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- More out of habit than anything, Harry made his
- usual detour along the seventh-floor corridor, checking the Marauder’s
- Map as he went. For a moment he could not find Malfoy
- anywhere and assumed he must indeed be inside the Room of
- Requirement again, but then he saw Malfoy’s tiny, labeled dot
- standing in a boys’ bathroom on the floor below, accompanied, not
- by Crabbe or Goyle, but by Moaning Myrtle.
- Harry only stopped staring at this unlikely coupling when he
- walked right into a suit of armor. The loud crash brought him out
- of his reverie; hurrying from the scene lest Filch turn up, he dashed
- down the marble staircase and along the passageway below. Outside
- the bathroom, he pressed his ear against the door. He could
- not hear anything. He very quietly pushed the door open.
- Draco Malfoy was standing with his back to the door, his hands
- clutching either side of the sink, his white-blond head bowed.
- “Don’t,” crooned Moaning Myrtle’s voice from one of the cubicles.
- “Don’t . . . tell me what’s wrong . . . I can help you. . . .”
- “No one can help me,” said Malfoy. His whole body was shaking.
- “I can’t do it. . . . I can’t. . . . It won’t work . . . and unless I do
- it soon . . . he says he’ll kill me. . . .”
- And Harry realized, with a shock so huge it seemed to root him
- to the spot, that Malfoy was crying — actually crying — tears
- streaming down his pale face into the grimy basin. Malfoy gasped
- and gulped and then, with a great shudder, looked up into the
- cracked mirror and saw Harry staring at him over his shoulder.
- Malfoy wheeled around, drawing his wand. Instinctively, Harry
- pulled out his own. Malfoy’s hex missed Harry by inches, shattering
- the lamp on the wall beside him; Harry threw himself sideways,
- thought Levicorpus! and flicked his wand, but Malfoy blocked the
- jinx and raised his wand for another —
- “No! No! Stop it!” squealed Moaning Myrtle, her voice echoing
- loudly around the tiled room. “Stop! STOP!”
- There was a loud bang and the bin behind Harry exploded;
- Harry attempted a Leg-Locker Curse that backfired off the wall behind
- Malfoy’s ear and smashed the cistern beneath Moaning Myrtle,
- who screamed loudly; water poured everywhere and Harry
- slipped as Malfoy, his face contorted, cried, “Cruci —”
- “SECTUMSEMPRA!” bellowed Harry from the floor, waving his
- wand wildly.
- Blood spurted from Malfoy’s face and chest as though he had
- been slashed with an invisible sword. He staggered backward and
- collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand
- falling from his limp right hand.
- “No —” gasped Harry.
- Slipping and staggering, Harry got to his feet and plunged
- SECTUMSEMPRA
- 523
- toward Malfoy, whose face was now shining scarlet, his white hands
- scrabbling at his blood-soaked chest.
- “No — I didn’t —”
- Harry did not know what he was saying; he fell to his knees beside
- Malfoy, who was shaking uncontrollably in a pool of his own
- blood. Moaning Myrtle let out a deafening scream: “MURDER!
- MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!”
- The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up, terrified:
- Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry
- roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand, and traced it
- over the deep wounds Harry’s curse had made, muttering an incantation
- that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed
- to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy’s face and repeated
- his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.
- Harry was still watching, horrified by what he had done, barely
- aware that he too was soaked in blood and water. Moaning Myrtle
- was still sobbing and wailing overhead. When Snape had performed
- his countercurse for the third time, he half-lifted Malfoy
- into a standing position.
- “You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of
- scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even
- that. . . . Come. . . .”
- He supported Malfoy across the bathroom, turning at the door
- to say in a voice of cold fury, “And you, Potter . . . You wait here for
- me.”
- It did not occur to Harry for a second to disobey. He stood up
- slowly, shaking, and looked down at the wet floor. There were
- bloodstains floating like crimson flowers across its surface. He could not even find it in himself to tell Moaning Myrtle to be
- quiet, as she continued to wail and sob with increasingly evident
- enjoyment.
- Snape returned ten minutes later. He stepped into the bathroom
- and closed the door behind him.
- “Go,” he said to Myrtle, and she swooped back into her toilet at
- once, leaving a ringing silence behind her.
- “I didn’t mean it to happen,” said Harry at once. His voice
- echoed in the cold, watery space. “I didn’t know what that spell
- did.”
- But Snape ignored this. “Apparently I underestimated you, Potter,”
- he said quietly. “Who would have thought you knew such
- Dark Magic? Who taught you that spell?”
- “I — read about it somewhere.”
- “Where?”
- “It was — a library book,” Harry invented wildly. “I can’t remember
- what it was call —”
- “Liar,” said Snape. Harry’s throat went dry. He knew what Snape
- was going to do and he had never been able to prevent it. . . .
- The bathroom seemed to shimmer before his eyes; he struggled
- to block out all thought, but try as he might, the Half-Blood
- Prince’s copy of Advanced Potion-Making swam hazily to the forefront
- of his mind.
- And then he was staring at Snape again, in the midst of this
- wrecked, soaked bathroom. He stared into Snape’s black eyes, hoping
- against hope that Snape had not seen what he feared, but —
- “Bring me your schoolbag,” said Snape softly, “and all of your
- schoolbooks. All of them. Bring them to me here. Now!”
- There was no point arguing. Harry turned at once and splashed
- SECTUMSEMPRA
- 525
- out of the bathroom. Once in the corridor, he broke into a run toward
- Gryffindor Tower. Most people were walking the other way;
- they gaped at him, drenched in water and blood, but he answered
- none of the questions fired at him as he ran past.
- He felt stunned; it was as though a beloved pet had turned suddenly
- savage; what had the Prince been thinking to copy such a
- spell into his book? And what would happen when Snape saw it?
- Would he tell Slughorn — Harry’s stomach churned — how
- Harry had been achieving such good results in Potions all year?
- Would he confiscate or destroy the book that had taught Harry so
- much . . . the book that had become a kind of guide and friend?
- Harry could not let it happen. . . . He could not . . .
- “Where’ve you — ? Why are you soaking — ? Is that blood?”
- Ron was standing at the top of the stairs, looking bewildered at
- the sight of Harry.
- “I need your book,” Harry panted. “Your Potions book. Quick
- . . . give it to me . . .”
- “But what about the Half-Blood —”
- “I’ll explain later!”
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