Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029, who beta this story.

Chapter Forty

Rogue Bludger

Harry put the Chamber of Secrets out of his mind the following Friday evening as he got ready for his first Quidditch match. He felt his nerves mount, having a great desire to beat his opponents that seem to go beyond just the match. His competitive spirit would always have made him want to win, but he felt that he had more to prove in this match. The Slytherins had believed that they could buy the cup this year by getting new brooms that were faster than any of their opponents. It was a coward move that showed that they didn't have any confidence in their own skill, and he wanted to show them that they had every reason to fear the Gryffindors.

Still, he knew that despite the fact that his team was flying like a well-oiled machine, it was still going to be a close match. He was going to have to get the snitch. He could feel the pressure of this realization, it made him feel slightly sick when he was trying to eat his breakfast, but he was also excited. This was the first time he was going to play in front of a crowd, the first time he was going to be able to prove himself.

"You ready for this mate," Ron asked as they walk towards this pitch. "You look a little pale."

"I'm nervous," he admitted, "but I can't wait to get down there."

"Good," Ron clapped him on the back, opening the door to the Gryffindor locker room and joining the rest of the team.

"We all knew coming into this game that this will be a tough one," Wood said, as Harry pulled on his robes. "They have better brooms than us, there is no denying it, but that doesn't mean that the people on our brooms aren't better …"

"Stop it Oliver, you're making us blush," George said.

"Angelina, Alica, and Katie, remember to keep the Quaffle moving, as long as you changes directions quickly, the Slytherins shouldn't be able to mark you as well," Wood carried on like he didn't hear George. "Fred, George, try to get accumulated with their speed as fast as you can so you can gauge were you should hit the bludger …"

"Don't worry about us," George said.

"We're on it Olli," Fred finished.

"And Harry, I'm sure that this game is going to come all down to you, so you better make sure that you get the snitch!"

"But no pressure or anything," Fred teased.

"I'll do my best," Harry said, equal measures of nerves and thrill filling him, making his stomach feel quite queasy.

"All right team, we all knows what to do!" was Oliver final words as they left for the pitch. It had started to rain since they went into the locker room and Harry knew this wouldn't be good for his vision. Still, when Harry mounted his broom, waiting for Madam Hooch, his hands shaking with anticipation, he was ready. He took to the air immediately, feeling the exhilaration he always felt when he was flying, and his eyes tried to focus … tried to catch a glint of gold.

His eyes darted around the field and just as he thought he saw something, a Bludger flew by and as he swerved to dodge it, he lost sight of the object.

"Hello Scarhead," Harry heard Malfoy say, the other boy coming to fly next to him. Harry only spared him a glance before he focuses on his search again. "Valiantly looking for the Snitch I see. I can't blame you though; it's the only way your team could win. Too bad even your broom pales in comparison to mine."

Harry turned to retort to him, but before he could say anything, another Bludger shot at him. He darted downwards barely avoiding being hit. He watched the Bludger this time with a grimace. As long as he was stationary, the Slytherin weren't allowed to hit a Bludger at him. It wasn't like the Slytherin weren't above using a move like this, but it didn't make sense. His eyes widen as he watched the Bludger he had just dodge veer to the right and then come back towards him.

"I've got it Harry," one of the twins yelled, coming between him and the Bludger, swinging his bat, and causing the vicious ball to speed off towards one of the Slytherin Chaser. However, before it could hit its mark, the Bludger again took an odd turn and came back towards Harry. "What the hell?"

"That's not normal," Harry muttered his eyes locked on the Bludger.

"Someone must have tampered with it," the twin said and Harry realized that it was Fred.

Harry executed an excellent roll to dodge the Bludger, and just as it turned to come back at him, Fred again hit it with all his might at one of the Slytherins. Still, the Bludger seemed to be determined to come after Harry. Harry looked towards the pitch, noting that George was hitting the other Bludger, preventing the Slytherins from scoring, and none of them seemed to notice the actions of this rogue Bludger. However, he did notice Malfoy was now flying away from them, smirking. Whether he just was glad that Harry was distracted or he was the one that cause the Bludger to attack, Harry couldn't tell, but either way he felt angered by this.

"Harry, watch out!" Fred shouted just in time for Harry to put on a burst of speed, though he could hear a whistling sound buzzing by his ear.

"Fred, don't worry about me, I can handle this!" Harry shouted.

"Are you crazy?" Fred grunted as he again hit the Bludger away. "This thing is trying to kill you!"

"I'm never going to get the Snitch if you're flying around me like this," Harry said zipping through the air, dodging out of the way of the Bludger.

"Who cares about the stupid Snitch, Harry, if you get hit by this thing …" Fred started to say.

"I'm not going to let that slimy git get away with using a trick like this," Harry said, nodding his head toward Malfoy, who seemed to be trying to find the Snitch without being hampered at all.

"Harry …" Fred said uncertainly.

"Go!" Harry said. "Now that I know the Bludger is after me, I can out fly it!"

"If you get hit Harry, I swear you're going to regret this," Fred hissed as he hit the Bludger in front of him. "Hm … I just thought of something, I'll give you about a minute of Bludger free time, use it well."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and smiled when he saw Fred hit the Bludger in front of himself and then flew towards it so he could hit it again. He repeated this until he was able to hit the uncooperative Bludger at the Slytherin Keeper, allowing Katie to score.

Harry smile as he watched this out of the corner of his eye, keeping most of his focus on the pitch, but he wasn't able to find anything. After the goal, he realized the Bludger was starting to fly at him again, so he started flying in odd patterns, swerving quickly left and right, up and down. He could hear the Bludger following him, but he was able to keep it away from himself.

In the course of one of his rolls, Harry found himself heading straight for Malfoy. "You might what to move," he informed the other Seeker, before shooting downward to miss the collision.

If it had been a normal Bludger, it would have hit Malfoy in the chest, but the blonde Seeker was able to move backwards just enough to avoid the Bludger that was now shooting downwards in its pursuit to get Harry.

"Watch where you're going, Scarhead!" Malfoy growled at him and Harry turned sharply to the left and then pulled back up to smirk at Malfoy.

What he says almost made him gasp, right above Malfoy's head, the Snitch hung. He didn't even spare a moment to think, he charged straight towards Malfoy, who looked at him in terror. Obviously the other boy had the impression that Harry was going to either lunge at him or try to make the Bludger hit him again, because he shot to the right, as quickly as he could. Harry smirked, leaned against his broom handle and speed towards the Snitch.

His hand clasped around it, and his heart raced with joy. He got the Snitch!

Suddenly he could hear the cheers of the crowd, as he turned toward the ground with a smile on his face. He could hear Malfoy cursing as he landed and he turned back to smirk at him only to see the Bludger head directly for him. He tried to dodge, but no longer being in the air made him considerable slower. He was able to avoid getting hit in the chest, but the arm that held the Snitch wasn't so lucky. It was hit with the full force of the craze Bludger, breaking instantly.

Harry's scream filled the stadium as he fell to the ground grabbing his arm. He turned to see that the Bludger was coming back at him, but before it got there, George hit it away. He continued to watch as George got the Bludger under control.

"Harry!" Ron said running over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I think I broke my arm," Harry groaned, now trying to avoid looking at his arm, which he knew was sticking out at an odd angle. "But otherwise I'm brilliant," he added with a grin. "We've won."

"Yeah," Ron smiled, happy that his friend could smile even though he was in pain. "That sure was a brilliant catch, Harry. But why, the bloody hell, was that Bludger chasing you like that?"

"I don't know," Harry said.

"You don't think Malfoy had anything to do with this?" Ron said darkly.

"He might," Harry said just as darkly.

"You git!" Fred suddenly yelled, having come up behind Harry and slapped him in the back of the head. "I told you not to get hit!"

"Sorry … I sort of forgot about the Bludger after I got the Snitch," Harry said rubbing the back of his head with a grin.

"Git," Fred repeated, but he was smiling at Harry. "It was a nice catch."

"Thanks … so what was the final score?"

"210-70," Fred answered.

"Harry!" Hermione said, making her way through the crowd, her eyes on his arms.

"Don't worry, I'm okay Hermione," Harry said immediately.

"You're arm doesn't seem okay," she countered fretting.

"I'm sure …" Harry started but was interrupted by the last voice he wanted to hear at the moment.

"Never fear, it's nothing to worry about," Lockhart said, his robes were sky blue today and his smile was as white and flawless as ever. "I can have your arm fixed in a jiffy."

"No!" Harry said as he watched Lockhart take out his wand.

"Sir, I really think it would be better if we take him to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said, she was coming to the realization that Harry might have been right about Lockhart, but she wasn't ready to admit it yet. That being said, she still didn't wanted Lockhart to perform a spell on her friend right now.

"Nonsense, it's a simply spell, I've done this a hundred times in the past," Lockhart said, smiling.

"Please … don't …" Harry said, but Lockhart didn't listen to him. He closed his eyes as he felt a strange sensation in his arm, almost like it was shrinking. He heard the clicking sound that signaled that Colin Creevey was there taking pictures of him … he heard the gasped from most of the crowd, and a sinking feeling filled him.

He realized as he opened his eyes that his arm didn't hurt anymore, however, he also notice that it didn't feel like an arm at all. He tried to move it, so he could see what had been done to it, but he couldn't. He sighed and then looked down at his hand, which looked like an empty rubber glove.

Lockhart had removed the bones from his arm.

O

Harry laid in the hospital wing with a grimace. He had to stay perfectly still or the reforming bones in his arm would feel as if they were trying to poke though his skin. Merlin he was so angry with Lockhart for doing this to him. If it wasn't for that git, he would be in the Gryffindor common room celebrating with everyone. Now he had to stay in the hospital wing in pain.

With nothing better to do, he tried to think of who sent the Bludger after him. He could see Malfoy wanting to do it; it really was a good way to try to make Harry unable to catch the Snitch. Not like it worked, but it was still a good plan. However, he wasn't convinced. It couldn't have been an easy spell, to make the Bludger go after one person. Malfoy would have had to override the Bludger natural charm that made it go after everyone, which couldn't have been easy. Then he would have had to make it target Harry. Harry knew that he would have trouble accomplishing this task, and he doubt Malfoy could do it. However, that didn't mean he couldn't get one of the seventh years to do it, even if most of the team looked as if they couldn't so much as levitate a feather.

Then who did this? He questioned himself. He couldn't think of anyone else that would send a Bludger after him. He thought about the weird voice he heard twice now, a voice that his friends couldn't hear. He thought of the attack of Mrs. Norris and the writing on the wall. Were all these things connected somehow?

He must have drifted off to sleep as he thought of this, because he woke with a start when he felt someone wiping his brow. Something seemed to shift away from him as he sat up and he was met with green eyes the size of a tennis ball.

"Dobby?" Harry exclaimed.

"It is Dobby, Harry Potter sir," Dobby said, getting up as he picked up the washcloth he was using.

"What are you doing here?" Harry questioned.

"Dobby is sorry that he is sending a Bludger at Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said.

"You sent the Bludger," Harry said. It made sense in a way, it would have taken a lot of magic to do this, and house elves have plenty of magic. Magic that was different than wizard's magic.

"Dobby had to be thinking of a way to get Harry Potter away from Hogwarts," Dobby said gravely. "Dobby is thinking his barrier would be enough …"

"Of course that was you!" Harry groaned, why didn't he think of that before?

"Dobby thought he is stopping Harry Potter from getting to Hogwarts," Dobby said. "Then Dobby is hearing that Harry Potter is being there."

"Yeah, I found a way to get past you," Harry said. "Dobby, why did you send the Bludger after me? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Not kill, Harry Potter, never kill," Dobby said shaking his head furiously. "Dobby is only trying to hurt Harry Potter sir, hurt him so that he would be sending home."

"Well it didn't work," Harry grimaced. "Dobby, what's happening? What are you trying to protect me from? Dobby, does this have anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets?"

Dobby eyes widened when Harry mentioned the Chamber but he shook his head. "Dobby can not be saying … Harry Potter must go home … Harry Potter is not being safe here!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Harry said firmly. "I can't, not now. The Chamber is open and one of my best friends is being threatened."

"Harry Potter is so brave, so noble, but Harry Potter cannot be risk for this," Dobby said, sadly.

"But how am I even at risk?" Harry demanded. "I'm not even Muggle-born?"

"Dobby can not be saying," Dobby moaned, and Harry could see the pain in the elf's eyes. He had been ordered not to tell anyone anything about this.

"Dobby, you have to please stop trying to stop me," Harry sighed. "I can't go home and you trying to make me … it's only going to make things harder on me."

"But …" Dobby started to say.

"Dobby, I just …" he stopped there because he heard a noise from the door that led to the hallway, and as he looked away he heard a popping noise and he knew that Dobby was gone. He lie back in his bed and pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore and McGonagall came into the room, carrying something between them.

They had a hush conversation, which revealed that Colin Creevey had been petrified. He had been taking a picture it seems, for the camera was near his face. However, whatever the creature was that did this to him, it had burned the film.

That wasn't the most terrifying thing that had happened though. No, that was when Dumbledore had said the Chamber of Secret had indeed been opened again … like it had been opened in the past. Then there was the fact that Dumbledore said that it wasn't a questioned of who was opening the chamber, but how it was being opened.

O

Harry didn't know how to make sense of what he had heard last night. He felt bad for Colin, the boy might have been slightly annoying with the constant picture taking and otherwise stalker like behavior, but that didn't mean he wanted Colin petrified. Still, most of his thoughts were on what Dumbledore had said. Why was Dumbledore worried about how the Chamber was open more than who was opening it? And, if the Chamber was opened in the past, who was the one that opened it then?

When Harry got to the common room, he tried to see where Ron and Hermione were, he really wanted to tell them everything he heard, but they were nowhere to be found. He ran upstairs and got his map out of his trunk, muttered the password and then calling out his friends name. As the brown and red dot appeared, Harry noticed that it was the exact color that Hermione and Ron had respectively chosen to color their map. The second thing he noticed was that they were in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Raising an eyebrow at that, thinking it was a highly unusually place for them to be, he rushed off to joined them.

"Hello," he said and he heard a gasped from the last stall and the sound of that door being unlocked. Hermione head peered out from behind the door.

"Merlin Harry, you scared us!" she explained. "How did you know we were here?"

"I checked my map," Harry said. "What are you doing?"

"Starting the Polyjuice Potion," Ron answered from inside the stall.

"Oh … well that's good I guess," Harry said. "Colin C …"

"We know, where heard McGonagall telling Sprout about Colin this morning," Hermione said gravely. "That's why we came here … oh, how's your arm, Harry?"

"It's back to normal, thanks for caring so much about me," Harry tried to smile, but he was glad the others had started the potion.

"Why are you doing the potion here, what's wrong with other corridor?" Harry asked.

"I don't really want the others to find the potion, I could only imagine what the twins would do with Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said. "Not to mention I don't think Luna would be pleased about this …"

"I suppose you're right," Harry said. "But what will stop them from realizing that we're up to something in here?"

"Well, from now on I should be the only one to come and check on the potion, and seeing as it's in the girl bathroom, I don't think anyone would think it's too odd," Hermione shrugged.

Harry thought this was a good enough explanation, then told Ron and Hermione about his conversation with Dobby and what he had overheard Dumbledore said.

"So Dobby is the one we have to thank for the barrier and Bludger," Ron said grumpily.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling he really thinks he's helping me," Harry sighed.

"Well, if he helps you any more, he's going to kill you," Ron huffed.

"Dumbledore said the Chamber was open before," Hermione said looking pale. It seemed that hearing this made the truth of the Chamber existing completely real. "And he doesn't know how it was being opened."

"Yeah," Harry nodded his head.

"We're going to have to get the last ingredients for this potion as quickly as we can," was all Hermione had to say, but it made Harry shuddered. They hadn't thought of any other way of doing that that didn't involve stealing from Snape.

O

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ron said as they walked towards the dungeon classroom.

"Ronald, it's the only way we can get the ingredients," Hermione said. They had come up with a plan to cause a distraction in Snape's class so that Hermione could sneak into his private store and take what they needed. Harry wished that he could be the one to do the actually stealing, knowing that he had much more practices at this, but he had a feeling that Snape would be keeping an eye on him.

"Besides, you're not actually going to be doing anything, Ron," Harry said, "I'm the one that's going to be deliberately causing trouble in class."

"I know, but that doesn't mean he can't take his anger out on me," Ron shrugged.

Harry waited impatiently as he tried to make his potion the best he could, but finding it difficult because he was distracted. Knowing that Snape would be more suspicious of him if the potion wasn't done to the high caliber that his potions normally were, he stirred his potion one last time and was glad to see that it turn the shade of green it was suppose to. He looked up then, knowing that it was time, and took out a firecracker that he had nicked from the twins. He took a deep breath before he dropped it into his own potion, and second later it exploded. The Swelling Solution hit him and Ron in the chest, causing them both to struggle to keep themselves balanced as it swelled to dramatic size. The people around them were not spared by this either, the Slytherins and Gryffindors alike where covered with the stuff and it had taken several minutes to sort this out.

Harry watched as Hermione (who had been working with one of the Slytherins that day at the other end of the room) slip out without Snape noticing her. However, Harry noticed with dread, that her Slytherin partner had note her disappearance and as Snape helped everyone return to normal, the Slytherin noted her return as well. There was nothing Harry could do but hope that he wouldn't say anything. Snape was not pleased at all about the interruption in his class, and was even angrier when he found what remind of the firecracker. Harry was quite grateful when the class was over, but he still did not like that someone had noticed them.

"Your partner noticed you," Harry whispered to Hermione as he hurried out of the class to follow the Slytherin.

"Nott?" Hermione paled.

"Yeah," Harry said, not actually knowing the boys last name, but he was sure Hermione was right. They followed Nott until they reached a quiet corridor that was hardly ever used.

"I would appreciate it if you would please stop following me," Nott said, turning to face them.

"Sorry, I just … er … had a question to ask you," Harry said.

"I'm not going to tell on you, Potter," Nott said, his voice was indifferent.

"Oh … cool," Harry said, wondering why he believed this boy when he didn't really know him. "Though I am curious as to why not?"

"I don't know what Granger did when she disappeared, nor do I care," Nott said. "I prefer my life at Hogwarts to be peaceful and getting involved with the grudge between Slytherin and Gryffindor would only make my life more difficult."

"Well, I probably wouldn't have retaliate against you if you told on me," Harry said and Ron hissed. "I'm the one that's doing something wrong after all."

"Why did you go and tell him that?" he growled and Harry shrugged. He didn't know why?

"That might be so, but my house mates would probably never leave me alone," Nott shrugged. "Though I am curious … you had to be the one that set the firecracker off … why would you drop it into your own potion?" he asked, there was almost an amused look on his face before he masked it.

"Well, it was as far away from Hermione as possible for one thing," Harry answered, "and … well, I figured it would be harder for Snape to think it was me if it was my potion that blew up."

"You have a point; that was almost Slytherin like of you, Potter," Nott admitted and then turned away from him. "Now if you don't have anything more to say, could you please leave me alone."

"Sure," Harry said watching him go. "Is he always like that?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Hermione said. "He's always been relatively nice to me. He's not like most of the Slytherins; he prefers to stay out of trouble as much as possible. That's why I don't mind when I have to partner with him so much."

"So you don't think he's going to tell on us," Ron said hopefully.

"Probably not," Hermione said, but she looked worried.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Harry shrugged. Nott seemed to be a curious case to him, a Slytherin for sure, which meant that it wasn't good that he now had this valuable information over them. But he felt that Nott wasn't going to just tell on them either. Either way, he was going to have to keep a closer eye on Nott from now on.