Harry Potter: Don't touch

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***

Returning from the Wishing Room, Potter was consumed with his thoughts. In his mind, he was repeating what he thought was the most important information from the best corral book ever written. The book itself was incredibly disgustingly written, its author had an unrealistically inflated self-esteem, and he periodically reminded all readers that he was the strongest Quidditch player here, so anyone who disagreed with his opinion and the information written on the pages of this book could jump out of the window. However, despite such an aggressive tone of narration, the author managed to convey a lot of useful information.

Harry has now found the answers to all the questions related to the paddock position. The most dangerous player on the enemy team is the Seeker. He is the number one priority for attacking with bludgers, because according to the generally accepted rules of Quidditch, the creators of which the author insulted on about every page, when catching a snitch, the game automatically stops. And so, as the author said, "Unless your team is winning by more than a hundred and fifty points because of the jerks who created Quidditch, you need to prevent the opposing team's Seeker from properly inspecting the pitch at all costs." There were many more recommendations, for example, wind speed was incredibly easy to calculate, it was enough to look in which direction and how much the game mantle was swaying, and then, if there was experience, the brain would give the necessary result. However, on the very next page the author noticed that this skill is practically useless, because in professional leagues special people are engaged in calculating wind speed.

There was also a recommendation "for the absolutely stupid". In translation from the author's language it was a section for beginners, and there was one general rule that should make hitting a target with bludgers a rather trivial skill. Just figure out what your opponent wants: a Seeker wants a snitch, a Hunter wants a quaffle and the nearest enemy ring, an opponent's corraler wants another bludger or sometimes a quaffle too. Then make a slight delay and send the big black ball not at the players themselves, but at their "targets", and if it misses, just adjust the strength of the shot next time. There was also a lot of advice with examples of when to connect to the hunters' attack, when and how to break the rules, and when to just try to hammer the opposing catcher with the bat.

All in all, there was plenty of information. Harry had read the entire book, but he feared that because there was so much data, he would simply forget everything if he didn't repeat it properly. Which was why he was walking to the Hufflepuff living room without even thinking about what was going on around him. And he should have. Because on his way back from the library, he was spotted by Finch-Fletchley, who thought it was a brilliant idea to scare Potter very badly, who had experienced a cocktail of unpleasant feelings over the past twenty-four hours: shame, fear, anger, a sense of injustice, shame again, and many other unpleasant experiences.

- Boo!!! - shouted Justin, simultaneously using an unknown spell, thanks to which his wand produced a loud clap.

After the sudden loud clap and Finch-Fletchley scream, Harry's brain tried to seize control of his body and make him run in a random direction. However, reflexes, which Potter hadn't even realised existed until that moment, made a major adjustment to the brain's plan:

- Stupefy! - Harry shouted loudly, while simultaneously jumping away from the terrifying sound.

The jump was unsuccessful, Potter hit the wall and fell, but when he got back up he was able to regain his sobriety, only his heart pounding loudly to remind him of his fright. Harry looked angrily at Justin, who had a frightening grimace on his face:

- Bloody hell. You sure are a jerk. Enerwaite!

Finch-Fletchley opened his eyes and stared at Harry in surprise. Apparently he hadn't realised how he'd ended up on the floor, or hadn't expected such a reaction from Potter.

- Well, what did you do? Why did you stun him? - Justin was outraged, getting up from the floor.

At his friend's insolence, Potter couldn't even answer him properly. He was deeply grateful to Finch-Fletchley for the incredible help he had given them during the last dinner. But now all that gratitude had faded into the background, and he wanted to stun Justin again, or at least yell at him very loudly.

- You could have just said you didn't appreciate the joke," Justin was still angry.

- Are you an arsehole? Why did you do that? I've been through so much the last day! I don't need your stupid jokes right now! - Harry raised his voice, making sure that no one else was around.

- I'm the jerk? I was just making a harmless joke, and you just lash out at people like that! Also...

- Stupefy! - Harry exclaimed.

Justin fell to the floor again and Potter sat down next to him and tried to catch his breath and calm down. After three minutes, he was able to convince himself that Finch-Fletchley was his only friend at Hogwarts, and if he didn't have one, he would huddle in a corner and not talk to anyone. So Harry decided that he was willing to put up with his only friend's silly shenanigans.

- Enerwaite!

This time it took Justine about one second to realise what was happening.

- Okay, you've convinced me, I'm not gonna make any more jokes like that.

- Do you understand why you can't do that?

- Of course I do! - Justin made a serious face and immediately returned to his normal state. - Although, to be honest, I don't.

Harry raised his eyes to the ceiling.

- Okay, let's just forget it," he suggested, and Justin nodded in agreement.

A couple of minutes passed before Harry decided to ask the question he was interested in.

- What have you been doing all this time? I was still waiting for you at breakfast and I went to the living room, where have you been?

- I was in the library with Hermione, can you believe she's on Snape's side.

- What do you mean? Did you tell her about the incident at dinner last night?!

- Yeah, why? I didn't give any details!

Harry looked up at the ceiling again. Justin's slips were getting harder and harder to put up with.

- Look, if you haven't told the whole of Hogwarts yet, can you please not tell anyone else?

- No problem, I did tell Ernie....

- Fucking hell, Justin!

"Should we stun him again?"

- Come on, it's not like it's gonna be a secret for long anyway. Snape can't just get kicked out for no reason, can he?

- No, I want it to stay a secret and Snape won't be expelled, Dumbledore told me.

- What nonsense, he put a dangerous potion in a second year student's drink! A student! Do you understand? The Headmaster can't turn a blind eye! - Finch-Fletchley said sure.

- He said he could, let's not talk about it, please. What about Hermione?

- Well, we had a row. She's... Mm-hm... Not herself. Said she didn't approve of what Professor Snape did, but you started it and got what you deserved.

Harry's mood was rapidly approaching zero. If Dumbledore's words could still be explained by an unknown factor for which 'He's too small', Hermione's behaviour... Hell, she seems normal, why is she like this?

- I know what you're thinking. Never mind, she's not herself. I've already figured out why she's acting like that. It's Halloween, day after tomorrow it'll be a year since she was attacked by a troll. It was Snape who saved her then, not us, I told you we should have gone looking for her. That's why she's suddenly grateful to him and just can't go against him. I'm sure she'll come round and change her mind.

There was logic in Justin's words, but it didn't improve Potter's mood. And discussing last Halloween just didn't feel right. The events had been a long time ago.

- Okay, let's just forget the incident, shall we? Let's just pretend it never happened.

- No, Harry, what are you doing? We need revenge. I've been reading up on poisons in the library, I can't find any suitable ones, but if you do a good search...

- You're going to poison him? - Justin's idea seemed extremely stupid to Potter. - Maybe we should poison Malfoy as well, but what's the use of being pompous?! Let's do all the Slytherins!

Harry, as they call it, went off on a tangent.

- I thought they were all right in first year, but now it's like they're the worst kind of creatures in the world. Oh! I've got an even better idea. Snape's a snake alumnus anyway, so why don't we kill all the alumni too? And it doesn't have to be poison, we could use a wand, I read about a killing spell, I think He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named used it, learn it and go into battle!

- You're overreacting... Snape alone will be enough," Finch-Fletchley, if he caught the joke, didn't seem to.

- I promised Dumbledore I wouldn't retaliate," Potter said seriously. - And let's drop the subject, nothing happened. You imagined it.

- Okay, nothing happened, but I'm not eating or drinking at Hogwarts anymore.

- Me neither, by the way. I'll consult Mad-Eye over the holidays, get my own flask and drink only from it, Moody will approve. I can ask for you if you want, or you can come to us during the holidays, but I'm not sure if the guardians will allow it....

- Nah, I'd rather not see Moody too often in case he's after me too. That's not what I meant," Finch-Fletchley retorted. - I was only going to say that I'm afraid to eat in the Great Hall, but I'm going to drink and eat anyway, and I can't go to such drastic measures.

- Suit yourself.

* * *

The incident was never brought up again. The next two days passed quietly, Harry had found two suitable amulets that were supposed to detect poison in drinks and food, but Potter wasn't sure how they worked, so he only took food in the Great Hall from the same place as the other students, and only after a while, in case there was some long-acting potion with terrible effects. Justin had taken similar actions at first, but he had only had enough for a day, soon he was calmly eating whatever was in front of him.

The double potions class on Monday Harry had simply skipped. He hadn't seen Snape again since the incident, nor did he aspire to. So an hour and a half of the lesson was spent studying Evanesco. Harry hadn't started Quidditch practice yet; he opened Ivan Korneev's book once more, read the short chapter about how a good Seeker needed to follow the snitch to properly "zone" the opponent's catcher, and closed it. In practice, all of this would be incredibly difficult to execute. One could, of course, ask Zhou to dodge the bludgers, but Potter had simply been shy to approach her since the incident. He decided that he would ask Cedric to help at practice, he was the captain of the Quidditch team and should be helping the newcomers. Just when life seemed to be back to normal, another unbelievable incident occurred.

Quite symbolically, for the second year in a row, some scary and incomprehensible stuff happened at Hogwarts on Halloween. How such a stupid and clumsy creature as a troll managed to sneak into a guarded - probably - castle standing near a large lake. The way from the entrance to Hogwarts to the Slytherin dwelling was an incredibly long way, and the idea that a troll could get through it alone without anyone noticing was ludicrous. Harry didn't think much about the subject until the following Halloween when the attack happened again.

It had started when Harry had been chatting with Colin about the pictures in one of the corridors of the castle. Potter himself knew nothing about the photography profession, but Creevey was clearly interested in the subject, and so he tried to remember everything he had heard from the Dursleys about reporters. The mood was marvellous, the dinner had been a success, and Professor Snape's absence from it had only added to Potter's satisfaction. But his good mood was not destined to last long. A loud hissing voice suddenly cut into their conversation:

- Tear... Torture... Kill.....

The words cut Potter's ears. He jumped up, instantly pulled out his wand, and looked around for someone to stupefy. But there was no one around, only Creevey continuing to talk about what his parents had told him when they gave him the camera.

- Colin, what was that just now? - Harry asked, not taking his eyes off the surroundings.

- What are you talking about, Harry? - Creevey didn't understand.

- So hungry... So long,

Harry could barely keep himself from casting a spell. But there was no one else around but them! The sounds couldn't be coming out of nowhere, could they?! There must be a source.

- A voice! Someone's trying to kill someone, you couldn't help but hear it!

- You're scaring me, Harry,

Potter took his eyes off the empty corridor and turned to Creevey. Now that's weird. From the look on Colin's face, he really hadn't heard, or was pretending not to... Maybe it was Justin's idea of a joke. But no, he was still in the Great Hall eating chocolate-covered pumpkin. And almost all the Puffendoos are still eating. Except for a few seniors and Creevey. Diggory didn't come at all, and Weasley did a little writing in her diary during dinner and then walked out of the Great Hall with a strange smirk. It was unlikely that any of these people were involved here.

- Killing... Time to kill....

And then it came to Harry.

"Well, of course! The invisible man," he realised.

From the sound of it, the unknown person was moving down the corridor along the opposite wall. Harry slowly, as if unintentionally, took a step forward and another... And another... And another... Now he had to wait for the owner of that hissing voice to make himself known one more time. And he did not wait long.

- I smell blood! - came from right in front of Potter.

- Stupefy! - shouted Harry and sent a stun spell into the wall in front of him.

The red beam of the spell hit the wall and bounced back towards Potter.

"Stunning spells bounce off walls," Harry remembered before he passed out.

* * *

- Enerwaite.

Harry woke up on a bed in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was hovering over him with her wand in her hand.

- You are well, Potter, you may return to the drawing room," she announced and left the Hospital Wing.

Harry got out of bed and ran into Justin's mocking gaze.

- Stunting himself and scaring the hell out of Creevey was genius, Harry, genius.

- There was an invisible man in there," Potter didn't have the energy or desire to keep up the Finch-Fletchley joke. - 'He was trying to kill someone.

- And Creevey said you suddenly started hearing a voice in your head telling you to attack the wall. So we took you to the Hospital Wing to check for insanity just in case.

- And what about the results? - Potter asked angrily.

The feeling of not being believed by his only friend made him want to punch something.

- There's no insanity. Well, you can go back to the living room, you heard yourself.

- I take it you don't believe me?

- What's the matter with you? Of course I believe you! - Justin was surprised and stared at Harry insulted. - It's just that before I heard your version of the story, I only had Creevey's words about your insanity. And now I can see who that voice of yours meant.

- Who? Someone's been murdered?

- Not exactly. Filch's cat was hung in one of the corridors. It's written in blood that some sort of Chamber of Secrets has reopened. Ernie claims it's a publicity stunt.

- What the hell is that? You believe that?

- No, I mean, you've been asking some stupid questions lately. It's just that his version sounds good, he says that one day an owl brought him a message that said, "It's open again," and it's a Muggle shop, and it's not even from England... And that cat was hated by the whole school! They say that Peeves saw Draco Malfoy chasing after her, so the guy got a good part-time job. It's a pretty cool school, isn't it?

- Am I disturbing you? - came a voice from the far side of the bed.

Harry hadn't even thought to look around the Hospital Wing before telling them about the mysterious voice, and they hadn't been here alone all this time.

- No, Seamus, you're not," Justin answered as if nothing had happened. - What's your version, by the way? Soon there'll be a bunch of Chamber of Secrets stalls all over the place...

Potter didn't listen to the nonsense that Finch-Fletchley was trying to drive at Seamus, and plunged into his own thoughts. The troll attack, the mysterious voice, the hanging cat. Someone with bad intentions was clearly in the castle, and that someone was responsible for the troll attack and the attempt on the cat. He won't stop there. That someone must have a bad temper, be connected to the Slytherin faculty, and most likely have a good knowledge of the school. Since the attacks didn't continue until a year later, he probably should have left the school after the troll attack since he couldn't continue his dark deeds.

There was only one person at Hogwarts who fit these conditions, Severus Snape.