Chapter thirty-one - 'Well that's a bit of an understatement!'
"Sirius if you'll please wear Harry's cloak and follow us to room 81 in the basement of St Mungo's. Harry will you please take my arm and I shall guide you seen as really you shouldn't be apperating at all yet." Dumbledore explained as Harry and Sirius waited by the door ready to go.
"Won't the ministry be able to track me?" Harry asked pulling his coat tighter over the jumper Sirius had insisted he wore at the moment, Sirius was just pleased that Harry seemed to be somewhat in control. He'd slept quiet a bit of the afternoon, puked quiet a bit of the morning and Sirius had managed to get over half a bowl of fruity shredded wheat, Tobasco and milk down him about and hour or so ago and so far it wasn't showing any sign of re-emerging yet.
"In normal circumstances yes Harry, but even if I say so myself, the ministry of magic is not yet capable of tracking me or who ever I choose to travel so closely with. Even if they could, they would probably just assume you were my luggage!" Dumbledore smiled down at Harry as he unbolted the door and waited for Sirius to be completely under the cloak before opening it.
"Lupin's upstairs still Professor." Sirius explained quietly as he left the house to the square and stayed close to Dumbledore as instructed under the cloak leaving Harry only to guess where he was.
"I'm glad, he could do with some rest I believe."
They turned together and were soon popping into a long empty corridor with the comforting sound of Sirius popping in behind them. He stood silently and still as a statue waiting, Harry could only guess that he was there as he waited quietly while Dumbledore knocked firmly on a white door in front of him with ornate silver letters saying W. Woolnough 81.
They waited a few seconds for a rather tall strong looking man to open the door. From what Harry could first see he seemed to really take care in preserving himself over the years, as although his body seemed to hold more youth than Sirius's, he clearly appeared to be much older in his face.
"Oh you came, I was beginning to wonder?" He explained with a soft deep voice that Harry thought sounded a little like honey, although not so sickly, he held the door wide open to let them walk in and Harry noticed his voice and size more than anything and was oddly reminded of Mr Granger with his odd upper middle class manners before finally deciding it was something to do with Oxbridge and posh muggle schools.
"Sirius will you please reveal yourself to us." Dumbledore asked politely after Woolnough had closed and locked the door before heading over towards his desk. Sirius did as he was told and pulled Harry's cloak off to the astonishment of the tall man next to him but he seemed to conceal it quickly enough.
"My, my you really aren't what I was expecting Mr Black. I would have expected a man of your unfortunate lifestyle would look far worse than you do.' He explained shaking Sirius's hand who found it so odd to be greeting a stranger so politely after all these years, even half the order were weary of him for one thing or another. All he did was wonder round his house blowing things up and frightening Kresher for the first two weeks of the order regrouping and people seemed to think he was a nutter.
'Ah and you must be the infamous Harry Potter. Well, well, are you going to explain to me why you have sought me out now, you were really rather shady about it when we met earlier Dumbledore?" He asked with an extremely curious gaze at Dumbledore that suggested the pair enjoyed each other's company in a way they rarely could with anyone else.
"Like I said, I want you to take a look at Harry, he's been experiencing odd symptoms lately and I believe you are far more adapted to coming to a conclusion as to why than I am. How did you find Remus Lupin earlier?" Dumbledore asked as he took a seat opposite Woolnough and his desk and indicated for Harry to sit down next to him. Sirius however chose to stand behind his godson with one hand on his shoulder trying his best not to look like a murderous rampaging lunatic as what most of the world seemed to think he was at the moment. More importantly though after seeing the way Harry behaved around Podmore and many other members of the male order he was anxious to stop Harry from getting frightened of a strange man he's never met before. So far Harry felt quiet fine so long as Sirius was with him.
"Really quiet fascinating I'd say, despite his un-comfortableness. I remember seeing him as a boy. What a fine man he has turned out to be, just like his father, he would be proud despite his unfortunate werewolf business. I asked about you of course Mr Black when I heard you would be accompanying Harry Potter tonight and he had only the kindest words however brief." Woolnough pulled out a set of reading glasses from one drawer and a pencil and notepad from another and set them down in front of him.
Harry looked around at the odd room and the odd man in front of him almost ignoring the people talking around him. Woolnough was a large well kept man with blond hair that although thick on his head, was streaked with white hair that blended so perfectly in to his natural tones it was almost impossible to tell his age. He wore a smart navy suit and crisp white shirt that he'd put on especially just as Sirius had dug out a clean pale blue shirt and trousers, to give a good impression when meeting Woolnough. Harry however was still in the softest most wore out pair of jeans and t-shirt set he had just because they were comfy and a thick black hoody over the top to keep him warm.
Harry let his eyes wander around the room taking in the odd colours and shapes he could see, behind Woolnough was a large over flowing book case with every sort of book imaginable on it ranging from muggle medical journals to wizarding potion books and right through to classic muggle literature. The bounds were anything from red, green and black leather to brightly coloured paperbacks.
Next to this was a curtain held half open that Harry could just make out had a neat bed placed in, with what looked like an over sized cupboard and a little table with a sink and mirror above. To the left of Harry was yet another door, this he assumed led into yet another cupboard, whilst littered against all the walls were instead of photos or awards like Harry assumed special doctors had, but cabinet after cabinet of files and research that Woolnough had used and developed over the years.
Harry noticed however that although they clearly held records as each one was clearly marked and labelled they were all securely locked and glowing a dim red light around the edges. He knew that unless you combined the correct password and unlocking spell the drawers would never open and may even burst into flames if someone tried to force things making Harry wonder what was so secretive about them but still made them safe enough to have littered around his office like this.
Passing this thought by Harry let his eyes wander past Dumbledore, totally oblivious to anything that wasn't an inanimate object and rest on a warm welcoming fire that burned in its grate in one corner. Harry knew there would be no chimney to take the smoke away and that it was probably bewitched anyway but still, he could see flames jumping around and dancing at him so he let his mind swell and fill up with them. He was so absorbed he didn't even realise what the others were discussing, it sounded boring where as he felt the fire was far more fascinating to watch, with it's occasional little purple flames popping up and smiling at him every now and then.
"I understand why you want to keep this meeting quiet but if he needs treatment which he probably will, I can't do it through the hospital, as the budgie's are really clamping down on the budget this year. I may choose to keep my office away from the rest of the hospital but still, he's a well known young lad and I take enough of an interest in the ministry's affaires to know they're after everything they can about him.' He took a deep breath as a thought crossed his mind that troubled Woolnough but he wasn't going to let it ruin everything if Dumbledore could find a way to resolve things.
'I don't want to take on a patient as highly recognised as him, unless you can assure me this stays a secret. I don't want my involvement with one patient to affect any of my others." He explained clearly to Dumbledore who had expected something along this line, Woolnogh was the sort of man that gave everything to his patients which was why Dumbledore had really worked hard to get him to help Harry.
"I understand but for Harry's own safety, I also don't want anybody else to find out about this meeting. Strictly speaking Harry hasn't yet left the school this year, I assure you I will do everything I can to keep yours and Harry's names separate and as for money I am quiet sure there is enough funds available to Sirius to pay for anything required if it will help." Dumbledore explained as Sirius nodded silently keeping one eye always on Harry, he was sat very still and very quiet and Sirius knew better than to assume this meant he was fine.
"Good, then I am quiet happy to have a look at him.' Woolnough smiled looking completely different now he had a pleasant smile and wasn't bogged down in paperwork. He hated sorting out details like this, he much preferred to get straight in to a patient and start analysing, but this was not very professional nor appropriate when dealing with a young man the papers have decided to call 'the chosen one' again.
'Why does he watch the fire like that, I don't believe he has moved a muscle in many minuets?" He asked as the three men turned to look at him.
"He hasn't. It makes him feel safe. Harry doesn't like to meet strangers it makes him uncomfortable and fires like that make him feel safe again when he sits and watches them." Sirius explained clearly. Dumbledore had asked him to be honest in every way with Woolnough because once he had agreed to taking a patient on, he was a fortress of personal information.
"I can see why, if any one of the rumours about him are true? But I don't deal with rumours here, why don't you come into my work room and I shall take a proper look at him." He explained standing up. Harry however hadn't noticed and merely continued to look at the fire until Sirius bent down to whisper quietly to him.
"Harry can you get up please, Mr Woolnough wants to have a look at you?" Harry came back from his fiery world and turned to stand up next to Sirius before following Dumbledore through the side door and into a large white room with allsorts of things crammed into it.
The room was clearly a mis-match of muggle and wizarding medical devises that all served a clear purpose even if Harry didn't know what. The room itself was white and clinical looking, with sinks to clean things separately in, an open shower in one corner and three very separate beds around the room.
There was a row of three fireplaces away from the wall for mixing potions in and even in another room with a glass wall was a large machine used to take x-ray's with that had started off, a top of the range muggle machine and been altered and developed magically by the eccentric wizard to suit his needs.
Woolnough led the way over to a rather plain looking bed and gestured for Harry to sit up on it. Harry didn't want to leave Sirius's side and really didn't want to be prodded at by a strange man but after a nudge of encouragement off Sirius, he climbed up on the bed and sat with his legs dangling off the side in front of Woolnough and looking really rather pale and nervous.
"Now for me to be able to make a proper summary of you I need you to be totally and completely honest with me Harry. Can you do that for me?" He asked with his open well trained manner that although didn't seem to put Harry completely at ease, it did seem to curb the overwhelming desire to run away and blow things up.
"Yeah, I guess." Harry replied but Woolnough had already noticed something change in Harry's manner and was eager to find out what it was after he'd done a basic physical on Harry, it was clear he looked quiet thin when you saw his hands but Woolnough wanted to be sure by just how much and why he was so thin.
"Good, now can you pull your jumper off for me Harry, I want to have a listen to your heart beat.' He asked then pulled a stethoscope out from his pocket and however reluctant he felt, Harry pulled his jumper up over his head followed by a rather old looking t-shirt. Sirius who had seen Harry plenty of times topless recently didn't seem to find the sight odd and although Dumbledore was brilliant at hiding his surprise he couldn't help but find the sight of Harry's bare slim pale chest odd, with its numerous thin scars and old bruises a little disturbing.
During the last week it had only gotten worse even though Harry never really liked his chest, it always showed how under fed and malnourished he always seemed and over the years, it was as if his body couldn't be bothered with repairing itself properly and left little marks everywhere.
'Well, well we do seem to spend a lot of time in the hospital wing at school don't we? I'm just going to have a listen to you heart make sure it's ok.' He explained rapping the instrument around his neck and putting the ear pieces in his ears.
'I'm sorry if this is a bit cold Harry.' He added before sticking the cold flat end on Harry's chest and moving it around steadily to listen carefully to Harry's heart beating.
'Does your heart normally beat like that Harry?" He asked plainly.
"Yeah I guess." Harry replied not sure what to say to this. What else would his heart beat sound like?
"Do you ever feel out of breath or tired for no apparent reason?" He asked still listening carefully to something only he seemed to understand in the room.
"Some times. If I'm walking up the stairs quickly, I'm worn out by the time I get to the top." Harry explained quietly looking over at Sirius who smiled weakly to give him some more encouragement.
"Are these long winding north tower stairs or just plain ordinary house stairs Harry?" He asked standing up again and looking at Harry.
"Just normal stairs, at Sirius's." He replied with half a dark shrug.
"What about feeling tired?" He asked moving around behind Harry and leaning him forward to listen to his chest from his back.
"I'm always feeling tired.' He explained quietly.
'Even when I've just woken up."
"I'm just going to listen to your breathing Harry can you take a few deep breaths for me?" He asked listening carefully as Harry did as he was told. Woolnough didn't say anything when he stood back up and came around to the front of Harry.
"I feel dizzy?" Harry muttered to Sirius who after having him tumble over so often insisted on Harry telling him in future so Sirius could get him sat down before his legs buckled.
"Do you often feel dizzy Harry?" Woolnough asked gently pressing on Harry's chest to feel his lungs moving along each clearly defined rib.
"Yeah I guess." He replied.
"At any time in particular or just randomly every now and then."
"When I have to look at something, when I concentrate, looking down the stairs to find where the steps begin, that sort of thing."
"So when ever you have to think about something simple?" He asked running his fingers down the left hand side of Harry's chest.
"Yeah, but not all the time."
"How long has it been going on Harry?"
"A while." Harry shrugged absentmindedly not looking directly at Woolnough.
"Weeks, months, years?" Woolnough pressed on as Harry thought for a moment then answered.
"On and off for years but I was wearing really poor glasses for a long time, that might be it." He explained having always believed this was the case why he had odd head aches.
"Are these new then?" He asked.
"Well sort of, Sirius got them for me in the summer because I kept walking in to stupidly obvious things." Harry explained smiling at Sirius who nodded and indicated for Harry to carry on.
"Stupidly obvious things Harry?" Woolnough wondered.
"Hagrid, houses, walls, tables, lamp post's, that sort of thing." Harry sighed as Sirius merely shock his eyes slightly in disbelief, they really were stupidly obvious things, how can anyone miss Hagrid for goodness sake!
"Before that how regularly did you have your eyes checked?"
"When I was eight, I think?" Harry explained.
"You were wearing the same pair since you were eight years old?" Woolnough asked clearly unable to cover his shock even if he stopped it from sounding too rude.
"Yeah, might have been nearly eight but it was about then."
"Well no wonder you felt dizzy. Can you take them off for me so I can have a look in you eyes Harry?' Harry did as he was told and passed his glasses to Sirius and then sat there looking left and right while Woolnough shone a light in Harry's eyes to see how they reacted.
When he was done he pulled out an odd black piece of fabric and rapped it around Harry's arm flicking his wand at the machine so it started to pump up and squeeze Harry's arm tightly.
'It's juts checking your blood pressure Harry while I have a look for anything odd.' He explained lifting Harry's head and feeling around Harry's neck and then running his thumbs firmly up into Harry's hair line and over his scull. When he reached the front of Harry's head and had felt around his hair line he stopped to ask.
'Does that scar hurt you ever?" He asked thoughtfully thinking it quiet a remarkable little thing.
"Yeah, sometimes I get headaches and things from it." Harry replied with a sigh rubbing his hair back into place so it hung down over the scar. He didn't like anybody looking at it, himself included. Woolnough pulled the now flat black tube off.
"Hmm, well I'm afraid I don't know enough about it to comment. The whole theory around it is something I'll ask you to explain another time Dumbledore. Now can you get down I want to see how tall you are and how heavy?" Harry dropped off the bed gently and waited for Woolnough to tap his head and then the scales which quickly turned around to register something and then tapped the very top of his head and then his notepad which quickly scribbled a set of numbers on it with out any sort of pen.
"I'm too light aren't I?" Harry asked sadly but knowing full well the answer was yes to his skinny thin body, even he thought he was thin now.
"Yes Harry you are. Do you eat three proper meals a day?" He asked seriously although was highly suspicious that the answer was going to be no where near three meals a day never mind proper ones.
"Not really, I have a bit of toast and bacon and stuff for breakfast and I don't eat that much at dinner time but Hermione makes me eat a full plate at tea when she can. She sez I'm too skinny and it worry's her, it's really quiet annoying to be honest, Sirius is always trying to force food down me too, he never listens when I say I'm not hungry! He's always stuffing food in me!" Harry explained with a slight tone of exasperated complaint that Sirius merely ignored, really it was a bit too subtle for him anyway.
"Well she's right and I'm glad she makes you eat as I'm sure Mr Black here does too."
"Yeah, he won't let me go to bed until I've eaten enough and makes me eat breakfast in the morning even if I'm not hungry. He's really quiet stubborn ya know!" Harry replied tiredly but although he knew Sirius was right, Sirius himself merely rolled his eyes slightly as if anyone was the stubborn one around here it was Harry!
"I'm glad he does. Am I right in assuming that if these two didn't sit you down and make you eat you would hardly bother at all?" He asked.
"Yeah pretty much, the only reason I have any breakfast is because Dobby brings it to me in the morning." Harry sighed.
"He leaves food by my bed as well for when I go to bed in case I get hungry in the night." Harry explained.
"Who is this Dobby?" Woolnough wondered.
"He's a house elf that I'm sort of friends with, he comes to look after me a bit at Hogwarts. Brings me food and sticks a blanket on me when I fall asleep in the owlry with Hediwg and keeps a watch out if I fall asleep somewhere odd." Harry explained.
"If Dobby is doing all this as well as his usual tasks then I shall have to offer him a pay rise." Dumbledore explained and Harry smiled properly again but Woolnough raised an eyebrow.
"You have to understand he's a very unique and liberated house elf." Sirius explained gently, aware that any normal wizard didn't have Hermione's attitude to elfish rights.
"I see. Well Harry, do you spend a lot of time alone up there or just when you're trying to get out of eating breakfast, dinner and tea?" He asked as Harry sat back down on the bed and started to swing his legs absentmindedly, if he stopped thinking and was careful he could get them to go opposites left and right without knocking into each other.
"I guess I spend a lot of time doing my homework up in the library and trying to plan Quidditch practice." Harry explained.
"Do you think you spend more time alone on your homework than other people in you class?" He asked watching Harry and flicking a pen with his wand to write things down.
"Some times, but I kind of have extra lessons and I don't like being whispered about, so I sit in the far corner of the Library so I don't have to listen so much to it." Harry explained honestly.
"What about Quidditch how often do you go out and do exercise?"
"Well we have practice two or three times in the week and on Sunday afternoon but I don't exactly Do exercise. It's been easier to coach from the side when we're practicing and when we're doing mini games I tend to fly up high and watch them all rather than chasing the snitch about." Harry sighed somewhat lazily now, this was boring answering questions but he was sure Sirius and Dumbledore were going to make him see it through to the end.
"Other than that do you do any exercise at all, walking, running that sort of thing?"
"Well I have to walk about a lot between lessons and I walk out on to the grounds to see Hagrid but I'm always too tired go to far and once I've found somewhere to sit I don't really move until I have to, it's too much hassle!"
"Do you regularly sit for several hours at a time?" Woolnough wondered as Sirius also became aware that this wasn't the same Harry he'd been talking with earlier. The change was so subtle even Dumbledore struggled to pin point when it happened but it was clear Harry was in a very different sort of mood now.
"Yeah, in lessons and stuff and in the evening." Harry rubbed his eyes again.
"You feel dizzy don't you?" He asked lowering Harry's hand and looking at his red eyes carefully.
"Yeah."
"Do you think it's dark in this room or too bright?" He asked carefully watching Harry's pupils.
"It's too bright, everything's so white and glaring, worse than me aunts kitchen!" Harry replied squinting around at Sirius and glad he was finally able to rub at his eyes and forehead again.
"Do you often find it too bright?"
"Yeah sometimes in lessons but I tend to sit somewhere cosy in the evening and it's not usually too bright then."
"When it's to bright do you feel sick or tired?"
"Sick, like I'm too hot and may...maybe a...a...a little dizzy!" Harry finished quiet oblivious to his stumbling over words.
"Do you drink plenty of liquid when you feel like that?"
"We aren't aloud to drink in lessons." Harry replied flatly.
"If you feel sick and dizzy you should do it anyway regardless of your teacher. They should understand most the time, that you aren't going to concentrate on their lesson's if your fighting the urge to be sick now are you?"
"I guess." Harry mumbled letting his head droop down again.
Sirius thought this might have been a bit of a dig at Dumbledore but he never saw Dumbledore move his facial expressions much but there was something about his eyes that suggested a smirk to Sirius even if he didn't know what?
"Harry, when you said you fall asleep somewhere odd is it because your tired or do your merely pass out?"
"Bit of both." Harry grumbled resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on his knee.
"Can you be more specific Harry?" He added watching the way Harry's eyes had suddenly started darting around the place.
"I suppose so, sometimes I pass out and things but then sometimes I just get comfy and drift off when I'm reading." Harry decided a little thoughtfully.
"Do you pass out or faint at any other time?"
"Sometimes, after Quidditch I feel really dizzy and sort of keel over but I don't always pass out as such. And sometimes between lesson's I get dizzy and fall over easy, trip up and stuff. Or well, it's more like going blank for a few seconds and stopping before coming back to normal again."
"Do you ever pass out after eating Harry?"
"Not exactly, I usually feel a bit shaky if I've been feeling sick but it's more when I'm wondering about and tired. Doesn't happen very often though." He quickly added not wanting Sirius to worry about him staggering around Hogwarts and passing out all the time. But Woolnough merely ignored it for the moment and decided to go back to this odd little bit of Harry later.
"Does this happen more than once a day?" Woolnough asked firmly stopping Harry's really rather pathetic late attempt to cover up just how ill he'd been getting.
"Yes." He mumbled with a bit of a sigh.
"How often Harry?" He pressed on spotting Sirius's little bit of sorrow showing through, but it soon became clear Harry hadn't noticed yet.
"Well it's not every day as such, usually I just feel a bit dizzy at some time and black out a bit in the evening but every couple of days I can hardly keep me eyes open I just keep falling over." He explained not daring to look at Sirius and see his disappointed face.
"How long has this been going on?"
"About a month or two, but I've been feeling particularly dizzy for a bit longer than that? And it's been much worse recently these last few weeks." Harry explained as Woolnough merely shrugged thoughtfully.
"At least you're honest."
"Does anybody else know about this Harry?" Dumbledore asked carefully. Curious by how Harry could keep such a strong feeling of illness secret from his friends and why he hadn't even mentioned anything other than a headache to his headmaster.
"Dobby does and I think Ginny and Hermione were beginning to get a bit suspicious recently."
"Do you ever throw up Harry or do you just feel sick?" Woolnough continued having flicked the paper considerably now so all sorts of things scribbled themselves down enough to fill several pages of scrawl as the note pad kept turning itself over.
"Occasionally, but not very often." Harry replied but he was bending the truth more than a little here and Sirius picked him up on it.
"Be honest Harry!" He added firmly and Harry sulked but answered the question again.
"I suppose I am sick more than I should be. But that's only because you make me eat all the time?" Harry blurted out at Sirius who stayed calm and replied a little tiredly.
"Less than half a bowl of cereal at breakfast, two slices of toast at dinner and something that resembles a proper meal however small at tea is not all the time Harry.' He stated flatly.
'You just fall asleep between meals and forget about eating that's all."
"Is that all you eat Harry?" Woolnough asked raising an eyebrow cautiously.
"Yeah well, I'm not usually very hungry and I munch on a few carrot sticks in the afternoon sometimes and I keep dinking Tabasco and milk when I'm asleep for some reason." Harry explained trying to defend his appalling diet.
"Tabasco and milk?" Woolnough asked finding the mere thought of it quiet disgusting.
"I sort of sleep walk and talk and keep asking for it. I think Sirius gives it me for the calcium but I usually can't stand milk on its own it's so foul and I've tried Tabasco the other day and it's awful!"
"Oh well, Dumbledore mentioned something like that but I got the impression you just talked in your sleep I didn't realise you did other things as well." He asked flicking his paper again and looking to Dumbledore and Sirius for some sort of an explanation.
"Well that's a bit of and understatement." Sirius smiled weakly but looked to Dumbledore to explain.
"Harry's been doing magic in his sleep, that's why I sent Lupin to see you earlier. It's his nocturnal activities that brought us here. He doesn't have his wand when he sleeps, Sirius has been taking it off him but still, he's levitating himself and things. Apperateing around the building, falling through the ceiling, lifting up exceptionally heavy tables, humming to himself and changing the basic colour of many differnt things." Dumbledore explained as Sirius continued with a sigh.
"Blowing things up and repairing them again, pulling half the furniture to pieces and floating it along with anything not nailed down at an alarming speed around the rooms before some how putting it all back together just as I left it. Ripping old paintings off the wall that have had some serious sticking charms put on the, rambling on in a variety of different languages about all sorts of things, I think. And of course levitating a five hundred year old house ten meters or so off it's foundations and attempting to rotate it but unfortunately he work up before it really got going.' Sirius finished rubbing his chin to see if he'd forgotten anything.
'I would have thought that would have worn you out at least a little bit Harry." He finally sighed looking at Harry with rather weary eyes.
"You never told me I ramble in other languages, except parselmouth." Harry suddenly asked a bit confused and some what cross Sirius hadn't mentioned it to him when they talked about going to see Woolnough earlier in the day.
"I'm sorry Harry, I was really tired and I forgot about it. You do a lot of stuff when your sleeping, and you do seem to sleep a lot these days." Sirius replied but Harry sat quietly and accepted that Sirius was getting a bit on the tired side of things again.
"You're a parselmouth?" Woolnough asked alarmed but quickly covering himself.
"Yeah but if you think that's weird then you've really got the wrong end of the stick, there's nothing wrong with talking to Snakes. They aren't all as bad as people make out, some of them are actually really rather friendly!' Harry explained abruptly rubbing his eyes again harder before catching a look from Sirius and contenting himself with rubbing his knuckles in his sleeves instead.
Woolnough looked over to Sirius who merely shrugged as to say, 'I've never spoken to a snake how the hell should I know what he's on about!' Dumbledore seemed to have a very similar sort of expression although a lot less blunt.
'And anyway I do a lot more weirder things than talk to Snakes!" Harry added firmly.
"He's got a point ya know. There are a lot of things odd about Harry." Sirius smiled weakly looking over at Woolnough again before back at Harry.
"I'm not odd! I'm just not quiet like everybody else that's all." Harry half muttered and Sirius raised his eyebrows at Woolnough. But he stood quiet thinking for a moment.
Harry sat quiet too now, he was feeling dizzy again, he wasn't feeling particularly bad but the room was getting steadily darker and he felt his eyes rolling a bit in there sockets before he finally rolled forward and passed out cold.
"Crickey!" Woolnough dropped his notebook and turned just it time to catch Harry's head and shoulders before he hit the ground. Sirius quickly moved over and kneeled down next to him as Woolnough laid his head down.
"Err, could we stick him on that bed he tends to stay like this for a while, it's getting a bit late for him now I think. I just hope he doesn't start blowing things up!' Sirius explained as Woolnough took a hold of Harry's shoulders, Sirius grabbed his legs and they hoisted him back up on to the bed. Sirius spotted a blanket on the side and quickly covered Harry up with it to keep him warm. But seeing Woolnough slightly odd expression explained.
'He's been passing out a lot over the past few days and he keeps turning suddenly cold." Sirius explained while Woolnough flicked his wand so three chairs appeared a little way from Harry and he sat down.
"I think I need to sit down and hear a bit more about these night time wonderings. As far as I can tell his main physical problems are that he's got rather dangerously low blood pressure and I think he's seriously anaemic. And he's probably got some sort of eating disorder as well that's causing these. But he's showing signs of high blood pressure and something that sounds like a heart murmur but I can't be sure without taking a better look. That might just be nothing much though or something completely different."
"Eating disorders, isn't that a girls thing?" Sirius asked a little confused having only heard about it in from muggle born girls.
"It's a common misconception and I gather you haven't spent much time in the muggle community."
"I haven't spent much time in any sort of community in years to be perfectly honest." Sirius replied flatly, but this both Woolnough and Dumbledore had to agree was quiet an honest reaction for Sirius and perfectly justifiable.
"Well eating disorders covers a wide variety of things from people who make themselves sick to lose weight to those who eat vast quantities to hide from there problems and currently it effects more men than women and more boys of Harry's age than ever before. In the last ten years the balance has changed with men and women, more older women and more younger lads have really quiet peculiar attitudes to food."
"I guess so. His cousin's recently gone well over morbidly obese scale. I think Harry said he'd topped 18 stone last time he saw him and he's only the same age as Harry and not too much taller from what he's told me." Sirius explained.
"So he does have some family to speak of?" Woolnough asked quickly but was actually quiet surprised that the answer was yes.
"Yeah but they're really horrible to him and they never treat him very well.' Sirius blurted out and then looked at Dumbledore's face.
'Well they are! The only half decent thing I've ever heard him say about them is that he never got any fillings as a kid because he just wasn't aloud anything with sugar in." Sirius finished quickly.
"Why did you make him live there, if he was underfed as a child it would explain some of the problems he's having now?" Woolnough asked but he wasn't condemning the decision like Sirius tended too, he knew there must be a reason but before Dumbledore could explain he allowed Sirius to do it for him.
"I'm his godfather but it was decided that the safest place for him to be was with his aunt. I wanted him to be safe and his happiness unfortunately had to come as a second. And then well things sort of went from bad to worse for me." Sirius explained calmly showing Dumbledore just how well he'd developed as and adult since he'd had more of a parenting role with Harry.
"Is his cousin the only close blood relative he has?"
"Yes unfortunately." Sirius explained with a shurg.
"I heard you were a friend of his father but I never quiet believed you were his godfather, until I met you that is. Do you know much about his family history? How his grand parents and great-grand parents died? It's always a good place to start with family illnesses, shows what tendency's he has." Woolnough asked as Sirius racked his brain.
"Bit's and pieces but mainly on his dad's side. I can find out for sure with some help from Lupin, we've recently found some of Harry's family history books but I never really found much out about his mothers family. He still had an old grandmother alive when I err, went away. But I don't know what's happened to her now and Mrs Potter past away not long after James, Remus said she just wasted away or something like that." Sirius explained steadily, surprised Dumbledore was taking a somewhat back seat at the minuet, he kept flashing his eyes over to check, but the headmaster didn't seem in the slightest bit offended and was happily soaking up information as and when he chose too.
"It would be useful if you could dig out any medical records from the past three generations, even if it's mainly on his father's side. Most mental health problems are inherited down the generations particularly in the more pure blooded families. Too much interbreeding and not enough variety, no wonder there are so many death eaters. I recon most of them are suffering from a type of mental retardation particularly emphasises by a lack of communication skills as a child and multiplied by a thirst for exception." He explained casually.
"That's a very interesting way of putting it." Sirius nodded in odd approving way.
"Of course there are always the odd balls that really thrive upon going against the flock such as yourself but nine times out of ten that's only because of some degree of ADHD.' He explained but seeing Sirius's confused look gave the disorder its proper full name.
'Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Sirius knew that Woolnough was implying this about him but really didn't know enough about it to be offended and was only interested in Harry's mental health and not his own emotional retarded-ness. He'd spent twelve years in Azkaban after all you could hardly expect him to be normal after something like that! But as Lupin sometimes pointed out when he was feeling particularly sarcastic, Sirius was near enough completely barmy before he went in to Azkaban and is actually coming out to be somewhat normal-like after the dreadful experience.
"What do you think is the main thing causing all these problems for Harry?" Dumbledore asked slowly as Sirius was clearly struggling to comprehend what he'd just been told and hadn't yet thought of a suitable thing to ask Woolnough.
"At the moment I can only guess that he has a low level inherited mental illness that's been exaggerated by outside influences such as stress, grief, pressure that sort of thing, but I'm a hundred percent sure my opinion will change several times before we reach the correct answer.' He pulled out his notepad and began jotting yet more things down as he talked without even looking at his page.
'For now though will you explain this apparent separate personalities you were telling me about earlier. That does seem an odd piece of information and doesn't seem to fit at all in with my current theory." Woolnough sat patiently as Dumbledore began to explain but it quickly became apparent that Sirius was the key one who had seen this sudden change in Harry. So Woolnough started to addresses his questions to Sirius instead and didn't stop asking about every little detail until Harry himself started to wake up and squawked as he rolled off the bed.
"Harry!" Sirius called quickly getting up and walking over to Harry while Woolnough and Dumbledore looked on.
"He seems overly fond of the boy doesn't he, but at the same time he feels like he barely knows him." Woolnough asked as Sirius pulled Harry up to his feet checked that he hadn't hurt himself and pulled his jumper back over his head when he saw him shiver, helping him find his arm holes and smiling warmly down at Harry with the softest smile any normal person wouldn't notice.
"It's only recently that Sirius has been able to have regular one to one contact with Harry and over the past year particularly, I believe both have become rather fond of the thought of the other. Harry likes having someone outside of school that cares about him and Sirius likes having a purpose to life, it's the only reason he stayed relatively sane in prison. He described it as a sort of obsession that kept him going and allowed him the drive and strength to break out! To be perfectly honest though I don't think even he understands how he managed to do it mentally but the more contact he spends with Harry the better he gets. Believe me this is not the same man you're talking to that Harry first met fresh out of Azkaban. Some how Harry's softened him tremendously in ways even Remus Lupin hasn't managed to scratch the surface at." Dumbledore explained as Sirius brought Harry to sit on his chair and made another one appear out of thin air for himself.
"How are you feeling now Harry, you seemed to literally drop off in your seat?" Woolnough asked kindly as Harry hunched his shoulders up and mumbled his reply.
"Better I guess, how long was I out? Sirius said I just passed out cold again." Harry asked calmly making himself comfy in his seat by shuffling around slightly.
"You did and only for half an hour or so. I hope you don't mind but we continued without you."
"Ok." Harry mumbled.
"Earlier you mentioned a recording of something Harry had said in parselmough, I believe now might be a good time to have a listen to it and see if Harry could tell us what he said." He asked firmly as he looked at Harry and Sirius pulled the little black box out of his pocket.
Harry sat very still as Woolnough nodded at Sirius to set the recording going, he did and at first Woolnough thought all he could hear was hissing static but then he heard Sirius's clear voice.
"Harry, Harry try and drink some water!" He asked urgently but calmly, all that came back were a variety of hissing noises.
Woolnough, Sirius and Dumbledore watched Harry as he listened to what he knew was his own voice speaking to see how he reacted. At first they thought he was ok as he sat there stone still listening but then he hunched up even further and started rubbing his eyes more frequently.
"What does it say Harry?" Woolnough asked firmly.
"Turn it off!" Harry snapped weakly. But Woolnough shock his head at Sirius who knew he would have to follow the doctor's lead as Dumbledore had instructed as the recording started to repeat it self and they heard Sirius's voice yet again.
"What does it say Harry?' He asked more firmly but Harry continued to look away and rub his eyes, it took a moment for Sirius to realise but his fingers were wet with tears now as he wiped them quickly away.
'What does it say Harry?" He asked again but this time Harry let his head fall in to his arm as it rested on the arm of his chair.
"Turn it off it doesn't matter!" He called out more shaky and louder than before.
"No Harry, not until you tell me what it says and it can't be just nothing otherwise you wouldn't be feeling so uncomfortable at the moment." He explained as Harry was struggling to cope with what he was hearing and the thought of repeating it in English was too much to bare thinking about.
Sirius didn't know what to do, he didn't like to see Harry getting so distressed like this, he could see him rocking his head from side to side and trying to fight back the tears that just wouldn't stop coming to his eyes. In the end it all became too much for Harry and he rolled his head over into Sirius's shoulder to sob in an odd controlled manner. He didn't want to cry in front of somebody he'd only just met but he couldn't help it, he just wanted to curl up in his bed and cry his eyes out for hours and hours.
Woolnough nodded to Sirius who turned the black box off and put it back in his pocket while still allowing Harry the time to sob on him. Woolnough watched him for a while but then all of a sudden he stopped and started to rub his eyes dry to sit back up properly and lent his head into his hand moodily away from Sirius who was for once so pleased to have somebody else see such a mood swing in him. He was beginning to wonder if it was all in his head and that he just wanted Harry to be ill so Sirius could make him better.
Woolnough continued to watch Harry carefully as he stared blankly and coldly at the floor and began drumming his fingers quickly on his knee.
"Can we go soon I'm tired?" He suddenly declared to Sirius moodily, sulking with his now very dark sunken green eyes.
"Once you've told me what the recording said then yes, you can go home." Woolnough explained gently covering his curiosity.
"What recording?" Harry snapped bitterly back at him. But Woolnough didn't seem offended by Harry's apparent rudeness, in reality he was actually pleased in his own quirky way that Harry was clearly showing a totally different sort of personality and despite his voice being laced with venom he really couldn't remember any recording.
"Harry what were we just talking about?" He asked firmly.
"I don't remember." Harry snapped back refusing to look up and still drumming his fingers quickly.
"What is the last thing you remember?" He asked.
"Dosing off over there." He nodded though to the office.
"Do you remember me examining you?" He asked.
"No just dosing off next to the fire. Why am I sat over here anyway it's too bright?" Harry complained looking about a bit at the room but deliberately avoiding anybody's face.
"Well your certainly are full of surprises Harry I'll give you that much. I think this is enough for tonight gentleman. I have plenty of things to mull over and despite his nap Harry is very tired and I'm sure you'll want to get him back to wherever he's safely kept at the moment." Woolnough stood up as Sirius and Dumbledore followed.
"Do you think you'll be able to help him?" Sirius asked standing next to Harry who was determinedly ignoring everything around him but not so much Sirius who had touched his hand on Harry's shoulder slightly out of habit.
"I will certainly try to. For now I'd like you to try any keep him away from too many different people and I'd like to start him on a medium level hormone potion to try and bring him back to a more normal level. I'd also like a sample of his blood to check over and put him on a more fixed diet. Anaemic or not he's mal-nourished and if he won't eat much I'd rather tailor what he does eat to at least be useful." Woolnough explained heading over to a cabinet of potion's and unlocking the door to pull out four bottles of red potions before heading back over to his desk and tapping a piece of paper so it filled itself with information.
"Do you think hormone potion will help?" Dumbledore asked as Woolnough came back over with his objects and handed them to Sirius who hid them away in his many hidden pockets inside Lupin's travelling jacket.
"To be honest if I thought it was going to make a real positive difference then I would say so, but we need to start somewhere and he's currently attempting to grow into a young man and I want to help this along as best I can. His body's trying to adjust to whatever's causing him problems and its going to be a very different for him."
"You will no-doubt want to see him again soon?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, it's going to take a while to get through all his symptom's, I'm quiet sure he hasn't displayed them all yet and judging by your explanations I've counted at the very least four or five strong personalities in him, possibly more, so it's not a simple case of inherited schizophrenia."
"He's supposed to go to back to school soon, what happens then?" Sirius asked sensibly as Woolnough thought about it carefully.
"I want him watching twenty four hours a day and that can't be done here if you want to keep this quiet, so he'll have to go where ever you can keep a close watch over him Mr Black."
"Why do you want him watching constantly?" Dumbledore asked curiously, Woolnough wouldn't have said this if there wasn't a conscious reason for it, already letting his mind soak up the information and form its own conclusion.
"From what you told me about his problems over the summer, even without going into that much detail over it, there is clearly some part of him that takes part in self harm and with a section of him boarding on suicidal. He doesn't realise it yet but he's going to be in for a rough ride I'm sure of it, from what we can see, the worse he gets the quicker his sympton's crop up like he's building up speed as he goes down a spiral and I don't want that side of his personality getting any sort of chance to take control, particularly as I'm not exactly sure where he's going with all this.' Woolnough stopped and thought carefully about Harry for a few moments to decide what else he should tell them at the moment other than he's not sure if Harry can even be helped.
'You can't do this alone though, is there anybody else who can help that already knows him well? Some one he can trust easily?" He asked looking from Sirius to Dumbledore.
"Yes, Remus will help." Dumbledore explained.
"Good, he's a good sort of man I'm glad. I don't want you Mr Black wearing yourself out watching him all the time. You need your rest as well however much you care about him. As your well aware, I'm sure by now, you need to keep your wits about you if he's going to start levitating houses in his sleep." Woolnough looked firmly at Sirius then over to Harry who was sitting very still and very quiet making Woolnough and Sirius suspect they were about to see yet another type of Harry appear in a moment.
"Harry, it's time to go." Sirius explained putting a hand on Harry's shoulder again. He quickly stood up and swayed a bit on the spot so Sirius took a firm hand on him to keep him steady.
"Oh ok, it was nice to meet you Mr Woolnough." Harry added politely looking over to the tall man in front of him and then up to his godfather who was as he often did watching Harry with his careful, pleasant for Harry, dark eyes.
"It was nice to meet you too Harry. You shouldn't have much trouble leaving, the Ministry is only interested in people entering this place late at night and I shall be in touch with you Dumbledore shortly. Give him one of those bottles tomorrow morning just before he eats breakfast and then give him the other just before tea and again the day after."
"Ok. What if he displays any odd symptoms?" Sirius asked checking they were all safely lodged in his inside pockets.
"Unless he seems really dangerously ill give it him anyway, there's nothing in it that's going to do him much harm."
"Do you still want some of his blood?" Sirius asked plainly remembering.
"Oh yes I almost forgot. Harry could you roll one of your sleeves up for me." Harry obliged obediently and rolled a sleeve up. Woolnough picked up a thin long test tube and held it against Harry's skin. Then tapping it with his wand he watched it magically fill itself with Harry's blood without breaking the skin.
He stopped and corked the bottle quickly before leading the way to the door. Sirius quickly covered himself with the cloak and followed Harry out into the landing as they apperated back to Grimmauld place together and quickly entered the house.
"I have to leave you now, I have other business to attend to tonight before the morning." Dumbledore explained looking from Harry swaying somewhat as he started to drift off in his chair again to Sirius's somewhat puzzled and rather tired look.