Luna smiled softly. "Ginevra is remarkably free of scrabbling dilwillys. I am sure your friends will be fine. Padma has always been polite to me." Harry felt there was something unsaid in Luna's words but didn't have the strength to pursue it right now.
The pair of students made their way slowly towards the entrance to the Chamber but Fawkes had other ideas. The phoenix landed on Harry's shoulder with a trill. Fire suddenly seemed to consume the students but an instant later it cleared and they were in the Hospital Wing.
"Oh my, that was nice," Luna giggled happily. Harry's response was cut off by Madam Pomfrey.
"What is going on here? Miss Lovegood? I thought you were missing?"
Luna focused her grey eyes on the school Healer. "I've been with me the whole time. I wasn't always in control of me but I was always with me so how could I be missing?"
Madam Pomfrey looked confused by that answer but threw it off a moment later. "Are either of you hurt?"
"Harry was," Luna answered. "A big snake took a half a bite out of him but Fawkes dripped phoenix-juice all over him and he seems better."
Harry couldn't help commenting, "A half a bite?"
Luna turned her guileless eyes on him. "Well, Furry, it was only one fang so it wouldn't be right to call it a whole bite."
Harry snorted, "Fair enough."
Madam Pomfrey ignored their byplay to cast a diagnostic charm on Harry. The response confused her.
"I see the signs of the wound and the poison damage. While some poison remains it seems to have been neutralized by the tears. It must have been only a small amount of poison for the tears to have cleared it so fast. Odd. The wound to your shoulder seems to have healed nicely as well. A small scar will be all that is left. Next time, come in sooner and I can heal it so there is no scar left."
"Don't plan on trying it again," Harry retorted in a tired voice.
Pomfrey continued, ignoring Harry's response. "The tiredness is from the depletion of your magical core. Have you been casting spells above your year, Mr Potter? I warn you that doing so before your core has stabilized can have long-term negative consequences to your magical abilities. You only get one core, Mr Potter. Do not abuse it."
"Yes, madam," Harry answered. Harry hadn't really cast many spells down in the Chamber or felt tired after changing into the Beast. He guessed it was from the fight or fighting the effects of the poison but how was he to explain that without revealing his secret?
Madam Pomfrey made a doubtful noise before handing Harry a small potion vial. "This is Pepper-Up. It will hurry the restoration of your core and remove the tired feeling you have right now." Harry quickly downed the smelly potion and instantly felt his energy levels returning to normal.
"The potion only masks the symptoms, Mr Potter," the Healer warned. "You need a good night's rest to allow your core to recover naturally. Then you are to refrain from all spell casting outside of class for the next week. I shall send a note to your Head of House about your casting above year spells.
'Great,' Harry thought. 'Now McGonagall is going to be watching me or have the Prefects do it for her. Note to self: if you are going to act the idiot hero, don't get caught doing it.'
Madam Pomfrey cast a similar diagnostic charm on Luna and grimaced at the results. "Ms Lovegood, what have you been doing? Your core seems like it was almost… removed but is re-establishing itself rapidly. I don't know of any normal way for this to happen. I've never even seen a case even remotely like this since I was in the healer academy and that was a Dark sacrifice that the Aurors stopped." The Healer seemed to be in some shock.
"I think Professor Dumbldore needs to be aware of this. Mr Potter, please take Ms Lovegood to the Headmaster's office. I shall Floo ahead and let him know you are on your way. Neither of you should Floo in your current condition. I believe he already notified Ms Lovegood's father of her disappearance and should be there with him."
Anxious to get away, Harry readily agreed.
....
Harry wouldn't have agreed so readily if he'd realized what he was walking into in the Headmaster's office. First Luna and her father had leapt into each other's arms and cried about almost losing each other. Harry was fine with that until they both grabbed Harry and pulled him in too. All that touching and crying really made him uncomfortable.
It wasn't until they released him that he realized the Headmaster had several people in the office already. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were there. An older witch with a monocle was introduced as Madam Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. With her was a wizard with hair as wild as Hermione's. He was introduced as the Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour. A pair of his Aurors stood unobtrusively against the wall next to the Floo but never spoke.
Also in the office was a blond haired man with a snake handled cane he instantly knew to be Draco's father. While the little ponce never attempted to attack Harry or his friends again, he'd remained a constant low-level annoyance all year. His favourite topic being his father and how powerful he was. Professor Dumbledore introduced Mr Malfoy as being a representative of the school's Board of Governors.
'Looks like the little rat wasn't lying about that,' Harry thought.
The biggest surprise was the presence of Professor Lockhart sitting on a plain wooden stool with his hands clasped in front of him in a pair of odd looking handcuffs. The usually well groomed and dressed man looked rather dishevelled and miserable starring glumly at the floor.
"Professor?" Harry asked questioningly towards Dumbledore.
"Ah, yes Mr Potter! Thank you for resolving the case of Miss Lovegood's disappearance. Obviously, the addition to the wall writing was someone's example of a tasteless prank." The professor peered over his half-moon glasses and seemed to try to pass Harry a message.
"Um, I guess so, professor." The Headmaster didn't seem to want to hear the whole story in front of these people. Since the group included Draco's father, Harry was willing to play along.
"Well boy, who was it?" Lucius Malfoy demanded. "Who did this 'prank'?"
"He's gone now, sir," Harry replied in a very polite tone. "It was some old man that claimed he'd been a student here once. He said he was trying to make the school look bad."
"And who was this man?" Madam Bones asked.
.....
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