When Harry woke up the following morning he was warm, comfortable and relaxed for all of about thirty seconds until his head started flashing with memories, arranging themselves within his Mind Palace, trying to hold onto conflicting memories, though he didn't know what was happening.
The process felt like ears popping, but in reverse, and was all in all very uncomfortable. He sat up and immediately there was a blurry face of a woman next to him. He put on his glasses to see Ron's mother smiling a little at him.
"Harry dear, Arthur and I would like to thank you for trying to rescue our daughter. Ron told us about Lockhart. I swear, if I ever get my hands on him, I'll kill him." Every part of her, from her voice to her facial expressions, became flooded with rage before she started breathing and she calmed down. "We were friends with your parents a long time ago, in fact I even changed your nappies more than once." Harry blushed at that and she smiled a motherly smile.
"You've gone and embarrassed the poor boy, Molly," Arthur Weasley chastised her. "Sorry about that, Harry," he added after a moment.
"It's alright," Harry managed to choke out.
"What I was trying to say is, if you ever need somewhere to go, you can always come to the Burrow. You could even come over during the Summer holidays if you wanted."
Harry took some time to think about her words before finally settling on.
"If Dudley can come, then definitely."
After they reassured him that he could in fact come, they talked for a while, before Ron woke up and they all talked as a group, with the inclusion of Draco.
Harry had been out of the Hospital Wing for two days now and his body still ached, it was as if he was growing five feet in a day. He hadn't done any training in anything for about a week now and was itching to do some duel practice.
So it was with an aching body that he dragged himself into the Vipers' Arena and began to try his Echani dance. He had gotten half way through his first repetition when he had felt a sudden drop in his energy.
That was how he earned himself another week in the Hospital Wing.
"If you're still feeling any discomfort or aching then you have to stay here, Mr Potter. If I find out that you've passed out again you'll be in here for the rest of the year," Madame Pomfrey chastised him sternly and then smiled, she had really come to enjoy Harry's company. He was so polite and smart, and also interested in her work and offering a hand when he could. She found herself feeling a level of protectiveness for him.
"I understand, straight away." He flashed James Potter's grin and it triggered a flashback to the Marauders' time at the school.
As he left to go and seek out Snape, he was stopped by Professor Dumbledore who asked him to accompany him to a talk with the Minister about the Chamber of Secrets.
Once they finally arrived at the door to Dumbledore's office and entered it, they were greeted by Cornelius Fudge. Harry was questioned about the events beneath the school and Lockhart's involvement in them.
After some general chatting they got to the situation that saw them sitting there together.
They talked for an hour, Harry retelling the story and the Minister asking several questions.
"...he was making Ginny carry out his bidding, it is possible that while not the blood Heir of Slytherin, Lockhart may be the spiritual one," Harry finished after what felt like days of talking. At Harry's mention of Lockhart and Slytherin, the Sorting Hat jumped in with a statement.
"He was almost a Slytherin, you know," the hat remarked and fell silent.
"While I admit that all of this evidence seems convincing, I just don't know how true it could be." Fudge mithered before Harry passionately responded with.
"Minister Fudge, with all due respect, I'm willing to give you my memories of the whole thing." Harry sighed before he continued. "I'm the Head of Gryffindor House by blood, sir, I swear on my lineage that what I'm telling you is the truth." This statement shocked both Fudge and Dumbledore, Fudge didn't know about the Potter's Gryffindor connection and Dumbledore didn't know that Harry knew about it yet.
After a little bit more conversation Harry was dismissed and he left for the dungeons.
"I'm ready for my next lesson, sir, if that's okay with you," came the voice of Harry from behind Snape, who was marking papers.
"Mr Potter, as loathe as I am to admit it I am glad you're alright, there is, however, very little I can teach you in regards to Occlumency right now, you need to be able to organise your Memory Palace so you can find any memory at the drop of a hat. Legilimency however, that I can do."
For the next couple hours Harry tried to breach Professor Snape's Occlumency shields and failed, repeatedly. But each time he got a little bit closer.
When they both were tired of doing so it was 7pm, they had usually worked till 10pm.
"I want to test you, Potter, I will give you three potions to brew simultaneously, how well you do will give me my answers."
Without complaint Harry set to work. Looking at the list of potions and their corresponding instructions he saw that if he brewed them staggered by an hour, he might be able to do most of the work for the second during a quiet period in the first, which he would then have to go back to and finish before starting the third potion and then finish the second one before returning to the third.
"This is going to be a challenge," Harry thought as he began working.
Three hours later and Harry presented Professor Snape with three perfect potions.
"It's rare that I am impressed, Potter, but what you've just done is one of the application tests for a potions mastery, if this was you would have passed." The Potions Professor smiled at him for a moment before Harry left for bed.
April was nearly over and already so much had happened. Harry was sitting with Dudley, just enjoying family time, when out of nowhere Harry brought up a conversation from a long time back.
"Hey Dudley, I think I'm ready to talk about the Orphanage. Not everything, mind you, just a specific person. I vaguely mentioned him before, but here goes. A few years ago a small boy showed up at the Orphanage, nothing special, it happened all the time, however what was special about this kid was how quickly we bonded. Within a year he was like a little brother to me, we would do everything together and for the first time in my life I wasn't alone. Then one day I went to knock on his door only to see it was empty, he had been adopted, and I was alone again." Harry paused here, deciding how to proceed. "I was nine when that happened and I haven't heard anything from him since."
"What was his name?" Was all Dudley could think to ask him.
"Elias Hawthorn."
They talked and talked about their childhoods, learning to appreciate all the little details they learned.
"At the end of their second year at Hogwarts, students are required to choose a minimum of two additional subjects from the following list: Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. However, for the first time in about fifteen years we will be offering Duelling as an elective as well," Professor Snape informed the second year Slytherins before handing out sheets of parchment they were meant to fill out to select what lessons they wanted to take. Three immediately jumped out at Harry: Ancient Runes, Duelling, and Care of Magical Creatures. Arithmancy would also be useful, but there wasn't enough time in the day, saying that he could always drop a subject if it became too much. As he ticked the boxes corresponding to the four subjects he had chosen he was reminded of this time last year and of the strange dreams he'd had. Feeling like he would regret it later he ticked Divinations as well and walked over to his Head of House and handed him the parchment, before leaving and going for a walk.
Dear Dudley
I have been so very worried ever since I heard from Blaise that you were attacked, part of me worried that you were injured trying to find Blaise to talk to him.
He told me your cousin has been talking to him every now and then and that it helps, he is so alone lately that my mother is considering coming to the school soon to pull him out early.
Please try to talk to him and find common ground. He likes mysteries, maybe you could bond over that.
I'm hoping we can see each other over the Summer Holidays this year, now that you have Goodwin to carry letters back and forth from your home, I don't want to hear any excuses for not contacting me.
Hope you're doing well
Love Nora xx
Dudley would have to see about the two of them meeting up somehow, maybe she could come over to stay at his home, as the opposite didn't sound particularly safe.
Smiling at the world and enjoying being free from terror and petrification, Dudley wrote a response before spending the last night of April with his friends.