Power and Persecution [1] || Harry Potter x OC x Draco Malfoy

64. Together

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Harry Potter ... but if I did there would be mad edits of the comparisons between Snape and Lily and Harry and Bel (FYI I don't ship Snape and Lily)

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Three days.

The school had been told that in three days all those who had been petrified would be alright again.

Harry and Ron left to visit Hermione the second they had heard the next morning.

The only thing that had changed was the flowers beside their friend were now dead, the petals grey and falling down onto the table.

Bel clearly hadn't been there to replace them.

That was the thought on both boys' minds as they walked back from the hospital wing to breakfast.

"She said she'd talk to us today", Ron started.

"She will", Harry reassured.

"She was acting weird yesterday... right? It wasn't just me who thought that? I mean, why would she need your invisibility cloak?" Ron asked.

Harry agreed with Ron, but the difference was that he knew exactly why Bel had been acting strange.

Bel was an Heir of Slytherin.

Harry saw the panic and stress in her eyes when she visited them in the common room.

He only wished she wasn't panicking about how they would react to this knowledge.

In Harry's mind, it didn't change a thing.

If anything it made him more concerned for her now more than ever.

If Bel was related to Voldemort, what did that mean for her?

Dumbledore's warning earlier that year had stayed in the front of his mind.

That Bel needed protecting just as much, if not more than, everyone else in the school.

It was for matters just like this.

Extremely dangerous and overwhelming things going on in her life that she kept to herself out of guilt and fear.

He wished she had told him to go with her wherever she may be so that he could try and help her.

Instead, he chose to give her time to do it herself.

"I'm not sure. But I agree, she was acting rather strange", he replied as they rounded a corner.

"I wish she would tell us what's going on in her head sometimes. For one thing, I saw Ginny last night and she keeps telling me to tell Bel that she's sorry. Why would she be sorry?" Ron started to speak his thoughts aloud.

Harry started to tune him out as Ron kept blabbering on and on about what Bel could possibly be hiding from them.

That was until he made eye contact with someone down the hall.

It was Tia Buttleshot, one of Bel's friends in Hufflepuff.

The look the girl gave him was terrifying.

In the last 24 hours, Harry had looked into the eyes of Voldemort and a blind basilisk.

This was more terrifying.

Another one of Bel's friends, Oliver Furley, whispered something into Tia's ear from where he was stood to her right.

The girl to Tia's right, Riley Ewans, placed a hand onto Tia's shoulder to try and calm her down.