(Y/n)'s POV
Of course something happened to Harry the ONE game I'm not there. I ran through the halls faster than I thought I could, hoping that nothing too serious happened to him. I have to admit, dismembering did cross my anxiety-filled mind.
Once I got to the Hospital Wing, it was already almost sleeping time. Madam Pomfrey saw me before I could enter, exclaiming that I should go to bed and check on Harry in the morning, that I had all day to see him, and that he needs to rest.
She was a serious woman, I liked her, I could always see how much she cared for everyone, but right now I needed to see Harry.
"Please, Madam Pomfrey, I have to see Harry, I wasn't able to see him earlier in the day, I... uh.." I had to think of an excuse, because suddenly I remembered, Luna and I went to the Forbidden Forest, which has 'Forbidden' in it for a reason.
"I had a really big... toiled problem," I was an idiot, "Y-You know how I can get, because of my nerves!" I've gotten to the Hospital Wings more times than I would like to admit, all because my nerves and anxiety do give me some problems, just not bathroom related ones.
Thankfully, Luna didn't laugh, but I'm sure I won't be forgetting it soon, curse my mouth...
Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to believe me all that much, she had a hard look on her, most of the time, but I knew she was a kind lady.
"I... Please, I'm really worried, and I didn't hear about this until now. I'll do anything, I-I-I could even help you here! If-If you need it, of course." I was this close to just kneeling and begging, but suddenly, she sighed, and her gaze softened.
"Alright, but you both will have to help, and only for twenty minutes! He really needs to rest." After hearing that, I entered the Hospital Wing, with Luna next to me.
"I'm sorry, Luna... I didn't mean to drag you into this... helping mess." I whispered to her.
"It 's okay. I'm sure we'll have a great time, I'm happy to hang out with a friend." She said this with such a pure smile on her face that I almost cried.
"Thank you... I'm sure Harry will love to be your friend too."
"That'd be nice. But I don't want him to be forced to, I'm fine if he finds me odd, I'll still have you, and Dad." This... warmed my heart a bit, it made me feel special, in a way I suppose.
I still want her to have more friends, though, if what I think is happening is indeed happening, I'd like for her to have someone else to depend on.
I looked in every bed, as we slowly walked. It was almost night time, and most other students on the beds were sleeping.
Before we arrived at the last bed, I could faintly see Harry on the bed, it was dark and almost past bedtime, everyone else in the Hospital Wing was asleep, including him, and froze a bit. I was nervous he was going to be mad at me.
At that moment, the time when my mind started to consume me, I felt a hand on my back, someone pushing me. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Luna, with a smile on her face.
I remember everything she told me, and felt reinvigorated, so with this newfound confidence, I walked to Harry's bed.
I took a big breath, and with difficulty, took the initiative.
"Harry?" As I approached him, the moon's light fully covered him, and I got startled.
There was a weird greenish little man near Harry's head, with pointy ears and an even more pointy nose. I could see him raising something with one of his arms near Harry's head, but couldn't exactly see what it was. God, I really need to get my eyes checked.
Anyways, I quickly pulled out my wand, scared that what we faced last year was here to get revenge. Before I could mutter any words, Harry woke up.
"Get off!" As soon as I heard that, I also let go of my spell.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I chanted in a very hushed way, to not alert Madam Pomfrey, though the wand movement didn't come out specifically as I wanted it to.
When the curse was about to hit the creature, it turned its head towards me, and with a swish of its hand, the spell... disappeared. As simple as that, as if it was some pesky fly.
I felt my confidence deflating. But I myself put a stop to it. I refused to be that kid again, scared in the dark of the forest, just because I failed once. That just meant I had to try again!
My wand in my hand started to warm up, I could almost feel the heat between the scales, as I did those wand movements I did a year ago in the Forbidden Forest. I was not the same, I was going to show it.
"Ince–"
"Dobby!" I heard Harry say.
"Dobby?!" The fire in the wand died out, as the name sent me through my memory. Until it arrived at night we rescued Harry from the Dursleys. Dobby was the name of the house elf that wanted him to stay in his house.
"(Y/n)?" I stood there, and waved at him, I looked next to me and saw Luna.
"She 's Luna Lovegood. A... friend I made, can you believe tha– No! What happened to you, mate?! And why's the elf that wanted to keep you prisoner here?!" I said, in a desperate and hushed tone, as I approached Harry's bed.
As I walked, Luna waved at Harry, and he returned the gesture with his left hand, oddly enough, his right hand wasn't moving. I thought Harry was right-handed. I looked over to the elf – Dobby – and noticed that on top of his... weirdly long nose, a tear was dripping.
"Harry Potter came back to school... Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?" Said Dobby. How did he know that, though?
"Wait, was it you who made them be late for the start of the year?" I asked, while I looked around to watch out for Madam Pomfrey.
"That 's not very nice, sir, why did you do that to Harry?" Asked Luna, Dobby looked stunned for a moment, until he decided to talk.
"Dobby is not used to being called 'sir'. Dobby likes it." Though the apparent enjoyment didn't last long, as soon as those words left his mouth, his face contorted, and he approached the wall. Harry tried to move but he winced in what seemed like pain.
Before I could say anything, Dobby started to bang his head against the wall, it alarmed me instantly, and I ran directly to him and tried to stop him from doing it. Looking at his size you wouldn't think about it, but he's quite strong, or I'm too weak, who knows.
As soon as I approached him, I took notice of his clothes – or rather – a pillowcase, one that covered most of his body. It didn't look like it was all that comfortable, either, rather... that it was given to him to make him look pathetic. Who would even give him just that? I don't really know lots about elves. I should probably look into them.
"H-Hey, stop! You're going to hurt yourself," I said quietly. At last, when I got him to stop hitting himself, he started to talk again.
"Ah, sir! Dobby is a bad elf, Dobby had to punish himself. For a second, Dobby thought of himself as an equal to wizards!" This shocked me. What did he mean by that? Why would...
"But we are, aren't we? I-I mean, you're talking, I'm talking. A-And you can use some bloody good magic, too! You made my spell disappear as nothing!" He seemed to feel a bit better, but then tried to hit himself again. I just put my hand where he was going to headbutt, and he stopped.
"M-Maybe you could not punish yourself and explain?" I asked, in a desperate effort to know what is going on.
"Ah, (Y/n) (L/n), sir. Dobby wanted to warn you too, but your house has magic so advanced Dobby wasn't able to get in. You are both in mortal danger!" I think it's a bit late to say that, with the attacks and all... Though, I didn't say anything and let him continue.
"That's why Dobby sealed the gates for Harry Potter, sir. You two are too important! But Dobby failed, and now you are in mortal danger! I couldn't stop (Y/n) (L/n) from going to school, but Dobby never dreamed that Harry Potter would get to school another way!"
Harry and I, important? I mean, I could understand Harry being important, he was the bloody boy who lived. But me? My mind was blank. I looked over at Luna, and she looked to be deep in thought, about what? Beats me.
"You nearly got me and Ron expelled. You'd better clear off before my bone comes back, Dobby, or I might strangle you" Harry sounded really upset, I could understand wh– WAIT WHAT?
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BONE–" Luna covered my mouth with her hand, and then gestured to me to lower my voice. I understood it, and tried to lower my voice.
"W-What happened to your bones, Harry?!"
"A bludger hit me. Must've been some kind of dirty trick from the Slytherin team, it was only trying to hit me. It broke my arm, though, we still managed to win." He looked really happy about winning. Me, on the other hand, was upset again.
"Look, mate, I'm glad you're happy that you won, but you should be more careful– wait, if it's only broken why should it grow back again?"
He quickly explained to me that Lockhart, as usual, tried to show off healing his arm, but it turned out to just... make his bones disappear.
"Oh, that spineless, useless, good for nothing–" I sighed, "What did Hermione say?"
"She defended him, said everyone can make a mistake and all that, a bunch of rubbish, if you ask me," He seemed pretty annoyed, too.
"Oh, for god's sake... of course she still takes his side. I can't believe her... suddenly she's the most illogical person, just because she fancies him! He's not even that attractive!" I looked at Harry, and he seemed to have a weird expression. I wanted to say something, but couldn't, and silence filled the air for a few seconds.
"Why d'you wear that thing, Dobby?" Harry asked, he beated me in asking that. I was thinking the same thing, parallel to the other million stuff I was thinking about.
"This, sir? 'Tis a mark of the house-elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house for ever" Dobby cleaned his teary eyes with his pillowcase. And I couldn't help feeling awful about what I just heard.
"That sounds..." Horrible, but I didn't say it outloud, I didn't want him to hit himself again. It was painful enough to hear that. He sounds like a slave of some sorts, I... I didn't think wizards did this kind of stuff.
"Harry Potter must go home! From what Dobby has heard around school and his family, (Y/n) (L/n) must leave too, but there's no way for Dobby to do anything to get him out. Dobby really thought his Bludger would be enough to make –" His Bludger?
"You made that Bludger try and kill me?" Harry sounded really mad, and I was mad too.
'Not kill you, sir, never kill you!. Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!' said Dobby, shocked
"Grievously injured? You think that's the only thing that'd happen?! They're flying hundreds of meters up in the air! He could've been killed!" I said, my voice starting to rise. I kind of forgot Madam Pomfrey was around, and that there were other terribly sick students sleeping.
"You better have some bloody good reasoning for it! Why are you so desperate for Harry to get back home?!" Instinctively I grabbed my wand again, this time, with more strength in my grip.
"Ah, if only you knew! Life has mostly improved for my kind since Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord. Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those who thought the dark days would never end, sir... And now, terrible things are happening at Hogwarts, and Dobby can't let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more –"
Dobby's eyes went wide open, and I could see him trying to grab a jug, probably to hit himself in the head again. Quickly, I grabbed Dobby's hand with my left hand.
"So it has been opened before?! What's happening, Dobby, please, tell us! Why did you say my name?!"
"Sires, please, ask no more of Dobby! Dark deeds are planned, but Harry Potter must not be here when they happen, and neither should you, (Y/n) (L/n)!"
"What is it, Dobby, what's happening with the Chamber?! We have to know!" I was desperate, I didn't like his tone one bit. He sounded so shaken, it was uncomfortable.
"Who's opened it, Dobby? Who opened it last time?" Asked Harry.
"Dobby can't!" He tried to get my grip on his arm loosened, but this time I held on with more strength than before, "Dobby mustn't tell! Go home, go home!"
"There's no way in hell I'm going home! I'm not – Hermione's a muggle-born! I'm not going to leave her alone, I'm not letting whatever's in the Chamber get to her without giving a fight! I'm not powerless anymore!" I wasn't the same coward of a kid. I was not going to get frozen again!
"That 's right! She'll be the first in line if the Chamber's really been opened" Said Harry.
"Harry Potter risks his own life for his friends! And (Y/n) (L/n) is much less evil compared to what they said!" They? What? Those words made me flinch a bit, something that Luna noticed, but didn't say a thing.
"So noble! So –" Dobby's ears perked up, and after a second, I could hear something. Footsteps, but it wasn't Madam Pomfrey alone, it was a pair of hurried footsteps.
"Dobby must go!" And suddenly, with a creepily familiar 'crack', I was left grabbing the air.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Harry!" I said, in a hushed tone.
"Goodbye, Harry," Said Luna, in a really calm tone, as if whatever we were talking about didn't even faze her at all. I grabbed her hand, and started to think of ways to get out of this one.
First off, they'd wonder why Luna and I were so past sleep time, even if Madam Pomfrey allowed us, we weren't even supposed to be here.
So I took Luna to the wall next to Harry, and tried something I was practicing only on myself and Blaze, so I had no idea if it would work on two persons at the same time, but there wasn't anything else I could do, it's not like I own an invisibility cloak, sadly.
I took out my wand, and pulled Luna the closest I could to me, and I started to twist and twirl it around us. Like I was wrapping us with something, but, compared to last year, this time I did it more confidently. I had time to practice the wand movement.
In a rather quick manner, our bodies started to match with the surroundings, as if we were a chameleon, as the effect was taking effect, I whispered to Luna.
"Don't let go of my hand!"
"Okay," She said, thankfully, she trusted me. I don't know why, but I'm happy she did. We quickly disappeared from, hopefully, everyone's sight, and not wanting to risk our footsteps from being heard, we stood still.
The source of the footsteps slowly revealed themselves. Thanks to the light from the moon, I could see Professor Dumbledore, but instead of wearing his usual flamboyant robes and moon spectacles, he was wearing something that looked more like pajamas, it was a bit funny.
He was carrying something with the help of Professor McGonagall. At first, it looked like a statue, it looked familiar though, but I couldn't seem to remember. Professor Dumbledore looked around, and my eyes found his eyes, but only for a fraction of a second.
He... he shouldn't be able to see me, right? I'm sure I did the spell decently, at least... Oh, god. What if I messed up the spell again and my feets are showing like the last time?! My thoughts disappeared, when they put the statue on a bed.
whispered something to Professor McGonagall.
"Get Madam Pomfrey," Professor Dumbledore whispered to Professor McGonagall
My mom always says that at night, voices and sounds are always heard more, she said it has something to do with how everything's quiet at night and it makes things louder. I think that's why I was able to hear what they were saying.
Professor McGonagall hurriedly walked back to the entrance, and after a few seconds, I heard hasty steps, Professor McGonagall returned with Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall looked horrified, and Madam Pomfrey was shocked.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey's voice was filled with urgency, as she and Professor McGonagall both approached the bed in which the statue was in. Slowly, I started to approach it.
The looks they had worried me, and so, with extreme carefulness, I started to walk slowly towards them, being careful enough to not make a single step sound. I had to just hope that neither me nor Luna stepped on something.
As we were approaching the bed, Professor Dumbledore answered Madam Pomfrey's question.
"Another attack," Immediately, I felt sick, and a knot appeared in my throat and chest, I started to have a hard time breathing, or at least, that's what it felt, as a chill went through my whole body. Knowing there was another attack was enough to make me relive what I felt in the corridor, still I pushed forward, staying as focused as I could into the spell I was doing.
I kept approaching the bed, as quiet as I could. But I wouldn't have to, thanks to the light of the moon illuminating the bed for just a second. Thanks to that, it revealed the identity of the victim, as I let go of a breath I had no idea I was holding.
It was Colin, the kid who always followed Harry around. The one who got scared when he saw my hands after I attacked Malfoy. The kid who always carried his camera around, so excited about this world and all its inhabitants. I saw who it was, and felt.... happy, no... relieved.
Immediately I felt awful. Why the hell would I feel relief from seeing who it was? I backed up a bit. Guilt eating me alive for even feeling that, even if it was for less than a second
"Minerva found him on the stairs," Continued Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall started to add to how she found him.
"There was a bunch of grapes next to him. We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter." She seemed really affected, I was too, to be honest. I guess she does care about every student, even if there's a lot of us.
The knot in my throat started to slowly disappear, as my mind made me feel terrible about feeling relieved about Colin. He was a good kid, or so it seemed, at least. He wanted to visit Harry, and even risked detention by sneaking out. Why did I feel that, then?
Was I really a bad person as everyone kept saying?
Professor Dumbledore took me out of my thoughts, by reaching out and grabbing something I didn't notice before. Colin's camera, wait! Maybe....
"You don't think he managed to take a picture of his attacker?" Professor McGonagall just read my mind. We might just get even closer into figuring out what is going on. I could even feel Luna's grip in my hand tightening.
Professor Dumbledore silently opened the back of the camera, and instead of photos or any kind of clues, all that came from it was smoke, or rather, steam, that shot out of the compartment.
"Good gracious!" Exclaimed Madam Pomfrey, "Melted... all melted..." I could feel the disappointment in her voice, and I felt the same way.
"What does this mean, Albus?" Asked Professor McGonagall, a witch I thought knew all the questions.
"It means... that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again," Professor Dumbledore said, the mention of the Chamber awoke my senses, and suddenly, all I wanted to do was leave. Like I said before, if they even heard us or worse, my spell failed as I thought it would and they found us there, we would be in deep trouble.
I couldn't care less about what happened to me, or well, I did care, but I was more worried about what might happen to Luna, so, with a bit more haste, I took us out of the tense Hospital wing.
Once we were out, Luna didn't exactly say anything, until we arrived at a hall that was separated into two different directions, one to the left, and another to the right.
"I'm going this way," Said Luna, who already started walking to the right,
"Be careful, Luna. The thing that attacked Colin... maybe it won't attack you, but still... sorry for dragging you into that. I almost got you in trouble." I said, to be honest, it felt like trouble followed me and Harry wherever we went.
She stopped, and tilted her head slightly, like how Blaze does sometimes when I say something to her. I didn't think she'd answer, but she did, turning to me.
"I don't think you dragged me into anything. I wanted to be there," She said lightly, with a smile, "It was fun. Like an adventure with a friend."
To say her words caught me off guard would be an understatement. Most people would be terrified if they heard what we did, but Luna sounded... like Luna, not changing the calm in her voice.
She started to turn to leave, but then, as if something just occurred to her, she faced me again. Looking once more as if she was looking at me, but at the same time, through me. Like she knew I was feeling bad about what Dobby said.
"You worry too much about being good or bad, (Y/n). But I don't think it's really about that, it's about what you choose to do. And I think you already know the answer to that. If it helps, I think you're a nice person."
She stood there, I think she was just waiting to see how I reacted to what she said, and after a few moments, gave me a light nod, and left, disappearing into the corridor.
What Dobby said stuck with me either way, it just... it didn't hurt as much after hearing what Luna said. They? Could he mean the rumours? I don't know, but Luna, with just those words, made me feel a bit better. Maybe she did do it on purpose, that girl was pretty perceptive and wise for someone one year younger than me.
Maybe she didn't think much about it, or maybe she did, I don't really know what she's thinking, but her saying that did make me feel better about myself. Like... like if a weight was being lifted from my shoulders, even if it was just a bit. I felt like I could breathe a little bit easier.
I smiled to myself, but it quickly faded away, as I started to walk in the nearly dark corridor, only lightly illuminated by candles. In a way, it reminded me of the Forbidden Forest, and for a moment, I felt stuck in the ground, afraid of the dark.
At that moment, I felt something in my shoulder. I looked over to it, and saw Blaze, the 'sleeping beauty', who finally woke up. And I remembered.
I'm not alone. At least, not now. I have Blaze, Harry, Ron, Luna... and even if I was still upset with her, Hermione. I didn't have to be scared of the darkness, not this one, and not my own. At least, not for now.
And with newfound courage, I walked through the dark corridors, without hesitation. I– No. We had to find out what was going on.