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As the darkness of night descended, the Gryffindor Common Room was filled with only six individuals. Reyna was sprawled out on the sofa, with her legs casually draped over Fred and George's legs, the latter's hand resting on her thigh. Meanwhile, Hermione was in the midst of passionately venting about the cruel and unjust tactics employed by Umbridge during detention.
"Why didn't she use a blood quill on you Reyna?"
"She didn't exactly tell me her motives, Hermione," Reyna says. "I don't think we quite have the bond where she tells me all of her plans and why she enjoys children carving lines into their own hands"
"There must be a reason," The witch begins to pace. "What happened in your detention?"
Reyna swallows the lump in her throat, memories of the excruciating pain that had seared her skin flashed through her head. The echoes of her own agonised screams rang through her ears.
"She just kept talking about Marianne," Reyna decided on telling a half-truth.
As Fred watches the witch, he notices Reyna's face pale slightly, barely noticeable to the untrained eye, but discernible to him. Although her expression is inscrutable, her eyes betray a sense of anguish, prompting Fred to narrow his gaze at the witch with suspicion. Meanwhile, George is too engrossed in Hermione's ranting to detect any subtle shift in Reyna's demeanour.
"Rainy," Fred's voicing of her nickname causes her to look up at him. "I need to talk to you"
"About what?"
"It's private," Fred tells his twin.
"I thought we didn't keep secrets,"
"We need you here George," Hermione's voice drops. "Sirius will be here to talk any minute and you have the most knowledge on the Caleb situation"
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
Perched at the brink of the deserted classroom, Reyna allows her legs to sway off the edge. She tried to ignore the intense gaze of Fred, which felt as though it was boring a hole into the side of her head.
"Out with it," Fred says.
"I don't know what you're talking about,"
"Don't bother lying to me,"
"I'm not,"
"What really happened in Umbridge's detention?" Fred asks, placing his hand on her arm.
Reyna winces in pain as Fred's hand applies too much pressure on one of the more pronounced welts on her body. The witch visibly flinches at the sensation, causing Fred to quickly retract his hand in concern.
"I won't tell anyone," Fred says. "I just want to keep you safe Rainy. You may have this whole soulmate thing with George but I still care about you, you know that"
The witch closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath before she shrugs her cardigan off. Fred stares at the bandages adorning her arms with wide eyes. He gently reaches over and removes one of the bandages to reveal the collection of welts on her arm.
"Reyna, what the fuck happened? No bullshit,"
"I think Umbridge had a guess that I could withstand blood quills, especially seeing as I could just heal myself most of the way," Reyna sighs as Fred rewraps her arm. "So she went for something she knew would actually hurt me. Snow. Unfortunately, when I come in contact with snow to the amount I did, can't do anything besides good old-fashioned healing. Small amounts are fine, quick rune glow problem solved but she must have known that"
"She tortured you?"
Reyna waves her wand over her face, removing the complex glamour Angelina had helped her put on. Fred gently tilts her head to the side, examining the welts that currently marred her face.
"Reyna, why didn't you go to Dumbledore?"
"Umbridge made one good point during the whole thing," Reyna shrugs. "The daughter of a mass murderess claiming a respected Ministry Official tortured her? Dumbledore has no credibility with the Ministry anymore so nothing would happen anyway"
"There's got to be something we can do," Fred states.
"We keep our heads down," Reyna replies. "Make sure we stay clear of her path until we can catch her in the act of doing something illegal. We need solid proof because so far it's the word of the daughter of a murderess and the 'boy who lied'"
"Why won't you tell George?"
"Because he'll do something irrational and stupid," Reyna shrugs. "He'll get himself in trouble with Umbridge and in turn your mother and lord knows she gives you both enough grief as is. You also have to think about your father, his place in the Ministry is already precarious due to his loyalty to Dumbledore, however misplaced it is. If George angers Umbridge, your father could lose his job"
"Percy would be fine though,"
"Yeah because he's an arse-kissing twat," Reyna rolls her eyes. "Your brother has an obsession with appearance and power. You saw how he pulled the prefect and head boy card all the time. Why do you think he's the Minister's secretary?"
"Because he won't align with Dumbledore, it'll put his career at the Ministry in jeopardy,"
"The Minister knows that and hopes Percy may have some kind of intelligence into Dumbledore's motives,"
"But he doesn't,"
"And that is the only good thing about that pompous, arrogant knob,"
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