Harry was in a murderous mood. Friends... He had barely recovered from the mortal danger he had been exposed to, partly because of them, and they had immediately descended on him, placing all the blame on him!
Harry returned to the room he shared with Flamia with the intention of gathering things for class, but had not made an inch of progress. He mechanically rummaged through his school supplies without even looking at what he was sorting through; his head was occupied with entirely different thoughts. Just like that summer, with Hermione and her letter... Hermione loved lecturing people; it seemed she was simply unshakably convinced that she was always right... Harry was forced to stop his thoughts in that direction simply because Hermione really was right very often...
"Harry? I thought you'd still be here." Flamia once again approached unnoticed. "What, completely hanging your head?"
"Ron... Hermione..." Harry practically hissed their names; despite everything, anger continued to choke him, preventing him from thinking. At that very moment, he pulled his Transfiguration book from the pile and, without even noticing, tossed the needed textbook aside. "They..."
"Were foolish, got carried away, didn't think." The girl finished for him.
"Foolish?! They simply decided that everything was my fault! What's more, they got everyone else thinking the same thing!" Harry abandoned his attempts to find anything and sat down on the bed.
"That's what I'm saying, they were foolish..." Flamia answered calmly, sitting beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You had barely flown out of the Hall when a showdown started between our lovebirds... I didn't even run after you right away; I wanted to listen."
"Well?" Harry asked without much interest.
"Our Hermione cornered Ron and told him quite a lot... Basically, she missed the climactic moment of yesterday's incident. I seriously suspect that at the moment when the Redhead pushed you in the back, she was admiring me and wondering why I had rushed after you too. And afterward she reconstructed the events from Ron's words, because you won't get much out of Lianna. And Weasley," Flamia snorted expressively, "didn't mention that shove. I think he simply forgot about it and didn't connect cause and effect... He was babbling something along those lines while Hermione, who when angry could drive even Dudley under a table, bored holes into him with her stare..."
"So you're saying this was all a misunderstanding?"
"Not just a misunderstanding, but a Redheaded Misunderstanding!" the girl declared with a smile.
Harry couldn't help but laugh; Flamia knew how to lift his spirits. And besides... This was a vivid example of a mistake based on preconceived opinions... And he couldn't deny that he himself was guilty of the same thing.
"Well..." Harry immediately remembered many things, for example his certainty that Snape wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone and how he had fitted everything to that theory. "Yes, I can't deny it. And it's true that I often get into trouble all by myself. But still..."
"You see?" Flamia interrupted him. "No one is without sin. Ron and Hermione acted idiotically, of course, but... who hasn't?"
"So what do you think? We should make up?"
"Although the idea of keeping you all to myself is very appealing, I don't think it's worth quarreling with friends over stupidity... Even if it's not ordinary stupidity..."
"Well, we'll see... how they behave..."
As far as one could tell, Ron and Hermione had completely fallen out with each other and had no desire to reconcile. Harry felt a certain vengeful satisfaction. And despite the fact that the eternal arguers no longer wanted to talk to each other—or perhaps precisely because of that—they both came running to Harry separately to apologize, wanting to make peace while also placing the blame on each other... Later Ron did crack and admit that he had simply forgotten about that clap on the shoulder; what had happened had completely driven such a trifle out of his head... Hermione, for her part, repented for believing Ron so readily. But both agreed that the primary blame lay with the other.
Harry laughed to himself at how similarly the two of them behaved. He pressed his lips together with all his might, shook his head, and diligently portrayed doubts about whether such personalities deserved his lofty forgiveness. But then, with the air of bestowing the highest mercy, he granted it.
The situation normalized, although people began staring at Harry more than usual again, and a couple of articles about the "indestructible hero" appeared in the Daily Prophet. Harry himself often thought about how he had survived this time. He and Flamia agreed that their connection had played no small role in it. By the way, after everything that had happened, the idea that the two most interesting personalities in Hogwarts were dating spread everywhere, though for now they were only rumors. Hermione quieted down after the incident, apparently afraid of angering Harry again, and no longer cast suspicious glances at Flamia. Ron, meanwhile, seemed to hold the position that any rumors about Harry were complete nonsense.
Another topic was Katie Bell's fate. The Gryffindor team captain remained in St. Mungo's Hospital, where they still could not restore her mind. According to a Healer who wished to remain anonymous, she had almost certainly become a victim of Malciber, notorious for his mastery of the Imperius Curse. The Aurors searched Hogsmeade and the surroundings of Hogwarts twice, looking under nearly every stone, and, as was to be expected, found nothing.
Ron was appointed temporary team captain, and from this he, who had become quite subdued after the whole affair, simply swelled with pride and self-satisfaction. Now in the evenings, instead of chess, where he was terrifying, he drove little figures around a Quidditch field model with his wand. If Ron was as strong in tactics here, the opposing team would not be envied... Though Harry once watched a training session from the window: the newly appointed captain shouted instructions at everyone so much that he completely lost his head, and along with it his ability to catch balls directed at the goal... Added to that was the problem of a lack of players; they could not find a worthy replacement for Katie. Everyone was probably secretly hoping for the captain's return before the match.
And Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen for almost a week. Harry once again decided that the Headmaster had forgotten about him, but then after breakfast Luna Lovegood, with whom he had barely spoken this year, approached him. Giving him a somewhat strange smile that looked quite appropriate considering her outfit, she handed him an envelope. In the letter, written in the already familiar handwriting full of curls, he and Flamia were invited to the Headmaster's office on Saturday evening.
Harry managed to discuss the matter first with Ron and then with Hermione, since the two of them continued to ignore each other. Ron was simply delighted, while Hermione immediately began throwing out theories... After she had gone through about fifteen different versions, Flamia approached her from behind and flattened them all with the simple assumption that the discussion would concern the Hogsmeade incident. The fact that Flamia had also been invited remained unknown to everyone.
This time the password was "Bertie Bott's," apparently the Headmaster reasoned that since he didn't like them, no outsider would ever think he might choose such a password... Flamia's suggestion made Harry smile.
But in the office itself, where they arrived at the appointed evening hour, Flamia, just in case, made her way there under the Invisibility Cloak; the atmosphere was rather gloomy. It was difficult even to say why. Nevertheless, the Headmaster greeted them warmly and gestured for them to sit down, using his right hand. For perhaps the first time since the beginning of the year, Harry saw that hand up close; back in the Hospital Wing, he had not been paying attention. The hand was still black... Harry and Flamia had once tried to learn the nature of that injury, Hermione had been interested too, but without success. Whatever it was, it was not going away. Harry saw no improvement.
"I am glad to see you," Dumbledore addressed them, as always gently. "I was pleased to see that the little misunderstanding caused by Mr. Weasley's emotionality had no far-reaching unpleasant consequences... However..." For perhaps the first time before Harry's eyes, the Headmaster interrupted himself. "I did not invite you here for that... I dare assume that you yourselves are very interested in what happened on that memorable weekend."
"Yes..." Harry answered slowly and cautiously. "We discussed it and concluded..." Harry hesitated, searching for the right wording.
"That my presence, or rather the very fact of my existence, had something to do with it." Flamia came to his aid. Harry himself would never have expressed his thoughts so directly.
"I understand... In that case, we arrived at similar conclusions... Tell me, have either of you ever heard anything about Horcruxes?" Dumbledore's voice lowered strangely when pronouncing that unusual word. Harry and Flamia exchanged glances and simultaneously shook their heads, spreading their hands slightly in embarrassment. "There is nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, if you knew anything about them, I would be extremely surprised—indeed, frightened. At Hogwarts this is... one might say, a forbidden subject. A Horcrux is considered one of the most terrible creations of the darkest Dark Magic. Last year I would have said it was the darkest and most terrible of all, but what happened this summer has forced me to partially reconsider my view of certain things."
What the Headmaster told them deeply shocked Harry. Also, for some reason, it seemed to him that under different circumstances the Headmaster would not have spoken so openly. Instead, as before, he would have mentioned many past events, perhaps even shown some memories... It was not impossible that rather than simply telling him, he would have nudged him toward the proper conclusions... But however that might be, Dumbledore was speaking with unusual directness now.
He told them about Horcruxes, about objects into which a fragment of one's soul is placed through the act of murder, thereby protecting oneself from death. He spoke of his strong reasons for suspecting that Lord Voldemort had created several such objects. He told them about his theory regarding the infamous Diary, and he also mentioned another Horcrux that he had destroyed... Although the Headmaster did not wish to go into details, Harry suspected a direct connection between that discovery and the Great Wizard's grievous injury. Well, one did not need to be a genius to understand the connection between that and themselves...
"So... you think that I... am also a Horcrux?.." Flamia voiced his thoughts aloud.
"Well..." The Headmaster hesitated. "I am not sure that the same term can be used in this case... Let us say there are strong reasons to believe that your appearance in this world was akin to..."
"I understand..."
"Professor Dumbledore, I have a very simple question: why are you telling us this only now?" Harry could not keep the irritation he had accumulated inside. "I am absolutely certain that you drew the parallel almost immediately. Why did you stay silent? And please do not talk about concern for our peace of mind."
"I will not deny that suspicions arose almost immediately," the Headmaster admitted. "But they were only assumptions, unsupported analogies with a phenomenon that perhaps had nothing to do with the matter. Harry, I will answer honestly. I did not wish to give you an unjustified sense of invulnerability. Let us face the truth—you already have a remarkable talent for finding yourself in dangerous situations. And if you believed yourself protected from death, for that is exactly how you would have interpreted my theory two months ago, what would have happened then?" The Headmaster's eyes looked directly and rather sternly at Harry. But Harry did not look away; he merely instinctively raised a mental barrier. Just in case.
"Yes..." Flamia added in a strained voice. "I cannot say that I share your point of view, but I can understand and accept it."
"And finally, I did not wish to place such knowledge—or rather such suspicion—upon you, Miss Nightfolk. Seeing your reaction, which you are unable to restrain despite your great success in Occlumency, I believe I was right. I am not even entirely sure that I did the right thing by telling you this... But I think there was no other way now. You had already guessed much yourselves... and in such matters uncertainty and speculation can do far more harm than the truth, which, as we know, is already a dangerous thing."
For some time longer they discussed Horcruxes, and the Headmaster shared what he knew (or perhaps what he wished to share). He spoke about the damage done to a soul divided into pieces, about his hypothesis concerning the reasons behind Lord Voldemort's current appearance. The further the discussion went, the more convinced Harry became that he had once again distinguished himself. If one accepted the hypothesis of Flamia's Horcrux nature, then her birth was incomparably more advantageous than everything Voldemort had achieved through his crimes. Harry had killed no one; the only casualty in the story had been a Dementor, and even it had not fallen by his hand. His soul remained whole, and in addition he had gained a truly loyal companion. A Horcrux of flesh and blood... Harry thought that he should not think of Flamia as that dreadful object. If it came to that, they should invent another term...
It took Harry some time to realize the full significance of this. If the Headmaster was not mistaken, then he was now close to immortality... Just as before, Flamia's very presence would preserve his soul in this world and return it to his body... The Killing Curse held no terror for him as long as Flamia existed... And if one remembered that their souls were connected, then perhaps... she too... was immortal.
Though it was not worth testing.
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