Chapter 39

A/N So um I am alive. I am so sorry for the long wait. 2019 was one of the worst years of my life and though 2020 has been better in some ways it still has not been easy. I have tried to keep my profile updated with what has been going on... Not well but I have posted updates there and will continue to do so in the future. Check out my note at the end of the chapter for some details of things I have added to my profile. Onto shoutouts! Thank you singerofstars4002, roon0, AvalonRivers, shadragon, Blacktitan0, ThatCrazyBrit94, highboom, queen-at-d-throne, JDHBCH, sragon13, kein510, ShadowLord1329, sextant, Ishiro Shizuka, necromancy94, Cas Hinnie, Haethg, , mithrilandtj, EmmetEarwax, SakuraDragomir, RuneOfOld, Mylon, mrkronig, ash2016, kattrack, Musicstar1268, 84, PhoenixUniverse, Allxthingsxspn67, davidinman, souijin, Animesh Pattnaik, Emrysnayer, KitsunePhoenixBlayze, Tanu28, .5, shadowking00, Luna-Azul29, midnightsun198, blackphoenix4ever, Swfanfich2o, ramtopval, dianaanne, SweetMagicMoon, Thundergil, god of all, Atali1825, Inujoy The Dragoon of light, whitedove and darknightingale, miswaxty6, kkaito60, david805thompson, BlueBell90, Erielaw, .7, Bianei, RajaJee, malita23, Bobby D. Blades, longshoot, jkelly1251, carlacolladocruz, , gelme, Tlyna52, lack.i, Severina Lia Snape, and for following and or favoriting! And thank you to anyone who is still around and reading this. On with the story

The next morning saw Harry as vexed as he had been the night before. He found himself glad that it was a Sunday. He knew that if he was in class that he would never have been able to focus. As it was he found himself staring off into space that morning much more than usual. Also, though it took him time to notice, he was attracting looks from his housemates and friends as he stared off into the distance all through breakfast. His main thought was that he had to go get a look of where the caretaker's cat was petrified. And the sooner the better. First though he had to find out where exactly the cat was at when it was petrified. He had little doubt that it was something the staff would try to keep on the down low but as everyone in knew secrets never stayed secret for long in Hogwarts. He would catch wind of where the attack had happened eventually.

It took some prods from Hermione to get him to eat something that morning. By the end of breakfast, he realized that his staring was much too conspicuous seeing as everyone else in the hall was chatting pretty much non-stop about Mrs. Norris. So, shaking himself out of his thoughts he spent the last few minutes of breakfast chatting with his friends. His tentative plans to go check out the scene of the crime vanished as they left the great hall though. His friends were obviously still worried about him and had while his mind was elsewhere decided that what he needed was some fresh air. So together Hermione and Ginny practically dragged him out the front doors into the chilly November air.

While at first he was irritated it was not long before he began to enjoy himself and relax just a little. Sometimes it took being around actual children to be reminded that it is not healthy to be so uptight all the time. Granted Harry had good reason to be. After all something or someone was out there petrifying once again. And with Viride not being the culprit, Harry had no idea who or what it could be. None the less he realized that so much stress is not healthy. So he spent a few hours enjoying some fresh air with his friends.

After a lunch at the Gryffindor table, his friends dragged him to the library to spend some time on last minute homework revisions. Feeling a bit trapped, Harry none the less spent the afternoon helping his friends, mostly Luna and Ginny, finish their homework. Then before he knew it, it was time for dinner and then to head back to his common room.

A bit frustrated at feeling like he lost a whole day he could have been investigating, Harry plopped down in a chair not far from his fellow second years. As he starting slipping back into a dour mood, he caught a bit of conversation that his classmates were having.

Hannah was saying how she heard from a Gryffindor that Mrs. Norris was found on the second floor by Filch as he was headed back to his office from patrolling the upper levels. That they saw on their way back to their common room from the feast that the area was cordoned off as the Professors checked the area for any signs of what had happened. She had indeed been petrified but beyond that nobody seemed to know for sure what had happened. That devolved into chatter about their theories as to what happened. Most of them were so bizarre that Harry was relatively certain that they couldn't be true. It was somewhat amusing at least. Less so as he realized that he didn't have much more of a clue than they did.

That night as everyone slept, he slipped his invisibility cloak and headed up towards the second floor to try to figure out exactly where the attack occurred and what or who the perpetrator was. As he arrived there, he was unsurprised to find Filch sleeping on a chair in the middle of the hallway much like he had done in the previous timeline. With a sigh, Harry cast a somnus charm on him to make sure he didn't wake and proceeded to carefully and quietly try to figure out what had happened.

First he cast about to see if the professors left any sort of alert charm about. He thought this unlikely since it was the middle of a corridor that many innocents would walk down daily. Sure enough he would nothing of the sort. Then he went through a list of detection charms to see if he could find any trace of what had occurred and who or what had done it. When he was finished he was disappointed to learn nothing. If there was something there then the Professors spells that they had cast had dispelled any clues. Clearly he would have to figure this by researching. With what time he didn't know as he was already busy. He would try to find time though. Maybe he would get lucky and this was a one off? He snorted. Yeah right and maybe Snape would decide his new favorite color was hot pink.

Harry's thought came to pass but a week later when Colin Creevey was found petrified just like Mrs. Norris.

A/N Thank you for reading! This is unbetaed. Yes it is a little short. I have changed the way I write stories to make it easier on myself. That includes having a more detailed idea of what I want to put in a chapter before I write it. This means that in the future chapter length might vary a bit.

Now onto some things I have added to my profile. I have suspended writing short stories for the time being as though I might get ideas from time to time I feel guilty if I haven't written anything for this story in a while therefore all short story ideas I get are on my profile. No Harry potter ones at the moment but ones for other fandoms I enjoy. If you see an idea you like feel free to use it. Just let me know so I can read it. Thank you all once again. Till next time -catspaw439(a.k.a Avis)