An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Twenty

Jackson joined me for my ranting on this run.

The unfairness and absurdity of it all drove us both crazy, and we spent the rest of the morning yelling and screaming and working out to the point of exhaustion before our classes. It was the perfect way to release some negative emotions, and like Jackson pointed out, we couldn't snap on Umbridge or anyone else if we were too exhausted to register anything they said.

By the time first period rolled around, we could both barely walk. I almost fell over at least three times during my first period Herbology class, and twice Fred and George were the only things holding me up, each twin taking an arm to support me when I started to drift.

For the first few minutes, my friends clearly thought there was something seriously wrong with me. But they'd all read the Prophet article too, and of course the twins were almost as angry as I was about Percy's quotes. I explained Jackson's workout strategy, and that relaxed them all enough that they stopped talking about taking me to the Hospital Wing.

Second and third period, we had double Charms, and I almost collapsed on the spot when I walked into the room. Apparently, Umbridge was conducting her first "inspection" today in our Charms period.

My friends literally formed a protective bubble around me as we took our seats. Umbridge was hovering at the back of the classroom, but my friends made a point of taking seats all around me so there was almost no chance of Umbridge making direct contact. Thanks to Jackson, I was tired enough that I just slumped in my seat and did my best to block out the woman behind me.

Flitwick started the lesson with only a brief mention of Umbridge, and managed her easily for the rest of the class. Whenever she would ask questions in that horrible voice of hers, he'd easily answer and send her back to her corner to observe. By the end of the period, I'd only been forced to acknowledge Umbridge a few times, but it was still a relief to be out of the room.

"Do wizards seriously know so little about history that they think an Inquisitor can be a good thing?" I demanded as soon as we were down the hallway. "Like, does the Spanish Inquisition not ring a single bell?"

The confused looks on my friends' faces were enough to give me my answer.

After lunch I had a free period while everyone else was in History of Magic, and the last thing I wanted to do was work. But that seemed to be the way I felt all the time so far this year, so I made myself buckle down and get a list of schools I needed to apply to before making an account on one of the websites for mass applications. I still had a lot to do, but a small start was better than nothing.

After my free period came Potions, and despite other crappy things that had happened over the last twenty-four hours, this Potions period turned out better than expected. I sat with Jackson, Adrian, and Myrah around a table for four while we worked on our assignment, and we spent most of the class whining about Umbridge. She'd been managing Jackson's Arithmancy class first thing this morning, and apparently she'd been much worse with Professor Vector than with Flitwick.

Snape wandered over to our table at one point, looking ready to yell at us all for talking. But, for the first (and probably last) time I'd ever seen, Snape smoothly changed course and left us alone to whine about Umbridge for the rest of the class.

Since Snape had decided to give us breathing room, I spent most of the period brainstorming ways to mess with Umbridge with Adrian and Myrah while Jackson worked his biochem magic on our potion. The twins, Lee, and I continued our work through the rest of the day, since we had DADA tomorrow. I'd need a lot of help and planning in place if I was going to get through that class.

I'd just started to feel calm again before bed when Angelina stormed into the room, looking as furious as I'd felt this morning.

"Harry got himself thrown in detention again!" she shouted as she stormed into the room. I just looked at her from where I lay kicked back on my bed, honestly not able to believe it.