Daylight || Harry Potter

Chapter Twenty-Four

"So how was Divination?" I asked Parvati and Lavender at dinner after their first lesson with Firenze. Lavender shrugged, and Parvati scoffed lightly.

"He's much different from Trelawney," Lavender said finally after mulling it over for a bit.

"I'll say," Parvati said, rolling her eyes. "He told us that everything Trelawney's taught us is 'human nonsense' and that she's limited because she's a human."

"To be fair, though, he also told us that centaurs read things wrong sometimes, too," Lavender pointed out.

Parvati sighed. "I miss Professor Trelawney."

"Well, I think it's a good thing Firenze is here," I said. Parvati gaped at me, looking almost offended, so I added in a softer voice, "Can you imagine the type of boot-licking Fudge lackey Umbitch would've appointed?"

"Ohhh," Parvati said.

"And it definitely wouldn't have been a centaur," I said. "She hates anyone she considers to be a 'half-breed.' Dumbledore knew what he was doing when he was hiring Firenze."

"Oh, we're talking about Firenze?" asked Hermione, sitting down next to me and starting to eat. "How was he?"

"Not as good as Trelawney, apparently," I told her, "But better than anyone Umbridge would've hired."

"That's true," Hermione said. "Have you gotten a response from your grandmother about your detention?"

I frowned and looked down at the back of my left hand, which now read I will not tell lies in my handwriting. I'd told Umbridge during detention that I'd read about the Blood Quill and I knew it was illegal, but she'd scoffed and told me that Fudge had "allowed her to do what she must in order to make sure students behaved." When I still didn't sit down and start writing, she threatened me with more detention and removal from the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. I would've said "fine" and walked out if hadn't been sure that Angelina would have my head for being kicked off like Harry and the twins had been, so I did it.

By the time Harry and I got back, it was too late to Iris-Message my grandmother, so I wrote her a letter and used a school owl to send it. I tried to be vague in my wording so that if Umbridge read it, she wouldn't know what I was talking about and I wouldn't incriminate myself by being a whistleblower.

"Nothing," I told Hermione. "I don't know what I was expecting. She never replies."

"I'm sorry, Ash."

"I feel kind of stupid now," I told Hermione. "I did all that research so Grandma'am would have grounds to take Umbridge to court for nothing."

"Not for nothing," Hermione said. "Even if you don't do it during term, you could still try over the summer."

"I guess," I said half-heartedly. We sank into a long silence.

"I meant to ask," Lavender spoke up, "when's our next DA meeting?"

"Tonight," I told her. "Harry says we're doing Patronuses."

"What?" Parvati demanded excitedly as Lavender squealed and did a little hop in place, which looked kind of ridiculous and caused people to stare, but her excitement was so sweet that it was hard not to smile.

"What do you think yours is going to be?" Lavender asked us, practically bouncing as she walked. "I hope mine is something pretty. Or something cute. Like maybe a rabbit?"

"I think you'll be a rabbit," Parvati agreed. "I don't know what I'll be, though."

"I think you'd be a butterfly," I said. "You're bright and good with change. And Hermione... I feel like she might be an owl. It makes sense, right? She's intelligent and she sees everything."