Chapter 33: Waking Up
The next thing I knew, I was staring at the ceiling of the hospital wing – I sight I knew well by now – and a warm liquid was running down my throat, causing me to cough and sputter. Disoriented, I tried to push myself into a sitting position and discovered that my arms were as weak as spaghetti noodles.
I quickly tried to take stock of my situation. Seconds ago, I'd been just outside the library, fearfully using my mirror to check what was behind me, and then I'd seen a pair of eyes. It must have been the basilisk. Which meant that I'd been petrified.
I couldn't tell how long it had been. To me, it felt like everything had happened instantaneously. But judging by the fact that I still didn't have control over my body, I'd been paralysed for quite some time.
Finding that I could turn my head, I rolled it to my right and saw Professor Sprout pouring a potion into the mouth of Colin Creevey, who was in the bed next to mine. She must have finished the mandrake restorative draught, I thought to myself. But again, I wondered how long it had taken.
Suddenly, a sense of urgency overtook me, and my eyes went wide, my heart pounding in my chest. I opened my mouth to speak, to warn everybody what the monster was, to tell them what I'd just learned, but my voice came out garbled.
"Just relax, dear," Madam Pomfrey's voice insisted. Flipping my head to my other side, I saw her moving towards my bed with a cup in hand. "Here, drink this, it'll help restore your strength."
I obeyed for the moment, allowing Madam Pomfrey to bring the cup to my mouth and hold my head up so that I could sip from it. This potion was chilled, and as it spread through my body, I could feel strength returning to my weakened limbs.
"Madam Pomfrey!" I insisted once my jaw was working again. Instinctively, I reached up and grabbed her sleeve, keeping her in place. "Madam Pomfrey! It's a basilisk! The monster is a basilisk!"
"Don't worry dear, we already know that," Madam Pomfrey said gently, as she carefully forced my fingers to release her. "The monster's been killed and the perpetrator has been taken care of, there's nothing to worry about. That Harry Potter sure is something."
"But…" I began. Harry had solved the case? Harry had figured it out! I mentally focused on the hand that was still clutched in a fist and realized that the page I'd been holding was gone. Harry or Ron must have found it and used it to solve the mystery!
But if Harry and Ron had solved the mystery… who had been behind the attacks? And how had they gotten rid of the monster? And then again I wondered, how long had I been in the hospital wing this time?
"Shh, calm down dear. If you wait a little longer, I'll perform a final examination on you all, and you will be allowed to go to the feast," Madam Pomfrey said as Justin slowly came to consciousness.
"Where am I?" Colin Creevey asked, sitting up now that he was revived. "What happened?"
Professor Sprout tried her best to explain to him what had happened, but then Justin was awake and asking the same questions.
"No, no Mr. Finch-Fletchley, you need to stay in that bed. You've been lying there for over five months and your legs aren't strong enough to carry you," Madam Pomfrey said as Justin tried to roll out of his bed.
Over five months! Justin had been attacked just before Christmas. That meant that it had to be the beginning of June. I had been lying here for almost two months!
I panicked as I realized how much I must have missed. At least when I turned myself into a cat, I could still do my homework, but I had been completely frozen this time. I had missed everything. I was going to have to work really hard to catch up for the exams.
Madam Pomfrey did a final examination of each of us and gave us a final dose of the strengthening solution for our limbs. Then she finally allowed us to go to the feast. It was the middle of the night, and I thought that was a weird time to be having a feast, but when I entered the Great Hall, I saw that everyone was in their pyjamas, so I assumed the feast was last minute.
When I entered, I quickly scanned the Gryffindor table, until I found Harry and Ron. Upon seeing them, I found myself overcome. I ran towards them, relief flooding through me that they were both healthy. As soon as I reached them, I grabbed them both in a big hug, so glad that it was all over.
After that, we sat down, and I insisted they tell me the whole story. I was shocked when they told me that Ginny had been opening the chamber, but even more so when Harry explained that Tom Riddle – who was actually Voldemort – had been manipulating her and that she had almost died.
When Ron told me how Lockhart had been a fraud all along, somehow, I wasn't all that surprised. I had been suspecting that for a while now, as he didn't actually teach us much in class.
At half past three, Hagrid showed up and thanked Harry and Ron for clearing his name. I remembered that he had been convicted of opening the Chamber of Secrets the first time, but Harry and Ron explained that he'd been framed and it had been Riddle all along. I was horrified when I discovered that they had taken Hagrid to Azkaban prison after my attack, but at least now he was back.
Around four in the morning, Professor McGonagall addressed us all, informing us that they were going to be cancelling exams. Upon hearing this, I was immediately distressed. The only thing worse than not being prepared for exams was not being given the opportunity to write them. Now I didn't even have revising to look forward to.
I thought it rather silly that the school was cancelling exams. There were technically only four of us who'd been petrified and were actually behind. But Harry and Ron were happy, as was the rest of the school, so I kept my opinions to myself, vowing that next year I'd be sure to outperform everyone during our finals.
When I returned to the dorm, I found that similar to when I'd returned from my last stint in the hospital wing, my dormmates were less than thrilled to see me.
"So, I guess Professor Sprout got that potion finished in time for the end of the year," Parvati said upon seeing me.
"Too bad she couldn't have waited a few more days," Lavender muttered.
"Right!" Lily said quickly. "Because then it would be summer already."
"Yeah," I nodded, not even a little bit in the mood to be having this conversation. "At least it's only a few more days before we head home."
Secretly, though I was glad to have been woken up in time to see Harry and Ron before the summer holidays, I did wish I'd been left petrified a couple days longer. Then I wouldn't have had to see my dormmates until September.
I tried talking to Ginny the following morning, but she didn't seem in the mood to talk. I wanted to ask her how she was doing after everything that had happened, but she evaded me every time I approached her. In the end, I decided that she needed time to process everything that had happened on her own. I didn't want to be a bother.
A couple of days later, I received a letter from my parents.
Dear Hermione,
Are you alright? We received a letter from a Professor McGonagall saying that you had been petrified but that it was alright, because they were preparing some sort of potion for you to take to make you better. We've been worried sick, and the only reason we didn't send you a letter sooner was that Professor McGonagall said you were frozen and that you couldn't move or speak. We asked to come and see you, but she wouldn't allow it. Then just a moment ago, we received a letter saying that you had been cured and that you were fine.
We've been thinking about this for some time, and it seems that Hogwarts is a dangerous place to be. We are worried that by continuing to attend your health may be in jeopardy. Though we haven't made up our minds completely, we think it might be a good idea for you to transfer to a proper school. I'm sure the Academy would love to have you; your grades have always been excellent.
We'll see you soon, and then we'll need to have a very serious talk.
Love Mum and Dad.
NO! That was my first thought after reading the letter. I couldn't go back to Muggle school. I had experienced what it was like to be a witch and do magic and it was a wonderful feeling. And I finally had friends here, something I was sure I wouldn't have if I went to the Academy. I couldn't believe my parents wanted to pull me out of Hogwarts, and I was suddenly angry that Professor McGonagall had written to them. She'd worried them over nothing, and now they were going to overreact. They'd always been uncomfortable with magic, and now they were never going to get used to it. So, fearing and preparing for the worst, I slowly began the process of packing up my things for the summer and tried to figure out how to convince my parents to let me stay at Hogwarts.
Before I knew it, we were boarding the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron and I got a compartment with Fred, George and Ginny and we truly had a great time. We played games and practiced our magic and ate sweets until we couldn't eat anymore.
When the train arrived at King's Cross station, I said my goodbyes to Harry and Ron and then took a deep breath as I began to search for my parents.
I spotted my parents at the very back of the platform, and I ran over to them excitedly. Though I wasn't looking forward to the conversation we were going to have to have, I realized upon seeing them just how much I'd missed them, especially since I'd elected to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas.
"Mum! Dad!" I said as Dad grabbed me in a hug and then passed me onto Mum.
"Hermione!" Mum said. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"
"Yes, Mum, I'm fine," I replied. "But I don't want to go to the Academy. I want to go to Hogwarts," I said matter of factly. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to make sure my parents knew my position from the start.
"Honey, let's wait until we're home before we have this discussion," Dad said, and I agreed to let it go for now.
"We have some exciting news," Mum said as we began to wheel my trunk out of the station.
"What?" I asked, curious.
"Your father and I have worked it all out at the office, and we're going to take two weeks off at the end of August, right before you start school, and we're going to take a nice family vacation to France," Mum announced.
"Really?" I asked, excitement bubbling up in my chest.
"Yes. We didn't see you at Christmas, and your mother and I feel that it may have been partly our fault. We don't spend much time together as a family, you know. So, we thought the vacation would be a good chance to spend time with you before you go back to school, wherever that is," Dad said.
Though I felt a little guilty that they thought they were the reason I didn't come home at Christmas, I couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of spending two weeks with my parents and in France! I couldn't wait to get home so I could tell Harry and Ron.