The Marauders of Slytherin

Sick Again

Mattheo and Theodore had decided to skip class again. Potions this time, which was the riskiest one since Professor Snape did not tolerate any misbehaviour, not even from Slytherins. So, I was stuck with Lorenzo and Astoria again.

"Okay, okay, stop. You will turn it into poison if you continue like this. You need powdered Asphodel petals."

The Asphodel we had been growing in Herbology the last few weeks had been harvested and we had just started making Sleeping Draughts. The poor Lorenzo was already a klutz at Potions, but this was just sad to look at. Every time Astoria explained him something, he would only get more confused. The problem with Potions was, that you couldn't just dumbly follow the recipe without using any common sense, and it required some multitasking as time really mattered in the adding and stirring of ingredients. Lorenzo was just too stressed to remember that he was supposed to turn down the heat, stir clockwise and crush Asphodel. I continued cutting my Valerian Sprigs in silence while internally smiling at Astoria's patient attempts to save Lorenzo's grade. The funny thing was that he was actually really good at Herbology, which went hand in hand with Potions. He knew the ingredients really well, but the brewing of them just wasn't his calling.

"Merlin's beard, Thalia!" Astoria shrieked. She clasped her hands in front of her mouth as she stared at my cutting board. Alright, if she wanted to help Lorenzo, that was fine, but I didn't need her opinion on my Potion-skills.

"What?" I looked down.

Bloody hell. The cutting board was flooding with blood. The Valerian Sprigs were splattered with the red liquid, and some of it had even spilled into my cauldron, which gave the purple substance a strange tone and smell. I had been too busy to notice that I cut myself. Lorenzo saw it too and his face turned almost as white as Astoria's. It was a lot of blood. I quickly hid my right hand under the table. I could feel it trickle down onto my shoes and my skirt.

"Stop staring." My face was turning red. My whole family had this disease where wounds would not stop bleeding. It had to do with our family tree, and our history of endogamy that ended with my grandparents' marriage. Everyone had always been very calm whenever I turned up covered in blood, and it was always easily fixed with some nasty potion and a few spells. Yeah, it was annoying and inconvenient, but they didn't have to react like this.

"You have to go to the Hospital Wing," Lorenzo said. He already wanted to get up to tell Professor Snape, but I clutched his arm with my bleeding hand.

"Don't. Everyone will just look at me."

"What do you mean? You are literally gushing blood." Astoria almost gagged at the sight of me. "You need help."

"I need you to stop making a scene," I whispered angrily. No one had noticed yet, but I could hear the blood dripping from Lorenzo's elbow onto the stone floor. He looked at me in terror.

"What is going on here?" I heard Snape say deliberately. I turned around to face him, with his fingertips pressed together and a judgemental look at our messy table where all three of our potions were being neglected. Then, his eyes fell on my situation and his gaze changed. He immediately grabbed my wrist and held up my red hand as high as my arm could reach. He shoved Lorenzo aside and dragged me out of the classroom. All air in the dungeon was pulled away as all twenty-six children held their breath. Snape had no mercy and a fast pace. I could barely keep up as he dragged me up the stairs and to the Hospital Wing. The halls were empty as everyone was in class except for me, Mattheo and Theodore, who were unsuspecting of my injury doing something suspicious around here.

"Oh my, how did that happen?" Madam Pomfrey closed her office and threw aside the curtain of a bed. Snape finally let go of my arm as I was demanded to sit down.