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—THE FACT THAT RIGEL HAD GOTTEN A DETENTION SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL SINCE THE BLACK HEIR WAS NEVER ONE TO GET IN TROUBLE... Which was surprising considering who his guardians were. The reason for his detention was that Rigel refused to open a book with only theory in it and not practice actual spells, which Umbridge had, of course, found it offending, claiming that it was 'Ministry-approved'.
Umbridge had already hated Rigel from the start, which he had immediately noticed, so he knew she must be jumping with joy in her office.
..Or rather, drinking tea with thousands of plates with pictures of cats around her.
Rigel sneered, looking around her office which he had just walked into.
"Goodafternoon, Mr. Potter." Umbridge plastered on a fake smile.
"Black." Rigel immediately corrected, glaring at her.
Umbridge tried not looking fazed by his glare and said, "Today you will be writing lines for me."
Lines? That's it?
"Lines?" asked Rigel suspiciously, sitting down and trying to pull out a quill from his bag but was stopped.
"Not by your quill." Umbridge said, pulling out a quill from her desk. "You'll be using a rather special one of mine."
Rigel stayed quiet, sucking in a sharp breath when she gave him the quill which he recognized immediately by the red tip; a blood quill.
"I want you to write 'I must not tell lies,'" Umbridge told him softly.
Rigel frowned. What did lying even have to do with this? Was she really that hateful towards him due to him 'claiming' that Voldemort was back?
He sighed, knowing if he tried backing out, everything would go wrong.
"How many times?" Rigel asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.
"Oh, at long as it takes for the message to sink in," said Umbridge sweetly. "Off you go."
She moved over to her desk, sat down, and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. Rigel raised the sharp black quill and then tried acting like he didn't know what it was,
"You haven't given me any ink," he said.
"Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.
Rigel placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies.
He held in a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Rigel's right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel.
Rigel looked around at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile.
"Yes?"
"You know who you're dealing with, right?" asked Rigel, his green eyes shining with coldness.
Umbridge gave him a smile, which he grimaced at. "Oh, I believe I do, Mr. Potter."
"Black." Rigel corrected through gritted teeth and went back to writing with the blood-quill, not making any sound.
••
"What took you so long?" asked Blaise as Rigel walked back to the dorm.
He merely shrugged, not replying.
Draco and Blaise shared a concerned look. "Ri, what's wrong?" Draco asked.
"Nothing." Rigel said, pulling out a few clothes from his wardrobe. "I'm going to be taking a shower."
••
"—and you can teach us!" Granger finally finished.
Rigel raised his head from the book in his hands. "No." He said, looking bored.
"But, Harry— Dumbledore said it's a good idea!"
"I don't give a fuck. You can do whatever you want with the others— I'm not joining. I have to study for O.W.Ls."
