"Another perfect potion, Campbell. Twenty five points to Gryffindor." Snape said curtly, walking past my desk to ridicule Neville. Malfoy, who was sitting just in front of me, snickered.
"'Perfect Potion, Miss Campbell.', 'However do you make such amazing brews, miss Campbell?'" Malfoy Mimicked, in an incredibly high and irritable voice. I glared at him, reaching into my bag to grab a vial.
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"Make me, Unwanted." It was two weeks after my run to Hogsmeade, and as Snape (who did, surprisingly, not hold a grudge) continued to give more and more praise to me than anyone else; Malfoy's hurtful comments had spiraled into a sticky web of utter nastiness. I'd narrowly escaped him and his goons in the hallway the day before. He was about to hex me, but Hagrid walked in just in time to save my dignity.
"My name is Adriana, but clearly you're too stupid to remember!" I shot back, my teeth baring.
"Campbell just insulted me, Professor." Malfoy said as Snape walked by."
"What did she say?"
"She said that I was stupid." Snape tutted.
"Five points to Gryffindor." I smirked at Malfoy, whose face was priceless.
"My father will hear about this." he grumbled, and I laughed under my breath, filling both of my vials with the Anti-Acne potion we were brewing. I slipped the second vial into my bag with the rest of them, and swiftly got up to bring the other up to Snape's desk. As soon as I sat down again, everyone on the Slytherin side of the room was giggling under their breaths at me. I looked down; did I have something in my hair, or on my clothes?
What I didn't see was that my potion had turned black. By the time I did see it, it had exploded.
I landed on my back, screaming in pain and shock. I was covered head to toe with the tar like potion, which was very much retaining the heat from the blast. The only part of me not covered with the sticky substance was my face, which I had covered with my hands. All of Slytherin was laughing, Malfoy and his lackeys in particular. Snape was immediately at my side, and glaring at the class.
“Be quiet.” He said firmly, but they continued to fall to pieces. Even after several more tries, they were in hysterics.
“SHUT UP!” Snape roared, and finally, everyone was utterly silent. Tiptoeing around the still smoking brew, he helped me up. He took one look at me, and he nodded.
“Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, please help Miss Campbell up to the hospital wing.” Malfoy scoffed.
“I would rather not, Professor.” Ron stood.
“I’ll go.”
“I am afraid not, Mr. Weasley. I instructed Malfoy and Potter to go.”
“Let Weasley go, I can’t be bothered.”
“Can you please stop arguing about this?” I pleaded, the burning in my leg steadily growing. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stand.” Snape clenched his teeth, sneering.
“Fine. Potter, Weasley, take her upstairs, now.” They supported me as much as they could as I tried to put as little weight on my leg as possible.
“What happened, Aidy? You’ve never had a potion go wrong, let alone explode!” Harry exclaimed. I grimaced.
“It wasn’t me, and I’m sure Snape knows that. Ouch!” I exclaimed, the burning intensifying.
“Are you alright?”
“It hurts, but I’ll live. I think Malfoy slipped something into my cauldron while no one was looking. All the Slytherins were laughing at me before I even sat down.” Ron nodded.
“Yeah, that would make sense. I think he hates you more than he hates Harry. No offense, mate.”
“None taken.” Harry said, helping me climb the staircase. I sighed.
“Well, obviously I’m going to be late for transfiguration, and that’s all that counts.” I had quickly discovered that my talents in transfiguration, history of magic, flying, and astronomy were not as profound as my talents in Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, and most notably, Potions. Although it was fascinating, transfiguration was incredibly hard for me to concentrate on. My wand movements were always too graceful. The grace helped me out a lot when I worked with Charms, but Transfiguration was more of a jabbing motion than a swish or flick. The fact that I would be missing quite a bit or all of McGonagall’s class frightened me; she gave out loads of homework and I had yet to fully turn my match into a needle.
“Harry and I will give you the notes if there are any, Aid.” I smiled weakly, the two now practically carrying me. “So what are you going to do tomorrow?” I grinned.
“Oh, who knows? Maybe I’ll slip a bit of undiluted bobotuber pus in his next brew; if it isn’t an Anti Acne potion, it will create a small explosion, or at least turn it the exact opposite color of what it should be.” Ron laughed as we finally made it to the hospital wing. I looked down, and most of my robes had been eaten away by the potions, as well as my socks. The potion had dripped off my skin, but it had left large, oozing sores that burned crimson red.
Yep, I was defiantly spending the next half of the day in the hospital wing.
~*~*~
“Snape found a firework in your cauldron.” Hermione said as I stiffly sat down at the dinner table. Not only had I missed transfiguration, I’d missed History of magic and Defense against the Dark Arts.
“So that’s why it exploded.” She nodded.
“Snape was furious, Adriana. You have no idea. He nearly gave both of our houses detention because of his favorite student.” Hermione said worriedly.
“How much did I miss?”
“It depends, what classes did you miss?”
“History, transfiguration, and defense.” She winced.
“See McGonagall first. She told me to tell you that you have to be able to change the match into a needle by next Monday or you’ll be failing her class.” I groaned, banging my head on the table. .
“Why me? I have to finish my essay for potions tonight, my essay for binns on Thursday, Friday I have set aside for my charm work, and on Saturday who knows what the hell I’ll be doing.”
“Language. And at least you can’t be tempted to dance right now, look at your legs!” my legs were bandaged from my big toe to mid-thigh, and although I was assured that the sores would get better, it was still extremely painful. And yes, I had told Hermione about my dancing after I’d been caught sneaking out of the common room.
“Oi, Campbell!” A voice sneered, and I turned around to glare at Malfoy. He laughed. “So you are alive? What a pity!”
“Shove off, Malfoy. That was your firework in my potion, wasn’t it?” he smirked.
“Of course.” I glared at him so hard he shrank back in his seat.
“You do realize I can barely walk, right? You could have disfigured me or worse, killed me!” I spat. “Do you have any idea what ingredients go into a filibuster firework? You were lucky that it turned to tar and exploded!” his smirk broadened.
“I’ll remember that for next time. But I doubt it will disfigure you. You couldn’t get any uglier if you tried.” Ouch.
“Go to hell, Malfoy.” I spat, my eyes filling with tears. I stood up.
“See you later, Mione.” She looked up at me with a concerned face, but by the time she noticed anything I was out of the hall.
~*~*~
“Unwanted! Hey, Unwanted!” Malfoy hissed as I tried to get through my charms lesson the next week. I grit my teeth, trying to ignore him.
“Unwanted! Are you really stupid enough not to respond to your own name? But, wait, maybe that’s not your name!” my jaw clenched, and I was beginning to twitch. “I heard Weasley calling you ‘Aid.”. Must be a cry for help if he’s hanging around with you.” I glared at him.
“Oh ha ha, he he, very funny. Really very witty.” I spat.
“Professor, Campbell is distracting me!” Flitwick looked at me with disapporoving eyes.
“Ms. Campbell! 5 points from Gryffindor!” my fists clenched, and Hermione laid he hand on my shoulder.
“Relax, they’re just trying to get to you.”
“And its bloody working.” I growled.
“Hey, didn’t Potter call you ‘Aids’ Unwanted? Isn’t that a muggle disease?” my whole body was tense, and I was almost shaking with anger.
“Shove off, Malfoy. Leave her alone!” Lavender Brown snapped at Malfoy. After he scoffed and returned to his work, she looked at me.
“So this hasn’t stopped since you told Snape that Malfoy put the firework in your cauldron?” Yes, I’d told snape, who was, of course, furious. Malfoy was in detention for a month and had received a (Very Public and embarrassing) howler from his mother.
“It’s only gotten worse.” I heaved, my breathing ragged as I attempted to calm myself down. “Oh, I would love to get him into a wizard’s duel. See how well he does against me.”
“Once you know a few more proper hexes.” Pavarti Patil said, from the other side of Lavender. “You’ll blow him out of the water.”
“Is that a challenge?” I heard him drawl from behind me. I turned around, my eyes narrowing.
“No, it’s a promise.” Just then, the bell in the clock tower rang.
“Your papers on the levitation charm are due next Tuesday! We will be attempting this spell in the final week of October!” I stuck my nearly finished essay into my bag, heading off to lunch. My legs were still extremely stiff, so I walked slowly, everybody passing me on their way to the great hall. I made it to a landing when I was suddenly yanked back by the hair.
“Ouch!” I cried, falling back against the railing. I glared up at Malfoy, sneering. “What do you want?” He snickered.
“Crabbe, Goyle.” I was grabbed by both arms, and they yanked me off of the ground, squealing. Malfoy reached his hand into the pocket of my robes, retrieving my wand. He twirled it between his fingers, looking at it.
“Well, well, well, what are we going to do with you now?” he sneered, and my eyes burned with hatred. “Odd wand, isn’t it?”
“Rare combination.” I spat.
“How ‘bout we make it even rarer?” Malfoy cackled. “That’d teach you for giving me detention.” I blanched. He was talking about breaking my wand!
“How would breaking a witch’s wand teach me for getting you into detention? There are laws about that.” I said, my voice jumping up a half octave. I tugged on y arms, trying to make crabbe and goyle set me on the floor.
“My father works at the ministry. I can get out of anything.”
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you will! There’s a six year Azkaban penalty for breaking another witch or wizard’s wand! Do you think that you’ll get out of that just because you’re dads high up in the ministry, or did you forget that my father is undersecretary to the minister!?!” Malfoy chuckled.
“Your family hates you, Campbell, and you know that!”
“My mum and brother hate me, but that’s not my whole family.” I growled.
“Oh come now, you must know that Gemma only feels bad for you.”
“And you’re just saying that because Gemma hates your father as well as yourself! She’s fine with your mum.”
“Mmm, I’ll mention that to my father.” My hand plunged into the pocket of my bag, removing one specific potion that Gemma ad sent me a week or so ago for emergencies. Just as Malfoy was about to snap my wand in half,I threw the potion down, the vial it was in shattering on impact.
The effects were instantaneous.
A huge cloud of thick, foul smelling smoke flooded the landing, And Malfoy’s goons dropped me. wrenching my wand from Malfoy’s grip, I quickly ran down the stairs, myself unfazed by the smoke. There were footsteps behind me, but I ignored it as I continued to run down the stairs.
“You heard me, after her!” I picked up my pace, the footsteps nearing, and I was once again grabbed by the hair.
“Think that was funny, do you?” Malfoy said, gritting his teeth.
“Incredibly, you slimy, foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!” I shrieked, knowing full well that I wasn’t helping myself.
“Aidy, was that you?”
“Fred!” I shrieked, and I knew I felt Malfoy smirk from behind me, still holding a fistful of my long blonde hair.
“well, then.” There was a slight shove on my back…
And then I was falling.
*third person*
As soon as they heard aidy scream from the floor below them, Fred and George bolted for the staircase mid jinx. They immediately found Malfoy, who was cackling on the staircase as Aidy squealed. she was tumbling down the stairs at a frightening rate, finally stopping on the first floor landing. George quickly grabbed the back of Malfoy’s robes, restraining him from going any further.
“Let go of me, filthy blood traitor!”
“Shut up.” George spat. He knew that Malfoy hated Aidy, but he’d had no idea that he would go so far as to physically harm her. “How dare you touch her?” Meanwhile, Fred had other concerns. Aidy’s sores from the potion were still healing, for one, but now Fred noticed that it was far more serious than just that.
Aidy had been knocked out from her head colliding with the landing, blood beginning to pool from the sight of her very obvious concussion. Her arm was twisted in an unnatural position, and was clearly broken in several places. Her left leg also appeared to be broken, the bone pressing outward against her skin.
“George, I can’t move her. She’s broken a few bones and she’s unconscious!” Fred called up to George, who was struggling with Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle had disappeared completely.
“Damn. Go get one of the professors, Madame Pomfrey is on the sixth floor.”
“I hope Madame has a blood replenishing Potion, she’s going to need it.” Malfoy went pale (Paler than normal, albeit).
“B-Blood replenishing-“
“She’s bleeding heavily, you little cockroach!” seethed George. Malfoy began to tremble and stutter.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her that much…” he said when he could finally put together a coherent sentence.
“Why hurt her at all? What’s she done to you?” Malfoy was silent. “Fred, go now before she bleeds out. I’ll hold Malfoy.” Fred nodded, sprinting into the great hall.
“POFESSOR!” he shouted, causing twenty or so heads to flash to him. “One of you, any of you, Aidy Campbell is unconscious and loosing blood! I can’t move her!” And everyone knew by the desperation in Fred’s voice that he was deadly serious. Snape stood up, sweeping out of the room, closely followed by both McGonagall and Dumbledore.
Meanwhile, Malfoy sat with his legs locked and hands tied (George had performed the leg locker curse to keep Malfoy from leaving) While george attempted to find the extent of all aidy’s injuries. The gash on her head and her leg were the worst.the doors to the great hall swung open once again, and Snape ran in behind Fred.
“Oh my god…”
“Good Heavens!” McGonagall cried, her hands flying to her mouth. Dumbledore immediately conjured a stretcher, preferring to levitate her onto the stretcher rather than to pick her up.
“Minerva, she’s in your house. Please escort your pupil to the hospital wing.” She nodded, her lips pressedinto a tight line. Snape and Dumbledore looked at the Weasley twins.
“What happened here?” George and Fred looked at each other.
“Well, sir, we don’t quite know what happened before we got here, but we know what happened when we did. Fred and I were playing a joke on Peeves, sir, on the third floor, and then we heard her scream. By the time we got there, she was tumbling down the stairs and this git (George gave Malfoy a swift kick in the chest, causing the first year boy to complain) was cackling at her falling, which would have been funny if we didn’t know it was serious.” George admitted.
“So, my twin here restrained him, and I checked Aidy out. And Obviously, sirs, she’s in a bad state.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her that much.” Malfoy said from the floor. Snape looked like he had eaten something foul as he looked at Malfoy. He may have liked him as a student, but his actions were irrefutable.
“Fifty points from Slytherin. Add that to another month’s worth of detention!” Dumbledore’s eyes were frighteningly cold.
“Mister Malfoy, I am going to write your mother this afternoon. I might have to suspend you.” Malfoy went sugar white. “And I also expect you to give miss Campbell a full apology when she wakes up.”
“She will wake up, wont she?” Fred asked, concerned.
“Her injuries were not severe enough to kill her if Poppy heals her fast enough. Her concussion should keep her unconscious for several days, however. I will alert her teachers. Severus, If you would, I need you present when the Malfoys arrive. Oh…” He flicked his wand at Draco, and the leg locker curse lifted, the robes burning away. Malfoy rubbed his wrists. “And take him down to the dungeons with you and punish him how you see fit.” Dumbledore then swept out of the room, heading to the great hall. He chose his words carefully as he addressed the school.
“There has been a… unfortunate occurrence. A few moments ago Miss Adriana Campbell was pushed down the stairs and is in a dreadful state of health. Due to this fact, I ask all of her teachers to exempt her from their homework, as she sustained a sizable concussion and will most likely be unable to focus for several weeks. To all students, please leave her be in the hospital wing unless you are family or a close friend. That will be all, good day.” Dumbledore swept out of the room, and in truth he was furious under the surface. Malfoy had already nearly killed Campbell with the potion, and now there was this. Storming into his office, Dumbledore threw floo powder into the fire, sticking his head inside.
“Narcissa, Lucius, a word…”