Ch. 8 the Rogue Bludger

POV CLAIRE GIBBS:

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, 'Professor' Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages of his book to us, re-enacting some of the more dramatic bits.

He usually picked Harry to help him with these reconstructions; so far, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager whom Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse, a yeti with a head cold, and a vampire who had bee unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him.

Harry was hauled to the front of the class our very next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a werewolf. If he hadn't had a very good reason for keeping Lockhart in a good mood, he would have refused to do it.

"Nice loud howl, Harry, exactly!"

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet. "Homework, compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf!"

The class began to leave. "Hmmm, very good imitation Potter," teased Lexie. "Can you do that howl again?"

"Shut up," said Harry, but a little smile was spreading across his face anyway. "Ready?"

"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione nervously. "Claire, can't you do it?"

"No," I said firmly. "I'm not exactly good in hiding my emotions, I tell you, he knows I hate him…"

"All right…"

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched in her hand. "Er, Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading."

She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. "But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it. I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms-"

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. "Possibly my favourite book. You enjoyed it?"

"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer!"

"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help," said Lockhart.

He scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione. "So, Harry," he said. "Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe? I was Seeker, too. Could have played for the National Squad, but I preferred to dedicate my life to the Dark Forces. Still, if you ever need some private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players…"

Harry made an indistinct noise in his throat and then hurried toward the library, shortly followed by us. "He didn't even look at the book we wanted!" Bella said happily.

"If Lockhart's just as good with broomsticks as he is with Dark Forces, I would have loved to see him riding one," Lexie grinned. "And if went wrong, we'd be rid of him anyway."

"You have to stop saying things like that!" said Janice. "It's not nice to Hermione!"

"She's just expressing her opinion," said Ron. "And she's right."

"Did it take a lot from you to say that, Ron?" Lexie smirked.

"Less than expected," Ron smiled back. "That's because he's a brainless git. But who cares, we've got what we needed-"

"He is not a brainless git," said Hermione shrilly.

We dropped our voices a bit as we entered the library, Madam Pince, the librarian, was glaring at us. "I need to look for a book, bit of background reading," I said.

"Okay," said Hermione. "I'll go to Madam Pince."

I walked between the grand shelves, and I saw someone familiar. Cedric Diggory was smiling at me. "Hi Claire," he said. "We meet again."

"Hi," I said nervously. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," he shrugged. "And you? You're not worrying too much about the attacks, are you?"

A curl fell before his pretty, grey eyes and he shook his head to remove it. He looked extremely cute when doing so. "Well… er…" I stammered, struggling to finding the right words.

Struggling to finding any words at all. "You shouldn't," said Cedric, placing a hand upon my shoulder. "They're going to catch the culprit soon enough."

"Yeah," I said, not really knowing what I was saying.

The only thing I knew was his eyes looking straight at me and his hand still on my shoulder. We maybe were a little bit closer than we should have been.


POV JANICE DIGGORY:

"Moste Potente Potions?" Madam Pince repeated suspiciously.

She tried to take the note from Hermione, but Hermione wouldn't let it go. "I was wondering if I could keep it," she said breathlessly.

"Oh, come on," said Ron, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it at Madam Pince. "We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough."

Madam Pince held the note up to the light, trying to detect a forgery, but it passed the test. She stalked away between the lofty shelves and returned with a book several minutes later.

"I'll go and find Claire," I offered and searched between the shelves.

Then I heard voices. I took one book away from the shelve so I could see their faces through a gap, without them seeing me. I clapped my hand in front of my mouth. It were Cedric and Claire, very close to each other, and Cedric had his hand upon her shoulder.

"But, to talk about something more cheerful," he said. "How much progress have you made with 'the Impossible'?"

"A little," said Claire. "I haven't had very much time to read, but I've made chapter seven."

"And what do you think?" he said.

"I still love it," she said. "It's so romantic."

"You know, you're very similar to Denise," said Cedric.

Claire's cheeks went a brilliant shade of magenta. "I… You.. thanks."

What was she stammering for? This was my cousin she was talking to! "A lot of people say I'm quite similar to Philip," said Cedric, and now he went a little bit red himself.

What was going on? How long had it been going on? I dropped the book and walked around to shelf, to the space where they stood.

"Are you coming, Claire?"

The both of them got even redder, so I decided to just grab Claire's arm and drag her along with me. I took her to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where Harry, Lexie, Ron, Bella and Hermione were busy with Moste Potente Potions. "Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion.

I sat down next to her and saw it was decorated with people halfway through transforming into other people. I sincerely hoped the artist had imagined the looks of intense pain on their faces. "Oh joy," said Lexie lazily. "Still thinking about doing this, are you?"

Her icy blue eyes were strongly fixed on me. She was messing with me, she knew I was the one who wanted to do this the least. "What are you doing here, anyway?" asked Bella irritably. "I thought you didn't want to do this?"

"You're right," said Lexie. "I don't. I've got way better things to do. Good bye."

She stood up, and left the bathroom, looking furious. "This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione.

"Lacewing flies, leeches, flux weed, and knotgrass," Claire murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. "They're easy enough, they're in the student store-cupboard."

"Ooh, look," said Hermione, panicking slightly. "Powdered horn of a bicorn, don't know where we're going to get that! Shredded skin of boom slang, that'll be tricky too."

"And of course a bit of whoever we want to change into," said Claire.

"What?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm not drinking anything with Crabbe's toenails in it-"

"Good to hear you're taking the role of Crabbe," Bella grinned. "I personally didn't feel like it."

"Now you mention it," I said. "Who are we changing into?"

"I think it'll be most logic if Harry and Ron would be Crabbe and Goyle. Than the four of us will just change into whichever Slytherin girl we manage to get DNA from," said Hermione.

"And what about dear Lexie?" asked Bella. "If Malfoy would brag about it to anyone, he would to her-"

"She said we had to leave her out of it!" I snapped.

"We don't have to worry about this, yet, though," said Hermione quickly. "Because we add those bits last…"

"Do you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione?" Harry asked. "Shredded skin of boom slang, that's definitely not in the students cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea…" I whispered.

Hermione shut the book with a snap. "If you two are going to chicken out, fine," she said. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in-"

"I'm not going to chicken out!" said Bella loudly, banging her fist on the floor.

"I never thought I'd see the day you'd be persuading us to break rules," said Ron. "All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?"

"Okay," I said. "You were right."

"Good speech," Claire said to Hermione, grinning and opening the book again.

"How long will it take to make anyway?" said Harry.

"Well," said Claire, her eyebrows almost knitted together, thinking hard. "Since the flux weed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days… I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."

"A month?" said Ron.

"But Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!" Bella protested.

"But it's the best plan we've got," said Claire bossily. "So stop whining."


POV LEXIE JONES:

I woke up early on Saturday morning and lay for a while, thinking. My first Quidditch match was today. We had a great advantage over the Gryffindors, of course, because of the superb brooms. The thought of Bella's face when she'd lost was amazing, and I wanted to win so bad.

I especially wanted to prove to the Weasley twins that a girl good make a pretty good Beater. I used to play baseball when I was seven, so I could do the swinging. It was no more different than with Quidditch, except I now had to hit a Bludger, which was moving constantly.

As eleven o'clock drew nearer, the school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. Janice, Claire, Ron and Hermione came hurrying over to wish me good luck just before I entered the locker rooms.

I thanked them and went in and I changed into my green Quidditch robes. It felt good to have them on, be with the team. I was the only girl in here. Flint began his, I expected usual, pep talk.

"We have better brooms than they have," said Flint. "And we have better people on our brooms. Bletchely, the Gryffindor Chasers will probably not get hold of the Quaffle at all, but otherwise you are way better than them.

"Pucey, Avery, Wood's no match for us. Derrick, Jones. Do what you can do and don't forget to knock a few Gryffindorks off their broom whenever you get the chance. Oh, and Draco," he said, an evil smirk spreading across his face. "Potter's going down."

The team cheered and we went up the field. "Nervous?" Draco whispered, so only I could hear it.

"You wish," I whispered back, smiling at him.

"You'll be brilliant," he said, and we all mounted our brooms.

I held my fingers tightly around the short, black club, all of a sudden afraid I would drop it. But when I saw the self-contented faces of Fred en George Weasley, I gritted my teeth and the thoughts faded away. I knew only one thing. That I wanted to prove myself.

"On my whistle…" said Madam Hooch. "Three… Two… One…"

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of us, squinting around for the Snitch. "All right there, Scarhead?" yelled Draco, shooting underneath him and showing off the speed of his broom.

I laughed and shook my head a little. Boys. Harry had no time to reply. At that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came pelting toward him; he avoided it so narrowly that I gasped for breath. But then, it came back. I speeded toward him and hit the Bludger to Angelina Johnson, who dropped the Quaffle.

"Thanks," Harry whispered breathlessly.

"I won't be making a habit out of this," I said quickly before rushing off again, hitting the Bludger so it hit the back of George's (or Fred's, I couldn't tell) broomstick and made him spin in the air.

"Still think girls can't be Beaters, Weasley?" I yelled at him.

George (or Fred) gave the Bludger a powerful smack toward Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction and shot straight for Harry again. What was going on? Bludgers never concentrated on one person like that, it was their job to try and unseat as many people as possible.

"Lexie!" Draco shouted and I was just in time to hit another Bludger, coming from the opposite direction to me, and it went against Wood's head, so he toppled and fell down.

The Slytherins cheered and the Gryffindors boo's I could hear as well. "Good one, Jones!" Flint shouted from across the field.

It started to rain. I was busy hitting the remaining Bludger to as many Gryffindors as possible; while Fred and George were both protecting Harry from the Rogue Bludger. So I had it quite easy. I hadn't paid much attention to the scoring, when I heard Lee Jordan call, "Slytherin lead, hundred and forty points to zero-"

"Come on, Draco," I said silently.

Harry couldn't catch the Snitch know, we either had to score two more points first or Draco had to catch the Snitch. I hoped for the latter, because I think he deserved it. He's trained really hard. But then Katie Bell called for a time-out. I went down with my team, and I could hear the Gryffindors whispering.

"Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina from scoring?" Bell hissed.

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping another Bludger from killing Harry. It won't leave Harry alone," said George (or Fred, I still don't know) angrily.

"Listen," said Harry. "with you flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Go back and join the rest of the team and let me deal with the Rogue one."

"Don't be thick," I said, turning around. The Gryffindors were unpleasantly surprised. "It'll take your head off."

"Talking about taking heads off," said Katie Bell furiously. "Wood is in the hospital wing and that is your fault."

"I was just doing this for my team," I said, not disturbed by her words at all. "By the way, most Gryffindors don't mind to send Bludgers to Slytherins."

"We're not losing to Slytherin because of a crazy Bludger!" said Harry loudly.

"Very well," I smiled.

This was typical Harry.

"It was nice knowing you."

The smile on my lips got only wider when I heard the Gryffindor team calling me names and being furious. The rain was falling more heavily now. On Madam Hooch's whistle, I kicked hard into the air and rose higher and higher. The match continued, but only Slytherin didn't manage to score anymore.

The cause of that were Bella and Fred, trying to defend the goalposts themselves. I could hear laughter from the crowd; I looked up, and saw Harry was doing all kinds of dives and tricks to avoid the Bludger. "Training for the ballet, Potter?" Draco yelled.

Then I noticed it. The Golden Snitch. It was hovering a few inches above his left ear. Busy laughing at Harry, Draco hadn't seen it. I saw Harry looking at Draco, Harry was probably afraid to speed towards Draco in case Draco saw the Snitch.

WHAM.

He stayed still a second too long, the Bludger had hit his arm. He bent over in pain and I saw my chance. "Draco, the Snitch!" I yelled.

Draco looked around stupidly; but it was too late, Harry had sped forward and caught the Snitch with his good hand. With a splattering thud he had hit the muddy ground and I landed next to him. Bella was bending over him, holding his broken arm.

"Aha," he said vaguely. "We've won… LOOK OUT!"

I looked up and saw the Bludger rushing towards the Harry again. I pointed my wand up into the air, and yelled, "Reducto!"

The Bludger exploded. When I looked down at Harry, he had fainted. "Where did you learn that?" Bella asked.

"I spent most of my time reading books about useful jinxes and curses," I said quickly, bending down and rubbing a bit of mud from Harry's face.

Then, Lockhart pushed me aside. "Oh no, not you," moaned Harry, who was clearly conscious again.

"Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."

"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks…"

I laughed. "I'll take him to the hospital wing," Bella offered.

I heard a familiar clicking noise nearby. "I don't want a photo of this, Colin," Harry said loudly.

"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart. "I've done this countless times-"

"No, don't," said Harry weakly.

Lockhart was twirling his wand and a jet of bright, blue light shot at Harry's arm. It completely flattened, like the bones were gone. I gasped, and so did everyone around me. "Ah," said Lockhart. "Well, that can sometimes happen. Miss Jones, would you escort him to the hospital wing?"


POV BELLA MCLAGGEN:

It was dark. I didn't know where I was. How did I get here? I clearly was in some kind of corridor. The corridor that led to the hospital wing. I opened the door. The hospital wing was empty, except for Harry.

"Are you awake?" I asked.

"Yes," Harry answered.

I came closer to him and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Why weren't you at the party?"

"Was there a party?" I asked.

"Yes," said Harry. "Before Madam Pomfrey had sent them away."

"How's your arm?"

"It feels like it's full of splinters," he said, trying to smile.

"Great catch, though," I grinned. "Your best ever since, I would say."

"Why and how did you come here, anyway?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I think I've been sleep-walking lately."

Then, there was a loud plop and someone landed on top of Harry. "Get off!" he said loudly, and then, "Dobby!"

The house elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry and me through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose. "So you're Dobby," I said. "You showed up in Harry's bedroom the other night!"

"Yes, I is Dobby," he said miserably. "Harry Potter came back to school."

"Of course he did," I said. "It's his home."

"Dobby warned Harry Potter!" said Dobby. "Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"

"What're you doing here?" Harry asked. "And how did you know we missed the train?"

Dobby's lip trembled. "It was you," Harry said slowly. "You stopped the barrier from letting us through!"

"Indeed, yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hand afterward-" he showed us ten long, bandaged fingers "but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!"

"But you almost got us expelled, Dobby!" I said.

"But Harry Potter would at least have been safe, along with his friends," said Dobby.

"You'd better get lost before my bones come back, Dobby," said Harry fiercely. "Or I might strangle you."

Dobby smiled weakly. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home."

He blew his nose on the pillowcase he wore. "Why d'you wear that thing, Dobby?" Harry asked curiously.

"This is a mark of the house elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house forever."

"I know," I said. "I had a house-elf, Tippy. She died of old age three years ago. We always treated her nicely, let her dine with out, let her sleep in a bed, we'd never hit her."

"What is your name, miss?" Dobby asked.

"Bella," I said. "Bella McLaggen."

Dobby nodded, mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Harry Potter and Bella McLaggen must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make-"

"Your Bludger?" Harry and I said in unison.

"What do you mean, your Bludger?" Harry snapped. "You made that Bludger try and kill me?"

"Not kill you, sir!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wanted to save Harry Potter! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"

"Oh, is that all?" said Harry angrily. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you wanted me sent home in pieces?"

"Harry Potter doesn't know what is was like before his great defeat of You-Know-Who! House-elves treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like vermin," said Dobby miserably. "But mostly, sir, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter and Bella McLaggen stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more!"

"So there is a Chamber of Secrets?" I whispered.

"And it's been opened before?" Harry whispered. "But I'm not Muggle-born, and Bella isn't either, so how can we be in danger from the Chamber?"

"Ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby," stammered the elf. "Go home, Harry Potter and Bella McLaggen, go home!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" said Harry fiercely. "One of my best friends is Muggle-born; she'll be first in line if the Chamber has been opened-"

"Harry Potter risks his life for his friends!" said Dobby. "So noble, so…"

There were footsteps coming. "Dobby must go, sir!"

And he vanished. "In here!" said Harry and I went to lie in his bed, at the opposite side of the door.

Harry turned so his front was against my back, he wrapped his good arm around me and put the blanket very high. The next moment, someone was coming into the dormitory. "Get Madam Pomfrey," a man whispered, probably Dumbledore.

My body was trembling slightly, and I could feel Harry's heart beating fast. More footsteps. "What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore.

"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

My heart started beating faster, could it be Ron? Harry probably thought the same; his grip tightened and his breath quickened."Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes," said McGonagall. "But I shudder to think… If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate- who knows what might have-"

"A camera," said Madam Pomfrey.

A camera? Then it wasn't Ron. It was Colin Creevey. "You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly.

There was a soft click; I think someone opened the camera. "Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.

A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. I caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic. "Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted…"

"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.

"It means," said Dumbledore. "That the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."


I've just realized this chapter is super long! Hope you don't mind ;)
1. Who likes the idea of Claire and Cedric together?
2. Is Lexie a good Beater, or was she lucky?
3. In my head, the bit where Harry put his arm over Bella and sort of protected her was super cute! What do you think?

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