Students received their timetables the next morning and headed off to class after a hefty breakfast in the Great Hall. Most were anticipating their Defence Against the Dark Arts class so that they could see if they had finally been given a teachers that wasn't a werewolf, Death Eater, carrying You Know Who on the back of their head or a poor excuse for a wizard. Even though Professor Umbridge had an annoyingly sweet voice and a poor taste in clothing, she might be hiding some impressive defence work.

Blair headed to Arthimancy first before heading towards her Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Because of it being a compulsory subject throughout all years at Hogwarts, she would be spending the lesson with all of the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors in her year group. It was odd to think that this would be her final year of doing the subject in a schooling environment. After this year, she would be using what she had learnt in the real world (only when needed, of course).

Walking into the classroom, she spotted the woman in pink standing at the front with her short wand in hand and her sickly smile of her face. Blair tried to avoid eye contact as she made her way towards the table on her left, sitting next to the window and leaving a space next to her for whoever would walk into the room first out of her friends. George usually liked to have his seat saved but Blair always argued that if he kept coming to class fifteen minutes late, he would have to sit next to some other poor sod who would have endure his constant chatter instead of her.

Just like Blair thought, George walked through the door early for once but had Nancy, Poppy and Mina close behind him. Since the seats were only two to a table, someone would have to sit by themselves if the seat next to Blair was to be filled. George grinned at first but saw Nancy and Mina slip into the seats behind Blair, leaving him and Poppy to eye the last seat in front of them.

"I'm her boyfriend," he immediately said and turned to Poppy with a hard look. "It's my seat."

"I don't recall you ever actually asking Blair to be your girlfriend. Therefore; your advantage is actually invalid," Poppy sassed and started to charge towards the seat, only to have George do the same.

The two engaged in a shoving war in order to make it to the chair that sat oblivious of its desire. Blair didn't bother looking over her shoulder as she knew exactly what was going on behind her. But she was aware of the annoyed looks that were being thrown in her direction from other students because of the sound of tables and chairs that had been caught in the pushing war. George and Poppy continued to slink past each other until Poppy jammed her elbow into his side, making him let out an 'oof!' and fall behind.

"Yes!" Poppy cheered as she grabbed hold of the chair, ready to pull it back and sit on her throne.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" George cried and used his wand to raise the chair from under the table and up into the air, leaving Poppy with no seat. Everyone stared up at the furniture that hovered high in the air and George's large grin radiated over the entire room.

"Good luck sitting now!" he laughed and Poppy turned to shoot an insult back, only to be stopped by Professor Umbridge's not so sweet voice.

"Mr Weasley! This is not appropriate behaviour and I will not tolerate it in my classroom!" she shouted, causing everyone to turn and look at their Professor who now had her cheeks painted pink and her small, stubby fists clenched by her sides. She glared harshly at George before lifting her own wand and pointing it at the chair that still floated in the air, sending some spell at it and causing it to lower down slowly to the ground.

"There shall be none of this wand work in my classroom!" she said again. "Mr Weasley, Miss Penigram, would you please take your seats."

Poppy realised that she had upset the new Professor before class had even started and started to make her way towards the back of the classroom instead. It was obvious that George had won the seat next to Blair for the day and she chose to not draw any more attention to herself, giving George the satisfaction he thought he deserved. She hung her head over her desk and would have to endure sitting by herself for the hour today.

George on the other hand, kept his wide grin as he slipped into the chair he had just previously risen into the air. He knew he would win and knew he would have gotten in trouble either way. He was just glad to be the one sitting next to Blair and couldn't wait to talk her ear off and bother her for the entirety of the lesson. It's not like he had a chance in having the new Professor like him anyway. It was his last year after all, why not have a little more fun than usual?

"Was it worth it?" Blair whispered, amused at how quickly he had gotten on the wrong side of Professor Umbridge.

"Hell yeah it was," he said back, not caring that he wasn't whispering and could be heard by the surrounding tables. "And to make sure that my seat is SAVED, we need to establish some labels."

"Labels?"

"Yes. Blair, will you be my girlfriend so that I can finally say that I'm your boyfriend and have the right to sit next to you?"

Blair rolled her eyes but nodded with a bashful smile, causing George to grin wider and grab her hand that was sitting on the table top. It sat flat but curled into his once he had laced his fingers from underneath with hers. Their stomachs warmed at the contact and were prepared to sit like that for the entire session, seeing as George wasn't planning on writing anything down, but were once again stopped by Professor Umbridge's stern voice that made the effort to feign sweetness this time.

"That behaviour is not appropriate for a classroom, Mr Weasley and Miss...?" she trailed off and looked inquisitively at Blair.

"Bulstrode-"

"Rosier, Miss," Blair cut George off and made sure to shoot him a small glare for his attempt at a joke. Professor Umbridge twitched at George's interruption but kept her smile on her face, trying to keep her eyes on Blair who was slightly more tolerable at the moment.

"Miss Rosier. I do hope that your... relationship with Mr Weasley won't be affecting your school work," Umbridge said and Blair resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Of course not, Miss."

The woman nodded before turning to the right side of the class to talk to some Gryffindor about appropriate dress code, leaving Blair to slip her and George's entwined hands off the table top. Now out of sight, they kept their fingers interlocked by their sides and hanging in between them. George smirked at his girlfriend's technique and leaned back in his chair, ready to zone out for the lesson.

The lesson had drawn on for what felt like more than an hour. Professor Umbridge had instructed them to pull out their Basics for Beginners book and open up to the very first page. As if the children illustrations on the front weren't enough, its contents were meant for the youngest of witches and wizards. It started out with an illustration of a wand and labelled every part of it that everyone already knew about. It then lead into how to perform the levitating charm, to which they knew like the back of their hands considering George had performed it only moments before in that very classroom.

"I hope next lesson, we'll move on to colouring in!" Fred sarcastically cheered as they stepped out of the classroom and started to walk back to the Gryffindor common room for their free period.

"I admit that I don't listen to even a quarter of the things that go on in class, but I like to have at least some intelligible background noise," George shook his head with a sigh.

"Hey Blair, are you heading back to the common room?" Mina asked as she caught her before she left the corridor.

"I was going to go to the Gryffindor one for now," she answered. "Why?"

"Roger was saying something at breakfast about Quidditch practice starting soon. I can tell you at dinner if there's any more updates," Mina suggested and Blair nodded gratefully.

"Thanks."

Mina followed after Nancy and Poppy, leaving Blair to walk off with Fred, George and Lee. They had a spare period because of the dropping of classes in their final year. They also were lucky enough to have lunch straight after, giving them two hours to relax and discuss what complete drivel they had just endured.

"She already hated you within the first five minutes before class even started," Blair sniggered to George, making her way up the moving staircases to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"You're not exactly in her good books either," he shot back.

"Yeah, because of you!"

George laughed and followed after Fred and Lee into the common room, hushing the Fat Lady who sneered at having a Ravenclaw entering with them. It was thankfully empty inside because of the younger year groups still being in class, allowing them to spread out across the entire room. Crookshanks heard the entering of people and rushed down the stairs in hopes of finding Hermione, but was content with the scratches his head was given by Blair instead.

"You just attract hairy beasts, don't you?" Fred rolled his eyes and eyed the cat that rubbed his fur against Blair's leg.

"Explains why you're here," she shot back, causing George and Lee to burst out into laughter. Fred's mouth dropped and a fierce glare was thrown in her direction, now itching to pull his wand out and hex Blair.

"Alright you two, no duelling in the common room," George mused as he pushed Fred's hand away from his wand. The brother rolled his eyes and suggested that he explain some new products for the shop to Lee. Reluctantly, Fred nodded and motioned for Lee to join him at the table, immediately diving into the Portable Swamps that they had been working on.

Meanwhile, George and Blair headed over to the sofa and plopped down with a collective sigh. They had only two classes today yet they were exhausted from Professor Dolores Umbridge. The woman was infuriating and even though George was able to get her to crack on the first day, they still had to learn from pointless textbooks that wouldn't help them even in the slightest in the real world. With the fear of You Know Who rising with his army again, they wanted to be prepared. And they certainly wouldn't be able to join the Order of the Phoenix if they hadn't learnt the defensive spells taught in the last year of Wizarding school.

"She's mad," George said after a while. "How can Dumbledore let such a woman into this school?"

"I suppose he had no choice. It's all the Ministry at this point," Blair replied and let her head fall onto George's shoulder. They stared at the logs of wood that sat in the fireplace waiting to be burned in the winter and thought about what their year would be like with the Ministry rat now running around.

George shifted his head around from the fireplace to stare at the girl whose head fit perfectly in the curve of his neck and shoulder. Her black hair had grown significantly in the time he had known her, its tips reaching her elbows and looked silky and knotless. A smile grew on to his face at the sight of her small nose and long lashes that were shading her eyes from his view, but he knew they had their little sparkle that he loved so much in her pitch black irises. To think that she had come from a dark and disturbed family and childhood was insane to him, and it made him want to bake some cookies or wrap her in an infinite amount of blankets to make her feel like she had the home she needed.

"You're staring," she mumbled, turning to look up at him to see his wonky smile and enlarged pupils.

"I know," he simply said and Blair smiled, still not used to the feeling of being looked at with such adoration and warmth.

"Not to dampen your mood or anything-" she started and looked back towards the fireplace. "-but I've got my first night patrolling tonight."

"With the Slytherin?!"

"With the Slytherin."

"Slithering git. If he touches you at all, I'll cut his hands off."