Bloodstone

“I want to be friends with you now,” said Harry in the hallway.

Draco made two aborted choking sounds before bursting out into unattractively flat laughter. Ten seconds later, Crabbe and Goyle joined in and then eventually the five Hufflepuff second-year girls trailing behind them chuckled nervously.

Ron had started to laugh at the same time Draco did, and for a moment Harry knew they had eyed each other in almost companionable hilarity.

“Come on, Harry, we gotta get to class,” Ron dragged Harry away, hiding his grin deep in his scarf.

“Good one!” Draco belatedly hollered to their backs, although Harry had meant it. But he didn’t mind.

~

The potion was relatively simple, a preliminary recipe with a predictable outcome. The scroll paper unfurled supple in Harry’s broom-calloused hands but one edge slid between his middle and ring finger and glided smoothly through the web of skin inbetween.

“Ow,” Harry murmured and he dropped the scroll on the desk and started to bleed. He hated getting paper cuts but he never expected to get one at Hogwarts. He looked at his hand and began to open and close his fingers curiously because the cut was pretty long and deep and the blood beaded out everytime he made a ‘v’.

A handkerchief grabbed his hand and Harry looked up startled at Hermione. As predictable as the potion, Professor Snape chose that moment to look up.

“This isn’t a dating class, Miss Granger, Mr Potter. Get your grabby hormonal hands off each other and copy down this recipe before I erase it from the board,” And as an afterthought, “Twenty points from Gryffindor.”

Hermione was abashed and turned away from Harry, trying not to look at the Slytherin girl in front of her who made lewd gestures with her hands. Harry clenched his hands into fists and the papercut folded in on itself and stung.

When class was over, Ron grabbed Harry’s hand and jerked Harry over by it.

“Get to the infirmary,” Ron said faintly.

The handkerchief was red and wet.

~

Harry came back into the Gryffindor common room and sat down inbetween Ron and Hermione. He could barely walk properly because when he lifted his hand, it was a ball of gauze with four purplish tips of finger poking out at the top.

“My thumb is somewhere in there,” Harry commented.

Ron giggled and wrapped his hand around the ball. “Heavy, isn’t it? I kind of like it—“

“But why didn’t Madame Pomfrey just heal it?” enquired Hermione, reaching over and taking Harry’s hand and turning it back and forth.

Harry shrugged. “She was pretty baffled herself. But she slathered something all over it and then bandaged it up like this and told me to come back in a week. It’s just a stupid papercut. I got them all the time in school. My old school. All the time.”

Then Harry tipped over sideways onto Ron’s lap, his bandaged hand buried underneath him.

~

“I can still fly.”

“Barely. You keep swinging to your left. And what can you catch with that thing?” Oliver poked at the bandage in frustration. “Can’t you take it off?”

“Sure,” Harry said immediately and began ripping at the layers. He needed Quidditch and he couldn’t stand the sound of Oliver’s frustration.

After practice, Harry stood in the shower of the change room and watched the red swirl against the clear white floor tiles like mint candy. Oliver stood next to him and watched as well.

“You should really get that looked after, you know,” he said, staring at the tiles.

Harry stared at him and bit back vehemence.

~

Harry fell asleep in the library, which wasn’t anything new. He didn’t really like being woken up by Draco, though, especially when Draco had Crabbe and Goyle with him.

“Hey look, it’s my best friend Potter!” Draco said and feigned mockery poorly. Harry knew Draco still remembered that he had laughed along with Ron Weasley. “And how are you doing, dear friend?”

Harry batted Draco’s hand off his shoulder with his ball of gauze and tried not to tip sideways off the chair. He wanted with all his Gryffindor might to come up with a comeback, but as his eyes focussed he noticed Draco had already jumped a step back in horror.

“Good lord,” Draco breathed delicately.

Harry looked down at the book he had used for a pillow and the ink was smudged with blood. Harry looked back up at Draco, who was grasping one hand’s fingers with his other.

“It’s just a papercut. Malfoy, it’s just,” Harry said desperately.

Draco nodded. “It’s really red.” He looked behind him and saw Ron coming into the library. Draco's hands slid down his body absently. "Okay, Harry. Potter. Let's go boys."

~

Harry couldn’t hold the Invisibility cloak properly but he remained obstinate and held the other side with his teeth. He really just loved the feel of the cloak. It felt like connection.

“Stay here,” Harry instructed Ron. Ron rolled his eyes.

“Well I thought I’d go visit the skrewts, if you don’t mind.” He whispered back, too sleepy for any sort of drier wit.

Harry slipped out and warbled around the castle aimlessly. He went into the library but he didn’t really know what to look for. So he went to the greenhouse and lightly patted at random plants with his nubbed gauze fingers. The cloak grew wet in his mouth because he couldn’t swallow properly. He paused in the dining hall and unfolded the map and looked at it and saw a little ‘Snape’ posted stationary in his office.

~

“What did you do to me?” Harry demanded and Snape stared at him incredulously.

“What are you doing out of-“

“You know what I’m talking about. This. I can’t put bandages over it fast enough before it gets all red again. It happened in your class, from the scroll paper that you gave us. What did you do?” Harry looked down at he feet and noticed how small they were. “…sir.”

Snape eyed him coldly and then let him into his office. He unbandaged Harry’s hand and pressed the palm with thin icy fingers. Harry shivered and wanted to go back to the Fat Lady, but he stayed still and apprehensive.

“It is just a papercut,” Harry said, but he was tired of the way that sounded.

Snape’s eyes darted at Harry’s forehead and then back at the cut. It was translucent and flabby-pale, but when Snape moved the fingers the skin stretched and blood seeped out generously. The droplets were perfectly symmetrical and pomegranate red and Snape sharply inhaled both iron and magic.

“Ah,” Snape said lightly and he unfurled from his crouch. He went into the antechamber and emerged with a pale opaque jewel that he pressed into Harry’s hand. Harry’s fingers instinctively closed over it and Snape’s fingers closed over his, suddenly warm and dry.

“Sleep with this tonight,” Snape said, then turned away, sounding unconcerned. “You’ll be fine in the morning. Now get back to bed. You have detention tomorrow. And ten points from Gryffindor.”

~

“It looks fine to me,” Ron said appraisingly. Hermione nodded and drained her pumpkin juice.

“Let’s just make sure, shall we?” George said and sprinkled salt liberally over Harry’s hand.

Harry laughed as well, but stopped abruptly when he shoved his other hand in his pocket and it closed around a smooth red jewel. At least he wasn't tipping over onto George.

Then Draco made his entrance for breakfast. He breathed deeply and then called out "Alright, Ron?"

And Ron nodded happily, face full of toast and everyone was speechless.

~

The students were in the class before Professor Snape finally came in. He smiled briefly at Harry, pleased when he noticed the hand unbandaged. Harry didn’t smile back,. He just clenched his hands into fists, but all he could feel were his nails digging into his palm.

End