She was trying her best, but it wasn't good enough.
Every day there was a bit more fear in the halls, fewer whispers, more panicked glances and sudden jumps. Even in her friends there was a change, apart from the horrific ones.
Harriet petrified, Hermione petrified, Amy blaming herself, Harry…
Ginny Weasley wasn't sure what to think about him. She knew something was different, unusual in even a magical way, but couldn't figure out what it was. At times there was a haunted look in his features, others would be something of determination, other times anger, other times heartbreak.
She wanted to comfort him, to tell him everything would be okay, that they would meet up in the Great Hall for breakfast and all the victims would be awake, the perpetrator caught, the fear dispelled. There were so many things she wanted to talk to him about, to ask him, to tell him.
The redhead could write poetry about how beautiful he was, how his eyes would shine, the excitement in his smile, how she longed for him.
But these wants were smothered amidst everything else. He needed someone to help him, they all did. Even Luna's smile was notably dimmed, especially when near Harry or his sister. She tried to think of something she could do, a joke she could tell, a story that would cheer him up.
Her ideas all fell flat.
Those around them to be in the same helpless position. Every day Ron looked ready to suggest flying, but the words would never leave his lips. Luna would find pictures of creatures or animals but would hastily stuff them into her pocket at the last minute, finding the timing to be wrong or in poor taste. Even Neville had taken to fidgeting, clearly upset but unable to find a solution.
Every day the two Potters cracked a little more, and none of them were sure what would happen if they finally broke.
****
"Potter" The boy stopped in his tracks, as he walked through the common room, fingers tightening with barely suppressed rage. "I heard about your sister."
He had tolerated a lot, tolerated so much since his arrival. The boy-who-lived had justified his pacifism time and time again, told himself he couldn't strike back against a child, couldn't retaliate against those so young compared to his own, mental, age.
But this was too much, one too many taunts from the young Malfoy.
She reached out for him, and the second he felt her fingers on his shoulder he spun and grabbed her uniform pushing until she hit the opposing wall, snarling mere inches from her face as those nearby fell silent in shock.
"Go ahead, say something about my sister Malfoy. Make a joke, I dare you." Her eyes were wide with barely concealed fear until something happened, something he never thought would happen.
Those same eyes, always filled with superiority or even disgust towards him and his family… softened. "I'm sorry, about what happened to Harriet. If something happened to Pandora, I don't know what I would do."
He stared back as the dam inside him broke, the tension dropping out of his body as he pulled back from the girl and almost ran to his room, needing to be away from everything and everyone.
****
She knew what was coming but knowing and seeing were two very different things. Harry was an emotional boy despite his maturity, Riddle knew this, which meant she knew how he would respond to his own sister being left frozen on a bed.
He would blame himself, and no matter what she or anyone else did this wouldn't change.
Still
Still
Watching him sit in class, staring at his desk as blankly as his redheaded sister caused her to flinch. Whoever was behind this had earned more than her disgust, they had now earned her hate as well.
It wasn't just his expression either, though that was painful enough to observe. Harry was distancing himself from just about everyone. At first, she had thought it was just the inevitable 'maybe everyone else is right and you are responsible' reaction he had taken anytime she hinted at a tutoring session.
But no, it wasn't just her, it was everyone. He avoided Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, made excuses on not spending time with Ronald Weasley, and apart from class the only time she was aware he left the Slytherin dorms was to visit the Hospital Ward.
The one time she had snuck in and observed it had nearly broken her heart. Watching him sit with his sister in silence between the beds of Hermione Granger and Harriet.
Clearly, he blamed himself, but the few attempts made to breach the shield he had built around himself failed utterly.
Something needed to be done, but she feared that the time it would take for her to accomplish such a feat was no longer available.
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