"Bit of a crappy date then, all-in-all?"
It was evening, the next day. The hospital wing was quiet and empty, with only two of its beds being occupied - homed to an unconscious Ron Weasley and Tracey Davis. The curtains were drawn around them, squeezing their visitors in close together. Hermione, Ginny, Sirius and Tonks crowded around Ron, while Tracey had Daphne, Dom and Daphne's younger sister, Astoria - whom Harry had only met once before - on her side.
Despite Sirius' attempt at lightening things, the mood was irreparably sour. The sound of their unconscious friends wheezing breaths was too loud to be ignored.
"Daphne prepared the antidote - How she was able to guess what poisoned them, I don't know... " Harry said, coming to a slow halt, and then mumbled, "...I was just going to chuck a bloody bezoar down their throat."
Though he delivered a compliment and a joke in quick succession, his tone wouldn't indicate it. The souls of his feet felt sore and rubbery from the pacing he had been doing between the two beds.
Daphne gave an inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet since it had happened - more so than usual for her. She merely sat by Tracey's side, furthest from the group, clench-jawed and fist wrapped tightly around her hand, like she was trying to squeeze her back into consciousness. He hadn't seen her so emotionally unsure in a while and was growing worried. She hadn't taken part in his recount of the last night's events, of which he had already relayed back to Madame Pomfrey, Dumbledore and Sirius separately.
"And that probably would have worked, Mister Potter!"
The group gave a collective jump as Madam Pomfrey brought back the curtains. She pushed between them, aggressively tending to Ron and Tracey, who were nonethewiser to her presence.
"But! We're lucky Miss Greengrass was also there! With her quick thinking, I suspect these two will be making a full recovery by tomorrow evening!"
With a fragile voice, Astoria spoke up.
"If they're fine, why aren't they awake?" she asked concernedly.
Madam Pomfrey gave a simple shake of her head.
"Potion-induced coma, dear. Best to slow down their systems, just in case. Looks far worse than it is, I assure you!"
The reassurance was hollow, however, and did nothing to brighten the group's mood. Madam Pomfrey stopped by Daphne's side.
"Hoping I could have some words, Miss Greengrass? Miss Davis has very peculiar family records, I'm struggling to track down her next of kin…"
Her head snapped up like she'd been woken from a trance. She didn't look like she wanted to answer that, nor talk to anybody in private. Sirius came suddenly to her rescue.
"I can handle that, don't worry, Poppy. I'll sort everything. They've had a long night, best leave the kids be."
The healer fluttered her eyes at Sirius and made off in a timely manner.
Harry's eyes were still on Daphne. She, like him, was still in her pyjamas from last night. The knowledge that his best friend was indeed going to be alright had washed over him like a sheet of ice water when he had heard it, which was an hour ago. But after his anger and frustration dissipated, there wasn't much of him left over now. Whatever relief he should have been feeling was being drowned by the exhaustion finally enveloping him.
After more minutes of this stark silence, Tonks spoke.
"Slughorn's been confined to his office. We reckon it was him who tried to do Katie Bell in then, as well?"
There was a long pause and it became apparent everyone was waiting on him to answer. He couldn't think what had lead her to that conclusion, nor why everyone was waiting on him to confirm it.
"What?" his voice cracked. "No, no, not at all… I don't think so, anyway… Why? What do you mean?"
Tonks looked around the cubical with an expression that said they were all missing the obvious.
"Well? He was there when Bell touched the necklace, wasn't he? That's what the report says - now he's poisoning these two - it's obvious, right? Both times he probably got something mixed up and was going for you and Daphne. I'll summon Kingsley, shall I?"
It took a gross spluttering of noises before he was able to formulate a response to that.
"But, but, but - he'd have no reason to do that! Would he?"
At this, Daphne spoke for the first time in hours. She said something quietly to Astoria. Only, it hadn't registered to him she was talking to her, or that it was even Daphne talking at all.
She had turned, pulled her sister's hands to her face and caressed it gently against her own cheek. It was a surprisingly motherly act, and just about the most opposite way he had ever see her behave. It took all effort he had not to stare. He knew there was a more gentle side to Daphne, he just wasn't expecting her to reveal that side in front of a group of people. Suppose that was an insight into how much she cared about her sister - which made him feel even worse for his role in what played out last year.
Astoria pouted.
"Can I not stay?"
Daphne shook her heard sternly.
"She will make a full recovery, there's no need. Dominique will go with you," she said louder, sounding like she had a very bad cold.
Behind them, Dom's face twisted as though she suddenly had smelt something foul.
"Ah most 'ertainly will not! Ah am staying with 'er!"
Quick as a flash, Daphne fixed her with a stare. Her chin became hard, her eyebrows sharpened and her usually perky lips pressed into the thinnest of lines. Watching her do this felt rather like watching the effects of Polyjuice potion, as Harry was sure he'd just witnessed a transformation between two different people. Hermione also watched this, with a particularly hard stare of her own.
With a very guttural groan, Dom obeyed. She brought herself off the back of the chair she was resting on and left through the curtains, not stopping to look back at anybody. Astoria took Daphne's hand again and bounced once on her heels.
"Will you tell me when she wakes up?"
She gave a single, solitary nod.
"I'm going now, Madam Pomfrey!" he heard through the curtains.
"Back Wednesday for your prescription, dear!"
"See you then!"
He vaguely remembered Astoria had some medical issues. It had been mentioned in passing to him, but they'd never had a full conversation about it. As Daphne turned back to face them, it was with a sullen and stern expression.
"Horace has a heart of gold, he isn't a Death Eater. I would have been told if he was."
A collective sigh pressed through the cubical. Apparently, Harry hadn't been the only one not wanting him to be guilty. Tonks cocked her hip to the side, looking to be thinking hard.
"What do you think, Sirius?" she asked.
Sirius didn't meet her gaze. He was still watching the hole in the curtain Astoria through which had vanished.
"No, I... don't believe the potions master was... responsible," he mumbled.
"Really? Even if he was under the imperius curse?"
Her question went unanswered. Harry tried to shift his position and see Sirius was looking at, but stopped as he abruptly came back to them.
"That girl…" he gestured. "We'll have to intercept her owls. She's scared and she'll want reassurance. We can't risk Benedict being kept in the loop about this."
"Why don't you think it was Slughorn, Sirius?" Tonks pushed.
Daphne's head again perked at the mention of her father. It took a second, but his silence was an answer in itself. Sirius' deeper meaning occurred to Tonks, who straightened up. All eyes sank slowly to Daphne.
"You do not honestly believe my father did this?"
She then seemed to recognise how hastily she'd spoken and made an effort to rationalise her tone, starting again.
"... look, father is horrible - genuinely, awful - but he wouldn't do this. He loves Tracey… in his own messed up way... Well, maybe not her, but he loves our Mother, anyway. He wouldn't do this. And… And! Anyway, he has absolutely no reason to try and curse Bell!"
It was clear the accusation had caught her off guard, and she looked very unhappy with the way she'd handled it. Sirius came in by her side, talking slow and cool.
"But he would have reason to try and get to Harry - through you. Think about it. You essentially form a direct path for Voldemort to get to him. Benedict has just been in school, giving him the perfect opportunity to slip something in here that shouldn't be. Too much evidence there for us not to properly investigate it, anyway."
Her eyebrows creased in a hostile glare and her tone switched to something that, if Harry had been the one talking to her, would have made him shrink instantly down.
"He hadn't been anywhere near the school when Bell was attacked! And at that point... Harry and myself were on a break, so the link he had was gone. Father had no way of cursing Bell, so it would be unfair to assume he had something to do with this, either."
Sirius shook his head, keeping his cool.
"You can't say for sure he was nowhere near the school. You don't know that. Bell and Harry are on the Quidditch team together, which means she has access to him as well. Less than you do, granted, but still… It makes sense if he can't get you, he'd go for someone inconspicuous, rather than try for someone else in his friend group."
"How would he know who was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team? Without asking me? And no - I am sorry - but if he was anywhere near the castle at that time then he would have mentioned it to me!"
Tonks leered in.
"You're being quite defensive about this?"
But Sirius rounded on her.
"Shut it! Look - Daphne - we aren't saying he is working alone. And he could easily have gotten information anywhere about the team, then waited in Hogsmede for someone he recognised -"
"- And just as easily any other Death Eater could have done that, as well!"
She was getting quite red in the face. To be carrying this on, Sirius was braver than he was. It was clearly a fragile topic - he either hadn't noticed this or didn't care.
Harry had no wish to see her with her temper up, so set about thinking to defuse the situation. Benedict was indeed the Death Eater that had the most access to him, so it made the most logical sense he was behind it... but he just needed a devil's advocate he could inject in and derail the rising argument. He got the idea from Daphne, seeing her deflect the heat off herself by bringing up Ron and Hermione's argument in front of them. He raked his mind, then after a minute, the thought of Dumbledore occurred to him, and the important mission he had been given in regards to Slughorn. He had to drag this retort from the pit of his stomach.
"Look - could the poison have been meant for Slughorn? Could it have been unrelated? Someone was just trying to poison him and we got in the way?"
Tonks frowned at him.
"Who would want to poison Slughorn?"
"Slughorn is valuable to Voldemort," he gestured importantly. "He knows a lot of people. Death Eaters have been after him since they reformed, the whole reason he came back to Hogwarts was to get away from them trying to recruit him."
He fought hard to avoid yawning at the end of his sentence. His words hung in the air for a dramatic second, then Sirius nodded.
"Not unlikely. If they can't have him, no one can. That falls in line with their belief system."
Mentally, Harry wanted to pat himself on the back. It was at this point that Hermione, who had remained silent and content to listening, spoke up.
"So... Daphne's father was trying to poison Professor Slughorn, on behalf of You-Know-Who?"
Harry glared at her.
"My father was not a part of this!" Daphne snapped annoyingly at her.
Sirius struck out his arm to silence them. Daphne simmered on the spot for a second, then reclined back into her chair, something Harry wished he could do right now.
"That might be true, Daffy, but for right now, we need to consider it..." Sirius began again, sounding calmer now. "... With Lucius in Azkaban, that makes him the highest ranking Death Eater that has ties to someone in the castle. So far as we know, anyway. Assassinations like these were abundant in the first war and we're getting a handful of cases like that now. Bertha Jorkins, Barty Crouch, Ameila Bones, all gone. All in similar circumstances to how these two nearly died."
Hermione interrupted him with a gasp.
"Ameilia Bones is dead?"
Tonks delivered a swift slap to the back of Sirius's head, who looked like he had just trodden in something foul.
"Shouldn't have said that. Yeah, she is. Don't tell anybody yet. Look - we can't just ignore that that happens not a week after we have a Death Eater in the castle!"
Daphne, who didn't seem fazed by the death of a high-ranking ministry official, glowered at him.
"There were three Death Eaters in the castle on that day. My father, myself and Professor Snape. It wasn't my father, of that you have my word. And it wasn't me, but I'll submit to vertiserium again if it pleases you. Maybe Professor Dumbledore should reconsider who he has on his staff, because that leaves the only other suspect one who is very talented at potion-making! He could probably get a job in it."
It was one thing hearing Daphne angry, but he hadn't heard her sarcastic before.
"You'll have a chance to warn him yourself," Tonks said.
Whatever anger she was feeling looked to boil away instantly. At that moment, the gap in the curtains reopened and Dumbledore himself entered, flanked shortly after by the heads of their respective houses, Snape and McGonagall. While Dumbledore seemed in good spirits, less couldn't be said about the two of them. Tonks and Hermione straightened up and Sirius pulled a nasty scowl at Snape. The Headmaster looked in a better mood than the last time Harry had seen him, which had been the night Daphne and he had returned to Hogwarts.
Dumbledore gestured vaguely into the scene before him.
"Go on, Severus."
Snape sneered.
"Headmaster, is it really appropriate to discuss sensitive information in front of-"
"Go on, Severus."
With a roll of the eyes, he brought out the same wine bottle that Harry had seen Slughorn with last night. He handed the bottle to Sirius and Tonks, who cradled it between themselves.
"Found to contain traces of Swooping Evil venom," he explained. "The normally pungent odour was disguised by the scent of the wine. That, given also with the bottle showing signs of tampering, means Horace likely had no idea what he was illegally serving his students... Would have died himself, if he'd gotten around to drinking it… We should thank the old ones that our potions protegees were there to save the day."
Tonks frowned at Snape.
"I thought it was always the new Professor whose the dodgy one? That's the way it was when we were kids. Has someone changed the script without telling us?"
Daphne stared at her.
"It's the Defence Against the Dark Jobs position that's said to have the curse over it. Horace is the Potions Professor."
Tonks gave a fed up sigh, obviously irritated by her ideas being so continuously turned down. Dumbledore gestured fatherly to Daphne.
"It was indeed quick thinking on your part, Miss Greengrass. Ten points to Slytherin. You must be very proud of your student, Severus."
Snape had an unreadable look on his face.
"Indeed."
McGonagall was quick to jump in next, more panicked than the other two.
"Headmaster, I think without doubt we are all proud of the way our students behaved last night - but the real question should be, why were their actions necessary?"
Tonks clapped her hands together, Harry could sense there was some annoyance behind it.
"Suppose it is all unrelated, then? I mean, someone could just as easily have a grudge against the Quidditch Players, couldn't they? First Katie Bell as the Chaser, Ron the Beater, Davis was replacement…"
"The Slytherin seeker."
Hermione scoffed at them.
"I very much doubt it was anything to do with Qudditch!"
"But there could be a connection there."
The girls grew quiet. Everyone turned to Sirius expectantly.
"Not Qudditch, I mean, but in general! There's no way the two attacks aren't related. The situations are practically identical. If we find out who cursed Bell, bet my life it'll be the same person who spiked these two."
Snape cocked a eyebrow.
"Identical, Black?"
Sirius nodded importantly.
"Well, look at it, for one thing - both attempts were meant to be fatal to whoever received them, but were interrupted before they had chance. Now, I don't see why anyone would go out of their way to poison these two specifically, and if the full bottle was infected, that means the intended target could have been anyone. We know Katie was trying to give the necklace to Dumbledore, so -"
Daphne cut him off.
"The wine was meant for Dumbledore, too" she blinked, "Professor Dumbledore, I mean. I just remembered - Horace told us he planned to give it to you as a gift, Headmaster."
This bombshell caused another moment of silence. Harry was very tired now. He should have been alarmed by this revelation, but was busy wondering if he could squeeze beside Ron on the bed.
"So... now we know someone is trying to assassinate Dumbledore. Wonderful," Sirius sighed. "And who do we know who has the most reason to do that?"
Tonks gave a loud laugh.
"You want the list? Yikes, alright," she held out her hand and went to each of her fingers. "Voldemort, Fudge, Umbridge, Torquil Travers, Grindlewald…"
Sirius flicked her in the ear. After squeaking, she shut up.
"Voldemort, precisely. The question is - who through? We need to find out, because whoever they are, they pose more of a threat to the school than he does, right now. It's apparent they don't care who they have to take down to get to Dumbledore."
All together, Dumbledore seemed to be taking the news that there was an assassin out to get him rather well. He looked to be avidly listening to each point made. Everyone's eyes slowly turned to him, waiting to hear his take. Before he could respond to this ominous proclamation however, the hospital wing doors flew open yet again, making them all jump.
"WHERE IS HE!? WHERE IS MY WON-WON!? WHERE IS HE!? OH, THERE HE IS! HAS HE BEEN ASKING FOR ME!? IS HE OKAY?"
Lavender came rushing towards them, her hair messy and cheeks shining with tears. Daphne leapt up and brought the curtain closed between the beds, hiding her and Tracey from view. But for as much attention as Lavender gave anyone else, she and Harry could have been naked in the bed opposite and wouldn't have been noticed.
She reached the foot of the bed and suddenly stopped, glaring daggers at Hermione.
"What is she doing here?"
Harry wasn't quite sure who this question was directed at, only that it very clearly wasn't Hermione. Hermione struggled to her feet, quickly trying to put on an intimidating face.
"I might ask you the same!"
Lavender gave a loud and ugly cough.
"I happen to be his girlfriend!"
"And I happen to be his…" she tripped on her words, "...friend!"
"OH! Don't make me laugh! You haven't spoken to him in weeks! And I suppose you want to make up with him now that he's suddenly all interesting!"
Hermione's face twisted unpleasantly and Harry distinctively saw Sirius pulling a similar expression.
"HE'S BEEN POISONED, YOU DAFT BIMBO!"
A snort sounded from either Sirius or Tonks. Though, on reconsideration, it could just have easily come from Dumbledore.
Hermione frowned, embarrassed and continued.
"And for the record, I've always found him interesting!"
Apparently the raise in volume had some effect, as the previously unconscious Ron stirred a little. Everyone turned to watch him. He snorted loudly, licked his lips, coughed, but stirred no further.
"Ha! See?!" She shrieked with triumph. "He senses my presence! I'm here, Won-Won! I'm here!"
She pushed her way through Snape and Dumbledore and reached Ron's side, where she took his hand and held it against her face. Ron, still in a haze, reached blindly out to her face.
"... err… 'mion… nee…"
Though barely audible, the name was very apparent.
Sirius and Tonks snickered. Lavender gave a loud huff and then, vibrating with sheer rage, stalked back out. A long silence hung in her wake. Blushing, Hermione took Ron's hand.
There would be some very awkward conversations later.
Dumbledore beamed.
"Well, that was awkward, wasn't it? Oh, to be young!"
Daphne shook her head.
"People wonder why I avoid drama…"
But truth be told, Harry had only been half paying attention to what was happening. He should be happy his friend's issues were sorted out, and that they were both indeed going to be okay. But his mind was on a separate reality to what was unfolding in Hospital Wing. There was a stirring inside him and he felt on the cuff of a realisation, one that was hurtling towards him a hundred miles an hour. And then, the cogs clicked into place.
He'd been so preoccupied of late, his wider worries and concerns had been pushed to the back of his head. When this realisation struck him, however, it was as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over him. Adrenaline started to move through him as he straightened stiff as a board, his mind suddenly wide awake. He needed to think more clearly. He needed to clear his head. Nothing had ever seemed so simple, but he wasn't in the state to make right sense of it. The logic was there, the evidence was there, but why? Why was it all linked together this way?
"Sirius, a word."
Harry didn't wait or look back. The world around him moved in an unnatural way, but he knew that was more down to the fact he'd been up thirty five hours than it was any of last nights wine still in his system. He left the Hospital Wing and got half down the next corridor before pulling to the side and uncurling a large map out his back pocket. The corridor air was chilly through his pyjamas, giving him enough shock to the system to find what he was looking for.
He found it, of all places, in the girls bathroom of the second floor.
A rough hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Harry! Bloody hell lad, wait up!"
He turned quickly, stuffing the Marauders Map messily into his trousers.
"I was right, Sirius!"
Sirius frowned quizzically at him.
"'Bout what?"
"Daphne's right, it wasn't her dad! Or Slughorn! I was thinking it at the start, but then everything happened with Daphne and I thought I was wrong! Or that it wasn't important! Now it adds up! I was right, just not in the way that I thought I was, Sirius!"
His mouth wasn't working the way it usually was. If only he wasn't so tired, then he'd be able to articulate this epiphany properly.
"What're you saying?"
"She said it, there isn't two Death Eaters in the castle - there's three!"
When his godfather didn't have the look of jubilation he'd been wanting, he summoned the energy to find his voice again.
"It's Malfoy!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, Harry-"
"Sirius, listen! He was given a mission by Voldemort as well! Daphne said so! First Katie gets cursed, which could have happened to anyone, but Tracey and Ron? Who do they have in common? Me! Dumbledore's not the target - I am! That's why Malfoy has been quiet all year, he doesn't want it to seem obvious! Daphne's mission was to make me trust her, what if Malfoy's was to try and kill me?"
But Sirius still wasn't matching his energy.
"They sound rather... counterproductive, to each other?"
With an increasingly angry feeling washing over him, he broke from his godfather's grip. He knew he was right, he just wasn't in the right state to make his point. If he could sleep, or have a pepper up potion, he'd be able to explain properly. But he couldn't do that now, not while Malfoy was right out in the open. It was too perfect of an opportunity to let it go. Each second that went by was one they couldn't regain.
He turned to storm off, but Sirius dragged him back.
"Harry, I'm not saying what you're saying doesn't make sense, we just need to be sure! Now, obviously we can't just barge into one of Malfoy's lessons and arrest him for being a Death Eater!"
"Of course we can! You're an Auror, aren't you? That's your job! I know where he is! Let's go now before he moves!
"If we do that without evidence and without also arresting Daphne, it's going to look obvious who spoke! And then how bad is it going to look if he turns out not to be one?"
This was the most he'd gotten towards shouting at Sirius. What was it he couldn't see? Was it he the problem? Was he just rambling, or was Sirius the one not understanding him?
"She was on vertiserim when she confessed! Of course he is one! Whatever the mission is that Voldemort set for him, this is it! I don't have the pieces put together yet but it's obviously all him! Now let's go!"
"Right! Say he is, then again, this is delicate, Harry, please try to understand! I'm not saying it doesn't make sense! I'm just trying to piece it together!"
Tonks appeared suddenly over their shoulders.
"You two aren't good at being quiet, yanno? Little louder and those two won't need any potion to wake them up."
Harry's heart was beating a loud rhythm against his Adams apple.
"Tonks! You were there! You heard her say Malfoy was a Death Eater over Christmas, didn't you? You heard her say he took the mark!?"
Sirius grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Harry! Calm down - nobody is saying we didn't! We all were there, we all heard, but we need to handle this correctly!"
"How can you say that? How can you say that?"
"I'm sorry?"
Harry deflated pathetically. Why weren't they understanding him? Why was Sirius, one of the people he was sure would be on his side, being so difficult?
"Sod you, then."
He took off in a run in down the corridor. He didn't know what he was planning to do, but he knew where he was going.
"HARRY!" someone called after him.
He wasn't sure who, but didn't much care at this point. If they weren't going to do anything, he would do it himself.
He couldn't hear anything but his own pounding heartbeat. He was rapidly feeling the angriest he had been in his entire life. One foot hit the marble floor, the other following without the slightest thought, as if his legs had taken on a life of their own. All he could do was concentrate on the view ahead of him.
His chest beat wildly as he tore down the corridor. His stomach twisted unpleasantly inside him. He made it through the castle in record time, driven only by this unbridled force.
As another corner came into view, he realised this anger was one he'd felt before. The anger and frustration about not being understood, the helplessness - this was how Daphne made him feel when she left him. And the reason she had left him also occurred to him. Images of her and that damned tattoo flashed over and over in his mind like a slideshow. That night by the train station... he thought it was Malfoy and then later convinced himself it wasn't…The true implications of everything were only just descending on him. He'd almost lost her last night. If he had been a second later, she'd have drank the poison as well.
Then, he saw his mother in his mind. She was the first person he lost to Voldemort. He wasn't going to let it happen again.
He crashed right into a suit of armour. His mind suddenly ceased it's flood of emotion and memories. The loud crash brought him out of his trance; all he could was grasp desperately around to stabilise his fall. He stumbled, tripped over the shin pads of the knight and only just stopped himself hitting the ground by grabbing the sword of the knight next to him. As he lifted his head to start again, he saw the damage already done.
Clearly alerted by the noise, Malfoy stood half-way through the door to the bathroom, staring back at him. And Harry realised, with shock so huge it rooted him to the spot, that he'd been crying.
Malfoy gasped and with a shudder, drew his wand at him. Harry realised far too late what he was coming. A hot rush passed by his face as he sent a hex his way, missing him by inches and shattering the mounted Knight he'd propped himself against. Instinctively, emotionally, Harry wheeled around and drew his own wand. He threw himself to the ground and cast a spell.
"STUPEFY!"
There was a loud bang and the door to the bathroom exploded. It caused a dust explosion that hid Malfoy from sight. Harry crawled, but as he tried to draw himself back up, he dove again, narrowly missing another spell sent his way.
They were now in a full blown duel in the middle of the school corridor. He attempted a leg-locker curse but missed again, backfiring it off the wall and smashed apart a wall-mounted lamp. Fire and ash exploded everyone and he dove to the ground, just as the enchanted fire began to spread along the corridor floor around them. The fire reached Malfoy, who tried to side-step away from it. It gave Harry the chance to fire off a successful blasting curse, which impacted Malfoy's chest like he'd been hit by an invisible Troll. He grunted and staggered blindly against the marble wall, before plunging himself back toward Harry.
The raw anger behind Malfoy's spell made it difficult to dodge - Harry did so with only seconds to spare. Malfoy was letting loose. Sweat was starting to pour off him as he hurtled to the side to avoid a curse, his shoulder hitting the wall side. He took a gulp and soldiered on, pushing his body as far as it would go. All the anger and rage that had bubbled inside him was finally being released.
They both jabbed identically meeting in the middle with their wands pointed.
"CRUCI-"
"SECTUMSE-!"
"IMMOBULUS!"
Both spells were cut off by the third, which had been shouted louder and more powerfully than either of theirs. A loud ringing over took his ears and he was unable to move.
He blinked hard a few times, silently reabsorbing his senses.
He looked around. The corridor was in ruin. It looked on the receiving end of one of Fred and George's pranks gone wrong. The floor was a mess of armour and soot, a large fire blazing beside them, with dark charcoal stains coating the walls where unsuccessful spells had impacted. Harry watched the scene, horrified by what he had done, when the fire went out in a hiss.
Slowly, with heeled footsteps loud on the marble floor, Daphne stepped into view, her face livid. Her wand was pointed at Malfoy.
"I could kill you right now and claim it was in self-defence."
He could not find it in himself to say anything to that. She spoke with such seething hatred in her voice, that for a second he was worried she was about to do exactly that. So was Malfoy, as his rage seemed to simmer out and be replaced by fear as he looked worriedly between the two of them. But when it became apparent she hadn't killed him yet, his gaul was quick in returning.
"Do it, then! Filthy blood traitor… bet you want to! Make the Sacred Twenty-Eight even less!"
The spell holding them released and they both half-sagged to the floor. Harry was grateful Malfoy hadn't decided to resume their fight, as he didn't think he'd have been able to stop him in time. Either from rage or from freight, he was shaking.
Daphne wasn't alone. A second later, Dumbledore, Sirius, Tonks, McGonagall and Snape came around the corner. They each reacted appropriately to the scene before them. Harry did his best to avoids McGonagall's glare as he looked pathetically between Dumbledore and Sirius.
"I think…" the Headmaster began softly, breaking the silence that had settled, "... It is the Head of House's responsibility to deal out punishments. I shall leave you to their mercy. Professor McGonagall, may you please escort Harry back to his dormitory, and Professor Snape, do the same with Mister Malfoy?"
His mouth lulled vaguely open in protest. Dumbledore turned to Daphne.
"Miss Greengrass, you are awarded ten points more for fulfilling your duty as Prefect. You may return to the Hospital Wing to watch over your family."
Harry didn't know what to say, just that he needed to say something.
"He started it! He's a Death Eater!"
Dumbledore smiled at him pleasantly.
"Let's move along before we cause a scene now, shall we?"
Sirius glared hard at him.
A/N Thank you all for being so supportive with this story. Sorry if this one felt like a bit of a canon-catch up, expect big deviations to come soon. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
