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!

Before Harry's foggy mind registered what happened, the Weasley twins produced a huge parchment and magically added the names of all classmates, before they made a list of what each of them wanted to do. Harry just began to wonder if he was delirious, when Poppy entered the common room.

"From tomorrow onwards, I'm going to be your head of the year again," she informed them and, when everyone began to cheer, knowing that the first head that they had ever had had been one of the best so far, instructed them, "Off to bed with you now." With that she turned to Harry and motioned him to wait, before she quickly checked his temperature and spelled two potions right into his system. She gently helped him upstairs and tucked him in, promising to come back for his next dose of potions in the morning.

"Thank you, Aunt Poppy," Harry mumbled, already drifting off to sleep.

HP

When Harry's mind turned to awareness in the morning, he wondered if he had really spoken with the whole class about their plans. However, during the following weeks, the topic came up from time to time, making him realise that indeed all of their classmates intended to join Susan and him.

'I'll speak with Poppy, as soon as I have the chance to speak with her in private,' Harry resolved, knowing that they still had much time to plan everything, unaware that he would sooner than expected have enough time to spend alone with the healer.

HP

One day at breakfast, Harry received a letter from Albus Dumbledore.

'Harry,

Congratulations, my boy, for vanquishing Voldemort. I'm glad that you were lucky enough to get rid of him. I wanted to help you, but your father took you away. Never forget this.

Albus Dumbledore'

'Huh,' Harry thought in confusion. 'What a strange letter.' He looked up in bewilderment when the letter all of a sudden vanished into thin air. 'What was that?' he wondered, causing his friends to enquire about the letter.

As soon as during the first morning class, Harry suddenly began to feel very unwell. 'It's as if it was the full moon and I had done a lot of magic,' he thought, as a violent shiver shook his body.

Of course his predicament did not go unnoticed by his observing sister, who instructed Hermione to inform their next teacher that she was going to take Harry to the hospital room.

"It's all right, I'll go with Harry," Hermione replied, knowing that their next class was Latin, which Susan should better not miss, as she really had problems with that subject.

Susan grudgingly agreed, casting a worried look at Harry, and Hermione accompanied Harry to the hospital room, realising in concern that the boy weakly leaned onto her arm as they walked in a slow speed. She made Harry lie down in the first bed next to the healer's office and sat on the edge of his bed, while they waited for the healer to arrive from the class that she was just teaching.

Finally, Pomfrey bustled into the room and immediately began to wave her wand over Harry.

"You caught the basilisk pox," she finally spoke up, giving Harry a critical look, before she asked Hermione, "What happened?"

"Harry received a strange letter at breakfast," Hermione replied, looking questioningly at Harry.

"It was from Dumbledore," Harry mumbled and informed the healer about the content.

"The letter vanished into thin air," Hermione added, causing the healer's expression to turn grim.

"Misty," Poppy called her personal elf. "Please fetch Professor Snape here and ask the headmistress to cancel this morning's Potions classes." Turning to Hermione, she said, "You may go back to class. Please inform your teachers that Harry is in the hospital room."

"Professor," Hermione spoke up in a soft voice, "may I perhaps assist Professor Snape? I suppose that he has to brew a potion for Harry as quickly as possible?"

The healer's expression softened some. "Let's ask Professor Snape, but I think that's a good idea, especially since he also has to brew a preventive potion for everyone else."

"You'll be stuck here for at least two weeks," Poppy informed Harry, when Hermione had left together with the Potions Master.

"I wanted to speak with you in private anyway," Harry mumbled, before he succumbed to the light sleeping potion that the healer had unobtrusively spelled into his system in lack of any potion that would help remedying his symptoms for the time being.

HP

During the following two weeks, Harry felt much too miserable to speak with anyone, let alone discuss important matters with the healer. He merely cuddled with Barkymort, who invisibly remained under his covers almost around the clock. Only at the end of his second week in the hospital room did Harry begin to feel more alert. Unfortunately, it was just the weekend of the full moon.

On Sunday morning, he spoke with Poppy about his plans. "Once when Mum and Dad took us to Paris, they told us that there was a magical hospital in Paris but not in Marseille. Ever since then, I've had the plan to open a magical hospital here after finishing school," he admitted to the healer, who looked at him in clear amazement.

"That's a very good idea, Harry, and if there's anything that I can do for you, I'll of course support you," she promised in a soft voice that made Harry smile.

He let out a long sigh, before he explained, "Not only Susan, but our whole class agreed to work together with me. At first, I was surprised, but maybe nineteen people is not too many to run a magical hospital." He looked questioningly at the healer.

Poppy chuckled. "Your class is really special," she replied, smiling. "Well, in order to entertain a whole hospital, you'll need several healers, several potions masters as well as mediwitches and people who deal with the financial aspects."

Harry grinned. "The twins have made a list, where everyone put in what they want to do, and I think that we've covered everything. It's just that they all have to see that they get the necessary schooling. That's probably the biggest problem."

"I don't think that it's such a problem," Poppy informed him, pensively. "I'll be willing to give all those who want to become healers special classes, so that they should be able to take their healer's exams shortly after the NEWTs. However," she added, sighing deeply, "I wouldn't recommend for you to become a healer."

"But..." Harry replied, feeling his body heat up as he became very upset.

"Harry, calm down," Poppy said in a firm voice.

"It's just that I really want to become a healer in order to be able to do some research and maybe sometime be able to heal myself," Harry replied, teary-eyed.

"I know that, Harry," Poppy reassured him. "However, you'd only be able to properly work for two weeks every month. If you, for example, became a potions master, you'd be able to work almost every day, maybe except for the days just around the full moon."

"That's true," Harry had to admit.

"Don't you think that, for example Hermione and Susan, would do everything possible to try healing you if they became healers?" Poppy queried, looking at him in expectation.

"That's true," Harry could not help admitting.

"Where are you going to build your hospital?" Poppy enquired, causing Harry to sigh.

"I don't know yet," he said and explained that he had asked Minister Duval to provide some land for him in the surroundings of the school and the portal to Marseille, which he could buy from the money that he had received together with the Order of Merlin. "Susan and I got one million Gaulleons each," he told the healer.

"Galleons, Harry, not Gaulleons," Poppy contradicted. "Galleons are used in Britain. I don't know how many Gaulleons that is nowadays, but at least it's a huge amount of money that'll be more than enough to buy some land and build the hospital."

"I hope he'll be able to provide us with some land at all," Harry said, doubtfully.

"He'll surely be," Poppy reassured him. "It only has to be a small piece of land anyway. You could even take a small part from the school, for example, the land that's behind Hagrid's hut. It could be enlarged with magic, so that it would be large enough to build a huge hospital."

"Oh, I didn't think about that at all," Harry replied, surprised. "That's good to know."

HP

On the evening after the full moon, Poppy accompanied Harry back to the seventh years' common room, where she spoke with the students about Harry's project and asked everyone about their idea of what they wanted to do at the hospital, provided that they all wanted to work together like Harry had told her.

"I know that it's still very early and you still have more than three years before you finish your NEWTs," she said, "however, if you already know what you wish to do, Professors Snape, McGonagall and I would be willing to teach you accordingly. You would be able to skip some of your usual subjects - apart from the core subjects - in favour of specific Healing, Potions or Business classes."

Realising that a great commotion arose following her offer, she decided, "Those who wish to become a healer, please come to my office on Saturday morning. Those, who want to become a potions master or mistress, please go to Professor Snape's office on Saturday after breakfast, those who need lessons in Business studies, go to see Professor McGonagall on Saturday morning." She remained thoughtful for a moment, before she continued, those, who don't know what they need to study or even what they want to do, remain here at the common room. I will speak with my other colleagues as well and send one or two of them, who might be able to help you, to your common room."

"Thank you so much, Professor," Cedric was the first to find words, while everyone else babbled in apparent excitement.

"You're very welcome," Poppy replied, smiling, before she left the room.

HP

Harry quietly returned to his dormitory, recalling what Poppy had told him about becoming a healer. Of course he could understand her reasoning and knew that she was right, nevertheless, it had been his idea to become a healer and found the hospital, mainly driven by the hope that he'd be able to heal himself. He was just about to drift off to sleep, when Hermione and Susan stormed into the room.

"Harry!" they shouted, clearly surprised that he had left the common room without a word.

"Are you all right?" Susan asked in apparent concern.

"I can't become a healer," Harry informed them, trying hard to fight back the tears that appeared at the back of his eyes, as he told them about his conversation with Poppy.

"Harry, she's right," Hermione said, sighing. "I'll study to become a healer, and I'll try to find a way to cure you, even if I can't promise anything," she reassured him.

"I'm going to study potions together with you," Susan told him. "We're going to have much fun."

"That's true," Harry could not help agreeing at the thought of having his whole class with him at the hospital.

HP

All of a sudden, a bright flash lit the room, and Fawkes appeared on the foot end of Harry's bed.

#Hey nestling, I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of bonding to you,# the phoenix trilled in a soft voice that sounded very soothing to Harry's mind.

"Of course not," he replied in surprise, staring at the beautiful phoenix with a combination of surprise and amazement.

tbc...

A huge thanks to the kind readers who continuously review. I appreciate it very much!