Ch. 59

"I'm not sure what Romulus Malfoy was thinking when he practically forced that Ashworth fellow on us," McGonagall commented to Dumbledore after Professor Binns had finally floated away, leaving her and the headmaster alone.

Professor Dumbledore smiled. "I would give a great deal to know what Mr. Malfoy was thinking, too. I'm sure that once Mr. Ashworth gets the hang of things, he will turn out to be a fine professor."

"He is generally well liked by the students," McGonagall admitted, "but it seems rather obvious to me that he doesn't have a clue as to what he's doing in that classroom!"

"Few of us did when we first started teaching," Dumbledore said, trying to be fair.

"I suppose," McGonagall muttered. "Someone had better keep an eye on him though. He might accidentally do something far worse."

Dumbledore smiled benignly. "Keeping an eye on Ashworth's… progress wouldn't hurt. Let me know if you notice anything interesting."

.....

Bellatrix peered over the top of a dueling manual and looked at Rodolphus Lestrange. He, Rabastan, Lucius Malfoy, and a select few other slugs were sitting in a dark corner of the Slytherin common room with a bottle of firewhiskey. Severus Snape sat not far away looking like he would enjoy nothing more than joining them. It was not to be his lot, however.

Rodolphus and his friends were laughing uproariously. Bellatrix was well aware of the subject of their laughter, as was every other student in the castle. It was only these fools who were doing the laughing though.

Bellatrix ground her teeth as Rodolphus began the story yet again. "And then they said 'why didn't you do something, Ashworth?' Do you know what he said then?" Guffaws ushered in the next line. "'I don't have a wand.'"

"What a pathetic excuse of a wizard he is," Lucius drawled.

Bellatrix shook her head. If you're going to drawl, drawl so you don't sound like a slack-jawed nincompoop! she thought.

"I've got an idea," one of Lestrange's cronies piped up. "Let's get some fake wands from the joke shop this weekend and send them to him with sympathy cards!"

More laughter.

Bellatrix practically threw the book the floor. Idiots! She nearly stalked away from the room angrily and even considered throwing some well-merited insults their way to take them down a peg or two, but she remembered that she was supposed to be prying information out of the Lestrange brothers. She steeled herself, stood, and sidled over to where Harry Ashworth's wizards of interest sat plotting ways to waste their time.

"Something tells me that Ashworth would catch on to what was happening by the second wand," Bellatrix announced.

They stopped and stared at her. It was Rodolphus who replied. "So, Bellatrix Black herself has deigned to favor us with her presence. I guess you would know how clever Ashworth might be. You certainly spend enough time with him, don't you?"

"That's what happens when you get detentions and screw up your homework," Bellatrix sneered at them. "I notice you've been spending plenty of time with McGonagall lately. Trying to make something happen there?"

Lestrange growled angrily and Bellatrix thought she might have even spotted a tinge of red near his neck. She didn't miss a beat and turned to Lucius. "I've seen you in Professor Dewey's classroom more than a few times." She hadn't, but the Malfoy moron certainly would be likely to kiss-up to his head of house. Lucius's eyes widened with shock, but he didn't have a chance to retort.

"We've missed your acidic personality," Rodolphus laughed-though it did sound slightly forced to Bellatrix.

Bellatrix sat down and prepared for boredom. She knew her luck well enough to realize that there was no way Lestrange was going to spill whatever it was Ashworth was looking for very soon. There was going to be plenty of talk that would make her tired all over first-several night's worth probably. Nevertheless, she stabbed in the dark. "Tell me about you grand schemes, Lestrange. Tell me you want to do something cleverer than a first-year-prank on a professor."

....

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