The Lost Witch | Fred Weasley

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Umbridge had reached a new level of tyranny now.

She first took our freedom of thought, now she was taking our freedom of speech. And then the case of removing everything that gave us an ounce of happiness pushed a lot of people over the edge.

Fred and George were going stir-crazy without Quidditch, raging at the old Toad because she was trying to control all that happened within the walls of the school.

Lee got to experience Detention from Umbridge first-hand as well in the next coming weeks. He had said it was worth it though and I was proud of him. One of her Decrees clearly stated that teachers aren't permitted to talk about anything other than their subjects to their students in class.

We had been seated next to each other and the twins behind us when she told Fred and George off for playing Exploding Snap in class. Then Lee's smart arse retorted, "Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not information relating to your subject!"

Most of us chuckled at that, but I gave him a pitying look when she announced that he would be receiving detention.

The worst of it was during Divination. Seeing as Trelawney and Hagrid were on probation, Umbridge was there in every single class.

If McGonagall were here along with her, she wouldn't even dare interrupt like she was interrupting Trelawney.

At one point Lucy and Lee had to grab each of my arms and pull me back into my seat when Umbridge turned her back after making an especially nasty comment.

D.A. meetings was the only thing keeping most of us sane at this point. The only thing we had to look forward to. But it seemed our leader had more worries on his mind than the rest of us.

We were sat at dinner with Harry, Ron and Hermione when Harry explained the Occlumency lessons he was receiving from Snape.

"Ugh, I hated that in training. I managed to fight him off eventually, but Moody saw a lot more than he wanted to. He didn't speak to me for a week afterwards. And we never tried it again. Four sessions and he didn't want to look into my head anymore."

"Understandable. There's probably a lot of stuff in there that would scare even Mad-Eye Moody," Fred teased, earning him an elbow to the ribs.

"And here I was holding on to a sliver of hope that you might be good and could train me instead," Harry grumbled.

"Sorry Hazza, outside my skill-set. Although..."

He looked up at that, hope taking over his features. "There might be someone. And I think they would make it a lot easier on you than Snape."

"Anyone's better than Snape. Seriously. Even if it's Angelina, I don't care. I'll just apologize for all the conversations she'll see where I call her crazy."

I chuckled. "Glad to hear it. Tell you what, let's meet up in the Charms classroom tomorrow and we can discuss the details."

Harry looked so relieved now that he maybe didn't have to return to Snape's dungeon. So, the question was, who did he least want to see his memories, Snape or Draco?

★

It took some convincing, but Draco had said he would help make it easier for Harry in Snape's classes. Give him some tips.

So, after dinner the next day I went to drop Harry off at the Charms classroom. Apparently, everyone was curious to see who at school was talented in Occlumency, so all the Weasley's and Hermione followed us.