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CHAPTER ELEVEN:
DETENTION
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An unexpected letter dropped in her lap on Wednesday morning.
Her first thought was that it had been a wrongly placed letter, but as she opened it she realised it wasn't. Then Volley dropped two more letters into her lap. She flicked through the letters, and recognised the writing of all three of them.
"Who are those from?" Harry asks.
"It's....no one...well not no one... just...Sirius." she answered, ignoring how all three of them grinned at her. She held up the other two. "And Remus, and you don't know the other person."
The last letter was from her grandparents. She knew just by the way they spelt her name. She curled the letter up in her hand, and put it into her bag. Her stomach churned when she closed her back tightly. She felt sick to her stomach.
Leaving their house was the best thing she had done. She would not fall back into their trap. She built up the courage to leave and finally did, she could not see them again. She knew they would manipulate her, force her to come back. Mentally she hasn't even allowed herself to understand what had happened to her all those years, she knew once she opened herself up to the realisation, it all wouldn't stop.
Besides, she didn't need to dwell on them anymore, she had Sirius now.
"I've got to go down to Hogsmeade." Aurora tells them, standing up. "I'll see you all later."
Though, she had forgiven Hermione, Harry and Ron for the events last year, she would admit there was a sense of awkwardness between them all. Or rather them all with her. It was like they were trying to be her friend again. Like they were trying to earn her forgiveness, which she understood. She could only hope they would all go back to normal.
Hogsmeade wasn't busy, which made sense considering it wasn't open yet. She took the secret tunnel by the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room. She went down and got the stuff she needed, before heading back up to the common room.
She met Fred and George, who had been waiting for her by the fireplace.
She put down the art supplies. "I wasn't sure if I should get oil paints or acrylics. I mean oil paints dry a lot more slowly but they look better for realistic paintings, and they also brush across the canvas easier, but acrylics dry-"
"What on earth is she talking about, George?"
"I honestly haven't a clue, Fred, I think...paints?"
A small laugh escaped her lips. "Right. There paints. More importantly, I need you two to cover for me tomorrow night."
She asked them to do this because Ron was growing rather suspicious as to where she was going once a month. He made a comment asking if she was a vampire but no one else seem to hear thankfully. Tomorrow was the full moon.
Fred eyed her suspiciously. "Why?"
George grins. "Something you wanna share?"
"I'm just meeting with a friend after hours, and I'd prefer no questions."
Fred and George both exchanged a look and in unison let out two sighs.
"We don't think that's a good idea." George trailed off.
"Haven't you noticed a certain scarhead's eyes that have been pining after you for way to long now?" Fred chimed with a grin. "We would prefer not to play part in your affairs."
When they says this instantly her eyes roll, and tried to stop the irregular heartbeat that just came upon her.
Not true, she thought.
She folded her arms. "Well, considering how I helped you blackmail Rita skeeter all last year, you both owe me, big time."
"We agreed never to talk about that!" George exclaimed.
"Hey! When you came asking us for help about that thing, we never told anyone." Fred replies, grinning.
"Fred, keep your voice down!"
"How about we agree to never talk about those things ever again?"
"Agreed." the three chimed. "Now let's get started with our shop."
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The rest of the day went by smoothly, until seven o'clock when she had her detention with Umbridge. Unlike Harry who had it yesterday evening. According to him, she made him write lines about what he had done in the class.
What a brutal punishment, she remembered replying.
She made her way towards the classroom, with her arms folded.
"Aurora, leave." a new voice says.
She spun around when she heard a woman's soft voice say this. The problem was the hallway was dimly lit and no one was there. At first, she thought it was Professor McGonagall because of the comforting, soft tone she had.
"Hello?" she asked, but received no response.
She rolled her eyes, presuming it was someone playing a prank. She twisted open the handle to the office and walked in.
Umbridge sighed, and put down her cup of tea.
A horrified expression came upon her face as she looked around the room. It was all pink. As in, every single thing in the room was pink.
"Now, that is no way to enter my office. You must leave, knock and then I shall see whether you can return or not."
"Ah. Yes Professor."
She swiftly turned around, leaves the office, shuts the door as gently as she could. She waited a moment before she loudly knocked on the door.
"Professor Umbridge." she says. "Professor Umbridge, might I come in?"
The door swung open, and Umbridge sent her a small sickly smile. "A small improvement, we may work on that. Miss Black, please take a seat."
Well I wasn't going to stand.
"Miss Black, as I'm sure you know Mr Potter was here earlier yesterday. I believe he learned his lesson. Making up stories and lies for attention cannot be condoned. Now, I am aware you support him in these lies. I believe you were unconscious last year during the end of the tournament?"
Her mouth opened, "Yes but-"
"And you were unconscious for more than half the way?"
She sent her a look. "I was but-"
"Well then." she interrupted, again. "I do believe
that you deserve a different type of punishment."
Aurora furrowed her eyebrows. The women walks over towards her desk, and begun looking for something.
"As I'm sure you know that all I want in this school is order, and I most definitely don't punish students that I don't think should be punished but you on the other hand, I do believe should be punished. You are out of control at this school. Many of the Professor's let you away with your behaviour, because of what happened with your father-"
"Don't bring up my father." she cut her off, with a glare.
Umbridge handed her a long roll of parchment, and ink. "I want you to write 'I must learn to keep my mouth closed,' and I want you to write the message until it's loud and clear."
"You haven't given me a quill?"
"Ah yes." she grabbed a red quill, which had an extremely pointed nib. "You may use this one. It's special."
She shrugged, and glanced down at the parchment. She didn't start writing, until Umbridge turned back around and looked at her. A small sigh escaped her lips and she wrote the first letter. However just as she dotted the I, her pinky finger bended in the opposite direction, snapping.
When she tried to move her finger she realised it had been broken.
She then realised that the special quill was a breaking bones one. She used it once before, her grandfather made her during her summer lessons.
Has this happened to Harry? That thought was more horrible.
She wrote the next words, and when she finished, her next finger snapped. Broken. This time she had trouble keeping the noise of pain from her lips. Her eyes flickered towards Umbridge who was still looking out the window.
It was about an hour later when she eventually made it though all the words, twice. Twice. Both her hands were broken. She couldn't move her fingers. She couldn't do anything about it. Eventually Umbridge called her up to her desk, to take the parchment. She examined her hands for a few moments, before dropping them.
"Those hands of yours could cause some serious damage. We must keep a careful eye on them."
It was like she couldn't speak. She had been in such shock. It brought her back to England. It brought her back to Aleksander Mansion. It brought her back to that small cellar. Now, Hogwarts wasn't even safe.
She thought she would have been able to leave the second she realised what was happening, but she didn't. She couldn't.
She leaves her office, her hands trailing by her sides in pain. She waits for the stairs to come. When they do, she continues to drag her body towards the Common Room. Suddenly her vision is blocked by a face, causing her to jump.
Ron stands in front of her laughing. She had forgotten he is a prefect now.
"You should have seen the look on your face." Ron tells her with a laugh. He examines her expression and before she could look away he says, "Are you alright? Looking a bit pale."
She nods forcefully. She attempts to not move and appear casual. "I'm fine. Just tired."
"Listen I know after this summer you probably aren't the most... trusting when it comes to us all, but I am really sorry about what happened." Ron explains, still looking concerned. "But if something is wrong, you would tell one of us right?"
She nods, and sends him a forced smile. "I would. I should get heading to bed. I'll see you tomorrow, Ron."
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."
She scurries away from him and finds herself flying past the Fat Lady portrait. She had a feeling Harry would be in there waiting for her. Unfortunately for her, he had been able to tell when she was lying (most of the time anyway).
Eventually, she's looking for Luke because when she was lost he was the only one she wanted.
She strolls into the Hufflepuff Common Room, when two people sneak back in. Thankfully, Luke is sitting by the fire reading a book. He spots her and instantly his face lights up.
"Hey, what's up? How was detention?" he examines her face. "What happened?"
She sits beside him and rests her head on his shoulder, and a soft cry escapes her lips.
It takes Luke a second. "Did she do it to you too?"
When she gives him a confused look and he rolls up his sleeves to reveal a bruised, scared hand. Except his, was done by a blood quill ink.
Her lips fall into a frown as she also rolls up her sleeves, showing him her hands. So it wasn't just her, except his appeared to only be bruises.
Luke stares down at them, she didn't appear to have any marks on them.
There was a confused expression on his face. She noticed his confusion. Luke gently leaned forward picking up her hands abruptly, which she had screamed out in pain.
"Professor Umbridge did this. .can't you see? They're broken. She snapped my fingers with the broken bones Quill. The one people used to use on Muggle's?"
"No I can't see, she must have put something on them, a charm or something." he replied angrily. He stood up. "I'm going to kill her."
"No, you are not. She hurt you also."
"Yeah, but only using blood quill ink. She used it on Edward and Sammy too. Yours is different, it was planned out." Luke told her. "I also don't care about me. I care about you. I'm going to her office-"
"Luke don't, please." she sobs making his eyes soften. " You're only gonna make things worse, please don't. Just...just give me a hug."
Without any warning Aurora scooted right over until she practically on top of him, as she lay her head on his shoulder. Luke hugs her back tightly.
"They hurt so much."
He watches her in pain, he couldn't do anything to help her. "It's okay, they'll heal. She'll pay for what she did. She's a bloody psycho."
He shifted on the couch as he brought her closer to his chest. He reaches out and brushes a few stray strands of hair out of her face. She lay across his chest, looking towards the fire.
"I want Sirius, and Remus." she sobs, and then leaned closer into his side.
She wanted her dad.
"Do you want me to owl them?"
"No!" she exclaimed. "I can't, that would be stupid. I don't want Sirius to get mad, and Remus to be disappointed. Just please, please don't say anything."
Although Luke didn't understand where her words were coming from one bit, he still nodded.
Luke knew about how she grew up, the years of emotional and physical abuse she endured, which is why this worried him so much.
Aurora didn't say anything else after that she only moved closer to him. He continued stroking her hair. Her swollen eyes shut.
Luke had never seen Aurora in such a state and he knew that he would have to take action.
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I changed the last scene from Harry to Luke because I wanted to show more of them during order of Phoenix.
I don't think J.K Rowling ever gave Umbridge's age, so I'm making her around mid-fourties? I'm not sure what age she was suppose to be, but the actress who played her looks around that age.
I really want to write more about her struggling with her abuse, because I think it needs to be developed on, but slowly because she hadn't even come to grasps with it herself yet?? I also want to make sure I'm writing it in a realistic way. Loads of people have comment that she needs to tell Sirius but it's not that easy.