Disclaimer: I think I'm going to stop bothering with these…

Blood Price

Chapter 4: Poison and Potions

My God… This is so boring.

I surveyed the rest of the class, who were all taking notes fervently as Snape spoke. He was lecturing us on moderate and lethal poisons. Having learned about these years ago back at my old school, you can only imagine how dull that made this class. And this was supposed to be a N.E.W.T. level course? God, Merlin, and whoever else…get me out of here.

Glancing down at the parchment in front of me, I made a minor adjustment to my drawing. Who needed notes when I could draw Death Eaters meeting bloody and horrible deaths? This peticular drawing was of two Death Eaters being drenched in acid in full detail and movement. I loved to watch them convulse. Creepy? Probably. Still bored..?

Fuck yes.

Unfortunately, this ceased to entertain me and I was left to fall into one of those lovely stupors where my eyes glaze over. My daydream of torturing more of the bastards was interupted when I was roused rather rudely some time later when Snape slapped his bony hand down on my desk and said, "I assume, Miss Shoreglade, that since you have no been paying any attention whatsoever, you did not hear me when I told you to begin." It wasn't a question.

So, being the smartass that I was, I yawned and gave him a questioning look. People, the Gryffindors mainly, sniggered quietly.

"Detention, Shoreglade. See me after class," Snape snapped. He turned his cold gaze on the rest of the class, who in turn began to get back to work. Amusing as I was (Yeah…right…), they were more afraid of Snape's icy wrath. Then, he walked away without telling me what the bloody hell I was supposed to be brewing.

Stupid bastard. He was probably still ticked from when I had yelled at him last night.

Sighing, I scanned what ingredients everyone else what grabbing. Hmm… Snake fangs, scorpion venom, cactus needles…

Oh, of course. Scorpius Toxin.

Yet another potion that I could brew with minimal help from a text. Getting up, I gathered what ingredients I needed and returned to my table. Rolling back my sleeves, I froze as I felt two pairs of eyes on me. As I looked up, I caught both Malfoy and Snape examined my arms.

Idiots. I had stopped cutting my arms. After my little talk with Snape, I had started slicing my upper leg instead. No one would look there… Okay, Malfoy might, but it's not like I'm going to let him… Well…

NO! BAD SAMARA!

I am disgusted with myself. My family was slaughtered, I cut myself up, I hear voices, I hallucinate, and I still can't help myself. Damn it, damn it, damn it!

While I waited for my solution to simmer, I tried to distract my thoughts by surveying the room. Heads were bent over cauldrons, and knives and mortars worked furiously over ingredients. So far, it seemed that I was the only one, despite my later start, who was in the last stages of brewing my poison.

No wait… Another girl was practically done as well. Playing with a lock of bushy hair, she waited for the liquid in her pot to finish cooling. She was farther along than I was. Next to her, a boy with messy black hair gave her pleading looks as his potion turned purple.

It was supposed to be burnt orange.

The frizzy haired girl gave her friend and exasperated look and wrote something quickly on a scrap of parchment. Passing it to him, the girl tried to look discreet and innocent. The boy read the note and then began to throw in more components with renewed vigor. About five minutes later, as I removed the Toxin from the flame to begin cooling, his potion had turned the right shade of orange.

Calling the end of our time, Snape pulled out a cage of horned toads. He then directed everyone to put a small amount of poison into a vial and to form a line in front of his desk. Moments later, I found myself sandwiched between the two students, Gryffindors I realized, I had been watching before. The girl, who was behing me, looked apprehensively between her vial and the toads, wincing when Snape fed the first amphibian some of the first student's Scorpius Toxin.

I could tell that the student hadn't let the snake fangs steep long enough in the scorpion venom before straining them out. The toad was supposed to go into immediate convulsions and an orange film was to coat the eyes.

The creature just choked some and died without any fuss.

Now what fun was that?

Snape scribbled something down, brushed the dead toad into a tank, and motioned the next kid forward sharply. Again, the potion hadn't been brewed properly.

The toad didn't even die.

Morons. It wasn't very complicated. All you had to do was read the directions. I wondered if anyone here was in the slightest possession of firing brain cells.

Another potion failed to produce the desired effect.

I was betting not.

Snape seemed to agree since he announced nastily, "Those of you who fail to produce the correct poison are to write a two foot essay on the Scorpius Toxin." Groans echoed loudly off the walls. "What was that?" the overgrown bat of man asked coldly.

Even I shivered at his tone.

"Yes, Professor," everyone said in unison.

Wow. That is just creepy.

The black haired boy in front of me glanced back, clearly expecting to find his friend. Moving to one side, I let him move behind me so that he could stand next to her and whisper whatever comment he had planned, seeming rather surprised that I'd let him.

Two more failed concoctions later, I handed Snape my vial and waited, bored, as he poured it down the toad's throat. I felt bad for the creature and vowed that I would be nice to any and all toads that I saw outside of class. I made extra promises over that when my toad began to twitch horribly as soon as it swallowed. Orange foam covered the creature's eyes and some came out of its gaping mouth. It was over in milliseconds.

A slight frown tugged at my lips. I had made it too strong.

Snape was frowning too. "What did you put in it, Shoreglade?"

The good little student in me was rearing her unwelcome head.

"I think…," I began, going through all of my actions when brewing the poison, "Ah, of course! I added hemlock shavings." Putting it in every toxin I made had caused it to not stand out in my memory as odd. Call it second nature. "It speeds up the absorption into the blood stream."

A dark eyebrow went up, but he said nothing.

Another scribble and I was free to go with no penalty homework. I went back to my station and sat down heavily. My eyes slid closed and I rested my head on my arms wearily. Nightmares had kept me up all last night, so I planned on taking a "power nap", but I didn't get a chance to since an arm wrapped itself around my waist.

Malfoy.

I looked at him from behind my hair. He was kneeling next to my chair, putting the top of his head roughly at my eye level. A small smile answered my glare.

It was a rather nice smile.

Goddamn it all to the burning fucking fires of bitching hell! I was not supposed to like him or be attracted to him. He was my bloody babysitter, a spy for that bastard Snape.

But damn, was he sexy!

Outwardly, I continued glaring. I was not going to let him know that I was almost fantasizing about him The hand that had been resting lightly on my side began to gently travel up and down, between just below my breast to the top of my hip.

"Get off me, octopus boy," I growled, trying not to enjoy his touch too much.

"Whatever do you mean?" he replied innocently.

"Now," I commanded. My patience was thinning by the second.

"No. I am enjoying this," he murmured, sidling closer.

"Bite me."

"Is that," he whispered seductively against my neck, "an invitation?" I felt his lips ghost over my skin, his breath so incredibly hot. "Well?" I was rather speechless. Even my resolve isn't foolproof. That is, until his other hand came to rest on my thigh, squeezing it playfully.

This is the last straw!

"Get your hands off me, or I will make a woman out of you, you bloody man whore!" I yelled, slapping him soundly across his face. Hot and sexy or not, he had no right to touch me like that.

"WHAT is going on here?" Snape's chilly voice intruded.

Oh, fuck.

Both Malfoy and I turned slowly towards Snape and the rest of the class. Wide eyes and shocked giggles of the other students and the enraged gaze of Snape greeted us. He approached menacingly, his black cloak billowing out behind him. Surprisingly though, he wasn't glaring at me.

He was glaring at Malfoy.

"Mr. Malfoy," he hissed quietly, "if I ever discover you harassing female students in my classroom again, we shall skip a visit to the Headmaster and I will personally reduce you to nothing but a mutilated corpse."

Barely noticing as Malfoy's already fair skin paled, the room shifted slightly in my vision.A mutilatedcorpse… No, corpses… The dungeon walls seemed to fade away and were replaced with crimson ones. The floor tilted more under me, causing me to stumble up from my chair. No! Merlin, no! Go away!

Just a little one, Samara. It'll make everything alright again, coaxed the Gray Voice. All you need to do is get a blade.

I lunged for my knife where it still laid on the table among the remnants of my potion ingredients.

Two pairs of hands grabbed my arms, preventing me from seizing the blade. I shrieked wordlessly, struggling. I didn't want to see more of the Room. But it was everywhere, they were everywhere.

Three bodies on the floor, broken. One was so small… Helen, O Merlin, Helen… Blood dripped loudly and heavily from the coated ceiling onto my hands. My hands…

My hands were covered in blood, crimson gloved, and sightless eyes stared at me accusingly. It's your fault, the eyes seemed to say, projecting all the blame. All the guilt.

I was guilty.

"My fault…" I repeated haltingly, the world swimming in a sea of deep red heart's blood. Everything was spinning violently.

A distant voice ordered, "Go get Madame Pompfry, Potter!" The speaker sounded vaguely concerned behind the frigidness of his tone.

The red void swallowed me, and I knew no more of the real, waking world. I was sucked into a world of bloody retribution and bodies.

And angry eyes.

And potions made of unspeakable things.

All of it coating my mind in a bitter poison.

(A.N.) Well, that's the end of this chapter, so please review, and then you'll get the next chapter as soon as I get around to typing it up. Thanks for reading!