Snakes and Sanguine

Year 3: Insight

CW: Mentions of homophobia

All I could think about during Defence Against the Dark Arts the next day, was whether or not Professor Lupin had any knowledge of Mesmerizers. I stared unknowingly at the Professor's shoes as I trapped myself in my thoughts, following them with my eyes as he walked and acknowledged every click of the heel of his shoe as it made contact with the ground.

After classes that day, I had a sudden urge to make my way to the library. Madam Blaust, the librarian, directed me to the section of shelves that dealt with "supernatural abilities".

After a half an hour, I had collected enough books to read for weeks. How I was going to get through them all, I had no idea.

I placed the heavy stack of books on a nearby table, and sat down, opening up the first book at the top of the stack. The book started off speaking of Seers and Clairvoyance.

"Told you she'd be here." a voice said from behind me.

"You just got lucky. Del's never here." a second voice replied.

I turned my head around and found Scorpius and Al standing behind me. Scorpius pulled the chair from the other desk closer. He flipped it around and straddled the back of the chair as he sat down, resting his arms on the top of the back. He rested his head in the crevice that his two arms formed. Al pulled up a chair as well, but sat in it the correct way, his back against the back.

"Are you reading?" he asked, eyeing the stack of books.

"No, I'm just pretending to." I replied sarcastically.

"Good." Scorpius smiled even though he knew I was being ingenuine. "We wanted to figure out what is inside that mystery notebook of yours. Al had an idea." He pulled out a box of cigarettes from his back pocket and removed one, placing it between his lips.

"That's a terrible habit you know." Al said with slight judgment in his voice.

Scorpius shrugged his shoulders and lit it anyway with a lighter. "Tell her about your idea." he said, smoke flying out of the space between his lips as he spoke.

He held back an eye roll from Scorpius's quick change in conversation, and spoke anyway. "I read about this charm, Revelio, which reveals anything that is concealed or hidden. I figured we can try it out."

"How do you know there's-" I started but began to cough as I accidentally inhaled Scorpius' smoke.

"Put that away." Al demanded.

"I can do what I want." Scorpius snapped.

"You're making her-" Al started angrily, gesturing his hand towards me.

"It's fine. It's not a big deal." I interrupted. "As I was saying. How do you know there's anything in the notebook at all?"

"We don't, but it's worth the shot." Al replied, before looking back over at Scorpius and grimacing as the smoke left his lips.

"Do you know how to cast it?" I asked.

"Well I know how based on what I read, but I've never tried to cast it before." he replied. "Do you have it on you?"

"Ya, I think so." I replied, and began to rummage through the borrowed satchel that I have been using since the start of August. When I finally found the tattered notebook, I handed it to him. His hands were the same size as the notebook. He opened it and pointed his wand at the blank pages.

"Revelio" he said quietly, the word rolling off his tongue with ease, pronouncing each syllable clearly and unslurred. Rev-el-io.

Speckles of ink began to form on the page, looking as though someone was writing the words from the inside. Scorpius leaned farther forward in anticipation and Al and I stared at the book in awe.