MOON AND STARS, fred weasley

seven

Her first lesson of Muggle Studies was her favourite. Adhara and the twins father, Arthur Weasley, had a lot in common. She could not help but be fascinated.

Her birth mother, Marlene McKinnon, was muggle-born so sometimes she wondered if all the things she learned would have been natural to her if she survived.

She found the television particularly interesting. The Potters had one of their own, but Adhara's home had never had one as Remus had never been able to afford it and refused to take charity from his friends.

Adhara particularly enjoyed The Ren and Stimpy Show. It was all kinds of strange but it was a simple enough cartoon to be sucked into, and forget about anything else and laugh for a moment.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was not so enjoyable.

"Good morning children," said Umbridge, using her wand to write on the blackboard the word NEWTS at the same time. Like she needed the reminder.

She could already see George and Lee holding in laughs at her sickly sweet tone from where they were sat together, though the same could probably be said for Fred and Adhara.

"Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so and the consequences may be severe." She said it in such a positive tone, Adhara didn't know how to react.

Umbridge then goes on a rant about how defensive spells aren't needed in the classroom, which she scoffed at as the books flew to the desks. They were seventh years, of course they should be doing defensive spells. They'd be out in the actual world in under a year. Was this woman stupid?

"We'll start with theory of Beasts," Umbridge all but sang. "Starting with the werewolf."

"But Professor," a Ravenclaw at the back of the class raised their hand. "I thought werewolves were beings, not beasts."

"Besides," Lee piped in. "We learned this in third year. This isn't on our NEWTs."

"Quite the contrary," Umbridge said. "Werewolves are indeed beasts. So perhaps your knowledge needs updating, Mr Jordan."

Adhara remembered exactly then that she had heard Umbridge's name before. She was the one who had drafted the anti-werewolf legislation, the exact reason her dad had continuously failed to keep a job.

"They're not beasts," Adhara blurted, even though she might have been putting some suspicion on herself, but her conversation with McGonnagal was fresh in her mind. Maybe she wasn't a monster. "This textbook is outdated. We were clearly taught that they're beings — if they weren't, I wouldn't have gotten full marks in my OWL for this subject."

"Perhaps those thoughts are outdated themselves, Miss Black. It is well known that werewolves are half-breeds, monstrous, and—"

"That's not true!" She shouted. "Are you even qualified?"

"Detention, Miss Black, for speaking out of turn. Later, in my office."

She felt Fred begin to stand up to her defence but she quickly pulled him down. It wasn't worth it. Umbridge was only one of many who thought the exact same thing. Her friends were just an anomaly.

*

Once the lesson was over, she stormed out the classroom.

"Hold on—" said Fred. "Where are you going?"

"To rant to McGonagall so I don't end up strangling somebody."

"I can't believe she would say all that," Lee spoke. "Werewolves aren't beasts. In fact, werewolves just so happen to be the prettiest girl in our year." He jokingly winked.

"I can believe it," said Adhara. "She's the one who wrote the anti-werewolf legislation. She's the reason my dad hasn't had a job since he was a professor here."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked George.

"Probably not," said Adhara. "My thoughts are more on murder right now."

"Taking after Snuffles, eh?" Fred joked and she nudged him in the side, before continuing on her stalk to McGonagall's office.

Once she was gone, he turned to George. "We are going to prank her, aren't we?"

"Of course we are, Freddie."

*

"—And then she called werewolves beasts when we're clearly beings and then when I tried to correct her, she went on to say that werewolves are halfbreeds—"

McGonagall looked furious. "She said that?"

"Yes. And she's completely wrong!"

McGonagall signed. "I'm glad you know that, Black, because she couldn't be more far from the truth."

"Discrimination against werewolves is going to get worse though, isn't it? If she's teaching everyone that we're beasts— How long until everyone starts believing it?"

"Listen, Black. What she's teaching— it's wrong. Everything she believes is clearly wrong. We both know you're not a beast. I'll send a letter to your fath—"

"What are they going to be able to do? She's in the ministry. I have one dad who's an escaped mass murderer, falsely accused but still, and one who's a werewolf, the exact thing she hates. I'll just deal with it, it's fine."

"It's not fine," McGonagall assured. "But I will speak with Dumbledore. I'll get Snape to make you some wolfsbane potion, just to be safe. But any more developments and I am mailing them straight away."

"Deal," Adhara promised. "I'm already five minutes late for detention so I should probably..."

"Dear Merlin, you do not make life easier for yourself, do you?"

"It's all part of my charm," she grinned, and for a second, McGonagall had to remind herself that it was not Sirius Black stood in front of her, but Adhara.

may speaks ✨
fuck umbridge actually xx
however mcgonagall 🫶🫶🫶