✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

59 | B L O O D

•••
all this bad blood here,
won't you let it dry?
•••

   May was around the corner, and all Lynnea could beg for was for this school year to finally end. Things as usual didn't go as planned here at Hogwarts, but worst was that Harry once again had decided to lock his sister out of his life. Lynnea could see him together with Ron and Hermione almost all the time, busy talking and whispering, but no one ever seemed to mind telling Lynnea anything at all. Frustrated she decided to punish the trio with silence and whateverism.

   Lynnea's own mind spun around Draco, but he completely refused to talk or even look at her. From the boy she used to know was not much left, he looked like an Inferi, a shadow of himself, wandering through the castle mostly alone.

   "What do you think is up with him?", Daphne asked during breakfast, watching him out of narrowed eyes. "I think he's up to something. He and Pansy and Blaise. Not sure if it's the same thing. First I thought it had something to do with you, but Draco wouldn't harm you, would he?"

   "He wouldn't harm anyone", Lynnea replied with a grim face. "Not voluntarily ..."

   So finally May came and it was getting hotter outside as summer sent its first greetings. And with summer came the final exams of their sixth year. Lynnea was on her way from the library back to the Great Hall for dinner, when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a room. Lynnea's heart skipped a beat for she thought it was Zabini, and she grabbed for her wand, snapping her arm out of the stranger's grip and burried her wand in his jaw.

   "Draco!" They were in the boy's bathroom and the blonde Slytherin glared at her with bloodshot eyes. He had never looked worse. "What is wrong?"

   "I can't do it anymore, Lynn", he half-sobbed. His whole body was shaking. "I - I just can't, it won't work -"

   "What are you talking 'bout?", she whispered, tucking her wand back into her robe. "Draco, what is going on?"

   "If I won't do it soon, he'll kill me ..."

   Lynnea's blood froze. "Draco ..." Lynnea felt helpless, as tears started streaming down his face. His eyes held a look of pure desperation. "Tell me what's wrong ..."

   "I can't", he breathed. "I can't ..."

   Lynnea wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight, as he started sobbing. His tears fell on her robe, soaking the fabric until she felt them on her skin. But suddenly he gulped and harshly pushed her aside, she landed on the floor cutting her hand on a mirror shard. Her eyes fell on Harry, Draco's hex was just missing him by inches, shattering a lamp on the wall beside Harry. Her brother shot a spell back, but Draco blocked it. With a loud bang a bin behind Harry exploded.

   "NO!", she screamed, reaching for her own wand, silently cursing she had put it away. "Stop it!"

   Harry's curse smashed the cistern next to her; water poured everywhere and Harry slipped, as Draco, his face contorted, cried, "Cruci -"

   "SECTUMSEMPRA!" bellowed Harry from the floor, waving his wand wildly.

    Blood spurted from Draco's face and chest as though he had been slashed with an invisible sword. He staggered backward and collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand falling from his limp right hand.

   "No -" gasped Harry.

   Slipping and staggering, Harry got to his feet and plunged toward Draco, whose face was now shining scarlet, his white hands scrabbling at his blood-soaked chest. Lynneawatched him, paralyzed in shock, her body not obeying her brain's commands anymore.

   "What have you done?", she muttered, creeping over to Draco, putting his head carefully on her legs. "Harry, what spell was this? What have you done?!"

   The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up, terrified: Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Draco, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Draco's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.

   When Snape had performed his counter-curse for the third time, he half-lifted Draco into a standing position.

   "You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that ... come ..."

   Then he looked at Harry and Lynnea, spitting in a cold voice: "And you two - you stay here and wait for me!"

   Neither Harry, nor his sister spoke, and no one of them would have dared to disregard Snape's words. Harry's face was pale as snow. He looked at her terrified, his gaze had something begging, but she couldn't help him; she was to shocked by what had happened. How could Harry do that?

   As if he'd read her mind, he said: "I didn't know what'd happen ..." His voice cracked. "I swear, Lynn, I -"

   But the door bursted open again and like a gigantic bat Snape stormed back in. His eyes flickered over to Lynnea. "You're hurt, Potter", he said with a gaze on her bleeding hand, that she had already forgotten. "Go to the hospital wing."

   "It's okay, it's nothi-"

   "To the hospital wing, I said!", he snapped. She slowly got up and walked past Harry, who looked at me pleading. She didn't know what to think or do, so she stared down at her feet, leaving the bathroom, before she started to run.