The chair unwrapped itself from Harry, who scooped up the snake as he moved to get up. The viper resisted Harry's admittedly clumsy attempt at blind handling, hissing all the while about the condition of the other boy's face, asking why so many snakes had bitten him.
Harry winced in sympathy as he responded. "I'm sorry if I startled you, before," Harry told the snake, trying to soothe it. Best not to mention the snake Draco had killed, probably. "That's my nest-mate, Draco. The big man who has stopped moving threw him into a hole full of snakes. It wasn't Draco's fault he frightened the snakes and they bit him. He cannot speak to snakes like I can. He won't hurt you, but you frighten him. Could you be still for a while?"
"A-are you trying to do a spell to see?" Draco asked tentatively. He seemed willing to move a little closer now that the snake was still and quiet. "Let me remove the spell on your eyes, Harry."
Something pointed and hard touched Harry's face, just beneath his left eyebrow. Harry couldn't help but flinch wildly, though he kept enough presence of mind to hold fast to the snake with one hand while the other lashed out. The viper started hissing as Harry's wand hand, clenched into a fist, connected with something solid.
"Ow, Harry!" yelled Draco. "I'm sorry about before, all right? I had to! But now I'm just trying to remove the blindfolding spell!"
Glowering, Harry lowered his fist. "Blindfolding spell? That wasn't a blindness spell, then?"
"It's used for children's games, for Merlin's sake! Easy to reverse," said Draco, sounding panicked still. "Look, I'm really sorry, but if I hadn't suggested it, Lucius might have thought of something a whole lot worse!"
Since the hissing snake wasn't helping the other boy's state of mind, Harry went back to petting it, trying to make it relax. Too bad it wasn't as easy to calm himself. He could hardly stand the thought of anything near his eyes. Draco only meant to help him; Harry knew that. But still, he couldn't help feeling pretty insecure about his eyes at the moment. It wasn't just what Draco had almost done. It was all the things Lucius had said, and how his evil threats had made Harry's memories of Samhain look large in his mind. But surely the best way to banish them would be to get his eyesight back.
Teeth clenched, Harry nodded for Draco to get on with it.
"Just make sure that damned viper doesn't bite me--"
"It won't," Harry ground out, irritated until it came to him that the snake coiled there sort of made them even. Draco didn't want to come near it, just as much, probably, as Harry didn't want to be touched. But they were both stuck.
Harry couldn't help but sigh. "Just hurry up and do it, would you?"
He heard Draco moving towards him again, but then he heard something else as well. A shuffling, scrabbling noise, coming from the where he'd heard the thud.
Lucius, trying to get up.
Harry didn't have time to think about how to react. Pure instinct shot through him like a bolt of lightning, thrusting his wand hand up and toward the sounds, even as his full concentration returned to the snake resting against his other hand. Feeling Parseltongue blooming inside him again, he screamed, "Turn to stone and stay that way, this time!"
He felt the spell burn up from his gut before exploding out through his wand.
A single shriek of unbearable agony echoed in the room, and was suddenly cut short. Another thudding noise, this one much louder than before, broke the silence. From beside him he barely registered the gasp that interrupted the similar spell his brother had just begun to cast.
Harry eyes suddenly filled with a harsh burst of light, white and yellow starbursts that slowly resolved themselves into normal vision. The first thing he saw was Draco, standing right alongside, looking almost as if he was the one who'd been petrified. He was working his jaw, obviously trying to speak but having trouble forming the words.
Gibby had the opposite problem. "M- M- Master Lucius is, M-Master Lucius is turned to stone!" the elf shrieked, beginning to tug at his ears like he was trying to rip them off. "Gibby was not doing enough to protect Master Lucius! Gibby had better be punishing himself!"
"Gibby had better be quiet!" snapped Draco.
The snake in Harry's lap raised its head and flickered its tongue in Draco's direction. Draco leapt back about a yard.
The viper nodded, then settled down against Harry's legs.
Harry looked up at Draco, who cleared his throat stepped back several paces, his wand still drawn toward Lucius, his turquoise amulet dangling from his other hand.
"Best put that on until we're back home safely," Harry said.
"Yeah, it was in his pocket with---" Draco's eyes widened, as he jerked his face toward his brother. He looked mildly ill, which made sense considering all the bites. What didn't make sense, though, was how he was losing more colour right before Harry's eyes. "You can see again?"
Harry nodded, trying to smile. It was hard, though. He just felt... drained. And not just because of the wanded magic. It was because of everything else, too. Lucius' awful threats. Draco's pretended betrayal. Being blinded and thinking he was dead for sure, since he couldn't see a snake in that condition.
Draco had remembered, though, that touching one--even an invisible one--could also help Harry shift into Parseltongue. If not for Sals and the camouflage potion... a little shiver coursed through Harry. Luck had really been with them, all along. When he thought of what might have happened...
Remembering the snake, Harry gently lowered it to the floor as he stood up from his chair. As if sensing the tension in the room, the snake silently slithered around in a circle, coiling itself. "Now that I can see I'll try not to disturb you again," Harry hissed at it. "Can you try to sleep?"
"Are you sure?" asked Draco, interrupting his thoughts.
It took Harry a second to catch his meaning. "Am I sure I can see? Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure!"
Draco blew out a breath, looking... well, Harry wasn't sure. Sort of closed off. Like too much had happened, and he wanted to just wall himself off from it. His eyes lost almost all expression, and when he talked, his voice was perfectly flat. "Oh. Well, then, I think you must have killed my-- I mean, I think you've killed Lucius."
Harry took a good look at Lucius. He'd glanced that direction before, just long enough to check that Lucius had snapped into the rigid position of Petrificus and fallen harmless to the floor, but he hadn't really thought about what he'd seen. Or, not much. He certainly hadn't believed the man dead.
But was he, really?
Harry edged forward to look more closely. Lucius Malfoy was lying arms straight by his sides, legs straight and feet pointed up. Only his hair and clothes were splayed about a bit. But he was white. Not white like Draco was... no, this colour wasn't a flesh shade washed clear of blood. Lucius was absolutely stark, blazing white, clothes and all. The colour of the paper envelopes Uncle Vernon had used for business...
When Harry looked closely, though he could see that the white was shot through with spidery veins of palest grey. Exactly like marble.
"Oh my God," breathed Harry. "He's-- he's a statue. And... you think you actually think I've killed him? Are you sure?"
Draco nodded, the motion stiff, his voice carefully level. "The blindfolding spell vanished. And it would, you know, at the moment of..."
Harry pressed his lips together and shook his head. "But... but wasn't that was just a temporary spell, anyway?"
"Yes, but it still requires a counterspell to be lifted. Now, it can be cast with a time limit for specific games and such, but Lucius didn't use one. Though I believe the standard spell wears off in about 24 hours if not removed."