Chapter 5 was soooo short, and so is this one, so I give you both in one day!

Chapter 6

The first thing Hermione did when she returned to the castle was send an owl to Malfoy. She didn't know where to find him or what state he'd be in, but she had to talk to him As soon as possible.

She paced their corridor in the dungeons, getting looks every time someone saw her waiting there, under the mistletoe, alone. She was furious, sad, confused... so many emotions at once. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop herself from punching Malfoy when she saw him.

But as minute after minute ticked by, she began to realize he wasn't coming.

The fight and adrenaline draining from her system, she wound her way back upstairs, and ducked into the nearest loo. At least, that was her intent, until she heard sounds of a struggle coming from within the chamber next door: the ping of minor curses ricocheting off stone, punctuated by footsteps, sometimes splashing, and the shattering of glass. Just like that she was on high alert again, raising her wand and easing into the doorway, unsure of what she'd find, but not willing to walk away without finding out.

That's when she heard it: Harry's voice, ringing out with pure hatred. "Sectumsempra!" It was a curse she was unfamiliar with, and it felt like hearing a different language.

"Harry?" She ran in, only to find a dripping wet Harry, wand in hand, breathing hard, gazing in horror at a bleeding form on the ground. Blood was soaking through slashes in the boy's uniform, his Slytherin robes, mingling with water from a broken spout and the boy's silver hair.

Malfoy.

"Harry, what have you done?!"

Hermione ran to Malfoy's side, about to apply pressure to the cut, when she realized - it wasn't just one cut, it was a series of slashes across the boy's torso, slashes that were still being wreaked upon his body. "Make it stop!" she shouted, her voice filling with panic.

"I can't!" Harry croaked out. "That's the first time I ever cast that spell!"

"What?!" Her eyes shot daggers at him before shooting off a distress signal from her wand, then turning back to search Draco's face.

"Malfoy!" She wanted time shake him awake, his head lolling back as it was, but settled for straightening his neck. "Come on, you git." she nearly ground her teeth together, holding the boy she used to hate with a supportive hand on either side of his angular face. She didn't know who she was more mad at - him, Harry, or herself.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Without seeing the expression on his face, she could hear Harry's revulsion.

"What did you do, Harry?" She spat back, focusing all her rage on him without meaning to. "How is it you don't even know?!"

"I would like to know the answer to that myself," snapped a new voice to their duet - Severus Snape. He strode over to a bleeding Malfoy before stopping short, his beady eyes taking in the torn and bloody torso, still being cut over and over again, on a horrific loop.

"Where did you learn that spell?" he asked, his voice chilling, before lowering himself in a flutter of capes to the floor at Draco's side. He whispered an incantation as he ran his wand over the cuts in the boy's flesh.

"Well?" Snape snapped at Harry.

"I- I found it in a book."

"The book?" Hermione's eyes blazed as she turned on Harry. "I warned you about taking advice from someone who is a self-anointed prince!" She was blazing with anger, confusion, helplessness. What was going on today with all these bizarre, terrifying curses? She knew at least part of the answer lay locked inside the boy in whose head was in her hands, pulse fluttering limply, and she hoped to Merlin he'd be alive long enough to tell her.

Thanks for reading! The saga continues...

Stay safe, everyone! x