Potter Sibling Trilogy Plus One Book 2 (continued from Book 1)

Chapter 6 - Medieval Methods

~Bella's POV~

When I enter Umbridge's office after my last lesson, I am greeted by hundreds of mewing cat plates hanging on the wall.

"Good evening, Miss Swan."

"Got my name right at least."

"Sit."

I close the door and sit down at the small table in front of her desk.

"You're going to be doing some lines for me today, Miss Swan."

I reach into my bag.

"No, not with your quill. Going to be using a rather special one of mine."

She stands and places a large quill on top of the piece of paper in front of me.

"Now, I want you to write, 'I must not tell lies.'"

I hold my tongue as the anger builds up inside me.

"How many times?"

"Well, let's say for as long as it takes for the message to sink in."

She turns her back.

"You haven't given me any ink."

"Oh, you won't need any ink."

She's right, as soon as I start writing, the ink appears on the end of the quill.

As I start on the second line, my hand starts burning and I groan before turning to look at her. She still has her back towards me.

I continue to write and then the words I'm writing begin to burn into my hand.

I sit there quietly, no longer writing, until the line is written on my hand.

"What the hell have you done to me?" I scream, jumping up.

"Lies must not go unpunished," she says.

"This isn't punishment, it's abuse and you won't hear the end of this when my father finds out."

"Your father is dead, young lady. And the man who raised you, a mere Muggle, has no influence in our world."

"You won't get away with this," I scream before I leave the room where Edward is standing there waiting for me.

"Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? Am I okay?" I scream. "You knew she was going to do that didn't you? Didn't you?"

His face says it all.

"You are just as evil as she is," I scream before I hurry away, grasping my hand as the stinging pain sets in.

He speeds in front of me and takes my shoulders as the tears begin to form.

"Listen, sweetheart, I'm sorry. I hated sitting there; listening to her evil thoughts while she was torturing you but remember I can't just go barging into a classroom to rescue you. I'd get expelled and then I won't be here to protect you."

I just look at him.

"I'm sorry, I just wish..."

"I know but... hey, I want to show you something."

He takes my hand and looks around before pulling me onto his back and speeding me to the middle of the Dark Forest where loads of Thestrals are wondering around.

"Wow, there's loads of them. So why can't the others see them?"

"They can only be seen by people who've seen death."

"Hello, Bella, Edward," I hear a familiar voice and turn to see Luna walking towards us. "Strange creatures aren't they?"

"You can see them?"

"Yes, my mother died when I was 9. She was quite an extraordinary witch, but she did like to experiment and one day, one of her spells went badly wrong."

"I'm sorry."

"Yes, it was rather horrible. I do feel very sad about it sometimes, but I've got Dad. We both believe you, by the way. That He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, and you fought him and the Ministry and the Prophet are conspiring against you and Dumbledore."

I look at Edward who smiles.

"Thanks. It seems there's not that many who do."

"I don't think that's true. But I suppose that's how he wants you to feel."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if I were You-Know-Who I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else because if it's just you alone you're not as much of a threat."

Wow, I can't believe she's making complete sense. Edward takes my hand and squeezes it as Luna walks away.

"Thank you. I wouldn't have believed it if it came from you."

"I know," he smiles before we take a steady walk back to the castle.

When we reach the dinner hall, we go up to the others, who are all sitting together.

"Bella," Hermione smiles.

"Can we join you?"

Hermione looks at the others but before we get an answer, we hear...

"Pardon me, professor, but what exactly are you insinuating?" Umbridge says with a raised voice so we all go out to see what's going on.

She and McGonagall are on the steps.

"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practises."

"So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom, Minerva."

She moves up a step.

"Not at all, Dolores," she replies, also moving up a step. "Merely your medieval methods."

"I am sorry, dear. But to question my practises is to question the Ministry and by extension the Minister himself. I am a tolerant woman but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty."

McGonagall moves down a step.

"Disloyalty," she says in a hushed voice.

Umbridge moves up another step and turns to us.

"Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."