The Sight Of Eternity With You

Gossip

"This place is a circus, you just see the surface
You can see they're fakin'
So sip the gossip, drink 'til you choke
You're not iconic, you are just like them all
Don't act like you don't know
Don't think at all, that's the advice
So c'mon, let's try, it's just a taste"
-Gossip, Maneskin

***

"Thank you for letting me go," Harper stirred her tea, a smile on her face as she looked over at her aunt. "Although dad found me....seems he rejoined the Order."

Sybill chuckled slightly, "ah, he wrote to me about that."

"Mum doesn't know," she scrunched her face to the side, "that's why he didn't flip."

"Mmm."

"Were things quiet here?" Harper asked, Sybill made a face but said nothing as she walked over to the small window by her desk. The snow had fallen pretty heavily and the grounds looked like something out of a novel Harper would've enjoyed an undisturbed evening. It was Harper's favorite time of year.

"Whispers here or there, but....quiet." Sybill took off her coke bottle glasses and cleaned the lenses with one of her scarves, shaking her head. Harper pursed her lips, knowing there was more than Sybill was revealing.

A loud bang could be heard at the trap door that made Harper spill her tea on the floor, hissing slightly as the slightly hot liquid spilled over her thumb. The thumping continued until Umbridge popped her head through the floor, a bright smile on her face. Harper scowled at the woman, no longer hiding her disdain while using her wand to clean up the fallen tea.

"Ah, Miss Nonemacker, I was told to find you here. A word please!" She said brightly.

"See you," Harper muttered to her aunt, placing the teacup on a nearby desk and hurrying out the door. She quietly waited for the Ministry official to begin her typical bullshit. Her face a neutral mask, reminding herself it was important to be Head Girl for the sake of the DA.

"I do hope you had a lovely time wherever you were unauthorized to be," she said with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"I had permission from McGonagall, Professor," Harper said with a tight smile.

"And when was this permission granted? Do you not realize that my not knowing the whereabouts of the Head Girl—"

"—are not of your concern," Harper frowned, her brow furrowing. "I had permission from my Head of House, actually, permission from the deputy Headmaster."

"As it's the first day back, I'll let you off with 50 points from your house. Next time it'll be detention for your tongue," Umbridge hissed, wagging a finger at her. Harper could feel her eyes begging to roll in response but she nodded, trying to keep her civil demeanor. "As Head Girl, I expect more decorum."

"I'm surprised you aren't removing my badge then, Professor," Harper folded her arms across her chest, tilting her head to the side.

Umbridge's eyes flashed to the crimson badge on her lapel, nodding very slowly, "not yet." she gave a toothy grin.

Umbridge turned on her heel and walked off, Harper scoffing as she went back to enjoy her tea with Sybill. When she entered the tower, Harper fixed her cardigan and huffed, looking at her badge she had pinned to her lapel.

"Sometimes I think I'd be fine without being Head Girl...." She mused more to herself.

*****

Pushing through the throng of students, Harper's heart dropped as she took in the scene:

Sybill Trelawney stood in the main entrance hall, brandishing her wand with an empty bottle of sherry in her other hand. The yelling Harper had heard from the entry way door had been her aunt, tears falling down the woman's face as she kept pointing her wand at Umbridge who stood gloating at the bottom of the grand staircase. The pink a bright eyesore against the many black robes that were slowly surrounding the scene as students from the Great Hall slowly came to see the disturbance.