Chapter 25

Harry and Snape soon arrived at a gargoyle statue and Snape said the name of a sweet before the gargoyle moved out of the way and spiraling stairs appeared. The two walked up the stairs before Snape threw the door open and Harry saw the headmaster's office for the first time, he noticed a few glass cabinets with stuff he didn't recognize, there were several shelves with tons of books that looked ancient and one of the shelves had the sorting hat, he noticed a table that had unusual moving gadgets he'd never seen before, he even noticed on the wall behind him were several moving portraits but it looked like most of them were asleep.

Harry's attention was soon drawn to the headmaster's desk and he felt more worried when he saw McGonagall there with a stern look, he noticed Flitwick was there too and he had a more concerned look. Harry made sure to put up his shields before Dumbledore got his attention and said "Harry, please have a seat." Harry sat down and had trouble looking at any of the teachers, he knew he was in a lot of trouble. Dumbledore grabbed something from a crystal bowl and offered, "Lemon drop?"

Harry shook his head and said "No thank you sir."

Putting the sweet back Dumbledore said "Harry my boy, Madam Pomfrey has informed us that Ms. Granger is in the hospital wing because you two had brewed polyjuice potion, however it seems Ms. Granger had mistakenly used cat hair, is this true?"

Harry nodded and said "Yes sir."

Snape decided to speak "I don't know how two students with your mediocre skill managed to brew a complicated potion like polyjuice potion, but such a potion is illegal to brew, I don't see why we aren't expelling them and turning them over to the aurors!"

Dumbledore spoke up, "That is enough Professor Snape, I am more than capable of handling my students." Snape stayed quiet but didn't look happy, Dumbledore turned to Harry and said "You can relax Harry, neither you nor Ms. Granger need to worry about being expelled, but I would like to hear why you two decided to brew the polyjuice potion."

Harry felt some relief at hearing they weren't being expelled, he explained "We found the potion in one of Hermione's books, we thought we could brew it and the idea of changing into someone else sounded interesting to us, I bought the ingredients so we could begin brewing."

McGonagall asked "Where did you brew the potion?"

"In Myrtle's bathroom."

Snape asked the next question, "Who did you turn into?"

Harry quickly answered "Neville, I grabbed a hair from his pillow since he's not here."

When asked whose hair Hermione meant to use Harry explained it was an older Gryffindor that owned a cat. Dumbledore nodded after hearing everything and said "Very well Harry, I'm afraid that you and Ms. Granger will still need to be punished for brewing an illegal potion, both you and Ms. Granger will lose your house one hundred points each and you will both be serving detention every weekend for the next three months once the break is over."

Harry thought that wasn't too bad, however Snape said "Headmaster, that can't be their only punishment, these two broke school rules and brewed an illegal potion so they deserve to be given harsher punishments, they should serve detention for the rest of the year and Potter should be banned from playing quidditch, both he and Granger should also have their wands confiscated when they aren't in class!"

"Absolutely not!" Both McGonagall and Flitwick yelled.

McGonagall yelled "You will not use this as a chance to hurt the Gryffindor quidditch team just because you're still mad your team did horribly!"

Flitwick added, "Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger are using their time wisely in the dueling room to practice, I will not allow you to give a punishment that will prevent them from being able to practice!"

It looked like an argument was about to happen when Dumbledore said "Enough! Their punishment has already been decided."

Snape sneered before storming out of the office, once he was gone McGonagall said "I shall go and see Ms. Granger and inform her of her punishment," she turned to Harry and said "I am very disappointed Mr. Potter, you told me before that you hoped to become a prefect in the future but as of right now your chances are not looking good, let this be a lesson to you and if you improve then you may still receive the badge one day."

Harry lowered his head and apologized, with that the meeting was over and McGonagall and Flitwick left, Harry stood and apologized again before turning to leave, he had just reached the door when he was startled by a sudden burst of flames and the sound of a majestic screech. Harry looked and on a nearby perch was a beautiful red and gold bird unlike anything he'd ever seen before, although he thought he might have dreamt of something like it once. He heard Dumbledore say "It looks like he's returned in time for you to meet him, Harry, I would like to introduce you to Fawkes, my phoenix."

Harry was amazed to see an actual phoenix, Fawkes turned to Harry and Harry heard Fawkes make a sound that almost sounded like a song, somehow Harry could tell that Fawkes was happy to meet him. Harry noticed one of Fawkes' feathers came off and turned to ash, Harry asked "Is he ok?"

"Do not worry Harry, it's just that Fawkes' burning day is approaching, on that day he will burst into ashes and be reborn again, it is one of the many amazing abilities a phoenix possesses." Harry wanted to approach Fawkes but wasn't sure if he should, Dumbledore seemed to notice and said "You may pet him if you'd like, Fawkes normally loves the attention."

Harry approached and slowly held his hand out to Fawkes, the phoenix lowered his head and allowed Harry to pet him. Harry smiled when he felt Fawkes' feathers and it seemed like Fawkes liked the attention and sounded happy, Harry said "He's amazing."

Dumbledore approached and said "He certainly is, Fawkes has been a loyal companion who always comes to my side when I call for his help." Dumbledore turned to Harry and said in a more serious tone "Harry, I understand that as students you are curious to learn about such advance potions, but understand that they are illegal for a reason and had either of you made a mistake while brewing then things could have taken a turn for the worse, I hope you have learned your lesson and we will never have to repeat another incident like this."

Harry turned to Dumbledore and nodded, "Yes sir."

With that over Dumbledore dismissed Harry and sent him on his way, Harry decided to go and see Hermione and ask what Madam Pomfrey said, he had just turned the corner when he ran into Snape and heard him say "Potter." Harry stopped and Snape started to approach him, Harry almost took a step back when Snape got close but he stopped himself from moving, Snape looked down at him and sneered before saying "Do not think the headmaster will always be here to protect you, had it been up to me then you and Granger would have been expelled and handed over to the aurors, if you continue to strut around the school like your father did and dismiss the rules thinking they don't apply to you, then I will make sure to remind you that you are not above the rules."

Harry felt some anger at that comment about his father but stopped himself from saying anything that could get him in more trouble, instead he said "Yes sir."

Snape continued to look down at Harry for a moment before turning and walking away, although Harry heard him say "How two incompetent dunderheads such as yourselves managed to brew such a potion is beyond me."

Harry held back his anger and left without saying a word, he just reminded himself that at least they kept Ron, Neville, Fay, and Sally-Anne from getting in trouble with them. Harry made his way to the hospital wing and waited outside since Madam Pomfrey wasn't letting other students in yet. Harry looked at the time and saw lunch would be starting soon, he waited until the door opened and out stepped Professor McGonagall, noticing him McGonagall said "Mr. Potter, I have informed Ms. Granger of her punishment, you may see her now."

Harry nodded and entered and saw Hermione was sitting in a hospital bed, once she noticed him Harry walked up to her and asked "What did Madam Pomfrey say?"

Hermione managed to smile and say "She said I should be able to make a full recovery, the potion she gave me earlier helped prevent the polyjuice potion from causing any permanent changes, she's examined all the changes my body went through and once I've had the chance to rest then she'll start to change me back."

Harry felt relieved at hearing that, he sat down in the chair next to her and said "That's wonderful news, I'm glad you're going to be ok. Did she say how long it's going to take?"

Madam Pomfrey approached and answered instead, "Ms. Granger should be back to her normal self by late January or early February."

Shocked by the news Harry asked "What? Why is it going to take that long?"

"Polyjuice potion is never meant to use animal hair and can cause dangerous or permanent changes to the body, with how Ms. Granger's body has been changed then we need to slowly change her back in order to prevent any mistakes that could cause further damage." Harry's shoulders slumped at that, Madam Pomfrey continued, "I will be quite busy over this time so I'm afraid that Ms. Granger won't be allowed anymore visitors for today, once it's time for lunch I'm afraid I'll have to send you away so we can begin."

With that Madam Pomfrey walked away, Harry looked down and said "Hermione, I'm sorry, this is all my fault, I-"

Hermione cut him off, "Harry, this isn't your fault, what happened was an accident and I should have made sure the hair was Bulstrode's, I don't want you to blame yourself for this."

Hearing her serious tone Harry nodded, he decided to ask "How are you feeling?"

Hermione looked down at her hands and said "Truthfully, I'm worried, I don't know what might happen and I'm worried something might go wrong."

Hermione worried thinking she might be stuck like this, she worried thinking she wouldn't be able to go back home, before she could think of more ideas of what could go wrong Harry reached over and took hold of her hand, she wanted to pull her hand away since she didn't want Harry to feel it covered in cat hair but he told her, "It'll be alright Hermione, Madam Pomfrey is the best healer and she will have you back to your normal self again, you'll be ok and I promise to come and visit when I can."

Hermione looked at him and saw Harry didn't look at her any differently, he gave her a smile that helped her calm down a bit, she held onto his hand and said "Thank you Harry."

The two stayed like that for a moment and Hermione wanted to say something however Madam Pomfrey came up to them and said "I'm afraid I'll have to send you away Mr. Potter, I need to work on Ms. Granger."

Harry felt Hermione grip his hand as if she didn't want him to leave, Harry turned to the healer and asked "When can I visit?"

Madam Pomfrey sighed and said "I'm afraid Ms. Granger isn't going to be allowed any visitors for some time, most of the break is going to be spent on trying to change her back so I can't allow visitors."

Harry looked disappointed at hearing that, he turned to Hermione and saw the same look of disappointment on her face, before Madam Pomfrey sent Harry out Hermione said "Harry, I'll be ok, we'll see each other again when Madam Pomfrey allows visitors, go and enjoy the break."

Harry was silent for a moment before he nodded, the two shared a hug before Madam Pomfrey finally sent him out. Once he was sent out the hospital wing Harry felt down, he was looking forward to spending the break with Hermione since she spent most of her free time working on the potion, unfortunately now they couldn't spend any time together. Harry made his way to the great hall and found the Weasleys along with Lee, Oliver, and Luna, once he joined them Ron asked "Harry, how's Hermione?"

Harry explained everything Madam Pomfrey told him, they were glad Hermione would be ok however they were saddened to hear they couldn't visit her. Throughout lunch Harry hardly ate, his friends tried to bring him into their conversation to get his mind off Hermione but he found himself feeling distracted, he also didn't notice throughout lunch Ginny kept staring at him.

When lunch came to an end the group of friends made their way back to the tower, however as they were leaving Flitwick approached and said "Mr. Potter, may I have a word with you?" Harry understood Flitwick wanted to ask what happened so he agreed, he told his friends to head back without him before following Flitwick. The two arrived at Flitwick's office and once they sat down Flitwick said "Mr. Potter, I was quite shocked to hear what happened to Ms. Granger and how you were involved, I get the feeling when you told us in the headmaster's office who you turned into you weren't telling the truth, am I correct?"

Harry wanted to say it was the truth however he stopped himself and hesitated, so far Flitwick was the only adult other than Augusta that he trusted so he didn't want to lie to him, instead he took a deep breath and said "Yes sir."

Flitwick sighed and said "I will ask one more question, did the reason you two did this involve Mr. Malfoy?"

Harry nodded, "Yes sir, you see, we were-"

To his surprise Flitwick held up his hand and stopped him, He told Harry "You do not need to tell me the details Mr. Potter, at least that way I can deny knowing anything, I just want to know if you learnt anything from Mr. Malfoy." Harry nodded and explained what they learned from Malfoy, Flitwick listened patiently and once Harry was done Flitwick said "So it seems Mr. Malfoy's father hasn't told him who the heir is, it is concerning to hear that the heir has returned but I'm not sure if he meant the same heir from fifty years ago or the descendant of that heir. I will look into this and let you know if I find out anything."

Nodding, Harry said "Thank you Professor."

Flitwick looked at Harry and said "Mr. Potter, I do believe you and I am glad to help, however I don't ever want you or Ms. Granger to put yourselves in this kind of danger again. It's lucky that what happened to Ms. Granger can be reversed, but with how long it's going to take for her to recover she will have to miss many of her classes and she will fall behind in our dueling lessons."

Harry was concerned at that and asked "You're not going to kick her out of our dueling lessons, are you!?"

Flitwick shook his head and said "Don't worry Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger has shown that she will work hard to improve and learn from our dueling lessons so I do believe she will catch up to the rest of you once she recovers. From now on I don't want either of you to try something this dangerous again, if you have a concern then come to me first and I will try my best to help you."

Harry felt relieved at hearing that, he nodded and said "I will, thank you Professor."

With that over Flitwick sent Harry back to his tower, on the way there Harry kept thinking about Hermione, she'll be glad to hear she'll still be able to continue their dueling lessons however she'll be disappointed to hear she has to catch up to everyone, maybe he could offer to practice with her in their free time. Harry arrived back at the tower and found Ron and the twins were having a miniature quidditch match with the gifts Oliver gave him and Ron. Harry didn't mind letting Ron use his gift, from the looks of it Ron would probably have more fun with it than he would, Harry sat down to join them and he watched the match for a while, soon the portrait swung open and Luna walked in carrying a book. The three Weasleys were more focused on the match in front of them so they didn't notice her, Luna walked over and sat next to Harry and asked "How is everything going here?"

"They're going pretty well, it looks like Ron and the twins really like this new game."

Nodding, Luna asked "When do you plan to go visit Hermione?"

Harry felt a bit down and said "I don't know, Madam Pomfrey said she's not allowed to have any visitors for a while."

Luna turned to Harry and said "I remember Madam Pomfrey said something similar to Hermione about you."

Harry was confused for a moment before remembering when his bones were vanished, he asked Luna "Wait, are you suggesting I go see her after curfew?"

Luna smiled and said "I'm sure it would mean a lot to her if you went to see her." Harry thought about the idea, a part of him thought it would be better to let her recover but a part of him wanted to see her again and make sure she's ok, in the end Harry decided he would visit her. Once Luna saw Harry agreed she handed him her book and said "You'll need this, Hermione told me it was her favorite book in the wizarding world."

Harry looked at the book and smirked when he saw it was Hogwarts: A History, he knew Hermione wanted him to read the book before but he kept putting it off since it would take him a while to read. He thanked Luna and the two continued to watch the miniature match in front of them.

When it became late Harry waited until everyone went to sleep, the sound of snoring told him Ron was asleep so he quietly got out of bed and grabbed his invisibility cloak and Luna's book and left. As Harry walked through the castle he saw there were several ghosts floating around keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, a few times he had to move out of the path of a few ghosts. Arriving at the hospital wing Harry slowly opened the door and entered the hospital wing, he noticed Hermione was sitting up in her hospital bed and was staring out the window. Harry quietly closed the door but when he did he noticed Hermione turned towards the door, when he moved closer he saw her cat ears twitch then she asked "Harry?"

Realizing he was caught Harry pulled off the cloak and said "Hey Hermione."

Hermione asked "What are you doing here!?"

"Madam Pomfrey said you weren't allowed visitors during the day so I decided to come visit you at night."

Hermione shook her head and said "Harry, you didn't have to come visit me."

Harry smiled and said "My best friend was in the hospital wing, I wanted to see her." Hermione felt her cheeks turn pink at that but she put on a small smile, Harry asked "How are you feeling?"

Sighing, Hermione said "About as good as I can be, Madam Pomfrey spent the day slowly changing me back, it's not easy trying to undo the effects of the polyjuice potion." Hermione held up her hand and showed she no longer had her catlike claws, she told him "Madam Pomfrey said the hard part will be my cat ears and tail." Harry could see at this rate it was going to take a while, Hermione decided to ask "Did you and Ron find out anything from Malfoy?"

Harry nodded and explained what they learnt, once he told her what they found out he said "I've talked with Professor Flitwick about it and he's going to try and find out more about this, hopefully he does find something."

Hermione nodded and said "It's good we were able to find out something, at least that means this wasn't for nothing. Thanks for letting me know Harry, it's already late so you should probably go back to the common room now."

Harry shook his head and said "Not yet, I also wanted to help you, I imagine you're having trouble sleeping like this, right?"

She nodded and said "Yeah, being covered in cat hair and having a tail doesn't make it easy, unfortunately Madam Pomfrey can't give me a potion to help me sleep."

Harry smiled and said "Then how about I stay here with you until you fall asleep, I can even read to you."

Surprised by what he suggested Hermione saw Harry pull out a book she recognized as Hogwarts: A History, she asked Harry "You're finally going to read it?"

Nodding, Harry said "You said it was your favorite, I can read to you until you fall asleep."

Hermione was surprised to hear that, she liked the idea and nodded, "I'd like that."

Harry pulled out a candle and tapped it with his wand, soon a small fire appeared and gave enough light for Harry to read. Hermione got comfortable and watched as Harry started to read to her, after a while she closed her eyes and focused on Harry's voice. Harry had been reading for half an hour when he noticed Hermione was peacefully sleeping, he closed the book and blew out the candle before whispering "Goodnight Hermione." Harry put on the cloak and left the hospital wing, since he saw how happy it made Hermione when he read to her he decided to come back each night to read to her.

As the week continued Harry returned each night to visit Hermione, she was always glad to see him and she enjoyed listening to him read to her, although Hermione wanted Harry to read something different so she suggested asking Luna to grab some of her books from her dorm. When Harry told Luna she was glad to help, she went up to Hermione's dorm and retrieve the books she was asking for, when Harry had returned that night Hermione enjoyed listening to Harry read The Winter's Tale to her, Harry even found himself enjoying The Hobbit.

During the day Harry made sure to spend more time with his friends, he played a few games with Ron and many times Oliver and Luna would join them, although Fred, George, and Lee were busy so he didn't get to spend much time with them. Luna found herself spending more time in Gryffindor since she was always welcomed there, she joined Harry in the dueling room in order to practice but many times they found themselves sitting down and talking, Luna even made sure Harry would go visit the thestrals since Binky and Swift were always excited to see them.

The end of the year finally came and Fred, George, and Lee were prepared to test their fireworks, they reminded Harry of the fireworks they were planning on setting off at midnight and it gave Harry an idea. He asked where they were setting off the fireworks and made a slight request, he wanted Hermione to see the fireworks so they agreed to set them off where she could see them, he thanked them and was excited to tell Hermione.

When it became late Harry left the tower to visit Hermione, he thought of inviting Ron and Luna so they could all watch them together however they decided to watch them from their own towers. Arriving at the hospital wing Harry walked in and pulled off the cloak, when Hermione spotted him she smiled and said "Hey Harry."

Harry smiled when he saw her again, Madam Pomfrey had been able to undo more of her catlike features and she was starting to look more like herself again, although she was still covered in cat hair, he returned the greeting and said "Hey Hermione, I have some good news. The twins and Lee are planning on setting off a bunch of fireworks tonight, we'll be able to see them from the window."

Surprised by the news Hermione said "Really, aren't they going to get in trouble for that?"

Harry shrugged and said "They said I don't need to worry about that, since we'll be able to see the fireworks from here, I thought we could watch them together."

Hermione blushed at that but smiled and said "Sure Harry, I'd love to."

Hermione got out of her hospital bed and stood up, the two made their way to the window and sat together on the nearby hospital bed to watch. While they waited for the last few minutes to pass, they decided to talk about what they had done the year before, Harry admitted he missed it since he went to bed like normal, he thought about how the Dursleys always kept him locked in his cupboard so he never celebrated the new year. Hermione talked about spending that time with her parents, she was a bit sad she couldn't join them this year but she was glad Harry was hear to spend it with her.

The time came and the two started to count down together, the moment it became midnight they realized the twins and Lee had set off their fireworks when there was an explosion of colors and they saw it was the colors of all four houses. Hermione turned to Harry and said "Happy New Year Harry."

Harry smiled and said "Happy New Year Hermione."

The two continued to watch the fireworks display, although Harry didn't notice Hermione was glancing at him. Hermione thought about how Harry kept returning each night to see her and he would always read to her, she could tell Harry enjoyed reading her books a lot more, although he told her he was still reading Hogwarts: A History. Hermione felt the same feeling in her chest when Harry came to visit her, despite her current appearance Harry still smiled at her the same way he always had. She knew how others saw her and many kids always told her what they thought of her, she wondered to herself "What does Harry think of me?" For now she put the thought out of her mind and decided to enjoy the moment, she scooted closer to Harry and decided to try something.

Harry was enjoying the fireworks display the twins and Lee put on, he would need to tell them how great it was and he wondered if they might do something like this each year. Harry felt something and glanced to his right and saw Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder, he noticed the smile she had as she continued to watch the fireworks so he decided not to say anything. Harry was glad Hermione was enjoying this, he knew it wasn't easy for her to stay stuck in the hospital wing every day so he was glad he could make it better for her. Harry felt something similar to when they were flying together on his broom, he didn't really know what it was but he felt he didn't mind it, he knew that whenever he spent time with Hermione like this he felt really happy. Harry noticed something when Hermione was this close to him, he was surprised to see she was purring, he thought it was kind of cute. As the two continued to watch the fireworks together Harry ended up leaning his head on Hermione, they felt comfortable around each other and Harry didn't notice behind them Hermione wrapped her tail around him.

Sorry there hasn't been a new chapter in a while, chapter 23 gave me more trouble than I thought it would, when I finished it I felt it wasn't enough so I started working on the next two chapters.

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