Chapter 25
While Minerva still sat there in shock and carefully bathed Harry's hot face, Poppy entered the room and waved her wand over the child, frowning. "He obviously had a setback, which became so bad that it turned into bronchitis. Of course, his ears and his throat are infected too."
"He told me he felt as if he had been hit by a spell again," Minerva replied questioningly.
"No, I don't think so," Poppy answered thoughtfully, waving her wand once more, just to be sure.
A while later, Harry's friends joined Minerva, Poppy, and Severus in Harry's room, while Harry was peacefully asleep, his stomach full with potions. Ken told the teachers that they had found the portrait, which had let them in, giving them instructions. Fortunately, he told the story in a way that made everyone believe the portrait had either let them in or told them the password.
HP HEALER POMFREY HP
Harry had to spend a few days in bed. However, knowing that it had been his own fault to aggravate his condition running around the castle, moreover exploring an unknown place in spite of Poppy's warning, was the worst part of being ill this time. His friends spent as much time with him as they could, and everyone noticed that Harry was able to hear in spite of being sick.
"Your new ear salve seems to be great progress," Poppy and Minerva told Severus one evening. "Of course he still can't hear very well, but it's much better than the other times he was sick."
"It could be just by chance," Severus told them coolly, heading to his private lab to do some more research for Harry and to reflect about what Harry had told him about the Basilisk and Salazar Slytherin's library. He couldn't wait for Harry to be completely back to health, so that he could take him to the Chamber of Secrets too. 'Perhaps I can ask the Basilisk for potions ingredients,' he thought hopefully, while he added a pinch more of the rare moon fern blossoms to his next variation of the ear salve.
HP HEALER POMFREY HP
One morning, the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, whom the headmaster had hired after the process against Quirrel, visited Harry during his free period. "Hello Harry, may I come in?" he asked softly, seeing that Harry was awake.
"Yes of course," Harry mumbled anxiously. 'Is he a supporter of Voldemort too? But he must be all right if they told him where my room is.'
While his thoughts were doing flip flops, the teacher sat down on a chair next to Harry's bed. "Poppy allowed me to visit you, since you can hear relatively well in spite of being sick. I thought you might like to hear a few stories about your parents," the man said gently.
"Did you know my parents?" Harry asked excitedly. 'Minerva and Poppy have told me several things about his parents, but they only knew them from a teacher's perspective, but the Defence teacher is much younger...'
Remus Lupin's voice pulled Harry out of his thoughts. "Yes Harry, I was a good friend of your parents. I also knew you well when you were a baby. You always called me Moo-ey."
"Moony? As in Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail?" Harry asked, sitting up in excitement.
"Yes Harry. Care to explain why you know these names? Do you by chance know the Marauders' Map?"
Harry chose to hide a small "Yes" behind a coughing fit.
"We made the map, your father, our two other friends, and I. But then Mr. Filch took it from us. It was such a pity."
"Will you promise not to take it from us?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"I promise, Harry," Remus replied smiling, causing Harry to pull the map out from under his pillow.
He handed it to the teacher and asked, "Do you know where all these passages lead, Professor?"
"Harry, you can call me Remus or Moony when we're not in class." Remus looked at the map, following Harry's finger to one of the secret passages, and said excitedly, "Harry, it shows much more than it had on it when we made the map. There are several passages with the respective passwords, which we didn't know at all and which we of course didn't add to the map. I believe that it's the castle's magic that shows these things to you."
Harry showed Remus the entrance to the passage leading to the Chamber of Secrets. "We explored this entrance last week, and it led to the Chamber of Secrets, where Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk lives." He told the teacher everything about their visit in the interesting chamber, until his voice became hoarse and Remus told him to lie down and rest.
"I have to return to my classroom anyway; my next class is going to start in ten minutes. The next time, I will tell you more of your parents," he promised, gently helping Harry to lie down.
HP HEALER POMFREY HP
On Saturday morning after breakfast, Harry and his friends met in Harry's room. "Well, are we going to do some exploring today?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Will they let you go so soon again? After what happened last week?" Hermione asked concerned.
"Well, why not? I'm completely recovered, and I've already been attending classes for two days," Harry replied innocently, causing Julia and Ken to snort.
"Ah, by the way; Professor Lupin came to see me one day and told me that he was my Dad's best friend. He said they made the map together; however, the secret passages were not on the map when they made it, and I don't think anyone else added them, because Filch took the map off them, and we got it back from Filch. He thinks that the castle herself made her magic show the passages for us."
"Harry, are you sure that you don't have a fever?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"It's not so absurd," Ken countered immediately, causing Neville to nod his agreement. "Hogwarts is a powerful magical castle, and she'd well be able to do such a thing."
"Well, shall we go and explore another secret passage?" Harry asked impatiently. "I don't know if I have time tomorrow, because Severus wanted me to take him to the Chamber of Secrets, and knowing how eager he is to explore Salazar Slytherin's library, he'll want me to take him there soon."
"Okay, where do you suggest we go today?" Ken asked excitedly.
Harry hurriedly produced the map, and ten eyes tried to get a glimpse on it at the same time. "I think we could try this one out," Hermione pointed to one of the passwords that was written in normal English instead of Parseltongue like the other one. "Look, it starts near the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room."
"That should be another one, which the castle supplied. Professor Lupin told me that he knows a few passages." Harry pointed to the one-eyed witch. "For example, this leads to Hogsmeade, and this one leads right into the Shrieking Shack, this one into the Forbidden Forest, and this one is collapsed."
The five friends hurried through the halls in the direction of Ravenclaw and passed the common room. Soon, they found the portrait of a young wizard, who was feeding a raven. They told him the password, and the portrait opened, revealing a small path similar to the one that led to the Chamber of Secrets. The children lit their wands, and once more Ken led the way, while Harry went as the last.
Suddenly, the path ended in front of a life size portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. "What do you want, children?" she asked with a stern expression that would make Minerva proud.
"We would like to see where this path leads," Hermione answered, watching the founder of her House in awe.
"If you believe that you're entitled to walk through here, you'll have to answer a question." Seeing that the children were looking at her expectantly, she demanded, "Tell me the birth date of my best friend, Helga Hufflepuff."
'How are we supposed to know that?' Harry thought, feeling slightly fooled by the portrait of the founder.
"Oh, please let us in. We know Helga Hufflepuff of course, she is the founder of my house, but how should we know her birth date?" Neville tried to talk the portrait into opening, but Rowena outright refused.
"Well, then we have to find that out," Hermione answered eagerly. "We will come back later."
I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes!
All recognizable characters belong to J.K.Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.