It hurts when you're gone (Ron Weasley Fanfic)

Chapter 17- Pink ain't my colour

'Oi Y/N! I heard your dad's been demoted? Look at this everybody!' said Malfoy, waving the Evening Prophet at all the people who were going in to the Great Hall for dinner. My fists curled up and a sudden desire to hit and punch every inch of his body till he writhed in pain visited me. He started reading excerpts from the paper, his eyes glinting maliciously. ''Highly unstable position at the ministry, opposing important officials and being a Dumbledore ally, coupled with his daughter's'' There you go Y/N, you're mentioned too! ''coupled with his daughter's foolish antics with the 'Boy who Lied' has resulted in his demotion. His misconduct has-'

I'd lunged forwards, escaping free from Hermione's hands. I punched him on the nose and kicked him on his shins. He doubled up in pain, clutching his face. 'No, Y/N, no!!' Hermione yelled, trying to restrain me. A large crowd had gathered around us, and people were laughing and goading us on. This was not a joke!! How long could Malfoy keep insulting people we loved without reason? I heard Fred and George bellow with fury as they set upon Malfoy; but not one punch had they landed on him when we heard her voice. Umbridge's. I realized this was the second time in the year that Umbridge had caught the twins hitting, or atleast trying to hit Malfoy. I hoped they wouldn't get into trouble- it'd be my fault then.

'Oho, who's this? Y/N; the daughter of the person in the sports department eh? Giving us all the trouble, no wonder he had to step down.' She simpered in my face and I positively glowered at her. 'And these two' she looked at Fred and George, 'have a track record. To my office. Right now.'

Hermione seemed on the verge of protesting, but I looked at her apologetically and walked off with the twins, following Umbridge to her office. To my great astonishment, Fred and George kept smirking behind her back and once Fred was almost going to laugh out aloud, had not George clapped a hand to his mouth. I gave them a quizzical look at which George whispered, 'We have something planned.' Fred said, 'Just you wait.'

Umbridge made us sit down on hard chairs in front of her table and insisted we drink something, at which we all agreed to pumpkin juice. She fussed about with the glasses for too long; setting down her tea first. I saw Fred's hand sneakily extend forward as he emptied a small packet of violet powder into it. I gasped but George motioned for me to be quiet. She set down our glasses next and told us to drink up.

Every sip we pretended to take (we knew better than to drink something she offered us!), she took a sip as well. And she questioned us- an awful lot of questions, if I think about it now. At first I didn't notice what was happening- the office was dimly lit. But as she set down her cup of tea the fifth time, I saw pink strands in her hair. Her hair was slowly turning pink, matching the exact shade of the horrid pink cardigan she wore.

I stifled a laugh at the last moment. Fred snorted into his glass and George kept drumming his fingers amusedly. She finally seemed to have been satisfied with our ''pretend answers'' and let us off to the Great Hall. The minute we emerged out of her office and were out of her hearing, all 3 of us burst out laughing. I clutched my sides as I laughed- I'd never seen a prank played out so well.

'Fred, George..you're crazy..you're amazing! Bloody hell, you finally got her!!' I said, thumping their backs and laughing. Fred and George made mock bows as Fred said, 'We had to do it. For your dad.' George continued, 'For our family.'

We walked straight to the Gryffindor table and kept sneaking glances at the doorway. I hoped she wouldn't check a mirror before she walked in.

'Let's hope Filch doesn't spot her' said George.

'Spot her? Spot what?' said Hermione, looking suspicious.

'Yeah, tell me what happened!' Ron said, having come back from Quidditch practice.

'Telling you will spoil it. So no' I said, still smiling mysteriously.

And then she walked in. Oh and what an uproar her appearance caused. I, Fred and George were laughing openly now, with all the students in the Great Hall. People had tears in their eyes because of laughing so hard, some were clutching their sides, others had toppled off their chairs. Ron was beating the table in complete amusement and Ginny and Hermione were gagging into their food. Harry looked very happy- he'd finally got some sort of revenge.

Umbridge, shocked by the laughter targeted at her, pulled a spoon from the nearby table and stared at her reflection. A Ravenclaw boy yelled- 'It's pink innit? Now you are in the pink of health!' And we all burst out laughing.

I swear I saw McGonagall snort into her pudding. Umbridge ran helter-skelter out of the Hall, clutching her hair and yelling all sorts of profanities.

Gosh. What a day it had been. I was thankful to Fred and George for having given me something to laugh about, when all I wanted to do was cry out in despair. My actions had pulled down dad from his position. I'd never felt so guilty before.