Petrified {Book #2}

The Howler

Emma's POV

I woke up the next morning, on my bed, still in my clothes from last night. I got up, to see if my letters to Fred and Ron were there. They weren't. I looked instantly at Athena, who looked proud of herself. I smiled, as I walked over to her. I picked her up and put her on my shoulder.

"Aww Athena girl" I cooed "You're so smart, you took the letter straight to Fred and Ron." She softly squawked, as I nuzzled her feathers. "EM!" called a voice from downstairs, it was Mione. "Yeah!?" I called back, putting Athena back down. "Breakfast!" she said. "Okay!" I responded, "Be right there!" I got up, and went to the bathroom.

I got my minty toothpaste and the second the mint touched my tongue, I felt amazing, alive, and clean. Once I brushed my teeth, I changed into some leggings and wore a blue shirt that said "Ravenclaw" that I got from my parents, I also had one that said Gryffindor.

I walked downstairs and my family gave me death glares. "What?" I asked, sitting at the table. "Emma, did you perform magic outside of school?" Mum asked, having a deadly silent face. "Um....I guess" I responded, scared.

"What do you mean, you guess?" asked Dad. "Well, when I was outside, reading Ron's letter" I started, but after the word Ron, my dad raised his eyebrows, but I ignored it. "The owl that delivered it, looked hungry, so I performed a Summoning Charm, to get a dead rat off the ground, to feed it, and so, I didn't count that as 'magic' so that's why I said 'I guess'"

Hermione sighed. "Em, any spell counts as magic, you know" I nodded "Why do you care so much? I mean, it didn't affect any of you" I argued, wondering why they were making such a big deal of this. Dad turned around and gave me a pink letter., that said "CONFIDENTIAL" in big purple letters, and my address, and my name. It also said "Ministry of Magic." 

As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what it was. A Howler. I stared at it in confusion. But I wasn't confused at all. I slowly picked it up, as if it was about to blow up. I stared at the pink paper, scared to open it. What if they expelled me!? What if they took my to Azkaban!? Those thoughts raced trhough my head, until I felt a sharp jerk, and my hands were empty. 

"Hey!" I cried to Hermione "That's mine!" "Not anymore" she said, as she opened the paper. There was a breeze, and then I heard a sharp voice, the voice of the Howler.

"Miss Granger" it started. It was a woman, who certainly liked pink. "It has come to our attention that you performed a Summoning Charm on June 31(??), at 7:31 PM. Usually, we would take the magic-user to Azkaban, but since you are only in your Second Year we will let you off with a fair warning. However, you must fill out parchment work, which is enclosed in the envelope, on why you used the Charm. Have a wonderful day, Delores Umbridge." 

I sighed. I looked at my parents and they both had disapproving looks."I know" I murmured. I took the envelope and, sure enough, there was a HUGE roll of parchment, and a quill and ink.

I took the quill and ink, and started on the parchment, but before that, I took the envelope, and made it into a parchment airplane. I walked outside, and released it. I never saw it fall. I wished I could be like that airplane. Flying away, with no distractions.

I sat down at the table, and started on the parchment. SQUA! I heard Athena fly down, and land on my shoulder. I smiled at her, and for a second, just for a second, it seemed like she was smiling back. 

***

The parchment took a while, but it was okay. Once I was done, I gave the parchment to Athena, and she flew away with it. "Ahem young lady" a voice said from behind me. It was the Howler lady. "Yes?" I said, turning around. She was wearing a pink dress, and she kinda looked like a toad.

"You need'nt send an owl, I have come to collect it" she told me in a fake nice voice, I knew this lady was a monster. "Alright"  I replied. I whistled, and Athena came back, luckily, she didn't go too far.

I took the parchment out of her talons and gave them to Umbridge. "Here you go" I said, handing her the parchment. "And the envelope?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Uh, " I stuttered. Athena squawked and it gave me an idea. "Athena must have dropped it" I told her, hoping my lie would satisfy her. She nodded, and just like that, she was gone.

I sighed and sat back down at the table. "Sorry Athena" I told her "I didn't mean to lie about you" I just sat there nuzzling her feather, like nothing was wrong in the world.

~

HEY! Another update! Im sorry the update took so long. Its just school has been busy cuz we have more work now cuz its the end of the year. Im sorry if this is a boring chapter, but it is needed. Im also sorry if its short, Ive also been having writers block, and its just been SUPER busy. I was going to make this update longer, but then it would've taken longer and I really wanted to get a chapter out soon to please you guys. -Emmy