Malfoy gets a beating

Christmas was still nearly two weeks away, so Will was in no hurry. He continued following his study plan, taking extra Charms lessons with Professor Flitwick twice a week and occasionally going to Snape for extra Potions lessons.

Then came a day in mid-December, after Potions class.

Will had stayed in the classroom with Snape for an extra lesson. Less than half an hour had passed when hurried footsteps and a commotion broke out in the corridor outside the Potions Classroom.

Both Will and Snape frowned. Before either could react, Malfoy burst into the Potions Classroom with black eyes and a badly bruised, swollen face, shouting, "Potter! Potter—"

He had barely been shouting for two seconds before Harry and Ron charged through the door and tackled him to the floor. The three of them rolled over several times, even smashing two glass jars containing preserved specimens. Large quantities of oddly smelling liquid soaked their clothes. Finally, Harry sat astride Malfoy, raining punches down on his body and head. Malfoy screamed again and again, blood spraying from his nose.

Ron pinned Malfoy's hands down, constantly swearing at him and calling him things like a filthy little bastard.

Harry was wildly swinging his fists, his eyes red with fury, when someone suddenly seized his arm. The grip was incredibly strong, holding his arm fast and preventing him from landing another punch.

"Harry Potter!"

Harry looked up into Snape's terrifyingly grim face. Cold fury filled Snape's expression as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Assaulting a fellow student, bullying at school—fifty points from Gryffindor—"

This time, Harry did not look away as he usually did. Instead, he glared straight into Snape's eyes. "Shut up. I know what your relationship with Malfoy is, but I don't care. Take as many points as you like!"

Beside them, Will raised his eyebrows. He certainly didn't remember Harry being this fierce in his first year.

"Malfoy provoked him first, Professor Snape." Hagrid strode into the Potions Classroom, panting. "Malfoy just insulted Harry's family."

"Whatever the circumstances, bullying a fellow student violates Hogwarts rules, Hagrid!" Snape displayed an unusual degree of anger as he forcefully hauled Harry off Malfoy. "Potter! Weasley! Get off your fellow student!"

Snape held one of Harry's arms, but Harry kept hammering Malfoy with his other fist, cursing as he hit him. "You bastard! If you dare say another bad word about my parents, I'll beat you so badly you won't be able to walk!"

"Pot...ter..." His face bruised and swollen, Malfoy glared at Harry through one open eye and mumbled indistinctly, "You're just an orphan with no mum or dad. Your parents deserved to be killed by the Dark Lord. They must have been a pair of ill-mannered scum too. I'm going to tell my father..."

Malfoy's insults were vicious. Even after being pulled upright, Harry viciously kicked him several more times as he lay on the floor like a dead dog.

Malfoy failed to notice that the moment he finished speaking, Snape's gaze shifted to him. For no apparent reason, Malfoy felt as though needles were pricking his back. Watching from the sidelines, Will could only conclude that Malfoy truly had a talent for courting disaster.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor! Starting tomorrow, all three of you will serve detention in my office until Christmas!" Before Malfoy could speak, Snape turned to Will. "Behrens, take Malfoy to the Hospital Wing!"

Apparently, today's extra Potions lesson was a lost cause. Will held out his hand to Snape. "The permission slip for the Restricted Section."

Snape tossed Will the slip he had already written.

Only then did Will cast two Levitation Charms on Malfoy. Next, he used Transfiguration to turn the permission slip into a rope and tethered Malfoy like a balloon.

"Put me down! You bastard! You Mudblood, I order you!" Malfoy writhed and shouted in midair. Thoroughly irritated, Will cast Langlock on him.

Snape said nothing throughout, allowing Will to lead Malfoy out of the Potions Classroom like that.

As for supporting him by the arm?

What a joke. Will had no desire to get any of those oddly smelling liquids on himself.

Seeing Will treat Malfoy that way made Harry and Ron feel considerably better.

As soon as Will reached ground level, he ran into Neville, whose face was red and swollen, and Hermione, who was holding her wand. Goyle and Crabbe lay on the snow. From their stiff bodies, they had clearly been hit with Petrificus Totalus.

From the two of them, Will learned what had happened. Harry and Ron had originally been going to help Hagrid move some trees, but Malfoy had mocked Ron's family circumstances. While Ron and Malfoy were scuffling, Malfoy had then insulted Harry's parents. That had sealed his fate: Harry and Ron immediately pinned him to the ground and beat him. Goyle and Crabbe had tried to help, but Neville had kept both of them occupied on his own.

They all seemed to have completely forgotten they were wizards. Only Hermione had drawn her wand and petrified Goyle and Crabbe.

All Will could say was that Malfoy was weak, foul-mouthed, and utterly unable to read the room. He deserved the beating. Fortunately for him, Harry hadn't come off worse; if Hagrid had stepped in, Malfoy and his two lackeys would probably have suffered even more.

After delivering Malfoy to the Hospital Wing and handing him over to Madam Pomfrey, Will headed straight to the library. Permission to enter the Restricted Section didn't last forever, after all.

Will wandered through the Restricted Section, looking for restricted books on potions. His special permission slip allowed him to search freely through the potions books rather than limiting him to a few particular titles. Suddenly, amid a pile of oddly shaped books that gave off an eerie air, he spotted a battered old volume.

"The Strange Nature of Potions"

The title caught Will's attention. When he had first started studying potions, he had seen the definition in his textbook: potions were, in essence, liquids containing magic.

But Will's intuition told him that this book would provide him with a wealth of knowledge and experience.

A few minutes later, Will reached the Seventh Floor. "I want a comfortable reading room. I need a comfortable reading room..."

The Room of Requirement became a warm room with a fireplace and an antique armchair. A brass floor lamp illuminated a desk made from a tree stump. Will sat down, satisfied.

He opened the book.

[Potions are spells!]

The very first sentence puzzled Will. Potions are spells? How could that be possible?

Potions and spells were two entirely separate fields. Every wizard knew that. Anyone who claimed that potions were spells would probably be considered mad by the vast majority of people.

But since this book was housed in the Restricted Section, Will doubted it was a collection of jokes. He read on and found a note.

[Note: This book was compiled from the manuscripts of the mad wizard Ethan Abdullah. He was a renowned mad wizard of the seventeenth century, a celebrated Potions Master, and a prominent wizard of the spell-reform school. During the ravages of the Black Death, he captured large numbers of Muggles and wizards to test potions on them.]

[In 1667, Ethan Abdullah was found dead in his "home." I gathered his manuscripts and compiled them into this book.]

[The following is Ethan Abdullah's manuscript:]