As the Sister of Harry Potter

With a short ride on the Knight Bus, we were back at Hogwarts. All seven of the Marauders sat in the Head Dorm, surrounded by books, working on our homework that was supposed to be completed over break. It was a full day working, and we were tired, but come night fall and eleven o’clock, we snuck into the Library and placed the Muggle books we had purchased in the History section.

-

BY ORDER OF
The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

Any student found to be aiding,
corresponding, providing for, supplying
or being a “Marauder” will be expelled.

Signed,
Dolores Jane Umbridge
HIGH INQUISITOR

This was the notice we read the Monday classes started again. It left us, however, grinning. “We’re getting to her,” said Ophilia cheerily as we left the common room with Hyden. She parted from us and we walked down the corridor to the Head’s Dorm. Once inside, Hyden began tuning his guitar.

“Ready?” I asked. Hyden nodded, and I switched on the intercom.

“Goooooood morning everyone! This is Miss Phoenix! I hope everyone enjoyed their breaks! This week, the Marauders ask you to take some time and visit the History section of the Library. There are some exciting new reads and they’ll certainly help you out in both Defense and History! Now, I’d like to introduce our newest member!” I held the microphone in front of Hyden.

“Erm, hi everyone! I’m Mister Rockstar!”

“And for his initiation, he’ll be playing a song he wrote for you all!”

“Alright, here goes…” Hyden strummed his guitar and sang:

“Do you want to go back to the way we were?
Or do you want to stay how we used to be?
Or do you wanna, pretend that the Dark Lord didn’t come back?

Well you can only ignore, Dumbledore for so long,
And you can pretend that the Ministry knows what’s going on,
You can convince yourself that the Daily Prophet has a clue,
But I think the Quibbler has a better grip on the truth

Cornelius Fudge is an ass
Cornelius Fudge is an ass

Well I know that Voldemort is back
And we gotta get ready before he attacks
So you’d better wise up to the fact that
HE’S BACK.”

“I call it ‘Cornelius Fudge is An Ass’,” said Hyden.

I had to recover from my giggles to say, “So that’s it, send in your comments. Phoenix and Rockstar out.”

-

By Wednesday morning, we had successfully gotten “Cornelius Fudge in An Ass” stuck in everyone’s heads, and Umbridge was giving out detentions to anyone caught humming it. We took our seats in back of Defense that morning. Cedric was sick in the Hospital Wing, (I suspected Fred and George) so the seat on my left was empty. Just before class started, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Brittany Chang standing there, looking rather uncomfortable.

“Um, Jennifer… can I sit here just for today?” She looked stressed beyond belief and you could now tell that she was defiantly going to have a child.

“Sure Brittany,” I said. Relieved, she sat down just as Madame Toad entered.

“Is Brit –” Ophilia started to ask me, but I shook my head frantically.

“Good morning class.”

“Good morning Professor Umbridge,” the class droned.

“Today, you’ll be taking notes on Chapter Eleven – yes Miss Fires?”

“Um, which book Professor?” Stacey asked innocently. She, like everyone else in the class, had not only Defensive Magical Theory on her desk, but Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “You told us to get these, it was signed by you and everything,” Stacey explained, showing Umbridge a letter.

Umbridge sighed and put on a very good, very fake, broad smile. “So, you too have received that letter. The letters supposedly send out over Christmas are a scam by the Marauders. We will not be reading any Muggle books in this class. And speaking of them, if any of you know anything about these silly Marauders, I strongly urge you to tell me. They are disruptive and a bad influence to this school.”

“Tch,” Brittany muttered under her breath.

“Miss Chang? Would you like to say something?” Umbridge asked sweetly. After a moment, Umbridge turned away, thinking she had won…

“Yes. Yes, there is something I would like to say.” Brittany’s voice had a sudden bitterness to it. “I think there Marauders are brilliant and inspirational. They’re standing up for what they believe in: for freedom, and against corruption. Which, in short,” here her eyes narrowed, “is you.”

A deadly silence filled the room in which no one except Umbridge and Brittany seemed to be breathing.

Umbridge’s smirk widened. “Detention for the rest of the month I think, Miss Chang.”

-

It was infuriating. I mean, Brittany wasn’t really a close friend, but for the Toad to do that to someone for speaking their mind... it was horrible. That and she was piling stress onto someone who already have enough of it. Didn't stress effect a baby's health or something? That would be a research question.

Brittany, however, was being regarded as some kind of hero for everyone who disliked Umbridge. The story had traveled with the speed of a Golden Snidget throughout the school. She mostly received praise, but the best thing was that the rest of the Marauders now understood her situation. Thursday during lunch, Sarlanda and Ophilia went into an all-out duel against a bunch of Slytherins who were trying to hex her for standing up to Umbridge. And come Friday when she took a seat on the other side of Cedric, I decided it was payback time for Madame Toad.

If possible, the second DADA class of the week was always worse. It was a double period, at the end of the day, and on Friday of all days. We were taking notes, so I pulled out a blank sheet of parchment and a quill. Digging around in my bag, I produced the bottle of Jinx Ink Sarlanda had given me so long ago. I pretended to take notes for a while until most everyone had zoned out, then I wrote, “Professor Umbridge doesn’t talk, she croaks.”

Ten minutes later, I wrote, “Professor Umbridge’s skin is dyed black, and her hair is green.” I glanced up at Umbridge and sure enough, her skin was turning black and her hair green. She was too busy staring down the class, and the class was to busy being bored to notice. I suppressed a snort. Satisfied, I began to zone out.

My eyes trailed over to Brittany’s hand. My eyes widened when I saw that it had, “I must not sass my teachers,” carved into it.

I dipped my quill furiously back into the Jinx Ink and wrote, “Professor Umbridge has “I must not be a bitch” carved so far into her hand it will scar forever.”

In a matter of seconds, Umbridge’s screaming snapped the class out of it's daze.

“Professor, what’s – OH MY GOSH, PROFESSOR!” screamed Cyliana White.

“SHUT UP YOU STUPID GIRL!” screeched Umbridge, but Cyliana shoved a mirror in her face. “WHA- ooooooOOOAH!” Mid-scream, Umbridge’s voice changed into a deep croak. She ran from the room for the Hospital Wing, unable to do anything except croak.

Once she was out of ear shot, the entire class began laughing and cheering. She didn’t come back for the rest of the period.