Author's Note - Umbridge time! I somehow hated her more than Voldemort and all his Death Eaters combined. It was something about how smug she was, and how self-righteous. Thank you so much to SecretHufflepuff, my new reviewer on Mudblood Slytherin, I promise I'll give the typos my full attention soon. I now have someone grammar checking all my new chapters before I publish them.
Chapter Thirteen
Professor Umbridge
The fine weather the students had enjoyed during Initiation Week had come to an end by the time Monday arrived, and when Alaw entered the Great Hall for breakfast, there was rain pattering against the high windows and the ceiling was a dismal gray. Ron, Hermione and Neville headed for the Gryffindor table at the far end of the hall but Alaw veered left and seated herself with her fellow Slytherins. Usually she wouldn't have dared, but she needed her new timetable and Snape had a habit of 'forgetting' her if she wasn't where she was supposed to be.
The table was laden with platters of bacon, eggs and sausages; great tureens of porridge and boxes of cereal. Alaw tucked in to a couple of boiled eggs and soldiers and tried to look unobtrusive. It was no good, though. She'd barely managed to take a few bites when a shadow fell across her and she looked up to find Theodore, Crabbe, Goyle and Draco standing opposite her.
"Morning, mudblood," said Theodore, smirking.
"Good morning," Alaw replied. She glanced up at the staff table and saw that the heads of house had left their seats and were busy handing out timetables. Snape was still at the far end of the table, though and was unlikely to intervene.
"Haven't seen you all week," said Theodore casually, twirling his wand between his fingers. Alaw gripped the handle of her own wand under the table. "I was starting to think you hadn't bothered coming back to school, you know, after that nasty business at the end of last year."
Alaw cocked her head and wondered how best to proceed. Hermione would tell her to ignore Theodore, but experience had taught Alaw that ignoring a bully simply didn't work. If they didn't get the reaction they wanted from you, they'd be driven to physical means. So Alaw played along for now.
"How is your new boss, incidentally? I suppose he was glad when term started, so he could have you idiots out of his hair. If he had hair of course."
Crabbe and Goyle glared at Alaw and cracked their knuckles threateningly. Theodore scowled and Alaw didn't see Draco's reaction because she was very deliberately not looking at him.
"Go ahead, mudblood. Make all the jokes you like. We both know that when the master gets his hands on you, they won't seem so funny anymore," Theodore hissed menacingly. He kept his voice low so that no one else would hear them and Alaw's eyes narrowed.
"Tell me, did it hurt? Getting the Dark Mark, I mean. I imagine it did."
Theodore's left arm twitched and Alaw glanced at it briefly. She hadn't actually seen his tattoo but she knew he had it because she'd overheard him talk about it with his friends a few days ago. How she would dearly love to grab his arm and push his sleeve back so the whole school could see the ugly stain on his skin.
"He's going to get you, mudblood," Theodore growled. "You and every other piece of filth in this dump. Our master has some special plans for you. Would you like to hear them?"
"Not really," said Alaw dismissively. "I'm more interested in his plans for you lot actually. Because, no offence, but you're kind of young to be his top people; he's got your daddies for that. But I suppose every cult leader needs adoring fanboys."
Theodore raised his wand so quickly that Alaw didn't even have time to react before a jinx flashed towards her. She flinched, but the spell didn't hit her. Instead, it bounced off her invisible shield and hit Theodore squarely in the chest. He went flying backwards and hit the Ravenclaw table before landing smack on his backside. To complete the picture, a bowl of cereal toppled off the table and coated him from head to foot in milk. Alaw, and many other people in the vicinity, burst out laughing.
"What is all this noise?" asked Snape as he swooped down on them all. Theodore leaped to his feet.
"Jones attacked me, sir!" he cried angrily and Snape raised an eyebrow at Alaw.
"Miss Jones?" he prompted and Alaw rolled her eyes.
"Yeah sure, why not," she said boredly. Snape gazed at her coldly for a few seconds before waving his wand at Theodore. The milk and cornflakes disappeared from his robes but they still remained a little damp.
"Return to your seats," he told the boys before turning to Alaw. "Detention, Miss Jones. Seven o'clock, my office."
He thrust her new timetable at her and she accepted it without comment. As Theodore and his cronies returned to their breakfast they threw her dirty looks. Snape waited until they were gone before cocking his head.
"How did you maintain a shield without him noticing?"
Alaw, who was routing through her bag for her planner, absently showed Snape the necklace she wore. There was a small silver dragon dangling from it with it's tail wrapped around a garnet.
"The stone has a mild repelling charm on it," she explained, opening her planner and jotting down the time of her detention. Snape nodded.
"I should imagine it doesn't have a very long life," he said and Alaw nodded, now gazing at the pendant with a slight frown on her face.
"Yeah, it's starting to die. I should really find a way to renew the spell."
As Snape swept away, Alaw packed up her things, grabbed a piece of toast, and left the Great Hall before anything else could happen.
Her first lesson of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts and after everything Sirius had said about her the previous evening, Alaw was curious to meet this Professor Umbridge. When the third years entered the classroom which until recently had belonged to Professor Lupin, they found Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk. They all gazed wearily at her as they sat down and once all the rustling had stopped, she spoke up.
"Good morning, class."
There were a few mumbles in reply and Umbridge tutted.
"Now, now. When you are greeted, I would like you all to say, 'good morning, Professor Umbridge'. So, good morning, class!"
"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," the students recited, many exchanging perturbed looks at being spoken to like a bunch of primary school children. Umbridge withdrew a sheet of parchment from the file in front of her.
"Now then, I noticed you all took your seats without delay, but I have devised a new seating plan to optimise efficiency within this classroom. So, Miss Parkinson? I would like you to sit here, please. And Mr Zabini, you may go beside her."
As she continued her list there was a collective bristle around the room. So, she was one of those teachers, was she? Umbridge had arranged them all in a strict boy-girl fashion and Alaw's feeling that she was back in nursery increased. When Umbridge arrived her her name, she smiled sweetly across the room at her.
"Miss Jones, you may sit right here."
She indicated the table right in front of the teacher's desk, between Seamus and Crabbe, and with Theodore sat directly behind her. With a muted sigh, Alaw collected her things and carried them to the front of the class. Theodore sneered at her as she passed and Alaw knew she could expect a lot of pencils to the back of the head for the rest of the year. When they were all rearranged to her satisfaction, Umbridge returned to the teacher's desk.
"Wands away and quills out. I have had a glance at your performance records from your first two years studying this subject and I must say, some of you are lagging behind." She glanced pointedly at a few students, including Alaw. "And this will not do now that you have entered your N.E.W.T years. Whereas my predecessor may have allowed you some slack, I shall not be so indulgent. So we shall be starting from scratch."
She tapped her wand on the blackboard and words appeared there in chalk. The headline read, 'Course Aims'.
"I would like you all please to copy down the course aims, and then to turn to chapter one of Defensive Magical Theory and read Basics for Beginners. There will be no need to talk."
Alaw cocked her head and pulled a face as she read the course aims. She then shared a dark look with Hermione who sat on Seamus' other side.
Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.
Learning to recognise situations in which defensive magic may be legally used.
Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.
As Alaw noted these points down in her exercise book she had to suppress a snort of contempt. They had already covered all these points with Professor Lupin in first year. He had gone over the legality of jinxes and hexes with them in their very first week of school. But now the Ministry wanted to jam it down their throats again? Alaw's mood did not improve has she opened the Slinkhard book and started to read the first chapter. The work was sloppy and the language juvenile, so Alaw only kept sparse notes. It only took a couple of minutes for her to notice that Hermione had her hand up. Professor Umbridge was writing something at her desk and appeared not to have noticed Hermione, even though a number of people were now watching her instead of working.
"Professor?" Hermione prompted after she'd been ignored for a further couple of minutes. Umbridge looked up and fixed Hermione with an appraising stare.
"Yes, dear. Did you have something you'd like to ask?"
"Yes," said Hermione. Obviously, thought Alaw. "I'm curious about the course aims. I thought this year we'd be learning N.E.W.T standard spells, but I don't see anything about practical lessons on the board."
Umbridge smiled sweetly at Hermione even as the rest of the class turned their heads to re-examine the blackboard.
"It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all, is what school is all about."
There were many sounds of consternation from the class at this statement and Ron spoke up, angrily,
"We're not going to do any magic at all?! But I thought we had to show we could do all the countercurses in the exams!"
"Students will raise their hands when they wish to speak in this class," said Umbridge blandly. Ron thrust his hand into the air and she turned away from him. But several other hands had shot up too.
"And your name is?" Umbridge asked, looking at Daphne.
"Daphne Greengrass. And Ron's right, we do have to perform the spells in the exams. Are you honestly telling us that the first time we'll even do the magic will be in front of the examiners?!"
"As I have said, if you have studied the theory properly, you should have no trouble performing the magic in a carefully controlled, risk free, environment. And you are?"
"Dean Thomas," said Dean. "And what the hell would be the point of that?! We're supposed to be learning how to defend ourselves! If we get attacked, it won't be risk free!"
"Attacked?" Umbridge laughed. "And who do you think is going to attack you, Mr Thomas? Do you believe there are dark wizards hiding around every corner?"
Umbridge kept her eyes on Dean but Alaw felt the gaze of every other person in the room turn on her. She stayed silent, she wasn't going to be drawn into a shouting match with this moronic woman. Ron, however, was less restrained.
"Well, You-Know-Who might quite like to have a pop at us!"
There was a very tense silence as Umbridge cocked her head at Ron.
"The Dark Lord is dead, Mr Weasley," she said calmly. "He had been dead these past twenty years."
"No, he isn't!" said Ron hotly. "Alaw saw him! He's back!"
"Ron!" Alaw hissed sharply. "Shut up!"
"But -"
Alaw gave Ron a hard look and he shut his mouth, scowling at Umbridge and crossing his arms. Umbridge gave a smug little smile and then addressed the class as a whole.
"Now then, I would like to make something quite clear. You have all been told that a certain Dark Lord has returned from the dead. This. Is. A. lie. Now, if any of you are being frightened by people telling you such fibs, I would like you to come to me with your concerns."
Alaw was shaking her head slowly and giving Umbridge the dirtiest look she could muster. It was very difficult to hold her tongue but she forced herself to keep her temper. Blowing up at a Ministry representative in front of all her classmates would only seal her reputation as a nutjob. Umbridge was now looking directly at her.
"Did you have something you would like to say, dear?" she asked and Alaw ground her teeth. Perhaps one little jab.
"Fine, Voldemort's back. Happy now?"
There were mutters and small gasps at the sound of the name and Seamus glanced disdainfully at Alaw. Umbridge did not flinch. Instead, she smiled and returned to the teacher's desk. She wrote something on a piece of pink parchment, folded it up carefully, and sealed it with her wand.
"Come here, Miss Jones," she said and Alaw rose from her seat. "I would like you to take this to Professor Snape."
Alaw took the letter without comment and glared at Umbridge. None of the rest of the class said a word as she packed up her things and tried to walk, rather than stomp, to the door. Once she had put a couple of floors between herself and the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Alaw stopped and chewed her lip. She turned the pink letter over in her hands a couple of times. She would have liked to read it before delivering to Snape, but she knew that tampering with Umbridge's sealing spell would be foolish. With a huff, Alaw set off again down the marble staircase. She didn't meet anyone on her journey to the dungeons for which she was thankful; one more blatant stare might just push her to hex someone. Snape wasn't teaching in his lab so Alaw continued on down the subterranean corridor towards his office. She took a deep breath before knocking three times.
"Enter," called Snape from the other side.
Alaw opened the door and Snape looked up from his desk where he was writing something. Alaw had never actually been in her head of house's office before. The window looked out into the depths of the lake, just like the one's in the Slytherin common room, and the rest of the walls were covered in shelves of potions ingredients. Slimy insects and fish floated in different coloured liquids.
"What do you want, Jones?" Snape asked, coldly.
"I've been sent to see you," Alaw said, holding out the pink letter. "By Professor Umbridge."
Snape's expression remained neutral as he set his quill aside and took the letter from Alaw. She stood almost to attention a foot in front of his desk as he unsealed the letter with his wand and read it's contents. Once his dark eyes were done flitting from one side of the page to the other, he looked up at her.
"Professor Umbridge has given you a detention for every night this week. Until Friday," he informed her. Alaw grimaced and allowed herself a small groan of annoyance before asking,
"Okay, would you like to reschedule our detention, sir? It was meant to be tonight, but I can do it next Monday if you prefer."
"Don't be clever with me, Jones. What did you do to earn yourself five nights of detention?"
Alaw shrugged.
"She told the class that Voldemort wasn't back, she desperately wanted me to contradict her, so I did. Calmly. I didn't shout it from the rooftops or anything."
Snape held her gaze for a moment, as if he was trying to detect a lie, but Alaw looked back at him dispassionately. After a pause, Snape folded up the letter and put it away in his desk drawer.
"You will go to Professor Umbridge's office this evening at five o'clock. I would advise you not to engage her in conversation, and if she bates you again, don't rise to it. You will serve your detention with me next Monday at seven. That will be all."
Alaw nodded and turned to go, but she paused, and then faced the desk again.
"Did you know she's not going to teach us any real magic?"
Snape, who had returned to his notes, nodded, and the shadow of a scowl crossed his features.
"I have heard. Professor Umbridge was discussing her new curriculum in the staff room last night."
Alaw folded her arms and tapped her finger rapidly, as she always did when irritated.
"I wanted to apply for a Curse Breaker apprenticeship at Gringott's next year," she said, watching Snape carefully. "They're not going to accept someone who doesn't know any N.E.W.T Defence."
Snape glanced up at her briefly.
"You'll forgive me for saying, Jones, but your Defence grades from first and second year will count against you far more than any damage that woman will do. You were only ever a middling offensive spellcaster."
Alaw bristled at his harsh assessment and replied in a cold voice,
"I was going to work on bringing my grade up this year. Anyway, that's beside the point. What I'm saying is, I won't be the only one pissed off that their career prospects are on the line. You'll have some angry Slytherins at your door before the end of the week, I guarantee it. Blaise wants to be an Unspeakable and Millicent is looking at joining the Law Enforcement Squad. They are not going to be happy about this."
Snape did not look up from his papers again and merely waved a hand towards the door.
"Thank you for the dire warning, Miss Jones. Now please leave me be, I have a lot of work to do."
Alaw did not return to Defence Against the Dark Arts after leaving Snape's office, despite the fact that there was still half an hour of the lesson to go. Instead, she sat in the library reading through past papers for N.E.W.T Defence. It was as she suspected. They wouldn't have a prayer of performing the counter-curses expected of them in the exams without practicing them before hand. They desperately needed someone to show them the proper spells.
At lunch time she donned the invisibility cloak and ventured down to the Great Hall. She resisted the urge to load up her bag with chicken and ham sandwiches and sat down among the Gryffindors to hear what they were talking about. News about the Defence class had spread quickly it seemed. Most people were furious at the terrible new curriculum and Alaw was pleased to hear many people say they would be writing to their parents about it and complaining to Professor McGonagall. Over at the Ravenclaw table, the Prefects Padma and Anthony, and been joined by their Hufflepuff counterparts and were devising a plan to bring their concerns directly to the headmaster, and Susan Bones was declaring that she would write a stiff letter of complaint to her aunt that evening.
Alaw was less pleased to hear people's thoughts on her 'outburst', as they were calling it.
"Said she saw You-Know-Who."
"Still banging on about that is she? Crazy cow."
"Weasley says she dueled with the Dark Lord. Complete nutter that one."
After eating, Alaw dejectedly left the Great Hall and went up the History of Magic classroom. She was the first person there and Professor Binns, their only ghost teacher, didn't even notice her sit down. It was common consent that Binns was an appallingly bad teacher, that the material he was teaching them was outdated by several decades, and that his voice was so boring that it could put an entire class to sleep in ten minutes flat. But, Alaw needed an N.E.W.T in History if she wanted to become a Curse Breaker one day, so she just had to suck it up.
There were only three other people taking History that year and they joined her just as the bell rang. Hermione, Ernie and Draco all sat down around her - Draco carefully not looking at her. Pretending she didn't exist seemed to be his strategy of choice and, though depressing, Alaw went along with it.
"Hey, are you alright?" Hermione murmured to Alaw as Binns began his lecture. Today's material, land reform acts of the seventeenth century.
"Of course, but I have been given detention every day this week."
Ernie and Hermione looked at her in shock and Ernie shook his head angrily.
"But you barely said anything! Other people said a lot more, you were just telling her what she wanted to hear."
"Exactly, she wanted to give me detention. Don't worry, I'll just have to endure this week and then I'll keep my mouth shut around her. That's what Snape told me to do."
The thing about Professor Binns' classes was that it was incredibly easy to carry out whole conversations without him ever looking up from his notes. However, all four of them were Prefects and they had elected to do this class, so they forced themselves to pay attention for the rest of the lesson. By the end, Alaw felt like smacking herself in the forehead with A History of Magic.
"Great, so that's two N.E. we're going to fail," she grouched as they left the classroom. Ernie groaned.
"I know, it's awful. Look, why don't we just turn this period into a study group instead? We can teach ourselves the coursework and Binns won't mind, I doubt he'd even notice!" suggested Earnie.
It was agreed and they parted ways, Ernie heading off for Muggle Studies and Draco going in the direction of the library.
At five o'clock that evening, Alaw ventured up to Umbridge's office, took a deep breath, and knocked three times.
"Come in," called Umbridge sweetly and Alaw entered the room.
She saw that Umbridge had wasted no time in making the office her own. The stone walls had been painted pastel pink, and every surface was covered in fussy little doilies and bowls of potpourri. The sickly smell hung in the air and Alaw wrinkled her nose slightly. Behind the desk there hung a series of china plates, each decorated with a picture of kitten. Umbridge herself was sat at the desk with her hands folded neatly in front of her.
"Good evening, Miss Jones," she said, smiling widely at Alaw.
"Good evening," Alaw replied reservedly. She caught sight of a small desk and a straight-backed wooden chair over by the window. There was a quill and a piece of parchment waiting for her.
"Take a seat, dear," said Umbridge, indicating the chair. "You're going to be doing some lines for me."
Alaw was a little surprised, she had expected to have to do something far worse, but she sat down without comment. She started rummaging around in her bag but looked up when Umbridge asked,
"What are you doing, dear?"
"I'm just getting some ink," said Alaw and Umbridge smiled wider than ever.
"Oh, you won't need any ink. This is a rather special quill of mine. Now then, I would like you to write, 'I must not tell lies'."
The two witches gazed at each other and Alaw pursed her lips before asking, politely,
"How many times?"
"Well, let's say… until the message has sunk in."
A lot of times, then, Alaw thought bitterly. She picked up the quill which was thin and black, with a sharp silver nib, and placed it to the parchment. This wasn't so bad. Petty as fuck, but really, if this was the best punishment Umbridge could come up with, Alaw felt she'd worried about nothing. The quill was evidently self-inking like a muggle ball-point pen and the words appeared on the page in shiny red. After Alaw had written out the line five times however, she started to feel a itch on the back of her hand. She put the quill in her other hand for a moment to flex her fingers but the itch only got worse, so she dropped the quill all together to scratch.
"Ah!" she gasped as her skin stung and real pain shot through her. She watched in horror as tiny little cuts began to appear on the back of her left hand. I must not tell lies. She looked up at Umbridge and found the toad-like woman watching her closely.
"Is there a problem, dear?" she asked, in a syrupy voice.
"You sick fuck!" Alaw cried, leaping out of her chair and snatching up her bag.
Umbridge didn't say a word as Alaw marched out of the office and slammed the door behind her. Alaw sprinted down the corridor, ducking into a secret passage behind a suit of armour at the end and taking the spiral staircase down. On the first floor, Alaw stopped to lean against a wall, panting. Her heart was hammering inside her chest and she raised her hand to examine the cuts. But she found that the words had faded away, only leaving her skin red and irritated.
"Crazy, evil, bitch!" she muttered under her breath, turning her hand this way and that.
She couldn't believe that a teacher, a ministry official no less, would use such a dark object on a student! How could she be so brazen? Alaw stood up straight and looked up and down the corridor, fiddling with the strap of her bag and worrying her bottom lip. She had to tell someone, but who? Dumbledore might refuse to see her and besides, she didn't know the new password to his tower. McGonagall would listen for sure, but the head of Gryffindor would likely march up to Umbridge's office and curse old hag without a second thought. That left Snape. Yes, it made more sense to tell her own head of house. He might not have been Alaw's biggest fan, but he was in the best position to do something about this.
With dinner approaching the corridors were full of students and teachers on the march so Alaw quickly pulled on the invisibility cloak and used the backstairs to make her way down to the dungeons. A group of Slytherins that included Theodore and Draco were passing Snape's office when Alaw arrived in the corridor and she flattened herself against the wall to avoid bumping into any of them. She waited until they'd turned on the stairs before pulling off the cloak, stuffing it back in her bag and knocking urgently on the office door. The door opened and Snape appeared. He frowned down at Alaw and took in her distressed appearance and then stepped back to allow her entry to his rooms.
"What has happened?" he asked without preamble, closing the door behind her.
"I was just in my detention with Umbridge when she told me to write some lines," Alaw began.
She quickly outlined the events of the evening and Snape listened with a stony expression. When she was done he gestured to her hand.
"Let me see," he said but Alaw shook her head.
"The cuts healed on the way down here. Now it just looks like a rash."
Snape drew up a couple of chairs by the desk and clicked at Alaw to sit down, which she did. He sat opposite her and took her hand in his, examining the angry skin with a critical eye. He waved his wand over her hand a few times and muttered incantations under his breath, not looking up at Alaw for about a minute.
"Does it still hurt?" he asked eventually, releasing her.
"No, it itches though."
"Don't scratch it. I am not familiar with the implement you described, but there are clear signs of dark magic in your skin. Don't worry, it's minor and should fade away by tomorrow, but I'll give you a salve to stop it from getting infected."
Alaw cradled her hand against her chest.
"She's evil," she muttered. "Twisted. Did you know she was like this, sir?"
Snape's mouth twisted and he avoided Alaw's gaze.
"I had heard rumours," he admitted quietly. "But I didn't credit them until now. This is - disturbing. I doubt very much that the Ministry gave her permission to use such a tool on students."
"What should I do?" Alaw asked. Snape's eyes narrowed in thought and he stood up to pace the office. Alaw watched his progress wearily.
"For now, do nothing," he said eventually. "Do not go back to your detentions, act as if nothing has happened. Let us see how she will react. I suspect she will leave you be unless you stir up trouble."
Alaw didn't speak as she considered this proposal. It seemed the most sensible course of action, but the thought of letting Umbridge get away with this rankled.
"There's nothing we can do to get her, is there?" Alaw asked bitterly and Snape shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. I imagine that the scars would become permanent if you continued your punishment, but even if you were willing to do that, you would have no proof that Umbridge forced you to do it."
"Nah, she'd probably just say I was an attention seeking little shit who did it to myself. And I suppose nicking the quill wouldn't do any good either because there'd be no proof it belonged to her. Hell, even dragging the Aurors up to her office and showing them the quill in her drawer wouldn't be enough, she'd just say it'd been planted!"
Alaw sat back in her chair and folded her arms angrily.
"This sucks!" she snarled. Snape ignored her scowl and picked up an empty flask from a nearby shelf. He moved around the office, selecting jars and boxes, adding pinches of this and that to the flask and swirling the contents before handing it to Alaw.
"Apply that as needed, the swelling should fade away soon."
Alaw screwed the lid shut because the potion was not pleasant to the nostrils before asking,
"Should I tell Professor Dumbledore?"
"I will pass on the information to Albus. He isn't exactly thrilled with you at the moment," said Snape, giving her a stern look as Alaw repressed a snort. There was a pause and then a worrying thought occurred to Alaw.
"Sir," she said slowly. "You don't think - you don't think Umbridge might be working for - uh - the Dark Lord? Could she be a Death Eater?"
To her surprise, Snape gave a bark of laughter.
"Dolores Umbridge is most certainly not a Death Eater," he said firmly. "You must understand, Jones, that evil can take many forms. This time it's pink."