Quickly, Lynn raised her wand and closed her eyes, then muttered a few incantations, and sure enough once she opened them again, she looked much more like herself. Or rather, this version of herself. Her cheeks had filled out a tad, there was a tanner colour to her complexion and after close inspection, her eyes were back to their usual brown.
Ever since she could remember, which was around the age of thirteen, Lynn had worn a constant glamour. Voldemort had asked her to, it was to protect her he had said. Her actual features wore a very strong resemblance to her mud-blood parents, ones that were very well known within the circle of Death Eaters. He did not want her to be endangered or treated differently because of her parents, he had told her, so she was not to ever lower the glamour, not even when she was alone. You never know who can be watching, Voldemort said, and this way you can avoid those from the Light who knew your parents, ones who might want to turn you. It touched her deeply, that he cared as much about her to be worried about her wellbeing to such an extent, so of course she obeyed. If Voldemort wanted this for her, to never lower her glamour, she would do so, to please him and thank him for all that he had done for her.
Sometimes she grew curious of her actual appearance and would search her memory for a snippet of it, maybe catching herself in the mirror before the glamour was raised, or before Voldemort had saved her, but she could never find any. Once or twice she had stood in front of the mirror, staring at those brown eyes, and considered lowering it, just for a second, just so she knew. But she never did. It would be betraying Voldemort, and she could not bring herself to do that.
Lynn tightened her ponytail, tucking loose strands of hair into it, and with a deep breath left the bathroom to return to her students.
Once she opened the door, Lynn was not surprised in the slightest to see the class in a mess. Students were sitting on desks, talking to each other, a large group in the corner were whispering no doubt about the sudden and swift departure of their teacher. Lynn cleared her throat to gain their attention back. Heads swivelled round to where she was standing in the doorway.
"I can assure you all," she said, walking back towards her desk, "I am fine, and I apologise for my leaving. It was just a moment of nausea. Now, I am very sure that your groups were not that large," she gestured to the herd of half the class in the corner of the room, "so if you wouldn't mind I'd like to get back on to your assignment. Or, if you are finished, I can just collect them now?"
The group rushed back to their seats into the pairs and kept their eyes on the desks in front of them.
"Good. Continue in quiet tones, no one can possibly concentrate in a noisy classroom."
That evening, sitting at her spot yet again with more high-piled plates of food in front of her Lynn felt the queasiness roll around in her stomach for the umpteenth time that day. A bowl of potatoes stacked high looked about the absolute last thing she wanted to be staring at, but sure enough, McGonagall's gaze flicked up and back to her. She stabbed a few potatoes onto her fork, then plopped them right on her plate, scowling at the offensive food. Extremely slowly, Lynn sliced them into small pieces, and one by one ate them. By the end of dinner, she felt as though she might throw up for the second time, and spent no time delaying once the Hall began emptying.
Lynn closed the door to her portrait once she got inside and lay down on her couch, feeling all her joints ease painfully as she finally let them rest. That morning felt like a lifetime ago, and despite the fact that she had at least an hour's worth of work still to mark, Lynn let her heavy eyelids close, and fell into a restless sleep.
The room was made of stone. It was cold, too cold for her light clothing, and a shiver ran down her back. She slowly sat up from her lying down position on the floor, and the hard stone she had been laying on made her spine ache as she did so. She looked around for a window or a door and spotted one in the far end of the room. It was large and wooden, and bolted shut. Even though she would have liked very much to stay put, to lie back down on the floor and ignore this unfriendly room, she knew they were on the other side of that door, somewhere. They were out there, and she was in here and she had to find them, to see them and to hug them.
On dangerously shaky legs, she stood and hobbled over to the door. Her hand closed around its knob; it was worth a try to twist right? But before she could try, a scream pierced her ears. A scream she recognised, a scream that struck fear into her bones and made the aches in them worse. And then another scream. And another. She sobbed, and tried desperately to twist the knob, but it stubbornly stayed closed. Her fist slammed against the door, and then she rammed her whole shoulder into it
"Let me out! Please! Don't hurt them!" she cried, "Let me out! Let me out! Stop! Please, please let me out! I want to see them!"
The thuds and her screams echoed around the very empty room, bouncing against the cobblestone walls, and she heard nothing in reply. Her hand still clasped around the doorknob, she slid down onto the floor, hitting the door with the palm of her hand.
"Please," she whispered. "I can't lose them."
With a dull thump, Lynn fell off her couch and onto the floor. She could almost taste her heartbeat it was so high up in her throat, and her mouth was extremely dry. Staggering to her feet, she made her way to the kitchenette to grab a drink of water. As she gulped down the water, Lynn thought of her dream. It was oddly vivid, unlike most of her others, almost like a memory, though that was quite impossible. She sighed and placed the cup down on the bench, then rubbed her eyes. Looking over at the clock on her wall she saw it read 5:31am. The marking she ignored last night popped into her head, and so Lynn flicked on the kettle for some coffee and sat back down in front of the large pile of essays she had to mark.
The next time she checked the clock, all the work was marked, and it was much closer to an acceptable time to be awake. She took her half empty third cup of coffee with her to the Great Hall and tried to prepare herself for breakfast. As she turned the corner to enter the foyer in front of the Hall, she ran into a face full of black robes and greasy hair.
"Oh, Severus, I'm sorry," she said, stumbling back slightly.
He looked her up and down. "Ms Davids."
Lynn watched him as he turned his back to her and made his way into the Great Hall, and she soon followed behind him.
As she sat down, she stared at her newly gained nemesis; food. This morning there were piles of bread rolls, a vat of scrambled eggs, alongside a whole host of other breakfast foods.
Yet again, Lynn forced air into the furthest corners of her chest in an attempt to chase away the nausea, then put two bread rolls on her plate, as well as a small scoop of eggs. Hesitantly taking her knife and fork, Lynn began piling a bit of eggs onto her utensils, then lifted it to her mouth and forced herself to take a bite. As she did so, she listened to everyone's conversations around her.
"-I'm sure they'll be fine," said Sprout. "It hasn't been too long—"
"-kept him there, all evening!" Amycus cackled to his sister, "Little bugger didn't know what hit him—"
"-yes, in the middle of London," Flitwick was saying. "Two of them. I'm quite sure one was Rosier."
With much too much difficulty, Lynn swallowed the bite of egg. But as soon as she had done so, it threatened to come right back up, and this threat was definitely not empty. She pushed her chair back and stood, many eyes of staff flicking up to her.
"Excuse me," she muttered, and strode out of the Great Hall.
Unfortunately, the closest bathroom was much too far away, so Lynn ran for outside, knowing that throwing up onto the grass was much better than in the middle of the hallway.
It seemed she had made it just in time, as it was not long after she made it out of the castle that those eggs ended up on the ground. And again, her stomach muscles continued to convulse long after she was only retching, and her entire body shook.
Lynn sat down on the grass, away from the vomit, and hugged her arms around herself, willing the convulsions to stop, and for her heart to stop thrumming a million beats a minute.
"I thought you said this wasn't going to be a problem."
Quickly, Lynn raised her wand and closed her eyes, then muttered a few incantations, and sure enough once she opened them again, she looked much more like herself. Or rather, this version of herself. Her cheeks had filled out a tad, there was a tanner colour to her complexion and after close inspection, her eyes were back to their usual brown.
Ever since she could remember, which was around the age of thirteen, Lynn had worn a constant glamour. Voldemort had asked her to, it was to protect her he had said. Her actual features wore a very strong resemblance to her mud-blood parents, ones that were very well known within the circle of Death Eaters. He did not want her to be endangered or treated differently because of her parents, he had told her, so she was not to ever lower the glamour, not even when she was alone. You never know who can be watching, Voldemort said, and this way you can avoid those from the Light who knew your parents, ones who might want to turn you. It touched her deeply, that he cared as much about her to be worried about her wellbeing to such an extent, so of course she obeyed. If Voldemort wanted this for her, to never lower her glamour, she would do so, to please him and thank him for all that he had done for her.
Sometimes she grew curious of her actual appearance and would search her memory for a snippet of it, maybe catching herself in the mirror before the glamour was raised, or before Voldemort had saved her, but she could never find any. Once or twice she had stood in front of the mirror, staring at those brown eyes, and considered lowering it, just for a second, just so she knew. But she never did. It would be betraying Voldemort, and she could not bring herself to do that.
Lynn tightened her ponytail, tucking loose strands of hair into it, and with a deep breath left the bathroom to return to her students.
Once she opened the door, Lynn was not surprised in the slightest to see the class in a mess. Students were sitting on desks, talking to each other, a large group in the corner were whispering no doubt about the sudden and swift departure of their teacher. Lynn cleared her throat to gain their attention back. Heads swivelled round to where she was standing in the doorway.
"I can assure you all," she said, walking back towards her desk, "I am fine, and I apologise for my leaving. It was just a moment of nausea. Now, I am very sure that your groups were not that large," she gestured to the herd of half the class in the corner of the room, "so if you wouldn't mind I'd like to get back on to your assignment. Or, if you are finished, I can just collect them now?"
The group rushed back to their seats into the pairs and kept their eyes on the desks in front of them.
"Good. Continue in quiet tones, no one can possibly concentrate in a noisy classroom."
That evening, sitting at her spot yet again with more high-piled plates of food in front of her Lynn felt the queasiness roll around in her stomach for the umpteenth time that day. A bowl of potatoes stacked high looked about the absolute last thing she wanted to be staring at, but sure enough, McGonagall's gaze flicked up and back to her. She stabbed a few potatoes onto her fork, then plopped them right on her plate, scowling at the offensive food. Extremely slowly, Lynn sliced them into small pieces, and one by one ate them. By the end of dinner, she felt as though she might throw up for the second time, and spent no time delaying once the Hall began emptying.
Lynn closed the door to her portrait once she got inside and lay down on her couch, feeling all her joints ease painfully as she finally let them rest. That morning felt like a lifetime ago, and despite the fact that she had at least an hour's worth of work still to mark, Lynn let her heavy eyelids close, and fell into a restless sleep.
The room was made of stone. It was cold, too cold for her light clothing, and a shiver ran down her back. She slowly sat up from her lying down position on the floor, and the hard stone she had been laying on made her spine ache as she did so. She looked around for a window or a door and spotted one in the far end of the room. It was large and wooden, and bolted shut. Even though she would have liked very much to stay put, to lie back down on the floor and ignore this unfriendly room, she knew they were on the other side of that door, somewhere. They were out there, and she was in here and she had to find them, to see them and to hug them.
On dangerously shaky legs, she stood and hobbled over to the door. Her hand closed around its knob; it was worth a try to twist right? But before she could try, a scream pierced her ears. A scream she recognised, a scream that struck fear into her bones and made the aches in them worse. And then another scream. And another. She sobbed, and tried desperately to twist the knob, but it stubbornly stayed closed. Her fist slammed against the door, and then she rammed her whole shoulder into it
"Let me out! Please! Don't hurt them!" she cried, "Let me out! Let me out! Stop! Please, please let me out! I want to see them!"
The thuds and her screams echoed around the very empty room, bouncing against the cobblestone walls, and she heard nothing in reply. Her hand still clasped around the doorknob, she slid down onto the floor, hitting the door with the palm of her hand.
"Please," she whispered. "I can't lose them."
With a dull thump, Lynn fell off her couch and onto the floor. She could almost taste her heartbeat it was so high up in her throat, and her mouth was extremely dry. Staggering to her feet, she made her way to the kitchenette to grab a drink of water. As she gulped down the water, Lynn thought of her dream. It was oddly vivid, unlike most of her others, almost like a memory, though that was quite impossible. She sighed and placed the cup down on the bench, then rubbed her eyes. Looking over at the clock on her wall she saw it read 5:31am. The marking she ignored last night popped into her head, and so Lynn flicked on the kettle for some coffee and sat back down in front of the large pile of essays she had to mark.
The next time she checked the clock, all the work was marked, and it was much closer to an acceptable time to be awake. She took her half empty third cup of coffee with her to the Great Hall and tried to prepare herself for breakfast. As she turned the corner to enter the foyer in front of the Hall, she ran into a face full of black robes and greasy hair.
"Oh, Severus, I'm sorry," she said, stumbling back slightly.
He looked her up and down. "Ms Davids."
Lynn watched him as he turned his back to her and made his way into the Great Hall, and she soon followed behind him.
As she sat down, she stared at her newly gained nemesis; food. This morning there were piles of bread rolls, a vat of scrambled eggs, alongside a whole host of other breakfast foods.
Yet again, Lynn forced air into the furthest corners of her chest in an attempt to chase away the nausea, then put two bread rolls on her plate, as well as a small scoop of eggs. Hesitantly taking her knife and fork, Lynn began piling a bit of eggs onto her utensils, then lifted it to her mouth and forced herself to take a bite. As she did so, she listened to everyone's conversations around her.
"-I'm sure they'll be fine," said Sprout. "It hasn't been too long—"
"-kept him there, all evening!" Amycus cackled to his sister, "Little bugger didn't know what hit him—"
"-yes, in the middle of London," Flitwick was saying. "Two of them. I'm quite sure one was Rosier."
With much too much difficulty, Lynn swallowed the bite of egg. But as soon as she had done so, it threatened to come right back up, and this threat was definitely not empty. She pushed her chair back and stood, many eyes of staff flicking up to her.
"Excuse me," she muttered, and strode out of the Great Hall.
Unfortunately, the closest bathroom was much too far away, so Lynn ran for outside, knowing that throwing up onto the grass was much better than in the middle of the hallway.
It seemed she had made it just in time, as it was not long after she made it out of the castle that those eggs ended up on the ground. And again, her stomach muscles continued to convulse long after she was only retching, and her entire body shook.
Lynn sat down on the grass, away from the vomit, and hugged her arms around herself, willing the convulsions to stop, and for her heart to stop thrumming a million beats a minute.
"I thought you said this wasn't going to be a problem."
a/n another chapter! im hoping that from now on updates will come every two/three weeks or something along those lines (at the very least more regular than i have been) hope you enjoyed and see u all next chapter! xxx