When did we get stuck on the principle of bad and good?
"Are you as bored as I am, right now?" Barty Crouch Jr. whispered to Freya Grey as they watched one of their fellow classmates attempt another spell. Enthusiastically, Professor Magnus smiled, but truly she had no clue what she was doing. In a poorly veiled attempt to curb some of the students' desires to fight in the current war, the ministry was not limiting the advanced magic in the DADA classes with hopes of lessening the casualties. "Merlin, really, this couldn't defend against a rabbit, much less a person." Freya pinched the corner of her mouth to keep her laugh in. Horribly, the Ravenclaw barely managed a hard breeze towards the dummy. "Oof, good attempt." Clapping along with the rest of the class, Barty smiled as the boy took his spot back in the crowded. "Well done, mate." If anyone had heard Barty, they'd think it was genuine, but because of his snappy little comments, Freya ducked her head down a little to hide her grin.
Shoulders back, both of them straightened out and Freya was certain if she looked at him she would almost smile. Barty knew this and found the idea very intriguing, already proud that he had managed a twitch of the lips.
"Black, up next." The professor waved over the tall and glorious Sirius Black. Uniform ruggedly messed up, he waltzed up to the front of the class, grinning brightly as he gave a rather cheeky look to the crowd.
"Let's see it." Barty continued with his hush comments as Sirius flipped his hair before taking the proper position. "Oh, I see he's remembered the most important step." Dragging her lip between her teeth, Freya bit into it to keep from snorting. With the flourish of his wand, Sirius completed the spell with ease, but Barty was still unamused, offering only a quiet and sarcastic. "Dazzling."
"Crouch, to the stand."
Nodding, Barty traded places with Sirius. Freya kept her gaze on him, slightly curious. Just as he stood in front of the dummy, right before his spell. Barty sent Freya a small wink, then waved his wand around. Perfectly, he knocked the dummy away and Freya felt almost giddy by his little gesture.
The rest of class was spent going through the practices and Barty made quick comments at every turn. Even occasionally, Freya would retort back, equally mocking and arrogant.
By the end of it, Barty was grinning to himself and Freya was pushing down one. They bid each other their goodbyes and Freya stared after him a bit as he left the classroom.
"He's lovely." Sirius teased lowly, having seen the whole thing.
"Choke." She replied plainly, leaving the classroom briskly.
***
On her way back to the common room, Freya noticed a small crowd of people circling the door. Since it wasn't all annoying little first years, it was clear it wasn't just because someone had forgotten the password especially since it wasn't just Slytherins there. Some of their ties were red, yellow, and blue.
Annoyed and curious, Freya pushed through the crowd and saw what they were staring at. In big red dripping letters were words such as blood-purist, death eater, and long live you-know-who scribbled across the entire entrance. Defacing and demeaning the strong brick. Jaw tightly clenched, her eyes scanned over the whispering crowd. At the base of one of the words, Dorcas Meadowes viciously scrubbed at the words with a damp rag. Her dark skin shined under the candlelight with sweat, but the words weren't budging.
Stepping forward, Freya held her head high and walked up to Dorcas. Lowly, to make sure no one, but the two of them heard, Freya said, "Stop it."
"I can get it off." Through grit teeth and a strained voice, almost as if she was going to burst into tears, the witch put all her force into moving the red rag. "I've almost got it."
"Wall's been charmed." She explained, glancing at the wall. "It's not paint on your hand."
Slowly, Dorcas pulled the rag off the wall and saw how her fingertips were covered in blood. Not from the words, though Freya was sure that it had been written in animal blood. "I didn't even..."
"Cover it," Freya said, skimming over the growing crowd.
Her eyes found Regulus Black immediately, his throat was tight and he didn't even stay more than a second before leaving down the hallway. Everybody else was almost strangers to her, aside from Severus. Still, she returned her attention back to Dorcas.
"It just felt a little warm," Dorcas murmured, wrapping another rag around her hand, while Freya shielded it with her body.
"It was a hex." Pulling out her wand, Freya was ready to cast the counter curse.
"Caught red handed." Argus Filch's raspy voice echoed off the hallway, few of the students scattered, others stayed to watch. But, behind the groundskeeper were another pack of students, tripling the number of people in the hallway. Some were scared, others disgusted, but more were her peers... and not one looked as though she wasn't dirty sin. Like a mother shielding her child, Freya faced Argus and kept Dorcas behind her. Pale eyes glared down at the pair of girls. A smug snarl on his thin mouth, he looked at them. "Dumbledore's office now."
Alarmed Dorcas flustered a bit, her head shaking. "We were trying to clean it-"
"Likely story." He growled, and took both of them by the back of the collar like they were dogs, then turned to the crowd. "Away, all of you, no one touches the wall." Only first years listened, the rest watched them. Roughly, they were yanked forward, but Freya did not move.
Anger boiling in her veins, Freya snapped out of his grasps and channeled the image of Narcissa as she held her head high in front of those left in the crowd. "I know how to walk."
***
Freya had never properly met Albus Dumbledore and she never cared to. Truthfully, she was not fond of him for several reasons, but his office certainly was not one of them. Books covered every wall, and strange trinkets adored the walls, ranging from rare artifacts to one Bill Haley and His Comets album. Still, Freya forced her attention forward at the old man.
Whitebeard down to his belly, the wizard looked at Filch through half-mooned glasses. To the side of him was Minerva McGonagall, her face barely holding back the look of distraught, and Horace Slughorn with a tight-lipped expression and clammy hands.
"I swear, this was all a misunderstanding." Dorcas rushed to say after Filch finished his explanation. "I was only trying to get it off. I would never do something like that."
"This is just a precaution, girls." Slughorn attempted a smile, but he was unsettled to his core.
After a moment of clear silence that proved that this was a little more than a precaution, Albus turned his light eyes to the dead quiet girl, who had her eyes focused on the area in front of her. Unlike, Dorcas, she was not nervous or shaking uncertainly, she was calm and her eyes were black as night.
"And you, Ms. Grey?" Albus asked and her eyes moved to his.
A little colder than she meant to she replied. "I did nothing."
"Liar, she had her wand out," Filch grumbled and her eyes turned to daggers at him.
"Ms. Grey?" McGonagall pressed lightly after taking a moment to give Filch side-eye.
Now more towards some one she didn't mind, Freya answered simply. "The wall was hexed."
"By you, no doubt," Filch muttered.
"Argus, perhaps you should begin removing the vandalism; I fear students might find it to be a sort of attraction," Albus asked, his voice like clouds. Then he turned back to her. "You were saying."
"The wall was hexed, and I was going to remove it."
"Marvelous!" Slughorn exclaimed cheerily, having hated the notion one of his best and brightest was a death eater(again). "Excellent work, dear!"
"And how did you know the wall was hexed?" Albus continued in a tone that did not entirely sit right with Freya.
"Dorcas's blood seemed to be a good indicator," Freya answered back, the slightest bit of sarcasm biting into her words, then remembered that she was addressing her headmaster for possible threats. "Professor."
Amusement twinkled in his gaze, and he waved over at Dorcas. "Ms. Meadowes, may I see your hand?"
Nervously, the dark-skinned girl approached, her brown eyes flickering at her other professors for comfort. Slowly, she unwrapped the deep red cloth around her fingertips and held it in front of Dumbledore. Both teachers leaned forward and saw the torn and burnt flesh growing up her hand.
"Good heavens." Minerva inhaled, but Slughorn's face was contorted in curiosity and disgust.
"Do you know what caused this?" Albus's wispy voice held all of Dorcas's attention, it was calm and unoffensive. She lightly shook her head, brows pinched. Lightly, he grabbed her wrist and inspected the wound closer. "Protective charm, attacks when attacked, you wouldn't feel it until you lost a finger." He explained, and she felt faint. Letting go of her hand, he spoke. "Slughorn, escort Ms. Meadowes to the infirmary, please."
"If you don't mind, I would like to be here for the rest of the process." Slughorn looked over at Freya then back at his headmaster. "It is my house, after all."
"Which can make it all the more difficult." A tone entered Dumbledore's voice, and Slughorn lost all will to argue. Instead, the head of Slytherin moved his attention to Dorcas. Sick to her stomach, she followed Slughorn as she finally noticed one of her fingers lost an entire nail.
"Don't forget to tell Filch about the hex!" Minerva shouted after him, and Slughorn nodded somewhat distractedly.
Once they left, Albus turned to the bright and cunning girl in front of him. "Good eye, Ms. Grey." She offered no reply, seeing as his comment as an unnecessary pleasantry. "Take a seat."
"Am I going to be expelled, headmaster?" She asked, not a hint of emotion in her voice.
"No."
"Detention?"
"You're not being punished." He smiled knowingly and leaned back in his chair when he reached the conclusion she was not going to be taking a seat any time soon. "How did you know which hex it was?"
"I read."
"Books are good food for the mind." He commented and Freya did her best not to roll her eyes. "But it is important that we also nourish our souls as well." Merlin, please shut up, Freya prayed to herself. A certain sparkle entered his eye, then left as soon as it came. "That will be all, Ms. Grey."
"Thank you, headmaster." Forcing the words out of her mouth, she meant none of it, and if Albus hadn't learned to not trust the too cunning, he would have believed her. With the slight nod of the head, she turned to McGonagall. "Professor."
Minerva returned the nod and watched as the girl left down the Griffin's statue.
Albus stared at the area in front of him. "Do you trust, Ms. Grey?"
"Aside from one incident in the library, I have no reason to suspect her of anything foul." She replied, trying to think if there was anything glaring. "Even then, I suspect that was more Sirius Black's fault than hers."
"She's a friend of Sirius?"
"Heavens no." Not hiding her laugh a little, Minerva remembered detention with them well. Then, tried to think of who she actually was companions with. "Not that one at least. Lily Evans seems fond of her." The white-haired man hummed in response and Minerva knew he was thinking about the words on the wall. "Should we be worried, Albus?"
Pensively, he stared where Freya had once stood. "I fear the darkness is only going to get darker."
***
By the time Freya had returned to the common room, it was tensely bustling with whispers and trembling first years. But in the stone room, Regulus Black was nowhere to be found.
Tired, Freya dropped down like stones on her favorite couch and focused on the flickering fire. She could sense eyes on her and had her glare ready when someone sat down on the chair next to her. Dark eyes met dark as she looked up.
Severus Snape moved his attention to the armrest next to him. For some time, she stared at him as he, in his usual awkward nature, grabbed the blanket beside him and tossed some over him and the rest over her lap. After a moment, he froze, staring at the clump of fabric on her skirt, waiting for her acceptance. A second passed, then Freya fixed her side of the blanket and let her shoulders relax.
Without a syllable uttered, the two stared at the fire for the rest of the night.
A/N: Hello, thanks for reading, hope you liked it. I've entered a vicious cycle of shitty moodboards and character quizzes for a Lily Evan's fic(Thorns), but the epigraph and cast is up.