Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 72 - Umbridge

Nice wholesome chapter for you today folks! And thanks so much for 10k!! :)

  The four Slytherins spent the train journey talking about OWLs and their summers. Al found herself recounting the story of what had happened with Voldemort, and was relieved to find none of the others had been subjected to Death Eater activity. Aside from 'old family friends' visiting, nothing seemed amiss.

 When they arrived at the train station, though, the usually horseless carriages were being pulled by winged, skeleton horses. "They're weird," she said to Daphne before hopping in after Theo.

 "What?" Daphne asked.

 "The horses," Al said, "pulling the carriage?"

 "There weren't any horses, Al," Daphne told her as they trundled up to the castle.

 "Yeah," Al said, thinking they were playing a joke, "Black things...with wings..."

 "They're thestrals," Theo said. The other three just looked at him blankly. "You can only see them if you've seen..." he trailed off, apparently not wanting to finish, but then he swallowed and said, "If you've seen death."

 Draco, Daphne and Theo all looked at Al with pity in their eyes. "That'll be it then," Al said, trying to hold a cheery note in her voice. "Cool though, isn't it?" The others just avoided her eyes.

*****

 Al was so full. She'd tried to eat as much as possible - which wasn't a lot compared to her usual load - but she'd been building up her endurance over the last month, so she'd managed to stomach a bit of main and dessert. Dumbledore got up and did his usual welcome: this is banned, don't go into the forest, blah, blah, blah.

 Al's attention was only caught when he introduced them to the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She'd hoped it was a good one like Lupin or Moody or even Quirrel. But, she was sorely disappointed. The pink-clad woman looked like she'd never even seen a Grindylow before. And to make matters worse, it seemed like she was a total cow, because when Dumbledore introduced her as Professor Dolores Umbridge, she stood up and began making a speech.

 "Oh here we go..." Al muttered, resulting in a few quiet giggles around them.

 "It is so lovely to be back at Hogwarts," Umbridge said, "I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends." Al was grinning widely and looking down at the table trying to hide it while Draco coughed, trying to hide a laugh. Umbridge made a coughing sound in an attempt to quiet the whispers and snickers in the Great Hall, but this only made Al want to laugh more.

 Somewhere on the Ravenclaw table someone violently blew out a laugh, which was followed by louder laughs from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, and concealed laughs from Hufflepuff and Slytherin. If there was one thing all houses could unite on, it was taking the mickey out of a teacher.

 Al dared a glance at the Gryffindor table and saw George positively purple from trying not to laugh. Again, the urge to giggle came on stronger, and Al had to hold her breath to stop from wheezing. Umbridge kept talking about the Ministry, and progress and finding balance. Blah, blah, blah. She was more boring than Dumbledore, and Al had to listen to her attempts to teach all year.

 Whispers were breaking out in the hall as students realised that she wouldn't bother to call for quiet. A few prefects further down the Slytherin table were telling various groups to be quiet, and Al looked across at Theo, who had raised his eyebrows and indicated a group of nattering second years.

 Al rolled her eyes. Being a prefect was not fun at all. "Guys," she hissed, catching the group's attention and that of those around them. "You've got to at least pretended to listen," Al urged. One of them rolled their eyes but a couple more of them threw her sorry smiles, and turned around to face Umbridge.

 Umbridge carried on talking and Al mostly zoned out. She'd made it clear she supported the Ministry, which meant she didn't support Harry or Dumbledore. But a Ministry worker inside Hogwarts was a dangerous thing. Best to get on her good side and stay there.

 Dumbledore stood up again and started talking about quidditch try-outs and Draco listened in while an uninterested Al started counting up the first-years. It was the job of the fifth-year prefects to show the first-years where their dorms were and what the password was etc. Al counted fourteen - only half the number of Hufflepuffs. Five girls and nine boys. Still, they'd beat the Gryffindors again.

 The benches scraped and Al stood up next to Draco. "You take the front and I'll take the back?" she offered.

 Draco nodded and walked off shouting, "First-year Slytherins this way." Al took up the back of the group, grinning at a blonde girl with blue eyes who was chatting giddily to another girl with dark brown hair in a plait. She remembered when she'd been sorted into Slytherin. Gosh, she was so worried about Harry that day, wondering whether he'd be okay in Gryffindor. And that was before all the Voldemort rubbish kicked off.

 The group of sixteen headed down the steps into the dungeons. She watched the brown-haired girl shiver and the blonde girl looked up at her. "Don't you get cold?" she asked in a squeaky first-year voice.

 Al shrugged with a grin, "You get used to it eventually. And if you don't you can always learn heating charms."

 "So are you and him prefects, then?" the brown-haired girl asked.

 "Yep," Al said lightly, "I'm Al, and that's Draco," she said pointing. "If you need anything just let us know."

 They had reached the entrance to the common room, and Al almost laughed at the clueless faces. "The password is devil's snare," Draco announced and instantly the wall in front of them parted, revealing the green filled common room. "Boys on the left, girls on the right," Draco said and the first-years filed off chattering.

 Draco slumped into a sofa by the fire and Al sat at the other side while they waited for Daphne and Theo. "Noisy lot, aren't they?" Draco said, smirking, "Still, we get to boss them about."

 "No we don't, dipshit," Al laughed, "We're supposed to guide them. Not tell them off all the time."

 "Whatever," Draco said as the steady stream of Slytherins finally produced Daphne and Theo hand-in-hand. The pair of them sat down on the sofa opposite them and Daphne cuddled into Theo's side, stifling a yawn.

 "So," Theo said, "Umbridge."

 Draco pulled a face, "Yeah."

 "I think we need to get our suck-up on," Al said, and Daphne sat up.

 "What?" she groaned, "But she's such a cow!"

 "Yeah, but a Ministry worker inside Hogwarts?" Al reasoned, pulling a face similar to Draco's.

 "Good point," Theo said, "So what do we do?"

 "I don't know," Al said, "Just do what she she says. Pretend to hate Harry and Dumbledore."

 "Won't be hard," Draco mumbled, and Al hit him with a cushion. "Ow, ow! Stop it!" Al laughed at him and Daphne and Theo joined in.

 "Oi!" a seventh-year prefect said, walking in. The three looked at her. "Stop defacing the cushions," she warned, before walking off to her dorm. This only made Al, Daphne and Theo laugh harder, while Draco batted them away. It was good to be back with her friends.