To Mend The Broken Heart (Snape/Student Love Story)

Chapter Twenty: A Date With Snape

CHAPTER TWENTY

"M... MOVE?!" I felt my while body go numb. They can't send me away! I can't leave! Dumbledore took me by the shoulders and looked down at me, my jaw on the floor. "I'm sorry, Claudinia. But younkers a guardian, and we found someone at Beaubaxton who can take you in."

I couldn't believe it. This cannot be happening. "But... You! You can take me in!" I was stuck between a plea and a whimper of defeat. "No, I can't. I'm sorry Claudinia, I just have too much going on to care for you." He told me. I racked my brain for more. "Snape! Snape can-"

"I cannot." Snape came from nowhere, seeming to pop up out of the blue. I looked over at him, begging win my eyes. "Why? Don't... Dot you want me... To samtay here, with you...?"

Snape snarled. "Why would I want that?! You disobeyed me! You used magic against me! You out me in a situation I never wanted to be stuck in!" He snapped at me. I stepped back, and Snape took a step towards me. Dumbledore did the same, and the two seemed to trap me. "I'm s-sorry...!" I struggled to speak, and Snape cut through my words. "It's not enough! Your a freak!" He hissed.

He chanted the word, and Dumbledore joined in. "Freak! Freak! Freak!" They sang. I covered my ears and crouhed down to the floor. "Stop! Im not a freak! Stop!" I yelled. Their words went through my hands and echoed in my head, like a sick humored tune. suddenly, the room faded, into a dark blackness. Their voices became fathers, and the blackness became my bedroom. I was five. Father hit me across the face, and I fell to the carpeting. Crying, I crawled to a corner where I cowered. Father advanced towards me.

"It's your fault! Your a freak!" He yelled. I shook my head. "Why did she go? What did I do?" I cried. I wiled my face with the back of my hand. "Don't you remember? Your a freak!" Her replied. Great- another riddle. I stood. "Why!?" I demanded. Father raised his hand, and the dream ended. My eyes flew open, and my body flew up.

I was sweating so extensively thatthe sheets were stuck to my skin. Hotly, I kicked my way out of them and sat there, breathig hard. A nightmare. That was all. Not real, I ensured myself repeatedly. Why did I need to assure myself it was only a nightmare? Of course it was. For instance, I just woke from it. But the feeling of it seemed to crawl on my skin, sticking to me. I had to walk it oft; no way I was getting right back to sleep.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, standing. The wooden floor was cold under my bare feet, and I went to my dresser to fish out some socks. I put on my tall socks, and my black robes over my knee high black silk nightgown.

I saw my wand sitting atop my dresser. I remembered Snales law about always keeping your wand on you, in case of emergency, so I grabbed it and stuffed it in my sock. Feeling daring, I opened my door and stepped out into the hallway.

It was darker than in the day time, black due to the unlighted torches and lack of sunlight. Glad I had grabbed my wand off my dresser, I pulled it from my sock, lighting up the hall with the Lumos charm. My wand glowed, providing some white light to the dark hallas I walked. The noise I made must have woken Nightgown, because she slipped from the doorway just before I shut the door.

With my cat by my side, I made my way down the depressing castle passage. I wasn't even sure where I was going, I just walked. My thoughts consumed me. What if father DID know what he was talking about? What if there really was something freakishly wrong with me? Did he know something I didn't know?

I wonder if there was any way I could figure it out. Of course, without father, I knew there was no way I could have someone tell me. Unless, by some miracle, I found my mother. I would have better luck going to see father inAzkaban, in this case. Like Snape said- she was most likely dead. And father didn't seem to want me to know, anyways. He wouldn't say what was wrong with me, if anything, though I asked more than once.