People Watching.

Chapter Fourteen.

Harry woke up on Sunday morning to find the dormitory blazing with winter sunlight and his arm reboned but very stiff. (Y/n) was already awake, staring towards Colin's bed. He sat up quickly and looked over at Colin's bed, but it had been blocked from view by the high curtains Harry had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that he was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with breakfast trays for the two and then she began bending and stretching Harry's arm and fingers.
"All in order," she said as he clumsily fed himself porridge left-handed. "When you've finished eating, you may leave."
Harry drew his curtain and dressed as quickly as he could. (Y/n) was getting her temperature checked one last time, and then the two hurried off to the Gryffindor Tower, desperate to tell Ron and Hermione about Colin and Dobby, but they weren't there. Harry left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they weren't interested in whether he had his bones or not.
As Harry and (Y/n) passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.

"Oh, hello, Harry, (Y/n). Glad to see you are no longer on your deathbed, (Y/n)," he greeted. (Y/n) stared at him, positively baffled. "Excellent flying yesterday, really excellent. Gryffindor has just taken the lead for the House Cup— you earned fifty points!"

"You haven't seen Ron or Hermione, have you?" said Harry.

"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in another girls' toilet..."

Harry forced a laugh, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then led (Y/n) straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He couldn't see why Ron and Hermione would be in there again, but after making sure that neither Filch nor any prefects were around, he opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.
"It's us," he said, closing the door behind him. There was a clunk, a splash, and a gasp from within the stall and they saw Hermione's eye peering through the keyhole.

"Harry! (Y/n)!" she said. "You gave us such a fright— come in— how's your arm?"

"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim telling them there was a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires was a speciality of Hermione's.

"You're alive! You're alive!" cried Ron after (Y/n) had slipped into the stall and closed it behind her.

"Yes, yes I am," (Y/n) said. "Shocker, I know." Harry and Hermione grinned.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as (Y/n), with difficulty, locked the stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

Harry started to tell them about Colin, but Hermione interrupted.
"We already know— we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get going—"

"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better," snarled Ron. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."

"There's something else," said Harry, watching Hermione tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night." 
Ron and Hermione looked up, amazed. Harry told them everything Dobby had told him— or hadn't told him. Hermione and Ron listened with their mouths open.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione asked.

"This settles it," said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear old Draco how to do it. It's obvious. Wish Dobby's told you what kind of monster's in there, though. I want to know how come nobody' noticed it sneaking around the school."