His Mark
[Knowledge is Power]

30th November 2016
Wednesday

“Salazar Slytherin's necklace, Father's diary, and mother's Time-turner…” I mumbled under my breath, whilst walking past some giggling Gryffindor girls in the nearly deserted first floor corridor.

With a quick glance in their direction, I noticed that the little group consisted of Lily Potter looking rather troubled at something that was happening outside- and the usual four girls that seem to flock around her, were giggling in amusement, or gasping in disbelief.

“Someone should call a teach-” Lily started to say, just to be interrupted by an angry; "GET ME DOWN!"

"You know, I could let you fall into the lake," I heard a familiar voice say in a cold steel tone, as I briskly made my way out of the castle and towards the small group. "or safely on dry land. But if I put you on land, who knows what you'll do to me?"

“Three against one, that is hardly fair…” 
I whispered lowly as I carefully inched closer towards the group.
The upside down hanging Malcolm continued to scream obscenities, his goons had their wands drawn and pointing at Cordelia as I ran through some of the spells that I had read in the more advanced books in the Room Of Requirements, spells that I knew only by theory…

“Ok, ZIP IT! Tell your friends to back off. Now!” Cordelia growled,her demeanor very much like a cornered dragon,ready to deliver her wrath.

“Or this idiot gets to be eaten by the squid.” She jerked her hand in a downwards slash,corresponding to Malcolm falling down into the lake, his nose just touching the surface.

“You crazy bitch!”
“This crazy bitch can feed you to the squid if your goons don't get the hell out of here!”

Malcolm’s entourage looked at each other, then to Malcolm, and slowly backed away- wands still raised for a fight, while Cordelia watched them with beady, furious eyes.

Looks like I don't have to step in after all…

I watched as Malcolm called out to his friends, ordering them not to leave, all the while throwing profanities at Cordelia.

Cordelia raised an arched brow, her face full of contempt.

“Fine.” She flicked her wand down.

Malcolm landed in the water with a strangled scream and an almighty splash, sending water racing towards his goons like a slap. In the confusion, Cordelia ran into one,who reached out to grab her.

"Petrificus Totalus!” She yelled and kicked the rigid body off her before breaking into a sprint unintentionally towards me.

Damn it!
How am I supposed to explain why I’m lurking around in the shadows like some sort of creep?!

Five seconds and a half, in those five and a half seconds my mind kept racing, running over countless of possibilities of how Cordelia would react to my inexplicable presence half hiding behind a bush, two seconds for me to decide to turn around and at least try to get away and what felt like a heartbeat for something to run straight against my back- sending me face first into the with snow covered ground.

“Ow! Sorry, sorry, got to dash!” She pushed off me, too hurried to notice who she had just tackled to the ground and broke out into a mad dash once again.

I got up slowly, brushing the snow off my robes all the while hearing Malcolm's excessive swearing in the background.

“That damn little slag! She won't live this down!” Malcolm roared as his friends helped him out of the lake.

“Don't do anything stupid, Malcolm,” hissed a blonde Ravenclaw.

“I would listen to your friend if I were you,” I spoke out, as I made my way towards Malcolm and his gang.
“In contrary to you, he seems to have some sense…” I muttered that last part, as I stood in front of him with my arms crossed.

Malcolm's expression suddenly changed from confusion, to realisation with a hint of panic, as he finally took the time to look at me properly.
“Y-you're the weirdo from the Orphanage…” He muttered as  he took two steps back, almost falling into the lake once again.

His little gang looked back and forth between us two, obviously perplexed as to why their great leader was acting in such an unusual way.

“I thought tha-” Malcolm sneered in annoyance, as he tightly gripped the wand inside his robe pockets.
“You thought that you had seen the last of me on that day?” I asked in fake surprise, as he silently signaled for his little pose to leave us alone.

“I should have figured that a frea- that you would also end up here…” Malcolm quickly corrected himself, as he noticed my eye twitch in annoyance.
“Ouch...those words really sting especially coming from my best friend...or should I say ex best friend?” I muttered through clenched teeth, as we stood directly in front of each other.

“It's not like it was my fault that they adopted me inste-”
“Traitor! That's a lie and you know it damn well! We were supposed to get out of that hell hole together...Or at least that's what I thought before you pulled off that little stunt when it became evident that the couple wanted to adopt me!” I was practically screaming in his face right now, tightly gripping my wand, as all the bottled up anger that had been in me all these years was finally being released.
Malcolm on the other hand seemed unsure of what to do, and simply choose to avert his gaze from me.

“It was all your fault...filling my head with fantasies, pretending to be by my side- even taking the blame for things that I had done. All that just to lull me into fake security, and stab me in the back.” My voice sounded cold, distant, as if someone else was talking...someone li-
In my rage I didn't notice that Malcolm had reached for his wand, and only noticed as it was being pressed against my neck.

All at once, I could hear screams and yelling erupting with the pounding blood in my ears.

"All's fair in love and war, Vauxhall," Malcolm hissed, stabbing his wand deeper, into my skin, so hard it was at the point of breaking...

"Impedimenta!"

An invisible force blasted Malcolm away from me, forcing us in two different directions,blowing us away from each other like a bomb. I could feel myself falling towards the ground, only stopped by a tiny, soft weight who supported my arms with small but firm hands.
"You okay?" Cordelia asked.

Saved by a girl...great.

I gave her a short nod, as I continued to stare Malcolm down from a distance, watching the subtle changes in his expression as he realised that he had just dug his own grave.

"Malcolm Wingate, what on earth were you doing?!"