Chapter 11: Valentine, Secret and Quidditch.
Harry and Mia made their way down the stairs to get to the Great Hall. The last few months had been quiet and no body else had been attacked, much to the relief of the students and the teachers. Professor Sprout was nearly finished with the mandrakes - they were almost fully grown and soon the petrified victims would be back to their original state.
"Why do you think they stopped attacking?" Mia asked and Harry shook his head.
"I don't know. Maybe they just gave up," Harry suggested.
"Or maybe they're waiting for everybody to drop our guard?" she suggested back and Harry shrugged, hoping that wasn't the case.
They stepped into the Great Hall only to stop short at what they saw. Harry bolted back out of the Great Hall, closed the door behind him and looked around the area just to be sure that he was in the right place. Perhaps Hogwarts had pulled a trick on him? But he stepped back in and stood next to Mia.
"Oh…what?" Mia asked as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. Pink and white streamers were decorating the halls. On each wall there was two huge hearts in Pink and White. Confetti were dropping slowly onto the food while Lockhart himself stood up at the Head table, dressed in a pink outfit.
"Happy Valentine everybody!" he cheered.
Harry and Mia made their way over to the table and sat down only to see that Hermione was giggling slightly along with all of the girls. Ron was staring at Lockhart with a look of disgust like most of the boys.
"What the hell is he on?" Mia asked. Soon the Great Hall doors burst opened and everybody turned and they saw grumpy dwarfs dressed in pink and white dresses with wings on their backs, carrying crossbows.
"Meet my little cupids!" Lockhart shouted, excitement shining in his voice. "If you have a message you wish to pass on to your love heart, please let them know and they will deliver it for you."
"Oh god, kill me," Ron begged before he slumped his head onto the table. Harry winced as he looked at the 'cupids' before he shook his head.
"Let's just finish our breakfast and get out of here," he suggested.
"And I wanted to thank everyone who gave me my forty six cards," Lockhart told them. "This is my surprise for you all."
"Please tell me you were not one of the forty six!" Mia and Ron begged while Hermione just looked busy going through her bag. Harry rolled his eyes - he wasn't going to bother feeling jealous. Hermione had explained that she couldn't just get over her crush on the man and she couldn't just drop the books because the majority of the boys didn't like the man. She needed proof before she could attempt to change her mind about Lockhart and made it very clear that Harry was to drop it.
"This is wonderful day, isn't it?" Mia asked, sarcastically and Ron snorted into his food while Neville choked on his drink. Dean and Seamus held back their snickers while Lavender and Parvati to look at her, brightly.
"Yes, it's a wonderful day," Lavender told her before she gazed, longingly, at Lockhart. The boys just fought back their snickers at Mia's annoyance.
They all got up and made their way out of the Great Hall so they could get to their charms class when a bunch of dwarfs came swarming through the halls, causing everyone to jump to the sides to get out of the way before they were attacked.
"I have a song for Harry Potter," one of the dwarf barked out as he scanned among the crowd. Harry just ducked behind a wall but he was too late to hide from the dwarf's sharp eyes. "Come here you!" he chased after Harry, who took off down the hallway, determined to get to class before the dwarf could get anywhere him.
The dwarf, obviously tired of chasing Harry, flew lower and tackled Harry, causing Harry to trip and fall face down onto the ground. His hands shot out and he placed his weight on them before rolling so he could get back up to his feet and started running again.
He reached a corner and slid across the floor, trying to turn the corner hard, but he managed to stay on his feet as he continued running.
What he didn't know was that everyone else was running after him, enjoying the action that was happening.
The boy who lived was running from a dwarf.
Soon the dwarf decided that low tactics were needed before he snapped his fingers and Harry felt his feet slam together before he fell forward. He landed hard on the ground as his bag spilt, causing everything to fly out and land on the ground. The books clattered, the quills bounced, the ink shattered all over the book.
Harry turned on his back before he pulled out his wand and was about to point it at the dwarf when the dwarf pulled it out of his hand.
"Now, just sit there laddie while I sing you the song," the dwarf told him as he settled himself on Harry's stomach, pulled out a card and cleared his throat before he started singing.
'His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he's was mine, he's really divine,
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.'
"Oh boy," Mia groaned out as she slapped her hand over her eyes. She knew who sent the valentine and had a feeling that Hermione wasn't going to be very happy about it. She looked at Ginny, who was wearing a hopeful look on her face before she looked at Harry, who pushed the dwarf off him and stood up, glaring at him.
"And you can tell whoever sent me that card that I'm not interested being with anyone because they see me as a damn hero," he informed him. He scooped up everything in his bag before he took Hermione's arm and led her down to charms while Ginny looked like she was about to cry. Mia shrugged as she and Ron followed after Harry.
Mia knew that she should like Ginny considering she was Ron's youngest sister but there was something that put her right off of the red-haired girl. She couldn't put her finger on it and she knew that Hermione felt the same way. Whether it was woman intuition or their elemental abilities, she didn't know, but she had a feeling that it was going to get worse as they went along.
Harry found himself in the boys' bedroom flipping through the diary they had found in Myrtle's bathroom. He knew that there was something about the book but he couldn't just put his finger on it. He had noticed when he arrived at Charms that the smashed ink didn't drench the diary. All his papers and books were drenched in ink yet the Diary was left unscathed. The rest of his books were no longer covered in ink thanks to Professor Flitwick's cleaning magic.
With a tinge of frustration, Harry picked up his quill and dipped it into the ink holder before poising it over the open diary on his lap. He waited for a second while he watched as drop of ink landed on the book before it was absorbed. With a puzzled frown, Harry wrote 'My Name Is Harry Potter'. It stayed there for a second before it was absorbed in the book.
"Hello Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?"
"Someone threw it away in the bathroom," Harry wrote back. "I was wondering; do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Know? I was there when it happened - in fact, I was the person who caught the person responsible," The book told him. "Let me show you." With a bright light, Harry felt himself being sucked into the book.
He landed on hard ground with a thud. Slowly, he got up and saw that he was in Hogwarts. He made his way over to the stairs and saw people coming down with a covered stretcher. A hand fell out and Harry understood. It must be the person who had been killed when the Chamber was opened the first time.
He saw a teenaged boy standing near the edge of the stairs as he watched the people take the stretcher away from Hogwarts. Harry walked up the stairs till he came to a stop in front of an elderly man and he raised his eyebrow when he recognised him.
"Dumbledore," he muttered before he looked around and understood what was going on. He was in a pensive that this Tom Riddle had created, somehow, in his diary.
"Tom?" Dumbledore asked. "What are you doing? You know it's not safe to be around the castle."
"I had to see for myself," Tom replied and Dumbledore nodded. "Is it true when they say that they are going to shut down Hogwarts?" Tom asked. "Its just, I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Yes, I'm afraid it is true. If they don't find out who is behind the attacks, they will have no choice but to close down Hogwarts," Dumbledore told him.
"What if the person just stopped? You know, didn't continue on anymore?" Tom asked and Dumbledore peered at Tom.
"Is there anything you wish to tell me?" Dumbledore asked and Harry felt a sense of déjà vu. It felt the same when Dumbledore asked him if he had anything to tell the headmaster after he was caught at the scene of Justin and Nick.
"No, just asking," Tom, told him before he walked off, leaving Dumbledore behind, staring after him.
Harry followed Tom; curious to whom he thought opened the chamber in the first place. At last they reached a closed door and Tom opened it, revealing Hagrid and a large box.
"Tom," Hagrid greeted as Harry stared opened mouth at the 'attacker'.
"Hagrid," Tom answered. "It has gone too far now, you know that. It had killed someone."
"No, it wasn't him!" Hagrid protested. "He never hurt no one."
"Hagrid, monsters don't make good pets, you know that," Tom told him. "The least the Ministry could do is kill the monster for justice for the parents of the girl." He raised his wand and a bright light shot out, hitting the box.
A furry creature came out and scuttled out of the room. Harry jumped to the side when he saw it - it was large spider. Tom shot another spell at the spider but he was too late.
Hagrid made to go after his pet but Tom held his wand at Hagrid.
"It's over Hagrid. They'll expel you from Hogwarts and break your wand," Tom told him. Harry felt himself being sucked back out of the diary.
Ron came into the dormitory. He looked around and saw that Harry seemed to be sleeping when all of a sudden he bolted up, scaring Ron.
"Bloody hell Harry!" Ron exclaimed, his heart racing.
"The diary says it was Hagrid to set the monster in the chamber free!" Harry exclaimed once he jumped up from his bed and looked at Ron, wide eyed.
"What?" Ron demanded.
"Now we know why Hagrid never completed Hogwarts," Harry told him and Ron shook his head.
"But that's barmy. Hagrid can't be the Slytherin heir and he likes muggle borns so he wouldn't go around attacking them!" Ron told him and Harry agreed.
"So it means he had been set up but this Riddle, he's not a good guy - he's the one who said that he captured Hagrid," Harry told him and Ron frowned.
"He sounds a lot like Percy. I mean, what gives him the right to assume Hagrid was the one who was attacking the muggle borns just because he had a creature stored away?" Ron asked.
"I don't know but whoever opened the chamber wanted to frame him and they wanted me to believe that Hagrid was guilty," Harry told him and Ron swore.
"Do you think that maybe Hagrid could answer some questions to what's going on?" Ron suggested and Harry shrugged.
"We can't go tonight. It's too late and I have a Quidditch match tomorrow. Wood would kill me if I showed up tired and not on my game," Harry told him.
"Great, we'll tell the girls in the morning - they both went to bed," Ron told him. Harry agreed before they both got ready for bed and climbed in.
"This isn't looking good is it?" Ron asked after a few moments in the dark.
"No," Harry replied and they lapsed back into silence.
The next morning, Harry and Hermione made their way down the stairs to go to the Quidditch pitch. Harry was already dressed in his Quidditch outfit and carrying his broom. Hermione kept sneaking looks at him. She couldn't help but find him cute in his Quidditch outfit. She knew that Harry was getting annoyed with her little crush with Lockhart, which she had to admit, was diminishing over the weeks as she watched him. She only sent Lockhart a card because he was a teacher and he wouldn't read anything more into it. Sending Harry one meant that she was acknowledging their feelings and it scared her.
She really liked Harry and she knew that he felt the same but at the same time she was frightened of ruining their friendship. She knew that Harry had decided not to be bothered about Lockhart anymore and she was grateful for it, because sending Lockhart the card was the last hope she held on to about him being a true hero.
When she sent the card, she didn't feel anything. No excitement of how Lockhart would react to the card, nothing. And that told her that her crush on Lockhart was nearly finished and she could see more clearly about what the boys and Mia was seeing - Lockhart was basically a fraud. As much as it hurt her to admit that a book had lied to her, she felt freer than she did at the beginning of the summer and for the first time, she was glad that her crush on Lockhart was going down.
It made her appreciate Harry even more, even though he had been jealous of her crush. He hadn't turned away from her and she understood that Harry was going have admirers as they got older, but he hadn't given into Ginny. So it gave her hope that maybe there was still a chance for the two of them.
All she had to do was be careful how she reacted to all the admirers and make sure that she didn't fall for anymore-fake heroes.
"Harry!" a male voice shouted, causing Harry and Hermione to stop in their tracks. They saw Neville chasing after them.
"Neville?" Harry asked, concerned for the boy.
"I'm sorry, I don't know who did it," Neville told him. Harry shook his head, confused to where this was going before he followed Neville back up to the Gryffindor common room. They rushed up the stairs to the boys' dormitories and they saw Harry's bed was a mess.
Harry went through his trunk before he looked at Hermione.
"Riddle's diary is gone," he told her and she gasped. "We gotta get down to the Quidditch pitch. I'll deal with this later," he told Neville. Neville nodded as he left the room.
Harry and Hermione made their way back down the stairs once more.
"Only a Gryffindor could have stolen the diary. They're the only ones who have the password," she told him and Harry agreed.
"I know. That's why we have got to be careful. It looks like someone in Gryffindor might be the one who is opening the Chamber of Secret," Harry told her.
"I just wish that there was more information," Hermione told him.
Suddenly, Harry stopped in his tracks, causing Hermione to look back at him in concern.
"Harry?" she asked, frowning slightly.
"The voice just came back," he told her as he looked around and Hermione's eyes lit up with excitement.
"I think I just understood something," Hermione told him. She was about to rush off when Harry grabbed her arm.
"Whoa, where are you going?" he asked.
"The library. I'll have more information then," she told him and Harry shook his head.
"No way, I'm not letting you go alone. Not while this person still attacking Muggleborns," Harry told her.
"Harry, there hasn't been an attack in ages," she told him but Harry remained unchanged.
"No, not alone. Come with me to the Quidditch Pitch, watch the game and I'll come with you," Harry told her.
"Harry, I'll be fine," she told him but Harry was firm.
"I don't want you to be alone" He told her and Hermione smiled.
"Madam Pince will be in the library. I'll be fine," she told him before kissing his cheek and she hurried off, leaving Harry frustrated.
"Harry Potter, get down here now!" Wood shouted up to him and Harry let out a groan of frustration. He needed to get to the Quidditch match yet at the same time he wanted Hermione safe from what was happening yet no one was letting it happen.
"Harry?" Ron asked as he walked near Harry and Harry turned to him.
"Oh great! Listen, Hermione ran off to the library and I'm worried about her considering the fact the whole attacking thing going on. Could you go and check on her?" he asked and Ron nodded.
"Sure, meet you at the pitch," Ron told him and Harry ran off, leaving Ron confused. All of a sudden a small white light hit the back of his head. Dazed, Ron looked around before shrugging and he continued on down the stairs, intent on getting to the Quidditch match to watch Gryffindor kick some butt.
Wood had finished giving out strategies that the team was to follow during the game so they all started to make their out of the tent.
"Remember to keep an eye on everybody with the bludgers. I don't fancy them taking out anyone," Wood told them and Fred laughed.
"Not to mention that they are scared that Harry will attack them if they go anywhere near him," Fred spoke up. Harry chuckled while Wood agreed.
"And there's that too," he told them as they made their way out of the tactics room only to bump into Ron.
"Hey, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked Ron and Ron shook his head.
"Not since you told me that she ran off to the library. Is she not in the stands?" Ron asked and Harry looked at him, confused.
"I told you go and check on her," Harry told him and Ron shook his head.
"Harry, this is the first time I've seen you today," Ron told him.
"No, you saw me like half an hour ago," Harry told him. "I told you to go and check on Hermione because I was worried about her being alone in the library."
"What about Mia?" Ron asked.
"No, I haven't seen Mia either," Harry, admitted.
"Maybe they're together?" Ron suggested and Harry shrugged when a female voice shouted out.
"Harry!" Mia shouted as she ran over to him and Harry turned around.
"Mia?" he asked.
"It's Hermione," she told him with wild fear shining brightly in her blue eyes. "She's been petrified!"
"What?" Harry demanded.
"Attention!" a female voice called out. "Everyone, please return to your common room - make way to your common room right now!"
"McGonagall found me. Hermione had been attacked coming from the library - she's in the hospital wing right now. McGonagall cancelled Quidditch because of this," Mia explained.
"You can't cancel Quidditch," Wood told her and Mia shrugged.
"McGonagall is really worried about this latest attack," Mia told him. "You may not have a choice."
They all made their way out of the Quidditch pitch when McGonagall hurried over to Harry.
"Mr. Potter, come with me," she told him and he nodded as Ron and Mia followed him.
They made their way up to the Hospital wing and stepped in to see Madam Pomfrey going back and forth between two beds. One bed consisted of a Ravenclaw that Harry recognised as Penelope Clearwater, who often patrolled with Percy.
The other bed consisted of a very familiar girl.
"Hermione…" Harry breathed out as he sat down next to her. He reached out and touched her hand, feeling it stiff under his and he felt his heart clench. Whoever that was attacking Hogwarts had just made its fatal mistake. They picked on the person he cared about the most and he was going to get them for this.
"I don't suppose you know what she was doing with this?" McGonagall asked as she lifted up a small mirror and Harry shook his head.
"I'm guessing she figured out what was attacking the students. She ran off to the library because of something I said. I had to get to Quidditch so I couldn't go with her," he explained.
McGonagall nodded. She knew that Hermione was the brightest student in her class and she wasn't happy that Hermione knew what was attacking the students only for her to be attacked herself.
She watched as Harry continued to hold Hermione's stiff hand. His eyes were slightly hard and had lost their usual softness. The professor had a feeling that Harry wasn't very happy with the situation himself.
"Come on, I'll take you back to the common room and tell you all what you have to do next," she informed them. McGonagall could see that Harry was reluctant to leave Hermione, but he finally let her hand go and followed Ron and his professor out of the hospital wing.
They made their way into the Gryffindor Common room and stayed on the steps. Everyone watched as McGonagall told them the latest news.
"Two more students were attacked this afternoon. Miss Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect," she told them and Harry noticed that Percy seemed a bit pale, "And one of our own, Hermione Granger." A hushed whisper started up with some people looking at Harry, who just stared stonily ahead, ignoring everybody.
"Because of this latest attack, no student is allowed out alone without a prefect. Teachers will accompany students class to class. If we do not find the attacker, I'm afraid that Hogwarts will be closed…forever," McGonagall told them before she left the Common Room.
Harry and Ron just looked at each other while Mia just looked heavenward.
"Why on earth is this happening - because we arrived at Hogwarts?" she asked, not getting an answer.
"We need to find out who is attacking everybody," Ron told her. She nodded as everyone filtered out to their common room, not happy with the situation they were in.
Ron, Harry and Mia moved over to the couch and chairs next to the fire and settled themselves.
"That's not going to be easy. So far anyone who does see the attack is petrified," Mia pointed out. She nudged Ron and pointed to Harry. Ron looked and saw that Harry's fists were clenched tightly while his green eyes were flaring slightly.
"Harry? You okay?" Ron asked.
"They picked the wrong person to attack this time," Harry promised them as he stared into the fire.
TBC