Existence
Chapter 12: Bovis
From the next time onwards whenever he saw Wood and his companions Harry was bullied relentlessly by them. He was sure that this was their newest plan to make him feel bad and that he would thus perform worse in Quidditch. They too must have realized what Slytherin was planning. If not they were just as stupid as they looked.
Determined to find out why Fluffy was in the building he visited Hagrid over and over again. While the groundskeeper wouldn't say anything about the dog, Harry watched worriedly as the dragon grew and grew.
"You can't keep him here forever," Harry told him in the middle of March. They were sitting at the table having tea. Another Quidditch game had been the day before; Gryffindor had won against Ravenclaw.
"Why not? He ain't doing nothin' to the children," Hagrid said while feeding Norbert who by now was twice the size he had been when he'd escaped the shell.
"Maybe not now, but he will be before long," Harry prophecied. He watched the dragon struggle to swallow an extremely big chunk of dead mouse. "I reckon you should get rid of him sooner than later."
"Get rid of him?" the groundskeeper cried starting to cuddle with Norbert who set his beard on fire. "I ain't gonna get rid of the little thing! He'd never hurt a mouse, Harry."
"He just ate one," Potter pointed out. He sighed. This wouldn't go anywhere. Promise or no promise, he had to tell Severus. Maybe not the whole truth, but at least an overview of how things were.
Outside the sun was shining bright. Harry took his time to get back to the castle, wanting to enjoy the first warm day of the year. He didn't notice the Gryffindor boys.
"There is that little piece of shit!" Wood roared as he and two other boys barged towards him. Seconds later they got Harry pinned on the floor.
"W-what do you want?" Harry stammered frightened. Never before had they lain a hand on him.
A fist dug into his cheek, narrowly missing his left eye.
"Next Quidditch match," Wood said. He was standing next to the boys who were holding Harry on the ground, looking down at Potter in disgust. "You'd better lose or else."
An instant later all three had disappeared into some nearby bushes. Harry didn't have the strength to go after them; his cheek was throbbing with pain.
Inside the castle it was nice and cool. The pain ceased a little as he descendet into the dungeons. For a moment he stood there pressing his cheek against the stone, sighing in relief as it stopped to hurt so bad.
Hardly anyone was inside the common room. Most students had gone to get an early lunch.
"You okay?" Flint who sat next to one of the fireplaces asked worriedly as he saw Harry. "You don't look too good."
"I'm fine, really," Harry insisted climbing up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. After making sure no one was anywhere near the First Year's dormitory he pulled the Pensieve out from under his bed and in order not to think about it for the next couple of hours he placed the memory into the bowl, then going to bed. He fell asleep instantly.
"Ah, Arthur," Albus greeted cherrily as a tall, plump red-haired man entered the headmaster's office.
"Albus," the man nodded sitting down. He declined the lemon drop he was offered.
"Are you here about your sons Arthur?" Dumbledore questioned. "Percy is perfect, like always. Well, you know how Fred and George are and I do believe that Ronald has already gotten used to Hogwarts."
Arthur Weasly shook his head. "I'm not here about the boys."
"Ginevra then?"
Again he shook his head. Albus raised his eyebrows popping a lemon drop into his mouth. He sucked on it thoughtfully.
"Did Molly send you?" he finally asked.
Mr. Weasly nodded. "Yes. She wanted me to talk about Harry Potter."
"Harry?"
"You know how she always thought living in the muggle world isn't the safest place in the world for him," Arthur said hastily. "She wanted to ask again if we could take him in until a proper home is found for him."
"Living with his only relatives left is what I call proper," Albus replied sulkily.
"They are muggles," the red-head said annoyed. "They can't help Harry with his homework for school, they can't help him control his magical abilities. They can't do any of the stuff Molly and I could do."
Albus thought for a moment. "Why you? Why not the Malfoys for example? Or the Diggorys? Or the Changs?"
Arthur cleared his throat. "I am well aware that Harry wasn't sorted into Gryffindor and instead into Slytherin, but he comes from a Gryffindor background so I support Molly's idea fully that he should get to know what it means to be a real Gryffindor. He has the right to know what it is like to feel the pride and courage of a lion rather than just the slyness of snakes."
"How do you know that Harry wants that?"
Mr. Weasly gave the headmaster an irritated glance. "Albus, really! Gryffindor is the house to build character. Do you want our future Saviour of the World to have a good character or not?"
Albus looked at Arthur. "Very well then. I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you," Arthur answered standing up. "I expect I'll be seeing you in the Burrow in some days?"
In the afternoon Harry woke up. The first thing he saw was Draco's face only centimeters away from his.
"What's that for a bruise?" Draco breathed. He moved his head further away to allow Harry to sit up.
"It's nothing," Harry waved the matter off. "I ran into a wall, that's all."
Draco rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I ran into a wall," he copied Harry in a high-pitched vocie. "Come on. That's the oldest excuse in the book! You need to bring something better to convince me."
Harry shrugged. He threw the duvet away and put his feet onto the floor.
"I think you should see Madam Pomfrey," Draco suggested following Harry into the bathroom. "It really does look ugly." He crinkled his nose in disgust.
Lazily Harry inspected the bruise quickly, touching it softly only to find that it hurt like hell.
"Should be gone in some days," he said shrugging carelessly.
Draco sighed in frustration. "Something's not right," he said.
"What do you mean?" Harry continued to examine the bruise carefully, trying out how much pressure he could apply until it started hurting. A slight brush was too much.
"Your bruise," Draco explained. If you had walked into a wall it would hardly be on your cheek. Rather it'd be found on your forehead, and your nose too. You'd have gotten quite a nose bleed if what you say is true."
Fright flickered in Harry's eyes for an instant, long enough for Malfoy to see it.
"Tell me," he demanded. "What did really happen?"
"I told you," Potter said hastily exiting the bathroom. "I ran into a wall. That's everything to it. End. Finish. Finite. Full stop. Period."
Draco went after him, seeing him run out of the dorm. "I don't believe you!" he shouted after his best friend.
After waiting several minutes he followed Harry down into the common room. He was nowhere to be seen, and the only other person not absent was Flint.
"What's up with Harry?" he asked worriedly as soon as he saw Draco on the staircase.
He shrugged. "Told me he ran into a wall and got a bruise. If you ask me that's a load of crap; someone must have beat him up. However, he won't tell me anything."
"Probably that swine Wood and his gang," Flint mused thoughtfully. "If only we had some evidence!"
Draco's mouth formed itself into a grin. "We might be in luck Flint. I'll be back in some minutes!"
Uncle Sevvie knew Legillimency, he could look into Harry's mind and find out what had happened. Why hadn't he thought of this before? Now he only had to find his godfather.
After a ten minute search it was clear that Professor Snape was neither in his quarters, office nor classroom and furthermore not in the great hall or library. That only left the school grounds, and knowing how anti-social that man was with most people he could only be in the green houses or in the Forbidden Forest - as long as he hadn't gone away on some business.
The green houses proved to be his lucky place. It took Draco some time to explain to Severus about his and Flint's suspiciouns. While cutting some plants Severus listened carefully, at the same time weighing in his head the possibilities of Draco being right or wrong.
"I'll do whatever I can," he finally promised his godson. "However, don't get your hopes up too much. Harry knows Occlumency; it might be that I won't be able to enter his mind. While that chance is pretty slim, it is still there." Furthermore, he continued in his head, if Harry has placed that particular memory into the Pensieve then there's no possible way I can retrieve it unless Potter puts it back into his mind.
Just as the flames in the fireplace inside the crammed old-fashioned living room of the Burrow changed colour Molly Weasly entered the room, carrying a pile of newly washed and folded laundry.
"Ginny darling," she said to her daughter who was sitting on the sofa reading a book as the figure of Albus Dumbledore formed itself in the flames; "can you please go and fetch your father?"
Without talking the young girl stood up, walked into the kitchen and through the back door entered the dark night to go to the shack where Arhur was.
"Evening Molly," the headmaster of Hogwarts greeted as Arthur's wife gestured him to sit down.
"It's a little bit messy," she said apologetically.
Albus laughed. "It's always, isn't it Molly?"
Molly blushed as she put the laundry down on the floor. "Tea, Albus?"
"Yes please," Dumbledore answered looking at Ginny who had returned entering the living room. "Good evening, Ms. Weasly."
Ginevra Weasly nodded in acknowledgement, listening to her mum calling from next door for her to go upstairs to bed. She disappeared upstairs.
"Evening Albus," Arthur said out of breath as he walked in from the kitchen. Molly followed with a tray laden with tea cups and biscuits.
"Evening Arthur," Albus said taking one of the cups from Molly. "It's getting warmer, isn't it?"
"I'm glad," Molly said shivering. "Winter is always so cold and depressing..."
Arthur looked at the headmaster. "And?"
Albus took a sip from the still hot tea. Although he burnt his tongue on it he didn't show it. Instead he started talking.
"I've exchanged numerous letters with various people," he started, nibbeling on a chocolate biscuit. "The Minister of Magic finally agreed to let Harry live here as of the first day of summer holidays for a trial period of six months. If everything goes well and Harry wants to continue living here, he can stay. Otherwise he will either go back to his relatives or someone else will be found, someone he would prefer to rather stay with. Additionally our beloved minister undermined that from the next school year onwards Harry should be moved into Gryffindor regardless of the sorting hat's decision to place him into Slytherin."
A/N: My laptop was down for quite a while, but now it's working again. My apologies for the long wait.
