Kassandra Bauer and the Order of the Phoenix. (Book 5)

Chapter 12: Torture Detention.

Dinner in the Great Hall, was not really a pleasant experience. The news that Harry had shouted at the Toad Wart seemed to travel as fast as Hermes.

But what my mind was focused on was the 2 week detention I got. 2 Weeks! Harry only got 1! While all around me, as I ate with my friends, I heard whispers. The irony of this was that the whispers were loud enough that I could hear all of them. Hoping that I would get angry and start shouting again so they could hear the story first hand. You'd think they would give it a rest after Dumbledore told them last year.

"He saw, he saw Cedric Diggory murdered..." 

"He reckons he dueled with You Know Who..." 

"Come off it..." 

"Who does he think he's kidding?"

"Pur-lease..." 

"What I don't get..." Harry said suddenly, through his clenched teeth. "Is why they all believed the story two months ago when Dumbledore told them..." 

"The thing is, Harry, I'm not sure they did." Hermione said grimly. "Oh, let's get out of here." 

She slammed her knife and fork down and got up. 

I followed suit. "So... are we not going to eat the Apple Pie?" Ron asked. 

"Come on, Ron!" Hermione ordered.

"Seems a waste though." Ron commented.

"Then take it with you." Anubis suggested like it was Common Sense.

"Good idea." Ron agreed.

"Ugh." Anubis groaned. 

People stared at us as we left the Great Hall. 

"What d'you mean, you're not sure they believed Dumbledore?" I asked when we reached the first floor landing. "If Dumbledore said it, then-"

Hermione looked at me. "You don't understand what it was like after it happened." She said quietly. "You went missing, and Harry arrived back in the middle of the lawn with you two, clutching Cedric's dead body... none of us saw what happened in the maze... We just had Dumbledore's word for it that You Know Who had come back and killed Cedric and fought you." 

"Which is the truth!" Harry shouted loudly as if Hermione was accusing him now of lying.

"I know it is, Harry, so will you please stop biting my  head off?" Hermione asked wearily. "It's just that before the truth could sink in, everyone went home for the summer, where they spent two months reading about how you're a nutcase and Dumbledore's going senile!" 

"They'll be reading a different story when Voldemort comes back and has us all of our heads on spikes." I pointed out. 

Rain pounded on the windowpanes and we all strode along the empty corridors back to Gryffindor Tower. I had about a Mountain of Homework and just on the first day alone. Not to mention dreading detention with Umbitch for 2 weeks. Oh, what was I even going to tell Angelina if this interferes with Quidditch? She was going to explode.

There was still no light in Hagrid's Cabin. Hermione said the password and we all walked into the Common Room. 

The only occupants in there were Ryan and Parvati. Everyone else was at dinner. Crookshanks uncoiled himself from an armchair and trotted to meet us. "Chare, Crookshanks." I greeted. 

Ryan in the meantime was showing some more of his Toon Magic to Parvati. And by that I mean, he somehow found a drum set and was playing very well on them to Parvati.