Chapter 25: The question is not who, the question is how?
Harry was awakened by voices in his head and the pain in his arms.
It felt as if someone had inserted thousands of sharp blades into the muscles of his arms. When the bone fragments grew, they would inevitably cut his flesh and blood.
Now, the pain that Lockhart had taken away was back in 2x!
But more than the pain, he cared more about the voice that kept echoing in his head - so long ago, he almost forgot about it - and... there was a monster that wiped his forehead with a sponge ball.
"Ah! Go away!" He waved in panic, but soon recognized who the monster was - Dobby.
The house elf that had warned him in the Ministry of Magic.
"Oh! Sir Potter woke up! Dobby reminded Sir Potter several times. Ah, sir, why didn't you listen to Dobby's warning? When Sir Potter didn't catch the train, why didn't he go home?" Dobby said sadly.
Now, Harry finally knew who wanted to harm him——
"Did you do it? It was you who sealed the partition wall and prevented us from passing by! You almost caused me and Ron to be expelled!" He said angrily, "You'd better get away before my bones are fully grown, or I will strangle you to death."
"Ah! Dobby is used to death threats, Sir Potter. Dobby hears them five times a day at home." Dobby said nonchalantly, but he looked a little pitiful.
Harry's annoyance suddenly subsided a lot.
"Why are you wearing that thing, Dobby?" He looked at the "clothes" Dobby was wearing, or a pillowcase that had not been washed for decades and was dirtier than a rag.
"Are you talking about this, sir?" Dobby said, tugging at the pillowcase.
"This symbolizes the house elf's slave status, sir. Dobby can only be freed when his master gives him clothes to wear. The Malfoy family.... They were careful not to give Dobby even a pair of socks, sir, because then Dobby would be free and leave their house forever."
Upon hearing this, Harry immediately felt sympathy, but his sympathy immediately dissipated the next moment after hearing Dobby's next words.
"Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would surely make—"
"Your Bludger? What do you mean, your Bludger? Did you let that Bludger kill me?"
"I didn't kill you, sir, I definitely didn't kill you!" Dobby said in horror.
"Dobby wanted to save Harry Potter's life! It's better to be sent home after being seriously injured than to stay here, sir." He said hurriedly.
"Dobby just wants Sir Harry Potter to be slightly injured and to be sent home!"
"Oh, that's it?" Harry asked angrily and sarcastically. "I guess you're not going to tell me why you want me to be sent home in pieces, are you?"
"Oh, that Harry Potter himself doesn't know! What he means to us humble, enslaved little people in the wizarding world! Dobby has not forgotten the times when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at his most powerful, sir. ! People treated us house-elves like vermin, sir! And of course, they still treat Dobby that way, sir," he admitted, wiping his face on the pillowcase again.
"But overall, since you defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, life has improved a lot for those of us. Harry Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's spell was broken. This is A new beginning, sir. For those of us, who thought the dark days would never end, Harry Potter shines like a beacon of hope, sir... And now, at Hogwarts... Something terrible is about to happen, or it may have already happened. Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here, because history is about to repeat itself, and the Chamber of Secrets will be opened again—"
"So, there really is a Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked quietly. "And - you say it has been opened before? Tell me about it, Dobby!"
"Ah, sir, stop asking, stop questioning poor Dobby." The elf stammered, his eyes as big as bells in the darkness. "There is someone plotting here. When things happen, Harry Potter must not stay here. Go home, Harry Potter. Go home. Harry Potter must not get involved in this, sir, it's too dangerous-"
"Who is that, Dobby? Who opened the Chamber of Secrets? And who had opened it last time?" Harry asked.
"Dobby can't say, sir, Dobby can't answer, Dobby must not say the name!" screamed the elf. "Go home, Harry Potter, go home!"
"I'm not going anywhere!" Harry said irritably. "One of my best friends is Muggle-born. If the Chamber of Secrets is really opened, she will bear the brunt—"
"Ah! Harry Potter is willing to risk his life for his friends!" Dobby groaned sadly and happily at the same time.
"How noble! How brave! But Sir Potter must protect himself first, he must, Harry Potter must not stay— !"
Dobby suddenly froze, his bat-like ears trembling. Harry heard it too. There were footsteps in the corridor outside.
"Dobby must go!" the elf gasped, frightened. There was a loud crack, and Harry's fist suddenly loosened, leaving only air inside. He fell back on the bed, looking at the dark door of the ward, and the footsteps were getting closer and closer.
Immediately afterward, Dumbledore stepped into the ward. He wore a long woolen dressing gown and a nightcap. He held one end of something sculptural in his hands and a second later, Professor McGonagall appeared, holding the humanoid sculptur's feet up.
Together they put it on the bed.
"*sigh* Call Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore whispered, and Professor McGonagall hurried past Harry's bedside and walked out.
Harry lay still, pretending to be asleep. He heard someone talking urgently, and then Professor McGonagall came in quickly, followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was wearing a jacket over her pajamas.
"Oh, Merlin!"
Harry heard a gasp.
"What's going on?" Madam Pomfrey asked Dumbledore in a low voice, leaning down to examine the statue.
"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "McGonagall and I found him on the stairs."
"He also has a bunch of grapes with him," said Professor McGonagall. "We guess he wanted to sneak here to see Potter."
'Who is it!? It's not Ron or Hermione, right...?' Harry's stomach twitched violently.
Slowly and carefully, he lifted himself a few inches so that he could see the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight shone on the stunned face.
It's Colin Creevey.
His eyes were wide open and his hands were stretched out in front of his chest, holding up his camera.
"Petrified?" Madam Pomfrey asked quietly.
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall, "I shudder just thinking about it...if Dumbledore hadn't happened to come downstairs with hot chocolate, who knows what would have happened..."
The three people looked at Colin intently. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and took the camera from Colin's stiff fingers.
"Could he have taken a photo of the attacker?" Professor McGonagall asked eagerly.
Dumbledore didn't answer. He pried open the back of the camera.
"Oh, Merlin!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed.
A stream of heat hissed out of the camera.
Even Harry, who was three beds away, smelled the pungent smell of burning plastic.
"Melted..." Madam Pomfrey said in surprise, "It actually melted..."
"What does this mean, Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall asked eagerly.
"This means...." said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again."
Madam Pomfrey covered her mouth with her hands. Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore blankly.
"But Albus... you must know... who?"
"The question is not who," Dumbledore said, focusing on Colin. "The question is, how..."
Harry could see the look on Professor McGonagall's face in the shadows and knew that she, like him, had not understood Dumbledore's words.
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