At The Touch of Love | Harry Potter Fanfiction: A Harry x Reader story

Chapter 5 : Hide And Seek Gone Wrong

In this chapter, things are about to get interesting. More mysterious things are going to happen and you'll find out more about these things in the last few chapters of year two.

Christmas approached and all the students were excited to go to Hogsmeade or back to their families. The Christmas feast started as Professor Dumbledore waved his hand and food appeared on the table.

After the feast, the quartet agreed on playing a game of Hide and Seek before they open their Christmas presents. Ron agreed to be the seeker and set the rules — no one could go to the forbidden forest, an ominous wooded area, situated on the edges of Hogwarts but out-of-bounds to its students. Hermione chose to hide in the Owlery. Harry chose to spy on Ron under his invisibility cloak and help Celesta win. But Celesta had already chosen a good place to hide — the girls' bathroom. She did not need anyone to help her.

After a minute, Ron started searching for Hermione, Harry and Celesta. He looked in the Owlery first and found Hermione. Hermione joined Ron in the seeking process and they searched the Gryffindor common room, the corridors, the moving staircase and even asked the paintings on the walls, but none of the paintings had seen Harry or Celesta.

Ron and Hermione were panicked. Suddenly, the two bumped into an object, but they couldn't see whatever was in front of them.

"Ha! Found you! You can't get away with your invisibility cloak, Harry." Hermione shouted as she uncovered Harry from the cloak.

"Have you found Celesta yet? She might be in trouble. What if she got into an accident?" Harry said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Harry. She's going to be fine." Ron said calmly.

"No, Harry's right. Usually, Celesta comes out of her hiding place thirty minutes after we start finding her, but it's been an hour and she's still not found." Hermione said seriously.

"Okay, let's check the place she hid last time. The bathroom," said Hermione thoughtfully.

Hermione stepped into the girls' bathroom. Ron and Harry stayed guard outside the bathroom so that when Hermione got hurt, they could ask for help easily. 

After a few steps, Hermione spotted an unconscious Draco Malfoy and Celesta in the room.

"Come in, Harry!" Hermione shouted worriedly.

Harry felt Hermione's shivering voice and immediately ran in. He stopped when he saw Celesta and Draco on the floor.

"Celesta? Malfoy? I can't believe they are in the same room together! Celesta used to hate Malfoy!" Harry gasped.

"Stay here and take care of them, I'll go get Ron." Hermione said hurriedly.

Hermione ran as quick as she could to the entrance of the room and the pushed the door open.

"Ron! We need help. Immediately." Hermione said, running out of breath. "Celesta and Malfoy are unconscious in the room."

"Malfoy? What is he doing in the girls' bathroom!?" Ron shockingly asked.

"No idea. Quick. Follow me." 

Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and ran towards the unconscious bodies.

 Ron gasped, "I'll call Madam Pomfrey for help. We need to bring them to the hospital wing."

"I'll carry Celesta and... Who'll carry Malfoy?" Harry said immediately, trying to avoid carrying Malfoy and trying to get as close to Celesta as possible(and to get her to like him more). We all know that won't happen, yet.

"Okay. Hermione will go down to Madam Pomfrey as she's not strong enough to carry Malfoy or Celesta. You'll carry Celesta and I'll carry Malfoy as I'm stronger." Ron said seriously, this was the only time Ron was being serious.

"For your information, I am strong enough to carry them, but I won't be arguing in an emergency." Hermione said as she ran down the moving staircases.

Harry picked up Celesta gently, while Ron heaved Malfoy onto his back.

"There's no time to be gentle!" Ron warned Harry.

Harry and Ron rushed down the stairs as fast as they could, and arrived at the hospital wing a few minutes later.

When Harry and Ron arrived carrying Malfoy and Celesta, Madam Pomfrey had already prepared all the materials needed to make them conscious again.

"Harry, Ron and Hermione, please go. I'll deal with them," Madam Pomfrey requested.

"But I need to stay with her! She's mine."

"She's not yours, Harry. You're not her dad or something, you're just her friend," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

Harry's heart burned when he heard the word 'friend', he wanted to be more than just her friend. Harry wanted Celesta to be completely his, not just his friend.

"I won't go. I will stay here until she wakes up again," insisted Harry.

"Harry, I'm afraid she's petrified," said Madam Pomfrey.

"Petrified? What does that mean?" Asked Harry anxiously.

"A long time ago, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin, built a chamber of secrets underground. The chamber was first opened fifty years ago, a basilisk lived inside the chamber. Legend says that if one looks directly at its eyes, they die, but if you look at any place of the basilisk except the eyes, you will only get petrified. That can't be cured, you have to wait for a few weeks for her to wake up," explained Hermione.

"How do you know this?" Harry asked surprisingly.

"I read it in a book," Hermione replied.

"Yes, that is true. Moaning Myrtle was one of the people who died because of the basilisk. I'm afraid the chamber has now been opened a second time. You must be careful. I'll tell Professor Dumbledore," said Madam Pomfrey. "Where did you find them?"

"The girls' bathroom," answered Hermione. "I think Celesta looked at the basilisk through the bathroom mirrors, that's why she only got petrified."

"I have to tell Dumbledore," Madam Pomfrey whispered worriedly.