The Chamber of Secrets

Rain began to fall, but the black Bludger and the Weasley Brothers stayed glued to Harry.

"It's not Snape," Hermione said after watching for a long time. "He isn't even paying attention to the match. And I've watched all the professors; none of them showed any sign of casting a spell."

"But that's impossible! Apart from the professors, who else could have tampered with a Bludger that was checked just before the match?" Ron exclaimed nervously. "Fred and George can't even interfere with the Slytherin players anymore. The moment they leave, that Bludger will knock Harry right off his broom-Slytherin's scored six goals in a row!"

"Can they still see? Their eyesight must be really good in rain this heavy." Aya had long since taken out an enormous umbrella and put it over her friends. Huddled beneath it, they struggled to watch the match.

"We want a time-out-" Wood's voice rang out across the pitch, followed immediately by Madam Hooch's whistle.

"I really wish they could ask for that ball to be investigated." Hermione's fingers had gone a little white around her binoculars. "Those Slytherins are still laughing over there."

"Hard to say," Ron said. "Harry and Oliver both really want to keep playing." Clutching his glasses, he stared at the place where the team had gathered, as though hoping to read their lips.

"See? I was right about what Oliver said," Aya said, shaking her head. The umbrella tilted with her, and Lavender anxiously steadied it. "It was just like raising a flag."

"Raising a flag? What does that mean?" Seamus asked curiously.

"It means the outcome is the opposite of the goal you set," Aya explained proudly, raising her chin. "Just like now. Harry's about to get beaten to death by that Bludger."

"...Oh-" Neville buried his head against Dean's back, afraid to watch the match resume.

"Neville, you really should look. Harry's showing off," Aya said, lifting the umbrella a little. Raindrops struck Hermione and Ron, who were sitting in front of her, mercilessly in the face, but they didn't care at all. They kept their eyes fixed on Harry out on the pitch.

He flew higher and higher, turning one moment and spinning the next, then plunging straight down and spiraling back up, weaving this way and that in a completely unpredictable pattern.

"He's got my style," Aya remarked, stroking her chin.

"I think he must be terribly dizzy by now," Hermione said worriedly.

"He's probably fine. At a time like this, it should actually feel like an adrenaline rush." Aya shared her experience with an air of authority.

"He'd better have an adrenaline rush-" Ron's voice trembled. "He just flew upside down, headfirst. Merlin, he nearly fell off!"

"Ah!" Aya suddenly cried out, making Neville shudder behind her. "Has Harry finally made up his mind to ram Malfoy out of the sky?"

"What!" Hermione had been looking for the Quaffle that was flying all over the place and attacking Harry viciously. Hearing this, she hurriedly looked over and screamed, "Oh—he really is charging at him!! What is he doing?! He was just hit by that Quaffle!"

Quite a few people in the stands saw it, and gasps rose all around them. Neville clutched the back of Dean's collar, leaving Dean struggling to breathe, his face flushed red, but Dean still watched the decisive moment with an excited expression.

"Ah!!" Ron screamed. "He's fallen!!"

He stood up and rushed out from under the umbrella, heading for the pitch through the pouring rain, with Hermione close behind. Aya had just stood up when she found herself being held back. Then the friends around her all stood up, and the group carried the enormous umbrella through the crowd in the uproarious stands and down onto the pitch together.

"I wonder what he's saying." By the time Aya ran over to Harry, he was already surrounded by people. Lockhart was speaking flamboyantly. "Don't worry, Harry, I'm about to heal your arm!"

"No!" Harry's weak, pained voice came from the crowd. "Just leave it like this, thank you..." A flash went off nearby, and he said loudly, "I don't want a picture like this, Colin!"

"Lie still, Harry," Lockhart said, his voice still cheerful. "It's just a simple charm. I've become quite proficient at it."

"Why can't I just go straight to the hospital?" Harry sounded as though he were forcing the words through his teeth. Unable to move any farther forward with the umbrella, Aya could only hand it to Neville and Seamus beside her and squeeze through the gaps in the crowd.

Then she caught sight of Lockhart, dressed all in emerald green, just as he finished twirling his wand and pointed it at Harry's arm.

The people gathered around all gasped, and Aya felt considerably warmer in the downpour.

Harry's arm had turned into a gummy candy.

"It looks so squishy and springy," Aya said as soon as she reached Ron's side.

"You really are hungry!" Ron looked at Harry's mud-covered hand. "Never mind that. We have to get Harry to the Hospital Wing!"

Madam Pomfrey arrived a step too late, only to find that the injury had become twice as bad. Her face darkened as she scolded Lockhart, but he completely blocked out her sharp words and slipped away with his nose in the air.

"You should have come straight to me!" Madam Pomfrey said angrily, lifting the arm that looked like a rubber hose. "I would have needed only a second to mend the bones, and now look. It'll take all night to grow them back."

"He couldn't even get away just now-" Aya shook her head. Ron and Hermione supported Harry on either side as she walked ahead of them, with Seamus following behind, carrying the huge umbrella. The others walked alongside them, looking excited.

"It's all right, it's only temporary. It actually looks pretty interesting." Dean curiously prodded Harry's numb hand, only for Ron to slap his hand away. "Don't do that. Harry, does it hurt?"

"Oh, actually, I can't feel anything. It's like my arm's been amputated." Harry shook his shoulder, and only then did his hand wobble. Although Lockhart's attempt on his life had cooled his excitement somewhat, he had caught the Golden Snitch again—and it had appeared right next to Malfoy!

His mind was now full of the image of Malfoy stamping his feet!

"Did Lockhart take Harry's brain out too?" Aya turned around to see Harry wearing an expression halfway to a smile, his features twisted. She earnestly asked Hermione, "Madam Pomfrey must have a potion like Brain-Gro too, right?"

Harry's expression vanished in an instant, and his face went blank. "No, he didn't. My brain is perfectly fine."

The group soon returned to the castle. Everyone else hurried back to change out of their wet clothes, while Aya and the others went with Harry to the Hospital Wing. When they reached the ward, Madam Pomfrey stopped some of them, leaving only Aya, Ron, and Hermione to go in.

Hermione went to ask about Harry's condition while Ron drew the curtains around the bed and helped Harry change into his pajamas. Sitting outside the curtains, Aya listened to the two boys fumbling to stuff the rubber-hose arm into a sleeve, exclaiming, "It's folded again!" as they went. She was terribly curious, and if the curtains hadn't been tightly drawn, she would have wanted to try stuffing it in herself.

Hearing them breathe sighs of relief, Aya pulled the curtains open. Madam Pomfrey came over too, holding a large bottle of steaming potion. She poured a cup and handed it to Harry. "Tonight will be rather difficult. Growing bones is no easy matter."

Harry couldn't stop coughing after he drank the potion, and the pained look on his face made Aya suppress her own desire to have a taste. Madam Pomfrey went out, complaining as she walked that students shouldn't be allowed to play such a dangerous sport as Quidditch and that the professors were all incompetent and couldn't protect their students.

Hermione brought over a large glass of water and helped Harry drink it and rinse his mouth before looking at his broken arm. "Can you feel your hand yet?"

"Do you still believe in Lockhart now?" Ron asked Hermione as he wiped Harry's mouth. He failed to control the force of his hand and pushed Harry's mouth out of place.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Hermione said. "And in a way, Harry's broken arm really did stop hurting, didn't it?"

"It stopped hurting just now, but the price is that it'll hurt all night tonight." Harry struggled to dodge Ron's handkerchief and snatched his rubbery hand back from Aya. "It's a shame I couldn't see what was happening with Slytherin right away. I felt like I'd knocked myself silly when I fell, and all of you were crowding around me. I couldn't see a thing."

"You really should have looked at their twisted expressions when you hit the ground," Aya said. "It was your arm that broke, not your neck. Especially Malfoy—he looked ready to kill. You had to see it for yourself to get the full effect."

Harry laughed in agreement, but Hermione's expression remained troubled. "I think that Bludger is more important. Someone definitely tampered with it, but it wasn't one of the professors there. Perhaps an older student could control it?"

Before Harry could answer, the ward door opened and the rest of the Quidditch team poured in, still covered in mud but carrying cakes, sweets, and several bottles of Pumpkin Juice. Aya immediately reached into Alicia's bag and grabbed a handful of sweets and a piece of cake.

The Quidditch team had come intending to hold a small celebration, but Madam Pomfrey was there and scolded everyone into leaving, leaving Harry all alone in the Hospital Wing.

Unable to hold their celebration in the Hospital Wing, the rest of the Quidditch team held one in the common room. Aya and the others received Honeydukes sweets from a delighted Wood, as well as various desserts and juices Fred and George had swiped from the kitchen. Everyone celebrated noisily for most of the evening before going to bed.

"Huh?" The half-eaten pie in Ron's mouth fell onto the bed. Hermione frowned. "You mean that House-elf called Dobby came to the school yesterday?"

"Why didn't you catch him?" Hermione asked. "What did he come for?"

"He was responsible for the Bludger, and for what happened at the station too." Harry looked irritated.

"Does he want to kill you?" Aya tilted her head. "With how wildly that Bludger was acting yesterday, I think it wanted not only to knock you off your broom, but to knock you dead while you were still on it."

"...He said it was for my own good. He said the school wasn't safe," Harry said gravely.

"Huh?" Aya's eyes widened. "Because he came to the school, it isn't safe?"

"If he keeps saving you, he'll end up saving you to death, won't he?" Ron was incredulous too.

"No, he was talking about some Chamber of Secrets?" Harry frowned deeply, recalling what Dobby had said the night before. "He said, 'There's a plot being hatched here at Hogwarts. Terrible things are about to happen.' He said I shouldn't stay here because history was about to repeat itself, and the Chamber of Secrets had been opened again."

"The Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione touched her chin. She had seen those words before, in... in Hogwarts: A History. "What about the Chamber of Secrets?"

"The school has a secret chamber!" Aya grew excited. "Will there be treasure in it? A treasure chest would be fine too!"

"That can't be right," Ron said, wiping his mouth and picking up the pie from the bedsheet. "Dumbledore's at the school. Who could be plotting anything?"

"...Quirrell?" Aya answered.

"That was You-Know-Who. He doesn't count," Ron said. "What then? What else did Dobby say?"

"Nothing much. He just kept telling me to go home and not stay at school. I wanted to ask when it was last opened, but Madam Pomfrey came to check on the ward, and he ran away." Harry shrugged, also thinking about the Chamber of Secrets.

"Then what should we do?" Ron asked.

"Go looking for the Chamber of Secrets!" Aya raised her hand.

"We can do some research first. I know where to find information about the Chamber of Secrets, so let's have a look. Since it's been opened before, it must at least have been in recent years?" Hermione said.

"Does your book say where the Chamber of Secrets is?" Aya cared more about that. It was a clue, after all.

"It's in... Oh, I left my copy of Hogwarts: A History at home. When school started, I had to leave it behind to fit all of Lockhart's books!" Hermione sighed.

"Finally realized you brought a load of useless kindling, have you?" Ron grumbled.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll just borrow a copy from the library later and read it. Aya, do you want to come?"

Aya's tail, which had just been raised a little in curiosity about the Chamber of Secrets, immediately dropped with a smack. Her face fell, and she reluctantly said, "Yes."

She still had to look for information about the Basilisk too.

After Harry finished breakfast, Madam Pomfrey examined him once more. He got dressed, took the homework papers Ron had brought him, and joined them at the library.

When Aya and the others arrived at the library, they ran into Percy coming out, looking relaxed. But the moment Percy saw Aya, his expression became serious. He briefly congratulated Harry on winning fifty points for Gryffindor, then hurried away—he really didn't want to tutor a block of wood.

"A Prefect really is busy-" Aya watched Percy's retreating figure with some regret. "But Percy's really good at helping with homework. He's a really nice person."

Ron pressed his lips tightly together to keep from laughing. Harry lowered his head and began flipping aimlessly through his homework papers, his shoulders bobbing as he followed Hermione.

"He certainly is. He got twelve certificates last year. I can hardly imagine it. I think I'll have to work hard for that in my fifth year too," Hermione said, nodding as though it were only natural.

"Oh, perhaps you can, if your brain hasn't been contaminated by Lockhart."