Love at First Sight (Harry Potter)

The Dueling Club

|ALEXANDRIA WEASLEY'S P.O.V.|

"Just don't touch it, Ronald!"

On this Sunday morning, I was sat cross-legged on the floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with a large cauldron in front of me. It was the first morning of that year to feel so much like winter, and yet I was stuck inside rather than out enjoying the weather.

"I don't understand why I have to be here if you won't let me help," moaned Ron in boredom, moving his hand away from the book that Hermione was reading. "What is this for —"

"Will you two please stop bickering?" I said, stirring the potion a little too quickly as Ron began to reach for the fire underneath. "Are you daft —"

All of a sudden, the sound of a door opening echoed throughout the large and empty lavatory. I stopped stirring, my eyes staring wide at Ron in expectation. He got the message, standing up and heading for the door to see who had entered.

"It's me," I heard Harry say, and then the door shut behind him.

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, placing a hand over her heart as I began to stir again. "You have us such a fright — come in — how's your arm?"

"Fine," said Harry. He looked around at the three of us, before taking a seat beside me and peering into the cauldron. "How's it coming?"

"As well as Hermione and I can make it," I said, before warning him not to touch the fire.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained, nearly stepping on Hermione's hand.

"Colin Creevey was —"

"We heard," said Hermione sadly. She looked down at her book, an odd expression on her face. She almost looked afraid. "We heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning that he had been Petrified. That's why we decided we'd better get going —"

"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better," snarled Ron. I looked down at the cauldron in front of me quickly, expecting for them to be able to see through me if I gave them too much of my attention. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."

"There's something else," said Harry as Hermione began tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night. He was the one who bewitched the Bludger. He was trying to hurt me enough to send me home."

I looked up at him in amazement, and his eyes met mine almost instantly.

"But that's not all," he continued, glancing away from me and to Ron momentarily. "Dobby admitted that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before."

"That settles it," said Ron in a triumphant voice, as though he had just solved the most complicated mystery. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear old Draco how to do it. It's obvious. Wish Dobby'd told you what kind of monster's in there, though. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school."

I was barely listening, lost in my own head. I looked back up at Harry and asked in a low voice, "Did Dobby say what year the Chamber was first opened?"