Basil

Harry's really messed up this time. Or rather, Dobby messed up, and Basil seems to be hyperventilating while Hedwig violently rattles her cage.

When Dobby had shown up in Harry's bedroom, Harry'd been hoping Draco was sending him a letter. But after Dobby’s behaviour, it's clear Draco couldn't have sent him. There's no way Draco would have sent a house elf to do this to him.

The bars on his window cast odd shadows over the room, and he can hear every sound now that the window doesn't even close all the way.

Which is how he picks out the sound of the car, before the headlights light up the room. Jumping up, he looks out to a flying blue car. It pulls parallel to the window, and Harry can see Ron and the twins.

Ron shushes his brothers quickly. And they get to work on pulling the bars and window off. Harry throws his trunk into the car boot wildly, then hands Hedwig off to Ron. By the time Basil is crawling up Harry's leg, he's leaning for Ron and the Dursleys are running through the door. Harry's almost out, when Uncle Vernon’s grabbing his ankle. He sways wildly before Ron catches him under the arms.

Uncle Vernon is tugging like his life depends on it, when Basil suddenly expands and hisses at him. He lets go and falls down to the bushes below, while Harry laughs at him. Ron pulls him in, and Basil climbs to his shoulder where she nuzzles into his neck. He's still laughing as Ron wishes him a Happy Birthday.

---

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN.” Comes Mrs. Weasley’s voice, and Harry jumps a bit at the anger there. She turns to Harry and smiles tightly, “Harry, how wonderful to see you.” Then she's back to yelling, “BEDS EMPTY NO NOTE, CAR GONE! You could have died! You could have been seen! This is that Slytherin influence!” Ron crosses his arms and she turns to Harry again. “Of course, I don't blame you personally, Harry, dear.”

“They were starving him mum. There were bars on his window!” Ron exclaims, but Mrs. Weasley still looks angry.

“Well, you'd best hope I don't put bars on your window, Ronald Weasley.” The twins are looking at Ron wide eyed and Ron looks terrified. Mrs. Weasely turns to him again, “Come on Harry, time for a spot of breakfast.”

---

“Now, speak very, very clearly.” Mrs Wesley says, eyeing his slytherin robes and giving him a look like she’s expecting to be disappointed. Harry thinks her grudge against Slytherin as a whole might be a little irrational.

Slowly he says “Diagon Alley” and throws the floo powder. He feels a twisting sensation and sparks of green around him, before his body seems to right himself. He’s falling then, at a diagonal through another fireplace. Standing, he quickly looks around, and spots Ron a few feet away, waving him over. He hurries next to him, and watches as the rest of the Weasleys pop out of the fireplace (much more gracefully than Harry himself did).

By the time Percy comes through, there's a crowd of people filing out of the Flourish and Blotts. He turns in time to see Hermione rushing out towards them. She smiles wide, hugging him first, then Ron. She drags them behind her, prattling on about “Lockhart” and “amazing books” and “you have to read them.”

They follow her into the book store, the rest of the Weasley family trailing after them. There's a line stretching all along the wall, and Hermione pulls them further up it, where they meet her parents.

They seem nice, but once Mr. Weasley finds them, they're bombarded with questions like “how do telephones work” and “what is the point of a dishwasher?” So Harry really only says hello and goodbye.

By the time Gilderoy Lockhart has entered the room, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley are buzzing with interest. When he enters (with a frantic flourish), both of them seem to swoon a bit. That is, until he calls Harry up and says “together we’ll make the front page.” That's when a little bit of that steely look enters Hermione's face. When he gifts the entire collected works, he even catches her roll her eyes a bit. When Mrs. Weasley (who still looks starry-eyed) ushers them out of line, she doesn't even argue.

They're almost out when the “Potter” sounds from the bookcase. Harry looks up to see Draco leaning against the banister smirking at them. Hermione rolls her eyes again, and Ron gives him a small wave. Harry's the one to smile, and eventually Draco cracks and smiles back.

He walks down the stairs and they walk out of the store together. Hermione is rambling on a potions book she found, and Draco is listening raptly, when suddenly a hand appears on the blondes shoulder. No, not a hand Harry realises, but a hook in the shape of a snake.

Harry looks up to see a blonde man, somewhat like an older version of Draco staring down at them. He sneers a bit at Hermione, but his face is blank towards Harry and Ron.

“Draco, how rude of you not to introduce me to your friends.” He says, and Harry notes the way Draco's shoulders stiffen at the words. He turns slowly with a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Father, this is Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter. Harry and Ron are my roommates.” Draco says tersely.

“Ah yes, the famous Harry Potter. I did not realise you and my son were quite so… close.” He says, and the look of panic that enters Draco's eyes nearly sets Harry off.

Instead, he breathes deep and says, “We’re not sir. We were actually just asking Draco if he'd gotten his new books, and happened to walk out of the store at the same time. I wouldn't call us friends by any sense.” He throws in a mild sneer at Draco for effect, and if Draco's returning sneer is more full of relief than hate, his father doesn't seem to notice.

“Ah, I see. Inner house rivalries. That's good Draco, must keep that spirit up.” He says and smiles crookedly at them. He turns to Hermione, “I hear you're a brilliant student. I do hope you’re finding Slytherin to be… welcoming.” He says and Hermione's about to retort when Draco interrupts.

“Father, you promised we'd look at the new brooms.” He says, and the tone he's adopted is one Harry only remembers from the beginning of last year. Before their odd friendship formed.

“Yes, quite right Draco. Best leave the Weasley's to their... thrifting.” He gives a pointed look behind Harry, and he turns to see the rest of the Weasley’s a few steps behind him. When Harry turns back, they're already walking away, and Draco doesn't glance at them.

“He's terrifying.” Ron says with a shudder.

“He's a pompous ass who doesn't know how to be a good father.” Hermione retorts with, and Harry looks at her in surprise. She rolls her eyes but responds, “we wrote each other. His father thinks all my letters were from some pureblood in France Draco met on their vacation.”

Harry eyes her a bit longer, but doesn’t respond. He's reminded of Dobby stealing his letters, and suddenly wants to know what they've all written him.

“Luscious Malfoy.” Fred and George say in disgust. “Can't believe he touched your books Ginny.”

Harry turns to her with a questioning look, but it's Fred who answers.

“The git was bickering with dad. Picked up Ginny’s books as an “example” of our poor bloodline.”

“As if our bloodline is poor because we like muggle borns.” George finishes, and both twins scoff. Harry eyes Ginny, but she's looking down at her books avoiding everyone else.

---

They're late for the train, that much is obvious. It's Basil, whispering in Harry's ear to “go go go” when he sees Draco and his Father. His father is looking at his watch, and Draco is looking to the ground. His father says something, and Draco nods before his father turns and leaves him. Draco watches for a minute to make sure his father is gone, before turning towards them.

“I'm sorry.” He says, but Harry doesn't need the explanation, he knows.

“I understand.” Harry says, and Draco looks at him gratefully. The three of them turn towards the platform entrance, and Harry realises everyone else is gone. They quickly trot towards the gate, and take off all together.

It's a few seconds before Harry realises he's on the ground and they crashed into the barrier. He looks wildly to Ron and Draco, before patting his ear to make sure Basil is okay. The ticket master is yelling at them, and Harry mutters something about losing control, but he's not really focused on that. He's focused on the clock chiming, announcing that the train has left already.

Ron's the one to wonder if their parents can't get back through, and Harry's looking around wildly for any wizard robes that can help. Draco is the only calm one, he's pulling Hedwig out of her cage and handing her a piece of parchment.

“What are you doing?” Harry asks, confused as to why Draco is using his owl.

“I'm owning Dumbledore. Something like this happened to Theo’s dad once, when my father was in school. They'll send someone to floo us to the school.” He says and Harry blinks at him.

“That's really smart.”

“Yes, well I am tied with Hermione for marks. She did make it through right?” He asks, and Ron affirms that she was one of the first through the barrier. “Right, well we have to go back to Diagon Alley.”

Harry and Ron glance at each other, before shrugging and following Draco. They pass the flying car, but neither of them know how to drive on the ground, so they leave it in favour of walking. Harry's glad he brought a trunk with wheels.

Five minutes after they enter Diagon Alley, Professor Snape comes through the fireplace. He glares at them deeply, before letting up and waving them through. They floo straight into his office, and Draco and Harry immediately explain what happened.

Snape looks annoyed, but that's no different from usual so Harry thinks all is well. Snape leads them up through the dungeons, and to the great hall.

“The other students will be arriving shortly.” He says, then strides out of the room. They're not the only ones there, but Harry does his best to avoid looking at Lockhart and Flitwick. He doesn't want to talk to either of them.

The three of them sit in silence for about five minutes, before Ron starts raving about some Chudley Cannons game, and Draco is explaining how his mother tried to get him to garden this year.

When the rest of the students start filing in, they only get a few odd looks, before people forget and are back to their own lives. Hermione comes in five minutes later, and haughtily sits next to Draco.

“Where were you? I had to sit with Blaise, Theo, and Neville Longbottom! It was awful.” She exclaims, putting her head down on the table.

“Oh cheer up Hermione, it wasn't that bad!” Theo says, and Blaise shakes his head.

“The two of you talked about underwater plants for two hours! I never thought I could be bored of learning, but you did it.” She groans out. Harry and Draco raise their eyes at Theo, who just shrugs. By the time Dumbledore is making the introductory speech, Hermione has raised her head, and she and Draco are discussing the potions book from earlier.

They're leaving the hall, when a camera flash goes off in front of Harry's face. A little boy opens his mouth, introduces himself as Colin Creevey, but all Harry can hear is the sound of laughter from Blaise and Theo. Harry rolls his eyes and smiles at the kid, but pushes past to follow his house to the hidden stairs.

---

A week later, they're in herbology with the gryffindors again. Hermione’s answering question after question, and by the end of the lesson they've accumulated 15 house points, Neville has fainted, and the entirety of the Gryffindor class is glaring at them.

At lunch, the letter Ron gets from his parents is another one that makes his face close off. Harry doesn't ask, but Ron's eyes flick to his, and the letter slides across to him.

“Ronald Weasley,
How dare you! You should have waited for you father and I! This is that Slytherin influence again. We are very disappointed. We had to learn about the problem from Dumbledore! You are in very big trouble.

~Mum and Dad

P.S. Tell Ginny we love her very much and we're so very proud of her for getting Gryffindor.”

Objectively, the letter is an upset parent. However, Harry has seen the way Ron's mother treats his Slytherin house, has seen the way she seems to skirt her eyes over his green robes, helping the twins and Ginny with theirs, ignoring Ron’s completely. Harry doesn't think she means to, but Mrs. Weasley shows how little she cares for Ron now that he's in Slytherin. Combined with everyone but the twins avoiding Ron at times, it's bound to be causing problems.

Harry slides the letter back, and Ron folds it neatly into his pocket. Draco looks at him curiously, but Harry quickly shakes his head. Draco looks back to the book between him and Hermione.

That night, Ron sits on Harry's bed while he explains about all the letters he sent over the summer. Harry doesn't want to tell Draco just yet, in fear of getting Dobby in trouble, but Ron needed to know he wasn't ignoring him.

“It's subtle. She's always loved Ginny the most, we all know that. We all love Ginny the most. But, it's the little things she says. Like ‘oh, Ginny dear, that was so brave so courageous.’ As if she's trying to convince Ginny to choose Gryffindor.” He pauses and looks towards the door. “She makes a lot of comments about ‘that cunning Hermione’ and ‘ambition is nothing without morals.’” He sighs, and Harry looks down, where Basil is slowly circling around Ron's wrist.

“I'm sorry, mate.” Harry says, and Ron just shrugs.

“I think it's almost worse because I'm not a great wizard? Like, if I was better, got better marks, she might think it was okay. But I'm not, and so she thinks it was a mistake.” Ron gets up and moves back to his own bed. They don't talk again for the rest of the night, but Ron seems lighter. As if by saying out loud, he's letting it go a bit

---

D.A.D.A. With Lockhart is suddenly his least favourite class. The Cornish Pixies that tore up his books and left Neville hanging from the ceiling have ruined his day. Watching Hermione and Draco stunning pixies and flying them into their cage was the most he learned.

But after the class, quidditch tryouts are there. Harry and Draco are both buzzing with excitement, and Harry's glad Draco wants to be Chaser or Keeper. Harry's not sure he could do anything but seeker.

Hermione's watching them from the stands, but he's not sure where Ron is. He'd asked to borrow the cloak last night, and Harry thought he was going to see the Gryffindors, but he'd come back with armfuls of dusty old books. Which, no offence to Ron, is the strangest thing Harry’s seen him do.

But he hadn't asked, hadn't wanted to ruin whatever fragile state Ron was in further.

So he and Draco push themselves, and Hermione cheers from the stands. They'd asked if she wanted to try out, but even mentioning flying makes her go pale, so they didn't push it.

Harry's pushing himself against Theo and a fourth year girl. Theo's skinny, but so tall it slows him down. The girl has the same stature as Harry though, and they're neck and neck for most of the drills. Until, they release the actual snitch. Suddenly Harry's new Nimbus 2001, a birthday gift to himself, seems to kick it up, and he's going just a little faster. The girl seems to slow at the same time. It takes less than five minutes for him to reach, and catch the snitch. He does a loop around the field while Hermione, Draco, and even Theo cheer. He lowers himself to the ground, and tries not to make it look like he's looking up at Marcus. But Marcus just nods at him and says “welcome to the team.”

It's not until the team is back in the air, looking at Draco and Blaise competing for keeper, that Harry realises the other girl is a few feet away, looking over her broom. He walks over quietly.

“Everything okay?” He asks, and she jumps. Her head snaps to his, glaring, but they flick behind him for a second and then focus back on him.

“Fine. Absolutely fine.” She says, then grabs her broom and walks off the pitch. Harry looks behind him to see Hermione leaning against the bottom stadium rail. He walks over to her, thinking a mile a minute about the behavior of the girl's broom.

“Was that you?” He asks when he gets to her.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” She says, but there's a smirk on her face and her eyes are shining. Harry laughs a bit, but feels a little concerned by the lack of guilt he feels over it. He wants this though, so what if he got a little boost. He could have done it anyways, but why not use the benefits, and give Hermione a bit of practice. Plus he knows that girl has called Hermione a mudblood more than once, so really he doesn’t feel any guilt at all. Hermione smiles at him then, as if she also knows what he realised, and agrees.

He turns his attention to Draco and Blaise, on opposite sides of the pitch. By all regards Blaise, who grew about four inches over the summer, should easily be in the lead. Yet, Draco is somehow keeping up. The two of them tied throughout. Harry watches for another five minutes, before he turns to Hermione with a raised brow.

“No,” she says shaking her head, “Draco would be so mad.” Harry considers this, and eventually agrees. Draco would be mad. Which concerns Harry's that he's not mad, but he's been learning a lot about himself recently, he thinks humorously.

They both turn back to watch, and cringe when a moment later Blaise almost falls off his broom. He rights himself, but Marcus has clearly already judged. He whistles and the two fly down. Blaise’s face remains stoic, but the smirk that overtakes Draco's is a pretty clear indicator. Blaise nods and shakes Draco's hand, then he's up in the air again.

“He must be going for bludger now.” Hermione says in Harry's ear. “Oh! By the way, here.” She extends her arm, and Basil slithers out along to him. He cups her gently, and lifts her toward his shoulder.

“I want to go with you.” She whispers once she reaches his ear.

“It's too dangerous.” Harry starts, and she scoffs. Or whatever the snake equivalent of a scoff is. Pragmatically he continues with, “Maybe if you develop wings like Blaise said you might.”

She sighs deeply, but relaxes into him, so he figures she agrees. Draco comes striding towards them, and he gives a wide smile once he's close enough.

“Guess who just joined the team, Potter.” He says, and Harry laughs at him.

“Congratulations, Malfoy.” He responds, and the two laugh a bit. Hermione is probably rolling her eyes behind him, and Draco flushes a little when he glances at her. Harry wants to raise an eyebrow, but also he really doesn't want to know. So he pretends it didn't happen and begins walking off the pitch.

---

That night, Basil wakes Harry in a frenzy. She's rushing up and down the bed, circling his wrists and ankles. He bolts up, and tries to stop her movements, but she slides away from him.

“Basil, what's wrong?” Harry asks, and she seems to jump at his voice. She stills over his ankle, and looks at him.

“Something's wrong. I can feel it. We have to go.” She slides off the bed, to the door, and Harry can do nothing but follow her. As soon as he opens the door, she takes off for the common room. He catches up quickly, and she slides up him, to his left arm. Pulling his sleeve, she directs him to the exit, up through the stairs, and towards the first-floor corridor.

“Basil, there's nothing here!” Harry whispers, belatedly realising he forgot his cloak. She's in a frenzy again, making herself big then small, and encircling his wrist. She's trembling, and he's suddenly very, very afraid.

“Mr. Potter.” Filtch’s voice calls, and Harry startled and turns to face him. He's holding Mrs. Norris, petting her slowly. “Out late aren't we? That's against the rules.” The cruel smile that overtakes his face makes Harry shiver, and Basil disappears up his sleeve.

“I'm sorry sir, I must've been sleepwalking.” He quickly says, but Filtch only scoffs.

“Come along, we’ll find the teacher on watch.” Filtch leads him back towards the Great Hall. By the time they reach it, Basil has curled up on Harry's ear. Entering the hall, Harry nearly groans aloud at the sight of Lockhart sitting at a table. The man's bright smile makes Harry want to throw a punch.

“Ah, Mr. Potter! Out for a late stroll? I often take those myself, clears the head from any, shall we say, after-affects.” He pauses, but continues when Harry says nothing. “From the fame, yes? Well of course you know.”

“Mr. Lockhart.” Filtch interrupts, and Lockhart shakes his head.

“Right, well off to bed. You'll serve two detentions with me.” He says, then waves his hand at them. Filtch huffs in annoyance, but Harry leaves before he can argue.

When he gets back to bed, he gently deposits Basil on the pillow. She expands a bit, but not as much as usual.

“Are you okay?” Harry whispers.

“Yes. And no. There were whispers. They wanted to kill. They wanted me to kill.” Her voice is quieter than he's ever heard. He expects a sense of panic to rise in him, but all he feels is sadness. She's truly afraid, when she never has been before.

“We’ll figure it out.” Harry says, even though he's not sure what it is. But it helps, Basil expands a bit more, and he lays on his side facing her. She curls the end of her tail around his wrist, and they both fall asleep quickly after.

---

Harry doesn't forget about the night, he can't, what with doing detention with Lockhart (answering fan mail for God’s sake), but he does push it back in his mind a bit. Tries not to think about it.

Until the whispers come.

“Come. Come to me.” Surrounds him, and he jumps, along with Basil. She's quivering again, he can feel her shaking in his pocket. He asks Lockhart, but he's dumb as a rock so he doesn't expect much.

But he lets Harry go, and he quickly leaves towards the common room. Until the whispers come back as he's walking.

“Blood. I smell blood.” It starts with. Harry follows the voice down the hall. Then, “Let me rip you. Let me kill you. Kill. Kill! Kill!”

“Harry!” Hermione's voice interrupts, and he jumps away from the wall.

“Did you hear it?” He asks, but of course they didn't because Harry thinks he’s starting to know now what the difference between parseltongue and English is, even if he can't differentiate the words. The follow him as “it's time” comes and he charges after the voice.

The floor in the first year corridor is wet, but Harry barely notices when he sees the spiders and the red words on the wall.

“The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.” Hermione reads aloud. “It's written in blood.”

Basil is back to quivering, but she’s behind his ear this time so he can feel every tremor. He wants to reach for her, but his eyes snag on Mrs. Norris before he can. Hermione gasps, and Ron takes a step back.

Harry goes to step forward, but Hermione grabs his arm, pulling him back with her. Other students begin to filter into the hall, and he's grateful that she's so observant.

Draco is at the head of one group of students, staring blankly at the wall.

It's Goyle who speaks up first. “Enemies of the heir beware?” He looks to Hermione, “you'll be next, mudblood.”

Before Harry or Ron can even step towards him, Draco has turned and punched him in the face. Goyle stares in shock at Draco, but then his eyes snap fearfully to Hermione. Harry glances at her, and that look is back. The steely glare that makes even Harry afraid. Crabbe and Goyle eye each other, and step to the back of the crowd.

“What's going on here?” Filch’s voice calls out, and Harry's suddenly being pulled by his clothes and threatened.

“Argus!” Dumbledore calls, and Harry stumbles back towards Hermione and Ron, and now Draco who has come to stand by Hermione. Dumbledore marches up, but freezes at the sight of the words.

He dismisses all the students but the four of them, and tells them all that Mrs. Norris is petrified, not dead. Lockhart standing up for Harry is somehow the weirdest part of the night.

“We were just looking for Harry,” Hermione starts, “when he said he wasn't hungry.” Harry's grateful to her for lying, but the knowing look in Dumbledore’s eyes doesn't put him at ease.

His recommendation of caution helps even less.

---

“It was parseltongue, wasn't it?” Hermione asks once they're in the common room. Harry nods at her, while Basil extends to his shoulders.

“Something is happening here, something bad.” Harry says, and they all look at the walls nervously.

“The heir…” Draco starts, and they all turn to him. “Does it mean the heir of Slytherin?”

Harry and Ron look at him blankly, while Hermione looks back to the ground in thought. They don't say more about it, but both Draco and Hermione are tense going to bed.

The next day, transfiguration takes a turn. When Ron is able to transfigure Scabbers into a cup on the first try, the whole class lets out an impressed whoop. Ron's spell work has improved by miles in the last few weeks, and Harry's curious as to what happened, if it has to do with the mysterious books he keeps sneaking in.

But then Hermione is adopting her innocent tone and asking “Professor, I wondered if you might tell us more about the chamber of secrets?” And McGonagall's face is whitening just a bit.

Still, McGonagall goes on to explain Salazar Slytherin’s ideas that only purebloods should study at Hogwarts. How he built the chamber, and how it's never been found.

“But Professor, what exactly is in the chamber?” Hermione interrupts.

“It is said that it is something only the heir of Slytherin can control. It is said to be, a monster.” The others in class gasp, but Harry, Ron, Draco, and Hermione sit in steely silence over this information.

As they're leaving class, Draco is the one to point it out. “We all know what this means, right?” Although, Harry's not sure he does.

“It's got to be a snake,” Hermione whispers, “or at least something that speaks parseltongue.”

Harry gazes straight ahead blankly, unsure how to process this information.

“We need to know more.” Draco says. “We need to know if there are other parseltongues. Or at least know what the teachers know.”

“I might be able to help with that.” Hermione says, then abruptly turns them towards the library. “Draco and I read this book last week, and it had something I think might help.” Draco groans after a minute, apparently realising what it is.

The two of them comb through the shelves, while Harry and Ron sit in a corner on a desk. When they come back with Moste Potente Potions, Harry tries to ignore the nauseous swoop in his stomach.

“We’ll need Lockhart hair.” Hermione says, and Harry looks at her sharply.

“Why Lockhart? Can't it be anyone but Lockhart?” He begs, but Hermione shakes her head.

“He's the dumbest of them all. He's the only one they won't realise isn't right.” And he knows she's right, but he also knows he's the one who'll have to get the hair and he's not looking forward to it.

Surprisingly, it's easier than he thought. Lockhart sheds like crazy and all Harry has to do is scoop some up after his third detention.

Now they just have to wait a month.

---

The first quidditch game of the season, naturally, is against Gryffindor. Harry's watching from high above as Slytherin pounds into them. Katie Bell seems sweet, but she's hovering just behind him, clearly unused to this position and just waiting for him to move. He considers feinting, but wants to save it for a harder match. They're already up 60 points when he finally spots it. Darting across the field suddenly, his eyes go wide at the bludger headed straight towards him. He dives suddenly, and winces at the sound Katie Bell makes as she takes the full force of the bludger. It keeps following him, so his chase for the snitch becomes less about the snitch, and more about staying alive.

He's still following the snitch as it dances around the pitch, until it suddenly darts upwards. Harry pulls up after it, but the bludger moves forward, right into one of the twin’s bats. Harry's moving up, and it's too late to stop himself, so he hopes to God Fred or George has bad aim. Which, either it's really bad, or the twin just hit the bludger as far off the pitch as possible, maybe trying to actually help him. But Harry can't focus on that right now. He dives after the snitch, following it through the rafters. It pulls up suddenly, and Harry almost runs right into the bludger.

He dives down at the last second, but he can feel it coming back. He reaches out quickly, when the bludger suddenly careens into his wrist. He cries out in pain, but the snitch is still right there. He reaches out quick with his left arm, and just manages to snatch it before his broom tips him over. He falls three feet to the ground, but his adrenaline is spiking, and even the pain in his wrist seems to fade a bit.

Then, the bludger is back, sailing towards his head. He rolls quickly out of the way, but it keeps trying to hit him. It's not until Hermione yells “Finite Incantartum” that his wrist and arm really starts to burn again.

“Are you okay, Harry?” She asks, but he's saying no, and showing her his wrist.

“Not to worry Harry! I will fix that arm of yours straight away!” Lockhart is saying, reaching for his arm, but Harry pulls away quickly.

“No, not you.” And Lockhart tries to argue, but Draco and Hermione are already pushing him out of the way.

“Brackium Emendo.” Ron whispers, and Harry suddenly feels his bones pop back into place. Once the instant of blinding pain is over though, he notes the rest of the pain has disappeared. He offers Ron a quiet thanks, and they help Harry to stand.

“You should see Madam Pomfrey anyways Harry.” Hagrid says, and the other three all agree.

It takes about ten minutes in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey spending most of time alternating between berating and praising Ron. By the end of it they send Harry back to the dormitory.

---

“Kill. Kill. Time to kill.” The voice seems to call, and Harry wakes with a start. Grabbing his glasses, he sits up, and nearly jumps out of his skin when he notes Dobby sitting on the end of his bed.

“Dobby?” Harry asks groggily, and the elf puts a finger to his lips.

“Harry Potter should have listened to Dobby. Harry Potter should have gone back home when he missed the train!” Dobby whispers.

“It was you?” Harry asks, but a groan from Malloy interrupts his next words.

“Dobby!” Malformed exclaims. “Dobby what are you doing here?” He asks, and Dobby looks torn between hitting his head on the bedpost and crying.

“Dobby is sorry. Dobby did not mean to disobey.” The house elf begins, then starts banging his head against the post anyways.

“Dobby stop!” Draco calls, and the elf immediately ceases movements. “Dobby tell me what you are doing here.”

“D-Dobby came to warn Harry Potter. To try and send Harry Potter h-home.” Dobby stutters.

“But why?” Harry asks, and Dobby looks torn again.

Still, he answers with, “Y-you are important. Dobby remembers how it was before Harry Potter triumphed over he-who-must-not-be-named. We house elves were treated like vermin, sir!” Dobby seems to realise what he said, and immediately turns to Draco. “I'm sorry master, I did not mean to offend. Dobby will iron his hands later as a punishment.”

“No- Dobby do not do that.” Draco sounds pained, and Harry wonders absently if he ever really uses the house elves. The sound of rustling from Ron's bed startles Dobby, and he leans closer to Harry.

“Harry Potter must leave hogwarts before it is too late. Now that history is to repeat itself, it is not safe.” The rustling grows louder, and before Harry can ask another question, Dobby disappears.

Draco curses, but Ron is waking up now. They catch him up to speed quickly, and Ron is the first to ask, “Draco, why does Dobby know all this.”

“I… I don't know, but my father was acting odd all summer. I thought it was something at the ministry, but now I'm not so sure.” Draco's mouth is turned down in a deep frown, and he looks more upset than Harry has ever seen him.

Absently, Harry remembers Draco’s father was at the game, but did not stop to say hello to Draco. Again, he wonders what the relationship is, even if he understands the fear draco has for his father in an abstract way, he's not sure he really understands.

“What did Dobby mean, ‘history repeats itself’? Has this happened before?” Harry asks, but the two boys shake their heads.

“We should ask Hermione, in the morning.” Draco says, and they agree. Harry doesn't think he'll be able to sleep, but Basil curls around his wrist again, and he's out within ten minutes.

---

“Could your father have opened it when he was at school?” Ron asks Draco cautiously.

They're sitting in the first-floor girls lavatory. According to Hermione, Moaning Myrtle haunts it, and nobody ever goes in. It's the perfect spot for the small batch of polyjuice potion. Minus the occasional wailing he can hear, which he thinks might be from Myrtle.

“No. My father loves to brag about his school days. Unless he lied completely about one full year, he hasn't done it.” Draco says, and nobody seems to want to point out the lying part.

“Well, in any case,” Hermione pragmatically says, “we’ll know more once we finish this potion.”

They’re all carefully avoiding the fact that Colin Creevey, the muggle-born boy with camera from the welcome feast, was apparently brought to the infirmary last night, after being petrified.