Hermione's POV

Professor McGonagall gave me a spell that could help levitate Y/N over to the hospital wing so Madam Pomfrey could treat him properly.

I cast the spell on Y/Ns body while Ron helped Harry up. The spell did not take much work and made Y/N light as a feather. As we entered the hospital wing, Draco Malfoy was making a big fuss while being treated by Madam Pomfrey.

"Stop making such a fuss Mr. Malfoy, you can go. Go on, get!" She said as she dismissed Malfoy. "Should have brought them straight to me. I can mend bones in a heartbeat—but growing them back..."

"You will be able to do it, right?" I asked worryingly. "Fix Harry's arm and Y/Ns ribs?"

"I will be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," Madam Pomfrey said grimly as she threw the boys some pajamas. "You both will have to stay the night. But you can leave tomorrow morning."

"I'll stay with you and keep you company." I said as I grabbed Y/Ns hand.

"I'd like that." He replied with a soft smile.

Unfortunately, that idea was very short lived as Madam Pomfrey spoke up,

"No you will not!" She exclaimed. "I have strict visiting hours in my hospital wing!"

"It's ok Mione." Y/N replied. "It was worth a shot."

"How are you going to stick up for Lockhart now Hermione?" Ron asked. "If Harry and Y/N wanted to be deboned, they would have asked."

"Who said I was sticking up for him? I'll be the first to admit he only made the situation worse!" I said before looking at Y/N.

"I'm so sorry Y/N. I don't know what I ever saw in Lockhart, you were right all along!" I said. "He is a complete fraud! I should have-"

"Hermione!" He shouted to interrupt my rambling. "I'm just happy you realize that Lockhart is an absolute idiot, this is in no way your fault." He replied while putting his hand on my cheek.

I blushed furiously as he continued. "But who the hell was messing with the bludger in the first place?"

"I swear it was Malfoy." Harry said angrily.

"Can't be can it?" Ron asked. "He was too busy with the snitch."

Harry shrugged as Madam Pomfrey came back with a large bottle labeled Skele-Gro.

As Harry sipped from the glass, he groaned in disgust.

"Well what do you expect?" Madam Pomfrey replied. "Pumpkin juice?"

The boys both got comfortable as they sunk into their beds. I hugged Harry and then went over to Y/N.

"You really scared me when that bludger hit you, you know?" I asked worryingly.

"I know, I'm really sorry Mione." Y/N said. "But at least we won!"

"Nonetheless, you were very noble." I responded while putting a hand on his cheek. "Please take care tonight, for me?"

"I will Mione, I'll see you tomorrow." He said while smiling.

God, that smile always makes me blush.

I then placed a small kiss on his cheek, causing both of us to blush. "Take care Y/N." I said as I exited the hospital wing with Ron.

Harry's POV

Y/N and I were currently resting in the hospital wing, well Y/N was resting. I however, was repressing the pain that the Skele-Gro was currently giving me.

"KILL. KILL......TIME TO KILL." That voice from a few days ago came back.

My thoughts were broken up when I heard a loud "CRACK" which happened to wake Y/N up as well.

"Hello!" A small voice said, which unveiled itself to be a familiar creature with long ears and bandages all over his hands.

It was Dobby, the house elf who ruined the Dursley's dinner party.

"Dobby?" I asked.

"What, this is Dobby?" Y/N asked as Dobby walked to him. "It's nice to meet you in person, Dobby."

"Y/N L/N!" Dobby screeched quietly. "Treating Dobby with kindness? What has Dobby done to deserve it?"

"I mean, you should be treated with kindness." Y/N said confused. "Your a living being, just like everyone else."

"Thank you sir!" Dobby said. "But Harry Potter should have listened to Dobby! Harry Potter should have gone back home when he missed the train."

"It was you....you stopped the barrier from letting me and Ron through the platform!"

"Indeed. Yes sir." Dobby replied.

"You nearly got me and Ron expelled!" I said angrily.

"At least you would be away from here. Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his bludger would be enough to make Harry Potter see that—"

"That was your bludger?" Y/N said angrily. Clearly changing his attitude towards Dobby.

"Yes sir. Dobby feels almost aggravated, sir. Dobby had to iron his hands." He then showed bandages on his hands, which made Y/N calm down a bit.

"You better clear off before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might strangle you!"

"Uh-huh-huh." Dobby assured. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five days a time at home."

"Wait." Y/N said. "If you made the bludger chase Harry, why did it chase after me too? Was I your target as well?"

"Y/N L/N is very smart." Dobby explained. "Dobby's masters keeps saying Y/N L/N is a very powerful wizard, because-"

Before Dobby could say anything else, he grabbed a lamp and started to bang it on his head. "Dobby should not have said that! Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Jesus Christ Dobby!" Y/N said as he took the lamp away from him. "Please don't hurt yourself."

"I don't suppose you could tell us why you're trying to kill us?" I asked angrily.

"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" Dobby shrieked again. "Dobby remembers how it was before Harry Potter triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We house elves were treated like vermin, sir. Of course, Dobby is still treated like Vermin...."

"Why do you wear that thing, Dobby?" Y/N asked.

"This sir? It is a mark of the house-elf's enslavement. Dobby can only be freed if his master presents him with clothes. Ah! Listen. Listen! Terrible things are about to happen at Hogwarts. Harry Potter must not stay here, now that history is about to repeat itself!"

"Repeat itself?" I asked again.

"You mean this has happened before?" Y/N asked.

"Ah! I shouldn't have said that! Oh, bad Dobby! Bad!" He said as he banged his head against the wall.

"Dobby, what did I say!!" Y/N said to the house elf. "Please stop hurting yourself!"

"Tell us, Dobby. When did this happen? Who's doing it now?" I asked.

"Dobby cannot say, sir! Dobby wants Harry Potter and Y/N L/N to stay safe!"

"Dobby!" Y/N said. "My best friend could be in danger because of this, please tell us!"

Before we could further the conversation, Dobby disappeared from the room with a snap of his fingers.

"Put him here." A voice said. "What happened?"

"Just lie down and pretend to be asleep." Y/N whispered.

"There's been another attack." The voice of Dumbledore said.

"I think he's been petrified, Madam Pomfrey." McGonagall said. "Look! perhaps he managed to take a picture of his attacker!"

A poof was then heard with a big sigh of disappointment.

"What can this mean Albus?"

"It means that.......The Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again."

"But Albus, who could do such a thing?"

"The question is not who," Said Dumbledore, with his eyes on Colin. "The question is, how."

"We have to figure this out quickly. Half of our students are now at risk. We have to find the Chamber and whoever is behind these attacks."

They all left and as they did, me and Y/N managed to get a peek of who the victim was.

It was Colin Creevey. The first Muggle-born victim.

"Oh f*ck." Y/N said.

Y/Ns POV

Harry and I were released from the hospital wing the following morning and we were explaining to the others about what we had seen the previous day.

"Again?" Hermione asked. You mean the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?"

"Of course." Ron said. "Don't you see? Lucius Malfoy must have opened it when he was at school here. And now he's taught Draco how to do it."

"I'm still not sure." I said. "We'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to be done to know for sure."

"Enlighten me. Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight, in the middle of the girls bathroom? Don't you think we would be caught?"

"For once, Ron is right." I said. "Wouldn't we be caught?"

"No one ever come in here." Hermione said.

"Why?" The three of us asked.

"Moaning Myrtle."

"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" I asked. "Oh, is that the ghost who was flirting with me?"

"Yes!" Hermione said angrily. She grabbed my hand and pulled me outside the bathroom.

"But Mione, we have to work on the potion." I said.

"We can do it later." She replied. "We're leaving!"

What was that all about?

——————————————————————————-

The following night, we all went to this dueling club that Seamus wouldn't stop talking about. I was looking forward to learning some more defensive spells in case there was ever a threat. I read up on some others already.

"You reckon the monster can duel as well?" Ron asked as we walked down to the Great Hall. To which we all shrugged.

"Who do you think is going to teach us?" Hermione asked.

"Professor Flitwick told me that he was a dueling champion back in the day." I said. "I hope it's him."

"Hopefully it is Flitwick." Harry said. "I don't know who else could be better for it."

"Yeah, as long as it isn't-" Ron said before being interrupted.

"Gather 'round, Gather 'round!" The voice of a certain pompous git said. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?"

"Unfortunately!" I yelled as Harry and Ron laughed along with the other students. Hermione even giggled a bit.

Lockhart became flustered but remained calm nonetheless.

"In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works."

"Your published works are lies!" I shouted making the others laugh again.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart said.

Snape made his way up to the podium and he did not look very happy to be there.

"He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear."

"You seriously can't be that stupid to challenge Professor Snape." I yelled out. "But then again, this is coming from a man who claims to have beaten a Werewolf, a Ghoul, and a Vampire. So what do I know?" I said sarcastically. Besides Hermione and a few others, a majority of the female population gave me heavy glares.

I can't believe I just defended Snape.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed. Well at least Lockhart did, Snape looked like the only thing he wanted to do was to punch that git straight in the face.

"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells."

"Neither of us will be aiming to kill of course."

How lucky would it be if they just finished each other off?

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent.

"Expelliarmus!" Snape yelled.

A dazzling flash of light shot out of his wand and Lockhart was blasted off of his feet. He flew backwards off the stage and smashed into the wall.

It was quite satisfying to say the least.

Lockhart got up unsteadily. His hair stood on one end and his hat had fallen off.

"Well there you have it!" He said, staggering his way back to the podium. "That was a disarming charm- as you see, I've lost my wand- ah thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was quite obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been too easy- however, I felt it would be instructive let them see..."

Snape looked like he wanted to snap Lockhart in two. He must have noticed because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to put you in pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me—"

Snape came over to me and Harry as he and Lockhart were putting us in pairs.

"I think it's time to split up the dynamic duo I think," he sneered. Parkinson, you can partner with L/N. Malfoy, let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you Miss Granger - you can partner with Miss Bulstrode.

Millicent Bullstrode was a very large girl who looked very unpleasant.

I looked over to Hermione who looked highly uncomfortable. I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance, she smiled back.

"Face your partners!" Lockhart called, back on the platform. "And bow!"

"We meet again, Y/N." Pansy said with a smirk. "Don't think I'm going easy on you."

"Wouldn't dream of it Parkinson." I replied.

"Expelliarmus!" I cried out, blasting the spell and disarming Pansy of her wand.

"You got lucky." She said smiling.

"That's what they all say." I replied.

"You might want to go help your friend over there." She said pointing in Hermione's direction.

Millicent Bulstrode had put Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering with pain; both wands forgotten on the floor. I charged over instantly and grabbed Millicent's robes and dragged her away.

"Are you all right?" I asked Hermione who had jumped into my arms.

"I am now thanks to you!" She replied smiling.

Did I mention that Hermione has really pretty eyes?

We pulled apart and turned our attention back over to Lockhart.

"I think now would be a good time to teach you how to block unfriendly spells." He said.

"Let's have a volunteer pair- Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you—"

"A bad idea Professor Lockhart," said Snape. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest of spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and L/N?"

Oh hell yes.

As I walked up to the stage, everyone stared attentively at us, knowing about our hatred towards one another.

"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart cried.

"Scared L/N?" Malfoy whispered maliciously.

"What are you gonna do grease ball?" I said loudly.

"Now remember boys, disarm spells only! On the count of three cast your charms to disarm your opponent."

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

"Rictemsempra!" I casted sending Malfoy backwards and causing everyone to cheer loudly except for most of the Slytherins.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hermione cheering the loudest, which caused me to blush.

Malfoy got up with the help of Snape and aimed his wand towards me.

"Serpensortia!" He shouted, causing a big long snake to appear from the tip of his wand.

The snake came closer and closer to me, ready to strike.

"Don't move L/N," Snape said. "I'll get rid of it."

"Allow me Professor Snape." Lockhart said as Snape stopped in his tracks "Alarte ascendare!"

Instead of making the snake go away, it shot up in the air, fell back down and hissed at me before turning its attention towards Justin Finch-Fletchley.

As the snake continued to get closer to Justin, I heard a creepy, inaudible whisper. I looked around for the source of the whispering and saw that it was Harry. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but it sounded creepy.

Was he speaking Parseltongue?"

Before I could try to decipher what he was saying, Snape had gotten rid of the snake.

"Viper Evanesca." Snape said, incinerating the snake alive.

"What are you playing at?" Justin asked harshly.

Everyone just stared at Harry. Me and Ron led him out of the hall as Hermione followed.

———————————————————————————

"You're a Parselmouth?" Ron asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" Harry asked.

"You can talk to snakes." Hermione responded.

"I know. I mean I accidentally set a python on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once." Harry said. "That day was amazing! But, so what? I bet a lot of people here can do it."

"I don't know Harry." I replied.

"It's not very common at all." Hermione said. "This is very bad."

"What's bad? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin....."

"Oh that's what you said to it." Ron said.

"You were there! You heard me!" Harry exclaimed.

"We heard you speaking Parseltongue, snake language."

"I spoke a different language? But-I didn't realize I- how can I speak a different language without knowing I can?"

"I don't know Harry." Hermione said. "But it sounded like you were egging the snake on, or something. There's a reason the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent l. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. He could talk to snakes, too."

"Exactly!" Ron added. "Now the whole school is going to think you're his great grandson or something-"

"But I'm not!" Harry shouted.

"How are you going to prove that Harry?" Hermione questioned. "He lived a thousand years ago, for all we know you very well could be."

"Maybe this is what Dobby was trying to warn us about." I said. "Maybe this is why he was so adamant about you leaving the school."

Harry just shrugged and decided to head up to bed with Ron following.

Me and Hermione stayed downstairs and talked for a bit until I felt pressure on my shoulder. Hermione had fallen asleep and was snoring lightly.

God, I'm really grateful I met Hermione. She's such an amazing person. She's was my first friend and she was always there for me. I always feel really happy whenever I'm around her. She really is amazing.

Even just the thought of her makes my heart skip a beat.

Wait? Do I have a crush on my best friend?

I'm sure I do.