Grudges

Chapter 1

Despite it being her 5th year at Hogwarts, Victoria was nervous. Death Eaters were becoming more and more active this past summer and she knew the backlash from the 3 other houses would be harsh, despite her not being affiliated with Voldemort in anyway. She straightened her posture and looked up confidently as she walked into her first class, shared with Gryffindors.

Victoria had a special place in her heart for Gryffindors, they all seemed so nice and wonderful until they had a reason not to be. She knew it wasn't all of them, but considering how many of those red and gold covered students had 'accidentally' knocked her down in the hallway, she had quite the grudge against them.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was her favorite class, it had been luck for the last few years that she gotta hit them with spells every once in awhile. Though, she did always try to avoid the good ones. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had never done anything to her, though Victoria always caught Ron Weasley sneering at her in the hallway not so subtly. But she avoided him too. She respected all that the three had done to keep Voldemort at bay, so she avoided them as much as possible. Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas were also ones she avoided, they left her alone as well.

On the other hand, someone she would always love to knock a few Gryffindors down. Namely Lavender Brown and Cormac Mclaggen. Now, Mclaggen never sneered at her in the hallways or accused her of being a Death Eater, but if he groped her in the hallway one more time he would end up with a broken nose. Lavender Brown practically made it her job to knock down her books, but not because of being a Slytherin, because she was part Veela and Victoria's looks were much beyond Lavender's.

Victoria almost laughed at the Gryffindor's stared at her as she walked by, the judgement clear in their eyes. She seated herself in the front of the class, waiting for class to commence.

Soon enough, a woman, who resembled a toad, began passing out books called 'Defense without a wand'. Victoria looked up at the woman dressed in all pink in question before raising her hand.

"Ms..." "Umbridge." "Ms. Umbridge, how are we supposed to fight against our enemies without our wands?" She asked in confusion.

"Well, Miss Moreau, we don't have any enemies." She completely botched the pronunciation of her name as she spoke. Before Victoria could retaliate someone spoke up behind her.

"What about Voldemort?"

"Voldemort is dead, Mister Potter." Victoria rolled her eyes at the woman in front of her, she, and everyone else in this school, knew Voldemort was back, and no matter how many Ministry members came in to try and convince them otherwise they would all still know of the danger in the world.

"So what are you saying? The death of Cedric was an accident?"

"A tragic accident."

"Voldemort killed him!" Harry all but yelled from behind Victoria, causing her to flinch at the volume.

"Mister Potter! Detention!" Umbridge yelled, her shrill voice peaking at the volume.

"Ms. Umbridge. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but there will always be dangers out in the world. Whether or not it is Voldemort or something else, I and everyone believe we should always be prepared for tha-"

"That is quite enough. Now be quiet before I give you detention as well." Umbridge but Victoria off, silencing her in fear of detention. This was going to be a long year.

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"And then! She threatened to give me a detention!" Victoria rambled on to her best friend at lunch, this being their first real chance to talk all day.

"You probably deserved it." Skye said as she took a sip of her water. Skye hadn't met the new professor yet and was glad. She had heard horror stories of this new professor and was determined to stay on her good side.

"You're so rude. I was just trying to tell her we needed real actual experience in the world before Voldemort tries to kill us all." Victoria exclaimed as she took a bit from her soup, her French accent coming through as she ranted.

"Shh. Don't say His name." Skye shushed her, looking around as if the name summoned the wizard himself.

"You're such a baby, be like Dumbledore and be all philosophical and don't be afraid of saying his name." Victoria rolled her eyes at her best friend. Skye went to respond before a Ravenclaw interrupted the conversation.

"Hey Death Eater! Go back to your own table with the other snakes!" Victoria rolled her eyes and whispered insults under her breath before standing, ready to go back to the Slytherin table. Skye took her wrist and yanked her back down, glaring at the fellow Ravenclaw. Victoria easily let the insults slide by her, Skye on the other hand. Did not.