THE LIGHTNING LORD

Chapter 38 : Foreboding atmosphere

The Hogwarts student body was in utter chaos for the next few weeks. News of Colin Creevey's petrification spread through the school like wildfire, which also resulted in the student body deciding to give Harry wide berths whenever he walked in the corridors; there was a rumour that Dumbledore himself suspected that Harry was behind the attacks. And no one could question the Headmaster; after all, he was Albus Dumbledore (Harry wondered how convenient it was that the entire school had forgotten about Dumbledore's debacle a year ago). What Harry found more annoying than the scared looks he got from the rest of the school was one Hermione Granger.

The rest of the muggleborns of the school had decided to stay the hell away from him. Harry didn't care about that; he spent most of his time with Daphne anyway. But there was no deterring one Hermione Granger. She and Ron Weasley kept following him around everywhere and it was starting to get annoying. He evaded them every time of course, but it was the principle of the thing!

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"Nothing, there's absolutely no information about the opening of the Chamber of Secrets in the library" said Daphne, roughly throwing herself on the plush couch in the Room of Requirement. Harry had told her about Dobby's visit and about his suspicion that Voldemort might have opened the Chamber when he was in school.

"Damn" said Harry. He too had not been able to find any information. It was so bloody frustrating! "Oh well, keep trying. I have to go to Lockhart's office for another detention. Really, how much mail does the man get? It's ridiculous" he said in an exasperated voice.

Daphne laughed. "You underestimate the desperation of old housewives, Harry. You became the icon for the younger generation with those Harry Potter books and toys and other merchandise. Lockhart is the superhero for all those old women who don't have much fun in their lives anymore. Can you blame them?" she asked.

"I suppose not" said Harry. "I wish I could get rid of all those Boy Who Lived merchandise, but I can't. Dumbledore gave them permission when he was my magical guardian and I get a big share of the profits of the sales. There is no room for me to complain and so I can't take them down. Oh well, I can't win all battles. And in this Chamber of Secrets fiasco, there's no way to prove that I didn't attack them either. I don't want to risk my life by swearing a magical oath, and I don't want to risk Veritiserum questioning either."

Daphne got her and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, we'll find out who is behind these attacks. We are in this together" she said, holding his hand in hers.

Harry smiled into her hair. He kissed her forehead and left for the Defence classroom. When he entered the room, he found Cedric Diggory there as well.

"Mr Diggory what are you doing here?" asked Harry. From past experience, he knew he was the only one who had detention with Lockhart.

"Lockhart gave me a detention for refusing to play the werewolf in his play during class" said Cedric irritably.

Harry snorted. Leave it to the peacock to not teach the older students as well. "Well, he's going to make you write letters to his fans for several hours. Trust me, writing that and listening to his monologue describing his various achievements is dreadful. Come on, might as well get it over with" he said.

They crossed the classroom, knocked on Lockhart's office door and entered. There was no one there. Harry felt a presence behind him and he had just turned to look when Lockhart hit both boys with a stunner and they knew no more.