Few days later, Joni and Harry were walking outside with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team which consisted of Oliver Wood, the Weasley twins, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, for training. Though this time Joni wasn't excited anymore, and Harry could see it. After their fight, Joni and Hermione had not talked to each other since the DADA class, and the younger Potter really was starting to regret about the things he said to her. Harry tried to remain supportive, but didn't know what exactly to say, he could only hope that the two would make up soon.
'I shouldn't have gotten angry, and i shouldn't have said those things to her.' Joni thought sadly. 'Joni, you absolute snuffing moron.'
Harry meanwhile kept a close eye on his brother. It felt weird to him to see Joni and Hermione this far apart, as ever since they had become friends they had been together most of the time.
"I spend the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program." Wood started to explain his plan for the next Quidditch games. "We're gonna train earlier, harder and longer."
Harry nodded at this, though he saw his brother was not in on the moment.
"What---?" Wood then said as he looked at the courtyard. "I don't believe it?"
When they got to the courtyard, what the team saw coming from the other side was the Slytherin Quidditch team, all the while Ron, Hermione and Caitlin were sitting on one of the benches, and Hermione could be seen looking down sadly while Caitlin was telling her something.
"Where do you think you're going, Flint?" Wood asked Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain.
"Quidditch practice." Flint replied.
"I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today."
"Easy, Wood. I got a note." And he handed Wood the note, which the Gryffindor captain took.
"O-ou, i smell trouble." Ron said as he got up and started to jog towards the teams, while Caitlin walked. Hermione got up and was about to go to them as well, but when she saw Joni, she stopped and started looking down.
But Caitlin saw this. She looked back and forth between her and Joni, and walked back to Hermione and took her hand in hers.
"Come on." She softly said.
"But... He doesn't want to see me." Hermione said sadly.
"He does. He regrets what he said to you. All you two have to do is apologize to each other."
Caitlin then started to pull Hermione with her to the teams.
"'I, Professor Severus Snape...'" Wood started to read the note while the other players leaned in closer to look at it. "'... do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today, owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"
Hermione, Ron and Caitlin then got to the teams, which caused Joni to look at them, but when he and Hermione looked at each other, they lowered their gazed to the ground while looking sad.
"You've got a new Seeker. Who?"
The Slytherins moved to the side and between them walked Draco in Quidditch unform while looking smug.
"Malfoy?" The Potter twins asked, while the other Gryffindors weren't all that impressed.
"That's right, Potters. And that's not all that's new this year."
The Slytherins then showcased their new brooms, which were colored black, and even fancier looking than the twins' Nimbus 2000s.
"Those are Nimbus 2001s." Ron said, looking over the brooms. "How did you get those?"
"A gift from Draco's father." Flint told them, which got Ron, Hermione and Caitlin to glare at them.
"You see, Weasley..." Draco then said. "... unlike some, my father can afford the best."
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in." Hermione then said with a snarky voice. "They got in on a pure talent."
This caused Joni to look at Hermione properly again since yesterday, and smile a little, which was noticed by Harry and Caitlin.
Draco didn't like this, and walked right to Hermione, while glaring at her.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." He sneered at her.
This caused the Gryffindors and Caitlin to gasp, with even Alicia saying "How dare you!" and Caitlin angrily saying "Take that back!"
When Joni saw Hermione's face and noticed that her eyes looked like there were going to be tears soon dropping, he then suddenly forgot all about the fight the two had and got in front of Malfoy and took a hold of the neck sleeve of his Quidditch outfit, which surprised everyone.
"You take that back, ferret." He angrily said to him.
Draco was little surprised by this before he started to glare back at the younger Potter, while Hermione was now focused on Joni.
"You'll pay for that one Malfoy." Ron then got in on the action and pulled his wand out, which caused Draco to now look at him. "Eat slugs!" He said and pointed the wand at Draco, who attempted to back away but couldn't as Joni kept a firm grip on his outfit.
But because the wand was faulty, the spell bounced back at Ron, which caused him to fly backwards on his back. This caused Joni to drop his focus on Draco and turn to look at Ron, as did others.
He let go of Draco and with the Gryffindors and Caitlin ran to Ron, while Draco and the Slytherins stayed back and started to laugh at Ron.
Ron looked like he was gonna be sick as everyone gathered around him.
"You okay, Ron?" Caitlin asked as she was on her knees next to Ron with Hermione, while Joni and Harry were on other side, while they were now joined by Colin who had a camera in his hands.
Ron got on his hands and knees while saying nothing but making noises from his mouth while keeping it shut.
"Say something!"
Instead of saying something, he threw up a slug.
Everyone let out "Ew" when they saw the slug. Colin then took a picture of it and others looked at him.
"Wow!" He said amazed. "Can you turn him around, Harry?"
"No, Colin, get out of the way." Harry said as he and Joni each took Ron's arm and pulled him up. "Let's take him to Hagrid." He said, while Ron threw up another slug.
"He'll know what to do."
And with that, the four started to take Ron to Hagrid's, and while passing the Slytherins, Harry pushed Draco's shoulder, who just kept laughing with the rest of his team.
--
The kids were now inside Hagrid's hut. While Joni and Hermione were standing next to the huge chair, Harry and Caitlin were sitting down on it and Ron was in the middle of them, wobbling back and forth, trying to keep the slug from coming out.
"This calls for a specialist's equipment." Hagrid said as he walked to the kids with a big bucket in his hand. He gave it to Ron before sitting down on an armchair.
"Nothing to do but wait till it stops, i'm afraid."
Ron then threw out another slug and everyone looked uncomfortable.
"Okay." Harry said while patting Ron on his back.
"Better out than in. Who was Ron trying to curse, anyway?"
"Malfoy. He called Hermione... Well i don't know exactly what it means."
At this, Hermione started to walk to look outside a window while Harry kept talking.
"All i know is that everyone else got angry, and Joni even took Malfoy's outfit in his hand and got real close."
All the while Joni said nothing but look down angrily, then he turned to look at Hermione. Not only was he still mad at Malfoy, but he was still beating himself for the things he said to her few days ago.
"He called me a Mudblood." Hermione said while crossing her arms.
This shocked Hagrid. "He did not."
"What's a Mudblood?" Harry asked.
"It means dirty blood." Hermione turned around, and it looked like she was about to cry. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who's Muggle-born. Someone with non-magical parents. Someone like me. It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation."
"See the thing is, Harry..." Hagrid then spoke. "there are some wizards, like Malfoy family, who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood."
"That's horrible." Harry said shocked.
Ron then threw up another slug while Caitlin patted his back.
"It's disgusting." He said.
"And it's codswallop to boot." Hagrid said. "Dirty blood." He then added disgusted. "Why, there isn't a wizard alive today that's not half-blood or less."
"Besides, the wizard population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-born." Caitlin then said. "Me and my sisters maybe wouldn't be around had our Muggle-born mother not married our Muggle father, and neither would you and Joni."
All the while Hermione kept looking down, trying to keep her tears in, before she gasped a little as she was taken by Joni into a hug, placing her head on his shoulder.
"You don't deserve it." He said quietly, while rubbing her back and head. "You're one of the brightest witches in the school. Don't you ever listen to what that ferret says."
This finally caused Hermione's tears to drop, and she hugged Joni tightly. In their minds, the two also knew they needed to talk about the fight soon and finally make up.
"More to the point..." Hagrid said while he smiled at the two. "... they've yet to think of a spell that our Hermione can't do."
This caused the two to let go of each other and look at Hagrid smiling a little.
"Come here, you."
Hermione walked to the giant while Joni stayed by her side, and Hagrid took Hermione's hand in both of his.
"Like Joni said, don't you think on it, Hermione. Don't you think on it for one minute."
Hermione finally let out a genuine smile.
--
As the quartet was walking back to the castle and Caitlin had departed from them to join her friends in her House after Ron had recovered, Harry and Ron were walking ahead while Joni and Hermione walked slower behind next to each other. Both tried to come up with something to say to each other, but didn't know how to approach the issue.
In a spur of the moment, the two turned to each other and started talking.
"I'm sorry--"
They then stopped when they spoke at the same time.
"No, i'm so--"
They stopped again and tried to talk over each other.
"Wait, why are---"
They stopped again, and after a small pause, a smile broke on to their faces and the two laughed at each other a little, before they focused on each other again.
"Can i speak first?" Joni asked, and Hermione nodded, and Joni took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry about what i said." He then looked down a little before looking at her eyes again. "I didn't mean to say you're sensitive and cry easily, because that's not what i think about you at all."
He then started to scratch the back of his head.
"You're my best friend, you're one of the greatest people i've ever met, i like that you take your studies seriously, and i like that i can talk to you about the school stuff compared to everyone else we know. I guess, i was annoyed at how you were so into Lockhart's books so much."
Hermione smiled softly at Joni, and then took him in for a hug in return, and the two placed their heads on each other shoulders while hugging each other tightly.
"I'm sorry about what i said to you too." Hermione said against his shoulder. "I don't think you were jealous, and i definitely know you hate fame because of your scar. You're just a boy who enjoys a simple life where you can read books and have fun... and maybe joke around every now and then."
This got Joni to laugh.
"I admit, i've been really into Lockhart and his books this year, and i promise i'll tone it down." And the two let go of each other. "But you have to promise to at least give him a chance, okay?"
"I promise. If he is as good as his books say, i'll give him a chance."
Joni then got a a glint in his eyes before doing something.
"Tag! You're it!"
He tapped Hermione on her shoulder and started to run away from the towards the castle while laughing. Hermione looked confused for two second before she smirked and started to run after him.
"Oh, you did not just do that. Come here, you!"
The two kids laughed together as they started to play tag together while running to the castle, happy that they now had made up and could be together again.
--
Over a week after the Quidditch incident and after Joni and Hermione made up, it was September 19th, Hermione's 13th birthday. It was also Saturday, so there were no classes.
Hermione woke up a little later than she usually did, put on some casual clothes and left the girls' dormitory. Walking down the stairs to the Common Room, she noticed Joni sitting on the couch while playing with Millie who was laying on his lap. She remember how he basically scared her last year, and while smirking started to tip toe behind him. When she was close enough, she quickly placed her hands on Joni shoulder and right to his ear. "Gotcha."
This got Joni to scream and fall off from the couch on his stomach, while Millie ran underneath it. Joni groaned as he got himself back on his knees when he heard laughing behind him. He turned around and saw Hermione cluthing her stomach while laughing.
"Hahaha! I-i've never he-heard you scream like that!" She said.
Joni only raised his eyebrow at her.
"So, this is your way of greeting me on your birthday? Scaring the ever living snuff out of me?"
Hermione finally calmed herself down and smirked a little.
"Think of it as a payback for scaring me last year."
Joni remembered how he himself has sneaked behind her and scared her when she was reading, but there was something else that happened.
"Wait, didn't you also punch me after--"
"Hush. That doesn't count."
Joni kept his eyebrow raised while Hermione smirked and the two kept looking at each other before they laughed.
"Alright, you win." Joni said while getting up and raising his hands up.
They then walked to each other and hugged.
"Happy birthday, Hermione."
"Thank you."
The two then let go of each other before Joni started to reach for something in his pocket.
"And i got a special gift for a special girl."
"Joni, you didn't need to--" Hermione spoke before Joni stopped her.
"No." He simply said smiling. "We're gonna celebrate each of your birthday with a gift, and you're gonna like it."
Hermione simply shook her head and smiled.
Joni then took a small wrapped box out of his pocked and handed it to Hermione, who took it and started to unwrap it before opening the box, and what was inside amazed her.
What she found inside the box looked to be a self-made silver bracelet, which Hermione took in her fingers.
"Did you make this yourself?"
"I did. I thought that this could be a way for me to apologize for the lack of communication we had this summer."
He then placed his fingers against the bracelet.
"May i?"
Hermione nodded, and Joni started to put the bracelet on her wrist. When it was in place, she lifted her hand up to inspect it.
"It's lovely. Thank you so much."
The two hugged each other again, and by this point Millie had gotten out of underneath the couch and started pushing herself against Hermione's leg, who lifted the cat up in her arms. She then started to think she couldn't wait for her future birthdays.
--
Over a month later on Halloween, Harry was in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom late at night. McGonagall had given Harry his detention, as Lockhart had personally requested that he serve Harry his, while Ron had to be cleaning the trophy room. Joni felt sorry for his brother and said if only he could convince McGonagall otherwise, but Harry assured him it was okay, even saying that he's glad that Joni had gotten past the barrier at King's Cross before it closed on him, otherwise he would also probably be in detention right now.
In the classroom, Lockhart was signing his fan mail, and had Harry help him do that.
"Harry, Harry, Harry." Lockhart started speaking as he was signing a picture of himself on a broomstick. "Can you possibly imagine for a better way to serve detention than by helping me to answer my fan mail?"
"Not really."
"Fame is a fickle friend, Harry. Celebrity is as celebrity does. Remember that. And i'm sure your brother feels the same way."
Lockhart then took another fan mail and started to sign it, while Harry got back to his.
"Come."
Harry then stopped when he heard a hissing sound and lifted his head to try and see where the voice came from, and it started to get louder.
"Come... to me."
"What?" Harry whispered?
"Sorry?" Lockhart asked as he lifted his head up from the mail and looked at Harry.
"That voice."
"Voice?" Lockhart then moved his eyes all over the classroom before looking at Harry again.
Harry meanwhile looked at the ceiling and asked. "Didn't you hear it?"
"What are you talking about, Harry?" Lockhart then started to smile. "I think you're getting a bit drowsy." He then looked at the clock on his desk. "And great Scott, no wonder. Look at the time. We've been here nearly four hours. Spooky how the time flies when one is having fun."
"Spooky. Harry said back, as he looked at the ceiling.
Harry was next walking in the corridor back to the Common Room, when he started to hear the voice again and stopped.
"Blood. I smell blood. Let me rip you."
Harry then started to look at the wall on his left, noticing the noise from coming there and got to it, placing his hand on the wall
"Let me kill you."
Harry then started to move forward while still leaning to the wall.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Harry!"
Joni, Hermione and Ron came from the other side of the hall, though Joni looked spooked compared to the other two.
"Did you hear that?" Harry asked.
"Hear what?" Ron asked.
"That voice." And Harry started to look around.
"Voice? What voice?" Hermione then asked.
"I heard it."
The other three then turned to look at Joni, who was also looking around.
"I heard it a little while ago when we were at the dinner."
"I heard it first in Lockhart's office." Harry then said. "And then again just--"
Harry then stopped, and he and Joni again heard the hissing sound while Hermione and Ron looked at them worried.
"It's time."
"It's moving." Joni said. "I think it's going to kill."
He then started to run back to the direction he came, followed by Harry.
"Kill?" Ron asked as he ran after the twins.
"Joni, Harry, wait!" Hermione shouted and followed them. "Not so fast!"
The twins got into a different corridor but when they got to there, they noticed there was water on the floor. They started to walk to the right side of the corridor when they were finally joined by Hermione and Ron, but then stopped when they noticed something on the floor and placed their arms over their friends to stop them from walking. The two then also saw was on the floor.
They noticed a line of spiders was walking on the floor, then walking up a wall and going through a crack in a window.
"Strange." Harry said. "I've never seen spiders act like that."
"I don't think we've ever seen any animal act like that." Joni said.
"I don't like spiders." Ron said with a scared voice.
When they were still looking on the floor, they noticed something in the reflection of the water.
"What's that?" Ron asked.
"Writing?" Joni asked, and they then lifted their eyes to look at the wall and saw writing on the wall which looked to be like blood.
"'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.'" Hermione began to read it out loud. "'Enemies of the Heir, beware.' It's written in blood."
"I know this is only our second year here..." Joni started to talk and others turned to him. "... but why can't we have a normal year for once?"
Nobody laughed at this, though Joni wasn't trying to really make a joke at this point. Hermione felt so creep'd out that she got closer to Joni and took a hold of his sleeve just in case.
"Oh no." Harry said as he turned to look at the left side of the writing and was shocked at what he saw.
Hermione gasped when she, Joni and Ron saw what Harry was saying as he started to approach it, and at that moment other students started to come from both sides.
"It's Filch's cat. It's Mrs Norris." Harry said, as Mrs Norris was hanging from a torch bracket by her tail. The kids then turned to look at the other students who stopped what they were doing and now were looking shocked at the wall. Colin even tried to take a picture before someone placed their hand over the camera, and the boy put it down. They were also joined by Poppy Pomfrey, healer at Hogwarts, and Irma Pince, the librarian.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware." Draco, who was joined by Eremita, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, read the writing out loud. He then turned to look at Hermione, who was standing with Joni and Ron. "You'll be next, Mudbloods."
While Hermione kept glaring at Malfoy, Joni got in front of her.
"You want to go through that day again, ferret?" He glared.
"Ooh, and what are you gonna do, Potter?" Eremita smirked and taunted.
Before Joni could say or do anything else, someone else joined the students.
"What's going on here?" Argus Filch came between the students. "Go on. Make way, make way." After coming from behind Fred and George, he looked at Harry who had stayed in the same spot the entire time.
"Potter? What are you...?"
He then finally noticed Mrs Norris hanging from the torch bracket, and was shocked.
"Mrs. Norris?" He then glared at the older Potter.
"You've murdered my cat."
"No. No." Harry said shaking his head, while Malfoy and his gang smirked.
"I'll kill you." Filch said with a crazy look before taking a hold of Harry's robes. "I'll kill you!"
Joni then ran to his brother and took a hold of Filch's wrist. "He didn't do it!"
"Argus!"
Everyone then turned around and students moved out of the way as they were joined by Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Lockhart, Snape, Flitwick, Sprout and Hooch.
"Argus, i..." Dumbledore started to speak before he too noticed the writing on the wall.
"Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately." He said while keeping his eyes on the writing.
Everyone started to leave before the Headmaster spoke again.
"Everyone except... you four." He said, pointing to the quartet.
The quartet then stopped and turned towards the teachers while looking uneasy. Caitlin looked like she wanted to stay but Beatrice took her hand and said "They'll be all right." And the sisters started to make their way to their dormitories.
"She's not dead, Argus." Dumbledore said to Filch, while Lockhart got closer to Mrs. Norris to inspect her. "She has been Petrified."
"Ah, thought so." Lockhart suddenly said. "So unlucky i wasn't there. I know exactly the countercurse that could've spared her."
The other Professors simply looked at him, and by their looks they weren't impressed.
"But how she has been Petrified..." Dumbledore continued. "... i cannot say."
"Ask him." Filch nodded to Harry. "It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall. Besides, he knows i'm-- i'm a Squib!"
"It's not true, sir, i swear. I never touched Mrs. Norris." Harry said. "And i don't even know what a Squib is."
"Besides..." Joni then added while looking at Filch. "... you didn't even see Harry writing anything, only staying still and surprised."
"Rubbish." Filch angrily said. "He saw my Kwiskpell letter!"
"If i might, headmaster?" Snape then spoke and everyone looked at him. "Perhaps Potter, his brother and friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The were surprised at what Snape suggested and looked at each other, with Joni thinking 'Is he defending us? I know Snape seems to tolerate me more than Harry but actually defend him?'
"However..." Snape then spoke again and walked to the quartet. "... the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing older Potter at dinner."
"I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus." Lockhart said, and Snape looked at him. "You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail."
"That's why Joni, Ron and i went looking for him, professor." Hermione said. "We'd just found him when Joni said..."
"Yes, miss Granger?"
"When i said i wasn't hungry." Harry said, and Snape looked at the older Potter. "We were heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris." And the other kids nodded at this.
Snape only raised one of his eyebrows at the boy and turned to look at the headmaster.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus." Dumbledore said, and Snape decided to say nothing else.
"My cat has been Petrified." Filch then said. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus." the headmaster calmed the caretaker down. "As i understand it, Madam Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrake. When matured, a potion will be made which will revive Mrs. Norris."
Professor Sprout nodded her head in reassurance while Filch looked he was about to cry in relief.
"And in the meantime..." Dumbledore then addressed everyone around him. "... i strongly recommend caution, to all." And the kids nodded at this.
A bit later, the quartet is walking down a corridor, heading back towards the common room, talking about what happened.
"A Squib's someone who's born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any powers of their own." Ron said to Harry, explaining to him about squibs. "It's why Filch is trying to learn magic from the Kwikspell course. It's also why he hates students so much. He's bitter."
Hermione's only been half-listening, looking like she's trying to unravel something in her mind, which Joni noticed.
"What are you thinking?" He asked her.
"Harry." She looked at Harry. "This voice. You said you heard it the first time in Lockhart's office?"
"Yes." Harry replied
"And did he hear it?"
"He said he didn't hear it."
She then turned to Joni. "And Joni. You said you heard it at the dinner?"
"I did." Joni said.
"Maybe Lockhart was lying." Ron suddenly said.
"I hardly think someone with Gilderoy Lockhart's credentials would lie to one of his students, Ronald." Hermione said. "Besides, if you recall, we were with Joni, and we didn't hear anything either."
The quartet finally reached the moving staircases. "It's a bit strange, isn't it?" she said.
"Strange?" Harry asked, and Hermione turned to look at the boys.
"You and Joni hear this voice, a voice only you two can hear, and then Mrs. Norris turns up Petrified. It's just strange."
"Yeah." Joni then said. "When i heard it, i thought i was just hearing things, but when it got louder, i was sure i wasn't delirious. Spark's sake..."
"Do you think we should have told them?" Harry then asked and nodded to Joni. "Dumbledore and the others, i mean?"
"Are you mad?" Ron then said.
"No, Harry." Hermione said. "Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign."
"I agree." Joni said. "I don't think we should talk about this to anyone, for now at least."
And with that, he and Hermione walked ahead of the two.
"They're right, you know." A painting said next to Harry and Ron, and the boys started to follow them.