Friends Kiss Too | F. Weasley

Chapter 30 - An Odd Sort of Quill

Milena sat at her desk slumped back in her same seat in DADA as she read chapter 10 of Basics for Beginners: Vol. III, barely retaining a word on the page. No matter how many times her eyes scanned the paragraphs over and over again, not a single word stuck in her head. Everyone else was quietly reading apart from the twins who were pretending to read, but passing notes back and forth to each other whenever Umbridge was facing away.

Milena let out a sigh and put the book face down on her desk. Umbridge turned around and her eyes darted over into Milena's direction.

"Ms. Carter," Umbridge called out with her uneasy smile, "is there any particular reason why you have put your book down? Have you finished the chapter?"

"No." Milena said.

"No?" Umbridge repeated. "So, then why are we not reading the chapter I've assigned?"

"Because it's no use," Milena replied matter of fact, feeling herself grow more frustrated the longer she looked at Umbridge, "No matter how many times I re-read these paragraphs, I don't take in a single word. This is completely useless and doesn't help any of us."

"Useless? Ms. Carter, I hope you're not suggesting my teaching is inadequate?" Umbridge said, slightly tilting her head.

"Well, what have you taught us?" Milena shot back. "I mean I don't think you've given us a single lesson. You've just told us to open our books and read a chapter and when we're done, read another! We haven't written any notes, we haven't practiced anything! What good is it for us to not-"

"That is quite enough!" Umbridge yelled back, making Milena scowl. "I will not have you questioning my authority in my own classroom, Ms. Carter!"

Milena was standing now, she could feel her frustration bubbling and rising in her. The class fell so quiet that Milena was sure she could hear her own heartbeat, if that were even possible. Milena and Umbridge both stared at each other, neither one wanting to back down.

Fred and George had completely stopped what they were doing and were both intently watching the stand off neither of them had expected. Umbridge cleared her throat and tilted her chin up just a little, putting the fake smile back on her face.

"Ms. Carter, unless you would like a detention with me, I would suggest you sit back down." Umbridge said, in a calm tone again, "I don't think Ms. Johnson would appreciate you missing any quidditch practice, now would she?"

Milena felt her teeth grinding as she fell back into her seat, thinking about how stressed Angelina would be if she missed a practice for detention. Umbridge let out a little high pitched giggle, clearly believing herself to be victorious.

At the end of the class, Milena quickly threw her textbook back into her bag which she hadn't picked up again until then. Throwing it over her shoulder, she stormed out of the room, fuming and leaving the twins behind, who had to jog to catch up with her. They ran up on each side of her, Fred taking her hand in his.

"That was quite the show, Mills," Fred chuckled, "taking one from Harry's book, are we?"

"No... no... I don't know what came over me..." Milena said, "I just can't stand that woman. She's ruined that class and that... that smile... that awful smile... Godric, she makes my blood boil!"

"She definitely has ruined that class," Fred agreed.

"But that's what the DA is for," George whispered.

"Besides, I'm sure sooner or later she'll get what's coming to her." Fred smirked.

It seemed like everyday after that, a new rule was put in place by Umbridge banning something else from the school, tightening her grip on the classes and everything that was taught. Fred and George had been scheming on how they would go about selling their products, filling Milena in on their ideas and plans and she was more than willing to help them sell as much as they could purely out of spite for Umbridge.