Chapter Twelve
"I'm telling you Harry, Jackson is a Death Eater!"
"Ron, we don't know."
"Stop trying to defend him Harry!"
"He stayed with us over the half-term. He was great then! He taught Hermione to surf."
"Yeah, and Moody taught us for a year before we realised that it wasn't Moody, and actually some Death Eater in his body!"
"Yeah, but-"
"And another thing, he's from America."
"What's your point?"
"No one knows who he is."
"No one knew who the fake Moody was either."
"That's not the point!"
"Then what is?"
Hermione sighed deeply. The two boys had been going on like this for half an hour. She had mostly tried to ignore them and focus on her copy of Sherlock Holmes that her parents had sent her, but it was practically useless.
The three of them had wanted somewhere to hang out and be together, as the Gryffindor Common Room was too noisy, and the temperature had dropped so rapidly that they didn't want to go outside. In what Hermione described as a rare moment of brilliance, Ron had suggested using the Room of Requirement. So here they were.
This time, rather than the arena Professor Jackson had been practicing in, there was a room with a roaring fire, armchairs, a glass coffee table (do wizards drink coffee?) and windows with a view of the Forbidden Forest, Quidditch pitch and lake on three of the four walls. Hermione still couldn't get used to illogical things like that. The Room of Requirement faced away form the lake and forest, and so did the window, but the view was most definitely real. Hermione had opened the window and for sure, there was the lake. If she jumped out the window she knew she would be able to get there.
She sighed again and covered her ears, concentrating on her reading. 'We had all listened with the deepest interest to this sketch of the night's doings, which Holmes had deduced from signs so subtle and minute that, even when he had pointed them out to us, we could scarcely follow him in his reasoning. The inspector hurried away-'
"Harry, you're not listening!"
"Oh, I'm the one not listening, am I?"
"WOULD BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"
Harry and Ron fell silent as Hermione stood up and banged her book on the table. "I am reading one of the greatest works of muggle literature, and all you can do is squabble like children! Sit down and use logical reasoning to decide what to do!"
Harry and Ron both sat down with a humph, looking away from each other. "Now boys, Ron thinks the Professor is a Death Eater and Harry thinks we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Why?"
"Because he's so nice."
"Because he's suspicious." Both of them said at the same time.
Harry glared slightly. "I'm usually a very good judge of character. He doesn't seem to be anything like any Death Eaters we've ever come across."
Ron shook his head. "Are you mad Harry? He's from abroad. That should narrow any suspicion of him to a minimum, meaning no one will suspect him of working for You-Know-Who, which is what he wants us to think."
"You know Harry, he makes a good point," Hermione said gently. "Professor Jackson also has way too little knowledge of recent events. Even wizards from America should have heard at least something."
Harry sighed. "You're right Hermione. You always are."
"Hey! It was my idea!" Ron shouted indignantly. "I think I need to be praised for my mental prowess as well."
The three friends shared a good laugh. Harry stood up and stretched his legs, walking over to the window and looking out.
"But guys, if that's so, what can we do to stop him? He seems powerful."
Hermione shrugged. "It looks like we'll just have to do what we do best."
"Eating?" Ron asked hopefully. "Getting into trouble? Tipping glitter over the firsties?"
Hermione glared. "I knew that was you! You're a prefect, not a Fred and George! I have half a mind to report you-"
"You wouldn't do that to me? Would you?"
Hermione found herself, quite against her own will, blushing a slight red. "Uh..n- no..." she stuttered. Harry grinned.
"As much as I love to see you two finally almost getting together, there's something that I think you might wanna see." He pointed at something down on the school grounds.
Hermione and Ron walked up and looked over his shoulder. Hermione squinted. "Is that..."
"Jackson," Ron stated. "What's he doing out in weather like this?"
"He's carrying something," Harry said, "looks like a tub of something. Hang on, he's heading to the lake!"
"Why could he possible want to go to the lake?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.
"I dunno..it's kinda difficult to see from here."
"I could do a spell to zoom in," Hermione suggested, waving her wand and muttering something under her breath. The window zoomed right in, showing every strand of hair on the professor's head. Ron backed up, tripping over backwards.
"Whoah, 'Mione, you'll give me vertigo," he complained.
"Sorry, sorry," she squeaked, zooming back out to a more manageable level, but still a bit too close for Harry's liking. He didn't comment though. The professor stopped at the edge of the Black Lake. He opened his mouth.
"Is there any sound?" Harry asked.
"Well you didn't specify," Hermione huffed, muttering another spell.
"-on!" The professor was saying. "I brought you your favourite! Fresh beef, the house elves were more than happy to supply!"
"I think he's gone mad," Ron whispered loudly. Harry had to agree. Professor Jackson was talking to the lake.
"Fine, I'll prove it." The professor threw a chunk of meat into the lake.
"And now he's throwing meat into the lake. Harry, are you certain you want to defend him?"
"You know what Ron, I'm suddenly not so sure."
Suddenly, the lake rippled and the giant squid broke the surface. Ron stumbled back again. "Holy-"
The squid lunged forward to Professor Jackson. For a second, Harry thought Jackson was about to be crushed as one huge tentacle wrapped around the professor, pinning his arms to his side.
"Professor!" Harry called out desperately, even though he knew fully well that he would not be heard. "Can't we do something?"
Then came the most surprising thing of all. Jackson laughed. It was crazy. There he was, being crushed by the giant squid, and he was laughing.
"Get off you big oaf," he said. "I can't get to the bucket with my arms pinned."
The giant squid made a noise, and if Harry wasn't mistaken it sounded sheepish, putting Jackson down gently on the shore. Jackson laughed again.
"It's quite alright, Martin. I just wish I could stay longer, but I've got a class soon. Yes, I would love to go on a tour of the lake with you. I'll look at my timetable- I'm not stupid! Of course I can understand it. Vaguely."
Ron leaned over to Harry. "Is he talking to the squid?" He whispered loudly. Harry just nodded slowly.
Hermione shook her head and frowned. "No, not to the squid, with the squid."
"What's the difference?"
"Whenever Professor Jackson speaks, it's always after the squid has made a noise. And- look! The squid just reacted to what he said...it's shaking. From anger?"
Harry leaned in subconsciously. "I think it's...laughing. Why is the giant squid laughing?"
"I'm pretty sure he's called Martin."
Hermione and Harry both looked at Ron with deadpan expressions.
"What?" Ron asked defensively, "Jackson called the squid Martin, I think that out of respect for the flesh-eating giant piece of calamari-" he shivered as the squid gulped down a piece of red meat "-we should address him by his proper name."
"Anyway," Hermione continued, looking out the window. "I think that at the very least Martin can understand what he is saying, and at the best Jackson may have invented an animal communication charm."
"I thought that wasn't possible," Harry said. "I thought that was too difficult, as animals use body language as well as speech to communicate, and that was too difficult to replicate."
"Maybe they're not actually communicating in the same language," Ron suggested, reaching into his pockets and bringing out a piece of gum which he threw and caught in his mouth. "I mean, if Jackson is speaking English...er, American but Martin can understand him and vice versa, but neither can speak the other's language, that would explain why we haven't a clue what Martin is saying and why Jackson hasn't started making a sound like a foghorn."
Harry looked at him, impressed. "I never doubted you," he told him, patting him on the shoulder. Ron puffed out his chest in pride.
"I'm not stupid either," he said, as Jackson threw in the last piece of meat, waved goodbye to Martin, who sank under the surface of the lake, and walked back up to the castle, whistling a happy tune.
"Thank God for Christmas miracles," Hermione murmured, watching as a single snowflake drifted down and landed on the windowpane.
"We've really got to do some Christmas shopping," Harry said thoughtfully to Hermione and Ron as they walked down the corridor to the Great Hall for lunch. "We have three weeks until Christmas Day. If we wait any longer there won't be anything to buy."
Ron wrinkled his nose. "I'm just getting sweets for everyone. Much quicker."
Hermione frowned disapprovingly. "Have you really not even started shopping? I have made seven lists and multiple spider-diagrams brainstorming what I will get everyone for Christmas. I only have two more things that I want to get."
"Organised as ever," Harry replied glumly. Hermione half-smiled.
"How about we go to Hogsmeade tomorrow? That's the perfect opportunity to get our shopping done."
Harry nodded, still rather glum, while Ron started bouncing up and down in his chair like an excited four year old. A tiny smile crept onto Hermione's face, and Ron looked at her with his head tilted in questioning.
"It's nothing," Hermione replied to the silent question, a slight blush on her face. "I'm just happy to have such good friends."
Ron blinked once. "I know."
A low growl came from Hermione's throat. "You are the most insufferable, irritating and ignorant person I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"
Harry laughed, clutching his sides as Ron was chased from the room by a very angry witch wielding a hard-back version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
You had it coming, was all Hermione could say to Ron's indignant cries.
Snow was falling on the little town of Hogsmeade. Charmed snow-shovels were piling snow by the road on their own, and witches and wizards were hurrying up and down the street wrapped in thick cloaks and scarves. Snow was falling from the sky, sprinkling the passersby with a thin layer of white powder.
"I am so going to catch a cold from this," sniffled Ron as he walked up to Harry, draped in coats and hats. Harry gave a little laugh.
"It's surprising, really," he said. "Usually it's Hermione telling us to wrap up warm or we'll get a cold."
They both glanced over to where Hermione was engaged in a snowball fight with some Hufflepuff fifth-years. She seemed to be winning.
Harry frowned slightly. "Jackson really seems to have brought out her wild side."
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "I would not have thought she'd enjoy a snowball fight before."
"Really?" Asked two voices directly behind him. He gave a little screech and whipped around to see Fred and George looking intently at him.
"What do you want," he asked, pulling his coat up tighter.
"Well you see," George started. "It's like this."
"If you don't mind us saying," Fred added. "She's rather good looking."
Ron's eyes widened. "Is this going where I think it's going?"
"Very probably," George nodded gravely. "In fact-"
"She's suddenly gone from 'brother's-weird-friend'," Fred told him. "To 'pretty-cool-girl-who-helped-defeat-the-Dark-Lord'."
"In fact, since then she's even reached 'awesome' level."
"Do you have a classification of people?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.
"Well, yeah, doesn't everybody?" Fred replied quickly. "At the moment you lie at 'boy-who-defeated-the-Dark-Lord-but-isn't-as-cool-as-everyone-thinks-he-is', but in debate to be risen to 'almost-epic'."
"Well thanks."
"Oh, at least it's better than Ron," George consoled. "He's still at 'weird-younger-brother' level and not looking like he'll rise any time soon."
"Oi!"
"But that is completely beside the point."
"Georgie is right. From 'awesome' level Hermione has reached 'epic-girl-who-knows-how-to-surfboard-plus-uses-literature-as-a-deadly-weapon' level. That almost outranks us."
"Don't flatter yourself."
Fred pouted. "You're so mean Harry."
Harry rolled his eyes while Ron looked outraged. "It's bad enough that I'm coming down with a cold but now my brothers come to me and ask me to help hit on my best friend!"
"It's not as bad as it sounds," George argued.
"It is as bad as it sounds."
"Yep."
Ron ground his teeth while Harry took a step back. He felt like things were about to get ugly. Ron took an ominous step forwards, before reeling back as a snowball hit him square in the face. Fred and George started to laugh, but the smiles were wiped off their faces as two snowballs hit them in quick succession.
"Oi! Fred, George, Ron!" Shouted Hermione from across the street. "Help me annihilate these Hufflepuffs!"
Fred and George gave identical grins. "With pleasure."
"You're not gonna miss out are you Ron?" Hermione asked with a sly grin on her face.
Ron snorted. "I'm going to stay right here where I won't get snow down my neck- YOU SMELLY GITS FRED AND GEORGE!"
The twins had snuck up behind him and - unsurprisingly - dumped a load of snow down his neck. They fell over laughing as Ron commenced on a complicated dance consisting of wriggles, hops and quite a bit of swearing to try and dislodge the snow.
"What is going on here?" Asked a sharp voice from behind them. Everyone turned sharply and hid the snowballs behind their back.
"Professor McGonagall," Hermione said. "I can explain."
"You need not explain Miss Granger," she said. "I believe I know exactly-"
She was cut off as a snowball hit her in the face. Everyone started muttering wildly.
"Who threw that?"
"I didn't throw that."
"It hit Professor McGonagall on the nose."
"We're gonna get it now..."
Professor McGonagall reeled back slightly and angrily wiped the snow off her glasses. Everyone took a step back. A clear laugh rang out, and everyone turned to see Professor Jackson laughing his head off and pointing at her.
"Perseus," McGonagall said, scarily calm. "My name is Minerva McGonagall. You just threw a snowball at me. Prepare to die."
Professor Jackson's smirk was wiped off his face, and he turned to run, only to be nailed in the back of his head by Professor McGonagall. "Choose a side, students," she announced. "This is war."
Chaos erupted as everyone cheered and ran to their chosen side, McGonagall and Jackson as the ringleaders of each. Harry joined McGonagall's side fairly quickly, followed hastily by Ron, while Hermione suffered a moment of brief indecision before joining Jackson. The twins quickly joined Hermione, as did Neville, who had just arrived along with Luna and Draco while the two latter joined McGonagall.
To almost everybody's utter astonishment Professor McGonagall proved to be utterly ruthless, and soon took out the twins with what seemed like a degree of satisfaction.
"Always knew Minnie had it in her," muttered Fred weakly as he lay on the ground on top of his brother. "This is just revenge for all our pranks."
"And the worst part isn't that my brother is lying on top of me, but we just got knocked out by a professor," George pointed out quite unnecessarily, clutching his head as the world spun around him.
"That makes us lamer than Ron," Fred finished with a horrified expression on his face. They groaned in unison and passed out.
Hermione smirked slightly, shouted a battle cry and engaged in furious combat with Professor McGonagall. Jackson was laughing his head off again, and dodging any snowballs that came his way. They even seemed to bend around him, forming a sort of hurricane, which ended when Neville came up behind him and bonked him on the head with a giant snowball.
"Traitor!" Gasped the Professor. "Neville has defected to Minerva's side! Concentrate fire on him!"
Neville looked shocked at his Professor, and while he wasn't paying attention was knocked to the ground by Draco, who proceeded to try and convince Harry and Ron to join in by throwing snowballs in their faces. It didn't work and the two grumpily retreated to the Three Broomsticks to defrost and buy some hot chocolate.
"Wow," Harry said as they sat down at a table by the fireplace. "Who knew Hermione and McGonagall could be so violent."
"Personally I feel sorry for Jackson," Ron sniffled, holding his hands over the fire. "McGonagall looked like she'll slaughter him."
"Although on the other hand Fred and George got knocked out," Harry pointed out. "That's go to cheer you up at least."
Ron brightened considerably. "I suppose it does."
Harry bit his lip. "Ron, mate."
"Yeah, what is it Harry?"
Harry licked his lips. "What do you think Jackson is?"
Ron frowned. "Whad'ya talking about?"
"Don't you feel like he's...unnatural."
"Uh, nothing springs to mind." Ron paused. "I mean he's weird, but come on so are most people nowadays."
"Don't you feel like he's powerful?"
"He's never actually performed a powerful spell, so to be honest I don't know."
Harry clicked his tongue frustratedly. "But don't you feel it when you're around him?
"...I don't think so."
Harry leaned back in his chair as he thought. "It's like hurricanes and pools of water so clear you can see your reflection."
Ron looked at him quizzically. "Where's this coming from mate?"
Harry sighed. "I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. I feel like I've been asleep and learned so many things, only to wake up and forget them."
Ron opened his mouth to reply, only to be cut off by a loud battle cry. They jumped up and ran outside, only to see the Hunters of Artemis charging at Jackson's team, allied with McGonagall, while Jackson's team tried to flee in any direction they could. Thalia and McGonagall caught Jackson with little to no effort and had him pinned down.
"I didn't really stand a chance, did I?" Jackson said, to Ron and Harry's surprise with a smile on his face. "Knew you would retaliate Minerva."
McGonagall seemed to be fighting a smile and losing. Schooling her expression, she replied: "I will not forget this Percy. Prepare to face the owls of Hogwarts."
Jackson's face became a mask of pure terror. "It was only a joke!" He screamed as the two women carried him off.
Ron and Harry watched, confused as Hermione came over, almost completely unscathed, and calmly suggested they go to the sweet shop first. They two boys nodded soundlessly and followed her, not daring to speak.
Night fell over the Forbidden Forest and there huddled a collection of deformed entities. Giants towered above them and empousai step-thumped their way around on their one metal leg and one donkeys leg.
"It's decided," hissed one dracaena. "We have found the dwelling of the sea spawn and we will commence the attack."
The rest of the monsters raised their red eyes. "All hail Queen Sess!"
So here's the next chapter. Unfortunately I have no excuse other than the fact I am a huge procrastinator. Because of this, I would like to ask all the readers to leave a review, as anonymously and truthfully as you like, with a score of one to ten. 10 being Rick Riordan standard and 1 being basically a bunch of words strung together to create a vaguely coherent sentence. Hopefully this will make me more active!
Thanks for putting up with me!
