𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝟐.𝟔 - 𝐢 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧

Carved into the back of your hand was a series of sharp jagged lines that spelled out the same sentence that you had been writing over and over for the last few minutes. The cuts weren't very deep but blood still pooled out of the sharp corners and a single drop slipped down your skin and bled into the parchment. You stared at it in shock for a few moments before Umbridge approached and stood directly in front of your desk.

"Why have you stopped?" She asked, cocking her head to the side in mock-confusion. By the look on her face, you could tell she knew exactly why you stopped. In one quick motion, you covered your injury and picked the quill back up off of the desk. 

"My wrist was just cramping up," you sputtered, eyes locked onto the parchment. You had covered just about half of it already, but you didn't doubt she had more waiting for when you finished this one.

Umbridge sighed and tightened her shoulders. "Go on then," she said with the wave of her hand. "Keep writing."

For the next hour, you sat there and wrote your lines. Once you realized that the quill was in fact harnessing your blood to use as ink, it became harder and harder to keep on without whimpering in pain. The coppery smell became more intense as time went on, making your headspin. 

 After filling two whole pages of parchment (front and back) with false promises that you would no longer speak up in class, she dismissed you. It was well into the night when you stood up to leave.

Somehow, you managed to wait until the office door closed behind you before letting tears slip from your eyes. You clutched your bag close to your chest and held your nose. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't get the smell of your own blood out of your head. Your hand throbbed with a pain you'd never felt before in your life. You were about to descend the staircase when you saw movement in the corner of your eye.

Seated on one of the benches against the wall was Harry. He had a book open in his lap but discarded it to stand and walk closer to you. "(Y/N)?" He whispered. You realized that he must have been waiting for his turn in detention. There were no clocks anywhere in the DADA classroom but something told you that it was well past dinner.

Harry stepped up the stairs and met you halfway. His eyes fell to your cradled arm and he gently reached out to pull back your sleeve. Your fresh cuts looked even worse in the darkness of the room, the shadows only added to the drama of the whole situation.

His eyes traced the words on your wrist and his jaw set, eyes suddenly aflame with anger. "She can't do this to you," he murmured, looking behind you and up at the door. You bit your lip and tucked your sleeve back over the injury. You were starting to feel lightheaded from blood-loss and you didn't think you'd be able to stand up straight for much longer.

 "She can and she has. I'll be fine, really."

Harry looked at you disbelievingly and you gulped. "I guess I should just, you know, stop speaking out of turn."

"Don't you dare say that," he rumbled, his voice sounded wounded and defensive and you suddenly realized the gravity of your statement. That was what she wanted you to do. That was the point of your punishment.

You opened your mouth, about to apologize, when a voice called down from Umbridge's office. 

"Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked between you and the door before readjusting the strap of his bag. "You should go see Madam Pomfrey and get that looked at." Carefully, he put his hand on your waist and slipped past you to walk further up the staircase. He looked like he wanted to say something else, like there were words resting on the tip of his tongue, but before he could say anything more, Umbridge called down to him once more. 

"I don't have all night, Mr. Potter."

With your un-injured hand, you tugged on the sleeve of his robes. "Don't go in there, please. She'll do the same to you."

Hearing the hopelessness in your voice, he turned around and placed his hand over yours. "I'll be alright, it's you that I'm worried about."

Without saying anything else, he unlatched your hand from his and climbed the stairs all the way to the top, disappearing into the pink-death trap that was Umbridge's office. After Harry left, you decided to take his advice and make your way, slowly, to the hospital wing.

The only assurance Madam Pomfrey could offer you was a thick gauze bandage. As she wrapped it snugly around your wrist, she tutted to herself about Professor Umbridge's torturous punishment methods and how she hadn't seen anything like it in fifty years. When she was finished, she offered you a piece of candy from a glass bowl by the door and sent you on your way.

 Feeling better with a hard carmel melting in your mouth, you skipped all the way back to the Slytherin common room. Judging by the clock in the hospital wing, it was half past eight and Pansy still needed help with her potions homework. You had promised her that you would let her take a peek at your notes before bed.

When you walked in, there were a few other Slytherin's lounging about, studying or making conversation in the plush couches. You were about to wander off into your dorm room to find Pansy when you caught sight of Draco sitting near the fire. He was waiting for you, just like he had promised he would be.

As you walked closer, he looked up and threw his arm over the back of the couch. There was a confident smirk on his face that hadn't been there moments before. "So?" He chuckled at your sour expression. "How many lines did she make you write?"

You felt the pain in your hand begin to swell once more and you frowned, plopping yourself beside him on the sofa. "Fifty something, I don't really remember," you shrugged dismissively. To be honest, you weren't really in the mood for conversation, not that you would let that be known.

Draco winced jokingly and whistled through his lips. "That bad?" He asked.

 Huffing, you turned to him with a sarcastic smile. "I had the time of my life," you said, reaching up with your injured hand to scratch at the skin behind your ear. The pain was still borderline excruciating. It felt hot, like someone kept stamping you with a hot iron over and over again. Draco's smile fell almost instantly and he sat up straight and reached for your hand.

Despite your quiet protests, he pulled it toward him and held the thick bandage of your wrist in his lap. "Did she do that to you?" He asked just above a whisper as to not alarm the rest of the students in the common room. 

 You nodded, regardless of his full attention being on your hand. With gentle precision, he untied the knot at your wrist and began unwinding the bandage until he could make out the bloody letters through the thin gauze material.

You watched anxiously as he read the sentence over in his head, forming the words silently on his lips. As he finished, his eyebrows knitted together and he shook his head. "My father will be hearing about this."

Once more, you tried to pull your hand away but Draco held it still as he began to re-wind the bandages. "What is he going to do about it?" You challenged, "She was sent from the Ministry."

When he was finished, he tied the two ends of the pristine white bandage back together and placed a hand over it. For a moment, you could have sworn that all the pain had vanished.

"I'll take care of this," he promised. "I won't let her hurt you again."

You sighed. "You don't need to do that, Draco."

Shaking his head, he shot you a look that made you lean back as far away from him as you could. It was intense and if you hadn't known him as well as you did, you would have been terrified. 

"Yes, I do." 

 (A/N: I ~love~ Draco. Ok so basically I was gonna have it be symbolic where he kissed your injured hand like he did when he met you for the first time but this time it's different cause no one is making him and he's doing it because he actually cares about you but I wrote it out last minute because I'm saving that symbolism for year six. No spoilers but it's romantic as fUCK. Also, my grammar checker app thing is acting up and marking random things as being incorrect so lemme know if you see any mistakes).