Chapter 18: Bad Feeling

"I demand that you give me one of these creatures."

I crossed my arms, staring at the pink monstrosity in front of me. "And why would we even think about doing that?"

"For my own protection," she said, as though it was the most obvious thing, "if you refuse to contain these beasts, then I should have one for myself. After all, some of the professors already have some of these beasts."

"That's because they agreed to be part of a program," Calem responded, "they had seemed interested when we began discussing the idea, so we put them on the list."

"And why wasn't I placed on this list? As Madam Undersecretary, I should have been on the list."

"It just didn't seem like a good fit," I said, attempting to keep my temper under control.

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means that you didn't seem too interested in what we were trying to put together. We asked professors that seemed interested or those who we thought would be a good fit for the program."

"And I'm not suited to care for the beasts."

"In all honesty

Umbridge stormed out of our office, slamming the door behind her.

"You know," I sighed, "I half expected her to tell us that the minister will hear about this."

Calem laughed, "jokes on her then, cause the ministry doesn't have jurisdiction over us."

"For now…"

Dumbledore had informed Calem and I that Hagrid had arrived, so we decided to make our way to visit the half-giant with the Lake Trio in tow.

We had opened the door for us a moment after knocking on his door. He had some bruising on his face, any other injuries were hidden by his hair, beard, or clothes. Though he seemed friendly all the same. "Hello you two. Thought Dumbledore mentioned somethin' about yeh wanting ter see me." He glanced over our shoulders to see the trio floating around and playing with each other. "I suppose our conversation'll be abou' 'em?"

I smiled, "something like that. Mind if we come in?"

Hagrid stepped aside and allowed us into the small building. Calem and I managed to sit ourselves in the oversized chairs as Hagrid did the same. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf floated around curiously, almost knocking over some things in the process.

"I'm sorry about them," I said, rubbing the back of my head, "they're still young and have a tendency to get into new things."

Tha's alright," Hagrid laughed, startling the three young legendries, "so is this wha' Dumbledore was talking abou' when he said the new professors had some projec' they were workin' on?"

"Yeah," Calem replied, "we're teaching the students about these creatures, or Pokémon. Basically, we're teaching them the same things that we learned, as well as many other kids their age learn."

"I see," Hagrid nodded, a grin on his face, "an' what's this got ter do with me?"

"We were wondering if you would be willing to be one of the gym leaders, a high ranking trainer of sorts."

Hagrid seemed excited at the prospect of having new creatures to take care of. "So, wha' am I gonna be doin' with these Pokémon?"

We went into detail, explaining what he would be doing, what our ultimate plans were, and a crash course in Pokémon. It would only figure that Umbridge would ruin our fun.

She all but stormed into the house, startling the Trio and causing them to rush over to me in an attempt to hide from the woman. She then started demanding that Hagrid tell her everything about where he had been for a majority of the school year. He, however, didn't seem to have any intention of telling her.

"I'll say this one last time," Umbridge said, looking like she was barely holding back her frustrations with the half-giant man in front of her, "I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been."

"I told you," Hagrid said, seemingly exhausted, "I been away fer me health."

"Your health," Umbridge said, clearly skeptical, as she looked over his shoulder to look out the window.

"Yeah. A bit o' fresh air, yeh know."

"Oh yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be difficult to come by," she said, a smirk playing on her lips.

Hagrid looked around nervously before the pink monstrosity spoke once more. "If I were you, I shouldn't get too used to being back. In fact, I might not even bother unpacking at all."

Hagrid's head moved back a little, clearly taken back by her statement.

She walked out the door, closing it behind her. It also sounded like she started spraying something before walking away. I didn't notice what it was until I smelled her awful perfume.

I sighed, standing as Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the cabin. "We'll talk to you later Hagrid."

"Take it easy, man," Calem said, waving as we walked out with the Lake Trio following close behind.

"Calem, I have had it up to here with that bitch," I seethed, holding my hand above my head as I stormed up to the castle. The Trio gave a sad little whine, seemingly upset that their surrogate mother was so upset. Uxie and Azelf floated above either of my shoulders as Mesprit came around and hugged me.

"Thank you," I said, starting to calm down a little. I turned to Calem, telling him that I was going to try to get some work done, before walking the rest of the way to the castle with Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie clinging to me.

"I think you need a break."

Rubbing my temples, I looked up to find Calem and the Lake Trio floating in front of my desk. Not taking no for an answer, Calem pulled me from my chair with the help of Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie and walked me down toward the lake.

We had been sitting at the edge of the lake in silence, watching the trio explore the lake. It was nice to see them so happy. I made a mental note to try to bring them down to the lake more often. Pulling my knees to my chest, I crossed my arms on my knees and rested my chin on top of my arms, unable to subdue this uneasy feeling.

Umbridge is planning something.

But what?

What if she attempted to harm the Pokémon again?

What if she did something that put the students at risk?

"I have a bad feeling, Calem."

Calem turned to me, "yeah, something's not right. Umbridge is getting bolder."

"You don't think that she'd–"

"I don't doubt that she would try to get Dumbledore to step down. But she would have to wait for him to step out of line."

I sighed, watching the Lake Trio float around and play in the water. "Let's hope that doesn't happen."

I'm so sorry this is late! I meant to upload this last week, but between three birthday's last week (including mine), it was a tad bit crazy. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it!