The Potions Master's Daughter (Book One)

Chapter 31

The boy ran the blade softly over his skin without piercing it. It still caused past Blake to wince slightly and close his eyes for a second. The boy moved the knife over Blake's arm where the word Mudblood lover was still printed in white scars. He traced over the words with the knife; still not piercing the skin. Then he went over to the other arm with much older scars. He then bent down and began carving into Blake's skin. Blake cried out when he started then started to cry silently as the boy kept cutting into his skin.

After about a minute of watching Blake cry as the boy mercilessly cut his arm I felt something wet on my cheek. I reached up and felt a tear. There were more begging to fall and I blinked. They all came pouring down my cheeks. I turned away from the scene in front of me and hugged Blake tightly. He hesitated then hugged back.

I pulled away and said, "See all the trouble I got you in."

He laughed bitterly and said, "Oh just wait. You'll love yourself after this next part."

My eyes widened and I asked, "What why?"

"Just watch."

I tried to watch the memory in front of me but I couldn't see through the tears. I sat down and buried my face in my hands. I let my hair fall around me as a shield.

I felt a presence to my right and assumed it was Blake, "This is all my fault you know."

I was surprised when Severus responded, "No it's not. It's Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Wilkes fault and I'm going to see to it personally that they get in sufficient trouble."

I looked up finally to see Severus sitting down next to me. Blake was still standing in front of us seemingly unable to look away from his memory that he was reliving.

"I know you will but it doesn't change the fact that if he hadn't met me or hadn't stood up for me he wouldn't have had to go through this."

Severus put an arm around my shoulder and said, "Jessica listen to me. None of this is your fault whatsoever. You might feel responsible because your name was brought up but you can't blame yourself for their actions."

I moved closer to him and put my head on his shoulder with tears still running down my face. I closed my eyes and buried my face in his robes. At the moment I didn't care if Blake saw me or what he thought. I wanted to tell him that I was Severus's daughter anyways.

There was a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder and I opened my eyes. I looked up and was horrified to see that Blake was still conscious but was gushing blood.

He looked back at the two of us and didn't comment on the fact that I had been crying on Severus's shoulder.

He held out his hand and said, "This next part you'll want to hear. Don't worry there isn't anymore of the knife that I can remember."

"How are you still conscious?" I asked in wonder.

"He didn't want be to be unconscious just yet. There's something else he wanted to say before he knocked me out," Blake responded.

I nodded and felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at the scene in front of me unable to look away to glance behind me.

Draco was looking at Blake worriedly and asked. "Aren't we going to get in trouble for this?"

The other boy with the last name Wilkes bent down and put his face in front of Blake's, "No because he isn't going to tell anyone. I'm pretty sure even if it's not his girlfriend he won't appreciate it if she somehow tragically gets hurt and can't seem to remember a thing. Isn't that right?"

With a lot of difficulty Blake said, "She can easily win against you in a duel."

"Yes perhaps but there are some things that I can do to her that don't require any magic."

He let that sit in the air and Blake looked terrified.

I said indignantly, "Hey. Kay that's gross."

I looked behind me and Severus said seething, "Oh I'm going to ensure he gets expelled before he can do anything. With magic or- not."

I could tell he was mad and I couldn't blame him. I was so mad at this boy for saying anything at all. I was angry at him for simply existing.

The past Blake said, "You wouldn't."

He smiled wickedly and said, "You don't really believe that. Of course I would."

"You'll never get near her. She's not stupid."

"She doesn't need to let me near her I only need to find a way to get near her. You're still sticking up for her? Boy you're stupid. This whole thing was so you wouldn't stick up for her or any other Gryffindors ever," the boy said.

"You aren't going to hurt anybody," Blake mumbled.

"Well I've already hurt you and if you tell anyone I'll find a way to hurt the Wallwirt girl."

"She won't let you anywhere near her," he tried again.

"Yes but there are ways to make her go right where I want her to. Like if I was to say that her boyfriend was hurt somewhere she would come rushing and I'm sure I could get her that way. You must hate her by now. She's practically the only reason you had to go through all of this."

"I don't care. She'll never fall for something as stupid as that," Blake muttered softly.

"I would be careful what you call stupid," he replied as he raised his wand.

He said a spell and Blake was flown backwards against the wall and slumped to the ground unconscious. I recognized the spell as stupefy and felt a desire to run over and help him.

I felt a familiar tug at my stomach and was hurtled back to real time life. I landed with a thud on the ground. I made no effort to get up even though Severus and Blake had landed on their feet.

With a sigh I got up and wiped my eyes again. I knew it was pointless because more just kept falling. I went over and without a word I put my arms around Blake's neck and buried my face in his robes.

I whispered in his ear, "You're an idiot."

I pulled away and he smiled at me, "I don't think so."

"You are but thank you," I said.

"It was no problem. I told you you wouldn't like the last part much. Had I been in better shape I would have hexed him for saying something like that."

"There's no need. I'll find a way to get him back that's even worse than a hex," said Severus from the left of me.

"Thank you sir," replied Blake.

"I'm going to go find Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Wikes. You both should stay here just in case. I want you to be resting up Mr. Cox," said my father.

I was glad he was going to get them into trouble. I was also glad that he was going to let me talk to Blake in private but something was nagging at the back of my mind.

"Can't you not get Draco expelled? Mr. Malfoy will be furious with you," I asked.

"I'll probably expel Mr. Wikes if the Headmaster allows and then Draco will probably get a lot of detention. I don't know if he can get expelled since he didn't technically do anything; he just didn't stop it."

"Can we come talk to the Headmaster with you sir?" asked Blake.

Severus thought for a moment before saying, "Yes just let me get Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Wilkes by myself. I'll send a message to Jessica to head down."

I nodded and said, "Kay cool thanks."

He nodded and opened the door before walking through to the right; deeper into the dungeons. He probably was going to the Slytherin common room to collect Draco and the other boy. None of the students knew where the other common rooms were but I assumed the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons.