{Griffin}
DUMBLEDORE WAS gone.
Umbridge had accused him of forming D.A. to overthrow the Ministry, which resulted in a failed attempt to get him arrested and sent to Azkaban. Of course the clever wizard predicted something like this would happen and successfully carried out his escape plan. Unfortunately, this led to Umbridge being appointed our new headmaster, leaving Hogwarts under her absolute tyranny.
I chewed on my bottom lip, repeatedly tapping my quill against the wooden table. After a minute, Hermione let out an agitated sigh and peered up from her Charms' textbook. "Are you okay?" she asked, gesturing to my anxious habit.
"Fine," I blinked and set the quill down. "Sorry."
"It's fine," she pursed her lips and opened her mouth to say something else. When she could not figure out how to start the conversation, she closed it again. I tried giving my undivided attention to reading, but it wasn't long before Hermione spoke up again.
"Draco's acting differently."
My eyes quickly flickered up to scan the library. No one was close enough to eavesdrop so I shrugged, "Really? I haven't noticed."
"He's been keeping his distance lately. From all four of us, I mean." Her tone was casual, but I knew she was itching to ask me something. "Do you still have feelings for him?"
Ah, there it is.
"Did Harry and Ron press you to ask me that?"
The witch's eyes widened for a second and she shook her head. "No," Hermione denied. "No, I was just wondering. You know, sometimes I catch him staring at you in class."
I looked back up, stunned she had made note of that. Over the last few weeks, it was not entirely uncommon to feel Draco's burning gaze settled on me; his unwavering eyes drilled into mine, probably hoping I would meet them.
I never did.
It may be stubborn, but he had not made any moves to approach me and I was not going to give in first.
"Or," Hermione went on, "when we pass him in the halls recently, I see him glare daggers at Harry and Ron but choose to hold back the usual insults."
That, I had noticed. "I think it's because of our fight," I said quietly. "On the day D.A. was caught, after I told him we couldn't... anyways, he tried to keep me from getting into trouble. So it's all a bit complicated."
"Explain," she requested. Her bourbon eyes shined with determination as she flipped her book shut, making it clear she would listen without judgment.
I took a deep breath and hesitated. "Well... he is a complicated person. Just when I think he's changed, something happens to make me question it." I paused, reflecting through all of the negatives. "Draco is arrogant. He brags about his fortune and calls us mudblood and takes jabs at Ron's family name. And you know how he loves tormenting Harry, who luckily has the backbone to defend himself."
Hermione's lips pressed into a thin line as she nodded for me to continue. "But...?"
I huffed. "But then there are these moments," I started to explain. "Moments where I see another side to Draco. And I've always believed he was one-dimensional, but now? Now I find myself... drawn to him. It sounds so silly, saying it out loud just now, but..." I trailed off, looking down to fiddle with my sleeve, "I think he feels it too."
Hermione's gears were turning while she assessed the situation. I tried not to overanalyze her reactions and continued, "This is cliche, but there's something- like everything about him is so mesmerizing. His touch is... intoxicating. I'm drawn to him, but he makes me question so much." I laughed nervously in reply to Hermione's silence. "Like I said, it's-"
"Complicated," she finished, finally understanding.
I shed her a smile. "Yes."
Suddenly, a tall figure emerged from the book shelves over her shoulder. "All your mush just might make me vomit." It was Professor Snape.
The scene instantly melted away and I was thrown back into reality. The present -back into Snape's office alongside Harry.
"That was personal," I breathed, my knuckles digging into the chair's arms while I struggled to steady my irregular heartbeat. "Not to me," Snape stated. "And not to the Dark Lord, if you both fail to improve your skills in Occlumency."
Harry started to defend us when the professor took lean steps forward, closing our distance. "Every memory he has access to is a weapon he can use against you. Neither of you will last two seconds if he invades your minds." His glare gradually narrowed in on Harry, studying him. "You're just like your father. Lazy, arrogant-"
"Don't say a word against my father," Harry fumed, standing up from his seat next to me.
"Weak."
"I'm not weak!"
"Then prove it! Control your emotions. Discipline your mind."
I bit the inside of my cheeks, watching on as Snape's wand pointed to Harry and cast the Legilimens spell. A minute went by as he dug through my best friend's mind. A minute where I shut my eyes and concentrated on sealing my memories away, scattered and filed into pages upon pages of books. Although organizing them was easy, I could never figure out how to alter or lock them away from another person.
"Stop it," Harry pleaded after the spell released him, hunching over in exhaustion. I stood and automatically reached out to steady his balance.
"Is this what you call control?"
"We've been trying for hours," I snapped. The lessons were emotionally draining and I was growing tired of Snape's attitude. "He needs rest, we both do."
"The Dark Lord isn't resting," the sour professor said as he slammed hands on a nearby table. "Every day that goes by, every second your minds are left unprotected is more time he has to infiltrate your thoughts." He inhaled sharply. "You two are in greater danger than you realize."
"We're already in danger," Harry argued, regaining his stance. "Voldemort can strike at any moment-"
"Which is precisely why you should not waste time forever whining about how bitterly unfair your life has been. Well, it may have escaped your notice, Potter, but life is not fair. Your blessed father knew that. In fact, he frequently saw to it." There was pain in the man's voice and I wondered what he meant.
"My father was a great man!"
"No, your father was a swine," Snape growled. I saw his wand arm raise and quickly stepped in front of Harry, placing my hand over his. "Protego," I called over Snape's Legilimens. The room faded away and both of us were swept inside his mind.
Two people are heard shouting at each other from behind a closed door. "When do you think they'll stop?" a timid voice wonders.
"Hopefully soon," a young girl replies and holds out her hand for the smaller boy to take.
There was a flash of light and we felt the page turn, displaying a different memory.
"Mum, where did Father go?" the same girl cries, clutching the boy's hand.
I recognized him as a young Snape.
"I should have never told him of the wizarding community," the woman mutters. "No matter, now. Who needs him, anyways?" She continues throwing suitcases into the trunk of a car.
"Where are we going?" Snape asks.
"Not us -your sister. From now on, she will be attending a muggle boarding school."
Another page turned. Harry and I saw an older Snape, our age, walking down a Hogwarts corridor. His gaze was fixated on the floor as surrounding students laughed at the toilet paper stuck to his shoe. Then, another memory.
Skies were clear of clouds and the sun shines diamonds onto the Black Lake's rippling waters. A group of Gryffindors approach Snape from the shore, led by a particular brown-haired boy. "Come on, Moony, Padfoot," he calls while gesturing for his friends to follow. "Say, whatcha got there, Snivellus?"
Snape, who previously settled at the base of a tree, quickly stands and raises his wand. "Don't come any closer!" he warns.
"We both know that's an empty threat. You don't have it in you," the opposing boy sneers before reaching up and adjusting his glasses. "Expelliarmus." The disarming spell sent Snape's wand across the air, landing on the lawn some feet away.
The boys laugh and one with fluffy, black hair pats his friend's back. "Nice one, James."
I glanced at Harry as his body stilled beside me. "That's my dad," he said softly. I bit my lip nervously as we continued to witness the memory.
"Impedimenta," the young James Potter cast. Snape is lifted off his feet and raises above their heads, turning to hang upside down and left there as the boys start chanting 'Snivellus Greasy'.
"Right," James grins. "Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's trousers?"
The group cheered him on and I felt present-day Snape push us out of his head. "Enough!" he demanded. Harry and I stumbled back into our chairs, a bit disoriented since this was our first time experiencing Legilimency. My breathing was loud and when I opened my mouth to say something, no words came out. Professor Snape regarded us with a dark glare. "Enough."
Harry's hands were shaking but he found the strength to stand up again, to which Snape stormed forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Your lessons are at an end," he spoke in a slow, menacing voice. "Get. Out."
As soon as he released his grip, I stepped forward and grabbed Harry's arm. Both of us quickly exited the classroom without another word to the teacher.
•••
Harry ran a hand through his hair, still visibly shaken as we jogged through a courtyard. "That was..."
"Mental," I finished.
He let out an airy laugh that soon morphed into a frown. "Hey," I started after noticing his mood, "are you alright?"
It had only taken a few days for Harry to get over our argument about Draco, although I figured it was only a manner of time before he brought it up again. Ron was still a work in progress, but even he was beginning to ease up. Especially with D.A. serving detention with Umbridge at a regular basis; it seemed barren to stay mad at each other.
After Harry failed to respond, I added, "Do you want to talk about it?"
I could not even imagine the turmoil he must have felt to watch his dad bully someone. The fact that it was Snape, of all people, made things that much more complicated.
"No," he sighed heavily. "I mean, I don't know what to... say."
"What's your name?" a voice asked quietly. I wondered who else was out this close to curfew as we turned around and spotted the Weasley twins sitting down on a bench, comforting someone. "Michael," the younger student answered.
"Your hand's gonna be fine, Michael."
"Yeah," George agreed with his brother. "It's not as bad as it seems. See?" He rolled up his sleeve to show the patch of skin that scarred from Umbridge's stupid quills. "It's fading already."
Harry and I approached the boys and I recognized Michael from the Gryffindor common room, along with past D.A. meetings.
"You can hardly see ours anymore," Fred reassured the crying boy, "and the pain stops after a while."
I frowned at his words and instinctively reached to rub the sentence carved onto my own skin. I hoped Umbridge would choke on a chocolate frog.
A pitchy voice cleared her throat and all five of our heads snapped up to see the devil herself. Umbitch stood with her chin raised and hands cupped together in front of her, all high and mighty. "Girls and boys are not permitted to be within eight inches of each other, Miss Blakes."
It took everything in me not to bark back a comment, but I obeyed and took a step away from Harry.
Pick your battles, Griffin. Pick your battles.
"And as I've told you once before, naughty children deserve to be punished," she said, obviously referring to Michael.
I felt Fred and George stand up behind us while the pink professor regarded us with one last smirk before retreating back inside the castle. "I truly despise that woman," I said.
"Don't we all?" Fred grinned, pausing for a moment before saying, "You know, George... I've felt our futures lay outside the world of academic achievement."
"Fred, I've been thinking exactly the same thing."
Michael smiled at their statements and I looked over my shoulder. "What're you two plotting?" The twins shared a knowing look and George shrugged, "For that, you'll have to wait and see, Griff."
Fred nodded and tapped a finger to his temple, "Patience is key."
-About 4 more chapters to go! Ty for everyone who has been reading & pls comment/vote/share<3