Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

The fingers on Draco's right hand clenched into a fist and that hand dropped down and blasted up unstoppably and punched Harry Potter in the jaw so hard that his body went crashing back into a desk and then to the floor.

'Idiot!' screamed Draco. 'Idiot! Idiot!'

'Draco,' whispered Harry from the floor, 'Draco, I'm sorry, I didn't think this would happen for months, I didn't expect you to awaken as a scientist this quickly, I thought I would have longer to prepare you, teach you the techniques that make it hurt less to admit you're wrong -'

'What about Father?' Draco said. His voice trembled with rage. 'Were you going to prepare him or did you just not care what happened after this?'

'You can't tell him!' Harry said, his voice rising in alarm. 'He's not a scientist! You promised, Draco!'

For a moment the thought of Father not knowing came as a relief.

And then the real anger started to rise.

'So you planned for me to lie to him and tell him I still believe,' Draco said, voice shaking. 'I'll always have to lie to him, and now when I grow up I can't be a Death Eater, and I won't even be able to tell him why not.'

'If your father really loves you,' whispered Harry from the floor, 'he'll still love you even if you don't become a Death Eater, and it sounds like your father does really love you, Draco -'

'Your stepfather is a scientist,' Draco said. The words coming out like biting knives. 'If you weren't going to be a scientist, he would still love you. But you'd be a little less special to him.'

Harry flinched. The boy opened his mouth, as if to say 'I'm sorry', and then closed his mouth, seeming to think better of it, which was either very smart of him or very lucky, because Draco might have tried to kill him.

'You should have warned me,' Draco said. His voice rose. 'You should have warned me! '

'I... I did... every time I told you about the power, I told you about the price. I said, you have to admit you're wrong. I said this would be the hardest path for you. That this was the sacrifice anyone had to make to become a scientist. I said, what if the experiment says one thing and your family and friends say another -'

'You call that a warning?' Draco was screaming now. 'You call that a warning? When we're doing a ritual that calls for a permanent sacrifice?'

'I... I...' The boy on the floor swallowed. 'I guess maybe it wasn't clear. I'm sorry. But that which can be destroyed by the truth should be.'

Hitting him wasn't enough.

'You're wrong about one thing,' Draco said, his voice deadly. 'Granger isn't the strongest student in Hogwarts. She just gets the best grades in class. You're about to find out the difference.'

Sudden shock showed in Harry's face, and he tried to roll quickly to his feet -

It was already too late for him.

'Expelliarmus!'

Harry's wand flew across the room.

'Gom jabbar!'

A pulse of inky blackness struck Harry's left hand.

'That's a torture spell,' said Draco. 'It's for getting information out of people. I'm just going to leave it on you and lock the door behind me when I go. Maybe I'll set the locking spell to wear off after a few hours. Maybe it won't wear off until you die in here. Have fun.'

Draco moved smoothly backward, wand still on Harry. Draco's hand dipped down, picked up his bookbag, without his aim wavering.

The pain was already showing in Harry Potter's face as he spoke. 'Malfoys are above the underage magic laws, I take it? It's not because your blood is stronger. It's because you already practiced. In the beginning you were as weak as any of us. Is my prediction wrong?'

Draco's hand whitened on his wand, but his aim stayed steady.

'Just so you know,' Harry said through gritted teeth, 'if you'd told me I was wrong I would have listened. I won't ever torture you when you show me that I'm wrong. And you will. Someday. You're awakened as a scientist now, and even if you never learn to use your power, you'll always,' Harry gasped, 'be looking, for ways, to test, your beliefs -'

Draco's backing away was less smooth, now, a little faster, and he had to work to keep his wand on Harry as he reached back to open the door and stepped back out of the classroom.

Then Draco shut the door again.

He cast the most powerful locking Charm he knew.

Draco waited until he heard Harry's first scream before casting the Quietus.

And then he walked away.

'Aaahhhhh! Finite Incantatem! Aaaahhh! '

Harry's left hand had been put into a pot of boiling cooking oil and left there. He'd put everything he had into the Finite Incantatem and it still wasn't working.

Some hexes required specific counters or you couldn't undo them, or maybe it was just that Draco was that much stronger.