Oh Merlin, you were going to absolutely throttle each and every one of them for this utterly rubbish plan. You’d start with Sirius and work your way through, you thought as you all took off down separate corridors.
They had really cooked up a good one this time, bribing all the portraits into screaming and loudly chatting at all hours of the night. How James had figured out how to charm each of the portrait ladies into completing his will, you had no idea, nor did you have any clue how the hell Sirius had gotten the Fat lady to join in when usually she was the voice of reason in the Gryffindor hall.
Though it didn’t really matter because you had helped give the signal for the portraits to start their loud yammering.
At two in the morning.
In every hall.
Yeah, it wasn’t one of the more clever plans, but it’d be annoying for sure. The hope was to ruin the professor's night sleep so they’d forget about doing exams tomorrow. Sirius had forgotten to study and he was worried Moony’s notes wouldn’t be enough, especially for seventh year tests which were a tad more difficult. In hindsight, this test wouldn’t set him back much but and opportunity for mischief wasn’t one you were inclined to ignore.
Either way, it all went south soon enough when the professors began coming down the hall and you had to bolt, the others running in opposite directions. You’d picked the worst hall in your rush though, it ended in a wall with no secret exit, one of the only ones Hogwarts had and you could hear one of the professors quickly gaining. You knew you had no hope but you made it to the dead end regardless before you turned to accept your fate.
Sure enough, the professor rounded the corner a moment later and a stern look on her pinched face.
It was the new professor, you noted. You knew her to be a right stickler for the rules, at least from what you’d heard. Wonderful.
“Ms, Smith?”
You smiled.
“That would be me, ma’am.”
She nodded, an unimpressed look on her face as she nodded, she reached up and rubbed at her forehead before looking back at you.
“Right then, let’s go, follow me. You will be taking your detention late tonight.”
At that you furrowed your eyes as she turned and began back down the way you’d come.
“Tonight?”
You questioned as you followed after her, still confused. They’d have to do it after class, wouldn’t they? Was she allowed to do it so late at night?
“Yes. Tonight you will be taking your detention. Perhaps if you wished not to have detention so late then you would not have acted so entirely out of line at two in the morning on a school night. Maybe this will serve as a lesson for you and whoever else may have been with you.”
Your face was surely giving away the surprise that a professor would be able to do this but… maybe it wasn’t that odd, it made sense you supposed since this was a pretty late night prank. Though you were gonna clear one thing first.
“Oh no accomplices ma’am, just me, nothing to be worried about on that front.”
“Yes, dear, quite sure of such. Though I really would hate it if you were lying to me.”
The way she said it had an edge, a weird sort of underlying threatening tone but you pushed that thought away. She wasn’t some conniving villain, just a vexed teacher dealing with yet another unruly student at truly ungodly hours of the night.
“No lies here, ma’am.” You said, lying.
“Hmm”
You both reached the door to what you assumed was her classroom, she flourished her wand and opened the door, allowing you to step inside first.
You hoped this was over relatively quickly, the guys would probably be confused as to why you were so late getting back. Usually detention wasn’t held so late but again you tried not to question it as she gestured to the chair at the back of the room in front of her desk.
It had a small table right beside it, the room was dimly lit and her heels clacked against the ground as she rounded the other side of the table and you sat down in front of her.
She turned away, seemingly looking through a drawer to her left until finally she found what she’d been searching for.
She placed a quill before you and a sheet of plain parchment.
Lines? You were writing lines, easy, you thought she’d make you scrub her classroom with no magic or something truly heinous like scrub Slughorn's cauldrons. But lines? Oh you could do those for hours without a problem.
She watched you expectantly so you raised a brow.
“What would you like me to write, professor?”
“Wonderful question, dear, you will be writing. ‘I must not misbehave.’ You will write until I stop you.”
You nodded and went to grab the quill and dip it in the ink but… where was it?
You looked up and hse stopped you before you could ask.
“Just write. The ink will form itself.”
You decided not to question her as you wrote the first line. Until you felt a slicing pain go through your hand, you hissed a breath as you turned your hand to face you. Your eyes widened as you watched the same words you wrote on the parchment appear slowly across the back of your hand, the skin breaking open as the blood spilled, the ink darkened.
Your eyes shot to the professor but she just gave you a sickly sweet smile and nodded her head for you to continue. When you hesitated her eyes sharpened and her mouth turned down in a scowl.
“Write, Ms Smith. It is in your best interest, I promise you that.”
You didn’t question her again, ever as the lines filled the paper and pain radiated through your hand, the burn spreading up your arm even as the words stayed contained to the area.
It felt like hours had passed, two pages of lines, front and back, before she finally released you.
“Alright, deary, I believe we learned our lesson, don’t you?”
You glared at her from your space at the desk.
“Of course, ma’am.”
You spoke behind clenched teeth.
“Wonderful. Go on back to your dorm then. Make sure to wrap that hand.”
You had a feeling that by ‘wrap’ she meant ‘hide’. And you were inclined to do just that, you had no idea what the others might do and you didn’t want them to get in the same trouble you had.
Surely this wasn’t allowed? Right?
You had never heard of this being a punishment before, you thought as you quickly left the room, pulling your sleeve down over the burning hand even as it stung more, tears burning your eyes that you forced back as you neared the common room. You had a feeling they would be there, they would have been confused when you didn’t show up a few minutes after them.
But surely, Minnie must know about this? Dumbledore must have an idea as the head of the school, and Minnie as one of the most prevalent teachers you had no doubt that these were not things she missed easily. So it’s most likely allowed then and how would it look if you were whining about a detention that was more than well deserved simply because you couldn’t handle the pain?
You wouldn’t say anything.
You couldn’t complain about a rightfully earned punishment, it was clearly deserved in one way or another and you would not cause unneeded issues.
With your resolve in place you muttered the password to the Fat lady and pulled your sleeve further over your hand as you stepped through the portrait hole.
Sure enough, Prongs, Moony, and Padfoot sat on the couch… well more laid you guessed as you almost laughed at the way they had fallen over each other as they fell asleep.
But as you stepped into the room Sirius shot up, his eyes wide and scared, they settled on you after a moment and a breath released from his lungs.
“Blimey, Puff.” He laughed groaning as he forced himself to untangle from James and Remus who were just now blinking the sleep from their eyes.
“Oi, where’d you bugger off to, Puff?” James asked as he came to stand next to Sirius.
The laugh you had in your chest deflated instantly as you remembered where you’d just been for the last two hours.
You placed your arm behind your back.
“Oh ya know, got snatched off that one hall, did my time. Nothing too bad.”
A confused look overtook their face, Remus finally, the slowest to rouse, came to stand by the other two, his eyes all to observant settling on your face.
“You mean you took your detention?” Sirius asked, the confusion still clear.
“Yep, now I’ve got more time not wasted tomorrow so I’m kinda alright with it.”
“They don’t do detention after six, that’s not allowed, Puff. What are you on about?” Prongs asked, incredulity clear in his tone and the scowl on his face.
“No, James I’m not joking. I had it with that new Professor, maybe she just didn’t know the rules.”
Recognition crossed their gazes and James nodded slowly.
“I suppose that would make sense…”
His eyes shot over to Remus who still had yet to say anything, you almost wanted to shrink under his penetrating gaze. You felt like he could see every lie you were spewing.
“Right well she must know now then. What did she have you do? That seems like a long detention.” Sirius asked.
“Just wrote a bunch of lines, like I said, nothing too bad.”
They all nodded though Remus seemed reluctant to do so.
“Just lines, Puff?” Remus spoke quietly, the first words he’d said since you entered the room.
You nodded, forcing a smile to your lips.
“Yep, just lines, Moons. But I’m beat, I’ll see you three tomorrow.”
And with that you were out of the room and on your way to your dorm, quietly sliding into bed after performing a simple spell to heal the wound as much as you could, you hadn’t lied when you spoke before. You were exhausted.
You laid your head down on your pillow, letting the dark and the distant throb in your hand to lull into a fitful sleep.
~~~
You were down in the common room early the next morning, your body not allowing any further rest as anxiety sat like a pit in your stomach.
You weren’t sure why you were anxious, she wasn’t a teacher of yours and you’d barely seen her before last night and yet here you were, sitting on the common room couch, waiting for the others to join you as you walked to breakfast and then your first class which they had made the mistake of placing you all in the same one.
You could hear it as the three tumbled their way down the stairs and into the common room, each of them loud as can be, even Moony was laughing and snickering as they made their way in, giving Padfoot a light shove as Sirius threw his hands up.
“I’m just saying, Moons, can’t blame a bloke for trying.” He laughed, the sound filling the room.
They smiled when they saw you, you’d wrap your hand in skin colored bandage and healed it as best you could, hoping it’d go away soon enough. Still though, you held your sleeve firmly over it.
“Alright, off we pop, down to breakfast mates.” Sirius threw his arms around you and Moony as James chucked beside you three and made your way down the halls and into the banquet hall, you averted your eyes as you caught sight of the woman of the hor at the long teachers table by the front of the hall.
The fact that she was chatting amicably with Minnie just further solidified that the punishment must be something that was allowed. You had a feeling if it wasn’t then Minnie wouldn’t be having such a calm conversation.
The four of you sat down in your usual spot, the boys conversing over quidditch and new assignments you all had gotten in your first class. You let their idle chatter calm your mind for the time being, keeping your hand firmly under the table as you tried your best to laugh at the right time and comment on the right thing one of them said.
You could tell that Moony knew something was up, and Sirius seemed little more observant than usual. He had always been one to stare for one reason or another, Moony said her got those stares from Padfoot too though so you didn’t think much of it. However, today he seemed to be eyeing you just a little more than usual.
Finally you all left the dining hall and headed down to your first class, you were excited for Slughorn's lesson today, as you were most days. This was a class you were actually interested in, and having the guys was just an added bonus.
But you went cold as you saw her face at the front of the class, as she smiled that sickly sweet smile as she greeted you and the others.
“Please have a seat everyone, unfortunately, your professor was feeling under the weather so I will be teaching your class today.”
You tried not to let her stare burn you as you let yourself be herded toward your usual desk.
You and the others got straight to work, starting the potions and laughing, the guys didn’t have much of a reaction to the professor change, you supposed it didn’t seem like a big deal anyhow, not like they had to sit at a desk as their skin was turned into a piece of parchment.
And you’d make sure they never would.
“Boys, does that seem like an appropriate way to use those vials?”
You jumped as her voice rang out beside you, having not noticed her creeping towards your table, you ignored the glance Remus spared you as he turned his eyes back on the woman.
“They’ve all made it in the cauldron have they not, Professor?”
Sirius asked, the cocky smirk he normally wore set in stone on his lips.
“All well and good, Mr. Black, however the margin for error was much higher than the classroom accordance states is allowed, wasn’t it now?”
“Ah well, Slughorn’s not much of a stickler for such rules, Professor.”
“Be that as it may boys, Slughorn is not in charge now is he?”
“Speaking of Slughorn, shall he be back tomorrow, ma’am?” James chimed in.
“That is of none of your concern, Mr. Potter. Would you two like to join me in detention after classes today for such an offense?”
You almost flinched in your seat, the thought of her ‘detentions’ touching any of them like that was not something you were going to allow if you didn’t need to.
“I don’t believe that would be necessary, Professor.”
Her sharp eyes cut to yours and you forced yourself to hold her stare, a Marauder much less a Gryffindor did not shy away from potential pain, certainly not when it might keep someone they love form enduring that pain.
With that thought you sat a tad straighter and did not move your gaze from hers.
“Is that so, Ms. Smith? Why should they not take their earned detention? Someone must be penalized for the infraction committed should they not?”
“Well if someone must be penalized then surely you’d have no issue with me taking their detention would you? Since we’re already well acquainted it should go quite smoothly should it not?”
She narrowed her eyes on you further and you held her stare until finally she heaved a sigh.
“I suppose that would be in accordance if you are so insistent.”
“Oh I am, tell me, will we be writing lines again?”
“Yes, Ms. Smith. And being as you are taking detention for not one but two students I will see to it that your pages be in abundance.”
You watched as she smirked, felt the shiver go down your spine at the thought of having to double the torture you’d sat through just mere hours ago, but when you glanced at both James and Sirius watching the interaction in clear confusion you simply nodded at her. For them, you’d do it.
“Well I can’t wait to see what you have in store.”
“I’m sure, perhaps Mr. Potter’s will be ‘I will not cause unnecessary error.’ and oh for Mr. Black, ‘I will not put others in danger.’ Well, I believe I will see you at the end of the day, unless you’ve reconsidered, Ms. Smith?”
“The end of the day shall be lovely, Professor.”
“Very well then, carry on.”
Then her heels were clacking away and your body was slowly filling with dread.
As soon as she had left the area you felt their eyes on you.
“Right then, Puff, care to explain why you decided to take a detention for Jamie and I?” Sirius asked, his voice filled with skepticism.
You supposed that was warranted. When you met them they were already pranking extraordinaires, detention was not a rarity in this group you knew that well. However when the four of you had become close you had been given what Sirius called the ‘Marauders Run Down’.
In which they had told you some of their best pranks, one’s you had been there for but now hearing the thought behind it had been one of your favorite things. After that they had told you their hard and fast rule on detention. They didn’t mind grabbing one for one another if one of you was having a hard time but generally no one tried to save anyone from all of their detentions.
Usually if a detention needed to be taken by another Marauder then you all would have a quick conversation and make a decision with little further question. This seemed like uncharted territory for the three you realized as you glanced at the slightly confused and incredulous looks on each of their faces.
“Had the time. You two have Quidditch practice.”
“That has literally never once mattered.” James helpfully chimed in.
Remus was doing that staring thing again and this time you met his eyes, the emotions wiped from yours. You knew how easily he could read you and you had no intention of him seeing anything he wasn’t meant to. Not today. Not now.
“It is strange, Puff, enjoy the detention that much last night?” Sirius laughed, but the sound was somewhat hollow.
“Intensely.” You deadpanned.
“If you so clearly didn’t enjoy it, then why take their detention, there’s no reason too. We don’t take each other’s punishment unless it was unjust or one of us has something else we need to be doing.”
Remus was watching you, waiting for your reaction to his words.
When you just shrugged his brow furrowed.
“Alright, out with it. What happened last night? You were acting weird then too.”
You saw how Sirius’s eyes darted to one of his best mates. James’ remained steadfastly on your form.
“Nothing, normal detention, Rem, I’m just tired. And I don’t mind taking it if it means they can go to practice. We have a match against Slytherin soon and I’d really rather not to lose to them this time around.”
“Puff” James spoke, his eyes filled with worry.
Mother hen.
“I’m fine. James. Everything is fine. Don’t worry, just go to practice, I’ll be back by the time you guys are done.”
You weren’t sure how true that statement would be.
It was clear they still didn’t believe you but they seemed to let it drop, the conversation taking up a new tone and allowing you to settle back into your skin.
You weren’t much looking forward to the end of the day.
~~~
You gave the guys a wave as you started back to the room you had left early that morning, she was standing right outside the door, a twisted smile on her face as she ushered you inside and let the door fall closed with a loud bang.
“Have a nice day, dear?”
“Riveting, actually.”
“Wonderful, well you know the drill. Have a seat, you do remember the sentences don’t you?”
You hadn’t been able to erase them since the morning.
“‘Course.”
“Oh lovely, get to writing then. The sooner you start, the sooner you’re done.”
And with that, she sat at her desk and you picked up the gruesome quill, you wished it didn’t threaten to send a shiver of fear down your spine. You touched the quill end to the parchment, starting with Sirius’s line first ‘I will not put others in danger.’
You let the end scrape against the paper, suppressing the flinch as the first burn of pain worked its way through your arm.
You thought of nothing but Srius and James as you wrote, they already had entirely too much on their plates. This wouldn’t be something you needed them to endure on top of it all, not after everything they’d been through, not after all the pain they’d already had to live with.
You got through two pages, front and back, your forearm burning as blood flowed slowly from the wound. The words hadn’t overlapped the ones on your hand, thankfully allowing one wound to heal as it took from another source. You had a feeling James’ would move spaces as well.
You dutifully switched to James’ line as she instructed you, having already spent so long in this torture chair. ‘I will not cause unnecessary errors.’
It took another hour before two more pages were full of the lines and she gave you another cruel grin as you closed the door quickly behind you, trying to force back the sting of tears you felt creeping up on you.
You pulled your sleeves tighter down, new words on each forearm. Why the other line hadn’t gone to your other hand, you weren’t sure, though you were grateful as it’d be easier to hide.
“Thought we’d grab ya from here, Puff.”
You jumped as you spun around, coming face to face with the three other Marauders, you could see the stress in Sirius’ face as he clenched his jaw, the anger James kept barely contained in the tight fists at his sides, the cold dread in Remus’ face with his furrowed brow.
“Oh, that was nice of you guys.”
You forced out through clenched teeth and a strained voice. You couldn’t quite keep the tears out of your eyes unfortunately and you could see how it made them cringe.
Sirius’ eyes shot towards the door you had just closed, his eyes narrowing on it and you suspected he was trying to glare his way through to the woman on the other side.
“Merlin, what did she do?”
It was Remus’ soft agonized voice that snagged your gaze from the angry frame of Sirius.
You shook your head “Nothing, lets”
You walked past them, away from the door, clutching your arms tightly to your middle, you could hear them trailing after you, hushed voices whispering in the quiet of the hall as you thought they were trying to figure out the best thing to say. Unfortunately for them, you doubted there was a good response to this anyhow. No matter what way you spun it you had no idea how this was even allowed in the first place. But surely it was. Surely.
You muttered the password to the Fat Lady and the portrait opened, you stepped through it and into the common room, wanting nothing more than to collapse on the couch.
Of course you knew that wouldn’t happen as you heard the three’s footsteps entering the portrait behind you.
“Puff, please. What is going on in that room? What kind of sick detention is she doing?”
It was a desperate plea from James as you sat on that couch.
“Nothing that’s not allowed, Jamie.” You reached up, rubbing your head, exhausted.
“Clearly your vision of ‘allowed’ is skewed then.” Sirius cut in, coming to sit on the table in front of you and Remus sat to your left and James to your right.
“He’s right, Puff. None of us have ever reacted so strongly to a detention. Not once, and certainly not twice.” James again.
“Been a rough few days?”
“Puff” Remus was joining now it seemed, lovely.
“I’d rather not talk about this, I’m tired.”
“I bet, you were in there longer than a quidditch practice, doing Godric knows what.”
You didn’t notice Sirius reaching for your arm, didn’t notice until he’d set his hand directly on the open cuts.
You hissed slightly before you clenched your jaw shut, silencing the sound.
Sirius’ brow furrowed at the sound, his eyes darting from his hand resting on you then back to your face.
He hovered his hand above your arm, watching you carefully.
“Something hurt, love?”
His voice had softened a considerable amount, the cadence slipping more into something he’d use on those late nights in the common room after James had fallen asleep and it was just you, Remus, and him.
He knew that tone of voice made you more than susceptible to just outright telling him what he wanted to know but somehow you didn’t feel like he was asking you to tell him what had happened in detention. You felt like he was just asking what was hurting you, you had the feeling he hadn’t connected the two but rather linked them, this must be the reason detention was so bad right? You were already hurting, that must be it.
But you knew that wasn’t the case, and you didn’t want to see his face when he read the words.
So instead, you sighed.
“No, I’m completely fine.”
“But you’re no-”
“You’re bleeding.”
All eyes shot to Remus, his eyes piercing your form again. The same stare he’d been giving you, had he picked up on it previously.
“You were bleeding last night too, I thought I was going mad but I wasn’t. You’re bleeding.” His jaw clenched, “Again. What’s going on?”
“Bleeding?” Sirius’ tone spiked in barely concealed panic.
“Fucking hell” James swore.
“It’s really no-”
“If you say it’s nothing again I will burn this room down.”
You snapped your mouth shut, with Sirius’ history, well you wouldn’t be shocked.
“Where, Moony?” The words were whispered, flowing out of James’ mouth like it pained him just to ask.
Remus stepped forward, then lowered his tall frame into a kneel in front of the couch, he didn’t speak as he lifted his hand to your sleeve, the hand that was first mutilated. You’d kept that hand in your sleeve since, it’d make since this arm smelled more of blood, you doubt you did a great job dressing it after last night anyhow.
His eyes met yours, the question clear and well, there really wasn’t any avoiding it now was there?
You nodded once.
He was careful as he brought you hand out of the sleeve, a hand he’d traced more than once, one he held on multiple occasions, the same one now wrapped in skin colored bandage, messily draped and hastily thrown into your sleeve the past day.
He paused, holding the wrapped hand gently in his own, the hold of it so careful you’d think you were the most expensive piece of china if you didn’t know better.
He seemed to be deciding what to do, deciding if he should unwrap the bandage or continue up your arm for the rest of it.
You guessed he wanted to take it one at a time as he kept your sleeve lowered and began to carefully undo the wrap.
The room was silent, the usually rowdy bunch suddenly silent made you want to fill the air but the words just stayed caught in your throat. What could even say right now? Oh yeah the teacher made me carve my skin but it’s okay cause clearly this is allowed right?
You had a feeling that wouldn’t help.
Remus unwrapped the first two layers, the other parts falling away as the copper scent Remus had smelled seemed to amplify to the rest of you just as well.
You could see Sirius flinch out of the corner of your eye, hear the sharp intake of breath from James as his breathing hitched in his throat.
You could see the words, raised, and irritated on your skin ‘I must not misbehave’ standing out starkly against the otherwise unblemished skin of your hand.
“Did she-?” Remus half gasped, half…sobbed? Was he crying, Godric you hoped not.
“Blood quill”
“A what?” James asked, you turned your gaze on Sirius, he knew what this was. Didn’t even have to guess, had probably dealt with it himself. It only made you ache to know he had had to go through this too, probably all alone and much too young to have to experience such a thing. You once again wanted to strangle Walburga.
“No” Remus whispered, he turned to Sirius. “Tell me that’s not it.”
But Sirius stayed silent, his eyes focused on the words, and then his eyes were snapping to yours, panic filling them.
“Our detentions, pull up her sleeve.”
“Sirius, that can’t be necessary.”
He paid that no mind, instead gesturing his head at Moony, willing him to lift your sleeve the way he’d been ready to earlier.
“Will someone please tell me what a blood quill is and why in hell she has words carved into her skin? Did that damned professor do it, Puff?”
You said nothing, not glancing up as Remus gently tugged your sleeve up. You held in the flinch at the sting of the dried blood sticking to your cloak.
“A blood quill is simply that. It doesn’t use ‘traditional’ ink, Jamie.”
James’ brow furrowed for just a moment before his jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed to slits.
“The ink is your blood, that’s what you’re telling me then is it?” He spoke through gritted teeth.
“Yes,” You spoke softly. “Bit more painful than a normal quilll if I’m honest, think I’ll stick to regular ink if I can help it.”
You tried to smile at the end, tried to relieve some of the tension but clearly they weren’t in the jolly mood to joke about this. You weren’t much for it either but you found it better than this aching concern and devastation on their faces, all because you couldn’t keep a damn secret and let them be safe.
Remus swore under his breath as the next words came into view ‘I will not put others in danger.’
Sirius peered around Moony to glimpse what you knew he’d already put together but what he desperately hoped against.
There were only two times you’d seen Sirius Black cry, once after a particularly hard moon, and the other, when he’d finally escaped his prison and made it to the Potter’s.
This was the third time.
You saw the way his throat worked, the way he hopelessly fought against the onslaught of emotions, you saw the way he shook, how his hands couldn’t stay still. He hadn’t moved his eyes from the words, still staring at your freshly cut up arm.
And he didn’t move as you watched a tear fall from his eye, trailing down his cheek unchecked. Didn’t move as more followed and James had looked to see the new sentence carved into your arm, visibly recoiling as he saw it and his hand raising to his mouth as the new horror dawned on him. You’d gone for him just as much as you’d gone for Sirius.
When he met your eyes you just lifted the other arm.
James turned, his back facing the three of you, Remus hadn’t yet spoken but you could see his hand resting on Sirius’ shaking one. You could tell he was trying to comfort him. You could also tell it wasn’t working.
“Did you clean them?” Remus spoke into the still air.
“Haven’t gotten the chance.”
He nodded, pulling out his wand and muttering a spell under his breath, in seconds the blood was wiped from the surrounding area of your skin. Next he conjured nearby muggle cleaning supplies. You’d realized that muggle disinfectant was easier than magic disinfectant, as had Moony you supposed,
You held back any noise of pain as he cleaned the wound, as he redressed the one on your hand, even so you could hear him mumbling soothing words, his hands gentle and his touch tender as he cleaned each carved letter before wrapping it in a bandage.
By that point though, your mind had already checked thoroughly out. You were so tired, and had been in constant pain of some degree since last night, only to have it get worse throughout the day.
You felt fuzzy, the details soft at the edges, the world less bright than it had been just minutes ago. You felt like you were half there, you didn’t even notice as Remus lifted your other sleeve, or the sound that punched out of James’ throat as he saw his words carved into the skin of your forearm.
You couldn’t process the words you knew Remus was saying as he spoke to James, or when he rested his hand on Sirius’ thigh, rubbing soothing circles into it when he had finished cleaning and wrapping the final wound.
In fact you couldn’t tell that everything had gotten foggy and slow until the world finally began to speed up again, the colors coming just a bit more vivid, the edges slightly sharper.
“That’s it, love. Just come back with us, you’re doing so well.” Remus.
“So well, darling, just a little bit more, amazing, just swimmingly, dear.” Sirius.
Dear
You flinched back, the action sudden and shocking if the noises they made were an indication but you couldn’t focus on that.
Dear
Was she in the room? Had she decided it wasn’t enough?
“Woah there, Puff. It’s alright, you’re alright. We’re in the common room, it’s safe. She can’t hurt you, love.”
That was Moony, Moony was here, she couldn’t hurt you if he was here if… “Pads?”
“Yes, lovely?”
“Prongs?”
“Right here, Puff.”
The adrenaline faded out, letting you sink back into the couch, exhaustion creeping in, stronger this time.
“There she is, can I touch you?” Sirius was speaking in that soft tone again, his voice a bit rough, but melting regardless and you were nodding before he’d finished his sentence.
He reached towards you, his arms wrapping around your frame and pulling you into his chest. His arms went around your waist as his chin fell to rest gently on your shoulder. You could feel his body shuddering beneath you, even as he kept you tucked tightly to him. The embrace helped calm your racing heart further, the pressure settling something in your chest.
Remus was sat firmly in front of you both, your hand drifting to rest on his leg, you weren’t one for initiating contact most of the time, but right now you had a feeling it was something you both needed.
He leaned into your hand, resting back against the couch, his hand coming to rest on yours as you drew small patterns onto his leg.
James was sitting close to your huddle, right next to Moony, both of them whispering between each other, you didn’t much care what the conversation was about but you knew it had to do with this whole debacle. You had no idea what the next step was from here.
Now that they knew, it’d be much harder to get them to agree to letting you take the detention if not impossible. And you couldn’t see them in pain, none of them, not after everything they’d been through and everything that was coming. They didn’t deserve any amount of extra pain.
You had a feeling they’d argue similarly but you couldn’t agree with that, no matter how much they might want you to.
“Puff? Alright, there?”
You were brought out of your thought spiral by James’ soft voice, with it you noticed how Sirius was smoothing your hair back, his hand warm and gentle as he attempted to lull you into a kind of calm.
You nodded, sinking further into Sirius, he tightened his arms around you.
“We need to talk about this.”
Again you nodded, you figured you would.
“Why didn’t you want to tell us about it?” James asked.
“You guys wouldn’t like it, and it’s detention, not much we can do about it. Also didn’t really fancy you lot having to deal with it, thought you might let me take it easier if you didn’t know.”
They were all quiet for a moment before Remus spoke up.
“Of bloody course we don’t like it, Puff. You’re hurting, kinda sends us into a tizzy.” He gave you a half smile. “The wolf is gunning for her blood.” He said it in the tone he would usually use to joke but you could see the truth in his eyes, how very real the wolf’s anger was, how real Rem’s anger was.
“But on top of that, this is not a normal detention.” James chimed in.
Your brows furrowed and you shook your head, that couldn’t be right…could it? Minnie must though, she does, doesn’t she?
“Outlawed decades ago, love.” Sirius spoke quietly, his voice still sounded shaky, you had a feeling the tears hadn’t fully dried. “Read about it, used to be a practice for the real troublemakers. Considered inhumane, outlawed now.”
His words were clipped and short, you assumed it was because that was all he could force out of himself right now.
“You, reading?” You teased quietly.
“Certainly a right mystery there.” He retorted dryly.
You let a laugh slip, catching how James seemed to deflate into the couch at the sound, how some of the tension in the room began to seep out.
“We need to tell Minnie.”
“You don’t think she already knows?”
They gave you a strange look.
“I think if Minnie knew then she would have kicked her sorry arse to the curb by now.” Remus answered.
“You think Minnie would have allowed this, Puff. Not a chance, not mention she has kind of a soft spot for us, don’t think she’ll be too happy to hear.”
You nodded, that… that made sense actually, now that you knew it’d been outlawed you knew Minnie wouldn’t uphold it even if she supported such a thing, you also had a distinct feeling that she did not.
“You feel up to visiting her office?”
You nodded quickly, the faster this was done, the faster you could sleep.
Sirius seemed reluctant to release you but did so nonetheless, keeping you steady as you got carefully to your feet, your arms and hand burning just a little more as you did but you tried to ignore it as best as you could.
Remus came to stand on your other side and James took up the front, ever the leader even in the most simple of things.
You all followed him out of the portrait hole. “Minnie has office hours right now, though I think we’ll get lucky cause it’s coming to a close, not many will be there at this point.”
James said as you neared her door.
They all came to a stop, their eyes turning on you.
“Ready, Puff?” Remus squeezed your uninjured hand.
“Let’s do it.” You’d never been one to let it fester when you knew something had be done.
James gave you a nod, a small smile on his face from your answer.
“Let’s” He gave the door a quick knock and then slowly pushed it open.
“Better late than never thought it’d do you well to be more punctual,” Her voice rang out as she looked up “Mr. Potter?”
“Professor.”
“I’ll have you know you do quite well in my class, is there something you’re confused on?”
“No, nothing like that, I shall remain a diamond in the rough of your class.”
You could see the smile threatening to curve Minnie’s lips before she firmly tamped it down.
“Then what can I do for you…and,” She peered around James “Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, and Ms. Smith?”
James met your eyes, raised his brow. Who did you want to break the news? He seemed ot be asking.
You stepped up to his side, Remus and Sirius coming to stand behind you, a wall between you and the door.
She must have seen the somber look that took over your normal joyful faces as she set down her pen and sat up straighter, her eyes hard and serious.
Without saying a word you pulled up your sleeve, pulling back the gauze Remus had laid over the words.
Her eyes followed yours to the words carver into your skin and you watched the widening of her eyes as she must have realized what it was that you were showing her.
“Blood quilll”
Her eyes shot to yours and the others.
“What is the meaning of this?” She spoke quietly, her eyes shocked but you could see the simmering anger beneath it even as she kept her mask of indifference firmly in place.
You looked behind you, your eyes catching Sirius’, he could see the question in your eyes and simply nodded before meeting McGonagall's questioning.
“Your new Professor has some medieval ways I’m afraid.”
Her brow furrowed before realization seemed to set it.
“Ms. Finch did… this?”
That’s when you decided to speak up.
“I mean technically. The blood quilll is more self mutilation but I wouldn’t have known what it was or tried to use it if she didn’t decide it was a fitting punishment for the prank we did last night.”
“And the supposed ‘disrespect’ in Slughorn’s today.” Sirius grumbled.
“Oh yes, but that was us. Puff just took the detention for us. Not that we knew why at the time.” James added.
You spared them both a glare.
“There’s more of these?” She asked, voice low.
You pulled the other sleeve and hand out, the bandage over both your forearm and hand enough to make a hard breath come from her lungs.
“Right then, Alubs” She called to her fire place. “A teacher has been torturing our students, get in here.”
Dumbledore was there in about five minutes of that interaction, the time between spent with her looking at the wounds and ensuring there was no added curse of sorts because supposedly they were common with this type of quilll.
“We’ll have to have Madam Pomfrey check it.” She spoke.
You’d figured as much.
Dumbledore walked through the door.
“What do you mean, Minerva?”
“Blood quilll, by that Finch you hired last week. Appears she finds it entertaining to not only break the law but to also force a student to write in their own blood for hours on end. All for a ‘detention’.”
Her words were venomous, her face twisted in disgust. You should have known this wasn’t something Minnie would allow, regardless of the law.
“A problem indeed.” Dumbledore spoke.
Sirius scoffed lightly.
“Just a tad, mate.”
Dumbedore ignored him as his eyes turned to your arms and hand. “She will be fired. Effective immediately, you will not have to endure such a thing again, Ms. Smith.”
His answer only slightly surprised you, even if he didn’t want to fire her, she’d quit herself when the guys got to her. You had a feeling they’d already composed a well strategized plan of attack.
“Please go back to the dorms while we work this issue out.”
You turned without another word, striding out of the office.
The three followed behind you silently, you made your way back into the common room and sat down on the couch, pulling Sirus back to his previous position, Remus and James seemed to understand what you wanted and without a word sat in their respective spots.
It wasn’t long until you were all laughing again as if this day hadn’t gone down the gutter from the start.