Chapter 20

In the days that followed Harry heard several rumors about the chamber of secrets and the attack on Mrs. Norris, thankfully it seems most of the students believed Nick when he said Harry had nothing to do with it although Harry still heard his name was whispered a few times. There were a few rumors that said Harry was responsible for the attack, but they were mostly from the Slytherins or from McLaggen and his gang so they were mostly ignored. Harry was able to speak to his friends from Slytherin and Hufflepuff and told them everything that happened on Halloween, to his relief they trusted him and believed him right away. Luna didn't act different around him and when Harry tried to explain to her what happened Luna told him the nargles already told her it wasn't him.

During their next History of Magic lesson Hermione decided to ask Professor Binns about the chamber of secrets, at first the Professor refused saying he only talks about historical facts and not myths but after some arguing the Professor finally explained what he knew. The Professor explained to the students that Salazar Slytherin had a strong dislike of muggles and believed that only purebloods should be allowed to attend Hogwarts, however the other founders disagreed with him. The founders continued to argue until Salazar and Godric fought, after the fight Salazar stayed for a few more years but during that time he built the chamber of secrets, when he finally decided to leave Hogwarts he left behind a monster that would sleep until the day Slytherin's heir would awaken it, once it was awake it would carry out Slytherin's orders to purify the school of those who are not pureblood. Many of the students looked worried after hearing that, most of the Slytherins seemed to smile at the news, but Binns explained that the chamber was just a myth and that there have been many attempts in the past to find the chamber and nothing was ever found.

Harry and his friends had searched the library for an explanation to why Harry was able to hear a voice that only he could hear, sadly as they expected most of them were about people who had lost their sanity. Harry pointed out that he had heard only one voice instead of several voices but even then most of what they found would say that he was losing his mind, they did find one possible explanation that didn't call him crazy but it suggested that he might be some kind of seer and Harry doubted that could be it. Harry and Neville made sure to write a letter to Augusta about the incident, she wrote back that Dumbledore is currently seeing it as a prank gone wrong and many members of the board of governors are agreeing with him so they are searching for the student responsible in order to punish them. She wrote to Harry and Neville to stay safe and if they see or hear anything then they need to find a teacher immediately.

The Saturday after Halloween when Harry and his friends arrived for their next dueling lesson Flitwick started to teach the students how to cast a reflecting shield, they quickly learnt how much magic the shield needed and even when they managed to cast it they could only reflect weak spells so they needed to work on casting it then strengthening it. When their lesson was over Flitwick approached Harry and said "Mr. Potter, I feel that I should inform you that I've started patrolling the hall where you heard the voice, hopefully I'll be able to find out what it was and I'll inform you if I do." Hearing this made Harry feel better, he was glad to see Flitwick was believing him instead of thinking he was a liar, he thanked the Professor before heading to dinner.

To distract himself from all the rumors Harry started to push himself in his training for wandless magic and quidditch, when Oliver would have the team do more basic exercises to stay in shape Harry would do more than he normally would. Soon it was the twenty first and the day of the Gryffindor vs Slytherin match, after finishing the breakfast Hermione made him eat Harry went down to the locker room with the rest of the team as his friends wished him good luck. Once they were all ready Oliver gave his speech "It's finally the day we've all been waiting for, the Slytherins are expecting to get an easy win but we will show them that Gryffindor isn't going down without a fight! Just because their brooms are fast that doesn't mean they're going to win, we have talent, skill, and cooperation and we won't be intimidated by their dirty tricks! We have the best chasers, the best beaters, and the best seeker in the whole school, I'll defend those hoops or die trying so I'm counting on the rest of you to do your best and win us that cup!" As Oliver said the last part he looked at Harry and smiled, the team cheered and were now hyped to play.

When Lee introduced the Gryffindor team they received loud cheers from three of the houses while the Slytherins only received cheers from their own house. The captains shook hands before Madam Hooch released the bludgers and the snitch, Harry and Malfoy watched the snitch for as long as they could before seeing it fly off and vanish. Harry noticed that one of the bludgers was farther away but the other one was extremely close to him. Madam Hooch shot off the quaffle and blew her whistle and started the game, the Slytherins were able to get the quaffle first but Fred and George flew to the bludgers and managed to get to them first and hit them towards the Slytherin chasers. Harry flew higher to begin searching for the snitch however he heard Fred yell "Harry, look out!"

Harry heard the bludger and saw it was coming towards him, he quickly dodged it and Fred moved to try and hit it away but they saw the bludger circle back and aim for Harry. The Slytherin chasers were able to reach the Gryffindor hoops but thankfully Oliver managed to block them from scoring, the Slytherin beaters saw one bludger was focused on Harry so they focused on the other one. The Gryffindors had trouble in the beginning of the game since their plan was ruined and it allowed the Slytherins to get ahead by 40 points, Fred kept trying to direct the bludger to the Slytherin chasers but it kept circling back to Harry. Oliver called a timeout and the bludger seemed to stop trying to hit Harry, once the team landed Oliver asked "Fred what's wrong?"

"That bludger won't leave Harry alone, no matter how much I try to make it hit towards one of the Slytherins, it keeps coming back for Harry."

George asked "Do you think the Slytherins cursed it to go after Harry?"

"I wouldn't put it past them."

They thought of trying to say the bludger was cursed but they knew they would have to forfeit, Harry looked over at the Slytherin team and saw they thought the game was already won. Harry glanced up at the bludger that's been following him before turning to the team and speaking up, "Let's keep playing," They all turned to him so Harry continued "I have the fastest broom on our team so I just need to stay ahead of the bludger, Fred, you need to go help the rest of the team."

Oliver asked "Are you sure Harry?"

Harry nodded and said "We worked hard to win this game, I'm not going to let them sabotage all our hard work, lets win this game and show the Slytherins they aren't winning that cup this year, after it's over we can head back to the common room and throw the biggest party Gryffindor has ever seen."

Fred and George happily agreed and the rest of the team decided to listen to Harry, they wished Harry good luck before getting back on their brooms and continuing the game. Once the game continued Harry saw the bludger coming after him so he shot off while keeping an eye on the bludger. With Fred and George focused on the other bludger they were able to work together to attack the Slytherin chasers and take back the quaffle, soon the Gryffindors started to slowly catch up to the Slytherins.

As the game continued Harry kept having to stay ahead of the bludger and dodging it any time it came close, he would often look back to see how far away the bludger was, Harry also looked down at the crowd and was able to spot his friends and from one look he could tell they were worried about him. Harry continued to fly at full speed to avoid the bludger but he also kept hoping to spot the snitch and end the game right away but he doubted he'd be able to spot the snitch like this. When Harry managed to dodge the bludger again he started to fly away but he glanced over at Malfoy and saw he was watching him and laughing at him, Harry glared and was certain Malfoy had something to do with cursing the bludger, while he was looking away Harry didn't notice until the last moment that Flint was flying in his path. Flint yelled and came to a stop and barely avoided Harry, Harry noticed Flint at the last moment and managed to swerve out of the way to avoid crashing into Flint, Harry turned back to see Flint was ok but was glaring at him however Harry noticed the bludger was still following his path and Flint didn't notice until it was too late. The bludger crashed into Flint and nearly knocked him off his broom, Flint ended up dropping the quaffle before Alicia quickly caught it and flew off before passing it to Katie.

Harry was surprised by what he saw, however he didn't get long to think about it as the bludger came back and almost hit him but he managed to dodge it at the last second. Harry shot off but he was thinking about what happened to Flint, soon a smile started to spread across his face as an idea came to his mind. The next time the Slytherins had the quaffle they were interrupted when Harry flew straight at them, the chasers quickly moved away to avoid crashing but with the bludger still following him Harry was able to move in time to have the bludger follow and crash into one of the chasers. Harry looked to his team and they all stared at him with wide eyes before they realized what Harry was thinking, soon they were all smiling. The game quickly changed after that, with Harry now using the cursed bludger to his advantage he began to cause trouble for the Slytherin team and the Gryffindors were quick to take advantage of the situation, since Fred and George worked better together they were able to quickly take control of the other bludger.

The Slytherins soon found a new problem, when the Gryffindors started to get ahead of them they tried to use their usual dirty tricks however Harry was able to disrupt them enough that their usual tricks failed, it didn't take long for the Gryffindors to gain an 80 point lead. Everyone was cheering for Gryffindor and Lee even joked about how the Gryffindors brought a third bludger to the game. The Slytherins soon called for a time out and Harry noticed the bludger stopped following him and circled around like the other bludger, he flew over and landed near the rest of his team, the first one to speak was Angelina, "Harry, I'm not sure if I should scold you for flying so recklessly or praise you for helping us out so much."

Harry smiled and said "I think I actually prefer playing like this, it feels more exciting to fly at my top speed than to just hover most of the game, when I'm flying through the air I feel freer and in control."

Oliver smiled and said "Well remember, we still need you to catch the snitch so we can win the game."

While the Gryffindors were talking Malfoy was being yelled at by his team for staying still and watching everything, they noticed how Malfoy hadn't tried to look for the snitch and was instead watching Harry use the bludger as a weapon. Malfoy looked over at Harry and glared as he thought of what he should do, soon the game resumed and Harry returned to the air and had to quickly move as the bludger began to follow him again. Harry circled back around and was about to use the bludger again but he was interrupted when Malfoy suddenly flew in front of him and stopped. Malfoy decided to give the bludger some help by getting in Harry's way, Harry managed to dodge the bludger and Malfoy moved out of the way but soon the bludger circled back around.

As the game continued Harry kept trying to use the bludger however every time he tried to Malfoy quickly blocked him, since Malfoy's broom had a faster acceleration it meant he was able to avoid the bludger. Harry felt annoyed whenever he saw the smirk Malfoy gave him every time he blocked him, he's almost been hit by the bludger a few times so Harry needed to be careful as he tried to deal with Malfoy. As the two seekers continued to fly around each other Harry completely forgot that there was another bludger, when the Slytherin beaters saw what was happening they managed to get the bludger away from the twins and instead of trying to attack the chasers they sent the bludger towards Harry. Malfoy had just blocked Harry again when Harry noticed the bludger coming towards him, he quickly moved back to dodge it but Harry soon realized it wasn't the same bludger that was following him.

Harry noticed the cursed bludger too late and only had a moment to brace himself, Harry's right arm took the impact. Harry was able to hold onto his broom but he gritted his teeth and held in a scream as he felt the bludger might have broken his right arm, down in the stands many winced at the impact. Harry heard Malfoy laugh before saying "What's wrong scarhead, don't tell me you're going to cry over one little bludger!"

Harry looked over and glared at Malfoy as he continued to laugh however Harry's eyes widened when he noticed the snitch was flying just behind Malfoy's head. Harry heard the bludger coming back around and Malfoy continued to laugh so Harry decided to yell "That's it!" Harry turned his broom towards Malfoy and shot towards him while doing his best to ignore the pain in his right arm. Malfoy saw Harry was flying straight towards him and thought he was going to ram into him, Malfoy was about to move but when Harry was close enough he yelled "Look behind you Malfoy!"

Confused, Malfoy turned his head and took a moment before realizing the snitch was right in front of him, he was about to reach out and try to grab it but then Harry appeared first. With his broom already flying at full speed Harry got to the snitch first, he took his left hand off his broom and reached out and caught the snitch in front of Malfoy. Malfoy was left stunned to see Harry caught the snitch however Harry wasn't done, with the bludger still following him and Malfoy focused on him Harry moved his broom enough that the bludger followed and crashed into Malfoy. Harry smirked when he heard the impact but sadly Malfoy managed to hold onto his broom, Harry held the snitch up as Lee shouted that Gryffindor won and the stands exploded into cheers. Harry saw the score and smiled when he saw Gryffindor won with a 250 point lead, if they kept this up then Gryffindor would finally win the cup.

The rest of the Gryffindor team cheered when they saw they won while the Slytherins looked angry at the humiliating loss, however the Gryffindor team stopped cheering when they noticed the cursed bludger didn't stop and was heading straight for Harry. They tried to yell out a warning but the cheers were too loud, before any of them had a chance to fly over to him the bludger crashed into Harry's back, with his hand still in the air and his other arm too injured Harry couldn't grab his broom and he fell to the ground. Harry landed on his back, thankfully he wasn't high enough for the fall to be deadly, he groaned in pain and knew he would be bruised however when he opened his eyes they widened before he quickly rolled out of the way and barely dodged the bludger that crashed where his head was just at. The bludger flew back up and came back down so Harry quickly rolled out of the way as the bludger kept trying to kill him, thankfully he soon heard someone yell "Reducto!" In an instant the bludger was destroyed.

Harry was breathing heavily as he sat up, he winced when he tried to use his right arm, he knew he would need Madam Pomfrey to look at it. The Gryffindor team landed and were about to check on Harry as many students and teachers approached however a certain teacher approached first and said "Not to worry Harry, I'll have you fixed in a moment."

Harry felt panicked when he saw Lockhart standing there with his wand ready, he tried to move away as he said "No, I'll have Madam Pomfrey look at it!"

Lockhart chuckled before saying "Nonsense Harry, it shouldn't take longer than a second."

Harry didn't know what Lockhart's wand would do and he didn't want to find out, he yelled "You're not a licensed healer! I'll just go see-"

Lockhart ignored Harry's protests, the team tried to stop him however it was too late and Lockhart touched his wand to Harry's arm. Harry felt the pain vanish along with any control over his arm and he saw it fall limply to his side. Using his left hand Harry reached over and lifted his right arm only to realize all the bones in his arm were vanished, Lockhart seemed to chuckle nervously before saying "Not to worry Harry, you see that spell can cause that to happen sometimes, you should probably go see Madam Pomfrey."

Harry was seething with anger and he was using his occlumency to just barely keep himself from screaming at Lockhart, with the team standing close Harry spoke with barely restrained anger, "Oliver, can you take me to Madam Pomfrey before I say something that will cost Gryffindor two hundred points?"

The team could easily see the anger Harry had so Fred and Oliver quickly helped Harry up and led him away, Fred decided to silence Harry before saying "Go ahead and yell whatever you want."

Harry silently yelled until they got to the hospital wing, once he stopped Fred canceled his spell and Harry thanked him before Madam Pomfrey moved him into a hospital bed before checking on him, she soon left to get something. With the team alone Oliver spoke up "Harry, you were amazing out there, we wouldn't have won if it wasn't for you!"

Katie spoke next "The Slytherin team didn't stand a chance against you, you were flying like you were born on a broom!"

They continued to talk about the game and praise Harry, soon Harry felt his anger vanish and was replaced with embarrassment for all the praise they were giving him. He tried to downplay his role in the game and say they won because of them, the team saw Harry was no longer thinking about what Lockhart did. The doors burst open and Harry saw most of his friends from Gryffindor rushed in to see him, Hermione was the first to speak "Harry, are you ok, does it still hurt, what did Madam Pomfrey say?"

Fay put a hand on Hermione's shoulder to try and stop her questions, Neville asked "How are you feeling?"

"I can't move my arm since Lockhart vanished my bones, thankfully it doesn't hurt anymore. What happened after we left?"

Hermione seemed to glare before saying "Lockhart tried to downplay what he did and said it happens all the time, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall were yelling at the moron for trying to heal you himself when we already have a capable healer!"

Fay decided to include "Also since Hermione destroyed the bludger we can't figure out who cursed it."

Hermione looked ashamed at that and apologized, Madam Pomfrey soon came back with a potion and said "Please give Mr. Potter his space, he's going to need to grow back all his missing bones."

Harry's eyes widened when he recognized the potion and gulped, he asked "Really?"

"Yes Mr. Potter, if it was just broken or fractured then I could have healed it easily enough but with the bones having been vanished then you're going to need to take skele-gro to grow back all thirty three bones."

As the healer poured the potion in a cup Harry groaned at remembering how horrible it tasted, he remembered reading about who created the potion and he praised and cursed his ancestor Linfred of Stinchcombe for creating a helpful potion that tasted horrible. Once handed the potion Harry did his best to ignore the taste and took it quickly, soon Madam Pomfrey ordered everyone out saying Harry should have his bones grown back by tomorrow. Some of them wanted to stay but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't allow it, soon they were all gone and Harry could do nothing but lay in bed and hope the time passes quickly.

The return to the tower was quiet, the team didn't feel like celebrating their victory since Harry was in the hospital wing. Once they made it back to the common room Hermione stormed off towards the stairs leading to the girls' dorms, Fay and Sally-Anne followed after her and when they got to their dorm they saw Hermione gathered all of her Lockhart books and put them in her backpack along with several sheets of parchment. Hermione turned to the two girls and said "If you need me, I'll be in the library."

Fay asked "Why?"

"I need to do some research and correct several mistakes."

Hermione walked out the dorm but Fay and Sally-Anne decided to follow after her, Sally-Anne asked "Would you like some help?"

Hermione looked at her two friends and saw they wanted to help with whatever she was planning, thankful for their help she accepted. Once the three girls arrived at the library and sat at their usual table Hermione took out her books of Lockhart and explained "When I read through these I noticed some details didn't make sense, in some Lockhart was in two places at once or did something that worked when it shouldn't have, could you two look through them and write down what you find?"

The two girls agreed and each grabbed a book along with some parchment and a quill as they started to read, Hermione walked away and soon returned carrying several books. Fay noticed they were all potions books and Hermione seemed to be quickly looking over them and writing down certain ones, Hermione even seemed to write something extra before continuing to read the books. Lunch soon came but Hermione told the two she wasn't hungry and continued to read, Fay asked about her dueling lessons but Hermione explained that since there was a game today Flitwick decided to push the lesson to tomorrow. The two girls saw Hermione wasn't going to stop anytime soon and from one glance at her parchment they could tell she was planning something, the two shared a look before deciding to skip lunch and continue to help out Hermione.

When it was time for dinner the three girls finally decided to get something to eat, Hermione looked over her parchment and seemed satisfied with what she wrote, the rest of Lockhart's books would take longer to find every mistake but they agreed to continue this another time. Arriving at the great hall the three spotted the rest of their friends and went over to join them, once they joined their friends Neville asked "Where were you three?"

Hermione answered "In the library, we just needed to look something up."

When Hermione didn't explain what she was looking for Neville decided not to ask, instead the group of friends tried to have a normal conversation but it felt different since Harry wasn't there with them. Hermione couldn't help but look to her side where Harry would normally sit, she looked at the silver bracelet Harry got her for her birthday and stared at her own reflection. Hermione soon noticed the reflection of Fay was looking at her before she heard "You know I'm sure if you visited Harry it'll probably cheer him up."

Hermione responded back "Madam Pomfrey said he's not allowed to have visitors."

"I'm sure you can think of some way to go see him without her finding out."

Hermione wasn't sure if she should try and see Harry or just let him rest and see him tomorrow, as breakfast continued she noticed up at the teachers' table Lockhart seemed to be happily eating with his usual joyful expression and she became upset at seeing he didn't care he put a student in the hospital wing.

Hours had passed and Harry was laying in the hospital bed trying to fall asleep while trying to ignore the feeling in his right arm. Harry had hoped Madam Pomfrey would put him to sleep but he quickly found out Madam Pomfrey didn't know the spell the other healer used during the summer and he couldn't take another potion to help him sleep. Harry soon learned how painful it is to grow back missing bones and made a mental note to ask Augusta about the healer that helped him so he could thank him again for his help. Madam Pomfrey was able to at least use a numbing charm on his arm so the pain wouldn't be as bad as it could be. Even though he wasn't allowed any visitors Harry could at least talk to Hedwig through their bond but it was mostly him trying to convince Hedwig not to attack Lockhart for what he did, as much as he would have liked for that to happen, he didn't want to risk anything happening to her.

When it became late Madam Pomfrey informed Harry that she was going to bed, she made sure to show Harry how he could contact her in case something happens. Harry was surprised to learn there were runes on all the hospital beds and he only needed to touch it and it would alert the healer of an emergency, once she explained it to Harry she returned to her office and Harry was left alone to try and fall asleep. Harry tried but felt he couldn't sleep like this so he instead used his left hand and summoned the journal so he could have something to read, he decided to read the notes Lily wrote during her second year to help him prepare for his next lesson. Harry did his best to sit up and flip through the journal with one hand, he was currently reading Lily's notes for potions when he heard the doors to the hospital wing open then close.

Harry looked up but didn't see anyone, he closed the journal and put it under his pillow in case there was someone there. Harry listened for anyone but then the chair beside his bed moved and suddenly Hermione appeared.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing, I read growing back your bones can be painful."

Harry gave a small smirk before saying "Yeah but thankfully Madam Pomfrey was able to numb the pain so it's not as bad, hopefully they should be grown back by morning."

Hermione took hold of Harry's left hand and said "I was really worried watching the game, why did you keep playing when you knew there was a cursed bludger after you?"

Harry winced at hearing the worry in Hermione's voice, he lowered his head a bit and said "I didn't mean to make you worry, I just didn't want all the hard work the rest of the team did to go to waste. I thought I could avoid the bludger for the rest of the game or use it against the Slytherins but then Malfoy kept getting in my way and distracting me."

Hermione sighed but understood why Harry kept playing, she then said "Just promise me you won't try to play that recklessly again, I don't want to see you end up in the hospital wing again."

Harry promised but then said "You know it's mostly Lockhart's fault that I'm in here, the bludger fractured or broke my arm but it's because he vanished my bones that I'm stuck in here overnight."

To his surprise Hermione smirked and said "Don't worry about Lockhart, I'm sure soon he'll regret what he did." Harry wasn't sure why but he almost felt worried by what Hermione meant by that, before he could ask what she meant Hermione continued "Also don't forget, even after you won the bludger didn't stop and kept trying to crash into you on the ground, it's too bad I had to destroy it before we could find out who was trying to kill you."

"Dobby wasn't trying to kill Harry Potter," The two jumped before turning to where the voice came from, standing at the end of the bed was Dobby, Dobby continued "Dobby was only trying to hurt Harry Potter enough to send Harry Potter home."

"Dobby! What are you-" Harry cut himself off when he realized what Dobby said, he became upset and said "Wait, you're the one who cursed that bludger!?"

Dobby looked worried and started to pull on his ears as he said "Dobby tried to warn Harry Potter, Harry Potter is too important, Dobby needs to save Harry Potter even if it means Dobby has to iron his hands as punishment!"

Hermione was surprised to meet the house elf Harry told them about, she became mad when she realized Dobby was the one who cursed the bludger however her anger turned to horror when she saw the bandages on Dobby's hands. Harry felt his anger vanish when he saw the damage Dobby did to his hands, he instead asked "Dobby, why would you hurt yourself like that?"

Dobby continued to pull on his ears as he said "Dobby needed to punish himself for what Dobby did, Dobby needs to save Harry Potter even if it means Dobby needs to keep punishing himself! Dobby has already slammed his ears in the oven over and over for taking Harry Potter's letters and making Harry Potter's warning read itself!"

Harry realized what Dobby was talking about but was more horrified at how much Dobby has been punishing himself, Harry reached over and stopped Dobby from pulling his ears, he told Dobby "Dobby stop, look I don't want you to punish yourself anymore!"

Dobby looked at Harry and started to cry as he said "Harry Potter cares for Dobby's wellbeing, Harry Potter is truly great, Dobby knows he has made Harry Potter angry for trying to save him so Dobby needs to punish himself!"

Harry placed his hand on Dobby and tried to calm him down before saying "Dobby look, I'm not mad about the bludger, I'm not mad about my letters, and I'm not mad that you got me-" Harry cut himself off before continuing "In trouble with my relatives, what I am upset about is that you keep saying you need to save me but you want me to abandon my friends, you said I'm too important but that's how I feel about my friends, I won't abandon them to whatever danger you warned me about."

Dobby started to cry more as he said "Harry Potter is truly greater than Dobby first thought!"

Harry wasn't sure how to handle Dobby, he and Hermione looked at each other and Harry silently asked her for help. Hermione moved closer and gently wrapped her arms around Dobby and tried to comfort him, she told him "Dobby it's ok, please don't cry."

Dobby was surprised by the gentle hug but then started to cry more, Hermione continued to comfort him until he stopped crying and stepped back, as Dobby wiped away his tears Harry moved closer and placed his left hand on Dobby and said "Dobby, I know you can't betray your master but we need your help, can you tell us anything about the chamber of secrets?"

Dobby seemed to hesitate for a moment before he spoke "Dobby has heard rumors from other house elves, house elves told Dobby that the chamber was opened before and a monster attacked students but it stopped after a student died."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other before Hermione asked "When was it last opened?"

Dobby seemed to think about it before saying "Dobby thinks it was fifty years ago."

Harry asked "Do you know who was responsible for the attacks back then?"

Dobby shook his head and said "Dobby doesn't know."

They were disappointed Dobby couldn't tell them more but at least this gave them a clue, Harry spoke up "Dobby, I don't plan on leaving Hogwarts so please stop trying to get me to leave, I won't abandon my friends even to save myself."

Dobby began to tear up as he said "Harry Potter is truly noble, Dobby understands."

Dobby grabbed his outfit and blew his nose into it, Hermione couldn't help but ask "Why do you wear that thing, it doesn't look clean, why don't you wash it?"

"Dobby cannot, it is a sign of Dobby's enslavement."

Hermione asked "Dobby, why don't you leave your master if he's been treating you so horribly?"

"Dobby is use to punishing himself, Dobby cannot leave until master sets Dobby free, it is part of the house elf bond."

Hearing about a bond Harry asked "Dobby, one of my friends said house elves like to be bonded to a family, I wanted to ask why does that bond matter?"

Dobby answered "House elves can live without a master but house elves are not magically strong, house elves only become strong when they live somewhere with lots of magic but a house elf feels their strongest when they are bonded to a wizard."

Harry and Hermione were surprised to hear this so Harry asked "How important is a bond to a house elf?"

"When a house elf bonds with a wizard they feel their happiest, a house elf sees a bond as something precious, they feel they are complete so house elves are happy to serve their family because they gave them something precious." Harry couldn't help but compare a house elf bond to the familiar bond he had with Hedwig, he remembered how happy she felt when their bond was completed. Dobby looked sad and said "Dobby would like to be free though."

Hearing this Harry wondered how badly Dobby's master treats him if he wants to break the bond, he asked "How can you break the bond?"

"Dobby's master would need to give Dobby clothes, even just a sock would be enough for Dobby to be free."

Harry wondered about the bond and thought "A bond is supposed to be precious to a house elf, it sounds like the bond Hedwig and I have but our bond can be broken if one of us wants to break it or one of us dies." Harry thought of something and asked "Dobby, when a house elf and a wizard are going to form a bond do they use the same method everyone else uses?"

Dobby thought about it before saying "Yes, Dobby was born into Dobby's current family and bonded with master the same way Dobby's mother had."

Harry asked "Is that the only method for a house elf to form a bond or are there different kinds of bonds they can form?"

Dobby seemed to think about it for a minute, while he was thinking Hermione asked Harry "Why are you asking about that?"

"I remember reading somewhere about bonds and it mentioned different kinds of bonds, I think wizards have been making house elves use a slave bond to prevent them from leaving. If house elves are able to form other types of bonds then they can leave when they want."

Hermione was surprised to hear this and asked "Can you show me the book you read this in, it might help."

Harry thought of an excuse and said "If I can find it again, I don't remember the title so I'll need to search the library again."

Dobby spoke up "Dobby has heard rumors from other house elves that there are other bonds a house elf can have, Dobby doesn't know what they are though."

Harry asked "Dobby, can you tell us what your master said to you when you bonded?"

Dobby explained "Master placed his hand on Dobby's head and pushed his magic into Dobby then master said to Dobby from this day forth until the day I set you free you will serve the house of Malfo-" Dobby quickly covered his mouth and his eyes widened at what he just said. Harry and Hermione stared wide eyed at Dobby after what they just heard, before they could say anything Dobby let out a shriek before vanishing.

Harry and Hermione stared at each other before they both said "Malfoy!"

The two quickly understood Draco's father was responsible for the chamber being opened but then Harry asked "Do you think he got Draco to open the chamber?"

"I'm not sure, we'll need to tell a teacher about this though."

Harry agreed and said "We should tell Professor Flitwick in the morning, he'll believe us."

Hermione agreed but before they could continue they heard voices approaching the hospital wing, Hermione quickly grabbed the invisibility cloak and covered herself while Harry laid back down and pretended to be asleep. The doors to the hospital wing burst open and in the dim lights Harry could see Dumbledore but he seemed to be levitating someone, he was followed by McGonagall, Snape, and Percy. Percy seemed to be talking but Harry couldn't follow what he was saying, instead he turned to where Hermione was still sitting and whispered "Keep your occlumency shields up."

McGonagall tapped the runes on the hospital bed and after a moment Madam Pomfrey showed up, spotting the teachers and new patient she walked over and asked "What happened?"

The teachers let Percy explain "I don't know how this happened, we were supposed to meet for our patrol together but when I found her she was standing in front of a window and she didn't react when I called to her. When I touched her she felt cold and stiff like a statue."

Madam Pomfrey moved and cast several diagnostic charms before she gasped and said "It's just like what happened to Mrs. Norris, Ms. Clearwater has been petrified."

Harry and Hermione both gasped when they heard it was Penelope Clearwater, they both realized they made a noise but they heard McGonagall and Pomfrey were talking so they didn't notice, although Harry could have sworn he saw Dumbledore look over at them. They heard McGonagall ask Dumbledore "Albus, what are we going to do, if more attacks like this happen then we might have to close down the school."

"Worry not Minerva, Professor Sprout has informed me that the second years are growing plenty of mandrakes this year and once they are fully mature, they can be used to brew a potion to restore Ms. Clearwater and Mrs. Norris. In the mean time we must stay alert for another attack, I will ask the ghosts to patrol with the teachers and prefects and that they help keep an eye on the students."

Once the teachers agreed McGonagall led Percy out the hospital wing to guide him back to the tower, Snape left right after her and Madam Pomfrey returned to her office. Once Dumbledore was alone he said "Ms. Granger, would you be so kind as to remove Harry's invisibility cloak." The two realized they were caught, Hermione pulled off the cloak while Harry sat up, Dumbledore spoke "I believe you two heard everything that was said."

They could tell it wasn't a question, they nodded before Hermione asked "Is she going to be ok?"

Dumbledore nodded and said "It will take some time for the mandrakes to fully mature but when they do then Professor Snape can brew a potion to restore them."

Harry asked "How long until they become fully mature?"

"They should be ready by May or June."

The two were stunned and Harry said "But that means she'll miss most of the school year, isn't there anything else you can do to help her?"

Dumbledore looked down and said "I'm afraid I can't, mandrakes are dangerous to handle, especially when they are fully mature, the school can't bring in any mature mandrakes so the only thing we can do is wait until ours are fully mature." Harry and Hermione looked over at Penny and felt sorry for her, they've heard from Luna that Penny was a great help to her and now she was going to have to miss most of her year. Dumbledore spoke up "It is late and you two will need your rest, please follow me Ms. Granger and I will guide you back to your common room."

Hermione wanted to stay but she knew the headmaster wouldn't let her this time, she got up and gave a quick hug to Harry and said "I'll see you in the morning Harry."

Using his remaining arm Harry hugged her back before she followed Dumbledore out the hospital wing. Harry laid in his bed and tried to process everything that just happened, he looked over at the hospital bed Penny was in and wondered if there was anything he could do to help her. Harry thought about what Dobby told him and wondered about the bond he had with Lucius, thinking about the bond Harry started to wonder about his bond with Hedwig, he called to her and asked "Hedwig, are you happy with the bond we share?"

"Of course I am Harry, I love you and I love the bond we share."

Harry could feel the happiness Hedwig felt and smiled, he hoped he could find a way to free Dobby from the abuse he's suffering. Harry eventually managed to fall asleep but he had a feeling that things were only going to get worse.

Please comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.