Were We Meant To Be?

A/N: Once More… The song belongs to 30 Seconds to Mars. It's called "End of the Beginning".

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Chapter 3
The Vial

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The trio walked into the infirmary and immediately Madame Pomfrey took Harry and began examining him.

'What happened?' she asked.

'It's my voice,' whispered Harry.

'Oh! Oh my! Well, this is something new, now isn't it?' exclaimed Madam Pomfrey.

'Is there anything we can do about it?' asked Ron. 'You can cure him, right? I mean you cure everything, don't you?'

'I can as soon as I figure out what is causing this; at least I think I can. I've never even heard of a case like this before, much less see one!'

'What can be done in the meantime Madame Pomfrey?' asked Hermione.

'Not much besides research Hermione. Here, I'll write you out a pass for the restricted section in the library. If anyone can help me find out about this, case, it's you Hermione. Have Ron help you too. As for you Harry, I think I shall keep you here at least for the rest of the evening. I'd like to keep you under my watch and care, just in caometomething else comes up.' Madame Pomfrey left the three of them to go write out Hermione's and Ron's passes for the library.

'Do you feel all right Harry? I mean, besides the fact you have a woman's voice?' asked Rom awkwardly.

Harry only nodded. He didn't feel like talking much.

'Don't worry Harry we'll beat this! I mean come on! I have to do research in order to help you! You know how that always goes.' Hermione giggled, and Harry felt better. He knew she'd find somethiHermHermione just wouldn't be Hermione if she couldn't do this.

As Hermione and Ron left to go back to potions, and then later the library, Harry laid down in the bed Madame Pomfrey prepared for him. And he thought to himself.

\\What the hell is going on? Well, at least the voice in my head is still mine, for now I suppose.// He closed his eyes. \\I haven't done anything dangerous lately. Not for months! This cant be some bug or virus, others would get it too, wouldn't they? Well, I'm not exactly like everyone else either, for that matter. This is all just so damn strange; I don't know if I can deal with it. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse. At lease I believe I'd be able to use some kind of glamour or concealing charm to fix my voice till Madame Pomfrey can heal me. I think for now I'll just rest.//

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Colors were swirling around above him. Blues and pinks were twisting themselves, dancing to the music. Music? Again Harry heard that darn muggle song again. What was it trying to tell him?

Can you feel it?
Things are changing
Can you see it?
Watch as the worlds colliding
Can you see it?
Can you feel it?
Watch as the worlds...
Collide into themselves
Collide into themselves

~~~

'Hmm, let's see, "Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes." Maybe. "An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms," might work. "Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions," Oh good one! And here, "Most Potent Potions". This is all perfect!' Hermione dropped the books onto the table at which Ron sat. 'Just grab one and browse, with nothing concrete to look at besides Harry's voice changing, there's nothing specific we can look up just yet. We need to work up and idea or theory.'

'Wonderful,' said Ron, already bored.

'Oh come on Ron! If it was you, you'd want Harry to work hard!'

'I know Hermione, sorry. Let's dig in this then.'

~~~

\\I can't believe that git Snape gave us that damn essay on the properties of toadstools! Three feet of parchment! Its bloody ridiculous!// Though Draco, as he made his way to the library.\\Damn, there goes my afternoon.//

Draco took a seat at an empty table after picking up a book called "The Encyclopedia of Toadstools". \\Wasn't this the book that Father got hit with a couple years back? Damn that filthy muggle-lover for starting that fight…//

~~~

'Look Ron,' Hermione whispered. 'In "Most Potent Potions" they mention the work being done on creating a potion that "cures" hermaphrodites. The research hasn't been published, nor the potion approved of yet, because tests have shown that it only makes some changes, and not the full transformation from either a masculine hermaphrodite to a male, or a feminine hermaphrodite to a female. Look who is funding the research! Walden Macnair! Remember, he was going to kill Buckbeak! He's an old friend of Draco's father! What if this is it Ron?' whispered Hermione excitedly.

'But Harry isn't a hermaphrodite Hermione! What will it do to him? How could someone get a hold of a potion like that? They'd have to have pretty damn good connections.'

They both started at each other and said, 'Draco!'

'Of course!' said Hermione. 'When he approached Harry this morning at breakfast! He took his time leaving!'

'He must have put it in his pumpkin juice! How did we not see it?' said Ron, beating him self up at the thought of letting his best friend get poisoned by that git Malfoy.

'We were too busy ignoring him Ron, just like he wanted us to!' Hermione slapped the table and a couple Ravenclaws turned their heads. 'Sorry!' She turned to Ron and whispered, 'Come on Ron, lets go show this to Madame Pomfrey! She might know what to do now. This should help.'

Hermione and Ron got up and started to quickly walk out of the library. Hermione thought to herself. \\Odd, we didn't even need anything in the Restricted Section. I figured we'd have a lot harder time figuring this out. Well, we still have to prove its Malfoy. That'll at least be challenging.//

'Wait a minute Hermione!' Ron stopped. 'Its Malfoy! He's sitting alone at that table in the corner. Look, there's an empty table behind him. Lets see if we can over hear anything. I know he talks to him self when he's trying to concentrate, I hear him in potions all the time.'

'Right,' replied Hermione. They quietly took two seats behind Malfoy.

'Toadstool: an inedible or poisonous fungus with an umbrella-shaped fruiting body. Nasty sounding litbuggbugger.' Malfoy said as he read out loud. 'Toadstool is a name given to many umbrella-shaped fungi, mostly of the genus Agaricus. The species are almost numberless. They grow on decaying organic matter. Gross! And boring!' Malfoy threw down the book onto the table and pulled out an empty vial. 'Damn, I keep forgetting to ditch this! Heh, I wonder Pot Potter is doing, lousy I bet! I still wish I could have heard that voice! Thank you Macnair!' He kissed the vial, and as he did so, he stood up and walked out of the library. Hermione and Ron cautiously followed him.

'Ron! We need that vial! It'll link Malfoy to the poisoning!' said Hermione excitedly.

They followed Draco until they reached the lake. As Ron and Hermione hid behind a tree, the watched Draco throw the vial into the center of the lake. It bobbed up and down a few times before the giant squid took it under. 'Have fun with that!' shouted Draco as he laughed loudly. He walked back up to the castle, and Hermione and Ron came out of hiding.

Hermione pulled her wand out from her robes and pointed it at the lake.

'Accio vial!' As she yelled, a small empty vial rose slowly out of the water, as if something was holding it back. Which it was! The giant squid was grasping the vial with its tentacles!

'Oh let GO!' yelled Hermione. 'Ron! Do something, it'll break the vial!'

'Uhm, okay.. what?'

'Anything'

'Oh, right. Impedimenta!' Ron yelled while pointing his wand at the squid.

Immediately, the squid froze and the vial was freed at last. It landed in Hermione's hand.

'Yes! Alright Ron, let's get this to Dumbledore and tell him what we've heard.'