The detention I received for beating up Malfoy was held in the dungeons of Hogwarts a week later on Friday night. Snape's office was a dark, depressing room, with jars of animal bits and plants floating in different potions on the many shelves lining the walls. When I entered the room, it seemed to become a lot colder. I hugged my robes tighter. I then noticed Harry stood next to the door. He hadn't received a detention, as far as I knew. He looked like he'd been there a while.

"...What're you doing here?" I asked, my curiosity growing.

Harry shrugged, "No idea. I know why you're here, though." We both chuckled. Harry's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he smiled at me. I walked over and stood by him, practically forced by my own legs.

We waited about fifteen minutes for Snape to arrive. He locked the door to the room and stared at us suspiciously for a while, and then he explained why we were there. "You two insolent little cretins are here for being sneaky and deceitful. I knew you were hiding something."

This time, Harry scooted closer to me and grabbed my hand, flinching from the slight pain and grabbing at his scar. I didn't understand why he would keep touching me even though it caused him pain, unless he really liked me.

"...What are you talking about?" I narrowed my eyebrows.

Snape drew closer, "You and Potter,...I have come to find,...are associated with the dark lord...which means...you are of great importance to me…"

I am not associated with the dark lord! I've never even met him in my life!

I tried to tell Snape this but he silenced me. He grabbed me by the arm and tugged me away from Harry.

"Leave her alone!" Harry ordered our professor. Snape turned to him with a snarl and dragged him by the scruff of his robes to a big black chair.

He threw him down onto it, "Incarcerous!" Harry became bound to the chair with ropes.

"Do not speak unless spoken to, Potter." He warned him. Snape turned around when he heard me frantically pulling at the door handle, trying to escape. I rushed behind Snape's desk with him on the other side, both of us prepared to dash as soon as the other made a run for it. The desk levitated under Snape's command, and in the blink of an eye, he had me in his grasp.

He threw me down onto the chair next to Harry and tied me up using the same spell. I struggled underneath the tight ropes. He stood in front of me, "Allow me to explain. You see, Woodcroft, just last night, a black mamba, uncannily similar to the one presented in class, was found in your dormitory."

Oh, shit, they've captured Elani...

"Unfortunately, when we tried to capture it, it got away...So, the question is, are you going to tell me why you stole the snake? What...are you hiding?" I didn't answer. "You have already revealed your power to communicate with serpents so you obviously saw some gain in taking the black mamba, correct?" When he realized I wasn't going to talk, he turned to Harry and without hesitation cast a horrible spell on him, "IMPERIO!" Harry's yells and moans of pain nearly busted my eardrum. Snape was torturing him, and there was nothing I could do about it. "TELL ME. NOW." He yelled, his black eyes mirroring the very depths of hell.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" I begged him. Surprisingly, he did, and gave me a look as if to say "I'm waiting".

For the umpteenth time, I told him, "I don't know what you want..."

He grimaced.

"Please...don't hurt Harry anymore..."

Mad and impatient, Snape grabbed a bottle from his desk and flipped the cap off. When I looked closely, it was the veritaserum. "I wish it didn't have to resort to this."

Liar. You wanted this from the beginning.

He practically forced the potion down my throat. I coughed a few times, and then found myself speaking without permission, "Yes, I did take the black mamba. She told me I was in grave danger and that she'd help me in return for her release. "

"...What else?"

"...I don't know what you want...Ever since the start of the school year I haven't known. I have no secret to tell you."

I watched Snape's expression deaden. He was probably too furious to speak.

"Get...out..." He mumbled, obviously not remembering he'd tied us up.

"W-we're tied u-"

He turned around and zapped the ropes off. "GET OUT." Without another word, Harry and I ran for the door and never looked back.