Split Infinities

Chapter One

Harry's day had already been going from bad to worse, but by the time class with Snape grew near, he had a sickening feeling in his stomach that something was about to go very, very wrong. Where it had come from was harder to pinpoint, though he reckoned it might have started at breakfast, and now it had blossomed into full-fledged dread.

Ron and Hermione, walking beside him, were trying fervently to cheer him up, though most of their attempts kept failing. He was about to be forced to sit through another lesson of Defense Against the Dark Arts, where he would no doubt be ridiculed, mocked, and put down. And he would have nothing he could do about it, either, which wasn't exactly an enchanting prospect. It wasn't a good way to have any afternoon pass, in fact, and especially not Monday. He hated Mondays with a passion.

Coming around a corner, he drew to an abrupt halt, motioning for his friends to stop with him. There, standing in the middle of an empty corridor by the top of a flight of stairs, were Draco Malfoy and Luna Lovegood. Both of them appeared to be alone, and Luna was darting serenely over the floor trying to pick up her belongings, which had scattered all over the floor from her bag, which had split.

Standing over her, Malfoy wore a trademark sneer as he beheld her and, without warning, shot a kick out at her ribcage. She toppled sideways, looked up at him calmly, and went back to what she'd been doing without so much as a squeak. Malfoy's face contorted with sudden rage as he beheld her, and he snatched out his wand, pointing it at her back.

It was like watching a petulant child take his fury out on the family pet, only the pet was ignoring him, and the child was thinking of getting more violent. Harry felt the muscles in his arms twitching, longing to punch the smirk off of that pale face, but two pairs of hands held him back, rooting him to his spot.

"What are you doing, Hermione?"

"I want to see! We can get him reported for this, you know."

They went back to watching as Malfoy reached down, jerking her to her feet, and settled the wand under her chin. "Look at me when I talk to you, Lovegood," he snarled, grey eyes wide with fury. Hers, a calmer shade of silver, met his without so much as a trace of fear. "You think you're better than me, that you don't speak when I ask you a question?"

"Silence is a universally accepted form of the word 'no'. Didn't you know that? My father researched it." Her voice was just as dreamy as ever, though her eyes seemed to have come into sharp focus on him.

"Oh, shut up, you filthy blood traitor!" He raised a hand as if to slap her. "You don't know what's coming to you, do you? When I have my way, you'll see what you are, and you'll go the same route that your idiot mother did!" He snorted. "Blew herself up, didn't she? Stupid prat! We all knew she would!"

Luna went utterly still, her protuberant eyes still fixed on him. He seemed to have touched a deep-set nerve as her mouth opened, closed, and stayed closed. She took a step back from him, avoiding both the wand and the hand raised to strike. His glare seemed not to faze her, but she also wore a facial expression of utter numbness.

"She was nothing." Leaning in, his face was inches from hers, expression terrifying in just how arrogant and furious it was. "You loved a nothing, Loony, just like Saint Potter, and you're just like her." Smirking, he lowered the wand, and added scathingly, "If you're lucky, maybe we'll put you six feet under, and you can visit."

Harry, his green eyes wide with just as much anger as his nemesis, struggled against the two friends who held him captive. "Ron! Hermione! Let me go, I've got to do something! He can't say things like that!"

"We'll report it, dock points, do something else. You can't attack him!"

"Like hell I can't!"

Bursting free, Harry came careening around the corner and skidded to a halt. Luna looked up, suddenly more cheerful, and Malfoy stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Or like a bully caught red-handed, Harry thought with sudden hatred, and took a step forward, producing a wand.

Inside, his mind raged. How dare he insult Luna's dead mother and his in the same sentence? Had he never actually felt grief? He had no right to step all over their feelings, no matter how invalid he deemed them. And even fear of loss wouldn't excuse it... that bastard. That string-of-expletives.

"Potter." Suddenly, Malfoy's voice was cool, as he recovered from his shock and slowly brought his wand up to bear on him. "Come to protect their darling memories, I expect. Pathetic. Utterly pathetic."

The entire hallway suddenly flared red. Harry lunged for him, wands forgotten entirely, and in doing so knocked him backwards. Hands on Malfoy's shoulders, he thrust, and the other boy's feet gave way. Suddenly, horribly, the force of gravity took over, and the Slytherin went careening headfirst down the marble stairs, falling bruised down every step before he struck the bottom with a sickening crack.

From the bottom, Malfoy looked up at him, teeth gritted, and whispered a spell. Unable to dodge, Harry stood his ground, and felt the force of it knock into him so hard that he fell over backwards.

"Harry! Harry!" The world went black.