Harry honestly felt it was supremely unfair that at the otherwise mature age of 12 he was still plagued with occasional nightmares. He'd never been awoken by any of the other boys in his dorm screeching like a baby because of a stupid dream.
None of them ever gave him a hard time about it, in fact these days they barely looked up. They didn't have to, they always knew who it was who'd be having a nightmare. A mumbled "Alright Harry?" was all that was needed now before they just went back to sleep.
Harry'd told them he was fine and mumbled something about giant spiders, earning him a shudder from Ron's bed. A few minutes later, they were all back asleep. Except Harry.
He never remembered much about the nightmares, just a feeling - just enough to know that it was always one of two sorts of nightmares. There was the flash of green light one - it didn't take any imagination for Harry to figure out what that was about once he'd learned how his first parents had died
Tonight's dream had been the other sort. Filled with thundering noise, darkness, fear and pain.
So, knowing he'd enjoy no more comforting sleep that night, Harry decided to just go down to the common room and read quietly where the light wouldn't wake anyone else.
Very soon however, he gave up on trying to concentrate on his book. All he could think about was everything going on around the school. The teachers were distressed over the injured students - especially over the fact that they hadn't been able to identify exactly the cause of their injuries.
Oh, they suspected it'd been a basilisk - it fit, except that the students and Mrs. norris had been petrified instead of killed. Harry'd "accidentally" overheard them speculating that it was a very young basilisk, or that it was injured to explain the circumstances.
Once or twice, Harry'd thought he'd heard its whispers and had told his father where he'd heard it. But none of them knew for certain that it was a basilisk and if it was, how it had come to be roaming loose in the castle - was it from the Chamber of Secrets? Or had someone else deliberately brought one to Hogwarts?
One thing they were all sure about was that it wasn't any of Hagrid's pets. Dumbledore had even double checked and confirmed that none of Hagrid's beasties could be the cause of the troubles. Of course, none of that had stopped Minister Fudge from coming and taking Hagrid away anyway.
Harry was still furious about that, and not at all sorry for the scene he'd caused. His dad had had to prise him away from Hagrid as he was being lead away. Harry'd yelled the worst things he could think of at the departing Minister, earning him a hand over his mouth until the Minister was out of earshot followed by a stern reprimand and a soapy-mouth charm from Severus. As much as he might disagree with the Minister, his father had told him, he was not to speak like that to anyone.
"Stupid Fudge..." he muttered to himself, staring into the common room fire and worrying for his friend Hagrid. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that it wasn't until the portrait was already opened that he noticed that someone else was also awake.
"Ginny?" he called in a surprised whisper. Jumping up, he caught up with her just as she was about to step into the corridor. "Ginny!" he repeated more harshly when she didn't respond. He reached out and caught her wrist seeming to startle her into spinning back around.
"What are you doing!" he demanded. "It's the middle of the night! You'll get into trouble - and besides, it's not safe."
Ginny stared for a moment first at her own wrist where Harry held it and then up to his face before blinking and then starting to tremble. Quickly, Harry lead her back into the common room and over to the fire, letting the portrait close itself again.
"Ginny?" Harry whispered soothingly , seating her on the sofa. "Are you alright?"
"I...I..." she stuttered, clutching the book she held in her hands, tears forming in her eyes.
"It's alright, Ginny," Harry said quietly. "I'm not going to tell on you or anything..."
"I'm sorry..." she said, obviously upset.
"Ginny, it's alright. I promise I won't tell. Did you have trouble sleeping? Sometimes I just come down here when I can't sleep. I read, or whatever..." He motioned to the book he'd abandoned earlier. "That's allowed if you can't sleep, it's just you can't go out of the common room. Do you want to sit with me and read your book?" he asked, reaching toward the book she held close to her chest.
"No!" she exclaimed. If possible, she clutched the book even closer. "I'm sorry... I... I... I promise I won't go out. I'm sorry Harry. I... I'm going back to my dorm." And with that, tears on her face, she jumped up and ran back up the stairs.
"Girls are so weird..." Harry muttered, shaking his head after she'd gone. He worried for a moment about what was upsetting the girl, but his greater worry for Hagrid and the petrified students soon had him back to staring into the flames, Ginny's aborted late-night excursion forgotten.
Later the next day...
"Professor!" six voices protested at once when Mcgonagall entered the team changing room a moment after the announcement that the match had been cancelled.
"Professor!" Oliver's voice overpowered the others. "We've got to play this match! The cup...!"
"The match has been cancelled and there will be no further matches this year. The Quidditch cup has been cancelled."
"But why?" Harry asked as the others seemed too shocked to speak, indeed, Oliver looked like he was about to faint.
"There's been an -- incident..." Mcgonagall replied in a pinched voice, wringing her hands. "I'm afraid that another student has been petrified." Then taking Harry by the shoulder, she addressed the whole team, her voice quavering slightly as she spoke. "Harry, I want you to come with me. The rest of you to your common room, quickly now."
As the others reluctantly dispersed, Mcgonagall lead Harry separately toward the school. "Your father is going to meet us at the infirmary. He had to inform the Slytherin team."
"Auntie Minnie," Harry asked, getting more and more worried by her demeanor. "Who was petrified?"
By her sharp intake of breath, Harry knew it was bad. "It's Miss Granger."
Harry didn't have a chance to respond before he heard Ron calling out to them as he ran up. "Professor! Are they serious! You can't cancel Quidditch!" But seeing the look on Harry's face he stopped his rant. "What?"
"Hermione's been petrified," Harry finally managed to choke out.
"To your common room please Mr. Weasley," Mcgonagall ordered, though the quaver in her voice took some of the sting out of her tone.
"But what about Harry?" Ron demanded. "Isn't he coming?"
"Harry is coming with me to the infirmary to meet with his father and the headmaster." She glared at him over her spectacles, letting it be known that she didn't appreciate being questioned.
Ron, however was undeterred. "You're going to see her!" he accused Harry before turning back to Mcgonagall. "I want to come too! She's my friend as much as his."
"Mr. Weasley!" she replied in full deputy-headmistress voice. "You will do as you are told."
"But, professor," Harry tried. "He and Hermione..."
"Harry is not going to the infirmary because he is Miss Granger's friend. Professor Snape, the headmaster and I have something to discuss with him. And him alone!" she emphasised. "Mr. Weasley, if I do not see you hurrying toward your common room in the next three seconds I shall be forced to deduct points from Gryffindor!"
Ron stood gaping for only a moment before, red-faced he turned and headed toward the castle leaving an equally stunned Harry in his wake.
"Come along Harry!" Harry found himself in Minerva's strong grip and being lead almost forcibly along.
Entering the hospital wing, Harry was met with the worried frown of Madame Pomfrey and the stern glare of his father.
"Um..." He stopped just inside the door, only to feel Minerva's firm hand leading him over to the bed on which Hermione's petrified body was laid.
"Do you know what Miss Granger was doing in the corridor outside the library Harry?" Dumbledore asked gently from the other side of the bed.
"No, sir," he answered, glancing nervously between Hermione, his Dad and the Headmaster. "That is, she said she'd be at the match when I saw her in the common room this morning. She was just going to research something in the library. I guess she lost track of time and no one was left to walk with her..."
"She was carrying this." Severus held up a mirror. "And not to put too sharp a point on it, she's never struck me as the type to be checking her face in the corridors..."
"She was still trying to figure it out..." Harry admitted, eyes downcast guiltily. "She wanted to solve what was attacking students - she was afraid the school might shut down if it wasn't caught."
"Well, it very well might be at this rate!" Severus retorted. "This is precisely why we had the safeguards in place - why students weren't to be mucking about on their own!"
"Don't you think I told her that!" Harry cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. "I told her over and over that you were all working on it and not to worry, but she didn't believe me!"
"Alright, alright..." Dumbledore interrupted, trying to restore the peace. "Harry, I know you don't want to be seen as telling on your fellow students, however, Miss Granger should not have been trying to solve this problem on her own." He looked at Harry very carefully over his glasses. "She was working on her own wasn't she?"
"Yes!" Harry was on the verge of tears in frustration. "Why won't any of you believe me! I told them to leave it! I told them not to worry. I didn't tell them anything about basilisks or anything...!"
"Alright Harry," Minerva soothed finally, sending a none too friendly glare in Dumbledore and Severus' direction. "We believe you, of course we do. It's just my dear boy," she said, her voice softening as she reached to take his shoulders in her hands. "When will you learn that we need to know when students are putting themselves at risk - no matter the reason?"
"I didn't think she was - she was just reading stuff. That's not dangerous... Usually..." he amended, just this side of petulant while staring at his feet to studiously ignore his Dad's disbelieving snort.
"Minerva, Headmaster, would you mind if I kept Harry with me this evening?" Severus said in a near growl. "I'd like to clarify a few things with him." Harry flinched internally and tried carefully to keep the scowl off his face as they agreed.
He tried to quietly edge further and further behind his father as he was lead toward the Slytherin common room a minute later, but very soon Severus turned and grabbed his arm with a growl. "This is not the time to try me Harry." He pulled him along to walk beside him, his grip never loosening. "Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Harry ground out, though he continued to drag his feet as much as he thought he could until Severus was forced to yank him along.
When they arrived at the Slytherin common room, Harry steadfastly avoided looking at any of the faces of the Slytherins as he was forced to stand by Severus' side as he gave them the same speech the other heads of houses were giving their students regarding further restrictions and safety precautions before following him morosely up the stairs to their apartment.
He'd always said that there were good things and bad things about having grown up at Hogwarts and having his Dad and aunties and uncles as the teachers and staff. This was definitely one of the bad things as far as he was concerned.