Harry Potter and Gryffindor's Secret
Chapter 7: Best Friends and Broken Legs
By: Lin-z
A/n: As always, thank you so much for all the encouraging reviews. I'm going to change the title on the main site before the next chapter. The new title will be Harry Potter and Gryffindor's Secret, so look for this story under the new title, not HP & the Unknown Title, because you won't find it. Thanks for all the suggestions!! You are all wonderful! Note for the story: in chapter 3, I mentioned that Severus Snape had gone into hiding and was changing his name in order to hide from Voldie. His name is Mohomri Harcourt, although the first few times he is mentioned I'll add a.k.a. Severus Snape. Mind you, after that, you'll just have to remember.
Disclaimer: hmm. I don't own anything from J.K. Rowling's books. I have a little poodle named Zeus, but no Harry Potter. Oh well. Right, on with the story!
** At the end of last chapter **
The black splotches in Harry's vision were expanding, and everything he heard seemed to be travelling a great distance through an echoing tunnel. There was a tugging sensation, and Harry could feel himself slam against the grassy ground of the quidditch pitch before he slipped into a merciful unconsciousness.
***
Sirius and Remus stepped from Dumbledore's office, followed by Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Minerva McGonagall, and Mohomri Harcourt (a.k.a. Severus Snape). The two professors bade the others good day, and turned to go to their respective offices.
The remaining four made their way through the castle and out to the bright warm sunshine of mid-July. Remus, Sirius, Arabella and Mundungus strolled across the Hogwarts grounds; each lost in their own thoughts. They were members of an alliance against the dark arts, known as the Order of the Phoenix. Their duties were to protect the relics of Gryffindor and aide in the continued war against Voldemort and his minions, and the meeting of a few minutes ago related to both of them. They all knew that Harry was the last remaining heir to Godric Gryffindor, and as such, would be the only person able to use the Green Flame Torch. The Green Flame Torch was a weapon of Gryffindor's creation. It was indeed a torch, and when lit by the heir of Gryffindor, could be used to vanquish any evil. Their plan had been to use this against Voldemort, but they were worried about Harry. The Green Flame Torch was not a weapon to be used frivolously. It had the power to defeat evil of any strength, but for a weapon of that power to be used, especially by a child, would almost certainly be deadly. They had unanimously agreed not to tell Harry anything about it until they were absolutely sure it would be necessary. Even then, they would vehemently discourage him from using it - it was a sacrifice all of them were unwilling to make.
The group reached the wrought-iron gate leading into Hogsmeade and stepped outside. The four of them said their good byes, and Disapparated. Remus and Sirius appeared near the quidditch pitch outside Sirius' house with a small popping noise. Just as they were about to walk around the side of the grassy field to the front door, they noticed someone lying in a heap near the centre of the field. They both gasped and ran forward as they recognised who it was.
'Harry! Harry, are you all right?!' Sirius shouted, running towards the still form of his godson.
Sirius and Remus reached the bespectacled, black-haired figure and kneeled down on either side of him. Sirius lifted him into a sitting position and held him there, stroking his hair and calling his name softly. Harry's face was very pale and he was trembling gently.
'Wake up, Harry! What's wrong with him, Remus?' Sirius asked, looking to his friend for help.
'I don't know,' Remus replied. 'Do you want to try and enervate him?'
Sirius looked at Harry and nodded.
Remus pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry's forehead, right above his scar. 'Enervate,' he whispered.
Harry's eyelids fluttered open and he groaned softly.
'Gonna be sick…' he moaned, jerking forward and retching on the grass.
'It's all right,' Sirius said, rubbing a hand up and down Harry's back.
Sirius and Remus exchanged worried looks over his back.
'What happened to you?' Remus asked as Harry sat back in his godfather's arms.
'I…umm, I,' Harry said, taking in his surroundings and noticing that he was in the middle of the quidditch pitch with his broom a few feet away. 'I guess I fell,' he said, pretty sure that he didn't, but not knowing what else to say, as he didn't remember what did happen.
'Hmm. Well, let's get you back into the house, Harry,' Sirius said, as he and Remus began to help him up from the ground.
Harry yelped. 'Ouch! My leg…' he groaned, sinking back to the grass.
Harry grabbed his right leg as the waves of pain shot out all up and down his leg. Sirius knelt down and examined Harry's leg, gently prodding it until he found the break in the bone.
'Yikes,' he said. 'Did this happen when you fell?'
Harry nodded. 'I think so, but I don't really remember,' he said.
'Let's fix that up for you,' Remus said, pulling out his wand and murmuring the words to a healing spell Madam Pomfrey (the Hogwart's school matron) had used on him and his friends numerous times during their tenure at Hogwarts. Yellow light shot out of his wand and wrapped itself around Harry's leg, then began to dissipate until it vanished completely.
'That should do it,' Remus said, and again they proceeded to help Harry to his feet.
'I don't think it did,' he said through gritted teeth. His knees buckled and he fell back down to the ground.
'Well, this is a bugger,' Sirius said, looking closer at Harry's leg. 'It's broken, I can tell that much, but why won't Pomfrey's spell work on it?'
'I don't know, Sirius, but we should probably go ahead and get Harry in bed anyway. Why don't you pick him up and take him upstairs and I'll get Dr. Matthews to come over and give him a look,' Remus said.
'Right, good idea, Remus,' Sirius answered as he bent to lift Harry.
'Harry, do you mind if I borrow your broomstick?' Remus asked.
'No, go right ahead,' Harry replied.
Remus lifted Harry's Firebolt and took off in the direction of the village.
Sirius carried Harry up the stairs and to his room, careful not to touch or bump Harry's broken leg. Sirius pulled back the sheets and laid Harry on the bed. Harry bit his lip and tried not to cry out - Sirius was being very cautious, but his leg still pained him terribly.
'I'll go find you a painkiller, then?' Sirius asked.
Harry nodded. 'That would be great,' he said.
Sirius exited the room and returned a few minutes later with a small vial filled with a deep blue liquid.
'Go on and drink all of it,' he explained, 'it will make you a bit sleepy, mind, but it will do wonders for the pain.'
Harry removed the cork and swallowed the contents. 'Thanks Sirius,' he said. His eyelids began to droop. 'Wow, you weren't jok-' his words were cut off abruptly as he fell asleep.
**
'I don't know what's wrong with it,' Dr Dexter Matthews was saying, 'It's broken, of course, but there's not a single spell that will heal it.'
Harry was beginning to wake up, and though he still wasn't very alert, he could tell that the doctor's words were not what he wanted to hear. He kept his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep still and listening as the conversation continued to play out.
'Well, what do we do, then?' Sirius' voice asked.
The doctor was silent for a bit, thinking of what he had been taught to do in case he couldn't magic a bone back together.
'I suppose we'll have to set it after a muggle fashion,' he said. 'He'll have to wear a muggle cast and use crutches for a time, but it should be fine in about nine weeks.'
Harry opened his eyes and frowned. 'Nine weeks?' he said, catching everyone by surprise.
'Yes,' the doctor replied, 'it was a pretty nasty break, and we can't magic the bone back together.' The doctor summoned his bag of supplies and removed what was needed to construct a plaster cast for Harry's leg.
'Do you remember how this happened?' the doctor asked as he wrapped gauze around Harry's broken leg.
'Not really,' Harry replied. 'All I remember is feeling like I was falling, and then Remus and Sirius woke me up and I puked my guts out.'
The doctor chuckled. 'Did you hit your head at all?'
Harry tried to remember, but he just couldn't. 'I guess I must have, when I landed,' he said.
The doctor nodded knowingly. 'That would explain the memory loss,' he said.
Remus and Sirius nodded. The doctor finished applying the plaster and turned to the three others gathered in Harry's room. 'He should stay in bed for the next couple of days, but after that it should be fine if he uses crutches to get around. I'll send some up tomorrow,' he said.
Remus and Sirius thanked the doctor, and Dr Matthews Disapparated with a little * pop *.
Sirius and Remus brought Harry some lunch and a few books to read in bed, and after Harry thanked them, they left to visit downstairs. Harry was still tired and decided to go back to sleep for lack of anything better to do.
**
Harry thought he could hear someone laughing, but he wasn't sure if it was part of the dream that he'd been having or not.
'Shush, you'll wake him!' he heard a voice hiss.
That voice sounded like Hermione! Harry opened his eyes to see his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, standing by his bedside.
'Ron! Hermione!' he shouted, pulling himself to a sitting position.
'Hiya, Harry!' 'Hi Harry,' they said.
Harry smiled at them. 'When did you guys get here?' he asked.
'Sirius popped over and told my mum you'd broken your leg and might like some company, so I got Hermione and we decided to come over and surprise you,' Ron explained, 'We just got here by Floo powder a few minutes ago.'
'How's your leg?' Hermione asked, looking at the plaster cast on Harry's leg, worried.
'It's all right, I guess. Sirius gave me this pain potion, so it doesn't hurt anymore,' he answered.
'Why do you have to wear that silly muggle cast, though?' Ron asked.
'I don't know,' Harry said, 'the doctor couldn't heal it with magic for some reason, so they put this thing on. I have to wear it for nine whole weeks.' Harry groaned.
The three friends chatted happily for the rest of the day, until Sirius brought dinner up for them to eat in Harry's room.
'Ready for dinner, you three?' He asked, walking into the room with four trays levitating behind him.
'Yeah!' all three shouted at once.
Sirius laughed and handed out the trays, and they chatted brightly as they ate, their plates refilling themselves as needed, until they were all quite full.
'Ah,' Ron said, leaning back in his chair and massaging his stomach, 'now that was a good supper!'
'Yeah, it sure was! All thanks to chéz Sirius, here!' Harry said.
Sirius stood up and bowed deeply. 'Thank you, thank you,' he said.
'So are you guys staying the night?' Harry asked Ron and Hermione.
'Yes, I think we'll be going home shortly after you get your crutches,' Hermione answered.
'That's excellent!' said Harry, thinking of how amazing it was that at this time, last week, he had been having lettuce and a slice of tomato for dinner after a hard day of "Dursley chores," whereas here he was now, surrounded by friends and eating real meals.
'I'm sure we'll be able to get loads of holiday assignments done tomorrow!' Hermione said, sounding truly enthusiastic about the prospect of a whole day of homework tomorrow.
'Yippee,' Harry and Ron said, looking at each other with exasperated looks on their faces and waving their forefingers in tight upright circles in the air.
'Come on, I bet you guys haven't even started yet. Besides, think how great it will be if we get them all done tomorrow and you don't have to do another assignment all summer?' She argued.
'She's got a point there, I mean, if I'm stuck in bed all day long I might as well get some work done,' Harry consented.
Ron reached over and felt the top of Hermione's head.
'Oi, here it is!' he shouted, smiling broadly.
'Here's what?' Hermione asked, sounding flustered.
'Your point!' he said, and Ron, Harry, and Sirius burst out laughing, as Hermione frowned.
'Har har, very funny, it is to laugh' she said. Then she, too, began to smile and then join in on the laughter. Slowly they began to settle down, the conversation turned to quidditch, and Sirius left the room.
'Are you going to try for the team this year, Ron?' Harry asked.
'I think so. When my brothers and I used to play, I would always play keeper. That position's open this year, right?'
Harry nodded. 'Yeah, our last keeper was Wood, and he graduated at the end of third year.'
'Who do you think is going to be captain this year, Harry?' Hermione asked, thinking even talking about quidditch was better than sitting there doing nothing.
Harry stifled a yawn, 'I don't know. Maybe one of the girls, like Katie or Alicia, or maybe even Fred or George,' he answered.
'Come on kids,' Sirius said, poking his head in the door. 'I think it's time we let Harry get some rest. Ron, you'll be staying in here, and Hermione, if you'll come with me, I have another room for you,' Sirius said. He conjured a camp bed and some pyjamas for Ron, then Hermione and Sirius said goodnight to Harry and Ron and they left to show Hermione to her room.
Harry decided to just sleep in his clothes, as it would have been a great bother to have to get up and change into his pyjamas. 'G'night, Ron,' Harry said. ''Night, Harry,' Ron replied, as he pulled on his nightclothes. The two of them slipped under the covers and fell asleep almost immediately.
I know this chapter is a bit short, but if I included the next part it would make it too long, and besides, I wanted to post this tonight. To Randee, who called me a moron for spelling pyjamas with a "y" as opposed to an "a," in the U.K., that's the proper spelling. I use spell checker! Ü Anyhow, thanks again for reading!
Lin-z (who says to review, please!)