The Heart Is Not Black or White

Chapter 24

The next morning, all the Slytherins were bubbling with gossip. I had groggily made my way to the common room where they were all milling about, talking excitedly about something. I found Daphne sitting on the big black couch in the center. She patted a spot next to her and I sat down.

"Guess what happened?" she exclaimed. "Last night, three Gryffindors were out of bed after hours. Filch caught them and they lost fifty points. Each."

"Really?" I shouted. We were back in the lead for House cup! Slytherin had won the past several years (along with Quidditch) and losing our streak would be a major embarrassment. We had to win. "Who were the three?"

"Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and get this... Harry Potter!" Daphne squealed.

Neville and Hermione? It wasn't like them to be up after hours. Harry, well, I wasn't so surprised. I had heard a couple of stories about him from some other Slytherins, and the kid just seemed to think that he could do whatever he wanted. It bugged me.

That afternoon in the library, I was in the midst of writing a letter to my father. In the seat next to me Tracey was studying for finals, which started tomorrow.

"Tracey," I started. "Do you remember looking up notes on the Manus Force?"

She wrinkled her nose, something she did when she was confused or thinking. "The name rings a bell, but I don't remember looking into it. Why? Is it something we have to study for our finals?"

"No," I replied. Then I took out the piece of parchment she had taken notes on. I unfolded it and laid it out in front of her. "I'm pretty sure those are your notes. Do you remember these?"

Tracey scanned the paper, then widened her eyes. "This is definitely my handwriting," she mused. "Come to think of it, I remember taking these notes now. But why did I do it?"

"Do you remember when we ran into the troll, and when I held my hands up-"

"YES!" she shouted, startling me. "You have the Manus Force! I remember now... of course I didn't know what it was at the time-"

I cut her off. Knowing Tracey, she could go on like that for hours. "Ok Tracey. Do you remember finding a chapter about it in a book, and then me leaving with Marcus Flint to start training for Quidditch?"

"Yes," she stated. "Now that I'm thinking about it, I continued to take notes after that..."

"And these are the notes you took!" I exclaimed. "Now if you read through them, you can see that there's some pretty important notes, life or death situations-"

"I remember everything now!" Tracey shouted. The librarian shushed her. Whispering fiercely Tracey continued, "There was something in the chapter about the Manus Force being hard to contain. If someone is not properly trained, if can take over your body systems and result in death."

"Well," I said, lowering my voice. "I almost died over the Holidays."

"What?" Tracey said.

"Since I was not utilizing the Manus Force regularly and I was not trained on how to contain it... Well, I guess you could say it was exploding," I explained.

"Oh yes! When it's 'overflowing' per say, it targets the heart," she added.

"Really?" I asked. I didn't know that.

"Yes, that's why it's so hard to fight, because it's attacking the thing that's keeping your body running. It would be like Death Eaters attacking the Ministry. Hell would break loose, and if our important officials died out, no one would know what to do and the government would break down."

That was quite a metaphor.

"Let's hope Death Eaters don't take over, then. Do you remember what you did after you took notes?" I questioned her.

"Hmm," she said, scrunching her nose again. "I remember running off to the Quidditch pitch to warn you. But before I even made it out of the library, someone started talking to me. And... That's all I can remember."

I groaned in frustration. I needed to bust Malfoy.

"Look, Tracey," I said, leaning in closer so that I was sure no one else could hear me. "A few days ago, I caught Malfoy with these notes. I think that after you took those notes, Malfoy used the Obliviate spell and then took the notes from you, so that you couldn't warn me and I wouldn't know that I was in danger. He knew that I would die... the question is why he would want me to?"

"Malfoy?" Tracey asked. "I don't know. He's mean, and bloody annoying, but does he really want you dead? Plus, first years haven't even learned how to do that spell yet."

"He's pureblood," I said agitated. "That means both of his parents are wizards, and who knows what they teach him at home!"

"Marissa, most people in Slytherin are pureblood."

"It's Malfoy, I know it!"

"How can you be so sure? Does Malfoy hate you that much?"

"Probably. It all makes sense: Most of the time he's insulting me. And when he's actually acting like a civilized human being, that's when he's trying to fool me by being nice. He's not doing a very good job though." It all made sense in my mind. Why couldn't Tracey see that Malfoy wanted me dead?

"Marissa, he's eleven," Tracey reasoned. "So are we. Why would he want you dead? Could he even come up with a plan as complex as this anyway?"

Very true. But Tracey was still not on my side.

"Fine," I conceded. "You don't have to believe me. I'll find someone who will."

I gathered my books and ran off to find the two people in school that would always believe me.