Cho watched Harry staring intently at a book and asked,
"Did you find it?"
Harry smiled at her and replied,
"Yeah. No need to search anymore—let's head to the library and study this book properly."
With a wave of his wand, all the books on the floor were swept neatly back into the cabinet. Harry shut the cabinet doors and left the dungeons with Cho.
…
Cho flipped through the book.
"You're sure this is it? It's filthy."
"I'm sure it is. As for why it's so dirty, I don't really know. Maybe someone else read it before and accidentally spilled ink on it."
"Forget it, let's just look at what's inside."
Cho opened the book. The owner had scribbled all over the pages in tiny handwriting. She had to lean in closely to make out the words.
The original potion recipes had been partially crossed out, and notes were added underneath explaining why certain ingredients weren't needed, or which replacements would yield better effects.
Some pages even contained the owner's own spell inventions.
"If these potion revisions really work," Cho said in amazement, "then this person must've been a true potion genius. Simplifying potions that have been around for centuries? That takes incredible talent—and to think they were still just a student when they wrote this… I'm really curious who this Half-Blood Prince was."
"Looks like we've got something to keep us busy over the holidays."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we should try brewing the revised potions in this notebook."
"But… those are sixth-year level potions."
"No worries, it's just for testing. There's no harm in trying. And with our brains, who knows—we might just succeed."
Cho ignored Harry's smug remark.
"But we don't have any ingredients."
"Easy—we'll just ask the Potions professor."
"You think I don't know that Professor Snape hates you more than anyone else? You'd have better luck going to Diagon Alley."
"That's not certain. Maybe he'll be so pleased by our enthusiasm for Potions that he'll happily give us free access to his stores."
"I highly doubt that."
"Well, let's wait and see. Either way, we should copy down all these notes first. The book is too dirty to use directly."
…
Harry brought out three notebooks and three quills, then cast a simple copying spell. The quills began writing on their own, lines of text appearing neatly across the clean pages. Whenever ink ran low, the quills dipped themselves before continuing.
Harry watched curiously, wondering how a single spell could cause such a complex result. After observing for a while without understanding, he gave up.
What mattered was the outcome—not the process.
"Why three copies?" Cho asked. "Who are they for?"
"One for me, one for you, and, uh…"
"For that girl Hermione, right?" Cho's voice was calm, giving no sign of emotion.
"Ha—yeah."
"Oh." Cho blinked innocently, like she understood everything. That sweet expression sent a chill down Harry's spine.
…
While the quills continued copying, the two of them sat nearby and read.
An hour later, the notebooks were done. Harry handed one to Cho, and the two of them began studying the Half-Blood Prince's potions notes.
The more Harry read, the more he admired Snape's brilliance.
For instance, with Sleeping Beans, the standard method was to slice them. But Snape noted that squeezing them yielded more juice. It seemed simple, but no one else had tried it—Sleeping Beans were dry and flat, and everyone assumed squeezing was pointless.
Another example was the brewing of the Draught of Living Death.
A notoriously complex potion with a tedious procedure. But in the margin, Snape had written: "Stir seven times counter-clockwise, then once clockwise. Repeat." This rhythmic pattern supposedly resulted in a flawless potion.
There were many such improvements. Harry decided he'd go through them more thoroughly when they actually started brewing. For now, he wanted to try one of the custom spells—Sectumsempra.
…
Sectumsempra was described in the notes as an extremely powerful offensive curse, meant for use against enemies. Harry was burning with curiosity.
He studied the incantation and instructions carefully.
Raising his wand and focusing his intent, he chanted,
"Sectumsempra."
Golden slashes burst from the wand tip, slicing through a long table nearby.
It was like a knife through tofu—the table split cleanly into several pieces. Harry ran his fingers along the edge. The cut was smooth as if done by a machine.
And that was without him putting much power into it. With more magic, the spell's damage would be far greater.
While Harry was still thinking about it, Cho stood up with the book in hand.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.
"I'd rather not lose House points for destroying school property," she replied, already walking away.
Harry glanced at the table that was now basically ruined and quickly said,
"Wait for me!"
Not long after they left, a tall man in black robes entered the room.
His gaze instantly locked on the broken table. He walked over, gently ran his fingers along the smooth edges, then turned and strode toward… the dungeons.
…
Cho and Harry arrived at the Great Hall and waited anxiously.
After a while, when no one came to question them, they relaxed.
"Looks like no one saw that the table was destroyed by you—I mean, by us," Cho said.
"That spell you used—was it from the potion notes?" she asked, curious.
As a witch, there was no way she wouldn't be interested in such a powerful spell.
"Yeah, Sectumsempra. You should try it too," Harry said, encouraging her.
"Trying to drag me down with you?"
"It's fine, I'll use Reparo."
"If Reparo worked on things damaged by magic, you wouldn't have run away."
"Cho, did you know? Girls who are too smart don't get many admirers."
Cho ignored him, her eyes focused on the Prince's notebook.
…
Before they knew it, evening had arrived.
After a hearty dinner, they strolled side by side through a snow-covered path in the courtyard.
"Tonight, once you're back in your dorm, no more reading, alright?"
"Alright," Cho replied.
"You're here," she said as they reached the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
"I'm not staying in the dorms. I've been sleeping in Hagrid's hut these past few days," Harry said.
"Why?"
Harry smiled awkwardly.
"Because I'm the only one left in the dorm… and I get scared being alone."
"That's kind of funny, don't you think?" he added, expecting her to tease him.
But Cho only replied,
"Not really."
She seemed like she wanted to say something more, but didn't.
…
They walked a bit farther and arrived at the base of Ravenclaw Tower.
"Goodnight," Harry said.
"Mm." Cho nodded and headed down the hallway.
"Don't forget—we're building a snowman tomorrow!" Harry shouted after her.
"Got it!" Cho didn't look back.
Harry turned and made his way toward Hagrid's hut.
"Harry!" Cho suddenly called out, her voice soft and trembling.
Harry turned. She stood hidden in the shadows, her figure blurry.
"Goodnight," she whispered before disappearing into the common room.
…
Inside her dorm, Cho clutched her wand and slipped under the blankets fully clothed. The dorm was eerily quiet—too quiet. Just like Harry's, hers now only had one occupant.
Silence and darkness… weren't fears that belonged to Harry alone.
.
.
.
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