───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Blair woke up the next day without Hermione by her side. She smiled widely at the thought of the witch, but her face fell when she remembered what happened between her and Seamus last night. She immediately dressed up before going down to the common room, but to her surprise, Dean and Neville were there, waiting for her.

"Tra — Dean? Neville?" Blair said quietly.

Dean frowned at her hesitance before he smiled at her. "Come on, Caelum. Take a walk with us." Blair followed them out of the common room without a word as they went towards the Black Lake. It was where Blair went whenever she needed space. They sat down in silence for a few minutes.

Dean held out something to Blair. "Here, treacle tarts. Your favorite."

Blair looked surprised before smiling. "Thank you, Tra — Dean."

Dean and Neville looked at each other before Neville wrapped an arm around Blair. "You know he doesn't mean anything, right?"

Blair stopped in the middle of eating her treacle tart and looked down at the ground. "I don't know. Maybe that's what he really thinks of me. He thinks I killed my parents and it's all my —"

"Don't you dare say that. It's not your fault, and it never will be," Dean said firmly.

Blair glanced at him with tears in her eyes, but she avoided their gazes to blink them back. She hated the feeling. Of feeling weak and sorry for herself when she knew it was her fault. People told her that it wasn't, but she knew it was.

"We're so sorry, Blair. We know you're in pain, and the pain will never go away," said Neville gently. "That's why we're here, and Seamus will be too. You can cry on us, and we'll be here through it all."

"They're not gone, Caelum. They still love you, and they're watching over you even in death. We are here, and we all love you just the same. We're all in your heart and in your memories." Dean said softly.

And their words were enough to make Blair break down. The two boys immediately hugged her. She was healing slowly, little by little, but the pain was still there. They were right. The pain may not go away. The pain might stay forever, but she had her friends, the Order, Oliver and Hermione. She was a Gryffindor after all. It would take time to heal, but it would also take courage, and Blair would do as her parents asked her. To be brave and to be the Lion everyone needs.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Dean and Neville soon went to Seamus with an apology to Blair, and Blair reunited with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They were worried about her, but she reassured them that she talked to Dean and Neville and felt better. Blair was happy to hear that Angelina was the new captain and that they had Keeper tryouts. She grinned at Ron and told him to try out. Ron grinned back nervously and told her that he was going to take his chance to Blair's delight.

Blair laughed nervously when she found out that Hermione had several encounters with Fred and George regarding the new inventions. It was best that she didn't tell Hermione yet that she was one of their partners. Then, she remembered that it was the year for the O.W.L.s and groaned. It was going to be a long year. Blair spent the whole of History of Magic watching Hermione take notes. Hermione kept on blushing and reprimanding Blair to listen to Professor Binns.

"How would it be," Hermione asked them coldly as they left the classroom for break, "if I refused to lend you my notes this year?"

"We'd fail our O.W.L.s," said Ron. "If you want that on your conscience, Hermione..."

"Well, you'd deserve it," she snapped. "You don't even try to listen to him, do you?"

"Come on, Mione. Lend it to me please? You're the brightest witch after all." Blair pouted like a little child.

Hermione's eyes softened at how cute Blair looked before finally giving in. "All right then, but you better try to take notes next time."

Blair's face lightened up with a huge smile. "Thank you, Mione." Her smile turned mischievous. "You know, Granger, I'm bad in History, but I can remember every time I fall in love with you."

Hermione blushed and slapped her on the arm. "Oh, you." Harry and Ron shared knowing smiles. It was obvious already. Hermione Granger had already fallen for Blair Wood. 

They were talking about what Snape was likely to set them in the first lesson of the year when Cho walked towards them. "Hey, Blair." Hermione glared at her while Harry frowned. Ron looked amused at what was happening.

Blair smiled at her. "Hey, Cho."

"Hi, Harry." Cho said, smiling at Harry, who blushed, before turning back to Blair. "D-Did you have a good summer, Blair?"

Blair ran a hand through her hair, and she was about to answer when Hermione beat her to it. "Yes, she did." The eyes of Blair, Harry and Ron widened at how cold her voice was.

Cho glared at her before smiling at Blair. "So, you spent it with Granger?"

Blair was about to answer, but once again, Hermione answered for her. "She did. That's why she had a great summer."

Blair blushed deep crimson before turning to Cho. "Y-Yeah, Cho. I had a lovely summer with Hermione, Harry, Ron and the Weasleys. How about you? How are you and Cedric?"

"Oh, we broke up, but yeah, I had a good one as well. Anyways, see you, Blair." Cho said coolly before walking away. 

When Cho was out of sight, Hermione rounded on Blair and glared at her. "You are so... so tactless!"

Blair's eyes widened. "M-Me?" Hermione was about to say something else before she just turned around and walked away.

Blair stood there frozen for a moment before chasing after her. "H-Hermione, wait!"

Harry and Ron shared loud laughter before they followed Blair. There was no doubt about it. Hermione Granger was just as deeply in love with Blair just as Blair Wood was with her.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Even as they arrived at Snape's dungeon, Hermione was ignoring Blair. Blair pouted and sat down beside her, trying to catch her attention, but she was adamant on ignoring Blair.

"Settle down," said Snape coldly, shutting the door behind him.

Blair rolled her eyes and whispered. "We're already settled down, you git." Harry and Ron snorted while Hermione glared at her once more. Blair immediately shut up. As Snape went on about O.W.L.s, he kept on staring at her, Neville and Harry. Blair glared back, but thankfully, Snape looked away every time she did. Snape told them that they would be making the Draught of Peace, which seemed to be a hard one.

Blair quickly wrote a note and passed it to Hermione. Hermione glared at her for distracting her before reading the note.

If I make a great Draught of Peace, will you please walk with me?

Hermione smiled slightly before quickly writing a note back and passing it to Blair.

Good luck, Wood.

Blair grinned and quickly got everything she needed from the cupboard. Her face fell slightly when she found that it truly was a harder potion, but nonetheless, she started making it. She added in the ingredients in the right order and quantities, stirred them exactly the right number of times and lowered the heat to the right level for a few minutes. Blair sighed in relief when she found out that she only had to add the final ingredient.

"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," called Snape, with ten minutes left to go. Blair grinned when hers was a shimmering mist of silver vapor. She winked at Hermione, who had the same result as hers. Hermione rolled her eyes before turning away and smiling widely. Blair had to hold back her laughter when she saw that Seamus's cauldron with flames at the base. Ron's was letting out green sparks while Harry's was gray.

"Potter, what is this supposed to be?" The Slytherins at the front of the class all looked up eagerly; they loved hearing Snape taunt Harry.

"The Draught of Peace," said Harry tensely.

"Tell me, Potter," said Snape softly, "can you read?" Malfoy laughed.

"Yes, I can," said Harry.

"Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter." Blair glared at Snape, who was now looking victorious as Harry's face fell.

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

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

"No," said Harry very quietly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"No," said Harry, more loudly. "I forgot the hellebore..."

"I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco." The contents of Harry's potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron.

Blair stood up and glared at Snape. "You could've let him fix it. You're such an ar- bully."

"Oh, fame has gotten to the Wondrous Wood, and she thinks she can talk back to her professors," said Snape coldly. The Slytherins laughed, but Blair kept on glaring at Snape even as Hermione tried pulling her down.

"Detention, Wood, and let's see. Why don't we try your potion and see if you actually have something to show us? Not just empty words and actions." Snape said tauntingly.

"I'd very much like to try it on you." Blair said coldly.

Snape's eyes flashed. "Another detention." He then spoke loudly for the rest of the class to hear. "Let's try Wood's potion, shall we? Longbottom, your toad."

Blair's eyes widened in alarm. "What?" She was about to protest more when Neville gave Trevor to Snape, shaking. He sent Blair a reassuring smile. Blair's stomach fell. What if she made a mistake? What if she killed Trevor? 

Blair watched nervously as Snape opened Trevor's mouth and put in three drops of her potion. To Blair's relief and to the Slytherins and Snape's dismay, Trevor closed his eyes and went into a relaxed sleep, still breathing. Blair let her shoulders slump in relief. She didn't kill anyone. 

Snape glared at her. "That's three detentions now, Wood. And 10 points from Gryffindor. Don't think I haven't seen you exchanging notes with Miss Granger." Blair was about to say something again when Hermione held her hand and pulled her down. Blair frowned but kept quiet.

Snape turned to the rest of the class. "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. We'll arrange your detentions soon, Wood." Blair filled her flagon and put it down on Snape's desk, but not without one last glare. She followed Ron and Hermione to the Great Hall, where Harry was, eating.

"That was really unfair," said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Blair. "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."

"Thanks for what you did, Blair." Harry said with a smile before he glowered at his plate. "But since when has Snape ever been fair to me?"

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

"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots," said Ron sagely. "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," snapped Hermione.

"Oh, shut up, the pair of you," said Blair suddenly, as Ron opened his mouth to argue back. Hermione and Ron both froze, looking surprised. Harry looked both relieved and surprised, none of them expected that Blair would be the one to blow up at them.

"Can't you give it a rest?" she said, frowning at them. "Just... just stop it. There's so much going on. We don't need anyone else having a go at each other." She swung her schoolbag over her shoulder and left them sitting there. She walked through the crowd and past Sir Cadogan, who tried dueling with her, but Blair ignored him.

Blair spent the rest of the lunch hour sitting alone underneath the trapdoor at the top of North Tower, and consequently she was the first to ascend the silver ladder that led to Sibyll Trelawney's classroom when the bell rang. She entered the room and called out to Professor Trelawney. "Professor?"

Professor Trelawney looked at her with a sad smile. "Oh, Miss Wood. I'm sorry about your parents."

Blair hesitated before smiling back. "Thank you, Professor. I'm sorry about what I said the last year. I never got to apologize."

Professor Trelawney's eyes softened and she smiled back at Blair. "Thank you, Miss Wood." Blair nodded before taking a seat in the shadows. The rest of the class arrived over the next five minutes. Harry and Ron emerged from the trapdoor, looked around carefully, spotted Blair and walked towards her.

"Hermione and me have stopped arguing," Ron said, sitting down beside Blair.

"Good," Blair said simply, not really in the mood. Her chest started aching once more when Harry and Ron started arguing beside her. Thankfully, Professor Trelawney started the class.

"Good day," said Professor Trelawney in her usual misty, dreamy voice. Harry muttered an apology to Ron, who whispered back that it was fine. Professor Trelawney too went on about the O.W.L.s in Divination before telling them to interpret their dreams using the Dream Oracle. Blair paired up with Ron while Harry paired up with Neville. She exchanged glances with Harry. Both of them didn't want to remember their dreams.

"I never remember my dreams," said Ron. "You say one."

Blair rubbed her chest. "Try remembering one, Ron."

"Well, I had one that I was playing Quidditch the other night," said Ron, screwing up his face in an effort to remember. "What d'you reckon that means?"

"Probably that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," said Blair, turning the pages of The Dream Oracle without interest. She let out a groan when Professor Trelawney set them the task of keeping a dream diary for a month as homework. When the bell went, she, Harry and Ron led the way back down the ladder.

Ron grumbled loudly. "D'you realize how much homework we've got already? Binns set us a foot-and-a-half-long essay on giant wars, Snape wants a foot on the use of moonstones, and now we've got a month's dream diary from Trelawney! Fred and George weren't wrong about O.W.L. year, were they? That Umbridge woman had better not give us any..."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

When they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. The class was quiet as it entered the room.

"Well, good afternoon!" she said when finally the whole class had sat down.

A few people mumbled "Good afternoon," in reply.

"Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "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," they chanted back at her.

"There, now," said Professor Umbridge sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? 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. Blair shoved her wand back inside her bag and pulled out 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 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." 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 said, "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. Blair rolled her eyes. They were being treated like children.

"Good," said Professor Umbridge. "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 with those pouchy toad's eyes. Blair turned to page five of his copy of Defensive Magical Theory and started to read.

It was desperately dull, quite as bad as listening to Professor Binns. Blair kept on reading the same line over and over. She looked around. Harry looked like he was in a daze, Ron kept on writing Luna's name with hearts around it, but to her surprise, Hermione had not even opened her copy. She was staring fixedly at Professor Umbridge with her hand in the air. Blair looked at her questioningly and was about to open her mouth, but Hermione merely shook her head and continued to stare at Professor Umbridge.

After several more minutes had passed, however, Blair was not the only one watching Hermione. The chapter they had been instructed to read was so tedious that more and more people were choosing to watch Hermione's mute attempt to catch Professor Umbridge's eye than to struggle on with "Basics for Beginners."

When more than half the class were staring at Hermione 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?" she asked Hermione, as though she had only just noticed her.

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

"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 your course aims," said Hermione.

Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows. "And your name is — ?"

"Hermione Granger," said Hermione.

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

"Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly. "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 Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

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

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

"Weasley," said Ron, thrusting his hand into the air. Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him. Blair, Harry and Hermione immediately raised their hands too.

Professor Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on Harry then at Blair for a few moments before she addressed Hermione. "Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

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

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" 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?" said Harry loudly. "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. Blair kept hers in the air, now glaring at Professor Umbridge.

"And your name is?" Professor Umbridge said to Dean.

"Dean Thomas."

"Well, Mr. Thomas?"

"Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?" said Dean. "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 Dean, "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."

Blair spoke up angrily. "Professor Lupin was the best we ever—"

"Hand, Ms. Wood! 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 said, "we just —"

"Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!" Hermione put up her hand; Professor Umbridge turned away from her.

"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?" said Dean hotly. "Mind you, we still learned loads —"

"Your hand is not up, Mr. Thomas!" 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 Parvati, whose hand had just shot 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," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them before?" said Parvati 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?" said Blair loudly, her fist in the air again.

Professor Umbridge looked up. "This is school, Ms. Wood, not the real world," she said softly.

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

"There is nothing waiting out there, Ms. Wood."

"Oh yeah?" said Blair, her temper now at boiling point.

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

"Hmm, let's think..." said Blair in a mock thoughtful voice, "maybe Lord Voldemort?" Harry looked at her with pride. Ron and Hermione gasped; Lavender uttered a little scream; Neville slipped sideways off his stool. Seamus stared at her blankly. Dean's eyes widened.

Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was staring at Blair with a grimly satisfied expression on her face. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Ms. Wood." The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Blair.

"Now, let me make a few things quite plain." Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned toward them, her stubby fingered hands splayed on her desk. "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead —"

"He wasn't dead," said Blair angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Ms.-Wood-you-have-already-lost-your-House-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," said Professor Umbridge in one breath without looking at her. "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!" said Blair. "We saw him, we fought him!"

"Detention, Ms. Wood!" said Professor Umbridge 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.' "

Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk again. Blair, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at her; Seamus looked half-scared, half-fascinated. "Blair, no!" Hermione whispered in a warning voice, tugging at her sleeve, but Blair gently pulled away. Harry and Ron were whispering to her to shut up and sit down, but she wasn't listening.

"So, according to you, my parents dropped dead of their own accord, did they?" Blair asked, her voice shaking. There was a collective intake of breath from the class, for none of them, apart from Ron, Hermione, Neville and Dean, had ever heard Blair or Harry talk about what had happened on the night that her parents had died. They stared avidly from Blair to Professor Umbridge, who had raised her eyes and was staring at her without a trace of a fake smile on her face.

"The Woods' death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.

"It was murder," said Blair. She could feel herself shaking. She felt her chest aching but ignored it. Anger had triumphed over the sadness and pain. "Voldemort killed them, and you know it."

Professor Umbridge's face was quite blank. For a moment, she thought she was going to scream at her. Then she said, in her softest, most sweetly girlish voice, "Come here, Ms. Wood, dear."

Blair strode around Hermione and up to the teacher's desk. She felt so angry she did not care what happened next. Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag, stretched it out on the desk, dipped her quill into a bottle of ink, and started scribbling, hunched over so that Blair could not see what she was writing. 

Nobody spoke. After a minute or so she rolled up the parchment and tapped it with her wand; it sealed itself seamlessly so that she could not open it. "Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," said Professor Umbridge, holding out the note to her.

Blair took it from her without saying a word and left the room, not even looking back at Harry, Ron and Hermione, and slamming the classroom door shut behind her. She walked very fast along the corridor, the note to McGonagall clutched tight in her hand, and turning a corner walked slap into Peeves.

"Oh, it's the little Wonder Wood," cackled Peeves, "got into trouble again?"

Blair took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Not now, Peeves."

"Oooh, Little B is feeling cranky," said Peeves. "What is it this time, my fine Woody friend? Vampires? Werewolves?" — Peeves blew a gigantic raspberry — "Old Voldy Moldy?"

"Peeves, please, leave me ALONE!" Blair said pleadingly, running down the nearest flight of stairs, but Peeves merely slid down the banister on his back beside her.

"Oh, the Little B is quite mad now, is she? And I thought she'd be sad, but Peevesy knows better and I say she's —"

"SHUT UP!" 

A door to her left flew open and Professor McGonagall emerged from her office looking grim and slightly harassed. "What on earth are you shouting about, Wood?" she snapped, as Peeves cackled gleefully and zoomed out of sight. "Why aren't you in class?"

"I've been sent to see you," said Blair stiffly.

"Sent? What do you mean, sent?" She held out the note from Professor Umbridge. Professor McGonagall took it from her, frowning, slit it open with a tap of her wand, stretched it out, and began to read. Her eyes zoomed from side to side behind their square spectacles as she read what Umbridge had written, and with each line they became narrower.

"Come in here, Wood." She followed her inside her study. The door closed automatically behind her.

"Well?" said Professor McGonagall, rounding on her. "Is this true?"

"Is what true?" Blair asked, rather more aggressively than she had intended. She looked down. "Sorry, Professor."

"Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"

"Yes," said Blair.

"You called her a liar?"

"Yes."

"You told her He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?"

"Yes."

Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk, frowning at Blair. Then she said, "Have a biscuit, Wood."

"Have — what?"

"Have a biscuit," she repeated impatiently, indicating a tartan tin of cookies lying on top of one of the piles of papers on her desk. "And sit down."

"Do you perhaps have cookies?" The unamused look from McGonagall told her to shut up and sit down. Blair smiled slightly and sank into a chair opposite her and helped herself to a Ginger Newt, feeling confused.

Professor McGonagall set down Professor Umbridge's note and looked very seriously at Wood. "Wood, you need to be careful." Blair stared at her with wide eyes. The tone of her voice was anxious and not stern at all.

"Misbehavior in Dolores Umbridge's class could cost you much more than House points and a detention."

"What do you — ?"

"Wood, use your common sense," snapped Professor McGonagall, with an abrupt return to her usual manner. "You know where she comes from, you must know to whom she is reporting." Then, her voice turned soft. "I know it's hard, Blair. You just lost your parents, and you feel you have to defend their memory, but these are times that you have to be careful, Wood."

Blair looked down and frowned. She couldn't just let people think that her parents died because of some stupid accident. Professor McGonagall seemed to understand what she had been thinking. "I know. Your parents died a heroic death, but the truth will come out soon. I know it."

Blair smiled weakly as the bell rang for the end of the lesson. "It says here she's given you detention every evening this week, starting tomorrow," Professor McGonagall said, looking down at Umbridge's note again.

"Every evening this week!" Blair repeated, horrified. "But, Professor, couldn't you — ?"

"No, I couldn't," said Professor McGonagall flatly.

"But —"

"She is your teacher and has every right to give you detention. You will go to her room at five o'clock tomorrow for the first one. Just remember: Tread carefully around Dolores Umbridge."

"But I was telling the truth!" said Blair, outraged. "Voldemort's back, you know he is, Professor Dumbledore knows he is —"

"For heaven's sake, Wood!" said Professor McGonagall, straightening her glasses angrily (she had winced horribly when she had used Voldemort's name). "Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control!" She stood up, nostrils wide and mouth very thin, and he stood too. "Have another biscuit," she said irritably, thrusting the tin at her.

"No, thanks," said Blair coldly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Professor McGonagall snapped.

She took one. "Sorry, Minnie. Thank you."

Professor McGonagall's eyes softened before she turned serious again. "Didn't you listen to Dolores Umbridge's speech at the start-of-term feast, Wood?"

"Yeah," said Blair. "Yeah... she said... progress will be prohibited or... well, it meant that... that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere at Hogwarts."

Professor McGonagall eyed her for a moment, then sniffed, walked around her desk, and held open the door for her. "Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger even through all the chasing you do," she said, pointing her out of her office.

Blair suddenly beamed. "Of course I listen, Minnie. I love her."

Professor McGonagall smiled softly. "I know, Wood. Everyone knows."

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