Kiss me, Harry; Kill me, Harry
Chapter 4- Silver and Opals
Gratefully, Harry had a free period that morning in which he could run upstairs, shower, dress and actually get ready for the day. He was extremely tired, but he was also practically jumping around – living off the buzz that being with Draco for an entire night had given him.
As he headed off to Herbology, his first lesson for the day, he was practically glowing. But once he reached the Green House, his buzz was burnt out, but only slightly.
"Where were you!" Hermione shrieked as a greeting as he entered the warm and drowsy room.
"Yeah," Ron added quickly.
"Oh," Harry said.
"You weren't at dinner," Hermione continued, "and Ron said you didn't come to bed last night. We waited until midnight in the Common Room for you! And Ron reckons he stayed up about an hour after that waiting… and you know that we aren't supposed to wander the corridors at night, Harry!"
"Oh," Harry said again, brainstorming quickly, "Well, I did go to bed, but it was late… I was… with… er … Moaning Myrtle," Harry lied, trying to put a sheepish look on his face. When he thought back to the previous night, Harry immediately thought of the Lake. Having seen Myrtle in the Black Lake before, it was not a surprise that his lie had included her.
"Myrtle?" Ron asked uncertainly.
"Why?" Hermione added unbelievingly.
"Well, I had gone there to sulk… the girl's toilets I mean. I was really annoyed with Snape for setting me detentions, not to mention all the homework we have been getting… and I am still kind of bummed about –" Harry's voice broke as he said this part – "Sirius' death…" he let the sentence trail off. Sirius. Harry had not thought about him since the new hype with Draco, and yet, now when he did, he felt the same burning sense of loss that had greeted him the night Sirius had fallen through that veil.
Hermione nodded sympathetically, as did Ron and Harry thought he had won over with the lie. But then, Hermione spoke again.
"For more than six hours, Harry?" she piped, "You were with Myrtle from seven at night until past one or two in the morning?"
"Alright," Harry said, "I was lying… but not completely." Hermione and Ron stared.
Harry, now inventing wildly said, "Myrtle took me too another Death Day party. A belated one for the – er – Fat Friar. It was loads better than Nick's… and actually interesting too. Did you know the Friar came a year late to Hogwarts?"
Hearing a piece of what sounded like fact, Hermione finally believed him and as soon as she did, Ron did as well. Harry was just thankful that Hogwarts: A History did not give that detailed of a life's story for the ghosts at Hogwarts.
Luckily, Harry did not have to back up his lie any further, as Professor Sprout, a usually quite kind and not so strict teacher, had come over and told them to concentrate. But this was really no surprise; all the teachers had been working them much harder lately. The work load was impossibly difficult, and the lessons had become more and more demanding. In fact, over the next few weeks, Harry was shocked that he had even managed to get any work done at all.
He was now meeting up with Draco almost every night he could manage, and attempting to stay on top at school was leaving him with far too little sleep. He had noticed that Malfoy seemed to be having the same problem. He was more disheveled than usual and often had dark circles under his eyes, yet he never refused to meet up with Harry. Harry wondered vaguely if it wasn't just himself and homework occupying Draco's time, but something else as well. But, Draco would have told him if something like that had been happening… wouldn't he?
As October came, so did the first Hogsmeade weekend. Harry had been excited for this, and was going to ask Draco to accompany him rather than his usual gang. He was sure he could tell Ron and Hermione just one more lie… besides, they hadn't even realized the first one was a lie yet, so they probably never would. But, on the morning in which Hogsmeade was taking place, Harry did not see Draco at breakfast, to his great disappointment. As he sat at the Gryffindor table, Ginny walked by.
"Want to go with us to Hogsmeade?" he asked her, seeing as he was going to go with Ron and Hermione already.
"Nah," Ginny replied, "I'm going with Dean." Harry felt slightly more dishearten at these words. Ginny had a date to go with, and he was sure tons of others had dates too… but his had suddenly fallen off the face of the earth.
After passing Filch and his attempts to find them all concealing dark items, Harry, Ron and Hermione finally managed to get into Hogsmeade, where Harry was met by yet another unpleasant surprise; Mundungus.
Mundungus carrying…
"Hey!" Harry yelled. "That's Sirius' stuff!" Anger bubbled in him… what did this blithering idiot think he was doing with Sirius' stuff?
But after an unpleasant encounter which brought Harry's temper to a breaking point, Mundungus merely Apparated out of sight.
And after a quick visit to the Three Broomsticks, they were out in the chilly autumn air once more, heading back to the castle.
It was a miserable and cold walk back and it only went from bad to worse. Ahead of the three of them Katie Bell and her friend were fighting. Harry could barely make out what they were fighting over because of the sleet blurring his vision, but he could see that it was something in a package.
Suddenly, without warning, Katie flew up into the air. Gracefully, arms outstretched, but eerily as well. She stayed like that for a moment, suspended in the air, wind ripping at her pale body and face, her hair tangling in the fierce sleet and wind gusts. And then, she screamed. It was a terrible, dreadfully loud, piercing noise, breaking the graceful silence that had appeared moments before. Her eyes were open, but they were seeing something quite beyond the sleety wilderness. She twitched and withered in the air, thrashing about in movements that reminded Harry of the Cruciatus Curse. Her friend started tugging at her ankles, her frightful screams mixing with Katie's blood curdling ones. Soon, Harry, Ron and Hermione had joined in, and Katie collapsed upon all of them, but did not stop her trembling. She thrashed around on the cold, hard ground, still screaming; a scream so frightening that Harry knew he would remember as long as he lived.
Harry had immediately run off to find help as soon as Katie was down from where she had been hovering, but he was frightened of the powers possessing her. He had never seen anything like this… it was eerie, mysterious and she was cursed. Katie had to have been cursed.
As he ran, he collided with Hagrid, who after hearing Harry's hurried and desperate explanation, ran after him to find Katie. As soon as Hagrid saw her, still flaying on the ground, he lifted her into his arms. Carrying her gently for such a giant man (quite literally), he ran off with her back towards the castle.
As soon as her screams died out, Hermione went to comfort Katie's friend; Leanne.
Ron meanwhile went over to the package, hand outreached as if to pick up its glittering, green contents.
"Don't!" Harry said sharply and Ron quickly withdrew his hand.
As Harry went over to look, he felt an odd sort of feeling when he saw it. Then his heart sank as he recognized where he had seen it before.
"That was at Borgin and Burkes," he said slowly, "four years ago… when I got trapped in Knockturn Alley. Dra – er – Malfoy was looking at buying it… it's cursed."
He looked up at Leanne. "How did you get this?"
"Katie came out of the girl's toilets holding it!" Leanne cried, "I told her not to t – t – t –touch it! She wouldn't tell me who it was from… I t – t – told her not to keep it!" A strange look came across Leanne's face, "I bet she had the Imperius Curse placed on her and I hadn't noticed! She kept saying it was a special gift for someone in Hogwarts and that she had to deliver it! Oh, why was I so s – s – stupid!" Leanne finished, tears pouring steadily down her face.
They finally decided the best thing to do would be to return to the school and show Madam Pomfrey the necklace. But, as the school drew steadily closer, Harry couldn't help but feel a certain anger bubbling up inside him. This necklace was from Malfoy. It had to be! Memories from what Malfoy had said on the train to Hogwarts crowded Harry's mind. Why had he trusted the Death Eater? The prat!
When he expressed these thoughts out loud, not able to hold them in any longer, Ron looked at him doubtfully.
"Harry, Katie got the necklace from the girl's toilets… and loads of people shop at that dingy old place…it could be anyone's cursed necklace."
Despite the fact that Harry had spent the last few weeks swooning over Malfoy, he now felt a sudden twinge of anger, hate… and regret. Malfoy was a Death Eater. He was dating a Death Eater. He should have listened to those uncomfortable feelings he had gotten when he was with Malfoy for the first few days. Now, he was realizing the extent of harm Malfoy could make. And yet, even though he believed full heartedly that this was Malfoy's fault, he still loved him. Harry still felt disappointed that he hadn't gone to Hogsmeade with him, he still felt happy about the night two days ago in which Malfoy and Harry had snogged in an abandoned Charms classroom and he even still felt blissful from the dinner by the Lake which had happened a few weeks ago. But… it was wrong. This was wrong. Katie was his friend.
Only too soon, his thoughts were interrupted as Professor McGonagall came rushing towards them.
"You four! My office… and what is that you are holding, Mr. Potter?"
"The necklace… the cursed one that Katie touched," Harry replied.
"Good lord," McGonagall whispered before handing the necklace to Filch (who had been walking towards them was his Dark Detector) and instructing him to take it carefully to Snape without touching it.
In mere moments they had reached the office, where McGonagall sharply asked them what had happened. Leanne told her story, but did not get very far as the tears leaking from her eyes were falling as such a steady pace and her voice had choked up so much, McGonagall sent her to Madame Pomfrey for a shock remedy.
Then, Harry, Ron and Hermione took over the story. As they were giving the account, Harry realized that he had not seen Dumbledore in quite a while. Wasn't he supposed to be giving Harry these lesson-things? But then Harry directed his hate towards Draco, as it was he, after all, that had been eating up so much of Harry's time.
"Can I see Professor Dumbledore please?" Harry asked as soon as the account of what had happened was told.
"Mr. Potter, he is not here at the moment," McGonagall replied sharply.
"Please?" Harry asked, needing to tell the Malfoy theory to someone who would listen.
"He is not in the school, Mr. Potter! Surely you can tell me what you need to tell him so desperately?" McGonagall retorted.
"Draco Malfoy gave her the necklace. It was Malfoy," Harry finally said.
Ron and Hermione averted their gazes from him, almost as if they were embarrassed of him.
"What is your proof?" McGonagall asked, "That is a very serious accusation, Mr. Potter."
Harry thought for a moment. The image of the Dark Mark on Draco's pale skin burned in his mind. The Dark Mark he had licked. Harry felt disgusted with himself. Then, he recalled a memory that since being with Draco, he had shunted to the back of his mind. It was the memory of Draco visiting Borgin and Burkes before the start of the school year; the detour.
He explained the event to Professor McGonagall, who still did not believe his theory. To make matters worse, Ron and Hermione began to argue about the theory as well. Harry thought about telling them about Draco's own, personal Dark Mark, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Especially because then he would have to explain how he had seen the Dark Mark in the first place and Harry supposed that he couldn't exactly say, "because I had ripped off his shirt and was in the process of snogging him and decided to lick the Mark as well."
"Enough!" McGonagall finally said after a few moments. "Potter, Mr. Malfoy was not even in Hogsmeade today! So how could he possibly be responsible for the delivery of that necklace?"
"What?" Harry asked, "How do you kno –" but he was cut off by Professor McGonagall's sour voice.
"Because Mr. Malfoy was attending a detention with me! He has now failed to produce two pieces of Transfiguration homework. Now if you three don't mind, I have to go see how Katie is in the Hospital Wing. Good day to you," and she left the room tartly.
Ron and Hermione walked out uncertainly after her and then turned to look back at Harry. He stared at them for a moment, before coming out of the room and pushing past them in a run. He was going to find Draco and ask him what the hell was going on.
