My black eye casts no shadow
Your red eye sees nothing
Your slap don't stick
Your kicks don't hit
So we remain the same
Cordelia Prince sat in the Slytherin common room staring out one of the large, ornate windows that looked out into the Black Lake. The only light left in the common room came from a few candles spread out across the room and the dull green hue from the lake. It cast the vast stone room with its leather button-tufted couches and dark wood furnishings in a sort of eerie glow, but Cordelia found this rather comforting.
It was late, probably past midnight, but she couldn't sleep. She kept replaying the events of the day in her head. It had been a particularly nasty day that had started with a letter from her mother berating her about participating in the quidditch trials. It seemed the school had sent her parents news of her injury. Something she really should have expected.
The letter had been something along the lines of "If you embarrass this family one more time, we'll transfer you to Beauxbatons Academy before you can say snitch." Being surrounded by silly little French girls for the next 5 years sounded like a fate worse than Azkaban to Cordelia.
It hadn't stopped there. Not long after her owl Sage had dropped off the dreaded letter and Cordelia was staring forlorn into her porridge, Malfoy had come swaggering into the great hall, wearing one of the Slytherin team's silver and green jumpers. Cordelia would have liked nothing more than to drown herself in her porridge. He'd sent her a haughty smirk and waltzed over to the rest of the team to eat breakfast. Presumably they would be heading to practice soon.
It hadn't been until later that day when Cordelia was moping around the common room pretending to make progress on her History of Magic homework that she had overheard the most infuriating bit of news. She had just crossed out the third unsuccessful sentence about how Barnabas the Barmy had tried teaching trolls ballet when Pansy Parkinson walked by with a few other girls in her year giggling about something asinine. However, a particular bit had caught her attention.
"...of course his father bought the whole team new brooms, he wants them to win the cup this year and it's not like he couldn't spare the expense. Only the finest for a Malfoy."
Cordelia's quill snapped in her hand and her nearby ink well magically flew off the table narrowly missing Daphne's head, who was sitting across from her, and smashed into the stone wall. Daphne looked up at her a bit wide eyed and muttered a "wow..." before Cordelia had stormed off.
That's how she got here, staring out into the swirling darkness of the Black Lake, instead of in her comfortable canopy bed, with its fluffy pillows, asleep like a sane person. Un-bloody-believable. She knew Malfoy wasn't above cheating and was an absolute menace to her on a daily basis, but she didn't peg him for someone who couldn't earn his own achievements. Part of her was disappointed in him. Despite their constant rivalry this felt low, unambitious even.
She did eventually drift off to sleep curled up on the dark green wingback chair, with one thought on replay in her head. Some Slytherin he is. Salazar is probably turning over in his grave.
Maybe Salazar Slytherin had turned over in his grave. Cordelia thought wide eyed, staring at the body of Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, hung by her tail below the letters written across the wall in what Cordelia highly doubted was red paint. They had just been enjoying a truly excellent Halloween feast only to run into this on the way back to the common room. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Someone had shouted from the front of the crowd. Cordelia's heart lurched. She knew that voice, it had been Malfoy. She felt someone grab onto her arm and looked to her side. It had been Tracey, who was staring stone faced at the bloody letters on the wall. Despite her expression, her hand was clutching Cordelia tightly.
"It was probably him and his little cronies, pulling some kind of sick prank," Cordelia whispered to Tracey as they watched Filch yelling at Harry Potter, of all people, about killing his cat.
"You!" The hunched over caretaker screeched at Potter, "You've murdered my cat!" Cordelia looked back to Tracey who still hadn't looked away from the writing. Luckily, a moment later Dumbledore came to sort the mess out and everyone dispersed back to the common room. Cordelia kept close to Tracey, who had been unusually silent since seeing the writing.
The three girls, still being quite full from the feast and not wanting to hear any more Malfoy's nonsense, went straight up the short ironwork staircase and down the tunnel to the girls' dorm. Cordelia had drifted off into a restless sleep, having hazy dreams of slithering snails that she could have sworn had Malfoy's face all chanting Mudblood over and over again.
The first week of November had brought with it a cold snap that had the grounds covered in frost in the mornings. Cordelia dreaded venturing outside of the castle and into the biting highland wind, which was an excellent excuse for her to lean on when the first quidditch match of the season rolled around one Saturday. It was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor normally a match Cordelia would never miss, but a deep bitterness had lodged itself in her chest after the events of last month. She would have sooner leapt into the freezing Black Lake stark naked than to have gone to this game.
Tracey had given her best effort trying to persuade Cordelia from the dorm that afternoon, but she stubbornly refused to go.
"But Cordelia, it's the first match of the season!"
"Tracey I swear to Salazar Slytherin himself, if I end up going I'm going to cheer for Gryffindor and then I'll be disowned from the whole house." Cordelia had whined. "Is that what you want?"
Tracey signed, exasperated. "Can't have that, then." And with a begrudged look had left the dorms to head down to the quidditch pitch with the rest of Slytherin house. This left Cordelia quite alone in the common room, which she considered a blessing. Good I can brood in peace.
And brood she did. She sat at one of the comfy green couches, staring into the large stone fire thinking of all the things she could say or do later to terrorize Malfoy as revenge. She sat in her revenge fueled trance for who knows how long until finally people began to trickle back into the common room. Judging from the general mood, it didn't look like Slytherin had won. Cordelia tried to look stoic, but the corners of her mouth couldn't seem to behave.
Tracey flopped onto the couch beside her, Daphne soon followed in an adjacent armchair.
"I've got good news and I've got bad news." Tracey signed.
"Bad news, first then." To her credit Cordelia did manage to sound aloof.
"We lost." Daphne interjected, not seeming that upset about it either.
"Considering the mood, not surprising," Cordelia said surveying the room. Everyone did seem a bit defeated, which considering Slytherin hadn't lost the quidditch cup in seven years, wasn't surprising. "And the good news?" She questioned.
At this Tracey let out a crooked smile. "Malfoy missed the snitch. Literally had it floating right behind his head, the tosser! Potter had a particularly nasty bludger after him and still managed to catch it before Malfoy." Tracey let out a barked laugh. "It was embarrassing, honestly."
Cordelia was trying her best to not break out into a full-blown grin, feeling absolutely giddy that Malfoy had managed to embarrass himself so thoroughly. They heard a loud snort from behind them. She turned to look over the back of the couch to see none other than one of Slytherin team's chasers, Adrien Pucey. Adrien, a handsome boy with intense green eyes and dark hair that fell in soft waves across his forehead, was two years ahead of Cordelia. He was sitting with a few other students in his year including, Miles Bletchly, the team's keeper, a pale dark haired boy who's features resembled a goldfish a bit.
"You forgot the part where he fell off his broom and landed on his ass." Adrien snickered with the rest of the boys. "Poor sod is still in the showers sulking." He had one arm slung over his chair and leaned towards Cordelia. "You know Prince, you should have tried out for seeker instead. Maybe then we would have actually won." He shot her a wink as he and his friends got up to leave.
She flushed up to her forehead, though she tried to pretend that was not happening. That did not stop her two friends from staring at her knowingly.
"Pucey does have a point, huh Daphne?" Tracey said with a cheshire cat smile.
Daphne raised her eyebrow. "Yes, couldn't agree with him more, eh Cordelia?"
Cordelia, cheeks still red, was trying her best to hide a smile. "Oh shove off."
The next day, Cordelia had gone down to the great hall that morning hoping for a peaceful Sunday breakfast only to be met with an uproar of chatter. She sat down in an empty seat between Daphne and a boy from their year, Theodore Nott, a lanky boy with sandy hair. He was leaned over to talk with some other students about something in a hushed tone.
"What's got everyone's knickers in a twist this morning?" Cordelia asked more than a little irritated with the chatter.
Nott had turned to her a little surprised, "Haven't you heard? A student was found last night, petrified. Some Gryffindor." He had scoffed at that.
Cordelia hadn't really been able to enjoy her breakfast after that and soon after headed back down to the common room. She sat in the common room at one of the long dark tables reading Holidays with Hags, one of Lockhart's books he had assigned 2 feet of parchment on. I'd rather snog one of these hags than read another word of this rubbish. It wasn't just the pompous tone the book was written in that was making it nearly impossible for her to focus, but the constant chatter of the common room.
She was failing miserably to focus on how Lockhart had saved all those village children from the nasty hag by blinding her with his dazzling smile. Her mind kept wandering back to Colin Creevy, a muggle born first year, who she had found out was the Gryffindor student that Nott had mentioned.
Cordelia thought back to the bloody writing on the wall on Halloween. Enemies of the Heir beware… Was the enemy of Salazar Slytherin really after just the muggle borns…? Cordelia was trying her best to ignore the murmurings she had heard from some of her nastier classmates. A group of which were snickering amongst themselves at the far end of the table.
"Of course it was a mudblood."
"Probably won't be the last either."
"Who do you reckon will be next?
Cordelia snapped her book shut and exhaled sharply through her nose. Bigoted prats. She stood up swiftly from her chair and walked towards the group of snickering teens. She slammed her book down on their side of the table.
"If you're going to be ignorant, you could at least do it quieter." With that she stormed off towards the girl's dorm, hoping to find some peace and quiet. Just as she had reached the top of the stairs she ran into the familiar figure of Tracey coming down from the dorms. Cordelia glanced back at the older students still at the table whispering quietly amongst themselves at the same table, still presumably spouting their nonsense. She made up her mind to head Tracey off.
"Hey Trace, wanna help me sneak into the kitchens?"
Tracey grinned at this, "Merlin yes, I'm starved." With that the two made their way down the kitchens for the rest of the afternoon.
The next month had gone by with relatively little excitement. On one particularly dull afternoon, Cordelia found herself in her least favorite class, Herbology. Even more unfortunately for her, today they would be working with infant mandrakes. She had already watched Longbottom faint the previous week from the plant's lethal crying, having apparently neglected to secure earmuffs for himself. That was enough to make her contemplate faking dragon pox to get out of class.
Nevertheless, she found herself elbow deep in fresh soil trying to wrestle the, no doubt screaming, mandrake out of its pot. At the potting station next to her, Tracey was having a lot less trouble, having already dug most of the young plant out of its pot.
"How did you manage that so fast?"Cordelia looked at her incredulously. Tracy almost looked bored, which was unusual for the girl, who normally looked forward to herbology lessons. All Cordelia got in response was a vague grunt. Cordelia tried focusing on shifting the soil around in her pot, but couldn't help casting nervous glances at her friend. Tracey was looking forlornly down at the wrinkled little root in her pot.
"Trace, you alright?"
Cordelia's focus was abruptly pulled back to her own pot as she felt a sharp pain in her finger. It seemed the mandrake had clamped its tiny mouth down on her finger. Tracey looked at her and snickered. That was until Cordelia jerked the baby mandrake from her pot. It let out an ear shattering scream as she tried her best to shove it into the new pot, with fresh soil.
It seemed the irritating little plant had a different idea as its tiny veiny arms had gripped on to the side of the new pot. Despite Cordelia's best efforts to push its tiny, screaming head under the fresh dirt, it seemed determined to not budge. Tracey thankfully took pity on her, helping her shove the shrieking plant under the fresh dirt.
"Thanks, Trace," Cordelia said to her friend who had already turned back to her own mandrake. The most response she got out of the girl was a vague hum of acknowledgement. Tracey was busy quickly scooping her mandrake out of the old pot and into the new one. Hers hardly even screamed…
"Excellent work, Miss Davis," Professor Sprout complimented while passing by. Cordelia couldn't ignore the nasty look a few of their classmates shot Tracey at this. From the look on her face it seemed Tracey also noticed. Cordelia felt a pang of guilt at this.
"Ignore those gits," she scoffed. Tracey had a detached sort of look about her, her eyes solidly set on her already potted plant.
"Bit hard to do when it's the whole house."
"It's not the whole house…"Cordelia felt her stomach sink further, eyebrows furrowing. She wasn't sure she believed herself with all the murmurings and nasty comments she had heard lately. "Only the incredibly stupid ones." This got a half hearted snort from Tracey, but she wouldn't meet Cordelia's eyes, still fixated on the pot in front of her.
Determined to at least get her friend to crack a smile, Cordelia grabbed a small clump of dirt from her pot, tossing it at Tracey. It hit her cheek leaving a little smudge of dirt and earning an offended gasp from Tracey. Cordelia looked at her with feigned innocence.
"What? It was him," she pointed down at the newly potted mandrake, "extremely cracky that one."
Tracey looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment before turning back to her pot. Cordelia let out a labored sigh, turning back to her own station. She'd leave Tracey be for now. Maybe she just needs some tim– She was pulled from her thoughts by a clump of dirt smacking her in the forehead before falling down onto her robes.
She whipped her head in the short haired girl's directions. Tracey was trying and failing to keep a straight face.
"What? Maybe I'm cranky too?"
Cordelia grinned at her friend before chucking another clump of dirt back in retaliation. Their little battle continued for a minute before Professor Sprout came by and admonished the two. They both tried to look guilty. However, as soon as the Professor walked away, and Cordelia met Tracey's eyes they devolved into fits of giggles.
November faded to December and Cordelia finally felt as if she might have a relatively normal rest of the school year. On one particular afternoon, she found herself in her element in the potions classroom, deep in the Hogwart's dungeons.
The cold stone room was lined with jars upon jars of pickled animals and various glowing substances. There were half a dozen tables where students could place their cauldrons and try their best not to earn Professor Snape's ire. At the front of the classroom was a chalkboard on which said professor had written some especially detailed instructions for a swelling solution. This is where Cordelia was trying her best to apply all her focus on, with great difficulty.
She was yet again partnered with Malfoy. What did I ever do to Snape to deserve this? He was currently flicking her carefully counted pufferfish eyes at Potter and Weasley.
"Knock it off Malfoy," She seethed, "you're wasting all our ingredients."
He scoffed in return, having turned his attention to Longbottom getting chastised by Snape once again. Cordelia glanced over at the visibly trembling boy. He should really get a tutor. She rolled her eyes and went over to one of the shelves to get more eyes. Just as she turned to go back to their cauldron, she noticed Potter ducked under his table. Odd… He quickly lit what looked to be a firecracker of some sort and threw it into her and Malfoy's cauldron.
Her eyes widened and for a brief moment she locked eyes with Potter as he turned. They both looked at each other for a moment before they both ducked for cover. Cordelia leaped behind Professor Snape's desk just as the mayhem began. From her place of cover, she heard the potion explode and several people shrieked, one of which sounded suspiciously like Malfoy. I'd know that high pitched scream anywhere… Snape should really dust under here.
Cordelia brushed her hands on her robes and peaked over the top of Professor Snape's desk. What she was greeted with was indeed mayhem. Several students were groaning in pain, parts of their bodies swelled up to triple their normal size.
She stood up fully now that the coast was clear and walked back toward her station where Malfoy was clutching his face. When he finally moved his hand, she could see that a glob of the potion had managed to land on his nose, which had swelled up like a balloon. Cordelia immediately let out a snort of laughter. She looked over to Goyle who was flailing around with a hand the size of a dinner plate. This is the best potions class ever.
She met Malfoys gray eyes, which now looked small and beady compared to his still growing nose, and burst into uncontrollable giggles. Her sides were hurting from laughter, and Malfoy's stare was positively lethal.
Snape finally got back control of the class telling anyone who had been splashed, to come to the front of the class for a Deflating Draft. Cordelia had managed to suppress her laugh at the death stare Professor Snape was putting out. She watched as the affected students walked to the front. Malfoy, in particular, seemed to be having a lot of difficulty seeing how top heavy his head had become. As he staggered away she glanced over to Potter. To her surprise, he was already looking nervously her way.
A few moments later after the students had begun de-swelling, Professor Snape came back over to Cordelia and Draco's cauldron with a ladle and scooped out the firecracker.
"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape said in a low tone, "I shall make sure that person is expelled." Then as if on cue both he and Cordelia turned to look at Potter, though only one of the cousins knew the truth.
For the rest of the lesson she could feel Potter's nervous glances, as if at any point she might rat him out to Snape. As if. It was bloody hilarious. She thought back fondly to Malfoy's gigantic nose. She glanced to her side where said nuisance kept running his hands over his nose as if to make sure it hadn't re-swollen suddenly. She had to suppress a laugh again.
Soon the bell rang and everyone began filing out of the classroom. Cordelia had just made it out of the door when she heard a loud "pst" from her side. She glanced to the side of the potions classroom only to see Potter standing there motioning her over awkwardly. She raised her eyebrow, but walked over, nonetheless.
"You rang, Potter?" she said dryly.
Potter looked quite nervous, she almost felt bad for him. He's probably worried about being expelled for his little stunt.
"Yeah, erm why didn't you tell Snape about the–" he gestured vaguely toward the classroom then made a kind of exploding motion with his hands.
Cordelia Snorted. "I think I have better things to do than get the great Harry Potter expelled." He immediately looked a little relieved. She rolled her eyes. "Besides, watching Malfoy's nose swell up like a cantaloupe was bloody brilliant, Potter," she let out a genuine laugh.
Potter to her surprise flushed a bit at this. "Right, then um thanks." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Looks like you owe me two now, Potter." At this Harry blanched but was rescued by the Weasley boy calling for him and he rushed off. As Cordelia was watching him walk off, she heard a seething voice from behind her.
"You knew Prince?"
Cordelia whipped around to see Malfoy had just exited the classroom, after having apparently overheard the whole conversation. She scoffed, but Malfoy continued.
"Taking Potter's side?" He spit out, "Pathetic."
Cordelia's nostril flared as all her anger from the last month came rushing back.
"Jealous Malfoy? Today isn't the first time you've missed something right under your nose." She gasped suddenly pointing behind his head. He turned in confusion. "Sorry, thought it was a snitch, I wouldn't want you to miss another one." She snickered, as did a few other nearby students.
The tips of Malfoy's ears turned red, and he whipped back around to her. "Everyone knows Potter only made the team because he's famous," he sneered back.
"That's rich coming from someone who's daddy bought their way onto the team with new brooms!" Cordelia was furious and nearly yelling now. A crowd of the students had begun to form to watch the two's screaming match.
"What is he your boyfriend now? Are you a house traitor as well as a blood traitor–"
Cordelia cut him off shapely, "What are you on about Malfoy?"
"You know exactly what I mean. Someone from your bloodline hanging around a filthy mudblood like Davis? Disgusting." He spit out pointing at Tracey, who was amongst the crowd watching the verbal sparring. She could see Tracey flinch at the slur. The fight didn't stay verbal for long.
That comment directed at her friend was the last straw. Cordelia saw red, threw her potion book and bag onto the floor, and leaped forward, tackling Malfoy to the ground. He yelped as she landed right on top of him and reared up to land a rather hard punch to his right cheek bone, which immediately started to blossom red. Malfoy, now enraged and red in the face, threw his arm forward and managed to elbow her across the mouth.
Cordelia grunted a bit and flinched back, a trace of something metallic hitting her tongue. Still furious, she hardly noticed, before once again rearing her arm back and smashing her fist across the same side of the blonde's face.
Malfoy let out a high-pitched groan and reached his arms up trying his best to get her into a headlock. The two brawled on the ground for a few moments while the throng of students jeered, until a voice bellowed above the crowd.
"SILENCE! You two, enough!" Malfoy, who had a handful of Cordelia's hair, was ripped away from her and hauled rather violently to his feet. She was greeted with the side prolife of an enraged Professor Snape.
"WHAT do you think you're doing?!" Snape seethed at Malfoy nose to nose, then rounded on her. He pulled her to her feet in a considerably less aggressive manner than he had Malfoy, but his voice had lost none of the venom.
"Two students from my own house, brawling in the hallway like barbarians?"
Malfoy opened his mouth to protest but one icy stare from Snape cut him off. "The rest of you begone! Go to your classes," he commanded. The crowd dispersed and Cordelia caught Tracey's downcast stare for a moment before she headed off. Professor Snape turned back to Cordelia and Malfoy.
"This is unacceptable behavior from two students of Slytherin house. Two months detention for the both of you–"
"But–" Malfoy attempted to interrupt, outraged, but Professor Snape cut him off again.
"Another word, Malfoy and it will be three months."
At this Malfoy snapped his mouth closed. Meanwhile, Cordelia was staring at Malfoy with a look of absolute loathing.
"Your detention will be up to my discretion, but believe me, it will be tedious and painful. Malfoy to class now," he ordered coldly. He turned to Cordelia and produced a black handkerchief out of the pocket of his robes, handing it to her. She opened her mouth to question him and was immediately met with a sharp stinging pain. She pressed the handkerchief to her now oozing split lip.
"Prince with me." Professor Snape didn't leave a lot of room for argument as he immediately headed down the corridor, his black robes billowing behind him.
She took one more chance to glare at Malfoy, who was holding his now swelling cheek bone and sneering right back at her. Cordelia had to jog a little to catch up to Snapes brisk pace. What, is he gonna start my detention now? All she really wanted to do was go back to the common room to check on Tracey. She followed Snape out of the dungeons, through several corridors, up a few staircases, and to her surprise he came to a stop in front of the hospital wing.
He stared down at her with an unreadable expression, before ushering her into the hospital wing and fetching Madam Pomfrey.
"Miss Prince thought starting a brawl in the corridor was a bright idea," he said dryly before taking his leave. Cordelia stood there utterly confused as Madam Pomfrey fretted over her split lip. While they were family, Snape never coddled her. He might occasionally seem to favor her in class, but this was different. He hadn't marched Malfoy down to the hospital wing personally and he came out of their little row arguably worse. Was that actual concern? For my well being?
Madam Pomfrey soon sent her on her way, split lip completely healed. As she walked back to the common room, she felt a surge of fondness for her gloomy, aloof cousin, who had just shown more care for her than her parents had in months.