Fore note: Lots of thank you-s and a lot of hugs to Seldes Katne for beta-reading Hearts and Hourglasses before it's posted on Sugar Quill! She's a wonderful person and a fantastic beta-reader!

Chapter Eight: The Lion and the Serpent

"CRUCIO!"

A scream tore from Draco. Harry's muscles locked. In the corner of his eye, he saw Godric's left hand rose from his right shoulder, moving very slowly. Everything was moving so slowly. Draco's head jerked back, his eyes clenched close, his mouth opened wide still screaming though no sound came out now.

All Harry could think was that Draco deserved it. Suddenly, waves of green rushed over Draco whose scream died abruptly. Another scream started then ceased when Godric finally knocked Harry's arm away.

Harry blacked out just as Godric shouted, "Salazar!"

***

Godric caught Harry as the boy tumbled forward into his arms. He quickly looked him over, finding that he had just passed out. He hurriedly but with utmost care lowered Harry to the floor then quickly went over to Salazar who had collapsed, clutching Draco against him in a protective embrace. Both were also unconscious.

He bent over, grabbing Salazar's shoulder and shook the other man. When he didn't awakened, Godric was more than a little alarmed.

That was just Cruciatus, Godric thought as he quickly examined Draco. A bare second burst... Godric had once witnessed Salazar handle a burst twelve times the time without going down to his knees or screaming, and Harry was only a student, still a boy, not yet a full-fledged wizard. Harry's Crucio cannot be so powerful as to affect Salazar so quickly and so intensely.

But he is not the real Salazar... he and I are just memories... we are much more vulnerable and far weaker than the real us... reasoned Godric, keeping his calm and his mind focused, stubbornly refusing to let panic cloud his mind or control his emotions. He paused over Draco, noticing that the boy had managed to withdraw his wand all the way out of his pocket before Harry hit him.

Quick reflexes, Godric mused absent-mindedly, but not quick enough. He took Draco's wand and cast Ennervate on Salazar, who twitched for several moments before opening his eyes. He stared up at Godric and blinked.

"... What happened?" he asked.

"You screamed like a girl and then fainted," answered Godric solemnly.

Salazar froze. "No, I did not!" he snapped.

Godric tapped Salazar's forehead with Draco's wand. "Lower your voice, idiot," he muttered, "no one has come out to see who's making all the noise, but if the girls find out that a student used Crucio on another student while we were around, they'll-"

"I know. You don't have to remind me." Salazar looked scared. He held Draco closer, shivered and mumbled, "Hoggy Warty."

Godric cringed.

***

"Do you think they are all right?" Salazar asked as he laid Draco down on the bed. Godric was putting Harry in the next bed.

"They should be," murmured Godric as he lifted the covers over Harry, but Salazar looked worried as he examined Draco.

"Crucio affected him so quickly," Salazar trailed off uncertainly as he brushed strands of silver hair off Draco's face.

"He's still very young," said Godric reassuringly, then he also looked worried. "I'm more concerned about Harry. What Draco said..."

"About him killing a boy?"

"Yes-"

There was a noise from the adjacent room. Through the door, which they had left open, they could hear Rowena and Helga arriving.

"- Helga, you look upset. What happened?"

"I found out that last year, one of my Hufflepuffs was murdered by someone called You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who?"

"Yes, before I could ask more about this You-Know-Who from my students, Professor Sprout took me aside and told me that it would be too suspicious if I started asking about You-Know-Who." Helga sounded very irritated and very angry. "She wouldn't tell me much about this You-Know-Who character either, even his real name. Whoever he is, I'm going to give him hell for what he did!"

Then, there was silence, and Salazar knew that Rowena and Helga had gone into another room. Salazar looked over to Godric, who was staring at Harry.

***

"Damn... Locked. It won't open."

Harry's eyes opened to see a colorful picture painted on the ceiling. It was a painting of lion caught in the coils of a giant snake. As Harry watched, the lion swiped at the snake's head, batting it away with its paws. The snake countered by tightening its coils around the lion.

The lion struggled to get away, but it was futile. The snake's hold on it was too powerful, and the lion soon stopped moving and lay still in the snake's embrace.

"He didn't return my wand!" Harry tore his eyes from the ceiling to see Draco glaring at the door. A second later, he kicked at it very hard.

Harry sat up abruptly and stared at Draco, who was now hopping on one foot and clutching at his hurt foot, muttering in pain.

"Draco," whispered Harry, stumbling off the bed. Draco heard him and turned with a sneer. "Well! If it isn't Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, soon to be the youngest wizard ever sent to Azkaban!"

Terrible fear overwhelmed Harry, and he collapsed to end up sitting on the floor.

Azkaban... they will send me to Azkaban for casting the Cruciatus Curse on Draco.

He felt tears well up in his eyes and quietly he let them fall. It was over for him.

***

He'd been waiting for this moment ever since Harry rejected his offer of friendship. Draco smirked victoriously as Harry fell dejectedly to the floor.

Finally, he had beaten Harry Potter! It was all he had wanted. Getting hit by the Cruciatus Curse was worth it. The momentary excruciating pain was nothing compared to the triumph he now felt at finally besting the Boy who Lived.

It was even better when Harry started crying. Watching those fat drops of tears rolling down his cheeks reminded him of fat Moaning Myrtle.

Draco was about to jeer on the resemblance when something bothered him. He frowned, his smirk fading. There was something wrong here.

Maybe it was those ugly glasses Potter was wearing. He couldn't see the other boy's eyes because they were all fogged up. He stalked to Harry and ripped them off.

Harry didn't even seem to notice. He kept staring at the floor. With an impatient snarl, Draco grasped and lifted Harry's wet dripping chin.

He froze when he saw Harry's eyes. They were so empty. Nothing was in them. There was no emotion Draco could see in them. Not even fear or sadness. Blank green emerald eyes stared up at Draco without a shimmer. The only sign of life was the tears that continue to well and fall.

Abruptly, he let Harry go as something else disturbed him. There was no sound, no hiccups, no sobs from the crying boy.

Suddenly, Draco felt sick and terrible, and he did the only one thing he felt he could do. He slapped Harry.

...

"I'm sorry..." whispered Harry. Draco relaxed as unfocused green eyes raised to meet his. He's going to say sorry to me now, Draco expected, anticipating laughing into Harry's face and telling him he's still going to Azkaban.

"I'm so sorry, Cedric."

... What?! Shocked, Draco backed off as Harry lowered his head and began to shake.

"I shouldn't have told you to take the cup with me!" Sobbed Harry, increasing remorse in every word, "Why did I tell you to take the cup with me?! Why did I have to be so fair?! If only I had just been a little greedy, just a little selfish, you wouldn't be dead!" Harry was now on his knees, his left hand supporting him, his right hand curled into a fist hitting the floor.

"No!" Harry derided himself violently, "I just had to be perfect! Generous always fair and good sportsmanship! I had to be Perfect Potter instead! And because of that, you're dead!"

He stopped all of a sudden, the knuckles of his right hand bruised and bleeding badly. He stared at the shiny floor streaked wet with tears and blood. He stared blindly at his distorted reflection on it.

Somehow, Draco knew what Harry was going to do, and he kept the other boy from beating his face into the ground.

***

Harry kept on crying out in his sleep. Draco found himself jumping at every little sound Harry made and got angry at himself for being worried about the other boy.

He couldn't leave Harry on the floor. Just couldn't. He wound up lifting (and cursing) Harry from the floor and putting him on the bed.

The injury on Harry's right arm also bothered him too much to leave untended. Since he didn't have his wand, he used a healing potion. He always carried a small unbreakable vial of it around with him. Professor Snape insisted that all Slytherins always carried some of the potion in case of emergencies and injuries. He wanted them to be properly equipped and to be self-sufficient, especially since there was an underlying discrimination in Hogwarts against their House. Madam Pomfrey would never turn away any student in need of medical treatment, but she had also made it quite clear that she disliked Slytherins in general.

As the bruised and battered flesh smoked and began to fuse together, Draco stoppered the potion vial and put it back in his pocket. He took a deep breath and released it huffily, thinking that Snape would probably hex him if he ever found out he helped Harry. Draco, himself, was finding it hard to believe he kept Harry from smashing his face against the floor.

Not wanting to think about and start regretting what he had prevented, Draco occupied himself by looking around the room. It was a large round airy bedroom for two with the two beds occupying the center of the room. Waist high shelves half-filled with books circled around the room while windows covered most of the remaining wall space up to the ceiling.

The painting on the ceiling caught Draco's eye. A large golden lion was treading on a writhing silver serpent. The serpent was undulating its coils, struggling to get the lion off of it, but it was clearly getting weaker. The painting bothered Draco, and he looked away.

Harry was shaking again. His face was even paler than Draco's skin. Automatically, Draco placed the back of his hand against Harry's neck and jerked it away. Harry's skin was like ice. He began pulling the sheets off the other bed to cover Harry.

The door slammed open, and Draco looked up to see Professors Regius and Hawthorn come in followed by the two men who had brought Harry and him here.

Regius quickly pulled Draco aside so that Hawthorn could look over Harry. Hawthorn looked furious and kept muttering words like idiots, imbeciles, morons, numbskulls, under her breath.

Regius firmly tugged Draco towards the door, saying, "Draco, you better leave now." Draco glanced at her when she asked Scaevola to take him outside.

Without thought, he stated, "I know who you four really are."

Regius gasped. Gloucester inhaled sharply. Hawthorn fell quiet. Scaevola froze, his eyes locking on Draco. He heard another soft whimper from Harry.

Draco pulled his arm free from Regius and walked over to stand in front of Scaevola. Draco lifted his head and looked into sharp green eyes, which measured him shrewdly.

"You're Lord Slytherin, aren't you?" Draco said challengingly.

...

Salazar's eyes gleamed thoughtfully, and a small genial smile curved his lips. "What," he question softly, "gave you that idea, Draco?"

Draco's eyes flicked towards Godric, who was eyeing Draco and Salazar suspiciously. Draco jerked his head towards Godric. "Him," he answered bluntly, "he called out your name when you fell down."

"... Oh, did he now?" Salazar's eyes slid over to Godric who was plainly stunned.

"How did you-" Godric started then asked demandingly, "How did you know that? You were unconscious from the Cruciatus Curse."

Draco gave Godric an insolent look and said in a frosty tone, "I pretended to pass out."

"What?!" shouted Godric, angered by this obvious display of disrespect. Draco was about to sneer at him when Salazar yelled delightedly.

"I knew it!"

Draco jumped when Salazar suddenly embraced him. "I knew something was off! You fell too quickly to the Cruciatus Curse!" Draco found himself dazedly clutching at Salazar's robes as the enthused man hugged him and tousled his hair proudly.

"Salazar!" Godric was infuriated. "He deliberately provoked Harry!"

"You can't blame him, Godric. Gryffindors are so fun and so easy to provoke. Just like you."

"You saw how upset Harry was!"

"Godric, Harry is upset for inadvertently causing the death of this Cedric Diggory and clearly has not come to terms with it."

"That still doesn't make it right for Draco to throw it in his face, Salazar!" Godric snapped.

"They are rivals, Godric. There is no right or wrong in war, love and schoolboy quarrels. Besides... Harry threw the first spell. You, Gryffindors, are always so quick to use your wands."

"And you, Slytherins, need to wash your foul mouths out with soap!"

"What wit!" declared Salazar sarcastically. "It's little wonder you, Gryffindors, resort to magic so quick-"

Salazar pushed Draco aside as Godric charged at him, fists flying.

"I don't need magic to deal with you!"

"How so like Gryffindor to turn physical rather than lose in a contest of words!"

"Shut up, Slytherin!"

His mouth opened slightly in shock, a mute Draco watched them. Behind him, Rowena sighed, utterly exasperated with them yet at the same time, bemused. She couldn't help herself.

Helga harrumphed loudly, attracting her attention.

"How is Harry, Helga?"

"He's sleeping soundly for now. Poor boy."

"Yes, I fear he punishes himself too much."

Draco glanced at them with an unreadable expression on his face.

To be continued.

Notes:

To Godric and Salazar, Crucio is just a very nasty but extremely effective spell. In their time, it is used commonly outside of Hogwarts. Inside the school, its usage is banned by Helga and Rowena. I'll be writing a ficlet on how Salazar convinced Godric that they should teach the Cruciatus Curse to their students. Helga would kill them if she ever finds out about it. Rowena doesn't like it either, but she knows about it. This is why Godric and Salazar wanted to keep it a secret that Harry cast Crucio on Draco.

End Notes

Chapter 8 has ended. Please go on to the next chapter.

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