~The Big Five at Hogwarts~

Chapter 12

Hiccup

         After waking up and feeding Toothless, I make my way over to the Great Hall for breakfast. It is only my second time actually sitting at the staff table, and it feels great. I sit down next to Professor Flitwick and take a second to look around at the twinkling candles floating above us, and the bustling groups of students seated at long tables. I inhale the aroma of bacon, tarts, eggs, and oatmeal. Looking to my left, I see                          

Professor Longbottom next to Professor Flitwick and an empty chair where McGonagall usually sits. But as I am about to ask about it, I notice a small bald head poking out from underneath the table. The head rises up high enough for me to see a very short, skinny man wearing spectacles sitting in the Headmaster’s chair. I try to stay quiet, but eventually the urge becomes overwhelming.

            “Excuse me sir,” I call down to him quietly, “but who are you?” The man doesn’t seem to hear me at first, so I have to say it louder. “Sir?” He jumps a little in his chair (or should I say McGonagall’s chair). 

            “Oh yes, I’m sorry. What is it?” he fidgets nervously and pulls out a small notepad from his blue jacket.

            “Who are you and why are you sitting in the Headmaster’s chair?” I repeat. For a second I think that maybe he is the headmaster. Could he be?

            “Well, my name is Nigel Flimwater, and I was sent by Headmaster to announce some new rules of his,” he says in a tentative and quiet voice. His motions remind me of a Terrible Terror back on Berk; quick and jerky. “If you don’t mind me asking,” I say curiously, noting his somewhat limited height, “are you a dwarf?”

The man looks confused.

            “No, why would you ask that?” When I hear his response, I suddenly realize my mistake.

            “Um, no reason,” I tell him as my eyes widen and I face forward awkwardly. While I am trying to look at anyone but Mr. Flimwater, I spot Jack sitting at the Slytherin table, so I wave to him. He, Rapunzel, Merida, Elsa, and I have been getting along pretty well ever since that night with the Horntail. Even Merida and Elsa aren’t looking at each other quite as nastily since we heard about Elsa’s sister. That’s when I realize that all of the students are all still waiting to eat. The Headmaster usually stands up to say something before we eat, and I suppose that is why there is a huge room full of teenagers—and tweens—looking up at us expectantly (except for those who are just sneaking food while everyone else’s attention is diverted). Professor Flitwick notices this too and promptly stands up.

            “Um, before you start today’s breakfast, I believe the new Headmaster’s assistant has a few announcements for us.” Pretty soon the tiny man has scurried up to the front of the table and is addressing the school using the sonorus spell to amplify his voice.

            “Students;” he begins, “first of all, Headmaster sends his regards. Next, he has a few, uh, refinements he wishes to make to the school’s schedule and rules. Don’t worry, it’s nothing drastic.” Although something from his tone tells me that it is.

            “First of all, he wishes that all sports events and practices be cancelled until further notice.” Before he can continue, students start to groan and protest. I’ve never really liked sports much, but even I have to admit that that change does not make much sense. Mr. Flimwater continues, trying to speak above all the noise. “And other extracurricular activities will be cancelled as well.” Okay, so a large chunk of the school obviously disapproved of no sports events, and the other group clearly didn't like the absence of other activities, but there was still a small section that didn't care about either of those things. Lucky for us, Mr. Flimwater has another announcement to disappoint everyone in the school.

            “The next one states that all actions performed solely by any member of staff must first go through Headmaster. There will be no activity outside of classrooms and dorm rooms, except at the scheduled Free Time. All pupils will walk in an orderly lines to and from classes. The lines will consist of other members of your house and students sharing your classes. All pupils will have a curfew of 9:00 and are not permitted to leave their dorm rooms after this time.

Lastly, every morning at 6:00 all pupils will be expected to line up here in alphabetical order for morning announcements. You may now eat.” But no one is eating after that. When he finishes, there is a second of silence before the crowd of students erupt into complaints and objections. Let me just say that there are some pretty rude ones.

            “He can’t do this, can he?” I lean over to ask the other professors.

            “Well, I don’t think even the Headmaster has the right to make these kinds of changes; I’m going to discuss this with him,” Professor Longbottom says as he gets up from the table. However, Professor Flitwick soon stops him.

            “Neville, you know what will happen if he doesn’t like it,” he looks him in the eye. For a moment an expression crosses Longbottom’s face: fear. But it soon leaves and he walks away with the word,

            “Nonsense.” Then he disappears out the exit. Flitwick sighs.

            “Foolish young man,” I hear him mutter. I decide not to say anything. Suddenly I see a familiar head of red hair near the platform. Merida’s hair is wrapped up in a messy bun and she is waving her arms yelling,

            “Oy! Who do you think you are, making up rules about curfews and lines? Next thing you know, you’ll have us acting like robots, replace our names with numbers and not even let us eat!” I can tell that she is angry, but the look of fear in Longbottom’s and Flitwick’s eyes scared me. I don’t want anything bad happening to her, so I try to motion for her to stop. I start gesturing frantically, but she just looks at me funnily, as does Flitwick. So I stop, and I see Rapunzel and Astrid come up behind Merida to take her back to her seat. I almost forget about the food piled on my plate, so I start chewing on a bite of fish, thinking what all of this could possibly mean. Pretty soon, Longbottom walks back into the Great Hall, looking very different. I try to ask him what happened, but he just gives me the same reply every time: “Headmaster will handle it.” His eyes are wide with the fear I saw in his face earlier, except this time it’s not going away, and it is ten times worse.

            The rest of the evening, everyone is as silent as the grave while they eat their breakfast. But my mind is working a mile a minute, trying to put these pieces together and coming up with nothing, except for the fact that this Headmaster is some man named Cribrune. What is going on?