Disclaimer- I don't own it.
Another chapter I'm not super fond of, but whatever. Two chapters from now it's going to get serious, I promise! :)
Harry has just been hit by a rogue Bludger; Professor Lupin has helped Harry to the Infirmary, where Madam Pomfrey has healed his broken arm, and although Harry is feeling better, she is making Harry stay overnight.
Late that night, Harry woke to a completely new and unbroken arm. Flexing it happily, he wondered what had woken him up. Then, with a thrill of horror, he realized that someone was sponging his forehead in the dark.
"Get off,!" he said loudly, and then, "Dobby!"
Dobby proceeded to cry and talk about how he'd warned Harry Potter, he'd warned him, not to mention accidently revealing he'd made Harry miss the train, which Harry was very angry about. However, Harry felt rather sorry for Dobby when he began to explain how he was enslaved; but before he could finish, someone called, "Harry?"
Dobby, frightened, disappeared with a loud crack. Harry pretended to be asleep at once, keeping his eyes open a tiny sliver.
The figure approached him and Harry recognized him through the gloom. It was Professor Lupin.
"Harry," he said quietly. "What was that about?"
Harry didn't move.
"I know you're not asleep," said Lupin simply. "And I'm not mad at you. Whose house-elf was that?"
"You saw Dobby?" blurted Harry before he could stop himself. Lupin laughed as Harry realized his mistake.
"Yes, I saw Dobby. I saw the whole thing. I've been looking out for you ever since the Mrs. Norris incident, and I decided to keep watch outside the hospital wing after that alarming tampered Bludger nearly killed you."
"You...you have?" said Harry, whose chest constricted strangely at the words 'looking out for you'.
"Yes, I have," said Lupin, smiling slightly. "More importantly, did you say that elf's name was Dobby?"
"Yes, why?"
"That's Lucius Malfoy's house-elf, Harry. Do you know what that means?"
"Wait, what?" said Harry, who had recently been asleep and had had to think about making sure Dobby didn't break himself and now had to process significant information. "Dobby's master is Lucius Malfoy?"
Lupin shot him a wry smile before his face dissolved into seriousness. "I suppose you do, then."
"How do you know Dobby was Lucius Malfoy's elf though?" asked Harry, supremely curious.
"As a friend of Dumbledore, I tend to keep my eye on people like Malfoy. Harry, you must be careful. You cannot trust anything that house-elf says, and you must keep your eyes peeled, because this means Malfoy is planning-"
The next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying what looked like one end of a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a moment later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.
"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past Harry and Lupin, whom she hardly seemed to notice.
"Remus, is that you?" asked Dumbledore suddenly.
"Yes, I was talking to Harry, but it can wait. What's going on?"
Professor Lupin hurried over to stand by the statue and gave a low groan when he saw what it was. "Not a student..."
Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall swept back into view, Madam Pomfrey pulling a cardigan over her nightgown.
"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.
Harry sat up further and looked over to see who it was.
It was Colin Creevey.
Harry slumped back into the bed, letting the teachers' voices wash over him and he tried to make sense of what was happening.
"It means," Dumbledore was saying. "That the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again."
"But, Albus...surely...who?"
"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin. "The question is how."
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