Hello everyone, I do believe a chapter is due. As of right now, I am beginning my finals prep, I have two this coming week and then my last one is on the 15. With this in mind, I'll update the next chapter after the 15. Thank you so much for your support and please remember to be kind to yourselves :)

The stone walls feel like a welcoming hug, here I can just escape into the nothingness and rid myself of these men; they'll just end up realizing I'm worthless anyways. Harry thought to himself, now letting his eyes glaze over with the akin to being content.

Up another flight of stairs and the five of them were finally at the infirmary. Leading the boy over to a bed McGonogall discretely flicks her wand to turn down the covers.

"Rest here Potter" She said with a slight grandmotherly smile, eyes softening oh so slightly. "Madam Pomfrey is at St. Mungo's right now but will be returning within the next half hour. She'll be alerted that you're here and please try to rest." She affirmed a bit more sternly now eyeing Harry kicking off his shoes robotically, his face held nothing, it was like ice she noted.

Nodding to herself, she stood a taller and faced the men "follow me."

The men looked at her in puzzlement, was she really just going to leave this boy here, alone? Closing the infirmary's doors Robert vouched his concern

"I don't think it's wise to leave him in there alone. I'll stay with him"

"I think it best that Mr. Potter has some time to himself. I've already placed some alarm charms on him in case he gets worse. What happened to him? He looks dreadful…" She said trying to mask the worry in her voice.

James now stepping up "his health is questionable, if you're certain your monitoring charms are firmly in place then I see no reason not to give him some much needed space."

James said all of this knowing full well that his two friends would cast their own monitoring charms on the door to alert them if he left. And as he predicted, they did. Both men silently pulled out their wands and discretely incanted the charms behind their back on the retreating doors.

The corridors disserted for the summer still had a warm feel even without the laughter and banter that would return within weeks.

Now facing the gargoyle, he jumped out of place to allow the new headmistress entrance to her chambers with the three men in tow. She flourishes her wand and the actual door to her office opens, candles still lit.

Moving to her desk she turns swiftly and says in her usual tone

"Close the door"

Tom reaches back and shuts it, now all of their attention was fully on her.

"What happened to him?"

"too much for a boy of 15" Robert states soberly

"too much for a man of any age" Tom adds on

James, realizing his friends would let him do the majority of the talking began, now taking a seat. The others following suit.

"we ran into him at a garden store and noticed he had a glamour on him, so we spoke to him. We found it quite out of place and the way he was dressed just added more questions. At this point we didn't know who he was"

Breathe

"he ran from us but I placed a tracker on him to follow him, to make sure he was safe. I thought he might be homeless. To my shock he wasn't, so we let him go. A few hours later we were at the Leaky Cauldron and low and behold Harry turned up there, looking much more worse for wear than he had previously."

McGonogall nods solemnly and allows the dirty blonde haired man to continue.

"We gave him a few choices and he chose only one thing, not to go back home to his house with us, so I made the decision for him. He was to stay with me. We grabbed lunch and got a room for the night there, he was too injured even under the glamour to move him. We got up there and worked on him for quite a while. The extent of his injuries was remarkable; broken ribs, fingers, femour, concussion, bruises and welts… There was so much, I had to have him under a very restrictive flow of calming magic to keep him sedated and relaxed"

"I see" McGonogall replies swallowing audibly.

"We have yet to contact WCS for his name sake. He's been through enough"

They all nod in agreement and sigh, James continues.

"as his headmistress you have authority over him and will be able to make better arrangements for him. However, with this in mind, I would like to stay with him. I'm a mind healer and with what he has been put through I strongly believe he needs one. On top of the obvious injurious he is also destructive towards himself, he self harms."

A shadow crosses her face, she feels so much for this young man that she wants to scream.

"I agree that he needs a healer and yes, I think it best that this stays hushed. I'll write to the ministry in private and alert them to the change in custody; I'll have full custody but will hand it over to you for the time being." She states, now taking a deep breath.

"I believe it best that he stays here at Hogwarts though and I believe you agree? So with all that has been discussed, I'll have a room set up for you and Harry." Now moving her gaze to the other men, "will either of you be requiring a room as well?"

"no thank you headmistress" they say in unison.

"Very well then, it is nice to see you again tom and I'm sorry I didn't get your name?"

"sorry professor, it's Robert, Robert Frontow."

"pleasure"

XXX

The door closes. Looking around Harry decides that he's rather comfortable and would rather actually rest, now that he has a general idea of what's happening.

I'm being pawned off to McGonogall now, at least I can be alone finally Harry thought closing his eyes.

The next thing the too small for his age, Harry, was aware of were the sounds of approaching footsteps. Holding his breath, he waits. The footsteps draw nearer so he tries to look more asleep so he doesn't have to deal with anyone.

Without realizing it, the footsteps stopped and the person was right beside him. Trying not to move he waits. He hears a saddened exhale and the rustling of robes. He couldn't keep still anymore, too scared as too who was hovering over him. He takes a firm inhale as he opens his eyes.

Madam Pomfrey… I'm alright with her Harry mused

She beamed down at him, a slight wary look plastered on her face.

"I'm sorry to hear that you've landed yourself here mister Potter but I need to have you sit up for a bit so I can do my job alright?" She said in a warmer voice than usual.

"k" was Harry's only response.

Gingerly moving to sit up, he still feels tired after the incident earlier and decides to rest his head and back heavily on the headboard.

Grabbing her wand she moves it in an intricate and complex pattern, seeming to knit the air before them together in tendrils that continuously wrapped themselves up in each other. The mass moved over Harry's body like a blanket and began to fade away, leaving a colour impression hovering overtop of him.

"um, madam Pomfrey, what is, was that" Harry asks with confusion, gesturing towards the pulsating coloured tendrils that rested over him.

"a general full body scan that also assess the extent of injury. Most charms only tell you if there's an injury but not how bad it is or how long it's been that way; certain charms do these things but they're more area focused." She continued in a business-like manner.

Harry nodded, now curious as to why he'd never seen this charm before and why the three healers hadn't performed it, little did he know that she was given direct orders from the headmistress not to ask any questions yet. As he's musing on this, he doesn't realize that she has already accioed some potions as they clinc in the air, hitting each other. She catches them without effort and gracefully sets them down on the bedside table.

"you'll need to take these and then eat some lunch." She said picking up the shimmery bluish purple vial and placing it in his hand. Harry uncorks it and downs the potion. Oddly, the taste wasn't terrible. Next was a brown one and then finally the dark maroon one with grey specks in it. Harry was not looking forward to that last one but downed it none the less. The last two were somewhere between putrid and burnt tasting but ignored it.

Snapping her fingers, a house elf appeared with a tray of food and hovered over to him. Madam pomfrey moved the side table over to him so that he could eat and retreats back to her office.