Colours - h.potter

lines in orange

Noise was bustling throughout the Great Hall. At the Gryffindor table sat the four friends. Lyra hadn't once touched the food on her plate. All she desired was to go to bed and never wake up. She hadn't bothered listening to Dumbledore's speech, for the first time in a long time, she thought about her father. 

Where was he? Why hasn't he written? Lyra had felt her anger towards the man grow. Did he leave her? 

"We also wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge, and I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck." Dumbledore continued to speak, coming to a mere halt as the toad-faced woman stood, a disgusting smile plastered to her face. "She works for Fudge. She was at the hearing." 

Lyra could tell the woman found joy in knowing she interrupted one of the most talented wizards in the world, seeing her smile unfazed. 

"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. And how lovely to see all your bright happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends. The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizard of vital importance. Although each Headmaster has brought something new to this historic school,  progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prune practices that ought to be prohibited." Lyra rolled her eyes. What a bunch of bull. "The Ministry is interfering with Hogwarts." Lyra huffed.

-----

Lyra sat in bed, book in hand, trying to forget the intimidating stares she got from people in the common room, the looks of disgust from Seamus especially. Lucky for her, the dorm was empty, allowing the girl to soak in the little peace left in her life. 

Harry sat on her bed, gazing at her as she read. "They're saying things. About us. Calling us liars." Lyra choked back a sob, "I know. I just snapped at Ron after having an argument with Seamus." Harry joined their hands, resting his head on Lyra's stomach. The girl played with her boyfriend's hair. "I really did do a good job cutting you hair, didn't I?" the pair grinned, mainly at the change of subject. Lyra loosed the boy's tie, throwing it on her bedside.

The bespectacled boy lifted his head up from her stomach, hovering over her. "Eager to take my clothes off?" Harry joked, trying to lighten the mood. Lyra's cheeks were glowing a bright red, she knew Harry wanted to get laughter and smiles in before the darkness about to come. "Shut up." She playfully hit his chest, allowing him to pepper her face in light kisses.

Later that night, Lyra had seen everything. The door in the Ministry. She'd heard the calls of Voldemort. 

-----

The morning of her DADA class, Lyra had drank three glasses of Firewhiskey, unable to face the toad sober. Swishing the liquid in her mouth, swallowing the burning taste, she made her way to class.

The auburn-haired girl had been slouching in the seat of her DADA class, awaiting the toad woman. She gazed at the paper bird flowing through the room, until poof.

The bird had landed on the desk of Padma Patel, burnt to a crisp.

"Good morning, children." The entire class turned to face the ugly woman. "Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations. O-W-Ls. More commonly known as, OWLs. Lyra internally groaned, she'd been waiting for the year she took her OWLs for god knows how long, but now that they were here, the girl was dreading them.

"Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe." Books were being distributed around the classroom, Lyra's book dropping onto the table in front of her. "Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven." Lyra's eyes narrowed at the book before her. Basics for Beginners. Lyra turned her head towards Hermione who was sat next to her, sharing a look of distaste. "But you will be pleased to know, from now on you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic." Lyra skimmed the book, not finding a single mention of spells, the girl raised her hand. "There's nothing in here about using defensive spells?" Lyra questioned the lady in pink.