Broken bones and conversations The door opened and Dumbledore came in, hearing the laughter, smiled. "I appeared to have missed something unless it is about the choices of hair color that Mr. Potter and Mrs. Granger have chosen to adorn." He said with the familiar twinkle in his eyes. Hermione laughed. "No sir. Fred and George invented some sucker that turns your hair different colors and forced one on me. Harry wanted one after my hair changed colors." Dumbledore's eyebrows disappeared into his hair in surprise and Harry laughed even more. Fred and George grinned. "Would you like one, Dumbledore sir?" Fred asked casually and Dumbledore smiled. "Certainly, Fred." Fred gave one of the suckers he had in his pocket to him. Dumbledore opened it and put it in his mouth. Immediately, his hair had turned the same colors as Harry's and Hermione's. He looked in the mirror and smiled. Everyone laughed joyfully. "Now then, to business. I need to speak with Harry alone for a few moments and then you may return. I suggest a trip to the tea room since you won't be able to use those wonderful extendable ears." Fred and George's eyes grew to the size of Galleons. "What? How did you . . ." sputtered Fred as George began to question another route. "When did you . . ." asked George in total shock that Dumbledore had discovered the extendable ears. The twins looked at each other and spoke one word: "Mom." Dumbledore chuckled. "It doesn't matter how I discovered it, I know about them and I would like to speak with Harry privately. Give us until . . . " he looked at his watch, "8:00 then you may come back in." He gestured toward the door. "Until then." Hermione hugged Harry and asked him if he wanted anything. Harry thought about it and shook his head no and she left. Ron slapped him a high-five and went to catch up with Hermione. The twins came up and Fred gave him another sucker and George told Harry that they would be back. Harry nodded and his stomach grew tighter with dread. He wondered what Dumbledore wanted to talk about with him. He figured it would be about how he had gotten hurt and Harry did not really want to talk about it right now. He was caught slightly off-guard when Dumbledore began. He sighed deeply and began. "Harry I know this is going to be hard for you to talk about but there are some things I need to know. When did your uncle start hitting you?" Harry's eyes flew open in shock; he didn't expect Dumbledore to ask that, but thinking on it for a minute, it made sense. Either Molly, Lupin or Snape had had to have told him. He wondered if Snape had really done what he said he was going to do. Probably, he thought. That must be why Dumbledore is here. Harry sighed and looked at his feet that he noticed were devoid of shoes. Probably one of the healer's took them off he thought to himself. Harry cleared his throat and began. "I was three. I made a glass float in the air to amuse myself and he knocked me off the chair and kicked me in the stomach, then made me go to bed without any supper. Like that's anything new though." Harry said quietly and sighed to himself. Dumbledore's eyes grew sad. Silent tears coursed down the Headmaster's cheeks. "What about your aunt? How did she treat you?" he asked, trying not to get too wrapped up in his emotions but it was difficult not to. He loved this boy so much that Harry's every hurt was his too. Harry shrugged. "She was, well, okay I guess. We hugged before I left. I'm afraid that I did have to use magic on a muggle though. It was my uncle sir." Dumbledore nodded and told Harry that he deserved it. "Dumbledore sir?" he asked, suddenly remembering that Dudley got a letter from Hogwarts. Harry had been curious why a letter would have been sent to Dudley and was hoping that the letter that his cousin received was by accident but how could it be if it had Dudley's name on it? Was he not too old to attend Hogwarts? He wondered what house he would go into. Harry just hoped that the sorting hat would be careful about the comments that it dished out, because if not then the hat might be in for a little bit of what Harry got before he went to Hogwarts. "Yes Harry?" said Dumbledore gently. He thought that he might have an inkling of an idea to what Harry wanted to know. "How did Dudley get a letter from Hogwarts? I mean, he is a bit too old to be a beginner at Hogwarts, isn't he? Won't everybody pick on him because he is older?" Dumbledore sighed. "Harry, it is not me that selects the students for the up-coming year. That is a decision made by the ministry of magic. They have a piece of parchment that magically records a person when magic is first noticed in the person and sends them a letter of acceptance. It is important that all persons that have the gift of magic be trained to use it properly and wisely so that these people might not harm themselves or others with their magical abilities. Do you see why it is so important, even vital, that these people who do not know how to use their magic learn to use it?" Harry nodded, some of the mystery solved, but what about the age difference now? What of the other students, especially the Slytherins, who might pick on him? Will pick on him, he thought, correcting his mistake. He wondered would the ministry work as hard to convince the Dursley's as they did for him? As if Dumbledore could read his mind, he told Harry that something peculiar had happened in Dudley's case and the ministry of magic had recently discovered that Dudley did indeed, have magic. When Harry asked what was so peculiar, Dumbledore said that the ministry had just discovered his name on the paper when it should have been there years ago. "After all Harry, you were not the only one of the family who had magic running in your veins. Dudley's magic was passed down through his aunt's, your mother's bloodline. As for the other question, what would you do if you were in his predicament? Would you want to be left to the wolves or would you want to have a friend to help you with?" Harry sighed; he knew what Dumbledore was getting at and he supposed that he could not leave his cousin to the so called 'wolves' though that was exactly what his cousin had done to him when they went to the same elementary school together. Besides, they reminded Harry of chimeras really, Malfoy and his goons more than that but he couldn't think of what at the moment. Somehow, he felt cheated. At that moment, his friends knocked at the door to see if Dumbledore was done taking to Harry. "I do believe your visitors are back so if you have any other questions, you may send me a letter or come to my office when school begins." He stood up and opened the door; Fred, George, Ginny and Ron spilled out onto the floor, one atop the other while Hermione walked into the door with her head held up high. Dumbledore chuckled and Harry laughed so hard, he had to stop for the pain in his ribs. "So, what's up guys? Feeling a little 'down' lately?" said Harry with a large grin. They all smirked at him and Fred and George feined a pained look. "I thought that we were supposed to be the comedians! Now what are we supposed to do now, eh?" Harry grinned at them. " Well, how about making more of those delicious suckers that changes your hair into different colors? That would work for me!" They all laughed at the joke and asked Harry what had Dumbledore and him had talked about. He thought for a minute and decided that Dudley's going to Hogwarts would distract them for the moment, though he knew that Hermione wouldn't be for long. She rarely ever missed a beat and sometimes she reminded him of Dumbledore, only she was corky. "Well, for one, Dudley is going to be attending Hogwarts. Pretty strange huh?" This set his friends in a frenzy, discussing everything that he cared to get down to the bottom of and leading the subject away from the other subject that he and Dumbledore had touched upon and didn't want to get into again. "No way! Your kidding me! Dudley, at Hogwarts? But isn't he too old to start?" Hermione asked, surprised that Dudley would even be allowed to begin studying magic since he was so old. The twins looked astonished. "Is that the kid who. . ." began Fred while George finished the thought with, "we gave the tongue toffee to?" When he nodded, their eyes had an odd gleam in them and a grin that he had remembered them wearing when they discovered that Percy had a girlfriend. Harry didn't know why he did not like that look, he supposed it was because when the twins smiled like that, then something strange that involved him would always happen. In fact, something interesting always happened, now that he thought back on it. Harry decided that he didn't want to know what that might be in this case, he already have told him what a git he was. Knowing them, something explosive no doubt. The door opened and in came a healer with pretty blue eyes and light brown hair. She held a glass vial in her hand and when the Ron turned to look at who had just came in, Harry could tell that he liked her. Hermione seemed to notice it too but she just rolled her eyes. She came up to Harry's bed and took another vial and opened the one in her hand. When she had it opened, she poured the other vials contents in it and it turned a dark gray color, then clear. Harry didn't know for sure, but he thought that he knew what the potion was. The nurse smiled at him and noticed his scar, almost dropping the vials. "You aren't Harry Potter, are you?" Harry blushed slightly and nodded at her. "Yeah, I am. I don't see why everyone treats me so differently though." He mumbled under his breath. She laughed. "Well everyone knows what you done and everyone thinks highly of you." Harry had to stifle a laugh. "They do hmm? Funny thing, in my fifth year at Hogwarts, nobody believed me when I said that Voldemort was back. The Daily Prophet thought I was a joke." He sighed and she sat on the bed beside of him. "Harry, don't worry about everyone else. I believed you then and I believe you now. More than that, I believe in you and so do a lot of people I know. We never gave up on you and we never will. Do you remember getting those letters from when you spoke out about you-know-who a few years ago?" Harry nodded, wondering where she was going with this. Could she have written one of the letters? "Well, what you didn't know about it was the fact that we healers got threatened saying that if we had anything to do with you or Dumbledore we would get fired. The thing was, we read the article on you anyway and sent the letters to you. It was a big risk but it was worth it. You just don't know how special you are to everybody. You are our one hope to one day defeat that monster someday. " She put her arms around him and gave Harry a hug. When they broke it off, she handed him the potion to drink. "Here, drink this. It will stop the pain and heal it, though it takes about an hour so I need you to relax. I will be back shortly." She said as she went out the door. Harry held his nose and drunk the potion in one large swallow. It burned going down and the vial slipped from his hand. It seemed like an age for it to fall. It fell on the hard floor, glass shattering into tiny pieces. The group around Harry rushed to his side and Harry clutched his chest where the rib was broken. Suddenly, just as it never happened, he was fine. He glanced at the broken vial on the floor. Hermione followed his gaze and pointed her wand at it and mumbled 'Reparo!'. The vial was as good as new and she bent to pick it up. She stood and wondered where she could put it and decided on the tabletop beside the sink would be a good place so she put it there. "You okay Harry?" He looked up at her and nodded. "What was that stuff anyway?" She looked inside and smelled. Obviously the smell was almost too much for Hermione as she pulled her hand that held the bottle away from her quickly. "It almost looks like the skele-grow you took when Professor Lockhart . . ." "Yeah, do go and tell us about your little crush Hermione. How he screwed up Harry's arm and made up all that stuff in his books. Seriously Hermione, how you could fall for the biggest idiot in England is beyond me." Ron said as he threw his hands up in the air. Hermione looked like she was about to give Ron one of her stinging retorts when Harry interrupted her train of thought. "So that is what that stuff was? I thought it kind of tasted like it." Hermione turned away from Ron, seemingly unwillingly. "I think it was a bit weaker, but yes I think that is what it seems to me." She shrugged her shoulders. "I could be wrong though." Harry grinned, Hermione was hardly ever wrong when it counted so he trusted her opinion above almost everyone's with the exception of Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. They chatted a while and the hour went by quickly. The door opened again and the healer came back in. "So, how is our little hero now? Are you feeling better now?" Harry nodded, surprised that an hour had passed by. It had only seemed like a few minutes at the most, time had really flown by. He nodded and caught Ron's eye. Harry could see that he was slightly jealous. "Yeah, I'm feeling fine." She nodded. "Well, though I hate to let my buddy go, you can leave." She looked a little sad at the thought. Harry got out of bed and gave her a quick hug. "Ready guys?" They nodded. Ready as we'll ever be." said Fred as the group got up and stretched with the exception of Harry and the nurse who were already standing. "Oh, I almost forgot to say happy birthday Harry. How old are you now?" the nurse asked as they were almost out of the door. "Thank you. I'm 17 now." He said with the blush on his cheeks growing redder than they were. "Goodness, you're a man now, aren't you?" Harry's cheeks just got redder and redder. Not knowing how ton answer that, he said the only thing he knew what to say. "Thank you." She smiled at him and he smiled back at her.