A new beginning

The duel

"What happened afterward?"

Harry looked at Ron's concerned look and could not help raising his shoulders as an answer. What had happened afterward?

So far he had told them about the detention and how he had gotten himself slightly injured; which was probably Snape's fault if you asked him since the man could not have washed those vials any slower than he had. He had however skipped over the part where he had basically bawled in front of Snape and had not received any kind of sarcastic or rude comments from the man. In reality, the only thing he got was a vial with some sort of salve meant to cure his hand. Of course, after he had left the potion's classroom, he had gone straight to his own bed and fallen right asleep. It had not been until this morning, that he even thought of the salve he was meant to apply to his hand or even telling his friend what had transpired the night before, but clearly, he could not tell his friends every embarrassing moment he had spent during the afternoon, not even now.

"Well," breathed Harry as he looked at Ron's face and pulled the vial out of his pocket, "he gave me this. He said to apply it on my hand if I wanted the scar to fade, or not, it didn't matter to him."

"Did he tell you what it was? I mean, he also gave you that mysterious Potion the other day" said Ron. At that exact time, Hermione, who had been immersed in a book with her back to both boys, turned around and immediately responded with an exasperated sigh.

"It is obviously a skin healing salve if Professor Snape said it would help fade the scar." She was giving Ron a look that clearly indicated that she considered both boys to be very foolish for not having figured that much out on their own. After a small pause in which she dove into her book again, Hermione turned back around and continued in a much lower voice than before: "You said that Professor Snape healed your hand before you left, did you see him use the same vial that he gave you or was it a different one?"

"You don't think that it may be something else do you?" nearly screamed Ron; completely forgetting that he was a bit annoyed at the girl for jumping into their conversation.

"I don't know," said Harry, furrowing his brow slightly and looking down at his hands. "I mean, I think it was the same vial. When he left me in the room, right after the glass had gotten in my hand, he came back with two different vials. One was blue, I am sure of it, but the other one...I don't know."

"Well, then I am sure it is fine." Hermione, however, did not sound that convinced.

Harry continued to sit on the ground of the Common Room as he pondered on the probability of Snape changing the vials or perhaps using a spell to change them when Ron spoke again:

"I wouldn't put it past him to do it though. I've heard he can turn very nasty."

"Yeah, I guess." was all that Harry was able to say as a small group of kids walked into the Common Room. The small container felt heavy and cold in his hand, almost as if it had been laying in the snow instead of his pocket this whole time.

Had Snape actually used the same salve? Had he grabbed the vial from his own pocket or had it been laying on the table?

....

At three-thirty that same afternoon, Ron, Hermione, Harry and the rest of the kids in the Gryffindor Common Room hurried down to the steps of the grounds where their first flying lesson would take place. The small vial laid forgotten at the bottom of Harry's case. The small twinge in his hand the only remainder of what had happened or what he was supposed to have done.

Upon arriving at the grounds they could not help but groan slightly at the sight of all the Slytherin students standing with their brooms. Therefore, to Harry's dismay, Malfoy was there, standing proud; the one person Harry hated more than anyone he had ever known, including his uncle, would surely ruin his first flying lesson.

....

Fred and George had barely finished congratulating Harry for having been asked to join their House's Quidditch team when Malfoy appeared right in front of Ron and Harry. He was flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

Had he really just agreed to fight Malfoy?

The reality of what had happened moments ago was beginning to dawn on him. He didn't even know how to do magic. Malfoy would surely kill him.

There was one consolation on his mind however, he would at least have Ron with him if everything went wrong.

...

"RUN!" Yelled Harry, and then Ron, Hermione, and Neville sprinted out of the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following.

His heartbeat rang in his ears, his breath came out ragged. He was in the lead. Leading everyone through corridors without knowing where he was going. Somehow they made it near the Charms classroom.

Peeves' appearance had them moving again. They ran for their lives. After all the commotion Peeves had created, Filch was sure to find them now. Before he knew what was happening, Harry felt Hermione grab his wand and use it to open the door before them. They quickly moved through the door and pressed their ears to it.

Peeves' laughter still echoed behind the door when all four kids turned around to face a monstrous dog. It filled the whole space between the ceiling and the floor. Its three heads faced them, making it impossible to miss the mad eyes and drooling saliva.

Harry quickly opened the door behind them, making all four of them fall through backward. Without giving it a second thought, he ran. Ron, Hermione, and Neville followed. They flew through the corridor, not even really stopping to see if Filch was still there. They didn't care. All they wanted was to put as much space as they could between themselves and the humongous dog.

Harry's legs were burning. His pajama top clung to his back as sweat trickled down his back. He could hear many steps behind him, everyone was following. He kept running, sprinting down the corridor. He took a sharp right and then again. His chest ached and head spun. The sound of his feet on the stone floor loud as it echoed on the walls. He stopped.

Where was everyone else? He had lost them. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to slow his heart a bit, he slowly made his way back the two turns he had taken. Was it two rights and a left?

"POTTER!"

His heart stopped and all colour drained from his face. If there was anyone he did not want to find right now; other than Filch or that three-headed dog; it was Snape. And yet, there he was. His robes billowing behind him as he continued to walk to where Harry had frozen in place.

"Look who I found. Gryffindor's new Quidditch star." Snape's hand clutched Harry's arm in an iron grip right then and began dragging the child with him. There was something wrong with the kid and he would find out exactly what.