Hemione, Harry and Ron were sitting in the common room discussing things. It had already been 3 days after the incident and Harry and Ron were still recovering from it. Luckily, the herbs arrived sooner than expected so both of them could get the treatment sooner, especially Ron since he was reaching the point where he had to be sent to a hospital directly. At the moment Hermione had forgiven them, not completely but she had resumed talking to them again after they apologized to Draco and Theodore in front of her. Even though Draco and Theodore just ignored them and walked past by them, the fact that they didn"t complain further made her sigh in relief.Harry couldn"t sit down. He paced up and down in front of the fire. He was still shaking remembering the incident that took place that night.
"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort"s waiting in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich...."
"Stop saying the name!" said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them but Harry wasn"t listening.
"I never thought I would say this but luckily Draco was there, I fainted when I saw Voldemort if Draco wasn"t there, I am not sure if I would survive there or not... and the centaurs they must know that Voldemort"s coming back..."
"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed.
"So all I"ve got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry went on feverishly, "Then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off... Well, I suppose a lot of people would be happy." Since the newspaper incident he knew how much some people hated him, so he was sure they would be very happy if he were to die, especially in the hands of Voldemort.
Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort. "Harry, everyone says Dumbledore"s the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won"t touch you. Anyway who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that"s a very imprecise branch of magic."
"Yeah! and didn"t you say Black was able to chase him off, so that means he is very weak right now." Ron added words of comfort.
"But I don"t understand why Draco didn"t mention about You-know-who to anyone?" Hermione thought out loud.
"Maybe he was too scared by him." Ron suggested, "Or..."
"Or what?" Hermione asked with an annoyed tone.
"I- I mean..." Ron mumbled nervously.
"Speak!" Hermione said harshly.
"You know his parents are death-eaters so he might actually be supp--" The more he spoke the more intense Hermione"s gaze was, so his voice kept getting quieter by every word.
"Ron! Next time, I swear to G.o.d! I will not forgive you." Hermione reprimanded Ron, "Don"t speak ill about my friends."
"Sigh! Yeah, Ron leave it." Harry said, "He could have harmed me all he wanted back then but he didn"t so it kinda proves that he isn"t really that bad, and with Voldemort, the topic is very sensitive so maybe he didn"t want to worry you and his friends."
Hermione nodded thinking about that possibility since from what she knew about Draco, he could be really secretive sometimes but its usually for the best interest of other parties.
The sky had turned light before they stopped talking.
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The exams started in Hogwarts and everyone got super busy with their own things.
In the sweltering hot, especially in the large cla.s.sroom where all of them did their written papers. Everyone had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an anti-cheating spell. Draco didn"t have much problems with written than expected, as it was much smoother than he thought it would be.
They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his cla.s.s to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk, which was a very easy feat to perform for Draco and Theodore since it was just a basic spell they used in their day to day life.
Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox -- points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was but taken away if it had whiskers. Draco did considerably well on that too since he had been practicing transfiguration for quite a while now. Draco managed to transform the mouse into a gold and emerald snuffbox with delicate and beautiful design. Professor McGonagall was very impressed with Draco and from the smile on her face, he was sure that he would get full marks on the exam.
Next was potions, Snape was making all the students nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness Potion. Well everyone except Theodore and Draco of course since they could make such an easy potion with their eye closed, at any given moment and luckily with the help of both of them, Daphne and Pansy weren"t suffering either.
For Harry, on the other hand, it was very different, Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest. Neville thought Harry had a bad case of exam nerves because Harry couldn"t sleep, but the truth was that Harry kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.
Maybe it was because they hadn"t seen what Harry had seen in the forest, or because they didn"t have scars burning on their foreheads, but Ron and Hermione didn"t seem as worried about the Stone as Harry. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn"t keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn"t have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.
Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who"d invented self-stirring cauldrons and they"d be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Draco couldn"t help cheering with the rest since history was his most pressured subject.
"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn"t have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."
"Are you sure that was even in this term?" Draco asked
"It was but it wasn"t so important and elaborate," Hermione said, Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward,
"Then why even bother with it." Draco said rolling his eyes, "You do remember our bet right?"
Hermione looked at Draco and nodded. "I do, be prepared to follow my order."
"Draco I need to talk to you," Harry said coming behind him. Theodore and Draco looked at each other and back at Harry,
"What is it?"
"It"s about the forest." Harry whispered slowly looking at Pansy and Daphne.
Draco thought about it for a while and nodded, he looked at Pansy and Daphne and said, "Can you wait for me in the common room?"
Both of them looked at each other and nodded, "We will see you later then."
Hermione, Harry, Ron, Theodore, and Draco went towards the lake where they started chatting.
Harry was rubbing his forehead along the way.
"I want to know what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting -- it"s happened before, but never as often like this, especially since I went into the forest."
"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.
"I"m not ill," said Harry. "I think it"s a warning... it means danger"s coming... Draco you know what this means right, I beg of you, please tell me."
Hearing the desperate voice of Harry both Ron and Hermione were surprised. Draco sighed,
"Sigh! What do you want to know?"
"My scar!" Harry said, "It"s been hurting more and more since we met Voldemort in the forest, you fought him off after I fainted didn"t you? Do you know something about it?"
"Don"t say his name out loud, idiot." Draco reprimanded Harry. "Especially in an open s.p.a.ce like this."
"I am not afraid of him." Harry said.
"It"s not about being afraid you idiot." Theodore snorted, "Hasn"t your friend told you anything?"
Harry looked at Ron who just shrugged his shoulders. Ron knew it was a taboo name but he didn"t know exactly why.
"Sigh! Idiots, his name is a taboo not because people are afraid of him but because his name is enchanted, everytime you speak out his name in an unprotected s.p.a.ce like this, he will be aware of your location."
Harry and Ron both gasped as they swallowed their saliva.
"What kind of spell is that?" Hermione asked curiously, "I never heard of such spells before."