Last Heart

Margot felt a little uneasy outside Snape's office; she knew an unpleasant surprise awaited her. She knocked hesitantly on the professor's door. She heard a loud voice from behind it, announcing that she was welcome to enter. A little flustered by the professor's voice, the girl opened the door with a shudder. She blushed slightly when the professor looked at her. She closed it behind her and heard the clatter of broken china. She flinched at the sound and muttered, "Professor, I'll clean it up." The professor looked at her in surprise and said, "No need, it's not your fault." A moment of silence. The professor turned his back to the student for a moment and stood up to gather up the broken china. It was useless, as Margot was faster, and she ran over and gathered everything in her hands. The professor looked at her with disgust and said with irony in his voice,

"You'll cut yourself, child, put this on my desk before you hurt yourself

." As if on command, the girl rudely and impudently threw the entire contents of her hand onto the professor's desk. The professor rolled his eyes and gestured for Margot to sit down. She, however, didn't sit down, but leaned against the wall. She began the conversation

. "So, Professor, what about that detention for breaking two jars of ingredients?" she asked brazenly, a hint of irony in her voice

. "I'm canceling it, just like that. I changed my mind, you're not fit to clean the toilet.

" "Just like that?" This is the first time I've heard of a professor canceling a detention.

"Exceptions happen," he replied in a tone that ended the conversation.

Margot slid from the wall to the floor. The professor, wide-eyed, looked at the girl for a long moment and rose from his chair. He put his arms around her and lifted her to her feet. A moment later, they were in the hospital wing. He placed her on a hospital bed and quickly summoned Poppy Pomfrey. The nurse ordered him out immediately and attended to the girl herself. First, she checked her pulse, and only then examined her whole body. The nurse said the student was weak, but in reality, she had fainted and lost consciousness. Less than two days later, Margot was still lying in the hospital wing, with no improvement. When she awoke, she saw Blair holding her wrist, waiting for her to wake up. The girl managed only,

"Father told me everything, and I felt sorry for you, and... and... and I came to you, Mar." Blair paled even paler.

Margot clenched her fist and smacked her forehead.

"I brought you your lessons," Blair announced happily.

Margot looked curiously at her companion, who had left parchments and books on her table. The girl turned to the side and muttered,

"Thanks."

"Of course, and you still have your parchment and quill and ink here. Use my books; it's the end of the week, after all. So I can do my homework on Saturday."

"How long have I been here?" Margot asked suddenly.

"About two days.

" "Did your father say anything about this incident?

" "Nothing, just told me to visit you and give you notes.

" "Oh, of course. Now let me rest, okay?"

"Okay, hold on, Mar, and get well soon

." Margot cursed her friend under her breath and rolled onto her back. She squirmed and squirmed until she finally fell to the ground. She pushed herself up on her sore arm and glided across the washed floor of the hospital wing. She shouted for help, and as if on cue, a nurse arrived. She lifted the girl with considerable resistance. After all, someone over fifty wouldn't lift a student who weighed more than fifty kilos. The girl groaned when the nurse grabbed her hand. Poppy clutched her head and whispered

, "You, kid, are nothing but trouble. You must have a cut or a fracture and possibly swelling once a week." Jesus, how can your parents put up with you?

Margot didn't respond to what she heard. The nurse covered her with a blanket and went to the cabinet in the corner. She took out a slightly purple liquid and handed it to Margot. The girl drank the entire sour liquid in one gulp. She shuddered like a cockroach. She lay down and closed her eyes. She fell asleep again. This time briefly. After an hour or two, the rustling of papers woke her. Reluctantly, she opened one eye and saw Blair sitting above her, eating Honeydukes candy.

"Mar, do you want one?" she asked.

"I'm not allowed to eat sweets

." Oh, I'm sorry,

Margot pulled herself into a crevice and covered her head with a pillow. She would give up everything for five hours of sleep. The pleasant weather outside changed to a raging storm. Blair got up and closed the curtains above Margot's window. The girl bit her friend

. "Snape, I like dark atmospheres, take the lid off.

" "It attracts lightning into the room, you know. Okay, Mar, I'll leave you some sweets, maybe you'll be tempted, so bye. I hope you can go to breakfast and then to Hogsmeade by tomorrow morning.

" "Bye," Margot snapped without thinking, disgusted.

She didn't like being called Mar. It was the height of impudence and rudeness, in her opinion. She didn't like Blair very much in general.

The next day

, "Hey Mar, the sun is shining, we're going to Hogsmeade soon." Blair came to Margot first thing in the morning and woke her up with her usual, yet very tolerant tone.

"Blair, please, not today, tomorrow or later," the girl, her eyes closed and her hand clenched on the sheets, snapped at her friend. "Maybe you should sleep in later!"

Blair looked at Margot in astonishment, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it a moment later, and repeating the same thing over and over again.

"No way, you're a sleepyhead, no matter what. Okay, at 5:00 PM at the main entrance to the castle, okay?

" "Okay," Margot replied, as politely as possible. "Now let me sleep!" She covered herself with the sheets again and tried to return to the sleep she'd been torn from.

She couldn't, so she got up and asked the nurse for a screen. With a broken arm, she slowly but surely got dressed and combed her hair. She tied her long brown hair into a braid. She asked the nurse to pack her things into a bag. And so, with her things packed and organized, she left the hospital wing. She headed straight for the counselor's office. Walking along the stone path, she tripped over protruding bricks. She also met Dira, who, as always, had a crowd of admirers around her. As she passed her, Margot gave a curt "Hey," and Dira pushed all the fans away. She flew up to Margot and clung to her neck. She whispered in her ear,

"Margot, you old cow. It's been so long since I saw you. Welcome home!" Dira spoke in such a polite tone, Margot had never met before.

She looked at her in surprise and moved on. She knocked on the wooden door and opened it. The professor was reviewing the sixth-grade students' papers and, distracted from his paper, looked at Margot in surprise.

"Margot, please sit down if you want to talk about something. And wait five minutes." When asked, the girl sat down, crossing her legs as she did so. Margot, seated, looked quite innocent. She watched the professor for a long moment when he happily announced,

"I'm done!"

The girl looked with utter surprise at the image of the professor, whom she had seen happy for the first time.

"So, Mar, what's the matter?" he asked, gesturing with his hands into a basket and moving closer to the desk. The girl swallowed hard and said bluntly,

"Professor, I'm sorry about what happened. I really didn't mean to. I can't control the station surrounding me and I'm losing consciousness. I really didn't mean to upset you, Professor," the girl quickly forced out her voice, carefully lowering and raising it, tears in her eyes. The professor exhaled deeply and rested his head on his hands. He sighed again and said,

"Nothing's wrong, Margot. Understand, it doesn't cause me any trouble. I'm just worried about your health. It doesn't mean I care more about you than Jibrille. Understand, I don't want to lose one of my favorites. I'm afraid that..." the professor rested his forehead on one hand, "that you'll die here at Hogwarts. I knew your mother and father. They were two years older than me, but I liked them very much, and they liked me." What I mean is, your mother and father died here in the castle, and you were born here, right when they were finishing 7th grade.

Margot stood up and moved towards the door.

"Margot, promise me you won't tell anyone about this, please." A tear rolled down his face.

Margot was about to grab the doorknob when she turned and looked dejectedly at the teacher.

"Professor, my mother and father died, but how?"

The professor looked at the girl and choked out,

"From a serious illness, they fell into a coma, fainted, or whatever you prefer, but one thing is certain, they died immediately after you were born." Margot approached the professor and hesitantly offered him a trembling hand.

"Professor, everything will be alright, I'll never die so soon." The professor grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her closer.

"Time passes and heals all wounds, as the saying goes, but Margot, be careful what you say; you have to be prepared for anything.

" "Whatever is meant to be will be, and when it is meant to be, you have to face it." The professor stood up and hugged Margot. The girl blushed.

"Now, get going, you need to go to the common room, or preferably to the dormitory, and lie down. If Dira's there, ask her to come in, and remember not to tell anyone about what just happened."

He smiled mysteriously and walked the girl to the door. When he opened it, he whispered in her ear

, "Tomorrow after three in the afternoon, in my office.

" "Okay, Professor."

She said goodbye to the teacher and boldly walked out of the warm office into the cold, damp corridor.

She walked unsteadily but confidently along the stone path. She passed through the portal and approached the stone wall. She gave the password, and the wall parted, and with a big smile, Margot stepped inside. Right at the entrance, she was ridiculed by both younger and older Slytherin classmates. She endured the taunts and comments for about three minutes as she tried to make her way through the children to the stairs. On the first step, Malfoy approached her and kicked her in the stomach. The girl's eyes reddened and filled with tears. She screamed directly into Draco's ear

, "Malfoy will break your bones!"

"Come on, Crabbe and Goyle will sooner have yours," he replied sarcastically. "Oh, Larnes, try to snitch on the Professor, and you're dead." He looked at the crowd of people around him. "That goes for you too." He glared at the young Slytherins. The girl clutched her stomach and stammered. Lucius Malfoy's offspring was already bracing for another kick. Margot raced up the stairs at lightning speed. She threw herself against the door and slammed it, tripping over the threshold. Weeping, she collapsed onto the bed and pulled the curtains shut. She began breathing heavily and sobbing. A silhouette approached the curtains, and the shadow of her hand revealed her right side. It was Dira. She looked very happy. She smiled at her and wiped her tears with a bony hand. Margot pushed her hand away and stammered

, "Dira, the professor asked you. Can you leave me alone?" The blonde's expression grumbled.

She got up from the girl's bed and said,

"If not, then no, I thought you were my friend. You say the professor summoned me? Fine, I'll go, but if it's a lie, then say goodbye to life.

" More than one person has told me that today." Margot fell back onto the pillow with a howl.

Dira held her wand tightly in her right hand. Pansy rose from the pouffe and asked anxiously

, "Dira, what did you do to her?

" "The most common spell I know," she replied to her friend with a cackle. "Disarming, I think."

Pansy looked at her proudly and burst into laughter. Half the girls' dormitory howled with her.

"No, really, there's nothing to laugh at here." Blair raised her voice.

The voices faded. A deathly silence fell. Pairs of eyes were drawn to Blair and Margot. Out of nowhere, the professor strode proudly into the room.

"Anguis, see me immediately." Dira and Snape's argument lasted several minutes before they left the dormitory.

The professor didn't even acknowledge Margot's unconscious gaze. He was so fond of her. After a few hours, the girl woke up. It was long after eleven o'clock at night. Margot lay on her bed, covered with a duvet and a dozen pillows under her head. In ordinary clothes that stank of sweat. She sighed loudly and deeply. She uncovered herself and got out of bed with great reluctance. She changed, took off her dirty pants and blouse. She changed her underwear and wrapped herself in a robe that had been left on her pouffe by the table. All the girls in the room were snoring soundly. Margot, making sure no one was coming through the common room, descended the stairs. She walked over to one of her favorite spots in front of the fireplace and sat down. The armchair wasn't very comfortable or large. Although she was short, her head stuck out, but her legs were, or rather, had to be, in one position. She closed her eyes and began humming the Boney M song "Rasputin." After a moment, she heard another voice singing.

"He was big and strong..." A light male voice in the darkened depths of the rest of the unlit living room, along with a tall, slender figure, stood up and sat down two chairs away. It was Malfoy.

"What do you want from me again?!" the girl blurted out with a fierce temper.

"I won't, no, I won't kick you." He walked up to the girl and pulled her hand toward him. He hugged her. She blushed. The boy was speechless, Margot pulled away from him and sat back down in the armchair. Dracon, glassy-eyed, stole a glance at the girl, who choked out a faint, inaudible,

"First he hates me and then he sucks up to me. I'm not fucking first, I'm not some cheap slut, damn it." The girl collapsed into the armchair.

Dracon stared at her for a moment and then fled to the boys' bedroom. In the morning, as everyone was heading for breakfast, one of the first-graders covered her mouth with her hand and ran like the wind through the common area toward the exit. A moment later, the group of children circled the chair where the unconscious Margot lay. The younger children exchanged opinions about the girl until the fifth-graders could no longer be seen from the girls' dormitory on the stairs. The girls, all smiling and giggling, didn't even realize what had happened. They passed by without paying attention to the situation. They were already at the door when the professor stood before them, and before them the first-grader. The professor looked kindly at the girls and said,

"What are you laughing at? Get out of my way.

" "Professor, what happened?" one of the fifth-graders blurted out.

He didn't answer, just shoved her back with his hand. He approached the group around the armchair and growled

, "Okay, there's nothing to see here, get out of here

." The children, as if offended by the professor, left. The professor, however, with a skeptical expression, "froze" his eyes on Margot's completely abandoned and limp body. He rolled his eyes and turned to the fifth years

, "Anguis and Malfoy, come to me!" he shouted loudly and forcefully.

Draco and Dira approached him. The entire common room was staring at one place: the armchair in front of the fireplace.

Dira and Malfoy kept glancing between Margot and the professor. Draco couldn't contain himself and loudly declared what he wanted

, "Fuck, I treated her like any other girl." I hugged her, she pushed me away, sat down in the armchair, and then just fainted. Thank God, that's how it happened.

"You don't love God, Malfoy, you're an atheist," Dira hissed

. Pansy gave Draco a look like a poisonous snake. The professor replied

, "I already know what happened, and you, Anguis, will have to explain yourself. Oh, you'll see, I won't let you have it!

" "But I didn't do a damn thing! Seriously!" The entire room now turned its gaze to Dira.

"Oh, things won't be good for you, Anguis. Malfoy, follow me!"

Dira snorted and added ironically, crossing her arms.

"I'm not going anywhere, understand? I have the right to refuse

too." "Well, then so do I!" Malfoy replied without hesitation.

"Detention for both of you for bad behavior, plus detention for using foul language, plus two detentions for speaking to me that way. Now follow me!" he hissed at both of them and added, "Someone call a nurse here immediately, that girl fainted again. What's that, no.

A week had passed since the fainting. Margot was already conscious in the hospital wing. Although slightly awake, she was talking in her sleep. Not far away, two beds away, lay Blair, who didn't look her best. Margot yawned and tried to open her eyes. She regretted it when she saw the trio above her

—Pękala, Gangrene, and Wiseguy, what?

"Can you not be like Peeves?" Potter asked, grinning broadly.

"No, I can't

." "Okay, if not, then no. Oh, I almost forgot, you have us," he pointed at the other two, "a credit of trust, so to speak. We don't like Malfoy, so you probably want to join us too?

" "Get the hell out of here, Potter! He's gone! Now!

" "Skinny, don't overexert yourself, you'll faint again," Weasley interjected

. "Ron, run to your Blair, run." She pointed to the bed where her "friend" lay.

The three looked at the girl in disbelief. Hermione blurted out

, "Larnesen, the whole school knows you fainted, and Malfoy is dealing with the Headmaster because he knows you—

" "Please don't finish!" Margot burst into tears.

She pulled her wand from her locker and used it on the three. Potter whispered something to his companions, and they fled in a flash. The girl, tired of the Gryffindors' barking, collapsed onto her pillow and fell into a trance again. A daydream.

Margot found herself on the Hogwarts grounds. It was the middle of winter. The girl wandered around until she finally reached the courtyard. She sat down on a cold, wet bench under the willow trees. Neville appeared out of nowhere beside her. He smiled at the girl, but she didn't return the smile. The boy bent down and scooped up some snow. He staggered and smacked the snowball at Margot. With the look of an angry coyote, she bent down and threw a snowball at him. The snowball fight raged for almost an hour. Wet and laughing, they collapsed onto the snow, fluffy as a down comforter filled with goose feathers. The girl placed her hand on her stomach. Neville crawled over to her and pushed her down the hill. She laughed out loud, and with snowflakes in her ears and on her coat, she stood up, ignoring the ice that was covered with snow, ran up the hill, and grabbed Neville by the scarf. She slid down with him on her boots, leaving four long, uneven lines. They rode like that until they hit a tree. Neville hugged Margot, and she hugged him back, adding,

"This will be the only good Christmas of my entire life

." It was Tuesday morning. The lesson was the longest and most boring of the day. Divination. Margot, with a bored expression, became paranoid after the first ten minutes of teachers' chatter and gave her opinion on today's lesson.

"But seriously, Professor, why would anyone need cups, balls, oracles, and other such nonsense? This is supposed to be magic? They have that kind of magic in the Muggle circus. Don't you know?" The woman looked at her as if she were crazy, although she was listening to the student with a very serious expression. "I deeply respect this book." She took out her wand and burned it with a spell. "And I also deeply respect this whole theory about the phases of the moon. In general, I deeply respect this whole class." She rose from her chair.

She threw a single angry glance at the entire group of students staring at her. She opened the trapdoor and descended the ladder. The professor, with the expression of an offended coyote, asked,

"The house prefect should follow her and talk some sense into her that she needs to come back up here."

Draco hesitantly rose from his chair and descended the ladder. When he placed his foot on the stone floor, he noticed Margot sitting nearby, crying, against the wall. The girl covered her face with her sleeve and with her other hand, pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose. Malfoy walked over to her and pulled her hand. He was stunned when he did so. Her hand was icy. Extremely cold. He let go of her and, with pity in his eyes, uttered

, "Larnesen, you're following me to the hospital wing immediately.

" "I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!

" "Then we're going to the professor.

" "Isn't he getting it?! I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

" "You're going, whether you like it or not! I'm a prefect.

" "I have that badge of yours you forced out of the headmaster deep in my ass!"

Draco tugged at her icy hands and lifted her up. He quickly ran down the stairs, while Margot, out of time, stumbled over the steps and had to jump over them every three.

The walls in the dungeons were even colder than the girl herself. She and Malfoy ran to the common room. He sat her down in front of the fireplace, and he ran to get the teacher. She closed her eyes, fell asleep, and had another daydream.

Margot was lying on a blanket on a Saturday summer morning by the lake. She had passed up the opportunity to go to Hogsmeade. The sun beat down on the girl's head. She turned onto her back, and a wave of bright light hit her directly in the eyes. She quickly grabbed her cap and put it on. The visor, which obscured her vision slightly, didn't bother her as much as she thought. She stood up and brushed away bits of grass that swirled in the air and settled on the blanket. She spread it back out on the space that had been crushed by her weight. She lay on her side, and a gust of wind made her hair dance and swirl like elves. The girl closed her eyes. A light male voice whispered in her ear

, "Margot, open your eyes." The boy sat down next to her and took her hand. He squeezed it and said the same words again, "Margot, open your eyes, please

." The girl opened her eyes uncertainly. She saw Neville in Gryffindor garb, holding a slip of paper in his hand, which he intended to give to the girl. In his other hand, he held his wand. He took an ordinary stone from the lake and struck it with a spell. The object of the spell transformed into a bouquet of yellow roses, which he handed to her along with the note, saying, "You

will remember me for the rest of your days." He placed the flowers in front of her and stood up. With his hands in the pockets of his robes, he moved toward the castle. Margot wanted to thank him, but he was already gone.

"Margot, Margot, Mar! Damn it, wake up!" The professor and Draco stood over Margot. The girl looked like a corpse. White as a ghost, her hands, legs, and her always-flushed face limp. Her frozen body was limp and terribly light for someone with bones and a thin layer of skin. The student's arms and legs hung limply in the air, and she was supported by her arms, covered in a black cloak. The professor carried her to her private quarters. He spread white silk sheets on the bed and carefully placed the unconscious Margot on it. He went to the cupboard. He leaned down and pulled out a vial containing a bright blue potion. The vial had a label that read: "A potion to regenerate and strengthen a weakened being." He approached the girl and opened her mouth, pouring the contents into it. Strangely, the vial's contents flowed down the girl's throat. The teacher grabbed Margot's hand, which was still icy and blue.

The bell...

"Damn it."

A knock on the door. The professor left the girl for a moment and entered the office. He opened the door. Blair stood there with a bag marked M.A.G.* Larnesen. "

Father, give this to Margot," the girl muttered tonelessly, handing it to the professor. He, however, refused the brown leather bag, which bore the familiar Witchcraft symbol along with words like "fake it." He responded with words: "

Take this to the dormitory and place it on her bed."

The girl merely nodded and left, closing the door quietly. The professor went to his private quarters. Margot, lying there, was still cold. The thought flashed through Severus' mind: "She really won't wake up anytime soon, or maybe not at all..." He slapped his paper-colored hand against his forehead. "No, it's impossible. What if..." At that thought, he gave the girl an angry look like, "It's all your fault, Longbottom, minus five points for Gryffindor." In truth, it wasn't her fault, nor anyone else's. Even the professor who had given her a look only Snape could give her as a little kid. He himself was even too kind to her now, though, that incident during Thursday's lesson, when she'd broken two jars of very rare ingredients. The girl wasn't liked as much as Dira or Ivy—no, she was hated because of her idiotic behavior. The only person who could befriend her, according to the professor, was Longbottom. The hero of dreams no one knew. Yes, this one, Neville Longbottom, who had given her bouquets of flowers in her dreams more than once and who had actually liked her.

"Margot," the professor ran two fingers over her white face. "Don't do this to me." The human image of Severus was an everyday occurrence in relation to her. The one who saw everything now.

The girl's body itself was dead, but her soul was. Soul, not really. You could describe it as a bright glow in her long hair and white dress, which stood and looked at the professor. He was sitting next to her body***. The glow looked at him with pity and read his thoughts. "Margot, come back, I beg you, don't do this to me." The girl's spirit, who had left her body, tried to smile, but it didn't work; instead, a grimace of disgust appeared on her face. It soared above the ground and "entered" Margot's body. Brownish eyes opened and looked at the professor with a look of satisfaction. The girl rose on one arm. With a tremendous effort, she embraced Snape's neck. He looked forward with emotion and with great joy said through his tears,

"Please don't do this to me again, and who needs it? I'm so damn glad you're back.

" "Professor, I saw you sitting next to me, it was a strange feeling. And I saw my own body. Professor, I"—tears gathered in the corneas of the girl's eyes—"died and came back to life... But how?

" "Girl, life after death is possible, and the miracle is that you came back to life."

- Professor, I don't understand anything...

- You'll understand, everything in its own time, everything in its own time.

Margot hugged the teacher even tighter.