*Hangs head in shame* Yes, I know it's been a while. I just finished middle school, and am taking summer school is summer so that I get an extra free period during the year. So . . . sorry about that. I'll try to update as frequently as I can, though.
Anyway, a big thank you to miller123456789 and killer_pizza504 for the reviews!
Also, to lovin_luna: I never said it was a bad thing, in fact, most of the time, I use weird as a compliment. Plus, this is just what Annabeth thinks of her, I don't necessarily agree.
Ackerly sat at the end of the breakfast table. He stared, wide-eyed, at the book he held in his hands.
Annabeth approached him.
"Good book?" she inquired. He nodded vigorously. "Can I see it?" Stewart held up on hand to indicate that he would give it to her in a minute. When he finished the chapter, he handed it to her. "A Clockwork Orange," she read the title. "I think a kid in my bunk at camp had to read this for college. Isn't it, like, really violent?"
Stewart shrugged, refusing to meet her eyes. "It is not for the weak-minded," he stated plainly.
"Are you suggesting I'm weak-minded?"
"No. I am merely answering your question."
"Humph."
Ackerly returned to his book as if Annabeth were never there.
Sometimes Annabeth imagined what it would be like to be able to read whatever you wanted. Books were often hard to get in Greek, and would have to be shipped from abroad. Seeing kids like Ackerly, spending hours on end eating their way through novel after novel, made her wonder what she was missing out on.
"Young man," a voice said. Annabeth snapped out of her daydream and saw Professor Umbridge standing over Stewart Ackerly. The poor boy was shaking from head to toe. "Didn't we agree no more books at the breakfast table?"
"Technically, it was no more books at the dinner table. And I never agreed to it," he said quietly.
The toad-lady glowered at him. "What was that?" she demanded. Ackerly said nothing, but his bottom lip quivered. Umbridge noticed this, and smiled. "And what's this you got here?" she asked, snatching the book from the boy's hands. She surveyed it through her chubby fingers. "A Clockwork Orange? What's this about?"
"A-a controversial method of s-stopping criminals, Ma'am. It's not for the faint-hearted, for it has some rather graphic scenes. I would recommend Lewis Carroll or Roald Dahl for you. I think I have some of his books upstairs. . ."
"You think I don't have the stomach for it, boy? Well, I think you would surprised at what I can handle," and with that, she walked away, book in hand.
Stewart grinned broadly, which confused Annabeth. "What are you so happy about?" she demanded. "She took your book away."
Ackerly shook his head, still smiling like an idiot. "I knew this would happen. The old toad wouldn't be able to resist my mocking. One look at that book will be sure to scar her for life - -"
"OR give her new ideas for torturing students."
The same grin materialized on Ackerly's face in Defense Against the Dark Arts class the next day. Annabeth followed his gaze onto Umbridge.
The professor appeared rather distracted during their lesson. There were large circles under her eyes and she kept glancing over her shoulder nervously. Few of the other students seemed to notice, seeing as they were all half-asleep to begin with.
Chase turned back to her neighbor to congratulate his brilliance, but Ackerly was already immersed in his next novel.
It was around mid-February when things took another interesting turn. Nigel and Dennis came running up to Annabeth that morning. The two looked excited enough to wet their pants.
"We've found it!" they declared proudly.
"Found what?"
"The spell! We got Granger to give it to us."
It took Annabeth a moment to realize what they were talking about. "Really? That's great! How did you find it?"
"It was all my doing, really," said Nigel, earning a kick in the shin from Dennis. "I convinced Granger that I wanted to learn more complex spells. And low and behold, she began going through her notebook going through spell after spell - -"
"She also has a picture of Weasley in there!" added Dennis, smirking.
Ignoring the last part, she replied. "Good work, Dennis."
"Good enough for a promotion?" he asked hopefully.
"We'll see."
"Okay, this is the last straw! I am not going to stand any more of your absurd antics, Nott!"
"Malfoy, here's a thought. Why don't you mind your own business for a change?" asked Blaise, walking in on the conversation.
"Shut up, Zabini! And don't think you're off the hook either. I saw what you did!"
The other boy rolled his eyes. "Oh joy. What did I do this time?"
"What did you do? You SNOGED A BLOODY GRYFFINDOR!"
"Frobisher? She's rich, pretty, and pureblooded. Why do you care?"
"Oh, I don't know . . . because she's a GRYFFINDOR!"
"Malfoy, you may want to stay out of Zabini's love life," Nott suggested, "people will start to get ideas . . ."
"I'm surprised you would even dare to show your face at this point, Theodore," Malfoy said, sticking his nose in the air. "You are disgrace to the wizarding world. You as well, Zabini. And I refuse to talk to either of you ever again."
"Sounds good to me," mumbled Blaise.
Draco glared at the other boy before exiting the room.
Zabini rolled his eyes in Malfoy's direction. Once he was sure the other boy was gone, he flung himself onto the sofa, putting his feet up on the table. Nott looked at him in disgust, which he promptly ignored.
"So," Theodore said casually, glancing at the corner of the room. "The trampoline's gone?"
"Yeah. One of the seventh-years claimed it was 'disrupting their studying' and ratted it out to Umbridge. She made Professor Snape get rid of it this morning. Serves the bastards right, putting up a bloody contraption like that in our working space. . ."
"I seem to remember you had a fine time with the 'bloody contraption' last night when you were bouncing on it for three hours."
Zabini cringed. "Okay," he said, "let me make one thing clear: I was not bouncing on it for fun. My foot had fallen asleep and I was attempting to get the feeling back in it."
"Sure you were."
"So, what were you doing that got Malfoy so worked up, anyway?" Nott held up the novel he was reading for the other boy to see. ". . . The Iliad. . . so?"
"It's a muggle book. Well, sort of."
"Have you lost your mind? What are you reading a muggle book for?"
Nott shrugged. "It's pretty interesting," he said.
"Don't you care that someone might see you with that. . . that thing?" No wonder Malfoy was angry. Was he mental?
"Nope," he replied, casually turning the page. "By tomorrow, I'll have bigger things to worry about."
"What do you mean?"
"Potter ratted my Dad out to the Quibbler."
In honor of me graduating eighth grade, there are FOUR Harry Potter facts, and FOUR unrelated facts! (Get it, eight?):
HP fact 1: Robert Patterson has openly stated that he would rather play Cedric Diggory than Edward Cullen.
HP Fact 2: The last word we hear Lily and Snape say is "always".
HP fact 3: After the horcrux inside of him was killed, Harry could no longer speak Parsel Tongue. The language in of itself is rather odd, seeing as snakes don't have ears and can't hear.
HP fact 4: When J.K. Rowling took a Sorting Hat Quiz, she got into Hufflepuff.
Random fact 1: About ten percent of the world's population is left-handed. Less than one percent is ambidextrous.
Random fact 2: If you spent a dollar every second, it would take thirty-two years to spend a billion dollars!
Random fact 3: The Dead Sea is seven time saltier than the ocean. Nothing can live there except microscopic organisms.
Random fact 4: Yak milk is pink.
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