Chapter 24: A Counterstrike That Missed
At lunch, I used my Protean-charmed notebook to contact my mothers and described the situation. They agreed that leaving Nymphadora to fend for herself was not an option, and undertook to hire tutors who would prepare her not only for her N.E.W.T.s, but also to sit the O.W.L.s she had not taken last year before the end of this one.
"Nymphadora..."
I gave a nod to the girl who settled at our table with a rather self-conscious air, and this time she did not object to my using her name.
"Draco."
She nodded back.
"Allow me to introduce my little sister, Nymphadora Tonks. In truth she is a cousin, but as far as I am concerned, little sister is altogether more fitting. And this is..."
I went around the table.
"Penelope Clearwater, Ravenclaw prefect and a thoroughly responsible person; Daphne, my attendant; Tracy Davis, Daphne's close friend and my own; Harry Potter, my dormitory neighbor and a decent sort; Hermione Granger, a lovely girl who puts somewhat too much faith in books, though we are gradually curing her of that. And Parvati Patil, who has once again swapped places with her sister Padma..."
I also introduced several older students I had been talking with, after which a relaxed conversation started up and carried on until the end of lunch, when we all had to be off to our own affairs.
The days passed in that rhythm until Nymphadora's tutors and timetable were arranged.
"Nymphadora..."
I called her over on Friday after breakfast and handed her two notebooks.
"What are these?"
"The first, the one with the red cover, is connected to my mothers. They have already arranged the tutors, so from tomorrow you will be working very hard indeed..."
She gave a short nod, gratitude and embarrassment mixed in her expression.
"The one with the silver cover connects to me. As I said, I am very occupied during the day and cannot always find time to talk, but in the evenings I try to set aside at least half an hour for my mothers, and during that time I can answer your questions as well, or simply talk, if you would like."
"Thank you..."
My words had clearly moved her, because she threw her arms around me in a sudden, impulsive hug, then pulled back and hurried off to her own business. I set off towards mine.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The shout had barely begun when I was already rolling sideways, and the spell struck the floor where I had been standing. I came out of the roll fast, spun, and raised a Shield Charm.
"Well, well, well... it is the little teacher's pet, isn't it?"
I only just stopped myself from pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose. Robert's voice was not difficult to recognize, nor was the phrase he had lifted straight from Weasley the Sixth.
"I wonder what you are going to do now?"
Robert was not bothering to conceal himself, a snide grin on his face. Three older students stood beside him, Ravenclaws, every one of them, not a Slytherin among the lot, and all looking at me with distinct hostility.
"You are outnumbered... in a rarely used corridor... and there are three of us..."
"Well, I am certainly not going to panic..."
I shrugged.
"Unwise, unwise..."
Robert shook his head.
"You are not the only person whose day is currently being interrupted. I have taken certain steps to cause you pain. I have paid two boys who should, right about now, be getting hold of a certain girl, locking themselves in an abandoned classroom with her, and putting her in harm's way..."
I felt my expression harden.
"Robert, as of this moment, speaking as Heir of the House of Black, I declare you a blood enemy of this House in response to a threat made against my family."
"Ha. After this meeting you won't even remember our faces. You will simply know that something was done to you and that what happened to that girl is your fault, nothing more. We came prepared, you see..."
"Then I have no reason to hold back."
I stopped talking and flooded my body with magic. What can a first-year do against older students? An ordinary first-year can do nothing. But I had been trained since childhood, and trained by the best, so rather than running at them, rolling aside, or retreating, I jumped sideways toward the wall, planted my foot and pushed off hard, throwing myself upward toward the ceiling. As I did, a silent string of spells left my wand, everyday Charms in their base form, the kind designed for preparing a chicken. Against any reasonably trained wizard they would have been useless. He would simply roll aside. But these boys were inexperienced, and they chose to grandstand rather than move, raising a Shield Charm instead. I had poured enough power into the spells that they punched straight through it and found flesh, striking arms, legs, and bodies, systematically destroying bone.
"AAAAAAH!"
A raw scream tore through the corridor. I did not wait. I stunned all three, confirmed they would not be waking up, then opened the silver notebook and activated the tracking charm set into it.
Five minutes of hard running and I was outside an abandoned classroom. One spell told me the door was sealed from within, not just locked, but braced against something.
"Bombarda!"
Normally the spell would have blown the door to splinters, but I focused it precisely on the handle, destroying it cleanly. Whatever they had jammed against the door on the inside had nothing left to brace against, and a kick finished the job.
"Wands on the floor!"
I came through the door just in time.
"Bombarda!"
I was not an idiot. I had no intention of killing him, so I defocused the spell across his torso. Even through the fury that had seized me, I had calculated the force correctly: his skin split and he was thrown hard, but the wound was not fatal.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Now then... Reparo.
A flick of the wand and the shreds of Nymphadora's clothing stitched themselves back together.
"Finite..."
Another spell and the girl found she could move again.
"Nymphadora..."
I watched her scramble to her feet and position herself behind me, while keeping my attention on the second one, still huddled in the corner, whimpering that he had not done anything.
"...would you please go and fetch Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout?"
"I..."
"Go."
I made it plain that I was not asking, and she had no choice but to obey. I turned and paced the room in unhurried silence. Both boys were Hufflepuffs, something I found genuinely disappointing.
"So, let me simply tell you..."
A flick of the wand and a quiet word silenced the one who was still screaming.
He kept on screaming, but no sound reached anyone.
"...what awaits you. Even if you are not expelled from Hogwarts, I will do my utmost to ensure that you are, you will never find employment as even the seventh deputy of the fifth assistant to the tenth sub-deputy toilet attendant at the Ministry."
"I didn't do anything! I was just--"
"You did not manage to do anything..."
I shook my head.
"...what you intended to do is quite sufficient for me, which is why I am going to make your life, the life of your contemptible accomplice, and the lives of the people who paid you, a living hell."
I spent the next few minutes in silence, methodically calming myself down.
Had I moved more calmly at the start, Stunning and Binding, I might have needed to demonstrate force twice. But one Bombarda had broken them completely. One was still bleeding and screaming silently, the other had not moved from his corner.
"Right..."
The door burst open, revealing not only the two professors I had sent for, but Madam Pomfrey as well.
"...what is going on in here? Good Lord!"
Sprout had seen her student's bloodied state and brought her wand up in my direction.
"You!"
"No!"
Nymphadora stepped between us.
You have it wrong! Draco saved me! Those... those filths were going to... they were going to...
Sprout's wand hand wavered. Pomfrey, who had been moving to give first aid, went very still.
"He came through the door just as they were about to..."
Nymphadora was speaking very quickly, clearly distressed to be saying it at all, but just as clearly convinced she had to protect me from a false charge.
"Nymphadora... there is no need. I can show my memories directly. In them, Robert attacks me in a corridor with two accomplices, and while I initially intended to resolve things without causing lasting harm..."
I shook my head, making plain what I thought of that idea now.
"...the moment he mentioned that he had paid two students to attack Nymphadora, I changed my approach. The three of them are now in that corridor with the bones in their arms and legs destroyed, and in some cases, the spells struck the torso as well. After that..."
I let the smile cross my face, though it came out closer to a bared-teeth grin.
"...I came here at a run. The door had been braced from the inside."
"How did you know where to go?!"
Sprout was still watching me with suspicion, and at that question Nymphadora turned to look at me with some surprise as well. I simply reached into my robe and produced the notebook.
"She has the other half. They can track each other. So I activated that function and ran."
"Very well..."
"...but this... taking the law into your own hands..."
She shook her head.
"...you should have disarmed them and waited for a professor."
"Should have? A first-year against older students?"
"Mr. Black, do not undersell yourself. I know what you are capable of. You could have managed this considerably less... forcefully. Though I cannot say I do not understand the impulse."
"I am not underestimating myself. I simply decided this was the most efficient approach. If I had used safer spells on them..."
A contemptuous glance toward the two, one of whom Pomfrey was already treating.
"...I would have had to keep managing them, watching to make sure they didn't break the Paralyzing Charm and attack me. This way..."
The grin again.
"...one spell, and one of them is out of the fight, with nothing to do but scream. The other dropped his wand and thinks he's about to get a Bombarda to the head."
"There is no danger to his life. The only thing destroyed was the skin."
"Well, I'm not an idiot..."
I shrugged.
"...if they'd been closer, or if this had happened where I'd been warned about it, I might even have used Unforgivables..."
The professors and Madam Pomfrey all drew sharp breaths.
"...using those spells on animals isn't prohibited, after all. And proving in court that these two are animals wouldn't have given me a moment's difficulty. But I had time to collect myself on the way here, and though I wanted them permanently stopped, I decided doing it in front of my sister was unnecessary."
"Understood..."
Flitwick gave a nod.
"...right then. This will need to go to the Headmaster, since matters of this kind can't be handled informally. But first we need to retrieve the three who attacked you."
"Nymphadora..."
I stepped around the girl, who still stood with her back to me, placing herself between me and her Head of House.
"...please go to your dormitory and rest. Madam Pomfrey, if it's not too much trouble, could you have a house-elf send her a Dreamless Sleep Potion? She needs it, and missing one lesson is the least of her concerns right now."
"I..."
"Off you go, sweetheart..."
Sprout came over and stroked her hair gently.
"Mr. Black and I will sort all of this out, and we'll try not to trouble you with it more than necessary. So you may sleep today. Filby!"
With a crack, a house-elf appeared beside the Head of Hufflepuff, wearing a white pillowcase.
"Filby is here, Mistress Sprout!"
The elf's ears swept the floor as he bowed, drawing a faint smile from me.
"Take Miss Tonks to her dormitory. Then bring her a Dreamless Sleep Potion and make sure she drinks it."
"It will be done!"
He took Nymphadora by the hand and vanished with a crack.
"Well, I suppose we must go and collect those who attacked you, Mr. Black..."
As he spoke, Flitwick conjured his Patronus, dictated a message into it, and sent it off to the Headmaster.
"After you, Professor."
I gave a nod, and we set off.
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