On God?

Chapter 25

tw, brief mention of blood

in which this is only a filler chapter lol

Dear Blair

How is Hogwarts? Tonks told me it was a lot of fun. She took me to get ice cream after we dropped you off! Magic ice cream is really good. What house did you get sorted into? Everyone was gossiping about it. Did you make any friends? Tell Ginny hi for me! I gotta go, Tonks is taking me out. Bye!

From, Emma

Dear Emma

Hogwarts is amazing. Sure, classes are a lot different and there's a lot of homework, but it's truly awesome here. I got sorted into Slytherin, and everyone here is super nice. Yes, I made a lot of new friends. Blaise, Theo, Daphne and Greg have been lifesavers. I'll tell Ginny hi, you tell everyone hi from me.

From, Blair

"Who are you writing too?" Theo stretched out on the seat of the sofa next to me, glancing at the paper curiously.

"My sister. She sent me a letter asking how I was doing. I had to reply, didn't I?" I responded, glancing up at him, and he gave me a shrug.

"Dunno. You could always...not reply." He said with a laugh. "I ignore my father sometimes. Makes 'im mad but that's not my problem."

"Right..." I said, glancing away awkwardly. I didn't even know if I would ever see my mom and dad again. Dumbledore had made no move to talk to me about sending me back, but I had a sinking suspicion that he wasn't planning to send me back. At least not until after the war ended.

"Anyways, don't you have to go to detention?" He asked, and my gaze shot to the elaborate clock on the wall in the common room. Four fifty six.

"Shit." I hissed. "Theo, don't touch my stuff, I have to go."

I entered Umbridge's office at five o'seven. Late.

"May I ask why you are late, Miss Stevens?" Umbridge's tone left me with no option.

"I was writing a letter to my sister. I lost track of time." I said, sitting down next to Harry, who had already started.

"That is no excuse." Umbridge said, folding her hands in front of her. "I suppose you give me no other option than to keep you for longer."

And that's what happened. Maybe an hour in, she dismissed Harry. My hand was already bleeding again, red irritated and inflamed.

Two more hours past, and I was struggling to stay silent, my hurt hand shaking. "Come here." Umbridge called softly, and when I gave her my hand, she pressed down on the carved words. Hard.

I yelled, snatching my hand back and cradling it against my chest. "You are dismissed." She said, her mouth forming a grotesque smile.

I ran out of the room as fast as I could.

"You should have come to me yesterday." Snape scolded as I soaked my hand in murtlap something. That's what he called it. "It wouldn't hurt as badly if I had treated it yesterday."

"Well, at least I'm here now." I grumbled. The thing I was soaking my hand in made it feel a lot better. It was soothing and cool, nothing like the burning and itching feeling that the words carved into my skin felt like.

"After I wrap your hand, we will begin our next lesson. Have you been practicing Lumos and Nox?" He asked, glancing up at me suspiciously.

"Yup. Whenever I'm alone." I said, grinning. "So, what's the next spell?"

"Reparo." He said, and I grimaced. "Isn't that really hard though?"

"The spells I am teaching you are a wizard's bread and butter. You need to know them if you wish to learn any by yourself. And you will need them, once the war really begins."

"So you have no hope then? No hope that it can be stopped?"

"If you're here, then no. I do not. You are here to prevent lives from being lost. Dumbledore said nothing about you preventing a war."

By the end of the night, I had mastered Reparo. Mostly. Two out of three times I could repair whatever needed to be repaired. A jar, a quill, a ripped in half piece of parchment, you name it.

"Why were you gone for so long after you left for detention?" Daphne asked as she loosely braided her hair for the night.

"I went exploring. I can't always rely on one of you guys to bring me places. I feel like a burden." I said, petting Beelzebub as he curled up on the pillow next to mine.

"You're not a burden!" Daphne gasped, almost as if the idea were taboo. "You're our friend, we want to help you!"

I smiled, relieved that they weren't annoyed by me. "Thanks Daphne. But still, I need to learn the castle layout."

"Alright, if you insist." Daphne sighed as we all crawled into bed. "I can't wait until the weekend. It's been months since we had a girls night."

"A what?" I asked, sitting up.

"A girls night. You know, we do each others nails, do our hair and makeup, it'll be fun!" She insisted.

"I-I don't know. I'm not really one for that kinda stuff." I said, frowning.

"Please, Blair? It'll be fun." Daphne pleaded. "We do it once a month when we're at Hogwarts. Until this year, it was just me, Pansy, and Millicent."

"Alright, alright." I yielded, sighed, and laid back down. "But only because you asked so nicely."

The next day passed just like the ones before it. Wake up, breakfast, classes, lunch, classes, and detention. Detention hurt the most.

Towards the end, Harry's hand was bleeding for the first time. The pause in quill scratching made Umbridge look up.

"Ah." She said softly, moving around her desk to examine his hand herself. "Good. That ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtnʹt it? You may leave for tonight."

"Do we still have to come back tomorrow?" said Harry picking up his schoolbag, and I followed his example with my backpack.

"Oh yes." said Professor Umbridge, smiling as widely as before. "Yes, I think we can etch the message a little deeper with another eveningʹs work."

I snorted, ignoring the throbbing coming from my hand. "Yeah, literally."

"Miss Stevens, if you do not wish to earn another week of detention I would suggest keeping your mouth shut." Umbridge's voice was strained, as if she were two seconds away from shrieking.

I gave her a crooked grin, curtsied, and left the room.

so so sorry that the chapter is much shorter than usual, but i for the next couple of days i wont have to time to keep writing.

happy holidays everyone! stay safe as social distance!

please vote if you enjoyed!