laconic • t.nott ✓

12 ➺ detention

She nodded. "I guess they didn't want to hurt me much because I'm a Slytherin. They thought I said that in the heat of the moment, or whatever. They just wanted to scare me, so they chained me up, cut my face, and then just let me stand there with my wrists tied to the wall as they tortured Neville in front of me."

Theo frowned. "They chained you?" he asked. She had never mentioned it before.

Daphne pulled back her sleeves and held up her arms for Theo to examine. Sure enough, she had a band of scars around her wrist, like the ones he had seen on Luna once. "Merlin," he whispered.

She retracted her arms and covered the bruises with her sleeves again. "They fed him some potion. I don't know what potion it was, but it destroyed him. He was whimpering and moaning, and he was barely conscious when they started using their knife on him."

Daphne shivered and hugged herself tightly with her arms. "He was bleeding all over. It was so horrible. I almost began to wish they'd leave him alone and cruciate me instead."

Theo didn't know what to say. He wished Daphne would stop talking, but she didn't. Now that he had made her talk, she wasn't going to stop.

"He told me later that they used to refrain from hurting him much initially. Because he was a pureblood, you know? But when he began to cross the line, they stopped caring."

She paused and shifted closer to Theo, perhaps looking for warmth, for comfort. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"He could hardly walk when we left detention," she continued. "And he collapsed halfway to the Gryffindor tower."

Theo frowned. "You went with him to the Gryffindor tower?"

"Well, of course. I couldn't leave him alone, could I? He was half dead. Anyway, I was trying to figure out how to get him to his common room when his friends arrived. They carried him to an empty classroom and started treating him. Ginny Weasley treated the scar on my face and gave me some sort of ointment to put on it. It took much longer to treat Neville, he was bleeding so much."

"They treated him?"

Daphne nodded. "They must have been learning healing from the library books. I don't know how they got the medicines though. They refused to tell me when I asked but warned me to keep my mouth shut about it. Apparently, the Carrows have no idea how their victims get treated so quickly, and they're sure that there's no way they can steal the stuff from Madam Pomfrey."

She leaned forwards toward the fire and rested her elbows on her thighs. "Feels strange, doesn't it? Did we ever imagine Hogwarts could become like this? That the teachers would abuse us physically, chain the students up, and question them for standing up against them?" She looked at Theo and he saw a second fire burning inside her eyes. "I used to think Neville was foolish to keep pressing back instead of retreating. But I see now why he does it. Hogwarts is our home and it's currently in danger. It's our job to defend it."

Theo smiled a little. "Well, the Carrows won't stay long anyway. I bet the jinx will drive Amycus away before the end of the year."

Whatever reaction he had expected from Daphne, he certainly wasn't expecting her to round on him and smack him on the arm. He let out a cry of pain as he rubbed the spot where she had hit.

"So we sit back and just wait for the jinx to drive them away?" she exclaimed disbelievingly. "Do nothing?"

"Relax, Daphne, it was a joke," said Theo. "Merlin! What happened to you? You're scaring me."

She gave an embarrassed little smile as she moved away from him. "Sorry. Got carried away."

"So, had a good chat with Neville, did you?" he asked mischievously.

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you suggesting?" she demanded in a challenging tone. "He was half-unconscious when we left the office, and I was helping him get back to his common room. Don't even dare -"

"I'm sorry!" he held up his hands in surrender. "What's got into you? Forgot how to take a joke?"

"You're being insufferable," she accused. "I came here because I couldn't sleep and you start acting like a child."

"Well, I can't act like a child when I'm with Blaise. Might as well do it now."

Daphne turned away from him defiantly and went silent.

They spent the next few hours chatting and laughing, and Theo felt a part of him soaring in happiness. Careless, happy moments like these were hard to find these days, but Daphne was so easily cheerful that she found it difficult to pretend to be mad at him, and Theo found himself opening up to her and letting all the thoughts that invaded his mind at night, free.

Before he could stop himself, he confessed to her about his feelings for Blaise and was pleased when she offered him a supporting shoulder to lean on.

Daphne fell asleep soon, curled up on the sofa. Theo stayed awake for perhaps an hour more before he too drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Next morning, when Theo went into the dormitory to change into fresh clothes, he found Blaise sitting idly on his bed. "Good morning," he greeted quietly and pulled out his trunk from under the bed.

"Morning," said Blaise. "Slept well?"

"I don't think I slept very long," he answered, frowning as he tried to remember exactly when he had fallen asleep. It was probably very late because he felt exhausted and weak, like he had run a mile and starved himself for a day.

"Mm, it shows on your face," said Blaise. "You could easily pass off as one of the ghosts of Hogwarts once you learn to walk through walls."

Theo rolled his eyes as he began to pull out clothes randomly from the trunk, saying absently, "You don't happen to have one of your fabulous cloaks for me to borrow, do you?"

But Blaise seemed to have something else on his mind.

"Theo, listen," he said. Theo nodded and continued to search. A few minutes later, when Blaise still hadn't spoken, he realised he was waiting for him to pay attention to him. With a sigh, he abandoned his trunk and looked at his friend.

"What is it?"

"Slughorn's arranging a Christmas party just before the holidays," said Blaise finally. "And we are allowed to bring da - guests. Now I know you're not a big fan of the Slug Club, but do you want to go with me regardless? The food's great."

Theo thought for a moment. Then he said, "Sure."

Blaise's eyebrows rose. "Really? You want to go?"

"Yeah, why not?" he shrugged. "Let's see what's so special about this Slug Club."

A smile crossed over Blaise's face. "Great! I'll let you borrow one of my fabulous cloaks."