Just Friends

jars and books

My eyes fluttered open but I saw nothing but darkness. I felt that my eyes were open which confused me since I saw absolutely nothing. Was I dead?

I tried to sit up but still had no energy. My head was pounding and my body ached. Dead people can't feel pain, can they?

I kept my head flat against whatever I was laying on and tried to look around. I couldn't tell if I was in a room, outside, or some sort of afterlife-type realm.

I heard an echoing sound coming from the distance, and it crept closer the longer I waited and listened. It sounded like footsteps hitting against a stone floor, and I wondered even more where I was, but also who was coming towards me. I tried to sit up again but I couldn't, except this time it wasn't because of my lack of strength, but rather that I was tied down and couldn't move.

I fidgeted, trying to loosen the restraints, and the surface holding me started to rattle as I moved. The footsteps were practically beside me but my entire surroundings were too dark to see anything. I closed my eyes and scrunched my facing, thinking something was going to happen.

"Stop struggling," a voice boomed, filling the room and stopping me instantly. I inhaled sharply, waiting for the worst to come, but nothing happened. "Although I care very little for you or your idiotic friends, I still don't want to be the one to blame if you died. So lie still and quit making my job harder."

I knew that voice. That same voice had disappointingly criticized me for my mediocre potion skills for years. I opened my eyes, although it didn't make a difference, and looked in the direction that I had heard the voice come from. "Professor? Professor Snape?"

"Quiet," he seethed.

"Professor Snape, you have to help me. I'm stuck and I'm scared and I don't know where I am-"

"Quiet, Y/ln. I don't have time for these silly games. Lie still and wait for me to get back." I heard the steps start to move away from me and I was scared of being left alone again.

"Snape! Please, please don't go. Tell me where I am. I'm scared enough as it is, I must know where I am." I was begging and I heard his footsteps stop. I was breathing heavily with tears streaming down my cheeks. I didn't know if he had disappeared or not since I couldn't see him and I heard nothing. "Professor?"

He heard me.

There was a swishing sound and then the torch beside me lit up. Snape stood in the doorway of the small room I laid in, his wand in the air giving away that he had used his magic to light the torch. There were shelves all around me, and tables filled with empty flasks and cauldron's, ready to be used to brew a potion at any given moment. The shelves held dozens of books along with jars that held the most peculiar-looking ingredients.

I looked down at myself and my wrists were tied down to the table I laid on. I tried to get out of them but they were tight.

"Don't struggle. You'll make it worse. Stay here until I come back and don't try anything." I watched as he went up the stairs and left me alone again. I wasn't one to disrespect Snape or his wishes, so I laid flat on my back until he came back.

He held a bowl in his hands and walked over to me, sitting on a chair beside me. He flicked his wand around and the restraints around my wrists fell off, releasing me from their grip. I sat up and rubbed my wrist, trying to soften the pain. He placed the bowl on a table near me and I looked down at it.

It was soup. He brought me soup.

I took it and placed it in my lap, taking small spoonfuls of it and bringing it up to my mouth. Snape had gotten bored and got up to browse his shelves and the spines of books that stood on them. We stayed in silence for a long time. The only sound was distant screaming every so often and my spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl. I didn't know what was happening or where I was or what day it was.