fandomhigh | Umbridge High School Building, Saturday Evening

Umbridge High School Building, Saturday Evening

There were some clouds hanging around the spires of Umbridge High School, but not enough; there was an overlaying sense that there shouldn't be as much sunlight shining down on it as there was.

It was quiet. Kind of. There was tension in the air, a wound-up strung-up thing that ensnared the school. Somehow it seemed as if even the birds didn't want to touch down on the building itself, and the gates seemed to fold into themselves, even if they weren't quite shut.

And all that on a weekend, too.

[[ ~~wait for the~~ ocd up! ]]

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"Not yet," Bruce answered, making his way over after putting the finishing touches on his duct tape security. "We needed to finish up securing the place and hopefully get some backup before going in there. The former's done. Are you the backup?"

"We're" -- Tara glanced to Alec for support. "We both use magic?" she tried. "So, um ... I guess that makes us the back-up."

"Good enough for me," Bruce said. "In that case, we should be ready to do whatever needs to be done. You mentioned Special Collections?"

"If there's intel to be found on Umbridge, it'll probably be there," Alec interjected. "Or if she's protecting something. It's worth a look?"

"We have a former library aide who's been in there a number of times in the past," Bruce said. "Do you have any specific ideas what you'd be looking for, or just seeing if anything sticks out at you?"

He didn't have an issue with either method. He was just trying to judge likely success.

"Anything that mentions her would be first," Tara nodded. "Then ... is there a 'defeat a crazy powerful witch' section back in there?"

She glanced to Rory as she spoke, doubting the answer would be yes but hoping it would anyhow.

"Not that I know of, but weirder things have happened in there," Rory offered with a small smile. "We can duck in and out pretty quick - I have a good idea of where she'd have gone, too."

Alec nodded and stood up, pocketing his Sensor. "Then let's go," he said decisively. Then paused. "Is this the kind of place that we should warn people we're going into, just in case?"

Bruce turned to the rest of the group. "We're going into Special Collections. Ender's in charge! I expect this place to still be ours when I get back."

Turning back to Alec and Tara, he said, "They've been warned. Let's go."

"What are you going to do if something bad happens?" Tara wondered softly, though she was already heading toward the doors marked Special Collections.

She supposed she should have been nervous, but three years under Umbridge had left her with very little fear about anything that might make thinsg change.

Rory, who had quietly grabbed her gun, shrugged as she led the way. "Let's try not to think about that," she suggested. "Everyone stay on your toes. We might not run into anything, but we shouldn't be caught unawares."

Alec slipped a hand in his pocket for his knife. "Here," he said, offering it to Tara. "I've got other weapons too."

And Rory had her gun, and Bruce... "I take it you're covered?"

He was Bruce, so.

"Wouldn't be here in the first place if we weren't," Bruce said.

"Thanks," Tara muttered, inspecting the knife. She'd actually been asking about what would happen if they lost the library, but it seemed like a bad time to bring that up.

She paused as they stepped into Special Collections, wondering if her magic would even work inside.

...Okay, Alec had not been expecting something this huge and intimidating.

"Well," he said. "This'll be a project."

"Just keep your eyes open for anything that might give us a lead," Bruce said, following along. "I'll keep mine on anything that might try attacking."

Edited 2012-07-28 21:24 (UTC)

Tara nodded and headed forward past rows of books. "I hear birds," she said, squinting ahead. "Seriously, are there birds in here?"

As if to answer her, a toucan swooped down and landed neatly on top of a bookshelf.

Alec blinked. "Oh." That was alarming. "You have to wonder why they don't leave when someone opens the door," he pointed out, pausing to check the headings on a particular bookshelf. "There must be something in here that keeps them around."

"From what little I understand about Special Collections, they're probably here to protect the books," Bruce said. "So they have a job to do. Which means treat everything you touch with care."

"I'm not touching anything unless I have to," Tara promised, keeping one ancient eye on the bird as she kept up her slow progress through the stacks. "So ... which of these are the books about magic?"

Alec turned around, taking in the dozens of shelves nearest him. His gaze settled on a shelf in the distance where more than a few of the birds had perched, including an owl or two. "My guess," he said slowly, "is that it's the one that's got the most protection."

He glanced at Bruce for direction, sensing that he had the most experience with this place and not feeling terribly comfortable directing the proceedings on his own.

"It's as good a place to start as any," Bruce said. He had no experience with the place outside of rumors and few bits of actual fact he'd heard second-hand. But that would never stop him from doing something that needed to be done. He started towards the shelf, adding, "Keep your eyes open, follow me, and be ready for anything. And if you spot a ladder, grab it. Some of these shelves are tall."

Tara nodded and fell into her place in the line, running her hand over the handle of her knife.

She hoped the birds would give her credit for having saved the flamingos from Karla the night before and not attack her. That had to count for something with bird-kind, right?

... you have funny thoughts when you're in a mystical library.

"I think this place might be bigger inside than the whole school on the outside."

Well, that, and she was going to college with Warren in an alternate universe. That totally had to earn her some points.

"Probably," Alec said, shaking his head at all the open space. "And I thought the library at the Institute was big."

"You guys do magic. I'm surprised you're so surprised by things like gigantic libraries that fit into smaller rooms," Bruce said. As they closed in on the shelf in question, he started watching the birds more carefully. He dropped his tense walking gait to something that didn't seem like he was ready to fight an aerial battle at any moment. (Didn't seem.) "I thought that would be something you'd be used to by now."

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