Lie To Me

A Sore Loser

We stop in front of a large blank wall.

I stare at the wall, mildly confused, when he tells me to wait a minute before he mumbles something inaudible.

Sudden movements on the ground make me look down. The body of a stone serpent rises from the floor right before the wall and forms an arch. Under the arch, a dark wooden door appears, and Sebastian quickly steps in, leaving me in the hall behind.

I watch the serpent's body and door disappear as I nervously fidget with my fingers. Thankfully, I don't have to wait long; just a few minutes later, the serpent rises again, revealing the wooden door.

Sallow steps out and says, "Here you go." He puts several parchments into my arms.

I thank him and can't bite back a nasty remark: "I hope the last two weeks have been as fun for you as they were for me." He stares at me, poking his tongue into his cheek, and I immediately realise that I hit a nerve. "Yeah... so much fun."

I suppress a laugh, turn around, and head for my dorm.

Once inside, I put the parchments on my desk and examine them quickly, just to check if everything is there, when something odd catches my eye.

I take a closer look at my herbology essay, which was supposed to be about dittany, or "Dictamnus albus," as it's called.

At first, I'm not sure if Sebastian Sallow is just stupid and accidentally spelled it "Dicktamus," but as I continue reading, I'm noticing more and more spelling errors and sometimes even simply incorrect information. The more I read about the essay, the worse it gets. In a panicked rush, I flip through all the parchments and pray fervently that Sebastian just had a brain lapse for herbology.

A quick scan of the history of magic tells me otherwise. That essay is even worse than herbology; it's full of wrong dates, silly names, and made-up scenarios.

What the fuck is happening?

I slam my hand on the table, furious and ready to chop Sebastian's head off of his shoulders so I can use it as a bludger on his body.

"I've been looking for you. I thought you'd come back to the table, but -" Nellie, who just entered the dorm, can't even finish her sentence before I storm out of the room and back into the Great Hall, looking for a certain Slytherin.

I don't even bother to look at who I am pushing out of my way or how many other students I almost knock over. As I rush into the hall, I notice that it is almost empty. Breakfast is over, and there are hardly any students left.

Oh, he better not be hiding in his common room.

I debate with myself for a second about whether I should go back down or look outside, but I have a feeling that he is back inside the safety of the common room. So I whip my head around and walk back into the dungeons.

I don't know what I thought would happen once I reach the blank wall, but I realise hat I clearly haven't thought that through while looking helplessly around. The sound of shoes clicking on the stone floor comes from behind me, and I turn around to see Timothy Clark, a black-haired first-year Slytherin. "Clark!" I exclaim.

He looks at me, slightly confused.

"You're taking me into the common room." It wasn't a request, but a command. He seems to be debating himself and weighing the possible consequences, but after a few seconds, he sighs, "Fine. Just don't listen to the password, please. The others will have my head."

I roll my eyes but cover my ears with my hands. "Better?"

He gets closer to the wall as I stand back a bit, giving in to his silly request with my ears still covered.