"Well," Brianna started, her voice sounding uneven and unusually high-pitched, "that was strange."

Everything was still quiet after that, a few Slytherin's exchanging confused looks or making small talk here and there. I, however, deep down, hoped that Tom hadn't dragged him outside for what he'd done to me; I didn't want anybody to know.

Emily stared at me with pursed lips, her eyes speaking a language I couldn't necessarily understand. A whirl of emotions spun in her light grey eyes, and I blinked and looked away. Emily seemed to want to speak, to say something, but another set of footsteps beat her to it - light enough to belong to a female. And I watched as Colette sneered at the three of us before scoffing as she headed out of the common room.

"Um..." Emily said awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot, finally breaking eye contact. "Should we get some breakfast?"

"Let's."

The three of us headed out of the common room, avoiding everybody's annoying stare. Emily kept glancing at me as we walked, slowly and solemnly. Brianna bounced with chatter, completely oblivious.

"What?" I muttered lowly to Emily, low enough that Brianna wouldn't hear as she talked and talked.

"Nothing."

"...and then she had a go at me just for saying hello to her! Her parents have brought her up the wrong way around, I mean, she's back the front!" Brianna rambled, waving her arms around as she spoke. "And then she had the nerve to go ahead and shove her shoulder into mine when we were leaving the Great Hall. What is wrong with her?"

We walked corridor down corridor, up and around stairs, and down narrow hallways. I'd hate it if my common room were down in the dungeons; it'd take such a long time to get to the Great Hall every morning. Just as we turned down the next corridor, the three of us stopped dead in our tracks, a hissing sound filling the deserted corridor, echoing louder than it should have. We exchanged funny looks and stood there in silence, listening to the hissing and the thuds and the awful sounds.

"What is that?" Brianna whispered in fear, her eyes widening and her eyebrows creasing.

"I didn't do anything!" A voice cried quietly, though it would have been louder had we walked into the boys bathroom. "I didn't - I didn't..."

THUD.

"I heard you, you fool," a second voice hissed, followed by another noise. "I heard you this morning, going on to the lads about how great..."

The second voice paused, followed by, once again, another thud.

By now, I was shaking. The noises and the tones these people were using were horrifying. I was sure Emily and Brianna were shaking too - even Brianna's teeth were chattering.

"Should...should erm...sh-should we go?" Emily stammered. "They're probably just practising a play for Muggle Studies. You said you were studying Muggle acting, didn't you, Abigail?"

"No, we were learning about it. We're not doing a play," I responded, staring at the entry of the boys bathroom.

"What did you see?" Tom was on the edge of his heels.

"I...I did see Professor Dumbledore. I saw a snake -"

"Nagini."

"What?"

"Nagini," Tom smirked. "My snake."

I blinked and swallowed hard, turning to Emily and Brianna.

"Wait here," I said quietly, moving slowly toward the entrance of the boys bathroom. The exact bathroom Avery had taken me to earlier in the term when he was looking at the bruises on my back.

"Avery!" I exclaimed. "I can't be in here!"

"Relax, love, everyone goes into the other bathroom."

Emily and Brianna stared at me as though I were insane and clutched my arm.

"We aren't letting you go in there alone," Emily rolled her eyes, adding very quietly, "remember what happened the last time I left you alone?"

"Fine," I huffed, gesturing for them to be quiet.

Slowly and hesitantly, we headed into the boys bathroom. We couldn't see anybody just yet, though I already knew who the two boys in here were. Another hissing sound broke through the eerie silence, causing me to go stiff and Emily and Brianna to gasp.

"Shh," I scolded, glaring at them from over my shoulder. They both broke into a nervous smile.

The first thing we saw were the cubicles - no boys. The wall was wide enough for Emily, Brianna and I to duck behind and take a peek.

"Are you finished with your lies?" The voice questioned quietly.

I ducked behind the cubicle and gestured for Emily and Brianna to do the same, and then I peered around it, and saw Tom's back and a boy against the wall, shivering and drenched in his own blood and sweat, and at Tom's feet was a long snake, hissing quietly.

Olly shook his head, sobbing and coughing up his own blood. "I wa-wasn't lying," he said quietly, his voice sounded defeated, as though he knew he were done for. Like they were his last words. "I am telling you the truth, I haven't done anything wrong here!"

Tom sighed and then chuckled, and his snake hissed again as though it were chuckling with him. "You claim you are innocent," Tom started, Olly nodding eagerly, "yet I heard you loud and clear this morning, chatting happily to my Knights about how fun it was. Not to mention, the way you explained it to them was...false. Have you ever heard of Legilimency, Prescott? You didn't have to say a thing for me to know what you'd done. Stop shaking your head, you know what you did! Keep doing it and Nagini will take yet another bite out of you...and I won't stop her until she is satisfied."

"Merlin's beard," Emily breathed from behind me into my ear. I could smell the fear in the breath that hit the back of my neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Olly cried, burying his cut face into his bloodied hands, sobbing. "I don't know what's the matter with me!"

Brianna started to whimper at the scene as the snake lunged at Olly, sinking its fangs into his shoulder. Tom waved his wand over Olly the moment he started to scream, making them quieter than they should have been, and Brianna whimpered so loud that Emily had to throw her hand over her, Brianna's, mouth.

"Let's get out of here," Emily whispered harshly. "We have to tell somebody."

"No," I almost said a little too loudly.

Emily blinked at me in disbelief, huffing quietly. "No to which part exactly?"

"Both. You can't tell anyone."

"And why is that?" Emily snipped, her eyes squinting at me. She wrapped her arms around Brianna's shoulders as she cried silently. "Can't you see, Abigail? You're so blinded by his charms that you can't let the fact that he's just a monster sink in!"

"Be quiet!" I snapped, leaning over the wall to see if he heard. "Do you want him to hear? Besides, Olly deserves this."

Emily huffed and shook her head slowly as I glared at her. All these emotions were building up inside of me and all I wanted to do was scream. I wanted to scream at her, at Brianna, at Olly, at my parents, at myself, and just plain scream. I was so angry and I didn't understand why. I was absolutely saddened at what Olly had done to me and now I was suddenly angry.

"No one deserves this. What is wrong with you? This isn't you, Abby."

Brianna kept quiet, whimpering, her eyes darting back and forth between Emily and I.

"Yes, well. Then I guess you just don't know me, then, huh?"

"Wow," Emily huffed, standing off the ground and lifting Brianna with her. "We're going to Dippet. You can either come with us...or you can stay here with your soulless monster. It's your choice."

Emily's eyes took one more darkened look at me before she slowly turned away with Brianna, and I did the only thing I could think of.

"Why you look down, Benjamin," Tom pouted, speaking in a mocking tone. He cocked his head to the side. "Wrong place at the wrong time? You wish it were that simple, don't you?"

"Wrong place?" Alison scoffed. "Excuse me, but I don't believe that you own this part of the castle. We are allowed to explore, are we not?"

Tom looked at Alison and his eyes hardened. "No," he spat. In less than a second his wand was pointed at her, and before I could react, he had already spoken. "Obliviate..." and then, after a second, he said, "imperio," and ordered Alison to leave for the Ravenclaw common room.

I didn't have my wand on me at the time; it was still lying beneath Emily's pillow. And when my eyes dropped to the stick standing out of her pant pocket, I lunged for it and pointed at her, pursing my lips. What was I doing?

Emily stopped stiff, spinning around with a crease in her brows. "What are you doing?"

Brianna looked back and forth between us, fear written all over her face and in her blue, watery eyes. "Stop it," she whisper yelled. "Stop it, both of you!"

"Come on, Abby, give -"

But I had already began to rotate the wand slowly. "Obliviate."

I focused on the bathroom scene, making sure that that be the only memory I steal. I did the same with Brianna despite her protesting sobs.

I didn't understand what was going on with me. There was a part of me screaming on the inside at my actions to stop what I was doing, but I wasn't listening.

I quickly forced Emily and Brianna out of the bathroom before they figured out I was in there, and I waited, hearing nothing but 'Nagini's' hisses and Tom's chuckles and Olly's sobs. And then I showed myself. I stepped into Tom's line of view, though his back was to me. Olly was the first to see me, and all he did was sob harder. Then Tom's snake saw me as she slithered around his legs, hissing. And, as though Tom had understood her hisses, he whirled around, staring at me as though he hadn't wanted me to find out what he was doing at all.

He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything.

I stood next to him in front of Olly, staring down at him in disgust as he cowered in his own blood and stared down at himself as though he, too, were disgusted with himself. What frightened me the most was that I didn't feel a speck of sympathy for this boy - who was so obviously in a lot of pain, scared, and half dead.

Tom's snake slithered toward Olly, her mouth wide open, sharp fangs almost sinking into Olly's leg.

"Not just yet, Nagini," Tom hissed softly and calmly.

Nagini shut her mouth and slithered back around, looking quite disappointed for a snake.

"No," I said without looking at Tom. "Let her."

I could feel Tom's eyes on me as I glared down at Olly, watching Nagini slowly slither toward him again. And she lunged. Over and over again, sinking her fangs in all sorts of parts of his body. At first, Olly didn't scream. He just cried and whimpered each time Nagini bit him. A smile crept up on my face, and I wasn't even the one controlling it. Olly started to cry loudly and scream as Nagini launched herself at his stomach and chest area, and I laughed. I couldn't believe it, but I actually laughed. I could still feel Tom's eyes on me as I laughed, and I whipped my head up to look at him standing next to me still.

"What?" I laughed.

"No one deserves this. What is wrong with you? This isn't you, Abby."

"This isn't you."

And then Olly let out a blood-curdling scream as Nagini sunk her teeth into his neck, ripping it. Olly's lifeless blue eyes stared up at me, and still, I felt no sympathy.