Rise of the Death Eaters [3]

Chapter 37: Schmooze 101

"Well my dear," Umbridge said as she lowered her tea kettle back on it's pad. "It seems you have been having a very busy year. Or so your friends have been telling me," She added as she took the two tea cups in her hands and gave one gingerly to me. I accepted it bitterly but didn't drink. The wafting vaper that hit my nose reeked of pink sugar; the kind that was pretty in jars but you wouldn't cook with.

"It's true," I said simply. "While I am grateful to Professor Snape, I worry about my grades and the incoming O.W.L."  Umbridge settled herself back into her chair and took a long drink from her cup before placing it back on its saucer with one of her chubby fingers. Those toad-like eyes of her seemed particular putrid this afternoon as they looked back to me. 

"I wouldn't want you to miss out on your education my dear," she said in her overtly sweet tone, "but I fear for your social health. In particular, for those you keep around you."

"My friends?" I replied innocently. "I thought you would approve of Draco and Theodard. Their families are important in the ministry and are close friends to my father."

"Yes, of course," she replied happily," But I was thinking more so of the other friends you keep around you. Some of the other houses, for example."

I let a beat pass before opening my mouth to respond.

"You mean the Weasley girl and Granger, I assume." My voice was flat from any meaning, leading to Umbridge to nod without a change in expression.

"I am always one to encourage house intermixing but in such a case, where I have seen rule breaking, I would not want you to be swayed by their antics," she said carefully. "Nor, I bet, would your father."

I lowered my tea, a new feigning of drinking the tea that I had been practicing over the course of my meetings with Umbridge, and made sure to sigh dramatically.

"I know just what you mean," I said openly. Umbridge raised her brow, "Oh?"

"Well, you see," I said turning away from her for a moment. "They used to be true friends but our arguments have gotten out of hand," I explained simply. I turned back to see her watching me unmoved, as if stirring would make me say no more.

"Go on, dear."

"It's not like I am not aware of their relationship with that Potter," I continued, mimicking my boyfriend's diction of the word with relish. "He continues to lie about topics that I as an American have always found terrifying and frankly I've always been a bit scared of the idea of well, you know, the dark lord's return," I said quickly. "And I don't ever want to admit that to any classmate for obvious reasons."

Umbridge stayed silent but the pause gave me reason to believe she was listening intently wanted me to go on. So I did.

"They've become rather helpful to me," I admitted at last. "I've heard rumors you see, and while I no longer value what they have to say politics wise, I do wish the best for them. But those rumors worry me that they will do something stupid and harmful to other students."

"And so you wish to protect them," Umbridge concluded. "While that is kind of you my dear, you needn't put the weight on yourself. As I mentioned in our earlier meetings, I had made the inquisitor Squad with the purpose you bring up now. You need only join-"

"But," I said with a pause, "wouldn't it be more beneficial for them to not know of what I am to them?" I asked, hesitating a glance at Umbridge. "After all, they already worry about what the Inquisitor Squad will mean to them. If I join publicly, they'll break ties with me."

"I can't help but wonder where this sudden wish to spy on what I have always noted as close friends of yours has come from," Umbridge said, cutting the conversation short. She was eying me closely as I feigned another sip of sugar water.