Chapter 191 - Parting — Tears Unshed

Praeris's expression didn't shift. She nodded, calm. "If I can walk over there."

The crowd kept their eyes fixed on her, but they parted anyway, opening a path to the hospital bed, and Bill Weasley's ravaged face.

Madam Pomfrey's face was heavy with helpless self-reproach. "This boy was bitten by an untransformed werewolf. The wound carries a curse — it cannot fully heal."

She was a skilled healer. She was not a Potions Master. She could not produce a potion that had never existed.

When her treatments failed, Madam Pomfrey's first instinct had been to find Severus. She'd been stunned instead by the news of his betrayal.

Tonks's voice came from behind Lupin. "Can Praeris do it? She improved the Wolfsbane Potion — she must understand werewolves inside and out!"

"Praeris didn't show up tonight?" Harry said, astonished. "Snape didn't ask her to help?"

Winnie shot to her feet. "Potter, what is that supposed to mean? Why would that bastard Snape drag Praeris into this!"

"Who doesn't know she's Snape's prized student!" Ron's eyes stayed locked on Bill's face as he fired off his questions. "Who doesn't know how brilliant she is? Who doesn't know what she can do? Who doesn't know about her and Malfoy!"

"By that logic, I've got the Dark Mark on my arm too!" Winnie's voice dripped scorn. "Why don't you all treat me like the enemy while you're at it!"

The Hospital Wing went silent.

Not long ago, Winnie had wounded two Death Eaters in the chaos. She'd saved Neville.

Seeing that everyone had finally stopped shouting, Madam Pomfrey said, "Let the girl come over. I think she may be able to do this."

"I understand." Praeris, who hadn't heard any of the earlier quarrel, asked it almost casually. "How is there a werewolf inside the school?"

"You've got the nerve to ask!" Ron's eyes blazed. He was shouting now. "Malfoy let Greyback in! I don't believe you knew nothing about it!"

"Ron!" Mr. Weasley grabbed his son and pulled him back.

Bill was Ron's own brother, and Ron knew exactly what Praeris was capable of. Now Bill lay in that bed, and the one responsible was tied to Praeris in the most intimate way, how was Ron supposed to stay rational?

But the cruel irony was this: the only person who could help Bill now was Snape's apprentice. Malfoy's girlfriend.

Praeris turned her face, glanced at Ron, then shifted her gaze to Bill lying on the bed. She turned to Madam Pomfrey. "Madam Pomfrey, there are two options."

She looked at the ointment in Madam Pomfrey's hand. "First: continue applying the salve while I work to develop a potion tailored to the condition. But that will take time, and I can't guarantee success."

The approach sounded extreme.

Total success, or complete failure.

Fleur was still holding Mrs. Weasley, it seemed the two had fully reconciled. Her face was streaked with tears. She asked Praeris urgently, "And the second?"

"I have a potion with regenerative properties. It would need some fine-tuning of the details..." What Praeris said next made everyone present shudder. "Cut away all the flesh contaminated by the curse, and grow a new face in its place."

The plan sounded far too bloody. The Weasleys exchanged glances, huddled together, and discussed it in low voices.

Praeris peeled off the gloves she'd used to examine the wound and walked toward Winnie and Lady Pulley in the corner.

Lady Pulley lowered her head and murmured, "He took that boy and ran. He didn't tell you beforehand?"

Winnie froze. She asked quietly, "Why would he tell Prae? Prae is only his student!"

Praeris looked at Lady Pulley. "He said Dumbledore asked him to look after me."

Lady Pulley shook her head and pulled Praeris into an embrace. "I believe you haven't lied to me. But I don't believe he would do this — this is utter madness! How could it come to this..."

Winnie was completely lost now. She tugged at Praeris's cuff. "What's going on?"

Praeris said it calmly. "Professor Snape is Sylvia's cousin. But he does not like Sylvia and Ryan."

A pause of one second. Then she added, "It has always been that way."

Winnie stiffened, as if something had suddenly surfaced in her memory. Her eyes went wide. She murmured to herself, "I remember now! Oh, no..."

The memory was so distant. Recalling it was like peering through frosted glass.

Around the time they'd first started school, Sylvia had gone specifically to see a dark-haired older boy. They'd started arguing before exchanging more than a few words.

Now that she thought about it, could that have been Severus Snape?

"It's best that he hates you!" Winnie said, urgent. "He killed Dumbledore and fled with Malfoy's son. Prae, don't speak up for him — you'll get yourself in trouble!"

THUD!

Hearing Winnie's words, the heart that had been suspended high in Praeris's chest finally dropped. Blood rushed back into her limbs, pulling her back from the suffocation of death. But it also made her see Professor McGonagall in a new light.

When Professor McGonagall had arrived earlier, her restrained grief, the effort she'd made to show calm in front of Praeris, had nearly made Praeris believe that either Professor Snape or Draco was already dead.

So neither of them was. She simply couldn't bear to transfer her heartbreak onto Praeris, whom she saw as innocent.

By now, nearly everyone in the Hospital Wing bore injuries. All kinds of faint sounds poured in, like the vibration of insect wings, drifting into Praeris's ears.

Someone said: I thought I knew Snape.

Praeris saw that it was Professor Flitwick. He glanced at her with a complicated look, but when their eyes met, he looked away again, fast.

Perhaps Professor Flitwick had once said the same thing, only about Sylvia Prince. Members of their family had now shaken the professors of Hogwarts for the second time.

Someone said: I always knew Snivellus couldn't be trusted, he deceived Dumbledore!

That was Sirius. Apart from Bill, he had taken the most wounds.

"So close!" Sirius said through gritted teeth. "I was so close to hitting him! I would have made him pay for Dumbledore's life!"

"It's not your fault, Sirius!" Harry mustered his strength to console him. "You did it for me too..."

Lady Pulley drew Praeris close, gently turned her head back, and covered her ears. "My dear, don't listen anymore. Don't look anymore."

After a while, the Weasleys finished their discussion. Fleur, as Bill's fiancée, spoke for them. "Prince, what are the chances the second method will succeed?"

"Hard to say." Praeris was composed. "Only one patient has used that potion, though he was completely cured. It hasn't been tested on more people, and the surgical site on that patient was not on the face."

"That is to say..." Fleur's eyes filled with hope. "Someone has tested it, and it worked."

Praeris nodded. "You could put it that way."

Fleur and Molly Weasley exchanged a look, as if reaching some resolution. "We entrust Bill to you, then."

From the moment Praeris entered the Hospital Wing until she left, aside from Lady Pulley and Winnie, and the discussion of Bill's condition, not a single person had spoken to Praeris alone.

All of them. Some saw her as a lifeline. Some looked at her with complicated eyes. Some looked at her with hatred.

No doubt some among them loathed Praeris to the core, hoping to use her to strike back at Snape and Malfoy. But no one could declare Praeris guilty, and they still had to rely on her to save Bill Weasley's life.

Praeris took in every one of those gazes. Then she hugged Lady Pulley and Winnie. "Goodnight."

"It's good morning," Winnie said.

Bearing all those stares, Praeris straightened her back and walked toward the Slytherin common room.

From the morning after Dumbledore's death, Slytherin parents began arriving one after another to collect their children.

Becky Bulstrode was the first, a plump, middle-aged witch with a piercing voice. The moment she saw Millicent, she shrieked, "Now! Immediately! This instant! Pack your things and come with me!"

"Aunt! Why are you here?" Millicent was astonished. "Where are we going?"

"South America." Becky Bulstrode's voice was sharp. "I have properties there, a villa, connections. You can work as a commentator in Argentina."

"What?" Millicent was flustered now. "I'm not coming back next term? But I haven't even graduated yet!"

"Graduation is not what matters." Becky was tense. "What matters is staying alive, only if you're alive is there hope. Do you understand?"

"I..." Millicent swallowed. "I need to think."

Millicent rushed back to the dormitory and found Pansy and Daphne both packing. Only Praeris sat alone on her bed, hands bracing the edge of the mattress, head lowered as she watched the others busy around.

"Are you leaving too?" Millicent asked.

Pansy dug a letter out of a pile of odds and ends. "Dumbledore is dead. Hogwarts isn't safe to stay in right now. My mother's opinion is, go home first, figure out the rest later."

"What about you?" Millicent looked at Praeris.

Praeris said it calmly. "I'm going to attend Dumbledore's funeral. Then I'll travel to the southwest, I have family in Devon."

"You're going to Dumbledore's funeral?" The three girls cried it in unison. "Have you gone mad!"

Pansy's voice went shrill. "Professor Snape killed Dumbledore, and you're still going to Dumbledore's funeral!"

"Why not? We're witnessing history." Praeris shrugged. "Crabbe and Goyle are both going."

Praeris said it like it was obvious. Their expressions made it clear they did not agree. They suspected Dumbledore's supporters would take revenge on students close to Snape.

There was nothing for it. Pansy couldn't stop Praeris. She turned to Millicent instead. "And you?"

"My aunt wants to take me to South America..." Millicent hung her head.

Pansy nodded. "That's good. Lie low for a while."

"She wants me not to come back," Millicent added.

Millicent understood Aunt Becky's state of mind. Her younger brother had taken the fall for his Death Eater wife and died, it had left a deep, lasting scar on her.

She had already lost her only brother. Now she had only one requirement left for Millicent: stay alive.

Only stay alive. Just stay alive.

But how could Millicent bear to abandon her unfinished studies? Abandon the homeland of over a decade? Abandon her friends of so many years?

"You should go." Praeris spoke suddenly.

Pansy and Daphne both stared at her in surprise.

Millicent was Praeris's first friend at Hogwarts. Even though Praeris had grown closer to Pansy over time, what she had with Millicent was always different.

None of them had expected Praeris to tell Millicent to leave.

Millicent's eyes reddened. She looked at Praeris. "Prae, can you bear to part with me?"

"I don't know... I don't know." Praeris spoke rapidly. "But you already have your OWLs. Your dream doesn't require graduation. You don't need to stay here."

"But I'm a pure-blood!" Millicent was agitated. "I won't be in any —"

"But your mother will turn you into a Death Eater."

"The Death Eaters don't take minors! They don't take anyone who hasn't graduated!"

"They do now."

A deathly silence.

Pansy sat on the velvet stool. She lowered her eyes and saw Praeris's hands gripping the bedsheet, trembling uncontrollably.

"It's Draco, isn't it?" Pansy asked.

For a long moment, no one answered her.

But she already had her answer.

Pansy turned and threw herself onto the bedcovers, grief-stricken sobs tearing out of her. She wept in rasping, heaving gasps, like a drowning person's final breaths.

In the end, Millicent was leaving after all.

The girls stuffed their own belongings into her trunk until it could barely close.

They began seeing Millicent off from the dormitory door.

They reached the entrance hall. Aunt Becky said that was enough.

It was no use. They walked her across the lawn in front of the castle.

Aunt Becky said, it's not safe now, you must go back!

It was no use. Finally, they reached the iron gates. The warthog statue was just ahead. There was truly nowhere left to send her.

Praeris felt she ought to say something, tell Millicent to write to them, tell Millicent not to forget them... But the whole way there, no one had said much of anything. They had simply walked forward in silence.

"I'm leaving now." Millicent turned back, trunk in hand. She was the one who said it. "Will you forget me?"

Praeris didn't cry. But she suddenly covered her face. "I won't. You know I never forget anything!"

Just like now, Praeris suddenly remembered that when she'd been searching for her origins, the first Anna Prince she had ruled out was a sports journalist in South America.

The connection was tenuous. But Praeris recalled it anyway, for no reason at all, and felt an inexplicable, piercing sadness.

Praeris also remembered that she had once hoped to go to other countries, other places, like Anna.

"After childhood, I've never been to another country." Praeris said it quietly. "I always thought, someday I'd travel around. Even now, I haven't done it."

"Go in my place. See the world for me. All right?"

➤ Next: The Heartless Slytherin