Black
Potions class. Miss Black had to suffer through Potions class again. What would they be learning today? Maybe a potion that’d make you feel like you were floating. That’s what Thally wanted. An excuse to get high. An excuse to be high up in the clouds without breaking the rules again and again and again.
Why was life literally terrifying for her? She couldn’t stay in one spot without feeling like she was being stared at or followed. She always felt threatened. She was always so defensive. It took her years to even find herself and this…bitch was still bothering her.
Pansy Parkinson. The cruelest, meanest assface to even exist. Parkinson thought she could wittle away at Thalassa’s soul until she finally gave up. Years of enduring this girl was utterly exhausting.
Thalassa sat in the first row of the Slytherin bench in Professor Snape’s Potions classroom, mindlessly filling in notes she had barely been able to keep up with. She was convinced she’d fail this class if she didn’t spend every free hour of her own studying.
“Hello, Thally.” Pansy said in a teasing manner as she sat down beside Thalassa and noticed her annoyed glare. “What? Can’t shake the fact that Draco wont look your way?”
Thalassa shot Pansy a mean glare. Pansy continued. “Aw, look at you. You look like a dead puppy.” Parkinson nudged the girl harshly.
Thalassa snapped her face over to Pansy with attitude. “Who are you to talk, you bitch?” Pansy’s dimples deepened as her lips curled upwards into a smirk. “Someone’s feisty, yeah? Look at you. This is why a man would never touch you. You look like you just crawled out of a trash compactor.”
Thalassa continued to take the insults. They weren’t even the worst of the worst, but they surely offended Thally. The girl was sensitive. She had been holding her words in for years out of fear that she’d ruin her imaginary ‘reputation’. There was no reputation to withhold. People barely knew her.
She shoved Pansy hard into the table, making her fall over the bench. Professor Snape perked his head up, getting up almost immediately and speed-walking over. “Excuse me.” The dark professor said in his deep, breathy voice, each syllable and end-letter of every word being articulated perfectly. “Do we have a problem, here?”
Thalassa sat back down and Pansy got up off the floor. Thally stared up at the professor. “No, Professor. I just accidentally bumped her.” She fidgeted with the quill in her right hand, her dark eyes matching those of Professor Snapes. “Fo-cus.” The man narrowed his eyes at the two Slytherin girls.
Thalassa was surprised he hadn’t taken points off of Slytherin. In the first two weeks of her being in her fourth year, everyone had behaved enough to where only the Gryffindor’s points had been deducted.
Severus knew. He knew that if Thally decided for any reason whatsoever to share how he had run, half-naked out of her mother’s room, he would be in grave trouble. Merlin, he might even resign. He eyed the girl occasionally. Once everyone was done with what they had been taking notes on, they were all told to get up and head to the larger cauldrons on the left-end of the room.
Thally sniffled hard through the new cold she’d been developing, heading to her cauldron as a familiar sting filled her nostrils. It felt all too much like accidentally inhaling swimming pool water through your nose. It lasted for a few brief seconds until she got to the large cauldron.
It’d been a while since the class had used the large-scale cauldrons. They usually used the ones on their lab tables, propped up over the rusty and definitely not up-to-code bunsen burners. Occasionally, she’d smell gasoline every time she walked by one. Someone at the Hufflepuff table was always fidgeting with the lever and always left it on. When she got to her assigned cauldron, the professor sorted them into groups.
“Draco Malfoy and…” Professor Snape’s words faded from Thalassa’s mind as she zoned out, staring into the depths of the pre-filled cauldron. Soon, Pansy walked up next to her with a dirty grin on her stupid face. Thally could only assume that Snape had partnered them together.
“You’re going to have to do the work, Thally.” Pansy mocked the girl’s nickname, a small sprinkle of saliva hitting her face. Thalassa looked at her with a ‘bitch, are you serious?’ stare. “Pansy, I really don’t know the recipe for this potion…”
“Are you telling me you haven’t been focusing in class, kitty?” Pansy made a pouting face, moving closer to the girl. “Tell me no again, Thally.”
“No.” Thalassa spoke firmly. “I’m not doing the entire assignment just because you don’t want—“ She was cut off by Pansy. “What? I thought you were a pick-me gal. You’d do anything for anyone just so they’d like you. People pleaser, yeah? I think that’s the right name for you. Bloody hell, you’d probably molest Draco so he’d look into your eyes one time.”
“Shut up!” Thalassa’s voice quivered, a ball forming in her throat. “Just shut up!”
“Aww, did I strike a nerve, kitty? What are you going to do, hit me?” Pansy smirked confidently, thinking she was the shit. Thalassa did. Thalassa hit her.
A loud clap echoed through the classroom and everyone went quiet. Thalassa slapped Pansy but managed to unintentionally knock her in the direction of the cauldron, causing her to hit her head while she fell. Pansy had been knocked unconscious.