A/N- Thanx to Sissy-6 for the nice review. I write when I need to vent. I
was really upset to have written like the first thirteen chapters in a
week. Since I have returned to school I have had less time to write,
however, I am glad you like my story. Thank you for such nice reviews. I
appreciate that you like my story so much. I will finish the story soon.
Skye
Chapter Sixteen: Snape's Loyalty
Clarice was now walking around with glass in the pockets of her robes because of all the stress she was under. Two days after her argument with Harry she was walking in the dungeons heading to Professor Snape's office. He had asked to see her because he wanted to check up on her. However, on the way to the office, she ran into Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy used the chance meeting between the two of them to remind Clarice of what was to come her way when term ended. This deeply disturbed Clarice but she refused to let Malfoy see this. When Malfoy left, Clarice started crying and slit her wrists. This time she cut deeper than she had ever before. She couldn't stop the blood from pouring out of her wrist. She cried out in pain and everything went black.
Meanwhile, down the corridor in Professor Snape's office, he heard the scream. He ran from his office and into the corridor to see what had happened. He heard the telltale signs of people coming down to the dungeons to see what the screaming was about, but it was too dark to see what had happened. Snape began to walk down the corridor in the direction of where the scream came from. When he got down the corridor, he saw what looked like a student on the dungeon floor. As he got closer he realized it was Clarice. Then he noticed the glass and the blood and realized what had happened.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George were the first to arrive in the dungeons. Snape had already conjured a stretcher and put Clarice on it. He turned to the other five.
"Split up, find Professor Dumbledore and tell him to get to the hospital wing. Miss Granger, send an owl to her social worker Ms. Falcon. Tell her she needs to come to the school to see Ms. Black. MOVE! NOW!"
With that Snape ran past them to bring Clarice to the hospital wing. He didn't know how much time he had before Clarice bled to death. When he left with her, Harry noticed the blood and the glass on the corridor floor.
"Did Clarice hurt herself?"
"I don't know. We don't have much time if she did. She can die. We need to do what Snape said," said Hermione.
"Let's go. We've got to find Dumbledore. We should find Professor Lupin as well, Clarice is close to him," said Fred.
They split up. Hermione went straight to the owlery and used Hedwig to send the letter to Ms. Falcon. She then ran into Professor McGonagall and explained what had happened. They went to the hospital wing. Fred and George went straight to Professor Lupin, who they found in his classroom teaching one of the first year classes that was a mix of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs. They ran straight to his desk, not even having bothered to knock on the door.
"Professor," started Fred who was now starting to have difficulty hiding his tears, "you have to report to the hospital wing immediately. Professor Snape just brought Clarice up there. She's hurt. She's bleeding. There's blood on the floor in the dungeon corridor where we found her. She is close to you. You have to go."
"What am I to do with this class of first years?"
"Send them to the library."
"All right. Hold on a moment."
Professor Lupin turned and looked at his students.
"Class, due to an incident that I have to tend to, I want all of you to report to the library to continue reading on giants. Class dismissed."
He looked back at the twins.
"Let's go."
Harry and Ron found Professor Dumbledore very quickly, because they ran straight to Gryffindor Tower to get the Marauder's Map. He was over in Professor Flitwick's office on the other side of the seventh floor. They ran to the office and burst in. Professor Flitwick was startled and Professor Dumbledore seemed alarmed.
"What is the meaning of all of this Harry? What is wrong?"
"Professor Dumbledore, sir, Clarice was just brought to the hospital wing by Professor Snape. She was bleeding. He told Fred, George, Ron and I to find you and Hermione to send a letter to her social worker. Fred and George went to find Professor Lupin and we came to get you. She's hurt. There's blood in the corridor where she was found. Hermione said she can die. You've got to go to her."
Harry said all this and started to cry. Just a few days ago he was screaming at her and blaming her for the way his life was and now she could die. He'd never forgive himself if she did. Professor Dumbledore got up and looked at Harry and Ron.
"Let's go."
With that, they began to run to the hospital wing. They reached the hospital wing and were kept with the other seven people who were waiting to see what was going on with Clarice. Madam Pomfrey would not tell anyone and would not let anyone see her until she finished taking care of her. It seemed to take forever. Ms. Falcon had already arrived at the school before Madam Pomfrey came out from behind the curtain.
"You may look in on Clarice, but she has yet to regain consciousness. She will be fine. We need to find out what made her do this," said Madam Pomfrey.
"I agree. Clarice has always been a fairly happy girl, even though she is an orphan. I would like to know why this school has pushed her to suicide," stated Ms. Falcon.
"I assure you Ms. Falcon, that Hogwarts would never push a student to killing themselves. Especially not Clarice. I don't know if she has or has not told you, but we now know more about her past and discovered that she has family who is alive. I am her grandfather on her father's side. Severus is her godfather. Harry over here is her cousin. We love Clarice very much and would never do anything to make her want to hurt herself. We want to protect her."
Ron, Hermione, Fred and George only left Clarice's side during classes for the two days. Harry stayed with her at all times, as did Professor Snape. Potions classes were cancelled because he refused to leave her in her time of need.
The day after Clarice was brought to the hospital wing, Fred and George overheard an argument between Ms. Falcon and Professor Snape.
"Ms. Falcon, please. Her mother and father named me guardian of Miss Black should anything happen to them. Had I known she was alive for all these years, I would have already had her in my care. I want to see to it that my goddaughter is taken care of. Let me have custody of her."
"I'm sorry Professor, the answer is no. She has already been placed with a foster family and they are wonderful with her. I have no reason to remove her from their custody."
"They hurt her. They are what pushed her to this. The Malfoys can be dangerous."
At that moment, Ms. Falcon saw Fred and George.
"We'll discuss this when Clarice is awake to talk."
She walked away and Snape saw the twins. He entered the hospital wing without another word.
On the morning of the third day Clarice woke up. When she did, Professors Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin and McGonagall were there with her as were Ms. Falcon, Fred, George, and Harry. She looked around the hospital room and in the corner was Lucius Malfoy. Ms. Falcon had to notify him as to what had happened with Clarice.
Nobody had immediately realized that she had woken up. Her eyes were a burning a bit because of the light but that was okay.
"What's everyone doing here?" she asked.
At that moment everyone turned around and seemed relieved. Madam Pomfrey rushed over to check her and put the goblet she would have Clarice drink on the bedside table until after she checked her. She lifted up the sleeve of the pajamas she was wearing and saw that the cuts on her arm were gone, but there were still very light scars on her arm where the cuts were.
Madam Pomfrey handed Clarice the goblet. Ms. Falcon came forward to ask her questions.
"Clarice, what made you do this?"
Clarice didn't want to tell the truth, especially not with Lucius Malfoy in the room, but she did anyway.
"I didn't want to go back to the Malfoys' manor again. I hate it there."
Clarice was shocked to hear herself saying it.
"Why do you hate it?"
"He rapes me."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"He said he would kill anyone I told about it."
"How long has he been doing this?"
"Since the Christmas holidays."
"Why did you cut yourself?"
"Draco has raped me as well, here in school, and then reminded me that his father would do it again over the summer holiday."
At that point, Lucius Malfoy stood up with his wand at the ready. Before anyone realized what had happened, he was on the floor stiff as a board. Snape was putting away his wand.
"What just happened?" asked Ms. Falcon, who didn't understand, as she was a Muggle.
"Professor Snape just hexed Mr. Malfoy," said Clarice.
Professor Snape came forward.
"Ms. Falcon, you have now heard the first hand account of what is going on with Clarice. I expect that you will be removing her from Mr. Malfoy's custody and placing her hopefully with me."
"Well, Clarice, would you like to stay with your godfather?"
"It's better than Lucius."
"Alright then, Professor Snape, I will give Clarice to you. If anything like this happens again I will remove her from your custody and from this school."
"Of course Ms. Falcon. I understand."
"Professor Dumbledore, I assume you will take care of the Malfoys?"
"Yes I will Ms. Falcon. Don't worry."
With that reassurance, Ms. Falcon left Hogwarts.
Skye
Chapter Sixteen: Snape's Loyalty
Clarice was now walking around with glass in the pockets of her robes because of all the stress she was under. Two days after her argument with Harry she was walking in the dungeons heading to Professor Snape's office. He had asked to see her because he wanted to check up on her. However, on the way to the office, she ran into Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy used the chance meeting between the two of them to remind Clarice of what was to come her way when term ended. This deeply disturbed Clarice but she refused to let Malfoy see this. When Malfoy left, Clarice started crying and slit her wrists. This time she cut deeper than she had ever before. She couldn't stop the blood from pouring out of her wrist. She cried out in pain and everything went black.
Meanwhile, down the corridor in Professor Snape's office, he heard the scream. He ran from his office and into the corridor to see what had happened. He heard the telltale signs of people coming down to the dungeons to see what the screaming was about, but it was too dark to see what had happened. Snape began to walk down the corridor in the direction of where the scream came from. When he got down the corridor, he saw what looked like a student on the dungeon floor. As he got closer he realized it was Clarice. Then he noticed the glass and the blood and realized what had happened.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George were the first to arrive in the dungeons. Snape had already conjured a stretcher and put Clarice on it. He turned to the other five.
"Split up, find Professor Dumbledore and tell him to get to the hospital wing. Miss Granger, send an owl to her social worker Ms. Falcon. Tell her she needs to come to the school to see Ms. Black. MOVE! NOW!"
With that Snape ran past them to bring Clarice to the hospital wing. He didn't know how much time he had before Clarice bled to death. When he left with her, Harry noticed the blood and the glass on the corridor floor.
"Did Clarice hurt herself?"
"I don't know. We don't have much time if she did. She can die. We need to do what Snape said," said Hermione.
"Let's go. We've got to find Dumbledore. We should find Professor Lupin as well, Clarice is close to him," said Fred.
They split up. Hermione went straight to the owlery and used Hedwig to send the letter to Ms. Falcon. She then ran into Professor McGonagall and explained what had happened. They went to the hospital wing. Fred and George went straight to Professor Lupin, who they found in his classroom teaching one of the first year classes that was a mix of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs. They ran straight to his desk, not even having bothered to knock on the door.
"Professor," started Fred who was now starting to have difficulty hiding his tears, "you have to report to the hospital wing immediately. Professor Snape just brought Clarice up there. She's hurt. She's bleeding. There's blood on the floor in the dungeon corridor where we found her. She is close to you. You have to go."
"What am I to do with this class of first years?"
"Send them to the library."
"All right. Hold on a moment."
Professor Lupin turned and looked at his students.
"Class, due to an incident that I have to tend to, I want all of you to report to the library to continue reading on giants. Class dismissed."
He looked back at the twins.
"Let's go."
Harry and Ron found Professor Dumbledore very quickly, because they ran straight to Gryffindor Tower to get the Marauder's Map. He was over in Professor Flitwick's office on the other side of the seventh floor. They ran to the office and burst in. Professor Flitwick was startled and Professor Dumbledore seemed alarmed.
"What is the meaning of all of this Harry? What is wrong?"
"Professor Dumbledore, sir, Clarice was just brought to the hospital wing by Professor Snape. She was bleeding. He told Fred, George, Ron and I to find you and Hermione to send a letter to her social worker. Fred and George went to find Professor Lupin and we came to get you. She's hurt. There's blood in the corridor where she was found. Hermione said she can die. You've got to go to her."
Harry said all this and started to cry. Just a few days ago he was screaming at her and blaming her for the way his life was and now she could die. He'd never forgive himself if she did. Professor Dumbledore got up and looked at Harry and Ron.
"Let's go."
With that, they began to run to the hospital wing. They reached the hospital wing and were kept with the other seven people who were waiting to see what was going on with Clarice. Madam Pomfrey would not tell anyone and would not let anyone see her until she finished taking care of her. It seemed to take forever. Ms. Falcon had already arrived at the school before Madam Pomfrey came out from behind the curtain.
"You may look in on Clarice, but she has yet to regain consciousness. She will be fine. We need to find out what made her do this," said Madam Pomfrey.
"I agree. Clarice has always been a fairly happy girl, even though she is an orphan. I would like to know why this school has pushed her to suicide," stated Ms. Falcon.
"I assure you Ms. Falcon, that Hogwarts would never push a student to killing themselves. Especially not Clarice. I don't know if she has or has not told you, but we now know more about her past and discovered that she has family who is alive. I am her grandfather on her father's side. Severus is her godfather. Harry over here is her cousin. We love Clarice very much and would never do anything to make her want to hurt herself. We want to protect her."
Ron, Hermione, Fred and George only left Clarice's side during classes for the two days. Harry stayed with her at all times, as did Professor Snape. Potions classes were cancelled because he refused to leave her in her time of need.
The day after Clarice was brought to the hospital wing, Fred and George overheard an argument between Ms. Falcon and Professor Snape.
"Ms. Falcon, please. Her mother and father named me guardian of Miss Black should anything happen to them. Had I known she was alive for all these years, I would have already had her in my care. I want to see to it that my goddaughter is taken care of. Let me have custody of her."
"I'm sorry Professor, the answer is no. She has already been placed with a foster family and they are wonderful with her. I have no reason to remove her from their custody."
"They hurt her. They are what pushed her to this. The Malfoys can be dangerous."
At that moment, Ms. Falcon saw Fred and George.
"We'll discuss this when Clarice is awake to talk."
She walked away and Snape saw the twins. He entered the hospital wing without another word.
On the morning of the third day Clarice woke up. When she did, Professors Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin and McGonagall were there with her as were Ms. Falcon, Fred, George, and Harry. She looked around the hospital room and in the corner was Lucius Malfoy. Ms. Falcon had to notify him as to what had happened with Clarice.
Nobody had immediately realized that she had woken up. Her eyes were a burning a bit because of the light but that was okay.
"What's everyone doing here?" she asked.
At that moment everyone turned around and seemed relieved. Madam Pomfrey rushed over to check her and put the goblet she would have Clarice drink on the bedside table until after she checked her. She lifted up the sleeve of the pajamas she was wearing and saw that the cuts on her arm were gone, but there were still very light scars on her arm where the cuts were.
Madam Pomfrey handed Clarice the goblet. Ms. Falcon came forward to ask her questions.
"Clarice, what made you do this?"
Clarice didn't want to tell the truth, especially not with Lucius Malfoy in the room, but she did anyway.
"I didn't want to go back to the Malfoys' manor again. I hate it there."
Clarice was shocked to hear herself saying it.
"Why do you hate it?"
"He rapes me."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"He said he would kill anyone I told about it."
"How long has he been doing this?"
"Since the Christmas holidays."
"Why did you cut yourself?"
"Draco has raped me as well, here in school, and then reminded me that his father would do it again over the summer holiday."
At that point, Lucius Malfoy stood up with his wand at the ready. Before anyone realized what had happened, he was on the floor stiff as a board. Snape was putting away his wand.
"What just happened?" asked Ms. Falcon, who didn't understand, as she was a Muggle.
"Professor Snape just hexed Mr. Malfoy," said Clarice.
Professor Snape came forward.
"Ms. Falcon, you have now heard the first hand account of what is going on with Clarice. I expect that you will be removing her from Mr. Malfoy's custody and placing her hopefully with me."
"Well, Clarice, would you like to stay with your godfather?"
"It's better than Lucius."
"Alright then, Professor Snape, I will give Clarice to you. If anything like this happens again I will remove her from your custody and from this school."
"Of course Ms. Falcon. I understand."
"Professor Dumbledore, I assume you will take care of the Malfoys?"
"Yes I will Ms. Falcon. Don't worry."
With that reassurance, Ms. Falcon left Hogwarts.