Emilia

Emilia sighed and placed her head in her hand. Umbridge was, hands down, the worst teacher she ever had. And not only that, there were these particular students in her class that always seemed to find it intelligent to challenge her. As if it would change anything to tell her what she did here was utter nonsense. That woman had nothing to fear, and every attempt to disobey her rules undoubtedly were meant to backfire.

At least it was pretty obvious how to please her – the dumber the answer, the better it went. Emilia's tactic was simple: Umbridge knew very well of her skills, so purposefully answering wrongly showed her one important thing: Emilia would not be her concern.

Of course she knew that Emilia probably had known the answer 2 years ago already, but this woman wasn't here to teach anything. She was here to make politics, and whether or not she taught her pupils the materials they were supposed to learn or not was none of her concern, therefore arguing about whether or not her claims were right, or arguing about what they had to learn was a useless endeavour.

Emilia focused on those things she actually cared about instead – foretelling the next prank pulled on her in the folds of her dress, and making sure she would “attend” the show. Honestly, she was quite surprised how tough divination still was for her, as she realized that foretelling ANYTHING random she happened to stumble across was so much more simple than something in particular. And even then she wasn't sure whether it had really been her effort or simple chance.

Emilia was glad she never made a big fuss about her divination skills and that she didn't even dare to tell her friends (mostly Ravenclaws and very averse to such things), as theywould have obviously been the first things Umbridge questioned her about. It was a threat to her. Emilia knew from the first encounter with this woman that skill and knowledge was something she feared and needed to prevent, and she didn't plan to let Umbridges fear become a weapon against her.

When the lesson was finally over Umbridge still was cornered by 3 students who seemed to not have given up the fight. Emilia didn't care, she grabbed her book and left the room. She had no interest in joining lunch in the dining room and headed straight to the room of requirement. Ever since she found it it was her hiding space.

But for a few days now, things were different. Everyone knew about Harry Potters plans to teach students and pupils those things Umbridge missed to teach. Emilia was certain this was their solution to a save area to practice. It had surprised her, as she thought she was one of the only students who even knew about this room.

A room everyone could transform depending on their wish was nothing that would go unnoticed if more than a few students found out about it. Simply based on the fact that no one seemed to even talk about it, and that most of the times all the hallways around the room were pretty empty she figured there couldn't be many students who knew about its existence. In fact, she knew of a few, but it never seemed to spread. The secret was too big to tell many people – plus, it was a perfect way to hide, only idiots would risk making teachers aware of it as there was a positive chance it was possible to disable the room.

Emilia closed the door behind her. The room was small and dark. Chains hang from the ceiling and the walls were covered in black curtains. Black candles on the floor formed a circle around a small, maybe half a meter high and round desk that was covered in runes and symbols. Pillows lay around the desk, and a crystal ball stood in its middle. A door to the other side of the room lead to a wide, open area, where Emilia used to practice all kinds of spells.

Pulling a book out of her bag she had grabbed in the library, she sat down on her table and started reading, always keeping an eye on her crystal ball. Time passed, and Emilia kept checking her watch to not miss the beginning of her next lesson.

She was about to get up again as a weak flickering in the crystal ball caught her eye. It was very clear, almost the clearest vision she ever had. Slowly a scene between two students formed. One of them certainly was Steward, one of those guys in her class who always seemed to challenge Umbridge like no one else. Emilia had seen the scars on his hands, which were indeed quite nasty, although he rather praised himself for them.

The second guy however was surprising. Although she wasn't 100% sure, she was pretty certain it was Sam. Sam was in his 9^th year and although her teachers told her that he wasn't as good as her, he still was one of the best students in Hogwarts, alongside with Hermione Granger.Emilia had no idea where they were, but the message was pretty clear: Harry wasn't the only one who created a training course.

Emilia watched the scene for a few moments until the vision subsided. Getting involved in Harry’s business was too dangerous for her. Wherever that boy went, there seemed to be drama. This one however was interesting, and she was quite intrigued to find out how this idea developed. She knew Sam knew about the room of requirements, she found him sneaking around in the hallways numerous times before he broke up with his girlfriend.

“What a waste” she had thought, but maybe now Sam would learn to appreciate the rooms possibilities. After checking the time Emilia got up, stretched her legs and left the room.

Sally had lots of things to talk about today. She wasn't to be stopped – not like Emilia planned to answer much – but during the 30 minutes they sat on her bed now she never seemed to even breath. It was almost time to shut the lights and Emilia felt her eyes get heavier and heavier each minute. It was hard for her to follow, and that Emilia didn't care in particular about gossiping didn't help.

But she liked listening to Sally. At first it had been quite annoying, but her prejudice towards the extroverted girl was unfair. Yes, she gossiped, but during many occasions in their very one sided conversations now Emilia realized that Sally only wanted the best for others. She wanted to please people, and gossiping about arguments and other things that occurred was her way to calm herself down.

A year ago she would never have imagined that Sally would ever be her friend. Sally had annoyed her with her uninterrupted talking and encouragement to join events. Now she understood that Sally only had wanted to help her, and make her gain some friends. Emilia was happy about their friendship. Sally had many friends, so Emilia wasn't in her focus. When they went to bed, Emilia didn't cast her spell to keep the curtains shut. She hadn't done it in quite some time.

The weeks passed where Emilia kept an eye on Sam. It didn't take long for her to find him sneaking around in the hallways leading to the room of requirement again, this time silently followed by other students. Emilia was sure the lessons they planned had already begun, and she had to lie to say she wasn't interested. She was certain even at least 2 of her classmates followed him. She needed a plan to talk to him, alone. When she still tried to figure out how to approach the topic, fate took things in its own hands…

Emilia was about to get hers and Sally's butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks Inn when she stumbled into Sam on her way through the crowd. The entire Inn was full and she stood there, with a perfect opportunity to start a conversation. “Can I ask you something?”, she stuttered without even apologizing. Sam, who was taken by surprise, needed a few seconds to answer with a short, confused “Sure”. Emilia talking to someone wasn't particularly ordinary.

Emilia looked around very carefully. “How is your course? Your training, or whatever you call it?”, she asked, trying to say as vague as possible.

Sam's face went white, he took a small step back. “I don't know what you are talking ab-”

“Your study group I mean”, Emilia said and smiled innocently. “You know how they say I am really good? I would like to, you know, join. Maybe ask Steward!”.

Sam was silent for a few seconds and seemed to regain his composure.

“Look”, Emilia added, “I get it, you don't know me well enough but if the other… members are okay with it, why not give it a try? Think about it, if you or the others don't agree on letting me join your uhm… study group, just forget I asked. Fine?”

Emilia turned around and left him. Everyone had been pretty loud, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. However, having stared at people for so long she knew that especially those who spied were very hard to spot. She hoped Sam got the message, and that it was vague enough that the conversation seemed innocent, just in case someone had paid attention.

She grabbed the butterbeer and went back to her desk. Sally's facial expression was the relief she needed. Her friends mouth was wide open, and her eyes sparkled in excitement. “So you and SAAAAHAM?” was the first thing she managed to get out.