Chapter 4
A/N: I'm very sorry this took so long. Please read, review and enjoy! (Expecially review let me know what you think of this long awaited installment)
Harry woke slowly and painfully. Something was wrong with his head, it was pounding and pounding, and rattling.
Rattling?
"Harry! Harry, open the door!" Harry's Aunt screeched like a wet hen.
Open the door? Why didn't she open it herself, his bedroom door locked from the outside, she didn't need him to open it for her.
"I'll not have you driving up my water bill like this boy! Get out of there at once!" His Uncle Vernon chimed in.
Water, what water? Then he heard it, the hiss of steam billowing around him and the splattering of water hitting the pristine tiles of the upstairs shower floor. He was in the bathroom, he'd been about to take a shower. Then why was he sprawled out on the floor?
His eyes widened as he recalled what had happened. His hands and feet squeaked on the tiles as he scrambled to find a foothold on the slick floor.
"What are you doing in there boy!" Uncle Vernon pounded his meaty fist on the door making it rattle and wobble in its frame "You'd better not be doing m-magic in there!"
"Vernon the neighbors!" Petunia hissed despite the fact they were on the second story and inside the house no less.
Harry wasn't listening to them, he'd grabbed the sinks edge and pulled himself up to face what he sincerely hoped had been an illusion. Fog covered the glass, obscuring and blurring his image. With a shaking hand Harry wiped the mirror clean, he shut his eyes tight for a moment, bracing himself for the horror that might greet him.
Slowly, lash by lash, he opened his eyes and faced his reflection. Him, Harry James Potter stared back at him from the glass and yet, he was different. Spots, he was covered in spots.
Great dark brown, fat half circles that started at his temples and went down both sides of his face to his neck and then split at his shoulders in two, one went curling around his arms right down to the tip of his middle finger. The other went spiraling down his torso, criss-crossing around him all the way down- down…and then separated again to curl around his legs, just as they had on his arms, right down to his toes.
Carefully he prodded one of the spots on his left arm, he instantly regretted the action as his skin went up in flames. Harry cried out and collapsed onto his knees, he cradled his arm close to his chest. The heat lessened to a bearable rate, but instead of fading the heat spread through his body, or rather through the spots. The heat jumped from spot to spot until every spot was enflamed, for a moment they turned a deeper brown, almost black color and Harry thought he might faint from the heat.
Soon, or what seemed like an eternity to Harry, the flames licking at his skin went out and he was able to breath again.
What was this? What were these spots? And why, why did these things always, always happen to him? And when these things always happened why did he always have to be at the Dursley's? Why couldn't these things happen when he was alone somewhere?
"That does it; I'm braking down the door!"
But before Vernon could attempt to fling his flabby body at the bathroom door it was flung open. Harry was naked and incensed when he greeted his Uncle in the bathroom doorway.
"What!" He snapped, and just as if he'd been a dog snapping its jaws at a passing mailman the Dursley's jumped back in terror. Their terror turned immediately to horror as their eyes landed on the spots covering Harry's body.
"Well?" They said nothing, apparently too frightened to speak. Absolutely frustrated and strangely satisfied Harry slammed the door in their faces.
The muffled silence of the bathroom was calming to his racing thoughts. Something was wrong with him; he had contracted some sort of magical disease. Yes, that explained everything, the spots, the burning sensation and that strange vision he had this morning. But how had he gotten it? What was it? And most importantly, how did he get rid of it?
And he had to get rid of it, Dumbledore had sent him a letter to let him know that he was coming to visit with him, to take him to the Burrow and that he wanted his help with some sort of task. This was his chance to prove to Dumbledore that he could handle fighting the dark side. He couldn't afford to be sick with some magical thing right now, he had to fix this and fast, but how?
It was Monday and Dumbledore said he would be here by Friday night; he still had plenty of time. He just had to figure out how to diagnose and cure a magical disease, oh that would be easy!
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, what was he going to do? He wasn't smart like Hermione and hadn't grown up in the wizarding world like Ron; he didn't know anything about this. He would just have to find someone who did know things about magical illnesses.
Leaving the water running Harry scooped his towel up off the floor and wrapped it around his waist. He viewed his reflection curiously, now where was he going to find someone to cure this…thing?
The dull, deserted department store window loomed eerily over Harry in the streetlight. St Mungo's secret entrance was strange looking enough in broad daylight, what with its half dressed manikins and crooked closed for refurbishment sign. But now illuminated only by the flickering streetlights it was downright sinister looking.
No wonder the ministry had stationed it here, now in the deep, night people hurried past the dark abandoned store whispering things to themselves and their companions.
"Who would want to go in there, even if it was open?" Some woman whispered to her friend as they sped past.
Who indeed.
As frightening as it was, Harry was immeasurably glad that no one stopped at the storefront. If they had, they might have noticed the suspicious looking youth sporting a dark brown jumper with its hood up, concealing most of his face.
The hood managed to conceal his face as well as the strange spots, and the large pocket in the front hid his wand from view, he'd kept a tight hold on it ever since he left Privet Drive. And lastly in the threadbare rucksack that he'd been using since he was nine contained his father's invisibility cloak that he'd used to get out of the house..
Dumbledore had people watching him last year, this year was sure to be no different. Harry only hoped that no one had followed him, if Dumbledore got wind of this strange disease he wasn't likely to take him on any sort of quest.
Harry also dearly hoped that he hadn't been spotted by any of Voldemorts henchmen, the last thing he needed now was to duel with a bunch of death eaters in the middle of London. He'd be glad to get inside St Mungo's; at least he'd be a little safer in there.
Reports of Voldemorts work was now splashed all over the Prophet every morning. He read every report, even the smallest articles, avoiding last years blunder of only reading the headlines. In truth he was getting a little sick of hearing about people dying or going missing.
All the more reason for him to get going. Harry was determined to help Dumbledore destroy Voldemort and his death eaters. And he couldn't do that if he were sick with some strange magical disease.
Harry straightened his shoulders in determination and approached the dirty window.
"Uh, hello." He said uncertainly, unsure of how to proceed now that he was here, or if the hospital would even be open at this hour.
A manikin with its eyelashes falling off cocked her head at him.
"I'm here to…" what did he say? He couldn't say his name, someone could be watching, and how do you explain to a manikin that you sprouted spots overnight?
"I'm here to see a doctor" He said quickly, then corrected himself "I mean a healer, a healer. I need to see a healer."
The manikin seemed to ponder this for a moment, then crooked its finger at him.
Harry looked left and then right checking to make sure that no one was watching, then took the plunge through the window.
Bright fluorescent lights assaulted Harry's eyes as he stepped into the waiting room. He pulled the hood of his jumper down lower over his eyes to shield himself from the lights.
As his vision cleared the sounds of the waiting room hit him. The hospital was apparently just as busy in the middle of the night as it was during the day.
People with things like teapots, brooms or plants attacking them, extra limbs growing out of the most uncomfortable places and strange ticks, littered the waiting room.
Harry joined the line for the front help desk, standing behind a man sporting a very large bloom of pink petunias growing from his ears. He pulled down his hood a bit more and prayed that he wouldn't have to wait long to see a healer.
The bored looking medi-nurse at the desk sent the man with the petunias to the Spell Damage ward on the fourth floor, and Harry approached the desk.
"Name?" The witch asked without looking up from her magazine.
Harry cleared his throat nervously and tugged on his hood again. "Uh, do I have to give my name?"
The witch sighed and rolled her eyes "A right of patient confidentiality is invoked for all those who enter St. Mungo's for treatment. Names, financial status and the physical state of all patients will be kept strictly secret." She went back to her magazine seemingly non-plussed by his appearance or question.
Harry was greatly relieved by this information but refused to lower his hood.
"Name?" She repeated.
"Uh, Harry," Harry leaned in close to the glass, giving his last name was sure to get undo attention, confidentially agreement or not "Harry Evans."
The witch scribbled his name down on a roll of parchment on a clipboard "Magical malady or injury?"
"Uh," He said at a loss looking down at himself "I've got these spots."
"Potion induced?"
"Uh, no"
"Allergic reaction? Animal bite? Jinx? Mis-cast spell? Curse?"
"Uh, I don't think so, they just cropped up overnight." Now that he thought of it the whole thing was rather strange. Maybe he should have just gone to Dumbledore with this instead. No matter, he was here now might as well see it through to the end.
The witch behind the counter hmmed and crossed out the boxes on the parchment. She glanced up at him and flung the clipboard over the counter along with a self inking quill. "Take this and proceed to the second floor for Magical Bugs, fill everything out and a healer will diagnose you. Next!"
Harry jumped and hastily stepped out of the way as a woman chasing a tail she'd sprouted spun towards the help desk.
A sign above two swinging doors guided him to a lift down a few hallways. There was no one on the way up to the second floor. But he still felt uneasy, as though someone was watching him. Which was ridiculous, there wasn't even anyone around.
The medical parchment kept him busy on the exceedingly slow lift ride. It was a very detailed form. There was the usual stuff, name, age, address, previous magical medical history. Then there were the questions that he himself was asking.
Please state the nature of your magical malady: He left this blank since he didn't know what was wrong with him.
Please list symptoms: Large spots all over body. Burning sensations.
Harry refused to put down the fact that following the burning sensations came a wave of almost unbearable arousal. He supposed that the baggy hand-me-downs of Dudley's were finally useful, as they managed to hide that state of arousal. He also refrained from mentioning what had to have been hallucination that he'd experienced this morning, it was probably just nothing maybe even the result of a fever.
Please list all spells cast by you or someone in your presence in the last twenty-four hours: None.
Please list all potions drunk within the last twenty-four hours: None.
Please list all magical and non-magical creatures you have come into contact with in the last twenty-four hours. None.
If you believe that you have been purposefully cursed, bewitched, or poisoned please list by whom and why, and a report will be sent to Ministry authorities. Harry almost laughed at this, he could think of about a dozen people who would want to poison or curse him. But he didn't think putting Voldemort on his chart would go over too well, so he left this blank as. It did make him wonder though, what if this had been done to him on purpose?
The lift dinged as he finally reached the second floor. He stepped through the doors just before they closed on him, slow lift fast doors. He entered into another waiting room with another help desk at the end of it. Except this time there were no other patients in this waiting room, for which he was very gratefully.
Behind a glass window at the help desk was a much more pleasant looking witch, she was blond and very tan. Harry shuddered as a wave of heat shot through his spots. He turned away from the pretty blond witch and clutched his chest trying to catch his breath and still his raging erection.
"May I help you?" The witch asked with concern.
Harry took a deep breath and whirled about, handing over the clipboard and quill quickly without looking at her.
After a moment the witch said "Please take a seat over there and a healer will be out to see you shortly."
Harry nodded jerkily and practically ran to the seat furthest away from the help desk. The witch glanced back at him strangely before disappearing with his forms.
With a odd deflating sensation Harry relaxed back into the vinyl chair. He could only hope that the healer wouldn't be a woman. It seemed that every woman that he'd encountered had peeked his sexual interest, even, most horrifyingly, his boney Aunt Petunia.
"Mr. Evans?" The witch had come back, she was standing at a side door now, giving him ample view of her lithe figure.
Harry looked around then jumped as he realized that she was talking to him. He pulled his hood down again and nodded a bit.
"A healer will see you now." Said the witch, she stood aside for him to walk through the open door "Third door on the left."
Tearing his eyes away from her retreating backside Harry hurried into the examination room. It looked like a muggle exam room, sterile table, shining sink. But instead of tongue depressors and eye charts there were little doodads and thingamabobs. There was even a simmering cauldron in the corner. The fumes it gave off smelled distantly of wet cotton balls and mint. There was also a rather gruesome painting of a healer curing a man with some sort of pox on the wall. He was just reading the capture underneath when the door opened.
A rather tired, grey looking wizard came in, reading over the forms Harry had just filled out. He pointed to the examination table without looking up, indicating that he should sit.
Harry hopped up onto the table and watched the healer frown down at the form.
"I'm Healer Tonsure" He said, slipping the clipboard under his arm and finally looking at Harry. "So, Mr. Evans what seems to be the problem? It says on your chart that you've broken out in spots of some sort, well let me have a look at you."
Harry grudgingly removed his hood and knew at once that this was going to be a long night. Tonsure's eye's widened, going from his face up to his scar and then to his spots.
Tonsure took a surprised step backward and Harry cut him off before he could ask "Yes I'm Harry Potter, and no I don't know what's wrong with me, I just woke up like this." Tonsure's eyes darted to the clipboard "I know that there's a right of confidentiality but I have to take precautions. No one can know I'm here or that I was here, or why I would be here."
Tonsure opened his mouth but was yet again cut off. "You will keep this quiet won't you? Because if you can't…" Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket so that just the handle showed and let the threat hang in the air. An empty threat at that, he couldn't risk getting in trouble for underage magic now, but he couldn't risk being discovered here either.
Tonsure straightened his robes in a dignified sort of way, almost like a bird ruffling its feathers, cleared his throat and said "Mr. Potter I assure you that the right to confidential treatment extends to all of our patients. Even to the Chosen One."
Harry flinched at the ridiculous, and yet accurate, moniker that the Prophet had bestowed on him.
"All right then." He said pocketing his wand.
"So," Tonsure said finally, folding his hands in front of him. "Tell me about these spots of yours."
"They just showed up overnight" Harry said quickly, glancing down at the spots apprehensively. "I don't know how they got there. I didn't do anything the night before, no spells, no potions, I didn't get bitten and I don't have any weird cursed objects."
"Mmmmhmm." Tonsure scribbled something on Harry's chart and then leaned in for a closer look "And how do you feel? Nauseous? Headaches? Dizzy? Feverish?"
"I feel fine, except that whenever I touch one of these stupid spots they start to burn, and…" Harry trailed off, his mind wandering off to the pretty nurse just outside.
"And?" Tonsure prompted.
"And I seem to get-to get" Harry took a deep breath and then went on as quickly as he could "To get aroused by every woman I see."
"Aroused?" Tonsure lifted his eyebrows in an almost amused manner, Harry did not appreciate this.
"It's horrible!" He near shouted, "I even caught myself giving my Aunt Petunia the eye this morning."
"Well," Tonsure hid a grin by scribbling some more on his chart "Well, lets think now."
After composing himself, Tonsure set Harry's chart down on a nearby counter and stepped up to the exam table. He turned Harry's head this way and that with his hands, made him open his mouth and say ahhh. He rolled up his jumper sleeve to look at his arm and take his pulse
"Now you said these spots are everywhere Harry?"
"Yes."
"Do they split from your arms and then criss-cross down your torso and then split again and go down your legs?"
"Yes!" Harry breathed in relief, Tonsure looked and sounded as though he knew what was going on "What does it mean? What's wrong with me?"
"Oh there's nothing wrong with you my boy, well not really" Tonsure slapped him on the back jovially "You're not sick. You're a Siren."
AN: I can't even begin to apologize for how long this took. Well I did promise to put up a new chapter on my yahoo group a while a go so at least I stayed true to that. Well, we've finally started moving along, and we'll keep going a I promise, I've sort of lost track of my other story so now I can devote some much need time to this one. Well I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next chapter.
Cheers
War