Link of Hogwarts

Eighteen

With Hagrid's help, they managed to find a patch of clearing where a mature mandrake grew. There were some more around it but Link only dug up that one since he had read up on anti-petrification elixir to see how many mandrakes were needed for it. Madam Pomfrey was shocked to find four extremely dirty children coming to her with a bound up mandrake carried by Link who promptly handed the struggling sentient magical flora to her.

When Snape came to receive the mandrake, he listened in disbelief when she told him how it came to her possession. Needless to say, Filch has been informed as well and although the cantankerous Squib grumbled that they only did it because they were the reason his beloved cat was petrified, Pomfrey knew that the man was thankful.

So a few days after, Mrs. Norris can be found winding and rubbing herself lovingly against one of the four friends. But she gave special attention to Link, going as far as to follow him to his classes. Of course, she seemed to be wary of corners. Link noticed how she hunkered down and listened closely whenever they reached a corner.

Watching Mrs. Norris listened against a corner, Link pondered, "Were you attacked when you turn the corner, Mrs. Norris?"

Her quiet meow seemed to agree with his assessment. Scratching his head under the Phrygian hat that he had taken to constantly wear on his head, Link decided to keep an eye out for danger when reaching a quiet corner. He also noticed how she seemed to be especially suspicious of any reflective surfaces and running away whenever she saw a line of spiders along the wall and out the nearest opening to the outside like a window.

Neville looked at the list of things Mrs. Norris did whenever she followed Link and asked, "Why are you making this list?"

Link hummed, "I'm just preparing,"

Ron peered over his shoulder, "For what?"

"Well..." He looked at his gathered friends, "Mrs. Norris was attacked and after she was cured of her petrification, I supposed she will react to anything that reminded her of the attack. So far, she has grown a dislike of empty hallways. She's also especially suspicious of reflective surfaces and corners. Now that I think about it, Ron slipped on a puddle when we found her,"

Hermione nodded, "I see! So Mrs. Norris behavior might give us clues to what attacked her!"

Link nodded, "She's also been taking cues from spiders,"

Ron paled, "Spiders?"

Neville frowned, "Why spiders?"

Link shrugged, "Whatever it was, I supposed the spiders don't like it and that's why they ran out. Mrs. Norris must have taken the sight of them fleeing as cues that whatever attacked her must be nearby,"

Hermione huffed, "Well, you heard Prof Binns from this morning. The writing implied that whomever that petrified Mrs. Norris must belong to the Founder of Slytherin,"

Ron rolled his eyes, "He also insisted that the Chamber of Secret does not exist,"

Link frowned, "Maybe he said that so we won't go looking for it. The best way to hide things is to insist it does not exist in the first place,"

Neville looked at him, "What makes you say that?"

With the same certainty from how he just knows things, Link expanded, "Well, he's a ghost. Only someone deep in necromancy can keep a ghost out of anywhere. Basically, if the Chamber of Secrets exists, the ghosts would know since they can go anywhere,"

Ron nodded as understanding dawned on him, "In another word, he must have found Slytherin's Secret Chamber but find it too dangerous for exploration so he insisted it doesn't exist...but how certain are we that he did find it?"

Link shrugged, "We don't,"

Winter arrived and all thought about the Chamber of Secrets and secretive ghosts flew out of their thoughts as exams filled their waking hours. Then Nayru's Blessing arrived and the group disbanded for the holiday. There was no secret present sender for Link this time but that doesn't bother him at all.

The weather warmed and Farore's Day arrived...or rather what people here called Valentine Day arrived. Unhappy dwarves went about calling out students to read out messages of love. They looked extremely uncomfortable in their Cupid get ups but a job is a job so they forced through it with the famous dwarves stubbornness.

As the person who arranged this horror show? It was none other than Prof Lockhart who has started to get on Link's nerves as the semester goes by. Even Hermione had woken up from her childish idolization of the man. Embarrassed boys and girls tried to run away from the dwarves but being a race famous for their stubbornness, it was a futile effort of their part.

Link had seen enough of his peers being straddled and forced to listen to whatever poems written for them. It was all very public and more of a social execution than romantic. He really doesn't get what Lockhart was thinking. In fact, does the man think at all?

Unfortunately for Link, a dwarf had managed to catch him. He looked both impressed and annoyed that Link had managed to avoid being caught by him through the whole day. With torn up book bag and spilled ink puddle coloring his school issued shoes, Link took the very much public execution with the determination of a squire forced to face a Gold Lynel in the Coliseum with nothing but a broken branch and his underwear.

The faux cupid of the day cleared his throat and spelled out his death sentence;

"His eyes are as blue as ocean waves,

His hair is as yellow as the summer sun.

I wish he was mine, he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord,"

The dwarf looked at the brave lad before him and patted his thigh, "And you took it like a man. It didn't even rhyme but apparently describing you in a poetic sense is extremely hard," He squint his eyes as he looked at Link, "Though....maybe if she put a little more effort...but since she insisted with ending with 'Dark Lord'..."

Link didn't notice Ginny Weasley who saw the whole thing ducking away as the people around him laughed at the badly composed poem while the dwarf started composing better poetry to describe his apparently extremely excellent feature, though none of it can rhyme with 'Dark Lord'.

That evening some students made fun of those who had received a 'mysterious' love letter from their secret admire. Link had been held up for a quite a while after he was caught by the surprisingly poetic dwarf because apparently he has more than one secret admire. He stonily accept poem after poem that describe how beautiful he was, how he appear in their dream and one even bluntly asked him to smile more because apparently it made the secret admirer's day.

He also received bundled up of wilting bouquets and politely rejected the almost completely crushed cookies. He had read on love potions and was wary that consuming those cookies, though well-meaning and innocent enough in appearance with their laces and ribbons as well hearts covered wrappings, would end badly for him.

He made the right choice as several boys and girls from different Houses had to be admitted to the infirmary due to eating contaminated snacks...

Ron was impressed, "Bloody hell, mate. You just dodged a curse,"

Somehow, in the same way he knew things, Link felt shiver go down his spines whenever he saw victims of love potions being manhandled to the infirmary.