The Ten Year Hex [Severus Snape]

27

The house was consumed by silence, the very air was thick with it as Jynx sat at the table in the kitchen circling the rim of her cup with her finger. Severus had been summoned by the Headmaster for reasons he had yet to tell her. The most she caught as he hurried out was that it had something to do with Slytherin house. A fight perhaps? She hoped it was something that could be easily resolved.

She wanted to accompany him, if just to get out of the house. Severus had become much more protective since the incident at The Three Broomsticks and she had not been able to leave the house in days. She only saw the sun through the now strikingly clean windows.

Bright lights burst to life above her with the flick of her wand, she repeated the spell over and over until her wrist was sore. She thought of her mother and the callus way she spoke to her. The way that even in death, she haunted her. She left pieces of herself like a trail of breadcrumbs so that Jynx would never fully be rid of her, some small pieces were always left behind.

When her tea was gone, her cup seemed to fill with all of the hurtful things her mother ever said, or insinuated. The bite in her tone as she talked down to her daughter was as scalding as the tea that had filled the cup. Jynx watched the words overflow, their pointed letters reaching for her. As they began to slide from the rim and onto the small plate below like slimy, sharp snails, the cup exploded.

Jynx's teeth were gritted as she held her wand at the decimated remains of the cup. The heat in her chest from the words so intricately woven by her mother had boiled over, just like the mug. The tiny pieces scattered over the table, each in varying sizes and shapes. Her eyes widened at the destruction, a quick flick of her wand mended the broken cup, if only that charm could fix emotions as well as material objects.

She scooped up the cup and sat it across from her on the counter, soon the rest of the china followed. Plates and cups stood vertically, stacked on top of each other. A row of five cups held two plates over each of them. The faded blue of the floral pattern winking at her from the white background as she stood across from them.

She began at the top. With quick and precise movements she lifted the top plate and held it in the air, she attacked the plate underneath it while attempting to keep the other airborne.

Her first several attempts resulted in massive damage, the plates crashing down into the china underneath them. A great crash erupted as they tipped and toppled, eventually falling to the floor. Jynx reset them and started again.

She wondered if there were such a thing as too many repairs. The china was already aged, would it eventually just turn to dust?

Again she hovered the top plate in the middle and again she was unable to hold it while attacking another. She cleared the kitchen, moving the table out into the hall. She let herself get lost in the emotions that had surrounded her and formed a deep pit in her stomach.

She planted her feet, again bringing the top plate into the air, and with quick fluid movements she blew the plate below it to bits and just before the loud clatter of breaking glass, she caught the middle plate before it fell into its comrades.

She stood shocked for a moment, the plate still suspended and her fists thrust into the air, victorious. The plate clattered and the volley of broken pieces tumbled down the cabinet. She had done it! She reveled in her triumph as she watched the pieces swirl and collect back into themselves, her practice area reset itself with a tiny tinkling sound.

This time she focused on her agility, trying to hit as many targets as possible. She suspended five plates above the rest and attempted to hit them all in the air.

One plate shattered. The other four fell.

Reset, try again. Two plates shattered, the other three fell.