Before we begin this chapter, I want to take the time to apologize for how late this chapter is. Sadly, some things happened in life that made it more difficult to write this chapter, especially since I consider this chapter to be Harry's worst time of the year. Thankfully there were some friends on discord who have read this story and encouraged me to get back to writing (They also recommended a great show to me, if anyone hasn't seen Grimm then I highly recommend it) I'm going to try and have second year finished as soon as possible so we can finally move on to the summer and third year.

I apologize for how late this chapter is and I want to thank all of you for being patient, I still have no intention to ever abandon this story. As of today, this story currently has 713 favorites and 1057 followers, when I first started this story I never expected to get anywhere near those numbers, it means a lot to me to know people enjoy this story, thank you and please enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 27

When news of the recent attack got out it didn't take long for rumors to begin to spread. In Hufflepuff Ernie and the other Hufflepuffs blamed Harry for Justin being petrified, Susan and Hannah managed to convince some that Harry couldn't have done it but unfortunately most of Hufflepuff believed Ernie. Thanks to Malfoy Harry knew that most of the Slytherins didn't believe he was the heir, unfortunately since most of them hate him they spread the rumors and did their best to make everyone believe he is the heir. Ravenclaw wasn't much different, there were a few who thought Harry wasn't responsible for the attacks but fear made most of them believe the rumors. Even in Gryffindor things weren't much better, despite McGonagall saying he wasn't involved in the last attack that didn't stop the rumors from spreading.

Ever since the attacks started students were afraid to leave their common rooms, many were believing they would be attacked next, the only time they would leave would be when they had to head to class or were with a group. Many students thought the teachers weren't doing enough about the attacks, because of this some of them even took it upon themselves to do something, with everyone believing Harry was responsible for the attacks this led to him being targeted by the students. The day after the attack Harry had just left another terrible potion lesson and was on his way to the astronomy tower, on the way there however he found himself having to dodge stinging hexes and tripping jinxes. The students started targeting him between classes whenever there weren't any professors and they blamed him for Justin and Penny being petrified, thanks to his dueling lessons he did dodge most of the spells but a few times the students managed to hit him.

Harry had hoped that was the worst it would get but soon he was proven wrong. Harry started having to pay more attention since many kept trying to prank him, during one of their lessons one of the students managed to slip an ink bomb into his backpack and ruin everything, Professor Flitwick helped him fix most of it but his homework was ruined and he had to redo all of it. During each meal Harry kept having to cast a detection charm on his food and drink since some students managed to potion them. Harry even found himself spending more time in the dueling room since even Gryffindor tower wasn't safe, after he was woken up one morning by having a bucket of water dumped on him, he learnt how to cast a monitoring charm on the door each night.

In order to avoid having to deal with the other students Harry started to carry his invisibility cloak, he continued to make daily visits to the library to search for more information on magical creatures, since his friends were searching for information on the heir he decided to search for magical creatures. One day while Harry was flipping through a book, he found information on horned serpents and read they were a water dwelling snake, while he stared at the photo he started wondering about magical snakes. Harry thought back to when he heard that voice on Halloween and how neither Hermione or Nick heard it and it made him wonder if it was parseltongue, he soon started to search for information on magical snakes. Harry read about horned serpents, Ashwinders, basilisks, Runespoors, and other magical snakes but none of them had the ability to petrify.

Thankfully not everything was going bad in his life, a lot of his friends were still by his side looking out for him and Fred and George even took it upon themselves to prank anyone who tried to prank him. He also practiced his occlumency more to try and block out all the staring and whispering, he did his best to keep a neutral expression so he doesn't worry his friends.

Shortly after the last attack Fay and Sally-Anne came up to Harry and told him to visit the hospital wing to see Hermione, the two girls could tell Harry was bothered by all the rumors so they knew he would be in a better mood after visiting Hermione, they let Harry spend the hour after dinner with Hermione since they didn't mind visiting during his detentions on the weekend. During their first few visits the two friends talked about the attack and studied together, soon Hermione got Harry's mind off the attacks by changing the conversation to different topics, they even started reading together again. Hermione insisted that since Harry read to her over the break that this time she should read to him, she even told him to sit on the bed with her so he could see the page they were on. The two kids blushed a bit at the closeness but they didn't mind spending more time together, a few times while they were reading Hermione even used her cat tail to flick Harry's nose by surprise, the smile he gave afterwards brightened her mood. Madam Pomfrey often glanced over at the two students and smiled; she knew Harry was having a difficult time because of the rumors but she was glad to see how visiting Hermione made him smile.

Harry continued to use his cloak to make more visits to the library, while hidden under the cloak he would sometimes overhear conversations from the students, he ignored the rumors about himself but soon he paid attention when they started talking about his friends. During one of his visits to the library he heard a group of Hufflepuffs talking about him, they were talking about the rumors but soon they brought up Susan and Hannah and called them traitors for being his friends. Harry kept overhearing what other students were saying and the more he heard the more upset he became, the rumors that kept getting to him were when other students started to compare him to Voldemort saying he would be the next dark lord, they even started to compare his friends to death eaters and from what he heard Ernie was the one spreading those rumors. Whenever he heard those kinds of conversations in the library, he would make a sudden loud noise to attract Madam Pince's attention, he couldn't help but smirk to himself when the students would get scolded or even kicked out of the library.

When it came to their dueling lessons Flitwick had the students practice moving while casting their shields, he told them that standing still to cast a shield would put them in more danger so they needed to focus on continuously pushing their magic into their shields and moving with it cast. The students found it to be more difficult to run while casting and Flitwick even started casting spells at them to break their concentration, thankfully some of them were starting to manage to keep their shields up.

One day Harry was helped by someone unexpected, when he and his friends were on their way to defense one of the Ravenclaws cast a stinging hex at him, the spell nearly hit but someone yelled out a warning in time. Turning to the direction of the voice they saw Sir Nicholas appeared, the Ravenclaw quickly left and Nick turned to Harry and said he heard about the rumors and decided to look out for him when he could. After that day Harry noticed whenever some of the students tried to attack him Nick would appear to stop the fight, even a few times a teacher showed up saying a ghost informed them of students casting spells in the corridors. Thanks to Nick looking out for him Harry felt he could relax more, soon many students decided to just ignore him, although he still had to deal with the occasional prank.

Harry had even gotten more good news regarding his detentions, both McGonagall and Flitwick had gone to the headmaster and they agreed Harry's detentions would be divided between the two professors and Filch. McGonagall's detentions felt much easier since she had him help her with grading some papers, once he was done McGonagall let him work on any remaining homework he still had before sending him back to the tower before curfew. When he had detention with Flitwick it felt more like extra dueling lessons, Flitwick had Harry practicing casting different spells and had him work on his shield. Harry felt grateful to the two professors since he knew Filch would have wanted to make his detentions worse than they needed to be.

Soon January had come to an end and the first week of February had passed. Harry woke up early Monday morning and got ready to head down to the great hall, after grabbing his cloak he removed the monitoring charm on the door and made his way down the stairs, he had just reached the common room when he heard "Harry!"

Harry stopped when he heard that voice, he turned to the sofa it usually came from and saw Hermione was sitting there. He saw her cat ears and tail were gone and she looked like herself again, she gave a bright smile and Harry couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face. He started to move towards her but soon Hermione launched herself at him and hugged him tightly, he was glad to return the hug. When they broke the hug Harry said "How, I thought you still needed more time?"

"Madam Pomfrey spent most of the weekend undoing my changes, she checked this morning and said I should be back to normal and I can return to my classes."

Harry was happy to hear Hermione was back to herself again, the two made their way to the great hall together and Harry didn't bother putting on his cloak since the two talked the entire way. At breakfast it didn't take long for their friends to join them, they spotted Hermione and were glad to see she was out of the hospital wing and welcomed her back. Harry noticed Fay and Sally-Anne weren't so surprised and realized they must have already known. As breakfast continued Harry hadn't noticed how many students were in the great hall since he and Hermione were having their own conversation, while he listened to Hermione talk about how helpful his notes were Harry kept having this strange feeling, even though she looked like herself again Harry couldn't help but feel like something was different about Hermione, he couldn't figure out what it was.

Many students looked over in their direction but for a different reason, it was easy for the students to see how close those two were. Seeing the two of them together made some of the students wonder about the rumors, everyone knew Hermione was a muggleborn and she was also Harry's best friend.

When they got to their first class of the day Hermione felt uncomfortable when Lockhart welcomed her back to his class, this was the one class she didn't miss. Lockhart started class by welcoming Hermione back and handing her a signed photo of himself, once he started reading one of his books Hermione put away the photo in her backpack, she then turned to Harry and whispered "At least now I have something for target practice."

In charms Flitwick welcomed her back and was glad to see she was doing much better, Hermione thanked the Professor and said she would catch up on her work for class and their dueling lessons. Hermione hadn't had too much trouble, thanks to Harry's notes she was able to quickly catch up with the rest of the class, she quickly learnt to cast the freezing charm and shrinking charm they were practicing.

When history came to an end Harry and Hermione made their way to the library, Harry explained how he believed the voice he heard on Halloween was parseltongue and Hermione agreed to help him search for information on magical serpents. The two sat at their usual table and Hermione gathered a few books about magical creatures, they hoped one of the books had the answers they were looking for.

Over the next few days Harry and Hermione continued to search the library for information, their friends in Gryffindor couldn't join them most of the time so it was just the two of them. The two had been able to find information on different kinds of magical snakes but so far none of them had the ability to petrify their victims. During one of those days Hermione had thought of an idea while she was reading about sea serpents, she turned to Harry and asked "Harry, what was it like when you spoke parseltongue?"

Surprised by the question, Harry thought about it, he admitted "I didn't notice I was speaking parseltongue, I just remember telling the snake to stop and to not attack anyone."

Hermione's curiosity got to her, she put down her book and asked "Can you try speaking parseltongue?"

Harry could see Hermione was really interested in hearing him speak parseltongue, after making sure no one was around to hear, Harry faced her and tried to speak parseltongue but Hermione said he still sounded the same. Harry thought back to the duel and after imagining a snake in front of him he spoke, "~Hello.~"

Hermione was amazed and asked how he did it, hearing he needed to imagine a snake first Hermione grabbed one of their books and showed him a picture of a horned serpent. Hermione made Harry practice speaking parseltongue and after some time Harry noticed a slight change when he hissed. The two soon left the library since they noticed more students were showing up, after arriving at the dueling room Hermione instructed Harry to say different things in parseltongue, Harry listened and noticed Hermione was excited to get to learn about his parseltongue ability.

Since then, Hermione set some time aside for Harry to practice speaking parseltongue, she even went as far as to learn the spell Malfoy used and conjured a snake for him to talk to. Harry quickly learnt how to speak parseltongue without imagining a snake so now he could easily switch between the two languages. Hermione instructed Harry on what to say and listened to how it sounded in parseltongue, soon she even tried to copy it since she was curious if she could learn to speak it, unfortunately even when she thought she got it Harry said it sounded like hissing to him.

On Friday the two returned to their dorms after another day of searching the library and practicing in the dueling room, Hermione joined Fay and Sally-Anne in their dorm and the three girls talked for a bit but soon they were interrupted. Lavender and Parvati entered the dorm and the two were talking about a recent rumor going around, they got the attention of the three girls and Sally-Anne asked what were they talking about. The two girls explained that Lockhart has been talking about love and encouraging students to write letters for someone special, they heard a rumor that he's planning something big for Valentine's Day, while the two girls continued to talk Hermione thought about writing a letter and possibly handing it to Harry.

The next day Hermione returned to their dueling lessons, with how much she and Harry practiced over the week Hermione wasn't too far behind so Flitwick continued with the lesson. Flitwick continued to have the students practice moving with their shields while he cast spells at them, he told them to focus on the point his spells hit their shields since it'll help them understand how it feels to deflect spells with their wands. Harry and Neville managed to turn it into a game since Harry deflected the spell towards Neville, acting quickly Neville cast a shield and reflected it back at Harry, the students watched as the spell bounced between the two before the spell dispersed, seeing this Flitwick explain that when they reflect a spell it loses some magic.

With Hermione now out of the hospital wing this meant she had to attend her detentions, thankfully their detentions that weekend were with McGonagall. The Professor first instructed the two to work on their homework, she gave a slight smile when they said they already finished all their homework. McGonagall decided that for the rest of their detention they would help her grade some essays for the first years, while they were grading, they found Colin, Demelza, and Ginny's essays, they made a few corrections on Colin and Demelza's essays but found nothing wrong in Ginny's, once their detention was over McGonagall sent them back to the tower.

Sunday finally arrived and Harry had met up with Hermione in the common room before making their way down to the great hall, the two just entered the hall when they stopped in their tracks. They were caught off guard by the hall being covered in Valentine's Day decorations. Hermione knew Lockhart had something planned for the day but wasn't expecting this much, they sat down and as more students arrived Lockhart soon announced that to help put the students at ease, they were going to celebrate a day of love. For once Harry didn't have anyone staring at him since everyone was focused on the decorations, many of the students felt uncomfortable so they quickly ate their breakfast before leaving the great hall.

The day was only made worse when Lockhart revealed he hired dwarfs to deliver love letters for the students, soon many students felt embarrassed when the dwarfs loudly read the letters before saying who they were from. Harry was able to avoid most of the awkward situations since Oliver had scheduled another practice that day, the team quickly made their way to the pitch.

Oliver started to push the team harder than normal since their next game was against the Hufflepuffs, from what he heard the Hufflepuffs have made great improvements this year so he wanted them to be ready for the match. Harry continued to push himself since he wanted Gryffindor to finally win the cup, he practiced his maneuverability on his broom and dodged the bludgers sent at him. Harry kept his eyes opened and soon spotted a glint of gold and chased after the snitch, despite the twins' attempt to stop him Harry quickly caught the snitch, he heard cheering and looked down at the stands and saw his friends were there cheering him on.

After practice Harry took a quick shower before joining his friends on their way to lunch, Harry had almost forgotten about the decorations but was reminded when they walked into the great hall. The group of friends took their seats and started eating, it didn't take long for the rest of the students to fill the hall, Harry listened as Oliver talked about some things they would need to work on during their next practice, he made a mental note to read the book Ron gave him. As the team continued to talk Harry didn't notice that Hermione kept looking at him, she reached into her pocket and felt the envelope she had in there, she was about to ask Harry if they could talk after lunch when suddenly they heard a loud voice.

"Harry Potter!" Many Gryffindors turned and Harry saw standing behind him was a dwarf, the dwarf held up a letter and Harry's eyes widened when he realized what it was, before he could try and stop him the dwarf started reading.

To the boy-who-lived, the defeater of you-know who,

The one named Harry Potter, who my heart belongs to.

Harry's jaw dropped at what he heard, it was only made worse when he realized the hall became silent and everyone was listening to the dwarf, the dwarf continued.

With eyes as beautiful as an emerald gem,

When our eyes meet, I get lost in them.

Some of the students struggled to hold back their laughter, Harry felt his face turn red and even his friends around him started to feel embarrassed, the dwarf finished reading the last part.

A boy unlike any other, one impossible to find,

I have one important question; will you be my valentine?

Many students from all four houses burst out laughing and Harry felt humiliated, he kept his head down but glanced up at the students around him. There were several Gryffindors laughing while his friends looked embarrassed for him, he even noticed at the Slytherin table Malfoy and his group were laughing so hard that Goyle fell over. Seeing everyone laughing at him made Harry start to shake, he didn't listen when the dwarf mentioned who the letter was from, before anyone could say anything Harry got up and ran out of the great hall.

Hermione was the first to get up and follow after Harry, she felt she had a feeling she knew where he was heading. Arriving at the dueling room Hermione walked in and noticed Harry was casting several spells at the targets on the wall, Harry heard the door opened and turned to see Hermione showed up, she asked "Harry, how are you feeling?"

"I feel humiliated, it was embarrassing having that poem read in front of everyone, the entire great hall heard it and started laughing!" Harry felt frustrated and turned back to cast a reducto at one of the targets before continuing, "The rumors are already bad enough but now everyone is going to bring up that poem!" Hermione knew Harry was right, she could see Harry was under a lot of stress and it was starting to get to him, she was about to approach and say something but she stopped at Harry's next words, "I hate Valentine's Day, I just want the day to be over already!"

Hermione lost her grip on the envelope and didn't take another step towards Harry, with his back turned Harry didn't notice the look on Hermione's face. Hermione hid how she felt and suggested they could read together in the dueling room to avoid everyone, Harry struggled to use his occlumency to try and calm down before agreeing, Hermione said she'd go and get one of her books from her dorm and left before Harry could say anything. With the door closed Hermione leaned back against it, she pulled out the envelope from her pocket and saw Harry's name written on it, she felt her face drop and decided to head back to the dorm.

Arriving at her dorm Hermione closed the door behind her and walked over to grab one of her books, she pulled out the envelope and looked at it one more time before saying to herself, "Harry probably wouldn't want to read it, what would he think if he saw what I wrote?" Her mind thought back to her old school and some of her bullies.

She put the envelope in her drawer and closed it before grabbing one of her books and leaving, she took a deep breath and hid her emotions by trying to smile, as she left Hermione didn't notice that one of the beds had their curtains closed, as soon as she was gone the curtains opened up.

Harry's guess of how the students would act wasn't wrong, for the rest of the month he heard some of the students were quietly laughing at him, Malfoy and his group kept bringing up the poem every chance they could before asking if Ginny or Hermione wrote it. Harry did his best to keep up his shields as his friends told him to ignore the students, however since this year had been getting worse Harry felt the stress was starting to get to him. Harry even started to wear his invisibility cloak again to avoid the students on his way to the library, Hermione felt concerned and wanted to say something but wasn't sure what to say.

There search for answers in the library still came up empty, they had tried searching for information about the previous time the chamber was opened but they found nothing, they couldn't even find information on how many students were petrified back then. Harry was feeling frustrated since they haven't found any snake that can petrify their victims, a few times he even snuck into the restricted section at night to search but he still found nothing, he couldn't even find more information about parseltongue other than how it's considered a dark trait.

One day Harry noticed there was something off about Hermione, while the two did still spend time together he felt like something was bothering her. Harry had noticed a few times while they were in the library that Hermione was on the same page longer than she would normally be, he even felt like the two weren't talking as much as they normally would. He wondered what was bothering her but whatever it was she did her best to try and hide it and act like nothing was wrong.

Soon it was the twenty seventh and the day of the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match, Harry had hardly been able to eat since he felt nervous about the match so after a short breakfast the team made their way to the locker room. When Lee introduced the Hufflepuff team they got loud cheers from the students, Lee soon introduced the Gryffindor team but when he introduced Harry many of the students started booing him. Harry brought up his occlumency shields and did his best to focus on the game although his grip on his broom tightened.

The two captains shook hands before moving to their positions, Harry was waiting for the game to start but then he heard "Hey Potter!" Harry looked over and saw Cedric was close by, the older boy gave Harry a smile and said "Let's both do our best!"

Surprised, Harry was able to give a smile and say "Sure thing, Diggory!"

The game started and Harry moved to begin searching for the snitch, while searching he found himself listening to Lee's commentary, from what he was able to see the Hufflepuffs were giving them more trouble. The game went on for an hour and Hufflepuff was able to get ahead by fifty points, their keeper was able to block as many shots as Oliver so it came down to their chasers and slowly Hufflepuff was pulling ahead, Fred and George did manage to slow them down with the bludgers but their beaters were quick to defend the chasers. Harry noticed Cedric watched his team with a smile and knew they had worked hard to give them this much trouble, there were a few times the Hufflepuff beaters would send the bludgers to Harry even though he hadn't spotted the snitch yet, it seems they still blamed Harry for the attacks.

Harry continued to fly above the pitch while searching for the snitch, he knew if they wanted any chance of winning the game then he needed to catch it. He flew above everyone since the crowd would start booing him and shouting at him whenever he flew close, he did his best to keep his shields up and try and block out the crowd.

Throughout the game Cedric managed to trick Harry into following him a few times by pretending he spotted the snitch; the older boy gave him a smile after Harry realized it was a trick. Harry knew Cedric would be a challenge since he heard many say he's a skilled seeker, his broom was even considered the fastest before the nimbus.

The game continued and Oliver had just blocked the quaffle when Harry noticed a glint of gold out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the snitch and thought of flying after it but noticed Cedric was closer. Not wanting to alert the older student Harry continued to fly around as though he were still searching, he needed to get closer. The snitch hadn't moved and once Harry was certain he could get ahead he shot towards it, by the time Cedric noticed him Harry managed to get ahead. The snitch didn't stay still for long and soon took off while the two seekers followed after it, Lee soon noticed them and announced that the snitch had been spotted.

The two seekers followed the snitch and with the way it moved they kept switching who was ahead, soon the snitch moved in a straight path and the two pushed their brooms to try and catch it, with Harry being the lighter seeker he started to get ahead. Lee had noticed this and announced Harry was in the lead, unfortunately as soon as they heard that the students started booing loudly and even shouted several insults at Harry. The teachers were surprised by how the students were acting and tried to calm down the situation, Harry could hear the booing and insults being shouted at him but he tried to block them out, he saw the snitch was almost close enough to grab. Harry reached his hand out when he thought he was close enough and felt the snitch brush against his finger tips, he almost had it. Harry gave his broom one final push, once the snitch was within reach he reached forward and-

"Freak!"

Harry froze, of every insult being shouted at him that was the one he heard, he lost focus and felt his occlumency shields collapse and soon he could hear every angry insult being shouted at him. He didn't notice how close they were to the crowd until he looked and saw their faces, he could see most of the students had looks of anger as they shouted insults at him, they were calling him a monster, an abomination, a freak. Harry didn't realize he slowed down until Cedric caught up to him, he snapped out of it when he spotted the older student and tried to focus on the snitch, they both gave one final push with their brooms before reaching out to catch it, unfortunately Harry felt his hand collide with Cedric's hand as it wrapped around the snitch. The two came to a stop and when the crowd noticed Cedric holding the snitch the booing quickly turned into cheers for Hufflepuff, Harry stared in disbelief at seeing he lost, he turned to the score and saw they lost by two hundred and ten points.

Even among the cheering Harry could still hear some of the students were mocking him, Harry felt he was shaking so he quickly flew down to the locker room. Cedric stared at the snitch in his hand with disappointment, he knew he saw Harry was about to catch the snitch but something messed him up, he soon noticed Harry was leaving, he was about to follow him but was suddenly surrounded by his team as they were congratulating him.

Harry entered the locker room but kept his head down, even though the crowd was cheering all he could hear were the insults being shouted at him. Harry's breathing became louder as his grip on his broom tightened before he let out a yell and threw his broom against the wall, he quickly got changed and ran out of the locker room before anyone showed up, by the time the rest of the team showed up they found his broom and quidditch jersey laying on the ground.

Running through the castle Harry ignored the portraits that were telling him to slow down, in his mind he kept hearing the shouting from the quidditch game. After a while Harry slowed down and felt his eyes start to tear up, however he suddenly remembered the last time he cried in front of other students, the last time he cried in front of the Dursleys, he furiously wiped away any tears and said "No! Don't you dare cry! You swore you'd never cry again!"

Back at the pitch Hermione and the rest of their friends were worried about Harry, even though Harry tried his best to hide it they knew he had been under a lot of stress this year, after seeing how bad the crowd got, they went to the locker room to check on him. Hermione was the first to arrive at the locker room but the team told her Harry left before they got there, having an idea about where he went, she quickly left for the dueling room.

Arriving at the dueling room Hermione walked in and saw Harry was sitting on one of the sofas with his head in his hands, she noticed some of the targets had been destroyed while others looked damaged. Hearing the door open Harry looked up and saw Hermione had shown up, she looked concerned as she approached and asked "Harry, how are you feeling?"

Harry thought of saying he was fine but he knew Hermione wouldn't believe him, he felt like he didn't even have the energy to put up his shields anymore, taking a deep breath Harry said "I feel like everything is getting worse, ever since Halloween things have only gotten worse. Everyone keeps blaming me for Justin and Penny being petrified, we've read several books in the library and found nothing, the teachers are doing practically nothing to help, and I feel like I'm starting to lose it!"

Hermione listened as Harry's voice got louder and she could see the stress was getting to him, she hated seeing him like this and wanted to help but wasn't sure how. A thought suddenly came to her mind, it was a bit embarrassing but she felt it would help and right now Harry needed help. Hermione approached and sat next to Harry, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said "It'll be alright Harry, this year hasn't been easy but we can get through this, if you're having trouble then let me help you."

Hearing Hermione's gentle voice made Harry look at her and she gave a comforting smile, he felt he could almost believe her words, suddenly Hermione pulled Harry down and soon Harry found himself resting his head on Hermione's lap. Hermione placed a hand on Harry's chest to keep him from getting up, the two kids blushed heavily before Harry asked "H-Hermione, w-what are you d-doing?"

With a blush on her face Hermione answered, "You've been under a lot of stress Harry, it's not good for you, I want to help you," Her face softened, "Whenever my parents had a stressful day at work they helped each other, I've seen my mum do this for my dad to help him relax."

Hermione gave him a gentle smile before saying "Harry, for now don't think about the chamber, don't think about the rumors, don't even think about our classes, just close your eyes and focus on your breathing and try to relax."

To his surprise Hermione started to play with his hair and even started to hum a song, he didn't know what song it was but thought it sounded nice. With her hand still on his chest Harry knew Hermione wouldn't let him up, he decided to listen to her so he closed his eyes. Harry tried to push all thoughts of the chamber out of his mind and focus on calming himself down, he listened to the song Hermione was humming and felt it was soothing to him, he soon started to feel more relaxed.

Hermione could see Harry was starting to relax, she thought back to when she saw her parents like this and she smiled at seeing it was helping Harry. After some time both their blushes had gone away, Hermione could see Harry felt more relaxed so she decided to speak up, "I know it hasn't been easy Harry, I've seen the way the other students look at you and I've heard what they say, the rumors they spread keep making everything worse," Harry opened his eyes and looked up at her wondering where she was going with this, giving a gentle smile Hermione continued, "But that doesn't mean you have to go through this alone Harry, we'll get through this together and prove you're innocent. Even if the whole school tries to say you're the heir I'll tell them that they're wrong, they only know rumors about you but they don't know the real you like I do. You're the bravest person I know, you're a caring person, and you're a great wizard, but more than that, you're my best friend."

Harry felt his eyes widen slightly at her words; hearing her words and seeing her smile made him believe her. Harry felt the same feeling in his chest return, he looked up at Hermione again and once again thought something was different about her. Even though Madam Pomfrey said she was back to normal Harry felt like there was something different about her that he couldn't figure out. He wasn't sure if it was the lighting or the angle but Harry thought he finally figured it out, he felt himself blush lightly as a thought ran through his head, "Was Hermione always this pretty?"

Shaking the thought from his head for now Harry smiled at her words, he knew he could count on Hermione when he needed her. "Thanks Hermione, you're my best friend too."

Smiling, Hermione told him to close his eyes and continue to relax for as long as he needed, Harry listened and closed his eyes. Hermione continued to play with his hair and hum a song she had heard her mum hum, after a while she noticed Harry had fallen asleep. She looked down at his sleeping form and thought he looked peaceful, she smiled at him and felt the same feeling in her chest she felt when he was around her. While Harry rested the door to the dueling room opened and Fay and Sally-Anne walked in, the two girls were about to speak but stopped when they saw Harry was asleep. They could see Hermione was comforting Harry so the two girls gave her a smile before making their way back out the door, the two girls decided to find the rest of their friends and let them know Harry would be ok.

Some time passed and no one else had come by to check on them, Hermione guessed that the two girls kept everyone away, soon she saw Harry began to stir before opening his eyes. Seeing he was awake Hermione smiled at him, Harry felt his blush return before apologizing for falling asleep, thankfully Hermione said he wasn't asleep for long. The two got up and Harry felt the stress from the game was gone, he felt far more relaxed, he turned to Hermione and said "Thanks Hermione, I feel much better."

Smiling, Hermione said "Come on, I'm sure our friends are probably still worried about you and are waiting at the tower."

Nodding, Harry checked the time and saw it wouldn't be long until lunch starts so the two made their way back to the tower. Arriving at the portrait, Harry felt a bit nervous wondering what was going to happen, suddenly he felt Hermione take hold of his hand, she gave his hand a comforting squeeze and Harry felt some of his nervousness go away. The fat lady watched all of this and smiled at seeing their joined hands, she couldn't wait to tell the other portraits. Once they gave the password, she swung open and the two entered the common room, Harry had noticed the common room was mostly empty but soon he heard the voices of his friends and team call out to him.

The two were quickly approached by their friends as they were all worried about Harry, he tried his best to assure them he was alright, he even tried to apologize for losing the game for them but Oliver cut him off and said it doesn't matter. While this was going on, nearby some of the first years were watching them, Colin and Demelza were glad to see Harry was doing better however Ginny just gave a blank stare. With her diary open in her lap Ginny stared at Harry without showing any emotion, her gaze then turned to Hermione before focusing on their joined hands, seeing all of this Ginny went back to writing in her diary.

Harry had been asked if he still wanted to play as the team's seeker, he thought about it and even if the crowd reacts the same during their next game Harry was certain he could handle it. He agreed to keep being the team's seeker and the team was elated to hear that, soon Oliver got out Harry's broom while Angelina pulled out Harry's jersey and they handed them back to him. Harry asked where the rest of the Gryffindors were and was told most of them went to celebrate Hufflepuff's victory, Fred and George offered to go so they could test many of their experimental fireworks, however Harry told them not to and noticed Percy was watching them closely from nearby.

For the time being Harry and his friends sat down to relax while they waited for lunch to begin, some of his friends were still worried about him so Harry kept trying to reassure them that he was fine, they were soon interrupted by an excited Colin wanting to talk to the team so Harry welcomed the distraction. Hermione had let go of Harry's hand and was pulled aside by her dorm mates, Lavender and Parvati wanted to ask questions since they saw she was holding Harry's hand, thankfully Fay and Sally-Anne were there to stop the two girls, although Hermione knew the two would probably tease her later. Demelza joined the group as well but mostly talked with the chasers since she was interested in quidditch, although she did remind Colin not to overwhelm them with questions after what just happened. Ginny had remained alone but would often glance at the group of friends, her focus was mostly on Harry and Hermione as she continued to write.

The time for lunch soon came and the group of friends made their way down to the great hall, Harry noticed that Oliver and the twins stood protectively around him. They soon arrived before the rest of the students and they made sure Harry sat in the middle away from the other students. It hadn't taken long for the rest of the students to arrive, just as Harry expected many of them were still talking about the game and even saw some point in his direction and whisper before chuckling, he let out a deep breath knowing this was going to go on for a while. Harry even noticed McLaggen arrived and spotted him, he saw the older student had a cocky smile and walked over and was about to speak, thankfully Fred and George cleared their throats before waving at McLaggen, this was enough for him to lose his smile before sneering at them then moving to sit somewhere else. Lunch continued and Harry mostly listened to the conversations his friends were having, it made it easier to ignore the rest of the students, he had spotted his friends from the other houses looking at him but he was able to give them a smile to show he was alright.

When lunch was almost over Harry noticed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle got up and made their way over, he sighed knowing the git couldn't pass up the opportunity. With a cocky grin Malfoy walked up to the group and said "Hey Scarhead, I'm surprised you're here after such an embarrassing-"

He was cut off when Fay suddenly raised her hand with her wand ready and quietly cast a spell, since Malfoy was focusing on Harry, he didn't notice the spell until it already struck him. The spell almost seemed to have no effect but Fay, while smirking, asked "Are you alright Malfoy, it sounds like you have a frog in your throat." Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but soon he felt something come up, he tried to cover his mouth but soon he spat out a slimy slug, Fay did her best to hold back her laughter before saying, "Looks more like it was a slug in your throat."

This made many students burst out laughing, Malfoy's face turned red with anger and he tried to yell but was cut off when he spat out another slug. Harry started laughing but noticed Snape looked enraged and was rushing over, thankfully McGonagall got to them first. "Ms. Dunbar!" Everyone turned to the stern Professor, "I'm afraid that will be thirty points from Gryffindor and three nights detention with me for attacking a student!"

With an unapologetic look Fay nodded at the Professor and said "Yes Professor McGonagall."

Harry wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, for a moment he thought he saw the Professor's lips twitch as though she were trying to hold back a smile. Malfoy tried to speak again but was again cut off when he spat out another slug, McGonagall turned to him and said "Mr. Malfoy, I believe it would be best to visit Madam Pomfrey."

Malfoy glared at Fay before storming off with Crabbe and Goyle following after, McGonagall returned to the teachers' table and from what the students could see it looked like she got into an argument with Snape. The two were arguing since Snape wanted Fay to be given a worse punishment for attacking one of his students, however Dumbledore spoke up saying he trusts his staff to give proper punishments so Snape was forced to drop the matter.

Back at the Gryffindor table many were still laughing, the twins and Lee congratulated Fay for casting that spell at Malfoy and making a well-timed joke. Fay thanked them before turning to Harry and nodding at him, Harry thanked her for helping him out. Hermione asked Fay how she knew that spell, Fay explained it was a spell her mother taught her a while back. Ron was still laughing at what happened to Malfoy before managing to control himself long enough to tell Fay she was brilliant. Lunch soon came to an end and the group of friends made their way back to the tower, with how the day had gone Harry decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing, he realized he had been under a lot of stress and was pushing himself too much.

Sunday had been mostly uneventful, during his dueling lessons his friends kept asking if he was alright, they had heard more rumors begin to spread in their houses but Harry told them he was alright. Flitwick was glad to see Harry wasn't letting it bother him, however he was unhappy with how the students reacted during the game, he understood house rivalry but that was far worse than just rivalry. Their lessons continued and when it was over each of the students told Harry to count on them when he needed their help, this was enough to put a genuine smile on his face as he thanked his friends.

The next day was the start of March and Harry had gotten ready earlier than usual, Oliver had managed to set up another early morning practice since most of the team was free during their first class, normally Harry would have defense but Lockhart canceled the class because of another prank. On his way down the stairs, he spotted Hermione waiting for him, when she found out he was going to have another practice she promised to grab something for him to eat and she'd bring it to him during his practice, Harry thanked her and soon followed after the rest of the team and they headed towards the pitch.

Now that Hermione knew Harry had another early morning practice, she decided to head back upstairs to her dorm to grab a book she could read. Arriving at her dorm Hermione looked through the books she had and soon picked up the one she had on her nightstand, she glanced back at her nightstand and remembered the letter she still had there, she briefly wondered about giving it to Harry. She heard someone yawn and saw Fay had woken up, the girl sat up and spotted Hermione and said "Hey Hermione, I thought you would be at breakfast by now?"

"Harry had another early morning practice today so I came back to grab a book to read, I'm about to head to breakfast now."

Nodding, Fay said "I'll go with you." She got ready after a few minutes and soon the two left for the great hall, on the way Fay asked "So how were your dueling lessons yesterday?"

Hermione answered, "It went well, Professor Flitwick had us practice reflecting spells and all of our shields held up, the Professor even said our shields can reflect spells cast by more experienced duelers."

Fay looked surprised and said "That's amazing, my mum said a lot of the new recruits don't know how to properly cast even a standard shield, we're only in our second year and you can already do something even some adults struggle with!"

Hermione smiled at that, she thanked her and said "We've all been practicing a lot more during our free time, Harry and Neville even turned it into a game since they would reflect the same spell back at each other until it dispersed."

"I didn't know about that; I just thought the spell would keep bouncing back until it broke one of their shields. Hey, later can you help me practice with my shield?"

"Sure, we'll head to the dueling room after history. Also, the spell wouldn't keep going since each time it was reflected back it would lose a bit more magic, a spell is weaker when it's reflected so it wouldn't cause the same damage to the shield."

Fay nodded and wondered if she should try asking Flitwick if she could join their dueling lessons, she noticed Hermione suddenly stopped, she turned to her and saw her eyes seem to widen at a sudden realization. Fay asked "What's wrong?"

Hermione looked at her and said "I know what the monster is."

Shocked, Fay asked "What?"

"I know what Slytherin's monster is." Hermione exclaimed loudly, "I should have realized it sooner, we read about it in one of the books!"

Fay asked "What is it?"

"I need to go to the library; I need to show Harry!"

Hermione turned and quickly rushed towards the library; Fay ran after her saying she would go with her, as the two ran to the library they didn't pay attention to the girl they passed or the diary she was holding.

At the pitch the team continued to practice however Harry found himself feeling distracted every now and then, while he was looking for the snitch, he found himself looking over at the stands where his friends would usually sit, he spotted his dorm mates along with Colin but he didn't spot Hermione. He nearly got hit by a bludger but Fred yelled out a warning in time for him to dodge it, Harry tried to focus on finding the snitch but he felt a bit worried since Hermione would always be the first one in the stands. The team practiced for half an hour after breakfast started, Harry had noticed at some point Sally-Anne had joined them but he still couldn't spot Hermione or Fay, he was wondering what was taking them so long. Alicia had just dodged Fred's bludger and tossed the quaffle towards the hoops, Oliver moved to block it when suddenly the quaffle turned in a different direction.

The team turned and saw the quaffle was summoned by Professor McGonagall, she yelled out "Stop! Stop! This practice has been canceled; you are all to return to your common rooms at once!"

The team landed and many started complaining, Oliver said "Professor we can't, we need to prepare for our next match!"

The students in the stands approached wondering what was happening, McGonagall spoke up, "That is enough Mr. Wood, this practice has been canceled, return to your common rooms immediately, there are ghosts waiting by to guide you!"

Oliver complained, "Why?!"

McGonagall's stern expression seemed to vanish as she showed a look of concern before saying "There's been another attack." Many of the students gasped, Harry was shocked to hear this and wondered who had been attacked, suddenly McGonagall turned to him and said "It was near the library, two students have been attacked."

Harry was confused at first until his mind came to a conclusion, he desperately hoped he was wrong, he saw McGonagall still gave him a look of worry and he felt his blood turn cold, "No."

McGonagall couldn't look at Harry in the eyes, instead she said "Mr. Potter, would you and your friends please follow me to the hospital wing."

Harry didn't respond, he kept hoping he was wrong about who was attacked, he moved when he felt someone touch his shoulder and he saw Oliver with a worried look, he told him "Harry, go with the Professor."

Katie pulled his broom out of his hand and promised to look after it for him, he felt someone pull him and saw it was Neville, he noticed Ron and Sally-Anne followed the Professor as well, they all had the same look of worry on their faces. Harry felt himself follow after them but he hardly remembered the walk up to the hospital wing, he kept telling himself he was wrong or this was some kind of dream or even a cruel prank, anything other than the truth. When they entered the hospital wing that's when Harry couldn't deny the truth anymore, in one of the hospital beds was a petrified Hermione and a petrified Fay was in the bed next to her.

"Hermione!" Harry rushed forward and the Professor didn't try to stop him, Harry reached her bed and saw Hermione looked just like all the other petrified victims, she had her left arm to her side while her right arm was extended outwards to the side. With shaky hands Harry reached and touched her left hand and flinched when he felt how cold she was, a sound caught his attention as Sally-Anne began to cry at seeing her two best friends were petrified, that's when Harry noticed Neville was by his side while Ron was looking at Fay. Harry gripped the bed sheets in an attempt to stop himself from shaking, McGonagall approached and tried to put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry asked "H-How did this happen?"

McGonagall answered "They were found outside the library, an older student found them around the corner and called for a professor."

Harry thought of just earlier today, not even an hour ago, he had spoken to Hermione before heading to the pitch. Immediately he started to blame himself, he told himself he should have waited for her.

He heard Neville ask "How long until the mature mandrakes arrive?" Neville knew his gran had been trying to get the mandrakes delivered as soon as possible, unfortunately the minister was being stubborn.

They heard Madam Pomfrey speak, "We still don't know about any mandrakes being delivered to Hogwarts, ours won't be fully mature until late May."

The news hit them hard, McGonagall hated to do this but she needed to take them back to their common room. Harry almost didn't let go of the bedsheets but Neville got him to let go, Harry almost seemed to shut down after what happened and just followed them back.

They arrived at the tower and Harry didn't even hear what the Professor said, he just told Neville he was heading upstairs to their dorm and wanted to be alone. Some of the students were confused wondering what was going on, Neville turned to Ron and Sally-Anne and told Ron to stay by her side for now. Before Ron could say anything, Neville went upstairs after Harry, he felt he needed to help his friend.

Neville arrived at their dorm and pushed the door open to find Harry standing there almost unmoving, the door opening caught Harry's attention and he looked to see Neville standing there, Harry said "Neville, I want to be alone." Neville didn't listen, he walked in and closed the door behind him before giving Harry a look of concern. Harry became upset at seeing Neville didn't listen, he raised his voice, "Neville, I said-"

He was cut off when Neville moved and pulled him into a hug, Harry flinched a bit, still not use to the contact. He heard Neville say "It's alright Harry."

Harry wasn't sure if Neville was saying if the situation was alright or if it was alright to let out how he was feeling. Neville tightened his embrace and felt Harry's breathing become shaky, soon Harry hugged him back and for the first time in a long time Harry felt his tears finally come out. Neville patted Harry on his back and tried to comfort him, he knew how much Harry was trying desperately to hold everything together. Neville thought back to the times when he needed to cry, he understood Harry needed to let it out to feel better.

I would like to inform everyone that as soon as I finish writing second year, I will also begin posting this story over on Archive of Our Own, I will be uploading chapters there as well as here.

There is also a new story I will be uploading on Archive of Our Own called Archwizard of crimson and emerald, it's a crossover story that I have been working on with a friend.

Lastly, I would also like to recommend a story here called Familiars of the Potter lord by shinnagami, on Archive of Our Own it's called Harry Potter and his familiars by Zackfair295, they are helping me work on the new story and I found their story interesting and enjoyed reading it.

Thank you for reading this chapter and please comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.