i did something bad — taylor swift

"if a man talks shit, then i owe him nothing."

It wasn't long after Sofia's conversation with her father that she and Regulus had to leave. If they were gone much longer, they'd surely get caught.

They took the Floo back to the apothecary and went out the back door.

Sofia knew that Regulus had noticed her swollen eyes after she'd gotten back to the table but he hadn't said anything about it. It stressed her out, the charged silence that might have been broken any second if he thought to ask why she had been crying.

So, Sofia broke the silence unprompted. She wasn't usually one to ramble but right now she felt like she was starting to as they walked towards the town centre.

"You know, after I got my Hogwarts letter, the only reason they let me defer was my uncle. I told McGonagall that he could teach me via correspondence, which he kind of did, but definitely not enough to be equivalent to First Year, which McGonagall realised when she checked on me at the end of the year. And that's how she forced me to start Hogwarts. The summer before I did though, I came over and stayed with my aunt and uncle so that they could teach me as much as possible before Hogwarts."

"Is that why when you started you were shit at every subject except for potions?" Regulus asked.

Sofia was slightly surprised he remembered that. "Yeah... it was kind of my fault, really. I only wanted to learn potions and my uncle was happy to oblige."

They settled into silence again. They were almost at the town centre.

"Why'd you tell your family I have a girlfriend?" Regulus asked in one breath.

Sofia definitely wasn't expecting him to ask her that. But she'd rather he ask this than about her bloodshot eyes. "Well, don't you?"

"No."

Sofia nodded. "Maybe you should let Travers know."

Regulus frowned. "Travers?"

"I mean girl Travers. Although, if you have a thing with male Travers, I'm the last person to judge."

Regulus scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Why would you think I'm going out with Eliana Travers?"

Oh boy, Sofia could tell this was going to be a fun conversation. "Remember that day we were arguing outside the apothecary in Hogsmeade?"

"That has happened more than once, Bessonova."

Sofia supposed he was right. "The last time, a couple of weeks ago. She dragged you away from our argument."

"Oh, right... we weren't on a date though, she just attached herself to me at the village."

"Well, either way... after that, Travers came to find me and, let's just say she made it pretty clear that you were her man and I should stay away from you," Sofia could barely keep a straight face as she said this. It had been more funny than anything when that girl had attempted to threaten Sofia.

Regulus seemed to choke on air. "Oh."

"Don't worry though, I told her I'd rather date an actual troll," Sofia said teasingly.

Regulus looked at her, annoyed. He seemed to relax. He rolled his eyes. "Of course."

Sofia took a second to look at Regulus's profile. She would rather die than ever admit this out loud to anyone but she did think he was good looking. There was something about those stormy grey eyes and the perpetually gloomy look in them that weirdly made her... heart skip a beat when he put his eyes on her. Which he decided to do right at this moment and her stomach dropped. He had caught her staring, but he didn't comment on it.

"Are you okay?"

Sofia tensed. She resisted the urge to rub her eyes. "Oh. Yeah, of course I'm okay."

He didn't take his eyes off her. Sofia almost squirmed. Regulus stopped walking and turned to face her. His eyes searched her face. He looked almost... concerned. Sofia could feel her cheeks start to heat up. He seriously needed to stop looking at her like that. "You know... you can talk to me if you need to."

He looked painfully awkward getting that statement out, Sofia almost laughed. It was cute. Never in a million years did she think she would be in this position. She wasn't sure what to do. "I... I'm fine. Really." She paused as he nodded in understanding. "But... thank you."

Then she hurried off towards the town centre. She felt like she had just hallucinated the entire day. First, Regulus had come with her to see her family and now he was showing concern over her well-being. Her brain didn't know what to make of this, but it couldn't control the small grin taking over her face. Ugh, what was wrong with her?

The Durmstrang team was a lot better than they had expected. They got caught off guard by it. The Hogwarts team didn't seem to wake up until the second half of the game and by then, it was a little too late.

It could've been a way more embarrassing loss, in Sofia's opinion. She was just glad when the Snitch was finally caught before Durmstrang could rack up even more points.

Travers didn't seem too glad though. The second the match ended, he came up to Sofia in a rage. "What the fuck was that, Bessonova? Do you even know how to bat a Bludger?"

Sofia clenched her jaw. "I should be asking you that, Travers."

She was proud of herself for the mildness in her answer. She wasn't going to be the one to escalate things this time. S

"You little fucking Mudblood..." Travers didn't seem to be able to come up with anything else.

Sofia rolled her eyes. "You can fucking choke, dickwad."

She turned away, unwilling to humour Travers any longer but as she flew away, a searing pain ripped through her.

It took her a second to realise that Travers had hexed her while her back was turned. What a fucking coward.

She didn't know what he had done to her but she felt like she was being stabbed repeatedly in the torso. For a moment she thought it might have been the Cruciatus Curse but then she saw the blood seeping through her robes.

No, this was something else. But maybe just as dark.

She felt faint and before she could reach the ground, she lost her grip on her broom and fell the last few feet towards the earth.

Soon enough, there were hands on her and she felt herself being lifted off the ground but her vision got too blurry to realise what exactly was happening. She didn't know if it was from the pain or from the blood loss.

She let out a strangled sob before losing consciousness.

It was dark when she woke. It took her a second but she realised she must have been in the Durmstrang infirmary. She felt around her middle and found bandages. It didn't hurt anymore. She wanted to peek at her injuries to see how bad it was but it was probably better to leave it alone for the time being.

"You're awake."

Sofia craned her neck and she finally saw someone sitting on the chair beside her bed. Regulus. The moonlight seeped in through the window and lit his face just enough, his eyes seemed to almost glow in the dark. Sofia took an almost shuddering breath. He looked painfully beautiful. It wasn't fair.

Sofia frowned, trying to bury her thoughts deep down. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? Checking you're not dead."

That was a bit deja-vu-ish.

"What time is it?" Sofia asked.

"Just past midnight."

"Are you supposed to be here?"

Regulus sighed. "Coach wanted someone to keep watch over you during the night. He's sleeping now and it's Chloe's turn after me."

Sofia's frown deepened. That seemed odd. "Why?"

Regulus scratched the back of his head. "The matron here... is kind of anti-Muggle. It's not like she refused to heal you or anything but... she was clearly not happy to have you here. Coach just wanted to be safe."

Sofia raised a brow. "So, he sent you to watch over me?"

Sofia thought he'd roll his eyes at her or scowl but he didn't. He just stared at her, an undecipherable look on his face. "Do you really think I'd let that woman do something to you?"

Sofia tensed, uncomfortable. "Well... I don't— I don't know. Maybe not deliberately, but you seem pretty good at turning blind eyes."

He stared at her still. "I wouldn't let her hurt you, Sofia. And if I'd realised what was happening with Travers sooner, I wouldn't have let him hurt you either."

One simple statement and Sofia went into full freakout mode. Her brain didn't know what to deal with first. The fact that he'd called her by her first name for literally the first time ever, or that he apparently would've taken on his friend to defend her. She felt mushy inside, like her organs had started melting. She was taking too long to answer. She hoped he wouldn't notice her shortness of breath. "You would have defended me against Travers?"

It was a genuine question.

He looked away from her and took a second to answer. "Yes. What he did was wrong."

Sofia nodded. She wished she could just leave it at that. Take this crumb of decency he'd offered her, but her brain would never let her do that. "Where was that attitude the hundred other times Travers has attempted to hex me or any of our fellow schoolmates?"

"That's different."

"How?"

He shook his head and leaned back on his seat. "I know you now."

"Sorry to be the one to break this to you but we have known each other since we were twelve."

Regulus scoffed. "I mean that we're... semi... acquaintances now."

Sofia snorted. "Semi-acquaintances... okay. So what you're saying is that if Travers had done this to someone else, another Muggleborn he hates, say... Chloe, you would've done nothing in that case?"

He exhaled sharply. "It's not like I wouldn't try to get him to leave Chloe alone, but... there's just certain things I couldn't... risk for Chloe."

But he could for her? Sofia's heart picked up speed but she banished any mushy thoughts from her head. "You can't just pick and choose which Muggleborns are worth defending. I'm not more worthy of respect because I'm good at potions or because I'm willing to help you sometimes. If you're only defending me because you think I'm 'one of the good ones' or some bullshit, then I don't want your help at all."

Regulus sighed in frustration. He rubbed his temples. "It's not that easy."

"I think it kind of is. You said it yourself, you don't want Muggles to die, you don't hate Muggles, so... don't contribute to a culture that enables just that. I'm not saying you have to interfere every single time a Muggleborn gets bullied, but you know... if you ever see any Muggleborn get actually hate-crimed by a peer... fucking do something."

Regulus took a second, seemingly deep in thought. He took a deep breath. "It's just not that simple for me. I don't expect you to understand, you're a—" He stopped midsentence.

Anger built up in Sofia's chest. "What? A Mudblood?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wasn't going to say that."

"It's okay, it's not as if you've never said that word before. Just say it, you're probably dying to. Call me a Mudblood, Regulus."

He looked at her, a flash of shock passed through his eyes. "I am not going to call you that, Bessonova."

So, they were back on a last name basis. He was getting mad at her.

"Call me a fucking Mudblood, Black."

"You're not thinking straight."

Sofia laughed. "I'm thinking just fine, and I want you to call me a Mudblood, right now. Just say it!"

He stood up abruptly. "You're not being fair right now, Sofia."

She scoffed. "You're a fucking hypocrite."

Regulus didn't say another word. He simply turned on his heel and left.

There was much discussion about whether Sofia was well enough to travel home the next day. Coach thought she was too fragile to go but Sofia just wanted to go home. Not to mention she wanted to see her family so she could reassure them she was okay since apparently someone had let her mother know about what happened.

They let her go back to England in the end. And it was probably a stroke of luck that Dumbledore actually let her go to her own home for a few days, to recover. Whatever curse Travers had used on her, it clearly had been dark magic, and although they had managed to heal her to a degree, the wounds were still there and they would leave scars. When they got a Healer to examine her, he had declared she needed to be on strict bed-rest for at least five days and couldn't play Quidditch in a couple of weeks.

Sofia hadn't found out until they were back in England, but apparently, Coach had kicked Travers out of the team. She didn't know about any other consequences he might face yet, but just that one fact pleased her greatly.

It wasn't very fun being stuck at home barely being able to walk anywhere without everyone making a fuss but she enjoyed being with her family. She even got to spend Natasha's birthday with her without even having to sneak out of the castle.

Natasha — now newly twelve years old — entered the room they shared after having stayed late at her best friend's house a few blocks away. She was visibly tired but she crawled into bed with Sofia, very carefully going around her bandages to hug her sister around the middle. Sofia put her book down.

They stayed like that a few minutes, and Sofia almost thought Natasha had fallen asleep when she spoke up. "I don't want you to go back."

Natasha's voice was tiny, slightly choked.

Sofia rubbed her sister's back comfortingly. "Why not?"

"I don't want them to hurt you again."

Sofia's breath caught. She bit her lip. How the fuck did she respond to that? "I'm not going to get hurt again, Natasha. It was an accident, it happens."

"It wasn't an accident, Sofia, I know it wasn't, I'm not stupid!" Natasha cried.

Sofia sighed softly. "I'll be okay, Nat, I promise."

"This isn't the first time you get hurt there."

"You know Quidditch is a sport very prompt to injuries—"

Natasha interrupted her. "You know those aren't the injuries I'm talking about!"

Sofia felt a dagger in her stomach. She knew her siblings were growing up, but she didn't expect this on the very night of Natasha's twelfth birthday.

Tears were spilling down Natasha's cheeks. "I know that there are people in your world who don't want you there just because you're from a Muggle family. I've been to Diagon Alley with you, I've seen the way some people look at you, treat you when they realise we're Muggles. I know those people are at Hogwarts too, and it isn't that hard to figure out that they are the ones who hurt you."

A knot tightened in Sofia's throat. She felt like she couldn't get the words out. Natasha was too observant for her own good. Sofia kissed the top of her sister's head. "Yes, you're right, Natasha. There are people who would rather I wasn't a witch. But I'm tough, and I can deal with it. I can take care of myself. I promise. You don't ever have to worry about me, okay?"

Natasha hugged Sofia tighter, and Sofia could feel a pull of pain on her wounds but she ignored it.

"Okay," Natasha finally said in a small voice.

Sofia had a lot to do upon her return to Hogwarts. And not all strictly on an academic level.

Apart from being kicked out of the team, Travers had been suspended for only a week – the same week Sofia took off to heal – and had gotten detention for the rest of the school year. Sirius was sure that the punishment would've been a lot worse if Travers's parents weren't on the School Board. Sofia was inclined to agree. But she'd rather not dwell on it. She didn't think her teachers were always the best at doling out punishments anyway. So, it didn't matter that much. She knew that for Travers to actually get what he deserved, she would have to take matters into her own hands.

Sofia also went back to the silent treatment with Regulus. Luckily, he didn't seem too inclined to try to talk to her either, so, it worked out for the both of them. She had thought they'd had a bit of a... breakthrough in their relationship during the first half of the trip. She had even thought she might get him to stop being a Voldemort-supporting shit but it didn't seem like that was going to happen.

It was better this way in any case, she didn't need him poking around in her business right now.

Sofia didn't think that what she was planning for Travers was all that bad. In fact, she wasn't even going to touch a hair on his head. Which was more than he could say. Sofia would have those nasty scars across her back for the rest of her life.

No, she wasn't going to hurt him, physically.

Sirius was the only person Sofia trusted wholeheartedly in the castle, but she had still been slightly doubtful of asking for his help. She didn't want him to get in trouble. But he had been eager to help, and it was a two-wand job, after all.

"Should I wake him?" Sirius asked as Sofia cast a body-binding curse against an old chair to keep Travers upright.

Sofia nodded.

"Ennervate."

Travers woke with a start. He breathed heavily as he thrashed around in his seat. He looked at Sofia and Sirius through glaring eyes. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, you filthy fucking Mudblood!"

Sirius's hand curled into a fist but Sofia set a hand on his arm to cool him down.

Sofia put on her best fake smile. "Don't look so tense, Travers. I'm not like you, I won't hurt you. I just need to ask you a few questions, that's all."

"I find that hard to believe."

Sofia shrugged. "Well, that's the truth." She paced in front of him, slowly. "Why don't we get started then? What is... your friend Nott's deepest, darkest secret?"

"He's been cheating on his girlfriend with some half-blood for months," he rattled off seemingly without thinking. It wasn't until he finished talking that he realised what had come out of his mouth. "What the fuck did you do to me?"

Sofia grinned. Oh, he was freaking out now, this was absolutely delicious. "I don't know what this girl's blood status has to do with anything, but okay, we're off to a good start. What about Yaxley? What's his secret?"

Travers was visibly trying to fight off the Veritaserum, but Sofia was a damn good potioneer, and it would take a truly powerful wizard to fight off her Veritaserum, something that Travers was not.

"He's been using a really advanced magic quill to cheat on exams for years, we don't know where he got it but it can't be detected," he gave in.

Sofia's brows raised slightly. That was interesting. She knew Yaxley wasn't nearly smart enough to get grades as good as he got, it was obvious he cheated, she just didn't know how. Until now.

She rattled off a few more of Travers' friends' names. Some of the stuff he knew was definitely good, other stuff not so much, but she definitely got enough information to do some real damage. For a second she was tempted to ask about Regulus, but she quickly put it off her mind. She'd rather not know.

It wasn't until the last name that they hit a bit of a snag. Apparently, Travers didn't know any very juicy secrets from his own girlfriend. But Sofia could find a way around that later.

Sirius's only trouble with this plan was the fact that he was sure Travers might actually kill her if she went through with it. Sofia was sure he would try. But she could fix that as well. Travers might suspect her, but there was no way he could ever be sure she had anything to do with this.

Sofia wasn't the best spellcaster herself, but luckily, Sirius was. He'd somehow created the Marauder's Map, after all.

Once they were done, Sirius raised his wand to Travers's temple and cast the spell. "Obliviate."

Sofia worried for a second that something would go wrong, it was a highly delicate spell, after all. But she saw Travers's eyes go unfocused and Sirius exhaled in relief. They stupefied Travers again.

They checked the map before taking Travers outside, removing and planting the evidence they needed, and leaving him there.

Bright and early the next morning, Sofia set off to find one Meredith Feldman. Also known as the gas of the Hogwarts Gossip Mill. Sofia didn't talk to her directly. She just sort of... whispered in her ear. Meredith wouldn't even remember where she had heard the things she did, she'd just know that she'd heard them.

Then, Sofia waited.

It didn't take that long. In fact, it took less time than she'd expected. Slughorn had gone to get Yaxley from their Charms class not even a couple of hours later, and Sofia knew it had started.

She tried not to look too smug, as not to raise suspicions, but it was hard.

Sofia would've thought Travers's friends might confront him in private, but for Sofia's entertainment, there was a bit of a showdown at the Slytherin table during lunch.

Sofia exchanged a wicked grin with Sirius as she saw Travers's little group of assholes storm over to him.

Sofia couldn't make out everything they were saying, all the way across the Hall at the Gryffindor table, she only heard some of the things said in raised voices.

"... A FILTHY FUCKING SNITCH..."

"... WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU..."

"... WE KNOW YOU WERE DRUNK..."

"FUCK YOU!"

Sofia was practically vibrating with elation.

Eventually, a hex was thrown and then another and teachers had to step in and separate the men.

Sofia hadn't actually used all the information she had gotten out of Travers. In fact, she'd used barely half of it. It seemed to be enough for the time being, and she'd like to keep some of it safe for the future. Just in case.

Not to mention, revealing the secrets of his four closest friends had worked to put Travers in a bad light with the rest of his Housemates and his girlfriend. So, it all worked out in the end.

As happy as Sofia was about this result, she knew she had to keep her guard up. Even Travers wasn't that stupid, he'd probably start suspecting her at some point soon.

Thankfully, she had more than one fail-safe cued up, and she was not afraid to use them.

AN: Reviews are very much appreciated !