Chapter Seventy-Eight: Fighting Back
As if one class with Umbridge in it hadn't been enough, the hag was inspecting the Care of Magical Creatures class Daphne had right after Defense, which had been another boring, useless class filled with reading a boring, useless book while Umbridge occasionally propagandized at them. Why she bothered was beyond Daphne, as the Slytherins either sought to suck up to her already, like Malfoy and his squad, or didn't believe a single word she said anyway.
And now she'd have another double hour of walking on eggshells because that toad just had to pick this class to observe. Harry had told her Umbridge had also sat in on their Transfiguration class, and Daphne was beginning to wonder if Umbridge was now planning her inspections so that she could keep an eye on Harry as well the teachers she said she'd be watching.
Umbridge asked Professor Grubbly-Plank in a none-too-subtle way if she knew where Hagrid was — apparently the decree that sacked him as a teacher didn't quite extend to his being a gamekeeper — but when it became clear she didn't, Umbridge began to wander around, asking the students about magical creatures. By the looks of it, most people were able to answer fairly well, which didn't seem to please Umbridge much. She turned back to Professor Grubbly-Plank and asked her what she thought about the way the school was run, and didn't seem satisfied with the positive answer to that, either.
Umbridge then turned to Goyle and asked, "Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class?"
Very keen on denying Malfoy a chance at badmouthing Hagrid, Daphne quickly said, "No worse than in any other class."
Umbridge smiled sweetly at her. "I don't believe I asked you, Miss Greengrass," she said.
"But since I actually got injured, I feel qualified to answer anyway. Madam Pomfrey had me patched up in no time at all. I've seen worse injuries in Charms and Potions than I've ever seen here," Daphne said stonily.
"And how did you get injured, Miss Greengrass?" Umbridge asked, completely ignoring everything else Daphne had said.
"I was protecting Malfoy from his own inability to listen to instructions, Professor," Daphne said.
Malfoy glowered at her.
"Perhaps because Professor Hagrid was hard to understand?" Umbridge asked, turning to Malfoy.
Before Malfoy could open his mouth, Daphne said, "Professor Hagrid was very clear in his instructions, but Malfoy thought that paying attention was beneath him."
"Miss Greengrass, this is the second time you've spoken out of turn. I have been lenient the first time, but another outburst will cost you points," Umbridge said.
"I wonder, Professor, if we perhaps need someone to inspect the performance of the High Inquisitor. You seem awfully eager to find faults with teachers you have a problem with, even those already sacked by your boss," Daphne said.
"Five points from Slytherin. One more word from you and it's detention," Umbridge said.
Daphne knew she had to stay quiet. She knew this was the moment to stop and let everything else slide. But it was so hard, and she had to bite her tongue not to respond.
"You should probably still give her a detention to make sure, Professor," Malfoy said. "Greengrass is pretty violent. She might even attack me if I honestly answer your questions now that she knows you won't let her interrupt…"
"Violent? Tut, tut, we can't have that in school, now can we? And Mr. Malfoy, as a Prefect I'm sure you wouldn't abuse your station. Yes, I think a week's detention would be good…" Umbridge said.
Something in Daphne seemed to snap. "Well," she said icily. "Since I've already been given detention, I might as well make it thoroughly worth it." She looked at Umbridge. "Voldemort is back and the longer the Ministry denies it the more dangerous he'll become. But if he ever comes for you, then I truly believe he'll be making the world a better place, and I will laugh when your obituary is published in the Prophet. After all, I don't think he'll like the competition for being the evilest wizard in Britain."
Everyone in the class gasped in shock, and Umbridge's face was white and livid. She seemed to be at a loss for words.
"That's another week of detention," she said eventually.
Daphne shrugged disdainfully. "Fine with me. Hope you've sharpened that blood quill. Incidentally, is that even legal? Because I'm sure my Head of House would love to hear about it."
Umbridge, who seemed to have recovered a bit, smiled again. "I'm sure Professor Snape knows better than to interfere with the High Inquisitor," she said.
Daphne glared at her. She wanted to mention that her parents might have something to say about it as well, but pointing that out seemed like a bad idea, especially since the post owls were most likely already being monitored anyway. Besides, she'd noticed Umbridge's eyes flicking over to Professor Grubbly-Plank nearby when Daphne had mentioned the blood quill, which was a sign that the teachers probably didn't know about it.
Umbridge quickly thanked Professor Grubbly-Plank for her cooperation and set off back to the castle.
"Was that really a smart thing to do?" Hermione asked anxiously once Umbridge was out of sight.
"Malfoy'd already gotten me a detention for no reason, hadn't he? Didn't have anything to lose," Daphne said.
"But now you'll be in there for two weeks…"
"I don't care. Maybe Fred and George will steal the quill before then, and you better believe I'm telling Snape and my parents about this the second I get out of that office."
"Ah, Miss Greengrass, lovely to see you," Umbridge said when Daphne arrived for her detention that evening. "Since you already know about my way of punishing naughty students, you may sit at the desk and begin. You shall be writing 'I must respect authority', however many times is necessary for the message to stick."
"Professor, surely you don't believe that this will go unnoticed? A lot of students walking around with scarred hands, all of which spell some kind of inane line?" Daphne asked as she sat down and picked up the black, evil-looking blood quill.
"Oh, that won't be a problem. The fear of it will surely keep the other students in line. You'll be setting an example for them yet, Miss Greengrass, willingly or otherwise," Umbridge said.
Daphne set the quill to the parchment and wrote her line, and as she did so, she felt the words being carved into the back of her hand as though with a knife. The skin quickly healed, but it was redder and itched a bit. This was going to be a long night…
Daphne left Umbridge's office after midnight and immediately made her way over to Snape's office. She knocked on the door and was unsurprised when Snape almost immediately said, "Enter."
She walked into the office and sat down opposite Snape, who looked at her expressionlessly. "What an interesting hour for a visit, Miss Greengrass. I presume this has something to do with your detention with Professor Umbridge?"
Daphne nodded. "Indeed, sir. She's making me write lines with a blood quill…"
She held up the back of her hand. Even though she wasn't bleeding anymore, the irritated skin still clearly spelled out the words 'I must respect authority'.
"I see," Snape said stonily, and his eyes flashed dangerously. "There is, however, very little I can do to stop it, other than to recommend you to soak your hand in a solution of strained and pickled murtlap tentacles to promote the healing process. I shall pass the information on to the Headmaster, of course, but–"
"I would prefer not to receive detentions at all, but Malfoy talked Umbridge into giving me one anyway," Daphne interrupted. "I know you have to favor him, but if you could at least prevent him from pulling things like that, it would be very helpful."
"I have already spoken to Mr. Malfoy earlier this evening to remind him that, while it is good to see him being helpful to the High Inquisitor, he should remain cautious in case the Headmaster might seek to revoke his privileges," Snape said.
Daphne shook her head. "I'm amazed you got that out with a straight face," she muttered.
"One of the many uses of Occlumency," Snape said. "Speaking of which, once your detention with Professor Umbridge has ended, we shall be picking those lessons up again. It is evidently more important than ever for certain secrets to remain secret."
"I've actually found out that the book you gave me has another layer of hidden information," Daphne said. "It can only be read by Seers…but I haven't really been able to figure out what it all means yet."
Snape looked mildly interested at this, which was a massive show of emotion for his doing. "Nevertheless, you are making progress, then. That is good to hear. Should you learn anything useful, we can work on it when our lessons resume. Now, however, I think it is time you return to the common room. We wouldn't want our esteemed High Inquisitor to have another reason to punish you, after all…"
At breakfast, Hermione told Daphne she'd come up with an idea to make up for Umbridge's complete lack of useful lessons: have Harry teach them Defense Against the Dark Arts instead.
Harry himself didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea, but Daphne said, "It sounds like a great idea to me. I mean, you're the best duelist out of all of us and, as you were so keen to point out at the Dursleys' place, we haven't done half the things you have."
She grinned at Harry, who grimaced at having his own words turned against him. She looked at Hermione. "Were you thinking about just us, or others as well? Because I think the people in S.I.N. would be interested too."
"Well…I did consider giving others the chance as well…but Harry didn't really seem too eager to do it."
"Look, I told you last night, I'm not teaching material," Harry said uncomfortably. "Who's going to be interested in listening to me stumble my way across a lesson?"
"Mate, remember all those practice sessions last year? You gave us plenty of pointers on what to do. And you've been great at helping me with my Quidditch too," Ron said.
"That's just because I knew what to do then," Harry said. "I mean, we all knew what spells we were practicing. And I'm just telling you a few of the things Coach Greengrass told me."
"Yeah, and that's what teaching is," Daphne said with a grin. "Or d'you think our teachers make it up as they go along? Well, discounting Hagrid's skrewts," she amended.
"But I'm not…I can't…I don't know the theory behind any of these things. If someone needs more explanation I'd be useless," Harry said.
"You're stubbornly refusing to believe you're a pretty skilled wizard for your age, is what you are," Daphne said. "How many others your age can produce a Patronus? How many others know Occlumency, even if you probably won't be teaching us that? How many others have faced Voldemort three times and survived?"
"All things we've told him last night," Ron said, nodding and grinning at Harry, who sighed in exasperation.
"Okay, fine," he said. He looked at Hermione. "If you have a plan for this — and I'm sure you have — then you can round up the people you think are interested…where?"
"Hogsmeade," Hermione said at once, looking very pleased that Harry had agreed, however reluctantly. "The first weekend of October is our first trip. I thought we might go to the Hog's Head–"
"The Three Broomsticks is better," Daphne cut in. "It's more crowded, so while we'll be seen, it's less likely anyone will catch what we're actually saying."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. Okay, the Three Broomsticks, then."
She looked at Harry. "If you're okay with that?" she asked hesitantly.
Harry actually grinned, despite his earlier reluctance. "Well, if we're meeting there, then forget it… No, it's fine. Probably smart to do it outside the school, anyway… Should we ask Sirius to come over as well? He might be able to give us some pointers as well, seeing how he did apply for the Defense post himself even though he didn't get it… Come to think of it, he's got that in common with Snape now…"
"You be sure to mention it to him, see how he reacts," Ron suggested with a grin.
"I'll pass, thanks," Harry said.
"I'll tell my S.I.N. friends what we're planning over lunch," Daphne said.
"Good. Tell them to spread the word to people they trust and who they think might be interested," Hermione said.
Daphne nodded and grinned. Finally they'd be able to start fighting back.
Everyone in S.I.N. turned out to be very interested in the plan, though Pansy declined to join in. She did promise not to tell Malfoy about it, at least, and Daphne was fairly sure she'd been telling the truth.
So, when she headed over to Umbridge's office for her detention that evening, she was feeling pretty good despite knowing she'd be carving into her own hand again all night.
When she entered the office, however, the quill hadn't been placed on the table yet, and Umbridge looked very angry, her smile looking more deranged than usual.
"So!" she said, her voice sugary as always but carrying an edge that went well with her expression. "You thought you'd be clever, didn't you? Stealing my quill from my office…very inspired of you, I must say. This will cost you–"
"I didn't steal your quill," Daphne interrupted, already sensing where this was headed. "When would I have had a chance to? My teachers can confirm I didn't miss any classes today and I had all my meals in the Great Hall. I didn't even have a real dinner because I couldn't be late for detention."
"You are a liar, just like your boyfriend!" Umbridge said. "You've gone to Professor Snape, haven't you?"
"Of course I have, and I don't believe for a second you hadn't expected me to. But, as you already told me yesterday, he did not think he would be able to do anything about it and he knows better than to engage in futile actions. You may, of course, ask him about that if you think I'm a liar. But that still doesn't give me a chance to steal your quill."
Daphne knew, of course, who had stolen it, but there was no way she would betray Fred and George. She just hoped that, whenever they'd gotten the quill, they'd had the sense to take it to Dumbledore, or at least McGonagall.
There was a knock on the door.
"I'm rather busy at the moment," Umbridge said sweetly. "Kindly return at a later moment."
"I'm afraid, Dolores, that I can't do that," Dumbledore's voice said. "It's rather urgent, as I'm sure you'll understand."
Daphne bit her tongue to prevent herself from smirking at Umbridge's conflicted expression. Apparently Fred and George had turned in the quill, then.
"Come in then, Headmaster," Umbridge said eventually, sounding as though someone was strangling her as she did so.
Dumbledore strode into the office. He was smiling pleasantly, but Daphne could feel that it was every bit as much an act as Umbridge's sickening smile was. In Dumbledore's case, however, the anger behind the smile was far, far more threatening. He didn't look at all surprised to see Daphne.
"Good evening, Dolores. It has come to my attention that you have — inadvertently, I'm sure — been administering corporal punishment to students through the use of this ingenious quill."
He held up the blood quill. "Now, despite Argus's repeated arguments, we do not employ such measures here at Hogwarts, though Professor Snape is very partial to assigning manual cleaning duties in the trophy room and hospital wing. As you are new to the school this will not be held against you, of course — and I doubt Cornelius would take kindly to your removal, seeing how hard he worked to get you appointed to the position — so you remain free to hand out detentions to whom you see fit. However…"
His smile faded and his expression became cold.
"You will not use corporal punishment in my school while I am Headmaster. I shall not permit my students to be knowingly harmed, however…mistaken…it might have been."
For a split second, there was an expression of the deepest loathing on Umbridge's face. Then, however, she resumed her usual smile.
"Headmaster, if the rules are broken, there must be punishment. Evidently, these punishments have not proven adequate to curb the flagrant disregard the students have for the rules, rules that were put in place for their own protection and wellbeing."
"And yet the punishment doled out needs to fit the crime, Dolores, and leaving permanent scars–"
"Will serve as a perfect reminder of why the rules need to be followed. It has already come to my attention that last year's Defense Professor used human Transfiguration as a punishment. Tell me, Headmaster, does that count as corporal punishment?" Umbridge asked.
"Professor Moody was reprimanded for his action, much as I am reprimanding you right now, Dolores, and he refrained from using that particular method of punishment from that moment on. I expect the same from you. Again, you are free to assign detentions, but you will not be using this quill, or any devices like it, from now on," Dumbledore said.
For a moment Umbridge glared at Dumbledore, whose answering look was neutral but immovable.
"Fine, Headmaster, I shall defer to your wishes," Umbridge said eventually.
"Thank you, Dolores. A pleasant evening to you. And Miss Greengrass…do try and follow the rules, where possible."
"Yes, sir," Daphne said.
With a last nod and look at Umbridge, Dumbledore left the office and closed the door behind him.
Daphne waited anxiously for Umbridge, who was still staring at the closed door, to speak again.
"Well, Miss Greengrass," she said eventually. "Since I am not allowed to properly punish you for your transgressions, it is of little use to me to continue your detention. You should be thankful to your Headmaster's soft ways. The Minister and I shall have a lot of work to get this school back up to acceptable standards, that much is plain. You may go."
Daphne didn't hesitate for a second and left the office. The second she closed the door behind her she grinned widely and felt like cheering. After a rough first two weeks, things finally seemed to be looking up. For the first time since coming back to Hogwarts, she had some hope for the rest of the year.