the gentle moon / george weasley

i let her scar me

January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. And more and more decrees were written and posted.

"Hem, hem." August stopped in her tracks coming back from the library that evening. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned toward the noise.

"Good evening, Professor." August put on one of her best fake smiles.

"Where are you headed, Miss O'Keefe?"

"My common room, ma'am." August said, "I just finished in the library with Madam Pince."

Professor Umbridge looked August up and down, taking note of her tie and shirt. In a matter of seconds, August felt a wave of magic hit her chest as her shirt buttoned up and her tie tightened around her neck. August's breath caught in her throat, and her eyes went wide.

"We have a dress code, Miss O'Keefe." Umbridge said, "Have you read Decree 29? All shirts must be buttoned up to the top, and ties must be tied."

"I have." August choked, trying not the shake. Professor Umbridge walked up closer to August, noticing her gold badge. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Oh no." Umbridge tutted, "That isn't right."

Umbridge pulled out her wand and tapped it on August's chest, turning Sirius' previously charmed badge, from gold to silver. August had almost completely forgotten how tight her neck felt when her chest started to burn under her shirt. August bit her tongue, to distract her from the pain.

"Much better," The tip of Umbridge's wand was still resting on August's badge, "Don't you agree?"

August couldn't speak, so she just nodded at the woman, who had a knowingly evil smile plastered on her face. "Carry on now, no loitering."

When Umbridge left her alone in the hallway, her hand subconsciously went up to the badge to pull it from her chest, but right when her bare palm hit the badge she let out a painful gasp, letting it go. She looked down at her shaking hand, 'Head Girl' was branded in the middle of her palm. She bent over so her clothes would fall from her chest and ran. Tears ran down her cheek, as she sprinted up the staircases trying not to collapse from the pain. She knew Cedric was in detention with Snape that evening for missing a homework assignment, so she knew no one would be in their common room, and she felt too ashamed to go to McGonagall's office for help, so she sprinted towards the Gryffindor common room. She spewed out the password and stumbled into the common room, tripping as she got through falling to her knees.

All eyes fell on their Head Girl, as she stumbled in through the portrait hole, bent over grasping her hand. Eyes went wide around the room when she looked up with tear-stained cheeks.

"Help me." She begged. Ron was the first one the rise from his chair, screaming the twin's name and rushing to August.

"What happened?" Ron's eyes were wide, as Ginny and Harry ended up on either side of her. "What-what do you need?"

"I- I can't-" August sobbed and when she looked up at the boy's stairs, George and Fred were running down with Lee just behind them. George looked around the common room and saw August. At first he smiled when he saw her, but then his face dropped into confusion and then fear. He rushed to her with Fred and Lee in step.

"Augy what happened?" George tried to pull her up straight but in that swift movement the back of the badge hit August's chest again and she screamed in agony, causing most of the students in the common room to flinch at the noise. She fell forward on her hands, hissing as her palm hit the ground, so her shirt wouldn't touch her.

"The badge." August sobbed, "The badge! Take the badge off me!" Her hand flipped over and everyone saw the bloodied branding on her hand. Hermione rushed over to her with her bag and pulled out the ointment she had been treating Harry's scars with. George ripped the badge off of August not caring about the hole he made and threw it to Fred and Lee for them to figure out how to change it back to gold.