Chapter 13

Harry's Intuition

Try as Harry might, he could not get Sophia's words out of his mind. A man with two faces. A man who can also speak with her. He just didn't understand! How could there be two Parselmouths in Hogwarts? A week continued with him focusing on this problem. He confined in both Blaise and Draco, obviously, however, Draco reassured him not to worry. "She probably was mistaken Harry," he said. "Besides, what else is there we can do? We're only eleven."

Harry tried to take Draco's words to heart, but it was hard for the young Malfoy. It was extremely hard to not think of the two-faced man especially during Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry did not know why, but he could never fully pay attention in that class. The smell in the classroom was overwhelming, it invaded his head and caused Harry's nose to twitch and scrunch up as Professor Quirrell kept stuttering along, almost never letting them do anything practical. He always sounded scared, and quite jumpy as he taught. The first years all wanted to hear stories of how he met vampires and how he got the turban, but Quirrell always started sweating nervously and stuttered on about something else.

One day, Professor Quirrell was teaching the class about the Knockback Jinx, Flipendo, as the class just listened on dozily. It was a rather cloudy day and Harry couldn't find anything interesting outside to stare at to dull the small ache in his head the smells were causing. He was about to fall asleep completely when a voice snapped the class awake.

"Sir?"

It was Theo Nott, raising his hand. Professor Quirrell stopped and stared at Nott. "Yes, Th-Theodore?" he asked.

"I was wondering, sir, if it would not be beneficial for us if we actually practiced the spell? We have spent the last two classes taking notes on it, but so far we haven't even taken out our wands at all for your class," Theo said. "We used our wands loads of times in other classes, so why not this?"

"That's—that's because it i-is un-unnecessary," Quirrell stuttered. "Th-th-there's no reason, eh, for—for you all to practice it."

"But sir," Theo continued. "How are we supposed to even know if we can do it if we don't practice the spells?"

"B-Because you don't need to," Professor Quirrell said. "Te-ten p-points from Slytherin!"

The Slytherins just stared at Quirrell in utter shock. They couldn't believe what he did! The Ravenclaw whom they had the class with just looked around curious and hesitant. Harry saw in their eyes that they didn't want to get involved, even though they obviously agreed with Theo. Harry looked between Theo and Quirrell and raised his hand. "M-Malfoy?"

"How do you know that we even know the spells good enough if we don't practice?" he asked. Quirrell gave a little whimper and the strong garlic smell somehow intensified.

"W-Well then Malfoy," Professor Quirrell said, doing his best to hold his head high as though confident. "If you're—you're so insistent, th-then show your fellow cl-cl-classmates how to cast Flipendo."

Harry blinked, surprised, but stood up. He felt weird pulling out his wand in class and looked around. "Uh, who do I use it on, sir?" he asked.

Professor Quirrell stared at him, as though confused at the question before looking around. "You! Boy!" he snapped at a random Ravenclaw. The student jumped and stood up, Harry recognizing him as Terry Boot. "Him, Mr. Malfoy," Quirrell said.

Harry looked at Terry Boot and looked uncertain, "Are you ready?" he asked.

"Uh, no," Boot answered honestly but nodded. The two moved so that Boot wouldn't be knocked into anything that could hurt him and Harry took a breath and whipped his wand, doing the gesture their textbook taught him as he said, "Flipendo!"

There was a loud bang and a yellow light that shot out from Harry's wand. It hit Terry Boot in the chest and the Ravenclaw immediately fell down, as though he slipped on the floor. Harry immediately ran to help Boot up.

"Th-there," Quirrell stuttered. "That—that's how you p-p-perform the spell. No need to practice it any—anymore."

Harry just glanced at Quirrell and frowned but returned to his seat as Boot returned to his. They all stayed in their seats for the rest of class, the students all sharing a strange feeling as they glanced around, afraid to ask again if they'll practice any spells.

Of course, that left Harry's performance in class the talk of the first years as they all left the classroom half an hour later. During lunch, Harry's performance has spread throughout the entire castle, and Harry couldn't help but feel everyone's eyes as every whisper seemed to include his name. After lunch, Harry and Draco were walking out of the Great Hall when they saw Ron Weasley who was with the other first year Gryffindors.

As though comically attracted, Draco and Ron noticed the other and glared, taking a step toward the other. "Draco, don't," Harry groaned, but it was useless.

Draco and Ron just stood in front of the other, glaring at the other with the meanest faces they could muster. "Malfoy," Ron said.

"Weasley."

"What you want Malfoy? Thinking of doing something glaring at me like that?" Ron demanded.

Draco laughed and sneered, "Me doing something? Oh please Weasley, as if you just live in my thoughts all day long! Just admit it, you're obsessed with me and stared at me first."

Draco smirked as Ron's face turned red. Harry glanced at the other Gryffindors who all shared an annoyed look aimed at Draco and the other Slytherins. Irritation quickly grew in the younger Malfoy. He stepped forward only for hands to hold him back. He glanced back to see Crabbe and Goyle. "Let me go," he demanded.

"No, I wanna see Malfoy smash Weasley's face in," Goyle chuckled.

"Yeah, it's the only useful thing you Malfoys can do in a while," Pansy Parkinson snorted from the group. Harry slapped Goyle's hand off of his shoulder and turned to glare at Pansy.

"Nobody asked or cares about your opinion Parkinson, so just screw off!" he yelled, the first years around them gasped.

"You did not just say that to me that you little boy!" Pansy said.

"I did and I'll say it again," Harry said. "No one cares about you Pansy, so just go away!"

Pansy grabbed for her wand but Daphne stopped her, grabbing her arm and dragging the girl away. Behind Harry, Ron just laughed, "Looks like your friends don't get along, eh Malfoy?" he smirked at Draco.

"Parkinson's not my friend, carrot-haired," Draco sneered back.

"Really? Could have fooled me, she looks just as slimy as you," Ron smirked. Draco pulled his wand out with ease and aimed it at the Gryffindor.

"Don't compare me to her!" he demanded. "I'm nothing like her!" he yelled that a bit too loud and intense. Harry once again tried to stop him only for Crabbe and Goyle to grab him once more.

"Let me go!" Harry demanded, Theo and Blaise rushing to try and help him but the two boys were too strong and were watching Draco and Ron with amusement. "Hex him Malfoy!" they said, edging Draco on. "Go on!"

"I'm not… I'm not," Draco repeated. He glared at Ron, though his eyes looked as though he wasn't fully there, as though he was worried about something that was far away from the current incident. "I'm not like Parkinson!" he yelled again.

Ron too had his wand out and aimed at Draco. He was weirded out but didn't back down. "You're acting like her," he said.

"Ron shut up!" Harry yelled, "Draco, put your wand away or else!"

"I'm not like her, I'm not," Draco muttered, lost in a trance. "Fli—"

"Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Weasley! That is enough!"

Professor McGonagall came into the entrance hall, looking at both of them sternly. "Put your wands away—and you two! Let go of Mr. Malfoy this instant!" She demanded, looking from Draco and Ron to Crabbe and Goyle. "In all my years of teaching at Hogwarts, I have never experienced such blatant rule-breaking from first years! We are not even a month into the school year and both of you have decided to have an illegal duel? Twenty points from both your houses and detention with me at seven o'clock Thursday." Draco seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in. He just stared at Professor McGonagall for a moment before nodding. Ron, meanwhile, staring at her slack-jawed.

"But Professor—"

"No 'buts' Mr. Weasley," she said. "Now all of you better get to class immediately or else I will deduct more points from each of you—yes you too Miss. Granger. Now move along."

She moved through the group of first years, shaking her head disapprovingly. Crabbe and Goyle grumbled as they let Harry go and the younger Malfoy quickly ran to Draco and held him by his shoulders, staring into Draco's eyes.

"Draco—what were you thinking?" he demanded. His brother didn't answer immediately. He just stared at Harry for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nothing," he said rudely, "Let go, we need to get to class."

"Draco—"

"I said nothing Harry!" Draco shouted. "Leave it!"

"Fine!" Harry yelled back and stomped away angrily.

The brothers were angry at each other for two days afterward. They barely talked to each other, barely even looked at each other, and only really acknowledged the other's existence when asking for them to pass food. It wasn't until Wednesday almost midnight, both exhausted from Astronomy that they forgot that they were angry at each other. It was a very cold night that night, so after dressing for bed Harry went into his brother's instead of his own, and the two laid close to share body heat and fell asleep without a word. The next day, the brothers went on with life as normal, acting the same as always as though their little outburst did not happen.

Harry walked with Draco to McGonagall's office for his detention. When she saw both of them, she raised an eyebrow. "I am sorry Mr. Malfoy, but you cannot share your brother's burden of detention," she said to Harry.

"Oh, I'm sorry Professor McGonagall, I just walked him here," Harry answered.

"Thank you for that Mr. Malfoy, now have a good night. Draco, inside," Professor McGonagall said. Harry blushed embarrassed and nodded. He took a step back as Draco stepped inside.

"I'll see you in the dormitory," Harry said, giving his brother a hopeful smile. Draco just nodded and the door was shut.

Ron was already in the office, sulking in a chair in front of Professor McGonagall's desk. The transfiguration teacher escorted Draco to her desk and indicated for him to sit next to Ron as she returned to her seat. "Good evening gentlemen," she said, looking at the two of them. "For the next hour and ninety minutes, I will ask that the two of you smarten up your cooperation and work to reorganize my files my date." She pointed towards a few filing cabinets in the corner. Every drawer was pulled out and the papers were littered around as though ejected from the drawers at superfast speed. "Peeves have decided it was good fun to mess with my filing as retaliation, I have no doubt, for me hexing the annoying apparition off of the chandeliers in the teacher's lounge. What you do not finish today, you will take care of tomorrow night. You may begin."

Draco wordlessly slipped off his chair and moved to the piles of paper. He knelt down and looked at the drawers, thankful that they were all clearly labeled by year. Ron followed him and the two were unnaturally quiet as they worked. Draco kept his head down, not wanting to look at the redhead or Professor McGonagall. Just get this done and go to the boy's dormitory to sleep, he thought.

The only sound in the office was from Professor McGonagall who was marking papers, her quill giving soft scratches that broke through a tense quiet that build between Ron and Draco. Out of the corner of his eye, Draco kept seeing Ron glance at him but did his best to ignore it. Half an hour passed like this until the quiet seemed to be too much for Ron who whispered, "Malfoy, oi Malfoy!"

"What Weasley?" Draco sighed.

"You're weird," Ron whispered. "What was going on back there? With you keep yelling that you're not Parkinson?"

Draco froze. He looked at Ron, doing his best to keep a neutral face. "I don't know what you're talking about," he whispered.

"Yes you do," Ron insisted.

"I'm a boy, I'm not like Parkinson," Draco said. "I'm a boy, not a girl. That's just how it is."

Ron just stared at Draco, confused. "Course you're not a girl, stupid, you're annoying," he muttered. "A slimy annoying git." Draco gave Ron a harsh look but turned back to his task.

"Course I'm a boy, dummy," he muttered, and that was where it was left. The remaining time of their detention was spent in silence. When the ninety minutes were up, they had most of the mess filed and cleaned up, everything they couldn't put away was instead put into a couple of neat piles on the ground. Professor McGonagall just nodded at that and said, "You both will come back tomorrow after class. Goodnight."

Draco left wordlessly. He could feel Ron watching him but did not look back. Instead, he just returned to the Slytherin Dormitory where Harry was waiting for him. The brothers talked for a while before heading to bed. The next day went along as usual, and both he and Ron were silent as they were in Professor McGonagall's office once more, taking an hour to finish filing.

September was finally over, and October had arrived with chilling winds and rainy days. The Malfoy brothers were doing excellent to well in all of their classes, and ever since the Flipendo Incident, which Blaise lovingly and jokingly coined, there has still been no practical lessons in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not that Harry noticed. The smell in the classroom seemed to be getting stronger, and his head hurt even more so. One day after a lesson that left him with a splitting headache, Harry went to the Slytherin dormitory to lay on a couch only for Sophia to slither towards him, coiling on his stomach. "You smell horrible," she said.

"Gee, thanks," Harry groaned. "I have a splitting headache."

"Don't tell me you are becoming like the two-faced man as well, boy," Sophia said. "Are you going to go drink Unicorn blood a well?"

Harry stared at her, confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"You reek just like the man with two faces, it's very obvious," the snake said, darting out her tongue as she hissed and smell only to shake her head as though revolted from the garlicky smell that hung on Harry's robes.

"I do?" Harry asked, a cold realization coming over him. He just stared at Sophia as the snake nodded once more. He shot up, Sophia falling to his lap and hissing angrily at him. "I—I have to go," he said, hesitating only for a moment to safely take Sophia off his lap before standing. Sophia just watched silently as he left the common room in a haze.

Before he knew it, he found his way to Professor Quirrell's classroom, where the man was along and muttering to himself. "M-Master please, I-I am doing the best I can! The d-d-dog almost bit my leg off! A-A-And Snape is always following!" There was silence and Quirrell whimpered pathetically, falling onto his hands and knees. "Please Master," he begged, "B-Be merciful, I can try again! I-I can bring a troll!" Silence once more and Quirrell froze. He looked up quickly. Harry for a moment thought that Quirrell say him. The small boy felt his body stiffen in fear as Quirrell stood up. He squeezed his eyes and took a breath, doing his best to calm himself.

Harry knocked on the door.

"Come in," Quirrell said in a soft voice.

Harry walked in with small steps, doing his best to try and stay causal as he looked at Professor Quirrell. The rotten garlicky smell overtook his senses immediately, but Harry kept his eyes on Professor Quirrell as he came closer. "Sir?" he stared, sounding hesitant.

"What is it? Speak up!" Quirrell demanded, his stutter somehow gone.

"I uh wanted to ask you some questions, about something I read about in a book," Harry said, glancing between Quirrell and a window. "Is it true, sir, that there are some creatures that can talk with others? Like um, snakes can talk to other snake-like creatures?"

"S-Snakes, right," Quirrell said. He glanced around and, as if picking up a performance once more, his stutter returned. "Wh-What do you mean, Mr. Ma-Malfoy?"

Harry thought for a moment, glancing at him. "I mean, that there's a snake in Hogwarts, she's a friend of mine," he decided to tell the truth as vaguely as he could. "She told me that one day she was in the forbidden forest and she saw a strange creature, Professor. It looked like a man but with two faces," Harry continued, taking a step backward. "It was drinking unicorn blood and the strange thing was that while one face could understand her, the other couldn't. So I was wondering if it is possible if there could be creatures that understand each other, and um if that is the case then how can one face understand a snake, but the other doesn't."

"I-I don't understand," Quirrell said, but his face started to pale. "What do you mean that a snake t-t-told you?"

Harry blinked at him, "Haven't you heard?" Harry asked innocently. "I'm a Parselmouth, I can speak to snakes. I thought that I was the only person like that, but Sophia told me there was another, a two-faced man… and he smells exactly like you, Professor." He smiled only for a minute before his head started to ache again. He groaned and his hand shot to his scar. For the first time in his life, it hurt. The lightning-bolt scar on his forehead burned, as though agitated. Quirrell stared, as though oblivious and blubbering to someone Harry couldn't see. "M-Master I'm sorry I did not know!"

Harry's scar surged again with pain and he could feel a warm liquid oozing from it. He pressed his hand once more against it and pulled back to see blood. Then he heard it. A second voice that seemed to come from somewhere in the room. It was faint, weak, and barely above a whisper.

"How did you not know about Harry Potter's ability?" The voice sent a shock of fear down Harry's spine. Quirrell doubled over in pain and Harry ran just as the voice yelled at Quirrell to chase him. Harry did not look back; he was too busy running and chastising himself for even doing this. What was he thinking? He had to find a professor, or even Dumbledore, or else who knows what would happen to him. They were on the ground floor, and the closest teacher's office that Harry knew of was unfortunately Professor Snape's down in the dungeon.

So he ran towards there. Not knowing any shortcuts or secret tunnels, Harry had to navigate the hallways, yelling apologies as he had to weave through taller and older students. When he reached the entrance hall, he took the steps down to the dungeons two at a time, almost tripping in the rush. The smell of garlic never left, and Harry was afraid to look behind him. He did not know how close or far away Quirrell was, but it didn't matter. His head was in pain as though being split open, and his scar was now bleeding freely, the blood mixing with his sweat as it dripped down. He had to wipe it away constantly but that only brought another stinging pain as his hand brushed against the scar.

Harry hoped that almost two months' worth of traversing the dungeons was enough for him to outpace Quirrell. The corridors all looked almost identical and his heart sped with a sense of relief and dread as he has gotten closer to Professor Snape's office. He did not even knock once he reached the wooden door, instead, slamming it open to see that Snape was by his desk, measuring ingredients. "Malfoy!" he yelled, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Quirrell—Quirrell is chasing me," Harry panted. "I need Dumbledore, please Professor! He's the two-faced man!"

Snape just stared at Harry. "I do not have time for your nonsense Malfoy, now leave," he said.

"Please sir you have to believe me!" Harry begged. "Quirrell has two faces! The second face can speak to snakes like I can and when it talked my scar started to hurt and bleed! It has never happened before!"

Snape stared at the child and, with a wave of his wand, the blood on his face was cleaned away. "Next time go to the Hospital Wing, Malfoy, to get your scar examined. Do not come to me with some ludicrous story."

"But sir, it's true! The snake told me herself," Harry said, stepping further into the office. "She was in the forest when she found him! A two-faced man drinking unicorn's blood. Please, Blaise was there too, you can ask him! Just please get Dumbledore here."

"Drinking Unicorn's Blood? And how did you come up with this little tidbit, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Snape asked. "Remembered it from a children's story? This game is getting tiresome and, honestly, insulting to all of us involved. Wouldn't you agree, Professor Quirrell?"

The garlic smell invaded Harry once more. He turned with horror, to see Professor Quirrell standing behind him. He looked cruel and cold, completely the opposite of his usual stuttering self.

"Yes, Severus," Quirrell said without a stutter. "Very insulting." Harry tried to get away but Quirrell's hand latched onto his shoulder, holding it with more strength than the man should have. "However you do not need to worry, I am sure Mr. Potter will be more than willing to atone after a detention with me."

"I am certain," Snape said, "However, his name is Malfoy."

Quirrell blinked. "Yes, sorry," he said a little weaker.

"Professor, please! You have to believe me," Harry said, screaming at the top of his lungs. "He called the second voice Master!"

Snape sighed, "Mr. Malfoy, I have quite enough of your fairytales. I do not have the time nor patience to deal with your foolishness. Good day."

Quirrell chuckled and tightened the grip on Harry's robes. "Come on Malfoy," he said. "We have quite a bit to talk about."

He pulled Harry out of Snape's office, and Harry's hope died as he saw the doors closed by itself. He tried to struggle away but it was impossible. Students surrounded them as they walked into the entrance hall. Harry looked around, hoping that someone would see what was wrong with the two of them. He tried to scream but found that his voice was gone. He opened his mouth and tried his hardest but looked only as though he was yawning. Quirrell brought Harry not to the ground floor corridors, but towards the marble staircase. Harry panicked and wondered where they were going.

I'm sorry Draco, I'm sorry Blaise, I'm sorry Remus, Sirius… I'm sorry Mum and Dad, he cried mentally, his heart sinking lower and lower with each step they took. The two-faced man was going to kill him. Harry did not want to even think about it, but as they walked further away from the ground floor, it seemed to become almost inevitable.

Professor Quirrell brought Harry to the third-floor landing and a new wave of terror flooded Harry as they entered the forbidden corridor.

A/N: Sorry about that. Upload schedule is going to be a bit hectic. Working on a new story and finishing Mors et Tempus kind of threw me off.

VampireKing40: Snape has no reason to visit the Malfoys. Despite general knowledge in fanon, Snape is not Draco's godfather, so he has no real reason to personally visit the Malfoys. That said, after this and next chapter I am sure that Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy will give Snape hell.

Padfootette: Thanks! And yeah, Blaise is gonna be a good friend and boyfriend later on.

Noir kumo: It is super not fair. I wish my face was cute.

AnnaMerteuil: Well you had to wait extra long cause I f*cked up my upload schedule! Lol

Marvynthephoenix: And yeah, of course it's Voldy. And now Harry's gonna die because of it!