Give Her Hell From Us

Chapter Three

My mother wraps up her little speech in which she has made it clear that the Ministry of Magic plans to change many things about the way the school is run, and allows the headmaster to finish his usual announcements. The cow catches my eye as she reclaims her seat and she grins at me. I scowl at her as she pulls at her frilly pink cardigan.

"Just ignore her, Jo." Abby mutters as she elbows me in the side.

"I suppose you were right about her being a toad." One of the twins says, watching me with a mischievous grin. "In looks and nature. How do you know her anyway? Are you actually related?"

"She's my mum." I mutter.

"Woah!" The twins exclaim in sync, eyes wide.

"That's unfortunate." Fred says, at least I think it's Fred.

I roll my eyes and get to my feet as we are dismissed from the Great Hall. Abby follows me in silence and we head for the double doors, but just as we're about to make it out of the hall something clamps down on my hand and I wince as a wave of pain from the semi fresh cuts washes over me. I look up to find my mother has taken ahold of my wrist. She pulls me to the side of the doorway.

"Surprise." She grins. "I'm the new defense against the dark arts teacher."

"Yes, I noticed mum." I mutter. "What do you want?"

"I just want to tell you that you need to be on your best behavior, and that you won't get any special treatment from me." My mother says in her fraud high pitched voice.

"Don't worry, I wasn't expecting and special treatment from you." I roll my eyes. "Can I go now?"

"I suppose." She frowns. "Stay out of trouble."

I wrench my arm free of her grasp and walk away briskly with Abby at my heels. Abby tried to talk to me about the interaction that's just taken place between me and my mother but I ignore her, not speaking a word until we reach the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Boulderdash." I say irritably to the Fat Lady.

"Well then!" She exclaims with a frown.

"Jo, do you want to talk?" Abby asks gently.

"I'm sorry Abby, but no. I just need some time to think things over by myself, can we talk in the morning?" I ask, turning to face here.

"I guess." She replies. I turn around and pull her into a hug.

"I'm not trying to push you away I just don't know what to think. Hogwarts is just the only place I've ever felt at home in and now she's taken that away from me too" I sigh.

"No, I understand. Come to me when you're ready to talk." Abby smiles.

"Thank you."

~

"Your food, Miss." A house elf says in a squeaky voice, smiling as she offers me a tray of food.

"Oh, thanks." I return her smile on a slightly smaller scale before I take the tray from her and set it on the copy of the Gryffindor table in front of me.

Thinking over tonight's events, I pick up the roll from the tray and take a bite before sipping from the goblet of pumpkin juice also from the tray. I'm not going to let my toad of a mother ruin my last year at Hogwarts. I can still find ways to enjoy myself despite my mother's presence in the school. It's a large castle after all, and the grounds are even bigger. Surely we won't be around each other all the time.
~

I wake up on the morning of September second to Abby clapping directly in front of my face. I jump into a sitting position and turn to look at my friend with wide eyes.

"What was that for?" I ask, yawning.

"I couldn't get you to wake up. I tried shaking you and calling your name... you're a very sound sleeper." Abby trails off slowly.

I roll my eyes at my friend and push my covers off of me, getting to my feet and walking into the bathroom where I quickly take a shower before magically drying, styling my hair, and dressing in my school robes. When I reemerge into the dorm that I share with Abby, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia, I find it empty. Abby must have gotten impatient and left to get something to eat while I was getting ready. I slip on some boots beside my four poster bed and hurry down to the common room.

"Took you long enough." I jump as Abby appears from a corner of the room.

"I thought you'd be in the Great Hall by now." I say as I calm my breathing.

"And let you face walking in on your own under the inspection of your mother? Never. We're going to do this together." Abby rolls her eyes at me.

"Thank you," I smile, pulling her into a half hug, "really."

We walk out of the common room and down to the Great Hall together, paying no mind to the feeling of my mother's eyes boring into our backs. As soon as we take our seats at the Gryffindor table we find ourselves sandwiched between the Weasley twins. I watch each of them for a moment, trying to figure out who's who before guessing that it's George who has wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Morning, ladies." Fred says, his arm around Abby. "We have some questions for you."

"Specifically Miss Umbridge here." George grins, pulling me closer into his side and trying (and failing) to appear innocent. The mischievous glint in his eyes says it all.

AN: Sorry for the very overdue chapter. You would not believe the month I've had! Hospitalized again, moving, problems with movers, being homeless for a week, traveling across the country, turning another year older, problems with Wattpad glitching and deleting over six chapters of one of my books, and oh so much more. Moving on. I finally found some time to write and got caught up again. My life is only getting crazier so I may not be able to update once a week. I will update when I have time. I'm sorry. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless of the wait and the circumstances it was written under. Thanks for reading. Remember to vote and comment suggestions and feedback.