The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

24. Detention Duo

Luna and Carly weren't the only people to get a detention from Umbridge that day, as Harry also received one.
But since Umbridge knew there was safety in numbers, she scheduled Harry's detention directly after the girls, to stop them from drawing strength from each other, and conspiring together.
Carly and Luna arrived at Umbridge's office that evening and sat down at the desks that had been laid out for them.
Umbridge had rearranged the room, so that the desks were back to back, facing the side walls. So that Luna and Carly wouldn't be able to see each other during the detention. But Umbridge could still see the sides of both of their faces.

"You're both going to be doing some lines for me today" announced Umbridge, as the girls took their seats.
Carly smiled, as writing lines was a very simple task, that could be completed sitting down.
Snape liked to dish out punishments that involved manual labour, like cleaning cauldrons by hand.
So, Carly was looking forward to writing some lines, in nice warm room.

"You haven't given us any ink" pointed out Luna, interupting Carly's thoughts.
"You won't need any ink, as I have given you both one of my very special quills each" grinned Umbridge.
"What exactly do we have to write?" Questioned Luna.
"You will write, I will obey the Ministry. As hopefully this will stop you both from questioning me and the Minister, in the future"
"How many times do we have to write this?"
"Let's just say, until the message has sunk in... You may begin".

Carly sighed and picked up the strange silver quill, as Luna did the same behind her.
Since there wasn't an amount of lines that they had to meet, Carly intended on writing very slowly, until the detention came to an end.
But as she started to write out the first line, she felt a strange sensation on the back of her hand.
It started off as just an unpleasant itching, but as she continued to write, it turned into more of a stabbing pain.
The pain was so bad that Carly couldn't concentrate on anything else.

Carly placed the quill down, and turned her other hand over to inspect it.
This was when she saw the blood covering the back of her hand.
The blood had oozed out of a strange wound that hadn't been there before, and it was no ordinary wound.
The words, I will obey the Ministry, had been etched in blood on the back of her hand.
It was as if someone had taken a knife and carved the words into the skin on her hand.
Which is when she realised exactly what the quill she had been using, was doing to her. She had been writing lines, using her own blood.

Carly looked from the quill over to Umbridge, who was smiling sweetly back at her.
"Something you would like to say, Miss Potter?" Asked Umbridge.
"No" mumbled Carly.
"Good. Then please continue with your lines" instructed Umbridge.
Carly frowned and picked the quill back up, before looking back at the parchment in front of her.
As she started writing the next line, she once again felt a terrible pain in the back of her hand.
She tried to ignore it, by focusing on something else, and that is when she heard the sound of sniffling from behind her. Which is when she realised that Luna was crying.

Umbridge had specifically placed the tables in such a way, that Carly could not see her girlfriend's suffering. So she could not comfort her.
But since they were back to back, she could still hear Luna's cries.
Carly tilted her head slightly to the right, so that she was closer to Luna.
"Don't cry. Don't give her that satisfaction" whispered Carly.
"I can't stop myself" mumbled Luna.
"Take my hand, and let me support you" hissed Carly.

As stealthily as she could, Carly lowered the arm that Umbridge couldn't see, and reached it behind her, towards Luna, as her girlfriend did the same.
Carly clutched Luna's hand tight, and as she did she could feel the bloody words, etched on the back of Luna's hand, and it made her blood boil.
No one harmed her girlfriend and got away with it.
But since they were both in detention, there was nothing Carly could do to get revenge, as Umbridge was their teacher, and a member of the Ministry of Magic.

"Why is no one writing?" Questioned Umbridge.
Carly and Luna quickly let go of each others hands, and continued writing.
Despite the pain they were both in, neither of the girls made a sound for the rest of the detention, as they didn't want to give Umbridge the satisfaction of knowing that she was hurting them.
Instead, the girls focused on the happy memories they had together, to get them through the pain they were in.

Eventually the detention came to an end, and Umbridge excused them from the room, after telling them that she expected them to return the following evening, to continue with their lines.
Harry was sitting on a bench outside Umbridge's office, when the girls exited the room.
"Hey guys. Are you two alright?" Questioned Harry.
Luna and Carly both had their fists clenched tight, and Luna had red rings around her eyes from where she had been silently crying.

"What did Umbridge make you do?" Quizzed Harry.
"Write lines" answered Carly quietly.
"Well, that's not too bad, is it?" Asked Harry.
"You'll see" mumbled Carly, before placing her arm around Luna's shoulders, and guiding her towards the Room of Requirement.

****

Once alone in their favourite place, the girls threw themselves into each others arms, and held their lover tight.
"I can't go through all that again tomorrow" sobbed Luna, as she cried onto Carly's shoulder.
"Yes you can. You're the strongest person I know" reassured Carly.
Luna sniffed and shook her head, as she extracted herself from Carly's embrace, "I'm not strong".
"You've been bullied relentlessly since your first day here, and you never let it get you down. So, I know just how strong you are" replied Carly.

"What Umbridge is doing can't be legal. Teachers can't torture students like that" cried Luna, as she looked at the bloody words on the back of her hand.
"Aunt Andy told me that in the old days, the students were whipped, and chained up in the dungeons if they misbehaved" Carly said quietly.
"But that was years ago. Teachers are not allowed to do things like that anymore" replied Luna.
"No, they're not. But Umbridge has the whole of the Ministry behind her, so she can do whatever she likes. Which means we can't stand up to her, without making the Ministry suspicious of where our loyalty lies. We can't have them thinking that we've joined Voldemort".

"There must be some way we can stand up to Umbridge. We can't just lie back and take her evil punishments" announced Luna.
"I doubt Dumbledore will be able to do anything to stop her, since she reports to the Minister and not him" sighed Carly.
"What about Snape? Voldemort said that if we had a problem, we could go to Snape. He said Snape would protect us, if something bad happened" reminded Luna.
"He meant that if someone discovered our secret, we could go to Snape. But Snape is still just a teacher, so I don't think he will be able to stop Umbridge from doing whatever she wants. And I don't think Voldemort can just come charging into Hogwarts, to protect us from our teachers, and get us out of detentions... Which means that for now at least, we are on our own".