Author's Note: For IWSC Round 6: Ilvermorny- Explore characters that commit evil acts to achieve a positive outcome or for the (perceived) greater good.

Year:4

Buzzwords: Political Aspirations, Ruthlessness, Sacrifice, Protection and self-defense, Prejudice

Main Prompt: [Negative Pairing] Dolores Umbridge/Sybill Trelawney

Optional:[Quote] "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." Nicholos Machiavelli, [Spell] Imperio

A rewrite of the scene where Umbridge throws Sybill out. AU for events at and maybe after the scene. Also AU in that Umbridge openly(ish) supports Voldy, but also denies Harry's claims because she's evil.

Warnings: Homophobia

Word Count: 1473

"Oi! Watch it, you two boffs!" a boy calls out, as Sybill narrowly avoids bumping into him. She huddles closer to Dolores in her fear when she hears his voice screech at her.

"Leave her alone, and watch where you're going, Wilkins," Dolores counters, protectively wrapping an arm around her girlfriend. Sybill takes a deep breath and pushes her glasses back up her nose.

Wilkins walks up to her not a moment later, snatching the very same glasses off her face and holding it above his head where she can't reach. Dolores lunges for them and falls short by just a bit.

"You really should stop making your little pet here do everything for you, Four-eyes," he taunts, and Sybill feels like she is a small child in front of a terrifying beast.

"Leave her alone, Wilkins," another voice comes from the side. A boy Sybill vaguely recognises, stands near the end of the corridor, and she opens her mouth to thank him and tell him it isn't necessary when he cuts her off. "Her parents are too poor to even get her the healing surgery for her eyes, poor thing. She's just a little rat, hanging around with her..." he pauses, glancing at a visibly angry Dolores. Sybill rubs her thumb on Dolores' hand, trying to comfort her. "...Toadface," the boy finishes, and the group of Gryffindors dissolves into a peal of laughter.

Dolores grabs Sybill's hand and the two of them march down the corridor as quickly as they can, the laughter still echoing behind them. Both of their faces are bright red, one from anger and the other from shame.

"Why did you not say anything?" she asks, the moment they were in the otherwise empty classroom. Sybill looked away, not answering. She had nothing to say. They had been enduring this for months, years even, and well, she had found standing up for herself only made it worse. "For Merlin's sake, Sybill! If only you let them see you were a powerful witch who cannot be messed with! You're Cassandra Trelawney's granddaughter! If you only asserted yourself sometimes…" Dolores threw up her hands in frustration.

Sybill looked up at her. "I...they just tease me more, Doll. It doesn't matter who we are, all they see is a pair of freaks. Besides, you of all people know I'm not the strongest at wand magic. I can't really shoo them away with Divination, can I?"

"Well have you ever thought how it makes me feel, having to be the strong one all the time? Do you know how hard it is for me to watch you stand there and just take it? Every single time!" Dolores' eyes well up with tears, and Sybill puts a hand on her face to wipe them.

"I know it's hard, but it's just a few more months, and then-" Dolores cuts her off.

"And then what? What do you think will happen?" she asks angrily, turning away. "Do you think the wizarding world will suddenly turn into a nice place for two witches who love each other?"

"Maybe not, but we can still be happy! We can find a way to figure out our future together!" Sybill sees that this is not, in fact, pacifying Dolores, so she tries a different, more crude, route. "Doll, I know you hate the way things are, but we can't choose who we love."

"Well, I sure wish we could!" Her statement leaves Sybill speechless. It feels like someone has knocked the wind out of her. "If I could choose, I wouldn't have picked a stupid witch who believes in tea leaves and crystal balls!"

Sybill's temper, though not usually quick to flare, rises at this. "How dare you? How could you? You know what it means to me to be the next great seer in my line! You said it yourself, it's in my blood!" Sybill glared at her, putting her hands on her hips. "And besides, to be honest, I never believed in your political stuff anyway. All you want is the power to rule over a few old wizards!"

"The kind of power that will help people like me! Like us!"

Sybill tries hard not to roll her eyes. "Isn't that what they all say?" She doubts Dolores wants power for all innocent reasons. No one did, in fact.

"I think, if we can't even be civil to each other, then there is no point in this, is there." Doll's voice is oddly quiet. Sybill feels her heart snapping, in the silence that passes between them. She opens her mouth to protest, but no words come out.

"No, there largely isn't. Goodbye, Glasses," Dolores says, answering herself. She walks away, and Sybill feels the finality of it all settle on her.

"Goodbye...Toadface."

Sybill stands there, tears streaming down her face.

"Come in!" calls the once familiar voice from the other side of the wooden door. Sybill takes a deep breath and opens the door. The room inside is shockingly pink. Against one wall, behind a bright pink desk, sits Dolores Umbridge, once upon a time, a friend, but now the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and someone who has made it very clear over the past few weeks that she wants to ensure that Sybill's life is to be made a living hell.

"You asked to see me?" Her voice is shaking, as is the rest of her, but she tries to keep her expression even.

Dolores doesn't reply, for a while, perusing the parchments on her desk. "Yes," she says, finally. "I wanted to let you know that you will be relieved of your post as the Professor of Divination, effective immediately."

Sybil's knees crumple, and she falls to the floor. "Please, why would you do this?"

Dolores...Umbridge, as the students and most of the professors call her these days, with more than a slight undertone of disgust and annoyance, shrugs casually. "I think what this school needs is competence. Something you clearly lack."

"What do you mean? I have Divination running through my veins! Dumbledore himself-"

"I have found far too many of Headmaster Dumbledore's decisions to be questionable of late, so if you were hoping to add credibility to yourself with that, it does not." Dolores strides around in the office, stopping occasionally to caress some of her

"I predicted Voldemort's return! And the boy, Harry Potter." There is a small amount of pride in her voice.

"You predicted nothing of consequence. Voldemort has not in fact, returned. The boy is a liar, and I have made sure he knows it. Besides, you can hardly expect me to value our skills based on predictions made over a decade ago."

Sybill decided to try a different tactic. "What about things from over three decades ago?"

Dolores turns sharply to look at her. "You will not sway me with that, Sybill."

"Maybe I don't want to sway you. I want to know. What happened to you? This is not the person you are! I don't understand, Doll," Sybill pleads, wringing her hands.

"People change. I finally did all the things you were holding me back from. I'm changing the world, Sybill." She pauses. "And you're not part of it anymore."

Sybill cannot find words to reply to the cruel jab.

"You're not the witch I fell in love with," she finally says.

"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." Dolores walks back to her desk and picks up the parchment that will seal Sybill's fate.

"Please, I'll be left with nothing!" Sybill cries out. "I'll do anything!"

"Anything?" The words have a cold chill to them. Sybill nods, but there is hesitation.

"Then join me. Join the right side in the war that's coming. We can finally be on the winning side of the war, and everyone who ever doubted us will pay."

"The...war? You mean-"

"I mean the Dark Lord, yes. I'll spare you, if you choose to be his follower."

There is no way she can agree to this. Every cell in her body wants to say no. "Y-yes," she says instead.

Dolores places the tip of her wand against her chin, thinking. "No. You could be useful, but your heart is too loyal to the old Headmaster. I need to be able to trust you completely. It is better to not have you, than to have a spy in our ranks."

"I will be loyal, Doll! To him and to you."

"Yes, yes you will." Dolores points her wand at her former lover, her expression unreadable. "Imperio!"

Sybill falls to the floor, limp when the spell hits her. A few seconds later, she sits back upright, her posture ever so slightly more rigid and mechanical.

"Welcome, love."

Sybill smiles vacantly in response.