Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
"D a n g e r o u s . S e c r e t s"
B y : T s a v o r i t e
– D e t e n t i o n –
I woke up early the next day and I almost jumped out of my bed. I grabbed my clothes and changed into them in the restroom. When I ran back to my hospital bed I noticed that Malfoy had woken up too.
"Good morning Mister Sour Puss!" I said cheery and I stuffed my iPod in one of the large pockets of my green Quidditch robe. Next, I grabbed my Firebolt and I looked at Malfoy again, just in time to catch him eyeing my broom with jealousy.
"Like what you see?" I asked and I waved my broom in front of his face.
Malfoy didn't react and he slowly sat up straight while I skipped across the wing.
"And where do we think we're going?" I heard a women's voice say and I froze on the spot.
"Euh, towards my dorm for a nice warm shower?"
"Not before a final examination," Madam Pomfrey said and I sighed.
"But I'm perfectly healthy!"
Malfoy came back from the restrooms in his Quidditch robe too and he snickered. "More like mentally disturbed..."
I sent him a glare and I allowed the nurse to examine my head.
"And you need to know that the Headmaster wishes to speak with you. He isn't here at the moment but he will contact you as soon as he returns to the school.
I nodded and I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. "May I leave now?"
She nodded and I ran out of the wing, leaving Malfoy alone with the nurse. I skipped down the stairs towards the dungeons. I ran through the deserted corridors and I amazed myself by finding the Common Room without making a wrong turn. I said the password and entered. The room was still quiet: no one was awake yet. I quietly climbed the stairs towards the girls dormitories and I softly opened the door to my dorm.
The four dark figures were still sleeping and the room was huddled in silence, except for the snoring coming from Millicent Bulstrode. I sneaked passed her bed and saw that she was completely wrapped in her covers, it was amazing that she could still breath: she looked more like a cocoon.
Pansy's bed was next to hers and she was sleeping with her mouth open, drooling all over her white pillow.
"Ugh," I whispered when I saw it and I continued walking.
Jolene had tossed her covers away and they were now lying shattered across the floor. Self, she was lying in an awkward position: she was lying on her stomach, one of her legs dangling next to her bed and her right arm was lying in her neck.
Daphne Greengrass turned in her sleep and she mumbled something what sounded like: 'No, not the scissors!' to which she immediately grabbed her hair and held it away from 'the scissors'.
I grinned and almost tripped over an empty booze bottle. Which was lying in the middle of the room. I kicked it under a bed and I threw my broom on my empty bed. Next, I opened my closet and I searched through it to find my uniform. I grabbed it and walked in the bathroom.
When I had finished my shower, I tossed my filthy Quidditch robe in a laundry bin, for the House-elves and I applied some make-up. After half an hour I walked back in the dorm and I saw that the girls were still sleeping. I took a look on my alarm clock and I chuckled when I saw that is was seven AM. I decided I was in a good mood so I woke my roommates up.
"Wake up!" I screamed on top of my lungs and Jolene fell out of her bed and to the ground.
Millicent continued snoring, seriously the girl doesn't even wake up when you would hit her with a Beaters club, and Daphne and Pansy looked at me annoyed.
"What are you doing, Tate? Why aren't you -" Pansy yelled at me but in the middle of her sentence she became quiet and she sprinted to the bathroom.
"What's her problem?" Daphne asked yawning and Jolene started laughing while she collected her blankets.
"I got out off the Hospital wing, which means Malfoy is too," I explained and Jo looked up.
"Jenna!" she screamed and she crashed me to the floor in a huge bear hug.
"Easy, easy, I would like to finish this year alive..." I mumbled and I gasped for my breath; she had knocked all the air out of my lungs.
Jo pulled me up again, when Pansy stormed out of the bathroom and left our dorm in a hurry. When she passed me, she pushed me to the ground and I fell backwards again.
"Malfoy needs to keep his dog on a leash..." Jo mumbled angrily and I got up, again. Next, she walked to her closet and took out her robes.
We walked into the Great Hall with our arms linked and I took a deep breath. The warm smell of delicious food filled my nostrils and I plopped down on a free seat. Jolene took a seat across from me and she immediately piled the food on her plate.
"Jenna!" I heard a familiar voice yell and I looked around.
Blaise was standing at the entrance of the Hall, together with Bletchley and Urquhart. He waved and the boys made their way over to us.
"You're back!" Blaise hugged me and I gave Jolene a confused look. She giggled and I felt like I had missed a lot while I was gone.
"Yeah, Blaise, I already told you that I would be back today, huh?"
"I knew that," he mumbled and if it wasn't for his dark skin I'm sure his face would've changed into ten different shades of pink.
Jolene shook her head when she looked at us and Blaise and Bletchley took a seat on each side of me.
"You missed the first Quidditch Practice of the season," Bletchley told me and he stuffed his cereal in his mouth. "We practice every Tuesday from six thirty 'till eight thirty," he said again.
"OK," I answered and I stole a piece of bread from Blaise his plate. "Did I miss a lot of homework?" I asked Blaise and he nodded his head.
"Slughorn let us practice some potions and – hey!" He looked at his empty plate and I pointed towards Nott, who was sitting on the other side next to him.
Blaise didn't continue his story but instead, he started a discussion with Nott about his food. Jolene buried her head in her pumpkin juice snorting, which almost made her choke, when she saw the boys arguing.
"Blaise, there's enough on the table! You don't have to fight over it!" I yelled above their loud voices but I was being ignored. Seriously, guys could argue about the simplest of things, like a disappeared sandwich, which I ate.
Bletchley shook his head grinning when suddenly, the whole Great Hall became quiet: Malfoy walked in.
"Oh, puh-lease!" I muttered while he walked to our table slowly. He took a seat at the head of the table and immediately, Pansy clung to his left arm. I saw he still had the bandages around his head and I sighed loudly. The guy was doing absolutely everything to receive attention, pathetic...
The rumour in the Hall started again when the bell rang, signalling for the first period to start. Jolene and I made our way out of the Hall and towards the third floor for our double Defence Against the Dark Arts.
What a lovely start of the day. Snape in first period meant that I was sleepy the rest of the day. Normally, I used the first and sometimes the second period to finish my sleep, but that was impossible if Snape was standing in front of the class. In spite of the fact that I was in Slytherin he still hated me and he treated me like he treated the Gryffindors, unfair, and I was putting that mildly.
I absolutely didn't look forward to my detention on Thursday evening because of that. Snape was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but his office was still in the dungeons, next to the Potions classroom.
I sighed when I walked through the corridors and I knocked on the door carefully when I had found it. I heard a muffled "Come in" and I opened the door.
His office was small and dark, I didn't expect anything else with Snape. There were no windows and the only light came from a couple of large candles standing on his desk.
"Ah, Miss Tate, right on time," he didn't look up from his work and I sat myself down in a chair, next to Ron, who was already there.
He was fiddling with his hands and it looked like he was hating this as much as me. On top of that came the fact that Malfoy hadn't arrived yet, which probably meant that Ron and I had to do whatever it was we had to do, on our own.
Somewhere in a corner a clock let us know is was seven thirty with a soft buzzing sound and Snape got up. "Follow me," was everything he said and he opened a door to the adjacent classroom. There were three buckets filled with water and three cleaning brooms and I groaned.
"You will be cleaning this room, the Muggle way."
"But -"
"Don't but me, Miss Tate. I'll be back in two hours to see if you're done by then. That should give you enough time to reach your Common Rooms after that before curfew." He left the classroom and he walked back to his desk.
"Great, and if Malfoy doesn't show up we need to do everything ourselves..." Ron muttered and he grabbed a bucket and a broom. "I'll start in that corner," he pointed and he pulled the bucket to the distant corner.
I looked at the stone floor and I sighed. This was going to take a while. There was a layer of dust lying on the ground and there were a few spots on the floor that existed of sticky goo from overflowed potions. Against my free will I grabbed a broom and dipped it in the water. Next, I started to rub the floor with it.
After about half an hour I still hadn't cleaned the spot I had started. I whipped my forehead clean from the sweat that had formed there when Snape angrily pushed Malfoy in the room.
"I swear, I forgot!" he protested, but Snape ignored him.
He stormed out of the classroom again and the door closed and locked.
"How nice of you to show up!" I snarled at him and all he did was stare back.
"What are you doing?"
I sniffed loudly. "The same you're about to do." I pointed at the last bucket and broom and Ron looked up too.
"You're not seriously thinking that I would clean the floor?" He pulled out his wand and he mumbled a Spell. Nothing happened.
"Don't you think that we haven't already tried that? Grab a broom and start cleaning. The sooner we're out of here, the better..."
Malfoy folded his arms in front of his chest stubbornly and he leaned against the wall.
Ron shook his head and he silently continued his work.
"Right Weasel, do what you're good at," Malfoy sneered at him and I saw that Ron held his broom convulsively after that remark. His knuckles turned white from his firm grip.
I grinned when an idea popped into my head. I shoved the bucket across the floor, closer towards Malfoy and I dipped my broom in it again. "Do you think you can move just a little?" I asked him with my sweetest voice, the hatred pushed a side for a second.
He smirked and ignored me. Exactly what I expected.
I pushed the bucket further around on the unequal floor with my broom, until the bucket hit an big stone and rolled over. The water spilled across the floor and over Malfoy's shoes. I chuckled and he gave me a glare.
"I asked if you wanted to move." I heard Ron laugh, but when Malfoy looked at him he quickly turned back to his cleaning.
"You're going to pay for this, Tate," he growled while he took a few steps back, across the wet floor.
I grinned when I saw it happen and Malfoy screamed loudly when his foot slipped and he fell on his back to the floor. Cursing, he stood up again and Snape burst into the classroom again.
"What are you doing in here?"
I grabbed my sides, which were hurting from laughing and I bent double, unable to answer Snape.
Snape gave Malfoy a savagely glare before he left.
"I thought you didn't want to clean? But I have to admit, using yourself as a floor cloth is going to work a lot faster!" I snorted with laughter and I slid down the wall to the ground.
Malfoy used a simple Spell to dry his clothes and then he pointed his wand at me.
"What did you want to do, Malfoy? Curse her next to an office with a teacher in it?" Ron remarked and he walked closer to Malfoy.
"Stay out of this, Weasel-bee!"
Ron growled something and he threw his broom to the floor.
"Oh, grab your broom and continue! This way we will never finish! I don't feel like coming back tomorrow, I've got more things to do!" I yelled and I shook my head. Boys...
Ron gave me a strange look before mumbling a soft "sorry" to me. He picked up his broom and he pulled back into his corner.
"You're not the one that need to apologize, Ron," I said and I glared at Malfoy.
He grabbed the last broom, sighing, his face expressing total disgust, when he finally started cleaning. In the meantime an hour had passed already and we hadn't even cleaned half of the room yet.
The rest of our detention we didn't speak to each other, Malfoy and I only exchanged glares when we passed each other and after another hour filled with tension we finally finished.
I looked through the room satisfied. The floor wasn't shiny, but it was cleaner than when we started. There was still some of the sticky stuff on the floor that just wouldn't come off, but it was cleaner nevertheless.
"Finally," I mumbled and I threw my broom and the empty bucket to the ground in frustration. Ron followed my example.
Malfoy was sitting on the desk with his back turned towards us, he had stopped at least fifteen minute before Ron and me. He thought of himself so highly that he thought he didn't need to clean.
Snape entered the classroom again at exactly nine thirty and he let us go. Malfoy stormed out of the room and walked in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room and Ron also quickly walked out of the dungeons.
I wanted to leave too when Snape called me back.
"Yes?" I asked and he motioned for me to sit in a chair in front of his desk. I took a seat and I looked at him in expectation.
"Such as you may have noticed, a meeting was taking place Tuesday night," he started and I nodded.
"Yes, and Malfoy almost discovered I have that stupid Mark!"
Snape didn't react but it looked like he was smiling at me. "I left for the meeting as fast as I could, of course, and what I heard was very disturbing."
I nodded again, more slowly, and my fingers started to fiddle with the ends of my long sleeves. I always did that when I was being nervous.
"He is beginning to get frustrated, if he isn't already and he gave more of His Death Eaters the task to hunt you down. He is beginning to get desperate and that means He is becoming more dangerous. He doesn't know you're here yet, but I fear that we aren't able to hide you from Him for any longer. The Dark Lord knows many ways to get important information. Your old dance studio for example, was set on fire last weekend."
I gasped for breath and I placed my hands in front of my mouth. This was all my fault. I should have never left him in the first place, then none of this would've happened.
"That's not true," Snape said, like he had read my thoughts. His dark eyes pierced through mine. "If you hadn't been here, he could have made even more victims."
I shook my head fiercely. "All I am here is a danger to the other students, what if he comes barging in here like that?" I smacked my hands together to accentuate my words.
"If He could do that He would've entered this castle a long time ago, believe me," Snape said coldly and I sighed. "Professor Dumbledore wants to speak to you as soon as he arrives back at Hogwarts."
I sniffed. I already knew that and I also already knew what he wanted to talk about.
"The Headmaster also wants you to start practicing your – talents."
Talents, that's what he called them. I called them trouble. I would've never caused so much trouble if I had just been a normal girl. That was what I wanted, to be normal.
"And remember to shield your thoughts and don't let them wander too much." He looked at me with those emotionless eyes. "We can't help you when your thoughts and memories end up in the wrong hands."
"How will I have to practice them?" I said, referring to my 'talents'. "I can't just start in my dorm, Pansy will immediately tell everyone who wants to hear it."
The corners of Snape's lips started to curl up into a smile. "You didn't mind practicing them on young Mister Malfoy when you almost burned him alive."
I couldn't do anything else but return his smile. "Malfoy had it coming for him," I said coolly and Snape just stared at me.
"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore can get you your own classroom to practice. Until then, I want you to stay calm and stay out of trouble. That means that you will have to stay calm, whatever Malfoy will say or do to you."
"Yes sir," I mumbled and I stared at my hands, which were very interesting all of the sudden. I knew all to well I had almost blown my cover for good.
"You have to be careful though, Miss Tate. Mister Malfoy is very clever and if you don't watch yourself he will find out soon enough what you are hiding."
I was still looking at my hands, my fingers were playing with my sleeves again. I knew that he was right and for once, I liked his idea. Stay away from Malfoy, but staying away from Malfoy meant staying away from Blaise and the Slytherin Quidditch Team.
"OK, you may leave now," Snape stood up and he pointed towards the door of his office with a long, bony finger. It was then that I noticed this was the first civil conversation we had had in months.
I stood up, turned around on my heels and walked out without saying a word. When I was out in the chilly corridor I stopped to take in what Snape had said exactly. It all came down to this: I was the number one on Voldemorts to do list, Harry following me on a worthy second place. I sighed loudly again and I fought to keep the tears, that had welled up in my eyes, in. All I ever wanted was to be normal. A normal life with a normal, happy family. A family with a normal father...