The Sunrise of My Heart

As we made out way through our classes, the pile of homework we were given got larger and larger. This year we would take our O.W.L.s, and the teachers were loading us with more work than I could ever remember doing. Fortunately for me, I was good at what we were learning. But still, the mountain of homework was going to kill me.

Divination was, surprisingly, one of my favorite classes. Not because I thought there was much truth behind anything Professor Trelwaney said, but because it was an easy slack-off class where I could make up something dreadful, and she would give me a good grade. I was most definitely not going to honestly fill out the dream chart, of course. I knew what each of my dreams meant, and they weren't what I wanted to put on my chart.

"How about.... Dreaming of flying and and then falling for ever?" I asked Draco as we filled out our Divination charts in Professor Binns' class.

"Sounds good enough," he agreed. "What about for me?"

"Well, you need a nightmare... How about seeing Harry be made Minister for Magic? Or Remus Lupin being made Hogwarts Headmaster? Oh! Or going bankrupt and losing all your money," I answered in a low voice so Binns wouldn't hear. Draco glared at me, and I smiled sweetly in response.

"That's the last time I ask you for help in Divinations," he muttered as we gathered our things, the bell having rung. We made our way to our next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Probably for the best," I agreed with a smile.

As we walked into the next classroom, I noticed that Professor Umbridge was once again wearing a horrible pink outfit. It pretty much made me want to gag.

"Good afternoon, children," she said in her sickly sweet voice. No one responded. "That certainly won't do. When I say, 'Good afternoon, class', I expect you to answer with, 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. Now, good afternoon, class," she repeated.

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," we answered, most of us rather dully.

"Very good. Now, wands away, quills out, please," she said. "Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it? Due to the constant changing of teachers, and their lack of Ministry-approved techniques and curriculums, you are all unfortunately very behind and below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year.

"Fortunately, however, these problems can be rectified, and I highly intend to do so. We will be following a very carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please."

She rapped the blackboard with her wand and words began to appear, which we copied down. The words, which were our course aims, made me scowl softly. Not only did they make it seem like we were imbeciles and silly children, I was also pretty sure from the way they mentioned nothing about using spells that we wouldn't actually be performing the things we learned in this class.

"Now, I should like you to pull out your books, Definsive Magical Theory, and turn to page five. Read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners'. There will be no need to talk."

"Professor Umbridge?" I asked softly, my hand raised.

"What is it? You have the book, right, Miss--?"

"Riley Carson, professor. And yes, I have the book, but I also have a question." I gave her my signature I'm-a-good-kid-who-does-what-you-say smile.

"Yes?"

"Well, it's about the course aims. I just noticed that they don't mention actually using defensive spells, and I was wondering if we would be using them?"

She gave sweet, sickening laugh. "Of course not! Why, I can't imagine why you would need to use them! In what situation in my class, Miss Carson, would you need to actually use defensive spells?"

I paused, knowing that if I stopped now, I would still be on her good side. But I didn't want to be on her good side. I could already tell what kind of person she was, and I wasn't interested in being a good little kid and appeasing her. "Well, our other teachers let us use them, and we learned a lot that way," I answered in what appeared to be a sweet, slightly confused voice. I mean, I didn't want her to hate me on the first day.

"Yes, but given the circumstances, I don't think there's much point in using the examples of your past teachers. They've all fallen below the standard of what the Ministry would consider 'appropriate', and they all seem to have been rather bad and potentially dangerous in some cases for you children. Allowing a werewolf, for instance, to teach such young children? When werewolves are out of control, and completely untrustworthy? It's a miracle none of you were harmed that year!"

I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes. She had just crossed the line. "Remus Lupin," I said in a steady, cold voice, "was by-far one the best teachers we have ever had. Not only that, but he is one of the few werewolves who bother to take a potion that makes him docile and sweet when he phases. He always made sure he was no where near students or other teachers during his monthly changes, despite being safe thanks to his potion, and he happened to teach us an awful lot more than I guarantee we'll learn in this ridiculous 'theory-based' class of yours!"

"Five points from Slytherin," she said, her eyes narrowed like mine. "And two nights of detention!"

"Riley, what is wrong with you?" Draco asked softly from beside me. "Lupin was worthless--" He cut off when he saw my glare.

"Lupin is one of my oldest and closest friends," I whispered back. "Nobody messes with my friends."

He sighed softly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You do have awful taste in friends after all," he muttered.

The rest of the class was spent in silence, with the other Slytherins occasionally glancing up at me as if I were crazy. Heck, I probably was. And I didn't really mind their stares. When class was over, I stayed behind to see when and where I would be participating in my detentions.

"Wednesday night and Friday night, at 8:00 p.m. They will be in my office, Miss Carson. Perhaps your two nights in detention will teach you to hold your tongue and be more like your fellow Slytherin students."

"Perhaps," I agreed, and then couldn't help but smirk. Because I knew there was no way that was going to happen.

Later that night, I ran into Harry, who told me he had mouthed off to her too and also had detention, although for more than I had gotten. Being a Slytherin had its bonuses.

"So you got detention too?" Harry asked me.

"Yeah. She bad-mouthed Remus, and I snapped. What did you do?"

"Yelled at her and told her Lord Voldemort really had risen again and called her a liar."

I laughed at that. "Way to go, my un-biological brother! You tell that toad what's what!"

"You think she looks like a toad too?"

"Uh yeah! A fat, ugly, scary looking toad!"

"So she bad-mouthed Remus?"

"Yeah. She said he was untrustworthy and that it's a miracle none of us got hurt by him third year. I can stand a lot of crap, but that was just going too far. That whore's lucky I didn't have my wand out," I muttered.

"Riley," someone snapped from behind me. "Come on, let's go," he said harshly.

"Draco," I said without turning around, "if you want me to go anywhere with you, learn to address me properly. And don't snap at me and command me like I'm your freaking dog."

He sighed in exasperation and tried again. "Riley, don't you think it's getting late? We should get back to our Common Room. And so should you, Potter, or I'll have to take points away from your house for being out of bed after curfew."

"Well, it was worth a shot to try and make him be nice," I said with a shrug. "G'night, Harry. See you in the morning." And so Draco and I walked off, going down to the dungeons together. "You really are a negative person," I told him cheerfully. "Lighten up. Be merry."

He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around my waist, smiling softly when I rested my head on his shoulder.