𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 40

CHAPTER FORTY
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY QUESTION

. . .

If people were whispering and staring before, now it had only intensified.

It was the same for Harry, who's outburst in class had earned him five nights of detention and only rebutted the rumours of his craziness. Now they only repeated how he claimed to have seen Cedric die and duelled Voldemort. Both of which were true, just nobody could prove it. 

Aviana had received the same punishment, enjoyed jeering at Snape about his teenage years with her father - which she definitely should've gotten yet another set of detentions for-  and was now listening to people talking about her murderous father and with a temper like hers, she could be going the same way.

She had avoided seeing any of her friends since the class had ended, knowing exactly what their reactions would be. Pansy would be sympathetic, Draco would probably turn his nose up at her and Blaise would probably agree with her yet never publicly announce it because they all agreed with what Umbridge was saying and didn't dare to have a rebellious bone in their bodies.

It was a shame really, that Aviana didn't have anyone who would fully stand with her. Of course there was Harry, but the thought of that made her gag and despite his clear distaste for Umbridge, they were for different reasons. 

Arriving at the Great Hall for dinner that night after a couple hours of hiding out in an old abandoned classroom as she worked through the homework she had been set - bullshitted half a month of her dream journal and completed Binn's History of Magic essay about giant wars, with just Snape's essay on the properties of moonstone left behind, Aviana began to contemplate her choices in life.

It wasn't that she regretted what she said, but when she walked by the Slytherin table and almost every single student she passed leaned towards their closest friend and mumbled something in her ear, it didn't feel the best.

She might have been sorted into the house of green, full of pureblood supremacists and those born from death eaters and destined to become one, but that didn't mean that they supported the random killing of muggles. 

Evan Rosier would never had done that, William Rosier was constantly compared to his older brother, even if he was a death eater as well. The fact that William wasn't caught was the only thing he was better that Evan at. 

"There she is." Pansy wore a smile on her face as Aviana slid into her seat. "We couldn't find you after lesson ended - went down to the dungeons and everything but Snape said you were long gone."

"I went to get some homework done, seeing as I have detention every night this week." Aviana replied, her friends glancing at one another, taken aback.

"But we thought it was only tomorrow night?" Blaise asked, Aviana shaking her head. "What did Snape say?" 

"You know.. the usual stuff. Threatened to give me more detentions but seeing as I already have so many in the first week of term he wasn't going to, took a few points off of Slytherin though.." Aviana shrugged, lying through her teeth. Her friends could never know the true words within that discussion between her and their head of house.

"Avi.. what are you doing?" Pansy asked after a bought of silence, the welcoming smile on her face fading rapidly. "It's only the first week of term and you've gotten a week's worth of detention - you do have to put up with her until July, right?" 

"I know - and Draco don't look at me like that." Aviana said slowly, the Malfoy boy averting his gaze and changing his expression. He hadn't said anything to her since she sat down. "You have to understand Draco, and I don't think you ever will have to be in this situation, but  she helped send my father to Azkaban - you must at least have some empathy and understanding towards that? Especially after seeing what the dementors were like during third year."

"Right.." Draco didn't say anything else before acquiring his usual look of distase as a certain Gryffindor walked into the hall. "Why are you suddenly agreeing with Potter though?" He seemed suspicious of something, and Aviana quickly pulled a look of disbelief onto her face.

"Me? Agreeing with Potter?" She scoffed, shaking her head. "I'm not, but it seems like his anger is going through the roof and someone has to be there to watch the storm." 

Aviana would never admit it, to herself or anyone else, but she was almost doing it to take some of the pressure off of him. He was already subjected to enough shit with the Daily Prophet and the entire Hogwarts' student body. And as much as it hurt her to say - she felt sorry for him.

He had clearly been through something so traumatic at the end of the first task, and now nobody believed that the dark wizard who had terrorised the inhabitants of Britain once before, who had killed James and Lily Potter and countless others - the dark wizard that he had defeated as a mere baby and that he witnessed the return of.

Anyone with any sympathetic bone in their body would pity him.

And disguised under a very real anger over Umbridge's involvement in William Rosier's imprisonment, Aviana was using that pity to take some of the attention off of him. 

It seemed that if Harry Potter was going down for his anger and dislike towards Dolores Umbridge, Aviana was going right there with him.

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