Chapter 11: New Friends

Harry opened his eyes. He was lying in a comfortable bed with neatly pressed white sheets. "Where am I?" he mumbled.

"Dai Llewellyn Ward, St. Mungo's Hospital," said a voice. Harry turned his head around. A young wizard in lime-green robes stood to his right, a wand and a bone crossed on his front – a Healer.

"Are you feeling all right, Mr. Potter?" asked the wizard.

"Yeah," said Harry, but it was accompanied by a whistling noise he wasn't trying to make. His lower lip was hurting. Harry felt his with his fingers – there were two holes underneath it that went right through the flesh.

"Very good if you want your lip pierced," said the Healer as Harry sat up.

"I don't," replied Harry. He was wearing a long blue gown, he noticed.

"Then it should grow back in time. You've got a couple of visitors – shall I let them in?"

Harry nodded and the Healer went to the door.

There were two visitors – Kelly and Ron. The vampire ran straight up to Harry. "You're OK!" she exclaimed loudly, making the man in the next bed jump. "I'm really sssorry Harry, I forgot!"

"Hi, Harry," said Ron.

"Hello," said Harry. "How long have I been here?"

"I bit you yessterday," said Kelly remorsefully. "It'ss about lunchtime."

"OK," said Harry. "I'll ask the Healer if I can get up."

The Healer gave Harry a roll of bandages and instructed him to dress his wound daily. Then he let him leave the hospital. Harry ate in the Leaky Cauldron, which was harder than usual because his chewed-up food kept threatening to fall out of the holes in his mouth, and then went back to the vampires' cottage to protect it from the Nifflers. Two hundred Galleons had been stolen while he was gone, but he went to the Nifflers' den and managed to get them back. The vampires were jubilant.

Harry carried on working for them for the next two weeks. He made about one hundred Galleons that, he judged, would keep him going for quite a long time. After some gruelling research, he managed to erect a magical anti-Niffler barrier around the entire cottage.

He could now speak well enough in Vampirish to be understood by most vampires. They had even taught him a couple of their swearwords. Vampires, Kelly told him, had had their own language since prehistoric times, when they had been much greater in number, but although there were now much fewer of them they still spoke it and held pride in it, as it was one of the few things that wizards had not taken away.    

"Sssinner," he said as he left the hut for the last time to go to Andros, at half-past two on October 1st. "Goodbye, Kelly! Goodbye, everyone!" Then he Apparated.

Harry was the first person to arrive at the entrance to the Ministry of Magic and he decided to wait for some more people to turn up. The letter hadn't told him to go into the Ministry, so he presumed he had to wait outside. He leant against the telephone box. He'd have been worried of being arrested by a Muggle policeman for 'suspicious behaviour' had the surrounding area not looked as if it hadn't seen a policeman for years. At five to three, still nobody had arrived. Harry was beginning to panic. They had just five minutes to get here. What if he was in the wrong place? Surely they'd want to get here early like he did, just in case.

CRACK! A woman materialised in front of Harry. She had long ginger hair and was wearing dark blue robes. "Are you coming to Andros?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said the woman, brushing herself down – her Apparition had covered her in dust. She looked about twenty years old. She extended a hand. "Lizzy Pullman."    

Harry shook. "Harry Potter."

Lizzy Pullman gaped at him. "Wow! I'm sure you'll be much better than me! I took a few gap years to gain some experience before coming here. I remember in the Triwizard Tournament in my seventh-year, you were brilliant! You look a lot different now from then. Cooler, you could say."

"What house were you in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Lizzy. "Like you. You wouldn't have noticed me. I wasn't even a prefect, even though I was one of the top students in the year. I was no good at Quidditch like you."

Harry smiled, and opened his mouth to say "Thanks," when there was another loud CRACK and a wizard with short hair and an earring appeared behind him.

"Hi," he said. His voice seemed slightly Germanic. "You are der Andros students, ja?"

"Ja," replied Harry, and smiled. "Harry Potter. You?"

The wizard's face lit up. "I know you! You get your hair potions from mein Vater."

"Herr O'Hare?" asked Harry. "Are you his son?"

"Ja. I vent to Durmstrang. But I am a British citizen. Mein Name ist Rudolf. Rudolf O'Hare. Pleased to meet you."

"And you," said Harry. He checked his watch. One minute to three. Where was Ron?

"My friend Hannah's meant to be coming," said Lizzy. "I've no idea where she is."

"Same with me," said Harry. "Ron Weasley's not here."

"Aren't I?" said a voice. Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around. Ron was behind him, smiling. "Afternoon, Harry."

A distant clock struck three. An elderly man with a grey beard and a bald patch, wearing robes dotted with stars, stepped out of the telephone box. The four new students turned to look at him. "Good afternoon," wheezed the wizard. "I am Professor Confessus, the Principal at Andros Auror Training College. We will get to the college by car. I trust you are all here?"

A short, slim teenage girl with long black hair came running up the road, dragging a large bag. "Hi, Lizzy," she breathed. "Erm, sorry I'm late."

The wizard shook his head. "Let's hope you're on time for your lessons." He smiled and gestured to a green coloured car. "Please step this way."