Days turned into weeks, and I still couldn’t get up the courage to tell any of my friends my secret. I knew Dumbledore’s suggestion to tell them if I had another incident was more of a worst-case scenario and that he wanted me to tell them as soon as possible, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell them.
Dumbledore, however, did talk to Professor McGonagall, and she called me into her office only a few days after my initial discussion with Professor Dumbledore. She was uncharacteristically flustered, and it was clear that her world had been flipped upside down. I didn’t blame her- since June, she’d been living in a fool’s paradise, blissfully unaware that Voldemort was still alive. She gave me the same suggestions as Dumbledore- “don’t go looking for Voldemort”, and “for goodness sakes, tell your friends!”
But it wasn’t that easy. How could I sit down with my three best friends and tell them that Voldemort was actually still alive? The worst was imagining how Harry would react. He had spent seven years trying to rid the world of Voldemort, and thought he’d finally defeated him. But he’d only set him back a couple steps.
An entire month passed without me being able to tell them, and I found it very easy to convince myself that I had actual reasons for not telling them. With the first quidditch game quickly approaching and practices becoming more and more frequent, I found myself blaming my lack of courage upon the fact that I just “didn’t have any free time to tell them.”
The day of the opening quidditch match versus Slytherin arrived, and for once, sharing my secret with Harry, Ron, and Hermione was the last thing on my mind. I walked into the Great Hall with Harry, Ron, and Hermione and almost immediately locked eyes with Draco across the room at the Slytherin table. I glared playfully at him, which he returned with a small smirk. Today, we were enemies.
Ron was so nervous that he could barely eat, so breakfast was a fairly brief affair. Afterward, he, Harry, and I said goodbye to Hermione and headed toward the quidditch pitch. Draco, who was also leaving for the quidditch pitch, met us at the door and walked down with us.
“Ready to be crushed?” he teased as we neared the pitch.
“You wish, Malfoy,” Ron replied, clearly not in the mood for Draco’s taunting.
We reached our respective locker rooms and I turned to Draco. “Meet me out here after the game,” I said. Draco smirked.
“If I’m still talking to you,” he joked.
I rolled my eyes and he winked at me before we went our separate ways.
The next half hour before the game was spent stretching, warming up, and listening to Harry’s pep talk. I had to try extremely hard not to laugh while he was giving the pep talk. He tried really hard to get as into it as Wood had back in our first few years, but he never quite succeeded.
Finally, it was gametime. We made our way out onto the field and met the Slytherin team mid-field. As Slytherin’s captain, Draco stood in front of the rest of his team. I thought that it was a little ironic that Harry and Draco would be facing off in their last match against each other as captains, but not quite enemies anymore. Around us, seas of scarlet and green filled the stands and loud cheering emanated from all around us. A section of the Slytherin stands were chanting their version of “Weasley is our King”, with a large section of the Gryffindor section chanting the revised version back at them. I looked to Ron for a reaction and saw that he was looking slightly green.
Madame Hooch asked them to shake hands, and as they did, Draco gave Harry a genuine smile. Harry half-heartedly returned the smile, but said, “Good luck.”
Draco raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You too, mate,” he replied. Madame Hooch didn’t seem to know how to respond to this out-of-the-ordinary exchange, but counted us off and blew her whistle.
All fourteen players shot up into the air and began gameplay. I weaved in and out of people, going after any bludgers that flew toward the Gryffindor players. There were a couple close calls where I hit it out of the way just in time, but overall, nothing terribly crazy happened.
The chasers were more cutthroat than ever, knocking people off brooms, faking each other out, and blatantly elbowing the other team in the face. Once, Madame Hooch had to separate Ginny and a Slytherin chaser who had gotten into a fight and were about to hit each other.
Despite the aggression, the game continued fairly evenly. But it’s not a quidditch game without some crazy incident, right?
Gryffindor and Slytherin were tied at 70 when the speakers blared: “And it looks like the Slytherin seeker has found the snitch!”
I whipped around looking for Draco, and sure enough, he was speeding through the air, his arm outstretched. I wasn’t very far away, so I could see the little golden ball flying several feet ahead of him. Harry had been on the other side of the field and was flying as quickly as possible toward Draco.
At the same moment, however, I felt my stomach drop. A bludger was headed straight toward him, and if he didn’t change directions, it looked like he would get hit in the head. It was clear that Draco hadn’t seen the bludger, because he hadn’t so much as glanced in that direction. I looked around and saw that the Slytherin beaters were on the complete opposite side of the field, seeming to be stupidly unaware of the action, and not doing much of anything. Without a moment’s hesitation, I sped toward the bludger.
As Draco closed in on the snitch, the bludger closed in on him. I sped up, trying to close the gap between myself and the bludger as quickly as possible. In my peripheral, I saw Harry closing in on us as well.
The bludger was almost to Draco, but just before it hit him, I finally caught up and smacked it away with a large crack. Draco glanced backward in surprise, but only for a second, because he was just about to the snitch. Harry finally caught up, but he was too late. Draco gave one last burst of speed and wrapped his fingers around the tiny golden ball.
Cheers exploded from the Slytherin stands as Draco lifted the snitch high above his head. Seconds later, Harry skidded to a stop beside me.
“What was that?!” he yelled. His brow was furrowed and he looked like he was about to punch someone.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, taken aback by his sudden burst of anger.
“You just cost us the game!” he exclaimed. Before I could respond, he took off, speeding back toward the earth. Frustrated at how thick he was being, I darted after him. We landed only feet apart, but he refused to look at me as he stormed toward the locker room.
“Harry!” I yelled after him. When he ignored me, I began sprinting toward him. I caught up to him just as he was walking under the stands. I reached out, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around.
“What’s your problem?!” I exclaimed.
“My problem?” Harry bellowed back. “My problem is that if you wouldn’t have stopped that bludger, I would have gotten the snitch and we would have won!”
“It was about to hit him in the head! What was I supposed to do, let it?” I replied.
“Yes! That’s exactly what you were supposed to do!” Harry yelled. “In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s on the other team!”
“He could have gotten seriously hurt, Harry!” I exclaimed.
“And that’s what the hospital wing is for,” Harry replied. “We’ve all ended up there countless times because of quidditch!”
“Do you realize how incredibly insensitive you’re being?” I asked incredulously.
“I’m not being insensitive,” Harry replied. “You let your emotions cloud your judgment and you betrayed your team.”
“Betrayed my team?” I yelled. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“You helped the other team win because you had to go play hero and save your poor boyfriend from an injury that could be fixed in a matter of minutes! How is that not betraying your team?” Harry fumed.
“I can’t believe you!” I screamed. “I get that you’re upset we lost, but how can you blame me for not wanting my boyfriend to get hurt?”
“Are you even listening to yourself? You couldn’t bear letting Malfoy get hurt, so you helped Slytherin win! How does that make any sense in your mind? Two months ago, you wouldn’t have even considered it!” Harry said incredulously.
I rolled my eyes. “I knew it! This is more about Draco than it is about losing, isn’t it?” I exclaimed.
“It’s both,” Harry said. “You’ve let that git interfere with your life and friendships and now he’s interfered with quidditch too!”
“Because I like him! He’s changed, and I gave him a chance! And I’m happy! But the rest of you can’t seem to handle that, and that’s not my fault. I can’t believe we’re still having this discussion after over a month! I thought you had at least started to accept him,” I fumed.
“I never said that I accepted him. I told you how I felt. He doesn’t deserve you. And you’ve let him come into our lives and mess with your friendships. You side with him over people who have been there for you for years!” Harry argued.
“Because he’s a different person and you lot can’t just move on from the past! Why do you even care so much about who I date?” I exclaimed.
“Because I care about you! You’re my best friend! And I see that you’re making decisions that I think are becoming detrimental to your life, and I feel the need to tell you. I’ve been holding back for a while now, but I can’t keep doing it,” Harry said.
“I can make my own decisions about my relationships, Harry. If you can’t get along with Draco, that’s your problem, not mine,” I replied.
But then, Harry’s face changed. Up until that point, his brow had been furrowed in anger and he’d been red-faced. But then, he frowned and looked almost sad.
“If you’re going to prioritize that git over your best friend, then I don’t have anything else to say to you,” he said softly but sternly. He then turned away and continued walking toward the locker room.
Stunned by what had just happened, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. In all the years that Harry and I had been friends, we’d never had a confrontation like that. Had that really just happened? I set my Firebolt down and leaned against the stands for support, no longer trusting my legs to do all the work.
“Carrie? Are you alright?” I turned in the direction of the voice and saw Draco walking toward me from the field. He had his broomstick in one hand and the snitch in the other, and his face was flushed from all the excitement. He still wore a smile from his victory, but his face fell quickly upon seeing me.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” He said, rushing over to where I was standing. The tears began to fall from my eyes, but I wiped them away furiously. I hated letting people see me cry.
“I’m OK. I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, attempting to regain my composure. I stood upright again and took a deep breath to calm myself down.
“You don’t look like you’re OK,” Draco replied, the concern written across his face.
“Just give me a couple minutes. I’ll meet you outside the locker rooms,” I said. Draco nodded and I hurried past him toward the Gryffindor locker room. Fortunately, Harry had left already, so I changed quickly and splashed water on my face in an attempt to feel less gross than I actually was. After a few more deep breaths and more wiping away of tears, I exited the locker room to find Draco standing outside waiting for me. He too had already changed into his casual clothes, but looked much more put together than I did.
“Do you mind if we find somewhere to sit down?” I asked.
“Sure. I think there’s a bench under that tree,” he replied, pointing at a large tree several meters away. I followed him over and we sat down in the shade. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to him.
“Alright, so what happened?” He asked, his eyes shining with concern.
“After the match, Harry yelled at me for stopping the bludger from hitting you. He said that I helped you win and betrayed my team and then went on a rant about how you don’t deserve me and that my relationship with you is destroying my friendships,” I said.
Draco’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought he was the one that was alright with us?” he asked.
“Apparently not,” I said. “We’ve never gotten in an argument like that. And then he said that if I was going to prioritize you over my best friend, then he didn’t have anything else to say to me. I don’t think he wants anything to do with me right now.”
“Well…” Draco began, “I can kind of see where he was coming from with the quidditch.” I shot him a look, but he continued on. “I’m not saying I would have done anything different if I was in that situation, but I could understand that he would be upset about what happened. Not to that extent, but I get it.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I conceded, resting my head on his shoulder.
“About the rest of the stuff, however, he was being a bit of a git. But who needs him, right? You’ve got me, and you’ve got Ron and Hermione and all of your other friends. If he wants to decide to cut you out of his life, that’s his decision,” Draco said. At those words, I sat upright and looked at him with wide eyes.
“He’s my best friend, Draco,” I said in surprise, “I can’t just let him cut me out of his life after one argument. He’s too important to me.”
“But what if he doesn’t want you in his life because he doesn’t like some of the choices you’re making?” Draco asked.
“He wouldn’t do that,” I said vehemently shaking my head. “We’re too close.”
“Are you sure?” Draco asked. “He said a lot of pretty serious things.”
I thought about that for a second. “A few hours ago, I would have definitively said that I’m sure about that,” I replied. “I’m not so sure now. I’d hope that things haven’t changed so drastically between us in the last few hours that it can’t be fixed. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“Then maybe you should go and try to fix things with him before too much time passes,” Draco suggested. I frowned and furrowed my brow at that. I didn’t want another confrontation. Draco seemed to sense that and continued on. “I know you don’t want to face it, but if you care as much as you claim to, you need to go take care of it.”
I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder again. “I know. You’re right,” I replied.
“As usual,” Draco replied with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and stood up to leave, Draco stood up as well and took me by the hand as we made our way back to the castle.
We walked into the Entrance Hall and Draco gave my hand a little squeeze.
“Good luck talking to him. Everything’s going to end up ok,” he said with a comforting smile.
“Thanks, babe,” I replied with a smile. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and we went our separate ways- Draco toward the dungeons and me toward the towers. As I made my way toward the common room, I felt my heart beating really hard, and I actually felt nervous to talk to Harry. I almost laughed at myself because of how ridiculous that sounded, but it was true. I was worried about another screaming match. I finally reached the fat lady’s portrait and took a deep breath before saying the password. The portrait swung open and I stepped through into the common room. As I walked into the room, the scene in front of me caused me to stop dead in my tracks.
Right in the middle of the room, on the couch, sat Harry.
And he was snogging Ginny.
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I hope y'all enjoyed chapter 11 of The Secret Lightning Scar! Don't forget that the next one will be up later this month!
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