HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

Harry's blood was practically frozen, but reality didn't allow him to think too much about it.

He caught West as he fell and hid behind the tombstone.

What should he do?

Harry wiped his face and grabbed West's wand.

"The trophy is coming!" Ha shouted, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Trophy.

Fortunately, West's wand obeyed his commands, and although the trophy swayed violently in the air and nearly fell, it eventually flew steadily into Harry's palm.

Harry grabbed West's arm, and in a dizzying moment, they were back at Hogwarts.

Harry fell heavily to the ground, instinctively using his body to cushion the fall for West.

His face was ashen, and he struggled to sit up, his hand trembling as he reached out and used his last bit of strength to check West's breath.

Harry's brain was buzzing, every cell was vibrating violently.

The surrounding noise vanished without a trace, leaving only his uncontrolled panting and the frantically pounding heart in his chest.

"Harry!" A pair of large hands grabbed Harry's shoulders and turned him over.

Dumbledore looked grave. "What happened?"

Snape ran over, staggering and nearly tripping.

"West...West..." Harry murmured, tears streaming down his face before he could speak, dripping onto the back of West's hand.

"Merlin, is he dead?" Fudge exclaimed.

Snape knelt down and reached out to touch West's neck, trying to feel his pulse.

After a long while, his stiff back hunched over, and he buried his head in West's chest, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Dumbledore lowered his brows, his usual gentle smile replaced by a heavy, authoritative expression. "Voldemort?"

Fudge yelled, "What?! What are you talking about? You can't just say things like that!" But no one paid him any attention.

The students and teachers had long been dismissed by Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall had taken Barty Crouch Jr. away. Now only a few important figures remained.

Harry began to sob. He couldn't help but recall the horrifying scene, "West killed Voldemort… I'm sure of it…"

He remembered the face that had flashed by in the cedar forest.

That familiar, pale face.

"Who is that? Harry?" Dumbledore pressed.

Harry's eyes widened. "...Tom..."

"Tom Riddle... he took my wand and struck West with the Killing Curse..."

The young Voldemort he had seen in the Chamber of Secrets, before he became what he is today.

"I'm going to kill him..." Harry swallowed his sobs, his eyes hardening. "I'm going to kill him!"

Dumbledore took a step back, his mouth slightly agape in disbelief.

A suppressed gasp escaped Snape's throat. His forehead pressed against the boy's flat chest, his fingers gripping the wrinkled school uniform tightly.

West's face was calm, except for being a little pale, and he didn't look much different from usual, as if he were just asleep.

A metallic, metallic taste rose in his throat, and Snape suddenly coughed violently, accompanied by a low moan. His knuckles, gripping West's collar, turned bluish-white from the force.

Snape stared intently at West's closed eyes, his trembling hand finally slamming heavily into the boy's chest.

The punch carried an uncontrolled force, but it deflated the moment it made contact—the force seemed to be trying to wake the person up, or punishing their own powerlessness.

Just as everyone was still immersed in a deathly silence, West's finger suddenly twitched.

Snape's pupils contracted sharply. He pressed his entire body against the boy's, his nose almost touching the boy's neck.

A faint tremor miraculously arose beneath the sunken skin, like the fluttering wings of a dying moth.

Immediately afterwards, West's chest heaved violently.

"Cough cough..." He suddenly opened his eyes with a weak cough.

Snape's fingertips were still hovering over West's neck, his dark eyes filled with disbelief, ecstasy, and terror.

Amidst the gasps and cries, West's gaze remained quietly fixed on Snape's face.

He raised his hand, pressed it against Snape's pale cheek, and wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Why are you crying, Severus?"

As the others moved West to the medical wing, West was still explaining helplessly, "I'm really okay now."

"Are you alright?" Snape repeated in a low voice.

Sadness and joy were mixed together; after experiencing a great ups and downs, only a heart full of anger remained.

Snape gritted his teeth and swallowed his barrage of questions, knowing it wasn't the right time. West had just escaped death, and he didn't want to press him further.

Seeing Snape's gloomy face, West shrank back and lay down comfortably on the stretcher.

Merlin realized how long it had been since Snape had shown such an expression, yet its intimidating power had not diminished at all, and was even greater than before.

Because he is really, really, really angry right now.

Under the grave gazes of Dumbledore and Snape, Madam Pomfrey examined West several times before announcing, "West is fine; in fact, he's quite strong."

Fudge, who had followed them all the way from the Quidditch pitch to the Medical Wing, stood to the side, his face full of astonishment: "How is this possible! You clearly didn't have...!"

Under Snape's chilling gaze, Fudge swallowed back the words he was about to say, his face flushed with embarrassment. He changed the subject, "So, shouldn't we tell you what happened?"

Just as Dumbledore was looking for a reason to send Fudge away, an owl flew in through the open window of the hospital wing, landed on Fudge's shoulder, and tossed the letter into Fudge's hand.

Fudge's facial muscles twitched twice after reading the letter. He quickly folded it up, seemingly afraid that Dumbledore would see it.

He explained to Dumbledore, "Something urgent has come up at the ministry, I... I have to go now. If anything happens, just let me know, Albus..."

After Fudge finished speaking, he hurried away, forgetting even Barty Crouch Jr.

"So what exactly happened?" Snape sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at West with a blank expression.

Snape was angry.

West, his face stiff, forced a fawning smile. "There was a little mishap..." He grasped Snape's hand. "At least I'm alright now, Severus..."

"But the Killing Curse did hit you, didn't it?" Snape asked, looking at Harry.

Harry nodded hastily. "You scared me to death! West, I saw the Killing Curse hit you with my own eyes!"

West recalled the resurrection ritual, "I guess it was blood magic protecting me—Voldemort's resurrection used Harry's blood."

Dumbledore looked enlightened.

"Of course, there's another reason—" West, under Snape's murderous glare, said slowly, "It seems there's a fragment of Voldemort's Horcrux inside me..."