Treacherous | Hermione Granger Book II

|45| Chapter Forty-Five

F O R T Y  F I V E 

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While Saffron enjoyed the rest of the holidays with her friends, the cloud of awkwardness that followed them when they discussed the Chamber of Secrets was evident and caused friction. It baffled Saffron that they were so gung-ho on not wanting to look into Hagrid as someone who could have opened the Chamber of Secrets. She respected that they didn't believe that it was him, but to completely debunk the theory felt to her like they were insulting her intelligence.

She tried to let it be water under the bridge and forget about it, but she was unable to do so. Something felt off about how confidently Luna told her that Hagrid had opened the Chamber in the past, perhaps the thing that was off was that it was actually the truth. 

Saffron was tempted to contact Luna but she opted not to. She didn't want to bombard the girl on her time off school with questions about the thing that had petrified the boy who seemed to be one of her only friends in school. She was going to wait until the term resumed to ask her about it in person. She had also organised a bag of sweets to give the girl as a present since she had been so kind in sending her a bracelet at Christmas.

Besides Saffron eagerly waiting to be able to talk to Luna, only one thing happened before the next term started, it occurred when she was coming back from visiting Olly and essentially Emilia too, in the hospital wing. She had put some new flowers in the vases, seeing as the person who usually did that Luna, was at home. 

She spotted Harry and Ron walking in from the grounds, holding a broomstick each. She hurried over to them and greeted them pleasantly. 

"How could you play in this weather?" Saffron asked, shivering against the cold breeze coming from behind the mountains. "I think I'd freeze to death,"

"It doesn't feel that cold once you're in the air," Harry told her, as they entered the warmth of the school after talking through the courtyard into the entrance hall. "The adrenaline sort of kicks in,"

"Have you been in the hospital wing?" questioned Ron, in spite of knowing the answer.

"Yes," answered Saffron tersely. "I've been switching out their flowers since their friends aren't here to do it,"

Harry opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but he stopped as an angry outburst from the floor above them met their ears.

"Filch," mumbled Ron, his eyes widening fearfully. "You don't think someone else's been attacked, do you?

Saffron stood frozen to the spot listening to every word Filch had to say. Luckily, it was just one of his personal traumas and not another victim of the Heir of Slytherin. He was complaining about mopping. They could hear him say to himself that he was going to Dumbledore and the sound of a door slamming told them he was heading in that direction as they stood there.

The three Gryffindors headed up the stairs to see what Filch was angry about. The hallway was flooded by several inches of water, which, Saffron saw had come from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The closer they got to it, the more evident it was that she had caused the flooding as she was letting out piercing screams every few seconds. But they were abrupt, making Saffron jump when she heard the first one.

"Now what's up with her?" groaned Ron, looking down at the water seeping into his shoes.

"Only one way to find out," said Saffron, walking through the water without having to lift her clothes up as the boys did. Harry and Ron were wearing trousers, whilst Saffron was wearing Maya's old skirt. She pushed the door open and saw the Myrtle was in quite a spot of despair.