Thanks to everyone who provided feedback for these past chapters, they help a lot.
Chapter 23: Malfoy's Revenge
Harry's vision was blurred as he opened his eyes; all he could see was red and brown. As his eyes slowly focused he saw that it was Ron, Hermione, and Percy staring down at him. Harry's face was throbbing in dull pain; he ran his hand down it, feeling various lumps, cuts, and bruises. Hermione lightly stroked the side of his head.
"Oh Harry, you poor thing," she whispered. Ron and Percy looked at each other, taking it as their sign to leave. They crept from the room leaving Harry and Hermione alone. Hermione inched closer to Harry's side, sitting on the floor next to the couch he was laying on. "We kept you here, we didn't want you to have to go to St. Mungo's," she said.
"That's good, I guess," Harry said. His voice was raspy from the duel. Hermione's cinnamon brown eyes were level with Harry's emerald ones, he could see them filling with tears.
"Please don't do this again," she whispered.
"Don't worry about that, I plan not to," Harry tried to joke.
"Harry, I'm serious. You dueled Malfoy and you lost; now we know that he means all those threats he's made. He's into the Dark Magic and he beat you," she said.
"I don't know how he did it, I don't know how he won," Harry said. "I thought I could beat him." Hermione looked at him with sympathy in her eyes.
"Listen, you can't expect to win everything. You need to practice magic all the time, Malfoy clearly does. You can't always go into a fight and come out the victor," she said.
"I just don't understand," Harry said. He was feeling pathetic; Draco Malfoy had actually defeated him. Harry never thought that he would lose a duel, nevertheless, to Draco Malfoy. Hermione gently touched his cheek.
"I know, Harry, I know," she sighed. "I'm sure Ron wants to talk to you," she said getting up and going to the door. Shortly thereafter Harry's lanky best friend walked into the room.
"Jeez Harry, I can't believe you lost…to Malfoy no less!" he laughed upon entering. Harry couldn't help but smile.
"Tell me about it," Harry said. Hermione rolled her eyes as the boys continued to joke about Harry's defeat.
By the time Mrs. Weasley returned to Grimmauld Drive, Harry was fit enough to walk around the house. She let out a shriek at his appearance. Harry did indeed look awful. He had a black eye underneath his thick glasses. There were cuts along his cheeks and forehead and his lips were badly cracked. Around each cut there were large purple bruises and there were lumps on his forehead from when he fell to the ground.
"Harry!" she cried out. "Harry, what happened?" Harry didn't know whether or not to tell the truth; he glanced at Percy seeing if his was going to.
"We uh, had a bit of a rough and tumble," Percy lied. "Playing out in the snow, we got a little too into it I suppose." Harry sincerely doubted that this lie was going to pass with Mrs. Weasley.
"A little too into it? A little? Look what's happened! How did it get this bad?" The group stepped back in fear. The usually jolly Mrs. Weasley looked more furious than they had ever seen her.
"You know how it is, mum, boys will be boys," Percy said. Mrs. Weasley seemed convinced, but was still no doubt confused at how playing in the snow could leave such injuries.
"If boys will be boys, I have a feeling you were doing more than playing in the snow. That is, unless snow happens to attack those who step on it. As long as Harry is all right, I suppose I'll let this slide, just this once," she said. "But don't expect me to be satisfied with this story about snow! I know that something else happened, but as long as nobody died, then I guess I'll just have to let this go. But be warned, any more events like this and I'll take affirmative action in stopping your activities. Now go upstairs, Harry dear, and get some rest."
Harry did as he was told and scurried upstairs into his room. Hermione was close behind him.
"That was some lie," she said when they closed the door behind them.
"I'm just glad she didn't punish us," Harry said, lying down. Hermione sat down next to him and gently ran her hands through his hair. "Come here," Harry said, pulling Hermione down next to him. Hermione laid her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry about this. I guess now would be a good time to catch up on some reading," he said. Hermione jumped up at the opportunity to read him Hogwarts: A Revised History. Harry was completely relaxed as Hermione read the pages to him, twirling her hair in his fingers.
A few hours later they were interrupted as Ginny came crashing into the room.
"Ron told me everything, I can't believe it! You lost to Malfoy!" she said. Realizing that this wasn't the most appropriate timing she apologized and hastily left the room.
"Those Weasleys sure do have a lot in common in their disbelief that I lost," Harry mumbled.
"Don't worry them, just concentrate now on recovering," Hermione said. Harry nodded and drifted off to sleep.
Harry received a stern warning from Lupin, who seemed to understand the basics of what had happened, not to fight again. Harry politely took Lupin's word seriously, but sincerely doubted that he would follow them. He spent the rest of the holiday practicing offensive magic, finding that he didn't know nearly enough to duel against Malfoy again. By the time the holidays were over, Harry felt that he could take on Malfoy. After boarding the scarlet train that would be taking him back to Hogwarts he quickly sought out those who had gone to Malfoy Manor. Each time he found one he delivered the same warning: avoid Malfoy at all costs. They nodded and carried on with their business.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville found a compartment about halfway down the train and they seated themselves inside. The ride was quiet and peaceful, nothing extraordinary happened. Friends dropped by their compartment on multiple occasions while Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were constantly moving to fulfill their prefect duties. When the train slowed to a stop, Harry clambered out with his friends and got onto what seemed to be carriages pulled by invisible horses. Only a handful of students could see what pulled them, and that was because they had witnessed a person die.
A magnificent feast welcomed the students returning to Hogwarts from the holidays. The tables were heavy laden with an assortment of different foods. Harry helped himself to multiple servings as Ron continued to eat with no sign of stopping. Hermione could only gape at the ability of the boys to eat so much. Harry felt exhausted as he finally lay down to sleep that night.
Harry was in a peaceful sleep when he felt someone roughly shaking him awake.
"Wha-?" Harry managed to ask.
"Harry, you have to come…I think someone died!" Ron said. "Dumbledore wants everyone in the Great Hall. C'mon, let's go!" he urged. Harry snapped out of sleep in an instant and quickly dressed. The boys met up with the girls down in the Common Room and together they walked down to the Great Hall. Rumors were being whispered among them.
"Heard someone died…"
"A student attacked someone…" Harry was growing increasingly nervous, as he got closer to the Great Hall. When the students arrived they fell completely silent, and sat down at the Gryffindor table. The students from the other houses arrived and sat down as well, waiting for Dumbledore to speak. Dumbledore looked older than ever before, his blue eyes had no sparkle in them and his face seemed deathly pale. When he spoke, it was with a strained voice.
"As some of you are probably aware, a student has been attacked. It appears that another student is responsible for it. We do not no the identity of the attacker, but the victim is Cho Chang of Ravenclaw house," Harry quickly glanced to the Slytherin table; Malfoy was sitting smug, looking particularly proud of himself. "I issue a warning, if I find out who did this there will be heavy consequences. Ms. Chang is now at St. Mungo's receiving the best care that can be provided. I do not know if she will return by this year's end or if she will indeed ever recover. All of you will now return to your dormitories immediately," the students quickly obeyed Dumbledore's words and retreated to their respective dormitories.
"Harry, a word if you please," Dumbledore said before they managed to leave.
"Yes, professor?" Harry courteously inquired.
"I am aware that you participated in the use of magic over the course of your winter holiday," Dumbledore said.
"Uh…yes," Harry said.
"I know that you are familiar with the law stating that underage wizardry is strictly forbidden outside of schools," Dumbledore continued.
Harry chose to say nothing, afraid of what was coming next.
"I am, however, going to let this pass. Be warned, Harry, in this time of war, it is foolish to let your emotions control you. You are dismissed," Dumbledore said, then walk away. Harry couldn't believe his luck, and set off for Gryfindor Tower with his friends.
"It had to have been Malfoy," Ron said, glaring at the back of Malfoy's head.
"Of course it was, but we have to prove it," Ginny said, she looked nervous.
"What I'm worried about is him going after someone else, I mean, he knows everybody who was with us," Neville said, gripping Ginny's hand protectively. Harry nodded, taking another look at Malfoy. At that precise moment Malfoy looked back at Harry and smiled.
"There has to be something we can do to protect each other," Harry said, frustrated. As if reading his mind, Hermione placed a hand on his arm.
"It wasn't your fault, Harry," she said.
"She's right, you couldn't have stopped it," Neville said. Harry nodded again and continued walking in silence.
"But you're right about something; there must be a effective way to protect ourselves and each other from Malfoy," Hermione said.
"The magic Malfoy uses is as Dark as it comes, I don't know anything that could stop that," Neville said.
"Light Magic," Hermione said promptly. "There's Dark Magic so there's obviously Light Magic. What we learn here is merely common magic, neither Dark nor Light. I bet there's a way to study on it in the library." Ron groaned.
"I want to beat Malfoy, but do we really need to study more?" he said. At Hermione's look he quickly said. "Of course I only joking, I love to study! We should set up a study date! Hey, why don't we use the Room of Requirement?" Hermione's face lit up.
"Ron, you're a genius! We should set up a DA meeting…wait, that might not work." Hermione said.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Zacharias Smith," she said, her voice flat. Ron's eyebrows shot up in understanding and he nodded slowly.
"Yeah…he can't come, he'd tell Malfoy everything," he said.
"Oh come off it! He's not a Slytherin, y'know!" Ginny said.
"He's obviously a rat, Ginny," Ron said. "You saw him, last year at the Hog's Head. He'll ruin everything!"
"I guess we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way: word of mouth," Hermione reasoned. "But there's the risk of someone we don't want knowing finding out."
"It's worth the risk," Harry said. "This is important."
So it was settled, there was to be a meeting later that week in the Room of Requirement to all those whom Harry could trust. There, they would study the Light Magic required to defeat not only Malfoy, but also the Dark Lord himself. To the students of Hogwarts, the war was upon them.