrance Hall.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves!"
Even students took what Fred shouted at the poltergeist to heart as everyone seemed to want to make Umbridge's life a living hell from then on. Corinna had to sit in on two different groups of detentions as students used the Skiving Snackboxes in droves to avoid going to Umbridge's class. However, since none of them spilled, and Corinna easily pretended not to know the source of their ailments, she had no choice but to let those who were vomiting, bleeding, or fainting out of her class.
While many of the others in the Inquisitorial Squad were running around to try to stop miscreants, she let it happen since those that mattered weren't paying attention to her anyway. They were too busy being pulled in a million different ways.
As the weather was turning nice, Corinna and Terry decided to soak it up, even if that meant getting one of the bedspreads and laying it out onto the lawn with all their study supplies and going over their materials. There wasn't much talking between the two of them, occasionally a snarky comment or two, but they were together focusing on their own separate topics.
In fact, Corinna had considered not going to the finally quidditch game of the season. She didn't think she could stand Terry terrorizing her the whole time. But he convinced her to go, saying that this was going to be their last exciting thing to happen for the rest of the year. Grudgingly, she joined him in the stands. She was fully prepared for his gloating as, in the beginning, especially when Ron let in that first goal within a minute of the whistle being blown. "There's still time to bet, Crouch," Terry jeered as he clapped loudly.
But it was as if a switch was flipped. Ron blocked a couple of goals and he seemed to get a rhythm to it. The two beaters managed to actually hit the other team instead of themselves. And Ginny seemed to time catching the snitch just right so that Gryffindor had enough points to win the cup.
"What was that about betting, Boot?" Corinna shouted as she joined in with her fellow Gryffindors. They all started to sing "Weasley is Our King" but someone along the way changed it that incapsulated the fact that Ron was a good keeper.
"I thought you didn't care about house loyalty," Terry muttered under his breath. Corinna just ignored him and sang along with the crowd.
So, maybe Corinna could see the appeal in quidditch.
The euphoria of winning the quidditch despite being the ones who were unfavored to win last all of the weekend for Corinna. She could only tease and jeer at Terry before it got old and focusing on studies. Now that June had arrived, everything was raised to a fever pitch. If students weren't panicking before about studying, they certainly were now. Lessons no longer included homework as they were used more for a review of what they would need to know for their O.W.L.s and an encourage as to what materials to study.
Corinna stared at the exam timetables that McGonagall passed out during one of the Transfigurations lessons. This came with many, many warnings against cheating and what was banned within the exam halls and what the expectations from their dear headmistress were. Not that it should encourage anyone to purposefully fail, mind you, as everyone's futures were on the line.
As she looked over the timetable, she was relieved to see that there wasn't anything scheduled for her birthday. That day was going to be hard enough without adding exams or revisions into the mix.
Charms theory was set for Monday morning, with the afternoon dedicated to the practical. Although that was a strong subject for them, Corinna and Terry still poured over their books and notes and testing each other. They also moved onto practicing some of the charms they were expected to perform during the practical. They decided to break for dinner when Corinna accidentally tried to summon the book in Terry's hand instead of the one she was aiming for, and caused it to hit him in the nose.
"Are you sure you don't see any blood?" asked Terry as they trudged from the beautiful outside to the dim inside. He kept putting his fingers to his nose and inspecting them closely. "I feel like there's blood."
"I already apologized," Corinna defended. "Do you want me to try a healing charm?"
"Not even if my life depended on it," said Terry blandly.
They split up in the Great Hall and Corinna could barely stomach the idea of eating anything, but she choked down some soup and shoved bread in her mouth. She went up to her dorm before most everyone else was done eating. Her and Terry decided not to meet up after dinner as decided to focus on the theories on their own. It was hard to focus anymore on the material, so she found herself going to bed early, even if she just stared at the canopy of her four-poster. She tried to read one of her novels, but it was as if her brain decided to no longer have the ability to read, so she just stared until her body eventually fell into a fitful sleep.