Melanie Rosen: Year 5 (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 11 Getting Word Out

Chapter 11

Getting Word Out

The next day, I found Harry had left the Gryffindor Common room early so I did the same. I was not sure if he told anyone about his detention with Umbridge. I felt almost positive it went the same as Lenora's and mine. That explained his reaction when I saw him leaving. I wondered down the hall by myself. All the other students were eating breakfast at this point. I found I had no appetite.

"Hey Melanie!"

I turned around and saw Morgan rushing over to me.

"Hi Morgan," I greeted quietly.

"Why weren't you at breakfast today?" he asked me.

I sighed. "What does it matter? We don't sit at the same table anyway."

"I still notice when you suddenly decide to skip meals," he pointed out.

I remained quiet.

"Lenora did not eat breakfast today either," he informed me.

I rolled my eyes and grumbled, "So you don't have your breakfast buddy today and you decided to look for me instead."

"That's not the point, Melanie," Morgan insisted. "You know how Lenora is always chatty with me..."

I looked down darkly, "Morgan, if you want me to get in a better mood then..."

"Let me finish," he cut in. "Ever since you both had detention, she's been distant with me. Last night, when I asked her what happened, she stormed off and said I should ask you. Now, you're being just as distant as she's been. Please Melanie, just tell me what happened."

I sighed, and pulled out my left hand, which was wrapped in a bandage. At first, he did not understand. I unwrapped it, showing the words on that hand.

Morgan held my hand and looked at it. "But how..."

"It was the either parchment she gave us or the quill," I explained for him. "When we wrote down the sentences on parchment, the words also wounded our hands. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened to Harry."

"Oh my god," Morgan gasped, still holding my hand. "Melanie, you need to tell someone. Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, even Snape would..."

"There's no point," I grumbled. "Clearly the Ministry has more control or Dumbledore probably would not even let her teach here in the first place."

Morgan shook his head angrily. "There's got to be something we can do against her."

I nodded feeling oddly encouraged. "We'll think of something."

xXx

In Divination, I sat in my same spot, expecting Lenora to sit with me as she did before. I glanced over at Harry and Ron. Both seemed rather quiet. I was not sure if Harry had even told Ron about detention with Umbridge. Honestly, neither of us really talked about it. Morgan was the first I openly talked about it to. Now, it was time to do something about it, but I knew when it came to the Ministry I had to be careful. I planned to quietly spread the word at first.

Lenora entered the room close to the start of class, but she brushed past me and went to a different table. I sighed and grabbed my books and followed her.

"What are you doing?" Lenora demanded as I slumped beside her.

"Sitting down," I answered simply, briefly enjoying the moment of giving her a taste of her own medicine.

"Well, I don't want to sit with you," she groaned.

I enjoyed this even more now. "That's too bad. After all, Professor Trelawney said we were supposed to keep the same partner for our Dream Diary."

"I don't care what that old bat says," Lenora grumbled, standing up. "Fine, if you won't move..."

I stood up too. "You know, I'm just going to follow you. Maybe you should take this up with our professor if you have a problem. You can call her an old bat too while you're at it."

Lenora let out a frustrated huff and thumped back down to her original seat, looking irritated.

Today turned out to be another day where we were to discuss our dreams with each other. I took this opportunity to try to talk to Lenora about our detention since I doubted another one would come up.

"Morgan's right," I said. "We do need to tell someone what's Umbridge is doing."

"There's no point," she grumbled. "Hogwarts is completely under the Ministry's control. It's not like anyone here can do anything about it."

"Exactly," I agreed. "That's why we need to tell someone who is not here."

"Like who?" Lenora demanded, appearing rather exasperated.

I shrugged. "Why don't you write your dad? After all, he's technically part of the Ministry and he knows the truth and he'll understand you're really being punished for believing the truth so..."

She gawked at me for a moment and shook her head. "No. I'm not going to bother my dad with this."

"You mean the fact that his daughter is being injured by one of the teacher's at this school? I think he'd want to know about that."

Imagine what a Death Eater would do, I thought to myself.

To my surprise, Lenora merely rolled her eyes. "You're being so dramatic, Melanie. It's just a cut on our hands."

I pounded my fist. "A cut that's only going to grow deeper after every detention we get! Just think about how many that will be."

She shrugged. "Well, maybe I just won't get myself in trouble as much."

"Seriously?" I raised my eyebrow. "You could not even resist the urge to use a spell to knock my chair our from under me that day."

Lenora merely giggled. "What can I say? It made my point and it was funny."

Now, I rolled my eyes. This conversation was getting me nowhere.

Lenora then pointed out, "Why don't you just tell your uncle? He works in the Ministry too, doesn't he?"

I sighed. Honestly, I thought about writing my aunt and uncle to tell them what happened, especially after Aunt Becky's howler. She would feel incredibly guilty. But I then imagined my aunt freaking out and telling my mother and then finally, the two came to the conclusion to pull me out of school. I could not risk that happening.

"It would be better if we told your dad," I insisted. "My aunt might get my uncle cause too much disruption in the Ministry and it would only lead to him losing his job. We need someone to quietly get the word around and slowly turn people against Fudge. I think your dad..."

Before I could finish, Lenora said, "Even if I did send a letter to Dad, he probably would not even read it."

"Well, then send him something that will get his attention," I floured on.

"Like what?"

"Send him a howler," I suggested.

Lenora looked at me for a moment before shaking her head. "I am not sending my dad a howler."

"Come on," I pleaded.

"No," Lenora said, stubbornly. "I'm not going to bother him with stuff going on here. If you want the word to get out then tell your own family."

I had half a mind to send Mars Lane a howler myself, saying he should be more concerned with what's going on with his daughter. I, however, had a feeling Lenora was right and it would be a waste of time. I let out a frustrated huff. Something had to be done. I could not spend my whole school year like this.