October 2023 through November 2023
The rest of October passed by fairly quickly as Harry buried his grief and once more moved through his days with the same silent efficiency that had seem him through the two previous years. He also grudgingly resumed attending the weekly Quidditch practices with the rest of the team and the nightly study sessions with Hermione and Neville though they moved their study location from the Gryffindor Common Room to the Library so that Harry could continue his extracurricular research in between assignments and revision.
The two third years had also taken to tagging along with Harry on the weekends when Harry slipped away to hide in the Chamber of Secrets (they even joined him on Hogsmeade weekends after they had learned that Harry was banned from visiting the village). Hermione to politely badger Dobby for more information on house elves and to keep her promise to help Harry with his research and Neville ostensibly to make certain Harry didn't make Hermione cry again. Both taller teens also tentatively offered suggestions for the renovations of the Chamber.
Neville was especially helpful in providing the names of those plants that were hardy enough to survive in an artificial environment. Hermione, on the other hand, made practical suggestions that would see the underground garden thriving once it was complete (such as draining and cleaning the underground pool that was supplied by an underground freshwater spring and piping the fresh water into the planned kitchen and through a sprinkler system to water the plants that would be brought in). She also suggested that a proper pond be made out of the pool for aesthetics.
After the second time the pair followed him into the Chamber on a weekend, Harry decided that he needed to find or make another entrance to the Chamber so that he didn't have to haul the other two back up the slide or impose on Dobby to take them back and forth to the tower all of the time. It would take Dobby a month to make the new entrance with the help of a younger female elf from the kitchens; one of the elves that had grown particularly fond of Harry during his first two years and the elf that used to always pack his supply baskets.
Dobby could have done it by himself but because he wasn't bonded to the castle, he had been limited on how much he could change the castle. Tizzy, the female elf, would eventually spend far more time helping Dobby than working in the kitchen because she'd had the least amount of work to do as the youngest elf currently bonded to Hogwarts. Harry didn't mind her hanging around because she tended to keep Dobby occupied when the elf wasn't cooking or working on the various renovations that were being made to the Chamber of Secrets.
The relative peace of the castle would be broken on Halloween night for the third year in a row when a blood covered sixth year muggleborn wearing Hufflepuff colors burst into the Great Hall and collapsed on the floor. Panic ensued when the young man was heard telling the staff that he'd been attacked and tortured by an unknown person. The escaped Rookwood was immediately suspected of being the culprit the moment the teen announced he'd been hit with the Cruciatus Curse more than once. Several loud wand blasts filled the hall and calmed the students as everyone turned to face Dumbledore standing up at the staff table.
"Please remain calm and return to your seats. All students will remain in the Great Hall while the staff investigate the scene of the attack. I will be leaving our Head Boy and Head Girl in charge while we are gone and all Prefects are to do a head count to determine if there are any other students missing," Dumbledore ordered as the staff promptly began heading towards the door.
"What is the Cruciatus Curse?" Harry half demanded under his breath while his eyes tracked the adults as they left the room. "And why in the world didn't they leave any adults aside from the nurse behind to protect the students in case the Great Hall was attacked while they were all out searching?"
"At least they didn't send the students back to their Common Rooms this time," Hermione muttered from where she and Neville were sitting directly across from Harry as her right hand unconsciously rose to press up against the right side of her chest (where Harry would one day learn that she carried a rather nasty scar from the troll attack in their first year – which had happened before Harry had woken up in the world of MaM).
"The Cruciatus Curse is one of the Unforgivables," Neville hoarsely croaked; his face pale and his eyes wide with fear as he stared fixedly at the tortured student that Madam Pomfrey was stabilizing in preparation of transporting him to the Hospital Wing.
"What the hell is an Unforgivable?"
"They are three of the worst curses in existence," George replied as he dropped down to sit beside Harry as the younger teen asked his question. "The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse."
"Using any one of them is a one-way ticket to Azkaban; no questions asked," Fred added as he dropped down on Harry's other side. "Unless your name is Malfoy and you can bribe your way out of being sentenced."
"Hence, why they are called Unforgivable," George finished solemnly.
"Okay, I'm familiar enough with the Killing Curse after the last two years but what do the other ones do?"
"The Cruciatus causes pain," Neville stated as he ducked his head and began shaking as his hands clenched into fists.
"It doesn't just cause pain; it's pure torture according to what we've overheard from our parents," George corrected lowly as he glanced towards the injured Hufflepuff.
"Death Eaters used to use it to drive people insane back when You-Know-Who was still around," Fred added as he worriedly peered at Neville who'd flinched violently at the word insane.