AN: I don't own anything. Read Author page for story description.
Lily's Journal
Journal
"Speach"
'Thoughts'
Created: 8/20/14 - 8/25/14: Chapter 1
All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, burried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.
"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough for a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault 713 now please, and can we go more slowly?" HP & Sorcerer's Stone, ch. 5
As Harry was following behind Hagrid as he and Griphook talked, he then noticed a small shelf right by the entrance of the vault from where Hagrid retrieved the money bag he was using, and saw a dusty brown leather bound book with no title or any markings on it. Quickly grabbing it and opening the front cover, he immediately saw words that had his eyes opening incredibly wide and his heart start beating faster.
Journal of Lily Evans
Quickly shaking out of his shock as he heard Griphook and Hagrid getting back into the car and talking about the cart's only speed, Harry quickly pocketed the journal, and hurried to catch up to the others hearing the vault door close loudly behind him. As the cart took back off down the tracks, all Harry could think about was that he had found his mother's journal and couldn't wait to read every precious bit of it as soon as he could.
He only half paid attention as Hagrid removed a small round wrapped thing emptying vault 713, and getting back in the mine cart looking a little green and not saying much at all. Leaving Gringotts a few minutes later, Harry still felt in a bit of a daze as Hagrid begged off for a pick me up in the pub, and pointed Harry towards Madam Maulkins' Robes For All Occasions. Walking into the much larger on the inside store with his thoughts all over the place, he missed the older lady asking him if he was coming for Hogwarts' robes and just began wandering around only half taking in all the many racks of robes and even several racks filled with muggle outfits.
"Are you here for Hogwart's dear?" he heard a woman ask him from right in front of him several minutes after just wandering around, that finally registered and broke him out of his daze. He could only nod dumbly and somewhat embarrassed as he obviously hadn't been paying much attention when he looked around him and seemingly found himself in the ladies dress section.
"Sorry Ma'am," he answered shyly and hung his head.
"Come on over here to get measured, I just finished with another young man off to his first year as well," she replied kindly as she led him towards a few stools in the back corner of the store.
Harry paid a bit more attention at this point and noticed the racks of muggle clothing he went past on his way to the measuring stool, and decided he would ask about getting a few regular outfits that might fit him too while he was at it. Having never had anything but his cousin's way too large hand me down clothes and fistfuls of gold in his new money pouch, he figured that he could finally buy something that he wanted and more importantly, fit him.
After getting measured, he asked to have undergarments, a few slacks and pairs of jeans included as well as a few various shirts and a sweater added to his purchase which the nice older lady was happy to gather for him after asking for his preferred color choices which he left up to her, having no idea himself. After paying for his new clothes and watching as they were folded and wrapped with magic before being put into a bag, he was leaving the shop feeling better and excited about all the possibilities with magic.
Seeing Hagrid outside with an ice cream in hand, Harry realized he was quite hungry and quickly went out to join the large friendly man. Over Ice Cream, Hagrid mentioned briefly about all the other stops they had, and where they wanted to go next. While shopping for quills and parchment next, Hagrid continued telling Harry about Quidditch and the Hogwart's Houses and Professors mentioning his dislike or distrust of Slytherin house due to the dark reputation they had from Voldemort's influence.
Harry was a bit overwhelmed with all the bits and pieces of information that he was getting, and still feeling like there were thousands of things he should know about. So when they reached the bookstore, he grabbed two extra books in the history section to hopefully give him some background before looking at books on curses and jinxes he would love to use on the Dursleys but Hagrid wouldn't let him get saying they were a bit above his level. They then bought his cauldron, potion ingredients, scales, and telescope before Harry realized he was having trouble carrying everything even with Hagrid's help.
So Hagrid steered him into a luggage shop, where Harry had to convince Hagrid to let him buy a slightly larger trunk than the standard as he wasn't planning to ever leave anything behind at the Dursleys to which Hagrid reluctantly agreed. Harry ended up with a three compartment trunk, with one standard wardrobe compartment, one for storing potion ingredients and general supplies, and the final compartment a small set of bookshelves that rotated for ease of access and to provide more storage. He also bought a plain black leather backpack with feather light charms and increased storage space on the inside after the store keep sold him on the idea.
Hagrid then surprised Harry when he said he had to get him a birthday present, and wound up buying him a beautiful snowy owl in a large cage that had Harry stammering his thanks, and a bit choked up from the nice man's thoughtfulness having never received a present in the past.
From there, the only stop left was the wand, and Hagrid quickly took Harry to Ollivanders, where after seemingly trying every wand in the shop, and being somewhat creeped out by the silver eyed wand maker who talked about his parents' wands, he was matched to the holly and phoenix feather wand that was a brother to Voldemort's wand. Harry was feeling a bit uncomfortable after visiting the wand maker's' shop, and apprehensive about all the talk about Voldemort and expectations everyone seemed to have for him before ever even meeting or knowing him.
Before he knew it, they had left Diagon Alley, and were traversing through the London underground getting quite a few stares due to Hagrid's size and the snowy owl in the cage on Harry's lap. Arriving at the Paddington station, they sat down for some actual food, and Harry realized he was quite hungry.
The pair talked a bit more about Hogwarts, and Harry expressed some of his doubts and unease at his fame and the expectations people seemed to have for him, which Hagrid tried to settle best as he could before giving him his Hogwart's train ticket and putting him on the train back to the Dursleys in Surrey. Once Hagrid disappeared, Harry pulled his new trunk onto his train thankful he had got one that came with a permanent feather-weight charm to lighten it and wheels on one corner to pull it along.
Settling down for the little more than an hour long train ride, Harry thought back to everything he just experienced before remembering about his mum's journal and pulling it out of his pocket and sitting back to read with the biggest grin on his face.
"Journal of Lily Evans"
5 Jan '72
I got this Neverending journal at Scrivenshaft's with my Christmas and Birthday money this year after my roommate Alice Fortescue showed me hers, and I realized how neat it would be to keep a record of my time at Hogwarts. It is Christmas break of my first year, and I am back home with my parents, Jonathan and Violet Evans and sister Petunia, getting ready to head back to school tomorrow.
I am a first year Gryffindor, although the sorting hat thought I would do very well in Ravenclaw as well, and after having been at school for several months I think the sorting hat was correct. Don't get me wrong, I love Gryffindor and my friends there but the general lack of seriousness towards studies and tomfoolery that goes on in Gryffindor has been hard to get used to. I have always been a good student and there is just so much to learn about magic, especially for someone like me with little to no background that I don't want to waste my time playing pranks like those arrogant toerags, James Potter and Sirius Black.
Plus my best friend Severus Snape is in Slytherin, and had I been in Ravenclaw we probably wouldn't be getting so much slack for our friendship, as Gryffindor and Slytherin are apparently historical rivals of epic proportions and neither house supports our friendship. But Severus and I have been friends for three years now, and he was the one who first told me about magic and that I was a witch. We have a lot of history together, and I don't want to just throw that away because we happen to be in opposing houses, ugh!
As of now, Charms with Professor Flitwick is by far my favorite class, although with Severus' help I have also taken a liking to his passion, potions but Professor Slughorn is kind of creepy with all his boastfulness about his precious Slug Club members even if he wants to invite Severus and I to join. My Head of House, Professor McGonagall is pretty good in transfiguration which I like too, but History of Magic with the ghost Professor Binns is a total waste of time. Astronomy with Professor Grady and Herbology with Professor Sprout are both okay, but not overly exciting. Defence against the Dark Arts so far has been pretty boring and basic, and Professor Flannigan is dull and focuses more on creatures than spells, but apparently we will have a new professor every year for that class as there is rumored to be a curse on the position where nobody lasts longer than a year.
I am doing well in all my classes, and hope to be at or near the very top of my classmates by the end of the year, take that pureblood idiots! Oh yeah, there is a very big deal with blood status in my new world that Professor McGonagal never mentioned when she came to tell me and my family about my place at Hogwarts. There are three major classes in the wizarding world; Purebloods who can trace their magical lineage back generations; halfbloods are those with one pureblood and one muggle or muggleborn parent, and muggleborns who have no magical ancestry. The Purebloods are in charge of society, in every level of the government, academia, and economic sectors with a few halfbloods doing alright for themselves depending on their magic family roots, and the muggleborns treated like lower class citizens with very few prospects outside of Hogwarts as far as I have seen unless they marry well according to Alice who is a Pureblood and Severus who is a halfblood. It doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence for my future, but I will prove that being a muggleborn won't stop me from being the absolute best in my class, that will show them.
14 Feb '72
Ugh! Damn that James Potter ...he is so annoying! He asked me out today and made it seem like he was doing me a favor by showing a mere muggleborn his attention. As if I would want anything to do with that arrogant S.O.B.! I don't care if he is the Heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Potter and really good at Transfiguration and riding a broom ...I can't stand him! He and his friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew are always joking around, playing pranks, and picking on Severus that I am tempted to look up some spells just for them. Alice thinks he is really cute though and said I should give him a chance, the Potters are apparently a really good family not into the whole Pureblood supremacy crap, but I just can't stand him always goofing off and messing up his hair because he thinks it looks cool ...he's an eleven year old primadonna, ugh!
Harry couldn't believe what he was reading, his eyes were wide open in shock as he wondered how his parents ever got together if this journal was accurate, his mum seemingly loathed his father. He was also surprised at how much information he was able to get from just those two entries about his parents, grandparents, the Potter family, his parents' friends, classes and school, and the wizarding world in general. He couldn't wait to read more from his mum and was glad he still had a ways to go until they reached his stop in Surrey, leaning back in his seat to get more comfortable he continued reading.
There were several entries in the later half of Lily's first year, that weren't much of anything important, just facts and details of her classes and life at Hogwarts, but Harry soaked up every word feeling more connected to his mum than he could ever remember. By the time his train was arriving at Surrey, he had read up to her end of first year exams and couldn't wait to learn some of the spells and other things she did at Hogwarts.
Getting off the train, and dragging his trunk and owl's cage back towards his relative's house, he was again grateful for the new trunk as the half an hour walk back to Privet Drive would have been a lot worse otherwise. When he finally reached Number Four, he noticed his uncle's car was back in the driveway and the light in the kitchen was on denoting that everyone was probably sitting down to dinner. Harry entered the house, called out hello to his Aunt and Uncle before easily rolling his trunk up the stairs to his new bedroom hoping to stay up there away from his relatives for the night.
He got his wish as only half way up the stairs his Uncle bellowed that he was to stay in his room and would miss dinner as he didn't have the normal courtesy of arriving on time. That suited Harry just fine as he set up his trunk at the end of his bed, with the owl cage on top of the dresser and decided he better name the owl soon. After a short while of looking through his History of Magic textbook, he came across the name Hedwig which the owl seemed to like, and then laid back down on his bed with his mum's journal to continue reading. One of the first entries of the summer after her first year provided Harry with a good bit of really helpful information.
12 July '72
I hate this stupid law about underage magic not being allowed outside of Hogwarts, the worst part is that Severus and Alice both confirmed that they only really monitor an area as they can't tell who is ever doing the magic, and in households with at least one adult magic user, they can't monitor the underage users and leave it up to the parents to control it. Which means Severus and Alice are both right now doing magic until their hearts are content because of where they live, while I can't do anything without fear of being expelled. At least Severus isn't too far away and we can practice a bit when I go over there , as long as his father isn't home. That man is horrible, Severus won't confirm it, but I just know he is abusive towards his wife and Severus. He also said that in places like Diagon Alley, they don't monitor magic at all so I can go there and practice too I guess if I can get my parents to take me.
Alice says she takes the Floo network to Diagon Alley all the time, it's a series of fireplaces that are connected and with a pinch of Floo powder you can travel between destinations in seconds ...it sounds amazing, I can't wait to try it. Severus says it is very dizzying, but he has only done it a few times as their fireplace isn't hooked up to the Floo network. His mum usually side along apparates him wherever they have to go, instantly transporting anywhere you want but you have to be of age to get a licence for that. There are also portkeys, which are usually small insignificant objects you can buy that instantly transports people to preset destinations, but that skill too requires a lot of experience and Ministry approval. The only method available to me outside of muggle transportation, is the Night Bus. A magical bus that can go anywhere pretty quickly although it is a bit of a bumpy and wild ride, that you can hail like a taxicab with your wand. I have only been on it once, and it almost made me sick, but it got me to Diagon Alley in under twenty minutes to meet Alice last week.
Harry's eyes lit up with that information, now knowing a way to get back to Diagon Alley if he wanted to go back and explore it a little more on his own. The other methods of travel also looked really cool, but he knew it would probably be awhile until he could go with one of those and was happy to deal with a little sickness if it meant unlimited access to the magical world and the ability to go someplace he could actually practice his magic before Hogwarts. He didn't get much further that night in the journal, as the long day was taking its toll, and he got ready for bed and was asleep quickly dreaming of going to Hogwarts and experiencing the same things as his mum.
Over the next few days, Harry primarily stayed up in his room with the Dursleys ignoring him for once and giving him all the time he needed to continue reading his mum's journal. Nothing too much else of note happened in the summer after her first year and second year, other than finding out her marks at the tops of her class. Third year however, came the explanation of several new elective classes that were available to all students, which she explained in detail. The ones she didn't take she just glossed over, but Ancient Runes and Arithmancy which she took both seemed very interesting and his mum truly loved them both and quickly excelled in them as well.
Harry was somewhat overwhelmed at how serious Lily took her studies, having never really gave school in general much thought other than to try and avoid Dudley as much as possible. He realized that she was definitely an over-achiever, and obviously from her top of class rankings incredibly smart too and wondered if he would have the same level of competency and skill as she did. Although she didn't mention James Potter too much other than to complain about some prank of his or him asking her out several times a year, he did get the feeling that his dad was pretty smart and skilled with magic too especially in Transfiguration and DADA. He obviously didn't put in as much effort as Lily, but he was definitely skilled if his mum mentioned it despite all of his numerous other faults listed.
He realized that if he truly wanted to try and live up to his parents' example, that he too should take his studies seriously and practice and hone his skills in magic. It would also help hopefully in meeting the expectations that many people seemed to have of him already, just from being the Boy-Who-Lived. Plus, not looking like an idiot when he got to Hogwarts would also be a huge plus in his book, and now that he wouldn't have to deal with Dudley or the Dursleys while there, nothing should hold him back from doing his absolute best.
With these thoughts and desires to excel in mind, Harry also began reading his textbooks starting with Charms as that was his mother's favorite, and from what Hagrid said of the teachers was still taught by the same Professor Flitwick. Over that first week back from Diagon Alley, Harry ended up reading all of Magical Theory and was halfway through The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), and put a small dent into both A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration and Magical Drafts and Potions and realized that he could really benefit from some of the recommended background reading on all of the subjects.
With plans to go and visit Diagon Alley again the next day, Harry made a list of the few things he wanted to check on as well based on the things he read in his mum's journals. Namely, converting Galleons to Pounds Sterling, buying his own never ending journal, getting wizarding inoculations, and an eye correction potion that Severus and her had talked about.
The next morning, Harry was up and out of the house relatively early before flagging down the Night Bus with his wand like he was hailing a taxi cab. Eleven Sickles and a harrowing twenty minutes later, and he definitely understood his mum's mentioning that the ride made her sick. Glad he had worn an old baseball cap of Dudleys so as to not draw too much attention to himself, he quickly made his way into the Leaky Cauldron and passed a pretty large breakfast crowd to reach the brick wall out back to get him into the Alley.
Heading straight to Gringotts figuring he would get the exchange out of the way first, he noticed most of the stores in the Alley were just opening and getting ready for the day and he tried to see as much as he could and remember where else he wanted to visit while he was there. Stopping to look around the lobby of the bank, he noticed a sign above one of the tellers that said "Muggle Exchange" and got in line behind an older pair of teenagers that were holding hands and probably a couple.
Within minutes Harry was called up, and asked if he could get ten Galleons converted to British Pounds, and was handed 475 Pounds, due to the current exchange rate of 1 Galleon to 50 Pounds, minus the 5% exchange fee. Harry was excited to think about how much money he really had in his vault at that exchange rate, and figured he would come back at some point to inquire about how much he truly had later.
He then made his way to the apothecary nearby that he purchased his potions supplies in, and asked the man there about completed potions they had available, namely the Eye Correction Potion. Unfortunately he was told that the Eye Correction Potion was exceedingly rare and expensive, they had to special order them, and not recommended until you were an adult and your eyes and body had stopped growing. He did however mention that there was an oculist further down Diagon Alley above a second hand junk shop called Fairtlough's that was worth checking out and handed him an owl order form that had a list of ready made potions on it that they did supply and keep on hand.
Harry thanked the man, and pocketed the form to look at later and took his advice heading further down the Alley towards the oculist thinking at least he could get his eyes checked and get new glasses. He found the occulist's door right next to Faritlough's that led to the upstairs unit, and was intrigued by some of the random things he couldn't even describe in the junk store's window and figured he would check it out next.
The oculist was a middle aged man with neat dark brown hair turning grey at the temples, and a friendly smile on his face as he introduced himself as Warren Johnston. He took one look at Harry's glasses and loudly proclaimed that those ugly old relics needed to go and didn't fit his face at all. He then asked his young customer to sit down in the comfortable looking chair in the middle of the room and remove his glasses so he could run a few diagnostic scans on his eyes to find his proper prescription.
Harry could tell the moment the man noticed who he was, as his eyes widened comically and he paused in the middle of explaining the spells he was planning but thankfully recovered quickly and never brought up who his famous customer was which Harry greatly appreciated. After several scans, and then looking through a few eyepieces to fine tune the selection and ensure Harry could read one of the posters on the door the best, Mr Johnston nodded to Harry that they found the best fit and that he would just have to pick out the frames and enchantments he wanted, and showed him a few pairs he thought would look good on him.
Asking about the enchantments, Harry's jaw just about hit the floor as several were listed that he thought were both amazing and ridiculous. The ridiculous ones like seeing everything in certain colors and glasses themselves that change colors with your mood, to the amazing things like being able to see magic or through walls or clothes or in the dark. Harry decided after asking about the price of enchantments, to get ones that could see magic with a voice activated command, were indestructible, waterproof, could only be removed by him, and would increase his ability to see in the dark. He was happy to pay the seventeen Galleons and ten Sickles, and decided to head down to Fairtlough's to wait the thirty minutes until they would be done.
Fairtlough's was interesting for the sheer amount of random things he found, but so many of them he had no clue about being so new to magic. He did however find a few used books that said they were for beginners and a nice looking pair of boots that were made of a black leather looking material that he really liked. Bringing them all up to the counter, Harry asked about them, and was told they were dragonhide boots in pretty good shape that just came in the other day. Paying only three Galleons and ten Sickles for the books and pair of boots with a built in sizing charm, the owner then sold him on a matching belt for another eight Sickles that had a built in wand holster and knife holster.
By then, Harry had spent enough time looking around, to return to Mr. Johnston's oculist shop above the junk store to pick up his new silver framed glasses. It was amazing when they were fitted to his face, everything became instantly clearer than he could ever remember and he liked how they looked on him as well. After a quick lesson on activating the magic viewing enchantments, Harry asked the man where he could get wizard inoculations. After being given directions to St. Mungo's hospital, and thanking the older man for the wonderful glasses Harry left the shop for his next stop.
Scrivenshaft's was a pretty quick and easy stop, having already been there to buy his parchment and quills he didn't need to look around much, Harry just asked about never ending journals, and was shown to the shelves that had several in different colors and covers. He ended up picking up one with a black dragon hide cover having really liked the material on his new boots and belt even if it was a bit more expensive than the others.
He then went to Flourish & Blotts bookstore to buy the recommended titles his textbooks had mentioned as good back ground and supplemental reading for the subjects of Charms, Transfiguration, Defense, and Potions. At the counter paying for his books, he noticed the owl order catalog and picked up one of those too.
Harry then went over to Quality Quidditch Supply to check out the brooms and learn a bit about the sport that everyone in the Wizarding world followed, and ended up buying a small book called Quidditch Through the Ages that looked promising. He then checked out Armand's Armors, where they had every type of armor and weapon known to man and had Harry looking around in wide eyed wonder. He asked the owner about the knife holster in his new belt, and asked what size or type of knife he should put in it and was shown to a small counter with hundreds of smaller knives and daggers and shown a few that would work well. Harry bought a plain sturdy knife that had a fourteen centimeter blade and plain black leather handle that fit the knife holster in his new belt perfectly and only cost him three galleons.
He then stopped by the Magical Menagerie and Owlops Owl Emporium checking out all the animals and buying a book about owls and another large supply of owl treats for Hedwig. As it was now approaching lunch time, Harry made his way back to the Leaky Cauldron for a large lunch of Shepherd's Pie after only having two slices of toast for breakfast before leaving the Dursleys. While there, he asked Tom about using his Floo to go to St. Mungo's as per Mr. Johnston's instructions and asked if the older man could show him how to actually use it.
A quick set of instructions followed by a flash of green flames and call of "St. Mungo's" had Harry spinning away in a flash of flame through fireplaces until he was practically spit out at the other end and falling down as he emerged from the fireplace in a large clean hospital lobby. Seeing a reception desk with the name St. Mungo's on it had Harry realizing he was in the right place even if the ride to get there wasn't very pleasant at all.
Making his way forward, he asked the admitting nurse where he would need to go to get his inoculations, and was asked if he had an appointment and if he needed a full physical exam. Admitting he didn't have an appointment, and asking if he should get a full physical if he had never had one before he was told that he should get the full exam and to head to the third floor for his physical.
It wasn't until he got to the third floor that he had to give his name which he was grateful for, as the main lobby was crawling with people and the third floor lobby was at least only populated by a half dozen of people sitting around a relatively large waiting room. After asking for a full physical and giving his name, the nurse at the desk immediately snapped her head up to look at him with wide eyes, before stuttering that she would see who was available to see him and to wait until someone called him.
The wait was just over a half an hour, and he was glad he had some new books on him to read while he waited to be called. When he was called though, everyone in the waiting room gasped when they heard "Harry Potter" and stared at him the entire time he made his way to the nurse who called for him. The nurse just led him into an exam room down the hall, and told him to wait for a moment and Healer Stevens would be by in a minute or two.
Healer Stevens arrived moments later with a large friendly smile and excited gleam in his clear blue eyes, he was younger than Harry was expecting, but still very much an adult with a short and thin stature. He shook Harry's hand with enthusiasm, and had Harry sit down so he could begin running diagnostic spells all the while a roll of parchment was laid out with a quill frantically scribbling notes after every successful spell cast.
The first few spells seemed pretty normal, and Healer Stevens was happy for the most part with what he was getting in response, but as more spells were cast his friendly smile slowly started turning into a questionable and sometimes frustrated frown that had Harry getting more and more nervous after each spell. After probably fifteen straight minutes of diagnostic spells continually being performed, did Healer Stevens stop with a sigh and a humph like noise of confusion.
"Well Mr. Potter," he started somewhat consolingly, "you are relatively healthy physically and well above average magically despite severe malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies, weak bones with signs of past breaks that never healed properly, poor eyesight, and a very dangerous something attached to or imbedded inside of your curse scar that my scans can't even identify. Now, the malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, weak bones, and poor eyesight can all be remedied with a potions regimen and a better more balanced diet that we will go over the details of shortly, but for the curse scar I am going to need to consult and call in another healer."
Harry was rather nervous and scared at the results of the healer's scans, finding out so much was wrong with him was very unsettling, and the unknown problem of the curse scar was an even bigger worry as even the healer didn't know exactly what it was. He tried to relax as best he could while he waited for Healer Stevens to return, but too many things were wrong with him that he was finding it very difficult. He knew that the Dursleys had never really treated him right or fed him well but to have all those problems simply because of their neglect and poor treatment of him really hit home how much being in that house was detrimental to his continued health and existence, and wondered if now that he had more financial means if anything could be done about getting him away from them.
His daydreams of leaving behind the Dursleys for good came to an end as Healer Stevens returned with two new healers, both much older than him and both with much more severe countenances on their wrinkled faces. The woman who was the older of the pair with completely white stringy hair was introduced as Healer Peachtree, while the tall and somewhat rotund elderly man who arrived had hard dark brown eyes and a seemingly permanent scowling face was introduced as Healer Smythe.
The two healers then spent the next twenty minutes each running a series of diagnostic charms separately over Harry and many focusing on his head and scar without saying a word to one another. Once they had all run their diagnostics, the three conferred that they all came up with the same things, and then the two older healers motioned to Healer Stevens to make the report to Harry.
"Well Harry," he began softly trying to put the young patient at ease, "there is definitely something going on with your curse scar, we all received readings of very dark magic emanating from it, but as of right now we can't specifically identify it. It may be a magical leach, or something else entirely. You have to understand the curse you were hit with as a child has never left a mark or not been successful when cast properly and we are in completely uncharted waters here. We would like to call in a curse breaker we sometimes call on to help us with curses we haven't seen much of, hoping that he may be able to help. While my colleagues do that, I am going to give you your inoculations and discuss your new potions regimen and diet plan."
Over the next half an hour, Harry received inoculations for all the wizarding diseases of which there were several including Dragon Pox which had killed hundreds of people back in the forties and fifties until a treatment and vaccination was found. He was given a case of five potion vials linked to the hospital, that would refill every day until they ran their course. There were two nutrient potions, one bone strengthening solution, one vitamin supplement, and one nerve and tissue repair potion that he would be taking for the next four weeks. The one nutrient potion that helped break down his foods better he would have to take for ten weeks, but by the end of the cycle Healer Stevens said he should be back to his target weight and height and be much healthier because of it.
By the time they finished going over all the details, the two elderly healers returned with another man, this one even more severe looking than Healer Smythe, with short dark brown hair and hard brown eyes and tanned skin having obviously spent a good deal of time outside. He was introduced as Curse Breaker Dresden, and he wasted no time as he began scanning and going over several spells in even more varied languages than anything Harry had ever heard before. This went on for almost fifteen minutes before the man frowned even more severely if that was possible before running one more test and seeing a horrible green hue floating above Harry's scar that had him gasp in shock.
"It's a Horcrux," the man breathed out almost terrified, and Harry could physically feel the terror in the term the curse breaker used even if he had no idea what it meant, he did know that it was definitely not good news.
Apparently neither of the healers knew what a Horcrux was either and it had to be explained to everyone at the same time. Harry's world seemed to stop for a minute despite the gasps coming from the healers as he heard the description and understood that a piece of Voldemort's very soul was imbedded in his scar and didn't even know what to think as he struggled to remember to even breathe. He suddenly felt very dirty and completely terrified as the curse breaker explained a little more background and how he had dealt with a few in Egypt while studying curse breaking.
The good news, if there was any after such a revelation, was that the goblins had discovered a way to remove the Horcrux from an item and transfer it into something less valuable as many in the past were made from truly expensive items of great historical significance. He wasn't sure if they had ever dealt with a living Horcrux before, but promised they would be able to figure something out, and left to go and tell them and prepare a ritual chamber for Harry to use the moment he was released from St. Mungo's care and could make his way to Gringotts.
Healer Stevens asked if he could accompany Harry to monitor his health and provide a friendly face, and both Curse Breaker Dresden and Harry agreed that would be fine, or very much welcome in Harry's case. The pair was soon making there way to Gringotts, traveling via Floo back to the Leaky Cauldron and then making the short walk to the Goblin run bank. Harry was understandably quiet as millions of thoughts were running through his head, and was content to listen to Healer Stevens as he talked in more detail about each of the potions that Harry was going to be talking for the foreseeable future and doing a great job of distracting the young wizard from worrying about something he had very little control over.
Getting to Gringotts, Curse Breaker Dresden, was waiting in the lobby with a pair of goblins who quickly upon seeing Harry and the healer, motioned them to follow them as they turned and went deeper into the bank. They ended up in a large cavernous stone room with a pentagram in the center and hundreds of runes lining the walls, ceilings, and floor all glowing slightly and making no sense at all to Harry. He was told to strip completely naked and lay down in the middle of the pentagram and try not to move if he could help it, although they did warn him that there was a strong likelihood that there would be some serious pain involved but that they couldn't give him anything for it beforehand.
Harry was severely self conscious about getting naked in front of others due to his small underdeveloped body, and the many scars that lined his back and legs mostly from his times under the belt of his Uncle Vernon and "accidents" from his Cousin Dudley playing his favorite game of Harry Hunting. Healer Stevens for his part, added a scar salve to his mental checklist of things to provide Harry when they returned to St. Mungo's after this was all done for a final check up to make sure everything was alright after such an unusual ailment and course of treatment.
Harry laid down where they told him, and was decidedly nervous as five goblins came and surrounded him at the points of the pentagram before immediately beginning a harsh guttural chant that he could only guess was in their native language. Almost at once, the runes glowing around him lit up even further to the point where they were a clear white instead of the murky yellow they were when he arrived in the room. Then the pentagram began glowing a distinctly blood red color that was rather creepy, but Harry was too focused on the building pressure in the room that seemed like a thick layer of fog that was settling over him in a heavy blanket of pressure that was slowly increasing with every word of the almost indiscernible chant.
As the pressure built, so too did a slight prickling sensation in his scar until it could no longer be described as slight anything, and only included real pain. It felt like someone had taken a fire poker and touched the burning end right to his scar, and Harry was biting his tongue to try and keep from screaming out in pain as his eyes watered and he lost sight of what was going on around him. The pain just kept steadily increasing until he knew he couldn't contain his scream any longer and his throat felt like it was being torn out as he yelled with such intensity that he was sure he would be heard throughout all of Diagon Alley. The screaming only lasted for about twenty seconds though as the pain had reached to even greater heights before an unusual ripping feeling in his forehead had him black out in an instant from the overload of pain.
Harry didn't see the black sludge like substance ooze out of his scar or the tearing of Voldemort's soul piece from it's place anchored in his scar, or hear the scream of that same soul piece as it was removed and destroyed the moment it was released from it's anchor but everyone present did and would not forget that moment for a long time to come. They were all shocked at the power of the soul piece as it was removed and destroyed, almost consuming Harry before it would begin to come out and amazed at the pain tolerance of the young wizard who fought through it to the end. Unaware of it, he made many friends and allies that day, as those who witnessed the Horcruxes removal and destruction all gave a nod of respect to the young man who had that wretched thing in his head for ten years and not only survived but didn't let it infect him with it's evil and hate.
Healer Stevens was the first one to Harry's side once the goblins performing the ritual gave the okay for anyone to approach, and after running a few quick diagnostic spells on Harry's physical condition breathed out a sigh of relief that the young man had only passed out and would be fine. Curse Breaker Dresden was the next to reach Harry, and he too ran his few scans and determined that the Horcrux was well and truly destroyed and gone from the young wizard and breathed a sigh of relief. The healer and curse breaker thanked the goblins performing the ritual and Healer Stevens was given permission to use an emergency portkey back to the hospital to transport himself and Harry back.
Harry moaned in pain as he woke up to an unfamiliar room, with his head pounding and his throat burning but before he could get too worked up, a semi familiar voice spoke softly and quickly to him settling his fears. Healer Stevens explained where he was, and what had just happened promising that they had successfully removed the piece of Voldemort's soul from his scar and that he could give him something for the pain if he told him what hurt the most. After getting a headache relief potion and a glass of water, Harry immediately started feeling much better and with the young healer's assistance, was soon sitting up in bed listening to Healer Stevens give a bit by bit rehashing of the removal process.
A short time later, the healer returned with a large tray of food and the first set of five potions to start correcting the damage previously done to Harry's body. After eating more than he had ever done in one sitting, Harry had to endure another round of diagnostic spells from Healer Stevens until the young healer declared him fit enough to return home as long as he took it easy for the next few days and came back in a week for a follow up visit. Harry quickly agreed after finding out it was already past seven in the evening and needed to get back to the Dursleys house soon before he got in even more trouble.
He left St. Mungo's and flagged down the Night Bus which took him twenty minutes until he got back to his house, seeing the kitchen light on and knowing his relatives were already sitting down to dinner. He entered the house called to his Aunt and Uncle and said he was heading to his room for the night, and ignored his Uncle's angry grumblings about freaks coming and going all hours of the day and he better not expect to eat their food any time soon.
Harry, who now had a huge wad of Pounds Sterling in his pockets, wasn't too worried about being told he couldn't eat with his relatives, as he now had the means to go out and buy his own meals to better keep to Healer Stevens' diet plan. Getting into his room, he dropped off his packages from the days' shopping and pulled out his mum's journal to read a bit before going to sleep.
When Harry woke up the next day the 6th of August, he was beyond sore and ravenous with hunger like he used to have growing up when denied meals for long periods of time. Looking at the clock and realizing that it was almost two in the afternoon, he couldn't believe that he had slept that long and that his relatives let him but remembered all that happened the day before and realized his body obviously needed it badly.
Sitting up in bed, he had to pause as a wave of dizziness came over him before standing and repeating the pause as another wave came. He decided to throw on some clothes and quickly head into town to get some food to calm his rumbling stomach first as that was the most pressing need.
The closest place to eat was a small diner that the Dursleys used to go every once in a while, but Harry had never actually been to. Heading there now, it only took fifteen minutes of walking to reach the small restaurant and sit at the counter grateful nobody he recognized was currently there to give him the usual mistrustful or hateful looks he often got around Little Whinging. Ordering a large breakfast, and practically salivating at the delicious smells coming from the near by kitchen Harry was worried his stomach ache would not ease soon enough.
Luckily, it didn't take long until the older waitress was putting a large plate of eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, kippers, and blood pudding in front of him which he immediately attacked only just remembering to use a little decorum while eating so as not to get himself thrown out of the restaurant for his horrible manners. The waitress eyed him skeptically a few times, as he was obviously too young to be in there without an adult present, but figured it wouldn't hurt to give the polite young man the benefit of the doubt.
When Harry was finished, he paid the bill leaving a few extra pounds for the nice lady who waited on him and said goodbye heading out of the diner. He then stopped by the little convenience store across the street and purchased a few bags of crisps and jerky, two boxes of cereal, and some peanut butter and bread so he could have some snacks available in his room as his hunger and new potion regiment would greatly increase his appetite according to Healer Stevens.
Later that evening, he went out to the local pizza shop which was closer to a half an hour walk from his house, but totally worth it. He ordered himself a large pepperoni pizza and ate just over half of it, bringing the rest home for a late night snack or breakfast depending on his sleep and hunger levels. When he crawled into bed that night with a full belly and his mum's journal he realized that the past week despite finding out all the bad things healthwise was the absolute best of his young life.
The next several days passed much the same way, with trips to the diner and pizza shop for breakfast and dinner with lunch usually taken up with leftovers and snacks he had been purchasing along the way. His reading had taken him much further along in all his textbooks, and he had even begun reading some of the additional supplemental books throughout the day. He also realized that he would soon come to the end of his mum's journal and in order to spread out the excitement he got from reading it, he decided to only read a bit every night before going to sleep as it left him feeling so happy and close to her that his sleep was usually positively affected as well.
When the time came to meet back up with Healer Stevens for his check up on the 12th of August, Harry was excited to notice that he had indeed been putting on significant weight and his height too was slowly increasing after every day and that he felt better than he ever had in his life. The only thing he was having problems with was his glasses no longer were as clear as they were when he first got them, and realized that his eyesight too was getting better and the old prescription no longer was the correct one and resolved to get them looked at by Healer Stevens or Mr. Johnston later today. He also needed to stop by Gringotts to get more muggle money as with all he was eating his money was rapidly declining and he didn't want to give up his wonderful warm meals.
A quick Night Bus trip to St. Mungo's hospital, and another visit to the third floor reception area had Harry in an exam room within minutes to await Healer Stevens for his ten o'clock appointment. Healer Stevens greeted Harry with a large smile and happy handshake before directing him to have a seat so they could get the diagnostic spells out of the way. They talked through them, and Harry mentioned his increased appetite and the problems with his glasses which the healer both understood and expected. He mentioned that he was very happy with Harry's progress both with the weight and height growth, bone strength, and nerve and tissue regeneration. The glasses problem though would have to be taken care of by Mr. Johnston as his work was protected with runes that he didn't want to mess with, and wrote a small note for the oculist to help Harry as his eyes would only continue to improve over the course of the treatment.
Healer Stevens asked Harry to stop by Madam Pompfrey's office at Hogwarts after the last of his nutrient potions were completed at the beginning of October to have her run a few diagnostics that he would request in writing to update his medical files, and also to take the final installment of a few of the inoculations Harry needed. He wished the young wizard well in Hogwarts, and Harry in return thanked him profusely for all his help in getting him healthy.
Harry then used the Floo network at the hospital to go to the Leaky Cauldron and Mr. Johnston's oculist shop to get his glasses fixed. It was an easy stop, and after the oculist read Healer Stevens letter, he took the glasses back to his workshop and returned minutes later with them all set to auto adjust to Harry's growing prescription which he then said would have to be set once his eyes stopped their improvement and suggested he ask Madam Pompfrey to write to him when that happened and he could make a quick stop to adjust them a final time.
Then it was another trip to Gringotts, where Harry asked to be taken to his vault not wanting to use his remaining Galleons to convert to Pounds as he wanted to have some on hand in case of any emergency. He ended up picking up 100 Galleons to convert to Pounds, getting a whopping 4,750 Pounds in return to spend in the muggle world. He also looked around his vault a little more, but didn't see anything other than money and a few gems in one chest off to the side and asked about his family having anything else in the bank to which he was told about a Family Vault he couldn't enter until he came of age which had other things besides just money.
Figuring that was all he was going to get out of the goblin who took him to his vault, Harry left the bank and returned to the Leaky Cauldron for a large lunch. Afterwards he returned to Privet Drive with a harrowing trip on the Night Bus, before returning to his studying of textbooks in preparation of his first year of Hogwarts which was now less than three weeks away.
Those final eighteen days at Privet Drive reading and studying like he never had before left Harry feeling continuously better about going away to a school for magic than he would have thought possible after leaving Hagrid on the day he was introduced to the magical world. He had finished at least one read through of every textbook he had, and most of the supplemental reading as well and felt more prepared and comfortable with what was to come. A large part of that comfort came from the massive increase in weight and height that his body had undergone over that time to the point where he waited until the last day of August to return to Madam Maulkin's to have his clothing resized as well as make a trip to a muggle clothing shop to purchase a few more essentials now that he was almost finished with his growth spurt from the potion regiment.
The scar salve that Healer Stevens provided also took care of removing over 75% of the scarring on his back and legs making him more comfortable in his own body than before, and it showed in how he carried himself now, with a bit more pride and confidence. That his famous curse scar had also faded significantly from its usual bright inflamed red color to just a normal looking scar also helped him remove some of those buried insecurities he had about his appearance and how others expected him to be.
His continual reading of his mum's journal had continued to provide more information that was helpful to him, and he started filling in his own never ending journal and using it as a sort of personal notebook for his studies and thoughts on everything he had encountered so far in the magical world. One of the biggest question marks he had was about the study of a pair of magical disciplines called Occlumency and Legilimency that Lily and Severus practiced together from fourth year on after she found Severus to be a natural at both and he told her how helpful they were in memory retention and maintaining composure and mental discipline. Harry was intrigued about them, as Lily said that Occlumency helped protect and organize your mind for a better memory and control over emotions which was really helpful as you progressed in magic, and Legilimency was the ability to read other people's minds through eye contact which sounded both amazing and creepy.
He did discover one book from Flourish & Blotts owl order catalogue called Mind Arts that he hoped was an introduction to what he wanted and ordered it the day before leaving to Hogwarts hoping that it would help him as he entered the world of magic to better remember all the things he was hoping to learn, and to protect him from anybody that might be able to read minds too. Hedwig returned with the book just in time for Harry to get into bed with his trunk packed and ready for the trip to Kings Cross in the morning of the First of September. Almost too excited to sleep, it took quite a while for Harry to settle down and finally fall asleep dreaming of a magical castle his mum constantly described as being her home away from home.
AN: I am going to end this chapter here, and hopefully get through each successive year at Hogwarts in one or two chapters each as I don't want to get weighed down with minutiae of the every day. I hope I have shown how this one thing entered into Harry's world would change things so much and likewise change who Harry is and how he sees himself.
Also, my life has greatly changed since I first began writing fan fiction, I now have an amazing son and even less free time than ever before. That being said I am glad to be writing again, and have this and one other project currently in the works which is much further along already even if I haven't posted it yet. To all those who have read and reviewed or just enjoyed my other stories I thank you, and also apologize for not finishing two of them. I have more on them both but never got down to typing them out not being particularly happy with where the story was going. Also reading so many other fics out there I have lost a lot of patience for several of the cliches you find in so many works., my own included.
Many of my stories I have a pretty good idea where it will take me, this one however I don't have anything but the next sentence in mind which is both liberating and terrifying as I don't know where to take this. I don't want Harry to be super powerful, but at the same time I can't stand the angst whiny whimpy Harry either. I hope to show him as hard working and intelligent enough to validate his growing prowess with magic without instantly making him ultra powerful. But, since I am trying to change the original story a bit, I understand my Harry will be OOC, and probably smarter than most eleven year olds for the simple fact that I am 37 years old and can't make myself that dumb and blinded as I was at eleven in order to write to his age. Also, there are many instances within the books that validate that powerful wizards have pretty impressive skills even from a young age, so it is within the bounds of canon for Harry to be skilled or prepared early although some take it way too far.
I do read reviews but not too often and have never responded to one, so if you ask me something in them don't be surprised if you don't get an answer. Also, if you want to flame me go right ahead it won't bother me at all. I write because I love the Harry Potter characters and universe, and it helps keep my mind sharp after listening and reading inane children's stories or boring work proposals all day. Every once in a while I will respond to a PM, but even that is rare unless you blow me away with your knowledge or need.
I hope to finish this story as with any I write, but life always takes precedence over play so be warned.
