After getting a frantic message from Myrtle, who had come bursting through the wall panicked and practically screaming, Harry had taken off like the hounds of hell were chasing him. He passed a prefect who tried to yell at him to slow down, but Harry didn't even register the shout let alone take any notice of it.
His legs were burning as he saw the door to the girls' bathroom and shattered it to matchsticks with a flick of his wand. Harry saw Hermione laid face down on the floor, unmoving. He was terrified of what it could mean and skidded to a stop, falling to his knees right next to her. He grabbed her and pulled her towards him terror gripping his heart, only for relief to flood through him as he recognised the effects of a full body bind on her as her body remained rigid and stiff as a plank, rather than bending at the joints like it normally would.
Harry cast the counter, and immediately Hermione rolled away from him, gripping her forehead as she let out a string of curse words that a lot of people would have been very surprised to hear her say. "That's the second goddamn time in under a week."
"Myrtle said you were under attack. Where are they?" Harry asked, worried they may come back any moment.
Hermione, despite still holding her head, got a rather wicked smile on her face. "They're in the Chamber of Secrets."
Harry glanced over at the sinks and saw they were closed, but if Hermione said they were in there then their experiment must have worked and the entrance re-closed. "What's that? You're all confused because you hit your head and forget to tell me where they are, despite the fact that I'm the only one who can let them out? What a pity. Still, I need to get you to the hospital wing so Madam Pomfrey can look at that head of yours."
Hermione got what Harry was avoiding saying immediately and started to laugh at the idea. Harry slipped an arm under her back and the other under her legs and picked her up bridal style. As he carried her through the destroyed door, both Harry's grandfather and Filch were just arriving at the scene. Filch looked like he was about to try to stop Harry from leaving, but Harry just looked the man in the eye and said, "I'm taking her to the hospital wing," then continued on the way he was going.
Harry was glad he didn't have to carry Hermione up more than a single flight of stairs, given that he hadn't even thought about any kind of charm to make it easier to carry her until they were halfway to the hospital wing. He walked into the wing and laid Hermione on a hospital bed before disappearing for a second to get Madam Pomfrey.
"She was put under a full body bind and hit her head on the floor." Harry explained what he knew to the mediwitch. Madam Pomfrey began running her diagnostics, so Harry took his seat next to Hermione and held her hand, offering what support he could. The fact that it also gave him an excuse to leave the pieces of dragon shit who had attacked Hermione in the chamber was just a bonus. The longer they stayed there, the better as far as he was concerned.
Madam Pomfrey was just confirming that Hermione had a mild concussion and was explaining that Hermione may prefer to just take a potion for the pain and let herself recover, rather than healing it magically and ending up in even more pain than she was in now, when a number of professors walked in all looking for answers. Professor Sinistra was obviously there because some of her Slytherins were involved, Professor McGonagall because she was Hermione's Head of House, and Professor Potter because he was involved from the start.
It was Professor McGonagall who spoke first. "Mr. Potter, please explain what's going on."
"I got a message from one of the school ghosts that Hermione was under attack. I rushed over to help her, may have blown up a door, and found Hermione under a full body bind. I released her, brought her here, and Madam Pomfrey says Hermione has a concussion. That's all I know," Harry said quickly and concisely.
"What happened to the people who were attacking you, Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked Hermione.
However, Harry cut in first. He wanted to delay letting them out as long as possible. "They were gone by the time I got there, professor, and Hermione has a concussion. Surely this can wait till tomorrow."
He tried to insist, but the head of Gryffindor was all too well acquainted with the type of trick Harry was using, even if she didn't yet know why he was doing it. "I'm afraid that unless Poppy tells me otherwise, I must insist."
Hermione shrugged, and after taking a pain relief potion the mediwitch gave her, she told her side of the story. "I was running an experiment with Harry regarding remotely activating a Parseltongue ward. The curse breakers thought something like that would help them in their search of the castle."
"That much I can confirm," said Charlus.
"When I was waiting in the bathroom to see if our solution would work, Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe attacked me. I put up a shield. Then Harry's solution to opening the Chamber remotely arrived and opened the door. The three of them were standing directly in front of the opening. I saw the opportunity and knocked them in. Parkinson managed to get me with a full body bind, but all three of them are currently in the Chamber of Secrets." Silence hung in the air at Hermione's words.
It was Harry who broke the silence. "Well, they aren't actually in the Chamber. There is another Parseltongue-guarded door before you can get in there. They are in the antechamber before the Chamber." He paused for a second before asking, "The Antechamber of Secrets? No, not important." He turned to Hermione. "The important part is they can't get to you now."
"Mr Potter, you will come and open the chamber immediately," Professor Sinistra demanded.
"No," Harry said simply.
"Excuse me, I wasn't giving you a choice. You will come to open the chamber right now." The stern astronomy professor demanded.
Harry didn't move except to look at the woman. The look in his eyes reminded her of not so much who but what she was making demands of. Harry wasn't just a student, he was the student who had killed a bloody basilisk with a sword, fought off a swarm of Dementors, killed a dragon in single combat, and duelled the most powerful Dark Lord in modern history to a draw. That wasn't to say she felt threatened, because she didn't. It felt more like she was trying to change the course of a river with a bucket. Not impossible, but it was a task that you were far more likely to give up on before the river shifted at all.
Harry finally said, "I will let them out after Madam Pomfrey lets Hermione return to the Gryffindor common room where I know they won't be able to attack her again."
Professor McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Mr Potter, you can't just-" she stopped when Charlus put his hand on her shoulder.
"Minerva, before making this into more than it needs to be, why don't we ask Madam Pomfrey how long she wants to monitor Miss Granger for?" He looked at the mediwitch, hoping she would give him an answer
"I want to keep her here for an hour to make sure nothing is getting worse and then I think she will be fine to return to her common room. Though I will have to stress no homework and no reading this evening, give your brain a break."
Hermione looked rather put out until Harry said, "I'll read the next part of Pride and Prejudice to you instead," and he gave her a peck on the cheek. Even Professor Sinistra, who was annoyed at Harry for leaving her students in a hole, thought that Harry may as well have just promised Hermione the world with how much she smiled at his suggestion.
"There Minerva, an hour. That's hardly dangerous for three OWL-year students. I have been down there. It's dark and a little chilly, but I'm sure all three students can accomplish a Lumos and a Warming Charm."
Neither the heads of Gryffindor nor Slytherin liked the situation, but felt it wasn't worth arguing over. They would prefer Harry to deal with it now but knew by the time they finished arguing it would be faster to just wait. So that's what they did. So they sat there for an hour until Madam Pomfrey let Hermione go, and then they all walked her back to Gryffindor Tower.
Harry considered pushing his luck and seeing if he could delay longer, but when his grandfather gave him a look, he knew that he had already pushed as much as he could. He led them down the main stairs from outside the common room, and just as he passed the second floor, Professor Sinistra demanded. "Where are you going?"
"Quidditch pitch," answered Harry simply as he continued down the stairs.
This time it was Grandfather Charlus who was pinching his nose in frustration. "Harry, why are you going to the Quidditch pitch?"
"Because that's where the school brooms are kept," Harry told him without breaking his stride. "It's not like I can just point my wand down the entrance and summon them." That got the adults to trust that he wasn't just messing around. And he wasn't, he had every intention of going and getting a broom. A single broom, because he hoped that when he threw it down into the Chamber, the three idiots would end up fighting over it.
It didn't take him long to go get a broom and fly it back to the castle; the only issue was when he got to the second-floor corridor, outside the girls' bathroom stood Dumbledore. The old man smiled, his eyes twinkling at Harry and said, "Harry my boy. I need you to tell me what's going on."
Only for Grandfather Charlus to stick his head out for the bathroom and yell at Dumbledore. "He's not your boy, you kidnapping, neglectful, money-grubbing son of a bitch. If you ever speak to my grandson again, I swear to magic itself that I will make you regret it. Harry, in here. Now." It was an order barked angrily, but the anger wasn't directed at Harry but at Dumbledore. Harry quickly ducked into the bathroom and Grandfather Charlus waved his wand fixing the door and followed up by not locking the door but by transfiguring the door into stone and merging it with the wall.
Professor McGonagall just looked at Charlus's work and shook her head. "As much as I can understand your position, you do remember that Dumbledore's first Mastery is in Transfiguration, right? He could turn that back into a door even faster than you turned it into a wall."
Charlus shrugged. "And I will have a heads up that he is coming. Right, Harry, you got the broom, good. Now let's open this thing." And he lightly kicked at the circle of sinks.
Harry focused on the tap, the carving of a snake, and hissed, "Open."
For the second time that day, the way to the Chamber of Secrets opened. Harry pulled out a handkerchief, tied it to the broom, and then cast a spell to make the handkerchief glow, because brooms were enchanted to resist external influences as a safety measure. Harry was sure he could overpower it like Quirrell had done his first year, but this was easier.
With the light attached to the broom so that the three Slytherins had no way they could miss it, Harry threw the broom into the hole. Then they just waited to see who would come out first. After five minutes, McGonagall asked. "What's taking them so long?"
Professor Sinistra answered. "They are Slytherins. They are thinking through their options."
"Or fighting over who gets to use the broom first because none of them trusts the others to throw the broom back down," added Harry.
Professor Sinistra gave Harry a disapproving look but said nothing.
It was another two minutes before Pansy Parkinson came flying out of the entrance, only for her face to fall when she realised professors surrounded her and a very pissed off looking Harry Potter.
Pansy started trying to defend herself. "It was Granger, she-"
Only for Professor McGonagall to cut her off. "You can save what I'm sure is a well-rehearsed story for later. First, you will stand here and throw the broom back down for your friends."
Pansy landed and did just as she was instructed. Two minutes later, Goyle flew out and was also told to stand there and throw the broom back down. Three minutes later, they were joined by Crabbe.
Harry told the entrance to close. Professor McGonagall fixed the door, and the professors started marching the three Slytherins to the Headmaster's office. Harry tried to go with them but Charlus stepped in.
"Harry, this is a matter for professors now. Your place is to go look after Hermione. I believe you have a promise to fulfil, Pride and Prejudice?" Charlus said, stumbling over the name of the book a little.
"Oh yeah, right. You'll make sure this doesn't happen again, right?" Harry asked, not trusting the Slytherins as far as he could throw them without magic.
"Of course, now you run along," Charlus assured Harry. Harry nodded and ran off leaving the three professors to deal with the three Slytherins.
The six of them made their way to the Headmaster's office. The gargoyle, seeing that professors accompanied the three students, lept aside, leaving the way to the office clear before any of them could say a word. A quick climb of the stairs and knock on a door later and they were all standing before Headmaster Greengrass.
"Okay, please explain your side of the story. Miss Parkinson, you can go first. Right after I deafen those two so you can't coordinate your answers," the headmaster said after Professor McGonagall had explained the situation to him. Then, with a quick double flick of his wand, the world went silent for the two boys.
"Um, well, I was in the bathroom. You know, doing what one does in a bathroom, when Granger came in and started threatening me. I screamed for help, Greg and Vinny came rushing in to help me, but Granger overpowered us all then opened up a hole in the floor and threw us in saying she was going to leave us there to starve," Parkinson said.
Headmaster Greengrass nodded along, writing down what Pansy said as she spoke and then asked a question. "Where was Miss Granger standing when you left the stall?"
"By the sinks," answered Pansy
Greengrass nodded and asked another question. "Which of your two friends was the first to come running through the door?"
Pansy hesitated before answering. "Uh… Vinny. Vinny came through first."
"What was the first spell Miss Granger used?"
"She tried to get me with a bone breaking hex but I shielded it."
"What spell did she use to overpower the three of you working together?"
"I didn't recognise the spell, sir, but Granger always has her head in a book. Who knows what spells she could have learnt?"
Headmaster Greengrass nodded along as Pansy gave her answers and wrote each answer down. "Very well. I will now question your friends." And with a wave of his wand, the world went silent for the girl. A second wave of his wand had Goyle jumping at the sudden unexpected return of sound.
"Mr Goyle, can you please tell me exactly what happened from your point of view?" the headmaster said after giving the boy a few seconds to get his bearings.
"Well, Vinny and I were standing around waiting on Pansy. Suddenly we heard her screaming for help and when we went in she was being attacked by that Gryffindor swot. We tried to stop her but the Gryffindor swot stunned us all and opened up some big hole in the floor before shoving us in, saying she was going to let us starve down there," Goyle said.
Again, the headmaster was taking notes, and he had questions. "Where were Miss Granger and Miss Parkinson in the room?"
"Pansy was by the sinks and Granger was back by the stalls."
"Who was through the door first? You or Mr Crabbe?"
"I was through the door first"
"What spell did Miss Granger use to stun everyone?"
"The stupefy spell, sir."
"You're sure?"
"Yes sir, I heard her saying the incantation when she hit Pansy and Crabbe before me."
"Was Miss Granger in the bathroom before you arrived, or did she pass you while you waited for your friends?"
"She was already in there. I assume she was using the bathroom before Pansy went in there," Goyle said, completely unaware of how much he had just contradicted Pansy.
Charlus understood what the headmaster was doing. The three of them had enough time to decide the basic big events for their lies, but not the details, so while they planned their story, they easily overlooked questions like where they were standing or what spells were used.
The third conspirator was just as bad. According to Crabbe, Hermione had walked past him and Goyle giving them a nasty look. He heard Hermione casting a cutting curse before Pansy screamed for help; he had rushed in first and Hermione had gotten them all with full body binds and had stood there gloating for five minutes before saying that Harry had taught her how to open the Chamber and she was going to leave them all down there to starve to death.
Charlus thought it was ridiculous. Sure, they were teenagers, but he had expected them to be better at placing together a story than this. Hell, James had been better at throwing together a cover story than this. Though considering his mother and just how much mischief his son had gotten into, he would have needed to be rather dense to not be better than this feeble attempt.
When all of them had gotten to tell their version of the story, the spell that was keeping them from coordinating their stories was lifted. Now Charlus got to speak. "Well, here's what I know. Miss Granger was in my office with me. We were discussing a possible way to open the Chamber of Secrets without my grandson being present. This is because the curse breakers wanted the ability to bypass a Parseltongue ward and were reluctant to allow Harry to be involved. Please understand, we were experimenting with a method for the first time, Miss Granger had no way of knowing if this would open the Chamber. So I find it unlikely she made some plan for using the Chamber in any sort of premeditated plan."
"The second point I have to make is that barely four minutes passed between Miss Granger leaving my office in a state I would describe as excited to conduct the test. A test she had no idea she would be asked to do when she entered my office, the task being given to her because of the location of the entrance. Now I'm no expert in the minds of young witches. I will confess they were a total mystery to me at that age and never having had a daughter, I wasn't given much incentive to learn later in life. But such a drastic shift in goal and temperament in the time it takes to walk from one wing of the castle to another seems to stretch believability."
"And thirdly, I would like to add the report from the late Miss Myrtle. I quote 'three Slytherins barged into my bathroom and attacked Hermione. Quick, she needs help.' Seems rather straightforward to me."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "With the inconsistencies in their accounts not just from each other but from outside factors as well I believe it's clear what happened. These three, angry at their friend being expelled and inspired by Mr Malfoy's attempt on Miss Granger's life a few days ago, decided to take matters into their own hands. They followed Miss Granger into the bathroom expecting to find her in a, let's say vulnerable state, but Miss Granger wasn't vulnerable because she was there performing a test and when that test worked, Miss Granger used the opportunity presented to her to stop these three from attacking her."
Professor Sinistra advocated for her students as was her job, but the headmaster came down on the side of the Slytherins being the aggressors. In part because the only reason they knew where the Slytherin students had been was because Miss Granger had told them. If her plan had been to let them starve down there, like they claimed, then all Miss Granger had to do was keep her mouth shut. The only question now was what was an appropriate response.
-ϟϟϟ-
When Harry got back to the common room, he found Hermione sitting on one of the comfortable chairs with a cloth over her eyes to block out the light.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Not too bad. The potion is keeping the pain away, but I can feel the headache is still there. It's like the throbbing of a headache just without the pain. There is less throbbing when I can't see," she explained.
Harry understood, it was too much stimulus, so the solution was simple in his eyes: reduce the stimulus. "You wait here for a moment. I have an idea. Oh, where is your copy of Pride and Prejudice?"
Hermione sighed. "It's in my trunk. I will have to go get it. Boys can't go up there."
"Nope, you stay there. Rest. You're not the only girl here, you know." Harry told her, his concern making him more assertive with Hermione than he normally was.
He spotted Lavender and Parvati and asked them to get the book. They were a little reluctant to give out one of Hermione's books, but compromised by agreeing to hand the book to Hermione while joking with Harry that they would have an easier time getting Hermione's forgiveness if they handed out her underwear than if they handed out her books. They were exaggerating, and they all knew it, but the point about Hermione being protective of her books was a fair one. Lavender ran up and got the book and handed it to Hermione, who smiled and explained that Harry was going to be reading it to her. Something the gossip queen knew Hermione would find all sorts of romantic.
Harry then, learning from his mistake earlier, cast a featherlight charm on Hermione before picking her up bridal style for the second time that day, only this time he took her up to his bed in the boys' dorm. The reason being it was easy to put silencing charms up on the curtains in the dorms. He couldn't go up to Hermione's dorm and there was no way Harry was going to take Hermione out of the tower until she was fully recovered. That left his bed, with low light, no sound but his voice reading the book. Harry hoped he could relax Hermione enough that it would make it easier for her to recover.
Hermione was a little surprised at being carried, but as Harry explained his plan, it sounded like a little slice of heaven to the girl in his arms.
-ϟϟϟ-
"So Harry," Hermione asked the next day when she was feeling a lot better, even if not a hundred percent. "I was thinking about what happened yesterday. I want you to train me to fight. Not combat spells, I know plenty of them. But how to move and react."
Harry hesitated for a moment. "I'd really rather not." They were having lunch at this point. They hadn't seen the Slytherins all day, and some speculation was that the three Slythirins had been expelled from the school. But these were the same students who speculated that he was trying to kill all the muggleborns, so Harry took their opinions with a teeny, tiny, massive dose of scepticism.
"Oh, and give me three good reasons why," Hermione demanded, a bowl of tomato soup in front of her.
"Well, for one, it will take a lot of time. We have to keep up with our OWLs this year." Harry said, but everyone knew that wasn't much of a defence. After all, teaching Hermione practical defence is good practice for the defence exam.
Hermione immediately called him on it. "Please, this would literally help with both our defence OWLs, and it's not even Christmas yet." Hermione was right, but as Harry looked out the window, there was plenty of evidence that Christmas wasn't far off.
Harry tried again. "Secondly, If I train you, you will want to fight more. There are too many injustices and you aren't the type to do nothing. I worry about you getting hurt."
"I would fight anyway. I'm not the kind to stand back, you know that Harry," Hermione said a bit of an edge to her voice.
"Yeah, I know that. It's one of the reasons I love you. But you need to realise I'm still going to worry about you. Making it easier for you to put yourself at risk feels wrong," Harry explained.
"What about reason number three?" Hermione asked. Softer this time, while she didn't like it, she could see it was the same as when she didn't want him to do anything reckless. She could hardly fault Harry for wanting her safe.
Harry looked at her and said, "To train you, I would need to hurt you, throw jinxes and hexes at you at the very least. I'm not sure I can do that," he admitted.
Hermione gave him a hard and long look before she said, "Is it because I'm a girl?" There was an edge to her voice that promised danger if he got the answer wrong.
"I don't think so? I don't think I would have trouble hexing Ginny or Susan if they wanted to learn. But the idea of pointing my wand at you and deliberately trying to hurt you, hurting someone who is family and claiming it's for their own good. It feels like something Uncle Vernon would do."
That got Hermione to relax. Harry didn't like to talk about it much, but just the fact that the Dursleys had been sent to prison for what they did was enough to tell her that whatever happened to Harry while he lived there was going to have echoes for the rest of his life.
She slipped an arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I understand Harry. But I need you to try. Please, I'm afraid." That took a lot for the girl to admit. "Voldemort already targeted me once. Malfoy tried to kill me. Now the Slytherins yesterday. Please, Harry, I need to be prepared, not to run off and fight but so that next time somebody corners me I don't need to rely on you being there to save me, or on luck like the chamber opening just when I need it. Without it, I'm not sure I can survive."
Harry put his own arm around her and pulled her in closer. After a confession like that, what else could he say? "I'll try."