《The Unknown》Chapter 57: Justice For The Marked
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"You'll never guess what just happened in our class," Clint said as he and Natasha walked through their portrait and into the Avengers common room area where Tony was tinkering with a laptop, probably trying to improve it being in the magical community while Steve was sat reading and Bruce seemed to be marking work.
Natasha went to sit on the couch across from Bruce and Tony and crossed her legs as she leaned back, and Clint sat next to her when Steve asked, "what?"
"That soldier that's always with her-" Bruce interrupted.
"Akio," he said, "we heard his name yesterday".
"Yeah, him," Clint continued, "we were training today, and it turns out Dahlia has already been trained, is still in training. She managed to flip me over onto the ground and knocked the wind out of me".
Tony smirked as he took a screwdriver out of his mouth and said, "you got beat up by a teenage girl, Legolas".
Steve then questioned, "I thought she didn't have their strength?"
"She doesn't," Natasha said, "she used his own weight against him, you could tell from the positioning in her feet".
"He told us we were training her wrong," Clint added, "that we were training her like the rest and that she shouldn't be coddled, that she was a part of a royal warrior bloodline. Told us that we need to adapt magic into the Hogwarts kids fighting, before he swung a sword at Dahlia's head".
"What?" Tony said shocked, "thought he was there to protect her?"
"She's his student," Clint shrugged. "He says he knows her training and knew that she'd dodge it and grab his dagger in the process. They fought the rest of the lesson, with swords and hand to hand, he's gonna get her killed training like that".
"Maybe that's for the best," Steve said and everything else they were doing was forgotten as the other four Avengers looked at him shocked that he would say that. He sighed and said, "just listen, like you said she's his student and she's of a royal bloodline of a warrior race. Maybe to them that means something, maybe training her that way helps her. If she is skilled, then he really knows how to train her. He doesn't seem like he'd want to hurt her and I hardly see her sister putting someone in charge of her training who would hurt her. Maybe her being of royal blood makes her special in a way or he wouldn't have mentioned it. Maybe she is stronger and faster than any of us thought-"
"Or were told to believe," Natasha said and as they all looked to her she shrugged, "what?"
"Natasha," Bruce said sighing.
"What?" she continued, "Thor led us to believe we were coming here to find a kid who was pure evil with a sister who kills with her touch. We were going to talk to her and if we had to, remove her and let Thor take her back to Asgard. It seems only one part of that is true and even the whole 'sister kills with her touch' doesn't seem as evil as Thor made her out to be. We weren't supposed to come here and forcibly remove a kid who's done nothing wrong and who is the prophesised saviour child of this whole community. This whole thing, all the way back to Loki's kids being taken, is messed up".
"She's got a point," Tony said as he pointed to her, "we've been lied to since before we even got here, think if it was one of our kids? I know we agreed to work with Thor until this whole Voldemort thing is over for the kids but let's be honest, we can't trust a word he says now. When I told Pepper what happened, she said she doesn't want him anywhere near Anna until she gets the full story and the truth from him in person. I hardly blame her".
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"And after?" Bruce asked cautiously, "we're a team, or we're supposed to be. What happens after we go back to our normal lives?"
"I'm not working with him," Clint said, and everyone looked to him, "I mean it. Even as my time as a man for hire, I had rules, one of them was I'd never kill a kid. I know she stabbed herself, but Thor didn't even blink when she said killing her on Asgard just for being Loki's kid was one of the options. I'm not having a man like that watching my back".
A few moments of silence passed as everyone thought about what he said, and it was clear that everyone didn't trust Thor anymore, but Natasha had other thoughts on her mind as she asked, "do you think he's told Jane the truth?"
Some of them shrugged and Steve said, "if he hasn't, his mother might. She didn't seem too happy and Jane is smart, she'll figure it out".
"If he doesn't I will," Natasha said, "she needs to know where she's raising her son".
Bruce said, "he wouldn't hurt Brynjar, he's his son".
"He thought Loki's older kids were his family back then," Tony pointed out, "what would he do if his son was prophesied to do something they disapproved of?" the question was thought of in silence as they didn't know the answer, they were still getting their heads around the idea of magic and prophecies, let alone prophecies that include the destruction of worlds, and they definitely couldn't imagine living in a society that truly believe with all their hearts that prophecies are true, no matter how much time they spent in the wizarding community.
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Dahlia, Akio and Tonks were on their way back from the camp as it was close to curfew. After spending the afternoon and evening there, it was dark out with only the stars shining down on them and the fire torches. They were just coming past the staircase, however, when Dahlia stopped as she heard what she thought was crying. Akio seemed to hear it as well, but Tonks didn't as she asked, "what is it?"
Dahlia shook her head and said, "I don't know".
She then walked past the staircase and looked into an alcove to see a first year curled up crying, his hand raw and red with words carved into it. Akio and Tonks couldn't see as Dahlia kneeled in front of him, shielding him from their view, and it made a shadow over him, so he looked up. Dahlia instantly recognised the little boy as Thomas Bowen, a first year Muggle-born Gryffindor with dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was new to the magical community and his first-year experience at Hogwarts was unfortunate when Umbridge had her nails dug into it and thought she could do anything she wanted.
The young Gryffindor noticed the lack of light and looked up scared and scooted back as Dahlia said, "I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise. Tommy, what happened?" she gestured to his hand.
"I forgot my homework," he sniffled at his tears and wiped them away as he spoke. He tilted his hand, so she could see, and she read the words clearly, "I must not forget my homework". Dahlia knew he had the markings not because he forgot his homework but because he was Muggle-born and Umbridge disliked them.
Dahlia stood and held out her hand and said, "come on. I'll take you to the tower, Hermione has something that can help with that".
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Tommy hesitated in taking her hand because of what the older students had been telling him and the others about how dangerous Dahlia and her family was, but she didn't seem dangerous to him. She wanted to help him. He took her hand and stood and came out of the alcove but when he saw Tonks and Akio, he moved back but Dahlia quickly said, "it's okay, let's just go upstairs, alright?"
Tommy nodded, and Dahlia gestured to Tonks and Akio to back off a bit and they did. They kept several steps behind as they climbed the stairs to the tower.
When they got to the Fat Lady painting, Dahlia said, "Mimbulus mimbletonia," and the painting opened. Dahlia turned quickly to the opening and said, "wait here," to the other two as they came inside and thankfully they waited in the entrance area.
Luckily, the common room was empty except for the twins and Hermione and they smiled as they saw Dahlia but when they saw Tommy's red eyes, they lost those smiles and frowned. They knew what happened when Dahlia held Tommy's still red hand and the twins looked angry while Hermione stood from her seat and said, "I'll get the essence".
Tommy and Dahlia sat down on the couch as George sat on the other side of Tommy and Fred kneeled in front of them. Fred said, "don't worry. Hermione's going to get you something that helps".
"Your hand's not going to be as bad as it seems, look," George said as he showed him his own marked hand, "you can hardly see ours. Yours is already healing".
"They're right," Dahlia added with a smile, knowing that his would heal but hers would definitely scar because of the number of times Umbridge had her use the quill. It was only by glamour that her family hadn't seen it. She then said, "Hermione is going to give you Murtlap Essence, it'll help with the pain".
"What the..." they heard and looked behind the couch that Dahlia and Tommy were sat on to see Tonks had moved and could see the scar on Tommy's hand. "Who did that to him?" she walked closer, but they didn't answer.
Hermione then came down the stairs carrying a small bowl, a white towel and a bottle of Murtlap Essence. She sat on the table in front of Tommy and Fred moved to the side to sit beside her as she put the bowl on her lap before pouring the essence into the bowl and reaching for Tommy's hand. He moved forward and put his hand into the yellow liquid but pulled back immediately and hissed in pain. "It's okay," Hermione said, "it may sting a little, but it works. You just need to soak your hand in it for a little while and the pain will go away".
Tommy nodded and put his hand back into the bowl and clenched his fist for a moment as it stung but he eventually felt it start to get better, so he didn't need to clench his fist for long.
"Who did this?" Tonks asked again.
"Who do you think?" Dahlia said back quickly, "she's been doing it all year".
"Umbridge?" Tonks asked just to be sure, "that's what you meant by special punishments in her detentions. How many kids has she hurt?"
Dahlia shrugged, "we don't know. Hermione told the other prefects in the other houses that this helps. The younger ones are too scared to ask for help so the prefects have all been keeping an eye on them. If they have a detention with Umbridge, they ask them afterwards if this happened as it doesn't always but if it does, they have a supply of the essence. Snape hasn't even realised that his stock has gone down, if he has he hasn't said anything".
"He keeps on ordering more actually," Hermione said with hint of a smile.
"It's saying something when Snape doesn't even like someone we don't," Dahlia commented which made the others smile. Dahlia then noticed the time on the clock on the mantle and said, "I have to go". She then looked back to Tommy and asked, "Tommy, was there anyone else in Umbridge's office tonight?"
Tommy began to shake his head then nodded and said, "not while I was in there, but Sage was in there before, she had detention too".
"Who's Sage?"
"My friend, she's a Hufflepuff in my year".
Dahlia glanced to Hermione who nodded and said, "I'll see if I can get a message to them, see if they know about her detention".
Dahlia then looked to Tommy and said, "Tommy, Hermione is going to look after you and get your friend some help, but you need to listen to her. I promise this won't happen again".
"Thanks," he said quietly.
Dahlia then stood and exited the Gryffindor tower quickly. She walked down the stairs as Akio and Tonks followed and Tonks wasn't finished with her questions, "when did she start hurting kids? How many kids? Do the professors know? Why didn't you report her?"
Dahlia suddenly stopped on the staircase that was moving and turned to Tonks and responded, "the professors know but they couldn't do anything because of her Ministry involvement in the school. You think the Ministry don't know about this? The auror department might not but Fudge would do anything to shut me up and anyone who speaks out against the Ministry. She uses this black quill, gives us lines in detention but instead of giving us ink, we just write, and it begins to carve into our hand. We use our own blood for ink. I don't know how many kids, that's why the prefects watch out for their own houses. Gryffindor and Slytherin house may be enemies but even their prefects are watching their own house and Hermione has told them what will help. Umbridge is a Slytherin, she probably won't hurt those in her own house, but we had to be cautious. Not that they would tell us if one of their own got hurt. Don't you see, Tonks, it doesn't matter who we told and who we didn't, nothing would have been done about it".
She then turned and walked down the stairs, not answering to Tonks as she said her name. She made it to McGonagall's office and shut the door behind her before Tonks could come in and went to the painting to walk inside McGonagall's chambers.
McGonagall was sat at the dining room table marking papers and noticed how quickly Dahlia came in and how she didn't look to be in the greatest of moods. Just as Dahlia was about to disappear down the corridor to her room, McGonagall asked, "Miss Lokidottir, are you okay?"
Dahlia turned and put on a small smile as she nodded and answered, "just a little tired. Side effects of the injections I think".
McGonagall nodded and said, "well you go to bed now. Lie in tomorrow, it's a Saturday".
Dahlia gave a slight nod and said, "thanks, professor," before turning and going down the hall to her room.
She paced and paced and couldn't stop thinking about Tommy, about everyone that Umbridge had hurt that she was aware of and she felt this uncontrollable anger, as if she had to be the one who dealt with Umbridge. After all, if it wasn't for her, Umbridge probably wouldn't have been at the castle. If she didn't anger the Ministry like she did, if she managed to find some evidence that Voldemort was back without announcing it to the world first, the Ministry would have believed her and wouldn't have sent Umbridge to spy on the school as Fudge probably would have left office due to his own fear of the war. She had to do something, she couldn't leave while Umbridge was still at the school, still hurting students that didn't deserve it. Some of them simply being targeted for their blood.
Walking to the window, she opened it and brought out her wand and said quietly but clear, so McGonagall couldn't hear her, "Accio Firebolt".
A few moments passed by before Dahlia could see it coming to her through the darkness of the night sky and managed to catch the broom before it hit the window ledge. She looked back to the door, fearing McGonagall might have heard through her cat senses but she didn't come. Standing on the window ledge, she mounted the broom then jumped into the night, avoiding the windows and keeping an eye out for professors, Auror members and anyone who may be out late at night.
She flew around the castle until she reached the windows of the DADA teaching room and finally, Umbridge's office. Dahlia could see her through the window, dressed in her pink work suit as usual, drinking from her flowery tea cup which had more sugar in than what was needed, the hundreds of cat plates in the room meowing while Umbridge was smiling, seemingly pleased with herself. As Dahlia hovered there, watching as Umbridge smiled and had what seemed to be a nice evening for the toad professor, Dahlia thought of all the students who weren't having a nice evening and were nursing wounds on their hands, wounds they were forced to write by someone who was supposed to help protect and guide them. She wanted her to suffer, to suffer like they had, to know the pain they felt when they had little control and...
Suddenly, Umbridge dropped her tea cup, as if she had been startled by something, but it seemed she hadn't even realised as she just froze, her hand still in the air as if she was holding the cup. Dahlia frowned and wondered why but then Umbridge went into the drawer of her desk and brought out the black quill. Dahlia hovered forward slightly, not knowing if another student had knocked on the door for a detention, but it was past curfew, everyone was in bed, so what other reason would Umbridge have for the quill?
She hovered close to the window and she saw Umbridge hunched over her desk, as if hiding something, and the closer she got, it became clear what she was doing. She was writing with the quill. Quickly and repeatedly writing while her body began to shake, as if she was in pain but she couldn't stop.
"I must not tell lies".
"I must not be late to class".
"I must not forget my homework".
"I must respect the Ministry".
"I must follow and respect the school rules".
"I must respect my professor".
The lines went on and on and they seemed to be appearing more than just on her hand. Dahlia saw the words on her fingers, going towards her wrists, and even caught a small glimpse of words beginning to appear on the woman's neck. Dahlia gasped as Umbridge would never do it and slowly hovered back when a small beaming light cut the bottom of her eyes and she feared someone had found her but when she looked down, the light was coming from her. Her magic emitting from her hands, small amounts of purple magic showing but it was the gold light below that surprised her. It was as if her veins were on fire, turning gold, she could see them through her skin and the light was only getting brighter. It was her, she was causing Umbridge to harm herself. Sure, she wanted the woman to suffer, but Umbridge was writing possibly every sentence she had made the students write and it seemed that she was in pain, but she wasn't stopping.
She hovered away from the windows further and held both her hands close to her face as she said, "no, no, what are you doing? Stop it".
The light only got brighter and Umbridge only began to shake more and the markings she had now written on her body had gotten deeper and deeper. Dahlia noticed an Auror not too far away on the ground patrolling, so she quickly turned away from the toad's office window and flew quickly back to her room in McGonagall's quarters.
Being back in her room, she quickly hid the broom and closed the window and stared down at her hands to see them still shining. "Stop, stop, stop, stop," she mumbled over and over before she clenched her fists and held them to her chest as she sat on the bed and closed her eyes. She breathed in and out, just like her father taught her to do when her magic began to get out of control, but she had never had to deal with this before and she never had to deal with her hands almost turning gold. The brighter her hands got, the warmer they started to get but after a few minutes of breathing, her hands didn't feel so warm anymore.
She opened her eyes to find her hands had returned to normal and sighed in relief. She lied down on the bed and breathed heavily for a moment before she calmed down, hoping that the end of the light and her magic meant the end of Umbridge's suffering. Dahlia knew she would have to research what the hell was happening to her. Was her magic going haywire or was this to do with the poison and all the antidotes and injections she was having?
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