Ginny was walking down the stairs, a bit tired and not knowing what she was doing the previous day while the others told her about the Halloween feast. The last thing she remembered was that she was writing in her diary and then she woke up this morning, one pair of her robes covered in red paint. She sent that pair to be cleaned and picked a new set when she wanted to go to breakfast. When she sat down, she asked herself why the others moved away from her, when she saw in the reflection of a bowl on the table that she looked sick.
It was this moment when she heard Harry asking her if anything was wrong. She did jump back a bit in surprise when she turned afterwards towards Harry, looking into his green eyes. She was still not confident enough to just talk with him, but thanks to the fact that he had visited during the summer, she could answer him with only the minimal stutter.
"I-I think I did not sleep well. Somehow, I am still tired. I was thinking of going to the hospital wing to let Madam Pomfrey check me over just in case. Did you ever have that problem?" Ginny was looking now at Hermione, as the dorms of the girls had to be similar in contrast to the boy ones. Hermione answered that she also had some small problems to sleep through the night in the first few nights, so it was not unheard of. But she would accompany Ginny to the hospital wing so Madam Pomfrey could look over her just in case, as the first period of this day was free.
In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was going through the stook of her medical supplies when she heard the door open. As the first match was still a way off, she was wondering who could come in on this time of day. When she looked out of her office door, she recognized the red hair of a Weasley almost at once, having them in her on a regular basis since Charlie was the seeker of the Quidditch team. But she surmised that it had to be the youngest daughter, as the length of the hair only allowed this conclusion, knowing Molly Weasley from back in the day when they went to school.
"Ah Ms. Granger and Ms. Weasley. How can I help you?" Madam Pomfrey walked out of the office next to the beds in the room, giving them enough time to come over to her.
"Good morning, Madam Pomfrey. Ginny does not feel so well, and we thought that you could take a look at her in case she is sick." Hermione placed her hand on the back of Ginny and guided her towards the nurse who pointed to a bed where Ginny could sit on while she examined her. Madame Pomfrey then used some spells to look for something strange with the girl, finding only that she had not slept enough the night before and was just tired. She gave Ginny a small dose of pepper up potion and told her that she should go to sleep a bit earlier tonight so she would catch enough sleep for the next day. "You see, it is normal that first years end up here in the first week, as they are naturally nervous to be here in the first place. Especially the muggle-born who do not know what they should expect, so do not think less of you Ms. Weasley. Now you may go, classes will start soon."
Hermione and Ginny thanked her when they left for their classes, motivated to learn. When they arrived by the staircases, they said their goodbyes to each other when they had to go their separate ways. Hermione did make it just in time before the door to the classroom opened and Professor Flitwick told them to come inside for the lesson to begin.
John was once again standing in the hallway where they found Mrs. Norris and investigated all the clues he could find. He did send word to Harry that he would like to have him here and if he had the time he should come as the classes should always take priority. When he heard someone coming closer, he looked up and saw Harry walking up to him while he looked at the wall with the writing on it. "Do not worry Uncle John, I have a free period now. I thought that this writing would be removed by now. So, for what do you need me?"
"Good, I would not want you to skip class. And it was not like Mr. Filch did not try with some cleaning products to clean the wall, but it resisted all attempts from him. And this is another reason why I want you here now, as your senses since the mutation are now sharper than the sensors in my armor. Could you look around and see if you find anything?" Harry nodded to John and concentrated on his eyes, to see a bigger color spectrum then normally. Thanks to that, he saw where the water was yesterday and that there were some small footprints right next to something big that dragged itself over the floor. But those traces were rather short, like the attacker of the cat was interrupted by something or someone. But when Harry looked at the wall once again, he saw that the writing was protected by what looked like a wall created by magic. As the traces on the floor seemed older than the writing, he deduced that whoever attacked the cat wrote it after he or she opened the chamber.
Harry stepped a bit closer to the wall, trying to see if the paint was dry or still a bit wet. That could tell him when it was written and if he just missed the person who did this. "Hmm, it seems that the paint is still wet, if it is because of the spell not letting air on it to dry up or that when I came running around the corner it was only finished in time so the person could escape, I do not know. Maybe we should ask Geralt to come, he has more experience than me after all." Harry then turned around and asked John if he noticed the footprints on the floor, to which he nodded.
"The thermals did show them to me, so they had to be fresh when we arrived. As for calling Geralt, I already did that, he should be here any moment now. I just wanted to give you some time to exercise your new senses, because I am afraid that they could get duller when you are not using them often enough." John was now looking at the torch bracket, where the cat was hung up to, looking for some leftover material from the rope. Soon, both heard Geralt coming around the corner, his sword strapped to his back. His cat-like eyes were already glowing brightly, so he had already looked at some traces in the castle.
"Hello you two. Harry, should you not be in class now?" Geralt looked sternly, but after Harry told him that he had a free period now, Geralt relaxed a bit. "Now, when I walked up to you, I noticed some older traces of something big moving over the floor, and it leads to this bathroom right next to you. So my guess is, whatever was attacking that cat and petrified it, came from there." Harry looked at the door, seeing that it was a girl's bathroom. He was adamant to not enter it, as when a girl was already in there he would be screamed at. But Geralt did not mind and just opened the door enough so they could listen if someone was in there. When they heard someone crying, the first thought was that a girl had to be there, but the scanners from John did not show any life form in there. Geralt stepped in and was confronted with a ghost from a girl, looking at him now angrily.
"THIS IS A GIRL'S BATHROOM!'' the ghost screamed, but Geralt and John just stood there, while Harry noticed that he had to go to the next class, so he said his goodbye. Geralt looked around the room, telling John to record it for later views if he would find the hiding spot. Both of the men ignored the ghost with well-practiced ease, and soon Geralt found the end of the trail by a sink where his medallion was vibrating. He tried to sense what kind of spell it was, but there was no illusion that would hide a door or something similar, so he was at a dead end for now.
"Whatever came out of here, it returned to the place it came from. And as far I can see, this is the only entrance to the hiding place, so if you watch the outside, you should see who did it the next time there will be an attack. I guess the cameras outside are yours?" Geralt turned to John, who nodded and both men left the bathroom still under the screams of the ghost. Now both men could only hope that if there would be another attack, that there would be no one dying. John decided to let Cortana make a file out of the video feed of his helmet camera, in case he would have to show it to someone it would be prepared.
Once again, time seemed to fly by as Harry noticed between the Quidditch training, classes and study sessions with his friends that the first match was soon upon them. One sign was also that the Slytherin house was beginning to sabotage the well-being of the players from the opposing team. Harry was already used to this, but he still had to watch out for any spells flying towards him in the hallways, but thanks to his senses and with the help of Callie he was always aware when a spell would be fired his way. But he was wondering why the students were even doing this, as they should all know by now that Slytherin had the newer and faster brooms. But he found his answer as some older Slytherin discussed with each other on this topic, as they saw some flaws in the training of his house team and their slow turning as they were not used to the speed, but had not enough time to train more with the brooms they were used to from last year. For Harry it seemed that all the Slytherin players saw the mistake they made, all except Malfoy who bragged to everyone who listened how they would destroy Gryffindor in the match today as they all ate their breakfast. He was even talking loud enough for the Gryffindor to hear him, but the team just ignored him.
Soon after, the students walked down to the Quidditch pitch with the colors of their favorite team of this game draped over their robes, almost splitting the students of Hogwarts in half. Hermione was sure, even if she did not understand much about this sport, that some of the Slytherin supporters cheered them on only because they had the faster brooms. But she was sure that they had the better players, something that was also said from Oliver down in the locker room down on the ground. He tried to motivate his teammates to do their best for the win, especially Harry as his position as Seeker was the most valuable for this match. The sooner he found the snitch, the bigger chance they had to come out with a win, as the Slytherin would gain momentum the longer the match went on. That was something that Harry wanted to do either way, so he could show Malfoy that you should back your big mouth if you wanted to be taken seriously. Harry did train hard after all to keep his place in the team, as he liked to fly like this.
Callie had told him that John was also watching the match, not that Harry would not notice the big green armored man on the grounds, as the stands would not hold him in full gear. But to his surprise, some other guests were also here with the blessing of the headmaster and the commanding officer from John and the other Spartans. He was wondering why they would want to watch some students play Quidditch, but he pushed this thought away for later, as he had to concentrate on the game when they walked out on the pitch and made themselves ready.
"Hello Quidditch fans, welcome to the first game of this season. The weather is perfect for the players to give us all a good show. Now, let's greet the first team, the house in green, on the fastest brooms so far, SLYTHERIN!" Just as Lee Jordan finished his sentence, seven green blurs flew out of the hole in the stands which led to the locker room, and most spectators noticed that in front of them was the smallest player they had, his blond hair flat on his head. As this position was normally the one of the captains, they wondered what Malfoy was thinking to speed ahead. But they were soon distracted once more when Lee announced the Gryffindor Team who then also flew as fast as they could out of their spot before all were taking their places on the pitch, ready to play.
On the stands, Triss was sitting next to the visitors from the UNSC, who wore some civilian clothes to not cause any suspicion from the students. As they were not the only grown ups from outside the school that was not an issue, they just had to do the same thing as the obvious scouts for the professional teams were doing. The man beside her did wear some sunglasses, his brown hair in an unruly hairstyle. His attention was on both smallest players on the field, as his understanding of this sport told him that those two had to fly around in search of something golden, and this resulted in something like a ballet when they try to fool the player of the other team to make a mistake.
As Madam Hooch blew her whistle to start the game, the players scattered and Katie Bell grabbed the Quaffle and stormed towards the Slytherin hoops, but she was blocked by Marcus Flint, who took the Quaffle away from her and now flew towards his target, the hoops behind Oliver. But Oliver was prepared, and as Flint threw the ball towards him, he caught it and passed it back to Angelina. She then speeds off with Fred and George trying to keep her way clear, but both of them wondered why there was only one bludger flying like it should.
Harry evaded the bludger once again, which seemingly had it out for him. Even when Fred or George hit it with their bats, it changed course almost immediately and chased Harry down again. Luckily for him, Callie told him every time it would get too close for comfort, so Harry could evade while he was looking for the snitch. He was even fast enough to make enough room once to tell the Weasley twins to leave him be, as he could handle it well enough to not be hit. They should rather concentrate on keeping the other bludger aimed at the Slytherins. And they did an almost perfect job, as the Slytherin Beaters could not aim properly without one of the Twins intercepting the shoot with a well-placed swing.
But soon, the spectators noticed this too when some even pointed towards Harry, who just evaded another pass from the rogue bludger. Only Jordan kept his attention on the game itself, as Gryffindor just scored another goal, because the Slytherin keeper overshot the spot due to his speed. Thanks to this, Gryffindor was now 30 points in the lead and would now defend their goals as much as they could, as Oliver predicted, the Slytherin were now beginning to fly better then at the start of the game.
Malfoy was watching Harry, because as long Potter would be too occupied to search properly for the snitch, he thought he could take his time. He was laughing as Harry did another loop to evade the bludger once again and asked him if he was training for a ballet. Harry was angrily looking at him, being distracted enough that the next time the bludger came for him, it was almost close enough to hit him, but Harry had seen something golden hovering just above Malfoy. The only reason Malfoy had not noticed it was because he was laughing at Harry so he could not hear the snitch's wing flapping above him. But just as Harry wanted to dive down towards the snitch, the bludger turned a bit faster than last time and hit him on the arm. Pain shot through him from the contact, but he felt that nothing was broken in his arm, but one more hit like that would do it.
So, Harry sped up while he dived towards the ground and Malfoy, who evaded Harry just in time and then cursed when he saw the snitch flying away from him. Callie told Harry that the bludger was now on an intercepting course towards them and would come from his left, the same direction was Malfoy was closing in. Harry had an idea and slowed down enough so Malfoy would be right beside him. Using him as a kind of shield, he soon heard Malfoy grunting as the bludger hit him on the side, pushing him towards Harry, who braked suddenly and let him sail by him with the bludger still in his side. And just before the ball could change its direction, Harry flew once again after the snitch and did catch it, ending the game with a victory for Gryffindor.
Harry stopped in the air, holding his hand up with the snitch inside to show who ended the game, but instead to fly directly at him, his teammates screamed at him to watch out. He soon felt why, as the bludger hit his hand, this time really breaking some bones. As the bludger turned once again instead of falling to the ground, Harry could hear multiple gunshots coming from the ground, impacting the ball with great accuracy. But that only diverted the course from it until a spell did hit it, letting it explode. When Harry looked at the path the spell came from, he saw Hermione and Daphne holding out their wands and breathing hard, as they would have used a bit too much magic to get the spell fast enough towards their target. Harry then landed on the ground, holding his broken hand on his body.
"Harry, are you all right? Does anything hurt?" Hermione was now standing beside him, looking over his body if something was not right, when she noticed Harry's hand swelling up and now wanted to push him towards the hospital wing, when Professor Lockhart came up to them, saying that he could heal him in seconds. But at the same moment he pointed his wand towards Harry, the boy did throw him over his shoulder with his good arm and pinned him once again to the ground.
"Please forgive me Professor, but I warned you that I do not like a wand pointed at me, and as for your help, I would prefer it coming from a person that is competent enough to not screw this up." Harry did let him go again, as Professor McGonagall did tell him to watch his language and that she had to take some points from him, even if they were only 5 of them. She would then summon a brace for Harry's hand as a first help until he was by Madam Pomfrey. John was now also beside him, asking the teacher if he should carry him up to the castle. McGonagall just nodded and told the other students to make way, as this incident will be investigated because there was a suspicion that this bludger was being tempered with, and even the scattered remains could hide a clue to who did it. John lifted Harry up and carried him up to the castle, while he was followed by the rest of the Gryffindor team and Harry's friends, while Triss lead John's visitor back to his transport.
Soon, Harry was placed in a bed in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey checking his injuries. As the only thing she did find was his broken hand, she mended it with a spell, but asked him to stay the night to see if this would have been enough and if the swelling would return to normal. Harry did not understand why he should do that, as his hand was healed perfectly, but Madam Pomfrey was resolute and told him to sit still now. Her tone did not leave and spot to negotiate so he laid still on the bed. When she left his side, the rest of the team walked up to him and congratulated him on his flying. "You were awesome Harry. I could not think of another player evading the bludger as well as you did. It was like you had eyes in the back of your head." They all had a laugh, not knowing on how close they got at his secret. Of course, it was rather literal but having an AI with sensors to check his surroundings was just like having said eyes in the back. When the rest of the team left the hospital wing to party on in their common room, Hermione and Daphne stayed a bit longer, with Triss also in the hospital wing and wanting to talk with him.
The visitor was now flying back into space, talking about his findings on the game. "I have to say, seeing the boy flying like a fricking Banshee had launched a plasma torpedo at him has confirmed the captain's tale of him being a good flyer. What do you think, should I suggest inviting him to the Infinity for a small demonstration in a fighter? If he can fly like that in a Sabre, he could even rival me." Maverick was now laughing at the face his partner showed him, as they both knew that Captain Lasky would not allow for the boy to come up to space. And even if he would allow it, he would have to run it through HIGHCOM, and they would not allow it for sure. When they arrived back on the flagship of the fleet in this operation, they were greeted by Lasky himself, grinning widely as he had already read the reports from Cortana on what happened during the game.
Back down on the planet, Harry was still talking with Hermione and Daphne about some theories on why the bludger was just chasing him down, when Madam Pomfrey told them that they should return now to their common rooms as it was soon time for curfew. Triss stayed together with Madam Pomfrey to keep an eye on Harry so he would not just stay up and leave the infirmary before they would dismiss him. Soon, the sun was going down and the only light in the infirmary came from the candles that were lit. After a short while, Madam Pomfrey did allow Harry to leave together with Triss as his bones healed perfectly. Harry walked down the corridors with Triss towards John's office, trying to make something out of the incident today. The bludger was to focused on him that it could have been bewitched from a student, so it had to be a grownup wizard, but according to the report that Callie had from Cortana, there was no spell cast since the beginning of the match, and the case with the balls was spell resistant, so it could not have been tampered with before the game.
In John's office, Harry saw him looking at the footage from his helmet on a screen and analyzed everything he saw in slow motion, hoping that he would see something that their trusty AI did miss because of a small glitch in the sensors. Just before Harry could call him out, he felt a small shift in the air around him and his medallion did vibrate shortly, giving him the hint that something was appearing out of thin air. Harry turned around fast and looked at the spot where soon after a small creature with some rugs as clothes now stood before them. John reacted soon after Harry, now recognizing the house elf Dobby in the room.
"Dobby? Why are you here?" Harry knelt down to be on the same level as the small creature now in front of him. Harry noticed that the hands from Dobby were bandaged, but he would ask him later.
"Harry Potter, sir, you promised me that the school would be safe. But the chamber has been opened again and there was one attack so far. And Dobby hoped you would leave the school when this happened, but you stayed!" Dobby was stomping with his foot on the floor. "And even now, after you were being hurt you decided to stay, even after I made the bludger chase you in the game." At this, Harry stood up and looked sternly at Dobby.
"Dobby, we told you that we would see to the safety of the students in this castle. But because you could not tell us who was causing this, we were caught off guard. Now that we are prepared, we will find out who did this the next time he or she makes a move. And then we will fight whatever is hiding in this chamber after we made sure that we can defeat or seal it off once again. Now, if you have more information for us, please tell us now." Harry was now kneeling next to Dobby, showing him that he was not angry at him for trying to hurt him as he understood the reason behind it. But he had to trust the young wizard in front of him.
Dobby was now wringing his hands, contemplating if he really could tell him more. It was that moment when he noticed something strange about Harry, like his magic was now different than before. It felt rawer as before, like a wild beast hidden under the layer of calm demeanor. He could only think of one reason to what have caused this change. He checked their surroundings if someone else was listening, except Triss as she knew already that he had visited them before. After he made sure that they were safe, he asked Harry if he was now also a Witcher. Harry wondered how he could know that and asked him that, to which Dobby answered him that he could feel it in the magic surrounding them. But before he could tell them more, they heard someone getting closer to the office and did vanish. Harry was now also on alert and stood ready in case it was the attacker.
When the door opened, Dumbledore came into the office, a sad look in his eyes. Harry could feel that something did happen while they were here and had their talk with Dobby, but it had to be something serious for the headmaster looking like that.
"Ah Harry, glad you are here. It seems that there was another attack tonight. Do not worry, like Mrs. Norris the victim is just petrified. Now as far I am aware, the Chief had put up some surveillance cameras around the castle just for this occasion, so if we can see the footage now to look out for whatever is there, that would be perfect. As for the name of the victim this time, Mr. Creevey was found near the hospital wing, and he also had a camera with him, but if he could have taken a picture of the attacker, we would not know as the film was burned inside the camera." Just as he finished his sentence, they heard a knock on the door and Professor McGonagall asked if she could enter. After they allowed her entrance, she came in the office, having the same look as Professor Dumbledore while looking at him. John then turned the screen with the camera feed around, so everyone could see what was on it. When John begun the playback, they had just seen a very big reptilian creature and a small red haired girl walking beside it.
"What does that mean Albus?" McGonagall was sounding worried, looking at Dumbledore for an answer. The only thing they heard from him was that the chamber of secrets was really opened again.
A/N: Hello there, here is another chapter from this story. Thanks once again for HowInMadeHowie for his editing skills. Hope you all still like the progress we made