the gentle moon / george weasley

i'm head girl

"Harry!" George called after the boy, "Have you seen August? I haven't seen her since last night. Did she get expelled?!"

George seemed frightened, Harry began to worry.

"What do you mean? She didn't come down for breakfast? I dropped her off last night. Umbridge sent her back to her dorm!" Harry asked in a panic.

"Fred and I haven't seen her" George said, "Cedric said she wasn't in her room when he woke up."

Ron came running up behind the two boys, out of breath and bright red. The color of his face was not caused by the jog, but because of anger.

"You two.." He breathed out, "Need to come, now!"

"Ron?" George looked at his brother, "Is it August?"

"Yes!" He became impatient, "COME ON!"

The three boys ran to the grand staircase outside the Great Hall. Harry looked around and it seemed the whole school was watching now. Professor McGonagall was directly opposite Harry on the other side of the hall; she looked as though what she was watching made her feel sick.

"But Professor.." August sobbed, "The ministry promised me I could graduate, I only have a few months left. Why are you doing this now?"

August's large trunk and a small suitcase lay on the floor beside her, one of them upside down; it looked very much as though it had been thrown down the stairs after her. August was staring, apparently terrified, at something Harry could not see but that seemed to be standing at the foot of the stairs. Because George was taller than Harry, he could see exactly what was happening.

"That bitch." George almost walked toward the two witches, but Fred stopped him.

"Mate, don't" He whispered to his twin, "You'll just make it worse for Moon. Angie went to get Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore isn't here!" Harry said in a panic, "He left!"

"What do you mean he left?!" The twins said in unison.

"You didn't realize this was coming?" said a high girlish voice, sounding callously amused, and Harry, moving slightly to his right, saw that August's terrifying vision was nothing other than Professor Umbridge. "You are a threat to this school. To these students, no one like you should have even been taught. It's a disgrace."

"You can't!" cried August, tears soaking her face, "you can't expel me! I've been here seven years! I'm Head Girl."

"You were head girl," said Professor Umbridge, "until an hour ago, when the Minister of Magic countersigned the order for your expulsion. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You are embarrassing yourself."

But she stood and watched, with an expression of gloating enjoyment, and Harry saw something new flash in August's eyes. Katie was sobbing into Fred's side, and Harry looked up and saw that the twins' faces were turning red with anger. George's hands were turning white from the tight fists he was making. Soon enough, a crying Ginny was at George's side, grabbing his hand. Then Professor McGonagall had broken away from the spectators, marched straight up to August and picked the girl up, and embraced her in a motherly hug. " August, calm down. You're okay. It's not as bad as you think, now. You are not going to have to leave Hogwarts. We will figure this out."

"Oh really, Professor McGonagall?" said Umbridge in a deadly voice, taking a few steps forward. "And your authority for that statement is . . . ?"

"You are a terrible woman!" McGonagall snapped, "Why are you doing this?! You can't send her away!"

Umbridge with a singularly unpleasant little laugh said, "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here" — she pulled a parchment scroll from within her robes — "an Order of Expulsion signed by myself and the Minister of Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Thirty-Five, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to expel any student who seems fit to be a danger to Hogwarts — that is to say, I — feel is not performing up to the standard required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Miss August O'Keefe is not up to scratch. I have expelled her."