Punish me, Professor, I dare you.

Chapter 38: Build It For Me

A/N: Thank you SO much for you patience, and I'm sorry for making you wait so long, but here's a longer chapter to compensate. Thank you so so so much for sticking with and loving the story, I hope I managed to make everything clear in it. Happy reading, lovelies!

Panic steals my every breath while my legs barely hold my trembling body upward, Dumbledore calmly ushers his staff to take a seat at the table next to me. Roots bind my soles to the parquet, I'm watching everyone get comfortable at said round table on this lovely morning, but right now, all the alarms in my head are set off, and my eyes repeatedly run back to the entrance door, desperate to get away from what I just went through.

 Quirrell's vice grip left my hand still pulsating with pain, and I clutch said limb shakily. How does he know who I am? I've never seen this person before, yet it seemed like he instantly knew everything about me. The way his eye color shifted in just a second still haunts my spine, as I'm forcing my poor traumatized self to take a seat among the teachers, trying my best to keep a poker face up, and pretend that my soul wasn't sucked out of me literally a minute ago.

Every pore of mine demands escape, but I can't just exit the meeting in a hurry. I can't even imagine how Severus managed to be in the presence of this freak back in the day, let alone sit next to him! Is there such a thing as too much bravery? Because if there is, then Severus definitely has it.

My fingers lay clasped together in my lap, I manage to seat myself between Pomona and Poppy; Albus, Minerva and Sev looking back at me from the opposite side. My form is literally shivering, like a person with prime fever, luckily, Quirrell chose a seat outside my field of vision, so I don't have to sweat buckets about avoiding his gaze. Sev notices my state, and his brows knit in slight pity, but Dumbledore opens the meeting, and my body tenses up a touch, when the room goes silent.

"Welcome back, everyone. I hope each of you had a pleasant and resting vacation, I look forward to another successful year of teaching the future generations of wizards and witches here at Hogwarts. Though I am more than certain, with such splendid professors by my side, expectations shall be exceeded, as you demonstrated countless times before. Thank you for your perseverance and hard work." the headmaster begins with kind words, pulling everyone's lips in a small smile.

A modest round of applause, but my hands are glued to my lap. Am I the only one who still feels the heavy threat lingering in the air? Why is no one batting an eye at the sheer volume of this suffocating black smoke around us?

"Now, before we discuss the schedule for this year, let us welcome our newest staff member among us, who I'm sure most of you are familiar with. She used to walk on Hogwarts' corridors herself only a few years ago, an outstanding student in her time. Young lady, a few words, if you would? Please, introduce yourself to those of us who didn't have the pleasure of teaching you." Dumbledore reaches out an elegant hand, passing the speech over, and the moment all eyes shift to me, I freeze in my seat. 

My brain blanks out, anxiety and my constricting throat trap anything that's coherent inside, sweat forms under my formal attire and robe. My eyes jump between the expecting colleagues, each looking at me with curious eyes, although some have a concerned look, probably because of the absolute paleness my cheeks display. I open my mouth to no avail, only a crack of sound escapes, and I gulp nervously. I can't take this pressure, especially after having been made to fear for my life just by looking at someone. Crap, this is not good at all, the silence is getting too long, I have to say something!

"Darling, are you alright?" Poppy on my left turns to me, placing a worried hand over the anxious clutch on my lap.

"Um, y-yes I'm fine..." I choke out with an uneased smile, the trembling in my limbs getting worse.