The Blessings of Hecate [Abandoned]

The Giant Ring of Umbridge's Torment

Chapter Twenty: The Giant Ring of Umbridge's Torment
Nico's P.O.V.

I HATED SCHOOL EVEN MORE. I don't see why we actually have to do the homework and all the studying if we're probably going to leave next year. I mean, next year Percy and Annabeth will be forced to leave, so how can we continue the quest without completely restarting?

The OWLs are stupid. I mean, who even came up with the name? Besides, why do I even have to care about what the Statute of Secrecy is or how to perform a Silencing Charm. I only have magic because Hecate gave it to me for the sake of the quest.

And that wasn't the only thing I was irritated about. For the past few weeks nobody would not shut-up about Harry's interview with the Quibbler. At first I didn't think much about it, but when Annabeth started getting concerned it worried me.

"If we're supposed to keep Harry safe and all- we should be making sure he doesn't draw too much attention to himself," Annabeth said frustratedly, quickly grabbing the attention of the other four of us in the Room of Requirement.

We had been meeting less and less the past few months, between dreaded homework, Leo on the Quidditch team(which I wasn't convinced was going well), and the DA.

"And how are we supposed to be doing that?" asked Leo, "Trust me Annabeth, you've never been in the same class as him. Umbridge and Snape call him out constantly. There's no way we can prevent everyone from paying attention to him."

That seemed to shut her up for the time being. Two more weeks passed and most of the chatter concerning Harry subtly died down. It was a while before anything actually interesting happened. And no, I don't mean Professor McGonagall's lesson on the Doubling Charm.

It was just a regular Tuesday night in the Great Hall. The day had been dull enough I had almost considered skipping dinner and going straight to the dormitory. But somehow I ended up following Leo and Piper there.

Halfway through the meal there was a ear-splitting scream from outside of the Hall. Like many others, I had been quick to jump out of my seat. The shrieks and screams of a woman were coming from the Entrance Hall.

It was like a sea of chaos as everybody turned towards the Entrance Hall to see the commotion. I felt bad for the first years; most of them were getting shoved out of the way by the older students.

In the center of the Entrance Hall stood Professor Trelawney. She looked like a mess, her hair sticking up on one end; her large glasses lopsided. Two trunks sat on the floor next go her, one of which looked as if it had been thrown down the stairs after her.

Naturally, everyone formed a ring around the scene, watching with great interest. My main focus was on Umbridge, who was walking down the marble staircase with a spring in her step.

Beside me, someone was pushing their way up to the front of the crowd; Harry. On my opposite side, I noticed Percy and Annabeth share glances. They were thinking the same thing as I was, why wasn't he in the Great Hall?

Yes, there were rumors among the DA members that he had to attend mandatory Remedial Potions lessons. But who actually believes that? I knew there was more going on. Sometimes when he came back to the dormitories I knew something was different, it was like he was more drained. Weaker.

"No!" Trelawney shrieked. "NO! This cannot be happening.... It cannot... I refuse to accept it!"

"You didn't realize this was coming?" said Umbridge high girlish voice, sounding amused. She was now at the base of the stairs.

"Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable you would be sacked?"