People Like Them Are an Endangered Species

‘’Absolutely not! Do you want me to die a painful, plant-induced death?!’’ I whispered frantically to Fred, stabbing the Snargaluff pod with my spade, casting him a look to get moving and help the others grab the next one. He just rolled his eyes.
‘’It won’t kill you,’’ he replied, taking the spade from me and stabbing the grapefruit-sized pod repeatedly, his face screwed up in concentration.
The sounds of Rae and Lee screaming while the once seemingly harmless Snargaluff stump tried to throttle them didn’t comfort me one bit.
‘’Fine, you try and open the damned thing,’’ I huffed, storming over to the plant as its vines flailed in every which direction, George’s arm inside the stump elbow deep, trying to retrieve the next pod. Lee was busy attempting to tie two of the vines together, while Rae was prying one from around her neck, trying to stun the violent stump at the same time. It seemed to have no effect. It only made the plant angrier.
It was a bright, lovely Tuesday morning, and there we were, risking our lives to retrieve pods from these stupid stumps. Everyone else around the greenhouse was having the same problem, trying to gang up on their Snargaluff plants in small groups but finding it to be incredibly difficult. Every once in a while someone would curse and yell as the Venomous Tentacula plant in the corner tried to strangle them.
All in all, it was a fairly normal way to start the day.
Jumping into the action, I ran at the plant with a war cry, nearly crashing into George as he pulled out another pod. Yanking vines off of my wrists and ankles, I hurried back to Fred, finding he’d already opened the first pod. The wooden bowl was filled with small, wriggling green tuber…things. They reminded me horribly of worms. I handed him the next grapefruit-sized pod, turning around when I noticed that the Snargaluff plant had gone back to its stump form. The five of us exchanged glances, Rae and Lee breathing pretty hard. Contemplating my actions for not more than two seconds, I pushed Fred away from the table and yelled at him to man up. He promptly told me that he was more of a man than I could ever handle before diving at the plant with everyone else.
We all left Herbology covered in sweat, dirt and cuts. I hated Snargaluff plants from the moment that ours picked me up and tried to feed me to a nearby Venomous Tentacula. Not that I didn’t hate them before, but that was just drawing the line.
I would be getting my revenge on that fucker Friday before lunch.
In the meantime, the five of us trooped back up to the common room, tired and frazzled and wanting showers more than anything. I took my time getting clean, scrubbing and scrubbing to try and rid the feeling of those wretched vines grabbing me wherever it could reach. It was only after I was sure my hair had never been cleaner that I got out and changed into fresh school robes, not bothering with my still-wet blonde hair. I wasn’t one for making myself all fancy, especially when we had double Potions next and I was sure to get some sort of substance on me anyway.
We reluctantly went down to the dungeons an hour later, seating ourselves as far away from the Slytherins as possible. Why was it that every year, the Gryffindors got stuck in Potions class with the Slytherins, a house that Snape obviously favored? Who came up with these damned schedules anyway? Crowding around our cauldrons, I settled in near Rae and Fred, stifling a yawn as Snape wrote instructions on the board. We’d be concocting a Befuddlement Draught, something we’d learned in our fifth year, but according to Snape-
‘’Befuddlement Draughts will most definitely be on your Potions NEWT,’’ he drawled, pacing across the front of the classroom, looking quite similar to a large bat. ‘’If any of you hope to even scrape an ‘’acceptable’’ on your final exam, then I highly suggest you pay attention in my classroom, especially when it comes to this particular potion. Do I make myself clear?’’
Most of us gave murmurs of ‘’yes, sir’’ or nodded our heads, automatically getting to work. I flipped through my copy of Advanced Potion-Making, something I’d gotten from the cupboard in the back. I hadn’t intended on taking Potions until the twins dragged me with them last week. I’d left my old copy at home, and now my parents were in hiding, so they wouldn’t be able to send it to me.
The textbook was certainly old, the cover nearly falling apart and the pages hanging on by threads. Nearly every page had something scribbled on it, whether it be notes on certain potions or even made up spells.
Why not just order a new one from Flourish and Blotts, you may ask?
The textbook had helped me excel in Potions class last week from the moment I got it. Snape had trouble critiquing me and was surprised at my progress but said nothing about it, being the git he is. Having faith in my trusty little book, I flipped around until I found the page on Befuddlement Draughts, finding things crossed out and added here and there. Whoever owned the book before me had to be extraordinarily smart to figure this entire thing out. For a moment I thought it could’ve been Percy Weasley, or even Hermione Granger, who was two years below me. And then I remembered that Percy is too much of a prat to know this much about Potions, and I would love to see the day that Hermione defiles a book.
Flipping to the front, on the very first page, someone had written in:
This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince.
I shrugged and flipped back to the necessary page, trying to show everyone else the correct way to make the draught without making it obvious to Snape. It involved something with sneezewort, scurvy-grass and lovage. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but by the time the double period was over, the draught looked as it said in the book, so I put it in a small vial bearing my name and placed it on Snape’s desk. I looked inside the four other cauldrons at my table, seeing that each of my friends had gotten similar results, which was a good thing.
We were assigned, to everyone’s dismay, a twelve inch essay on Befuddlement Draughts due the next day. I picked up my bag and left with everyone else, linking arms with Rae as we went into the Great Hall for lunch. The boys ate for no more than five minutes before going up and down our table, discreetly trying to sell some of their joke products which were quickly becoming a hit. Sitting across from Rae, I noticed a rather large scratch across her cheek that I hadn’t noticed when we were in the dimly-lit dungeons. She noticed me looking and laughed, helping herself to a chicken sandwich and some shepherd’s pie.
‘’It’s from that Snargaluff plant, if that’s what you’re wondering.’’ She took a bite of her sandwich as I rolled up my sleeves, revealing the numerous scratches I had across my arms.
‘’It got me too. I want to set the bloody stump on fire,’’ I mumbled, piling some roast chicken and vegetables onto my plate and pouring pumpkin juice into my goblet.
I was so hungry that even the old wooden table was looking edible.
‘’So,’’ Rae started, swallowing her mouthful of sandwich. ‘’When is the wedding?’’
I dropped the chicken leg I was about to eat and looked at her. ‘’What wedding?’’
‘’You and Fred, of course,’’ she stated, acting as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
I spat out my drink at her response, quickly cleaning it up as people started to look at my funny. Rae was laughing hysterically but stopped when she saw the look on my face.
‘’Pardon me, but I don’t ever recall informing you of my feelings for him,’’ I glared, hastily jabbing at my sprouts, ignoring the fact that a few were rolling all over the table.
‘’But I think you just did right now,’’ she smirked. Don’t stab her. Don’t stab her. DON’T STAB HER.
I stabbed at my chicken instead, forcing a laugh. ‘’I did no such thing. I do not like him. I have never liked him. I never will like him.’’ I paused for a moment, sticking a sprout in my mouth. ‘’What made you think that in the first place?’’
She just shrugged, checking to make sure the twins or Lee weren’t nearby. ‘’I tend to see these sort of things before they actually happen.’’
‘’So you can see you and George together, then?’’ I raised an eyebrow, shocked when she actually did blush, turning her attention towards her plate.
‘’Fuck off.’’
I nearly choked on my sprouts, looking at her with wide eyes. ‘’You’re joking.’’
She didn’t answer me, but did what she usually did when it came to uncomfortable topics. She changed the subject.
‘’So, Umbridge is after this, right?’’ she asked, still not looking at me. I glared.
‘’We’re not discussing Dumbridge. We’re discussing the fact that you like someone who could easily like you and…holy crap this is so awesome, I can’t believe you haven’t said anything about it! Does he know? Does he like you back? Are you looking forward to having little ginger babies?’’
She looked at me like I had five heads. ‘’No, probably not, and definitely not, I am not squeezing out any children if I can help it.’’ She went back to eating. I was far too excited to eat.
‘’When did this happen?’’
‘’Sometime over the summer,’’ she mumbled, pushing away her plate and folding her arms.
I just stared. ‘’Why didn’t you tell me?’’
‘’Because I wasn’t sure, okay?!’’ she exclaimed, running her fingers through her short hair and resting her head on the table. ‘’I’m more sure than I was then, but even now I’m having my doubts.’’ She looked fairly sick.
I patted her head comfortingly, watching the twins not fifty feet away, their faces all grins as they talked to potential customers. ‘’Woman, I’ve known you better and longer than most have, you know you can talk to me about things like this, right? I may be immature and whatnot, but I love you and I want you to be happy, damnit.’’ She looked up at me with a slight smile, her face still rather paler than usual.
‘’I know… after dinner can we go pig out on sweets and talk about our feelings when the guys aren’t around?’’ She looked like she was concentrating on something. ‘’I don’t think I’ve ever done that. But I think I need to before I blow up another desk.’’
‘’Yeah, I don’t think blowing things up is advisable,’’ I laughed, ‘’especially with Toad Face around. I’ve heard her detentions are really horrible, something about writing lines with your own blood?’’
We both shuddered.
Lunch came and went, and before we knew it, it came time to go to DADA. When you think about Defense Against the Dark Arts, the first thing that probably comes to mind would be practicing useful defensive spells, correct?
But not in Professor Umbridge’s classroom. No, in her class, all we did was read out of a bloody textbook and get tested on the chapters. And it’s not even as though the book was advising us to use defensive spells when needed. Some Ravenclaw girl on the second day of classes had asked whether or not we’d actually be using these spells, and when Umbridge informed her that there was no need for us to use them because we aren’t in any danger, I resisted the urge to jump over Toad Face’s desk and beat her with my copy of Defensive Magical Theory.
It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. We’re not in any danger? I beg to fucking differ, you ludicrous imbecile. Oh no, don’t mind the fact that every day, there are people such as Death Eaters trying to get inside the castle so they could get their hands on people like Harry Potter. Don’t mind the fact that as you sit there, sipping your tea with that ugly smile on your face, there are people out there dying and disappearing. There are families being torn apart, the Order of the Phoenix working their asses off to protect as many people as possible, and all the while, Dolores Jane Umbridge, you didn’t do shit.
That was all I could think about during DADA that day. Rae sat next to me, staring at the open book in front of her but not reading it. I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t yell and scream in protest at how stupid this is and how Umbridge should be thrown off the Astronomy Tower, and how that still wouldn’t be enough for me. The twins would glance back every once in awhile to find me sitting stony-faced, glaring at my book, while Rae kept clenching her fists in her lap, her knuckles turning white. To the right of me, Lee would occasionally roll his eyes at something the book said.
Everyone happily scrambled out of the room once the bell rang.
Rae went off to go serve another detention in Flitwick’s office writing lines and Lee decided to get a head start on Snape’s essay, so the rest of us headed out to the Black Lake. The afternoon sun was low in the sky, pinks and oranges mixing in with the clouds. There was a bit of a breeze, and as I looked out at the mountains across the lake, I saw the tentacles of the Giant Squid, resting just above the surface so it could bask in the sun.
‘’She’s a horrible woman,’’ I said quietly, sitting on the ground with my back against a large rock, which the twins sat down on.
‘’Did you see what she did to Harry’s hand?’’ Fred asked, his foot dangerously close to my head. I looked up at them.
‘’No, what did she do?’’
‘’He had detention with her all last week, and she made him write lines using his own blood,’’ George replied, shaking his head in disgust.
‘’What did he even do in the first place?’’
‘’He told her that You-Know-Who is back, which she obviously didn’t like too much,’’ Fred said, playing with my hair. I turned my gaze to the water in front of me, glaring at it.
‘’His name is Voldemort,’’ I said quietly. They both winced a bit at the name. I turned my glare to them.
‘’Voldemort is his name and I’m not going to be a coward about it. Do you think that if I say it he’ll appear and try to murder me? I’d love to see him try, this place has more protective charms than ever before.’’
Fred and George exchanged looks before sighing. They knew I was stubborn.
We sat in silence for quite a bit, watching the sun set behind the mountains. We got up once our tummies started to rumble and turned to head back inside, linking arms with me in the middle.
I didn’t say anything at the time, but I knew then that as soon as school was done and over with, I was joining up with the Order of the Phoenix.
Sitting around and doing nothing when people out there needed help was not something I was good at. No amount of protesting from the twins or Mrs. Weasley would ever change my mind.