My Story: Serena Snape

Chapter 22- Umbridge

Even with Umbridge ruling over the school as a tyrant, the next couple of weeks went by joyfully. I had seen Draco less and less, which I never would have imagined would be a good thing, but I knew it was better for me to not see him so much anymore. He was a reminder of myself. He reminded me the events of the summer, reminded me of myself being a death eater, and reminded me that our friendship was dead. I know I should be coping or dealing with these things rather than ignoring them, but ignorance truly is bliss. I just wanted to be happy for a little bit. 

A year ago, Goyle made his affections for me obvious, and back then I didn't want any part in them, all I wanted was Draco. But now things are different. I'm afraid I'll never have a chance at having Draco ever again, and Goyle was a good distraction from that. When he could, he'd meet me after my classes, we often ate sitting next to each other, and would stay up past curfew many times just talking. "You're smiling more than I've ever seen you smile before." He commented once. And he was right. For my whole life, I don't remember one time when I had been this happy for this long. He made me forget all the negative things in my life: Draco, Umbridge, even the fact that I was a death eater. And even when I wasn't able to forget this, he put me at ease knowing he wasn't going to tell anyone about it. Maybe he also saw it as I did, a mistake. And now I fear I'm beginning to feel for him what he has felt for me. Affection.

In the past couple of weeks, I had also searched the library high and low for a book on defensive spells, but I could not find any. There appeared to be many books missing on shelves that were once packed to capacity. For a second I thought that maybe it was because other students had the same ideas, but the thought was quickly pushed aside. Umbridge was getting worse with each passing day, surely she had them removed to ensure there was no where in Hogwarts for students to learn the crucial spells that one day could save their lives. There was still one place in all of Hogwarts I hadn't checked.

I knocked on the door to my father's office once my Friday classes were over and the weekend had begun. I could barely hear his "Come in" over the sound of my own heart beating. A younger student had told me that he wanted to speak to me, and that always made me nervous. It was the one thing that instantly reminded me of the ink on my arm that could condemn me to life in Azkaban. There was a fear inside of me (probably a bit irrational, but it was still there) that when I open the door, Voldemort would be standing inside alongside me father. 

The door squeaked as I pushed it open. A quick glance around the office as I stepped in confirmed that it was just my father in the office this time. I closed the door behind me and waited for my father to finish whatever he was working on before addressing me. 

"I need you to make Veritaserum. I already laid out the supplies you'll need." He looked up only for a moment to point to the table before returning to his work. The potion was an odd request, and it didn't take an expert in potions to see that there was a large amount of extra supplies laid out for just one potion.

"Why so many supplies? I'm just making one, right?" I walked over to the table and noticed all the small empty viles placed to one side. 

"No. You're making as many as those supplies will make." His tone was different than it normally was. I was about to protest about how much time it would take to fill all the little viles laid out, awaiting the potion when I glanced over to see him looking at me. His face looked exhausted, his eyes were bloodshot, he looked nearly dead. I immediatly knew this wasn't a good time for me to argue.

I also knew this wasn't a great time for me to be questioning him at all, as he can be really irritable when he's overworked as he was, but my curiosity got the best of me. "What's all this for?" I began combining ingredients for the first vile. 

"Umbridge wants a supply." Out of the corner of my eye I watched as he returned to his paper work. Perhaps it was my happiness lately, or seeing my father so exhausted, but for once I didn't object to making a potion at his whim, and especially this many.