The Tenth Rule

Chapter Six







Alice had to force herself to breakfast that morning. Her stomach had protested noisily in its hungry state, but whenever she raised a spoonful of food to her mouth, her throat seemed to spasm involuntarily. It was only Saturday and already her body had started to succumb to the obligatory tweaks of nervousness. She had reluctantly forced food down her, reasoning that she would need all amounts of strength in order to get through the next couple of days.

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Rubbing a hand over her face, Alice let out a tired sigh. She had spent literally hours shifting in her bed last night, trying desperately to get to sleep. Every time she glanct het her wristwatch on her desk, it would display the ungodly time and how little of it had passed since she last checked. When she did finally doze, her sleep was light and fitful, and her mind\'s eye travelled over the images that had scorched themselves onto it. It appeared that she couldn\'t escape Professor Snape - even in the realm of dreams, he haunted her. Her lack of sleep had provided her with plenty of thinking time, however, and Alice had mulled countless times over the situation. She had, after much deliberation, ruled out the possibility of expulsion. Logically, Snape would have presented them before Dumbledore and expelled them pretty much immediately, so this invitation for discussion would surely be a matter of compromise. Alice was prepared to work her fingers to the bone to remain within Hogwarts - another sickening image that had drifted to her was that of her parents\' disappointed faces upon the revelation that their only daughter was cast away, shame-faced, from the prestigious Hogwarts. Alice had also come to realise that she felt moderately grateful towards Snape - of course, he was malicious and seemed intent on humiliating and belittling both her and Bethany at every given opportunity, yet he had not banished them. He was giving them a chance not to prove themselves as such, but to slowly regain the worth to remain in Hogwarts. Alice had developed a sort of twisted gratitude for Snape, very much in the same way that a minnow feels affection for the fisherman who pulls the hook out of its lip.







Bethany had made a conscious decision to skip breakfast. She knew that Alice possessed the common sense to realise that she may reach that decision, and not ponder too actively upon her whereabouts. Instead, she had chosen to soak in the bath, trying to cleanse herself of the residue of the previous day - the humiliation, the fright, the sickening self-gratification she had awkwardly indulged in. That still troubled Bethany - again and again she had tried to reason with herself that the trauma and adrenaline of the events had pushed her over the edge of decent behaviour, but the more force she applied to reassuring herself, the more the fact that she had been led to this by Snape curled around her mind. By now, it had manifested into a throbbing headache, and Bethany slunk dejectedly underneath the water, squeezing her eyes shut. The water had turned milky with some product she had poured distractedly in, and she had sunk so far down that the tub looked empty. She emerged with a gasp, hands slicking her hair to her head. Reaching for her towel, she made her way back her dormitory.







Bethany had again chosen the right time to return - both her and Alice had calculated the best times to achieve an empty dormitory, and both had it down to a fine art. She shivered, the cool air reacting with her moist skin. Fishing through her bedside desk, she pulled out a comb and started to work it through her dampened hair, deep in thought. She worked rhythmically, efficiently, leaving her hair to dry naturally. Bethany envied Alice\'s finer hair, which seemed to take half as long as Bethany\'s to dry. Her thoughts returned to Alice, and the knot in her stomach tightened. Neither girl could be described as streetwise, but Bethany knew that Alice was far more fragile than she. She stole a glance at her clock; it was far later than she had realised.







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\"So what are we going to do?\" Whined Alice anxiously.



The weather was foul outside, with storm force gales and lashing rain, and Alice and Bethany met outside the door of the lookout cautiously, as though the previous nights\' happenings had embedded an illogical paranoia in both of them.



\"I don\'t know,\" breathed Bethany worriedly. \"When I got back to the dorm last night I had everyone asking if I got caught being out after curfew...\"



\"Me too! You didn\'t tell them everything? About the booze, and who made it?\"



\"NO! Of course not!\" Stated Bethany shocked. \"I just said Snape caught us snea bac back, and he\'s giving us detention. I didn\'t dare tell them we might be getting expelled for being semi-drunk, and possibly getting others expelled too!\"



Alice nodded and leaned her head back against the wall. \"Same as me. Matt asked me for the bottles...\"



\"Oh no! I forgot about them, what did you say?\"



Alice shrugged her slim shoulders, \" I just said that we had to make them disappear before Snape saw them! I think he believed me.\"



\"Ah huh! I knew there had to be something to ify ify you as a Slytherin! Maybe the sorting hat was right after all. Alice Pearson, Accomplished liar extraordinaire!\" Quipped Bethany, giving a half grin.



Alice didn\'t return Bethany\'s smile, and instead sighed heavily.



\" Come on, let\'s go in. We\'ll never get anything discussed hanging around outside. \"



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The view from the lookout was usually quite captivating, but today, rain had distorted the outside world. Fat, colossal drops of rain made the panes of glass take on an oily, warped quality, but they were clear enough to display the tempestuous, laden clouds that rolled heavily ahead. The sky had taken on a bruised, battered quality, the watery light that seeped weakly through the blanket of clouds tinged with a sickly violet. The trees quivered under the wind\'s touch, twisted, arthritic branches reaching to the Heavens. Alice sat, her knees drawn up to her chest, on the ledge. Bethany sat on the floor beneath her, frowning. They had been there for five minutes and barely exchanged a word, such a direct contrast to the panicked flow that spilled from their lips earlier. The patter of rain was the only sound, until Bethany heard the ragged intake of breath that she recognised so well.



\"Alice…oh…\"



The girl\'s shoulders had started to shake, and Alice finally relented as a choked sob was wrenched from her throat. She wiped hurriedly at her face with the palm of her hand, but fresh tears soon trickled down her cheeks. Strands of her hair stuck to her skin, and Bethany awkwardly brushed them away. Bethany never quite knew how to literally handle Alice at times - she was not very tactile, and occasionally stiffened if a display of harmless affection seemed overbearing, whereas Bethany was quite in tune with her senses.



\"Alice, please don\'t cry. Don\'t let him get to you.\"



Alice sniffed, pulling her sleeve over her fingers and dabbing at her eyes.



\"I can\'t help it, Beth. I just keep thinking and thinking…and I\'m just so embarrassed about it all, you know? It was the last thing on my mind before I fell asleep, and it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning.\"



Bethany\'s eyes glazed slightly at Alice\'s admission. She could freely say that Snape was the last thing on her mind last night, but she could safely assume that it was in a completely different context to Alice\'s nocturnal musings. Snapping from her thoughts, she took Alice\'s hand in hers, simultaneously trying to take control of the situation.



\"It\'s only the day after. Worrying will do us no good over the weekend. We\'ll…just have to wait until Monday.\"



Alice swivelled on the ledge so that she was ng Bng Bethany, and the dark-haired girl noticed a perceptible trembling in her fingers.



\"How can you be so calm about this? We could be expelled. Sent away from here, and Snape is just drawing this out!\" It seemed that with endless time to think, Alice\'s previously calm thoughts had curdled. \"Of all the people in the world!\" Her face crumpled as she began to cry again.



Bethany backed away from Alice like a hunter backs away from a wounded animal. Alice, sensitive as ever, was reacting with doe-like acuteness to everything around her. Her mind had done a full circle, going past shock and into reason, before resigning to panic.



\"Alice, I don\'t want to fool you into thinking this will be easy. I think we both know it won\'t,\" Bethany murmured, \"and I can\'t say, hand on heart, that we won\'t be expelled. I…\" Another hiccupping sob from Alice halted her momentarily. \"…but at least we\'re together, right? Imagine how bad this would be if we were on our own.\"



Alice turned to Bethany with red-rimmed eyes.



\"Great. So there\'s two of us to make miserable. I bet Snape\'s doubly proud!\"