Chapter Five: A Convincing Story

Dorrin sprinted up to her room.  Her pouch lay as it had last night--on her dresser.  She tore open the flap and pulled out a vial filled with a dark green liquid.  The pain was driving her to the point where--if she had lost her sanity (which she was close)--she would have gulped the entire bottle and blacked out.  But being the circumspect being she was drank but two small sips.  Almost immediately the pain from her ears, eyes, and muscles had dwindled down to nothing.  After a few deep breaths, she walked over to the mirror.  There she was, though it was not her.  The reflection was of her human self--simple, plain, ordinary.  Dorrin brushed her hair back behind her ears and they seemed to be normal.  Just then there was a knock on the door.

            "Dorrin?  It's Sage.  Are you alright?"

            "Yes.  I'm fine.  You can come in."

Sage LeBroke was a roommate of Dorrin's.  She was kind and motherly--always making sure that everyone around her was comfortable and happy.  And she was the first to console during a crisis.  She pulled open the door and walked over to Dorrin, who was still at the mirror.  A very worried expression crossed her face.

            "What happened back there?  One minute you were all shaking and scared and the next it looked like you were ready to kill Snape."

Dorrin searched for an explanation.  "Sage, you might want to sit down for this."

Her friend backed up until she hit the bed and fell to a sitting position.  She looked frightened and curious all at once.  Dorrin let out a heavy sigh.

            "You must promise not to tell anyone about this."  Her friend nodded her head in agreement.  Dorrin replaced the cork in her vial and placed it in Sage's hand.  The girl looked up into her eyes.  Sensing her bewilderment, Dorrin replied, "I was born with this defense mechanism.  A sort of condition in which I can get aggressive with others."  Sage narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in more confusion.  "Very aggressive.  If I am cornered or threatened in any way, I go through a painful transformation where all my senses become incredibly sharp and my muscles tense up to the point where they nearly explode," she was yelling now.  "This potion keeps me from getting to that point.  I forgot to take it this morning."  Sage's eyes were now huge.  She couldn't believe that this sweet little naive friend of hers could ever contain so much power or rage. 

            "Well, let's hope Professor Snape will go for that; he's absolutely furious.  He sent me up to retrieve you."  She gave the vial back to Dorrin, who in turn placed it in her pouch.  Determined never to make the same mistake, she buckled her sack around her waist and covered it within the folds of her robe.  Then she followed Sage out of their room and down into her impending doom.

Sage walked with Dorrin all the way down to the door of the Potions master's office.  The dungeons choked the life out of the prisoner even quicker than the first time she had entered them.  When Sage turned to leave, she grabbed her arm.

            "Where are you going?  You can't leave me like this."

            "What are you talking about?  I'm not the one that got you into this mess.  Besides, I was told to come back to class after I delivered you.  Sorry, Dorrin, but you're on your own."

It was the last thing she wanted to hear.

The door to Professor Snape's office opened with much less ease than the previous time Dorrin had encountered them.  They screeched so loudly that she thought they were calling out to the Professor that his captive had arrived.  There was less light in this room than there had been in his class, if that was even fathomable.  The only light came from a few well-placed candles on his desk.  There were walls lined with jars and boxes—all of which Dorrin refused to look at, for obvious reasons.  There were papers everywhere, but the area was well organized; it was a propensity for Snape to always be well organized.  She walked unhurriedly closer to him, careful not to bump into anything in the cramped space.  Her meticulous efforts failed her when a jar full of slug-like creatures fell off a stool she brushed against.  Luckily, she caught it before it fell to the ground.  Despite the racket she was making, he didn't even so much as lift his head.  He was still scribbling as feverishly on the parchment as he had the first day he spoke her name.  Dorrin wished now that she had another name to go by.

            "Miss Chambers," the Professor hissed, placing his pen down and lifting his head to meet her frozen stare, "I believe you have some explaining to do."

Summoning up what courage and pride she had left, Dorrin reached into her robes and pulled out the bottle that she had shown her friend just minutes earlier.  She placed it on Snape's desk and preceded to tell him the same story she had told Sage.  Despite it's persuasive plot, the professor didn't buy it.

            "Although your explanation sounds convincing, I do believe there is something that you are leaving out.  Something very big and very important."  His eyes penetrated hers like a thousand poisoned arrows.  Although she had told herself not to be intimidated by any human--especially this one--she couldn't help but shrink away at his glare.  Perhaps it was the lack of sunlight, or the sickening pair of eyes that watched her in a jar from above his head   Whatever the reason, Dorrin knew she wasn't going to leave his classroom until the truth was told.  And frankly, she was tired of hiding.