"What's going on?" Harry asked Neville, frowning.
"You know about Seamus's daughter, right?" he said.
"All Seamus told me was that she got hurt up at the school," Harry replied. "Is she alright?"
"Now. She had to be moved to St. Mungo's, though."
"Oh my goodness," Hermione gasped. "What happened, Neville?"
"She woke up in the middle of the night covered in blood," he told her. "Madam Pomfrey was able to slow the bleeding, but she couldn't stop it completely, so we had to transfer her to St. Mungo's."
"Well, what caused it?" Ron asked.
"The healers say only Dark magic could've," Neville said gravely. "But, well, that's what I need to ask you about…we have no idea how that could be."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"She was alone that night," Neville explained. "The only ones around her were three other second-year girls. None of them could've done it."
"Well, maybe something happened earlier in the day," Harry pointed out. "Maybe she came across a cursed object somewhere in the castle."
"That's what I thought," Neville nodded "And the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is currently trying to find anything in the castle that could be cursed. But, well, I talked to each of the girls in the dormitory, and only Ernie's daughter, Grace, was around her during the day. The other two, Alexandra and her friend Alanna, said that they don't talk to her much. Anyway, Grace said that Tiffany didn't do anything outside the norm that day."
"No one could've snuck into the castle?" Ron asked.
"No, the portrait of the Fat Lady told me that no one entered the common room after ten that night, and they were all students," Neville sighed. "Anyway, I came here to ask you a favor, Harry. Could you go down to the hospital and take a look at the wound? Maybe you'll be able to tell what caused it."
"I'll have a look," Harry nodded. "But I reckon Ron and Hermione should come along as well; I might miss something."
"The more eyes the better," Neville said. "Can you go now?"
"We can," Ron said. "What about you, Hermione?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Brilliant," Neville said in a relieved tone. "Thanks, you guys. I have to get back to the school, but keep me posted on anything you find out."
"No problem," Harry told him.
Harry, Ron and Hermione apperated from the lobby to the waiting room of St. Mungo's.
"Can I help you?" asked the cross-looking witch at the front desk without even looking up.
"We're here to see Tiffany Finnigan," Hermione said.
"Sign in," the witch replied lazily, pointing to the sign in book.
"Friendly, isn't she?" Ron mumbled, picking up the quill.
"What floor is she on?" Harry asked the witch.
"Fourth."
"Er, thanks," Harry said.
"Do you think she really got cursed inside Hogwarts?" Hermione asked as the three started upstairs. "I mean, how would she have gotten anything? Everyone was checked when they arrived at the school."
"She could've gotten outside of school," Ron suggested. "Like Katie Bell did our sixth year."
"Yes, but Tiffany's a second year, Ron," Hermione said. "She wouldn't be going to Hogsmeade."
"Looks like this is her room," Harry said, stopping at a door with 'Tiffany Finnigan' written on it. He knocked, and a moment later, Seamus opened it.
"Harry?" he said, stepping aside and opening the door wider. "Ron? Hermione? What are you three doing here?"
"We want to take a look at Tiffany's wound," Harry said in a low voice so Tiffany, who was sitting on a bed on the other side of the room couldn't hear. "We've heard that it was caused by Dark magic, and we want to see if we can tell what caused it."
"Of course," Seamus nodded. "Tiffany, you've got some visitors."
"Hello," she said weakly.
"Hello," Harry replied kindly. He had met Tiffany only on a few occasions.
"They want to examine your wound," Seamus told her gently. "Can you show it to them?"
Tiffany nodded, and pushed up her jumper to reveal her abdomen. The wound was in the shape of a perfect circle. It looked burned and scabbed, and Harry felt a pang of sympathy for the girl; though it was healed, Harry knew it would never fade.
"Does it hurt?" Hermione asked softly.
"Off and on," Tiffany answered. "I've been taking a potion for the pain though."
"Healers said that she'll need to take it for the next month," Seamus added.
Harry continued to look at the wound; he knew just from looking at it that it had to have been inflicted by very powerful Dark magic, but it looked to be from a spell, not a cursed object.
"Thanks," Harry said to Tiffany, and she pushed her jumper back over her stomach.
"Tiffany, did you do anything outside the norm the day this happened to you," Ron asked. "You know, pick up any strange objects, things like that?"
"I did what I do everyday," she responded.
"Do you remember anything before the attack?" Harry asked.
"Actually," she said thoughtfully. "I remember some red light…I thought it was a dream, and I started to drift back to sleep, and that's when I felt my stomach. I hadn't thought about the light until now, though."
"Do you remember from what direction it came from?"
Tiffany shook her head.
"But, now it sounds like she was attacked," Seamus said, standing up, clutching his daughter's shoulder.
"Seamus, we're going to figure this out," Hermione said soothingly. "The important thing is that Tiffany's all right."
Seamus nodded, still looking very worried.
"Sorry we can't stay longer," Harry said. "But we need to get back to the Ministry. I'm glad to see you're doing well, Tiffany."
"The wound was definitely caused by wand work," Harry said as soon as they left the room. "Not a cursed object."
"At least now we know there aren't cursed things just lying around the school," Ron pointed out.
"No, just crazed maniacs attacking students, apparently," Harry said.
"Red light," Hermione said slowly. "Sounds like a stunning spell, but it obviously wasn't…"
"It sounds like someone was actually in the room with her," Ron said. "But-But the Fat Lady said no one entered the common room. Think someone came in through the window?"
"Maybe," Harry said.
"Honestly," Hermione sighed, exasperated. "Will you one day pick up Hogwarts, A History?"
"No," Ron said flatly. "I read the first page of that thing a few years back and fell asleep before I finished the first sentence."
"For your information, your daughter has read it," she snapped.
"Really?" Ron asked, looking rather impressed.
"Yes. And anyway, it would be impossible to get up to the tower where the Gryffindor common room is from the outside. Godric Gryffindor himself imposed a special protection around it, so no one could ever get to it unless they were in the castle. All the founders did that to their common rooms, although Slytherin needn't have bothered, since his is in the dungeons."
"But then the only ones who could've caused the red light would be one of the girls," Harry frowned. "And there's no way a twelve year old could do that type of magic."
"What if," Ron said, stopping in his tracks. "They were possessed?"
"Possessed?" Hermione repeated.
"Well, remember when we brought up Katie Bell? I just remembered that Draco had used the Imperius charm on her to get her to try to deliver that necklace to Dumbledore. What if someone used it on one of the girls in Tiffany's dorm and made them attack her."
"Who would do that?" Hermione asked, horrified. "It would have to another student!"
"He could be onto something," Harry sighed. "Hermione, wand checks are your department; do you think you could have someone go down to the school?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes. I'll go down myself as well. I just hope we don't find out that Ron's theory is true."