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Madam Pomfrey wasn't at all pleased.
'You should have come straight to me!' she raged, holding up the sad, limp remainder of what, half an hour before, had been a working arm. 'I can mend bones in a second – but growing them back –'

'You will be able to, won't you?' said Harry desperately.

'I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful,' said Madam Pomfrey grimly, throwing Harry a pair of pyjamas. 'You'll have to stay the night ...'

Hermione and Amelia waited outside the curtain drawn around Harry's bed while Ron helped him into his pyjamas. It took a while to stuff the rubbery, boneless arm into a sleeve.

'How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?' Ron called through the curtain as he pulled Harry's limp fingers through the cuff. 'If Harry had wanted de-boning he would have asked.'

'Anyone can make a mistake,' said Hermione, 'And it doesn't hurt any more, does it, Harry?'

'It doesn't matter if it doesn't hurt!' Amelia was furious. 'Harry said no, and Lockhart did it anyway! Hermione, you know just as well as I do that is nonconsensual charming. A crime! Especially between someone of legal age and a minor! Lockhart should be in jail for what he did! What if he didn't just get rid of the bones in Harry's arm? Harry could have died!'

Hermione didn't speak.

'No,' said Harry, 'but it doesn't do anything else, either.'
As he swung himself onto the bed, his arm flapped pointlessly. Hermione and Madam Pomfrey came around the curtain.

Madam Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of something labelled 'Skele-Gro'.

'You're in for a rough night,' she said, pouring out a steaming beakerful and handing it to him. 'Regrowing bones is a nasty business.'

So was taking the Skele-Gro. It burned Harry's mouth and throat as it went down, making him cough and splutter. Still tut- tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey retreated, leaving Ron, Hermione, and Amelia to help Harry gulp down some water.

'We won, though,' said Ron, a grin breaking across his face. 'That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face ... he looked ready to kill!'

'I want to know how he fixed that Bludger,' said Hermione darkly.

'We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion,' said Harry, sinking back onto his pillows. 'I hope it tastes better than this stuff ...'

'If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking,' said Ron.

Amelia let out a laugh.

Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1Where stories live. Discover now