Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing as he stood there in the sixth-floor bathroom.  Malfoy was standing in front of a cracked mirror, head bowed and clutching the sink.  "No...don't.  Tell me what's wrong," said Moaning Myrtle from one of the cubicles in the bathroom.

"Nobody can help me.  If I don't do it...he'll kill me," said Draco.  "I don't have a choice."  Nobody understood how much pressure he was under with his mission and things being tense at home, what with the Dark Lord having taken over Malfoy Manor as his personal base and living there since his resurrection at the end of fourth year.   He stood there crying, unaware that he was being watched as he turned on the sink and splashed some water on his face to mask that he had been crying.   Tears dripped down into the grimy basin that the Slytherin sixth year cried into and when he looked up again at his reflection, he realized he wasn't alone, for there was Potter...Saint Potter...watching him.  Draco felt an instinctive grip of fear that encompassed his very soul. How much had Potter heard? If Potter knew what he had been ordered to do...there would be hell to pay at the Dark Lord's wand should word get out or he failed, his mission. 

Malfoy wheeled around, drawing his wind and Harry instinctively pulled out his own.  He couldn't be sure how long Potter had been standing there watching him or how much he had overheard, but the Gryffindor had to be silenced.   His fear for his life and the desperation to escape harm from the monster living in his home.   "I know what you did Malfoy.  You cursed Katie, didn't you?"

"Leave me alone Potter," said Malfoy.  "You don't understand anything."

Harry's eyes narrowed behind his glasses; anger visible in his posture.   "You hurt Katie Bell! What did she ever do to you?"

"Just leave Potter," said Malfoy. 

"No!  You need to confess to what you did Malfoy!"

"Don't!" said Moaning Myrtle as she saw Draco cast a hex at Harry.  "Please stop!"

Draco's curse missed Harry, crashing into the trashcan behind him and sent it to the ground, spilling trash onto the floor.  "Filpendo!"   A jet of yellow light erupted from Harry's wand as he finished the wand movement for the knockback jinx, a jinx which shattered the sink Draco had been standing in front of as the Slytherin threw himself to the side to prevent crashing into the mirror and wall behind him.  The jinx hit the pipe, causing the bathroom to flood with water and shatter the sink which broke off in chunks, crashing to the floor.   Draco's fearful reflection stared back at him as he picked himself up and he turned, a red light coming from his wand. 

"Anteoculatia!"  As the light hit Harry's head, he felt his scalp begin to itch and as he turned to the mirror, he saw antlers growing from his head.   Draco's next spell barely missed Harry, crashing into a lamp beside him on the wall.  Harry made a movement with his wand, thinking of Levicorpus, missing a hex to his face Draco fired.

"No, no stop!"  Moaning Myrtle's voice echoed around the room as Harry tried the Leg-Locker jinx which smashed into the wall behind Draco, even as a jinx from Malfoy exploded a second bin behind him.   "Stop! STOP!" The cistern beneath Myrtle exploded, sending more water into the bathroom along with the sink that Harry had hit earlier in their unexpected duel.   Harry waved his wand widely from the floor as Harry slipped in the water.  Harry waved his wand widely from the ground as Draco began to say a spell, the Gryffindor saying the first spell that came to mind, a spell he had been wondering about and wanting to try out for some time.

"Cruci-"

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

The spell hit Draco's stunned and anger-twisted face, slicing into his face and chest with a white light the only sign the spell had been cast.  Malfoy gasped and staggered back a few steps, falling to the water-logged floor, his wand falling from his limp right hand. 

"No..." said Harry as he stared in horror at Draco's bleeding form. "No...I didn't..."

Harry staggered to his feet and made his way towards Draco, watching in horror as his nemesis since the first day on the Hogwarts Express, bled out before him.   Within the water pooling onto the floor, Myrtle let out a deafening scream which was unable to mask the Slytherin Prince's own screams of pain, Harry catching sight of the antlers on his head again.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM!  MURDER!" 

The door banged open and Harry raised his head to see Professor Snape hurrying into the bathroom, Madam Hooch standing in the doorway and watching her colleague rush to a fallen student.   Shoving Harry roughly aside, Severus looked down at Draco as he screamed in pain and then at Moaning Myrtle.  "Go," he said, and the ghostly girl flew out of the bathroom.  Severus didn't care if the ghost told everyone of the crime Potter had done for, he next glanced down at Draco and knelt at his side.   Madam Hooch came into the bathroom as Harry watched Severus speaking an incantation under his breath that sounded like a song, moving his wand across Draco's face and chest.   Harry watched as the blood seemed to ease, barely aware that he too was soaked in blood and water from Draco's stained shirt which pooled underneath the pale skinned boy. 

"Severus..."

"Rolanda, I need to take Draco to the Hospital Wing," said Severus.    "Keep Potter here," he said.  He looked down at Draco as the blood flow eased and he wiped the residue blood from the boy.  "We need to get you to the hospital wing.  There might be some permanent scarring but maybe we can avoid even that with luck," said Severus as he picked the boy up in his arms.  

"Of course," said Madam Hooch as she narrowed her own eyes at Harry, Severus sweeping out of the bathroom as quickly as possible, holding his student carefully in his arms.    When Severus was gone, she shook her head and tutted in disappointment. "Honestly Potter, what would make you want to use a dark curse against another student? I thought you had more sense!"

"I didn't mean to do it!  I didn't mean for it to happen!"

"Nobody ever means for these things to happen," said Rolanda.  "But that is no excuse for what you did.  You'll be lucky if you aren't expelled or thrown in Azkaban for this stunt."

"I was defending myself!"   Yet Harry was scared.  He hadn't thought of the repercussions of this duel and it was against the school rules to duel in the corridors or anywhere else, not that it stopped students from doing so.   Besides, Malfoy was a Death Eater and probably served the man who killed his parents.   Dumbledore won't let you get expelled or thrown in Azkaban.  The thought frightened him enough to try running for it, slipping and staggering through the water. 

A jet of light his back and sent him to the floor, Harry losing his grip on his wand.  "Expelliarmus," said Madam Hooch, the wand flying out of Harry's reach and into the flying instructor's hand.  

Snape returned ten minutes later and looked down on the fallen boy with a sneer on his face.  "What happened?" he questioned Hooch.

"Potter attempted to run for it when I said he would be lucky to escape Azkaban or expulsion."

"Just like a Potter to shirk his responsibility and punishment, not thinking about anyone but himself," sneered Severus.   "Rolanda, please inform Professor McGonagall and  the Headmaster that Potter and I will be up at his office shortly."

"Of course, Severus," said Hooch, the woman then turning and leaving for the Headmaster's office.  When she was gone, Severus turned to Harry, the boy's wand being taken with Hooch when she left to speak to the Headmaster.

"Well, well, well.  Who would have thought Saint Potter would be capable of using a dark curse on another student?" The Potions Master looked like Christmas had come early.  "Where did you learn that spell? Who taught you it?"

"I didn't mean to do that!  I didn't know what the spell did!"

"A likely story," sneered Severus.  "Now, where did you learn that spell?"

"I read it in-in a library book."

"Liar," said Severus.   "We'll prove that you're not lying when we go to the Gryffindor common room to retrieve your bag."  

Harry's face paled and he shrank back from his hated professor as the man stalked towards him, robes billowing around him and bent to pick up Draco's wand before grabbing the Gryffindor's arm and marching him up to the seventh floor, taking the passage that he had taken down to the sixth floor.  Harry was surprised that the professor knew of the passage but was too frightened to say anything, his mind going to the tattered copy of Advanced Potions Making that was in his bag with his other schoolbooks.   "Professor...please..."

"Shut it Potter," said Snape. "The Headmaster won't be able to help you now."  When they got to Gryffindor Tower, Snape spoke the password to the Fat Lady who was talking with Violet and a wizened man.   "Quid Agis," he said, and the portrait swung open.   Even when they were inside the Gryffindor Tower, Snape escorted Harry upstairs to the sixth-year boy's dorm.  "As I don't trust you not to hide something...accio Potter's school bag

The schoolbag flew from the bed towards Snape's outstretched hand.  After putting his wand in the hidden holster on his arm, he rifled through the brat's bookbag, turning out the contents onto the boy's bed.  "Is this all of your books?" he questioned Potter.

"Yes sir," spat Harry with as much vengeance as he could muster into his tone, which wasn't a hard thing to do.   He watched as the professor rifled through the books of all his classes and then took Potter back to the common room, where the portrait opened to reveal a breathless Hermione and Ron who had raced to the common room upon hearing the rumor that Harry had murdered Malfoy.  

 "Professor don't!"

"Don't tell me what to do Miss Granger, unless you'd like house points taken from Gryffindor," said Snape. "So...not only have you attacked a fellow student without provocation, but I see you've been cheating in your Potions class as well," hissed Severus. 

"What are you talking about?" Ron questioned.  "That Potions book is the best thing to happen to Harry."

"Be quiet Weasley unless you want detention.  I'd expect cheating out of someone like Longbottom but you Miss Granger, I would have thought you had more sense to inform a Professor that Potter was cheating and had a book that didn't belong to him."

Hermione's face flushed crimson at the admonition from her professor.  "Now get out of my way," said Professor Snape, dragging Harry with him and telling the Fat Lady to not open to the common room.  He wouldn't put it past the youngest Weasley to try hexing him to stop Potter from facing punishment.  

The walk to the Headmaster's office was tense and silent, the man scared by the fact that the boy had his old potions textbook and had dared to practice a spell that he had written for enemies.  Severus hoped that the Headmaster would not let this go unpunished, as he had done when Severus had nearly been killed by Lupin in his fifth year.  Potter Senior was probably rolling in his grave at his son using a dark spell.  The thought, ironic as it was, gave him a hint of pleasure.  If only he could see the look on Potter Senior's face.

"Toffee Eclairs," said Snape when they reached the gargoyle who leapt aside, revealing the circular staircase which they stepped upon.  When they reached the landing at the stairs, Snape knocked on the door and then entered, dragging Harry with him and practically throwing him in a waiting chair, Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch seated within the Headmaster's office and there was Dumbledore whose eyes were not twinkling.  Instead, the Headmaster was angrier than Harry had ever seen him before and there was a cold disappointment in his eyes that made Harry's gut twist itself into knots, his face flooding pink with shame.

He looked to Professor McGonagall who had a stern look on her face.  "What were you thinking you stupid boy?" she hissed at Harry.  "Attacking another student...nearly murdering him going by Rolanda's words?"

"It was an accident.  I didn't mean for it to happen!  Headmaster you..."

"I'm sorry to say Harry that I am deeply disappointed in you," said the Headmaster.  "Attacking another student is grounds for dismissal from the school.  In your case, for nearly killing Malfoy, you could face Azkaban and expulsion."

"I think you have your priorities messed up Albus," said Hooch, to which Albus nodded.  

"Perhaps Rolanda," said Albus.  He looked at Severus, gesturing for the man to take a seat.  "Severus, how is young Malfoy."

"Like you care," said Snape.

"Severus, please. I care about all my students," said Albus, folding his hands together as he set his arms on his desk.

"Mr. Malfoy is being taken care of by Poppy, but he may suffer permanent scarring despite my efforts at healing him," said Severus.  "I managed to stop the bleeding, but I cannot speak to how well he will heal."

"But I didn't..."

"Mr. Potter.  I must ask you to be silent until I get the facts from Madam Hooch and Professor Snape," said Albus.  "Severus, do you know what spell Mr. Potter used to curse Mr. Malfoy?"

Harry looked at his Potions professor who paled at the question.  "It seems, he used a spell of my own invention."

"Your own invention Severus?" Minerva questioned her colleague.

"Explain," said Dumbledore.

Severus set his battered old Potions textbook on the Headmaster's desk.  "That's mine!" Harry shouted as he saw the professor put his textbook that had helped him get through his sixth-year potions class.  

"Don't be stupid Potter.  This is my old Potions textbook."

"You're..."

"Yes Potter.  I'm the Half-Blood Prince." 

Harry's eyes widened in horror, his face turning white, as the Headmaster took the old potions textbook and began rifling through the pages, seeing the words This Book Belongs to the Half-Blood Prince written on the inside cover page.  As he flipped through the textbook, the Headmaster saw more of Severus's notes scrawled in the margins of his textbook, notes on different potions and also spells, some with notes written over the spells.  "You invented these?"

"I did," said Severus and Harry could hear the pride in the man's voice though he was horrified that he had been using Snape's textbook throughout his entire year.  "As I just learned, not only does it seem he used a foolish spell he knew nothing about on another student, but he has also been cheating throughout his entire sixth-year Potions class.  I thought it was suspicious how he was able to suddenly get O's in his class when he couldn't accomplish that in the five previous years."

Harry was sure there was a tense silence in the room from the other three adults who stared at him in surprise, each wearing disbelieving looks on their faces.   "Potter why would you do something like attack a fellow student?" questioned Minerva.

"He was up to something," said Harry.  "I know he cursed Katie Bell and I confronted him about it."

"So, you admit your misdeed," said Snape.

"Severus," said Dumbledore.  "Harry, it isn't up to you to solve the world's problems."

"Yes, it is," said Harry.  "Who else was going to get to the truth? Nobody else seemed interested that Malfoy's probably a Death Eater and cursed Katie."

"You have no proof that Mr. Malfoy is a Death Eater or harmed Miss Bell.  Even she doesn't remember who attacked her and I was there when she was questioned," said Dumbledore.  "Mr. Potter...Harry...what made you try out a spell you didn't know on another student?"

"I'd been trying out some other spells in there during the week," said Harry, as if that made everything better.  "There's this really cool spell that grows someone's toenails really fast."

None of the adults could believe what they were hearing, least of all the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress.  The Potters were supposed to be a light family and the Boy-Who-Lived had cast a dark hex. Of course, none of them knew that Harry had attempted to cast the torture curse after Sirius's death.  "Harry, you're talking about using spells you don't know the effects of, just because they're fun."

"They didn't hurt anybody."

"Until today," said Snape.  "When you ended up using a spell you knew nothing about on another student.  Headmaster, this cannot be and should not be swept under the rug.  Lucius Malfoy will have a field day if the boy is not punished and he used a dark spell, a spell of my own invention yes, but a dark spell, nonetheless.  The traditional purebloods will not stand for the Boy-Who-Lived, let alone a half-blood attacking one of their own and getting off Scott free."

"You can't expel me.  Professor...I didn't mean for it happen.  I didn't know that was what the spell would do!"

"Yet you used it anyway and nearly cost the life of a student," said the Headmaster.  "Let alone a member of the board of governors.  However, you are not as at fault here as Severus is."

"Sir?" questioned Harry.

"Albus?"

"Severus, even though Harry used a spell he knew nothing about on Mr. Malfoy, this also wouldn't have happened if he hadn't gotten his hands on your old textbook or you hadn't made spells in your old textbook. However, I cannot punish you for the past, but I am afraid I have to punish you now.  Harry, how did you get this book?"

"Professor Slughorn said there were a couple of Potions textbooks in the cupboard and I ended up getting this copy," said Harry.  "I thought it was useful for helping me get by in Potions class the entire year and just did as the notes suggested but Hermione said it wasn't fair because I wasn't learning on my own.  She wanted me to turn the book in, but I refused."

"That was a foolish thing to do," said Dumbledore.  "You should have known better after your second year and the events with the Chamber and Miss Weasley."

Harry flushed, not having thought about that.   The Headmaster turned to Severus.  "Severus, did you know that your old textbook was in that cupboard in the Potions classroom?"

"No," said Severus with a shake of his head.  "I certainly wouldn't expect a student to attempt trying spells he knew nothing about either, even if they had gotten their hands on it but I'll take it my home so nobody can use those spells again or put it in the Prince vault."

"That would be best Severus however, the Ministry will likely want to perform a full investigation.  When did you arrive on the scene?"

"I was patrolling with Rolanda when we heard Moaning Myrtle screaming about a murder in the bathroom on the sixth floor.  I stormed in and Potter was kneeling at Draco's side.  I shoved him out of the way and told Rolanda to keep Potter there as I didn't think he wouldn't try to run."

"Did he try to run?"

"He did," said Rolanda. "When I told him, he could face Azkaban or expulsion from Hogwarts, he tried to run and I cast a stunning spell at him," she said.  "Severus took young Malfoy to the hospital wing and returned ten minutes later, telling me to find you and Minerva."

"Severus, do you have Mr. Malfoy's wand?"

"I do," said Severus.

"May I see it?"

Rolanda had already handed over Harry's wand and the Headmaster put the two wands together before uttering a spell.  "Prior Incantato."  The spells the two wands had used emerged from the wand from the most recent, images coming from both wands before them.  It was there that they discovered Draco had nearly performed the second unforgivable curse and the Headmaster sighed.  Things had just grown more complicated.  There would be no avoiding Azkaban for young Mr. Malfoy, even if he hadn't gotten the chance to cast the curse.   That he had attempted it was a lifetime sentence in Azkaban.  

The Headmaster frowned to himself and leaned back into his chair before pulling out his wand and waving it at a cabinet, causing a bowl to float towards the table.  Harry recognized it as a pensive, a place where one could view memories.   "Now Harry, I am going to take your memory and view it with Minerva, Severus and Rolanda.  I am afraid I will have to bind you to make sure you do not try to escape," said Albus, looking sorry that he had to do so. "Just think about the memory  and I will extract a copy of it.  Incarcerous," he said, and ropes sprang out of his wand, binding Harry to his chair.  Harry was stunned but focused on the memory, it still being fresh in his mind, and watched as a silver thread was taken from his temple and put into the pensieve, the four adults then touching the liquid surface and vanishing from view.   Around him, the portraits of the former Heads were muttering and listening intently to the conversation had below them.   What was going to happen to him? Surely, they couldn't fault him for casting  a dark spell at a future Death Eater, if Malfoy wasn't one already and he had nearly been hit with the Cruciatus curse!

Within the pensieve, the four adults watched the duel between Harry and Draco take place, Severus snorting as he saw Draco cast the antler hex on Potter.  Yet, he sobered up as Draco attempted the torture curse and then Potter used his own spell on the boy.   The duel ended shortly after, ending with Harry seeing Professor Snape coming into the bathroom.   With the end of the memory, they were tossed out into the Headmaster's office where Harry was struggling with the ropes around him.   "Mr. Potter I am afraid that you have gone beyond the allowances I have allowed you.  An investigation will need to be made into this duel,  but I have no choice. For nearly killing a student, even if you didn't know what the spell would do, I have no choice but to expel you from Hogwarts."

"No...you can't!"

"I can and you have given me no choice," said the Headmaster.  "As I have no choice but to inform the Ministry of Magic of this crime and the crime of Mr. Malfoy attempting to use an Unforgivable."  He looked at Severus sadly.   "Would you like to inform the Malfoys about their son's arrest and injury?  I need to go to the ministry to speak to Fudge."

"Yes.  Lucius has been a good friend of mine and might take it better if it came from me," said Severus getting to his feet.  "Will I be punished for the boy getting ahold of my old textbook?  You know plenty of people would like to see me in Azkaban."

"Mr. Potter also faces Azkaban for attempted murder," said Minerva sadly.

"Yes Minerva, but there is nothing I can do to stop it from happening. It is up to a trial."

"We know how much of a farce of a trial it was in his fifth summer," said Minerva.  "The purebloods will crucify him. Can't you do something Albus?"

"No," said Dumbledore gravely.  He took the wands of the two boys and looked to Fawkes.  "Fawkes, please take me to the Ministry of Magic."

The phoenix nodded his head and flew over to Albus, clutching his shoulder and leaving in a plume of flames.  Minerva stood and flicked her wand, unbinding Potter from the chair.  "Professor McGonagall...can't you do something?"

"No Mr. Potter and I'm not sure I want to. You betrayed my trust by using a dark spell but also betrayed my trust by allowing you into Professor Slughorn's Potions class this year.  I'm afraid you will never become an Auror now."

"But..."

"Didn't you hear her and the Headmaster you foolish boy? You threw your life away the moment you ended up casting a dark hex at a pureblood, let alone the son of a man who has a lot of power in the Ministry," said Severus snappishly.  He strode to the fireplace and grabbed some flood powder from a pot on the mantle before throwing it into the fire, shouting Malfoy Manor and disappeared in a swirl of green flames.  

"Rolanda can you please check on Mr. Malfoy?"

"Yes.  What will you do with Potter?"

"As he is no longer a student, I think it is probably best to return him to his relatives."

"Perhaps we should wait for the Minister of Magic to arrive here along with Aurors."

"Hmmm.  Very well," said Minerva.  As Rolanda left, the Deputy Headmistress sighed.  "I'm sorry Potter...but you must face the consequences of your actions." Harry could do nothing but stare at his professor in shock as his life came tumbling down around him.   Five minutes later, the fire swirled green and Snape came out with a pale woman who had blond hair and a man with white-blond hair and an arrogant air about him.  The Malfoy Lord sneered down at the boy who had attacked his son.  "Where is Draco Severus?"

"Hospital wing," said Severus.  He glared at Harry and led the Malfoys towards the Hospital Wing.   Twenty minutes after the Headmaster had left, the man appeared through the green flames along with four Aurors and the Minister of Magic. 

"Arrest him," came Fudge's voice, the two Aurors stepping forward and one slapping handcuffs on the Boy-Who-Lived.  Harry felt the magic-suppressing cuffs being put on his wrists, securing his hands behind his back.  "Where is young Malfoy Dumbledore?"

"The hospital wing," said Dumbledore.  "But he needs to heal before he can be taken into custody."

"Well, I'll leave Tonks and Williamson here to watch the other prisoner. Shacklebolt, you and Savage take the prisoner to a holding cell in the Ministry. I trust the boy has been expelled Dumbledore?"

"He has," said Dumbledore.  "I expelled him before I went to see you about this incident."

"Good," said Fudge, smiling nastily and Harry wanted nothing but to wipe that smile off the man's face.   Harry felt himself hauled to his feet and marched towards the fireplace where Shacklebolt, a tall balding and dark-skinned man grabbing some floo powder and shouting their destination.  Harry felt himself whisked away in a whirl of green flames and his view of the Headmaster's office vanished...never to be seen again.