Chapter 21

Early the next day Madam Pomfrey had checked on Harry's arm to make sure his bones were grown back and doing well, Harry could feel the same stiff and sore feeling he felt last time he had to grow his bones back, Madam Pomfrey told him "Your bones appear to be doing well and they should feel as good as new by lunch."

Harry thanked the healer but then turned to the bed Penny was in and asked "Madam Pomfrey, isn't there anything that the school can do to help Penny, she's going to miss most of her year if we wait for the mandrakes to fully mature."

The healer sighed and said "I'm afraid not Mr. Potter, we can't order any so the best we can do is wait for our mandrakes to fully mature."

Harry wondered if there was anything he could do but he was pulled from his thoughts when the doors opened and he saw Hermione showed up, once the two saw each other Hermione rushed up to Harry and asked "Harry, how are you feeling, how's your arm?"

"It feels a bit sore but it should feel as good as new soon."

Madam Pomfrey sent them both out of the hospital wing so the two students left and decided to head to the great hall, they talked about everything that happened the night before and agreed that they would tell Professor Flitwick right after breakfast. The two arrived early for breakfast and were slowly joined by the rest of their friends, they all showed their concern by asking about Harry's arm and he kept reassuring them that his arm was better now. Hermione noticed after a while Lockhart showed up and started eating his breakfast as if he didn't have a care in the world, remembering how he put Harry in the hospital wing Hermione wondered how her plan was going.

Back at the Gryffindor dorms Fred and George had woken up to see their dorm mates were already at breakfast, the two started to get ready however they noticed several sheets of parchment were left out and the first page had their names on it. The two picked it up and started to read,

"Dear Fred and George,

A while back you two had informed me about your plans to one day open your own joke shop and you even gave me instructions for your prank product ideas, while I am not a fan of pranks I can understand wanting to make people laugh so I have decided to offer you a bag of galleons, sickles, and knuts to help you save for your shop. That being said, there are some prank ideas I would not want to see you pull so I have decided to write them down and hand them to you so that you know what pranks shouldn't be pulled on a student, should I find out any of these pranks have been pulled on a professor then I will assume they were done by someone else as I'm certain you two will listen to my request."

They saw the parchment wasn't signed by anyone but the two could easily tell who wrote this. They noticed a bag was next to the parchment and they saw it was filled with a few galleons, sickles, and knuts, the two looked over the prank ideas and they noticed most of them were meant to be for Professor Lockhart. As the two continued to read what the parchment said they slowly started to smile at some of the prank ideas and even thought some of them could be used for their products. The twins were already planning on pranking Lockhart for putting Harry in the hospital wing but now they knew what they were going to do.

Back at the great hall, it took some time before most of the students were present, during breakfast Dumbledore stood up and announced that during the night there had been another attack and this time a student had been petrified. The students were worried and Dumbledore had informed them that the student was Penelope Clearwater, many started to panic after hearing that but Dumbledore informed the students that he had spoken to the ghosts of Hogwarts and they will help patrol the halls to keep an eye on the students and are to immediately report any danger.

For the rest of breakfast all the students could talk about was the attack and new rumors started up as the students guessed what happened. Three of the houses were worried however the only house that still acted normal was Slytherin, since it was said the monster of Slytherin only attacked muggleborns the Slytherins didn't feel worried since their house didn't have any muggleborns. Once breakfast was over Harry and Hermione excused themselves and told their friends to head to the common room without them, they approached Professor Flitwick as he was starting to leave and Harry said "Professor, we heard something we think you should know about."

Once the three arrived at Flitwick's office Harry and Hermione told him about Dobby showing up in the hospital wing and what they were able to learn from him. Once he heard everything Flitwick said "So since Dobby belongs to the Malfoys then it's likely Lucius Malfoy is responsible for all of this since Dobby warned you that his master is planning something."

The two nodded and Hermione asked "What can we do about this?"

Flitwick sighed and said "Unfortunately there isn't much we can do right now, just because we learnt who Dobby belongs to that doesn't mean that Mr. Malfoy has anything to do with the attacks. I cannot punish a student just because of what another student said, I would need proper evidence and investigate the matter myself, unless you can get a confession out of Mr. Malfoy or find out how he is responsible then I cannot punish him."

The two looked disappointed but they understood Flitwick's point, if they wanted to prove Malfoy is responsible for the attacks then they need to find out how he's causing the attacks. The two were dismissed but before deciding to head back to the tower they decided to visit Penny in the hospital wing. Arriving at the hospital wing they noticed they weren't the only ones there, they saw Oliver Wood was there as well. Oliver spotted the two and said "Oh, hey Harry, hey Hermione, did you two come to see Penny?"

Nodding, the two approached and Harry said "I didn't know you knew Penny."

"Yeah, we've been friends before we came to Hogwarts, I used to visit my grandparents from my mother's side in the muggle world when I was younger and during one of our visits we ran into each other. I saw her perform accidental magic so I told her about magic, she wanted to know more so we became friends, we still talk and she told me about you two."

The two nodded and soon Madam Pomfrey approached and Oliver asked about Penny, he was told the same thing she told Harry however Oliver asked "Is she still conscious though, can she hear us?"

The healer answered "She shouldn't be, from what we know about other petrified victims in the past her mind should have been petrified too."

Oliver didn't look convinced though, he asked Madam Pomfrey if he could set up his wireless so if Penny was conscious she could have something to listen to. Madam Pomfrey decided to ease his worry and allowed him to do so, Oliver thanked her and decided to head back to the tower to retrieve his radio. Harry and Hermione tagged along and once they arrived at the common room Harry and Hermione gathered their friends and met up in the boys' dorms.

Once Neville, Ron, Fay, and Sally-Anne joined them they informed them about what they found out from Dobby, the four were surprised but now they believed Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin so they needed to keep an eye on him. Harry planned to ask Daphne and Tracey if they have heard anything in Slytherin that might be able to help them.

During their dueling lesson Flitwick continued to instruct the students to practice using their wand holsters and to strengthen their shields, he had the students face each other and strengthen a spell before casting it at their opponents shield to see how much their shields can handle. When their dueling lessons were over Flitwick left but Harry asked his friends to remain, Harry and Hermione explained that they met Dobby again and were able to learn who he belonged to and what they know about the Chamber of Secrets. Once they told them everything Harry turned to Daphne and Tracey and asked for their help, Daphne told them "I seriously doubt Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin."

"What makes you think that?"

Daphne sighed and said "Consider yourself lucky you're not in the same house as him. Malfoy always brings up his father since his father's name gives him power over some of the other students, since Slytherin is a house that respects power and status then Malfoy would never shut up about being the heir of Slytherin if he was the heir."

Hearing that made Harry and Hermione think, Tracey decided to add "The Slytherin line has been lost and while there have been some who have claimed to be Slytherin's descendants they haven't been able to prove it."

Harry nodded but said "Well, even if it isn't Malfoy we at least know his father is Dobby's master and he was the one who planned for the attacks to happen. It's likely that Malfoy might know something, have you two heard him say anything?"

They shook their heads and Daphne said "The only time Malfoy does talk to us is when he's trying to get us to join him in his attempts to antagonize you or others, thankfully there are plenty of Slytherins who would rather lay low and focus on their studies. I don't think Lilian and Blaise know anything since they like to stay out of Malfoy's attempts, as far as we know the only people Malfoy does talk to are Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Parkinson, and Bulstrode but I doubt any of them would want to talk to you."

They understood and thanked them for their help, Harry and Hermione started to think of a plan to get information from Malfoy or someone in his group but they weren't sure how they could.

Over the next few days the students felt uneasy thinking they could be attacked next, since Professor Binns told the students that the monster of Slytherin was targeting Muggleborns many students started to avoid them. Thankfully some of the muggleborns had friends that cared about them and wouldn't abandon them but it was still easy to tell many were trying to avoid them.

Harry had decided to check on Luna during one of their dueling practices and see how she was doing since Penny was petrified, Luna seemed sadder and said "The Nargles told me Penelope isn't going to be the only petrified victim and since she's not around anymore the wrackspurts have infested others in Ravenclaw and they've gotten worse."

Harry wasn't sure what she meant but the thought of there being other petrified victims made him worry. Harry told Luna if she wanted to avoid going to Ravenclaw she's welcomed to the dueling room any time and he'll gladly walk her to her tower if she wanted, hearing this Hermione offered to help her as well, Luna hugged the two of them and thanked them for offering to help her.

Harry decided to cut his practice short that day and asked Neville "Hey Neville, can you join me in the library?"

Nodding, Neville agreed, soon the two left for the library while the rest of their friends continued to practice. Once the two arrived at the library they saw it was pretty empty for a Tuesday, Harry wanted to look up more information about mature mandrakes so the two quickly found the books they needed. Harry soon learnt that when taken proper care of their mandrakes might become fully mature by late May, Harry almost thought they were going to have to wait for theirs to mature but then he read about how some farms grow mandrakes and they could buy mature ones to be sent to Hogwarts.

Harry asked "Hey Neville, do you know any places that sell mature mandrakes?"

Neville thought about it and said "I've heard of a few but I'm not sure, I'll need to look them up, why do you ask?"

"I get the feeling that there are going to be more petrified victims, Penny has been kind to us and Luna really likes her so I don't want her to miss the rest of her school year because Hogwarts can't afford to buy mature mandrakes, I'll pay for them from my own vault if it will help."

Neville smiled and nodded, he told Harry "I'll look up where we can buy them and see their prices, hopefully we can have them delivered here before the end of December."

The two agreed and went back to reading, unknown to the two their conversation was overheard by three Slytherin boys, the three quickly and quietly slipped away before leaving the library. Once Harry and Neville saw the time they packed up and made their way to the tower, on the way Harry made a quick stop at the dueling room where his friends had just finished practicing. Harry and Hermione walked Luna to her tower before they said their goodbyes and promised to practice together again. As they left Harry looked back and noticed Luna seemed nervous about entering her common room, he wondered what was going on.

When they returned to the tower Hermione told Harry she needed to grab something and to meet in his dorm. With the rest of the boys still in the common room Harry was alone in his dorm until the door opened and Hermione walked in and was carrying a potions book. She sat next to Harry on his bed and said "I think I know how we can figure out what Malfoy knows."

Harry couldn't help but comment "That was fast."

"Last year Daphne gave me an advanced potions book for Christmas, it had many fascinating potions that we wouldn't learn about until our seventh year. I looked over it again and found something called veritaserum, according to the book if we are able to make Malfoy take three drops then he'll be forced to answer any question he's asked truthfully. At first I thought we could use it but unfortunately it won't make him tell the whole truth so we'll need to ask specific questions, he'll also remember everything we ask him and only the DMLE is allowed to use it, it's illegal if we make or use it."

Harry spoke his thoughts "A truth potion would be useful however it has too many risks so we can't use it, is there anything else in that book?"

"I did find something else called Polyjuice potion, if we add the DNA of someone to the potion then for one hour we will turn into that person, if we use it then maybe we can turn into people like Goyle or Parkinson then we can ask him if he knows anything about the chamber or the monster. Both these potions take about a month to make but I'm fairly certain I can make them, we might need to steal some of the ingredients from Snape though."

Harry looked at the book with Hermione and saw the list of ingredients, he told Hermione "I should be able to contact Gringotts and purchase the ingredients but where will you brew the potion since they're both illegal and I doubt you can brew it in the dorms?"

"I thought of that and I think the best place to brew it will be Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, everyone avoids her bathroom and maybe we can talk her into letting us use her bathroom."

Harry thought of it and agreed to the idea but then said "I'll talk to Blaise and see if he knows if Malfoy will be at Hogwarts over the break, I remember last year he went home, if he and his group stay for the break then that's our best chance."

The two agreed to the plan and decided to tell Neville, Ron, Fay, and Sally-Anne since they knew they could trust them. Once they were all in the dorm they told them everything about the plan, Neville looked over the ingredients and told Hermione he can grab some of them from the greenhouses now but the rest they'll need to order. They talked about the plan and Neville had to tell them he was going home for the break so he couldn't take part in the plan, Fay and Sally-Anne also said they were going home for the break so it was just Harry, Hermione, and Ron who would need to take the potion. Once it was time for bed Harry wrote a letter to Gringotts before calling Hedwig and sending her to deliver it.

The next day Harry told Hermione to head to breakfast without him, he grabbed his invisibility cloak and left for the dungeons, he waited until he spotted Blaise then he tapped him on his shoulder and whispered to meet in the dueling room before breakfast. The two arrived at the dueling room where Harry took off the cloak and Blaise asked "What is it, Potter?"

"You told me before that you room with Malfoy and the others so I wanted to ask if you know if Malfoy is heading home for the break?"

Blaise was confused and asked "What for?"

"Since we found out Dobby's master is Malfoy's dad then he might know something, we have a plan that will only work if he stays for the break."

Blaise thought of it before saying "Ever since that mess on Halloween Malfoy has been in a happier mood, I've heard him talk about how he can't wait to see Slytherin's monster get rid of all the muggleborns. I remember he was extremely pissed when you caught the snitch but he became cheerful again when he heard of the attack, looking at it now it does make sense why you would suspect him."

Harry nodded and said "That's why we need to find out what he knows so we can tell the teachers and they can put a stop to all of this."

Blaise nodded and said "Alright Potter, last I heard Malfoy said his parents were going to be busy over the break so he is planning on staying, the only ones of his group that are leaving for the break are Parkinson and Nott, Lilian and I aren't going to be here either."

Harry nodded and thanked Blaise for his help, Blaise wished Harry good luck on whatever his plan is before leaving. Harry thought about the plan and decided he would talk to Myrtle after their classes were over and hope she was willing to listen. On the way to the great hall Harry heard someone yell "Give it back, you shouldn't take it from her!"

Harry ran to find who said that and soon came across a group of Ravenclaws, he saw Luna was behind three second year Ravenclaws and she had a few tears in her eyes, in front of them were a group of older Ravenclaws. He heard one of the older Ravenclaws say "She should stop reading the rubbish her father keeps writing, maybe then she won't be so Loony anymore."

Harry saw one of the older Ravenclaws was holding an old copy of the Quibbler, Harry took out his wand and cast a switching spell on the magazine and made it land in his hand. The Ravenclaws turned and saw Harry, he gave the older students a serious look and asked "Why are you picking on her?"

Two of the older Ravenclaws looked a bit worried when they saw Harry however another Ravenclaw said "Oh look, Loony has the heir of Slytherin protecting her."

Harry narrowed his eyes at hearing that insulting nickname, he handed Luna her magazine before turning to the older Ravenclaws and saying "Leave her alone, I won't let you bully one of my friends."

Another older Ravenclaw said "We're just trying to help her, all she does is read that stupid magazine and talk about the imaginary creatures her mental father made up, we're just trying to show her how to be normal then maybe she won't be such a freak."

Harry froze at the mention of that familiar and hated word, he glared before his wand appeared in his hand and he said "There's nothing wrong with her, if you don't leave her alone I won't hesitate to curse you!"

They were taken aback by Harry's anger, some of them believed Harry is the heir of Slytherin and worried they might be attacked so they tugged on their friends and tried to pull them away. The older Ravenclaws walked away but not before some of them glared back at Harry before following their friends. Once they were gone Luna suddenly tackled Harry in a hug and said "Thank you Harry, thank you!"

Harry saw she had a few tears in her eyes, his anger vanished and he hugged Luna back and tried to comfort her. One of the remaining Ravenclaws spoke up, "Thanks for the help, Potter."

Harry looked at the three and saw they were Padma Patil, Sue Li, and Anthony Goldstein. Harry said "No Problem, I'm happy to look out for one of my friends."

Luna finally let go and held the old copy of the Quibbler to her chest and said "I thought they were going to destroy it, this isn't a normal copy of the Quibbler, it's a special one my mother made for me before she died."

Padma came up to Luna and said "It's ok Luna, we won't let that happen."

Harry asked "Why were they picking on Luna?"

Sue spoke up "They don't like how quirky Luna's personality is and they think this isn't how a Ravenclaw should behave so they started to pick on her, normally Penny would put a stop to it but after she was attacked they saw this as their chance to try and 'fix' her."

Harry heard the air quotes and asked "Why aren't the other Ravenclaw prefects or Professor Flitwick stopping them?"

"The Professor doesn't know since the prefects handle Ravenclaw's issues themselves, normally it isn't that bad in Ravenclaw but some of the older students have been picking on Luna because of the Quibbler, the prefects agree that Luna shouldn't have the Quibbler and they'll probably just lie to the Professor if we tell him."

Harry frowned at hearing that, he didn't know how bad it was in Ravenclaw. Luna looked sad again and said "I'm sorry Harry, they're likely going to tell everyone you threatened them and it'll make more people believe the rumors about you, things are going to get worse because of me."

Harry gave Luna a gentle smile and said "Hey, it's ok Luna, you're one of my closes friends so I wasn't going to stand by and let them bully you."

The three could see how much Luna cared for Harry, they knew Penny and Luna didn't believe the rumors that Harry is the heir of Slytherin and now they could see why. Anthony spoke up "We won't let them keep bullying Luna, she became our friend ever since she joined us in our study sessions with Penny so we'll look out for her."

Harry thanked them before they saw how late they were for breakfast so the group quickly made their way to the great hall. Harry made a mental note to talk to Flitwick about the bullying that was going on and see if he could do anything about it.

The day continued and it didn't take long for Harry to hear the rumor about him being the heir of Slytherin return, now it also mentioned how he threatened a bunch of Ravenclaws. Harry told his friends about what happened before telling Hermione about what Blaise told him, with this information they knew they needed to be ready for the break. The day felt slower than normal however that day something different happened during their defense lessons.

Most of the class was bored since Lockhart once again continued to read from his book and reenact some scenes, however halfway through class several students started laughing and when they pointed out to the other students why the others started laughing. Lockhart was confused why everyone started laughing while he was in the middle of reading Year with the Yeti but when he saw what the students were laughing at he froze. His portraits were no longer showing off their new outfits and smiling, instead in some of them Lockhart wore ridiculous outfits, many of the portraits showed Lockhart picking his ears, his nose, or his crooked teeth. One portrait showed Lockhart had a runny nose before sneezing into his hands and covering them with snot, he wiped the snot on his outfit before continuing to smile as if nothing happened. Another portrait showed Lockhart was sleeping in a bed but he was holding a stuffed doll of himself and he had a photo of himself framed on the nightstand. One of the portraits even showed a still smiling Lockhart who looked like he was going bald.

Lockhart tried to take down the portraits only to see they were now stuck to the walls with a sticking charm, he tried to cast a spell at them to make them go back to normal but nothing happened, soon he told the students class was over and to leave. Harry and his friends continued to laugh as they packed their stuff and left while Lockhart tried to cover his portraits, it took a while before they stopped laughing and Harry said "I needed that laugh, that prank was brilliant." None of them noticed Hermione's smirk.

The group of friends returned to the tower before heading to lunch, during lunch they heard their year mates still talking and laughing about defense however they were interrupted when they saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle showed up. Malfoy had his usual smug look as he said "Hey Scarhead, I just heard the rumors that you're going around threatening students, looks like we should fear angering the heir of Slytherin."

Harry felt annoyed before Ron said "Sod off Malfoy!"

Malfoy turned to Ron and said "Oh look, the weasel is defending Potter, I guess he has him well trained."

Crabbe and Goyle started laughing but Harry looked bored and said "It's always just petty insults with you Malfoy but I guess I shouldn't be surprised since you're just a coward, maybe if you put that same effort towards learning new spells then you might be a decent wizard instead of a pathetic one."

Malfoy glared and said "I'd watch what I'd say if I were you Scarhead, you don't know what upsetting me could cost you."

Harry glared and was about to ask what Malfoy meant but the moment was interrupted by a cheerful Colin, Colin handed Crabbe and Goyle two photos and said "Here's a free copy for everyone!" Colin ignored Malfoy and turned to Harry and his friends and handed each of them a photo, Malfoy snatched the photo from Crabbe before seeing it was from the quidditch game and it was the moment Harry caught the snitch before showing the bludger crash into Malfoy. Ron started laughing when he saw the photo and soon others joined him, Malfoy grabbed the photo Goyle had and shredded them before glaring at Colin, before he could speak Colin pulled out another copy and held it out to Malfoy and asked "Can you sign it for me?"

Malfoy snatched the photo and shredded it before calling Colin a mudblood and storming off. Harry couldn't help but laugh when he saw the photo and Malfoy's reaction, he said to the first year "Colin, you really are an amazing photographer."

Colin gave a bright smile and said "Since he made the effort to come and see you I thought he should have a copy like the rest of Gryffindor."

Harry chuckled at that, the first year was really growing on him, with Malfoy gone the group continued to enjoy their lunch before they left to head to charms. When their charms lesson ended Harry asked to talk to Flitwick, once the two were alone Flitwick sat at his desk and gestured for Harry to take a seat. Once they sat down Harry asked Flitwick if he's heard about the recent rumor about him threatening some Ravenclaws, Flitwick said "I had thought it was just a rumor but if you are bringing it up then I'm guessing it's not just a rumor." Harry nodded before Flitwick continued "I know you are not the kind of person to make threats for no reason so would you explain to me what happened?"

Harry told Flitwick everything he saw and what he was told, the Professor seemed surprised to hear this and Harry asked "Have the prefects said anything about this to you?"

Flitwick shook his head and said "I wasn't aware this was happening, I will keep an eye out for any bullying happening in Ravenclaw and put a stop to it. Mr. Potter, I understand you were protecting your friend so I will overlook it this time but please refrain from saying such threats again, with everything going on right now it's best that you don't do anything that could draw attention to yourself."

Harry nodded but wasn't sure if the bullying will stop, Harry thought of an idea and suggested it to Flitwick. The two continued to talk for a few more minutes before Flitwick agreed to Harry's idea, once the two were done Harry thanked Flitwick and left to find his friends.

Harry and Hermione later made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom where the two tried to talk to her, they first introduced themselves but Myrtle thought they were there to make fun of her so she yelled at them to get out, Harry quickly thought of something and told Myrtle he wouldn't make fun of her since he's had people make fun of him for wearing glasses so he wouldn't do that to anyone. Myrtle now focused on Harry and asked "Really, have you ever had your glasses broken before?"

Harry answered back "Several times, thankfully magic made them as good as new."

Myrtle looked happy and started talking about one of her old bullies that always made fun of her because of her glasses, Harry told her he liked her glasses and thought they looked nice, Hermione had no idea a ghost could blush. Harry didn't notice the blush but could tell Myrtle had been bullied a lot so he was happy to be nice to her however he needed to ask "Myrtle, I know it may sound rude but my friends and I need a private place to make a potion that will take a while to make so I was hoping to ask if we could use your bathroom?"

Myrtle smiled and floated next to Harry and said "Sure Harry, I hope we can talk more any time you come by."

Harry smiled and said "Thank you Myrtle, I'd like to talk to you some more too."

Myrtle giggled then Harry felt Hermione grab his arm and say in a more serious tone to Myrtle "We're grateful for your help." Myrtle's smile dropped a bit when she realized Hermione was still there, Hermione continued, "It's late so we'll start on the potion tomorrow, we'll see you then."

She pulled Harry with her and they started to leave, Harry said a quick goodbye to Myrtle and said they'd see her tomorrow. As the two walked back to the tower Harry said "That went well, she was more willing to help than I thought she would be."

"Yeah, I wonder why." Hermione thought to herself "I should have brought Neville."

Once the two made it back to the tower they heard Neville was helping at the greenhouses so the two decided to reread the potions book to make sure they had everything right. Neville had spent his time before curfew helping Professor Sprout in the greenhouses and he managed to gather some of the ingredients they needed. Once Neville returned to the common room he handed Hermione the ingredients, Hermione told them she should be able to handle most of the potion herself but would need their help from time to time, the two boys agreed. With everything now ready and Hedwig likely to return soon with the rest of the ingredients the group of friends wished each other a good night and returned to their dorms.

Sorry about the late update, I'm still hoping to upload a new chapter every week or two.

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