Umbridge's changes were swift and constant. Not only was she constantly the most patronising teacher at the school and treating any and all classes as if they didn't have their own brains to think with, but she was also reviewing the other teachers' performances. And implementing ridiculous rules about boys and girls not being allowed within eight inches of each other.
Thankfully, Harry and Violet hadn't really run into any issues with that, until one concerning morning during breakfast.
Astra came crashing down into the rack of toast, and feebly hopped over to Violet. The girl detached the letter from the small owl and disregarded it for a moment as she took in her pet's appearance. Her feathers were ruffled and dishevelled, she was resting more weight on one foot than the other, and one of her wings was bent at an awkward angle.
"Oh my god…" Violet whispered, scooping up her sweet owl into her lap. Astra hooted affectionately at her, pleased to be handled and loved by her owner. Violet didn't dare touch the out of shape wing, and merely stroked the owl's head, trying to pour some kind of love back to her.
At this point, Harry had finally made his appearance for breakfast, sliding onto the bench next to Violet and sitting closely to her when he saw that she was cradling Astra in her lap.
"What happened?" he asked, offering out his hand to Astra, who gently nipped at it and then proceeded to bump his finger with her head until he stroked it. He snorted. Violet shot him a contemptuous look and he backtracked quickly. "Sorry - she just-"
"It's fine…" she said, on realising he'd meant no harm. "Can you see who the letter's from?"
He nodded and grabbed the envelope, only to find the seal had been broken already. Across the table, Hermione had a dark look on her face, while Ron - who was just joining them - was none the wiser to what was going on.
"Morning, what's-"
"Shh!" Hermione said as Harry pulled the letter out.
"It's from Lupin!" he exclaimed in a hushed voice. "'Dear sweet girl, if I were you I'd keep your head down this year. I know you're wonderful at plenty of your subjects, but do as you're told. You normally do, but this is your O. year, after all… I don't want to see you getting into trouble. Work hard, practice your spell work as you see fit, and you'll do just fine. Don't worry about me. I'll be passing on your love to your parents. Remus.' Well, that was… vague…"
Asta chirped at Violet, wanting attention again. The girl had ceased in stroking her head when she was paying rapt attention to Harry reading out the letter. Distracted, she carried on running her finger over Astra's feathers.
"Of course it was vague," she said, matter of factly. "I said to Lupin in my outgoing letter that our mail was being watched. I just… I didn't think Astra would be manhandled so badly…"
Surreptitiously, Harry looped an arm around Violet's waist, thus squishing them quite close together. He played it off as trying to give Astra attention, staring down at the owl and offering her his finger yet again. The little bird was quite happy with the endless amounts of affection she was receiving that morning, appearing to have forgotten about her bent wing and dodgy foot in favour of lapping it all up.
Neither Harry or Violet were paying that close attention to Astra, however, as they realise how close proximity their faces were. If Violet made any indication of turning to him at all, she was certain her lips would end up brushing his by accident, and the mere thought of it flushed her cheeks a delicate shade of pink.
Thankfully, Harry glanced up and then jumped off the bench.
"Professor Grubbly-Plank!" he called out, approaching the teacher as she was making her way down from the staff table. "My friend - Violet - her owl-"
Violet, too, jumped up from the bench, gingerly cradling Astra and going over to her Care of Magical Creatures teacher.
"Someone's manhandled her," she scowled. "Do you - do you think you'll be able to help?"
"Of course I can, my dear!" Grubbly-Plank offered out her hands. "Hand her over, she'll be better in no time at all."
Violet cautiously handed her owl over to her teacher, who then carried on her journey out of the Great Hall. She stared after the woman, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Astra's in good hands," Harry said, grabbing her robes by the cuff and leading her back to the table. "Eat. You have a bad habit of not doing that when you're worried."
She shrugged out of his grip once they were back with Ron and Hermione, and then promptly listened to Harry, helping herself to one of the slices of toast that hadn't been knocked over by Astra. They were not left in peace for long, as an irritating ahem soon jolted both Harry and Violet from their breakfast. They turned to see Umbridge smiling down at them.
"Boys and girls are not permitted to be within eight inches of each other," she told them in that awfully sweet voice of hers. "And I do believe I saw you two sitting closer than that a few minutes ago."
"It was my owl, Professor Umbridge," Violet said quickly. "She was hurt, and Harry was seeing if she was alright. He's quite fond of her as well, you see. We just gave her to Professor Grubbly-Plank."
"And Violet's one of my best friends," Harry added. "I didn't want her to be upset, Professor."
"Hmm. Very well," was all she said before tottering off to go prep for whatever class she had to teach first thing that morning.
"God…" Violet sighed as soon as Umbridge was out of earshot. "Now I'm really dreading Defence Against the Dark Arts later."
Violet was right to dread that now god forsaken lesson.
As if it wasn't so painfully dull while they sat in silence and copied out specific areas in the textbook three times, she was called back at the end by Umbridge.
"Miss Merryworth," she began, "I'd like for you to join me this evening in my office at five o'clock sharp."
"Um… of course, Professor," Violet replied uneasily. "Have - have I done something wrong?"
"No, not at all, dearie!" Umbridge waved her off. "I'd just like to have a private chat with you. Girl to girl."
Violet nodded in a feigned understanding. "I'll see you at five o'clock, Professor."
More confused than anything, Violet hurried out of the classroom to find only Harry and Ron had lingered back; Hermione had had to dash off to Ancient Runes.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked.
"I have to go speak to her at five o'clock. She wouldn't say why," Violet replied as the three of them headed off to Ancient Runes.
"It's not a detention, is it?"
"No, I think she would have made that known to the class…"
As the rest of the day wore on, Violet found herself becoming more curious about what was to entail at five o'clock rather than nervous. That didn't mean she wasn't nervous - because she was - it was just this was more of a "curiosity killed the cat" type of situation. It left her only partially distracted for the rest of the day.
Violet had a quick dinner before going to Umbridge's office, where she rapped on the door three times.
"Come in," the woman said, and in Violet went. She had to hide her horror at the sheer amount of pink that covered every surface in the room, and the amount of moving cat pictures up on the walls. While Umbridge sat at her main desk, there was a smaller one just off to the side with a chair behind it too.
"Good evening, Professor Umbridge," Violet said, a little too chirpy for her liking.
"Good evening to you too, Miss Merryworth," everything about the woman was enough to make anyone queasy. "Take a seat over there, please."
"I - I thought we were going to have a chat?" Violet squeaked out as she went over to the smaller desk, already dreading what was to come. "I didn't think I was in detention…"
"Oh no, this isn't a detention," Umbridge told her, walking over to place a few pieces of parchment and a quill in front of the girl. "I just think some extra reinforcement is required with you, which shouldn't be too hard. I've heard all about what happened when Professor Moody put the Imperius Curse on you."
Violet's stomach dropped, and she shakily picked up the quill. She knew exactly what Umbridge was getting at, and knew for a fact that she most definitely wouldn't be subject to as many sessions of it as Harry was.
"What - what am I writing?"
Somehow, she knew deep down what Umbridge was going to say. She knew what this was about.
"Hmm… perhaps… 'I should not associate with half breeds.'"
There it was.
All Violet did was nod and get to work. Satisfied that the girl wasn't going to argue, Umbridge happily went to settle back down at her own desk once more.
The pain was searing and itchy, and Violet wished she had seen through Umbridge's plan from the start. Of course she couldn't have given Violet a detention for no reason in front of the class. Of course she did it all under a ploy to spread her prejudiced views. Violet kept writing those awful words over and over again until they remained permanently etched onto the back of her hand, bleeding out.
Even then, Umbridge made her keep going for another hour until she was finally allowed to leave. It was about eleven o'clock at night.
"If I catch you writing to that filthy man again, Miss Merryworth, you'll be back in here. Do you understand me?"
Violet slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way over to the door, all colour draining from her face. "Yes, Professor Umbridge. Good night."
"Good night."
As Violet left the office cradling her hand, she felt dizzy and as if she were in a bad dream and not quite connected to reality. Did that really just happen? Did Umbridge really just punish her for writing to Lupin? Shock. She was in shock over it all.
By the time she got back to Gryffindor Tower, the Common Room was almost empty save for a couple of friendly faces: Harry and Hermione, both up late.
"There you are! Harry said you were- Violet?" Hermione had taken one look at Violet and immediately came running over to her. "Are you - are you alright?"
Violet dumbly shook her head, allowing Hermione to lead her over to the sofa where she and Harry were based, sitting the girl down between them.
"It wasn't a chat," Violet said through clenched teeth, thinking that if she opened her mouth too much she might actually vomit. She revealed her bloody hand to Harry and Hermione, both of them appalled. She giggled mirthlessly as she looked between her hand and Harry's. "We've got near enough matching couple's tattoos…"
Not even a bit of morbid humour could distract from the fact Violet needed to clean up her hand, nor could it distract Hermione from the fact Harry was now firmly keeping his mouth shut. Instead, he made a point of going through Violet's bag to pull out a packet of tissues to start wiping the blood off of her. They still hadn't seen the writing, and she currently wasn't up for explaining it either.
"Care to explain that one, Harry?" Hermione asked, still worried, but now highly amused by the comment.
"Um, yeah, I'd - I'd be more than happy to, in fact-" he stopped short, as he now saw what was etched into the back of Violet's hand.
I should not associate with half breeds.
That grounded her for sure. Whatever amusement she found within her own words was gone; instead it looked like she might cry - but she didn't. She stared sadly at her own hand.
"I shouldn't - I shouldn't have written to him…" she whispered. "I think I got lucky that his letter back was as vague as it was…"
"It's not your fault," Hermione told her. "Umbridge is - she's foul. The fact she hates people with lycanthropy enough to do this to you under a pretence." She was horrified. "It's despicable!"
She got up and started pacing in front of Harry and Violet.
"What are we going to do about you two?" she threw the question at them.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a frown, but putting an arm around Violet. It was just the three of them in the Common Room anyway.
"The fact that you two are secretly dating - which, I might add, explains the ordeal with Astra this morning. The pair of you looking at her like she was your child!" Hermione sighed, coming to a stop so she could survey the two of them properly. "Why didn't you say anything? More to the point - why keep lying about it?"
"I've had enough people gawking at me for a lifetime, thanks very much."
"And I don't need people gawking at me," Violet said.
"You know me and Ron wouldn't have said anything…" Hermione said, a little sadly. "But Umbridge is clearly onto the both of you after breakfast today. And Harry, you absolutely cannot get into trouble with her in lessons again! Especially now that this has happened!" She gestured at Violet, who was now regaining her usual light olive skin tone.
"Then me and Ron can swap seats in Defence Against the Dark Arts," Violet suggested quietly. "It's not like me and Harry are putting in the extra effort anymore, is it? She'd hate that."
"That's not a bad idea," Harry agreed.
"Although…" Violet was now uncertain of it. "Am I not your impulse control in that subject at the moment?"
Harry winced. "Yeah, I guess… the amount of times you've stepped on my foot so I don't talk has been alarming…"
Hermione couldn't help herself - she laughed, and it snapped her friends' attention back to her.
"I really can't believe how blind I've been the past month and a half…" she said with a smile. "I'm seeing it now. You two have been acting differently."
"Not that differently," Harry said.
"Unless you're looking for it… I won't tell anyone. However, Harry, I'd recommend you tell Ron at the very least. It'll be easier for the four of us to work together to make sure this is kept secret." She tilted her head to the side. "I'm assuming there's more to you two keeping quiet about it then just… wanting privacy from the rest of the school?"
"There is," Violet said, taking her hand out of Harry's and finishing off cleaning it herself. "That's a story for another day - for when Ron knows."
"Of course. In your own time," Hermione said softly, before gathering up her things. "I'll sort out some Murtlap Essence for you so you don't have to do it when you come up. Good night Violet, Harry."
"Thanks, Hermione," she said, watching the other girl take her leave from the Common Room up to the girls' dormitory.
After a few moments of silence, Violet turned to Harry. "I'm sorry… I don't - I don't know why I said that…" She glanced down her hand.
Harry waved it off. "It was a good joke. Sort of. Maybe slightly in bad taste."
Violet cringed, and Harry gingerly took her hand again in his own scarred one.
"But… you are right. Near enough matching. Let's just hope neither of us get thrown into detention again."
"Agreed."
"Are you feeling any better?" he then asked her. "I thought you were gonna faint when you walked in…"
"I'm steady enough. How's my face looking? Do I look like I'm quarter-Indian again?"
"Yes," he laughed. "You look like you're quarter-Indian again. You… you have nice skin, you know that right?"
"That - that's not a compliment I thought I'd ever hear…" Violet pursed her lips together in an effort not to laugh.
"I thought you liked my awkward flirting." Harri raised his eyebrows at her, a cocky sort of smile coming to his face.
Beginning to get flustered - and feeling much better than she had done ten minutes previously - Violet lightly batted him on the arm. "Stop that." She managed to regain her composure, and tried not to let the horrible events of the evening sink in too much. "I still need to do homework," she murmured.
"Want me to keep you company? Actually, I finished Herbology just before you walked in… just copy it. I know you care about that kind of thing, but I don't. You need an easy night," he insisted, handing over the homework in question. Conflicted, Violet was hesitant in taking it, but did so all the same.
All the while Violet was catching up on homework, Harry started to play with her hair. It was a little distracting at first, but the moment he took it out of the bun and combed his fingers through it to help neaten it out - she was soothed. She began to enjoy the casual way he merely twirled it about his fingers, a tingling sensation spreading across the top of her scalp that made her feel almost sleepy after enough time had passed.
Not to mention, it completely cleared any thoughts of Umbridge from her mind. Even though her hand ached while she wrote and the words etched onto the back of it became itchy as they finally dried into a scab, she paid it no attention. Violet had no need to. Not right now, when Harry was doing his best to make her feel better.
Except before they parted ways before bed, Harry held her in arms long enough that she felt her resolve about to break because of everything all over again. She was tense when she kissed him good night, running up to her dormitory to promptly soak her hand in Murtlap Essence and then eventually cry herself to sleep.
Okay I swear I'll make things happy again. I'd already peppered in Umbridge's disdain towards Lupin during Violet's trial so... I needed to follow through on that. And now Hermione knows about Harry/Violet! Yay! I initially wasn't going to have that happen so soon (in fact, I was going to keep it up till the summer before 6th year), HOWEVER: during my planning, I realised there were a couple of points where it would be hard for the pair of them to keep things a secret from Ron and Hermione, so decided to slowly work in the fact they would find out sooner rather than later. Hope you all enjoyed!
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