Of Apples and Oranges

IV: vi: Detentionaire

For a week, Aurum and Harry had been sent to detention in Umbridge's office. Everyday, Draco walked her there, reluctantly sending her off to to the hell Aurum had unwittingly gotten herself into.

Despite the harsh mood it put on her, Draco always tried to cheer her up. It got hard the second day though, when she came back with wounds on her hand. He tried to get her to write to her brother, maybe even go to Quill, they were ministry workers after all. She refused, thinking it would only make things worse.

"I'm going to talk to Hermione tomorrow." Draco twiddled his thumbs and looked down innocently at Aurum who held the face of someone approaching the underworld. Draco continued, "I'm going to ask her out, take your advice. You know, we had some tension at Grimmauld Place. A couple of exchanged looks. It might go somewhere."

"That's great Draco." Aurum bit her lip.

"Hey, Aurum, I'm sorry things didn't go great with Harry. I know you really wanted to like him. Sucks you have to see him everyday now. At least you have Tony now, he's cool." Draco smirked.

"Draco, do you think Harry's right? That you're my bodyguard?" Aurum asked suddenly. She thought through what she just said more and stepped back quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. I think that myself sometimes." Draco shook his head and clasped his hands. "Maybe I really am the reason why Harry doesn't like you, Creste."

Aurum ran in front of Draco. She put her hands on his cheeks. He returned the gesture. "No way, Malfoy."

At that time, Harry happened to walk by on his way as well. "Why don't you two kiss already!" he shouted bitterly.

Aurum groaned and followed him to Umbridge's.

"Go get your Granger, bro!" Aurum shouted behind her shoulder to Draco who gave a thumbs up.

Once Harry and Aurum were in the bright pink office littered with kitty pictures, they didn't speak, look, or listen to each other. No communication happened between them whatsoever. That is, until Friday, the last day.

Before that day, the two just sat in chairs next to each other and wrote what Umbridge told them to. This wasn't because Umbridge forbid them from talking to each other, it was just something they decided not to do on their own.

During the week, Aurum was told to write over and over, "I cannot believe the lies of my brother," and Harry was to write, "I must not tell lies."

When Draco saw the words appearing in her hands, he was understandably outraged. He wanted to inform the ministry, but as Aurum reminded him, Umbridge was sent by the ministry and there was nothing they would do against it. Besides, she was even starting to doubt herself. Because of this, Draco had become stuck in a rut of despair.

That Friday, Harry tried to focus on what he was doing, but couldn't help but gaze out of the window overlooking the quidditch field. They were having quidditch tryouts that day and he was excited to see Ronald try for position of keeper. He had even requested another day to make up for detention, but since Aurum had a problem with it as well since it was a full moon that night, they were both denied.

"I wish I could go watch him." Harry sighed. "But I'm stuck here."

"Maybe you should've thought about that, then, Potter," Umbridge said, dipping a biscuit into a cup of tea.

"Do you have any more of those, Ms. Umbridge? I just had to take some wolfsbane since I won't be able to go to the Whomping Willow tonight. I'd love a chaser." Aurum paused her writing to plead with the teacher.

"Half-breeds don't get biscuits, sweetheart." Umbridge raised a brow and pursed her lips, seemingly enjoying this torment of her students.

Harry nudged Aurum. The blonde groaned at him. "I'm sorry about this."

"It's not like it's your fault. I stood first." Aurum sighed.

"You know, that day when Assistant Peeper said I wanted to kiss you... that was true." Harry mumbled.

"Harry, I really don't care; I have a boyfriend." Aurum scoffed.

Harry turned quickly towards the blonde. "Are you serious?" his voice cracked.

"Goldstein, yeah." Aurum nodded. "Tony's great. He really appreciates me for who I am and doesn't care that I hang out with Draco because he does too, like the other prefects."

"Well, at least it's not a completely Slytherin squad." Harry sighed a breath of relief.

"Did a Slytherin kill your parents or something?" Aurum burst out, gaining a shush from Umbridge.

"Yeah, actually." Harry raised his brows at Aurum. "Everyone knows Voldemort was a Slytherin."

"Okay, well my parents were killed by two Slytherins, and I'm not holding a grudge against them." Aurum argued.

There was a bit of silence. They continued writing diligently.

Harry reached into his robe and pulled out a glass slipper. He held it out in front of her, but she didn't take it. He honestly had the gall to give her a shoe in the middle of detention.

"Harry, why may I ask, are you giving me a shoe?" Aurum smiled small.

"You left it when you were running from the Yule Ball last year. I kept it all this time," Harry said.

"Creepy." Aurum chuckled.

Harry gulped and looked away, his cheeks red. "Oh, sorry, I didn't think—"

Aurum nudged him. "I'm just kidding you, Harry." she accepted the shoe.

"This is sweet, darlings, but you need to get back to work." Umbridge waved a biscuit in front of their faces. Aurum crinkled her nose, her eyes gleaming yellow. She felt like she was being treated like a dog. In the heat of the moment, Aurum snatched the biscuit from Umbridge's hand with just her teeth. Umbridge backhanded her so hard that she fell backwards out of her chair.

Aurum coughed hard on the floor as she knelt down, her back to the ceiling. She held the biscuit in her hands and proudly smiled at it between coughs. A victory.

"What an animal! Might as well stay on the floor. You half-breeds are all the same!" Umbridge huffed.

"Hey! You kept treating her like a stray dog!" Harry yelled, standing.

Umbridge rose as well, glowering knives through Harry. "Well then, I suppose you, Mr. Potter, have landed her and yourself detention every Friday for the rest of the year." Umbridge scowled.

Aurum glared at Harry from the floor. He shrugged, just as angry as she was, though his anger was pointed in a different direction.

And that, was why she didn't talk to Harry anymore.