But when Ron and Harry tumbled out of bed the next day, exhausted at the thought of returning to their classes and nervous over how Hermione would react, they were met instead with McGonagall's stern face greeting them at the bottom of the staircase.
"Boys," she said, voice curt. "Follow me to my office please."
"But we didn't do anything for once?" grumbled Ron, still half asleep.
"You're not in trouble," she insisted. But Harry's mind was filled with panic. Was he going to be arrested? Then why would they bring Ron too? Was Hermione going to get them both arrested because Ron hadn't tried to stop him? His panic increased when Luna met them at the door, also looking concerned and confused.
Once in her office, the woman collapsed in her chair. Harry noticed she looked exhausted, a frown etched deep into her wrinkles and purple bags under her eyes. "Ms. Granger was found petrified this morning."
"No," Harry said. "Absolutely not!" He felt no comfort in knowing he had not been discovered. He would have rather been arrested than be told something like this.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. She was found near a girl's lavatory by the Great Hall and -"
"No!" Harry shouted, bolting out of his chair. Before McGonagall could say more, Harry threw himself out of the office, Ron trailing a second behind him.
At the Hospital Wing, they stood beside her frozen body in silence.
"Do you -" Ron lowered his tone to a faint whisper. "Do you need her permission to take her blood? Could you try using the amulet now, would that work?"
"I don't need her permission," Harry frowned. "But I'm not sure how the professors would react if she suddenly woke up. They'd ask a lot of questions I can't answer."
"You should write to your mum. Maybe she has some other Dark magic thingy she can do to help Hermione?"
"I don't think Hermione would like that," Harry chuckled darkly, wiping away some tears.
"I don't give a damn," Ron said, voice shaking in suppressed anger. "I want her back! Colin Creevy's still lying there, he's been petrified for months! Aren't the professors going to do something?"
"It doesn't look like it. I don't see how a harsher curfew is going to stop the Heir. I had an idea before break. We need to find where Salazar Slytherin was buried."
"How would that help us?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm going to go do some research." And Ron was left standing alone with Hermione before he could comprehend how Harry had left. Luna found him there, trying not to cry.
"I was talking to McGonagall," she explained in a whisper. "They still have no leads. Nothing."
"Fuck. Great job, Hermione, honestly." He glared at his frozen friend. He gave a big sigh and rested his head against her bedsheets. "Why'd you have to push him so hard? Why'd you run off?" His hand twined through her thick curls. He felt Luna press a hand against his shoulder, and he shuddered, trying to remain calm. "Is it stupid of me to ignore it all? It's not like Harry doesn't scare me too, sometimes. But I'd rather play chess or Quidditch and not think about it. As his friend, I guess I should care more, but -" He sighed and lifted his head up, wiping away the tears that had gathered. Luna pressed into his side and they both stood there, hugging as they looked at their petrified friend.
"I feel the same. It's odd, but it's Harry. It doesn't bother me. I trust him to talk about it when he wants to. I trust him to know what he's doing. I think Hermione feels the same - but Hermione needs to know things, it's who she is. She's too curious for her own good. She had to push him."
"I'd tell you to loosen up as usual, but that seems in poor taste really. Same with 'I told you so.' But I'll tell you later, once you're ok." He said to Hermione. "Harry's not taking this well."
"We'll just have to be there for him," Luna agreed.
...
January passed in a tense, slow crawl. Each day, each hour felt like double the time it should. Harry sequestered himself in the library, barely coming out for classes and breaks. Hogwarts, A History - The Four Founders - Slytherin's Legacy - all gave a vague 'buried on the castle grounds' but not where. The graveyard of some of the most influential wixen of British society had to be a significant location. Why would it be hidden? Harry wanted to explore the grounds in search, but between the winter chill and the strict curfew, he didn't have many options besides digging through books. There were a few altercations where McGonagall had to drag him away from a book because he'd missed curfew again, too focused to notice the passage of time. The stern professor was keeping an annoyingly close eye on him, so he could hardly afford to have an absence noticed as he searched the grounds.
He tried to keep Ron and Luna out of the loop, disheartened as he was by Hermione's reaction. The cat was out of the bag, but he still had no desire to test his friend's loyalty by admitting to necromancy in addition to hemocraft.
Still, they joined him in the library and didn't ask him any questions and Harry was eternally grateful.
"Attention students!" Dumbledore announced one night at dinner. "I have good news in what I know has been a trying year. Tomorrow we will be hosting an expert to assist Madame Pomfrey in brewing the very complicated potion needed to rouse our petrified peers and friends. She estimates the Restorative Drought should be ready by the end of next month."
....
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