the wrong choice // d.l.m.

thirty four

y/n had awoken with the moon still shining brightly through the windows. the time on the clock showed that it was barely past 4 and she knew she had to head back to her room so she wouldn't get caught by snape, or even worse, pansy.

she slipped out of dracos arms, admiring his face for just a second before she slipped out of the dorm. her feet were freezing as they tiptoed across the wooden floor. she made sure she was as quiet as she could possibly be, wincing every time the floor creaked.

once she arrived back to her dorm she quickly went inside, shutting the door behind her softly so she wouldn't wake the other two that were asleep in their beds. she crawled into her own bed, missing the warmth from dracos. she regretted leaving his room but knew that there was no way she could have stayed without getting caught.

~

"how'd you sleep last night?" draco asked with a smirk before sitting in the seat next to y/n.

she grinned at him before kissing his cheek, "better than i ever have before."

a small paper bird flew around the room and all of the students seemed to be in a great mood. they all laughed and spoke amongst each other. y/n watched the bird as it flew around over the heads of the students, smiling as several of them hit it as it went by. the bird was soon burnt to ashes and everyone watched as it fell down with a trail of smoke following it.

all eyes turned towards the back of the room where umbridge stood, a smile on her face. "good morning, children." she walked towards the front before using her wand to write on the chalk board, "ordinary wizarding level examinations. o-w-l's, more commonly known as owls."

y/n looked at the woman in disgust, her pink outfit was so incredibly hard to look at and made the girl want to rip her eyes out of her head.

"study hard and you will be rewarded. fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe."

y/n scoffed and since the room was so quiet, all eyes turned to her. umbridge faced her, a smile still on her face, "is there a problem, dear?"

"not that i can think of, no." y/n said sarcastically.

umbridge narrowed her eyes at the girl, "and who might you be?"

"y/n y/l/n. i believe you know my father." the girl spat with an angry tone to her voice.

"of course. y/f/n seems to be a very hardworking man." umbridge gave her a small giggle, "i know that you and i will be very good friends."

y/n just rolled her eyes and the woman used her wand to pass out all of the books that sat on the table behind her, "anyway, your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. but you'll be pleased to know, from now on you will be following a carefully structured, ministry approved, course of defense magic."

hermione raised her hand and umbridge nodded her head at her, "um, there's nothing in here about using defensive spells?"

umbridge looked completely stunned by her question, "using spells? well, i cant imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

"we're not going to use magic?" ron added, causing umbridge to turn towards him.

"you'll be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk free way."

y/n quickly spoke up, "well what use is that? if we're attacked, it won't be risk free."

the professor looked incredibly annoyed by her outburst, "students will raise their hands when they speak in my class, miss. y/l/n. it is the view of the ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations which, after all, is what school is all about."

"and how's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" harry asked, obviously irritated.

"there is nothing out there, dear. who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourself?" umbridge pressed her hands together and rested them against her front side.

"oh, i don't know. maybe lord voldemort." he said.

whispers could be heard from all around the classroom. as for y/n, even though she didn't want to believe that voldemort was really back, she did. she knew he would return sooner or later, and unfortunately it turned out to be sooner.

umbridge still somehow managed to keep a smile on her face even though it looked completely forced, "now, let me make this quite plain. you have been told that a certain dark wizard is at large once again. this is a lie."

"it's not a lie! i saw him! i fought him!" harry yelled.

"he murdered my friend!" y/n also quickly shouted out, the memories of cedric coming back.

"detention! both of you."

"so you're saying that cedric diggory dropped dead on his own accord?" harry said.

"cedric diggory's death was a tragic accident."

"it was murder!" "voldemort killed him!" both y/n and harry said at the same time.

"enough!" umbridge yelled, quickly turning the two silent. y/n was heaving with anger and draco quickly grabbed her hand to help calm her down.

"see me later, mr. potter and miss. y/l/n. my office."

~

the day dragged on and y/n was completely dreading going to see umbridge after hours. she would much rather be hit with one of the unforgivable curses than go sit and be close to one of the people she hated the most.

"ready?" harry asked her as she waited for him outside of the defense against the dark arts room.

"no." she simply said, causing a small chuckle to come from his mouth. the two walked in and went up the small staircase towards umbridges office.

the walls were covered in a pink paint and several images of cats sat on them, giving y/n a headache. umbridge smiled at them when they walked in, "good evening. please, sit."

y/n gave harry a quick glance before sitting down on one of the seats that were provided to her.

"you're going to be doing some lines for me today."

both y/n and harry reached into their bags to pull out their quills but umbridge quickly stopped them, "no not with your quills. you two will be using some special ones of mine."

the woman handed them each a quill that looked extremely old, the brown feather looked as though it could fall off any minute.

"now, mr. potter i want you to write, "i must not tell lies." as for you miss, y/l/n, i want you to write, "i will respect my superiors.""

y/n looked shocked by what she said, knowing that the words she spoke were meant mainly to be directed towards her father, "how many times?"

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

"you haven't given us any ink." harry said.

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

harry looked at y/n for a moment before the two turned to their pieces of parchment to begin writing their lines. after the first line y/n could feel her hand start to tingle but she quickly brushed the feeling away. after the third line it started to burn and y/n gasped when she looked down.

the words she had written were cutting their way into her flesh. she winced at the pain, shutting her eyes tightly until the burning sensation began to fade away. she looked at harry who was also staring at his hand before glaring at umbridge.

the woman walked over to her, "yes?"

"nothing." y/n spat through her gritted teeth.

"that's right. because you know, deep down, that you both deserve to be punished."