Petrified (Fred Weasley Love Story)

Chapter 13 - Disobey

Chapter 13

The walls of the castle were bare, announcers placed in every section with Umbridge's depressing announcements being made every hour, sometimes more. Hogwarts no longer felt like Hogwarts. It no longer felt safe.

The pain burned from my hand and up my arm, making every other part of my body feel cold in comparison. I looked down at the page in front of me and glared at the words I'd written almost a hundred times.

'I will never disobey or lie'.

I could feel the burning at the back of my throat as tears threatened to spill. I swear if I write anymore, I will see bone. Blood pooled next to my hand on the desk and it was excruciating to move it, so I let it sit dead on the hard wood as I tried to finish the hundred lines for Headmistress Delores Umbridge.

I felt Fred's eyes on me like I had since I accidently let out a small noise of pain 60 lines in. In an attempt to squash my feeling towards him, I still played cold to him, and it was beginning to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life. My heart cried louder and louder for him the more distance I put between us. Distance just wasn't working, and it broke my heart to see him so sad.

Umbridge was so obvious in her punishment that she directed me in front of everyone sitting in the great hall for this punishment, that I must write 100 lines while everyone else wrote 50. In the past week that she'd become headmistress, she'd tried to force me to tell her something about the night my parents died in so many different ways. She even pretended to be nice about it at one point.

But when I gave her no new information other than what I'd told the ministry the night it happened, she didn't like it at all so I feel as if she's resorted to plain old continuous overt cruelty.

I don't even know if it's just her or the ministry at this point. I thought it was the ministry trying to play a game by sending her after me, but maybe she has other purposes for finding out what happened that night. I just don't know anymore.

Once everyone else finished, she had told them they had to wait until every single person in the room was done, meaning me.

I knew no one blamed me for prolonging having to sit here, only hated her more for it, knowing it was my punishment, not theirs for having to sit here longer. Umbridge was trying to guilt me, knowing I hated that they all had to sit here in silence and pain because of me.

The hundredth line was finished, and the ache in my wrist cried with thanks as I set the quill down.

I looked up to Umbridge and she raised a primped eyebrow at me. She raised herself and her pink heavy robes from Dumbledore's chair and started walking down the stairs purposely slow. By the time she made it to my desk, my blood was dripping to the floor, being one of the only two sounds in the room. The tap of blood hitting the floor, and Umbridge's quiet giggle when she reached my desk.

"Is this one hundred lines, Miss Hale?" she asked. I nodded, the ability to speak long gone. "Are you sure?" Again, I nodded. She then proceeded to count them. "Ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine... There's only ninety nine lines on this page Miss Hale".

I could almost feel the intake of breath of every person in the room and the burn of the glares directed at her. Umbridge placed the parchment on my desk again and instructed me to write the last line. I picked up the quill, but my hand was shaking so badly that it fell from my grasp and hit the floor in a loud commotion. Umbridge just stood there and stared at me.

I took a deep breath, and tried reaching for it without moving my hand, but I couldn't reach.

I saw white light as I dragged my hand across the table enough to allow me the distance I needed to reach down and pick up the quill. Righting myself was hard and took me a few minutes to compose myself enough to not pass out.

Blood lined edge of the parchment that contained my ninety nine lines, some splattered across it in small puddles.

I put the quill to the page and began my one hundredth line. The pain burned and I let out a sob, not being able to help it any longer, but I slammed my teeth shut and bit my tongue, finishing the last line without another sound.

Umbridge took the page. "You may leave now Miss Hale" she informed me. I used my good hand to push myself off the seat, cradling my profusely bleeding hand to my chest. Surprisingly enough, I didn't pass out. I felt all eyes in the room watch me as I passed everyone's tables, walking down the middle of the isles. The looks of sympathy and sadness heavied my heart. I attempted a small smile at a few. It was a very pathetic smile.

As my walk ended at the doors to the great hall, I heard Umbridge tell everyone they were now allowed to leave. I began to make my way up the stairs.

His arms were around me in seconds, pulling me to him and turning me around so my cheek was to his chest as tears streamed down my face and violent sobs shook my body. Fred was all that was holding me up now, my legs forgetting how to work. He held me tightly, kissing my hair for another few moments before he swung me up into his arms, carrying me through the castle.

When we were far enough away from Umbridge and the great hall, Fred set me down on the ground and held my bleeding hand. He pulled out his wand and whispered a spell to stop the bleeding and replenish the blood I'd lost. I instantly felt much better.

I looked up at Fred, the pain in my hand still ever present, but lessened now I was in better health.

"I've missed you" he whispered.

Istared up at him and pulled him into my arms, hugging him tighter than I everhad and crying more tears into his shoulder. He had no idea how much I missedhim too.