JaDuShala

Disclaimer:  J.K. Rowling, her publishers and Warner Bros. own Harry potter and other characters, this plot and some of my new characters are the result of my own fertile imagination.

Chapter 6: A New Scar & some Developments

There was inky blackness around him, he tried to open his eyes but his vision was blurred and foggy and all he could see was a white light and blurred outlines of the objects around him. The normal human instinct took precedence and he tried to move his arm to rub his eyes and clear his vision, but somehow he couldn't move it, it seemed to have been tied to his bed, he tried to shout to call someone but the throat had been parched for so many days and he had been screaming in his sleep all the time, so that he managed to only give out a hoarse croak.

But that proved enough,

"Oh, Harry, you are awake!, are you all right? "

"How can he be all right, he has blown apart a whole house.."

"Just Shut up Ron" Two voices said in unison

Harry's mind cleared there were only two persons in the whole wide world who would squabble like that in the hospital, Ron & Hermoine, but then whose was the other female voice.

Just then some one came up to him and poured some very hot spicy potion down his throat, (pepper up Potion) his vision cleared gradually, Madam Pomfrey was besides his bed fussing over him, muttering spells and charms and checking his condition as only a skilled Medi-wizard could.

Harry looked up, saw the expectant faces around him, and everything rushed back to him, Vernon Dursley's treachery, the way they sneered at him after poisoning him, the throbbing in his arm and then nothing. He felt at his arm but there was nothing there, the amulet seemed to have disappeared.

The other female voice was that of Ginny Weasley. Harry was surprised but glad that she was there. She just sat there looking at him with concern but didn't utter a word, no questions, no opinions like everybody else. She took him from what he was and this was what he always wanted, and besides she was a welcome distraction, Ginny seemed to have grown up a lot after the last he had seen her she was no longer the small giggling, nervous shy girl with a big time crush on him, she looked …..well….like a fabulously beautiful rose pure white and rosy red at the same time who held herself with the grace of a ballet dancer.

"Harry what happened, how did you blow the whole house apart" Ron's voice brought him out of his reverie.

"All in good time Ron, but first I have to see Prof. Dumbledore" Harry said " I have as many questions to ask him as you to me, I still don't understand large parts of it myself."

"Don't worry mate, I will run down and get him in a jiffy" Ron patted him on his back and scampered off to find Dumbledore.

"How did I get here? How did you come to know of it Hermione?" Harry questioned.

"Only Dumbledore knows how you got here, but everybody knows that something big happened at privet drive. It is all over the papers both muggle and wizarding, the Wizards Wireless has been running hourly updates on the story." Hermione said" I asked Mr. Weasley to pick me up when he came here to see you and leave Ron & Ginny.

Prof. Albus Dumbledore came into the hospital wing accompanied by a black dog and Ron.

"Hello Professor, hi Snuffles" Harry said, Snuffles gave a short bark and licked at his hands

"Hello Harry, I Hope you are feeling alright, must say you got me quite worried this time" Prof. Dumbledore said smiling benignly, peering over his half moon spectacles "How did it happen Harry?"

"I don't think Professor I quite understand that myself, but I will tell you what I know, I had written to you about the conversation I overheard from the Dursleys a few days ago. I was hence a bit surprised when Uncle Vernon brought in the Tray of food, as it was my last day there anyway, nevertheless I ate the food, nothing happened after the main course, however as soon as I ate the cakes, I started choking, I think they were laced with poison. I don't remember much after that only that the convulsions were overbearing, and them something started to overcome them."

"Hmmm.., that all fits in, that explains why you were having convulsions when they brought you here, that's why we had to tie you up, the cakes were laced with cyanide and it is nothing but a miracle that you survived" Dumbledore eyes twinkled signifying he knew much more then he admitted.

"What happened to the others?" he questioned" What happened at Privet Drive?" "Who Brought me here?"

" I am not sure what exactly happened, but it looks as is you blew the whole house apart, no trace was found of the Dursleys, though we are still investigating, as far as who brought you here is concerned, you know the person but all that is best left for later, I just want you to relax and recover before we delve further into this matter." Dumbledore answered with a finality, suggesting the discussion was over, for now.

Harry spent the next few days in the hospital wing. There seemed to be a new development as far as Ron and Hermione was concerned, they seemed to have patched up and were using this windfall of the time together well, and used to slip off on their own in between whenever they got a chance. This also meant that Harry was getting to spend more and more time to spend with Ginny alone and he was relishing it. They talked more than they had in their whole lifetime put together, Harry was really discovering what an interesting person had been hidden behind that curtain of shyness all her life. It is said that the eyes are the mirror to the soul and can say more than what words describe. And Harry had been trying valiantly not to get lost in the deep black eyes of his best friend's sister.

'Could this be a beginning to something' Harry thought 'Could he get over Cho'; Cho Chang was the Ravenclaw seeker on whom Harry had a big time crush; 'was Ginny linked up with a Neville? After all she had gone to the ball with him' Harry was itching to ask this but something stopped him. It wouldn't be that simple, he knew Ron too well, Ron thought from his heart not from his head, he wouldn't take this too nicely.

It took a week before Harry was given leave by Madam Pomfrey to leave the hospital bed. It had been an interesting time, Snape had caught Ron and Hermione snogging in the astronomy tower and had given them both detentions of cleaning the potions dungeon, Harry had been getting along really well with Ginny, various conspiracy theories had emerged in the papers about the explosion at Privet Drive with the most dramatic one from Gilderoy Lockhart and amidst all the fracas Harry had discovered he had one more scar.

The new scar was on his arm where he had worn the amulet given by Sirius, it had the same pattern as the amulet, there were two eyes a single rune and five stars below it set right into his arm, it was more of a tattoo than a scar but it had burnt into the skin and it was reddish black in colour. 

Harry had kept this new scar secret from everybody and luckily it was on his arm, which meant that it was well covered and people wouldn't stare at it the way they usually stared at the other one.

Harry was going to shift to a special room while the Weasleys and Hermione were leaving at the end of the week.

" Hey Harry, hope to see you soon mate, dunno why Prof. Dumbledore wont allow you to come to the Burrow. But don't you worry I will ask dad to speak to Prof. Dumbledore, maybe then he will allow you to come" Ron said,

They were all sprawled about in the Gryffindor common room; Ron was playing chess with Hermione while Harry was pretending to read a book while he kept glancing at Ginny behind the cover of the book. Ginny was herself listening to the Wizard Wirless Network and she was nodding her head and swinging to the beat in a way which though oblivious to her, was making Harry stare at her.

"Hey Harry have you been listning to a word I have said"

"aaa.. yes.. hmmm. No..sorry" Harry replied half embarrassed and half afraid that Ron had caught him.

"You did that on purpose" Hermione scolded as Ron lost a Chess match to her.

"Well, don't blame me playing with you is distracting" Ron said smirking.

Hermione blushed at this and gave Ron a special smile, which was just the signal Ron had been waiting for as he cuddled in next to her.

Harry looked away, he still wasn't used to the obvious flirting two of his best friends indulged in. He got up and left the Dormitory. He needed some peace so that he could practice his Animagus transformations. He had been practicing at privet drive before the explosion but something had changed after coming to Hogwarts, he had found it relatively easy to perform most of the Advanced Transfiguration exercises that had been prescribed in the book as a work up to Animagus transfigurations, today he was going to try some prelimnary Animagus Transfigurations. He went into a deserted classroom and shut the door. He started changing parts of his own body using his wand as part human transfigurations. He had able to do that effortlessly for the past few days, he put his wand back into his robe and concentrated hard on turning his hand into a hawks claw, amazingly he was able to do it effortlessly, he went on and did all the other excercises prescribed in the book, 'an elephant foot, a lions paw, a turtles shell transfiguration and even a Rhino's Horn'.

He read the last part again, Animagus transfiguration is only one step away from wandless magic and hence very few Wizards are able to do it, it is a type of wandless magic on to oneself, even though it is easier to transform parts of your body it is impossible to attain Animagus transformation until you have a complete understanding of your own consciousness and the traits which liken you to a particular animal.

Harry was in deep thought, which animal was he like, as fearless as a lion. No, even though he was a Gryffindor he had been afraid of the Dementors, even Voldermort for that matter, he wasn't outwardly aggressive like a lion. A dog like Sirius? He was loyal to his friends but he couldn't imagine himself as a dog, he didn't really snarl like Sirius for one and who had seen a green eyed dog anyway. A Stag like his father, could be, but it still didn't match his personality, he wasn't that elegant, he was dreadful at dancing. He racked his brain a lot but couldn't come up with a solution.

He wandered around the school and came near Prof. Dumbledore's office, just then the gargoyle opened and the professor walked out.

"Ah Harry, feeling healthy, care to share a Tea with me " Dumbledore said as his eyes Twinkled with amusement as he beckoned Harry inside.

Watcher Note:

I am sorry that I was not able to put up this chapter earlier, I had some problems with my PC and exams prevented me from putting up this chapter earlier. I expect to put up the next chapter faster it will have some real developments.

Do write in some real reviews even critical one's are welcome also tell me if you like the way the romantic angle is shaping up.