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From where I sat in the potions classroom, I had a pretty clear view of Professor Snape's pompous behind. I'd rather drink whatever failed concoction was in my cauldron than have to sit here for another half hour. Not only that, but it was potions with the Slytherins. Why they always seemed to pair Slytherins and Gryffindors for potion was beyond me. If they wanted us to get along better, stick us in defense against the dark arts where we could safely blow each other up instead.
Snape's swishy robe turned suddenly from in front of me, and began making rounds up and down the rows of desks.
"Very good Mr.Lockwood..." Snape's slow draw was focused on the bubbling cauldron of a slim boy that was sitting across the room from me. "Five points to Slytherin."
I frowned and rolled my eyes. You could be sure that no Gryffindor would ever get points from a potions class. Even if we had seamlessly created the most difficult potion in the world, Snape would find a way to deduct points.
Professor Snape continued to make his rounds and I purposely avoided eye contact with him, but it was no use. He floated over to my table, my partner was some half witted Slytherin girl who didn't bother to read the recipe fully before adding ingredients. I wasn't bad at potions, and 8 times out of 10 I could create a good, strong potion too. But with this girl as my partner those odds dropped significantly.
"Miss Carlyle..." Snape screwed up his nose in disgust. "I see that you have created some monstrosity here."
I tossed an annoyed look at my partner, who was snickering at me.
"Actually sir, it would have turned out fine if Indara had bothered to read the recipe first." I scowled, meeting his gaze. I was not in the mood for this today.
"Blaming your partner now for your own mistakes? 10 points from Gryffindor Miss Carlyle, I expected better from you." He sniffed and pulled his robes tight around him as he continued his waltz around the classroom.
10 points? That was ridiculous. Especially for telling the truth. Normally, I might have just dropped the subject. But I was already having a foul day and so I couldn't be bothered. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Flo making eyes at me to leave the matter alone, but I had already made up my mind.
"Just taking a page out of your book, sir." My hands curled into firsts on the desk. I could see my classmates' eyes goggling around me, and the stirring of cauldrons stilled. It also earned me many foul looks from my fellow Gryffindors because they already knew I was going to lose them the house cup. Well, that's alright with me. I'd rather kick Snape in the rump once and lose the cup all 7 years.
Snape stopped mid walk and slowly turned back to face me, his eyes glowering. "That’s another 10 points from Gryffindor." He sneered. "Keep it up and you'll have detention for a whole week. I can make your life more miserable than it already is, Miss Carlyle. If you can believe it can go down from rock bottom already." Many of the Slytherins laughed quietly, and that only served to fuel my rage. Of course, it being Snape, his lack of empathy was nothing out of the ordinary. It was something I was used to. Still, it made my blood boil.
My chair scraped the ground obnoxiously as I stood from my seat, clenching my jaw. "I'm not having a very good day today, not that you care or anything. I don't need to take any bloody crap from you, Professor. So if you don't mind, I'm going." I clenched my jaw and threw my books into a stack on my desk, tucking my quill behind my ear. "Go ahead and make yourself useful for once Indara, and clean up your mess. No, don't say anything. Stuff a beetle in it."
Indara clamped her mouth shut and glared at me, half in shock and half in annoyance.
"Feisty today, aren't we Miss Carlyle?" Snape tsked, crossing his arms over his chest with an amused look, clearly reveling in my frustration. The other student's gaze shifted uneasily from Snape, back to me. I could see Flo rolling her eyes at me with an exasperated sigh.
He could have reacted worse. Perhaps I wanted him to. It was the only explanation for my next poorly chosen words:
"Step over here and I'll show you exactly how feisty I am." I couldn’t help it. It just slipped out. Snape frustrated me so. I felt my face begin to flush and became hyper aware of my classmates' silence, every eye fixed on me. Snape raised an eyebrow, I knew I had definitely crossed a line. Nevertheless, I held my own. With my books in one hand and my wand in the other, I stared down Snape with as much burning intensity as I could muster. I was finding it more difficult as the seconds ticked by and the silence grew louder. Then the worst thing happened-- Snape actually began to make his way slimy way over to me. Slowly, like a cat ready to pounce on its prey. I swallowed hard, just hoping that I looked more confident than I felt, but it was all draining from me with each languid step Snape took.
"Well?" He asked once he was only a few feet away. He was standing close enough now that I could see his greasy hair in full detail, and smell the burnt edges of his robes. I swallowed again and raised my wand higher in front of me. His coal black eyes darted down to it and he smirked. "Detention, Miss Carlyle. Tonight. I'll make sure Filch has you do something that will help stamp out your...feistiness." He turned swiftly around, robes swishing haughtily. "Class dismissed." He called without looking over his shoulder, leaving me standing there in the shuffling around of students that followed. Everyone was eager to escape the classroom, I was sure.
Well. I was just glad he didn't take any more points from Gryffindor.
The students around me began hurriedly packing their belongings. I could see many Slytherins flash me sidelong glances and smirks, while my fellow Gryffindors offered up sympathetic grimaces. Despite the loss of points I caused, most regarded me with impressed nods. It wasn’t every day a student stood up to Snape. I supposed I was impressed with myself too. It didn’t help the foul mood from getting a detention.
"Where do you think you're going?" I switched my wands attention to Indara, who was trying unsuccessfully to scurry out of the room unnoticed. "I said you get to clean up this mess, so clean it up. "
Indara didn't say anything, just took one look at my wand and glanced up into my face before slowly putting her books back on the desk and began sweeping up the leftover ingredients. I must have looked an awful crazy mess because she didn't even argue, just tossed me a seething look.
"I saw you ignoring my looks, Lucy. And look where you've gotten yourself!" Flo was at my elbow, scowling at Indara too.
"Yeah well, better a detention than letting Snape get off the hook of a good witty one liner."
Flo nodded in agreement. "Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed with you. In any case, better you than me." Her scowl transformed into a grin.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see a tall, slim Slytherin boy talking with another student, but I could tell that his gaze was on me, and had been for some time. I turned sharply to face him, my wand still concentrated on Indara.
I fixed him with my best pointed look, hoping it would read as "can I help you?" But that must have been lost in translation, because all he did was smile at me. Smile. And it wasn't your typical Slytherin smirk that made you want to punch all their teeth out. It seemed more genuine than anything. And that made me even more angry. I tore my gaze away, my foul mood becoming even more fouled.
"Who's that boy over there? The Slytherin one with the dark hair." I asked Flo with a frown.
Flo glanced over her shoulder. "You mean Lockwood? Anthony Lockwood?"
"Sure, I don't know. What's his problem? Why's he looking at me like that?"
"Search me." Flo shrugged. "Now can we go? I'm starving and tired of being in this dank hole." She shivered for effect.
Indara was just finishing up, and I glared at her one last time before nodding to Flo.
"Yeah, I could really use a nice hot cup of tea right about now."
I headed down to Filch's office that night alone like a lamb to the slaughter. Or maybe more like a badger because I was feeling very annoyed and angry. Don't be fooled by badgers. They might be Hufflepuff's mascot but they are no slight creatures. I learned that the hard way.
There were a lot less stairs then I remember there being down to the main floor. I was at the door to my doom sooner than I would have liked. I knocked once, and no sooner had my fist stopped tapping did the door fly open, and there was Filch's ugly face glowering down on me.
"About time you showed up. I was about to go find Dumbledore and him you were tryin' to hide and get out of your punishment." Spittle had flown from his mouth and struck me in the face.
"Ugh..." I wiped it off with a robe covered arm, and peered behind him at a clock on his wall. I was 5 minutes early. Figures.
I stood in the doorway for a good 5 seconds, just frowning at Filch, still wiping at my face. His lank hair hung just past his shoulders in stringy clumps. Years of frowning, scowling, glowering, yelling, and just being an overall unpleasant person left his face with deep lines and sunken in eyes.
"Don't just stand there, you sod, get in here." A thin and dirty hand gestured inside the room, and I hesitantly stepped inside. I barely had a chance to nip out of the way of the door slamming shut behind me. Mrs. Norris, Filch's brown cat with beady yellow eyes, was sitting still as a statue on his desk. She watched me with the same disgusted look at Filch, which I didn't know was possible for a cat. I had to admit that it was a bit unsettling.
Now, this wasn't my first time in detention. It certainly wouldn't be the last. No matter how many times I had to trudge down to Filch's office, I would never get used to it. The musty smell, the dim lighting. The miserable sod who lived there that seemed to only exist to make my life miserable as well. Then there was always that brief waiting period where you weren't sure what your punishment would be. It could be mild, like grading papers for a professor. But then there were worse ones like cleaning trophies, or bathrooms with a toothbrush. No magic either. You'd be up all night doing either of those tasks. There was always the chance of having to trek into the Forbidden Forest too, but Filch must have been too clever to assign me that, because I always thought it was kind of fun. I suppose at night it might be a different story, but still. The point was there.
I stood by one of the cramped desks, eyeing it with distrust. It looked much too grimy for me to sit down in, and if Filch didn't order me to, then standing I would remain.
Filch eyed me with the same distrust I had given the desk, as he rummaged through papers in his many drawers. "Of course the other unruly student is late." He spat. "Always like him..."
"Other student?" I asked, carefully after debating for a few seconds whether to ask or not.
Luckily Filch didn't have to answer me, because no sooner had I asked that a knock sounded on the door, and it flew open a moment later.
"Sorry I'm late, Argus." A tall boy with dark unkept hair and a disheveled green and white striped tie strolled into the small office. I recognized him immediately from my potions class as Anthony Lockwood. Oh just dandy that was.
"It's Mr. Filch to you, boy." Filch's jowls shook in barely contained rage.
"Oh of course, sorry Argus. I'll remember next time." His gaze met mine and he grinned just as he had earlier. He seemed very chipper despite spending the next few hours scraping ghost ectoplasm from walls or something equally tedious. I didn't match his enthusiasm, or return his smile.
Filch shook with rage again, and I half expected him to blow up. Both literally and figuratively. I didn’t feel like pissing off the man who would be assigning our detention tasks, so I just glowered at the boy. Luckily for both of us, Filch chose to ignore his comment.
"Wands.” He ordered gruffly instead, holding out his hand.
I begrudgingly handed mine over, hating every inch of Filch’s smug little grin. And Lockwood's smile too for that matter as he dropped his wand in Filch’s hand next to mine.
“Lets get on with it then." Filch growled, throwing the wands unceremoniously onto his desk. “You can get those back when your detentions have been fulfilled. He plucked up a burning lantern from his desk and was out the open door, expecting us to follow.
"Where are we going?" I asked warily, eyeing the smiling Slytherin just as uneasily. I snuck a glance back at my wand that had been so carelessly discarded. I didn’t want Filch’s grimey hands on it but I don’t know if his desk was any better.
"The dungeons. Professor Snape has requested that you de-eye the frogs, snakes, and dragonflies for upcoming lessons. " Filch grunted in response, cackling to himself at our plight.
"De-eye?" I frowned. "As in remove eyes?" I think I would rather clean out the bedpans in the infirmary. I groaned inwardly. Brilliant, just brilliant. What a real riot this night was turning out to be.
"That's right, Ms. Carlyle," He snickered. "I'll put a trashcan nearby in case it's just too much for your delicate self." He started to laugh, which resolved itself into a fit of coughs.
I felt like I was doing a lot of frowning tonight. But I suppose the night just produced one giant frown from me. "I'm not delicate..." I muttered under my breath. Lockwood, who was striding alongside me must have heard.
"I'll say." He said quietly with a grin.
I ignored him and flashed him an annoyed look.
"Er, we're both doing this?" I asked Filch, already knowing the answer but hoping for a different one. This was going to be a very long night. Why couldn’t I just clean the bedpans?
"That's right. " Filch answered once his coughing had died down. "A Gryffindor and Slytherin working together is a punishment in itself." He cackled again as we reached the staircase to the dungeons. I bet Filch and Snape both thought they were real clever.
I grew silent once more, but was still very aware of the boy, now walking behind me on the narrow stairs, watching me. I wished he had gone down first so I wouldn’t have to feel the added annoyance of being put under his scrutiny.
Without much more conversation, we reached the potions's classroom where Professor Snape had already set out barrels (yes, barrels ) of all the creatures we would be mutilating. Snape, thank Merlin, wasn't there, but there was a handy little book open to a diagram spanning two pages of just how we were to scoop out the eyes of toads, snakes, and dragonflies. There were a few glinting tools laid carefully on the table as well, perfectly rounded and sharp.
"Alright, there you go. Now get to work, both of you." Filch barked, his lantern swinging dangerously. "No magic, and you'll sit here till all the eyes from every barrel have been scooped clean. Any funny business and soon enough it will be your eyes plucked out. A right fit punishment from the good old days when true and proper punishment was done..." He scowled.
Mrs. Norris' slinky body materialized from the shadows and sat watching us with her strangely bright eyes. It didn't look like she was going anywhere any time soon. The door to the classroom slammed shut, leaving me alone with a Slytherin boy, an unsettling cat, and barrels full of dead and soon to be eyeless creatures. The room was brightly lit by several torches lining the walls. A fireplace to the side remained cold and flameless, which really was a pity because it was quite cold, and the moisture in the air seemed to seep into your bones.
It didn't seem to bother the Slytherin boy.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced." He suddenly turned toward me and held out a hand. "Anthony Lockwood." The full force of his stupid 1000 megawatt smile was on me, and the intensity of it pissed me off. What was with this idiot and his nauseating smiles and good moods?
Despite my better judgement, I cleared my throat. " Lucy Carlyle..." I reached for his hand slowly, but he had a sure grip and shook my hand without hesitation.
"I saw you in potions today." Anthony Lockwood told me, taking a seat at the desk we'd be working at. He leaned back with his hands behind his head. "Quite impressive of you to snark off to Snape." He was still smiling, but he had dialed down the intensity. I no longer felt like I was staring into the sun, more like a corridor lantern now.
I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, furrowing my brow. "Look, if you're trying to charm me into doing all the eye scraping by myself, it's not going to work." I stared at him crossly and pulled out my own seat from in front of the desk.
"Charm you?" His brow furrowed too. "I'm giving you an honest compliment. Just because I'm a Slytherin doesn't mean I like Snape any more than you do." He sighed, as if he was tired of explaining it.
This was news to me. And frankly, I didn't believe it. This guy had to be playing at something here.
"I just figured all Slytherins were pals with Snape." I shrugged, and wanted to ask more, but didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had sparked my interest. "Can we get started here? I don't plan on being here all weekend." I opted for a scowl instead and picked up a scalpel. I didn’t need my wand to show this boy I meant business.
"Oh, sure." Anthony Lockwood grinned slyly at me, and to my disbelief, he pulled his wand out of his back pocket. I ogled it for a moment--eyes wide, mouth open. Not the most dignified of looks but I couldn’t help my incredulity.
"How did you..." I trailed off, not bothering to hide my interest now.
"Oh, I know all of Filch's tricks by now. He just doesn’t know mine. This isn't my first detention. Stupefy! " He pointed his wand at Mrs. Norris, who was already poised to pounce off the table and no doubt alert Filch that one of us had our wands.
My mouth hung open in shock, eyes flitting from the frozen Mrs. Norris to Anthony Lockwood. "I don't suppose you know a spell for scooping out eyeballs, do you?"
"That's what charms are for." He grinned and pointed his wand next at the rounded scalpels. Before I knew it, everything was running in an assembly line as if of it’s own free will. A frog would lift from the barrel, the scalpel would do its job quickly, then the removed eyes flew into the readied jars. Then a snake would fly out. Then a dragonfly. And so on. It was all quite impressive really. I wished I knew charms like this growing up. It would have saved me a lot of long, painful laundry days growing up in my very muggle household.
"That should save us a good night's work." Anthony Lockwood said, tucking his wand back into his pants pocket.
“You know, Anthony--”
“Lockwood, if you please.”
“Okay, Lockwood . You could have saved me a lot of trouble, a lot sooner.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I wanted to add ‘Had I known you earlier’ or ‘I hope I’m stuck in detention with you every time.’ Because I knew this wouldn’t be my last. But I didn’t want to stoke his already large ego any more than I already had.
He grinned at me. "Not your first detention either? I could show you some of my tricks, if you’d like. It's Friday, and we have the whole night ahead of us. The halls have one less guard on the prowl." He nodded towards Mrs. Norris. "What do you say Miss Carlyle?"
"Just Lucy will do."
"Alright Lucy. What do you say? We can start by getting your wand out of Filch's office."
He stood and offered me a hand. My gaze lingered on his slender, outstretched fingers, then I allowed myself a grin to break out of my perpetual frown. I had to admit, his stupid smile was infectious.
The moment I took his hand would forever change the course of my life. From that moment on, I was friends with Lockwood, and all the better for it. Perhaps not all the safer, but all the better indeed.