Chapter 28
The news of two students being petrified had caused more panic throughout the school, many students had thought they were safe since they weren't muggleborn but after hearing Fay Dunbar, a half blood, was petrified many realized they could be next. When it was found out the other petrified student was Hermione many had the same realization, Fay is one of Harry's friends and Hermione is his best friend, it dawned on everyone that Harry couldn't be the heir and they've been attacking the wrong person this whole time.
The professors had spent the rest of the day investigating the area where the two girls had been found hoping to find out what petrified them, unfortunately they came across nothing. They learnt none of the ghosts had been patrolling the corridor at the time and when they checked the portraits they had found more had been petrified. The staff ordered the ghosts to guard the common rooms and to make sure none of the students leave, they soon held a meeting to discuss what they should do, there were some saying they should close down the school and send the students home, others were saying they needed to keep the school open and try and prevent the next attack, after much arguing it was decided that the school would remain open.
The heads of houses later returned to the common rooms and announced that for the time being classes would be canceled, the students were not allowed to leave their common rooms unless they were accompanied by a professor or by one of the ghosts. Food was sent up to the common rooms and if any of the students needed to talk to a professor then they needed to ask a ghost for help.
In Gryffindor Harry hadn't left his dorm, Neville remained by his side and helped him until he had calmed down. Soon Harry stepped back, he took a deep breath before saying, "Thanks for that Neville, I feel a bit better now."
Nodding, Neville said, "I know what you mean, my grandfather used to do the same for me after we'd visit my parents."
Hearing that made Harry give Neville a sorrowful look, he remembered the few stories he had been told over the summer. The two boys sat down on their own beds before Neville let out a sigh and asked "What are we going to do now, Hermione and Fay are…"
Neville didn't finish but Harry knew what he meant, he tried to think of something they could do but he couldn't think of anything, he lowered his head and said, "I'm not sure what we can do."
The two boys sat in silence for several minutes until Ron had come to join them, he informed them about what was going on in the common room and what Professor McGonagall had announced. Harry had asked about Sally-Anne, he worried about her since she was close to the two girls, Ron informed them that Lavender and Parvati started comforting her and led her up to their dorm, Harry felt relieved knowing Sally-Anne had others helping her.
The three boys sat on their beds in silence as none of them knew what to do anymore, their minds kept thinking back to the petrified forms of their two friends. They soon heard tapping coming from the window and they saw Hedwig was on the other side, Neville opened the window and the owl immediately flew over to Harry. Hedwig felt how Harry was feeling through their bond and immediately came over to check on him, he informed her of everything that happened, she felt concerned about Harry, she decided she wasn't going to leave his side. Hearing all of this through their bond Harry thanked the owl, she moved onto his lap and Harry held her in his arms.
More time had passed and around dinner time they had a few students come visit, the rest of the quidditch team felt worried about Harry and had come to check on him. Harry thanked them for their concern but told them he wasn't in the mood to talk; they felt uneasy since they've never seen Harry like this before. Oliver revealed they had brought food for them, Harry noticed the plate Oliver handed him had some of his favorites, he could see they were trying to cheer him up. Harry tried to say he wasn't hungry, but they still left the food for them, they soon made their way out the dorm but not before letting Harry know he could come to them for anything. No one else had come to visit the three boys after that, after seeing how Harry was feeling Oliver decided to have the team prevent other students from bothering him.
Back in the dorm Neville and Ron had grabbed some food for themselves but Harry didn't, they tried to convince him to eat something, but he told them he wasn't hungry, the two immediately knew it was a lie. Eventually Hedwig was the one who finally got him to eat something, Harry felt Hedwig was hungry and hadn't gone hunting, he tried to offer her some food but despite her hunger she refused, she told Harry she wouldn't eat anything if he wasn't going to. Harry tried to get her to eat but she remained stubborn, soon he agreed to eat so she would finally eat something.
After dinner Harry had one more visitor come to check on him, he was surprised to see it was the Gryffindor ghost Sir Nicholas. Harry questioned the ghost why he was there, Nick admitted he had gone to visit Hermione after hearing the news, he then worried about him and had come to check on him.
Harry thanked Nick for his concern and informed him he was alright, to his surprise Nick offered to escort him wherever he needed to go anywhere at any time, with other ghosts helping the students Nick decided he would help him. Harry felt surprised but was grateful and asked if they could visit Hermione early tomorrow, Nick agreed and Harry thanked him for his help, for a brief moment he had a smile on his face.
The next morning Harry had woken up earlier than he normally would, he had trouble staying asleep, after checking the time he saw he had an hour before breakfast, instead of trying to go back to sleep he decided to get ready. Arriving in the common room Harry spotted a few ghosts were there, some were lost in their own conversations, others looked completely bored and he thought they would fall asleep, the only one really paying attention was Nick. The two soon left the common room and made their way to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey heard the door to the hospital wing open and saw Harry had arrived along with Nick, she questioned why he was there so early, Harry asked if he could see Hermione. The healer felt her face soften at that, she knew how much those two meant to each other, she agreed to let him visit but explained he could only visit for an hour, Harry thanked her while Nick decided to wait outside the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey soon returned to her office.
Harry approached the two beds and saw Hermione and Fay in the same petrified state as they were yesterday, he walked up to Hermione and sat in the chair by her bed, he felt depressed seeing her like this. His eyes landed on her left hand, he slowly reached for it but flinched when he felt how cold and stiff her hand was, it didn't have the same warmth anymore. Harry wasn't sure what to say, he wasn't even sure if Hermione could hear him like this.
Harry thought back to when he was first told about the chamber, they had spent the entire year searching but they still hadn't found anything, he lowered his head as he finally spoke, "I'm sorry, this is all my fault, Dobby warned me bad things were going to happen, but I didn't listen. I shouldn't have gone to practice; I should have been by your side to make sure the monster wouldn't attack you. Maybe I should have tried to convince all of you not to return to Hogwarts, at least that way all of you would have been safe."
He wondered if he should have tried to convince them not to return to Hogwarts while he tried to deal with the chamber, he felt he could easily imagine how that would have gone. "Although, I doubt any of you would have stayed away if I returned, maybe I shouldn't have come back, even if it meant the Dursleys would keep beating me for the rest of the summer or lock me back up in my cupboard, at least the rest of you would have been safe."
Letting out a sigh, his eyes again landed on her left hand, he thought back to the night they went into the forbidden forest and what Hermione said about holding his hand. He felt himself slowly reach for her hand as he said, "You said before that holding my hand brought you more comfort, I… I think I could use some comfort too."
Despite the cold feeling Harry took hold of her hand, he hoped she could feel some comfort from his hand. He stayed silent for a few moments before continuing, "I… I don't know if you can hear me, but I promise I won't let you go through this alone, I'll come visit you every time I can," He thought about last year when she stayed in the hospital wing with him after protecting the stone, he even thought about when she came to see him after his bones were vanished, "Every time we ended up in the hospital wing we always came to keep each other company, as long as you're here I'll come visit every day to keep you company."
Madam Pomfrey managed to overhear that last part and smiled, it wouldn't be the first time she had students sneak in to visit each other, he wouldn't even be the first Potter to do this since another Potter gave her the same trouble in his seventh year. She remembered how much Ms. Granger's mood would brighten every time Mr. Potter came to visit her, she's certain that if Ms. Granger could hear him then she would have appreciated what he said, the healer closed the door to her office to let the students have their privacy.
Harry continued to talk to Hermione to keep her company, he mentioned how their classes had been canceled and he chuckled a bit at how disappointed she would have been at that. He brought up their dueling lessons and wondered if they were canceled or if they would still have them, he promised her he'd help her practice once she was better. For the next hour Harry continued to talk and even try to act like he knew how Hermione would respond to some of the things he was saying, the entire time he kept holding her hand hoping she could still feel comfort from it. When an hour passed and it was time for breakfast Madam Pomfrey had to come to send him away, he asked how often he could visit but the healer said he was only allowed one hour a day, disappointed at the news Harry said he understood, he gave Hermione's hand a squeeze before saying goodbye and leaving the hospital wing.
Outside the hospital wing Nick was waiting for Harry, he thought they were going to head back to the common room, however Harry asked if they could head to the dueling room instead. Harry knew students would be in the common room for breakfast and didn't want to deal with them, he decided he would focus on continuing to train with wandless magic. Once the two arrived in the dueling room Nick agreed to wait outside while Harry would continue to practice, once the ghost was gone Harry turned to the new targets on the walls, leaving his wand in its holster, Harry raised both his hands to begin casting. For the next few hours Harry practiced his casting, he tried to cast three spells at a target before quickly switching to another one, he timed himself every time to see if he improved his casting speed. When he started to feel magically drained, he would stop to let himself rest, he grabbed his copy of Hogwarts: A History and sat down to continue reading, once he felt his magic was recovered, he got up to continue to practice.
When it was time for lunch Harry noticed a plate of food had appeared in the dueling room, he wondered where it came from, he guessed maybe one of the teachers knew he was in the dueling room and decided to send him some food. Feeling his stomach growl and knowing he needed to eat Harry set his book down while he ate his lunch, at least he wasn't going to need to head back to the common room for meals.
Outside the window Hedwig watched as Harry continued to practice, she felt where he was through their bond and found him in the dueling room. She could feel Harry wanted to distract himself from the recent attack and decided to focus on practicing his casting, she decided not to bother him and flew off to hunt, she would be back to check on him later. Hedwig flew around the school and saw how empty it was with all the students stuck in their common rooms, every now and then she spotted a professor through the windows and a few ghosts patrolling the corridors, she worried something would happen soon and she wanted to stick close to Harry to make sure he's safe. When Hedwig returned to the window to the dueling room, she noticed nearby there was another bird watching Harry, she hadn't seen this bird before and noticed he wasn't an owl, the bird had spotted her and turned to her, he let out a trill that sounded like a song.
In the dueling room Harry was feeling exhausted, normally he wouldn't practice this much but with classes canceled he decided to use the extra free time in the dueling room. He was about to cast another spell when his alarm charm went off warning him that it was almost time for curfew, he would need to head back soon. Harry was glad for his time spent in the dueling room, all day none of the students had come to bother him, once he was finished, he met Nick outside the dueling room and the two made their way back to the common room.
Arriving at the portrait, Harry gave the password and stepped into the tower, he spotted several students still in the common room, once the students noticed him many quickly came up to him and started to apologize for the way they had treated him, many even tried to say they knew all along that Harry couldn't be the heir since he was a Gryffindor. Harry felt a bit overwhelmed at first but then he felt annoyed with everything they were saying, with how they treated him this year he didn't care about any of their apologies or excuses, they were only apologizing now after realizing he wasn't the heir. Harry pushed past the students and didn't respond to any of their apologies, he kept his head down and ignored everyone as he made his way back to his dorm.
Back in the dorm his dorm mates questioned where he had been all day, Neville explained they had visited the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey had informed them about his early visit, they thought he was in the dorm, but they couldn't find him. Harry explained he spent the day practicing in the dueling room by himself, he wanted to avoid the students as much as he could. Neville understood and changed the conversation, he showed Harry a letter he had gotten from his gran. In the letter she explained the news of the attack had gotten back to her, she questioned Professor McGonagall and was relieved to hear it wasn't the two of them. She also informed the two that she was going to be gone for a few days but didn't mention where she was going, Harry wondered what Augusta was going to do.
The next day Harry once again woke up early to visit Hermione, this time though he had brought a book to read to her. He sat by her bed and held her hand before opening up the book to begin reading, he hoped reading to her was helping her somehow. When his visit came to an end Madam Pomfrey sent him away, just like yesterday he decided to spend the rest of the day in the dueling room, he was determined to keep practicing. On the way there however, he spotted another ghost and recognized him as the Fat Friar, he soon noticed two Hufflepuffs behind him and his mood dropped when he saw it was Ernie and Wayne.
Harry had hoped to avoid them and just keep heading to the dueling room, unfortunately they immediately recognized him, Ernie called out "Harry!"
Harry did his best to ignore them and tried to keep walking, unfortunately the two got in front of him, Ernie started off by saying "We heard what happened, we are so sorry to hear about Hermione and Fay being petrified!"
Wayne continued, "We know you would never do anything to hurt them, we're so sorry for believing you were the heir, Susan and Hannah were right, we should have listened!"
Harry didn't react, he kept his head down and just wanted the two to go away, their apologies just sounded like excuses, Ernie moved closer and said "We're sorry about what happened, if you need any help, please just let us-" Ernie moved to place a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, Harry felt something inside him snap and he immediately smacked Ernie's hand away.
The two Hufflepuffs were surprised as well as their ghost, this time Harry didn't hide how he felt and glared at Ernie before saying, "You know what McMillan, I really want to punch you right now!" The boy was shocked at what he heard, Harry continued, "Don't think just because you're being nice now that means I'm going to forget everything you did; you were convinced I was the heir and kept telling everyone who would listen! You even went as far as to compare me to Voldemort!" Harry saw the two boys flinch at the name, he didn't care, he continued, "Remember Voldemort, the bastard who let his followers rape, torture, and murder as much as they wanted! Comparing me to the bastard who murdered my parents is one thing, but you even went as far as to compare my friends to his followers!"
The two boys had never seen Harry this angry before, Ernie seemed to shrink under his glare but tried to speak, "I-I thought t-that-"
Harry cut him off harshly, "Yeah, and I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be kind and understanding, clearly we were both wrong!" The boy flinched again before Harry continued, "You and I will never be friends McMillan, so just stay away from me!"
Harry walked past them and ignored the two boys; he heard them try to say something, but he didn't care. Nick quickly caught up but decided not to say anything, Harry didn't care about being friends with the two boys, they already showed him what they thought of him.
Once in the dueling room Harry started to practice his casting to keep his mind busy, he felt annoyed with the apologies he kept receiving since just days ago those same students still believed the rumors. Some time had passed before he heard the door open, he quickly canceled his spell before seeing Susan and Hannah arrived. Harry offered them his usual greeting although the girls noticed he wasn't smiling like he normally would.
They gave a quick greeting before Susan decided to be the one to speak up, "Harry, we heard about what happened with Ernie."
Harry sighed, he figured it wouldn't be long before the news would get back to them, "I realize what I said to Ernie was harsh, but I wasn't in the mood to hear more apologies. Ernie seemed to dislike me from the start of the year, he did his best to convince everyone I was the heir, now he tries to apologize and even act like he was a supportive friend. I didn't want to hear him try to apologize and act like nothing was wrong, there are plenty of Gryffindors who already tried to do the same thing."
Susan nodded, "I understand, there have been a few Hufflepuffs who came up to us to try to apologize, there were even a few who tried to say they always believed you."
Harry snorted at that, "It sure didn't seem like it when I was having to dodge their spells last week."
Hannah watched their interaction but decided not to say anything, she knew the reason why Ernie didn't like Harry, apparently, he had a crush on Susan but heard Susan had a crush on Harry, she thought it would be better not to mention that.
Susan decided to ask, "Did Madam Pomfrey say anything about the mandrakes?"
Shaking his head, Harry said, "Sadly, my mandrakes won't be delivered until the end of the year and our mandrakes still won't be mature for around two months, Hermione and the other students are going to be stuck like that until the end of the year."
Susan felt her mood drop a bit at the news, she had gotten her aunt to help but she was currently dealing with a few problems. Hannah decided to speak up, "Maybe there's a chance they could be delivered sooner, I heard Neville's gran was trying to talk to the minister to have the mandrakes delivered soon."
Harry doubted that would work, after what Malfoy said it sounded like Lucius had the minister in his pocket. They decided to get off the topic and asked to join Harry in the dueling room for some much-needed practice, he nodded and the three started to practice. Harry practiced drawing his wand and tried to improve his accuracy by using the charmed bludgers, he had asked the girls to cast spells at him at random to help keep his guard up. They ended the day with a duel and the two girls gave Harry plenty of trouble, luckily, he was able to disarm Susan and cast frictionless to make her slip when she tried to go for her wand, he was able to disarm Hannah soon after since they weren't protecting each other. He thanked the two girls for the help and the duel since it kept his mind off the petrified students.
Exiting the dueling room Harry noticed the Fat Friar didn't look happy when he spotted him, he apologized for losing his temper earlier and the Fat Friar was quick to accept his apology. Harry and Nick returned to the tower and once again Harry ignored everyone who tried to apologize to him, he made his way to his dorm before heading to bed.
The next day was like the last, however when he arrived at the common room Harry noticed someone else arrived too, Sally-Anne had walked down the stairs while carrying a backpack, Harry decided to check on her, "Hey Sally-Anne."
The girl looked and spotted Harry, she gave a smile and said "Harry, good morning, are you going to go visit Hermione and Fay?"
Nodding, Harry said, "Yeah, I'm stopping by every day to visit, are you going too?"
She shook her head, "No, I'm heading to the library, the three of us were looking over certain books and writing down every mistake we could find, now that they're in the hospital wing I decided to finish it myself for them."
Harry noticed her smile drop when she mentioned Hermione and Fay being in the hospital wing, he asked "How are you feeling after the attack, are you alright?"
The girl hesitated for a moment but said, "It's not easy knowing my two best friends are petrified, I remember hearing they woke up early that morning, but I was too tired and went back to bed, I should have been there to help them."
Harry could see Sally-Anne was having a hard time after the attack, he placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It'll be alright, Hermione and Fay will get better soon, they wouldn't want us to be sad, Hermione is probably happy to know you're still studying without her needing to be here."
His attempt at a joke did make the girl smile, suddenly she hugged Harry and said, "You're right, thanks Harry."
Harry froze up for a moment but slowly and awkwardly he hugged her back, she was still one of his friends. Sally-Anne chuckled to herself silently at seeing Harry wasn't used to hugging other people, she knew if it was Hermione, he would have returned the hug enthusiastically. The two split up and Harry said, "If you need to talk to someone then come find me or our friends, I'm usually in the dueling room or in my dorm."
Nodding, she thanked Harry before the two turned to different ghosts to ask to guide them to their destinations. In the hospital wing Harry spoke to Hermione and mentioned what had happened over the past few days, he was making sure to keep her up with what was happening before sitting down to read to her, the whole time he kept holding her left hand.
In the dueling room Harry was surprised to find he wasn't the first one there, he noticed two ghosts waiting outside and he recognized one of them as the grey lady, walking in he heard spells were being cast and he saw Luna was practicing with Daphne and Tracey. The three soon spotted Harry and asked if he was alright, each of the girls had already visited Hermione and decided to wait in the dueling room in case he showed up. Harry assured them he was alright and even gave them a smile to prove it, although Luna noticed his eyes weren't the same when he smiled. Harry didn't want his friends to keep worrying about him so he suggested they should practice together; the girls could easily tell Harry was trying to change the subject but they decided to go along with it. Daphne and Tracey couldn't stay long since their house mates were becoming suspicious of them, they left shortly before lunch, Luna didn't need to head back and decided to stay to help Harry practice. Since Luna already knew about his wandless magic Harry put away his wand and practiced casting with both hands, when Harry felt exhausted, he sat down to continue reading Hogwarts: A History, Luna spotted the book and said it's a good book to read since it explains so much about Hogwarts.
Friday was much the same, Harry returned to the common room just before curfew, by this point most of the Gryffindors knew to leave him alone, they've all tried to apologize but he kept ignoring them. He made his way to the stairs but was stopped when an older student stepped in front of him and started to apologize, he apologized for believing he was the heir and even admitted he was the one who used a bucket of water to wake him up. Harry just looked annoyed and completely ignored his apology and walked past him, the student cut himself off when he saw Harry walk past him, Harry was about to head up the stairs when he heard a voice that got on his nerve, "Of course the boy-who-lived wouldn't care about your apology, after all why would he care about those he sees as below him."
Harry's gaze turned to the obnoxious McLaggen and saw he was standing with a few students, he felt his anger return when he saw McLaggen wasn't going to leave him alone and kept trying to make up more rumors about him. He tried to ignore him and continue up the stairs but then he heard what the older student said next, "It's not that surprising really, the boy-who-lived always thought he was better than everyone else, it's no wonder he thinks no one is worth his time."
McLaggen could see some of the students around him were listening to what he was saying, he had seen how many students kept trying to apologize to Harry and it annoyed him that everyone was no longer going after him, however seeing as Harry was ignoring everyone, he saw the chance to try and make everyone think he was that arrogant.
In an instant Harry had drawn his wand and cast a spell at McLaggen, the spell shot past him and hit the wall, but it got his attention, before he could raise his wand Harry cast another spell and disarmed the older student. Seeing his wand shoot out of his hand, Harry quickly cast two more spells, the first struck McLaggen and knocked him back into the wall, the second made him slip and hit his back against the wall, instead of falling to the ground McLaggen saw he was stuck to the wall, he realized the first spell was a sticking charm. The room fell silent at what just happened, in just a few moments Harry had cast four spells at McLaggen, some noticed Harry silently move his mouth when he cast, they thought he must have whispered his spells.
McLaggen felt his shock give way to anger and he glared at Harry, the older student yelled, "Potter! When I get down from here, I'll-"
Harry stepped forward and glared before saying, "What, you'll what!?" McLaggen was cut off when he heard the anger in Harry's voice, "What exactly will you do, you've hated me ever since last year when I became the seeker, because of that you've done nothing but spread rumors about me! Just for once McLaggen will you shut the hell up, all you do is spread rumors or brag about yourself, you're not Merlin's gift to the world, you're a piss poor wizard and an adequate quidditch player at best! No one cares about how much you brag about yourself, no one cares that your father works with the minister's secretary, and no one cares about your skills as a quidditch player!"
The room became silent at what just happened, Percy snapped out of it and seemed to remember he was a prefect before stepping forward, "Harry that's enough, let him go or I'll have to get Professor McGonagall!"
Harry glanced at Percy before his gaze returned to McLaggen, he told the older student, "Just leave me alone McLaggen, I'm tired of having to deal with you." Harry turned around and walked away, he waved his wand back at McLaggen and cast, "Finite."
McLaggen fell to the floor and Percy and Kenneth moved to help him up. McLaggen felt he was shaking with anger at the way Harry just humiliated him, everyone saw he was easily taken down by a student younger than him, he could already hear some of the students were beginning to whisper. He turned his glare to Harry as he continued to head to the stairs, seeing Kenneth was holding his wand, he snatched it from him and shoved Percy knocking him back. McLaggen stood and aimed at Harry's back, before anyone could stop him, he cast, "Stupefy!"
Harry heard the incantation, without bothering to look back he waved his wand and cast, "Protego."
A shield appeared behind Harry; when the spell collided with the shield it was reflected back at McLaggen. McLaggen felt his eyes widen at seeing Harry cast a shield, he couldn't even cast one yet. He was shocked when he saw his own spell was reflected back at him, he tried to move to dodge it but was too late, his own spell struck him and McLaggen collapsed to the floor passed out. Harry hadn't even bothered to look back, he just continued his way up the stairs to his dorm, none of the students said anything as they watched Harry leave the common room.
I would like to inform everyone that my friend and I have uploaded the first chapter of Archwizard of Emerald and Crimson on Archive of Our Own. I used the same username on there if anyone wants to read it. The story is a crossover between Harry Potter and Konosuba, it will also be a multi pairing story (edit: the story contains smut).
Please comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.