Chapter 58: The Second Attack

Harry lay on the ground with some difficulty. He felt that all the bones in his body were broken, but compared to the Cruciatus Curse, this bit of pain was still bearable.

"Don't touch him, avoid secondary injury." Madam Hooch stopped the team members who were surrounding him. "Wood, you go notify Madam Pomfrey and let her come here to handle it."

"Alright." Wood responded, then hurried away.

"What's going on?" Snape's slightly dissatisfied voice came.

"Professor, I tell you Ma Erfu didn't keep up in the last wave." Harry could hear someone in the Slytherin team complaining. "This person's thinking must have gone wrong."

"Why didn't you keep up?", that person continued, "Didn't keep up when accelerating, didn't keep up when changing direction, what's the situation?"

"What didn't keep up when accelerating, didn't keep up when changing direction." Ma Erfu argued.

"The opposing Seeker accelerated and you didn't keep up, and you didn't keep up after changing direction, you hurried over only after catching the Snitch, what are you doing?"

"Harry was always being chased by the Bludger, why would he change direction?" Ma Erfu spread his hands. "The goalkeeper kept calling me, what can I do, the opposing Seeker kept accelerating."

"He is a bit too muddled, or rather, a bit too far off..." Harry could hear Snape's low voice. He couldn't hear the following words clearly because Madam Pomfrey moved him to a stretcher, preparing to start treatment.

"Your injury is a bit heavy." Madam Pomfrey said worriedly. "If it were just the right hand, I could cure it in one second, but now many bones in your body are broken."

"And none of them are where they should be." She added. "You have to be hospitalized tonight."

"Thank goodness." Harry said weakly.

The injuries Harry could feel included his left leg that had almost completely lost sensation and his right arm and waist and back that hurt him so much he was sweating. He suspected his spine was broken. In the Muggle world, this kind of injury was enough to ruin a person's second half of life, but in the mouth of Madam Pomfrey of magic, it only needed to stay for one night.

Even judging from her tone, staying in a magic hospital for one night was already a rare treatment method.

With the help of friends, Harry lay down quietly in the school hospital. Madam Pomfrey drove all the noisy students out of the ward. He felt stinging pain everywhere on his body, and could only stare at the ceiling with his eyes wide open. After a while, Harry gradually adapted to this pain, and because lying on the bed was really boring, he fell into a shallow sleep with his eyes narrowed like this.

A few hours later, Harry woke up from the darkness. The multiple pains all over his body made him unable to help but scream: he thought he had been hit by the Cruciatus Curse again. At that moment, he felt he must have been woken up by pain. Then, with a chill of fear, he realized that someone was wiping his forehead with a towel.

Harry looked vigilantly at the person beside his bed; it was Zhang Qiu, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"You sweated a lot, Harry." She said. "I'm a bit worried, divination shows that there will be an 'unpleasant intruder' tonight."

Harry didn't take these divinations that were sometimes accurate and sometimes not very seriously, but at this juncture, he felt it was better to believe it than not.

"Thank you." He said. "But you don't have to keep watch here, go back and rest quickly."

"One night is enough, you'll be fine tomorrow." Zhang Qiu said, looking at her watch. "It's only eight o'clock, it doesn't matter."

"Oh, I thought it was very late." Harry thought to himself, eight o'clock wasn't time to sleep yet.

The two chatted casually for a while, and suddenly heard a burst of noisy talking. At this time, both were a bit confused and looked toward the doorway.

Deng Buliduo came to the ward. He was wearing a long wool robe and a nightcap. He was carrying the head of something that looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared behind, carrying the feet of the thing. Together they put it on the bed.

"Call Madam Pomfrey," Deng Buliduo said quietly, and Professor McGonagall hurried out. Harry and Zhang Qiu were both stunned in place; they realized that things seemed a bit urgent. Then Professor McGonagall ran back sweating profusely, Madam Pomfrey followed closely, putting on a cardigan while walking, and she made a thin gasp.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey leaned over to the statue on the bed and asked Deng Buliduo in a low voice.

"Another attack," Deng Buliduo said, "Minerva found him on the stairs."

"There was a bunch of grapes on the ground," Professor McGonagall said, "I suspect he was trying to sneak in to visit Harry."

"Help me up, let me take a look." Harry whispered. Then, with Zhang Qiu's help, he saw the statue on the bed, the moonlight spilling on its conspicuous face.

It was Colin, his face hanging with an interesting smile, one hand stroking the camera on his chest.

"What's going on?" Pomfrey said quietly.

"Perhaps a sudden attack," McGonagall said, "he might not have even seen the attacker clearly."

The three of them stared at Colin, then Deng Buliduo reached out, wanting to pull the camera from his chest.

"There shouldn't be any clues left in the camera, right?" Professor McGonagall asked suspiciously.

"I smelled some smell." Deng Buliduo said, prying open the back of the camera.

A burst of gas hissed out of the camera. Harry, who was three beds away, could smell the sour stench of burning plastic.

"Strange Muggle product." Madam Pomfrey said puzzledly, "It actually smells like this after melting."

"But the question is, why?" Deng Buliduo gently placed the camera on Colin's bedside. From the confused faces of the three professors, Harry felt they knew no more than he did.

"Harry, are you awake?" Madam Pomfrey looked toward this side. "Don't worry, child, a little pain is normal, you'll be fine tomorrow."

"Why burn the film?" Harry asked with difficulty. "What did he photograph?"

"Don't think about these things for now, Harry." Deng Buliduo said gently. "You need to heal your injuries first."

"It's hard for me not to think, Professor." Harry said dissatisfiedly. "Someone tampered with the Bludger today, and I was chased and hit for the whole game. This injury came from this."

"We will investigate." McGonagall said. "We will investigate the Bludger matter."

"I'm afraid it's too late, the film has already been burned." Zhang Qiu interjected. "Colin is Harry's number one fan, he must have taken many photos of Harry at the game today."

"In other words, the attacker burned the film because Colin might have accidentally photographed his photo?" Harry became excited instantly. "Perhaps it wasn't someone who tampered with the Bludger in advance, but someone who cast a curse on the field!"

"So that's how it is." Deng Buliduo frowned and said. "Actually, students went to notify the professors during the timeout. Snape had been helping you cast counter-curses in the second half. But the effect wasn't good; the spell cast on the Bludger was different from any common spell."

"Could it be an American spell." Zhang Qiu said this, and almost everyone knew who she was suspecting.

"No, rest assured," Deng Buliduo pointed out the words directly, "I have talked with Donald, his purpose is love."

"If the attacker came from outside the school," Deng Buliduo said, "I think this is a more likely situation. I need to go and investigate, you guys rest at ease."

"I will accompany Harry." Before the professor left, Zhang Qiu said this to them.

"It seems divination is still accurate." After the professor left, Zhang Qiu flipped through her notebook and said, "Last year, my master predicted your first Quidditch match. He said you would catch the Snitch with your mouth under interference, and Snape would help you."

"Last year's prediction was only realized this year." Harry said weakly. "Perhaps the intruder tonight will also come next year."

"I have a guess, Harry." Zhang Qiu said. "Colin also looks like he was petrified, and the attacker burned the film, perhaps to cover up his crime of attacking you with a Bludger. In other words, the person who smeared the blood words for the first time, the person who attacked you in the afternoon, and the person who attacked Colin at night, are likely the same person."

"This is not a fresh idea, it's better to say that previous guesses have been confirmed." Harry said. "That is a complete conspiracy, trying to make Hogwarts look like it's in danger."

"If it's a complete conspiracy..." Harry suddenly realized something.

"Dobby!" The two said in unison.

"Right, house-elf magic and wizard magic are different." Harry remembered the knowledge he had seen in books. "That's why Snape's counter-curse didn't have any effect."

"And Hogwarts has defensive wards, it's very difficult for outside wizards to sneak in here." Zhang Qiu said. "But this ward might not be able to defend against house-elves."

"I said long ago, this is a bad seed." Zhang Qiu said angrily. "He is threatening you, your investigation into the Chamber of Secrets made the real culprit afraid, so he sent Dobby to threaten you."

But in the bottom of Harry's heart, he was still willing to believe that Dobby was actually just a house-elf whose brain wasn't very smart, wanting to maintain himself in a simple way.

"Is there a possibility that Dobby didn't lie when he came the first time." Harry argued weakly. "He was really doing it for my own good, it's just that the method was a bit wrong. For example, he anticipated that an attack would happen tonight, and in order to ensure my safety, he didn't hesitate to hit me into the school hospital with a Bludger first?"

"You forgot why Colin was attacked tonight?" Zhang Qiu pointed to the burned camera. "And in order to protect yourself, you let innocent people be attacked; that's not what we want to see."

"Alright, I'll find a way to investigate Dobby tomorrow." Harry stared straight at the ceiling. Colin was attacked because of him, which made Harry feel very self-blaming whenever he thought about it. ===== CHAPTER 59 =====