Daughter of Black

5.08

Dear dad,

I hope you're alright. It's starting to get colder here. Winter is definitely on the way. In spite of being back at Hogwarts, I feel more unsafe than ever. Umbridge is terrible. I miss being home with you. I miss you.

I love you,

Mirabella

"Miss Black. I'd like to speak with you." McGonagall beckoned me towards her office. I followed, subconsciously rubbing my hand over the scar from the last visit I had with a teacher. She was sitting at her desk. "Please, have a seat." I sat down and she started to make herself a cup of tea. "Is this true? Did you shout at Professor Umbridge?"

"Yes, Professor. But she..."

"My dear girl, do use your common sense! Umbridge is reporting directly to Fudge. She is here to interfere with Dumbledore. And things could get much worse, trust me." She paused, sighing. "Would you like a spot of tea?" I looked back at her, surprised.

"That's it?" McGonagall shrugged.

"Yes, that's all I have to say." She drank her cup of tea and I swore I could see a smile form on her lips. But neither of us said anything. That was until she looked at my hand. "What is that, dear?"

"It's Umbridge. This is what happens in her detention." That's all she needed to hear before she stormed out of her classroom. I followed, excited to see what she would do.

♡☽

I walked into the Great Hall and ran over to the trio and the twins. "McGonagall is giving Umbitch a piece of her mind." I told them, all of us rushing out to see what was going to happen. A few other students followed to see what would happen. McGonagall and Umbitch stood on the steps near the entrance of the Great Hall, arguing.

"Pardon me, Professor, but what exactly are you insinuating?" Umbitch asked, challenging McGonagall.

"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices." Fred and George stood behind me and I could hear them 'ooh' quietly.

"So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom, Minerva." Umbridge moves a single step up so that she is above McGonagall.

"Not at all, Dolores, merely your medieval methods." McGonagall also moves a single step, making herself taller than Umbridge once again.

"I am sorry, dear. But to question my practices is to question the Ministry and by extension, the minister himself. I am a tolerant woman but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty." I look at Umbridge, completely aghast.

"Disloyalty?" McGonagall moves a step down, all of us shocked by that statement. If McGonagall is one thing, it is loyal and fair. Ok, so that's two things. But it needed to be said.

"Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared." Umbridge states, now talking to all of us. "Cornelius will want to take immediate action."

♡☽

That's when everything started to fall apart. Umbitch was appointed to be high inquisitor, which gave her the powers to address the "seriously falling standards" at Hogwarts School. That's what the minister said, at least. Dumbledore had not been seen in a while. She was watching over everyone and everything. She kept administering new rules and regulations that we had to follow. And it felt like we never had a break from her because she was watching us in our classes as well. For instance, we were in our potions course with Snape and she walked in and decided to ask Snape a load of questions about his position and success at Hogwarts. "You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, is that correct?"

"Yes." Snape replied in his usual monotone voice.

"But you were unsuccessful?" I could feel the irritation rolling off of him.

"Obviously." She jotted a few things down in her notepad and then moved to sit in the back of the class.

"You may proceed with class, Professor." Snape looks back at us, everyone standing at a desk where there is a stack of ingredients for the potion that we will be making today. Snape gestures to the cauldrons bubbling before him.

"Now, as I was saying, I've prepared a few concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these might be?" The watching eyes of Umbitch make some students too nervous to speak up, but I raise my hand. "Go on, Black."

"That one there is Veritaserum." I say pointing to one of the cauldrons and making my way down. "And that would be Polyjuice Potion. And that is Amortentia. The most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person, according to what attracts them." Usually Snape would have stopped me by now, but he hadn't. I move forward to give it a smell. "For example, I smell firecracker embers, autumn, and the burrow."

I could practically feel Snape roll his eyes. "Yes... it's very good to know that you are in love with Mr. Weasley." He said practically spitting sarcasm. I moved back to my desk, George grabbing my hand under the desk.

"I love you too." He whispers in my ear when Snape has turned around.

"Today, we'll be making Amortentia." I knew that the twins were excited, purely because they wanted to sell love potions at their shop, which actually wasn't a half bad idea. "Now Amortentia doesn't create actual love, of course. That's impossible. But it does cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. For that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in this room." Snape barely goes over the ingredients we will be using before setting us free to use our textbooks to create the potion. I carefully read through the steps, making sure to measure everything perfectly. Fred looks over at me and grins, shaking his head.

"You really are set on making everything perfectly, aren't you?"

"Yes, Fred," I reply, not taking my eyes off of the substance in the cauldron in front of me, "and you should be too, if you ever want to make enough to sell." Snape comes over to our table, peering into my cauldron.

"Good work, Ms Black." He comments before moving on to the twins. "Mr. Weasley," Snape says sternly, "considering yours looks like a disaster, why don't you come smell Miss Black's and tell the class what it smells like to you?" Fred, whose amortentia was actually coming along quite nicely, looked over at George with a smirk.

"He wasn't talking to me, mate." George rolls his eyes but moves to the cauldron in front of me. I move away, standing closer to Fred. I watch as he leans over, his hair falling slightly over his face. He inhales deeply, a large smile appearing on his face.

"Well?" Snape asks, impatiently. George straightens up and even smiles at Snape.

"It smells like snow, and vanilla." He looks over to me and my face is red. The corner of Snape's mouth quirks up in amusement as he looks between the two of us.

"That's all I needed to know. Take a seat, Mr. Weasley," he says, before turning away and walking to the other side of the room. I move back towards my cauldron, George looking back at me with a smile.

"Told you I loved you." I squeeze his hand, not wanting to risk kissing him in front of Umbitch. We look over at Fred, who's stifling a laugh.

"Oh, shut up," I whisper to him, blushing again. "Who do you smell?" I ask Fred, who just shrugs.

"Just things..."

"Oh, yeah? Do those things smell like Angie?" He rolls his eyes and shoves me lightly.

"Shut up." The three of us smile. I'll have to admit that while I wasn't worried about what George would smell, there was a certain relief that came with knowing he smelled me.