At the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey expressed her displeasure at Draco's decision to give Hermione the Mandrake potion.
"This is too risky! I thought a good student like you would be more cautious." She said sternly to Draco. "You are just a second-year student. You should not have the ability to concoct such a complex potion! Can you imagine how serious the consequences would be if the potion had problems? Mr Malfoy, can you take responsibility for Miss Granger?"
"Of course I can!" Draco retorted. "How much worse could it get? She was Petrified! Besides, she is perfectly fine now."
Madam Pomfrey glared at Draco as if he were some little scoundrel trying to poison an innocent girl. She ignored the arrogant boy and busied herself drawing the curtains around Hermione's bed and beginning a full examination.
A rustling sound of clothes. Madam Pomfrey's gentle, soft voice enquiring. Hermione's weak reply.
"Mr Malfoy, you are in luck." After examining Hermione, Madam Pomfrey looked much better. She peeked out from behind the curtain and looked at him with a relieved expression. "Her Petrification has been completely lifted. Of course, after suffering such severe damage from Dark magic, she will experience dizziness and weakness, but she will be fine after a good rest. I will go get some hot chocolate to help her recover her strength."
"He gave me chocolate," Hermione said to Madam Pomfrey through the bed curtains.
Madam Pomfrey glanced at Draco with slight surprise, then said approvingly, "Excellent handling. I think you could consider developing a career as a Healer in the future. Also, did you brew your own Mandrake Restorative Draught? Fantastic, I must commend Severus... A great teacher produces a great student."
Draco gave Madam Pomfrey an awkward smile and nodded.
Professor Snape had no idea that Draco was brewing potions. If he had been told, the Potions Master, who desperately needed help, might have given him a stern lecture before eagerly pulling him aside to help.
"Are there any other Restorative Draughts? Several other students at the school have been Petrified," Madam Pomfrey asked Draco after a pause.
"I am sorry, due to a shortage of raw materials and losses during the brewing process, I only have one bottle on hand," Draco said regretfully.
Madam Pomfrey showed no disappointment. This kind of thing was, after all, rare and precious. She said matter-of-factly, "And then you saved Miss Granger with the only bottle you had. That makes perfect sense."
Her gaze lingered with interest on the boy and girl on either side of the bed curtains, before she winked at Draco. "I will give you ten minutes to visit, then I will have to come in and send you on your way. Miss Granger needs a dose of Sleeping Draught and a good rest."
Draco nodded to her and watched her walk away.
"Has Madam Pomfrey misunderstood something?" Hermione gently pulled back the bed curtains. She had changed into her hospital gown and was sitting barefoot on the bed. Without the large robe to cover her, her body appeared even smaller and more delicate than before. So delicate it was heartbreaking.
"Lie down in bed, cover yourself with the blanket, and do not walk barefoot," Draco said, frowning.
Why is she so disobedient and always so reckless!
With a stern face, he lifted the blanket, gesturing for her to crawl inside, and then wrapped her up tightly.
"You are making a complete fuss..." she said, blushing slightly and somewhat indignantly.
"That is much better now," he said with satisfaction, completely ignoring her protests.
"Draco, I am much better now. Everything you have done has been very helpful." Hermione struggled to get her hands out of the blankets that were wrapped like dumplings, and said urgently, "Listen, before you go, I have to tell you what I saw in the mirror. You were right from the beginning, it really was a Basilisk. I saw the body of a snake, and those unusually large yellow eyes."
This information is crucial, Draco thought. Finally, there is direct evidence proving that the existence of the Basilisk is not just a rumour.
Does this mean that the Basilisk's fangs are one step closer to him?
"And I think I have discovered who was behind all this. It was Ginny Weasley," Hermione said, her voice suddenly becoming anxious.
"Ron's sister? Are you sure?" Draco was greatly puzzled.
Was she not a victim of the Chamber incident in her past life? How could she be hanging out with the Basilisk?
"Listen to me, Draco, I have had my suspicions about this for a whilst now. Everyone knows Ginny idolises Harry. So when Justin Finch-Fletchley suspected Harry was the heir to the Chamber of Secrets, and it caused a lot of gossip about him, Ginny got really angry," Hermione said.
"What about the others?" he asked.
"Colin Creevey is Ginny's Charms class partner, so she definitely knows he is from a Muggle family; he is always following Harry around, which is really bothering him, and Ginny might think he is harassing Harry. Nearly Headless Nick invited Harry to the Deathday Party, which made Harry a suspect, and maybe she will care about that," Hermione said thoughtfully. "As for Mr Filch, although Ginny has never been punished by him, her brothers—George and Fred—are often punished by him, so she must have a lot of complaints about him; she learnt from her brothers that Filch is a Squib."
"That makes sense; they definitely knew Filch was a Squib," Draco said.
"That is right," Hermione said. "I asked George yesterday if they had told their sister that Filch was a Squib, and George admitted it, saying he did not want Ginny to be too afraid of Filch's chains."
"Then why were you attacked today?"
"I reckon Ginny might have noticed what I am doing," Hermione said sadly. "I went to talk to her yesterday and told her I had some ideas. I will tell her first when I figure them out."
"These words might be a comfort to the innocent; but to the one who opened the Chamber, they sound like a provocation," Draco said calmly.
"I was only half-believing at the time," Hermione said with a bitter face. "I really could not believe it was her. She does not seem like the kind of pure-blood advocate at all; she has always been very friendly to me."
"Perhaps her mind was corrupted by the thoughts in the diary, or perhaps this was not her true intention." Being cautious, Draco asked, "Are you one hundred per cent sure it was her? Do you have conclusive evidence?"
"Of course! Besides the Basilisk, I also saw someone in the hand mirror. She was wearing Gryffindor robes, with long red hair... Girls with those features are rare in Gryffindor. It is her, no doubt about it. She was with the Basilisk. Maybe she is the one who took the diary." Hermione frowned, trying to calm herself, and said calmly but urgently, "We have to tell Harry and Ron right away and find out everything. We have to stop Ginny before she does anything more extreme."
"Of course, I will go," Draco said, sounding uncertain.
This matter seems to be rapidly heading in an unbelievable direction.
The Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin was opened by Ron's sister? She is just a Gryffindor first-year, how could she possibly have got her hands on the diary?
Oh, that is very possible.
Draco, his face expressionless, suddenly recalled a scene he had witnessed at Flourish and Blotts before the start of the school year: whilst his father and Mr Weasley were arguing, Ron's sister seemed to be standing nearby holding a pile of old books.
Perhaps, it was around that time that my father did something underhanded...
Does he have a grudge against Mr Weasley, who frequently conducts surprise inspections of Dark magical items at Malfoy Manor, so he plants Dark magical items at his house to cause trouble? That sounds very much in line with Lucius's style.
In short, to sum it all up, Father, you have really ruined your son's life!
"Miss Granger, drink this. I added a Sleeping Draught to the hot chocolate." Madam Pomfrey interrupted their conversation and Draco's thoughts. She came in from outside and handed Hermione a steaming cup of something. "You cannot think about anything right now. You need to rest, dear."
Hermione whispered "thank you" to Madam Pomfrey, picked up her glass and sipped slowly, watching Draco with worried and anxious eyes.
Draco had already made his plans: today was the day of the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match—Harry would definitely be there, and Ron would probably be too.
He forced a smile, opened the door to the ward, mouthed "Do not worry" to Hermione, and then ran towards the Quidditch pitch without looking back.