Mismatched Identitie
Chapter 1 of the Lydia Lye Series
by Lucathia
Part 6/7: Loyal Servants
Lucius Malfoy called me a half blood. A half blood! That term isn't as degrading as being called a mudblood, but I just can't believe how narrow-minded he is! Does it matter that my father is a wizard and that my mother was a muggle? I don't see any reason why he should care! Being pure blood doesn't make him any better than me.
Well, even though Lucius must have been shocked when I told him not to call my girlfriend a half blood, his outer appearance certainly didn't give him away at all. He just raised his eyebrows and looked at me without any other emotions showing on his face. After a moment of silence, he sighed and shook his head.
"You're treading on dangerous ground here, Severus." Lucius looked at me with a sharp glare. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
He didn't say anything more to me when class started. During DADA class, I kept fidgeting in my seat. Time seemed to drag on so slowly...I felt extremely uncomfortable and I couldn't even pay attention. What...what was Malfoy warning me about? In place of the anger I felt before there was fear. It was a type of icy fear that chilled me to the bones. I was so preoccupied with my worrying that I didn't even hear a word Professor Ursula said until she started talking in an extremely loud voice.
"Lucius Malfoy ANSWER ME!" Professor Ursula was a tall slender woman with piercing eyes. Her eyes seemed to be able to force people to obey her commands. Students didn't like her because she was so strict, maybe even stricter than Professor McGonagall. But just like Professor McGonagall, Professor Ursula was extremely fair. She never yelled unless she had a good reason.
Right now Professor Ursula had her arms folded across her chest. Her sleek, black hair cascaded down her back. Her eyes were focused only on Lucius Malfoy...demanding an answer out of him.
Malfoy though, didn't seem to care much at all. He just looked at the professor lazily. "Why do I have to answer you?" If I had known Malfoy better though, I would have noticed that he wasn't as calm as he looked. His pale cheeks were becoming slightly pink and he was muttering words under his breath.
"Tell me, Lucius. Why did you say you would use Liquidus on a person who is under the Assus Cruent curse?"
Okay...where did that question pop out from? I glanced at Snape. He was sitting far away from my friends. He appeared to be in deep thinking for some reason.
Hey...can you tell me what's been happening in class?
He turned his head (my head!!) to glance at me and then looked away. You should have been listening yourself.
Fine! Don't tell me. I'll figure it out.
I looked back at Malfoy. He shrugged and answered the professor. "I don't know."
"Do you know how dangerous it is to use Liquidus on a person under the Assus Cruent curse?" asked Professor Ursula.
Lucius Malfoy just looked at the professor and shrugged again. "No. I don't think I know."
Professor Ursula shook her head. "Using it may save the person's life, but that person would never wake up again! Unless you can't find the ingredients to brew the Cruentas potion to counter the curse, never use Liquidus on anyone under Assus Cruent!"
She wrote Assus Cruent on the board. "Now, I hope none of you will ever come across this curse. It is one of the most dangerous curses around. Its effect is similar to having one's blood dried up. The skin will shrivel up and the bones will start showing...it might look like the person is just aging at an abnormal rate, but that's not the case. A person can die after being under this curse for just a few hours. If no one can brew the Cruentas potion in this time limit and let the victim drink it, the victim will die. The Cruentas potion is extremely hard to brew and the ingredients can be hard to find. Many master potion brewers have been forced to use Liquidus on their patients to prevent them from dying, but the result of using Liquidus is horrible. The people who have been saved with Liquidus never woke up. Some doctors think they are oblivious to the world while others feel that the victims are still viewing the happenings of the world in spiritual form...not quite ghosts but not alive either. I don't know what is true. None of the victims we know of have been able to tell us."
Lunch came after DADA class. Malfoy had on a very ugly snarl. I didn't want to be anywhere near him when he was in that kind of mood, but I didn't have a choice. It would be weird if Snape didn't sit next to Malfoy. They were, after all, best friends.
"Severus, did you hear how she was talking to me?" Malfoy narrowed his eyes.
I nodded.
"Damn mudblood. How dare she talk to me in that kind of tone!" He turned his head towards Professor Ursula's direction. "She's going to regret it."
I stared at Malfoy. He sounded like he thought he was superior. It was a good thing he wasn't facing me. If he was, he would have noticed the weird expression on my face, on his friend, Severus's face. That wouldn't have been good.
The rest of the day was quite uneventful. I went to class with the Slytherins. Snape went to class with the Ravenclaws. I didn't meet James, Sirius, Peter, or Remus. I didn't meet any of my three friends either.
Well actually, I took a test for Snape in Charms. I was glad that it was a practical test, not a written one. If it was a written one I would have been writing in my own handwriting. That wouldn't have been good. Well, I'm pretty sure I aced his test for him. The professor was quite pleased.
Anyway, by the time I knew it, dinner was over and I followed Malfoy back to the Slytherin common room. I glanced at Snape before I left the Great Hall. He looked forlorn indeed, sitting there by himself and for some reason, I couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that was creeping up on me.
Had a good day?
Well enough.
Tomorrow...let's go to the library and do some research on what happened to us.
Why, you don't want to be me anymore?
There was a slight pause when I didn't answer. I thought being someone else was pretty exciting, even though because of this I lost three friends and Remus's trust as well. But then...if my friends left me because I fell in love with a Slytherin, then they weren't true friends at all. Real friends would have been accepting...at least that's how I feel. So then...why did I want to change back? I know why...I think. Deep down I knew that being a Slytherin was too dangerous. I don't want to get involved in some of the things they were planning to do. In simple words, Lucius Malfoy scares me.
Lye?
I didn't answer him as I entered the Slytherin common room. I was busy thinking about my new found fears. I certainly wasn't brave at all...if I was, then I wouldn't have been in Ravenclaw. I would have been in Gryffindor.
I...I think I'll go to sleep now. Night.
What? It's still pretty early.
I'm tired. I don't have anything else to do, so I'll just go to sleep. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
No...
Good.
With that, I went into the boys' room and got into Snape's bed and tried to go to sleep. I think I succeeded, but I woke up some time afterwards...or rather, I was woken up by Lucius Malfoy.
It was pitch black then. All the lights were out. I was blinking my eyes, trying to see the figure that woke me up.
"Severus, get up! We'll be late." Malfoy said.
"What?" My eyes finally got used to the darkness and I could sort of see Malfoy.
"Did you forget so soon? We have a meeting today."
"Oh, yeah, that's right. How could I have forgotten?" A meeting? What was he talking about? I thought for a moment and realized that it was probably the meeting Lucius mentioned during breakfast.
Lucius Malfoy gave me a weird look but he didn't say anything. "Grab your wand and let's go."
I slid my hand across Snape's drawer and managed to grasp my wand without looking. Tentatively, I got out of bed and followed Malfoy blindly out of the room. After we rushed into the Slytherin common room, Malfoy pushed something on the wall and then...a hole was revealed. We ducked into the passage and hurried along. I was totally lost then. Where were we heading? We were in a secret passage that started in the Slytherin common room. Fear started to creep up to me again.
We seemed to be walking forever. My hands and feet were numb...I wasn't even able to feel them. I couldn't see anything in front of me either although I did feel a cool gust of wind blowing against us. This passage probably led out into the open...somewhere out of the school. For some reason, Malfoy stopped at some time, handed me a black hood, and told me to put it on. Now I was sure that something wrong was going to happen.
I was almost glad when we got out of that passage--almost. For when we got out, I was finally able to see clearly, but I did not like what I was seeing.
We were out in the open underneath a sky of stars. A few logs were cackling with fire, the wisps of flame dancing in the darkness. From what I could see, there were ten people around the fire, including Malfoy and me. They were all wearing black hoods and they were putting up spells to hide the fact that we were outside the school after hours doing God knows what. One of them spotted us and came over.
"About time you got here! What took you so long? He's going to be here any minute!" I recognized the voice as Avery's, the guy who talked to us during breakfast. He seemed to look around nervously. "We're almost done with the cloaking spells too. We could've used your help, you know."
Lucius scowled. "I'm not the one who's late. It took me forever to wake Severus. Besides, we're only fourthyears. I'm sure we wouldn't have been much help to you."
Avery ignored Malfoy's second remark and instead shot me a look of...disappointment? Disgust? I couldn't tell because his hood covered half of his face, but I knew he didn't really like me at that moment. "Anyway, we were talking about how these hoods are only temporary since this is just our second meeting. By our next meeting we should be more organized."
Then, a gust of wind snuffed out the fire and accompanying the wind was the sound of crumbling leaves. The temperature in the area seemed to drop a few degrees as I gazed into the blood-red eyes of a stranger who had just walked in from the forest. All around me activity stopped as everyone kneeled down to this stranger. Tentatively, I followed everyone's example and kneeled down. This time, my fear truly refused to go away. What in the world was I getting myself into?
They started chanting...or it was something similar to chanting. "We are your loyal servants. We will see Slytherin rise to its rightful glory! To accomplish this, we will forever serve you as your loyal servants!"
And then...they shouted. "For Lord Voldemort the Great!"
I should be glad that my face was facing down...or else I would have been in deep trouble. My eyes were open wide and I had my fists clenched.
I can't believe it! It's Lord Voldemort! He's the one who killed my mother!
What?
I blinked. Did I just mind speak with Snape? Damn, I didn't mean to do that.
end part 6