Disclaimer: I don't own either "Harry Potter" or "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

The heated discussion with Seamus last night made the eyebrows of Harry Potter furrow. Even when he tried to raise them up and down, they continue to stay in that state. He could only sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose hoping it would help him relax his facial muscles even it's just a tiny bit. He knows that he can't control what others think of him, though he honestly wished he could. Seamus and his mother think he's gone mad and others in his own house agree with him. Why can't they understand? Why in the world would they deny his every word and believe in their own assumptions? It's honestly ridiculous! The only ones who believe him are Ron and Hermione, but that's because they are his best friends. The likelihood of anyone outside that would be all in denial (maybe not the rest of the Weasley family, but still!) Harry could only stare as he and his friends saw fourth year Ravenclaws hurrying themselves away from the sight of him. He didn't know what Hermione was thinking when she mentioned house-unity, but the chance is even less than zero.

The thought of house-unity made him think about the new transfer student. It was such a shame really. He actually thought that the girl didn't seem too bad (since she didn't look like she knew anything of what happened in Britain), but her being in Slytherin isn't a good sign. It was weird. A girl from a foreign country, who knows another type of magic, who is in Slytherin, and who is studying abroad even with the possible danger of her being killed confused her. Her parents either believe the Ministry of Britain's word or are completely ignorant of the recent events from last school year. Whatever it is it doesn't concern him with the girl being in the house of Slytherin and all.

A while after Harry and his friends were seated, Angelina came over to tell him about Quidditch try-outs and how she was made Captain this year. He nearly had forgotten that the former Keeper had graduated. Once the older girl left, a barrage of owls stormed in to drop the Daily Prophet. He couldn't believe that Hermione, of all rational people would continue paying for a newspaper filled of lies. "Why are you still getting that?" Harry said irritatedly. "That thing...is a load of rubbish."

Hermione didn't look up to meet Harry's eyes as she grabbed the paper. "The best thing to do right now is to gather anything useful from the enemy," she replied with a sharp tone. Hermione began to read through the paper as the boys eat. She placed it down. "Nothing in here says anything about you or Dumbledore."

Professor McGonagall came walking and handed out the timetables for the school year. Ron could help but look as if the world is going to end. "Our schedule today. We got History of Magic, double Potions and double Defense," groaned Ron. "A class with Binns, two classes with Snape, Divination, and then two with that Umbridge woman, all in one day! I wish Fred and George would hurry with those Skiving Snackboxes…"

"Are my ears deceiving me?" two identical redheads appeared and made room for themselves on the long bench. "You, a Prefect, doesn't wish to skive class now do you?"

"Look at this!" Ron shoved his schedule to his brothers. The twins sighed and shrugged.

"We see your point little brother," Fred said as he shook his head with George. "We will give you a discount on some of our other products."

"They will make you go to the hospital wing," added George.

"The both of you, stop that!" said Hermione. "And you shouldn't advertise your products like that, too."

The twins shrugged. "Fifth year is the O.W.L.'s year," they sang.

"So what?"

"The Professors will make sure you don't have almost any free time. Homework, writing, and more writing," explained George.

"There were many students in our year who had fainted...so many tears," Fred said dramatically.

"What hell it was that year," the twins reminisced.

The twins continued to talk to the younger students about the horrors of their O.W.L. year, until the end of breakfast.

Toph headed down to the Great Hall feeling refreshed. Her body felt light and her mind was in a calm state. She felt that it was early in the morning and thought that she would be one of the first to show herself. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She did wonder why she felt many students on the other side of the doors, but it wasn't until Toph asked Bailee that she realized that she overslept. The calm in her head was now filled with a rush and a purpose of eating food.

There was no way she was making through the day on an empty stomach!

The girl ate so fast that it disgusted some of the surrounding Slytherins. She continued to stuff food into her mouth like it was stuffing a bag full of gold. After gulping down her whole breakfast, she grabbed the glass of water and drank the entire glass in seconds. Toph let out a deep breath and sighed, as if on cue the bell rang. The earthbender was about to head out of the door following the rest of the students, but was stopped by the the Seventh year, who is holding some parchment. Another student stood next to the elder girl. Toph thought that the student was familiar, maybe she passed by him or her on the train?

"You won't know where you're going when you're out of here," said Bailee. She reached for the other girl's hand and placed a folded piece of parchment. "Your first class is Charms. Just in case you don't know already, you will be taking your core classes with all of your other fellow Slytherins."

She gestured to the student next to student next to her. "This is Draco Malfoy, a Prefect in our house. He is in your year, so if there are any questions about where classes are, go to him. Also, go to him if you have any other questions if you can't get ahold of the other Professors or myself."

The boy extended his hand to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same," said Toph as she accepted his handshake.

"Good," said Bailee with a nod. "Hurry onto class. I'll see you later."

A nod came from Toph and the other Prefect before they went their separate ways. She went ahead and followed closely behind the boy as they made their way up the astronomy tower. There weren't many other students walking around the halls. They must not be late, but Toph knew it was a matter of time before they are late to class. While the two Slytherins sped-walked to Charms, Malfoy thought it might be a good time to get some small talk going.

"How is your stay in Hogwarts, Beifong?" started Malfoy.

"It's fine," she said without any interest in talking.

"Oh." The air around them shifted uncomfortably between them, but it seemed that it only bothered the Prefect boy. He tried to think of something to say that may interest the new student, but it was futile as they got closer to their destination. "We are almost there."

Toph continued to follow him until they got inside the classroom. Malfoy went to take his seat around a couple of other students while she headed to an open seat near the front of the classroom. Charms was an okay subject to listen to, but it was more interesting to watch the spells in action. She enjoyed her time during the summer when Tonks demonstrated the spells needed to learn. Even when Professor Flitwick began the class with a lecture on the importance of O.W.L.s, she gave the Professor's undivided attention.

The class began with reviewing summoning spells which was fairly easy to since she just performed them not too long ago unlike the other students in the class. Near the end of the class, the Charms Professor assigned quite a lot of homework that required a lot of writing. Toph shook her head and smiled. She pitied them since she was expected to do that load of homework. However her smile vanished when he spoke of an alternative assignment she knew was addressed for her. It was the exact same thing as the written homework, except she had to make it into a ten to fifteen minute speech on the same topic. Toph banged her head on the desk.

Class was dismissed and she went to meet with Malfoy. Unfortunately to her annoyance, a certain Slytherin girl was right next to him. Toph could faintly feel the intense glare flickered with suspicion and disgust. She could hear the other girl's snarky princess voice ringing in her ears. "What is someone as ungraceful and ill-mannered as yourself doing by coming to my Draco?"

This girl can't be serious, she internally sighed. Toph faced towards the Prefect boy's direction and ignoring the other girl. "Until I know where all the classrooms are, I'm just going to follow you to our core classes."

"Who do you think…"

"That's fine," said Malfoy with a nod. "You are a transfer student and a lady at that. I can't allow my fellow housemates get themselves lost."

Toph took a deep breath and exhaled. She's used to being referred to as a 'lady' since she had to act like one for the first twelve years of her life and for a little mission, but the sound of that word makes her cringe. "I appreciate it, Malfoy." It wasn't a lie, but if only he left the last part of the first sentence out… "Thanks."

"No need. Come," he gestured to the two boys following him, the Little Missy, and herself to follow him. The Prefect boy introduced the other boys, Crabbe and Goyle to her. They didn't seem too bad, but they might be a bit slow. The Parkinson girl on the other hand continued to glare, but it was sharper compared to the one from earlier. Toph ignored her, much to the other girl's frustration.

"What's our next class?" Toph asked.

"Read your own timetables or is it that you can't?" taunted the Parkinson girl.

Toph paid no mind to the girl's comment. She was a little disappointed to know that the other girl is as much of an idiot as she thought the girl is. Pansy Parkinson didn't believe that she was blind like everyone else. They only played along and thought it was her game. She repeated the question.

"Potions, every Slytherin's favorite class," answered Malfoy.

"Why would that be?"

"Two main reasons: one is that our Head of House, Professor Snape teaches that subject and he favors us more than all the other houses. The second is because what he does to Harry Saint Potter." He continued to explain the second reason, "That show-off is an attention-seeker and everyone knows it. Professor Snape is included and in each class, he makes sure that he knows his place. It brings us Slytherins joy whenever he makes his life terrible."

Crabbe and Goyle nodded in agreement. Parkinson was beaming as she nodded along with them. Toph raised an eyebrow to all four of them. It was quite apparent that she was in a house where the majority disliked Harry Potter. Not only that, even Professor Snape obvious hates the boy's guts. There wasn't anything that she could think of that made the boy a show-off or an attention-seeking git after observing occasionally during the summer or when she finally met him. It was obvious that people are paying close attention to rumors, hearsay, and their own close-minded heads. That's just pathetic.

The five Slytherins made their way to the Potions classroom and took their seats. She separated herself from the other four and stay in the very back of the classroom. Other students from Slytherin came in as well as some familiar students. Toph assumed that the class was filled with Slytherins and Gryffindors. Once everyone was inside the classroom, Professor Snape closed the door and commanded everyone to sit down. The tone was harsh it startled several students.

He made his way to the front of the room and began his class by saying that that this year will be difficult, and added that only the best will be accepted into his N.E.W.T. class. He made many looks towards Harry's way. The Potions master assigned the class to make the Draught of Peace. This was the cue for Toph to begin paying attention. The potion is supposed to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. He made the instructructions appear on the board with a flick of his wand and told the class that they have only an hour and a half to complete the task. Her peers began to create their potion immediately.

The Potions Master then made his way to the back of the classroom where Toph was sitting. He recited what was on the board in a softer voice so that those in the very front of the class could just barely hear him. After repeating the potion directions back to the man, the Professor went back to the front and gathered several vials off of his desk. Some students looked up and behind them curiously wondering what the transfer student is doing with the Professor. "Mr. Weasley, keep your eyes on your potion before it explodes," he said sharply. "Five points from Gryffindor."

A 'tsk' sound came from the Gryffindor as he turned his head and looked at his potion in progress. Toph frowned. There was a time she had a student of her's who was difficult in the beginning. He did the same the as Ron Weasley when the student wasn't focussing on his own work which pissed the earthbender off. She ended up making him do one hundred and fifty push-ups and seventy-five one-leg squats on each leg as punishment. Her other students from the metalbending academy knew that she was giving the boy an easy warning and that next time would be straight to hell. She might offer some advice to the Potions Master later for now isn't the time.

The Professor placed one of the vials in front of her and opened it. "The potion will emit a silver vapour if done correctly, but since you can't see you will have to memorize it's smell since it is always different when a mistake is made," he said. The Potions Master opened the vial and made sure Toph had it in her hands.

The earthbender took a good whiff of the potion. She sighed in relief after finding out that the potion's smell isn't putrid like some others. The Draught of Peace smelled a bit citrusy with a hint of certain spices she couldn't put her finger on. The smell reminded her of the beach house on Ember Island. How nostalgic. "Got it."

"Good." The Professor then went straight to telling her the instructions of making the potion. He repeated them once more before he began walking around the classroom. Toph was supposed to use this time to repeat the potion in her head, but it made her eyelids heavy. The Professor noticed this and came back to her. "Walk around the classroom and identify those who did the potion correctly."

The earthbender could help but smile with excitement. "About time," she said in a voice that was just above a whisper. The Potions master gave her a look and didn't say anything.

Toph got up and started from the back. She sniffed the air near the cauldrons and was met with stares and strange looks from both the Slytherins and the Gryffindors. The familiar prissy voice commented about how she was really a dog to her seatmate. Apparently the girl thought Toph couldn't hear her since this exchange was made in such a hushed voice, but it was a pity for her since she was ignorant of the earthbender's sharp ears. Toph zeroed on the Parkinson girl. "Miss Parkinson," she called. Parkinson ignored her.

Oh is that how you want to play… "Little Missy," Toph said clearly and loud enough for those in arm's length could hear her. The Slytherin girl flinched and turned her head. Toph tried to make her tone and voice into a hybrid of Professor McGonagall's professionalism and her own sharpness of the tongue. "If you have time to talk behind other people's backs, I suggest you use it to correct your potion. Your assignment is to make the Draught of Peace, not a putrid perfume. It isn't as bad as the others I have examined earlier, but it is still disappointing and pathetic. You have enough time to redo it all and get full marks if you so choose."

This made the Slytherin princess fume. "What did you…?"

"Shut up and concentrate on your work," Toph snapped. "Give the Professor a potion to be proud of. Show me how wrong I am."

The mouth of the Parkinson girl was open and speechless. These sudden words of encouragement also caught the ears of students around them. Professor Snape's lips formed a small smile before going back to its stiff and firm frown. "Miss Beifong, continue on if you will."

"Sure thing." She passed through other cauldrons. Many went very wrong, but there were some like Parkinson's who only made a one or a few significant mistakes. They weren't all from Slytherin. The earthbender gave similar encouraging words to those several students. They were harsh, yes, but encouraging nonetheless.

"Potter, what's this supposed to be?"

Toph could hear about half of the students turn from their spots towards Professor Snape's and Harry Potter's direction. She raised an eyebrow. The potion couldn't be too bad compared to many of the other students in the classroom.

"The Draught of Peace," Harry Potter replied stiffly.

"May I ask you something, Potter?" said the Professor. "Can you read?"

Toph heard a laugh from a familiar Slytherin Prefect.

"Of course I can," he said gritting his teeth.

"Read the third line for me."

The Gryffindor boy did just that and realized his mistake. He admitted to the Professor his mistake that was already known to the Potions Master. The Professor was about to clear the caudron of the potion, but was suddenly stopped by a certain earthbender.

"Hold your wand, Professor," said Toph. She was blocking the Potions Master's view of the caudron completely with her body.

"Miss Beifong, I would greatly appreciate it if you move out of my way for a moment," he said impatiently. "Potter's potion was a complete failure. You would know this of course."

All of the students in the class looked at the Professor and then Toph and then at the Professor again. They were surprised someone would try to defend the Potion Master's most hated student. The Slytherins frowned at this while the Gryffindors all had mixed feelings and curious looks. Harry Potter and his friends were stunned to just have a Slytherin of all people defending him.

Toph shrugged. "Almost everyone is a failure today, Professor. Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson, Mr. Malfoy, and Mr. Nott were the only ones who did their potion correctly in the very end. Miss Parkinson did her's twice and finished at the very last minute, but it was still successful. Everyone else was filled with a single error or two such as Mr. Potter or something of a total disaster. I think a good penalty for mistakes is awesome, but only if it is given equally. Honestly, I would make these pipsqueaks suffer until they understand the worth of their mistakes instead of a zero, but hey, that's just me.

"Anyways, if you give Mr. Potter here a zero, give everyone who didn't do their potion correctly a zero. They are all complete failures in your book."

Murmurs filled the room after her last sentence left their mouths. None of them wanted to get a zero on their assignment like Harry Potter and we're glad knowing that the Potions master would do that to them, but the transfer's suggestion was definitely frowned upon. Professor Snape silenced everyone in the classroom and turned his attention back on Toph.

"Go sit down, Miss Beifong," he said warningly.

"Are you going to give everyone zeroes?" Toph asked. "Or are you going to involve your personal feelings into your professional life."

Professor Snape's impatience and anger were washed away by a wave of shock. He was completely speechless. His brows neared its way to the top while his eyes were wide and staring at the transfer. The whole classroom was still. No one, not even the Slytherins dared to move or make their breaths audible. This was the first time any student dared to make their disagreements known right in front of not only the teacher, but in front of the entire class. This uncomfortable and suffocating silence went on for a few minutes before the Potions Master blinked and tried to pull himself together.

"See me after class, Miss Beifong," said the Professor. He then gave instructions for the class to prepare the potions made for grading. He didn't say or do anything else regarding Harry's potion, so the boy placed his in one of the flagons and labeling it his like everyone else. The bell rang and everyone stole a few glances of Toph before exiting the classroom. All who remained were the earthbender and Potions Master.

The two of them were silent for a moment. Toph was waiting for some sort of punishment from the elder man, and she wanted to get it over with. The savoring aromas of food call for her, and she was not going to let them grow cold. Unfortunately for her, the Professor is continuing to study her. Whatever the man's thinking, he could obviously do it without me around.

"Miss Beifong, do you know when and when not to stick your nose into a situation?" the Professor finally began. His tone held a similar rhythm to the one used towards a certain Gryffindor.

"I do, actually," Toph replied and unaffected by the change.

"Is that so? Then I would like to inform you that this time you didn't. Potter's so-called potion is the business between him and myself, not another student. I do not need a student to help deal with another for his incompetency and I certainly do not need one of my own students to talk back at me," the anger in his voice grew. "I would love to hear your poor excuses to your behavior, Miss Beifong."

"The way you treat Four Eyes differently from everyone else is wrong on every level," argued Toph. "I can understand your favoritism towards the Slytherins, but singling out Potter for no good reason is downright stupid."

"What did you just…" Professor Snape was starting to loose control and wanted to show the girl her place, but she wouldn't let him.

"I could tell from the first mention of Harry Potter that you held some sort of grudge against him. I don't know what it was or when this all happened, but once you and him are in a classroom setting, you are the teacher. A teacher's job is to teach and help their students understand the importance and worth of the subject he or she is teacher. They should not only discipline their students, but also provide support and be able see the potential of every single student.

"Your explanations and way of teaching isn't the problem. It's your close-mindedness and inability to see past the judgments you made on your students, Professor." She didn't give the Professor any time to think or respond before she made her way to the classroom door and slammed it behind her.

A few deep breaths were needed to calm herself right now, but she was in the mood of some hardcore earthbending practice. Her fists and feet need to be relieved of the building urge to knock the whole school off the face of the earth. She silently gave her brain and its logic her thanks before anyone got hurt. The fact that the earthbender wanted to give the Potions Master a piece of her fist, nothing good would come through with that decision.

The gradual building of trust and credibility between the selected adults of the Order would crumble and she would have to start from square one. The adults recognizes her quick mind and firmness, but to them she isn't on equal footing. None of them, except for the Old Man believe that she could take down several Death Eaters on her own. Her job maybe to protect Harry Potter, but this is also a way for the Old Man to protect her as well. She is away from doing any missions that have the potential of taking her life. This also gives the other adults a way to watch over her as well. Multiple times in the past months she wanted to convince them of relieving her of the job as "babysitter" and be a part of the real fight. However, she knew that it would be a waste of breath and that none of the adults truly understood just how powerful and amazing she is in action.

This is especially true in regards to Severus Snape.

Toph sighs and holds onto her grumbling tummy. Food was calling her name and the sound of the word lunch was like a melodic note that played a savory tune. Food. She found herself running to the Great Hall and opening its doors. Damn. Where's the Slytherin table? It took her a while to find where her fellow Slytherins are, but finally she found it and sat at the edge of the table where there's some open space. Food came on schedule and Toph dug into it happily. Her mind was so focused on consuming her meal that it took a while before she noticed the presence of a recently acquainted Slytherin. She stopped eating.

"I was wondering how long you were going to take notice of me," Malfoy said with a hint of amusement.

"You could have just called out to me," she said before taking another bite into her food.

"I did. Multiple times actually."

"Well-" She swallowed the last bit of her meal. "What do you want?"

Malfoy sat down next to her. There was no more space on that end of the table. He began in a tone that didn't sound as friendly, or rather the tone sounded like he wanted to test him. There was some concern dashed on top of suspicion, and Toph could only assume that he and Harry Potter weren't on friendly terms. "Have you ever heard of Potter before coming to Hogwarts, Beifong?"

"Nope, not at all," she lied.

The boy shook his head and sighed. "Then you don't know anything at all, do you?

"Harry Saint Potter is a someone who likes to show off and loves attention. He does whatever she can do to make his name known: being friends with a Mudblood and Blood Traitor at that. He gets himself into trouble whenever he can and likes to show the whole entire school of his talents in Quidditch just because he got on the Gryffindor Team in his First year!

"Anyways, besides all that stuff, what you need to know is what happened before the beginning of summer last school year. You've heard of the TriWizard Tournament, right?" Toph nodded. She heard of it a couple of times in the past from the Old Man. "Potter and Cedric Diggory were the Champions for Hogwarts, of course Diggory was the real Champion. Anyways, on the last task, those two were taken somewhere after touching the Cup since it was apparently a portkey. They both came back, only with Potter holding a dead Diggory. He claims the Dark Lord killed him, but everyone knows that he's dead. He's only saying that to get more attention. Dumbledore believes him, but he's just going senile."

Toph had heard a very short summarized version of Harry Potter's experiences from the Old Man and heard quite a tale of his third year from Sirius and Remus. All she knew from his previous year was that in an international tournament, Voldemort was about to kill Potter, but managed to escape. A student died, unfortunately, died instead. She knew a bit of what a portkey was as well as the tournament, but this was the first time the earthbender heard a bit more details instead of the overall picture. The girl was too busy with her studies that she didn't bother asking any questions of what the Gryffindor boy experienced.

She laid her palm over her forehead and shook her head. "That means he witnessed the death Cedric Diggory."

Malfoy was taken aback and thought for a moment. "Well, sure that's true, but he is lying about it being because of the Dark Lord as well as him being alive. He…"

"Malfoy," she said in a stern voice. "Have you ever been in combat?"

"What?"

"Let me rephrase that, have you ever been in a life or death situation? In a situation where a moment of hesitation could mean your life or another's?"

"No, but I don't understand how this has to do with anything."

Toph took a deep breath and tried to find some patience with the boy in front of her. "When you are up against a force in which you feel as if you will die because all of the odds are against you, your first instinct would be to find a way to keep yourself and anyone with you alive. Potter must have been in that situation. Whether or not it was with Voldemort-" Malfoy finched. "Oh come on, it's a name isn't it? Anyways, whether or not it was against him doesn't matter. All we know is it was against a powerful force. His goal might have been to get out with Diggory as soon as he felt that something was wrong, but it was at that moment of confusion and cluelessness between that Diggory was killed. Potter knew that he was on his own, and there was no time thinking about the other boy's death. All he could do was to get out of there alive.

"Do you know how scary it is to be in that situation, especially when you are powerless and can't do a single thing? Well let me tell you, it is not fun. You can only imagine what it would be like in his shoes when he saw that Diggory was dead and he was alone to deal with whoever killed him."

"Okay, okay, maybe Potter did have a hard time for a bit, but he's still a show off who flaunts over his celebrity status…"

"That he witnessed the death of another or that his parents were killed by Voldemort when he was a baby," she retorted. "In all honesty, I think Harry Potter or almost anybody has enough sense to not to show off being a survivor. Being awesome at Quidditch is reasonable and obvious, but for not being killed-that requires a lot of luck and little skill when the odds are against you."

"Even if that's true, he is still lying about the status of…"

"You only have one witness of his death and no hardcore evidence of him being alive, right?"

"That's what I'm trying to say, Beifong," he said trying as best not to snap at her. "Potter is lying. Him being a survivor is completely different from being a complete liar."

"How do you know this Voldemort isn't dead then, hmm?"

"Because he was killed by being hit from his own killing curse after not hitting Potter. Everyone knows this!"

"There might be other ways this psycho could have continued to be alive. That's why Dark magic exists. He's a Dark wizard," she retorts as if stating the obvious. "Magic and all that stuff is as much of a confusing blob as the outside world-" And bending, she thought to herself. "No one can know everything there is to know about magic and Dark magic unless you're a thousand years old. That psycho probably did something completely crazy and stupid for him to still be alive. And before you try to open that mouth of yours trying to argue my theory, can it be possible? Yup. Do you want to know why? Because no one frickin knows the whole truth and no one makes an effort of actually proving the falsity of Potter with an investigation. All we can do is speculate, and my gut's been telling me that this country has something weird around it's woods."

Malfoy was looking at her with eyes glaring and brows furrowed (though of course Toph couldn't see the look on the boy's face). What she did hear from him was his exaggerated and three second sigh. "Unbelievable. To have someone from Slytherin supporting him," he muttered to himself thinking that Toph couldn't hear him. She heard.

"I don't really care if he is lying or not, waste of my time thinking about it. All I'm saying is that you can't completely rule out the possibility. You don't have enough information and no one has really look deep into what happened months ago, which is stupid since it involves a killing one way or another," she says harshly. "I would hate it if my government were to be that stupid." Because I was completely tired of Ba Sing Se.

Before Malfoy could speak and continue to argue his case, the bell rang. The Slytherin Prefect left the girl immediately, not even saying some words of parting.

One by one the students sitting in the Slytherin table left and followed the rest of the others from different houses made their way out of the Great Hall to their next classes. She sighs. It is obvious to anyone that there are high tensions between Slytherin and the rest of the Hogwarts houses. There must be many more of people like Malfoy, who stand beside stupidity such as this so-called "Blood Purity." She wondered if the seventh year Prefect follows the same ideology.

"What a bunch of crap."

Toph got up from her seat and began to walk around as much of Hogwarts as she could in one class period.

Harry was dreading from the amount of homework he is receiving today. An essay from History of Magic and Potions and now a dream journal for a whole month. All of it is just writing. He had to agree with Ron, Umbridge better not give them any homework to add onto the pile. He already hated the fact that she has to be the new Defence teacher.

Speaking of the new Defense teacher, she was sitting at her desk with that ridiculous fluffy pink cardigan on her with a black bow that doesn't match with the rest of her outfit. Once everyone finally took their seat, she smiled and greeted them, "Good Afternoon, class!"

There were a murmurs and unclear replies of "Good Afternoon" scattered throughout the classroom.

The woman shook her head in disappointment. "Tut tut. That will not do. I would appreciate it if you give me a better reply than that! Now let's try this again and this time say, 'Good Afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' Good Afternoon, class!"

"Good Afternoon, Professor Umbridge," the class rang.

"Good," she said satisfied. "Now then, wands away and quills out, please."

Umbridge took a piece of chalk and began to write on the blackboard. She titled her lecture "Defense Against the Dark Arts, A Return to Basic Principles." She then proceeded to writing down the class aims for the class. After writing them all down one the board, she waiting about a minute until everyone copied aims. "Does everyone have a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

The whole class replied with a bunch of murmurs.

Just like before class began, she made sure to correct the class's response to her question the same way she corrected their reply to her afternoon greeting.

The rest of the class was just as boring as Binns. Nobody could stand her dull lecture that consisted of them looking over the same line in the book several dozen times before moving on to the next statement. Harry had already stopped paying attention to her and tried to find something else to do while the Toad went on along with the staccatoed taps of the chalk. Ron was in a daze as his unfocused eyes stared beyond the textbook in front of him. When he looked towards his right, he was surprised to see Hermione as she stared towards Umbridge. She didn't even have her textbook out and opened.

Harry tried to remember a time in which Hermione ever failed to do what was instructed from a teacher or didn't even take a peek of what was inside a book. She didn't even seem to want to answer any questions. Time passed on and Harry quickly found himself to not be the only person inside the classroom watching Hermione Granger. Those who decided to look at her were more interested in the fact that she was not participating in the class for once than reading some useless and boring chapter Umbridge was having them study.

Though it didn't take Umbridge long for her to take action. Once more than half of the class place their attention towards Hermione rather than what she was lecturing, Umbridge lowered her arm and turn towards her. "Do you have a question about this chapter?" said Umbridge.

"Not the current chapter, no," said Hermione.

"Well, we are only focusing on this chapter today, Miss…"

"Granger."

"Yes, yes, Miss Granger," the woman said. "If you have any further questions outside of this chapter, you can come see me after class."

"I do have a question," Hermione declared. "I have a question on your aims for this course."

There was a pause.

"If you read the course aims, you can see it is perfectly stated if read carefully," she answered very sweetly.

"I did read them," says Hermione. "And nothing on there says anything about using the defensive spells."

Silence filled the classroom.

"Excuse me, but did I hear using defensive spells? Oh, no no no," Umbridge said. "Miss Granger, I can't think of a reason why you would need to use defensive spells within a perfectly safe classroom."

"We're not using magic?" asked Ron.

"Hand Mr…"

"Weasley."

After a short glance at the redhead, she turned her attention to two other students whose hands are in the air. One of them being Hermione Granger.

"Miss Granger, do you have something you want to ask?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes," Hermione put her hand down and continued on. "Isn't it the point of Defense Against the Dark Arts to practice Defensive spells against the Dark Arts?"

"May I ask if you are a Ministry-trained educational expert?"

"No but..."

"Then I am sorry to say that you are not qualified to decide on the purpose or any 'points' for this class. We have wise and older qualified wizards who created this excellent program of study; therefore, you will be learning about defensive spells in an environment in which it is completely safe..."

"Then what's the use in it all," Harry said out loud so that his voice carries to every corner in the classroom. "If we're going to be attack in the first place then shouldn't…"

"Hand, Mr. Potter!" said Umbridge in sing-song.

However, Harry found himself ignored once he shot his hand in the air. Other students (from Gryffindor) raised their hands or spoke aloud to question the 'Professor's' intentions for this class. Dean Thomas and Parvati Patil, however were only given the same bull that Hermione was given. Harry wondered if the woman could hear herself say all those ridiculous things coming from her mouth. 'As long as you study the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to perform the spells during the examination with satisfactory results.' That was one of the most dumbest things he had ever heard from the already stupid toad.

He honestly couldn't take it anymore.

"And what good is theory once up against the real world?" he questioned.

Umbridge turned to him. "This is a classroom setting, Mr. Potter. Not the real world," she replied.

"Oh yeah?" said Harry.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack mere children such as yourselves?" she asked sweetly.

Before Harry could answer, another voice rang throughout the whole classroom in a sort of commanding way. "Who doesn't want to attack mere children such as ourselves?" He turned to the direction of the voice and was stunned to find that it belonged to a girl. A girl whose stray hairs hovered over her eyes with arms crossed and feet on the desk. A girl whose uniform holds colors belonging to the House of Snakes.

Umbridge also showed her own shock more from the question being asked and a little less from the house the transfer student belonged to. Other students were surprised from the latter reasoning. It had only been the Gryffindors who have questioned Umbridge thus far.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Who doesn't want to attack mere children such as ourselves?" she repeated. The woman was going to make an argument, but was stopped immediately by the same girl. "We are known to be young, naive, and inexperienced. Any dark wizard, murderer, psychopath, or whatever knows that. They could easily pull some simple hex, and the next thing you know your body is on the ground. Dead. They pull an Avada Kedavra and you'd be dead in an instant."

Harry could sense the slight unease from Umbridge as she laughs nervously at the girl's words. "Now Miss…"

"Beifong."

"Yes, Miss Beifong, that's it. Now I said earlier that the likelihood for you to be in any such danger is quite small," Umbridge argued. "Therefore you will probably never have to experience such a tragedy."

"You're not denying then that it happens," said Toph. "You're not going to deny that people of our age or perhaps even younger are killing targets?"

"Those are tragedies and sad, yes, but it is highly unlikely that you would…"

"Then what about the percentage of us who aren't lucky?" questioned Toph. "One of my peers during lunch informed me of a death of a student last school year. He was in his last year of Hogwarts-not yet finished with the year, and just like that he was found dead. tragedy as it may be, but a murder nonetheless. And may I ask Professor Umbridge, has the Ministry even tried to figure out the exact cause of death and a possible murderer?"

The inference made to Cedric Diggory's death made Harry's body feel heavier and the tightening of his fists tighter. The image of of green flash of the killing curse on the seventh year replayed in his mind as if it had just happened. The memory is still fresh and unforgettable. He wondered who told her of the older boy's death. The only assumption was a Slytherin, but wouldn't that mean that Slytherin fed her lies of him making things up? He knew it was still unclear of what the girl believes, but in his heart had some stupid feeling that the girl doesn't believe what the snakes are telling her, despite being a snake herself.

"And why would you need to know anything about the business of the Ministry regarding the death of the deceased student?" said Umbridge defensively.

"Are you seriously? Man, were you not paying attention at all?" she shook her head and sighed. Harry could see that the attitude and tone towards Umbridge from the student made her flinch and glare at the girl. "I'm a transfer student. A foreign one at that. If word of such denial and incompetence gets home, who knows what they and the rest of the world would think. This class is a bunch of bullshit!"

Just like that, the fake sweet smiles of Umbridge were immediately replaced with narrowed eyes glaring straight into her unfocused eyes. "I will not have such foul language said to me from a mere student. You are just a small, weak child. What do you think you can do against a Professor, hm?"

"As long as it isn't illegal, anything really," she replied simply with a shrug. This earned her another glare from the Professor. "You're losing your cool, Professor."

"What are you…" The woman blinked and was reminded that the transfer student and herself were not the only ones inside the classroom. She cleared her throat with another annoying 'hem hem' and forced herself to form a sweet smile. The woman grabbed a piece of parchment from her desk and began to write something down furiously. She ended with a dramatic swish of her wrist to make the last period. After folding the parchment a few times, Umbridge focused her attention back to Toph.

"Take this to your head of house Professor Snape, Miss Beifong," she said with a horrid sweetness added to the girly voice.

Toph Beifong was silent, but calm knowing that she was in deep trouble. She took the folded up parchment from the Umbridge woman's hand and left the class. Their eyes so focused on her movements, even when closing the door behind her.

Harry couldn't help, but smile.

Author's Note:

I took my time with this chapter. This was actually the second time I wrote it because I didn't like the first one. I'm a lot slower when it comes to rewriting and I had school to focus on most of the week, so that's why it took quite a while. There was also the fact that I would need to rewrite the sixth chapter as well since the fifth turned out a bit differently. Consider this as a small holiday gift.