The Chamber of Secrets | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book Two)

14. The Monster Strikes Again

Y/N's POV

The whole Justin issue was bothering me, I spent most of my time dwelling over it that even my friends got tired.

"For heaven's sake, Y/N," said Hermione, exasperated, "go and find Justin if it's so important to you."

"Fine." I huffed before leaving the Common Room in search of Justin Finch-Fletchley.

I decided to check the library first.

When I arrived, I saw a group of Hufflepuffs, who should have been in Herbology, sitting at the back of the library, but they didn't seem to be working. Between the long lines of high bookshelves, I could see that their heads were close together and they were having what looked like a secret conversation. I couldn't see whether Justin was among them. I was walking toward them when something of what they were saying met my ears, and I paused to listen, hidden.

"So anyway," a boy was saying, "I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if L/N's marked him down as his next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. I heard Justin had a conversation with him once and told him he was a Muggle-born. That's not the kind of thing you tell the Slytherin's heir, is it?"

"You definitely think it is L/N, then, Ernie?" Said a girl anxiously.

"Hannah," said the boy solemnly, "he's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue."

There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Ernie went on. "Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir, Beware. L/N had some sort of run-in with Filch. Next thing we know, Flich's cat's attacked. That first year, Creevey, was annoying L/N at the Quidditch practice, taking pictures of him. Next thing we know, Creevey's been attacked."

"He always seemed so nice, though." said Hannah uncertainly.

I couldn't be bothered to listen to them spread false rumours about me anymore. I walked out of the bookshelves and cleared my throat. Every one of the Hufflepuffs looked as though they had been petrified by the sight of me, and the colour was draining out of Ernie's face.

"Hello," I said, "I'm looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"What do you want with him?" said Ernie in a quavering voice.

"I wanted to tell him what really happened with that snake at the Duelling Club." I said calmly.

Ernie bit his lips and then, taking a deep breath, said. "We were all there. We saw what happened."

"Then you noticed that after I spoke to it, the snake backed off?" I said.

"All I saw," said Ernie stubbornly, though he was trembling as he spoke, "was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake toward Justin."

"I didn't chase it at him!" I said, my voice shaking with anger. "It didn't even touch him!"

"It was a very near miss," said Ernie, "and in case you're getting ideas," he added hastily, "I will tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and my blood's as pure as anyone's, so-"

"I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" I said fiercely. "Why would I want to attack Muggle-borns? One of my best friends' a Muggle-born !"

Without saying anything else, I stormed out the library and ran into Hagrid.

"Oh, hello, Hagrid," I said, looking up, "what are you doing here?"

Hagrid held up the limp rooster. It was dead.