Love Triangle

Confessions And Decisions

There was a woman at the Ministry, the one standing before me now, that disagreed with every belief my father had. She hated half-breeds, and even initiated an anti-werewolf legislation. It outraged my father, and he fought even harder for her next move against the merpeople. It was a battle that she lost.

"Filthy half breeds need to know their place in this world." She replied sternly, her eyes burning into my own. "Your father certainly learned that lesson."

My hands were trembling as I clutched them together in my lap. I contemplated every last option I had, but none of them ended well for me. I had to fight back tears and get on with my punishment.

"What will I be writing, Professor?" I hissed through my gritted teeth.

I thought my resilience would anger her, or at least irritate her a little, but she smiled nonetheless and I knew she must have something terrible up her hideously pink sleeves.

"I want you to write: I must not start fights." She responded pleasantly as she went to sit back behind her desk.

I examined the black quill with its thin and dangerously sharp tip before picking it up. "I need ink." I informed her bluntly.

She smiled, "Oh, you won't be needing ink. That's a very special quill of mine."

Her smile was like daggers, and for a moment, I wished I would have listened to Harry and stayed far away from this psychotic woman. Nevertheless, I proceeded to write 'I must not start fights on the paper. The first letter glittered on the page in shiny red ink and the rest of the words followed. However, the back of my left hand began to itch. It started to burn, and just a few more seconds passed before searing pain bit into my flesh. When I finished the last word, I dropped the quill and looked at my hand. The words I had just written on the page were now carved into my skin.

"Very good," Umbridge observed. "Now keep writing. The message really has to sink in."

  On any other occasion with any other humane professor, three hours of lines would not have been torture; with Umbridge, however, that's exactly what it was. By the time I was finished repeatedly carving her words into my skin, my hand was swollen and felt as if it was on fire. After seeing my flesh, now swollen and bleeding, she happily told me I could leave. She even said I didn't need to serve the rest of my detentions so long as I behaved myself. I think the real reason she spared me was because of just how damaged my hand was. If I continued, even for just one more line, I might have poked bone.

As I warily said the password to the Fat Lady, I made my way into the common room. The room was quiet, but I immediately spotted two ginger head boys sitting on the couch. However, I didn't want to see either of them. All I wanted was to soak my throbbing hand in some water and go to sleep.

After tiptoeing past the couch, I was almost near the stairs when they spotted me.

"Nix!" George called me loud enough so that I couldn't pretend to not have heard him.

Fred said calmly, "Please, Nixie. Harry gave us something to give you."

Upon hearing mention of Harry's name, I had to wander over. Fred held a crystal bowl full of a deep purple liquid. I looked at in confusion, and the twins just shook their heads.

"It's Murtlap Essence. He just said to make sure you get it when you come back from detention." George explained. "What did she make you do, anyway?"

I tried hiding my wounded hand from them by keeping my hands behind my back, but I accidentally brushed the back of my hand against the wool of my sweater and it immediately brought tears to my eyes.