Decisions, Decisions:
While Priya's main speciality had been healing, she quickly found that her career as a teacher had required her to prepare a lot of resources and activities. While she could have done it the old fashioned way, she decided charms were a better method.
Priya had been excellent at charms. Naturally, she had asked someone to get her a copy of academic charms that were used for educating wizards. Some of the charms were used to cut and stick cardboard. Others were for automatically marking papers, provided you had a template. This did not mean that Priya was not open to technology. She was happy to utilise both as needed. Her students' work was corrected against prepared templates and grades were fed into excel sheets. Report cards were prepared via mail merge. It was this strange combination that kept her very efficient. Priya believed in the adage that "Solid documentation ensured solid results."
Priya unlike many other primary school student teachers actually enjoyed some free time as a witch. As a fully qualified teacher who had just started the job today, the workload was not too bad. She drunk her chai tea she wondered what to do about Harry Potter. After all, it was quite possible that her workload would become worse, as the term progressed. His issues had to be dealt with immediately. It was quite possible that Harry Potter was being abused right now. The boy had broken bones and this was an issue that required the police and a full investigation. She had even considered informing the authorities immediately.
But surely there were more things at play here.
Harry Potter had to be monitored by people from her world. This was Harry freakin Potter. She took up her phone and dialled one of the few people who she kept in contact with, from Hogwarts. She called her only friend.
She called Lorna Findlay.
Lorna was a muggleborn Slytherin that had dealt with enough of the rapist types during her time at Hogwarts. She was calculating and had managed to out manoeuvre the supposedly ambitious male scions of the "Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses". She at the height of the last Wizarding War, had found herself on the run. She was considered the epitome of Scottish beauty – something highly in demand particularly with the pureblooded men who needed a mistress or better yet, a sex toy. However, most of them soon found out that muggleborns were not as stupid as they believed when she immediately became a ghost. It had been a challenge to hunt her down.
Priya had similar challenges. During her time at Hogwarts, she was the only Indian at the institution. Between her classic exotic dusky look and the muggleborn status, she stood out. Worse yet, Priya had curves for days and even though she often requested her robes to be roomy as possible, calculating eyes had gauged her ample assets quite accurately. When a particular Death Eater who specialised in hunting animals did manage to find Priya by a fluke, he found himself with a two for one deal. Lorna's Victorian beauty and Priya's exotic dusky looks had immediately made them both of them targets for male Death Eaters. Priya had come to respect Lorna's ability to quickly take apart political situations with absolute clinical precision. Lorna implicitly began to trust Priya, after her father had helped with the acquisition of an untraceable muggle residence through his real estate connections. They had saved each other.
Eventually, things got better for the both of them as they retreated deeper into the familiarity of the muggle world. Most of the Death Eaters had expected the Muggle world to full of castles, swords, shields and other medieval constructs. Priya could remember vividly when an entire squad of four death eaters had apparated in front of a ten tonne truck and had proceeded to become a bloodstain on the road. After the war was over, they continued to be the best of friends.
A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin.
Lorna came to understand that while Priya was very British outside her home, she was still very much connected to her ancestral Indian culture within her home. Lorna over many years began to truly understand the inner workings of her family as far as Priya's parents were concerned, Lorna was daughter number two. Lorna answered the phone call, as soon as she saw "Bollywood Princess" on the screen.
"Goodnight to the Bollywood princess. Found a dashing husband yet? Am I coming to dance at your wedding? Or still on a dry spell. I thought you was actively you know…looking? Or perhaps mum found a suitable…..arrangement?" Lorna answered in her sing along voice. Priya huffed as sometimes she wished that Lorna could understand less about her. She had nailed the situation, quite precisely.
"Nope on everything. I got my teaching position today, Disney princess. But I am calling because I need that Slytherin side of you. Of course, I will be owing you a meal at my house for your services rendered today." replied Priya in her most joking tone of voice.
"You had me as soon as you mentioned your mother's food. Shoot lassie?" Lorna replied quite excited for a possible date night between old friends.
"Harry Potter showed up in my class today. Remember those abuse stories I dealt with in Hufflepuff? And even some of your housemates too? It might be worse. I am talking recently broken bones and partially ripped tendons. Severe bruising. Almost like somebody tried to kill him! Help me here please?" Priya explained with sadness in her voice.
"Are you fookin kiddin me? Like Harry Potter…Harry Potter?"
"Definitely him. Remember I told you how Lilly Potter taught me the Protean Charm? I will never forget those eyes. It's her eyes looking at me and he can sense magic already. He literally probed me today and decided that he liked me very much. Many adults are not capable of that. That is something only people who are very gifted healers can do! Why do you think Madam Pomfrey is such a legend?"
"Aint that some Dumbledore level of magical shite going on there? I remember he used to casually flex by wandlessly closing the door. You sure Harry Potter did that?"
"Sweetie, he figured out I was a witch easy. He was so scared but after you get his trust, he is a nice boy. He is in terrible trouble! His injuries are approaching just outright getting the police involved! But he isn't just some random child. You would know better than I, the implications at play here…"
"Well lassie, we are going to help him. We all owe him for dealing with the dark wanka. Watcha need?"
"I want to know who are the players involved with regard to magical society. We are doing this under the radar with no outside involvement. I think taking him out of his house and involving muggle authorities will be a nightmare!"
"Let me ask around the grapevine. We muggleborn female Slytherins had an informal network. You know to avoid the death munchers and their teensy little peckers." Lorna exasperatedly mentioned. "Look we all owe the young lad our freedom. Tomorrow evening, I will have what you need."
"Thanks love, you are the best" Priya replied, her mood a bit hopeful.
"Right back atcha, sugar blossom. Later." Lorna answered, clearly excited by a challenge.
After the phone call, Priya decided that she would check if Harry Potter sustained any new injuries on a daily business. As long as new physical injuries did not manifest, she could deal with the issue eventually. However, if there were new injuries tomorrow morning, she was going to get the police involved immediately – fuck whoever didn't like the outcome. Truthfully, she wanted to take the boy and just have him live with her. That would solve the problem. But any sudden attempts at anything would probably invite the attention of powerful individuals of the Wizarding world. So, she trusted Lorna to outwit the self-important donkeys as usual.
From the perspective of his education, he seemed to have a natural predisposition toward studying, but it seemed he was holding back. His eyes would often flash in recognition as the material was taught. Most of the time, he looked bored - He already knew a lot of the material and he was not being challenged. However, his ability to express himself suffered because of his confidence. He seemed to have a large vocabulary that he used properly, but he mangled all the syllables as he enunciated the words. This pointed to two equally bad problems – either he had some type of condition that prevented accurate vocalisation or perhaps the more likely scenario was that his low socialisation had resulted in him not indulging in enough speaking. This was bad. But how did he have such an advanced vocabulary? Maybe he needed just the right remedial work and a little T.L.C?
She quickly went to a little workshop area that used to be an old laundry room and decided that she would test her theories, tomorrow. She opened a little box that held her prototype diagnostic Medi-Bracelet. She took her wand and charged the runic arrays on the device. She placed the device in her handbag and then went off to prepare her material for tomorrow's class.
Little did she know Harry Potter would return determined and ready to have his revenge, one subject at a time.