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wildest dreams
VOLUME II

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Great Hall looked just as majestic as ever. The candles were burning bright above our heads as we sat down at the Gryffindor table. Angelina carefully seated as far away from Fred as she could, looking down at her empty silver plate. Lee was talking about the upcoming feast, and how he had missed Hogwarts' food – nothing unusual. I was going to quietly ask George if he had talked to Fred but he was staring at the teacher's table intensely – as were the others.

"George?"

He didn't react, so I looked ahead to see what was the object of his attention, and my jaw dropped when I did.

"Bloody hell."

I didn't know why I hadn't noticed her earlier. It was hard to miss her, after all – the bright pink jacket she was wearing contrasted abruptly with the rest of the room. A matching pink hat was settled on her head, and even though I couldn't see her traits clearly from where I was seating, I could see she was smiling oddly, her eyes travelling from student to student as if she was studying each of us.

"What is that?" asked Fred, his eyes as wide as teacups.

"The new Defense teacher, I reckon," Alicia answered faintly.

We all looked at her in dread. I was speechless – she didn't look like the kind of person Dumbledore would hire. Sure, appearances were deceiving – but there was something about her that I instantly disliked. Her smile, probably – it looked arrogant, superior, and fake.

"Oh, no…" muttered Alicia.

I turned to her – she suddenly looked very pale.

"What's wrong?" asked Fred.

"No, no, no… Not her!"

I stared at her as she put her head into her hands, shaking it desperately.

"Alicia, what's wrong?" I insisted.

"She's back what's wrong" she muttered from behind her hands.

"Who's back?"

"Her!"

She pointed the teacher's table – and that's when I finally saw Grubbly-Plank. I bit my lip. Her and Alicia had never gotten along. Alicia loved Care of Magical Creatures, and she was really good at it – but the old teacher seemed to had made it her mission to make Alicia's life miserable when she was in her class. She had been so happy when Hagrid had taken over – she was such in a good mood that she took us all to Hogsmeade and bought three rounds of Butterbeer.

"I'm sorry, Ali," I said with a smile.

"Where's Hagrid, though?" asked Lee.

I shrugged.

"Maybe he's on holiday."

We weren't able to discuss the subject further as the Sorting Hat appeared and sang his song. I listened to him attentively, surprised that he had changed the words – but quickly felt grim as he spoke of future battles and darkness.

"Well, this is it" said Fred after the fact. "The Sorting Hat has officially gone from dreadfully boring to utterly depressing."

I glanced at Angelina as George, Lee and Alicia chuckled – she was looking down at her empty plate again, but I could see she was angry. I just wanted to hug her and tell her to not worry about Fred, but I doubted that it would help. Knowing Angelina, she would probably need some time alone to think about it all.

I felt myself dozing off halfway through Repartition – George had to give me a nudge when the feast finally started as I half-asleep and my head nearly fell in the gravy that had just appeared in front of me. I couldn't wait to be in my bed upstairs, settled in the warm, soft sheets. I ate slowly, half-listening to the conversations around me.

"You all right?" whispered George in my ear.

I nodded.

"I just love this food so much," suddenly said Lee, his hands full of chicken wings.

He looked so happy, I couldn't help but grin.

"You should marry an House-Elf, then," I said.

"Yeah, mate," nodded George. "She can make you chicken wings every night for the rest of your life. It might get complicated when it comes to snogging, though… You'll have to bend down, or something…"

"Piss off."

"That wouldn't be different from you two, though, eh?" intervened Fred, pointing me and George.

"Hey, I'm not that short! He's the giant," I retaliated.

"Did you just call me a giant?"

"A handsome giant."

We smiled at each other, and I really felt like kissing him – but, vividly aware of Angelina's presence just a few seats away, I resolved to simply tugging him on the arm.

I had nearly forgotten about the woman in pink when Dumbledore stood up to make his speech. As I turned to him, my gaze was immediately attracted to her – she really was quite a sight. Eager to see what Dumbledore had to say, I shushed Lee and Alicia who were debating something about the Holyhead Harpies' new Chaser.

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices. First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students – and a few of our older students ought to know by now too."

I chuckled.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door."

"Reckon he'll have to update that list before long," whispered Fred to his brother as I smirked.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank," – I heard Alicia sigh loudly – "who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

So that was her name – Umbridge. I glanced at her as Dumbledore started talking about Quidditch tryouts – she slowly stood up, her smile still plastered on her face. It wasn't long before the director stopped talking, and the woman cleared her throat to make it obvious that she wanted to make a speech. I felt incredibly uncomfortable – I had never seen anybody interrupt Dumbledore before.

"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome."

Her voice was as awful as her sense of fashion – it was too high-pitched, like the voice of a small child, and there was a tone of superiority that I instantly disliked. I glanced at George, and saw that he was intensely looking at Umbridge, like he was fascinated by her.

"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"

Happy little faces? I stared at her, frowning. Why was she talking to us like we were small children? I exchanged a look with Alicia – she looked just as appalled as me.

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"

"That's likely," said Fred and George quietly.

Umbridge seemed to notice the discreet giggles that followed at the Gryffindor Table – but quickly cleared her throat and continued her speech.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born…"

I quickly lost focus in what she was saying, my mind wandering to the Angelina-Fred situation. Would their break up affect our group of friends? Angelina hadn't said anything since me and Alicia were alone with her on the train. What if she never wanted to be around Fred? Would I have to make a choice between the two? I felt incredibly selfish to worry about myself – but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to have to separate my time between Angelina and the twins. I glanced at her – she seemed to be listening to Umbridge's speech, unlike many of us. I promised myself to talk to her when I felt the time would be right.

I felt George's hand slip into mine – I looked up to meet his gaze. He was smiling softly, and I squeezed his hand. Discreetly, he bent back towards me.

"I really want to kiss you right now," he whispered in my hear, making my hair dance.

"Why aren't you?" I asked back, smirking.

"I'm pretty sure Mrs. I-Love-Pink-A-Little-Too-Much would think of it as impolite."

"Since when are you worried about what other people think, Mr. Weasley?"

He chuckled, but before he could answer, people around us started clapping and we realized that Umbridge had finished her speech. George winked at me before turning to Dumbledore, who had stood up again. He announced that Quidditch tryouts would be the next Friday – I felt myself grinning. I couldn't wait. We had to find a new Keeper, after all, since there had been no Quidditch last year.

Dumbledore dismissed everyone shortly after that – we quickly stood up to beat the crowd and made it upstairs a few minutes later. I jumped on the couch that was the closest to the fireplace – I was incredibly cold. Fred and George didn't sit down with the rest of us – they went straight to the pinning board.

"What are they doing?" asked Alicia.

"Putting up posters for their products. They want to hire first years to try them out."

"I'm not sure Hermione will allow that," said Angelina.

I looked at her – that was the first thing she had said all night.

"I wish her good luck if she wants to argue with them," chuckled Lee.

Sighing loudly, Lee then took his shoes off, throwing them across the room and nearly hitting a third-year on the back of the head – then proceeded to stretch out on the couch and putting his feet on my thighs.

"Get off!" I cried out, pushing them away.

"C'mon, I'm tired…"

"No! Your feet stink!"

"They don't!"

"Yes they do!"

"They don't –"

"I'm going to bed."

Me and Lee stopped abruptly at Angelina's words – she quickly got up and went up the stairs to the dormitory. I bit my lip, suddenly feeling bad. Lee took advantage of my silence to put his feet on my thighs again – I sighed loudly, but didn't feel like arguing again. Was it insensitive of us to joke around Angelina? I knew she was sad, but I firmly believed that having a bit of laugh always made things better. But maybe that was just me.

Fred and George came back shortly after that – and George quickly pushed Lee away from me, sitting down next to me and pulling me into his arms. I smiled softly. Even though I was worried about Angelina, this felt right – me, George, and a nice, warm fire.

"What house d'you reckon she was in?" said Fred.

"Who?" I asked.

"That horrifying pink woman."

"To wear that kind of hat she just had to be in Slytherin," muttered Alicia.

I chuckled, letting my mind wander off, thinking about Angelina, and Umbridge, and my parents, and everything and nothing at once. The warmth of the fire felt good on my face, and the feel of my fingers around George's made me feel safe. I turned to him – he too was staring into the fire. I quickly kissed him on the cheek, and it seemed to startle him.

"What was that?" he said, arching an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

"No, no, I didn't quite get what you meant – do it again."

I shook my head, unable to stop from smiling. I approached to kiss him on the cheek again, but he turned his face at the last second so that my lips landed on his.

"Cheater!" I cried out, chuckling.

"You love it."

I gave him a nudge on the shoulder, blushing slightly. Yes, I did. Of course I did.