Chapter 9 Hogwarts
A day after the discussion, it was now the 27 th of July Harry could finally leave the bed for the first time. True it was only to get settled in a comfortable armchair after walking a little, but still. Therefore it seemed to make sense to move him to Hogwarts the next day. There he would be able to spend some time outside, getting fresh air as well as walking around without bumping into people on the corridor when he was better. It was important for him to take it easy, but also to get used to being up and moving again. He would still have to take many potions, mostly nutrient potions to help him gain weight. They didn't know how his growth would develop. The potions would probably help but it was possible that the damage couldn't be completely reversed. He would probably always be on the smaller side.
When Kate went to Harry's room the morning of the 28th, she expected him to be excited or a bit anxious like he had been the day before when he heard he'd go to Hogwarts. However when she entered she saw him sitting on the bed, staring off in space. He seemed to be deeply troubled.
"Harry, what's wrong?"
He looked up and tried to plaster a smile on his face. "Nothing, I was just thinking."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You know you can tell me what's wrong, or say you don't won't to speak about it, but please don't lie. It's obvious that something isn't right."
Harry nodded subdued. "I'm sorry ma'am."
"My name is Kate, Harry. So what's troubling you?"
He shrugged. "It's not important, it's over."
"Did you have a nightmare?" That was a likely explanation. They had given him light sleeping potions that prevented most of the nightmares at first. But they couldn't use them all the time or Harry could get addicted. The last night Harry had slept without potion, for the first time. "You know it's alright to have bad dreams after what has happened. Would you like to speak about it?"
"No. I've just been thinking about it."
"You still look tired. Why don't you get a bit more sleep? You still have a few hours before you go. What about the houseelfs help you get dressed and then you take a nap. We can't have you being tired when you get there, can we?"
"Ok. But I… I don't have any cloths here."
"I have a nice tracking suit here for you."
"But… But that's not necessary, you don't need… I …"
"Don't worry. You know for fully trained witches and wizards it isn't difficult to transfigure some old, ill fitting things in a nice tracking suit. Transfigured cloths like that don't last too long, so you'll have to buy your own cloths when you are better. But for now I believe they will be just fine."
Harry indeed managed to get another few hours of sleep thankfully without nightmare. When the teachers arrived he looked a lot better. McGonagall and Snape had come to get him. They wouldn't use a portkey, because they didn't want to have to explain the ministry about who used a portkey to get to Hogwarts. Chances were small that it was traced, but with Fudge as minister one could only wonder and fear what he would do if he found out that Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. Therefore they would use the floo. Harry was brought to an office and McGonagall called Dumbledore to open the floo to his office. With the help of Snape Harry stepped into the green fire and together they flooed to Hogwarts.
This kind of travel was really dizzying and certainly not something Harry enjoyed. The advantage was of course that they had travelled to Scotland in a matter of less than a minute. Thanks to Professor Snape who had a firm hold of Harry they didn't fall head first out of the fireplace at their destination but they stepped out into the most interesting room Harry had ever seen. He couldn't help looking around in wonder. There were shelf of old looking books, silver instruments laying on a few tables, a massive desk and behind it the most wonderful bird Harry had ever seen. It was red and gold, the size of a swan. While Harry looked at the bird in wonder, it flew off his perch, towards him, trilling an inquiring note. Harry felt warmth swell inside him. Instinctively he raised an arm and the bird landed on it, singing another few notes.
"Welcome to Hogwarts Harry, although it seems Fawkes is the first to welcome you here. He seems to like you."
Harry looked up and saw his future headmaster smiling gently at him.
"Fawkes. That's a nice name for such a wonderful bird." Fawkes trillered flattered.
"Yes, yes he's quite a unique bird, a phoenix. Loyal friends they make phoenixes. But have a seat, we don't want you to be tired, now do we?"
Harry shyly sat down trying to keep his eyes from wandering all around the office as Fawkes returned to his perch.
"You're welcome to inspect my office in detail later Harry, but I believe we should get you settled first."
Harry nodded, muttering another apology.
"For now you will be staying at the hospital wing. When you're better we will move you to another room. If you need anything you are welcome to call a houseelf. Just snipp your fingers twice and say a name of an elf to do so. There are more than 100 elfs here who are frankly pretty bored in holidays. They of course clean the castle thoroughly, but many of them can't wait to have the students back that they'll have more work. So it's no problem if you need help, or if you want to chat with them or anything. The same counts for all of us Harry. We will help you if we can. We want you to have nice holidays, you deserve that." He smiled fondly at the shy boy in front of him. Harry smiled back slightly, a bit overwhelmed.
"I'd propose we go to the hospital wing now, we can talk about the rest later. If you ever need one of us and noone is around you can simply tell the elfs. As I said they are pretty bored, so don't decline their help. If they don't have enough work they usually cook so much that we're in danger to burst. A bit of distraction is good for all of us."
They took the interhouse floo to the hospital wing. Thankfully this was only like stepping through some sort of portal as it was so near.
"Mr. Potter, there you are! Is everything in order Albus? Oh and do lay down dear. You must be tired from the journey. Come here, I've prepared this small room as you're my only patient of course. Are you felling alright, dear?"
Harry could only nod at the bustling nurse. She guided him over to a room, just off her office.
"Here you are Mr. Potter, or shall I call you Harry?"
"Harry is fine ma'am"
"Oh, oh, I didn't even tell you who I am, I'm Poppy Pomfrey, the school nurse here." Then turning to the teachers she asked. "Do you have his things or will the elfs bring them?"
Minerva put a small bag, containing some underwear and another transfigured tracking suit next to the bed. Opening it she handed Harry his teddy who smiled at it and also at her.
"Where's the rest of his things?" Poppy asked confused. "He can keep them here, after all he might like something to read or play."
There was an uncomfortable silence finally broken by Harry himself. "I'm sorry Professor Pomfrey, or nurse Pomfrey, I…"
"Most students call me Madame Pomfrey" she said with a smile.
"Sorry, yes Madame Pomfrey, I did not have the opportunity to purchase my wizarding things yet."
"Not? I thought Hagrid said that he went to Diagon alley with you."
Harry bit his lip.
"It's alright Harry." McGonagall said gently. "I'm sure you get the opportunity to get everything later." Deciding to try to find out a bit more she asked carefully. "You didn't buy anything yet? Or didn't you take money out of Gringotts?"
"I… No I didn't buy anything. I … we … when Hagrid left after Gringott's we went back too."
"Where did you put the money?" Snape inquired.
"Un… I mean him, he changed it, to muggle money. Said that I had been costing them money for too long already and that it was time for me to pay back."
"So he took it?" Nodding. "Don't worry about that we'll be having it put back."
"But but… he …" Harry stopped, not wanting to explain the attitude of his unc… no not his uncle, he wasn't his uncle anymore! Not after all… He stopped himself right there. But he didn't want to think about the attitude of Vernon to everything unnatural, of what he would say if some wizards came to get the money back. Better not say anything.
"It's ok Harry. So why don't you rest a bit, or read and then we can maybe have a look at a few places, or go outside, it seems a wonderful day."
Harry's face lit up at the word outside even if he quickly tried to conceal it.
While Harry settled to look through the booklet for muggleborns again, he hadn't anything else to read, Poppy, Dumbledore and McGonagall went to Poppy's office.
Snape had excused himself, claiming the need of brewing another potion. Truth be told, it was a rare occurrence for Snape being voluntarily in the hospital wing at all. He had too many memories of being forced to be there in the care of overbearing nurse, to enjoy spending time in the presence of Poppy. And the other reason he didn't feel at ease there was because Poppy was one of the few people who managed to make him feel as a schoolboy again, not a pleasant thing if you are a teacher.
In Poppy's office McGonagall handed over the latest medical report of Harry and also informed her of the visits of Healer White. Poppy then claimed that Harry should better spend a few more days in bed than already wandering around the castle, much less the grounds. Dumbledore calmed her.
"We will be helping him at first of course. And I have asked the elfs to keep an eye out for him. If he wants to go somewhere too far to walk, one of the elfs can float him. But healer White has also clearly said that it is important for him to be distracted. He should not start brooding over the things that have been done to him. True he will have to confront them sooner or later but let's try to give him some space."
So it came that in the afternoon Dumbledore asked Harry where he'd like to go. He told him that he could float him around so he wouldn't have to walk just yet. "what about we look at one thing in the castle, preferably not the highest tower just now, and then go and get some fresh air."
He proposed after having assured Harry that yes he did have time for this and yes he wanted to take his time to show him something.
"So where would you like to go? Have you already looked through 'Hogwarts a history' yet?"
"Yes sir, I read it. It is very interesting."
"Already read the whole book? Well then you are an expert. So what would you like to see?"
"Could we perhaps go to the library?" Harry asked shyly, wondering if he should later ask if he could borrow another book. But this wasn't necessary.
"Certainly. The library it is. And while there, if you see anything you'd like to read, you can borrow it. It's a library after all."
It was an odd sight to see the tow of them on the way to the library. An old man in purple robes with stars on them was walking with a stick pointed on a small dark-haired figure that was floating a foot over the ground.
Harry actually enjoyed to float in the air. It was pretty nice, even if it was strange that he didn't have control about where they were going. Turning around another edge he saw a cat with lamplight eyes looking at them. It was a strange cat, very thin and the fur wasn't kept well.
"That is Mrs. Norris. The cat of the caretaker, Mr. Filch. She's not very popular among students, and she herself doesn't seem to be fond of students either."
Harry made a small "Oh."
"Do you like cats Harry?" Dumbledore asked nonchalantly.
"Yes sir. I like them a lot. Our neighbour…I'm sorry this is not interesting."
"Quite in contrary. I like to hear a story of you. So what about your neighbour?"
"He has a cat. The Dursleys they didn't like it, said that it makes a mess. But sometimes, you know when I was working in the garden, she came over to me. It was nice to have her there and she even seemed to like me. She had such a nice fur. But I don't know what she was called."
"Pets are something wonderful, aren't they?" Harry nodded with a smile.
"Here we are Harry, Hogwarts library."
Harry's mouth fell open. Even if the book had described the library it was something else to see it in real. For a while he was simply watching in awe.
An hour later Dumbledore delivered an awed but tired Harry back to the hospital wing. On his encouragement Harry had taken a few books out of the library. Dumbledore had insisted that Harry had some fun, meaning he shouldn't take schoolbooks. So Harry took a book named "Quidditch through the ages." (Dumbledore had told him it was a sport and that his father had played quidditch) as well as one on magical creatures and one about general things of the wizarding world. After that they went outside in the sun for a bit.
The next two days passed similarly. Harry spent time with the elfs and the teachers, was sometimes floated through the castle or outside. He walked smaller distances by himself but to his own annoyance still got easily tired. He was fascinated with the castle. All was so big, and so magical. There were ghosts floating around, most of them friendly and moving and talking pictures. It seemed you could look at only one room for an hour and still there were new things to see.
Harry enjoyed the days, the nights were another story. He was having nightmares. He would relive the hours before the rescue, or other scenes of abuse at the hands of his relatives. But he didn't tell anyone. Why should he. It was making trouble and Harry didn't want to make even more work than he already had. If he did, they might decide that he wasn't worth all the trouble. He wouldn't let anyone know. Because of that he was rather glad for Madame Pomfrey's insistence of taking a nap after lunch. Kate, meaning Healer White, would come twice a week to make sure everything was healing the right way and as she had told Harry to talk. He thought that he might maybe tell her about the nightmares. She had promised not to tell anyone, so it was safe.
He had been introduced to the other teachers staying at Hogwarts. Professor Sprout seemed to be a friendly lady and Professor Flitwick seemed really funny. Harry had seen him twice in a corridor; he always seemed to be cheerful. Harry found all heads of houses nice, in a different way of course and that calmed him considerably. No matter where he would be sorted in at least he already knew that the house teacher was ok.
Author's note
Thanks a lot for all the reviews. I'm sorry for the delay, I haven't heard of my beta yet but I decided that I' d update anyway. I'll repost the chapter later. I know there isn't much action in this chapter, but I simply had to get Harry to Hogwarts now. The next chapter is 31'th July.
Please review, if I get a lot of reviews I put the chapter up earlier.
Answer to reviews:
Flame-engulfed-soul
As for Ron and Hermione, I plan on having them appear before the 1 of september. But that doesn't mean Harry's going to be best friends with the two of them. He has a different personality so maybe also different friends,…? As for Voldemort: I want to keep the plot according to the book, at least in things like that. But there will at least be talk of Voldemort in chapter 12. I don't know if this is going to be a serie, it depends on a lot of things like how many people read this, if I have time and ideas for book 2,…
athenakitty: Poppy can take care of Harry, but I believe she's only a nurse, no healer. So one of the healers will simply come to visit from time to time. As for the psychologist: I believe Harry needs quite some time to work through all that happened.
Snape is getting closer to Harry as in the book, but he won't be the major character, even if there will be a few scenes with him and Harry.
Liat1989: Mc. Will play an important role, but I don't think you adopt someone just a few weeks after you get to know him. It would also be hard to explain without exactly telling what happened and they don't want the public to know what happened to Harry.
