Chapter 17

Harri scrunched her eyes against the lights pulsing in front of her and disturbing her rest. If this was another prank, she was going to murder Fred and George. She had been having such pleasant dreams too. Harri tried to pull the covers over her face only to discover she couldn't move. Disturbing scenarios flashed through her mind as her heart skipped a beat. She was restrained. Did she get kidnapped by death eaters, or worse, reporters? She relaxed her tense muscles and feigned sleep, keeping her eyes shut while she tried to retrace her steps.

'Ok. Where was I last?' Slowly she began to recall her stay with the dungeon dweller. They had hardly spoken. Then she remembered the nightmare incident. Did he immobilize her so she wouldn't disturb him? … Totally possible. Realizing her thoughts were getting her nowhere she peeked through squinted eyes to asses her surroundings only to notice her glasses had been confiscated. She nearly groaned in frustration. Colourful blobs bobbed and weaved in the air above her in a nonsensical pattern. Her anxiety peaked and the red colours in the strange aurora borealis seemed to jump in time with her heart rate. Nothing she could see reminded her of the bland dusty guestroom she had sequestered herself in. Everything was white and sterile. She could smell nothing, hear nothing and her body was retrained.

Before she could work herself into a true panic a blob wearing familiar sickly green robes pushed aside a piece of the whiteness surrounding her and bowed over her. Whoever it was tried to speak to her, but she couldn't hear a word they were saying. Finally, they seemed to give up and walked back out through what Harri now realized was a white curtain. Minutes later the green blob returned accompanied by another shorter green blob wearing a white overcoat. A short arm was raised and waved around. With a final flick, the light show faded away as sounds and sensation returned to her uncomfortably fast. Harriette's ears were filled with an avalanche of noise and her extremities tingled unpleasantly as though all her limbs had fallen asleep at once. She sneezed painfully hard three times as the smell of harsh detergents and death seemed to take up permanent residence in her nostrils. Ignoring the painful pins and needles sensation, Harri lifted her now mobile arms to quickly cover her ears lest they start to bleed. After an eternity her hearing returned to normal and the pain in her limbs faded. The smells remained awful and fueled what was gearing up to be a truly terrible headache. Cautiously she lowered her hands and opened her eyes again to stare accusingly at the healers.

"Better now dearie?" asked the shorter green blob in a low smokey male-sounding voice.

"I can hear you if that's what you're asking." Harri snapped. "Still can't see you tho."

The taller green blob let out a feminine sounding squeak and raced away only to return and practically throw Harriette's glasses at her.

Harri yelped and snatched them clumsily from the air before they could smash into her face.

"Thank you, nurse Fairbanks. You may return to your post." Said the smokey man.

All Harriette saw once she had settled her glasses back onto her face was a messy brown bun ducking quickly through the curtain.

She turned to asses her healer. He was an older man with salt and pepper black hair. His eyes were a deep comforting brown set in a somewhat wrinkly but not old face with a square jaw. He was short and wide with salt and pepper stubble lining his chin. If he was a muggle, she might assume that he was in his late forties, but you could never really tell with wizards. He was likely much older. Harri decided she liked this man. He seemed dependable.

"You'll have to forgive nurse Fairbanks. She's still young and is easily starstruck."

"And you're not I hope."

"No. Don't worry. What you've done, while impressive, will not affect my treatment of you."

Hari visibly relaxed at his words. "Thank Merlin for that."

The man chuckled and introduced himself. "My name is Healer McCoy."

"Pleasure." She replied.

"How do you feel? The removal of the stasis-spell can sometimes be very uncomfortable for some patients," he asked as he grabbed the clipboard from the foot of her bed.

"Honestly? I have a splitting headache and my skin aches. What happened to me?"

McCoy nodded as though this were normal and made a notation on her chart. "I can offer you a mild pain potion as well as a headache remedy if you'd like."

Harriette nodded and with a wave of his wand a floating tray with two opaque potion bottles appeared in front of her. Once she had downed the potions and returned them to the tray with a sigh of relief, he made yet another note on her chart and returned it to the hook on the end of her bed. Another flick and the tray disappeared as he made himself comfortable on the wooden chair next to the bed. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Harriette propped herself up onto the mountain of pillows behind her and considered what say. "I remember waking up from a nightmare. My magic was leaping around me. It wasn't very unusual, so I went back to sleep and then I woke up here."

McCoy hummed thoughtfully and leaned back as he crossed his legs and tapped his chin with a forefinger. After a moments' contemplation, he threaded his palms together and braced his elbows on the armrests and looked back at Harriette seriously. "For how long has your magic been behaving erratically like that?"

Harri blushed and looked down at the fingers she had curled into the white hospital sheets. "since a bit after the battle" she mumbled hesitantly.

McCoy leaned forward in his seat and tilted his head so he could hear what she was saying more clearly. "Sorry. I didn't catch that. How long?"

Harri cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "Since about a week after the battle."

McCoy leaned back with a wry crook to his mouth and a knowing gleam in his eyes. "I see." He said curtly. Harri blushed harder. "Any reason why you've let this go for so long?"

Harri brushed an errant strand of hair from her face. "It's been a bit crazy. I've been in hiding and my old school nurse couldn't figure out the cause. I haven't felt safe enough to go to the hospital for … quite a while now that I think of it."

The healers' face softened slightly at the admission. "That's understandable I suppose. Still, it's unfortunate you allowed your illness to go untreated for so long. We've had to take some drastic measures to stabilize you."

Harri blanched at the news. "Illness? Drastic? Can you start at the beginning please?"

"Certainly. Let me start by saying you are suffering from a kind of soul sickness."

"Soul sickness? What's that?"

"Its an imbalance in the soul. Our magic, while a genetic trait, is connected intrinsically to our souls. That is why when a dementor gives a criminal the Kiss, the resulting husk is unable to retain its magic and when the hosts' magic dissipates entirely, the body dies. The cause of soul-sickness is not always clear. You haven't participated in any obscure rituals recently have you?" Healer McCoy asked, only half teasing.

"What? No! I've taken up meditation but that's about as ritualistic as I get."

"The Truce Rites you undertook with the Malfoy Family counts as a ritual."

"Really? I didn't know that. That's probably the only ritual I've ever done then. I don't think the truce is the cause tho. My magic was acting strange even before that."

"So we've gathered. We believe a miscast spell may have hit you during the Battle of Hogwarts and caused your illness."

"Ok. You said something about drastic measures."

"Had you been treated right after the battle the spell could have been located and removed. After some time in a spelled healing sleep, you would have been fine. Now that the spell has been left to do its damage, some of it is irreversible."

"Ok. What now?"

"With healing magic, we've initiated a false bond to stabilize your soul and magic. This is, unfortunately, only a temporary fix."

"I'm feeling much better than I was. I was getting very…numb, I suppose. You're saying this won't last?"

"No. The 'Healer's bond' as we call it is only temporary. It's a short-term solution that's used to allow the patient time to initiate a more permanent bond."

"Why a bond? I have to get married?!"

"Not necessarily married. When the soul is imbalanced, a bond can be used to 'prop it up' or reinforce it, for lack of a better word. Sometimes the soul will heal itself while this bond is there for support, and it can then be dissolved. Normally, we would use a parent or significant other. You must decide if you would like a mating bond or a familial bond to replace the healer's bond. A familiar's bond is insufficient to treat soul-sickness. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the imbalance in your case, this bond will likely have to be permanent."

Harriette stared at the sympathetic healer. She was both unbelievably shocked and utterly unsurprised. She could never catch a break. Harri cringed when McCoy opened his mouth to speak again. She didn't think she could handle anything else.

"One last thing. Your orphaned status meant we had intended to reach out to your muggle relatives for permissions about your care, but it proved unnecessary. The Malfoys came forward with written permissions to act in-loco-parentis on your behalf while you were unconscious. Their truce status made them eligible to fill this role until you woke up."

"What did they tell you?"

"They gave us permission for any life-saving procedures and I quote 'no more and no less'. They also barred any visitors until you woke up. I have some pamphlets with information on the bonds for you to peruse and you can submit a visitor list to your nurse at your leisure. A very secure hospital owl will be provided should you desire to ask someone for advice. The hospital also has excellent counselling services at your disposal should you desire a more neutral assessment of your options. They are oath-bound to keep any conversations with you completely confidential of course."

Harri took the colourful bundle of pamphlets the healer was holding out to her with numb fingers. She was thoroughly overwhelmed now. "Um…thank you, Healer McCoy. Is there anything else? I…have a LOT to think about. If there's anything else that isn't vital could we please talk about it later? I'm feeling tired suddenly."

McCoy nodded briskly and stood from the chair brushing away any creases from his robes and holding his hands behind his back. "Of course, dearie. It's a lot of information to take in." He pointed to a small colourful orb that she hadn't noticed floating on the corner of her bed over her right shoulder. It reminded her of the aurora borealis she had seen upon waking. "That is the observation orb we have monitoring your vitals and your magic levels. You appear to be stable for the moment. As soon as you are in distress it will sound an alarm and summon the nearest healer to your side. Please do not stray too far from your bed or we will not know if you need help." McCoy put his arm back behind his back and smiled down at her. "That being said, if you need your nurse for any reason simply poke the orb with your wand and it will summon Nurse Fairbanks for you. Normally the nurses ask I keep that little tidbit a secret so they don't get harassed too much, but somehow I doubt Nurse Fairbanks will mind if you call for her at your leisure."

Harri managed to summon a weak smile for the kind healer. "Thank you, Healer McCoy."

With a smile and a nod, he was gone. Shortly thereafter Harri fell into a troubled sleep.