[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
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Amanda turned and walked toward Draco and Harry.
Harry, visibly nervous, lifted Draco's robes, gripping his arms and legs as he tried to check whether he was injured.
"Draco, what happened?"
"Don't touch him. He needs to rest."
Amanda pulled Harry's hand away from Draco. "He was hit by Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse."
"The Cruciatus… what is that?"
Harry's eyes widened as he asked, looking completely bewildered.
Amanda solemnly explained the three Unforgivable Curses to Harry and told him how Neville's parents had been driven insane by the Cruciatus Curse.
Harry turned deathly pale. "My God… Draco, you…"
He threw himself over Draco, hugging him tightly, tears streaming down his face.
"All right. He should be fine for now."
Amanda then recounted the events of the previous day in detail. Harry listened with throbbing veins and reddened eyes.
"Merlin's beard… Voldemort really is on the back of Quirrell's head."
"I can't believe it… That's so cruel. Thank goodness you're all safe."
As Harry opened his arms to hug them again, Amanda noticed the mucus on his face and quickly asked, "Harry, why did you come alone? Where are the professors?"
Harry lowered his arms and began recalling what had happened when they were separated the night before.
"I ran into the castle to find Professor Dumbledore, but I ran straight into Snape as soon as I got inside. I told him Voldemort was killing unicorns in the Forbidden Forest to drink their blood."
"Snape didn't believe me at all, so I told him Voldemort might be on Quirrell's head. He said, 'Potter, don't think you can attract attention by spouting nonsense,' and ordered me to return to my dorm in Slytherin immediately."
"As we were walking down the corridor, a sudden fire broke out in the Forbidden Forest, and soon part of the sky turned red. Snape glared angrily and quickly summoned several professors."
"I followed them to the edge of the forest, and Hagrid came out. He didn't know anything and hadn't seen you, so I grabbed Snape and shouted, 'Amanda and Draco are missing!'"
"Snape shook me off, and everyone went in with Hagrid. I waited outside almost all night, dodging Filch's patrols several times, but by dawn, no one had come back out."
Harry looked toward the direction where Firenze had disappeared, as if checking whether he had returned.
"I thought about it and decided to look for you myself, but I got lost in the forest not long after. Luckily, I ran into Firenze. He said he'd seen two human children near the stream not long before, and he brought me to you."
Amanda patted Harry on the head.
"You should have waited outside. It's far too dangerous in here. What if you ran into Voldemort?"
Harry shot back, "You all went in, what was I supposed to do? I was afraid you might have been… tricked by Voldemort…"
Amanda shook her head. "Thank goodness you're all right. I just wish I knew where Voldemort and Quirrell are now…"
No sooner had she finished speaking than Firenze appeared behind them with Professor McGonagall and Quirrell.
"I expect you'll be able to explain your actions when we return to the castle."
Professor McGonagall looked even angrier than the last time Amanda had seen her flying on a broomstick. She pointed her wand at the sky and conjured a massive Gryffindor symbol in the air, marking their location.
Amanda thanked Firenze and stepped aside quickly.
Quirrell followed Professor McGonagall, his head bowed, watching them nervously.
"M-Merlin, miss, a-and P-Potter, Malfoy… a-at last, we've found you," he said in his usual stammering tone.
Amanda noticed that he wasn't wearing his turban or wrapped in that enormous scarf.
Draco went pale with terror the instant he saw Quirrell. Amanda quickly blinked at Draco and Harry.
Harry stared at Quirrell in confusion and moved closer to Amanda, silently mouthing, You meant the back of Quirrell's head…
Amanda made a subtle gesture to keep quiet. Harry nodded, as if suddenly understanding.
"You… you!"
Draco pointed at Professor Quirrell, horrified, and let out a hoarse sound.
Professor McGonagall looked at him in confusion. "Malfoy, what is the matter?"
Quirrell's presence seemed to shatter Draco's nerves. He dropped onto the grass, bracing himself with his feet as he continued to scramble backward, clawing at his hair with both hands.
Fear hollowed his eyes and clouded his gaze, as though he were staring at something no one else could see. Amanda suddenly remembered the potion Quirrell had given Draco the day before.
Green, developed by Voldemort, capable of causing pain and hallucinations, Could it be a Draught of Despair?
It was a potion created by Voldemort specifically to protect the locket. Anyone who drank it would suffer intense pain and vivid hallucinations.
She could only hope Snape would have a solution when he arrived.
She and Harry each gripped one of Draco's shoulders, barely managing to keep him from thrashing about. Moments later, Snape, Hagrid, and Professor Flitwick arrived.
Snape strode over to Draco, watching him writhe on the ground with what might have been pity, though his words were utterly merciless.
"Tsk. What a mess… My dear godson. Just imagining how devastated Lucius will be when he sees you in this ridiculous state almost makes me want to drag you to him for a little performance."
"Severus, what's wrong with him?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Snape leaned closer to Draco's mouth and inhaled sharply.
"He's likely ingested some kind of unusual potion. I believe I know the antidote. We'll take him to the dungeons first."
Several professors pointed their wands at Draco, levitated him into the air, and carried him forward.
Amanda and Harry followed closely, watching Draco with concern as he sank deeper into his agonizing hallucination. At the same time, they kept a careful distance from Quirrell.
Hagrid led Fang behind them, and the boarhound occasionally padded up to lick Amanda's and Harry's palms.
"Glad you're all safe," Hagrid said. "Though I don' know what happened. There was unicorn blood everywhere yesterday, even though I never saw the unicorn itself."
"And those centaurs… never seen 'em so furious. They didn't believe a word we said, and it took a lot to convince 'em to let us put out the fire."
Amanda coughed awkwardly.
Fortunately, they had blamed Voldemort entirely for setting the Forbidden Forest ablaze.
Hagrid scratched his beard.
"Once I get you all back, I'm off to get some sleep. You can tell me what happened later, yeh're all trustworthy kids, right?"
…
This was Snape's office.
The surrounding shelves were packed with bottles and jars of every kind, filled with countless potion ingredients. The air was thick with mingled scents, forming a bitter, oppressive aroma.
Draco lay on the hard sofa in the center of the room, his lips pale and his forehead slick with sweat. Amanda and Harry watched him anxiously as he lay unconscious, his breathing shallow.
"Is he going to be all right?"
"Well, he'd certainly be better off without you two little monsters cluttering up my workspace."
Snape shook a brownish-purple glass bottle in his hand, poured its contents into the steaming cauldron, then deftly chopped the black beetle eyes into fine pieces.
"Since you insist on staying here and hindering a Potions professor's inspired work, you may as well prove you're not entirely stupid and incompetent. I'll give you something useful to do."
"Potter, come here and squeeze five milliliters of Flobberworm mucus into the bottle."
Harry stared in horror at the shrunken, writhing brown worms and swallowed hard.
"Professor, can I do something else?"
"Of course you can, leave at once. I do not tolerate idleness in my classroom."
Resigned, Harry reached toward the mass of fat, squirming worms, picked one up, and cautiously squeezed it over the bottle.
A splash of green slime shot straight into his face. Harry yelped and fell backward with a thud. Amanda pressed her lips together, barely suppressing a laugh.
Snape's dark gaze swept over them, clearly irritated by the presence of yet another idle onlooker.
"Merlin, go grind the camel horn into powder."
Harry shot him a resentful look and muttered, "Why does Amanda get to grind camel horns… while I'm stuck squeezing Flobberworms?"
"Potter, has no one ever told you that complaining about others is rude?"
…
Harry snapped his mouth shut, closed his eyes in resignation, and squeezed the Flobberworm again. Amanda ground the camel horn in her hand while watching Draco lying on the sofa.
Draco seemed trapped in some kind of agonizing nightmare. Even though Snape had given him a sedative, it had only temporarily subdued the convulsions wracking his body. From time to time, his face twisted in silent struggle, making it difficult to imagine the torment he was enduring.
The Draught of Despair was a potion meticulously crafted by Voldemort, brewed from a variety of magical ingredients. It was exceptionally complex and powerful.
If it weren't for the Potions Master standing right in front of them, Draco might have suffered for who knew how long.
Snape added the final ingredient to the cauldron and stirred it clockwise for one minute.
"My little monsters, take advantage of this time before my godson wakes up to tell me exactly what happened yesterday."
Harry launched into an enthusiastic retelling, full of detail and exaggeration, of everything Amanda had told him earlier.
"Professor! Quirrell and Voldemort are working together! Voldemort is living on the back of Quirrell's head, and they're trying to kill us! They killed the unicorn! They just want to steal the Philosopher's Stone…"
Snape frowned, his expression dark.
"Your suspicions regarding a professor's credentials are unfounded."
"But Amanda and Draco saw it with their own eyes! And if it wasn't Voldemort, how could Draco have ended up like this?!"
"Potter, I must remind you that Quirrell was wearing neither a turban nor a scarf when he was in the forest today."
"Then Voldemort must have possessed something else temporarily!" Harry exclaimed urgently.
Snape's cold gaze settled on Harry's face.
"In fact, what you said isn't entirely unfounded. Quirrell has been behaving suspiciously lately. I did not invite him when I went to the Forbidden Forest yesterday, yet he appeared there today."
"I also do not believe that you first-year students are capable of casting an Unforgivable Curse. As for the origin of that potion…"
Harry burst out excitedly, "Professor! You believe us! That's wonderful! We should capture Professor Quirrell immediately and find Voldemort as soon as possible!"
"But based solely on the accusations and conjecture of a few first-year students, it would be difficult for others not to view this as a setup or a false charge."
Snape doused his enthusiasm with cold logic.
"You also cannot prove Voldemort's existence. No one believes he is still alive… let alone that he has entered Hogwarts, the safest place in all of England."
Harry puffed out his cheeks anxiously, thought for a moment, and said, "Then I need to see Professor Dumbledore! Dumbledore will definitely find a solution!"
"Dumbledore is away. I have already written to inform him."
Amanda rubbed her temples, a headache beginning to form. Snape's words were not without merit.
Without any concrete evidence, the claims of a few eleven-year-old first-years held little weight. Even if one of them had been tormented by dark magic, and even if that student happened to be the heir of the Malfoy family.
People would naturally focus on protecting themselves. At most, they would assume the children had trespassed into the Forbidden Forest and been injured by some dark wizard, without ever considering Voldemort's existence.
If they directly announced that Voldemort was responsible, or that he had returned. Panicked crowds would only assume they were covering up their own wrongdoing and speaking nonsense.
Even now, as they reentered Hogwarts with the professors, most students stared at them in fear.
Their gazes were fixed on Draco, floating ahead of them, while they looked back and forth between Harry and Amanda with a mixture of shock and uncertainty.
They were so frightened that none of them dared say a word.
Amanda could already imagine the outrageous rumors that would spread behind closed doors during Monday's classes.
"Look at that unlucky Malfoy! Always hanging around with Merlin and Potter, he nearly lost his life."
"Obviously they were cursed and tortured by Merlin! How cruel, using friends as test subjects. Anyone who gets close to them is doomed!"
…
Snape stirred the cauldron a few more times, and the potion inside shifted into a clear, pale aquamarine liquid.
He extinguished the fire beneath it, poured the potion into a small vial, and divided the remainder into several separate bottles.
"Remember, administer one dose to him every day."
Amanda and Harry nodded.
Harry carefully helped Draco sit up, while Amanda gently opened his jaw and slowly poured the potion into his mouth.
"Cough… cough, cough…"
The pale blue liquid slid down his throat. A few seconds later, Draco coughed several times and gradually regained consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly, looked at Amanda and Harry beside him, then surveyed the room.
Draco relaxed and murmured weakly, "Godfather… Quirrell."
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