Masterofbugs123: lol
Amazing-Anna'beth'1: I'm glad you liked Luna. As for who Annabeth ran into, that remains to be seen.
miller123456789: Thank you. I had started "A New Twist" about two years ago, my writing style has greatly improve since.
ChickWithThePurpleGuitar: I agree. It is rather sad that Luna hasn't been thanked before, but we know that later on she made friends with the Golden Trio and became very close with them. Annabeth was like a first step, I suppose.
Cookie05: Ooh, I actually knew that! My brother was watching the commercial when he saw him and was like, "Oh my god is that Draco Malfoy?"
Glass of Water: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Sunday's Daily Prophet was not a big hit in the Great Hall.
"NOOOOO!" screamed half of the school.
Annabeth glanced around the room. Almost everybody had a look of horror on their face. The Gryffindors seemed the most upset, by far (Granger, Weasley, and Potter in particular,) and the Slytherins seemed to be bothered by it the least. What was it? Annabeth did not know, but she was determined to find out.
"Look at this!" Anthony Goldstein cried, slamming the Prophet onto the table in anger and frustration.
Everyone who had not already received a copy of the paper quickly peered over at the headlines. Their reaction was a combination of terror and disgust. A couple of fourth-years began to cry.
Annabeth, who could no longer take not knowing something, looked over as well. She squinted at the headline. It strained her Dyslexic eyes more than ever with all of the moving pictures around it. She considered asking someone to read it to her, but decided against it. When she was finally able to make out the words, they read:
Ministry Seeks Educational Reform
Delores Umbridge Appointed First-Ever "High Inquisitor"
Annabeth had no idea what a "Hight Inquisitor" meant, but guessing by the context, she figured it that it must have been a pretty powerful position. Annabeth understood why people would be upset, but it was more than that; some of the students seemed absolutely mortified. Others looked as if somebody had just punched them in the face. Sure, Umbridge was bad. That went without saying. But it wasn't the end of the world. She was their teacher, it's not like she could hurt them or anything.
Unless . . . unless she was a monster. Annabeth had never encountered a monster in disguise as a teacher, but she had heard stories about it from some of the other campers. It was a fairly common way for monsters to get ahold of young Half-Bloods. What if . . . no; no that was impossible. Not here, anyway. There was no way a monster would go across seas just to get ahold of one demigod.
She looked around. Could there be other demigods at Hogwarts? Annabeth looked around the Great Hall. She estimated there to be about nine hundred students in the school. Was it possible? She knew the gods had left England centuries ago, but was it possible that there were a couple descendants of ancient British Half-Bloods? Maybe she should contact Chiron. He could send a satyr over and . . .
Annabeth stopped her mental rant. This was stupid; she was being completely illogical! Still, Annabeth couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to Umbridge than met the eye.
She listened as Padma read the entry out loud. ". . . has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for some time,' said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley." Weasley? Annabeth wondered if he could be related to Ron. "'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'
"This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the wizardingschool. As recently as 30 August Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person.
"'That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge and of course, she's been an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.'
"It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Twenty-three, which creates the new position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor'.
"'This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the "falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted. . . ."
Annabeth only half listened as the article went on. She locked eyes with Goldstein. They had been thinking the same thing: their suspicions had been correct.
The next day was Monday. Professor Umbridge looked as smug as ever. It made Annabeth want to puke.
Kevin Whitby, a second-year Hufflepuff boy, was doodling class. Umbridge took notice to this and walked over to the boy's desk. "What do we have here?" she asked, in a fake-sweet voice. Before Stewart could protest, Umbridge picked up the drawing and held it up for the class to see. She read it out loud, "'I heart Eleanor Branstone'." The class burst into hysterical laughter. "Aw, how sweet. Unfortunately, none of us care about your romantic interests. Ten points from Hufflepuff!"
Branstone's ears turned pink. Whitby sunk down in his seat, and slid under the desk.
Umbridge tried to bend down next to the kid, but decided against it. Instead, she stomped her foot and cried, "Mr. Whitby, get up this instant!"
Owen Claudwell, who was sitting next to Kevin, looked down at his friend. "Professor, I think he's crying," he said quietly.
Umbridge banged her hand on the desk. "There is no crying in my class!" she said, "Whitby, I am going to count to three. And when I'm done, if you are not sitting in this chair, I will - -"
"Stop it!" Annabeth cried, standing up. She regretted the words as soon as she said them.
All eyes turned to her. Umbridge eyed her like a jungle cat eyed its prey. "What did you say, dear?" she said.
Annabeth was about to apologize, when she realized that she was not the one who should be saying sorry. "I said, stop it," she repeated, looking Umbridge right in the eye. "Leave him alone!"
"Miss Chase, it is not your place to question my authority in my own classroom. Five points from Ravenclaw. I am going to have to ask you to sit down."
Annabeth stood her ground. "No," she said calmly.
She half expected smoke to come out of Umbridge's ears. But instead the professor said in a surprisingly calm voice, "Dear, I'm sure I must have misheard you. For a moment I thought that you refused to sit down."
Annabeth knew that she wasn't supposed to let her anger get the better of her, but she couldn't help it. "You heard me correctly, ma'am," she replied, eyes flashing angrily.
"Well, then. I'm afraid I have no other choice. Miss Chase, please join me in my office tonight for detention."
School start tomorrow and I wanted to update at least one last time first. I don't know when my next update will be, but I will try to make it as quick as possible. Hopefully I'll have one up sometime this week or next week.
Should I continue the Harry Potter facts?
Please review.