Finding Neverland | George Weasley ✓

Chapter Fifty-Two

Thea had had a restless night, consisting mostly of worrying about Harry and him taking the blame for it all and sitting at the open window looking out. That was where she found herself the next morning, in the same position but with a crick in her neck. Thea cursed silently under her breath, thinking she had overslept but after looking around the dormitory at the peaceful, sleeping forms of her peers, her heartbeat continued beating at a normal pace.

She was more than ready to get out of Hogwarts. Thea would, of course, miss the castle and all the good and bad memories she had made there, but it was becoming more unbearable with every passing second. However, one thing for sure this was not how Thea thought her last year at Hogwarts would go.

Between Umbridge making everyone's lives hell, the fact that no one had seen Dumbledore in weeks and her sudden friendship with the Weasley twins to now relationship with George, this certainly wasn't how she expected her year to go.

But Thea was still thankful for the experiences that she had during the year and throughout her time at Hogwarts. She now knew what she wanted to do with her life, she had something to work towards to.

The latest letter from Matilda, telling Thea how her parents had been coping recently and it was very good news. Thea was to stay in the guardianship of Remus and Sirius for the meantime, which she certainly didn't mind but her parents had been improving a lot. Their time away had greatly improved their mental state so much in fact that Amos was thinking of returning to work. Matilda had also said although they were slightly pensive about seeing her again, they had been looking at a lot of their family photos from throughout the years, back in the day when the family was all smiles, happy.

Thea thought about the photo that she carried in her trunk to Hogwarts every year she hadn't seen it in a while because it brought back too painful memories, but it was a funny photo regardless. Anne was fussing over Thea's hair and attire while Amos looking quite proud of his son, ruffed up his hair, then it showed a picture of them all smiling before returning to their previous selves.

Thea loved moving pictures because they always showed so much more life and spirit. The first time Thea saw the muggle equivalent of the photos, she was shocked and of course being quite young, Thea had loudly pointed out the differences between the two photos, causing muggles to look over at them with curiosity and concern clear in their eyes while Anne hissed at Thea to stay quiet.

Thea's eyes had slid shut again during her little daydream, but they quickly snapped open again when she heard the girls in her dormitory stir slightly. Quickly dressing in her uniform, trying to be as silent as possible, Thea collected her bag of books for the day before leaving the Hufflepuff common room before anyone was even awake.

Heading into the Great Hall for an early breakfast before class, she was quite surprised to see that she actually wasn't the only one in the hall. There were Professors milling around at their table as well as Fred and George, their plates of food untouched as they were huddled over several pieces of paper. She approached them slowly, trying to see what they were doing without announcing her presence to them. It proved to be slightly tricker than she thought, the twins noticed her pretty quickly, covering their work.

"I'll leave you two to it then," Thea said, going to sit down a little way.

"Thea?" George questioned. "Why aren't you sitting with us?"

"Well, you two are most likely doing illegal, shady stuff that you clearly aren't letting me be a part of. So, I'll sit alone, thank you very much." Thea said, a smug smirk gracing her face.

"Thea. Just come sit with us, please?" George asked.

"Well, are you going to tell me what you two are doing?"

"No!" The twins shouted in unison.

"Well, it looks like you are just stuck with each other now. Have fun." Thea said poking her tongue out, playfully at them.

"Stubborn woman!"

It didn't take long for the Great Hall to fill with students until it was buzzing with the usual chatter and laughter. Thea had given up her stubborn nature and had shared breakfast with the twins after they decided to take a break on whatever they were planning. However, it came to a brief halt as the pink devil as Thea affectionally referred to her as stood up and tried to get the crowd's attention. She held a piece of parchment in her hand and cleared her throat as the crowd finally died down.

Speaking in her high-pitched squeak of a voice, everyone watched as Umbridge delivered them all the worst news that had had all year.

"By Order of the Ministry of Magic; Dolores Jane Umbridge will replace Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore as Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

George squeezed Thea's hand trying to comfort the girl as she shook her head violently in shock. This was the man who had looked after the school, who had comforted Thea greatly in the hours after her brother's death, the only person who You Know Who feared, and they just got rid of him and replaced him with the pink devil incarnate.

"My first act as your new headmistress is to form an Inquisitional Squad, led by Mr. Draco Malfoy. They will report directly to me about the goings on in the halls of this school. Furthermore, our good caretaker, Mr. Filch has requested that we reinstate the old punishments. I have decided that there is no reason that we shouldn't."

Thea eventually turned out the rest of the wicked woman's speech choosing instead to bury her face in George's shoulder as his arm wrapped around her. The two of them stood there together, looking at the bleak future they now had in front of them.