Normally, when a Qudditch match rolled around Ness was forcibly kidnapped by his friends to attend if he wasn't trying to calm down from a nightmare. Now, it was the exact opposite as he found himself lurking in the Gryffindor Common room at four in the morning.
He couldn't sleep, his dreams now swimming with guilt at how coldly he had treated Ha—Potter or with the fear that Potter was going to kill him to be the 'hero'. So, after having his usual argument with Cloak and Nagini about his recent interaction with Potter he got dressed and found himself sitting behind a couch.
He just wanted to see Ginny, not the entire Qudditch team and possibly, Potter and the Weasley twins tagging along out of habit.
"You know…this reminds me of the days when my original owner went to see a Qudditch game." Cloak murmured, breaking the stuffy silence as Ness watched the girl's dormitory stairs.
"He was a fan?" Ness asked.
The robe gave a nostalgic chuckle, "I suppose so. He would get up several hours early before the stadium was open to the public just to try and meet with some of the players. Never had a favorite team to root for but…He always went."
"Did he just…enjoy the atmosphere?"
"Probably, he was amused by everything magical, even though he was a pureblood. Vampires? Loved them, creating magic potions? Pushing his potion making books and his budget to the limit to make them. His favorite thing to do however was explore."
"I suppose that explains why he apparated a lot," Ness considered.
Cloak shuffled, probably attempting to nod in agreement, "It was mostly so he could get out of trouble. Loved to focus on dangerous ruins and cursed woods to find something. Before he died, he became an author writing fantasy stories for young children."
"Was he popular?"
"I'd hope so. He was so passionate about his works." Cloak replied, "Even got a friend to help draw them. They were a Muggle but he truly enjoyed her presence."
"Was his family anti-muggle or something?"
"Er…Not exactly, he just lived in the age where Muggle hatred was much more…noticeable and outspoken."
Ness cringed and looked up."So, during Voldemort's time." Ness shakily pressed, half wondering if he truly wanted to tumble down the twisted rabbit hole known as Wizard History.
"A bit before that actually…"
Ness nodded and they lapsed back into a peaceful silence. The crackle of the fireplace and the faint ticking of the grandfather clock off in the corner filling the void for a moment before Cloak spoke up again, "They got married. Had a child before…They passed away."
He glanced back down at Cloak, shivering from the sudden cold being emitted by the sentient robe as they murmured something under their breath. Probably reliving the dreadful attack that was no doubt carried out by Voldemort. He was about to pat the robe's sleeve when Cloak suddenly exclaimed, "Is that Granger?" Prompting Ness to look up and see Hermione sneaking down the stairs.
Glancing around as if she was expecting to be caught while she muttering something under her breath and hurried to the door. "What was that about…?" Ness wondered, carefully peering over the couch to see if H—Potter or Weasley were trailing behind her but he saw no one.
"What was that about?" Ness repeated wondering why Hermione was risking getting in trouble without Potter or Weasley leading the charge. He jumped as an earthy voice answered his question with a sleepy, "She's off to see Professor Kale about something…Something concerning Harry."
"Hissss name issss taboo." Nagini hissed, sounding grumpy as she huffed, "Now sssstop babbling and let Nagini ssssleep."
"How about no?" Cloak retorted. Nagini responded with a venomous hiss as Ness tuned them out to focus on Herbo. "Why is Hermione bothering Professor Kale about Potter?"
"Don't know. They had an argument or something." Herbo replied, yawning before adding, "I think something happened to Potter on the way there. She sounded frightened for a moment before it got muffled."
What would Potter do to scare Hermione? There wasn't a lot he could think of. Out of the Golden Trio Hermione seemed the most grounded and knowledgeable compared to Hot-headed Weasley and Selfish Potter.
An ember of bitter anger formed before Ness snuffed it out. He focused his attention on the stairs just as the girls for the Quidditch team began walking down. The Quidditch captain—Johnson—was leading the small group as the new beaters joined her. Everyone muttered to themselves as they headed down to breakfast.
Ness quickly got up, suppressing a yelp as he almost toppled over from the army of pins and needles in his legs and hurried after them. He was more than a little relieved when Nagini grumpily reported that Potter was awake but thinking to himself now. This meant that Potter wouldn't come down right away for an early breakfast, this would give Ness a chance to properly talk to Ginny without the fear of being told on to the Weasley Twins and Co.
The Great Hall was eerily quiet—well, not actually quiet since there was still a handful of students and teachers seated at the five tables — but compared to an average school day when the room was filled with the buzz of chatter, the scraping of metal hitting glass and the flapping of owl wings it was almost silent.
"You know, if it wasn't for the fact that I hate getting up before six I would seriously consider coming down for the five a.m. breakfasts." Ness noted, swallowing a laugh as Ginny jumped in her seat and almost gave herself whiplash to look at him in open-mouth shock. "Ness?! Why are-," Ginny started before she noticed the lack of red heads and a certain scarred wizard, "Ah. Never mind."
Ness nodded and glanced at the options five a.m. breakfast had to offer. "So, excited for the game?" he asked, deciding on a muffin and some bacon before he focused on Ginny.
"I feel like I'm about to die." Ginny replied with a small laugh.
Ness smiled and teased, "At least you'll look good when we bury you." before he gestured to her almost empty plate.
"I don't work well with a nervous stomach." Ginny answered, nudging her toast around as one of the girls shot her an imploring look. "I'm eating Katie!" Ginny protested, prompting Katie to increase the look before she focused on someone else.
"Someone's in trouble~," Ness teased his smile dropping as Ginny remarked, "You're already in trouble since Ron just got here."
"Wait really?"
Ginny gave him a long hard look before she slowly answered, "He's the keeper of the Quidditch team, Ness."
Ness blinked, peered down the line then recoiled from the murderous glare Ron was giving him. "Riiiighhhht….Have I mentioned that I really don't care for Quidditch?"
"You could have fooled me." Ginny deadpanned, a smile pulling at her lips before someone haughtily stated, "So! Ready for public humiliation?" and forcibly inserted themselves between them.
"Karma." Ginny noted, slowly bringing her fork up as if she was going to stab him as Selvis merely preened at the death threat.
"Honorary Slytherin," he replied, snickering as Ginny made a stabbing gesture then noticed what he was wearing. "Have you gone blind!?" she demanded.
Ness studied Selvis's honey yellow robes with blood red accents. He seemed to be supporting both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff given the gold and black striped scarf and socks he was wearing.
"Luna has. Not me." Selvis answered, snickering again as Luna walked pass in a glittering gold robe with red hems.
"My eyes!" Ness cried, pretending to fall over as the Gryffindor team took note and gave startled laughs at how proudly Luna walked to her table. Almost like a Queen purposely wearing the wrong dress but not caring.
"Where did she get all that glitter?" Ginny asked, her meager breakfast completely forgotten as she gawked at the sparkling sunbeam known as Luna.
Selvis deadpanned, "From the loony bin Ginny." and rolled his eyes as Ginny spluttered, "Okay she didn't get it from there—is it glowing!?"
"Glow in the dark robes." Ness stated, glancing at Cloak who bristled and growled, "Don't even think of it." Its growl increasing into a snarl as Nagini yelled, "Think of it!" and cackled to herself.
"So, is there a reason why you're invading the Gryffindor table or…?" Ness asked, unable to hide his smirk as Selvis shot him a look of mock horror, "Excuse you! As a fellow Gryffindor I intend to cheer my favorite seeker on during her match!"
"I banish thee." Ginny remarked, making shooing gestures as Selvis stuck his tongue out at her.
"Rude, trying to be a good little lion and this is the thanks I get," he huffed. Smirking as Ness tried to muffle his laughter by covering his mouth.
"You guys are ridiculous," Ness declared. The trio's conversation slowly fell into a lull just before the Quidditch teams had to leave and prepare for the game. Selvis took it as his cue to leave as more teachers showed up alongside Potter, the Weasley twins and Hermione.
All of them looked shaken for some reason. Ness could see why the ex seeker and beaters were disturbed, but why Hermione? Did her conversation with Professor Kale go wrong? A quick glance at the teacher in question provided no answers so he figured that was a no.
"What did you need from him Hermione…?" Ness wondered, the thought eagerly spinning in circles as he, Selvis and Luna walked to the Quidditch field and found a seat.
"Trying to figure out what Granger's doing?" Selvis asked. adding, "Herbo mentioned some of it to me this morning," when Ness shot him a questioning look. Before he could reply the announcer's gave a rallying cry and began explaining that this was Cedric's last year as a Hogwarts student and Captain and then asking the excited crowd if Hufflepuffs would be able to take the gold home before he left or be stopped by the new members on Team Gryffindor once his intro speech was finished.
"Yea, she snuck out to see Professor Kale this morning." Ness answered, pausing as deafening cheers seemingly shook the stadium as the teams flew up into the air in a blur of scarlet red and honey yellow. "Herbo said that something happened to her and Potter on the way to Hogsmeade but he wasn't sure what."
"Maybe they got into an argument." Luna offered, waving a gold and red flag in the air as Ginny searched for the golden snitch, easily avoiding most of the bludgers flying towards her or her teammates.
"About what though? They seemed fine when Paula and I saw them." Ness pointed out.
He cringed as one of the Gryffindor beaters almost hit Katie, prompting Johnson to yell at them as the announcer cringed and stated how team Gryffindor was running through a rough patch that Team Hufflepuff wsa easily taking advantage of.
"Maybe it was over how you treated Potter." Luna recalled, "He seemed really confused when you called him by his last name."
"Maybe…" Ness agreed as Selvis scoffed, "Why would he be? You guys aren't friends, you just called him by his name since you see everyone as your friend."
Ness rolled his eyes then looked up at the teachers' booth. "You know…Maybe Hermione was asking about our private lessons."
"Oh right, you have that this week." Selvis murmured. Pausing to scoff as Weasley allowed a quaffle to fumble from his hands, "Oh come on! We aren't even singing the song!" he complained as Luna hummed. "Has it gotten any easier to deal with Potter?"
"Define easy." Ness deadpanned, "He's just—so ignorant about everything around him to chase after Voldemort!"
"It's like he doesn't know what a trap is." Selvis stated, sighing as a rogue bludger almost hit Ginny, "Glasses wearing git."
"Times ten." Ness agreed, looking up to the game and frowning at how poorly Team Gryffindor was doing, "So…does this always happen in a game-,"
"No." Luna and Selvis deadpanned, shooting him a look as Ness weakly put his hands up, "Just asking! I sort of…uh, talk to you guys during these things."
"We know, we know." Selvis sighed, groaning as the game ended with the Golden snitch snatched out of the air by a Hufflepuff seeker. Making it a crushing 210- 23.
"Worst. Game. EVER." Selvis declared getting up from his seat
Luna sighed, "I suppose my good luck robe will have to wait."
"That was a good luck robe?! Bloody hell Luna! I thought you were trying to blind everyone!" Selvis exclaimed, scowling when Luna looked genuinely confused by the idea.
"Well, it sort of worked since Weasley did better than last game." Ness pointed out, watching as the teams landed and exchanged handshakes.
"BARELY." Selvis declared before they moved onto talking about upcoming Mystic Informer and Quibbler issue. Which would hopefully be talking about Potter and Ness's interview.
"Just a couple more days until February is over." Ness murmured, feeling giddy.
Luna gave a happy hum, "Father thinks this will be our best selling copy yet!"
"It'll be selling like a fire sale." Selvis stated, looking very smug about the whole thing as Luna and Ness nodded in agreement. The trio very unaware of how true Selvis's words would be in the near future.
February disappeared with a small little whisper as March began with a warm smile. Some students happily took advantage of the few warm days they had to enjoy small breaks of not having their noses deep in a school book as the upcoming exams began looming over overhead. Ness noted and ignored the rising tensionof getting a good score since he had long given up being a good student of Hogwarts. He would put some effort into things but not for certain classes, plus his fate wasn't directly hampered by Hogwarts grades since he was going to resume his life as a Muggle—human once this nightmare was over.
"How can you be so carefree about this?" Ginny asked, shoveling grits into her mouth while studying her Potions book.
Ness gavea shrug and breezily replied, "Cause I don't care. Why don't you ask Selvis for help?"
"Because he's being annoying." Ginny answered, glaring at Selvis who was laughing at something another Slytherin said. "He's teasing me about joining Slytherins' Quidditch team so Ron and the beaters don't drag my talent down."
"Well…"
"Shut up Ness."
Ness laughed and turned back to his breakfast, surprised to see a barn owl sitting in front of him. "Uh…Hi." Ness managed as the owl tilted his head and bluntly stated, "Riiight….Kale warned me about you."
"He…did?"
"Yup. Take the freaking paper books and tip me already."
Ness swallowed a frown and did as told, offering the grumpy owl a piece of sausage and some money before he deemed it safe to look at the two magazines he got. His heart skipped a beat as Ginny glanced over and took note of the title. "Ness! It's published!"
"I can see that Ginny." Ness answered, a startled laugh slipping free as he looked at the bold headlines on the Quibbler and Mystic Informer. The Quibbler proudly claiming, The Undead Truth Coming to Light! An exclusive interview revealing in full what happened to the Boy Who Lived and Co. during the final round of the Triwizard Tournament! The cover had a picture of a tombstone and a hand rising out of the dirt clutching a series of papers written in blood.
Meanwhile. The Mystic Informer proclaimed, Exclusive! the End of an Era Heralded by Our Children's Education and Ministry. It's cover picture was dramatic - a rain of shattered glass with their faces - Ness, Potter, Umbridge and the green snake representing Voldemort - reflected on the few shards that weren't covered in darkness or light. There was a bright red warning explaining that this issue was NOT suited for those underage and had disturbing content not meant for minors.
"They…they really went all out on this." Ness noted, feeling lightheaded as he glanced at Ginny who was already reading the Quibbler.
"Of course they did! This is the story of the century!" Ginny exclaimed before she fell silent, her eyes rapidly scanning the printed words screaming the truth.
Looks like he was reading the Mystic Informer then. The first page started with the editor's letter. In it, the editor apologized for the sudden shift in tone over the past few months, their sudden focus on Hogwarts for both England and the American branch and explaining that they originally started down this rabbit hole out of curiosity. Hogwarts was a big name school and the news of an American student transferring over and joining a sports tournament sounded like a cool story to write.
Of course, as they explored more of Hogwarts they and their fans became appalled and morbidly intrigued of what went behind the scenes of Hogwarts. The letter ended with:
"Granted, we're glad we went this route and that many of you were interested in this twisted tale. But for now we'll be ending with the true story of what happened when two students disappeared in the middle of the third round of the Triwizard tournament and just how dangerous a simple teacher can be."
The next page was beautiful and disturbingly tragic as they explained how such a vile and abusive woman was put in charge of hundreds of children varying from ages 11-18.
It began with a terrorist attack on the school, the Death Eaters plotting to revive their 'Master' by killing the boy with the closet link to their master's demise and forcing another student to lure him to the rendezvous point. Ness's stomach churned as Mary Sue went into excruciating detail about how the victims were nearly killed and escaped through sheer luck. She recounted the other threat lurking at the school in the form of an imposter posing as a school staff member and the school board which was closely tied to the government which had arranged for a horrific sentence for the imposter that nearly endangered one of the victims' family.
Blaming the headmaster for the terrorist attacks, the School Board put Delores Umbridge in charge to oversee how the school ran without interference and to step in to smooth out the rough patch.
"And that, is when the problem began." Mary Sue wrote, "A simple solution over a growing problem to see what went wrong. Well, although many is unsure WHERE Dumbledore went wrong it's easy to see what's GOING wrong. I have reports, filed reports with dates, photographic evidence and statements taken by fellow students whose problems all revolve around the same woman - Umbridge.
"They all speak about how she restrains their rights to clubs and the ability to ask their teachers certain questions concerning the Ministry and rise of the Death Eaters. They cry over how their school is being turned into a den of fear and hate as she turns them against one another, going so far as to get three students kicked off an intramural sports team with verbal harassment and emotional manipulation.
"We have learned how those who speak against her are punished with their hands being scarred with messages of 'I shall not tell lies' or, 'I shall not listen to lies'. They fret over how they're unable to write the truth to their parents without fear since they're all being read by HER.
"One student—a victim from the graveyard—was denied the right to take proper care of himself after being diagnosed with PTSD and was called a liar for going to a therapist in his homeland because they weren't assigned by the school. It only gets worse from here on out for we're only talking about the minor concerns the students bring up.
"Yes, that's right, minor concerns. For you see Hogwarts has a self defense/law class which goes over one's rights and the laws of their land. Laws Umbridge isn't teaching in favor of venomously squashing down the 'lies' of the terrorist's return and preaching about how 'wonderful' their Ministry is. Yes, the very same Ministry which has allowed and HIDDEN people working close with terrorists to escape judgement.
"Now, many of you may be crying—How are these MINOR concerns!? They're being abused and tortured! —and I agree, these are MAJOR concerns, they're merely minor since they all stem to her unyielding love for the Ministry. A love which borders on obsession for she appears to be quite determined to shut down ANYONE who speaks against it.
"If you may recall, the Mystic Informer building was attacked and set aflame. No one had any leads but given how at the time other than the Death Eaters being responsible. But at the time we were publishing our concerns about Umbridge, it's easy to suspect that she was behind the sudden 'death' of our beloved headquarters and home away from home—May Poochy's dog bed rest in peace.—especially since it's clear that she isn't afraid to toe the line of right and wrong to get what she wants."
Mary Sue showed more evidence of Umbridge's wrong doings, pictures of the chaos that's happened around Hogwarts and a couple statements before she went into the amount of laws Umbridge broke to further sell her point before urging parents to protest to the Ministry for endangering their children and exposing them to such a toxic, and hateful woman posing as a teacher.
"I knew she was scary." Cloak mumbled, shivering as Ness closed the magazine and looked around, the Great Hall now an eerie quiet buzz as everyone read with rapt attention as they saw the long list of crimes done by their 'teacher' the Toad had done and the shocking truth behind Voldemort's return.
"Good thing Umbridge ticked her off, not us." Ness noted, opening the magazine again to reread the article and see what he'd gloss over. A warm feeling of pure satisfaction growing in his chest as he read other articles talking about warning signs for toxic teachers, how disturbing Umbridge was with her clear hatred for those of other 'races' and a page dedicated to mourning their burned down office with a message of, 'Speak, yell or roar. Let the truth shine to protect those who are blind.'
Perhaps this is what karma felt. If so, he didn't mind. "I doubt the Ministry can bounce back from this." Ginny whispered, closing the Quibbler and gesturing for the Mystic Informer when they heard a rustle of wings and looked up. The Great Hall coming back to life with a yell as an army—no, an invasion of owls flew in through the windows. Some carrying bundles of letters, others carrying hastily wrapped packages which landed on the tables.
To accommodate the army the food vanished, inviting the swarm to land and properly deliver their letters as everyone fumbled to receive their mail and show the owls off.
"What's going on!?" Ness exclaimed, paling as a bunch of letter rained down in front of him, all addressed to him from people he didn't know.
"Fan mail!?" Ginny offered, shouting over the din of wings as she pulled a stray feather out of her hair, "I mean, mum sent me a care package and oh—also a howler but—Oh I should really open this, be right back!"
"Wait! Don't leave me with this!" Ness called, groaning as Ginny ran out of the Great Hall. Shielding her head from the letters that missed their target and rained on the floor.
"Right, fan mail. How am I supposed to deal with this…?" Ness wondered aloud, tentatively opening one and skimming its contents. It was surprisingly…tame, asking if he was all right and how appalled they were at hearing how badly the Ministry had screwed up with Umbridge.
"Polite." Cloak noted as Sawdust hooted, "Mrs. Weasley is very upset. Mostly because of your 'meddling' and Ginny for not telling her about Umbridge."
"Why would ANYONE tell their mother that they're planning on getting their teacher fired?" Sweepy asked, sounding greatly confused as Cashno mused, "Perhaps she wanted to deal in pairs?"
"Speak English please…" Bearable sighed.
"Dear god, thank you for raining the hell flames of justice upon this vile demon." Sister Mary prayed, spooking Ness since he thought the doll had wandered off. She had been very quiet lately…wonder what she had been up to.
"Ness!" he jumped as Selvis sat down beside him, carrying a few letters from his family and eagerly eyeing his giant pile of fan letters. "This is beautiful! This is like—Spring Christmas!" Selvis exclaimed, ignoring the odd looks he got from the other Gryffindors as he moved to open some of the fan mail.
"Spring Christmas." Ness repeated, smiling as Luna sat beside him, a giant smile on her face as she hummed, "Dad says the Quibbler is going to need to print a second batch. We've never had them sell out this quickly before!"
"See! Spring Christmas!" Selvis declared before he got distracted by something a fan had said, "Oh! I like this person, this um, John Doe. Says he wants to take an American approach to get rid of Umbridge!"
"So…suing and protesting?" Ness guessed, moving to open another letter as Luna hummed, "Everyone's been so positive! It's wonderful!"
"Can't wait until the Ministry's forced to pull the plug on Dictator Toad." Selvis cackled.
Ness nodded in agreement when they heard screaming, loud, angry screaming from the third floor. New cries flew up into the air as everyone got up, trying to figure out what or who was screaming when Flitch stumbled into the Great Hall with Ginny right behind her, "U-umbridge!" the caretaker yelled, moving towards her when Ginny shoved past him and yelled, "HEADMASTER! UMBRIDGE'S OFFICE IS ON FIRE!"
For a moment the thunder of beating wings and the roar of paper rustling died as Dumbledore blinked and in a rare show of shock adjusted his glasses, "I…beg your pardon Ms. Weasley?"
"God has answered our prayers." Sister Mary hummed as Flitch repeated Ginny and babbled an exclamation.
"Uh…Sister Mary…what are you talking about?" Ness asked, feeling sick as Sweepy screeched, "SOMEONE'S OFFICE IS ON FIRE AND IT'S MAKING A MESS!"
Bearable gave an alarmed cry as Nagini hissed, "I didn't know ssssissstersss' could ssstart firessss!"
"I didn't." Sister Mary answered, sounding a little insulted, "The red letters of judgement did."
"Red letters…?" Ness repeated glancing at Selvis who frowned and shrugged his shoulders "Well, I don't see any howlers if that's what you're asking."
"Howlers…Uh…do they burst into flames after a while?" Selvis looked at him for a long moment, then at Luna whose eyes were wide with shock then up at Umbridge before he breathed, "Merlin's beard…She got howlers."
Kind of ironic how Summer, the one season meant for relaxing and being murdered by summer heat is the season I disapper again.
I blame the tourists- To the weekend crazy drivers. I might not ACTUALLY know who you are but I have a mental grudge list!- and work for needing to work five days a week to cover for a co-worker going on vacation near the end of Augest which somehow lead to me now working four days a week this September- and hopefully JUST for September- and having even less time to work on this story which is very hard to write for some reason. (Probably because this is an emotional heavy story and I usually write goofy stories.) So I'll probably disapper again until October _-_ sarcastic yaaaay.
