Magic Conversion Potion and Another Attack (V)

Pansy and Blaise stood as well. Pansy smoothed her hair, while Blaise took a Zippo lighter from his pocket, toyed with it for a moment, then put it away. One after the other, they left the Chamber of Secrets without looking back. The older Slytherins rose too and filed out one by one, their footsteps echoing down the corridor, growing farther away and softer until they vanished completely.

Only the Ravenclaw sixth-year boy and the Hufflepuff fifth-year girl remained in the Prefects' Council Chamber. They sat at opposite ends of the table, separated by the circular water stains left by the empty bottles. Green fire still burned in the fireplace, its light moving slowly across the walls like an invisible hand caressing the stone.

The girl stood, walked over to the boy, reached out, and took his hand. Her hand was trembling—not from fear, but from something more complicated, the tension of we finally made that decision.

"We're safe," she said softly, so softly it was like a secret only she could hear.

The boy said nothing. He lowered his head and looked at his hand. It was no longer trembling. That invisible, warm film still clung to the surface of his skin like a garment that could never be taken off.

He did not know whether he was truly safe. But he knew that from this day on, he could not turn back. Not because someone would not allow him to, but because—he did not want to. The feeling of being protected, the feeling of I was chosen, the feeling of I'm different from those cowards shivering in the corridors—it was too sweet. Sweet enough that he wanted to keep tasting it, no matter what lay behind that sweetness.

He tightened his grip on the girl's hand, stood, and