Chapter XVII: Healing Scars
"He's alive, Ron," Hermione puckered a wet kiss onto Ron's lips. He smiled and nodded.
"I cannot believe it!"
"You're crying, Ron. I thought you of all people would be happy."
"I am! I thought he was dead for sure," Ron said in a low voice. "All those nights I cried myself to sleep."
"I know. You're not the only one who grieved. Even the Dursleys seemed upset when they heard Harry might have been dead."
"Yeah, upset that there was hope he was alive! I really cannot believe it. How could he just show up? Hagrid and I searched that Forest for two weeks until Dumbledore forced us to stop."
Hermione glanced to her left. Cho ran by in the direction of the hospital wing. The place was probably swarming by now. But, it didn't matter how long they would have to wait to see Harry. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
"Yeah… We better go now if we want a chance to see him today," Hermione said as she walked along with Ron.
In the past five weeks, they had not done much of anything except weep. Hermione broke off her relationship with Vicktor who seemed more interested in kissing her than comforting her. Ron was very pleased with this but was too upset over Harry to make any move on Hermione.
As they approached the hallway leading to the medical wing, a line wrapped the walls for what seemed like a mile. Students and teachers from all different Houses lined up to see Harry, to make sure he was real. When Professor McGonagall spotted them, she waved her hands and yelled,
"Miss Granger! Mister Weasley! Come to the front! Harry has been requesting you two!"
Immediately, they raced through the jammed corridor. It was much more difficult than expected to get through the crowd. Every person seemed unwilling to move over for two people to cut the line. However, after several minutes of pushing and shoving, Ron and Hermione made it to the doorway.
To their surprise, Harry was standing up, out of bed and looking at himself in a mirror. When he saw the reflection of Ron and Hermione, he turned around and smiled greatly. His face was so different to them. He had stubble around his chin, and his hair had grown past his ears.
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione shouted and wrapped her arms around his skinny body. Ron joined in too and hugged him hard.
"You're hurting me," Harry joked, and they released their grip.
"We have so much to ask you!" Ron shouted.
Harry nodded. "I know. But I'm not answering anything until I can figure out some things for myself."
"What things? Harry, you've been missing for so long. We really thought you were dead, mate," Ron said as his chin quivered.
"I know, but you have to believe me when I say I will tell you all later. Actually, I may be giving a speech about it during lunch tomorrow. I don't want to be repeating myself for the rest of the school year."
"All right," Hermione said softly and stared at Harry. They were silent for at least a few minutes before Hermione continued. "It's just that… Where were you? I know you just said you won't answer our questions, but surely you can tell us that?"
Harry shook his head. "Honestly, that's one of things I haven't figured out. Last thing I remember was being in the Forbidden Forest. But I couldn't have been there for over a month. Someone must have taken me."
"Who?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," Harry said again. "Please, don't ask me anything else. You have no idea what has happened to me."
"Exactly, that's why we are asking, Harry!" Hermione shouted.
"Tomorrow, I promise things will make at least a little more sense. Now, you guys can stay if you want. It looks like I will be up for several more hours."
Ron and Hermione nodded their heads. They both took seats and watched as dozens of wizards and witches entered the room. After four hours, Harry was still getting visitors, and it seemed the line would never end.
"He's made himself even more famous," Ron whispered.
"He's defeated death more than I can count. That's something that would make anyone legendary."
***
The next morning, Harry groomed himself for the first time in over a month. After shaving his chin and side burns, he worked on cutting his hair a bit. He kept some of the length though that rounded around his face. His eyes hid behind a few straggly waves of black hair. When he finally finished his routine, Harry found himself surrounded by visitors who wanted to get answers of course.
"Lunch. I will tell all then," was Harry's usual reply to them. It took at least three responses before the visitor got the idea and ran off.
So many different thoughts pounced throughout his head. How was he going to start his tale? He could just repeat what he told Dumbledore and Snape, but that would take at least an hour. Well, he had all the time he wanted now.
"Hello, Harry," a woman's voice said softly behind him.
"I thought I said," Harry began until he realized it was Professor McGonagall. "Oh, hi. I didn't mean to snap. It's just—"
"You don't need to explain anything to me. Well, in a few hours, my questions will be answered I hope. However, I must speak to you about another matter of urgency."
"Anything," Harry said and sighed.
"Well, there have been some changes in the last month. With the death of Mister Schafly, and then, with your sudden disappearance, several students were pulled out of Hogwarts. Many of your classmates may not be in the Hall to greet you."
"But, I've seen the most important people to me. As long as they're there."
"Very good. But that's not all… Mister Charles Weasley has left back to Greece with all the dragons, including Hagrid's young companion."
"You took Willy away from him!" Harry shouted.
"Yes, well, he couldn't possibly be raised here. Hagrid is a bit shaken up. First, his brother's death last year. Then, you disappear. After that, his dragon is taken away. And now that you've been found, he's actually quite worse. You gave him a huge scare."
"Shouldn't he be happy that I'm okay?"
"Well, he thought you were dead when he found your body. You could hear his wails from the Forest all the way to my office. I'm afraid he's hit the edge and fallen over. He'll be sent to St.Mungo's very soon to recover."
Harry never could imagine Hagrid going to such a place, and it was entirely his fault. As a few tears streaked down Harry's cheek, McGonagall hugged him tenderly and started to leave the room. Pounding surfaced inside Harry's head. There was too much to think about, way too much.
After an hour of sulking and trying to relax, Harry left the medical wing and headed toward the Great Hall. Several students spotted him and yelled his name loudly. However, Harry did not talk back to them. He would wave his hand and hide his head in his new robe given to him by Dumbledore earlier.
Harry entered through the back entranceway and came on to the stage facing at least a thousand faces. Before he knew it, the Hall filled with claps and hoots. Students of all ages stood up and screamed and yelled Harry's name in a chant.
"Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter!" His name rang throughout the Hall over and over until he reached the front of the podium and cleared his throat.
"Hello, Houses of Hogwarts, witches and wizards everywhere," Harry bellowed. Just as he started, voices mellowed down trying to listen to every word Harry said. "As you know, I have been missing for over a month. I cannot tell you where I was, because I do not entirely know myself. However, I can tell you about my struggles with an evil force, which compelled me to do things I never thought possible. I hurt several people and have been responsible for terrible acts. I take full responsibility of my actions…And now, I shall begin my tale…"
Harry told everything he could remember. He started off with his summer in Sirius's home and how Malicia first spoke. Then, he continued with how he learned about Drivellers. Every witch and wizard carefully listened to each word he spoke. When Harry reached the part about Fly, he paused and thick tears trickled down his reddened cheeks.
"I am responsible for his death! If it weren't for my Firebolt, he'd still be alive! All of you must think of me as a monster now. I am a murderer…"
Before Harry could continue his ranting confession, Dumbledore stepped in with his words of wisdom.
"Salazar Slytherin is the murderer. Harry simply was a pawn in his evil scheme. If anyone is to be blamed, it is Salazar. Now, I want you, Harry, to continue."
Harry nodded and took in a few deep breaths. His story became clearer when the anecdote behind Malicia and Salazar was revealed. A few awes and oh's escaped throughout the Hall. When Harry finally ended his story with how he woke up in the medical wing confused and in shock, the students did something Harry did not expect.
Everyone stood up and clapped their hands. They started chanting Harry's name once again as they did close to an hour earlier. Instead of being angry which Harry thought for sure that they would be, they were jubilant. His name was even chanted from the Slytherin Table. For the first time, Harry witnessed Draco Malfoy smiling. Not out of spite, but out of felicity and pride.
"Thank you, Mister Potter. Now, if you all would be kind enough to resume your daily classes. The Halloween Festival is tomorrow, and I want things back to normal," Dumbledore spoke in his elderly wise voice.
The Great Hall started to empty out. Harry motioned Hermione, Ron and Cho to come forward to him on the stage. The three slowly approached, trying to get through the crowd as they had done earlier.
"Cho, I am so sorry," Harry said in a very honest voice. He hugged her gently and then stared into her eyes.
"Don't!"
"I know, you should hate me and—"
"No, don't apologize. It wasn't you, and we all understand this now. You should not be sorry. Please, we'd rather you not be," Cho said and kissed Harry on the lips.
When she pulled away, Harry beamed a smile that he hadn't done in what felt like forever. He looked over at Ron who he had seen the other day. Within a month, Ron's face seemed to have aged and matured. So did Hermione's. Her child-like face had melted away, and a beautiful young woman had emerged. Perhaps Harry did not notice due to the emerald leaf, but they had all grown rapidly. They looked more like adults than ever before.