There was no doubt about it now. I was definitely the attacker. I'd found myself at the scene of the crime twice, and now, the victim was a person. I bent down to check Colin's pulse. I didn't like the guy, but I certainly didn't wish him dead! To my great relief, I found one, so he was also only petrified. Now that I had established that Colin was alive, I needed to get out of there. I checked my watch. 1:32pm. Much less time had passed since I'd blacked out than the previous occasion. It was lucky that the whole school was at the match, so it would be easy for me to get back to the Quidditch pitch and blend in with the crowd.
I'm not sure what happened next, only that I suddenly found myself on the stairs, and COLIN WAS IN MY ARMS! I screamed and dropped him, and he crashed down to the middle of the flight. I sprinted down myself, jumped over him, then made my way back to the Quidditch Pitch as fast as I could. I was terrified beyond belief, it was a seriously fucked up situation! Someone was in control of me, that I was sure of! Who, how or why I had no idea, but the fact remained that it was the case!
When I was about 3 quarters of the way back to the pitch, I was met with a bizarre sight. Harry was being supported up to the school by Ron and Hermione, and surrounding them were the entire Gryffindor first team. Harry was holding the snitch in his left hand. "Get in!" I thought, knowing this meant we had almost certainly won, but then I noticed his right arm, was hanging limp and useless by his side, and looked like a deflated balloon. With horror, I realised that all the bones in that arm were missing! But before I could even think about how that could have possibly happened, I needed to find Demelza and Amy and think of a realistic excuse for my absence.
I ducked behind Hagrid's hut so that the crowd wouldn't see me approaching. I then ran around to the back of the crowd, and started to walk in a manner I hoped would look natural. I spotted Demelza and Amy chatting as they walked, and I joined them.
"Ginny, where on earth were you?!" cried Demelza.
"Yeah, did you even see any of the match?" added Amy
I bit my lip.
"I-I needed to go to the hospital wing" I replied, thinking on the fly "Stomach ache, using the toilet couldn't fix it."
"That's the worst timed stomach ache in history! Couldn't you have soldiered through it so you could at least see the game?" said Amy
"No mate, I really needed to go. So what happened in the match, fill me in."
"Well it was crazy, someone had tampered with a bludger so that it only went after Harry, trying to unseat him!"
"Wait, what, seriously?!"
"Seriously" said Demelza, "but Harry showed what an amazing player he is, because he still managed to catch the snitch even with that mad bludger chasing him! That was when it finally hit him though, and he broke all the bones in his right arm. Then that stupid idiot Lockhart came along, tried to mend them, and ended up removing them!"
"Fucking hell" I said, shaking my head. "Sounded like quite the spectacle then! Shame I missed it, apart from Lockhart being a fool again, not sorry to miss that part!"
We fought through the crowd and followed Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindor first team up to the hospital wing. I knew that we were going to come across Colin at some point though, and I prepared myself to act shocked.
Then came Ron's voice
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks, staring down at Colin's frozen form. Oliver Wood checked his pulse.
"He's alive, just petrified! Someone get a teacher!" he called.
"I'll go" said Katie, and she turned and ran back down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Demelza and Amy carried Colin up to the hospital wing, where he would be seen to by Madam Pomfrey along with Harry.
They entered first, carrying Colin.
"Oh my goodness me, what is this?" said Madam Pomfrey as we entered. She hadn't been at the match as she was having to care of someone, who I vaguely recognised as a 4th year Ravenclaw. She was sleeping in a bed at the far end of the room.
"Petrified, found him on the stairs" I said. "It's probably the next attack of Slytherin's heir." It was very important that I said this. I didn't think anyone suspected me, but it was good for me to cover off all possibilities in this manner.
"Dumbledore did warn... but we had hoped... right, just get him on to this bed, we'll need a teacher..."
"Katie's already gone for one" said Hermione, but at that moment the doors burst open, and Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall entered, followed by Katie.
"He was found, on the stairs, petrified, Headmaster" said Madam Pomfrey. The three of them stared down at Colin.
Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.
"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly.
Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.
"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.
A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera.
"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted . . ."
"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.
"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."
Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore.
"But, Albus . . . surely . . . who?"
"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin.
"The question is, how. . . ."
No-one had any answers. I again felt so guilty standing there. I knew more than they all did, but what could I do? I'd risk ruining my whole life if I said anything.
"Will Mr Potter be ok?" asked Professor McGonagall, her attention turning to Harry.
Harry showed Madam Pomfrey his arm.
She wasn't pleased.
"You should have come straight to me!" she raged, "I can mend bones in a second — but growing them
back —"
"You will be able to, won't you?" said Harry desperately.
"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," said Madam Pomfrey grimly, throwing Harry a pair of pajamas. "You'll have to
stay the night. . . ."
The Professors left and we all waited outside the curtain drawn around Harry's bed while Ron helped him into his pajamas. It took a while to stuff the rubbery, boneless arm into a sleeve.
"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?" Ron called through the curtain as he pulled Harry's limp fingers through the cuff. "If Harry had wanted deboning he would have asked."
"Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione. "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Harry?"
"No," said Harry. "But it doesn't do anything else either."
"Look, Hermione" said Demelza impatiently, "what the fuck is it gonna take for you to doubt Lockhart?!"
"One of you showing me proof that he's anything other than what he says!"
I struggled to contain my exasperation. "Hermione mate, we shouldn't need to show you proof, it should be really obvious! You're the most intelligent person we've ever met, and you're a great Chaser, but you're remarkably naïve when it comes to Gilderoy Lockhart!".
Hermione simply huffed and turned away from us.
Demelza, Amy and I shared a look with the rest of the players. It was clear there was no getting through to her on this subject.
We all came around the curtain. Madam Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of something labeled Skele-Gro.
"You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming cupful and handing it to Harry. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."
So, it appeared, was taking the Skele-Gro. It looked as if Harry's mouth and throat were burning.
"You ok Harry?" I asked
"Yeah" he said sarcastically in between gulps "just fine thanks"
"Really Gin, what other answer could you expect from him?" said George, rolling his eyes.
"Sorry for caring!" I snapped back at him
"Are you saying we don't?" asked George
"Look, let's not argue in here any more please" said Demelza.
"Yeah, Harry needs his rest, he's not gonna get that if we're all shouting" added Amy
"We won, though," said Ron, a grin breaking across his face.
"That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face . . . he looked ready to kill. . . ."
"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," said Hermione darkly.
"We can add that to the list of questions to ask-" started Harry, but Hermione shot him a look, as there were several people in the room who weren't in on the Polyjuice plan.
"Professor Dumbledore when I'm out of here" he finished quickly.
"You reckon Malfoy did it?" asked Fred.
"Right, that's it. Potter needs his rest, as Miss Bagman said, so if you'd like to vacate the premises please! Yes, even you two, Weasley, Granger!" said Madam Pomfrey.
We all reluctantly left, feeling sorry for Harry now that he'd be left with no distractions from the pain in his arm.
