By then, Madam Pomfrey had heard the commotion and was coming forward with a tray full of potions. "Mr. Potter, I'm glad to see you've finally arrived, but as you can tell, Miss Granger is not in any condition for visitors. You can help me distribute these Breath Freshener potions."
"Why would they need...?" Harry didn't understand why sweet-smelling breath would be important to their recovery.
"It helps clean out the lungs if you inhale something bad," Neville explained. "I've had these before... several times a year, to be honest," he admitted with some embarrassment. Evidently, a fresh breath meant something slightly different to wizards than it did to muggles.
"Thank you, Mr. Longbottom, although I have to say I'm glad that this is the first time I've had to administer this potion to you this school year," Madam Pomfrey smiled as she carefully dripped a few drops into Hermione's mouth. "Don't worry, Mr. Potter, I'll have her up and running in a few hours. This is a pretty common affliction."
"Yeah, don't I know it," Neville laughed weakly, which turned into more coughing. "Although I have to say that one potion usually does the trick."
"Perhaps I just need to order a fresher batch of freshener," Madam Pomfrey said. "I was expecting to use up the first batch months ago..."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," Neville responded. He seemed to be the one student who saw Madam Pomfrey more often than Harry did, and they could chat like friends.
Harry, however, was worried. What had Malfoy done? What if it wasn't just a routine potions mishap, and the potions weren't effective for another reason? What if Hermione didn't recover? He couldn't bear to lose her, especially when he had just promised her the best night of her life tomorrow. He had to be sure... and to do that, he needed to find Malfoy.
Tracking down Draco was easy with the Marauder's Map in hand. The problem was separating him from his goons so he could have some time alone to interrogate him. As usual, he was being flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as he marched through the halls. Harry waited under his invisibility cloak, tailing them until the three were alone in a corridor. With a quick stunning spell at Crabbe and Goyle, the two beefy bodyguards dropped straight to the floor. Draco looked around and panicked when he didn't see anyone. Harry stunned him before he could even draw his wand, and then petrified and bound him for good measure. Draco was still using a wand-holster- Harry removed it and kept the wand in his pocket. Now he faced the problem of moving them somewhere for interrogation.
There was no way he would be moving all three, so he just levitated Draco's body. He cast simple confounding charms on the other two left them on the floor. He looked at the map, searching for an unused classroom that was more secluded to do the interrogating. That was a problem... to get to any of them, Harry would have to walk past crowds of students or professors. He wasn't going to get snug with Draco underneath his cloak. Then again... he only had to hide Draco, didn't he?
Harry took off his cloak and threw it over Draco's body. Perfect. Now he kept one hand on Draco's invisible shoulder as he walked down the hall, keeping the invisible Slytherin hovering close by so he wouldn't bump into anyone. He wasn't quite as careful about not letting Draco bump into things, like corners. He was still trying to navigate to the empty third floor corridor (where a three-headed dog once resided) when he realized he was walking past the second-floor girl's bathroom. Even better, Harry realized.
"Oooh, I heard your girlfriend was dying, Harry," Myrtle cheerfully greeted Harry as he entered.
"She's not dying," Harry answered firmly, though he'd find out for sure in a few minutes.
"Shouldn't you have jumped in front of her and used your body as a shield? Then, when you died, she could have kept your fleshy body to mourn over and your spirit can come haunt the castle with me!" Myrtle suggested, brimming with glee.
That was a little too morbid for his taste in jokes, even with a ghost. "If that happened, I'd haunt Hermione to keep her company instead. But you know what? If things don't go as planned for me, you might have a new companion soon." Myrtle squealed in delight and into a toilet. Finally rid of the ghost, he spoke the parseltongue password to the sink. Pulling his invisibility cloak off Draco to keep it clean, they slid down the tube and eventually made their way to the main chamber.
Harry laid Malfoy in the center of the chamber, choosing to use Malfoy's wand to maintain a weak Lumos, keeping most of the chamber shrouded in darkness. He wondered if Draco was afraid of the dark... he could always test that out if the boy was uncooperative. "Enervate. Hello, Malfoy. I'm here to ask you a few questions." Realizing Malfoy was trying to speak, but couldn't move anything but his eyes, he added, "Oh, silly me. Finite." He removed the petrification spell but kept the ropes on him.
"You've got nothing on me, Potter. That filthy mudblood just got what was coming to her. Insufferable know-it-all finally got her potions wrong," Draco smirked. "You think you're going to get away with this?"
Harry practiced his internal occlumency to keep himself as calm as possible. It wouldn't do to knock Draco out again when he needed to get information out of him. "Malfoy, you must be stupider than Goyle if you think I believe that story for one second. Now what did you do to Hermione's potion?"
"From where I was standing, it looked like the powdered billagrut shell just blew up in her face because she didn't add it properly. Even Madam Pomfrey said so," Draco was still smirking confidently. Harry could tell through his legilimency that Draco wasn't exactly lying, but there was deception. This was a rehearsed response.
"Shut it, Malfoy. You're lying, and I can tell. You need more practice with that. Aren't Slytherins supposed to be good at lying? Now tell me what you did to her potion."
Draco remained as arrogant as he could be, tied up and on the floor. "You're going to Azkaban for this, Potter. My father will make sure of it. If that mudblood dies, all the better."
Harry wasn't thinking that far ahead, but it would be his word against Draco's, anyways. The threat against Hermione's life didn't pass by unnoticed, though. "Now why would you think she was dying of a simple potions mishap, Malfoy? Neville gets them several times a year. She should be better by now."
Draco hesitated, realizing what the slip of his tongue had revealed. He remained silent.
"Tell me, Malfoy. Tell me before I have to hurt you for it." Harry was starting to have a little difficulty staying calm now.
"Hurt me? This is revenge, Potter. You broke my wand. I'm just taking away your wench."
Harry's eyes widened in fury. "I'm going to tell you a short story, because I don't want to waste too much time, and it really only happened this morning anyways. Hermione and I talked. She pointed out that I really don't have many good things in life, but she's one of them. I've been thinking about it all day, Malfoy, and I've come to realize that, for the moment at least, there aren't many things I'd dedicate my life to other than her. Do you know what happens when you take away a man's only joy in the world?" Draco stared back at him without a reply. "I don't know either, but if it means making you suffer to get her back, then that's what I'll do." He had wanted to say something profound or dramatic, but nothing had come to mind at that moment.
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/madarasama125🎉