black and white ✰ g.w.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As she often was, Olivia was up bright and early the next morning, despite having trouble falling asleep the night before due to her mind being all over the place. Without waking up Angelina and Alicia, she slipped on her robes, brushed her teeth and hair, collected her book bag and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She only sat alone for a few minutes before she felt someone take the seat next to her.

"So," said Fraser, "some new teacher, huh?" He motioned up at the staff table to Professor Umbridge.

"Yeah," Olivia agreed.

"Wears an awful lot of pink, don't you think? Hey, that rhymed. Cool."

She laughed. "Yeah, she does."

"I already don't like her. What about you?"

"I'm certainly not her biggest fan, either, but remember what Moody said before we got on the train yesterday. We've got to keep our heads down. Especially around that woman. She works at the Ministry, you know. I expect she's here to report back to Fudge on what's happening here."

Fraser sighed. "I wish Professor Lupin would have come back."

"I know. I do too. But he is a werewolf, and most parents don't want their children around that, and that's completely understandable."

Not too long later, Fraser left her to rejoin his friends, once again leaving her alone. Again, she was only by herself for a few minutes before Fred, George, and Angelina finally entered the Great Hall and sat around her.

"Morning, love," George said, sitting down beside her and planting a kiss on her temple.

"Morning," Olivia replied with a smile. She looked to Angelina. "Alicia still sleeping?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I considered waking her up, but she'd only gripe about it all day, so I chose not to. If she sleeps through Herbology, so be it."

"Okay, well, Quidditch try-outs are Friday at five, I want you all there."

"You're not making us try out again, are you?" Fred asked.

"No, of course not. I'll have enough of a job trying to find a suitable replacement for Oliver, I don't need people trying to take your positions as well. I just want the team there to see how well you work with the new Keeper, whoever it is. It'll help me decide."

"So if we all dislike the person, they won't be chosen?" George asked.

"Not unless they're some sort of prodigy. I don't need my teammates bickering during practice."

"Excellent."

Olivia found Harry and told him the same thing, and by the time she came back, Lee and Alicia had woken up and made their way down for breakfast. Fred and George were conversing with Lee in low voices, more than likely over something business-related, while Alicia ate very slowly with her eyes half closed.

"Do I need to dump the contents of this goblet all over you or will you knock it off?" Angelina asked her threateningly.

"I'm trying," Alicia whined. "It's too early, Lina."

"Alicia, you do this every year. When are you going to learn to go to bed earlier?"

"When it's no longer fun to stay up late."

"Well, you might want to wake up," Olivia said, "unless you want to lose a limb to a Chinese Chomping Cabbage in Herbology."

"But... but it's our first day! You don't think Sprout is going to make us deal with anything dangerous on our first day back?"

"Yes, it is our first day... of our N.E.W.T. year."

Alicia frowned. "I don't want to take the N.E.W.T.s. I think I'll accidentally sleep through the whole month of June just to avoid them."

"You go ahead and do that. Tell me how that works out for you."

Olivia's schedule had many free periods in it; in fact, every day she had at least two. This was very common among sixth and seventh-years because after taking their O.W.L.s in their fifth year, they were allowed to drop any class they saw fit to whether it was a core class or not. Olivia had chosen to drop History of Magic, Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, and Astronomy as she did not think that continuing on with taking them would benefit her. She had also dropped Potions but gone on to take Alchemy, which was similar to Potions in many ways but was taught by a different teacher. She had also went on to take the N.E.W.T level of Arithmancy, which was called Advanced Arithmancy Studies. This had left her with seven classes a week.

The toughest day of the week for her by far was Wednesday. Even though she only had two classes that day with lunch and a free period in between them, they were Defense Against the Dark Arts and Alchemy. While Defense Against the Dark Arts usually was not dreadful (with the exception of when Gilderoy Lockhart taught in her fourth year), Professor Umbridge proved to be the worst teacher to teach that particular class to date.

As Lee had suspected on Sunday night, Umbridge had no plans to give any practical lessons. She even said there was to be no magic performed in her classroom by anyone besides herself. It looked like they would be doing nothing but reading all year for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Professor," Olivia began after raising her hand respectfully and being called on, "how are we going to get through our exam if we don't actually practice doing the spells beforehand? We are taking our N.E.W.T.s this year, after all."

With the same smile she had preserved throughout the entire lesson, Umbridge answered, "I am well aware that you are taking your N.E.W.T.s this year. If you read your textbook through and study the theories to the defensive spells, I have full confidence that you will do excellent when it comes to your exam in June."

A little later in the lesson, Angelina raised her hand and upon being called upon said, "The first chapter in our textbook is titled 'Basics for Beginners'. With all due respect, Professor Umbridge, we aren't beginners. We're in our last year here."

"Well," Umbridge laughed, "with the sporadic and unstable education you have had in this subject the last six years, you might as well be beginners. This year, you will be following a carefully guided curriculum approved by the Ministry to make up for it."

Olivia raised her hand once more. "So the Ministry believes that we have no reason to know how to defend ourselves?" she questioned.

Umbridge just continued to smile at her. "What is your name, dear?"

"Olivia Wood."

"Have you any relation to David Wood?"

"He's my grandfather."

"Well, Miss Wood, I understand that you may be a bit confused." She turned to the class as a whole. "I know that you all have been told that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie. You are all completely safe. So no, you have no logical reason to know all of these defensive spells. The only time you will ever need to use them is during your exams, and if you study properly, you should know them well enough to perform them by then."

George and Olivia exchanged a look.

[word count: 1217]
[written: 6/25/20]
[published: 7/9/20]