star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

While everyone except for Harry had avoided being caught, Umbridge had found the list of all of the DA members and brought it to the headmasters office along with Marietta and Harry. Because of this list, Dumbledore, Umbridge, and the Minister of Magic now all knew about Dumbledore's Army. Dumbledore, however, used this to shift all of the blame onto himself so as to spare the students from facing punishment. The Minister took his word for it and attempted to arrest him right then and there, but Dumbledore managed to escape. Since he was no longer present at Hogwarts, Umbridge took over as headmistress.

The only thing that allowed Arabella to feel any sense of justice for this was the fact that Marietta was in the hospital wing while Madam Pomfrey tried and failed to get the word 'sneak' off of her face. While there were a few people, specifically Cho, who felt this was extremely harsh, Arabella and Hermione felt quite proud of themselves.

As was custom, the Heads of Houses set up appointments with their fifth-year students to discuss career options for them. Ron and Arabella were two of the last few people to have appointments with Professor McGonagall because of their last name causing them to be towards the end of the alphabet, so they knew from their friends that Professor Umbridge would be sitting in on these discussions.

"How is it?" Ron asked Arabella as soon as she left McGonagall's office; he had been waiting outside, for his appointment was immediately after hers.

"Relax, Ron, it'll be fine," Arabella assured him. "She's just going to advise you on what classes to continue with next year. If anything it'll make you feel better, you'll probably get to drop a few classes."

"But what about Umbridge? What does she do?"

"She just sat there taking notes for me. You'll be fine, Ron. I think she just especially hates Harry."

Arabella was referring to Harry's appointment with McGonagall, where Umbridge had interjected multiple times and basically screamed that Harry could never be an Auror.

Ron went into McGonagall's office still looking a bit nervous, and Arabella walked away just to be joined by Hermione.

"So? What'd she say?" she asked the redhead.

"Same thing she said to you," Arabella told her. "My marks are good enough that I can do anything I want, basically."

"As I expected. So, what classes are we taking? We're continuing with Arithmancy, right?"

"Are you mad? Of course we'll be continuing Arithmancy."

"Are you going to come to your senses and drop Divination?"

"Not if we continue just staring at the sky while Firenze goes on about a war."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant."

"It's plenty pleasant once you learn to drown out his voice."

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BOOM.

BOOM.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron and Arabella asked at the same time, making sure to keep their voice down as they were in the library along with most of the student body, studying for the upcoming exams.

"You don't think it's Fred and George, do you?" Hermione suggested.

The twins exchanged a look and then immediately looked around the library. They were able to spot Olivia and Angelina with Alicia and Lee, but Fred and George weren't there, which could only mean one thing.

Thinking fast, Arabella grabbed a piece of parchment and crumpled it up into a ball. Then, she threw the ball in the direction of the seventh-years, successfully hitting Olivia in the back of the head.

"What?" Olivia mouthed to her.

"Is that Fred and George?" Arabella mouthed back, pointing down to where the booming was coming from. Olivia nodded, leading Arabella to be the first to get up and leave the library to see what was going on, everyone else following suit.

Upon leaving the library, they quickly saw that a swamp had appeared in one of the corridors.

"Bloody hell," Ron said.

"I wanna know how to do that!" Arabella said. "Imagine Mum's face if she were to wake up to a swamp in the sitting room."

"Oh, come on!" Ginny said, grabbing Arabella's elbow and leading her down the marble staircase.

On the ground floor was truly a one-of-a-kind scene. Fireworks were going off in every direction. Members of Umbridge's new Inquisitorial Squad were coming upon the scene too, looking quite frazzled and unsure of what to do. Arabella couldn't help but laugh at their faces.

The fireworks died down for just a moment, leaving the students in confused and shocked silence, listening to the clicking of heels, faster than they'd ever heard them before.

"Come to see the show, Professor?" Fraser called out.

"What ever are you talking about? What show?" Umbridge questioned.

She soon got her answer. Flying down the marble staircases were none other than Fred and George; they had apparently used Umbridge's absence from her office to their advantage, stealing back their broomsticks.

"Ready when you are!" George called to Fred, who was holding a firework. Fred then threw the firework and it, as fireworks do, exploded into a variety of colors, which then miraculously came together to form the head of dragon, which focused on Umbridge before chasing her away. The twins then flew out to the courtyard and of course, the students ran out with them.

Outside the castle, the students were greeted with another fireworks show, causing them to erupt in cheers. The remaining Weasleys were, naturally, the loudest in the whole crowd, cheering on their elder brothers with pride.

A large letter W made with fireworks appearing in the sky signified the end of the show.

"You know," Arabella said, "I'm quite proud to be their sister."

[word count: 952]
[written: 8/23/20]
[published: 8/24/20]