Another Year at Hogwarts

Many weeks began to slip by, and before I even realized it, the weather had gotten colder and the leaves had begun to change. November was upon us.

Despite the changes in the weather, the activities at Hogwarts had remained unchanged. Snape remained hidden away in his office to discuss things with Dumbledore’s Portrait, along with all the other portraits. All the while, Slytherin students slithered their way up and basically dominated the school along with the Carrow siblings—who continues to abuse their power and torment the rest of the student body and teachers. As for the other houses, many of them have banded together to fend off these invaders of Hogwarts. Led by Luna, Ginny and Neville, Dumbledore’s Army continuously caused trouble wherever injustice occurred. This included refusal to participate in class—let alone going to class, breaking students out of the Carrows’ detention sessions and writing “Dumbledore’s Army, still recruiting” on the walls. Anyone found or suspected to support Harry Potter or the late Dumbledore were severely punished by the Carrows, or Slytherin students.

As for Draco and I, we went a while without talking to each other. But after some extensive Occlumency lessons with Snape, when he had time, I was finally able to restrain myself when I’m around Draco. After that, though, I have to say that our time together had become very dull. I mean, it was good that the two of us aren’t arguing all the time now, but now I felt close to nothing when I’m with him. Little words are exchanged between us now, but none the less, our conversations were meaningless.

I sat in Snape’s office one evening after we finished our Occlumency lesson. He had gone back to his desk and sat down a bit exhausted.

“You did well today,” Snape said.

“Yeah…” I trailed off.

Snape glanced over at me. “I don’t think there is a need for any more lessons.”

“Okay,” I replied dully.

The room was then filled with silence. It was during that silence that I couldn’t help but wonder why I was feeling so empty. I should have felt happy that I no longer had to have Occlumency lessons with Snape anymore. It meant that I had mastered it—well, mastered it enough to protect myself from have others look into my mind. But I wasn’t. I felt absolutely nothing.

“Are you…are you ill?” Snape suddenly asked.

“No,” I simply replied while turning to look at him. “Why?”

Snape didn’t reply right away. Instead, he just stared at me from his desk with this puzzled look on his face. “Go to bed,” he finally said.

“I’ll make a round of the castle first,” I informed as I rose to my feet.

“No,” Snape argued. “Get to bed.”

“You have your usual assembly in the Great Hall,” I reminded. “I’ll make sure there aren’t any students skipping.”

I waited a moment to see if Snape would say anything to stop me. But instead, he stood up and said, “Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle should be the only students who aren’t at the assembly.”

“Understood,” I said as I walked out of the room.

I first headed towards the Great Hall and watched as students made their usual march into the Great Hall. No one spoke and almost everyone kept their eyes to the ground. It was a gloomy scene, though it was nothing new.

After the students had entered the Great Hall, the Carrows followed them inside. I then took my leave and went to make my round of the school.

As I strolled through the halls of Hogwarts, my eyes were peeled open and in search of any signs Dumbledore’s Army or other students who had decided to skip the mandatory gathering.

While walking through the second level of the school, I could hear talking coming from around a corner. And as I rounded the corner, I saw two large figures standing over a smaller one. As I got closer, I came to identify the two larger figures to be that of Crabbe and Goyle.

“What are you two doing?” I inquired as I stood before them.

Crabbe and Goyle quickly spun around and faced me with their wands held out.

“Lower your wands you idiots,” I growled.

Crabbe and Goyle glanced at one another for a moment before doing so. They then stood with their eyes to the ground.

I looked away from Crabbe and Goyle and to the guy on the ground. “Who’s this?”

“Terry Boot,” Crabbe answered.

“Was he found skipping the meeting?” I asked.

“No,” Goyle replied. “He’s been going around praising Potter and all that crap. The Carrows told us to take him aside and teach him a little lesson,” he grinned.

I stared down at the Terry Boot, who was sitting motionlessly on the ground. He was still alive, so I can only assume that Crabbe and Goyle had used a binding curse on him.
I sighed heavily, pulled my wand out and pointed at Terry. “Finite.”

A loud cry escaped Terry the moment he was free to move.

“According to Alecto and Amycus, torturing is more entertaining when you can hear the cries of your victim,” I sighed before slipping my wand back into my dress pocket. “Anyways, take him back to the Great Hall. If you two are going to punish someone again, at least do it in front of others so that something useful can come out of it.” I then began to talk away.

“But we’re not done with him,” Crabbe growled as he stood in my way. “We’ll bring him back when we’ve finished.”

“Are you disobeying me?” I asked while glaring up at him.

“Yeah—yeah, I am,” he said as he stared down at me bravely. “I don’t care who you are. Yeah, you might be working under the Dark Lord, but you’re not even a Death Eater. You’re just a lowly Mudblood—in other words, a pawn.” Crabbe then brought his face closer to mind as he continued. “You have no authority over me. So, don’t tell me what to do you filthy Mudblood.”

“What the hell did you call her?” someone questioned from behind me.

I didn’t even care to turn around because I knew exactly who it was. Within seconds, Draco was standing between Crabbe and me, his hands clutched tightly onto Crabbe’s vest.

“What the bloody hell are you doing Malfoy?” Crabbe exclaimed. “Why the hell are you helping this Mudblood?”

“That ‘Mudblood’—Death Eater or not—is still your superior!” Draco said as he shoved Crabbe backwards. “If she gives you orders, you obey.”

“I don’t give a crap!” Crabbe argued. “I’m not taking orders from a bloody Mudblood!” Crabbe bellowed while pointed at me.

“Are you questioning the Dark Lord then?” Draco asked. “She is working under the Dark Lord, and to question her is to question the Dark Lord,” Draco pointed out. “We wouldn’t want her to send words to the Dark Lord about your behavior, now, would we?” A small grin then fell onto Draco’s face as he added, “I wonder what kind of punishment your father would receive for having such a disloyal son?”

Anger suddenly flashed in Crabbe’s eyes as he glared at Draco. His jaw tightened, and his hands formed into fists around his wand. His body began to tremble in anger, and slowly his face became red. I was almost certain that Crabbe was going to punch Draco or something, but instead, he reached out and grabbed Terry by the collar and pulled him to his feet.

“If you didn’t help murder Dumbledore, you wouldn’t be in the position to say this to me, Malfoy,” Crabbe whispered to Draco before dragging Terry down the hallway. Goyle followed the two, leaving only Draco and me in the hallway.

“I didn’t need your help,” I informed as Draco turned around to face me. “I could have handled it by myself.”

“By kill him, perhaps?” Draco asked.

He’s going to die anyways, I couldn’t help thinking, so it wouldn’t have mattered if I did kill him right there. Of course, I didn’t say this to Draco, though.

“Let’s just say I was trying to help a teammate, Teammate,” Draco grinned as he walked passed me.

Later, when I returned to my room, I sat on my bed and stared out into the darkness of my room. Slowly, I got up with my wand in hand and made my way to a large mirror, which was placed in the far corner of the room. Using Lumos, I stared at the reflection of myself in the mirror.

It’s been a while since I actually looked at myself, and what I saw in the mirror disgusted me. Compared to the first time I saw myself as Victoria Baker, my skin had turned a sickly white. My violet eyes, which I had once found unique and captivating, were now lifeless and dark.

As I continued to stare at myself, I suddenly had to urge to destroy what I saw before me. So with a furious cry, I brought my fist up and slammed it into the image of myself. My reflection shattered before my eyes as I pressed my fist against the broken mirror. And even as blood trickled down my arm and the mirror, I felt no pain, joy or anger.

I felt nothing.