Down to Business
Third-Person PoV:
Professor Umbridge kept a sickly smile plastered on her face as she marched past the students that were making their way to their dorms after the Hallow'een Feast, she could hear them all muttering and debate about what that Granger girl has shouted about in the Great Hall just earlier. If she were Headmistress she would've given her a month's worth of detention; her lips curled up in a dark smile as she pictured the girl crying out in pain as she forced her to use a blood quill. She opened the door to her office and stepped into her world of pink.
"Not good, not good." A lot of the students clearly agreed with the Gryffindor girl; if the next generation had these beliefs, then the Wizarding World could be completely tipped over, which would mean half-breeds get rights and Muggle-Borns would be treated better or even worse, Muggle subjects could be taught in Hogwarts! She speed-walked towards her desk ignoring the mewling of the cats and kittens in the pictures plastered upon her wall and thrust open her drawers scrambling for parchment paper and a pot of ink and her quill. "The Minister must know about this!" She paused, that wouldn't be such a good idea right now, if the American guests weren't here she would've sent a letter to Fudge without a second thought, she couldn't allow them to think of their government not having enough power to control their only Wizarding school. She slowly closed the drawer, she would have to do this herself. But how?
She sunk into her padded desk chair and heaved a sigh, she'd need to get at the root of the problem first and set them all apart. But who apart exactly? The School that after centuries of conflict was finally making a slow stand to be united? Or the American's, who was already a strong unit? Her pink manicured nails tapped on her desk in a rhythm, she was unsure and in a bit of a pickle. Her fingers paused in tapping the desk as her pointy teeth bit into her lips. She would need to have eyes throughout the school first, a team that was dedicated to just her, a cruel smile spread across her lips.
"Of course, a team of students, hmmm probably Slytherin would be best." The team should be composed of the most influential students, ideally with parents in the Ministry and pureblooded as well. She plucked up her quill and dipped it into the ink and began jotting down her plan onto parchment. "I'm sure the Minister would understand this, but I might need some more power to start this up, I'll Owl him today then and hopefully get a reply back by tomorrow..." She murmured and took out some more parchment paper and an envelope.
Dolores simply couldn't wait for her plan to be executed, it would work, her team of students could easily be used to disrupt within the students and the Royals. It would work, Wizarding Britain depended on her.
Meanwhile at the Staff...
The Professor's stood up with varying expressions on their faces. McGonagall was deep in thought, Snape's usual scowl was held even deeper on his face if possible, Trelawney seemed a bit sunnier than usual. Professor Sprout coughed to break the silence.
"I must say, this... is the first time other than Quidditch that I've seen all of the houses agree on something." She forced some positivity into her words.
"I don't know whether we should be glad that the houses are banding together after many centuries or concerned about how the Ministry may respond to what they're agreeing on." Flitwick folded his hands from his perch on a table.
"Umbridge will find a way to have some more control over the school and the students, probably have the Minister make up some kind of role for her. Claiming that we're poisoning the minds of the youth." Professor Hooch rolled her eyes at the last part.
"She may try to separate the Slytherin's some more from the other houses to get more control, especially from the more influential students." Snape drawled. "If she's desperate she might try to cause some disruption with the Americans."
"And that can't happen, we need to have strong bonds with America and MACUSA with the way that things are going." McGonagall's accent starting to thicken in her voice. Silence engulfed the room once more as the Professor's attempted to come up with a resolution.
"I think that the best we can do is keep a closer eye on her and any students that she talks with, with how the Prophet is treating the school I doubt that there is much we and Dumbledore can do." They muttered agreements as they all began to leave the Staff Room unit McGonagall and Snape were left.
"And here I was thinking this year would be tame with the Americans here." She rubbed her forehead and sat down in one of the plush chairs.
"As long as Potter is here something is destined to happen." McGonagall thinned her lips and stared at the Potions Master.
"When will you let this go, Severus?" Her tired voice forced him to face her with sharp eyes and a set jaw.
"You know what he did-"
"Yes! I do, but Harry is not his father! Putting the blame for what his father did to you, which he most likely has no idea about is childish and cruel. You're just being a bully."
Severus refused to meet her eyes and stared at the wall, his hands gripping his forearms tightly, he didn't have the time for this.
"I have to go and prepare for my lessons tomorrow." He rushed out before she could even give a response, the witch leaned back further into the chair and sighed.
"I need a drink..."
The Next Morning in the Slytherin Common Room...
Draco shared a look with Pansy as he saw her exit the girl's dormitory. Good, so he, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't the only ones who received the letter from Umbridge. Blaise raised an eyebrow at the two but seemed to shrug it off and offered an arm to his boyfriend. "Shall we leave for breakfast now Dragon?" A flirtatious smile graced the dark-skinned boy's face as he looked down at him.
"Of course." They glided through the common room, the candles already lit as the dim light from the lake attempted to brighten up the room, other students of Slytherin were leaving the dormitory as well, like the Ravenclaws they were known as a house for their punctuality to anything, even something as small as breakfast.
"I wonder what the Pink Monstrosity is up to now," Pansy murmured under her breath, her eyes flickered over to where Crabbe and Goyle were following behind them, they didn't seem to have heard her.
"What do you mean?" Blaise kept his lips moving to the minimum as they began to ascend the stairs, leaving the damp dungeon behind them.
"We got a letter from her, she wants to see us at lunch for something, no doubt that this might connect with Granger's speech during the Feast yesterday." Draco allowed a small scowl to settle between his brows.
"Hmm, she may be going for some of the more influential students it seems, probably to assert some element of control throughout the school."
"Not good. The Ministry really is trying to interfere at Hogwarts, I don't blame them, the school should have been shut since the second year but with Fudge as Minister I don't trust them."
"We should just play along then, we want them to think that we're on their side." Pansy pursed her lips as they walked up the last staircase onto the ground floor of the castle, silence settled between them while they tracked through the corridors leading to the Great Hall.
"Any word from your father yet Draco?" Blaise whispered into his ear, his eyes focused in front of him, the hand resting in the crook of his arm tensed as the platinum-haired boy sucked in a breath.
"Surprisingly no. M-maybe he hasn't heard yet or he could see the political advantages to it." Draco's voice wavered slightly, if his father wasn't happy he would have sent a letter as soon as possible but not a Howler, it would only bring more embarrassment to the House of Malfoy. Besides a union between him, Blaise and Cedella while perhaps scandalous in the Wizarding community has many benefits.
While the Zabini's didn't have as much political power or relationships with the other Pureblood family's, it was a known fact that they had immense wealth, everyone knew how Mrs. Zabini obtained had her money, from mysteriously killing her previous seven husbands but there was no proof or evidence that she had (Blaise had told them that it's actually quite easy to get away with murder, even more so in the Wizarding World), besides the Zabini's were doing everyone else a favour by getting rid of those monsters who claimed to be human.
The Wyverns had a lot of power within the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, most would think that there is not much to gain from this department but it was the second-largest, and wealthier families often would attempt to outdo each other by having exotic magical creatures as pets. Not only do the Wyverns speak Gorseltongue, nearly as rare as a Parseltongue, but they regularly had at least 15 dragons staying in their garden at all times. Probably why when he befriended Cedella his father immediately set him up for more courtship lessons and stressed on staying on her good side no matter what.
The only issue he could think of would be that they would be the father of their first child if they were to get married. He knew that Mrs. Zabini wouldn't care much for that but his family and the rest of the Wizarding Community would, if the father of their first child was Blaise then the Malfoy's would take it as an insult to their family and would be seen as the new laughing stocks of Britain (not that he would care that much, after all, it would be their child regardless of the biological father), not only had their son married a man as well as a woman but his first child wasn't even eligible to be his heir. Draco could think of some resolutions to this issue, after the child had been born they could do blood adoption so that the child could be biologically related to all three of them or the IVF thing that Cedella had talked to them about when she was studying for biology for her Muggle Summer School, so she could carry twins, each one with a different father.
"...I hope so."
But this was something to worry about in the future, he'll enjoy what the three of them have now and hope that it would all work out.
They entered the Great Hall, the Ravenclaw and Slytherin table was significantly fuller than the other two, they passed by the Gryffindor table where Cedella gave a small wave next to Hermione, a small smile was etched onto her lips, Blaise blew a kiss back at her, Draco and Pansy waved at the two of the girls at the red table. The trio settled down at their table and began to serve themselves some food.
"How's our favourite Slytherin's doing this fine morning?" Travis strolled over to where they had taken their seats, Annabeth, Lou Ellen, and Hazel hot on his heels.
"Alright. Sitting with your houses today?" Pansy cut up her waffles and began spooning them into her mouth.
"It was just unanimous." Annabeth started cutting into her meal, which seemed to resemble a pancake. She ignored the curious looks that some of the other Slytherins would occasionally send her way.
"If I may ask..." Draco waited for them to give him permission to continue, Hazel looked up from the dates she was eating and nodded in approval. "I was curious about some of the food you're all eating, I've never seen it before."
"Then you should definitely try some, this is teganites," Lou Ellen pointed at the weird pancake, "it's made with flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk. It doesn't sound nice at first but it's nice, trust me."
"If it's there tomorrow I'll definitely try some." Blaise agreed.
Lou Ellen thought back to the quick conversation that the group of demigods (plus one Oracle and mortal0 had that morning. It was decided that it would best to sit with their houses for the next day or two to see what the students had thought of Hermione's speech the day before, the girl had pretty much spoken what the school needed to hear for a long time now. There were bound to be some very strong opinions in certain houses about some of the key points she had made.
"Last night was full of surprises." Travis started, he wasn't very subtle in his attempt to steer the conversation to what they needed to hear.
Pansy sucked in her lips for s few seconds before she answered, "Yes. It was, I think everyone was quite surprised with what happened, some people," she gave a discrete pointed look to where the DADA Professor was sitting, "were clearly unhappy about what was said and are... trying to exert some control."
"The Prophet this morning said that she's been promoted to 'High Inquisitor, I'm pretty sure that wasn't a position before," Hazel muttered the last part to herself but they all heard her anyway. "She was clearly planning to take that position up from a while ago probably, although I wouldn't be surprised if she was able to put that together with the writer in The Prophet to be done overnight."
"She's even invited some of the Slytherin's to be part of her 'Inquisitorial Squad'," Draco confessed.
"Is that was bothering the two of you this morning?"
"Yes, we don't have a choice but to join, it would look bad on both of our families." Pansy spoke sourly. "Umbridge doesn't agree with what Hermione said..."
"Do you agree?" Annabeth's question startled them.
"With Granger?" Draco questioned, the older blonde nodded her head in confirmation. "I suppose I do." He trailed off and glanced around him, Draco leaned in and lowered his voice as he continued to talk. "I do think muggles are remarkable, and I've slowly come to respect them more than I did before. They know so much more about the body and how the world works around us than we do and it's the fact that they have to learn all of it at school is interesting too. But it will still take some time, I've been taught and grown into an environment that sees muggles as beneath us, it's difficult to ignore the mindset that has been ingrown into you since birth. I still don't like them but I guess that I tolerate them now."
"Draco's right, for a lot of us in this House we may never be able to let go of the mindset of how we see muggles, some of us may be able to see them as equals one day, some may never change while a lot of us would just tolerate them and have some respect but it's going to take some time," Pansy admitted through her cup of Earl Grey. "As a House, we're learning, and we know that we're better off with just sticking to ourselves, but that will only last so long if the other houses continue to see us as 'evil' and install false ideas about who we are before they even get to know us."
"That will take some time as well, change doesn't happen overnight. Although it is easy to make it seem like people have, the other Houses are most likely very skeptical, I'd say Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, maybe even both would be a great start. Hufflepuff would at least give you chance to prove yourselves and be understanding of how hard it is to change. Ravenclaw would appreciate the fact that you've come to accept that your mindset was wrong and would even help in learning how to change yourselves." Annabeth sipped on her glass of orange juice as the grey in her eyes seemed to swirl, like a warning before a storm.
"Gryffindor would be the hardest to convince, Hermione may have helped to sway some to your side but if you're able to get Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw on your side then they would at least give you a chance too." Travis finished his teganites and pushed his plate away with the knife and fork crossed over.
An older boy in Slytherin came up to Draco and tapped him on the shoulder. "Malfoy."
"Yes, Warrington?" Cassius Warrington handed him a note.
"This is for the three of you." He turned towards the Americans and bowed his head in acknowledgment. "I hope you have a good day."
"You too Mr. Warrington." Cassius gave a tense smile to Hazel and then turned around to join a group of other Slytherin seventh years, they glanced at Draco who caught their eyes, it was held for a few short seconds, then they walked towards the doors of the Great Hall. The Malfoy Heir looked back at the note, Pansy, and Blaise reading it from his hands.
"What does it say?" Lou Ellen asked. The trio paused and looked at each other, they slowly looked up, nerves evident in their facial expressions.
"There's going to be a House meeting in the Common Room tonight."