Characters, settings, and story relating to the Harry Potter series of novels are copyright J. K. Rowling, along with Bloomsbury Publishing, et al. "Spirit of Fear" is not an officially published work, nor is it in any cooperation with J. K. Rowling or Bloomsbury Publishing. "Spirit of Fear" is entirely (with the exclusion of the aforementioned characters, settings, and story) a work by Thomas Holman.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Words on a Page

Though he never expected it to be a joyful return, Chey was still shocked by how bittersweet his arrival at the reservation was. Vipey was anxiously awaiting him just inside the gates, though still happy to see him, it was clear that he was disappointed Fleur was not with him.

Chey decided to say hello to Charlie.

"Hey, Chuck!"

"Escaped again..." Charlie said, staring at a newspaper, seemingly unaware of the company that had just entered in his office. "So close..."

"Marriage announcement of a school crush?" Chey could only guess.

"Sirius Black was captured!"

"Why doesn't that idiot just run away from the danger?"

"But he escaped again!"

"Really?" Chey asked excitedly, smiling for the first time since leaving France.

"Yeah! Just as they were about to take him away! They suspect somebody broke him out."

"Who would do that?" Chey thought, hoping to shake that person's hand.

Charlie only now looked up at who he was talking to.

"What are you doing back so soon? I thought it would be another week, and even then you said you would just drop off Mayla and visit your girlfriend at her house!"

"Plans changed."

"What changed?"

"Remember that thing that happened last year? And the year before that?"

"Chey," Charlie said in perhaps an overly dramatic tone, "your aunt is going to murder you!"

"Yeah. I'm going to brush up on shield charms."

"That won't nearly be enough, mate. She'll hex you, I'm sure!"

"It all depends on how I tell her. Now, I'd should probably send her a letter before some reporter tries to interview her."

With a look of fright and awe, Charlie asked, "What could you have possibly done that would make it into the newspaper?"

"My Dear Chey,

Your dramatic departure is all anyone can talk about. Every night at quarter to eight, some fifty people gather on the front lawn and wait eagerly for another such demonstration, not that I advise coming anywhere near Madame Maxime again.

Several reporters from the Daily Prophet's office in Paris have come around and interviewed some of the students, myself included. Rest assured I spoke very highly of you, though I doubt they were looking for some people to sing your praises for an article about your many expulsions. The silly reporter blatantly told me what it was supposed to be about, and asked if I had any inside information that might help. I tried to devise a witty retort like you would, but alas I couldn't, only made a point about her hideous crocodile-skin handbag.

Mother tells me you can come by at the end of June. We haven't told Gabrielle about your visit; we want it to be a surprise. Mother tells me you're all she can think of, and she keeps asking when she'll see you again. Of the same token, my father is anxious to meet you, though possibly just so he can say he's met a McGonagall. Like it or not, your family is famous among the aristocracy. You've clearly made an impression as Mother cannot wait for your arrival, so I suppose I could have saved ink and said that my entire family is excited to see you.

I understand you already know, but I really do miss you. Every morning I wake up, thinking the moment you left was just a nightmare. You are the first boy I've met who appreciated me for who I am, and I feel as though your having to leave is due to a curse put upon my life that dictates I must never have a meaningful relationship. As such, my guilt is overbearing, regardless of whether it is warranted.

Here's hoping you and Vipey are well, and I hope your aunt isn't too irrational when you inform her of your unprecedented sixth expulsion (even if the first three don't count), and I will see you later this month.

With a love that mere quill and ink cannot even remotely express,

Fleur."

Chey reread Fleur's elegantly written letter which had been delivered by Raithe who inexplicably knew to stay in France so he may deliver it, admiring the beauty of her penmanship that accurately represented her own stunning appearance. Smiling, he put it down on his desk and picked up another that had arrived that same day carried by a ratty-looking screech owl.

"Chey,

Needless to say I am upset by the news of your expulsion yet again. I could have easily told you this would happen. Beauxbatons has always been very strict about guidelines, and not even you can keep a history like your's a secret from a woman like Maxime.

I expect that she will enact a swift revenge upon you, though not in the normal sense. She is above such common ideas of retaliation, and will more likely resort to character assassination techniques. You may want to brace yourself for a flurry of angry letters.

No doubt you have decided you need no further schooling, and now plan to pursue knowledge on your own. I can only discourage such behavior. Meaning no offense to your abilities, but learning is best accomplished when you have others to learn with. Just know that I am here.

Be safe, my misguided nephew.

Minerva."

Not even Minerva's disappointed tone could dash Chey's elated mood. He went on to read the letter that a beautiful saker falcon had brought him.

"How are you, Chey?

Saw your name in the newspaper. Nice picture of you.

Shame you got expelled again. Like old times, yes?

You probably heard we made it to the top four in the Quidditch World Cup. As such, every member of the top four teams gets a few handfuls of free tickets to the final game in England. They've given me more than enough for my family, so I'm left with seven.

Sergey and Nikolay told me they only want two each, so I have three left for you. I doubt even you could get seats this good.

I'll meet you shortly before the game starts. See you then.

Viktor."

They were indeed good seats. Not quite where the snobs sat, but close enough. At least he wouldn't have to bump elbows with such spiteful people. The tickets sat on top of a newspaper article Viktor had clipped out, and a picture of himself stared up from the page above the headline.

"Expelled the Sixth Time: American Student Can't Conform

Chey McGonagall, seventeen year old American wizard, was recently expelled from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic after it was discovered he had falsified information when he applied for transfer.

'Such transgressions are unacceptable,' said Beauxbatons Headmistress, Madame Olympe Maxime. 'Upon learning the extent to which he lied to this institution, I immediately had him expelled.'

A severe punishment, yes. However this is not McGonagall's first time dealing with such a scenario.

At Washington Magical Academy in the United States, McGonagall had a record of discipline problems, culminating in damage to the building at the end of that year. Due to bylaws in the American education system, McGonagall could not be expelled as it had followed the final exam of that year, and as such he could only be indefinitely barred from returning.

For McGonagall's second year he was accepted into Miami University of Magic, also in America. In stark contrast to the previous year, there was only one incident that got him into a spot of trouble. Late in the year he was suspected of stealing from several of his fellow students, a claim which he continues to deny despite the mountain of evidence against him.

'He admitted he flooded the ground floor of his first school,' said Fleur Delacour, a Beauxbatons student in McGonagall's year. 'Why would he lie about stealing from classmates?'

Delacour, who initially shared a bitter rivalry with McGonagall at the beginning of his Beauxbatons year, was reported by other students to be intimately close to him, and spoke very highly of him and refused to 'damage the reputation of his name.'

'It's possible that their friendship has clouded her judgement,' remarked Headmistress Maxime in response to Delacour's comments.

In a bizarre turn of events, the verdict on McGonagall's guilt was not decided until after final exams had taken place that year, and the same loophole that saved him from true expulsion the previous year had struck again.

McGonagall seemed to develop a short temper during his third year at Colorado School of Sorcery. The school's officials expressed regret in a correspondence interview that nothing prevented them from allowing him admittance to this third American school.

'He and another student had been at odds with each other,' said a Colorado School official who wished to remain anonymous. 'This animosity hit a boiling point during an after exam celebration. We'd like to think it was just the excitement that got to them, but considerable damage had been done to school property, not to mention bystanders. We had no choice but to bar them both from returning, as the time for expulsion had already expired.'

Seeming unsatisfied with causing what his fellow students have dubbed 'utter chaos' only in the United States, McGonagall applied for the Venice University of Magic in Italy. Officials said that, as there was nothing in the code's language that expressly prevented his acceptance as he was never technically expelled, a point McGonagall argued strongly during the admission process, he was admitted without further question. McGonagall's record was spotless that year save for one incident the day after the last exam.

'Looking at the record for that year you could say it came out of nowhere,' said a Venice University representative. 'In reality, however, there were dozens of charges prior to the incident, though McGonagall managed to argue his way out of them.'

The details of the incident are sketchy at best, though the aftermath is clear. The entire west wing of the school's structure was demolished, and McGonagall denies ever having an accomplice.

McGonagall's expulsion, now possible outside the restricting United States, came too late to make it onto the record he had submitted to Durmstrang Institute of Wizardry, his next place of education, though Headmaster Igor Karkaroff took note of it and weighed it heavily when McGonagall had attacked another student by dark or otherwise unknown means no more than thirty minutes after he had completed his last exam that term.

McGonagall was immediately expelled, though witnesses state he seemed much more accepting of it than previous times.

Now having two real expulsions on record, McGonagall's only option to get back into the education system looked to be deception.

While every grade, accomplishment and award on his application checked out to be true, he had left the disciplinary fields blank, which Headmistress Maxime admits she skipped over after seeing the impressive scores he had reported, as well as his up-front payment of the tuition fee.

It was not until Maxime and Karkaroff had discussed McGonagall through correspondence that Maxime had learned of McGonagall's record, and fate would have it that it was discovered only after the final exam period.

'Madame Maxime was unfair in her decision. Chey was in the top of our class while he was here. Is expulsion how Beauxbatons really rewards students for succeeding?' Fleur Delacour said emotionally, herself also a top student at Beauxbatons.

'Beauxbatons strives for only the highest standards,' Maxime said in response to Delacour's statement. 'McGonagall's expulsion was justified. We cannot allow students to falsify information in order to get ahead.'

Chey McGonagall was unavailable for comment, but his aunt, Professor Minerva McGonagall, a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had this to say:

'I have only the highest confidence in my nephew. He is a talented boy who had run into unfortunate events, many of them he has been unjustly punished for.'

Following this statement, a poltergeist drove this reporter out of the Hogwarts teacher's office, so Professor McGonagall was unavailable for further comment.

Chey McGonagall is the only son of William and Alana McGonagall, victims of a vicious Dementor attack fifteen years ago that cost them their lives. Chey was the only survivor of that attack, which would have more recognition today if it did not bear a striking resemblance to a similar incident which occurred two years later in Godric's Hollow, England, that resulted in the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

There is not yet word on whether he is pursuing admittance into a seventh school, as his closest confidants have not disclosed any such information.

Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet Correspondent."

Annoyed only by the fact that they failed to recognize Americans as "Warlocks," he glanced at he many letters he had received from acquaintances. Much to his surprise, they were all words of support from former classmates and teachers. Old friends from Venice even thanked him for not mentioning the parts they played in the destruction of the west wing. Many of his teachers expressed their hope he would not abandon his learning pursuits in light of recent events. Even the Department of Sorcery officials who certified his dragon license had said they could pull some strings if he ever needed them to.

He did, however, receive an envelope that tried to bite his fingers off from the boy he fought his third year, but he half expected it.

He now looked over his own letter he had written addressed to the editor of the Daily Prophet.

"To the editor,

I wish to correct the error in the article 'Expelled the Sixth Time.' We Americans prefer to be addressed as Warlocks, not as Wizards. I hope this clears the confusion.

Chey McGonagall."

Satisfied it was snarky enough, he had Raithe carry it off.

Looking at Fleur's letter again, and figuring Minerva probably wouldn't be as entertained by the World Cup as others, he picked up the tickets, along with his cloak, and headed out the door.

Author's note.

Well, there it is: Chey's disciplinary history. Surprised? I hope not. You should know him enough by now to expect most of that.

I have to say, writing fictional newspaper articles is fun. Seriously, folks, try it. It's a good writing exercise. You may surprise yourself what a good newswriter you are.

Well, alas, my break is over and it's back to the grindstone. After setbacks, 900 dollars in new parts, and a reinstall of Windows Vista, my main system is working again, playing Battlefield and Unreal. I also visited the Renaissance Fair, bought a decorative sword and some leather gauntlets, and sweated so much that humid day there were salt lines on my shirt. In other news, I've begun working a new music video, and I have discovered Bittorrent. Yes, I was busy on my 1.5 weeks of break. Of course, now it's looking like I'll be busy for a while still. I'll do my best to keep writing.

As always, I appreciate all your feedback.