My profile says why this is so late. Sorry.

I have a poll on my profile about this story. I'm just wondering what people are thinking about it.

Enjoy.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked as soon as they caught up with me.

I opened my mouth to answer the question but then noticed the look on Harry's face. "What?" I asked him, a bit taken back.

"You were talking to him," Harry blurted out, anger passing over his face.

I blinked, trying to figure out what Harry meant. "Him? Seamus, you mean?"

"Yes, Seamus," Harry said through clenched teeth.

"Well, then, yes, I was talking to him," I confirmed, crossing my arms slowly. "Why?"

Harry was positively seething. "Making friends with the people hate me? Nice, Adrienne. Very nice."

I glared at him. "For your information, I was not 'making friends with him'. I was defending you!"
Harry just looked at me, and I knew he was convinced that I wasn't telling the truth. "I really doubt that you and he were talking about me. Who's side are you on?"

I clenched my fists and took a deep breath. "Your's, Harry, so stop being such an idiot."

"Adrienne wasn't doing anything wrong, Harry," Hermione reasoned. "Stop accusing her."

"She's the one that went to talk to him!" Harry tried to defend himself but I was on the verge of snapping.

"Fine!" I shouted, stepping back. "If you won't believe me, then I don't need to listen to this."

Fuming inside, I went through the portrait hole, slamming it behind me.

I stopped down the corridor when I realized – I had no clue where I was going. Where was the Great Hall? Which staircase do I descend?

"Adrienne?" I quickly turned around to see Neville looking at me strangely. "Where are you going?"

I glanced around at my surroundings briefly (nothing looked familiar) and then looked back at Neville. "Uh, that's a good question."

I watched as Neville pointed the opposite way that I was going. "Great Hall is this way if that's where you're going."

I could only manage a small "oh" in response. I must have looked embarrassed or something because Neville immediately said, "Oh, don't worry. I used to get lost all the time here. You'll get the hang of it."

I gave him a reassuring smile -- but my mind was not on my conversation with him. All I could think about was Harry and Seamus as I wondered what was going to happen.

I glanced down at the Gryffindor table to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sitting together. Farther down, Seamus sat across from Dean. I stopped before I approached the table and turned to Neville.

"Thanks for the directions, Neville. I'll see you in class."

Neville nodded, leaving with a farewell as he made his way to sit next to Harry and the others. I made my way down the table and passed them, only sneaking one glance.

Hermione looked up and noticed me, but Harry was too busy ranting to Ron to see. Without even thinking twice, I sat down next to Seamus and Dean and reached for a piece of toast. I only looked up when I started buttering it and then suppressed a chuckle at their confused expressions.

"What?" I asked, trying my best to look equally as confused.

"Why are you sitting here?" Seamus asked, staring at me strangely.

I shrugged. "I can sit wherever I want to, right?"

Dean nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, but --" He trailed off, and Seamus finished on to his statement.

"You're friends with Harry," he said simply.

I shrugged once again and took a bite of my toast.

They continued to stare at me as if I were crazy. Luckily, McGonagall broke the awkward silence by passing out schedules. I took mine and glanced at it while I took a sip of my juice.

History – not my best subject. Especially if the professor droned on and on. Potions – all I could remember was that one of the members of the Order taught it. It couldn't be that bad. Divination – a class where I made up a lot of things, so it was okay. And Defense Against the Dark Arts. I didn't know much about the woman that taught it – but I guess no one did.

Briefly looking up, I could tell that Dean and Seamus were trying to disguise the fact they were still staring at me.

"Why is it so strange that I sat here?" I asked them sharply.

I didn't get an answer; instead, Dean nudged Seamus, and then Seamus gave Dean an annoyed look, and finally they looked over at me cautiously.

It looked as if they were going to say something, but we were interrupted by a loud voice. "Want any toast?" And a stack of toast was thrust in front of my face.

I turned around to see Fred and George with grins on their faces and toast in their hands. "No thanks," I answered, raising an eyebrow at them. "What are you two doing?"

The twin on the left took a bite of his food. "We're just going to try to sell some Extendable Ears before Herbology."

The other spoke up. "What are you doing, sitting all the way down here?"

I rolled my eyes, glancing down the table. "Harry got into an argument with one of his roommates and somehow I got caught up in the middle of it."

"Mood swings," the first twin said as seriously as he could.

"Tragic," the other added.

"He'll get over it." And with a short farewell, they left as quickly as they came.

I turned back toward the table as Seamus said, "But you didn't do anything."

"And now you know why I'm sitting down here," I concluded, finishing my breakfast and standing up to leave.

The two boys continued to stare at me. "You have no clue where you're going, do you?"

It started to annoy me that no one thought I could find my own way. "Follow the Gryffindors in our year. It's not that hard."

Hermione was the only one that noticed me pass by. She weakly smiled at me and I waved at her in response. Harry and Ron didn't even notice.

Following one of the girls in my dorm (whose name I just couldn't remember – maybe it started with a L), I finally walked into the classroom.

We had to listen to an hour and a half of droning about giant wars by a ghost teacher. I immediately knew History of Magic wouldn't be my best class. Hermione sat next to me, frantically taking notes, while Ron and Harry sat on her other side playing Hangman. I zoned out.

I followed the trio to our next class, Potions. On the way, I saw Cho walking toward Harry. I couldn't hear their conversation and felt a pang of regret that I had fought with Harry this morning.

This was getting ridiculous.

Hopefully, Potions would raise my spirits. I was actually pretty good at the subject. Following the directions carefully always ensured me a good grade in the class.

The room was in the dungeons and had a slight ominous feel to it. Suddenly, I wasn't as excited for this lesson.

Immediate silence fell upon the classroom once the door behind us closed. "Settle down," I heard a cold voice break the silence.

A man who I had only seen a couple times during the summer came to the front of the room. I watched him as he began to explain the OWLS at the end of the year. I could have sworn he looked at Harry when he said some would fail their OWLS. Harry glared back. A shiver went down my spine as I realized this class might not be all I thought it would be.

We were to make the Draught of Peace in only an hour and a half. Hermione seemed ready to go; she was at the ingredients cabinet before anybody else. I took everything at a steady pace to make sure I wouldn't mess up. I didn't want to make a bad impression on my first day.

It was coming along smoothly. A silver vapor started rising from my potion when Hermione's did so I knew I was on the right track.

The professor was walking around glancing into our cauldrons. For the life of me, I couldn't even remember his name – even if he was in the Order.

I turned to see how everyone was doing and found them in bad shape. I even took pity on Seamus, lighting the fire that had gone out under his cauldron. He murmured a thanks in return.

The professor stopped at Harry's cauldron and looked down at it in disgust. Even though I was mad at Harry, I felt bad as the professor pointed out Harry's mistake and vanished the potion that Harry had spent the whole lesson working on.

He then stopped at my cauldron and looked up at me. "Adrienne Hatcher, is it?"

I nodded and replied, "Yes, sir."

There was a pause as he stared back down into my cauldron. "Can you tell me the color of the vapor rising from your potion?"

"Silver?" I supplied.

The professor's lips curved into a smirk. "Exactly. Next time, Miss Hatcher, pay more attention to the directions. Your vapor color should be a light silver." I watched as he vanished my potion too.

I didn't even hear what he said to the class. Everything he had just said to me kept repeating in my mind, over and over. Even though I looked positively calm on the outside, inside, I was seething.

"That was really unfair," Hermione said as I walked by the table.

I didn't even have the effort to go sit somewhere else. I threw myself down next to her, causing Harry and Ron to look up at me.

"Both of your potions were better than most of the class. Adrienne had one of the best!" Hermione continued.

"He simply cannot do that!" I growled, stabbing a piece of meat as hard as I could.

Ron looked a bit afraid of me. However, Harry quickly countered with, "Yeah, and when has Snape ever been fair to me?"

I looked up at him, the anger in my eyes softening a bit. "You mean he does this to you all the time?"

Harry sighed, going back to his food as he explained, "Practically every day. And now he's treating you the same."

What did he have against me? "But why?" I asked, looking between the three to see if they had an answer.

"He never liked my father and he doesn't get along with Sirius," Harry said, and then paused, thinking his explanation through. "That may be a bit of an understatement."

"I did think he might be a bit better this year," Hermione said softly, interrupting us. "I mean, you know, now that's he's in the Order and everything."

Ron snorted and began the usual routine of telling Hermione she was wrong. I just decided to watch wearily as it went back and forth about whether or not Dumbledore was right letting Snape into the Order.

"Oh, shut up, the pair of you," Harry's voice came suddenly. Startled, I looked up at him with a surprised look on my face. "Can't you give it a rest? You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad."

Ron and Hermione looked completely surprised as Harry got up from the table and left without another word.

Maybe Divination class would help raise everyone's spirits.

Professor Trelawney, an absolutely crazy lady at my first impression, told us we would have to work in pairs for dream interpretation.

It would have been fine if Hermione was in the class. But, she wasn't, and Harry and Ron had already paired up, along with the only other people I knew – the girls in my dormitory and Dean and Neville.

It was then I noticed that Seamus didn't have anyone to work with. And he was the only other one who didn't have a partner yet.

Oh, god, Harry would kill me.

"Hey," Seamus greeted before I could make up my mind on what to do. "Uh – I see you haven't anyone to work with – and..."

I would never be forgiven if I worked with him. I would be killed. Exiled. Banished. Forever.

I blinked, and then realized I was really overreacting. After all, what else was I to do? Refuse to work and be kicked out of class? It was only one little class assignment.

"Okay," I found myself saying.

Maybe if we hadn't had the table right next to Harry and Ron, it would've been okay. But, unfortunately, we were seated about a meter away from them.

If I immersed myself in the work –

"Any good dreams lately?" I asked Seamus, opening my book and flipping through the pages absentmindedly.

"I had one two nights ago where me mum made me a plate of bacon..." Seamus trailed off into silence. I looked up, waiting for him to say something else. "That sounded really stupid."

I shrugged, propping myself on my elbow and then flipped another page in my book. "It says here food in general symbolizes hunger. Very insightful." I looked up at him briefly and saw him actually grin at my words.

And then I did something I never should have done. Ever.

I chuckled in return, a small smile appearing on my face. And, of course, at that exact moment, Harry would look over and see. And I was officially dead.

Harry and Ron left Trelawney's classroom before I even got up-from my seat. I sighed loudly, grabbing my bag and making my way to the door.

"Hey, do you want some company on the way down to our next class?" A feeling of sickness washed over me, as I turned around to face Seamus once again.

"Why?" I asked, surprised that I had opened my mouth without getting sick.

He shrugged. "Just wondering."

"Um, no thanks. I'm meeting with Hermione. But, thanks for the offer, Seamus." I gave him a small smile and hurried down the staircase. I wasn't lying completely to him – I really did need to talk to Hermione.

I hurried down the steps and met up with Hermione in a corridor on the way. She turned to acknowledge me, and then did a double take when she saw my face. "What happened?"

"One guess."

Hermione didn't even hesitate to answer. "Harry."

"Yeah, I had to work with Seamus during Divination."

"Ah," Hermione supplied, leaving it there.

I didn't even feel like going to Defense. I felt like hiding in the dormitories and never leaving again. "I didn't even do anything," I began to complain. "What was I supposed to do? I'm just stuck in the middle!"

Hermione kept quiet, listening to me rant all the way to class.

Professor Umbridge is a crazy woman, to be frank.

When I first saw her, I thought she was a crazy woman. And when I left the classroom, I still thought she was a crazy woman.

Hermione even agreed. Hermione. And she doesn't seem the type to cross a teacher.

Defense Against the Dark Arts is supposed to teach students through examples and practice. Instead, we were being forced to read a book and learn everything from words and pictures. Professor Umbridge claimed that the Ministry was changing the rules.

She's absolutely anal too. Forcing each person to raise their hand to speak in class. Harry, unfortunately, kept interrupting her without raising his hand. Dean too. And then Hermione started.

Soon, it became a full out brawl between the students and the professor.

Suddenly, I was thrown into the argument. After Parvati talked about the practical part of the class, I blurted out, "We cannot go out into the real world without knowing how to use the spells!"

Professor Umbridge then took a second to glare at me. "Name?"

"Adrienne Hatcher," I answered without a beat. "And I think-"

"This is school. Not the real world," Professor Umbridge cut me off.

Harry once again spoke up, catching me offguard and making me flinch. "Oh yeah?"

Professor Umbridge said, in a sickly sweet voice, "Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?"

"Hmm, let's think...maybe Lord Voldemort?"

My mind went back to that night where my mom and I had met up with him on the way to Grimmauld Place. My heart skipped a beat as I watched the professor with a hard stare.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter."

I couldn't breathe. The air was too hot and my throat was closing up.

Professor Umbridge didn't even hesitate to give Harry a detention and send him away to Professor McGongall. I watched him leave with wide eyes, willing myself not to scream.

My first day was definitely not what I thought it was going to be.

Ron nervously tried to get away from me as soon as class had ended. Hermione stopped him by standing in front of him and turning him back around to face me.

"What was I supposed to do?" I asked him, crossing my arms.

He refused to meet my eyes. "You seemed to be having a great time with him and with Harry's temper nowadays...he thinks you're going with Seamus."

I scoffed. "What - why?"

Hermione started walking down to the Great Hall and we began to walk next to her.

Ron shrugged. "Because you fancy him?"

I stopped dead. "No, I don't," I said, giving him a strange look.

He only shrugged once again. "Well, he sure fancies you."

I glared at Ron, but, for once, I couldn't find a single word to say. What could I do? What could I say? How would I stay friends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione if Seamus kept getting in the way?

The only thing I knew was that this was not going to turn out well.

It's unknown when the next chapter will be out. I will try, but I'm on a semi-hiatus right now...