Glad to hear from you all on the last chapter! Luckily no more disgruntled reviewers, so that was a nice surprise. I'm sure you're all eager to hear about what happened to Umbridge, though, so I'll try not to let this author's note drag on.
Also, I've taken a look at the poll I mentioned, which has resulted in a complete landslide victory for 'Hell Yes'. You can keep voting if you like, but the sequel to 'Sigyn and Gabriel' [no title as of yet, I'll probably just make it up once I go to post it] will be up at some point. I start school next week, so no guarantees as to when I'll finish it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter
Gabriel hid a smile behind his goblet as several of the Ravenclaw girls came down to breakfast that morning in borrowed, too-big shoes and sweaters and various other items of clothing. Luna, on the other hand, was wearing a pair of vibrantly patterned sneakers and smiling widely.
Umbridge, sitting at the head table, looked exhausted, though Gabriel paid her the barest of glances and only wondered whether or not she'd noticed the Muggle candy wrappers. Despite the effects of the trick Gabriel had left in her office, she looked incredibly pleased about something.
'Something' turned out to be the morning paper, which declared in bold letters on the front page that Umbridge had been declared 'first-ever Hogwarts high inquisitor'. Whatever the hell that was.
Hermione brandished the paper at Gabriel. "This is ridiculous!" She had come over to the Ravenclaw table that morning, Ron trailing behind her. As she sat down, someone farther down the table tripped over their own feet [wearing large, obviously borrowed sneakers] and nearly hit their head on the table.
"What the hell is a 'high inquisitor'?" Michael asked, craning nir neck to try and read the article upside-down. Hermione read aloud from it.
"In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 'The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts-"
"More like he's a paranoid bastard," muttered Gabriel. Hermione gave him a look and kept reading.
"-for some time,' said Junior assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley."
Ron said something [most likely offensive] under his breath. "So that's what he meant!"
"What d'you mean?" Michael looked over at Ron.
"Percy sent me this letter," Ron admitted. "It came last night, he was talking about the pride of being a prefect and all that nonsense, said I should avoid Harry - he doesn't...er...know, since he left over the summer. Got into a huge fight when he was promoted since dad reckoned Fudge just wanted to keep an eye on us. You know, since the Weasleys have always backed Dumbledore."
"Right," Gabriel agreed absentmindedly. "What else does it say?"
Hermione scanned over the article. "Fudge is the one who appointed her," she informed them, not looking up. "Apparently Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so they passed a law that let him pick a teacher...an immediate success?! According to who?"
Michael sputtered. "They actually said that? Who's calling her a success?"
"Percy, apparently," said Gabriel, reading the upside-down words.
"Wait, there's more." Hermione propped up the paper slightly. " 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow teachers and make sure that they are up to Ministry standard. Professor Umbridge has been offered this post in addition to her own teaching job, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted.' Delighted? They're probably thrilled! Their own little spy at Hogwarts..." Hermione descended into mutters which Gabriel guessed were nowhere near complimentary.
Ron leaned over to read the article as well. "Malfoy's in here too," he said spitefully. "His dad, anyway." Gabriel frowned at that. Malfoy Sr. had definitely been in the graveyard, so why hadn't he been caught in the act? Gabriel had warned Dumbledore about the death eaters there. Maybe the order hadn't gotten there in time.
"This is outrageous," said Hermione, finally raising her voice to an audible level. "This...useless teacher has been foisted on us, and now we've got to deal with her inspecting the other teachers!"
But Ron was grinning widely.
"Why are you so happy?" Michael asked, looking at Ron like he was a foreign creature.
"I can't wait to see her try and inspect McGonagall," Ron replied happily. "Umbridge won't know what's hit her."
Gabriel wondered somewhere in the back of his head whether he'd somehow become friends with Ron again, or if Ron was just there because Hermione was.
"We'd better get going," said Hermione, jumping up. "If she's inspecting Binns we wouldn't want to be late."
"Let's hope she's not in Charms," Michael muttered as they got up. "The last thing I need is to see Umbridge first thing in the morning."
"You haven't looked at the Friday schedule properly, have you."
Gabriel was surprised to find Luna in his ancient runes class, and a little less surprised when she immediately signed up to be his partner.
"Shouldn't you be in your own year?"
"I was pushed ahead," Luna replied. "Professor Vector seemed to think that the fourth-year class wasn't challenging enough."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "That's a high compliment to your talent."
"I suppose it is." Luna glanced around as they moved two desks to face each other so they could work together more easily. "The Nargles seem to have switched their attention," she told him as Vector handed out their assignment. "They haven't bothered me at all today."
"Lucky for you then, isn't it?"
"No, I don't think it's luck," Luna said mildly. "Someone must have used a Nargle repellent to keep them away from my things, but they haven't left completely."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, there seems to still be a bad infestation of them in Ravenclaw tower. I counted at least four other people whose things have gone missing today."
"Sounds horrible. Maybe you should give them some advice on how to deal with it."
"I did, but I don't think they appreciated having to wait for everything to come back. They seem to be very clumsy as well - it might be the shoes, none of the ones they managed to borrow looked like they fit very well."
"Too bad."
"It is, isn't it?" Luna smiled as she pulled the paper closer. "I actually just switched to runes this year, so I wondered if you could help with some of this?"
It took three days before Gabriel came down to the Great Hall and found Umbridge missing from the staff table. Several of the teachers were conversing in hushed voices, and Hermione and Michael were already deep in conversation, this time at the Gryffindor table. In fact, everyone seemed to be having small, secret conversations.
"What's with the somber mood?" Gabriel asked as he sat down, the Gryffindors giving him only passing glances - they'd long ago gotten used to him and Michael showing up.
"It's Umbridge." Hermione leaned across the table to whisper.
"What about her?" Finally!
"She's in the hospital wing," Michael answered, wiping away Gabriel's newfound good mood.
"Seriously?" Gabriel didn't let a single trace of his disappointment show, either in his voice or on his face. "What for?"
"No one knows - except the teachers," Ron joined the conversation. "Something happened last night that seriously injured her, but no one's been told what it was. Some people are saying that the teachers were barely in time."
"You're saying someone tried to kill Umbridge?" Hermione said, flabbergasted. "Well - I know she wasn't a good teacher, but who would go that far?"
Michael shrugged. "You know what I heard?" Ne said, leaning over the table as if to form a small circle. "Fred and George mentioned it in passing before they left - they overheard McGonagall talking and say that the teachers reckon some sort of magical creature got into the castle."
"What creature does something like that?"
Gabriel glanced up and saw them all looking expectantly at him.
"What?" he asked irritably. There was no way they'd guessed that it was him.
"Have you ever heard of a creature that does something like this?" Ron asked, slightly awkwardly. "I mean, you'd know, right."
"Not necessarily," Gabriel replied, but he had just spotted an absolutely golden opportunity. "But as luck would have it, I might have heard of something."
"What?" All three of them leaned in closer.
"A Trickster," Gabriel said in a low voice. "Never really met one-" Technically true. "-but I've seen the results of a couple of their tricks. They're sort of like demigods, and immortal, going back to Loki and Anasi, who were a couple of the first Tricksters. There was an Aztec trickster too, I think, but I can never pronounce their names. Usually, they appear as human, but they can look like anything they want to."
"What do they do?" Hermione asked, immersed in the new information.
"They basically go after the high-and-mighty, knock them down a peg," Gabriel explained, "They like creating mayhem. But they've got a humorous streak - deadly pranks and the like. It's like, I don't know - sending an army of Muggleborns to kill Voldemort."
"That would never work," Ron scoffed.
"It was just an example," Gabriel shot back. l
"But how powerful are they?" Hermione asked, bringing back Gabriel's attention.
Gabriel shrugged. "I can't give you an exact answer. Pretty damn powerful, though - they can create anything, and it'll be totally real. Even people. I mean, they're not technically real people, but they're not just illusions. And can do plenty of other things besides that."
Michael looked slightly disbelieving. "Wouldn't that go against some law of magic or another?"
"I don't think they use the same kind of magic you guys have." Gabriel grinned. "Sort of like me, right?"
"Shouldn't you be more careful about saying that?" asked Ron, glancing around.
"Not really. If I don't want someone to hear something, they won't hear it."
Hermione frowned. "Is there a way to tell if it's a Trickster?"
"There's one sure-fire way." Gabriel leaned back, grinning. "Candy wrappers."
"I'm sorry?"
"Tricksters will leave them everywhere - they've got a hell of a sweet tooth, they eat candy all the time."
"Sort of like you," Michael laughed. "Sounds like something you'd do if Hermione wasn't here."
Hermione gave them both dark looks with no real heat behind them and Gabriel shrugged, still grinning. "Maybe. Point is, if it was a Trickster that put Umbridge in the hospital wing, there's going to be candy wrappers somewhere." Idly, he wondered if anyone had found the wrappers he'd left in Umbridge's office.
"So what, we sneak in and look?" Michael questioned with an air of exasperation. "That's going to be impossible."
"Of course not. Just keep your eyes open and look."
"Harry, I doubt any wrappers will still be there," Hermione said, smiling slightly.
"I didn't say that. Because there's another thing about Tricksters-" Gabriel leaned forward. "They never take just one victim."
News of the Trickster seemed to have spread all over Hogwarts by that night, and groups of huddled students discussed it during their new free periods while Dumbledore looked for a new defense teacher. It was now taken as fact by the majority of the student population that it was a Trickster that had attacked Umbridge in her office. While Michael and Hermione were bewildered as to how the news got out, they didn't question it - and as for how anyone else had found out, Gabriel had basically told them the reason. If he didn't want someone to hear something, they wouldn't hear it, but the opposite was also true.
Gabriel, however, had other concerns that night.
"Fucking wizards," he muttered as he strode invisibly along the hallways - his wings got sore if he used them too often. "They ruin everything. Can't even properly kill someone without them interfering. It's none of their business but oh no, we have to save her, because we are morons who don't know when to keep their noses out of it!"
The hospital wing was nearly empty, but it seemed like Gabriel was not the only one paying a late-night visit.
"How is Professor Umbridge?" Dumbledore asked, robes trailing over the floor.
"As well as can be said for someone in that condition," Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Some Healers from St Mungo's came over - they wanted to see what might have caused it."
St Mungo's? What the hell was that, a wizarding hospital?
"I see. How long will she be away?"
"I couldn't say - I'd say they'll keep her at St Mungo's for a week, at least, not counting an observation period. I patched her up as best I could."
Shit. Umbridge wasn't here anymore?
"No one is blaming you, Poppy," Dumbledore said reassuringly as Gabriel resisted the urge to swear profusely and possibly kick something.
"Yes, but Albus-" Madam Pomfrey drew closer. "The state she was in - what could have done that?"
"I have no way of knowing for sure. I am sure the students have come up with their own theory by now."
"I've heard them talking - do you think there's any truth to it?"
"That there is a Trickster in our school?" Dumbledore sighed. "I do not know. I cannot claim to have any experience with something like this. But I did find this, while sweeping her office." There was a crinkle as Dumbledore drew something out of his pocket.
"What's this?" More crinkling, and Madam Pomfrey's confusion was evident. "Muggle candy?"
"We may be dealing with something very old, and something the likes of which I have never seen before." Dumbledore said heavily.
Oh yes, they were. And if they were going to keep Umbridge in some sort of mysterious hospital, then Gabriel was going to make the absolute best he could of the situation at hand.
Umbridge's hospitalization was the front page of the newspaper that day, but unfortunately it provided no more insight as to the location of 'St Mungo's' than Dumbledore had. There were also no details as to what had happened to her, so none of the students save Gabriel knew exactly what had happened.
He had designed the trick, after all.
"They don't say anything about what might have gotten her," said Hermione, scanning the article as they walked, having all four of them decided to enjoy the grounds on the abnormally nice day. "You know, Harry, I'm beginning to think that it might have really been a Trickster."
"You wouldn't know how to defend against one, would you?" Ron asked.
"Sure," Gabriel. "Don't be an asshole to anyone and you're probably good."
"That's hardly helpful," Hermione muttered.
"I'm serious," Gabriel said, glancing over at her. "Tricksters go after assholes. Say the Slytherins kept cheating at the broom game-"
"Quidditch." Michael interrupted, looking back at Gabriel over nir shoulder.
"Whatever. But say the captain kept cheating - the Trickster might cause an accident in the game so that he can't play again, or maybe take a look at some sort of fictional character who cheats a lot and send them after the captain."
"You can't sick fictional characters on people," Hermione protested.
"Tricksters can - they just create a version of that character in real life, complete with whatever powers they might have." Gabriel shrugged. "I said they were powerful, remember?"
"That's ridiculous, though." Hermione looked faintly worried. "Something like that - I mean, that powerful - it can't exist!"
Gabriel arched an eyebrow, giving her a seriously? look. "Can't it?"
Hermione realized her mistake. "Oh - well, I mean, of course you exist-"
"Who's more powerful?" Ron asked. "You or the Trickster?"
Gabriel gave him an affronted look. "Me, obviously." Archangels outranked Tricksters in every way possible, even though he was technically both.
"When was the last time you met a Trickster?" Michael questioned, slowing down to fall back next to Gabriel.
"Never, remember?" Gabriel reminded nir. "Never met one. I have heard of some of their tricks, though."
"Well, what were they like?"
"Well..." Gabriel racked his mind for one of his better tricks. Not the mystery spot, that had been a bit violent, and it would take too long to explain anyway. "There was one time - a guy who was known for having anger management problems, kept beating people up - especially his wife."
"Oh, that's horrible." Hermione said, shaking her head.
"Exactly, that's why the Trickster went after him. So he took the Hulk - he's a comic book character, basically a guy who turns into this enormous monster when he's angry. Anyway, the Trickster snaps up his own version of the Hulk-" Gabriel drew a line across his throat. "Bam. Head gone. It was blamed on a bear, I think."
"They sound pretty violent," said Michael, who contrary to nir words didn't look very surprised or even pale.
"They're old," Gabriel replied. "All the really old beings can be pretty vicious."
"...Including you?" Hermione asked tentatively.
Gabriel turned around to face her, the group slowly coming to a halt.
"You know," Gabriel said eventually, "You're only asking that because you've only seen one side of me." He grinned and patted her on the shoulder.
"So is that a yes?" Ron questioned nervously.
Gabriel laughed. "Calm down. I like you. You're safe from whatever smiting you think is coming, believe me."
"Because you like us?" Gabriel swung around, laughing over Hermione's incredulous question.
"Bet none of you can skip a stone halfway across the lake!"
Over the next few days, a trade similar to the one which had sprung up during the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco made its rounds in the student population.
People had flooded the library, looking for books which so much as alluded in even the vaguest of ways to Tricksters and how to protect yourself from them, and Gabriel laughed his ass off in private at some of the things people had come up with - some of which were cons to get money from younger, more gullible students, and some of which were completely serious but so, so wrong.
It's not like any of them would have worked on Gabriel anyway.
The teachers didn't seem to notice the artifact trade, but they did notice the growing restlessness and nervous energy. Even the staff seemed to be affected - from what Michael said, Trelawney had taken to predicting even darker and more perilous ends for a growing number of his classmates.
Gabriel was almost tempted to sit in and get a few ideas, because after the exact definition of what a Trickster was had circulated, people were keeping a tight lid on any 'high and mighty' thoughts or actions.
Of course, Gabriel didn't really care about that. Mostly, he was berating himself for somehow having forgotten about Snape.
Jackpot.
Gabriel had to take time to prepare, of course, if he wanted everything to go smoothly [what he'd dubbed 'the idiot box' took energy, if not time, to make], and so it was several more days before the Potions master abruptly disappeared.
As with Umbridge, people panicked, but no one seemed very worried about the man except for the teachers. Gabriel let him stew for a few days [who knew how long it had been for Snape] before going to see how things were going.
One step into the Trickster box made him know that he had definitely picked the right target.
Yes. Yes I am really going to end it there. Have fun with this chapter, please leave more reviews on 'Sigyn and Gabriel'! The sequel should be up eventually, but that means this next chapter will be slightly delayed. Apologies!
Read and review!