— Harry?.. — Flamy breathed out, barely audible. — You...
— Yes... It's me, ah... I seem to be fine... — Harry moved his arms and legs, wanting to make sure his body was obeying him. — Yes, fine. Merlin... What happened?
— I... you... The redhead... — For a few seconds, Flamy fumbled for words, and then, changing her mind, burst into tears, falling onto his chest.
— Flamy... — Harry, whose head was filled with a fog thicker than the one that blankets the ground when Dementors appear, pressed the girl to him without even realizing it. — Come on, what's wrong? Don't cry... I don't really remember what happened, but everything is fine now...
— When... when that idiot pushed you... I thought I was going to die... no, that something terrible would happen to you, and I would die right after... — Harry blinked in astonishment. All this time, they had been looking into each other's eyes without breaking contact, and even now, tear-stained and flushed, the girl was beautiful... — Then, when you flew up and screamed... I grabbed you... and it was as if I took part of your pain upon myself.
— Yes... I remember. — Harry struggled to wade through the memories of the last few moments. — And in the next instant, I felt nothing. It was as if I saw everything from the outside, as if I were hanging... — The sound of footsteps from the direction of the entrance door interrupted him. Harry and Flamy, without realizing it, recoiled from each other.
— ... I can't do anything about it, Albus, — Snape's voice said, — I can't understand what happened at all. Potter touched that cursed trinket, touched it with his whole palm, he should be as dead as a stone!
— I am forced to agree. — This was Madam Pomfrey. — To perish on the spot, it is enough to touch the necklace with one pinky finger, and here the contact was much stronger. I don't understand how he is still alive... I am a healer, it pains me to say this, but I'm afraid even this comatose state won't last long, he will fade away...
— My dear, do not despair. Harry is still alive, that is already a miracle... and knowing him... — here the door to the Hospital Wing opened, and Dumbledore trailed off mid-sentence.
With him were Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and Snape... All four froze in the doorway, even Snape failed to remain completely impassive. Harry and Flamy themselves were also staring wide-eyed at the newcomers. The dumb scene lasted for several seconds. Then Snape came to his senses, curled his face contemptuously, and whispered something under his breath. Harry would have bet a lot that the meaning of this remark boiled down to the thought: "Potter standing out again... Survived yet another time...".
— Harry... — Professor McGonagall was the next to move. As she pronounced his name, she somehow managed to drop the hat from her head...
— Professor... — Harry was just about to ask one of his numerous questions, but then the duty spoke in the nurse.
— Mr. Potter!! — She swooped down on him like a hawk and almost forced him to lie down with a shove, just as he was about to sit up. After that, she began to feel his pulse, examine him from all conceivable and inconceivable angles, and so on and so forth... Harry, knowing full well that it was easier to convince Voldemort to give up the idea of world conquest than to break free from the hands of a nurse who had got into her stride, did not resist. During this time, Flamy returned to her bed, where she was also subjected to an examination, but by her Head of House with the support of the Headmaster. Snape, however, meanly deserted... — Albus... — Confusion was clearly audible in the healer's voice. — I don't understand anything, the boy is perfectly fine, it's as if nothing happened to him...
— Can someone please explain why the fact that I didn't die surprises everyone so much? — Harry exploded, still being held down by the healer. — What kind of necklace was that anyway?
— It was cursed, Harry... — the Headmaster said quietly. — I have heard of it... They say it took the lives of nineteen Muggles. The Ministry's Dark Artifact Destruction Department had been looking for it for a long time...
— Wait! — Harry suddenly remembered. — I've seen it before!
The conversation quickly shifted away from the state of his health and the very fact that he still possessed said health. Harry told everything he remembered about his brief excursion to Knockturn Alley. In the course of his story, Albus Dumbledore managed to send both extra listeners out of the Hospital Wing. Next, the story moved to what had happened in Hogsmeade. Harry and Flamy, complementing each other, told everything they could remember. Having listened to them, the Headmaster sank into deep thought.
Harry noticed that although his miraculous recovery had astonished the old man, he had recovered faster than anyone else and seemed to have found some plausible explanation for it. And Harry also felt that now was a highly inappropriate time to ask about it, he would wait, and together with Flamy try to figure it out himself, and if it didn't work out...
— What happened to Katie, Professor? — Apparently, Flamy's thoughts were moving in the same direction, and for now, she decided to ask other questions.
— Yes, — Harry chimed in, — it seemed to me that she was acting very strangely, that's what attracted me... Was she under the Imperius Curse?
— Yes, it seems whoever did this ordered her to deliver this item to the castle and give it to someone there. Presumably, the target was not you... — Albus Dumbledore said quietly. — Right now she is at St. Mungo's Hospital. The Healers cannot calm her down; she is trying with all her might to break free and find this necklace...
— What will happen to her?
— The Imperius Curse is considered criminal for a reason; to lift it, if the victim is completely under its power, is practically impossible. But as soon as she begins to fight it, freeing her will not be difficult. St. Mungo's Hospital has experienced healers, they will be able to awaken her will, and then one simple spell is needed... — the Headmaster finished.
After that, Harry brought up the issue of Nazemicus, and here he failed to restrain himself. The Headmaster's eyebrows rose much higher than their usual line when the Gryffindor demanded that he keep an eye on his thief, otherwise he would have to take care of it himself. Along the way, Harry, in a rather harsh manner, demanded that this crook return everything down to the last speck of dust... Harry seriously wondered whether to threaten to expel the Order from the house if his demand was not met. But, in the end, he held back — it wasn't worth picking such a big fight with the Headmaster, who knows what consequences it might bring...
— Well, well, young people, I think all of us, and you first of all, need to rest after this whole business. I will see to it that no one, not even Madam Pomfrey, disturbs you tonight. I believe you will be able to help each other like no one else... — The meaningful smile on the Headmaster's face and the twinkle in his eyes behind his glasses were so eloquent that Harry and Flamy blushed in unison. — Tomorrow morning we shall see if you can return to classes... — Dumbledore rose and headed for the door, turning around one last time right in the doorway, his eyes cast down. — Yes, and in the near future I shall invite you to my office. We... will need to discuss something. — And he left.
— What do you think he wants to talk to us about? — Flamy inquired after a couple of minutes.
— Ah... who knows. I'd like to hope he's decided to share his thoughts regarding what happened.
— One can dream... — judging by the sounds, Flamy was getting out of her bed again. Harry, meanwhile, was just staring at the ceiling. — But things could be much worse...
— Yes, he's decided to feed us Lemon Drops, turn us into drop-addicts, so that later we would follow his commands just to get a new dose.
— Yeah, and he will also keep flashing his eyes at us from under his glasses for hypnotic conditioning. — Flamy finished, having already settled down next to him and now searchingly moving her hands under his pajamas.
— Yes... — Harry's hand discreetly slid towards the girl's waist. — In the face of such danger, we need all our strength... — With one movement, Harry clasped the unsuspecting girl and almost pulled her onto himself... And the bed was a bit cramped. Meanwhile, he continued. — And I'm not sure that a single kiss is enough to fully revive me. You heard it, I was supposed to die. To get all my strength back... I need more.
— Harry... How can you? Aren't you ashamed? — Flamy whispered with a very plausible reproach and indignation, unbuttoning his pajamas.
— The Headmaster himself said that we should help and comfort each other. — Harry exposed her shoulders with a gentle movement, then his hands slid further...
Silence lasted for about a minute, then Flamy slipped out of her nightgown with a deft movement, and then settled herself comfortably astride him... Harry's hands traced her stomach, then moved up to her breasts... He already knew well how much she liked it.
— Yes... the school is turning into a realm of debauchery... — Flamy whispered with regret, leaning down. Harry allowed his hands even more freedom while the graceful girl, whom probably every boy in the school dreamed of, rubbed her cheek against his chest like a big cat. — Since even the Headmaster... what is left for us...
In the morning, they both underwent a thorough inspection by the nurse, and Harry got a creepy feeling that she was bursting with the desire to keep them here for a couple of years to find out the source of the miraculous recovery. More precisely, not them, but him, because Flamy just had a deep shock with a faint, or so everyone believed at least. Finding nothing, Madam Pomfrey, looking like a child whose rattle had been taken away, allowed them to go.
Heading to the Great Hall, where, they had no doubt about it, a new session of universal close attention awaited them, Harry and Flamy discussed the past night. They behaved a bit strangely, they admitted it, but this night had undoubtedly helped them cope better with the shock. And therefore... there was no point in complaining.
As soon as they crossed the threshold of the Great Hall, their worst fears came true. Everyone present stared at them; obviously, the rumors that Harry had recovered instead of passing away had already managed to fly around every ear. Now he would probably be called "The Boy Who Lived Twice," or something along those lines. And one didn't even want to think about what they would write in the Daily Prophet... Harry quickly scanned those present, then repeated the inspection... The first time he had caught something, something unusual...
Draco Malfoy... he, who should have been hissing and snarling with disappointment that the cursed Gryffindor, and at the same time the main enemy of his beloved Lord, hadn't croaked, was simply beaming. No, not with happiness, but with relief. Harry tried to dig up from his memory the moment they opened the gates... Yes, at that very moment Malfoy had looked at him and his face cleared up.
"Damn it! The seas are burning, the forests are flowing, Hagrid is taking a job as an executioner at the Ministry... Malfoy is insanely glad that I am alive! Where is this world heading? What does this mean?". — With these thoughts, Harry headed towards a vacant seat at the Gryffindor table.
He was immediately swarmed by a flock of students demanding bread and circuses, meaning a story about what had happened. On the other side of the table, they were crowding Flamy in the exact same way. Harry didn't find Ron and Hermione right away; they were sitting tightly surrounded by other students, obviously, up until his appearance, the whole weight of the questioning had been pressing on his friends and Leanne.
Towards the end of breakfast, when the excitement had died down a bit and some of the students had dispersed, Ron and Hermione headed toward him. One look into his best friend's eyes made Harry prepare for the worst.
— Harry! — Hermione immediately pounced on him. — How could you? How long can you be so irresponsible? You could have died...
— But, I... — Harry was completely dumbfounded, this was not what he expected, he was rather afraid of suspicions regarding Flamy, but Hermione only showered him with reproaches, unclear for what reason.
— She's right, Harry, — Ron added fuel to the fire, — you don't think about anything at all...
— But...
— What possessed you to touch that strange object?
— Me?!
— Well, yes! You wanted to find out everything again, you went in without thinking, without consulting us... — Hermione continued, not listening to him at all.
— Just like with Sirius... — Ron hastened to add, and that was already too much.
— How dare you?! — He barked across the whole hall. Both of his friends froze with their mouths open, seemingly not understanding why their fair remarks had driven Harry out of his mind. He would rather burst into tears or... — Were you there or not?!
— We were, we saw everything... — Ron began.
— And did it! Maybe you no longer remember whose shove in the back made me fall right onto that cursed necklace?
— What? Are you trying to say... — Ron's eyes grew to half his face, which was rapidly reddening.
— YES!!! I was standing aside, trying to better understand the situation. I was already reaching for my wand, because the cause of the distress seemed obvious. But then my friends come up from behind, having missed everything! And you, with your hands that you have nowhere to put, just shove me in the back! And now you stand here and blame me!! — Meanwhile, Harry was slowly advancing on his friends and had driven them almost to the middle of the Hall.
— Wait, Harry... you don't mean to say... — Hermione began.
— Yes, I mean to say that you, — he poked Ron hard in the chest, — almost killed me yesterday. And you, — a poke in Hermione's shoulder, — saw it all! But instead of thinking for even a second, you immediately blamed everything on me! Maybe you told the exact same thing to everyone else, and even to the Headmaster?! — Harry suddenly remembered that last night, while they were telling Dumbledore about what happened, especially about the falling episode, the latter at first perceived it incredulously, as if their story contradicted some other facts known to him. — Yes... — Tears were standing in Hermione's eyes now.
— Well, think better next time! — And Harry practically ran toward the exit.
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