Faith .|. H. J. POTTER ✔

Chapter thirty-four

Harry was hurrying back to the Gryffindor common room after the last of the horrible detentions with Umbridge. Over time, he realised that Faith's mum was right; Umbridge did weirdly resemble a toad. But not just any toad. A terribly cruel toad that gave students in detention odd feathers that write with blood instead of ink. 

His hand was stinging against the fabric of his robes where he had it pressed up against. He could feel it starting to heal but even that hurt. And that wasn't the only thing. His scar was hurting like crazy the moment Umbridge touched his hand to see if the message got through. Was she a follower of Voldemort? Is that why his scar hurt the second she was close?

Harry was also rushing back because he wanted to know how the Quidditch try-outs ended. He was able to see the Quidditch pitch from the window in detention but since it was slowly getting darker and darker so he wasn't able to see the last two. He had noticed himself watching Faith a lot. The way she zig-zagged over the field with the Quaffle under her arm and then scoring in the goals of the untrained Keeper-wannabes. He was surprised at how good she was even after everything that happened. He assumed she hadn't been practising over summer based on the way she was when he first arrived in 12, Grimmauld Place. 

He had seen her smile when the try-outs just began and she got on her broom for the first time. How she made a loop in the air when she scored her first goal in so long. That moment he forgot he was in detention with the awful witch. 

When Harry was just about to turn around the corner to the corridor that led to the Gryffindor tower, he saw a figure wearing the Gryffindor Quidditch uniforms, and a broom still in their hand. It took him a moment to realise it was actually Faith. He noticed tears in her eyes, not falling down but staying on the brim as if she was trying to hold herself together until she was alone in her bed. Her hand was wrapped in snow-white bandages.

"Faith?" Harry called her carefully. She looked up and saw him standing there, eyes looking tired and hand under his robes. 

"Harry!" She called back and she quickly blinked the tears away, plastering a smile on her face. It broke Harry's heart.

"Are you OK? What happened to your hand?" Harry asked concerned. Without thinking, Harry took her hand with both of his and carefully looking at the bandages, thereby showing the wounds on his own hand. 

"What happened to yours?" She let her broom lean against her shoulder and now took his hand with both of hers. Most of it was healed but there was still a trace of smudged blood and the lines were clearly showing. But what struck Faith the most was that it looked almost exactly like the wound on her hand that appeared out of nowhere. "How did that happen?"

She looked Harry in his eyes and he looked back. He didn't want to tell her yet. He knew exactly what she'd say if he told her the truth. That he should report it to McGonagall or Dumbledore but Harry really didn't want Umbridge to have the satisfaction of knowing that the detention had hurt him. 

"I ... Can I tell you later?" He asked, brows furrowing. Faith frowned but nodded. 

"Yeah, of course," She said with a small smile. 

"Can I still ask what happened to yours?" Harry asked her, a small smile playing on his lips.

"You can but I don't think the answer will be very satisfying," She said as she shyly let go of his hand and clamped it around her broomstick again. They both started to walk side by side to the common room where they were both heading to in the first place. "I was just about to score an easy save for Ron when it just ... started to bleed,"

"Out of nowhere?"

"Out of nowhere,"

Harry frowned. That didn't make any sense, obviously. Neither of them had any idea how that could have happened.