Chapter 18

You're missing some bones there, mate

Chamber of Secrets

Still, the motto was: No quittin' Quidditch! For Harry and the others of course. Marley did consider faking a stomach ache in order not to attend, though ultimately she gathered that it would cause more problems than it would solve. You know, a lie never lives to be old and so on.

She instead remained last in the shared girl's bathroom, giving her a moment to pep-talk into the mirror as she did her tie, hair still wet from a long shower.

"It's okay.", she began to mumble her thoughts out loud, "Lots of people have a crush on someone and don't say anything. No reason to panic."

Sounded like a solid mantra. Her pet pixie briefly chirped in his locket as Marley sighed through her nostrils.

"It just isn't worth it, Leaghon. I don't think Harry cares about that... girly romance stuff yet. And if he tells me off saying he doesn't have those same kinds of feelings... well..."

It failed to give her a proper shiver, that horrid thought, though it did cause her stomach to flare up strangely, as if the organ momentarily turned to ice.

"Just isn't worth it."

Leaghon vibrated once more, a high-pitched screech serving as the creature's form of protest.

"Well, I'm glad you have an opinion. I'll stick to my plan, though."

Angrily, she put the locket around her neck, a quick drying spell and some gel conjuring up her signature greaser look, which had changed just slightly from last year in terms of length. Perhaps she'd decide on a different haircut at some point in the future. Now is not the time though. One last forced smile with her nerdy glasses and the obnoxious set of braces only served to reinforce her doubts.

In the common room's main lobby, she got a last glimpse of Malfoy and a few other players leaving in their fancy Quidditch gear, the blonde boy catching her intrusive eyes as his own guilt and shame began to bubble up.

"Good luck.", she spoke, semi-absentmindedly.

"Thank you, Marley.", Draco answered plainly before departing.

Fittingly so, today's Quidditch match was one of the most brutal affairs in recent Hogwarts history, a sort of aerial battlefield that went hand in hand with Marley's inner turmoil, though the girl momentarily chose to ignore her personal concerns as she saw in horror how most of the players seemed to be in genuine danger.

"Another goal for Slytherin! Their lead now extends to 90 to 30 against Gryffindor!", an excited announcer voice rang.

"Gryffindor still has a chance if Harry gets the snitch!", Hermione calculated as her eyes followed along the events in front of her.

"At least Marley gets to celebrate...", Ron deadpanned, convinced already of his own team's failure.

"I'm not celebrating at all.", the strangely jittery girl mumbled. Their friend from another House hadn't yet explained why, for the first time, she chose to cheer with them rather than with her own, though one quick look over to the Slytherin stand showed Lucius Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in close proximity to each other.

"I wouldn't want to sit there today either.", the Gryffindor girl spoke softly, which didn't get Marley to change her demeanour or take her eyes off the game for a second.

"That's not why I'm worried.", she voiced while pointing at a brown speck, "Am I the only one who noticed that bludger changing its course all of a sudden?!"

Down at the playing field, meaning quite a distance above solid ground, Harry appeared far removed from any perceived danger. For now.

"Careful there, Potter.", a snarky voice spoke, Malfoy trying to find both his own balance as well as a healthy balance between being nice and banter. Just as Harry came up with an answer the Slytherin Seeker's eyes widened rather drastically.

"Watch out!", Draco warned just in time, his rival narrowly avoiding getting his skull bashed in by a howling leather ball, soaring past by the two boys with a strange, almost reptilian growl.

"Watch yourself, Harry.", a nearby Gryffindor captain advised, eyes sharply focused on Draco Malfoy, much to Oliver's misfortune. Just as the Boy who lived dodged the bludger making a sudden U-turn, it came hurling towards the older student.

"Wood! Look out!"

The moment his warning was heard, Wood's flying broomstick was shattered at the top, causing the Irishman to spin into turbulence, spiralling completely out of control before the now unconscious player hit the sandy ground.

"Good grief.", was all Draco could conjure before the inevitable pursuit took place, Harry passing over a crowd of Hufflepuffs that thankfully split in half before either he or the aggressive ball could cause any injuries.

As Hagrid lowered his binoculars, a frown grew over his features.

"Blimey! That's a rogue bludger if I ever seen one! I bet my crops that that one's been tampered with, ay!"

"I'll stop it!", Ron spoke like a macho protagonist from an old Hollywood movie, swirly rental wand aptly drawn.

"Are you mad?!", Marley interjected.

"This one works just fine! I tested it!", the Weasley protested, though thankfully Hermione stepped in between the two bickering souls.

"She's not talking about your wand being a rental. It's too risky because you could hit Harry!", the nerdy girl explained, enough sound reason to make the boy stand down. Marley meanwhile began clenching her necklace as tight as possible and while Hermione looked similarly concerned, it did trigger something inside Ron that the boy didn't have to guts to say out loud yet.

Meanwhile Harry was doing his absolute best avoiding that killer leather orb attempting to shatter his bones and organs, a spectacular series of dodges and loops and quick turns gaining him quite a few gasps and curious eyes from a crowd split between fearful and invested in the spectacle.

"That's not normal, is it?" A nearby Malfoy inquired, sounding decently worried. Because of his concern, the blonde boy failed to spot the snitch right next to his person, Harry reacting quickly on the momentum as he ducked under the unfair bludger and started speeding towards that golden symbol of victory. Draco, despite his openness towards the boy he once despised, pursued Potter right away, knowing exactly that a certain relative of his will be rather disappointed, should he not at least attempt to play the game correctly.

"Let's go.", Marley practically quivered back on the Gryffindor stand.

"Go where?", Ron asked with well-founded scepticism.

"Down. Somewhere close. I don't know.", she began to stutter, the thought of losing Harry elevated tenfold compared to when he nearly fell off his broom last year. This was either due to her romantic inclinations or the fact that right now it genuinely seemed like the boy could get his brains bludgeoned in in front of a live audience.

"Sooner or later one of them is going to break a bone. Or worse.", the Slytherin girl further feared.

"Let's go.", Hermione joined her, the trio plus Hagrid beginning to rush down the ridiculously tall spectator tower in the approximate direction of where Harry and Draco went flying.

The two Seekers had meanwhile descended down into the backstage area, rival boys on broomsticks speeding past wooden structures surrounding them on all sides, giving the whole scene a trench run feeling like in the first Star Wars movie, though Marley would be the only one to make that reference. As they both continued to dodge the rogue bludger, Harry obviously more so, they even passed under a future investigative journalist by the name of Colin Creevy, the little hyperactive pest having snuck down into the crude area in an attempt to snatch a pic of the red and green bolts. Thankfully the boy also managed to duck under the leather ball trying to kill Harry, or else the blonde Gryffindor might've been next.

Sometime into the pursuit of a little golden ball Malfoy finally gave up, pulling his broom back onto the field in fear of smacking into a wooden support beam or something even harder. At the sight of his son giving up in order to save himself, a grumpy Lucius Malfoy wearing a very silly cone hat scowled at his offspring. Harry meanwhile successfully kept his eyes on the prize, this combined with successfully avoiding getting quite literally bludgeoned would probably look great on a sports college applications, if higher education is even a thing in the wizarding world.

As his hand began extending towards the chirping snitch it briefly reminded Harry of Leaghon, ergo Marley, filling his abdomen with a warm, fuzzy feeling as he pictured the girl's joy at him winning-

And that's when the bludger returned, crashing into his right arm with the force of a bullet, a nasty, fleshy sound following as Harry immediately recognized that the appendage was probably broken now, if not worse. Despite the pain and the danger, the boy kept his animalistic pursuit up though, using his other arm as he barely managed to stabilize his flight.

Yet for some reason, may it be the injury, or the will of the snitch, or the wind, Gryffindor's Seeker just couldn't reach that bloody ball. The only one reasonable enough to see it was, surprisingly, Malfoy, spotting that the rogue bludger, much like a boomerang, came back with a vengeance.

Carrying a fierce expression, Draco took a brave breath, commanding his top-of-the-line piece of sports gear to fly after the leather attacker, successfully surpassing it just as Harry realized it came hurling back towards him again. Perhaps a few more parts of his arm were hurt than he thought, since there was no way on Earth he could've moved fast enough to avoid the incoming strike.

To his surprise, a saviour clad in green with blonde hair, slicked back again for this Quidditch match, took a sharp turn left as he kicked the leather projectile down, getting it off-course and saving Harry's life as the boy finally couldn't hold his broomstick straight any longer, turning over like a rotisserie chicken before sliding and stopping into sand, signalling that he had reached the Slytherin side of the playing field.

Unfortunately, due to his distraught balance, Draco's own vertigo crumbled to dust as Slytherin's Seeker smacked rather violently against the ground, the boy rolling over a few more times in the dirt before coming to a halt pretty close to the injured Gryffindor.

Both boys took a second to groan and wince in pain, Harry more so, though Malfoy wasn't without his troubles either.

"You okay, Potter?", he asked eventually, managing to sit upright as he found a mean scratch on his forehead.

"Not really.", the Gryffindor Seeker answered, sounding pained and looking disappointed, "Though I think you might be feeling better in a moment."

He nodded over to his opponent's right kneepad, a pair of wings sticking from it as a surprised Malfoy surgically pulled the golden snitch from his clothing.

"Draco Malfoy has caught the snitch! Slytherin wins!"

As soon as it was announced applause erupted, most notably from the green tower covered with the snake emblem. To Malfoy it all sounded like a feverish blur and, as soon as he found his strength again, the boy tossed the snitch away like a boring bug, instead limping over to his rival Seeker.

"Where'd that rogue bludger go?"

As soon as the blonde boy asked out loud, it almost caved in Harry chest from above, the Boy who lived (so far) rolling aside a few more times, Draco frozen in shock, unable to respond to any of this.

"Finite Incatatem!", a female voice echoed over the field, the leathery orb of destruction finally exploding in glorious spectacle of fireworks.

The spell came at the hand of Hermione of course, she, Ron, and Hagrid appearing distraught and baffled at the sight of a slightly injured Malfoy, who seemed little interested in his apparent victory as he remained present. Marley, of course, had already rushed over to the injured Harry, too scared to physically touch him both because she didn't know where he was and wasn't injured and also because it would be smarter to keep a distance for now.

"Does it hurt a lot?", she asked in a concerned tone on both knees, the boy finally sitting upright, right arm clearly the problem area.

"No.", he answered through gritted teeth, before looking with befuddlement over to a quiet Malfoy, Harry just now remembering what went down a mere moments ago.

"Thank you, Draco.", he finally spoke, surprising everyone present, "You too, Hermione."

Much to the boy's misfortune a group of spectators had begun storming the sand pit as well, a prominent figure of the wizarding world in tow.

"Not to worry, Harry.", Lockhart announced as he knelt down next to the boy, Marley sharing a concerned look with the kid, "I will fix that arm of yours straight away!"

"No. Not you.", Harry couldn't help but to blurt out in pain.

"Shouldn't we bring him to Madame Pomfrey-", Marley pleaded, her voice sharply stopping and her face turning slightly red as a scared Potter grabbed her hand.

"No need to worry, Miss Kurt. I have cured countless broken appendages in my days. You should know, reading Mistress of Castle Cluj was a homework assignment.", he began, Miss Verpe failing to keep a straight face as she saw the questionable wizard pulling back Harry's sleeve, "Do not worry, this won't hurt a bit."

His wand already drawn, Harry gave a pleading look of fear to all of his friends, even including a more than sceptical Draco.

"Brackium Emendo."

Seeing as the spell caused a flash of light to be emitted from his wand Harry at least assumed that it was a real spell, and not some fake, made-up word. Perhaps this was the one-time Lockhart actually did his job right.

"Does it... does it still hurt?", Marley poked him cautiously.

"I don't think so.", Harry responded, similarly reserved.

"See? Told you I would fix it!", Lockhart proclaimed as he triumphantly grabbed the boy's upper arm and raised it. To his surprise the part of the appendage going up to his wrist dropped bluntly downwards in a lump, rubbery motion, as if the arm itself was an overcooked sausage. The children present all cried and groaned in disgust, in addition to Marley who, as if add insult to injury, threw up on the ground next to Harry. No slugs this time, just regular old puking caused by seeing your friend's arm getting turned into plastic.

"Yes.", the incompetent professor began to stutter, "That... can happen sometimes-"

"Get them both to the Hospital Wing, you dimwit!", Malfoy of all people croaked, getting everyone silent as the process of moving Harry to an actual doctor began. Marley could thankfully walk on her own, though she dearly wished to puke again on command, specifically onto Lockhart, who repeatedly insisted that "At least it's more flexible now."

Before Madame Pomfrey arrived at Harry's hospital bed she took a brief pit-stop to a lonely Malfoy seated on a mattress opposite, the laceration on his forehead treated with a proper band aid.

"Take these twice a day with plenty of water.", the medical professional spoke as she handed the boy a tiny jar with what looked like marbles, "If the leg doesn't feel better in a few days come back to me."

Draco nodded politely, slowly walking away with a limp, looking over one last time to a grateful Harry, as well as Ron, Hermione, and of course Marley, the girl slurping an orange liquid through a straw. Neither party spoke a word, as it didn't feel necessary.

"Out of my way. Out of my way.", Madame Pomfrey complained to the supposed fan group surrounding Potter's bed, consisting mostly of Gryffindors his age, though it also included the Weasley twins and even Colin Creevy, who promised not to take any pictures for now.

"Should've been brought straight to me.", the woman spoke coldly as she put down a very funny-looking bottle shaped like a skeleton, "I can mend bones in a heartbeat, but growing them back all the way? Oh dear..."

Not something you want to hear from your supervising doctor, Marley, Hermione, and Ron sharing some guilty looks as all three of them failed to stop Lockhart. Even his former Gryffindor fangirl has since stopped adoring the man with googly eyes.

"You will be able to. Won't you?", Miss Granger quietly demanded reassurance.

"Oh, I'll certainly be able to.", Pomfrey responded as she filled a moderately-sized cup with the liquid medicine, "But it'll be painful. You're in for a rough night, Potter. Regrowing bones isn't exactly a spa experience."

Just as the words were spoken Harry took a healthy sip from the mixture, though immediately spat it out in a fountain as he winced in disgust, his surrounding supporters stepping aside just in time, most of them at least.

"Well, if you were looking for pumpkin juice, I suggest you share with Verpe. If not, I you better drink another glass."

Shocked to hear this, Marley stopped slurping on her straw for a moment to look embarrassed.

"I thought you said this helps against the nausea.", the Slytherin pleaded.

"It does.", Pomfrey gave back as she refilled another glass, "It's also just pumpkin juice."

Harry's posse remained for a while, everyone slowly fizzling out over the course of a whole day. At one point much later it was only him, Ron, and Marley left, the Weasley correctly following his gut as he faked a yawn and began his departure.

"You're leaving?", his recovering friend asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah uh... I think I should get a few more minutes in before dinner starts. Maybe I can copy some of Lockhart's homework from Hermione."

"You know...", Marley began with a sassy, raised eyebrow, "...usually I'd scold you but when it comes to that pompous prick, I would prefer that all of us hold back on our academic achievements."

Ron smirked halfway as he looked over to his friend.

"Well spoken, Marles Bronson."

"Oh... deep cut, Ronald Reagan. You got that one from me, didn't you?"

The Weasley boy nodded and finally left the two alone. Of course, now being left in a room with just Harry, the poor girl had no bloody idea on how to behave normally anymore.

"Well...", she began to stammer, a quick vibration from Leaghon causing her to scowl for a second, "...bonkers day, huh?"

"You said it.", the boy gave back, emitting a sizzling noise through his teeth as the sensation of his arm bones returning intensified.

"Please don't do that again, by the way.", Marley blurted out in a weirdly serious tone.

"Do what?"

"That thing where you tried to win a stupid Quidditch game and broke your arm?"

"That was hardly my fault.", he protested, though not sounding that confrontational, "A rogue bludger wasn't something I caused, was it?"

"Yes, but you were hardly careful. Were you?", her reprimanding finally found some footing as he readjusted his glasses.

"You're right. I'm sorry.", he apologized before his demeanour took on a pained expression once again.

"No need to apologize, you're already in pain.", she gave back as she held back a chuckle, "Mind you, that was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. When your arm went all rubber snake?"

"I took a hint you didn't like it.", he responded, openly giggling, "You know? When you went all EURGH again?"

Imitating her gagging noises did make her chuckle again, a massive victory for the boy, as he adored that sound, and how she covered her mouth with one hand.

"I'm serious though.", the girl cut off her own amusement, "I was... really worried for you today. Please be more careful."

Harry nodded understandingly, his features morphing into a worried grimace for a moment.

"I'd be really upset if you did something dangerous like that as well.", he pondered, "So... I get it. I wouldn't want to lose you either."

Thankfully nighttime was almost upon them, therefore Marley's blush was barely noticeable.

"Ow!", the Boy who lived complained again.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"No.", he whined, "It's not really painful like Madame Pomfrey said. It's just sort of... gross and weird."

"I mean, there is a bloody bone growing inside you. Multiple, even."

"I can manage.", he spoke after the disgusting sensation lessened, "One of them is almost back halfway, I think."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Feel it.", Harry explained excitedly with his naked arm extended. Marley of course hesitated, the boy in bed combating her worries as he gently grabbed her hand and dragged it onto the approximate location of his spoke bone. There her embarrassed features turned briefly to a curious frown, then a surprised gasp.

"Oh my God.", she exclaimed with jubilee, "It's like a little bone. Like a little baby bone!"

For a moment all her troubles and worries turned to dust, the two friends simply sharing an honest smile as they had this little moment in peace-

That was until an obnoxious flash almost blinded them, Colin at the end of Harry's bed lowering his camera sheepishly.

"Sorry Harry but I really wanted to get that picture of you to document your recovery and I also wanted one of Marley where she isn't puking and also a picture of you two together and now I got all three so thank you!"

"Get out!", Marley barked in a joking manner, her smile as she spoke it telling Colin that while he did need to leave, he did not need to worry about them being angry. Recovering from the surprise, her and Harry shook their heads, the Slytherin's hand leaving his arm as the boy expressed some disappointment over this.

"That better be a darn good photo.", the girl mumbled as she, surprisingly, took off her necklace.

"What are you-", Harry began, though his question was answered rather quickly.

"I'll leave Leaghon with you here tonight.", she began, putting the metal locket onto his hospital nightstand, "If you need anything just tap him. He'll either get me or... hopefully just Madame Pomfrey, since she's closer. Got it?"

He nodded, smirking like a dork as she avoided showing her face.

"Right. See you tomorrow!"

"See ya!", he gave back, the girl leaving rather abruptly, though looking back one final time before having exited the Hospital Wing for good. As Harry changed into his pyjamas sometime later (which thankfully Hermione got for him) he giggled a few more times thinking off Marley saying "little baby bones".

Kill...

Time to kill...

Kill now...

With the voice returning to slither inside Harry's mind the boy awoke quite abruptly at some point past midnight. He quickly grabbed a hold of his round binoculars, his eyes racing all over the walls and ceiling, trying to make out precisely where the voice came from and where it was going. It must be close, very close in fact... no... it's getting more quiet now. It's... it's too far away, he can't possibly-

"Hello!", the little house elf greeted him in a high-pitched tone, somehow having materialized at the edge of his bed. Well, there's no use in focusing on the ominous voice anymore.

"Dobby?", the boy asked, halfway intrigued and halfway angered, remembering just how frustrating the little manlet had been before, even if he was, supposedly, only trying to help.

"Harry Potter should've listened to Dobby.", the elf began as he pointed at the hospitalized student, "Harry Potter should've gone back home when he missed the train."

While Harry wasn't quite sure if the hint had been dropped on accident or on purpose, his more livid side flared up with a passion as he put two and two together.

"It was you.", he grumbled, "You made it so we couldn't get through the barrier at Platform 9 3/4."

"Indeed, yes, sir.", Dobby answered with a submissive tone, genuinely convinced that he did the boy a favour.

The further Harry considered the consequences of the elf's actions, the more infuriated he became.

"You almost got Ron and me expelled.", his accusation started. As he pondered further on it, the scowl on his face only darkened, "You almost got Marley expelled. After a tree nearly killed us!"

"At least you would be far away from here!", the strange being continued to plead, walking a few steps closer while avoiding stepping onto Harry directly, "Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought that the bludger would finally be enough to convince you, but-"

"Bludger?!"

Hearing this additional factoid, you know, after stealing his mail, upsetting his uncle enough to lock him in his room, getting him into trouble for stealing Arthur Weasley's car – no, this was the thing that got Harry to boil and whistle like a kettle. Just the thought alone of how upset Marley was, how heartbroken she would've been if that bludger did any more damage – how mad he would've turned if something would've happened to her-

Without a second though he grabbed Dobby by his strange sack with a hole cut in it, the elf's big, round eyes expressing genuine terror at the boy's actions.

"D-Dobby feels most ashamed sir...", the currently powerless creature cried in desperation, "Dobby even ironed his hands as punishment-"

"You're lucky my good arm is currently missing some bones, or else I'd be breaking some of yours!"

Pretty harsh thing to hear form the living legend you're currently attempting to save, though in light of how much damage he caused, it was reasonable for Harry to be at least somewhat upset, if not perhaps this harsh about it. The thought of mercy proved correct, the boy eventually letting go the little house elf, who, after enduring such a scolding, broke into tears, comically blowing his nose into his strange rag-shirt.

"I'm... sorry.", Harry began to stammer, having noticed himself how cruel that just sounded, "I'm still mad at you, but I shouldn't have said that."

"No, Harry Potter must not apologize to me.", Dobby spoke through snivels, causing guilt to grow inside the boy faster than his missing bones, "Dobby is used to being threatened at home."

Wanting to distract a bit from this sad fate of the big-eyed thing, Harry's mind slowly wandered (and wondered) elsewhere.

"What is it you're wearing?", he inquired more calmly.

"A pillowcase, sir. Fashioned it myself. It is a mark of a house elf's enslavement.", he rationally explained this rather cruel aspect of his existence, "Only if my master presented Dobby with clothing would Dobby be free."

Just as the random bit of exposition was finished, sounds of footsteps and voices outside the infirmary were audible, telling the boy and the elf that their conversation was about to be cut short.

"Listen!", Dobby whispered pretty loud, "Terrible things are about to happen at Hogwarts. Harry Potter must not stay here, now that history is about to repeat itself."

As Dobby seemed shocked at his own words, Harry reacted quite appalled by them as well.

"You're saying this happened before.", he surmised correctly.

"I shouldn't have said that!", the little creature cried out loud after a long gasp. Adequately following that blunder, Dobby grabbed the funny skeleton bottle and started clobbering his own head.

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Stop it, Dobby!", Harry intervened, using his non-dominant, non-injured arm to remove the bottle from his grasp and subsequently grab Dobby's rag-shirt again, this time a bit less aggressively, though ultimately using quite a bit of force.

"You have to tell me who's doing it now, Dobby. And what happened before."

"Dobby cannot say, sir. Dobby only wants Harry Potter to be safe-"

"And I want my friends to be safe.", he barked as to up the pressure. After all, one of his friends was famously muggleborn, "Tell me. Who is it?"

Just as he pressured the helpless creature, close by footsteps from before intensified, shadows of people crawling alongside it on the Hospital Wing's walls. Dobby had used the short distraction to evaporate via snapping his finger, Harry now having lost a hold of his only clue quite literally, quickly slipping back under his blanket, pretending to be asleep as he spied on the conversation. Thankfully Harry possessed a rather potent audio memory, easily recognizing the sound of Madame Pomfrey, McGonagall, and Dumbledore.

"Put him there.", the medical professional ordered, "What happened?"

"You know what I'm about to say.", a more than worried McGonagall retorted, "The poor boy's been petrified."

As Harry listened intently his heartbeat became more and more rapid, scared to his reduced bones as to who might be lying there in a bed far removed from his own.

"Perhaps he managed to take a picture of his attacker?"

That was unfortunately all he needed to hear in order to figure out who had become the first, human petrification victim. A technical bursting noise later and Harry further figured that Colin's signature camera didn't make it. Did that also include the picture the boy took of him and Marley?

"What can this mean, Albus?"

"It means that our students are in great danger."

"What should I tell the staff?"

"The truth. Tell them Hogwarts is no longer safe. Our fears have become real, Minerva. The Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again."