The Vanishing Cabinet...Black

nineteen. a confusing concoction

tw: fights, very mild drug effects, mentions of torture

MALKA WAS IN THE LIBRARY WHEN IT HAPPENED. Reading about Goblin transfigurations in the ninth century, she was sitting by herself, one hand fiddling with her quill and the other with a loose end of her cardigan. 

She noted down the accomplishments of wizard and goblinkind alike in her double-lined parchment notebook, as she reached the end of the chapter. Smiling to herself, she tore a small corner off her notebook and placed it inside her textbook to mark the page, as people whispered vaguely behind her. 

Her chair made a quiet croaking sound as she scooted it back, as she slung her shiny brown leather bag over one shoulder and made her way past two shelves. Students were poring over books or murmuring to each other, and she briefly passed Regulus sitting with a blond boy as the latter spoke in a snobbish tone. Their eyes caught as she walked by, and for a moment her mind screeched to a halt so fast she thought she might trip and make a scene. But it was only the shocking blue in his gaze that stilled her, nothing much, so Malka continued onwards while Reg redirected his gaze away from her with some effort.

Her small heels made gentle clicks on the wooden board floors, and Malka absentmindedly hummed to herself as she clutched her bag to her chest, the great black doors of the library coming up. She passed through the gap easily, but the moment she took a step outside, a screech of steel caused her to look up, and in a flash of a moment, she felt the weight of a bucket of water make a slap sound on her head.

She gasped at the extremely cold sensation, as water dripped down from her lashes as she heard feet rush out from behind her. Malka looked down to see her hands soaked wet, and her hair beginning to straighten with how much water there was.

"What the-" Malka began confusedly, but her words were carried away. By...more confusion? Why were her hands wet? 

Why was she wet, and why was there water in a bucket by the library?

Wait- why was she in the library?

Malka's mind fogged around the corners, and if she were not a Legilimens, she would've succumbed completely to the sensation of endless questions and no answers needed. It felt like she was a tired girl drowning in a swamp, endlessly confused but not feeling alarm or anything of the sort.

"Nonverbal so far, Prongs, let's hope she stays that way," someone said behind her, and Malka took forever to twist her head around to see someone with familiar long dark hair.

"Regulus?" she mumbled, her eyes becoming blurrier as well. Was this how it felt to be under the Imperius Curse?

She heard an affronted scoff. "Well, the Potion's definitely working, if she's confusing me for him," the same boy said.

"We should go to a classroom; we'll get caught by someone!" another voice hissed.

"Tune it down, Moony. It's a Sunday, there are, what, two? Two people in the library on Sundays?" said another. 

Malka squeezed her eyes shut with a lot of effort. There were too many names, too many voices...this was all too much, she needed to lie down or something.

The three or four boys moved close to her, and one of them lifted a piece of hair and flipped it over one shoulder so they could peer at her. 

"Hey, what's your name, love?" said the same boy who just talked to 'Moony'. Who were these people? Was she dead?

"Um..." Malka trailed off, trying to keep her attention span focused. "What's my name? Reg?"

"She keeps calling me that idiot's name!" said Regulus or not-Regulus, pointing a finger with black painted nails at her. "Is she even supposed to be talking?"

"No," said a mousy voice nervously. Malka's eyebrows pinched together. "The instructions in the Confusing Concoction explicitly said victims would be nonverbal,"

"Get away from her!" came an oh-so-familiar voice, and Malka realized oh, that first boy was not Regulus. Then who was it?

But Malka had no time to think, for she was being shoved to the side by someone, and she lost her balance. But she got it again, safely placing one hand on the ground as she hummed pleasantly instead of tripping and falling.

"Ickle Reggie. Come to enjoy the show?" said someone rather cruelly, and Malka had to tilt her head way too far up to see what was going on. Her body shivered involuntarily, and Malka remembered how all of her clothes and skin were soaked to the bone.

"Sirius, we should go, before a teacher finds us," one of the other boys whispered.

"What did you do? You brute!" Reg yelled, pointing his wand at the other dark-haired boy as two of the rest of them also drew their wands. "Undo this,"

"Undo it? Oh, like how you undid whatever you did to those Muggleborn Gryffindor boys last fall?" Sirius, whoever that was, snarled, eyes lighting up with fire. "I don't think I will,"

"It's a Confusing Concoction, mate. It'll wear off," said the leader of the bunch, holding his hands up in peace even if his wand was out. Malka hiccuped.

"Yeah. Unlike the scars you cut into those first years. Don't act all saint-like now, Reggie, you're even worse than I am, now, being our parents' perfect heir. Tell me, have you performed Unforgivable Curses yet? Watching this girl bumble about is nothing compared to what you've done," 

And Reg yelled something, and a red light exploded from his wand with a BANG!. Sirius deflected it, easily, called something more enticing, and all of a sudden, lights flashed all around Malka's vision as spells collided with each other. It was like fireworks, and Malka struggled to sit up straight to watch, as a small part of her muddled mind was screaming in panic, for some weird reason.

"You need to move," someone hissed in her ear, and Malka was being dragged by her full body away from the colorful fight by a boy with sandy-blond hair. "Be back later!"

But that boy had no time to move from her side, because soon after, a furious voice sounded from the stairwell above.

"Mister Black and Mister Black!" Oh, even if Malka had half a brain, she could still recognize that voice.

"Professor McGonagall, it's nothing-" said Sirius's friend.

"-nothing? Nothing? You two; my office. Now!" she barked at them, and Sirius's friend with the blond hair rushed to him, while Reg rushed to her.

"Are you alright?" Reg said frantically, looking her up and down.

"Oh. Hello," Malka said awkwardly, leaning back on her elbows against the stone floor.

"Miss Arslan, I suggest you get up," McGonagall looked down at her, face pinchy.

"She's been doped, Professor," Reg snarled. "By those four,"

"Very well indeed, but I will hear such things in my office. Hurry now. And Mister Lupin, do take Miss Arslan to the hospital wing. There will be no arguments," she said icily, stalking away as the boys began to follow her.

"Sorry about that," Mister Lupin mumbled to her as he helped her stand up. But she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at Reg. And the two of them shared a desperate little glance back as they both made clarity of the gravity of their situation.

-

soo did anyone else pick up on the fact that even while malka forgot her own name she still remembered reg's? just me?