Riddle Me This

Chapter 7

Catherine's POV

Daphne and I ended up becoming really good friends, actually. She'd usually pass me off to Hermione in the halls if she had something else to do and Hermione and I were headed in the same direction. But in classes, like Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was shared with Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor, or Astronomy, which was shared with Ravenclaws, Daphne was definitely great to have around.

Though I swore Snape got sick of seeing me so much. And I'm sure Daphne got sick of always walking me down to the Head of Slytherin house's office. I eventually told Daphne about the scar on my back, as well as showing it to her and swearing her to secrecy. So when she saw me flinching slightly in the middle of class or the halls, she would gently put a hand on my shoulder.

I hated when Parkinson, who I started calling Pansy sometime during everything, was with us though. She was a horrible bully, as was Malfoy. Though I'd usually stand up to them and help whichever victim they had chosen get away safely, I ended up getting hit by a tripping jynx that Malfoy had Crabbe send at Longbottom more than once. I said nothing as Hermione and Daphne helped me up, Hermione with a glare and Daphne with a reprimanding 'Just let it happen Cat.'

"Why do you always get in the way?" Pansy asked one day during break. I had no clue where Hermione was, so I stuck with Daphne. I shook my head.

"Because you're being mean." I said simply. "For no reason other than you can." I was practicing my Charm spells. "Slytherin house has a bad enough reputation as it is, no need to enforce it." I had managed to make a small flame from my wand, but I had wanted to make it a little larger.

"Slytherin is the superior house, I'm making sure no one forgets it." Pansy stated firmly. Daphne just continued her Astronomy homework, ignoring the two of us arguing as normal.

"So superiority is shown by tripping someone who's already late to class? Throwing insults at someone with a muggle parent? Teasing someone for mispronouncing a spell or forgetting it completely?" I asked. Pansy didn't respond and I nodded. "Need I add on cheating in almost everything and blaming others for our own mistakes?"

"Are you sure you're a Slytherin?" Pansy asked. I pointed to the emblem on my robe.

"Unless that's not a snake, I'd say I am." I said, turning to practice producing a bigger flame from my wand.

And as the weeks went on, I continued to get in the way of Pansy's and Malfoy's attempts to jynx others, usually getting jynxed myself. Snape was beginning to take points from those who jynxed me, saying that they shouldn't be trying to harm their own housemates. No one was able to tell Snape that I'd get in the way of them jynxing others, because that ended up losing them five more points. And I'd get more points in the process so whatever.

I woke up one night to Sevy making a weird noise. I sat up and when I looked out of my curtains, I saw a light flash under the door. I decided to follow it, quickly grabbing my robes, to find that it was Malfoy sneaking out of the dorm. I followed behind him, not even trying to be subtle. Malfoy turned and saw me, stopping.

"What are you doing, Riddle?" He sneered as I caught up.

"Obviously, I'm following you." I said, grabbing his lantern. "So, where are we headed." Malfoy snatched his lantern back and continued to walk.

"Potter and his friends were saying something about going to that oaf Hagrid's after hours. I'm going to see if they're still there and turn them into McGonagall." I shook my head, but followed. We made it out of the castle, and it was cold, so I may have walked a little closer to Malfoy. He shook his head as we went to Hagrid's hut on the edge of school grounds, near the Forbidden Forest. We peaked in the window and low and behold, there's Harry, Hermoine, and Ron, sitting around Hagrid's table where a baby dragon sat, the shell of it's egg still on the table.

"Oh wow." I said, leaning closer to look through the window. Hagrid looked up then and peered at Malfoy and I, Malfoy ducking and running, dragging me with him to tell McGonagall. And low and behold, Hermione, Harry, and Ron came in shortly after. The five of us stood in McGonagall's classroom as she sassed Hermione and the other's for being out and how dangerous it was, and then sentencing the five of us to detention. Which Malfoy was confused about, until McGonagall cleared up that though the intention was good, he and I were still out of bed as well.

"Why'd you turn us in Riddle?" Ron asked as Mr. Filch escorted us back to Hagrid's hut.

"I didn't. I just followed Malfoy out of the dorm, and he drug me back to the castle. I personally wanted to get a better look at the dragon." I explained. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

When we made it to the hut, Hagrid was upset because they sent the dragon away. And we found that our detention was going to be to go with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest. I wasn't sure why, really. Something about unicorns and them getting hurt. Hagrid decided to split us up, sending Harry, Malfoy and I one way while Hagrid took Hermione and Ron another. Malfoy and Harry bickered almost the entire time.

"Will you two shut up? We won't be able to complete our assignment if we scare the bloody unicorns away." I said, before tripping over a root. Malfoy snickered as Harry helped me up.

"You alright Cat?" Harry asked. I smiled and nodded.

"Yes, thank you." I walked over to Malfoy and slapped him over the head. "Even better now."

"What was that for?" Malfoy asked, glaring at me. I shrugged.

"Laughing at me for tripping and not helping me up." I said. We continued to walk, and as we did, my back began to hurt, the scar burning just under the skin, increasing in intensity as we walked. We came upon the scene of... something, bent over a unicorn, feeding from it's neck. The burn in my back was absolutely insane by this point, and I was sort of using Malfoy as a crutch to keep standing. Which had been a bad idea.

Whatever was over the unicorn looked up and saw us, and Malfoy and Fang, Hagrid's dog, ran. I ended up falling onto the ground, as did Harry, but where Harry backed up, I was trying to stay conscious. Suddenly, a centaur appeared and scared the creature off, and I couldn't feel the pain in my back anymore. The centaur pretty much told us that the creature we had encountered, was actually Voldemort, and at the mention of that name, I began to cry, body shaking with the sobs.

It was also at this time that Hagrid came, with Hermione, Ron, Fang, and Malfoy. Hagrid thanked the centaur, Firenze, and came over to me.

"Catherine, are you alright?" I shook my head as I grabbed him and sobbed loudly.

"I need to see Professor Snape." I wailed. "Immediately." Hagrid nodded and we walked out. Hagrid brought Malfoy and I to Snape, who at first was annoyed for being awoken, until he saw me crying, face red, eyes puffy. He said his thanks to Hagrid and escorted me into his office, sending Malfoy to bed.

"Catherine, what's wrong?" He asked as I clung onto his robes and cried.

"It was him." I cried. "He's in the forrest drinking unicorn blood." I felt Snape stiffen.

"Catherine, tell me what happened." I told Snape of my detention, and noticed his jaw clench when I told him that Malfoy had left me and Harry behind. He sighed and pet my head. "I'll inform the headmaster immediately. For now, I will escort you to your dorms. Go straight to bed. If I find you about the corridors after curfew again, you will be sent home." I nodded and went back to the dorm.

I woke up not an hour later with half the girls in the room staring at me, Daphne sitting next to me on my bed with her hand on my shoulder.

"Cat, what's wrong? You'd just been screaming." My nightmare, which was just a repeat of my detentions events, flashed behind my eyes and a loud sob left my mouth as I sat up and wrapped my arms around Daphne. She gently pat my back as I cried, the other girls watching silently, though one by one, they went back to sleep, and eventually I did too.