In My Dreams [Draco Malfoy]

chapter twenty-two: a creeping suspicion

INDIGO

BY ORDER OF

The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.

An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).

No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four.

Signed:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

HIGH INQUISITOR

"Now she's banning clubs?" Stephen asked in horror, staring at the notice.

"Of course she would ban clubs," Aria said, sounding more lost in thought than snappish, for once.

The four of us stood at the bottom of the spiral staircase leading to the Ravenclaw Common Room, surrounded by a horde of blue-and-gold adorned students, anywhere from eleven to seventeen years old. It should have been a miracle that we had even seen the notice, as it was Monday and it hadn't been there before the majority of us had left for breakfast. But Ravenclaws could always be counted on to know things and, within the hour, all of us had seen or heard of the notice.

"Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" one of them asked his friend.

I could see the biting response on the tip of Stephen's tongue, and he had every reason to be annoyed. Considering the recent turn of events, the Gobstones Club was the least of our worries. Thankfully, though, Su Li had noticed too, and promptly took his hand, gently telling him to withhold whatever he was about to say.

The crowd around us was noisy, a crescendo of heartbreak and confusion, but my mind was elsewhere. Under usual circumstances, I might have seen this and thought about the House Quidditch teams. It felt as though it had been ages but I had once loved going to see the matches and cheering on my friends (even then, I'd had friends outside of Ravenclaw). I couldn't remember the last time I had been at the Pitch for something other than a deadly Tournament, though it was probably during Third Year...

Yet, now, there was something else that troubled me far more than not being able to see my friends play Quidditch...

Aria and I exchanged a look.

"Let's go in," she said, catching Su Li and Stephen's attention.

The four of us then did our best to politely maneuver our way through the horde, and ascended the steps of Ravenclaw Tower in silence, before stepping into the Common Room. Normally, we would sit here and discuss things, no matter how serious the topic. We may have always had a dodgy professor lurking about, but never before had Hogwarts felt anything other than safe.

I realize that this is ironic, given that we can never get through a year of school without some life-threatening incident or threat of physical injury. But it has always been a safe place to think, and learn, to be ourselves and share our thoughts. Now it seemed even that was a calculated move, with the Ministry sending in spies. And there was no telling if Umbridge had spies of her own; there was no telling who might be listening, no telling who may see something they deemed suspicious and report it back to her. Though, I suppose, it had always been that way, in one way or another. It only felt real now.