Disclaimer: Sleep is good every once in a while…
Chapter 4
Dinner was a slow and stressful process for Hermione. She didn't eat anything at all and this time it wasn't because of S.P.E.W., but because Harry's newfound amusement in activities that tended to cause humiliating situations. She stopped him from throwing at least half a dozen baked potatoes across the Great Hall, prevented him from dunking Neville in a bowl of soup and half-tackled him before he could start sticking the peppermint humbugs up his nose, and this was only halfway through the second course. All through the eventful meal she noticed Draco shooting her apologetic glances in her direction. Quite a lot of help feeling sorry for me is going to do! She thought bitterly, but smiled back at him none the less.
Finally, at long last, the dinner from Hell ended. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief at Dumbledore's long awaited order for all students to head to bed. She got up and followed the crowd that was moving towards the door, Harry docilely followed, juggling some rock he had found God only knows where.
Draco caught up with them at the door and spoke, "I'm sorry I couldn't help at dinner, I was watching you-"
"I noticed." Hermione interrupted wryly.
"Yes, well, it would seem rather odd if I, your supposed mortal enemy, just got up and traipsed across the Hall to take away a potato from the one who is supposed to save us all, but is now too insane to tie his own shoelaces." At this point they both instinctively looked at Harry's feet only to see his trainers tied with two perfect bows.
"You know, mate, that's not very nice. I can to tie my own shoes thank you very much!" Harry stated proudly.
"Yes well, I suppose you can." He said to the shoe-talented Harry before turning back to Hermione and saying, "You know what I mean."
"I suppose." She admitted.
"Well, I didn't come to stand around and talk about Harry's apparently endless talents, Dumbledore sent me. He wants you and the lunatic to report up to the hospital wing so we can try to figure out what's wrong with him."
"Brilliant! Maybe they can take him off my hands." At this prospect, Hermione looked gleeful enough to fly.
No one talked much on the way up to the hospital wing. Draco was staring at Harry, who was now juggling six rocks in two intertwining circles, with a look half-way between amazement and despair. Hermione, on the other hand, did not appear to be looking at anything or thinking about anything for that matter. She simply looked dead tired.
Soon they found themselves at the hospital wing and so, without a word, went inside. They were greeted by Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, the latter of whom immediately rushed over to examine Harry.
"What exactly happened to him?" she questioned sharply.
"Over the summer his cousin assaulted him with a baseball bat, beating him over the head several times in rapid succession." Hermione responded in a dull tone.
"I see, I see. I'll just run a couple of tests on him and we'll see what's wrong." She said and immediately began the tests. She did everything from stick a long bronze tube in his ear to using a strange blue-silver object to poke him in apparently random places on his head. "Just one more test." She stated before pointing her wand at him and muttering something that sent a bright purple light out of the end of her wand. Then something odd happened, the spell simply vanished when it hit what seemed to be an invisible barrier surrounding Harry. "Just what I thought," she murmured then said to everyone present, "It seems that he is impervious to magic."
A/N: Short chapter, sorry. I've been busy with my account on fictionpress and it took me a while to write this chapter. Next week is the last week in the quarter so I'll be rather busy with last-minute school work and probably won't get another chapter up until next weekend or later. Thanks to those who reviewed and please keep reviewing!