Chapter 141: 4-2
From then until Valentine's Day in February, the looming threat of the assassin had lain dormant, almost unbelievably so. Hogwarts was so peaceful that I was tempted to believe it had all been a mere coincidence. Then, on February 14th, Valentine's Day—the incident occurred.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Harry. And to Ron and Neville, too. Here, some chocolate."
"Thanks, Maria! I figured you'd prepare chocolates, so I got you a card instead."
In the morning Common Room, which smelled so strongly of chocolate you could almost choke on it, I exchanged Valentine's gifts with my friends. Neville immediately opened his box, only for several of the crammed-in Chocolate Frogs to escape. While everyone was laughing at Neville, I leaned in close to Harry's ear.
"Be tactful with Ginny's chocolate. Giving her flowers along with a card is pretty effective. Also, watch out for Romilda Vane... Should I give you an extra antidote?"
"You should talk, Maria. You might regret it if you don't keep a close eye on Draco."
"He wouldn't even eat chocolate on a day like this to begin with."
We chuckled together. After all, we—weren't children anymore.
No matter how swept up the boys and girls were in the festive mood, classes proceeded as usual. Watching the youngsters secretly exchange gifts whenever they shared a class with their crushes, I counted the chocolates, cards, and candies I had received, feeling like a wizened old soul. Harry, just as expected, had been forced to accept chocolates from Romilda, which he promptly dropped straight into the trash can as if he were pinching a Dungbomb. He was treating them purely as toxic substances. Then, at lunchtime────it happened.
"Once again this year, I have taken on the role of transporting the tributes meant for Maria Potter. It is your best friend, Hermione Granger."
Hermione, sitting next to me, tossed wrapped boxes into my lap one after another, making me sigh in dismay. It was also a familiar routine that presents from complete strangers would be handed over not to me, but to Harry, sitting across from us.
"Alfred Tyner? That guy... he kept glancing over at Maria during Flying class... I knew it. And this is from Dugas Mattinson—even Jean Lec is here! When did he set his sights on Maria?"
"You're the same as always, Harry."
Ginny, sitting next to an indignant Harry, grabbed a sandwich and smiled mischievously. Why are you joining Harry in rummaging through what Hermione calls my tributes, my dear Ginny? Stop casting Revelio on them like it's the most natural thing in the world... Hermione already finished doing that ages ago.
After working with Harry to roughly identify the senders, Ginny turned her attention to Hermione.
"Oh, aren't there more than last year? Your tributes, Hermione."
Twitch. Ron's shoulders jumped.
"You really are popular."
"Not as much as you, Ginny. And certainly not as much as Maria."
"I wonder. I hear it from our classmates quite a bit, you know. That Hermione Granger is the one."
Twitch, twitch. Ron's hand shook, then froze.
"Isn't it about time you started thinking about it seriously? A certain someone seems completely obsessed with a toxic flower, anyway."
"Hey, is that—"
The voice Ron somehow managed to squeeze out was drowned out—not by Hermione's cold glare or Ginny's teasing, but by a completely different sound.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
"Draco!"
Draco—? A section of the Slytherin table had risen to their feet en masse. It was a scene full of déjà vu. Pale blond hair slipped through the crowd. He was carrying a girl in his arms. —It was his beloved.
"Maria?!"
Shaking off Harry's voice and Hermione's arm, I chased after the two of them. They were heading to the Hospital Wing. Astoria was limp in Draco's arms. She had the complexion of a corpse.
"Draco, what—"
"Madam Pomfrey, it's poison. Most likely this."
After laying Astoria on a bed, Draco handed the item to Madam Pomfrey, his hands covered in sticky mush. It was chocolate.
"This is..."
"Hmm? Excuse me."
"Professor Slughorn."
Slughorn, who happened to be there by sheer coincidence, peered from the side at the chocolate the Madam had received and nodded calmly. He had completely adopted the gaze of a researcher.
"This smell... and the instantaneous collapse—hmm, hmm. I have a rough idea of what this is. Allow me to assist you, Madam Pomfrey."
"Oh, thank you, Professor Slughorn."
"Draco..."
While Madam Pomfrey and Slughorn carried out the appropriate treatment, Draco remained silent, his face clouded with distress. There was no way I could possibly ask him what had happened in the Great Hall.
"Draco, it's going to be fine. We have two specialists right here."
"—Astoria..."
If the room hadn't been quiet enough to hear the sleeping girl's breathing, his words might not have reached me.
"No matter how many renowned Healers I brought in, no matter if I showed her to curse-breakers, no matter how much money I threw at the problem without caring about appearances──────she couldn't be cured."
"Draco."
"I am all too familiar with the sight of her sleeping in a hospital bed. I know it better than—her smile."
Unable to bear it, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder. With my body as a girl, Maria, the back of Draco, who was growing into a man, felt very broad. Even so, I stretched my arm out as far as it would go.
"It'll be okay. It'll be fine."
"Maria."
"You have to believe in her... You have to believe."
Astoria doesn't want to die.
We left the Hospital Wing, practically kicked out by the teachers as they began the detox and treatment in earnest. We didn't speak. Afternoon classes had long since begun, but I had no intention of abandoning a friend whose complexion looked so awful he might have swallowed poison himself, just to attend class.
With Draco in tow, I sat down by the edge of the lake, which had become our regular spot. Naturally, there was no one else around but us.
"—I suspect Theodore."
It was Draco who finally broke the silence. The incident in the Great Hall—his reasoning was that Theodore hadn't been there.
"But, just because of that..."
"It's not just that. He wasn't a Death Eater, but it doesn't change the fact that he's hostile towards me."
"Even so..."
He must have been aware that he was grasping at straws out of desperation. Draco didn't argue against my unconvinced attitude. An uncomfortable silence fell over us once again.
Theodore Nott. A boy who commanded respect within Slytherin alongside Draco. However, he had a strong lone-wolf disposition, making him a boy who somehow struggled to leave a lasting impression. Back when 'I' attended school as Harry, it was universally acknowledged by myself and others that my enemy was Malfoy. Because that idea was so deeply ingrained in me as Maria, I had only ever thought of Theodore as a minor obstacle, a watered-down version of Malfoy────
That's right. He was Malfoy's replacement.
"—Wait."
My blood began to pump rapidly. It coursed wildly through the veins in my head, stimulating my brain. —It made me realize that something was wrong.
For example, stepping up as the Quidditch Seeker. In the history 'I' knew, that was Malfoy. But Theodore had taken that spot. As if... he were Malfoy's replacement.
'Last time', the one throwing his weight around as the leader in Slytherin was Malfoy. But the current Slytherin was split in two, with Theodore and Draco serving as its two lords. It might be an exaggeration, but the extremists and the moderates had different leaders. Even though originally, it had only been the extremist, Malfoy.
Come to think of it, wasn't Theodore part of the Inquisitorial Squad last year? That was supposed to be Malfoy, too────if this were the world 'we' knew!
Draco had said that Theodore preferred to be alone. That it had been that way, even 'last time'—and yet, this Theodore was trying to step to the forefront, just like Malfoy. A guy who prefers being alone is discarding his solitude. That's weird—there is something wrong with Theodore Nott.
Theodore────'knows' Malfoy!
Once I realized it, suspicious points sprang to mind one after another. Despite picking fights with me, I didn't feel the same level of spirit from him as I did from Malfoy. On the night of the Yule Ball, he wasn't as aggressive as I had expected—what was he looking at on me? What was he laughing at? From top to bottom────wasn't he looking at the necklace?
The necklace was tampered with during the gathering before the Second Task, but what if the one who originally set his sights on the necklace wasn't Barty Crouch Jr., but Theodore Nott────?
Things that should have been a stretch were falling into place with almost comical perfection. I was convinced. Theodore Nott knew about Harry Potter's rival, Draco Malfoy—and was imitating 'Malfoy'.
"...Draco, I want you to listen to me without laughing. You might be right."
"Maria?"
I explained everything. It might have been nothing more than conjecture. But my years of intuition were screaming that it was 'correct'. Draco didn't laugh.
"Theodore knows 'you'."
"......"
"I don't know the reason, but────Draco?"
Draco didn't laugh. Draco──hung his head.
"Draco."
"I see—of course. How could I have forgotten? What a fool I am."
"Draco?"
"Don't you get it? He's a Nott. He is Nott."
Draco, who seemed to have arrived at a new truth before me, repeated it rapidly.
"Theodore Nott! Remember, Harry!"
"What are you trying to say?"
"What was the catalyst for that incident? What did the children use to mess up the past? Who did you at the Ministry of Magic confiscate the 'illegal Time-Turner' from?"
"────"
"Who was it────that 'I' made build the Time-Turner?"
There was no need for a formal answer anymore. Theodore was harboring a massive secret. Theodore was involved with us.
Theodore────holds the key to this world.
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