Placing Blame

Hogwarts Hospital Wing, June 8 th

Three days! It had taken three days for Harry to get permission to visit Nathan in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Three days of his parents trying to avoid telling him what happened to Nathan. Hearing his parents say "Your brother will be fine" and "Don't worry" did not stop him from worrying at all. The fact that they wouldn't tell him what had happened only made Harry worry more.

The reason Harry hadn't seen Nathan yet was because Dumbledore apparently needed to get the permission of the Board of Governors to let a Durmstrang student visit Hogwarts. According to his mother, Durmstrang had a nasty reputation of stealing the secrets of other magical academies during the late 1500s by sending younger students to 'visit' their relatives at other magical academies. Due to Durmstrang's less-than-stellar reputation, Hogwarts and many other schools responded by making it very difficult for Durmstrang students to enter the grounds.

Stepping through the floo in the traditional blood-red robes of Durmstrang, Harry appeared in the Hogwarts hospital wing.

"Right this way, Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey said immediately. Harry nodded his head in appreciation at the lack of small talk. Clearly someone understood that he just wanted to see his brother.

Madam Pomfrey led Harry to the far side of the infirmary where a single bed was closed off in curtains. All around the bed were chocolates, flowers, get well cards, and...a pair of toilet seats? Shaking his head, Harry ignored the bizarre get well gift and allowed Madam Pomfrey to guide him past the curtain to see his brother. Harry was shocked at how pale his brother looked as he lay immobile in the bed.

After a few minutes of staring at his unmoving brother, Harry wiped away a few stray tears and asked, "What happened?"

"Your brother was suffering from lacerations from an overzealous incarcerous spell as well as possessing a few painful bruises, cuts, and burns," Madam Pomfrey explained.

"Why would he need to be in the hospital for three days for burns and cuts?" Harry demanded. "Can't you regrow bones in a matter of hours? Merlin, it shouldn't take more than a few days to regrow an internal organ if you have the right potions on hand. What else happened to him? And why is he unconscious?"

Slightly startled by the young boy's knowledge of medicinal practices, Madam Pomfrey looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Your brother was hit with a dark curse. Fortunately the headmaster arrived in time to intervene, but your parents, the headmaster, and I were in agreement that it was best to give your brother a long term sleep potion so that he would not be in pain when he awoke."

Harry gave the matron a confused look. "Why couldn't you just give him a pain relief potion?"

Turning away from the young boy, Madam Pomfrey said, "I'm afraid I am not allowed to discuss any more of Mr. Potter's condition."

"Then tell me what happened?" Harry pressed angrily. "What caused this!"

"I'm not at liberty to say, Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey said, sounding somewhat apologetic. Seeing the anger on Harry's face increasing, Madam Pomfrey said, "While your parents and the Headmaster don't wish for any staff member to worry you, I will say that Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger might be able to give you an idea as to what happened to your brother. I understand that they were both with him that night. It's almost noon, so it would be safe to assume that they would be in the Great Hall having lunch right now."

Harry gave the matron a nod and turned to leave. Before he reached the curtain though, Madam Pomfrey said, "Mr. Potter, you didn't hear that from me, understood?"

Pausing, Harry turned to face Madam Pomfrey. "Hear what, Ma'am? I'm sorry if I didn't catch what you said, but I'm fairly hungry. I think I'll grab a quick bite for lunch."

After making it from the hospital wing to the Great Hall in record time, Harry entered the Great Hall and zeroed in on the Gryffindor table, looking for Ron and Hermione. He found them on the far side of the table, sitting close to the staff table. As Harry began to walk towards his brother's friends, he drew the attention of the Hogwarts population. As he passed the Slytherin table, he saw several students' eyes widen, and he definitely heard them mutter about Durmstrang.

As he passed the staff table, he saw Professor Flitwick look at him with a dejected expression on his face while Professor Snape seemed to be observing him carefully. Harry was just glad his parents, Professor McGonagall, and the headmaster were all in a meeting to discuss Nathan's health. Had they seen the way he was looking at Ron and Hermione, they would have dragged him out of the hall as quickly as possible.

"Weasley, Granger, explain now!" Harry snarled, causing most of the conversation around the Great Hall to stop immediately.

Hermione's head jerked up at the sound of his angry voice, and she seemed incredibly surprised to see him standing in front of her. Ron, on the other hand, simply turned around and looked at his Durmstrang robes in disgust.

Knowing that he didn't have very long before the headmaster or his parents showed up, Harry walked right into Ron's personal space and hissed, "What happened to my brother?" Harry's wand spat out angry looking yellow and violet sparks, and Ron suddenly looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"It was Quirrell," Hermione began rambling. "He tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Ron, Nathan, and I went to stop him. Ron was hurt by McGonagall's giant chess set, and there was only enough potion left for either Nathan or me to pass through an enchanted fire. Nathan told me to go back to help Ron, I-I..."

Harry felt himself stagger back a step, and he looked at Hermione with a mixture of shock and disbelief. Glancing up at the staff table, Harry confirmed that Quirrell was indeed missing, but it didn't make sense. Why would Quirrell, the closest thing he had to a friend at Hogwarts, try to kill his brother! There had to be more to the story. Doing his best to ignore what he had been told about Quirrell until he could talk to someone else, Harry turned to Granger and said, "I thought I told you to leave the stone alone! It was Professor Dumbledore's job to protect the stone, not a group of first years."

"Dumbledore was gone! We had to do something," Ron said loudly. "No one would listen to us when we told them the stone was in danger!"

"This is your fault, isn't it!" Harry snapped, momentarily losing control and shoving his wand under Ron's neck, causing the other Weasleys at the Gryffindor table to stand up and point their wands at him. Unconcerned, Harry growled out, "My brother and Granger have more common sense than to do something this monumentally stupid! You on the other hand don't have an intelligent bone in your body!"

"You tell him, Potter," Draco Malfoy shouted from over at the Slytherin table.

As the Slytherin table roared with laughter, Professor Flitwick stood up. "Mr. Potter, release Mr. Weasley at once!"

Reluctantly, Harry complied and Ron quickly ran around to the other side of the table to stand by Hermione.

"So those are your new friends? A bunch of stinking Slytherins? I bet you fit right in with all of them since you're learning the Dark Arts at Durmstrang!" Ron accused.

Lowering his voice, Harry whispered so that only Ron and Hermione could hear him. "I am learning the Dark Arts, Weasley. So you had better watch your mouth around me. Merlin knows you won't be able to stop me if I decide to curse you."

Harry couldn't help but appreciate watching Ron pale in terror. His enjoyment only lasted a moment, however, when he saw that Flitwick and Snape had left the staff table and were standing not a few feet away from him. From the expression on Flitwick's face, Harry's old Head of House had heard every word he had just said to Ron.

"He just threatened me!" Ron said frantically to the professors.

Before Flitwick could say anything, Professor Snape addressed Ron directly. "Mr. Potter no longer goes to school here, Weasley. What would you like for us to do? Take twenty points from Durmstrang?" As most of the Slytherins chuckled, Snape slowly came to stand next to Harry. "Perhaps it would be best if I escorted you out of the Great Hall, Mr. Potter. You seem to be disturbing lunch."

With one final hate-filled glare at Ron, Harry allowed Professor Snape to escort him out of the Great Hall. As he passed the Ravenclaw table, Harry couldn't help but notice the look of shock on all of his former peers' faces. They clearly didn't know what to make of him anymore, and Harry wanted to scream that they never bothered to get to know him in the first place.

"An interesting performance, Mr. Potter," Professor Snape said as soon as they cleared the doors of the Great Hall.

"I'm right that this is Weasley's fault," Harry said defensively. "Nathan didn't do dumb things before he met Ron."

"Perhaps," Snape conceded, "but have you ever considered that maybe your brother has always been such a dunderhead, and it was only your presence that stopped him from taking such idiotic actions?"

"No," Harry admitted.

Snape smirked. "I think you'll find that your brother has much more in common with Mr. Weasley than you wish to think."

"Nathan is nothing like Ron Weasley," Harry said angrily. "He's intelligent–"

"-lazy, obsessed with Quidditch, and a troublemaker," Snape finished.

"My brother is worth a hundred of Ron," Harry said strongly

"Of that I have no doubt. However, that is simply due to the fact that Weasley is that bad, not that your brother is in any way decent," Snape replied without any hesitation.

Not wanting to address Snape's claim, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Is it true? That Quirrell attacked Nathan?"

"Yes," Snape replied. "Your brother foolishly sought out a confrontation with Quirrell while he was attempting to steal the Philosopher's Stone."

"But why would Quirrell try to steal the stone?" Harry asked. That was the part he didn't understand. Quirrell was helping to protect the stone, why would he want to steal it?

Snape took a moment to consider his words before he said, "All the gold you could desire and eternal life is enough to tempt any man. The fact that Quirrell was aware of what the other protections guarding the stone were perhaps made it too tempting an opportunity to pass up. Your brother simply got in his way, and he was very fortunate Dumbledore returned when he did."

"What spell was it?" Harry asked. "Madam Pomfrey said Nathan was hit by a dark curse. What was it?"

"I had a chance to look at your spell chain, Mr. Potter, and I admit I'm rather intrigued by some of the spells you selected," Snape replied.

Scowling slightly at Snape's shameless topic change, Harry somewhat bitterly asked, "Why's that sir?"

"You started the chain as I expected, choosing simple hexes and basic elemental spells that flowed well together," Snape said.

"But?" Harry prodded.

"But then you began alternating between cutting and blasting spells in increasing levels of difficulty to close out the chain."

"So?" Harry asked. "Cutting spells typically end on a slashing motion and blasting spells tend to start with a twirl or twist. The momentum of the slash makes going into either motion very easy and it flows perfectly."

"I once knew someone who had a spell chain that was very similar to yours, Mr. Potter," Snape said slowly. "It was obviously much more impressive and filled with dueling-caliber spells, but they also ended on a series of cutting and blasting spells."

"I can't imagine it's all that rare," Harry pointed out, not understanding his old professor's point. "The spells do go together easily."

"No, that is not rare at all, Mr. Potter, but what is unusual is that you continued to increase the complexity of your curses as the chain drew to a close. Most people like to have a balanced chain so that they don't overexert themselves at any point. By increasing the difficulty of your spells, you allow yourself a smaller margin for error that many would find too risky while in a duel. In fact, I could count on one hand the number of people actually capable of maintaining such a tactic when it is applied to the highest level of dueling," Snape said as they arrived outside of the hospital wing.

"What are you trying to say, sir?" Harry asked, curious as to what his old professor's point was.

"Nothing really," Snape said as he stared intently at Harry. "I just found it rather strange that you would choose such a method."

As Snape turned to leave, Harry had a horrible thought. Calypso had helped him make that chain. Did Snape somehow know he had help creating it? "Your friend?" Harry asked nervously. "The one who used a chain similar to mine. Who is he sir?"

Snape paused. "I never said it was a he, Mr. Potter, and I don't believe I mentioned that we were friends either."

"Oh," Harry said, not sure what to make of the Head of Slytherin House's final comment. His mother said that Professor Snape liked to talk between the lines, but if he was trying to tell Harry something, that was just down right cryptic. Shrugging, Harry walked into the hospital wing, and immediately saw his parents and Professor McGonagall waiting for him. Neither of them looked at all pleased.

"Mr. Potter! Explain why you took it upon yourself to threaten Mr. Weasley in the Great Hall?" McGonagall demanded a split second before his mother could.

Shaking his head, Harry cursed the day he and his brother met Ron Weasley.