I'm on a roll. But it won't last, I'm sure. Cuz I have a huge project that I really need to continue, but man, my brain just can't sit still.
Big shout out to mysnarkyslytherinsecret from Tumblr for inspiring me to do this!
And thank you, guys, for reading it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. :I
Warning: There are mentions of abuse.
It was a bad idea to talk about Dolores Umbridge while she was still in the room. Lorianne Kendrick knew this, but she couldn't help it. The old toad was picking on Neville again for something he didn't do or something couldn't help. And if there was one thing Lorianne couldn't stand, it was people picking on those who couldn't muster up the courage to defend themselves.
"That ugly old toad's only doing it cuz it makes her feel better about herself," she hissed to one of her friends, shooting her a contemptuous glance.
"Yeah," he agreed, also shooting her a dark look.
"She knows she's got an ugly face with an ugly personality to boot," she continued, scribbling on her parchment to make it look like she was working. "Bet she picks on the people who're beautiful cuz she's – "
"Ssh!" her friend hissed and she fell silent.
A second later, a shadow appeared over her. Lorianne glanced up, looking as innocent as possible.
"Oh, hello, Professor," she greeted with forced kindness.
The thin smile on her face grew wider. "Hello, Miss Kendrick. Mind sharing with me what you were gossiping about with your friend?"
"Gossiping?" She feigned confusion. "I apologize, Professor, I don't understand what you mean by that. Henry and I were only talking about the next Quidditch match."
Her friend, Henry, quickly nodded. "Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. We were just talking about how well our house will fare now that Harry isn't able to participate anymore."
"Oh, yes," Umbridge said with false sympathy. "It is quite a shame. If he had only showed more restraint towards Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Potter has such the bad temper."
This wouldn't have happened if Malfoy wasn't a stupid fucking git, Lorianne thought dully, flipping the page in her textbook. And you didn't interfere with McGonagall dealing out the punishment…!
"Is there something wrong, Miss Kendrick?" Umbridge asked.
"Huh?" Her head shot up with genuine surprise. "No, ma'am, there's absolutely nothing wrong. I'm just going through my reading as per your instructions."
"Oh, is that so?" She tilted her head back and Lorianne had a sudden swooping feeling in her stomach. "And here I thought you were glaring at me for, ah, what was it? Oh yes, taking it out on others to make me feel better about myself."
The black-haired girl couldn't help the look of horror that crossed her face.
Her smile grew predator-like. "Meet me in my office after supper, Miss Kendrick. And do take care to eat and drink a lot – you will need it."
She turned and stalked off. If sound effects were a thing, Lorianne was sure evil laughter and the sound of darkness engulfing the woman would be playing.
"How the fuck – " she managed out once Umbridge was on the other side of the room.
"Your question is as good as mine," Henry responded, staring after her with an expression of utter shock.
"What do you think she's going to do…?" Lorianne's friend on her other side whispered, horrified.
"I heard from Ron she forced Harry to write lines with his blood," a boy from Henry's other side said in hushed tones. "Said she gave him a special quill, told him he didn't need any ink. When he started writing, it was in red and whatever he wrote was cut into the back of his hand!"
"Oh, that's horrible…!" she gasped.
"Julie!" he quickly shushed, pressing a finger over his lips and casting a glance over at Umbridge.
She clapped her hands over her mouth with a fearful gasp, but thankfully, the woman was too busy smiling down at Malfoy to have noticed.
"We'll get a bottle of Mum's salve ready when you get back," Henry promised. "Just try not to slip up and punch her face, eh?"
Evening came much, much quicker than Lorianne anticipated or wanted. She hitched her bag higher on her shoulder as she held up her hand. She inhaled deeply and knocked on the door twice.
"Come in!" called a sugary voice. She shuddered, but obeyed.
Lorianne stopped short just after stepping past the threshold and blinked. The entire place had been resurfaced with some kind of lacy cloth or cover and much of it was pink with flower patterns. Behind the desk, of which Umbridge sat at, was a large wall full of ornamental plates with pictures of cats of all colors and sizes on them. Lorianne, who was an avid cat lover, was slightly revolted and felt pity for the poor cats that were subjected to that kind of torture.
"Hem hem," Umbridge coughed.
The black-haired girl tore her gaze away from the wall. "My apologies. Good evening, Professor."
"At least you remembered your manners," she responded with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Good evening, Miss Kendrick. Please have a seat."
She obliged, another swooping feeling settling in her stomach. She could feel the icy tendrils of fear trickling the back of her neck.
"Before we begin, is there anything you would like to drink?" the woman asked.
Lorianne stared at her. "Pardon me – what?"
"What would you like to drink, Miss Kendrick?" she repeated, her smile widening. "Tea? Coffee? Or perhaps some pumpkin juice?"
An alarm went off in the back of her head.
"I'm quite all right, Professor," she answered. "Thank you for offering. Besides, I drank plenty before I came, as per your instructions."
"Oh, but I insist. Your lips look quite parched – you may not have drunk enough."
A voice in the back of her head, which sounded suspiciously like Alastar Moody, growled, Don't you dare take that drink! That woman is the enemy – she would've poisoned it! But the look on Umbridge's face told the girl she was close to forcing her to choose something. Or get unpleasant. Lorianne would have to play along – for now.
"Then, may I have some coffee?" she requested quietly.
The sickly sweet smile of hers was frightening. "But of course, my dear."
The cup appeared with a simple wave of her want, but before Lorianne could grab it, Umbridge whisked it away, saying, "Just a moment, dear, I need to add some milk and sugar. After all, straight black coffee is terribly bitter – don't you agree?"
Before she could lie that she liked black coffee, the woman turned around and made a big show of adding the aforementioned ingredients. Lorianne's bad feeling sank even lower. It was so painstakingly obvious now that Umbridge was adding some sort of poison in it. But poisoning students was illegal. As a Ministry of Magic employee, surely the woman knew that?
"Here you are, dear, thank you for waiting."
The woman handed Lorianne the cup. She was careful to let a bit spill into the saucer to make it seem like she drank a sip. If it was at all possible, Umbridge's smile stretched even wider. Her eyes practically bulged out of her head and Lorianne became a little revolted by the way she looked now – even more like a gruesome toad.
"Now, then, Miss Kendrick," the woman began, "the reason why I asked you in today is quite simple – to talk to you about your behavior today."
Lorianne couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, but managed to stop herself from asking if that was all. After all, she had been expecting a week of detention where she had to write lines in her own blood.
"Why, pray tell, would you say something as horrendous as that?" she asked.
"…" The black-haired girl stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out the best, innocent answer as possible. "I… you'll have to forgive me, Professor. My mouth sometimes runs when my mind is elsewhere."
"Elsewhere?" she asked, feigning surprise.
"Yes," she confirmed. "As you recall, I told you Henry and I were talking about the next Quidditch match. Before I saw you, er… scolding Neville, that's what we were really doing. Then I saw that and the words just slipped out of my mouth." She bowed her head, at the same time discretely pouring some of her drink into the bin next to her. "I do deeply apologize for any discomfort or hurt my thoughtlessness may have caused."
All of it lies, but Lorianne had so much experience acting and lying at this point, she was confident Umbridge would buy her performance.
She didn't.
"You haven't drunk much of your coffee," she remarked, her voice surprisingly lofty.
Lorianne's head shot up. "I'm sorry?"
The cup in her hands were three-quarters of the way full. She had made sure not to pour too much out at once or else Umbridge would get suspicious.
"You haven't touched your coffee," she repeated.
"Oh! Oh… yes… Forgive me, Professor, I'm just… a tad nervous, speaking to someone in such authority such as yourself. Excuse me – " Lorianne lifted the cup to her pursed lips again.
There were two sudden impacts the moment the cup touched her lips – one in the stomach and one on the hand. The one in the stomach caused Lorianne to gasp while the other upset the cup, causing its contents to spill all over her face, up her nose, and into her mouth. She leapt to her feet, sputtering. The coffee cup smashed against the floor.
Umbridge tutted. "Now, was that necessary?"
Lorianne coughed, trying to retch as much of the liquid as possible, and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "That's my question to you!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? I don't believe I have done anything wrong, Miss Kendrick."
"You just hit me with two spells!"
"Did I? But dear me, I don't have my wand out. See?"
Umbridge raised her hands and indeed, there was no wand in sight. But Lorianne wasn't fooled. In the time she had been retching and trying to breathe, the woman had quickly stowed it away. Besides, there was no one else who could cast a spell in that room.
"You seem to be out of breath, my dear," the woman continued, getting to her feet. She turned to the table behind her and procured a tall glass of water. "Maybe some water should do the trick."
"I'm not choking," she coldly returned, wiping her cheek.
"But I insist."
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Miss Kendrick, I – said – I – in – sist!"
Before the girl could react, Umbridge had seized her hair and yanked her head back. In the moment her mouth was open in a reflexive cry, the woman poured the contents of the glass into Lorianne's mouth.
The liquid not only went down her throat, but into her lungs as well, causing her to cough violently and try to pull away, but Umbridge had a firm grip on her hair. With each successive cough brought more pain. Her lungs screamed in pain as it tried to force the water out and get air in, but Umbridge was relentless. She kept Lorianne's head pulled back and tipped the glass so that its entire contents were drained into her mouth. It was only then the woman let her go.
Lorianne stumbled back, smacking aside her large arm as she did so, coughing, retching, and gasping. She clutched her throat, then fell hard onto her knees, a mixture of saliva, water, and tears dripping onto the office floor from her mouth, nose, and eyes.
Umbridge clicked her tongue again. "Dear, oh dear. That's the second spill you've made today, Miss Kendrick. How wasteful! Do you realize there are many people out there who would simply kill to have even that much water? Or only had that much in a month!"
She didn't respond, too busy coughing and gasping for breath. There was a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach and the sensation of a familiar fear washed over her.
The large woman shuffled over and seized her chin with her chubby fingers, forcing her to look at her. "You shouldn't be so wasteful, Miss Kendrick. Kindly clean this up – drink all of it from the floor."
Lorianne wanted to snap at her, to snarl that she was out of her mind, but when she looked at the woman, she found she couldn't say anything. Looking at Umbridge's sneering face, hearing her lofty yet sneering voice, her actions… everything reminded the girl of that woman. The woman who'd done the same thing, but on a larger scale, for years with the monster she called her husband. The woman who had the same exact black hair and face as Lorianne herself.
Subconsciously, she started shaking, her old fear taking over her again. Lorianne tried pushing that away, reasoning that it was not her mother standing in front of her – it was Umbridge. That unbearable, tyrannical toad that she would have loved to deck in the face right then and there. And at that moment, she needed to get out of there. Before something even worse happened.
"Miss Kendrick?" Umbridge spoke up, her grin widening. "Did you not hear me? I told you to drink up the mess you've made. And do make sure you drink everything. We can't have you being so wasteful."
"Kiss my arse," Lorianne spat.
The smile disappeared from Umbridge's face and she stood up, rigid.
"I see you're still very rebellious," she said in an even, but cold voice. "But that will change."
With a deft wave of her wand, the spill on the floor disappeared without a trace. She then walked back around her desk and brought out a small box from within one of the drawers. Lorianne watched her warily, slowly getting back to her feet.
Her head was spinning and her chest felt like lead, but as far as the girl could tell, she was all right. There was no lasting damage and it definitely didn't feel like there was some sort of poison running through her. At least, not at that moment. It could've been a slow acting one. Then again, when Umbridge was pouring water down her lungs, she didn't seem to taste anything out of the ordinary…
"Now then – " Umbridge made her way back to Lorianne, who instantly took a step away. A horrible sneer crossed her face. " – Miss Kendrick, would you mind telling me if you were really talking faster than your mind when you insulted me?"
Her mind thought yes, but her mouth said, "No."
Lorianne clapped a hand over her mouth as soon as her response left it, her eyes wide. The sneer on the toad-woman's face grew predatory as the horrible truth sank into the girl's stomach. She now knew why the water and the coffee didn't taste any different.
Umbridge didn't poison her – she had mixed the drinks with Veritaserum.
"Let's began, shall we?" the supposed Ministry employee said in her simpering voice.
I think I may have twisted Umbridge a little far with this...
There goes Part One - Part Two comin' right up.