Cyndee was last into the compartment, and she reported, "Malfoy and Parkinson are the prefects this year."

Drew and Blaise groaned. Wilby let out a polite but disapproving "hmm okay".

"Snape loves them too much," Cyndee agreed sadly.

"I would've preferred Torch," Drew complained. "I honestly would've. The worst he'd do is nothing."

"Or make everyone fix their hair," Blaise pointed out as the train pulled out of the station, "but that would be a great service."

"Did you bring a game?" Drew asked Wilby, knowing full well the answer will be yes.

He blinked. "Er, I don't think so."

The other three inhabitants of the train compartment gaped at him. Even Blaise, who'd been occupied with glaring at a microscopic piece of lint on his sweater vest, looked up with astonishment.

Growing uncomfortable at their stares, Wilby opened his trunk and dug through it until he found a pack of playing cards. He proffered it to them, "Poker?"

"Yeah," Drew said slowly, eyeing him weirdly as she took the cards. "I'll deal."

She shuffled then gave everyone two cards facedown, purposely giving herself an Ace-Jack starting hand.

Wilby didn't even notice. Strange, since she was sure it's exactly what he did whenever they played poker, and he'd see if someone else did it too.

She put three face up in the middle and noted how he did not bother to do a poker face when he looked at his hole cards.

"What's wrong?" Drew asked finally, not able to take it anymore. "You're acting weird."

Wilby blinked, and all three of them saw the mask that slipped into place. He shook his head, laughing slightly, "I'm fine."

And his smile was bright. It lit his entire face. It was every bit genuine.

But when Drew paid more attention, she could tell it was too tight on one side. And his eyes were just a little too wide, depicting a false innocence.

"I'm serious," she said, frowning. "What's wrong? Are you still thinking about the Death Eater?"

His grin fell flat, "Yeah. And I know, I'm getting obsessed, but I can't help it. Sorry for killing the mood."

"It's okay," Cyndee said gently, "nobody blames you."

"I'll try to stop," he promised. "And you were all right that we honestly can't do much, and that Trelawney's prediction might not mean anything."

"We'll still help," Drew vowed. "Whenever I have free time I'll be helping you find information."

He nodded, and the mood seemed down forever until Blaise coughed, "I may have brought something too."

Cyndee tilted her head, "A...game? You?"

"Chambers and Chimaeras," he announced, pulling it out of his trunk. "And if I hear anyone let out so much as a giggle I will kill everyone on the train."

"I can appreciate that threat," Drew nodded, fighting to keep her face straight along with everyone else. "We will play this Dungeons and Dragons ripoff."

* ° * ° *

The Sorting Hat's song had a warning, which only served to amp up the tension everyone felt for the first Welcome Feast after Cedric's death.

Hagrid was missing for some reason, and there was a new teacher, too. Drew didn't want to make judgements, but the woman resembled a pink humanoid Trevor the toad.

"Do you know who she is?" Drew asked Cyndee.

"She's from the Ministry I think," she responded, peering at the lady thoughtfully. "I don't know. My parents don't talk about work much."

Jack was sitting within talking distance this year, and had a ticked off face during the introduction of the latest professor replacement, so when Umbridge began a rehearsed droning of Ministry propaganda, Drew snapped her fingers and got his attention.

"Hey Joseph, congratulations on not being Head Boy."

He shrugged, taking the misnomer in stride, "You're not even prefect. Parkinson is. How about that?"

"Whatever. Is Umbridge as terrible as she's making herself seem? You seem to know her."

"Xavier told me about her," he said,  "He has to work with her a lot since he's in Magical Law Enforcement. She's a Ministry fanatic and a —"

He said something that rhymed with 'witch' but was insulting.

"Oh," Drew said, already imagining all the detentions she'd be sentenced to now. "Is she high up?"

"Second-in-command. You'd probably get expelled if you step out of line"

Drew frowned with disappointment. Holding in her anger wasn't going to be fun, but maybe she could manage it. Jack seemed to know what she was thinking and laughed, "Good luck, David."

"I can stay calm," she shot back.

* ° * ° *

"Hem hem."

Drew wanted to skin her.

Umbridge's high-pitched, breathy and girly voice rattled her bones and curdled her blood, and her fingers itched to just wrap themselves around her fat neck.

Since Wilby cooled her anger, she looked over at him and saw that his eye was twitching. A sure sign that this teacher was unbelievable.

When the teacher announced that they'd be reading the whole class, no one was the least bit pleased. Isabell scoffed with disgust and Eliza let out a tiny sigh from the back of the room.

Malfoy was disgruntled too. Oh, wait no, the pink toad just praised him and his parents. Now he's smirking like a deformed turnip.

"You there, with your chin on the table. Are you reading?" the toad appeared to be speaking. The more Drew stared, the more she morphed into a talking salmon.

Then Drew realized she was being addressed and straightened up. "Just taking a break," she muttered and went back to trying to absorb Defensive Magical Theory.

It got so dull her gaze slid straight off the book and just sort of lingered at Wilby for a while, who was chewing his quill and concentrating on the textbook. He suddenly had really nice eyes. Then she realized what she was doing and returned to gazing at the same paragraph.

She decided to raise her hand. When Umbridge studiously glanced the other way, Drew did a little 'hem, hem' of her own.

"Yes?" the lady snapped testily. Drew had a feeling she'd already been vexed by someone previously.

The entire class of Slytherins was watching them now. Torch had his comb halfway through his dark orange hair.

"Are we going to be having practical lessons?" Drew dared to ask. "In my past years here we always got to learn by doing the magic."

The toad's voice got softer and sweeter, "Your sister asked the same question. Good to know that you're both troublemakers who question authority."

Drew wanted to laugh. Her twin hardly ever broke the rules because it made her uncomfortable. There was definitely something wrong if she too had challenged this teacher's methods.

The woman continued to prattle on, "Potter. Weasley. Granger. So many insolent youths. Now there are the Getaways as well? You see, in this way, you will be learning spells in a secure, risk-free way. The Ministry cares about your safety above all else."

To their surprise, Wilby had his hand up too, though he spoke without actually getting called on. "We can't be safe if we never get to practice what we learn. By the time danger comes, we'll be too inexperienced to defend ourselves."

It was nicely worded and too logical to be disputed. Umbridge's smile widened, "And your name is?"

"Wilby Blue."

"Mr. Blue, you will be joining Miss Getaway in detention today. Be at my office at seven o'clock sharp."

Blaise stood up, "But that's not fair!"

"Sit down, Mr. Zabini. Put your hand up if you wish to speak."

Cyndee raised her hand. Umbridge, cheeks stained pink now, called on her with a voice that was now a squeak.

"All they did was ask a question and defend their opinion," she said shakily. "A teacher should listen to their students' c-concerns."

Umbridge's pointy little teeth were showing in that horrid wide grin of hers. "Would you like to have detention too, Miss —?"

"Cyndee," she said reluctantly, eyes cast downwards.

"Cyndee...?"

"Piramyd," she muttered.

"Piramyd, hm? I'll have to review your parents' records at the Ministry."

All the blood rushed out of Cyndee's face, and Drew shot to her feet. She had barely got a word out when Umbridge's fingers went to her pocket.

Drew stopped abruptly, but Umbridge thought better of getting her wand and dropped her hand. "Sit down."

Wilby had told her she couldn't get expelled without Dumbledore's approval, but she didn't want Cyndee or her family to get in trouble, so she took her seat, shooting the salmon frog her hardest glare.

"Now," Umbridge chirped, "everyone please read 'Chapter One, Basics for Beginners'."

* ° * ° *

The common room was aflame with complaints.

By the windows, Isabell was ranting to Torch, who was actually paying attention and not messing with his hair. Eliza was sat in front of the fireplace, staring into it sullenly.

Montague was, of course, pacing the room and declaring things. The sixth year had apparently argued with Umbridge about how her behaviour should be illegal and only avoided an angry lecture and detention because he was the Quidditch Captain.

More than a few Slytherins in her year still approved of Umbridge though, mainly because she'd given Potter a week of detentions, and that made Malfoy happy then made all his brainless minions happy.

"Umbridge can't hurt your parents," Drew assured Cyndee. "It has to be against the law."

"I guess," she said, unconvinced. "They haven't done anything wrong."

"See? They're fine."

Blaise looked unnaturally angry, "I can't believe she gave you two detention."

Wilby seemed irked too, and Drew shrugged, "It's alright. We're pretty used to it. What's the worst she can do?"

* ° * ° *

Three long quills were handed to three different Slytherins in the professor's cat-filled office. Usually Drew liked cats, but these ones were just obnoxious and begging to be punched.

She'd been surprised to see Jack there since he was always pretty chill and hardly got annoyed. At least her sister wasn't here. She didn't get detention because she'd wisely shut up in time.

Drew examined the special quill. It was thin and black, with an extremely sharp point. She wondered if she'd end up slicing through the paper.

At the front of the office, the toad crossed her arms, trying to look intimidating despite her short stature. "I expected better from you three."

Drew wrinkled her nose, "Why? When has anyone expected better from Slytherins? Even most of our prefects suck."

Umbridge ignored her. "Mr. Liang, you will write, 'I must not tell lies'. As for Miss Getaway and Mr. Blue, write, 'I must not talk back'."

"That's against human rights," Drew argued.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about. Do as I say. You do not need ink, and keep going until I say otherwise."

But before Drew's quill touched the paper, Wilby let out a faint gasp of pain.

She leapt over, "What happened?"

Wilby showed her the back of his hand, which had the letter 'I' carved into it before it healed up and faded. The word on his parchment was blood red.

Jack was facing a similar situation, and he stared at his parchment in horror.

She whirled to Umbridge, who was smiling pleasantly. "Yes?" she simpered.

First the toad interrupts Dumbledore, next she makes defending yourself a theory, and now this?

The rage was boiling like a cauldron in her head, but she started writing the line, not letting the toad have the satisfaction of seeing her hesitate.

The quill was her own scalpel, and Drew had to stop herself from wincing as she cut I must not talk back into her skin over and over, each one more painful than the last

Her skin healed up almost instantly the first time, leaving it smooth but rosy, but the more time that passed, the more the healing process slowed.

It went on for hours until Umbridge checked their hands with pudgy fingers and said they could leave. By then it was midnight. There would be next to no time to do homework, and Drew's hand was pink and raw.

At the end of it all, Drew wanted to ask Jack what he'd done to get detention, but he'd already stalked off, cradling his hand.

"We should go see Madam Pomfrey," Wilby said, teeth gritted. "My skin feels burned."

"I guess," Drew said ruefully. "What do you reckon she'll say about this?"

"I don't know. She doesn't usually ask questions." They walked for a while. "We have to report this."

"I know."

"But I don't think the other teachers can help."

"And Dumbledore could get in trouble for fighting against this. She's even got Fudge on her side in the Ministry."

They were stuck.