When Myths Meet Magic || 5

29|| Harry

The week following the Weasleys departure was somehow even more chaotic than the actual leave itself.

The portable swamp still sloshed as drearily as ever in the Great Hall; neither Umbridge nor Filch seemed able to remove it. Plenty of the teachers could have drained the water with a flick of their wand, but Harry had the sneaking suspicion that they enjoyed watching the two struggle. At one point, Filch tried draining it bucketful by bucketful out the door. Somehow, the water would firmly stay inside even when the doors opened and closed, like it was a wall of sludge as soon as you entered. Filch eventually was given the job of rowing the students across the swamp. Harry once heard Percy, Annabeth, and Nico converse in Greek, as they sailed to Charms, how it brought back memories to have a crabby, old man unwillingly row them across a gross body of water. (Jason had translated.) He was pretty sure Percy was intentionally making the boat drift backwards every time Filch took a break, but he wasn't sure if Percy was sorry. Harry certainly wasn't.

Dungbombs were dropped so frequently in the hallways that many people had taken to walking around the corridors with the bubble-head charm to get a breath of clean air. Students swarmed Umbridge's desk during her class, vomiting, bleeding out of both nostrils, excessively sweating, and fainting on the spot. Umbridge desperately tried to trace the source of it all, but they only stubbornly told her they had Umbridge-itis.

Mysterious bronze creatures would dart around, much like the fireworks, but unlike the fireworks, they couldn't be dealt with magically. Umbridge once sprint-waddled, shrieking from her room as what appeared to be a whole zoo of tiny bronze animals pelted after her.

"You have to admit," Annabeth said as Umbridge nearly tumbled out the door. "She's very resilient. I'm surprised she hasn't quit by now."

"Let's change that," said Thalia.

It was the little things in life you took for granted, Harry mused. Like not having water splash up your nose when you tried to drink, or getting a static shock every time you touched anything, or having super powerful winds push you around as soon as you stepped foot outside, or being able to see.

"Who is doing that?" Umbridge demanded angrily as the shadows once again darkened until the entire classroom was enveloped in pitch blackness.

Luckily, she could only suspect. Jason was caught once and Thalia twice (when bolts of lightning would erupt from her fingers and strike Umbridge directly) though luckily Umbridge thought they were using wands.

"Will you please learn to be more subtle?" Will pleaded at Herbology as he examined Thalia's cuts in her hand: I will not zap teachers with lightning.

"But where's the fun in that?" Thalia asked with a grin as one of Leo's larger animals pranced across the yard chasing Mrs. Norris at an excellent speed.

Hazel was quiet as she watched it. "Why do you think he left?" she asked.

"Well, he did say..." Frank trailed off with a frown. "No, actually, he didn't say. He didn't say a thing."

"We can always ask him next visit to Diagon Alley," said Percy as he halfheartedly tried trimming the Northern Asian Sacuebell in front of them. The flower snapped at Percy defensively as he drew nearer with the scissors.

"Harry," Hermione said suddenly from their sapling one over. "Have you resumed Occlumency yet?"

"Occlumency?" Nico repeated. "What's that?"

"My remedial potions lessons," Harry said dully. "Only I've been learning Occlumency with Snape instead."

"Again, what's that?"

"It's like... learning to block your dreams," Harry explained. "I told you about this."

"You never told us what it was called," Annabeth said thoughtfully. "I'll have to tell Chiron we need to include it in our training at camp... that is, if it works?"

"Erm, yeah," Harry mumbled. Hermione sighed and expertly snapped off a Saceubell bud, throwing it in the bucket they were supposed to be collecting.

"Y'know," Ron said suddenly (it appeared to be a habit of the trio to change the subject at random intervals). "If Crabbe and Goyle don't recover before Slytherin play Hufflepuff, we might've a chance of winning the cup."

Annabeth clipped blue and orange bud. "I suppose so," she said. Crabbe and Goyle had both mysteriously turned up in the Hospital wing bleeding out of both nostrils while regurgitating their insides like no tomorrow. Someone had undoubtedly slipped Fred and George's little treats in their food and firmly withheld the remedy. And with the match tomorrow and all the other maladies Madam Pomfrey has her hands full with, it was unlikely they'd be treated in time.

"Hey, now," Hazel said with a cheeky grin. "Hufflepuff isn't all that bad."

"Because Slytherin doesn't have a reserve reserve beater," Ron said, ignoring Hazel. "And Amelia's been an inconsistent wreck ever since that bloody git of a brother screwed over—"

"Bit hypocritical, don't you think?" Nico muttered under his breath. Ron didn't seem to hear him either.

"And Ravenclaw isn't all that good," Jason added. "It's mainly been Slytherin we've been worried about."

"Yeah, real nice of your girlfriend to change the lineup on us," Annabeth said with a grin.

"And Hufflepuff as well," Hermione interjected. "They've got Cedric seeking, obviously Hazel keeping, and that other keeper Heidi's pretty good as well, then the beaters Duke and Hudson, was it? Yeah, they're both alright. And that new keeper Andrew is alright as well. And Zachariah isn't bad either. Oh, please, Ron," she said crossly, waving her scissors at him. "He really isn't that bad."

"Yep, that's all of them," said Frank, looking miffed. "Gods, Hermione, if you were on the team you'd intimidate to death."

"'You have a fourteen point eight chance of winning this match' and wha-pow!" Thalia slammed her fist into her palm for added effect. "Ravenclaw's pissed their robes."

Hermione smiled, obviously flattered at the prospect of making Ravenclaw wet their robes.