In a dark nook, Harry, Ron and Hermione huddled round a book entitled Moste Potente Potions. The spotted pages were littered with disturbing illustrations.
"Here it is: The Polyjuice Potion. Properly brewed, the Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another..." Hermione read.
"You mean, Harry and I drink some of this stuff and we turn into Crabbe and Goyle?" Ron asked.
"Yes." Hermione nodded.
"Wicked! Malfoy'll tell us anything!" Ron said, excited.
"Well, not anything." Draco muttered.
"It's cute that you think that."
"What does that mean?!"
"Exactly. But it's tricky. I've never seen a more complicated potion. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. And, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too." Hermione said, looking at the page.
"There are much more complicated potions than the Polyjuice potion." Young Severus said.
"Hang on now. I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it." Ron's eyes widen.
Everyone gagged at the thought. "Why was that the first thing on your mind?" Arthur asked.
Ron shrugged. "I have no idea."
"How long will it take to make?" Harry asked.
"A month." Hermione answered.
"A month?" Harry gasped. "But if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin... he could attack half the Muggle-borns in the school by then."
"You didn't have to tell me that." Hermione sighed.
***
The crowd roared as they watched mid-game, watching the Slytherin Chasers, bent low over their new brooms, jet past the overmatched Gryffindors.
"Woohoo! Quidditch! Come on Gryffindor!" James and Sirius cheered.
"Gallopin' Gorgons! Slytherin's flyin' like they got dragon fire in their brooms..." Hagrid exclaimed.
"That' because of the brooms I brought the team." Lucius said, looking smug.
Ron was fuming, looking as though he took Slytherin's dominance personally. Taking Hagrid's giant binoculars, he trained them on the faculty box - where Lucius Malfoy sat next to Snape. Harry circled high above the pitch, searching for the Golden Snitch.
Suddenly, Draco streaked by overhead. "All right there, Scarhead?" Draco called out.
"Scarhead, clever." Harry rolled his eyes.
"For a twelve-year-old, it was." Draco defended his young self.
Harry turned and eyed Malfoy malevolently. Behind him, a bludger flew towards his head. "Harry! Watch out!" George yelled. Harry wheeled and at the last possible moment, slipped the whistling Bludger. George swooped down and batted it away. Harry turned and watched it soar away, then blinked: the Bludger turned and streaked right back at him. Harry jetted off.
"Blimey, Harry's got 'imself a Rogue Bludger!" Hagrid yelled from the stands.
"Rogue Bludger?" Ron asked.
"Look fer yerself! It's bin' tampered with!" Hagrid pointed out.
"What!" Everyone (except for Ron, Hermione, Harry, Zoe and Draco) yelled.
Harry executed a series of zigs, zags, loops and rolls, trying to shake the Bludger, but the Bludger was relentless. Ron instinctively drew his wand and pointed it towards Harry and the Bludger, when Hermione's hand interceded. She glanced knowingly at his fractured wand. "You're joking, right? Besides, even with a proper wand, it's too risky. You could hit Harry." Hermione scoffed.
As Harry frantically dipped and dived, Draco cruised by. "Training for the ballet, Potter?" Draco joked.
Zoe looked at Draco. "Really?" He smiled, innocently.
Harry glanced at Draco's sneering face. Buzzing inches above his left ear... was the Golden Snitch. But he wasn't the only one to notice. "My King, the Snitch is above your ear. Stop messing around and win the match." Zoe's voice said in Draco's head. His eyes widen as Harry charged, Draco gulped and swung clear, watching as Harry rocketed past.
"That's cheating!" Ron and Hermione yelled.
As Harry chased the plummeting Snitch, Draco followed in hot pursuit. They raced downward, trailing the hissing snitch deep into the trench circling the pitch. Shoulder to shoulder, they raced madly, driving and dodging the wooden support beams that crisscross their path.
Directly behind them, the Bludger followed, shattering the beams as it dogged Harry.
Draco kicked Harry, forcing him to the edge of the trench. Harry brushed the wall, battling for control. Draco turned, snickered, then looked back... and found himself heading smack into a wooden beam. Panicked, he tried to pull up, but he was too late. His broom met the beam and Draco spiralled out of the trench and landed flat on his back in the middle of the pitch.
Harry continued on, closing on the Snitch, fingertips only inches from catching it... when... the Rogue Bludger smashed into Harry's arm. Harry cried out and steadied himself. With a brilliant, acrobatic move, snatched the Snitch out of the air with his good hand. Unable to control his broom with his shattered arm, he hit the pitch with a sickening thud.
"My baby!" Lily yelled.
Wincing, Harry rolled onto his shoulders and squinted up: a black dot - growing rapidly larger - was plummeting from the sky, directly towards him. It was the rogue Bludger. Instantly, Harry spun away, grimacing in agony, as the Bludger smack the ground like a sledge hammer, violently tattooing the pitch again and again, only inches from Harry. Calmly, Hermione walked forth and pointed her wand. But before she could speak and show off, Zoe created a shield around Harry, who visibly relaxed at the sight of her. The Bludger was now violently hitting the shield and luckily Harry could now stop moving and could not make his arm worse.
Everyone clapped and cheered for Zoe - except Molly, Ron and Hermione.
"Finite Incantatem!" Zoe yelled.
The Bludger hung briefly in the air. Slowly ceased spinning and finally dropped heavily to the pitch. The shield came down and Harry exhaled, relieved, only to recall the searing pain in his arm. As concerned faces hovered above him, one particular face pushed through the others.
"Not to worry, Harry. I'll fix that arm of yours straight away." Lockhart boasted.
"No!" The parents (not Molly) yelled.
"No... no... not you." Harry refused. But Lockhart wouldn't listen.
"Poor boy doesn't know what he's saying. This won't hurt a bit..." Lockhart twirled his wand, Harry braced himself, and... nothing. He blinked, looked up and saw that his vision was blocked. Zoe had stepped in between and stopped Lockhart from ruining things.
"You stay the hell away from my brother. You can't even get rid of Cornish Pixies; what the hell makes you think you can heal broken bones. He is to be taken to Madam Pomfrey immediately." Zoe said, glaring at the adult. "Crabbe." She said, gesturing to Crabbe while Goyle carried an unconscious Draco. "Take him." She ordered.
Crabbe carefully lifted Harry, who winced. "Sorry, mate." Crabbe whispered.
"I...it's alright." He stuttered in confusion. Slytherins were helping him.
"That's our queen." Barty yelled.
***
A dazed Draco laid on one of the hospital beds while Harry was placed next to him. Ron, stood by Harry's bed, glaring at the Slytherins and a group of Gryffindors (including some of his teammates) stood nearby while Hermione just grinned. Madam Pomfrey poured a steaming beakerful of liquid from a bottle of Wideye potion for Draco while she had Zoe tend to Harry.
"I don't understand why a Slytherin is taking of Harry." Ron glared at the girl.
"Watch it Weasel." Regulus warned, hating the way the Gryffindor had always treated Slytherin.
"She's my assistant. She's going to mend Potter's broken bones." Madam Pomfrey said as she walked up behind Zoe and hit Ron over the head. "Stop looking at her that way. Understand." She said. She looked at Harry. "You're very lucky that Lady Ollivander stopped Lockhart from 'healing' you." She said, air-quoting the word 'healing'. "Broken bones can be mended in a heartbeat but growing them back with Skele-Gro is painful. You would have been in for a rough night. Re-growing bones is nasty business."
"I love Madam Pomfrey." Zoe sighed. She missed the older woman.
Harry looked at Zoe. "Thanks." He whispered. She gave him a small smile.
Madam Pomfrey gave the steaming cup to Draco, who grimaced when he drank it. "Well, what did you expect - pumpkin juice?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"I don't think there are any potion that taste nice." Zoe thought aloud.
A bright light blinded Harry for a split second, he blinked and saw Colin Creevey standing there.
"He's really everywhere, isn't he?" Arthur said. Harry looked down, memories of seeing Colin's dead body entered his mind. He wished he treated him better.
"That was brilliant today, Harry! Brilliant!" Colin smiled.
"Out! All of you! This boy's got thirty-three bones to heal!" Madam Pomfrey yelled, shooing everyone, who wasn't in a hospital bed or her assistant, out.
***
Now night, everyone had gone to sleep. Harry fidgeted in the darkness, half-asleep, then... his eyelids fluttered slowly open. His vison moved from the shadows that clung to the ceiling, to the lattice-word of moonlight that burns softly on the walls around him. He sensed something... a presence... when... five bandaged fingers begun to sponge his brow. Harry bolted upright and saw... "Dobby!" Harry exclaimed.
"Of course, he's at fault." Molly scoffed.
"Careful." Zoe and Narcissa warned. No one was going to speak ill of Dobby.
"Harry Potter came back to school. Dobby warned him. Harry Potter should have listened to Dobby. Harry Potter should have gone back home when he missed the train." Dobby said.
Harry pushed the sponge away. "It was you! You stopped the barrier from letting Ron and me through!"
"Indeed yes, sir. Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway." Dobby confirmed.
"You nearly got Ron and me expelled!" Harry yelled.
"At least you would be away from here. Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make Harry Potter see..." Dobby admitted.
"Your Bludger? You made that Bludger chase after me?" Harry asked.
"I didn't tell him to do that." Zoe whispered to him.
"I know." He smiled.
"Dobby feels most aggrieved, sir." Dobby said, he waggled his fingers, showing off the bandages. "Dobby had to iron his hands..."
"You'd better clear off before my bones heal, Dobby, or I might strangle you!" Harry threatened.
Zoe smacked his shoulder. "Don't threaten my elf."
Dobby smiled weakly. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby used to get them five times a day at old home."
"I don't suppose you could tell me why you're trying to kill me?" Harry said, sarcastically.
Dobby gasped. "Not kill you, sir, never kill you! Dobby remembers how it was before Harry Potter triumphed over He Who Must Not Be Named. We house elves were treated like vermin, sir. Of course, Dobby is no longer treated like vermin..." Dobby honked his nose on the filthy pillowcase he wears.
"Why do you wear that thing, Dobby?" Harry asked.
"This, sir? 'Tis a mark of the house elf's enslavement. Dobby can only be freed if his master presents him with clothes. But Dobby does not want to set freed. Dobby loves his master's family. So, the family is careful not to pass Dobby so much as a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house forever." Dobby's ears quivered, detecting footsteps. "Terrible things are about to happen at Hogwarts! Harry Potter must not stay here now that history is to repeat itself!" He whispered.
The Ollivander-Malfoy's eyes filled with tears (including Narcissa, Lucius and Severus). "Love you too, Dobby." Zoe whispered.
"Repeat itself? You mean, this has happened before?" Harry asked. Dobby panicked, he wasn't meant to say that, he saw a random bottle of Skele-Gro on a table and beat himself about the head. "Tell me, Dobby? When did this happen before? Who's doing it now?" Harry demanded.
"Dobby cannot say, sir. Dobby only wants Harry Potter to be safe." Dobby shook his head.
"Who is it? No, Dobby! Tell me!" Harry demanded.
But that was a mistake, Dobby had left. Shadows flickered beyond the curtain and encircled Harry's bed.
"That's not scary." Sirius said, sarcastically.
Harry slumped down and peered through a slit in the curtains. Dumbledore, in a nightcap, and McGonagall, in a tartan robe, heaved a small statue onto an empty bed. Seconds later, Madam Pomfrey bustled in.
"What's happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"There's been another attack." Dumbledore said.
Madam Pomfrey gasped. It was not a statue lying there. It was Colin Creevey, camera still clutched to his eye.
"Oh shit." James gasped.
"Perhaps he managed to get a picture of his attacker..." Professor McGonagall suggested. Dumbledore opened the camera, and a jet of steam hissed forth. "What does this mean, Albus?"
"It means our students are in great danger, Minerva. Mr Creevey was fortunate. If not for this..." Dumbledore held up the camera. "He would surely be dead."
"What should I tell the staff, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Tell them the truth. Tell them Hogwarts is no longer safe. Tell them it's as we feared. The Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again." Dumbledore advised her.
The parents gasped.
"Don't worry, Dumbledore will protect them." Molly said.
Everyone groaned. "Shut up! No, he won't, he'll get Harry to do it." Barty said.