Bound By Blood.

ch.7~ Detention

"I remember that night. When it almost all changed. When I seen the real you. Do you?"

Recovered translated corresdonents between Death Eater Mattheo Riddle, to Order Member Alexandra Brooks, 2004.

Hogwarts, 1997.

Alexandra.

With each step I took, I could feel the tension in the air shift behind me. 

The silence of the classroom was thick, suffocating even, and I half-expected to hear him call out, to lash back with some sort of biting retort. 

But there was nothing—just the sound of my own footsteps against the polished floor, a steady reminder that I had taken control of the situation, if only for a moment.

He didn't say a word. 

He barely even tried. 

As I reached the door, I glanced back, my resolve still firm. 

There he was, standing by his desk, an immovable shadow against the light filtering through the high windows. The façade he wore began to crack, exposing something raw and vulnerable beneath the mask... the very essence I had been trying to unveil. 

For a heartbeat, it felt almost satisfying to have pressed against those hidden dreads, but I couldn't linger.

I couldn't look at him for one more second. 

I pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway, the cool air hitting my face like a wave of clarity. 

My mind raced with the confrontation we'd just had, thoughts colliding like storm clouds. 

Did I really get through to him? 

Or had I merely added fuel to the fire? 

I didn't have the answer, but I knew one thing: I would not let myself be dragged down by the shadows of someone else's insecurities.

"Miss Brooks," The professor who's class I just stormed out of now stood in front of me, "My classroom is that way." He nodded towards his door. 

"I'm sorry professor, I won't be going today." I stiffened. 

I couldn't go back in there. 

"It seems as if you already were in there today," His brow raised in confusion, it was clear I was coming from his classroom. 

"I can't-" I cut my self off, "I am suddenly ill." 

"I see." He nodded, "And I am no fool. If you do not turn around and head back into my lesson, i'm afraid I'll have to give you detention."

He could give me an eternities worth of detention. 

I was not going back. 

"She'll I report after dinner, Sir?" I looked up at him, my face blank. 

"Merlin," he scoffed, "Yes. My classroom, after dinner." 

With a curt nod, I brushed past him, the air in the hallway feeling lighter away from the classroom's oppressive atmosphere.

Each footfall took me further from the tension I had just faced and toward a vague sense of freedom, mingled with the aftertaste of defiance.

I wandered through the halls, the chatter of students fading into a background hum as my thoughts swirled around Riddle and our confrontation.