After Umbridge's ridiculous class ended, I got up and walked to the Gryffindor Common Room. I sat for a few minutes, motionless, and then I pulled out a book and began reading.

The Notebook.

That book's got to be the best one I've ever come across. It's about the fourth time I've read it, but hell I could've read it twenty more times before I would've begun to get tired of it.

"Annabelle!" I heard a voice calling me from the door: Seamus' voice.

My dear friend Seamus.

I got up and jumped into his arms.

"Seamus," I mumbled, my arms still wrapped around his neck with my head buried in the cavity between his neck and his collarbone.

I haven't conversed with the boy since last summer. Merlin, did I miss him and his Irish accent.

He picked me up bridal style and sat me down on the couch. I smiled and waited for him to settle himself upon the section of the couch beside me.

"How was your summer, Belle?" He asked me as he put his arm on the top of the couch just above my shoulders.

"Pretty close to perfect, thanks. How was your delightful summer without me?" I asked sarcasm dripping from my words.

"Horrible," he said, his head tilting backwards. I laughed about it for a second, until I realized he wasn't kidding.

"What made it so horrible?" I asked my face turning from a light mood to an almost serious mood in seconds.

"I almost had to go to Durmstang." He said, a sneer on his lips.

"What? Why? Why didn't you owl me? What happened?" a spill of questions left my lips as I turned to Seamus.

"Potter. Your stupid ex, Potter." He made sure to spit out the P in his name. I felt a bit uncomfortable as he spoke about him like that. "Made up all these stupid lies about you-know-who coming back. My mum thinks Hogwarts is dangerous now, and it's all because he made up those stupid lies," he stated, looking straight ahead of him.

"Hey now. He didn't lie..." I said, defending Harry.

Voldemort killed my best friend. He killed him. How was I supposed to believe that Cedric just fell down and died?

"He lied! Did you read the Daily Prophet? Did you read what they said? Did you hear what the Minister said? The Minister's word against Potter's word..." he stated, trying to get me to believe that Voldemort's not back. An argument has already began, I was going to finish it.

"The Minister didn't watch as Voldemort killed Cedric!" I said, my voice rising.

"The Minister is a hell of a load smarter than Potter."

"Smarts have nothing to do with what he saw!" A bit of anger came out in my voice.

"Whatever. All I know is that he lied about seeing Voldemort," he said, shaking his head.

I ignored it and just sat there. I wasn't in much of a mood to argue anyways. I pulled my book back out and continued reading.

Harry's POV

I walked over to Professor Umbridge's office to get detention for telling the truth. How appropriate.

I knock onto the door, waiting for an invitation to walk into the room.
"Come in," she said in a calm and timid voice.

I went inside the room. If you think you've seen an obsession with the color pink, you haven't.

Oh and don't even get me started on her obsession for cats, now.

"You're going to be writing a few lines for me today."

I went to get out my quill, but she was determined on me using hers. Generous now?

"I want you to write, 'I must not tell lies.'" She paced toward the window. I asked her how many times I should write this phrase.

"As many times as it takes to sink in."

I wrote it.

And that's when I realized what Umbridge really was. A monster covered by pink and a high pitched voice.

I felt a pain rise through my left hand. It was like a needle was scraping my flesh from the inside. Then it ripped through. The same sentence I wrote on the scrap of paper that was sitting right in front of me, engraved into my flesh.

I left the room, in desperate need of finding relief for my hand.

So this is how the Ministry wants students to be treated?

I saw Annabelle walking towards me, an adorable smile on her face. Find one girl who can match how undeniably gorgeous Annabelle Hope Richardson is. I bet you can't.

She has stunning hazel eyes with golden brown hair to sweep down past her shoulders. Her body was even more beautiful. It seemed like the summer between 3rd and 4th year, she got curves in all the right places. It blew my mind that someone could even exist looking the way she does.

"Hey, Harry. What's the matter?" she asked while a frown grew onto her face. That's another thing about her. She always knew when something was upsetting me.

"Nothing. Just a bit tired," I lied, not wanting to worry her with this. I knew her, Hermione, and Ron would overreact to something as stupid as this.

It'll only make Umbridge happier.

"Right," she looked me up and down, trying to find some sign of me lying to her. I quickly hid my left hand behind my back. And of course she got suspicious.

"What's that?" she asked me, glaring at my left hand. I hadn't an excuse now. She quickly categorized all the facts in her head, coming to a pretty accurate conclusion. "Umbridge. It was her," she mumbled as she held my hand out.

"What do you mean?"

"I knew she did something to you. I knew she wouldn't just give you normal detention."

"Don't tell Ron," I said. I made sure to stop walking so Annie knew I was serious. "Or Hermione. They'll overreact." I looked directly into her beautiful eyes, which were both staring right back into mine.

"Oh alright," she said, a bit of disappointment in her voice. I smiled a little and looked back toward where I was walking.

We went to dinner, making small talk along the way. Then she bumped into Chang.

"Oh, I'm so sorry-" Cho picked up the books that have fallen out of Belle's hands when she bumped into her, until she realized exactly who it was she ran into. She gave Annabelle a glare, dropped the books back on the ground, and walked away.

"She's becoming bitchier by the day," Annabelle said, picking up the few books that were now scattered around the floor.

"I'm sure it has something to do with Cedric though. I mean-" I tried to defend Cho. I don't even know why I tried to defend Cho.

"It's definitely not because of Cedric. I was closer to Cedric than she would have ever been. You don't see me going around dropping people's books, do you?" she asked, a look of hatred and almost sadness on her face for the loss of friendship she had with Cho.

"No." I knew she was right. She was always right. She was virtually a second version of Hermione.

"Exactly," she mumbled with a decent smirk on her face.

The Next Day

Annabelle's POV

I walked into Snape's class, obviously not wanting to take this course again. It was certainly not my favorite. I slid into a vacant chair in the back, pulling out a book from my bag.

"I want each of you to take out a notebook. You will be taking notes on why potions are relevant in your everyday life," Snape said, slowly circling the room. His hands were behind his back. "Open your textbooks to page 32." His eyebrows were furrowed. He didn't look very happy. He was never happy. I haven't seen him smile in these 5 years I had him. We do this assignment every year.
Why is Potions important? Because it teaches you how detail maters, as well as it teaches you the 'fine art' of Potions. I could pull out my notebook from the years past and just put it on my desk for this year. Really, Snape doesn't get very creative with these things.

Just to decrease the boredom by a bit, I looked over at Harry.

"Lemme see your schedule." He looked a bit confused. We had classes yesterday, so we both knew which classes we had with each other. I didn't want to actually see his schedule for the sake of the classes written on it; but for the fact that the back was blank, meaning I could draw on it. Harry and I always drew with one another. It was one of those things we just did growing up. He folded up the sheet of paper and tossed it to my desk.

I knew just the thing.

One day in 3rd year, our dear friend Harry Potter fell asleep on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. I, being the thoughtful person that I am, put a bit of whipped cream on his hand. I had a feather tickle his nose. By doing so, the whipped cream and his face connected.

I drew this on the sheet of paper, smiling with pleasure as I looked back at how slick I was. I put a charm on it to make it move, kind of like a video clip.
I quickly folded this back up and tossed it back at him. He looks over it a minute, then chuckled to himself, understanding what it was.

"Remember?" I whisper to him, smiling.

"Richardson-" Snape spits out at me, as he stands at the front of the class, looking a bit angry. "Just like your mother. Hah, like your father too. Can't ever shut your mouth," he grumbled between his teeth. I saw Harry's face turn to a look of sincere anger at this Professor. I felt my cheeks darken to a deep shade of red from embarrassment.
Now that I think about it, I think my face went red from anger as well as embarrassment.
I think more anger. Who was he to speak of my father?
Snape continued on his lecture about those common uses of Potions. I rested the right side of my cheek into the palm of my hand. My dad did mention a little something about Snape. It was back before I ever stepped foot into Hogwarts. Back before my 11th birthday.

5 years ago

"You're going to have a teacher. He's a jackass. His names Snivellus- Severus Snape," my father said, sipping on his coffee. "He always sneered at us. Always thought he was better than us, that son of a-" my father stopped himself.

"Who's this us?" I asked, curious at his use of words.

"It was me, James," he paused for a second. "Peter, Remus, and Sirius," he says, a small smile glowing on his face. "But of course those names don't mean anything to you yet. You might figure out who they are someday," he said, smiling a timid smile. He looked at me with kind eyes, finished the last of his coffee, and stood up to put his mug in the sink.

Harry's POV

That worm. Of all people Snape could be rude to, he'd be rude to Annabelle? Sickening. Nobody's ever rude to Belle. Everyone loved that girl. Who wouldn't though? She is a loveable girl.
Me and Belle go way back, back to first year. Even though it was only five years ago, I feel like I've known her a lifetime.
Scratch that, a lifetime and a half.
We always clicked. No matter what. We got into a fight once. It lasted twenty minutes before it resolved itself. That was the only fight we had.

Then Cho came along. Annabelle and I dated last year. It was the best 9 months I've lived. Then Cho... I mean, I can't help the fact that she's exceptionally gorgeous. But it was my fault for asking her to the ball. I don't know what was going through my head. Annabelle's the best girl I've ever met, from beauty to personality.
Her and her hazel eyes and let's not forget that she always smelt like coconuts; always.
She knew if I was feeling bad about something; she knew how to cheer me back up.
I miss her. The real her. Ever since the breakup, she hasn't really been the same. She's paranoid about everything and everyone. She has an incapability of taking risks anymore, as well as not being able to make sarcastic remarks any longer. I really do still have feelings for her. I loved her! We told each other that last year, that damn 'I love you' phrase. Then I had to mess it all up. I still want to be with her, I really do. It's just that I don't know if that could happen anymore. I asked her out again right before school let out last year. She said no, she didn't want her heart broken again. I really don't think there's any way I'm gonna be able to forgive myself. What boy would ask another girl to the ball? Especially one that was friends with your damn girlfriend! Best friends!

A stupid boy of course.

Maybe one named Harry James Potter.

But of course it would happen to someone named Harry James Potter. I mean, everything that's ever been horrible happened to me. Why not add on a few more terrible events...? Right?
Of course, Cho told Belle. Then it all went downhill from there. If I could have one wish, I would make Belle's personality come back. The one she had before everything happened. The sarcastic, sweet, and funny one. Even if we wouldn't be together. I just want Belle to be herself.
But of course, it would take forever for her to come back, and I blame that on none other than myself.