One and only ; George Weasley

83

"What's happening?" I asked and pushed my way through the crowd to get to George, Fred and Kathleen. Fred moved so I could stand in front of them which only made sense since I'm the shortest. In the middle of the courtyard stood Professor Trelawney with her trunks as Filch approached with another one.

"I think she was fired." Kathleen told me. The area, the hallways were filled with students who all watched the scene in front of us. A group of Slytherin and Gryffindor who stood together in the courtyard, moved and made space as Professor Umbridge approached.

Trelawney walked towards and almost tripped over one of her trunks. She looked broken, shaking more than usual as she clutched onto her bag.

"S-Sixteen years..."Trelawney spoke, stumbling towards Umbridge "...I've lived and taught here. Hogwarts is my home. You can't do this."

"Actually, I can." The toad also known as Professor Umbridge spoke, holding up a rolled up parchment.

Trelawney looked like she was about to break into years and that's when McGonagall pushed her way through the crowd and hurried over to comfort her. When she wrapped her arms around Trelawney, she then broke into actual years and I looked up at Fred who wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulder.

"Something you'd like to say, dear?" Umbridge asked McGonagall, her head tilted in a provoking way.

"Oh there are several things I would like to say." Professor McGonagall spoke with a shaky voice.

The big door opened, the sound making everyone turn as Dumbledore walked through and approached the three professors on the middle of the courtyard.

"Professor McGongall." He spoke. "May I ask you to escort Sybil back inside?"

Trelawney let out a cry of happiness and thanked Dumbledore a lot of times before McGonagall led her back inside of the castle.

"Dumbledore." Professor Umbridge said. "May I remind you that under the terms of educational decree number twenty-three as enacted by the Minister—"

"You have the right to dismiss my teachers, you do not happen to have the authority to banish them from the grounds." Dumbledore cut her off. "That power remains with the headmaster."

"For now." Was all Umbridge said before Dumbledore turned around, walking back towards the door.

"Don't you all have studying to do?!" He shouted and soon after, the students started moving their way inside again. The sound of chatting filled the air along with Harry shouting after Professor Dumbledore.

"She actually fired Professor Trelawney?" Kathleen asked. "Why has no one punched her yet? I am genuinely asking."

"Well you're welcome to try if you've got the guts." George said. "Liz already tried hexing her once, remember?"

"She talked ill of my father." I defended myself. "She should've known better to not talk about Adrian Blossom like that to his daughter."

"I can't wait for the year to be over." Fred said. I thought about his words for a moment before I signed and jumped up to sit in the arched window.

"This is not how it was supposed to be." I complained. "Our last year, guys. It was supposed to be fun. We were supposed to have fun and enjoy it, then this pink toad comes and ruins it all. We're finishing our years at Hogwarts in such a bad way."

"The only normal years we've had was the first two." Kathleen said. "Every single year after that, something happened. Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be Harry Potter."

"Mustn't be fun." Fred said. "In his first year, he was almost killed by Quirrell who had you-know-who on the back of his head."

"In his second year he was almost killed by a giant snake that was controlled by Voldemort's younger self... Tom Riddle." George continued.

"Third year..." Fred spoke. "He was almost killed Lupin who apparently was a werewolf."

"In his forth year, he almost got killed along with Cedric." George said. "And this year, the death eaters escape and Voldemort is probably planning an attack."

"Gosh." Kathleen said as she got chills. "I don't even want to think about that. It's terrifying."

"Do you want to go get some tea from the kitchen then?" Fred asked. "I could drink something and you look quite pale."

"Sure." Kathleen nodded, intertwining their arms before they walked down the hallway. George moved closer to me, gently spreading my legs apart so he could move in between them.

"Hi." I breathed, grabbing the collar of his robes to pull him closer to me.

"Hi." He cockily said back, ducking his head to meet my gaze. "You alright?"

"You're right. Voldemort probably is planning an attack. He's the person who killed my father. I'm scared he'll kill someone else that I really care about. My family, your family, Kathleen... you."

"Hey." George whispered and took my face in his hands to force me to look at him again. "I can't promise you that he's not going to kill anymore people than he already has but I can promise you I will protect you until the day I die, if that's today, next week, next year."

"Don't say that." I ordered. "I'm just going to get caught in that thought. You dying. That's terrifying."

"I know." He nodded, lowering himself to give me a proper bear hug.

In the last two weeks, Umbridge had come up with three new decrees.

Any items deemed not of educational value are henceforth banned

Boys must be seen to keep their hands on the outside of their school capes

Non-educational toys and games are banned

The latest one was yesterday. This had probably been the worst school year so far. Professor Umbridge was ruined it completely.

"Can I have a kiss?" George asked and pulled back. I chuckled, nodding before he leaned down to kiss me.