The walk to the Great Hall was rather quiet, since everyone was trying to mentally prepare themselves for what was coming. Once we entered the Great Hall, you could hear a pin drop. Umbridge was sitting in Dumbledore's chair, smiling sickly as we walked in. She had put desks at the front of the hall, all equipped with a piece of parchment and quill.
"Sit, sit", she said and motioned to the desks in front of her. I rubbed the scar on the back of my hand, which still hadn't faded completely. Umbridge waved her wand and my hand was ripped away from Fred's in an instant.
"You, that desk, Weasley, this one", she said angrily. I reluctantly sat down at the desk in the far left corner, as Fred sat down at the one on the first row on the right. He looked pissed. This woman should really be pushed off the Astronomy Tower some time soon.
Everyone else took a seat and we waited nervously. Most people in the room had never served detention with Umbridge before, but everyone had heard the stories. Nigel was quietly whimpering in the chair next to me and Hermione looked uneasy as well. This was probably her first detention in general.
"I want you to write down I must not break school rules. You will write that over and over again, until the hour is over. I want it written down at least a hundred times." Everyone looked at each other uneasily.
"Now!" She said. I carefully picked up the quill and took a deep breath. I wrote down the first word and waited for the burning sensation to begin.
It was worse the second time, but I did know what to expect. I tried to relax my hand as much as possible, which helped the tiniest bit. The pain was worse, though. Even though it had been months, scars of a blood quill don't heal easily and the skin was still sensitive. It being ripped open again was not feeling great. I just hoped the scar would not become permanent. I did not want a reminder of Dolores Umbridge on my hand for the rest of my life.
Nigel was crying softly next to me and I could hear Susan breathing unsteadily. Cho was not in detention and I couldn't help but feel such hatred towards her. How could she? She normally wasn't a telltale at all.
I looked at Fred often, but he showed little emotion. His jaw was tense, though and I knew for sure that the anger he was building up would soon explode. The twins were my favourite people in the world, but you did not want to rub them the wrong way and Umbridge had definitely done that.
When Umbridge announced that the hour was over, I quickly dropped the quill and pressed my good hand over the wounded one like last time, which relieved the pain a little.
"You can go now", Umbridge said with a satisfied smile on her face. Oh, how I would love to slap that smile off her face Muggle-style.
Nigel got out of his seat and ran out of the Great Hall crying. I wanted to go after him, but two others had beaten me to it: Fred and George. They followed Nigel out of the Great Hall, calling his name.
I met up with Hermione, who was shaking like a leaf, and we walked out of the Great Hall. Outside we found Cho, patiently waiting for us, but everyone walked past her without saying a word. She might be my friend, but I didn't want to talk to her right now either. Not after just receiving the punishment caused by her.
"It's going to be fine, Nigel", I heard Fred say. We turned a corner and saw the twins sitting next to Nigel on one of the stone benches in the hall. Nigel was still crying softly.
"Yeah, it's not as bad as it seems. See, it's fading already", George added, showing his own hand.
"The pain stops after a while", Fred mumbled. It warmed my heart to see them care so much for this little boy, but the situation pained me. A second-year student should not have to go through this.
"Shall I bandage it for you? That way the wound will stay clean", I said and Nigel looked up surprised. He smiled slightly and nodded.
"Come on", I said and we all went back to the Gryffindor common room.
"I think we might have to pull our date forward, Fred", George said, sounding angry.
"I totally agree, George."
I took a bowl and a clean cloth from the bathroom next to our dorm and made my way back to the common room. I filled it with water using the Aguamenti charm and wet the cloth.
"Come on, sit down", I said to Nigel. He did what he was told and held his hand above the bowl. He was still shaking. I gently pressed the cloth against the wound and he flinched a little, but I could see in his face that the cold water relieved some of the pain. I then dried his hand and carefully bandaged it. I did the same for Hermione and a couple other Gryffindors. Fred and George didn't want it, probably because they felt they were too cool for that. I did mine and cleaned up the mess I had made.
I sighed and fell down on the couch, next to Fred.
"I hate that woman so badly", I mumbled. Supper would be served in half an hour, but I wasn't hungry.
"She's going to regret that. Just you wait", Fred said bitterly.
"When are you going to, you know ...", I said, hinting at the twins' departure.
"As soon as possible", George said.
"We need to make a bunch more Fireworks though, because we used tons this afternoon. So it'll still take some time", Fred said and wrapped his arms around my waist. It would be so weird not having them around.
"The Easter holidays start this weekend. What are the plans?" I asked. Not many people went home over Easter break and I was planning on spending it on my potions work.
"We're going to take it nice and easy. Prepare for the big battle against Umbitch", George said sour. That woman was going to get hell. I chuckled and snuggled up in the crook of Fred's neck. He kissed me on the top of my head and pulled me closer. I was normally not the biggest fan of cuddling with others around, but I was thinking of the less fun part of their departure. With them moving up the date, that would mean two months of not seeing each other. I guess it's true what they say about not having roses without thorns. After everything that had happened, we could do that though.
The time left flew by in a blur. I spent the remainder of the week and the entirety of the first week of Easter break working on my potion. I had been right when I thought that a little bit extra Armadillo Bile was what was missing. I tried the potion and so did both Fred and George and I could not see a single memory. I was ecstatic about that, even though I still had to write 4 rolls of parchment about it. That last task kept me busy for days, but in the end, I was very happy with the result. I had invented two new potions that actually worked, which was the greatest feeling in the world.
I spent the last week of the Easter break with Fred and George. They had been awfully quiet during the break, because they had locked themselves up in their room 24/7. They were constantly making new batches of their Wildfire Whiz-bangs. They had enough to blow up the entire school. They allowed me to help them and Fred taught me how to. I nearly blew my fingers of many times, but it was fun and I kind of wanted to spend every minute I had left with Fred.
It was now the last day of spring break, on a Sunday night, and I was laying next to Fred on his bed whist George was putting the last, newly-made firecrackers in a bag.
"How are we going to transport those, Fred?" he asked and looked at the two giant bags of fireworks that stood in the corner of the room. Fred looked confused and then turned to me.
"You could use the Undetectable Extension charm", I said. "It's not really allowed for private use, but I've used it before and I have never been caught." Since there was no response, I sighed and stood up.
"Have you got a small bag for me?" I asked and George looked around the room. He came back with a burlap bag. I got out my wand.
"Capacious extremis", I said and touched the fabric. I put my arm in to check if it had worked and it had.
"There you go", I said and threw the bag back at George.
"Wicked", he mumbled. I laid down on the bed again, tired from doing nothing at all and felt Fred's arms snake around my waist.
"Never thought I'd say it, but your intelligence is hot", he said and I plunged my elbow in his ribs.
"I'm going to go ... do stuff", George said and quietly exited the room, to which I chuckled.
"Poor Georgie", I mumbled.
"Hey, I have to enjoy it while I still can", he said and pulled me on top of him. He looked down, creating a double chin, to which I laughed.
"Have you decided when?"
"We're thinking of Wednesday afternoon. There's a study hall led by Umbridge on Thursday, which would be great to miss." I smiled, but felt a little sad. I had to hand in my Potions Assignment on Wednesday evening after supper and I had hoped that Fred would be there until then.
"Not good?" he asked when he noticed me zoning out.
"No, No, it's fine", I said. I wanted to ask him to delay it, but I knew that they had been waiting for this moment for ages now.
"No, come on, tell me. I will find out anyway", he said and kissed me softly. I smiled and kissed him again, saving this very moment in my brain to recall in the next two months.
"I've got to hand in and talk about my big Potion assignment Wednesday night", I said. "And I'm a bit nervous for that." Fred smiled sympathetically and pushed a strand of hair out of my way.
"Then I guess we'll move the date to Thursday. Maybe right before Umbridge's class, that would be fun."
"You don't have to", I said.
"But I'm going to. I'm not going to miss your big day." I sighed gratefully and pulled him into a kiss again. I loved him so much.
"You better come to the platform when term is finished."
"Oh, I'll be there." He kissed me again and held me tightly, burying his head in my hair.
"I love you", he said.
"I love you too."
"Will you sleep here tonight?" he asked curiously.
"Hmm... Won't the others mind?" George would always tease us when I'd stay over at their dorm, but I knew he didn't mind.
"Like they have a say." Fred grinned and pecked my lips softly, so I couldn't help but agree.
"Okay, I guess." He smirked and pulled me over swiftly, hovering over me. I giggled at the sudden move.
"You're beautiful", he mumbled, to which I blushed furiously.
"Oh, shut up and get over here", I said, cupped his face and connected our lips again. I loved him and I always would.