two can keep a secret,

chapter thirteen.

Lilith.

I'm surprised I have much blood left in my hand. You would think that, from all the blood that this is making me lose, I would get light headed. But, no, I haven't gotten lightheaded once. The pain has numbed my hand, so I don't feel it as much anymore. I think that Umbridge can tell that, and I don't think she likes it.

Nonetheless, I've gone through three pages front and back just today. I think her satisfaction is now coming from the knowledge that I'm never going to be able to get rid of this scarring. At this point, my handwriting is getting sloppy, and I can hardly even move my hand it's cramping so bad.

"That's enough for the day," she says finally. I finish the sentence I'm on, just to piss her off. Then I put the quill down on the desk and push myself away, grabbing my bag. As I'm about to walk out of the door, she stops me. "I'd advise you to stop disrupting my class and being disrespectful."

I lean on the doorframe and cross my arms, tilting my head. "And why's that?" I ask innocently. It pisses her off, and I love it.

She walks up to me and tries to seem intimidating. She might be if she wasn't so much more shorter than I am. Or if I didn't see right through her.

"I might have to resort to some spells," she says. "The cruciatus curse might help you get the message."

I raise a brow at her. "That's illegal."

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him."

"And if my father were to find out?"

She giggles. "Well, he won't be finding out, will he?"

That would give her satisfaction. "No, I guess he wouldn't." Then I turn, but stop when I'm a step outside of the door. This is a threat, I know. And I know that I'm winging it because he probably wouldn't give a shit if she did crucio me, but it would scare the shit out of her to think that he might do something to her if she hurt me.

"But, uh, don't be surprised if Mattheo Riddle were to find out. He figures things out easily; I don't even have to tell him."

With that, I walk out of the room and make my way to my dad's potion closet. He put a charm on it so you can't use any spells to unlock it. And, without the key, it has to read me by some identification.

I press my thumb down on the key hole. There's a small zap in my hand, but the door unlocks and opens itself. I sigh and walk inside the closet, dropping my bag and tugging my tie off. Going through my bag, I grab out a few first aid things I got from the bathroom and start wrapping my hand up before I can start organizing this place.

I decide to start at the bottom and work my way up. I do it by category, then alphabetize them. I have to take breaks every now because my hand bleeds through the wrap on my hand and I either have to change it or move it around.

I have to take inventory too. I write down how many of each potion we have and how big of a bottle they are in.

I do this anywhere from once to three times a month and sometimes have to take multiple days to do it. It takes forever, so Dad's lucky that I have too much free time and I don't sleep.

I mark down three Veritaserum containers. A 5 mL, 10 mL, and a 14 mL.

"This seems fun."

"Jesus Christ!" I exclaim, almost dropping the 14 mL Veritaserum. I hit my head on the ladder that I'm standing on and set the bottle on the shelf. "What the hell are you doing, Riddle?" I ask, looking down at him as he leans against the doorway and looks around the closet.