Lydia's Story

Lydia was halfway through her breakfast when she saw Draco enter the Great Hall. He seemed to be happy, so she allowed herself a breath of relief. However he managed it, he seemed to have gotten out of trouble.

As soon as she cleared off her plate, Lydia hurried to where Draco sat at the Slytherin table.

"How did it go?" she asked quietly, perching lightly on the edge of the bench next to Draco.

"Pretty good, I guess," Draco drawled with a wide smile. "I've got to go to detentions all next week, but that's it."

At the mention of detentions, Lydia felt her heart drop into her stomach. She had managed to forget, until now, that she would be serving detentions with Snape all afternoon. No matter what Dumbledore said, she still didn't trust Snape.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, stopping to look at her closely.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" Lydia lied, drawing up a convincing smile. Draco seemed satisfied and returned to his food.

Lydia tried to push away her anxieties about the coming afternoon, focusing her thoughts on her morning classes.

Everything will be alright, she told herself.

*~*~*~*~*

In spite of it being a double period, Charms class seemed to go by a lot faster than Lydia would have liked. Before long she had gathered her books and wand, and was walking with Draco down the sloping hills to Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid again led them to the lake, this time carrying a huge tub full of swimming fish and lots of empty buckets..

"Today yeh'll be feedin' the catfish fer real, an' seein' how they react ter different kinds o' fish," Hagrid told them in his booming voice. "Yeh'll be workin' in partners, since we don' 'ave enough fish fer each student."

The Griffindors and Slytherins obediently divided into pairs. Each group was assigned three different kinds of fish, which put up a valiant fight as they were moved into the buckets.

"These...things...won't...stay...still!" Draco panted, trying to move a particularly slippery fish into their bucket. The fish was a foot long, and covered with silvery scales that gleamed in the sun as it flopped around in Draco's hands. Draco finally dropped it into the bucket, wiping his hands on his robes with a look of disgust. The other two fish were smaller; a green one, speckled with brown, about half a foot long, and a bright red one that was only two inches in length.

Moving to the lake, Draco and Lydia chose a spot away from the others and watched the approaching catfish. The class went by smoothly, and the air was soon pierced with the sound of the distant castle bell.

"I've got to get to detention," Lydia said hurriedly, shoving her quills and parchment into her bag. Giving Draco a quick kiss on the cheek, she hurried up to the castle, wondering what Snape had in store for her.

*~*~*~*~*

Snape was already seated at his office desk when Lydia entered the room. For a second Lydia worried that she was late, but a quick glance at the clock calmed her fears.

"Miss Meliflua, I wondered when you would be joining me," Snape said icily. Lydia knew he had hoped that she would be late, just so he could give her more detentions.

Stupid git, she thought silently.

"Now that you're here, I'll be getting you to help Professor Binns," Snape continued coolly. "He said that he had many documents to organize for his NEWT class, and I told him that you would be more than happy to help. I had the documents brought down earlier this morning. They're waiting for you at the spare desk." Snape gestured lazily at a long desk that had been pushed against the far wall and piled high with bundles of parchment.

"How do I organize them, sir?" Lydia asked, resisting the urge to punch his smug face.

"I think it's pretty obvious once you see them," Snape answered with a smirk. "Arrange them from oldest to most recent. And I suggest you hurry; you won't be leaving until they are completed."

Nodding, Lydia moved towards the desk, nestled in between two shelves of pickled animals. Trying to push Snape out of her thoughts, she pulled a chair over to the first mountain of documents. As Lydia took the first few bundles, she saw that they resembled skinny notebooks. Across the top of each was written, The Ministry of Magic - Council of Magical Law: Official Transcripts of Hearings, and beneath each of these title was written a name.

Meliflua, Malenor - Guilty.

Meliflua, Ladella - Guilty.

Tellehen, Charles - Innocent.

Meliflua, Sadec - Guilty.

"As you can see, Miss Meliflua," Snape said coolly, "these are transcripts of past Ministry Hearings. Death Eater Hearings, to be exact. I believe it would be...educational...if you organized them by verdict as well as date."

Lydia gave a stiff nod, not daring to look into Snape's sneering face. She focused instead on the transcripts in front of her, sorting the guilty from the innocent and the old from the new.

Halfway through the lunch hour, Lydia came across a document that sent a chill through her spine. It was dated for the previous summer, and was one of the few in the guilty pile who weren't a part of the Meliflua family.

Malfoy, Lucius - Guilty.

Lydia wasn't sure why it bothered her so much. After all, she already knew that Draco's father was a Death Eater. Seeing it in writing, however, was very different from hearing it from Harry.

Putting it aside, Lydia moved on to the next document in the pile.

Meliflua, Thenson - Guilty.

Oh well, Lydia sighed to herself as she threw the document into the pile with the others with the others. It's just one more thing Draco and I have in common.

*~*~*~*~*

By the time she had sorted the last pile of bundled parchment, Lydia's back was aching from leaning over the desk. Supper had ended an hour ago, and Lydia's stomach rumbled audibly. Two piles of documents now stood on the desk; the guilty on her left, and the innocent on her right. The guilty pile seemed noticeably larger, and Lydia knew that almost half of the witches and wizards convicted of being Death Eaters were Melifluas.

"Well, Miss Meliflua," Snape said coolly, his voice cutting into Lydia's thoughts. "I guess this means you finally finished." Lydia silently refused to turn and look at him, but she could hear his chair scrape across the floor as he stood to his feet. His soft footsteps made their way to her table, and Lydia knew that he was standing behind her. "I'll need to bring these back to Professor Binns. If I hear that a single one was out of place, you can be sure that there will be consequences. You may pack up your things and go to your common room." With a flick of his wand, Snape levitated the documents off of the desk. He then made his way out of the room, the piles of parchment floating along in front of him.

Lydia waited until his echoing steps had disappeared down the dungeon corridor before rising from her seat. Her stomach gave another hungry growl as she finally straightened her stiff back. Glancing around the office, she saw her book bag sitting by Snape's desk. A few books had fallen out of it, and lay scattered on the floor around the bag. She didn't remember spilling them, and figured that Snape must have knocked it over.

Stupid git, she repeated to herself for the thousandth time that evening. She moved slowly to her bag, each step causing a dull ache in her stiff legs. Her back protested painfully as she kneeled to dump her books back into the bag.

As Lydia straightened herself, her book bag securely on her shoulder, her eyes fell on the parchment laying on Snape's desk. He was partway through marking a pile of Potions assignments done in class, and Lydia saw her own half-marked paper on the desk, laying next to Draco's. Though her marks were very good, Lydia had a feeling that Snape was finding every excuse possible to take marks away. Her suspicions were confirmed as she scanned over Draco's assignment. He was given full marks for an answer almost identical to Lydia's, while she had only received half marks. Picking up her paper, Lydia tried to decipher the comment scrawled in the margin. Sloppiness, she saw at last.

Lydia was about to drop the paper back on the desk when she saw a yellowed bundle of parchment sticking out from beneath a pile of unmarked assignments. It had been covered by her own assignment, but Lydia now recognized it as one of the Ministry transcripts. Pulling it carefully from beneath the teetering pile of work, Lydia eyes darted straight to the name.

Snape, Severus - Pardoned.

Stunned, Lydia started to read through the tattered pages when a hand closed over her shoulder.

"In the future, Miss Meliflua, I would prefer it if you didn't look through my possessions," Snape hissed, his voice venomous. Turning impulsively, Lydia saw Snape's eyes glint dangerously. The transcript had fallen from her hands, and Lydia's hand twitched towards the wand resting in her pocket. Before she had even reached her pocket, Snape grabbed her wrist with his free hand.

"Not so brave now, are we?" he sneered in a low voice, his icy fingers tightening their vicelike grip on Lydia's wrist.

"I don't know about you, but I'm fine," Lydia retorted, grateful that her voice didn't shake.

Snape's eyes narrowed, his face still contorted with anger. He silently released Lydia's shoulder, pulling out his own wand instead. The dungeon door closed with a wave of his wand, and Lydia heard the lock snap into place.

"Now then, listen carefully," Snape continued coldly. "What you have read in that document is confidential information. The Headmaster already knows of it, so it is pointless to go running to him. However, repeating it to others would be unwise. Very unwise. The Headmaster respects my privacy, and broadcasting this news will cause you trouble with not only me, but with him as well. Now go. That will be one hundred points from Gryffindor."

He released Lydia's wrist, which was throbbing painfully. Holding her book bag to her side, Lydia left the office without looking back.