𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 142

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND FORTY TWO
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THE NEWS 
SPREADS

. . .

Despite Umbridge's confiscation of The Quibbler, and the appearance of several large signs announcing the High Inquisitor's twenty-seventh Educational Decree by mid-morning, as the end of the day rolled around, everyone had read the article.

Nobody could admit to reading the article, for otherwise they would be faced with the wrath and fury of a Ministry woman scorned (Aviana remained adamant that Umbridge was 'shagging' Fudge, and that was why she was so angry that Harry had done a tell-all discrediting him), but everyone had read it nonetheless, and it was so blatantly obvious. 

Neither Aviana nor Harry had seen anyone reading it, not even a corner of the large, psychedelic-like masthead naming The Quibbler, but the whole place appeared to be quoting the interview at each other and following it with a rampant, hushed discussion. Outside classrooms as they queued up for lessons, glancing out of their confines as Harry walked by before turning back and their conversation became slightly more animated. They talked about it over lunch, at the back of lessons, even in the toilets, as Hermione had returned having witnessed every occupant of the cubicles had been talking about it, and bombarded her with questions after she emerged from her own.

And whilst that pushed a smile onto Harry's face, as Hermione had come to the conclusion that this meant he had convinced everyone, Aviana, on the other hand, appeared a little more guarded about the whole ideal. As always, she was putting on a mask, taking up the role of the pleased girlfriend as she shared in Harry's joy at being believed for once, but he had noticed the way she fell silent, or how she kept eyeing her supposed friends at the Slytherin table at lunch, who were always leaning close together and mumbling about something or the other. 

Harry had been glad that she had had the idea to help in his interview, that she had provided agreement and facts that would back up what he was saying, but before it had even begun, Aviana had recognised the one thing that Rita actually needed for the interview, and provided it for her. Harry was scandalous enough on his own, but he was untrustworthy. For Rita to say that an unnamed person was sat beside him backing up his facts on the Death Eaters only made it look more like he was making it up.

But Aviana had been named, fully, several times. Harry had briefly worried about it, but hadn't had the time to truly ruminate upon it and now that the article had, he was forced to think of nothing but it. The Rosier name carried a weight in their world. Last year, when William had been convicted, in September when she came back to school with her father a convicted muggle-murderer, and then when he broke out from Azkaban alongside a number of other dangerous Death-Eaters, confirming his own status as one, as he certainly hadn't been under the Imperius Curse as he had claimed before.

And she had sat there alongside him, openly criticised the Ministry in that hefty, to-the-point way she often did, and reiterated every single named Death Eater that Harry had reported to be at the ceremony where Voldemort returned. Her own father, certainly, was the biggest betrayal at hand, and considering Aviana's convictions that he would appear and kill her, was terrifying, but that listing of all-too-familiar surnames. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott. Peter Pettigrew. The ones that Harry hadn't recognised, Aviana knew exactly who they were, and named them easily. Macnair, Avery, Yaxley, Amycus and Alecto Carrow too. 

She had told Rita exactly who was there, and exactly how she knew, stating that her father had told the family in hushed tones, as they needed to know what to expect now that Voldemort had returned. That they were expected to live as always, and to appear as though they had no idea what was going on with the Dark Lord. And she had so clearly implied that the same speech would be given to other Death Eater children. 

And she sat beside Harry in lessons silently, picking at a small cut on her wrist. 

Meanwhile, Umbridge was stalking the school, stopping students at random and demanding they turn out their books and pockets, searching for copies of The Quibbler to punish them for. But the students were several steps ahead of her. The pages carrying the interview had been bewitched to resemble extracts from textbooks if anyone but themselves read it, or else wiped magically blank until they wished to peruse it again. 

The teachers, were of course, forbidden from mentioning anything else but the lesson they taught, but they found otherwise ways to express their feelings about it nonetheless. Sprout awarded Gryffindor twenty points when Harry passed her a watering can; a beaming Professor Flitwick pressed a box of squeaking sugar mice on him at the end of charms and hurried away without a word; and Professor Trelawney broke into hysterical sobs during Divination and announced to the startled class, and a very disapproving Umbridge, that Harry was not going to suffer and early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, become Minister of Magic and have twelve children. 

Something Aviana was vehemently again, as in a moment of clarity from her own thoughts, she turned to Harry and said, "You can become Minister of Magic and live as long as you want - but twelve children is twelve too many, so suck it up." She grinned then, and Harry shook his head, and for the hour of Defence Against Dark Arts following, she appeared her usual self; arguing with Umbridge, refusing the detentions given to her, and given Blaise and Pansy an unusually high number of house points for the strangest of things every time Umbridge took them from her. 

Pansy was, once more, awarded for smiling, whilst Aviana said that Blaise was sitting in silence so perfectly that it could not go unrewarded, all whilst simultaneously ignoring the looks that Draco, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle gave her. 

And after Defence Against the Dark Arts, when they made their way down to the library with Ron and Hermione and settled down at their usual table, the same group of four was sat at a table opposite, their heads close together and murmuring, whilst Aviana watched them and pretended she wasn't whenever Harry looked up. 

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