Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 7 - Binns' Cupboard

In a flash, Asha's inner turmoil seemed to exceed an invisible threshold. Her friendly smile contorted and she stood up with such violence that her chair tumbled backwards onto the stone floor.  Before her table of friends had registered the movement, Asha had taken a furious step towards the cabinet of spare textbooks that stood adjacent to their table. Unable to produce a single rational thought, Asha swung her fist as hard as she could, channelling all her pent up rage and fear and desolation from the past month into that cupboard door.

Crack!!

Despite being mortified at what she had just done, she immediately felt some relief. After a few beats of stunned silence from the class, Asha registered a warm, tickling sensation around her right hand and she pulled her fist from the splintered hole that now decorated the front of the cabinet. The jagged edges of the inwardly bent wood tore at her already bleeding skin but she could hardly feel the pain, for what she was feeling within was far more excruciating.

Without so much as a remorseful glance at Professor Binns, Asha turned on her heel, unconsciously reaching her uninjured arm out behind her and causing her bag to fly into her hand like by a powerful magnetic force, and marched out of the room.

On her way out of the castle, Asha threw her bag carelessly down the marble stairs that lead to the kitchen corridor, off which was the entrance to her common room, before striding down the grassy hill towards Hagrid's cabin, not caring who saw her. Mercifully, the gamekeeper wasn't home. Asha walked around to the back of the cabin to a mossy pile of stones that lent up against the outside wall. She tapped one of the rocks three times with her wand. The pile of rubble parted and rolled to the side, revealing a wooden cellar door. Asha used her wand to pull open the door, perhaps unnecessarily aggressively. She pointed her wand into the darkness and prayed to Merlin Hagrid had visited the Hog's Head recently.

"Accio Firewhisky" Asha breathed, saying the words for good measure.

A brown bottle of Ogden's Old came soaring into the daylight. Wasting no time, Asha uncorked the bottle and took a large swig. The liquid burned down her throat, spreading warmth through her chest. She took another healthy mouthful before lazily flicking her wand, causing the cellar door to slam shut and the rocks to rumble back into their concealing position.

The Hogwarts grounds were still deserted, so Asha strolled up to a large rocky outcrop in the hillside and sat down in the long grass, back leant against the cool stone. Here, no one would be able to see her from the castle and it was unlikely anyone visiting Hagrid's cabin would look over this way carefully enough to spot her.

Asha had not forgotten that today was Buckbeak's execution. She could see the poor Hippogriff chained in Hagrid's pumpkin patch, unaware that before sundown his eagle head would be savagely separated from his horse hind. Asha hadn't interacted with Buckbeak more than a handful of times. It was more the injustice of the situation that irked her and she suddenly had a sadistic urge to force herself to watch the beheading. Her fury at the disgustingly pathetic behaviour of Draco Malfoy and his power-hungry father only added fuel to the fire that was burning within her. Luckily, the Firewhisky was working wonders. After many more swigs, Asha felt pleasantly numb and relaxed. She was oddly able to pay no mind to passing thoughts that would usually have consumed her.

After a while (Asha had no way of knowing exactly how long), the grassy hills ahead of her were rolling like a furry green ocean and the white clouds were swirling in a mesmerising fashion. She felt more content and at ease than she had done in months.

A strange dark blob was swimming up the hill towards Asha.

"Proffesssssor," Asha slurred.

Professor McGonagall snatched the bottle - now two thirds empty - away from Asha and examined the label.