The tension between Harry and the rest of the students grew with each passing day. The boy tried to ignore it, but each time it became more and more difficult to endure these views. It got even worse when Potter heard the strange voice again and found a petrified Justin and an immobilized Nick. And of course he had to run into Filch. Fortunately, the old man did not kill him; Professor McGonagall arrived just in time. Now he was sitting in the headmaster's office, waiting for Dumbledore.
"Professor, your bird." The boy pointed to the ash heap with slight alarm.
"Don't worry about it, Harry," the old man stepped closer, a chick emerged from the ashes, "It's a phoenix, his name is Fawkes; it was time for him to start a new cycle a long time ago. Do you want to pet?"
Harry did not boldly approach the bird. He raised his hand to Fawkes and couldn't help but smile as the chick poked into his palm and purred. The phoenix down was so soft and warm.
"Tea?" the headmaster suggested, Potter nodded as he continued petting Fawkes.
"How are things with you and Professor Snape?" Dumbledore asked. Their conversation was so casual and casual that Harry almost forgot why he was here.
"He seems to treat me better now." The boy took a sip of some tea. The professor pushed a plate full of biscuits towards Harry. This cheered up the child, "Professor, do you think it's me?"
"No, not at all. I'm just wondering if there's anything bothering you that need to be told to me or to an adult?" Potter swallowed, as if the old man knew something. The teenager did not want to say anything until he figured out what was happening to him.
"No, professor, nothing of the sort."
"Okay, then you can go," Harry sighed to him, it seemed to have passed.
"Have a nice day, professor."
"Goodbye, Harry," the young wizard, as soon as the door closed behind him, rushed down the long stone corridors to the Gryffindor tower. He had to tell his friends everything.
"I'm almost done. The last ingredient remained," the trinity sat on the floor, around the boiler. Hermione slowly stirred the potion, consulting the book beside her.
"You're the best, Hermione. Now it's our turn." Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"I have prepared everything you need" the girl handed over two cupcakes filled to the top with sleeping pills.
"And you?"
"I already took care of it."
"Then we'll go."
"They're coming," whispered Ron.
"Great," Harry set a trap and they both ducked behind the nearest pillar. A few seconds later, Crabbe and Goyle appeared around the corner.
Harry and Ron prepared a trap and hid. Malfoy's bouncers took the sleeping pills without a second thought and took a bite. The potion worked instantly and the Slytherins fell unconscious.
"Merlin, thanks for being so dumb," Ron smiled and Harry burst out laughing.
"Come on, we need to drag them to class. It will be bad if someone stumbles upon them like this."
"How heavy they are." The teenagers dragged Crebbe and Goyle into the classroom with difficulty.
"Ugh..." They plucked a few hairs out of the Slytherins heads and hurried back to Hermione.
The potion was ready. Finally. Of course it didn't taste very good. Although remembering the ingredients, it does not have to taste normal. The scarred boy felt his whole body was on fire. Terrible feeling. The next time he looked in the mirror, he saw a completely different person. Gregory Goyle.
A second later, Crabbe came out of the booth into which Ron had run in a minute ago.
"How are you?"
"An unforgettable experience, that's for sure," Ron sighed, holding his stomach.
"Hermione?" Potter knocked on the next stall.
"I won't go, go without me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, go faster. I don't know how soon the effect of the potion will end." This time, her voice sounded firm. Therefore, the boys had no choice but to obey.
Quickly changing from the robes of Gryffindor to Slytherin, the pair almost ran towards the dungeon.
"Hey!"
"Damn," Ron whispered.
"What are you doing here?" the boy asked Percy, trying to imitate Crebb's voice.
"I'm actually the prefect," the Weasleys and Potter barely kept from rolling their eyes, "what's your name?"
"Uh…" The couples were frantically thinking about what to say, when suddenly a person appeared whom they would not want to see in any other situation.
"Weasley? What did you forget on our floor?" Draco stepped closer to Percy.
"Don't forget that I'm Head Boy Malfoy."
"How can you forget about this?" the boy snorted. "Crabbe, Goyle, let's go. No point in wasting time on Gryffindors."
Harry could feel Percy's annoyed look on his back as they followed Malfoy into the Slytherin common room. Their task was to explore the living room and ask Draco about the Chamber of Secrets.
"Why did you get up?" The Slytherin stretched out along the entire sofa, throwing his hands behind his head. The boys followed suit and sat across from him, "Argh... Those Weasleys, I can't believe we share the same blood."
Harry looked at Ron in surprise, but Ron shook his head quickly, letting him know that we could talk about it later.
"That Potter with Granger," Malfoy continued. As Ron looked around the living room, trying to grab onto something, which will help them in their investigation.
"Why do they annoy you so much?" Harry burst out. Now Weasley looked at him in shock.
"What do you mean why?" seems Slytherin, too, arrived in easy stunned.
"You've been acting strange lately. After that incident."
"I'm acting like I usually do. It's just you, dumb and..."
"Malfoy..."
"I was angry!" Draco suddenly blurted out. Ron even looked up from his study and looked closely at the Slytherin, "I was returning from Snape that day. He reprimanded me for failing my test and my poor homework assignment, and then ratted on my father. I was so angry and felt so tired. I didn't mean to, but when the Weasleys asked me what was wrong with me... I... I just snapped. He said something terrible. Then this fight, I almost wanted to be hit and the people who heard our screams. I couldn't say a word. Everything was so twisted ... And then, when I was paired with Potter, I was so angry. Angry at himself, at his cowardice and at his helplessness."
"Then…" Harry stammered, "Why didn't you talk to the…them?"
"I couldn't... I said so many things. So many unforgivable things. I can't even look them in the eyes after that. They are unlikely to ever forgive me, I would not have forgiven myself. There's nothing to change. I myself am to blame for this. I envy them... I... I'm such an idiot." There was a long tense pause in the room. Draco seemed very sad and it frightened Potter. He would never have thought that an annoying aristocratic boy could have such an expression on his face. Malfoy turned away from them and whispered, "Argh... Just forget what I said. I..."
"You're so stupid, Malfoy. Stupid coward." Ron's voice was hard and quiet. The boy stared at him in mild shock, "You'll never know if they'll forgive you if you don't ask. So stop acting like an idiot."
The Slytherin flinched, but the couple couldn't see his face. Weasley turned to Harry.
"Scar," he whispered, pointing to his forehead.
"Hair... Let's run!"
Harry and Ron rushed out of the dungeon as fast as they could. Even before Malfoy finally decided to turn around, they were gone.
"Nearly got caught," Potter struggled to catch her breath, hunched over. They were far enough away to slow down.
"Yeah. Only during our trip we did not learn anything useful. Just that asshole Malfoy is a little less of an asshole than we thought," Weasley sighed in annoyance, leaning against the wall to rest for a bit.
"Calm down , Ron. Better tell me what Draco meant when he said that you have the same blood with him."
"Eh ... I hoped you would forget. Black. They were obsessed with the purity of blood and devoted to the one who must not be named. This is what ruined them. Those family members who did not support their ideology of blood purity were simply burned out of the family tree. That was my grandmother."
"It's cruel. Disowns his family for something so stupid and pointless."
"Draco's mother is one of the few living Black, so we are related. Our families try to avoid mentioning it."
"So you didn't say anything?" Ron nodded weakly. "We need to get back. Hermione is waiting."
"Hey! Hermione!"
Moaning Myrtale emerged from the toilet, giggling loudly.
"You should see this," and disappeared into the sewers. Harry pushed the door slowly.
"The hair that I took off my clothes was cat hair."
"Ah..."
"Well, why are we always so lucky?" groaned Ron, leaning his head against the door frame.
As soon as the boys brought Hermione to the hospital wing, they kicked her out of the ward. Madam Pomfrey said it was too late for them to stay. There were about twenty minutes left before the lights out, and no matter how the couple wanted to make sure that everything would be all right with their girlfriend, they could not do anything. But before leaving, Harry whispered in her ear:
"Should we come to you a little later? We need to tell you something."
"Tomorrow," she answered softly, shaking her head. Potter nodded and he and the Weasleys said goodbye to the girl.
They had to wait until lunch before they could visit Granger. Grabbing their homework sheets and a few books, they hurried to the hospital wing. The only thing is, they didn't expect to meet Snape there. He looked very unhappy.
"You're very lucky, Miss Granger..." He broke off halfway through the word as the boys came into his line of sight. "Here are your friends."
"Hello, professor," the guys greeted in unison. They looked first at the stern Potions master, and then at the sad Hermione.
"I'll visit you later, Miss Granger," the man effectively waved the hem of his robe and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.
"What did he want?" Ron plopped down on the bed next to Hermione, still wary of Snape. Harry sat down on the other side with a stack of books in his hands.
"Eh… He was so angry. I told him that I decided to try my hand at Potions and was trying to make a Polyjuice Potion," the girl answered very quietly, tugging at the edge of the blanket.
"What are you?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison. Lying to Snape was the last thing they expected from a friend.
"We have to..." Before Potter tried to get up and catch up with the teacher, Granger grabbed him sharply by the sleeve of his robe.
"Not!"
"But..."
"I don't want you to get in trouble and it was my idea to make the potion. Besides, if you tell something to Snape or anyone else, all my efforts will go down the drain. So please…" Hermione stared at her friends with big, catlike eyes that baffled them. They couldn't refuse.
"Okay," Harry sighed in defeat, returning to the empty seat to the left of his girlfriend.
"We brought you something." The boys handed her a stack of homework sheets and some textbooks.
"And this," Potter handed the book to the girl. The cover was worn from time to time; it said "The Little Prince" in large silver letters. "We asked Lavender to bring it, we thought you needed it," Harry explained when he saw the confusion on Hermione's face.
"Thank you," the girl smiled, each time she was amazed at how lucky she was with her friends.
"And..." Ron hesitated for a second, not deftly pulling himself by the collar of the jumper, "I thought that we could read together," the boy handed his girlfriend a small book.
"What is it?"
"It's… It's a collection of tales from Beedle the Bard. This is my favorite children's book. When I was little, she helped me if I felt bad," Weasley muttered, blushing.
"Thanks. For everything…" A tear glistened in her eyes and she quickly wiped it away before anyone noticed. Or pretended not to notice, "So, what did you find out?"
"It's a long story..."
Harry told them everything that had happened to them in the Slytherin common room and what Draco had told them.
"This was unexpected. Never would have thought Malfoy could be like that."
"The question is what are we going to do about it?" Ron rested his chin on his bent knees.
"Wait," Hermione suggested, and the boys nodded in agreement. Draco had to make the first move or there was nothing they could do to help.
Their thoughts were interrupted by laughter and clerics outside the window. Coming closer, Ron saw how students from different faculties and courses threw snow at each other. Someone sculpted snowmen, and someone built real fortresses.
"Go. I'll stay here and read for a while," Hermione opened the book and pretended to read magnified.
"No," the girl felt the mattress sag next to her, "We still have time. Winter is long. We'd like to have some quiet time right now, right Ron?"
"Yeah. How about reading?" He took his book and made himself comfortable next to Granger and Potter. They took turns reading, when one got tired, the other continued. When Ron finished his part, he saw his friends doze off. The boy himself felt that he was about to fall asleep. Weasley pulled the blanket over all three of them and closed his eyes.
