Well finally here's another one. I really would like to apologize to everyone who had been waiting, for the delay but I actually don't want to rush anything. I enjoy writing at my pace, plus I have loads of other commitments as well. I am already working on the next chapter so I will be working towards finishing that as soon as I can.
* Someone mentioned Hermione's sleep deprivation and how the last chapter had some unrealistic occurrence where she was busy doing research rather than sleeping I would like to thank you for pointing that out. Tbh I totally overlooked that but due to your wonderful critique I was able to make up for that in this chapter. So please keep the reviews and critics coming.
~zik~
Chapter 3 - When Green met Blue
"Well I certainly cannot barge into St. Mungos and tell the receptionist what my problem is." Harry stated matter of factly.
The trio had just finished dinner after deciding that the course of action was for Harry to see a healer from St. Mungos and were now walking back towards the Gryffindor tower to get changed.
"And obviously you can't go to any healer just like that. The secret of the horcruxes needs to be protected." Hermione added with a thoughtful look.
"Well we could go to Madam Pomphrey." Ron stated.
After administering the quizzical look from the other two he added, "I meant to ask if she could refer to a suitable trustworthy healer. I am sure she has her contacts,"
"I suppose that could work. To the infirmary then?" Hermione questioned.
Harry nodded and the trio turned to go towards the infirmary.
-/-/-
"Miss Granger. If you are here to request for another dose of the wideye potion, I am sorry I have to decline." Madam Pomphrey addressed sternly as the trio walked into the infirmary.
Ron gave a confused look but understanding dawned on Harry as he turned towards Hermione and gave her a glare. She had obviously taken the wideye potion to do the research while Harry and Ron were asleep. Now that Harry gave a thorough glance at Hermione's features he could see the telltale sign of sleep deprivation with exhaustion clearly visible and her sunken eye sockets only further expressing her haunted look.
Hermione gave a small smile obviously not wanting to go through a lecturing session with Harry and Ron.
"Ehh.. no Madam Pomphrey. That is not the reason for our visit. Actually we wanted to get Harry inspected by a healer and since you are already so busy with the current occupants of the infirmary we were hoping that you could suggest someone competent from St. Mungos." Hermione stated.
Madam Pomphrey turned towards Harry and gave him a top to toe concerned look before stating, "And what, if I may ask, is wrong with Mr. Potter?"
Ron started to say something but was quickly beaten to it by Hermione, "He did survive a killing curse for the second time in his life. We just wanted to be sure there are no repercussions."
That seemed to work for Madam Pomphrey who gave an understanding nod.
"Also given his status we actually want this to be kept very private therefore we would need someone we can trust with whatever comes outs of this examination. That is if anything does come out since it's just a routine check." Hermione added trying to play down the apparent need for secrecy.
This however didn't go unnoticed by Madam Pomphrey as she perked up at the apparent concern in Hermione's voice but she didn't press the matter.
"Fair enough. I would suggest Healer Anne Eltington. She is a very gifted professional and we happened to be in the same batch during our healer training. She also specialises in Magical Anomaly examinations so I think she would perfectly suit your requirements."
She gave a small smile at the end of her sentence which indicated that Harry's exceptionally increased spell casting didn't go unnoticed by her sharp eyes and the fact that she was aware of their reason to visit a healer.
"If I may state that this is the best course of action Mr. Potter and I would've suggested it myself after witnessing your spell casting during the Greengrass affair this morning." She added.
Harry gave her a warm smile which she returned in kind.
"Here take this with you." She scribbled something on a parchment and handed it to Harry. "This referral will ensure that Healer Eltington sees you without an appointment. Then again the Boy-who-conquered wouldn't really need an appointment I suppose. But in any case it will help."
Harry took the parchment and thanked Madam Pomphrey.
Turning to Hermione Madam Pomphrey said, "And as for you Miss Granger I would strongly discourage you from accompanying Mr. Potter and urge you to get some sleep instead. By the looks of it you really need it."
Hermione looked as if she was about to argue but one look at Harry told her it was best not to press the matter as she nodded to acquiesce.
"Ron you should also stay with Hermione to make sure that she gets some rest. We don't want her to rush of to the library instead of resting." Harry stated with another glare at Hermione.
He was angry that she did not take care of her as she should. Didn't she realise how much she and Ron meant to her. And for her to act in such a childish manner now when they had finally defeated Voldermort, when they finally had a reason to live in this new world free from the shackles of oppression, was absurd.
Ron nodded in understanding and gestured Hermione to move holding her hand as they exited the infirmary.
"Now Poppy, would you be so kind as to let me use your office floo." Harry asked with a mischievous grin.
Madam Pomphrey reddened at his use of her nickname before shaking her head and replying, "You are Jame's son alright. Be my guest", motioning him towards the fireplace in her office and offering him some floo powder from a flask on her table.
Taking the powder Harry entered the fireplace as Madam Pomphrey watched him vanish in the green flames with a sprinkle and muttered "St. Mungos".
-/-/-
All she could see was the enveloping darkness pressing from every direction. Fear, despair and inner turmoil taking its toll on her usually confidence being. As she sat there feeling broken a sense of dread overcame her. And now she heard voices, growing louder as the darkness approached; screaming, pleading for help.
She felt cold as if someone had plunged an icy dagger into her soul. Tears running down her face she pressed her hands to her ears trying to block the noise but to no avail. And then there was a light; warmth spread throughout her body, the noises reduced to mere murmurs and then to nothing. This ending was new to her.
She had had similar dreams all day but it never ended in this fashion. She had to reach the light; it was calling to her. Just a bit further, it was right there. She could feel something inside her; it made her happy. She extended her hand…
A commotion in the adjoining hallway caused her to wake up from her semi-slumber. She perked up to find out the source of the commotion but failed. The excited chatter diminished gradually which she accredited to the source of the excitement moving away towards the southern wing.
Astoria was perched on a stool next to her bed; her head slumped onto the bedside table over her folded arms. She must've fallen asleep while sitting there waiting on her. She could here distinct murmurs in the adjacent room and could barely discern her parent's voices.
Taking a moment to dwell upon her surroundings she found it exactly the same as she remembered before the Dreamless Sleeping potion took its toll on her. But something felt different; something inside her. She felt at ease; she felt whole as if a part of her which was lost had found its place back where it belonged.
The horrors of the previous night was still there playing over and over again in her mind but now there was also a sense of protection, she felt safe.
She would never be able to completely forget the scene she had seen unfold in front of her watching Greyback mutilate a girl beyond recognition before moving towards Lavender Brown. She couldn't understand what came over her but she had to do something; so she had cast a stunner only to see it bounce harmlessly over his semi-transformed werewolf form.
However, it was enough to get his attention away from Brown. The only issue was that know his attention was on her. With strides that complimented his superhuman abilities Fenrir Greyback was in front of her within seconds. A shove had sent her slamming side-first into the wall; her wand flying away from her. Leaping, Greyback stood over her pinning her shoulders with his forearms.
This was it, she could feel it. The grin on his contorted face told the whole story very clearly. His eyes had a lustful hunger clearly showing how much satisfaction this mutilating act gave him. She shuddered in despair; this is how it will end. Teeth barred he had gone for the first nip. She had closed her eyes in dread anticipation.
Then there was a thud. All of a sudden her shoulders were free. She opened her eyes to see a dishevelled Professor Lupin and Greyback engaged in a duel. Yet she couldn't move. The last she remembered was hearing a rumble from above as a stray reducto from Greyback had hit the columns next to her before everything went dark.
-/-/-
"I would like to see Healer Anne Etington please." Harry said to the very oblivious young receptionist who very busily going through a set of parchment.
"Do you have an appointment." She asked without looking up.
"No…" Harry started but was cut off by the irate receptionist.
"Healer Eltington doesn't see anyone without prior appointment so I would urge you not to waste my time and yours" She was still immersed in the papers.
"Perhaps this would suffice." Harry stated flatly holding out the referral from Madam Pomphrey.
Finally looking up from the receptionist face turned from a frown to shock and then to utter embarrassment as she contemplated between Harry and the referral.
"Holy Morgana. You are Harry Potter." It was more a statement then a question. Harry nodded.
"I am extremely sorry for my misbehaviour Mr. Potter. I was having a pretty rough day and I didn't see you earlier." She continued.
"It is alright. Really, you were just doing your job. I don't expect preferential treatment. Here take this and tell me if it is possible for me to see Healer Eltington today." Harry said handing her the referral.
"Offcourse. Hogwarts is a priority slot for her. If you would just wait in the review room I will inform her of your arrival." She stated pointing towards a door on his right.
The review room was a quaint room furnished with a comfortable looking bed like the ones back at the Hogwarts infirmary and a neat set of table and chairs. Harry slipped into one of the chairs and started fidgeting with his Phoenix Wand.
The thought had struck him while returning from St. Mungos earlier that day and he had tried it out with good results as soon as he reached the seclusion of his dorm. The reparo spell cast from the Elder wand had completely repaired his Phoenix wand. A quick spell later he found out that it worked as good as before.
Having it with him right now gave him a familiar sense of relief. He had missed this feeling since the Godrics Hollow incident and was glad to be re-united with his wand. However, if the past year had taught him anything it was 'constant vigilance', owing to which the elder wand was also stuffed inside his robe. Mad-Eye would be proud.
He wondered what Mad-eye would say to him constantly attracting attention. The little ruckus his arrival a while ago had created was the sort of thing he obviously wanted to avoid in the future. All it had taken was someone to shout his name before he was surrounded by a mob of people in the lobby each trying to get his attention.
His eyes had wandered towards the emergency ward to which he had brought the Greengrass girl and her family that morning and he had felt a really strong urge to go towards the ward but the little mob had convinced him otherwise as he strode away from the crowd towards the southern wing after stopping to get pointed directions from a flustered young desk clerk who somehow started to have difficulty speaking.
The door closing brought him out of his thoughts. A charming lady walked inside with graceful movements. She had red hair and a few wrinkles on her face were divulging signs that she was not as young as her body and gait would suggest. What captured Harry were her fiery eyes which seemed to look right through one's soul. And yet they were not cruel eyes. There was a slight gentleness about her features which prompted Harry that he was in good hands.
-/-/-
"As far as I can tell Mr Potter, your core is indeed expanding." Healer Eltington stated ending the diagnostic spell.
It had been more than an hour since Harry had exchanged introductions with Anne as she had advised him to call her. Harry had told her about all the occurrence of the day post the duel with Voldermort intentionally leaving out details about him being a vessel of a part of Voldemort's Soul.
If she deemed anything amiss she didn't let on. After Harry's description she had cast multiple diagnostic spells while an advanced version of the quick notes quill apparently recorded the results on a parchment.
Anne had then given him a few potions to drink prior to casting a few more diagnostics spells at him.
More than one spell had been cast at his scar and muttered "hmm" and nod of Anne's head had indicating that apparently she was getting somewhere.
"From my diagnostic of your scar it is apparent that a very dark curse has been recently lifted from you. I'll be honest with you that the amount of residual energy from the curse was shocking but not unheard off." She continued when Harry remained quiet.
"Are there any side effects?" Harry asked with a blank expression.
"Bursts of accidental magic and unintended casting strength to name a few. There could be a few others but I think nothing dangerous. Once the expansion is complete the core will stabilise and you will achieve greater magical strength than you have ever experienced before; from the numbers I can say greater than anyone in the last 100 years may have experienced before." She answered with a pondering look on Harry whose blank expression didn't leave him throughout the revelation.
"By your expression I assume that you had figured this out already." She continued.
"Most of it yes. And it was not me. My friend Hermione, she has this whole knowledge complex." Harry stated relaxing enough to give a short laugh.
"We had wanted expert advice to confirm that there were no other risks." He continued.
She nodded before replying, "It's good that you sought professional assessment. Whatever the curse was that was cast on you all those years ago is now gone. We may never know its origins or what caused it to linger for so long. But this we know for sure that you are finally rid of it for good."
-/-/-
Shrinking and putting the vials of stabilizing potions into his inner robe pocket Harry made way towards the lobby very inconspicuously hoping to avoid a repeat of the earlier commotion.
Harry would've made his way to the exit had it not been for the familiar urge he had felt when he arrived. His gaze settled upon the emergency room. Letting out a sigh he decided that he could at least pay a visit since he was here.
Holding out his hands to the door he slowly turned the handle and opened the door half-way before realising that he should probably knock. Midway through his prompted knock the door swung open and he stood face to face with the tall lean man who was the father of the Greengrass girl.
The look of astonishment on Mr Greengrass' face was enough to tell Harry that they had not been expecting him.
"I think we haven't been introduced properly. Harry. Harry Potter." Harry held out his hand in introduction before the older man could say anything.
Caught off-guard by the young man, Mr Greengrass struggled to form words but finally managed with a quick shake of his hand, "Cyrus Greengrass. It's nice to have made your acquaintance Mr Potter."
"You can call me Harry, Mr Greengrass. I think Mr Potter was my Grandfather." Harry stated with a smile attempting to break the ice.
Mr Greengrass relaxed and returned his smile, "And you can call me Cyrus. Mr Greengrass makes me sound old."
Mrs Greengrass, who had come beside her husband during his exchange with Harry now offered her hand in greeting, "Isabella Greengrass. It is really nice to meet you Harry."
Harry shook her hand which seemed to amuse the older couple but they didn't say anything apart from Mrs Greengrass adding with a warm smile, "But please do call me Isabella."
Harry nodded. "I had some work here so I thought to check on your daughter. I hope she is doing well now?"
At the mention of their daughter the Greengrass' seemed to stiffen a bit each garnering a worried expression on their face. Cyrus broke the silence.
"Daphne is doing better than before. And Harry I would like to tell you how grateful we are to you for doing what you did this morning. The healers stated that any further delay would have cost her life. We are forever in your debt."
"Nonsense." Harry stated.
"You are in no way indebted to me. I did what anyone in their right heart would do. It was my duty. In a way it was because of me that she got hurt in the first place. If Voldermort wasn't out for my blood the battle wouldn't have happened" Harry added with a guilty expression.
The Greengrass' flinched slightly at him taking the Dark Lord's name which Harry had become accustomed to in his many years in the wizarding world but what he wasn't accustomed to was the amused look on the couple's face after hearing his guilt filled confession of how this all had been his fault.
"That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. That's pretty lame even for you Potter." A new voice piped in breaking the amused stares of the couple.
Harry was the first to get a glimpse of the owner of the voice who he recognized as the young Slytherin girl who was with Cyrus and Isabella earlier that morning. She must be Daphne Greengrass' sister.
"While my daughter could learn a few lessons in manners, in true essence what she said is quite right. None of it was your fault." Isabella gave a deathly glare to her daughter before turning to address Harry.
Cyrus piped in, "If you think the Dark Lord would've been letting people live their lives in peace if you didn't exist then I am sorry to say this but you have got it all wrong."
Isabella was the first to speak after a moment of silence allowing Harry to register his thoughts, "Harry! Meet my younger daughter, Astoria."
Harry nodded towards Astoria and added, "Nice to meet you Ms Greengrass."
"Nice to meet you as well Mr Potter," was the curt reply.
"Tori? Mum?" A wavering voice called out from deeper inside the room.
-/-/-
Daphne had spent the greater part of the last hour talking about unimportant things with Astoria who had woken up from her table nap a few moments after Daphne. They had talked about things sisters normally talk about. Astoria had so far been able to divert Daphne's mind with her usual cheery jokes and light hearted talks.
Cyrus and Isabella watched their daughters with warmth and a silent relief went through them watching their daughters' safe within their reach. Then someone had opened the door on the far end of the room. Due to the L shape of the room the door was currently out of view so Cyrus had stood up to see who the visitor was.
Giving a look at the girls Isabella also stood up and followed her husband towards the out of sight door. There were voices indicating some form of conversation which the girls could not make out.
Seeing that the conversation continued without anyone entering the room the girls perked up trying to figure out who the visitor was. Finally, Astoria stood up and made a motion towards the door, "Let me check it out. Don't worry I won't be long." She added.
Daphne tried with no avail to decipher the conversation. The weird thing was that she still had that feeling of warmth inside her since she has woken up from her slumber an hour or so ago. Actually she felt the feeling increase with every passing minute. It made her feel so much better then she had all day.
Still not getting any ideas about the conversation taking place near the door she gave an irritated sigh and called out with as much voice as she could muster, "Tori? Mum?"
There was a shuffling of feet and a moment later her parents and sister came into view. Following them with measured steps was him. Harry Potter.
If she wasn't so preoccupied at controlling her astonishment she might have noticed that warm feeling rising inside her to an extent where she was kind of buzzing. The terror, despair and dread all shunned aside for the moment.
Harry Potter approached her bedside and gave her a small smile.
"I hope you are feeling well now Ms Greengrass." He addressed.
Coming out of her thoughts she returned his address with the grace of a Pureblood Princess but her voice lacked her usual tinge of ice during formal exchanges, "I am doing well, Mr Potter. Thank you."
"I am glad to hear that you are feeling better. I wish you have a speedy recovery." Harry said with the most genuine expression of concern she had seen for herself aside from her parents and sister.
That was the last straw. She was lost for words. In the same instance he tilted his gaze towards her making contact with her eyes. Piercing green eyes penetrated the depths of her soft blue eyes. If felt as if he was peeking at her soul itself. The contact lasted for mere seconds but she could swear they had been gaze-locked for hours at least. Maybe time itself had stopped.
'Stop being silly Daphne. Get your composure right.' She scolded herself.
With a turn towards her parents Harry Potter gave a small bow and addressed them and Astoria, "Cyrus, Isabella, Ms Greengrass. I will take your leave."
Turning back towards Daphne, he gave a nod and stated, "Take care Ms Greengrass. I hope you get well soon."
"Don't be a stranger Harry. Feel free to visit anytime. I am sure Daphne will appreciate that." Isabella said with a smile.
Daphne paled. 'Why did she have to say that? Damn this was embarrassing.' She thought but didn't say anything.
Harry returned Isabella's smile and said, "Thank you Isabella."
With that he strode out of the room the shuffling of his steps diminishing gradually. A part of the warm feeling inside her subsided but it was not all dark. There was still enough warmth to see her through this. Daphne Greengrass smiled genuinely for the first time in 24 hours.