Chapter 2: Discovery

Harry sat on a bed in the hospital wing while Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and did some scans on him. He knew that he would have to tell her what happened.

"Mr. Potter," said Madam Pomfrey. "I'm sorry to say that you have lost your sight, and there's nothing that can be done to restore it. Please tell me what happened to cause this in the first place. My scan showed that you were stabbed in the eyes. Who did this to you?"

"I stabbed myself in the eyes," he said nervously.

Madam Pomfrey knew at once that he was lying. The way he sounded and looked told her that he was hiding something.

"Good try, Mr. Potter, but I don't believe for a second that you did that," said Madam Pomfrey. "Please tell me the truth."

"That is the truth!" Harry said.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. She went into her office and fire-called the headmaster. Within minutes, Headmaster Dumbledore was in the room, followed by Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall.

"Harry," said Dumbledore. "What happened to your eyes?"

"I stabbed myself in the eyes!" Harry said, more confidently this time.

Dumbledore shook his head at the other staff in the room. Harry was lying to them.

"If he's going to lie about it, then let's take a look into his mind to find out the truth!" said Professor Snape.

"No Severus. Harry is too young for that, and doing that on a student is not allowed," said Dumbledore.

"Then how else are we going to find out what happened?" Professor Snape asked.

"Would it maybe help if he saw someone who knows what he's going through, and someone who is good at getting the truth out?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Who are you suggesting?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"The person we all know who lost their sight before starting their first year here, who has trained as a mind healer, and works with blind people," said Professor McGonagall.

All of the staff seemed to know exactly whom Professor McGonagall was talking about.

Madam Pomfrey went back into her office, and came back a few minutes later with two people.

"Hello Harry," said a lady's voice. "My name is Kelsey. I'm a medi-witch like Madam Pomfrey is. She and I are going to work on healing the injuries that were caused by the stabbing of your eyes."

Harry sighed. Another nurse to fuss over him, great. This was turning out to be worse than he thought.

"He doesn't like being in here," said Madam Pomfrey. "He thinks I fuss over him too much."

"Then with me here, it'll be double that!" said Kelsey.

"Oh come on, both of you," said a man's voice Harry did not recognize. "You're both not helping with his dislike of being in here."

Harry could tell that Kelsey and Madam Pomfrey were close friends.

"Harry," said the man's voice. "Ignore those two for a minute. My name is Scott. I am a counselor at a training institute in London. I am just going to ask you some questions, and then we'll see what can be done for you."

Harry gulped. A counselor? But Aunt Petunia had always told him that counselors were for people who are mental. So this must make him mental.

Kelsey and Madam Pomfrey worked on healing Harry's injuries, but when Kelsey did a scan for the rest of his body, she almost screamed. Madam Pomfrey gasped. Scott seemed to be confused, so Kelsey turned the results of the scan into braille for him to read. When he was done reading it, the rest of the staff in the room looked at it. Everyone was just as confused as Kelsey was.

Harry was confused, because he wasn't sure what the big deal was.

"Harry, I am aware that your parents were killed. Whom do you live with?" Scott asked.

"My Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon," said Harry, sounding confused. "Why?"

"Do they treat you well?" Scott asked.

Harry fidgeted for a moment. He knew that he had to lie and say that they treat him ok, but he was scared that if Scott found out that Harry had lied, he would be in trouble. He had apparently tuned out everything around him, because the next thing he knew, there was a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Mr. Potter, Scott asked you a question," said Professor Snape.

"Yes, they treat me fine," Harry quickly said, hoping that was good enough of an answer.

"I think there's something you're hiding from us," said Scott.

Harry's heart dropped. Scott knew that Harry was lying. What would happen now?

"Do your aunt and uncle have any children?" Scott asked.

"Yes, a son named Dudley."

"How does he treat you?" Scott asked.

"He treats me fine! Leave me alone!" Harry said. He was quickly losing his temper. He stood to leave, but just when he was about to leave, Professor Snape moved forward and grabbed his shoulders.

"You're not leaving until we say you can," said Professor Snape. "Now sit down."

Harry sighed in defeat. It looked as though this was only the beginning.

"I know this is a touchy subject for you Harry, but I need you to be honest with me," said Scott.

Something in Scott's tone of voice tore down all his walls. He knew that there would be no getting out of this one.

"According to what I saw in your results of the scan Kelsey did, you have bruises, scrapes, cuts, and so many more things, all over your body. So someone had to be doing this to you. Can you tell me who?"

"M-my uncle," Harry said quietly.

"How often does he hurt you?"

"Whenever I'm bad," Harry said.

"And when are you bad?"

"If I don't do my chores when I'm supposed to, when I don't do something exactly right, and well, whenever they say I'm bad."

Scott didn't like this at all. It seemed that Harry had been abused more than anyone knew. All of the teachers were thinking close to the same thing.

"What do they call you?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Boy or Freak," Harry said. He knew that he had said too much. He felt like he was going to pass out.

Scott and Professor Snape seemed to notice Harry panicking before anyone else. Professor Snape glared at the headmaster. This was his fault. Why would this old man leave a child with a family like this?

Scott could have used calming magic, but decided that Harry might feel uncomfortable with that, only just met him, so he instead, tried to calm him down by telling him how to breathe. After a couple of minutes, Harry calmed down.

"Back with us? Well, I just have a couple more questions for you today. Firstly, does Dudley intentionally hurt you?"

"Yes."

"Was it him who stabbed your eyes?" Scott asked. All the staff stood, waiting to see if it was what they hoped it wasn't.

"Yes," Harry said, almost in a whisper.

Harry turned away from everyone and said, "Now leave me alone."

Madam Pomfrey had Harry drink a Dreamless Sleep Potion, explaining that he would be staying there for the night.

Twenty minutes later, there was a big group of people in the headmaster's office. Scott, Professors Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick, Kelsey, a lady named Karen, and another lady named Shannon.

"Good evening to you all. My name is Shannon, and I'm the programs manager for the company I work for. Next to me is Karen. She's a counselor at the Training Institute For The Blind in London. And of course, you all know Scott already. We all are here to discuss the services that our company can provide for Harry. But before we get started, can anyone tell me whose idea it was to leave Harry with his aunt and uncle?"

"It was mine," said Dumbledore.

"And why would you leave a child at a place like that?" Karen asked.

"Well, he is safe there, and safety comes first," said Dumbledore.

"Safe from what, exactly?" Karen asked.

"From Voldemort and his Death Eaters," said Dumbledore.

"Albus, I understand that you wanted Harry to be safe and protected from Voldemort, but he wasn't safe or protected from his family," said Scott.

"Well, I'll just talk to them and tell them to treat him better," said Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall and Shannon glared at him.

"No. Harry's not going back to that place!" said Professor McGonagall angrily. "What are you thinking?"

"Minerva's right," said Shannon. "I don't really know who this Voldemort person is, but he must be pretty scary."

"Oh he is," said Professor McGonagall. "He is a Dark Lord who was defeated in 1981. He is always targeting Harry. We're afraid that he might come back to power someday."

"He kills everyone who crosses his path, whether it's a Muggle or not," said Snape.

Shannon and Karen didn't like the sound of this dark lord at all.

"Well, it's this simple. He's not going back there. He might be protected from a dark lord, but he's not protected in the home," said Shannon.

The rest of the staff nodded in agreement. Dumbledore sighed. He was losing this battle.

"Where will he stay?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Everyone looked at Dumbledore, expecting him to have the answer.

"I am sure that the Weasleys would like to take him in," he said slowly.

"Then that's settled," said Professor McGonagall, before he could change his mind. "I will send a letter to the Weasley family later tonight."

"Good," said Shannon. "Now, about Harry's services with us. First, Harry needs an assigned counselor. Our choices are Karen or Scott. However, I think it would be best to have Scott be Harry's counselor, because Scott's magical, has lost his sight as well, but in a different way, and he is a trained mind healer, and by the sounds of it, Harry's pretty emotional."

Everyone agreed on that decision.

"Harry will come to me if Scott's not available," said Karen.

"Good, thank you Shannon and Karen," said Scott. "I believe that Harry should get some training at The Training Institute For The Blind. I understand that this would affect his classes here, and I understand that he loves it here, but he can always do his homework at the Training Institute, and I can help him with the subjects, if needed."

"How long would he be there?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"It really depends on the student. Some stay for a couple of weeks, and some stay for several months. It depends on what he needs to learn, and the pace of his learning."

"Well, I don't see why not," said Professor Flitwick. "You can always help him with the homework. After all, you got all O's on every class you took here, and you took every single class Hogwarts offer. I still don't understand how you did it, and still had time for fun."

"I agree," said Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter can get his training and do his homework all while at the Training Institute."

"It's settled then," said Shannon. "Harry will be able to see his friends anytime, as long as it's before 2200. Harry will leave in the morning."

The staff all agreed on this plan before departing for the night.