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Zinnia clumsily fell out of the carriage once it had approached the castle, she couldn't help but grin widely at the sort of relief she felt seeing the castle again after such a miserable summer. There was something about the walls of the castle that seemed impenetrable to darkness, even when it was trapped inside. Picking up the pace Zinnia raced up the stairs, her robe catching on the worn out stone they were made of.

"Hurry up, i'm starving and i can already smell the food wafting from the kitchen '' Zinnia cried from the top of the stairs to her friends who were tiredly dragging their feet up to the castle.

"As much as I don't want to see hangry Zinnia, I keep forgetting how many stairs this place has," Ron puffed, out of breath.

Zinnia rolled her eyes at his comment and leant against the railing. Her head lifted when she heard her name being yelled from further up, suddenly she saw Fay bouncing back down the stairs against the swarm of students to engulf Zinnia in a hug.

"Where the hell have you been?" Fay mocked Zinnia.

"Trapped in a tower for the rest of the summer," Zinna laughed.

"Okay Rapunzel, I think there is some sticky date pudding with your name on it" Fay linked her arm with Zinnia's as she proceeded up the stairs. Zinnia couldn't help but think of Harry handing her sticky date pudding every year with a beaming grin, she looked back at the boy behind her and he gave her a slight smile before she turned back around. Zinnia has not given full thought to how much her life at Hogwarts would be affected by her complicated relationship with Harry, she could only hope it wouldn't put too much of a damper on the year.

As the crowd of students entered the great hall, Zinnia spotted the awaiting first years on the stairs near the door, Zinnia gave a great big smile to Poppy and the small girl returned it with an excited wave before she was pulled away by her new found friends. Zinnia smiled looking at her giggling with a group of girls and sighed with relief that her sister had found home already.

As Zinnia approached the table of her friends she noticed the only spare spot between Seamus and Harry, she blindly sat down not noticing the tension between the two.

"Hey Seamus, how was your summer?" She asked with an ignorant grin.

"Yeah... it was alright" he said with his head down "could have been better" he finished as he turned his head to Harry with a clenched jaw. Zinnia sat quiet for a moment as the two stared at each other, passing her eyes between the two.

"Okay.. cool" she said awkwardly with tight lips, she looked over at Ron across from her and he simply raised his eyebrows and gave a shrug.

Luckily Dumbeldore had saved the silence as he shushed everyone in the hall in preparation for the first years to come forward. Zinnia's back straightened and her head turned to the door so she could get a better view of Poppy. The grand doors opened and a cluster of small children with wide gazes followed professor McGonagall to the front of the hall.

"Can you believe that we were ever that small?" Ron giggled in a hush turning to the stout students.

"Surprisingly enough Ron, people grow over five years," Hermione replied with a smirk. Harry and Zinnia both laughed at this and looked at each other in amusement. Unfortunately his face fell just before turning away. Zinnia was getting pretty frustrated at his fluctuating moods. Why did he have to ruin a good moment with his moping? She was pulled out of her thoughts at McGonagall's booming voice.

"Poppy Beaumont" she read out over the crowd as the little girl with brown bouncy hair stepped up to the chair. Poppy nervously sat down as Zinnia kept her eyes on the little girl with an anticipating smile. McGonagall placed the hat on her heat and its features awoke with a grin.

"Another Beaumont I see, not so simple that family no.." the hat drawled out with a low voice. "Heart of gold I see, a very bright spirit. But headstrong and fearless. Much like your siblings, yes, brilliant, you have much power in your future. Where to put you?" The Hat stopped for a moment to ponder. Poppy looked nervously at the hat atop her head then over to her siblings, finding Aster and Zinnia's eyes at the Gryffindor table and Prim's at the Slytherin.

The Hat kept umming and ahhing as Poppy looked over the crowd, minutes passed before McGonagall stood forward next to the chair and addressed the crowd.

"It seems students, that we have a Hatstall" she said as the crowd burst into whispers.

"What's a Hatstall?" Harry whispered to the group.

"It's when the hat takes longer than usual to pick a house, because the person shows many traits from more than one." Hermione spoke back as they all turned their heads to Zinnia. Zinnia herself was concerned with nothing more than poppy at that moment but shared a confused look with her friends.

"McGonagall was a Hatstall you know" Hermione continued, trying to make Zinnia feel better. Zinnia smiled and went back to holding eye contact with her little sister. It seemed evident that the Hat was choosing between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor from the mutterings everyone heard.

Finally after almost six minutes of deliberation, the hat spoke.

"I know where to put you!! HUFFLEPUFF!" the Hat roared as the hufflepuff table burst into cheers with a standing ovation. Zinnia smiled and cheered for her sister as she walked to the sea of yellow. Poppy shared a nervous glance with her sister as Zinnia gave a thumbs up.

"The first one in the family!!" Zinnia cried out to her sister much to Poppy's embarrassment. Zinnia sat down, finally returning to her friends and noticing many sickles being passed around.

"What's this?" she asked, her grin still etched on her face.

"We all made bets on what house she was going to get into" Fred spoke from further up the table as Ron passed his two sickles.

"You bet on my sister?! What if I had made bets on giny, how would you feel then?!" Zinnia chuckled at the boys with a huff.

"Well Ginny in Gryffindor was a no brainer, I mean look at the rest of our family." George spoke as he slipped a sickle to Fred.

"You lot however are a mystery bag, only a matter of time before there was a Hufflepuff, and little miss sunshine was the perfect candidate" Fred finished off. "Oh and here Hermione" he continued as he slipped a coin to Hermione who had a guilty face.

"You Too?!" Zinnia said with her mouth agape.

"Sorry Z, but I just knew I was right and I couldn't resist." Hermione pleaded with puppy dog eyes to her friend.

"Thin ice, all of you" Zinnia smirked as she pointed around the table.

Zinnia ripped into the Hogwarts feats, filling her plate with piles of roast chicken and gravy, there was nothing more she loved than the first Hogwarts feats. When dessert appeared on the table, the round dish of treacle tart popped up in front of her as did the sticky date pudding to the right of her, in front of harry. Both looked at each other then went to carve a slice of the deserts, handing each other their favorite with a gracious smile. Zinnia's heart warmed and her nerves settled at the delicate gesture.

"Good evening children" Dumbledore spoke at the podium, drawing the attention of the chattering hall. "Now we have two changes in staffing this year, we are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubly-Plank who'll be taking Care of Magical Creatures while Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave" he continued.

Harry and Zinnia shared a concerned look to each other at the absence of their tall friend, Both knowing Hagrid would never want to abandon his classes.

"We also wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Dolores Umbridge. And I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck" Dumbeldore continued as a small stout woman smiled proudly with a small squeak. "Now as usual, our caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to remind you..." Dumbeldore attempted to announce before being interrupted by the pink dressed professor Umbridge intruding on the speech.

The woman placed her purse on the table and stood up with a sickly sweet smile. Zinnia gave a cringed grimmage at the lady who had already gotten off on the wrong foot. She stood up delicately holding eye contact with the Headmaster, as if to assert a sort of power.

"She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge" Harry whispered to Hermione as Zinnia overheard.

"Then what the hell is she doing here?" Zinnia spoke back in a hushed tone before the woman started to speak again

"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. And how lovely to see all your bright, happy faces smiling up at me" she addressed slowly to the crowd of grimacing students. "I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends."

"That's likely," the twins muttered to themselves rather loudly. Zinnia chuckled into her plate as Hernione kicked her shin to be quiet. Zinnia gave her a hurt questioning look before returning to the Professor who was staring right in her direction.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster has brought something new to this historic school" she smiled fakeley at Dumbledore as Ron and Zinnia gave each other an amused look "Progress for the sake of progress, must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prove practices that ought to be prohibited" she finished with a sinister whisper and a sickly high squeak of excitement before returning to her seat.

There was a moment of silence in the hall where all the students didn't know whether to be inspired, scared or amused. Zinnia for one seemed rather amused by the speech, having to hide her smile in her pudding. Dumbeldore started to awkwardly clap as the rest of the students followed.

"Thank you professor Umbridge, that really was most illuminating" he spoke as he continued his earlier point.

"Illuminating, what a load of waffle" Ron spoke to the group of friends.

"The woman is mad, who would take any of that seriously?" Zinnia added, still smiling in amusement.

"What's it mean? Harry asked with furrowed eyebrows. Hermione hesitated for a moment to look up at the teachers table.

"It means the ministry's interfering at Hogwarts' ' she concluded as everyone's face fell. Zinnia lost her amused standpoint and became rather worried about the safety of the school. Her thoughts were interrupted by Dumbledore's call to head to the dorms and the gaggle of first years that were led out before them. Zinnia watched as her little sister went off on her own with a proud grin.

The group made their way out of the hall and to their dorms, spewing about Umbridge on the way.

"And prove practices that ought to be prohibited, hm!. I mean, does the woman hear herself?" Zinnia complained walking up the stairs to the tower

'That's a teacher Z" Hermione interfered.

"Oh yeah, just like Snape's a teacher?!" Zinnia defended with wide eyes and Hermione gave a sympathetic look as they reached the top of the stairs.

"You better watch your mouth train girl, you never know who's lurking" a raspy voice came from behind her. Zinnia spun around to see Robbie smirking at her and her group who had halted atop the stairs.

"Oh so i'm train girl now. Train girl is the best you could come up with?" Zinnia teased the boy who was still taller than her despite being on a lower step. Zini looked at his robes and spotted an unmistakable emerald green with a snake crest. " you're in Slytherin, what are you doing up here?" she said, slightly shocked.

"I prefer the view, plus I'm spying for the new defense teacher" He grinned. Zinnia's face fell.

"What?!" she muttered white as a ghost, scared shitless that she would get in massive trouble on the first day.

"Merlin woman i'm kidding" he laughed as he continued up the stairs and past the Gryffindor portrait. Zinnia noticed that he smelt like cigarettes and new books as he brushed past her.

"You're so strange, floor boy" she smiled slightly as she turned back to the group.

"Now who has the stupid nicknames" he smirked as he walked further down and out of sight.

"Who the bloody hell was that" Ron grimaced at the direction Robbie had disappeared down.

"Robbie Dalton i think, i only just met him on the train" Zinnia turned to enter the portrait.

"You sure, cause you seemed rather cozy with him" Harry spat. Zinnia stopped in her tracks and turned to Harry.

"What's your problem?" Zinnia asked, rather offended.

"His problem is he's a slytherin, seems like a bit of a prick if you ask me?" Ron interrupted

"Well I didn't ask you, did I Ron, cause harrys the one with the stick up his ass apparently. And were not having the Slytherin argument again" Zinnia rolled her eyes at him and continued into the common room. Truthfully the reason she was so upset was because Harry had been giving her no respect or attention, and as soon as she made another friend he got annoyed. Maybe she had overreacted but she felt it justified given the amount of shit he had given her all summer.

As they made their way across the common room, all the students whispered whilst staring at Harry, turning their backs to him and grimacing at his presence.

"Dean, Seamus, Good Holiday?" Harry asked with civility.

"Alright" Dean reasonably added "Better than Seamus' anyway"

"Me mum didn't want me to come back this year" Seamus started as he angrily threw down the newspaper he was reading and stood up to Harry.

"Why not" harry asked blatantly

"Let me see. Ummm because of you. The daily prophets have been saying a lot of things about you Harry, and about Dumbeldore as well" Seamus said with grit. Zinnia stepped forward from further back in the room, ready to defend Harry even if she was mad at him

"What and your mum believes them?" Harry strongly said back

"Well no one was there the night Cedric died" Seamus said rather carelessly, Zinia scoffed at him and rolled her eyes.

"Well i guess you should read the Prophet then, like your stupid Mother, itll tell you everything you need to know" Harry spat out with rage, between Seamus and the Robbie incident harry was well worked up and just looking for an excuse to yell.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother like that" Seamus retorted as Zinia began to interfere, standing in front of harry out of protection

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar" Harry replied

"What's with you Seamus? You know full well that Harry has saved all your asses on multiple occasions and I am ashamed to be called a Gryffindoor if this is what the whole house pays him back with." Zinnia spat out quickly and loudly that grasped the attention of the whole room. "You have some fucking nerve to smite Diggory's memory with baseless accusations" Zinnia walked slowly towards Seamus with an intimidating grimace.

Seamus' strong stance seems to stumble at Zinnia's disposition. It was rare that she would yell like that which is what scared him the most.

"What's going on?" Ron came bursting into the room. Zinnia and Seamus kept each other's gaze with a scowl.

"He's mad is what's going on, do you believe the rubbish he's come out with about You-Know-Who, and he's sent crazy the guard girlfriend on me? '' Seamus muttered with a lack of confidence. At that comment Harry launched towards Seamus only being stopped by Ron pulling him back.

"Yeah, I do believe him. Ron said after Harry had calmed. "Has anyone else got a problem with Harry?" Ron looked around the room challenging anyone but no one had the guts to stand up. Both Harry and Ron ascended the stairs to escape whilst Zinnia was left with a sinking feeling in her heart. Seamus looked over to the hurt girl and he almost looked sorry.

"Zinnia-" Seamus tried to start.

"No seamus i don't want to hear it. I know you wouldn't have said that if you weren't so mad but." she couldn't finish the sentence. "Im just disappointed seamus" she finished as she headed up the stairs. Once she had entered the dorm Hermione spotted her.

"What was the commotion downstairs?" she jumped off the bed and to her friend.

"Just a bunch of idiots not believing Harry" Zinnia flopped on her bed with a sigh.

"And that Robbie boy? The slytherin?" Hermione asked with a smirk as she braided her hair.

"What about him?" Zinnia asked, her face still in her pillow.

"I don't know, there seems to be something there, did you see how jealous Harry got?" Hermione giggled. Zinnia just shook her head amused.

"Goodnght Hermione" she grinned as she closed the door to the bathroom

"You know you can't just walk away from the uncomfortable stuff Z" hermione teased in a singsong voice

"Watch me," Zinnia replied sharply through the thick wooden door.
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A.N- hey y'all ik it's been a hot minute since i've uploaded, i went in a small break from writing because of some family stuff and i just needed time away. but now i'm back and i'm full of ideas.

this chapter was a bit rough so i'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, feel free to point them out lol.

so glad to be back and i hope ur ready for a whirlwind of emotions this year.

also tysm for 1.75k omg and thank to all the people adding this book to their library❤️❤️❤️