Chapter 68: The Attack
I was sitting in my study, absently grading homework. I assigned very little of it, having no desire to wade through reams of essays, but occasionally there was no getting around it.
Nearly two weeks had passed since I had placed the order for the expert assessment of the books, and the results should arrive soon. In the meantime, Lockhart had barely troubled me at all, not since his attempt to inveigle himself into the Duelling Club, at any rate.
Life had settled into something I might almost call comfortable, and had fallen into its familiar rhythm. I was working as relentlessly as ever, pouring my time into training and spending what time remained with the younger students, who had no shortage of questions. I tried to take my role as their senior mentor seriously, which meant helping them with things that were not always immediately obvious: how to handle a particular teacher, which supplementary reading to look for, which introductory textbooks explained the material most clearly.
"Draco, we have a problem!"
Hermione burst into my study.
"What's happened?"
"Penny was attacked."
I frowned. A flicker of real concern rose in me, then subsided almost at once. Hermione's manner was too composed for someone bringing genuinely terrible news. I drew a slow breath and let it out.
"Is she all right?"
"Yes. Your artifact held."
"Who was it?"
"A Gryffindor boy. He's in the hospital wing now. Penny didn't wait to find out whether he could break through the artifact's protection. She hit him first."
"Then what's the problem?"
"McGonagall isn't at all pleased that one of her lions ended up in the hospital wing, and she's threatening Penny with expulsion."
"Flitwick is better placed to handle this than I am."
"Flitwick isn't here! He's away on business!"
I stood.
"All right. As his assistant, I can stand in for him in a hearing if need be. Though I never imagined I'd end up playing defender before McGonagall. Go to the tower."
"But..."
"Hermione, go to the tower. And no one goes anywhere alone from now on. I don't like the look of this. Better safe than sorry."
"All right."
She nodded quickly. I didn't let her go alone, though. I walked her to the common room myself, then made my way to McGonagall's office.
"Professor."
I nodded to the older woman. She looked up at me with a faint frown.
"Mr Black. What are you doing here? I sent Miss Granger for Professor Flitwick."
"She did try to find him. As she tells it, she couldn't, so she came to me instead. In all likelihood, he's left the castle, otherwise he wouldn't be difficult to find."
A flick of my wand, and McGonagall's Patronus appeared beside her.
"Filius, could you come to my office? I have Miss Clearwater here. She attacked a student from my house."
I raised a hand to stop Penny, who had drawn breath to speak. She looked at me, startled, but I gave a small shake of my head. *Not the right moment.* She understood and pressed her lips together.
The Patronus vanished.
"Perhaps, as Professor Flitwick's assistant and his personal student, I might help facilitate the matter?"
I was given a long, measuring look.
"Perhaps."
McGonagall sighed.
"Though first I would like to confirm that Professor Flitwick is indeed not in the castle."
I nodded calmly, took the chair beside the wall, crossed one leg over the other, and waited.
About five minutes later, Flitwick's Patronus appeared in the room.
"Minerva, I'm not in the castle just now. I was called to the Guild on an urgent matter. If at all possible, please involve my student. He is level-headed enough to remain impartial even when those closest to him are concerned."
"Very well."
McGonagall closed her eyes for a moment, then looked at me.
"Mr. Black, your Head of House's prefect attacked a student from my house. And it was not a simple matter of a broken bone or two. If that were the case, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I would simply assign detention, deduct points, and be done with it."
She shook her head.
"Penny, what did you use?"
"Two Cutting Curses. A Bone-Shattering Hex. And a Castration Charm."
I couldn't quite suppress a short, amused sound.
"There is nothing remotely funny about this, Mr. Black!"
"Professor, with respect, I would suggest we actually hear Penny out first. So: what prompted you to attack a Gryffindor student in that particular fashion? Or was it not an attack at all?"
"It was self-defense. It may have been somewhat excessive, I'll grant you that, but...
Penny shook her head.
"...I don't regret it. Earlier this year, Draco...
She glanced toward me with a grateful nod.
"...gave protective artifacts to his friends and said we should make a habit of wearing them. So I have been. Every day, even at night."
She drew a simple-looking pendant on a chain out from beneath her blouse. The enchantment worked into it was anything but simple.
"I'm not quite sure what the artifact has to do with your attack."
McGonagall frowned, though I could see from the slight shift in her expression that she was already beginning to guess. She simply did not want to believe it.
I was on my way back from the library to the common room when I was hit from behind with a Full Body-Bind. I didn't let on that it hadn't worked and stayed absolutely still, though I'll confess the position was terribly uncomfortable. A Gryffindor student stepped out from behind me, a satisfied smirk on his face. He was kind enough to explain the situation. He had received a letter offering him two hundred Galleons to assault me, rape me, and beat me badly enough to keep me in the hospital wing for a month.
McGonagall went white.
"That cannot be. Stevenson is hardly a model student, but he is not capable of something like this."
"Professor, I would never presume to question your assessment. You know him far better than I do, and I'm not acquainted with him at all. But I know Penny very well, and I have no doubt she is telling the truth, particularly in circumstances like these. And there is a simple way to establish which of us is right, and whether someone's trust has been badly misplaced. Penny learned to extract memories over the summer, so we could use the Pensieve and simply see what happened."
McGonagall looked at Penny. She gave a slow nod, confirming that she could, in fact, extract memories.
"Very well. Tippy!"
A house-elf appeared beside the professor with a sharp crack.
"Tippy is here! Professor McGonagall is calling Tippy! How can Tippy be helping?"
"Go to Dumbledore and ask him for his Pensieve. Tell him I need it urgently."
"Right away, Professor!"
The elf bowed so deeply her ears swept the floor, then vanished with a crack.
"Professor, why didn't you question Penny before I arrived? All of this could have been established without me."
"It's procedure."
McGonagall sighed.
"Cases of this nature are always handled in the presence of both Heads of House. It prevents misunderstanding and bad feeling afterward. We establish the facts and determine any punishment together."
"I see."
The house-elf reappeared with a crack and set the Pensieve on the desk in front of the professor.
"Thank you, little one. You may go. Miss Clearwater..."
McGonagall looked at Penny and nodded toward the Pensieve. Penny understood immediately. She held her wand to her temple, closed her eyes, and began to murmur an incantation. Then she drew the wand slowly away, and a thin silver thread followed it from her temple. One careful movement of the wand, a little uncertain but precise, and the thread separated cleanly and fell into the basin.
"Excellent."
All three of us leaned over the silvery mist above the basin and fell into it.
We were in one of the corridors of Hogwarts, one I recognized at once. It led almost directly from the library to the entrance of our common room. Penny was walking along it ahead of us.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Penny flinched. Unfortunately, since she couldn't see behind her at the time, neither could we. But the boy who had cast the spell appeared in front of us a moment later.
"Ha. Easy money."
He shook his head.
"...I'll be honest with you. I wasn't sure I was going to go through with this. But then I saw you, alone, defenseless, and I thought about how friendly you are with that jumped-up Black...
He looked at Penny with open dislike.
"...and I made up my mind. Two hundred Galleons don't just fall out of the sky, and if someone is willing to pay me that to rape you, beat you up, or even cripple you... why wouldn't I take them up on it? Especially since you won't remember a thing. I'll dose you with Forgetfulness Potion first."
I frowned.
"Oh, right. Can't have anyone knowing what's about to happen, and doing it here in the corridor makes that a bit tricky. You know, I spent the summer working on a wizard farm and got some practice in with a Submission Jinx. It's Unforgivable, I know, but only when used on people, and no one's going to find out... So I'll cast it on you now, and you'll come to me yourself this evening. Walk in of your own free will."
"Petrificus Totalus! Sectumsempra! Sectumsempra Duo! Sectumsempra Quatra! Flipendo! Secretusmus!"
Penny erupted in a volley of spells, and the boy was flung back against the wall. I drew a long, slow breath and let it out.
"Well done, Penny."
"Mr Black!"
"Professor, I understand that in my capacity as acting Deputy Head of House, I ought to reprimand Miss Clearwater. But after what that boy said..."
I shook my head.
"...as an ordinary person and as Penny's friend, all I can do is commend her for protecting herself and ensuring that whoever hired him can never use him for this kind of work again. After all, had it been any other girl in Penny's place, with no artifact to protect her..."
"A Full Body-Bind would have been sufficient."
McGonagall pressed her lips together.
"Possibly."
I shrugged, raised my wand, and rewound the memory to the moment the boy had first come into view.
"Mr Black, we have already established that Miss Clearwater told us the truth."
"I never doubted it."
I shook my head.
"Something just kept nagging at me as I watched. I want to understand what I missed."
I watched the memory through once more, then twice, then a third time, then a fourth.
"Hm."
"Have you noticed something, Mr Black?"
"Look at his eyes, Professor."
I rewound the memory and looked closely at the boy's eyes.
"Damn... he's... he's under a compulsion..."
I shook my head.
"...no, not a spell. I doubt anyone would have cast one on him. More likely some kind of potion, something applied to the letter he received."
"That may well be the case. Madam Pomfrey will have the worst of the injuries under control soon enough, and she'll no doubt be able to tell us what was done to him... But I am glad that your concern for your friend and your anger at my student didn't cloud your judgment. You noticed that something wasn't quite right."
I shrugged, and the three of us left the memory.
"I wouldn't say I was particularly worried about your student. It was more that I've learned to trust my instincts, and my instincts were quietly insisting that things weren't quite what they seemed. That said, you were the one who actually saw it, not me. Left to myself, I'd probably have shaken off the feeling by the third viewing."
"You will notice more as you get older."
McGonagall gave me a slight smile.
"Miss Clearwater. Despite the fact that you were genuinely defending yourself, I cannot overlook the manner in which you chose to do so. I'm afraid I will have to give you some form of punishment."
"Professor, if I might?"
"And what did you have in mind, making her wear a little tail?"
McGonagall gave an amused snort, and Penny went pink.
"I don't think that would feel much like a punishment to her."
I shook my head.
"But I'll think of something appropriate."
I gave Penny a measured look.
"Very well. I think you may both go."
"Thank you."
I nodded to the professor, and Penny and I left her office.
"Draco... thank you. For believing me."
"Don't mention it. It couldn't have been any other way."
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