Firstly, I apologise for the appallingly long break between updates. I completely lost my inspiration for this story and it was driving me up the wall! I think I've got my funk back now though. I hope you like chapter six.
Disclaimer: I don't have any affiliation with either St Trinian's or Harry Potter, and I gain nothing but satisfaction and maybe some kind words from strangers.
Umbridges
Happy to have seen her friends again (and to have made some new starts), Hermione was feeling rather altruistic at the break of the following day, but that changed dramatically when her drowsy state was shot to pieces by the twins most recent experiment; it involved rather a lot of dynamite and several bags of flour, at a much too early hour.
"IF YOU LIKE HAVING HAIR ON YOUR HEAD, I'D QUIT PLAYING AROUND WITH EXPLOSIVES AT LEAST UNTIL ELEVEN!" She screamed from the window as the first years scarpered. Aspasia threw a pillow at her head, unable to reach the younger ones (and not caring enough to get up), and in retaliation Hermione dropped it out the window, where a mist of flour was rising in puffs. Kelly, however, congratulated the former Hogwartian on her very St Trinian-like behaviour and told her there was a shaver in the bathroom if she wanted to go through with her threat.
OoO
Monday brought heavy clouds and fog that turned into drizzle, and then a violent thunderstorm that rumbled throughout the day. By two o'clock, they had heard snippets of the official who had been sent to observe them. It was a man who wasn't very much older than they (Kelly pointed this out as their first fault), perhaps in his twenties, with dull brown hair and frameless glasses, and, apparently, he'd already been labelled as out of his depth because according to Tanya he was a paper-pushing, girlfriendless fellow with a bad taste in ties.
It was not the best posting the department had ever made, and he was scheduled to be in their English class that afternoon.
When they walked in he was perched on a wooden chair with his black briefcase on his lap. He looked a little ruffled, but was fighting onward despite whatever events had befallen him earlier.
Niles, the First Years told them. His name was Niles.
Kelly had smiled, and winked at the Posh Totties, and Hermione felt a little bit sorry for the young man.
Kel stepped forward, heels clicking and offered a hand, saying, "Good afternoon, Mr Templeton."
He nodded politely, and shook the proffered hand weakly, but his eyes widened as the three Posh Totties stalked forward to take their seats, seductive smiles on each of their faces.
He wasn't going to last long. Not with those three on his case.
OoO
Hermione watched the ambulance trundle off, a mingled sense of satisfaction and worry hovering about her. She was almost certain that the events of the class inspection and short hour thereafter wouldn't do much to deter Fitzgerald Umbridge, and she had a horrid foreshadowing feeling that the toad would take it upon himself to visit, meaning that things needed to be taken up a notch if they were going to save the school, and in order to do that Hermione needed to clear some things with Kelly.
She glanced over at the taller girl, whose calm exterior revealed nothing to the brunette witch, and Hermione resolved to speak with her as soon as they were alone. Thankfully, the moment arose sooner than Hermione had expected.
When they left their seats after dinner, Hermione slipped in beside the Head Girl and murmured to her, "Kelly, if you wouldn't mind, I've some things I'd like to discuss with you - in private."
Kelly nodded ever so slightly, and walked by the stairs that the other students climbed into a nearby classroom.
"Ask away, Hermione." She said, shutting the door when they were both inside and resting against the wooden panels. Her unwavering gaze settled on the petite witch, and Hermione felt the usual tinge of insecurity before she bucked up and drew a wave of calm around her – there were things she needed to know.
"First of all, I'd like to know your real last name. It isn't really Jones, is it?"
The left side of Kel's lip lifted in a smile. "No, it's not. How very astute of you to have picked up that detail. It's Bones, actually. I believe Susan, my cousin, was in your year at Hogwarts; bright girl, with bite too, despite being a Hufflepuff."
Hermione stared at the Head Girl. "Susan? Susan is your cousin? Well, I never would have guessed that. I was thinking more along the lines of Lestrange, or Black or something of the like," she admitted. "But the Bones family is as formidable as any of them."
"Thank you, I'm glad you approve." Kelly said drily.
"Sorry, you know what I meant. Anyway, I'd as loathe be your enemy as any witch from those families." Hermione told her truthfully. "But back to the business at hand: Fitzgerald Umbridge – we can't afford to underestimate him. I want to be prepared when he comes-"
"How do you know he'll come?" Kelly interrupted. "Won't he just send another little deputy."
"No." Hermione shook her head. "He won't. He'll come here directly with all sorts of plans. I know his family. They aren't the kind to let people do second rate work when they can do it better. We need to be ready for him and able to attack him from all angles or he'll win."
Kelly was pensive, so Hermione added, "You know the girls better than I do, Kelly, you know their strengths. We need to start now, to find out everything we can."
"Are you sure he'll come himself?"
"Positive."
"Well," Kelly almost purred, her eyes glinting with anticipation, "we'd best get busy. I'll organise the girls, and we'll meet tonight when Flash comes in. His class can serve a slightly different purpose tonight."
"Should I write Harry, or Marcus?" Hermione pondered, talking more to herself than Kel.
The Head Girl smiled, and then opened the door for Hermione to leave.
"If you think it'll help. Oh, and one other thing, Hermione," she said breezily as the brunette passed her. "Remember that not all the girls here have magic. This will take muggle talents too."
Hermione gave a nod of understanding and disappeared down the hall and up the stairs while Kelly detoured via Ms Fritton's office, carefully shutting the door as she entered the Headmistress' rooms.
OoO
Flash was dressed to impress that evening, and Hermione had to actively avoid staring it his crotch, decorated as it was with sequins, something Aspasia found rather amusing. When Kelly arrived the loud chatter died down and all eyes were on the Head Girl.
"There's trouble for St Trinian's, girls. Fitzgerald Umbridge has sent his lemmings out to build up an arsenal against us, and he won't back down regardless of what he finds." She paused, gazing out over the student body. "We need to fight back, and we need to give it everything or there won't be a St Trinian's left for girls like us. All of you have talents that we can use – magic or muggle we have to work together. Chavs, emos, geeks – everyone – we're all in this together, as proud St Trinians."
Nods and calls of support echoed about the room.
"Polly, you and your girls need to dig up anything and everything you can find on Fitzgerald Umbridge – look on both sides of the border." Kelly instructed, pausing for a moment as the techies all disappeared, intent on setting up a flawless information room. "That's our first step. We need to know exactly who we're dealing with, what it is he wants, and what we can do to stop him."
"We'll have to be quick, girls." A new voice commented, and Hermione turned to see Ms Fritton standing in the doorway, Mr Darcy in her arms, her prominent teeth standing out in the electric lighting. "I've just received confirmation from the department that this Umbridge man is arriving in two days for a full scale review of the school that will include an inspection by the Board of Education and it allows for this fellow to overrule all authority figures - preposterous!"
"It'll be alright, Ms Fritton. We're St Trinians, we'll figure it out." Kelly comforted her, noting the tinge of sadness to the outrage. "Come on girls, let's get started!"
By eleven, Polly's team had uncovered a variety of papers and articles that spoke of Fitzgerald Umbridge, collecting a formidable arsenal in only two hours that could potentially save their school if they made the right decisions. Hermione and Kelly waited impatiently, peering over shoulders and asking questions until finally one of the girls found an article that looked promising.
"Kelly," Polly called out. "Have a look at this."
It was a document citing a previous inspection by Umbridge at a fairly prominent boys' school. About halfway down the page, was an excerpt from Fitzgerald himself that detailed exactly what he had found deficient, what he intended to change, and how he planned to go about doing so.
"Bingo." Kelly smirked.
OoO
Harry eagerly opened the plain white envelope, recognising Hermione's handwriting, and yelled for Ron to come downstairs.
"What's going on?" The red head demanded, looking about the room for some kind of alarming sight.
"Hermione's written." Harry responded, quickly scanning the lengthy letter. The frown told Ron it was happy news.
"What's happened? Is everything alright for her?"
Harry grimaced. "It's Umbridges again. The brother's trying to close down St Trinian's. They're in a bit of trouble and Hermione needs our help."
Ron cracked a small smile at that. "Well, you can't say we don't owe her some. What's she asking?"
OoO
Marcus happened to be at Theo and Neville's flat when the owl arrived for him the next morning discussing business with his former Housemate. He read the letter, folded it and placed it in his pocket, wondering whether he should tell the other two. After a moment, he chose to inform them partly.
"Fitzgerald Umbridge is to begin his inspection on Thursday, at St Trinian's. The girls might need help." He explained in his succinct manner. "Expect to hear from either Harry or me if they do."
OoO
Hermione felt the red dawn that appeared that morning was entirely appropriate for the battle that was going to take place in the coming days. At least this wasn't 'Life or Death', she thought privately (Hermione's priorities had rearranged themselves a great deal since her First Year, and now Education held a mere second place in her mind).
Fitzgerald Umbridge wasn't going to know what had hit him.
Well, I hope it's alright, and that you enjoy it. I'll try to be better at updating this in the coming months. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and put this on alert/favourites. It makes me happy, and has been a strong incentive to get back into it (mostly because it made me feel bad about not updating sooner ^_^).