"I-I-I um..." Renee stuttered.
Selena bit her lip, closing her eyes as she tried to make Umbridge dissapear from the classroom and stop interrogating her friend.
"If you can't then I suppose you can simply come this afternoon for deten-"
"I said it!" Selena suddenly blurted, her eyes flying open as Alisson and Umbridge both looked at her incredulously. "I said that we never learn anything useful at all in this class."
Umbridge pursed her lips, folding her arms. "Very well. Detention tonight, Miss Malast. Be here at six o'clock sharp."
"Yes, ma'am," Selena whispered as she looked down at her desk.
That Evening
Selena Malast liked a lot of things but detention was not one of them. Coincidentally, Umbridge was not on that list either. Tonight she dealt with both detention and Umbridge at six o'clock.
"I should go instead of you!" Renee wailed for about the fifth time that day.
Tess sighed, shaking her head as Renee pouted, picking fuzz off of her brown teddy-bear. "Ree, build a bridge and get over it."
"Well there are trolls under my bridge!" Renee snapped back as she sniffed, her honey-colored eyes welling up.
Selena bit her lip, her heart melting a little as Renee whimpered and blinked her glassy eyes in a way that made her look similar to a puppy. Alisson often liked to joke about Renee's pouting face that could "work on He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named himself." Selena sighed, giving Renee what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Really, it's fine. I've had detention before, remember?"
Elizabeth cocked her head. "When have you ever had detention?"
Selena sighed again, sorting through her bookbag. "Well, in First Year me and Danny were throwing apple slices and I hit Professor Snape with one and, another time, me and Alisson snuck into the Yule Ball last year with Potter's Invisibility Cloak and Professor Moody - I mean, Crouch - caught us."
"We had to clean the Trophy Room," Alisson said quickly to Elizabeth as Tess jumped up from her bed, rushing over to Selena.
"Your hair is a mess!" she said as she pursed her small lips, tugging on Selena's dark hair, smoothing out the natural ringlets that were mixed into the long strands as Selena swatted her hands away impatiently.
"Cleaning out the Trophy Room was harder than you think because Peeves kept blowing raspberries every other second and taking joy-rides in the trophies," Alisson finished as Renee gave a half-hearted laugh.
Selena sighed once again as Tess expertly tied Selena's hair up into a bun before fixing it with a simple charm to stay. Selena gave a small smile in thanks to her friend before waving to everyone and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you all later."
"If you're not back by nine, we'll assume she turned you into a pie and ate you!" Alisson called making Elizabeth scold her.
Selena shut the dorm door behind her, starting the trek to Professor Umbridge's office. She wasn't angry that she took detention for Renee. Her friend was already upset that she'd let Selena take the fault for their pranks twice, but Selena just wasn't too comfortable with Umbridge giving her detention.
Quickly, Selena walked through the corridors of Hogwarts, a few people walking around before dinner began. She pulled her Gryffindor robes tighter as she arrived at the second-floor corridor before arriving at Umbridge's office.
She knocked four times, the wooden door swinging open with a high-pitched "come in" from the office.
Selena opened the door gingerly before staring around the very lacy, very pink room inside. She had never seen so many kitten plates or doilies in one room before. There were many decorative plates all one of the walls, each with a cat adorned in a bow, varying breeds all licking their paws or meowing. Around the room, vases of dried flowers seem to look as hopeless as Selena suddenly felt.
"Good evening, Miss Malast," Professor Umbridge said as she finished a cup of tea at her desk.
Selena nodded politely, feeling the bun Tess had made stay perfectly atop her head. "Good evening, Professor Umbridge." She blinked her blue eyes, glancing at the lace-covered desk by the window, right by some brightly-colored cat plates. She sat her bookbag next to her, peering at Umbridge, the teacher still in her pink cardigan, tweed outfit the color of a bogey Bertie Bott's Every Flavour bean.
"Now, Miss Malast, I'm going to have you write lines tonight. Not only that, but I have a quill of mine that you will be using to write," Umbridge said as she got up and took a quill from her desk. Selena frowned slightly. This was unusual. She had her own quill, what was so special about this one? She brushed the thought away, figuring it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for Umbridge to want to control everything.
"Should I keep my ink pot out, then?" she asked curiously, trying to keep her voice even. Did Umbridge forget that she needed ink to write lines?
Professor Umbridge handed her the thin, jet-black quill before stepping back to look out the window at the dark, frozen grounds and Forbidden Forest. "You will not be needing ink for this quill. You may begin writing your lines, Miss Malast. Hopefully this detention lesson will interest you as my lessons do not satisfy your taste for Defense Against the Dark Arts classes that are properly taught."
Selena furrowed her dark brows, glancing at her teacher's back before letting the quill hover over the fresh parchment on the desk. The tip of the quill was surprisingly sharp, glinting in candlelight. "What do you want me to write for my lines, Professor?"
"I want you to write down 'I will learn to stay quiet on matters that do not concern me'," Professor Umbridge said, not turning around.
Selena breathed out quietly before she put the quill to the paper to begin writing her detention lines.
I will learn to
She froze as a sudden, searing sensation scraped across the back of her left hand. She looked at the pale skin as a red smudge appeared, as if she had scratched her hand, before the pain increased and bloody lines began to magically etch themselves on her hand's back before spelling out 'I will learn to'.
She nearly gasped before biting her tongue to keep from grimacing at the pain in her hand. What was this? What was this quill? Selena felt her heartbeat thumping, glancing up at Professor Umbridge. The woman was breathing slowly, hands clasped behind her back. Dark magic... Selena swallowed, several thoughts swimming in her head. She couldn't just get up and leave detention. The only way to leave was to finish her lines. Not only that, but this quill was charmed with some kind of dark magic she'd never heard of before. But Umbridge knew what it did.
This wasn't just meant to hurt Selena physically. This was a mental lesson too.
A resolve curled through her like steel, Selena looking back at the parchment with three scarlet words. She wouldn't give Umbridge the satisfaction of seeing her afraid, of seeing her cower. Clenching her jaw, Selena lowered the quill to the paper again.
Her breath shook as she began her assignment again, gliding the blade-like tip of the quill over the parchment.
I will learn to stay quiet on matters that do not concern me.
The sentence magically finished itself on the back of her hand which she rubbed on her robe to make the pain go away as tears pricked her eyes. Still, she simply bit her tongue harder and wondered just how in the world Umbridge had gotten the quill and how twisted she was to use it on students.
I will learn to stay quiet on matters that do not concern me.
The blood-red letters began over again in the same place on her hand, hurting twice as much to the point where Selena squeaked without meaning to. Umbridge turned her head just slightly, not enough to look at Selena, but enough to see her out of her peripheral. Selena glared at the paper, tasting blood as she bit her tongue harder.
I will learn to stay quiet on matters that do not concern me.
Tears splattered the red ink as her hand burned even more and she looked at detention assignment, wanting to scream at Umbridge that she was using dark magic, that using a quill like this made her not much better than those evil witches and wizards in Azkaban.
2 Hours Later
Selena missed dinner as she was made to write the lines more times than she could count. By the end, the words were carved into her hand in a way that made her fear scarring. Not once did she beg Umbridge to let her stop writing.
She walked back to the Common Room, biting her lip as she cradled her hand in her robes. Looking at the sentence on the back of her hand made her sick to her stomach. In the morning, she'd go get some bandages from Madam Pomfrey.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked when she walked up. The woman in the pastel painting was fixing her hair with flowers, her flowing, pink silk gown showing off the beautiful shades of blush in the flowers that she was entwining in the braids of her hair. Normally, Selena would have found it pretty. But now, she was revolted by the color pink. She looked away, staring at the portrait's golden frame.
"Mimbulus Mimbletonia," Selena choked out before the Fat Lady glanced at her. Selena looked up at the painted woman.
"Oh, dah-ling what's wrong?" the woman asked, concern in her eyes as she looked at the young Gryffindor.
"Umbridge," Selena simply said.
The Fat Lady gave her a sweet smile. "Perk up, little sweetheart. She'll leave the Defense Against the Dark Arts position by the end of term. No one stays more than a year's time."
Selena nodded. Who says she won't become Headmistress of Hogwarts instead?
The portrait swung open and Selena crawled in to find the Common Room mostly empty except for a dark-haired boy reading near the fire, curled up on the couch.
He looked up as Selena wiped her nose with her good hand, the other throbbing, before she stopped in her tracks.
Danny's mouth popped open in surprise. "Selena, are you alright?"
Selena opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't really think of anything to say. "Uh-uh... I-I was..." She swallowed, watching him shut his book and get up. She took a step back, remembering him yelling at Wendy in the hallway.
Danny crossed over to her, looking at the hand she had against her chest before gently taking it. His hands were warm as he gingerly held her fingers and palm, looking at the back of her hand. The letters were still there, carved into her skin.
"Umbridge?" Danny asked her simply. He stared down at Selena, brown eyes wide and knowing.
Selena looked at him for a moment with her mouth opening and shutting as she wondered what to say to the boy who had broken her friend's heart before she sucked in a great big gulp of air and started crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks out of anger at Umbridge, the pain of the cuts on her hand, and the fear she hadn't let herself feel before in Umbridge's office.
Danny looked at her for a moment before pulling her into a hug, not seeming to care as she sobbed on his shoulder. "I know... I had detention too."
Selena looked up, wiping her eyes as she looked at the Fifth Year who gave a weak smile.
"Second week of January. I said that I was tired of her class."
With a laugh Selena nodded. "Renee said sort of the same thing, and I said that I said it so Umbridge gave me detention."
Danny cracked his familiar smile. Selena realized with a little jolt that she'd missed that smile. "Ree? I'm not surprised with how much she says. It's a wonder she hasn't already gotten detention."
"I'm so glad I volunteered for her," Selena said as she rubbed away the rest of the tears from her eyes. It felt odd speaking to Danny again, but almost pleasant. And yet at the same time she felt like she was betraying Wendy by talking to him after he had called her that name right to her face.
"Nobody really cared when I got detention," Danny said quietly as he scratched the back of his head.
That's because you called Wendy a foul name and everyone heard you, Selena's mind snapped. She shifted her weight.
Danny seemed to read her mind because he looked into her eyes again. "I didn't mean to say that to Wendy."
Selena was surprised for a moment before Danny continued. "Malfoy was standing there, and Wendy's been my best friend since first year but she doesn't like Avery and so I was just frustrated and I said that so fast-"
"She and Avery are actually good friends right now," Selena said somewhat defiantly. Danny couldn't say he called Wendy that because Avery and her didn't get along, calling Wendy that name like that had no excuse. He knew what it meant.
Danny raised his eyebrows. "Really? They're friends now? That's great, that's brilliant."
Selena breathed out through her nose. "Goodnight, Danny."
And with that she swept past him upstairs and crept into bed where her dormmates were already fast asleep.
I had actually planned the ending of this chapter differently, with Anne, but I figured Danny would be good when I was going back through old chapters to find out some facts for this chapter which was fun! Haha!
So what did you think? Next chapter will have Damon and Anne in it and I think a new character whose introduction is way overdue among lots of characters that I need to bring into the story!
Well, please review, because I want to hear your thoughts!
Thanks to my reviewers:
CharmedMillie
I Am Gwen Daughter Of Arcus
SakuraDragomir
Thanks guys! I love you all! You all are the best! WOO! WOO-HOO! Confetti! Confetti!
Also, last chapter was sixty chapters! That also made me realize that this story will be over one hundred chapters!
Well, please review, and thank you for reading! Bye!
~Meghan
P.S. This chapter is 2,009 words! That is an accomplishment where my usually short chapters are concerned!
2/1/18: Now this chapter is over 2,500 words. You're welcome, Past Me.