Dark AIAOY 5

Chapter 5

Harry insisted on sitting next to Rebecca for the last class of the day, if only because neither Ron nor Hermione had had any luck bringing Rebecca back sitting next to her in any other hour of the day.  Umbridge was nowhere to be seen at first.  Lavender looked at Rebecca nervously from across the aisle, taking small glances out of the corner of her eye while Rebecca tried to ignore the continued looks from other fifth years who had been in the common room the night before.

Padma took a little bird she had folded out of parchment from her bag and enchanted it to fly, sending it in a wide circle around the room.  One of the Slytherin girls blew as she looked up to it so the bird got more height and continued on.  Seamus jumped up to whack it down and Dean frowned at him disapprovingly.  Seamus grabbed Dean's hand under the desk as an apology.  Neither boy was ready to put whatever it was they had discovered between them under the scrutiny of the public eye--they satisfied themselves with private bouts of hand-holding or discreet looks.

Crabbed turned his quill into a slingshot, the only spell he had ever totally mastered in his time at Hogwarts, and shot at it.  Rebecca sighed as the paper bird's wing was torn, forced into a loopy spiral as the other wing wasn't able to do both.

Then, sending the students into shocked gasps, the bird ignited and fell back onto Padma's desk as a pile of ash.  Professor Umbridge's smile neared constipated-child as the students all turned to the entrance of the classroom to see who had ruined the bird.

Hermione saw Rebecca roll her eyes as Umbridge walked to the front of the classroom in another outfit entirely made out of varying shades of pink and smiled, perhaps things would return to normal.

"Good morning, children."  Professor Umbridge spoke in her high-pitched voice, waving her wand at the chalkboards so that they wrote as she spoke on.  "Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations.  O-W-L's.  More commonly known as O.W.L.s."

Some of the other students scoffed at how they were being spoken down to, Umbridge's voice similar to one that you would take to a toddler.  

"Study hard and you will be rewarded.  Fail to do so," Umbridge's smile grew.  "And the consequences may be severe."  She waved her wand at the stacks of books behind her and they lifted off the tables, floating slowly down the aisles so that one ended up in front of each student.  "Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven.  But, you'll be pleased to know that you'll be following a carefully-structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic."

Rebecca stared at the cover, wondering if this book was meant for first years and not them.

Hermione flipped through the cover of Dark Arts Defence: Basics for Beginners quickly, skimming the index.  She raised her hand and Professor Umbridge gave her permission to speak.  "There's nothing in here about using defensive spells."

"Using spells?"  Professor Umbridge repeated and chuckled as if Hermione had asked when they would be having tea with trolls.  "I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

Ron lifted his book with two fingers and held in in front of him like it was a soiled quidditch jersey.  "We're not going to be using any magic?"

Harry glanced at Rebecca to see if she was hearing this before listening to Umbridge's explanation.  

"You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way."

He rolled his eyes and spoke without raising his hand.  "What's the use in that?  If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free."

Umbridge turned away and marched back to the front of the class.  "Students will raise a hand when they speak in my class."

Rebecca snorted.  "Well, does it have to be our own?"