Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

63) The Ill Quill - Because It's Sickening

Getting Rosie onto the Quidditch team was surprisingly easy. Professor Sprout didn't mind at all, and Dumbledore said he trusted my judgement. After a quick demonstration catching an actual snitch, she was officially on the team. 

Of course, we didn't let Umbridge in on it.

As I was walking towards Hufflepuff common room, I saw Ron standing by the staircase, looking nervous but very, very pleased.

"I made the team, Percy, isn't that great!" Ron grinned at me, clutching his broom as if I planned on taking it away.

"That's awesome!" I said, smiling, patting him on the shoulder. "Want to come to my room to celebrate? I've got a load of candy, and Draco pirates movies on his laptop, so we can watch Finding Nemo."

"Nah, I think they're holding a celebration in our common room. You should come," Ron said brightly, then frowned. "But first, I came to ask if you had any more dreamless sleep potion. I've been running out — not drinking a full portion, you know? — and have been having weird dreams. I had one about me joining the Quidditch team, though, but that's been the only good one. The rest have been about, you know, the usual."

I grimaced, "I don't have any, but I can start making some. I can't finish it by the time you'll go to bed, though. I'll drop by the common room early tomorrow, though. It's the fastest I can have it done by, since it takes time to simmer."

Ron nodded sadly, "That's all right. I'll actually have something to write in my dream journal for Divination for once."

I felt bad. I really did. I would ask Pomfrey for some, but she's had to start rationing it out to the demigods with really bad nightmares. I didn't want to ask Snape, 'cause he'd ask for an explanation. I figured that since Ron had come to me — and had already decided not to get it from anywhere else — that he'd come to the same conclusions as me.

As he was stepping away, Ron seemed to hesitate, then said, "Umbridge is, uh... what do you do in detention with her, Percy? I know you haven't had it with her in a while, but you still, uh, do the punishments?" Ron was trying, and failing, to hide the fact that he knew exactly what the punishment was.

"I write lines with a quill that carves whatever I write into the back of my hand," I said dryly.

Ron blinked at me, then let out a breath, "We have to get rid of her, Percy, she isn't right."

"Yeah, but I can't touch her," I frowned. "I can say words all I want, but if I ever do anything more, you know I'm getting sent straight to Azkaban."

Ron nodded sadly, "Yeah."

He turned and left, and I walked back to my room. I immediately started on the potion, and once it was ready for the most part, I sat down at my desk, staring at the quill that had carved scars into my hand.

For a moment, I wanted to break it. I wanted to show that Umbridge didn't own me, even though she really seemed to be trying. She'd already marked me.

A dark feeling washed over me, and I grabbed the quill. I fished around for a piece of parchment, slapped it down on my desk, and I held the quill in my left hand. For a moment, I just stared at the parchment. I didn't want to do this, did I? But I did want to. Maybe it was spite, but I think I just wanted to prove it to Umbridge, prove it to me, that I was my own person. Nobody owned me except for myself.

I didn't stop when I felt the pain wash over my left hand. I barely glanced at the words. I wanted to make sure they would stay, I wanted them to counter the words on my right hand. I almost needed them to.

I head the potion start bubbling after a while. I took a break to complete the next part of the potion, and looked down at my hand. I knew that it wouldn't scar, not yet, but the mark hadn't left. It was a raised white scratch, and it was pulsing with pain. So was my head.

I felt like crying, mostly out of frustration, but also because I was tired. I was tired of Umbridge, I was tired of Liam, I was tired of everything. Even the good things.

I let out a breath, and forced the tiredness and frustration away. I looked down at my hand, wishing I hadn't been so angry. Wishing I had chosen a shorter sentence, wishing I hadn't written it at all. I felt strangely sick, because I didn't like how I wanted to write more. Needed to write more.

I will never respect those who don't deserve it.

We do not have hot water. In fact, we do not have water. We don't have water because we are fixing the hot water problem. Fun. Earlier, Kadee was mad at me for wanting to take a hot shower when the water got fixed, because she needed to take a shower. She could've taken one yesterday, but didn't want to, because it's cold. So because she chose not to take a shower, I was supposed to suffer through one after she used all of the hot water. It was dumb. She told me after that we were going to go eat dinner, so I just decided to take a shower then, because I'd be stuck with one equally as cold anyway. It was really cold, but not so cold that you should just... not take one. Like, she just didn't take a shower yesterday. She's gross right now. She hasn't showered in ages (not really, but she does need to shower). Also, apparently my dad hasn't showered in 5 days. Ew.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a terrific Friday, and I'll see you on Sunday CT. Love ya!