black and white ✰ g.w.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Just as Arabella had guessed, Ron did show up at Quidditch try-outs on Friday evening, along with six others. As soon as they saw their younger brother, Fred and George's first thought was to tease him, but Olivia stopped them at the last minute, wanting to get through the try-outs quickly and without conflict. Also, she wanted to give Ron a fighting chance, and she figured if the twins embarrassed him, it might make him self-conscious and lead him to perform worse.

Try-outs lasted about an hour, as it didn't take long to determine whether a person was any good at Keeping or not. By the end of it, Olivia had narrowed it down to three out of the seven, one of which was Ron. She already knew in her mind which of the three she was going to choose before she consulted with Angelina, Alicia, Fred, and George. She voiced her opinion to them in a low voice as they huddled in a group a good distance away from the others and they agreed almost instantly. They then turned to face them all with grins on their faces.

"Ron," Olivia said, her smile growing wider as she saw the boy perk up, "congratulations. Welcome to the team."

As the other six stalked away, grumbling, the now fully formed Gryffindor Quidditch team, missing Harry who was of course in detention with Professor Umbridge, went back up to the castle together in high spirits. Fred and George separated from them shortly after to steal food from the kitchens so that they could have a small party in the common room.

Back in the common room, Hermione and Arabella were waiting for them to come back from try-outs and to hear the news of how it had went. When the portrait hole opened and Angelina, Alicia, Ron, and Olivia entered, the two girls jumped up from the armchairs they had been sitting in.

"So?" Hermione asked, her eyes mostly on Ron. "How'd it go?"

Instead of answering verbally, Ron just smiled at his best friend and twin sister.

"Yes!" Arabella cheered, running up to him and hugging him. "I knew you'd get it!" As she pulled away from him, she turned to the older girls. "Let me guess. Fred and George are in the kitchens?" The girls nodded. "Of course."

"While we're waiting for them to come back with the food," Olivia said, "I'll go fetch Oliver's old robes for you, Ron. I'm sure they'll fit you just fine."

The next morning, Olivia felt a bit better than she had the rest of the week as she sat at the Gryffindor table now that the team had all of its members again. Now she just had to worry about practices and reserving the pitch before any of the other teams. And her piles upon piles of homework and looming N.E.W.T.s, of course.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the distinct sound of arguing coming from outside of the Great Hall. Curious and slightly annoyed that whoever it was couldn't argue in a more private setting, she immediately got up from the table, leaving her breakfast behind. Her friends and many other students followed suit.

"Pardon me, Professor, but what exactly are you insinuating?" asked Umbridge.

"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students, you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices," said Professor McGonagall. The two women had been climbing the stairs, but stopped when their argument became heated.

"So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom, Minerva."

"Not at all, Dolores, merely your medieval methods."

"I am sorry, dear. But to question my practices is to question the Ministry, and by extension, the Minister himself. I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty."

"Disloyalty."

It was then that Umbridge noticed the crowd of students that had accumulated to witness the disagreement between the new teacher and one of the most stern teachers in the school. Her expression was serious as she faced them. "Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."

"Well, Cornelius can stuff it!" Alicia muttered as Umbridge walked away, her heels clicking as she went.

"You know, if they were students we could've taken away points for that," Alexander said to Olivia, finding her in the crowd.

"Yeah, no kidding," she responded. Then, raising her voice to the other students, who were standing around whispering, she said, "All right, back in the Great Hall! Show's over!"

"What do you think they were talking about?" Angelina questioned as they made their way back to the Gryffindor table.

"'Medieval methods,'" Fred repeated. "Do you think she and Filch are hanging students by their ankles in the dungeon? Like he's always threatened to do to us?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's got something to do with Harry," Olivia said as they all sat down.

"Harry? Why do you think that?" Lee asked.

"Is there anyone else that has gotten detention with her this past week?"

They all looked at each other, trying to think of someone else, but shook their heads.

"But he looks fine," said Lee, looking at Harry, who was sitting down the table from them, looking a bit flustered as he sat with Ron and Hermione.

"Well, if she's doing something barbaric that would be frowned upon, she wouldn't make it obvious to the public," Olivia reasoned.

"Do we ask him about it?" George asked.

She shook her head. "No. We have practice later, we can keep an eye out then."

[word count: 963]
[written: 6/28/20]
[published: 7/11/20]