I was looking so forward to going to Hogwarts! I had a wand already, but I needed other things. So Mother suggested she take me to Diagon Alley. She did...and I bought hundreds of things! She let me have anything I wanted. Books, cauldrons and the like first, of course. And then other things...like some lovely new dress robes, and a broomstick, and an owl! He was so lovely! I named him Feathers.
"That's the most unoriginal name for an owl I've ever heard of," Victoria said when I got him home.
"So what? He's my owl, not yours, and I can call him what I like." I skipped outside with my new broomstick, eager to try it out. I didn't get far. Not even more than a few inches above the ground.
"See, I told you. You're getting fat and heavy." Victoria said.
"Oh, shut up!"
I wandered past the lake and hung around at the edge of the forest, still holding my broomstick. I wondered whether to go in or not. I thought of Victoria knowing I was friends with a centaur...and I went in.
I walked around for a while, but I couldn't find him. Maybe he was really afraid of me, and had decided to leave. Ha...something was afraid of me!
Then I came across a clearing, and in the clearing was the centaur boy. Parath's son...well, I figured it was his son anyway. He was sharpening something...something that looked suspiciously like a weapon. I swallowed and backed away. Straight into something else.
"Argh!"
"Hey, it's you!"
It was the girl centaur. It's odd...I can remember exactly how she looked...every little detail. Hazel eyes, light brown hair and freckles. And a pretty smile. She was carrying a bow in one hand, but she didn't seem to have any arrows.
I can also remember how she looked when...well, never mind. Not now.
"Rinlen! It's the human! Come and look come and look come and look!" she squealed excitedly, grabbing my hand.
"Get off me!" I yelled, shaking my hand free. The boy centaur stood up. What he had been sharpening was indeed a weapon. A very pointy looking spear.
"Malrie!" he snapped. "Get away from it! Right away, now!"
Malrie looked up at me.
"She's just a little one, though," she said. "She can't hurt me."
"Malrie, it's got a wand! Come on."
Malrie trotted over to him obedidently.
"I am not little," I said.
Rinlen went back to sharpening his spear. "You wait until my dad gets back. He said you couldn't come here."
Malrie couldn't hide her curiosity.
"Can you show me some spells?" she asked enthusiastically, putting her bow down on the ground. "Do you fly that?" She pointed at my broomstick, which I'd forgotten I was still holding.
"I can't," I said crossly "but I bet my sister could."
"Don't talk to it, Malrie." Rinlen hissed. "If you ignore it it'll go away."
"I am not an it! I'm a witch! A human! My name is Dolores Umbridge."
"My name is Malrie," the little g...centaur lisped. "That's my brother."
"I knew that."
There was a rustle in the bushes.
"He's back," Rinlen said. "Why don't you go?"
"It's my forest. I have more right to be here than you."
Parath stepped out of the bushes. He was holding some berries in his hand. He went straight to the children, ignoring me. He arranged the berries on a flat rock.
"Are they for us?" Malrie asked.
"I don't see anyone else here, do you?" he said deliberately.
"I'm here." I snapped.
"That's strange, Dad...I thought I heard something just now." Rinlen glanced at Parath and they grinned at each other.
"It was her!" Malrie said, pointing at me and giggling.
With a sigh, Parath turned to me. "What is it about us you find so interesting?"
"Nothing."
"Don't you have human friends?" Rinlen asked.
"No." I said.
"Not suprised," Parath muttered.
"A human family?"
"Yes...but I don't like them all that much."
"And I suppose they don't like you."
"My sister doesn't."
"What was your name again?" Malrie piped up.
"Dolores Umbridge."
Malrie sought another topic. "What's your sister's name?"
"Victoria Umbridge."
"Oh." She took a handful of berries and crammed them into her mouth.
"Why can't I stay?" I complained. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"No, but you are going to annoy us." Parath said simply.
"I won't!"
"You are."
"Can I stay if I'm not annoying?"
Parath gave a completely exasperated sigh. "No. No. We don't mix with humans."
"But I want to be friends." I tried.
"No! We don't mix with humans!"
"I'll be her friend." Malrie said.
"Absolutely not!"
He looked at me with those eyes. (I still can't remember what colour they were, you know.) "Maybe you do mean well. But that's just tough. Centaurs and humans shouldn't be friends...it only leads to trouble."
"How do you know?"
But that look...ugh, the look he gave me was enough to convince me to turn around and leave.
*****
That night there was a thunderstorm. I hate thunderstorms. I sat in bed all night crying.
"Don't be such a snivelling brat!" Victoria said when I woke her up. "It's rain, you idiot!"
"And loud noises." I sniffed.
"Go to bed. Stop being annoying."
I went to bed.
*****
It was raining the next morning too. The thunder and lightening had stopped, but it was still wet. I suddenly hit on a idea. I rummaged about in one of my old cupboards, and found an old umbrella. It had a few holes in it, but it looked alright. I went downstairs.
"You're not going outside?" my mother asked. "You'll freeze."
"No I won't," I said, and ran out before she could stop me. I ran straight to the forest. The blue skirt I was wearing that day kept getting splashed with mud, but I was less annoyed then I might have been otherwise.
I found Malrie and the others inside the forest, sheltering under a tree. They were all wet anyway, though.
Parath saw me first. "You are the most stubbornly irritating human I have ever seen."
"I brought you something that'll stop you getting wet."
"This tree is fine."
I handed him the umbrella. It took him a few seconds to work out how to open it, but he did and they crowded under it.
"Thank you." Malrie said, her wet hair getting in her eyes.
"That's all right," I said, grinning.
Parath and Rinlen didn't say anything. So I went back to the house, and got yelled at for getting my clothes muddy.