47Updated 7th November 2015
Hey sorry about the late update! This was meant to go up last week but I was really late writing it and it had to go to yankeebornandbred to be beta'd. So yeah...
A BIG THANK YOU TO YANKEEBORNANDBRED FOR BEING THE MOST AMAZING BETA EVVVVEEEERRRRR! THIS CHAPTER WAS LIKE DISGUSTINGLY AWFUL BEFORE BETAING AND NOW IT'S GOLD... (well hopefully you feel the same way... BUT YEAH BETA OF THE YEAR GOES TO YANKEEBORNANDBRED WHOOP WHOOP!
Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling
Opening the doors of the Defence classroom, Teddy almost fainted. How wrong he was… it had gotten worse. Standing there, at the end of the classroom, was an object of his worse fears. The article of his nightmares. The most notorious werewolf hater in the flesh…
Dolores Umbridge.
Teddy stepped back, hitting Sam's broad chest. Turning around, he shook his head.
"I–I can't do this," he whimpered, running a nervous hand through his hair.
He was about to be taught a lesson about werewolves by a monster.
He barely noticed Sam leading him away from the door until his butt made contact with the chair. The rest of the students filed in behind them, sending dirty looks at the substitute teacher.
"Calm down, Teddy, you're hyperventilating," Sam whispered to him, giving his shoulder a soothing squeeze.
Everyone knew who Dolores Umbridge was; if it wasn't because of their parents' old war stories, it was because she was constantly in news, promoting a renewal of the old werewolf-enslavement laws."
"What happened to Professor Garrett?" Teddy whispered frantically to Sam.
He glanced at Umbridge, who was sending him a malicious grin with her froggy mouth. Thankfully he wasn't sat sitting in the front row, but the fourth; at least there was some distance between them.
"I don't know, but stay calm. All of us have your back," Sam whispered back hastily, and the students who were near them nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry," a girl called Jamie whispered with a smile.
Nodding appreciatively at his fellow Hufflepuffs, the metamorphmagus cringed as he heard the distinct "hem-hem" of the witch.
The class immediately went silent, turning to face Umbridge instead of their friends.
"For those of you who don't know who I am," she announced, looking around with unblinking eyes. "I am Professor Umbridge."
There was a moment of chatter and sniggers before Umbridge coughed again, looking a tad frustrated.
"As I was saying, I am Professor Umbridge, and unfortunately your usual teacher, Professor Garrett, has been taken ill." She smiled and flattened her crisp pink skirt primly. "As I havepreviously taught here, I was very glad to accept this opportunity to help, much to the delight of your dear Headmistress."
Teddy had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from laughing... though that statement did make him wonder how she was allowed in the school in the first place, considering the fact that McGonagall hated her guts.
Umbridge motioned for the boy closest to her, Max, to come forward.
"Would you please hand out these books?" Umbridge asked, pointing to the stack of books that was next to her on her desk. When Max finally got to his table, Teddy's eyes widened in fear as he read the title. It was labelled 'The Art of Werewolf Hunting.'
"Today's lesson is on werewolves."
She sent a pointed look at Teddy, causing him to gulp.
"Werewolf hunting is illegal!" Samexploded furiously.
If looks could kill, Umbridge would surely be a pile of ash on the floor by now from the look the blonde gave her.
The woman turned her grey-haired head in Sam's direction.
"For now," she replied with a sickly sweet smile. "What's your name?"
Sam pushed his glasses up his lightly freckled nose and frowned. "Samson Turner."
"Well, Mr. Turner, because of your rudeness, I am deducting twenty points from Hufflepuff." Normally all the Hufflepuffs would have groaned at the loss, but in this situation none of them cared.
Umbridge was clearly disgruntled at their resentful unconcern. "And for future reference, I have zero tolerance of students shouting out and interrupting me. If you wish to give input, raise your hand and wait patiently."
She glared at the students.
Immediately, Jamie raised her hand and Umbridge smiled.
"Yes, Miss..?"
"Knight, Jamie Knight."
"Proceed with your question, Miss Knight," Umbridge tittered, preening herself with a self-satisfied air.
"Why are you teaching us about something that is illegal?" Jamie began. Umbridge looked as though she had just swallowed a lemon. "This book is extremely biased."
"I am teaching you this because you must know the truth about the monsters that are among us," she hissed.
Jamie sent a worried look towards Teddy, her hazel eyes wide, but he shook his head at her; it wasn't worth getting a detention for.
"If you will all turn to page one of the book." Umbridge's voice rose and all the Hufflepuffs winced. "Introduction. May I have a volunteer to read out loud?"
The room was so silent that one could have heard a pin drop. Umbridge's pale lips curled again in that spiteful grin of hers, and Teddy paled as her eyes moved in his direction. "Mr. Lupin, how nice of you to offer your services."
Teddy's hair went bright red in anger. "I didn't!"
"Well, I have chosen you to read, so proceed."
The sadistic witch was clearly relishing every minute of the pain she was inflicting upon him. Teddy bowed his head and grasped the book with shaking hands.
"Werewolves are undoubtedly the most dangerous creatures in the wizarding world. On full moons, these beasts transform into bloodthirsty Monsters that will not hesitate to kill or transmit the curse. Even in human form, werewolves have violent tendencies and attack people for no apparent reason, and in many cases these attacks prove fatal. Werewolves in their creature form are hard to kill; consequently the ministry encourages people to kill them in their human form. This is lawful during an attack."
Teddy's voice was trembling withrage, and an angry tear leaked from his eye. He rubbed it away, but the action, swift as it was, was caught by a pleased Umbridge.
"This book is outdated!" Amanda screamed from the front of the class. "What they are suggesting is wrong and inhumane!"
"Twenty points deducted!" Umbridge screeched.
Teddy jumped, his stomach curdling painfully. He had known this lesson was going to be bad, but at the moment all he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and die.
Umbridge sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I am simply trying to keep you all safe... the sooner you realise that werewolves are murderous beasts, the better."
Kevin Bones raised his hand, sending a slightly apologetic look to Teddy, and Umbridge nodded.
"I know they are."
Teddy felt betrayed; he never would have thought the boy would go against anyone, especially other Hufflepuffs. Then again, Kevin had always been off with Teddy.
"And what would be your reason?" Umbridge questioned, a pleased smile marring her wicked features.
Coughing awkwardly, the boy answered, "My dad was murdered by one when I was seven."
Sympathetic looks were sent towards him and Teddy suddenly felt guilty for being angry at him. There was a slim chance of changing the minds of werewolf attack victims. He was only surprised that Kevin hadn't been awful to Teddy from the beginning, but that must have been the Hufflepuff in him. Kevin just politely kept his distance.
"An excellent example of how dangerous they are," Umbridge explained to the class.
"We know they are dangerous, but not all of them," Teddy said obstinately, staring at Umbridge dead in the eye.
She looked momentarily taken aback. Then, stalking up to Teddy's desk, she placed both hands on the burnished wood and spat, "All werewolves are dangerous, Mr. Lupin. Your privileged life has only given you the fairy tale image of what they are actually like."
Teddy glowered back defiantly, but said nothing.
With that, Umbridge continued with the lesson.
"All werewolves share a common weakness, and we use this to our advantage when capturing rogue werewolves. Anyone know what it is?"
There was complete silence until Amy Williams answered, "Silver?"
"Absolutely correct. Ten points to Hufflepuff."
She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out three pure silver rings and promptly placed them on her chubby fingers. Teddy's heart began to pound wildly. It was common knowledge that werewolves were allergic to silver, but not that half werewolves were as well… because half werewolves were so rare. Not many people were willing to be with a werewolf, even less tohave a child with one.
"Silver is the main weapon used when hunting and potentially killing a werewolf." She inhaled deeply as she admired the silver rings. "This is because werewolves have an excessive amount of sulphur, a muggle element, in their skin and blood compared to us wizards and the sulphur combines with the silver it creates an element thatis not toxic to most animals."
She stopped admiring the jewellery and her eyes scanned over the class.
Teddy fought to keep down the bile. After shooting a quick glance at Sam, he saw that his friend had turned ghostly white.
After another one of her hem-hems, Umbridge continued. "For a werewolf though, it works like lightning to poison all the cells, burning the monster from the inside out. However, that's only when the wound is open and unfortunately there are treatments for silver poisoning. When the silver just makes contact with the skin it burns the surface."
"Why can't spells stop werewolves?" Georgina queried, looking confused.
"Because they themselves are a subject of dark magic," Umbridge answered curtly. "However, some spells can slow them down."
Teddy mentally noted that werewolf elimination-friendly comments were accepted – even desired – by Umbridge.
"Another method to hunt and kill werewolves is by using mercury or wolfsbane in its original plant form. This is mainly used when werewolf is in human form; it is easy to slip into their food. Helpful spells when hunting a werewolf are tracking spells and rope binding spells."
Teddy fisted his hand, hating how Umbridge was talking about werewolves as though they were cattle to be caught and slaughtered. Looking at his watch, Teddy felt his spirits sink further; there were still forty minutes left of the double lesson.
"We will now watch some recordings that hopefully will prove the safety and security brought about by anti-werewolf laws."
Teddy could hardly bring himself to face them. It began with a moving picture of werewolves being forced to register themselves under threat of imprisonment. They were then branded in manner disgustingly comparable to the brutalities of a concentration camp. To Teddy's relief, that part was fairly short, but unfortunately the next was even worse. A pale, sickly, but normal-looking man was bound tightly, silver chains searing his skin and a sign hanging from his neck that read "UNREGISTERED, MAY IT BE AN EXAMPLE." Few of the bystanders were sympathetic; most jeered and abused him.
Pushing his chair out, Teddy headed towards the door. He couldn't take this anymore. Just as Teddy grasped the doorknob, he heard a familiar voice.
"Dad," Teddy whispered, tears leaking from his eyes as he turned back to the screen.
A battered and bloody Remus Lupin – his father – was sitting... at a table, his arms and legs taped to the chair. His right eye was badly bruised and his left cheek bone clearly broken. A number of gashes and lacerations decorated his face, sending trickles of blood slithering down his chin and neck to stain his collar a dark red.
"You put everyone in danger by working in that school," Umbridge said curtly. Confused, Teddy glanced at her, but the witch's mouth hadn't so much as twitched. "All those students."
Realisation hit him like a ton of bricks and the growing horror inside of him began to bubble into pure rage.
"I don't regret my decision to work there. I made a mistake one month, and for that I will pay," Remus' voice was hoarse and he was glaring darkly at the person behind the camera. "But teaching those children was the best thing I have ever done in my life."
Suddenly there were two Aurors oneither side of Remus, who looked determined not to show his fear as they slung a warning sign around his neck and dragged him away. Teddy was too much in a daze to see or hear the rest of the class. What had he just seen?
When the recordings ended, the whole classroom was open-jawed in disgust.
"They definitely knew their place then; it would be most beneficial if we could return to that level of security."
Teddy finally lost it.
"You evil bitch," he growled at her, his hair scarlet.
Sam turned to gape at him with real shock.
"You can't speak to a teacher like that!" Jamie warned, looking between Umbridge's maniacal grin and Teddy's outraged visage in alarm.
"I can speak to her however the fuck I want," he cried, angry tears once again running down his face.
Pointing at the screen, he scowled at Umbridge.
"You tortured my dad and bloody recorded it!"
There was a collective gasp from the room's occupants as they realised why Teddy was so distraught.
"You needed to know what happened to people like your father, Mr. Lupin."
Her voice was icy cold now… a huge contrast to her usual venomously honeyed tone.
Sam stood up now.
"Oh, go," all of class either cheered or laughed, "yourself."
He pulled Teddy up by the shoulder and dragged him towards the door, and Teddy was all too happy to follow him.
"Get back here this instant!"
The small witch hastily jogged to catch up with them and grabbed Teddy's arm. He yelped, sounding lot more canine than human, as searing pain raced through his nerves.
Silence fell over the room as Jamie stood quietly and took hold of Teddy's arm, staring in shock and repulsion at the three burn marks that now marred his skin. Turning around, she gazed in horror at Umbridge.
"You burned him."
Peering at the rings, Umbridge laughed.
"I see it affects half werewolves as well."
Frightened, Teddy hugged his abused arm towards his chest.
Jamie and Sam dragged him out of the classroom.
"You're not staying in the room with that crackpot any longer," Sam grunted.
All Teddy could do was nod, his eyes glassy.
"Let's get him to the hospital wing," Jamie muttered.
Sam nodded in agreement.
They slowly made their way towards the infirmary in silence, mulling over what had happened.
"What are you all doing out of class?"
A prim voice broke through the silence and they all turned to see Professor McGonagall staring down at them.
"Well?"
The three glanced between each other and Teddy held out his arm.
With a perplexed frown, the ageing witch took his arm and looked gravely at them when she realised what the marks were. "Dolores."
Teddy nodded awkwardly, feeling ashamed.
McGonagall contemplated before nodding with decision.
"Mr. Turner, Miss Knight, please continue to escort Mr. Lupin to the hospital wing. I'm going to call Mr. Potter."
"No!" Teddy blurted out. His godfather couldn't know about this; he would go ballistic.
"That is not up for debate, Mr. Lupin," the witch said curtly.
"He'll be really angry!" Teddy cried, concerned.
"As I said, Mr. Lupin, this is not up for debate. What Umbridge has done is against the law and for that she must be punished."
Teddy knew he was fighting a losing battle. He was too tired to protest anymore, so he gave up, allowing his friends to lead him to the hospital wing.
When he got there, Madam Pomfrey tended to the burns. Within minutes, they were easing into small scars.
"That woman!" Madam Pomfrey huffed, shaking her head.
The doors of the infirmary suddenly burst wide open and everyone jumped; in stormeda furious Harry Potter.
"Are you okay? McGonagall told me about Umbridge."
Harry examined Teddy until finally he spotted the scars on his arm.
"I'll be fine, Uncle Harry," Teddy whispered.
Madam Pomfrey and his friends discretely moved out of the room.
"This is unbelievable!" Harry growled, gazing at the marks in disgust. "How did she even get a job back here?"
Teddy shrugged. He was caught off guard when Harry suddenly pulled him into a warm hug.
"She won't get away with this; I promise you that, Teddy."
Harry pushed the boy's fringe out of his eyes affectionately,and Teddy leant into the touch.
"The lesson was about werewolves."
"So I gathered," Harry hissed angrily.
"She showed us a clip." The metamorphmagus' lip began to wobble again and Harry pulled him into another hug. "I- It had my dad in it."
Harry's grip tightened as Teddy began to sob. He had never cried so much in one day. He hated it, and hated even more the woman who had caused it.
"What happened in it?"
"H-He had been beaten up, I suppose by Aurors, because he was in the ministry." Teddy started running a flustered hand through his hair. "It was after your third year, after he transformed on the full moon, Umbridge was there, she was goading him, trying to make him feel guilty about something... but it wasn't his fault! Then they took him away. I – I know what they did afterwards, but I don't even want to think about it," he choked.
Harry, too, had tears running down his face.
"Your dad had a journal, you know. I found it about four years ago. It was a magical one and had an entry for every day since he started Hogwarts."
Teddy looked up hopefully, the question apparent in his eyes.
"I'll give it to you to read sometime, but the reason I'm saying this is because there was a memorable date in there. That day you saw on the clip was the day your mum and dad first met."
Teddy's eyes widened.
"She didn't..."
He couldn't even finish the sentence.
"No, she wasn't one of those who hurt him; she had only just started her training at that point. They didn't speak that day... she was just the one who helped him to St Mungo's. Neither of them had any idea about how the future would turn out."
Harry winked at Teddy, who sniffled a little but chuckled.
"I guess good can come from anything."
Teddy wiped his nose on his sleeve.
"Indeed it can," Harry replied. "For now, I need to make an arrest and you should go back up to the Hufflepuff common room."
Teddy's face fell.
"Or, if you want, you can spend the night at home, with Ginny and the kids?"
Teddy's eyes lit up and Harry laughed, turning to walk away.
"Harry." Teddy grabbed his sleeve, causing the older wizard to turn back around. "Thank you... for being here for me."
Harry smiled.
"No problem. I love you, kid."
"I love you, too, Uncle Harry," Teddy smiled, and let go of his sleeve.
Teddy had known that the lesson was going to be bad, but he was glad it had happened. It was a prime example of the real definition of a monster. Umbridge was a monster, the worst kind. She didn't have fangs or sharp claws; instead, she had the ability to ruin a person's life with a few words. She preyed on people who were unable to stand up for themselves and beat them down further. There was no love or kindness in her; that was what made her the true monster.
A happy lump settling in his throat, Teddy grabbed the floo powder.
"Potter Manor, Devon," he proclaimed, loudly and clearly.
It was nice to go home to a family... his family, for after all it wasn't blood that made family, but love. And love him they did.
Please will you give me a review? I love reviews, they make me so happy :)
You will next see me for St. Andrews Day (30th November) with my Story 'The Witch and the Muggle' (Summary: St Andrew's Day was mostly a day of mixed emotions for Minerva McGonagall. Dislike, dislike and more dislike. However, every year she was forced to go to the celebrations by her religious father. Every year was the same. Until 1954... That's the Dougal McGregor effect on her. ONE SHOT (Beta: imshadowhunterdemigoddivergent))
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