Chapter ten

Consequences of a fight

/

"You never know what you can do until you try."

F. P. Adams

A sunny morning was trying to convince everyone that it was going to be a day like any other. However, no one at the school knew that the first Sunday of that school year would be talked about for a long time to come.

Right after breakfast, Harry buried his nose in his textbooks and notes and was horrified by the number of assignments, none of which he had completed yet. When mentioned it with a pile of books in his arms in front of Hermione and Ron, they reacted exactly as he had expected. Hermione just rolled her eyes with an 'as if I didn't say it' expression and Ron ran up the stairs in horror, since thanks to Harry he realized he had not done anything either.

So, while Harry and Ron were busy with their works and kept throwing pleading looks at Hermione, she was ignoring them and reading the special edition of the Prophet.

All the windows of the castle were wide open, but it did not help much against the stuffiness that was rising again. The students almost craved for Potions lesson, just so they could cool off in the dungeon.

It was getting close to lunchtime and Hermione was chatting merrily across the room with Lavender when Harry, followed by Ron, dropped their quills and stretched tiredly. Harry rubbed his stinging eyes and Ron yawned heavily, looking at the window.

"This crazy weather is starting to get on my nerves," Ron snorted. "How much longer will this unbearable heat last?"

Harry shrugged.

"Probably not for much longer," said Hermione, who had just come in and heard Ron's comment. "There are nice clouds rolling in from the east, maybe there will be a storm," she added promisingly.

"I wish," Ron responded wistfully.

/

Almost everyone dug into the rice and chicken pieces with tomato sauce with disgust that day, and no one took the soup. Everyone just watched the clouds racing above their heads longingly.

After lunch, a number of students, including the trio, settled by the lake under the shade of trees and dangled their feet in the cool water. After that, they spent the most of the remaining day in Hagrid's grove, inside which was a surprisingly quite pleasant temperature.

During the afternoon, it slowly clouded over and the sky gradually darkened. As they made their way to the castle just before dinner, there was thunder somewhere in the distance. Nobody else was outside anymore, that was, except for a slender girl heading toward the lake, in whom Harry recognized Angela.

"Go ahead," he addressed Ron and Hermione. "I'll catch up with you."

Hermione gave him a suspicious glance and then followed the direction of his gaze. With a knowing expression, she smiled and tugged on Ron's sleeve, who was already gasping for a question.

"Sure, let's go, Ron."

Ron followed her amazed. Hermione then whispered something to him, still smiling. Harry waited until they were a little further away and headed in the direction where he had spotted Angela. He no longer saw Ron and Hermione, who looked back at him first, before they hold hands.

Thunder rumbled again in the distance. He found Angela only after a good while. She sat with her hands around her knees in the same place where they had been once, thoughtfully watching the waves on the lake, created by the increasing wind.

Harry quietly approached her from behind.

"Hello," he addressed her loudly.

Angela flinched and looked up at him in fright. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Harry," she breathed in surprise. "You scared me…" she gasped, quickly wiping tears from her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," Harry apologized ruefully, sitting down next to her. "What happened?"

"Nothing… Never mind," she replied weakly and tried to smile, but it looked rather desperate.

"I don´t like to see you cry," Harry said quietly.

Angela looked at him, but he was staring at the surface of the lake.

"You can confide to me if you want..."

"I rather shouldn´t," she interrupted him softly. "I trust you, Harry, but… It's just not possible. I can't… Not for now, at least."

"It's alright. Just please, don't cry anymore," Harry gave up and gently wiped the last tear from her face.

Angela finally smiled sincerely: "Thanks. It´s nice of you to care…"

"You´re very wel…"

Harry's words were interrupted by a loud boom directly above them. They both winced and looked up at the dark sky.

"I guess we should go," he commented wisely.

"Not probably, but definitely," Angela jumped to her feet first.

It thundered again, and immediately after that, an incredible downpour began. Nature resounded with violently falling drops.

"Hurry, run!" Harry shouted, taking Angela's hand and they both rushed toward the school.

They were not very far, but before they could run through the gate laughing, they were wet from head to toes anyway.

They looked behind their backs. A wild wind drove the rain almost up to them, and the lightning was almost constant now. Heavy rumbling attacked the castle like some crazy fireworks. They just watched the expectedly quick storm for a moment as water dripped from them onto the floor and then looked at each other.

Harry was pleased to see laughter in Angela's eyes. He was glad that he had managed to lift her spirits a bit and with the wet strands of hair around her face, she looked even prettier than usual. Under the power of the moment, he pulled her closer…

Angela tilted her head toward Harry with her heart pounding, but then she realized someone's gaze on her. She quickly flinched and looked in the direction of the Great Hall. The doors were wide open, and from the edge of the Slytherin table, no one but Draco Malfoy could see them.

Harry followed her gaze. She pulled away from him and let go of his hand.

"I'll see you tonight," Angela whispered without looking at him and headed off to dinner.

Harry stared intently at Malfoy's disdainful face, wondering if that look of his annoyed or scared him…

/

Angela sat down at the table, started blowing hot air on herself from the top of her wand and jabbed fries on the fork with her right hand. She was completely oblivious to the fact that Draco was staring at her, contentedly basking and gobbling down her food to be gone as quickly as possible.

But then, Malfoy released his motionless position with folded arms and leaned across the table to her.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed at Angela quietly.

She swallowed and looked up: "I'm having dinner," she retorted cheekily.

"Very funny," Draco sputtered. "You know very well what I mean."

"No, I don't," she smirked.

"You're playing with fire, girl."

"Give me a break, Draco and take care of yourself," Angela bristled. She did not need anyone to remind her of her situation.

"That probably won't work," he grinned at her.

"Fine," Angela snapped, slamming her fork on the table causing most of the Slytherins to turn to her. "My hunger just miraculously disappeared."

She hid her wand, stood up abruptly and left. Malfoy narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. He glared at the staring Slytherins, who immediately turned away, then stood up from the table so violently that the bench shifted and went after Angela, who was already out of the Great Hall.

Harry was watching the whole confrontation of course. After Malfoy nearly ran out, he jumped up from the barely started dinner and – accompanied by surprised looks from Ron and Hermione – hurried after them.

Ron wrinkled his nose: "I smell trouble in the air…"

Hermione just nodded seriously in agreement.

/

That was the last straw. She had enough of Draco´s lectures. If she were of age, she could send the entire Malfoy family to hell, but like this...

Draco caught up with her halfway down the corridor and grabbed her elbow.

"Let me go!" Angela snapped angrily.

"Only after you understand how you should behave!"

"Why do you keep bothering me with this?" she asked furiously. "It's my life!"

"You know that you can't do whatever you want!" he told her firmly. "Then stop pretending otherwise!"

"Damn it, leave me alone, Draco!"

"Then finally pull yourself together! How do you think my parents would react if I leaked just some of those things you say or do, huh?"

Angela turned pale. "And I thought you were different," she stated harshly. "But you´re just a chip off the old block, right? Like father, like son!"

An expression of the enraged tiger appeared on Draco´s face. He respected his father above everything, but if there was something he strived for, it was not being like him. This ignorant girl did not even knew the head of his family in person, how she even dared…!

His hand flew into the air and slapped Angela, causing her head to twitch.

The young witch clutched her burning face and looked at him in shock. Draco stood there stunned before her, sudden regret in his eyes. Damn, he let himself be unnecessarily provoked. He did not have to…

He took a breath for an apology, when someone grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him hard against the wall.

"Touch her one more time and I'll bust your mouth, you scumbag!" Potter yelled, his face red with rage.

Draco´s anger flared up again immediately. Angela was one thing, but cocky Harry Potter jumping on him was too much.

"Why don't you try it now, Potter boy!" he barked back, yanking Harry's hands off of him and giving him a hard blow to the chin that made Harry's eyes flash.

He staggered backwards. Malfoy lunged at him and pinned him against the wall for a change. With a hard blow to the head, Harry's eyes literally went dark this time and his glasses fell from his nose to the floor somewhere.

Harry kicked Malfoy squarely in the stomach in blind rage. The Slytherin prince huffed and could not breathe for a moment. Harry took advantage of it and pushed him away. Completely off balance, Malfoy fell to the ground.

Before Harry could expect, however, he recovered and kicked his legs. Harry fell backwards as well and heard the glass crunch under him.

Malfoy immediately jumped on him, pinned him to the ground with his knee and began to grip his throat with both hands. Harry's first reflex was to grab his hands and try to pull them away, but it was no use. He let it go and punched Malfoy in the face with all his might.

Malfoy grunted and loosened his grip. Blood trickled from his nose. Harry reached up and threw him off himself.

They rolled around on the stone floor, furiously trying to hurt each other as much as possible.

Angela stood wide-eyed not far from them, watching the even battle in disbelief. She considered pulling out her wand, but was afraid she might make things even worse with it.

"Stop it! Harry! Draco!" she urged them as she recovered a bit.

As expected, her pleads had no effect.

However, the fierce battle was taking place not too far from the Great Hall. The students at the door heard a noise and several of them came running.

Malfoy had the upper hand again at that moment and was pressing his elbow firmly under Harry's neck.

"You can´t overpower me, Potter. You miscalculated," he retorted sarcastically.

"That… remains… to be seen!" Harry breathed, unexpectedly rolling over and freeing himself from Malfoy's grip.

"By all the gills!" cursed the freckled brunet from Slytherin, speeding back to the Hall. "Come on everyone!" he shouted like a rock singer on stage. "Fight! Malfoy and Potter!"

Almost all the students, including Ron and Hermione, rushed out and in no time, they were surrounded by a group of screaming Slytherin students on one side and Gryffindor students on the other.

"Wouldn't you rather help me to get them off each other?!" Angela screamed through the general ranting.

But no one paid attention to her. Ron pushed his way forward with Hermione in tow.

"Shouldn't we stop them?!" Hermione was horrified.

"I guess there's nothing we can do now," Ron decided wisely. "We'll just get a thrashing too..."

Malfoy defied his opponent again. Harry felt his fist on his eye, followed immediately by a knee in the stomach. He collapsed on his side and Malfoy staggered to his feet. He was about to kick him, but Harry grabbed his ankle with his hands and jerked him hard.

Malfoy fell; Harry straddled him and twisted his arm behind his back. However, he forgot about his legs and Draco managed to kick Harry painfully in the shin several times. Neither of them noticed Angela's desperate screams and the encouragement of the growing crowd.

Of course, such a rant could not go unnoticed by the professors. Eventually, heavy footsteps were heard and a demi-giant pushed his way through the roaring crowd. Shiernov and Snape hurried right behind him.

"What's goin´ on here?" said a deep voice.

Neither Harry nor Malfoy noticed and continued rolling on the ground until strong, huge hands grabbed them by the collars of their shirts.

"That´s enough, you two!"

The hands tore them apart and lifted them slightly off the ground. Realizing that their attempts to free themselves were futile, they raised their heads to the overgrown face above them.

The students fell silent.

"What are you two doin´ here for goblin´s balls?!" Hagrid shook with them upset.

They were both silent, throwing hateful looks at each other.

Malfoy was bleeding from his broken nose, a beautiful monocle was beginning to form under his left eye, and his hair was falling into scratched face. Harry's right eye was bulging for a change, his lip was busted and there were clear finger prints on his neck. Both also had several shirt buttons pulled out and their sleeves torn.

"Malfoy and of course Potter," Snape drawled. "Well, well…"

Both students turned their heads at the voice. Snape scowled and Shiernov, standing next to him, looked angry.

"So, now explain to us why you were fighting!?" Shiernov snapped at them.

A deep silence followed.

"It's not really that important, is it?" assumed Snape. "You´ll pay for it, gentlemen. Both of you. Let them go, Hagrid. They must have cooled down enough."

Hagrid obeyed, but remained standing behind the two delinquents, glaring menacingly at them. Professor McGonagall made her way forward as well.

"What's going on here?" she asked in a raised voice, glancing over both Harry and Malfoy.

"Malfoy and Potter had a fight here," Snape informed her haughtily. "If you would allow, Professor, I would like to punish both of them."

Harry's conscience stung when he saw the huge disappointment on McGonagall's face.

"For this time I consent, Severus. Do as you see fit."

A look of happiness spread across Snape's face, as Harry's stomach clutched in horror.

"What about the rest of you?" the Potions professor then barked at the crowd around. "Anyone would like to join them on detention?"

The students began to disperse hastily.

"You two should better go to the infirmary," Shiernov remarked.

"No," McGonagall cut her off sharply. "If they didn't mind fighting, let them stay as they are."

Malfoy and Harry stared at her in surprise. Pale Angela stood behind Hagrid, watching everything closely.

"But Minerva," Shiernov objected. "At least Mr. Malfoy with that nose…"

McGonagall looked at Malfoy and his blood-splattered shirt.

"All right. But I will see to it personally. Mr. Malfoy, come with me."

Malfoy continued to stand still, wiping the blood over his sleeve.

"Right away!" McGonagall snapped as furiously as Harry had never seen her.

The Slytherin prince gave Harry one last searing glare and set off after her.

"Of course, I'll let you know about your punishment in time," Snape commented wryly, gave Angela a suspicious look and then left them. Hagrid gave Harry an incredulous look before slowly walking away as well, shaking his head.

Only Harry, Angela and Shiernov remained at the scene of the fight. The professor kept switching her look from one to the other for a while.

"Why did you and Malfoy fight, Potter?"

Harry dropped his eyes to the ground and did not answer.

"Will you tell me, Rosier? I have a feeling you know."

Angela kept looking at her without any reply.

"As you wish," Shiernov sighed and walked away with her heels clicking quickly.

Angela approached Harry and looked at his face. Her features contorted up with displeasure.

She looked around the ground and finally pulled out her wand. In a moment, she was handing the repaired glasses over to Harry.

"Here you go."

Harry carefully put them on and Angela took his hand.

"Come with me, you fool," she addressed him tenderly.

Harry allowed her to lead him up the stairs to the third floor. They stopped in front of the wall where he knew the Room of Requirement was. Angela closed her eyes, and after a while, a door appeared in front of them.

"How did you find out about it?" he asked in wonder.

"By chance…" she replied and hurriedly opened the door.

They entered a small room lit by a few candles, with many shelves, comfortable chairs, a table, and strangely wide-open windows, through which the rain poured in. Angela let go of Harry's hand and quickly went to close it while he did the same with the door.

"Sit down," Angela pointed to one of the chairs and took a deep ceramic bowl from the shelf.

Harry carefully sat down. His stomach and head hurt really badly.

Angela walked over to the sink and poured hot water into the bowl. Then she soaked some cotton cloths in it and sat down across from Harry.

"You shouldn't have fought him," she said softly as she wrung out the cloths. "Now you're in trouble because of me..."

"You don't have to be sorry at all," Harry frowned. "I should have beaten him even more."

She took his chin and gently began to wipe away the drying blood.

"Why do you hate each other so much?" she asked unexpectedly.

Harry did not answer for a while and Angela changed the cloth.

"Actually, it seems to me we've hated each other almost since the first time we met," Harry replied slowly. "Looks like we don't need a good reason."

Angela cleaned the last of his scratches and stood up to examine the bump on the back of his head.

"For that, I'll give you something that will make it disappear right away. You won't be able to see it, but your head will still hurt today."

Angela walked over to one of the cupboards, pulled out a small bottle of pinkish liquid and dripped some onto Harry's bump.

When Harry reached there a moment later, it was gone. He looked in amazement at Angela, who was now standing with her back to him, stirring something in a small bowl. In a moment, she was handing him a twisted cloth into which she stuffed some mixture of herbs.

"Keep it on that eye. It won't hurt, but the monocle will disappear gradually. I could heal it completely, but you know what McGonagall said. I'd rather not upset her."

"Thanks," Harry said gratefully as he felt instant relief.

"That's the least I can do," Angela waved off his thanks.

As she cleaned up, a nagging question popped into Harry's mind. "Where did you learn all this?"

Angela stiffened.

"From my aunt," she replied after a moment, still with her back to him.

Harry wondered if it would be wise to dig into this subject more, but he did not want to upset her. Angela took some salve from the top shelf and sat down next to him again.

"Show me," she pulled his hand away from his face. "Does it still hurt?"

"Not at all," Harry smiled.

Angela put the cloth on the table and opened the clear ointment. "I will lubricate your lip now. It will heal faster."

Her face was now just inches away from Harry's. Their eyes met and Harry's heart was suddenly in his throat. He could not help but lean towards her pink lips and… Angela placed her index finger on his mouth.

"It needs to dry up," she smiled apologetically and quickly stood up.

Harry leaned back in his chair in disappointment. Angela collected the salve and looked out the window into the rainy night. A storm was still raging over Hogwarts.

Putting on his glasses, which he had to take off earlier, Harry stood up and walked over to her. After a tense moment of hesitation, he gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"Thank you for treatment," he whispered, inhaling her sweet scent.

Angela seemed to be stiffened at first, but then she relaxed, as if she gave up some inner battle. With a sigh, she leant back, relying on Harry to hold her. They stood like that for a long time, looking at the rain without saying a word.

"I think… I have something to tell you," Harry started quietly, but Angela cut him off.

"No… Please don't say anything now."

She turned to him and slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. Harry held his breath. Angela´s eyes were shining. And then, from a sudden, strong impulse, they both closed their eyes and shared a short but the tenderer kiss. And it was such a pleasant feeling that Harry completely forgot about anything else for a moment.

"Are you sure that ointment has already dried?" he asked seriously then.

"Even if not, I don´t care," Angela replied, burying a trembling hand in his hair.

No reply would he hear with more excitement. Harry held that incredible girl tighter and for a very long time, the world around them ceased to exist.

/

However, neither of them knew that Harry´s fight with Malfoy was still being hotly debated in the Great Hall despite the late hour, and various speculations were starting to spread as to why the two had finally crossed the line.