The Matron and the Mystery

The Matron and the Mystery

Hermione remained in the hospital wing for several weeks. There was a flurry of rumour about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyone thought that she had been attacked. So many students filed past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam Pomfrey took out her curtains again and placed them around Hermione's bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a furry face.-- Chamber of Secrets chapter thirteen

It was January, and the start of the second week of the second term. It was still too cold out to spend much time outside, and so Lavender and Parvati were walking along a third-floor corridor, heading for a disused classroom and an indoor meeting.

During their first year, they had discovered how useful it was for hearing news and gossip that the Patil twins were in two different houses. Lavender had noticed that two of the Hufflepuffs, Susan Bones and Megan Jones, who were in the same Herbology class as the Gryffindors, were also frequently discussing pupils that she knew very little about. Padma, who shared Herbology classes with the Slytherins, had found Tracey Davis to be another kindred spirit. The six of them had formed a loose gossip group or, as they preferred to call it, a news exchange group. Lavender was surprised nobody'd thought of it before, but it seemed nobody had ever managed to get a cross-house gossip group to stay together.

In the first term of their second year, they deliberately looked for more interested girls among the new first-years. (Lavender felt that boys didn't take news exchange seriously enough.) Gryffindors Shona Reith and Fen Maris, Hufflepuff Elena Schwarzwald, Ravenclaw Sara Winter and Slytherin Raine Dunsmuir joined them.

When Lavender and Parvati reached the room where they were meeting, they found that they were the last to arrive. The others were in the middle of an animated discussion about Justin Finch-Fletchley. Most of them seemed to be certain that he was gay, with only Susan disagreeing. Elena didn't seem to care either way, and was more concerned that it wasn't fair to talk about him while he was lying Petrified in the hospital wing. Susan agreed with that, and said, 'Anyway, he isn't. I'm sure he likes girls.'

Seeing that the topic of Justin's sexuality seemed to have ground to a halt, Lavender took the opportunity to tell her news.

'We found out something about Hermione Granger -- she wasn't attacked by the monster. She's not Petrified like Justin and Colin, because Harry and Ron are taking homework up to her, and bringing it to class, and she's still getting top marks for it! So they can't be doing it for her.'

'So is she just ill, then?' asked Elena.

'Well, it can't be that simple. Madam Pomfrey put these curtains all round her bed, and you can't see her at all,' said Lavender. 'What sort of illness isn't contagious -- because those two can still visit her -- but needs to be hidden away behind curtains?'

Megan nodded. 'We went to visit Justin, and she was hidden behind those. But we heard her talking to the two boys.'

'Yes, she's definitely not Petrified,' said Lavender. 'But she's got to be hiding something from everyone except Harry and Ron. It could be some illness that makes her look dreadful, but why doesn't she mind if those two see her like that? Parvati and I share a dorm with her, and she doesn't want us to go and see her.'

'Did she tell you that?' asked Raine.

'She didn't, but Ron heard us talking about visiting her, and he said she didn't want any other visitors, and she didn't want anyone to know what was wrong with her either.'

'How are we going to find out what's wrong then?' asked Fen. 'Have you asked Madam Pomfrey?'

'No, not yet -- but I think I've worked it out,' said Lavender knowingly.

They all paid more attention to Lavender now. These were usually the good bits.

'Whatever it is, it's something she doesn't want us to see, but doesn't mind Harry and Ron seeing.'

'Yes,' said Tracey patiently. 'We've got that far.'

'So it can't be something simple, like she's all covered in spots,' Lavender continued, glaring at Tracey. 'It's got to be something really embarrassing.'

Fen looked puzzled. 'If it's so embarrassing, why doesn't she mind those boys seeing her? I know they're really good friends, they're always together in the common room and at meals. But it can't be all that embarrassing.'

'But suppose that they caused it, and already know whatever the embarrassing thing is?'

Sara laughed. 'Do you think they were practicing Transfiguration and turned her into something like a giant slug? Or maybe it was one of those potions that covers people in boils?'

'I hadn't thought of that,' admitted Lavender. 'It can't be Transfiguration though, because McGonagall would just turn her back to normal.'

'And I'm sure that Professor Snape would be able to fix any potion problem like boils quickly,' said Tracey, loyal to her Head of house.

'So it can't be either of those. But I'll tell you what I think it is -- Hermione was the only girl left in our dorm over Christmas. So, if a boy had visited her there and stayed all night, nobody would have known!'

'Why would he?' asked Shona.

'Well, you remember when Hermione and Harry were caught coming back from the Astronomy Tower last year?'

'No,' answered Shona, who hadn't been at the school then.

'Oh, of course.' Lavender quickly explained how the centaur's lesson the previous year had led to a revelation about Harry and Hermione. 'So now I think they're taking it further -- and making sure McGonagall can't catch them again!'

Megan looked blank. 'But why is she in the hospital wing now? Blistered lips from kissing too much?'

'Can that happen?' asked Elena, horrified.

'Definitely,' said Tracey. Being a kindred spirit didn't stop her being a Slytherin, and it wasn't going to stop her teasing the Hufflepuff duffers.

'We could ask Ginny if she knows,' suggested Fen.

Lavender looked blank. 'Ginny? Who's she?'

'Ron's sister. She's in our year, in Gryffindor, and she stayed over Christmas too. Any boy going up to your dorm would have had to go past ours, and Ginny might have heard him. Or maybe Ron told her something.'

'Oh! Yes, OK, ask her -- she could be very helpful!'

'If she'll actually speak to us,' said Shona. 'She got really fed up with us talking about people, and isn't talking to us any more.'

'Never mind her -- so you think Hermione's got blistered lips? But why doesn't she want you to see her like that -- it can't look all that bad?' asked Susan.

'No, that was Megan's idea, not mine. Don't you get it? They went to bed and now she's pregnant!' said Lavender in a hushed whisper. This wasn't quite as dramatic as she'd intended, as Raine and Sara were sitting further from her than the others, and she had to repeat it for their benefit.

'She can't be!' objected Shona. 'She's only twelve, same as you are.'

'It can happen,' said Susan. 'Muggle newspapers had stories about it last summer, about girls getting pregnant too young. Some of the girls in those stories were only twelve.'

'Oh, I saw those,' said Fen. 'My parents weren't happy when I got my letter and found out about Hogwarts. After seeing those stories on the news, they didn't like the idea of me being away at a boarding school with boys, and they talked to me three times about not getting too familiar with any boys.'

'Don't they trust you then?' asked Raine, surprised.

'Not after seeing news items about those other girls.'

Lavender wondered how Fen's family could see news, but didn't let that prevent her from talking about her theory.

'That proves it's possible,' said Lavender happily. 'So she's got screens around her because she's got this big bump on her tummy, and doesn't want anyone to see her like that. But Harry can see her, because it's his fault, and Ron can too because he knows about it, as he's their friend.'

'No. It doesn't make sense,' said Padma.

'It does! What else could it be?' Lavender insisted.

'No, our cousin had a baby a couple of years ago. You couldn't see any bump for the first couple of months, and then not much of one, and it didn't get really big until seven or eight months,' said Padma.

'That's right. If Hermione did get pregnant at Christmas, she would just look normal now,' said Parvati, who'd been letting Lavender do all the talking so far. Lavender hadn't told her what her idea was, she insisted on telling the others at the same time. 'I'd have told you that, if you'd just said what your idea was.'

Lavender could feel the juicy gossip fading away like mist in the sun. 'Well, OK, so ... how about if they were together in the summer holidays, and did it then?'

'That sounds like better timing,' agreed Parvati. 'So nothing happened over Christmas then?'

'Maybe not -- or maybe it did, and didn't make a difference.' She was reluctant to let go of the idea. 'Does it make any difference if you do it again, after you get pregnant?' She looked around the group, wondering if anyone might know.

'I don't think so,' said Sara. 'My dad gave me a long talk about what could happen, just like Fen's parents, but then we just talked about, you know, all that sort of thing, and that there are ways to not get pregnant, but he never said anything about not doing it more than once.'

'Maybe he forgot,' suggested Elena.

'He went into a lot of detail,' said Sara, beginning to blush. 'We both got really embarrassed, but he said I had to know about it. He does trust me, but he wanted to make sure I knew what might happen with boys.'

'Why did your dad talk to you instead of your mum?' asked Tracey. 'Wouldn't it be less embarrassing?'

Sara glared at her, as did Raine.

'Sorry. I forgot,' said Tracey meekly.

'Anyway, how do we know if they were together during the summer?' asked Raine.

'Well, if they weren't, it must be something else. I suppose,' said Lavender. 'I just think it explains it all. What else does?'

Nobody had an answer, and the conversation turned to the question of who the Heir of Slytherin might be.

*

Two weeks later, the group met again in the gap between afternoon lessons and dinner. Lavender was excited about her new facts, which she announced as soon as everyone had got there.

'Parvati and I went to see Justin in the hospital wing, and while Madam Pomfrey wasn't around, we sneaked over to her curtains and looked through the joins at Hermione!'

'What did you see?' asked Megan. 'Is her tummy all big?'

'No, it's gone flat again,' said Lavender disappointedly, completely forgetting they'd never seen it any other way.

'Has she had the baby then?' asked Elena.

'I don't know,' said Lavender. 'But that's not the point! You know how some of the older boys have hair growing down the sides of their cheeks?'

'Sideburns,' said Fen. 'My older brother has sideburns.'

Lavender continued, 'OK. And sometimes they have a little bit of beard, not like Dumbledore's, but just wrapped round their chin?' The girls nodded. 'That's what Hermione looks like now.' There were gasps.

'Yes, she's got sideburns and a little beard,' said Parvati, to make it quite clear. 'And they're black, not brown like the rest of her hair. Oh, and her eyes are a funny orange colour now -- she used to have brown eyes.'

'How? What happened?' asked Susan Bones.

'I don't know,' admitted Lavender. 'But my mother warned me always to be careful with boys, and a lot of other things about them -- she didn't mention this, but she didn't say what might happen for most of her warnings, just that it would be bad.'

Most of the girls nodded, having heard similarly-vague warnings from their mothers.

Sara objected. 'Dad told me boys could get me pregnant, but he never mentioned I'd grow a beard. Wasn't that Draco Malfoy staying here over Christmas? Hermione's Muggle-born, isn't she? Maybe he hexed her.'

Lavender sighed. 'If he hexed her, she'd have told someone, and he'd have been given a detention. Tracey? Raine? Did that happen?'

Tracey shook her head. 'I know he wants the Monster of Slytherin to kill her, because he hates her, but I don't think he'd bother hexing her. He didn't get any detentions I heard about -- and he always complains a lot when he gets one.'

The group headed for the Great Hall and dinner, puzzling over the new evidence that they'd found, despite Hermione and Madam Pomfrey's attempts to conceal it.

*

At the start of February, Hermione was released from the hospital wing, and looked completely normal -- no hair on her face, her eyes their normal brown again, and no 'bump'. Lavender, Parvati and Shona watched Hermione across the common room. She was talking to Harry and Ron and looking at a book they were showing her.

'She's just acting as though none of it happened,' said Lavender. 'She doesn't seem to be blaming Harry for it, either. I wonder if that means it wasn't because of anything he did?'

'She might have blamed him when he visited her in the hospital wing. Maybe she's got over it by now,' said Parvati. 'Or maybe she does know it's not his fault, since she let him visit her.'

'This isn't a very good bit of gossip so far,' said Shona regretfully. 'We know her eyes went an odd colour, and her face got all hairy, but we still don't know why. Maybe Sara's right, and it was a curse of some kind.'

'But who cursed her? If it was Malfoy, she can't have told anyone -- maybe she didn't see who did it though. So it might be Malfoy,' said Parvati.

'It might not be a person,' said Fen, who'd come over to where they were sitting just in time to hear the end of the conversation. 'Someone could have put a curse on the Astronomy Tower, to catch out any pupils who sneak up there.'

'But that would catch us going to lessons, too!' objected Shona.

'Well ... maybe it's been set so that it doesn't go off if it's the right time for the lessons.' Fen didn't like letting go of a theory either.

'Maybe,' mused Parvati. 'McGonagall might have been lucky catching Hermione and Harry there last year -- if she could set a curse like that, or get Flitwick to do it, she wouldn't need luck any more.'

Shona thought a bit more. 'Why not a curse that just traps you there, instead of making you look odd?'

'Anyway, Ginny's finally stopped avoiding me. I just asked her if she did hear a boy going up to your dormitory, and she said she didn't, and asked me who I meant. When I said we wanted to know if Harry had visited Hermione, she got all upset, called me a lousy gossiper and wouldn't talk to me any more,' said Fen.

'Is she normally like that?' asked Lavender.

'No,' said Shona. 'She's usually very quiet -- she didn't shout at us before, just started avoiding us -- and every time she's near Harry, she gets all clumsy, and blushes if he says anything to her. She does get fed up with us talking about people so much though. I don't think she's a people person.'

'Oh, not another fan of Famous Harry Potter,' said Parvati sarcastically. 'Hey, maybe Harry put that curse on Hermione, just to have an excuse to visit the hospital wing and avoid everyone who's a fan of his!'

'Do you really think so?' asked Shona.

'No,' she said impatiently. 'I'm just getting fed up with us not having any idea what happened to Hermione.'

'Even Flitwick seems to be a fan of Harry. You should have seen his reaction when he found out he was actually going to be teaching Famous Harry.' said Lavender.

'Raine's a fan too,' said Fen.

Parvati laughed. 'She must be the only Slytherin who is!'

Fen grinned. 'She's glad that he defeated You-Know-Who; seems she lost a lot of relatives before she was even born, and now the rest are safe.'

'Fine, but we still don't know what happened to Hermione,' Lavender reminded them. 'Maybe she was pregnant, but why did her face change? That's not normal, is it?'

Parvati shook her head. 'My cousin just got really hungry for strange sorts of food.'

'OK. Maybe she was cursed by Malfoy or someone else, but doesn't know who it was, so they never got into trouble.'

Shona shrugged. 'If that's the answer, how do we find out who it was? It's not a good story if we don't know that.'

'I know. The third idea is that she got caught by a booby-trap curse on the Astronomy Tower when she sneaked up there with Harry.'

'I don't think the teachers would want to use a curse like that, though,' said Shona.

The other three thought about it, and decided that the curse sounded like the most likely idea. But ...

'Wait a minute,' objected Shona. 'Why didn't Harry get cursed? He wasn't in the hospital wing, and he doesn't have a beard like she did.'

'Hmm. Suppose he was walking a few steps below her? The curse might have missed him,' said Parvati. 'That would explain it.'

'Yes, it would,' agreed Lavender. 'Maybe we've got the answer right there.'

'OK, so we can tell the others on Thursday. We did say Thursday, didn't we?' said Parvati.

'Yes, it's Thursday this week,' said Shona. 'Do you think there's enough to convince them?'

'We'll see what they say. Maybe someone can come up with a better idea, but how, if we couldn't?' said Lavender.

*

It was Thursday, and there was another meeting in an empty classroom. Lavender had explained the idea, with frequent interruptions by Fen to emphasise a point, and the others had discussed it.

'Do you think maybe she was pregnant enough to know, but didn't look pregnant, and Madam Pomfrey did something so that it went away?' suggested Fen, hoping to keep in Lavender's good books.

'"Made the pregnancy go away"?' echoed Elena, looking horrified. 'I'd never do something like that!'

'I don't think she was pregnant. I like the curse idea, but if it's a curse on the Tower, why haven't we heard about anyone else being hit by it?' Megan asked.

'Maybe it only goes off if it detects just two people coming up the stairs outside normal class times,' said Sara, 'and other people went up one at a time to meet up there, instead of going up together.'

'Perhaps it did catch others too, but they were older, and could remove the curse themselves -- or they knew someone older who could,' said Fen.

'But then why did it take Madam Pomfrey so long to make Hermione better again? Besides, wouldn't she have told McGonagall what had happened, so they'd be in detention? Have they been in detention?' asked Susan.

'No,' said Parvati. 'McGonagall might have thought spending all that time in the hospital wing was enough punishment.'

'Anyway, if it took that long to cure Hermione, I don't think any pupil could have removed the curse so fast nobody noticed,' Susan insisted.

'What about the Weasley twins? Maybe it's not the teachers who put it there, but the twins, who put a curse there as a practical joke -- and it might only have been a one-use thing,' said Shona. 'They were here at Christmas too. I don't think they'd want to curse Harry or Hermione, but maybe Hermione was caught instead of who they wanted to catch.'

'All right, maybe it was them. That does explain why we didn't hear about anyone else getting cursed,' said Fen, 'Madam Pomfrey would have been able to fix a teacher's curse faster, because they'd tell her what it was. Something must have happened to her, and it does look like a curse.'

'Does everyone think this now makes sense?' asked Lavender. There was a chorus of 'Yes'.

'Good, then that's that settled,' said Padma. 'I didn't think we were ever going to get this finished.'

'I don't think I like Hermione,' said Elena.

'Hardly anyone does,' replied Parvati.