Daddy's Little Girl [FW - Book Two]

I Must Not Pull Pranks

Umbridge excuses me to dinner, but not before informing me that my first detention begins immediately after I am finished eating, and turning my hair Green and Silver.

I groan and head back to the Great Hall where Fred and George are already sitting with Lani and McKenna.

George elbows Fred, who is distracted by the ham on his plate, when he sees me. Knowing what his twin means, Fred addresses me.

"What took you so long, Nessa?" He asks, not looking up. George elbows him again and his eyes finally land on me.

"Just spending some quality time with Umbridge." I say, gesturing to my hair.

"You were caught?" He looks terrified.

"Yeah, I couldn't keep up with you two, you have longer legs than me." I say, a smile slowly dawning on my face. "But it was worth it to see them all with Gryffindor hair. Umbridge nearly threw a tantrum."

"What did she give you?" Fred asks, looking concerned.

"Two weeks of detention starting after dinner." I shrug, filling my plate with fruit.

"Don't worry, we'll admit it was our idea." George says.

"At this point you shouldn't because then we'd both have detention... I kind of taunted her."

Lani shakes her head in disapproval.

Fred laughs "That's my girl!" Lani elbows him in the side. "We'll stay up and wait for you, anyway."

"Thanks." I sigh before turning my attention back to my food.

When dinner is over, I say goodbye to my friends and reluctantly head out the Great Hall, and towards Umbridge's office.

I knock on the door and the toad calls for me to enter. I walk into the room and find Harry sitting in front of Umbridge's desk.

"Have a seat, Miss Redwood." The Professor says, her hair now back to its normal color. I do as I'm told and sit down in a seat next to Harry. "I am going to have the two of you do some lines for me tonight. Mister Potter, you will be writing 'I must not tell lies' and Miss Redwood, I want you to write 'I must not pull pranks' is that understood?"

"Yes Professor Umbridge." Harry and I chant glumly.

"How many times?" Harry asks irritably.

"As many as it takes for the message to... sink in." She giggles little-girlishly. We turn to pull out our quills but she stops us. "Oh, and you'll be using two very special quills of mine tonight."

She hands each of us a read feather quill, but no ink.

"Professor, you haven't given us any ink." I say.

"You won't be needing any ink." She places a roll of parchment in front of both of us. "You may begin."

I shrug and pull the parchment towards me. Lines I can handle. I get a grip on the quill and hesitantly begin to write the line. Sure enough, red letters appear on the parchment, forming words, a sentence; I must not pull pranks. I gasp as a shooting pain suddenly goes through the back of my hand. My eyes lock on my left hand as the familiar words are cut into the back of my hand, I must not pull pranks.

I share a look with Harry who seems to be experiencing the same thing, and I know it's going to be a long and painful night.

*

"Password?" The Fat Lady asks as I reach her painting.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia." I say tiredly, clutching my still bleeding hand. She nods and her painting swings aside, allowing me to climb through the portrait hole.

"Vanessa?" Asks a familiar redhead. I nod.

"Where's George?" I ask, looking around the common room.

"He went up to bed a while ago." He replied casually. "What did she make you do that took so long?"

"Lines." I shrug. I don't want him to worry.

"That's not too bad then." Fred says as he stretches.

"Nope." I agree. "Well I'm going to go to bed. It's been a long night."

"Goodnight, Nessa."

"Night, Fred."

*

"What do we have next?" McKenna asks, looking over my shoulder at the timetable in my hands as we walk away from the great hall.

"History of Magic." I say. McKenna groans.

Suddenly, someone down the hall screams. The three of us share a look before bolting down the hall towards the sound where we come face to face with Edward Ripple, and his apparent victim, a Slytherin with an extremely swollen tongue that's growing bigger by the second.

"Grapple, get to the hospital wing, have your brother take you, and Ripple, where'd he go?" Lani says, obviously flustered.

"He just turned the corner to the Charms corridor." I say.

Lani nods and takes off in the same direction as Edward, yelling "Edward Ripple you get back here!"

McKenna and I look at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Come on, we should get to class." I say finally, starting off down the hall again. McKenna reluctantly follows.

Professor Binns has already started the lesson by the time we take our seats. I pull out a fresh roll of parchment and roll up my sleeves by habit and prepare to take notes. McKenna pales.

"What's that on your hand, Vanessa?" She asks in a serious tone.

"Nothing." I say quickly, pulling my sleeves back down.

"That's not nothing." She pushes the sleeve back up so she can see my left hand clearly again. "Did Umbridge do that to you?"

I nod silently. "But please don't tell Lani, she'll march right in her office and try to hex her. You know as well as I do that that won't end well. I don't want anyone to worry."

She looks skeptical. "Alright, but can I tell Hermione? She would know what to do to heal it."

"No. Harry had detention with her last night too. If he doesn't want her to know, that would give it away." I whisper desperately. "Just keep this between us, alright?"

"I'll try, but you know how bad I am at keeping secrets."