Summary: What would happen if Harry's Sectumsempra spell missed Draco at the duel in the bathroom in Half-Blood Prince? How would their fight have ended differently?
Warning: Some graphic blood and violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything involving Harry Potter, it's all J K Rowling's doing and she does it amazingly.
"I know what you did Malfoy."
Draco scared and out of breath and from running from the Great Hall, turned to face the Golden boy he loathed.
"You hexed her didn't you?"
Panic started bubbling in his blood and he knew, he just knew he would have been found out. And it makes it so much worse that it had to be Potter. Why had he been so stupid!
Without realizing what he was doing, he sent a curse at Potter, who of course dogged. And thus, the duel was on!
Curses were sent flying throughout the room, sending pieces of stone and rubble everywhere.
Draco hid behind a toilet door and he could hear Potters slow footsteps across the water covered floor, like a tiger approaching an antelope.
The moment he knew Potter was about to strike, he was ready.
"Sectumsempra!"
"Vulnera Sanentur!"
Both curses combined and exploded where they met, causing wood and sparks to fly.
Harry jumped and ducked under the destroyed sinks, just in time to avoid being hit. And Draco dropped to the floor, arms over his head protecting himself as debris fell on him.
Both boys stood, wands drawn at each other.
"Expelliarmus!"
Each wand was sent across the room, lost in the rubble. Draco looked to Harry, as he did Draco, and in the rush of adrenalin they both lunged for the other.
They punched, they kicked, they did everything you could do in a normal muggle fight. It only lasted a few seconds until Draco pushed Harry as hard as he could, hoping he'd trip over or giving Draco a chance to run.
Nobody could have predicted the outcome, not even Professor Trelawney.
It all happened in slow motion to Draco, but to Harry it happened so fast he couldn't comprehend what had even happened.
What both boys hadn't realized, was that when they were destroying the bathroom, holes had been placed throughout and some of the building construction was hanging or had come lose. Thus, the 5 foot pole that was sticking out of the wall and had impaled Harry was there because of their duel.
There were no movements for a few seconds other than some rubble falling from the ceiling, until Harry convulsed a little, coughed and vomited up more blood than he knew he had.
His hands griped tightly at the steel bar in his front and tried to stop his legs collapsing.
Draco was frozen on the spot. He couldn't comprehend what had actually happened and how much blood there was. He had seen, in slow motion, the pole impale Potter, rip its way through his abdomen and pour the blood across the floor. The look on Potter's face was almost as sickening as the scene itself.
It was only until Potter had puked that Draco realized what he'd done.
Harry couldn't stop coughing, but he needed to stop making his body move or it would only increase his pain, and he knew that he didn't have long until he died from blood loss because his head was already becoming light headed. He could no longer feel his legs.
"M…Malfoy… H-help… G…Get H-help."
Harry said between gasps and blood dribbled from his lips down his chin.
He didn't need telling twice. Draco fled from the scene, towards the only person that could possibly help him.
Harry's vision had blurred and his body had gone numb. The pain was immense, his lungs burnt and his lower body felt as if it was under the Cruciatus curse.
Even though his body was insanely numb, the pole kept him in standing position. As much as he would give anything to lie down.
He didn't know how long it had been since Malfoy had run off, and he couldn't stop the images skimming across his closed eyes.
He saw all his friends, Ron, Hermione, all of his Gryffindor mates, the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus, even his parents. And then he saw his beautiful Ginny. He saw the life he wished he could have with her, their children, their house, and their dog-
"Potter! Stay with us now! Come on, you've got to hang on!"
Snape? Why was he hearing Snape's voice while his life was flashing before his eyes? He wasn't that important in his life, why would he appear?
"Potter, I'm so sorry! Please, please pull through! You can't die… you just can't!"
…Malfoy? Oh, of course, he was dying wasn't he? He remembered now, the duel, the pole, the blood, the pain.
Now, why was it so hard to open his eyes and breathe?
Snape was sitting in his office, looking over his 2nd years potions homework, when Draco came barging in.
At first it just looked like he had been chased and needed to hide, but upon closer inspection Snape saw little droplets of blood and he was covered in dust. He also noticed that he was shaking uncontrollably.
Snape quickly walked over, closed the door and pulled Draco into a chair.
"What's happened?" he said in a strangely calm voice.
However, Draco found that his voice wasn't working and all he kept seeing was the frightful image of Potter impaled on that pole.
So he used Legilimency.
Snape saw the entire fight as if watching a movie in fast-forward mode. When he saw the state Potter was when Draco left, he immediately stopped, grabbed his medical kit and bolted out of his office, Draco not far behind.
When they finally reached the destroyed bathroom, Snape couldn't help but heave. The water covered floor had turned a shade of red and when he rounded a corner he saw Potter.
He looked a lot worse than he had when he looked into Draco's mind.
Now he was so pale he actually looked like a ghost, his entire lower body and hands were covered in his own blood along with a few dribbles from his parted lips, his head was hanging to the side like it was too heavy to hold up and his eyes tightly shut. But what scared Snape the most was that Potter didn't seem to be breathing.
"Potter, stay with us now. Come, on you've got to hang on…" he said as he ran over to check if he was in fact breathing.
"Potter, I'm so sorry! Please, please pull through! You can't die… you just can't!" Draco said in a shaky voice behind him.
He quickly cast a levitation spell to help relieve Potter from the weight of the pole. He knew he had to get Potter off that damned pole if he was going to try and save him, and he knew it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Draco, go and get Madam Pomfrey at once, get her to contact St Mungo immediately." He ordered in his soft tone.
Once Draco was out of the way, he felt Potter's neck for a pulse and found it was extremely weak. He cast a few more spells to help clear the blood that had clotted in Potter's throat to help him breathe.
He went to his medical kit and pulled out a syringe, filled it with a painkiller potion and injected it into Potter's arm.
Next Snape made Potter rap his arms around his neck so and used a curse to snap the pole off the wall. Potter instantly collapsed and Snape only just managed to catch him before he hit the floor.
At least Potter was breathing again.
Snape transfigured a pillow and gently placed Potter down to the floor on his side, trying his hardest not to knock the now little piece of pole sticking out of his stomach and lower back.
He pulled out a numbing spray from his medical kit and sprayed the entire area that had been penetrated. This caused a slight flinch from Potter, which was a relief on Snapes behalf- it meant Potter was semiconscious.
He placed his slightly shaking hands on the front of the blood covered pole and braced himself.
"Okay Potter, this is going to hurt a lot so just grit your teeth and bear it for a while."
He didn't know if he was heard or not, but neither the less, he took a deep breath and started to pull.
Potter made some strangled gasping noise and clenched his fists as Snape continued to pull. Snape had to admit, of all his years being a spy and a Death Eater, he had never thought himself as weak, but trying to pull out the pole from Potter's body was showing him otherwise.
It was wedged in there proper.
Snape gave one last sharp tug and the pole came lose from Potter with a sickening ripping noise.
As soon as it was out, Snape dropped it to the floor and shoved his hands both sides of Potters body and put as much pressure as he could to try and stop the bleeding.
Just in time, Poppy and Draco came back with a bunch of St Mungo medi-witches and doctors followed behind by Dumbledore and McGonagall.
The St Mungo doctors and nurses took over and Dumbledore took Snape to the side to discuss what had happened since Draco still couldn't bear to talk.
Snape told Albus and Minerva what he had seen in Draco's mind as Potter was put on a stretcher. They all ran to the infirmary as fast as they could.
He could breathe again. His head was at least a little bit clearer and he could hear strange noises…
He could remember everything that had happened, he remembered Snape, he remembered the pain in his lower body and Snape's comforting (not) words.
He could recognize the feeling that he was moving, but he wasn't moving himself…
With a great effort, he opened his eyes a fraction and saw the ceiling above him rushing by, confirming that he is indeed moving.
He saw some unfamiliar faces and as blurred as they were, he managed to realize they were medi-witches.
He moved his head to the side and saw Professor Snape running beside them and Dumbledore to his other side.
They burst through some doors and Harry recognized the infirmary.
Snape, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Pomfrey and Malfoy were pushed to the side as all the St Mungo people were working on him.
They ripped open his shirt, revealing more blood and gore. They immediately put him on some machine that suddenly started beeping, showing a seriously low heartbeat.
"There's just so much blood Doctor…"
"How is he still alive?"
"He's hemorrhaging!"
"I've got a pulse!"
They cast so many spells that Draco could hardly keep up. There was still so much blood, on the floor, on the bed, on Potter himself.
A sudden 'whoosh' from the fireplace in Pomfrey's office was heard and a tall man wearing all white came through looking professional.
"What have we got?" he said.
"Penetrating wound to the lower abdomen area, hypervolemia, he's lost a lot of blood." A smaller doctor said.
The tall doctor rolled up his sleeves and pulled on some gloves.
"Okay let's get a large saline in, 2 liters of jelly, 2 units of O negative, cross match the bloods for 4 units!"
A medi-witch ran to the fireplace and another 'whoosh' was heard.
"Get his head down."
They laid his body down flat and tried to stop the bleeding with tissues and spells. It didn't seem to be working as they were all backfired and the tissues instantly soaked up.
"Let me get in there… I can't see a thing there's too much blood."
"He's hemorrhaging badly!" the small doctor said.
"Put the saline in and push the blood through all the infuses."
An oxygen mask was placed over Harry's mouth and he opened his eyes again.
"…where's Snape?" he said breathlessly.
The medi-witch holding his head straight looked up and called Severus over.
"Professor Snape."
He was there within seconds saying quietly "I'm here, I'm here…"
Harry's green eyes looked at him spacing out and they closed before Snape could see any glimpse of Lilly.
"…tell me I'll be alright…"
And with that, the heart monitor started to drop and beep even more.
"There's no B.P!"
Snape could only stare in shock as he was pushed out of the way.
"Down 30%. He'd arrested!"
"I've lost the pulse, he's gone!"
Snape went back to the stand out of the way and put an arm around his godson who looked just as scared as he felt.
"Mind out the way!"
The big doctor hushed the Medi-witches away and started compression.
"1 milligram of adrenalin now! ... And where's the blood? Someone chase the blood!"
Another Medi-witch ran out into the fireplace and came back within seconds with a bag full of blood.
"He's still leaking badly…"
"We got to him far too late."
So many people were just rushing around helping, and then there was the 4 that could only stand to the side and pray.
"We've got to stop the bleed, come on!" the big doctor said.
"We need to find it first." Said the little one.
All Draco could hear and see was the horrid noise of the heart monitor and Potter's face. He wanted so fall into a ball and cry. Nothing seemed to be working! He had killed Harry Potter!
"A Thoracotomy! Get me a Thoracotomy tray!" the big doctor said.
"No," the other doctor said. "You need to think this through."
"I already have Miriam; if we open him up we have a higher chance to steady the flow."
"You need to do that in theater-"
"We haven't got time!"
"You can't open him up! Even if you could get to the bleed he's only got a 10% chance of survival!"
"Well his chances will be even less if I don't do this!"
Everyone in the room stilled except the doctor doing compressions on Harry.
"You've got to be objective here," the small doctor said.
"He won't make it."
The big doctor looked over to the 4 who were watching the poor boy die, then he looked to the gathering of students by the door that were being stopped by teachers.
Then he looked at Harry. His mind was made up.
"Let's innervate please."
The medi-witches all started moving again and started sticking tubes and things into Harry.
"Okay, give him 1 milligram of adrenaline again please, keep the fluids pushing in."
Everyone was on their feet and Dumbledore pulled McGonagall into him. He had silent tears running down his face.
"Right, let's prepare for the Thoracotomy."
And with that, the big doctor brandished a scalpel and cut into the skin just below Harry's heart. Blood started oozing out but it seemed little compared to normal.
"More swabs here please, suction."
A horrible sucking noise could be heard over the heart monitor and Draco had to turn around, he couldn't stomach it.
"Rib spreaders."
Now Draco did gag.
They had officially opened him up; Snape could see as they spread his skin apart and saw Harry Potter's insides. It was like something out of a muggle horror movie.
The big doctor slowly put his hands into the hole they'd made in Harry and started to feel around.
His face looked sullen.
"Okay he's not fusing. I'm going to start cardiac-massage."
He started pushing at Harry's heart, which in Snapes angle did not look pretty.
This lasted a few seconds before he withdrew his hands.
"Okay. Let's see if that does it."
The heart monitor stopped and showed no sign of life.
"Right we go again, give him another shot."
Nobody moved.
"Sir…"
"Give him the shot please." The doctor said.
Still nobody moved.
"Sir please… there's no change. You've got to stop now."
"We go again! Give him another shot of adrenaline please!"
"You have got to call it-"
"There's still time Miriam! … Please!"
Still, there were no movements.
"Doctor… That's enough now."
A little red haired girl was standing just by the teachers with tears in her eyes. She looked directly at the tall Doctor and gave a short nod. She looked like she was going to break down any second.
All the Medi-witches and doctors looked at her and then at each other, then to the tall doctor, who closed his eyes and moved his hands away.
"Time of Death, 21:32pm"
Severus didn't know how long he was standing there for, but everyone had cleared out and all the tubes and machines had gone, leaving just him and Harry in the infirmary.
Most of the people Snape had killed, during his time as a Death Eater, had seemed almost peaceful after, almost like they were sleeping, but not Harry. He just looked dead.
His normal cocky smile that he always had was gone.
Snape gently moved a lock of Harry's messy black hair from his face to reveal that ugly looking scar.
"You'll be alright now."
THE END.