Chapter 3: Detention

Then.

Rose Haunter waited outside professor Umbridge's office. She really didn't want to go in there by herself but Remus Lupin was going to be late if he won't get there in the next minute or so. Sighing, she was about to knock on the door when she heard the sound of footsteps and panting approaching her. Remus Lupin showed up, looking pale and sweaty, his brown hair was wild and his robes were a mess. She smiled inwardly, he looked adorable…mentally kicking herself, she smiled at him.

"Am I late?" he gasped for air.

"Almost, are you alright?"

"I tripped down the stairs." He flushed a little and she noticed that he looked a bit in pain. He held most of his weight on his right foot.

"Maybe you should go to the hospital wing?" she suggested but he shook his head.

"No, he'll give us lines."

"How do you know?"

"I'll tell you later." He smiled and knocked on the door.

Professor Umbridge called them in and smiled his best faked smile when he told them to sit down and gave them quills and parchments. He ordered them to write the phrase: 'I will not dispute my professor's authority'. Remus almost groaned with frustration, that was one long line.

"How many times?" He asked.

"As long as takes for you two to understand it." Umbridge smiled again.

The two students stared at each other and then started to write. They both raised their heads again when they realized they didn't have ink. "Hmmm…professor Umbridge you didn't give us ink." Rose said, smiling at him.

"That won't be necessary, Ms. Haunter."

They exchanged another look and then Rose wrote her first sentence. After she finished writing she gasped with pain and Remus stared at her. Umbridge stood and walked toward the girl. "Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Oh, perfectly fine." She smiled back.

When he returned to his desk and no longer paid attention to them, Rose showed the back of her hand to Remus and his eyes widened with shock. He picked up his own quill and wrote, hissing when he felt the cuts forming on his hand. They wrote for a long time, they didn't bother to look at the clock. Remus noticed that Rose started to write faster and faster and that she winced with pain everytime she wrote. He looked at her and saw that the cuts on her hand no longer healed themselves.

He raised his head to her face and saw that her eyes were full with tears. He had to do something. He couldn't let her break like that. Reaching out, he touched her knee under the desk, while writing with his right hand. She raised her head and met his eyes. Slowly, he caressed her knee, signaling her to calm down and slow her writing.

She nodded and smiled shakily. Their eyes locked and Remus found that he couldn't look away no matter what he did. Her eyes enchanted him, they were bright hazel that sparkled and reminded him the color of the earth. Breathing hard and almost sighing he broke eye contact.

Rose stared at his eyes and thanked him silently. His eyes showed so much worry for her own safety that she wanted to wrap her arms around him and protect him, worry for him just like he did for her. His eyes were dark, very dark shade of grey and held so much that it frightened her. Looking at his eyes only verified her suspicion about him. She felt like she was drowning in his eyes. The frightening thing was…that she actually enjoyed the idea.

They continued with the torture for another hour and then Umbridge let them leave after he examined their hands. He smiled evilly at Remus's hands that didn't bleed yet but was quite swollen and said that tomorrow's detention will complete the target of Remus understanding the line. He took his time observing Rose's hand, moving his own fat fingers on the bleeding cuts. Umbridge kept looking at Remus like he was expecting him to leave but Remus waited for Rose.

When they finally left his office they walked to the end of the hallway and then sat on the stairs, sighing. Rose held her bruised hand tightly, covering her bleeding cuts with her other hand and wincing. Remus glared at his own hand that now has a shade of angry purple. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Thanks for helping me over there. I panicked when the cuts didn't heal."

"That's okay." He smiled slightly. "At least now my leg doesn't hurt."

Rose snorted and Remus laughed. "Come on, we should get back." She got up from her position on the floor and Remus joined her. They walked in silence until they got to the fat lady's portrait. Remus stopped her from walking inside. "Rose?" He looked very upset.

"What?"

"Did Umbridge ever…did anything to you?" He asked looking at her eyes.

Rose shook her head. "He did touch me a bit too much today, right? I wasn't the only one who felt that?"

"No…he kept looking at me like he wanted me to leave." Remus said and she nodded. "Just don't be around him alone, okay?"

Rose smiled and told the fat lady the password. "Thanks, Remus, don't worry about me." They walked inside and headed to the separate staircases. "Good night."

"Good night." Remus waited until he heard the door to the girls dorms open and then close back and then headed upstairs. When he got to his room he found his three friends waiting for him.

"Well? Did the old bat give you lines like I said he would?" Sirius asked.

"Remus, what happened to your hand?" Peter asked, eyeing Remus's hands with horror.

Remus sat on his bed and James and Sirius sat beside him staring at the swollen hand. He sighed and nodded slowly. "He gave us lines…you wouldn't believe it…" He told them everything that happened and his friends stared at him with disbelief. "You should have seen Rose's hands." Remus finished his story.

James, Sirius and Peter stared at each other. There must be something they could do. There must be some law against it. Remus sighed again and headed towards the bathroom. When he couldn't hear them James spoke.

"We'll think about it tomorrow."

And with that thought, they fell asleep.

The next day passed too quickly for Remus and Rose. They really didn't want the day to be over so quickly but Remus thought that they might as well get this over with. He and Rose left the common room ten minutes before seven and James, Sirius and Peter immediately left their homework and started talking about revenge against the horrible professor. A shadow fell on the table they were working on and they raised their heads.

Peter looked frightened.

Sirius grinned widely.

James just stared at the very beautiful Lily Evans that stood in front of them and for the first time since first year didn't held her wand and aimed it towards him. She looked very nervous, like she was expecting them to laugh or something but they just continued their mutual staring until Sirius coughed.

"Yes?" He asked.

"That's very articulate of you, Black."

"What did I do? You're the one who's standing here staring at us, right Prongs?"

James didn't answer him. Instead, he looked at Lily. "Do you want something?"

"I…I…I want to know what happened last night with Umbridge." She stammered a little.

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Rose came back last night with her hand bleeding. I just want to know that he didn't hurt her or anything."

"Hurt her?" James got angry. "Remus?"

"No, you idiot!" Lily snapped. "Umbridge."

James and the others stared at her for a moment and then Sirius got up and offered her his seat next to James. He grinned at Peter and then turned serious again. "What are you talking about?" he asked Lily who sat down and looked nervously at James.

"I think Umbridge like her in some twisted way." She made a disgusted face and the guys frowned.

"Well, even if he does…like her…Remus is there and he is very observant. He wouldn't miss it. About the blood you saw…" James paused for a moment and then told Lily the events of the previous night.

"That horrible hog!" She exclaimed. "He couldn't do it! It has to be illegal."

"That's what we're going to find out." Sirius said.

Lily looked at them and sighed. "I wanna help." She said.

The three guys looked at each other and smiled. "You do realize that this is the first time we spoke to each other without actually fighting?" James asked.

"Yeah." Lily flushed a little.

"Okay…here is the plan." James grinned and they listened.

Today.

"That horrible hog!" Hermione exclaimed and Remus smiled a little.

"He was hitting on a student?" Tonks rolled her eyes with disgust. "That's horrible. Why didn't you guys kick him out?"

"We were going to but something happened before we even got the chance."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Well…this detention thing was a few days before Christmas ball and a few interesting things happened at that night."

"What?"

"I'm getting there…" Remus smiled. "Two days before the ball Rose and I went to our second detention. This time Umbridge had a new plan for me…"