Redamancy (d.m)

Chapter forty two-worthless mudblood

The next evening, I entered Umbridge's office to be greeted with an unrecognisable wash of pink. The walls had been completed stripped of its previous clatter of dark detectors and weapons, to be replaced with tacky vases and dried flowers that emitted a strong perfume, the walls adorned with unsettling artworks of cats in bow ties and doilies

"Good evening, Miss Lestrange"
"It was until I came here" I thought miserably, slumping in a chair across from her desk
"Miss Lestrange, you will respond to me when I greet you" Umbridge said, the tips of her fingers touching as she rested her elbows on her desk, "now, let's try that again-Good evening, Miss Lestrange"
"Good evening, Professor" I said with hatred flowing off my tongue, and she smiled a sickly smile
"Very good. Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, Miss Lestrange-no not with your quill" I paused, my hand reaching for my quill, "You're going to be using a rather special one of mine"

I furrowed my brows in suspicion as I reached out to take the unusually sharply tipped black quill, as though expecting it to bite my fingers off.

"What do I write?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the quill
"I would like you to please write 'I must not disrespect my professors'"
"How many times?"
"As long as it takes for the message to sink in" she replied sweetly, pushing a stack of parchment towards me, before turning her oversized head to a stack of ungraded essays
"You haven't given me any ink" I remarked, a steady ominous feeling growing in the pit of my stomach
"Oh you won't need ink" she said, smiling widely

I brought the tip of the quill to the top of the parchment, hesitating slightly, before writing 'I must not disrespect my professors'. Immedietly, I felt a scorning hot pain on the surface of my left hand, and I looked back onto the parchment, where the words I had written appeared in shining red splotches. When I peered back at my hand, there was no trace of harm. I felt Umbridge's eerie gaze fixated on me, and I continued, refusing to meet her eyes. I brought the quill down to the paper once again, writing 'I must not disrespect my professors', and let out a gasp as I felt the same searing pain across my hand. At the sound, Umbridge looked up at me giddily

"Is there a problem, dear?"
"No." I said as I bit down on my tongue, "No problem at all"

Time seemed to taunt me, dragging on at an painstakingly slow pace as I rewrote the same words over and over, using all my willpower it keeps from displaying the immense burning from the words carved into the back of my left hand, my blood seeping through the paper. When I had written the lines so many times that the scars were no longer healing back up, Umbridge looked up from her work, yanking my hand forcefully to examine the red markings

"Well, it's not bad for the first attempt, though we could have made a much deeper impression. Afraid we'll just have to try again tomorrow, won't we? You may go, Miss Lestrange"

I didn't hesitate. I pushed open the heavy doors and darted out of her office without so much as a second glance, running down the dark hallways. I didn't know exactly how long I had been there, but I knew it must've been past midnight. I used my free hand to cradle my injured one, which stung against the cold night air. My head craned down to inspect the words as I ran, not looking up until I collided with an unidentified form

"Well isn't this a surprise" I immedietly knew who I had crashed into by his cold drawling voice, "(y/n) Lestrange"
"Shove off, Malfoy" I said, using my right hand to push myself up
"And what might you be doing breaking curfew, hm?" He said coyly, cocking his head to the side as he smirked at me
"Should ask you the same thing" I snapped
"Ah, but see I'm supposed to be here, Lestrange, I'm patrolling" he said, pointing to his prefects badge as he took a step closer to me, "but you...I just might have to give you detention for breaking the rules"
"I haven't broken any rules" I said defiantly, taking a step back
"Haven't you?" He shot, closing the space between us
"No" I said, absentmindedly massaging the skin around my scarred hand, "You can't give me detention because I've just come from a detention"
"I'm sure I'll figure something out" he said, his voice low as his hand reached up to my face.

I instinctively slapped it away, groaning loudly as I subconsciously used my left hand. The flesh underneath the markings started to throb uncontrollably, and Malfoy's eyes widened

"What the bloody hell's wrong with your hand?" He demanded, grabbing onto my shoulder as I tried to leave
"Nothing" I said, the pain starting the pulse upwards to my forearm, and I felt tears starting to form in reaction to the pain
"Are those...words?" He said, holding my hand closer to him
"Fuck off, will you?" I said, tugging my arm relentlessly, the pain building up steadily, "Malfoy please let go, it hurts"

He blinked a few times before dropping my arm, and I immediately held it in my uninjured hand

"What the hell, Malfoy" I hissed, and he looked at me with an unidentifiable expression before his gaze hardened
"Not very creative" he snarled
"What?" I breathed
"The lines" he said, his vicious smirk contrasting with his dead eyes, "disrespect your Professors? Boring"

I shook my head, wiping away a single fallen tear before turning to walk down the path that lead to the Gryffindor common room. When I was halfway down the hallway, I heard him call out

"Wanna know what I would've done?"

When I didn't react, he continued

"I would've made you write Worthless Mudblood-so everyone knows exactly what you are"

I burst into tears as soon as the portrait swung closed behind me, Hermione, Harry, and Ron rushing to me immediately, leading me to a chair in front of the crackling fire.

"Why are you still up?" I gasped in between sobs, "it's late"
"We were waiting for you" Hermione said, rubbing my back comfortingly
"Yeah, we knew your detention would be bru-"Harry cut off when he caught sight of my raw hand, "(y/n)...what.the.bloody.hell.is.that"
"It's fine" I mumbled, trying to cover it with the sleeve of my robe, wincing as the fabric brushed against the marks
"Did...did Umbridge make you do that?" Hermione said, squeaking with horror when u nodded slowly, "that's...there's no way that's legal!" She protested after I had explained Umbridge's quill
"She's from the ministry, there's nothing she can't do" I said solemnly, as Harry brought me a bowl of Murtlap Essence
"Put your hand in that, it'll feel better" he instructed, and sighed with relief as the sticky yellow liquid washed over my cuts, relieving them temporarily of pain
"You're a lifesaver" I said weakly, leaning my head on his shoulder
"That old hag" Ron said, shaking his head with disbelief, "Shes sick"
"Believe it or not, that wasn't even the worst part of my night" I said heavily, recounting the story of my encounter with Malfoy, which left Harry, Hermione, and Ron fuming
"He's foul" Hermione muttered, clutching her books rather tightly, "he really is, Malfoy-oh I hope he gets what's coming to him"
"Don't listen to him, (y/n)" Harry said sternly, placing a hand on the top of my head and stroking my hair comfortingly, "he's a great big git is what he is" and I chuckled weakly

'I must not disrespect my professors' the thin layer of healed skin on my hand burst open, revealing fresh wounds on my last day of detention, and the look of satisfaction on Umbridge's face by the time my last line was written made me want to throw her vases at her head.

"Well, I think I've made my point, Miss Lestrange. You may go"

I got up wordlessly, the wooden legs of my chair scraping against the floor as I exited the office forcing myself to take deep breathes. Fainting from blood loss would not do me any good. I had the dreaded impression that the sentence had cut so deep into the flesh of my hand that it might never fully fade from my skin, and become a permanent imprint of my actions,