Twist of Fate

Chapter 10

Harry eagerly walked into breakfast the next morning. He hadn't felt so good in weeks, he had survived the second task and he as back together with Draco. Ron and Hermione walked beside him. "Are you humming?" Hermione said looking incredulously at Harry.

"Me? Erm, no, I don't think so." Harry said blushing.

"It sounded like you were humming Yellow Submarine." she persisted. Harry coughed nervously.

"Oh, well, maybe. You know how you get a song in your head..." Harry shrugged.

"What's a submawhat?" mumbled Ron, chewing on a rasher of bacon.

"Did you guys hear about Malfoy?" Seamus leaned towards them eagerly. Harry whipped his head around to look at the Slytherin table. Draco wasn't there. He felt the blood drain out of his head.

"No, what about him?" Hermione asked.

"Apparently, the Slytherins took exception to his apologizing to Hagrid and made him walk the gauntlet." Seamus laughed delightedly.

Ron sucked in his breath and shook his head, "That's pretty harsh."

"What? What is a gauntlet?" Harry asked concernedly.

"Very pureblood kind of punishment. He had to walk past all of the Slytherins without his wand. They all took turns hexing and jinxing him." Harry felt nauseous. That stupid, stupid git.

"Why? Why would they do that to him?" Hermione asked confused.

"Shaming his house. Can't imagine why if he felt a need to apologize to Hagrid that he did it in front of the entire school. Would have been much safer and easier to do it in private," Seamus said with a shrug.

Harry felt clammy. He knew why Draco had done it. This was his fault. "Is he okay?"

"Suppose he will be, the Slytherins dumped him off at the Hospital Wing sometime after midnight." Seamus broke off as Harry stood up. "Where are you going?"

Harry was climbing over the bench to leave and go to the Hospital Wing when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Morning Harry, congratulations on yesterday." Cedric's warm gray eyes stared down at him.

"Oh, thanks Cedric. You, too. I was just-"

"I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a few minutes?" Cedric looked around the Gryffindor table, smiling pleasantly, "Have you finished your breakfast?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm all done." Harry nodded, standing up from the table.

"Harry, you haven't eaten anything yet!" Hermione called after him as he started walking away. The two boys ignored her and left the Great Hall.

Harry turned anxiously to Cedric as soon as they were clear of the doors. "Have you seen Draco? Is he okay?"

"I went up to see him as soon as I heard." Cedric shook his head. "All I can say is that I'm very glad I wasn't sorted into Slytherin. They really did a number on him." He gripped Harry's arm harder as he made a move to run down the hall towards the Hospital Wing. "He is going to be okay. The last thing he needs is for you to show up looking for him. Word will get back to the Slytherins."

Harry scowled, "But this is my fault, if I hadn't..."

"Don't take responsibility for things that you didn't do and can't control. Draco made the decision to apologize in public and he knew that the Slytherins would not take it well."

Harry ruffled his hand through his hair, "He said something about going back to Slytherin so that they could beat him to a pulp...I didn't think that he was serious."