Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter three

 

       𝕯ays seemed to zoom by for Winnie Bulstrode, with her nose either stuck in a book or her wrist searing in pain from writing essays and studying whenever she could. Fifth-year students who cared had been nose-deep in their studies for the first weeks of school. Winnie, wanting to be ahead of the game, already made a studying schedule for all her classes. Which left her most evenings passed out with books thrown across her bed or ink marks covering her fingertips.

     Friday afternoon at the end of October found Winnie Bulstrode walking briskly down the halls of Hogwarts. She had spent the better part of her day fighting procrastination. She had tried to study in the common room. Which failed remarkably as the Weasley Twins approached her with candy, and yes, she was dumb enough to take one. She ended up in the hospital wing for the evening, trying to find a way to turn the colour of her skin back to pale rather than blue.

       That will be the first and only time she will accept candy from the lean, redhead twins.

        All Winnie Bulstrode truly wanted to crawl away and never be seen again — and yes, she is dead serious about this. This whole school year has been a constant pain in the arse, and Winnie is quite sick of it! Winnie has a list of exactly why she wishes to disappear — hello, she has a list for everything!

        One. ) Umbitch has been nothing but an entire asswipe these entire few weeks. They have done nothing but read or write essays, which, usually, Winnie wouldn't complain about any of that, except for their D.A.D.A teacher was the worst person alive. ( okay, not the worse. She is very much aware that You-Know-Who is happening again, so she isn't the worse. ) Every day, Winnie enters the Defence classroom, hoping and praying to see anything but a splash of bright bubblegum pink clothing, and every single day, she is disappointed. Merlin's Beard, how much can one really like pink! It's ghastly. It doesn't help the fact that Umbridge — Umbitch — is anything but a kind person unless, of course, you're a bloody Slytherin. The woman gives a new person detention every class. Winnie swore she once saw the bloody witch provide second-year girl detention for tripping in the hall. Tripping! The bloody nerve.

        Two.) Winnie's parents seem to be up her arse more than ever this year. She was surprised to see her parents; Tawny Owl dropped a thick letter in front of her toast one day. She blinked at the parchment and then asked Dean if she saw things. She was, in fact, not seeing things. Regardless, she was displeased with the contents of the letter. Her family wished for her to see reason, threatening to take away the privileges of using the House Elves when she arrived home. Winnie outright laughed at that, as if she couldn't just make her food. She wasn't a stuck-up prissy! As much as she laughed and rolled her brown eyes, a tiny part of her still sunk with despair. Her parents wanted something, her to do better, and better was all she ever tried to do by them.

        Winnie was content with disappearing at her little table for hours as she studied. Instead, she stumbled as she stopped herself from running into a bushy-haired female. The girl's hand came out and held herself on the shelves as Hermione Granger gasped slightly. The two girls steady themselves, Hermione with an arm full of books and Winnie with her hand tightening around her bag.

        "Oh! Winifred, I didn't mean to startle you," Hermione apologized as she smiled briskly, her tanned cheeks crinkling as her lips pulled upwards. Winnie felt the need to growl at the girl for using her god-awful birth name, but she simply frowned, considering Winnie didn't mind Hermione's presence.