Thanks for reading this far - this chapter was rather hard for me to write, purely because I found it difficult to refrain from using expletives.
The next day, Hannah had Defence Against the Dark Arts first period. She made her way to the classroom, after feeding her kitten, Spero. She was mildly pleased to find out that the Slytherins shared the class with the Gryffindors, she didn't exactly admire the Hufflepuffs, after their cowardly ditch from Professor Mcgonagall, and absolutely loathed the Ravenclaws after their unnecessary water fight. Besides, she couldn't deny that being in the same classroom as the Weasley twins was somewhat entertaining.
She sat at a desk, farthest away from the front, again ignoring her terrible long-distance eyesight. A lady, just a little bit taller than Hannah, trotted into the classroom purposefully, with her head held higher than that of a normal person. She had a toad-like face, and everything she wore was unbearably pink. She stood at the head of the classroom, over-looking the students, with her hands held behind her back, and her chest puffed out, resembling that of someone with an inflated ego. "Ahem." The woman coughed, in a ridiculously high pitch squeal. The class looked towards the woman, absolutely bewildered by the ridiculous sound that emitted from the old bat. "This lesson, we will be planning study timetables. Your N.E.W.T exams will be our top priority for this year, and our lessons will revolve around studying, and revising all that has been taught throughout your schooling years. I will provide you each with a book, 'Defence Against the Dark Arts for Beginners', and you are expected to write an essay, summarising each chapter after we have revised it in class. Any questions?" Fred and George raised their hands simultaneously, after Professor Umbridge finished her lecture.
"Miss, why are we supposedly learning from a beginner's book? It's even lower grade than the stuff we learnt in first year." Complained George.
"Excuse me Mr Weasley, but I didn't ask you to speak. You will only speak if I point to you. Let's try that again, any questions?" George rolled his eyes and looked toward his brother to see if he had a similar reaction. Fred in return rolled his eyes back, and raised his hand. "Yes, Mr Weasley?"
"Dear Miss Professor Umbridge the Great, I apologize for my twin brother's absence of manners. I just wish to inquire on why we are learning from a children's book, when we are all at least 17." Fred prattled, in a sarcastic tone. George let out a burst of air out of his nose in amusement. Umbridge looked dangerously at the twins and answered,
"I do not appreciate sarcasm in my classroom, Mr Weasley, nor do I encourage any type of laughter or jokes. It has come to my attention, that your previous Defence Against the Dark Arts professors, had no grasp on the concept of examinations, and instead taught you highly dangerous magic. I, by no means, encourage any magic use in this classroom, and am committed to teaching you in the safest, most efficient way possible. I am here on behalf of the ministry, and should you protest my teaching methods, you are distantly protesting the entire of the ministry. You will be learning from a beginner's book, as this is the safest and most informative book. Now, for homework you will be learning about the dangers of werewolves and half-breeds."
Hannah sat there, listening in on the argument. Although she didn't necessarily care about how and what they learnt at this school, something about this teacher made her want to strangle the woman. She very rarely felt emotion, she would always try override it with the fact that she didn't really care what someone else had to say. But this woman was purely ignorant, she was the perfect example of everything Hannah hated in one. A woman against half breeds, someone obsessed with their authority, someone who perhaps, would harm something innocent, in order to heighten their status. The thought made her cringe. Hannah looked towards the woman, and navigated her way through the woman's mind.
"Excuse me? Who said that?" Professor Umbridge looked about the room frantically. "That language will not be tolerated in my classroom! Half breeds are filthy creatures! An animal should never have the equal rights of humans!" Professor Umbridge began heating up terribly on the spot, looking about the classroom for the source of the voice. She covered her ears and squealed, before waddling quickly to the door of the classroom, slamming it behind herself, and ran frantically sobbing to Dumbledore's office. Hannah sat there, satisfied with herself. Everyone in the classroom looked between themselves, puzzled, while Fred and George burst out laughing. Hannah got up from her desk and left the classroom.
Hannah began walking down the hall, to the common room, when she heard rushed footsteps approaching quickly from behind her. She turned around to find Fred and George running towards her, with massive grins on their faces. "You did that, didn't you Hannah?" Fred asked, excitedly. He was so excited with the thought that a Slytherin would actually cause an evil teacher to scatter from the classroom.
"Might've." Hannah replied. She didn't necessarily care if they knew or not, yet she couldn't deny that she thought it hilarious that they automatically assumed it was her. Then again, she probably did give it away when she was the only one in the classroom that didn't look confused by the events.
"What did you actually do to her?" Fred asked, with a smile still spread across his face.
"Just hope that you don't find out for yourselves." Hannah joked. She didn't really see much point in telling them straight up, it wasn't like it was going to make any difference. She dismissed the twins by going down the stairwell, towards the Slytherin common room.
After spending 10 minutes feeding and patting Spero, Hannah made her way over to her next class, Transfiguration. Alike to last time, Hannah just sat at the back of the class and watched, as the students learnt Multicorfors, a spell to change the colour of clothes. Halfway through the lesson, Mcgonagall approached Hannah sitting in her seat. "Miss Byron, can I please have a word to you outside the classroom?" Hannah obeyed and followed the elderly witch to the door. "I would just like to start off by saying thank you for cleaning up after class yesterday, that was a very considerate thing for you to do." Mcgonagall looked over to Hannah, who merely just nodded. "I would also like to ask, why you are reluctant on participating in my class?" Hannah mulled her thoughts over. She didn't care to participate, she didn't want to, she felt no need to, she didn't want to be there, she saw no use in changing the colour of her clothes, and the easiest excuse, she didn't even have a wand.
"No wand." Hannah replied. Mcgonagall face gave a quizzical expression.
"Why is it that you do not have a wand, Miss Byron?" Mcgonagall asked, she knew she had seen Hannah with her wand the day before, although she had never seen her use it, just merely have it sitting next to her on her desk, which she basically slept at the whole lesson.
Hannah felt amused that she could have Mcgonagall question Snape about why he was in possession of Hannah's wand, in fact, if Hannah were lucky enough, he might even relay the events of the night before, and she might even get expelled. Of course, she knew it was highly unlikely.
"Ask Snape." Hannah responded to her question.
"Alright, Miss Byron, I will talk to him about it later today. Although I would like to see more participation from you in future classes. You may go back inside." Hannah made her way back to her desk, where she sat, with her head on her desk, for the rest of the lesson.
The last lesson that Hannah had that day was potions. She entered the room behind the last group of Slytherins, and sat down at the only spare seat, next to Adrian Pucey. "This lesson you will be brewing a healing potion called 'Essence of Dittany', you will be working in pairs, as Dittany isn't necessarily a very common herb. You will find the instructions on page 69." Snape Drawled.
Hannah looked over at Adrian. He was a very handsome, tall, boy with dark brown hair. Adrian looked back at Hannah, and nodded, to agree that they'd be pairs for the task. Although they never spoke the whole lesson, they ultimately were a well corresponding pair, with Hannah measuring the ingredients, and Adrian putting them in the cauldron and stirring. They successfully brewed the potion, and began packing up before most of the class. As Hannah was about to leave that class, she felt a hand grasp to her shoulder. She turned around to see Snape standing there, eyeing her coldly.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Snape drawled. He was still determined on finding out how Hannah was so skilled at Legilimency. Aside from Potions and Dark Arts, Legilimency was his best skill. Hannah looked Snape directly in the eyes,
"I don't need it." Hannah stated. She didn't care what he said anymore. She was so determined to get out of this school. All the teachers she had come across, she despised just as much as each other. Despite last night, when Snape conveyed threats merely to cover his own curiosity, Hannah knew that if she pulled the right strings, she might even get herself expelled.
"According to Professor Mcgonagall, Miss Byron, apparently you do." Snape scolded. Why on earth would she think she didn't need a wand, when a school and teaching methods literally revolve around the use of a wand?
"She's mistaken." Hannah objected.
"I would avoid arguing with a teacher, if I were you. You're treading on thin ground, Miss Byron." Snape scowled dangerously. The voice in his head emitted, "Well, then you better step off it before it breaks." Snape glared at Hannah. What was she implying? He stopped thinking when it crossed his mind that she could hear his thoughts. He handed Hannah's wand back to her. "Get out." He scolded, before striding into his back rooms and slamming his door.
Somewhat disappointed that he didn't threaten to expel her, Hannah made her way to her dormitory to get her kitten, then walked up to the library. She loaded a pile of books onto a desk then separated them into several piles. She had about 3 book on Potions, including the one she had an eye on in Snape's class, a book on Herbology and potion ingredients, and a book on offensive spells.
Hermione Granger was seated about a dozen places down from where Hannah sat. She watched Hannah intently. She had never seen a Slytherin girl come to the library before, let alone straight after a class to study at least 3 different subjects. She found Hannah intriguing to say the least. The only other Slytherin she had ever seen in the library is that 7th year boy. She finished analysing the girl, then returned to her own study.
About an hour later, Hannah put most of her books back, but placed one book, Moste Potente Potions, which was based around dangerous potions and poisons, into her robes. She walked towards the library exit, and noticed Adrian sitting at a table by himself, watching Hannah as she walked past. She looked back at him, nodded in acknowledgement, and headed to the Great Hall with Spero, so he could sniff out his own favourite food.
Thank you for reading yet another chapter of my fanfic! Please review and let me know how I'm going. Also, should I refrain from using swearwords, or should I allow certain characters' emotions to take over? Your input is everything :) If you'd like to be apart of this story, comment your character's name, house, and year, and I'll find a way to fit you into the story. Thanks again! :)