I don't own Harry Potter- Parts of this chapter are taken from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sarah walked into the Common Room the next morning to find Orion examining a poster on the notice board, apparently placed there by the Weasley twins, who were looking for guinea pigs for their experiments. Well, they said volunteers, but Guinea pigs was how Sarah translated it. Orion glanced at her as she walked up, and gave her a nod.
"Be careful of Seamus, he's in quite a mood. Apparently his mother reads and believes The Prophet and didn't want him to go back to a school that a dangerous maniac was attending."
"Bloody typical." Sarah scowled. Orion shrugged, and raised an eyebrow.
"None of your roommates have said anything?"
"I was too busy being asleep to notice anything. Odds are at least one of them things the same though. It would be against the natural order of things if my classmates actually supported me."
Orion gave a brief, humourless chuckle.
"Regardless, you might find this interesting." He said, handing something in brown paper to Sarah. Sarah pulled off the paper wrapping and frowned.
"A mirror?"
"Not just a mirror. Watch…"
Orion took the mirror and, quite quietly, spoke into it.
"Theia."
The surface of the mirror seemed to ripple, and a moment later the beaming face of Theia was reflected in it.
"You managed it!" she nearly screamed, and for a moment Sarah thought it was Luna rather than Theia in the mirror. Orion grinned.
"Of course I did. This solves those little communication problems, right?"
"What is it?" Hermione asked, curious. Orion shrugged.
"A mirror that the Marauders used to use to stay in contact with each other. Siri…uh, Padfoot has one, and he gave me the match. Theia and I managed to sneak out to the Room of Requirement last night. That Room really is remarkable: it gave us information on how to create extra mirrors for the asking."
"Quick work. Though I have to wonder…would it have been so quick if you and Theia weren't in different Houses?" Sarah asked with a sly smile. Orion simply pushed the mirror into her hands, not deigning to give a verbal response.
"Keep that hidden, it's probably a banned item. Now, breakfast."
Sarah gave Orion an amusedly sceptical look, but he steadfastly ignored her as they walked into the Great Hall. Sarah's amusement, however, was diluted by the way that groups tended to shrink together upon seeing her, as though she might suddenly attack them. The very thought was ridiculous…she would hardly attack a large group in the open. Something like that would have to be done more stealthily…Sarah forcibly cut off that rather worrying thought, mentally repeating to herself that being a Dark Lady was not as attractive as it sometimes sounded. The enchanted ceiling above the Great Hall was rather grim, a miserable grey, covered in rainclouds. Sarah sat next to Orion, eying the ceiling with trepidation. Hopefully they wouldn't have any outside classes today. Just as that thought ended, a tall black girl with braids in her long hair had walked up to her.
"Hi, Angelina" Sarah greeted her.
"Hi," Angelina replied briskly, "Good Summer? Listen, I've been made the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."
"Well done." Sarah said, smiling at her- she suspected that Angelina's pep talks would not be so…tedious…as the ones given by the previous Captain. And she deserved to be Captain, of course. But that was less important.
"Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now that Wood has left. Try outs are at 5 o'clock on Friday, I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how the new person'll fit in."
"Sure." Sarah said. Angelina smiled at her and departed.
"I'd forgotten that Wood had left." Hermione said vaguely as she sat down next to Ron and snagged a plate of toast. "I suppose that will make quite a difference to the team?"
Sarah shrugged.
"Maybe. He was a good Keeper."
"Still, won't hurt to have some fresh blood." Commented Ron, as Theia and Luna flopped onto the bench opposite Sarah and Orion. Sarah raised an eyebrow at the two being on the Gryffindor table, but didn't comment- she didn't think there was anything stopping them except the opinions of the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, something neither Luna nor Theia gave two figs about.
"I notice that the Ravenclaws are giving the two of you some impressive glares." Orion note, as flapping filled the Hall from the post owls. Sarah didn't see Hedwig, nor did she expect to: her only correspondent was Sirius.
"Yes, they seem to have all the symptoms of acute Wrackspurt infestation." Luna said. Theia nodded.
"We may need to set up traps." She added. Orion seemed to shrink back. Sarah leaned across to whisper in his ear.
"What are the symptoms of Wrackspurt infestation? And why are you flinching?"
"Symptoms? Close-mindedness and kleptomania, mostly…as for the flinch, if you'd seen and been used a test subject for the traps Theia is talking about, you'd understand."
Sarah felt her eyebrow involuntarily inch up, but wisely decided to leave the topic alone. If Theia and Luna wanted to decimate Ravenclaw, it was none of her business. Speaking of Ravenclaw…
"Orion, you said that Cho Chang was the Ravenclaw Prefect, but she's a year ahead of us." Sarah pointed out. Orion shrugged.
"Ah…yeah. To be honest, I paid practically no attention to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff- except Theia, of course- and I completely forgot that she was in the year above us."
"You forget a lot from this year, don't you?"
"It has been seven years from my viewpoint, and most of those were action packed."
"Well, I suppose you might have a point there."
Professor McGonagall was now moving down the table, handing out timetables- Luna and Theia appeared to already have theirs.
"Look at today!" Ron groaned. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defence against the Dark Arts…Binns, Snape, Trelawney and that Umbridge woman all in one day! Wish Fred and George would hurry up with those Skiving Snackboxes…"
"Do mine ears deceive me?" Fred asked, newly arrived with George and sliding onto the bench opposite Ron. "Surely no Hogwarts Prefect would wish to skive off lessons?"
"With this Monday?" Ron asked grumpily, shoving his timetable under Fred's nose. The older Weasley looked over the day and whistled.
"Fair point, little bro. You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."
"Why's it cheap?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"Because we haven't found a way to stop the bleeding yet, it'll go on until you shrivel up." George chipped in with inappropriate cheer, helping himself to a kipper. Ron appeared to consider it, then shook his head.
"Think I'll take the lessons."
"What are Skiving Snackboxes?" Sarah asked, not having seen the items yet. Hermione frowned.
"Double ended chews. One end gives you an…affliction…that takes you out of class, the other cures it so you have a free hour." She said, her voice thick with disapproval. "And you, Fred and George, can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board."
"Says who?" George asked, with an expression of innocent surprise.
"Says me," Hermione said, "And Ron."
"Leave me out of it." Ron said hastily, causing Hermione to give him a betrayed look and Fred and George to snicker.
"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough," Fred said, buttering a crumpet, "You're starting your Fifth year, you'll be desperate for a Snackbox before long."
"Why would starting Fifth Year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?" Hermione asked. George's expression went dreamy.
"Fifth year's OWL year. Your exams are coming up, you'll have your nose so close to grindstone it'll be rubbed raw."
"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to OWL's." Fred said happily. "Tears and tantrums…fainting fits…"
"Nightmare of a year, the Fifth. If you care about exam results, anyway…Fred and I managed easily enough…"
"Yeah, you got what, three OWLs each?" Ron butted in.
"Yep." Said Fred, looking unconcerned. "But we reckoned that our futures lie outside the field of academic achievement."
"We seriously debated if we should even come back for our Seventh Year." George chipped in. "Now that we've got-"
Sarah shot him a glare, she didn't want it known that she had given a thousand golden Galleons- the prize monies of the Tri-Wizard Tournament- to the Twins last year. George hastily changed his sentence.
"-Now that we've got our OWLs. I mean, do we really need NEWTs? But what with Percy attaching himself to the Ministry, we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early."
Sarah had heard about that; the third oldest Weasley brother had apparently told his parents that Dumbledore was falling, and he refused to fall with him and his supporters. Percy had stormed out, and not spoken to his parents since, preferring to be a Ministry stooge. Sarah couldn't say she was surprised, from what she remembered of Percy.
"We're not going to waste our last year here, though. Market research, evaluate what students want from a joke shop and produce products to fit demand…" Fred was saying.
"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop? You're going to need all the ingredients, and materials, and premises…"Hermione responded. Sarah pointedly did not look at the twins, instead looking at Orion and working on keeping her hair and eyes normal colour: Orion looked amused.
"Good thing your hair is usually red." He muttered- Sarah punched his arm and ignored his exaggerated wince.
"Ask no questions we'll tell you no lies, Hermione. Come on George- times wasting." Fred said before the Twins walked away, both carrying a stack of toast.
"What did that mean?" Hermione muttered. "Does that mean they have gold already?"
"You know, I've been wondering," Ron said slowly, brow furrowed. "They got me some new dress robes this summer, but I can't understand where they got the Galleons…"
Sarah, ignoring the amusement that Orion was still hiding, decided to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters.
"Do you think they were right, that this year's going to be really tough?" she asked.
"Oh yeah. Bound to be." Ron said. "OWLs are really important, affect the jobs you can apply for and everything. We get career advice later this year as well, Bill told me."
"Do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Sarah asked, curious. Ron looked slightly sheepish.
"Not really…except…"
"What?" Sarah urged. Ron sighed.
"Well…it would be cool to be an Auror." Ron said, in a tone that suggested he was trying to be off hand. Sarah considered. Before meeting Orion she would have fervently agreed, but now she had to think… Aurors had to follow rules. They had to obey orders from the Ministry. When there wasn't a Dark Lord wandering around they basically went around arresting people like Mundungus Fletcher, the annoying, smelly but ultimately harmless thief who was part of the Order. Could Sarah do that? Would her tendency to disregard rules and disobey authority to do what she thought right really work as an Auror? Probably not, she thought glumly.
"I suppose it would be cool." She agreed, keeping her thoughts hidden. "What about you, Orion?"
Orion glanced at Theia, who smiled.
"Freelance cursebreaker. Lets me wander freely…can't leave Theia to wander the world looking for mythical beasties on her own."
"I can take care of myself." Theia pointed out mildly. Orion gave her an amused look.
"But the question is will you? Besides, I've always enjoyed travelling and tomb-robbing. Most of my fondest memories between leaving Hogwarts and coming here involve both activities."
Sarah chose to ignore the reference to his time as Lord Lament, and looked at Hermione. The intelligent girl shrugged.
"I don't know. I'd like to do something worthwhile." She said.
"An Auror's worthwhile!" Ron said.
"Yes, but it isn't the only worthwhile thing. I mean, if I could take SPEW further…"
Ron and Sarah exchanged looks as they stood from the table, to go to their first lesson. Orion moved across to Theia and cast a spell silently; Sarah felt a sudden urge to look away and classed it as a powerful Notice-me-not spell: only someone who had noticed the spell being cast would look at Theia and Orion. Sarah turned away, hearing Orion speak softly to Theia.
"Don't cause too much trouble." He said, with a smile in his voice.
"I'll do my best." Theia murmured, before Orion kissed her, dropping the Notice-me-not as they broke apart, the two splitting up to go to their respective lessons.
"Paranoid, aren't you?" Sarah muttered. Orion gave a quick, crooked smile.
"Always. I'm not supposed to know Theia all that well, remember?"
"Hmm."
"Something I've been wondering since Ron said about those Dress Robes…who did you attend the Yule Ball with last year?"
Sarah flushed slightly.
"Who did you attend with?" she asked, hoping to deflect the question entirely. Orion shrugged.
"Parvati Patil." He admitted. Sarah stumbled, she was so surprised.
"How did you manage that?" she hissed. Orion smiled.
"Natural charm, overwhelming charisma and the fact that no-one else had asked her a few days before the Ball. So, who did you attend with? More to that point, who did Ron attend with? Wait…"
Sarah spoke before Orion finished his thought.
"Yes, Ron and I went together." She said. Orion laughed, and Sarah glared.
"So, how was it?"
"I strongly regretted becoming friends with him again. He spent most of the night grumbling about his robes and glaring at Hermione- probably jealous that she was with Krum." She said sourly. Orion snickered, although he admitted that he hadn't had the most enjoyable night either as they reached the History of Magic classroom. History of Magic was, by common consent, considered the most boring class at Hogwarts. Professor Binns, the teacher, was a ghost who had simply never stopped coming to work, and his lessons, given in a wheezy, droning voice that possessed unprecedented soporific power, took the form of dry lectures that soon had the class dozing: only Hermione seemed able to resist. In past years Sarah had managed by copying the notes Hermione took, but in this case she saw a new way- the way Orion did it. Simply, Orion placed an ordinary looking quill on his parchment, tapped it with his wand and watched in satisfaction as it started to take notes on its own. Sarah leaned across to him.
"Is that a Quick-Quotes quill?" she asked. Orion shook his head.
"Similar spell, but it takes actual notes. No, it's a Dicta-quill. Not entirely sure it's allowed in the school rules, but Binns is hardly likely to notice." He replied in an undertone. Sarah nodded, impressed, before she leaned back and started to doze. An hour and a half later, Sarah was left with the vague impression that giant wars were quite an interesting topic- or would be, if they were taught by anyone else. She noticed Hermione shooting her and Ron filthy looks, though the blackest glare was reserved for Orion, who met it with an innocent gaze.
"How would it be," she asked Sarah and Ron in a cold tone, "If I refused to lend you two my notes this year?"
"We'd fail our OWL." Ron immediately said, trying to look beseeching. Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Or we could get Orion to help." She pointed out.
"Oh, yeah…"
"Technically not cheating, Hermione. There aren't any rules forbidding Dicta-quills when in class. I think." Orion said. Ron nodded.
"We try to listen to him, Hermione, but we haven't got your brains or your memory or your concentration: you're just better than we are." The redhead said. Sarah nodded agreement, and Hermione looked slightly mollified as she led the way out into the damp courtyard. They found a somewhat sheltered corner, and Hermione wondered out loud what Snape would set them for the first lesson of the year. She also brought up a good point-
"I wonder why Snape seems to hate Sarah so much? I mean, Orion said he loved Lily, and Sarah looks just like her mother."
Sarah blanched at the implications of that. Fortunately, Orion had a theory.
"I wondered too, and I think that it's down to Snape. I mean, looking at a Potter who looked just like James would be a reminder of his years being tormented by the Marauders." He said, referencing himself. "But Sarah looks just like Lily. That would mean that every time Snape sees her he is reminded of his one real friend, a friend he drove away and betrayed. Looking at Sarah must make him hate himself even more…and he takes that out on Gryffindor."
Sarah conceded that that was possible, not bothering to hide her continuing disgust at the thought of Snape having a crush on her mother. The bell rang, and the four of them walked down to the dungeons, filing into the classroom and taking their usual table at the back: it was big enough for Orion to join them.
"Settle down." Snape said coldly, entering in a sweep of black robes. There was no real need for the call to order; the room had gone quiet the instant he closed the door, silenced by the mere presence of the Potions Master.
"Before we begin today's lesson," Snape said, gliding across to his desk and looking coldly around the room, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will all be sitting an important examination, during which you will have to demonstrate your knowledge of the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you all to gain an 'Acceptable' in your OWL, or suffer my…displeasure."
Icy black eyes rested on Neville, who gulped before Snape looked away and kept talking.
"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me. I take only the very best into my NEWT class, and as such many of us will certainly be saying goodbye."
This time the gaze fell upon Sarah, who gazed blandly back, not showing the pleasure she took in the thought of being able to give up Potions.
"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell so, whether or not you intend to attempt NEWT, I advise you all to concentrate on maintaining the high standards I expect of my OWL classes. Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredient you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so pay close attention to what you are doing."
Hermione sat up a little straighter.
"The ingredients and method are on the blackboard, everything you need is in the store cupboard, you have an hour and a half, begin." Snape said, accompanying this with flicks of his wand that caused writing to scroll across the blackboard and the supply cupboard to open. As Sarah had expected, Snape could hardly have set them a more difficult, fiddly option. The ingredients had to be added in precise quantities at precise times, the mixture required an exact number of stirs, first clockwise, then anti-clockwise, and the heat of the flames had to be lowered to an exact temperature for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.
"A light silver vapour should now be rising from your potion." Came the cold drawl of Snape, with ten minutes to go. Sarah flicked a sweat-soaked strand of hair away from her eyes and glanced around the dungeon. Her own cauldron was emitting clouds of dark grey steam; Ron's was spitting green sparks. Seamus was feverishly prodding at the flames at the base of his cauldron with his wand, as the fire seemed to be going out. The surface of Hermione's potion, however, was a mist of shimmering silver vapour, and, from the sour expression Snape wore as he hovered over Orion, Sarah suspected that her silver-handed alternate had also succeeded. The Potions teacher swept past Hermione without comment, meaning he couldn't find anything to criticise, but he stopped at Sarah with a horrible smirk on his face.
"Potter, what is this supposed to be?"
The Slytherins at the front of the class all looked up eagerly, they considered Snape taunting Sarah to be the best part of any lesson.
"The Draught of Peace." Sarah said tersely. You know what it is, you smug bastard, she mentally added.
"Tell me, Potter, can you read?" Snape said, in a softly poisonous tone. Draco Malfoy laughed, but Orion had started to hum the tune of 'That's Amore' and Malfoy flushed. Snape glared at Orion, but was too focused on Sarah.
"Yes, I can read." Sarah gritted out, clenching her fist and feeling her fingernails dig into her palm.
"Read the third line of instructions for me, Potter."
Sarah squinted at the blackboard, peering through fogged up glasses and the haze of multi-coloured vapour now filling the dungeon.
"'Add powdered moonstone, stir three times anti-clockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes then add two drops of syrup of hellebore.'"
Her heart sank. She had not added syrup of hellebore, instead proceeding straight on to the fourth line of instructions.
"Did you do everything on the third line of instructions, Potter?"
"No." Sarah said quietly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"No." Sarah repeated, more loudly. Snape gave her a cold glare.
"No, you missed out the syrup of hellebore, making this mess utterly worthless. Evanesco."
A wave of the wand, and Sarah was left standing next to a cauldron which had had its contents vanished. As Snape turned away, Sarah could have sworn she heard a comment unfavourably comparing her potions ability to her mother, and her anger almost boiled over. Sarah missed whatever Snape said next, too busy forcing down a spike of rage, but she noticed everyone taking flagons of potion up to the desk and so she began to clear away her things, seething. Her potion was no worse than Ron's, now smelling strongly of rotten eggs, or Neville's, which was the consistency of just-mixed cement and congealing in the cauldron, but it was her who would be receiving no marks this day. When the bell finally rang Sarah was the first out of the dungeon, striding along in a considerable temper. She was already started on lunch when the other three arrived.
"That was really unfair." Hermione said consolingly, sitting down next to Sarah and helping herself to shepherd's pie. "Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's- it shattered his flagon and set his robes on fire."
Sarah scowled.
"Yeah, well, since when has Snape been fair to me?" she grumbled. None of the other three answered: they all knew that Snape and Sarah had hated each other absolutely since the very first year Sarah had attended Hogwarts.
"I did think he would be a bit better this year," Hermione said in a tone of disappointment, " What with…you know…" a quick glance around: there were a dozen empty seats either side of them "Now that he's in the Order and everything."
"Being on the side of the angels won't change his fundamental personality." Orion drawled. Sarah shot a glare at him.
"You could have warned me about that Potion." She grumbled. Orion quirked an eyebrow.
"Warned you? I told you, I hardly remember everything. A Potions lesson where Snape was unfair to me? Not worth remembering."
"And yet you made the Potion easily. I saw you, you were hardly concentrating." Sarah accused. Orion sighed.
"I copied down all the instructions at the start of the lesson just in case, and I've made the Draught of Peace a lot."
"Copied down the instructions?" Hermione asked. Orion nodded.
"Didn't you see Sarah having to squint to see the board, and her glasses were all fogged up? I wear contact lenses, true, but having the instructions close at hand is still useful.
Sarah looked at Orion thoughtfully.
"You wear contact lenses? I assumed you'd had some kind of magical procedure to fix your vision."
Orion shook his head.
"Just a pair of lenses charmed to be unbreakable and self-clean. You should probably use a pair- we'll have to ask Theia, though, she did the charms. I'm a bit ham-handed when it comes to charms."
"Yes, we noticed. And Malfoy did." Sarah commented dryly, remembering the Confundus charm and finally managing to press down her anger. Orion sighed deeply.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" he asked. Sarah smiled.
"It reminds me that you aren't perfect."
"I'm flattered that you feel I'm so wonderful you have to bring me down like that." Orion deadpanned.
After lunch Sarah went to Divination with Ron, while Orion and Hermione had Ancient Runes. Sarah spent an hour contemplating the merits of trying to drop Divination and join them, and wondering if all the false predictions of her death Professor Trelawney made were balanced out by the true predictions she had made. Sarah thought not, given that the only prediction Sarah knew Trelawney had made was the one at the end of Sarah's Third year. When the lesson was over Sarah made her way to Defence Against the Dark Arts, half-heartedly listening to Ron whining about the homework they had all the way. They re-joined Orion and Hermione before they entered the room, finding Professor Umbridge already seated at her desk, wearing the same fluffy pink cardigan as last night and with a black velvet bow on top of her head. Sarah was strongly reminded of a fashion deprived toad with a large fly perched unwisely on its head. The class was quiet as they entered the realm of this unknown quantity; Sarah, who knew more than most, sat next to the source of her information, Orion.
"Well. Good afternoon!" Umbridge said brightly. Sarah immediately pegged the cheer as false, and started to actively dislike Umbridge, more than she had done already from what Orion and Theia had told her about the woman. A few people mumbled 'Good afternoon' in reply. Umbridge clucked her tongue.
"Tut tut, that won't do."
Sarah added extra points to how much she hated Umbridge. Who actually said 'Tut tut', rather than making the noise? Umbridge was talking again.
"That won't do, now, will it? When I say 'Good afternoon, class' I would like you to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. One more time? Good afternoon, class!"
"Good afternoon Professor Umbridge." Sarah droned along with the class, wishing that she was anywhere else. Even facing Voldie- at least he didn't talk to her like she was five.
"There now," Umbridge said, sickeningly sweet. "That wasn't too difficult, was it now? Wands away and quills out, please."
The class exchanged gloomy looks: the order 'wands away' had never been followed by an interesting lesson. Sarah slid her wand back into her sleeve where, following Orion's lead, she had begun keeping it, and pulled out quill, ink and parchment. Umbridge tapped the blackboard with her own wand, and Sarah watched silently as words appeared on it.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
A return to basic principles
Sarah silently wondered if 'Point wand, scream spell, run for your life' counted as basic principles. Probably not Ministry approved ones.
"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" Umbridge said, clasping her hands and turning to face the class. "The constant changing of teacher, most of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry—approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in you OWL year. You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory centred, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year."
Sarah felt her heart sink at the phrase 'Theory centred'. That couldn't be good. Sourly, Sarah copied down the Course Aims that appeared on the blackboard, and mumbled assent when Umbridge asked if they all had a copy of Wilbert Slinkhard's Defensive Magical Theory. Sarah had looked at the book, and agreed with Orion that it was offensively dull, unbelievably naïve and generally a waste of good trees. Orion was of the opinion that Wilbert Slinkhard must be a Death Eater trying to sabotage the Ministry- Sarah thought he was just a moron. Umbridge set them all to read the first chapter of the book and sat at her desk, looking at them with pouchy eyes. Sarah just sat and stared at the book: of all the class only Orion seemed to be reading, but as Sarah glanced across she saw that he was reading a completely different book disguised as Defensive Magical Theory. Surprisingly, Hermione hadn't even opened the book, rather she was sitting with her hand in the air, looking straight at Umbridge who, rather rudely, was completely ignoring her. A short while later, when the majority of the class were sitting staring at Hermione rather than reading, Umbridge was finally forced to address the issue.
"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked, trying to sound as though she had just noticed Hermione.
"Not about the chapter, no." Hermione said.
"Well, we're reading just now," Umbridge said, showing small, pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of the class."
"I have a query about your course aims." Hermione said, and Sarah could swear that she heard sarcasm in her friend's voice.
"And your name is?"
"Hermione Granger."
"Well, Miss Granger, I should think the course aims are perfectly clear."
"And yet there is nothing in them about actually using magic." Hermione said. Sarah, forewarned by Orion, didn't look, but most of the class gawped at the blackboard. Umbridge gave a little laugh that sent a tingle of irritation down Sarah's spine.
"Using defensive spells? Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use defensive spells. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"
Not unless she looks like a fly one day, Sarah thought.
"We're not going to practise magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly. Sarah wondered if it was an act or he'd just forgotten that Orion had warned them about this part of Umbridge's 'teaching' style.
"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr- "
"Weasley." Ron snapped, thrusting his fist into the air. Smiling widely, Umbridge turned away from him and Sarah added her to the special place of hatred in her heart that she normally reserved for Voldemort and Draco Malfoy. How one person managed to annoy Sarah on every single level, she couldn't understand. Sarah put her hand into the air, along with Hermione. Umbridge turned the infuriating fake smile back onto Hermione.
"You wanted to ask something else, Miss Granger?"
"Yes. Surely the whole point of Defence Against the Dark Arts is to practise defensive spells?"
"Are you a Ministry trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" Umbridge asked, in a tone as sweet as treacle. Sarah bit down her automatic response of 'No, I'm not a moron.'
"No, but-" Hermione started. Umbridge cut her off.
"Well then, I'm afraid that you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised a new course of study, to be carried out in a secure, risk-free environment-"
"What use is that?" Sarah demanded, her temper boiling over. "If we're attacked, it won't be risk free!"
"Hand, Miss Potter!" Umbridge sang out. Sarah struggled with a desire to leap up and test how well Umbridge knew her Defence with a few curses, but restrained the urge that she fervently hoped was bleeding over from Voldemort. Instead she thrust her hand into the air, but Umbridge turned away from her. However, several other people now raised their hands, and Umbridge couldn't ignore them all.
"And you are?" she said, looking at Dean.
"Dean Thomas."
"Well, Mr Thomas?"
"Well, like Sarah said, if we're attacked it won't be risk free."
"I repeat," Umbridge said, a horrible smirk on her pasty face, "Do you expect to be attacked during my classes?"
"I'm not talking about-"
Umbridge talked over him.
"I do not wish to criticise, but you have been exposed to some very unorthodox and irresponsible wizards in this class…even a dangerous half-breed."
Sarah clenched her jaw at the slur against Lupin.
"If you mean Professor Lupin, he was one of the best teachers we ever-" Dean started.
"Hand, Mr Thomas! As I was saying- you have been introduced to spells that are not age-appropriate, complex and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day-"
"No we haven't!" Hermione protested.
"Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!"
Hermione put up her hand and, once again, Umbridge turned away from her, now rambling on about Moody last year- or Barty Crouch, actually. Odd that the second best Defence teacher had been a Death Eater. Sarah fumed as she listened to the idiot woman pronounce that it would be possible to pass the practical portion of the OWL by just knowing the theory and casting the spell from that, and saw her chance to cut in.
"What good will theory be in the real world?" Sarah demanded. Umbridge turned her gaze onto her.
"This is school, not the real world."
"So we aren't supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?"
"There Is nothing waiting out there." Umbridge snapped. Sarah did her utmost to suppress her temper.
"Oh, yeah?" she asked, her voice just below shouting.
"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" Umbridge asked, her voice poisonously sweet. Sarah barely noticed Orion sit up straight as she replied in a coldly mocking voice.
"Oh, let me think… maybe Lord Voldemort?"
Ron gasped; Lavender Brown let out a small scream; Neville fell off his chair and Sarah almost lost her temper entirely then and there. It was just a name!
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Potter." Umbridge said. Sarah would have responded, but Orion gripped her wrist, a silent message to let him handle it and stay calm- or at least not lose her temper entirely.
"Now, let me make a few things clear." Umbridge said, standing up.
"You have been told that a certain Dark Wizard has returned from the dead. This is a lie."
Sarah wanted to shout that it wasn't a lie, but Orion spoke first, his voice silky with menace. That was something Sarah particularly envied about him, his ability to convey unutterable threats just in his tone.
"As the Ministry has been saying. Are we to take that to mean that there are no Dark Wizards out there? Not even the favourite scapegoat of the Ministry, Sirius Black?" asked Orion. Umbridge, cut off, was so shocked she didn't even reprimand him for not raising his hand. Orion smirked and continued.
"Of course, given that Sarah here was kidnapped via a Portkey that the Death Eater Barty Crouch set up, something that he admitted to doing while masquerading as Alastor Moody, and Cedric Diggory returned dead, one might wonder what the Ministry thinks is a reasonable explanation for said kidnapping?"
"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident. The Ministry of Magic guarantees you will be safe from Dark Wizards." Umbridge snapped, flushing blotchily. Orion raised a narrow eyebrow.
"I would be more inclined to believe that if Sirius Black was not still on the run, and if a second Death Eater had not managed to escape Azkaban and spend last year hiding in the school." He responded coldly. Umbridge stared at him.
"What is your name?" she asked. Orion sneered slightly.
"Argent."
Umbridge started to smirk, breathing fast, a glitter of triumph in her eyes.
"Oh, I am sure you would know all about Sirius Black…after all, is he not your father?"
All the class looked in horror at Orion, who didn't appear to react- Sarah saw his left hand clench slightly though. Umbridge continued, her eyes shining with glee.
"I wonder, does Miss Potter know that her little friend is the son of a man who betrayed her parents? Do you aspire to follow in the footsteps of your family and become a convicted criminal?"
"No, actually. Even if I did aspire to follow my father I wouldn't be a convicted criminal…after all, my father never received a trial, so he is merely an alleged criminal. Besides that, I have never met my father, so I would hope that Sarah would judge me by myself rather than by what Sirius Black did." Orion replied coldly. Umbridge glared at him.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for lying."
Orion sneered coldly.
"Check the records, Professor. You'll see I'm telling the truth." He said coldly, as the bell rang and the class quickly packed away. Orion was the first out of the classroom, striding away in the opposite direction from the Great Hall and leaving Umbridge fuming in impotent rage.
"Go after him." Hermione hissed, pulling Sarah's bag from her. Sarah quickly followed Orion through the twining halls of the castle, into the more deserted sections. She caught up when Orion stopped sharply, abruptly slamming his left hand into the wall. To Sarah's shock, the wall actually cracked from the impact.
"I forget how much I hate that woman. Death really is too good for some people." Orion said conversationally. Sarah nodded silently, watching as he shook his hand.
"You were telling the truth, weren't you? About Sirius?"
"Yeah. He never actually got a proper trial, from what I know. Barty Crouch chucked him right into prison, and the Kiss-on-Sight order means he can't get a trial. But if we managed to get a lawyer and get him a successful trial…it could bring down the Ministry."
Sarah smiled, eyes glinting.
"Bring down the Ministry? Sounds like a plan, Orion. And if we can take down Umbridge along the way…"
"All to the good. Come on…I'm over my anger now. You?"
"I'm too hungry to be really angry anymore." Sarah replied with an easy smile, as the two of them headed back towards the Great Hall.
I was asked in a review about using the phrase 'She-Who-Could-Not-Be-Slayed' in other people's works- I have no problem with stuff from Emerald and Argent being used, so long as I get a brief acknowledgement for anything large like characters. Otherwise it's all good and can be freely used.
Read and review!