Harry Potter and the Ties that Bind

Chapter 28

Cleaning the Chamber of Secrets wasn't a one day process. It took nearly an entire week to properly scourgify the place. First they had to scourgify the floor. Since there was nearly one-thousand years worth of filth covering the floor, it took over two days of constant cleaning. During that time, Harry removed all of the Salazar statues that lined the room and replaced them with alchemically grown trees of his own creation. They were designed to help lessen the harmful chemicals that would be permeating the atmosphere once his experiments began.

On the third day, the floor was finished and everyone got started on the walls. This was even harder than the floor because the walls went really high up. What's more, there was rot and fungus stuck between the cracks due to water leaks. In the end, Harry and Tracey had to go up on their brooms to properly scourgify the walls and ceiling–which took another two days. By day seven the Chamber of Secrets was properly scourgified. However, it still lacked any personal touches. Sadly, those would need to wait.

It was December 15th, the day they would leave Hogwarts and spend the Christmas holidays with their families. Harry had originally not planned on leaving Hogwarts. Things change, however. Now that he was no longer lost within his own darkness, and especially since Sirius had been acquitted, he could admit that he wanted to spend time with his godfather.

The train ride home was a noisy affair. His friends were all talking excitedly, discussing what they would do during their holiday.

"Are you traveling anywhere, Hannah?" Susan asked.

"Not this year," Hannah replied as she practiced transfiguring the floating teacup in front of her. It changed from a teacup to a mouse, and then to a jewelery box before going back to the teacup. "My dad said he wanted to stay in Britain this year."

"You don't sound too disappointed about that," Tracey said.

Hannah shrugged as her tongue poked out of her mouth. She waved her wand, and the teacup became a small watch. "I'm not really upset. Honestly, I don't think I want to go anywhere right now. Too much has happened this year for me to feel good about leaving."

"I guess so."

"I doubt my parents and I will do anything special," Lisa said to Blaize, Neville, and Terry. "We never go out during the holidays. My sister will complain, but our family isn't rich."

Neville smiled awkwardly. "My family is pretty well off, but Gran doesn't like doing anything. We'll probably have a large family gathering, but we won't go out and do anything spectacular."

"What about you, Blaize?" asked Terry.

Blaize looked at the ceiling, as though doing so might provide him an answer. "Knowing my mum as I do, we're probably going to have a huge party of some kind. I think she's planning on inviting all of you, though don't quote me on that. I'm not sure what her plan is, to be honest."

"Typical."

Harry sat between the window and Daphne. He wasn't looking at her, though he could see her reflection in the window. He could also feel her playing with his hand.

A part of him wondered if he should make her stop; the other part wanted to bask in human contact. It kind of bothered him. He felt like he shouldn't have been this comfortable with physical contact.

Perhaps it was thanks to Lisa Crawft. For as long as he'd known her, Lisa was the kind of person who hugged first and spoke later. When they were at her house, she would sit as close as possible. When she was tired, she would lay her head on his lap and ask him to stroke her hair. When they walked, she held his hand. If she'd not been so hung up on this kind of touching, Harry was sure this sort of contact would bother him like it did other boys his age.