Sequel to "More Than Just Friends". All credit to JK Rowling and my crazy brain.
Set Aflame
By: Weaselle7
Chapter 9
Professor Umbridge
"We can use those dittany leaves to stop the bleeding- oi!"
Fred and George, who sat across of her on the Great Hall, groaned in return. Their heads were supported by their hands, desperate for pillows, and the smell of toasts seemed to appear undetected for them. Cecille had explained them the function of the dittany leaves she had 'taken' (to say the least) from Hogwarts Greenhouse for their Nosebleed Nougats when she realized that neither of them was paying the slightest attention.
"Wha-?" George muttered.
"We know, w'know. Dittany for fiddling, or fleeting, or whatever..." Fred said, hardly aware of what he had just said. Cecille sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I stole those leaves from Greenhouse number three and this is all I get," Cecille muttered dramatically before seizing two goblets of pumpkin juice and spurted the contents exactly on the twins' faces. They jolted back at the sudden contact with water and their eyes snapped open, only to let the juice washed their eyes and made them winced painfully.
"What was that for?!" Fred confronted, the heels of his palms brushing his eyes brutally.
"Well, I might ask you the same question as to 'what was my mission to steal a jar of dittany leaves for?' You two hardly even listen to me!" Cecille accused.
"Merlin's pants, the acid [1]! I'm blind!" George panicked.
"George, stop it, you're not going to be blind," Cecille told George and then turned to Fred, "and, mind you, I almost got attacked by Venomous Tentaculas!"
"But this isn't plain water. Now I need to shower again," said Fred lamely, avoiding her argument, as he glanced down to where the pumpkin juice had soaked his school uniform and his unmade Gryffindor tie. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, looked like he probably restrained himself from licking the fluid from his fingers and muttered silently, "Why didn't McGonagall put Umbridge on Monday afternoon so we have six instead of five free mornings?"
Cecille didn't know why she was secretly smiling. Maybe it was because she was really satisfied to completely woke the twins, maybe it was because of the utterly hilarious thought to request McGonagall to put all the twins NEWTs classes on entirely different mornings, or maybe it was because she found his childish pout really adorable-
Snap the thing out of it.
Cecille sighed and pulled out her wand.
"Really, next time, pay attention on classes. Tergeo!" The sugary liquid of juiced pumpkin left his white shirt without any trace whilst the remaining drops that stuck to his face were swept. Fred looked up to see Cecille were pointing her wand lazily at him, her eyebrows shot up in a challenging way. Fred grinned at her sheepishly.
"Thanks," he said.
"It's nothing," said Cecille modestly. For a mere second, Cecille felt like her heart had skipped a beat when her eyes connected with Fred's.
"Alright!" The two of them snapped back to see George rubbing his eyes with his knuckles violently that he looked like he had been crying. "I think I'm not blind! But if you two want me to say blind so that you can finish your snog-"
Cecille swore she would give George a few lessons and lectures later on that day. Without even letting George to finish his sentence, Cecille brought up her wand and made a jet of plain water to spurt from her wand tip non-verbally.
"Now," Cecille said loudly, with every word dripping with fake cheery tone, "the acid's gone."
"No," Cecille insisted. "I already have a long essay for Potions, due tomorrow. Oh, and do you remember our Herbology's homework to draw a diagram of Snargaluff Pods?!"
At this point, Fred and George gave up with the idea of pushing Cecille to help them to perfect their Nosebleed Nougats on the next day's evening. They were walking down the corridors to their DADA classroom, and even for a student that didn't usually skip classes like Cecille, it really felt her DADA class was worth skipping.
They arrived at the destined classroom and were standing right before the closed door, apparently half-wishing it hadn't started (for they had been barely two days at Hogwarts and they didn't really want a detention so early) and half-wishing it had started (so they could just skip the class). Cecille braced herself and entered the classroom, surprising the classroom in the process, which she enjoyed.
"Everyone please get back to your seats before I, Professor Umbridge-" Fred started as he poorly imitated the sickeningly sweet voice of Umbridge.
"-will give you detentions where you will be forced to wear my cardigan for twenty four hours!" George finished, making the whole classroom erupted in laughter. Fred, George and Cecille let the laughter slowly ceased as they began to search for empty seats.
The three of them landed their eyes on the two remaining seats on the hindest row of the class. Her brain numbly processed the fact that the three of them wouldn't fit there. Before she knew, her legs sprinted to the spot she was about to claim. Reaching the table, Cecille slammed her bag hard against the wooden board she wouldn't be surprised to find her ink bottles had cracked.
"I'll sit here."
"No, we will."
"One of you will sit there on the front row," Cecille snickered as she pointed to one of the remaining seats on the front row tables.
"Cecille, I am not so going to sit next to one of those dunderheads," Alicia called out from the front table, her body bent backward to face them. Turning to face the Weasley twins, Alicia pointed out, "Don't you two think I have forgotten about our little accident back to our fourth year." Cecille sighed heavily and stood up, shouldering her bag abruptly.
"You will pay for it," Cecille playfully threatened, holding back her snicker as the hilarious memory about fourteen-years-old-Alicia's jinxed paper flooded her mind. She still remembered how Fred switched the identity field of his and Alicia's pointless mini test of Lockhart's. Cecille was settling her bag on the floor next to her new chair when Alicia bent down and asked her in a mysteriously low voice, "Have you seen Lee?"
Cecille fought her urge to roll her eyes in front of her friend. Alicia was really acting like a desperate puppy.
"No," Cecille said truthfully.
The classroom's door was once again opened and an incredibly short figure wrapped with sickeningly fuchsia wardrobe entered. The usual chattering buzz died and soon the only thing audible was the clacking sound of the heels of the Professor's shoes. On top of the nauseating view, Umbridge cleared her throat that really sounded like a stupid raspberry-blowing once she arrived on the teacher's desk.
"Good morning, students!" Umbridge said girlishly. Cecille could've sworn it made her think the bitchiest girl in Hogwarts to appear much more macho. The class hesitated for a moment before chimed into their usual class greeting.
"Good morn-"
"Good morning students," Umbridge said in a sing-song way, demanding a quick response from the class.
"Good morning, Professor," the class answered briskly.
"Professor who?" Umbridge was making everything difficult.
"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," the class repeated. Umbridge cast a sickening sweet smile around the class and Cecille needed to avert her gaze to her table if she didn't want to be fed up with more nightmares that showed the woman's face. Cecille dug into her bag to get her DADA book out, mainly just to excuse herself from watching Umbridge. Other students mirrored Cecille but Umbridge startlingly cleared her throat again when most of the students were halfway bending down to retrieve their books.
"I think I haven't ordered you to open your books yet," Umbridge said, looking like she was suppressing a giggle. Cecille was grateful she didn't need to hear her giggling. Most of the students stared at her disbelievingly before putting down their books back under their chairs. Some others, though, expelled a loud groan, like Angelina.
"We will play with my rules during our classes," Umbridge declared. "Rule number one: No wands needed in the class."
Cecille would've never believed her ears if it weren't because of Angelina groaned from the table behind them, saying in a low voice, "Good Godric, I finally know why I am sent to a magical school." Truth to be told, that was the most preposterous rule a Hogwarts Professor had ever made. Weren't they to learn magic in Hogwarts after purchasing their wands at age eleven?
Some of the students, provoked by the loud laughter of Fred and George's, looked like they were overcoming the huge snicker that were fighting their way out of their lips. The others were murmuring things like, "oh Merlin, she shouldn't have said that," or "I swear, the teacher is a nutter."
But Cecille, on the other hand, were staring at Umbridge, trying not to blink, and memorizing each ounce of facial expression from Umbridge upon hearing one witty comebacks from Angelina. Priceless.
She mentally took note to congratulate her after the class.
Emily, well-known for her short temper and eagerness towards studies, snapped Umbridge dauntlessly. "But, Professor, that's ridiculous, why would we-"
"Rule number two," Umbridge continued, apparently deciding to take no notice of Angelina and Emily, "students will raise their hands if they're about to ask a question."
In less than a second, hands shot up in the air, mostly from those in Ravenclaw. But Professor Umbridge, being who she was, turned her back to the students and suddenly seemed to be highly interested on her desk, ignoring the confused students. "You can start reading chapter 1 for our first class," she said, as though those hands appeared to be invisible for her.
Emily, already scowling after being indirectly affronted, glared at Umbridge irritatingly. Angelina, probably enjoying the aftertaste of her joke, rolled her eyes tiredly. Cecille, ever so stubborn, kept her hand in the air, even after everybody else retrieved their hands back.
Umbridge smiled triumphantly and Cecille knew this was not going to be good.
"Yes, Ms...?" Umbridge prompted.
"Diggory," Cecille said and Umbridge's face lit up, like she ad been expecting to engage a conversation with Cecille for a long time. Wasting no time, Cecille rushed to the topic. "Why aren't we allowed to use wands?"
In spite of the satisfaction that was written all over her face, Umbridge tilted her head like a confused puppy, blinked twice, and uttered a sentence that came last on Cecille's list of expected response.
"You're Diggory?"
It took all of Cecille's willpower not to grab her DADA textbook and threw it square in Umbridge's face. Of course she was a Diggory, with her crystal clear resemblences with Cedric carved on every single inches of her body. And the fact that she was avoiding the topic was making her patience running thin.
"Yes," she hissed through gritted teeth, scowling.
"Yes, Professor," Umbridge giggled. Cecille let out a derisive snort.
"Surely I am not the Professor, right? Because if I am, I'd let them using magic," Cecille pointed out. Several students snickered silently, although most of them didn't take their eyes off their books. Fred and George, being who they were, snorted loudly and said, "You go girl!"
The smile on Umbridge's widened, and Cecille knew at once she shouldn't have said it.
"Aw, I think your witty comeback have resulted a point-docking for Gryffindor," she said in a poisonous voice, as though she pitied me. Only that she was supposed to dance for it. "Now, now, we must not waste time. Pip pip, go back to your books," Umbridge continued as she smiled wider, with every word dripping with nauseating tone.
Cecille heard Alicia expelling a heavy sigh from her side, her hands shot up to the air reluctantly and her face was grim. Umbridge wasn't doing her drama quite well this time, because she failed to pretend that Alicia was invisible and Cecille could catch a glimpse of Umbridge examining Alicia, right on where the Gryffindor crest was woven on her shirt. Cecille didn't really know, but she was under the impression that Umbridge would immediately respond if she saw the Slytherin crest woven on Alicia's uniform.
After a long interval, Umbridge gave up.
"Yes, Ms...?"
"Spinnet, Professor," said Alicia cooly.
"Yes, Ms Spinnet, anything you want to ask about our study?" Umbridge asked.
"Actually, it still hasn't occurred to me as to why aren't we using our wands in our classes," Alicia said, her hands still hovering in the air, perhaps to prevent Umbridge from closing the topic.
"You mean in a magical school," Angelina smugly corrected, earning a few supportive snorts.
The smile on Umbridge's face drained off. A worried expression replace it, in a way that meant she really cared about the welfare of Hogwarts, which made Cecille wanted to puke.
"Well," Umbridge started dramatically, "you see, this is the best Ministry-approved regulation the Minister has come up with, since the mishap of tragic accident-"
"What accident?" suddenly, Alan, burst out as he eyed Umbridge menacingly. Umbridge didn't look surprised. In fact, a devilish smile grew from her lips as though as she had expected such response.
"And you are Mr...?" she prompted.
"Wainscott," he growled. Cecille looked at him sideways, and she could tell that he was trembling with anger.
"You didn't raise your hand, Mr Wainscott," said Umbridge, looking at him with such artificial motherly expression. She then glanced to his side, where Alicia sat. "It's very observant of you to ask such question, Ms Spinnet, but, I'm afraid things in Ministry are beyond your concern. We, however, have established a lot of things-"
"Yeah, a band of imbeciles establishing lies about Voldemort not returning," Cecille muttered through her gritted teeth she didn't even realize it before Umbridge stopped talking. The sudden silence that engulfed the class was so heavy Cecille would've cowered in fear, it felt like dozen pairs of eyes were stabbing through her flesh back to her sixth year. But this was different, there was something that her heart beat faster with spirit, there was something that burnt her, a familiar feeling she got every time she was running from Filch with the twins.
That only meant that she was in trouble.
Umbridge giggled as if Cecille was a toddler that childishly rambled about grown up's things.
"Oh, but, Ms Diggory, pray tell, do you have any rights to judge the Ministry?"
"As much you shouldn't have insulted everything about my brother like a barbaric." Cecille could've sworn she didn't know where that came from. The silence crashed into the classroom once again and Cecille used the moment to recite what had she said. As the words sank deeper within her, the moisture on her eyes began to intensify and her vision became glassier.
She dared herself not to blink as her brown iris bored with hatred into Umbridge's.
"I do believe I will welcome you this evening for a detention."
As soon as Umbridge dismissed the class, Cecille rose abruptly from her seat (scaring Alicia in the process) and stormed out of the class, shoving anyone that came to her way. She rushed to the Library, splattering all of the contents of her bag and unrolled a roll of parchments. Seizing a quill and an ink bottle, Cecille began to scribble her Potions essay, focusing on her work for the sake of her sanity.
After managing to write at least five inches, Cecille straightened up, releasing a chain of cracking sound from her spines and slumped herself against her chair's back as she massaged her temples. How could've Umbridge sent her to a detention after spluttering the truth? Well, she got to admit that she shouldn't have called them 'a band of imbeciles', but really, the rest was true!
Still with troubled mind, her feet brought her out of the Library. The corridors were strangely empty. Maybe no one needed the Library so early in the term, but that didn't spike her interest. Speaking of interest, she didn't even know what she was up to. She was about to continue walking aimlessly when a series of loud laughter beat her eardrums.
From a corridor, she saw the twins laughing as they walked through the hallway. They were so preoccupied with anything they were discussing that Cecille seemed to be so distant. Unbeknownst to her, single tear welled out of her eyelids as she saw Fred and George plotting their own strategic world. She was a bit envy, yes, but she was happy to have the two of them as -ahem- friends.
They came to a halt upon her presence.
"Cecille," Fred breathed. He rushed to her side, slowly followed by his twin brother. He looked right through her pupils intensely. "What is it?"
She could feel her cheeks colored. Snorted dismissively, Cecille tried to cover up by saying "What was what?"
Fred ran a thumb to wipe her tear (George just really needed to look away if he weren't about to ruin the moment by bursting out laughing). In spite of several somersault done by her stomach, Cecille rolled her eyes. "I'm okay!"
"You can skip the detention," Fred said gently, every words dripping with nostalgia. "Like old times."
Cecille didn't realize how torn she was between her intentions to skip the detention or face it instead. She smiled knowingly.
"No, I have to come," she decided as she continued to walk. Fred and George followed reluctantly.
"You can't come! She's a Ministry person, she's a cow- no, a toad!" George burst out, apparently enjoying his turn to rant over their new teacher. Cecille laughed.
"No. I will come, okay? I want to show her that cowardice doesn't run in my family," she said determinedly. Silence fell above them soon afterwards. Cecille sighed as she began to play with the hem of her shirt. After a long pause, she sighed as gathered her nerves.
"Sorry," the three of them said in the same time. They looked at each other with an expression between amusement and awkwardness. They laughed afterwards.
[1]: LOL I never eat a pumpkin (much less drinking the juiced one) so I don't know whether it's sweet like bananas or some kind of fresh and sour like oranges and apples.
A/N: OKAY OKAY I KNOW I AM A JERK FOR ABANDONING YOU GUYS WITHOUT MY UPDATES. UGH *joins Dobby and smacks my head with an empty bottle of Firewhiskey* But I hope the chapter's long enough for you to enjoy. School sucks, as usual, oh the daily life of mine. So, reckon I'm not going to be more jerky (is that a word? xD) by giving you a cliffie ending. So yay! :D Next chapter will be updated soon~