Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

AN: This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 14: On the Wings of Truth

November 01, 1991 to November 06, 1991
Potter Property, Northern Highlands
Scotland

Two days later Ash was getting frantic and frustrated once again. Since the day Harry had left for school, he'd been sending letters home on a near daily basis, providing Mule was rested enough to continue bouncing back and forth between the Highlands and Hogwarts, which was a far shorter trip than when Ash spent the night at the London home as he sometimes did. There had been no sign of the persnickety owl since Harry's last letter that had arrived on the afternoon before Halloween though.

Ash had tried sending Noctowl with a short note for Harry but the flying Pokémon didn't actually know where Hogwarts was and didn't have the means to sense Harry's presence from a distance. Ash then tried to send Trickster off with a letter but the mystical wolf had not been able (or willing) to use Teleport again. The ninetales did spend those days after the turbulent events of Halloween night staring off towards the south as if watching over Harry from a distance. At one point Ash desperately wished the owl he and Harry had treated over the summer hadn't flown off the moment it was well enough to fly.

The not knowing was slowly killing Ash inside. The distinct lack of word from Harry seemed to indicate that something had happened, either to Harry or to Mule. Yet there had been no records that any student of Hogwarts had been admitted to St. Mungo's during the last three days and the goblins had people checking the admittance records daily just in case. This meant that either Harry hadn't actually been seriously injured or that the school's healer and other staff were covering it up.

The Flamels had gone home to France to take care of a few things after their late night meeting on Halloween. The elderly couple (Ash nearly fainted when he learned just how old they were) would then return to England at the end of the week so they could work with Ash to find out what had been happening up at the school. Ash had already offered them a place to stay, which they had been reluctant to accept until he mentioned that the property he was currently living on had belonged to the Potter family. The wards surrounding the large section of property had actually been raised by Nicholas when the land had first been purchased nearly three centuries earlier.

If Ash did not hear from Harry by the time the Flamels returned, then the goblins would involve Rufus Scrimgeour, current head of the Auror division under Amelia Bones who was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. As a ministry official, Head Auror Scrimgeour could enter the school grounds without petitioning the Headmaster for permission. The only problem with involving the well known wizard was that he was known to be a bit of a pompous jerk. Apparently the man had visions of grandeur, setting his sights on the Minister's office with the intent to run the moment Cornelius Fudge stepped down or was voted out of office. To an extent that made Scrimgeour the consummate politician who was more likely to do something if the person he was doing it for had something to offer him in return.

Unfortunately, there was no getting around the man either; as all entreaties requesting an Auror investigation were routed through his office and anything even remotely related to Hogwarts business was handled by him personally. The only exception to that was on the order of Minister Fudge, whom they really wanted to avoid bringing into the equation as the man was the worst sort of politician out there; one who would do anything to keep his office, even thrash the reputation of an underage witch or wizard if they were considered a threat or ignore crucial evidence that could overturn a conviction of an accused criminal.

The rest of Ash's week dragged on endlessly as he began spending more and more of his time parked beside Trickster who had since been joined by Dave, Splash, and Jester. The other Pokémon would participate for short periods of time but they tended to wander off from time to time doing who knew what. Even the seven Pokémon that Ash had brought with him spent several hours a day beside the unmoving and ever watchful ninetales. The evening before the Flamels were due to arrive via a goblin provided portkey, Ash had reached the breaking point and was on the verge of heading off to do something rash and overly stupid when he heard Trickster suddenly begin barking and growling.

Stepping up beside the bristling Pokémon, Ash followed his gaze and saw something approaching through the sky. His heart seemed to back up into his throat as he felt the first tendrils of hope for the first time in days as he prayed the creature approaching was Mule. Then, right before his eyes, whatever had been approaching the property was attacked by a larger bird. "Charizard! Chase off what ever it is that is attacking that bird up there!" Ash ordered without a second's thought. "Noctowl, see if you can help get the bird away from its attacker."

Thankfully, both Pokémon had been in the vicinity at the time and the two of them sprung into immediate action. Noctowl, being the smaller Pokémon, was the first one to reach the aerial battle. The brave owl Pokémon then used its Hypnosis to create an illusion to distract the attacker. Under normal circumstances that move would have bought Noctowl enough time to transport the victim to safety. Unfortunately, the Hypnosis attack didn't affect the creature that was attacking.

Noctowl didn't give up though and used a Quick Attack followed by a Wing Attack that bowled the attacker over. The owl Pokémon then fled the battle as Charizard arrived, pausing only long enough to grasp the injured owl in his claws to carry it to safety. Charizard immediately used a Fire Blast Attack to frighten off the assailant which promptly burst into a ball of flames before exploding into a pile of ash that drifted lazily down towards the earth.

Back on the ground Ash reached out his hands to take Noctowl's burden as the Pokémon swooped down out of the sky. Ash was both relieved and horrified to find that the injured bird was Harry's owl, Mule. The poor thing was exhausted and suffering from multiple jagged cuts along both wings as well as missing several flight feathers. Ash cradled the bird close and ran into the cavern to fetch the first aide kit and a few healing berries so he could treat Mule before finding out what had happened from his son.

Thirty minutes later, the owl was wrapped up securely in a few bandages and safely tucked into a nest of blankets on Harry's sleeping bag in their temporary sleeping quarters. Mule had undeniably been carrying a letter, which Ash presumed was from Harry, though the envelope had been ripped in several places during the short battle. That damage made Ash wonder whether the attack had been a fluke or if someone had been trying to prevent Harry from contacting him; his reason for thinking along those lines being the dozens of predator free trips that Mule had made during the two months leading up to Halloween night.

Ash eagerly tore into the letter hoping there was a simple and harmless explanation for Harry's long (for Ash anyway) silence. He was shocked and disappointed the moment he got one look at the letter. First, it was written with a quill (not a ball point as all of Harry's other letters had been) and second, who ever had written the letter had much better penmanship than Harry. A brief look at the signature sealed the deal as it was signed by a Lucy Carmichael; a name Ash vaguely recalled being mentioned in a few of Harry's letters over the weeks.

Dear Mr. Ketchum,

I don't know if Harry has told you about me, my name is Lucy Carmichael and I am
a friend of your son's. At least I would like to think I was Harry's friend, but with
Harry, it's sometimes hard to be certain.

You're probably wondering why I am writing to you and what my strange friendship
has to do with it. I'll be honest with you, I'm terrified of how you will react to what I
have to say as I don't know any thing about you because Harry never talks about
himself or you. I felt obligated to contact you though because of the indefinable
relationship I have with your son and a mistake I recently made and I owe you and
your son both an apology.

I'd been trying to watch over Harry as best I could since he was physically attacked
by a seventh year on the first day of classes. I spend quite a bit of my free time with
him when our schedules permit it but mostly I just sit with him at meal times and we
discuss magical theory or classes.

On the night of the Halloween Feast, I'd sat beside Harry as usual and spent the
first thirty minutes trying to get him to eat something. I know he was hungry at the
time because we'd walk into the Great Hall together and he'd mentioned he was
practically starving because he hadn't eaten much during lunch. Yet when the food
arrived, Harry didn't do anything but glare at the various dishes closest to him. He
wouldn't even drink any of the pumpkin juice.

I think he was trying to explain what was going on when the Feast was interrupted
at that moment by one of our professors who announced that there was a troll loose
in the castle. For some reason the headmaster sent all of the students back to their
common rooms alone once order was restored. It seemed reasonable at the time but
now that I think about it we would have been safer if we had stayed in the Great
Hall. Harry seemed rather upset over that as well but I am afraid I didn't really think
about it until much later.

Harry and I ended up at the back of the line as we made our way to Ravenclaw
Tower. Our house ended up running across the trail of the troll and we were forced
to take a detour in order to avoid it. Harry and I were just about to enter the short
cut when we heard someone screaming. It was at this point I made the biggest
mistake in my life and it almost cost your son his life.

Ash had to stop reading at this point as his emotions skittered all over the place. He was beyond pissed that he hadn't been notified of his son's injury; if he had indeed been injured, the letter hadn't really explained anything up to that point. He was also upset with this Carmichael girl because she apparently had something to do with whatever it was that happened to Harry. But he was mostly terrified because it wasn't Harry that was writing to him explaining what had happened and there was no reason for Harry to avoid him (since he was miles away at a boarding school and he knew Harry trusted and respected him enough to be honest with him) which meant that Harry was either incapable of writing the letter or he wasn't being allowed to communicate.

As he sat there trying to pull himself together, Ash couldn't help but notice that the words of the letter were blurred right around the point where he stopped reading. It soon dawned on him that the girl had been crying as she wrote the letter; the bleeding ink smudges could have only been caused by falling tears due to the scattered patterns the drops had made on the parchment. Seeing those tear stains actually lessened the anger Ash might have directed at the girl for her part in the yet unknown fiasco that occurred on Halloween night. Accidents happen to the best of people at the worst of times and that one small sign of remorse on the girl's part let Ash know she hadn't done what ever it was she did with the intent of harming his son.

Gathering his courage, Ash continued reading because he couldn't stand not knowing.

I'm sure right now you must hate me. I know I hate me for my part in what
happened. I should have sent Harry back to the common room or off to find one of
the teachers. I would have too, if he'd had a better grasp of the castle's layout. At
the time, I feared he would end up lost or run into the troll as we didn't yet know
for sure that the girl who screamed was actually trapped by the troll.

So, instead of sending Harry off to safety, we both went to see if we could help
whoever it was that screamed. When we found the girl, we found the troll too. If you
don't know what a troll is, because I don't even know if you are a wizard or a muggle
(Harry never said), it's a huge ugly monster with a vicious streak a mile wide. This
one stood well over fifteen feet tall and carried a huge wooden club that was nearly
as long as Harry is tall. The beast was in a rage when we found it and I stupidly
asked Harry to get the girl out while I distracted the troll.

Harry was brave. He never even balked or hesitated when I began firing spells to
distract and hinder the troll. Unfortunately, all my spells did was further anger the
troll. Because of their thick skin, most spells don't really affect trolls. I don't know
exactly what went wrong at that point but Harry wasn't able to get the girl out of the
bathroom before I tripped over a bit of broken sink and was hit by the troll's club.

I must have passed out from the pain or hit my head hard enough to knock me
unconscious then, because I have no idea what happened between the moment I was
hit and the moment I woke up but it must have been horrible because the first thing I
saw when I opened my eyes again was the sight of Harry being crushed in the troll's
fist. I was petrified between horror and pain and couldn't do anything but watch as
the troll prepared to… I'd read about trolls years ago… I knew that they had a
reputation for it… but to actually realize I was going to witness it first hand had me
throwing up what little food I had eaten before the Feast was interrupted.

You see, trolls are notorious in our world for eating flesh. Not just meat but living
flesh. And there was no doubt in my mind that the troll… that that monster was
going to eat your son right in front of me. And it would have been entirely my fault,
because I was the one who had asked him to get the other first year out instead of
telling him to run for his life.

How Harry managed to free himself, I'll never know. I suspect his fear and the pain
he must have been feeling at the time triggered a serious bout of accidental magic. I
do know he was delirious at the time because I heard him calling out nonsensical
orders out to someone or something that wasn't there. As best I can remember, he
cried out the following from the ground at the troll's feet;

Good job, spy cat. Paralyze him with mean look and then attack with pursuit.
Dodge, dodge, faint attack.

Maybe you might be able to make sense of what he meant by it.

I think Harry passed out after that but at the time I thought he'd died from the
injuries the troll inflicted on him coupled with the six foot drop after the troll let
him go. I heard bones snapping when he landed. Not a minute after that the troll
stumbled several times before crashing to the ground just a few inches away from
my face. I wanted to scream then, because I could see the hem of Harry's school
robe sticking out from under the troll's body. Only it turned out Harry wasn't
wearing them anymore because I could see him sitting propped up against the far
wall only to see him fade from view a few seconds later.

I kept calling out his name but he didn't answer me. Professor McGonagall
appeared shortly after that but I never saw her enter the bathroom. I was too
wrapped up in what happened to Harry to care that a professor had finally arrived.
The rest of the night is one big blur. I remember thinking Harry was dead or dying
but can't recall how I got to the hospital ward from the third floor bathroom. I then
remember watching Madam Pomfrey hovering over Harry and I began praying that
meant he was still alive.

I even saw Madam Pomfrey feed him dose after dose of potion and I felt hope, until
I saw his whole body begin thrashing about wildly. Madam Pomfrey became
hysterical and nothing she did seemed to help. She cast some sort of spell on Harry
but that only made things worse as he began foaming at the mouth and turning blue.
I then saw Madam Pomfrey faint. Then the next thing I know Harry's not moving
and I thought once more that he was dead.

I blamed myself then as I still blame myself now. If not for me, Harry would not have
been anywhere near that troll. I spent the next three days in the hospital bed beside
Harry as I had my own injuries healed. I prayed day and night that he would wake
up before I was released but he never did. Even as I write you this letter, he is still
laying in that hospital bed unconscious.

According to the snippets I overheard from Madam Pomfrey when she didn't think
I was listening; he suffered severe blood loss, massive internal bleeding, a collapsed
lung, and had close to thirty different broken bones. I'm sure there was more to his
injuries, because I sometimes catch the healer fretting over his bed when she doesn't
know I'm there, wringing her hands and muttering incoherently under her breath.

It was after her latest bout of near panic that I decided to write to you because I
hadn't heard whether or not you'd been notified of Harry's injuries. I thought you
would have tried to contact Harry if you had known but I never saw his rather
standoffish owl during the morning deliveries. I tried finding the bird in the owlry
but he never seemed to be there either. It wasn't until I overheard one of Harry's
dorm mates complaining about a foul odor coming from his locked room that I
suspected the owl might have been locked up in there.

I feared the worst, thinking the bird had starved to death trapped inside the castle
with no food or water but the smell turned out to be a dead mouse that the owl had
left in the middle of Harry's bed for some reason. Apparently Harry had left the
window open so his owl could come and go freely any time it wanted. After I
resolved to write to you, I returned to Harry's room to write you this letter.

Normally, I would have used one of the school's owls to send it off but I was given a
warning and an order that I was not, under any circumstances, to contact you or
anyone else with this information by the Deputy Headmistress. That only confirmed
in my mind that the professors and Madam Pomfrey were trying to cover up what
happened to Harry. I'm desperate, Mr. Ketchum. I spoke to the girl we were trying to
save just this morning. I asked her if she was feeling better after the attack and she
had no clue what I was talking about.

She couldn't even remember that she'd been trapped by the troll in the bathroom!
How do you forget a fifteen-foot monster trying to kill you? I fear that Professor
Dumbledore or one of the other professors modified her memory to make her forget.
I'm scared they're going to try and wipe my memory of that night next. It's possible
they've already made Harry forget but if I remember correctly they can't do the spell
while he's unconscious.

I'm sorry; I better go before I am caught out of bounds. We're not supposed to be in
the boy's dorms except when we're performing routine checks or doing morning
wake up calls. Please forgive me, Mr. Ketchum. I never meant for anything to happen
to Harry.

Lucy Carmichael

P.S. Please don't write me back as I was forbidden to contact you.

Ash almost wished the girl had never written to him. Reading the descriptions of the troll, Harry's injuries, and the mass conspiracy to keep him in the dark regarding those injuries made him sick. It also enraged him as he thought about his son lying helpless in some medieval hospital ward near death's door when he should, by all rights, have been transferred immediately to the magical hospital the moment he was stabilized. Ash then frowned as he started searching back through the letter for the girl's description of the healer's treatment that was provided to Harry immediately after he was injured.

When he found the paragraph he was looking for, the blood fled from his face and he grew lightheaded as he knew instantly what had happened. He had seen Harry succumb to seizures due to his condition just once, when the boy had been nine years old and suffering from a severe bout of the stomach flu. Harry had gotten up in the middle of the night and knocked a framed poster off the wall in his rush to reach the toilet before he threw up all over the place. On his way back to bed after washing his mouth out, he'd stepped on several of the shards and sliced both feet open pretty deeply.

Ash had found him two hours later when he got up to take a shower. By that time Harry was dizzy from the combination of the fever from the flu and the recent blood loss. The kid's feet had bled profusely during the night as he'd slumped down and curled up on the floor, his feet hurting too much to walk back to bed and feeling too weak to call out for help due to the toll the flu had been taking on him. Ash had mistakenly given Harry a can of cola instead of one of his low sugar fruit drinks to help settle his stomach and cool him down from the inside out. Harry had drunk nearly a quarter of it before the excessive influx of sugar shocked his system and caused his body to shut down.

On the way to the hospital, Harry's heart had stopped twice and only the tireless efforts of the attending paramedics performing CPR both times brought Harry back from the brink before Ash's eyes. That was the last time Ash ever stocked the refrigerator with soda. Once Harry was stabilized, he'd gone home and emptied more than twenty cans of the cola down the sink without any hesitation as the lingering image of Harry's tiny body thrashing uncontrollably haunted his waking hours; images would go on to haunt his nightmares for months on end.

Even now Ash could easily picture the scene the girl described as various phrases echoed through his mind…

… his whole body begin thrashing about wildly. Madam Pomfrey… hysterical… nothing seemed to help. She cast some sort of spell… made things worse… turning blue…

If Ash had been anywhere near Hogwarts right at that moment, nothing would have prevented him from tearing the castle down just so he could kill that woman for her sheer stupidity. He knew… knew… that Harry had repeatedly told the idiotic nurse that he was worried about the possible negative side effects of taking those potions. She was fully aware of Harry's less than perfect health and yet she still 'feed him dose after dose of potion'. She completely disregarded Harry's warnings and concerns and damn near killed his son because she couldn't comprehend his condition or simply refused to believe him about what could happen.

Ash glanced down at the letter in his hand and realized he now had the proof he needed that there was something fishy going on up at the school. Clarity returned to him instantly and he burst into motion. He quickly gathered up the shoe box of letters that Harry had sent to him, documenting the continued confrontations with Madam Pomfrey about taking potions. He tucked the letter from the girl into the envelope it had come in and placed it in the box as well. He then quickly threw on a clean change of clothes, gathered up the wounded owl, Pikachu, and the box of letters, and activated his portkey to Diagon Alley.

He wasted no time once he landed on the steps of Gringotts, charging up the stairs at a dead run that had Pikachu holding onto his shirt and hair for dear life. The guards, easily recognizing the look on his face, wisely stepped out of his way before sending a runner on ahead to warn Ragnok that the 'Dragon Master' (as they'd labeled Ash after the night he'd wiped out an entire scheme of wards with the help of what they thought was an immature dragon) was on the rampage and looking ready to kill once more. That was how Ash ended up marching into Ragnok's office without any hindrance (even the great double doors leading into the room had been left open to prevent him from blasting them apart a second time) to find the stout goblin expecting him. The goblin's no-nonsense and all business demeanor actually calmed Ash's fury enough to allow him to avoid a repeat performance of his less-than-stellar behavior back on Halloween night.

Without saying a word, Ash took a deep breath and set the injured Mule down on Ragnok's desk before slamming the box of letters down beside the owl, causing both Ragnok and Mule to jump at the loud thump. Ash then spoke in a monotone that screamed of barely suppressed rage, "My son's owl was attacked less than an hour ago as it attempted to deliver a letter. This is my son's owl and as you can see he was seriously injured during the attack." Ash then opened the box and pulled out the letter from Miss Carmichael before continuing on in the same tone, "This is the letter Mule, the owl, was carrying at the time. When I first removed it from Mule's leg, I fully expected it to be from my son. It is not. Read it. I am far too furious right now and discussing that letter right this minute isn't going to help me to not lose control."

Silently, Ragnok opened the envelope and removed the shockingly long and moderately detailed letter. The further he read the better he understood what it was that stirred up the dormant rage of the man standing before him. When he read about the defeat of the troll, the goblin felt a slight twinge of regret that he had not been able to witness such a battle (he was a goblin and goblins were born and bred warriors, after all) but he didn't give the human any indication of those feelings as he quickly moved on to the next part of the letter.

The next bit, listing the partial treatment of the boy, was the most serious information. The letter clearly documented a breach of the Medical Procedures as written by the venerable Headmistress and Mediwitch, Dilys Derwent who implemented the procedures at Hogwarts in the year seventeen forty-three after the healer assigned to the school attempted to treat an injury beyond her capability and ended up killing a young daughter of a prominent pureblood line. Healer Pomfrey had also violated the Healer's Creed she'd sworn a verbal oath to uphold when she received her practitioner's license. She had spuriously disregarded a patient's preexisting condition that nearly led to said patient's death.

"Do you have any proof that Healer Pomfrey was fully aware of your son's condition? I know you spoke of it briefly but I don't recall exactly what you said."

"I do, that box holds every single letter Harry has sent to me since the day he left for Hogwarts. Each letter was dated by Harry when he sent it and by me on the day I received it, I then stored each one in its original envelope, and filed them in this box in chronological order. Starting from Harry's third letter, which was attached to the second letter he sent, he complained of the healer's persistence regarding his refusal to drink any healing potions. He also stated the fact that he had informed at least two other staff members of his condition, so it wasn't just the healer that knew."

Ragnok nodded to show he heard and understood before continuing with the letter. By the time he reached the end, the goblin leader was practically reeling with all of the startling revelations and damaging evidence that one simple girl had supplied on the simple fluke of befriending one boy and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Medical foul-ups and possible malpractice, broken oaths, cover-up conspiracies, illegal under-age obliviations, a hint of veiled threats directed towards another student, and the failure to notify at least one parent (possibly two) of a child's close (and lingering) brush with death were just a few of the things wrong with the entire incident.

"Would you be willing to provide Magical Law Enforcement with a copy of the memory of the attack on your son's owl? Any memories you can provide with an extreme example of an episode involving your son's unique medical condition might prove expedient as well," Ragnok said as he returned the letter to the envelope and carefully placed it back in the shoebox of letters. "If you will agree, I can have an Auror from the ministry here first thing tomorrow along with some Gringotts' best legal advisors."

"For now, I will do this your way but the moment it goes belly-up, I will go to Hogwarts myself with Charizard and start razing that damned castle to the ground. They nearly killed my son and now refuse to own up to it and I always keep my promises."

"You do realize that they will use those threats as a basis for withholding this information, yes?"

"Whether they do or not, they can't hide the fact that they stuffed up. All they had to do was let me in to check on my son, right then and there, and not only could I have prevented the Healer from poisoning my son with her potions (after she'd been warned) I could have provided the means to help him heal by using the berries you goblins are so interested in. Those berries have exceedingly low levels of fructose, even the sweeter ones don't have that much sugar in them, and Harry's body has adapted to them and therefore reacts positively with their healing abilities."

There was nothing Ragnok could say to dispute that.

AN: uh-oh… somebody's in trouble now. *weg* The next chapter will show the reactions of the Hogwarts staff to the troll incident and the meeting between Ash and Rufus. Things will start moving a bit faster after that as the rest of the fallout settles and we move forward to the winter holidays and Harry's first meeting with the Flamels.

One reviewer expressed a bit of confusion over Ragnok's non-reaction to basically being ignored by the humans in his office in the last chapter. The answer is that the goblins respect two things; wealth and power. The Flamels and the Ketchum/Potter Family both have obvious wealth and Ash had just displayed he had the ability to destroy goblin wards (with the help of Trickster and the other Pokémon with him but the goblins don't necessarily know that) while he commanded the dragon that held off a small portion of the goblin army.

Hence, while the Flamels and Ash carried on their business, Ragnok simply went about making plans to aide both clients because he saw it as a means of placating Ash's anger and frustration and because he expected to reap the benefits later in the form of cash or material goods (such as the berries the goblins were so interested in or maybe a breed of dragon that were far more intelligent than the ones they currently used as vault guardians and far easier to control – I mean really, Charizard is no slacker despite his rather short stature).

Anywho… thank you again for all of the wonderful reviews! ~ Jenn

02-05-13: This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline.