JGS39: I agree completely. I tried to show a more sympathetic side to the House in this fic with characters such as Vaisey, Nott, and even Harper.
hAdes_Lyth_Erin_Madrigal_X, Emmagination, will_the_ranger, and Guest: Thank you, I'm glad you guys like it!
Electric Storm Surge: Yeah, it would have been funny.
Yes, I'm still alive. Enjoy.
"Professor?"
"Ah, yes. Annabeth, is it? Come in, please, come in."
Umbridge appeared to be in an oddly good mood. Annabeth did not trust it for a minute. The professor gestured to an empty seat across from her, which the Ravenclaw reluctantly took. If she was offered a seat, then that meant Umbridge expected her to stay.
"How are your classes, Miss Chase?"
"Fine, thank you." Annabeth squirmed slightly in her seat. Every instinct in her body was telling her to get the hell out of there.
"Tea?" the toad woman offered.
Annabeth shook her head a little too vigorously. "N-no thanks. I'm good."
"Are you alright, dear?"
"Fine."
But Umbridge was no fool. And Annabeth could swear that the toad woman's eyes were laughing at her. "I noticed something rather odd in your letters -"
"You've been READING MY MAIL?!" Annabeth practically exploded out of her seat. "You can't do that! That's an invasion of my privacy! That's- that's -"
"As High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, it is perfectly within my power to check student mail to ensure their own safety," she said cooly. "But it seems that your notes are encrypted in some sort of code. You thought that you could outsmart me, did you, dear?"
Chase's cheeks suddenly felt very warm. She was on the edge of panic, practically pleading with the professor. "It's not like that. The letters aren't in a secret code, they're just in Greek. I only write in it because it's my friend's first language. You can ask Professor Dumbledore, he knows! I swear to the gods-to god!"
"That's what I thought, but just to be sure, I decided to be sure. You can never be too safe, now can you, dear? That is why I asked an old friend of mine to help me out. He specializes in foreign writing, and immediately identified your writing as Ancient Greek - now, why would your friend write in a dialect that hasn't been spoken in thousands of years? I decided to have him read it out loud to us today. Won't that be fun, dear?"
Annabeth gulped, but forced herself to nod.
"Oh, Severus. Would you come here for a moment." Professor Snape entered the woman's office with a look that appeared just as, if not more digested by the decor than Annabeth.
"Yes, Delores?"
"Would you do me a favor and read these notes to us. I believe you took ancient runes as a student, correct?"
"Yes, it was mandatory in my fifth year."
"Good, now do read," she gave him the letters.
Annabeth held her breath as the potions teachers examined the notes, his face never even showing a flicker of expression. When he was the done, the man said, "I do not see anything of interest here, Professor. She is merely speaks of childish things and her classes. Why is this of importance?"
She exhaled, but Umbridge still did not seem quite satisfied. "Are you sure, Professor?"
"Quite. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a class to teach at the moment." Annabeth kept trying to get a look at the man's face, but he never so much as glanced in the girl's direction.
"Very well," she said, after the potions master had left, "but I will be getting a second opinion on this," she waved the notes in front of Chase's face. "Now, off with you!"
"What?!"
"You heard me, they're all gone," Aleron said grimly. He looked down at the floor of the Room of Requirement and kicked a squeaky toy against the wall. "The news is spreading fast, too. People want their pets back."
"And we're going to listen to them?"
"There's nothing else we can do. Now that the word's out on Annabeth and Nott, nobody will trust our business. This is it, Harper. We're through."
Forrest glanced forlornly at a small kneazle-mix, playing with a ball of yarn. Although he wouldn't dare admit it, Harper was sort of going to miss the animals. They offered good company, even if they couldn't talk, and there was something rewarding about caring for them. Quickly he shook his head. No. He could not afford to get sentimental now of all times. He was a businessman. A strategist. A Slytherin. So instead, he merely nodded, careful to keep his face clear of any and all emotion. "What about your dog?" he asked.
"Canis will still remain here." Aleron said, nodding at the Crup as he chewed up a rug. "Annabeth has a good training plan in mind for him."
"Oh. Well, um, if he's still here, you know, I might as well come and visit every now and then, just to, you know, make sure you know what you're doing and stuff." He couldn't help but wonder what Madame MacHale would have to say about his grammar in what must have been the world's longest run-on sentence.
Vaisey smirked, raising his eyebrows at the other boy, doing everything in his power not to laugh. "Sure," he said, speaking in a slow, sing-song voice. He didn't need to say anything more; the look in Vaisey's eyes said it all.
"Grigori Rasputin is a notorious figure in both the magical and non-magical world. He was born in 1869 sand caused trouble until the day he died - - well, that's not biased at all!" huffed Annabeth, as she read aloud from her History of Magic book. She had to learn six chapters in four days for their test, for she had learned absolutely nothing from Mr. Binn's class except about the numerous Goblin Wars.
Seamus shrugged, helping himself to another handful of crisps. "It's true, though," he said. "The man was a downright gonch - - um, I mean, jerk." He stuffed another handful into his mouth and Annabeth cringed at the loud crunching sound.
"Madame Pince is going to murder us! And by us, I mean you. Honestly, of all food to sneak into the library, why did you choose potato chips?"
Seamus did not even bother with his normal crisps vs. chips quibble. He motioned for Annabeth to keep reading instead.
"Originally from Siberia, he attended Durm . . . Dorm . . . Drumstick."
"What? Lemme see that!" Seamus scanned over the page. "That say Durmstrang Institute. It's another wizard school up north. Nasty place. They teach the Dark Arts, you know - - although, they did have Victor Krum, so I suppose it can't be all bad." He handed her back the book. "Go on."
"He roomed with Leonid Yakovlev and Freda . . . I mean, Alred - - uh . . . Alfred Sörenson, both of whom described him as a quiet boy who mostly kept to himself. He was said to have ex . . . excelled in Potions, Charms, and the Dark Arts, with a particular keenness to healing spells and hypnosis. Rasputin was expelled from the institute in his third year at age fourteen. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Siberia where he pear . . . er . . . disappeared under the wizard radar for many years. His name came up once again under the Ministry when he began associating with the Russian royal family. Okay, your turn to read."
"Damn it. Sorry. Fine, give me the book. Alright, blah, blah, blah, Durmstrang, Siberia, Russians. Okay. Supposedly, he was able to heal the heir, Alexei Romanov, who was often injured and bedridden due to a disease known as Hemophilia, which leads to painful inflammations due to a lack of clotting in the blood. The Romanovs had tried to keep Alexei's condition a secret, because they did not want people to think that the future tsar would be weak." Seamus snorted. "A little difficult, seeing as he couldn't walk half the time."
"Stop it," Annabeth said. "Just read what it says."
"Rasputin could apparently stop Alexei's bleeding fits and pain, which is said to have earned the Tsarina's favor. In reality, Grigori was suspected of using magic on both the Tsarina and young Alexei in an attempt to manipulate them for power."
"How old was Alexei? At the time, I mean."
"Dunno. Like twelve or something."
Annabeth shivered. She knew about the Russian Revolution. They did school the children at Camp Half-Blood. She knew that Alexei died very young. About Thalia's age.
Chase had not thought about Thalia in a long time. For some reason, it made her feel guilty. The girl had done so much for her, how could she forget?
"Stop," she said. "Can we read tomorrow, please? It's pretty late." He nodded. "Thanks." She packed up her things and left, but not before receiving a deadly glare from Madame Pince.
Yes, I decided that Rasputin was indeed a wizard. Don't ask me why, it just seemed to fit into my twisted version of reality.
Harry Potter Fact: Anne Boleyn was to have been either a witch or a squib. (Yes, I'm a history geek. Don't judge me!)
Random Fact: The second Wednesday of October is National Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day.