CHAPTER TWO: Aftermath
An hour later, Hogwarts
Madam Pomfrey was in schock. Her hospital was packed full of injured children and adults, and most of them were recovering. She was now heading towards Dumbledore's office to give him report. Gargoyles at his door were intimidating and still as always, but she never believed that they were just ordinary sculptures, there was always some streange sensation in there brought by knowledge that Hogwarts was magical place where nothing seemed as it really was, like moving stairs. And every Headmaster was connected to the castle by his magic, it sometimes showed in fact that Dumbledore was always aware of what was going on in every part of Hogwarts without leaving his room. She gave them password, «chocolate frogs!», and stepped on the moving stairway . Headmaster's office wasn't empty, meaning there were others there. First she saw Remus Lupin, sitting in the chair across Headmaster's desk with his head in his hands and obviously crying, she suspected his reasons but stood silent. Minerva was sitting in the corner, near fireplace, her lips forming thin line of barely controlled anger, probably at Albus who shouldn't have let this happen. It was rare to see her so tense and afraid, but there was no illusions about what happened, and she too seemed to carry another expression on her face, guilt. And much to her surprise a new face was there, Cornelius Fudge, minister of magic. He looked definitely shaken, his clothes in dissaray and his cilinder rolling in his hands that were trembling , obviously out of fear. Kingsley Schacklebolt, an Auror in ministry employment, stood next to Fudge, his face betrayed nothing he felt. Always professional, and careful. And in the far corner of the room, in shadows, Mad Eye Moody, terrifying and vigilant, and of course, he saw her first, not that he could do otherwise with his magical eye rolling in his eyesocket. «Albus, we have visitor here, one we much wanted to hear from», was his gruff reponse at her nod. Albus Dumbledore looked towards her, looking older than ever, «Welcome Poppy, we have been waiting for your report on the situatin, please sit down». She took seat next to his phoenix, Fawkes , who crooned her a greeting and perched closer to her ,as if to give her more courage for the talk. She decided to get on with the matter before her nerves betrayed her.
« All right , ladies and gentlemen, on with the talk. I will first say that I am not happy with this day's events and expect some explanations at how is possible that fifth year students are showing injuries worthy of seasoned aurors, and why is Sirius Black here, but let's not hurry.». Remark on Sirius Black startled Fudge, whose eyes went wide and turned to Dumbledore, « please be patient Cornelius, i haven't come to that part yet, but I will after Poppy finishes what she has to say, and much depends on her news.». Fudge chose to remain silent, but gave a slight nod. She took that as permission to continue, « Well, children are not so bad any more. Miss Lovegood had concussion and broken arm, but that was easily healed. Miss Weasley is currently at St. Mungos to be by her brother, who was sent there, for I did not have sufficient means to treat his ailment, flying brains indeed. But people there assured me that he will make it , so I expect he 'll be going home later with his parents. And Molly Weasley didn't sound happy with you Albus. I believe Howler is on the way already. Neville Longbottom suffers aftereeffects of Cruciatus and other dark curses, but he is young and will recover. I gave him some Dreamless Sleep potion for this night, and expect to treat him at least another three or four days befor he leaves my ward. Miss Granger is in a bit more of peril, she was hit with lung constriction curse, so I'm keeping her on blod restorative potion, so she can clean her blood and fill it with oxygen. It did not seem wise to me to reexpand her lungs, she may not hold under the pressure released. So that means she will have to lie it out. She will be fine barring any unexpected complications. Sirius Black, well he is lucky to be alive, that curse , I believe Reducto, turned his ribcage into fragments, he was lucky that his heart wasn't punctured. But his lungs were, so he is still in a bad shape. Especially with his body weakened after so many years in Azkaban. Nonetheless, I am convinced if he makes this night, he will fully recover. As for Mr. Potter, ...», and she was interrupted by Remus Lupin who shouted « What, he is alive , he must be, James would never forgive me if he died!», but Dumbledore sadly said « You know very well, just as I do, that nobody can and did not survive that thing, and Ii'm privy to many research made on the Veil, it is as I said, a man passes through and he dies, just like that. But no one managed to find out why, « , and she angrily yelled « May I continue , sir, I did not finnish and I shall not tolerate more interruptions!»
Everybody was sitting suddenly in silence, shocked. Madam Pomfrey rarely yelled , and even more she never talked to Albus Dumbledore that way, actually no one did. But Fudge smiled, he always liked to see his political competition in for a badmouthing, no matter how only he believed that Dumbledore would like to replace him. It simply didn't fit in his view of the world around him, being minister of magic was his greatest desire, and he just thought that every wizard of power would want such an august position. Of course, thanks to him, many shared Dumbledores view that being minister of magic didn't make you all powerfull and important. He said, «let's not interrupther then, and I assume that news on Mr. Potter are good, aren't they?». Madam Pomfey thanked him and continued, « as I wanted to say, Mr. Potter is not dead. «
That made Dumbledore sit straight and his eyes twinkled again. Remus Lupin sat with his mouth hanging open, as inviting flies to enter. Minerva MacGonnagall suddenly sighed in relief, and tried to hide her tears. Moody only snorted, saying « I knew it, that boy has more lives than cat» . But Fudge asked « How that can be, I myself have been reported on that thing, much like Albus, and like he said, nothing ever lives after passing through . It's like Avada Kedavra, actually it is believed that Killing Curse only mimics that thing in it's effect !.» But Dumbledore smiled and said» I think i can explain that minister, and it gives me much hope in that Harry will indeed live! Poppy we aplogize, please continue, how is he?» She harrumphed and continued « Yes he is alive, The Boy Who Lived Again I think you will call him, but he is in no way completely out of danger. Let me explain, we all know that people have magic essence in them, a point from which all their power comes from. And each person has their own magic signature, a frequency. Usually it is seen as an aura in colours, depending on their frequency, a sequence of pulses, and colour depends on several factors, most important are power and mental state of user. As I suspected for several years, Harrys essence was tainted and distorted, but he was powerfull enough to function as wizard, despite the damage caused by Killing Curse when he was a baby. That only indicated how strong he really was, most wizards would have been seriously crippled, their magic weakened to the point that they would have problems with spells and tire easily.», that made everyone in room to nod, and Dumbledore smiled satisfied, knowing he was right. But Poppy continued « Now, Harry is experiencing virtual magical storm in his body and and I believe it is the reason he is not awake, it seems like a coma. Probably only state of mind that will allow his body to adjust to his true magic coming forth. But that doesn't explain the fact that his essence seems divided, like there are two forces posessing him and trying to take control. And certain part of his magic signature strongly reminds me of his mother, and I know she wasn't ordinary witch. I wish she was here, maybe she could calm his storm, it like a chaos inside. And I don't know when he will wake up, or if he ever will. And his body is changing. I noticed his muscles and bones shifting inside,maybe he is metamorphomagus, it is only explanation I have. But sooner or later he must wake up, to eat and drink or he won't have any strength to do it at all.» And then she lifted her wand and mumured a spell, which made the light emanate from her wand and coalesce into humanoid shape that swirled with different colours, but in the middle of it were angry red and bright blue formations. Blue was trying to expand, and red seemed to coil like whip around it. And yet none gained control. And the other colours, violet and yellow, orange and grey danced on the edges, like waves of the storm at the centre of the ocean.
Albus Dumbledore asked then « Wasn't ther a green in his aura before Poppy, if i remember you speaking of it a couple of years ago?»
« You are right, Albus, but now it is gone and this cacophony is result. Do yo have any thoughts on it?»
« Well, I think I know what happened to Harry, now after I saw this. First, I have seen Harry before, when he was born, so I was aware of the aftereffects of Avada Kedavra on him. Back then his aura was strong blue colour, just like Lily's , and after Voldemort's dissappearance there was a coil of sickliy green in it , like serpent, but he was alive and I belived it would cleanse out of him. Later , when he came to Hogwarts, it was still there, but muted, more immersed in his blue aura, which also carried other colours, but these two dominated. And this year I realised that Voldemort didn't only mark Harry, he linked their magic, especially after he took his blood to regain his body. That act linked their minds and enabled them to exchange visions, dreams and feelings. After all, Harry had something of Voldemort in him which gave him Parseltongue, and Voldemort took some of Harry's essence with his blood, and bypassed blood protection that barred him from touching and killing the boy. It is such way with blood magic, and powerfull curses as well. So, The Veil of Shadows, removed that which was Voldemort from Harry, a piece of Dark Lord's soul, his essence was killed in fact, not Harry's essence. It is just as Cornelius said, the Veil worked like Killing Curse, it removed soul from body, thus killing person instantly. But since Harry carried some of Lord Loldemort's soul, he was protected, The Veil only removed that part of Harry's magic, and now Harry is finaly free of the link with Voldemort, they no longer share their minds. But I know not what will that mean to Harry, what kind of powers he will develop, but I belive he will wake up and get stronger. I hope you will all keep this to yourselves.»
Fudge listened carefully thinking furiously, « Old man knew all along, he knew the prophecy and I bet it entailed that the boy is important in fight against You-Know-Who!», but decided to say instead « Yes, that explains much, but what now? You-Know -Who is back, he dared to show at the ministry, and he killed several aurors at duty there. And I spent all this year convincing people that there is no reason to be alarmed. I'm losing my post as minister, Wizengamot is already been called to meet, and we both know that they will oust me, I cannot protect you any more, but I will make sure that all changes at Hogwarts are removed, especially decrees brought on by that Umbridge woman, she was obviously disturbed, and I hear she is at St. Mungos , in white jacket in isolated ward. What happened to her any way?»
MacGonnagall chose to respond, « That hag, after terorrising children here, she got what she deserved! Did you know she tried to use Cruciatus at Potter? Well she did, and paid it right. They lured her to Forbidden Forrest, and she was besieged by centaurs who drove her mad, woman was terribly afraid of them.»
Fudge almost laughed, « Well, at least there won't be any trials and negative publicty from that. I'm sorry for her behaviour, she was never so uncontrolled when working at ministry. But I still must say that I don't agree with the way this school is led, students sneaking out and breaking into ministry, dangerous creatures nearby, I mean only luck is what stands between death and foolish children. You always had your way Albus and I think you should be more careful. And having ex Death Eater as teacher, mark my words, I don't trust that Snape and you shouldn't either, you are to trusting my friend. And don't be so surprised, I never hated you, it was politics that made me do things I did. But I am not expecting to stay minister of magic for much longer, so I can speak my mind. And I still can't believe that Malfoy is Death Eater, I mean he is so arrogant that it seemed to me he could never stoop to be somebodys servant.»
Every occupant of the room were surprised, but said nothing. Fudge was content with their silence, it meant they believed him, or at least were willing to. It never hurt to cover his bases, even if it meant a little groveling. After all, Dumbledore's good word for him may help him to stay in pwer, or at least to not to be completely ruined. That done, « I'm afraid I must leave now, still I will let Kingsley to stay as liason between you and ministry, goodbye» . It didn't hurt to leave him here to report on Dumbledore and his Order of Phoenix too.
He left via fireplace using floo powder. Remus Lupin jumped to his feet demanding to go to Harry and Sirius. Poppy decided to go back pestering him about what happened. Albus sent MacGonnagall to take over school matters, and Albus and Moody and Shacklebolt remained. Albus then tougt for awhile, and decided, « Kingsley, please go to grimmauld place and call every member of Order to meet there, we will need to hear what Snape has to say about Voldemort on this evenings events. And you Alastor, go to harry and watch him over. No one may approach him, except me and Pomfrey. I trust you know what will be necessary to safeguard the boy.»
« And you, Albus», asked moody; « what you will be doing?»
« Look for an old friend who may help us get Harry back.»