As the sound of the other girls in my dorm blares I finally decide I should move. So I peel myself from the soft bed and groan as my feet hit the cold fool. Since about third year I had been separated from the other girls in the room because I wouldn't get up at the ass crack of dawn to put on another face, or work out what will attract that boy, or whatever. I kinda just winged it. Hilariously enough I was the only one in a relationship. As I pull on the fresh robes I could hear Pansy groan.
 
  "What Parkinson?" I snap. She rolls her eyes and glares at me.

   "You're a lazy slob," she spits at me. I smirk and nod. Not honestly caring.

   "Yeah whatever dog face," I snap back. I march out the door and down the stairs to meet Draco. Our lips meeting as I reach him.

  "God you two are disgusting," Goyle groans.

   "Fuck off," I groan. Man Goyle of all people needed to keep his mouth shut.

 "Now Goyle if you wish to make you're life a living hell then keep pestering my girlfriend. But if you have the slightest amount of brain activity then you should realize your comments are not needed or welcomed," Draco snaps. I look at him and smirk. When he takes down assholes he's pretty hot.

" Settle down," Snape says coldly as he slams the door. ""Before we begin today's lesson," Snape, sweeping over to his desk and staring around at them all, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my... displeasure. After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me, I take only the very best into my N.E.W.T. Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good-bye."

"Man if I don't get into his NEWT class I'll scream," I whisper to Draco.

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," Snape says softly, "so whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T. or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high-pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L. students. Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: If you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing." 

"Easy," I tell the boys. They smirk. If it weren't for Blaise, Draco, and I these idiots would fail.

"The ingredients and method" Snape says as he flicks his wand, "are on the blackboard you will find everything you need in the store cupboard- you have an hour and a half... Start." Draco and I look at each other and nod.

"I'll get the ingredients," I tell him, "you get the cauldron and everything set up." This potion was hard according to how everything had to be exact. The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in counterclockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.

"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," Snape tells us with ten minutes left to go. I look over to Draco's cauldron then mine. Both with the silver vapor hanging above it. I smile proudly as I continue. As Snape passes Draco and I he nods.  "-Well done Miss Cultven, Mr. Malfoy."

"Thank you professor," I nod. Fully knowing he, like the other adults, would expect me to be watching my classmates. He slithers away from us to the Gryffindors. Stopping before Harry.

"Potter, what is this supposed to be?" Snape asks. The kids around me look back eagerly. Waiting for Snape to attack him.

"The Draught of Peace," Harry says tensely.

"Tell me, Potter," Snape says softly, "can you read?"

"Yes, I can," Harry says.

"Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter," Snape demands.

"'Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counterclockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes, then add two drops of syrup of hellebore,'" Harry reads.

"Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?" Snape asks.

"No," Harry says quietly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"No," Harry says, "I forgot the hellebore..."

"I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco," Snape says. The contents of the cauldron are swept away leaving Harry with nothing. "Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing. Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday." take my sample of the potion and label it.

"Stupid saint potter," Draco groans under his breath.

"Darling if I didn't know better I would think you were in love with him," I tease as I sit the potion on Snape's desk.

"What! No!" He exclaims. I smirk and plant a quick kiss on his cheek. 

"Sure...."

****

   "Well hello friends," I say as I sit down beside the trio. 

  "Hey," Harry says. Ron waves with a mouth full and Hermione smiles.

"Hello Y/n," Hermione says looking at my bright SPEW button still attached to the strap of my bag. "SPEW? How great of you!"

  "Yeah," I say. Not bothering to mention I honestly forgot it was on there until I saw it during potions. "Sorry about potions Harry. If you ever need help I'm there. And if you ever need a good sample to show Snape. I always keep extra."

"You shouldn't cheat! But...that was really unfair," Hermione says consolingly, "Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's, when he put it in his flagon the whole thing shattered and set his robes on fire."

"Yeah, well," Harry says, "since when has Snape ever been fair to me?" None of us answer. We didn't need to. He always was such an ass to Harry.

"I did think he might be a bit better this year," Hermione says in a disappointed voice. "I mean... you know......Now he's in the Order and everything."

"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots," Ron says, "Anyway, I've always thought Dumbledore was cracked trusting Snape, where's the evidence he ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who?"

"I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share it with you, Ron," Hermione snaps.

"Oh, shut up, the pair of you," Harry says, as Ron opened his mouth to argue back. Hermione and Ron both froze, looking angry and offended. "Can't you give it a rest? You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad." Harry stomps off leaving us alone. I look back at them and chuckle.

"He's not wrong," I tell them, "you two are always at each others throats."

"Are not!" Ron argues.

"Thats a lie! Every year you two fight and complain while Harry and I sit her and are forced to listen," I tell them, "get over it and admit you're in love."

"What?" Hermione asks.

"You heard me," I say as I stand up from the table leaving them alone to think.

******

 As I get to the DADA room I could see Umbrigde sitting at her desk watching the few students in her class gleefully. "Oi," I say to Harry and Ron and I pass them, "how much do you want to bed this ones a nutter too?"

"All the money in the world," Ron says, "reckon she'll get sick of us?"

"More likely sick of your brothers," I tell him. I nod and grab the back seat with Draco. As we sit I could see Pansy staring at us. "God Pansy sod off already. He doesn't fancy you."

"Shut it Cultven!" She exclaims. I roll my eyes and look to the handsome blond boy beside me and smile.

"I love you so much," I tell him. He smirks and looks around.

"So much you'll ditch with me?" He asks. I snort as I hear Umbridge at the front of the room.

"Well, good afternoon!" she says to all of us. A few mumble weak responses as she  "Tut, tut. 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!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," We say back to her. 

"There, now," Professor Umbridge says sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please." 

"Wands away?" I ask Draco. He shrugs and I shove my wand into my bag and grab on of my quills. She taps the board with her stubby wand. And the words 'Defense Against the Dark Arts A Return to Basic Principles.' Appears on the board.

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" states Professor Umbridge, "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 O.W.L. 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." I look back to the board and see her replace the words again. Now with a list.

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. Until her high pitched sequel of a voice breaks the silence. "Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?" A dull murmur spreads across the room. "I think we'll try that again,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," Rings through the room.

"Good," She says, "I should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need to talk."

"'No need to talk?' Yeah no thanks," I whisper to Draco as I open the book. At first I attempted to read the book. But it was so boring and Hermione all but screaming for Umbridges attention had claimed mine. But I wasn't the only one. Few eyes even were on the book, but most were on the bushy haired girl.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asks Hermione, as though she had only just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," Hermione says.

"Well, we're reading just now," Professor Umbridge says, 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 your course aims,"Hermione says.

"And your name is—?"

"Hermione Granger," Hermione says.

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," Professor Umbridge says in a voice of determined sweetness.

"Well, I don't," Hermione says "There's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."

"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeats 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 Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron interrupts.

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

"Weasley," Ron says thrusting his hand into the air. She smiles widly than turns his back on him.

"Did she just?" I ask myself. Harry, Hermione, and I raise our hands high. She looks to Harry then addresses Hermione.

"Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

"Yes," Hermione says, "Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" Professor Umbridge asks 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?" Harry says, "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a—"

"Hand, Mr. Potter!" sang Professor Umbridge.

Harry thrust his fist in the air. Professor Umbridge promptly turned away from him again, but now several other people had their hands up too. I keep my hand up and she sighs.

"Yes miss?"

"Cultven, Miss Y/n Cultven... Harry has a good point a mean if we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free—"

"I repeat," Professor Umbridge says smiling in a very irritating fashion at ,e, "do you expect to be attacked during my classes?"

"No, but—"

"I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," she says, 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," Dean Thomas says angrily, "he was the best we ever—"

"Hand, Mr. Thomas! 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," Hermione says, "we just—"

"Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!"

"It is 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?" I say angrily "Mind you, we still learned loads more than will probably learn with you—"

"Your hand is not up, Ms. Cultven!" trills 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?" Parvati hand was now up.

"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the countercurses 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," says Professor Umbridge dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them before?" Parvati asks 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?" Harry says loudly

"This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world," she says softly.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?"

"As a teacher its your job to prepare us for the real world!" I but in.

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter, Ms. Cultven."

"Oh yeah?" Harry says, his temper boiling.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" inquires Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.

"Hmm, let's think..." says Harry in a mock thoughtful voice, "maybe Lord Voldemort?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter." Everyone went silent. Man what a nutter.

"Now, let me make a few things quite plain," She barks out, "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead—"

"He wasn't dead," Harry says angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr.-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-House-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," Professor Umbridge says in one breath without looking at him. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

"It is NOT a lie!"Harry says, "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" Professor Umbridge says triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners.'" Harry stood up staring her down.

"Harry, no!" Hermione whispers.

"Harry not now," I warn him. He ignores me. 

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry asks, his voice shaking.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she says coldly.

"It was murder," Harry says shaking He could feel himself shaking. "Voldemort killed him, and you know it."

"Come here, Mr. Potter, dear," She says in a soft voice. Harry kicks his chair and marches to her desk. She scribbles out a note and hands it to Harry. "Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear." He takes the note and rushes out leaving the class in the awkward tension. 

"Saint Potter everyone," Draco hisses under his breath. I sigh and take his hand under the table. I had a bad feeling about this class. About Umbridge. About this year. Something big would happen I could feel it.  "You okay?" Draco whispers to me. I nod. His presence calming my growing anxieties down.

"Of course," I whisper back, "you're my rock." He smiles softly and turns back to his reading. Even with him here I couldn't help the feeling of dread and fear in my heart. 

____________________________

I finally updated! Yay me! 3000 words! Umbridge Encounter! Draco! 

Woo!

So this book is the hardest out of mine to update because I need to be able to set aside so much time for these chapters. But I try. And I shall keep trying. So if its been awhile for a chapter literally yell at me to clear my schedule to sit and write.

Cool yeah. Thanks for reading.