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✯❀𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐃❀✯
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It had been three days since Charlotte's first detention with Umbridge, and each one seemed to get worse and worse.
What didn't help, was the fact she was exhausted. The full moon was only one day away now, and her body was in a lot of pain. She had a high fever, her muscles appeared to be in knots, and her nose was completely blocked.
It wasn't a fun experience.
"Show me the hand," the sickening voice of Dolores Umbridge said.
The second Umbridge had seen the bandage on Lottie's hand, she made sure it was off. The fifteen year old was forced to grip the silver, making her hand blister and bleed, the once light pink mark on her hand had become a dark red/going on purple colour, and it was becoming a huge problem.
The allergy cream that Poppy Pomfrey had given her helped, to an extent. Charlotte's hands had been so badly blistered that nothing seemed to work, and she knew she couldn't go back to the hospital wing, Poppy would get suspicious.
She held out her hand, taking a deep breath as she avoided eye contact with the woman dressed in pink.
When Lottie had first seen Umbridge, her first thought was that she was just a grumpy old woman who thought she could have some control over Hogwarts. Now, however, every fibre in her body feared Umbridge. The mere thought of the woman made Charlotte sick to the stomach, and the sight of her made her want to burst into tears and leave the room.
She didn't want to be weak, nor did she want to be vulnerable, yet there was something about Umbridge that sent Lottie into panic mode. The cocky, sarcastic personality she had around her friends disappeared, being replaced with the exact same girl that walked the corridors of her childhood home. Umbridge scared Lottie, the power the woman could gain made Lottie feel queasy and nervous.
"Very good," Umbridge said, firmly gripping Lottie's hand, her fingers pressing into the burns with a harsh grip. "Very good indeed."
Charlotte didn't say anything, her eyes fixed on the wall opposite her.
"You know, Miss Lupin, you deserve this," Umbridge told her. "You deserve to experience pain. Your kind don't deserve the happiness and freedom that the rest of us do. It is my duty to teach you this, to teach you what a monster you are."
Monster. That was a word that stuck.
"I shall see you tomorrow at 7pm, don't be late," Umbridge said, dipping a spoon of sugar into her mug of tea, mixing it in with the drink. "You may leave."
Lottie barely even nodded, quickly leaving the room and closing the door behind her. As she stood outside the office, tears pooled in her eyes.
Monster.
That's what she was, a monster. Someone who deserved pain.
She brushed away the thought, quickly blinked away the tears and made her way back to the Gryffindor tower in silence.
It was almost curfew, meaning the corridors were empty and silent, it was refreshing not bumping into random younger students or have the loud conversations of the older years beating in her ears, it was so relaxing not hearing five conversations at once, she could actually focus on her thoughts instead.
She felt exhausted, both physically and mentally. Her arms and legs ached, her bones had the familiar feeling of being pushed together, it was as if her body were protesting against the night that tomorrow would hold, and yet it had no way to stop what would happen. There was no alternative to a full moon, no matter how much hatred she put towards it, she would be back in the position of snapped bones and torn muscles in just a few hours. It was awful to even think about.
When she reached the portrait of the fat lady, she wiped any stray tears from her face and mumbled the password, stepping into the almost empty common room.
The only people in there was Harry and Ron, who seemed to be coming to the end of their conversation.
"I've just got to finish this question, then I'll be coming to bed," Harry told Ron.
"I better go now...goodnight Harry," Ron said, walking away from Harry and up the stairs to the boys dorms.
"Charlie? You've been out late," Harry said softly, his eyes meeting hers. Almost instantly, he knew something was wrong. The usual cheery, smiley girl had a frown on her face, her eyes were pink and were filled with tears. "Hey...what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just tired," she said quietly, hiding her blistered hand under her robes, knowing she hadn't had the chance to re-bandage it.
"Here," he patted the empty space next to him for her to join him.
"I'm okay, really."
"Come on!" He smiled. It was a smile that could melt her heart in seconds, each time she saw it she felt a burst of happiness inside of her, and she simply couldn't resist it. She sighed, dropping her bag on the floor and moving to sit next to him.
Harry placed his homework on the coffee table, shifting his body so that he was facing her. His eyes scanned her facial features, taking in every single detail. In his eyes, she was so beautiful, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her again. He didn't though, although he did want to talk to her about their kiss. He bad been meaning to for days, yet he kept chickening out, too scared of any form of rejection from the girl he had so clearly fallen in love with.
"Are you okay?" He asked again, this time his face was written with concern, something was wrong and he had no idea what it was.
"Nothing, Harry, I'm fi-"
"Fine. Yeah. But you look sad...tired, even."
"I've got a cold, it's getting chilly outside and I wasn't wearing a coat," she explained. It wasn't necessarily wrong, she had all of the symptoms to a cold, it was just the fact that she was unwell due to the full moon, not the weather.
"You get unwell often," Harry pointed out, burrowing his eyebrows slightly, "quite a lot, actually. When we watched Hocus Pocus you said you were ill."
"Bad immune system," she shrugged, not meeting his eyes.
Not buying it, Harry asked, "where have you been?"
"I've got detentions with Umbridge, remember?" Her voice was quiet, and Harry's facial expressions immediately softened.
"That woman's a handful," he said, leaning back on the couch, "how was it?"
"Boring, I had to do lines," she said, relaxing as the attention turned to Umbridge and not her.
"Lines are the worst...although, Snape's detentions aren't brilliant either. He always makes me clean for him, like under the tables and cleaning out cupboards!"
"Once he made Theo and I clean all of the chewing gum from under the tables in his class, it was disgusting!" She laughed, reaching up to her hair and pushing a few strands behind her ear.
Big mistake.
Harry did a double take. The second his eyes met with her bruised and blistered hand, a gasp escaped his lips, and without even thinking, he reached out and took her hand into his.
She winced slightly, and sighed a frustrated sigh. First Theo and Alex, now Harry?
"Charlie, what is this?" He whispered, lifting her sleeves up so that he could properly look at her hand. "Merlin, this looks painful! How did it happen?"
"Just an allergic reaction," she said quietly, "I accidently touched silver, I'm allergic to silver."
The shake in her voice, the lack of eye contact and the damage to the skin was enough for him to know she was lying.
"How did you....wait. This... it was Umbridge, wasn't it?" He asked, sitting up straight.
She stayed quiet, her eyes finally meeting his.
"It was," he whispered, "oh my....Charlotte! You could have told me!"
"It's nothing," she promised, "honestly Harry, don't worry about it."
He laughed, standing up and letting go of her hand. "Wait here, don't leave."
She nodded, watching as he ran up to the boys dorm, waiting patiently.
Just a few minutes later, he returned, holding a dark red first aid box in his hand.
"A muggle first aid box? Where did you get that?" She asked as he opened it up, taking out a roll of bandages.
"Mums very protective, she gave Phia and I one each," he replied, "here, paddy me your hand."
She held her arm up, and very gently, he took it in his hand, carefully wrapping the bandage around it.
"I'm so sorry she did this to you, Charlie," he said quietly, continuing to wrap it round as he moved down to her wrist, finishing it off and tying it up.
"It's okay," she promised, feeling relief wash over her as she looked down at her bandaged hand.
"Try not to touch it," he said softly, "how did she do it?"
"She made me use a silver quill," Lottie said, almost instantly feeling sick as the memory of Umbridge smiling returned to her mind. Her eyes filled with tears, "it was awful...it burnt and she wouldn't let me stop. God I feel like a child, I should have argued or-"
"Hey hey hey," Harry said, reaching out and pressing his arms on her shoulders, "look at me."
She looked up at him with teary eyes.
"Don't blame yourself. This was Umbridge's fault, not yours. You're not a child, it's okay to be in pain." The determination in his voice came straight from his heart, and he chose to stay calm instead of letting out the anger he was feeling towards Umbridge.
"I deserve it...she told me I do," a lone tear slipped down her face, and she furiously wiped it away.
Harry moved his hand from her shoulder to her chin, tilting her head up so that she was facing him. "You do not deserve this."
She didn't reply, and so he pulled her into a hug, his arms wrapping around her body, holding her tight. He hated the fact Umbridge had hurt her, and all he wanted to do was go straight to her office and punch her. He knew he couldn't, of course, for numerous reasons, but the thought was enough.
Charlotte stayed wrapped in Harry's arms for hours after that, tears rolling down her face as she thought about Umbridge, and Harry could do nothing more than hug her and comfort her, gently rubbing her back and whispering soft things in her ear.
He really hated Umbridge.
A/N
Double update yuh
I love harry sm like marry me pls
Qotd: if you ever could, would you have kids?
Word count: 1806