The Forgotten Girl

Chapter Thirteen: Chocolates, Stars, and Dreams

Chapter Thirteen: Chocolates, Stars, and Dreams

The first morning of term brought with it terrifying news. On a rare occasion Alison and Ginny had awoken early, not at all because Fred and George stood at the base of the staircase yelling their names for quite some time. The four of them were seated at the Gryffindor table enjoying a nice breakfast. Colin had come down with Samantha and Kaylynn. He sat down next to Alison with the girls on his other side.

The morning post swooped in and a large tawny owl landed in front of Colin with the Daily Prophet. He paid the owl and unrolled the paper. He gasped, staring at the front page and began hitting Alison’s arm.

“What?” she demanded turning from George to look at him. Colin couldn’t speak, instead he pointed to the front page. Alison sighed and plucked the Prophet out of his hands and looked down at it for herself.

A majority of the front page was taken up by mug shots of ten black and white wizards. Some were jeering up at her; others simply looked bored as they tapped on the side of their frames. Alison flicked her eyes up to the headline which she read out loud, “Mass breakout from Azkaban Ministry fears Black is “Rallying Point” for old death eaters.” Alison shook her head and slammed the paper down on the table, “Really? They can’t just accept the truth?” she hissed in a whisper.

George picked up the paper and read off some of the names of the escaped Deatheaters, “Augustus Rookwood, Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, convicted for the murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.”

Alison turned with a start, “That’s yours and Fred’s middle names.” She said looking at the man’s picture, Fred nodded, “They were our uncles.”

“Mum doesn’t like to talk about them though.” George finished putting down the paper.

“How come nobody is freaking out?” Ginny asked looking around the Great Hall.

“Not everybody gets the paper like Colin.” Samantha said in her quiet voice, her gaze flicked up to the staff table where many of the professors showed signs of shock and worry.

“This is not good.” Colin said shaking his head. Alison pushed away her half eaten breakfast, “It’s only going to get worse.” She muttered. George wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, she rested her head on his shoulder, “We’ll make it through this,” he said in a low voice, “together, with Harry’s help and the D.A.” Alison smiled up at him and kissed him quickly, “I have to go, don’t want to be late!”

After their morning Transfiguration lesson there had been a new decree pushed through. The notice was pinned up not only on the notice boards, but also in the corridors throughout the schools.

“The teachers aren’t allowed to tell us anything anymore!” Colin exclaimed the minute he sat down next to Alison in Divination. Alison rolled her eyes, “No? Really? I hadn’t seen the notices.” She said in a sarcastic voice.

“On the bright side,” Ginny said, a devil’s grin playing across her lips, “Umbridge isn’t allowed to tell us off anymore, right? It’s not her subject she’s hired to teach.”

They held in the silent giggles as Umbridge joined them in the tower. Professor Trelawney was on probation, and that meant that Umbridge watched over all of her classes. The same went for Hagrid and Care of Magical Creatures. Professor Trelawney stood and began addressing the class. Today they were starting work with Astronomy.

Professor Trelawney began explaining the wonders of the stars. Umbridge however often interrupted her and asked for her to perform outrageous tasks. Alison eventually, bored of listening to the two professors drone on, blocked them both out. She instead, turned her attention to the window. Her head had started to hurt so she closed her eyes, resting her face on her hands.