My Story: Serena Snape

Chapter 18- Hatred

My eyes burned from the bright light and I had to squint. I blinked over and over again, trying to get my eyes to adjust.

"Serena?" My head followed the voice to my left. Through squinted eyes I could make out a young boy about my age with blonde hair on top of his head. Draco. I smiled and whispered his name.

"Draco...." My voice came out weak and in a hoarse whisper. I tried to speak again, but all that came out was a fit of coughing. A hand slid under me and pushed on my back helping me into a sitting position. I looked to my right at the owner of the hand. Father. A new energy coarsed through me and I attempted to hug him. I underestimated how weak my body was and the hug turned became me falling towards him with arms outstretched. With a hand he helped me sit back up before returning my hug. As he let go, he grabbed the pillow on the cot and propped it up so he would not have to continue holding me up. 

"Mr. Malfoy," I watched his eyes go from me to Draco. "You may have a moment alone with my daughter, there is something I must attend to first." He rushed from the room leaving the two of us alone.

"What was it like?" Draco asked focusing my attention back to him.

"What was what like?" My voice was still a whisper.

"The curse."

I took a breath. The last thing I wanted was to talk about being under the curse for what felt like years. "Terrible. Constant pain, hunger, thirst."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Protect Potter!" Draco's voice became louder as his anger grew.

"He would've died.... You weren't there. How do you-" I stopped myself. Mr. Malfoy, he was there. He must have told Draco. Tears pooled in my eyes and I turned my head away from Draco to hide it. "You must hate me."

"Yes, I do." I heard footsteps walk away and a door close. I was in complete shock. Out of every possible response to what I had said, that was the least expected. I sobbed once before passing out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Serena." A hand was shaking me awake. "Serena." I slowly opened my eyes feeling groggy and tired. "Drink this." My father was standing there holding a cup of liquid in front of me.

"What is it?" I asked sitting up as much as I could manage and taking the cup. My voice was much stronger than it had been previously and was almost back to normal. 

"Something that will make you feel better."

I took a sip of the black liquid and tasted its bitterness immediatly. I went into a coughing fit trying to expel the liquid from my throat. "It's vile!"

"Drink." His voice was demanding and I could sense this would not be a comforting talk.

I drank the rest of the liquid sip by sip struggling to not cough any of it up. Strength slowly began to coarse through my body. The cup was snatched from my hand and thrown away. 

"Are you aware of the danger you have put yourself in by defying the dark lord?"

"But I didn't-"

"You stood in his way of killing Potter. That's defying him."

"I-I didn't mean to."

"The dark lord does not care whether or not you meant to. You defied him and now he's out for your blood."

I looked at him in his eyes hoping to find pity. I found none. "But you'll protect me, right...?"

"When you agreed to be a deatheater, Serena, you agreed that you understood that I am unable to interviene with anything he does to you."

"Some father..." I looked down at my hands.

"Serena. I may not be able to interveine, but I am able to guide you. Tomorrow night there will be a meeting at the Malfoy manor. I was able to convince the dark lord that any punishment to you should be done there on display for all his other deatheaters." 

I opened my mouth to protest but was cut short.

"I bought us time. Now let's see if that drink has kicked in yet. Stand up."

Oh no. I could barely sit up a couple minutes ago, how would I be able to stand? I slowly swung my legs over the side of the cot and shifted my weight to them. I was on my feet for two seconds before I began to fall over. Father rushed to my side and grabbed my hand, catching me.

"Find your balance." It took me a few seconds but eventually I was able to stand without his aid. "We should be getting home. Your fifth year starts in a week."

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dormitory looked so empty, The other beds in the room and long ago been stripped and the drawers long ago emptied. Only my section of the room looked as it had before I left for the graveyard a couple months previously. I took my time folding my clothes and placing them inside my trunk, and yet it all went away so quickly. I stood in my mirror and looked at myself as I realized I looked too much like my father. This was not only because of my facial features which I had inherited from him and black hair that reached my shoulder (I promised myself I'd let it grow longer in the future), but also because of my daily attire outside of school: A black top that buttoned up to my chin and had sleeves that creeped past my wrists and black pants. My father entered the room behind me confirming how much of a spitting image I was of him.

"How come I don't look more like my mum?" I asked looking at him in the mirror.

"You look as much like her as you do me." He walked over to my bed and picked up my trunk. "You didn't get my nose certainly."

I chuckled as I turned around. "And I'm thankful for that." I went over and picked up the cage Bella was in. "Thank you for letting me bring her. My roomates certainly weren't happy about me keeping a snake but it's not like she's dangerous. Well, not anymore." I thought for a moment back to what Draco had said earlier. "Father, you don't hate me, right...?"

"You're my daughter. I would never be able to hate you. Now let's go home."

With my trunk in one hand, he held out his other and as I took it, we apparated.