Running From Lightning

The carriage ride to Hogwarts was quiet and awkward, and everyone- except for Luna – kept giving me looks every now and then. I held tightly to my blue notebook, trying to keep my head down so as not to accidentally catch someone watching me again. It un-nerved me.
When we finally got to the castle, I was the first to jump out of the carriage. I wanted to get out of there and to my dormitory as fast as possible. As I walked to the Great Hall, I saw Malfoy again. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to hide or hit him, but I kept walking.
I sat down at the Ravenclaw table, still clutching my blue notebook. The hall slowly filled up. As soon as Luna had spotted me, she sat by me. I was a little grateful because I didn’t really want to sit by complete strangers. The hall quieted as soon as Dumbledore walked up to give his yearly speech. I could feel the trio look at me. I slumped into my seat.
"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, stretching his hands wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands -- welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, and this is not it. Tuck in!"
I smiled as the tables were filled with luscious foods of all sorts. In front of me, like the house-elves magically knew what I wanted, a big pot of tomato soup bubbled lightly. I got myself a nice serving and ate away, listening to Luna talk about how Gurbles make your hair all frizzy in the morning. I didn’t really listen, but I made sure to nod my head every now and then. She seemed quite happy. When the feast finished, Dumbledore introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Professor Umbridge. I’d heard a lot about her, but seeing her made me hate her even more than I already did; covered in frilly, girly pink clothes, smiling like she’s the prettiest girl in the world despite the fact that she looked like a disgusting toad… God, it made me want to vomit. What was even worse was the fact that she interrupted Dumbledore and went on talking about how Hogwarts would change for the better. And then finally, we were released. I practically ran to the common room. I stopped short at the door to the common room.
“The maker doesn't want it, the buyer doesn't use it, the user doesn't see it.” The bronze eagle knocker said.
“A coffin,” I said quickly. The door swung open and I ran up the stairs to the dormitories. I collapsed on my bed. No more people, I said to myself, just school from now on. I clutched the blue notebook tightly to my chest.
I woke up to the sound of two other first years talking and giggling. I found them annoying, if I would be friends with anyone, it would be with Luna. She was nice, and she did all of the talking. Even though most of it was completely mad, the fact that she was talking meant that I didn’t have to.

"Are you Ariana Dumbledore?" My cheeks turned a bright pink as I looked up at a first year girl. She had frizzy dirty blonde hair, and dull brown eyes.

I nodded, wishing Albus would have put my last name as something else. I took the piece of parchment from her hand and looked at it.

Potions- Ravenclaw & Slytherin (Fifth Year Course)
Defense Against The Dark Arts- Ravenclaw & Gryffindor (Fifth Year Course)
Charms- Ravenclaw & Hufflepuff (Fourth Year Course)
Transfiguration- Ravenclaw & Slytherin (Fourth Year Course)
Divination- Ravenclaw & Hufflepuff (Fourth Year Course)

I stared at the paper, I quickly scribbled down my schedule on the inside of the back cover on my blue notebook. I stood up and pulled on my uniform. I left my blue and bronze tie untied, and wandered around the castle, mainly looking at the portraits. Their stories would be fascinating to hear. Albus had already told me some.

When the first class began, I was already in the Potions room.

I sat in the far back corner, getting strange looks from other students as they walked in and took their seats. I tapped my fingers on the desk as I waited for the class to start, Potions would be easy for me. So would charms.

"Welcome to your first Potions class of the term." Snape said as a girl sat down beside me. She was a fifth year Slytherin. Her hair was brown and short, and her face was round. "This year, we aren't going to waste time starting the class." He paused, his eyes landing on me for a moment. "Let’s start with getting paired up-- yes, Ms. Parkinson?" He asked, calling on the girl next to me.

"Will we be able to pick our own partners this term, Professor?" She asked, her voice seemed to be trapped in her throat. It made me cringe. I couldn't even think of being stuck with her, or her voice.

"No, I have prepared a list." He replied, "Anything else, from anyone-- yes, Mr. Zabini?"

"Can we request a partner-"

"No, I have made a list."

"But-" A girl from Ravenclaw began.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw." There were a few mumbles of disagreement or complaints.

Snape gave the class one long look and then turned to his list. "Zabini and Parkinson, Fletcher and Crabbe, Goyle and Morris, Malfoy and Dumbledore-" Snape continued with the list and I sunk back in my chair. Almost thirty people turned to look at me. I didn't pay attention to the list, but became aware of my surroundings again, when a Slytherin book bag dropped down on the desk next to me. "-You will be working on the potion on page 777. You have the remainder of the hour."

"So, it's Dumbledore? Honestly, I won’t call you that unless I have to. What's your first name?" Malfoy asked, staring at me. "Come on, you are going to be spending the rest of the hour with me, what’s your name, mudbloo-"

"I am not a muggle-born." I stated, looking down at my blue book. My cheeks flushed pink.

"So you can talk?" He smirked, "I still don't think I heard a name." He shrugged, as I turned around again. The cabinets that held all the supplies were behind us.

"Can you hand me the rose-thorns?" I asked, he pushed the little container further away from me. "Please give it..." I sighed, staring down at the page in the book.

"Can you tell me your name?"

I frowned, I didn't know if I wanted to yell at him or simply ignore him and tell Professor Snape he didn't do any of the work. I reach in front of him and grabbed the thorns and put four in.

"Do you not have a name?"

"Of course I have a name. There is just no reason for you to know it." I sighed, as I put the rest of the ingredients in.

"I didn’t think so..."He shrugged, "I can guess." He smirked then turned to look at the potion. "Are you almost done?"

"I just started." I stated as I looked back at the page. "Can you at least read this for me?"

"Yeah-yeah...I guess." He sighed, taking the book. "Stir counter-clock wise six times and then clockwise six times." I did as he said. Then I noticed something strange. I snatched the book back. It said that the potion should be a peach color. It was green, and bubbling. I re-read the instructions, 'stir clockwise seven times, stir counter-clockwise eight times'. Just then, the potion made a loud boom. "Oops, my bad." Malfoy chuckled.

"Did you do thi-" The potion exploded just enough to cover my entire head, leaving green goo in my hair and all over my face.

Everyone's eye's turned towards us. Malfoy was laughing. His eyes were actually watering from laughter. I wanted to punch him. I was slightly glad for the goo, because nobody could see the crimson red my face turned.

"Prof-"
"Yes, Ms. Dumbledore, you can go wash up." Professor Snape smirked, "5 points Slytherin."
I grabbed all of my stuff and trudged out of the dungeon to the nearest bathroom. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. God, I was going to kill Malfoy. I whipped out my wand and muttered “Impervious”. The green goo wasn’t exactly water, but it held components of water, so the spell worked fine. I looked back at the mirror. I hated the way I looked. The image of the parents that I didn’t know.
I had just stepped out of the bathroom when I saw the crowd from potions emerge from the dungeons. I spotted Malfoy and felt my cheeks flush. He spotted me and started laughing again. My hands clenched into tight fists.
I started my way up to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I was dreading having my class with Umbridge. She seemed so vile in the Great Hall, and she wasn’t even doing anything. This would be my least favorite class. I could already tell. When I finally got to the classroom, I almost gagged. The air was thick with perfume. I covered my nose as I took my seat. Professor Umbridge was already seated at the teacher’s desk. She was wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before along with a black velvet bow on top of her head. She again reminded me of a large toad, this time with a large fly unwisely perching on top of the toads head. Hermione entered.
“Ariana?” Hermione walked over to me. She was covering her face, too. Ron and Harry followed. “I thought you were taking fourth year classes?”
“Yeah… but I apparently have some fifth year ones, too.”
“Did Grandpa forget to tell you?” Ron teased.
“He’s not my grandfather. He’s my guardian.”
“Oh…” Ron’s smile faded away. “So… are you an orphan or…?”
“Ronald!” Hermione cried, slapping Ron’s arm.
“What?”
“Why is Dumbledore looking after you?” Harry asked, clearly worried. He understood the whole parent thing, too.
“I… actually don’t really know. He hasn’t told me anything about my parents.”
“I’m sorry…” Hermione said.
I blushed. They shouldn’t have been worried about me. They had only just met me.
“Alright class, let’s get to it!”
“Oh great,” Ron grumbled as he sat down along with Hermione and Harry.
Umbridge took out her wands and began charming words onto the chalkboard.
“Ordinary Wizarding Levels examination; O-W-L, more commonly known as OWL’s. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so and the consequences may be… severe.” She gave a flick of her wand. Two piles of books were now floating down the two isles of desks, distributing “Defense Against the Dark Arts: Year 5”.
“These books are filled with satisfactory, Ministry approved spells. Yes?”
Hermione had raised her hand.
“There’s nothing in these books about using spells…?”
“Using spells? Well, I can’t imagine why you’d need to use spells in my classroom.”
“We’re not going to use magic?” Ron asked.
“You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk free environment.”
“What if we’re attacked? It wouldn’t really be risk-free then, would it?” I muttered.
“Miss Dumbledore, is it?” Umbridge asked, a clearly forced smile plastered onto her face.
I felt like it would’ve been wonderful if I had melted into the floor just then.
“Yes…” I choked out.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be in my class?” She said, her voice sounding a little shaky… like she was angry.
I stared at my desk.
“I guess I will have to take to Albus about that…” she murmured.
“You call him Dumbledore.” I hissed.
“Detention!” Umbridge cried.
“She didn’t do anything!” Harry blurted.
“You too Mr. Potter!” she yelled. “Detention!”

The rest of the class went by slowly. She made us read the first three chapters which talked about stance and the specific degree that your wand arm should be angled to. Harry and I were miserable as the rest of the class marched out of the room. But it was worth it to stand up to that toad.
We were lead into Umbridge’s office. It was pink and frilly and smelled even stronger than the classroom. She sat us down and smiled.
“I want you to write something for me.”