"Look at today!" Ron's voice caught the twin's and Tori's attention the moment they entered the Great Hall the next morning. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defence Against the Dark Arts... Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman all in one day! I wish Fred and George'd hurry up and get those Skiving Snackboxes sorted..."

''Domine ears deceive me?" Fred asked, squeezing on to the bench beside Harry. "Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off lessons?"

"Wow, is that's the case, how did I not get Prefect?" Tori chuckled, taking a seat next to Hermione, who frowned.

''Look what we've got today," Ron mumbled grumpily, shoving his timetable under Fred's nose. "That's the worst Monday I've ever seen."

''Fair point, little bro," said Fred, scanning the column. ''You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."

''Why's it cheap?" Ron asked suspiciously.

''Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet," George said, helping himself to a kipper.

''Cheers," Ron replied moodily, pocketing his timetable, ''But I think I'll take the lessons."

''And speaking of your Skiving Snackboxes," Hermione eyed Fred and George beadily, ''You can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor noticeboard."

Tori laughed out loud. "Says who?"

''Says me," said Hermione. ''And Ron."

''Leave me out of it," said Ron hastily.

Hermione glared at him. Fred and George sniggered.

''You'll be singing a different tune soon enough, Hermione," Fred said, thickly buttering a crumpet. "You're starting your fifth year, you'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long."

''And why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes.

''Fifth year's OWL year,"!said George.

''So?"

''So you've got your exams coming up, haven't you? They'll be keeping your noses so hard to that grindstone they'll be rubbed raw," Fred chuckled with satisfaction.

''Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to OWLs," said George happily. "Tears and tantrums... Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint... Tori cried a lot."

Tori slapped his arm. "I was under a lot of pressure!"

''Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?" Fred sighed reminiscently.

''That's 'cause you put Bulbadox powder in his pajamas,"  George replied.

''Oh yeah," Fred grinned. ''I'd forgotten... hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"

"Wait— I don't remember that." Tori furrowed her eyebrows. "That's because you were too busy having a meltdown—"

Tori slapped his arm again.

''Anyway, it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth," George continued, rubbing his arm. ''If you care about exam results, anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our peckers up somehow."

''Yeah... you got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes.

''Yep," Fred said unconcernedly. ''But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement."

''We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year," George replied brightly, ''Now that we've got—"

He broke off at a warning look from Harry, who knew George had been about to mention the Triwizard winnings he had given them.

"—now that we've got our OWLs," George said hastily. ''I mean, do we really need N.E.W.T.s? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."

"We're not going to waste our last year here, though," Fred said, looking affectionately around at the Great Hall. ''We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from a joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, then produce products to fit the demand."

''But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop?" Hermione asked skeptically. ''You're going to need all the ingredients and materials—and premises too, I suppose..."

The group all glanced at each other, not wanting to talk about Harry's generosity. Fred just shrugged, ''Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione. C'mon, George, if we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Defense Against the Dark Arts."

✧    ✦    ✧

Rushing through the halls, Tori glanced at the large clock in the courtyard. She was definitely going to be late. And all because she had forgotten her stupid book.

She turned the corner hastily but stopped suddenly, hearing the sound of sobs from somewhere inside the corridor. Tori glanced around to see someone sitting against a wall with their face in their hands.

She glanced around to see if there was a Prefect she could call over, but the hall was nearly empty.

So instead, Tori slowly walked over, crouching down next to the girl. "Hey, there. Don't cry, hey. Hey. What's wrong?"

The small girl raised her head ever so slightly. She looked around eleven, wearing a Ravenclaw robe with her wand laid down next to her.

"I-I-I want to-to go home!" The girl wailed, burying her face deeper into her hands. "Home?" Tori repeated, a bit surprised. She had never came across someone who wanted to leave Hogwarts.

"H-home! The... c-castles too big! And, and I... miss my family! I-I don't know any...thing about magic!"

"Are you a Muggle-Born?" Tori asked softly. The girl looked up at her with confusion, "W-What's a muggle?"

"That's was we call nonmagic people. Are your parents' wizards?" The girl shook her head, wiping her eyes. "Well, that means you're very special."

"It does?"

"Well of course," Tori replied. "You're the first in your family to attend Hogwarts! First to be able to do magic! That's very special! What your name?"

The girl sniffed, taking a shaky breath. "Em-Emma."

"Well, Emma. I'll make a deal with you, okay? So listen close." Emma nodded, wiping her face once more. "Give Hogwarts one week. Just one. Try making some friends, alright? Give it one week. And if you still don't like it? Find me, and we'll go see Dumbledore together and get you home. Yes?"

Emma seemed to ponder the thought for a moment before nodding with a hint of a smile on her face. "Okay."

"Good. Now, what class are you supposed to be in right now?" Tori grinned, watching Emma's smile wavered. "Transfiguration, but I don't know how to get there from," She glanced around. "Here."

"Well, Emma. This is your lucky day, I know nearly every corner of the castle." Tori chuckled, getting up and holding her hand out to help her up.

Emma took it, following Tori through the corridors asking all sorts of questions.

"Are you a Muggle-Born too?"

"Are you good at magic?"

"Do you have any friends?"

"I do, and here is your class. Oi, Professor McGonagall! Seems you got a new student!" Tori called loudly, opening the door.

Emma glanced around the room before making her way to an empty seat with some other Ravenclaw girl.

"Miss Silvers. I don't have you until tomorrow." Professor McGonagall said calmly.

"Oh, not me Professor. Just my new friend Emma. She got lost. And unfortunately, I'm a seventh year, so I can't exactly use that excuse. So I guess I'm hoping you'd be able to write me a pass?"

McGonagall sighed, taking out her quill and scratching down a few words before handing it to Tori, who winked at Emma on her way out.

Tori rushed towards her first class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, hoping she hadn't missed too much. It took her about five minutes before she opens the back door into class.

"Is there any reason you're late to my class, Miss?" Professor Umbridge asked, her cheery voice didn't match the look upon her face as Tori entered the room.

"A first-year got lost, I was helping her out. I have a note." Tori replied quickly, handing the dressed in pink Professor the parchment of paper. Umbridge glanced at it before sighing. "Take a seat, we were just getting starting."

Tori took the only open seat with was next to Angelina. She smiled at her as Umbridge bewitched the books on the table, placing them in front of the students.

"Wands away and quills out, please."

Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks;
the order ''wands away" had never yet been followed by a lesson they had found interesting. Tori shoved her wand back inside his bag and pulled cut quill, ink, and parchment. Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own wand, which was an unusually short one, and tapped the blackboard sharply with it; words appeared on the board at once:

Defense Against the Dark Arts

A Return to Basic Principles

''Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your N.E.W.T. year.

''You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please."

She rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced by:

Course Aims:

1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

2. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used

3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

For a couple of minutes, the room was full of the sound of scratching quills on parchment. When everyone had copied down Professor Umbridge's three-course aims she asked, ''Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

There was a dull murmur of assent throughout the class.

''I think we'll try that again," said Professor Umbridge. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply, 'Yes, Professor Umbridge," or 'No, Professor Umbridge,' So: has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

''Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang through the room.

''Good," Professor Umbridge smiled. ''I should like you to turn to page five and read "Chapter One, Basics for Beginners"  There will be no need to talk."

Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and settled herself in the chair behind the teacher's desk, observing them all closely with those pouchy toad's eyes. Tori turned to page five of her copy of Defensive Magical Theory and started to read.

It was desperately dull, quite as bad as listening to Professor Binns. Tori felt his concentration sliding away from her; she had soon read the same line half a dozen times without taking in more than the first few words. Several silent minutes passed until Tori raised her hand high in the air.

After several more minutes had passed, however, most of the class had had their eyes on Tori. The chapter they had been instructed to read was so tedious that more and more people were choosing to watch her mute attempt to catch Professor Umbridge's eye rather than struggle on with ''Basics for Beginners".

When more than half the class were staring at Tori rather than at their books, Professor Umbridge seemed to decide that she could ignore the situation no longer.

''Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" Umbridge asked Tori, as though she had only just noticed her.

''Not about the chapter, no," Tori replied.

''Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her small pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

''I've got a query about the course aims," Tori said. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows.

''And your name is?"

''Victoria Silvers,"

Umbridge has a slim look of surprise on her face as she looked at Tori's tie. "Well, Miss Silvers, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," She said in a voice of determined sweetness.

''Well, I don't," Tori replied bluntly. "You've said we would be learning about defensive spells, yet there's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."

There was a short silence in which many members of the class turned their heads to frown at the three-course aims still written on the blackboard.

''Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Silvers. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"No..." Tori said slowly. "But what about those of us who want to become Aurors? Don't we need to learn defensive magic?"

''We're not going to use magic?" Lee exclaimed loudly from behind Tori.

''Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr.—?"

''Jordan," said Lee, thrusting his hand into the air. Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him. Tori and Angelina immediately raised their hands too. Professor Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on Tori for a moment before she addressed Angelina.

''Yes, Miss?"

"Johnson. Surely the whole point of Defence Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

''Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Johnson?" asked Professor Umbridge, in her falsely sweet voice.

''No, but—"

''Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way—"

''What use is that?" Tori asked loudly. ''If we're going to be attacked, it won't be in a—'

''Hand, Miss Silvers!" sang Professor Umbridge.

Tori thrust her fist in the air. Professor Umbridge promptly turned away from her, but now several other people had their hands up, too.

''And your name is?" Professor Umbridge said to Fred.

''Fred Weasley."

''Well, Mr. Weasley?"

''Well, it's like Tori said, isn't it?" Fred began. ''If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free."

''I repeat," said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Fred, ''Do you expect to be attacked during my classes?"

''No, but—"

Professor Umbridge talked over him. ''I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," She said, an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, ''But you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed—not to mention," She gave a nasty little laugh, ''Extremely dangerous half-breeds."

''If you mean Professor Lupin,' piped up George angrily, ''He was the best we ever—"

''Hand, Mr. Weasley! As I was saying—you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group, and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day—"

''No we haven't," Angelina said, ''We just—"

''Your hand is not up, Miss Johnson!"

Angelina put up her hand. Professor Umbridge turned away from her.

''Itis my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you."

''Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?"  Fred snapped hotly. "Mind you, we still learned loads."

''Your hand is not up, Mr. Weasley!" trilled Professor Umbridge. ''Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?" She added, staring at a familiar Hufflepuff girl, whose hand had just shot up.

''Hazel Doe, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defence Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T.s? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?"

''As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

''Without ever practicing them beforehand?" Hazel demanded incredulously. "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?"

''I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough—"

''And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" Tori asked loudly, her fist in the air again.

Professor Umbridge looked up.

''This is school, Miss Silvers, not the real world," She said softly.

''It was school when Cedric Diggory was attacked. So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?"

''There is nothing waiting out there, Miss Silvers. Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident."

Tori nearly leapt out of her seat of it wasn't for Angelina yanking her back down. The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Tori.

''Now, let me make a few things quite plain."

Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered hands splayed on her desk.

''You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead. This is a lie."

''So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Tori asked, her voice shaking with rage.

There was a collective intake of breath from the class. They stared avidly from Tori to Professor Umbridge, who had raised her eyes and was staring at her without a trace of a fake smile on her face.

''Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," She said coldly. "Another word out of you, Miss Silvers, and I'll have you down here for detention."

Nearly shaking with rage, Tori went silent, ball her hands up in a tight fist, and holding her tongue until the end of class.

which of tori's siblings do you like more?
avalon or dove?
also god this chapter made me so angry grrr