Well, they looked ridiculous walking through the station. That really was the only word for it. Seven teenagers, half of which were ginger and obviously related, a girl with purple hair, an old man with a glass eye and cane, several more adults all in trench coats or robes and to top it all off a dog! Mia was walking closer to the back of the group next to Ginny and Tonks, one of which had their eyes glued to the back of Harry's unsuspecting head. No clues for guessing who that was! The twins were walking at the very front with Mr. Weasley, and seemed to be having a very animated conversation that involved lots of arm movements and the phrase 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' or something like that, being shouted quite a lot. Mr. Weasley did not look impressed. Mia decided it was best not to ask and slung her arm through Ginny's, having to stoop slightly so they were closed to the same height. Even that wasn't enough to get her attention off the boy who lived though. In fact, when Harry ducked into another room out of sight to talk quickly with Sirius, she still continued to stare helplessly at the glass, looking a kicked puppy.
"We really need to get you help" Mia commented, at temping to pull her friend towards the platform.
All of their trunks had already been taken and loaded earlier that day, probably with some help from the aurors who had been in previous talks with Dumbledore for hours discussing it, which left them with the simple task of boarding the train and finding an empty compartment. after a very hug-filled goodbye from the Weasley, including Fred somehow getting into the queue to say goodbye the a certain Slytherin and ten minutes of squeezing past students in the corridors waiting for their parents to blur out of sight, the two girls finally found a mostly empty compartment. There was another girl in there, with light honey blonde hair, and light blue eyes that had begun to narrow as she took in both girls. It turned out she was a friend of Ginny's, who actually did like Ginny, but had a deep set hatred for anyone who had been sorted in Slytherin, Mia being no exception. So between the nonsensical conversation she was having with the other Gryffindor, the honey coloured blonde girl managed to find the time to throw daggers at the brunette with her eyes for no actual reason besides the fact she was a Slytherin. Well, at least no other reason she could think of. She'd never seen the girl before, and she certainly wasn't one of the ones in Ginny's year she'd shared a room with, they weren't easy faces to forget. So, sighing Mia settled back into the chair and resolved to starring out of the window aimlessly for the whole journey.
The carriage ride up to the castle went much the same way, much to the extent that the only change finally occurred when they had to be seated for the sorting and feast. Obviously Mia couldn't sit by Ginny or any of the other Weasley as they weren't in the same house, so the brunette was forced to retire across to the Slytherin table alone, perching herself between a second year girl who smirked and a third year boy who tried to scoot away unsuccessfully. Not that there was anywhere for him to really go. Her back was to the Gryffindor table, and out of sheer luck the hushed, laughing voices of Fred and George soon trailed over to her ears as they had sat themselves behind her, a small smile reaching her lips as she heard them trying to sell a poor second year one of the products they'd made over the summer. The smile disappeared when, rather ironically Mia realised that she was almost directly across from Crabbe, who was quite predictably next to Goyle and beside him was, yep, you guessed it, Draco. She caught his eye accidentally when taking all of this in, and much to her surprise he didn't smirk or say a snide comment, well, at least not at first. No, at first, as if caught off guard, Draco Malfoy just looked back, his mouth slightly open as a series of emotions all flashed across his face, too fast for Mia to properly identify and then within the blink of an eye the arrogant, sarcastic mask that he used to rarely wear when around her went up and he leant closer to Pansy who was on his other side, finally breaking the eye contact with the younger brunette to whisper something, most likely disgusting and slimy into the wall flowers equally disgusting and slimy ear that made her do a really annoying high pitched giggle. Mia wanted to hit her. Who on earth even giggled? It was stupid and irritating and so not something she would ever do she decided, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest, eyes now glued to the wooden table, not that anyone really took any notice. Pansy though, paddling pool shallow Pansy, giggled again. It took all of her will power not to scream at the girl to shut up. Even when the food came Mia didn't look up, and the previous apatite she'd had had vanished rather quickly.
"May I have your attention" Called Dumbledore halfway through the feast, his voice booming out to fill the great hall. Students all stopped talking, but several still continued to eat. "Now, we have two changes to faculty this year. We are pleased to welcome back professor Grubley Plank who will be taking on care of magical creatures whilst professor Haygrid is on temporary leave." Having finally looked up when the head master had started speaking, Mia now caught the smirk on the blondes lips out of the corner of her eye, wishing she had longer legs to be able to kick him in the shins for smirking. "I also wish to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge." A women dressed in a bright pink coat, literally all bright pink, a pink hat and even pink shoes smiled out at the audience, giving a little wave. Who on earth would wear so much pink? It just wasn't normal. And really didn't suit the position of a Dark Arts teacher considering who they'd had in the past. "Now I hope you will all join me in wishing professor Umbridge good luck. As usual our caretaker, Filch has asked me to remind you-" Dumbledore stopped short as the new professor stood up and made her way to the front of the raised platform, her low pink heels clacking along the floor boards and resonating along the walls.
"Thank you, professor Dumbledore, for those kind words! And how nice, to see these bright, happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very, good friends" Mia just stared, like many others around her, mouth hanging slightly open. Ok, so the women might be from the ministry, but really, what was wrong with her mentally? She couldn't be all there surely. Next she'd be saying she loved cats! The Slytherin was just close enough to catch a comment from Fred and George, having to cover a laugh with a cough.
"That's likely" The twins said in unison, both looking equally unimpressed.
"The ministry of magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each head master has brought something new to this historic school," Umbridge paused, inclining her head towards Dumbledore who smiled back, "But progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prohibit what must be prohibited" She giggled, which within an instant irritated Mia again, her eyes flickered over towards Pansy which wasn't paying her any attention what so ever. By the time she looked back up at the raised platform, Umbridge was going back to her seat and sitting down. Dumbledore started clapping slowly, which in turn started the rest of the hall slowly and uninterested doing the same. No one seemed too happy about the new professor though.
A/N: Okie dokie. I'm getting chapters up quicker just like I promised! I'm glad someone got the irony of the last chapter with George mourning the ear btw :P I'll try and keep getting chapters up at a weekly or two weekly rate, the next chapter may not be very long, so I might join it with the one after. There's going to be a really interesting chapter when we get to 54 or 55 depending on if I join them I think, so you'll have to keep waiting for that ;) Please review, I love hearing whether you guys like what i'm writing, and it makes me want to get chapters up quicker, so you know what to do! Z-Nugget xx