Don't Lie to Me | By : Veresna Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 13599 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. |
CHAPTER 7: You Either Laugh or Cry
Helena stormed angrily down the hallway, her cheeks flushed and her breath coming in quick, angry gasps. Her arms were clenched about her bulging, ruined knapsack. The arousal that had so suprisingly overwhelmed her when she was in Snape’s office had quickly abated, and the only feeling she had towards the man at the moment was a singularly ferocious hatred.
"That son of a bitch!" she thought. "How dare he ask me those questions?"
She was particularly upset at revealing the details of her humiliating encounter with Graham Grammis during the Yule Ball. She had confided most of the particulars about it to Angelique, of course. But she hadn’t told her roommate about his crude comment regarding her breasts.
She wound her way through the intricate twists and turns of the Hogwarts hallways automatically, her still unshed tears making her vision blurry. She had turned automatically to return to the Ravenclaw dormitory, but she suddenly short and hovered indecisively.
What if she went to Flitwick right now and told him what had just happened? Maybe the tiny but powerful head of Ravenclaw would challenge that lean, lanky, sarcastic head of Slytherin to a duel. The image of Snape being blasted into the air by a powerful curse was quite satisfying at the moment.
Or maybe she should even consider telling Dumbledore about all of this?
For a few moments she allowed herself the luxury of imagining Snape being summoned by the Headmaster and upbraided for his outrageous behavior. Maybe he’d even be summarily dismissed. The students would be celebrating for weeks.
But…….
She sighed and sat down upon the steps, setting her tattered bag beside her. If she tried to make any issue out of what he had done, he still had the damned sketchbook in his possession and she had no doubt he would be happy to use it as evidence against her. Although he would never show that picture of himself to another teacher, she suspected that he might very willingly show it to Dumbledore. The Headmaster, friendly and approachable as his was, had always made it clear that he expected the students to treat their professors with the utmost respect, regardless of their personal feelings towards each other. She sensed that she would hardly be considered a completely innocent victim when the whole story was known.
And, she was eighteen and had signed that damned slip of paper. She was sure that Snape would argue that it was absolutely essential that he ask her questions that she would be reluctant to give honest answers to in order to fully test the potion.
Oh, yes, she could just hear that smooth sardonic voice explain how she had overreacted to everything. He had asked a few simple questions, and the effect of the Veritaserum had been enough to make her tongue wag even more loosely than usual. And although some of the questions had been of a personal nature he was, of course, not in the least interested in the answers. It was just like a typical, hormonally charged teenage witch to blow it all out of proportion and make it seem like some kind of persecution. Add her puerile drawings to the mix, and she would be the laughing stock of the entire school. Plus the fact that if Snape were telling the truth, (and she had no doubt he was), the faculty as a whole had just been about to award her a special commendation. No doubt that the slightest whiff of scandal or controversy would immediately convince most of them to withdraw their support.
No, better to try and tough it out. One detention down, one to go. It would be infinitely unpleasant, but by five o’clock on Friday, it should be all over.
She picked her bag up and turned back in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room. As she approached the entrance, hordes of her fellow housemates were on their way in the opposite direction, headed towards the Great Hall for dinner.
As she stepped through the hidden opening to the common room, she saw Lewis sitting before the fire, his face anxious and drawn.
"Hel!" he cried, "What on earth happened to you? And why was Snape so angry? After he yelled at you and Angelique about the portion, he seemed to have calmed down. And then all of a sudden he was screaming at you to go to his office?"
She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "Very long story, Lewis, and I appreciate your concern, but I’m really not in the mood to talk about it right now."
He looked at her sympathetically, and she could tell right away that he had noted the redness in her eyelids and the lingering tears brightening her eyes. He placed a friendly hand upon her shoulder to give her a reassuring pat.
A thought had suddenly occurred to her. "So what did Snape do while I was sitting in his office?"
Lewis’ eyes darkened with concern. "You were in there the whole time? We all heard him tell you to go there, of course, but you were gone so long we thought maybe you had been burned by that potion and had ended up in the infirmary."
"No such luck," she snorted
"Well, he came back in the room, threw your notebook into the wastebasket and sat down in his chair. A couple of students tried to ask questions, and he just ignored them. Just sat staring off into space for the longest time, fuming. And then just before the end of class he suddenly got the strangest look on his face. He reached over with his right hand to touch his left forearm for a while, and then he kept rubbing at it. He almost looked like he was in pain. And then, he suddenly got this really weird smile on his face and got up. He grabbed your notebook out of the basket and rushed out of the room. A little while later he was back, told everybody to clean up and be ready to leave when the bell rang. I had gathered all your stuff up by then and had it all stacked up. I asked him if I could take it to you and he said no, to just leave it on his desk. Then, as I was leaving I saw him pick it all up and stuff it into what was left of your bag."
Helena nodded, her eyebrows knit as she pondered the scene he described. He must have decided at the last minute to give her the Veritaserum and had gone to retrieve it from his private stores, she guessed.
"Are you sure you’re okay?" Lewis’ voice seemed to be coming from far away.
"Oh, yeah, fine," she answered, distractedly.
"Then, Mademoiselle, may I escort you to dinner?" He had affected a French accent as he bowed and held out his arm with exaggerated formality.
Helena giggled, and patted him affectionately on the arm. "Oh, thanks Lewis. But, I better check in with Ang first."
Lewis nodded in understanding, but there was just the slightest hint of rejection showing in his eyes. "See you later."
She smiled at him and then turned to go up the staircase to the next floor and to the room she shared with Angelique and Kathleen.
She had barely turned the doorknob when she felt someone on the other side pulling the door open excitedly.
"Oh, Hel, I’m so sorry. It was all my fault. Can you ever forgive me?" Her roommate flung her arms around her and nearly choked her as she attempted to demonstrate the depth of her emotion with the tightness of her embrace.
"Yeah, fine, Ang, fine!" she yelled, pulling back. "It’ll be easier to forgive you if you let me breath!"
Kathleen was standing by, her eyes ablaze with curiosity. "What did Snape do?"
Before she could reply, Ang interrupted with another question. "He didn’t really see the pictures, did he?"
Helena sighed deeply. "Ooooooh, yes, he did." She brushed by her roommates, flung her book bag on the floor and flopped unto her stomach on her bed.
"Oh, my God!" whispered Angelique, shuddering and closing her eyes.
"You know, you never did get a chance to show them to me, can I see them now?" asked Kathleen hopefully.
Helena glared at her with a scowl that would not have been out of place on Snape’s own face and the other girl had the decency to blush. "No, unfortunately Snape still has my sketchbook. And he won’t give it back to me until I serve another detention on Friday. And I fully intend to obliterate every fiber of every scrap of paper in that book when I do get it back," she added grimly. She turned unto her back.
Angelique gaped. "He made you do a detention today?"
Helena nodded.
"But you’ve never had a detention!" she gasped.
"And another one on Friday-but that’s the day of the first Quidditch match. And it’s Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor!" added Kathleen.
Helena nodded glumly again, a part of her almost enjoying the wealth of sympathy she was being given at the moment.
"So what did he make you do?" asked Angelique.
Helena hesitated. She could tell Ang almost anything, but…..somehow she just didn’t feel like spelling out every little detail to her roommates at the moment.
"He made me help him with testing some potions," she finally said. Her voice was low and halting, and something in the tone told the other girls to drop the subject for now.
Angelique stepped close to the bed. "Helena, I am so sorry about all of this."
Helena closed her eyes. "I know it was an accident, Ang."
Her roommate took a deep breath. "Yeah, and I’m also the one who kept pestering at you until you drew that picture of Snape. And I’ll bet that was the only picture he was really upset about."
Helena looked up at the blonde girl and wrinkled her brow thoughtfully. "Hmmm, you know-you’re right. Say, why don’t you go tell him that and we can serve detention together?"
Angelique blanched.
"I’m kidding," Helena assured her, reaching out to push her playfully with her foot. "Oh!" she cried, sitting up as she suddenly remembered something. She bent down and placed her hand into the bag, searching for the sheet of paper Snape had handed her. "You know, he did give me a note I’m supposed to give to you." She grabbed the folded piece of paper and went to hand it to her roommate.
Angelique looked down at it as if she were afraid it was a disguised howler. "Maybe he is giving me a detention," she whispered anxiously. She steeled herself and took the note from Helena, opening it up and perusing the contents.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as her eyes reached the bottom of the page.
"What is it?"
Angelique looked apologetic and bit down hard on her lip. She handed the slip of paper over to Helena.
She looked down and read:
‘Miss Carver,
The events of this past afternoon have proven without a shadow of a doubt that you are supremely incompatible as a partner for Miss Harrison. As of the next class, you will be partnered with Mr. Crowl and Mr. Thurston will serve as a partner for Miss Harrison. If this arrangement is not suitable for you, I will have no choice but to remove you from the class entirely.
S. Snape’
Helena’s spirit rose immeasurably with this bit of unexpected good news. Fortunately, she remembered to look upset and angry when she handed the piece of paper back to her roommate. "Damn, but I guess we have no choice, huh?"
Angelique started to laugh.
"What’s so bloody funny?"
Her roommate sunk down unto the bed beside her and giggled uncontrollably for a few more seconds. "This is just so ironic," she commented.
Helena looked at her blankly.
Angelique shrugged. "Well, you see-Des and I ended up being the only ones down in the Common Room yesterday afternoon and, well, we kind of worked out our troubles, and-"
"And?"
"Well, Des sort of asked me if I wanted to partner with him again in Potions and I said I couldn’t because I had begged you to be my partner."
Helena stared at her friend. If Ang had just told her that last night or this morning! If Ang had been partnering with Des there might have been no explosion. At any rate, it would not have involved her. Or her knapsack. Or its contents. She thoughtfully considered the possibilities of how different this afternoon could have been. It was enough to make one cry. Or-.
Helena began to laugh. Her roommates joined in companionably at the beginning, but quickly trailed off as her voice began to take on a note of hysteria. She threw herself back down on the bed and continued to laugh for a good two minutes, only stopping when her sides began to literally ache from the motion.
"Hel, are you okay?" Angelique asked, doubtfully.
Helena hiccuped and glanced at the clock. Just a little over six more hours left before this very bad, very long Monday would finally be officially over. "Well, I don’t know if I’m okay, but I’m damned hungry. And we better move our bums if we’re going to make it to dinner. Let’s go."
Author’s Note:
Okay, so you’re all obviously wondering why the hell this story is rated R, as you’ve seen nothing so far to justify it. Well, I guess you’ve waited long enough. Get ready for the smut.
And I hope it’s good for you too.
Last warning: This will start to get graphic. You have been warned. If you choose to proceed, please do not complain about it!
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