Timing

March 29th, 1996
Seventh Year
-

Jo oozed into her chair, leaned back and folded her arms. She'd earned a detention for speaking truth to stupid. So here she was, unhappy but ready to serve. Recently Professor Sprout had been assigning detentions, taking the risk out of the punishment but Umbridge had smiled sweetly and declared she just wanted Jo to write lines, it seemed so reasonable—odd, but reasonable—that no one could formally object.

"Just copy what you see on the board, dear," Umbridge crooned. "Use the quill and parchment on the desk. You won't need ink."

Jo picked up the quill and gave the paper an experimental scratch, the ink was blood-ruby red. The wizarding world had finally invented the quill equivalent of a muggle pen, well it was about time. The number of ink wells she'd accidentally knocked over was embarrassing. The quill was black and sharply pointed at both ends, a bit sinister looking

First line, I will not tell lies. "Ouch!" Jo hissed, shaking out her writing hand and looking at it. It was slightly red but otherwise unmarred.

Second line, I will not break Rules. A sharp pain bit into her hand. She looked down and this time saw the words she'd just written carved faintly into her flesh, growing fainter by the second. The words on the page shone red and two synapses clicked. She was bleeding. Not just bleeding but writing in her own blood. She stared at her hand in shock.

"Oh, hell no," she whispered. How had she not known about this?

"Something wrong, dear?" Umbridge smiled without looking up.

She stood abruptly, knocking the chair over. She stomped past Umbridge who spluttered angrily, ordering her to get back to her seat.

She ignored the orders. The only way she was sitting back down was if Umbridge magically forced her to do it.

She stalked out the door and down the hallway. Bursting through the common room door she yelled, "How many of you have had detention with Umbridge?"

Hands rose.

"How many of you used her quill?"

Every single student who had been in detention recently had used the quill. Betrayal and hurt and anger warred for dominance inside. How dare they not say something! They were being hurt and they just let it happen?! Idiotic! Didn't they trust her? Or Leili? Or the prefect? Why didn't they trust them to fix it? They fixed everything else!

She jabbed a finger at the stunned prefect, "You: find out how many there are in the other houses."

Leili, who'd been sitting on the stairs reading, watched startled as the room descended into chaos. Jo turned on her heel and walked purposefully out the door.

As Leili scrambled to her feet to follow, Jo called over her shoulder, "I want a list!"

Leili asked, "What's going on? Where are we going? What list do you need?"

To each question Leilani asked Jo would simply mutter an incomprehensible answer. After a while, Leili gave up and just followed silently. Jo somehow managed to bully her way past the gargoyle that blocked her way to the Headmaster's office. She stormed up the spiraling staircase and burst into the office, flinging both doors open.

"You've got a toad infestation, Dumbledore," she declared; crossing her arms over her chest, chin jutting out.

"Miss Montgomery! Watch your tongue!" Professor McGonagall cried, her eyebrows shooting up. Leili appeared behind Jo, breathing a touch heavily, she'd practically been chasing Jo down the corridors and up the stairs.

"Can it, cat lady, we don't have time for that!" McGonagall's eyebrows retreated farther into her hairline; Jo hadn't even looked at her when she'd said it.

"Jo, what is going on?!" Leili asked when she caught her breath. She hadn't been paying attention when Jo had started demanding lists, so she had no idea what was happening. She knew Jo didn't like Professor Umbridge, no one did so that was no surprise but she'd never been so disrespectful to Professor McGonagall before.

"Umbridge is torturing students. They're all terrified, too scared to say anything. But someone needs to stop her." Jo uncrossed her arms, ignoring the smear of blood on her arm and the stab of pain in her throbbing hand as she thrust it out in front of her.

"WHAT?!" Leilani yelled, as she moved up to look closer at Jo's hand, "I'll get her for this." She turned on her heel, heading for the door, which closed in her face.

She growled, low and dangerous, as she pulled at the handle.

"Now, now, let's not do anything we'll regret," Dumbledore chided.

"I won't be the one regretting anything." Leili said maliciously. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows had risen so high now they practically touched her bun.

"Let's calm down and discuss this, rationally," Dumbledore said, far too calm and rational for Leilani who let out a groan of frustration and kicked the door.

Realizing she had no choice, she turned and slid down to sit on the floor, still grumbling. A small smile played at the corner of Jo's mouth as she parked herself in the chair in front of the desk, her arms re-crossing, Leili wanted blood. She couldn't blame her, but there was only one way to do this.

"I earned a detention in class and went back to serve it. She told me to use her quill. She makes kids carve the lines into the backs of their hands, using their own blood as ink. It needs to stop." Jo explained as coolly as she could.

"How could they keep this a secret?" McGonagall said, horrified.

"Probably because nothing else anyone has done has gotten rid of her. She keeps getting worse." Jo could hear Leili muttering behind her; then heard the clatter of one shoe, then the other. She could hear Leili's bare feet padding across the stone floor as she came to kneel beside the chair.

Leilani gingerly took Jo's hand in her own and quietly said, "Aguamenti." She used the water flowing from the tip of her wand to wash the blood off. Leili dabbed gently with the top of one of the tall socks she'd pulled off of her feet. As the blood began to ooze from the wound again Leili tapped it with her wand. "Ferula," she cast, watching as bandages would their way around Jo's hand. "There, that should do for now." Detention with Madam Pomfrey had been good for something, at least.

"Jocelyn, there's not much we can do with just the word of one student against Professor Umbridge. She has the full support of the ministry behind her," Dumbledore said gently, just before there was knock on the door.

"Jo? I've got the list!" a boy's voice called.

A dark grin spread across Jo's face, "Right on time."