Snape said nothing on their journey to Dumbledore's office, instead choosing to maintain a 3 foot distance ahead of him the entire time, so Blake couldn't see his face.
I mean, realistically, they probably know it's me - who else could it have been? But I made sure there were no ghosts, or portraits around from when I Disillusioned and Muffliato'd myself, to when I actually did it. They could've seen me follow Crabbe and Goyle, but they've no proof that I actually did anything.
"Wait here," Snape said tersely, as he entered the room. Blake tried to make out the hushed voices, but, of course, he couldn't hear anything. It seemed he wasn't the only one that valued privacy. Suddenly, the door opened.
"Enter," Dumbledore's voice said, and the Slytherin boy noted the lack of the usual warmth in the man's voice. Blake entered, and no one in the room seemed pleased at at all - Dumbledore and Snape wore stony faces, while Crabbe and Goyle looked positively terrified.
"Mr Renshaw," Dumbledore began, his expression and voice neutral. Uh oh, Blake thought sarcastically. 'Mr Renshaw'? Not Blake? I'm so screwed!
"It appears that Mr Crabbe and Goyle were Confunded earlier today, prior to the incident that just took place in the Great Hall. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
Blake feigned confusion as well as he could without bursting into laughter.
"No, Professor! I don't know anything about this!" he said convincingly (he hoped).
"Is that so, Renshaw?" Snape asked, his eyes boring into Blake's. Occlumency, the boy reminded himself. He was becoming increasingly convinced Snape was indeed a Legilimens, and searched the Potions Master's face for any sign that he'd tried it. There was none.
"I spoke to the ghosts and portraits in the corridors. The ones near the Great Hall seemed to think that they'd seen you leave the Great Hall at breakfast early, right after Crabbe and Goyle. Then, it appeared that you'd vanished from Hogwarts - not a single ghost or portrait saw you after that, Renshaw. Isn't that fascinating? Where did you go?" he asked in a low, snivelly tone.
"I'm not sure what to tell you, sir," Blake responded, meeting Snape's gaze unflinchingly. "I went back to my room to check if I'd lost something personal. Then I came back. If the ghosts or portraits didn't see me-"
"Perhaps you used a Disillusionment charm?" Snape interrupted smoothly. "It, along with the Muffliato spell, seem to be your specialties, do they not?"
"I didn't, sir," Blake said shortly. "You've no proof I did anything like that."
"Is that so?" Dumbledore asked, staring at Blake. Occlumency, Occlumency. "So, you deny Confunding Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle, Mr Renshaw?"
"Of course, Professor."
"Then you wouldn't mind if we asked you to take some Veritaserum to prove it?"
"Isn't the use of Veritaserum forbidden on students in Hogwarts, Professor?"
"That it is," Dumbledore said, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "But I'm sure you'll agree that sometimes, it is necessary to bend the rules."
Perfect.
"I do," Blake responded. "I'll do it." Snape scowled as he produced a glass bottle of what looked just like water - Veritaserum.
Blake reached out and took it calmly, before opening it and drinking slowly. All eyes on the room were trained on him, and when he set the bottle down, Snape inspected it carefully, before nodding at Dumbledore.
"Mr Renshaw, did you Confund Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle?"
"No."
"Were you involved in the Confunding of Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle?"
"No."
"Do you know anything about the Confunding of Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle?"
"No."
Dumbledore and Snape stared at him once more, while Crabbe and Goyle continued to look down at the ground.
"I see," Dumbledore said, sighing.
"Headmaster," Snape said quickly, "There is still that other possibility…"
"I doubt that will be fruitful, Severus," Dumbledore said, "But very well. Your wand, if you please, Mr Renshaw."
Remember you're still meant to be under the effects of Veritaserum. Blake handed Dumbledore his wand.
"I'm sure you're aware of what the spell Prior Incantato does?"
"Yes."
"And this is your wand?"
"Yes."
"Very well - this is your last chance to tell us anything about this incident, Mr Renshaw." Dumbledore looked at him with finality.
"I don't know anything," Blake responded.
Dumbledore was silent for a moment, before raising his wand.
"Prior Incantato!"
A shadow emerged from his wand, and Blake immediately recognised it as the last spell he casted - Waddiwasi. Dumbledore continued to chant the spell, cycling through all the previous spells Blake had cast in order.
Prior Incantato - a spell that shows a shadow of the last spell cast by a wand, but it doesn't show the caster. It can be used multiple times to show the wand's entire spell history.
The 5 in that room must've been there for at least 30 minutes before Dumbledore kept doing the spell - by now, he was doing it wordlessly. Blake tried not to let his envy show. I need to get to wordless and then wandless magic soon.
Finally, Blake's wand stopped showing any spells, and Dumbledore wordlessly handed the wand back. Veritaserum would've worn off by now.
"Just out of curiosity, sir, how do you know Crabbe and Goyle were even Confunded?"
Blake looked at Dumbledore and Snape both, and the latter scowled.
"That's none of your-"
"It's alright, Severus. Actually, Mr Renshaw, we don't know for sure - it's just a high possibility of it."
"And you suspected me? Now that you know I'm innocent, doesn't that mean they weren't Confunded?"
The implication of what he was saying was obvious - if I didn't do it, that means they did it themselves, and they need to be punished.
"We don't know for sure that you're innocent, Renshaw," Snape said dangerously. "You could've easily used Deletrius to delete your spell history by stealing someone else's wand, and also made the antidote to Veritaserum and taken it before you came here, because you knew you would be a suspect."
Bang on, Snape, Blake mentally applauded. But if I didn't want you to know that I did it, you wouldn't know.
"I would never do that, sir," Blake returned, feigning shock, before turning to Dumbledore.
"Am I free to leave now, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you are, Blake."
Blake smiled at both of them. "Perfect, thank you!"
He hurried out of the room, and to his next lesson with the biggest grin on his face. All eyes in the room turned to him, but he managed to hide his smiling face at the last second.
"Renshaw," McGonagall greeted him, her face looking conflicted between admiration and disappointment. "You're late. Sit down quickly."
He apologised, before sitting down next to a gawking Charlotte, and buried his head in his arms, unable to control his grin. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle weren't seen again that day.
Everything went exactly as planned.
CHAPTER 105: Aftermath
"So, just to be clear - you got up in the middle of the night, snuck into Malfoy's room, cursed him, went to somewhere to make the antidote to Veritaserum, brought it back to your room, then today after breakfast, you Disillusioned yourself, Confunded Crabbe and Goyle into fighting at lunch, and also included the fact that they'd be scared so sh*tless by Dumbledore that they'd snap out of it and have no recollection of what happened?"
"And you deleted the evidence from your wand by stealing someone else's?"
"No, I don't know what you're talking about," Blake responded, digging into his breakfast the next day. "But if I were to do that, I wouldn't have stolen someone's wand twice - I would've wanted Dumbledore and Snape to know that it was me, and know they could never prove it, so there would only be evidence of me deleting a spell history once. And I wouldn't be stupid enough to use any old person's wand - I'd use someone that they'd never suspect."
"Like who?"
"A Professor," Daphne guessed. Blake hid his smile behind a potato, while Charlotte gasped. "That's why you asked to see Hagrid's umbrella today! It's his broken wand!"
"No idea what you're talking about," Blake repeated with a smile.
Today's been too good, he thought, looking across at where the other half of third-year Slytherin were sitting. Crabbe and Goyle had been glowering at him, but when he looked at them they'd seemingly decided to glower at their food instead. Malfoy, to his credit, hadn't looked in their direction once - it seemed that the boy was instead focusing very deeply on something. Blake's grin widened. The curse should've eased up by now, but it's not gone fully. Malfoy's still probably sh*tting bricks.
Blake's greatest satisfaction, however, came from Nott and Rafael. "They came up to us and apologised!" Nott beamed. "We didn't even say anything - they came up to us on their own, apologised in front of everyone, and promised never to do it again!"
"Really? What a fortunate surprise!" Blake responded with faux excitement.
"Thanks, Renshaw," Rafael said, smiling widely. Blake felt a small stab of guilt.
"Why're you thanking me?" he responded. "I didn't do anything."
"Of course not," Nott said with a smirk.
As they parted ways, Blake did his best not to show his shame. It's fine, Blake thought. It was going to happen anyway.
"So?" a familiar voice prompted out of nowhere. Greengrass was leaning against a column, arms crossed. Talk about cliche.
"So what?"
"I don't think you gave us the full story, Renshaw."
I call you Daphne, Blake prevented himself from speaking. Why won't you call me Blake?
"What d'you mean?"
"You know what I mean," she said, approaching him slowly. "Crabbe and Goyle are fools, but quite frankly, I think they lack the intelligence or proactivity to bully anyone."
Of course she figured it out, Blake thought, his heart sinking slightly.
"What are you getting at?" he said neutrally, trying not to sound emotional.
"Do I really have to spell it out?" she asked, sounding bored. Blake took a step closer.
"If you already know," he said, gritting his teeth slightly. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," she said, shrugging and looking up at him. "I just found it ironic that a hero type like yourself would do something like that."
Blake didn't respond.
"I mean, Confunding Crabbe and Goyle into bullying Rafael Flint, just so his only friend would be forced to come to you for help and be in your debt? I didn't realise you were so cunning, Renshaw."
4 weeks ago…
As Blake was walking back from the Forbidden Forest after another day of training, he suddenly paused. Those voices…
"Huh?" Crabbe said dumbly.
"That's what Malfoy said," Goyle replied, equally as dumb.
"So… Marcus Flint has a little brother in second year?"
"Yeah."
"And he's a mudblood?"
"No, he's a halfblood."
There was a pregnant pause as the singular brain cell Crabbe possessed was put to work.
"What's the difference between a mudblood and a halfblood?"
That's a joke, right?
For this pause, it was Goyle's brain cell that was working overtime.
"Uh… I dunno?"
This has got to be a joke, Blake thought. There's no way a blood supremacist doesn't know the difference…
"Hmmm…" Crabbe said cleverly.
"Hmmm…" Goyle said just as cleverly.
"Well, it's not pureblood!" the intelligent boy suddenly produced triumphantly.
"Yeah!" the other nodded enthusiastically. "If it's not pureblood, then it's not right! That's what my Dad says!"
"Yeah!"
Ah, Blake thought, understanding, feeling pity for the twins. The stupidity's genetic.
Before the increasingly intellectual conversation could continue, a synchronised rumbling shook the castle walls.
"What's that noise, Crabbe?"
"I don't know, Goyle. But I'm hungry."
"Same."
"What's the time?"
"Uh… I dunno?"
"Hmmm…"
"Hmmm…"
"Let's go for dinner."
"Yeah!"
But… dinner's in 2 hours?
As the heavy, heavy footsteps slowly faded away, Blake continued on his journey back to the dorms.
So, Crabbe and Goyle are even stupider than I thought. But besides that… Flint has a little brother? Who's a halfblood?
Actually, that makes sense - of course the pureblooded siblings would try to hide that - and now that Crabbe and Goyle know, somehow, it's only a matter of time before that group starts bothering him.
But I've not seen any ostracization yet - the boys in second year are generally close, right?
Suddenly, Blake saw an opportunity.
If I can somehow get Rafael Flint - and preferably a couple of his friends - to come to me for help, they'd owe me a debt. And considering how most of the House sees me…
Slowly, an idea began to form in Blake's mind - one that he was immediately disgusted by.
There's no way that I'm going to make them bully that kid.
But another voice from the back of his head spoke.
But I don't have a choice. How else am I going to get the support of purebloods?
I have Daphne! And besides, I don't need their support - I've done fine without it!
But their support is massive - the wizarding world runs off purebloods - they're the ones in power, prejudiced or not. So many influential families are already against me - I need support.
But-
And besides, it's going to happen anyway - Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy will bully that kid - if anything, becoming involved means you can prevent any real harm from happening, right?
The two sides of logic slowly stopped arguing, and Blake took a deep breath.
F*ck it. I'll do it.
Back to the present…
"Ok. Now what?" Blake said quietly.
Daphne just inclined her head.
"Nothing. I just wanted you to know that I know, peasant."
"How useful," Blake said snidely.
Daphne snorted in a very un-princesslike way, before turning around to leave.
"I suspect that Zabini's figured it out somewhat too, by the way," she said as she walked off.
"Don't care."
"Liar."
"Nope."
Suddenly, Daphne paused, turning back with a smirk.
"Don't bother lying to me, Blake. I know everything about you."
She turned back around, and continued back to the Slytherin dorms, leaving a stunned, red-faced muggleborn boy to chase after her.
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