Stars in Her Eyes {Wolfstar's Daughter}

Chapter 38: Printed Lies

Nell felt her eyes growing square as she watched Professor Snape scrawl the instructions to a potion on the board, his droning voice going over each of the ingredients' properties, a list which felt unbearably endless.

With her head propped up in her palm, like many of the other students, she was genuinely struggling to keep her drooping eyes open and couldn't even blame it on the moon this time. Professor Snape just really was that boring.

It was as if his voice had a unique sedating effect on those listening and that its dull pitch and droning tone hit the ear in such a way that made it almost so impossible to stay awake. If they weren't all so reluctant to be caught and given a detention, Nell had no doubt the entire class would be drooling onto their desks by now.

Nell was dragged out of her comforting daydream, which she had retreated into to escape the painfully boring lesson, by two gentle knocks sounding on the classroom door. The rows of head spun round to the back of potions room, where the door was, waiting to see who lay on the other side.

"Enter." Snape drivelled out dully. A couple of seconds passed before the door creaked open at his command and a small head poked through shyly, clearly wanting to be anywhere but there. Whilst the older years may have found Snape suffocatingly boring, the first years were terrified of the glacial man. His look alone had them running the other way down the corridor.

Nell couldn't help but wonder why someone who clearly hated children so much would ever choose to become a teacher.

"Yes? Speak boy, what you want?" He asked sharply, his patience fading with the small first year who cowered under the man's harsh words.

"Erm, Harry and Nell are needed upstairs for th- the wand weighing ceremony." The boy said quietly, his little voice shaking slightly as he stayed hidden in the doorway. The Professor looked from the boy to the two teenagers with distasteful looks before turning back to the door.

"Yes well as you can see Mr Potter and Miss Lupin-Black still have an hour of my lesson left, therefore it will have to wait. Being a champion does not make one exempt to schoolwork." He said bitterly with a hint of smugness as he denied the boy's request and taunted the two teenagers.

Nell felt herself immediately tense up at the mention of her name as all eyes turned on her and Harry. Sure, things with her own fellow Gryffindors had definitely improved over the last few weeks, as most people believed that the pair genuinely didn't put their names in, excluding a few, but that didn't stop the whispers or glares from the other houses.

Nell didn't entirely blame them though. These people barely knew her, why should she expect them to trust her, obviously they didn't have to be so cruel about it.

Turning her head to look at Harry across the classroom, Nell saw that the boy was in a similar uncomfortable position as herself, shifting awkwardly in his seat. They met eyes, instantly bringing them both a sense of comfort as it reminded them they weren't alone.

The small first year's eyes widened at Snape's immediate denial but instead of disappearing out of the door like everyone had expected, he remained there, hovering nervously in the doorway.

"Er, McGonagall said they- they needed to, all of the others are already there." He said even quieter this time, looking genuinely terrified as he awaited the Professor's response.

The man's jaw clenched in anger at boy's words, his eyes full of bitterness and resentment as he looked to Harry and Nell who sat curiously awaiting his response.

"I expect you both back here the moment it is over otherwise I will not hesitate to have you scrubbing these floors this evening." He spat venomously, before turning back to the board with an aggressive whip of his black robes.