Confident | Fred Weasley

Chapter 38 | Umbridge

Once the lengthy train journey was over, the girls found themselves a carriage, which they shared with some fifth years.

"I just remembered, we have a new Defence professor, don't we?" Patricia spoke up, as the carriage pulled away from the train station.

By this time, the sun had set, leaving clumps of navy clouds and sparkling stars above them. The only light was the orange street lamps that appeared every few metres. Sarah could see when they passed one, as the orange tint lit up Angelina's face for a moment, before passing.

"I heard Dumbledore was struggling to find one," Sarah replied, her eyes wandering to the blur of passing trees out the window.

"Can't say I'm surprised. Hopefully it's a good one though, as we have our NEWTs this year," Alicia mumbled, her face pale in the minimal light.

The NEWTs. Sarah had spent the entire summer trying not to think about them, but now she was back at school. She recalled how terrible the Professors had been at her OWLs year, constantly reminding her of the upcoming exams and drowning her in homework. From what she knew, the process would be repeated again, but on steroids.

"Don't remind me," Sarah groaned, running a hand over her face.

"I'll take a wild guess and say you didn't do any revision over the summer," Angie grinned.

Sarah's jaw dropped, "What? - were we supposed to?"

Alicia giggled, "Don't worry yourself, Sarah. I didn't do any revision either."

The carriages reached the Castle, where the girls hopped out. Due to all the clouds, the brick walls of the castle were barely visible, but rather glowing, yellow windows floating ominously in the air.

They headed towards the entrance, where Professor Flitwick was controlling the amount of students going in at once.

"Ah - Hello, you four!" Professor Flitwick greeted them, as he stopped them from entering the Castle.

"Hey, Professor," Angelina answered, craning her neck around him to find the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Oh! I see you got the Quidditch Captain this year. A very good choice on Professor McGonagall's behalf. Well, I still have hope to win this year," He noted the badge pinned to Angelina's robe.

At the mention of Quidditch, the matter of a new teacher seemed incredibly irrelevant. Angelina straightened up, " Good luck with that, Sir. I'm playing to win."

Professor Flitwick finally let the girls through, where they crossed the vast entrance hall, heading through the open doors of the Great Hall. They sat down at Gryffindor table, which was already prepped with golden plates, ready for eating. 

"Oh, this reminds me how hungry I am," Alicia mumbled, glancing at the plates with a certain eagerness shining in her eyes. 

"Who is that?" Angelina hissed, her eyes narrowing at the Teacher's table. 

A few chairs to the left of Dumbledore, a woman adorning all-pink sat. He hand were crossed over on the table neatly, as she stared at the students gathering in the Hall with beady eyes. Upon her curled, brown hair sat a large bow. 

"She must be the new Defence professor. She's not very intimidating, is she?" Patricia replied, a sharp brow raised as she eyed this new woman. 

"Well, either was Quirrel, and he did alright, didn't he?" Sarah said, turning away from the new teacher, having grown sick of all the pink. 

"He had You-know-who in the back of his head. I'd say that's pretty intimidating," Alicia mumbled, whilst the three others laughed. 

Once everyone was sat at their respective tables, the sorting began.