Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Hermione: "You shouldn't break the rules. That means when you do break the rules, there's no reason not to go all the way."
A Skirt's Not So Bad [Harry Potter]
- Thread starter Tekomandor
- Start date
Finagle007
[Verified Great Old One]
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
'...what about this rule about not meddling?' said Magrat.
'Ah,' said Nanny. She took the girl's arm. 'The thing is,' she explained, 'as you progress in the Craft, you'll learn there is another rule. Esme's obeyed it all her life.'
'And what's that?'
'When you break rules, break 'em good and hard…'
- Wyrd Sisters
At this point I'd have just killed Umbitch and damn the consequences.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Nice to see Holly is recognised as a girl by random folk who've only just met her. While I knew Umbridge was just being a jerk misgendering her, I didn't know how far along Holly's genderswap potion treatment was, in terms of her physical appearance. Or rather, I've forgotten if it came up in a prior chapter, as tis been a while.
See, generally killing or badly injuring people is seen as a jerk move by the heroic faction, regardless of the target's behavior. And I doubt Holly wants to visit Azkaban or kiss a Dementor while Voldemort is running about... or at all, really.
Much better to just depose her from the school/government, but also quite a bit harder at this stage, firmly embedded in the local governmental politics as Umbridge is.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Stun her, hogtie her, and Floo her to the Ministry with a note politely explaining that Scrim needs a minion with enough of a brain to realize that letting their personal minions run roughshod over the rest of the student body is bad for the learning environment. Oh, and isn't a miserable little bitch-toad.
Finagle007
[Verified Great Old One]
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Snape was right there. If anyone in the castle would know how to untraceably dispose of an inconvenient corpse while providing Holly with an unbreakable alibi, it would be him.
Doomreaver
Fluffy Tail Enthusiast
Please don't give the nice man-eating spider tainted food. He'll get indigestion.
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
Umbridge is uniquely hateable, because she's not a fantastic villain. There's nothing special about her evil. It's all entirely mundane... which means it's all something that can be (and for a lot of people, has been) encountered in real life.
Year Five, Chapter Twenty Seven
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Year Five, Chapter Twenty Seven
Holly arrived at Umbridge's office, with its large courtroom-like outer room and violently pink inner sanctum, at five o'clock on the dot. Harry Cook had clearly been there for some time, sitting on the uncomfortable wooden benches outside the office and trying not to look nervous. He seemed so small, though she wasn't that much taller than him. The first year had sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His Hufflepuff robes seemed almost to swallow him up.
"It'll be alright," Holly said to him quietly as she sat down next to him on the bench.
"Kevin Phillips said that Umbridge turns people into frogs for detention," Harry said, not looking at Holly.
"Transformative punishment is banned at Hogwarts," Holly said, which was true. It had been one of Dumbledore's first acts as Headmaster, long before corporal punishment had been banned in the nineteen eighties.
Harry didn't say anything after that, and Holly took the opportunity to rest her eyes for a moment. She was utterly unconcerned - none of the punishments allowed in the Hogwarts bylaws was really anything more than unpleasant or annoying. She'd faced the worst torture magic could devise, more than once - compared to the cruciatus curse, detention with Umbridge could only be less.
"Mr Potter, Mr Cook," Umbridge said from her inner office.
Holly walked into the outer office and saw that a pair of ordinary desks and chairs had been placed in the centre. Each had a large piece of parchment and a quill but not an ink pot. Self-inking quills weren't unheard of - you could get one for a sickle at Diagon Alley prices - but Holly didn't think Umbridge would be the type to make her detentions any easier.
"Good evening, Mr Potter, Mr Cook," Umbridge said, her voice as falsely upbeat as ever.
"Good evening, High Inquisitor," Holly said, deciding to take a page from Snape's book. A sentence she'd hoped to never think for quite some time - but these were desperate times.
"I see we're already learning to mind our manners. Well, sit down," Umbridge said, and Holly sank into one of the seats. Something about this whole situation was making her uneasy. It was like she could see the shadow of the anvil about to drop on her head, just around the corner.
The quills themselves were odd. Long and dark, with sharp points, Holly hadn't seen anything similar in a wizarding stationary shop.
"Today, children, we'll be writing lines. Mr Cook, you will write 'I Will Respect my Betters'. Mr Potter, you will write 'I Will Mind my Manners'," Umbridge said, her tone of voice bizarrely happy.
"How - how many, ma'am?" little Harry Cook asked, his voice inches away from trembling.
"Oh, long enough for it to... settle in," Umbridge said, and for the first time, her smile reached her eyes. They were a piercing blue, and Holly had to stop herself from drawing her wand. All of her instincts were screaming at her that she was in a confined space with something dangerous - even as she saw a middle-aged woman in a pink cardigan give her lines.
Holly picked up her quill, and she felt a little ill. It had magic, yes, but it was no self-inking quill she'd ever heard of. She wrote out I Will Mind my Manners on the parchment in front of her and hissed in pain. The words had appeared on her hand, cut thin and fine as if by a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon. Even as she looked, the wound healed - but it was harder to heal a wound inflicted by magic, and even harder to heal one inflicted by dark magic.
Harry Cook started to cry, holding his hand in pain. He looked at Holly, fear in his eyes, and she felt her heart sink. He was transparently only here because she had intervened - he was only here to be used as a prop.
"Harry wasn't involved in the fight, ma'am," Holly said, the polite tone tasting like vomit in her mouth.
"Is that true, Mr Cook?" Umbridge asked her smile almost a leer. He looked to Holly and then Umbridge, and Holly hoped desperately that he would just say yes. Holly could smell the blood drying on the parchment in front of her.
"N... no, ma'am. I - I was being insolent and disrespectful, ma'am," Harry said, and Holly was both proud of him and mad at him. It was a stupid, foolish thing to do - there was no reason for him to get in trouble for her. She appreciated it all the same.
Umbridge looked between Holly and Harry for a moment, her eyes narrowing as if considering some great question. She cleared her throat and stood up looking down at Harry and Holly from her raised position.
"It is your first time in detention, Mr Cook - as opposed to a serial troublemaker like Mr Potter. And, of course, you do have superior breeding. I suppose I can consider this a warning in your case. Since Mr Potter claims he bears sole responsibility for the assault, he will also serve your detention," Umbridge said.
"I -" Harry began, but Holly cut him off. There was a time for bravery and a time for good sense, she thought. Something she knew she often failed to recognise in herself.
"I appreciate you sticking up for me, Harry, but I was the one who started the fight. Go on and get to bed," she said, smiling at him slightly. He didn't say anything for a moment, and she knew he wanted to argue, to insist that making Holly serve his detention was blatantly unfair. For a moment Holly thought he was going to but, in the end, he just wished them both a good night in a hesitant voice and left.
"Well, Mr Potter, shall we return to writing lines?" Umbridge said, and Holly said nothing. She only returned to her parchment and sank into her occlumency. She emptied her mind, sinking into the semi-meditative state that the most powerful forms of that art demanded. She was determined not to give Umbridge the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.
At first, it was only really a mild stinging sensation - unpleasant and surprising, but not all that painful. As the night wore on, as hour after hour marched on by, each cut became more painful - and took longer to heal. The magic of the quill seemed to be literally sinking into her skin, fighting whatever healing spell was also placed upon it.
Umbridge sat in her high judge's chair, pretending to do paperwork even as leered down at Holly. She kept her face still and unmoving, unwilling to give Umbridge the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. Unwilling to admit that the constant pain-relief-pain did hurt, that even if each line did hurt only a little the sheer mindless, endless, infinite repetition was close to driving Holly mad.
Holly thought about stopping. About simply standing up, cursing Umbridge, and walking out. She would surely be expelled, of course - and probably arrested. Dumbledore might have forgiven such a thing, especially during such a harsh punishment, but Umbridge would call in the Aurors the instant Holly was gone. So Holly would have to obliviate Umbridge.
Harry Cook would know that she had been in detention, as would the two Inquisitorial Squad members and probably the rest of the squad - along with everyone involved in the Educational decree. Perhaps a powerful confundus charm combined with a memory charm might let her make Umbridge think Holly had served out her detention, but Umbridge had once been a Senior Undersecretary - Ministry workers at that level were trained to recognise and report memory alterations.
She still considered hexing Umbridge and leaving, but she knew that if she did she would be leaving Hogwarts as well. Living at Grimmauld Place with Sirius and Remus year-round didn't sound so bad, but she'd be leaving behind Ginny. She'd be leaving behind Ron and Hermione. She'd be leaving behind all of her other friends and Quidditch and going outside without a half dozen guards.
Beyond all that, beyond anything it would cost her, Holly knew that she'd be letting Umbridge win. She would be letting Umbridge drive her from the castle, letting her clear another obstacle from the board for the Minister.
All Umbridge could do to Holly was inflict pain and be rude to her. She was a petty tyrant who thought she could break Holly's will with demeaning words and a little pain. She was a pathetic, bitter, bigoted loser and Holly would not let her win.
So Holly wrote and wrote and wrote, ignoring the pain. The smell of iron seemed almost overwhelming as line after line appeared on the parchment, Umbridge barely pretending to write reports as she watched Holly.
Holly missed dinner fairly soon into the detention, which was surely intentional. She was hungry and tired, and surely so must Umbridge have been, but neither of them wanted to back down and so there they sat for hour after hour. Finally, after the sun had long since dipped below the horizon and the bells had rung for midnight, Umbridge stood.
"Show me your hand, Mr Potter," she said, and Holly raised the back of her hand without speaking. She was sure if she spoke, she would say something so awful and rude that she and Umbridge would come to blows. The skin was red and irritated, but Holly was fairly confident that it would fade before the morning.
"Hem, it seems that a second detention is an entirely wise course of action. Well, do get to bed, Mr Potter. Tomorrow, five o'clock sharp," Umbridge said, and Holly got out of her seat and walked towards the door.
She walked back to Gryffindor tower almost in a daze, tired and hungry and with a stinging ache in her right hand. She was technically out of bounds without a note from a teacher, but evading prefect patrols was second nature to her by now and she managed to avoid the two of them she knew were in her way.
"And what were you doing out so late young lady?" the Fat Lady asked Holly, her hands on her hips.
"Detention," Holly said wearily.
"Detention? Why, I -" the Fat Lady began, but Holly was in no mood to have a conversation with a portrait when there was somewhere soft to lie down on and a warm fire awaiting her inside.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," Holly muttered, and the portrait swung aside. She hurried into the Common Room and was surprised to see several people still there, keeping the fire well-tended. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had all clearly waited for Holly, sitting around the couches near the fire and turning as Holly entered.
"Merlin, she kept you a little long for detention, didn't she? What, she have you scrub every cauldron in the dungeons without magic?" Ron asked.
"She had me write lines," Holly said, and Ron blinked.
"How many?" he asked, puzzled.
"I don't think she had a specific number in mind," Holly said. She'd hoped to sound dryly sarcastic, but it came out flat and tired.
"Is - is everything alright, Holly?" Ginny asked as she came over and gently took Holly's hand. Then she noticed the angry red marks on it. Holly thought for a moment about denying what had been happening - about keeping this entirely between Umbridge and her. But Ginny had been so open with her - and she had told her friends a far deeper secret and benefited so amazingly from it - that she had to tell her.
"Umbridge has some kind of quill that cuts and heals your hand when you write with it," she said, and Ginny's eyes went wide.
"That's awful!" she said.
"Let me help," Hermione said, withdrawing her wand and casting a healing charm Holly didn't know. The pain in her hand did lessen a little, and the redness faded some.
"Thanks, Hermione," Holly said even as Hermione frowned.
"That should have fixed all of it, not only some of it - that quill could be dark," Hermione said, and Holly nodded.
"I guess, yeah," she said, her tiredness robbing her of eloquence.
"Right, it's past midnight - let's just get up to bed so you don't fall asleep in potions," Ron said and Holly smiled.
"Actually, I'm bloody starving. You don't have - " Holly began, and then almost as if she'd called him, Dobby appeared with a soft 'pop' of displaced air.
"Is Miss Holly Potter being back - oh!" Dobby said, as he noticed Holly, she smiled at him.
"Hello, Dobby," she said, smiling at him.
"Hello, Miss! Dobby noticed Miss's friends waiting up for her, and they told Dobby that Miss was not at dinner. Would Miss like some food?" Dobby asked, and Holly could have hugged him.
"Yes please, Dobby - although anything will do. Please don't wake up the kitchen elves just for me or something like that," Holly said.
"Not to worry Miss! It is nearly time for the night shift's meal, and if Miss does not mind Dobby will get some of that for her," Dobby said, a little hesitantly. Holly, who would have eaten a roast prowler piglet - teeth and all - at this point, nodded.
"That's fine, Dobby - and please, call me Holly," she said, and Dobby looked at her with wide eyes and a wider smile. He disappeared right after that and returned thirty seconds later.
Holly hadn't been sure what she'd expected house elves to eat, but whatever she had expected it wasn't what Dobby was holding. The smell alone was like nothing she could remember, and she saw a half dozen cuisines in one little elf-sized dish. It was an explosion of colours and flavours, a mad whirlwind of different foods all combined in odd ways.
"The - the kitchen elves is liking to experiment, Miss - I mean, Holly," Dobby said and she smiled at him.
"I can see that. Thank you for bringing me this Dobby. Would you like to eat some with us?" Holly asked. Dobby nodded shyly, and she, Ron, and Dobby sat around one of the low tables near the fire and dug into the bizarre elf food. Ginny and Hermione headed to bed, but Ron couldn't resist the allure of the bizarre, and soon Holly thought he was glad he'd stayed.
Dobby had great fun telling Holly and Ron about each dish, which all had long and complicated histories involving individual kitchen elves; some of which seemed to be part of great feuds between lineages of kitchen elves. From the way he told it, Holly guess that he was telling her the house elf equivalent of scandalous gossip.
After perhaps half an hour, Holly stumbled up into her bed feeling far better than when she had arrived at Gryffindor tower. Even Umbridge, she thought, could not make Hogwarts unbearable for her so long as she had her friends with her - human and house elf alike.
Holly arrived at Umbridge's office, with its large courtroom-like outer room and violently pink inner sanctum, at five o'clock on the dot. Harry Cook had clearly been there for some time, sitting on the uncomfortable wooden benches outside the office and trying not to look nervous. He seemed so small, though she wasn't that much taller than him. The first year had sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His Hufflepuff robes seemed almost to swallow him up.
"It'll be alright," Holly said to him quietly as she sat down next to him on the bench.
"Kevin Phillips said that Umbridge turns people into frogs for detention," Harry said, not looking at Holly.
"Transformative punishment is banned at Hogwarts," Holly said, which was true. It had been one of Dumbledore's first acts as Headmaster, long before corporal punishment had been banned in the nineteen eighties.
Harry didn't say anything after that, and Holly took the opportunity to rest her eyes for a moment. She was utterly unconcerned - none of the punishments allowed in the Hogwarts bylaws was really anything more than unpleasant or annoying. She'd faced the worst torture magic could devise, more than once - compared to the cruciatus curse, detention with Umbridge could only be less.
"Mr Potter, Mr Cook," Umbridge said from her inner office.
Holly walked into the outer office and saw that a pair of ordinary desks and chairs had been placed in the centre. Each had a large piece of parchment and a quill but not an ink pot. Self-inking quills weren't unheard of - you could get one for a sickle at Diagon Alley prices - but Holly didn't think Umbridge would be the type to make her detentions any easier.
"Good evening, Mr Potter, Mr Cook," Umbridge said, her voice as falsely upbeat as ever.
"Good evening, High Inquisitor," Holly said, deciding to take a page from Snape's book. A sentence she'd hoped to never think for quite some time - but these were desperate times.
"I see we're already learning to mind our manners. Well, sit down," Umbridge said, and Holly sank into one of the seats. Something about this whole situation was making her uneasy. It was like she could see the shadow of the anvil about to drop on her head, just around the corner.
The quills themselves were odd. Long and dark, with sharp points, Holly hadn't seen anything similar in a wizarding stationary shop.
"Today, children, we'll be writing lines. Mr Cook, you will write 'I Will Respect my Betters'. Mr Potter, you will write 'I Will Mind my Manners'," Umbridge said, her tone of voice bizarrely happy.
"How - how many, ma'am?" little Harry Cook asked, his voice inches away from trembling.
"Oh, long enough for it to... settle in," Umbridge said, and for the first time, her smile reached her eyes. They were a piercing blue, and Holly had to stop herself from drawing her wand. All of her instincts were screaming at her that she was in a confined space with something dangerous - even as she saw a middle-aged woman in a pink cardigan give her lines.
Holly picked up her quill, and she felt a little ill. It had magic, yes, but it was no self-inking quill she'd ever heard of. She wrote out I Will Mind my Manners on the parchment in front of her and hissed in pain. The words had appeared on her hand, cut thin and fine as if by a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon. Even as she looked, the wound healed - but it was harder to heal a wound inflicted by magic, and even harder to heal one inflicted by dark magic.
Harry Cook started to cry, holding his hand in pain. He looked at Holly, fear in his eyes, and she felt her heart sink. He was transparently only here because she had intervened - he was only here to be used as a prop.
"Harry wasn't involved in the fight, ma'am," Holly said, the polite tone tasting like vomit in her mouth.
"Is that true, Mr Cook?" Umbridge asked her smile almost a leer. He looked to Holly and then Umbridge, and Holly hoped desperately that he would just say yes. Holly could smell the blood drying on the parchment in front of her.
"N... no, ma'am. I - I was being insolent and disrespectful, ma'am," Harry said, and Holly was both proud of him and mad at him. It was a stupid, foolish thing to do - there was no reason for him to get in trouble for her. She appreciated it all the same.
Umbridge looked between Holly and Harry for a moment, her eyes narrowing as if considering some great question. She cleared her throat and stood up looking down at Harry and Holly from her raised position.
"It is your first time in detention, Mr Cook - as opposed to a serial troublemaker like Mr Potter. And, of course, you do have superior breeding. I suppose I can consider this a warning in your case. Since Mr Potter claims he bears sole responsibility for the assault, he will also serve your detention," Umbridge said.
"I -" Harry began, but Holly cut him off. There was a time for bravery and a time for good sense, she thought. Something she knew she often failed to recognise in herself.
"I appreciate you sticking up for me, Harry, but I was the one who started the fight. Go on and get to bed," she said, smiling at him slightly. He didn't say anything for a moment, and she knew he wanted to argue, to insist that making Holly serve his detention was blatantly unfair. For a moment Holly thought he was going to but, in the end, he just wished them both a good night in a hesitant voice and left.
"Well, Mr Potter, shall we return to writing lines?" Umbridge said, and Holly said nothing. She only returned to her parchment and sank into her occlumency. She emptied her mind, sinking into the semi-meditative state that the most powerful forms of that art demanded. She was determined not to give Umbridge the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.
At first, it was only really a mild stinging sensation - unpleasant and surprising, but not all that painful. As the night wore on, as hour after hour marched on by, each cut became more painful - and took longer to heal. The magic of the quill seemed to be literally sinking into her skin, fighting whatever healing spell was also placed upon it.
Umbridge sat in her high judge's chair, pretending to do paperwork even as leered down at Holly. She kept her face still and unmoving, unwilling to give Umbridge the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. Unwilling to admit that the constant pain-relief-pain did hurt, that even if each line did hurt only a little the sheer mindless, endless, infinite repetition was close to driving Holly mad.
Holly thought about stopping. About simply standing up, cursing Umbridge, and walking out. She would surely be expelled, of course - and probably arrested. Dumbledore might have forgiven such a thing, especially during such a harsh punishment, but Umbridge would call in the Aurors the instant Holly was gone. So Holly would have to obliviate Umbridge.
Harry Cook would know that she had been in detention, as would the two Inquisitorial Squad members and probably the rest of the squad - along with everyone involved in the Educational decree. Perhaps a powerful confundus charm combined with a memory charm might let her make Umbridge think Holly had served out her detention, but Umbridge had once been a Senior Undersecretary - Ministry workers at that level were trained to recognise and report memory alterations.
She still considered hexing Umbridge and leaving, but she knew that if she did she would be leaving Hogwarts as well. Living at Grimmauld Place with Sirius and Remus year-round didn't sound so bad, but she'd be leaving behind Ginny. She'd be leaving behind Ron and Hermione. She'd be leaving behind all of her other friends and Quidditch and going outside without a half dozen guards.
Beyond all that, beyond anything it would cost her, Holly knew that she'd be letting Umbridge win. She would be letting Umbridge drive her from the castle, letting her clear another obstacle from the board for the Minister.
All Umbridge could do to Holly was inflict pain and be rude to her. She was a petty tyrant who thought she could break Holly's will with demeaning words and a little pain. She was a pathetic, bitter, bigoted loser and Holly would not let her win.
So Holly wrote and wrote and wrote, ignoring the pain. The smell of iron seemed almost overwhelming as line after line appeared on the parchment, Umbridge barely pretending to write reports as she watched Holly.
Holly missed dinner fairly soon into the detention, which was surely intentional. She was hungry and tired, and surely so must Umbridge have been, but neither of them wanted to back down and so there they sat for hour after hour. Finally, after the sun had long since dipped below the horizon and the bells had rung for midnight, Umbridge stood.
"Show me your hand, Mr Potter," she said, and Holly raised the back of her hand without speaking. She was sure if she spoke, she would say something so awful and rude that she and Umbridge would come to blows. The skin was red and irritated, but Holly was fairly confident that it would fade before the morning.
"Hem, it seems that a second detention is an entirely wise course of action. Well, do get to bed, Mr Potter. Tomorrow, five o'clock sharp," Umbridge said, and Holly got out of her seat and walked towards the door.
She walked back to Gryffindor tower almost in a daze, tired and hungry and with a stinging ache in her right hand. She was technically out of bounds without a note from a teacher, but evading prefect patrols was second nature to her by now and she managed to avoid the two of them she knew were in her way.
"And what were you doing out so late young lady?" the Fat Lady asked Holly, her hands on her hips.
"Detention," Holly said wearily.
"Detention? Why, I -" the Fat Lady began, but Holly was in no mood to have a conversation with a portrait when there was somewhere soft to lie down on and a warm fire awaiting her inside.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," Holly muttered, and the portrait swung aside. She hurried into the Common Room and was surprised to see several people still there, keeping the fire well-tended. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had all clearly waited for Holly, sitting around the couches near the fire and turning as Holly entered.
"Merlin, she kept you a little long for detention, didn't she? What, she have you scrub every cauldron in the dungeons without magic?" Ron asked.
"She had me write lines," Holly said, and Ron blinked.
"How many?" he asked, puzzled.
"I don't think she had a specific number in mind," Holly said. She'd hoped to sound dryly sarcastic, but it came out flat and tired.
"Is - is everything alright, Holly?" Ginny asked as she came over and gently took Holly's hand. Then she noticed the angry red marks on it. Holly thought for a moment about denying what had been happening - about keeping this entirely between Umbridge and her. But Ginny had been so open with her - and she had told her friends a far deeper secret and benefited so amazingly from it - that she had to tell her.
"Umbridge has some kind of quill that cuts and heals your hand when you write with it," she said, and Ginny's eyes went wide.
"That's awful!" she said.
"Let me help," Hermione said, withdrawing her wand and casting a healing charm Holly didn't know. The pain in her hand did lessen a little, and the redness faded some.
"Thanks, Hermione," Holly said even as Hermione frowned.
"That should have fixed all of it, not only some of it - that quill could be dark," Hermione said, and Holly nodded.
"I guess, yeah," she said, her tiredness robbing her of eloquence.
"Right, it's past midnight - let's just get up to bed so you don't fall asleep in potions," Ron said and Holly smiled.
"Actually, I'm bloody starving. You don't have - " Holly began, and then almost as if she'd called him, Dobby appeared with a soft 'pop' of displaced air.
"Is Miss Holly Potter being back - oh!" Dobby said, as he noticed Holly, she smiled at him.
"Hello, Dobby," she said, smiling at him.
"Hello, Miss! Dobby noticed Miss's friends waiting up for her, and they told Dobby that Miss was not at dinner. Would Miss like some food?" Dobby asked, and Holly could have hugged him.
"Yes please, Dobby - although anything will do. Please don't wake up the kitchen elves just for me or something like that," Holly said.
"Not to worry Miss! It is nearly time for the night shift's meal, and if Miss does not mind Dobby will get some of that for her," Dobby said, a little hesitantly. Holly, who would have eaten a roast prowler piglet - teeth and all - at this point, nodded.
"That's fine, Dobby - and please, call me Holly," she said, and Dobby looked at her with wide eyes and a wider smile. He disappeared right after that and returned thirty seconds later.
Holly hadn't been sure what she'd expected house elves to eat, but whatever she had expected it wasn't what Dobby was holding. The smell alone was like nothing she could remember, and she saw a half dozen cuisines in one little elf-sized dish. It was an explosion of colours and flavours, a mad whirlwind of different foods all combined in odd ways.
"The - the kitchen elves is liking to experiment, Miss - I mean, Holly," Dobby said and she smiled at him.
"I can see that. Thank you for bringing me this Dobby. Would you like to eat some with us?" Holly asked. Dobby nodded shyly, and she, Ron, and Dobby sat around one of the low tables near the fire and dug into the bizarre elf food. Ginny and Hermione headed to bed, but Ron couldn't resist the allure of the bizarre, and soon Holly thought he was glad he'd stayed.
Dobby had great fun telling Holly and Ron about each dish, which all had long and complicated histories involving individual kitchen elves; some of which seemed to be part of great feuds between lineages of kitchen elves. From the way he told it, Holly guess that he was telling her the house elf equivalent of scandalous gossip.
After perhaps half an hour, Holly stumbled up into her bed feeling far better than when she had arrived at Gryffindor tower. Even Umbridge, she thought, could not make Hogwarts unbearable for her so long as she had her friends with her - human and house elf alike.
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
Is there a reason for Holly not to go to Dumbledore about this, I wonder? If only to let him know just how twisted Umbridge is? I'm not sure how deeply the ministry has sunk its claws into Hogwarts, but while he might not be able to do fight Umbridge on who she punishes he might be able to do something about how she does it. School rules ban transformation punishments, after all, so do they ban corporal punishment and/or dark magic? Or can they be made to do so?
Failing that, Holly is a celebrity and has to have amassed some popularity with her know feats fighting Death Eaters. She could always try taking it to the court of public opinion- I doubt many people would support the torture of the GWL. Though of course, given how much control Scrimgeour's exerting over the country that simply might not be possible.
I know none of these are likely to work, if only because it would remove or weaken Umbridge as an antagonist, but I still can't help but try to think of possible ways to stop her.
Failing that, Holly is a celebrity and has to have amassed some popularity with her know feats fighting Death Eaters. She could always try taking it to the court of public opinion- I doubt many people would support the torture of the GWL. Though of course, given how much control Scrimgeour's exerting over the country that simply might not be possible.
I know none of these are likely to work, if only because it would remove or weaken Umbridge as an antagonist, but I still can't help but try to think of possible ways to stop her.
Does seem wierd for this protagonist to be as passive as cannon Harry was. She's shown to be near Dumbledore tier in power yet cowtows to a crony out of some sense of self-righteousness. Serious lack of creativity for Holly, there's a million ways to circumvent the mostly unimaginative Wizarding authorities.
Well at the precise moment Holly has monofocused in order to get through the trial she is very specifically not thinking about a vast array of things, for example simply nicking and then taking one of the quills to Dumbledore or Pomfrey, or assassinating Umbridge at some later point when she's less likely to get caught.
Tomorrow is going to be the problem.
Tomorrow is going to be the problem.
The best revenge would be to take umbridges' wand, imperious her into never using magic again and forcing her to live as a muggle.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
nah, then people would still have to deal with her.
- Location
- A lull in the conversation
The more obvious move here to me would be to make a pensieve memory of the whole event, then send it to a reporter. There's going to be a whole bunch of parents suddenly very concerned about why the government representatives at their kids school take amusement in torturing them (for quite obviously minor offenses).
Could the ministry survive the scandal? Yeah probably. Would it want to? Probably not, this is the type of personal issue that will lose you a large amount of swing voters and I frankly doubt it's worth not moving Umbridge to a different post (or firing her entirely if she's too inconvenient). Also it gives Dumbledore a lot more political ammo which I feel would motivate the ministery more than the scandal ironically. Simply shuffle her somewhere else, promise investigations, and appoint someone more professional.
Could the ministry survive the scandal? Yeah probably. Would it want to? Probably not, this is the type of personal issue that will lose you a large amount of swing voters and I frankly doubt it's worth not moving Umbridge to a different post (or firing her entirely if she's too inconvenient). Also it gives Dumbledore a lot more political ammo which I feel would motivate the ministery more than the scandal ironically. Simply shuffle her somewhere else, promise investigations, and appoint someone more professional.
- Location
- Minnesota
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think Holly's reasons for not objecting are all right there in the text. In terms of how within the rules the punishment is I would assume that it's allowed. Umbridge and people like her use rules and the institutional power behind them as weapons, which is really the whole point. If they're doing something then they think they can get away with it because they're craven. In the same way, going to the press would pit Holly directly against the Ministry, who almost certainly have more hooks in the press. It would probably just squander Holly's goodwill for something that she can bear.
Not that it's not an awful situation! But one of the things I've enjoyed about this story is how things don't come down to power and doing everything yourself. We need other people to help us get through things emotionally and collaboratively, not just by giving us a maguffin or whatever. Showing that is one of the ways many ways that this exceeds the source material imo.
Not that it's not an awful situation! But one of the things I've enjoyed about this story is how things don't come down to power and doing everything yourself. We need other people to help us get through things emotionally and collaboratively, not just by giving us a maguffin or whatever. Showing that is one of the ways many ways that this exceeds the source material imo.
- Location
- The City of Tears, Hallownest
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This, seems to me, to be quite frankly total bullshit. Every instance of "The ministry" that we see in canon is directly portrayed as useless busybodys that can't find their wands with both hands and a map.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"Reactionaries", the word you're looking for is "reactionaries". And the thing about reactionaries is that, when it comes to being competent at their described jobs, actually helping people, preventing or at a bare minimum somewhat mitigating harm? You're right: useless busybodys that couldn't find their own ass with both hands and help.
When it comes to their petty authority being challenged in any way -- especially by people they don't like, people they want to be rid of one way or another, preferably seeing them suffer every second of the process? They're not merely competent, they're experts at enforcement and retribution, with a tendency towards cruelty and revelling in it the entire time. I mean, at this point you have to have seen how cops don't give a single solitary damn about you, the little people, but if one of them gets so much as discomfited or has even the slightest chance of facing consequences for their actions, the stormtroopers in riot gear come out and start cracking heads to prevent it.
They don't feel a need to be competent. They feel a need to be in control. Andor puts it very well IMO: "[their] need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. Authority is brittle."
- Location
- The City of Tears, Hallownest
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So, you're sort of correct. Every time we see ministry members actually trying to do stuff involving rules and regulations, sure, they can manage it, but resisting hostile magic? absolutely not. I'm loathe to use Hogwarts mystery as a source of anything (because shitty mobile game) but
and there are other instances of Umbridge being completely incompentent as an authority, such as being unable to defend herself from Fred and Georges pranks, being unable to get into the headmasters office, an of course, being beaten and captured by a bunch of Centaurs with bows and melee weapons. Aside from the movie (which upgrades her competence in general) the only advanced spells she ever shows off are the Patronus (which is difficult because of emotional state not personal skill) and the Cruciatus (similar, fucking harry pulls it off.)"The wiki" said:
You'll have to excuse my disbelief that even "top tier" ministry members like Umbridge have "special training to detect missing memories" because their explicit skillset is bureaucracy, not magic.
Finagle007
[Verified Great Old One]
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
You underestimate her, Holly.
- Location
- Minnesota
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I feel like this is a product of Rowling's neoliberalism. Government is incompetent, private individuals are more capable than bureaucrats, etc etc. It's actively farcical in the source material. Umbrage, as a representative of government (and Rowlings disgust for fat and unattractive people) is given all of these traits, being at once tyrannical and oppressive while also incompetent and buffoonish.
Something I really like about this fic is that I don't think she's derided physically once? I remember 'toadlike' coming up every other paragraph when umbrage was around in the books. Much better to focus on what actually matters, the venality and bigotry.
Last edited:
Fanart: Do I have to take a boy? by waito_x
Hello thread. Just started and am really pleased to see Eater posted last, as I wanted to thank you specifically for recommending this fic to the Winterfest. It is certainly a pleasant surprise to see an exclusively HP narrative started just a summer or two ago and still updating, so good call.
Now then, let me put on my reading glasses here and, oh, be sure and fetch a fresh brew of the seasonable blend. I got my cat, thick blanket and a copy of the official work here. Where are we abouts, Azkaban? There's a lot of polyjuice antics whether its foiling Mad Eye and Slytherin's Heir's respective plans, to wit.
So, doubling back to the first several chapters, I should be able to find the spot in the reading...
Now, understanding some early 2000s prattling, surely Hermione is calling Harry out for not helping Rosmerta with the crop of Dementors over her tavern. I'm sure something of this is in the footnotes of Fantastic Beasts. But, just to make sure, I'll scroll back to the Three Broomsticks conversation. What exactly is expected of him?
At first glance this all sounds fairly reasonable, as if Harry and Draco are getting ready to raid the prison and free his guardian. It could happen! Still, pretty bummed he chickened out with Rosmerta's Dementor quest. Well, hold on, Draco was speaking over Harry to Pansy. Am I to assume Harry is under the Invisibility Cloak, and still trying to carry the conversation? Has Harry even managed to ventriloquify the Parseltongue by his third year?
*compares notes*
Oh! It's the polyjuice bit from second year...
*reads thread tags*
And Harry is no longer her name?
(In all seriousness, this is a terrific idea and I'm glad OP is rolling with it! You know Scarlett Byrne as Pansy in the more recent films strikes me as an Aubrey Plaza look-alike? I think it's outstanding she was in Slytherin House dress and no doubt filling a very difficult role. Because just like the Defense Against the Dark Arts position in the books, Pansy's was rotating out so many cast members since the third movie, the only exception the Pansy from the first two or last two in the series, but I digress.
Going to definitely enjoy reading this. Commenting here to watch, and hope to catch everyone in conversation on the newest posts before long. In the meanwhile, have a fanart*, it's my gift to you for joining the Winterfest auditions as it were...! )
Now then, let me put on my reading glasses here and, oh, be sure and fetch a fresh brew of the seasonable blend. I got my cat, thick blanket and a copy of the official work here. Where are we abouts, Azkaban? There's a lot of polyjuice antics whether its foiling Mad Eye and Slytherin's Heir's respective plans, to wit.
So, doubling back to the first several chapters, I should be able to find the spot in the reading...
Now, understanding some early 2000s prattling, surely Hermione is calling Harry out for not helping Rosmerta with the crop of Dementors over her tavern. I'm sure something of this is in the footnotes of Fantastic Beasts. But, just to make sure, I'll scroll back to the Three Broomsticks conversation. What exactly is expected of him?At first glance this all sounds fairly reasonable, as if Harry and Draco are getting ready to raid the prison and free his guardian. It could happen! Still, pretty bummed he chickened out with Rosmerta's Dementor quest. Well, hold on, Draco was speaking over Harry to Pansy. Am I to assume Harry is under the Invisibility Cloak, and still trying to carry the conversation? Has Harry even managed to ventriloquify the Parseltongue by his third year?
*compares notes*
Oh! It's the polyjuice bit from second year...
*reads thread tags*
And Harry is no longer her name?
(In all seriousness, this is a terrific idea and I'm glad OP is rolling with it! You know Scarlett Byrne as Pansy in the more recent films strikes me as an Aubrey Plaza look-alike? I think it's outstanding she was in Slytherin House dress and no doubt filling a very difficult role. Because just like the Defense Against the Dark Arts position in the books, Pansy's was rotating out so many cast members since the third movie, the only exception the Pansy from the first two or last two in the series, but I digress.
Going to definitely enjoy reading this. Commenting here to watch, and hope to catch everyone in conversation on the newest posts before long. In the meanwhile, have a fanart*, it's my gift to you for joining the Winterfest auditions as it were...!
)