AN: Life is not being kind right now. My car is in the shop for a cracked and melted head gasket, though the loner we got is a 2018, and rather awesome with heated seats... I am actually sad that I will have to return this car. I'm also about to get less hours at work, as there wont be too much for me to do, but I am also trying to get some more cleaning done at work and home... At any rate i hope to get some more writing in tomorrow and post up another chapter. Even as NaNoWriMo ends at the end of the month i intend to just keep posting up this 1st draft, hopefully on a weekly basis, more when my muse gets fired up, until the story itself comes to some kind of conclusion.
Thank you all for reading, and hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 9
"Now, Dudley, while this might be a bit scary to think about, I want you to consider some things," Emma said as she took up the chair by his bedside to be more on his level. "If you want they can unbind your magic, or they can rebind it, if that is what you want. Either way the choice is yours, but here are the options that come with those. If you have your magic rebound, Dan and I will take you in and foster you as our own son, and we will find a good school for you that you like. If you have your magic unbound, then you will be going with Harry and Hermione off to Hogwarts for school.
"This is a big change for you. Now there are other things that no matter what you choose on the magic, you will be doing for your own health. As you may have had some tell you, your weight is far too much for a child of your height. These ladies have told me that they have some potions that can help with that, but it would be best if you were to get some more physical activity. As a woman who has gone to medical school I can tell you right now Dudley, your weight is going to cause you some hardships later on, if we do not fix it now."
Everyone was waiting to hear what Dudley would want, so the only sound was the still scratching of the quill marking on Harry's now rather obscene length of previous medical occurrences. Though the moment it stopped, Dudley looked up at everyone in the room.
"My choice?" he asked and received nods all around. "I think I want my magic unbound. I want to be able to see those things I saw in the books, and maybe even play a sport on a broom. I know there will be boring school and homework, but at least it is about something really neat, and not some of the classes I got bored in all the time."
"Very well then Dudley," Dezzi said with a smile. "I will gather the things for what will be needed when we unbind your core."
"Dudley," Madame Bones said taking the place at the foot of his bed. "I will be your magical guardian just the way that the Grangers are your non-magical ones. If anything happens to you while you are the magical side I will be notified and then it is my job to tell your guardians. It is also my job to keep you safe, and reprimand you when you do wrong. However I do understand that every young child needs to have some fun and mischief, just don't go too far. If you wouldn't want it done to you, then it is safe to say you should not do it. I have read your records and know you were a bit of a bully, but that was likely due to your parents' way of raising you, and the spell that was cast upon you when you were so young."
"When was it put on me?" he asked curious now as to when, and why.
"It seems it was cast upon you when you were two years of age, around the time of your birthday. This meant the 'terrible twos' for you were rather terrifying for others who seemed to get in your way. Don't worry though, as that is all in the past, and as you grew the spell did weaken somewhat," Bones said in a fact giving manner. "I am going to be looking into if your close friends who also bullied your cousin had the same spell cast upon them as well. If there is a pattern here it will tell us much more about the person who cast it, and help us bring them to justice."
Emma smiled and pat his hand reassuringly, happy that the boy was now safe, and could get the help he would probably need. She knew she would be there for all three kids in whatever way they needed her.
"Director Bones," Clara said as she waved the woman over to look at the findings on Harry's parchment. "It seems we have a few more issues you might want to take a deep look into."
Amelia affixed her monocle in place and then began reading where the medi-witch pointed, and by the fourth one she looked furious, and the glass fell back to her breast swinging like an angry pendulum.
"Thank you Clara," she said curtly. "Excuse me everyone, I must go have a small chat with someone in custody about a few things." Not waiting for a response she headed for the door, "also I shall be sending some curse breakers here so they can help you with that first issue."
"What is it?" Emma asked as she stood up and began towards the woman with the parchment.
"It seems that Harry has an issue that is keeping that scar from actually healing, and it is something very dark. The curse breakers will more than likely have dealt with things very similar to this, so rest at ease there. Otherwise it looks like there are bones that have healed wrong or poorly, his eyesight is abysmal without glasses, the malnutrition, and regular dosing with potions. However instead of being helpful, these ones are for conditioning a person to be a certain way. I have dates, times, the person who gave the potion, as well as who brewed it."
Clara looked up to the scrawny black haired boy, "you also have a binding on your magic, but unlike your cousin yours is by something having to do with that scar, as well as another person doing so. There are also monitoring charms that are done with blood, hair and bone. I have the list of the people who have done, and the good news is there are only four. It is up to the Director to find out who may have been doing these things unknowingly, and who has been doing so and what their reasons are."
"These things are all fixable?" Dan asked, entering this for the first time.
"Oh heavens yes. Most of them are quite simple. The scar issue is another matter entirely, and not within my capabilities, or dare I say, anyone here at this medical facility. The bones will be fairly easy, the only issue is due to the number and where they are located."
"What do you mean?" he asked curious as to how healing a bone could be so easy when in the non-magical world it took quite some time after you had to re-break it and re-set it.
"Oh quite easily really, using a very specific spell we remove the bone, or vanish it really. No pain what so ever." She smiled happily about that one fact. "Then it is common to give a minor pain relieving potion before the one to re-grow bones, and finally a potion to let them sleep through it all.
"You can grow bones?" he blinked a few times in astonishment.
"Yes, because no matter how careful some people are, there are those bulls in a china shop out there. They overpower a spell, fall off a broom, get kicked by a horse, Pegasus, Unicorn, or sometimes even a centaur. Many reasons why a bone might need to be vanished, in fact we find that if the spine is having issues and making limbs cease to work, sometimes we can just re-grow a certain section and the person will be right as rain the next day."
"So, it won't hurt, and it wont take long?" Harry asked, hoping he could get out of there soon. For some reason he did not really feel very comfortable in the medical bed.
"You can probably go home today, depending on what the curse breakers say. I would just have to make a house call to you this evening after you get ready for bed. Then I would let you get comfortable and cast the spells needed and then give you the potions. The next morning I would come around nine or ten, which would be about when you would wake from the potions, and check to make certain that the bones were as they should be."
"Wow!" Harry and Dan said in unison.
"Then we have the final issue, the one that will take the longest, and that is your collection of scars. Nasty reminders of things and you do not need those. Now, had they been fresh injuries, we could heal them right away and you would never see a scar form. Since these scars you have are rather old," she sighed sadly. "It will take time, but we have a cream to remove scars. Because of medicine the way it is here, and because some choose to keep the scars, it is not something we have on hand. I can have you a tin in a few days. It has to be rubbed into the scars everyday, once in the morning and once before bed."
"I think we can handle getting the kids into a routine of that," Dan said with a nod.
"My only worry," Clara said looking at the father "is that when they are sorted into the four houses, none of them might be together. Now this is only a minor problem, as they have a very wonderful school nurse, and she can always be asked to help, or if you like you can meet up in her wing. I will have to send her a copy of your medical records, but do not worry. Poppy is not the kind of woman to sit and read them, she only looks into a file if there is a need to."
"Could you do a scan like you did on then for me as well," Hermione asked. "I don't think that there is anything wrong with me, but, it would be good to know just in case if anything does happen."
"If your parents are alright with it," she glanced to the two nodding adults. "Very well then, since there shouldn't be anything wrong, just have a seat and sit very still. Once it begins you will feel a warm tingle pass through your whole body slowly, from feet up."
Taking a seat Hermione waited with a bit of excitement on her face. This was not something she had done last time through, and it seemed like it might be important, and if not, well, it would be interesting at least. Indeed she felt the tingling of the spell, and sat very still as it began to find all of the bumps and scrapes she had as a child.
While she was being scanned a heavy knock sounded on the door, and Clara went over to see whom it could be. Opening it wider she allowed in three rather angry looking goblins to which Dudley got bug-eyed looking at, and a man with red hair, obviously the Weasley that worked with them.
"Hello, I am Bill Weasley, this is Hagknot, Fangrot, and Scytheclaw. We were directed here by the bank director, and the head of the DMLE. What seems to be the cursed item or person?" he asked as professionally as he could.
"Ah, well," the younger of the medical witches stammered blushing at the young man.
"Ahem," the elder said as she walked towards the group with the two medical parchments. "It seems we have a few issues going on here, and as medical personnel we must see them righted as quickly as possible." She crouched down a bit to show the parchments to the much shorter than her goblins. "This young man, Dudley, has a bound core. This young man, harry, well he seems to have had a lot of outside interference, by one source, though a few helping hands here and there." She gave a stern gaze tot eh human of the curse breakers, "Mr. Weasley is your allegiance in this matter for the bank, or your family? I fear I must know before I show Harry's parchment to the group."
"While I do hold some allegiance to my family, I am not here because of them. The bank holds trust in me as a young curse breaker, and I am will not do anything to jeopardize that." Bill was looking a tad upset that he was being questioned, and a little worried by it.
"Very good, then you may also see Mr. Potter's results," she said and handed that to the group. "I do not wish to set you against anyone in your family, or those they have allied themselves with."
"Yes, I understand why now," he replied with a tightened angry look on his face. "However it is not for me to interfere and I suppose all of these things are going to be looked into. As it is now a case I know better than to speak with my family about this."
"You are taking care of the unbindings here?" one of the goblins said eyeing the two women.
"I am qualified for that, unless you are seeing a complication in there that I am not? I know for Harry it might be a bit different with that," she tapped something on the page.
"Due to that it might be better if we were to remove that first," another of the goblins stated. "With the removal there might be a backlash that takes out the other binding."
"That's an awfully small signature for one of those," Bill said looking at the parchment. "Hagknot, is that even stable enough to remove?"
"Hm," the mentioned goblin said as he wandered over to Harry and squinted up at the famous scar. "It looks stable enough, though it might make it fracture more as we try to remove it."
"Harry could you please lay flat so that he can look over the scar better?" Bill asked him as he followed the senior of the group.
"What's wrong with my scar?" Harry asked as he lay back down upon the bed.
"Well young man," the goblin said as his gnarled and clawed hands began to poke at the scar and surrounding tissues. "It seems you are the recipient of some very dark magic. Your famous scar seems to have not healed because of this splinter residing behind it."
"Can you remove it?" Emma asked worried for the young man she was going to be fostering, and whom had become fast friends with her daughter.
"Yes, we can remove it. In fact due to what it is," he looked to the worried mother, "we are duty bound to do so. That anyone could look at this scar and think it normal, would be a senile old coot."
"Would you care to do this here, or back at the bank?" Clara asked now feeling a bit more worried herself.
"The fragment behind it is small, and sadly has had almost ten years to take root. Removal will be painful, but best we just get it done instead of wait and get him into the bank for this." Hagknot looked at harry with a serious expression, "no one will look down on you for screaming Mr. Potter. This will be quite painful, especially as it is on your face, and the fact that you are alive. What has been done to you is highly frowned upon for many reasons. Strictly speaking we have run into this quite a number of times, but they are always placed on non-living things, and usually magical artifacts that people are loathe to destroy. Complete destruction of the item is one way to rid ourselves of what has been done to you, the other, which your paling group will be happy to know, is the transference of the splinter to another item.
"This will take some time to set up the removal. First we shall need everyone to leave this room, except for the afflicted. This is to keep what is behind the scar from transferring to someone else or an item not of our choosing."
"Excuse me, Hagknot," Hermione said getting off of the chair and walking towards him as her own scan was now complete. "What is it behind Harry's scar?"
"Hm," he squinted his eyes as if judging her very existence. "One word for it could be phylactery, another a canopic jar, but those are words for other areas, and the means of creation are vastly different from this, which is called a horcrux."
"You're saying Harry's scar is a soul container?" Hermione was stunned, and pale, and now knowing she was going to have to search through all of her last lifetime to find when they had found that information out, and how they had dealt with it.
"Very sharp young lady," he nodded in approval. "Keep a good sharp mind and you may find yourself with a job with us. Bill is going to be heading off to assignment in Egypt by the end of the month, with the others of this group. There are some places there that need to be checked out, and cleared of the real dangers before we let muggles into them. Last thing this world needs is an ancient pharaoh taking over the mind and body of someone today and using their skills and abilities granted from their gods to reclaim their dynasty."
"That can happen?" Dan asked rather stunned by the idea.
"Yes, it can. In fact it did happen quite some time ago, thankfully we were alerted quickly enough and stopped it before it got unmanageable." He turned to the group of cursebreakers, "I want the top protections on this room, and silencing spells layered in. We don't need to alert all of the hospital and all of London that something major is happening."
