Diggory Is Still A Loser (book 2)

27- I Will Support The Ministry

Marietta didn't return with Cho that night, and she spent the rest of the following day in the hospital wing, as Madam Pomfrey had been unable to cure her.
Although this news pleased Celia, it wasn't enough to make her feel happy as so many things were going wrong.
The DA had been disbanded, since the Room of Requirement was no longer safe for them to use.
Umbridge had also created a group called the Inquisitorial Squad, made up of Slytherins who supported her.
These students could dock points from those in other houses, completely making a mockery of the house points system.
To make matters worse, Celia had Defense Against the Dark Arts that day, and she knew Umbridge was going to be particularly mean to her.

As Celia entered the classroom, Umbridge directed her to her old desk at the back of the room, making her heart sink.
Once Umbridge had addressed the class, she made her way over to Celia.
"Now that I am headmistress, there is no one to undermine me anymore. Which means I can make you write lines in my lessons again, since no one can tell me what to do" sneered Umbridge.
"I haven't shouted at you during class in months. So, what have I done to deserve such a cruel punishment?" Questioned Celia.
"Surely you don't need me to tell you that. You and your little friend Harry Potter, were both members and instigators of Dumbledore's Army, and I don't think for one second that last night was your first meeting" replied Umbridge.

"You can't prove anything" informed Celia.
"Maybe not, but I can still punish you any way I like" grinned Umbridge, as she placed her nasty quill on the desk in front of Celia.
"So, you want me to write I must not tell lies, 100 times, even though I haven't actually told any lies lately?" Frowned Celia.
"Of course not, that would be silly. I want you to write I will support the Ministry, to remind you that your loyalty should be to the Ministry and not Albus Dumbledore"
"And if I refuse?"
"Well, since I am headmistress, I can expell students. So, unless you want to get expelled in your 6th year, I suggest you do exactly as I say".

With no other choice, Celia did as she was told.
The new words appeared underneath her old scar, but she knew they would fade soon, for it took several hours of writing, before the words became a permanent feature on her hand.
As she left Defense Against the Dark Arts in a bad mood, she bumped into Harry, who was on his way to Herbology with his friends.
"Did Umbridge make you use the quill again?" Asked Harry, when he saw the way Celia was holding her injured hand.
Celia nodded, "Yes. She seems intent on making my life as miserable as possible".

"I'm suprised she wants to punish you, since your roommate was the one who told on us all. I thought she would expect your whole class to be loyal to her" Harry said coldly.
"I am not like Marietta nor do I support her actions, like Cho. Now, you see why I am not friends with the people in my house. I gave Marietta quite the telling off last night. In the end Cho had to intervene and take Marietta to the hospital wing, so that I couldn't yell at them both anymore" revealed Celia.
Harry looked over at Hermione, "At least we know your spells last a long time and are not easy to break".
Hermione blushed, "She deserves it after what she did. Besides the pimples don't hurt her, they just make her ugly, and allow the whole world to see her for what she is, a sneak".

"Let's just hope that Umbridge doesn't find out that it was you who jinxed the parchment. Because if you hadn't, she would have got a lot more information out of Marietta, so Umbridge is bound to be angry at the person who set the hex" warned Celia.
"Don't worry, no one but you guys knows I was the one who hexed the parchment" replied Hermione.
"I may have told Cho last night, while I was yelling at her, I don't remember. But as long as no one else knows, you should be O.K, since Cho wouldn't dare to snitch on you, because she knows I would demolish her... Anyway, I'll let you go, since you've got class to go to. See you later" sighed Celia.

**
Since Celia had a free period she had nothing else to do, as she was in too much mental and physical distress to read or do homework.
She was sitting outside by herself when the Weasley twins found her.
"Hey, mind if we join you?" Asked George.
"Be my guest" mumbled Celia.
"I heard Umbridge gave you a rough time" Fred said softly, as him and George sat down on the bench either side of her.
"It's nothing I haven't experienced before. I guess it's just been a while since I used the quill, and I'd forgotten how much it hurts" admitted Celia.
"The pain will wear off soon" reassured George.

"Yeah, I guess. What have you two been up to?" Questioned Celia, trying to change the topic so that she would stop thinking about the pain in her hand.
"We've been trying to avoid getting points taken from Gryffindor" answered George.
"And how have you done that?" Quizzed Celia.
"We shoved Montague into the vanishing cabinet on the first floor, before he could take any points from us" revealed Fred.
"Don't know where we sent him, but I'm sure he'll turn up in a few weeks" added George.
"You could get in a lot of trouble for doing that" replied Celia.

"That's sort of the point" informed Fred.
"Come again?" Frowned Celia.
"We want to cause as much trouble as possible before we get out of here. We're not worried about being expelled. In fact, we'd walk out right now, if we didn't want to cause some mayhem first" revealed George.
"But what about your NEWTs?" Questioned Celia.
"We only got a handful of OWLs between us, so I can't imagine us getting loads of NEWTs. Besides, we're not interested in school grades. Not when we've got our own joke shop to start up" informed Fred.

"So, you managed to get hold of some premises in Diagon Alley then?" Asked Celia.
"Oh yes. It's all ready for us. But before we go there, we have a few suprises for Umbridge" grinned George.
"And the first surprise is set to go off during lunch time, and it should make Umbridge's first day as Head very memorable" added Fred.
"What are you going to do?" Questioned Celia.
"I would hate to ruin the suprise. Just make sure you're in a public place during lunch, so that no one can blame anything on you" warned Fred.
"Well, I look forward to seeing it, whatever it is" replied Celia.