There were three weeks left until Christmas Break. Harry wasn't quite sure that his little plan about bringing Hermione to visit Hagrid would work. It would indeed be nice to give it a try, but at the moment there was a good three feet of snow all over the grounds at Hogwarts. There were a few trials made that led to the greenhouses for Herbology, but that was pretty much it. Plus, with all this homework, they'd only have time to go in the evening. That would mean having to use the invisibility cloak and it would look rather silly watching long trenches appear in the snow made by nothing.
So, that plan was scratched out of the plan for the time being, and hopefully for ever. The book at said that the Reminisce Remedy took about two months for the patient to completely recover. It has been one month and a week. Laurel herself had said that Hermione is taking extraordinary leaps towards revitalization a lot quicker than the book implied.
One dark and dreary afternoon, Harry and Ron sat in the library with Hermione. The clouds were thick outside and snow steadily fell to the ground adding to the drifts over the large windows. The lesson for that day was a little more than halfway through and the two boys were already bored with it. Hermione had apparently noticed for she was prodding Harry with her finger and running her quill under Ron's nose at the same time. Ron sneezed and came back to reality as did Harry, without the sneeze.
"Are you two sure you don't want to quit?" Hermione asks.
"Not unless you want to." Ron replies casually and continues to draw the Chudley Cannons logo on the side of his parchment.
"Okay." Hermione looks at him oddly. She starts to pack up her books. "I'm a little hungry, so how about we just discuss a few of our lessons for a short review over some lunch."
"Sounds good to me." Says Harry, whose stomach was growling all the same.
The three head to the Great Hall and enter. They search for a good seat along the Gryffindor Table. Harry and Ron catch Laurel's eye for a second. She was sitting next to Adam. She gives them a quick wink and a thumbs-up. Adam taps her on the shoulder and points at Hermione while what looked to be asking a question. Laurel smiles at nods her head to him. He rises his eyebrows and goes back to tucking into his Shepard's Pie.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione find an empty bench and have a seat. They all take their share of the food surrounding them, including the ham sandwiches, fish and chips, beef stew, and many other delectable lunch items. Hermione didn't seem to really care about the review; she just wanted lunch. So, they just chatted with their mouths half full of food with one hand holding their napkin while the other grasped their goblets full of Pumpkin Juice.
They sat there throughout the lunch period and got their bags once the bell had rung to signal ten minutes before class was going to start. Harry and Ron had to go to Divination, but Hermione had Arithmancy. They were all heading in the same direction when they got to the fifth floor. It was there that all their trouble started. Just thinking of it, they glanced over down the opposite hall to the griffin statue. Harry headed back to the North Tower when Ron stopped him by grabbing the sleeve of his robes.
"Harry, what's that?" Ron asks, pointing back down the corridor towards the statue.
Harry turned to look what he was talking about.
Hermione was still there so she had input as well. "Looks like a pile of robes."
"Wait a minute." Harry says as he focuses closer on the mound. "There's a foot sticking out. That's a person."
"Right by that lair too." Ron adds and walks quickly down the hall to get a closer look.
He gets to the person and kneels down. Carefully as not to hurt them if they were already too injured to stand, Ron slides his hand under the person's neck and rolls them over onto their back. The robes unfold themselves as they were resituated and revealed a skirt underneath them. It was a girl.
"Harry," Ron says in a worried voice. "You better come and see this."
Harry looks at Hermione and then goes down the corridor to be beside Ron. Hermione follows. Harry's eyes get bigger as he looks down at Cho. She looked a little paler than usual, but that wasn't as surprising as the bruises that covered her face, neck, and what her robes would show of her legs and arms. Hermione gets down on one knee opposite of Ron to look Cho over.
Hermione taps Cho's cheek a few times. "She's out cold. Who would have done this to her?"
Ron looked up at Harry. They both knew who.
"Why won't she wake up?" Harry asks in a shaky tone.
Hermione puts her hand to Cho's mouth. "She's still breathing. The only thing I can think of is the Draught of Peace. But that is only supposed to subdue and relax the person, not knock them out. Unless, they added the ingredients a little heavier than instructed." Hermione pauses to think again. "Cho must have had to take the potion as a test in class but didn't pass out until the got all the way up here."
"No, that's not how it happened." Harry spit out.
"Harry, help me prop her up." Ron says as he loops his arm under one of Cho's shoulders. "We'll take her to the Hospital Wing and see what Madam Pomfrey can do."
"That's a good idea." Hermione agrees and moves out of the way for Harry to grab Cho's other arm.
Harry and Ron lift Cho up between them and head off to the Hospital Wing with Hermione behind them. They get there, with a little trouble going down the stairs, and have Hermione knock on the door to get Madam Pomfrey's attention. She comes out and instantly gives a tiny yelp at the sight of another patient. They put Cho in a bed and Madam Pomfrey takes a wet rag to dab off the tiny traces of blood and dirt across her face.
"Give me a little room, you three." Madam Pomfrey pushes them away from the bed. "I need to go make a report and grab a few things. You may wait here if you want, but don't touch anything that looks important." She sets off to her office.
"Oh, my." Came a gasp from behind them.
Ron and Harry turned to see Laurel standing there with her hands over her mouth.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asks.
Laurel tilts her head to the left, gesturing to three beds down. "Visiting. What happened here?"
"We found her in a heap right outside the lair on the fifth floor." Harry replies.
"I hope she'll be alright." Laurel says. "Is she just knocked out?"
"It's more likely the effects of an overly-powerful Draught of Peace. If she doesn't stir by dinner time, we might have a small problem on our hands." Hermione said from the side. "It's not very likely, but she might even slip into a coma if Madam Pomfrey doesn't give her the medicine right away. But, of course, she'll have something."
"That's good for Cho." Laurel nods.
"Well," Ron finally said something. "It's good to know that Malfoy is getting resistance now."
"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked.
"Look at those bruises." Ron points out. "She must have put up some sort of fight. Either that, or she took a pretty good tumble down those stairs."
Harry just looked down at Cho lying there sleeping. He knew this had to end soon. He wanted to get Malfoy out of this business, and in a pretty good hurry. Malfoy had already gotten Hermione, and now he got Cho. It felt like he was targeting Harry's best reasons for coming to Hogwarts other than Quidditch and getting away from the Dursley's. He didn't know what he was going to do now. If the next victim is Ron, he might lose the temper that was slowly but eventually boiling to the surface these days.
"Who are you visiting, Laurel?" Hermione asks, interrupting Harry's thoughts.
"A friend." Laurel replies.
Hermione cranks her head around everybody to look down the row of beds. "Is that him down there?"
Laurel just nods and walks down to the fourth bed on the right side of the room. She gets down on her knees and puts her elbows on the mattress, pillowing her chin in her palms. Hermione had followed her and Harry and Ron didn't see why they shouldn't as well. Hermione had taken the clipboard from the base of the bed and was glancing it over.
Harry and Ron followed Laurel's gaze into the boy in the bed. It was true that he was a bit peaky, pink in the cheeks, and a little moist around the forehead. His dirty-blonde hair was just like Harry's if he ever got it to be tidy. Even from his point of view, Harry could say that Joel was a pretty handsome guy. Every once in a while he would grit his teeth and moan as if he was having a nightmare, while griping the edge of his bed sheets. His breathing was a little labored and his throat occasionally wheezed.
"That's strange." Hermione broke the silence after setting down Joel's analysis. "You'd think they'd have a cure for everything here. The papers said 'cure still in process'. Is that true, Laurel?"
"Yeah, it is." Laurel says.
Madam Pomfrey made her entrance once more and was holding a flask and shot glass this time. "Alright, Miss Chang. It's time to sober you up."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Laurel stand up to watch Madam Pomfrey fill the small glass with liquid from the flask and tip it down Cho's throat.
"Come on, now." Madam Pomfrey coaxes. "Swallow it, there."
"Is she going to be okay, Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asks.
"In time, Mr. Potter, in time." Madam Pomfrey nods. "Thanks for bringing her up, now if you could all scurry out of here. You too, Miss DeGrope. Off you go. You have classes in session, so be quiet as you go!"
"Yes, Madam Pomfrey." All four sigh and head out the door of the Hospital Wing.
"I'll see you later." Hermione waves as she heads off to Arithmancy.
"I have Astronomy." Laurel says. "I need to head back that way. Thanks for visiting Joel, even though it was for a minute or two. It doesn't look like it, but he knows when he has company." Laurel laughs a little. "It sounds like I'm talking about some retarded two year-old."
"You're welcome, anyways, Laurel." Harry replies.
"Sorry to hear about Cho. I have to get going. See you." Laurel leaves.
"Well," Ron sighs. "It's off to Trelawney's."
"Joy." Harry mumbled. "I wonder how I am going to die today."
"I can see it now!" Ron puts on a mocking high pitched voice, trying to sound like Professor Trelawney. "That dream you had about shopping for boxers in London means that you will be strangled by a Salesman with a tie after he tries to feed you poisoned chocolate."
They both laugh and head towards the North Tower and Divination.
*****
"Hermione, what are you doing there?" Harry almost yelled across the corridor.
It was after Divination and Ron and him were heading back down to the main floors. They passed the fifth floor when they saw Hermione standing in front of the griffon statue. She looked over at them and wasn't really surprised to see them, or didn't go to flee as if she was being caught for something illegal. Harry and Ron go up to her and she just continued to stare at the statue.
"What's wrong?" Ron asks.
"I was in class when I started to think about what we saw earlier." Hermione whispers, as if someone was watching them.
"What we saw earlier?" Ron looks at her confused.
"What happened to Cho couldn't have been coincidence." Hermione replies. "There's this little voice in the back of my mind telling me to come back here. I am so confused. I'm having these flashbacks. I don't know what they mean."
Harry began to entice her along. "What are these flashbacks of?"
Hermione closes her eyes and puts her hands on her head. "I see this dark room. I'm standing there next to this kid who's talking low and soft. I remember being angry. And then, I feel like I'm going to be sick to my stomach."
"The night she was attacked." Ron says to himself quietly.
"I then hear someone shout my name." Hermione continues. "I feel dizzy and everything is a blur. Then I come back to reality."
"Hermione," Harry says. "What does that have to do with this griffin?"
Hermione opens her eyes and stares straight ahead. "I remember waking up on the floor in front of this statue. I don't know why I couldn't remember it when we saw Cho this afternoon. When I woke, someone was standing next to me, and offered me a hand so I could stand up. I asked who he was."
"Who was he?" Harry asks.
Hermione shakes her head. "I don't remember."
"Oh! Harry, Ron!" Laurel comes running down toward them. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I disturbing something?"
Before Harry or Ron could answer, Hermione had reached out her hand and placed it on the griffin's shoulder. She muttered something under her breath and the statue winked at them. It slow moved away and the wall split in two, revealing a long stair case. Laurel, behind them, gasped. Ron's mouth hung open.
"I think we should go in." Harry says.
"Are you mad?" Ron asks.
Harry eyes Ron. "Malfoy is obviously waiting for us."
Ron nods encouragingly. "You're right. Let's go."
Hermione and Ron enter the landing and Harry follows. Laurel quickly tries to come too but Harry pushes her away.
"Harry?"
"Look after Cho and Joel until we get back, okay?" Harry says.
"Wait. Can't I go with you?" Laurel asks.
"Don't worry, we'll avenge Malfoy for you too." Harry assures and turns his back on her.
"Wait." Laurel repeats and turns him around. Harry saw that she had tears in her eyes.
"Let's go, Harry." Ron urged. "Hermione looks as if she might pass out. We need to get a little more information out of her if we're going to do this now."
"You're right." Harry says to Ron. "See you, Laurel."
"Wait!" Laurel's words were cut out by the wall closing together again. You could hear her bang her fists against the stone. "I'll go get help!"
"No, Laurel. Just watch after yourself. We're fine." Harry says.
"Tell Baker we're sorry he couldn't get in on the fight." Ron calls. "He'll have to have a go with Malfoy after we're done with him."
"Please wait!" Laurel cries. "I don't want to lose you guys to this shit too!" You could tell that she had started to cry. "I don't want you two to end up like Joel as well!"
"Don't worry, we won't." Ron says. "It's not the first time we've done something like this. We've gotten into things much worse than this."
"We haven't got time to row this out." Harry says to Ron. "We have to get going. We'll have to ignore her."
"Poor Laurel." Hermione whispers to herself.
"Wait!" Laurel bangs on the wall. She didn't get an answer. "Ron? Harry? Wait! Please? PLEASE!!"
Harry turns away from the wall and follows Ron and Hermione across the landing until they get to the long staircase. The only direction they could go now…was down.