Annabeth Chase and the Ignorant Wizarding World

Chapter Sixteen

During Herbology, Annabeth informed Freddie and Vera about what had happened the night before.

Vera cursed. "That reckless fire diving little shit."

"Strong words," Annabeth noted, smiling slightly.

"Like you wouldn't do the same thing, Vera," Freddie said, dodging a green tentacle that was trying to strangle them. "Can you calm down?" they told the plant. It didn't listen.

They were working with Devil's Snare that day, cutting off clippings and replanting them in different pots to be used in potions. The little green demons were waving around like kelp in an underwater current, and they latched onto anything that moved, like a mix between a venus flytrap and a boa constrictor.

For some reason, maybe as an extra challenge, they weren't allowed to use light to keep the plants in check, so Annabeth pulled her gloves on more securely and picked up her pruners. She had a feeling her dagger would work better (maybe it was the enchanted metal), but she was pretty sure that pulling it out in the middle of class would cause some issues.

"On three?" she said, looking at Vera, who nodded. "One... two..."

"On three or after three?" Vera asked.

"Whichever one," Freddie, who was trying to get the devil's snare to stop climbing up their braided hair to their throat, said.

"I said 'on' for a reason," Annabeth said.

"Got it." Vera nodded. "Three!"

"That's not—ok."

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth went in with her shears at the base of the tentacle, which was the most brittle spot on the murderous plant. Vera held the other tentacles at bay while Annabeth worked, using a long rod that Professor Sprout called the problem stick. The plant curled around the rod before it was even touching and made its best effort to snap it.

The sheers weren't doing their job, so Annabeth abandoned them and wrapped her fist around the tentacle and pushed. It broke off with a snap and went limp.

"Well," Vera said, thrusting the problem stick away before the tentacles could overtake it and grab her arm, "that was fun."

The devil's snare curled around the stick, drawing it closer to the base.

"We're never getting that back," Freddie said, untangling the vine from their hair.

***

The first meeting was a few days later. Annabeth, Vera, Freddie, and Daisy went up to the seventh floor together. They had gotten a little sidetracked (Daisy found a cat and she and Vera adopted it before realizing it was Hermione's), but they were on their way.

When they got there, nearly almost late but not quite [props to you if you get the ref], Annabeth was only a little surprised to see a completely different door than the one they usually used.

The door to the gym was carved like any door you'd find in the mortal world, with those rectangles and squares in the middle. This one was dark wood and completely smooth. A brass doorknob sat right in the middle like in those really fancy houses you only see on shows like house hunters.

Beyond the door, the gym was gone, like it had never even been there. Instead was a wide room that, while a little smaller, looked big enough to house everyone. Torches in sconces lit the room. Two parallel walls were lined with bookshelves stuffed full with thick tomes. The third wall was blank, but the fourth had shelves displaying what looked like every weird gadget from fake-Moody's office last year. On the floor, instead of chairs, there were dozens of pillows and beanbags.