Part II: Regency
Chapter I: In Which They Have an Unwelcome Back to Hogwarts
The summer after her horrid fourth year at Hogwarts was punctuated by monotony. It was the same day in and day out. Corinna woke up around eight in the morning where she would make herself a meager breakfast of tea and porridge while she read from the garbage that was the Daily Prophet. She would spend the morning out in the garden doing her summer assignments, which seemed to have doubled from last summer as she was entering the year she would have to take her O.W.L.s. After a lunch of either a tasteless sandwich or tinned soup, she would go out to explore Muggle London.
With You-Know-Who back in power, she supposed she needed to take caution. But it seemed You-Know-Who was taken advantage of the Ministry's inaction to stay under the radar. Besides, she always had her wand on her, but hidden away so the muggles wouldn't see. She would run to the market to pick up seasonal fruits and vegetables, visit a bookstore when she found solace in mindless Muggle novels. She found it almost laughable when she read novels where the only conflict came from something as flighty as romance. It was a well-needed reprieve from the chaos and confusion that was her life.
She would get back sometime in the evening where she would indulge in a butterbeer and make dinner. She found a Muggle cookbook and opted to try various dishes from that as no one had ever bothered to teach her how to cook since they had a house elf. She would cap off the night back in the garden where she would read until she could no longer keep her eyes open. She liked reading among the stars, even if they were dim in London whereas they shown brilliantly over Hogwarts.
On Sundays, instead of exploring, she would sit outside and pen a letter to her friend, Terry. He was certainly insistant on her keeping this part of the bargain, as he had threatened to tell McGonagall when she did not send him a letter the first week she had been back from school. From then, she always wrote a letter to Terry and sent it via her father's owl that she inherited. The problem was, she had a hard time figuring out what to write. There were only so many ways she could write how she was doing (fine) and what she was doing (virtually nothing worth writing about).
Whenever she ran out of things to write about, she turned to complaining about what the Daily Prophet was writing about when it came to Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, particularly when Harry was arrested for using magic outside of school when it was illegal for those underage to do so. He wouldn't use the Patronus charm unless he was defending himself against dementors, she wrote in her letter. Terry's reply included questioning as to why there were dementors in the middle of Surrey, which miffed Corinna, but she had to succeed the point. She did not have anyone else to complain to, unless one counted the owl who spent most of its time flying around outside except for when Corinna called him back to deliver the one letter she sent out. Corinna, personally, did not.
At the beginning of the summer, having a routine like this was neigh impossible. All she wanted to do was lay in her bed all day and break down. It was Terry's letter reminding her of the promise that brought her out of it, and the routine kept her sane. The repetition may have been boring, but it was better than wallowing in self-pity.
She would not allow herself to succumb to the fact that she was the product of two of You-Know-Who's most loyal servants.
Some days were easier than others. She can go about her routine and let the numbness permeate her being. Others was a struggle just to get out of bed as all she wanted to do was cry and scream and be angry.
Once August had reared its head with even more intense heat and the threat that was September first loomed ever closer, Corinna had expected her Hogwarts letter to come. She still needed to get her new texts, refill her potions kit, and needed some new inkwells. She had asked Terry about it in the first letter of August, and his answer mirrored her confusion. He also had not received his letter and, it seems, none of his other friends had either. Even Mandy's little sister, who was starting in her first year, had not received anything. Corinna remembered the anticipation she felt when she waited for her letter. Having to wait longer than the beginning of July must be killing all the new students.
Finally, finally, on August the thirty-first, an owl arrived with her booklists and Corinna broke from her routine to head to Diagon Alley.
It felt odd going the Muggle way without her father by her side, but it was part of her new normal without the family she knew. She trudged down to the Muggle underground with its confusing maps and stops. At least she had gone that way a couple other times, so she remembered enough to get to the Leaky Cauldron.
The shops were crowded as everyone was forced to get their supplies until the last minute. Corinna had to visit Gringott's to get the money out of her father's vault to get her things, as well as some pocket money for Hogsmeade weekends. She tried to not let her impatience show as she waited in long lines to get her books and potions kit refills. She did not want to deal with the lines at the stationary shop and would hope she had enough ink to get her to the first Hogsmeade weekend. She was about to head back to the Leaky Cauldron when she paused at the pet shop. She remembered back to a simpler time when she wanted an owl of her own. Now, she had no need for one as she just used her father's. She did spy a very fluffy tabby cat lounging in the late afternoon sun that was coming through the window.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she went inside and paid the fee to finally bring her own pet to Hogwarts.
"I hope you get along with Hermione's cat," Corinna said into the carrier as she stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron and back into the throws of Muggle London. As it was well into the evening now, it was starting to become livelier as people went to meet up at pubs or go to a show.
As she made her way home via the underground, Corinna spied a curious looking device a young boy was playing on. She couldn't for the life figure out what he was doing as he pressed buttons and things flashed across the screen, but on the small, gray plastic bit that the child would put in the device, she spied the world "Zelda" and immediately took a liking to it.
"What do you think?" she asked her new cat in a small voice, barely heard as the train sped through the tunnels. "Do you like the name Zelda?"
The cat meowed in indifference, and Corinna decided to just go for it. At the very least, she liked the name.
Corinna had mixed feelings about going back to school. She was looking forward to being around people again, even if those people did think her brother killed Cedric Diggory. In a way, he did, but the problem was that the Ministry was ignoring the very real threat of You-Know-Who and had, instead, used her brother as a scapegoat.
He's not your brother, Corinna thought with a haughty sigh. She felt sick to her stomach at the idea of considering him anything in relation to herself. At least the term "brother" had applied to him since she could first understand such things.
As she made her way into the house. She set the carrier down and opened the door to let Zelda acclimate to her new environment. She then took her books and supplies upstairs to put them in her trunk along with her school robes and necessary articles of Muggle clothing. Carrying the trunk out of her room to take it downstairs, Corinna froze in front of her father's study. Most of the house she purposefully closed herself off from, save for the common areas, her bedroom, and the guest bathroom in the hall. She stayed out of the other bedrooms and the study. With a firm shake of her head, she went back downstairs and placed the trunk by the front door. She circled back into the kitchen to grab a butterbeer. Thinking better of it, she set it back aside and opened her father's liquor cabinet. He had charmed it to open for only himself, and forbade Winky from ever opening it herself. Since he was dead, the magic had been lifted. He tended towards the finer liquors, but she grabbed the familiar fire whiskey.
She took the bottle with her back up the stairs. After taking a swig to either increase her courage or stupidity and letting the burn settle in her throat, she opened the door and stepped inside.
The office looked almost the same as it did when Corinna had stepped inside to persuade her father to let them take her brother to the world cup. It almost felt like another lifetime had occurred since then. Corinna gave a humorless laugh. In a sick way, it did.
A wizard from her father's old department had came by to grab whatever items were deemed Ministry property. She didn't care what they took, but she decided to spend the day out so she didn't have to watch them cart away her father's things. Because of this, most of the drawers were now empty save for his personal affects. It seemed that the entirety of the Crouches could fit into one file folder.
After a few more sips of the whiskey, Corinna sat down at his desk and she now understood why he was always scowling whenever she saw him in here. The chair was hard and lumpy and should have been replaced a decade or so ago. With a slight scowl, she set the file down on the desk and opened it up.
The first thing on top was her parents' marriage certificate. This year would have marked their fortieth wedding anniversary. It was things like that which brought her new reality into a different light. Her mother would have been on the upper end of her baby rearing years when Corinna was born. It was highly unlikely that she could have successfully reared a child in that time. When she asked her father how her mother had died, he was vague on the details. At first, she thought she had died during childbirth and that it was all her fault. But Winky was allowed to discuss her mother. Her heart was failing, and there wasn't anything the doctors—magical or muggle—could do about it.
Corinna sifted through the file. Their first Hogwarts' letters were there, which seemed more like a sentimental thing than a practical thing to hold onto. There were various duplicates for information that the Ministry needed on Mr. Crouch and his family. It all seemed trivial until she got to the death certificates. They were both dated for just a few days apart. First one being Barty's with the cause being listed as his body giving out. The second was her mother's, listing almost the exact same cause.
She took another drink before going onto the last piece of paper in the file: her birth certificate.
It came at no surprise that it was also forged. It had St. Mungo's seal, along with both her parents' signatures with the officiant date being that of her birthday, which almost seemed impossible. According to the timeline, she would have been almost two years old before she could have been taken in by Mr. Crouch, so he must have either paid handsomely or done a few favors to get the certificate and to also keep it from getting out.
Feeling like she was going to be sick, Corinna set the bottle aside and closed the file. She shoved it back into the drawer she had found it. The other drawers were emptied out, and the only other occupied drawer held some extra inkwells and quills. She even crawled underneath and looked for a secret compartment or anything. If she had, she did not know what she would want to find. A secret diary explaining his reasoning for everything he had done, a note apologizing, or something. Instead, all she had was a folder full of lies and a few inkwells so she didn't have to buy anymore.
The next morning, Corinna woke early, mostly because she was uncomfortable. She had fallen asleep in the living room. After a night of drinking, not having a decent meal, and Zelda deciding that her stomach made for a good bed, she felt awful.
After dry heaving into the toilet, she tried to choke down some porridge knowing the food trolley on the train did not have the best assortment of food. It was a sluggish morning and it took every ounce of self-control to get ready for the day and to make her way to the underground in time to make the train to central London. Zelda refused to go back into the carrier, so Corinna had to wrestle her back in. She howled while on the underground, and Corinna had to keep shooting apologetic looks to those nearby. It was a relief to get back aboveground where the hustle and bustle caused people to pay no mind to the underaged girl with a large trunk and obnoxiously loud cat.
She was normally early for the train, but her father was much better at keeping timetables, and his work always caused them to rush on these mornings. It was a foreign feeling for Corinna to feel like she might miss the train. No wonder Mr. Crouch purposefully made himself early to things. This anxiety caused her chest to tighten and her limbs to twitch uncontrollably.
It was a relief when the scarlet steam engine came into view. She dragged her trunk behind her as she went onto a train car at random as time was running out. Another perk of getting to the platform early meant that she had her pick of compartments. Many were already full and those that had empty seat did not seem all that inviting, especially with the one that was occupied by someone Terry had called "Loony."
As she was not paying attention, Corinna nearly ran into a couple of others that were heading down the car. "Oh, sorry," called out a voice, and then immediately said, "Corinna?"
Corinna looked up and saw Harry standing right in front of her. The last time she had really seen him was during her brother's interrogation. He seemed to be doing much better now that he was no longer injured and had narrowly escaped You-Know-Who. "Hey, Harry," she said, trying to keep her voice light.
"We can just take this one," the red-haired girl behind him said. Although she did not know the youngest Weasley well, she was easy to spot. Behind her was also Neville, carrying a cactus-looking potted plant. It was normally Ron and Hermione who were around Harry. It was almost as if she was seeing Fred without George or Lavender without Parvati. Just strange.
"There's somebody already in there," Harry pointed out. It seemed he was also keen on avoiding most people.
"It's just Loony," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. She opened the compartment door and poked her head in. "Hey, Luna, do you mind if we join you?"
Corinna could immediately understand why Terry and Ginny had called her Loony. She was reading an odd looking magazine upside down and she had an odd assortment of jewelry and an odd, whimsical look in her eyes. "I don't mind," she said and put the magazine back up to her eyes.
They all piled into the compartment and helped each other get their trunks loaded up. It was a muted conversation about how their summers went. Ginny seemed interested in Corinna new cat, Zelda, who seemed to only want the attention when someone was ignoring her. It was already crowded in the compartment with five teenagers, an owl, a cat, and a toad.
"You're Harry Potter," she said airily.
"I know I am."
"And you're Corinna Crouch."
"In the flesh."
She looked over at Neville. "I don't know who you are."
"I'm nobody."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "He's Neville Longbottom. This is Luna Lovegood. She's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
She went back behind her magazine and everyone looked confused, except for Ginny who was laughing behind her hand.
It was full of mindless chatter, with Neville talking about his birthday present. Corinna could almost laugh with how mundane it was. She half expected everyone coming up to her about her brother. It was a relief.
Thanks to Neville poking at his plant, all of a sudden, everyone was covered in a dark green liquid that smelled putrid. As she wasn't paying attention, she got a face full of the liquid and she felt like she was going to gag.
"Sorry, Harry, bad time?"
Corinna looked up to see Cho Chang standing in the doorway. She was friends with Terry, so they had hung out a few times. She did not like being covered in green ooze to begin with, but being covered in the stuff in front of someone as beautiful as Cho and the way that Harry was looking at Cho…
After an awkward exchange, Corinna was glad that Cho just left. If he hadn't been covered in green ooze, Corinna was certain he would be beet red. It took a simple Scourgify spell from Ginny for it all to disappear.
Farther into the journey, Ron and Hermione joined them, which was something Corinna was expecting to happen eventually. They looked annoyed and took the meager scraps that were left from their orders from the trolley. They had been at the prefect meeting, and Corinna was not surprised that Hermione became the girl's prefect. Ron was a surprise. If she was going to be honest, the pool to choose from was very shallow. Harry seemed like the obvious choice.
The listed off who the fifth-year prefects were for each year, those being Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson for Slytherin, and—"Terry Boot and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw," Hermione finished off the list and then finished a cauldron cake.
"Hey, did you go to the ball with that bloke?" Ron asked Corinna, which was the first time someone had acknowledged that she existed.
"Didn't you go to the ball with that bird?" Corinna parried back.
"They also dated," the voice came from behind the odd-looking magazine called the Quibbler. "I've seen her and Terry snogging at the Astronomy Tower." It was Corinna turn to grow bright red. "But then you two stopped talking. Terry sulked about it in the common room. He never did say what happened." With that, she hid back behind the magazine.
"We had a row," Corinna said with a shrug, which wasn't far from the truth. It was more like Terry was annoyed with Corinna helping Harry with the second task and then her family life went to hell in a handbasket. "Not that it is anyone's business, mind you."
Corinna was glad that the subject shifted off her. She didn't like the spotlight before, not she wanted to avoid the backstage.
She focused outside the window as the sun moved further into the west as they made their journey north. It wasn't until the door opened again and she turned to see Malfoy, already donning his prefect badge, but still sandwiched between his goonies, Crabbe and Goyle. She never liked the boy ever since she first met him when they all first arrived in Hogwarts, and Malfoy hadn't changed much in those last few years.
He didn't stay, only long enough to be his annoying self, but there was an obvious tonal shift about Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They all quickly dressed into their Hogwarts robes as the train began to slow for the station. It was difficult to get all seven students organized with all their trunks and various animals. Corinna managed to balance Zelda's carrier on her trunk as she took up the rear as they filed off the train.
At first, Corinna thought that the horseless carriage rides were going to be another speck of normal, but Harry's hesitancy confused everyone. Except for Luna, of course. While Harry kept insisting that the obviously horseless carriages were pulled by something, she jumped to his defense. They all just dropped the subject.
It was a relief to see Hogwarts castle looming ahead of them. It looked exactly as it had at the end of last year when she watched it retreat. There was an edge to the excitement that filled Corinna's chest, and she didn't like it. She wanted to start anew. She needed this.
The great hall filled with students and the first thing that people did was look at the changes for the staff table. Who was going to be teaching them Defense Against the Dark Arts was always going to be a surprise, but there were two new faces up at the staff table that year, someone occupying where Hagrid usually sat.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were talking in low voices about Hagrid's sudden absence, but Corinna was focused on the toad-like woman in a pink cardigan. It wasn't often that Corinna got out with her father, but Ministry events were one of those few times. She remembered seeing her at mixers or at various meetings.
And the speech she made, interrupting Dumbledore's own, did not help matters. Hermione's explanation as to what was said was summed up succinctly. "The Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts."
Corinna woke early after a restless night. She laid in bed, staring up at the canopy of her four-poster as the room steadily grew lighter around her. Finally, at seven, she could no longer take it and she quietly changed into her school robes and left through the portrait hole. She did not expect Terry to standing right by the entrance. "What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.
Terry looked like he wasn't quite able to explain it himself. "Mind if we went for a walk before getting out timetables?"
They headed down the hall and back down the stairs to the entrance hall. Terry didn't say anything until they were out onto the grounds, the grass wet from the morning dew. It was cool enough that Corinna wished she had put on a jumper, but she had a feeling that it would be hot once the sun burned off the haze. "How was your summer?"
"It was odd," Corinna admitted. "It was nice to just have my own routine and not deal with it. But, now…"
"Now you feel like you have to deal with it," Terry summed up. Despite how rocky they have been, it seemed that they were still on the same page. "But you don't know how to."
"Could you quit reading me like a book?" Corinna teased, but there was no humor in her tone. She picked at the frayed edge of her bag. "But that's part of it."
"What's the other part?" Terry asked.
Corinna was still torn on what she should and shouldn't say to Terry. She hadn't even had a chance to talk with Harry. He was always around someone, even if it wasn't Ron and Hermione. "I'll let you know when I have it figured out."
Terry nodded as they wandered aimlessly. "So, prefect, huh?" Corinna said and nudged him gently.
"Yeah, I'm honestly surprised it wasn't Anthony Goldstein," Terry admitted and then shrugged. "But I'm glad. My parents were thrilled, especially my mom. She was prefect when she was in school."
"So was my father," Corinna muttered. "But, with Hermione Granger as competition, there was no chance I would be chosen."
Terry paused when Corinna mentioned her father. She wondered how long it would take for people not to freak out whenever he was mentioned. "Don't sell yourself short," Terry said. "If I'm going to be honest, I'm surprised it was Granger and Weasley. They are constantly getting in trouble with Potter."
"Maybe they are hoping that if they made his friends prefects, he might cool it," Corinna said, deciding not to argue that sour point between them. She was willing not to jump to Harry's defense if it meant they could start mending their friendship. "And, let's face it, if they chose Harry, people won't believe it would be for his own merits." That fact made Corinna almost sad that there really was no way that he could live a normal life, but it seemed to make Terry happy.
"But then Snape still chose Malfoy," Terry pointed out with a scowl. "He's already trying to overstep his power."
"Of course he is," Corinna muttered. "We already knew that would happen."
"Yeah," Terry said as he looked away from Corinna. He kicked a pebble until he lost sight of it. Corinna was silent, not wanting to push him. "Listen, I've also been doing some soul searching this summer. I…I don't know how to say this. I haven't even told my parents, yet. I wanted to make sure my best friend knew first."
"Knew what?" Corinna asked, stopping to look at Terry. He hadn't noticed at first, and had to backtrack a few steps. "Terry, whatever it is, I'm here for you."
"I'm gay," he blurted out. He was taken aback by the abruptness of the statement, but then he relaxed into it. "I'm gay," he repeated, sounding relieved now. "That was the first time I actually said it out loud."
Corinna was glad that Terry was babbling, because of all the things she expected him to say, that was not one of them. "Oh," was the only thing she managed to say. "That's great. I'm happy for you."
"You are?" Terry asked, looking unsure of himself.
"Of course," she said. "Just now, when you said it, it seemed to work for you. So, I'm proud you were able to find yourself."
"I figured you would be angry," Terry said with a nervous laugh. "I mean, we used to snog."
"Yeah, and it was super awkward," Corinna reminded.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that." Terry gave Corinna a look. "Does that mean you're…"
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm just into blokes," Corinna reassured.
"Hey, so am I!"
"I'm glad you are already making snide remarks about it." She leaned over and gave Terry a quick hug. "You are still the same Terry. Just now we get to argue over the boys we want to date."
"So, who are you interested in?"
Corinna did not like who first popped into her head. "Draco Malfoy," she said and then headed back towards the castle.
"You are such an arse, Corinna Crouch!" Terry followed after Corinna.
"You know," she said as the entrance loomed closer, "we are technically still dating. We never discussed things after you stormed out of the library."
Terry released a tense breath. "Merlin, that feels like a million years ago." He placed his hands on Corinna's shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Corinna, I think we should break up. It's not you, it's…well, it is you. You don't quite have the right equipment I'm looking for."
"Oh, I'm the arse?" she asked with a wide smile on her face. They continued up to the castle. "It's alright. I think we make much better friends, anyway."
Even the happiness of getting Terry back as a friend wasn't diluted by Corinna receiving her timetables. It looked as if she wasn't going to have much more time besides schoolwork and sleep. She didn't understand how people handled being in clubs or quidditch on top of the demands of lessons. Not to mention that she had to deal with that Umbridge woman at the end of the day.
She thought about how it was going to be a long year, but then remembered back to an odd book she read at one of the Muggle shops. Sometimes, it wasn't about getting through the week, month, or year. It was about getting through the day. And then the next. And then the next until you eventually succumb to oblivion.
So, Corinna added that last part, but it worked.
As usual, it was hard to stay awake for Binns' class, who opened the class with how vital this year was going to be for their education as OWLs were quickly approaching. Snape was more focused on making Harry's life hell and lifting the Slytherins up instead of any actual teaching. Corinna had brewed an almost perfect drought of peace, and she wondered where this was last year.
"Stir slower next time, Crouch," Snape muttered as he inspected her cauldron. As he had nothing else to criticize (which she wasn't sure if that was even criticism), he moved on. When he dragged Harry's potion through the mud, she was annoyed on his behalf. His potion was leagues better than the lot Crabbe and Goyle created. When he used the spell to make the potion disappear, Corinna clenched her fists. She didn't know if she was just now picking up on how Snape treated Harry, but it seems that he is even worse to Harry than to the general Gryffindors.
Lunch was an oddly quiet affair as Corinna focused on shoving food in her mouth. She was already feeling the mounting pressure of their homework load. Already two feet of essays to write, and she knew that Babbling was going to give them a large work to translate for the next class. The only one up in the air being what Umbridge was going to assign them for homework.
Corinna found herself seated in the usual classroom for Defense. She sat down next to Neville, much closer to Umbridge than she would have liked. She was wearing a pink cardigan as was waiting patiently at the teacher's desk for the students to file in and take their seats. They were quiet as they weren't certain how she would be as a teacher.
They got off to a wonderful start when she made them tell her "good afternoon" as if they were children who needed to learn how to be polite members of society. And the instruction to put their wands away and to bring out the notetaking supplies was never, ever a good sign. And it especially was not a good sign when they were assigned to read during class. Normally the reading would be done outside the classroom and the teachers would work on the practical or expand upon the theory.
Once they were dismissed to do their own reading with no need to talk, Corinna cracked her book open to the first chapter. She found it extremely dull, and she could find her concentration slipping in the stuffy classroom. It was much easier to swallow such material when she could interject the odd comment with Terry. He would also have a few choice words about Umbridge's teaching style…if one could call it that.
She saw Neville turn in his seat and stare at something, so Corinna looked back. She was surprised to see brownnoser Hermione Granger sitting at the table she shared with Harry and Ron without her book open and her hand raised. Even though she was just sitting there staring at Umbridge, it was much more interesting than the material that they had to read.
If they were able to talk, Corinna figured many people would be betting on who would crack first. Her money would be on Hermione sitting there all class period if that was necessary.
Sure enough, Umbridge got annoyed with all the students not doing as she told and finally spoke up. "Did you have a question about the chapter, dear?"
"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione, who kept her hand up and looked determined.
"Well, we're reading just now," Umbridge reminded, her girly voice making Corinna's skin crawl. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."
"It's about your course aims."
Other than her raised eyebrows, Umbridge gave no other indication about how she felt about the query. "And your name is?"
"Hermione Granger."
"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully."
"Well, I don't." Her bluntness cut through the air like a knife. "There's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."
Umbridge gave a girly laugh that could rival Lavender Brown's when she's flirting. "Using defensive spells? Why I can't imagine a situation in my classroom where you would need to use a defensive spell. You sure aren't expecting to be attacked during class, are you, Miss Granger?"
The class then broke out into an argument over something they hadn't realized they needed to defend. Corinna had just copied down what was written, with an eyeroll, sure, but she didn't question it until then.
"But, surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells," Hermione continued when Umbridge called on her once again. Either she didn't learn very quickly or she wanted the chaos.
"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" At Hermione's disaffirmation, Umbridge continued. "Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way."
"What use is that?" Harry asked loudly. He seemed to be the angriest of them all over this. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be in a—"
"Hand, Mr. Potter," Umbridge said. She hadn't even pretended not to know who he was, which is what professors have done in the past despite the fact that every wizard-born child knew about the Boy Who Lived. It practically became a bedtime story among many families. She pointedly ignored Harry and called on Dean Thomas—after asking his name, of course.
"Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it? If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk free."
"I repeat," Umbridge said. She was still smiling, but it seemed to ebb as annoyance crept it. "Do you expect to be attacked during my classes?" She didn't even wait for Dean's answer before she continued. "I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," whereas her tone and demeaner read the total opposite, but she needed to save face. Corinna knew the Ministry types. Her father was one of them, after all. "But you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed—not to mention," she gave a nasty laugh, "extremely dangerous half-breeds."
"If you are talking about Professor Lupin," Dean piped up angrily, "he was the best we ever—"
"Hand, Mr. Thomas! As I was saying—you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to you age group and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet dark attacks every other day—"
Hermione rose her hand after dealing with the usual battle of raising ones hand to actually speak in a classroom, but Umbridge pointedly ignored it. "It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you."
"Well, he turned out to be a maniac," Corinna muttered, having no qualms of calling her brother that. "We still learned loads."
"Your hand is not up, Miss Crouch." Her eyes bored into Corinna's as she shot her hand up. It was ignored. "Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is about. And your name is?"
"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Art O.W.L.? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?"
"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Umbridge.
"Without ever practicing them beforehand?" said Parvati incredulously. "Are you telling us the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?"
"I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough—"
"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" Harry asked loudly.
"This is a school," Umbridge reminded, as if none of them knew that fact before today, "not the real world."
"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?"
"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter."
"Oh yeah? There's nothing waiting out there. Certainly not Lord Voldemort."
Corinna had to prevent Neville from falling from his seat as the usual affects of You-Know-Who's true name was said. Even Corinna bit back a gasp. She was surprised that Umbridge did not so much as flinch when Harry said the name. "Ten points from Gryffindor." That immediately shut everyone up. It was all fun and games until the House Cup was on the line. "Now, let me make a few things quite plain." She stood up and leaned towards them. Corinna swore her eyes were bulging like a toad's. "You have been told that a certain dark wizard has returned from the dead—"
"He wasn't dead, but, yeah, he's returned."
Umbridge looked like she wanted to take away more points from Gryffindor, but she just gave Harry a thinly-veiled warning and continued. "As I was saying. You have been informed that a certain dark wizard is at large once again. This. Is. A. Lie."
"It's NOT a lie," Harry bellowed. "I saw him. I fought him."
When Corinna looked back to look at Harry, she momentarily saw the injured, broken boy that came back from the maze. She didn't blame him for being so angry at those who invalidated what he went through, and downright said it didn't happen. Corinna was there. She heard what her brother had to say. There was no doubt that it happened.
"Detention, Potter," Umbridge said, dragging Corinna back to the present. She forced herself to turn away from Harry and look up at the wretched woman. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat: this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means, come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn dark wizard, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners.'"
As Umbridge sat back down, a chair scraped behind Corinna. She turned to see Harry stand up against Hermione's protests. "So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead on his own accord, did he?"
It was as if someone magicked all the air out of the classroom. Not many people heard what happened to Harry in the maze. Corinna only knew because of her brother's confession. To many, it was a tragedy that happened and then they were all sent home for the summer. No one knew who to look at as their eyes darted back and froth between Harry and Umbridge, another battle of who would crack first.
"Cedric Diggory was killed by Bartemius Crouch Jr.," Umbridge said, and Corinna could feel a few eyes flicker over to her. "He confessed before he was subjected to the dementor's kiss."
"He did no such thing," Corinna hissed in a low voice. "He wasn't blameless, but he wasn't the one who uttered the curse. And the Minister mucked it up by having my brother killed before you could interrogate him."
"Ten more point from Gryffindor," Umbridge said with a wide grin. "And I would keep your mouth shut, Crouch, unless you want to join your friend here for detention."
Corinna felt angry tears burning in her eyes as she glared at Umbridge. Even if she wanted to say anything else, she felt her throat tighten and she could not find the will to speak.
"As I was saying," Umbridge continued, looking satisfied with herself, "the man who killed the poor Diggory boy has been taken care of."
"He hasn't because he is still at large," Harry said. "Because Voldemort was the one who murdered Cedric Diggory."
Umbridge's toadlike mouth beckoned Harry forward to the front of the room. He stood in front of her desk while she slowly wrote a note. "Why do you take this to Professor McGonagall, dear." He took the note without another word and stomped out of the classroom. The door slammed shut and not a whisper was said among the students.
"As I was saying," Umbridge continued in her girly voice, "Page Five. 'Basics for Beginners.'" And not another word was said, and nary a sound from the other students until they were dismissed after their double period. Harry had not come back at all in that time.
"Oh, Miss Crouch," Umbridge said as they were all quickly packing away to leave the classroom, some much faster than others. "If I just might have a word with you, dear."
Corinna stepped up to Umbridge's desk as the last of the students filed out to finally be free. She was silent as she meticulously put her things in her bag when she could have easily magicked them in there. But she was determined not to say anything at first.
"I understand you have been through a great ordeal at the end of last year, dear," said Umbridge. She might have been able to put on a caring facade, but it was easy to see right through it. When Corinna didn't comment, she continued. "I will forgive your lapse in judgement this time as a courtesy to an old friend of mine. But I would watch whom you associate yourself with, Miss Crouch. I have a feeling you will go a long way if you stick with the right sorts." She stood and smiled widely when Corinna still had not said a word. "You do have a desire to join the Ministry when you finish school, of course."
Corinna paused a moment, and then reconsidered her answer. "Oh, yes," she said with a reassuring smile. "Although, I don't think I'm quite cut out for it."
"Nonsense," she said. "If you are anything like Barty, it is in your blood. Just watch out what you say and who you are seen with. I happen to know that the Ministry will be keeping a closer eye on this place. That means that those who show an early interest in the Ministry will be noted. I'll be sure to tell Cornelius-er, that is, the Minister-of your interest. Is that alright, dear?"
"Of course," Corinna said with a sickening grin. "Be sure to give my best to the Minister."
Feeling like she had drunk bubotuber pus, she left the classroom.