Harry
"Ugh It is another letter from the Ministry." Marik took the letter from the barn owl in the window on the other side of the room and began reading it.
"What do they want this time?" Hermione asked Marik.
"Do they want a photo with your shirt off this time? The last one you sent was cute but I hear the readers want more," he joked, earning a glare from his friend.
"Screw you Harry. It was a V-neck! And Hermione said it looked nice! I didn't realise it was that long of a V-neck! Anyways, it says the Minister of Magic is coming to Hogwarts in a few weeks and wants to do an interview and photoshoot with me," Marik said with distasteful grin on his face.
"Wow that is impressive. The Minister of Magic wants to interview you? What for?" he asked Marik.
"Apparently for some publicity thing for the EMSDC. Ughhh, is it legal for me to write the Minister back and tell him I would like to pass, or will they send me to Azkaban?" Marik asked them.
"Why would you want to pass? This is a huge honor," Hermione asked Marik.
"And they probably would arrest you," he added.
"I don't have time to meet with him! I barely even have time for sleep," Marik answered, looking exhausted. The bags under his eyes had become a permanent addition to his face this school year. It wasn't just him though, they all looked a lot more tired this year compared to last.
"Flitwick has me doing charms lessons twice a week and researching charms spells that even Hogwart's library doesn't have books on the remainder of the week. Plus I have my dueling practice sessions with him once a week, and that takes up an entire afternoon!
"Then I have my private dark arts lessons with Kingsley on my other two free days during the school week. My only free days are my weekends and there not even free since I am having to finish all my school work on Saturday and Professor Yarnsley has me working on my spell creation magic with him practically all day Sunday. I am barely keeping up with my classes and I haven't even began to think about end of year projects. . . I'm gonna die," Marik finished ranting and let his head fall to the table with a loud thud.
"Trust me Marik, Harry and I completely understand. Snape has me brewing potions that even fifth years can't brew yet and writing reports longer than some of my books. But you can't pass on the Minister of Magic, that is like blowing off the Queen," Hermione said to Marik.
"You do remember that I was born in America right Hermione? I don't really care too much for the Queen," Marik responded and Hermione scoffed.
"Still Marik you can't pass on him. Dumbledore told you when you won the tournament that you would have to do some publicity events with the Ministry. Plus last year we all practically begged for private lessons. You should be happy your getting the extra attention and not complaining. By the way, speaking of spell creation have you made any progress in replicating whatever you did during the tournament yet? I know you said you were going to try soon," he asked Marik.
"I haven't even been able to try and do it yet. I was hoping I could practice it during my free time or during my lessons with Professor Yarnsley. But he has me researching muggle maths instead of working on my magic right now. He says solving math problems will help you solve spell problems and create solutions with your spell creations." Marik tried to do his best Yarnsley impersonation with his head still face down on the table.
"Well he does have a point you know. I completely see where he is coming from," Hermione chimed in from the other side of the table.
"Mmppfff," was all Marik replied with. Harry laughed a little at the sight of his friend exhausted laying on the table. Even though he was only getting private lessons with McGonagall throughout the week he understood how much of your time they took up. Especially since they all were sharing all of their notes from their private lessons amongst each other, which meant even if you did have free time you were using it to copy someone's notes to keep up. Harry had barely been even able to keep us with his occlumency and legilimency practice so far with how busy things were. He turned his attention back to the notes Marik had shared with he and Hermione.
"So have you actually cast this aisu meiku spell with Flitwick yet or have you just been researching it?" he asked Marik as he finished copying the last of Marik's notes from Flitwick's charms lessons.
"No I haven't tried it yet. If you read further you will see that is just the base incantation for the type of magic. The actual ice magic spells play off of it," Marik answered, still with his face down on the table.
"Ice magic seems pretty interesting. I can imagine why Flitwick would have you learn it for dueling. You could use it for all sorts of tactics both offensive and defensive," Hermione started. "Thanks for sharing these notes with us again Marik."
"You don't have to thank me every time I give you my notes Hermione. We all made a deal to share all our notes from our private lessons. You share us your potion notes from Snape, Harry shares his transfiguration notes from McGonagall, and I share my notes," Marik replied.
"Still, thank you. I haven't been able to read ahead to much in charms this year so these notes have been a lifesaver," Hermione said, turning a page from the section of charms notes she was copying.
Ding! He and Hermione jumped as the timer on the table went off.
"Finally," Hermione said, her voice sounding excited. "Okay, I just have to add the grim scales and then I am done," Hermione added as she added the last few ingredients to her potion.
"What is it that you are even brewing? I never did ask," Marik asked barely lifting his head from the desk as he curiously watched Hermione brew.
It was no surprise that Marik didn't know what potion Hermione was brewing, in truth he had not known either and had felt too bad for not knowing to ask. The three of them had barely spent anytime together so far this year. Nothing bad had happened between them, it was just now with all of their private lessons they were just too busy for all of them to get into the same room at the same time. Most of the times so far in the year it was just two of them in their small little potions lab at a time. This had been one of the few moments they had managed to even snag a few quick minutes together since their first day back.
"It is a replenishing potion. It helps rejuvenate some of the magic that is lost during duels, spell casting, and during injuries," Hermione answered as she put the last few stirs in.
"Oh wow, that is pretty cool. I take it that is an upper level potion since I can't remember reading anything about it," Marik said looking interested.
"You need to brew us one that will rejuvenate energy next, I could use something like that this year. I have to pull another all nighter tonight and I don't know how I am going to make it," he added, dreading having to stay up all night later. All nighters were a necessity though if he expected to keep up with the workload McGonagall was giving him. Transfiguration class was hard, transfiguration private lessons with McGonagall were damn near impossible.
"Yes, Hermione please do that! I will pay you!" Marik begged Hermione.
"How would you pay me Marik? You don't have a job?" Hermione asked as she brewed her potion.
"You can have my research grant money, it's not like I have time to put it to any good use anyways at this rate," Marik offered.
"That is your money to do research on spell creations Marik, I am not going to take it to sell you potions. I think a pep-up potion is on Snape's list for me anyways later this year so if you just wait a little while and don't annoy me too much maybe I will make you and Harry an extra batch! In the meantime they make a great thing called coffee if you need some energy!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes at the two of them.
"Yes mam!" Marik replied sarcastically.
"All done!" Hermione said as she poured the potion out of the cauldron into a nearby flask.
"Congrats Hermione," he said to her, impressed that she had already managed to finish another potion.
"Thanks Harry," Hermione answered with a smile on her face.
"What are you up to for the rest of the afternoon now that you're done?" Marik asked her.
"McGonagall wants Harry to get the first stage of his ritual animagus spell down, so we were going to work on that the rest of the afternoon since Snape cancelled my lessons later this afternoon," Hermione answered Marik, sounding disappointed at missing her lessons.
"Ritual animagus spell? What does it do?" Marik asked him.
"Its part of the eventual full animagus transfiguration spell. You have to build on and add layers to your ritual as you progress. Right now my ritual just has my hands transfiguration in it. Today I am going to try and add my feet into it," Harry answered.
He was excited to continue work on his animagus transformation. He had been listening to his mother's advice so far this year and fueling his personal motivations of trying to be more well rounded in all of his classes. He had divided his time fairly equally among all of his classes and studies so far. To make it possible though he unfortunately was losing a few hours of sleep each night. While it felt good to be doing better in all of his other classes nothing was quite as good as coming back to a subject like transfiguration that he was good at.
While he was doing a much better job of not solely focusing on one subject like he had done a lot of last year, he still spent a lot of his free time working on his occlumency and legilimency. He had spent most of the day prior to now failing to make much progress on his two mind magics so it would feel good to do some magic he knew he was already good at.
"That sounds so cool. I didn't realise it was a staged ritual spell like that. I always thought it was just one difficult spell. I'm so out of the loop with all this work now I didn't even know you were working on it Harry. I'm sorry man that I didn't know," Marik said. His usual smile and smirk could not be found on his face.
"Screw it. I can take one day off from charms research! It's been forever since the three of us did something together, you guys mind if I stay and tag along to watch? Maybe I can help?" Marik asked them looking happy for the first time that day.
"Of course we don't mind Marik," Harry answered his friend. Marik was right, it really had been too long since the three of them had practiced together and it would feel good to have them all around for a day.
"Sweet! Well what do you have to do?" Marik asked. Hermione started putting away her brewing supplies in the potions lab cabinets. Snape had let her have the room again for this year so the trio had decided to make the room their designated hangout and practice room since one of them was practically always in it anyways.
"Well I just have to cast my normal animagus spell. The difference is that instead of instantly releasing it I have to keep the spell active for as long as I can. While I am holding it active I have to cast another spell to add another layer to the ritual. The hardest part from what my research says is just maintaining focus throughout the spell. If I break focus before it is finished I have to go back to square one," he answered Marik.
"How long does adding another layer take?" Hermione asked from across the table.
"I'm not entirely sure. The book basically just says it takes as long as it takes you to finish the spell. So I guess it could go quick or take a while depending on me," he answered truthfully. McGonagall's explanation had basically been the same as the books. Animagus magic could be quick or slow, it all hinged on the user's magic.
"I've never done any magic that requires you to hold a spell for a lengthy amount of time besides a few simple dueling spells that I can think of. This sounds interesting," Marik seemed to have gained some lost energy from his curiosity.
"So is there anything we can do to help?" Hermione asked.
"Hmm. Not that I can think of. I guess just keep me from getting distracted. I just mainly need you to help me take notes afterwards. Moving forward the ritual will get more difficult and I am going to need exact observation notes on how my personal ritual appears," he answered.
"So make lots of noise. Got it," Marik joked. Hermione leaned over the table to give him a quick jab.
"Ouch!" Marik shouted as she hit him. Harry couldn't help but smile as she did.
"Alright so first I am going to cast and hold the base transfiguration spell. Then I will hold it and try and add the second layer. So if both of you will just keep an eye on how everything looks we are good to go. Here goes nothing." He closed his eyes and concentrated as much as he could. Even the base transfiguration spell drew a lot of his magic from him so he needed his full concentration if this was going to work.
The base of the ritual would transfigure his hands into their animagus form so for the rest of the ritual he would have to cast the magic wandlessly, which only made things a lot more difficult. To this point he had never cast or learned anything about wandless magic. Luckily for ritual spells like this one a wand wasn't that much more important since the majority of magic being done was mental magic. He hoped his work on mind magic would help him maintain a clear, focused mind. Giving one last effort to clear his mind he began.
"Animorph!" He cast the spell and a large golden ritual ring formed around his feet.
He focused his mind on maintaining the ring around him before he progressed further. As he concentrated he could feel his magic pouring from his body into the ring, making it much more detailed and solid in its color. He continued to focus on the ring around him and tried to slow his breathing. He made notes in his head of all the colors, shapes, and designs the base ring held like his books said to do. It was crucial that he hold an exact image of the first ring in his head as he added to it. If he missed anything the whole ritual would be a failure.
"Duostratum." He cast the spell to add the second layer.
An intense wave of magic shot from his body onto the floor and the ring around him slowly started create a smaller inner ring. The instant loss of that much magic literally took his breath away for a few seconds and almost broke his concentration.
As more and more of his magic poured out of him the golden light of the second ring began to grow brighter and more detailed. When the inner circle was as bright as the original outer circle was small sensations of magic started appearing and prickling in his feet. Keeping his concentration on maintaining the spell active he watched as slowly his feet began to morph into their animagus form. His body was already beginning to shake and ache a little from the amounts of magic he was using. He did his best to clear his mind of that though and focus on the ritual. He was nearing the end of it.
His ankles were beginning to bend their shape and grow fur on them. As they morphed he cursed himself for not realising it would be hard to stand upright as they morphed, after all moutain lions did not stand on two feet. The fur started to spread down his toes as his feet continue to shift their form. The ritual was almost complete.
POP! A loud sound emerging from just a few feet in front of him ricocheted throughout the room. The scare from the sudden loud noise broke his concentration and immediately large feelings of pain began shooting up from his feet causing him to collapse.
"OWWWWW!" he screamed out in agony as it felt like bones in his feet had literally ripped through his skin.
"Harry Potter came back to school, Dobby warned and warned Mr. Harry Potter Sir. Dobby told him it was not safe! Ah, sir why didn't you heed Dobby?" He was barely able to keep his eyes open with all of the pain shooting through his body, but through the shots of pain he could make out that the pop and voice belonged to the house elf Dobby that had appeared in his room two different times over the summer and had tried to stop him from coming to Hogwarts.
"Umbrosio!" Harry heard Marik cast his shadow magic spell from across the room.
"What the hell Dobby! Owwww!" he screamed out in agony again as the pain got worse. He could see Marik's spell had four shadow arms holding the house elf in place by each limb. The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long pointed nose.
"Harry are you okay?" Hermione asked him as she made her way over to where he was laying on the ground. She looked scared, her face was filled with worry.
"I'm owwww… Fine Hermione. Dobby what did you do that for!" Harry shouted at the elf.
"Harry Potter sir did not listen to Dobby. So Dobby is protecting Mr. Harry Potter sir. Dobby feels bad Sir, Dobby even had to iron his hands! But Dobby doesn't care, he just wants Harry potter to be safe," the house elf replied.
"Protecting him? Can't you see your little stunt just hurt him? You could have seriously harmed him or even killed him!" Hermione shouted angrily at the small elf.
"Dobby is sorry Mr. Harry Potter Sir. Dobby will punish himself later for hurting Mr. Harry Potter Sir. It was the only way Dobby could think to save him. Now Mr. Harry Potter Sir will need to leave Hogwarts to go to St. Mungos to get better. Now Mr. Harry Potter Sir will be away from Hogwarts and will be safe," Dobby said to the group.
"Are you insane!" Marik shouted and the shadow hands gripped the elf tighter.
"Dobby I am not leaving Hogwarts! Owww!" He started saying through the pain. "If you want to protect me then don't hurt me like this and just tell me what is so unsafe!" Harry finished. He was starting to see spots of black in his vision.
"Dobby is sorry Mr. Harry Potter sir. But this was the only way Dobby could think of," Dobby replied.
"Protect Harry from what? Why isn't he safe at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked the house elf, her voice starting to sound angry.
"Dobby must not be saying. Dobby is a bad house elf. Dobby is happy though that Mr. Harry Potter Sir will now be safe," the house elf said.
"Answer her! Why is Harry unsafe?" Marik said shouting. His shadow hands continued to tighten their grip.
"Dobby must be going now." The house elf snapped its fingers and disappeared leaving only dust and four empty shadow hands behind.
"What the hell just happened?" Marik shouted as the elf disappeared.
"Harry you are shaking! The house elf is probably right. Look at your feet Harry we need to get you to a doctor," Hermione said. He could see through the splotches of black that she had a few small tears in her eyes.
Fighting through the pain he looked down at his feet. If they had not been attached to his legs he would never have recognized them as his. The ankles were swollen lumps of fur and his toes were crumpled up. Each of them looked broken and he could see from the bumps on his feet he most likely had some broken bones there to.
"Owww. Hospital wing… Help Oww! Please!" He barely got the words out through the pain.
"Marik can you summon him a wheelchair or something to carry him on. Hold on Harry! I think I have a leftover numbing potion vial somewhere in this lab," Hermione said and instantly went searching through nearby shelfs.
"Here Harry lay on this," Marik said to him. Marik had charmed a cushion on the nearby couch to grow into a body length pillow that almost looked like a stretcher. Marik helped him lay on it and proceeded to levitate the makeshift stretcher and him into the air.
"I found it!" Hermione shouted from the other side of the room. Her shout made another shot of pain shoot through his body. "Here Harry drink this," Hermione said as she opened up the vial and helped him drink it. After a few seconds his entire body had gone numb and it felt like he was just a floating head. He started to feel a little bit loopy to, the potion was certainly strong. "Better?" Hermione asked him still looking scared.
"Much better. Thank you Hermione. You are the best… and the prettiest," he said with a slur. Everywhere around him was starting to appear wavy and he was seeing weird splotches of color all over the place.
"Haha. I would say the potion worked, maybe a little too well. Hermione when you're done blushing let's get him up to the hospital wing," Marik said, the anger in his voice from earlier replaced with a few snickers.
"Shut up Marik!" Harry heard Hermione shout.
"Hospitaall wingg… Wing… Wing. . ." he said from his stretcher.
"Yes Harry we are taking you to the hospital wing. He must have used up a lot of magic during the ritual spell. Normally your magic is supposed to burn off most of the side effects but since he is acting this loopy I'm guessing he doesn't have much magic left at the moment," Hermione said to Marik.
"Wings is a good idea… Ermioneee!" he shouted uncontrollably at her.
"Yes Harry?" Hermione was saying from above him.
"Remind me wingz. . . Wingzzez is a good ideas," he mumbled out.
"I will Harry I promise. Let's go Marik," Hermione said looking concerned. Harry could feel his body along with the stretcher being moved through the air and out of the dark potions lab.
"Were on the first floor Harry just a little bit further," he could hear Marik saying from somewhere near him. Most of his surroundings were too wavy to make out where they were in the castle but from all the light coming from the windows he could see they were no longer in the dungeons.
BAM! He could hear a loud explosion sound from somewhere near them.
"What the hell!" he could hear Marik shouting. "Hermione you hold on to Harry!" Marik was shouting.
Harry rolled his head over to the side to try and see what the sound had been. His head felt like a wave of water had just collided into it as his head moved. Through all the waves in his vision he could make out three people in front of him. There were two people facing each other down the hall and from the sound and the flashing lights it looked like they were dueling. Marik was running towards them.
"Petrificus totalus!" Harry heard one of the two people say from the hall. The voice sounded like it was a girls.
"Expelliar… Ahh!" he heard the other voice shout followed by a loud thud.
"Expelliarmus! What the hell is going on!" the voice he recognized as Marik's shouted.
"Leave me al. . ." the girl's voice started to shout but ended abruptly. After that all he could hear were footsteps running down the hall.
"Harry wasn't that…" Hermione started to say.
"Hermione you take Harry on up. It looks like he broke his nose when she hit him with that spell so I need to carry him up behind you both," Marik was saying. Harry felt his body begin to move again through the hall.
"Ermionnee what 'appened?" he asked Hermione through slurred words.
"I will tell you later Harry when you aren't so loopy. Right now you just rest, we are here," Hermione replied. Sure enough the lights from the window disappeared and were replaced with the warming torch light of the hospital wing.
"Madame Pomfrey!" Harry heard Hermione shout as they entered the hospital wing.
"Yes dear? Oh MY. Harry Potter what the bloody hell happened this time!" Madam Pomfrey shouted.
"He was doing a complicated transfiguration spell when a house elf appeared and broke his concentration," Hermione explained.
"Why on earth was he doing such a complicated spell then! My word I swear some of these professors push you all too much. Look at what has happened!" Madam Pomfrey was saying frantically. Harry could feel himself being lowered onto one of the hospital beds and Madam Pomfrey working on his feet.
"It wasn't his fault mam, and I have another patient for you here," Marik said from the entrance of the hospital wing.
"And what happened to this boy? Don't tell me you were practicing your complicated spell on this boy Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey shouted again.
"Mpfff," was all he managed to get out. Hermione's potion was much too strong for him to make sense of much of this.
"No, two students were dueling in the hallway and this guy drew the short straw," Marik answered, from somewhere across the hospital wing.
"Yes, well, put him in that bed over there Mr. Ose. A broken nose will have to wait until I'm finished here. Miss. Granger will you go grab my skele-grow potion supply from my office, I trust you know what it looks like?" Madame Pomfrey asked Hermione.
"Yes Madam Pomfrey," Hermione replied, and scurried off.
"Harry my dear this is going to be quite painful even with the numbing potion you are on. Mr. Ose can you come help me over here," Madame Pomfrey shouted across the hall.
The next half hour or so was hell. This injury even with the numbing potion was at least fifty times worse than any other injury he had ever received in his life. As Madam Pomfrey continued to work slowly the numbing potion began to wear off and his world became less wavy. Less wavy and a lot more painful.
"Ugghh," he managed to say out loud as some of the last waves left his vision.
"Harry!" Hermione said from next to him. "I'm so sorry," she apologized, he could see tears in her eyes.
"I'm okay Hermione you don't need to be sorry," he replied, hating seeing her cry.
"You are anything but okay Mr. Potter. I was able to revert the transfigured parts of your body back to their normal sizes and shapes but there was serious bone damage done . You are going to have to drink two doses of skele-grow potion everyday for at least two weeks before all the bones will be regrown. All those tiny bones in your toes and feet will surely make this a painful process. I'm afraid I won't be allowing you to leave here or be on your feet for at least a few weeks as well," Madam Pomfrey told him.
"But I can't miss my classes and private lessons! Is there anything we can do to speed it up?" He argued back. Missing even a day of class was risky business, there was no way he could miss any more than that and hope to pass.
"This is non-negotiable Mr. Potter. You should be thankful you will be able to walk again pulling a stunt like this! And I am sure Miss Granger and Mr. Ose will be able to keep you up to speed in your classes and get your assignments from your professors. As for your private lessons with Minerva… I will leave telling her what happened to one of you," Madame Pomfrey said with a smirk. Harry knew the overprotective parent side of McGonagall that she had towards her students would surely injure him almost as bad as he already was when she found out what happened. "Miss Granger I am going to take care of this broken nose, I am leaving you in charge of giving Mr. Potter his next skele-grow dose in thirty minutes," Madame Pomfrey said turning to the other boy in the wing.
"Yes Madame Pomfrey," Hermione responded.
"How you hanging in there Harry?" Marik asked him from the side of his bed.
"I feel much better now. Thank you guys for taking care of me. And Hermione you're numbing potion felt much more like a get-Harry-as-loopy-as-possible- potion than a numbing potion," Harry answered, trying to make a joke. Hermione was looking much too sad to laugh though as she sat next to him.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I should have known with your magic being so drained it would have side effects." Hermione looked down at her feet as she apologized.
"You were saying some pretty funny stuff Harry, I enjoyed it even if you didn't," Marik joked beside him and Hermione reached across the bed to give him a slap.
"What happened in the hall Marik? I could barely see anything but it looked like you got in a duel with some people," Harry asked.
"I wish I would have gotten in a duel with someone, I could go for blowing of steam at this point, but no. It was two first years from the looks of it. I just stopped them from killing each other. Or I guess I should say I just stopped that kid over there from getting his ass kicked more than he already was," Marik answered.
"Why were they dueling?" Harry asked.
"Not sure. I think we came at the tail end of it," Marik answered.
"Harry actually I think the girl who was dueling was your cousin," Hermione said to him.
"Hermione it clearly was not Daphne dueling. That first year would have his entire face broken not just his nose if he tried to duel Daphne," Marik replied.
"No not Daphne Marik don't be dense. I meant Harry's cousin Alina. I recognized her from the times I've seen her before," Hermione interjected, turning to look at him.
"Alina? Why would Alina be dueling? Daphne was always the cold one. I've never been that close to Alina but she has always been known to be sweet and more like Sirius than her sister," he answered. Alina definitely did not seem like the person to start a random duel.
"Maybe he was picking on her or something. She seemed pissed off and distraught when she left the scene. From the looks of his robes the boy she was dueling is in Hufflepuff too so maybe it is some inner house thing going on," Marik added.
"Well we will keep our ears open to see if we hear anything for you Harry," Hermione said and tried to force a smile.
"Thanks Hermione," he responded, still curious about why his cousin had been dueling another student.
"Man today has been a strange day. A random duel between first years, you getting injured, a random Hogwarts house elf appearing to get you sent out of Hogwarts. Speaking of which now that you aren't high on potions spill the beans on what the hell that was all about and how you knew that elf's name!' Marik told him. He had been hoping to avoid this conversation. Especially now with him being injured he did not want to worry his friends anymore.
"Well. . ." he started thinking of the best way to put things to not worry his friends.
"Just tell us Harry!" Hermione shouted, her voice filled with fire.
"Fine. The house elf appeared in my room over twice over the summer. It warned me not to come to Hogwarts this year," Harry said quickly, trying to rip the bandage off as quick as he could and get the conversation over.
"What? And you are just now telling us this now! Are you bloody dense Harry! This is something you should tell us the second it happens!" Hermione was shouting at him.
"Shhh Hermione, not so loud," Marik was trying and failing to calm her.
"Why isn't Hogwarts safe?" Hermione asked him. Her scar combined with her glaring eyes gave her an intimidating look that rivaled most professors.
"I don't know Hermione. Dobby said he couldn't tell me. It's probably no big deal. Last year Hogwarts wasn't entirely safe either. I mean a troll attacked us. I didn't want you guys to worry about me for nothing. You are all too busy this year to spend time worrying about me. I will be fine," Harry tried to get her to relax.
"Still, even if it is nothing Harry even so you should have told us. We are your friends. I tell you everything. Even if it is nothing me and Marik are here for you and want to help you. So even if this is all just a crazy house elf trying to kill you or whatever we want you to tell us so we can help," Hermione argued, a few more tears in her eyes. He really did hate seeing her like this, especially when he knew those tears were due to him.
"I'm sorry Hermione," he tried to apologize, but Hermione looked like she wasn't going to let this go.
"So the elf didn't tell you anything, or give you any clues?" Marik asked breaking the silence.
"No the times I have seen him he just said Hogwarts isn't safe for me and that I should stay home," Harry answered.
"We should tell the Headmaster. Maybe he can do something to help, or increase security or something," Hermione added.
"No Hermione, I will be fine. We don't need to cause an uproar just because one crazy elf said something. We will just keep our eyes open and if we see anything then we can take it to the Headmaster," he replied. He really just wanted them to drop it. They didn't need to worry about him.
"Well you can keep your eyes open in here for the next few weeks then Harry. Marik, Harry needs a dose of skele-grow potion in five minutes," Hermione said in an angry tone and stood up. She started walking out of the hospital wing.
"Hermione wait. Where are you going?" Harry asked her. He felt a sting of sadness come over himself as he watched her walk away. She was clearly mad at him.
She didn't reply as she open the door and walked out of the hospital wing. Marik waited for a few more minutes to give him his potion before quickly heading out as well to check on Hermione, leaving him alone in the hospital wing with nothing but his mind racing and his pain dancing around his body.
Maybe coming to Hogwarts this year was a bad idea.
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