Chapter 8
Dumbledore's hands were trembling by the time he finished the short article
and just starred at the paper in shock for several minutes, not daring to
hope that the boy might be Harry, because he was worried about having that
hope dashed the instant he set eyes on the youth in question at the
hospital.
If the boy in the hospital were Harry, then what had happened to him during the three months between the day he vanished and the night he entered the hospital?
Quickly restoring some of his previous control, he got to his feet and went out the door of his office toward the Great Hall to find his former students.
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Once Dumbledore had exited the hall, the other professors had followed suite, leaving Remus, Sirius, and Snape behind. The three former enemies were gathered at the center of the table pouring over a large map that was spread across the surface before them.
"We have already searched there Black and we found nothing, we need to search the valleys in Switzerland, we haven't looked there yet" said Snape tersely to the man across from him.
"I know we have searched there Snape, but that was at the beginning. That area is very secluded and full of caves, the perfect place for fifty people to go and not be noticed! We need to search there again. How do we know they have been in the same place all this time, they could be moving around" answered Sirius in almost a growl.
"Why don't we just check both places, one today and one tomorrow" said Remus, trying to pacify both men before the curses started flying.
Just then, the doors of the hall burst open and Dumbledore came through them almost running to the front of the hall, startling all three men into silence.
"Albus, what is it? What happened?" asked Snape, almost dreading the answer.
"I think I've found him" he said simply, thrusting the paper he had been carrying into Remus' hands, his own still trembling uncontrollably.
Remus flipped through the paper and within seconds found the article Dumbledore had read moments before. "Unidentified Child in Serious Condition at London Hospital" he read out loud.
He read the beginning of the article to himself, but when he got to the description of the boy he began to read out loud again.
"The boy appears to be fourteen to fifteen years of age with shoulder length black hair and green eyes. He has a pale complexion and slim build, standing five foot 7 inches in height. He was wearing what appeared to be black robes with a school crest emblazoned over the right breast pocket." his voice trailed off then as he met the gazes of the other three men.
Sirius' face was slowly breaking into a smile and Snape's face showed an expression of relief. As Remus met their eyes, his face broke into a smile as well, but looking back at Dumbledore's grim expression he became confused.
"What's wrong Albus? This sounds like Harry exactly! All we need to do is go to this hospital, identify him, and tell them that Sirius is Harry's guardian and they give him to us and we bring him back here. This is great news!" he exclaimed, and judging by the expressions on the other two men's faces, they felt the same way.
"Yes Remus, if this boy is indeed Harry, it is great news that he has been found, but did you read the article carefully? If it is Harry, then he was found in his Hogwarts robes, the same thing he was wearing the day he disappeared. This means that he was not even found by muggles before he turned up at the hospital. If he had been, then he wouldn't still be wearing his robes. He hasn't been seen for fourteen weeks, and we can only assume that wherever he was, he was with Voldemort and his supporters.
These past months I can't even begin to imagine what he went through, and we can only hope that if this is him, that he is able to recover from whatever has happened to him.
Now, I must ask the three of you to dress as muggles and go to this hospital to see if this is indeed young Mr. Potter.
Sirius, if it is Harry, we will need to get some paper work drawn up by the minister to convince the muggle authorities that you are indeed his guardian so they will release him to you, but let's not worry about that until we need to. Contact me as soon as you have any news, good luck.
And with that, the three men exited the hall quickly to head toward their individual quarters to get a change of cloths.
When they were all dressed about five minutes later, they met in the entrance hall and set off on the familiar path towards the village of Hogesmede where they appearated to Diagon Alley and from there walked to ten blocks through muggle London to St. Josephs Hospital.
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At around noon, Dr. Chris Jacobs made his way back toward the room that the boy was in when he ran into Mary coming out of another patients room.
"Dr. Jacobs, I assume you are heading to the boy's room?" she asked, and when he nodded his head she continued "I have been there all morning and nothing has changed yet, I was just on my way back as well"
"Is there anyone with him right now?"
"No, but he was sleeping when I left about ten minutes ago, we had an emergency come in and I was paged to assist."
"Has he said anything else in his dreams that you know of?"
"No, the same that he always says. I hope that he recovers from this alright. He seems to innocent to have all these issues"
"I agree. Hopefully whoever did this is caught and punished"
"Have you been able to make any sense of what he said when he came in, you know, about him being gone?"
"No, I don't even know if he knew what he was saying then, he was in pretty bad shape that night, he still is."
Just then, he felt the pager on his hip vibrate, and looking down, he recognized the number listed as that of the admitting desk.
"You mind making a quick stop on our way up? Admitting just paged me." He told the nurse.
"No, of course not, we're close enough to stop by" she answered with a smile.
The pair then turned around and headed off down a large hallway away from the quiet areas of patient rooms and into the main hub of the busy hospital.
As they neared the main desk, the first thing the doctor noticed was the trio of men who were currently arguing with a frazzled looking clerk.
"I'm sorry sir, but you will just have to be patient! I paged the doctor and he is on his way down, but he can't just appear here instantly! Now would you three please take seats and I will call you when he arrives."
The men grudgingly obeyed the nurse at the smart persuasion of another man.
As the doctor approached closer, he noticed that the men all had strange appearances. All three men were wearing black slacks and black long sleeves shirts with black boots, which in itself was strange singe it was the middle of June. As he looked at them individually, he saw that the one that the other two obeyed was average height with shoulder length brown hair flecked with premature gray, but he had a kind face, though stern.
The one next to him on the left had greasy black hair, sallow skin and dark eyes and looked as though he could be quite intimidating if he so desired.
The one on the right also had shoulder length hair and he was slightly taller than the other two, and his face way lined with worry and anguish and his face looked as though he could be down right scary if given the desire.
When he approached the desk, the clerk approached him and turned her back to the three men who were all watching them intently.
"Did you page me Kristy"
"Yes Doctor Jacobs, those three men have come to inquire about the boy you have been caring for."
Of all the things he had expected her to say, this was not one of them.
"What!" was all he could manage
"You heard right. They say the boy disappeared on March 4th and until now have seen no sign of him."
"Why didn't they report him missing? Why has it taken them so long to come find him?"
"I didn't ask sir, but they are adamant to see the boy, and to speak with yo about his condition."
"Very well, what are their names?"
"The calmest one is called Lupin, I would recommend speaking to him, the other two seem rather volatile, so to speak."
Thanking the nurse, he walked toward the men who all got to their feet as he approached.
"Hi, my name is Dr. Chris Jacobs. You have come about the boy in my care?" he asked politely, holding his hand out to the men. The one in the middle took it and introduced the others.
"Nice to meet you, I am Remus Lupin, this is Sirius Black and Severus Snape. We saw the article in the paper this morning and think the boy may be a student at the school we teach at. May we see him?" he asked politely, but his voice was demanding.
"Certainly, but first I must ask you a few questions. Since we know nothing about the boy or who did this to him, we are being careful about who we allow into his room."
"That's quite alright. We would be willing to answer any questions you might have."
"Good, now what is your relationship to the boy?" but instead of Remus answering, the taller black haired man spoke up, Sirius.
"I am his godfather and one of his professors at school, Remus and Severus are also his professors."
"Very well. How did he come to be in the hands of whoever did this?"
This time, it was Severus who answered the question.
"He was outside with some other students and he was abducted from the school grounds."
"Ok, why wasn't it reported to the authorities?"
"The school he attends is not in England. His disappearance was reported to the local authorities though, how he came to London we do not know" answered Lupin smoothly.
"Where are the boys parents at?"
"Dead, they died when he was a year old and I have custody over him now" said Black.
"Last question, are there any distinguishing characteristics about the boy that would allow us to make a positive i.d?"
At this question, all three men looked at one another before Lupin answered.
"He has a scar on his forehead shaped like a bolt of lightning."
"Is that the only distinguishing characteristic the boy has, no tattoos or anything?" he asked, afraid that the boy in the room might not be the one they were looking for.
At the mention of a tattoo though, all three men seemed worried and even a little scared. Remus was the first to regain control though as he answered.
"No, when he was taken he had no tattoos, but he has been missing for three months and we have no idea what he did while he was gone."
"Very well, I have not noticed that yet, but then again he's in pretty bad shape right now. Do you have any idea who would do this to him?"
"Yes, and he has already been apprehended" said Severus, looking at the doctor with his dark eyes unblinking.
"Thank you for answering my questions, if you would now just follow me, lets see if this is the boy you are looking for shall we?"
He stood and began to walk toward the long hallway, the three men following close behind. As they reached the room, the man called Sirius looked through the door and tears came to his eyes as he rushed into the room and kneeled beside the bed with tears running down his face.
"Is this the boy you have been looking for?"
"Yes, yes it is" whispered Remus, and the doctor was surprised to see tears in his eyes as well.
"What's his name?"
"Harry, Harry Potter" answered Snape as he joined the other two men in the room.
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If the boy in the hospital were Harry, then what had happened to him during the three months between the day he vanished and the night he entered the hospital?
Quickly restoring some of his previous control, he got to his feet and went out the door of his office toward the Great Hall to find his former students.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Once Dumbledore had exited the hall, the other professors had followed suite, leaving Remus, Sirius, and Snape behind. The three former enemies were gathered at the center of the table pouring over a large map that was spread across the surface before them.
"We have already searched there Black and we found nothing, we need to search the valleys in Switzerland, we haven't looked there yet" said Snape tersely to the man across from him.
"I know we have searched there Snape, but that was at the beginning. That area is very secluded and full of caves, the perfect place for fifty people to go and not be noticed! We need to search there again. How do we know they have been in the same place all this time, they could be moving around" answered Sirius in almost a growl.
"Why don't we just check both places, one today and one tomorrow" said Remus, trying to pacify both men before the curses started flying.
Just then, the doors of the hall burst open and Dumbledore came through them almost running to the front of the hall, startling all three men into silence.
"Albus, what is it? What happened?" asked Snape, almost dreading the answer.
"I think I've found him" he said simply, thrusting the paper he had been carrying into Remus' hands, his own still trembling uncontrollably.
Remus flipped through the paper and within seconds found the article Dumbledore had read moments before. "Unidentified Child in Serious Condition at London Hospital" he read out loud.
He read the beginning of the article to himself, but when he got to the description of the boy he began to read out loud again.
"The boy appears to be fourteen to fifteen years of age with shoulder length black hair and green eyes. He has a pale complexion and slim build, standing five foot 7 inches in height. He was wearing what appeared to be black robes with a school crest emblazoned over the right breast pocket." his voice trailed off then as he met the gazes of the other three men.
Sirius' face was slowly breaking into a smile and Snape's face showed an expression of relief. As Remus met their eyes, his face broke into a smile as well, but looking back at Dumbledore's grim expression he became confused.
"What's wrong Albus? This sounds like Harry exactly! All we need to do is go to this hospital, identify him, and tell them that Sirius is Harry's guardian and they give him to us and we bring him back here. This is great news!" he exclaimed, and judging by the expressions on the other two men's faces, they felt the same way.
"Yes Remus, if this boy is indeed Harry, it is great news that he has been found, but did you read the article carefully? If it is Harry, then he was found in his Hogwarts robes, the same thing he was wearing the day he disappeared. This means that he was not even found by muggles before he turned up at the hospital. If he had been, then he wouldn't still be wearing his robes. He hasn't been seen for fourteen weeks, and we can only assume that wherever he was, he was with Voldemort and his supporters.
These past months I can't even begin to imagine what he went through, and we can only hope that if this is him, that he is able to recover from whatever has happened to him.
Now, I must ask the three of you to dress as muggles and go to this hospital to see if this is indeed young Mr. Potter.
Sirius, if it is Harry, we will need to get some paper work drawn up by the minister to convince the muggle authorities that you are indeed his guardian so they will release him to you, but let's not worry about that until we need to. Contact me as soon as you have any news, good luck.
And with that, the three men exited the hall quickly to head toward their individual quarters to get a change of cloths.
When they were all dressed about five minutes later, they met in the entrance hall and set off on the familiar path towards the village of Hogesmede where they appearated to Diagon Alley and from there walked to ten blocks through muggle London to St. Josephs Hospital.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At around noon, Dr. Chris Jacobs made his way back toward the room that the boy was in when he ran into Mary coming out of another patients room.
"Dr. Jacobs, I assume you are heading to the boy's room?" she asked, and when he nodded his head she continued "I have been there all morning and nothing has changed yet, I was just on my way back as well"
"Is there anyone with him right now?"
"No, but he was sleeping when I left about ten minutes ago, we had an emergency come in and I was paged to assist."
"Has he said anything else in his dreams that you know of?"
"No, the same that he always says. I hope that he recovers from this alright. He seems to innocent to have all these issues"
"I agree. Hopefully whoever did this is caught and punished"
"Have you been able to make any sense of what he said when he came in, you know, about him being gone?"
"No, I don't even know if he knew what he was saying then, he was in pretty bad shape that night, he still is."
Just then, he felt the pager on his hip vibrate, and looking down, he recognized the number listed as that of the admitting desk.
"You mind making a quick stop on our way up? Admitting just paged me." He told the nurse.
"No, of course not, we're close enough to stop by" she answered with a smile.
The pair then turned around and headed off down a large hallway away from the quiet areas of patient rooms and into the main hub of the busy hospital.
As they neared the main desk, the first thing the doctor noticed was the trio of men who were currently arguing with a frazzled looking clerk.
"I'm sorry sir, but you will just have to be patient! I paged the doctor and he is on his way down, but he can't just appear here instantly! Now would you three please take seats and I will call you when he arrives."
The men grudgingly obeyed the nurse at the smart persuasion of another man.
As the doctor approached closer, he noticed that the men all had strange appearances. All three men were wearing black slacks and black long sleeves shirts with black boots, which in itself was strange singe it was the middle of June. As he looked at them individually, he saw that the one that the other two obeyed was average height with shoulder length brown hair flecked with premature gray, but he had a kind face, though stern.
The one next to him on the left had greasy black hair, sallow skin and dark eyes and looked as though he could be quite intimidating if he so desired.
The one on the right also had shoulder length hair and he was slightly taller than the other two, and his face way lined with worry and anguish and his face looked as though he could be down right scary if given the desire.
When he approached the desk, the clerk approached him and turned her back to the three men who were all watching them intently.
"Did you page me Kristy"
"Yes Doctor Jacobs, those three men have come to inquire about the boy you have been caring for."
Of all the things he had expected her to say, this was not one of them.
"What!" was all he could manage
"You heard right. They say the boy disappeared on March 4th and until now have seen no sign of him."
"Why didn't they report him missing? Why has it taken them so long to come find him?"
"I didn't ask sir, but they are adamant to see the boy, and to speak with yo about his condition."
"Very well, what are their names?"
"The calmest one is called Lupin, I would recommend speaking to him, the other two seem rather volatile, so to speak."
Thanking the nurse, he walked toward the men who all got to their feet as he approached.
"Hi, my name is Dr. Chris Jacobs. You have come about the boy in my care?" he asked politely, holding his hand out to the men. The one in the middle took it and introduced the others.
"Nice to meet you, I am Remus Lupin, this is Sirius Black and Severus Snape. We saw the article in the paper this morning and think the boy may be a student at the school we teach at. May we see him?" he asked politely, but his voice was demanding.
"Certainly, but first I must ask you a few questions. Since we know nothing about the boy or who did this to him, we are being careful about who we allow into his room."
"That's quite alright. We would be willing to answer any questions you might have."
"Good, now what is your relationship to the boy?" but instead of Remus answering, the taller black haired man spoke up, Sirius.
"I am his godfather and one of his professors at school, Remus and Severus are also his professors."
"Very well. How did he come to be in the hands of whoever did this?"
This time, it was Severus who answered the question.
"He was outside with some other students and he was abducted from the school grounds."
"Ok, why wasn't it reported to the authorities?"
"The school he attends is not in England. His disappearance was reported to the local authorities though, how he came to London we do not know" answered Lupin smoothly.
"Where are the boys parents at?"
"Dead, they died when he was a year old and I have custody over him now" said Black.
"Last question, are there any distinguishing characteristics about the boy that would allow us to make a positive i.d?"
At this question, all three men looked at one another before Lupin answered.
"He has a scar on his forehead shaped like a bolt of lightning."
"Is that the only distinguishing characteristic the boy has, no tattoos or anything?" he asked, afraid that the boy in the room might not be the one they were looking for.
At the mention of a tattoo though, all three men seemed worried and even a little scared. Remus was the first to regain control though as he answered.
"No, when he was taken he had no tattoos, but he has been missing for three months and we have no idea what he did while he was gone."
"Very well, I have not noticed that yet, but then again he's in pretty bad shape right now. Do you have any idea who would do this to him?"
"Yes, and he has already been apprehended" said Severus, looking at the doctor with his dark eyes unblinking.
"Thank you for answering my questions, if you would now just follow me, lets see if this is the boy you are looking for shall we?"
He stood and began to walk toward the long hallway, the three men following close behind. As they reached the room, the man called Sirius looked through the door and tears came to his eyes as he rushed into the room and kneeled beside the bed with tears running down his face.
"Is this the boy you have been looking for?"
"Yes, yes it is" whispered Remus, and the doctor was surprised to see tears in his eyes as well.
"What's his name?"
"Harry, Harry Potter" answered Snape as he joined the other two men in the room.
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