Cupid Wings

13. Debilitation

'Harry!' Draco called after him. 'Wait up a second.'

Harry paused by the main door out to the grounds.

'Two things,' he said. 'First, you need to rest that ankle, second, I want to cast a series of diagnostics on it. That letter, it was from one of my old professors in Paris and she has some ideas which we can't ignore. Can't you get some of your adoring fans to walk Pads?'

'I was only going to let him run around on the lawns here, he hasn't had a good charge around for ages and I'm sure he's having to restrain himself considerably when he's sitting with Minerva.'

Draco smiled sadly and Harry had the feeling that he had something serious to say.

'Come on,' Harry said. He cast a warming spell around them both as they stepped outside into a chilly misty morning. 'Tell me about this professor in Paris. What have you discussed?'

'You never fail to surprise me, Harry,' Draco said and Harry guessed he was stalling. 'You know, so many people tease that you can only do one spell, indeed, I'm guilty of teasing you myself. And then look at you, in there. How do you even know... why do you even know half those jinxes? The Death-eaters used to take it too lightly: "Harry-expelliamus-Potter" they would joke. I remember Aunt Bella returning to the Manor in the middle of the night just before our sixth year when you were staying at the Weasleys' house. She was twirling on the spot with her arms out wide, screeching to the hallway ceiling, 'I FOUND POTTER! I FOUND POTTER!' Voldemort was furious, Bellatrix and Fenrir burning down the Weasleys' house was bound to draw unwanted attention. Aunt Bella, mad as a box of fucking chocolate frogs, despite being reprimanded by Voldemort himself, gleefully told anyone who'd listen about 'Potter's failed expelliarmuses' while you shielded Ginevra and duelled against her and Fenrir. I wanted to bloody shake her; couldn't she hear her own words: a sixteen-year-old was non-verbally duelling against two powerful Death-Eaters whilst shielding another person. Sometimes people don't see what's in front of their bloody eyes... I think it's because you don't make a big deal of it, any of it. It lulls one into a false sense of security, then you go and duel against Severus and easily defeat him...'

'I wouldn't say I easily defeated him. Are you going to stop avoiding what you need to tell me?'

'There you go again, playing it down. How much were you holding back?'

'Considerably, it had to be controlled as we weren't aiming to incapacitate one another seriously. If I was duelling in the field, well, it's a whole lot more severe and life-threatening; the aim is to disarm immediately, survive as necessary, though to kill has always been a last resort. But you know that Severus was holding back too. I wouldn't like to face him in a true duel, probably more than anyone I've faced in the past. Are you going to tell me why you've turned so morbid? Who's this professor and what does she say?'

Draco sighed heavily. 'She's called Madeleine Dupont and she specialises in researching rare curses and counter-curses. She's Europe's leading expert.'

'Okay,' Harry said, unsure whether to be reassured or worried.

They reached one of the outside benches and sat down, looking out at the white mist that hung heavily in the air.

'She thinks Dolohov probably used one of two curses, both related and both require different treatment. She said it could be the Slow-Disintegration Curse, that's the most obvious diagnosis. However, she thinks it's more likely to be a Russian variant of a Transmorgrifian Torture curse, a curse which changes the structure of your bones. This is hard, Harry. It's not good news if she's right. The key difference between the Transmorgrifian and the Slow-Disintegration Curse is it that the first builds in potency, eventually causing agonising pain while the Slow-Disintegration can be stabilised, if not reversed, if caught early enough. Both have their problems; people tend to ignore slow-disintegration until it's too late, whereas the seriousness of the Transmorgrifian isn't realised at first because it's a slow build means it's misdiagnosed. Currently, the Altheda's Potion works because it's regenerating the bone but it's a better treatment for the Slow-Disintegration Curse, eventually, it won't be able to compete with the building transmorphism of the curse.'