Supernova: The Malfoy Twin's Story

Year 2 Part 6

"You did what?" Snape's voice asked loudly for the fifth time.

"I jinxed them. But it was a temporary jinx that wouldn't cause any actual harm and..."

"Did I ask if you caused them harm? Did I ask if it was permanent?"

"No, sir." I answered.

"Maybe you're not as brainless as you appear. Even though you didn't seriously harm them you still relied on magic to take down another student. As you should know by now, we don't take that lightly."

I wanted to argue that his statement wasn't exactly true, but I knew when to bite my tongue. I was almost certain that if I hadn't had jinxed them in front of such a large crowd, I probably wouldn't have gotten in trouble at all. But anger had gotten the best of me, and I reacted rashly and stupidly. Honestly, though, if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would take it in a heartbeat.

"That being said, Professor Flitwick is demanding you be punished, so you will be helping Madam Pince in the library every Friday until Halloween."

"But Professor, I..."

    He quickly moved to my side of the table as he raised his voice.

    "You're not in charge here, Malfoy. You will do as you're told."

    My mind went blank. My mind flash-backed to sitting in my father's study, my fear reaching a high. I wanted to curse myself as I felt a tear spring to my eye. My breathing became labored, and I did everything in my power to avoid meeting Professor Snape's eye.

     I don't know if he felt my fear, but almost immediately I felt him back away to the other side of the desk. I still couldn't find enough power to meet his eye, but somehow his voice was softer when he talked again.

    "You will get an owl with the details. Go back to the common room." He said with finality.

     I couldn't even nod my head as I bounded out his office doors. How stupid of me to clam up in front of my teacher! How stupid of me to still be afraid...

    The minute I pushed through the house door, I saw all my friends sitting in our spot, eagerly waiting my arrival. Pansy was the first to notice me, but her look caught me off guard.

    "Well look who actually has a backbone." She joked.

     The rest of my friends quickly followed her gaze, and all shone a smile my way. I don't know what I had expected, but their reaction caught me off guard.

    "What's your punishment?" Goyle chimed as I began to walk over to them.

     "Detentions. And lots of them."

     "That's rubbish." Blaise added. "I bet the Ravenclaws are getting off scotch free. No one cares when it's the Slytherins getting bullied."

I was about to make my way over to my normal window spot, but my mind still felt like it was racing. Something pulled me away and moved me towards my twin. I still felt a bit angry at him, but my nerves made that seem small in comparison. I pushed Crabbe out of the way as I stole his spot on the couch, and I felt my head fall on Draco's shoulder.

"You crossed my mind." He said quietly.

In the Malfoy house, not being ok was a sign of a weakness. You crossed my mind was what we would say if we needed to discreetly check up on one another without drawing negative attention to ourselves. I wanted to answer honestly, but at this point, I didn't even know what the truth was.