A/n: Ok, guys I have amazing news. I'm actually soo happy right now! So if any of you guys read Truth, Lies and Gray Eyes, you'd know that I couldn't figure out how to do a line break. When I did a line break in TLAGE, my line breaks looked like this:
(LINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAK)
I'm actually realizing how pathetic that must've looked. Yeah...
Okay, other then that... GUYS I'M BACK!
So sorry I couldn't update very often. Eighth grade... lotta stuff going on. Wish me luck on everything. Hope you guys are doing well too. Sorry again.
Review Responses:
Guest: Thank you! I'm actually like obsessed with Scottish accents. They're so cool! I'm actually do happy you asked about the colours. It's something called Synesthesia (SIN-ES-THEE-JA), and it's actually quite fascinating. I actually have it. I see music in color, I feel emotions with color, I see certain words in color, and sometimes I see peoples moods in a color. You can't exactly get it... Everyone is technically born with it and as you get older it either stays with you or leaves you. For more information, use my favourite source: GOOGLE!
ink and imagination: Ahh I've missed you...! Thank you for all of the compliments! Yeah so in the end I did it from Duncan to Severus. Hope you don't mind.
That's it for reviews. Guys, please review! It means a lot to me. I want to hear your feedback on what you like or dislike (as long as it's written calmly and not rudely). Also I need ideas sometimes!
Okay forget it because you're probably skipping my authors note anyways because what's coming up next is probably way more exciting then what I'm saying now. Heads up: this chapter is longer than usual. Here comes chapter 3!
Chapter 3
Duncan
Sharp, rusty red cuts my mind in an overwhelming dizziness. The color green still lingers in my mind from before I passed out.
Passed out.
As the words hit me all of my memories rush back, making me feel more sick. I want to open my eyes and find out where I am but my right eye feels heavy. I try to think but every thought brings a headache.
I'm nauseous, injured, and confused. I know what happened, but what happened after? Is someone older here? A prefect or at least someone who can help me?
In all of my pain, I start to open my left eye, immediately shutting it. Too bright. Too painful.
"Duncan, are you awake?" that girl asks. Pandora. The girl with the colourful and pretty name.
I wince. My response to her is a groan. I try opening my eye again this time keeping it open. "How bad is it?" I rasp, gasping in a breath from the brightness.
Pandora bites her lip. "Pretty bad."
I curse under my breath. That rat-face was such a jerk. Scrawny, he'd called me. Worthless. I close my eyes again. "He was'ne lyin' y'know. I- I'm what he said. I'm worthless."
"Oh, Duncan, how hard did he hit you're head? You're not believing that toad, are you? You are not worthless."
"You're not a baby panda then," I reply, my lips starting to form the traces of a smile. "Where are we? Also, did ya call for help?"
"We're outside that monster's compartment. I wanted to get my brother because he's a prefect for Ravenclaw, but I didn't want to leave you."
I lift my hand to rub my forehead. "How did you get me out?"
"Just because I'm a girl does not mean that I'm a weakling."
"I never called you weak. To be honest, I probably have less muscle than you do."
She laughs. "You took my trunk from one jerk's compartment to another's."
"I dragged your trunk from one jerk's compartment to me own until another jerk hijacked mine." I open my eye again to see Pandora shaking her head, smiling. I can't help grinning myself. I close my eye again.
After a moment I hear her stand up. "I should get Roy," she announces. I hear her footsteps, then a door opening, then the sound of to people crashing into each other and groaning. I open my eye to see that Pandora crashed into a boy leaving his compartment.
"Terribly sorry," he mumbles. He looks at Pandora. "Are you-?"
"I'm fine," she states, standing up. "Sorry." She starts to walk away again.
The boy looks around confused as to what had happened. Finally, he lays his eyes on me and his face falls. "Did she do that to you?" he asks, shocked.
"Did she do what?" I ask.
"You know. Your... eye."
I chuckle. "'Course not. She's me friend. The bloke who you're talkin' about is rat-face in there." I point to the compartment door next to me.
"Goodness! Well, let me help you." He walks closer to me and pulls out his wand. "Dolor auferato!" he chants.
The pain slowly eases. A cold rush of relief fills my blood. "Thanks," I tell him.
"The swelling will have to go away on its own but your pain should be gone."
I nod. A strand of hair falls over my eyes and I'm about to push it back up, but decide to leave it. Maybe if enough hair covers it, it won't look so horrible. "And you are?" I ask, pulling more strands over my eye.
"I'm Remus."
"Duncan."
I open the face of my watch. I installed a mirror in it once when I was bored. I move my hair over to look at my bruised eye. I curse under my breath again. What a great arrival this would be. I let my hair cover it again. I can still see my eye but it's covered a bit and it's not as noticeable. "Someone has got to teach that jerk how to be less evil," I mutter.
"I'll do it."
I look up. Remus shrugs. "I'll tell him to apologise."
I shake my head. "Boy, you really don't want to do that."
"But no one should get away with doing that!" he argues.
"He does'ne like me. He will'ne apologise no matter what you say, Remus. Din'ne waste your breath."
Remus blinks. "Didn't catch that."
"It's impossible. He will not apologise, that's that."
He pauses, then says, "Nothing's impossible." He reaches for the compartment door.
I roll my eyes. Well at least one of them.
I wait. Five minutes pass and Remus isn't out of the compartment and Pandora isn't back.
Ten minutes. Nothing. I lean back against the wall. My watch read 6:42. We're supposed to get to Hogsmead at 7:30. I need to change into my robes soon.
Fifteen minutes. I finally see Pandora walking down the hallway, alone. "Some people aren't the slightest bit helpful," she grumbles.
I laugh. "It's fine. Some lad came and eased it up a bit."
"It still looks horrible."
"What do you mean, I don't look as good-looking with me eye all banged up?"
She smirks. "You sound like that boy from my first compartment."
"Black? Oh you better take that back, Pandora Laura Lockhart."
"I'm only joking, Duncan Macmillan."
"Duncan Eden Macmillan, if we're using middle names." My stomach growls and I look down. I haven't eaten much today. Breakfast was rushed and I didn't have time to eat a lot. I missed the trolley witch when I blacked out so I haven't eaten lunch. I reach into my pocket, remembering the toffee I had.
As I unwrap it, a compartment door opens and I accidentally lose my grip. There goes my lunch.
Remus walks out with that prat. "Peter," Remus says flatly.
"I'm sorry," Rat-Face says with little expression.
I exchange looks with Pandora. "Um..." Remus nods his head to Rat-Face. "Forgiven," I spit out, with the same tone as Rat-Face.
Remus smiles and walks back to his compartment. Rat-Face (or Peter, apparently) lets us back in the compartment. Pandora grabs her robes and exits. I'm about to do the same until Peter stops me. "I did it for Remus. I still d-don't like you, Scrawny."
I shake my head. Some things are impossible.
Severus
He stole everything from me.
The life I could have had.
My dignity.
My Lily...
I look at my bruised arms and think about her. The door cracks open and I look down, knowing exactly who it was.
"Had enough, Sniveless?" he sneers.
He literally stole everything. I close my eyes. There was no one on this earth that I hated more than James Potter.
"Severus, I don't care what time your nonsense train leaves, I told you that you needed to clean the barn," my dad announces. "No dust and no cobwebs. Don't even think about coming back here before that place is spotless. You may want to hurry."
He can't be serious, I think. I look at Mum for her to say something. She shakes her head sadly. She gave up hope in him already.
As I head out to the barn, I feel like crying. I'll miss the train and ruin everything. I could not spend another year with that horrid man who calls himself my father.
My father didn't know that my mum was a witch when they got married. He only found once I was born. Mum couldn't exactly hide that I was a wizard. They've been fighting ever since. Dad hates all magic and pretty much everything else. He hates me, he hates my mum and he hates that I'm going to "****ing magic school," as he likes to call it. Probably because he won't have anyone to take his anger out on except for my mum. I pick up a bucket and start to clean. I better pray nothing happens to Mum this year.
My stomach grumbles. I've tried to get a drink whenever my father wasn't looking but I wasn't as lucky with food. I haven't had more than one slice of bread in the past two days and when my father caught me eating it he had a row about it with my mother on how I was eating all of the food. We had plenty of food left in our cabinet. I took one piece of stale bread and he starved me for two days.
I've been in the barn for a few minutes already and it looks exactly the same. No dust and no cobwebs. Those were literally the only things that were in the barn. It would take hours to clean. Hours that should have been me sitting with Lily Evans on the train.
I glare at the barn in hatred. I hate my father. I hate that my mother doesn't just leave him. Slowly, the barn magically cleans itself. Shocked, I check everything. No dust. No cobwebs. Nothing. I had moments like these since I was young and I thought that they were over by now. Nevertheless, I was completely grateful. I run back to house and run into the kitchen. My mother's pacing but she stops when she sees me. She nervously bites her lip. I walk passed her and turn to my father who was busy smoking a cigarette. He rolls his eyes and pulls the cigarette away from his mouth breathing the disgusting smoke into my face as he says, "I thought I made myself clear, boy. Don't come back until that place is spotless."
"It is," I explain, trying to gasp in fresh air but failing.
He frowns. "'It is, Sir.' We'll see about that." He marches towards the backdoor then pauses. "If you're lying to me, boy, you better forget about that blasted train. Or another meal."
He swings open the door and marches out. I quickly turn my attention to Mum. "We need to go."
"I wish but you know what'll happen if we don't wait for your father."
"So take me to the train and don't come back. There has to be some wizard family that'll take you in."
She sighs. "Sevvy, I don't think there is. My family and friends disgraced me for marrying a muggle. I don't really know anyone else outside of that group."
"Mum, your a witch. Someone will take you in. Anything's better than this." I roll up one of her sleeves and pull my lips together in a tight line. Bruises, scratches, scars. "He hurts you," I whisper. I roll up my own sleeve. Burns from when he holds his cigarette against my skin, bruises, and even some fresh scratches from this morning, some still bleeding.
She gasps. "And he hurts me," I continue. "Anything, mum. Really."
"Boy, I'm going to kill you!" my father screeches from the barn.
"Mum, now."
She wearily pulls out her last unbroken wand. I run to get my trunk from the bottom of the stairs where Dad caught me trying to leave before he did anything. Mum follows me. We hear the door slam open. As he runs into the next room my mum holds my hand and recites the spell. Dizziness takes over my body as I grab tightly onto my trunk. Apparition.
When the spell is over, I want to fall to the floor in nausea but I can't waste anymore time or I'll miss the train. Speak of the devil, I can't even find it. I stand on my tippy-toes trying to find the Hogwarts Express or at least Platform 9¾. Nothing. I turn to Mum in hope.
She smiles and shakes her head. Then she walks straight to pole in between Platforms nine and ten. She disappears. Gone. Just like that. I stare at the pole for a few seconds. Finally she sticks her head through. "Well, hurry up," she says with a huge grin one her face. "Can't have you missing the train."
I smile and grab my trunk again. I walk through the pole and take everything in. Parents hugging their children lovingly. Owls squawking. Children yelling.
Then there's me. The boy who was barely cared for in a room full of well groomed families. I turn to Mum. "There has to be at least one family in here that could take you in from this room, right?"
"Don't worry about me, Severus. It's your first day." She grins a little. "You better hope they'll put you in Slytherin."
I smile at that. If course my mum would want me in the best house in Hogwarts. She was a Slytherin herself. I wonder how many friends I'll get to make. Then I think, I hope Lily will end up in the same house as me.
Then I see her. Her shoulder-length, silky, red hair. Those huge, deepset, emerald eyes. And that wide, white smile when she noticed me. She will never be a Slytherin, I rethink, smiling sadly. She's too nice. Too intelligent. She'll probably end up being in Ravenclaw.
She runs over. "Severus!" she exclaims. She wraps her arms around me in a tight hug and whispers in my ear, "I was so scared that maybe you wouldn't make it."
I shake my head. I could never miss this. We look into each other's eyes. She smiles really big. "I just can't believe it, Sev!"
"Lily, where have you- oh, there you are." Mr. and Mrs. Evans walk over to us. Mr. Evans gives me a long look. "You'll look after my little girl, yes, Mr. Snape?"
I nod quickly, grinning. "Yes, sir."
He laughs. "Lily, at least you'll be in good dirty- I mean sturdy hands."
I blush and hide my hands behind my back. They definitely were dirty.
Lily notices and grabs my hand. "Let's go! I want to get good seats!"
I smile again and grab my trunk. I start to follow Lily but I stop mid-step and turn around. I give my mum a tight hug. "Good luck," she tells me. I want to tell her the same words.
I close my eyes. "Mum, promise me you'll stay safe while I'm gone."
She rubs my face and I open my eyes. "Safety is a shield only you could create for yourself. You need to make sure to shield yourself from the wrong sort and then you'll be protected. My safety is my concern alone." She reaches for my trunk and gives me the handle. "Don't worry about me." She started to walk away and I blinked. How could I not worry?
Lily turns around. "You coming, Sev?"
I nod. We board the train and find an empty compartment. We sat there for a while and talked. Then the loud whistle blew and we heard shuffling outside of our compartment. A group of tall older kids walk in. They all must be at least fifteen years old. They stare at us and we stared back. We technically got here first...
"Um, this is the Prefect's compartment,"a Gryffindor speaks up. "For prefects only."
My face changes to red, embarrassed. "We're so sorry! We didn't realize!"
"No reason to worry," one of the Hufflepuff prefects say. At the same time, a Slytherin boy with shoulder length platinum-blonde hair muttered, "As if they didn't notice that this compartment is three times the size as the others, " under his breath but I caught it.
Lily blushed. "We'll just get our-"
A Ravenclaw prefect swished and flicked her wand and mumbled a spell. Mine and Lily's trunks flew up and out of the compartment. "No need."
Lily's eyes widen at the sight of the spell. "Uh, thank you," she stammers.
The girl nods back. Lily and I exit the compartment. I pick up my trunk which isn't quite heavy because I don't really have much to bring. Once the door closes, Lily blurts out, "That was so embarrassing!"
"No kidding."
Lily starts dragging her trunk as she walks to follow me. "What's a Prefect anyways?" she asks.
"Well, they're like spies really. They watch their house from a student perspective and they notify the teachers if anything goes wrong. They're also allowed to give detentions or confiscate things."
"Are they like Mr. Filch?"
I laugh. "Most definitely not. Anyways you shouldn't worry about Prefects. They're just prats. Best you keep your distance from them, but they're not too bad."
I peek through a compartment window. Looks empty enough. Only two boys. I open the door and Lily follows me in. They both snicker. The boy with glasses looks at me and bites his lip, as if trying to hold back his laughter from what I was wearing. Yeah, I don't have the best clothes. Deal with it.
Lily glares at them and we move to the other end of the compartment. Something gives me a feeling that this train ride won't end well.
A/n: I'll try to update when I can. Happy Sunday! :)
