Hi there. :) I've been considering rewriting this fanfic in the third person narrative format. I had my little test run with first person POV, but I'm not quite digging it. Will anyone be extremely offended if I edited this piece? Please let me know. 3
I don't know how I got into this situation. I don't know what it was about me that made me a target of their hate. I tried to ignore them as I walked down the Grand Staircase, shuffling my messenger bag so it didn't lean so heavily on one side.
Was it my good grades?
Was it my house, which was the brunt of many jokes - Hufflepuff?
Was it because of my orientation?
"Alright then, stop ignoring us. Can't give us the time of day since you're a lezzer, eh?" There was laughter behind me.
That was Charles Higgens. I could distinguish his voice through a crowd of people, so often were his insults.
I didn't hate the Gryffindor House, don't get me wrong. But I did hate him.
I tugged nervously on my yellow-and-black scarf. I started walking faster down the stairs, trying to quickly get back to the Hufflepuff common room.
My bag wrenched out of my grip, pulling my arm painfully as it flew down a flight of stairs, scattering quills and ink, along with my books. Charles and his gang of troublemaking friends sniggered.
My patience broke. I whirled on Charles, whose wand was fading in color from the spell he'd cast. "Goddammit, why can't you just leave me alone?" I snapped.
"What did you just say to me?" he demanded. I sighed in exasperation. The usual way of things. He would attack me, and I would turn my back and try to forgive. "Did she just use a muggle slur?"
I turned my back on him and started gathering my supplies, mentally cursing him as I looked at my pages of ruined parchment. I would have to buy new scrolls, and god knew I didn't have money to be throwing away.
"Oi! Don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!" He shouted. There was a stampede of feet as his cronies followed him quickly down the stairs.
Something in the atmosphere shifted, then. I felt it in the air, a sort of static hum. My heartbeat quickened and I knew something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong, and I needed to get out of here, quick, damned be the quills!
I dropped my bag and started running down the stairs. A smattering of feet followed me. My wand was clenched in my sweaty hand, but I couldn't risk turning to cast a spell lest I fall down the flights, or worse, into thin air. As if the staircase had heard my thoughts, it started to shift toward another level.
No! No no no! Fucking shit. I grasped the rail and inched backward as the thugs jumped on.
I held my wand pointed at them, not daring to make the first move. Not cowardly, no, I just couldn't afford to be expelled. Hogwarts was my home, despite these constant abusers.
"Well, you going to do anything, you fucking freak?" Charles asked venomously. His friends, one lanky and one burly, held their wands out too.
The staircase was still shifting. It was late, and there was next to no chance of anyone finding me. I cursed myself for going to the library so late on a Friday night. All the other students would be resting after a stressful week.
I saw the paintings watching what was occurring. "Help!" I pleaded with them. "Help! Get Headmistress McGonag-umgph!" My shout was cut off by a fist in my mouth. I fell, and my neck bounced sharply on the edge of a stair; dazed, I noticed with horror my head was hanging into thin air. The movement of the staircase kept Charles pinned against my body and the railing. I struggled to throw him off me, reaching desperately for my wand, which was balanced precariously on the last step.
Thick! My head hit the landing and my struggling increased. Now was the only chance I had to get away. I squirmed forward, despite Charles' hand grasping my throat. My lower back was on the landing now, but my wand was further away, having been hit aside in my struggle.
I was fully on the landing, thrashing wildly. His friends hurried down on either side of the staircase and held my wrists down. "Let's have some fun," one of them sneered.
Wha-? My heart stuttered. N- No! NO! My shoulders wrenched from their sockets as I pulled desperately, trying to get out of their hold. Charles was hovering over me, tearing my robe off.
"MO! STGHMP!" I screamed, my mouth muffled by his hand. He pinched the tip of my nose closed roughly, and tears formed in my eyes. The end of my scarf was grabbed roughly and shoved down my throat, causing me to gag and taste a sour liquid. My face grew hot and red from anger and lack of air.
My robe lay in tatters over my frame, and I kicked violently at the Gryffindor over me, hoping to get a shot to the groin.
When I kneed him in the stomach he gasped and there was a sudden, blinding pain as blood started pouring down the contours of my cheeks. I could see well enough to see his fist drawing back. A sharp noise hit my ears. My zipper. My head became cold as my blood pressure shifted. There was a sudden draft of air as my skirt was pulled down.
"MO! AGPHPHGGPH! DO! HECKBP! HECKBP!" I started bucking, kicking violently and trying to spit my scarf out. Trying to do anything to escape. I'd rather die. Please, just let me die. Don't let this happen, I prayed.
"Be quiet! We're going to teach you to be straight!" Charles hissed, his hand quickly coming to my throat.
One of my hands escaped the hold of the Gryffindor pinning my arms down. I used it to quickly punch him in the throat, and twisting my body, I scrambled for my wand. I had a finger on it. A hand gripped my foot and I kicked out blindly, hitting Charles in the face. I tore the scarf out of my throat and aimed my wand at the nearest person, gasping, "Relashio!"
I scrambled to my feet and pulled my skirt up as the thug screamed and frantically patted down the fire in his robes. I ran down the stairs, falling over myself in my haste, a hand holding my skirt to my hip, casting "Reducto!" behind me, effectively blowing apart a piece of the staircase, slowing their progress towards me.
A jinx flew next to my ear, making me duck. I turned briefly to cast a shield charm.
My lungs burned as I ran, and after a few minutes and multiple shielding charms I knew I had lost them. But I didn't stop running. The thought that they might still be pursuing me kept me sprinting around corners despite the pain throughout my body.
Finally, the entrance to the common room. I crawled through the entrance, my ragged breathing alerting those in the common room to my arrival. I stumbled out of the hole, falling to my hands and knees on the warm floor. My wand skidded a foot from my bleeding hand.
"Ide!" someone called.
My body shook violently with exhaustion and I found my vision going black. Feet surrounded me, but I knew I was safe, so I let myself succumb to the darkness at the edge of my vision.