From the Shadows, to Your Heart.

I met up with Faith outside of Hogwarts so we could walk to Hogsmede together. I was unfortunately wearing the outfit my grandmother sent me. It’s yellow and it’s a skirt…..I hate skirts with a sick passion. I only wear them for school because they are mandatory, but when a family member gives me one I feel obligated to wear them….I don’t want to make them upset. But everyone in my family knows my grandma has horrible taste so we just deal with whatever she gives us. I see Faith walk out of Hogwarts looking like her usual self.

"Oh, hello there sunshine." Faith said.

"Hello black hole." I said.

"C'mon." She said, grabbing my hand and dragging me to Hogsmede. We walked to the Three Broomsticks and ordered a couple of Butterbeers, we took out jackets off I see something written on Faith’s hand. I look closer and say, “"Oh my god, Faith. Your hand!" I grabbed her hand and examined it. "Is this what detention with Umbridge is?" I ask. Faith nods. I then proceed to ask her, "Why didn't you tell me? And why haven't I seen it until now?"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you would freak and I used a concealment charm on it." She replied.

"That Umbridge is a bitch." I say, as soon as I finished my sentence our Butterbeers came out.

“Ya think?” Faith said sarcastically. We go on drinking our Butterbeers when Harry Potter comes over to our table. “Hi, Harry.” I say.

“Hi, Kris. May I ask you something?” He asked.

“Sure, what is it?” I reply.

“Well, several students and I are thinking of creating something like a study group where we actually learn new spells, not what Umbridge is teaching.”

“Sounds like fun!”

“Yeah, well, I was wondering if you would like to join. And maybe teach us a way of putting up a barrier so no wizard could read our thoughts. What do you say?” I thought about it for a couple seconds. I was both appreciative and offended. I was offended because if I teach them then I would not be able to read their minds, but I never did that anyway. “I’m in!”

“Great! Now we’ll really be able to show Umbridge up! What about you Faith?” We both turned to Faith and she said, “Sure, why not!”

“Brilliant! Now just sign your names on this piece of parchment.” We did so. We said our good-byes and went back up to Hogwarts for dinner.

I woke up the next morning to find that my barrier has gone down. I put it back up but it fails to do so, what the hell!!! I try to put it back up at least 10 more times, but why won’t it stay up? I put on my clothes and rush to the potions classroom. I see Professor Snape behind his desk.

“I know why you’re here.” He said.

“Okay, now tell me why I can’t keep my barrier up for more than a second.” I demand.

“You are too weak. The barrier you tried to keep up is so far advanced it withered away after all the days you kept it on. But I’m surprised you kept it up this long.” He said.

“Okay, so what am I supposed to do now? What if I keep having episodes? They’re too painful! I won’t be able to withstand another after another.”

“You’re gonna have to. There is nothing I can do. But you must not attempt to put the barrier back up, if you do it will be a much longer time before you could put it back up again.”

“How long should I wait?”

“1 year, maybe 2,” my eyes bulge in disbelief and he finished his statement by saying,” You will lear how to handle your mind within that period of time. Now remember Umbridge is the only teacher that does not know of your ability, Dumbledore thought she was not trustworthy to know, so no slip ups.”

“Yes, sir.” I say and walk out the door. I went up to the Great Hall and found Faith quickly. I quickly walked to her table and said, “MY barrier’s down and I can’t put it up.” She looked at me in disbelief, ‘ Are you serious?’ She thought. To give her an answer I simply nodded my head yes. “Did you go to Snape?” she asked.

“Yeah, he said that the barrier is too advanced and that when I first started using it after the days went on it started to wither down into nothing.” I replied.

“Wow! What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I’ll see you in Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“See ya.”

Defense Against the Dark Arts came by slowly. This is the one class I’m regretting. Sadly, once I walked into the classroom I could sense Umbridge. Strong aura, strong thoughts……..oh boy…..this is going to be hard! My first plan was to ignore all thoughts and just focus on the speaking, but it feels like she’s projecting her thoughts. I know she’s not a telepath, but her mind is too strong, like she’s headstrong. This is not going to be a fun class. I took my seat next to Faith and prayed this class will be over soon.

“Okay class, settle down. Now open your text books to chapter 2 and read.” Umbridge said. I can feel her thoughts enter my mind…I gripped my forehead and pretended to read. ’I can’t believe these kids don’t know anything. They truly all believe in lies. They were not taught well. Oh well, Mama Umbridge will sort things out.’

“What the hell is she thinking?” Oh, shit. I just said that out loud. Oh shit!

“What did you say,” Umbridge asked.

“Nothing ma’am.” I replied. I’m sweating, I’m nervous, what do I do?

“You obviously said something miss…”

“Hale.”

“You obviously said something Miss Hale. Now say what you said out loud, but first stand up so we may all see you.”

I stood up and said, “What the hell is she thinking…”

“And why would you say such a thing?”

“Because what if some people aren’t able to learn by reading a book. I know it’s easier for me to learn in a hands-on experience…”

“Here’s a hands-on experience for you, detention my office tonight.”

“Do you really think we were all taught horribly? That we only believe in lies? And how will
‘Mama’ Umbridge help sort things out?” To emphasize Mama I made the air quotes symbol with my hands.

“Why, I would never think such things! And I would most certainly not call myself ‘Mama’ Umbridge.” She lied. ‘Yes, I would. And these kids are filthy; I might take off house points for filthiness.’ She thought. All eyes are on us now. Faith is giving me the look that says
‘What are you doing!’ and Harry is just staring like everyone else.

“Holy shit!!! You just thought you would call yourself ‘Mama’! And you also thought we are filthy disgusting creatures!” I am angry now. How dare she!

“Week’s worth of detention for you Miss Hale! Now out of my classroom!” I gladly walked out of the room and went straight to my dormitory. I quickly did my homework and I searched for Faith’s thoughts. I found her! She’s in the Great Hall. I ran down to it and sat next to her.

“What the fuck was that stunt you pulled?” Faith exclaimed.

“I don’t know I don’t remember most of it…I was too angry to care.” I said. Harry came over to the table and sat down in front of us. “What were you thinking back there!” He yelled at me.

“She doesn’t remember what happened,” Faith told him for me.

“What do you mean you don’t remember?” He asked me.

“Well, the only thing I know is that she gave me a week of detentions and that I was happy when I left the classroom…” I shrugged.

“Wow…that’s weird…but what made you have an outburst like that? You’re the calmest person!” He asked.

“Well, ever since the beginning of the school year I had a barrier up in my head. This morning it just withered away. No more barrier. So now I’m overwhelmed with everyone’s thoughts. Now here’s the weird part. Once I entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom I found that Umbridge is like super headstrong and what she thought sent me on an outrage…” I replied. They both stared at me in disbelief. “Guys, I’m serious!” They just stared at each other and said, “We believe you.” I sighed in relief.

“Now I came here to tell you guys, first meeting is tonight in the Room of Requirement. Kris, get there when you can and bring Faith. Faith, wait for Kris at the bottom of the staircase of the tower. Got it?” He said and we both nodded.

“Well, I better go to detention.” I went back up to the classroom and sat in front of Umbridge’s desk.

“Now, I want you to write lines. I want you to write: I must not believe or tell lies. And you must use my quill.” She said. I grabbed her quill and put it to paper. My hand started burning as I wrote, I looked at it every now and then and the etchings just got deeper and deeper. She came to look at me and said, “You’re finished for tonight. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.” I ran out of the room. My hand burned and I needed to meet up with Faith. I met her at the bottom of the staircase and we went to the Room of Requirement. We entered and almost everyone gave Faith a mean look.

“What’s the Slytherin doing here?” Someone said. This started to cause a riot, I blocked Faith, and well at least I tried.

“Guys! She’s not going to do anything! She’s here for the same reason as the rest of you! She’s not going to tell anyone about this meeting,” said Harry. I felt Faith release a sigh of relief.

Apparently this meeting was so everyone could get acquainted with finding the room and making sure we all knew the drill that this was not to be spoken of, ever. We all agreed and were sent on our way. I tried to make sure I didn’t show anyone the etchings on my hand and I returned to my dormitory and bandaged the wound. I went to sleep not relieved. I need to figure out a way to put the barrier back up. I’ll go to Snape after all the detentions.