Dursley's Pain | The Dursley series #3 |

• Chapter 5 •

Sticks and stones may break my bones... but the scars will never leave me.

-o-

It hadn't even been close to Hallowe'en and Audrey had already been through several detentions with Umbridge, eventually separate from Harry. Someone would notice soon, the scars had begun to bruise up, not helped by the fact Umbridge found a detention slip in practically anytime she breathed.

On a cold weekend trip to Hogsmeade, she sat in The Three Broomsticks with Harry, Ron and Hermione, practically shivering from the amount of blood she'd lost in the past couple of weeks. "Umbridge has really been giving you a hard time eh, Audrey? Harry's got scars- I'm surprised you-"
"Yeah, well, I guess I'm j-just lucky then" she quickly chirped, holding the butterbeer close to her body to compensate for the lack of blood; Hermione noticed her acting strangely, her eyes flickered down to the tiny bit of Audrey's fingers revealed over her large coat, which Audrey quickly covered up. Perceptive as she was, Hermione wouldn't look into why her friend was keeping secrets unless it looked like she was in danger, it was probably just a scratch.

The remainder of their day was spent watching Harry pine over Cho Chang, a girl he'd liked since third year; practically drowned in his drool as he observed her in Madam Pudifoots across the street.
They laughed heartily as Nicholas appeared and fell into the snowman on the street. He too notice the scar, but said nothing of it, he knew she wouldn't talk. He'd known her long enough to know when to interject and when to leave her to her thoughts, despite the constant need to protect the young girl.

Behind the glossy smile, Audrey wanted more than anything to open up and cry. She didn't know how.

-o-

The next few weeks were spent glaring distastefully at Umbridge from across a classroom. Every. Single. Classroom. She couldn't escape her, or her backwards thinking of not practicing magic spells and that all half breeds should be lower class than full bred wizards.

Trelawney's lessons were usually quite relaxed and informal, but today she was unusually hypersensitive. Nobody understood why, not even the intelligent Ravenclaws of the class, until, "Hem! Hem!" Audrey audibly groaned hearing the unnaturally high voice of the toad herself. "Hem! Ms Dursley that's another detention for being rude to a teacher-" she turned to the owl eyes of the Divination professor and grinned like a Cheshire Cat, "I trust you received my letter of observation?"
Trelawney crosses her arms firmly, her bangles shaking as she did so. "Yes"
"And you are well aware I can ask students questions about your... teaching methods"
"Yes" she turned back to the sea of Huffelpuff and Ravenclaws, "Hello class, please put out your books and carry on from last lesson on-"
"You are the descendant of Cassandra Trelawney the Seer, correct?"
"Yes. I'm her only descendant..."
"And you claim to be a Seer yourself? Could you, predict something for me?" Umbridge stood with her twisted grin widening even still. Audrey couldn't help but sympathise with Trelawney, as she knew that personally she wouldn't want to be questionnaired by the old crone. Although she knew full well if she did, she'd end up behind bars.

Steam was streaming out of Trelawney's now reddened face, as Umbridge walked out writing a prediction the Divination teacher had given her out of worry. Slumping into her teachers chair she sighed dramatically, giving a loud cry of exhaustion. Liza and Rachel advanced towards her, "Are you alright professor? She didn't have the right-"
"That's true. Maybe you should relax after that" Rachel suggested, dropping to her knees beside her teacher. Trelawney smiles weakly, "That's very kind of you children, but nothing can help me now... that dreadful woman will bring disaster upon this school!"
"You don't need to be a Seer to know that" Rodney sniggered, hissing as his friend elbowed him for being unintentionally rude; Audrey stood up, walking towards her teacher, "Not if I have anything to say about it."

-o-

A few days had passed since the teacher observations. Many teachers apart from Mcgonagall, Sprout and Snape were worried about their staff positions, Umbridge could do anything to them as far as anyone knew. It dawned upon her just how much this crone could do, when everyone gathered in the courtyard trying to catch a glimpse of something terrible.

Spotting her cousin among the Gryffindors, she sprinted over in a state of worry, "Harry! What's going on?"
"A teacher's being kicked off the grounds" he muttered in her ear. "Who?" He didn't answer. "Harry, which teacher is being sacked?" Picking her up to his shoulders, she could see a blur of fiery, curly hair covered in shawls and bangles, sobbing hysterically on the courtyard floor. Audrey's heart sank. "Fifteen years... I've lived and taught here... Hogwarts is my home. You- you can't do this!" The vile grinning woman held up a paper with the Ministry mark on it, "Actually I can."

At that moment McGonagall burst through the crowd shielding Trelawney under her cloak sleeves, Umbridge smiled maliciously, "Something you'd like to say dear?"
"Oh there are several things I'd like to say!" She retorted shrilly. Dumbledore strode our of the castle, his commanding presence alerting everyone he was there, "Professor McGonagall. Might I ask you to escort Sybil back inside?" She nodded, taking the shivering teacher towards the oak doors; he swivelled around on Umbridge awaiting her to speak, "Dumbledore, I'm sure you're well aware that as senior secretary of education I-"
"You have a right to dismiss my teachers, but you do not have permission to banish them from the grounds. That responsibility lays with the headmaster"
"...For now" she hissed in her sickeningly sweet tone, walking away as the crowd dispersed. Harry called out Dumbledore's name repeatedly but he didn't listen, watching him disappear among the student's heads; Audrey appeared beside him clutching his arm tightly in comfort.

-o-

She knew nobody would've approved, but she did anyway. Nobody could know.

"This Umbridge woman needed to be dealt with-" the voices hissed, "You know, the spells..."
"I'm doing it- fast as I can... nobody can know... nobody can know..."

Summoning her candles and artefacts from her travels, laying them around the dark grounds beneath her; she'd never taken a liking to the place necessarily, but it was the only place she could do it. Elevating her arms. Palms pouring red, hot magic out of them. A pentagram formed beneath her bare feet. "She'll do much worse if I don't- but we don't do that sort- it's what we were made to-" Audrey couldn't bare the constant fight, her heart beating faster than a hummingbirds wings as a fire burst forth in a circle around her. An arrow was flying towards her, her instinct got the better of her, freezing the arrow mid air; a low grunt from it's originator, alerted her to the herd of centaurs around her. "Be gone succubus. This is not your land. Flee now, or die"
"You can't stop me from practicing magic here horse, I reside on the grounds..."
"Child! The allure of darkness is calling you, imbecile! The stars foretold of this" their leader stepped forward in front of the flames, his human features lit up like the sun. "If you don't leave now, there will be consequences" Audrey was buried deep within herself, she couldn't speak if she tried; the succubus was taking the wheel, "Must... call... father... must- KILL!" Eyes rolling to the back of her head, the centaurs held up their weapons ready to strike, "Pater vocat! Invoco tenebrarum rex Caede et sanguine maim, Voco-ah!" Artefacts shattered and flames disappearing; leaving no marks of damage. The half horse men fled as the Hogwarts Game Keeper approached with a startled Professor McGonagall, finding Audrey sprawled contorted and unconscious, in the Forbidden Forrest.

That's it for this chapter my lovelies!!! This one's a bit shorter than others I've done but I do hope you like it.