I am SO SO sorry for the delay. There were some personal matters I had to attend to. I hope you enjoy the chapter...
"Now, now, well what have we here?"
The light. It was so bright, that she even when she opened her eyes, she turned away again, it burned her pupils.
A hand suddenly reached out and gripped her shoulder, the same one Malfoy had brushed into the day before; it had a rather large gash on it that hadn't healed completely and was one of the worst of her injuries.
The hand shook her, turning her back towards the blinding light, causing red spots to darken the edges of her vision. "Ahh…" she gasped softly, trying hard not to scream. The pain was unbearable.
"Answer me!" The deep voice commanded, angering, shaking her with more force.
"P-please," she said weakly, fighting the pain, trying to stay conscious. "Lower the light."
"Hmph," grunted the voice, but the light was lowered so that it was not so blindingly focused in her eyes, and she was able to see better. When she saw who it was, a jolt of freezing panic ran through her from head to toe. It was Snape, the professor who had stared at her yesterday with such malice, the man who looked like he wanted to kill her. Last night, when she looked at him, he'd caused her scar to burn, and that made her fear him. He could hurt her without even trying. The implications of such an ability caused her heart to beat faster. She felt trapped and her eyes darted from one dark point in the abyss to another wildly, before setting back again into his. "Well," he said gruffly. "Your name."
His black eyes were hardest, cold, but Jasmine detected something else in them as she gazed into the dark orbs fearfully. He knew who she was; it was as if his eyes could penetrate her soul, as if he knew everything about everything. And the glint in his eyes, she shuddered as she recognized it, absolute hatred.
It petrified her with fear.
"Well!" He growled. "Answer me, girl! Tell me your name!"
She averted her eyes from his. "Jasmine, sir, Jasmine Potter."
"Ahh," he breathed softly. "Ms. Potter. Are you not a Gryffinor? What is it you think you are doing wandering the corridors of the dungeons, even though this room is RESTRICTED FOR ALL STUDENTS?" During the last three words, his voice had risen until he was practically shouting at her, startling her. She began to shake with fear.
"I-I'm really sorry, sir. I-didn't know that-"
"You didn't know?" The professor mocked. "Oh how pitiful that you were not paying attention during the headmaster's speech yesterday in the great hall. I can see that you possess two perfectly working ears, Ms. Potter."
"I was about to say, sir, that I got lost, I…you see…I got lost, I wanted to go out for a walk in the courtyard, but I…I ended here, and-" Jasmine stuttered, nervous.
"Stop your incessant babbling. I am in no mood to hear how you have absolutely no regard for rules. Why are you not in the great hall? Breakfast started fifteen minutes ago."
"I said, I got lost, professor. I've been looking for a way out for half an hour already!" Jasmine lost her stutter, indignant.
"Fifteen points from Gryffindor House for not being in your assigned area, and for rudely speaking to a professor!"
Jasmine stared at the ground, still only illuminated by the wand in the professor's hand. She hated herself for what she was about to ask him, hated to have to depend on someone who she would owe later on, even for the smallest of things. This man terrified her. He abhorred her. Her heart thumped so loudly, she was sure he could hear it. She knew that somehow, someway, it would be yet another debt she would have to pay off. She couldn't trust anyone- but here, she had no choice. He might leave her here to rot forever, in the dark, and she knew she wouldn't be able to find her way back before classes. Besides that, he was a professor, wasn't he? He..he couldn't hurt her even if he wanted to. She swallowed thickly. Refusing to look him in the eye, she quietly said, with the most polite voice she could summon in her trembling state. "Professor, I-I got lost. Would you please show me a way out of the dungeons?"
She missed his raised eyebrow and his smirk, but she noticed when he began to walk away from her, releasing the painful grip on her shoulder. She sighed in relief, but then began to follow his brisk footsteps as they winded through doors and hallways that all looked identical to her, finally opening the door that led her to a hallway she recognized.
Snape finally stopped, turning to look her dead in the eye. The edge of his lips curled upwards in a rather lopsided smirk. "I trust," he drawled. "That you will be able to find your way to the Great Hall, assuming that I do not have to lead you there by your hand like a toddler?"
"I-yes sir," Jasmine looked at the floor, gritting her teeth. "Thank you for helping me, sir."
Snape nodded once, glared at her in annoyance, and stalked off. Jasmine turned towards the great hall, hurrying to eat before class.
She found an empty seat beside Ron, and she sat there. He stared at her, bemused. "Why are you so late? Breakfast started half an hour ago!" He took a large bite out of a piece of bread. Hermione, who was sitting across from them, stared in disgust at him, taking in the way he chewed with his mouth open. She turned to Jasmine, "Where did you go this morning? I woke up at six-thirty and you weren't there, but I went back to sleep and woke up at seven thirty. I couldn't stay asleep. Hogwarts is so exciting!" Hermione said animatedly.
Jasmine put some oatmeal in her bowl, just enough to fill a quarter of it. She did not want to throw up again because she ate too much, although the food on the table looked so appetizing. Her stomach rumbled with starvation and anticipation, and she disappointed it with some of the rather dull oatmeal. She eyed the pancakes, bacon, and sandwiches with desire. All the food she had never been offered before her arrival at Hogwarts. "I got lost. It's so easy to get lost here…" Jasmine mumbled.
Hermione looked at her sympathetically. "There's a map in 'Hogwarts, A History'. It shows most of the school, but it doesn't have any of the secret passages, though. I heard that there are so many hidden hallways here! But, anyways, I've memorized the map. I could lend it to you, if you'd like, or duplicate the page when we learn how."
Jasmine looked at the girl gratefully. She seemed so willing to help. "Thanks, Hermione. I really appreciate it."
It felt nice to have something appreciate.
Hermione nodded, then glanced upward, towards the teachers' table as Jasmine spooned a tiny bit of the oatmeal into her mouth, savoring the taste of food, although she longed for something a little more sweet. Ron nudged her. "What do we have after breakfast?"
"Um…I think Charms?" Jasmine replied. "Or Transfiguration".
Jasmine adored magic. It fascinated her beyond anything she'd ever seen or heard of, for many different reasons.
It proved to her that her aunt and uncle lied and kept things from her, that if they could lie to her about this, then they could lie about anything. It gave Jasmine hope that they could have lied about everything, just like they'd lied about her parents and about her world. Maybe it meant that Dudley wasn't better than she was, that she was prettier than he was, that she had some worth, that she was worth something to someone. That people at school actually liked her, that her teachers gave a damn. And, the biggest hope of all, that she didn't deserve anything he did to her.
And maybe, if they lied about her, others did too. Maybe her teachers lied when they said that she was reclusive, that she was a social misfit, that she was not well behaved. Maybe they lied when they said they knew everything about her, about everything she did, past or future. After all, they could not have known what went on behind the closed, perfectly polished doors of Number 4 Privet Drive. It was not possible that they knew and yet not have done anything. It was impossible, improbable…wasn't it.
"Jasmine," Ron's voice, to her, was the most reassuring thing she had, it was an indicator that someone cared. "We have charms. Breakfast is over and," he glanced amusedly at her clothes. "You should go change. If McGonagall sees you, you're dead."
Jasmine, looking down, realized she was still wearing her pajamas under her cloak.
She blushed, ate the fourth, and final spoonful of oatmeal, and jumped up. "Yeah, I-I should just go…" she stammered, backing away and taking off at a run out of the great hall, drawing curious glances from the seated students.
For she had just noticed two things.
One, Professor Quirrel was staring at her, and he wasn't blinking or smiling. He was staring at her as if she was an absolute annoyance that deserved to be killed on the spot.
Two, the way he looked at her scared her to bits.
She raced up the stairs quickly, trying to calm her beating heart and shake the image of Quirrell from her head, the beady brown eyes and the ugly evil flared nose, and the lowest eyebrows and the sneering mouth. And most of all, she tried to erase the way he was moving his wand under the table so intricately.
Like he was trying to hex her.
