Little Memories

“Come inside, Miss. Goyle,” the silky smooth voice of one Headmaster Snape resounded through the wooden door of the Headmaster’s office, previously occupied by Albus Dumbledore. Charlotte pushed open the door and stepped inside, carefully and quietly closing the door behind her. As she stepped closer to the desk that Professor Snape was seated at, she noticed that most of the odds, ends, and curious contraptions that Dumbledore had were no longer in the room. It felt a bit offsetting that there was no more whirring and whizzing of said inventions as the room was completely silent without them.

She sat down at one of two chairs in front of the desk and glanced around at all the portraits of past headmasters and her eyes lingered on one in particular. The wizened old wizard sat in a chair, his chin tucked to his chest as he appeared to be only sleeping. Charlotte’s expression grew a bit saddened and distressed as her eyes darted over the golden placard that said in fine, swirling script, “Albus Dumbledore.”

“I suppose you know the exact purpose of me calling you here,” Snape said in a stern voice, bringing the girl’s attention back to him suddenly. She stared at him, all emotion falling from her features as she stared into his inky black eyes.

“No,” she said in a strong voice, “I actually have no idea why exactly you’ve called me here, Professor.” Headmaster Snape’s expression fell to one of disapproval as he stared at her. He then pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his forefinger as he gave a heavy, tired sigh.

“I don’t appreciate your lack of cooperation, Miss. Goyle. I have been up since very early this morning trying to sort out a problem and I’m almost certain you could tell me something about it,” he said in a haggard sounding voice. Charlotte’s expression remained unfaltering as she stared intently at him.

“Why is that?” She asked, her stolid blue eyes fixed upon the man in front of her. He visibly grit his teeth in anger at the girl and placed both hands on the surface of his desk, staring down his nose at the insolent, uncommunicative girl.

“Miss. Parkinson and Mr. Zabini, as you know, were found in a heap at the bottom of the staircases this morning, battered and bruised, with no recollection of how they got there. There were empty bottles of Firewhiskey found shattered on higher floors, but…upon my examination of their minds, there is a great lapse in their memories; this is something only a very powerful witch or wizard could do,” he said, staring intently into the girl’s eyes. She obviously had ever possible mental shield up so he couldn’t tap into her thoughts, so he’d just have to coerce the information out of her.

Charlotte merely stared up at him, no hint of emotion on her face or in her eyes. It scared Snape a bit to see this young girl have to become so in control of what she thought and felt, but he also this girl had serious problems if she could feel nothing after doing the things she did. He drew in a deep breath and leaned closer to her across the surface of his desk, staring her directly in the eye. “I know you had something to do with this, Charlotte. There’s no use lying to me about it,” he said in a venomously low voice. “So…if you’d kindly tell me what happened to them…”

“Fine,” she said through a sigh, “you really want to know what happened?” She started, her blue eyes suddenly growing harsh. Snape made no inclination to answer, but merely continued to stare down the girl. “I’ve warned them for years, now, not to go messing with the wrong people or hurting people that are important to me,” she said simply, something growing very childlike in the girl’s eyes. “They didn’t listen to me, so they needed to be put in their place.”

“And you think you have the authority to do such things, Miss. Goyle,” Snape asked in a low voice. Charlotte merely stared at him, a small smirk curling the corner of her lips as time slowly ticked on.

“I know I do,” she said in an equally low voice. Snape looked at her for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and shaking his head. Silence lingered in the room for a few moments as Snape continued to stare at what he thought was a poor, lost girl.

“I know someone who has the same outlook on things, Charlotte,” he said in a much softer. Her smug expression slowly fell as it registered in her mind who exactly he was talking about. Becoming like Bellatrix Lestrange or, Merlin forbid, Lord Voldemort was something she most definitely didn’t want to be. For the first time in their brief meeting, Charlotte looked down to the desktop, breaking eye contact. “You aren’t like them…but if you continue to abuse the powers you have, you will be.” The blonde merely remained quiet, gnawing away on the inside of her cheek as she examined the wood grain of the desk.

“I know you’re tired of them bullying you around and hurting the ones that you love,” he said and she brought her eyes to him finally. “I understand that they made that Bludger hit Draco but if you had any suspicions, you should have come directly to me and I would have punished them to the fullest extent.” However, the man couldn’t blame her for wanting to stick up for herself and those she was attached to. He was the same way at Hogwarts, but his attempts at such a thing were thwarted most of the time. He paused for a moment as his mind wandered to his own experiences at Hogwarts, pursing his lips, before continuing, “I must ask you not to do something like this again. I know things are very different at Hogwarts this year, but that does not mean that you can take justice into your own hands.” Charlotte merely nodded, looking away once more.

“Yes, I understand that,” she said bashfully. “It was a very stupid, very reckless thing for me to do. It won’t happen again, I assure you.”

“Even if you wanted to happen again, I don’t think it would,” Professor Snape said, causing Charlotte’s brow to furrow with confusion. “Anytime I mention your name, both Miss. Parkinson and Mr. Zabini grew inexplicably frightened.” Charlotte bit her bottom lip in a mixture of embarrassment and to keep a smile of pride off her lips. “So it seems that whatever you had planned for them managed to work and I doubt they’ll bother you anymore.”

“Is that all you called me in here for?” She asked, staring at him after they had remained silent for a few moments. Snape stared at her for a moment or two longer, going completely still and quiet.

“No,” he said, “I’m afraid that’s not all I wanted to ask you about.” Charlotte stared at him intently, her lips slightly parted as she steadily drew in regulated breaths of air. “Dumbledore has left something for you to do within this next year and it will not be an easy task,” he continued.

“What does he want me to do?” She asked fearlessly, ready for whatever might be required of her.

Minutes later, Charlotte left the Headmaster’s Office, a determined look on her face and her mind swimming with the task that Albus Dumbledore implored of her. It certainly was not going to be easy, but it was something that could indeed be possible. It was just going to take a very long time before any sort of real progress was going to be made. Still, Charlotte was confident that she could do it.

Before Charlotte could even round the corner to leave the corridor that the Headmaster’s Office was located, a strong hand had secured itself around the top of her arm and tugged her behind a tapestry with a remarkable amount of force. She quickly spun around with a glower to whomever had interrupted her thoughts by manhandling her. Her eyes were set on none other than Draco Malfoy, who didn’t looked too pleased with seeing her either. Charlotte let out a heavy sigh as she leveled her chin with the floor.

“Have you been waiting out here for me this entire time?” She asked in a voice thick with restrained anger. He merely glared down at her, his lips curling into a near snarl.

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t slither off somewhere before we got to continue our conversation, that’s all,” he said in a slightly venomous tone. Charlotte sighed sharply through her nose, her lips pursed into a harsh line, and she glanced around.

“Well…it’s certainly not a conversation we can have behind a tapestry,” she spat and before she knew it, Draco had grabbed her arm once more and was practically dragging her down the corridors of Hogwarts, searching for an empty classroom to finish their discussion. Being that it was a Sunday afternoon, all the classrooms were free, so the first one they passed, Draco pulled her into before closing and locking the door behind them. It was a dusty old classroom, which made both of them think that it had lain in disuse for some time

Charlotte sank into a seat, dust clouding around her for a moment before drifting back down to the dirty floor beneath her as she stared up at Draco. He stared at her for a moment as she crossed her arms over her chest expectantly, one brow raised. He took a seat beside her suddenly, facing her, and looked over her face.

“So…you brought me here,” she started brusquely, “are we going to talk or not?” Draco stared harshly at her before finally bringing himself to speak to her.

“What did Snape want to talk to you about?” He asked abruptly. Charlotte gave an indifferent shrug and shook her head.

“It’s nothing that concerns you,” she said in a lofty voice.

“Bullshit,” he hissed, “tell me what you talked about.” Charlotte’s eyes suddenly grew dark as she stared at Draco.

“Why should I?” She asked, her nostrils flaring angrily as her eyes cut harshly into his. “It’s not going to change the fact that you thought what I’ve done is incredibly stupid.” Draco was at a loss for words before he realized what was going on.

“You need to stay out of my mind, Charlotte,” he growled as he stood and took a few steps away from her, fisting his hair in his hands. The high ceiling room fell silent as Charlotte stared at him as he paced the dirty, grimy floors of the room. She drew in a sharp breath of air and began to speak.

“So, you mean to tell me, that if it meant protecting me, or saving me from further humiliation…or keeping me from being bullied both physically and verbally, you wouldn’t have done what I did for you?” She asked in a steady voice, staring at his back. He spun suddenly and faced her, shaking his head slowly.

“No, Charlotte, I wouldn’t have,” he said in a low voice, “because what you did makes you no better than they are.” Charlotte stared at him darkly, her jaw clenching tightly against the words she wanted to say to him. Instead, she drew in a deep breath of air and held her head high.

“I will always be better than them…and you know it,” she said in a calm voice. “And I’m glad that I now know how strong your feelings are for me. I would have liked to think you’d do the same for me, if you needed to.” Draco sighed heavily and ran a hand over his face.

“You could have pulled a prank on them…or humiliated them by some other means,” he said, shaking his head, “but no. You hurt them, Charlotte. You’ve used the same tactics that Lord Voldemort uses. You’ve made them fear you because you’re a loose cannon.” Charlotte shot up from her chair, glaring darkly at Draco.

“I will never be like him and you know it!” She shouted, her voice echoing harshly off the high-ceilinged room. By now, her chest was heaving and her fists were clenched tightly at her sides. “He doesn’t have the ability to love. And I do! That’s why I did what I did…because I love you, Draco!” Angry tears were balancing on the brims of her eyes as she stared at him, everything about her posture and stance looking like she was a wild animal about to attack him. “After all that we’ve been through,” she said in a much softer voice, her body slowly relaxing, “we don’t deserve their shit. That’s why I put a stop to it and if you wouldn’t do the same for me…then I want nothing to do with you, you ungrateful bastard.” With that, she turned and left the room quickly, leaving Draco to think about all that she had said.