It's OK, Omega is here! Just as I promise, another chapter in a few days. I've just got two more until I'm heading back into another hiatus, so enjoy while you can! Thing's are getting intense as shit. Don't forget to wash your hands and stay inside!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
-OK-
Christmas passed over Hogwarts in a flash. Hermione went home for Christmas and Neville's Gran forced him to come home for the holidays. Which left Harry all by his lonesome, leaving him to wander the halls bored out of his mind.
Harry thanked whatever God existed that Christmas break was only so long. Before he knew it, his friends were back and they were watching the first Quidditch match of the new year.
"Should we have gone after her?"
Chasers whizzed around the Quidditch field, tossing the ball and dodging bludgers. Harry had his eyes on the snitch since they released it. The seekers had missed it five times so far. Gryffindor winning the cup this year was a pipe dream at this point. Harry felt bad for Wood, he tried so hard.
"Hermione's smarter than both of us and just as strong, she'll be fine," Harry said. He tossed a handful of popcorn in his mouth without looking.
Moments before they'd entered the stands, Hermione had jumped up and left them. Saying that she had something to research and that she'd be back later. Neville knew there was no use convincing Hermione not to research something, but he still worried.
"Do you want to go after her?" Harry asked.
Neville took a moment, fidgeting in his seat before he nodded.
"Alright then, let's go." Harry dusted off his hands and tossed his snack to the nearest Gryffindor.
On the way to the castle, they ran into Professor McGonagall.
"Professor, funny seeing you here," Harry said. He noted that he couldn't remember seeing the Professor leave the Quidditch field. She never missed a match and going off the troubled look on her face, something was wrong. "We were just on our way to see Hermione."
McGonagall flinched and an icy chill forced its way into Harry's chest.
"What happened?" Green energy rolled off Harry in waves. Smooth Criminal appearing in response to its user's distress. "Professor, what happened to Hermione!?"
"Another student found her near the library, petrified."
Harry didn't say a word, but Smooth Criminal roared. The green stand made the air vibrate through pure rage alone. Neville stood, frozen in shock, but he didn't know what the cause was; Hermione or Harry.
"Where is she?"
Most students would get detention for talking to Professor McGonagall in that fashion. Seeing the look in Mister Potter's eyes culled her tone. They reminded her far too much of the killing curse. "She's in the infirmary with the rest of the students. The mandrakes are still ways away from maturity, so she may be there a while."
Harry ran towards the castle. Roaring about how much of a bastard Professor Snape was. Neville offered their head of house a very sincere apology before he ran after Harry.
"Harry, wait!" Neville called after his friend. Harry didn't show a sign that he heard him, but his pace did slow by a fraction of a second.
Together, the two boys burst into the infirmary. Neville offered Madame Pomfrey an apology from both of them while Harry looked for Hermione.
He found her three beds down from the entrance, still as a statue. Her face was twisted into a determined rage; lips pulled tight, eyes sharp and narrowed. Hermione's hand was clenched tight around a hand mirror.
Neville walked over to Harry in silence, his eyes never leaving Hermione's frozen body.
"She was fighting before it happened," Harry said. "That's the face she uses whenever Disco Panic is out."
"Hermione lost?"
He shook his head. "We both know she wouldn't go down without a fight. I'm guessing whatever has been petrifying everyone took her by surprise. . . What is that?"
Harry took a second glance at her hand, the one with the mirror in it. There was something else there, wrapped around the mirror's handle. When Pomfrey retreated into her office, Harry stole it from Hermione using his Stand.
"It's a piece of paper," Neville said.
"Straight from a library book," Harry noted. He figured it was straight out of 'Magical Beasts and Where To Find Them'. "Must've been serious if Hermione went that far. A basilisk? Is that what's been petrifying people?"
"Don't they kill on sight?"
"Maybe. . . But not if you don't see its eyes directly!" Neville tilted his head and Harry explained his reasoning. "Mrs. Norris saw it through the reflection of the water, Colin through his camera, and Hermione. . . She must've seen it through Disco Panic! Stands technically aren't really there, they're energy manipulated to look like physical objects. If Hermione looked at the Basilisk through Disco Panic's body, then. . ."
"That must've been what Fall Out Boy was chasing! I'm glad I didn't actually catch it. . ." Neville shuddered in fear of what could have been.
"You and me both. . . Did Hermione ever finish the Mandrake potion? We need to get her back to normal as soon as possible."
Neville nodded his head. "It should be done by now. I know what it's supposed to look like, we can go check on it now."
"Right," Harry said.
The two boys left the hospital wing and almost ran face-first into Luna Lovegood.
"Oh, hello, Harry Potter," Luna said. Her smile beamed like the noonday sun before it dipped into a more somber expression. "I am very sorry to hear about your friend."
"Wait, how did you know Hermione was here?" Harry narrowed his eyes, a spark of green energy bloomed in his hand.
"I was the one who found her," she said. Harry put Smooth Criminal away for the moment. "I've been looking for my friend, Ginny. She's been acting strange lately, work of wrackspurts, no doubt. This is the first I've ever seen her miss a Quidditch game."
A picture started forming in Harry's mind and he didn't like what it looked like. "Luna, is Ginny a Stand-User like us?"
Luna shook her head. "No, I've tried showing her Yellow Submarine many times, but she's never seen it."
"We'll tell you if we've seen her," Harry said, placing a gentle hand on her head. "Right now though, Hermione needs our help."
"Alright," Luna said, smiling. "I'll stay here and look after her until you get back."
"You're the best, Luna!" Harry yelled as he and Neville ran down the hall.
It didn't take them long to run from the hospital wing to the second-floor bathroom. But, when they rushed in, they found Hermione's cauldron laying on its side. All the precious Mandrake potion inside was now splattered across the floor, ruined.
"No. NO!" Harry lashed out with Smooth Criminal, leaving an imprint of his fist in the wall.
"Geez, all sorts of people coming in here, making noise, but none of them will talk to me." Myrtle floated over to the two boys. She recoiled when Harry looked at her with his burning gaze.
"Did you see who did this, Myrtle?"
"No, all I heard was a splash, some weird whispers, and a big rumbling noise coming from the sinks." In all her years as a ghost, this marked the first time she's ever been afraid of someone.
"When I find whoever did this, I'm going to rip them apart!" Harry roared.
"Harry calm down, there may be enough left for a single dose." Harry grumbled but agreed with Neville.
When they checked the cauldron, their hopes were dashed.
"Nothing left but a few drops." Harry let out a loud curse then slumped against the wall with his head in his hands. "It should've been me who got petrified. If Hermione were still here, she could fix that no problem. It's not like we can replace a whole cauldron of Mandrake Potion!"
Neville paused with one hand covering his mouth. "Maybe we can't, but we know someone who can."
"What are you-" Harry realized what he meant a moment later. "Luna!"
Without another word between the two, they ran out of the bathroom. Smooth Criminal carried the cauldron for them as they raced to Hospital wing. Harry almost tripped going down the stairs, but they made it back unscathed.
"Luna!"
She was sitting next to Hermione's bed, staring out the window. "Oh, hello, Harry Potter, how are you? Madame Pomfrey left to get something, but I feel like she'd be cross with you for being so loud."
"We need your help." Smooth Criminal plopped the cauldron between them. "Can you use your Stand to fill this? Please?"
Luna smiled and said, "Of course. [Yellow Submarine]."
A single touch from her Stand filled the cauldron with swirling yellowish-brown liquid. Harry could have kissed Luna at that moment. Instead, he grabbed an empty potion bottle and filled it up.
"Hold her head up for me," he said. With Hermione's head tilted up, Harry slowly poured the potion into her mouth. "Please work. Come on, Hermione, you can do this!"
Seconds passed with no movement, then her finger twitched. More seconds passed before Hermione jerked up, nearly headbutting Harry in the process.
"[Disco-!" Hermione stopped the summoning of her Stand once she realized where she was. Her eyes locked onto Harry and words spilled from her mouth. "Harry, it's a Basilisk, that's what's been attacking people!"
"We know, we found your note," Harry said. "What happened?"
"I was on my way back from the library when I heard someone talking nearby. I went to check but then something snuck up behind me, I don't know how, but it did. I summoned Disco Panic and then I woke up here." Hermione's brow furrowed, anger and confusion swirling together behind her brown eyes.
"Do you know who was talking?" Harry asked.
"I. . . I'm not sure," she said. "It was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Whoever they are, they're controlling the Basilisk somehow."
Harry nodded. "This ends today. I don't want to roll the dice on the next victim being as lucky as everyone else was."
"I agree, but we don't know where they are. We know the Basilisk runs through the pipes but that can lead anywhere in the castle!"
The metaphorical lightbulb clicked on over Harry's head. "Neville, do you remember what Myrtle said earlier?"
"She heard someone whispering by the sinks!"
"We can start there and see if anything turns up. Hermione, you good to go?"
Hermione stepped off the bed and brushed off her school robes. "My hands are a bit shaky, but I'm not letting you leave me behind."
Harry nodded and turned to Luna. "Do you want to come?"
"No, I'm not much of a fighter," Luna said. "I'll stay here and give the others the potion you brought. I'm sure Madame Pomfrey will be very surprised to see all her patients up and moving again."
"You do that," Harry said. Luna forced a smile to his face with her sunny demeanor.
The trio left the hospital wing with Harry in the lead. Neville lent his shoulder to Hermione whose legs wouldn't stop wobbling.
When she found the mess on the bathroom floor, Hermione ignited. She growled out several vicious curses, most of which weren't magical and the rest could have been through sheer spite. Harry swore he saw her hair raise like a pissed-off cat.
"Two months of work spent on this and this. . . this absolute bloody arsehole decides to dump it onto the dirty floor!" Harry to smother his laughter from hearing her curse. "When I find them, I am going to have Disco Panic shove a Panic Sphere up their-!"
Neville placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We still need to find them first, so maybe we should start looking?"
Hermione's shoulders sagged and she let out several deep breathes. "You're right. Let's get this over with."
They searched the pillar of sinks, looking under and over everything. Hermione found the most useful piece of information as she usually did.
"There's a snake symbol carved into this sink. Did Myrtle say she heard our mysterious culprit leave?" Neville shook his head in response. "Then there's a chance that this symbol has something do with the Chamber of Secrets. Maybe it needs Parseltongue! Harry could you-"
Hermione was cut off as Smooth Criminal smashed several holes into the stone sinks.
"It has been a long day and I need to express some rage. If it turns out to be a dead-end, then we can repair it with magic and try it your way. For now, though, feel free to join."
Disco Panic appeared without Hermione having to call on her. Neville decided to stand back and let them handle this. Together, they tore down all the sinks in a matter of seconds. With everyone still at the Quidditch match, no one was around to hear the sounds of destruction.
Hidden beneath the sinks was a giant tunnel leading deep underground.
As her Stand faded away, Hermione sighed. "This is the second time in two years that we've had to jump into a dark hole leading to nowhere. . . Even for wizards, this can not be normal."
"C'est la vie and all that," Harry said. A moment later, he took a dive into the dark and spooky tunnel, feet first.
Neville followed suit and then, after a very long sigh, Hermione followed too.
-OK-
Plans, plans, so many plans! I hope you're enjoying this, because I most certainly am. The Chamber of Secrets Climax was one of those scenes I had deep in my mind since before I even started writing this.
Make sure you stay inside and healthy so you can enjoy the conclusion.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I will see you all next time, OK is out!
