Cielie
I am so blind with rage right now. Who does Draco Malfoy think he is? My boyfriend?! I loathe that ignorant little snob. No one will make me love him. I shudder to think of it. Why can't Malfoy have developed an infatuation with Pansy. They're clearly made for each other. I just wish this school year would end. These thoughts have been swirling through my head all morning and most of last night too, keeping me from any kind of sleep.
I see an owl swoop down towards the table, Ginny and Luna duck as it skids down the entire length of the Gryffindor table. Of course, it has to knock over my coffee while it is stopping in front of me. I groan, taking the letter from its beak nonetheless. Turning the letter over and see an official looking seal on it. This can't be good.
Ginny and Luna join me as I hurry up the steps into the common room. The letter is quickly opened and the contents are read.
"Ms. Diggory,
Seeing as you are the last Diggory alive, the entire property will be passed down to you. Your father, Amos Diggory, left a small fortune and his will. The will is to be read in two days' time. The ministry wishes you a good day.
Sincerely,
Head of the Department of Property
Coriolanus Templesmith
I swallow hard, my father's will is to be read in two days' time. In two days' I will find out whether he has thought to leave anything to his daughter. I am certain that there is a lot that has been left for Cedric. Father didn't change the will, even after Cedric's death. I am scared, though I know the outcome won't affect me that much. It's just a piece of paper after all, it can't change my life that drastically.
"Do you think your dad left you anything?" Ginny asks. I think for a moment, not sure how to answer her.
"I don't…I…I'm not sure," I decide to say.
"Oh, I'm sure he will," Luna reassures me. I nod, not really believing it.
"And if not, it's just a piece of paper," Ginny voices my thoughts. We laugh at this and soon I don't feel so bad. Not that I was upset in the first place, although I was filled with loathing for a certain Malfoy. I'll survive somehow, it's not like the end of the world.
XxX
Turns out that a little piece of paper can hurt more than the worst hex. My father left me one thing, and that thing seems fairly useless. The box that arrived with the note that it was left to me in the will doesn't even open. I can't bring myself to throw it out, though. It has my mother's initials on it. Somehow it seems important, like perhaps my father did leave me his most precious and prized possession.
Like I predicted, almost everything has been left to Cedric. The ministry however leaves the money and the property to me. I am to decide what happens to Cedric's share before the year is through. I can't bear the thought of throwing it away, but keeping it seems painful too. For now, I decide I will hold off looking at the things in my empty house.
Ginny and Luna are the best friends I could ever have. They have said that they would go to the house with me to go through all of my father's belongings so I won't be alone. Not that I'm scared of being alone, but the big house does seem a bit large with no one else in it.
The holidays won't be for a while though, so we will have lots of time to plan out the cleaning of the house. It will probably be something like the cleaning of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, which Ginny told us all about. Apparently, that's where a lot of the ingredients for the Skiving Snack Boxes came from.
I sigh, this has been a rough start to a Hogwarts school year, and I am seriously considering camping out in the Forbidden Forest until it is over. That is until I think of all the other kids who will have to stand against Umbridge. That woman really shouldn't be able to teach, come to think of it she probably shouldn't be employed as Under-Secretary to the Minister either.
"Cielie, do you think that we can get Umbridge expelled from Hogwarts?" Ginny's words break through my thoughts.
"Well, if we could catch her doing something against her own rules…" Luna adds, playing with her butterbeer cork necklace.
I smile, a wicked idea coming to me, "What if we got some polyjuice potion and pretended to be Ministry Law Enforcement Inspectors? I'm sure that woman is doing about a hundred things the Wizarding law forbids."
Ginny laughs as Luna does an impression of Umbridge, "I am the Under-Secretary of the Minister, you simply cannot imprison me!" Soon we are rolling in laughter and Ginny and I continue to chortle on our way to Charms.
XxX
Letters about my father's will pester me all week, homework doesn't lessen up one bit, and Malfoy starts following me around. I would hex him, but then I would be expelled and that wouldn't get me anywhere. For now, I'll just have to ignore him and continue on as if everything were normal, which it's not, but most people wouldn't care any way.
Ginny promises me that given the opportunity Ron will knock him off his broom in Quidditch. The thought of Malfoy's surprised face as he plummets towards the ground keeps me from doing anything rash in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Umbridge is as unbearable as ever, the 'lessons' are just reading a seriously out dated text book meant for first years. Which begs the question, what does she teach the first years?
XxX
The winter holidays are nearing and Ginny, Luna and I are working hard on our plan to get Umbridge kicked out of the school. On top of that all three of us are doing solos for the school choir winter performance of Messiah. We are Professor Flitwick's favorites, no doubt. School work itself hasn't gotten any easier either as we near the holidays and the teachers seem to be cracking the whip down hard in these last few weeks. I am almost excited to be in my old house again, excited to get away from Umbridge and most of all excited to get away from Malfoy, disgusting sneak that he is.
XxX
The morning of the last week of school before break dawns cool and clear. Today is also the last practice before the big show on Friday. Ginny and Luna are going to be soloing for the first time, they only joined the choir in their third year and were in the beginner choir. I have been singing my whole life and joined the Hogwarts Prestigious Performing Choir lead by Professor Flitwick in my first year. It was a bit like the way Harry Potter joined the Quidditch Team in his first year. Choir has always been my way to escape from the troubles in the world. When I'm not singing with a choir, I solo. I am one of the best sopranos in the school and Professor Flitwick is constantly reminding everyone of it, something I wish he wouldn't do since it pits the other soloist up against me.
"Ginny, that's my music," Luna shouts, knocking a book out of Ginny's hands.
"No. I'm absolutely sure this is my music," Ginny retorts, picking the music book of the floor and dusting it off.
"Really," I say, reading the title of the sheet music, "And since when are you a mezzo-soprano?"
Ginny blushes and looks at the book she is holding, "Right, sorry Luna, thought this one was my book. Guess I'm just nervous about singing in front of the whole school."
"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine," we reassure her.
Together we all head off to the practice rooms, something we always do before breakfast. Professor Flitwick is filing some sheet music in the enormous cabinets and smiles at us when we walk in. Nodding back, we begin to warm up our voices. Luna hits the lower notes, and Ginny soon begins to weave in a harmony of high lilting tones. I watch the two for a moment, perfect counterweights for each other, Professor Flitwick was right when he had them sing together. Then, unable to resist myself I join in. My voice soars even higher than Ginny's, it reaches for the sky as the melody begins to form on my tongue. The others almost stop singing, the way they always do when I join them, they say it's because they don't want to ruin my sound with theirs. This always makes me laugh, they don't seem to understand the joy of singing with others quite yet.