An Ode to Her - Coriolanus Snow

Chapter 11

Coriolanus's temple rattled uneasily on the damp window. The dew from the morning rain gave way to drops of sweat beading on his forehead. He wiped it away and took a deep breath. The rest of the recruits filed out at District 9. Now, he allowed himself a moment to recollect the following day, and all of its moments. How far away it all seems now.

Dean Highbottom had trapped him. He vowed he would never let the old man live it down. But what could he do? He was stuck here. When he had asked to be sent to District 12, the officer stared at Coriolanus as if he had just slapped him. But he stamped it off and sent the young boy on his way. Coriolanus bit his lip, his face burning, as he remembered the meeting with Highbottom that sent him there.

"Do you hear that, Coriolanus? It's the sound of Snow falling."

Pfft. He could almost vomit. What did he know? Coriolanus had won. Not according to the Academy, of course. No, to them, he had broken multiple rules. Feeding the tributes, (to which he wanted to mention that Sejanus and plenty of other mentor's had also been dabbling in), supplying his tribute with the poisonous berries, and using a handkerchief to save her from the tracker jackers.

"But it wasn't so much feeding her, no," Dean Highbottom had said. "It was the stealing from the Academy. You know how strictly forbidden that is. And how funny it is to me, to see Crassus Snow's young boy begging for forgiveness."

"I haven't begged," Coriolanus had spat. "And you weren't feeding them."

Dean Highbottom shrugged. "It is the Hunger Games, after all. And this handkerchief. Well, you would have gotten away with it. The lab assistants found it after the tracker jackers had been sent in. One of them claimed it, saying he must have accidentally dropped it in. But just as he was giving his resignation, the initials in the corner snubbed you in! Oh, and the berries! That was a clever idea. Was she going to use them against her opponents? Not anymore, obviously. Ah, revenge. Funny, isn't it?"

Coriolanus cursed his parents for boring him with the exact same initials as his father. CXS. Coriolanus Xanthos Snow. If it had been a common name, he could easily deny it. But he doesn't know anyone else with a middle name of Xanthos, so there was really no chance of getting out of that one.

"Why do you despise me so?" Coriolanus asked, seething.

"I thought... I thought your father and I were good friends. Once. But I was just a pawn in his game. It didn't mean anything," the dean admitted.

"So? He's been dead for years!" Coriolanus argued. "Why can't you just let it go?"

Highbottom seemed caught off-guard for a moment. "I was planning to. But I see he still lives. In you. In Mr. Coriolanus Snow." Then, he took a swig of morphling and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "Better hurry. You can still make it to the Recruitment Center if you run." So, Highbottom had explained everything to him. The 10th Games were to be erased entirely. Forgotten, never spoken of again. And Clemensia Dovecoat would receive the Plinth Prize at graduation. Coriolanus's blood boiled at the thought. He had worked for it. He had earned it. And Livia Cardew, well, he was sure she would gloat now that he was gone. And what were they going to tell people of this disgrace of his? That he, like Clemensia, had contracted a flu and needed to be sent away? He hardly had enough time to say goodbye to Tigris and the Grandma'am. But he promised them he would come back. Though, after 20 years in service, he wasn't sure what would be left for him to come back to.

So, here he was now. On his way to one of the most disgusting and boring places on earth; District 12. Would Carolina even be there? The Dean had said that sending her back was punishment enough, but could he have lied about that?