The night dragged on slowly as Harry was alone with only his disfigured hand for company. As his medicine started to fully wear off, he would try to get his fingers to move, then wince in pain, only to repeat the process moments later to see if it still hurts. He successfully counted the amount of tile on the ceiling –forty five- and the number of colors in the room- sixteen. He tried to convince a nurse to get him a quill and parchment, but she said he had to wait until they thought him well enough. He tried to read the forgotten textbooks on the floor, but unable to reach the books did not get very far. Overall, it was a very boring night.
It wasn't until midmorning the following day when he got visitors, in the form of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. Ginny stood awkwardly next to the bed, while Mrs. Weasley took the chair, staring at the boy with sad eyes.
"So… Harry. Hope you're not doing too badly." Ginny broke the silence, trying to start a conversation. Harry looked up at the girl, who was unwilling to look at him. Harry took a mental note of how pretty and mature Ginny was getting, it was unbelievable that she used to be the shy little girl he met in the station as a first year.
"Thanks Ginny. Have I missed anything exciting over the summer?"
"Err… No, not overly. I'm sure you'll be filled in with the details later." She said cryptically, ending the conversation. They sat in silence, the weird silence that Harry was beginning to see of visitors to the hospital.
"Harry, I have some… rather bad news. None of your school items survived… though we were able to get Hedwig out, she's at our house. Don't worry, we will take you school shopping as soon as possible. I'm sure you can borrow someone's books to do your summer homework…" Mrs. Weasley said, her eyes wearily watching the young boy process the information. Harry was at the point of not caring, he realized how lucky he was to outsmart the grim reaper once more; any material goods were not worth anguishing over.
"Thank you for telling me, Mrs. Weasley. I really appreciate it." Harry said sincerely, silently wondering where everyone else was at.
"Everyone else wanted to come and visit, but now that you are awake, they will only allow in two people until they feel you can handle more." Mrs. Weasley said, answering the question as it fated through Harry's thoughts. Harry muttered out thanks, and tried his hardest not to scratch at his hand. Or feet.
Just then, a mediwitch rushed in and ushered the people out. As soon as they were out, the mediwitch turned to Harry with a malevolent smile.
"Okay, Mr. Potter. It's time to begin therapy. Now, I'm going to examine your hand and feet, so try to remain still while I do so." She said, and threw the blanket off of the boy. He laid there, repressing any signs of pain as she moved his feet and hand.
"Very good, very good. Looks like you're making great progress. In a minute, I will apply spells to both your hands and feet, but until then I have some questions for you. Any food allergies?"
"Umm… not that I know of."
"Any previous surgeries- Muggle or otherwise?"
"No, don't think so."
"And medical problems in general?"
"I'm pretty sure I don't have any."
"Good, good. Now, how is your throat? Open wide." The mediwitch said, before plying his mouth open to peer down his throat.
"Very nice, seems to be healing just fine. You should be able to have longer conversations and more visitors now. And you should be able to eat real food, now that we are certain you have no problems to be concerned about. Okay, I will be casting some spells that I won't bother telling you about, because you will probably ignore me, but it will probably give you a weird sensation." The green robed witch got to work immediately, casting an array of complicated spells, coating Harry's feet in an iridescent gooey substance.
Harry was feeling the weird sensation, and indescribably sensation. It actually made him feel slightly nauseous.
"How long will it last?" He asked, staring wearily at his oddly colored feet. The finished products left almost a purple sock made of hair gel.
"Well, first you need to keep your feet propped up, and let it dry, that will probably take several hours. Once dry, it will act as a second skin, allowing the old tissue to grow at its own pace. Plus, it will allow you to walk. But, it will have to be reapplied every week to remain effective. It's actually a new technique, inspired from the idea of Muggle skin grafting, so we will have to see how it works." She said while observing his hand, and applied a different spell to his hand.
"This one will basically encase your hand so you can't damage it while it is healing. It will also keep diseases away while your wound is so fresh. That's it for today; tomorrow someone should be in for therapy. Since we decided to try out the… experimental spells on you instead of the traditional route, you could be out of the hospital by next week. "The green-robed witch left with a smile, leaving the scarred boy to stare at his feet. Sighing, he realized he was no longer allowed a blanket, because the grafting spell had to dry.
He wasn't alone for five minutes before his room gained numerous amounts of eager visitors. Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Fred, George, and Professor Lupin. He smiled at them, but then wondered where his godfather was at.
"Where is… uh… Where is Snuffles at?"Harry asked, disappointed. He knew the answer already, yet he still couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"Oh… you know how he is. He'll be there whenever you come home." Remus said from the corner of the room, peering at Harry behind the mass of people.
"Oh, okay… Someone left their school books here?"
"Oh! Those would be mine!" Ginny said blushing, and ran to grab the books off the floor. The room fell silent, with so many people the conversation had nowhere to go.
"So… Harry. What did the mediwitch say?" Hermione asked helpfully, trying to break the weird silence that fell over the room like an impossibly thick fog.
"Well… With this spell they are testing they said I could be out a lot sooner than before…"The conversation lulled once again, Harry watched as everyone squirmed in the room.
"Well, I better be go to speak with Professor Dumbledore about this, he wanted to know how you were doing. Bye, Harry. Hope you get better soon!" With a wave, Professor Lupin left the room.
"C'mon Fred, don't we have that thing to do?" George said, elbowing he brother's side. The twin turned to look at him with a smile.
"Right! Of course! Sorry to leave such a wonderful conversation Harry-"
"-but we really must be going! We-"
"-will be back later, don't you worry." With a wave and a grin, the two twins left the room. The only people left were Ginny Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Hermione. Silently, the two red-headed women stepped out of the room, leaving the Golden Trio alone. Harry smiled up at his friend, glad to finally have time alone with them.
"Hey." He said softly, pushing himself up so he was no longer lying down.
"What's up with your feet?" Ron blurted out, causing Harry to laugh on the inside. Ron always could be counted on to speak what's on his mind.
"Always the subtle one, aren't we Ronald?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes at the boy's bluntness.
"Why do you have to be so sarcastic? It was just an-"
"Well, maybe if you weren't-"
"GUYS! Come on, let's not fight. Not now. Ron, it's some kind of thing to let my feet heal and to let me walk on them while they are healing. The person said it should be dry in a few hours. I have one on my hand too, except this one is clear. See?" Harry said, holding up his hand, which appeared to have a thick coating of the gel like substance.
"Harry, do you know what spells they used? I've been reading up on treatments and-"Hermione started to ramble; Harry knew it was a good time to interrupt otherwise she would talk about every healing technique that she knows of.
"No, sorry. She just said it was a new technique that was inspired by the muggles practice of skin grafting." Hermione's eyes lit up, she obviously knew what he was talking about. Just like you can depend on Ron to be as blunt as a ball, you can depend on Hermione for her infinite pool of knowledge.
"So... What do you do around here?" Ron said, looking around, noticing the obvious lack of entertainment available.
"Well, I have visitors sometimes. But that is about it. I don't know, I wanted a quill and parchment, but they refused to give it to me. Hopefully, I can find a place with the school reading books so I can start on that."
"Oh! I brought one with me, just in case. Here, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Though I'm afraid it isn't summer reading per say, but it's better than nothing." Harry accepted the book with a gracious nod.
"Harry, not that I mean to bother you or anything, but you do realize that they will question you, right? Luckily, this has kept out of the press thus far, but the Ministry is going to want answers. Though, maybe if you just tell Professor Dumbledore the whole story, he can tell it for you."
"There isn't much to tell… I was asleep, the Dursley's were away, and the house must have caught on fire somehow…" Harry said, trying to make up a story in his mind, finding he lacked a vast amount of details to make it anywhere near convincing. Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry, but said nothing, letting Harry keep his secrets for now.
"Who do you think they will hire for our DADA teacher this time? Another raving lunatic?" Ron said, causing the conversation to break into an effortless lone; one shared by the weary souls of the young adults.
(AN: Sorry for the lull between updates, I'm suffering from writers block severely. Hopeful you still enjoyed it :D)