Perfectly Imperfect || C. Diggory

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐒𝐢𝐱 || 𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 *

Warmth poured my body as I walked into the Great Hall. There was an excited-nervous bounce in my step, my mind racing with things I wanted to do before the night ended. One, eat my dinner with my friends, then go up to the dormitories and unpack with Jenn and Olivia, then head up to the Astronomy Tower to stargaze with Cedric. We'd planned to do it on the train.

As Cedric walked in, many students turned to each other to whisper. He did his best to ignore them, but I glared at every single one of them. "It's okay, Ced, don't look at them." I said when his eyes flicked up at the sound of someone shouting "liar".

The bustling of students finding their seats, and the echoing of their voices across the Hall was slightly overwhelming, but by the time we all sat down, my nerves settled. Everyone had quieted down when they noticed someone new sitting at the staff table; a woman who looked awfully short with a sort of frog-like face.

She was glancing around at the students with a smile that made me quite uncomfortable. Her eyes were beady, and her neck was small.

"Do you know who that is?" Steve asked me, looking from her to me. She wore an ugly pink cardigan over her robes which looked completely unprofessional.

"No, do you?" I replied. Jenn and Olivia had leaned in to hear our quiet voices.

"No, I was asking you!" He whisper-shouted back. Cedric chuckled, and looked back over at the table to get another look at her.

"Well, I thought you meant you knew who she was, and it was such a big deal that you asked me who she was to make sure I knew who she was, and- oh, forget it." I sighed, exasperatedly.

The Sorting Hat began to sing his new song while the first years stood awkwardly waiting to be sorted. I was more interested in what Cedric asked than the song, so I didn't bother paying attention.

"Hey, did you notice that Hagrid's gone?" Cedric asked. Olivia furrowed her brows to think. So, it wasn't just me.

"I didn't, but you're right, I haven't seen him at all." She answered, now looking at the teacher's table as well.

"I don't think he's here. When we got off the train, I saw the first years following Professor Grubbly-Plank. Where d'you think he's gone?" I inquired.

"Who knows, but maybe with all this You-Know-Who stuff going on, he's off doing something to help Dumbledore." I suggested.

"That could be true, but didn't he get expelled from Hogwarts in his third year? Who'd be trusting him now?" Steve questioned, his eyebrows raised. Jenn scoffed, and took Olivia's book from her hands to whack Steve in the arm with it.

"Hagrid's a great man. A... questionable teacher, but he's got the right idea. Dumbledore trusts him. And besides, remember when all that Chamber of Secrets stuff was going on a couple years ago? Yeah, well Hagrid was proven innocent, and it was actually Tom Riddle who framed him. That's why he's allowed to teach here. Well, at least I think. Just rumours I've heard." Olivia explained. Jenn nodded.

"Oh, right." Steve scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I'm sure he'll be here soon enough. Oh, shh, Dumbledore's about to do his speech!"

"Steven, you're the one who's talking." I rolled my eyes. He shrugged, smiling, and turned his attention to Dumbledore.

"Well, now that we are digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start of term notices." Dumbledore said, smiling.

I continued to bite into my roast chicken and potatoes while he spoke. "We have two new changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."