Jupiter | Harry James Potter

lxiv ; again and again

      

         Jupiter woke up the next morning, a fresh new wave of anger surging through her blood as she dressed and glanced over to Lavender's closed curtained bed. 

"Jove, what're you doing?" Hermione muttered, rubbing her puffy eyes as she slowly sat up. Apparently, in Jupiter's anger, she had forgotten to keep quiet.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Jupiter whispered, slipping on her shoes. "I've got detention."

"Already?" Hermione scoffed, her voice coarse and raspy. "It's the second day."

"The new teacher, Umbridge, caught me in the corridor last night," Jupiter sighed, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she stood up. "I don't know if I'll make breakfast. Tell Harry for me, yeah?"

"Yup," Hermione called sleepily as Jupiter walked out of the dorm, not bothering to shut the door quietly now that Hermione was awake. 

-

When Jupiter knocked on the door of Umbridge's third floor office, she heard, "Come in," in a sugary voice. She entered cautiously, looking around. When Remus had occupied it, it was likely you would meet some fascinating Dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call. Now, however, it looked totally unrecognizable. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Jupiter stared at them, transfixed, until Professor Umbridge spoke again. 

"Good morning, Miss Black," 

Jupiter started and looked around. She had not noticed the woman at first because she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her. "Morning," she said stiffly. 

"Well, sit down," Umbridge said, pointing toward a small table draped in lace beside which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair. A piece of blank parchment lay on the table, apparently waiting for Jupiter. She was watching Jupiter with her head slightly to one side, still smiling widely, as though she knew exactly what she was thinking and was waiting to see whether Jupiter would start arguing again. With a massive effort, Jupiter looked away from her, dropped her school bag beside the straight-backed chair, and sat down. 

"There," Umbridge said sweetly, "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, Miss. Black. No, not with your quill," she added, as Jupiter bent down to open her bag. "You're going to be using a rather special  one of mine. Here you are." She handed Jupiter a long, thin black quill with an unusually sharp point."I want you to write 'I must not fight back,'"

 "How many times?" Jupiter asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness. She couldn't believe her ears. After years of finally having freedom, it felt exactly like she was back in Lestrange Estate, being held captive under the tight claws of the Noble House of Black.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," said Umbridge. "Off you go." She moved over to her desk, sat down, and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. 

Jupiter raised the sharp black quill and then realized what was missing. "You haven't given me any ink," she said.

 "Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice. Jupiter placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not fight back.