In The Shadows [Book Two]

Chapter Two:

Chapter Two:

The sun shone brightly, birds tweeted loudly, the giant squid in the lake seemed to even be having a good time.  I was probably the only one that wasn't.  For absolutely no reason at all, I was in a terrible mood.  I wanted to punch everyone, scream incessantly and I felt like I could also break down crying at any given point in time. 

Perhaps it was the heat, I was forced to wear long sleeves to hide my Dark Mark which meant that I was sweaty nearly all the time.  Maybe it was the livelihood of Hogwarts, everyone seemed to be having such a good time that it may have made me a bit upset.  But I was sure that it was neither, my bad mood rested entirely upon Draco Malfoy and how he wouldn't stop complaining at me. 

He sat next to me and complained over how I was ignoring him, about how Harry Potter was a twat, how Pansy wouldn't have sex with him, and the list of things to complain about went on and on and on. 

"Shut up, Draco! I don't care about Pansy or you or Harry or ignoring anyone or anything just shut up!" 

"Well you used to care but now you're so hung up on serving the Dark-" 

I punched him before he could finish that sentence, not because he made me angry but because we were surrounded by people and he was about to give away my most dire secret.  How he even knew was mostly a mystery but I imagined mother managed to send him a coded message or some such.

"You wait until my father hears about this." His steel eyes were full of anger like I'd never seen before, if Draco weren't such a weak-willed boy I would have been scared for my life but I knew him better than that.  I knew him better than anyone. 

Your father?  He's my father too, Dra-".

"No!  No he isn't, he's my father and not yours.  My mother is not your mother, my aunt is not yours, my family is not your family.  You don't have a family.  Nobody wants you in their family, you stupid girl!"

My breath escaped my lungs in a gust, leaving me feeling hollow and cold.  I opened my mouth in hopes of replying just as vehemently as he had, I wanted to argue with him and tell him that that wasn't true.  His family wanted me or else they wouldn't have let me stay every summer and Christmas holiday, he wanted me or else he wouldn't have been my friend for the last four years. 

But was that true?

"I've got to go, I have detention." 

I stood up and walked away from the boy I'd loved since first year, the one person I thought I could count on was now the one person whose feelings I truly knew to be against me rather than for me.  I walked away from the one thing I thought I knew, but didn't. 

***

I was to write my lines in her actual office instead of her classroom.  It was a change of scenery and one that I didn't like at all.  Her walls were covered with decorative plates that had kittens on them.  I loved cats, but that.. that was too weird for me.  They meowed, and moved around, laid down, stretched and stared.  It was too creepy having all those eyes staring at me. 

At one point, she brought a young girl into the room.  I was ignored but I paid a lot of attention to what they were saying and talking about. 

The Toad offered the girl tea, made sure she drank it and then waited a few minutes more before continuing to ask her questions.  I noticed that the questions were the same but the answers the girl gave were different. 

"What's the name of this group you've been participating in?" Umbridge's mouth was wide, but her lips were thin. I'd never really looked at her for more than a couple of seconds before, I'd never noticed quite how.. uncomely she really was. Pink really wasn't her colour, it was a shame her entire wardrobe seemed to be comprised of it.

"We're called Dumbledore's Army." I vaguely recognized this girl as one I'd seen Harry hanging around just a couple of times. Her last name was Chang, and I remembered someone saying how during my third year, she'd been dating that boy who died.. Diggory. Yes, that was his name, Cedric Diggory.

"Who runs the group?"

"Harry Potter."

"What happens in this group?" Think pink lips stretched into a small smirk, as if she already knew she'd get the answers she was searching for before she even asked the question.

"Harry teaches us how to fight against Dark Magic.  He teaches us patronuses, how to duel, how to unwand an opponent." 

I smiled, thinking about my older brother breaking the rules and getting Umbridge so angry that she spontaneously combusted in her own office.  Oh how amazing that would be. 

"Where is the group meeting held?"

"In the Room of Requirement." 

"And where is the Room of Requirement?"

After Umbridge was told where it was and how she wouldn't be able to gain entrance to the room, the Toad left her office for a few moments. 

"Why are you telling Umbridge all these things?  Why are you betraying Harry Potter?" 

"I-.. I don't know.  I think she put something in my tea." 

I grinned brightly, thinking of truth serum, and wondered what else I could make her admit.  Her black hair was straight and shiny, her face was round and full of youth, her eyes were brown and seemed to be terrified.  Good.

"What's your most embarrassing secret?" 

"Cedric Diggory and I had sex in a broom closet and got caught by Professor Trelawney." 

"What's your worst nightmare?" 

"Harry Potter being killed by Voldemort like Cedric was." 

I nodded, thinking of the boy who had been murdered just last year during the Triwizard Tournament.  I'd heard stories about what had happened after they were transported away from Hogwarts.  Harry himself said Voldemort had him killed.. of course, back then nobody believed him.  Even now, almost nobody believed him. 

"You, girl, come with him," Umbridge's voice cut through the quiet that had settled in her office, her voice like nails against a chalkboard, grating against my every nerve.  The girl stood up and walked to Umbridge.  Behind the cow stood Filch, the creepy dude whose job I wasn't actually sure of.  Maybe he kept Hogwarts clean, or perhaps he was just a stalker who wouldn't leave so Dumbledore let him stay out of the goodness of his heart. 

Behind them were at least four other students, one of which were Draco.  The Inquisitorial Squad, then, which I knew also consisted of Crabbe, Goyle, Bullstrode, Parkinson and Cassius Warrington (plus that other boy who had been hanging out with Draco whose name I didn't know). 

With a quick glance at me, Umbridge told me to finish my lines and that she'd be back soon before every single one of the people who were here vanished.  I grunted, putting the quill down and leaning back in my seat.  The idea that I'd actually do what she told me, when she wasn't physically here to reinforce it, was hilarious.

Briefly, I wondered what was going on but for the most part I had decided that it wasn't my business so despite my curiosity I fought hard to push it to the back of my mind. I was relatively sure that it wouldn't take long for me to find out what was happening anyways.

Instead, my mind wandered to what Draco had said not even an hour earlier.

Eventually, I got tired of thinking, dozing and my backside felt as though it would fall off if I waited for Umbridge to come back even a moment longer, so I did what anyone else wouldn't do.

I left detention.. for the second time in a row.