A/N: There's a nod to the great musical group, Clannad's "Robin of Sherwood" soundtrack.

Chapter 35: Hogsmead

Once the school term began, the Longbottom boy and the Creevey brothers paid Harry some calls, but Madam Pomfrey could see that they were clearly uncomfortable with Harry's regression, and their visits were far and few between. The Patil twins, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were similarly disposed towards Harry, but that unusual girl, Luna Lovegood seemed to take it all in stride, and she became a favorite visitor of Harry's. He asked about Luna almost as much as he did Draco. Ginny, Ron and Hermione came to see Harry often, sometimes taking turns, and sometimes coming in twos and threes. Ron and Hermione were at Hogwarts because they, and the other students in Harry's year, had returned to the school for a two term year, to finish the one that was disrupted by Voldemort and his followers. They were to have an unprecedented April graduation.

Before the first Hogsmead weekend of the year that October, Ron asked Madam Pomfrey if they could take Harry with them. These were regular outings the upper forms were given to the wizarding villiage of Hogsmead, which was near the school. Madam Pomfrey was a bit nervous at the thought. Bellatrix LeStrange was still at large, and Poppy still had nightmares about her snatching Harry. Harry, himself, rarely had any nightmares, a further demonstration of his amazing resiliency. But after talking the possibility of a Hogsmead trip over with Molly, the Headmistress and Madam Sprout, Poppy was made to face the facts that life had to go on, and it wasn't good for Harry to remain sequestered at Hogwarts all the time. Poppy was only slightly reassured by the Auror who would accompany the quartet.

The four witches met weekly for tea and chocolates, and Harry's future was usually the main topic of discussion – with Ron and Ginny's futures tied for a close second. Molly didn't know what fields her two youngest would end up in, and it worried her no end. The ladies pondered what would happen when –or, if, as Poppy had to remind two optimistic compatriots (Pomona was uncharacteristically silent on the topic) – Harry developmentally reached the age of majority. Just then, Harry was seeming more like a an eight or nine year old in his behaviour, but some days, he still seemed like a toddler to Poppy. What career would he pursue as an 'adult'? Molly wondered if Harry would want to go into dragon husbandry, like her son, Charlie. Poppy worried about the dangers of such a job, and Molly couldn't disagree with her. Would Harry still live in Madam Pomfrey's quarters? Would he want to? Minerva and Molly felt certain he would, at least for a while, but Poppy needed reassurance. And if Bellatrix LeStrange hadn't been apprehended by then, would Harry still get Aurors from the MLE to guard him, when he was off of Hogwarts' grounds? Minerva was certain he still would. Whatever would come, would come, sighed Poppy, and she sent Ron an owl, agreeing to let Harry join him, Hermione and Ginny on the coming Saturday.

~o~

Draco was sitting in the waiting area outside of Severus' –ne' Healer Vanes' office. He was feeling quite well this morning. It felt so strange to feel good – and to feel good about himself, which he did – and Draco realized that he was feeling this way more and more frequently. Severus had deemed him well enough to leave the hospital grounds and he had been able to go to Harry's birthday party. The party itself hadn't been all that great. Only Mrs Weasley had seemed genuinely glad to see him. And Harry, of course. But He got the feeling that his old professors were as wary of him as Ron and Ginny Weasley had been, when he first came upon them after… No. He wasn't going to fade out. Draco took deep breaths and sang a chant to himself that had been helping: Now is here, here is now, followed by a low, five-part hum. It was from a song he'd overheard another patient listening to on the new phonograph player that the hospital staff had put in the community lounge. Well, from the looks of it, the gramophone had not been actually 'new'. But it did work, and it had come with a bunch of records by wizards and witches disguising themselves as Muggles. He thought the group was named 'The Clan Lads' or something like that. ('Lads' didn't quite make sense, though, since the main singer was a woman.)

Draco suddenly noticed: his chant had worked again! Instead of spiraling downwards in thoughts that disturbed him, he was able to… skate across them. They were still there under a frozen layer of water – at least, that was the analogy Healer Brookes had used – but they couldn't just pop up and hurt him. If he felt like examining them, he could 'cut a hole in the ice'. It could be as small a hole as he liked. But Draco wasn't in the mood to do that. He never was, but sometimes, in his sessions with Severus or Healer Brookes, he did so. It was scary, and Brookes had praised him, saying he didn't have to be a Gryffindor to have bravery. Draco wasn't sure how he felt about that notion, and he knew Brookes wasn't a Gryffindor (he was from America and had attended Ilvermorny), but just the same, he kept his doubts about the comment to himself.

Thinking back to Harry's party again brought a smile to Draco's face. His gift had been a success. He had always been good at animating paper and images (and his drawing skills were pretty good, because his mother had insisted on art lessons outside of school on his summer hols), and he thought to play on Harry's love of dragons with his gift. Originally, his idea was to make a paper dragon that would fly, but Harry would have needed a wand to activate it. So he came up with the idea of a breath-activated picture. Of course, without a wand himself, Draco needed Severus to do the spell. For someone who'd never done animations before, Severus' result had been pretty impressive. It only took three tries for him to perfect the spell.

At the party, Draco had been confused by Harry's initial reaction to receiving his gift. He seemed quite disappointed, in fact, which Draco didn't understand. He thought, maybe Harry could tell it was a scroll of parchment, and didn't think much of that. Or maybe Harry, being like a little kid, had wanted a bigger present? But then Madam Pomfrey explained to Harry that the present was inside the blue wrapping paper. It hadn't occurred to Draco that Harry wouldn't know that. There was so much this Harry didn't know. But in the end, he had literally shrieked in delight, when the dragon blew its fireball. That made the discomfort Draco had felt during the rest of the party all worth it. Still, he was relieved when it was time for him and Severus to return to St Mungo's.

Now he was here, waiting for Severus to see him. Draco felt slightly nervous, because he wasn't used to feeling good. And he worried that if he kept feeling alright, that Severus and Healer Brookes would stop seeing him. Then what would he do? As part of his 'recovery programme' Draco saw his healers every weekday. He also attended group meetings with other patients like him. He was among the oldest in his group, but he had seen younger kids in the community lounge, lunch lounge, waiting areas and hallways, so he assumed they had their own groups. He didn't have time to think anymore, because he saw Severus' door open and a young witch, Gemma Farley came out. She had been a Slytherin prefect and her mother was a Death Eater and in Azkaban. Her father had been killed by Aurors, trying to escape. Draco had read about it in The Daily Prophet. Gemma's face was puffy and her eyes were red. Draco averted his gaze. He remembered having to leave Severus' office after crying, and not wanting anyone to see him. A few minutes later, Severus' door opened again, and the older wizard beckoned Draco to enter.

"Gemma seemed to be having a rough day," Draco started with, though he knew what Severus would say, and he did say it next.

"You know I don't discuss my patients, Dragon. And too, we are here to talk about you." Instead of sitting behind his desk, Severus went to the settee, and motioned for Draco to join him.

That made Draco nervous. "What's wrong?" he asked, taking a seat, his leg jittering.

"Nothing's wrong, Draco. I din't mean to set you on edge. In fact, quite the opposite. I have very good news for you."

Draco didn't know why, but this made him even more apprehensive. Now both his legs were bouncing, as he stared at the rug.

"The Board has agreed with me and Healer Brookes that you are ready to have a wand –"

Draco stilled at this and looked up at Severus.

"– for limited use."

"For…? A wand? …Really?" Draco leaned forward, disbelief written across his features.

"Yes Draco. You have gotten both your temper and your dissociative turns under control. It's been a full month since you have demonstrated either, and Healer Brookes and I feel you are ready to start preparing to return to wizarding life. And, Draco, I emphasise 'preparing' for a reason."

This last was added, just as Draco turned pale and his legs started bouncing again. But he said nothing.

Severus continued, "You are improving, but not 'cured', per se'. Small steps. That is how we are approaching your recovery, Draco. And you will eventually return to society. You can't stay here forever. I don't think you really want to, Dragon, do you?"

"It's …'safe' here, Severus," he whispered. "But, no. Not forever. It's just… I– what will I do in the world?"

"Small steps, Dragon. We are not nearly there, as of yet. Let's just start with getting you a wand. We are going to Ollivander's to get one now."

"N-n-now?"

"Yes, now. No point in waiting. I see that you are already nervous. Why prolong that, unnecessarily?" Severus stood and retrieved two travel robes from the coat hook in the back corner of his office. I procured this for you," he said, handing one to Draco. "We will take the floo to Diagon Alley. Unless you have strong objection?" He left it hanging in the air as he held out the robe.

Draco stared at it for half a minute before snatching the dark cloth out of Severus' hand. "No, sir. No objection." And they were off.

~o~

Auror Tonks was again assigned to guard Harry, this time with another Auror, by the name of John Dawlish. Poppy was still a little perturbed at Tonks for gifting Harry a box of levitating sherbet balls on his birthday. Harry had hidden the box and Poppy never knew when she would discover the boy floating about their apartments, giggling hysterically as he literally bounced off of walls and knocked things over.

It was a cloudy Saturday and the earth smelled sweetly of petrichor, from an early morning drizzle, when Poppy and Harry and the Aurors waited for the arrival of the Hogwarts' students at the gates. When the Aurors had arrived, Tonks' hair matched the short brown crop of Dawlish's. But as Ginny approached, she changed her hair into a spiky pink mohawk, which she knew the younger witch loved. Being a Metamorphmagus had its pleasures, and making one of Arthur Weasley's kids smile was up there on Tonks' list.

"Look, Pomfee! There They are! Hi Ron! Hi Gin! Hi Minee!" Harry waved wildly to his approaching friends. Some of the other Hogwarts students looked mortified at Harry's childish enthusiasm. Poppy reminded herself for, what felt like, the hundredth time, that the other children didn't fully understand Harry's regression. She noted that the boys and girls from his class seemed more uncomfortable than the children who hadn't really known Harry before. She had heard that some of the new students, who, every year seemed impossibly young to Poppy, openly mocked Harry, but never in front of the stern Nurse. She may not have been the official Hogwarts Nurse anymore – that job had been given to a Nurse from St Mungo's, who had the unfortunate name of Percy Worste. Poppy heard from Minerva that the children made up songs about his name, 'Nurse Purse is the Worst', behind his back. Madam Pomfrey still had a no nonsense reputation, which the older children must have imparted to the new students, so she never heard twitters behind her back.

Poppy tried to stop herself from fretting too much over Harry in front of his friends. She was cognizant that he was easily embarrassed by this, so she kept her instructions to a minimum. "You're to stay by Ron or Hermione at all times, and mind Auror Tonks and Auror Dawlish, no matter what they tell you to do." She tried, ineffectually, to smooth down his hair and she straightened his robe collar.

"O-kay, Pomfee. I know. I'll be good. I promise," he shrugged her off, looking around to see if anybody had seen her fussing over him.

"Let's go, mate," said Ron, taking Harry by the hand. But harry shrugged that off, too. He was too old for such things. He was old enough to walk by himself, now.

By the time they had finished the walk to Hogsmaed, the sun had come out, and the day was bright, if crisp. The foursome and their two Auror escort went to Honeydukes, first. Ambrosius Flume, the proprietor, greeted them from behind the counter. "Hallo there, Mr Potter and friends! Didn't know you were coming today. Good t'see you, young man."

"Uh, hullo…" said Harry, shyly, but he very much liked being called 'young man'.

"Say, we're having a sale on Pepper Imps today and giving out free samples. Please, try one," said the man, holding out a pink and green candy dish filled with little black sweets to Harry.

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea," cautioned Hermione. Harry loved dragons, and if he discovered a sweet that allowed him to breath fire, she worried that he'd want them all the time. She didn't imagine Madam Pomfrey would be too pleased with that.

"Oh, come, on. Harry's gonna love 'em!" said Ron. Ginny just shook her head and the Aurors watched on as Harry picked out a little black candy from the dish.

"Peppermint!" he exclaimed around the sweet, and all of a sudden smoke started coming out of his ears and nostrils. Harry crunched the candy and swallowed the bits, opening his mouth to say 'good', but instead, a little stream of fire came out.

Then Mr Flume was handing a box of Pepper Imps to Harry, saying, "Here, Mr Potter. No charge. You take these and enjoy them." He placed the box in Harry's hand and patted it warmly, saying, "Such a pleasure to meet you, sir."

Hermione couldn't tell if Harry was scared or elated. He was so stunned, his expression was frozen. But in the next moment he cracked one of his biggest smiles, as he brought the box to his ear and shook it to be sure there were candies inside, and Hermione knew they were sunk.

After Honeydukes, Hermione insisted they go to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, as she needed to replace her quills after an unfortunate potions incident. She had been partnered with Neville Longbottom, and the new potions professor had given her strict instructions not to correct any of Neville's mistakes. As a result, their cauldron boiled over, melting the bottom half of Hermione's school bag. She needed to go to Gladrags too, to replace her bag, but Ron insisted on Zonko's Joke shoppe next and Ginny wanted to stop at Madam Puddifoot's for some refreshment.

Wherever the foursome went, they were followed closely by Tonks, with Dawlish scoping out ahead of them. Harry didn't seem to notice them, but Hermione found it hard to ignore what their presence meant, and it made her feel uneasy. Ginny, she could tell, was a little on edge, too, but Ron seemed happily oblivious to the possibility of any danger. Hermione sometimes wished she could be more like him and enjoy the day. But how could she, when every shoppe they went into had to be scoped out by an Auror first, before they were allowed entrance. Hermione wondered what sort of detection spells they were using. Maybe to find Jarvey hairs? She couldn't guess. And now they were at Madam Puddifoot's.

Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shoppe was bustling with business and already decorated for Halloween, though it was 3 weeks away. The lacy napkins adorning each table were pumpkin orange and the sugar bowls were shaped like sweetly smiling jack o'lanterns. The cherubs she used for her Valentine's Day decorations had been conscripted for Halloween. They were wearing stylized costumes of baby skeletons, and were tossing little candies out of their Trick-or-Treat bags (complete with the 'Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shoppe' logo on them) onto the tables. The four friends crowded into seats around one of the small round tables. Tonks was standing just behind Harry so close, she was touching the back of his chair.

Ginny looked at the menu. Madam Puddifoot had a special menu for every holiday, and Halloween was no different. Ginny found the names of the drinks – 'Spooky Spice Tea' and the like – to be rather silly. Everything seemed to be annoying her that day. For instance, Ginny was getting quite tired of the 'special' treatment Harry was getting. In every place they'd been to, the owner came to greet the famous Harry Potter, once it was known he was in their shoppe. Harry didn't understand why people kept giving him presents when it wasn't his birthday. And he asked Ginny about that and about why the presents weren't wrapped. "They're not that kind of presents, Harry. They're 'thank you' presents" she explained.

"For what?" he asked, confused.

Ginny didn't know how to answer that, so she shushed him, saying she needed to look at the menu. Everyone wanted to give Harry Potter free things, and it stung a little to think that he was someone who didn't need gratuities. Madam Pomfrey seemed well enough off, and besides, Harry had a vault full of gold. Then she felt childish and petty for thinking such things and for shushing Harry. She put on her cheeriest voice and asked him, by way of making up, "What do you think about drinking some Monster Milk, Harry? That's gotta be gross, right?" Harry seemed lately to be fascinated by the grotesque. And the more disgusting, the better.

Madam Puddifoot came over, herself then, to take their orders. She was a rather stout, sturdy-looking witch, with a frilly orange apron and an orange flower tucked into her black bun. "What can I get you dearies today," she asked sweetly. Ginny felt Madam Puddifoot was blinking her false eyelashes more than usual, ,and that annoyed her, too. Another star struck proprietor was not what Ginny needed just then.

After they had placed their orders, they only had to wait a few minutes, before Madam Puddifoot came bustling between the tightly placed tables, balancing a tray with all their drinks on it. She set the Monster Milk for Harry – it was green, to his delight, Coffin Coffees for Ron and Ginny and Terrifying Treacle Tea for Hermione.

"It's on the house, dearies," she said, holding out an extra serviette. But instead of placing it on the table, she suddenly slapped it upon Harry's head.

"Portkey!" shouted Tonks and she grabbed Harry the second before he and Madam Puddifoot disappeared. Tonks went with them, just as Dawlish burst into the shop, brandishing his wand. As soon as he saw Harry's empty seat, he pulled a small chalkboard out of his pocket and tapped a code into it. A moment later, several cracks of Apparition were heard, and four more Aurors burst into the shoppe, one after another, their wands out and ready.

—

A/N: Comments welcome and appreciated.