WARNING: This is full of SPOILERS for this story, including Alison's lineage and other big reveals! So don't read it if you don't want anything spoiled for you!

Year 5: Chapter 5ish: Seamus, Umbridge, and Olopwatbup

"I'll meet up with you guys later," Alison told the twins. "I'm going to find Seamus." Rolling her eyes at the kissing noises that the twins were making, Alison headed off down the train.

Alison finally saw Seamus talking with Dean as they were moving their things into a compartment. "Seamus!" Alison called with glee, as she maneuvered her way around the other people in the hallway. But before she could greet her boyfriend with a kiss, he stopped her. "Seamus?" Alison questioned, bewildered.

"How can you act like nothing has changed between us since we left for the summer? Especially when you would have nothing to do with me over the summer," Seamus interrogated.

Alison, confused by his attitude, answered, "I told you before we left that I couldn't get letters by owl because I'm living completely surrounded by muggles."

"And yet you could visit with the Weasleys and Potter?"

"What?"

"I saw you walk through the barrier with them. Don't try to hide it."

"I'm not hiding anything. They were spending some time in London, and I visited with them. Why is that suddenly an Unforgiveable?"

Seamus gave Alison a hard look, "Do you believe Potter's story of what happened at the end of last year?"

"Yeah. Don't you?

"Of course not. Potter is crazy, and so is Dumbledore."

Alison took offense on their behalf, "How could you say that?"

"Of course you're taking Potter's side; you're probably in love with him. And since you're always spending so much time with the Weasley twins, you're probably doing it with them, aren't you?"

"What?" Alison said, extremely offended and angered at his accusations. "I am not in love with Harry, and just because I'm friends with boys doesn't mean I'm 'doing it' with them. You know I'm friends with Dean and I'm not 'doing it' with him."

"Yeah? I know that you were just using our relationship to get closer to Dean so that you could. You're just a whore, just like your non-existent mum probably was."

Alison couldn't hold back her anger any longer, and punched Seamus in the nose as hard as she could while screaming, "That's not true, and you know it, you donkey-butt! Stay away from me, or I'll do worse to you! I hate you!" Alison turned around and shoved her way through the forming crowd, leaving a bloodied broken-nosed Seamus behind.

Alison stormed into the twins' compartment and went straight to her trunk to find a book she could hide behind and distract herself with. However, the twins had other ideas.

"I thought you were going to spend more time with lover-boy," Fred comment with a smile, which quickly turned into a frown as he noticed the tears on her flushed face. "Are you – crying? What happened?"

Alison immediately wiped the tears that she hadn't noticed off of her face.

"Finnigan's a donkey-butt. He accused me of untrue things and insulted Harry, you, and Dumbledore. We argued and shouted, and I think half the train probably heard about our fight and break-up. At least, I'm pretty sure we broke up because I think I broke his nose," Alison concluded with an attempt at a smile and a joke.

"That's the sister we know," encouraged George.

Fred continued, "Doing things literally that most people don't have the guts to do."

"Like taking a leap," George provided.

"Or keeping our heads up," added Fred.

"Or answering the question: What's up."

"Or having our heads in the clouds."

"Or putting our feet in our mouths."

"Well, we haven't succeeded in making it rain cats and dogs yet," Alison offered with a smile. The twins smiled hugely back, glad that they succeeded in making her happy again.

Only a few minutes later, Lee, Alicia, and Angelina were at the door of the twins' and Alison's compartment.

"We heard about the fight you had with Seamus and wanted to make sure you were okay," Angelina explained as the three sat down in the compartment.

"I'm fine," Alison reassured with a small smile.

"So what was the fight about?" Lee inquired. "I mean, all we heard was that there was a fight that included insults, shouting, and you bloodying him."

"Lee," the twins warned simultaneously.

"It's okay," Alison said to placate her protective practically-brothers. "Finnigan apparently thinks that Harry and Dumbledore are crazy and because I believe them, I obviously am in love with Harry. Thankfully, he didn't also try to accuse me of being in love with Dumbledore for the same reason." Alison gave a shudder, and everyone in the compartment gave a laugh, as they saw how she was trying to lighten what Finnigan said to her.

Alison continued, "However, apparently Finnigan thinks that not only am I in love with Harry, but I was also using my relationship with Finnigan to get to my crush, Dean. He also thinks that I'm 'doing it' with you two." Alison gestured to the twins and made a thoughtful look appear on her face. "Though, he never specified if I was 'doing it' with only one of you or both of you and if it was at the same time. Oh, and he told me that I'm a whore just like my mother, which is okay because my mother never was a whore; so what he really said was that I'm not a whore even though he didn't mean it that way."

There was a pause in the conversation until Lee broke it, "So what your saying is that Finnigan is now at the top of Olopwatbup."

As the others gave Lee strange looks at the use of the word Olopwatbup, Lee and Alison both snickered as they remembered how they came up with the name Olopwatbup for their pranking list.

Alison finally answered, "That is exactly what I'm saying, Lee."

:) :) :) :) :)

With the exception of the sorting hat song, which gave a warning unlike other years, the feast began as usual: catching up with friends, cheering loudly for whichever first-years were sorted into their House, and enjoying the food and company. However, the feast deviated from the norm during Dumbledore's after-dinner speech.

Dumbledore began, "Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices. First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students – and a few of our older students ought to know by now too." Alison, Lee, and the twins exchanged smirks.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door."

"It's so sweet of Filch to write a list of all the things we should do before we graduate," Lee whispered to the twins and Alison who snickered.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year," Dumbledore continued. "We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was a round of polite but unenthusiastic applause during which Alison commented to the boys, "I hope Hagrid is okay."

Dumbledore resumed, "Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the –"

He broke off, looking inquiringly at Umbridge. At first, nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking. Then Umbridge said, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she was intending to make a speech.

Dumbledore only looked taking aback for a second before sitting down smartly and looking at Umbridge alertly. However, the other staff members were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her hair, and Professor McGonagall's mouth was thinner than when she caught the twins doing something she thought was inappropriate.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome."

Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish, and Alison shivered in disgust when she heard it. Umbridge cleared her throat again with another "Hem, hem" and continued, "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She bared her teeth in a fake smile. "And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"

Alicia mumbled, "So she can not only not speak but also not see 'cause nobody here is smiling."

Umbridge exclaimed, "I am very much looking forward to knowing you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"

"We are not toddlers," Angelina whispered in disgust.

Umbridge cleared her throat yet again with another "Hem, hem," but when she continued, she sounded much more businesslike and her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching,"

Umbridge paused and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of which bowed back. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows had contracted so that she looked feral and ready to attack Umbridge.

When Umbridge cleared her throat yet again with yet another "Hem, hem," Fred commented, "I hope she chokes on whatever is stuck in her throat." Everyone who heard him gave a grunt or a nod in agreement.

Umbridge went on, "There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering."

"Do you hear her?" Alison whispered indignantly. "No tinkering, no progress. Who does she think she is?"

"Without any tinkering and progress, there would be no advancements or improvements in anything. Not spells, not potions, not objects, nothing," George expanded.

As the future Healer, Alicia added, "And look how much recent advances in healing potions and spells have cured illnesses and injuries and saved people's lives."

"She's obviously a Ministry idiot," Angelina said dismissively. "Listen to her."

Umbridge was saying, "… some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightfully so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."

Umbridge finally sat down, and Dumbledore and some other people clapped. Dumbledore resumed his speech, "Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating."

Alicia snorted, "It certainly was illuminating. She basically told us that the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts and they're changing things for the worse."

Lee stopped her, "This is the beginning of the year; so let's focus on the positives."

"Like what?" Alicia prompted.

"Like how I'm going to win the betting pool this year on how the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be disposed of," Lee replied smugly.

"Yeah? How?" Alicia taunted as the group got up to leave the Great Hall.

"McGonagall's going to kill her. Just look at her. Her cat instincts obviously are telling her to attack the small, pink, ugly-looking toad, and when McGonagall finally succumbs to her cat instincts after Umbridge wears her down, I'll win the betting pool."

The group laughed, and Alison said, "I'll put two Sickles towards that."

"Another positive," Angelina chimed in, "is that I'm Quidditch Captain so you all better be at tryouts on Friday, - even if it's only to support the team," Angelina added, forestalling Lee's protests that he and Alison were not trying out.

Fred began, "Another positive right now is that some of our products are ready to be tested by others."

George elaborated, "So we are going to pay younger students to test them for us so we can record the effects that the products have on varying ages, ethnicities, and genders."

"That's a great idea!" Alison exclaimed. "And Umbridge being here this year may be a positive for our business."

"How?" Lee asked, while the others looked bewildered also.

"With Umbridge's attitude and with all the restrictions I'm betting she's planning on enacting," Alison explained, "more and more kids are going to look for outlets for their frustrations with her, namely buying and using Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products. To put it in simple terms for you, Lee, Umbridge has just joined Finnigan at the top of Olopwatbup."

A/N

Thank you all for reading! Check out my story The Story of an Orphan: First Year if you haven't already!

Please review! I would love to hear about any comments, questions, concerns, or story ideas regarding this story that you have!