Status: active

What Lies Within

Professor Umbridge

When Sophie entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with the trio at her side she saw that the toad like woman, Professor Umbridge, was already seated at her desk, watching the students take their seat. The trio sat together while as usual Sophie sat next to Pansy who was grinning at her, like always.

"How's your first day so far?" Pansy wondered as they pulled out their books and their wands, waiting for the bell to ring and class to begin.

"Not too bad. Loads of homework already. I'm hoping that Binns doesn't set any for History of Magic, just about everyone else already has." Sophie responded, cringing at the memory of the dream diary she had to keep for Trelawney and the moonstone essay for Snape.

"Oh, I know. We already have a ton for Ancient Runes as well." Pansy agreed, cringing herself.

"Well, good afternoon!" Umbridge spoke after the bell rang and everyone was in their seats. A few students mumbled an 'afternoon' back which made Umbridge frown. "Tut, tut." She spoke, standing up from her desk. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!" Pansy and Sophie exchanged glances before shrugging and responding as directed along with the rest of the class. "There, now. That wasn't too hard, was it? Wand's away and quills out, please!" Came Umbridge's instructions. There was a soft murmuring throughout the classroom as they grumbled about having to put their wands away, realizing that this class was going to be boring.

Umbridge started to drone on about Hogwarts lack of suitable 'ministry-approved' professors that they had seen in the past few years. She then said that of course this year was different and that they would be studying a ministry approved curriculum.

"Yeah, we're gonna learn all about how Potter is a nutter and ways to defeat Dumbledore." Sophie mumbled, leaning over to whisper in Pansy's ear, making the girl giggle and nod in agreement.

They were then set to read the first chapter of their text, Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard. As Sophie skimmed through the assigned reading, she found herself getting bored and ended up rereading the same paragraph about five times before realizing what she had done and still being unable to comprehend anything that she had been reading. Sophie glanced up from her book to see Hermione. Her book lay unopened in front of her and she was staring straight at Umbridge, who was ignoring her, with her hand raised.

Umbridge made a huge deal about pointedly looking in the opposite direction than Hermione's raised hand. Eventually though, most of the class was watching Hermione rather than reading their books and Umbridge had no choice but to acknowledge her.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" She questioned at Hermione who finally lowered her hand.

"Not about the chapter, no." Hermione responded, her voice tight as she stared straight up at the teacher. Sophie looked at Pansy who was frowning, the girls exchanging shrugs before looking back at Umbridge.

"Well, we're reading now. If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class." Umbridge said to Hermione who wasted no time in responding.

"I've got a query about your course aims." Hermione said, referring to something Umbridge had been talking about at the start of class, something Sophie had not been paying attention to.

"And your name is --?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully." Umbridge responded, her voice tight but a smile on her face none the less.

"Well, I don't." Hermione said, making a few students eyes widen. Hermione Granger disagreeing with a teacher? What was going on. Even Sophie was shocked by Hermione's behavior and by the look Harry gave her, he was just as surprised. "There's nothing about using defensive spells." That's when everyone looked back at the three course aims written on the board and found that she was in fact right. Of course she was, it was Hermione Granger.

"Using defensive spells?" Umbridge questioned, laughing a little. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use defensive spells, Miss Granger. Surely you aren't expecting to be attacked in my classroom."

"Wait, we aren't going to be using magic?" Ron spoke loudly, frowning.

This continued on for a while before Harry himself got into it, and he and Umbridge began to argue about whether Voldemort really had returned or not. When Harry spoke the Dark Lord's name the class flinched, Sophie included. The class ended with Harry landing himself a detention with Umbridge and being sent out of the classroom to go and talk with his head of house, McGonagall.

After Harry left the room Umbridge gave them all a seething look which made them all put their heads down, not meeting her eyes.

"Please," She spoke, her voice breathy as she resumed her seat behind her desk. "Continue reading." When the bell rang the entire class all but ran from the room, happy to be out of there.

"She seems fun." Draco spoke, making them all shake their heads as they made their way towards History of Magic together. Sophie rolled her eyes at him and shook her head.

"She's a nutter. I can't believe the Ministry is interfering here." Sophie said as they stood outside of Binn's classroom with the other Slytherin's.

"As I said last night, I think it will do this school some good." Draco told her, shrugging. "Maybe she can weed out the bad teachers, like Trelawney, and actually put in a good Divination teacher. Though with a subject like that, it's kind of hard to actually be good." Sophie hated to admit it but she let out a small chuckle before nodding.

"Maybe you are right, Hogwarts could use some changes." She agreed right as the door opened and Binn's their ghost History of Magic teacher appeared, instructing them to their seats. The next hour was spent in a daze for Sophie. She spent the time passing notes back and forth with Pansy and thinking about the upcoming dinner. She was starving as she hadn't eaten at lunch due to her fight with Draco.

"I am starving." Crabbe said, rubbing his stomach as the group of Slytherin's sauntered towards the Great Hall.

"You are always starving." Sophie told him, making him glare at her but everyone else laughed. "What? It's true." She said, shrugging, indifferent to his glare.

"It really is." Draco agreed, patting Crabbe's shoulder. Crabbe shoved him away, making them all laugh again as they entered the Great Hall. Sophie looked over at the Gryffindor table to see the trio just getting up and heading towards the doors.

"I'll be right there." Sophie called to the group who simply nodded and went to get a seat. She approached her friends, all of which looked a little angry. "What's wrong?" She questioned them, frowning at their angry faces.

"Just inconsiderate people whispering about Harry and what happened with Umbridge." Hermione said, loud enough for the group of whispering Ravenclaw girls, who just passed them, to hear. They looked guilty for a second before rushing off to their table to no doubt continue their gossip talk.

"Don't listen to them, Harry. You were just sticking up for yourself. You know I believe you." Sophie told him, earning a smile from him.

"Well of course you believe him, you're family are death eaters so you know that he's back." Ron said insensitively, earning a smack on the arm from Hermione. "Ow, what? It's true, right?"

"Whether or not my family is in league with the Dark Lord, Weasley, makes no difference on how I feel towards what Harry is saying. I say I believe every thing that he says because he is my best friend and I know he wouldn't lie about something that serious." And yes, my family are death eaters and I myself have seen the Dark Lord in person, but that is beside the point. Sophie thought to herself as she glared at the red head in front of her. She loved Ron, he just never thought before he spoke. It would get him in trouble one day. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that she spun on her heel and went to sit with her fellow Slytherin's.

"What's got you so angry, Hill?" Draco asked when she sat down beside him.

"Oh, only the fact that the only open seat that you guys managed to save was next to the ferret. I really don't like eating next to furry creatures." She responded, not even looking up from her plate as she piled it high with steak and potatoes. Everyone laughed except for Draco who turned a bright shade of red and glared at her.

"Well I don't like sitting next to a bitch, but some times it just happens." He responded quietly, turning back to his own plate.