The Lion's Crest for the Serpent

Harry Potter sat alone in the locker room; the rest of the Gryffindor team had already gone out onto the Quidditch pitch to warm up for the game. Harry stared down angrily at his fists, trying to forget what Malfoy had said to him about his parents. He could feel the anger rising, creeping up through his veins like searing-hot poison.

Why didn´t he fight back? Why did he walk away from Malfoy? Why did he always walk away from Malfoy? Harry needed to yell at someone, anyone, but seeing as how the locker room was presently empty, he found himself at an impasse. Harry tried to imagine Malfoy´s pale, sneering face in front of him and with concentrated hatred began to say the things he had wanted to yell out for so long. Even if they weren´t necessarily coherent.

"You are nothing but a sniveling coward, and you will never amount to anything but a hated, sadistic... coward! You hide behind your two fat cronies, who haven´t even got enough brains to ... to... do anything! And you... er... are so going down in today´s Quidditch match!"

"Giving yourself a pep talk before the game, are you Potter?" came a drawling voice from within the locker room. Harry whipped around and came face to face with Draco Malfoy. "Remind me to never ask you for an inspirational speech when I´m feeling low... I´d probably end up killing myself after listening to you," Malfoy continued lazily, with a glint of malevolence in his steel-gray eyes.

"Malfoy! What... how did... This is the Gryffindor locker room!" Harry spluttered, but his surprise quickly transformed back into rage.

"And it might be interesting to see how Granger and Weasley react when they find out what you really think of them," Malfoy drawled on, ignoring Harry. "Although I agree with you that Weasley hasn´t got any brains, I wouldn´t necessarily call Granger fat..." he said with mock thoughtfulness.

Harry tried hard to keep himself from cursing Malfoy, and instead forced out in a would-be calm tone, "What are you doing in here, Malfoy?" He didn´t want to show Malfoy how much he really got to him, because he knew that´s just what Malfoy was after.

"Madam Hooch sent me in here to get you, you git. The whole school is waiting for the match to start, and unfortunately Hooch won´t let us play if the other team is one prat short - which happens to be you, Potter."

"Why the hell did Madam Hooch send you to get me?" Harry spat, hurriedly getting up, clutching his Firebolt - he hadn´t realized how long he had been in the locker room.

"Sorry, no time for pleasantries. I´ve got some losers to defeat!" was Malfoy´s reply, as he took off on his broomstick to join the rest of the Slytherin team over the field.
Harry quickly mounted his broomstick and followed Malfoy out of the locker room, soaring out over the field and joining with his own Gryffindor teammates. Thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the stands, as Harry heard Lee Jordan´s announcement that the match was finally about to begin.

"Alright, Harry?" came Fred´s voice. But before Harry could reply, Madam Hooch blew the whistle, officially beginning the Gryffindor-Slytherin match.

***

Harry flew nimbly above the action of the game, keeping an eye out for the elusive golden Snitch. Every now and then he would dodge an oncoming Bludger or throw a dirty look at Malfoy, but for the most part Harry was content to just soar as high as he could and remain in seeker-mode.

The score was currently 30-10, Gryffindor in the lead, and Harry was hoping that he would glimpse the Snitch soon. He glanced over at Malfoy, who was watching Harry for any sign of the appearance of the Snitch - rather than bothering to look for it himself. Harry felt a stab of annoyance mingled with anger at seeing Malfoy, and put on an extra burst of speed towards the other end of the pitch.

Just as he was passing the Ravenclaw stands, a blur of blue and bronze, Harry glimpsed a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. With swift agility he whirled his Firebolt sharply to the right, prompting a collective "Ooh" from the crowds. Malfoy had seen Harry´s movement and was instantly trailing him as both sped after the Snitch. It was just beyond Harry´s reach, so he anxiously zoomed after the golden ball with Malfoy close behind.

Harry´s concentration was momentarily broken when he heard the crowd in the stands booing, and looking down, Harry saw why. The Slytherin beater, Malcolm Baddock, had just hit a Bludger at Madam Hooch, who was currently swerving her broomstick to avoid being hit.

Malfoy took this opportunity to kick the back of Harry´s broom, causing it to jerk to the left. Harry instantly righted his Firebolt, but those few seconds he lost had been crucial, and he glanced up with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Malfoy was triumphantly grasping the Snitch in his left hand.

The Gryffindor chasers didn´t even have a chance to take their due penalty shot from Baddock´s foul, owing to the fact that the game always ends the moment the Snitch has been caught.

The final score of the match was a dismal 160-30, Slytherin, as announced by Jordan in woefully indignant tones.

The entire Gryffindor team, along with three-fourths of the crowd in the stands, was outraged at the results of the unjust match. Harry could feel his anger rising again, and once again it was directed at Malfoy.

As both teams began landing on the field, Harry saw Fred and George run over to contest the game to Madam Hooch. Harry swept his gaze across the pitch, immediately spotting a green blur topped with silvery-blond at the other end. Harry flew towards it, landed his Firebolt roughly, and angrily tromped over to Malfoy.

"Malfoy!" Harry yelled in a furious voice. "You filthy cheater!"

Malfoy turned around languidly, smirking at Harry, with the rest of the Slytherin team behind him.

"Oh look, it´s ickle Potter, coming to get me! Somebody save me!" Malfoy whined sarcastically, while the rest of the Slytherins snorted in laughter.

"That´s right, Malfoy, have your bodyguards come protect you! You can´t do anything on your own, let alone win a Quidditch game without cheating!" Harry retorted, ignoring the fact that the whole school was now watching him.

"I wouldn´t talk if I were you, Potter. But then again, if I were you I´d jump off a cliff. Hey, maybe if you did you´d finally get to see your dead parents that you´re always whining about. It would be an improvement for all of us!" Malfoy said maliciously, albeit gleefully.

Something inside of Harry snapped. Before he could stop himself, he had lunged forward and punched Malfoy in his sneering face - hard. Harry heard a unified gasp come from the crowd, then the shouts of Madam Hooch mingled in with loud shouts and cheers from the students.

Harry looked quickly down at Malfoy, whose nose was now streaming blood, and felt suddenly very guilty and stupid. But he hadn´t time to feel that way for long. Malfoy had gotten up and instantly landed a hard blow right in the pit of Harry´s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Both fell roughly onto the ground; Harry could feel his face being pummeled by Malfoy´s fists, and tried savagely to defend himself.

Although Harry didn´t notice, both the Slytherin team and the Gryffindor team had quickly rushed to the aid of their seekers, ending up in a brutal battle between green and red.

By the time Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape had made it onto the field and performed a separating spell on the two teams, Harry and Malfoy were bleeding, bruised, and miserable.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, follow me please," Dumbledore said solemnly, then addressing Professors McGonagall and Snape, "I´ll trust you two, as heads of their houses, to deal with the rest of the teams appropriately." With that, Dumbledore swiftly began to cross the field back towards the castle.

***

Harry nervously followed Dumbledore´s darkened form through the shadowy corridors of the Hogwarts castle, which he vaguely recalled as being the way to Dumbledore´s office from his previous visit there last year. Malfoy was lagging behind Harry, but one penetrating backwards glance from Dumbledore quickened Malfoy´s pace from a saunter to a defiant trot.

Once inside the Headmaster´s office, Harry and Draco were both motioned towards two chairs in front of Dumbledore´s large, antiquated desk. Harry had never felt so awful in his life. Why had he let Malfoy get to him like that? Harry was certain he was going to be expelled this time, and the worst part was that he couldn´t think of any reasons as to why he shouldn´t be.

"I am not going to ask either of you two to explain your actions, for I do not feel you deserve the chance to try and justify yourselves. I clearly saw what occurred and there will indeed be consequences for what each of you chose to partake in," Dumbledore announced, addressing both Harry and Draco. "Although the incident was not serious enough to result in expulsion, both of you will receive proper punishment."

At this Draco interrupted with an outraged voice, claiming his part in the fight to be purely self-defense. "Potter here was the one that punched me first! Any fool could have seen that! What was I supposed to do, let him punch me?!"

"First of all," Dumbledore continued, dismissing Draco´s comments with a wave of his hand, "Madam Pomfrey will not be healing either of you magically. Your cuts and bruises will have to heal on their own as a consequence to your actions. Secondly, both of you will serve detention for Mr. Filch tonight in the Forbidden Forest - together. You will report directly to him at ten o´clock for further instructions. And lastly, 50 points will be taken from both of your houses."

Although Harry wasn´t at all happy about his detention with Malfoy or the points he had lost for his house, he felt quite relieved that that had been his punishment rather than expulsion. He also knew that he probably deserved a more severe punishment than a night´s detention. Harry glanced over at Malfoy, only to find that he was obviously not having the same worries. Malfoy sat slouching in the chair as if he were in his own bedroom rather than the Headmaster´s office, a smug grin forming across his pointed face.

"Ah, Professor Dumbledore, may I remind you that I already have detention tonight with Filch for unrelated reasons? I guess Potter will just have to do his own detention elsewhere," Draco stated, as if he had just pointed out to the Arithmancy teacher that two plus two equaled four.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, for alerting me to that. Very well then, you will be permitted to remain in detention an extra hour after Harry´s detention is served," Dumbledore replied, the familiar twinkle back in his blue eyes.

"But-" Draco protested.

"Remember, both of you are to be present at ten o´clock to serve your detentions," Dumbledore interrupted, with a tone of finality that told them the meeting was over.

***

"Harry, I can not believe you did that to Malfoy!" said Hermione, with an air of immense disapproval.

"Neither can I!" Ron agreed but in a much cheerier tone: half filled with awe, the other half with unguarded glee. "I mean, that scum Malfoy and the slimy Slytherins-"

"Listen, I don´t really want to talk about it right now," Harry mumbled, slumping down into a squishy armchair in the Gryffindor common room, where the fire was crackling softly. Since he only had a few hours left before he would have to serve a whole night´s detention with Malfoy, he hardly wanted to spend those hours talking about him.

Hermione shot another scolding look at Harry, but then decided to let the subject drop. Harry did look really tired, after all.

"Harry..." Hermione started, obviously trying to think of something else to talk about, "...Why do you think Lucius Malfoy was here today?"

"I...er... What? Lucius Malfoy was here? When?" Harry tried hard to recall any recent appearance of Draco Malfoy´s father, but was drawing a blank. He was sure he would have remembered, considering Lucius was a distinctly unpleasant person, and unfortunately wasn´t very easy to forget.

"Yeah... he came on to the Quidditch field right before the game started. You didn´t see him?"

"Oh wait a sec," Ron replied, before Harry could answer "er..." again. "Harry wasn´t out on the pitch yet. I think Lucius left just before Harry came out."

"Oh, that´s right," Hermione said quickly. She had probably just realized that bringing up the Quidditch game again - not to mention a Malfoy - wasn´t the best topic considering Harry´s current mood. "Hey, why don´t we get a head start on studying early for our Potions exam? We could take turns using my flash cards-"

"Hermione!" cut in the whining voices of both Harry and Ron in unison.

***

Harry walked miserably across the chilled and damp Hogwarts grounds. It was nearly ten, so he quickened his pace towards the inky black void ahead, which he knew from familiarity was the Forbidden Forest. As he neared the forest he could just make out two figures outlined in silver by the light from the full moon. Harry assumed them to be Draco and Filch, two of his least favorite people.

"This is going to be a long night," Harry muttered under his breath as he approached them.

"Decided to show up did you, Potter?" Malfoy said in lieu of a greeting.

"Bugger off, Malfoy. I´m not even late."

"Now listen, you two," came Filch´s raspy voice, "I´ll have none of this bickering tonight. You were assigned to me to do what I want done, and that is precisely what you will do. If you decide to not pay attention to your duties while serving your detentions in the Forbidden Forest, it is very likely that you will simply never come out." Filch stated this last part very matter-of-factly, and seemed to enjoy the twin looks of horror he received from the two boys´ faces.

"Your assignment tonight," Filch continued, "is disgustingly simple and unfortunately fairly painless. Both of you will go into the forest and collect Mooncalf dung for Professor Sprout. It is needed for fertilizing magical herbs." Saying this, Filch held up a glass jar that contained a silvery substance, softly glowing in the moonlight, which Harry assumed was the specified dung. "Both of you are to stay together - if neither of you show up in the morning I certainly won´t bother sending out search parties. Once you have collected four full jars, report back here to me."

Filch stalked off towards the glowing lights of the castle, leaving Harry and Draco standing alone at the forest edge with nothing but a single lantern, their own wands, and four empty glass jars held in a netted bag.

***

The night air was crisp as the end of November was nearing, and Harry felt extremely awake. He and Draco had swiftly gone into the forest, mechanically searching for the Mooncalf dung, and limited speech to "Put the light over there," "Do it yourself," and "You´re the one with the lantern, you git."

The two students slowly made their way through the forest, having only the flickering light of the lantern to reveal the crude path that had been worn into the damp earth. The moonlight was completely blocked out by the thick canopy of trees overhead.

"Hey, look over here," Harry called to Malfoy, who had gone off behind a tree with the lantern, purposely leaving Harry in the dark. Harry could just make out something silvery shining dimly from under some thick brambles.

As Harry waited for a reply a sudden howl split through the eerie silence of the Forbidden Forest.

A few seconds later, Malfoy appeared out of the darkness mumbling something about "Werewolves" and "Telling my father about this."

"Malfoy, hurry up!" snapped Harry. He was starting to get extremely irritated with Malfoy, and they hadn´t even collected two full jars yet. When Draco stepped closer, Harry yanked the lantern from him, holding it low to the ground near where he had seen the silver glow.

Harry´s heart gave a sudden thud as he realized upon closer examination that the silver substance wasn´t Mooncalf dung at all - it was unicorn blood. The last (and first) time he had seen unicorn blood had been in his first year at Hogwarts, and it had been there because of Voldemort...

"Hey, take a look at this, Malfoy..." Harry said in a constricted voice. He suddenly felt extremely cold...the kind of cold that went right down to the bones.

"Malf-" Harry started again, but turning around, found himself facing empty darkness.

***