The Photo Album

Seeing Dumbledore and Hagrid arrived at St. Mungos together, Harry ran over to hug Hagrid. The half-giant back away.

Harry showed his unbandaged hands. "See five fingers on each hand. No scars. The morning nurse took the dressings off so I could feed myself. She says as long as someone is in the room I don't need to be tied to the bed."

"Yeh're Harry?" Hagrid said not approaching the young man.

"In the flesh." Harry smiled. "Or Professor Quirrell's flesh, so I've been told. I'm too scared to check the back of my head for scars shaped like a face. Please, don't be scared of me."

Hagrid sat down on the only chair in the room that would fit him. "How do I know yeh are Harry?"

"Because Headmaster Dumbledore knows I'm Harry." Harry remembered how Hagrid felt about Dumbledore. "Remember when we met Professor Quirrell, you told me he was a brilliant bloke - had some trouble with vampires and a hag and wasn't the same since. He was nervous and trembling. I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life in Azkaban for crimes I didn't commit and not a stutter."

Hagrid said, "I don' know."

"You were the one who showed me magic. You gave Dudley a pig's tail. You said that you were aiming to change him to a pig, but he was pretty close to one already." A tear rolled down Harry's cheek, wetting the bandages.

Hagrid put the photo album that was under his arm on his lap. "I got yeh a present." It appeared to be a handsome, leather-covered book. "Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos - knew yeh didn't have any - D'yeh like it?"

Harry cried again. "I'm going to get these bandages so wet they're going to have to come off early."

Dumbledore said, "I see you two are getting along. I have a philosopher's stone to get. Hagrid, you stay with him while he gets the bandages off."

"O' course, Sir," said Hagrid.

"The good thing about a time-turner is I can return before I leave. I'll be back in no time." With that Dumbledore turned what looked like an ordinary pocket watch back and disappeared.

"It's all my ruddy fault," Hagrid sobbed with his face in his large hands. "I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thing he didn't know an' I told him! Yeh now stuck in Quirrel's body and be goin' to Azkaban in his place. All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live as a Muggle!"

"Hagrid!" said Harry, shocked to see Hagrid shaking with grief and remorse, great tears leaking down into his beard. "Hagrid, he'd have found out somehow, this is Voldemort, we're talking about, he'd have found out even if you hadn't told him."

"I ruined yehr life," Hagrid sobbed, cluttering the leather album. "I did. I got ter go fer three years - Yeh only got one."

"I'm going to take veritaserum and the aurors will realise I didn't commit any crime." Harry sat on his bed. "The nurses and you know I'm not dangerous. They let me walk around my room. I even used the toilet alone. Professor Quirrell met up with some vampires, right?"

"Yeah," Hagrid put the album on the sill behind him and got up to hug Harry. "I'm so sorry."

Harry hugged him back. "Thanks for seeing me."

"I met with the other Harry. I talked ter him about his cousin Dudley - the lean one on the swim team. He agreed with everythin' - knew he wasn't yeh." Hagrid continued to hold the smaller man in his arms.

Harry said, "I'm still a bit sore."

Hagrid went back to the oversized chair. "Sorry."

"You have to stop apologising. Well, I've been thinking. Quirrell ran into to some vampires and vampires can't hurt someone without a body. Voldemort must have rescued Quirrell at a cost."

"I wish yeh wouldn't say his name."

"I met with him twice, he killed my parents, his bloody face etched into my scalp. I can say his name all I want." Harry put a hand back there and felt along his scalp under his hair. He had so much hair; it was hard to feel anything. Finally, he felt a slit and another - they must have been eyes. He returned to feeling his scalp - two very small indentations close together - nostrils. More - a rough crease of skin - mouth. "Oh, my God, I'm Quirrell."

"Yehr hair covers it," said Hagrid.

Harry put his hands over his eyes. He didn't care if he touched the bandages - they were wet and were coming off in less than an hour. "It's real. I felt it."

"This is my fault. If I didn't tell him about Fluffy, yeh'd still be yeh."

"The Philosopher's Stone is supposed to make gold and extend life. No one ever switched bodies before."

"Yeh think this switchin' bodies is You-Know-Who's fault," said Hagrid.

"It's possible and if it is - he's gone and I'm stuck in Quirrell's shell. I go to Azkaban and Voldemort wins. He failed at killing me, so he found another way to get rid of me."

"Dumbledore will get yeh back in yehr own body."

"You have a lot of faith in Dumbledore."

"You need to have faith, too."

"I'm going to be twelve next month."

"When I was expelled from Hogwarts my third year, I thought my life was over. I wasn't goin' ter tell yeh, but I think yeh should know. I was also framed fer a crime I didn't commit. Headmaster Dippet thought I let loose a basilisk."

Harry leaned forward in his hospital bed. "Which is?"

"A serpent like creature than can turn people into stone with its gaze." Hagrid must have read that from a textbook.

"And you didn't set this basilisk free?" Harry looked at the large man. "You did hatch a dragon egg. You do have a thing for dangerous creatures."

"I didn't do it," said Hagrid. "I know how it looks. Dumbledore believed me an' let me stay on as groundskeeper."

"You didn't do it; you didn't do it." Harry lied down and put his head on the pillow. "Why can't the medi-wizard get here already?" He would have to work on his patience because it looked like he would be spending the rest of his life in a prison cell. "What's Azkaban like?"

"The dementors run the place; they drain the happiness out o' people," Hagrid said. "Awful place."

"A prison isn't going to be a nice place." Harry looked at the white hospital ceiling. "I wonder how Dumbledore is going to get Quirrell here."

"The other Harry wants to visit yeh. Dumbledore will arrange it. Yeh will have the Stone in hand and back yeh go ter yehr own bodies."

"A nice thought." Harry continued to look at the ceiling.

"I close me eyes and I'm talkin' ter Harry."

"I sound different."

"Not really. Let's say: I changed bodies an' had this small high-pitch voice. Yeh would know it was me."

"Hagrid, you have a unique accent."

"So do yeh, my friend," said Hagrid. "Quirrell sounds like Quirrell and yeh sound like yeh."

"And Quirrell pretending to be me?"

"Sounds nervous - overly polite, can get curt - he has first year boy down then he teach yeh."

"Then Ron and Hermione know he's not me."

"They might think yeh acting strange. Don't know."

The medi-wizard came in. "Quirinus, I'm going to have the nurse hand you a mirror after I remove the bandages. Let's see if I made any improvements to your ugly mug."

The nurse stood by the door, giving the medi-wizard his space.

"The boy's bin through enough," said Hagrid.

"Sucking up to You-Know-Who can be hard on a chap," said the medi-wizard. "Hagrid, I'll make you a deal. You hold him and I won't use magic to restrain him."

Harry stood up. "Hagrid, I'll sit on your lap and you can hold me."

"Harry, come here." Hagrid cried, again.

Harry sat on Hagrid's lap then felt the big man's arms embrace him. "At least, you didn't apologise, again. You cry, I cry and the medi-wizard can't do his job."

"Hagrid, you don't believe the balderdash he's been feeding everyone about being Harry Potter." The medi-wizard put his bag on the hospital stand.

Harry put up his hand to prevent Hagrid from talking. He recalled a scene from Star Trek. He didn't see the show from his cupboard, but he heard it often enough. "I'm Quirinus Quirrell. However, what makes Harry Potter Harry is here." Harry pointed to his head. He seemed to recall Kirk saying something similar in the last episode of series.

"That's an awful insightful thing for an eleven year old to say," said the medi-wizard. "Quirinus, the insane act isn't going to keep you out of Azkaban. Hagrid, hold him still for me. I usually do a spell to numb the face but a little pain might do Quirinus good."

Hagrid held Harry as the surgical tape was being removed while Harry closed his eyes and braced himself against the pain. Then it was over. Harry's eyes were still closed when he heard the nurse's footsteps on the hospital floor.

"Mr. Quirrell, you need to open your eyes," said the nurse.

Hagrid, still holding him, said in a soft voice, "Harry, I'm here."

Harry opened his eyes. The nurse was holding a mirror. The new skin was smooth and it even had two or three days' worth of stubble. Harry wasn't sure which because he never needed to shave before. His eyebrows were a bit strange. The hair that was there from before was brown and the newly grown hair was black. Harry didn't want to look in the mirror anymore. His nose was short, part of the cartilage must had burned away and his left cheek was partially sunken it. "My cheek?"

The medi-wizard said, "I grew the skin. Under normal circumstances, I would tell you that you can have the bones regrown at a later date, but I don't think the Ministry would deem cosmetic procedures necessary for the a dangerous prisoner's well-being."

Hagrid said, "Harry's missing part o' his face. It isn't a nose job."

Harry, seeing Dumbledore enter the room, jumped off Hagrid's lap. He wanted to look proper for his headmaster and sitting on someone's lap like a kitten or a two year old wouldn't do. "Is the auror here?"

"Yes, I spoke to him and he agreed for you to see your guest first," said Dumbledore. "I need to help Professor Quirrell dress. Could you give us some privacy?"

"Nurse?" the medi-wizard.

She looked at him and they left the room together.

-
A/N: Hagrid's "I got yeh a present." speech is Rowling's. Also part of "all my ruddy fault" is. The rest of the story is AU. I hope I blended Hagrid's dialogue well enough that Rowling's words don't stand out too much from mine. Reviews are welcome. I love that the med-wizard hasn't seen Star Trek and doesn't realise that Harry is paraphrasing Kirk.