Year 2 (pt. 3)
A few days later Hermione caught Michael in the hall and told him to meet her at the library after his next class. So after the last class he had for the day he headed towards the library. As he got there, he saw Hermione with Ron and Harry. Michael wasn’t too thrilled to see them in their space.
“Thank you for coming right away.” Hermione said to Michael as he sat down. “I have reasons to believe that Draco is behind the petrifications that have been going around the school and I have a plan to find out if this is true. Michael scooted his chair a little closer to the table because Hermione started talking in a hushed voice. “I want to make a polyjuice potion so we can change into people who would usually go to the Slytherin common room. We will be able to sneak in there and ask around.”
“The only thing I worry about is how we will find all the ingredients to get this potion and where we should do it.” Hermione said. “THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT?” Ron said, far too loudly. A loud shhhh could be heard throughout the library. In a hushed yell Ron continued, “Aren’t you worried the potion won't work? Or worse, we are caught?”
Hermione looked at Ron as if he said something stupid. “If I make it with Michael, I am sure it will work. It looks a little completed but nothing we won’t be able to figure out.” Michael grabbed the book Hermione was looking at which had the potion recipe on it. It did look a little advanced but she was right, nothing that couldn’t be managed.
‘I don’t want to take the potion. I would like to stay as my body, but I can help make it. In fact, I have a way I can get the ingredients that you need.” Michael said. The three of them looked at Michael with a questioning look. “Just write down all the ingredients and I can get them as soon as we find a spot to make the potion.”
As Michael said this, a ghost floated by their table. “OH! Why don’t we go to that haunted bathroom that you mentioned is shut down, Hermione,” Harry said. She thought about it for a moment before saying, “I guess Moaning Myrtle won’t be that bad as long as we are nice to her and don’t be too bothersome.”
“Plus she owes me for the party,” Michael said as he started to stand up.
So with the agreement that they would be making the potion in the second floor girls toilet, Michael set off to get the ingredients. He walked down to the dungeon where Snape keeps all the potion ingredients locked away in his classroom closet. He entered Snape's classroom and as Michael made eye contact with him and handed him the list Hermione gave him.
Lacewing flies, Leeches, Powdered bicorn horn, Knotgrass, and Shredded Boomslang skin
“I won’t even ask what you are planning on brewing,” Snape said in a shaky voice as he looked over the list and went off to get the ingredients. Michael knew Snape was scared of him because of what he did to Professor Quirrell last year. Nobody wouldn’t be scared of Michael after seeing what he did to the man. Snape put all the ingredients in a cauldron and Michael grabbed it and then headed towards the girls second floor toilet.
When Michael arrived at the girls toilet, he was greeted by a loud screech that almost made him drop the cauldron and cover his ears. “YOU! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO STUCK UP FOR ME!” As he set down the cauldron, a ghost went right through him. He was struck by the intense cold that you feel when you touch a ghost. He looked and saw Moaning Myrtle excited as she could be. “I wasn’t sure if I’d let you guys stay here but when they said you were going to come too I had to wait and see for myself.” Myrtle said.
“Well, I don’t like bullies who don’t bully for a good reason so I put Peeves in his place.” Michael responded. After a bit of small talk with Myrtle, he and Hermione set up the cauldron in the corner of the bathroom and started the potion.
After a couple days, Hermione told Harry and Ron the plan in greater detail and she and Michael got to finishing up the polyjuice potion. It was easier than they thought it would be and there was only one minor scare while brewing it. Hermione said as she was dueling Millicent Bulstrode, a Slytherin girl, she snagged a hair off of her robe and she would use that for the potion. She had Harry and Ron get hairs from Crabbe and Goyle and the day that they planned on enacting the plan, she pulled out a set of Slytherin robes that would fit them after they all transformed.
Michael wasn’t in the bathroom when they transformed, he planned to meet them in the dungeons on their way to the common room, so it didn’t seem suspicious that he was walking around Hogwarts with a couple of Slytherin students. After a while, two people who looked like Crabbe and Goyle showed up. “She won’t come out of the bathroom” Crabbe said and based on how it was said, Michael assumed it was Ron. “We tried really hard to get her to come out but Moaning Myrtle just kept laughing and telling us to go without her.” Goyle said, clearly it was Harry.
“Well, we worked too hard on that potion to put it to waste, follow through with the plan without her and I will see what's happening.” Michael said with impatience. He quickly turned and started back towards the girls toilet. The closer he got, the most he started to worry. What could have gone wrong for Hermione to be too scared to leave the bathroom? Is she hurt? Did she take the potion wrong? Was it even possible to take the potion wrong?
When he reached the bathroom, he heard a laughter echo against the walls. “Hermione?” Michael called out. He realized it's not the first time he has called out her name in a bathroom before. He could hear a faint cry from one of the stalls near the back of the bathroom. As he walked over to the stall, he lightly knocked on the door before saying, “Hermione, please open the door.”
She opened the door and Michael stood frozen by what he saw, only to start laughing along with Myrtle seconds later. She looked like a giant cat. Her face mostly resembled a cat while the rest of her body was human like, but covered in fur. She was a light brown color and her eyes were now a gold color. But despite how she looked, Michael could still see the hurt and sadness in her eyes based on his reaction. “It must have been her cat's hair on her robes, not hers.’ Hermione tried to defend as she started to tear up some more.
Michael laughed a little more but it was clear it wasn’t in ill intent. “Hermione, you look purrfect.” With that, Hermione looked at him as if he was crazy.
‘What? Cat got your tongue?” Hermione laughed at that one. She had a smile on her face and you could tell she was far more comfortable than she was before. Michael sat on the floor next to her and they just stayed there for a while in their comfortable silence.
“So, now that you are feline better now. Purrhaps we should get meowving to the hospital wing. I’m not sure we can fix this one on our own.’ Michael said, hoping to get another laugh out of her. She giggled at these jokes and nodded in agreement. “I can’t go out looking like this though.” she said in a quick voice.
Michael handed her his robe so she could cover her face and said, “Just don't cough up a hairball on my robe.” And they walked to the hospital wing to have Madam Pomfrey change her back to normal.
~
After that it was determined by Harry and Ron that Draco was not behind the petrifications. Michael was a bit upset by this, hoping to get him in trouble but he decided not to let that stop them from finding out what actually happened.
Michael went to the library to study with Hermione like he does every other day. As he went to their usual table, he saw Hermione frozen in place just like all the others had been found. Michael quickly dropped everything he had and grabbed Hermione, apologizing for not being able to save her as he ran as fast as he could to the hospital wing. He pushed people out of the way as he did so. When he got to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey told him there's nothing they can do to help her, which made Michael mad. Why couldn't they help Hermione, the only person in this school who wasn't scared of him? He tried thinking of people who would have been near her recently, RON AND HARRY. They were the only ones who made sense. They would have been near her recently and could have done that to her. With a blind rage, Michael determined he had to find out so he went to the place he thought he would find them.
Michael walked to the Gryffindor common room more angry than he had been in his entire life. The only thing running through his head was anger and hatred for Ron and Harry. He got to the main door and the painting asked him for the password.
“I don't have time for this. Open the door and I won't break your frame down.” Michael said with a growl.
“I can't do that. If you don't know the password, you don't get in, it's that simple. Now sir, good day to you,” The lady in the painting said to Michael before turning her head away from him. Michael was fueled by his anger and punched the sides of the painting, and ripped it out of the wall.
“Where is Harry Potter,” he said emotionlessly looking around to see people sitting around with their mouths wide open. Michael slammed his foot into the ground, “WHERE IS HE GOD DAMN IT” One of the kids piped up,
“H-he went into the woods with Ron, I think,” Michael nodded at the kid and left. He knew where he was going now, the forest. Michael left the castle, sword in hand ready to find Harry Potter.
Michael started running through the woods, punching trees that got in his way. Harry, he thought. If Harry had just been there with Hermione, she wouldn't have gotten into trouble, who was he kidding, it was his fault he wasn't there. This is almost like what happened with the troll the year before. He shook his head and started running faster before hearing screaming. Harry, he thought he quickly and turned to where the scream was coming from. He ran harder than he had ever run before to reach where the screams came from.
He ran so hard there were deep marks where his feet were hitting the ground. Michael could only think of all the ways he was going to hurt Harry and Ron for what they did. As the screams got louder and closer Michael slowed down and saw a giant spider about to eat Ron. Michael yelled as loud as he could and hit the spider as hard as he could, creating a crater around his sword and knocking a tree over. He thought about how angry he would have been if the spider had gotten to Ron first before he could do something to him. Michael turned to see Harry who was ghostly white,
“DID YOU DO IT YOU MOTHER FUCKER?” Michael yelled angrily, grabbing Harry by the collar of his robes.
“What are you talking about?” Harry squeezed out. This response made Michael even more angry. First he paralyzed Hermione, then he lies about it to his face.
“DID YOU PARALYZE HERMIONE?” Michael said, the anger pulsating in his chest.
“Why the hell would we paralyze hermione?” Harry said getting mad at Michael for even suggesting such a thing. Michael dropped Harry to the ground with exhaustion.
“If you didn't paralyze Hermione, then who did?” Michael said trailing off.
~
Michael went back to the hospital wing to be with Hermione. He wanted to make sure she was safe. While nothing happened to any of the other petrified people, he wasn’t going to take his chances with her being alone. The longer he sat there, the more he started to look around the room. He noticed all kinds of different things, from some portraits he never noticed to questionable looking medical tools hanging on the wall near Madam Pomfrey’s office. As he looked around, something new caught his eye.
“What?” he audibly said out loud. He looked closer at Hermione’s hand and noticed a piece of paper in her clenched hand. He pried the paper from her hand and unfolded it.
Basilisk.
The note seemed as if it was quickly scribbled out. After a second to think about it, he remembered something. His dad had told him about the basilisk. He used it as an antagonist in one of Michael’s bedtime stories as a kid. After Michael grew out of bedtime stories, his dad told him about how it was a real creature and then told him about all kinds of other dangerous magical creatures.
Michael had to tell Harry and Ron about this. So he went off and after a while of looking, found them in the courtyard. Michael made them go back to the hospital wing so he could be nearer to Hermione and then he explained the situation. After a bit, Harry told him something he didn’t know before.
“Apparently, a girl was killed a bunch of years ago in a bathroom and some said it was done by spiders but others reported it was done by a snake. If the basilisk is a snake, maybe the stories are linked. Maybe the entrance to where the snake is, is in a bathroom.” Michael thought on this for a moment but he also thought what bathroom it could have been. There are hundreds of bathrooms in this castle.
After a minute, it dawned on Michael. Moaning Myrtle. Why would she be haunting a bathroom if she wasn’t killed there? He told Ron and Harry his theory.
Michael talked with Harry and Ron about what their next plan was while sitting next to Hermione, who was still petrified, “I want to come with you to the chamber” Michael said to Harry and Ron and watched as they looked at each other but before they can answer Michael they heard a teacher screaming down the hall,
“DRAGON AT HOGWARTS! DRAGON AT HOGWARTS! EVERYBODY RUN THERE'S A DRAGON AT HOGWARTS!” Michael stood up and grabbed his sword.
“I guess you guys can go by yourselves,” Michael says walking away from them. “Oh last thing if Hermione dies, you die too.” Michael started running and when heard the screams from the dragon, he knew he's getting closer. He looked out the window and saw the dragon. It was a Hungarian Horntail. It was climbing the same building he's in so he smashed through the window and screamed as he jumped onto the dragon, slamming his sword into the dragon's neck. It did nothing. Michael was surprised by this, and jumped off the dragon, stabbing his sword into the building as he slid down the side of the wall. He was now staring down the dragon. It screamed at him for 30 seconds and Michael screamed back at it.
The dragon was about to shoot fire at Michael but it did, he used this moment to jump into the dragon's mouth, stabbing at its mouth, making it angrier at Michael. This caused it to shoot fire and melt the sword in its mouth. So Michael had to leap from the mouth and got behind a boulder to escape the fire that started to rain down from the dragon's mouth. He waited for the dragon to stop shooting fire at him before he ran towards it and jumped onto its spiky head. He started punching it in the head and then the dragon angrily flicked him off sending him flying into a nearby building.
Michael coughed and rolled over to see the dragon had climbed into the tower and was about to shoot more fire at him, so he had to think quickly. So, Michael jumped into the dragon's mouth. The dragon angrily tried to bite down but Michael put his full force into stopping it, so the dragon tried to shoot fire at him. While Michael tried to leap out of the way, the dragon bit down on his right arm. Michael screamed out in pain but didn't stop fighting the dragon. Thinking quickly, he used his free arm to punch the dragon in the eye as hard as he could. By blinding it in the eye, the dragon screamed out in pain and let go of his arm. As Michael started to fall, he grabbed onto one of the spikes on the back of the dragon. Michael came up with an idea.
He used his full strength to break off one of the spikes. As he did the dragon flew directly up into the air making Michael fall. He started to plummet to the ground but then the dragon flew back at him and bit down on his chest which made Michael angry, so he stabbed the spike into the dragon's other eye with its own spike. Michael used all of his strength sending it into the dragon's brain, killing it instantly. Michael grabbed onto the side of the dragon as they fell, crashing into the castle the entire way down. After he landed on the ground, he pulled one of the teeth out of the dragon's mouth and raised it into the sky with his left arm. He looked down and saw that the dragon bit off his other arm completely before passing out due to blood loss.
When Michael woke up, he was in the hospital wing. He could see Hermione sitting at his bedside with tears staining her face. “What is going on?” Michael said in a hoarse voice. Hermione started to cry some more, he could tell someone bad happened. “Wait? You are awake. How? Did they find a cure?” Hermione chuckled a little as she grabbed his left hand. “Yea, because of you finding the paper in my hand, they knew how to cure the petrification.”
Michael was relieved when he heard this. Part of him was worried despite knowing what caused the petrification they still wouldn’t have a cure. “Then what's wrong?” Michael said. Hermione's eyes drifted to his other side. Michael followed where her eyes lingered. His arm. It's… gone. Dread filled Michael as he stared at where his arm used to be. As he was looking at his arm he remembered his sword. “My sword was melted by the dragon.” he told Hermione. She had a look of hurt in her eyes. She knew how important that sword was to him.
“Mr. Butcher, finally you are awake. We need to immediately transfer you to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Your injuries are far too advanced for me to help.” Madam Pomfrey said to Michael. Just then two people in white robes lifted him onto a stretcher to move to the other hospital.
Just before they left, Hermione went up to Michael one last time and said with sincerity, “I will write to you and try hard to come to visit over the summer. You’ll have to catch me up on what I missed while I was gone.”
“I will write back, you know I will.” Michael said as the medics brought him out of the room.