I didn't know where to go, the only thing in my mind was to get as far away from the yard as possible. I took random stairwells, ignored portraits who either looked at me curiously or whispered behind my back. While walking, I didn't care where I went nor did I see it clearly because my sight was blurred from tears that threatened to fall, but they didn't. Not unless I was somewhere nobody would see me, a place just for me and me alone, far from everyone's eyes.
It wasn't supposed to be this way, what cruel fate had condemned me to live through this awful nightmare. From the beginning it was obvious that it wouldn't be easy, but it never occurred to me that Moody would harm Draco, my brother; the parallels between now and back then far too similar.
I just wanted to be alone, undisturbed. After a while of blindly walking around, there finally was a corridor that seemed fairly remote and was vacant of students. That's where I leaned against the wall and slit down, tears now falling uncontrolled while I hiccupped between sobs that resounded with the blank walls.
Between them, something moved at my back and startled, I stood up, the momentary surprise stopping the salty water falling from my swollen red eyes. Where I had been crouching just seconds ago, a big wooden door now replaced the cold stone of the wall, complicated iron trimmings curling on its surface.
The door didn't look like any other at Hogwarts I'd seen so far, so at this moment, my curiosity won over my sadness; I grabbed the protruding silver door handle and opened it.
My curiosity having been piqued, my feet carried me into the room like in a dream that I was abruptly ripped from when the door fell shut with a soft click; upon having recovered from the shock, my attention turned back to what lay in front of me.
The room was sparely decorated in the Slytherin colors with a green armchair in front of a fire crackling in the fireplace right next to it and keeping the room delightfully warm. The light in the room was pleasantly dimmed and was only slightly illuminating the place, except for a few shelves filled with books, both ancient and new by the looks of them. It was comfortable and I immediately liked this place. Which posed the question, what 'place' was this? An unused old common room? No, too less furniture and there have never been five houses...
Slowly walking over to the shelf, I took in the atmosphere that calmed me down. Letting my gaze sweeping over the book's volumes, I randomly picked one and read it's cover. It was a drama about a young wizard boy who was recruited by the ministry against his will to spy on other countries. It sounded interesting, so I took it and sat down on the armchair in front of the fire and started reading.
While doing so, what had happened with Moody moved further and further into the background of my mind, me being completely captivated by the plot and engulfing chapter after chapter. It was so addicting that after a while, my eyelids became heavier and heavier. Before falling asleep my last conscious thought was that someone I would find the one who had murdered my brother so I could finally find peace in these walls.
Birds were chirping and I felt the warmth of the sun shining on my skin as I slowly woke up and expected Greengrass at any moment to screech her "Good morning" and Parkinson to tell her to shut up. But it didn't happen and... I wasn't lying in a bed at all. Slowly, I opened my eyes. This wasn't the dorm, so where was I?
Steadily, yesterday's events came back to me: Moody transfiguring Draco but right now more importantly, the room I was in. There hasn't been a window in here yesterday, has there? The book was still lying on my lap and I put it aside. I walked over to the window to look outside: there was the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut and partly, the lake and part of the squid that currently seemed to enjoy itself was visible from up here.
Damn! Suddenly it occurred to me that if the sun had already risen, it was time for class! Had I really slept that long?! Hastily, I grabbed my bag that lay next to the fireplace and left the room. After stepping out, surprisingly, the door vanished again leaving no trace of it having been there at all. What was going on?! A secret room to read? Well, that thought had to wait for later...
I didn't recognize the corridor or my surrounding in general, so I just walked on at a venture while carefully memorizing the way back to the room. I was fairly sure Hogwarts had just disclosed on of its secrets to me and loosing it was no option!
"Hey, excuse me" a ghost floating at the end of the hallway, maybe he could help. It stopped in midair and looked at me with a trace of curiosity, if I wasn't mistaken, waiting for me to come closer which I did.
"And who might you be?" he warily eyed the house crest on my chest and crossed his arms.
"I am sorry to disturb you, Mr. Ghost." this seemed to be a polite enough introduction. "I am Kiera and it seems that I don't know where I am. Could you maybe show me the way to the great hall?"
The ghost studied me for a moment and then seemed to come to a conclusion.
"Oddly friendly for her house..." he mumbled under his breath. "You are in the seventh corridor and if you continue just downwards, you should arrive near the hall. "Thank you". I had covered about half of the way to the closest stairwell when the ghost called "I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington" before vanishing through the wall, giving no time for an answer.
And, of course, just upon arriving at the Great Hall, the gong signaling the beginning of a new lesson sounded, indicating that I would be late to... to what? I searched through my schoolbag and took out the timetable... Defense against the Dark Arts with...Moody! I swore, in both meanings, that Hogwarts had something against me! But I meant what I'd thought yesterday... the Order was going to pay for my brother's death, determination flowing through my veins like blood while walking towards the classroom.
"...the sooner you know what you are up against, the better" Moody was saying right as I entered the room after knocking briefly causing everyone to look at me; I really didn't like being at the center of attention, it made me feel... unwelcome.
"Miss Hale, how nice of you to join us" That earned him a glare which unfortunately didn't seem to bother him; if anything he seemed amused, though it didn't affect his stern voice. "Sit down and pay attention. We are discussing the Unforgivable curses today. Can you tell us one of them?"
Of course I could, Lucius had told me about them though without a demonstration. He'd explained that it would be too risky for him to perform such a spell because the ministry could partly track the usage of it and former death eaters were monitored more closely than others.
At that moment, the first curse that came to my mind was the one that I wanted one of the Order to suffer.
"The Cruciatus curse" Moody nodded approvingly and took out a spider. "Yes, used by both sides of the war to gather information." He pointed his wand at the animal "Crucio" The spider wringed silently, obviously in such pain that her screams would have filled the room if possible. Something welled up inside my chest at the view while imagining members of the Order undergoing that spell. Moody, McGonagall,.. it was like something I hadn't known existed woke up inside me and I found the emotion that I felt to be... content and longing. Longing for justice to happen to those who had raided the house that day. How many children did they kill while going after my father's followers, how many innocents have suffered?
"Stop it!" a girl shouted, it turned out to be Granger. "Can't you see it's bothering him?" She was looking at Neville whose face was white while his eyes were fixed on the suffering animal; Moody lifted the spell. Everyone was looking at Neville but nobody knew the cause of his reaction. Well, nobody except me, our teacher and perhaps his friends although I don't know whether I would have disclosed it to them if our roles had been reversed.
"The next curse, anybody?" He looked into the round until his eyes came to rest on Weasley's tentatively raised hand. "Yes"
"The.. Imperius curse" he stuttered as if half fearing that even uttering its name would cause the spell to take effect.
"Ahh.. I imaging you father had told you about that one... gave him a hard time a while back." He cursed the spider and let her dance and float around in the air, scaring students in the process. Not even Draco wasn't left alone after yesterday! While doing so, his eyes found mine and I returned the stare, daring him to try anything with me; he seemed to get the message as he terminated the spell.
"That spell was a thorn in the eye of the ministry because a lot of death eaters claimed they only followed... You-know-who because they were under the Imperius spell. Ok... next one!...Miss Granger" The Gryffindor had raised her hand, albeit with hesitation which according to her reputation didn't happen often. Hesitating, I mean.
Her voice was weak but steady when she spoke "Avada Kedavra" and Moody grinned at that one, pointed his wand at the weak animal and with a green flash all life was gone from it. This time, I felt numb as I stared at the happening in front of me, the color draining from my face nonetheless.
"The most famous curse of all... it provides a brief, painless death to its victims while being unblockable. And there has only been one person to survive it and he is sitting amongst us in this very moment..." Now all eyes were resting on Harry as were Moody's. For once the magical blue one didn't move as well.
Somehow, it was quite unjust. Why was he allowed to live while others weren't? What had they done wrong and Potter right?!
"You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it" were the teacher's last words before dismissing the class.
As fast as possible without actually seeming in a hurry I grabbed my bag and walked out of the classroom, vaguely aware that Moody was trying to catch my attention. "Miss Hale, a word"
No, definitely not! The thought that it had become kind of a habit ignoring teachers that passed through my head caused me to smile inwardly.
"What's the deal with her?" A Gryffindor whispered to his friends, it was the Weasley boy talking to Potter. "Don't know, maybe.." The rest of the sentence was drowned by Malfoy placing a hand on my shoulder and walking next to me.
"Hey, I was worried about you! Where've you been?" I quickly thought about telling him but dismissed the idea almost instantly. This was something private, something he needn't know; as I knew him the risk that he'd tell his friends or accidentally slip while boasting too big for my liking.
"I just needed time" That was as close to the truth as he'd get.
"Are you ok?" It hadn't crossed my mind until know that he as well was harmed yesterday. Plus, the question changed the topic. Draco shrugged as if lightly dismissing it but the tenseness in his shoulders gave it away that he was still pissed.
"I can handle it, but my father will definitely hear about this!" That was the Draco I knew!
"Yeah sure" even I knew by now that he mostly said this as a thread and didn't really do it. Dogs that bark don't bite!
"Hey, come on, we're supposed to meet up in our common room" Draco put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from going in the wrong direction.
"Why, I thought we have care of magical creatures today?" he shook his head.
"Snape announced yesterday at dinner that he would have to talk to us all." We made our way towards our dorms.
"You know why?" I asked.
"No, but I bet it has something to do with the tournament!" he sighted. "Wish I could participate though, but Dumbledore had to made the age restriction! It isn't even in the official rules, I checked! Father told me that it was the old fool's condition that it could even take place!" he seemed genuinely upset but I shrugged it off. He had his occasional ten minutes where he would whine about everything.
"Well, you really need the money, don't you" I jokingly bopped him in the shoulder which seemed to help.
"It's not really about the money... it's...I don't know!" He paused. "At least Potter can't participate either!" Ah, that was the reason for it, he wanted to be better than that bloody Potter, as always! We almost crushed into Snape when rounding a corner.
"Apologies, sir" Draco said which was quite unusual for him. He only used it when he respected the people he was talking to. Snape however didn't answer and continued walking in front of us. The result was that the rest of the short walk was spent in silence as Snape apparently wasn't the talkative person either and neither Draco nor I wanted to talk about private matters in front of a teacher, distant family member of not! Well, Draco's family member. Snape had never known about me and Lucius had advised us to distance ourselves from him because he was too close to our headmaster.
"Salazar" the hidden door opened and we crawled in . The common room was already filled with some people, even thought after a quick headcount revealed it wasn't everyone there yet. Snape didn't seem to care however as he immediately silenced the crowd with his sharp announcement.
"Tomorrow at 17 o'clock sharp the champions from the two other participating schools are scheduled to arrive" he seemed to eye us each "I expect everyone of you to be there, dressed in your best school uniforms to represent Slytherin. Detention for a month for everyone who doesn't measure up to my expectations.!" he pronounced every word in the last sentence and paused in between them which had the desired effect before swiftly turning around and leaving.
"Ooh, maybe there'll be some hot guys! Well, at least for some of us" Parkinson screeched, glancing sideways at me. "Shut it, Parkinson!" I said, phrasing the thought that passed in about half of the student's heads. Particularly the male one's.
"Don't think anyone will be interested in you, blood traitor!" she retorted and silence filled the room. Blood traitor was one of the sharpest insults to call a Slytherin, maybe even the worst... and I wouldn't just let this pathetic witch insult me like that!
"Care to repeat that?" my voice was now dangerously low and the girl's face paled. With some satisfaction I noticed that she was intimidated by me, but didn't want to show it.
"Blood traitor! I saw you talking to Longbottom the other day!" she threw at me. I smiled.
"So, talking to another blood traitor or mudblood automatically makes you a blood traitor, does it, Parkinson?" The key word here being civically. While my housemates only insulted them, I had talked to Neville in a civil manner. And it was true, if one was to talk to them civically, he would actually be considered a blood-traitor, but I conveniently left that part out. I didn't have to give her arguments.
"Yes!" she didn't get it. The others were watching us with interest but they wouldn't intervene. It was Pureblood honor code to defend oneself or attack another when insulted; for them, it was tradition.
"Well, congratulations, we're all blood traitors! We all regularly insult, therefore talk to, Gryffindors! Great logic, Pansy!" I said casually while eyeing her left hand suspiciously. It was moving towards her pocket and I mirrored the movement.
"Did you just call me a blood traitor?!" the pug-faced witch sneered, her face contorted with anger. I felt it, it was just moments away...
"Technically, you did!" That did it. She pulled out her wand while I simultaneously took out mine.
"Stupefy!" I blocked, but didn't retort. It would be easy to defeat her, but a simple, ease and clean defeat wouldn't have a lasting impression as a slow, humiliating one.
"Tarantellegra!" Another block. "That's all you got?" I taunted. "Expelliarmus" it was absorbed by my shield.
"Conjunctivus!" again, no effect. Parkinson seemed to get frustrated at the ease I avoided being cursed.
"Calvario!" she shouted out the incantation of the spell that would cause me to lose my hair. Well, if she succeeded, which unsurprisingly, she didn't. She grimaced, her expression close to utter hate. It was far too easy to rile her up and inside of me, it was fun. I knew I was more powerful than Parkinson and it felt good, "Oh, beauty spells! Didn't know you were familiar with them, blood traitor!" I mocked which gave her the rest.
"Crucio!" Of all the things, admittedly, that was quite unexpected but luckily my reflexes were fast enough to block it in time. The smile on my face grew larger while Parkinson was already on the verge of attempting another spell; I interrupted her.
"Hey, Parkinson, one-way ticket to Azkaban, remember?" I said and Pansy froze. The room went dead quiet. No more murmurs from people betting on the outcome, nothing. I had won and we both knew it. If not the duel per se, it would be easy enough to tell a teacher, preferably Dumbledore who would definitely take action. And there wasn't a mean of removing the magical imprint of the spell in the wand; well, there was but it was very ancient magic. Opportunity, motive and prove: In other words: she was now at my mercy.
"Let's see how a professor reacts to it; surely Dumbledore or Moody would be delighted to have a... little chat with you! See you , Parkinson. Or rather... not" I moved to the exit of the room, wand lowered but still in my hand to prevent further attacks, but they didn't come; Pansy was still standing frozen at her spot, wand loosely in her hand, realization slowly showing on her face when I exited.
Nobody followed me. Still on adrenaline from the fight, I decided to enjoy the fresh air. Why not, it was a wonderful day! All previous events were forgotten and I cherished the fact that I had something to blackmail Parkinson and possibly her friends with as well.
Of course it was tempting to just tell a Professor, it wouldn't bother me to be a sneak to get her expelled or moved to Azkaban, she did use an Unforgivable. I didn't really hate her, she was just annoying but it would be a tempting display of power. And even if she didn't go to Azkaban, being expelled was a disgrace to the family name. You see, I had total control over her.
The problem however was that usually, there was a trial involved, especially in a case where Unforgivables were involved. And a trial meant lots of background checks and investigation, something I couldn't afford being involved in at all. While my back-story was as solid one, it had just been tested lightly: One time at my faked adoption which involved only a slight amount of persuasion and influence; everyone knew how big the Malfoy family tree was and a simple memory charm on one old pureblood family whose actual name was Hale was all it took. The second time was when I played Quidditch, but it didn't involve more than a simple passport control. And the third and last time happened at my school enrollment which honestly was really lousy because Muggle-borns had to undergo it as well with no previous knowledge of the procedures.
You see, there always was the chance that a bored ministry worker decided to dig a little deeper and discovered something unwanted or minor inconsistencies, however inconsequential they might be causing my cover to blow. And then the consequences would be just as dire, if not more than Parkinson's. No, going to a professor wasn't an option because of the marking on my arm, but she didn't know that.
So I stood there at one of Hogwarts' entrances enjoying the warm sun shining on my skin and the fresh air for a while just enjoying the moment before going back in.