American Teen [George Weasley Love Story]

Time to take a stand

*trigger warning-abuse*
There have been three people in my life who had successfully broken me down. I usually stand up to people that try to attack me. Like Snape. He is unfair, so I call him out on it a lot. I get points taken away, but I am never afraid. I stand up for justice. But three people have managed to successfully subdue the rebellious side of me. These three people were able to do this because they had no morals, no limit. They did whatever they want, confident in their ability to not be stopped. They found my Achille's heels and slapped arrows into them time after time.

The first one is my father. While in school, I presented myself as strong and confident, as soon as I got home I became quiet. I did everything asked of me in hope that I wouldn't get hit. It didn't work. He broke me down with fists and words. He started young so that I had no hope. He made sure I knew that I could be whatever I wanted outside this house. But under his roof, I was nothing.

The second one is my ex. I had many friends at Ilvermorny. I was popular, outgoing. The teachers liked me. I played on the quidditch team and had high marks. I would spend the summers with my best friend, Rue, to escape my father. I was finally free from my father and was growing into something more. That is until I started dating my ex-boyfriend. He ridiculed me until i felt like worthless. He called me ugly, pathetic, stupid, and that was just scratching the surface. He hit me and used torture charms to cause me pain. For the second time in my life I was unable to stand up to someone.

Those two are very similar. They both seemed like outstanding citizens, at least until I was there. They had very similar tactics. First, they would make me feel loved and protected. They broke down my barriers. Then they would attack me. Knocking down my self-esteem with words and then knocking me-down with their fists. It's the trojan horse approach. Make them feel safe, and when their guard is down you attack.

The third one is different. The third one is Professor Umbridge. She feeds on my past trauma and the emotional response I have to abuse. She's also the worst one of them all. I can tell in her eyes that she has no remorse and craves power. She feels justified in her actions since she's doing it "for the Ministry", and that makes her dangerous. My father and ex knew they were doing something wrong, they just didn't care. She feels she is doing something right, something necessary. I don't know how to stand up to someone that has no limitations, so I sit there. After my first uprising, I was done.

Yet, in all three circumstances, there has been a time where I overrided my sense of self-preservation and fought back. I visited my parents once a week each summer after Ilvermorny to give my mom hope. One day, I witnessed my father beat my mother so hard she couldn't walk. That evoked a rage in me I had never known. I flung myself at my father to get him off her. He ended up hitting me so badly that I had to go to the hospital. My mom had to get surgery for a brain bleed. She would have died if I didn't step in. The next time, my ex was threatening another girl into doing what he wanted. She was so young and looked so helpless. So I stepped in. That night was the first time he used the cruciatus curse on me.

The final time was last night. I was walking back with the twins after quidditch practice, when I heard crying coming from a corridor. I told the twins to go on ahead while I investigated. I pretended like I needed to go to the bathroom. I found a first year Hufflepuff sitting on the floor, sobbing. She was holding her hand and I instantly knew she had had a detention with the bitch herself.

"Did you have detention with Prof. Umbridge?" I asked quietly, not wanting to scare the little girl.

She nodded, unable to form words through her tears. I sat down next to her and pulled her close to me. "Shh shh it's okay. I'm here when you need to talk. I've had detention with her too. The pain goes away after a little bit. Your scar will fade away eventually and you'll barely be able to remember it. She's horrible, I know. But you are so so strong. Don't let her beat you down." I held the Hufflepuff until she stopped crying. I walked her back to her common room, where I hugged her and said goodbye.

That was the final straw. That was a terrified 11 year old. Umbridge had gone too far. Everyone I loved had scars on their hand. Granted, most of them weren't as bad as mine. But still. It didn't make it right. I vowed right then that I would do everything in my power to make this bitch's life miserable.

---

The next time I had independent potions with Snape, I slammed down my formula for a salve to help ease the pain and help the scar fade. It took a lot of work- two months of late nights in fact. I asked Snape to look over the formula, explained why I need to make it and swore him to secrecy, and then he helped me brew it. The next day I made sure to get detention with Umbridge so I could test my hardwork. The potion worked, so I started brewing it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The twins helped me spread the word. From then on, I would sit in that bathroom every day for an hour to apply the potion to anyone who was unfortunate enough to meet Umbridge's wrath. It didn't make the scars go away, but it did stop the bleeding, decrease the pain, and made them fainter.

In Umbridge's class I made sure to to cause as much ruckus as possible without ever directly attacking her, to ensure my own safety. It definitely wasn't my fault when an entire bookshelf of tea cups fell onto the floor, shattering every single one. Or the fact that student's books keep mysteriously falling off their desks or flying shut with no notice. Or how one day I, with the twin's help of course, made everyone's ink explode at once.

The twins and I had never had more fun in our lives. Just like Umbridge, we did not restrain ourselves. We snuck filibuster fireworks into her office, snuck nosebleed nougats into her tea, and offered reduced prices on products if the buyer promised they would be used on the pink abomination. It was glorious. We were inventing new products all the time to try and annoy Umbridge as much as possible. Very little learning gets done when one enchants the giant clock in her classroom to ding with every word she speaks. Or when everyone's papers seemed to be magnetically repelled from everyone's quill.

But the most glorious form of revolution came on a sunny Saturday afternoon.