Draco didn't return to class until two days had passed. It was now early Thursday morning and Saiph was halfway through a double Potions lesson with the Slytherins and Gryffindors (again). Honestly, Saiph could not think of a reason why the teachers kept doing this. The two houses clearly didn't get along and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.
The Malfoy appeared at the door like a hero back from fighting in a long war and swaggered his way into the classroom, taking the free seat in between Saiph and Harry. His arm was still tightly bound in a sling, which Saiph found absolutely ridiculous, it was just a scratch, his arm wasn't even broken. She rolled her eyes at the boy as Pansy started to sympathise with him.
"How is it Draco?" She asked the overly dramatic blond. "Does it hurt much?"
"Yeah," Draco replied.
Saiph rolled her eyes once again and nudged his 'injured' arm, he didn't even flinch. "You're totally bullshitting right now, Madam Pomfrey fixed you right up the second you got there." She gestured to his 'injured' arm.
Draco simply smirked. "Yeah," he agreed, "But don't tell him that." He pointed a subtle finger at the greasy haired professor. Saiph snickered slightly and returned the smirk with her own mischievous one. She had never seen this side of Draco before, as far as she'd known he had always sucked up to Snape.
Speaking of mischievousness, Saiph hadn't heard of any pranks pulled by the Weasley twins for the whole week. They were definitely up to something and that something (whatever it was) was going to be big. The twins were sorely mistaken if they thought Saiph was going to miss out on this. She would just have to go find them later.
"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly. Harry scowled at this from across the room thinking of how Snape would give the Gryffindors (especially himself) a detention if they walked into class late. Saiph already knew his thoughts from reading the books and completely agreed with him. Sure, she wasn't suffering for it, in fact Snape quite liked her as a student, she was good at potions and never interrupted lessons, but what he didn't know is that Saiph had been itching to call him 'snivellus' since day 1.
Oh how she would love to see his face when he heard the name his school bullies called him once again. She grinned widely just thinking about it, causing Draco to move his seat slightly further away from the girl. Draco knew that look, he had been the victim of that look more then once. That look was the one Saiph got when she was thinking of how best to torture someone, slowly, painfully, until they just gave up. These plans were rarely physical though, Saiph had a knack (just like her father) for getting into people's heads and making them think whatever she wanted them too, and that was truly terrifying to the boy.
Draco would have to snap her out of her thoughts quickly to stop any more devilish ideas from entering that horrific brain of hers. "So, what have I missed," he asked the girl.
"Hmm?" She hummed, "Oh, we're doing shrinking potions today, but Snapes just been rabbiting on about how they'd better be perfect because he'd test them on our pets." She replied.
Draco nodded, thankful that he had gotten her out of that state before her thoughts travelled too far. Saiph knew what was going to happen next and stopped Draco in his tracks. She quickly took his ingredients onto her own side of the bench and started to prepare them for the boy. "What are you doing?" He questioned her.
Saiph continued to cut up his daisy roots and said, "isn't it obvious? I'm helping you prepare your ingredients,
wouldn't want you to injure your arm even more by trying to do it yourself."
Draco looked annoyed at this, "But I was going to make Potter and Weasley do it, that's why I sat here," He huffed. Saiph gave him a fake look of hurt, with her hand on her heart she said, "and here I thought you loved me," she dropped her hand and expression straight after and continued. "And yeah, I know, that's why I'm preparing your ingredients for you, you really think I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart. Don't answer that. Anyways, I know how much you love to torment Weasley and Potter, but they're already going to go through enough without you adding on to it." Her emerald eyes grew wide as she realised what she just said. "I-I mean with Sirius Black on the loose and all that, E-everyone knows that he's after Potter so yeah." She stumbled over her words like a drunk chicken. Yeah cause that sounds totally convincing, way to go Saiph.
Draco simply looked at her for a few seconds before brushing it off as Saiph let out a breath of relief, one she didn't know she was holding. Then Draco turned once again to torment Harry and Ron, ignoring all of Saiphs previous warnings; she was too caught in her thoughts to notice anyway.
"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" Draco asked the boys, a smirk returning to his face.
"None of your business," Ron said jerkily. Why was Malfoy bringing this up now?
"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," Said Draco in a tone of mock sorrow. This caught Saiph's attention as she lifted her head slightly. Draco continued, "Father's not very happy about my injury –"
So he had told his father. Saiph was steaming with rage at this point, Draco never listened to her when it mattered. He hardly listened to her opinion at all and usually this wouldn't bother her, but when an innocent animal's life was on the line… she had even gone so far as to sneak out after dark to visit him in the infirmary just so she could warn him against telling his father about the incident. He never listened, so Saiph would just have to make him.
Saiph stayed quiet for the time being, she wanted to see how this conversation would go, but that didn't mean she wasn't plotting a revenge plan in her every waking second. Ron voiced her thoughts when he said, "keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury."
"– He's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this –" He gave a huge fake sigh and Saiph was struggling to control herself even more. Her fists were clenched so tightly under the table that they had turned white. "Who knows if my arm will ever be the same again." And with that Saiph's self control completely broke, She was fine with him using his injury as an excuse to be lazy in class but using his injury to get an animal, especially a magical one, that attacked him killed was too far .
She roughly stood up and slammed her books on the table then rushed out of the classroom. She needed to calm down before she did something she would regret. Saiph looked down at her hands feeling wetness on them. They were covered in blood, with little half moon marks showing where her nails had dug into her skin. She quickly wiped her now bloody hands on her black robes and took some deep breaths.
But she couldn't 'Just calm down' no matter how hard she tried. It was like a storm was raging inside her and it could only get worse from there. Nevertheless she had to go back into the classroom even if it was just to gather her things. Taking another shakey deep breath she stepped back towards the door of the Potions room.
Then she saw him. Draco was standing in front of the classroom door as if waiting for the perfect moment to say something to the girl. Saiph felt the rage she had just pushed down bubble back to the surface.
'No,' she thought, 'Don't give him a reaction, just keep a straight face and calmly walk past him.' This plan was spoiled when the stupid blond opened his great stupid mouth. "Why'd you rush out like that?" He asked her.
He didn't even know why she was mad. It was like he had forgotten all her warnings against angering the Hippogriff, against telling his father about it, against provoking the boy who lived and his friends. It was like what she said didn't even matter to him. She was just an ant under his boot and no matter how much she begged the boot just came crashing down.
"Hey, are you mad at me?" He asked once more. Was she mad at him? No. She was furious.
"Does my opinion matter to you?" She asked, ignoring both his previous questions. Saiph had turned away from him as soon as she'd seen him. She didn't want him to see her face, to see how angry he made her.
"What? Why are you asking that? Of course – of course it does." He stumbled over his words, a little surprised at the question.
"Then why do you never listen? I've warned you time after time about annoying Potter and Weasley. I warned you about not going to your father, and you did. And now your saying my opinion matters to you? Even though you've ignored it again and again. Do you even consider how your actions affect the people around you?" She fumed at him, but her back still faced him.
"Why are you taking this so seriously! it's just a stupid bird, and besides, who are you to tell me what to do. You act like you're all high and mighty like you can just control everything!" Draco retorted. The fight was beginning to get heated now and Draco raising his voice had made it even worse.
"Well maybe I can't control you or anything but that doesn't mean you should just ignore my opinion! I'm only trying to help! And all you've done by racing to daddy is make it all worse!" Saiph yelled back, walking slightly further away from the boy. She needed to get her emotions back under control. This fighting wasn't going to achieve anything and Saiph knew that, but it felt so good to let go and tell someone about what she was feeling.
Saiph took a breath and continued, quieter this time. "Buckbeak is not just some stupid bird, he is a Hippogriff, they are proud and noble creatures and you know that! Hades, Hagrid even said that right before you had to go and insult the poor creature."
"So now you're saying it's my fault the bird attacked me!" Draco yelled, he was getting angrier by the second.
"Well it is!" Saiph simmered.
"No! It's not! That half-breed oaf should have had it more trained! And do not disrespect my father like that, he is a powerful man, he could have you thrown out of this school in an instant! About Weasley and Potter too! Why do you even care, it's not like your friends with them but maybe you should be. You'd fit right in – being a naive little half-blood." Draco insulted.
"Oh, real mature Draco insulting my blood status. That's all that you really care about anyway. Status and reputation. Is that why you're such a bully! Why do you think everyone else is beneath you! Well guess what, they're not! And now you're using your daddy against me too! You think ratting out a little half blood is going to please him? It won't though, your daddy doesn't care about you because he's just as shallow as you are!" She screamed at him.
"My father may not care much for me, but at least my mother does, I can't say the same for you." Sneered Draco.
Saiph didn't even know why this upset her so much, she didn't even know much about her mother, but by Draco saying this she felt betrayed. Like her trust had been broken.
Maybe she was overreacting and therefore wasn't thinking straight but the next thing Saiph was rushing towards the boy with angry tears in her eyes. She grabbed his arm roughly and felt a crack under the pale skin. Draco screamed out in pain but Saiphs face was blank, no emotion showing anywhere on it.
"Here," She said, her voice menacingly calm, "A real injury to show your daddy." She then let him fall to the ground. "And if you say another thing about my mother," She glared at him, "I'll kill you."
The stoney look in her suddenly broke. Saiph stared at the boy on the floor, then her hands. She can't have been that strong, could she? Saiph felt her face grow hot as tears welled in her emerald eyes when she realised what she had done.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, trying not to let her tears free. "I don't know what came over me." Guilt rushed through her body and she began to panic, if she had broken his arm that easily in her rage, could she hurt someone else? What if she got angry again and hurt another one of her friends. She had to get out of here.
Saiph swiftly walked back into the classroom to gather her belongings. Sanpe was in the middle of trying to kill Neville's toad with what he hoped was poison. To Snape's displeasure though, the potion simply turned the frog into a tadpole. After this display, the attention immediately turned to her. Seems the class had heard her and Draco's little spat earlier because they began bombarding her with questions.
Saiph ignored all of them, wiping her eyes as she began to pack away her books and cauldron. Then she felt a hand on her arm. It was Pansy. "What was that about? Where's Draco?" She asked. Saiph stared at her guilty then continued to pack up.
Saiph made her way down to the Black Lake silently, she needed to clear her head. It was lunch time now so the school was noisier than ever.
As she sat by the great abyss known as the Black Lake her thoughts wandered to the subject of her mother. Why had she reacted like that? Saiph knew that she should probably apologise to Draco soon about his arm, her guilty conscience was eating her up, but at the same time she was scared and maybe a bit prideful about the matter.
Draco had said some pretty horrible things to her, she had said some pretty horrible things back, but that wasn't justification for how she reacted, was it?
No, it wasn't, she decided. Maybe they would laugh about the whole thing later, but at that moment she felt terrible about what she did. It was like she was just a guest in her own body and the moment he said that her control was completely lost.
Prior to learning about shifting, before she even knew that something like that was possible. Saiph would never hurt a fly, let alone break its arm for such a trivial thing.
Before Saiph could go even further down the rabbit hole of morals and emotions, she was knocked out of her thoughts by chattering voices. She looked around but saw no one, then she looked at the lake, more specifically at a rock about 20 metres from shore. On the rock sat three girls, each had long brunette hair and striking blue eyes. They looked familiar, but Saiph couldn't place where she had seen them before. Despite being in the middle of a lake, they weren't at all wet.
They were all wearing different coloured blouses and jeans. Saiph shivered at this, wet jeans. The girls must have noticed Saiph staring because they began to wave at her. Saiph waved back, mouth open in shock, then it clicked, these were the girls she had seen two days ago on the bottom of the lake.
Saiph opened her mouth to shout something to the girls, but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind her. It seemed every time she was to get answers someone always interrupted. Like the universe didn't want her to know these things yet. She turned to face her intruders only to find Daphne and Theo standing there. They both looked a bit miffed. Saiph assumed they had found out about her confrontation with Draco earlier.
"You broke his arm!?" Daphne started, "why? Why would you do that? What could he have possibly said to justify that?" She took a breath and continued. "You can't just go around breaking people's arms when they say something you don't like!"
In midst of Daphne's angry rant Saiph had her mouth open trying to get a word in to explain herself to her friends. Daphne left her no chance to do so as she resumed her righteous speech. "Honestly, I thought you were more mature than that!"
Theo had obviously seen Saiph struggle and took the resolve to help her out. "Daphne," he cut off the furious girl. "I know you're angry, I am too, but we won't ever find out why Saiph did it if you don't let her speak." He said calmly. Oh how Saiph was grateful for Theo, ever the voice of reason even in his anger.
For the next half hour Saiph tried to explain the incident to the best of her abilities. What had been said, how she felt like she wasn't in control of her own body. At the end of her retelling, Daphne and Theo had a face of understanding. Apparently Saiph's mother had always been a soft spot for her. It had taken her years to open up about it to her friends and even then, she didn't like to talk about it, therefore making it a taboo subject within the friend group.
Saiph told them how she felt guilty after doing what she did and how she regretted it. They were about to protest that she shouldn't have done it in the first place, then she got to the part where she felt like she couldn't control her body and the two friends' faces dropped.
"Again?" Theo questioned. Saiph grew a confused look. "What do you mean again? Has this happened before?" she asked.
Daphne answered with a cautious look on her face. "You've told us about this before, last year, remember? You said that – that sometimes you lose control of your body and do and say things you don't mean. We thought you were talking rubbish at first then it happened right in front of us and you had this scared look on your face." She explained.
Saiph's confusion was enlarging by the second, she frowned then said, "I – I don't remember ever telling you about this before though? Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Daphne confirmed, she then got distracted by the big bruise of Saiphs leg and began to worry, quickly picking up her wand and performing an 'episkey' charm. It was much more effective than Saiph's own as Daphne wanted to be a mediwitch.
"How did you get that," she asked.
Her worry, however, was cut off by a loud bell sounding from the castle. It was now time for Defence Against the Dark Arts. After it had been interrupted, the conversation had not started up again, so the three friends walked in silence up the hill to the castle.