Kitty Hermione?
"Are you two planning to let go of me at some point?" Mark complained as he was dragged along by the two brats.
"We're here," Harry finally replied as they reached the two large doors of the castle's hospital wing.
Before Mark could say anything else, Percy opened the doors and the two of them dragged him straight inside.
"We found him!" Percy announced immediately.
Ron and Tyson instantly looked up.
Although there was someone else there who didn't seem to have heard them, too distracted with her back turned toward them.
Ron and Tyson had stayed there waiting while Harry and Percy ran off to find Mark as soon as they'd heard from their mother through the two-way mirror that he and Sirius had a mission inside Hogwarts and should already be there.
"Mark," Tyson greeted with a smile.
"Yeah. Hi," he replied as he finally managed to free himself from Harry and Percy and straightened his clothes slightly, not before giving both of them an annoyed look.
"I'm pretty sure those books on manners people keep giving Percy aren't being put to good use, and now even Harry is starting to catch his stupidity," Mark said without mercy.
"Hey!" Percy complained immediately.
Harry, meanwhile, only smiled, since lately he'd actually started thinking that quite a few things from Percy really were rubbing off on him.
Mark was about to ask why the hell they'd dragged him all the way there when he started looking around.
Beds. The smell of a hospital and magical herbs.
His gaze then passed over two beds where several students lay completely stiff. For a second, they looked dead.
Though no.
They were petrified.
Then he noticed the bed near Tyson and Ron.
Hermione was sitting there, partially covered by a blanket, with only her yellow feline eyes visible, her face covered in black fur and two pointed ears sticking out from the top of her head.
Mark blinked, somewhat surprised at the sight of her.
"..."
Hermione, however, didn't seem to have noticed his arrival. She was too focused on the other person there, her ears slowly lowering.
Then Mark looked at the other person, who still had his back turned to them, just in time for him to turn around with a smile beneath an opera mask that only revealed his mouth and his gleaming teeth, while he held what looked like a piece of paper in one hand.
The Masked Hero stood in front of Hermione with a quill in hand, giving her an autographed note.
"And there we go," he said before handing it over, not without flashing her another smile and a wink. "A note personally signed by the Masked Hero. You can keep it as a souvenir."
Hermione took the card between her fur-covered hands.
"...Thank you," she murmured, looking both embarrassed and happy at the same time.
"No need to thank me. Though try to keep it in good condition. It'll probably be worth quite a lot once my fame grows even more."
Ron rolled his eyes at the man, looking obviously disdainful ever since he'd arrived.
Harry and Percy seemed somewhat surprised to see the Defense professor there, since they had no idea when he'd arrived or when he'd even heard about Hermione's problem.
Mark, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Hoooo," he let out with a hint of disdain in his voice. "Didn't expect to find you here... Lockhart," he said contemptuously.
The Masked Hero, as though suddenly genuinely delighted that someone had finally discovered his true identity, turned around with a huge smile, even preparing to remove his mask and finally reveal his face.
But then he saw Mark.
And froze almost as completely as the petrified students.
Mark also stared at him for several seconds as his hand slowly moved toward a small pouch hidden at the back of his waist beneath his robes, carefully taking hold of two small vials.
The Masked Hero swallowed audibly and slowly put away his quill while his hands trembled slightly.
Then he took a small step to the side.
Mark tilted his head.
"...Lockhart?" he asked in an obviously confused tone as he turned around to look behind him at Tyson, who also looked behind himself.
Mark raised an eyebrow.
Harry and Percy simply watched the two men with interest.
Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance before looking back at the Defense professor.
The Masked Hero looked at Mark again and pointed at himself.
"Me?"
"...Yes," Mark replied irritably.
"Lockhart? What Lockhart?" the Defense professor asked with complete calm, although for some reason there was now a strange accent in his voice.
"Gilderoy Lockhart," Mark said.
There was a brief silence.
Then the Masked Hero slowly shook his head.
"No, no, no," he continued in that strange accent. "I have no idea who you're talking about."
"Why the accent?" Percy asked Harry, but he could only shake his head.
Mark let out another sigh.
"You're Lockhart."
"I have no idea who you're talking about."
"I recognize your voice."
"Must be a coincidence."
"And the way you talk, even with that stupid fake accent."
"Many people possess a heroic voice."
Mark stared at him.
"Lockhart."
The Masked Hero began backing toward the door.
"I'm sorry, but I've never met any handsome, good-looking, charming, and extremely talented man named Lockhart. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've already completed my good deed for the day by visiting the sick and unfortunate. It's time for me to return to my chambers," the professor said before giving everyone a small bow.
And before Mark could say anything else, he turned around and practically ran away.
Everyone remained silent.
Mark narrowed his eyes.
"Has the magical world always been full of psychopaths, idiots, and lunatics?"
"Well..."
Harry couldn't exactly answer no to that, since he had plenty of doubts himself.
"...That was definitely Lockhart."
"Who's Lockhart?" Ron asked.
Mark gave the door one last look.
"Doesn't matter."
He'd deal with that idiot later.
Finally, he turned his attention back to Hermione.
The girl shrank slightly beneath the blanket when she noticed that everyone was now looking at her.
Mark examined her face while Hermione quickly went from nervous to completely embarrassed at having him stare at her.
She already knew from Harry's mirror that Mark was pretty handsome.
But having him standing right in front of her while she had ears, whiskers, and a face covered in fur...
Definitely didn't help.
Mark, completely oblivious to Hermione's embarrassment, continued examining the ears, whiskers, and fur covering her face.
The room remained silent until Tyson seemed unable to hold himself back any longer and opened his mouth.
"Kitty Hermione."
"I'm not a kitty! Meow," Hermione meowed, which only made her even more embarrassed while Ron, Percy, and Harry tried not to laugh. "...Don't say anything," she whimpered.
After looking her over, Mark seemed to have a pretty good idea of what had happened, so he let out yet another sigh that day.
"The Polyjuice Potion recipe I gave you isn't supposed to be used like this," Mark said.
He looked at Hermione's ears again.
"If you wanted to turn into animals, you should've asked me for the ritual to become Animagi."
Harry's eyes widened slightly, and Ron immediately looked tempted. Even Hermione did after remembering Professor McGonagall.
But Mark's next words quickly killed that interest.
"Though your mother would probably kill me if I taught you and one of you ended up permanently turned into a rat."
Mark paused for a moment.
"Or she could use that new magic she learned to turn people into guinea pigs."
Percy shuddered slightly at the thought.
"No!"
Mark raised an eyebrow.
"Trauma aside... I just wanted to make that clear."
"No, there was a mistake with the hair and Hermione ended up like this, but the potion's effect still hasn't worn off even after all this time," Harry explained.
"Yeah, obviously. It's made to be used from human to human," Mark said, easily realizing what the problem had been.
"Can you fix it?" Percy asked immediately.
"Of course," Mark said, waving a hand as if it were simple.
Everyone brightened immediately as Harry quickly opened his mouth.
"Then—"
"But before that, I need you to do something for me," Mark said quickly, cutting him off and looking specifically at Harry.