𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄

Chapter 2

Chapter Two: To Dream

"There wasn't anything you could do, Harry," Hermione pointed out softly, watching him as he paced back and forth in front of her and Ron. They were all sitting in the dorm room, with Ron on his bed and Hermione on Harry's.

Harry was anxious and guilty and completely fucked up in the head thanks to the vision he received that night. Voldemort had given the potion to Malfoy. He'd forced Snape into taking it and then he'd done the same to Malfoy and Harry saw it all from Voldemort's point of view. Even though he knew that it wasn't his fault, and that Hermione was completely right, he still felt guilty for it, because all he saw was his own fingers running over the blonde teen. He felt as if he was the one who'd poured that horrendous blue potion down Malfoy's throat and then sat and watched him twitch on the table for hours afterwards.

"Hermione's right," Ron agreed, leaning forward with his elbows perched on his knees. "You and You-Know-Who are two completely different people. You're just seeing what he's doing. It's always been like this."

Harry made a non-committal noise and kept walking. They hadn't heard Malfoy's cries. They hadn't seen the way his body was cut up. They would never know what it was like to be in the mind of a madman.

"Do you think he noticed you were there?" Hermione changed tactics.

"I don't think he'd care if I watched him torture Malfoy," Harry admitted gruffly. "If anything, he's probably happier knowing that we have something else to be scared about. This potion…it's hell by the sounds of things. And he's using it as a punishment."

"Hopefully the professors will be able to tell us a little more about it. I haven't been able to find anything on it in the library."

At least Harry had his friends to smile about. He could have sworn he heard the disappointment in Hermione's voice when she actually admitted that she couldn't find any information on her own.

"It seems like a really dark potion, mate," Ron said as he looked between Hermione and Harry. "If Hermione can't find anything-even with her free pick of any book from the Restricted Section-then it's something the professors don't ever wanting us to know about."

"I got the feeling Snape didn't even know if it was real or not," Harry breathed, running a hand through his hair. "I figured Snape knew just about everything there is to know about deadly potions."

"And yet you still use his book from last year," Hermione grumbled under her breath.

Harry shuddered as he remembered Voldemort was using the Sectumsempra against Malfoy now, just as he once did. It made him feel a little sick to his stomach. The thought of them doing the same things…

"We should be going soon," Hermione said, interfering with Harry's thoughts. "Professor McGonagall said she wanted us there at three."

"This would be so much easier if we could just Apparate everywhere," Ron grumbled with a small smile on his face as he tried to ease away some of the tension.

The way Professor Slughorn just about slipped out of his chair told the three young Gryffindors all they needed to know. This potion was bad news. Now, Slughorn wasn't the bravest of men, but he knew a thing or two about potions and such a reaction, from anyone, was a bad sign.

"You said the Never After potion?" he repeated in a whisper, clearly hoping that he was wrong.

Harry nodded his head once and watched as Slughorn repeated the process of losing the colour in his face and drooping his shoulders as low as they could go. "That's what Voldemort and Snape called it."