The Nice School of Magic
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
This story is COMPLETELY AU. If you don't likt it, don't read it!
During the remaining weeks of the holidays, Harry did not feel in any way strange, and over his parents' wedding, the open day for the new first years and his own birthday, to which once again all of his classmates visited him, he slowly forgot about the spell that Mr. Malfoy had cast at him.
It was in the morning of Hermione's tenth birthday that Harry began to feel slightly ill during their Transfiguration class. However, it was not bad, and he knew better than to complain anyway.
Since their head of the year was Tonks, the new Arithmancy professor, who did not know about the fourth years' habit to hide in their tree house yet, the students decided to hold a midnight party in the tree house, like they had done many times before.
Unfortunately, in the morning, no one was in the mood to eat breakfast after filling their bellies with all kinds of delicacies during the night, and the fourth years decided to skip breakfast all together. This did not go well with the teachers though, and Poppy, with whom the fourth years were going to have their first morning class anyway, headed to the fourth years' common room and magically locked the door, so that no one could get out without having her check on the student beforehand. Beginning with the girls' dormitories, she checked on each student, handing out a stomach soothing potion to some of them, before she turned to the boys' dormitories.
'Of course we're last,' Harry thought, grimly, knowing from experience that the potion Poppy used to hand out in such cases was absolutely disgusting.
"Harry, you're running a slight temperature," Poppy suddenly spoke up after checking on him. "Are you feeling all right?"
Harry nodded. "I'm just a bit sore, but it isn't bad," he admitted in a small voice.
"Are you sure that you want to attend classes?" Poppy asked and, seeing Harry nod again, grudgingly let him go.
However, when Poppy unobtrusively checked on Harry again at the end of the Healing class, his temperature had risen a few points, and she instructed the child to come to see her after the last afternoon class or even earlier if he felt worse.
HP
Unfortunately, Harry felt worse by the hour, and when he returned to the hospital room after his Charms class in the afternoon, he felt all over sore and feverish.
However, as much as the healer waved her wand over him, she was unable to diagnose anything apart from a moderate fever and a bad headache.
"Harry, I should keep you here," she said, thoughtfully. "I'll ask your father to come and check on you as well. Maybe he has a clue what might be wrong. I suspect that it's an effect of the spell that Mr. Malfoy cast on you, but I'm not sure." She made Harry drink a fever reducing potion and a pain relieving potion, giving him a sharp look.
"It's a bit better, thank you," Harry mumbled, noticing that both potions had helped but only so much.
"Please go and send Professor Snape to me," Poppy instructed the students, and Harry saw that Hermione and Neville hurried away, while Susan sat on the edge of his bed, gently taking his hand into her own, cool hands.
"Don't worry, Harry, it'll be all right, and I'll be here with you," she said in a soothing voice, bringing a small smile to Harry's lips.
HP
In the morning, Harry felt much better, even if not completely well, and Poppy grudgingly allowed him to attend classes. However, after his Defence class together with the now second years in the early afternoon, Harry felt outright ill and did not protest when Professor Lupin instructed Susan to take him to the hospital room.
"I'm lost," Poppy admitted to Amelia and Severus, who came into the hospital room right after the last afternoon class, hearing that Harry was ill. "Every day, his condition worsens. He's running a high fever and is all over sore, but I still can't diagnose anything."
"It must have been a dark spell, that's for sure," Severus said, grimly. "I just hope that it won't get life threatening."
Amelia sighed. "Harry is strong, Sev," she said in a soft voice. "He'll pull through this."
"Susan always stays with him," Poppy said, smiling as she pointed to the bed, where Susan was quietly talking to Harry, gently holding his hand. "I think they're both very happy to have a real family now."
HP
In the morning, Harry's condition was better, however, still worse than in the previous morning, and Poppy outright refused to let him go.
"No Harry, you're going to stay here today, at least for the time being," she said, resolutely. "You even have some company today," she added, lightly, pointing to the bed next to him, where Professor Lupin was resting after the night of the full moon."
"Oh, was it the full moon?" Harry asked, compassionately. After two summers of trying in vain to invent a wolves cure potion together with his father, he of course knew about the Defence professor's ailment.
"Yes, but both of you need some rest, before you'll be well enough for any kind of conversation," Poppy replied, before she called Misty and asked her for breakfast for Harry.
During the afternoon, the professor told Harry about his mother, whom he had known well, and Harry was delighted. Even if his father spoke about his mother from time to time, Professor Lupin told him completely different things.
The following day was a Saturday, and Poppy allowed Harry to return to the common room with the clear instruction to not do any homework nor anything strenuous. "This includes activities like flying or such," she added in a stern voice.
HP
If his classmates were disappointed that they had to spend the weekend in the common room instead of the tree house, as it was not debatable to leave Harry alone or just with his friends, they did not show it. Instead, the twins brought a pile of books from the library and instructed everyone to use the quiet time planning pranks that they could play on the teachers. By the end of the weekend, the fourth years were in possession of a list with two dozen pranks, which they deemed worth playing on the teachers.
On Sunday evening, the class decided to play the first prank. They took all of their cat familiars with them into the Hall Magnifique for dinner and instructed them to roam the Hall around the teachers' table. As soon as they reached the Hall, Cedric and Adrian cast a spell at the professors who were sitting at the teachers' table that made them bark like dogs as soon as a cat came nearby.
'Pity that it doesn't hit all teachers, since the heads of the lower classes are still sitting with their classes,' Harry thought, glancing at Tonks, who was very nice and always much fun.
"Is something wrong?" Tonks enquired, apparently noticing the excitement that spread over the fourth years' table.
"No, not at all..."
"... we're only glad..."
"... that the weekend is over..."
"... and looking forward..."
"... to having classes again in the morning," the Weasley twins reassured her, giving everyone the opportunity to laugh as much as they wanted.
Suddenly, their attention was drawn to the teacher's table, where Professors McGongall and Snape were just having what seemed to be a barking contest.
'This is too funny,' Harry thought in amusement. 'We should do such a thing more often. We just have to be careful that no one catches us. Otherwise, we won't be able to win the contest at the end of the school year.'
Fortunately, everyone laughed as much as the fourth years, and no one was able to find out the culprits that were behind the prank.
HP
To Harry's relief, his condition improved every day, and by Monday morning, he felt almost back to normal again. For a few more days, he was still more tired than usual and easily got headaches, but it was not bad enough to even mention the matter to anyone. 'Thank Merlin,' he thought in relief. 'I already feared that it was something permanent that Malfoy did to me. Maybe it wasn't even a spell but just a cold,' he thought, feeling completely relieved and happy again.
Unfortunately, two weeks later, his ailments began anew. At first, he only felt that his head and eyes hurt slightly, however, after a week of daily worsening ailments, he found himself once again in the hospital room with a sore body accompanied by a high fever. Just like the last time, his illness was at a peak on the day, when Professor Lupin joined him in the hospital wing, and it took a week before his ailments were completely gone again.
"I wonder if it has something to do with the full moon," Poppy said, pensively, when Amelia and Severus joined Harry like they always did when his condition was poor. "On the other hand, even if during the full moon, his condition improves when he rests."
HP
It was only during the summer holidays that Harry found out that his condition worsened when he did magic - however, not always. He only had problems during the two weeks around the full moon, while he was completely healthy during the other two weeks.
One day after the full moon, the nine-year-old told Severus and Amelia about his suspicion, causing his father to look at him in apparent concern.
"I've never heard of anything like that," he stated. "This must be a very old, dark spell. I'll do some research in order to find out something about it, but it might be a long time before we'll be able to reverse the spell if at all, and as complicated as it is, it won't be reversible by a potion I'm afraid." Sighing, he continued, "Please try to not use magic during these days, especially not right before and after the full moon. I'll inform my colleagues accordingly, before school begins again."
HP
During the following school year, Harry slowly got used to living with his illness, although it was not always possible for him to completely prevent himself from doing magic around the full moon, especially since the now fifth years had to do more magic in class than the younger students.
After Draco had told him that his father was asking about Harry's condition from time to time, Harry was especially careful during their Defence class - not because he did not trust Draco, but because his father had warned him that Lucius Malfoy would be able to use Legilimency or even Veritaserum on his son.
"I wished we could somehow get back to Malfoy," Hermione spoke up, when she kept Harry company in his dormitory in the evening of the full moon, together with Susan and Neville.
"I fully agree, but how?" Neville asked, doubtfully.
Harry let out a long sigh, before he moaned, "Getting back at him probably wouldn't help me anyway."
"But still he deserves it," Susan agreed with the others, gently bathing Harry's flushed face with a towel that was charmed to remain wet and cool.
HP
One day, when Harry attended the third years' Defence class together with his three friends on the day after the full moon, in spite of not feeling well enough, as he was still trying to hide his ailments from Draco, his blonde friend took him aside.
"Harry, this morning I received a letter from my father," Draco informed him. "From the next school year onwards, when I'm eleven, he wants me to attend Hogwarts."
Harry stared at his friend in shock. "Well, he's the headmaster there, but you're really happy here, aren't you?"
"Exactly," Draco said, darkly. "I'll have to think of a plan. I don't want to attend Hogwarts, especially because he's the headmaster. He thinks that I'm on his side, but I'm not."
Harry nodded in understanding. "I know, Draco," he said in a soft voice and offered, reassuringly, "If there's anything, I can do to help, let me know."
tbc...
Thanks to the kind readers who commented on the previous chapter!