And time marched relentlessly on. On Friday, Madam Pomfrey finally released her prisoners, since Flamia was no longer of particular interest, while the resilient Potter looked as though he had been at a resort. Of course, the nurse had no idea exactly how her main patient's treatment had proceeded, otherwise she probably would have tried to separate the lovebirds or at least slept right there in the ward. Once free, the lovebirds quickly discovered what it meant to miss almost an entire week of classes. As it turned out, Snape, whose lesson happened to be the first one they attended, had not only refrained from celebrating the absence of his most beloved student, but had also been putting the entire class through its paces. The subject of the latest lessons had been combinations of combat spells and countermeasures. Naturally, Ronald Weasley could not explain such complicated material, especially since practice and timely reactions were the most important things here. The Terror of the Dungeons seemed to have known exactly when to expect the return of the Boy-Who-Did-It. At last, he had an opportunity to take revenge on that scoundrel, and he had to use it! But he failed to take into account that pettiness never led to anything good, and so Snivellus was defeated once again—his spells were far too predictable, since he was convinced that even if Harry had studied the theory, he would be unable to apply it in practice. He was wrong.
However, the triumph in the DADA classroom was quickly replaced by horror at the mountain of homework from McGonagall and Flitwick. Both of them kept making their assignments more difficult; it seemed that just a little more and the level would rise considerably above the N.E.W.T.s—which was not far from the truth. There was one consolation: the spells they were studying now were genuinely useful, allowing them to alter the structure of objects and grant them protective properties, or to create magical barriers for various purposes. Naturally, few could cope with assignments like these, especially on the first attempt, but it was absolutely necessary to at least try to teach the students these skills.
The weekend passed unnoticed, since the backlog that had accumulated in only four days was not going to disappear by itself. And besides the ordinary problem of falling behind, the consequences of their "outing" to Hogsmeade were also taking their toll. While Harry simply could not cast powerful spells, with ordinary ones working almost as usual, Flamia quickly grew tired from even the simplest magical manipulations. Eventually, by Wednesday, her strength began to return and life resumed its usual course.
There was only one troubling matter: the Apparition exam was approaching. Because of what had happened, many had not managed to take it; one could even say that almost no one had managed even to try. And the problem of Apparating to the same place had to be solved urgently. When the girl decided to risk another attempt—the Friday lessons had resumed, although they had become somewhat more difficult—she managed to shift at least a little away from the place where Potter had Apparated, but it was clearly not enough. Moreover, an attempt to Apparate alone led to nothing at all. The solution came unexpectedly: when Harry appeared behind an obstacle and Flamia "landed" there as well, they had the idea of using the Invisibility Cloak. After all, everyone took the exam one at a time. There was no longer any time to test the theory in practice—the Apparition tests had been scheduled for the following weekend.
Harry felt very uneasy because he still had not discovered Malfoy's plans. His intuition told him that it would not end well, but what could he do? The best thing in such a situation was to find a way to become a basilisk as quickly as possible while retaining the ability to return to human form. He had done everything within his power: he had thoroughly studied all the instructions and reference books and had fully created the image of his Animagus form—a gigantic serpent with a brownish head and a scar between its eyes. Incidentally, this had not been as easy as one might imagine, since for everything to work, the beast itself had to answer the wizard's call and reveal its face. But he had been unable to find a way to transform even once. And Bill and Fleur's wedding had been scheduled for May 1, meaning that he and Flamia would have to leave the castle. Of course, the strictest security measures would be taken, but would that save them from Voldemort?
What could he do to gather enough strength without "feeding" on Flamia? There was nothing even in the potion reference books, although Snape had claimed that a true Potions master was capable of doing absolutely anything. Wait! He seemed to have an idea! Where was that vial of Felix? Right, it was somewhere here, at the bottom of the trunk… Found it! How much did he need to take to obtain results in time? A couple of sips would probably be enough, since the vial was intended to last an entire day…
"Don't drink it, Harry! It's dangerous!" the girl said as she returned to the room for Bruce the Unsociable.
"What's wrong? Slughorn brewed the potion, and he tested it before giving it to us…"
"Don't drink it! I can feel that something is wrong…"
"Wait… You're right, it does smell strange… It has fermented! It looks as though the old fat man kept it somewhere warm! Let's see what the textbook says about the consequences of taking a spoiled potion…"
"Felix Felicis is extremely treacherous. Even if you do everything correctly, taking too much of it or keeping it somewhere warm will have terrible effects. Firstly, all the negative emotions you were experiencing when you took it will take root and grow, even if it was only a momentary resentment toward your best friend. Secondly, your wishes will come true in ways entirely different from what you wanted, and therefore, if you are cured of the severe poisoning that will essentially result, you will most likely find yourself in a terrible situation and will be unable to forgive yourself for what you said or did…"
"Well, well! I think I finally know what got into Miss Know-It-All. But what was she trying to do? Even I only considered using the Felix Felicis now, when I have no idea what else can be done, and she, whatever else you might say about her, has always been more sensible and calm…"
"Are you saying that this… bookworm was planning to do something very important?"
"Apparently… And judging by the fact that her only… companion at the moment is Draco Malfoy, her plans involved crossing paths with him somehow. In other words, Hermione most likely decided to discover for herself what that half-baked ferret was doing and could think of nothing better than taking the potion… Just imagine, it turns out she never even questioned its quality!"
"What are you going to do about it, Harry? Will you brew an antidote or leave everything as it is?"
"I don't know, my angel, I don't know… The Apparition exam is tomorrow, so the main thing now is to pass it without attracting unnecessary attention. Besides, I already have enough to worry about with my daily studies and Animagus transformation… Not to mention that I could use more practice in duelling. I haven't taken part in a proper duel for a long time, unless you count that incident with Snape… Did he really think I wouldn't be able to counter a combination of Tarantallegra, Rictusempra and Expelliarmus? It's a pity that lately he has been trying to pair me with Neville, who still hasn't properly learned to cast spells nonverbally. If it weren't for his absent-mindedness, his thoughts would already allow me to do absolutely nothing, but as it is…"
"Harry… You still haven't told me why you decided to use the Felix, which, incidentally, is the only vial you have. What are you trying to hide from me?"
"Nothing, Flamia. I've simply reached a dead end with my transformation. There aren't any instructions anywhere for future basilisks!" The young man chose to tell part of the truth, since he was incapable of lying to his fiancée in every sense of the word.
"Why didn't you say anything? We could have searched together and, eventually, asked the Headmaster… Dumbledore must know at least some method, if one exists at all!"
"You see… A method exists, and I even know what it is. But I can't use it! Not because it's impossible—quite the opposite. I have already prepared everything else, apart from working out exactly how I will preserve my consciousness and return to human form. It's simply that I would only use this method as a last resort, when there was no other path and refusing to do it would mean death…"
"What kind of method is it? Do you have to kill someone? Don't tell me that the transformation requires Dark magic! In that case, I'm against it too!"
"Almost… The thing is… Do you remember what happened in Hogsmeade?" Harry realised that he would not be able to reveal only part of the truth. "You lost your strength then while trying to summon a Patronus. But in reality, you were transferring your power into me! When you lost consciousness, I managed to create a Protector that even Professor Dumbledore would have been unable to summon. I don't possess enough magical potential to transform into a basilisk, and I have no intention of feeding on your strength like some kind of vampire! Flamia, swear that you will never use Expecto Patronum under any circumstances unless your life is in mortal danger!"
"All right…"
The Apparition tests took place the following day. To prevent anything from happening, this time they used a modified Great Hall as the testing ground—couldn't they have thought of that before?—and summoned the students inside one at a time. They were called in alphabetical order, so Miss Nightfolk went before her boyfriend. Putting on an entire performance on the subject of "I'm very worried about you," Harry stepped aside and, throwing the Invisibility Cloak over himself, slipped into the Hall after the girl. To avoid attracting attention, they had decided to communicate mentally—if anyone noticed, it would only be the Headmaster, and he would not give them away. The examination board consisted of Wilkie Twycross, Albus Dumbledore, Percy Weasley—Scrimgeour had not appeared, since his relationship with the head of Hogwarts could be described as strained—and two wizards from the Ministry whom neither Flamia nor her invisible assistant had ever seen before. Most likely, however, they worked in the Department of Magical Transportation and therefore rarely appeared in public.
And so, the moment of truth arrived. First, she had to Apparate into a hoop in the centre of the Hall, which caused no difficulties, nor did the next task—landing on a platform at the height of the second floor. Its area was large enough for two people to appear there, although Harry had to stand at the very edge. Thank Merlin, he had anticipated possible surprises, and so, besides the cloak, he had also used a Disillusionment Charm. Learning it had not been difficult. It was a pity that it could not replace his father's cloak and was only suitable for concealing such things as shoes sticking out beneath the hem.
Then the difficulties began. They had to Apparate quickly and accurately to different ends of the room. Even mental communication did not help them completely conceal every trace of another person's presence, but fortunately, the doubled crack was considered merely an unusual characteristic of the girl. The exam was passed, and they could relax—Twycross had wanted to give Potter a pass in advance as one of the most successful students in the lessons, so the obstacle course was merely a formality. Even the tedious Percy could not object to the precise completion of every task.
On their way back to their room, the Best Couple took the longer route out of habit, despite the fact that their classmates were occupied with the exam results while everyone else was mostly in their common rooms or the library. While walking through a corridor on the fifth floor, they nearly ran into another couple… Harry reacted instantly, pulling Flamia into an alcove, which allowed them to observe unnoticed who else had been drawn to the part of the castle where Peeves often ruled. It turned out that, for some reason, Malfoy had now moved his meetings here, and soon he and Hermione disappeared into one of the abandoned rooms…
"You know, we really should help her after all!" Flamia said cautiously.
"Yes. I don't know to what extent the potion has affected her, and perhaps I will only regret this decision, but I will brew an antidote… If I don't, my conscience will torment me!"
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