In this chapter, Mary will have to contend with a rogue bludger.

Can she get past it and win the game?

We can only hope so.

Because we don't want Malfoy to win, do we?

Chapter 21: A Bludger Gone Rogue

Hermione and Mary discussed the plan with Ron.

After his plan to use pixies went wrong, Lockhart had basically turned his class into a theater, reenacting scenes from his books.

But they could purchase some popcorn later. For now, they had a potion to brew.

"So, we're going to sneak into Slytherin Dungeon? We're going to lose a lot of points if we get caught." noted Ron.

"That's true, but there are more important things at stake than house points." explained Hermione.

They couldn't win the house cup if everyone was dead. Though maybe Hogwarts could reopen as a school for ghosts. Nearly Headless Nick would probably like that idea.

"Every Muggle-born is in danger! Hermione included!" exclaimed Mary.

Ron noted that his friends had a point.

To ensure their potion making wasn't interrupted, the three of them went to the girl's restroom on the second floor of the castle. The haunted one.

It was haunted by Moaning Myrtle.

Did she die from despair? It kind of seemed like it. According to Hermione, she happened to cry all the time.

Though there might have been another reason for her demise.

"Is this your twin sister?" asked Ron. If so, he was sorry something terrible happened to her.

"No, I'm an only child. Though one could consider Dudley to be my brother." noted the girl.

"Doesn't he bully kids for fun?" questioned Hermione.

"I wish he would stop doing that." noted Mary.

"What makes you think she's my twin sister? She's a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw!" exclaimed Moaning Myrtle.

"It's true. I don't think I would be able to answer all those riddles." noted Mary.

Not even a Ravenclaw could figure out the Fat Lady's passwords, however.

"Not a lot of people come to visit me. It makes me feel lonely." remarked Myrtle.

"I'm sorry to hear that." spoke Mary.

The ghost girl began to sniffle.

The girl who lived decided to place her hand on the shoulder of the girl who died young.

But that turned out to be a bad idea.

"Cold! Cold!" exclaimed Mary.

Quickly, she used the sink to warm up her hand.

Unfortunately for Ron, he was noticed by Percy stepping out of the haunted girl's bathroom.

"Ron! What were you doing in a girl's restroom? Your mother would be ashamed!" asked Percy.

"But nobody uses that restroom anymore!" defended Ron.

"Tomato, tomato! I'd hate to dock points from my own brother, but you've given me no choice! Five points from Gryffindor!" punished the prefect.

He sighed.

Ron Weasley sure hoped that being a hero was worth it. This was starting to set him back from winning the Gryffindor House Cup.

Hermione and Mary seemed to think it was worth it.

And of course, he got a ton of points for saving the Sorcerer's Stone…though that was a bit moot considering the stone was gone forever.

Not long after they started gathering ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion, it was time for Mary to play Quidditch again.

Ron and Hermione decided to take a break to watch the game, though they hoped they would be able to complete it soon. The Muggle-borns were counting on them.

Could Gryffindor beat Slytherin with their new broomsticks?

It put Gryffindor at a disadvantage.

If only they had the budget to afford new brooms themselves.

Mary went to the changing room to get her Quidditch outfit on.

Did something crazy happen every Halloween at Hogwarts? She should consider asking Professor Dumbledore about that. It seemed like he had been at this school longer than anyone, barring his predecessor Armando Dippet. She would have liked to meet Armando, but he had passed on. And if he were a ghost, chances are he would be haunting Hogwarts Castle by now.

First there was a mountain troll in the dungeons, and now there was a monster going around that threatened the lives of Muggle-borns.

Maybe there was a reason Halloween was her least favorite holiday, other than her parents dying on that date.

It was Nick's deathday as well, however. And he found it worth celebrating.

So maybe Halloween wasn't so bad.

At the field, Draco was smugly boasting how he was going to cream the competition when he caught the Golden Snitch.

Never mind the fact that he had never caught one before.

Did he know how fast they were? If he read the quidditch guide book, he would know that they could potentially outrun a broomstick. Though they did stop to rest sometimes. Mary knew that from experience.

And yes, their high speed hadn't stopped her from catching them.

She had a knack for that. That was why she got along well with her teammates.

Gilderoy Lockhart was watching the game.

He claimed that he was a great Quidditch player back in the day.

However, nobody had seen him fly a broom. So that claim was rather dubious.

"Break a leg, Mary!" exclaimed Ginny.

Colin Creevey was naturally taking pictures.

The girl who lived was happy for the support.

Unfortunately, not long after Mary entered the field, a Bludger zoomed towards her.

Luckily, she ducked.

"That was a close one!" exclaimed Mary.

But the Bludger came back, forcing her to fly away.

"Huh?" asked the girl.

The Bludger seemed to be focused specifically on her.

"It's a rogue bludger!" bellowed Hagrid.

"What are games of Quidditch coming too?" asked Flitwick.

"A rogue bludger?" questioned Fred.

He hadn't seen anything like it, though he had been playing Quidditch for a while.

"Did you tamper with that bludger?" asked Mary to Draco.

It seemed unusual that there were three bludgers on the field, not just two. Aside from the fact that it was focused on her.

"I don't need to cheat in order to beat you!" exclaimed Malfoy.

Somehow, Mary knew he was telling the truth. Draco was full of himself, after all.

But if he didn't enchant that bludger, then who was it?

Ron and Hermione decided to investigate.

They noticed a house elf muttering words of some kind.

They knew what had happened last year. Perhaps this house elf was responsible.

Well, they weren't going to let Mary hurt if they could help it.

It was time for them to be heroes, as they were last year.

"Man, oh man, it's going to take a miracle for me to get the Snitch." noted Mary.

Between Draco Malfoy and his agile broom, and the bludger dead set on striking her down, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

But luckily, a miracle did happen.

As it turned out, the snitch was taking a snooze.

Not only that, but Draco was being a show off, rather than focusing on searching for the golden ball.

"Well, speak of the devil." noted Mary to herself.

And no, she did not gain the power to use witchcraft from the devil. So don't burn her at the stake.

She grabbed the golden snitch.

"Gryffindor wins!" exclaimed the referee.

"What?!" shouted Malfoy.

However, she was hit by the rogue bludger shortly afterward.

Which was weird, since the bludgers were supposed to deactivate once the game was over.

Mary ended up falling off her broom.

She ended up being seriously injured.

Shortly afterwards, Hermione placed a bag over Dobby's head.

"Darn it! We were too late!" realized Ron. Mary was already injured.

Hermione sighed. At least they tried.

"I think I broke my leg." noted the girl.

"No worries, I can fix that." spoke Lockhart.

"You sure you don't want Pomfrey to do that?" asked Mary.

"I assure you, I know what I'm doing." answered Gilderoy.

Lockhart cast a spell.

All of a sudden, Mary's leg began to feel funny.

She tried to walk, but she fell over.

Professor McGonagall decided to feel her leg.

She quickly realized what had happened.

It seemed Lockhart had made things worse.

Which was a shame, because he wanted to help.

"Some of the bones in your leg are missing!" exclaimed McGonagall.

"What?!" shouted the girl.

The next thing she knew, she was in the infirmary.

"I'm not sure how you lost some of the bones in your leg. But I'm not the type of person to ask questions." noted Pomfrey.

"Can you get me fixed?" asked the girl.

Even with this handicap, she could probably beat Dudley in a race.

But it would sure complicate getting to class on time.

"This stuff tastes awful…" remarked Mary.

It tasted nothing like the pumpkin juice she often had in the Great Hall. Though she assumed that it wasn't made from pumpkins. She didn't know a medicine that was made from fruit.

"Well, if you drink too much of it, it causes your bones to rattle." noted Madam Pomfrey. So there was a justification for not making it taste good.

Thankfully, Mary didn't have to drink too much. Otherwise the taste would probably haunt her for some time. And she had just gotten over the shock over what happened on Halloween night.

As soon as she finished it, her leg began to feel sore.

"You're going to have to stay at the infirmary overnight." informed the nurse.

Regrowing bones took time.

She wondered how Lockhart could have been so careless.

He should probably leave medical care to the professionals.

"I suppose it's a small price to pay for winning so many house points for Gryffindor." remarked Mary.

She decided to go to sleep.

Mary woke up later during the middle of the night, but her left leg was feeling pretty tired.

It seemed the bones hadn't fully regrown yet.

Though on the lighter side of things, it wasn't feeling sore anymore.

She decided to read the label on the Skelegro bottle.

"Side effects include soreness, fatigue…and a bone to pick with others." noted Mary.

Suddenly, she noticed Dobby, who had decided to pay the infirmary a visit.

"Hey, you! Yeah, you!" exclaimed the bespectacled girl.

That was all three of the side effects, alright.

Dobby chuckled nervously.

Mary decided to chase after him, but forgot the fact that her leg bones weren't fully regenerated.

She ended up falling over.

"Whoops! I still need to regrow my fibula." noted Mary.

She couldn't forget about that.

So she hopped back into her bed.

"Why'd you do it, Dobby? I thought you wanted to protect me!" shouted the girl.

"Dobby was! Dobby figured that if Mary Potter was hurt, she'd be sent home!" exclaimed Dobby.

"You do realize they have an infirmary, right?" questioned the girl who was regrowing her leg bones.

Dobby chuckled nervously.

"Dobby only figured that out just now." noted the house elf.

As punishment for his actions, he had been forced by Ron to eat his twin brothers' Skiving Snackboxes.

Dobby let out a sneeze.

Meanwhile, Ginny went to get Mary some flowers.

She figured she would enjoy them.

Suddenly, she discovered something scary.

She encountered Colin Creevey, who had been petrified. His camera had been dropped to the ground. Seemed he had a similar idea to hers, as he had been on his way to the infirmary himself.

"Noooooo!" exclaimed Ginny, her mouth wide open with horror.

Her eyes were wide open as well.

She and Colin happened to be close. He had given her nice photographs. Now she had plenty of photographs of people that she liked. Including her brothers. Though she did not always get along with Fred and George. They liked to play pranks. And she thought the prank they had once played on Ron (turning his teddy bear into a spider) was too cruel for her tastes.

Ironically enough, she had also been upset when Mrs. Norris had been petrified. Even though not a lot of people seemed to like that cat.

Ginny happened to be a cat lover.

She brought Colin Creevey to the infirmary.

"First a cat, and now this!" exclaimed the girl.

She wondered what had attacked him.

Perhaps he had taken a photo of the monster before he was attacked.

But unfortunately…the film had been burned away.

So there was no photos of the monster that she could give to the headmaster.

That made things harder for the school staff, didn't it? They still didn't know what the monster was.

On the lighter side of things, Ginny was rewarded points for discovering Colin Creevey's petrified body.

It was a small consolation, but a consolation nevertheless.

"I'm scared." spoke Justin.

"One thing's for sure, I'm going to find out who did this, and I'm going to make them pay!" exclaimed Ginny.

"You sure you can do it?" asked the boy who was fearing for his safety.

"Well, I can try." noted the girl.

Admittedly, she wasn't sure whether a first year would stand a chance against the Heir of Slytherin.

But she decided she would help the investigation anyway she could.

Something told her that Mary, Hermione, and her brother Ron were investigating.

Maybe she should talk to them about it?

If they were, she would like to help.

She heard that there was a potion that could be used to make people tell the truth.

Wasn't it called Veritaserum?

She decided to ask Snape about that.

He didn't seem to like first years though. They were inexperienced with making potions.

"You want Veritaserum? You better have a good reason for it. You should know that the Ministry of Magic has laws regarding its use." noted Snape.

"I wanted to know how a boy feels about me." noted Ginny.

"You're not allowed to use Veritaserum on other students, Ginny. It makes them reveal their personal secrets. Has Headmaster Dumbledore ever told you that?" asked Severus.

"He's been busy trying to figure out what's going on at Hogwarts. I hope he finds out, for Colin's sake." remarked the girl.

"Well, to be honest with you, I've had disagreements with Dumbledore regarding that. I suppose I can give you one, but you have to promise not to tell the headmaster." noted Snape.

Ginny nodded.

Snape gave Ginny the Veritaserum.

"Thank you so much!" exclaimed the girl.

"Well, Salazar Slytherin did say us students should protect purebloods." noted Snape.

Should he really be giving Veritaserum to a young girl?

Then again, if he didn't, she would probably consider stealing the ingredients. And he had already lost some aging potion ingredients due to thefts, and he certainly didn't want something similar happening again.

Besides, something told him this girl was a good friend of Mary's.

He just hoped Ginny was trustworthy, or he might end up putting Veritaserum in HER mouth.

Oh no! A student has been petrified by the monster!

Who will be next?

One can only hope that there won't be any more victims.

But given the Muggle-borns' rotten luck, there probably will be.

Is Draco the heir of Slytherin?

We'll find out.