The Talisman VII: The Journey

By chips challenge

Chapter 02: Jenner, Part 02

Harry refused to open his eyes. He was awake, but he'd never felt this horrible before. Not even when he'd woken up in the Dark Lord's dungeons had he felt this bad. He felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on his head - and they were still sitting there crunching down on his skull. Every slight movement, even the thought of breathing, brought him more pain. He tried to remain still, but he could stop breathing. He couldn't stop his heart from beating.

He felt a cold breeze blow across his forehead giving him a chill. Breeze? He wondered. Ground? He opened his eyes just a slit, but the pain intensified when the dark air hit his eyes. What was wrong with him? Even the air made his body hurt. He had to get back, he knew that. Portkey. Jenner had insisted that he take a Portkey with him. Where was it? Yes, he'd put it in the pocket of his cloak, but the though of moving his hand that far made him cringe and his head ached even more. The pain seemed to be building again until it faded into blackness.

Harry heard sounds around him. Familiar sounds, but he couldn't really place them. He was pretty sure they were sounds that he shouldn't be able to hear just then, but the fact that he did comforted him slightly even if he did rather he was back in his quiet darkness.

"Harry? Can you hear me?" Harry heard the unfamiliar voice speak, and he tried to block it out, but even that small action made his head pound. He didn't respond or make any indication that he'd heard anything. Maybe the person would just go away and he could fade back into unconsciousness.

"Harry? Answer please if you can," the voice persisted. Who was that talking above him and why was she so persistent that he answer? No, he couldn't answer. Even the thought of shaking his head almost made him want to scream out. What in the world happened, Harry wondered. Why was he in so much pain? He decided that he would have to open his eyes or say something if he wanted to find out the answers to these questions.

"Yes…" Harry said. His own voice sounded strange to him. His whole being felt strange and different somehow. He tried opening his eyes and found that wherever he was, was pleasantly free of bright light. He didn't want to risk moving his head around to see who was with him or where he was because he wasn't sure that he would be able to remain conscious through the ordeal, but then again maybe that would be for the best. He also noticed that he was laying on something soft and while he wasn't comfortable, he knew that he wasn't still lying on the cold ground of the forest. But how had he gotten here? He didn't remember being able to reach his Portkey.

"Good. Can you tell me where you are?"

'Well, I'm in a room that has a ceiling. Nice beige it is,' Harry thought. He tried to shake his head, but he almost blacked out at the movement.

"I guess it was pretty strong," The voice said clearly talking to someone else. "He still seems to be feeling a strong aftereffect."

"How much longer is this expected to affect him?"

Harry clearly recognized that voice. Yes, it was someone he knew, was familiar with, and someone who could help him. He felt relief washing over his fear, the fear he had yet to place.

"I'm not sure. This usually happens when wizards are much younger. You probably remember it from your childhood. I'm not sure why it took him much longer. Maybe it was because he had some much more to come into. Even Headmaster Dumbledore recovered in a day or so, so I don't think you have much to worry about."

"I can not help but be worried about him. We thought that he had already come into his magic. He was all ready able to do fairly complicated magic."

That's Professor Snape, Harry's mind registered. But Snape was worried? That wasn't right. Snape was supposed to have the answers for everything, and who was this person that he was talking to? He had to find out what was going on. His curiosity began to grow stronger than his desire to prevent any more pain.

"What?" That was about all he could get out of his mouth.

"Don't try to do anything right now, Harry. I'll get you another sleeping potion and maybe you'll feel better the next time you wake up." Snape. Snape was getting him another sleeping potion. Another? He didn't remember taking one to begin with. How long had this been going on? Had he woken up before? He had trouble remembering much of anything before waking up just now. But before he could think on that much more, he felt a vial at his lips and was in no position to refuse as the potion was poured into his mouth. He felt the pain diffusing and his head clearing only as his consciousness was lost.

Harry felt the haze in his head dissipating as he felt himself coming into consciousness again. The pain was less this time and he did recall how much worse it had been before. He took several, slow deep breaths with out feeling too much pain before he decided to try opening his eyes again. When he did open his eyes, he found that he was still in the strange room, but this time there was no one else there. He was able to move his head without too much pain, but he decided not to press his luck and try actually getting out of bed. His limbs just felt too heavy like they somehow felt like they weren't his. He just felt wrong - or maybe just different.

"Harry, how are you feeling?" Harry looked over and saw a witch dressed in white hospital robes. He was in the hospital? Well it made sense; he sure did feel pretty bad. And he wasn't in the hospital wing. No this was some kind of private room.

"Umm, I'm not sure. What happened?"

"It's complicated. Jenner would like to come in and explain it to you, if you can wait until I give you a quick check-up."

"Yeah okay," Harry said as pieces of the conversation from the previous time he'd woken up began to filter into his mind.

The witch pulled out her wand and began doing some tests and writing some things down on a piece of parchment. Then she looked at him and said, "Well, you seem to be getting some of your strength back, that's good. Hopefully you'll be able to eat something today. Maybe one of Professor Snape's strengthening potions."

Harry made a face at that thought and heard a soft chuckle from the witch. "I'll go get Jenner now, and maybe we can discuss your prognosis after he's finished talking to you, all right?'

Harry just nodded. He could do little but just lay there and wait. After a few moments, he heard footsteps coming into his room. He tried to roll over towards the sound, but only managed to grunt at his failure.

"Harry," Jenner said.

"Sir."

"I can make the bed help you sit up," he said.

Harry started to nod, but then just replied, "Okay." He heard an incantation, and then the bed folded and lifted him into a seated position. Jenner sat down on one of the chairs beside his bed, but didn't say anything.

"Professor Snape wanted me to give you this," Jenner said holding out a small vial filled with clear liquid.

"Snape is here?" Harry asked, but then he remembered hearing his Master's voice.

"Professor Snape was here. We have all been quite concerned about you." Jenner held out the vial again.

"What is it?" Harry asked; he knew that it didn't really matter what it was. If Snape wanted him to take it, he would.

"It's a strong muscle relaxant," Jenner replied.

"But why?" Harry asked.

"Because your muscles have been through a lot of strain. Allowing them to relax will help them heal faster."

"But then I won't be able to move, will I?"

"You won't be any worse off than you are right now, and you body will be able to heal," Jenner explained."

"Oh alright, but will you please tell me what happened?"

"I have no intention of keeping that from you, Harry, thought I suspect you'll be able to figure it out for yourself."

Harry didn't reply. He didn't want to admit that he had no idea what was going on. He was a little afraid that it had something to do with Voldemort, and all he could remember was something about doing magic and Professor Dumbledore. He waited for Jenner to continue.

Jenner remained silent as he brought the vial to Harry's lips, and the younger wizard drank the potion. Soon, Harry felt some of the pain in his limbs dissipate. In fact, he couldn't really feel his limbs at all.

"How do you feel now?" Jenner asked.

"Better," Harry replied.

"As compared to normal," Jenner clarified.

"Pretty bad," Harry said.

"Could you be more specific?"

"I don't know. I feel strange. My head hurts, but I pretty much can't feel anything else."

"Here - for your headache," Jenner uncorked another vial and fed it to Harry. "The other you'll just have to get used to, I'm afraid."

"What are you talking about?" Harry began to look around a bit for the first time and he saw that he was in what looked like someone's bedroom. There was a chest of drawers on the other side of the room and pictures on the walls. They were too far away for him to tell what the pictures were and he wasn't wearing his glasses, but he knew that he wasn't in a normal hospital ward. "And where am I?"

"You're in my room. There was really no need to take you to a hospital, because there was really nothing that they could do for you. You just came into your magic. The power the Dark Lord knows not."

"No, you're not quoting prophecies, are you?"

"I just want you to understand the magnitude of what has happened to you."

"What do you mean? I'm weak. I can hardly move at all."

"That's a result of gaining a substantial amount of power in a short time. You will recover in time."

"What kind of power?" Harry asked.

"That remains to be seen, I suppose. Once you are feeling better."

"Wait, what happened, why did this happen now all of a sudden? I thought I heard that nurse say something about how this usually happens to children."

"Well, that's generally how it does happen. Children come into their power around age 10 or 11 and then come to Hogwarts to learn how to use it. But you were doing magic with the rest of the children so all the teachers just assumed that you had come into your power as well. You have been doing wandless magic," Jenner said.

"I know, but I mean how did I do magic at all?" Harry asked.

"Just because you haven't or hadn't officially come into your power doesn't mean that you can't do magic. It's very common for even young children to do accidental magic, and many children learn basic spells while they are still quite young. 'Coming into your power' just means that you magic has matured and likely won't get substantially stronger."

"Oh, so this is something that everyone goes through," Harry said.

"Well not exactly. For most children it's just like a growing pain - something that is annoying, but hardly noticed. For a few, it is much more difficult."

Harry groaned, of course it would be more difficult for him. He never seemed to get through anything like a normal person not even Wizarding things. But he figured that he should be used to it by now.

"Why now?"

"Well, it's probably been building up for a while. I suspect that it was bound to happen pretty soon. I suspect you just got emotional and triggered it. What were you doing in the woods before you activated your portkey?"

"Er…I was just thinking about…" How Dumbledore's death was my fault Harry remembered. He suddenly felt his muscles clench up even though the effects of the muscle relaxing potion. He felt white light in his head and then felt suddenly dizzy and weak like he wouldn't move again – ever. Harry felt a hand on his forehead and a calming feeling began to fill his head slowly spreading to the rest of his body. Harry closed his eyes and let the feeling consume him.

"Deep breath, Harry."

The voice brought Harry's consciousness back to the room and he gasped for breath. Slowly he began to concentrate on his breathing, and he felt his body relax. He let his eyes side open and saw that Jenner was sitting right beside him on the bed.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure," Jenner responded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to aggravate your condition. I thought you were done."

"Done with what?"

"Your magic. Generally it just happens once and while it may take awhile to heal, you shouldn't have any more episodes like that."

"What do you mean? I just felt my muscles tensing. That's not a big deal, is it?" Harry asked.

"It is when you've just taken a Tralazor potion. I could feel the magic around you. How are you feeling now?"

"Just like before, I guess," Harry responded. "It's not any worse. But yeah I could feel something, too. I just didn't know what it was."

"I'm going to call the healer back. Keep concentrating on your breathing. I'll be right back."

Harry nodded, but stopped quickly as his head screamed. "Okay," he replied. He was going to add that he didn't feel any worse and that Jenner need not bother the healer again but doubted he would get very far with that line of though and didn't waste his breath.