.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX!
↳ ❛realization❜
THE FIRST TWO weeks of school quickly went by in Annabeth's opinion, she quickly adapted back into the school rhythm. The four had settled in quickly and only after a couple of days the four friends had noticed that Hagrid wasn't home.
When the four had visited his cabin, it looked abandoned, like he hadn't been there for weeks and to their surprise the half-giant hadn't opened the door either. It was wierd. Hagrid had never missed the start of a new school year.
Another shocker was that his Care of Magical Creatures lesson were now held by a replacement, Professor Grubbly-Plank.
"Maybe he's on a mission for you know-", Ron stated quietly while the four friends made their way down to Hagrid Cabin and the forbidden forest.
Occasionally a raindrop landed on Annabeth's face which made her eyes wandered up towards the grey coulds that slowly covered the sky.
When they arrived by the cabin, Professor Grubbly-Plank was standing infront of the class, a long trestle table in front of her laden with twigs.
Annabeth jumped a little bit when she suddenly heard a loud shout of laughter from behind them. When the brunette curiously glanced over her shoulder she saw no other than Draco Malfoy, who was striding towards the rest of the class, the usual gang of Slytherins' following behind him, sniggering.
By their sniggering and how they were smirking over into Harry's direction, Annabeth could already guess the topic of his joke.
"Everyone here?" Professor Grubbly-Planks voice caught Annabeth's attention and made her turn around to the Professor. "Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things are called?"
She motioned with her hands down to the heap of twigs in front of her. Unsurprisingly Hermione's hand immediately shot up from besides Annabeth.
Malfoy imitated Hermione jumping up and down in eagerness to answer the question. This made Pansy Parkinson let out a shrinking laughter which then caused the twigs on the table to leap up into the air and reveal themselves to be what looked like tiny pixie-ish creatures.
"So- anyone knows the names of these creatures?", Professor Grubbly-Plank questioned, one of her eyebrows raised before she slowly nodded at Hermione. "Miss Granger?"
"Bowtruckles- they're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-trees", Hermione answered her confidently.
The professor nodded at her, "Five points to Gryffindor.- Yes, these are Bowtruckles and as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in tress whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"
"Woodlice", Hermione immediately answered without raising her hand. "- but fairy eggs if they can get them."
"Good girl, take another five points!", Professor Grubbly-Plank stated with a small smile before she went on. "So, whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which Bowtruckles lodges, it is wise to have a gift of woodlice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will try to gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs."
She motioned with her hand for them to step closer, "So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few woodlice and a Bowtruckle- I have enough here for one between three- you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body-parts labelled by the end of the lesson."
The students all went to grabbed everything they needed while Harry looked sceptically at Professor Grubbly-Plank, "Where's Hagrid?"
"Never you mind", the Professor responded to him dismissively.
Annabeth saw how Harry gave the Professor another curious look, but then Malfoy suddenly appeared besides them, a large smirk over his face.
He leaned across Harry and seized the largest Bowtruckle from the table, his voice low, "Maybe - the stupid oaf's got himself badly injured."
"Maybe you will if you don't shut up", Harry immediately hissed back at the blond boy.
Annabeth quickly placed a hand on Harry's arm and gave him a warning look, "Harry- don't."
But Malfoy just continued smirking at him, "Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift."
The blond boy then walked away from them, while giving the siblings one last smirked when he glanced over his shoulder.
Annabeth's mind immediately started running, did he knew something? His father was a Death Eater after all. Maybe he knew something that hadn't reached the Order yet. Maybe Hagrid was in trouble-
Annabeth was pulled out of her thoughts when Hermione grabbed her by her arm and dragged her after her towards their Bowtruckle.
The rest of the lesson went by rather quickly and except for a few students that had been scratched by the Bowtruckle. But Annabeth's mind was still preoccupied with worrying about Hagrid.
After Professior Grubbly-Plank had dismissed them from her lesson the day continued with a lesson of Herbology and to Annabeth it was no surprise that Professor Sprout started her lesson by telling them about the importance of their OWL's.
Everytime the teachers did that, Annabeth felt this discomforting anxious feeling that turned her stomach into knots.
The brunette girl started fiddling with her fingers while she mentally created a list of all the things she still had to do today.
She hadn't written a single word into her dream diary for Professor Trelawney yet and she didn't had time to study her vanishing spells as well.
Her leg nervously bounced up and down while she continued to listen to Professor Sprout giving them instructions on their homework.
After what felt like an eternity the Herbology Professor ended the lesson and the students poured out of the plant house.
Annabeth quickly gathered her books and pressed them to her chest while she walked alongside the other's towards the corridor that lead back to the Great Hall.
She made a left turn and her heart immediately skipped a beat when she spotted no other than Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini.
Malfoy was casually leaning against the wall, his brown school bag hanging loosely over his shoulder while he spoke with Blaise, who was standing on his opposite, telling him something that seemed kind of excite him.
Annabeth firmly kept her eyes focused at the stone ground, not wanting to make eye contact with the blond Slytherin boy.
But as hard as she tried to keep her head down, her eyes sneaked a glance at Draco. And she felt like the air was knocked out of her chest when her chocolate brown eyes met his icy blue ones.
Suddenly the memory of that night from last year on the astronomy tower flashed back into her mind.
His hand around her waist- his hot breath on her face when they danced together, spinning over the platform of the tower. - Her breath hitching in her throat while her heart was nearly jumping out of her chest.
She had felt his heartbeat too- pumping relentlessly against his ripcage while he tightened his grip around her body- their chests' pressed against each other.
The brunette quickly broke their eye contact, gluping before she sped up her step and rounded the next corner, not taking notice of Draco following her with his gaze until she disappeared around the corner.
Annabeth immediately exhaled deeply, her books still pressed to her chest before she entered the Great Hall for lunch.
She immediately spotted Fred and George further down by the Gryffindor table, speaking to Ron and Hermione.
The brunette quickly made her way over to them and let out a loud huff when she settled down onto the bench next to Fred.
"Where's Harry?", George questioned the brunette girl, his eyebrows raised at her while he stuffed a bite of his lunch into his mouth.
"Detention with Umbridge", Annabeth immediately answered him while she placed her books onto the table.
Fred and George's eyes widened in terror, before Fred gluped, "Well, I guess we'll be joining him soon enough -"
"- earned ourselves some detention when we pulled a prank on one of the Slytherins", George went on to explain why they even got detention in the first place.
Annabeth gave them a pitying gaze, already assuming what the woman would do to those two.
"That woman is the reincarnation of the devil", Annabeth stated while she leaned onto the table infront of her, sighting heavily. "- she practically tortured Harry."
George gave her a hesitant look, "Wow- way to make us feel better, Anni."
The brunette gave him an apologizing glance, "Sorry."
"Remember, Quidditch try outs are this Friday at five", Fred reminded the brunette after a moment of silence. A large smile immediately spread over Annabeth's face, "Great!"
Hermione gave her a small smile, "Excited?" Annabeth nodded at her before she glanced at Ron. "You're gonna try out?"
"I don't know-" Ron stumbled over his words while he mumbled under his breath.
The brunette decided not to push him further, so that was the ending of their conversation that noon.
After she was finished with her lunch, she got a free period and decided that she would use that time to write a letter to Sirius. She hadn't heard from him since they had left for Hogwarts and in some twisted way she felt like he would understand her feelings concerning the false rumors that were spread and the judging looks.
The brunette had settled down on a stone bench in the courtyard, the stack of parchment on her legs while she thought about what she wanted to write.
"Dear Padfoot-", she quietly whispered to herself while writing onto the parchment. "- I hope you're alright. It's starting to get colder here. Winter is definitely on the way."
She started staring up into the grey sky, where clouds were moving south. "I had yearned to be back at Hogwarts- with my friends. But in spite of being back at Hogwarts- I feel more alone then ever."
She let out a small sight before she continued, "I know you, of all people, will understand. -I think it's especially difficult for Harry's- He's shutting me out. I don't know what to do."
She decided that this would be enough information for now and started coming to an end before she quickly jumped up from her bench and brought her letter to the Owlery.
On her way there, she rounded the corner to hurry upstairs towards the owl when she collided with no other than Harry.
The two groaned when they collided and Annabeth wanted to snap at him to watch where he was going when she suddenly saw something flying behind him in the sky.
Her eyebrows furrowed and when Harry turned around his face expression mimicked hers.
"That's the thing that's pulling the carriages", Annabeth immediately stated before she grabbed Harry by his arm and started dragging him towards the forbidden forest.
"Be careful", was all when Harry followed Annabeth into the forest. Annabeth let out a chuckle when she pushed through a bush and entered a path, "I never thought I would ever hear you say those words."
Harry smiled slightly but remained silent before they suddenly spotted Luna Lovegood standing not far away from them.
And around her were a couple of the creatures that Annabeth had seen that evening by the carriages.
Luna gave them a soft smile as soon as the siblings came to a stand besides her, "Hello."
Harry's eyes wandered down towards Luna's naked feet, "Your feet. Aren't they cold?"
"- Bit", Luna nodded before she shurgged. "Unfortunately, all my shoes have mysteriously disappeared." She turned to face them, a dreamy look in her eyes, "I suspect Nargles are behind it."
One of the dark colored creatures slowly made their way slowly over towards them and Annabeth eyed it curiously, "What are they?"
"They're called Thestrals. They're quiet gentle, really, but people avoid them because they're a bit-", Luna paused when her head fell into one of the baby Thestrals.
"-different", Harry finished her sentence for the blond while he followed her gaze.
"But why can't the other's see them?", Annabeth then questioned her while they slowly approached the baby.
"They can only be seen by people who've seen death", Luna told her calmly and Annabeth's eyes slowly moved towards her. "So you've know someone who's died?"
The blond nodded slightly before she answered, "My mum- she was quiet an extraordinary witch, but she did like to experiment- and one day, one of her spells went badly wrong."
"I'm sorry", Annabeth immediately told her before Luna continued. "Yes, it was rather horrible. I do feel very sad about it sometimes, but I've got Dad."
Luna them opened her bag and pulled out a piece of raw meet, which she the fed the Thestral baby. "We both believe you, by the way."
Harry and Annabeth gave her questioning looks and Luna answered, "That He-who-must-not-be-named is back, and you fought him- and the Ministry and the Prophet are conspiring against you and Dumbeldor."
"Thanks- it seems you're about the only ones that do", Harry stated flatly while he looked down onto the ground.
"I don't think that's true", Luna stated honestly while she leaned forward to get a better look at the Thestral. "I suppose that's how he wants you to feel."
Harry gave her another questioning look, "What do you mean?"
The blond shrugged at him before she made eye contact, "Well, if I were You-know-who- I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else- because if it's just you alone- you're not as much of a threat."
Annabeth's mouth dropped slightly open, there's was a reason why Luna was in Ravenclaw. Annabeth had never thought about it that way and she knew that Luna had a point.
Annabeth gave the blond an appreciative smile, "Thank you, Luna."
THE QUIDDITCH TRY-OUTS had been quiet successful. The team was pretty much the same as last year. Angelina was now Captain, replacing Wood, Katie, Annabeth and Alicia were still Chasers', Harry was still the Seeker and Fred and George remained Beaters. The only position they had to fill was the one of the Keeper.
And to Annabeth's surprised Ron had shown to the try-outs, even if Fred and George cracked jokes before he went up into the air.
Annabeth had to admit that he wasn't fantastic, but he was okay and definitely better as the other's that had tried. So Angelina decided to give Ron the position.
After that a couple of days went by where Annabeth spent all her time in the library or in the Common room, writing her essays for her classes or practicing her spells for Charms and Transfiguration.
At noon the brunette sat with her friends at the Gryffindor table, eating when suddenly Harry approached them, a guilty expression plastered on his face.
Hermione was the first one to notice the boy standing besides their table, "Can I join you?"
The brunette immediately nodded her head at him, "Of course."
But their moment was interrupted by two familiar voices echoing through the Great Hall.
After a couple of seconds every single student in the Great Hall was on their feet and they all poured out into the corridor, where Professor McGonagall and Umbridge were arguing with each other.
"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices", McGonagall had just argued when Annabeth came to a stand in front of the stairs the two Professors' were standing on.
"So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom- Minerva", Umbridge stated while she took another step up the stairs and was now standing above McGonagall.
But the Head of Gryffindor didn't stop, "Not at all, Dolores -" She also took another step and was now on the same level as Umbridge. "- merely your medieval methods."
Umbridge gave her a firm gaze through her narrowed eyes, "I am sorry, dear. But to question my practices is to question the Ministry- and by extension, the minister himself. I am a tolerant woman-"
Annabeth had to suppress an ironic laugh coming out of her mouth.
"- but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty", she finished her sentence, which made McGonagall step down, a disbelieving look on her face. "Disloyalty."
Umbridge instead took another step upwards and now addressed the students and Professors' that had gathered in the corridor. "Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."
Annabeth exchanged a look with Hermione while she could hear Ron groaning from behind her, "Oh Merlin, what's that supposed to mean?"
Annabeth sighed while she made eye contact with the ginger haired boy, "It's only gonna get worse from here."
The same week Umbridge was changing Hogwarts more than Annabeth could've ever imagined.
Umbridge was evaluating the teachers, no one was allowed to listen to music anymore, all Weasleys products were forbidden and physical contact between boys and girls was also completely forbidden.
Annabeth was currently sitting in Professor Trelawney's lesson when Umbridge came through the doors of the tower, a clip board in her hands.
The woman was as always dressed in link from head to toe and Annabeth immediately knew that her presence in the lesson couldn't mean anything good.
After a few minutes where Professor Trelawney had talked about the art of fortune telling, Umbridge interrupted her, as always the sweet fake smile on her lips, "One question dear, you've been in this post how long, exactly?"
Professor Trelawney answered her hesitantly and then went on with her lesson.
After some time Umbridge interrupted her once more, "Could you predict something for me?" Professor Trelawney gave her a questioning look, "I'm sorry?"
Umbridge gave her an arrogant glance, "One teensy little prophecy?"
Annabeth really had to contain her anger, otherwise she would've attacked the woman right there. How could she?
At the beginning of the third year Annabeth had though that Professor Trelawney was a completely crazy woman, but after she had predicted the events of that night with Peter Pettigrew, Annabeth hadn't a single doubt that the Professor had a gift.
Trelawney remained silent and Umbridge sighed before she started scribbling something onto her parchment. "Mhm, pity."
She then spun on her heel and wanted to walk towards the door but the Professor panicked, "No- wait, no! I think I do see something. Yes, I do! Something dark! You are in grave danger!"
Umbridge gave her another one of her smiles and the nodded, "Lovely." She then wrote something else onto the parchment and left the room.
To Annabeth's surprised she was then also in the potion's class, where she was evaluating Professor Snape.
She again had that clip board with her where she took notes, but Annabeth already knew that she wouldn't be that lucky, Snape would definitely not be sacked.
"You applied first for the Defense against the dark arts post, is that correct?", the woman questioned Snape with a sweet voice.
"Yes." The man stated straight forward while she circled him.
"But you were unsuccessful?", she continued, her eyes focused on the Professor.
"Obviously", he stated coldly while Umbridge nodded in agreement.
Ron, who was sitting beside Annabeth and right infront of Snape, let out a snort he couldn't hold in any longer and after Umbridge had left Snape wacked him over the head with his parchment.
Annabeth contained her laughter but made a mental note to make fun of Ron when they were back in their Common Room.
She was slightly chuckling to herself when she looked up from her parchment and locked eyes with Draco Malfoy, who was sitting on the complete other end of the class room.
Her heart immediately started hammering in her chest. And the brunette felt her throat going dry.
The blond boy had a smirk on his lips while his eyes wandered over her face. Annabeth immediately felt self-conscious, she had chosen to wear a ponytail today's, what she didn't do often.
Her brown curls were falling into her face and she slowly pushed them behind her ear while she again made eye contact with the boy, who was continuing to shamelessly stare at her.
Annabeth now also focused on his face, his blue eyes, in which she could drown, his sharp jawline and how it was looking even more defined in the dark dungeon class room. His almost white hair that hung into his face while his perfect teeth were revealed by his lips parting slightly.
The brunette felt how her face grew hit and she chose to break their eye contact once again, focusing back on her essay.
She slightly bit her lip while she suddenly froze, what was she doing? What was she thinking? She found him attractive.
Annabeth was shocked. How could she find Malfoy attractive? She always thought that was impossible. He was an arrogant git, who was always whining for his father when something didn't go his way.
But he also was mysterious, his eyes were so dreamy and when it was only them, he was somehow- different. Annabeth couldn't explain it, but she felt this magnetic pull towards him.
The memories of that night then suddenly falshed before her eyes once more. Him sneaking his arm around her waist, holding her in his arms while he spun her over the platform.
The music stopping, his face closing in, his hot breath on her lips, their lips almost touching.
The brunette suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when Ron shut his thick potion's book besides her.
Hermione gave her a questioning look, while she stood up from her chair, "Everything alright?"
Only now Annabeth realized that the lesson was over, she quickly started gathering her things while she nodded her head, "Yes. I'm alright."
She then swung her bag over her shoulder and followed after the other's out of the classroom.
To her surprised Draco and his friends stood just outside the classroom and when she passed the boy and his friends her heart sped up once more.
The brunette's arm dangled casually besides her body and if someone had been watching the two students closely, one could've seen that both of their little fingers came longingly closer to each other as the Gryffindor passed the Slytherin.