HP/LOTM: Visionary - 381

Chapter 381: Draco’s Wounds, Regret, and the Hidden Book

"So this is how you keep your so-called honour, Malfoy?" Harry leaned against the wall and needled him.

A black prompt box flickered again at the edge of Draco’s vision: Speak your mind.

"What do you know, Potter? If I don’t do this, she’ll kill us!" Draco snapped upright and fired a flurry of hexes at every corner Harry might step from.

Harry rose too. As he came out from the angle of the wall, he batted Draco’s spells aside with a clean Protego.

They hammered curses back and forth, blocking and countering, until they collided, each gripping the other by the collar. Their wand tips burned with gathered magic. Harry stared Draco down. Draco met his glare without flinching.

"Look at you. Beyond cheap ambushes and hurting other people, what have you actually done?" A thread of gold flickered in Harry’s eyes.

"None of your business—Reducto!"

"Sectumsempra!"

In panic—yet guided by a strange power—Harry cast the curse he’d only just learned.

Invisible blades carved straight through Draco’s spell and scored bloody lines across his body. The force hurled him backwards. He crashed onto the tiles in the centre of the bathroom.

Blood poured out, staining the spray from the shattered pipe a shocking red. Some unnatural magic coiled in the wounds, burning his nerves.

Harry stood frozen, staring at Draco, whom he’d cut down with his own hand.

Feeling the binding oath trigger, Snape hurried into the bathroom. He kicked aside the splintered door hanging from its hinges and rushed to Draco’s side.

"Get back to your common room," Snape said icily.

Harry glanced fearfully at him, then turned and fled.

Snape crouched, levelled his wand at Draco, and chanted, "Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur."

He repeated the counter-curse, pulling Draco’s spilled blood back into his body.

"Ahh—!" Conflicting magics clashed within Draco; the burning did not stop.

The white mist of the room suddenly deepened into grey. Vapour spiralled inward, opening a turning passage, and a horned boy drifted down from it.

"What did you do to him?" Snape lost control and seized Aiden by the collar.

"To stand against Tom, he has to get through this," Aiden said, knocking Snape’s hand away.

He stepped to Draco, closed his fingers around empty air, and a long staff formed in his grip. The gem at its tip shed a gentle radiance. Silver light poured into Draco, and with it, threads of warm gold were pressed out from within.

"What is that?" Snape murmured, staring at the glow.

"The power of love," Aiden said, using it to heal. He hauled Draco up and dried his drenched robes with a flick.

"Dumbledore’s power—but that would require..." Snape stopped, realising Draco was present, and fell silent.

"Harry is special. A shard of Tom’s soul brushed him when he was very young, and he’s been entangled with them ever since. And his mother, Lily Potter, placed protection on him. With that, he can begin walking the same path as Dumbledore—early," Aiden said.

At Lily’s name, a flash of grief crossed Snape’s eyes before he steadied himself.

"Take Draco to the hospital wing. Keep this quiet," Aiden instructed.

...

Elsewhere, Ron and Hermione were horsing around in the common room after finishing the exam when Harry burst in, panicked.

"Harry, those examiners were brutal. I only lost one eyebrow, and they still failed—" Ron stopped when he noticed Harry’s face.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, instantly alert.

"I... hurt Draco. In the fourth-floor bathroom," Harry said after steadying himself, and the three of them stared.

"What? You’ll be expelled!" Hermione’s brows knit.

"What happened exactly?" Ginny came over and sat down.

"I don’t know... I was furious—furious at Draco for hurting people—and I used a spell from the notes," Harry said, handing Hermione the book. She opened it and saw the word Sectumsempra.

"This is far too dangerous. You’re under its sway. Get rid of it," Hermione said, snapping the book shut. From what she knew, Sectumsempra was unmistakably Dark Magic.

"I’ll take you. I know somewhere no one will ever find it," Ginny said at once.

"All right," Harry hesitated, reluctant yet unwilling to risk hurting anyone again.

He followed Ginny to the eighth floor, behind the tapestry of the dancing trolls.

"The Room of Requirement?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Walk past three times and think, a place to hide things," Ginny prompted.

Harry did so. A black door appeared. The smell of old things wrapped around him as he pushed it open.

"We need to hide the Half-Blood Prince’s book somewhere no one can find it—not even you," Ginny said with a smile.

They threaded through a maze of piled-up junk. A fluttering came from somewhere nearby.

"What was that?" they said together, then grinned at the synchronicity.

Harry reached the cupboard that something had struck, opened it, and a sparrow fluttered out.

"See? This place is full of surprises," Ginny said, stepping close. She gently slid the Prince’s notes from Harry’s hands.

"Close your eyes. That way it won’t tempt you," she said, placing the book into the Vanishing Cabinet and shutting the door.

When she returned, Harry still had his eyes shut. She tiptoed up and kissed him.

"This kiss can stay hidden here too—if you want it to."

Harry smiled at her words and opened his eyes. No one stood before him.

On the way back, he felt so light he could float.

"Oh, there you are," Ron said, meeting him outside the common room. "Did you and Ginny... do it?"

"What?" Harry blurted, flustered.

"Hide the book?" Ron asked, puzzled.

"Yeah. It’s somewhere I can’t find it," Harry said evasively.

At the end of the corridor, they ran into Slughorn.

Since Dumbledore’s return, Slughorn had resumed his habit of avoiding Harry—ducking out of any corner Harry appeared in and vanishing as soon as lessons ended—leaving no opening at all.

"Oh, I need to fetch some ingredients," Slughorn said, wavering for a moment before turning on his heel and leaving.