Disclaimer: I own none of the things you already know of.
Disclaimer: Trigger warning. Toward the end of this chapter contains mention of sexual assault. If this makes you uncomfortable, please skip where you see *x*, once the scene is over there will be another *x*.
Harry Potter and the Smallest Change.
Chapter 16. 3rd Year, Part 7. 1994.
Two hours later, dawn was on its way and the hospital wing was filled to capacity. In fact, Harry was sure that it had been expanded past its already large size to admit all the students, muggles and Professors injured in the fight.
Harry lay in a bed, with Holly in a bed to his left and Susan to his right.
Professor McGonagall lay on a bed, curtained off from the other patients, as was Professor Sprout. Professor Flitwick lay in a bed looking pleased as he played with a muggle Rubik's cube. He seemed uninjured, but Madame Pomphrey was not taking chances with anyone.
Snape had disappeared soon after they had rushed Professor McGonagall to her bed. He had not returned yet.
Dumbledore lay on a bed between Flitwick and James with his ruined shoulder strapped in bandages, reading an issue of the Quibbler, upside down. A bowl of lemon drops sat on his bedside table, and Fawkes sat perched on the headboard, apparently reading the Quibbler as well.
Remus was still missing after racing after Peter when he had escaped.
James lay in a bed opposite to Harry, his body wrapped in bandages soaked in dittany and some other potion or substance Harry did not recognise, but it was fluorescent blue. Lily sat with James and switched to sit by the children every half hour or so.
The rest of the beds were taken up with the dominated muggles and students.
Harry watched from his bed as Madame Pomphrey bustled between the dominated students and muggles, making them swallow a sip of yellowish green potion. Once she finished with the last one, she moved back to the first and did it all over again.
With a growing sense of disgust, Harry watched the skin of each of the dominated students and muggles skin turn a mottled brown colour and some form of fluid seeped out, like sweat. The fluid soaked the crisp white bedsheets and stained them a gross shiny light brown colour.
Susan groaned beside him as she turned away from the sight.
'Madame Pomphrey is flushing the potions from them.' She said, and Harry's lip curled in disgust.
He looked away from the sight, toward Susan, and she sighed, then nodded at him. Harry gave her an apologetic smile before he turned toward Madame Pomphrey.
'Ma'am? Can you come here please?' Harry called and the white-haired Matron huffed and hurried over.
'What is it, Mister Potter? Can't you see I'm busy with the others?' she asked, and Harry nodded before gesturing to Susan.
'Susan was force fed the same potions as the others.' Harry declared, and Pomphrey's eyes widened.
Pomphrey turned to Susan and bustled around her, her wand taking all sorts of readings that Harry could not understand.
'How do you feel, Miss Bones? It's astounding that you are acting normally after ingesting that cocktail of potions.' Pomphrey gushed, and Susan closed her eyes and took a breath.
'I want to please Pettigrew; I want to do anything I can to earn his approval.' She admitted, before dry retching, her hand covering her mouth.
Harry reached out a hand to take her spare hand, holding each other between beds.
'How are you resisting the urges the potions are forcing you to have?' Pomphrey asked, a frown on her face.
Susan released Harry's hand and held out her wrist to the Matron, displaying the silver charm bracelet and the charm hanging off it, the dog with a bone.
Pomphrey gasped and leant over to inspect the charm bracelet and waved her wand over it before she gasped again, her hand over her heart.
'Where did you get this bracelet?' she asked and Susan pointed to a blushing Harry, who shrunk under the astounded stares of his parents across from him. James looked ecstatic and Lily wore a proud smile.
'Mister Potter, do you know what you've done?' Pomphrey asked, holding Susan's wrist.
Harry cocked his head to the side.
'I've made a bracelet that helps to resist mental intrusions?' he asked, and Madame Pomphrey blinked at him and nodded.
The Matron turned to James and Lily. Lily nodded with a smile and Pomphrey sighed.
'Have you made any more of these bracelets?' she asked, and Harry ducked into his bed.
'I've made seven more, ma'am.' Harry muttered and James' eyes grew wide, as did Lily's.
Pomphrey held her head as if she had a headache coming on.
With a shake of her head, she turned back to Susan.
'We need to get the potions out of you as soon as possible.' She said, gesturing vaguely to the rest of the beds she gave a soft smile.
'So, you know what's coming next.'
That afternoon, the sun began its descent and Harry was confined to the infirmary. His injuries were healed, but Madame Pomphrey was not taking any chances.
His Potter mirror vibrated in its pocket, he pulled it out and answered it then saw Amelia smiling at him.
'Good afternoon, Harry. Is Susan with you? She didn't answer her mirror.' She asked, and Harry grinned.
He turned the mirror to face Susan, asleep in the bed next to his, the potions still were being flushed from her system.
'Oh, that explains why she didn't answer me. How about Holly?' Amelia asked and Harry turned the mirror to Holly's bed where she lay, her leg and wrists wrapped in bandages, her skin caked in a yellowish paste to help heal her injuries.
Amelia let out a sigh of relief.
'How about your father?' she asked, and Harry turned the mirror to face his sleeping father, his whole upper body caked in the same yellowish paste as Holly. Lily slept in a large chair beside his bed.
'How are you feeling, Harry? I hear you had an eventful night?' she asked, and Harry spun the mirror to face himself. He saw a small smile on her face.
He shrugged, then flinched as pain rushed through his body for a moment before it faded.
'Ouch. I still have the odd shiver of pain run through my body.' He admitted, and Amelia nodded sagely.
'The Cruciatus Curse has been known to have aftereffects like that for a few days. But they will fade.' She explained, and Harry nodded.
'Thank you. Now, what can I help you with, Aunt Amy? Or is it Director Bones I am talking to?' he asked, and she smiled.
'A bit of both, actually. Remus caught Peter, just as he reached the ward line of Hogwarts. Apparently, Hagrid's dog, Fang, attacked Peter in his Animagus form, forcing him to retake human form. Which is when Remus caught him.' Amelia explained, and Harry grinned.
'That's great news. Is he at the ministry now?' he asked, and Amelia nodded.
'His trial is being rushed through by executive order of the Minister. It will be tomorrow. It is going to include giving him Veritaserum in front of the Wizengamot and the public. There was an evening version of the Prophet released today detailing the whole thing.' Amelia paused for breath.
'Peter will be given life in Azkaban or the Veil. He won't be getting released after this.' Amelia finished.
'How can you be so sure he won't get away with it?' Harry asked and Amelia gave a heavy sigh.
'Almost all the women who had been dominated report the same thing. He took liberties with them, all of them. And I would appreciate not saying any more about that.' She said, and Harry nodded.
His stomach hung in his throat as he turned to look at Susan, his jaw clenched.
'Bastard.' Holly growled as she climbed into Harry's bed, hugging his arm.
Amelia blinked at seeing Holly in frame but smiled.
'Quite, I'm glad to see you dear.' Amelia said and Holly smiled at her and squeezed Harry's arm, drawing his attention away from Susan and back to Amelia.
'Can we go to the trial, Aunt Amelia?' Harry asked, and Amelia's face turned a little green.
'I would really rather you didn't. We have taken the memories from you three and those of the dominated students and muggles.' She ran her hands down her face.
'The Aurors have also gone out into the muggle world after questioning Peter and found close to a dozen other muggle families who Peter had dominated in his time hiding from the magical world.' She paused and looked into Harry's eyes.
'Please don't come to the trial. I know it is within your rights and you can if you want to. But I truly don't want you and the others to know all of the horrible things Peter has done.' She said, a note of pleading in her voice.
Harry watched his Aunt Amelia; nothing had ever phased her in his memory. But looking at her now, she looked horrified at what she discovered, and he respected her. She had been a great Aunt to him, Holly and Charlus.
He nodded.
'I won't go, and I'll ask the others not to go either, if that's what you think is best.' He said, and she let out a sigh of relief.
Harry wondered what exactly Peter had done, but then figured that he was better off not knowing.
'Thank you for listening to me Harry, I'll let you know the result of the trial as soon as I can.' She said and Harry smiled.
'Thank you, Aunt Amy. Good night.' Harry said, and the mirror went dark.
Harry looked down to see Holly asleep on his chest and smiled, then joined her a minute later.
A few hours later, Harry woke to his elaborate personal mirror vibrating. He answered it to see Fleur beaming at him, and he grinned.
''Arry, what have you been up to since last night?' she asked, her wide smile at seeing him sent a warmth through him.
'Ahh, quite a bit actually.' He started before she frowned, her eyes narrowed.
'Why are you not in your bed?' she asked, and his eyes widened.
Harry looked around and realised she could see the pillow he was laying on, and it was not his.
He turned the mirror around to show the dimly lit hospital wing. Susan gave Fleur a wave as the mirror moved past her and Holly waved from her place laying on Harry's chest once the mirror came back to him.
'Why are you all in the hospital wing? Is everybody okay? What happened?' she asked in a rush and Harry laughed.
'It's okay, everyone is fine now. Now, listen close and I'll tell you everything.' Harry said and Fleur nodded, her eyes never leaving his.
He explained the events of the previous night, interrupted at times by Susan and Holly when he downplayed his actions or missed important details.
Fleur stared at Harry and by the time he finished the story, she let out a breath.
'Did you really fight a Death Eater? And break his nose?' she asked.
Harry smirked.
'Yep, but I still lost, which means I've got a long way to go still.' He admitted and saw the shock on the Veela's face fade, replaced by her usual fond warm expression, but now it was tinged with a different emotion that he hadn't seen on her face before, hunger.
She beamed at him.
'Get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow night and I hope you'll be feeling better by then. Good night 'Arry.' She gave him a warm smile before the mirror went dark.
Both Susan and Holly giggled at him.
'What's so funny?' Harry asked.
'It's obvious, but because you're a boy, I suppose we can't expect too much from you.' Holly grinned.
'Well, if you two are going to be mean, I'm going back to sleep.' He groaned, and they giggled again.
The next day, Harry lay in the hospital wing still. Holly's leg was healed, and Susan's potions had been purged. Madame Pomphrey insisted on keeping the three in her domain for observation, along with the others.
Harry looked over at his father's empty bed. He had left in the morning for the trial and Lily had gone home to look after Charlus and Orion so Sirius could go to the trial.
Professor McGonagall was out of the woods and no longer had a privacy screen around her bed. She just lay there, still in her potion induced coma as her body recovered from the bullet wound.
Professor Sprout lay in the bed beside her. Her leg was healed, but her neck was in a cast, having damaged it when she hit the wall.
Between Harry and Holly's bed sat Luna and Ginny, while between Harry and Susan sat Daphne and Hannah.
The seven children sat in their group and chatted to themselves, worry and relief long after having given way to happiness and concern about classes.
Hannah held Susan's hand.
'It's okay, we'll all work together to make sure your homework won't pile up.' Hannah assured and Susan huffed.
'We've lost a day of study. We are already so far ahead that we could probably already ace the end-of-year tests in a few weeks.' Susan said and Hannah blinked, then turned to Daphne as the Slytherin girl patted her shoulder with a nod.
Harry grinned at the antics of his friends as, on his other side, Luna leaned in closer to Holly.
'So, Daddy told me in his latest letter that there is an Australian magical creature called a Drop Bear. The muggles joke about them, saying they don't exist, but we'll be going to find them in the summer.' Luna gushed, and Holly blinked at her.
'Doesn't everything in Australia try to kill you?' Holly asked and Luna gave a soft smile.
'It is likely, yes.' The blonde girl said.
Ginny leaned in toward Harry.
'Did you know what you were doing when you told Luna about the Platypus?' she asked, and Harry grinned.
'I had no idea, but who knows, maybe Luna and her dad will discover more magical creatures. We can only hope, right?' Harry grinned.
Harry paused his conversation with Ginny as someone cleared their throat at the end of his bed. It was an older Ravenclaw boy that he did not recognise. He was tall and dark haired. The boy's blue eyes met Harry's, and the two were silent for a moment before the boy coughed.
*x*
'My name is Kyle Chambers. Thank you for your part in freeing us all-' he gestured vaguely around the hospital wing's filled beds.
'-I'd been under Pettigrew's control for a few months. After Christmas break, I was stunned in my sleep and taken into the forest.' Kyle paused and took a long, steadying breath.
'I was drugged and even helped to capture a handful of other Ravenclaws, even my girlfriend Sarah.' Kyle paused again and Harry remembered what Amelia had told him about what happened to the women captured by Pettigrew.
Harry held out a hand toward Kyle, who took it after a moment's hesitation.
'It's all over now, Kyle. Sarah is going to need your help to recover from this experience, and I truly wish that we could have resolved the situation earlier, before anyone got hurt-' Harry said before Kyle interrupted him with a shake of his head.
'Nobody blames you, Potter. You did everything you could, and we all appreciate what you did and how you played your role in getting the Professors there, however it was that you did it.' He trailed off, looking down at the floor.
Kyle looked awkward before he squeezed Harry's hand that he still held and patted it with his other hand.
'Thank you again Potter.' Kyle said before walking away to sit beside a sleeping brunette girl on the other side of the infirmary. Harry figured she was Sarah.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but stopped and sighed, knowing nothing he said would help the other boy. He turned back to Ginny before another voice came from the end of the bed.
'Harry?'
Harry turned and saw Justin Finch-Fletchley.
The boy who shared the same dorm as Harry, that he'd barely spoken to in the years they'd shared a room, stood, his face red and had unshed tears in his eyes.
'Take a seat Justin, you have nothing to feel sorry about.' Harry said, gesturing toward the end of the bed.
Justin sat and met Harry's gaze; a single tear slid down his cheek.
'Pettigrew, he, came to my home during the summer. I've told all of this to the Aurors, but I need to tell you too.' The Hufflepuff said, his eyes haunted.
Harry blinked and nodded, confused.
'I live in muggle London with my parents, you see. They own a hotel, and we have one of the floors to ourselves.' Justin closed his eyes and choked back a sob.
'He put my mother under the Imperius Curse and put father into an enchanted sleep. At first, mother told me Pettigrew was father's cousin, and that father had gone abroad for business.' Justin hunched forward, he held his head in his hands and tried to hide his tears from Harry.
'But, after I saw him, he, he and my mother were doing things together that she only did with father. I pulled out my wand to fight him, but before I could cast a thing, he disarmed me and bound me with conjured ropes.' Justin paused for a few seconds, taking deep breaths.
'He forced me to watch as he and mother…' he stopped and wiped his tears with the sleeve of his robe.
'Sorry, it's… hard.' He muttered before he took another shuddering breath.
'Afterward, he told me he was a wizard, like me, and that made us special. He told me about his time in the muggle world, how he'd moved from family to family, enslaving them before moving on to another.' Justin wiped his eyes again with his other sleeve.
'He told me how his school friends had betrayed him and that he would get revenge on them. Now that he had a way back into the magical world, he would have his vengeance.' Justin looked away, out of the window.
'Pettigrew forced me to take a cocktail of potions, the same ones he forced everyone to take to enslave them. He made me tell him about Hogwarts, how the Boy-Who-Lived was there, how you were the top student of our year.' Justin turned to meet Harry's eyes.
Harry saw the haunted look in them had grown.
'I told him about the Basilisk last year, and how I'd been petrified, then rescued by you and the Professors. He was so interested in you, he made me tell him about your sister-' Justin glanced at a pale Holly who was watching in silence.
'- he seemed excited and had a mad gleam in his eye as I told him everything I knew about the two of you. I told him about the piece of parchment you take everywhere with you and that you can disappear almost at will.' Justin looked down at his lap, where he clasped his shaking hands.
'He called it the Marauders map, whatever that means.' He trailed off and was silent for a moment before he met Harry's gaze again.
Harry watched the boy at the end of his bed as he struggled to continue his tale. He wanted to stop him, but knew the other boy felt he needed to get it off his chest.
Justin gave a long, slow blink before letting out a breath and nodded to himself.
'Soon after that, he woke up father and had my parents spend most of our money on buying potions ingredients so he could make massive batches of his enslaving potions.' Justin's hands shook, and he clasped them together in his lap.
'When the time for Hogwarts came around, he had me abduct people, stun them and take them out to the forbidden forest. He met me in a clearing where he before he drugged the poor people I'd taken.' Justin hung his head, his eyes closed, as his body trembled.
Harry reached out toward the other boy, but Ginny took his hand and pulled it down to his side. He met her gaze, and she shook her head. Harry frowned, but turned back to Justin.
'By November, I had a dozen students from all years and houses under his control. He had also gathered the same number of muggles. I don't think they were the families he'd stayed with; I think they were just random people taken from different cities.' Justin rubbed his bloodshot eyes with the backs of his hands, wiping away his tears.
'He, he wanted me to capture you, but the wards around your bed are beyond what I or any of the seventh years under his control could break.' The boy admitted and closed his eyes, lowering his head.
*x*
'I think you know the rest from there.' Justin finished.
The Hufflepuff boy's face fell into his hands, and he shook as he sobbed at the end of Harry's bed.
Harry looked at the boy and reached out a hand and rested it on his shoulder. Daphne, sitting beside Harry, prodded him, and motioned with her head and a scowl toward the weeping boy.
Harry nodded and moved closer before pulling Justin into a hug. In an instant, Justin latched onto Harry and his tears soaked through Harry's hospital shirt in moments. Harry could only rub the other boy's back in silent support, and vow to himself that something like this would not happen again if he could help it.
'It's going to be okay Justin.' Harry muttered.
Five minutes later, Madame Pomphrey came and ushered the distraught boy away to his own bed. The Matron handed him a selection of potions and watched him drink each one, ending with a Dreamless Sleep potion.
Harry turned to the girls, his gaze moving over each one, and found he shared their horrified expressions.
'I'm actually glad Aunt Amy convinced me not to go to the trial.' He admitted and the girls could only nod, their pale faces slack with horror.
That night, Sirius entered the Hospital wing. He stood at the end of Harry's bed. The Marauder smiled at the kids, starting with Susan before he sighed.
'Well, it's done kids.' He said, running a hand through his hair.
'Peter was tried in front of the Wizengamot under Veritaserum and he explained everything.' Sirius said and Harry could not help but notice an almost dead look in the man's eyes.
'They sent Peter Pettigrew through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries this afternoon at six pm.' Sirius recited, and the dead look in his eyes grew starker.
Harry swallowed and shifted in his bed.
'I'm sorry you guys had to go through that.' He said.
Holly and Susan nodded along.
'Are you going to be okay, dad?' Susan asked and Sirius blinked, staring at her.
'Y-you've never called me dad before.' Sirius gaped and Susan blushed and ducked down in her bed.
Sirius rushed over to pull Susan into a hug and kissed her brow.
'If you keep calling me dad, I think I'll be okay with anything.' Sirius whispered into Susan's hair.
Harry smiled and turned toward Holly, who wore a wide grin at the sight behind Harry.
A minute later, Sirius cleared his throat.
'Before I go, I wanted to tell you two that Prongs is at home now with Lily and Charlus. You can rest easy now.' Sirius said and Harry nodded.
Sirius stood after giving Susan another kiss on her brow.
'School is going to be over soon, then we can enjoy your holidays. Have a good night, you three, and we'll see you soon.' Sirius beamed at Susan before leaving the infirmary, whistling a jaunty tune.
Holly leaned forward in her bed, looking past Harry to Susan, and quirked an eyebrow.
'I didn't know you hadn't called him dad, I thought you did that years ago?' Holly asked, and Susan blushed.
'It never seemed like the right time, you know?' the red head murmured, and Harry grinned.
'I think you made his day. Which really is saying something.' Harry said before laying back in bed.