Disclaimer: Harry Potter and friends belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this story.
A/N: Any italics in the story are either flashback/thoughts or quoted directly from the books.
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Also – bold lettering is Parseltongue.
A/N: Sorry it has been so long since I updated, I was distracted with school concerns.
HLP 2 – Slytherin Secrets
Chapter 10:
Harriet could hear quiet murmuring, but the voices were so low she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She cried out as feeling suddenly returned to her body. She felt like she was on fire. Footsteps rapidly approached and then the pain and heat began to recede. She opened one eye and looked around. The plain white curtains surrounding her bed in the dim light revealed her location. She was in the hospital wing again.
"I think she's awake, Professor," a quiet, feminine voice called out. Harriet cringed back as a blur leaned over her. She felt a cool wetness stroke over her skin and the rest of the pain receeded. Another figure loomed over her, tall and dark, the shape more familiar to her.
"Uncle Toby?" She murmured, squinting up at the hovering form.
"I'm afraid not, Miss Potter," her uncle's voice sounded faintly amused.
Memory returned in a rush. "Professor Snape? Why are you here? How long have I been out?" She fired off the questions frantically. She knew her uncle had to keep up appearances and she was fairly certain something serious must have happened after the cauldron exploded, but what happened after that, she couldn't recall.
She felt something touch the sides of her face and then the room came into focus as her glasses slid into place. Hovering above her were Professor Snape, Cassandra Granger and a very worried Madam Pomfrey. A snore from beside the bed had her shifting. Herman was sitting in a chair beside her bed, his head tipped backward to rest against the wall, heavy snores rumbling from his upturned nose. She giggled and then looked back up at the adults, puzzled.
"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?"
It wasn't Miss Granger's voice that answered, but her potions master's, "Miss Granger was instrumental in finding the cure for you." His tone was emotionless and instructive, but her years of living with him allowed her to hear the slight catch in his voice that gave lie to his apparent unconcern.
"What happened?" She could tell that a large portion of her body was covered in some form of viscous substance, but she wasn't sure what the reason for it was.
"Miss Parkinson chucked a piece of lead into your cauldron. She had no idea the damage it would do when introduced to the ingredients of that particular potion, she just thought it would be amusing to ruin your potion." This time Harriet could clearly recognize the anger in his voice. "I'm afraid you were burned quite badly by the resulting liquid. It took us quite a while to find a remedy."
"How long have I been out?"
"Ten days."
"Am I going to be badly scarred?" her voice trembled.
"I don't think so, Professor Snape was able to blend muggle medicine and potions to create a substance to heal the burns," Miss Granger's voice cut in.
"Oh, good, how come you are here anyway?" Harriet asked.
"I'm afraid your young friend over there is quite brilliant," Professor Snape interjected. "We tried everything we could think of to magically heal you, but for some reason the burns were resistant and reactant to magic. Every time we tried something magical, the burns spread further. It was all Madam Pomfrey could do to keep you alive. Then young Mister Granger had the idea to try Aloe Vera. Muggles use it for sunburns and other healing ointments, so we went to his home to retrieve a plant from his mother. Miss Granger here has several muggle degrees in science," his tone sounded very approving, causing Harriet to smile slightly, "she was the one that finally came up with the salve for your burns."
Harriet smiled up at the young woman, "thank you." She looked over at Herman, "how long has he been here?"
"Only for a couple of hours, your friend Miss Weasley was here before that. They've been taking turns watching over you since the incident –" Her voice cut off at the sound of commotion at the doorway. They turned to look as Dumbledore entered the room, followed by Filch and various members of the staff. In his arms was Mrs. Norris, lying rigid.
Madam Pomfrey left her bedside and hurried toward Professor Dumbledore, "Albus, what happened?"
"Mrs. Norris has been petrified, Poppy. We need a place to put her until the mandrakes are mature," Dumbledore explained.
Professor Snape moved toward the group, effectively blocking Harriet's view. Miss Granger stepped back into the shadows of the curtain, her face betraying her nervousness.
"How could this have happened?" Professor Snape's deep voice carried clearly to her ears.
"Oh, Severus, the Chamber has been opened again," McGonagall's voice quavered.
"The Chamber?" He looked at them, his eyes widening as realization dawned. "The Chamber of Secrets?" He glanced back over his shoulder at the bed and then moved with the rest of the teachers out into the hall. Harriet was distracted from trying to hear what they were saying by a movement near the foot of her bed.
Pansy Parkinson stood at the foot of her bed, wringing her robes in nervous hands.
"What are you doing here?" Harriet hissed, her anger rising.
"I-I-I wanted to-to say I'm sorry," Pansy stammered, crushing the silk robes in her clenched fists, "I'm so sorry," she burst out, breaking into sobs. Cassandra moved from the shadows and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder and Pansy turned and buried her face in the muggle woman's blouse, oblivious to the fact that the woman wasn't wearing robes.
Harriet just stared at her, anger warring with confusion. Pansy was normally cold and aloof, joining the other Slytherins in the cutting insults and bullying. Harriet was just opening her mouth to respond with cutting words when Pansy began speaking again.
"I didn't know it would do that. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. D-Draco s-said it would be funny to see what happened. I never wanted to h-hurt you," she bawled, soaking Cassandra's pale blouse.
Harriet felt her anger draining away in the face of Pansy's honest remorse. "I guess I can forgive you, but you must promise you will never do something like that again," Harriet demanded of the crying girl.
Pansy raised brown, tear-filled eyes hopefully, "N-Never again, I s-swear on my m-magic. Never again will I throw something into someone's cauldron if I don't know what it does, or if I know it will hurt someone."
Harriet watched in awe as pale blue light swirled around Pansy as she spoke. "Blimey, what was that?"
"That was a magically binding vow," Madam Pomfrey's voice came from behind Pansy, causing the young woman to jump. "Do keep in mind that if you break a vow such as you just made, you will lose all of your magic, Miss Parkinson. A vow on your magic should never be done lightly."
Pansy turned toward the elderly healer. "I meant every word. I almost killed someone. I don't like how that makes me feel."
Harriet smiled. There was hope for Slytherin house yet, "In that case, I forgive you, Pansy." She addressed her that way deliberately to show there were no hard feelings.
"Thank you, Miss Potter," Pansy whispered formally, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She turned to thank the person she'd cried all over and her mouth gaped open in shock.
"She's a-a muggle?"
"Yes, this is Herman's sister, Miss Granger. She helped heal me. If it wasn't for her I'd be dead right now," this might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but Harriet hoped it would drive home the idea that muggles weren't all bad to the pureblood girl.
"T-thank you, Miss Granger," Pansy stammered, perching herself gingerly on the foot of Harriet's cot.
Cassandra smiled down at the young girl who'd just cried all over her. "It is no problem. Please call me Cassandra," she held out her hand to the black haired girl.
"Pansy, Pansy Parkinson," the girl replied, gripping her had tentatively at first, then with firm resolve.
The three of them sat there quietly talking, occasionally looking over at Herman and giggling when he let out a particularly loud snore. It was just about the time that Harriet began to feel tired again when Professor Snape returned.
"Miss Parkinson, what are you doing here?" His tone was frigid, disapproving.
"I came to apologize to Harriet, I mean Miss Potter, professor. I didn't know the lead would hurt anything."
"Good. Do remember you have detention this evening. Miss Greengrass is looking for you, perhaps it is time you found her," Professor Snape suggested, his voice thawing only slightly. Pansy nodded and slipped off the bed, disappearing beyond the curtain with a wave.
Professor Snape turned to Cassandra. "I wish to thank you for your aid. It is likely Miss Potter would have died without your help. May I offer you an escort home? I am certain your family must be frantic by now."
A/N: I told you things would begin to drift further from canon from here on out. What do you think?