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Year One - Chapter 12
The last weeks of November and early December felt like an eternity, I couldn't wait for the holiday break to come and I could finally go to Malfoy Manor. I was still upset with Harry, Ron and Hermione, so now in class, I had to sit with Neville; after a while, I realized that he wasn't such bad company but I definitely got desperate when we had to work in pairs and our potion was ruined when he put the wrong ingredients.
—No, Neville!
—W-what?
—You have to crush the berries into a fine powder before adding them to the cauldron. Seriously, Neville, the instructions are in the book, you just have to follow them, it's not that difficult.
—Sorry...
I continued working with the rest of the Forgetfulness Potion, there were only three steps left so it didn't take long to finish it. After a few minutes my father got up from his desk to check our cauldrons, I was nervous, our the potion turned out a reddish-orange instead of orange, I don't know when Neville managed to ruin the potion, but he did.
—I need to talk to you after class, Eileen.
—Am I in trouble or something?
—No.
He finished making some notes about our potion and went to the table where Draco and Goyle were. I started cleaning the cauldron and storing the remaining ingredients in their jars.
—I'm sorry, Eileen.
—Why?
—For ruining the potion, I was re-reading the instructions and I noticed that after adding the Valerian sprigs we must mix 3 times, I did 4.
I sighed and kept putting the ingredients away, when I saw that everyone in the room was starting to leave, I grabbed my backpack and turned to see Neville.
—Read more carefully next time.
I let Neville finish cleaning the cauldron and walked as slowly as possible to my dad's desk, I hadn't done anything wrong these days, but I still couldn't help feeling a bit worried.
—What do you want to talk about?
—I received a letter from the Malfoys this morning. They have some business to attend to so you won't be able to go with them. You will have to stay in the castle for the Christmas holidays.
—But Professor McGonagall already has the list of those who will be staying in the castle.
—Don't worry, I'll talk with her.
I sighed, it didn't even make sense to bother me, nothing ever went the way I expected. I turned to see if anyone was still in the room but it was already empty, except for us.
—So, Draco will stay in the castle too?
—No, he will go with them.
—But then why can't I go too?
—Eileen, there's no point in discussing this, you will stay here.
—Fine... It will be nice to spend Christmas just you and me. It's the first time, right? Just the two of us.
—I believe the last time we spent Christmas alone you were still wearing diapers.
I began to hear footsteps in the room and conversations that grew lower and lower until they practically became whispers.
—You should go to your next class, Eileen, mine's here already.
I grabbed my bag, that I had put to the side of his desk and started to walk towards the door, but someone grabbed my arm and made me stop.
—Oh hey, George.
—Hey, Leen, listen, I'll say this quickly because your father is trying to kill me with his stare.
I turned around and my father was indeed looking at George like if he had just punched him in the face.
—There's snow outside, so we thought we would go out and have fun a little after class. Do you want to come with us?
—Sure, sounds like fun, I don't have any more classes today so I'll wait for you in the common room.
He let go of my arm and now I did leave the room without any other interruption, I went straight to the common room to be in front of the fireplace since the air in the hallways was freezing.
Luckily for me, the common room was almost empty, since everyone else has class at this time, there were only a few boys who appeared to be seventh years. I sat at one of the study tables closest to the fireplace and began to do my History of Magic essay.
After half an hour I had only made 10 cm of the 20 cm of parchment that Binns had asked us, I started to re-read the chapter about the Gargoyle Strike of 1911 when I saw that the chair in front of me moved a little and someone sat down.
—Hello. —I turned and saw that it was Hermione, putting her books on the table, I just ignored her and kept reading.— Are you doing Professor Binns's essay too?
—It's quite obvious, isn't it? —I said while pointing my finger at the title that I had put on the parchment, in which it clearly said "Gargoyle Strike of 1911"
I considered sitting at another table, but they were all occupied now and I knew that in my room I would not do anything and end up sleeping, so I had no choice but to stay there.
I continued reading and Hermione began to do the same, I thought she would understand that I did not want to talk to her and she would remain silent, but I was obviously wrong.
—I was thinking, Leen, maybe we could do the potions essay together.
—Why? Worried that my father will try to do something to you too? —Her face turned completely pale and an ink stain fell on her parchment.— Yes, I overheard your conversation with Hagrid the other day.
—Eileen... I...
—You are a bad friend, Hermione. —I started to close my books and put them in my backpack— How can you think that I or my father will hurt you? And I thought you were my friend...
—But I am!
—No, you're friends with Harry and Ron since you decided to side with them even though they didn't tolerate you for being an insufferable know-it-all.
I took my things and went up to the room, put the backpack under my bed and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. After about ten minutes I went back downstairs to the common room, I figured Fred and George's class should be over by now so they should be there by now.
They weren't there, but Hermione was still there and I certainly didn't want to be near her so even though the corridors are freezing I decided to go out and wait there for the boys, although luckily I didn't have to wait as they were about to enter the common room.
—Hello, mini Snape.
—Hi Fred, how was your class with my father? Did he try to poison you?
—No, —George said— but he really seemed to want to. Just let us leave our things in our room so that we can go out to the gardens.
—Right, well, um... I think I'll wait for you here.
—Any problem, Leen?
—No, no, just... Uhm... Don't dally. —They both walked into the common room, though a few seconds later Fred came out again.— Wow, that was too fast.
—I asked George to put my things in the room, I want to know what's going on.
—I don't know what you're talking about.
—Come on, I noticed you don't hang out with Ron and his friends anymore, you are always alone during meal times. Did you two have a fight or something?
—It's nothing important, Fred.
It seemed like he wanted to say something else but George stepped out of the painting and the three of us headed out into the gardens, which were completely covered in snow. First, we started making a snowman and I tried to make it talk, but the spell I did just blow it off and we were completely covered in snow.
We started to do a snow fight, first, it was between us, but then we decided to make several snowballs, hide and wait for someone to pass near us to throw the balls at them.
So far we had only thrown the snowballs at Percy and a few Slytherin boys, although luckily none of them had seen us, so we didn't think twice by casting the snowballs again and having them hit Quirrell in the back of his head.
—Very amusing, isn't it? Attacking a teacher.
I felt like all my blood run cold when I heard my father's voice, the three of us turned and he was standing a few steps away from us, with his arms crossed.
—Hi, daddy, what are you doing around here? Collecting ingredients for a potion? Do you need help?
—Do not try to change the subject, Eileen. All three of you will have detention tomorrow, in my office. And 10 points from Gryffindor. Go to your common room if you don't want me to take another 10 points.
—I do feel sorry, all those people who will have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, because their families don't want them in their houses.
I rolled my eyes after hearing Draco say that, since the day of the Quidditch match, he had become more annoying during class, I no longer cared that he said things about Harry, but he did it so often that it was starting to annoy me. When class ended, I started walking in the direction of the common room, but Draco caught up with me and we better start walking to the Great Hall.
—Hey, Leen, I came because... Well, I want to know if what I said in class bothered you. I know you will have to stay at the castle for Christmas.
—Wow, the great Draco Malfoy worried about my feelings? I will write this down in my diary, I must remember it for my whole life. —We both laughed as he lightly punched me on the shoulder.— Of course I'm not upset, I will stay in the castle, yes, but I will stay with my father, I will be with my family at Christmas, not like others.
—I must admit I said it without thinking, but I'm glad it didn't bother you... Do you really have a diary?
—No, of course not. Who uses diaries, anyway?
We continued walking and we found a large tree that took up much of the hallway, Hagrid, Harry and Ron were close to it.
—Hello, Hagrid, do you need help?
—No thanks, Ron, everything's fine.
—Trying to earn extra money, Weasley? You want to be a gamekeeper when you get out of Hogwarts, right? Hagrid's hut must be like a palace to you compared to your home.
Ron lunged at Draco, grabbing him by the collar of his robe, I was about to interfere when I saw my father at the top of the stairs.
—WEASLEY!
He let go of Draco's robes and stepped away a bit, staying to one side of Hagrid.
—They provoked him, Professor Snape. —Hagrid said.— Malfoy insulted his family.
—That's no true, dad, he attacked Draco for no reason.
I felt a bit bad for making Hagrid look like a liar, but I wanted to get even for what Ron had said about my family, so I said that without thinking.
—It doesn't matter who did what, Hagrid, fighting is against Hogwarts rules -My father said.- 10 points from Gryffindor and detention with Filch, Weasley. Now, everyone, leave.
Draco and I continued walking to the Hall, while Harry and Ron stayed with Hagrid.
—I can't believe you lied to your Uncle Severus, much less to get your friends in trouble.
—They're not my friends, Draco.
—I'm glad you finally realized that you were hanging out with inferior people. I had already guessed that because now you are always with that Longbottom. I mean he is also inferior, but I thought you were with him because you liked him.
—Ew! Neville? No, I can't believe you thought that.
Draco chuckled, he put his hand on my head and messed with my hair. He went to the Slytherin table and I went to the Gryffindor table, passed by Harry, Ron and Hermione and overheard a bit of their conversation with Hagrid.
—We want to know who Nicholas Flamel is, that's all.
—I'm not goin' to tell yeh anything and I don't want yeh to be lookin' for him.
Nicolás Flamel? I vaguely remembered hearing the name before, but who do they want to know who it is? Does it have something to do with what is hidden in the corridor on the third floor? I don't know, but I definitely knew what to do after eating.
