𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘐𝘌𝘋/𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 (English version)

Chapter 40

The cold was becoming less biting as time passed, and the days were getting longer and more pleasant.
Ron had been out of the infirmary for a while; his recovery had been quick, and now he was more active than ever.
This was also because he himself had done everything he could to recover.
He wouldn't let anyone else take his place as Keeper on the Quidditch team, especially if the substitute was McLaggen.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Sarah were sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.
However, the redhead's eyes were fixed on the back of the dark-haired boy.
Lavender was gripping her spoon tightly between her fingers; her eyes were red, and two large dark circles stood out on her pale face.
Sarah rolled her eyes, annoyed.
For the past ten minutes, snowflakes had been falling on the table.
"Ron, stop it, you're making it snow," Hermione said.
"Tell me again how I broke up with Lavender."
Sarah looked at her friend, who seemed to be in serious difficulty, and decided to help her.
"Well, she came to see you in the infirmary. And you... you talked. It wasn't a long conversation."
Ron nodded.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy to have gotten rid of her. But she seems a little... off."
The four of them turned to look at her at the same time. The fork bent under the pressure with which she was holding it.
"Yeah, she is," Sarah said.

Hermione's eyes fell on a figure walking quickly across the hall.
Katie Bell had returned after spending some time in the infirmary. 
Harry didn't waste any time. He grabbed the book he'd had with him for months now and went over to the girl. It was clear that she might be able to provide him with some information about the necklace she'd touched, or at least, that's what he hoped. 
Sarah got up shortly after, grabbed her bag. 
"I have an appointment with Pansy to review Potions, see you later, guys." 
She turned to head towards the entrance of the Great Hall, but before she could leave, someone bumped into her. 
Draco bent down to pick up the books that had fallen to the floor. He looked at the girl with a lost expression, as if he wasn't really present at that moment. 
The Gryffindor raised an eyebrow, curious, but decided not to pay too much attention to it.
Draco Malfoy was no longer her problem. 
She headed to the library, clutching the book to her chest, trying to make her way through the crowd of students filling the hallways of the school. 
She arrived and immediately noticed Pansy sitting further from the entrance, with Blaise and Theo beside her.

"Good morning, guys!" she said cheerfully, placing her things on the table and sitting next to Theo. 
Everyone greeted her, but Tom was strangely missing. 
"He's still in his room, trouble with his hair this time," Blaise said suddenly, as if he'd read his friend's thoughts. She nodded, reassured by his words. 
She grabbed her things, opened the Potions book, and immediately noticed that on the first page it wasn't her name, but someone else's. 
Draco Malfoy. 
She sighed, stood up under the watchful eyes of her friends. 
"Malfoy must've taken my book by mistake earlier. I'm going to get it back." 
She didn't wait for their response, quickly leaving the room in search of the blonde boy. 
She looked around, but the boy seemed to have disappeared. 
She noticed a group of students talking closely together near the Great Hall and approached them, hoping for some answers. 
"Have you seen Malfoy?" 
One of them nodded. "He was running toward the bathrooms on the upper floor. He wasn't alone, though." 
Sarah looked at him, confused. 
"What do you mean?" 
"Potter was behind him. He seemed pretty nervous."

A shiver ran down the girl's spine, and a thousand thoughts began to race through her mind.
Without thinking twice, she ran toward the bathroom.
It wasn't a very frequented place; it was more isolated compared to the rest of the school.
The air was heavy, and her feet immediately made contact with the water; the bathroom was completely flooded.
She looked up and barely had time to do anything before letting out a scream.
She brought a hand to her mouth. Malfoy was lying on the floor with deep cuts on his chest, blood pouring from the wounds, mixing with the water from the faucets.
Harry was kneeling beside him, looking up at his friend, terrified.
"Sarah... Sarah, I—"
But he couldn't say anything more. Snape burst into the room as if he had sensed what had happened.
He crouched down, looking at the lifeless body of the Slytherin, and pulled his wand from beneath his black robes.
Harry couldn't continue watching what had happened. He stepped back, distancing himself from them, ashamed to have been the cause of all of this.
Snape began moving his wand over the injured body. Sarah slowly approached, trying not to let the loud sobs escape from her mouth.
"Vulnera Sanentur," the professor said, and the cuts began to disappear before Sarah's astonished eyes. The shirt was as good as new.
"Take him to the infirmary," Snape said, signaling for some of the school staff to enter the bathroom.
They picked up the boy and quickly left, while the professor remained alone with Black.
"You didn't see anything?" he asked.
The girl shook her head vigorously.
"I came in and... I found him already on the floor. I don't know... I don't know what happened, Professor."
Snape nodded. "Go back to your common room, Black. We'll talk about this more calmly when you've calmed down."
Sarah didn't need to be told twice. She left the room, which was feeling smaller and smaller, and wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket, erasing any trace of the tears she had just shed.
She returned to the library with her head down, and when she reached the table, she didn't say anything to the others.
She simply gathered her things and put them into her bag.
"Sarah? Are you okay?" Theo asked, looking at his friend's red face. But she didn't answer. She just kept putting her things away.
Pansy exchanged a glance with Blaise, then stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor.
"Sarah? Sarah, what's wrong?"
But still, the Gryffindor remained silent. She grabbed her bag and put it over her shoulder.
"I'm not in the mood to study today. You guys can concentrate, I'll leave you alone."
Before they could even reply, she ran away from them.
Pansy sat back down next to her boyfriend, opened the book, still shaken, and tried to focus on the Potions homework, though it was difficult for all three of them to do so.

Sarah arrived in the common room, out of breath from running. She was heading toward her room, but in the room, sitting on the red couch, were Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry.
The boy immediately lifted his gaze, locking eyes with hers. He stood up from the couch, trying to take a few steps toward her.
Sarah looked at the book on the table, threw her bag to the floor, and lunged at Harry.
"YOU WERE GOING TO KILL HIM! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO DO?"
Ron pulled her toward him, preventing her from hitting him. The girl struggled to break free, but without success. She collapsed to the floor, clutching her friend's chest as warm tears streamed down her face.
Hermione approached her, stroking her back, but her eyes were on Harry.
"You need to get rid of that book, now."
The Gryffindor nodded. That was the final warning from them too. The book was a danger to everyone.
Ginny took it in her hands and moved closer to Harry.
"Let's go, it's time to take it away from here."
They left the common room, and Ron made Sarah sit in the armchair near the fire, handing her a cup of tea he had prepared earlier but hadn't yet drunk.
Hermione knelt in front of her, gently stroking her leg to calm her down.
"I know Draco is up to something. I know he's not the same guy anymore, but damn it, he was dying! He was killing him, and this cannot be justified in any way!"
The two exchanged a glance before nodding.
What had happened was clearly a strong sign of how badly the book was affecting Harry.
The common room door suddenly opened with a deafening thud, as if someone had tried to force it open.
Tom appeared in front of them, his hair messy, not perfect as usual.
In a few steps, he was standing in front of Sarah, crouching down to her level.
"Snape said you saw Draco, why didn't you come to me? Damn it, Sarah, he..."
The boy didn't want to admit it, but what had happened had deeply disturbed him.
The position Draco was in, and the one he himself was in, was delicate.
The girl looked at him, tears in her eyes.
"How is he? Please tell me he's okay..."
Tom nodded slowly.
"He's fine. He's resting, but he'll need to stay under observation for a long time."
He took her face in his cold hands, gently stroking her red cheek with his fingers.
"It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay..."
Tom began to repeat, trying in every way to comfort Sarah, but deep down, he knew exactly how things were.
Living in the darkness meant this.
He would just have to accept it.