Disclaimer: We do not own Harry Potter, but you knew that
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Fred rarely regretted a prank. He may have ingested some rather questionable substances and sure - he'd broken out in a few more rashes and had caused himself somewhat more harm (in various forms of sickness or injury) than he may have liked. He'd gone through countless detentions and was the scorn of school staff everywhere. However, these were occurrences that he was accustomed to, he knew how to handle them. These things came with the territory, and he did what he had to in order to support the furtherance of maraurtion. Getting detention was a weekly occurrence for the Weasley twins and Fred liked to think of it as quality time with his teachers, although he wasn't apt to treasure detention with Snape. Yes, Fred was well accustomed to dealing with consequences, but this time was different. And it was entirely due to his blunder. His antics with George had resulted in an unprecedented event. Hermione Granger had been assigned a detention. Not just any detention mind you, but a detention with that vile, evil toad of a woman - Umbridge.
Hermione, rather peculiarly, had the isolated ability of being able to make Fred feel like a child in the worst sort of way. Over the years, Fred and George had honed their highjinking skills into a fine art. The twins were known around Hogwarts for frequently presenting public spectacles and displays of magical mayhem.
Though it seemed silly, Fred felt that the laughter of his fellow Gryffindors and Hogwarts classmates wasn't enough for him, he craved something more. He found himself to be constantly on the lookout for a greater challenge and, in recent months, Hermione had become one. He found himself performing for her even if all that she gave to him was a scolding glare. He wouldn't admit it to George, but he had a fond admiration of her. She had an uncommon, almost unparalleled intelligence and he had often thought that if she would only learn to relax she could be quite a lot of fun. Though that isn't to say that he didn't enjoy goading her from time to time.
It was for this reason that Fred found her icy indifferent attitude (since the unfortunate Umbridge run in) to be rather draining. Both he and George had tried to apologize when they headed back to the Gryffindor common room, but Hermione had given them a look of such deep betrayal and disappointment that they had bitten back their tongues.
Eight O'clock was nearing and Hermione would soon be heading off to her detention with Umbridge. Harry, Ron and Hermione had been lounging together in the Gryffindor common room for the last two hours. None of them looked happy and Fred's mood only worsened when he caught sight of Ron shooting him dirty looks. He knew that the trio was angry with him. Hermione must have filled in Harry and Ron in on the events of that afternoon and they would now (of course) be holding George and him responsible.
"Hey Fred". A voice called from within the portrait hole to the common room. Looking over, Fred saw Lee Jordan one of his best mates and fellow seventh year classmate. Following closely behind him was George, displaying a somewhat sheepish expression.
"Where in the bloody hell have you two been?" Fred asked.
"Now now now Freddie don't get your knickers in a twist." George threw his arm over Fred's shoulder and leaned in. "Lee and I have some ideas we want to run by you." Grinning mysteriously George gestured for Fred to follow him.
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"Would one of you care to explain why we are inside a broom closet." Fred's voice was rather muffled due to the fact that he was practically eating George's elbow.
"Well, you see Fred. Lee has this vision. Now it may seem a bit far fetched, and I admit I too had my doubts. But after hearing him out I think his plan is rather solid. Have you ever heard of the saying 'If the owl won't go to the letter then bring the letter to the owl?'"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with why I'm in a broom closet?"
"Well, Lee and I have been trying to get you to clean your side of the room since first year." George explained, his face a mask of serious concern.
"We haven't had any luck, so we figured you may just not know where to find the cleaning supplies." added Lee.
"Oh, sod off! If you guys don't start explaining all this honestly, I'm leaving."
"Alright Frederick no need to be grumpy. Here's the thing, this year at Hogwarts has been absolute rubbish and it all stems from that woman joining the staff. First she bans Quidditch and then she gives the smartest girl at Hogwarts, a goody-goody no less, detention." Said George.
"She is obviously mental." Muttered Fred.
"So", began George. "First we tackle our detention. We have far too much planning to do to have to deal with rubbish like that. If Hermione wasn't so well behaved, we could do the same for her. Oh well no use crying over spilled butterbeer. Afterwards, we will move towards plans that are bigger and better. Come along, we've got some house elves to visit."
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"Ms. Granger please take a seat." Umbridge's smile was sugary sweet, but it had a artificialness to it that reminded Hermione of the sugar free candies full of artificial sweeteners that her parents would hand out on Halloween. Obediently Hermione seated herself on a hard-backed chair placed in front of a frilly covered writing desk.
"I must say I'm not at all surprised to find that you follow in the footsteps of your trouble making friend Mr. Potter. You children both have an arrogance unbecoming for ones so young and insignificant. It's plain to see that the teachers here at Hogwarts are lacking greatly when it comes to stamping out the rebellion of you students."
Hermione felt heat rush throughout her body as Umbridge's words penetrated her ears. Hermione never talked back to teachers, but she could feel her composure running thin.
"You may be gifted with some intelligence, but it does little to distract from the fact that your blood jarringly taints the wizarding community." The ugly sneer on Umbridge's face made her look even more like an unbecoming amphibian and Hermione was almost tempted to tell her as much.
"In fact I have on more than one occasion talked to the minister of magic himself about having such undesirables as yourself removed from the public wizarding school system."
Hermione felt her own incensed reply bubbling up at the tip of her tongue. How dare she! To say such awful things! It was hypocritical of Umbridge to suggest that Harry and her were the arrogant ones when she was the definition of the word. Her black, rotting, ugly soul was apparent even through the camouflage of garish pink fabric and pictures of innocent kittens.
"You are a cruel and hateful woman. I know what kind of witch you are and I can say with utter certainty that your place is not at Hogwarts, but in a cell at Azkaban. You come here with your ministry of magic propaganda and take away our rights to protect ourselves from the inevitable horrors that come with the return of You-now-ho."
Umbridge's calm expression hid well her reaction to Hermione's words, and the only sign of her fury was in her eyes which were ablaze with an intense and evil intent. "You have been told that a certain dark wizard is once again at large. This is a lie."
"It's not a lie, and it's people like you that are the cause of so much loss and devastation."
"Maybe I have not made myself clear. You, Miss Granger, are on the lowest spectrum of wizarding society, a Mudblood. No one will ever listen to a word you have to say, because in fact your words mean nothing mean nothing."
Turning, Umbridge walked towards her desk. Picking up a dark quill with a wicked tip. "Do you know what this is, Ms. Granger?"
Hermione recognized the object immediately from the description Harry had given her, as well as from a book on medieval torture devices she had read for extra information in her History class. "That is a black quill."
"Very good, I'm sure I don't need to explain to you what it does."
Hermione shook her head unwilling to show any sign of fear. Flicking her wand a piece of paper floated over to Hermione from its location on Umbridge's desk.
"It is obvious that you wish to hide your blood stasis through academic means. I think you need a visual reminder of who you are. Wouldn't you agree? Hehe." the giggle Umbridge made sent shivers down Hermione's spin.
A/N: Hello all! I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. I know that so far the chapters we have been writing haven't been very long, please forgive us we have slow brains. Please review our story it only takes a minuet and it really makes our day. Also just a quick note, We made up the word maraurtion (marauders).