Chapter 5: Classes, Teachers and Trouble.
"Ah, first day of school, how much I hate you," Mia sang as she made her way into the common room. Hermione snorted into her book with suppressed laughter. Harry just rolled his eyes at her.
"Mia, I'm sure it won't be that bad," Harry informed her, but she just shot him a disbelieving look.
"We're at school," she informed him and Hermione grinned behind her hand at Harry's annoyed expression.
"Come on, breakfast!" Ron exclaimed as he came down the stairs and arched an eyebrow when he saw Harry and Mia glaring at each other. "I miss something?" Hermione grinned as she got off the couch and rounded it to wrap her arm around Harry's.
"Mia's just not happy about being back here," Hermione informed Ron as they all moved toward the doorway to leave the common room and head down to the Great Hall.
"Why am I not surprised?" Ron asked as he and Mia followed them. Mia elbowed him in the stomach. "Hey!" Ron exclaimed, wounded. "I'm on your side!" he turned back to the other two. "We've never exactly had good years here yet, you know."
"We know," Harry told him before sighing. "But we can't complain about school all the time - we don't need the Ministry getting on our back even more than before."
They made their way down to the Great Hall and sat down at their table as they got their breakfast - some students fighting over who were getting what.
"So," Lavender spoke up and Mia looked at her. "Have you changed your mind?"
"Changed my mind about what?" Mia asked and Parvati rolled her eyes.
"About the dreamy Hunter?" Parvati reminded and Mia rolled her eyes.
"Oh god please lay off it - I've told you. He's a bad boy and I'm not interested in them!" Mia reminded them and Lavender sighed.
"Oh come on Mia - he's a babe," Lavender told her and Mia smirked.
"I didn't say I didn't think he was hot - I just said I wasn't interested," Mia reminded them before she tucked into her breakfast.
"Time tables," Professor McGonagall called out as she moved closer to her students' table. Everyone looked up. "Miss Granger!" Hermione stood up and took both her timetable and Harry's. Hermione handed Harry's his and they both started comparing. "Miss Black," McGonagall called out and Mia stood up and reached over to take her timetable and she looked it over before breaking into a wide smile.
"Oh yes!" Mia cheered, causing her table to look at her. "We have Care of Magic Creatures today! And no potions!"
"Alright," Ron cheered as he grabbed his timetable only for his and Mia's smiles to fall when they saw what class they also had today.
"Divination," they both whined at the same time, causing Harry and Hermione to laugh together.
"Students!" McGonagall exclaimed and they both looked at her with puppy dogs' eyes. She glared at them before she pinned another glare on the twins, who had their mouths open to speak. "And NO bets!" she informed them.
"Aw!" the twins complained but McGonagall shook her head.
"No, I do not want complaints from Professor Trelawney that students are mocking her class," McGonagall informed them, sternly.
The fourth years snorted into their food and drinks at the memory of last year while the first years asked about what had happened.
Soon everyone had their timetables, so they all packed their bags and finished off their breakfasts. There was quite a bit of loud discussion among the students but it calmed down under the glare of Professor McGonagall. As the breakfast hour wound down, bands of students made their way out of the Great Hall to start the day.
Those who had it listed as their first class made their way down to their Care of Magical Creatures class, much to Mia's excitement. She was busy asking everyone what they thought they were going to be studying first while Harry and Hermione walked slowly behind the group.
"She's excited, isn't she?" Hermione asked and Harry grinned.
"Yeah - I'm just glad that Hagrid is still the teacher after the whole fiasco last year," Harry told Hermione, who nodded in agreement.
"Tell me about it," Hermione told him before she frowned and looked at Harry. "Hey, where is Buckbeak?" Harry grinned.
"He is staying at one of the Black's houses - the house elves are taking care of him. That way we don't have to place a charm on him to hide him from the neighbours," Harry explained.
"Bet Sirius just loved that," Hermione told him with a laugh and Harry chuckled.
"He said that we ought to move to the wizarding world and open up a petting zoo the way everything is going," Harry told her and Hermione laughed.
They finally reached the class and saw Hagrid pulling out crate after crate. Some of the crates rattled and gave off strange noises, which had Mia on alert.
"What are those?" Mia asked nervously, causing Harry, Draco, Hermione and Ron to look at her in shock as they noticed the trace of fear in her voice. They also looked toward the crates with a bit of fear on their own. If Mia was scared of it - then it meant it could be really bad.
"Blast-ended skrewts," Hagrid informed them proudly and Mia closed her eyes as she took a step back and hid behind Harry.
"Mia?" Hermione asked in concern and Mia looked at her best friend.
"Some of them have explosive ends - you can end up with burns. Others have pincers instead," Mia explained before shaking her head. "I was hoping I would never have to deal with them either in class or in life."
"That bad huh?" Ron asked only for his eyes widen along with the rest of the class as Hagrid opened the crate to reveal truly ugly looking creatures. Half of them had strange looking pus-filled ends, while the other half had pincers on its ends.
"If you touch the ones with the pus, it will explode and give you degrees of burns," Mia warned them and everyone took a step back, unwilling to go near the creatures. Hagrid, of course, didn't notice and continued.
"Now, if you all will come closer - I'll give you each a bucket of food. As I don't know what they like to eat, we need to work our way through it," Hagrid told them. That was enough to set Hermione on edge as she clutched at Harry's hand, fear evident on her face.
"What if they like humans?" she hissed to him. Harry just shook his head, obviously in the same situation as Hermione. He understood that Hagrid liked dangerous animals but it would be nice if Hagrid had some idea of what the animals liked to eat before bringing them to class for them to feed!
"Let's just hope that nothing happens," Ron told them as everyone edged closer to creatures until one of the pus-ended one erupted with some dangerous oozing pus and caused the girls to squeal and back off. The boys faced each other before giving out a slow, suffering sigh as they moved closer to take up the slack that the girls had left and continued on with the class.
Soon, though of course it seemed much longer, class was over, much to the relief of everyone.
"Poor Seamus," Mia murmured with concern as she watched as Ron takes Seamus up to the hospital wing. He had worked with a pus creature and it had erupted over his arms, leaving burns all over them.
"Madam Pomfrey will be able to fix him up - hopefully," Hermione told them as she brushed her robes subconsciously. She winced when she saw a singed corner at the edge. When they left Hagrid had still been trying to put the creatures back away in their cages after he dismissed them.
Harry and Mia made their way up to Divination after dropping Hermione off at her Ancient Runes class. Mia wasn't happy with the fact that she had to deal with the old bat on her first day of class.
"Divination - can someone tell me why I took this class again?" Mia asked and Harry rubbed her back.
"Don't worry - just one more year of this and you can chose something else," Harry promised her and Mia sighed.
"I can wait that long," she told him before grimacing. "If she doesn't keep going on about your death this year." Harry winced.
"How many deaths can I seriously die any way? I mean, you can only die once," he noted. Mia simply arched an eyebrow and he nodded, amending his statement. "Okay, so maybe some of those could actually happen."
They reached the ladder and Harry went up first with Mia climbing up after him. They headed over to their seats and Harry was surprised to see that Ron was already sitting down.
"Excited about class were you?" Mia asked and Ron threw her an annoyed look.
"Actually I was hoping that if I got here early, that class would go by quicker," Ron admitted. Mia was about to retort when Professor Trelawney came out and greeted her class.
"Welcome back my class - today, we will be doing more tea reading," she told them all before her gazed rested on Harry and a look of pity crossed her face. "I fear that there will be death among this school before long."
Harry's head just dropped onto the table, groaning as he asked himself why he had taken the class again.
Divination was finally over - much to Harry's relief. He had decided right there and then that he was NOT going to take the class next year - there were only so many predictions of death or doom a boy could take.
Lunch was also a quick event and soon everyone found themselves heading for their next class - which, for the fourth year, was Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"I told you to drop that class," Hermione informed Harry after hearing him complain about his Divination experience. Harry looked at her.
"Hermione - the only reason you were able to drop the class was because you walked out of it and had the extra classes. I can't just take up another class a year too late - I have to wait until next year before I can chose something else," Harry reminded her but Hermione was persistent.
"Why don't you just talk to Professor McGonagall and ask her to move you to another class? You already have most if not all the knowledge you'd need in the class I'm taking - you could take almost any class on!" Hermione informed him.
"Hermione, I don't want to ask for special treatment... who knows what they would want me to do in return? It's better off that I work in the system as it is," Harry told her and Hermione sighed as they entered the classroom and nodded.
"Fine," she told him and Harry grinned as he watched her go off to her seat before sitting down at his table.
Harry and Ron took up their table together while Hermione was sitting one table down and to Harry's right. Mia was sitting one table up, still to Harry right, but behind him. Draco was sitting at the table to Ron's left as they watched their teacher limp into the room. His wooden leg clunked with each step as he moved over to the black board and picked up a piece of chalk.
"I'm Professor Alastor Moody, and I'll be your Defence Against the Dark Art teacher this year," he informed them as he wrote his name on the board before turning around to face them. "Now, I won't be sticking with the easy stuff. We'll be going straight into the dangerous spells." He looked around. "Can someone give me one of the Unforgivables?"
Draco's hand went up into the air and everyone looked toward him. "Yes Mr. Malfoy?"
"My father told me of this curse - the Imperious Curse," Draco informed him before smirking. "He claimed that Voldemort used the spell on him." Moody smirked.
"Yes, and I understand it got him off," Moody informed him before he turned back to the board and wrote down the Imperious Curse. "This is a curse used for controlling others. It allows the caster to control a person for a large amount of time - depending on how weak the person is and how strong the controller is. A large amount of the Dark Lord's followers claimed that they were under the spell after the last war."
Everyone watched him intently as he finished speaking. He looked around before he walked over to a jar that held a spider in it and picked it out. "I'll show you how it works." He placed the spider on the table and pointed his wand at it. "Imperio," he commanded and the spider shivered before it straightened. "I could make her tap dance," Moody informed the class as he made the spider jump from one table to another, causing chuckles.
"Or even make her jump down your throat." The spider landed on Ron's chest, causing him to freak out and everyone to laugh harder. "Or even bite you." The spider landed on Draco's head when Moody decided to bring the play to an end. "Or make her jump out of a window." The spider thumped into the window.
Everyone's laughter ceased abruptly when Moody told them this. "Or how about I drown her?" he moved the spider move to the barrel of water and hovered it over the water, causing it to freak out.
He looked around the class and noticed with silent satisfaction that they were all quiet. He brought the spider over to his hand and looked around the room for a new victim as he moved over to the tables.
"What's the next spell?" Moody asked he moved over to Neville. Mia noticed a strange glint in his eyes and understanding dawned on her. She had to stop him before he asked Neville the spell.
"You shouldn't be allowed to use those spells in class - sure, they're what the Death Eater and Voldemort uses but you don't have the right to use them on children," Mia informed him as she stood up, facing their teacher off.
Moody raised an eyebrow before he walked over to Mia, eyeing her up and down before he came to the conclusion of who she was.
"Mia Black, the daughter of Callie and Sirius," Moody stated as he moved closer to where she was standing, refusing to back down. "Just like your mother you are."
"The next curse is Crucio, the worst. It takes extreme hate for the spell to work and the victim is put under extreme pain," Mia told him before placing her hand on his wand. "And trust me when I say, you do NOT want to use that curse in this class."
"Why not?" Pansy asked.
"Because some people here have been victims of the curse."
"So, they should be over it by now," Pansy informed her and Mia glared at her.
"Just try it," Mia warned with a kind of ultimatum. Moody just stared at her before he moved away. Mia sat back down at her place. Moody headed over to where Hermione was sitting and an idea came to his mind.
He placed the spider in front of Hermione, on top of the book before he looked down at her.
"Maybe you could give us the last curse Miss Granger," Moody asked. Hermione just shook her head as tears filled her eyes. Moody sat the spider down on the book. "Avada Kedavra!" Moody snapped and a green light shot out of his wand, instantly killing the spider.
Hermione closed her eyes as she turned her face to the side while Harry stared at the dead spider.
"The killing curse. Only one person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right here in this room," Moody informed them and everyone turned to look at Harry, who dragged his eyes away from the spider and glared at Moody.
"There is a reason those curses are unforgivable," Mia retorted and Moody looked at her with distain clear on his face.
"You best off remembering that your mother was killed because of her meddling," Moody reminded and Mia tilted her head.
"Funny, I seem to remember that she was killed because Voldie and his lackeys couldn't keep their paws off Harry and his family," Mia informed him, causing him to look at Mia.
"You dare to disrespect Who He Must Not Be Named?" Moody demanded and Mia snorted.
"Voldie," Mia shot at him. "And he is nothing but a cowardly liar who was scared of a baby."
"He was the most dangerous pureblood to ever walk the earth!" Moody snipped and Mia smirked.
"Who the hell said he was a pureblood?" Mia asked as she picked up her bag. "It's pretty well known that his real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle and is a half blood thanks to his mum being a witch and his father being a muggle," she informed them as she shouldered her bag before leaving the classroom, leaving everyone stunned and staring after her.
Harry just leaned back in his chair and smirked at Hermione and Draco, who shook their heads and turned back to their books.
"Write the name of each curse down and write down what they do!" Moody snapped at the class before taking a swig of his drink from his flask. He was unnerved by Mia's action in class. She wasn't afraid of him.
"Well, that was a fun lesson," Ron remarked as everybody walked out of class after being dismissed while Hermione sighed.
"Mia will get into trouble from Sirius - he told her not to pick fights," Hermione informed Ron. Harry just wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her close.
"She'll be fine. Mia just doesn't like hearing about those curses," Harry told her and Hermione nodded. Harry made a note to get her alone later.
"Where do you think she is?" Ron asked, looking around.
"She'll be either at the lake or in an empty classroom," Dean spoke up, causing the three of them to look at him shocked. Dean's dark skin darkened with embarrassment.
"And how do you know that?" Hermione asked, incredulous.
"Seamus and I see her about whenever she gets in one of her moods - she prefers to be alone so we stay out of her way," Dean explained before hurrying past them.
"Seems like everyone knows Mia better than we do this year," Ron remarked, causing a scowl from Hermione and a suppressed chuckle from Harry.
"Honestly Ron," Hermione started but Harry covered her mouth, cutting her off.
"Babe, he's teasing you," Harry told her. "Just ignore him." Hermione arched an eyebrow at Harry at the term of endearment he had used for her. Ron was eyeing Harry weirdly too, causing him to look at them curiously. "What?"
"You just called me 'babe'," Hermione informed him. Harry frowned before the conversation flashed back in his mind and he blushed slightly.
Ron grinned at them before he slipped away, leaving the two of them alone. Ron couldn't help shaking his head at Harry and Hermione. It was so obvious the two of them were totally mad for each other - now if they just opened their eyes and got together, the rest of the school could breathe a sigh of relief.
Ron made his way round the corner only to bump into a female body. Reacting quickly, he reached out and grabbed her arms, holding her up.
"I'm sorry!" he rushed out, apologising. The blonde looked up with dreamy blue eyes and she smiled absently.
"It's okay Ronald, no harm done," she told him in her soft voice. Ron's eyebrow shot up at the use of his full name and that the young female knew it.
"You know me? But I don't know you," Ron told her and she giggled softly.
"Luna Lovegood. I know your sister; we're in the same year," Luna explained as she played with her necklace. Ron couldn't help but be interested in it. It had butterbeer corks attached to them.
"That's an interesting necklace," Ron told her and Luna smiled.
"Thank you. It is quite easy to make - I could make you one if you wish?" she asked and Ron grinned. He couldn't help but be fascinated by this young woman.
"No thank you - I don't think I would wear necklaces that well," he told her and she nodded. She frowned softly in thought before a bright smile lit up her face.
"I know what I can do - but it would be extremely hard and very rare to find. I'll see you later Ronald - and do watch out for the little fairies. They like to make people fall in love with the wrong people," Luna told him before she walked off while humming a soft tune under her breath.
Ron just watched her go before shaking his head as an amused smile crossed his face. He had a feeling that Luna Lovegood was going to be one interesting person to get to know better before he continued his path to get back to the common room.
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were still standing in the corridor where Ron had left them. Hermione had her arms crossed over her chest as she continued to look at Harry, awaiting answers.
"Well?" she prompted. Harry sighed.
"Sorry, it was a slip of the tongue," Harry admitted. "I didn't even realise that I was saying it."
"Uh huh," Hermione told him, not believing him. She hid a grin as she continued to tease him and realised that she was enjoying it.
"Hermione," Harry whined and Hermione let out a happy laugh as she looped her arm around his.
"Don't worry, babe, I'm just teasing you," she informed him. Harry just shook his head. "Now, I want to run this idea past you..."
After being in the library for a couple of hours, Harry and Hermione finally made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. They smiled when they found Ron and Mia sitting at their usual spot, fighting over a plate of meat.
They moved closer to the table and sat down. Mia looked over and smiled when she saw them.
"Hey, you finally came to dinner - what took you so long?" She asked curiously and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Hermione has a plan thought out. She's is going to be starting up S.P.E.W. and she's roping me into it," Harry told her and got a dig of an elbow into his side.
"I did not rope you in to it - when I told you my plans, you dragged me off to the library!" Hermione reminded him and he chuckled as they turned back to the other two.
"S.P.E.W.?" Mia asked, confused, and Hermione nodded.
"Yes, for the elves - we want them to start being treated fairly. We should start up a campaign to let the wizarding world know exactly how house elves are being treated," Hermione informed them.
"For a minute there I thought you were plotting to free them," Ron informed her and Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"No - not all house elves are being treated unfairly. The ones who work here at Hogwarts and the elves at Harry and Mia's house, for example. I just think that they should have certain rights to protect them," Hermione informed him and Mia laughed.
"Besides, how do you think she would free them?" She asked Ron. "Knit hats and hide them under rubbish so they would be freed?" Ron snickered and Hermione smiled at Mia.
"Forget it. I can't knit to save my life," Hermione informed them. "Besides, house elves are quite smart - they would know if people were hiding clothes for them to be freed."
"You're right," Harry told her. "The house elves wouldn't be happy with that, so we're better off just slowly gaining the house elves trust first before we go rushing forward about freeing them." Ron nodded in agreement.
"Harry's right too - you have to have at least a good idea of their background - because not all house elves are bred from house elves," Ron told Hermione, whose eyes widened with interest.
"Really?" Hermione asked. She hadn't found anything like that in the books she had seen so far but then again, there weren't really any books about House elves and she hadn't even found any pages on them either!
"I'll owl my dad and see if he can find information on them to pass on to you," Ron told her. Hermione nodded her thanks as she filled her plate with food. That topic covered, they started to listen to the general discussion going on around them.
"So what do you think will happen this year?" Dean asked and got groans from the students. "What?" he asked.
"Way to go Dean, you just jinxed us!" Seamus teased him as he clapped Dean on the back, who just rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen," Harry told them. "I mean - surely things have got to have a break every now and then."
"Don't be too sure," Mia informed her brother with an arched eyebrow. "Fates like to trick people at the last moment."
"Would everyone quit trying to jinx our year?" Ron hissed. "I would like to have a year that doesn't involve in someone either running for their lives or ending up in the hospital."
Mia just rolled her eyes as she tucked into her dessert and looked at Harry, who was looking at the paper that had arrived that morning. She saw that Harry was frowning.
"What's up?" Mia asked and Harry looked at her before sighing softly.
"It's this new reporter," Harry told her and Hermione leaned over his shoulder to look at the paper and rolled her eyes when she saw what he was talking about. It was a report on Fudge being the best minister that the wizarding world had ever seen. Her eyes roved down to the bottom.
"Rita Skeeter," Hermione stated before frowning. "I know that name."
"You should," Mia told her. "She was the one who did the report on the death eaters and that they accidentally killed each other."
"How did that work?" Ron asked as he leaned over. "I heard from dad that all the death eaters were scattered throughout the area - there is no way they could have killed each other."
"The Minister is trying to keep the fact that any death eaters were killed low-profile at the moment," Harry explained. "They don't want people to know that they were killed by someone else, so it's easier to put the blame on them killing each other."
"Which is a complete and utter falsehood - they shouldn't be allowed to do that!" Hermione complained, obviously angry at the lie.
"But we can't refute it because we don't have any evidence - and it's hardly like they would listen to us kids anyway," Harry told her. Hermione just continued scowling before she turned back to her dessert.
Later that night, once all the students were in their common rooms, three teachers met up in Dumbledore's office for Professor Moody to tell them about his first classes.
"So, how was your first class with Harry?" Dumbledore asked from where he was sitting behind his desk.
"Interesting to say at the least. I got a tongue lashing from Miss Black about the curses," Moody told them. Dumbledore arched an eyebrow.
"Interesting - so far it has looked like Sirius has taught and trained them well. Yet she has problems with the curses?" Dumbledore asked.
"That Black girl is interesting," Moody informed Dumbledore and Snape snorted.
"You mean a pain," Snape inserted while Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, linking his fingers together.
"She has potential, but she can go either way," Dumbledore informed them while McGonagall looked in surprise at the headmaster.
"Personally, I think she is a delight - I've never had any problems with her," McGonagall told them before narrowing her eyes at Snape. "Other than when certain other people issue detentions with her but refuse to supervise them!"
"She's dangerous," Moody informed them. "There's something about her."
"She's protective," McGonagall snipped to the man and he looked at her in shock at her vehemence. "She knows what the wizarding world is like and she'll do whatever it takes to protect the family she has left."
"If Voldemort was to ever see her, he would recruit her to his side. I'm not sure that Mia would be able to resist it - all that power…" Moody trailed off at the furious look that was now coming from McGonagall.
"Mia Black would never go to Voldemort's side! He took away her mother and Harry's parents! He was the reason why this burden was placed on Harry's shoulders! Wherever Harry goes, Mia will follow him," McGonagall informed him. "And I thank you not to insult my children!"
"Minerva," Dumbledore started, but McGonagall wasn't listening as she spun around to face each of the three men.
"You have to stop this!" she informed them as she turned to face Dumbledore. "Stop trying to control Harry and allow him to be who he is! If you stop trying to control him then Mia would be nicer." She turned to face Snape. "And stop picking on them! Especially Hermione - Harry and Mia are both overprotective of her in part because she is a muggleborn! You were asking for trouble when you picked on her." Finally she turned to face Moody. "And you - stop making everyone think that Mia will allow herself to go dark - she is a vibrant bright young girl who is a complete fresh breath of air!"
"Minerva!" Snape exclaimed in shock but McGonagall wasn't finished.
"Those children are all a delight to this school, but you are hell bent on destroying them! Harry is an amazing young man despite the fact that he lost his parents at such a young age. He cares very much for Hermione and Mia - he is a very accepting young man. Hermione is a delight - her dedication to knowledge and understanding in her course work is brilliant. Her big heart is even more of a delight. Mia is perfect - she is a mixture of Sirius and Callie - one I thought I would never see again. She tells it how it is and you don't like it because you know it's true!" McGonagall finished with a shout before she gathered herself back together.
The three men just stared at her, still astonished at what she said to them before she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "And if you excuse me, I have to check on my House before retiring to my room." With that, she walked out of the Headmaster's office.
"Well, that was informative," Dumbledore stated, causing the two other men to look at him in surprise.
McGonagall stormed her way down the hallway, furious with the three men that she had left in the Headmaster's office. She couldn't believe how they were so willing to believe a vibrant young person would be so easily corrupted by the dark side.
She was walking so fast that she almost didn't hear the voices. Slowing down, she reached the corner of the corridor and looked around to see Harry comforting Hermione.
"Hermione, calm down," Harry whispered as he held her close and Hermione took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, resting her head on Harry's shoulder.
"When he used that killing spell on the spider - all I could think about was how it could have been you that night," Hermione whispered. McGonagall's eyes widened in immediate understanding.
"I could have killed him for placing the spider right in front of you before killing it - he must have known that it would have gotten to you," Harry told him as he rubbed his hands up and down her back, soothing her. "But you're not gonna lose me. I will do everything to make sure I'm around for a long time." Harry pulled away and Hermione lifted her head. "I promise." He rested his head on her forehead.
"I know," Hermione told him with a soft smile. Harry leaned down and their lips brushed together just briefly when a sudden crack startled them.
Harry spun his head towards the disturbance and frowned when he couldn't see anything. Hermione looked in the same direction before sharing a curious glance with Harry.
"Come on, we'd better get back - apparently fate isn't on our side tonight," he told her with a teasing tone at the end. Hermione blushed as she punched his arm before she linked hands with him and they walked off back to their common room, both equally disappointed.
"Oh Merlin," McGonagall muttered to herself as she watched Harry and Hermione disappear. She had been hoping that the two of them would finally get together, but her heel had struck a small rock and caused the noise, breaking them apart.
Muttering under her breath, she made her way up to the common room, going slower this time because she wanted to make sure that all her students were there first.
She just didn't understand why Dumbledore was so determined to control Harry. He didn't need control. Didn't they know that by trying to control him that they were annoying Mia to the point that she lashed out at them just to protect him? That they were aggravating Hermione, who was also very protective of the young man?
It was right there and then that Minerva McGonagall fully committed herself to protecting Harry with everything in her power.
TBC