An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Thirteen

Waking up before seven the next morning was actual hell. I almost just passed back out, deciding to deal with the fallout from Jackson later, but the words of the Sorting Hat and Umbridge floated back out of my subconscious and were enough to drag me up.

I trudged downstairs and through the familiar corridors of Hogwarts. The first day of classes wasn't until tomorrow, and already my year was busy, full of waking up early and dealing with things that needed to be done.

The life of a Stark was never boring, but that counted doubly for a Stark who's also a wizard.

I turned the corner to where Jackson and I were meeting to find him already standing there, arms crossed and looking more awake than he had any right to be as I approached.

"Long night?" he asked, a subtle smirk on his face.

"Cedric and I had a lovely time stargazing, thank you for asking," I grumbled, coming to a stop next to him. He huffed out a laugh, but then we both dropped the joking attitudes. We hadn't woken up this early just to talk about normal stuff.

"Alright, like I said on the train, Adrian and I were vigilant on Death Eater watch over the summer," Jackson started. "Myrah's dad didn't come around, and we didn't catch any suspicious activity, but there were definitely mutterings all summer about Potter and Dumbledore and Voldemort. You're lucky you haven't been dragged into it yet."

I nodded. "I know. They're leaving Cedric out of it too, at least for now, since Harry's the one with the recognizable name."

"Exactly. He's got the fame to be the face of a movement, so he matters to them more," he agreed. "Harry's been more vocal than either of you, too."

"True. I wish I could say I learned more from living at the Order headquarters for as long as I did, but I got almost nothing. Apparently Voldemort's trying to build up strength in secret, so he's still in hiding. The biggest news I got was that he's apparently going after some kind of weapon he didn't have last time."

Jackson nodded. "Any idea what it might be?"

"None. The adults were determined to keep us out of it, and I sort of made a promise to Lupin to respect that."

"What? Why the hell would you do that?"

"I don't know," I sighed and dragged a hand through my hair. "I guess I got where he was coming from. Like, he's risking his life specifically so we don't have to. I get wanting to do that for people. And he promised he'd get me involved without hesitating if they really needed me."

"So what, we're just going to do nothing?" asked Jackson with a huff.

"No. I mean, not entirely. Not after everything that went down last night."

Jackson's face turned grim, a mirror of my own as I replayed the Hat's words again and again. The pinched face of that Umbridge woman floated through my mind too, clearing her throat and making my blood boil.

"So the Hat gives us all the creepiest rhyme ever the same night that horrible pink toad shows up," mused Jackson. "That can't be a coincidence."

"I agree. The Ministry's been a pain in all our asses since last year, and now they've gone so far as to start interfering at Hogwarts." I trailed off, staring holes in the floor before meeting Jackson's eyes with an intense stare. "Something very bad is coming our way."

"So what do you want to do about it?"

I sighed. "I don't know. I don't think there's much we can do from Hogwarts, especially with a Ministry watch dog lurking in the corridors..."