Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 36: Tyranny

In the morning, Sarah glanced at her hand, the Murtlap tentacles at made their job, the wound had healed, leaving a longitudinal scar.

When she showed her scar and the quill to McGonagall, she was both horrified and outraged, quickly tried to set a meeting with Dumbledore, but he seemed to want to remain unbothered. That meant that whatever McGonagall was about to do would not be supported by Dumbledore and it might just turn up a catastrophe. She confronted Umbridge in the hallway, next to the Great Hall.

"Dolores, if I could have a word," said McGonagall, making her stop and turn. Sarah continued her way towards the table, seeing Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Harry, the twins and Selena gathered at the table.

Sarah sat down next to Hermione, "I went to McGonagall, but Dumbledore refused to meet with us, and McGonagall doesn't have enough authority to undermine her completely," she said and everyone exchanged an uneasy look.

"You did what?" shrieked Harry, angrily.

"I went to McGonagall, Harry. This is bigger than us," she said, gesturing to them all with her hand and Harry's eyes set on it, recognizing the same scar he has.

"I told you I didn't want to give Umbridge the satisfaction," spat Harry, frowning at her.

"Oh," she snickered, feeling the anger rising, "And how does that help when you find yourself before first-years, crying over their wounds, telling you they want to go back home? You have no idea the state I find the children in."

Harry rolled his eyes and clenched his fist, putting his hands under the table.

"Don't give me that, don't be a prat. You're better than that, surely you can understand-"

"Because you're so much better," he blurted, interrupting her, "You did this as some sort of vendetta, didn't you? You just haven't coped with whatever happened with Crouch, and you're trying to prove something, that you can fix it yourself, because you couldn't last time."

Her friends' faces dropped, everyone grew quiet while they stared between Sarah and Harry. She couldn't believe he was throwing in that argument.

She hummed, trying to look untouched by that, "My, how insightful you are, truly," she rested her chin on her palm, "Please, do tell me more about how shallow and revengeful I really am, it's fascinating," she leaned forward, faking an absolute yearning to hear more. Harry frowned at her comment and demeanor.

Sarah leaned back on her seat, recoiling from him as much as she could, "Crouch has nothing to do with this, shame on you for bringing that up. This isn't about you, Harry, as hard to believe as it might seem. And it's not about me either. It's about him," she gestured at a first-year boy she treated with her Murtlap Tentacles ointment, "And her, and them," pointing at another little group of students, "All of them."

She got up from her seat and still had something to add, her eyes zeroing on Harry, "I can name each of them. Tell you exactly how long it took for their scars to heal. Can you?"

He stayed silent for the whole time and Sarah nodded, "That's what I thought." And with that she walked away.

Fred tapped George's shoulder and with Selena they all got up to follow her. Fred turned to Harry and seethed "The fuck, mate?" before turning back to the doors.

The three of them exiting the Great Hall and seeing Sarah planted in place, watching a scene between Umbridge and McGonagall unravel.

"Hey," Fred reached her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm fine, Fred."

He put a hand over his chest, "I know. I'm not though, I think I might faint any second if you don't mind me just-" he pretended that his legs gave out on him and held on to her for support.