Author's Note: You want to know why I was gone for so long? I was trying to get the rights to Harry Potter! Sadly, I was unsuccessful and I still only own Alex and everything you don't recognize.
Chapter 8 Emotions Fly
"Now, you will only need your quills, ink, parchment, and copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard. No need for wands."
Alex's expectations about this class diminished even more at this statement. She sighed, putting her wand in her robes and pulled out her other things. Professor Umbridge tapped the board with her wand and words appeared as the students wrote them down. Once Alex finished, she actually read what she had wrote.
Course aims:
1) Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.
2) Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.
3) Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.
That was odd, there was nothing mentioning using magic, only learning about it. But that was ridiculous, how could they defend themselves against anything without practice? Most spells were hard to do the first time and needed practice to be made perfect.
"Has everyone copied the aims down?" Professor Umbridge asked.
"Yes Professor Umbridge!" the class said together.
"Very good children!" she said and Alex suppressed an eye-roll. They were fifteen, not five for the love of Merlin! "Now, please read the first chapter of the book. There's no need to talk."
At first, Alex didn't believe Umbridge and looked at her, waiting for her to continue on. But, as the squat woman turned to Alex, she knew that was what they really were doing in class. In a daze, Alex opened her book and tried to read. However, she found she couldn't. This was madness! You didn't read the book in class! You read it for homework and practiced the spells during the class!
Alex turned to Hermione to see what she thought but found Hermione with her hand in the air, her book lying unopened beside her. This was extremely odd because Hermione never lost a chance to read, especially when a teacher told her to. Alex looked at her friend curiously, but Hermione just shook her head. It seemed Umbridge was trying to avoid Hermione's hand but once all of the class was staring at Hermione rather than their books, Umbridge had no choice but to acknowledge the student.
"Is there something wrong, Miss…?"
"Granger, professor," said Hermione, "And I have a question about what we will be doing this year. The course aims say nothing about using defensive magic, only talking about them in theory."
"My dear," said Umbridge with a small laugh as everyone looked at the course aims with frowns, "Are you expecting to be attacked during my class? If not, I see no need for you to use defensive spells during my class."
"Wait," said Ron, outraged, "Are you telling us we're not going to use magic…at all?"
"Students must raise their hands if they wish to speak aloud, Mister…?"
"Weasley," said Ron and quickly raised his hand.
Alex thrust her hand in the air and Umbridge turned to her.
"Yes Miss…?"
"Ratcliff," said Alex and put her hand down, "What's wrong with using magic in class? Isn't that why we go to a magical school, to practice magic?"
Umbridge completely ignored Alex's question and instead turned to Hermione again.
"Miss Granger, did you want to say something else?"
"Yes, isn't the point of Defense Against the Dark Arts to practice defensive spells?" Hermione asked, noticing how Umbridge had completely ignored Alex's question.
"Unfortunately, Miss Granger," said Umbridge in her falsely-sweet voice, "You are not a Ministry-trained expert on defensive magic so you have no right to decide what "the point" of this class is. You will be learning the theory of defensive skills in a risk-free environment of my classroom."
"But Professor, if we get attacked," said Alex quickly, throwing her hand in the air, "It won't be risk-free, will it?"
Once again, Alex was ignored and Umbridge turned to Levina, saying, "What's your name, dear?"
"Levina Snowpetal," she said, "And Alex said it right. If we get attacked, we won't be in a safe environment."
"Do you expect to be attacked while in my class, Miss Snowpetal?"
"We should be," said Harry angrily, "We-"
"Your hand is not raised, Mr. Potter!" said Umbridge with that evil smile and turned to Dean Thomas, "Yes, Mister…?"
"Thomas, professor," he said warily, "But shouldn't we be preparing for whatever is out there?"
"I can assure you, Mr. Thomas," Umbridge said with a chuckle that was not friendly at all, "There is nothing, or no one, out there who is planning to hurt you. I have heard you have had some strange teachers, not to mention extremely dangerous half-breeds, but this-"
"Professor Lupin was the best teacher we ever had!" said Alex angrily, raising her hand in the air furiously, "So don't you dare-"
"It has also come to my attention," said Umbridge loudly over Alex's rants, "That my predecessor actually performed the Unforgivable curses right in front of you!"
"Yeah, well he was off his rocker, wasn't he?" said Ron, "But at least he-"
"Hand, Mr. Weasley!" she said in a sing-song voice, "Now, what is your name, my dear?" Stevie had tentatively raised her own hand, looking extremely nervous.
"Stevie, ma'am, Stevie Jackson. This year is O.W.L year, right?" Umbridge nodded and Stevie continued, "So aren't we gonna learn how to do the spells before the practical exam? You know, practice a little so we're prepared?"
"As long as you have studied the material," said Umbridge gently, but slowly so everyone could hear it, "I see no reason why you will not pass your exams with flying colors."
"So the first time we do the spells is the test?" Stevie asked, her eyes wide with horror, "But what if we mess up? We won't have a second chance to try again!"
"And what good is learning theory in the real world, where danger is waiting right around the corner for us?" Harry asked, putting his hand in the air.
"I repeat to you all," said Umbridge, "There is nothing out there. You have been lead to believe that a certain Dark wizard has returned once more. I can honestly say, as a Ministry of Magic representative, these are all lies."
"They're not lies!" said Harry angrily, rising to his feet, "Voldemort's back and I saw him!"
"And right now," said Alex, putting her own hand in the air as she shook with rage, "I wouldn't even trust the Minister of Magic if he told me that same thing!"
"Detention, both of you!" said Umbridge with a smile.
She went to her desk and pulled out two pieces of parchment and wrote notes on them. She gestured for Alex and Harry to come forward and handed them the letters.
"Take these to Professor McGonagall, if you please," she said sweetly.
They took the letters, grabbed their bags, and left the classroom in a huff. As they walked the empty corridors, neither spoke. Alex eventually found McGonagall's office (remembering it from when, in her first year, she had waited outside it invisible as her Head of House took away one hundred and fifty points from her own house), and knocked.
"Come in!" the strict voice said.
Suddenly, Alex felt very small as she entered the Gryffindor Head's office. McGonagall had always scared her a little, with those cold eyes and strict demeanor. McGonagall looked up at them when the entered and saw the letters in their hands. Her expression hardened. She held out her hand and read the letters, her face dark but unreadable. Finally, she looked at both Harry and Alex, and let out a tired sigh.
"Sit," she commanded and they did, "And have one."
She handed Alex a tray of cookies and Alex took a shortbread one, eating it slowly. Harry nibbled at his, looking completely shocked.
"You two need to be careful," she said but her voice showed signs of concern, "Dolores Umbridge does not like any…disturbances in her classroom."
"Professor," said Alex quietly, "If you don't mind me asking, what did she tell you we did in the letter?"
"She said that Potter here insinuated she was a liar and that you, Ratcliff, insulted the Minister of Magic," said McGonagall with another sigh as she threw the letters into the fireplace, "You are to serve your detention at five o' clock everyday this week."
Harry was angry, practically begging McGonagall to do something, but Alex knew they probably deserved to be punished…even if Umbridge had provoked them.
…...
That evening, Alex and Harry left the Great Hall in a bad mood. As they passed by, people whispered about them so they could hear. Apparently, news of them yelling at Umbridge had reached the entire school. Harry was having a hard time with it and Alex began to worry about him. He had been very easy to set off lately so being around him was like walking on eggshells. Shaking her head, they arrived at Umbridge's office and she knocked. The door opened by itself and Alex entered first, stopping so short that Harry ran into her.
When Quirrell had been here, it was full of garlic and other items to ward off creatures. Lockhart had pictures of himself everywhere, Lupin had interesting magical creatures in tanks, and Moody had dark protectors. But what Alex saw made her want to turn around and run while retching. It was so horrible, so traumatizing, that Alex ever wondered if she would ever recover from the shock of seeing the new teacher's choice of office decorations.
"Ah, I see you like my cat plates," Umbridge said with a smile.
The entire office was painted bright pink. Along the walls were plates with kittens on them; kittens with bows, kittens with milk trays, even kittens with bows and milk trays. But what bothered Alex the most was she couldn't understand them because they weren't real, although they moved. So she had to deal with the annoying sound of their meowing without being able to understand a word of it.
There were two tables set up with a roll of parchment and a quill on each. Umbridge gestured to them and Alex sat down stiffly, closely followed by Harry.
"You two are going to write lines for me," said Umbridge and Alex relaxed somewhat. Lines weren't bad, she had endured worse before. "Miss Ratcliff, you are going to write, "I must respect my superiors". Mr. Potter, you are to write, "I must not tell lies". Do you understand what you are to do?"
They nodded and Alex grabbed her quill, going to dip it into ink…but there was no inkwell. Harry noticed too and frowned.
"You didn't give us any ink," he said.
"Oh, you won't need ink for this kind of quill."
"How many times do you want us to write it?" Alex asked coldly.
"As long as it takes for the message to…sink in."
Alex didn't like the sound of her tone, but shrugged. She began writing and found the ink was bright red. She stared at the shinning words on her parchment: I must respect my superiors. Sighing, she kept on writing but stopped once more, and not to admire her work. Her right hand was burning slightly. She rubbed the back of her hand where it hurt and saw it was red.
Must've brushed it against something today, she thought dully and kept writing.
Suddenly, she gasped out with pain and dropped her quill. Cut into her hand were the words I must respect my superiors in her handwriting! However, just as soon as they appeared, they disappeared. She ran her fingers gently over the spot. It was a little tender, but that was it. Then, as she looked at the shiny ink, she realized it wasn't ink at all. It was her own blood. The horror of what was happening caused Alex to look up at Umbridge, who was watching her with an evil smile.
"Yes Miss Ratcliff?" she asked sweetly.
"N-Nothing," Alex whispered. She looked at Harry, who had a look of horror on his face, and returned to her lines.
Alex and Harry wrote all evening, ignoring the pain in their hands. The sky got dark and Alex was getting sleepy when Umbridge made them stop.
"Hands," she commanded.
Alex and Harry showed her their hands. The words had disappeared, but their hands were as red as the blood they had used to write.
"Hmm, it seems the message hasn't sunken in yet, has it?" she asked with her little smile, "We will just have to try again tomorrow evening. You two may go back now."
Alex nodded and walked calmly out of the room. Once the door closed and they were around the corner, both she and Harry broke into a run. The common room was empty when they returned and Harry went up to bed without a word. Alex went to where she had left her book bag and pulled out her Potion's book. She had to write an essay on moonstone and didn't feel like doing it later.
As she looked through her bag for her books, her hand felt a piece of parchment. Wondering what it was, she pulled it out and saw it was a small envelope. Frowning, she tore open the paper and saw it was a small note.
I'm back at this place of learning,
Back to the teaching and studying.
But it's worth all the pain,
Just to see your face again.
We're back to Hogwarts once more! Did you honestly think I'd forget about you? There wasn't one second all summer long that I didn't think about you. I hope your summer was full of fun and relaxation and I look forward to your answer to this letter. You remember the rules I assume? To refresh your memory, please don't check for my answer after every class (It ruins the fun!) and leave your note on the outside pocket of your bag. Please write soon, I miss seeing your beautiful writing, which is just as wonderful as the rest of you!
Lovingly yours forever,
Your Secret Admirer
P.S- What better way to start a new year than with a birthday gift? I know it's a little early, but I heard about the day you had and thought it was a good time to give it. I really hope you like it. I saw it and instantly thought of you!
Alex reached into the pocket and pulled out a wrapped package. She found herself shaking her head and smiling as she unwrapped the paper. The box was square, black velvet and she opened it, gasping aloud. It was a snow globe with two people sitting on a bench, holding hands while one pointed up. The glass was full of glittering specks that Alex knew were stars. Then the little figures stood up and began to dance around the globe.
Alex smiled broadly at the sweet gesture. She had never forgotten her mysterious lover, but had thought he would have forgotten about her over the summer. Seeing that he still cared made her feel much better. Putting the letter and gift aside, she pulled out her Potion's book and set to work on her essay, occasionally looking up at the figures in the globe with a smile. Finally finishing at around midnight, Alex stumbled into her bed and fell fast asleep. This year was going to be much different than before, and she hoped everything would turn out for the best.
Author's Note: Hello readers...if there are any of you out there. I know it's been a while since I updated and I really am sorry for that. I'm in the middle of my first round of exams so I've been studying for them really hard. Also, it was my birthday last weekend so that was fun. Except for when my boyfriend broke up with me two days later, that wasn't so great. But, like I'm sure many Harry Potter fans have done before me, I turned to the books for comfort and it got me all excited to post this chapter. I think Harry Potter works better than chocolate to be perfectly honest...
I'm sorry I didn't answer these reviews but here are my replies now:
Are you calling me crazy: Oh good, I'm so glad that you like how I work Levina in. You do such a great job with Alex too! To answer your question, Stevie is a fifth year and I did change it so that you could transfer when you were older. Sorry if that confused you! Hopefully this chapter was enjoyable to read, what with all the Alex and Umbridge stuff. There will be more, don't worry. Thanks for reviewing!
Aileen Autarkeia: Haha, when I read your review, the first thing that came to my mind after reading the first sentence was, "Pun intended!" from AVPM. It made me laugh! :) How was Dante's Inferno? I've always wanted to read it. I'm sure it wasn't fun to read in a week though, isn't the book pretty long? Well hopefully it wasn't completely terrible and if it was, I'm sorry. :( Thanks for your review!
Amy aka Luke: Ah, I had a feeling that this question would come up soon. I'll answer your question with a quote from my favorite musical: "I'm not even going to tell you Harry, you'll find out soon enough." ;) You'll just have to wait and see...
Thank you all for your support with this story, especially those who are still reading to the end of this A/N. I'm sorry if my updates aren't very regular but sadly I cannot sit in my dorm room all day and update this story. And trust me, there are days I wish I could do just that. Don't forget to review!