UnExpected

Chapter 64

"Miss Lore, what is that in your hands?"

Susie could barely breathe; her eyes began to water. She didn't want to go. She liked it here. She didn't do anything wrong. It was just a piece of paper!

"Miss Lore, I ask you again, what is that in your hands?"

What had been a confidential moment was quickly becoming a scene. The whispers started to spread, and the Hall quieted down as every eye in the room focused on Susie and Umbridge.

The girl wouldn't speak. Umbridge could see the fear in her eyes and the trembling of her shoulders. Children. She ripped the paper from the girl's hands and held it up in front of her.

"Is this the Quibbler?" Umbridge demanded.

Susie didn't want to, but she had no choice, it was past the point of denial. Slowly and hesitantly, she nodded.

"The one that has been forbidden by Educational Decree Number Twenty-Seven?"

Slowly, she nodded again.

"You do know what happens now, don't you?" Umbridge asked malevolently.

Susie gulped. No. It wasn't fair. It wasn't hers. The paper...it wasn't...

"Miss Lore?"

Susie's throat felt so dry, and she was afraid her tears wouldn't allow her to speak. But she couldn't stay silent forever. No, there was no escape from this. She had to be brave just like Buffy. She had to be brave. There wasn't anything anybody could do. She could pinch herself raw, but no matter how much she wished, this wasn't a dream. She would be expelled from Hogwarts and that...would be that.

"Y-yes," Susie finally admitted.

The smile that appeared on Umbridge's face sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Well now, you do understand the decree was specific regarding the consequences? Rules are there for a reason, Miss Lore."

"Yes, I understand," Susie said quietly. "I know that –"

"It's mine!"

Everyone turned at the outburst from the Gryffindor table, where Buffy Summers had stood from her seat.

"The Quibbler's mine," she said confidently.

There were gasps and the clanging sounds of dropped utensils.

No! Susie immediately turned back to Umbridge. She couldn't let Buffy do this, not when everyone was being nice to her now. Not when she was so close to finishing school.

"No, no, Professor, it's mine. The paper's mine. Buffy didn't –"

"Yours, you say, Miss Summers?" Umbridge asked, ignoring the insignificant girl – there were much bigger fish to fry.

Buffy straightened her spine and stared the beast in the eye. "Yes. It is."

"Well, in that case. Miss Summers, front and center," Umbridge ordered and then walked steadfast to the front of the room with the widest smile anyone had ever seen.

"Buffy, no," Ginny whispered.

"Buffy, don't," Neville objected.

But she didn't listen, didn't want to listen, and did as she was originally told. Buffy walked to the front without displaying any emotion and a gloom fell across the Hall.

When Buffy had returned to Hogwarts after such a long unexplained absence, no one knew what to expect. However, throughout the months, it had been proven that Buffy Summers was not the same person she was when she left. She was no longer the Queen B everyone had come to loathe. She had returned a kind, funny person and, even if it took months, people had warmed up to her. She gained new friendships, some closer than others, that she was immensely, and would always be, grateful for. She had also reaffirmed some old relationships that had suffered through her absence, and had not only reconnected, but strengthened those bonds through her character change. Things had been going well. She had finally found her place. She fit. And now everything was being pulled out from under her because of one piece of paper.