I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
The Family that Chooses You
Chapter 12 – Broken Patterns
Madam Poppy Pomfrey, the school Medi-Witch and Matron, looked up as the door to the Infirmary was thrown open. "What in the world?" she began to ask but then stopped when she saw Katie come running in with Angelina close behind, carrying Harry. The girls were red faced and dripped with sweat and Harry was pale and moaning and whimpering.
"Bring him over here," she said, gesturing to an empty bed. "What happened?"
Angelina gently laid Harry down on the bed and for a few moments he refused to let go of her. "Harry, we're in the Infirmary. Don't worry, Madam Pomfrey is going to take good care of you, you're safe."
He reluctantly let go of the girl, once again clutching the book and quill to his chest instead.
"He got hurt. I found him on the ground and he said he fell and hurt his leg." Katie's face became ugly. "A Slytherin stomped his leg. I think it was his fault Harry tripped too."
Pomfrey's face became severe.
Angelina's filled with pure anger.
Pomfrey smiled comfortingly down at Harry, pushing her feelings away for a moment. "Which leg dear?"
"My right leg. My knee really hurts."
"I'm going to cast a Diagnostic Charm, okay? It will tell me what's wrong and give me an idea of what you need. It won't hurt." She began to shoo Katie and Angelina away.
"No! Please, can they stay?" Harry asked desperately.
Katie's heart broke a little. "Don't worry Harry, you're in good hands. Madam Pomfrey has fixed so many injuries. She's the best."
"Please don't leave me," he begged.
Angelina looked at Pomfrey pleadingly.
The Matron felt her own heart tugging. "They can stay. You two sit on the other side of the bed please." As the girls moved she moved her wand slowly over Harry, incanting the charm. She found the problem swiftly: a fractured knee with subsequent inflammation and soft tissue trauma. However, the Charm drew her attention elsewhere. As the spell continued to work her frown deepened, her face became more troubled.
"Is something wrong?" Katie asked.
Pomfrey shook her head but not in disagreement. She shook her head in confusion, in disbelief. She spoke as calmly as possible however. "Oh no don't worry. Just a simple fracture and lots of inflammation but easy enough to fix." She noticed how frantic Harry looked, however. He was very distressed, that was easy to see. "Maybe a bit of a nap here to help recover while your knee heals? It's nice and quiet here. How does that sound? An hour or so will do you will before you head down to dinner."
He looked up at the girls.
"If she said it's a good idea you should listen Harry." Angelina tried to sound nonchalant. "She's helped me recover from so many Quidditch injuries not to mention all sorts of things. You can trust her."
Katie nodded in agreement.
"Okay," Harry whispered. "Do you mind sitting with me until I fall asleep?" he asked them.
"We'll be here while you nap," Katie said.
It only took a moment for Pomfrey to cast Episky on the fracture and an Anti-inflammatory Charm. Harry had taken a sip of a sleeping draught and soon fallen into a deep sleep. The girls had convinced him to let go of the book and quill, promising Hermione's things would be fine on the table beside him. As he drifted off he had reached out silently with his hands. He fell asleep holding onto their hands.
As he slept Angelina asked Katie what had happened. The smaller girl had described what she saw.
"I wasn't there for the beginning of it," she said sadly.
"Good thing I wasn't," Angelina said quietly but savagely. "I'm going to make sure they don't try that ever again. Good work on the hex."
Katie winced. After everything that happened, after adrenaline and fury had left her, she felt mildly queasy. "I was so mad," she admitted. "How could they do that to any little kid? Much less Harry?"
"No one else knows Harry's past and to be fair, we really don't know either." Angelina shook her head. "But that's no excuse to treat any poor kid like that." She looked past Katie. "Looks like Pomfrey wants to talk to you."
Katie rose from the bedside, gently letting go of Harry's hand. He whimpered softly in his sleep until Angelina squeezed his hand gently. Katie sighed and drew the curtains around the bed to give Harry some privacy before walking to the Matron. She once again repeated the story.
Pomfrey frowned. "Well, while I do not condone any retaliatory spell casting, I applaud you for standing up for your House mate. It's despicable that an older student would treat a younger one like this."
Katie nodded in agreement.
Pomfrey hesitated, then spoke slowly. "Do you, are you close with Mr. Potter?"
"I think I'm one of the closest friends he has. He doesn't have many sadly."
"Do you know of his personal life? Of his time before arriving to Hogwarts?"
Katie felt a chill. "Only that he grew up with his Aunt and Uncle, they're Muggles."
Pomfrey went pale. "He grew up with family?"
Katie felt sick. "Technically they're family but…" She gulped. "Harry's…he's…he's been…" She did not want to say it out loud. Saying it out loud somehow felt more real than it was, made it that much more terrible.
Pomfrey took the younger girl's hands in hers. "The Diagnostic Charm revealed many things that should not be," she said as calmly as she could. Her eyes grew kind. "You're Samantha Fields' girl, aren't you?"
"Yes, that's my mum." Katie looked surprised. "You remember her?"
"I loved your mother, even though she increased my workload." Pomfrey smiled at the girl's questioning look. "Your mother constantly brought students to me. Students who thought they didn't need to see me, ones who were stubborn." Pomfrey grew serious. "Ones who were hiding things. I was never busier when Samantha attended Hogwarts but I know I helped more than I would have without her."
She smiled fondly. "I was so proud of her when she became a Medi-Witch. She stays in touch with me and I tell her that often." Pomfrey squeezed Katie's hands. "Just like your mother you are. Taking care of those that fall through the cracks unseen."
Before Katie could reply the doors to the ward opened. Professor McGonagall and Snape walked in looking especially serious. The two Slytherin boys followed behind them and when they saw Katie they immediately blanched, stumbling back.
"Miss Bell, I was looking for you." McGonagall's face was all angles and edges. "I heard something rather disturbing."
Katie squared her shoulders. She let the memory of the event rise to the top and her eyes blazed. "Did you hear everything disturbing?"
McGonagall looked shocked while Snape sneered. "Oh I have heard enough. About how you assaulted my students. Do you deny this?"
Katie looked squarely at the sallow skinned man. "No. I cast several Bludgeoning Hexes at them."
The Professors clearly did not expect her to confess so boldly. They shared a look before looking back at her.
"Did they explain why I did?" Katie continued.
"That does not matter," Snape said silkily. "You cannot simply attack another student and expect to suffer no consequences. You broke Grimshaw's arm and injured Yorely's stomach."
"Actually, I'm feeling alright," Yorely stammered. He was the second boy, the one Katie hit in the stomach. "The walk must have done me good. I can go now."
Snape glared at the boy. "You came to my office weeping and saying you could barely breathe. And now you are miraculously well?"
"I got better," the boy muttered.
McGonagall spoke. "Why did you cast hexes at them Miss Bell?"
"Because that one," she pointed at Grimshaw who flinched, "attacked Harry and was torturing him. And that one," Yorely practically ducked when she pointed at him, "was laughing and when I attacked the first one, he tried to attack me."
"You two said she set upon you without reason!" McGonagall stared at the two Slytherins. "And those others with you corroborated the story!"
"Mister Potter is currently in one of the beds," Pomfrey said. "I found traces of magic on his leg, a Tripping Jinx and a Pulling Charm. He also had a broken knee and severe tissue damage from trauma."
The two Slytherin boys went paler while McGonagall's face turned redder.
"It appears we are in a 'he said, she said' situation," Snape said blandly. "Seeing how both parties will obviously be at odds with one another-"
The door opened again revealing a shamefaced Ravenclaw, the one from the corridor, and a disappointed looking Professor Flitwick. "Ah, splendid that we are all here," the Charms professor said. He looked up at the Ravenclaw student. "Go on then Mister Stebbins. Out with it."
The Ravenclaw student's eyes never rose from the ground. He spoke quietly, recounting the entire story from before Katie's arrival to after her and Angelina taking Harry to the Infirmary. The hospital ward was silent for a long while.
"And why did you not do anything sooner?" McGonagall asked, her voice deadly calm.
"I didn't think it was any of my business," the boy said quietly.
"Not your business to prevent a young boy from being hurt by an older student?" Pomfrey asked incredulously.
He flinched as if physically struck by her words.
Flitwick shook his head disappointedly. "Mister Stebbins came to me after the incident of his own volition, delayed as it was. Apparently Miss Bell's words had the appropriate effect on him." He sighed. "In any case, I thought it was best for all to hear it." He nodded to the professors and the Matron, gave a brief apologetic smile to Katie, and left the ward with Stebbins following behind.
McGonagall crossed her arms and looked at Snape.
Snape glared at Grimshaw and Yorely. "Let me guess, you conveniently forgot about those details? Was Miss Bell's hexes so powerful it knocked the memories from you? They must have been considering she did not strike you in the head. At least that would have been an excuse."
His eyes flicked towards the bed surrounded by drawn curtains. His sneer deepened. "Fifteen points taken from the both of you. You are also confined to the Common Room and class rooms only save for meal times. You will both be examined by Madam Pomfrey and I will wait and escort you back. Then we will continue to discuss your transgressions."
A tin eyebrow rose on McGonagall's face. "And what about Miss Bell?"
"You've never liked it when I punished Gryffindors before," Snape said. "I trust you are more than capable of meting out punishment on your own." He directed the two Slytherins to the opposite end of the ward and waited for Pomfrey to fix Grimshaw's broken arm, glowering over them like a bird of ill omen. As soon as she was finished and had given them potions, they left. As the door closed they could hear him hissing at the two with intense displeasure.
"That was weird," Katie said. "Snape's never held back from taking points from Gryffindors before."
"Professor Snape, Miss Bell," McGonagall corrected gently. "I am somewhat surprised myself but Professor Snape does not like being made a fool of. He clearly thought it was one situation and were it not for a third party, it could have been construed as simply House antics."
"Thank goodness for acts of propriety then, even if they are delayed," Pomfrey sniffed.
"Indeed," McGonagall said dryly. Then she looked at the hospital bed. "How is Mister Potter?"
Katie looked nervous. She wondered what Pomfrey would say about the other things they were talking about before the interruption.
"Hurt and distressed, but on the mend." Pomfrey hesitated. "It was a good thing Miss Bell and Miss Johnson brought Harry as fast as possible. It could have been much worse."
McGonagall relaxed. "That's good then." She looked at Katie. "Fifteen points taken for casting hexes at your school mates. Ten points awarded for standing up for your House mate, to you and Miss Johnson." She coughed slightly. "I will have to write your parents Miss Bell. While I appreciate you standing up for Harry, you still broke the rules."
"I'd do it again," Katie said defiantly.
McGonagall did not say anything. Instead, she looked faintly proud before she left.
The young girl waited for a few minutes after McGonagall left before turning to Pomfrey. "Why didn't you mention anything to her? About those other…things that shouldn't be, like you said."
The Matron looked very tired all of a sudden. "Unfortunately, some of these things can look one way or another without proper context. Until Harry himself says anything, I'd rather not make unfounded accusations. They can lead to trouble."
"And what if they aren't unfounded?" Katie asked. Her hands shook. "What if he needs help?"
"He will get it. And I rest easier knowing you and Miss Johnson care about him."
"Not just us," Katie said softly.
"Then I feel even better. If you need anything, simply come find me. There are some things I can do and I will follow through."
Katie could not keep the disappointment from her eyes.
"Harry is not alone," Pomfrey said. "Neither are you." A glimmer of a tear shone in her eye. "Just like your mother," she said fondly. "She'd be proud of you, and she will once she hears of it."
"Maybe. She's really into behaving appropriately however."
Pomfrey chuckled. "I think you will find that your mother has some very distinct definitions of what appropriate means. And if she forgets come tell me, I'll be more than happy to remind her."