While the polyjuice potion stewed, Harry and John had something else to occupy their thoughts. The first Quidditch match of the season, like last year, was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. The Gryffindor team were excited about having essentially two Harrys on their team in terms of flying skill, but the elephant in the room was the fact that the entire Slytherin team had Nimbus 2001s. And Malfoy wasn't a bad flyer in his own right either.
Still, when the team assembled in the changing rooms, Wood was more than ready to lift his team.
"They'll definitely regret letting that pile of slime, Malfoy buy his way into the Hogwarts Quidditch league. Let's show them that better flyers will outdo having better brooms every day of the week!", said Wood, his fervour and passion seemingly radiating off his very skin.
The team walked out onto the pitch, Lee Jordan as usual commentating as they did so.
"And here come Gryffindor, who've made a change to their lineup. Wood at keeper, Weasley and Weasley as usual as beaters, Johnson and Bell as returning chasers and Potter as their new pickup in favour of Spinnet. Only time will tell if it was a wise move, Spinnet is particularly dangerous, quaffle in hand! Rounding it all off is Potter at seeker, already a fan favourite after his performances last year!"
The cheers for the Gryffindor team echoed from three quarters of the crowd, as was normal for Gryffindor vs. Slytherin matches. Harry looked at John, as it was his first ever match, but he seemed to be revelling in it.
'No need to worry about him, unless his ego gets too big for his broom to carry', Harry thought to himself, smirking.
Madam Hooch flew out with the quaffle, blew the whistle and hurled the quaffle into the air.
The Slytherin's superior brooms had an immediate impact. Angelina was handily beaten to the quaffle, immediately putting Gryffindor on the defence. Harry chose to ascend above the match, hoping to catch the snitch as fast as possible. The longer the Slytherins were allowed to use their better brooms on the quaffle, the less of a chance Gryffindor had to win.
"Alright there scarhead?", asked Malfoy, smirking.
Harry grinned, not watching Malfoy at all, but watching John.
He wasn't alone; it seemed as if the crowd couldn't take their eyes off him.
"Potter somehow steals it straight out of Flint's hands! How did he do that? He's flying circles around Pucey, he's beaten Warrington too! He's scored! The power in his shot was too much for Bletchley! Ten-zero to Gryffindor!"
"I am. Your team's not", called Harry over the din of the crowd. Malfoy scowled and continued his search for the snitch.
The Slytherin team's superior brooms eventually started paying dividends. John had scored two more times and Angelina had scored another, but the Slytherins had managed to score four of their own. Harry cursed. If they were flying their own brooms and not essentially tried to buy the league through Lucius Malfoy, Harry could already tell that Gryffindor's superior skill would be wreaking havoc on them by now.
However, before long, Harry could no longer keep an eye on the rest of the game. One of the bludgers came out of nowhere, hurtling at breakneck speed for his forehead. Harry ducked, narrowly avoiding a concussion and looked behind him. The bludger was... coming back? Harry pulled his broom left, zooming away, then jerked it to the right, hoping to shake it off.
He didn't.
"I've got it!", came Fred's voice, and just in time to stop the bludger from crashing into Harry's ankle, he let loose an almighty swing, sending the bludger straight at Flint, who was attempting to stop John from scoring again. But Flint didn't even need to look at the bludger. It came back, heading for Harry. Again. And again. And again.
"Someone's fixed this damn bludger!", George roared slamming his beater's club into it again, watching as it swerved back and tailed Harry. Fred and George were now circling Harry, preventing the bludger from hitting him, but also preventing Harry from even seeing the snitch.
"We need a time out!", George bellowed to Wood, who thankfully called for it.
"Where were you two? We're tied sixty each and John was about to put us in the lead if it weren't for that bludger!" Wood growled angrily.
"We were thirty feet above him, trying to stop the other bludger from caving in Harry's skull! Something's not right, that bludger's only gone for Harry! Hasn't even changed targets once all game!", Fred explained angrily.
"You think the Slytherins did something?", asked John, fiercely rubbing at a bruise on his arm, likely caused by the other bludger.
"They can't have. They've been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice", said Wood, now looking worried.
"Look, Fred, George, you have to leave me alone. With you two circling me, the only way I'll get the snitch is if the damn thing flies up my sleeve. John's doing damage, but he can't outscore a snitch capture unless you protect our chasers. Maybe Malfoy will get the snitch, but you need to give the chasers a chance at outscoring him. Plus, I think I can deal with the mad one, maybe get it to hit Malfoy when we're both after the snitch", Harry explained.
Wood eventually agreed, though he didn't look happy about it.
He looked much happier five minutes later, when John had once again started dominating the Slytherin chasers, allowing Katie and Angelina to score three more times between them, not including John's own two further successful shots.
Harry meanwhile, was having a torrid time. He thanked whatever God may have been watching over him that Malfoy didn't notice the snitch hovering mere inches above his head, being too busy trying to get under Harry's skin with taunts, but Harry's pursuit of the snitch wasn't clean. Every so often, he had to swerve away from the path he would've liked to take, trying to avoid the bludger.
He did thankfully manage to keep Malfoy away from the snitch at the same time; every time the bludger got close, Harry flew straight at Malfoy, forcing both seekers off their path.
After one particularly sudden swerve, Harry couldn't see the bludger at all; he saw the snitch! Both he and Malfoy hurtled at the tiny fluttering ball of gold, and Harry's experience told him that he could get there first!
He held onto his broom with one hand, using his other to stretch out towards the snitch...
CRUNCH.
The bludger had completely caught him off-guard. It had flown in from the right and slammed into Harry's left arm, completely shattering his forearm bones. Blinded with pain, but refusing to stray from the path, Harry blinked furiously to stop his eyes watering. A yelp told Harry that the bludger had hit Malfoy too and the subsequent THUD made things even better; it had knocked Malfoy off his broom in its relentless pursuit of Harry.
Holding his broken arm against his chest, Harry squeezed his legs together around his Nimbus and with no other choice, chanced a gripless flight.
It paid off. Harry felt the adrenaline ebbing away as he landed, collapsing on the floor, suddenly weaker than he'd felt since the aftermath of his confrontation with Voldemort and Quirrel last year.
"Ha... we won", he said, weakly, not hearing Lee's commentary. Or anything at all for that matter. All he saw was black.
Harry woke up, perhaps a mere minute later, to the sight of blindingly white teeth.
"Oh no... not you", Harry moaned groggily.
"Doesn't know what he's saying! Not to worry Harry, I'll fix that arm of yours straight away!", said Lockhart.
"Can't I just go to the hospital wing?", Harry grunted through gritted teeth and trying his hardest to ignore the horrific, stabbing and throbbing sensation in his broken arm.
"It's a simple charm I've done countless times", said Lockhart, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Harry, who gulped and resigned himself.
"Brachium immendo!", he incanted.
To Harry's shock, the pain was gone in an instant. However, upon hearing Angelina's response, his relief was short lived.
"Gah! What happened?", she squealed.
"Ah, yes, well that can sometimes happen, but thankfully, you can't feel the pain, that's what you need to bear in mind. Weasley, if you could help Potter up to the hospital wing and ask Madame Pomfrey to err... tidy you up, Harry should be back to normal in no time", said Lockhart shakily.
Against his better judgement, Harry tried flexing his 'broken' arm, but nothing happened. In fact, it didn't even feel like an arm any more. Looking down, Harry nearly fainted again.
It didn't feel like an arm. It didn't look like an arm. It looked like a flesh-coloured mass of rubber.
"Should've been brought straight to me! I can mend bones in a heartbeat, but growing them back?", Madame Pomfrey seethed.
"You'll be able to, right?", Harry asked, starting to panic.
"Oh I'll be able to, certainly. But it'll be painful you know, regrowth of bone tissue is extremely painful Potter", she replied, placing down a bottle labelled Skele-gro.
It tasted like burnt steak in liquid form. Harry had to pinch his nose to swallow his dose.
"We won though. That was one hell of a catch", said Ron, grinning at Harry once Madame Pomfrey had gone to another patient.
"Yeah, that was ridiculous. Gripless flying, rogue bludger, throwing Malfoy off... feels like it's not even fair, you being on our team", said John, with a grin to match Ron's.
Harry couldn't help but smile back.
"What I want to know is how that bludger was fixed", said Hermione, frowning.
"Another thing to ask Malfoy when that potion's all ready", said Ron.
"If it was Malfoy, which I definitely don't think it is. A second year can't tamper with a bludger like that. You'd have to be really powerful and knowledgeable to do something like that", said Hermione.
"Malfoy's dad's got the influence. I bet he asked his dad to pay someone off to fix the bludger. Or maybe he got Flint or some older student to do it", said Ron.
"Well, it's not out of the question", Hermione mused.
The next day, Harry found Ron, Hermione and John in the "out of order" girls' lavatory occupied by Moaning Myrtle, already brewing up the Polyjuice potion. When he filled them in on Dobby's overnight visit and how he was the one who'd fixed the bludger, their jaws dropped.
"So he blocks the platform, steals your letters, tries to get you locked in your bedroom, then sets a bludger on you? Harry, if he doesn't stop trying to save your life, he'll end up killing you!", said Ron.
The absurdity of the statement made John snort.
"And he couldn't say anything about what he does know?", Hermione asked eagerly.
"No. Every time he got close, it was like some kind of force made him stop and instead he'd whack himself in the face or something", said Harry.
"So I guess Dobby being in your bedroom over the summer wasn't a joke from the Malfoy family then. He's serious and he knows something. You reckon there's a way to get him to show up again? Maybe convince or trick him into telling us what he knows?", asked John.
"Not that I can think of. Plus, if we got him him to tell us what he knows, I reckon he'd do some serious harm to himself. You didn't see it, the way he'd just... let loose on himself", said Harry. This made Hermione frown.
"Stick to the polyjuice plan then", said Ron firmly.
The plan went far from ideally. As if fate had set out that Harry, Ron, Hermione and John would only ever have one slim lead at a time, just like their previous year, all they knew was that the last time the Chamber was opened was before Malfoy's father's time at Hogwarts.
That, and they knew the previous occasion had resulted in the death of a muggleborn girl.
"Shit, this is serious", said John, once they'd gotten out of earshot of any of the Slytherins.
He didn't need to say it, but all three of their minds went to the same, dark place. Being a muggleborn girl, Hermione was in a lot of danger now.
Of couse, she was subsequently spending her time in the hospital wing anyway. The polyjuice potion hadn't worked properly on her, owing to her accidentally using a cat's hair in her dose.
If anywhere was safe in the castle during both days and nights, it'd be there.