Eternal Despair (Harry Potter/OC)

𝟙𝟘: Boneless Arm

Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a loud voice made all four of them jump.

"RON!"

Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, his prefect badge gleaming, an expression of complete shock on his face. "That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you doing in there?"

"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know."

Percy swelled in a manner that reminded Enzo and Harry forcefully of Mrs. Weasley. "Get away from there," he said, striding toward them and starting to hustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner—"

"Why shouldn't we be here?" Ron said hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"

"That's what I told Ginny," Percy said fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled. I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out. You might think of her; all the first years are thoroughly overexcited by this business."

"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy."

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or I'll write to Mum!"

He strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.

Enzo, Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose seats as far as possible from Percy in the common room that night. Ron was still in a foul mood, blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his wand to remove the smudges, he ignited the parchment.

Fuming almost as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione followed suit.

"Who can it be, though?" she said quietly, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having.

"And good day to you," Enzo sighed, closing his book as well.

"Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?" He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy—"

"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him: 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' Come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him."

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione skeptically.

"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books too. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."

"They have just as much chance as I do," Enzo said impatiently, "I've known the Malfoy's since I was young. He's too unimportant. If it were true—which it isn't, the bloke would never shut up about it."

"But think about it—they could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" Ron said. "Handing it down, father to son."

"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible...."

"But how do we prove it?" Harry asked darkly.

"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice further with a quick glance across the room at Percy.

"Seriously," Enzo groaned.

"Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect—"