soon enough, hogwarts was reached. Emilia got distracted (what a surprise) and wandered off for a bit. Adam rushed right in and sat by william in the great hall. Charlotte followed behind maxine and quinn. Snape was positioned outside the great hall.
ten points from gryffindor, he drawled, for no reason whatsoever.
hehe, gryffindor is already behind, charlotte giggled.
hello miss chase, miss stone, snape said to maxine and quinn.
hello professor, maxine said stiffly, walking past with quinn. And they entered the great hall.
The great hall, where they had been sorted. The great hall, where all of them had been two years ago, when all the students had to sleep in there, fearing a break-in by sirius black. The great hall, where they had gathered to hear the headmaster declare that the dark lord had returned the previous year.
The teachers sat at their usual long table at the head of the room. The meeting of old friends was so distracting that the students didnt notice who the new dada teacher was. They would soon find out.
Maxine had given into habit and found an empty space at the table. The space wouldnt fill up, she knew the drill. But then she saw emilia rush in, a bit late, and decided to sit by her and quinn instead.
hi, she said awkwardly, could i sit here?
of course! said emilia, clearing a space.
Maxine jumps into a conversation about quidditch. Unfortunately, emilia isnt very interested, but adam is. William joins the conversation, and so does isabelle. Then a hush falls over the feast. Dumbledore.
The students listen attentively to him. Ever since his declaration at the end of last year, there was a new reverence for the headmaster. A new respect. But it was his regular speech. And the feast was expected to begin
but a woman clad completely in pink stood up unannounced. Dumbledore introduced her as the new dada teacher, ms. Dolores jane umbridge! there was awkward applause across the great hall. William and adam snickered, saying something about a pink frog. She hadnt even said anything, but quinn and maxine were already disgusted. Emilia chose to use the word vile. melody, hoping to set an example for first years, encouraged the younger students to pay close attention and offered up applause when umbridge took the floor to make a speech.
thank you dumbledore. Its so lovely to see all your happy faces smiling up at me, she said.
Max looked around. Nope, it wasnt just her. No one was smiling. Well
except for that prefect melody. She was smiling right back, even though she didnt look like she meant it at all.
im sure well all be very good friends, the pink woman continued.
Adam and william had to cover their mouths to avoid their laughter being seen. Max raised an eyebrow. Quinn and emilia looked uncertain.
Umbridge continued on, becoming less believable with every line. The group at the ravenclaw table (except for melody) began to tune her out. Even though there wasnt something specific that they didnt like about her, they could all agree that she made them uncomfortable. Even melody, the ultimate teachers pet, did not like the idea of double dada. One thing was for sure: Lessons would not be like the hands-on tactics of professor lupin and professor mad-eye.
umbridge took a seat at the teachers table. Then dumbledore, with a wave of his arms, made the feast appear. The students dug in, enjoying every single thing they could. Emilia tried to keep people from looking at ron, who was embarrassing her from across the room by literally stuffing his mouth so much that he couldnt chew. When everyone was full and happy, the prefects were asked to lead students to the dormitories.
Melody took off, leading the younger students especially. Maxine took a secret passageway she had learned the previous year, so she ended up in the common room before everyone else.
Emilia ran into snape.
oh, hi professor! How was your summer?? she said excitedly.
fine, ms. Winterstale, he replied curtly. Too hyper, he thought. go to your common room, girl.
ok, yes professor! she said, skipping off.
Isabelle wondered what was wrong with the girl. That was a strange reaction. William and adam took the opportunity of so many wandering first years to direct them to the bathrooms instead of their common rooms. But they eventually made it to the common room, as the others did too.
Many of the ravenclaws hung out in the common room for a couple hours. But by 10, most had gone to sleep. Maxine had gone to the dormitories to write her little brother. But there were a few in the common room that still had energy. A lot of energy.
Adam, william, isabelle, emilia, and and melody sat in the common room, quite restless.
Can't wait to do hogsmeade! May take me a while...not sure...psats in the morning..