Chapter 36
"Harry," Hermione said sharply the next evening when Harry finally entered the common room rather late after dinner. "Where have you been?"
Then she paused in her scolding, seeing the look on his face.
"What?" she asked, calming down. "What is it?"
"Yeah, mate," Ron said. "What's wrong?"
"It's Justin..." Harry said coming to sit down, rather robotically, Hermione noted, with them by the fire.
"Finch-Fletchley?" Hermione asked. "From Hufflepuff?"
Harry nodded.
"What about him?" Ron asked.
"I - I found him... in one of the corridors between here and the library," Harry said. "He was attacked."
"This isn't good," Ron said, his colour draining at the news.
"Gee, you think?" Harry asked sarcastically. Hermione looked at him sharply, noticing Ron gulp nervously, and he sighed. "Sorry, Ron," Harry apologised. "It's just...this whole thing has me on edge. Everyone's going to think it was me because of what happened yesterday at the duelling club meeting with that snake, and there's nothing I can do about it. I don't know anything about my family, nor do I have a way of proving things to people if I did."
"We understand, Harry," Hermione said gently. "None of this can be easy for you... what with You-Know-Who last year and everything. It's not right for people to expect so much from you."
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said with a slight smile. "But this time, it was really weird."
"What was?" Ron asked.
"The attack," Harry answered. "Justin wasn't alone, Nick was there. I don't know what this thing is, but whatever it is, it can petrify ghosts, too."
"That is strange," Hermione agreed.
"And another thing," Harry said. "When I bent down to check on Justin, just before Filch found me and accused me of doing it, I saw this line of spiders scurrying across the floor toward the windows."
Ron gulped. "I don't like spiders," he mumbled.
"So," Hermione interjected. "You were with Filch all this time?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, he found me shortly after I came across Justin and Nick in the corridor, and was ranting about how he'd caught me in the act and I would be out for sure now. He wouldn't listen when I told him he didn't understand, and he flew off to get Professor McGonagall."
"So why didn't you come back here when he was gone?" Ron asked in confusion.
"I figured it was better to wait by the entrance to the corridor so that I could warn people away so no one else came across the scene, at least until they were able to move them," Harry said. "Do you know how hard it is to move a petrified ghost? McGonagall came with MacMillan and conjured a large fan to waft him all the way to the hospital wing. Nick also didn't look like himself, he was rather smoky."
"Weird," Ron said.
"So what happened? You're not expelled, are you?" Hermione asked after shaking her head at Ron.
"No," Harry said. "I'm not expelled. After she had MacMillan move Nick to the infirmary and moved Justin along using levitation, I was trying to tell her that I didn't do anything. She said that it was out of her hands and sent me up to Dumbledore's office. Hagrid burst in saying that I didn't do anything and that he would testify in front of the Ministry on my behalf, but Dumbledore said he didn't think that I did anything. After Hagrid left, Dumbledore told me that he didn't believe I'd done anything but asked me if there was something I wanted to tell him."
"You didn't tell him about hearing that voice, did you?" Hermione asked.
"No," Harry said. "I told him there wasn't anything, so he sent me back here."
"Well," Hermione said. "It's a relief that you're not expelled. The potion should be done soon so we should be able to find out what's going on then. I'm sorry, Harry, I've thought about this over and over again, and it's our only option."
"I know, Hermione," Harry said and sighed. "I don't like it, but we'll just have to wait."
18December 1992
Oliver,
Harry got in late tonight. Ron and I talked to him when he arrived. I'm not sure if you heard yet, but there was another attack. This is so strange. Not only was another student petrified, Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff — the one that the snake Malfoy conjured almost attacked yesterday at the duelling club and thought Harry was egging it on — but apparently whatever is doing this also affects the ghosts... Nick was there too, and Harry said that he was also petrified, and that he turned all smoky. Harry said that wasn't even the weird part. He said he noticed a trail of spiders scurrying toward the window. It sounds like they're running from something.
Harry said he was late because he came across the scene and Filch found him and ran off to get Professor McGonagall. After she took Justin and had MacMillan waft Nick along toward the infirmary with a fan, she took Harry to see Professor Dumbledore. Luckily, Harry's not expelled and Dumbledore just asked him some questions. Harry's not taking any of this well... he doesn't like attention anyway, and this is really getting to him. He understands that we don't have another way to figure this out but to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to be finished, it should be done by Christmas in a few days.
Have you ever heard anything about something that could do something like that? I have to admit it sounds vaguely familiar, but not sure where I know it from. I will have to head to the library and see if I can find it. There's no real telling if I have read it before somewhere or not, or really where I would have read it if I did. I swear sometimes I think I read more than anyone else, and I know I read more than Ron does.
Hermione
18 December 1992
Hermione,
I'm glad that Harry didn't get into trouble over anything. I agree, it is strange for something to happen to one of the ghosts. It does sound familiar to me as well, but I don't recall why. I wish you luck in finding out what it is. I understand why you want to help Harry find out about what's going on. I even heard some more Gryffindors ostracising him based on nothing but conjecture, but please be careful. There's been so many attacks already. I'm worried you might get too close and something bad could happen to you.
Oliver