Faded Away ↠H. Potter Twin [Dean Thomas]

EIGHTEEN: Unicorn Blood

The following evening, Mary found herself sitting opposite Snape in his office with a cup of tea in front of her. She sniffed it suspiciously before taking a sip. It did not taste like it had been tampered with. In one of the magical novels she read at Spinner's End, a murder confession had been extracted under the influence of a truth serum. To be fair, the bottle of Firewhiskey had not tasted any different to the murderer either, so perhaps Mary would do better to skip the drink. They were in enough trouble as it was without adding a legal record to the list.

Setting down the teacup, she crossed her arms. "You didn't have to snitch on me like that," she said. "I thought we had an understanding now. The last time I skived off was...well, ages ago!"

Snape added a spoonful of sugar to his tea and stirred. "You should be grateful I did not report you earlier. I was willing to overlook the error of your ways, but I understand now that by not having you face the consequences of your actions, I have enabled you to take things too far. Sneaking about the castle late at night - what were you thinking?"

"I don't see why that makes you so angry. You let me leave the house over the holidays whenever I wanted. And it's not like I went out into the big, bad world by myself. I was still nice and safe in the castle with my brother and friends."

Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he were dealing with an exasperating child who had not inherited common sense from her mother. Mary rolled her eyes. Grown ups and their double standards. He was the one not making sense.

"At Spinner's End, you lived under the rules of my house," Snape explained. "You could go wherever and whenever you wanted as long as you informed me beforehand. Here, at Hogwarts, you have to follow the rules of the school. No ifs or buts. No special treatment for any students."

"But you let the Slytherins get away with loads," Mary pointed out. She had him cornered there, so of course, her guardian did the mature thing and changed the subject.

"When's your detention?"

Mary blew out her fringe. She had her fair share of detention at the village school until Mrs Campbell started her on homeschooling, but she had no idea what magical detentions were supposed to be like. She doubted she would be writing lines or a full-page piece on why she was there and what she would do better next time to avoid being there - or even catch up on homework. The suspense was killing her.

"Eleven o' clock," she said, watching Snape for a hint of how bad it was going to be.

He kept a straight face. "Spend that time reflecting on your behaviour and how those little friends of yours are a terrible influence."

"My friends are great actually," Mary said indignantly. "Who would you rather I be friends with? Draco Malfoy? He's a big bully with questionable morals. One of those blood obsessed people. I'd rather die than befriend him!"

"Don't be so hyperbolic -"

"You told me that it doesn't matter who your parents are, but do you really believe that? Because you've got a very poor way of showing it. You hate my father for some reason and take that out on me and Harry. You support those - those blood purists! So - so - you're not a man of your word."

"If you're not going to drink that tea, you may leave."

Mary jumped to her feet. "Actually, yeah. I will leave. I don't want to waste my time talking to a brick wall. I've had better conversations with paintings."

She went to the Den to have her fill of ranting about Snape until it was time for the detention.

"Probably have to do a bit of polishing or something," Donna said when Mary asked her about it.