prospicere futurum | fred weasley | cedric diggory

48

Corinne dragged the bottom of her shoe along the polished tile floor silently once more, then again, waiting, watching as Umbridge arranged a few items along her desk. If she thought that the few minutes of silence were going to do anything to wear thin on Corinne's nerves as she waited for her punishment, she was badly mistaken.

In fact, Corinne was enjoying every single second before she knew she would have to hear that witch's voice.

She had been sure to keep her eyes planted to the floor, or the desk where her elbows were resting, though she now snuck a look to the front of the room. She could see the quill at the edge, even as Umbridge rustled through some papers on her desk, humming under her breath. It had to be the quill. Corinne had known her outburst would have earned her something worse than organizing or doing chores for Umbridge. And she didn't regret it, even now, as her mind flashed back to the bloody words scarred in countless students flesh so far this year.

She wasn't planning to let the professor see her scared. To let her think she regretted her actions. That she was sorry.

"Well, Miss Baker, I suppose we should get started." The high pitched voice rang out, and Corinne pressed her right fist into her cheek, propping herself up on the desk as Umbridge drew closer, the infamous quill hanging between two fingers. "I'm going to be having you write some lines for me today. I've got plenty of parchment for you here to make sure that the message really sinks in..."

A dozen replies had risen to her mind at the sickly sweet smile the short woman was shooting down as Corinne took the quill, lips set in a frown.

Before either of them could say anything, the door to the classroom burst open, a familiar wide-eyed, red haired girl standing in the doorway, huffing out a couple of breaths. Evidently, she had sprinted here.

"Miss Weasley, what do you think you're-"

"I'm sorry..." She heaved, "Professor Umbridge... I ran all the way... Filch needs your help..." Ginny pressed a hand onto the side of the door frame, dramatically. "Every bathroom, the whole school... It's flooding with giant green bubbles-"

"Green... giant..." Umbridge had pressed a hand over her heart, and Corinne resisted an eye roll at the gesture. "What do you mean every bathroom?"

"Well, he hasn't checked them all yet, but everyone's saying it's the whole school. All at once."

"Well, surely Dumbledore would be better suited-"

"No one can find him." Ginny insisted, and Corinne studied the younger girl for a second longer before Umbridge lurched into action, already slipping into the hallway, apparently forgetting Corinne's very existence.

"Are you alright?" Corinne asked now, though Ginny was already straightening, her breathing completely normal.

"Fine, you?" She smiled, that familiar Weasley grin.

"I'm... fine..." Corinne said, partially through a laugh. "Is the school really-"

"Oh, yeah. Disgusting really." She answered, nodding towards the hallway, though Corinne was still in her spot. "She won't be back for a long while. In fact, I think that was sort of the whole point."

She didn't need the telling smirk to understand the implication.

Fred.

"Have a good weekend." She said, brightly, already turning to head down the hallway out of sight. Corinne's eyes swept the hallway, and finally after a few seconds with no sign of anything pink and evil, she took off, hurrying to a back staircase in case Umbridge was using the main ones.