"Look at me! Don't think about it. Answer my question right now!" Seeing Jerry's eyes dart away, Hermione spoke with a trace of anger. She gripped his face and forced him to meet her gaze. "Don't try to fob me off with another excuse!"
Unfortunately for Hermione, Jerry was one step ahead. She had tried to make him answer without thinking or making excuses, but she had underestimated how quick-witted he was. As Jerry himself had said, he could always come up with a clever, plausible excuse in no time.
"Because of you, of course!" Seeing the suspicion in Hermione's eyes, Jerry straightened at once and clasped her hand. His voice was gentle but firm, and his expression grew grave and anxious, as though something truly urgent had forced him to go to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Me?" Hermione asked, puzzled. Jerry had been the one who broke school rules and ventured into the Chamber of Secrets alone. That was why he had been injured and unconscious for so long. What did it have to do with her?
"That night, I got a letter saying You-Know-Who had kidnapped you and taken you to the Chamber of Secrets." Jerry sounded utterly sincere, his face and voice full of worry and alarm.
"I panicked and never stopped to think it might be a trap. That's why I rushed to the Chamber of Secrets alone..." Jerry had neatly borrowed Harry's experience, swapping Ginny for Hermione as the girl in the story.
Harry must have already told Hermione exactly how he had gone to the Chamber of Secrets, and Jerry's account matched his perfectly.
A lie was hardest to spot when it was woven into the truth. That was the best approach.
"Really?"
"Of course. I'm not one for deception or lies. If I'd