As Harry walks away from the Hospital Wing, he nearly jumped when Snape appeared out of nowhere from a corridor. His black robes engulfed Harry's vision and he halted his steps before his face could fall flat into the darkness ahead. He looks up to see the professor he loathed, and was it a hunch that he felt like he was going to get interrogated?
He knew that the other professors had questioned Draco regarding the fight in the bathroom but so far, he was clear about it. And just when he thought he wouldn't be probed with questions, Snape was there to prove him wrong.
Harry could feel Snape's eyes lingering on him, it was like he was trying to figure him out, maybe even use Legilimency on him like last year. So, instinctively, Harry guarded his mind and used what Snape had taught him so his thoughts wouldn't be open to his professor.
Snape sneered at the boy, almost surprised and impressed at the same time. Then he spoke, "It seems that I have underestimated you, Potter." His voice was quiet but enough for Harry to spot the menace and venom in it. "Who would have expected that you knew such Dark Magic? Who taught you that spell?"
There it was.
The question that Harry had dreaded.
He remained calm as possible, though there was no stopping his balling fists. Harry decided to feign ignorance. "What spell, professor? I have no clue which spells you are referring to—"
"Don't play the fool with me, Potter!" Snape scowled, interrupting the student's words. He was bubbling with rage and Harry almost seemed content for it to simmer over.
Realizing that he wasn't fooling anyone and that it wouldn't be wise to play cluelessness with his professor. He came up with a wild answer, "I read it somewhere."
"Where?"
"Some library book—"
"What book?"
"I can't really remember what the title was..." Harry mumbled and Snape squinted down at him, trying to play some mind games again. The boy prepared for the worst, he knew that if they start playing Legilimency and Occlumency, he would lose.
"Bring me your bag," Snape said out of the blue and Harry looks up, puzzled. "And all of your books. All of them. Bring it to me at once!" he ordered.
Harry flinched at the sternness of Snape's voice. On any regular basis, he would try to avoid that but he knew Snape wasn't playing around with the look he was giving him. Without arguing any further, he nodded and rushed back to his common room.
He shoved all of his school books into his brown bag, the corners of the fabric poking out from the corners of the books. He paused, scanning around his room in a hurry. Ron leans over his bed to his friend wondering what was all the fuss about, "Everything alright there, mate?" he asked.
"Where is it?" Harry questioned his friend who quirked a brow, not knowing what he was referring to. He lets out an exasperated groan and asked again, "Your potions book! Where is it?"
"Why do you need it?" Ron went on, coming out of his bed and walking to his stash of books to search for them.
"I need to borrow it for a moment," Harry said, grabbing the potions book he had kept and slept with for months to throw it deep into his trunk. He rummaged through his other clothes and threw them into his baggage to further conceal the book. Once he was done, he snapped back to Ron, "Quick... Give it to me!"
Dumbfounded by Harry's urgency, Ron took his copy of the 'Advanced Potion Making' book and handed it to his friend. "What about your own? I thought you had the Half-Blood Prince's—"
Harry quickly swiped it from Ron's hands, dodging his question as he stuffed it in his bag. He didn't even bother to enlighten the red-headed boy about what was going on before he was already sprinting out of his common room. "Thanks!" he shouted back, leaving Ron even more puzzled and flustered than he already was.
The books clattered around in Harry's bag as he ran back to Snape, his shoulders aching from the weight of all of the books. His professor was still at the exact same spot even before Harry left, he looked at the boy who was panting, catching his breath before he marches to Snape.
The older man held out his hand wordlessly to Harry and the younger boy handed over his schoolbag. One by one, Snape extracted every single book and examined them thoroughly. The ones he was done floating around the two until the last one came to light.
Harry pursed his lips, watching Snape eye him suspiciously before taking the blue book. He flips through the small book, his eyes carefully scanning it left and right. Still looking at the book, Snape spoke again.
"Is this your copy of the Advanced Potion Making book, Potter?"
"Yeah—" Harry replied, swallowing hard when Snape peered up at him. "Yes, sir," he corrected.
"Are you quite sure about that?" Snape asks again as if doubting the boy.
"Certain of it, sir," he replied with a touch of defiance.
Snape snickered to himself when he heard Harry's answer, the faint grin on his face faltering away as he asked again. "The same one you purchased at Flourish and Blotts?"
"Positive," Harry said again, growing nervous when he saw the crooked lips of Snape's stretching even more.
The professor hummed at his reply, smirking to himself as if he had just heard a joke. But his smirk only made Harry become more unsettled, not because Snape was actually smiling but because he was certain that he screwed up and was finally getting caught. "Hmm... Then why does it have the name 'Roonil Wazlib' written on the cover?" he asks, showing the boy the page and the written name.
Harry thought his heart was going to stop. He froze before replying. "It's my nickname," he blurted.
"Your nickname?" Snape repeated with amusement.
The boy nodded and put on a forced smile, "It's what my friends call me. A nickname of mine."
Snape rolled his eyes, unable to believe the audacity of the boy. "I know what a nickname is, Potter," he spat.
Harry felt Snape's eyes boring into his and the boy looked elsewhere, focusing on the book instead. He clears his mind, trying not to think of anything.
Just blank. Nothing.
"Do you know what I think of you, Potter?" Snape questioned and Harry resisted the urge to face his professor.
"Git..." he mumbled without thinking twice. He truly believed that he had said that in his head until Snape scoffed at him.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing, sir!" Harry changes, cursing in his mind for real now. "I don't know what you think of me," he added. Which was obviously a lie. Harry knew too well what Snape thought of him. He could literally see it written all over his professor's face whenever he converse with him.
Doing the honours of letting the boy know what his opinions of him were. "I think you are a liar, a cheat, and also a stubborn arrogant boy," Snape said, spitting at every word. He was practically listing all the flaws of the boy in front of him proudly. The words flew across Harry's head as he didn't bother to listen to all of the jabs his professor was taking on him. It wasn't anything new that Snape detested him just as much as he did.
"And for that, I strongly believe you deserve detention with me every Friday and Saturday until the end of the term. What do you think?" he queried the boy of the man who once bullied him.
Harry's jaw dropped at what he heard, his lips parting to counter back the punishment. "I do not believe I should be punished for being a liar and a cheat, sir," he said brazenly.
Another hum came from Snape and Harry tightens his grip on the strap of his bag, feeling his shoulder slump from the weight again now when all the books were in. "Then do let me rephrase my sentence and illuminate you... You will serve detention with me for your recent stupid actions of harming not just a student of my house but another student who I hold great expectations for."
Of course... Harry said in his mind. Of course, Snape would take this chance to give him detention. He would seize every possible moment to get back at him just because he was James Potter's son. Harry could see where his professor was coming from when it comes to Draco, but Aine too? Why would he even do that?
"But why Aine too?" Harry inquired and Snape shot him a pitiful smile.
"Because she is a dear student of mine," he responded with sarcasm and nearly matter-of-factly. Even when she was unbearable at most times, Snape was intrigued by her and the skills and potential she possessed, as well as how extraordinarily gifted she was in Potions.
Harry raised a confused brow, he couldn't tell if Snape was making fun of him by joking or if he meant it truly. Either way, he was unable to fathom the meaning of his words.
When the boy stayed silent, Snape handed him the potions book and gave him a dirty side glance before telling him again. "Ten o'clock every Friday night and Saturday morning, Potter. My office," he reminded, his heels turning away to leave before the boy could even plead or debate otherwise.
Harry let out a loud scoff of disbelief, dropping his bag of books onto the ground. It landed with a deep thud and the boy ruffled his black hair, annoyed. He cursed audibly before yanking the strap of his bag and stomping back to the Gryffindor common room.
Once again, Harry found himself to be in a pool of despair, it was difficult to climb out and with every passing second, he drowns a little more. He thought of his deeds and Snape's words. And though a big part of him would have wished to fight back and state his innocence, he could not do it. After all, it didn't change the fact that he has hurt his friend and maimed her physically.
He was out of it, staring at the dancing flames in the crackling fireplace. The blue book of potions is just beside him. He trails back to the page where he first saw and learnt of the Sectumsempra spell in his head, only falling into a long pit of guilt. His silence concerning his two best friends who stood in the distance, not knowing what to say or do to make Harry feel better, to lessen the weight of his actions and remorse.
Both Hermione and Ron failed to get him to speak after the events of the confrontation, they knew how guilty he was feeling. It was a mistake, they all thought. He didn't mean to harm Aine. He never wanted her to be hurt and yet he did it anyways. The wrath had blinded him too far and made him attack her when all Aine wanted to do was try to stop him and prevent things from getting any worse.
Originally, Harry blamed Aine for getting involved. Needless to say, he also blamed Draco. However, as he thought about it even more, Harry began to blame himself.
It was his fault.
Behind the trio, Ginny enters the Gryffindor common room after visiting Aine. Her footsteps were heavy, almost hesitant to take another step. The air around the scarlet and gold room was tense and sombre, once warm and cosy was now stuffy and uncomfortable. She exchanges a look with her older brother and friend by the window before picking her courage up and approaching Harry.
Her eyes spotted the Half-Blood Prince's copy of the Advanced Potion Making book and softened. It was the book that had Harry obsessed. The book that taught him the deadly curse. The book had given him the knowledge to harm her best friend.
Just thinking about it made Ginny ball her fists together, rage and hatred sizzling through her veins. She didn't know where her anger was directed; the fact that Harry had injured Aine or the fact that the book had corrupted him.
A muffled cynical dry laughter left her lips as she glares at the book. How ironic that both she and Harry were people whose lives were ruined because of a damn book? Ginny with Tom Riddle's diary all those years ago, and now Harry with the Half-Blood Prince's school book. It even drove her even mad when the realization hit her that Aine was there to save them both times when they were affected by it.
Only to be hurt for it.
She took a seat next to the sullen boy and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You have to get rid of it," she tells him and there was a flicker of emotion on Harry's face once more. "Today."
The boy gazed at Ginny for a rough couple of seconds and she gave him another encouraging nod. The longer he keeps the book, the more he was only going to suffer. The deed was already done and no matter how much he keeps dwelling on the past, it wouldn't change anything. There was no reversing it. All that was left was to discard the source of it, never to see it again for the rest of his life and allow time to eventually erase the existence of it from his own mind.
This time, without any second thoughts, he takes the Weasley girl's hand and she led him to the seventh-floor corridor.
Their backs faced the enormous troll tapestry and they glanced up at the empty wall in front of their sight. "Take my hand..." Ginny instructed, extending a hand to Harry and the boy did as he was told.
They thought of the same reason for the usage of the room they required three times. And that was a place to hide the book.
Then there it was at last: the door had emerged from the stoned walls and swung open to the two Gryffindors. The Room of Hidden Things welcomed them as they entered it before it groaned to a close.
It was the first time either of them had seen this place. Ginny only ever heard of it from her two older brothers, Fred and George but she has never set foot in it. Harry, on the other hand, knew nothing about it.
"It's the Room of Requirement," Hary remarked, noting how different it was from the room that the castle had offered them last year.
"Mmhm... To be exact, it's the Room of Hidden Things," Ginny replies. "Fred and George told me about it once before."
The two gawked at the size of the room, it was as big as the Great Hall, and maybe even wider than it. It looked like a city with all of the towering walls that were created with objects hidden by generations of Hogwarts inhabitants. They walked deeper, amazed by how the furniture, broken and old, artefacts, decorations and even the chess piece that Harry had recognized from his first year were all there stacked to the brim of the room.
Ginny took the lead, her hand guiding Harry into one of the many alleys. She turned to him, walking backwards now as she kept her gaze on the boy. "We need to hide the Half-Blood Prince's book. Where no one will ever find it," she tells him. A small smile crept onto her face as she added on. "Including you."
Halfway through their exploration, a sudden fluttering sound emerged in the distance and the two whipped to it. They then turned to one another, curious about the sound. "What was that?"They both said together at the same time. In response to their question, Harry chuckles at the girl and Ginny mimicked his actions.
The sound of something fluttering continued, drawing Ginny and Harry towards the noise as they manoeuvred through the pathways set for them. Finally, they paused before a large cupboard, a towering Vanishing Cabinet to be exact.
It had been covered over by a tapestry by Aine and Draco, concealing it so it blends with the surroundings. Ever since the two had started mending it, the cabinet only looked even newer than ever and in order to disguise it in case anyone else came in, they threw an old fabric over it.
Harry yanks the scarlet rug away from the cabinet, the fluttering sounds now replaced by tapping. He exchanged looks with Ginny again and she nodded for him to go on. Then, he pulls the handles of the triangular furniture doors.
From inside, a little bird suddenly flew out of it and soared away into the massive room. Both he and Ginny flinched a bit when they unknowingly set the bird free. "Just a little bird..." he breathes, layering a quick brave front over his startle.
Ginny giggles at him, "See? You'll never know what you'll find up here." She moves to him, eyes never looking away from his blue eyes. Then she slowly peels his fingers away from the book, taking a step back.
"Alright, close your eyes. That way you can't be tempted," she instructed. If they had to hide the book, Harry mustn't look otherwise he will know where it was and be lured to find it again. Then, it will just defeat the whole purpose of forgetting the book and its contents existing. She steps further from him but Harry's gaze still loomed over the blue book in her hands.
Ginny shot him a look, smirking subtly when she caught his eyes down instead of at her face. Hesitant to do as he was told, she mutters once more. "Close your eyes..." Ginny said with such softness, like a whisper.
Harry reluctantly fluttered his eyes closed, he trusted her to hide it in a place where he will never find it. He could sense Ginny's footsteps growing further and fainter and he bites down the urge to open his eyes. He forced his lids to remain shut until otherwise. And before he knew it, soft supple lips met his own's and he melt into a gentle kiss with Ginny.
His eyes were still shut throughout the kiss they shared. Even after Ginny's lips had parted his, the faint taste of sweetness was left behind. "That can stay hidden up here too if you like," she whispers with a tinge of playfulness, causing him to simper.
When he opened his eyes, Ginny was gone from his sight and all he could hear was the stillness of the room and the echoing of the doors shutting closed.
At long last, the book that had plagued his mind all year was gone too. Hidden and rid of his possession somewhere in the vast cluttered room he was standing.
Never to be found by him anymore...
─── ⋆⋅☀⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☀⋅⋆ ───
A little side chapter for ya'll before we dive back with Aine and Draco~ We had our first kiss scene written in this book but it's not our main couple >< Rest assured, I promise I will write theirs in the later part of the story!
Question! What kind of kiss do you think our OC and Draco would like? Sweet, gentle, fierce, hungry or passionate? Let me know in the comments! Do let me know if you have any ideas you wish for me to incorporate too!
Upvote if you enjoyed this chapter! It means a lot to me and I love you guys <3 Have a lovely day or night, my loves ^^
- Zeneria