CHAPTER 29
Harry's Fire Accident
Blaire screamed as she tried to put out the flames with her bare hands, burning her fingers severely in the process. Everyone's attention turned to them, but for a moment too, they were all as stunned as she was. Then chaos ensued and Blaire found herself being torn away from her brother by Draco. She struggled in his tight grip as Blaise Zabini ripped off Harry's robes with a greenhouse knife, pushed him onto the floor and rapidly began covering his burning trousers with clumps of dirt, trying to cut off the fire's supply of oxygen.
Soon realising what he was doing the rest of the boys joined in, all except Draco, who didn't seem to want to let Blaire out of his grip. Oh, she was going to strangle him once her hands were healed!
Soon, Sprout came out of her shocked state and limped forward, taking in the sight before her. Without anymore hesitation, she let out a stream of water from her wand onto Harry, and within a few more minutes, the fire had died. Blaire was determined to know the spell she used, but that could wait for another day.
She broke out of Draco's slackening grip and wasted just enough time to shoot him a furious glare before parting the crowd and running to Harry.
Harry's face was still contorted in pain. She knelt down by his side and he looked up and smiled weakly.
Then he whispered to her, "I think the sock cast that Prof had given me on our eleventh birthday is burnt too. It's just too painful on my skin... and I can't move my leg!"
"Don't panic." Blaire soothed, pushing the sweaty bangs off his forehead with the unhurt heels of her palms. "You'll be fine." Out loud she said, "Professor Sprout, I think-"
"Yes, yes." the professor interrupted. "Messers. Malfoy and Zabini, please escort the two Potters to the hospital wing... I'll be joining you as well, just as soon as I can settle this mess. Thirty points each to Slytherin and Ravenclaw for your teamwork in preventing a fatal disaster and ten points to Mr. Zabini for quick thinking. Mr. Boot, please hurry to the castle and fetch the headmaster, the rest of you put on your gloves and come meet me right here in two minutes."
"He can't move his leg!" Blaire told Draco on the verge of panicking, forgetting at that moment that she was annoyed with him.
"And you tell me not to panic." Harry said mildly amused.
"Let's ask Professor Sprout for a stretcher." Zabini said without any sign of mockery or spite.
Harry looked up at him curiously and nodded, much to Blaire's relief. She didn't think she had the energy to argue with Harry's stubbornness at the moment.
"What's happened to the other skrewts?" Harry asked weakly.
"Who cares?" Draco retorted.
Blaire huffed.
Draco scowled and said, "Come on, Blaire! I don't know if you are aware, but skrewt sparks are able to burn anything! You had hardly touched the flames yet see the state of your hands!"
"Hands?" Harry said, trying to sit up. "What's happened, Blaire. Show me."
"Lie down!" Blaire scowled.
"Not until I see your hands."
Blaire let out a cry of exasperation and shot another accusing glare at Draco and showed Harry her rapidly blistering hands.
Harry let out a gasp and said, "Draco, get her to the hospital wing."
"What?"
"Wait a minute."
"Now, now!" Harry insisted. "If you wait to come with me, it'll be ages before Madam Pomfrey sees Blaire's fingers... I'll be fine with Zabini! Just go!"
"I won't budge." Blaire growled out. "Your injury is more dangerous than mine! You know what happened to that Korean-"
"Drag her if you have too!" Harry interrupted, now sitting up straight. Then he looked at her with pleading eyes. "I'll feel better if I know that you're alright. Please, Blaire."
Blaire glared at him and stood up and, without a word, began walking out of the greenhouse when she noticed Draco behind her.
"I can go by myself." she snapped. " Just see that he reaches there in one piece."
"Blaire." Draco said softly.
She turned around and took one look at his worried face and that was enough to break through her stoic steady appearance. Tears of relief, pain and frustration began to fall down her face.
"Just stay with him." she choked out and ran for the castle.
...
Now lying on the stretcher, Harry saw Draco approaching, wearing a worried frown.
"Why didn't you go with her?" he demanded.
"She asked me to stay with you."
"But-" Harry began.
"She'll manage, Harry. She was too upset. I didn't want to argue with her. You know how worried she's about you, Harry. You shouldn't push her away."
"But she was hurt!" Harry protested.
"I know." Draco sighed. "Where's Zabini?"
"He's gone to bring my robes. My wand's in there. Ah! There he comes."
Draco nodded and leviated Harry's stretcher and they and Zabini began their trek to the Castle's hospital wing. Harry was feeling very awkward by the time they crossed the Entrance Hall. True there wasn't anyone in the corridor, but ever since Mad-Eye entered the school, Harry would feel very uncomfortable, except when he was in Prof's quarters.
The man was creepy. Auror or not, Harry couldn't find it in himself to like him, let alone trust. The man had it in for both, Draco and Prof ever since he set his eyes on them and Harry hated it and hated him.
His thoughts wandered to his immobile leg. How long would it be before he could walk without that support? The answer was never...unless he gathered the courage to take that potion, if ever it was invented.
Harry sighed and turned his thoughts to Blaire. He felt bad for pushing her into going to the infirmary, but her hands must have been hurting terribly, by the looks of those blisters. He couldn't bear the thought of her suffering...and yet, she probably couldn't bear to see him in pain. She had just wanted to be there for him.
Harry let out a hopeless sigh. Neither of them were wrong, and something told him that neither of them were right either. He needed to talk to Ethan...No. He'd do it by himself. Waiting for Ethan's advice would be too long. Harry wouldn't be able to take it, he wasn't able to forget the glare she sent him...the glare that spoke volumes, and yet he couldn't figure out anything from it, except for anger. And again, it was highly uncomfortable. He needed to patch things up with Blaire immediately. He couldn't bear the little rift between them.
He would apologise. It was more of his fault than hers. He started it by chasing her away, so he would make amends... just as soon as he reached the infirmary.
The moment they reached the infirmary, Harry noticed Blaire hopping off the bed she was sitting on and offering it to Harry. Zabini helped Draco laying him down and left the wing. Madam Pomfrey took a look at his legs and shot off into her potion stores, instructing Harry severely to not take off his clothes.
"How do you feel?" Blaire asked, concern dominant in her voice, her hands covered with some paste.
With a choked sob, Harry sat up and pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry." he said. "I'm sorry I made you cry. It wasn't my intention."
Blaire, unable to hug him back, settled on the bed and buried her face in his chest. Draco tactfully walked away to take a better look at an awareness chart on the wall furthest from the bed.
"Not your fault, Harry. You were worried. I'm sorry for, er... letting my pride get the better of me"
Harry let out a laugh and said, "You, my sister, don't even know what it is to be proud."
"Not true." she said, still comfortably sitting in his arms.
"If you were proud, you'd have slept in this bed and pulled the blanket over yourself, leaving me to take another. And yet, you're offering the ruddy thing to me and asking me how I feel! You're too sweet to be proud...And, Blaire, I sent you to the infirmary, because I couldn't bear to see those wounds on your hands. They-"
"I know." Blaire said. "I understand. I-"
"Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey barked. "Let go of that poor girl. Miss Potter, move away from there and settle yourself in another bed. Give it ten more minutes and you may wash it off in the bathroom. Mr. Malfoy, run along and fetch Professor Snape for me."
She inspected Harry again and then said, " Hmmm...this flame, whatever it may be made of, has been able to convert anything into...wait a minute... it's has the ability to convert any non-living thing into rubber!
"I'm afraid, Mr. Potter, that this is going to be a very long procedure. Burning rubber, if you are aware, has the habit of melting into the skin. It's going to be rather unpleasant. Here, dear, a sleeping potion. Best get it over with while you're asleep. It's going to be rather painful."
By the time Harry drifted off, Draco was rushing through the corridors in search of Prof.
...
Draco found Prof hurriedly strolling towards the the large doors of the castle, apparently on his way to the greenhouses.
"Prof!" he called out.
Prof stopped short and turned around.
"Draco?" he said.
"Prof! Harry and Blaire are in the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey needs your help!"
As usual, Prof didn't say one word, but merely turned around and rushed in the direction of the infirmary. With difficulty, Draco caught up with him and between pants, filled him in with the situation.
"Why couldn't Harry's leg move?" he asked Prof.
"I do not know, Draco." Prof responded.
"Could that support have been burnt?"
"There is a possibility. But the cast was fireproof."
"Apparently skrewt flames are different."
"What do you mean?"
"We'll, before I left, Madam Pomfrey said something about the flame turning any inanimate object into rubber. I think the cast's melted into Harry's skin."
Prof turned few shades paler and Draco felt bad for him. It was just then that he realised how much of a burden he was probably carrying on his shoulders. It was an unspoken theory concluded by his whole family that Voldemort was working his way back into human form...and Prof was going to go back to his role as the spy. Then there was a family whose safety he needed to keep as his first priority.
Besides that was the fact that Hogwarts was or would soon be the home to Voldemort's most loyal servant. Whether it was one of the heads of the two schools, or one of the students or one of the current residents of Hogwarts would be a bit of Prof 's job to find out. Draco's admiration for the man and his ability to take things in his stride had increased a hundred fold.
His thoughts moved on to Harry. Would he accept to take the cure. Was he even aware that Prof and healer Baker wouldn't give him the potion until they were very certain that it was the right cure? Was Harry still having trusting issues, or was he afraid he wouldn't live to see the day after he took the potion?
Would Prof and Madam Pomfrey be able to heal Harry's leg completely...or would it have to be healed the muggle way... just like his broken ankle? Draco already knew that answer. Throughout the whole ordeal, however, he realised that he wasn't as worried about Harry as he needed to be. With that deadly curse trapped in his head and all. Draco actually found himself thinking about Blaire.
That look on her face, before she dashed off to the castle was etched in his mind and for some reason he couldn't get it off. It seemed like something in him had broken when he spotted the tears flowing and now that he came to think of it, he couldn't understand what had happened. And over the recent weeks, Draco realised that he felt happier, or more content in her presence. Every time she entered the room, he would feel a jolt in his tummy. The feeling in itself was something new, and being one of little emotion, Draco had no idea what to make of it. It really was very confusing.
At that moment, they had reached the infirmary, only for him and a protesting Blaire to be thrown out of the doors.
"I know you want to be here dear, but, if I'm correct in my assumption about the rubber, this going to be rather gruesome, something I don't wish anyone to watch!" Madam Pomfrey said before shutting the doors.
"Ethan, Neville, after you're done with your classes, come to the hospital wing." Draco heard in his head.
"What?...Why?"
"What's happened?"
"I'll tell you once you get here. Focus on your class."
"Blaire-"
"No. I'm not telling you. Come here after your lesson!"
Blaire turned to Draco and said, "Draco, I'm sorry."
"Don't be." he said smiling.
"No, I have to be! I would have probably been a lot worse had you not pulled me off."
"It's no matter, Blaire. Let's not talk about it again."
Draco held his hand out to her and she took it with a no longer blistered hand. Then she let go laughed and pulled him into a hug, and Draco felt his heart flutter as he wraped his hands around her.
However they had to pull away by a mild, "Oi, what's going on?"
Draco saw Ethan and Neville staring at them in confusion. Then Neville groaned, "Don't tell me you had us come here to tell us that you're dating?"
"Dating?" Blaire and Draco repeated, half indignant.
"No!" Blaire exclaimed, immediately later, flushing slightly at the accusation. "Harry's in the infirmary. He was set ablaze by a skrewt!"
"Hagrid's skrewt?"
"Yup. One of his boxes bust open and one of'em entered the greenhouse, next to Harry. It let out another blast and landed in a tub of bubotuber pus-"
"Was it the brown tub?" Neville asked with a gasp.
"Yes, why?"
"I'd just readied it for treatment for Sprout yesterday! The pus is very poisonous in that state!"
Draco stared open-mouthed.
"It splashed on her! And she chose to clear up the mess before visiting the hospital wing! We've got to get her to the hospital wing!"
"Hagrid's already brought her in!" Blaire said. "When you'd gone to get Prof. She was almost unconscious and wasn't looking good."
"Oh." was all Draco said.
"By the way," Blaire said, "How did you reach here so fast?"
"The Professors were called to the grounds regarding an emergency." Neville said, "Runaway skrewt emergency, if I heard Flitwick tell McGonagall correctly."
"Alright," Ethan said impatiently. "What has all that got to do with Harry being set ablaze?"
Draco swallowed and began telling them about it. When he was done, both Ethan and Neville had reached the same thought as Draco.
Blaire had probably already realised what implications could have caused Harry the moment she set forth to put out the flames. It then struck Draco that Blaire was a calm and collected person and wasn't one to think irrationally. It was only the worry of the curse spreading that got her to put out the fire with her bare hands.
It was probably the reason why she was reluctant to leave his side when the fire was put out, and probably the reason for her to be annoyed with him, Draco for pulling her away! And it was her who currently spoke for them all, "Will that barrier be strong enough?"
No one answered, but soon Draco found himself being pulled to the side by Ethan who looked at him sternly and then said, "I don't know what's going on between Blaire and you, but-"
"Nothing 's going on!" Draco exclaimed rather alarmed.
Ethan put his hands on his hips and said, "D'you think I'm a fool?"
"Absolutely not.
"Good, because, if you're-"
"And there's nothing going on between us! At least nothing that I'm aware of."
Ethan frowned for a moment and then said, "Well, if you're not aware of it, as you say, I've seen sparks flying around when the two of you are together. And mind, if you hurt her in anyway, you'll have both of us, Harry and me, that is, to deal with. Got it?"
"Yes, yes!" Draco said, positively afraid now. "But, I swear, there's nothing going on between us!"
"I'm not stupid Draco. I know there's nothing going on, and I also know that she likes you... by the looks of it, something will go on soon, and I'm just warning you in advance."
With that he walked off to Blaire and Neville, leaving a very confused Draco standing and staring at a portrait of an old witch.
"You heard him, son." came the voice of James Potter from the portrait. "And if that doesn't work, I'll have Peeves make it worse!"
...
... Draco's treading carefully around me, these days. I think my warning unnerved him. But I've seen them both acting just a tad more cheerful in each other's presence. I have no problems if they date, you know, that is as long as Blaire's happy.
Harry's still not allowed to move around, Dee, and the poor fellow's getting very restless. But there are times, that he just zones out and all that he says is that he's thinking.
Prof has been very worried these days, and I'm not sure if my eyes are playing tricks on me but once he lets his guard down, he looks more haggard and older than before. I keep praying that nothing happens to him...and with everything that's happening, I hope my prayers are heard.
I wanted Prof to take a break and, you know, probably go to the tropics and enjoy a holiday for a week. He certainly needs it. Or, perhaps, a few days of rest back at Privet Drive where he can sleep off his weariness. I know he's working too hard on getting Harry's cure right, but Harry's survived so long without a cure, a couple of days more, shouldn't make any difference!...But whose going to pay heed to good old Ethan?
Anyway, healer Pat Baker has been visiting ever since Harry's accident, and it's today, seven days later, that he and Prof finally decided that the curse had stirred a bit within that barrier, but the barrier was strong enough to contain it. Eventually, the curse had settled down and Harry was to call out for Madam Pomfrey just as soon as he felt the slightest of headaches or dizziness or any pain or anything else that felt odd.
Harry hasn't transformed into sly ever since Prof put that file in his lap, on the first of September, and Prof has told him to lay off transformation for a while, not that it was going to hurt him in someway, but now that Harry's back to his leg brace it could be difficult to transform. Prof's also said that, since his mind is aware of the curse, it could probably use any sign of change as a reason to fight the curse which may make matters worse.
And while we're on animagi, Neville's succeeded the day before last full moon, and Harry's decided to call him Merry. Guess what his form is... It's a southern flying squirrel! Fitting isn't it.
I hope I get my form soon, I really don't know what I do wrong, but I'm going to try and keep trying until I succeed, and they'll probably give me a name starting with A, given that S (Sly), W(Woody), R(Rush) and M(Merry) are already taken, then we'll truly be the Swarm!...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Damn it!" Severus yelled as the next pelican chick died, this time due to a brain stroke! The previous one's sodium content had begun decreasing rapidly. The one before that died from a burst vein in its brain and such things had been continuously happening, and Severus was getting rather frustrated. It was the middle of October already and his potion was nowhere near completion.
"Don't be too hard on yourself!" Narcissa had admonished when she came to visit a couple of days ago with Mrs. Evans' famous cookies. "Getting all worked up will result in less progress, you need a level head."
It was all better said then done.
He sat at his table, and recorded his observations, just like he had done for all the other failed experiments, and put his head in his hands and waited for himself to calm down before deciding on what to do next. And it was as he was sitting there that he heard a tentative knock on his office door. Hoping against hope that the visitor wasn't Moody, Severus got up slowly to answer it.
It turned out that a very nervous Harry had come to visit him. He'd been finally let out of the infirmary with a warning against exhaustion and Severus had gifted him with another sock like support the moment it was brought into the store, and now he stood at his door, looking very small. Severus brought him in and made him a cup of tea laced with a mild calming drought and sat besides him waiting for him to speak.
"Prof," he said quietly. "I think I'll go for the cure...that is whenever it's ready."
Severus sat stunned for a moment, and then felt his face light up with a smile.
"Well done, Harry!" he said, pulling the boy into a hug. "That was the biggest hurdle yet. I'm proud of you."
Harry relaxed a bit and smiled.
"What made you decide?"
"Oh, it's that accident, Prof, and the amount of time my leg injuries take to heal...I can't simply live the rest of my life being an invalid given the fact that I have an opportunity to improve my condition unlike many others and I'm going to make the most of it. I just realised that a time may come when I probably won't have anyone around to help me. I need to be prepared for that!"
"I'm proud of you, child." Severus said with a broad smile.
"Thanks, Prof, but it took a lot of time for me to gather my courage."
"That's of no matter. The fact that you've decided to take the first step is what really counts...Do any of the others know?"
"No, Prof. I'll tell them later."
Severus bowed his head in silent encouragement and then said, "So are you willing to have a small talk with healer Baker? Just to get to know him? He believes that a cure cannot be accomplished unless the factor called trust is fully established. That and a few examinations are going to be needed to rule out anything that needs to be ruled out."
Harry chuckled slightly and nodded.
"Harry, with Moody around, I may not be able to accompany you throughout the journey. He'd be suspicious if I'm absent the same day that you're not in the castle."
Harry nodded, "Can't the healer come here?"
"No, Harry. His essential equipment is in Plymouth."
"Plymouth!"
"Yes, Harry. And I was wondering if you'd consent to Narcissa taking you there?"
Harry nodded his assent and Severus smiled.
"I'm glad child...Now why don't you help yourself to a few cookies while I make a couple of floo calls?"
tbc...