The Great War ⏤ Harry Potter

06 | storm warning

Sunlight weakly breaks through the horizon behind thick rainclouds, bathing the school grounds in a sickly grey light. Storm warnings have been put in place for the weekend, turbulent weather mirroring the turbulent moods inside the castle walls.

One week in her tenure, Professor Umbridge has been making waves amongst the school's population, both with students and staff alike. Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was once an interesting class, has now been reduced to a dull, monotonous hour of rewriting lines from a textbook. A modified, dumbed-down, Ministry-approved textbook which makes their work done in their first year seem far more complex by comparison.

Although Defence Against the Dark Arts had never been Magdalena's favourite subject, she had grown to appreciate it more when Professor Lupin had been their teacher. Now, the enjoyment had started to grow for the subject had been extinguished when Professor Umbridge had taken over. It was particularly vexing for students like Aimee, whose love for the subject has made her a permanent fixture in the library perusing the shelves for all the books Hogwarts stored about it.

Magdalena's eyes flick to the alarm clock on Aimee's bedside table. The green numbers staring back at her tell it is time to get out of bed. It won't be long before Aimee's alarm goes off and the girls rouse from their sleep. Everybody will beeline for the bathroom and it will be an arm wrestle as everybody jostles for space in front of the mirror.

Magdalena slings her feet over the side of her bed, sitting upright. She may as well begin her day now that she is awake.

Rain hits the windows of the castle in a rhythmic tap-tap-tap against the glass that is powerful enough to pull Magdalena under a deep sleep. Her eyes burn, eyelids heavy as the sounds of clinking cutlery and chatter reverberating the walls of the Great Hall aren't loud enough to drown out the rain outside and wake her up. What she wouldn't give for a Sleeping Draught to provide her with a restful, uninterrupted sleep without a vision or fear of a vision.

There were no visions last night, but she woke up before sunrise, feeling as wrung out as she does the morning after a vision. Lying on her back she had stared at the ceiling reluctantly as daybreak began; watching as shadows danced across the ceiling as weak, grey light started to pour into the dorm, cutting through the curtains of the tower's window. Once again she had woken up before light and once again knew there was no point in trying to fall back asleep. Her overactive mind wouldn't let her rest again and she didn't have the energy to try.

The smell of cocoa wafts under Magdalena's nose. Beside her, Aimee has a cup of coffee clasped in her hands, her fingers wrapped around the body of the cup. Steam faintly rises from the rim as Aimee takes a sip.

Magdalena eyes Aimee's mug. Although coffee has never been a beverage of preference, a consecutive string of restless nights leaves her no choice but to resort to reaching for an empty cup. The coffee burns as Magdalena gulps it down, leaving a bitter aftertaste in her mouth that will have her vigorously brushing her teeth to scrape the flavour out from her mouth.

"Coffee again?" Aimee asks, eyeing the cup Magdalena puts down. Her own cup is clasped in her hands as she eyes Magdalena carefully, lips thinned into a frown.

Magdalena shrugs her shoulders and pastes on a sheepish smile, hoping to aim for nonchalance. She can't have her friends noticing she is having difficulty sleeping. "Oh, you know, we've got Defence this morning and Umbridge will be a bore ⏤ again ⏤ so I need something to keep me awake while we learn nothing."

The mention of Umbridge diverts Aimee's focus off Magdalena as she rolls her eyes. "Ugh, don't remind me! I spoke to Professor Flitwick to see if anything can be done but he says there's nothing we can do because the Ministry appointed her. It's like the Ministry wants us to fail our N.E.W.T.s!"