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Back at Hogwarts after the Hogsmeade disaster, Harry is still furious that Draco used the Imperius Curse and walked away with nothing more than detentions and wand restrictions, while he himself got punished for fighting. Over dinner he publicly shuts down Cho and the Ravenclaws for bullying Luna and moves her to sit safely between himself and Neville, making it very clear that anyone who touches her will answer to both of them. A casual comment from Luna about a strange tiara in a hidden Room of Requirement sends the trio racing to the castle’s junk room, where Harry feels the same sick pull he sensed from the diary and realises they have just found Ravenclaw’s lost diadem. After binding Neville and Luna with a magical Vow, he finally tells them about Horcruxes, Voldemort’s real name, and Dumbledore’s habit of using him as bait. Then it is down to the dungeons where Severus and a basilisk fang destroy the diadem once and for all before launching into another brutal duel that leaves Harry exhausted and with a healed broken arm. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger when McGonagall walks in on a shirtless, battered Harry and a wand in Severus’s hand and jumps to all the wrong conclusions.

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The fallout from Hogsmeade hits everyone. Summoned to Dumbledore’s office, Severus finds Draco bruised, Harry furious, and the staff trying to prove Draco used the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta. With no testimony and a spare wand that cannot be tied to him, Dumbledore lets Draco escape Azkaban with house point losses, wand restrictions, and detentions with Snape, which Harry also earns for the vicious fight. In the dungeons, Severus tears into Draco until the boy finally breaks and admits the truth: Voldemort has his mother and has ordered him to take out Dumbledore. Bound by his word not to expose Draco, Severus turns to Harry, explaining that Draco is desperate and might be more useful as an inside ally than a doomed enemy. What follows is their first real guardian and teenager clash about obedience, danger, and Hogsmeade, ending in a raw confession from Harry that sometimes he just wants to feel normal instead of like a weapon who has to commit murder to save everyone. Detentions stand, training will get harsher, and Severus walks away wondering how he can possibly protect both his son and his godson when they are headed for the same war from opposite sides.

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A week after losing the Horcrux, Harry is stronger in magic but on shaky ground with Severus. When Snape forbids him from going to Hogsmeade and Harry defies him on the strength of Sirius’s signed form, their first real clash as guardian and ward leaves Harry queasy with guilt. In the village, he, Neville and Luna stock up at Honeydukes, wander into Dervish and Banges, and stumble across the Deathly Hallows symbol as Luna tells the legend of the Peverell brothers—linking Harry’s cloak, the Gaunt ring and his own family history in ways he cannot ignore. At the Three Broomsticks, everything explodes: Harry overhears Draco using the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta to target Luna with a cursed necklace meant for Dumbledore, and fury drives him to blast Draco through a wall and beat him bloody in front of half the school before Neville drags him off. McGonagall Floos Harry back to Hogwarts, Hagrid carries a broken Draco after them, and Neville races Luna safely to the castle, leaving Harry to face the fallout of defying Severus while proving exactly why no one hurts his friends and walks away.

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