Shadows Burning

Chander snorted with quiet incredulation. "That's one way to describe him, I guess."

Ti bit her lip.  She was mad, but she didn't want to get into an argument about Hagrid, especially with Chander.  What did it matter what he thought, anyway?  Pointedly, She turned her back on him and glared out the window.  then, as they rounded a turn, a familiar sight came into view.  she saw rows of horseless carriages, and a huge figure standing beside the moat.  And behind them, just above  the crest of a hill, the tips of the castle's tallest spires were visible. 

"Nick!  We're here!"

The train slid to a stop, and the doors opened. Chander could see the line of carraiges waiting to bring the students to the castle. 

Soon Chander was in one of the carraiges. He wondered waht pulled them. He'd heard rumors that only people who had witnessed a death could see them.

Ti got into another carriage, and Josh joined some of his Hufflepuff friends.  She watched the boats leave, carrying her brother and the other first years across the lake.  The carriages began to move, and soon  they arrived at the castle, where Ti filed into the great hall and took her seat with the other Griffendors.

Chander sat with the Slytherins, next to Draco Malfoy. The first-years got sorted and the Slytherins cheered every time one of them got sorted into Slytherin, and booed when they got sorted into Gryffendor.

As Lianne sat, she scanned the teachers' table for any new faces. She was sure to find at least one, as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher changed for various reasons every year. There! A woman in a pink sweater sat near the end of the table. Lianne wondered what kind of teacher she would be. She certainly didn't look as scary as Professor Moody from last year, although looks could be deceiving.

Then Dumbledore made his speech.  Or at least he started to.  But a very short woman with great big bug eyes interrupted him.  "excuse me, I am proffessor Umbridge."  She was dressed all in pink.  Ti did not like her one bit. She spent the rest of that annoying lady's speech making very obvious and insulting hand gestures with Ginny and raising her eyebrows

"Ugh, look at our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Draco complained. Just then, the tables filled with foods of all kinds, and all the kids in the great hall eagerly filled their plates.

Ti helped herself to some food and started to eat.  In the dormitory that night, she read by wandlight before going to sleep.  in the morning she looked at her schedule and sighed.  Defense against the dark arts was first. 

Chander walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Professor Umbridge sat in a chair at the front of the classroom, wearing a frilly pink dress and high-heeled shoes. Chander slid into a chair near the front of the classroom, where he usually sat with Draco. Umbridge cleared her throat squeakily, and Chander glanced up to see her staring at him pointedly.

"Excuse me, sir," She said. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I think I am sitting down. Am I wrong?" Chander asked.

"From now on, all students will have assign seats in my classroom. Necrason...I beleive you sit right..there." She pointed a shiny pink fingernail to a desk in the very back of the room.

"Thank you, sir." She said with a too-bright smile. "I think I'll enjoy having you in my class."

Ti entere the Defense against the Dark Arts class room with Ginny.  "Names?" Umbridge asked sweetly.  "Ginny Weasley and Tiana Cruise."  "Well, Weasley, Cruise," Umbridge continued.  " i believe you are precisely 67 seconds late.  in the future, please arrive on time.  I like my students to be very punctual.  And now, for your assigned seats.  Weasley, here in the front by Miss Lovegood."  Poor Ginny, Ti thought.  Who could be worse than Loony Lovegood?  Then she thought of someone and sent an angryy look towards the back of the room.  Umbridge must have caught the glance.  "Cruise, sit there, beside Mr. Necrason."

Chander watched Umbridge point Ti over to the desk right next to his. Of course. He sighed.

Ti decided that the best thing to do about Chander was to ignore him.  She looked around the classroom.  There were definitely a few people who hadn't arrived yet.  So much for being punctual.

"Turn to page 3 in your textbooks," Umbridge said brightly once everyone had arrived. "Mr. Potter, would you please read the first paragraph aloud for the class?"

Harry started reading. "Magic is a wonderful thing, and so is our benevolent and wise Minister of Magic. But, unfortunately, as it is with all great societies, there are some who wish to do harm to us. The Dark Arts have been practiced since the beginning of magic, and there have been many evil wizards who have risen up against the innocent witches and wizards with the intention of wreaking havoc, but thanks to our benevolent, wise, and powerful Ministry, they have each been stopped. It is because of our kind and benevolent Minister..." Harry stopped reading. "What's the point?" He said with digust. "When are we going to use our wands?"

"Wands?" Umbridge replied wih surprise. "Why would you want to use wands in my class? you can learn everything you need to know from the wonderful textbooks our Ministry has provided."

"If the Ministry is so "benevolent, wise, powerful, blah blah blah," Harry said angrily. "Then why couldn't they stop Voldemort?" The class gasped. Umbridge squealed and covered her mouth with a hand.

"Voldemort is back," Harry continued. "No one is safe. Sitting around in a classroom reading about how great the ministry is won't help us if Voldemort decides to walk into our homes and kill us. Any moment, he and his Death Eaters could attack, but the Minister is too afraid to acknowledge it. We need to be able to defend ourselves. We need to--"

"That is quite enough, Mr. Potter!" Umbridge screeched. "Report to my office this afternoon for detention!"

(I have no idea what really happened, or if it happened like this)

(something like that. I think she accuses him of telling lies and he's like "it's not a lie" and she gives him detention, but i don't really know either I looked it up. she puts the course aims on teh board adn then tells everyone to read their textbooks silently, and everyone sorta is, but then hermione asks there isn't anything in the course aims about using magic, and then umbridge is like we'll be learning about spells in a risk free way but then harry says what use is that if were attacked it won't be risk free and then there's stuff where umbridge insults the previous teachers and then she's like "the ministry thinks just the theory is good enough and harry says what use is theory in the real world shouldn't we be prepared for what's out there and she says what do you think is our there and he says voldemort and she says a lie and he says its not and she gives him detention. runon sentences yay)

(Alrighty, thanks. I guess we should just continue, knowing that Harry got detention somehow.)

(If Harry's a year older than us, he wouldn't even be in our class)

(...good point. What should we do, then?)

)let's start the class over from right after we got our assigned seats)

Ti took out her wand, eager to do some magic.  She hadn't cast a spell since last spring. 

"Wands away," Umbridge commanded.  Ti frowned.  "But aren't we practicing spells?" She asked.  "Miss Cruise, please raise your hand if you have something to say." Ti raised her hand, but Umbridge ignored her and adressed the class instead.  "There will be no magic used in this class.  you will be learning about defensive spells in a completely safe, risk-free way."

Chander raised his hand, indignant. He saw Umbridge glance at him.

"Yes, Mr. Necrason?"

"What's the point, then?" He asked.

"...Excuse me?" Umbridge smiled brightly.

"I said, what's the point, then?" Chander repeated.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you are trying to say."

"I think he means to ask," said a blond Ravenclaw girl from the front of the room, "What's the point of learning about spells if we're not actually going to try them?"

"Miss Lovegood, please raise your hand if you wish to say something in my class. That goes for everybody." Umbridge's voice was beginning to sound tenser.

Luna raised her hand. Chander noticed that Ti still had her hand up, too, but Umbridge was ignoring both of them. He raised his hand, waiting for other people to notice. Ginny Weasly, who sat next to Luna, looked around the room once, and her hand went up. Chander smiled as a boy at the end of a middle row joined in.