The Chamber of Secrets - Hermione x Male Reader(with Skyrim cross-over ish)

Dumbledore's Office

3rd Person POV

They stepped off the stone staircase at the top, and Professor McGonagall rapped on the door. It opened silently and they entered. Professor McGonagall told Harry to wait and left him there, alone. Harry looked around. One thing was certain, of all the teachers' offices Harry had visited so far this year, Dumbledore's was by far the most interesting. If he hadn't been scared out of his wits that he was about to be thrown out of school, he would have been very pleased to have a chance to look around it. Harry knew that (Y/n) had a chance to visit Dumbledore's office and quizzed him about it but he didn't seem to be chatty about it. 

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat... The Sorting Hat.

Harry hesitated. He cast a wary eye around the sleeping witches and wizards on the walls. Surely it couldn't hurt if he took the hat down and tried it on again? Just to see... Just to make sure it had put him in the right House. He walked quietly around the desk, lifted the hat from its shelf, and lowered it slowly onto his head. It was much too large and slipped down over his eyes, just as it had done the last time he'd put it on. Harry stared at the black inside of the hat, waiting. Then a small voice said in his ear, "Bee in your bonnet, Harry Potter?" "Er, yes," Harry muttered. "Er, sorry to bother you. I wanted to ask —" "You've been wondering whether I put you in the right House," said the hat smartly. "Yes... you were particularly difficult to place. But I stand by what I said before —" Harry's heart leapt — "you would have done well in Slytherin —" Harry's stomach plummeted. He grabbed the point of the hat and pulled it off. It hung limply in his hand, grubby and faded. Harry pushed it back onto its shelf, feeling sick.

"You're wrong," he said aloud to the still and silent hat. It didn't move. Harry backed away, watching it. Then a strange, gagging noise behind him made him wheel around. He wasn't alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the door was a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey. Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back, making its gagging noise again. Harry thought it looked very ill. Its eyes were dull and, even as Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail.

Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore's pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it when the bird burst into flames. Harry yelled in shock and backed away from the desk. He looked feverishly around in case there was a glass of water somewhere but couldn't see one; the bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek and the next second there was nothing but a smouldering pile of ash on the floor.

The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very sombre. "Professor," Harry gasped. "Your bird... I couldn't do anything! He just caught fire!" To Harry's astonishment, Dumbledore smiled. "About time, too," he said. "He's been looking dreadful for days; I've been telling him to get a move on." He chuckled at the stunned look on Harry's face. "Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. Watch him..." Harry looked down in time to see a tiny, wrinkled, newborn bird poke its head out of the ashes. It was quite as ugly as the old one. "It's a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day," said Dumbledore, seating himself behind his desk. "He's really very handsome most of the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing properties, and they make highly faithful pets."

In the shock of Fawkes catching fire, Harry had forgotten what he was there for, but it all came back to him as Dumbledore settled himself in the high chair behind the desk and fixed Harry with his penetrating, light-blue stare. Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of the office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy black head and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand. "It wasn' Harry, Professor Dumbledore!" said Hagrid urgently. "I was talkin' ter him seconds before that kid was found, he never had time, sir —" Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere. "It can't've bin him, I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I have to." "Hagrid, I —" "— yeh've got the wrong boy, sir, I know Harry never —" "Hagrid!" said Dumbledore yelled loudly. "I do not think that Harry attacked those people." "Oh," said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. "Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster." And he stomped out looking embarrassed. "You don't think it was me, Professor?" Harry repeated hopefully as Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk. "No, Harry, I don't," said Dumbledore, though his face was sombre again. "But I still want to talk to you." 

Harry waited nervously while Dumbledore considered him, the tips of his long fingers together. "I must ask you, Harry, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me," he said gently. "Anything at all."Harry didn't know what to say. He thought of Malfoy shouting, "You'll be next, Mudbloods!" and of the Polyjuice Potion simmering away in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Then he thought of the disembodied voice he had heard twice and remembered what Ron had said: "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world." He thought, too, about what everyone was saying about him, and his growing dread that he was somehow connected with Salazar Slytherin... "No," said Harry. "There isn't anything, Professor..."

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had hitherto been nervousness into a real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly Headless Nick's fate that seemed to worry people most. What could possibly do that to a ghost? People asked each other, what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead? 

There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas. "At this rate, we'll be the only ones left," Ron told (Y/n),  Harry and Hermione. "Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's going to be." (Y/n) stiffened up in response, he also noted that Hermione's eyes drifted elsewhere. "Actually, I won't be able to stay for Christmas (Y/n) muttered as he scratched his head nervously. (Y/n) could have sworn he saw Harry and Ron's jaws drop to the ground. "What?..." Ron replied. "My parents want me back home to attend some Christmas functions, not entirely my choice either and I have a feeling it's not entirely theirs as well. (Y/n) explained. "I also won't be able to stay... I promised my grandpa on his birthday that I'd be back for Christmas." Hermione whispered. "What are we going to do about the potion?" Ron exclaimed with eyes as wide as saucers. Hermione turned around and picked a scroll and handed it to Harry. "I've taken the liberty to write down the final instructions." she explained as Harry rolled out the scroll and read it. 

1. Add 1 additional scoop of lacewings to the cauldron.

2. Stir 3 times, counter-clockwise.

3. Split potion into multiple doses, if desired, then add the pieces of the person you wish to become.

4. Wave your wand to complete the potion

"IF you don't screw it up, it should be ready by Christmas" Hermione added. 

In truth, Harry was glad that most people were leaving. He was tired of people skirting around him in the corridors, as though he was about to sprout fangs or spit poison, tired of all the muttering, pointing, and hissing as he passed. Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through..." Percy was deeply disapproving of this behaviour. "It is not a laughing matter," he said coldly. "Oh, get out of the way, Percy," said Fred. "Harry's in a hurry." "Yeah, he's off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," said George, chortling. Ginny didn't find it amusing either. "Oh, don't," she wailed every time Fred asked Harry loudly who he was planning to attack next, or when George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic when they met.

Harry didn't mind, it made him feel better that Fred and George, at least, thought the idea of his being Slytherin's heir was quite ludicrous. But their antics seemed to be aggravating Draco Malfoy, who looked increasingly sour each time he saw them at it. "It's because he's bursting to say it's really him," said Ron knowingly. "You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you're getting all the credit for his dirty work." "Not for long," said (Y/n) in a smug and satisfied tone. "The Polyjuice Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him any day now."

At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Harry and Ron said there goodbyes to Hermione and (Y/n) who boarded the Hogwarts Express, Hermione nagged Ron and Harry to write on how the Polyjuice potion would turn out. Harry found it peaceful, rather than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that he and the Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practice dueling in private. Fred, George, and Ginny had chosen to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behavior, didn't spend much time in the Gryffindor common room. He had already told them pompously that he was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as a prefect to support the teachers during this troubled time.