How To Annoy A Gryffindor ; harry potter

Step 40: Team Up With Zabini

"Get up, training starts now," Austin barked, barging into Ember's room causing her to jump out of her bed in alarm.

Ember rubbed her eyes, "Now? I thought Saturday was my day off!" she said groggily, blinking so that her eyes adjusted to the early morning light seeping through her bedroom curtains.

"I want you to be ready when school starts. Protect yourself against the Mudbloods who will try to get back at you for being pure... Get your gear on and be in the training room in ten minutes," he said and then walked out of the room.

Groaning, Ember dragged her feet across the room to her wardrobe and searched for her 'training gear' which was a pair of black leggings and a long sleeve top, both had a protective charm placed on them. She tied her hair up in a sleek ponytail so that it stayed out of her eyes. Running down the stairs at top speed, wand in hand as well as a towel, she sprinted to the training room.

It was lined with Decoy Detonators, Foe-Glasses and many other Dark Detector gadgets. Dummies were positioned around the room as well as pillows, targets and a big contraption for cardio in the middle of the room. By the look on Austin's face, Ember knew today he was going to make her train extra hard.

"You're not even trying!" said Austin, sending a Stunning Spell at Ember's face.

Sweat covered Ember's forehead as she jumped out of the way of the spell and landed flat on her feet, looking up at her father and breathing heavily — feeling as if she was going to vomit right there. She had been exhaustively training and practicing with her father to be better at duels and fighting in general.

Ember groaned, putting her hands on her knees, "Can we please stop? We've been at this for an hour!"

"You think your opponent will just stop for you just because you're tired?"

"No, but —"

"Then get up, we're not done here until one of us wins," Austin said, glaring at Ember.

She stood up slowly, her hands shaking as she pointed her wand at her father, ready for whatever was to come.

"Impedimenta!" he said, casting the spell at Ember.

"Protego!" Ember exclaimed, blocking the spell. "Levicorpus! Petrificus Totalus!" she screamed, just wanting to get it over and done with as Austin rose in the air by his ankle and then fell back to the ground, frozen in place. Most likely with some sort of broken bone.

"I win," muttered Ember.

She considered just walking away and leaving him there frozen until she decided that she wanted to wake him up, but she didn't want to feel his wrath afterwards and so she did the counter-curse and left the room without another word, ready to have a nice long shower.

An owl was sitting on her bed, but it wasn't just any owl. It was Draco's huge eagle owl, Pluto (which he had named after Emebr decided to call her owl Hades). Pluto chirped at the sight of Ember and Ember pressed her finger to her lips, trying to silence the bird. Austin hated when there were any owls in the house because he believed that they were just animals carrying diseases and not mail.

Pluto had a letter in his beak, sealed with the Zabini family crest. A letter from Blaise? Ember had expected him to send her one, but with Draco's owl? It made no sense. She thanked Pluto and gave it one of the treats she kept for Hades. In anticipation, she ripped the letter open.

Ember,

Something's wrong and I know you agree. Mother was with another one of her husbands... or so she says, but I recognised him from those stupid pictures on your desk. What's going on between your dad and my mum? I saw them talking one night when I was coming down to get a drink. They were talking about some weapon that was keeping them alive. That's not the point... Ember if your dad's resorting to getting my mother for help then something big is happening. You're a part of them, you should know.