Steam filled Myrtle's bathroom, and a thin layer of water pooled on the floor, reflecting the flickering candlelight from the ceiling.
Intermittent, suppressed sobbing came from the innermost stall.
Harry kicked the bathroom door open with a loud bang, causing the crying to stop abruptly.
He gripped his magic wand and walked in step by step, his leather shoes splashing in the water with a rhythmic pitter-patter.
"I know you're in here, Malfoy."
Harry's voice echoed in the empty bathroom.
The stall door was suddenly yanked open.
Draco Malfoy stood there, his platinum-blond hair disheveled and sticking to his forehead, his school robe open at the collar, and his face as pale as a sheet of paper. Those grey eyes, usually so full of arrogance, were now brimming with tears and bloodshot veins.
He froze when he saw Harry, but then all his vulnerability and breakdown transformed into a sharp, territorial rage.
"What do you want, Potter?" his voice was raspy. "Come to laugh at me?"
"I saw Katie," Harry stared at him. "And I know about the poison Ron took. It was all you, wasn't it?"
Draco's body shuddered violently.
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he suddenly drew his magic wand.
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"You're lying!"
Harry roared.
A flash of light from a spell instantly shot from the tip of Draco's wand.
Harry dove to the side, and the spell hit the sink behind him, sending porcelain shards flying.
The duel was triggered in an instant.
In the cramped space of the bathroom, lights of various colors flashed wildly, and the whistling of spells was incessant.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Protego!"
"Cruciatus Curse!"
Draco shrieked that forbidden curse in desperation.
The dark curse, carrying an ominous aura, shot toward Harry.
Harry's pupils constricted, and he threw himself to the side almost instinctively. The curse grazed his arm and hit the wall, leaving a scorched black crack.
He felt as if his nerves had been seared by fire.
Rage and fear instantly overwhelmed Harry's reason.
He scrambled up from the ground, looking at Draco's face, which was distorted from casting the Unforgivable Curse. Only one thought remained in his mind.
The spell he had learned from the half-blood prince's old textbook, labeled 'For Enemies'.
He raised his magic wand and shouted with all his might.
"Sectumsempra!"
An invisible, sharp force erupted from his wand tip.
Draco didn't even have time to react.
Rippp—
It sounded like a sharp blade slicing through cloth.
Draco's movements froze.
He looked down, staring at his chest in disbelief.
Several gashes, deep enough to see bone, appeared out of thin air on his chest and face.
Blood, like blooming red flowers, instantly soaked his snow-white shirt.
He opened his mouth to say something, but only a raspy, wheezing sound came out.
A large amount of bloody froth surged from the corners of his mouth.
He fell backward, crashing heavily onto the water-covered floor, splashing up large amounts of blood-tinged water.
The magic wand slipped from his limp hand and rolled aside with a clink.
Harry stood there blankly, staring at the scene before him.
He watched the pool of blood beneath Draco expand rapidly and saw his body twitching violently due to blood loss.
This wasn't what he wanted.
He just wanted to teach him a lesson, to stop him... "I..." Harry's voice was shaking, and the hand holding his magic wand was trembling as well.
At that moment, the bathroom door was burst open again.
Severus Snape rushed in.
It took him only a second to take in the situation.
His gaze swept over Draco lying in the pool of blood, then over the shell-shocked Harry, his black eyes burning with an unprecedented complexity.
He shoved Harry aside.
"Idiot!"
Snape knelt beside Draco, pointing his wand tip at the horrific wounds.
He began to chant.
It was a spell Harry had never heard before, low-pitched and complex, like a mournful song.
"Vulnera Sanentur..."
As he chanted, the blood flowed back into Draco's body, and the torn flesh began to slowly heal.
Snape's forehead was covered in sweat, and his face was as pale as Draco's.
This counter-curse clearly consumed a massive amount of his magic power.
Harry stood to the side like a child who had done something wrong, at a complete loss.
"Professor, I..."
"Be quiet!" Snape snapped without looking back. "Leave this place, Potter."
Just then, Hermione, Ron, and Lia also arrived.
They had been drawn there by Harry's abnormal movement on the marauders map.
"Harry!" Ron cried out in shock at the hellish scene before him.
Hermione's face also changed.
She walked quickly to Harry's side. Seeing his distraught state, then looking at Snape performing the rescue and the dying Draco, she immediately understood the gist of it.
Everyone was intimidated by the bloody scene.
Except for Lia.
There was no fear or surprise in her sky-blue eyes, only pure curiosity and analysis.
She walked to Harry's side and circled the pool of blood Draco had left behind as if investigating a crime scene.
Then, she looked up at Harry and spoke in an extremely calm tone.
"Harry, the cutting trajectory of this spell is too scattered; it wasted too much magic power."
Both Harry and Ron froze, thinking they had misheard.
Lia continued.
"And blood splashed everywhere; it's going to be a hassle to clean up."
She paused and turned her gaze toward Snape, who was struggling to maintain the counter-curse.
"Professor Snape's improved version focuses more on deep penetration of a single target," she critiqued, as if reviewing a dish. "While more powerful, it can easily be fatal if not controlled well. Overall, it is an immature Art of Killing."
The entire bathroom fell into a deathly silence.
Only the low sound of Snape's chanting and the sound of dripping water remained.
Harry's mouth hung open, and Ron's eyes were nearly popping out of his head.
Snape's movements visibly faltered for a moment, but he maintained his spell-casting posture without further action.
This girl... she called it an 'improved version'.
Lia deliberately ignored the eerie atmosphere and turned to Hermione, her tone light.
"Hermione, remember to bring that book 'Ancient Norse Rune Cutting' from Malfoy Manor for Harry to look at later. The techniques in there are much more elegant."
Hermione helplessly pressed her hand to her forehead.
She stepped forward and grabbed Lia, who was still conducting her 'tactical analysis'.
"Alright, tactical class is over."
She looked at Harry again, a hint of exhaustion in her voice.
"Let's leave first."
"Lia and I have something to do."
Hearing this, Lia's calm and composed demeanor vanished instantly. Her body gave an almost imperceptible shudder, and she obediently followed Hermione out, step by step.
She could feel Hermione's strong fingers tightly gripping her wrist, with a force that wasn't aggressive yet was impossible to break free from.
Lia felt this strength and looked at the back of the girl in front of her, the familiar confusion surfacing in her heart.
Clearly, her own strength and magic were much greater than Hermione's.
But for some reason, every time, Hermione could so easily use one hand to pin both her wrists above her head.
It was truly an unsolved mystery.
[Merry Christmas, everyone!]
[The Cat-girl you wanted is here~]
[Hurry up and hit the 'remind to update' button! Meow~]
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