The Dark Apprentice

Subtle Lies

Chapter 2

Harry was dodging in between Malfoy's spells with ease. It had been the first session of the dueling club, and Snape had volunteered Harry and Draco to be a demonstration pair. Despite knowing that his Head of House was setting him up for failure, Harry was anxious to prove to his house that while he may run from the masses, in a one-on-one fight, he was the superior wizard.

Spell after spell Harry weaved his body expertly in between each piece of magic that Draco attempted to hit him with. A grin had started to appear on his face when he could tell that the murmurs of disbelief had begun to grow. Despite the number of simple spells his housemate cast at him, Harry just continued to dodge, and occasionally even shielded with the protego charm. That had caused a lot of impressed whispers, but Harry was just getting warmed up as he flicked his wand forward and non-verbally hit the boy with an overpowered flipendo.

When Draco flipped backwards and landed on his back, the Defense Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, called out, "I said disarm only!"

"Now you call it out." Harry grumbled.

Watching Draco jump back to his feet, Harry just offered the boy an unimpressed look. This seemed to anger the blonde, and he shot his wand forward, "Serpentsorsia!"

A black serpent came flying from Draco's wand and flopped onto the dueling platform. Scoffing, Harry watched as the snake reared its hood, and hissed in the direction of Harry. To the left of the dueling platform, a young boy, who was too close to the snake, stumbled back in fear, gaining the attention of the serpent. Just when the snake was about to lunge at the unsuspecting student, Harry hissed, "Stop! Obey me, and attack my enemy."

The serpent seemed surprised, and unable to resist the command, and it turned to face Draco, and hissed, "Yes, master."

Before it could even begin to advance on Draco, however, Snape had stepped forward and incinerated the creature. Harry frowned in disappointment, but only then did he realize what he had done. There were no more whispers in the Great Hall. Snape was looking at Harry with a look of scrutiny the young boy had never seen before, but he had to believe it was disbelief. When Harry turned to look at Lockhart, the man's face was pale with fear.

The whispers finally started and the closest he recognized was from a Gryffindor Harry recognized as Cormac McLaggen, "I knew he was the Heir of Slytherin."

As the weight of what he had done settled his stomach churned, and a cold sweat seemed to break out across his body. His hands trembled, feeling the ghostly realization of what appeared to be his own confession displayed in front of most of the student body.

Taking a step back, his eyes darted around the room, searching for a way to undo his irreversible action. The evidence appeared stark and undeniable, and the accusations that were coming towards him now were far from silent. Realizing there was no turning back, Harry turned from the platform and began making his way out of the hall.

No one attempted to follow him, no one attempted to stop him, and he was on the run the moment he made it out of the entrance corridor. He ran up a flight of stairs and made a sudden left turn. He didn't know where he was going, he just had to escape the whispers. Pushing open the next set of doors, he lurched forward toward a nearby sink, and knew he had made it to a washroom.

Heaving for breath, he nearly lost his breakfast in the basin. Why had he done it? Why had he attempted to command the snake? Was he so desperate to show his housemates that he was worth more than their scrutiny that he would unveil this magical ability that carried such a stigma? Particularly now?