Strangers Meet

4

"Mails here!" Someone from the Ravenclaw table shouted as owls flooded in the grand hall holding letters and small packages in their claws. I watched all the different colored owls drop things infront to students until Zoë caught my eye. She gracefully dived down with a letter tied to her little leg. I untied it and she flew off and out the castle. The envelope was sealed shut with red wax and was pressed with the initials SA; SA meaning Samantha Addams, my mother.

Dear Tyler,

I am glad to hear you made it to the school safely and I am excited to hear more about the fun you'll have there. Please be safe and do the best you can in school and with keeping safe from... him. You must do anything you can to keep yourself safe and know that it was never your fault that it happened.

Best of luck, love, mother.

"What does your letter say?" Pansy blurted in my ear and looked over my shoulder to try and read the paper.

"None of your business, Pansy. Are you so interested in my letter because no one cares to send you any?" I shot back at her in anger of how annoying she is. Her eyes widened, then went into a glare. She got up and stomped away like an angry toddler.
I got a few looks of disbelief, but I figured it would teach people not to bug me. I Wolfed down some pancakes and headed to Defense Against The Dark Arts to deal with Umbridge again. When I got out of the grand hall, McGonagall and Umbridge stood on the stairs engaged in a heated argument. Soon, a crowd had gathered behind me to watch the insults being thrown.

"Pardon me professor, but what exactly are you assuming?" Umbridge squeeked and followed McGonagall up some stairs.

"I'm requesting that when it comes to my students, you conform the prescribed discipline practiced." McGonagall shot back.

"So silly of me, but it sounds like you're questioning my authority in my own classroom, Minerva?" Umbridge took a step higher than McGonagall.

"Not at all, Dolores. Merely your midevil methods."

"I'm sorry, 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."

"Disloyalty?" Professor McGonagall took a step down and Professor Umbridge took a step up to make another annoying speech that none of us will care about.

"Things at Hogwarts, are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will take immediate action." She turned and walked away with a skip in her step. I looked behind me and saw Draco standing with a smirk.
I shrugged it off that maybe he was thinking of something else and walked to Defense Against The Dark Arts- sadly with Umbridge.

(Skip to next class because why not)

Students were already lined up with brooms in hand when I got there. I went and stood beside a medium height boy with red-ish sideswept hair. I looked at him and smiled. He glanced at my robe and seemed to be a little scared, but he smiled back.

"I know all of you have done this before." Madam Hooch began, "aside from you, Tyler. I want you to stay her with... Marius, and he can teach you the basics." She pointed to the boy beside me and then took the rest of the class farther away to teach more advanced things, I guess.

"Hi." I smiled at Marius again.

He looked around to see if anyone was behind him. "Hi." His tone seemed surprised.

"Have you done the flying course since year one?"

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised you're talking to me." He backed up to give us space to be able to get in the air. I gave him a confused look. "Well, you being in Slytherin and me in Gryffindor and all."