Amelia, flanked by her two aurors and Harry Potter under a disillusionment charm entered St Mungo's Hospital with an aura of determination around her. It was clear to visitor and staff alike not to interrupt the three law enforcement agents in their current states.
Approaching a witch seated behind a desk on the second floor of the hospital, Amelia stated firmly. "Please tell chief medi wizard Grahams that Amelia Bones is here to see him, it is an urgent matter."
Turning to Shacklebolt on her left she said, "Go to the Ministry and get Alastor, Robards and Croaker in my office. Tell them nothing of today's events but make sure they realize it is important."
"Jones, you remain with me." Even though the words were aimed at the female auror, her eyes swiftly went to where she knew Harry would be standing, indicating that the boy should remain with her as well.
"On it boss," was the reply from both subordinates as Kingsley went to do as ordered. Turning back to the desk Amelia saw the chief medi wizard hurrying towards them.
"Chief Grahams, I have a sensitive case that will require your best and most trusted healers to assist us." Clearly intrigued the wizard asked for two medi witches to join them whilst guiding the visitors to an isolated room.
Once ensuring the room was empty and casting a number of strong privacy charms Amelia cast a silent finite at where she knew Harry was standing. The appearance of the young saviour of the wizarding world was apparently not what the medi wizard and witches were expecting.
"Harry Potter? Amelia, just what is going on here?" Chief Medi Wizard Grahams could not quite keep the incredulous tone from seeping through.
"Grahams, Mister Potter here has told me a number of incredible things during the last few hours. I need him to undergo a full checkup, including analysis of blood, magical energy levels, possible blocks and anything you can think of. I will let Harry inform you of anything he deems necessary, but do not want his words to influence your assessment, so will ask that you only ask questions once you have completed your initial assessment."
Now fully intrigued and slightly vexed at the DMLE head for ordering him around the medi wizard turned to the young man, "well hop onto the plinth and let's see what your body and magic wants to tell me." This was said with a slight smile, Grahams may have been vexed at Amelia, but he would not let it show to the young man that appeared quite reluctant to be in his presence.
"I will be at the ministry, investigating a number of allegations brought forth today, I understand the bond of secrecy between medi wizard and patient, but would appreciate a full report on anything you deem necessary to be investigated by my department." Receiving a nod in return Amelia swiftly made her way from the room, leaving Auror Jones outside the door as an extra measure of protection.
"I do not believe anybody will bother you today or tomorrow, but in case word spreads that Mister Potter is in there, I need you to keep those that are not authorized by myself or Grahams out of that room. I will send relief by the end of the day, you will be working in shifts to protect that young man until this whole mess is sorted." Amelia gave the younger auror a serious look before leaving towards the ministry.
Meanwhile, inside the hospital room Grahams had just started his assessment. He first asked for a sample of blood that would be analysed after the initial assessment.
"This first spell will determine your current magical reserves, as the assessment may require a lot of physical and magical energy I need to determine your current levels to ensure I don't inadvertently cause magical exhaustion."
The medi wizard could see the young man wanted to say something, but then seemed to think the better of it and shook his head silently.
"This can't be right... How can... Mister Potter have you been doing any magic during the holidays?" Grahams could not understand the readings he was getting.
"No sir, the last spells I performed was at school last week. I've been at my muggle family's house since then." Grahams could see the sincerity in the younger man's eyes and hear the truth in his voice.
"Mister Potter, these results indicate your magical reserves to be at only 10.9 percent, and somehow dropping. The only way that can happen is after a catastrophic level of magical exhaustion. Did you experiment with any spells you shouldn't have at school?" It was the only explanation he could think of. It happened rarely and usually within the first year at Hogwarts, but sometimes kids would attempt spells that were too advanced, and end up in the hospital with slight magical exhaustion. However, he could not recall ever seeing a case as bad as the young man's.
The man sensed a certain amount of trepidation in the boy so tried to calm himself as much as possible before speaking again.
"Mister Potter, you are still young and learning, if you tried a spell that was too advanced it could have caused serious damage, but you will learn from that and will hopefully not do it again. You will not be in any trouble. I just need you to be honest with me about what you have done." Grahams could see his words had penetrated through the boy's fears and he let go of a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
"Uhm, well Director Bones said I may be suffering from magical exhaustion. Uhm, I have been feeling very tired and lethargic. She thought it was because of my Patronus." The last part was said in a rush.
"PATRONUS!" Seeing the boy flinching away from him Graham again took deep breaths to calm himself.
"Those blasted dementors! I cannot understand why the ministry thought taking those, those DEMONS to a school filled with vulnerable children could ever be a good..." Seeing the boy retreating even further from him and receiving a glare from one of the medi witches that had been watching the exchange in silence, Grahams reeled himself in before his rant could continue.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that Mister Potter. I've had multiple conversations with the ministry about those foul creatures..." Grahams was glad to see that the boy had stopped retreating and was now looking at him curiously.
"Please excuse my interruption, what did you mean by your patronus, did you attempt to cast the patronus charm? That could explain it, it is a very advanced spell and can be quite draining." Looking at the young man, Grahams could see he had calmed down significantly and appeared to be sorting through his thoughts before replying.
"I've been learning the spell with the help of our defense professor throughout the year." Grahams was surprised by this. Not only did the boy admit to taking a long time to learn the advanced spell, but apparently he had the help of a teacher. Something more must have happened.
"Uhm, dementors affect me really badly, I fainted the first time one got close to me, so I asked professor Lupin to help me learn how to fight it. My boggart is a dementor so I practiced against that."
It was clear the boy was battling to determine what to say, so Grahams patted him on the shoulder as a show of support. It was clear the two medi witches were listening intently as well.
"It was just before the end of term when a lot of dementors attacked me and..." Here Harry stopped suddenly as if only now realising what he was saying, or whom he was talking to.
"Uhm, they attacked me and a friend. They would have sucked out my friend's soul so I had to do something. I cast my patronus. It was so difficult. I had never felt something like it. It was beautiful, and light and majestic, but I was just so tired. It fought of all the dementors and then we went back to the castle." Harry knew it wasn't the complete truth, but it was close enough that the healers would get an idea of what had happened.
The three healers stared at him in something akin to horror and awe.
"Mr Potter, are you telling me you were able to cast a corporeal patronus that chased away more than one dementor? What happened then? What did Madam Pomfrey say?" At this, Harry looked at the man bizarrely.
"Uhm, I don't think she knew. Professor Dumbledore just said that we had to go to our rooms. I did not go to see Madam Pomfrey." The boy looked quite confused at even the thought of going to see the witch for what he seemed to think was just some tiredness after casting a difficult charm.
"He did what?!" Grahams was close to apoplectic.
"Uhm, Sir? What is wrong? Why should I have seen the school healer?" Harry was quite confused by now. He understood he probably suffered from magical exhaustion, but did not understand why it seemed the healers thought the headmaster should have noticed it.
"Mister Potter, the patronus charm is one of the most difficult charms to master. Most adult witches and wizards can produce some mist, and quite a few can even produce a corporeal patronus when there are no dementors around. It is difficult, but will not drain your magic too much when there is nothing for it to fight. You can even use it to send a message without too much strain." Grahams could see he had the boy's full attention so continued on. It seemed he even had the two witches listening in rapt attention.
"The Patronus is however the most draining charm currently in existence when cast against a dementor. Yes, even more draining than casting the cruciatus curse." The last was said to the two witches.
"The reason for this is that the corporeal patronus requires the magic of the caster to determine it's size and the direction it must go. The dementors drains this magic from the Patronus and if the caster does not have enough magic it overpowers the Patronus and will then target the person that had cast the charm. If the magic of the caster is stronger than the dementor, the demon will flee. This is why it is extremely rare for even strong adult wizards and witches to fight of more than one or two dementors at once. How many dementors were attacking you mister Potter?" Harry could not believe what he was hearing. Was it truly such a feat to fight a dementor?
"I am not certain sir. I did not count them." The last was said with a slight hint of humour.
"It was definitely more than fifty, probably around a hundred or so." That statement was said without any pride or ego, simply a statement of fact.
"A hundred... A hundred fucking dementors! Are you sure mister Potter? You are absolutely certain it wasn't just two or three and your mind playing tricks on you?" This was said by the quiet medi witch on Grahams' right and seemed to anger the young man quite a bit.
"Like I said, I did not count. But definitely in the region of a hundred." His voice was steely and it was clear he resented the fact that the witch doubted his word. She seemed to notice this, and retreated towards a corner of the room after Grahams sent her a scathing look.
"Please forgive my colleague, Mister Potter, it is just that there has been no recorded case of a single witch or wizard surviving the strain of fighting off more than ten dementors. In one case, a wizard fought of twelve of the demons but perished two days later due to the strain it had put on his body and magic."
Grahams took a deep breath as he tried to calm his raging thoughts and worries. The boy had survived this long, they could get him through this. At this point he wouldn't have even been surprised if the boy was able to survive without medical assistance, however the damage that that would have caused his magical core could have been irreparable. Sighing slightly, Grahams continued with his explanation.
"It is due to that strain on your magical core that Headmaster Dumbledore should have immediately sent you here to St Mungo's, or at the very least to Pomfrey who would undoubtedly have sent you here upon initial examination. Magical exhaustion and core drainage can cause irreparable harm to your magical as well as physical strength. Since I have treated Dumbledore for core drainage due to a Patronus/Dementor fight, he should have known the importance of getting you to a healer immediately!" Once again Grahams was fuming, but tried to hide it from the younger man.
"We'll start you on a strict potions regime that will assist your core in replenishing your magical reserves. Unfortunately I cannot risk your magic with a full assessment at this point in time, it could cause unmentionable harm to your magic if we were to use any more of your reserves at this point in time." If anything, that statement seemed to cheer the boy up slightly. It seemed he was not looking forward to the healer's assessment, and welcomed the reprieve his magical exhaustion had caused.
"In the meantime I shall start analysis of your blood, I am fairly certain Amelia would not have mentioned a blood analysis if she did not think I would find something of interest." Looking at the boy he could see that he was very tired at that point.
"You will take the first of the needed potions immediately, and then you must sleep. What your body needs now is rest and time to recuperate. I am amazed you are even able to walk with how low your reserves are." Transfiguring the plinth into a soft single bed, Grahams helped the boy to get comfortable and handed him the needed potion. One of the witches had gone to fetch it during the last part of the conversation.
Seeing that the young man had drunk the potion without complaint Grahams asked Healer Tubbins to stay with the boy whilst he went to his lab to start the blood analysis. It seemed to him there was a lot more going on here than a single case of magical exhaustion. He was certain Amelia would not have asked for him specifically had there not been more to it. He still didn't quite believe that the boy had bested as many dementors as he claimed, but it was clear that he had cast the charm and it had drained him of most of his reserves. What Albus Dumbledore could possibly have been thinking to allow the boy to go home without the healer checking on him, Grahams had no idea, but clearly there were many things afoot. Things that Grahams was starting to believe would be causing a shift in the foundation of magical Britain within the next few weeks.
Entering his lab, Grahams took the vial of blood and dripped a couple of drops on a special piece of parchment. The words appearing on said parchment left the healer reeling.
There was no explanation he could think of that could explain how a fourteen year old boy could possibly have come across situations that would leave traces of not only basilisk venom but also phoenix tears in his blood. It seemed there were many things still to be discovered about the enigma that was the boy-who-lived.
A/N: Thank you to all reviews. I appreciate each of them. My apologies for the delay in getting this update out. The chapter took a life of it's own. It seems the story will be a bit longer than I initially thought. Basic outline now indicates it will end up being seven chapters with an epilogue. I also apologise for not responding to reviews, time just does not allow it at this point. I hope to respond to all reviews within next week. Kind regards. Alta.