𝑆𝐴𝑉𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝐷𝑅𝐴𝐶𝑂 𝑀𝐴𝐿𝐹𝑂𝑌

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟑 - 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐧 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰

╭────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────╮

𝐃

I had gotten a poor amount of sleep. It was becoming something of a habit of mine. Although I tried to keep up with my school work, I created a strange hierarchy for my daily tasks. Usually, I lied to myself and said that completing the Dark Lord's mission was on the top of my list - and I did take one or two steps towards that goal. I studied curses in the forbidden section; I really did. But whenever I had flashes of honesty, I admitted that if I were to choose between a studying session in the Forbidden Section of the library and a midnight walk with Ophelia, I would almost certainly choose the latter.

In any case, studying for school was placed somewhere lower in my abnormal hierarchy, and therefore my new purpose in life was to see how many Defense Against the Dark Arts classes I could sleep through without actually failing it. I never attempted this with other classes - I didn't have the professors' favour in other classes. So I blissfully slept in my bed while other people listen to Snape tirelessly talking about non-verbal spells. After all, I had mastered those long ago. And anyway, I wasn't committed to the idea of attending a class that was designed to teach students how to protect themselves from me. I was the Dark Art in the title. I was what they should defend themselves from.

That Monday morning, I dreamt that I was on a broom or at least flying. There was a snowstorm. The dream was so vivid and real that the snowflakes burned against my skin and made it tingle.

It seems that that's how I woke up that Monday morning.

The cold resembled the icy water that was splashed on my face. I choked and drowned in my violent and abrupt awakening.

"Ahh!" I screamed and struggled to open my eyes.

In a second, the heavy, green drapes of the dorm were pulled away and the light became blinding.

"Wake up, you worthless swine. This was the third consecutive class you have missed."

Snape's voice showed no emotion, and as I regained my abilities to tell shadows and features apart, I realized that his cruel face showed no emotion either.

"Are you fucking crazy?" I said wiping the water from my eyes. I dried my face on the blanket and sat up straight.

"You dare talk to me like this?" Snape attacked. He grasped my jaw painfully and pulled me out of the bed, his fingernails sinking in my cheeks painfully. "It has been more than a month. A month! The Dark Lord gave you an order! How dare you delay this? Do you have a death wish, boy? Do you?" he hissed and spat.

"Leave me the fuck alone! I am doing this on my own. I am doing this! Hear me? I am doing this!"

"You are doing nothing! Do you realize it is not just your worthless self that is caught in the middle of this operation? Do you realize I have a responsibility as well? I was ordained your guardian in this mission!" he said through his teeth. "And say you do not care if you drag me into death with you - I would expect no more from your father's son. But you don't seem interested in saving your parents either! Think, you fool! Think of your father! He is rotting in a cell! Think of your mother! She is putting herself in danger every day so that you can take your time! You selfish bastard, do you know what you're doing?"

Snape pushed me two fingers and threw me on the floor. If he hadn't caught me off guard, I would have fought back and stood solid.

"And on top of it all, you dare avoid me. You dare skip my class. You dare challenge me."

I was still choking on the water that had woken me up.

When I raised my eyes, Snape was watching me closely.