AUTHOR'S NOTES: Believe it or not, this is the 100th story I've posted. Some have been big hits and some have been total and utter crap. I've wanted to write this one for a while and since the story is mostly fully formed-at least in my head-hopefully I'll actually finish this one.
STORY SUMMARY: This story actually uses an aspect of my story 'Changes and Ripples' where Harry had a disorder that prevents magical healing of injuries and illnesses. When Harry was a child, he and Dudley fall ill due to meningitis and have to live with disabilities resulting from it. The Dursleys, who are actually warm loving foster parents to Harry in this story, try to help as best they can along with Vernon's sister, Marge, and Sirius Black.
Also, since Harry is mostly deaf in this story, when words are in bold they are meant to signify something said in sign language.
HARRY POTTER: Damaged Doesn't Mean Broken
The inhabitants of #4 Privet Drive were normal enough, thank you very much. Well, as normal as could be, given the circumstances.
12 years ago, Vernon and Petunia had become the adoptive parents of Petunia's nephew, Harry Potter, after the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law at the hands of an evil wizard known as Lord Voldemort.
When he was just over a year old, Harry had been delivered to his aunt and uncle's house by his godfather, Sirius Black, who had wasted no time in purchasing the house across the street so as to keep a close eye on Harry.
The Dursleys had welcomed Harry with open arms and in no time, he was formally adopted into the family, to the delight of the Dursley's own son, Dudley, who took only a short amount of time to warm up to his new 'brother'.
However, life at #4 was not without its complications. When Sirius had delivered Harry to his new home, he'd had to relay the news that the child had a disorder that limited any magical healing—something crucial to note since Harry was a wizard.
Because of the disorder, Vernon and Petunia were informed, most injuries or illnesses that befell their nephew could not be healed or cured by magical means. Minor cuts and scrapes or very minor injuries could be taken care of, but major illnesses and injuries such as severe lacerations or broken bones would have to be taken care of at a local muggle hospital.
For a while, this complication didn't seem to have much of an impact on the Dursleys or Harry. But when Harry and Dudley were 8 years old, both fell seriously ill when a meningitis outbreak struck the boys' primary school. Both boys recovered, but both were left scarred by their illnesses. Dudley lost his hearing completely but to the relief of his parents suffered no other long term complications.
Harry wasn't so lucky. While he, too, suffered hearing loss, it was only partially—Eighty percent loss in his right ear and seventy-five percent loss in his left ear. But that wasn't the worst of it. Harry also developed septicemia as a result of the meningitis and lost his lower right leg shortly thereafter, only to have more of the limb amputated due to osteomyelitus a mere two weeks later.
No, #4 Privet Drive was not your average home with a normal family.
But what counts for 'normal' anyway?
'This isn't the way I wanted to start my summer holiday," Harry thought, dejectedly as he lay on the sofa in the sitting room, frowning dismally at the cast on his left leg.
Harry hadn't even been home a week when he'd missed a step coming down the stairs that morning. He'd landed hard on his left leg, breaking his ankle and severely damaging the ligaments in his knee, necessitating surgery and a week's stay in the hospital.
Once home again, Petunia had set Harry up in the sitting room on the couch with his crutches nearby as well as the hospital-recommended wheelchair just in case.
The main problem, Harry decided as he let out a long sigh, was that being mostly immobile made wearing the prosthetic on his right leg an annoyance. But if he needed to use the bathroom or get something to drink, he couldn't go anywhere if the prosthetic wasn't on… not unless he wanted to use the wheelchair… which he didn't.
Yes, this definitely counted as one of the worst summer holidays ever, Harry thought, firmly, wincing as his leg jostled as he shifted position slightly.
Catching movement nearby, Harry turned to see Dudley getting his attention before signing, 'Where's Mum? Dad and I have to go get Aunt Marge at the train station.'
"Aunt Petunia said she wanted to get something special for dessert," Harry replied, sighing as he spoke aloud. Dudley had always felt awkward speaking out loud after losing his hearing despite going to speech therapy with Harry. And while Harry didn't like talking out loud at school or in public, he didn't mind when he was at home. "Go on," Harry encouraged his cousin. "She'll be back soon. I think I can stay out of trouble for half an hour."
"Mum told me and Dad that someone should be here with you," Dudley insisted, speaking as he signed… a sure indicator that he was getting upset. "You know how she is about that. Especially with you being laid up right now."
"Sirius said he was coming over tonight for dinner," Harry replied, thinking quickly. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming over early."
'Sure. I'll have Dad call him to come over,' Dudley said, nodding. Sitting down at the other end of the sofa—being careful of Harry's leg—he asked, 'Are you okay? You've seemed really bummed out lately.'
"'Bummed out'?" Harry said, a snap in his voice. "I get to spend the whole summer with a broken leg and messed up knee. I'll still be on crutches when I go back to Hogwarts. And I'm already a freak at school because of the prosthetic leg and the fact that I'm one of three deaf students in the whole bloody castle!" Slumping back against the armrest of the sofa, Harry let out an exasperated sigh. "It's not fair."
Dudley stood, waiting for Harry look at him before he spoke again. "Harry, you are not a freak. And you think I like being one of a few deaf kids at my school? You're right—our situations suck. But at least you've got that whole magic thing. With your hearing aids you can hear as well as Mum or Dad. Me? I'll never have that." When Harry didn't respond, Dudley sighed and waited until he caught his father's attention before giving the sign for Harry's godfather. Turning back to his cousin, he said, "We'll be back in about an hour. Sirius should be here in a few minutes."
Sulking in silence, Harry couldn't deny that Dudley did have a point about one thing. Magic had been able to amplify the hearing aids Harry had worn since he first lost his hearing so that he could hear almost normally. Sirius and a healer from a local muggle/wizarding hospital—Waldenmyer Medical Center—had tried to do the same with Dudley's hearing aids but to no affect.
Harry remembered when he'd first started at Hogwarts, feeling everyone staring at him, either because of his limp because of his missing leg or the hearing aids he wore. Then there had been the fact that sometimes he started using sign language as he spoke, purely out of habit.
When he felt Sirius touch his shoulder to get his attention a short while later, Harry looked away, wanting to stay in his bubble of moping.
Sirius, however, knew Harry's habits and smirked as he sat on the arm rest at the opposite end of the sofa near Harry's foot. "So how long are you going to be ignoring everyone this time?" Sirius asked, signing as he spoke. Hiding a smile as Harry angrily removed his hearing aids and put them on the table behind him, Sirius was not so easily dissuaded. 'You don't want to talk? That's fine,' he went on, letting out a bark-like laugh when Harry shut his eyes tight.
When Harry had come home from the hospital when he was 8 years old, Sirius had done everything in his power to help his godson and the Dursleys adapt to the new situation. They had all learned sign language and had tried to encourage both boys to talk aloud as much as possible.
But while all that was fine on the deaf side of things, it was harder dealing with Harry's other physical disabilities. The loss of his leg coupled with the magical immunity disorder had caused Harry to get increasingly frustrated with school and his life in general. Three times previously—once during his second year at Hogwarts and twice at his muggle primary school—Harry had ended up with broken bones and each time seemed to be worse than the last.
In truth, Sirius was starting to worry about Harry going back to Hogwarts this year, especially because of the new security precautions put into place.
After the deaths of James and Lily Potter, Sirius had gone after their betrayer—another 'friend' by the name Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew. Pettigrew had been captured and locked up in Azkaban but had recently escaped and was now considered exceptionally dangerous. The wizarding world believed that the escaped convict would be after Harry to kill him and complete Lord Voldemort's work, but Sirius knew better. Pettigrew had no taste for blood but he wasn't above handing Harry over to others who would do the dirty work for him.
When Harry finally opened one eye to see if his godfather was still there, Sirius quickly said, "I need to talk to you about something. Okay?"
Harry begrudgingly opened his other eye, sighing in anticipation of another lecture. But he sat up when he noticed the fear and worry of Sirius's face. "What's wrong?"
And so Sirius explained everything. How he, Pettigrew, the Potters, and another student—Remus Lupin—had all once been friends at Hogwarts to how Wormtail went to Voldemort with the Potters' hiding place. When he was done, Sirius waited for Harry's response when he noticed Petunia standing in the foyer. Standing quickly, Sirius didn't know what to say or how to ask Harry's aunt how much she had heard.
Twisting around to see what had alerted his godfather, Harry ignored the pain in his leg as he grabbed his crutches and slowly stood up as well, turning to see his aunt standing there. "Aunt Petunia," Harry said in surprise. "W-We didn't know you were home yet."
Petunia's expression was unreadable as she set her bags of groceries down on the floor and spoke to Sirius, signing for Harry's benefit as she'd noticed he'd taken his hearing aids out. "Sirius, help Harry upstairs to his room and then come back down and help me with dinner."
Sirius nodded, silently, understanding that there was to be no argument on the subject. Turning to Harry, he looked apologetic as he grabbed Harry's hearing aids and helped the boy slowly climb the stairs and head down the hallway into his bedroom.
Once in his room, Harry carefully sat down on his bed, which was positioned against the left wall, before judging which way to position himself. If he chose to face the door, he'd have to get his prosthetic leg up first followed by his casted leg. It would be more painful to get his bad leg up and down that way, but on the plus side, he'd be able to see the door.
On the other hand, if Harry had his back to the door, he wouldn't be able to tell if someone was coming but it would be a little easier to get up when Petunia had dinner ready.
Looking at Harry, then at the bed, Sirius quickly grabbed one of Harry's pillows and put it behind his godson who caught on to the idea. Watching Harry slowly and painfully scoot backwards until his back was against the pillow, Sirius wished there was some way he could make things easier for the boy. As it was, there wasn't anything magic could do to help Harry heal faster.
Once his left leg was properly supported by the other pillows on the bed, Harry removed the main part of the prosthetic, setting it beside him. It felt more comfortable that way and as long as he didn't take off the sheath and sock, it would be easy to put the leg back on.
"Anything I can get you?" Sirius asked, looking at Harry.
Harry pointed to his homework on the desk and after Sirius helped him get set up, he said, "Thanks, Sirius. I'll be okay."
Sirius nodded once and after leaving the room, he headed downstairs for the berating he knew was coming.
x
Petunia Dursley had been jealous of her sister for years. Lily's magical abilities had seemed wondrous and Petunia wished that she could go to a castle to learn to cast spells and brew potions. That jealousy had slowly caused a rift between the two sisters—a rift that had only started to be mended when Lily had told Petunia that she was pregnant. The two expectant mothers began visiting frequently, already planning playdates between their children and Lily had even started talking James into looking into a house on Privet Drive so that Harry could grow up with his aunt, uncle, and cousin right down the street.
When Sirius Black had delivered a newly orphaned Harry Potter on a cold, dark Halloween night, Petunia felt her heart break as she heard how her sister and brother-in-law had misplaced their trust in a school friend who had sold them out to Voldemort. Petunia had promised Sirius to tell Harry the truth of his parents' deaths when he was older, but she swore to herself that she wouldn't tell him the darkest parts of the tale. There would be time when he was much older, she'd told herself.
Now Harry knew the whole story and Petunia was trying not to feel scared for her nephew, especially after hearing that Peter Pettigrew had escaped Azkaban Prison.
"Petunia, I thought you'd told Harry about—" Sirius had started when he entered the kitchen.
Petunia cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I'm not angry…not really," she admitted, starting to chop onions and garlic for her favorite pasta meat sauce. "I just didn't think it was necessary to tell Harry everything. Especially with Pettigrew locked up."
Sirius nodded understandingly as he began browning the ground beef and sausage for the meat sauce. It was Petunia's favorite recipe and he'd had in quite a few times before. "But we can't protect him forever, Petunia. I mean, last year with the basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets was—"
"Maybe we should pull Harry out of Hogwarts," Petunia blurted out, suddenly. When Sirius stopped what he was doing to turn and look at her, she let out every thought she'd been holding back for the past year. "Harry can't be healed by magic. He's already lost one leg and most of his hearing. And then the accident on the stairs? Sirius, it seems like each injury Harry gets is worst than the last. He needed extensive surgery on his leg this last time. Before that at Hogwarts he broke his arm playing that ridiculous game and needed surgery. He broke his collarbone two years before that and right after he recovered from the meningitis he broke his leg on the playground at school."
Sirius held back any comments about Harry's magical immunity disorder but he knew that it only seemed that Harry's injuries were escalating because he was getting older and becoming more active. But he couldn't deny that the same fears and worries were weighing on his own mind more and more. Maybe he should suggest to McGonagall that Harry be banned from Quidditch during his third year?
The more he pondered that idea, however, the more Sirius didn't like it. Quidditch was one of the few things in Harry's life that didn't count on being able to hear or walk. Going back to his cooking, he glumly realized that trying to keep Harry safe was the best he could do… whatever that meant nowadays.
x
It had started raining when Dudley and Vernon pulled into the driveway with Aunt Marge, a normally brusque woman who raised Australian Shepards for shows and to breed. She was very well known and very well respected in dog show circles and had the most champion dogs out of every other breeder and trainer in the region.
Today, Marge had brought along her favorite dog, a blue merle Aussie named Abby—a sweetheart if ever there was one. Once in Vernon's car, the dog had settled in the backseat with her head in Dudley's lap who petted her until she started to fall asleep.
"I feel absolutely terrible about this visit," Marge admitted as they got closer to her brother's house. "You shouldn't have to put me up when you and Petunia are already dealing with my poor nephew's injury. What have the doctor said? Will Harry's leg be okay?"
Grateful that Dudley couldn't hear the conversation, Vernon shrugged. "They fixed his ankle and knee but even once he heals he'll need physical therapy." Catching his sister's look, Vernon frowned slightly. "We don't know if he's going to be able to walk without the crutches… or at least without some sort of support."
Marge nodded thoughtfully as the rest of the car ride went by in silence. There was something about Harry she liked very much. When Vernon and Petunia had first told her that Harry would be a wizard and that a dark wizard had murdered his parents, she'd thought for sure that her brother and sister-in-law had gone mental. But Harry's godfather had come by and after much discussion and a few demonstrations from Sirius, Marge had been convinced.
She was, however, still baffled that Harry couldn't be healed by magic. That seemed highly unlikely especially since Harry's parents had both possessed magical abilities
The car pulled into the driveway just as the rain began to let up and once everyone and the luggage was inside, Abby shook the water off of her fur and began looking around curiously.
"I've been telling her she was going to get to see Harry as well," Marge explained to Vernon who looked puzzled.
"Harry is upstairs in his room," Petunia explained as she started to set the table. Turning to Dudley, she asked, "Do you mind getting him?"
'Sure,' Dudley replied, heading for the stairs after grabbing his aunt's bags.
Marge smiled and waited until Dudley had started taking her things upstairs to the spare room before she looked at Petunia, Vernon, and Sirius. Recognizing sending Dudley out of the room as a need to have a private conversation., she studied the others shrewdly. "What's going on?"
x
Upstairs in his room, Harry had just finished his Charms homework when the lights flickered briefly—Dudley's signal that he was coming into the room. Setting his homework aside—and making sure his ink bottles were very secure, Harry looked away for a second before saying, "I'm sorry I got so upset earlier. I just hate… I hate being deaf…even partially. I hate that I'm missing a leg… and I hate that Sirius can't fix me up good as new when I get hurt. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you and I am sorry."
Dudley sat down on Harry's desk chair and studied his cousin for a while. "I'm your friend, Harry. I'm your family, your friend… Whatever you need." Grinning, he stood and added, "Come on. Mum made spaghetti and meat sauce."
Harry carefully inched forward and took his crutches, slowly standing after putting his prosthetic back on. Once he was up, he followed Dudley downstairs to dinner.