𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 54

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY 
FACE PUNISHMENT

. . .

"What on earth do you think you are doing?" Professor Umbridge's usual simpering tone was replaced with something much more shrill and high-pitched than usual. 

Smiling, Aviana pulled away first, fingers brushed through the curls of hair at the nape of his neck. Breathless, utterly and entirely speechless, he simply stared up at her, realising with a start that she was on his lap and he was holding her there, tight. She didn't reply to Umbridge straight away, her focus entirely on him and something in him glowed under the way she looked at him and he wondered if there was any chance of this being actually real. 

Her other hand sat firmly on his collar, using the usual stiffness to press herself against him, all jasmine and amber and a smile as the hand in his hair pulled back to brush at the corners of his lips, where her lip gloss had smudged.

"Professor Umbridge, what a delight?" She drawled. "Why, I wasn't expecting to see you for another..." Aviana paused, reaching for one of Harry's hands that had been wrapped around her waist. She glanced down at the watch at sat ticking merrily away. "Another five minutes. See, I knew we weren't late, Harry." She smiled back at him. 

"Well, detention will be starting early this evening." Umbridge said rigidly. It seemed, for once, she had no idea what to say, how to somehow command them apart. "I expect you to follow me to my office, immediately."

"What did I say?" Aviana hummed, under her breath, as she slipped off his lap with ease. "C'mon, Potter, we have detention, don't we?"

"Kinda have other plans now." He said, without thinking, because against the known pain of the quill and the lines carved into their hands the idea of kissing her again was more than heavenly.

"Oh yeah?" Aviana smirked, a finger trailing over his arm softly, the tip of her painted nail brushing over his knuckles before she, decidedly took his hand. "For the next however many hours, you're my boyfriend, Potter, so keep up that kind of behaviour, I get that a lot." 

He nodded blindly, letting her guide him down the corridor to that awful pink door of Umbridge's office, assaulted by the harshness of monochrome and a million novelty plates of cats hissing at them. 

"I am most sure that you are aware, that kind of behaviour is simply unacceptable!" Umbridge all but shrieked, withdrawing her wand from rose-tweed jacket and pointing it at their hands, a sharp zap of pain forcing them apart. "As such, I will be taking twenty points from each of you as further punishment." 

"Worth it." Aviana murmured. "So, usual lines?" 

Umbridge didn't reply, directing her wand to the already set-up table. Their chairs were a little further away from each other than usual, but otherwise it was the same; a sheet of blank parchment and a black quill laid diagonally upon it, no inkwells to be seen. 

Aviana took her seat, as did Harry across from her. "You may begin." Umbridge said lightly, as though she wasn't inflicting illegal corporal punishments on two teenagers and without a moment of hesitation - lest there be a fumble on her show of confidence - the girl picked up her quill and, biting the inside of her cheek, began to write.

After a moment, emerging out of the apparent daze he had been in, Harry mirrored her actions. 

After the number of detentions they had shared, it was no surprise that by now the quill was creating a scar upon the top of their hands, blood seeping from the carefully formed letters they wrote on the page. Yet, despite the excruciating pain that emerged with each stroke of the tip, neither displayed any show of that, faces blank and determined until, a couple hours later in the midst of her boredom and about the time she gave up actually writing lines and she mirrored the actions, Aviana had yet another idea.

Well, she had to make it look real, given that Harry fell victim to that particularly gormless expression every time she so much as touched him. 

She shifted in her chair, a little closer to the table, and below her leg extended, curved, shined leather of her shoes brushing against his trouser leg. His eyes flickered up to her, questioning. 

Slowly, oh-so slowly, she moved her foot upwards, and met his eye, winking. 

"You should be focused on your punishment, Miss Rosier." Umbridge sniped, obviously having caught onto the complete absence of moving black quills and the particularly noisy sound of it scratching, dry, against parchment. 

"Apologies Professor, I often find myself a little... distracted." Aviana shrugged, smirking as her foot dropped and her attention turned to the punishment once more. 

What seemed like hours upon hours later, certainly nearing midnight, when the grounds outside the window they sat by was swamped in darkness and lit only by moonlight, casting dark blue shadows over the wonder of it all, Umbridge came to the conclusion that they had suffered long enough. 

"Well?" She said expectantly, and, used to the treatment by now, both Harry and Aviana rose from their seats to stand before her desk, each extending their left hands. Each tried their hardest not to shudder as, one by one, she forced them forward as she grabbed their hand to examine the damage, and look pleased with herself, let go after several harrowing seconds. "I expect you to go directly to your respective dormitories." 

"Of course, Professor." Aviana simpered, lips spreading into the falsest of smiles as she stepped away. "This time tomorrow or...?" 

"That's enough, Miss Rosier." Umbridge said, and behind them, the door swung open. 

And Harry didn't exactly complain as they stepped out of it and she took his hand once more, dragging him down the hallways until they reached that boys bathroom.

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