Disclaimer: I only own Eliza and her parents. All other characters are adapted from the Harry Potter books. This story takes place during the Order of the Phoenix.

Chapter 7- Meetings and Confrontations

Passed quietly as Eliza adjusted to her new school; she found that she enjoyed her classes with the exceptions of Defense Against the Dark Arts since, after the first lesson, Eliza had decided that Umbridge was only there to hinder their education. Her father wasn't able to tell her much about Umbridge, only that the minister had placed her at the school himself. Draco had stayed away after the first few days of hanging around her classes and her ignoring him. He had tried to talk to her a few times but when she only glared at him he seemed to have given up for the time being.

Eliza had tried out for the Quidditch team and had earned a spot as chaser. She enjoyed practicing, but it wasn't the same as racing at Ilvermorny. It was a struggle to adjust but Eliza felt she was getting used to Hogwarts.

It was the first Hogsmeade trip and Eliza had been invited by Lina and Ginny Weasley to meet at the Hogshead. She wasn't exactly sure what they were doing there, but they had approached her when they found her sitting by the lake with one of her books on defensive spells practicing some on a poor unsuspecting toad who happened to hop by her.

She walked into the Hogshead with Lina and Ginny who greeted Harry, Ron, and Hermione warmly. Hermione gave Eliza a skeptical look and she offered to go grab some drinks at the bar to give them a chance to talk. When she returned with their drinks Hermione and Ginny were having a hushed argument.

"I really don't think you should have invited her," Hermione hissed.

"Why not? She's just as fed up with Umbridge as we are. And I've seen her practicing spells on her own, she could be helpful," Ginny said crossing her arms and tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Well for one, isn't she Malfoy's girlfriend?" Ron asked grumpily.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Eliza said, setting the drinks on the table. She watched as Ron and Hermione turned a bright shade of red.

"She's all right you guys. Eliza can stay if she likes," Harry said, giving her a gentle smile.

"Thanks," Eliza said returning the smile and sitting down at their table.

Eliza listened quietly as more students arrived and begun asking Harry about the events at the end of the Triwizard tournament. He told them all how You-Know-Who had returned and killed Cedric Diggory. They talked about Umbridge and how she was making it difficult for them to be able to protect themselves. A few boys contested Harry, asking why they should believe what he was saying. Some others followed sit, mumbling their desire to hear more details about Cedric's death.

"I don't think we need to know" Eliza said sensing Harry's reluctance. "Listen, I wasn't here last year so I don't know what did or didn't happen. But Harry says he's back and that should be enough for us. I know I don't need any proof. We need to learn real defensive magic, especially in times like these. And if the school isn't going to teach it to us because of that fat old toad, then we need to rely on each other. Harry and his friends have gotten through more encounters with Dark and dangerous magic than all of us put together, so I think they can help us. You can count me in you guys."

Eliza was one of the first to sign Hermione's paper and join Dumbledore's Army along with the other students who had attended the meeting. She walked with Luna and Ginny to a few of the shops before heading back up to the castle. She was walking through the entrance hall and up to the main staircase when she saw two girls come out of the shadows blocking the path up the stairs towards the upper floors.

Pansy Parkinson sneered at her and a large dark haired girl stood menacingly behind her. "Have a nice afternoon with your new friends, Turner?" Pansy said.

Honestly, what is it with Slytherins and their need to walk around with body guards, she thought. "Yes, I was having a good day in Hogsmeade," she replied with a forced smile.

"I told you Draco would tire of you. Now be a good little girl and stay away from him," Pansy growled stepping toward Eliza on the landing.

"As I said before, what does or doesn't happen between Draco and I has nothing to do with you. So unless you have any more meaningless threats to make I think I will go up to my common room." Eliza moved so that she could walk around the girls and walk up the stairs when the larger girl stepped in her way.

"I don't think you should mess with me, Turner. High Inquisitor Umbridge has made me part of her Inquisitorial Squad. So you should tread lightly," Pansy sneered again, arranging her pinched features into what Eliza assumed was supposed to be a triumphant expression. Eliza thought it only made Pany's face more pug-like.

Eliza slipped her hands into her pockets and gripped her wand as Pansy leered at her. "It's Pansy isn't it? Listen, I could really care less about your little club with Umbridge. I'd like nothing more than to stay away from you and all your little friends. Now step aside, we don't want a repeat of last time, now do we?" Eliza said giving her a knowing look.

"Are you threatening me?" she asked pulling her wand from her pocket and pointing it at Eliza.

"No, just warning you," she said calmly tightening her grip on her own wand.

Pansy whipped her wand in front of her calling out "Stupify" loudly. Eliza pulled her own wand out of her pocket and thought Protego just before the spell had reached her. It bounced off her shield charm harmlessly and Eliza raised her eyebrows in challenge to Pansy.

Pansy raised her wand again to attack, this time the dark haired girl did the same and Eliza had to think quickly. She flicked her own wand in front of her Flippendo she thought as Pansy and the big girl were pushed backwards onto the floor. Eliza kept her wand raised in case they attacked again. Suddenly, she heard footsteps on the stairs below.

"Expelliarmus,"came the high voice of Professor Umbridge. Eliza's wand shot out of her hand and over to the professor who had just reached the landing. "That will be one week's detention for attacking members of the Inquisitorial Squad, Miss Turner."

"Professor, I was only protecting myself. You can look at my wand I only struck her after she attacked me," Eliza argued as politely as she could manage.

"Miss Turner, I will not tolerate violence in my halls. You will report to my office promptly at five o'clock for your first night of detention." She said. She raised Eliza's wand. "I will hold on to this until tonight so you will not be tempted to harm anyone else." Professor Umbridge motioned to the two girls who were clambering up from the floor and brushing off their robes.

Pansy pushed past Eliza as they followed Umbridge down the stairs with a triumphant smile on her face. Eliza sighed and begun walking up the stairs when she heard someone call her name. She turned reluctantly around and saw Draco hurrying after her.

"I'm really not in the mood," she sighed and turned back in the direction of her common room.

"Eliza, please," he said reaching for her hand. The gentle tone of his voice made her hesitate. He took her hand gently and led her into an empty classroom.

"Are you all right?" he asked searching her for injuries.

"I'm fine, she didn't even hit me," Eliza said shaking her head and taking her hand from his.

"What were you thinking dueling Parkinson in the middle of the hall like that?" he asked with an aggravated sigh.

Eliza looked at him incredulously. Then she spotted the silver badge on his chest and her blood began to boil. "I didn't attack her. She attacked me. Don't you have a meeting to go to for your little bully club?" she spat poking his badge.

"Eliza, please, I only want to protect you," he said. She could see the hurt look on his face and he reached for her hand again, but Eliza stepped out of his reach.

"I don't need your help, Malfoy," she said and she turned and left the room, hurrying up to her common room.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in frustrated silence working on her potions essay. She had completed most of it, potions being one of her favorite classes despite Snap being difficult to please. She was glad to be doing well in his class, despite his constant attempts to find something wrong with her work. At 4:30 she put her things away and made her way down to Umbridge's office.

She knocked and waited until she heard Umbridge summon her before entering. Umbridge's office was a violent shade of pink with an obscene amount of kitten portraits, pillows, and small figurines around the room. She motioned for Eliza to sit at a small desk she had placed in the corner of the room. On the desk was a piece of paper and a sleek red feather quill. She sat at the desk and folded her hands politely. Knowing she would just do what she was told and get her detention over with.

"I would like you to write lines for me Miss Turner," Umbridge said gesturing to the paper.

"Yes, Ma'am," Eliza said.

"I would like you to write 'I must not be combative,'" she instructed.

Eliza picked up the quill and hesitated, waiting for further instructions. Umbridge simply nodded and Eliza began writing. Dark red ink flowed from the pen as she wrote the first line. It glistened on the page before she felt the burning on the top of her left hand. She looked down and saw the pink lines now fading, echoing the words on the paper. She felt the bile rising in her stomach as she starred at her left hand, pink and irritated and her own blood glistening on the page in front of her.

This woman is insane she thought. She set her shoulders and wrote the next line quickly, bracing herself for the burning sensation. I will not give her the satisfaction of seeing me bothered by this she thought as she diligently wrote her lines.

She wrote in silence for forty-five minutes. The marks on her hand no longer disappearing but speckled with blood. Umbridge got up from her desk and she inspected the lines on her page.

"I think that's enough for today, Miss turned. I will see you tomorrow evening at five o'clock," she said in her sweet sing-song voice.'

"Yes, Professor," Eliza said laying the quill down. She stood and Umbridge pulled Eliza's wand from a drawer of her desk and gave it back to her. "Thank you, Professor."

Eliza turned and left the room. At the end of the hall she looked down at her injured hand, the blood glistening from the letters. She stifled a sob and bit her lip, walking down towards the Great Hall. She focused on making a mental list of potion ingredients she would need when she walked right into someone.

"I'm sorry," she said looking up. Her eye met the pale blue ones which searched her face with a brow creased with worry.

"Eliza, are you all right" Draco asked reaching for her hand and his thumb brushed against her raw skin.

"Ah," Eliza gasped and she pulled her hand away from him.

Draco looked confused and then he looked down at the blood that was on his hand. "What happened?" he asked pulling a cloth handkerchief from his pocket.

"Oh as if you don't know," Eliza spat.

"Know what?" Draco said holding his hand out for hers.

"I don't need your…" she began but he cut her off.

"Eliza, give me your hand," he insisted. Eliza rolled her eyes and held out her injured hand. Draco looked down at it and gasped. "What has she done to you?"

"Nothing that she hasn't done to others who are given detention I assume," Eliza said looking up at him defiantly.

"Eliza I had no idea." Draco said wrapping the handkerchief around her hand and try tying it in place.

Eliza looked up into his eyes and saw that they were glistening slightly. His brow was furrowed in confusion and he wore a pained expression. Eliza felt her own expression soften. She reached up with her uninjured hand and brushed the hair from his eyes.

He caressed her cheek gently, looking deeply into her eyes. He wrapped a hand around her waist and brought her injured hand up to his lips where he gently kissed it. He leaned forward and hesitated, his lips a few inches from hers.

"Draco, nothing has changed," she whispered.

"Tell me what to do," he whispered back, his voice quavered as he looked down at her, pleadingly.

"Draco, please, we've been over this already," she said. She felt her heart aching and the warmth of desire awakening in her belly but her rational mind was screaming at her not to give in.

"Give me a chance to show you I can change," he pleaded is face inching closer to hers.

Eliza sighed and reached out her hand and rested it on the silver badge on his chest. "As long as you wear this I'm not sure I can," she said.

She pulled away and made her way down to the Great Hall. She ate her dinner quietly before excusing herself. She went to her room and gathered some ingredients and her cauldrons before heading back out of the common room and down to the dungeons and the potions classroom. She began brewing her potion quietly. After working for a few hours she poured the brown liquid into a small jar and sighed.

She had just began cleaning up when the door to the classroom opened and a frustrated Snape stuck his head into the room.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I was just cleaning up," Eliza said gathering her supplies and putting them back in her cleaned cauldron.

"Miss Turner, what on earth are you doing at this time of night?" he asked walking into the room.

"I just needed to use the copper cauldron you keep in here for students," she explained gesturing to it on the counter.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked noting the handkerchief tied there that was growing pink with blood.

"Oh, I burned it with my curling iron," she lied.

"Miss Turner, although I admit I am not very familiar with how to operate a curling iron. However, I do know that it would be rather difficult to burn the back of an individual's non-dominant hand. Let me see the wound," he said holding out his hand.

"It's really nothing Professor," Eliza argued but Snape simply raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed and removed the handkerchief and showed him her hand.

He looked puzzled for a few moments as he read the words inscribed on the back of her hand. "Explain, he ordered still examining it.

"Well, Professor, I had detention with Professor Umbridge this evening," Eliza explained.

"I don't see how that information is relevant, Miss Turner," he barked, the irritated edge returning to his voice.

Eliza furrowed her eyebrows at him; Surely the other teachers know what she's doing she thought. "Well Professor Snape, when I went to detention in her office she asked me to write lines. She gave me a quill and a piece of parchment; every time I wrote the required line the words appeared on the back of my hand and the words on the paper appeared to be written in blood."

"And this has happened before?" he asked.

"Not to me, but I have heard from others that her detentions are unbearable. They would never say what she made them do, but now I guess I know," she said.

Miss Turner, go into the store cupboard over there and retrieve a bottle marked essence of dittany," he instructed letting go of her hand and crossing to his desk.

"Oh, I don't need any Professor, thank you. That's what I needed your copper cauldron for," she said holding up her jar of brown liquid.

Snape stopped looking through his desk and turned to look at her. He held out his hand and she crossed the room and placed the jar into his outstretched hand. He opened the lid and smelled the potion, and then he held it up to the light to check the color.

"How did you learn to brew this potion?" he asked, handing it back to her.

"Well," Eliza said blushing slightly. "At Ilvermorny I knew this girl who was bullied a lot our third year. I found out that she had been…well hurting herself. So I looked up a way to heal her cuts and told her she didn't have to do that anymore. She's one of my best friends now," "Well then you will know that you need only apply a few drops of the solution to the wound," he replied, but his tone was a little softer.

"Yes, Professor," she said smiling slightly. "Good night, Professor Snape."

Eliza gathered her things and made her way back up to the Ravenclaw Common room where she applied the dittany to her hand. The marks faded and the throbbing pain stopped. She spent a few hours sitting on her bed, finishing her homework before she lay down and fell asleep.