Thinking For Herself

After dinner one night Millicent sat at one of Slytherin's study desks trying desperately to learn something for History of Magic. She wasn't particularly bothered what she learned, as long as something sank in. She hadn't worked very hard at her lessons since the death of her mother, and she'd slipped behind her classmates. Crabbe and Goyle were working at the same desk, snuffling occasionally in thought.

Vincent Crabbe kept stealing sly glances at Millicent. Lately he hadn't seen as much of her as he was used to. He'd had a letter from his mother telling him what a nice girl Millicent was, and how unfortunate it was that she'd lost her mother, and wouldn't it be nice if Vincent made good friends with her. He was a little confused by this, as his mother had always kept Stella Bustrode at arm's length and, in private, told him that Millicent wasn't quite good enough for a pureblood boy. He'd sent Millicent a Valentine's card regardless, and was now glad that he had.

He'd finally gathered the courage to tell Draco and Goyle that he fancied Millicent. Goyle had laughed like a hyena, as he'd expected, but Draco had looked at him approvingly and said what a fantastic couple they'd make. Crabbe had been a little taken aback by this unexpected support, but was pleased that Draco agreed that Millicent was the girl for him. Now he just had to be brave enough to confess it to Millicent herself. Just talking to her more would help, he supposed.

"Millie..." he began.

"Milli-cent," Millicent insisted. "Only Pansy calls me Millie, and that's because she knows it's bloody annoying." She returned her attention to the impact of Muggle empire-building on the wizard communities in Europe.

Crabbe blushed. "Um, that potion today. Did it use blue moonstone or white?"

"They're both the same," Millicent muttered grouchily, trying to make it plain that she was working, not looking for a conversation. 'Wizard traders make wind for sailing = increased profits' she noted. 'Influx of new ways of thinking and new potion ingredients.'

"Snape always tells us to use blue," Goyle interjected.

"Only because it's more effective. It's more expensive, though, which is why there are only a few bottles and the Gryffindors always get stuck with the white."

Crabbe made some scratchy notations on his essay. Pansy said Millicent was stupid, but he thought she was really clever. She could remember all sorts of stuff, like dates in History of Magic and incantations in Charms. She also explained things to him, rather than just telling him the answer like Draco did. Draco had told Crabbe some of the little ways he flirted with Pansy, like poking her in the side or tickling her ankle with his foot under the table. Girls liked things like that, according to Draco.

Millicent had gone back to her history book, and was alarmed to feel Crabbe's foot squashing hers. She couldn't work under these circumstances. "Vincent Crabbe, why don't you watch where you put your clumsy paws?" She stood up in annoyance. "Other people have their legs beneath this table too." She didn't notice Goyle sniggering.

Crabbe was jealous of Adrian Pucey, who he always seemed to catch discussing lessons with Millicent nowadays. He had to admit, Adrian was a good-looking boy in a grey sort of way. His family were respectable enough - although not, thought Vincent with a puff of pride, a patch on the Crabbes. No Pucey served the Dark Lord, whereas Crabbe had picked up enough clues to know that his father had, many years ago. He watched Millicent trudge over to Adrian, who'd just returned from somewhere or other. Let Pucey teach her school stuff, he thought sourly. That doesn't impress girls. You don't see girls trailing round after Professor Flitwick or Professor Snape.

Gregory Goyle whispered, "Oooh, you're so smooth, Vincent. Playing footsie really gets her going, doesn't it?"

Crabbe grunted and ignored him.

Millicent scowled at Adrian. "Where have you been? I wanted to ask for some help with my Defence."

Adrian waved one hand airily. "Detention with Professor Snape. I should've had it ages ago, but he seemed to be fully booked up with Harry Potter. Apparently Potter has learned to make a half-decent potion now and won't be having any more remedial lessons, so Snape can clear his backlog."

"Potter's always in trouble," Millicent remarked, sitting down next to him. "It's not fair that he gets remedial Potions. The rest of us could do with extra help before our exams too. I wish he'd just stick to the rules and not make a fuss. He doesn't have to be punished."

"Do you really think that?" Adrian asked in surprise. "Haven't you ever even wanted to break a rule? Sometimes you need to break them, if you're to get things done."

"Oh, don't start this," Millicent grumbled. "I got it all from my father at Christmas. I've never broken a rule because they get made for a reason - to improve things for everyone."

"But you do think sometimes the rules are wrong? I mean, that one about not reading The Quibbler. That's just daft."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean rules are wrong or we should break them willy-nilly. It means we should look at the rules again and get them right."

Adrian laughed. "There's no winning with you, is there? You'll be sitting in the Wizengamot one day, it's the best place for you. We'll get you to write laws that work."

She knew he was teasing her, but it was in a friendly way. Only her family usually treated her so gently. Millicent laughed too as Adrian took her hand and guided her through a new defensive spell. Across the room, Crabbe stabbed furiously at his parchment with his quill in disgust.

Vincent Crabbe's misery came to an end when Draco came in looking fit to burst. He was grinning from ear to ear, and seemed to be dancing rather than walking. Pansy immediately bounced up off the sofa. "What's up with him?" Adrian wondered aloud.

"HE'S BEING EXPELLED!" Draco crowed, so loudly it could probably be heard by the first- and second-years in their nearby dormitories. No one needed to ask who 'he' was. Draco wanted to be the most popular (or, failing that, the most influential) student in his year, if not the school. Perhaps if Harry Potter hadn't been around, he'd have achieved his wish, but Harry was more famous, a better Quidditch player, wealthy in his own right and surrounded by friends and admirers - a constant irritation to Draco.

"What?" Blaise Zabini brightened noticeably, and Montague and Warrington looked overjoyed. They still hadn't forgiven Harry for catching the Golden Snitch and costing them the first Quidditch match of the year.

Pansy clapped delightedly. "What did he do? Did Umbridge catch him doing something?"

Draco savoured the moment, looking at his audience. The feeling was incredible - it must be how his father felt when addressing a group of Ministry officials and knowing that all they wanted was to hear what he had to say. He didn't speak for a few seconds, enjoying the sensation. As Urquhart began to look impatient, he began, "It turned out that Potter and his little pals have been having illicit meetings."

"But he's always been friends with Granger and Weasley," Goyle said, confused. "That can't be against the rules."

"It wasn't just them. He had lots of chums to his meetings. Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, anyone but Slytherins. All practising spells the Ministry have made plain we shouldn't learn at our age. They were all meeting in a room on the fifth floor."

Millicent bit her lip in shame. "They were trying out Defence Against The Dark Arts spells?" she piped up. There had never been an actual decree banning students from learning the spells, so she technically hadn't broken any rules, but Draco was right, Umbridge hadn't wanted the students to practice them.

"Got it in one," Draco grinned. "Anyway, one of the group finally developed a conscience about it and confessed to Professor Umbridge. Somehow they knew we were coming and made a run for it, but I caught Potter. Fifty points to Slytherin for me, and the long walk to Hogsmeade for Mr. Potter.

Everyone milled around Draco, congratulating him.

"What's wrong?" Adrian asked Millicent, who was looking glum.

"He's being expelled just for doing what we're doing," she explained. "It's only extra study."

"He's being expelled for starting a club without permission," Adrian pointed out. "There're only two of us. Umbridge might not have cared if he'd spent his time teaching Granger and Weasley."

"Neville Longbottom," Millicent began. "Um, I like Neville." She looked at Adrian defiantly. Adrian kept his face carefully neutral, so she continued, "He's not what everyone says he is. I mean, yes, he's rubbish at magic, but he's not the crybaby he was in the first year, when Draco nicked his Remembrall. Draco's aunt tortured his parents, did you know that?"

"Yes, it's a horrific story."

"He's a friend of Potter, so he was probably at the meeting. I know Eloise Midgen hasn't been able to practice the spells, though, because she mentioned it to me the other day. She's really scared, too. With the Death Eaters free, the people who escaped them years ago might be targets again. Eloise and Neville, and who knows how many others, they need to learn defensive magic. It's not just some theory for Umbridge to dismiss. Whether Harry Potter's stories about You-Know-Who are true or not, the Death Eaters really are out there."

"You're coming dangerously close to saying Potter was right to do what he did," Adrian teased. He could tell Millicent was thinking exactly that. "Maybe we'll make a rulebreaker of you yet. No one pays any attention to Potter, though. The Quibbler's the best place for his witterings. You don't believe the rubbish he came out with, do you?"

Millicent didn't answer. Instead she rose and, with a glance at Draco and the others, who had brought out a few bottles of Butterbeer in celebration, said, "I need to feed the cats."

**

Events did not turn out the way Draco predicted, but his horror at Harry Potter's continuing presence at Hogwarts was mollified by Dumbledore's disappearance. His father would be overjoyed with the turn of events. Also, now Dolores Umbridge was acting Headmistress he could expect even more favours to fall his way, favours that he would distribute among those he considered loyal to him. Pansy was third - after Crabbe and Goyle - to be offered a place on Umbridge's new invention, the Inquisitorial Squad.

"I thought we'd have Daphne, too," Draco said carelessly on the way back from Herbology. Sometimes he thought that if Pansy ever went off the rails, Daphne Greengrass would make a fair enough replacement - she was just about pretty enough and not too stupid, although she couldn't match.

"What about Millie?" Pansy asked. She knew she could trust Draco around her chunky friend; Draco's tastes did not run to larger ladies.

"We haven't seen much of her lately," Draco shrugged. "I know Mother likes her, but I'm not sure she's one of us, really."

Pansy pouted. "It's only because she's spent so much time with Adrian Pucey. You said that Crabbe likes her; can't we send them on patrol together? Who knows what might happen?"

Draco had to admit, it was a good plan. He was starting to sense elements of dissent in Crabbe and Goyle. Every so often, he could tell that they didn't like following orders. While he was in favour of free thinking for himself, he didn't think it was a good thing in a subordinate. If placing Millicent on the Inquisitorial Squad would straighten her out, it might also make Vincent Crabbe more willing to do as he was told.

He kissed Pansy on top of the head. "I bow to my lady's wishes," he told her, thinking, but only as long as they match my own. Pansy hugged him in delight, and dragged him off to the Common Room to pass on the news to Millicent.

"What's the Inquisitorial Squad?" Millicent asked, when they revealed her new privileges to her. "How can I be on it? I'm not even a prefect."

"Umbridge asked me to find trustworthy people to help her," Draco told her. "That means Slytherins, because we were the only ones who weren't involved with Dumbledore and Potter's little plan. All the other houses are suspect - so much for Hufflepuff's legendary loyalty, eh? We don't have to be prefects, we just have to make sure that the school is working the way the Ministry wants it to."

"I'm in," Goyle said, smiling. "This is going to be great. I won't get any more lip from those stupid Gryffindors." Crabbe chuckled in agreement.

Millicent bit her lip. To her this would be a great honour, but she didn't want to be part of it if it meant picking on people or making the most of personal vendettas. It would also eat into her time with the cats and Adrian.

Pansy knew exactly which buttons to push. "It's for the Ministry, Millie. The school could descend into utter anarchy without us. It's started already. Your father will be awfully proud of you for helping to uphold the rules."

That did it. Millicent couldn't abide chaos. "I'll do it," she announced.

Pansy hugged her. "Well done, Millie. I knew you were one of us."

**

Being on the Inquisitorial Squad actually suited Millicent. She felt like she was bringing a little bit of sanity to a school that had, in the wake of Dumbledore's departure, gone completely mad.

She'd had a letter from her father praising her for getting involved with school activities. Mr Bulstrode said Millicent's mother would have been very proud of her for helping the school and her fellow pupils. He was sad, though, that Professor Dumbledore had gone, because Dumbledore always saw the good in people, whereas he felt Umbridge only saw the bad things about them. When Millicent went to put the letter in her trunk, she found her mother's last-ever letter to her, sent just after Christmas. It was tucked in a safe corner of her trunk, along with her Christmas necklace and her first-ever Valentine's card. She knew it by heart now 'my final letter to my beautiful daughter... always be a proper witch, and help, do not despise, those who are not lucky enough to have had your upbringing..." Millicent saw helping to maintain order in the school as carrying out her mother's wishes.

Adrian had been less enthusiastic about Millicent joining the Inquisitorial Squad. "For heaven's sake!" he'd exploded when she told him she would have to skip practising her defensive spells for the third night running, "Can't you see you've signed up to be a trained thug for Umbridge and Draco?"

"I have not," she'd insisted, "I am serving the school."

It had led to some coolness between them. Millicent didn't realise that Adrian was in a bad mood because he missed her, and Adrian so disliked seeing Millicent becoming closer to Pansy and Draco again that he failed to see the sense of purpose the new task had given Millicent. They barely talked in the days before the Easter break, and both found themselves snapping at fellow pupils and being generally bad-tempered. Millicent was glad when it was time to return home, and couldn't work out why she was so dissatisfied with life all of a sudden.