Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter or anything else I could be sued for and I am poor as hell.

A.N: Well Hello again everyone, here's another update. Sorry for all of you out there hoping for a more active chapter after my last update but I wanted to lay down a few more details, this chapter primarily sets up the later years of Harry's school years so I hope you'll bare with me even knowing I may never get around to writing all of his years (at the moment it is my intention to do so). Hope everyone likes or at least is okay with Neville, at the moment he's on a precipice, so let me know what you think in your reviews. As always please enjoy my story.

Chapter 14: Realizations and Truths

"Harry are you okay, you look like you haven't slept at all." Daphne asked him in a quiet whisper while professor Snape was on the other side of the room checking Neville's sad excuse for a potion. Harry in his tired state glanced at Daphne before looking to see where Snape was, he sighed sadly when he saw Snape whip out his wand and clean out Neville's cauldron. Harry admitted that Neville really didn't seem good at potions but it was odd considering how good Neville was with Herbology, he'd have to bring it up with Neville at some point in the near future. Turning back to Daphne he caught her glare and stopped abruptly.

"What, did I do something wrong with the potion?" Harry whispered.

"What? No…no, it's nothing to do with the potion Harry. Are you alright? You seem…distracted."

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about Neville"

"Oh really? Batting for the other team?" Daphne said teasing her new friend. They didn't get a chance to talk except for in potions or during random meetings in the halls, but they enjoyed their time together and both were relaxed in the others presence now.

"Of course not." Harry said vehemently, "I was just wondering why he's so bad with potions when the main ingredients are commonly found in magical gardens."

"Well excusing professors Snape's taunting, I would think his problem is mostly due to lack of confidence. He pays so much attention to his potion that he forgets his ingredients."

"Really?"

"Well that's what it seems like to me. In any case, care to tell me why you look like you're going to fall asleep in your cauldron?"

"Professor Snape has me cleaning the damn things; guess their starting to look mighty comfortable right now." Harry said eyeing the cauldron suspiciously. He was rewarded with Daphne trying to cover her amusement.

"Something amusing Miss. Greengrass?" Snape asked only semi coldly, Daphne and Harry both turned to see the professor directly behind them.

"Sorry professor, Potter was about to fall asleep in his cauldron and it just looked so funny I couldn't help myself." Daphne said, glaring at Harry, as if the entire incident was his fault.

"Yes, well then Mr. Potter perhaps you are too tired to brew today's potion. Clear your cauldron and see Madame Pomfrey." Snape said with a gleam in his eye.

"I'm fine professor; I'm almost done with the potion anyway." Harry replied, turning to glance at his potion briefly. He considered warding it against being vanished but decided that losing his potion was inevitably better then another night of detention with Snape.

"Nonsense can't have a student exploding my classroom because they fell asleep during potions. Have Useless over there bring you to the infirmary." Snape said with a wicked grin, and with that he whipped out his wand and cleared Harry's potion.

"Very well professor, if you'll excuse me I'll just pack my things and go now." Harry said in a genial manner that he didn't feel at all. He slowly began to pack up his things and saw briefly that Neville was throwing away his newly prepared ingredients. Harry sighed sadly; he'd have to apologize to Neville, although he wasn't really at fault.

"I'm so sorry Harry; I didn't think he'd do that. Or perhaps more appropriately I didn't think at all." She admonished herself. Her words were so sharp they actually startled Harry. He turned to her and while pretending to reach for one of his utensils he ran his hand over her forearm gently before squeezing her hand gently.

"It's not your fault; Snape looks for any chance he can get to give me a zero or make me lose points." Harry told her calmly. If fate existed it provided his proof not one minute later when Snape remarked, "It shouldn't take you this long to pack up boy, 10 points from Gryffindor for your laziness, and another 5 points from Gryffindor for delaying your housemate."

Harry sighed grabbed his bag and with a quick look into Daphne's brilliant eyes he turned and walked to the door. Neville joined him and they made their way to the infirmary as required.

"I'm sorry Neville, I didn't mean for you to have to come here."

"It's alright"

"I…I don't want you to think its Daphne's fault either…" Harry said trying to decide how to inform his friend Neville about his circumstances.

"Don't worry about it Harry, I don't blame her, after all you two are friends right?"

"Wha...yes, but how did you?"

"Oh come on Harry, I may not be very smart or a powerful wizard but I'm not blind, and working with dangerous plants gave me a fairly keen sense of awareness."

"Is that so? I wouldn't have guessed with how generally negative you are about yourself Neville."

"I only state the truth" Neville said looking put upon. The two walked in silence for a while until they were almost at the Infirmary.

"I think you don't think enough of yourself Neville. If you really have an amazing sense of awareness then mistaking potions ingredients shouldn't happen, but if that's just because your letting your fear of Snape get in the way perhaps there's a way we can get you over your fear."

"You'd really help me?" Neville asked in a quiet voice.

"Of course, we're friends." Harry said with a tone of finality.

"Thanks Harry." Neville said simply. Entering the hospital wing Harry shuddered in remembrance of the last time he was here.

"Not you again, well what you have done to yourself this time Mr. Potter. Not even a month into the year and you're already in my care again."

"It's nothing Madame Pomfrey, I am a little tired and Snape suggested I come up here to see you." Harry said emphasizing suggested.

"I'll go get you some pepper up potion, but I expect you to get a goodnight sleep tonight alright?" with that Madame Pomfrey began to walk away before turning once again to Harry, "And Harry? It's professor Snape dear; he is a professor and deserves your respect."

"Respect? That sad excuse for a potions professor deserves nothing more than to be locked in a room with a load of potions ingredients without a wand or cauldron."

"That's really devious; do you think we could pull it off?" Harry said with a smile, thinking of how Snape would look knowing that he can't brew anything with tons of ingredients within hands reach.

"Crap, I'm giving you ideas." Pearl said tiredly, but the humor came across loud and clear.

Madame Pomfrey came back a few moments later carrying a red looking potion. Harry sighed knowing it would taste terrible.

"Alright here you go Harry, now make sure you drink all of it. Now what are you here for Mr. Longbottom?"

"He was asked to escort me here Madame Pomfrey. Probably a good think to, after a week with almost no sleep I was prepared to pass out just about anywhere." Harry said, both to put out there that he had been up most of the week and to help Neville since he was clearly unprepared for any onslaught by the nurse.

"It's only your second week here Mr. Potter, why have you not been sleeping."

"He's been serving detentions with Snape all week, I was with him on Wednesday and all we did was clean cauldrons. I was let go before Harry though." Neville said weakly.

"That's a pretty standard detention for the potions professors, what did you do Harry?" The nurse asked nicely, Harry was shocked, she had never asked him why something that landed him here happened before.
"I was out past curfew and helped a Slytherin back to their common room. Snape caught us at the common room door and gave me detention for a week. Thankfully professor McGonagall was kind enough to have the detentions postponed till next week, well this week now."

"Tell her how long your detentions lasted Harry." Neville told him quietly. Apparently he did not talk quietly enough because Pomfrey immediately demanded to know the answer. Harry sighed before responding, "I was usually cleaning pots from nine till midnight. Snape said that if I was going to be up so late I might as well make myself useful." Harry didn't mention that he also went training with Pearl afterwards and so never actually got to bed until two in the morning. Neville glanced at him briefly and Harry suspected he knew exactly when Harry came into their dorm room. Neville was turning out to be a mystery and Harry couldn't decide if it would be a good or bad thing yet.

"I'm sure it will be fine Harry, remember what we talked about."

"Yeah Pearl, don't abandon people just because you don't know them."

"Exactly, look how talking to the nurse turned out, better then you expected yes?"

"You were right and I was wrong" Harry admitted.

"Why that man making a twelve year old work so late." Pomfrey said outrage clearly in her voice. She mumbled what sounds like a series of insults and then surprisingly a few things that caught Harry's attention "boys no longer malnourished, but he still should be taking potions, nowhere near the height of his father, nor the energy of his mother."

"Excuse me Madame Pomfrey but you mentioned me taking potions, is there something I should know?"

"You've been taking potions since you joined us Harry. Islet must have forgotten to mention it, don't get to mad at her. After all I forgot to mention it as well."

"What have you been giving me?" Harry asked with a slightly irritated and worried tone.

"During your summer we gave you potions for appetite, growth, concentration, energy, and magical fortitude. Once you started school we dropped the magical fortitude, and appetite potions and reduced the growth potion to a level where no one will notice it unless they checked for it after you ate."

"Oh is that it? What does the magical fortitude do?"

"It helps your body absorb magic from its surroundings; you needed it to help you power the wards around the home. I promise you that that's all we've given you and we'll stop if you want us to."

"Alright Pearl, we'll talk about this more when I can talk to islet as well. For now let's wait and see what the nurse decides to reveal."

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter but your guardian told me not to inform you of this matter."

"Look, I don't care if you don't tell me who my guardian is, I can guess anyway, but I need to know what you were mumbling about. If you don't tell me I'll send an owl to the healers at St. Mungo's and request they send someone else who can give me a full check-up and tell me what I want to know."

"Do you have any idea the effect that could have on my career?" She asked startled by Harry's determination.

"No clue, but then again unless you tell me what I want to know I won't really care." Harry said forcefully. Truthfully he would probably feel bad taking that route, and would only do it to cover the effects of the potions he had already taken and would take from now on regardless. Madame Pomfrey looked distressed but she finally sighed and asked Harry to follow her to her office. Neville said goodbye to Harry and promised to inform Hermione that Harry was ok.

The nurse's office was nothing like he would have imagined. Books lined the walls, a tall oak desk sat at the far end of the room with the fireplace resting on the opposite end of the room. Other then that the room was rather plain if well lit. Madame Pomfrey made her way to her desk and opened a drawer. She seemed to look through it for a bit before pulling out five different folders of varying size. She looked at Harry sadly before motioning for him to sit down. Not mad at her now that she was going to tell him what he wanted to know he politely accepted her offer in the same manner purebloods would have and waited until she sat down before he took the offered chair. Pomfrey was startled Harry was glad to note, remember what Islet had told him about getting information from startled people. He decided to attack before she got any barriers up.

"Alright so why so many files?" Harry demanded calmly.

"Well…these are your files" She said hesitantly.

"So many, for one student who has only been here one year?"

"Well, this one," she pointed at the smallest file, "Is the public record of your first year. This one," this time she pointed to a slightly thicker file to the left of the first, "contains your real first year analysis and medical details of the attack on you at the end of the year. These two files," she said pointing to the two biggest files to the left of the last file, "contain your years with the Dursleys. The final file is from when you were a baby." She added sadly. The last file was almost as small as his public record.

"I'll need a copy of all of them, or a space in your office to go over them. I notice you have a lot of medical texts, perhaps a medical dictionary would be helpful for me to figure out any words I might not understand, but I'll be sure to ask you for clarification on anything I'm not sure of. I'm sure your aware of possible consequences my actions could have should I chose to act on false information." Harry said, aware for the first time that Pomfrey actually looked a little intimidated by him. He marveled at that, he would have to thank Islet later for all the lessons.

"I can't make a copy of the files, they would disappear as soon as you left the room, but I suppose I can add a desk in here for you. You would be welcome to come to my office at any time Harry. I'll tell the staff that any detentions you receive should be assigned to me. However if you deserve the punishment be sure I'll make sure you are punished."

"I can agree to that Madame Pomfrey." Harry said amazed at the turnaround of the situation.

"I only hope you can forgive me for what I have done to you." She said sadly. At the ring of a tiny bell on her desk she got up and walked out without another word. Harry walked over to her desk and picked up all the files. He decided to start with the smallest file which was his public record. At a glance Harry realized this record basically just said he was healthy, but had received some questionable injuries at the end of his first year. It also noted that he disappeared during the last summer. At the bottom of the last page was a note by Pomfrey stating he had returned. Since he didn't want to remember the Dursleys he decided to go over his actual first year records. In the basic info he found only a few discrepancies, apparently he was severely underweight, and his magical core strength was significantly decreased in the public report. Harry wasn't sure what to think of that. However the real interesting information was the rest of the pages. He hadn't realized how bad his own body was in comparison to normal wizards or witches his age.

The patient shows signs of long term recovery of one's magical core strength. Current agreed hypothesis, by Albus Dumbledore, is that the reflection of the killing curse by Harry Potter depleted his core to such a degree that it reverted back to the fetal state. It is also agreed that Harry Potter shows a significant drop in potential ability then when he was first observed at birth. More information can be found in the documents pertaining to his birth.

-Documented by Poppy Pomfrey

Harry was shocked and honestly was feeling more than a little upset at what he read. Apparently he had lost not just his parents but most of his natural ability when he was attacked by Voldemort. Harry set down the file and took a few deep breaths.

"Pearl, do you have any ideas? I could really use you right now." Harry said sadly.

"I'm right here; I think the important thing here is that Dumbles influence is present even in your actual file." Pearl said sliding into the room from a corner of the room. Harry still had no idea how Pearl managed that, but was grateful to see his familiar right now. Pearl moved close to Harry and settled his head in Harry's lap. Harry immediately began to pet Pearl and both let out a contented sigh, even though Harry was not in a comfortable chair. They sat like that for a while in peace until Harry responded to Pearl's earlier statement.

"That true I suppose I shouldn't get so worked up about some Dumbles says about me."

"If you're feeling better you had best head off, you have herbology in a few minutes." Pearl said quietly, moving away from Harry and making his way to the shadows.

"Don't remind me, thank god it's Friday at least." Harry said causing Pearl to chuckle as he disappeared.

Not a moment later Madame Pomfrey walked in. Harry wasn't surprised that Pearl had left just before she arrived. He would have sensed her the entire time she was in the other room.

"You should get going you're going to miss your next class. You don't have to go to your detention with professor Snape tonight. I will speak with him about my decision regarding your detentions from now on later as well."

"Thank you Madame Pomfrey." Harry said sincerely.

"Please Harry, in my office you may call me Poppy, it's only fair after all I've done."

"Very well Poppy, if you could have my desk set up for me tomorrow I'd be grateful." Harry stated kindly. She nodded her acceptance of the task and promised it would be completed. Harry walked out of the room feeling both grateful towards the nurse and disturbed by her demeanor. He wasn't sure what she was up to, or if she was up to something at all, but he would get down to the bottom of it.