Diagnosis

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, even to those who dislike the fic.

'written by Harry'

"spoken aloud"

/parseltoungue/

Disclaimer: Nope I'm not rich, so don't own anything.

Warning: Violence, brief talk of sexual activity, and strong language warning for this chapter. I attempted to make the scene between Harry and Draco under the MA rating that isn't allowed on here, hope I did it right.

Chapter 23: the Seaside

..:..

Harry's POV

Harry and Hermione were sitting at a table in the library with a stack of texts in front of them on Monday after their classes were finished. They were looking through the Latin books for the spell to cast for their specific animal transfiguration spell and at anatomy books so that they could visualize their animagus form while transfiguring their body parts which was the next step before doing it wandlessly. After they had mastered that achievement, they would be considered full animargi once they could transform into and back from human to animal.

'Mione, do you reckon that the library will have any books on the phoenix for me to study from?'

"Yes. The Hogwarts library practically has any book that one could require. The only question is where in the library said tomes are located."

'You don't think that a book on the anatomy of a phoenix would be in the restricted section do you?'

"No."

Two hours later, Harry turned to the table of contents in the anatomy book he was skimming through for information and found under the P's phoenix. This tome was one of magical creatures. He wondered if his father had spent several hours looking through texts like he and Hermione had. He had heard great things about James Potter, but he remembered all to clearly that day during fifth year that he had witnessed from the pensive in Severus's office when James had bullied Snape. This was not one of James more brilliant moments.

James he recalled being told was a spectacular transfiguration student though, and Lily had been great at charms.

Hermione broke him out of his momentary lapse in concentration with a rebuke to keep reading.

'But I've found my animal already Mione.'

"Really," asked Hermione excitedly. She had found her animal in the nonmagical creatures tome a while ago given it's common nature. "That's great. After you take some notes for reference when you're practicing the spell, move on to the Latain book to look up the words for the spell, the anamagi book will show us the wand movements used in the beginning."

'Can I borrow the animagus book to read how to perform the spell tonight? I want to read about it during my chemotherapy session you know to give me something else to think about.'

"Sure, you don't have to ask me for permission, the book belongs to Professor McGonagall after all."

Harry returned to the book he was reading and let out a whoop of excitement when he found the incantation for the spell that he was supposed to use. The incantation that Harry wrote down in his notes for his phoenix transfiguration spell were transfiguratio avem, which translated to transfigure bird. Harry had searched long and hard for the word phoenix in Latin but couldn't find it so he pushed his parchment over to Hermione to make sure that this generalized spell would still work. She said that yes it would and that he'd have to picture the anatomy of the phoenix when casting the spell. When he asked her how she knew this she just smiled and said that he should read over the animagus book again tonight like he had planned.

'Did you find the word for feline?'

Hermione nodded and put back the books that they had been using before Harry followed her in his levitation chair out of the library and down Hogwarts many corridors.

Harry and Hermione made their way down to the kitchens where Harry had a light dinner before his radiation.

..:..

Harry's POV

Harry and Draco were sitting awaiting Severus's presence in his private office for Harry's treatment to begin.

They were holding hands and chatting about a little of this and a little of that until their dower potions master entered the room.

"Hello their boys. How are you doing?"

"Fine sir," came Draco's reply.

'Alright,' wrote Harry.

"Are you ready to begin your treatment?"

'As ready as I'll ever be.'

Harry watched on as Severus connected the tubing to his port after administering the Celmosphocide to begin the anti-amedic.

Harry cracked open the small animagus book open and read the proper wand movements to go along with the animagus spell that Harry and Hermione had looked up earlier in the library. Harry busied himself practicing the wand movements from the animagus book with a stick that he had collected on his way earlier that evening from his first radiotherapy session of the week to practice with. He didn't want to use his Holly wand because he didn't want to cause an accident when he was just beginning to get the hang of the spell. The book had instructed him to visualize the animal in which he wished to transform into while saying the incantation whilst moving your wand in a counterclockwise direction; you would then make an upwards flick at the end of the counterclockwise movement. This was all exciting, the idea of transfiguring oneself into an animal and all. Harry couldn't wait to finish mastering the spell because then he could begin practicing mastering wandless magic and then move onto performing transfiguratio avem wandlessly and transfigure himself into a phoenix and back again. Only then would he have become a full-fledged animagus.

"What spell are you trying to figure out Harry," asked the blond curiously.

'The animagus spell.'

"Don't you have to have the head of transfiguration's permission and guidance to do so?"

Harry blushed and then put down the makeshift wand and wrote, 'Professor McGonagall gave Hermione and I a book to use for private study on the topic. We've already brewed the potion to reveal our forms and everything.'

"Wicked, what's your form going to be?"

'A phoenix.'

"That's rare, or at least that's what Professor McGonagall said during our transfiguration class on the topic."

"Why does it seem that the impossible always happens to you their mate," asked Draco.

Harry spent the rest of the time before receiving the Todesgefahr trying to convince Draco to ask Professor McGonagall for permission to use the book and brew the potion for himself until Severus came back into the room with the chemotherapy draft and placed it on the IV stand starting the dreaded drip.

..:..

Harry's POV

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the charms classroom awaiting Professor Flitwick's presence to start their charms lesson.

They didn't have to wait long, as the diminutive man entered his classroom and stepped onto the pile of books in order to see above his desk.

He called role and then began his lecture.

"Today we are going to learn how to animate statues bringing them to life. Can anyone tell me why such a skill might prove beneficial?"

Hermione raised her hand along with to everyone's surprise Neville.

Neville had gained entrance to NEWT charms by a narrow margin, and had not gained entrance to DADA at all. Due to his OWL marks. Harry certainly had his work set out teaching the boy defense in the DA, but he had faith in Neville's skill now that he had a new wand. Because his OWL's had taken place using his father's wand and everyone knew that using a wand tuned specifically to your own magic worked best.

Refocusing on the lecture Harry heard the professor call on Neville to answer the question.

"In many Manors you can find statues, gargoyles, or suits of armor that are strategically located to be used to defend a household if the wards are breached and the house is under attack sir. This could help us in the war."

"Very good Mr. Longbottom, ten points to Gryffindor. What could you do if their aren't any of these sentinels around to cast the spell?"

Hermione raised her hand. "Yes Miss Granger?"

"You could conjure them and then animate them with the charm sir."

"Very good. Professor McGonagall will also be teaching you how to conjure items. These two subjects will take place in tandem so that you will gain full knowledge of how to defend yourself with or without the need to conjure the defenders. Ten points to Gryffindor."

"Does anyone know the charm that is used or the wand movement for extra credit points?"

"Yes Mr. Boot," asked Professor Flitwick.

"The incantation is ad vitam."

"Thank you, ten points to Ravenclaw."

"Does anyone know the wand movement?"

Hermione was the only one to raise her hand this time. "Yes Miss Granger?"

"You make a corkscrew motion with your wand while you say or think the incantation."

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor. You will of course be expected to master this charm nonverbally. Miss Brown, would you mind passing out the statues to everyone?"

Lavender got out of the seat next to Ron and got the box of miniature statues that they would be trying to animate and passed them around.

Harry was very eager to learn this charm after seeing Dumbledore cast it in the DOM to animate the statues in the Fountain of Magical Brethren.

After the statues sat atop every single student's desk the professor bade everyone to begin.

Hermione of course got the hang of the charm on her first try. Harry watched as her statue walked around her desk enviously. Pushing all envious thoughts out of his head with a judicious use of the meager Occlumency skills he had began to learn with Professor Snape, Harry gave it a try. Much to the Gryffindor's shock, the charm worked on his second attempt. As he began to cast the charm, he felt a rush of power travel down his arm and out his wand.

Professor Flitwick awarded both Harry and Hermione two points each for casting so well. Harry was a little sad at the knowledge that his quick mastery of the charm probably was just a side-effect of the Celmosphocide as his magic wasn't usually this easily accessed. It usually took him a while and a lot of effort to master the spell, or charm unless it was a defensive one which he excelled at.

..:..

Harry's POV

The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were currently sitting in Professor McGonagall's classroom on Wednesday watching on as the professor wrote notes on the board for them to copy down.

"Today we will be working on the conjuration of objects. Since you just had the sister lesson with Professor Flitwick earlier this week, we'll be working on conjuring statues. The incantation and wand movement are on the board. You may begin."

This was going to be considerably harder Harry suspected for him to manage. Nevertheless, Harry began using the incantation and picturing what he needed.

It took him the entire lesson but by the end, he had mastered the spell silently as ordered by the professor. Even though he was worried that his increase of magical abilities were due to his cancer treatments, if he could master enough spells and magic perhaps after the horcruxes were destroyed he'd have a fighting chance of killing Voldemort that is if he did it in the next two years before his treatment was through.

Ron on the other hand wasn't so lucky. He had only managed to conjure the leg of a statue and looked frustrated at his efforts.

"If you haven't managed the spell I expect you to practice for next lesson. I would like you to write two feet on the art of conjuration and Gamp's law about what can and cannot be conjured."

..:..

Harry's POV

Harry found himself sitting on the floor of the loo in the hospital wing on Wednesday evening after his chemotherapy draft.

Harry retched violently into the toilet bowl again and again. His arms hurt with the effort of holding himself up. They were shaking with the strain.

Harry heard someone approaching the loo. Ah, Madame Pomfrey was coming to check up on him.

"Mr. Potter, why are you in the floor? There's a pail beside your bed that you can use. You'll catch a cold if you stay on the cold stone floor given the cold temperature outside. Here," she said holding out a glass of water. She bent down and pressed the glass to Harry's lips and he took a sip into his mouth and gargled it. After he rinsed the horrid taste of vomit out of his mouth he took a few sips. Just enough to take out the soreness of his throat from sicking up so much. He would probably throw it right up again but it was worth a try anyway.

"Here let me help you stand up and get back into your chair," said the matron kindly.

Once Madame Pomfrey had hoisted Harry up and sat him back down in his levitation chair, he went back to his bed and sat back down. He got sick several more times in the pail before falling asleep in exhaustion. Madame Pomfrey could only hope that he could sleep off the worst of the side-effects, but she was not optimistic. He usually got sick for hours on end following his Todesgefahr infusions.

..:..

Harry's POV

On Friday in potions, Harry and Hermione sat together. This class held all four houses due to Professor Snape's high standards, he did not except many students into his NEWT potions class. Harry found it far less dangerous to brew now that some of the Slytherins that used to sabotage his potions were either no longer taking potions or had seemed to turn the other cheek at Draco's request.

The potions master entered the room black robes billowing as he went.

He wrote the recipe onto the board for them to copy down.

Harry diligently copied the recipe down as Hermione went to get the ingredients. He had been specifically forbidden to handle the ingredients due to his lower cell counts. Instead he would stir the potion as Hermione prepared them. To make matters worse he had to use a bubblehead charm to keep out any germs. It somewhat muffled his voice. He also had to do this in herbology and had to wear his dragon hide gloves at all times.

Potions past in a whirl of activity and before Harry knew it, their potion was turning a nice lilac color. It looked a far sight better than Michael Corner's potion that was a pink color. Harry hadn't the foggiest clue how that had happened.

"bottle your potions and label them with your name and bring them up to my desk for my inspection. If you get a failing grade, you will be required to brew the potion again in detention is that understood?"

Everyone chorused a yes sir dutifully as to not anger the professor. No one was that daft.

Harry maneuvered his levitation chair over to the desk and placed the vial atop of it, grateful that Hermione had brewed it herself for the most part. His potions lessons were helping him better understand the brewing process as well and he found it easier to calculate the timing of stirring and such. The professor had had him using a child's brewing kit to practice on every Saturday so that the ingredients wouldn't harm him with his weakened immune system.

He left the classroom with a sigh of relief. It was not that he wasn't grateful for all that the potions master had done for him and all, but the potions lab seemed to ramp up his headaches. He supposed it could in part be due to stress.

All of the sudden, Michael Corner ambushed Harry casting a disarming spell at him which knocked his levitation chair over with the force of it. He was unable to dodge due to the fact that he was in his chair at the time.

"What was that for," asked Ron angrily.

"That was for him still befriending Ginny after I broke up with her."

"I thought that Harry taught you a lesson with that spectacular punch he threw," said Hermione who helped Harry right his chair before checking his head for any bumps or lumps that he'd need to see Madame Pomfrey for. "And I didn't know that you and Harry were mates."

"It's not like he can really pose me much threat in that chair," muttered Michael. "And we're not."

Ron walked up to the Ravenclaw and socked him one in the jaw.

"That's for you hexing a kid with cancer you load of shit."

"Boys what's going on," asked an irate Severus Snape.

"Harry started it," lied Michael.

'Did not,' wrote Harry handing the paper to Severus.

"The prick disarmed Harry because he was angry about him taking Ginny's side over the break up," said Ron.

"But wasn't that argument taken care of when Harry punched you, you still didn't learn your lesson," said Snape. "It's a low blow to do that to someone with cancer. What were you thinking, you could've seriously hurt him. Fifty points from Ravenclaw for your actions and a detention with Filch ought to teach you to use your words instead of your wand first Mr. Corner."

"But Weasley punched me," said Michael rubbing his jaw.

"You deserved it," muttered Hermione under her breath.

Severus pretended not to have heard Hermione's comment. "Are you alright Mr. Potter?"

'Yes just a few bumps and bruises that's all.'

"If you need to visit Madame Pomfrey later, feel free to do so, now get out of my sight Mr. Corner."

..:..

Harry's POV

Later that evening, Harry and Draco were sitting in the muggle hospital waiting room awaiting Harry's potential last radiotherapy session. On Monday evening Harry'd take an MRI to check and see if the tumor had shrank enough to discontinue the radiation sessions or not.

Harry really hoped that it would have shrank enough because the radiation caused horrid side-effects, not limited to dry eyes, headaches, vomiting and radiation burns that he would have to treat with the burn cream.

Harry was writing to Draco with a muggle pin about what had happened after potions. Draco's face got really red and the blond exclaimed "What the fuck was he thinking knocking you over like that. You could've been seriously hurt. Did Severus check you over for injuries?"

'Yes he did after he gave Corner detention with Filch and took fifty points from Ravenclaw.'

"He's lucky that I had already left the dungeons before he acted otherwise I might've killed the fucker."

'Calm down Draco, it's over and he's been punished.'

Draco changed the subject as to not further upset Harry. However Draco still looked irate.

Five minutes later, Harry's nurse came to get him.

Harry wheeled and she walked down the corridor. His levitation chair looked like a muggle electric chair to everyone who was not a witch or wizard.

"Are you ready for that MRI on Monday Harry," asked the pretty nurse.

Harry nodded unable to respond with the written word until they reached the radiation suite.

Once he had maneuvered himself from the chair onto the table he wrote 'I'm more than ready. It's not that I dislike you lot or anything, but this treatment isn't exactly easy on the body and if I can be done with it, I'm more than ready to do so.'

"Your MRI will be conducted using both a contrast scan and a noncontrast scan so that your oncology team can get a better look at the picture."

..:..

Harry's POV

On Saturday, Harry and Severus sat in his office about to begin their next potions class. "As I'm sure you're getting tired of using the potions kid kit to practice, we're going to be doing something a little bit different today."

Harry smiled upon hearing that. These lessons had become a bright spot in his otherwise bleak life, for he got to study Occlumency and potions. Any new skill that he could learn to further his knowledge made him feel a little more ready to face down Tom.

'What will we be doing?'

"We'll be practicing your slicing, dicing, mincing, and chopping skills using a block of soya cheese."

'Why soya?'

"Because you can't have dairy products."

'We're going to eat the cheese afterwards?'

"Yes with crackers. It's a muggle snack that I enjoy."

Harry spent the next few minutes practicing his grip on the knife that Severus had given him to use for the process before beginning the process after Severus had spelled his hands clean since they would be eating the product.

Harry got into a good rhythm and before he knew it, he was finished with the task and several different shapes of cheese were arranged on a plate with some crackers.

"Don't just stare at them," said Severus. "You did a fine job at this task. Now for your hard work, you have earned the right to have some of the dish."

'Thank you sir,' wrote Harry he still found himself at times falling back to his lifestyle of his time at the Dursleys where he had to prepare snacks and meals getting very little to none at all of the items made. But having never shared his home life with Severus, he supposed that he could understand the man's frustration at him not digging into the snack right away.

"Are you not hungry," asked the potions master when Harry only took two crackers.

'Not really. I'm a bit nauscious still, but I think that I can manage these two crackers.'

A worried look came over the professor's face.

"Would you like a smoothie instead?"

'No I had one for lunch actually, but thanks anyways.'

"Your healer said that they were a good meal substitute for cancer patients and I just wanted to make sure that you weren't hungry."

'The Todesgefahr takes away my appetite on most days,' wrote Harry.

"I knew that it did on chemo days but had not realized that you'd still be nauscious after last night by lunchtime."

'Yeah, but I'll sample the platter,' wrote Harry.

He took a bite.

Mmm it was delicious. The flavor exploded on his tongue. He hadn't expected the soya cheese to taste any good given that it was a substitute for the real thing but it was.

He swallowed and it hurt his throat a little going down as always. He recognized that this wasn't the same feeling of a sore throat that he had gotten when he had caught that cold recently so he was relieved to realize that it was just sore due to the radiotherapy.

Harry watched on as Severus ate after finishing his two crackers and cheese. With some effort, he did not get sick.

Harry took a sip of water to wash down the food.

They held light conversation as Severus banished the empty dishes back to the kitchens and then spelled their hands clean, jumping into an Occlumency lesson. Harry still needed to learn Occlumency because when he faced the Dark Lord again, he'd need to keep things secret from the Dark Lord. Plus he'd need it while dueling. If he were to have a fighting chance at defeating the Dark Lord, Harry'd have to be able to block what spell he was about to use from being seen in his mind before he could cast. He'd be slaughtered if he were unable to stay one step ahead of most youths his age and keep his intentions during a duel to himself and behind his Occlumency walls.

Harry was beginning to show some skill at the art but he still had a ways to go before he would be a successful Occlumens.

..:..

Harry's POV

Harry and Draco met up on Sunday morning for a date. Draco hadn't told his boyfriend what room he'd choose for their date in the ROR yet but had instructed him to wait for him on the seventh floor.

'Hello Draco,' wrote Harry happily as Draco paced back and forth three times and a brown wooden door appeared in the wall before them.

"Hello their Har," said Draco with a smile.

'Where are we going,' asked Harry.

"It's a surprise," said the blond with a grin.

Harry walked into the room and the aroma of saltwater hit his nose. The sound of waves hitting what Harry could only assume was a beach came to his ears. He could hear some sort of bird making a noise that he had never heard. He could only assume that it was a gull of some kind.

This was perfect, Harry had always wanted to visit the beach but the Dursleys had never allowed him too.

'Draco, the birds, I can't be around them without a bubblehead charm, you know that.'

"I required them to be germ free and the water to be as well. Plus Severus gave me this waterproof bandage for your port so that any bacteria can't get in. Don't worry Har, I've taken all of the proper precautions I and Professor Snape could think of."

'Thank you,' wrote Harry with tears in his eyes.

He maneuvered his chair into the room and moved to a curtained area where a pair of swimming trunks were put behind it. He carefully took off his clothes and put on the blue trunks. He came out of his curtain and saw Draco standing their with a pair of green trunks on and a bandage in hand for Harry.

"You ready?"

'Yeah.'

Harry and Draco made their way down to the beach. It was odd, it being so warm when it was December outside and snowing, but it was all made possible by Hogwarts magic.

Harry's chair moved over the sand silently and they reached the shore.

"I know that you can walk, but how's your dizziness today?"

'Not bad. Let's not worry about my illness and just have fun.'

"Okay, there's just one more thing that I need to do," said Draco placing the bandage over Harry's port and attaching it with a sticking charm. It sealed over the port seamlessly. "Now we're ready, come on in."

'I can't swim.'

"We'll only wade in to begin with," said the blond grabbing his boyfriend's hand.

Harry got up and waded into the cool water. It felt refreshing as the waves crashed against his legs. The air was warm so that the water wouldn't be to cold and the combination left Harry feeling perfect.

Before Harry knew it, he was happily going into water levels that reached his waste, chasing Draco around in a game of tag.

Harry slipped on some seaweed and fell, getting saltwater in his mouth. Yuck, it tasted of pure salt. He had been knocked over by a wave crashing into him as he attempted to catch Draco. He hit the sand at the bottom and was pulled out of the water by Draco.

"Thanks Dray," rasped Harry in a hoarse voice. He couldn't write on paper in the water so he would have to talk until they were done.

"Do you want to learn how to swim," asked Draco.

Harry nodded and Draco spent the next thirty minutes teaching Harry to float on his back then how to dogpaddle and then how to swim.

Growing exhausted from all of the hard work because of the fatigue caused by his cancer, Harry asked Draco if they could go back to the shore and sit on the beach.

Once they had reached the warm sand, Draco asked the room for some beach towels to sit on and some towels to dry off with.

Once they were warm, comfortable and dry, Draco called for Dobby and asked him if he could get them a picnic basket and some pumpkin juice for lunch.

The house elf did as Draco had asked since Harry was with him. He still resented Draco from his time at Malfoy manor when Draco had been an evil brat but was beginning to warm up to him because of how well he looked out for Harry now that they were together.

Harry picked at his food while Draco ate his portion eagerly.

They both lay down on the beach towels and waited for their food to digest before doing anything else.

After about thirty minutes, Harry asked Draco if they could build sandcastles. Draco quickly required the supplies and they started a competition about who could build the best replica of Hogwarts. As it turned out, Harry won.

They then proceeded to knock over the castles indulging their more childish sides for a bit.

After that, they snogged for a bit. A grin spread across Harry's face as an idea came to him.

He wanted to give Draco a hand job.

Placing his hand on Draco's swimming trunks Harry looked to Draco for permission. When Draco relaxed and nodded Harry put his hand in Draco's trunks and proceeded to give him a pretty decent wank.

Harry cleaned Draco up with a silent cleaning charm and watched his lover as he relaxed, soaking up the bright sunlight and basking in the afterglow.

An hour later, they got back into the water and had fun.

Draco noticing that Harry was beginning to look tired suggested that they go back and shower and change and leave the beach behind.

Harry cast yet another cleaning charm on them to get rid of all of the sand.

Draco then uncharmed the sticking spell on the bandage and saw with relief that no saltwater had gotten on the port. Severus would kill him if Harry got an infected port due to their little date.

Harry then required a shower for them to wash all of the saltwater off of them. He had to keep his body clean to avoid him catching an infection. The cleaning charms that he had cast removed the sand but their was just something about bathing the normal way that left Harry feeling rejuvenated.

Harry washed Draco's back for him and the blond did the same for Harry. This quickly lead to some more romantic activities but they did not go past hand jobs.

They got out, dried off, Draco taking the time to dry his hair with a towel, a process that Harry was pleased he no longer had to do since he had no hair. They got dressed in PJ's that the room provided.

Draco then changed the room into that of a bedroom with a bed. Harry's chair sat beside the bed to make it easy for Harry to get up when he was ready. Harry fell asleep on the comfortable bed and had the most satisfying rest he had had in a while, as he'd been plagued this week with some sleeping difficulties, which was a side-effect of the prednisone. Draco crawled in behind Harry, kissing his bald head before falling asleep.

..:..

A/N: Just to let you all know, the incantation for the animagus spell roughly translates to transfigure bird. The animation charm translates to bring to life roughly. Note: this is according to google so it could be entirely wrong. I simply had no way of creating a new spell unless I translated something.

Why did Michael Corner really attack Harry is the question. It'll take several chapters before you will find out.

I just had to put another one of Harry's list items in this one, go to the beach.

Hope you liked the chapter. It took me some time to write this so I apologize for the wait.

Recommended fics of the chapter: slash Pyrotechnics and it's two sequels by Amaya Natsuya.

Heterosexual recommendation: Book 1: Harry Potter and the Choices that Matter and it's two sequels by adeadlife44. (the author plans to do all seven years). I have decided to do both recommendations just in case slash isn't your cup of tea and you still find yourself reading my fic, and for people who like both types of fics. Hopefully these fics will keep you busy reading while I work on the next update.