A Hufflepuff's Loyalty

Chapter 8

For the rest of the day I was walking on eggshells. I tried my best to act normal, whatever normal was for me nowadays, but on the inside I was about to boil over. I couldn't stop looking over my shoulder, searching for signs of danger, ready to run. Yet I knew that if Snape were to tell Dumbledore about me, there was nothing I could do. If he told him, I was practically already dead.

I sat in my lessons, squiggling pretend notes, thinking about what Azkaban would be like. I sat through lunch and dinner, unable to focus on anything Hani said to me, wondering if he'd just kill me right here. Dumbledore was notorious for despising the Death Eaters. He'd killed so many of us. Even the Dark Lord himself hadn't been able to beat him.

Dumbledore hated my kind. What would he do to me once he found out what I was?

Hani's constant, uninterrupted chatting annoyed me even more than it usually did. I just couldn't cope with it today. So when she followed me out of the Great Hall after dinner, somehow still talking to me, even though I hadn't said a word back to her for hours, I snapped.

"Will you just leave me alone already?" I interrupted her rant about – well, I wouldn't know what she'd been ranting about.

She froze, her mouth half-open in the process of forming the next word. Something flashed behind her eyes, something akin to pain or disappointment. I didn't have enough space in my head to worry about it though. I had so much to worry about already.

Before she could respond, a voice behind me made us both gasp.

"Miss Bates."

Oh no... The one moment I stop paying attention...

I turned to face the tall, powerful headteacher as he frowned at me.

"I'd like a word, please, if you don't mind. Follow me."

With one more glance at Hani, I followed him. Hani threw me a sympathetic look, which only confused me more. I'd just snapped at her, shouldn't she be angry with me?

I stared at the floor, following professor Dumbledore from a distance. Would this be it? I'd worked so hard since I got off the streets. Would this be the end of it all? To distract me from my pounding heartbeat, I listened to our two sets of footsteps as we made our way through the hallways and up the stairs. One light, hesitant, the other strong, certain.

"I didn't do anything wrong," I said, my voice catching in my throat. "I just snapped a bit. It happens."

He didn't respond. I wasn't sure if he hadn't heard me, or was purposely ignoring my defence pleas. We continued walking until we eventually reached the entrance to his office.

"Sugar Quill," said Dumbledore to the huge gargoyle statue – the same password as the last time I was here. The gargoyle bowed and stepped aside to show us a stone spiral staircase. We climbed up to finally arrive in his office. My final moments had come.

Professor Dumbledore sat down behind his desk and gestured to the chair on the other side. I obeyed, though it felt as if the lazy armchair was swallowing me whole. He laced his fingers together, peering over the edge of his halfmoon glasses.

"You are not here because you snapped at your friend."

I held my breath. If it wasn't that, then it was something much worse. I hugged my arms against my belly, as if to protect the Mark that he could never see.

"I've got some questions for you today, miss Bates. And I'd like you to answer them honestly."

Honestly? He'd have to give me Veritaserum if he wanted me to answer honestly.