Disclaimer: Items written in bold are direct extracts from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JKR. Obviously all rights go to her for her original work.
"Acelynne!!!" Laura was jumping on the foot of my bed, screaming as she tossed pillows at my head. "Acelynne Connors you need to get your lazy arse out of bed, and go see what your boyfriend posted in the common room!"
I groaned, flailing my hands and feet, punishing the mattress for this rude awakening.. "What'r you talking about?" I grumbled and rubbed my eyes, glaring at the blond that now sat on my floor.
"The twins posted something on the bulletin board last night and it's got all of the first years talking" Kelly shrugged and pulled her shirt over her head. "And besides, you have about ten minutes to get downstairs and eat before all of the food is gone."
I sighed and threw off my covers, ignoring the fact that Laura was smirking at me from the floor. "And you couldn't have woken me up more gently because....?" I scratched my head and pulled out my wand, running it over my hair and straightening out all of the awkward kinks. Magic, it was a pretty useful thing.
Quickly, I scurried over to my trunk and pulled out my uniform. I tried to throw it on as quickly as possible, turning myself away inconspicuously and covering the scars across my torso. Laura and Kelly had an idea of what had happened, but I didn't need their pitying glances anymore than I needed a bullet to the brain.
"What are those?" Lavender asked. She pointed to my stomach, which had been partially exposed as I struggled to pull my head through the hole.
"None of your damn business" I rolled my eyes and self consciously tucked my shirt into my skirt. "Get lost, Lavender."
Lavender shrugged and continued to brush her hair. But Laura and Kelly were staring at me with wide eyes, unblinkingly and unnervingly.
"What the hell Ace" Laura shook her head and pointed to my stomach. "You told us about what happened...." she shook her head and stood up from the floor.
"But you never said it was that bad" Kelly bit her lip.
"I'm fine now, so there's no use in talking about it" I shrugged and pulled up my stockings.
"But Ace-ˮ Laura started and I turned around to glare at her.
"I'M FINE!"I shouted, startling even myself. Kelly and Laura jumped slightly and looked at me with hesitant eyes. "I'm fine...."
Neither of them responded, my words ringing with finality. They merely sharing concerned glances between each other instead.
"Let's just go get something to eat" I sighed and tore down the stairs, hoping that they were following behind me. A crowd had formed at the bottom of the stairs, mostly of the younger grades, and were swarmed around the message board.
"OUT OF THE WAY!" I shouted and pushed through the crowd. "FIFTH YEAR COMING THROUGH!" I pushed my way to the front and stopped to read the much-anticipated poster that seemed to be causing all of this commotion.
GALLONS OF GALLEONS!
Pocket money failing to keep pace with all of your outgoings?
Like to earn a little extra gold?
Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room,
for simple, part-time, and virtually painless jobs.
(We regret that all work is undertaken at applicant's own risk.)
I read the poster and snorted loudly. "Move it along!" I sighed and pointed the crowd away, sending the crowd of firsties out of the common room.
"Hate to say it Ace, but if Hermione see's that sign, then you might not have a boyfriend anymore" Laura laughed nervously. I couldn't help but notice her eyes were dancing, continuously examining me from the top of my head, down to my feet.
"I'm sure she won't be too upset" I gave a dismissive wave and turned back towards my friends. "Listen, I'm sorry I snapped at you.... but I'm okay. I promise" I held out my pinkie in a juvenile manner and they did the same.
As if on cue, Hermione flounced down the steps and caught up with Harry and Ron, who had come down right after the crowd disappeared. "Hey guys" she said to us as she passed, before turning to the board and began speaking sternly to Ron. She ripped down the poster and continued to speak harshly with him, making him look distressed. They walked away, Hermione still speaking at a hundred miles an hour.
"So how did the summer with George go?" Kelly winked and I swatted at her shoulder. "Any steamy, hanky panky?"
"No!" I blushed, thinking back to the orchard. Their eyes went wide and I ducked my head, walking out of the portrait whole and skipping a few steps in front of them.
"You're a horrible liar" Laura laughed and caught up to me, linking her arm with mine. Kelly joined on the other side, her bright red hair crossing into my personal space and touching my cheek.
"So dish all of the dirty deets" Kelly giggled and poked me in the side. "We want to know about everything...."
"Well not everything..."
"Nothing kinky....."
"Or at least, too kinky?" I rolled my eyes at my friends pervertedness.
"Just some mild snogging, nothing too sexual" I attempted to tone down the conversation, but refusing to spill any further details. "Besides, I don't kiss and tell."
"What you mean is that you don't shag and tell."
"We didn't shag."
"Come on, Ace! Spending all of that time alone together, especially after his daring rescue? You can't possibly say that it didn't happen at some point!" Laura continued, her tone full of positivity.
"We didn't shag!" I repeated rather loudly, gaining the attention of several passing students. "So just shut up about it."
"Fine, don't tell us" Laura shrugged as we stepped into the Entrance Hall.
"But we are your best friends. You'll tell us sooner or later" Kelly said in a casual tone.
"I'll tell you when it actually happens, so don't hold your breath." We stepped into the Great Hall and the smell of breakfast hit me as hard as the knight bus. But that wasn't the only thing that turned my attention away from my friends. It was the duo of flaming head of hair, sitting across from Harry, Ron and Hermione and talking animatedly.
His gaze turned to me, as if he could feel my presence in the room, and looked at me over Harry's shoulder. He smiled slightly, and turned back to talking to trio with his brother, his voice dropped lower than before.
Harry suddenly dropped his fork and dove under the table to get it. Fred said something to George and they both stood up, taking piles of toast with them. They hurried around the table and into my direction, whispering and sending careful looks at me.
"Hey Ace" Fred smiled and shoved a piece of toast into his mouth. "Off to sell some extendable ears!" he continued on his way.
"Good morning, love" George bent down and kissed my forehead, but continued to walk after his twin. Kelly and Laura gave each other mischievous glances before dropped my arms and running over to the table.
"And to you too" I smiled and hooked an arm around his waist. "Hurrying off, are you?"
"Business, Ace... though I could always squeeze in a bit of pleasure" he winked and bent back down again. Somehow he managed to press his lips against mine, wrapping one arm tightly around my waist, and balance the toast in his other hand.
"Ms. Connors, Mr. Weasley, no public displays of affection" McGonagall walked by, shoving my schedule into my hands as she bulldozed her way between us. She glanced at us, her stern face softening for a brief second before walking away.
"Listen, Ace, I've got to go. How about we meet up at lunch, yeah? Right after I meet up with a few first years that are willing to test out the fainting fancies for a pretty penny" he pecked my lips for a third and final time, smiling his boyish smile.
Someone cleared their throat behind us, a soft noise that was polite and condescending at the exact same time. "No public displays of affection" our new DADA teacher, Underbridge, or whatever her name was, chided.
"I'm going to go now" George cast a dark look at the woman, dressed head to toe in pink, before planting a final kiss on my lips, glaring in her direction. He walked away, looking fully pleased with himself, but not before I could snag a piece of toast from his hand.
"What is your name?" she narrowed her eyes, pulling the corners of her mouth up into a twisted smile.
"Acelynne Connors" I said, trying to remain respectful through my mouthful of toast.
"Oh yes" she smiled even wider and kept her eyes level to mine. "I've heard of you before. Had a bit of a ... troublesome summer did we?" she laughed coldly, a tittering and girlish tweet that could have only been heard by dogs. By the look on her face, I could tell that she was one of the people that didn't believe Harry's story about Voldemort coming back in the graveyard. Therefore she wouldn't have believed me.
"Yes" I said, fighting to keep my voice level as she narrowed her eyes at me.
"Detention, for public displays of affection. Friday evening, five o'clock" she smiled sweetly before walking away, a skip in her pink-heeled step.
___________________________________________________________________
"Professor Umbridge?" I asked, poking my head into her office. I had only had her for a week and I already hated her so much that it hurt. She looked up at me from behind her desk, her teeth shining like pointed pearls. Her quill dropped to her desk and she stood up, pointing a hand to a room behind her own.
"Follow me, my dear" she said, her voice sweet as sugar. Her office was covered with frills, and laces, and kittens, and various shades of pink. "As it happens, I have another detention scheduled for tonight so you will be in this room, here" she opened a door and flourished a hand for me to venture inside. A tiny desk, chair, and quill along with some parchment were waiting for me inside of the dark room, filled to the brim with boxes marked 'Disruptive and dangerous to the learning environment'.
"This will keep you separate, so that you cannot be spreading your horrible and nasty lies to each other" her voice remained like icing as I took my place behind the desk and picked up the quill.
"I thought I was here for public displays of affection?" I asked slyly and she coughed, taken aback.
"Yes, and that" she corrected herself and backed away towards the door. "You will be writing lines for me tonight. Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public" she said every word with distinction as she reached for the door knob.
"How many times?" I asked, picking up the quill and looking for the pot of ink.
"As many as it takes for the message to ... sink in" she smiled and inched the door closed.
"Wait, Professor? Where's the ink?"
"It won't be needed" she said hastily and closed the door with a bang.
I groaned and picked up the quill, putting it to the parchment, and began to write.
Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public.
I began the first line, the words coming out in a deep red ink. My hand immediately began to itch, my fingers tensing as if gripping the quill had caused a cramp. I stopped for a second, scratching the back of my hand before continuing.
Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public
Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public
Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public
I wrote it over and over, and with every line I started, I stopped to scratch the back of my hand. Not before long, the skin was raw and swollen, deep red lines forming where my nails had broken the skin. I looked out the window, the sunlight fading quickly but the Gryffindors remained on the pitch. Identical forms darted in between players, and I smiled, knowing one of them was George.
Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public
With this line, it felt as if the skin of the back of my hand had burst open. From the opening, blood seeped out and dribbled down my hand, smearing the paper and staining the skin on my wrist.
"Bloody hell...." I looked down at the back of my hand, now coated in a slick layer of blood. I held my hand up to the light of the window, squinting my eyes in the fading light. I ran the fingers of my opposite hand over the broken skin, wincing as the traced line up and down my hand. The cut was not straight, or long but actually a sequence of short, non-uniform scratches.
Umbridge knocked on the door and her voice drifting through the cracks. "Is everything all right in there, dear?" I gritted my teeth and picked up the quill again.
"Just fine" I grumbled, blinking back tears and pressing the quill back to the paper again.
Proper ladies do not behave sexually in public
________________________________________________________________________________
By the time I made it back to the common room, the sun had sunk in the sky and I felt distinctly light-headed. I had wrapped my hand in my cloak and dashed up the stairs, and hurrying to find the portrait of the fat lady.
I hated her. I loathed her. How the hell was someone like this allowed to step foot into the school, let alone teach us! This had to be torture, there was no doubt about it. But would anyone actually believe me if I told them?
"Mimbulus Mimbletonia!" I swallowed thickly and the portrait swung open. The Quidditch team was gathered in the common room, Harry, Hermione, and Ron tucked away into a corner behind them.
"Hey Ace! Where have you been?" Lee asked as he, George, and Fred juggled empty butterbeer bottles around a crowd of younger students, all of whom looked as if they had been nursing nose bleeds.
"Detention" I attempted to smile falsely and gripped my cloak around my hand even tighter. "So, I'm just going to go to bed now. See you all in the morning." The material around my hand had grown heavy and squelched around my fingers. I tried my best to move through the room without drawing attention to it, but eventually the material reached its maximal absorption capacity.
A single red droplet fell to the floor, and I pretended not to notice. However, my disregard for the situation was not shared, as the boys stopped juggling immediately and starred down at my hand. I attempted to make it up the stairs before they could catch me, but George reached out his freakishly long arms and pulled me off of my feet and the stairs
'Ace, what did you do to your hand." He grabbed me by the wrist, attempting to untangle my cloak from my fingers.
"Nothing." Refusing to relent in front of such a large group of people, George sighed and swept me off of my feet in one swift motion.
He marched me up the boys stairs. "Right" George kicked open the door to the lavatory and he set me down on the counter. "Let me see your hand." He pulled at the materials but I clenched my fingers tighter, wincing, but struggling to keep a straight face.
"I'm fine" I stressed, but George rolled his eyes and continued to fight with me for my hand.
"You're about as fine as I am a troll" Lee tried to lighten the mood. He turned to Fred with a raised finger, "Don't you dare comment on that."
"Acelynne" George lowered himself to my level and tried to meet my eyes."Come on, it's clear you're bleeding."
"It's nothing! I cut my hand while Umbridge had me moving boxes in her storage room. I'll go to the hospital wing tomorrow" I lied and pecked him on the tip of his nose.
"Okay" he smiled tensely and brought his lips to mine, crushing them down hard enough to disorient me for the briefest of seconds. His fingers casually entangled with mine, untangling the cloak from my grip and firmly grabbing me by the wrist.
"Not fair" I pouted, but George didn't respond. He looked down at my hand, his eyes wide in shock.
"What the hell!" he held up my hand for the boys to see. "Do you see what's on her hand?"
In fact, I hadn't seen clearly what was on my hand. I wrapped it quickly enough that I didn't have to look at it. But now, I did, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Deep, red gashes ran along my hand, spelling out the words in jagged letters, and leaving the skin around it as raw as an uncooked steak.
"Bloody hell" Lee murmured.
"How is that even possible?" Fred took a step closer but George held out a hand.
I couldn't say anything. The amount of blood, the gashes, they all reminded me too much of the torture I had undergone months ago. My vision began to blur at the edges, the air quickly escaping my lungs.
A high-pitched ringing filled my ears, followed by the high voice that had tortured me for weeks. "That's what you get!" she hissed over and over, drowning out what George was trying to say to me.
I was back in the dark little room. The door creaked open and He walked in, his wand high as he was closely followed by Alexi and Antoine.
"Welcome back" he hissed coldly ,and I was tossed backwards into the wall, my head hitting the pavement with a crack.
"Ace?" George was shaking me by my shoulders. Somehow I had made it to his bed, and my hand was wrapped in one of his shirts. "Ace, where'd you go?"
"Back" I whispered and my breaths came sporadically once again. "I was back in the cell.... he was there.... they were all there."
"Ace" he said sternly, pressing his forehead to mine and locking eyes with me. "You're safe. Nobody can get you here." His voice was commanding, but careful at the same time.
His tone made my breathing slow, finally taking in the situation. "I blacked out?" I asked and he nodded, slinking his arm around my waist and pulling me closer.
"And other than that hand, you're perfectly fine" Fred slipped in, glancing back down at my hand and pulling the curtains around George's bed. "You can stay in here if you want. But just remember that I'm one bed over, and can hear everything. Everything." He winked and all light was finally cut off by the curtain being fully drawn.
"You're going to go to McGonagall, right?" George whispered in the dark, his breath hot on my neck. "And the hospital wing?"
"No...I'm fine. I don't want to cause any more trouble" I shrugged and George sighed heavily in disagreement. "For all I know, she could give me detention for snitching."
"It's not right" he stressed but I merely shook my head.
"I'll be fine, it's just a cut." I moved in closer to his body, leaning my head back on his chest and closing my eyes. My hand was throbbing beneath the shirt. "I've survived much worse."
"And the black out?" he persisted and I sighed, rolling over so I could face him. His eyes and hair were the only things I could make out in the blackness.
"I'll go get more potion from Madame Pomfrey" I relented, wishing that he would drop the subject. "But seriously, I'm fine." He opened his mouth, and I knew he was going to say something else, about me not being fine and that I needed help. I knew he cared, but I didn't want to hear it.
And because I didn't want to hear it, I did the only thing I could think of at that moment to distract him. I rolled over so I was on top of him and pressed my lips to his, more ferociously than what was probably necessary.
He smiled against my lips and brought his hands to my waist. In one simple movement he was on top of me, propped up on his elbows, and careful not to touch my hand.
"I hear everything" Fred hissed from across the room and George laughed, kissing the base of my neck, working his way up to my mouth and back down again. He smiled mischievously and unbuttoned the top few buttons of my blouse.
"Come on guys, have some decency!"