Secrets of a Ravenclaw

Chapter Eight

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Chapter Eight: Oblivious Mistakes

We had a few more practices that week as Dumbledore's Army. My Patronus was still the weakest. I tried to imagine discovering my mother's journal, but there were so many downsides to reading it that it had a negative effect. I thought about finally making new friends and some light appeared but it wasn't enough. By now some people managed to produce a full patronus. Hermione's was an otter, Ginny's was a horse, and then there was Ron who produced a jack russel terrior. "You'll get it Caoimhe don't worry," Ron said to me with a smile.

"It's so frustrating," I admitted shaking my head. "Everyone's getting the hang of it but me."

"It will come," Ron said surely. "Say are-are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Ron asked slowly. 

"I'm not sure yet, why?" I asked. I was thinking of skipping it and reading more of the journal. It was this Saturday and I could definitely finish the diary if I dedicated the entire day to reading it.

"Well Harry has detention of course and Hermione is studying more for her O.W.L.s, and I was wondering if you would like to go with me?" Ron said very quickly. Ron has been such a great friend lately, plus I felt bad about lying to him over the Sweden trip.

"Sure I'll go with you," I said with a smile. That book was becoming an obsession of mine. I needed to take a break from it anyway. Ron smiled and was about to say something when the lights hanging above us began shaking. Everyone stopped and looked at one another. That was interesting. It happened again, but this time stronger. We all stepped back towards the wall as it continued. The noise was coming from where the door would have been. I shared a confused look with Ginny as we all got closer to one another. Someone was trying to come in.

The noise got louder and louder, dust began falling from the wall. Fred and George stayed closer to the front near Harry and Colin Creevey. Cracks began to appear. Suddenly a tiny hole appeared. "I'll make it simple," came the cold voice of Umbridge. Damn it, we were in trouble. No where to hide now. "Bombarda Maxima!" The wall exploded into tiny bits causing us all to duck to the ground. 

From there we were beyond hopeless. Umbridge wasn't alone either, she had other students with her. And Draco Malfoy was one of them. Once the wall was completely removed, the students rushed in.  As Draco looked around the room with his smug expression, his eyes landed on me.  His expression became unreadable. "Why did I think I would find you here?" he asked crossing his arms as he got closer to me.

"Maybe you're smarter than you look," I shot back annoyed. Of course Draco would be working for Umbridge. No surprise there. He didn't looked phased by my insult, instead he grabbed both of my arms and held them behind my back. 

"Leave her alone," Ron sneered at him but was quickly grabbed by Crabbe.

"Oh, got yourself a body guard?" Draco teased. Umbridge instructed them all to bring us to the Great Hall. When we got there, we were in big trouble. Fake nice Umbridge was gone, it was all rage now. She stood there and told us how we had broken every school rule and we were facing severe punishment. Basically, I had detention every day for the rest of the month and I knew what her detentions were. Yet there was no way of stopping her.

Our first detention was immediately after that. It was barbaric. As I wrote it felt like there were knives under my skin trying to get out. It burned but we all remained strong and stubborn. We weren't going to show Umbridge that she was winning in any way. Instead, we sucked up the pain and lasted the entire hour. When we left everyone was rubbing their hands. "The pain goes away," I heard Harry say to a few people.