Disclaimer: All things you recognize from the seven Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling. I am merely borrowing for my own entertainment and do not earn anything for writing this story.

A/N: Hi, guys, I'm back. I hope you enjoy this, and I'm hoping I can get Chapter 10 to you by the end of next week or so, as I don't think this chapter is very interesting—not very active, you see, but it does give some information. But if not—the computer I use is my mom's old one, and my mom still uses it sometimes (to type out important documents), so I can't be sure about the times I'll be able to use it—then sit tight, and maybe go check out my new story, Harry Potter: The Deaths of Them (thanks!).

Also, a Guest left a review, and so I fixed a few things in Chapter 8. I hope my reply clears things up, and I will be opening up a "Reply Section" on my profile so I can reply to Guests the moment I receive their reviews. Probably, each reply will stay there for a month, and then I will take it down. Just notifying Guest readers, if there are any.

2021.5.2.

Reply Section

1) To Guest (Dark object, torture device, DADA professor removed, Snape on McG.'s side, Umbridge facing up to 20 20 years in prison, Albas admits he let the students down and was negligent, and that all equals "Not very important" from Harry's best friends? That's about as weird as it can get.):

You're right. That wasn't the best way to put it, I guess. I'm sorry if it caused confusion, and I have edited the end of Chapter 8.

Thank you for speaking up about this. I really appreciate it.

A Bloody Hand: Things Just Seem to Happen Together

Chapter 9

Harry woke up and sighed, rolling over on his bed and attempting to go back to sleep. He was certain it was way too early to be up, but he had had a nightmare about his Uncle Vernon. It was a relief to tell his friends about McGonagall finding out about Umbridge and meeting Dumbledore; keeping that from his friends had been hard. He considered these things small things, not very important compared to what Uncle Vernon did—and he was sure Ron and Hermione would agree, if only they knew—but still, Harry had trusted them. And obviously, judging from the way Hermione had reacted last night, Hermione and Ron considered this small business important.

He settled down again, finding a comfortable position, and was just about to fall asleep when suddenly, he was being shaken.

Harry sat up at once, wincing as pain shot through him. "What's going on?" he muttered sleepily and confusedly and, opening his eyes, squinted around. Then he closed his eyes again, lying back down on his bed.

"Harry! Wake up!" said someone, loudly. It sounded like . . . Ron?

"Ron?"

"Mate, wake up," repeated the same someone. Yes, definitely Ron, decided Harry.

"What? Why?" said Harry, his brain foggy with sleepiness. "Go back to sleep," he added, lying back down on his bed and settling down again, "it's early."

"No it's not," said Ron. "It's ten. Ten!" He shook Harry again. "C'mon, mate!"

Harry finally sat up and opened his eyes properly. "Ten?" he said. "But Dumbledore said—"

"Yeah," said Ron with a nod, sitting down on Harry's bed. "But Hermione and I figured we could tell you everything—and anyway, you already know everything."

"I do?" asked Harry. He had only stayed in the very beginning of Dumbledore and McGonagall's meeting to make sure Dumbledore believed McGonagall about Umbridge. He must have missed quite a bit! And he wasn't sure his name wouldn't be appearing in the papers—but he supposed it wasn't likely, for Dumbledore hadn't called him back into his office to meet an Auror or someone from the Ministry, so probably the Ministry hadn't needed Harry's hand as proof.

"Well, not everything," replied Ron, "like everyone's going to go through a physical health check and Umbridge was arrested on Saturday—that's yesterday."

Harry's eyes widened, a pleased but strained smile appearing on his face, even as his breathing quickened. The fact Umbridge was gone pleased him and reassured him, but a health check did not. That would probably reveal what his uncle had done to him that summer!

"Anyway," continued Ron, not noticing his friend's alarm, "that's about all. Hermione will probably be more detailed, but that's about it."

"Why didn't you wake me?" demanded Harry, recovering himself, his thoughts still racing as he tried to make up excuses in his mind to get out of his health check.

"We tried, mate," said Ron. "Me and Hermione stayed until breakfast was nearly over - 7:30 - and we would have missed Dumbledore's explanation if we hadn't gone down."

"Oh," said Harry. "Sorry, Ron," he told his best friend sheepishly.

Ron grinned. "It's fine," he replied. "Hermione decided we should let you sleep in."

"She's not angry I didn't wake up?" said Harry.

"Well, of course not," said Hermione's voice, and Harry jumped out of his bed in surprise.

"Hermione!"

"Hey, Harry," said Hermione. She glanced at Ron, and said, "Good job waking him up, Ron, now get dressed, Harry, and then we can talk about Dumbledore's speech—which was quite short, by the way, more like an announcement." She said all this at top speed and then turned and went back to the common room.

Harry looked at Ron, who was still sitting on his bed. "Ron?" he said a bit awkwardly. "Do you mind? I'm just going to get dressed."

"Oh," said Ron. "Right . . . well, I'll just go to the common room." He paused, slightly embarrassed, and then hurried out of the dorm.

As soon as Ron was gone, Harry hurriedly went into the bathroom and took a quick shower (which he had had lots of practice with at the Dursleys') before getting dressed and going to the common room, which was rather empty and quiet.

"Hey, where's everyone?" asked Harry in surprise. Usually, there were a lot of students in the Gryffindor common room on a Sunday because they had neglected their homework and were hurrying to finish them before the following Monday.

Ron grinned, and Hermione said, shooting Ron a slightly disappointed look, "Oh, didn't Ron tell you? We're on holiday for two weeks."

"Does today count?" asked Harry.

"No," said Hermione. "The holiday begins on Monday, and that means no classes, so no one is bothering with homework."

Ron nodded, grinning with delight. "Yeah, isn't that great, mate?"

"Well, sure," said Harry. Then he frowned. "But what about our OWLs? Will we have enough time to learn everything?" he asked worriedly.

Ron groaned, but Hermione said briskly, "Good question. Maybe we can ask McGonagall later?"

"Okay," agreed Harry. "Hey, Ron," he added quickly to stop his friend from moaning about the OWLs, "how about a game of chess?"

XXX

Two hours later, the three friends were heading down to lunch when a sudden hush fell over the students.

"Hey, what's wrong?" said Harry, frowning and looking around. Then, "Oh!," and he froze as he saw the reason—or rather reasons—for the students' sudden hush.

"'Oh'?" said Hermione, puzzled. "What are you—?" Then she stopped, for she had seen what Harry had spotted—a group of Healers all wearing serious and grave expressions walking through the great oak front doors.

Ron looked impressed. "That was quick," he said. "I thought they wouldn't arrive until tomorrow!"

Hermione nodded. "I suppose Dumbledore called them before he made the announcement this morning," she said thoughtfully.

"Probably," agreed Harry, staring after the Healers who were quickly disappearing further down the hallway.

The three hurried to the Great Hall after that, though Harry, who had been feeling hungry before he had seen the Healers, had lost his appetite.

He ate slowly, taking small bites and chewing his food for ages. Hermione watched him eat, looking concerned.

"Harry?" she said. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Harry, who'd been lost in his thoughts about the health checks, jumped. "Oh. Er, nothing, Hermione, I'm fine," he said quickly.

"You've barely eaten anything," pointed out Hermione, frowning.

"Erm, well, I'm not hungry," said Harry lamely.

Hermione glared at him. "Harry, I'm not stupid—you missed breakfast, you have to be hungry!"

Harry sighed. "I'm just thinking," he said, after a pause. At the curious look Hermione gave him, he added, "I'm worried." Both of these statements were perfectly true because he was thinking how he could get out of his heath check and was definitely worried that they would find out what his uncle had done to him that summer.

Obviously, Hermione wouldn't know about that, and she said understandingly, "Oh! About Snuffles?"

Harry hesitated, then shrugged, and quickly took a bite of food. "Sort of, yeah," he muttered. After all, he was worried that Sirius would be caught any day—it was just that right now, he had more immediate worries, plus Sirius had been safe for some time.

"I'm sure he's fine," said Hermione, and gave him a quick hug. "So," she said, looking at Harry and Ron, "why don't we do some studying after lunch?"

Ron groaned as Harry nodded. "No way, Hermione, we're on holiday!" said Ron, and Harry replied at the same time, "Sure, why not?"

XXX

Three hours later, Harry and Hermione were studying in the library while they waited for Ron to complete his homework.

"Hermione," he moaned, "help me."

Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration textbook and said sternly, "No. Harry and I already finished that essay. You should do your homework during the week."

"I was busy!" protested Ron.

"Busy?" said Hermione, looking at him skeptically.

"Er," said Harry. He hesitated, then said to Hermione, "He was, kind of. I mean, Ron was practicing by himself."

"Quidditch?" said Hermione. She gave Ron a disapproving glare. "But you should put school first, Ron, especially since you're a prefect."

Ron grumbled, and turned back to his homework. "Why do we have to do this now anyway?" he complained. "We're on holiday, Hermione."

Harry interrupted before the two really began arguing. "Ron," he said patiently, "think. If we finish our homework early, then we can have fun the rest of the time. And also maybe do a bit of studying," he added, glancing at Hermione.

Ron frowned. "But more fun, right?" he asked.

Harry thought about it. "Well, we can study part of the day, and then have fun after. And at the end of the holiday, we can drop everything and have fun. Or at least I'll practice Quidditch with you, okay?" He glanced at Hermione, who gave him a pleased smile.

"Right," said Hermione, nodding. "Now Harry's explained why we must do our homework now, will you get on with it?"

Ron nodded finally, and began to write again. Hermione rolled her eyes before going back to her reading, and there was peace once again.

Unfortunately, this also meant Harry now had time to think about the health checks—his health check, which was a new worry for him. In fact, he would rather have detention with Umbridge or Snape than receive a physical health check.

He was truly worried about it. He knew his wounds weren't fully healed yet, and he had a feeling they had gotten slightly worse after they had been better. Harry decided it was probably because he hadn't gotten enough sleep lately, and then there were the Quidditch practices.

Harry sighed. First Umbridge, and then this, the health checks? He must have the worst luck ever—well, except that his involvement in the Umbridge business didn't seem to be public knowledge; he hadn't even been called to meet Ministry people, and Harry supposed Dumbledore must have thought of some other way to prove Umbridge's guilt, if they had wanted proof other than Umbridge's words, but still, that was just one lucky thing! He didn't know what he would do if they found out about his wounds, the wounds his uncle had given him after he and Dudley's encounter with the Dementors. He was certain the professors would go speak with his uncle and aunt, and then when he went back to them, his uncle would be furious with him. After all, the professors couldn't possibly take him away from his uncle and aunt, could they?